floundersgreatadventure

By now everybody has heard or seen picture of the tragedy in Boston that took place at ht end of yesterday marathon race. So far no one has come forward and taken responsibility for it and I’m not sure they will. The list of possible origination’s that might have done this includes everyone from the IRA to someone who had a personal vendetta against the race or the sporting goods store where the bombs went off. Whoever did do this they accomplished what a terror attack is supposed to do make people change their way of life, walk with care, suspect everyone and trust no one. Sad isn’t it on a day set aside to celebrate life and the outdoors, to bring people together from all over the world for a friendly day of sport and then turn into a day of tragedy. The worst part of the thing is that a child died and no one knows why. Law enforcement is going to want to catch this person or persons alive and question them and put them on trial, I don’t agree I think they should be tortured to death and their bodies burned and I think it should be done on worldwide TV. I know people are saying that makes just as bad as them my answer SO WHAT lets show these people they can’t commit this type of crime and then sit in a comfortable jail cell for the next 30 years or so. This my opinion but what do I know I’m just a pissed off cat. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia.

Venezuela held an election yesterday and it was closer than anybody suspected although the result wasn’t a surprise Maduro won. Now there are claims by the Capriles side of election fraud and their probably right. But now here’s the thing it was probably on both sides the question is who was the most effective. Voter fraud is everywhere in the US there are many cases of people voting ten years after they died it does tend to be almost a way of life in Latin America. The method of voting and the one used to count and verify the vote are just too easy to mess with in most countries they know there’s going to be fraud look at Florida when Bush got elected. They just sort of ignore it since in the US the presidential election is more about certain states and money. In Latin America it’s all about money and since most of the people don’t have a lot a few pesos here or there can win an election that and having a couple of mean cops or military types standing around giving you the evil eye if they think you’re not going to vote the right way. America just likes to make very difficult for poor people to vote they draw maps and put district voting machines far away and then they have their employers dock them for the time they use to go vote, of course this is all illegal but it still goes on. I think Capriles should be grateful he didn’t win his country is so messed up right now that I doubt he would be able to change anything before the military stepped in. Well that it for political speak this is Flounder and his buddy Jeff saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia

You know Scottish and Jewish people are always made fun of because they’re what some people call frugal or cheap. In reality they’re really not but I have a good example of a people being cheap, down here people don’t have a lot of money to waste on stupid stuff like Americans do, so some people might say there cheap, but the only time you really say that is when you talk about their cell phone minutes. Here’s an example a guy is walking down the street and sees an accident right in front of him and there’s somebody hurt. The injured person is telling him he needs help call an ambulance the passerby looks around and he’s the only one there he says I don’t have a cell phone the injured person looks at him and says he left his home. After this conversation they here a ring tones and they both smile sheepishly and reach for their cell phones. This might seem extreme but Jeff has seen some people do strange thing when it come to using minutes, I should explain that nobody buys a monthly plan they go to the corner and buy a fixed amount of minutes depending on their needs and the key word is their needs. A lot of people don’t even have cell phone they go to someone who will be sitting on a corner or in front of a store with three or four cell phones and charging so much per minute for their use. People won’t use their home phones to make calls to cell phones because it costs more per call. This is a reason people tend to live close to their families of course it’s not the only reason, but it’s the one I like best. It’s time for Flounder to say CIAO for Medellin.

Jeff got up this morning and I guess he’s in a sentimental mood (or maybe just mental) and decided he was going to listen to his collection of music past. He started out with a lot of oldies compilation he has and he has a lot; not counting down loads Jeff brought about seven hundred and fifty CDs with him when we moved down here. Of course nothing newer than 5 or 6 years ago, for the newer music he listens to radio stations from America on his computer. I guess you could say the one thing he misses about America is music the download services he uses won’t let him down load anything down here; I guess they’re afraid of piracy. Right now Ruby is listening to her music on the radio so I’m suffering with stereophonic noise yippee. At his moment Jeff is listening to the Blues brother 2000 movie soundtrack album, I have to admit its pretty cool as was the movie. I will say this, the music Jeff has is pretty good especially his collection of Blues Music. He really loves the stuff and it’s really good he says it’s the music that started Jazz and Rock and Roll. I’ll have to take his word for that I don’t feel like getting into controversial discussions today as a matter of fact I think it’s time to say this is Flounder and his musical buddy Jeff saying CIAO.

Well I’m a little pissed off Ruby’s son John said there were other animals writing Blogs, and were getting paid for it and that Jeff was still poor. Well first I’m not just an animal writing a blog I’m Jeff’s best friend and resent being put in the same class as a dog. It’s a proven fact cats are smarter than dogs; you don’t see us going around begging for food. It john should understand we never got into this to make money, as soon as you do that you have people who will want to write about this or that. We choose what were going to say on particular day and we don’t get upset if nobody reads the post. We could do a political satire thing or simply discuss the news from Colombia but we have friends in other places so we wake up set down check our email and then decide what were going to write about on that day. We would write about Colombian soccer, but the teams are so bad I mean how many stories can you write about losing or tying. I think John is just jealous because he has to get up and go to work every day and Jeff and Ruby don’t and besides that we have family and each other which trumps money anytime. So John you go to work me and Jeff are going to go sit on the balcony and do nothing. This is flounder and Jeff living the good life saying Ciao.   

It’s pretty boring around here right now even though we had some horrendous rain and win yesterday and early this morning. When the wind blows around here it howls because the windows don’t seal perfectly. Now what does this have to do with Jeff and me being bored? Absolutely nothing we’re bored with the politicians saying the same thing down here and the US and then doing nothing. Boy I bet Jeff wishes he had finished college and stayed in politics he probably could have retired at thirty instead of 64. I don’t mean he would have been on a pension I mean he would have gotten elected to some small office and say around all day playing solitaire. I mean did you ever watch the TV broadcast of the congress in the US and what do you see? A bunch of empty seats and down here you see empty seats or people eating and some man or woman is standing up there giving a speech and no one is there to hear it, there are some members of the US congress that are always absent during critical votes but they don’t seem to miss their Tee times or their lunch dates. Anyhow we don’t get upset about any more we just yawn and say oh well its same old same old. Well talking about this has made me want to take a nap so this is Flounder and his buddy Jeff saying CIAO from Colombia

Have you been reading the articles claiming the death of the PC is just around the corner? Well if this is true let me ask you another question can you see Jeff (who is 6’2” tall and weighs around 200 lbs) sitting down with a tablet or smart phone to write this blog or is book. How about the guys writing the articles do you think they’re doing it on their smart phones, if they are they will be half blind and have carpal tunnel before their thirty. I know that technology is moving in that direction but until you can input accurate information by voice or thought keyboards are a necessary evil. There are several voice programs available to the general public but they haven’t figured out everything yet, I mean if you’re from the rural south the most popular program and the one considered the most accurate (Dragon Speaking), might not understand you as well as someone from NY City. There are other problems as well dealing with translation from one language to another. So despite what you might here the death of the PC is still years away so don’t listen to the sales person and get rid of your Laptop or PC just yet. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin.

Well today there is a big march for peace in Colombia; Jeff has seen a lot of peace marches back in the sixties when everybody was trying to stop the Vietnam War and he supported them because he knew there was no way to win that war the way the US was going about it. Down here he doesn’t support the negotiations for peace because he believes that the Farc stopped being a political revolutionary group and changed into a bunch of guns for hire for the Cartels. If they were a real political group they would plaster their opinions on government buildings or they would blow them up. They wouldn’t be operating and hiding in the jungle surprisingly the same area where Cocaine is produced. They would also not hurt the people they supposedly are trying to help, that are the poor peasants of the country. Jeff thinks that maybe at one time there was a real political agenda but now the politicians inside the Farc are watching the control of their military vanish and they are afraid if they don’t get what they can for themselves now they’ll be left out in the cold later. The government in the mean time is not negotiating from a position of strength, there military is not succeeding in forcing a negotiated peace. So there you have today’s rant. Jeff deplores some of the things he see’s down here but doesn’t think that the Farc has any better answers. The real losers in this mess are the dead and wounded fighters and the innocent victims of mines and bombs. Someone said and neither Jeff nor I can remember who “Stop the Madness.” Let’s hope they do it soon. This is Flounder and his buddy Jeff saying CIAO from Colombia.

Well Jeff and Ruby went shopping and got the nail clippers and my food but instead of coming right home they went to Nelida’s house to see her and El Jefe here and Ruby’s father. Now Jeff isn’t a big fan of Sancocho but if Nelida’s making it you can bet Jeff will be there for it, that’s not to say his wife Ruby doesn’t make a great one there’s just something about Nelida’s. It was a great day the weather, although a little warm was great the sky blue and as Jeff says all was right with the world. Now today I have to be careful because Jeff is going to try and corner me so he can trim my nails and the only way I’m going to let him do that is if there stuck in his hand. This will be an interesting day I know Ruby wants no part of trimming my nails although I love her she tries to ignore me as much as possible. If Hari shows up all I have to do, is cry a little and he won’t let Jeff touch me, now that’s a friend. Well that’s about it for me so this is Flounder saying CIAO and Bon Appetite from Colombia.

Well Nacional and Medellin played their game last night and if the website is up to date the game ended in a tie 0-0, which leaves no one happy. It’s one of those beautiful days down here with no clouds but it is a little hot and it’s only 10 am, which probably means we can expect some rain sometime today. Jeff and Ruby are going shopping for my food today and they better get it or there will be hell to pay. Jeff says he wants to get nail clippers so he can cut my nails, I don’t think so. It looks Jeff is going to be bleeding later, because if you think I’m getting my nails cut without a fight you crazy. Well I’m going to go sharpen my nails so I can be ready when he gets back in the mean time this Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin