Thanks To Landover Baptist

Something You Will Rarely See Done By A Dominican, Part 2

Clean Up, Aisle 7, CLean Up, Aisle 7

This is what can happen if you are using an electric mixer to make chocolate pudding and the spoon you are using to scrape the sides of the bowl touches the beaters. Ask me how I know. The neon yellow thing in the middle of the top picture is a bottle of Joy Dish Washing Liquid that is indiscernible because it is covered in pudding. The walls, the floor, the dishes that were clean, everything was covered in chocolate. Worst of all, the mixer didn't survive.

The Soundtrack Of My Life ( For the past month)

The second post that I ever wrote, "Screw Star Cable" dealt with the constant changing of the US channels available on cable here, to whatever baseball game was on that some technician in the control room wanted to see. We switched to Aster Cable about two weeks after I wrote that and have never been sorry. The service is almost problem free. No more loss of signal due to rain, and more importantly no more channel changes. And then, as if the guy from Star moved to Aster, it started again. Only this time with a difference. I looked up these dates, in the interest of being exact. Tiger Woods, maybe my favorite sports personality was doing well in a tournament in August. Aster cable does not provide the CBS Network. Sometimes I will watch the final day of a golf tournament on one of the ESPN stations that only broadcast in Spanish. Most sports are visual, and can be watched with the sound off with very little lost. I was home on Sunday the 2nd of August and while channel surfing I discovered that someone at Aster likes golf. There was the golf final on my cable, and, as a bonus, when it ended they stayed with CBS and I got to watch 60 Minutes, which for me used to be a "never miss" program. Two weeks later with Woods again in contention the same channel change was made. I don't even remember if Tiger won, but I do remember that when the tourney was over the again stayed with the network and again I got to see 60 Minutes. This had a profound effect on my life. The last story was about Chris Martin and the group Coldplay. I was only slightly aware of their music, having heard, and downloaded, Viva La Vida. I was really impressed with Chris Martin's personality. He was absolutely charming, and really clever. I enjoyed the interview so much that I went to the 60 Minutes website and watched it again. During the interview Steve Croft mentions several of their most popular songs. I wrote them down and download them from LimeWire. I loved them. I remembered that Michele had, by accident, left the Coldplay Live 2003 CD with me on a visit about 3 years ago. I had listened to the first song, wasn't that impressed and never listened again. Now I tried it again. It was like discovering The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper", or some other amazing album. It was the most amazing music that I have heard in the last 20 years. What has happened since August 16th is that whenever I am in my car, which is often or when I am using my Blackberry to listen to music I only listen to Coldplay. But I mean I listen a lot. All the time. So much so that I hear the music in my sleep. As I am waking up I often do so humming one of their songs. If I am at the computer I listen to them as well. Wow. They are soooooooooooo good.

Hey Brazil: You'd Better Hope It's Not Germany

Funniest headline I have seen in a long time:

Brazil and France sign a comprehensive defense agreement


Imagine believing that the French will come to your aid or anyone's aid, for that matter. Ha ha ha ha ha.

What are these guys smoking?

Something That You Will Rarely See Done By A Dominican

My Day, Part 3

When we arrived at our destination, the office of the Sub Director of the Free Zones, Belkis Luna we were ushered into a very plush waiting area which contained two very expensive looking leather sofas and another piece of art. Finally we were allowed to enter her office. Rafael had told me beforehand not to let on that I spoke or understood Spanish so I had to do what I do best. I acted ignorant. I was introduced as the customer who was waiting anxiously for his merchandise. I found it a little distressing that the whole time that we were in her office her television was on, even though the sound was off. Periodically she would ignore us in order to watch it. It took about an hour to get everything worked out. When we left I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off my back. The ride back was uneventful. I got home at about 3:00 and promptly went to sleep.

My Day, Part 2

So we pick up this other guy and he says that he will drive from La Vega to the capital. No problem there. Who could drive more dangerously than a tailgater like Rafael? Well, for one, someone who drives in excess of 90 miles an hour on the highways here, is at least tied with Rafael. I thought, a couple of times, that I was going to shit my pants, or die. A couple of times I was close to both. They were busy jabbering away in Spanish up in the front front so I disappeared into my Blackberry. Only Coldplay going and coming. In addition I have a Texas Hold'em game downloaded so that helped to keep my attention from his driving, as well. I have been to Santo Domingo enough time to know my way around the city. I don't know the names of any of the sections other than the Malecon which is the area fronting on the ocean (Mar Caribe). I was under the impression that I knew where we were going and when we found ourselves off the main highway and on city streets that were clogged with traffic moving at a snail's pace I asked if we were going someplace else. I was told that Perroa had gotten off the highway too soon and now we were forced to endure the traditionally horrific Santo Domingo traffic. Finally we got to the building that I thought we were going to and of course we couldn't find anywhere to park, so Rafael and I were dropped off. We were at the Custums (Aduanas) building. Not particularly impressive from the outside. We went to a desk with three women sitting at it. We had to wait in line so that Rafael could announce that we were there with an appointment to the woman on the right, who in turn passed us on to the woman in the middle, WHO IN TURN PASSED US ON TO THE WOMAN ON THE LEFT. Typical Dominican Efficiency. Believe it or not, she sent us to the desk opposite hers. By this time, about 20 minutes, Perroa had parked the car and joined us. As we were waiting at the last desk he called upstairs to the person we were there to see who then called down to the desk to authorize our passage to her 4th floor office. As soon as we went inside I was struck by the number of paintings and sculptures. They were everywhere you looked. As we waited for the elevator the power went out. I didn't want to take a chance on getting stuck if it went out again while we were in the elevator so I announced that I was walking up, and they decided to join me. As we walked up the artwork increased in volume. They were crammed against one another on the walls in the hallways and stairways. Some looked very costly and all were accompanied by a plaque telling about the artist. Many were very well known. Some were quite stunning and others were quite horrible. I could have filled my phone with photos, but I was afraid that some self important security guard would hassle me for my picture taking so I only snapped a few.

My Day, Part 1

For the past year and a half I have been involved in manufacturing bras in a factory in La Vega. Sadly it never reached what we were told was its potential and the decision was made, about a month ago, to close it down. We finished the work that we had and all we had to do was ship the finished bras, uncut fabric and trim, along with some sewing machines back to the US and that would be it. Not so easy. There are not a lot of things that have been developed in the DR to the extent to which the bureaucracy has. Each person involved with the process has forced the factory owner, Rafael, to jump through a different hoop. Meanwhile, I have all sorts of people expressing all sorts screaming and carrying on, not caring to understand what it is like to try to do something that is actually as simple as shipping a container. Monday we were told we had all necessary approval. Monday afternoon we discovered there were more papers necessary. In an effort to help in any way that I could, I volunteered to go to Santo Domingo with Rafael, to see if the presence of an Americano would help move the process along.

This morning at 6:50 Rafael picked me up. I offered to drive. When I have gone anywhere with Rafael I have always offered to drive. He loves to speed. I have no problem with that, I drive quickly as well. However, Rafael likes to do a hemorrhoid check on the drivers in front of him and in order to do that he climbs up the asshole of every car in front of him. It can really be frightening. He declined my offer so I told him why I always want to drive. He promised not to do it and we drove to the factory in La Vega. There were a couple of things that Rafael had to do and once he finished doing them we went to find a fellow by the name of Perroa. He works for the Free Zone Association and is friendly with the person we were going to see in the capital. I worked this past weekend at a Poker tournament in the capital and on the way I realized that I should have brought my camera. The trip through the countryside always brings home how beautiful the island is. It's amazing. This time I did take my camera. The above pictures were taken going to and from Santo Domingo. They don't really do justice to the beauty.