Month: February 2009

Taking Stock

If all goes according to plan, I should be graduating in May 2010. When I went into my Business Administration program with an Information Systems major back in 2006, I didn’t think I’d be leaving it in the midst of an economic crisis. On top of that, I have been learning more and more about what kinds of work I find truly engaging and interesting, and I’m still figuring a lot out on that subject.

They say that during an economic downturn, the best investment you can make is in yourself: increase your own skill set and marketability to become more competitive. I know that my academic program is definitely helping in that regard, but I know that I will have a lot of learning left to do if I want to end up following my real passions. This means much more in-depth skills than are learned in IS programs – basically, trying to catch up with the Computer Science majors.

At this point, if I go for some kind of tech job, I could see myself freelancing, consulting, or torturing myselftrying my hand at a startup or other entrepreneurial venture. At the moment, I don’t see myself as a software engineer, systems analyst, or project manager for a large or even medium-sized firm.

And then there’s the question of the Peace Corps: I am seriously considering two years of volunteering in the Peace Corps after graduation. I’d be doing some kind of IT-related work in a third-world country, though the work probably won’t directly match up with my own career aspirations. Would two years away from the bad economy be a good thing? Or would I be losing my experience/knowledge/fresh job history? Would it be a resume booster? All of these questions are rather self-centered ones for something that really is about serving others, but they still are things I will have to consider for such a large commitment.

So basically, the question of how to best grow my skill set and enter the tech industry under unfavorable economic conditions has been very big on my mind as of late. I don’t have any definitive answers, but have stumbled upon a few helpful clues that might turn into more complete strategies later on.

Sevilla & Córdoba (with pics)

Just got back from a weekend in Sevilla with a quick stop in Córdoba. Sevilla was absolutely amazing – a few times larger than Granada. Like Madrid, it’s full of monuments at every turn. We went around all the usual touristy stops – my mind was blown by the Cathedral’s tower. It was constructed by Muslims and then converted into the cathedral’s bell tower. Since the call to prayer used to be given from the top of the tower five times a day, they elected to use ramps instead of stairs and ride up by horse or donkey. The ramps are still there, and you have to go up around 35 of them to reach the top, where an amazing view of Sevilla awaits.

We made an afternoon stop in Córdoba yesterday, as well. I was sick – second time in a week. After spending an hour and a half looking for a pharmacy that’s open on Sundays during siesta. Ran into about 15 closed ones (Spain has pharmacies everywhere) before finally finding a 24/7 one. Then had a tour of the Mosque/Cathedral, which was an amazingly cavernous building.

I’m now glad to be back in Granada- getting sick on the last day while still traveling is a real pain.

Now for pictures!

Sevilla

Córdoba

Paseos & More (with pics)

The real semester has started up here, and with it comes the sad reality that I’m not here on a five-month vacation. 😛

Classes in my program (Hispanic Studies) are mostly taught by University of Granada faculty who normally teach Spaniards. The classes happen at full-speed Spanish, and don’t normally stop to cover aspects of Spanish language except for a few obscure vocabulary words. My most interesting class by far is Hispanoamerican Culture & History. I haven’t been able to take history classes since my junior year of high school, so I am happy to be back in one. My class schedule is pretty similar to that of an American university, except that Study Abroad students here never have class on Fridays.

For the last few weeks, I’ve gone out to different districts of the city on my own to explore everything a bit more. The whole city center feels pretty familiar now, and I’ve started to venture a bit into a couple of areas off the tourist map of Granada. This morning I went with my friends Megan and Korie to one part of town that seemed more suburban and modern – it had a big view of the Sierra Nevada, which made me feel almost as  if I were in Colorado!

Other times I’ve explored more of the Albayzin and Sacromonte districts. It’s great how so many neighborhoods here have such distinct personalities in a small area.

I’ll post a few odds-and-ends photos from the last few weeks here – a little bit of everything from different paseos I’ve done, plus a couple of other things that don’t fit anywhere else.

Paseos & More

Suit-Your-Own-Talent Meme

Most MySpace-style quiz “answer a million pointless questions and pass them on” things are pretty uninteresting, and the recent rash of “25 Random Facts About Me” on Facebook is starting to get out of control! But recently my friend Alan posted a really interesting meme on his blog, which had great results. So now it’s my turn to jump in.

HERE’S THE DEAL:

The first three people to comment on this blog post (on my actual blog, NOT on Facebook) will receive the following from me:

  1. An original photo
  2. A short (EP-length) music mix

Both the photo and the mix will be made with you in mind – I have no idea what they’ll be, but they will consist of things that remind me of you in one way or another. I’ll post the results here for all to see, but also will e-mail you a higher-quality version of it all. (Please give me a bit of time, too, as I want to put some thought into it all).

The only thing I ask in return is that you do the same thing on your blog / Facebook / whatever for 3 more people, but change whatever the creation is to something that suits your own artistic tastes: it can be a song, poem, mashup, photo, interpretive dance, ketchup stain in the image of you friend… whatever.

Sound good? Good. Fire away!

Obama continues and defends Bush’s illegal rendition programs

Very soon after taking office, Obama signed an executive order mandating the close of the Guantánamo Bay facility within the next year. His administration has been working hard to ensure our security by administering justice and by not provoking our enemies by torturing our prisoners. As far as Guantánamo is concerned, I am more than happy with the progress being made.

That said, the Obama administration has chosen to continue the United States’ illegal extraordinary rendition program. This CIA program transports detainees, most of whom have not been charged with any crime and are not afforded simple protections of due process or habeas corpus, to "black sites" in foreign countries where they are subjected to extra-constitutional interrogations and torture.

After the Guantánamo executive orders, it became clear that rendition was going to stay in one form or another. Obama’s CIA Director nominee, Leon Panetta, testified that he would end the rendition program, only to later retract his statements – I’m guessing after the administration set him straight. On the lack of reform regarding rendition, The Los Angeles Times reports:

"Obviously you need to preserve some tools — you still have to go after the bad guys," said an Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity when discussing the legal reasoning. "The legal advisors working on this looked at rendition. It is controversial in some circles and kicked up a big storm in Europe. But if done within certain parameters, it is an acceptable practice."

But the biggest outrage came on Monday, when new Obama administration lawyers chose to keep the Bush administration’s stance in a federal lawsuit brought against a Boeing subsidiary by five detainees who were transported by the CIA to foreign countries, where they were tortured during interrogations. Bush’s lawyers insisted that the case be dismissed as a matter of national security, and now Obama’s lawyers have chosen to do the same.

Extraordinary rendition is never an acceptable practice. It is performed for the explicit reason that interrogations can be conducted without the protections of U.S. law, which forbids torture. Justice must be carried out to ensure our nation’s safety. But this includes the need to humanely treat our prisoners and detainees, instead of spitting in our enemies’ faces and inviting even more violence to our doorstep. The ACLU’s statement best summarizes the situation:

"Eric Holder’s Justice Department stood up in court today and said that it would continue the Bush policy of invoking state secrets to hide the reprehensible history of torture, rendition and the most grievous human rights violations committed by the American government. This is not change. This is definitely more of the same. Candidate Obama ran on a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama’s Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue. If this is a harbinger of things to come, it will be a long and arduous road to give us back an America we can be proud of again."

Alhambra Photos

Finally got to go to the Alhambra today… We had some blue skies peek out, which was very lucky (it’s been very cloudy and rainy most days).

I’m not going to post this set of  photos here on my blog because they’re better viewed in full detail on my Picasa album. I suggest hitting the “Slideshow” link to get even better detail on it. Check ’em out here.

Shopping and Super Bowling in Granada

About a week ago, I finished my 3-week intensive language course at UGr. I have no obligations until classes start up again sometime around February 12- so I’ve got some nice free time on my hands. Tomorrow I finally will tour the Alhambra, so look forward to a massive photo dump sometime tomorrow afternoon (US time).

Sunday night I went out with some of the full-year study abroad students. There was a bar throwing a Super Bowl party, but we were the only people who bothered to show. It sure was interesting watching America’s biggest day in sports from a country where close to no one is interested whatsoever. Kickoff was at 12:30 or 1:00 AM, and we were there until about 4:00 AM. They had prepared for more visitors than just us, so we got double helpings of free tapas with our drinks. Eating palella and bocadillos in a near-empty bar sure was a strange way too watch the super bowl… I would have killed for some nachos or potato chips with onion dip.

One other thing worth mentioning is what shopping is like here in comparison to good ol’ American suburbia:

  • The ratio of shoe stores to clothing stores is probably about 1.5:1
  • I’m sorry, but Spanish designers’ idea of jeans is just ugly. In every 10 pairs that I look at, there is maybe one that doesn’t disgust me. I made the mistake of only bringing 3 pairs of pants and I’ve been dropping into various stores for a couple of weeks now trying to find one pair that looks decent.
  • If any article of clothing has writing on it, you can bet on it being some kind of broken English. I saw a shirt that says, “Nobody knows I’m metrosexual,” and a clothing tag that said something like, “The most bombastic and iridescent style, threatening the essence of violence. Straight from the jungles of Africa.”
  • The one equivalent of a major department store here is El Corte Inglés. They have horribly high prices but a selection that can’t be beat. They usually have their own sit-down restaurant inside the store. We visited an 8-story Corte Inglés in Madrid with a rather fancy restaurant on the top floor.
  • What I heard was true, a pair of Levi’s here will easily go for 100€, if not more.

For now, that is all. Tomorrow… ¡La Alhambra!