This beauty was parked on my street yesterday. I love these classics! Yeah!
Monday, May 31, 2004
Thieves in Capri's Paradise.
Yesterday was Mother’s Day in the DR. We all gathered at my building’s parking lot to celebrate. After we had lunch, we were making jokes and goofin’ around when Chachi, my older brother, got a call on his cell phone. It was the security company telling him that his house alarm had triggered. Since we live across the street (all my brothers and sisters in the same block), he crossed the street. Take into consideration he lives in a penthouse on the top two floors of a 13-story building, with restricted access. As he crossed the street, my other brother Fabio and my cousin Tony got up and followed him. When Fabio and Tony were entering the building, a tall dark man was coming down the stairs, walkie talkie in hand. He went by Tony, who had to look up to see him (Tony is over 6 feet tall, so imagine how big this guy was), and tried to get past Fabio. Fabio asked him who he was and he told him that he worked for the security company. Fabio asked him where his partner was and he rammed by him. Fabio tried to get ahold of him (Fabio is 5 feet 3 inches tall) but the guy tried to pull a gun on him. The guy then got into a brand new Chevy Tracker SUV, which Fabio tried to follow (Superman?).
Here’s what we believed happened: Since it was Mother’s Day, the security guard had no way of knowing who was invited to go in, and many of those invited left the door open, so he probably got in the front door. He got into the elevator and got off on the top floor and down the stairs to the 12th floor. He took a screwdriver and tried to pick the lock, but couldn’t so he kicked the door till it went down. This triggered the alarm, which he ripped off its hideout. He then went to my niece’s room and took 300 pesos from her purse, after turning her drawers upside down. After that, he went into my brother’s room and found a box full of my sister in law’s jewelry. Then his partner called him and told him people were running inside the building, so he took off down the stairs. The jewelry box was too obvious and he left it in front of the 11th floor apartment door.
Thank God nobody was hurt (there was no one in the apartment, except for my nephew’s Chihuahua, Chalupa), and that my brother was just 10 seconds away from his place.
We are all alive, but very spooked. Life goes on.
How dumb can people be????
I just got in the elevator at the office. Only me and some other guy that works for another company on another floor. He's blocking me from the button pannel, his back right on top of it. I reach out to touch my floor's button, and he smiles at me. He thinks I'm trying to touch him! I give him a weird look and he winks at me!
"Sir, excuse me, you're blocking the button pannel and I need to get to my floor!"
I wish you could've seen the look on his face....
Saturday, May 29, 2004
GMail again
Ok. If you give me a gmail invite, I will gladly do one of the following:
a) Teach you any word, or phrase, that you want in spanish. Imagine: you'll be able to tease your friends with words that they will never understand;
b) If that is not good enough for you, I can also send you pictures of all the important colonial monuments down in the Dominican Republic, taken by me;
c) Or maybe pictures of my 5 cats. They are very cute!
d) Give you permission to say you have a friend in the Dominican Republic;
e) Maybe if I say a prayer for your well being for the next week you'll send me an invite?
f) Give you the links to every dominican newspaper's websites. Read the news in spanish!
g) Promise to be your pen-pal;
h) Send you bottles of the best dominican beer and the best dominican rhum;
i) Give you public thanks on my website;
j) Toast to you the next time I go drinking with my friends;
k) Send you a sand sample of your favorite dominican beach;
l) Tell you how Friends REALLY ended;
m) Send you an ecard on your birthday;
n) Tell you where my nick came from (very interesting!);
o) Go to the roof of my building and shout your name out loud, record it and send you the video;
p) Send you a vial full of water from the Caribbean Sea;
q) Make my nieces and nephews (5 in total) do a "wave" in your honor, and send you video and photo proof;
r) Send you a cd containing the top ten songs played in dominican clubs;
s) Send you pictures of my cars;
t) Send you a picture of Sammy Sosa's house in the Dominican Republic;
u) Send you an Orkut invite;
v) Send you a box of original dominican cigars.
Please, please! Make a sad dominican girl happy by inviting her to join gmail!
Cono! Se fue la luz! (Darn! Lights went out!)
I'll admit it. Even if I'm supposed to be used to it, it still makes me mad when it happens.
Perfect. I live in a third world country that has been mismanaged ever since Columbus stepped on our beaches (for those of you who didn't know, this piece of land surrounded by water was were America was "discovered": La Hispaniola). We have had blackout problems ever since I can remember, bu still that's no excuse to act as if nothing is wrong.
And people say this is a poor country. We pay 50 dominican pesos for every US dollar. We pay 117 pesos for every gallon of gas. Minimum wage is less than 5,000 pesos a month (you do the math). Yet, last night I saw a brand new Mercedes 55 s AMG cruising around. And the streets are filled with spanking new Jaguars, BMWs, Porsches, Range Rovers, Volvos.... You name it , we have them here. People down here buy helicopters and yachts just for cruising around the island and showing them around...
The place where it all started.... The land of Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Felix Sanchez, Juan Luis Guerra, Michael Camilo, merengue, diablos cojuelos, Presidente, Brugal, sancocho ... The most beatiful beaches in the world... The nicest people... AND WE HAVE BLACKOUTS!
Yeah, I'm bitching too much. Better not think about it and enjoy the ride.... At least I have an emergency generator at home.
Age is catching up...
So last night I went drinking with my friend Rosita to Steak House Cafe, as we have been doing for the past 3 consecutive Fridays. A while later we met with ou friends Celia and Katherine. We had a great time and saw many friends. This is when it gets freaky... DARN! I'm getting old! I got sick when I came home and had to make a call over the "great white telephone"! When I was younger I was able to drink twice as much as I did last night without side effects. Loli keeps on saying she's got Alzheimer's (she keeps forgetting things), then what the hell do I have? I can't live life like this! Having soda when I go partying? Impossible!!!!!
Friday, May 28, 2004
Still looking for that gmail invite...
I've been looking everywhere, but I have yet to find that kind soul who will give me a gmail invite. Maybe you can?
Joined Orkut
Blogging from Aquarium
Thanks to Diego Vega for inviting me to join Orkut. Your gesture is very appreciated. Muchas gracias!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Saw it last night. Filled with special effects (which I love), I started shivering in the middle of the movie. Darn, those special effects were good! The ending was a little weak, though. After everything that happened, it kinda ended too fast. Dennis Quaid is still very cuuuuuute! The worst part of it, though, is that maybe someday that will happen. If we keep using our natural resources the way that we have, one of these days Mother Nature is going to fight back and reclaim what's hers. Many critics have said this movie sucked, but I liked it and will probably see it again.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
A Life Less Interesting - Andys Blog.: Damn I miss living in the Caribbean !!The Giraffe was hungry?
A Life Less Interesting - Andys Blog.: Damn I miss living in the Caribbean !!The Giraffe was hungry?
Thank you Andy for writing and noticing my blog! You can say you have a friend in the DR!
And it poured hard...
CNN.COM - Hundreds killed in Hispaniola flooding; death toll mounting
MSNBC - Caribbean storms claim more than 950 lives
We have made it to the news for all the wrong reasons.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Saw Van Helsing last night.
Van Helsing
Oh my God!!!!! Hugh Jackman is sooooooo cute!!!!!!
We (Loli and I) thought the movie was going to suck, but we were actually surprised. It had very good special effects (reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean. Johnny Depp is soooooo cute!!), and the plot was amusing. Kate Beckinsale's portrayal of Anna just didn't fit. She can do better with characters like the one in Serendipity. Don't get me wrong, I love chick flicks. Anyways, Maybe Jennifer Garner would've done a better job: she's femenine and she can kick some major ass!.
Curiosidades
Espadas: El rey David. Tréboles: Alejandro Magno. Corazones: Carlomagno. Diamantes: Julio César.
Las estrellas de mar no tienen cerebro.
dormitorio.
Datos curiosos sobre Lincoln y Kennedy
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
When it rains, it pours.
1. Macabre tragedy near Jimani
The National Emergency Commission (CNE) now confirms in its Bulletin No. 5 that the official death toll due to this weekend’s flooding is greater than the 104 bodies found as of noontime, including adults and children, both Haitians and Dominicans. El Caribe newspaper reports that 95 of the fatalities occurred at around 2:30am on Monday, when the mud-filled waters of the Silie River that starts in Haiti crushed the community of La Cuarenta, in the impoverished province of Independencia, and swallowed up many homes. The massive wall of water downriver is expected to have killed many more of the dwellers who had moved into the valley when the river dried up. The scenes are similar to those witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane George, when flooding led to tragedy in the southwestern town of Mesopotamia, where more than 400 people similarly perished.
Torrential rains fell this Sunday across the country caused by the passage of a tropical wave. Hoy newspaper says that 250 individuals are still missing, and 122 are injured. The authorities evacuated 11,975 persons and rescued another 2,600 persons.
The tragedy could repeat itself again this year, given that the La Nina phenomenon has replaced El Nino. Erosion and deforestation has caused the desiccation of many rivers and consequent building of communities in those valleys, making them target areas for a repeat of the tragic flooding scenes.
El Caribe reports that the provincial governor of Independencia, Tito Herasme, says some 200 dwellings have been destroyed and another 500 severely damaged. The destruction was caused after the region was affected by 247.8mm of heavy rains that fell on Sunday as the product of the large tropical wave. La Cuarenta mayor Janil Matos says the area has been isolated by the disaster, as it was left without power, potable water, or telephone lines. The regional hospital General Melenciano of Jimani has become an impromptu morgue. Bodies that have not been identified as of today will be buried in a communal grave. A state of emergency has been declared in the area of Jimani.
Article Copyright © 1996-2004. DR1
In what color do you dream?
Do we actually dream in colors? Or in black & white? In what language do you dream? English or spanish? Do we see ourselves when we dream, just like we look in reality?
Enough tying. Back to work.
Hungry and cranky.
Yup. I'm hungry and cranky. My office is close to the mess hall, so whenever people heat up their lunch, my stomach starts growling. Hard way to keep a diet around here. My back is better, though.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Concern
(Talking to self)
"My back started aching this morning again. I guess it's that time of the year for my regular hernia crisis. I just hope this time it's not as bad as the last time. Or maybe it's the rain. Or maybe it's because I spent most part of Sunday in bed and my body is sore. Yeah, age does that also."
Tripod
I had been thinking about it for some time now, and this afternoon I finally decided to do it, so I went ahead and got myself a tripod for my camera and my video cam. It's pretty cool and lightweight. Just what I wanted.
The animals in my life...
A little movie made by yours truly. Be patient, it takes some time to download.
Best viewed with: Quicktime
The Giraffe was hungry?
Apparently, a giraffe ate the traffic light at the intersection of Gustavo Mejía Ricart and Abraham Lincoln avenues. Let's see how long it takes the local authorities to replace it. In the meantime, I have to cross that intersection twice a day. Wonder what it would be like in rush hour...
Sobre los resultados electorales del 16 de mayo
Parece que olvidamos el furor de hace cuatro años, cuando celebrábamos la salida de los “comesolos” del poder. En aquel momento también los perredeístas le dieron una “pela de calzón quitao” a los peledeístas. Las calles estaban bañadas de blanco, fiestas y celebraciones por doquier. Hoy, cuatro años después, se han virado los papeles.
Recuerden que esta crisis no surgió de la noche a la mañana. Recuerden, así mismo, que los problemas no se van a resolver de un día para otro. Hay que tener paciencia y darles la oportunidad a los nuevos incumbentes de tratar de buscarle soluciones a los problemas que ahogan la sociedad dominicana.
No nos desesperemos.
Huele a paz y esperanza.
¡A luchar por la patria!
Yesterday.
Had way too much chinese food. It rained the whole day, so I did nothing but sleep, eat, watch some TV, work on my blog's appearance and try to make an iMovie of my cats. Tried to find some gMail invites, but so far no luck.
Today, here at work, kind of bored. Working on an important project, a bit complicated, but I'm sure I'll manage.
What else in new with the world today?
Due to all the rain, the city turned into a river yesterday. Today it is still very cloudy, but I think it hasn't rained yet. Can't really tell since I haven't gone out of my office.
Enough tying the goat (amarrando la chiva). Back to work.
If you want to know what "tying the goat" means, ask me....
Sunday, May 23, 2004
On the JAG Season finale...
JAG is one of my favorite shows. Mac got terrible news fom the doctor. Webb is dead (yet he keeps on appearing in other series), so here is Harm's chance to finally hook up with her. Let's hope he does. If not, I will diall 1-800-SUE-JAG (don't try to, I just made the number up). Chegwidden retires, Bud gets a promotion, Harriet is pregnant with twins (that Bud is a stallion!), Mattie is reconciling with her father. Did I like the finale? Well, I guess so. Could have been better, though. Cliffhangers always do that to me... What is wrong with Mac? She's got cancer? She can't have babies? She's going to end up in a wheelchair? Any insights, Mr. Bellisario?
Favorite quote from last weeks episode: "It's that guy from Quantum Leap!"
Predictions: Bud's new twins will be called Kirk and Spock.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
GMail
How on earth will I find a gmail account?
If anybody is kind enought to send me an invite, in return I would teach them how to swear in spanish..... Really!