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Estoy Aprendiendo Español

One of my long-term goals at this point in life is to learn Spanish. I’ve been studying it seriously since January and I’ve gotten decent at it, but nowhere close to being fluent or being able to keep up in a conversation.

The main reason behind wanting to learn (other than being half-Mexican myself) is to learn the language that my family is built upon. My grandmother passed away a little over a year ago, and she was one of the few people in my family who spoke Spanish as a first language. My goal is to learn more about the culture, learn the language, and take a trip down to Mexico in her honor.

Another reason I want to learn Spanish is because I’m sick of not being able to help somebody just because I’m a sheltered American who knows only English. As much as I am against people coming to this country and not being able to speak English, I simply cannot bring myself to ignore a large chunk of the American population that speak Spanish. I want to be able to communicate with these people.

Right now I’m taking a Rosetta Stone course in Spanish (Latin American), and also listening to a podcast called Coffee Break Spanish. Every time I watch a movie at home, I turn on Spanish sub-titles, and I’m currently only listening to Latin music and trying to sing along (thankfully there are lyrics online). I also frequent one Mexican restaurant a week and try to converse with the staff in Spanish.

Have any of you tried to learn a foreign language? What was the biggest hurdle to get over if you did?

Gracias por leyendo.

500 Words - When One Should Pray, and When One Should Work

Could you imagine a college professor looking at his watch, telling the class to take a ten minute break, then rolling out a mat and praying? What about a first responder who interrupts a rescue because of the time of day? How about a cashier, a barber, a car salesman, or perhaps a doctor? Preposterous questions? Not hardly.

A man named Jama Mohamed decided to take a break from his shift at a meat packing plant without permission to engage in a ten-minute prayer at sunset. When discovered, Mohamed was taken to his supervisor and fired.

After he left the production line and began praying, Mohamed said, supervisors took his prayer mat, pulled him up by his collar and sent him crying to a lead supervisor, who fired him.

“I told him, ‘Look, I know I am in America and I know in America there is a freedom of religion for everybody to practice their religion. . . . And as long as you fulfill that — as long as you let me pray — I will always work for you,’” Mohamed, 28, said last week through an interpreter.

“And he said, ‘No, that’s not acceptable — your prayers are not acceptable here. You’re here to work, not pray.’”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a complaint that alleges that Swift & Company violated the worker’s civil rights (as well as other workers) by not allowing the worker to leave the production line and pray. Continue Reading…

Planned Parenthood and Pregnancies

Planned Parenthood is an organization that prides itself on helping to provide medically accurate sexual training in communities across the United States. I recently came across an article by Jennifer Roback Morse that dissected why the program should no longer be funded as heavily by the Federal government because the program simply doesn’t work.

Here is what Planned Parenthood believes:

Planned Parenthood believes that everyone has the right to choose when or whether to have a child, that every child should be wanted and loved, and that women should be in charge of their destinies.

Planned Parenthood has the belief that people will have sex (no matter what age), so why not equip the person with the knowledge and the tools to undertake the task? According to the mentioned article, the poor cohabiting teenager using the Pill has a 48% change of becoming pregnant. Morse argues that if more money is spent on abstinence instead of contraceptive-related programs, then perhaps less pregnancies will occur since abstinence is a surefire way to not become pregnant.

One thing I don’t particularly like about contraceptive-type programs is that they assume kids will have sex, which I know many parents are against having sex taught in schools (especially religious parents). Morse argues that it’s like assuming kids are going to smoke, so why not teach the kids how not to contract some lung disease when smoking?

I still am a fan of sex until after marriage. I waited, and unfortunately things didn’t work out, but I am just one case.

I’m stuck on the subject of allowing kids to be educated regarding sex in schools, but I am truly against an organization that gives kids the tools to “safely” have sex, provides the means to fix kids’ mistakes (with abortions), and then claims that “every child should be wanted.” Does Planned Parenthood tell the child it should be wanted before or after it is aborted?

Should We Let Illegals Into the Military?

The United States Army failed to meet recruitment goals for May by 399 Soldiers. One of the ways to help find new recruits is to allow illegal immigrants to enlist.

The immigration bill that has been delayed in Congress had a provision called DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) where illegals who have been in the public school system long enough to pass minimum aptitude tests can enter into the military in order to gain citizenship.

While DREAM would only give hope to a small fraction of illegals in becoming a legal citizen, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Sure, some might say that illegals are just going to betray our country. However, even legal immigrants have that potential and I feel in either case, it’s unlikely.

Right now about 8,000 resident aliens enlist every year for the military to help with their path towards citizenship. Allowing certain illegals to also enlist would more than help with recruitment goals.

As another point, some “legal” immigrants (here as international students) become illegal when they are unable to find an employer to sponsor them due to the extensive amount of paperwork that must be filled out. Allowing these illegals into the military would also help out our country in my opinion.

So should the United States let illegals into its military? I say yes. It would help out our country’s defense, and help an illegal become a citizen.

When a Cellphone Company Hangs Up On Its Customers

Via Bes, I learned that Sprint will disconnect the lines of problem customers. Sprint claims that by ditching these problem customers, customers with legitimate needs will be able to be helped faster.

While working at Walgreens as a photo clerk, we had our share of problem customers. Most customers were content to drop off their film and return within an hour and pick the pictures up. Some customers, however, wanted us to adjust the colors, reprint problem pictures, or complain about tiny little white spots (caused by dust) on their pictures. Sometimes I would spend hours correcting a customer’s film order (sometimes while the customer waited).

One customer at Walgreens was so picky that our manager had to intervene and tell the lady that we simply couldn’t accommodate her needs at our store. We recommended several pro shops for her to try out. He explained to me in private that although we (Walgreens) try to adhere to all customers, some cross the line and become more of a burden to the bottom line than helping it. Another point my manager brought up is that Walgreens is not a “professional” photo shop. If a customer really wanted her film done exactly how she wanted, she would be better off taking it to a pro shop where they specialize in custom orders.

In the case of Sprint, there is no “pro” shop. There are just other comparable carriers.

But what about those Sprint problem customers? Unfortunately, cellphone carriers are in a unique position where they can offer crappy service with the customers unable to do anything but complain. Since customers are locked into two-year contracts with high cancellation fees, all a customer can do is complain if the service isn’t up to par. Sprint should worry more about improving its service than trying to cut off problem customers. A better approach perhaps would be to offer these customers free cancellation and a choice of going to a competing carrier. Sprint shouldn’t just say, “Sorry, you’re not a good customer to us anymore. Good bye.”

At Walgreens we told the customer more-or-less, “We simply cannot accommodate your special needs because we don’t have the equipment or staff on hand. Here are some places that can help you.” In Sprint’s case, it’s telling the problem customers, “We can’t stand your constant need for customer service. We’re cutting you off from our network. Go elsewhere and be someone else’s problem.”

Weekend Survey - Anyone See the Transformers?

I went and saw the Transformers this week and was very disappointed. Knowing that Michael Bay (the one who screwed up Pearl Harbor) was directing lowered my expectations quite a bit. In fact, I went into the movie thinking, “At least the special effects will be cool.”

Unfortunately, the clichés, bad acting, plot holes, and bad dialog couldn’t cover up the special effects, even on a first viewing. While watching the transformers on screen, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another robot movie called Small Soldiers.

I was just curious about what you thought of The Transformers. Did you like it? If you haven’t seen it, do you even want to see it? And do you like any of Michael Bay’s films?

Is it the Idea or Execution That’s Important?

Bes over at The Reasoner recently posted a “bragging” post about why people like to copy him. It is the type of post that will leave anybody feeling guilty, whether they are guilty or not. When reading the post, I myself thought, “Hmmm, am I trying to copy the reasoner?”

One of the overall points that comes to mind when reading the post is the many times I felt that people have taken one of my ideas or started mimicking some of the things I was doing. Some people are of the opinion that if someone imitates you, then you should be flattered.

The Struggle for Originality

I believe everybody struggles to be original to some extent. But that originality will come at a cost. People will try to change you. World events might try to change your situation. The stovepipe you were trying to get out of suddenly encases you tighter and tighter.

How does one get out of a stovepipe? One must branch out. Explore things that are foreign. Come up with new ideas. Rebel against your own sense of originality.

Is Your Idea Important?

Of course your idea is important. But someone might have already executed your idea. Could you execute your idea better, however?

Google wasn’t the first search engine on the block, but Google executed the idea of search better than the competition. The Japanese also weren’t the first car makers, but their execution at producing cheap quality cars caused the American auto-makers to play catch up really fast.

The point is, your idea is important, but the execution of that idea is even more important.

Conclusion

Bes has some great ideas over at his site. And he may not have come up with these ideas first. People can steal (borrow?) these ideas and claim them as their own. However, unless the execution can meet or surpass those of the competition, then there isn’t too much to worry about.

The A-Bomb and the Japanese Surrender in World War II

Fumio Kyuma, a Japanese defense minister, resigned under pressure for making comments that suggest that the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were a necessary way to end World War II.

It is well documented (and explained in horrific detail in the book Flyboys) that the broiling and burning of Japanese by dropping incendiary bombs caused a tremendous amount more structural damage and loss of life than both atomic bombs combined.

So were the atomic bombs inevitably necessary to end World War II? Not really. The war would’ve ended eventually, either with total (or near total) Japanese destruction or a unconditional surrender. Did the atomic bombs speed the decision to the unconditional surrender? Some would argue yes. I would argue no, however.

As stated earlier, the fire bombs dropped on Tokyo and numerous other cities in Japan caused far greater damage than the atomic bombs. The atomic bombs were simply too expensive to produce and far riskier to drop than several hundred B-29s ready to pour liquid fire on the people (err, targets) below.

The fire bombing was the greater threat to the Japanese at the time, not the atomic bombs being dropped.

Shawn Blanc Now Has His Own Pad (and other news)

Shawn Blanc, a gifted Christian blogger whom I have personally met in Nashville, has launched his own website: ShawnBlanc.net. If you like a mix of tech, Macs, Christianity, or whatever, please check out the site and perhaps add it to your feed reader.

In other news, I am officially back from vacation and will “attempt” to catch up on feeds, posts, and comments. Thank you for putting up with my blog reruns. The overall reaction to the reruns was positive, but if you really didn’t like them, please let me know.