You all know how against I am the whole asking for money from people thing. There are not many organizations I truly believe on even though I do give money to some of them.

Among other things in this fun filled weekend I agreed to help a friend out with a bowling event for an organization I actually believe on. Big Brothers Big Sisters. So yes, I am going to ask you for money, but it is not for me, it’s to help the children. So go donate!

As soon as my goal of 125 is reached, I will tell a very funny story from the 4th of July BBQ.

The people at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) hold a certain power that they use as a weapon. They know what forms you need. They hold onto that power like it is their sword, and they would never dare to let you know what you need until they have you right in front of them. Why? Well, they want to see your face when they tell you do not have the correct form. That is why they are alive, to see the face of a disappointing person that has to go back to obtain the correct form.

They wear a facade of anger, but internally they are happy, happy that they can tell you no, happy that they have that power, happy that they are making you have to take a little number again and wait for the seemingly random order you are being called on.

That’s right, even to have a question answered you need a number. Why, because again, the interaction that most business have handed to machines to deal with it is still kept alive at the DMV. Instead of being in an endless loop of number pressing, you have a warm body in front of you ready to tell you, get back to the line.

There is simply nothing you can do about it. You need your license or your vehicle titled, you have to go to them. Even though it would seem to be a simpler process handled online, they still want you to come in and bring as many documents as you can so they can have the pleasure to tell you none of the 26 exhibits you have brought are sufficient. And no, it is not allowed to have something faxed, even if it is from another state department, even if will take 3 weeks for it to be obtained by mail, even if you were willing to give a DNA sample.

It is futile to deal with them, it is futile to try to reason, it is futile to try to resist… you don’t even know it, you have already been assimilated.

In other news, I have a Kansas license plate now, YAY, no more dealing with Michigan!

As I get older, I get better at recognizing the moments that have changed my life. It is not necessarily the ones I remember the most vividly either. One of them happened not too long ago time wise, but it seems like a lifetime away.

Listening to the radio yesterday I heard the story of a Palestinian girl that fled Jerusalem when she was eight years old to live in England. She went to live in a different country where everything seemed so alien. She then grew up to try to fit in with the London girl she saw herself as, while always having her Arab roots just inside of her house.

I have found myself torn between worlds plenty of times, but I try to be the same person in both situations. I am very proud of being Colombian and do not hide my country of origin even though I am often confused with other nationalities because people have a hard time placing my accent.

Also on the radio, on an unrelated story that had the same undertone for me. A black gay man working in the Music industry just came out with a book. The book is to be autobiographical but what will probably make it sell is that he mentions, even though not by name, famous celebrities inside of hip hop as being gay.

I have often felt that people that live a double life must be exhausted. Trying to be different people in different situations has to be one of the hardest jobs you have to endure. While we all have our masks and professionalism for different situations, I personally though I was always the same person. I seriously thought I tried.

That is when my life changing moment came about. Hanging around with some very good friends I started joking around like I do. I am loud, and obnoxious, but most of the time my friends find me amusing. The person that I was in a relationship with at the time made a comment about how I had no sense of humor. My friend quickly replied with, “What are you talking about? This guy is joking all day long and smiling all the time.”

I do smile and joke a lot. Not many people used to get to see my sad or stressed face. I have changed that aspect of my life quite a bit and opened up to my friends, but back then I kept pain and frustration inside.

That incident made me realize that I was living a double life. I had changed who I was so much to make someone else “happy” that I could hardly recognize myself. That event was not the epiphany moment that later ended that relationship, but it was certainly an eye opener.

I am pretty happy now, and think I am the same person around my wife that I am with my friends. Even when I do get a little more obnoxious around Travis, I show my wife exactly who I am. Even if my wife thinks that Chimpotle, Meesha and I are third graders when we tease each other, I don’t feel like I have to hide it or be different around her. It is a good thing to feel free around those close to you, and even though some traits of my personality are only for some of my friends, I don’t feel like I live a double life anymore.

I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago not too long ago. I am sad to say I was totally disappointed. The building is beautiful, the exhibits well put together, however it did nothing for me.

The only places that I feel are worth the potential ticket for entrance are art museums. Unless you are going to school at the moment and know nothing about certain topic, old fashion natural and science museums are probably the reason kids are more interested in what the latest celebrity is doing rather than how to learn about an almost extinct species.

Museums are not that cool. I think in the age of the internet, places should keep up with the time and make themselves a lot more interactive and like video games let you pick your experience level. I walked through and did not learn anything that was not a useless fact, sure it might have been a weird or surprising fact, but useless in the end.

I think some places are doing the science thing right. Even though geared towards kids, Earth Works here in KC was one of the coolest science places I have ever visited.

Also moving forward does not mean using technology to turn dead people into living displays…

I caught a lot of flying tomatoes due to my stance on the whole bodies revealed coming to Kansas City. I stood here and let people think and talk about how I was promoting ignorance. Even off the blogsphere I had people tell me that they had seen, loved and supported the exhibit. All I was trying to do was to give people more information (that kind of sounds like fighting ignorance to me) before they supported something so shady.

TH to Daniel for sending me this link… don’t call it vindication, call it proof that these people are just trying to make a buck from dead political prisoners.

I dislike public bathrooms. I think they are filthy, and no matter how many studies tell me that the door handles actually have more germs, I still would feel better if I had a bottle of lysol every time I had to sit on one of them.

As males, we can pee standing up which is a total perk to holding the man card. However, there is a negative there. Most urinals are positioned either way to close or without dividers. I have no interest on glancing at someone else’s junk or them checking mine. I have enough with Chimpotle already commenting on my Prince Albert.

So as you guys heard, the company I work for has new digs. I will put more pictures when I actually get some stuff on the walls. It is the first time I officially have my own office with a window. The first week has already made all the back pain from moving totally worth it.

There is a huge drawback between this building and the one we used to work out of… we have to share a bathroom with the whole floor.

At the old building we had 3 bathrooms. There was two public ones with stalls, and one that was a private unisex. The stalls were ample and since we there was only about 15 people at the office, there were tons of chances for privacy.

At the new building we have on public bathroom and the urinals are so close that if there were no dividers you would probably be shoulder to shoulder with the guy next to you. Granted, I have taken a leak at ballgames where there is just a communal urinal and everyone just kind of looks up. The second drawback to this bathroom is that the people are dirty. I can completely blame the other tenants because at our last place the bathroom was pretty clean.

The above are things that I can completely ignore for now and eventually get used to. However, I have been attacked by a bathroom chatter twice now. It bothers me a little that we are in a piss schedule already, maybe he is a coffee drinker also… but twice now I have started to let my stream go and lo and behold the stall invader shows up.

The first conversation was permissible. Hey, are you from the guys that just moved in or from the other tenant? I am guessing that on the other half of the floor that we did not monopolize there are going to be 3 different companies. I responded in as many monosyllables as I could and figured the next time I saw the guy would be in the elevator or a hallway.

No such luck. The very next day the same guy starts another conversation with me. I am not pee shy, I can continue my business while the guy is trying to establish acquaintance status with me, but I am starting just get a little uncomfortable. I could use one of the private stalls, but I feel that the urinals have to be used if they are available.

I am seriously dreading my third encounter with the bathroom conversationalist. Anyone have a message for him? any idea of what can give him the subtle hint that I do not like to get to know other guys while manning the fire hose?

I had some interesting experiences last week. I was swamped with work and getting ready to move buildings. While some of the people that work in our corporate office had already experienced what it takes to do a “move,” it was my first time. I was a little sore from it, but not as much as I thought I was going to be. My back has been bothering me, but just to the uncomfortable point… not quite painful yet.

Before the move started, I had a funny moment with someone not recognizing me because I was wearing different clothes. Maybe some of you don’t even know, but I have had my ear pierced since my late teens and a tattoo since my early twenties.

During the work week I take my earring off not because it is required at work, but because I like to be presentable. Even though I don’t ever get to see clients where I work now, it is still something I think is part of looking professional. I also don’t wear short sleeved shirts, so my tattoo never shows.

The week before the move I stopped at one of the local computer shops. They have great deals and I picked up a monitor for my wife. She needed something a little better than what she had. She has also been asking about a mac and we cannot afford a mac book pro just yet, but I asked if they had any old used computers that we could start playing with. The guy told me that they in fact did have some, but they needed to be looked at first. I gave him my cell number and he said he would call me as soon as he had something.

The next day at lunch my phone rang. When I did not recognize the number I figured it was work related, so I answered right away. I normally dislike answering the phone while at a restaurant, but if it is something important I will pick it up. It was the guy telling me they had a G4 that I could come and pick up. The wife and I headed there after our meal and then hilarity ensued.

I had walked into the store the time before with just a polo and jeans, but I did not have my earring on. The second time I had a black t-shirt on and my earring, and just that made the guy not recognize me at all. We had just spoken the day before, in fact I have bought plenty of things from this guy over the last year… but just having an earring on and a black shirt transformed somehow to the point that he was not responding. I said, “I am here to pick up the mac you are holding for me.” I remind you at this point that this is probably 30 minutes after his call. He said, “I am not holding anything for you, what are you talking about?” My wife looked at me and kind of smiled and I said to him, “dude I just bought a monitor from you just a day ago, you called me minutes ago…” He blinked a couple of times and said, wow, I did not recognize you at all. We had a good laugh and started talking about tattoos, I am looking for a place to get my next one.

So what does that have to do with moving? Well, it is not often that the office geeks are the same as the movers that get all the boxes inside of a brand new suite at a building. The whole week people would not even make eye contact when we were moving stuff. It could be that we were all dirty and sweaty, but I seriously think it was because they probably figured they would not see us ever again.

They will get a rude awakening this week when those same sweaty guys start showing up in nicer clothes every day. Makes you wonder how many people just ignore or change their attitude towards people just because of the way they are dressed. This is specially hilarious, because the CEO of the company was one of those sweaty guys bringing stuff in.

Appetizer
What is the nearest big city to your home?
Kansas City… and then after that Chicago.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?
I think I am about a 9… I used to be a 10, but I share pretty much everything with my wife. I however do keep the things that my friends tell me in confidence to myself.

Salad
Describe your hair (color, texture, length).
Short on the sides, getting longer on top… brown even though I do think I saw a white hair.

Main Course
What kind of driver are you? Courteous? Aggressive? Slow?
Slowing down with age, try to be courteous… cannot afford to be aggressive anymore, I got too many tickets during my young age.

Dessert
When was the last time you had a really bad week?
Last week was pretty bad, but the worse was the one before that. We had about 6 things go really, really wrong at work… with phone lines being cut, hard drive failures, power outages… you name it, it happened that week.