It is never too early to start caring

So high school was fun.  For those who didn't go to college, high school memories are the best.  Even for some college graduates, high school years were special.  Usually the first love, the first underage drink, even some smoke, the wild parties, the walking everywhere or over occupying a car by three or four times its capacity.  All silly stuff.  The social politics, the anxiety that caused the constant effort to stay in the loop with whatever was going on.  So cool and stressing. 

But there is a group of high school students, that in addition to all the fun aforementioned they have also signed up for a very special program. 200 students enrolled in the school’s magnet program that allows teens to graduate with a veterinary assistance certification.  This has been happening for 14 years at the Felix Varela Senior High School in Miami Dade County Florida.

The school shelters more than 80 dogs as part of its veterinary science program.  Every year about 800 applications are received for this magnet program, only 100 are accepted.  Students enrolled in this program have to follow a core curriculum that includes math, english and science, in addition to hands-on experience, as they have to take care of the animals. An adoption program is also run with the help of Friends Forever Rescue with a yearly average of 500 adoptions.

Right now they are looking for homes for these dogs, since the school will go under renovation during the summer and the dogs need to be out before June 6.  Families willing to house these dogs will have them at least for three months, when they will be able to come to their new installations.

It is great to know that the new generation is preparing themselves as caring individuals, because we need to abolish, once and for all, animal cruelty, by bringing up to the table animal rights as a tenet of the society where we all want to live. 

Students at Felix Varela H.S. with rescued dogs

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/11/4111322/saving-the-dogs-as-school-faces.html#storylink=cpy

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Friday as in "getting the hell out day!"

I really look forward to Fridays.  It is one of the two days of the week that I get to leave home, for sure. Other days it is just a rarity.  If you don't have a calendar and just woke up from a coma, but you go out you will be able to notice it is Friday.  People are excited everywhere, it is like everyday by 5 PM but stronger; car radios blasting music, coworkers in the same car laughing, a totally different picture from Tuesday morning.  I feel blessed not being part of that tribe "The Commuters", they are very aggressive on the road, they drive like they are always late and their time is more valuable than anybody else.  They spend more time sitting in their cars than in their living rooms.  I feel bad for them, except that in popular belief, they are the engine of the economy, they make things happen.  That's for sure.  The environment notices them, car dealerships adore them, but do we really need that many people going out every day to do irrelevant things? Please define irrelevant.  No, I don't have time.  You know what I mean by irrelevant.  With all this discussion about minimum wage, sometimes I wonder if many of these "workers" out there are overpaid. And I'm not talking about the girl at the burger joint that can't take your order and smile at the same time or the guy at the tire repair shop that left your tire deflate in your face while telling an infantile story to his coworker.  I'm more like thinking on the bank clerk that "forgot" to tell me that my free account means free for three months.  One-third of bank tellers in the U.S. are under some form of public assistance, I mean welfare.

So, at the end I don't know how to be more selective at giving support to raising wages, in my mind it is conflicting.  I really think that employees must be able to earn a decent income from a main source, if you decide to get a second job or go hiking, that should be your choice.

We'll keep celebrating Fridays as the liberation day, those of us working from home we'll try to fake relieve also when Friday comes, even that last Tuesday was really our Friday, and Saturday will be our Monday.  I know, I know, too complicated for a disciplined society counting work hours, gallons of gas, and days until retirement, when they will start counting and cutting pills on half to make the prescription for depression last at least a month.

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Monica is back!

Monica Lewinsky is back. While Hillary is still pondering if she should accept the public request to run for president in 2016, Monica is more than testing the water with the press. A big chunk of the 2016 electorate were under 10 y/o when the scandal happenned. I had a young friend of mine, after telling him some of the story, asking me, "Was she pretty? So, the new generation is not as worry about the moral scandal as if Bill Clinton had good taste.

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Does Miami have tech?

eMerge Americas Techweek at the Miami Beach Convention Center featured speakers and demonstrations from across all fields of technology.
eMerge Americas Techweek has as a mission: To put Miami on the virtual map as the eventual tech hub for the Americas. Showcasing  all the region has to offer, from big companies to startups, hospitals, universities and industry support services. According to their website, eMerge Americas Techweek is where entrepreneurs and tech tycoons alike meet for a week long celebration of all things tech. Our approach is to bring together the entire South Florida and Latin American tech community under a BIG TENT and then shine a global SPOTLIGHT on the ecosystem.

As big companies look around for sweet deals with municipalities, offering move-in packages that includes tax breaks and cash for relocation expenses, South Florida doesn't rank well in the favorites cities to live in the U.S. list. The traffic; lack of infrastructure and specialized work force; crime; real estate properties costs are some of the factors.  The Tech industry gives the impression that they are not about physical location, working remotely is one of the major trends affecting all industries with heavy clerical work load.  Working from home would be a great alternative for south Floridians, but considering that over 70% of the jobs are in the service industry, it makes you think about the day when a physical therapist could treat you from home using a robot in the office.  Meanwhile, the therapist and the patient will probably meet and greet in traffic down the street.

For mother's day, give mom a gift that will make her feel pretty.  Hair care products have flooded the market as the demand for personal care items increased, but only one brand came out to provide an unique product, with proven results.  In only five years Kerarganic, www.shop.kerarganicstore.com , has won the trust of hundreds of hair dressers around the world,  Its line of professional products and also for household use provides natural keratin, formaldehyde-Free, safe to use during pregnancy.  Try it for yourself.  Organic keratin system by Kerarganic.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/05/4099735/entrepreneurs-tech-moguls-gather.html#storylink=cpy

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Joel McHale Time!

A well deserved honor for Joel McHale. David Letterman retiring, Stephen Colbert takes the place.  Jay Leno retires, for the second time, Jimmy Fallon moves to an earlier spot, and he wasn't available to host the 2014 White House Correspondents' Dinner, as said by McHale as a true note.  McHale was funny.  Interacting every time with the audience reaction, not always comedians have this engaging attitude but mostly they just deliver their material.  The President was kind, as all Presidents, and joined the laughs or the silence when awkwardness invaded the room.  Jokes for the informed.  Those who follow Chris Christie and his Bridge-gate or the CNN obsessive covering of the missing airplane, but that was the audience, a political one, right there live and at home. 

The 100th White House Correspondents' Dinner, a historical moment where Duck Dynasty family members get to dress up and enjoy rubbing elbows with the powerful.

My friend Carlos, a professional hair dresser in the city of Doral, Florida, was very excited when I mentioned to him Kerarganic, a keratin system that combines natural keratin, Argan oil grown in Morocco, organic natural extracts and an array of essential amino- and fatty- acids, and vitamins carefully formulated to repair and beautify the most resistant hair, with no formaldehyde or any aldehyde or harsh chemicals.  I don't really know what all this means, but Carlos did and ordered a sample to try it.  I will let you guys know his review.

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Welcome!

As cheesy as it sounds.  Welcome dear readers!.  I can´t help it.  I´m old fashioned and always looking to tradition, history...the past.  Because usually the present is boring, prone to changes, uncertain....The future is unknown, mostly unpredictable, not here yet, an illusion...but the past, oh! the past.  It is right there, inside my mind, immutable, stopped in time, good or bad, it is there, and it is known, static to be analyzed.  The past is not going anywhere, it enjoys being visited and talked to.  So I live in the past as much as I can.  Basically because in the past I was a kid, I was somebody´s kid, another human being had to worry about feeding me, keeping me healthy and entertained.  Now my wife does some of that, but it doesn't feel the same.  When my wife takes care of me, that happens all the time, I feel in debt, I need to willingly give her a massage, or cook for her, or both.  That happens all the time.  But well, this is just a warm welcome.  I hope you visit often and have fun with my self-deprecating stories that might prevent you from making my mistakes.

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