Tuck and Roll

I was out running this morning, when all of a sudden I tripped on a semi-covered, or semi-uncovered rock on the path. As I fell I channeled my long ago athletic days and remembered that I had to tuck and roll.

As I was going down, I also realized I had my iPod in my hand, and at the last possible moment I managed to slide it out of my hand (I did not want to crush it). As it slid, and I rolled, I was thinking that it would be pretty expensive to replace it in Argentina and I was already feeling a little anxious.

See, I can't even fall down in peace. I have to be thinking of the Argentine economy even as my feet are going over my head.

I am not as fast as I used to be. As I was going up from my roll, I grabbed my iPod and I realized it was okay (the music never stopped playing obviously); however, my knee hurt a little and I knew it was going to be bleeding so I changed direction and ran the rest of the way home.

Now I am sitting here typing this out after I bathed, and after I rinsed the wound scratch, and waiting for it to dry a little and I decided to see what my Facebook friends were doing.

I have been posting all kinds of crazy things that have made me shake my head in wonder and even in shame. Like for example a Republican hopeful from Iowa who came up with the brilliant idea of implanting microchips into people just like we do to dogs. Don't believe me?

“I think we should catch ’em, we should document ’em, make sure we know where they are and where they are going. I actually support microchipping them. I can microchip my dog so I can find it. Why can’t I microchip an illegal?"

In the same article you can see the backpedaling begin at the very end.

There was also another brilliant analysis comparing Mexicans to grasshoppers by Republican Ted Poe from Texas.

One small silver lining is that the far right activist have managed to make mimes funny.

I also stumbled into a video cartoon by Mark Fiore on the subject. I learned of it through the news that Steve Jobs had to step in to get this app approved after it had been denied.

But to get back to where I was going initially with my mentioning of Facebook was that on one of these posts of mine a friend chimed in with this statement that made me pause for a moment and really feel hurt by all this bigotry flying around:

In 1978, my parents smuggled my brothers and I out of Vietnam in the middle of the night to save us from being kidnapped by communists, sold into prostitution, or raised as soldiers. after 9 weeks at sea, we shipwrecked on a small island near Malaysia where incredibly generous people took us in, nursed us back to health, and helped us get to the US. Thanks to Arizona, I now feel no shame in kicking in the face anyone who finds themselves in my place. Thanks Arizona for giving the world another reason to hate the US, and Americans another reason to feel shameful.

And she added:

AND my brother is being deployed to Afghanistan for 6 months. I can't believe THIS is what he is fighting for.

Not only that, but this Arizona thing is making them come out of the woodwork. Oklahoma is liking this so much they want to not only copy it, but want to take it a bit further. I don't think they have heard about the microchip implanting idea yet.

 It looks like we, as a country, are falling down right now and we have to remember to tuck and roll people, tuck and roll.

More Starbucks Stores to Come

Just yesterday Starbuck's Argentina opened a store in Caballito and tonight they are opening one in Maure 1818 (corner with Arce).

The store openings are coming fast this year. Next week they will have one in Martinez, probably along Av. Libertador....

Their website has a handy store locator using Googlemaps within the site itself. So far, they don't have the Caballito store nor the Maure store, which if you count those they are up to 17 stores.

We are also working on a new Biscotti for them. It should be ready anytime now.

Cookies & Ice Cream

I have tried to introduce chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches (or chipwhiches) here, but I have not been too successful. Let me rephrase that, I have not been successful at all, I have failed miserably. But, that's not what this is going to be about.

It's actually about The Federal Budget.

Yes, this is old news, but you know what? Not much has changed since 2007.

I ran into a video from Ben Cohen (from Ben & Jerry's) in which he used Oreo cookies to illustrate what the Federal Budget looked like. If you want to see it here it is:



However, what I found even more interesting was the back story on his back and forth with the owners of Oreo. I once tried to create a Baileys flavored Dulce de Leche but I was shot down by Baileys so I could relate.


I also thought it was great how he was going around making presentations with actual Oreos.

Looking around I saw that he even went on the Colbert Report.

Yeah, this is so 2007, but doesn't it say something that we are still doing more of the same?

Back then the Pentagon's budget was $420 billion and for 2010 it's up to $685.1 billion. To be fair, now it includes the two wars, but still it seems outrageous. Our defense budget is almost as much as the rest of the world's defense budget combined! Yeah, that includes China.

So Ben, thanks for the video and the short and sweet lessons on the Federal Budget.

If the Oreo people give you grief over the usage of their brand name, let's talk. I can use some help getting the locals to try chocolate chip ice cream sandwhiches.

What do Philip Starck, Carlos Ott and Jack Nicklaus Have in Common?

I have just received via snail mail an invite for a cocktail at this event. Sadly I can't go, but I thought I would give this to the first person who contacts me. Call the store at 4777-5423 and ask for the invite. Please leave your full name, contact phone number and tell us when you would like to pick it up.


There is only one wrist band included in the invite. This being Argentina I was planning on going with my significant other, which in this case it would be my wife, and insisting on both of us getting in. This is Argentina after all.

www.yoonordelta.com

Avda del Golf 625

Nordelta

Buenos Aires

Decertified?

Yesterday I wrote this post that was basically an emotional response. I should know better, but having received potshots from these people for better part of a year and facing what we thought was going to be desertification without a fair hearing from Democrats Abroad just got the better of me.

I saved that post to remind me of what I should probably not fall for in the future. Yeah, there are some people that constantly look to tear me down. It has happened once before.

So if you would like the cliffnotes version of what all of this is about.....

I ran for office as Treasurer of Democrats Abroad Argentina and won. I had several proposals of mine meet up with resistance from a minority of our executive group, things like participating in an annual 4th of July event that ICANA hosted and having us meet at ICANA for example. I also proposed that we piggyback on events with Internations who love to hold happy hour events around the city. This minority has gone on to press International to de-certify us because according to them these things I proposed are an abomination and they are illegal. My point was that they are not and I was never given a chance to prove it.

Small group politics are boring and this one is no exception. Except that now International has gotten into the middle of this and all I want to know is what are they going to do about it.

So, those of you who already saw the original post will understand why I took it down. The others who chance upon this for the first time can just rest assured that it was not a radical post, but it did target and ridicule slightly the one person who I think is responsible for all of this. But, since I really don´t want to get petty and bring myself down to their level I decided to replace it for now with this.

I do apologize to you my readers for the mix-up. I also apologize to that person I ridiculed publicly. I should have just kept it private. Just keep in mind, that being mixed up is part of life and makes us human. Also apologizing is tough.

Now back to what I should be doing and that is talking to grown up business people about business.

Starbucks Helping Out?

I just read an article from Treehugger.com on how Starbucks is offering fairtrade coffee in Ireland and the UK.

I just wanted to take a moment and applaud that effort. I think it's a great start!

Here in Argentina they are also buying from a local small company (ahem...mine) and I have to say that they have been wonderful--so far ;-)

So take a small break from the Starbucks bashing and at least give them a sign when they do something right. I also know that they do lots of donations and they don't always publicize them.

Okay, now you can dived yourselves up again and go back to your I Hate or I Love Starbucks sides.

And if you want you can read the article here.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame....(Today!)

Yep, I am talking about baseball and in Buenos Aires. First there were home made chocolate chip cookies, then smoothies, burritos, cupcakes, and now there is baseball!

In case you didn't know there is a baseball league, the "Liga Metropolitana de Beisbol".

Wind of this came to me via Yanqui Mike, and I heard that there is free transportation from Palermo to the stadium.

Read up on the Americans via their web site: The Shankees, and head out today to catch the season opener!

Movies Under the Stars

If you are going to be around Buenos Aires between the 21st of January and the 16th of March then this might be an option for you.

Konex will be hosting movies in the outdoors. They will supply the drinks and the stars and maybe some chairs. I saw some pictures where there was a lot of people sitting on the floor.

I would call and ask if you can bring your own lawn chair unless you don't mind sitting on concrete for a couple of hours.

Read all about it at their blog called Cine con Estrellas.

Can Your Phone Do This?

I just bumped into this site this morning and I immediately wanted this thing. How cool is this?

Augmented reality, flying a drone with video camera wireless from your iPhone or iPod Touch!

You can watch the video yourself and visit the site to get more info.

Just one note, while looking at this site I got an error message saying that they are over capacity. This thing is so cool I don't doubt that this will happen so be patient, bookmark the site and visit later if you can't see it. Meanwhile, the videos should work.

New Years at Sugar & Spice

This year, instead of just handing everyone a present and sitting through lunch just to see everyone try to leave as soon as possible, I thought we would play a game.

A friend of mine had told me of this game that his very large family would play at Christmas. The game involves everyone getting a number to determine the order they would follow picking gifts.

The first person basically has no choice and just picks from the bunch of unopened gifts.

The second person then has a choice of either taking away the first person's gift or opening up an unopened gift. The person who gets their gift taken away just gets to open another unopened gift.

My wife thought that they would be too timid to take gifts away and it certainly was looking that way until I was picked and started the stealing; after that, some people started to get into the hang of it and one gift in particular was targeted as the gift to steal.

Also, this time, we let the kids organize lunch, while I organized the game and the champagne, and my wife organized the gifts.

Every year we face more and different challenges. We have never had a holiday season similar to past ones. Quite honestly, we were surprised by the very large demand we had this holiday season. It just came at once and did not let up. We even had people show up at the store during the lunch and Jessica had to go and work the store during the lunch. Next time we will just close early.

So I thought that you would like to see some of the people that make the magic possible at Sugar & Spice. These are the faces behind the wonderful cookies, brownies, pound cakes and our much sought after pan dulce. These kids will be the first ones to tell you that we make the absolute best and yummiest goodies in Argentina and you just can't help but believe them when they tell you.

I am so proud of them.