Closed on Sundays

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Not only is the biggest phone provider in the biggest metropolitan city of Barcelona closed on Sunday, but the process to which I discovered that was enough to cause a premature death. I navigated through the prehistoric Vodafone site (all in Spanish of course), and found the attached page. The ONLY way to contact a phone provider was scroll on an abysmal map through the thousands of providers to find the one closest to me.

How can one survive in a country where major companies, who’s efficiency affects the entire county, are closed on Sunday? That’s 1/7th of the fucking time!
I know I’m supposed to, as a frequent travel, be open minded, even appreciative of the differences in culture. And I’m supposed to realize the charm in things being closed, that people here aren’t overworked like they are in America, that there is a bigger picture lesson here and I’m supposed to make a lifestyle change and realize that I don’t actually need anything on Sunday, and that it can wait until tomorrow. And in that waiting I appreciate the little things, like the loud noise and pollution of the scooters going by, or the pretty prison looking outside of other boarded up stores that aren’t open, but the truth is that I’m just annoyed.

And all that philosophical bullshit is really just masking the one word reality in which this entire fucking country seems to be existing: inefficiency.

I also realize that one may label this as an extremely American point of view. To whom I would say, try living in a place where things close 2 days a week and four hours during the working day and tell me which system you prefer. And in the very nature of labeling it American one seeks to write off the ideology as if it’s narrow minded. But there are some things about America that are actually virtues. One of them is that it’s extremely fucking efficient.

What the traveler must do is evaluate things critically. And this siesta shit is just behind the times. If someone want to take time off to enjoy the flowers on Sunday, on every Sunday, I think that’s great. Work like balance is important. Extremely important. But the individual should have that choice.

But sometimes I want to get shit done on Sunday. And in a modern society I think that should be the option of the individual, not the will of the corporations.
End rant.

The Sport of War: 10 Reasons Why Wars Are Like Sports

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Israel and Palestine are going at it again. I know nothing about the war, nor do I pretend to.

I do however notice some interesting observations from the way this war (and wars in general) function nowadays.

1. Relevance: When it’s “in season” or a new bombing just happened, it’s the hottest news on the planet. Six weeks later, nobody cares. That’s okay though, there’s always next season.

2. Patriotism: In both war and sports people are extremely patriotic. They go so far as to identify themselves with the “entity” (team or county) that they like the most. “We are winning” is something one hears often, the pronoun including the speaker.
They also tend to root for whatever side closest to home. An New York born American for example is likely to root for the Yankees vs the Red Sox as he is America vs. Iraq. And, have you ever seen what happens when someone roots for the away team?

3. Irony: The truth is that most people whom observe these events have never or will never come close to actually experiencing them. The 250 lb guy drinking a beer on Sunday watching football or the local news commentator both have no experience ever doing the event they are so avid, passionate and seem to know so much about.

4. Ratings: Similarly to how networks broadcast major sporting events, news channels leap on the opportunity to report the latest terrorist attack, bombing or gossip related to the latest war. These programs are widely viewed thus advertising space for them is extremely lucrative. It’s also a huge cash machine.

5. Misunderstanding: Arguably the biggest commonality is the fact that everyone has an opinion of the situation although very few actually have any clue what is going on. For every winning sports bettor there are likely 1,000 losers, just as for everyone who actually knows what is going on in Israel there is probably 1,000 who don’t. The irony in both is that probably 950 of those losers or clueless individuals think they really know what’s going on (hence how the winners survive, and the puppeteers keep the public brainwashed).

6. Close Minded: Have you ever tried to change someone’s mind? It’s a difficult task in any facet, but in war and sports it’s nearly impossible. No Yankees fan will ever be convinced the Red Sox are better and no pro Israel person is ever going to sympathize with Palestine.

7. Statistics: In war and sports, anything can be “proven.” The public loves to use numbers, despite being entirely irrelevant. “The Yankees scored more runs in the 4th inning than any other team this post season,” an announcer will say tout into the inning. Inevitably, some imbecile will think the Yankees are actually a better 4th inning team than others, and place his bets accordingly. Humans aren’t meant to understand randomness, and contrarily, they are good at attributing meaning when there is none. Both sides, regardless of the odds, find outlets for hope and reasons why the past means their future looks brighter. Nobody likes coincidence, and in war and sports there are none. Ever.

8. It’s A Game: Albeit obvious, in both war and sports there is a ton of skill and strategy. Some of it is obvious: tactile ground missions and orchestrated game winning plays. Other aspects are not: how to gain the public support and where will our annual marketing budget best be spent so we can ensure maximum ticket sales?

9. Marketing: Image is everything. Just as coaches, players, owners and organizations care deeply about the image they portray, so too do both sides of any war. They want to make sure the counter party is seen as the villain (or more accurately, downplay wrong doings of themselves while bolstering their image). They’ll apologize when necessary, but only as a last resort. And the better the marketing, the more funding behind the operation.

10. Keeping Score: This isn’t meant to sound insensitive to those who have passed. I am extremely overwhelmed by the terrors of war. But let’s set aside the grave reality of human causalities for a moment. In sports, both sides keep score to monitor their progress and measure who is winning. In this current Israel-Palestine debacle, it works the exact same. Whether its civilian causalities, money spent, or soldier death tolls, both sides love numbers. And they boast when they’re winning. Can one really say that just because in war, where the game is played with human lives, that it functions any differently from sports? Or are the stakes just higher?

A closing thought: I know sports and war are different ,and I don’t need 10 ways they are in a comment. If you do wish to comment, and if you’re still reading, you must be intelligent, so I genuinely hope you do, please make it worth reading.

– Me

Funny When You’re Dead How People Start Listenin’

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A penny for my thoughts, oh, no, I’ll sell ’em for a dollar
They’re worth so much more after I’m a goner
And maybe then you’ll hear the words I been singin’
Funny when you’re dead how people start listenin’

If I Die Young – The Band Perry

My friend died today. They found his body in a river in Slovania. Cause of death unknown, but irrelevant.

He was a prominent figure in my industry. When news of the event was confirmed the media, the fans, and his colleagues all put out the compulsory sympathetic tweet saying how much they’ll miss him, how good of a person he was, and how touched they were by his kindness.

It’s safe to say those things now.

But how many people had the courage to say it to him when he was alive?

And if he were still alive, most of us would let a year go by without calling him. But, what’s important is that when we’d bump into each other we’d gasp, smile and exchange about how “it’s been so long… I miss you…and  that we need to catch up.”

We never call. I was one of them.

I think it’s not the people that causes such outcry, it’s the reminder, the awareness of the fragility of our existence. One’s death is just the catalyst.

 

A Conversation with a Millionaire

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My work allows me hang out with a unique circle: CEO’s of major corporations, self made millionaire entrepreneurs, 12 figure stock traders and trust fundees.

One could say they “have” everything. And that includes problems. First world problems, sure but problems nonetheless.

Truth be told they’re not even problems, they’re more like fears.

Fear of Identity: Which car or watch should I buy?

Fear of Scarcity: Should I take this new business venture?

Fear of Failure: How can I do more?

Fear of Ego: What will others think?

In other words, they’re people, just like you and me. And they have the same needs and struggle with the same things. Sure the variables are different but the “problems” remain.

If there’s one thing my interaction with these men has taught me, it’s that we’re all human. Money and fame are just superficial ways of making that fact, like sports teams, race, religion, and national heritage.

One man whom I’m the most fond of, a self made multi millionaire, extremely humble, intelligent, eloquent to the point where I use a dictionary just to maintain conversion, was concerned about the well being of his daughter.
I told him it’s normal, that it’s a sign he’s a good parent, a caring father.

Discussing the future of his daughter, now just an innocent 4 years old, he was visibly stressed and confused.
His concern was different than most. He was worried about leaving her too much money, about not instilling in her the values of hard work, discipline and the will to overcome adversity.
“It’s a good problem to have, don’t you think?” He ignored my rhetoric. It’s still a problem.
“$5,000,000 is too much don’t you think?”
“Way too much.”

We debated for some time in a serious discussion as one would debate the pros and cons of a business, and settled on $250,000 over 5 years.
Just enough, but not too much.
Isn’t that what we all want? I said to him.

And that’s just the thing. The deca millionaire and the man bagging groceries, deep down, both want the same things.
Love, acceptance, affirmation, dignity, health, purpose… enough but not too much.

Everything else is just bullshit.

Matching Goals and Happiness

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While reading the book The Gift of Imperfection, we came a cross an interesting exercise to understand if your goals and priorities are aligned with what ultimately makes you happy.

First we wrote down the list of things that give us true moments of joy, that make our face smile and give us excitement.

Then we wrote down the goals we are trying to work towards.

The good news is that they pretty much match.

What we need to work on is to make them a constant reality, a routine that sweeps away those bad days wasted running behind things that are not important neither for our happiness nor for reaching our goals.

These are our lists. What makes us happy & what our goals are:

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Musings Don’t Have Good Titles

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I watched a hockey game (or any sports game for that matter) for the first time in a long time tonight. It happened to be game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals, double over time.

I forgot how mesmerizing it is to watch it. What these guys can do on ice is more than I could do on foot. Impressive.

Hockey is quite ruthless with scoring, which of course adds to the excitement. One goal and game over. For the LA Kings that meant a Stanley Cup Championship, for the NY Rangers, another chance tomorrow.

Then, fast as lightening, the Kings scored. Blink, and you’d have missed it. Game over.

The announcer surmised the scene best: “complete elation for one team, complete agony for the other.”

I am completely impartial to who wins, but I couldn’t help but feel more sorry for the Rangers than excitement for the Kings.

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