Good-bye 2008

You know how they always say that sequels are never good? Well, I have been living my own private version of “Ruptured Ovarian Cyst - 2” and, believe me, it has been just as watching a bad movie twice: very painful and never-ending.

But I am not allowing this to stop me from writing a wrap-up of the main events of 2008. No, I won’t go into the ‘Obama-Beijing Olympics-Credit Crunch’ review. Too many people are already writing and talking about this today. I am going a bit more personal.

For me, this year meant embracing technology further in my own life. I have allowed it to bring me closer to friends I had lost touch with from all over the world. If I want to know how my friend living in Canada is doing today I just have to check his Facebook status … if I am curious to know how my friend in Australia is doing professionally I just click on the LinkedIn update notification in my inbox.

I have allowed myself to share in a way I never did before. Not an avid e-mailer, I now know that I can ‘shout’ my thoughts to the world by writing this blog instead of writing individually to everyone I care for.

I have come to realize even more that the world is getting smaller; that there is no need to invent the wheel anymore; that the world is full of ‘copy/paste’ ideas, cloned and adapted to different cultures somehow, but cloned after all.

Just take a look at this video to see what I mean. It is absolutely hilarious! You have a Bulgarian woman who turns Air Supply’s (or later Mariah Carey’s) “Without You” into something she calls “Ken Lee”. If this is not proof that the world is getting smaller, I don’t know what it is.

I leave you with this thought … until 2009.

¡Feliz Navidad al estilo de los 80s!

Mañana es Navidad y que me topo con un video Navideño de los 80s que me tiene en el suelo de la risa. Nunca lo había visto, pues parece ser que fue filmado en la Navidad de 1987 – unos meses después de que me fuí de México a estudiar mi carrera.

Por favor chequen los pantalones de Mijares ... las greñas de las de Flans (¡ni se diga las de Amanda Miguel y su gorrito!) y las mega-hombrereras de las Timbirichas. Es un verdadero homenaje a los 80s, y aunque la calidad del video es muy mala y la verdad es que yo nunca habia oído la canción - que es de lo mas cursi del mundo - espero lo disfruten y los haga sonreir muy Navideñamente.

“!Repiiiiican laaaas campaaaanas ...!”

When the expert becomes a victim

If you are a dentist and have a cavity – do you take the rotten tooth out yourself? If you are a lawyer and get into trouble with the law – do you defend yourself? If you are an anti-kidnapping expert and get abducted – what do you do? Negotiate your own release?

American-Cuban security consultant Felix Batista spent some time last week in the northern Mexican city of Saltillo, in the state of Coahuila, giving talks to the state police on public security. That’s, after all, what he does for a living. But, he is now missing himself; allegedly the victim of a kidnap by a drug gang wanting to show their power.

Batista has played a key role in negotiations of around 90 kidnap cases in Latin America. I’ve read reports that he almost ‘voluntarily” got into the van that the kidnappers used to take him away. He was not negotiating any kidnap case at the time and no ransom has been demanded since.

So what is really going on? At this moment, only the kidnappers and Batista himself know the answer. Let’s hope that he practices as he preaches and manages to get himself out of this one. If he does, I cannot think of a better PR tool for his consultancy career.

If he doesn’t, this will be yet another sad reminder that things in Mexico are not anymore what they used to be. And that those who have the power today are not the ones that are supposed to have it.

Unfortunately.

Of flying shoes

Footage of George W. Bush successfully ducking a couple of flying shoes during a press conference in Baghdad is making the headlines these days, and the media cannot stop talking about W’s incredibly quick reflexes and wondering how on Earth did the Iraqi journalist got away with throwing the second shoe.

Maybe the same way that the second plane managed to hit the WTC on 9/11? … or the same way that OJ Simpson got away with murder? … or just like Elizabeth Taylor managed to marry her 8th husband?

I am surprised though, that I have not read yet any speculation on the possible consequences of this incident. I mean, if the ‘authorities’ banned us from flying with a bottle of Evian after they found the London liquid-bombers, and make us spend hours queuing at airports for ‘security reasons’, will the Department of Homeland Security now ban shoes at press conferences altogether?

Maybe it's time to open a sock shop!

The death of an ex-president

Schools will be closed tomorrow in Cyprus because an ex-president passed away on Friday - and it seems that I am the only one around here confused with this decision.

I understand the need to mourn the passing of someone who has been an important political figure for five decades. Tassos Papadopoulos, who was president of Cyprus between 2003 and early 2008, played a role in the politics of the island over a long time. He was first appointed a Minister at the age of 25, and this is truly commendable.

But to go as far a calling three days of mourning and Monday a Public Holiday for someone who has not been the president for almost a year is, I believe, a bit too much.

If Carlos Salinas de Gortari died tomorrow, would schools in Mexico close for the day?

If George W. Bush passes away sometime next year, will lessons be cancelled in the USA?

The answer to both is maybe a yes, but for a totally different reason!

Vote for my website!

As I wrote a few weeks ago, I decided to stop moaning about the fact that I am turning 40 very soon and decided to put my thoughts on the subject into a website. (I confess that I am still whining occasionally, though!)

My idea is to slowly create a useful source of information for women in their 40s, hence I called it forty-something.com.

Earlier today, while checking the site's traffic statistics, I realised that there has been an unusually high number of hits since yesterday. First thought is that the server was being hacked. But when I checked the referrals, I happily realised that the reason for so many visits is that the website has been nominated a finalist on the "Best of Synthasite" competition (Synthasite is a great tool I used to build the website.)

So, if you have 5 minutes, please go to: http://bestof.synthasite.com/personal-websites.php and vote for http://www.forty-something.com/

If not for me, do it for all the 40-somethings you know out there!

When the police should know better

I am not surprised at all with the events in Greece this week. The reaction to the brutal killing of a teenager by the police has grown to the point of demonstrators inspiring the Unions to call a national strike that is halting the entire country. This might be seen as a ‘bit too much’ by some, but I believe it simply shows that Greeks have just had enough. Enough of paying more and making less than in most other EU countries. Enough of having citizens abused by those who are supposed to protect them.

While there are lots of brutal things happening in this world these days and thousands of kids dying everyday to unfair reasons, the fact is that few people do something about it, which means that the authorities can get away with just about anything.

Having lived in Cyprus, surrounded by the Greek culture for many years, I have to say that I feel pretty much the same frustration as all those rioting in Athens, Thessaloniki, and other Greek cities.

I’ve seen videos of youngsters beaten up by Cypriot policemen. I’ve seen drunken policemen in uniform. I know a woman who reported her neighbor to the ‘confidential’ police number for drug use, just to learn a few days later that a policeman tipped the drug abuser about it – she had to move to another city following the threats she received from her neighbor as a result.

I sometimes wonder if this is really what Third World countries look up to when they want to become more like a "European Union member nation".

Because they already look pretty much the same to me.

Happy 40 to a good friend!

My school friends are turning 40 and I am sincerely happy when this happens... though it reminds me that I am next! Happy Birthday H - have a blast!

The age of ‘never’

So I find this tea that claims being great help for a good night sleep. Not that I have a particular problem in that department, but the combo of linden flower (tila), chamomile and orange makes me think that it could help me relax – which is something I haven’t been lately.

I take a large cup, go to bed and fall into a deep sleep … so deep that I do not move all night and end up waking up totally relaxed but with a stiff neck! No, really!

And all I can blame it on is age. Yes, I am about to hit forty and I keep finding myself thinking all the time: “this never happened to me before…”, “so and so is something I never felt in the past…”, “I’ve never suffered this type of pain in my life …”.

This is why I say that I am reaching the “age of never”.

Forty is not old (if you are a tree!), but let’s accept that even when we still look and feel great this does not mean that our bodies are not changing (a nice way to say "aging".) Because they are!

So, this is my suggestion: let’s keep looking and feeling great, and next time something hurts in a way we never felt before, we can just take some of that wonderful tea, chill out and forget the thought.

Is France a country …?

No, no, no, I did not say this! I am just repeating what some dumb blonde said during an American TV show last year. If you saw the clip, I am certain that you remember this one – it is hard to forget! If you did not, I give you here 3 full minutes of absolute dumbness, where you won’t know whether to laugh or cry.



Just hope that the next US Secretary of State knows the answer despite being a blonde herself.