Firsts

In life we always have firsts. This past Friday I wore a complete spandex uniform. I had to edit it a little, but it was interesting. The reason, I was wearing spandex, is because my work went to a interactive circus. It was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

My "act" was to do some gymnastics type stuff on a ring suspended from the ceiling. I did okay. There were photos taken, so, I'll post some once I get them. I'll be honest I'm just really glad I had some pants to cover the bottom part of the spandex suit. There's a few things you don't realize, or fully appreciate, before you put on one of those suits. I would have a hard time being spider man. There are a few things I really don't want to show the rest of the world.

Edit

After reading through some of my past posts I realized something. I need to take some time and carefully read what I've written. If I didn't have an edit capability I'd be completely out of luck. I mostly make errors that involve using similar words that spell check automatically picks up, but completely change the meaning of your sentence. 

I also went to an interesting film yesterday, Romance. It was a Brazilian film that did a take on the Tristain and Isod story. It was pretty good. It was a nice break and great company, wink. 

This weekend has also been great since it has been a long one. I haven't been to work since Wednesday. It's hard to believe I'll only be in Brazil for 4 more weeks. It's been great. I hope something works out for me after this internship. This experience has given me a better view of the world and a better perspective on Brazil. The only way this internship could have been much better would have been getting paid in Dollars.

Bing! Who’s got the throne now!

For some people feeling like a genius comes from high tests score, good grades, or some other lofty achievement. I won't disagree, those are pretty good. I enjoy getting good grades and I hope to be able to do well on the GMAT.

However, I've found something that possibly tops these in terms of making me feel like a genius. In life we all have problems. For me solving these problems make me fell like a genius. Recently, I was confronted with a problem, that for me was akin to Edison getting the light bulb to work.

When I go to the bathroom I like privacy. I'll attempt to "hold it" for 2 hours just so I can return to home base. At school I've located spots that provide privacy and cleanliness. Most of my past jobs have been the same way. Until about a week ago I was finding privacy a rare luxury at my current stint. Apparently, when you work somewhere with 500+ people, in your area and only 2 bathrooms, it's going to be hard to find that desired privacy.

Last week I found my happy place, my secret garden if you will. The traffic in the bathroom is minimal. I can go at almost anytime and nobody will be there. The stalls are large and fairly clean. When people do go to that bathroom it's normally only for a quick drainage, all in all it's pretty great. I won't give too many specifics on the location; I never know who might be reading this. I even go to this bathroom from one direction and return from another, you know, in order to confuse my enemies.

Much like Edison I tried a lot of things to achieve my goal. I'd try to wait until I returned from work to go to the bathroom, this proved uncomfortable. I waited until weird times when I thought nobody would be using the bathroom, there were always people. I imagine Edison's feeling of superiority when his glass bulb first put forth light. When I first gazed upon this bathroom and the privacy it offered me I felt much like Edison, an intellectual superiority. I was smarter than most, I beat the system. I solved one of the biggest issues in my life when I found that bathroom. At that moment I attained genius status, I was MENSA.

Economic Hit Man?!

Every once in awhile you come across an excellent book. It helps define your thoughts, and make you adapt yourself to its principles. Recently, for me this book was, Confessions of an Economics Hit Man. It was great. I think there needs to be driven people in the world. I don't think socialism will work completely. Most of the time 20% of a population ends up controlling 80% of the wealth. There are obviously problems with this.

However, what if this 20% were completely moral and had great social concise and didn't mind being taxed. One of the ideas of economics is that a prohibitively high tax will stifle economic growth. I think we as a society can modify this. In Confession of an EHM the author tells about how certain group just keep growing and expanding, sometimes at the expense of the greater good. As I see it this can be stopped.

I think the rich and driven people need to focus themselves on society as a whole. They should take steps to ensure manageable and sustained growth that includes all relevant parties. If a company wants to expand it's oil field to South America, they can do it, but they need to help the surrounding communities. What's the difference between 1 billion and 800 million, not too much. Imagine what 200 million could do for a local community. I know money isn't everything but it's how we currently store value. By giving back some of the value, people can spread the wealth and reduce the ratio.

People need to let entrepreneurs do their thing. It's a fine balance, but if people are taught young not to be selfish, then we'll go a long way to help things become better for everyone. For me, religion seems to be inseparably tied to this type of action. If more of a majority of the wealthy had morals, I think we'd start to see a monumental shift. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are going in the right direction.

Basically, the book was great and everyone should read it and decide for themselves.

Why I need to come back to Brazil.

First off I came to Brazil to work and, as it turns out, that's what I've done. I've been in Sao Paulo for 5 months. I've never left the city. People speak of the beauty of Brazilian beaches, amazon, etc. As far as I'm concerned these places don't exist. The fact that I don't have a car, and no friends that like to do what I do, doesn't help matters. 

In the spare time I have on Saturdays I teach English and on Sundays I go to church. Because of this I can't leave. I need to come back and see what Brazil is really about, not just work. I've heard there are amazing things to see, but since I work all week and I've committed my weekends to certain causes, I can't really leave. I think, if I came back for a month or two I'd have a whole different view of Brazil.

Maybe next summer, except I plan to take a GMAT prep course, I'll see the "real" Brazil. I enjoy Sao Paulo, but it's just like any big city. It does rain a lot here which I really enjoy.

Politics

I kind of wish the United States had a better mix of political parties. I don't consider myself a Republican or a Democrat. I think both sides have positives and negatives. 

I like the Democrat approach to overall social issues and I prefer the stance the Republicans have regarding personal choices. I'm with the Democrats on most of their macro goals; be it international relations, health care, etc. I side with the Republicans on drugs, defense, and religion.

My ideal party doesn't exist. I don't agree with the Republicans all the way and the same goes for the Democrats. I guess I'd be the typical swing voter.

Whatever happens in this election, a change does need to happen, and sorry folks, Obama isn't going to be able to solve them all. Each American needs to do their part. As a whole we need to get ourselves out of debt, build better relations with other countries, figure out the solution to the energy crisis, learn to fight the battles that are necessary, strengthen families, and bring back America's can do spirit.

Getting out of debt is possible, it will just take sometime and self control. 

Building better international relations is possible on a personal level. When we take vacations, leave the US, and everyone should at least try to pick up another language. 

Our energy crisis will be solved not by our government handing us the answer, but by us solving the problem. If each house in the US was solar powered how much better off would we be? 

The wars and conflicts the US ends up being involved in probably aren't going to stop anytime soon. As Americans we need to figure out what's worth it. Also, one thing that bugs me are Republicans that say "I believe in defense, so I'm voting Republican." if you believe in defense go join the Army. 

We need remember that we're only going to be as strong as the foundation we're built on. Each individual is a product of their family. If you don't start there, you'll just be playing catch up when trying to fix problems.

The American spirit of creativity and can-do-it-tivness, in my opinion, isn't dead, but merely sedated. We watch too much TV and entertain our selves with meaningless things. I've heard it said the Religion was once considered the opiate of the masses. I think in our day it's entertainment. Great ideas and innovations don't come from sitting around watching celebrities talk about themselves. People need to start innovating and creating for themselves again.