Archive for 'life' Category

2013.01.06

One Single Book

Normally I read a ton of books. Under previous circumstances I could probably read one a week but a combination of factors left last year, 2012, pretty dry as far as reading went. In fact I read one, single book completely: The SFWA Grand Masters Volume 1. Honestly I’m surprised I managed to finish that one but I was determined to finish something. We’ll see how this year goes, but I doubt it will be too terribly many more.

2012.01.20

Best Wedding Video

БогородицаThis has to be the best wedding video I’ve seen in a long time. It’s like watching a movie. Congrats to JP and his new wife!

2012.01.01

Happy New Year!

It’s 2012. Happy New Year Everyone!

2011.11.26

Happy Thanksgiving!

A bit belated but Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from me and Rosa and, especially, Ainara!

2011.11.13

My Obsession with Wealth Inequality

I realize I haven’t posted much in quite a while. This doesn’t mean I’ve been sitting around doing nothing. I’ve read a lot of articles that I’d love to post… I just never get to it. I have noticed that, in one form or another, they seem to deal with the wealth inequality in America (which is even more inordinate in comparison to the rest of the world). Things like how the wealthy get various government handouts or how the wealthy think they are brilliant innovators and wealth creators (and some, but probably not most, are) but that they have more in common with psychopaths. I find this interesting considering the corporations they run have already been diagnosed as psychopathic.

All of this ties in to my worry about America’s potential decline, some of the history, etc etc etc.

I just wish I had time to read more books…

2011.11.11

11,000

It’s been a long, long time since I wrote anything here. Being a father and working full time is one way to be very preoccupied. That being said, here’s a picture of passing 11,000 miles on my motorcycle, posted on 11/11/11 (even though the mark was made yesterday morning).

2011.10.11

I Am the 0.0000003%

I haven’t had a lot of time to write recently, neither here on the blog nor with my story writing. Sometimes I find this frustrating because there’s a lot I’d like to be doing but reasons, taking care of my little girl Ainara and my wife Rosa, are so worth it.

In the meantime I’ve been watching with interest the Occupy movement taking shape and developing into a national phenomenon. This leaderless, agenda-less movement is a manifestation of people’s inordinate frustration with how things are going in America right now, especially economically. Thus it’s no surprise that the movement started in New York City, our financial capital, and spread around the country. We even have it going on in San Francisco.

The people participating have been called mobs, thugs, malcontents, punks, freeloaders and many other, worse, names. Certainly these kinds of people are participating, but they are a minority. The majority of people are just like you and me, worried about our future as a society when corporations and politicians seem to be in cahoots to help themselves as they like and ignore “we the people”. They are calling themselves the 99% because the 1% of Americans control a vast majority of American capital, power and influence. For a republican democracy this is wrong.

I support them.

This movement’s slogan seems to be, “I am the 99%” and I understand that. I don’t know if I could honestly say I am one of the 99%, though. Better that I say I am the 0.0000003%. That’s what I am, approximately, as a percentage of the United States population. That’s what we all are, regardless of our wealth, our skin color, our beliefs, education, age or abilities. It reminds me of a cornerstone of American culture, actually… “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Further, from the same document, “…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

99% is not enough. 0.0000003% is a beginning. Join up; we need a revolution.

2011.09.30

More Pictures

Soon enough I’ll be able to blog in my regular-irregular schedule (but at least post some stuff). In the meantime, here are more pictures from September, including the parents visit from Spain and tons of pictures of Ainara!

2011.09.16

Ainara Maria Susan Nerad-Canet

иконопис
Ainara Maria Susan Nerad-CanetPlease allow me to introduce you to Ainara. Mother and daughter are doing well after the birth. Ainara has a touch of red hair and a healthy set of lungs and it’s a cliché, but she’s just the cutest little thing. She was born at 7:41PM on the 15th at 7lbs 7ounces and 20 3/4 inches. From the moment Rosa broke her water to birth was 19.5 hours, with only the last hour being the pushing.

For those curious, her name is Basque for the bird we call a swallow in English. Maria is for Rosa (the mother of Ainara whose middle name is Maria) and Rosa’s own mother, who is also named Rosa Maria. Susan is my Mom’s name. We decided to do the family name in the Spanish fashion, where the father’s surname goes first, followed by the mother’s.

We’re exhausted but exhilarated. More to follow as we’re even able to come up for air!

2011.09.11

Another Kind of Memorial Day

Though it’s not an official Memorial Day, it is September 11th. Looking back at my posts from 10 years ago (I had barely started this site) I remember how anguished I was, yet how temporarily unified we were as a people. Now I wonder if the only thing unifying us is that that day sucked and that it changed everything. Aside from that it seems we barely have anything to show for it. We’re polarized like I can’t even remember. We have airport security that’s more show than security. Our taxes, better spent at home, have been used to fund two wars abroad (one of them under false pretenses). We’ve strained the economy to the point they are saying it’s as bad as the Great Depression (though I think the Depression was much worse). Has anything, one single thing, gotten better? It seems the answer, for America, is no.

So on to more positive musings. My wife, Rosa, is Catalan and today is the National Day of Catalonia. It’s also the due date of our first child, though she’s being shy and hasn’t graced us with her presence. Soon! Finally, Rosa’s parents are visiting for the birth (their first time out of Spain) and today is their 40th wedding anniversary. We’re all having a good time tooling around San Francisco (slowly, on account of a giant bubble on Rosa’s belly) and we’re looking forward to having the Little Monkey and relaxing, as a family.

These are the memories I would rather have: watching my parents-in-law touch the Pacific for the first time, watching my wife’s belly move when the baby moves, seeing my family on Skype which cuts the distance from them to me, seeing my friends do well and prosper. Let’s remember the events of 10 years ago, but let’s also find a way to move forward in a way that increases life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. After all, that’s the promise of America.