I know it is been quite some time since I have "blogged". I have been thinking about writing something for quite awhile.
For example:
I was on the stationary bicycle at the gym the other day, it was raining, and I watched someone take a water meter reading outside. They were using a hand held electronic device to record the reading. This started me to thinking about all the technilogical advances in this "backwoods" country. I remembered when they began using these same devices in San Marcos for recording water meter readings. Next would be the meters that are used to record electicity use here. They are all digital, no longer the analog. which involved the rotating wheel. Cell phone use here is probably as extensive here as it is in the US, along with the same texting while driving problems. Last year fiber optic cables were installed in the country for telephone and internet use. We have a router that is a combination, lan and wifi. For a "third world" country we seem to be keeping up with the rest of the world, fairly well.
I moved here for many reasons, the primary reason being to spend the rest of my life with Fabiana Ponzoni. Before I moved here I had the same impression that most people have of South America. I imagined it as being jungle infested with all kinds of tropical animals and flora. It is almost identical to Texas, just a lot smaller. We don't have mountains here, like in West Texas. We have rolling hills, plains and a coastal region. It has still been the adventure I had imagined. My adventurous life took a different turn with the birth of Agustina, our daughter. I am 64 years old and parenthood has taken on an entire different meaning for me. I cherish each and every moment that I am given to spend with my family here. Do not misunderstand what I am saying. I have a son living in San Marcos, and I love him very much, but I do have a hard time remembering him growing up. I remember bits and pieces. I believe that has a lot to do with the fact that I spent most of my time during the day being at work, so a lot was missed. I am retired now and I spend most of my time with my family and I have the joy of spending a lot of time with them. There are still things I miss but it doesn't have anything to do with me not being here with them. I am living a new adventure, being a "senior" with a baby in the house.
I still find myself being amazed at times that I am living in South America. Living here is not really all that much different that the life I lived in North America. The only true difference is the language, and I think I am getting better at understanding and speaking the language here. I was thinking the other day, and I hope this doesn't upset too many people, but Americans have a kind of arrogance about english. When the people began coming to America, colonization, their primary language may or may not have been english. We were all descendants of immigrants. If you ever have the privilege of visiting a foreign country you may understand what I am saying.
I am rambling but I wanted to write down some of the things I have been thinking about while living here.
I still wake up every morning being more thankful than before the God has given me one more day to enjoy life. I am thankful for my family and friends, my true friends.
I want to add something I was thinking this morning. I have lived through various stages of life. I have struggled for a dollar, I have been comfortable with an income. I now depend on Social Security and another annuity and because of things that happen unexpectedly in life, some months have been a struggle but we have never gone hungry. If we run out of money before the end of the month there is always a way to survive. The fruteria where we shop regularly doesn't have a problem extending credit for us to get things and pay for them at the beginning of the next month. I was thinking this morning that almost every person in the world is dependent of the economy. If another big war should occur, and it will happen, the economies of every country involved will be affected. There are going to be a lot of people that will be doing without, food being on of the things that will be a struggle to have. Jobs will be lost, retirement annuities will not be paid, even people that have invested in the stock market will be counted amoung the struggling population. You will only be worth the money you have in your pocket. I am not trying to paint a negative picture, but it is something everyone needs to think about. I pray that it doesn't happen my lifetime or the lifetimes of my family and friends, but it is going to happen if the world doesn't wake up and figure out a way to reach a worldwide solution to peace.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Living in Uruguay
I am still living in Paysandu, Uruguay and plan on spending the rest of my life here.
I apologize for not blogging more this year but I have been busy enjoying life here, especially since the birth of our daughter in February. Life was good before she arrived but it has gotten great since then. I thank God for being given the chance to be a daddy, again. Agustina has brought sunshine to my life, and my other daughter, Valentina, is my other sunshine.
Unless you are a parent you don't have a clue what I am talking about.
I talk to Agustina in english and,of course, everyone else talks to her in spanish. I love watching her smile. She has a wonderful smile. She smiles with her eyes. She started making baby sounds about a month ago. Her first word was "aco", whatever that means. Her second was "goo". I am happy and I love living here with my new family. I know I will probably never seen any of you all that are living in the US again but I want you to know that life is good here.
On a different note, I have been going to the gym on a regular basis and decided to compete again. I asked the owner of the gym where I go, En Forma, if he thought if I could compete and he told me yes. He sponsors the competition here. I have started a tough regimen of weight lifting and diet. I have already lost 2 kg. I am not sure what part of the competition I will enter other than the over 60 category. I was thinking of entering the over 50 category and hopefully beating the person that won last year. This is the guy that won last year: https://scontent-a-mia.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1385264_633576303348668_1081689866_n.jpg
This is a video of the top 4 contestants in the over 90 kg category: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paysandu+classic
I think the same people that thought I was crazy for moving to Uruguay will think I am crazy for doing this, but what the heck, it's my life. I'm not going to live forever. Fabiana is very supportive and helps me with my diet, which consists of eating 10 egg whites, daily and drinking no less than 4 liters of water, daily.
I will try and keep up more with what is happening here. We are going to Montevideo next month to the US Embassy so I can get papers notarized to get a number for Fabiana so I can file Married filing Jointly so I won't have to worry about paying any more taxes. I think it is ridiculous that people that live on Social Security and retirment annuities should be expected to pay taxes, but that is a different story.
Until next time.
I apologize for not blogging more this year but I have been busy enjoying life here, especially since the birth of our daughter in February. Life was good before she arrived but it has gotten great since then. I thank God for being given the chance to be a daddy, again. Agustina has brought sunshine to my life, and my other daughter, Valentina, is my other sunshine.
Unless you are a parent you don't have a clue what I am talking about.
I talk to Agustina in english and,of course, everyone else talks to her in spanish. I love watching her smile. She has a wonderful smile. She smiles with her eyes. She started making baby sounds about a month ago. Her first word was "aco", whatever that means. Her second was "goo". I am happy and I love living here with my new family. I know I will probably never seen any of you all that are living in the US again but I want you to know that life is good here.
On a different note, I have been going to the gym on a regular basis and decided to compete again. I asked the owner of the gym where I go, En Forma, if he thought if I could compete and he told me yes. He sponsors the competition here. I have started a tough regimen of weight lifting and diet. I have already lost 2 kg. I am not sure what part of the competition I will enter other than the over 60 category. I was thinking of entering the over 50 category and hopefully beating the person that won last year. This is the guy that won last year: https://scontent-a-mia.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1385264_633576303348668_1081689866_n.jpg
This is a video of the top 4 contestants in the over 90 kg category: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paysandu+classic
I think the same people that thought I was crazy for moving to Uruguay will think I am crazy for doing this, but what the heck, it's my life. I'm not going to live forever. Fabiana is very supportive and helps me with my diet, which consists of eating 10 egg whites, daily and drinking no less than 4 liters of water, daily.
I will try and keep up more with what is happening here. We are going to Montevideo next month to the US Embassy so I can get papers notarized to get a number for Fabiana so I can file Married filing Jointly so I won't have to worry about paying any more taxes. I think it is ridiculous that people that live on Social Security and retirment annuities should be expected to pay taxes, but that is a different story.
Until next time.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Free Will
For lack of imagination to create a title for this blog I decided Free Will is as good as anything because it is the "meat" of this post.
I read an article the other day where a man, who was a teacher, in a coloquial (sp) school, was fired because he applied for a marriage license so he could marry another man. The school told him that he was in violation of his contract. So given that, the school was probably justified in their action. The part that really started this blog is the part that was written about acceptance and tolerance. I have been thinking about this for the past few days since I read the article.
I am sure there are going to be many of you who are going to disagree with what I am going to write, some of you are going to be angry and hopefully some of you will start thinking about how you might be able to do something to change the way people think.
I neither condemn or condone same sex marriage. I personally don't see what is wrong with it. I do not know what the statistics say about the divorce rate is in same sex marriage, probably too soon to demonstrate that they are either more successful or less successful than same sex marriage. The addage: "opposites attrack" is what started a thought process in this direction. Opposites is taken from the same Greek base as opposition. I think that is the basis of most unsuccessful marriages. I defer from using the expression failed here because that means someone did not do enough to keep the marriage together. I am sure that could be the case in some divorces. I do believe the deeper reason for divorces is that people grow apart. The emotion of love disapates and the union is over. Too many marriages stay together for the wrong reasons; we stayed together for the kids, even though they spend the major part of their formative years watching us fight all the time; so much so that it became the norm for them. When they got married they thought the same thing we did, thus creating a very vicious cycle. Just one example.
Now going back to my original statement. Who said that people of the same sex should not be united in matrimony? The Bible? Who wrote the Bible? Where did the stories in the Bible come from? A lot of people cite the book of Genesis, chapter 19 as an example: Sodom and Gomorrah. Who selected what books would be included in the Bible? Originally, it was the rabbe. Here is some Biblical history for you. The Bible was developed from Midrash. Midrash is oral stories passed along for many generations before they were written down. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that the stories that were told from generation to generation, never varied. What was told at the first sitting stayed the same, forever; but unless the people that told the stories witnessed what actually happened only told a story of something that they heard from someone else. A very great number of people believe that the Bible is the Word of God or the inspired Word of God. It all boils down to belief. Okay, for the sake of another argument, what if man created God and not the other way around? Do not be mistaken, I believe in God. I believe God created the world, not necessarily how the Bible tells it. No one was there to see it happen, so no one actually knows how it really happened. Another story passed down.
Okay, we are finally getting to the part that inspired the title to this blog. Almost every Christian believes that God gave man "Free Will". What exactly is free will? To me it is the ability to gather all the facts about things and make a decision based on the facts. So every person has the God given right to make his own decision based on the facts. Too bad that doesn't always happen. Too many times decisions are made based more on emotional inspiration rather than logical; not necessarily a bad way to make a decision but not always successful. So a man loves another man, or a woman loves another woman. Who makes the decision that this is wrong? and based on what information? Is it because the Bible says it's wrong? So if you believe that then you are relying on a document with a great deal of historical background and "stories". When did the historical part of the Bible become factual? I try to follow the Ten Commandments as closely as possible, but can you truly prove they existed? Where are the tablets that they were written on. According to the story in the Bible they were placed in an ark and protected, but somehow the ark was hidden and no one knows where that ark is located. Did someone write down on a secret document where it was hidden and that document has yet to be written or people were sworn to secrecy and the secret died with the passing of those that knew where it is? Did it really get taken up to heaven? Everything depends on faith. The definition of faith is trust in things unseen. Christians have faith that Jesus ascended to heaven by the hand of God, but no one saw it happen, but by faith they believe it to be true.
What is truly acceptable? Is it so wrong for a couple of the same sex to be united? Is it because they have found something so very few people discover in life...happiness. What do we need to accept and what do we need to tolerate?
ns] Show IPA
ns] Show IPA
the act or capacity of enduring; endurance: My tolerance of noise is limited.
Acceptance and Tolerance are not synonyms. The key word being "fair".
Like I said I am neither condemning nor condoning same sex marriages. I am going to take a fair viewpoint and not judge the decisions of people that want to be united with someone they love. I am using my Free Will to make that decision based on facts.
So if this is a something that really bothers you, I would suggest for your own sanity's sake, give it a rest. There are far more important things to be concerned with in this world, like are you going to be making enough money in the future to support your lifestyle.
Not meant to offend anyone. And by applying your Free Will you can chose to not like me anymore.
I read an article the other day where a man, who was a teacher, in a coloquial (sp) school, was fired because he applied for a marriage license so he could marry another man. The school told him that he was in violation of his contract. So given that, the school was probably justified in their action. The part that really started this blog is the part that was written about acceptance and tolerance. I have been thinking about this for the past few days since I read the article.
I am sure there are going to be many of you who are going to disagree with what I am going to write, some of you are going to be angry and hopefully some of you will start thinking about how you might be able to do something to change the way people think.
I neither condemn or condone same sex marriage. I personally don't see what is wrong with it. I do not know what the statistics say about the divorce rate is in same sex marriage, probably too soon to demonstrate that they are either more successful or less successful than same sex marriage. The addage: "opposites attrack" is what started a thought process in this direction. Opposites is taken from the same Greek base as opposition. I think that is the basis of most unsuccessful marriages. I defer from using the expression failed here because that means someone did not do enough to keep the marriage together. I am sure that could be the case in some divorces. I do believe the deeper reason for divorces is that people grow apart. The emotion of love disapates and the union is over. Too many marriages stay together for the wrong reasons; we stayed together for the kids, even though they spend the major part of their formative years watching us fight all the time; so much so that it became the norm for them. When they got married they thought the same thing we did, thus creating a very vicious cycle. Just one example.
Now going back to my original statement. Who said that people of the same sex should not be united in matrimony? The Bible? Who wrote the Bible? Where did the stories in the Bible come from? A lot of people cite the book of Genesis, chapter 19 as an example: Sodom and Gomorrah. Who selected what books would be included in the Bible? Originally, it was the rabbe. Here is some Biblical history for you. The Bible was developed from Midrash. Midrash is oral stories passed along for many generations before they were written down. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that the stories that were told from generation to generation, never varied. What was told at the first sitting stayed the same, forever; but unless the people that told the stories witnessed what actually happened only told a story of something that they heard from someone else. A very great number of people believe that the Bible is the Word of God or the inspired Word of God. It all boils down to belief. Okay, for the sake of another argument, what if man created God and not the other way around? Do not be mistaken, I believe in God. I believe God created the world, not necessarily how the Bible tells it. No one was there to see it happen, so no one actually knows how it really happened. Another story passed down.
Okay, we are finally getting to the part that inspired the title to this blog. Almost every Christian believes that God gave man "Free Will". What exactly is free will? To me it is the ability to gather all the facts about things and make a decision based on the facts. So every person has the God given right to make his own decision based on the facts. Too bad that doesn't always happen. Too many times decisions are made based more on emotional inspiration rather than logical; not necessarily a bad way to make a decision but not always successful. So a man loves another man, or a woman loves another woman. Who makes the decision that this is wrong? and based on what information? Is it because the Bible says it's wrong? So if you believe that then you are relying on a document with a great deal of historical background and "stories". When did the historical part of the Bible become factual? I try to follow the Ten Commandments as closely as possible, but can you truly prove they existed? Where are the tablets that they were written on. According to the story in the Bible they were placed in an ark and protected, but somehow the ark was hidden and no one knows where that ark is located. Did someone write down on a secret document where it was hidden and that document has yet to be written or people were sworn to secrecy and the secret died with the passing of those that knew where it is? Did it really get taken up to heaven? Everything depends on faith. The definition of faith is trust in things unseen. Christians have faith that Jesus ascended to heaven by the hand of God, but no one saw it happen, but by faith they believe it to be true.
What is truly acceptable? Is it so wrong for a couple of the same sex to be united? Is it because they have found something so very few people discover in life...happiness. What do we need to accept and what do we need to tolerate?
ac·cept·ance
[ak-sep-tuhns] Show IPA
noun
1.
the act of taking or receiving something offered.
2.
favorable reception; approval; favor.
3.
the act of assenting or believing: acceptance of a theory.
4.
the fact or state of being accepted or acceptable.
tol·er·ance
[tol-er-uhns] Show IPA
noun
1.
2.
a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.
3.
interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.
4.
Acceptance and Tolerance are not synonyms. The key word being "fair".
Like I said I am neither condemning nor condoning same sex marriages. I am going to take a fair viewpoint and not judge the decisions of people that want to be united with someone they love. I am using my Free Will to make that decision based on facts.
So if this is a something that really bothers you, I would suggest for your own sanity's sake, give it a rest. There are far more important things to be concerned with in this world, like are you going to be making enough money in the future to support your lifestyle.
Not meant to offend anyone. And by applying your Free Will you can chose to not like me anymore.
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