I grew up around a lot of Puerto Ricans, some of them would correct me and say the were Nuyorican. There’s a lot of fire/passion for life in that culture-to me that’s a good thing. My first exposure to platanos(plantains) as well. The music that came from and is inspired by Puerto Rico-wow!
Tito Puente, the palmieris,etc. http://www.musicofpuertorico.com/

To me this makes Puerto Rico a very magical kind of place-culturally-filtered.

I’ve always been struck by the physical beauty of this land, that’s for sure. Having grown up here, it resonates with me the way a Long Island beach stroll probably resonates with you.

I actually enjoy my twice weekly commute to the capital. As I concentrate on the road, with one corner of my eye I watch all the greenery on the flood plains and the overgrowth-ladden karst limestone hills jutting out of the north coastal plain.

The other month, I was chauffeuring my aunt to Ponce, a city in the south west part of the island (we live on the north central shore, five miles from the beach and thirty miles from the nearest city.) And the two hour drive down to Ponce has some of the most beautiful sights, with thousand foot drops to one side of the expressway, and mile-wide canyons between mountains. And green everywhere year-round.

Every once in a while, at least twice a year, preferably off-season, I take a break and go driving away from the cities, to some remote beach. I check into a resort for two nights, and spend Saturday and Sunday lazying it up under a shade tree by the waves, curled up with a good book.

So yeah, I like to think I have the beauty goggles on, even though I’m down on the place a lot.

What rubs me the wrong way here is the economic short-sightedness, the lack of long term and short term planning and no long view whatsoever. It’s all about getting and keeping as much money in as short a time as possible, to the detriment of everything else. Fools.

Which part of “I’d like to help you, free of charge, no strings attached” are you having problems processing?

Berry jam and banana bread are fine reimbursement indeed, I wouldn’t be happy with anything else. And I hear it’s best to wait for the fine things in life. 😉

Mark, I am *very* interested in talking with you about the possibilities mentioned. As promised, Peej did pass along your contact information. I have a heavy workload today, but hopefully I’ll float a bottle your way some time in the next 24 hours.

And re: the Sterling/Gibson comment… I actually answered a question from a reader here, about how similar/different are WG’s Mona, NTS’s Diamond Age and my humble little Jane_E. If you have a second and like the other two writers, you might enjoy musings on same. Thanks!

“God’s country”

Please fill me in.

What I see is a place smaller than Rhode Island, filled with inept fools, run by inept fools, no much better than a third rate third world country, but with somewhat of a working economy.

And that’s coming from someone born and raised here. This is said with a sad heart and much shame. But the truth is still the truth, even if it hurts. (I guess living in the USA mainland for 13 years has made me too hard to please now. But even in my teens, I remember wanting to get outta this back asswards backwater. The five years I’ve spent here have been a bit of a purgatory for me.)

And I’m not leaving because there’s no work here. There just none of the work I’d want to do. 98% of the IT infrastructure is Windows-based, everyone in IT has blinders on so tight they can’t see but a tunnel of bright light ahead of their nose, and I can’t stand the smell or taste of shit.

Totally off-topic: Where are you nowadays, BB? I seem to gather you’re in Thailand or some such place.

I’ll pass your recommendation on to my friend. She’s always looking for more exposure.

I’m still down in PR, for the next two months at least. My ongoing Rails contract work keeps bringing more work behind it.

I am NOT staying, that much is already decided. I’m just delaying my departure while the local work I found is still good.

The practice with Rails, potential exposure, potential business, and professional reference, are too good to pass up.