Wednesday, September 21, 2005

BEF 534

this week i started my first ever graduate course, courtesy of the University of Alabama-Birmingham. the name of the class is Multicultural Education and is the first in a series of getting a masters degree in Education. the class is taught in english (thankfully) by an ex professor from George Mason University and is a pretty intersting class so far. it started on monday (unbeknownst to me) but i started on tuesday. i arrive a bit late most of the time because my classes at my school don't get out until 330p, which is when the masters course starts. but the teacher is flexible and he's having me (and a couple others with the same problem) do a little extra work to make it fair for everyone.

it's a pretty intensive schedule. 330p to 730pm 5 days a week and after a month, the course is over. next friday i've got to write a 2500 word term paper on a topic of my choice, related to the class. i haven't decided what to do yet but i have a couple ideas. i tell ya, it makes for a long, busy day for me. it's very reminiscent of my university days of working two jobs and going to school.

the downside to all this is that, in order to leave my school the two days of the week that permit me, i'll have to take a pay cut. i don't know how much it's going to be (probably not a lot) but the fact that it will happen at all just irks me.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Andrea



Tonight i celebrated my one-year anniversary being with this amazing woman. what can i say about how i feel about her? everything. from an objective perspective, she's the kind of girl who is honestly modest, accepts my imperfections, can be an independent and free thinker; is adventurous, fun, and open-minded; who always tries to improve but doesn't try to be perfect; who calms me down and brings things to perspective when they have been blown out by my occasional losses of tranquility; oh, and not to mention someone who looks pretty damn good in everything and thinks i look good in (almost) anything. from a personal perspective, she's good for me and i'm good for her.

i'm happy. i'm happy to be looking forward to continue being with her. we're planning on traveling together next year, destination unknown*. she's ready and willing to leave everything that is familiar and known, her family, the few friends she has, and the culture behind for a change for the better. i'd be honored to be there with her.

thank you andrea.

*anyone who knows of a school that is interested in hiring me as a teacher of English, Spanish, Physics, or general science as well as a school for andrea to teach Spanish, feel free to contact me.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

the things we think but don't say

one of the worst acts of diplomacy that i've learned to perform is not to stir the cauldron when it doesn't need to be stirred. andrea is like me on this, if there's an opportunity to complain about something we both prefer not to and just accept people for who they are. there is the odd exception but in general, if i feel cheated or screwed on something, i won't bitch about it. my reasoning for this personality quark is that the effort to bitch for a different outcome isn't usually worth the outcome.

admittedly, the more i ignore opportunities to complain about things the more they add up to a general irking. the most recent episode came this weekend when (finally) the washing machine that the school promised i could use arrived. i knew something was up when the two people who delivered it (at 630am!) on saturday didn't even make a move or offer to hook the thing up, nor didn't have anything for me to sign saying i received it. i realized later that it was because the thing wasn't worth the metal it was housed in. the tubes leaked water and it didn't oscillate nor spin. it added water, made some horrble noises, produced malodorous air, then drained the water. it basically needs an overhaul which, i'm assuming, the school will not pay for.

now, i'm sure their guns are loaded with reasons why they shouldn't fix it and i should. my guns, though loaded, will only amount to a Scud versus their long range nukes and i'll end up footing the bill.

i could go into who's responsibility is, what exceptions there are, what misunderstandings took place and end up where i am now. so i won't say a word, do the diplomatic thing, and swallow the cost to fix the thing. i'll give it back at the end of the school year without hearing so much as a thank you (which would ultimately admit that the school knew it was broken when they lent it to me and god forbid if that would ever happen). they'll be happy and i'll wear a fake smile about it.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

the good book

when i first read the bio on 'See No Evil' on amazon, i was thinking it was going to be a book that enlightens the reader about the direction the CIA has been going during the past decade. and it did, but not in the way i expected. it was told from the eyes of the field operator who believes that the best way to get to know your enemies is by talking with people who have turned against them.

it highlights how he entered the CIA from the bay area and how he was trained as a field agent (there are even blacked-out lines in the book proving that the CIA read it and edited it to protect some identities and operations). it's like being a detective in the local police department and shaking down petty criminals to get to the big fish, but on a global level. it's basically hobnobbing and networking.

what was incredible about the book was how two things affected the downfall of foreign intelligence in the middle east: the information and technological boom in the 1990's and the arresting of Rick Ames (a CIA agent) for being a KGB spy. the information age made everything easy for everyone, even the CIA. it was lulled into thinking that they would rely more on satellites and the internet to get the info they wanted rather than with agents in the field gathering data.

the timing of all this was incredibly ironic, at times i found myself shaking my head in disbelief. it was at a time when the CIA was less and less interested in middle east intelligence and more interested in making oil deals with exxon, ammoco, and mobil in russia. plus, any remaining CIA agents in the field were petrified to recruit enemy associates because the FBI was on a witch hunt for other Rick Ameses.

while all this was going on, two very important people integrated with international terrorism could have been eliminated (or at least controlled): Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. in fact, in 1994, the author was meeting with iraqi army generals who had fought under hussein and were asking the CIA for U.S. support in a planned coup again hussein (which never happened). then again in 1995, when bin laden was in sudan and the sudanese wanted him out, they were ready to 'deliver' bin laden 'on a silver platter' to the U.S. (which also never happened). bin laden ended up in afghanistan to keep in close contact with his clan in iran. this lack of intelligence and interest in the middle east allowed the bin ladens and iranians (using money and weapons from Iran-contra back in the 80's) to plan and execute what happened in nyc, unbeknownst to the CIA because there were no field agents!

something else i thought was ironic and didn't know was that hussein, bin laden, the islamic jihad organization, basically all middle east terrorist groups were in some way associated and educated by yasir arafat during the 80's and 90's. and it was arafat who received the nobel prize for peace in 1996.

why was this book so interesting to me? maybe because i've been out of the country for the last 4 years and don't watch the news. i'd rather get my news from the source.

it has begun

i thought it would take a little longer than a couple weeks. in a school full of females, there was bound to be one of them to have the hots for me. the problem is that she's apparently fallen for other teachers in the past and has had disappointing consequences. the parents have gotten involved in the past also, the father i've been told can be quite unpleasant. whatever. i know where the boundary is between a professional rapport with a student to build confidence and something more. i know how to handle it.

my new passport is ready for me to pick up, go to the local ministry and get another visa. tomorrow morning i'll head down and take care of all this nagging crap and then i should be in the clear.

i'm also almost finished with a really good book called 'See No Evil,' by Robert Baer. it's about the CIA, the government, terrorism, and how the faces of all these identities have changed over the past ten years written from an ex-CIA intelligence gatherer. he had been stationed in lebanon, iraq, sudan, russia, and other places where g dubya's evil-doers reside. good stuff. i'll fill you in when i finish.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

crazy bus drivers, lazy bus passengers

i experienced another hair raising bus ride home on the way back from juggling this evening. for those of you who don't know, much of the public transportation in bogota is by private bus companies, most of which compete for riders standing on the sides of major streets. the bus drivers stop as often as necessary (even though typical bus stops are present) and wherever it is convenient. i've seen on a number of occasions where a bus driver was blocking three lanes of traffic to pick up a passenger; plus i've had bus rides where they driver stops to drop off or pick up passengers 6 or 7 times within one street block.

while on the subject of bus passengers, i think most of them take advantage of the stop-wherever-i-need-to-stop policy. i can't count how many times i've been at the back of a bus (where the most leg room usually is and, coincidentally, where the exit is located) and seen a passenger get off at one location, then another waiting passenger rings the bell to get off 10 meters down the street; which is followed by another lazy passenger getting off 15 meters after that. i guess people really want their 45 cents worth. i for one try to get off when the bus stops to pick someone up or when the bus stops for someone else getting off close to where i need to. but i guess i'm a minority in this thinking.

well the bus driver this evening was in command of a beast of a machine. although managing it like a champion, i think he was oblivious to the fact that those passengers standing (me included) were like dogs tied to the back of a speeding pickup truck. apparently, he was racing another smaller bus to the other side of town. must have been a slow sunday night.

I've moved

I decided to relocate my blog on the web because i wasn't super happy with www.journalhome.com, mostly because pictures and web links were difficult to manage. so here i am. if you are at all interested in my random entries (mostly of the goings-on down here in the tropical mountains), check back randomly.