the screen, the screen

I’m tired. Real tired. 6am - 7pm workday tired.

Right now I’d rather curl up under the sheets than write in my journal. Which is a bit of a shame, seeing as how two minor miracles (and potentially pivotal events) have occurred in my life recently.

So, goodnight.

What? All right, all right.

Two unbelievable events that began this weekend, flowed into this week in wonderful ways. On Saturday, thanks to Mom & Bob’s limitless generosity, I was able to purchase a brand-new, state of the art, Sony Vaio laptop computer to replace the caveman computer I was using at work.

The old keyboard:

The screen.... the screen... (searches in vain for an apt adjective to describe the breath-takingly beautiful, truer-than-life, deeply-digitally-delightful, jump-through-the-screen kinda image, and comes up with only...) the screen!

A screen so stunning that it brought tears to my eyes. (Actually, so did my previous monitor... but that was due to eye strain.)

The old monitor:

This is the kind of computer that gives me an itchy trigger finger for my digital camera. The kind of computer that makes be glad to be a Photoshop freak. The kind of computer that screams “create something, dammit!”

I’ve spent the past two days loading this incredible instrument with the latest and greatest software: Dreamweaver, GoLive, NikonView, Nik Efex Pro, Pen Palette, Photoshop CS .... (pause for long geek sigh of contentment.)

After this weekend, the office will be rewired so that I can connect to our intranet and use the laptop as my desktop computer. (I promise that my website will come alive visually as soon as this happens!)

The new laptop:

The only catch is -- from this point on -- if I create anything less than stunning and cutting-edge, I have no-one to blame but myself!

As for the other "unbelievable event"... well, you're just going to have to wait for that one. It's bedtime for me!

Well done

One month in Guatemala!

An unbelievably fast-flying thirty days in my adopted country.

One month of Canchenicity.

One month of not only remembering, but reliving!

One month, remarkable not for any whiz-bang, earth-shattering, glow-in-the-dark, capital ‘E’ events... but rather, remarkable for how sweet & easy the transition was.

Which, now that I think about it, isn’t perhaps all that surprising. After all, I’m returning to the life I lived for eleven years!

Add to that the fact that more has remained the same than has changed in Guatemala during the past four years, and it makes perfect sense that I feel so at home here.

As far as my “achievements” go, I’m going to cut myself a bit of slack (is that legal?) This was definitely a month of transition, a time for rebuilding “la vida Canche.”

Still, in the great To-Do List of My Life, I was able to check off the following boxes:

 I found an apartment in the Edificio el Centro, and moved back into my “old neighborhood”.

 Against all odds I managed to get my hand-cranked, hamster-on-a-treadmill-powered, once-owned-by-Ben-Franklin, sell-it-on-Ebay-as-a-collectible, calculator-wannabe, excuse for a computer up to (what we will ironically refer to as) speed. That is to say... I can now download photos from the camera, edit them in Photoshop, and upload them them to the internet (aka:here.)

 I’ve reconnected with “mi gente” over coffee, at the movies, during marches, while dancing, in Antigua, at work, on the streets... in short, it turns out I have a social life. (Who would’ve thought?)

 I’m now a morning person. (Pause for the laughter to fade.) Ok, maybe “morning person” is a bit of a stretch. After all, I still get out of bed each morning with all the energy and enthusiasm of a damp sack of cement. That said however, I am up (if not awake) at 5am every weekday morning, and the first to arrive at the office, by six a.m.

 I write often in my journal, and have kept the homepage (um, mostly) up-to-date.

 My diet has become frighteningly healthy (fruit! salad! rice! beans! soup! veggies! er... coffee!) and with all the walking I do, the “have-another-slice-of-shadow-cake” pounds are quickly melting away.

So, OK, it hasn’t exactly been a Nobel Prize-worthy month. It’s been more of a “hey, you know what? I think I’m going to make it!” kinda month.

For my first month back... that’s not so bad.

I just called...

This cell phone business kills me! (In a good way.)

I realize that when it comes to cell phones, I’m pretty much the last guy to climb aboard the technology train. I can only imagine that most folks upon reading this journal entry will simply sigh, shake their head in wonder, and mutter the eternal words: well, duh!

So, here’s the deal: I didn’t want a cell phone. I wasn’t entirely convinced I wanted a regular phone. But my apartment didn’t even have a phone line, and I figured that probably wasn’t the wisest way to live. On the other hand, I really wasn't looking forward to dancing the telephone tango with the phone company, either.

In years past, the national phone company, Guatel (which would later, in a creative moment of modernization, rename itself Telgua), provided exasperatingly inefficient and expensive telephone service. And I'm being very generous when I use the word "service".

Judy Strong, owner of the excellent Europa Bar & Restaurant (“English spoken, but not understood”), however, brought me up to date on the amazing advances in Guatemalan telephone technology during the past four years.

Based on her recommendation, I decided to purchase a BellSouth “Home Cell Phone”, which is a hardcover-sized unit that plugs into an electrical socket, and violá… telephone service sans telephone line. And the best part? Telephone calls to the U.S. for ten cents per minute. Ten freaking cents!

When I arrived at Tikal Futura, however, I noticed a multitude of young indigenous women flowing around the BellSouth kiosk, with newly purchased cell phones in their hands. I asked the BellSouth rep about them (the cell phones, not the indigenous women), and he told me that they were prepay phones… immediate activation, no monthly charges, free incoming calls, minutes added by purchasing phone cards … and calls to the U.S. for ten cents per minute!

The cell phone cost Q450 ($56)… and it came with Q75 of airtime included! As far as decisions go, it was a no-brainer of epic proportions!

So I own a cell phone.

And it cracks me up that I can be strolling down Sexta Avenida, the hustling and bustling central avenue of Guatemala City’s zona 1… and get a phone call from Mom.

The most fun so far… in fact, one of the most surreal experiences in my supremely surreal life… was talking to my sister Vicki on my brand new cell phone while browsing the aisles of Sears and Office Depot… in Guatemala City. Talk about freaky-weird culture shock… and fun! I swear that the phone paid for itself with that one conversation.

What a wonderful wireless world we live in!

Primero de Mayo

Now there’s a day for you!

Primero de Mayo: Día de los Trabajadores... May 1st: Labor Day.

Also known as “long-march-under-the-sweltering-sun-while-taking-photographs” day.

I can’t remember a 1º de Mayo en Guatemala where I didn’t end up sweaty, spent, and slightly sunburnt.

Today, however, was different. Yes, I still ended up sweaty, spent, and slightly sunburnt. But my photograph-taking was seriously reduced compared to years past. So what happened?

 Was I out of practice?

 Did I experience technical difficulties?

 Did I simply forget to pack my camera?

No, no, and (sheesh) no. The thing is, it’s difficult to concentrate on taking photos when you’re busy celebrating a hundred and one reunions. By the end of the two-hour march not only were my feet tired, but so were my arms... from nonstop hugging. I think that all the constant kissing kept my cheeks from becoming too sunburnt!

From labor unions and student organizations to political parties and campesino movements, I reconnected with a sea of friends today. It’s good to be back.

And if that weren’t enough... after the march I joined my Incidencia Democratica co-workers at Dania’s home to celebrate the second anniversary of I-dem. The fiesta included ceviche (shrimp cocktail, Guatemalan-style), carne adobada (barbecue, Guatemalan style), a joke-telling marathon (entertainment, Guatemalan-style) and a guitar sing-a-long with every kind of music imaginable... from drunken cantina ballads to heart-thumping revolutionary hymns (celebrating life, Guatemala-style.)

¡Que viva el Primero de Mayo!