Thoughts

Recently I have been thinking about how things are going in my life. Mainly how things have been changing and how I view what it's happening.

One of the things I've come to realize, is how I prefer to move on the public transportation system rather that in a car. I find the former to be far more convenient way for move around the city, specially since most of the time I'm by myself. And when I do go with someone else, the places where we go have easy access to public transport.

Not only it's easier, it's also considerable cheaper than a car. There is a $150 pesos average difference per week, which is pretty much for me.

Also, I've found myself downtown Cuernavaca or at Tepoztlán most of my time. To be honest, I'd move to Tepoztlán if I could. There a few things I enjoy about living where I'm currently living at, but I don't feel as comfortable as I used to be.

There are a lot of things I've got to think about. I want to change a lot of things I want to change in my life, but at the same time there are a lot to consider. Life it's not easy, but I really don't expect it to be.

Challenges are part of life, and I do enjoy facing them; even though sometimes I get frustrated by them. But at the end, who I am is the result of the challenges I've faced so far.

Tepoztlán

The more I visit Tepoztlán the more I like the town.

It's really calm, but at the same time it has all what's to be expected from modern life. And it's close enough to Cuernavaca and Mexico City to make the trip in one day if there is the need.

I do see me living here quite comfortable, and I'd love to be able in the short term.

To be honest, I never imagined that I'd be passing so much of my time at Tepoztlán. Let alone getting to know it as well as I've in the last year. Guess that one of my mayor objectives now is being able to move here soon.

Succees

I don't really understand how comes that for many people the idea for someone else has to take advantage of them in order to succeed.

It's hard to grasp that the success of others can actually be beneficial to everyone?

Even if it's not beneficial for you, it doesn't mean that it has to be detrimental. Not everyone who succeed does it at the expense of someone else. We need to get rid of the idea that success comes along when you act in a way that hurts the interest of society.

Lesson wasn't learned

It seems that the municipal government of Cuernavaca hasn't learned it's lesson about listening to the people. And the people hasn't learn to negotiate when it's voice it's heard.

What I find most frustrating is that Mexican society doesn't seem to be able to make it's arguments heard without affecting the rights of others. I mean, they expect to step on the rights of others, and still have them supporting them. And when the affected party denies said support, everyone acts surprised.

It seems that people believe that they don't have to respect anyone's rights, but everyone else have to respect theirs. Of course, if we want to move forward as a community, it doesn't quite work that way.

We need to stop blaming others for what happens, and stop thinking that any change will be bad. Up to this moment, I haven't seen anyone asking for details or analyzing what's been proposed before saying that it can't be done. It seems that no is the default answer to any proposal that comes, it doesn't matter who, or how, the proposal comes along.

Instead of moving to the future, while living in the present, many want to live in the past. For me, that's the best way to die a slow death.

Bad moves

Just when politicians seem to have gotten what people want from them, they just have to get out of their way and prove the thought wrong.

Last week the tax on houses was brought to last year levels, after it increased up to more than a 100% in some cases. Of course, everyone was happy about that. But, when those who already paid went to get the amount they paid extra where confronted with several things meant to make it difficult to do. From only opening one cash register, to being told to come some other day because there wasn't enough money.

To make matters worse, this week the city was filled with propaganda by the political party PRI, on how the municipal president was with the people by bringing the tax down.

It's just sad to see how they try to deceive the us so badly. Do they actually believe that no one would see trough it?

To be honest, the president has been doing some great things for the city. But, at the end it's disappointing to loose faith in him by this mistakes.

Open source

I really like the idea of open source software. I do believe that it's the best way to drive innovation and healthy collaboration.

But lately, I've been wondering if the philosophy of FOSS can be applied to government. In essence, it would help to make government a lot more open, and could encourage the community at large to participate much more. And, since it would make it all more transparent, it could help individuals within the society to choose in what they want to help to build a better government.

The way government is run now, it's a pretty closed system. Which is bad, since it power springs from the people it governs. So, for the benefit of the people, it should be easier to help, make use, and make the government officials accountable for their actions.

As a society, we should push for a kind of government that is easier to participate in. I don't believe there should be a reason why one should be part of a political party to run for office, or why getting information about how it work should be so complicated to get.

The rules now, make it easy to anyone at the government to dodge any claim that any part of the society makes just because they don't like it, or it isn't politically convenient at the moment. That is urgent to change.

There are good signs that some people are making progress, but more need to be done. And more importantly, more people need to get involved.

System overhaul

The more I see how the current political players at state level can regain the trust from the electorate without a mayor overhaul, but sadly I don't see said overhaul happening.

The three mayor parties seem to be blinding themselves to the fact that they are losing the support from the majority of the society. The leaders seem to automatically dismiss the fact that the population is dissatisfied with how they are representing us at all levels of government, and forget that their power comes from us.

What I find worst, is that elected officials tend to heed more readily what ever line is given to them by the political party, than the given by the people they represent or govern.

More often than not, the line given by the political parties doesn't match needs or wants of the population. Which only brings anger and resentment toward the both, the party and the official. This has been going for so long, that it has generated a high level of distrust and apathy on society.

It seems that even when people wants the system to change, more often than not we don't believe that it can be done.

To be honest, I have seen some signs that society seems to be flexing it's muscle to make changes happen. One example is with the tax on property at Cuernavaca, where the authorities are being made to back paddle the excessive hike on this tax. Granted, the battle hasn't been won yet, but no authority can actually dismiss the protests easily.

If this works, it gives me hope that the change the political system need in Mexico will come sooner than later. It might be a little thing, but we have to start somewhere.

Ubuntu

It has been almost 6 months since I started using Ubuntu as my primary OS.

During this time, I've come to really like and enjoy using. I've found it really reliable and easy to use. It covers all my needs, and has all what I look for on the software side.

I just go back to Windows when I've no way around it, which it isn't that often.

I had been thinking about using a Linux distribution for quite a while now, but until I got my current laptop I had some problems getting it to work. Finally, when Ubuntu 10.04 came out, I was able to get a fully work. And now, I don't want, or will, go back to Windows.