Monthly Archives: September 2008

I survey hard for the money… Or not.

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Last year I joined one of those survey sites where they pay you. Once in a while I get a check for about $20, but most of the time I just ignore the e-mails I get to participate. However, tonight, this one caught my attention: Earn $5 for a 5 minute survey.

The first question was if I had assets within the 75K-250K range or more. My answer was “NO” — Immediately disqualified for the survey. And I’m here thinking, if I had that kind of money I wouldn’t be trying to collect $5 from a stupid survey… Duh!

The nerve.

9/11 Remembrance

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In the aftermath of 9/11 I took the wrong direction. Instead of thinking of the pain this country was going through, I used it as an excuse to become critical of a government that wasn’t even ruling me. It was very easy for me to say it was nothing new, for I was born and raised in a country where violence and terrorism make part of the daily bread. That, however, does not excuse some of the things I said to some people; especially the part when I questioned why Americans were so surprised if in some sort of way they had it coming. Cruel, isn’t it?

It didn’t take me long to realize that all I had to do was show a little bit of compassion and understanding of all the loss and pain thousands of families had to go through. And that pain is still very much alive because this country is still losing its people thanks to the events that have developed after those planes hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon: Afghanistan and Iraq.

I may have become softer with age, or simply wiser (that happens when you grow old… life teaches you lessons the hard way). And today, living in this country and sharing my day-to-day with American citizens, I understand their pain, their pride, and how shocking 9/11/2001 was for them. 7 years later, the whole world is still in disbelief. Not because we don’t understand the consequences of foreign policies sometimes, but because of the innocence this country was robbed of.

September 11 will never be forgotten.

My Political Statement of the Year

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I know, from personal experience, that discussing politics can get you in trouble. Especially if you are thin-skinned like me, and get easily offended by people’s remarks about your opinions. And especially because of the adamant arrogance that overpopulates the blogosphere since it’s very beginnings. I’ve been around long enough to know about all those pundits.

But now, with the election coming soon, politics is all I read about. And people spend hours, brain cells and keystrokes making their views valid, sharing opinions and, in some cases, making asses of themselves when not able to express their views as civilized human beings. Suddenly everyone is an expert in government matters, and how dare you say otherwise! It happens to the best of us; it has happened to me.

My husband remembers when I used this weblog as some kind of political outlet. Now that I think about it, I wasn’t really discussing politics but policies… those of the U.S. government back in 2001-2003 when all hell broke loose and this country ended up in a stupid war that has claimed thousands of lives and hasn’t ended. I wasn’t even living here, and I was mostly taking a personal side about what I thought George W. Bush was getting into. But politics? I know zilch about it. I simply was, and I still am, against the war.

So this week with John McCain and his Palin vice-president… it’s been entertaining. I never know who to give credit to. People seem to have taken that woman’s private life as some kind of soap-opera. Do I know about her policies? Heck, no! I should probably get informed about it all. And then there is the Republicans calling the Democrats idiots, you should know better, you are wrong, get your facts right, etc. And vice-versa.

And in all truth, who has the facts right? Certainly not us, mere citizens (or residents). In the end, we are just pieces of the puzzle, and I thank God for freedom of speech so we can somehow guide each other in this darkness politics is. What drives me nuts is the “I’m holier than thou” attitude some people take when having different opinions. But that’s the human kind for you.

I should probably spend more time learning about what these two men who are running for president have on their agendas. The problem is, there are too many sources… and I can’t even vote.

The Browser War

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I remember when the only options I had were IE and Netscape. I also remember when IE became the epitome of evil, Netscape itself disappeared, and a little fox took over. I remember when my computer started liking singing Opera as well because any respectable self-named web designer needs to test in different browsers. And then Mac OS was generous enough to provide Windows with a Safari version. I’m very fond of the memories of Firefox working well and dandy in my PC until one day it decided it didn’t like Dell… my Dell, anyway.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari installed. But it is not enough. Especially now that Google has come up with its own little, nice, simple, easy to use browser called Chrome. So guess which one I’m using to post this?

And people say technology makes life easier…