Orgulloso de los Pumas

Cada cuatro años se juega un mundial, no el de football sino el de rugby.
A pesar de nunca haberlo jugado dado que crecí jugando hockey sobre cesped, el club en donde jugaba tenia un equipo de rugby, o los perros como los llamabamos carinosamente, que era una parte muy importante del club, y por lo tanto observe el deporte desde temprana edad.
También vengo de una familia donde mi padre jugó antes que yo naciera, y mi sobrino también juega.
Pero el mundial es algo muy especial, no es como observer un partido entre S.I.C. y C.A.S.I..
El nivel de las selecciones es extremadamente alto.
Este año el mundial se juega en Nueva Zelanda.
Argentina jugó en una zona muy difícil con tres equipos muy parejos y dos de un nivel inferior. Fue el grupo más duro y más parejo. En los otros tres grupos había dos equipos “fuertes” y tres de menor nivel.
Argentina tuvo la mala fortuna de sufrir dos bajas en el primer partido contra Inglaterra, un partido ya de por si dificil, pero que se vio mas complicado por los dos jugadores que se lesionaron, Felipe Contepomi, el pateador de los pumas y su capitán, y Gonzalo Tiesi que quedó fuera del torneo.
Argentina perdió ante Inglaterra por una pequeña diferencia producto de un error de concentración al final del partido.
Luego tuvieron un partido medianamente de menor nivel contra Rumania donde ganaron abultadamente.
Después vino el partido con Escocia. Un partido donde los fieles seguidores que nos levantamos a una temprana hora alrededor del mundo sufrimos hasta el final del partido, dado que Argentina perdía, y un error de los escoceces les permitió hacer un try, y la conversión, y con eso ganaron por un simple punto. Descorazonante para los escoceces y un triunfo con un dulce sabor, después del sabor amargo que había dejado la derrota contra Inglaterra.
El partido que dejó preocupados a todos los argentinos fue el jugado contra Georgia, dado que el rival salió con un plan de juego desde el comienzo de complicar a los pumas, y lo cumplieron casi a la perfección. Digo casi porque el seleccionado argentino se “despertó” con 20 minutos por jugar y “pisaron” el acelerador imponiendo su calidad y su superioridad.
Argentina con esto triunfo había pasado a la proxima ronda, en donde el rival era nada más ni nada menos que Nueva Zelanda, tal vez el major equipo actual de rugby en el mundo.
Si uno toma en cuenta el resultado si mirar el partido asume que el local se impuso facilmente, pero la realidad es otra. El visitante salió con un plan de juego que freno a los neozelandeses durante todo el primer tiempo, incluyendo un try de los argentinos que dejó asombrados a los presents en las tribunas como también a los All Blacks. Pero los pumas cometieron muchos penales, que los locales supieron aprovechar, y cuando terminó la primera etapa Nueva Zelanda estaba arriba en el mercador por un punto.
En el Segundo tiempo los hombres de negro salieron totalmente dispuestos a poner mas puntos en el marcador, cosa que no habían podido en los primeros 40minutos del partido. A medida que pasaban los minutos se hacia mas incesante el ataque local, y se veia la claudicacion fisica de la visita. Los All Blacks terminaron demostrando el porque están catalogados como el favorito para ganar este torneo. Tienen a todo el pais empujandolos, dandoles el apoyo que se da al ser locales.
Pero no nos olvidemos de los pumas. Los pumas jugaron como un gran equipo que son. En todo partido hay siempre un ganador y un perdedor. Pero hay ganadores y también hay perdedores. A lo que me refiero con eso es que los pumas pusieron el alma, el corazon en la cancha, Tienen que estar orgullosos de haberle dado la lucha a los neozelandeses que se les dió. Uno siempre quiere que ganen. Pero el rival fue superior.
Los pumas tuvieron un muy torneo, no tal vez tan bueno como hace cuatro años en Francia en donde terminaron terceros, pero bueno igualmente.
La posibilidad de jugar el año que viene con los tres equipos del hemisferio sur, que están entre los mejores, les va a dar la experiencia que les va a hacer falta para competir en el próximo mundial, y conseguir un mejor resultado al obtenido en Nueva Zelanda.

Incidents at Ezeiza airport

For many years I have traveled with American Airlines because of the fact that we use an American Airlines credit card that allows us to add 1 mile for every dollar spent, and because they fly every day from the New York area to several places around the world including my home country, the place that I go the most.
This year my return trip was on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Dallas/Ft. Worth, and then with a connection to Newark Airport. The total length of that trip is almost 18 hours.
At the same time they have a flight to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, and a flight to Miami with a connection to La Guardia Airport also in New York City.
In the U.S. you can have a confirmed ticket on a flight and always stand by for another one, as long as it’s around the same time and on the same airline.
Both the nonstop flight from Buenos Aires to JFK, and the Miami alternatives were shorter than my choice was.
The logical questions would be why didn’t I chose the shorter options. The answer is also quite simple, that option was not available at the time.
So having traveled in the past and having worked in the industry like I did for more than 25 years I asked the agent if I could change my reservation to the nonstop or to the shorter connection. I was told that my type of ticket had no seats available. That is usually the answer that reservation people will give because they don't have the authority to override those decisions. The airport on the other hand does. They can move people from one flight to another with no problem.
Now to add insult to injury, or in other words to make matters worse, we are dealing with Argentinians, compatriots of mine. Why do I say this? Very simple, people in Argentina do not have ingrained in their system the concept of service. Everything is a major issue, from getting a passport to transferring the title of a car from one owner to the next. So I was dealing with back to back issues here, the lack of service from the “customer service” people and the fact that I was trying to change my reservation.
I ran into a wall of uncooperative agents from the one at the check-in all the way to the gate people. The answer was always the same: NO.
And they gave different excuses. The check-in agent said that I had to pay a penalty for changing my reservation, while one gate agents said that it could not be done because there was no time to put me on the flight because my bag was on another flight, that had been forced by the check-in agent. The last gate agent blamed the airport for their lack of cooperation.
So I ended up on the same flights that I was booked on originally, and both the nonstop and Miami flight left with empty seats.
A glorious end to my many other frustrations during my visit to Argentina this year.

Como hacen los argentinos para vivir en Argentina en el 2011

Todos los años cuando vuelvo a Argentina trato de escribir sobre mis reflexiones, mis vivencias. Normalmente escribo en ingles, dado que la mayoria de las cosas cuando escribo lo hago porque se ha vuelto mas facil para mi, pero este año gente amiga me ha pedido que lo haga tambien en castellano porque les hes mas facil para entender, y disfrutarlo.
El tema de mi reflexion este año es como dice el titulo ”Como hace la gente para poder vivir en Argentina”.
Otros años puede ser que porque no le preste mayor importancia a este tema nunca se me ocurrio esto. Esta vez puede haber sido que desde el primer dia cuando fui con mis padres al supermercado cercano a la zona de ellos y pagamos en el momento de pasar por la caja $300 me parecio exhorbitante dado que teniamos nada mas que tres o cuatro bolsas de productos en su gran mayoria comestibles, una o dos gaseosas, y unas botellas de agua mineral. No estabamos comprando nada que se puede decir productos de lujo.
De ahi en mas senti como una necesidad de empezar a hablar con gente conocida par aver que opinion tenian. Encontre muchas versiones al respecto, desde la frase 100 dolares no es nada aca, como tambien otras expresiones como la inflacion esta fuera de control.
Mucha gente me dijo que viajaba o compraba a EEUU a comprar porque todo era una “ganga”. Ahi comprendi el porque todos los vuelos desde y hacia Argentina estaban abarrotados, principalmente de argentinos.
Un ser muy querido me dijo “mira, es muy facil”. Cuando dijo eso yo pense deben ganar muy bien. Pero enseguida agrego, “antes me compraba un jean, ahora no lo compro mas, antes me compraba un par de zapatos, ahora no lo compro mas”, y asi me dio una lista de cosas. “Ahora solo compro lo que necesito que normalmente es comida y productos de primera necesidad, y las cosas que necesitan mis hijas.”
Ahi me di cuenta que esto no era simplemente mi primera impresion en ese supermercado sino que esto era un gran problema que estaba sufriendo toda la problacion. El costo de vida se ha vuelto muy alto, y sigue subiendo. El gran agravante es la inflacion. Esta persona me dijo “yo compraba mas en la epoca de Menem que ahora”.
Tambien note que las propiedades han subido muchisimo, al punto de gente preguntandome que podia hacer con la plata en EEUU. Yo trabajo en una inmobiliaria con lo cual algo de conocimiento, no mucho, de algunos mercados en otras zonas del pais tengo. He escuchado que las propiedades en Miami estan muy baratas. No se exactamente en que zonas de Miami, pero tengo entendido que muchas de las propiedades han perdido hasta un 75% del valor en partes de la Florida. Como consecuencia en estas ultimas epocas se estan ofreciendo departamentos en Miami comenzando en 40 mil dolares. Esos valores no se consiguen mas en la mayor parte de Argentina, con lo cual muchos argentinos consideran que es un buen negocio adquirir propiedades por ese valor. La Florida es un mercado que desconozco casi por completo por la distancia y por como esta estructurado el mercado inmobiliario en un pais tan extenso, con diferentes leyes en cada estado. Yo viviendo en la zona de Nueva York estoy a muchas horas de viaje y a una gran distancia de ahi, cosa que hace imposible el manejo y/o asesoramiento que pueda necesitar gente localmente .
Volviendo nuevamente al tema de Argentina y su alto costo de vida, tengo que decir que no puedo comprender y explicarme como hace la gente para vivir, subsistir, alimentarse, etc.
Asi y todo los argentinos parecen estar totalmente como insensibles a todo esto dado que consumen como si mañana no existiese, adquiriendo televisores lcds, computadoras,telefonos blackberrys o smartphones, adquiriendo vehiculos automotores en cantidades records, y como dije anteriormente llenando vuelos a distintos puntos en EEUU, y volviendo a decir el famoso “deme dos”, como se hizo hace muchos años atras.
Yo, a pesar de haber nacido en Argentina, al haber vivido en EEUU durante los ultimos 26 años he perdido la practica de no poder tener mas un presupuesto que me permita saber si el ingreso que tenemos en mi casa nos permita hacer los gastos que hacemos.

August 18th

On August 18th my family celebrates 2 birthdays. One of them, my son, Ian, who this year turned 17. The other one, my cousin Wendy who would have been 48.
Both of them have been a blessing to all of us who have known them.
My son has been a blessing because he has taught us through his disability how to be patient, compassionate and to value every day of his and our lives.
We cherish and value his progress, and although many times we would like him to be “normal”, in reality then it would not be Ian.
Ian loves people, he loves his family, his school, at church, going out and having fun with different groups that he enjoys going out with. Does he have his moments? Don’t we all? Do we grow sometimes impatient? That is where the teaching comes into the picture.
God will always be with him, Ian is an emissary of God to remind us that he is always in control, and that we need to stop, reflect and value every day of our lives.
My cousin, Wendy, because she taught us, all of us who were fortunate enough to have a relationship with her, that although life can be at times less than what we expected or wanted we can still be compassionate, loving and touch people who need love and caring. This was most evident when she worked at the hospital. She had found her niche there. She loved being around people, helping them in any way she could, many times by just being there, and sharing her love with them. Although she said she was not a believer in Christ she embodied everything that Christ taught us.
We still mourn her loss, it brings sadness to those of us who loved and cherished her. But in that sorrow there is joy to know that her suffering is no more, and that she is in a better place with her creator. More than anything what we miss is her presence.
The reason why we can celebrate her birthday is because she is remembered by people all around the world who came into contact with her, and while one person remembers you, you are alive.
So in this day we give God thanks for the lives of these two people who shared the same birthday. To him be the glory.

Las Primarias de Agosto del 2011

Hoy se celebraron lo que se podría llamar la antesala a las próximas elecciones en Argentina, ,y como era de esperarse ganaron la Presidenta Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, y muchos de sus protegidos como Scioli en la Provincia de Buenos Aires.
Sabíamos que las masas la apoyarían (y la apoyarán), pero con eso no le alcanza para una mayoría. El motivo por el cual ganó hoy y, posiblemente gane también en octubre, es porque no hay una oposición y, más que nada, porque parte de la clase media, y de la mejores ingresos sienten que esta administración los ha beneficiado económicamente.
Su trayectoria, y la de su marido, han dejado mucho por desear,inflación al borde del descontrol, falta de seguridad, cortes de rutas creadas por sus portegidos, agresión contra el campo, empobrecimiento de los jubilados a cambio de seguir manteniendo los gastos personales de la Presidente, y últimamente, el cierre de la importación con mayores costos o falta de mucho de los productos que no se fabrican en el país.
En Argentina, como en muchos otros lugares, el egocentrismo de unos pocos decidió ydecidirá el futuro del país

Each nation has the government it deserves

A few days ago I finished my last blog with the concept that every nation has the government that it deserves.
Back where I come from we would always laugh and make fun on the government, regarding its incompetence, trustworthiness and lack of leadership.
Since last December I have been disappointed with President Obama’s performance. The only exception was the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, I have criticized him for not going to Wisconsin and campaign for State Senators, showing that he has convictions, the same kind of convictions that he showed during the primaries and then in the general election of 2008. He seems in the last 9 months to have turned his back to his base. I had even sent an email to the White House saying that if he went ahead with cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, with nothing in exchange such as tax increases and cuts in defense he had lost my vote.
Comes Thursday night and I sit down to watch the Republican Debate in Iowa.
What a bunch of light weights, amateurs. When Bachmann was challenged for her total lack of success, she defended the fact that she had stuck in a bill the option for people to choose the type of light bulb they could purchase, and the fact that she would through the whole country into default.
Kain, Mr. Pizza man, said that he is learning as he campaigns. Santorum believes we should make a federal mandate that a marriage is between a man and a woman. Don't we have enough issues at the federal level than to focus on marriage?
Ron Paul was the only candidate that made sense in many instances, for example when he said that the military should not be any longer overseas, and that the country is going bankrupt.
But the icing on the cake was when they all agreed that under no circumstances they would include in any deal any kind of tax increase.
Here is where the title of the blog comes into the picture, members of this party are a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and 47 senators.
Some of these people ran last November under the premise of creating jobs, but have proposed no job creation bill since there've been in Washington. To make matters even worse with unemployment they want to layoff 120,000 United States Postal Service employees. They are willing to create more unemployment so that they can blame it on Obama at the expense of the American people. Their recipe is the same for everything: less regulation, less taxes. That is what they did in the past decade and it put this country in the biggest recession since the Great Depression.
It is sad to see this great country heading in a path of rapid decline. The lack of investment, lack of education, lack of vision are the main causes of this rapid decline.
A friend of mine, who sadly past away, and I would always talk about how the poor and the middle are brain washed, to the point where they would vote against their own interests. They vote for a candidate who favors exporting their jobs overseas, but sugar coats it this by telling them that he or she shares their values by being pro-life, and is against gay marriage. At the end of the day they don’t have a job but they can proudly say that their government will ban abortions and will pass, like Santorum wants, a federal amendment against same sex marriage. They are also told that if taxes are cut for millionaires and billionaires that they will invest in job creation. Mr. Huntsman said last night that 90% of the jobs of his business were created in China, not in the U.S. That is how we now have a structural high unemployment, a rapid disappearance of the middle class, the wealthy getting wealthier at the expense of everybody else, and high deficits at every level because there is no industrial base, and therefore lack of employment paying those taxes. That is how we come to cities like Detroit that have lost huge sections of its population, with whole areas of the city now that have become abandoned with empty houses.
Again, these are the people running to be the “government”, and the reason I used the quotation is because WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT, but until WE take it back by showing up to vote, demanding different priorities from our politicians and forcing the haves to pay what they must, nothing will change. It is not the politicians fault, it’s ours.

The downgrading of the U.S credit rating

Last Friday August 5th 2011, Standard and Poor’s downgraded the United States’ credit rating from a AAA credit that it has held since 1917 to a AA+.
“Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.” This is a quotation of what the reason Standard and Poor’s gave for the downgrade.
Many Republicans took offense with this because they felt that Standard and Poor had no right to set policy. The entity was not setting policy, it was just basing itself on facts.
As one who believes in facts I have to agree with Standard and Poor’s reasoning.
What we went through during the last few weeks in Washington was inadmissible.
As a big supporter of President Obama is was very disappointed in his leadership. Although he found himself trapped in a situation that was not of his creation, my concern is his willingness in compromising too soon. He did that last December with the extension of the tax cuts, he did the same thing with a single payer health care system . He came across as a weak head of government.
As a big sport fan I look at a leader of a team putting the team on his shoulders, like Kobe Bryant does with the Lakers and Dwain Wade does with Miami Heat, both basketball teams.
When it’s time to deliver, that is when they show up to push the team over the hump.
I don’t think that President Obama has that particular talent. Maybe because he thinks that he should stay above the quarreling of the Congress.
We also now see the candidates, or suspects like a friend of mine would call them, for president on the republican side trying to blame the White House for the downgrading. They must think that most of the country will forget that this president inherited the whole that we are in. This is another reason for disappointment with President Obama, President Reagan kept talking about what he inherited even in his speech at the 1988 Republican Party, so that the country would not forget. President Obama should talk about this every time he addresses the nation. What’s most ironic is what this candidates are proposing is more of what got us in the ditch in the first place, deregulation, more tax cuts for what the republican party these days calls “job creators”, and what we used to call in the past “the wealthy”. It is also amazing is that they never look at what needs to be done to cure the problems we are in. It’s like having a patient with cancer and telling him to take two aspirins and then see how he feels in the morning.
I don’t consider myself an optimist, but I am not a pessimist either. I like to look at myself as a realist, but the future of this nation does not look good. Those days when our representatives used to challenge the population by telling us that the country should put a man in the moon and bring him back safely are long gone. Back then the “job creators”, although they have not been creating jobs for over a decade even when their taxes were lowered, used to pay 70% of their income in taxes; when we could afford to raise seniors from poverty by providing them Social Security first, and then years later, Medicare. When we also created the largest middle class the world had ever seen by having the G.I. Bill, giving people who returned from WWII a college education. Now we want to protect the “job creators” wealth at the expense of pushing grandma and the college students under the bus. Members of the same party are cutting funds in every state that they got their hands on, such as Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, and New Jersey, and labeling teachers as bullies, cutting their rights, saying that they make too much money, then turning around and passing on the savings in the way of massive tax cuts for their wealthy contributors. Those teachers that are so terrible are educating our young generation, the future of this country.
When I used to live in Argentina, many years ago, we would always say that every country has the government that it deserves. I later discovered that the same saying also exists in English. That is exactly how I feel about the government we have these days in the U.S.