Images from the land where anything is possible.

I quit

2007-01-10T17:59:00.001-04:00

Nah, it's not as bad as you would imagine. I'll keep writing these petty articles and taking my silly pictures. Just not through this medium.

I think blogger is a good platform for blogging as a whole, but it's a lacking a lot of functionality existing in other platforms, it's impossible to work with external tools or do migrations after the change to the new service, and there are certain tasks that are impossible to do here (for example, working with multiple pictures and text). I don't mean this in a negative way for blogger. It introduced me to blogging and again, I think it's a good platform. You may interpret this as constructive criticism.

My new home will be wordpress:
LINK: http://tamgo.wordpress.com - RSS: http://tamgo.wordpress.com/feed/
LINK: http://tamgopics.wordpress.com - RSS: http://tamgopics.wordpress.com/feed/

You can find more of the same on both of these blogs. I did my best to copy the existent material to the new blog. It has mixed results. Still fighting to get better layouts and organization for tamgopics. Not sure I will get it. I could not pass over any of the comments. There were some interesting discussions on some of the articles, it's a shame they will stay here.

I hope I will be able to continue providing the same or superior quality content I have been doing so far. Thanks for keeping up with my nonsense for now. I apologize for making you change your bookmark or feed settings... to all 8 of you :).

UPDATE: I added RSS URL's. There's a small problem with they theme I've selected. For some reason firefox and other RSS enabled apps don't auto detect the feed while using it. I have to look into it. I really like the theme, so I hope I can solve the issue without changing it.

Milky Shoes

2007-01-03T22:03:00.000-04:00

This may be perfectly normal for some of you cowboys out there, but I was just amazed. These are shoes from real cow hide. Maybe Snoop Dogg will trade in his gators for these. We might even see his majesty Michael Jordan getting an idea for his next pair of sneakers.

Twilight in 'La Siembra'

2007-01-03T21:55:00.000-04:00

On a less comic note, this is a picture of twilight in the mountains of 'La Siembra'. In case you are curious, don't bother looking it up. You wont find it in any encyclopedias, and it appears as a small dots on very little maps.

This is one of the times where I want to throw my camera phone in a bucket of water and buy one of those overly expensive, extremely heavy, huge lens cameras. This photo doesn't do the scenery any justice. I was beautiful degradation between night and day over the sky. To the east it was completely dark, with some constellations already visible. While to the west, the sun was still inching away on the horizon. One of the most lovely sceneries I've seen in my life.

Big pair of cojones

2006-12-27T00:20:00.000-04:00

This one is kind of hard to spot. Put in an arrow in my not so favorite color for illustration. This guy (under the shadow of the truck), apparently ran into some vehicle trouble. In the middle of the street, with moving traffic, with no one to assist him, with no emergency lights or signs just popped his head underneath the truck and starting poking around. Can you imagine what happens if another car slightly hits his truck in the back?

This is the land of men of great cojones, but most importantly, the land where anything is possible.

To my loyal fans... all 5 of you (I know that I am the laughing stock of the joke, but I love to say/write it any way :p ). I know I haven't been writing a lot lately, my apologies. It's not a lack of material or inspiration. I have the bad habit of writing what's on my mind, and at the moment that's not he best of ideas. Pretty soon you will get your periodic fix of the green's non sense. Just wait.

A mixture of old and new technologies.

2006-12-04T23:52:00.000-04:00

I took this pictures on a not so recent visit to a place with not so fond memories... my old college. I have a friend who works in one of the library's departments.

The main computer that they use for their daily work is an old Compaq Armada, which can't even hold it's monitor open. So what does this brilliant, future engineer devise? Simple, he uses his portable dvd player to hold the screen and prevent it from falling.

I've heard of theories on synergies and bridging the technological divide between different generations, but this is pushing it a bit.

Who says we aren't in a siesta country?!

2006-12-03T23:35:00.000-04:00

Mexico and spain have long had the reputation of being the primary siesta countries. I say, we are more a siesta country than any other. And to prove that you have these pictures. We got people sleeping, double parked, in the middle of the street, with moving transit! Yes we do! If this isn't the best country in the world, we have to be second best.

A shout out to verdecito. Thanks for the pic and the support for the blog who's list of subscribers is now in the... tens (expecting hundreds?? :p).

Sexy cows

2006-11-27T00:36:00.000-04:00

Interesting visit to the super market. I walk up to the dairy section, and you find the usual products. On top of them there is a picture of a bunch of cows. Great, cows lead to milk, milk leads to all of the things in this isle. No big deal.

Take a closer look at the cows. I forget the name of the thing that holds the milk, but they don't look like what they are supposed to look. I've seen a cow up close and personal, and that's not how they are supposed to look. That actually looks a lot like something else I won't mention in a futile attempt to conserve the little dignity this blog has left. But hey, that's part of the fun of having little or no readers. You can do almost anything and not worry about offending someone!

The beautiful countryside

2006-11-25T21:17:00.000-04:00

Took a recent trip to the wonderful city of La Vega (for those of you curious enough to click on the previous link, sorry couldn't find a better one). The trip to get there was probably more entertaining than the stay itself.

First 3 pictures are from a guy in a wheelchair who was easily defying the speed limit... in the middle of the high way! I just sat in awe from seeing this, and then imaging all the different ways he could seriously injured or worse. Guess I've seen too many horror movies.

Next pic is from a pickup truck that was carrying about 10-15 dudes. I've seen some pictures from the middle east that are far worse than this, but this is still funny!

Last and probably the lamest of them all, is a picture of a receipt of the placed we stayed in La Vega. The girl signed both company rep and client spaces. There are usually stupid people directly working with clients (which is one of the worse things any company can do), but this was just lovely.

New species discovered

2006-11-13T22:06:00.000-04:00

This one comes from the legendary Warchiefx. My thanks to him for the support. Although he could have gotten pictures in a little higher quality ;).

Usually chickens "land gracefully", "hover softly" or however you want to call it. The thing is that they aren't very good fliers. At most then can soften the fall. They are probably second only to penguins on the "stuck to the ground" list.

In his search for the answer behind life, the universe and everything, Warchiefx stumbled upon a new kind of chicken. One that could fly. This heroic chicken single handedly got on an electric wire that had to be no less than 25 - 30 feet off the ground. The nearest house (observable in the first picture), isn't close enough for a jump, and even if it were, the electrical cable is higher than the house.

Once again, proof has been shown that this is the land where anything is possible.

Now if I could only get my good pal "the monk" to upload that footage of water running upstream for me. That should prove to be a convincing post!!

Tropical McDonald's

2006-11-12T21:08:00.000-04:00

So I was visiting a McDonald's the other day... No seriously, I was at McDonald's. Yes we have McDonald's here! There's more here than what most foreigners imagine! As I was saying, minding my own business, eating a crappy burger, then all of a sudden I get another chance to strike. Luckily there is a portrait of our good ol' pal Ronald McDonald in the picture, which proves that I'm right (or that I have no life and took the time and resources to fake this in a desperate attempt to amuse my 3 - 5 readers).

Some of you will probably find this non controversial, maybe even normal. I found it very funny. This guy comes into the restaurant with a coconut in his hands. Set's it down on top of a garbage bin, talks a bit with one of the guys working, and after a short while leaves. What's the funny part? Can you imagine something like that happening in New York, Chicago or L.A. (not Los Alcarrizos, I meant Los Angeles)? These are the kinds of things that only happen in my country.

Just gotta love those transit officers!

2006-11-12T20:53:00.000-04:00

I know this is the second one in a row. It's not that I have something against transit officials... I don't support any prejudice against them. I dislike all police men alike. :).

This one just kills me. The sign on the right reads "no passengers". Basically vehicles are not allowed to stop here to pickup and or drop off passengers. This applies to all types of vehicles, but the ones offering transportation are the most likely to stop and go at here.

On the left, you'll see an official transit official's jeep parked (green car). This is supposed to give a clear message to all cars passing by: "I'm here, so don't you dare park where you are not supposed to". This is all well and good, but YOU ARE DOING EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE PROHIBITING!!!

Let's look at it from the logistics side: you are preventing something dangerous by... uummm.... doing the same thing? Or the "lead by example" case... well, I don't even think I need to elaborate on that one.

Plain and simple, these people are stupid, and shouldn't be allowed to even carry firearms. Why can't we just use the money spent on that program to make a more efficient transit system? Half the time there's backed up traffic it's usually their fault anyway.

Creative transit officials

2006-11-09T21:56:00.000-04:00

I've always admired the creativity of the ordinary man in an extraordinary circumstance. No better example than the last encounter I had with a local transit officer. Keep in mind this is one of the principal intersections of the city, of the most important city in the country.

For lack of a better name, let's call him Chicho. Chicho is happy, smiling, directing his traffic, just like any other morning. Poor Chicho had the back luck of working in a tropical country. The sun, the humidity, all that exercise, makes a man thirsty. Perfectly understandable. Strolling by come (again, for lack of a better name) comes Rizo. Rizo has a over sized tricycle win which he makes and sells orange juice on the street, very common in this areas.

Chicho wants some juice, but he has traffic to handle. What to do? What to do?! And then it hit's him! He stops transit in all four directions (I'm not kidding or making this up). No cars are flowing on any of the streets. He calls RIzo up to the middle of the intersection. He orders some juice, probably didn't pay for it. Starts patiently sipping it. By now, traffic is backed up in all directions at least by 1/4 mile. He akes his sweet time, finishes his juice, and then resumes transit.

The little cars that are visible in the pictures are those that couldn't stand it anymore and decided to cross the intersection anyway.

You gotta hand it to the local authorities. The surprise me in new ways everyday. After all, how can he manage traffic if he's not properly hydrated?

Creative office decorating

2006-10-30T19:44:00.000-04:00

I visited an old friend recently. During this visit I had the pleasure of spending some time in his office to discuss some business. Although his propositions were interesting, I simply could not stop admiring the things he had hanging around his office. Outside of this entry in a blog I viewed recently, the things I have seen in this office definitely merit the best and craziest decoration I have seen.

He uses an old Pentium II as a pen holder. The hinges on the side are the perfect width to fit pen and pencils in between. Not to mention he has a weird sculpture standing right beside it.

He has a sword back from the days of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquest, hanging right next to a replica of a samurai katana. Since I'm an anime buff, you can imagine how I was drooling over the katana as soon as I entered the office.

There is also a gun from the remotes to the same time as the "conquistador" sword. I have no idea if it's a gun, a musket, or how exactly it worked. It's rusted by now, so you can't even pull it's trigger. He uses it as a paperweight!!

Last, but not least, the strangest of all images. He has a small cactus standing right beside a water vase. I have no idea if he has a new age, balance of nature, or four elements of the earth thingie going on. What ever it is, I found the contrast intriguing. What's more is that the vase has some bubbles, so from the outside it makes the liquid seam gelatinous.

I need to get some tips from my old buddy when I get an office and start buying furniture.

2006-10-30T19:34:00.000-04:00

I have to admit, Chinese restaurants have always had to use ingenuity in order to keep their business going with the level of efficiency that characterizes them. None the less, this is a first for me.

This is a chair from Chinese place, near my glorious (sarcasm) work building. It at first surprised me, but then I remembered I was in the land where anything is possible.. I just found it too funny to keep to myself.

In all fairness, the chair is standing, holds the necessary weight, the solution is cheap, and does not consume much more space than a more "elegant" alternative.

The things 30 cents can get you.

2006-10-26T22:37:00.000-04:00

...

Just to make sure we are all on the same boat, let me clarify the title just a little bit. The American dollar is the universal currency, or at least that's true for this hemisphere. The "30 cents" in the tittle reflect the equivalent to approximately 30 cents in American currency. Are we cool? Great!

We have Kentucky Fried Chicken here, and a bunch of the other fast food franchises. They recently had a ten year anniversary (in the country) and to celebrate every item on the menu was been sold for ten pesos. What was the result?

Now, my first reaction when seeing the crowd was "Are they giving away food?!". I asked an employee at one of the other abandoned restaurants and he informed me of the festivities.

While I am all for human generosity, philanthropy and extreme marketing campaigns where the consumer is benefited in this fashion, my pessimistic gut just doesn't let me buy this. My theories:

They had a shipment of chicken which was just about to go bad and needed to get rid of it quickly before it completely lost it's value.
KFC really does clone chicken and they don't care at what price they sell it since they can mass produce it at a ridiculously low price.
All these chickens have avian flu, and they need to get rid of the evidence. A franchise like this can't be caught with infected animals in it's food supply chain.
This was a huge mistake or something taken out of context. By the time someone in charge got a hold of the plans, it was too late to turn things around.

I tried to take several pictures from different angles to give you some scope of the length of the line. This line easily had 200 - 300 people. Maybe even more. And this was just one of they local KFC's. From what I've heard, they have all been like this.

Paying less is better than paying more. If we could get things free (assuming quality and other factors remain constant) we wouldn't bother paying. I may be an idiot, and this may be a very good business tactic to raise sales. That day a bunch of people went to KFC that probably have never visited before, or are not that frequent at the establishment. This can familiarize clients and make then frequent consumers. What do I know.

We are not starving in this country. Minimum wage is not that hot, but it can at least get you some food. So it's safe to discard that this is a line filled by homeless people and hungry kids. In fact I saw the same people in ties, ID's in their shirt pockets and briefcases I see everyday. These are people on their lunch break. In the end, people can't say no to a bargain. They need to seize the opportunity, or else they are missing out on something which simply will not be available to them later on. Retail stores have for ever used this to attract consumers. How many times has your sister/wife/mother felt the extreme urge to buy a piece of clothing because it was 40% off?

What do you think?

Since I'm already doing it, I thought I should share it!

2006-10-26T18:57:00.000-04:00

A big shout out to the three people that read my main blog tamgo.blogspot.com (not including myself!). If you are not in this group and think the last sentence is pathetic, give me a break! Three is better than zero!

Why another blog? Three reasons:

The other blog is for posting stuff I am generally pissed off about in the tech world. Although it is pretty much open for any type of commentary. I've read a couple of article's recommendations of opening multiple blogs in order to widen your writing skills as well as forcing your self to think outside of the box and do more research. I really don't buy it, but I'll try it any way.
The second reason is that I have the following habit. Every time I see a particular event which I find funny, unbelievable or just plain awesome I take a picture with my camera phone, and share it with my close friends. If you are not from around here, you will be surprised with some of the stuff that happens on a day to day basis. This is just an extension of that.
Third a have a close friend who has some sort of strange personal/religious/new era/superstition thingie about cell phones. He just simply hates, them. What's more is that he doesn't understand why we need them. The irony in this situation is that he works for one of the big telecoms! In any case, this is a perfect way to prove him wrong. My camera phone (which has horrible shutter speed, and not so great resolution so please start complaining now) will be great as the main feed of information for the things that we bear witness to in this land.

This probably wont be updated as frequently, but will definitely be worth the wait. If any of you have any photos that fit the criteria, please send them to me, I'll be more than happy to post them.

In any case, thanks for reading and enjoy.