Voices in my head...

I started reading The Hobbit today, and I'll be doing it while I am on the bus from now on. One thing I have always loved about books is that one can imagine the characters and places as he pleases, specially the voices, but the thing with this book is that I first saw the movie and now I can't think of Bilbo or Gandalf differently than the actors, every time I read something Gandalf says I imagine Ian McKellens voice, same with Bilbo and the dwarfs, I can't ever imagine a dwarf with an accent that isn't Scottish. A few years ago I remember that I read the Davinci Code and after that they made the movie, I have never seen it, I couldn't imagine the main character as Tom Hanks, it was just wrong, he didn't look or sounded like that, it didn't appeal to me, so I never watched it, that and that I no longer cared for that kind of books, but this isn't what I am talking about, lol.

Apart from that, I have really enjoyed the few pages I have read, it feels so well written, I really like the way J. R. R. Tolkien writes, I read The Fellowship of The Ring a few years ago and I enjoyed it much too, but I read that on my computer and I want to read them on paper.

Fanatism...

Although I always say that I hate many things, there are really so few that I really do hate. Yesterday I went to work and I noted that many people were wearing football t-shirts from both local teams... I seriously don't know which teams are, but I think they are Rayados and Tigres, could be wrong :P

All morning I heard people talking about how one team was going to make its bitch the other one and things like that, I didn't care, football is one of the things I could not care less. After work I had to go with my aunt, it was my cousins child baptism and they invited us to their house, the food was good btw, lol.

So, while my brother and I were there we heard that it was the local rivals game, and that was our call to go home... err, to buy groceries and them home. Lucky for us they didn't watch it there, so we stayed a little longer, I met a few new people, old friends of my parents, and I really enjoyed being there.

After that we went to the mall, at this time the game was still going on, after buying everything we needed (and staying within the budged, hell yeah), we had to pick a taxi to go home, the traffic was nuts, people with the winning team flags all around, people of the other team screaming to them, I seemed that any moment there could be a riot.

Just before getting of the taxi we noted that there were many... cholos in the street, some of them yelling, other throwing rocks, I think I even saw kick a car... and we had to pass right next to them. It sucked, I was ready to falcon punch with a gallon of juice I had any of them that got near us. There was this old woman that was yelling at them and them back, it was nuts there, we just walked as fast as we could and luckily nothing happened.

This really is something I will never understand of sports... well, it's not only on sports, anything that has fans can turn into this kind of mess, how can people start doing things like that just because your team didn't win? When will people realize that it's only a game? Well, any way, that was what happened yesterday, other than that it was a pretty cool day, and pay day, so that makes it ten thousand times better.

Out of money...

Last week I got paid the whole week even though I didn't work two days, I started working on Wednesday, so since I wasn't counting on that money I used the extra to buy some clothes and other things I needed like groceries and stuff.
I also bought a few more things that I didn't need but wanted, like a domain (luraguse.com), and I started paying a new server at digialocean.com, I have been learning lots of things thanks to it, which is why I made the investment. And a game I have been wanting to play since I saw Indegame the movie, FEZ, but it comes out till this Wednesday.

All in all, I really used more than I wanted, probably more than I should, but at least not more than I had :P
Also, this week my brother and I will be sticking to a weekly budget to control our expenses a little more.

Finish...

So, I just finished what I was working at and my boss isn't around, so I need to wait till he comes back... if he comes back, in the mean time I can do whatever I want, lol, I could try to make a better documentation of what I did, but I think it is ok for now :P

I took a picture of my working station, I have been spending most of my time here, I even eat here since I don't want to spend all my money eating at restaurants or things like that, and I can watch a show while eating.

Two monitors ftw :D

Focus...

Yesterday was a very productive day, I made a lot of progress at my job and I was able to work with my game at least two hours, this morning I woke up earlier than normal (like 4:30) and I had an idea of what I was going to do at my job and some for the game, but I decided to play a few minutes before going to work. I had an idea of what I was going to do, but now I am here and can't start to work properly, I feel so slow today... I probably need a coffee...

Blackout...

Yesterday we had a blackout at night, it sucked because I realized there is anything I can do if there is no power, really nothing, since I couldn't sleep I started to organize my clothes, it was that bad... and I couldn't see much, so I had to use my cellphones light, which sucks. Anyway, this morning it was back again, so again everything is okay.

Comfort...

As you guys noted in past posts, I am not suffering here, although I am not very comfortable either, there are things that I had to do to have a better time, things I had to change and things I stopped doing.

Food was never an issue, although water is, there is no place to refill a 20 litters jug near here, so I have to buy 10 litters ones when I go to the mall, but since I don't have a car, it is a pain to bring it here, most times I prefer to pay a cab since it is more convenient, and most times it only costs a little more than taking a bus.

Now, that is with drinking water, I could use tap water but it smells way too much like chlorine to my taste, so it isn't a choice, although I use it for making tea, I just need to boil it and ready.

As of now, I don't have a bed, when I got here I was sleeping in a sofa, and to make it worse, it is a hard one, so it was really screwing up my back. I had some money to buy a new mattress but since I was going to start working till the 29th, I decided to save it and bought an inflatable mattress, which was ten times cheaper, and isn't that bad, although, since it is made out of plastic, it becomes way to hot in the night, so sometimes it is hard to fall sleep.

But nothing compares with this thing, the thing that I hate the most is that it feels that every street is slippery, so if I have my shoes instead of my snickers, I always have the feeling that I am going to slip and kill myself... well, not that tragic, but I do have to be careful when walking.

Other than that, it has been a great experience, and I really like not having all the things I had in Juarez, it really feels great living on my own and having a good paying job.

First days at my job...

So as I said in my last post I have a new job, the only thing I don't like so far is the time I have to be here, not because I don't like it, but because I don't have much time to do things after I get out. I am working from 8:30 to 6:30, although I have to say that I am out from 7:30 to 7:30 since I make a 1 hour trip from my home to work, hopefully once I move I will make half that.

So anyway, I am the IT assistant, so far my job has consisted of learning cakePHP, checking a computer to see if I can use it to work while they buy me a new one, make a manual for ownCloud for the workers here, check the companies websites... and I think that is all for the moment.

The thinks I'll be working in the next weeks are, first of all, learn cakePHP and start working in a system to control everything in the company, clients, workers, payments, materials, etc. I have to learn some ruby on rails to see if we can make our apps with it in the future, there is a chance that I'll have to do a video tutorial for ownCloud, although the manual I already did was pretty complete, I'll have to learn some word press to make some websites for the company, I'll probably learn how to program a raspberry pi and some electronics.

This past two days where awesome, except for the metro, it sucks that at that time it is so damn crowded, two days I was late at work because I couldn't get in the metro. There is a bus that passes like a block from my home and leaves me close to job, but I don't know how much time it takes from my home to my job since traffic is a mess in this city.

Tomorrow I'll take the bus to work since I can go half an hour later and see how much time it does.

New job...

Today I had an interview... well, I was supposed to, but it seems that it only was a salary proposition and signing a two month contract. The last interview I was asked how much would I like to make in that position and I said $12k per month, I said that because I felt that there was going to be some bargaining, but my interviewer just told me that it was a little more than what he was expecting to pay but that he was going to ask his boss if that was possible.

So, today he told me how much he could pay me while I was on trial, which was $10k per month, free of taxes, that was actually pretty cool, I don't have to care about that much, and he told me that if I passed my trial period he would see if I could get a rise in my salary.

The only thing I don't like that much is that I have way to much time to eat and nowhere to go in that time, I'll see what I can do to kill some time, one hour and a half is way to much for me :/

Oh, I work for http://www.edificacionescien.com

Budget...

One of the most important things I knew the moment I arrived here was that I wouldn't be able to eat like I did when I lived with my parents, not only because of the money, but because we don't have a stove, my brother only has two electric stoves, each one with a single burner. That really makes it hard to properly cook, specially since they are slow to heat everything.

So, whenever I want to cook I really need to think how I will do it, what I need to do first, what is going to take me more time, what needs more heat (since one of them is better than the other), and what pans do I need.

The other thing is that I really need to save as much money as I can so I don't have to ask my parents for more or my brother, even though he owes me. I don't really like asking them for money, but if I need I'll do it. 

There are two things that I really love and are so inexpensive and freaking tasty, one is white rice with soy sauce, I just love it, and I can eat it almost every day, and the other thing that I have been cooking regularly is bell peppers, I usually saute them with some onion, sometimes with some carrot too, I just love it, it really is inexpensive and tastes awesome, and you can add some variety to it just combining different bell peppers, and it does change its flavor.

The other thing I have been eating a lot are oranges, they are so cheap that I can't just not buy them, if I could I would take as many as I can, last time I bought like 2 kilos and it lasted me like 5 days, and they were fucking awesome.

So yeah, I have been adapting to my situation pretty well, let's see how much it changes once I get a job and start making money XD

Mosquitoes...

There are tons of mosquitoes here in Monterrey, thanks to the humidity of the city they are everywhere. Usually they don't bite me, or rather, they prefer other members of my family, but since they aren't here, it seems that now I am the best next thing to them.

Yesterday I wasn't able to sleep, freaking mosquitoes kept biting me all night long in my arms, unfortunately it was to hot to even think in using a blanket. 

Today I went to the mall and bought a repellent so I don't have another night like yesterday, so lets see if it works.

Yet again I got lost...

Yesterday my brother told me to meet him in a metro station at 4:45, he wanted to take me to a mall and visit a place called "Rent a center", or something like that so we checked prices on how much would renting furniture would cost us, so we don't buy anything.

Well, here in Monterrey are to metro lines, one that goes up and a subterranean one, the second one is the one that is near the university, and that was the one I was supposed to take, well, two stations after the university.

He told me that I could either take a bus, then walk through the university and take the metro to the station he told me, or I could walk there from home or from the university. Either way, it would take me almost the same time to get there... well, it would be a little more walking, but not by much.

Supposedly, if I took the most direct route from my house it would have taken me like 45 minutes walking (according to google maps), so I checked my route, tried to memorize the street names, where I should have turned, how much should I have walked, etc.

Since the station that I was supposed to take is subterranean I wasn't able to see it like the other one, and so I took a wrong turn and ended walking all the way back to the university, but it was cool, I got to know some places like the baseball stadium, a sports training center and other parts of the university that I had not visited.

I ended walking like one and a half hours in the end, but it was worth it, I really liked the places I saw.

I leave here a map of my route, the purple one is the one I should have taken, and the green is the one I took, and before asking why didn't I just walked from my house to the university if it looks so close, lets just say that I need to walk under a high speed bridge, and even if many people do it, it isn't safe, it's an unnecessary risk, I could have taken a bus from my house to the university, but I wanted to walk today since it was cloudy XD

Pain... so much pain...

Since I got here I haven't been able to run much, mainly because I can only run in the mornings because of the weather, and I am always going out in the mornings. So, instead of going out to run I changed my routine, but since it is so small compared to my parents house I can't really run, so I am stuck with only doing push ups, squats and abs, but no cardio.

Since I started doing this I felt that I really needed some cardio, I don't know why, but I feel like I have to do it. So yesterday I went downtown and bought a jumping rope, I didn't want to start with that until I dropped a little more weight so I don't hurt myself because of my overweight, but since I really didn't have another option at the moment I did it.

This was my first time trying to jump a rope, it was weird, at first I was only jumping it like 3 or 4 times before hitting myself, then 10, then 15, my best record yesterday was 20, I did it until I was all sweaty, and it was actually pretty cool, I really like it.

Today I woke up with mild pains in my arms and legs, nothing to worry about. I went to my interview, which I must add was fantastic, the guy who interviewed me told me that I was the favorite so far and that tomorrow he will send me a mail with a salary proposition if I am the one staying.

Well, later I got home and I decided to do some exercise, I was able to break my record to jumping it 50 times in a row, I did it at least 2 times, and a few over 40. It felt good, but not for much, at this moment I feel pain starting in my neck to my feet. But anyway, no pain no gain.

Opportunities...

Yesterday I had a job interview for a company that gives tech support, this was my second interview and they told me that I got the job, but it will start until the 29th, so I have this weeks to take an anti-doping, get my "Carta de no antecedentes penale", go to sign my contract and get the documents they need.

When I got here in Monterrey, I didn't want to work there, I wanted to find a job as either a software developer or a psychologist, but then I decided to get a job as fast as I could and then look for what I wanted because I want to move out to another house, so I applied for that job and got accepted.

Since I had not received any call or anything for the jobs I had sent my resume, I thought that I didn't have a chance, but after the first interview I got a call from a head hunter that was looking for a web developer, but she first needed to show it to the company that was hiring, she never called me back, but there was still some hope, at least someone read my resume.

After my second interview (yesterday) I received an email from another company, they where asking me when could I go to an interview, and we made an appointment tomorrow morning. It is too for a web development position.

So yeah, I already got a job, but I am looking for something better even before I start working :P

Plaza de la Tecnología

So, there is this place in downtown called Plaza de la Tecnología, since I got here I have been wanting to go to see what do they have, so far, this has been my biggest disappointment, it should be called Plaza de los celulares y reparación de computadoras, it has many many locals and almost all of them either sell cellphones/laptops or repair them, there where only like 2 or 3 that sold computer parts and they didn't had anything interesting.

I went there today because I needed to buy a thermal paste for my brothers desktop, and only 2 stores sold them, in many they didn't even knew what it was, so yeah, big disappointment there. Although, there is a best buy like an hour from here, so not everything is lost... except for the prices, I went there a few weeks ago and found that they sell one of the laptops that I want, the Asus G75, but it is way overpriced, in amazon it is 1200 dollars and here it cost 28000 pesos, so yeah, I'd rather buy it on amazon and pay Sergio to bring it to me and I'll still save money.

UANL

So, today I had to go to buy some things here in Monterrey, and since I don't really know many stores I asked my brother where I could buy what I needed, he told me how to get there and how to come back to our home, what buses to take or the metro stations that could use.

To get back home I needed to get out in the university station and there I should walk to the other entrance of it. So, when I got out of the metro I was in front of the University of Nuevo Leon, it is big as hell and it looks pretty cool.

Since I had never been there I decided to take my time to walk to the other entrance and go home, and I got lost there, well, not lost, but I didn't know where to go, so I just continued to explore it, it was cool and relaxing, a few minutes later I found the exit and took the bus home and take a shower, it was hot like hell.

Entrevista...

Este jueves tuve mi primer entrevista en inglés, fue algo raro, aunque entiendo muy bien el idioma casi no lo hablo, no he tenido la oportunidad de practicarlo. Generalmente puedo pensar muy bien en inglés, incluso lo hago fluidamente, salvo alguna palabra que se me atora de vez en cuando.

El trabajo para el que fui es para una empresa de asistencia técnica que tiene contrato con Kaspersky, AT&T y algunas otras empresas, y aunque no me fue mal en la entrevista, si me faltó fluides para un puesto que me interesaba en Kaspersky, el cual son solo 36 horas a la semana.

Es probable que entre a otro proyecto, tengo que llamar el 15 de este mes para hace una cita con el supervisor del proyecto, el cual va a comenzar hasta el 29, así que tengo hasta esa fecha para buscar otro empleo que esté relacionado con mis carreras.

P.S.
It feels weird writing in Spanish :P

Priorities...

Just this past Wednesday my ISP came to install our new modem, but ever since I haven't been able to do anything, mostly because I either go out or a relative comes home, this past Sunday was the season finale of The Walking Dead and the third Season of Game of Thrones started, so I downloaded both episodes to watch them yesterday.

I didn't know which one watch first, TWD or GoT? It was hard for me to decide, and then I remembered that I was about to finish the fourth season of the new Doctor Who, so obviously I watched that, I wanted to watch how the tenth doctor regenerated into the eleventh, so obviously I watched like 4 episodes of Doctor Who before watching TWD and GoT, dammit, I love it, once I finish I'll try to watch the original series :D

Oh, and I watched first TWD and then GoT, I preferred to finish something before starting something new, if that makes any sense :P

Cloudy Now...

One of the first things I noted when I arrived here is the difference in the climates, when I arrived it was hot and humid, it was like 30 or 32 degrees but it felt like it was hotter because I started to sweat like hell.

But that was only the first day, most days here have been cloudy, it has rained at least like 4 or 5 days since I arrived, and there have been days when it is cloudy all day, its nice and all, but when it rains, if the next day has a clear sky, it sucks because it feels like a sauna... or at least that's how I think a sauna would feel like :P

Anyway, cool weather, although I fear the rain season, my brother tells me that some parts of the city gets flooded pretty bad.

Lost in downtown...

Today I went downtown alone, I need to start familiarizing better with the city, or at least get to know the main parts of it, but every time I went anywhere I was with my mom or my brother. So, I took a bus, then the metro and arrived downtown. I almost got lost like three times.

First when I was going to the metro station, I took a bus that passed near it, but I didn't know where I should get down, so I passed my stop and had to walk like 15 minutes or more. This part of the metro isn't subterranean, so it was pretty clear where to go.

Luckily, this metro gets me to downtown in a matter of minutes, I arrived there and I just started walking in one of the main streets, after a few minutes I got where I took some of the pics I uploaded in facebook (the one with the Zeus statue), then I went back and started looking at stores, I got to a plaza, a library, they where shooting a local show, then I didn't know where I was, lol, I walked for at least 2 hours, since I didn't felt that lost, I just continued to walk.

I got to another metro station that was in the other side of where the Zeus statue is, so from there it was pretty easy to know where I was, I walked a few more minutes since I wanted to find a cinema that I knew was near. It was in the same block where I arrived.

It was pretty awesome.