A few bits from the week

Well, the job, I think, it going to get more bearable. There seems to be a bit of a power struggle going on (hard to tell since it´s in Spanish) and I seem to be part of what´s being fought over. Basically, there is one faction that sees me as an incredibly valuable resource and not just for my English skills, but also for my analytical abilities and formal training. I´m not sure what faction is going to win, but one direct result is that I have been tasked with writing two reports, one of which I´m already on top of (see: Indonesia, forest protection). So that´s the good news.

The bad news is that the other faction doesn´t see me as terribly valuable. To them, I think they wonder what good I can possibly bring and they just seem a bit afronted by my presence. This is compounded because I´m the only person on my level with a Master´s degree and that status elevates me a bit in meetings and other official capacities (I don´t take notes, someone else at my level does). Of course, my gut feeling is that the total Loba (she wolf, refers to low-class ho) who is the Admin Assistant is the one spreading the word that I´m no good. As I believe I inferred before, it seems she wanted my job and didn´t get it.

At any rate, now that I actually have work to do, I´m going to put my nose to the grinder. I care not about the office politics, but I do want to do the best that I can and get the most out of this less than ideal position. The way I see it, I´m in a "prove yourself" trial period. So the quality of the work that I do now is going to have a huge impact on the rival factions currently gossiping slovenly over the direction of the company.

(God I hate office life.)

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Well, it´s official. One of my wife´s uncles has lung cancer and it´s already spread to his brain and kidneys. They´re not even going to try chemotherapy.

Doctors give him 3-6 months to live. The cancer is fairly advanced and there is no cure. The hope now is that the brain cancer kills him and not the lung cancer because dying from lung cancer is distinctly unpleasant (your lungs stop working and you can´t inhale - you suffocate).

My hope is that this will be an example to the rest of my wife´s family that smokes and have smoked for 30+ years. Her uncle has smoked since he was 16 and he´s almost 70. It doesn´t take a genius to figure out why he has cancer. That being said, there are other people in this family (my father in law, for example) who have roughly the same history. Now´s the time to change for good.

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Well, the British and Danes finally started pulled out of Iraq. What are the odds that Bush launched the 21,500 new soldiers plan because Blair told him he was pulling out? This is leaving the US on a very uncomfortable island.

That coupled with the latest intensification of the insurgent war effort (new focus on helicopters, chlorine - chemical - bombs, better coordinated attacks, roadside bombs targeted at puncturing armored vehicles, and counterfeit US army uniforms being among the new strategies) bodes ill for US forces. Especially when the "new" troops being sent at part of Bush´s "escalation" plan don´t have enough rifles to actually fight the damn war (never mind body armor).

Either way, I believe the short answer is: We´re F*cked.

Bend over boys.