One of the most important thing I've learned in a previous course of mine on Organizational Behavior: organizations tend to have as their primary goal their survival. Sometimes, advocating for a solution to a particular problem - if successful - can lead in the end of the need for such a service, and thus the end of the organization. For example, a soup kitchen that provides food for the hungry will no longer have a need if policies are enacted that eliminate hunger. Sure, many organizations are led by honest folks who would love to see the need for their services disappear, but organizations that grow obsessed with scientific management, bureaucracy, and self preservation may grow counter-productive to their missions.
This did not hit me until I was auditing some of the non-profits that receive funding from my workplace Department. One particular organization that dealt with serving abused children were "under spending" and had not utilized all of their budget. In this case, the government generally snatches the money away and cuts potential funding for next year. When I brought this up with the administrator she had told me, "thank God we didn't use all the funding! That means cases of child abuse or the need for our assistance has dropped!". Ironically, this theory moves contrary to budgetary logic found in today's public administration.
I am not a health care expert. Nor am I a doctor. I haven't even spent much time in hospitals, pharmacy queues, or clinics. I don't like (or trust) medicines, I usually "duke out" injuries and pains, and I hate - and I mean hate - going to the doctor's office for something. Doctors hate me, as I'm the guy who's always asking for copies of whatever he's writing. My disinterest in my formal health care was so serious that for the first two years of my employment at the Municipality of Aguas Buenas, I had not used my employer-given $100-a-month credit to choose a health plan.
If I was king of the world, I'd just hand over the medical industry to Google or Ikea and let them take care of it. But I'm not king of the world and Google and Ikea aren't in the healthcare business. So I'll have to make due and come up with some other suggestions.
I'm as pro-free market as a former commie can be, but health care is one of those industries where public good outweighs profit. For that sole reason, I support at least some government intervention in the field. Ideally, I would love to see five star hospitals, open free-of-charge to anybody who feels like walking in. Though I think that there is more than enough public dollars to make this a dream come true (even counting that which is already running through the system), I must acknowledge that corruption, bureaucracy, and politics may contaminate such a system. Despite this, I sure as hell think it's a better option than Puerto Rico's current system of massively subsidizing private healthcare plans through public dollars.
Let's play with some other ideas, shall we:
What if hospitals and doctors remained private but health insurance providers were either public, quasi-public, or non-profit? This would not only assure competition among doctors but would assure top health services. Non-profits, cooperatives, or quasi-public authorities can incorporate themselves as a health insurance providers under some sort of National Enabling Charter to assure uniformity of billing and reporting procedures. These organizations would then compete among themselves - much like current insurance providers do - to provide the best services desired by their clients.
A universal "health care credit" can be provided to each citizen regardless of income and employment status, equal to a certain amount of money. Some employers already provide such a credit, allowing employees to seek their own plan but with the discounts of group coverage. This "credit" can be funded by what now is Medicaid deductions, obligatory employer health coverage, or other taxes that currently fund the present system. Surely, cutting out all the crap will at least make the cost of each citizen's "health care credit" viable.
Citizens who wish for additional coverage or insurance options will pay for it from their own pockets. Citizens who would prefer to just go with private sector insurance can write off their expense (up to the cost of this universal credit) from their taxes.
Newt Gingrich hit a sweet note with me when he suggested in his book that insurance policies have a annual credit worth a certain dollar amount, say $2,000 (just to say a number). Services that surpass this mark, would not be covered by your health plan and you would have to pay for the rest out of your pocket. Customers who experience an emergency or serious condition will switch to the "unlimited plan", though those on the capped annual credit would be a bit more conservative with their credit expenses and shop around for competitive prices. This would avoid the ineffective and costly practice of clogging up doctor offices and emergency rooms for mundane, miniscule things.
These chartered insurers could offer different packages - some with different annual credit limits, varied or no co-pays, optional life insurance policies, special treatments or surgeries, and so on. These insurance providers would function and compete with each other much like Credit Unions do today; each with their varied packages, services, fees, and interest rates.
I am sort of a popular by default. I strongly oppose statehood because I think it would further dilute our democratic sovereignty and turn us into a fattened welfare state. I also oppose outright independence because I think it would turn us into a sweatshop nation hanging off the cuffs of the World Bank or IMF. Right now we sort of have a mix of both, which is something I'm not that proud of either.
I used to be a die-hard, socialist independentista until a friend of mine made a casual - but impacting comment - that reinforced some tendencies that I had been hiding in the back of my mind. "I want independence. But I was real independence. I want social independence and cultural independence and economic independence. What good is political independence if we will still be a mentally dependent nation?"
Many of Puerto Rico's political parties will blame our biggest social problems on our status issue. Statehooders will say that Commonwealth status holds us back from becoming as economically secure as our Northern colonists or that independence will throw us into a pool of sharks to fend for ourselves. Independentistas say that our territorial status with the U.S. prevents us from international trade (a very globalist and capitalist thought for a self-proclaimed socialist movement, I might add). Populares want the best of both worlds, something everybody is increasingly acknowledging that we cannot have.
The truth is that our biggest problems are mostly independent of the status issue. Our failure to effectively implement policies, programs, and projects that benefit our population is drastically hindered by a politicized, bureaucratic, and institutionally corrupt public administration. In terms of public officials stealing money for themselves, we are probably as "corrupt" (or only a little more corrupt) than your average modern State. This corruption breeds from in our nepotism, patronage, and illegal political campaign funding, which has been ingrained into our day to day public administration.
Becoming a U.S. State would not help our bloated bureaucracy. In fact, the ushering in of new federal dollars would only intensify it. Our current government is already required to abide by the best management standards as deemed by the Office of Management and Budget, thus statehood would not usher in any sort of new standard to abide by. Independence which would leave our de Castro Font and Acevedo Vila's without the federal agents which keep them in check. Not to mention, imagine if Puerto Rico had its own, independent National Guard during events like the pivazo ordeal or the government shutdown of 2005, political allegiance and caudillo attitudes from both parties would have brought about constitutional crisis or maybe even a coup or two.
I feel that Puerto Rico has the sufficient sovereign capacity and economic resources as is to implement real social change. Muñoz flipped us upside down within a generation; why can't we continue with such a similar rumba for social transformation?
We have the power to re-direct our welfare dollars to productive activities, such as job creation programs, re-educating the workforce, and micro business loans. Simply shaving a percentage off of our PAN budget could spawn a nation of citizens of college graduates.
We have the power to convert our mammoth public corporations into cooperatives. AAE and AAA can retain their non-profit and "pro-public" mantra while reporting directly to the clients that fund them.
We have the power to stop subsidizing private insurance companies through La Reforma and build free-access public hospitals and open up international treatment centers. As is, we have the ability to send armies of young adults to medical school to produce an abundance of doctors and nurses free-of-cost, in exchange for providing their services to our public health system for a few years.
Why aren't we doing this? Because our public administration is in a dire state. It has grown so large and inefficient that it has grown its own consciousness and has run off its rails. Neither statehood nor independence will give Puerto Rico a new state, and by writing off our problems in the name of status, we are doing nothing more than perpetuating the problem.
YES. My subscription to The Economist is back. (Don't worry. I don't pay for it, with RSS feeds and all. I subscribe to these bad boys using frequent flier miles that I know will never accumulate to a free ticket.)
I love my iPhone. I really do. Interestingly enough, its least used feature is its phone capabilities. I pretty much use it for everything else - grocery lists, e-mails, web surfing, finding restaurants, balancing my budget and so on.
If this is not your first time visiting my site, then you probably know that I have good taste (I know I know, a conceded moment). Thus, I felt impulsed to highlight a couple much-slept-on apps that I feel deserve a bit of attention:
iStudiez Pro - I use this to document all of my school assignments and due dates. The truth is, is that it's very much like the Calendar app, but iStudiez Pro will keep pending assignments on your list until they are completed. iStudiez also lets you organize your assignments by class - with titles, descriptions, schedules, and even colors, thus creating attractive calendars. You actually have to pay a few bucks for this one, but they have a Lite version if you'd like to check it out. It's worth the buck or two.
Banking - It's free. And it's probably one of the most straight-forward baking apps. I like to hold onto all of my receipts and tally them onto an Excel sheet. This app will let me pull up my bank balance and statement with one finger. Easy. Butter.
Flickr - Don't you hate having a shit load of photos on your phone that you always intend to share but never get around to? You end up with a massive surplus of cool and quirky photos that never leave your hard drive. Yuck. Flickr is convenient in the sense that you can upload photos instantly from your library. I'm not uploading my Photos of the Day on the spot, following them up with a formal post whenever I log onto my blog and see the new photos. Free.
Zillow - If your interested in buying a house or even investing in Real Estate, Zillow has a cool feature where it'll show you the homes for sale and their cost, laid over a map of your current location. Neat, eh? "Wow.. this neighborhood looks nice. I wonder how much the houses cost." Badowww.
Quicksheet - Sure, they have a third party version of the Office suite on the iPhone, but who the hell is going to edit Word and Power Point files on their tiny little iPhone? Quicksheet provides simple spreadsheet functions, and even lets you export them to your computer easily.
PhoneFlicks - "You should watch "Ali G the Movie", states a friend. Badowww. Just open up PhoneFlicks, type in the movie title and hit the Add to Netflix button. Buyakasha.
Geodelic - Always a fan of Urban Spoon, my only beef with the app was that it would list, but not map the restaurants of my picking. Geodelic not only maps restaurants near your current location, but can show you a variety of other types of business establishments.
Just uploaded a butt-load of photos to my "Real Old Family Pics". My father recently gave me an envelope of old photos a few weeks ago and I've only now begun to organize them. This first upload is primarily composed of photos of my mother. More to come later.
For years I have placed every interesting movie or book I have ever came across into my "to do" pile. My Amazon.com wish list has 541 books in it and I have an additional 93 e-books or professional journal articles on my hard drive. Even my Netflix has 236 movies or television series on my queue (62 of which are stream-able). Not to mention, my hard drive probably has another 20 to 30 movies on it. My current on-hand music collection is composed of 1,782 albums, 603 of which I have not listened to (I actually have a "unheard" grouping), 195 RAR's and ZIP's that are yet to be organized, with another 5,000+ in hard format (CDs) back in Puerto Rico.
I am sure that all of you understand what I'm talking about. I know folks (cough cough, Raf) who has every episode of every season of every television show he's probably ever interested. Despite the fact that he has a folder with probably a hundred movies in it, he's always asking folks to recommend to him new ones to add to his list. When you ask if he's seen them a week or two later, he admits to have downloaded them but not watch them. "Yet". I think it's safe to say that it's humanly impossible for him to get to all of them.
I confessed to myself a couple months ago that I will never around to reading all of these books or watching all of these movies. Sure, it hurts nobody to add something else to my Netflix queue, just in case I ever wish to pick something random; but I really don't need to be filling my hard drive and JDownload queues with movies and books I will never get around to watching and reading.
At least with music, massive music collections may enhance random iTunes and Genius playlists. As a hard core sampler, having a sizable music collection to draw from is also a plus. But I will never be able to sit back and enjoy all 55.7 days of my current iTunes collection. I've really had to cut back on my addiction to data.
For starters, I've started downsizing my RSS feed subscriptions (the source of most of my "bandwidth splurging"). Second, I've stopped downloading things I could easy put on my Netflix playlist. Third, I've begun putting more trust in the recommendation of friends, particularly those that I know have good taste. When someone recommends that I watch something, instead of downloading it and slapping it onto a hard drive, I'll pull out my iPhone, add it to my Netflix queue and jump it up to #1.
And fourth, whenever I stumble upon a book of interest, instead of adding it to my Amazon wish list (thus never reading it), I will just pull up a summary of the book, read it, and save a PDF copy if I feel that it has any data that I could later use as research for either scholastic or personal purposes. Considering the fact that we will remember probably only 10% of what we read, I don't think this is too bad of idea. Plus, if I ever feel like I need to read about a particular subject in debt then I can really read the book.
A couple of years ago I was working on my "Break Up Breaks" project and had asked my pals Jason and Joey ("Twice the Effort") to put together a couple songs for me. I sent them the beats, they got some studio time, and recorded their tracks. Apparently they had some extra studio time as apparent by the "on the fly" track they recorded below. The song is hilarious; a great representation of "Dirty South" rap.
IPhone app "Shazam" is the best. It's truly a music lover's best friend. Especially when your like me, and tend to notice excellent tracks playing during movies, commercials, or everyday outings. I tend to "address" my Shazam list frequently and songs often find their way into my periodical Mix by Me's. But this past month I have not followed up on my findings, and thus have decided to point you all to a s .zip for the world to enjoy:
My buddy Will and I bounce e-mails throughout the day whenever we have slow moments. Topics generally include video games, movies, or anything else that might pop up. Will hit me with a question this morning that really got me thinking: "what are your top 3 celebrities". Oh man. I don't even know many celebrity names. Not to mention, those often deemed to be "hot" tend to be the most obnoxious, stank sex symbols I could think of. (Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox, yuck. They all make me want to throw up in my mouth).
So, I thought long and hard and decided to identify my "top" female celebrities. All you ladies can go ahead and hate. "I can't believe the nerve", ya'll might think. But this is my suppressed response for all of those Brad Pitt calendars, Twilight mania, and other lame-isms.
Behold:
Nadine Labiki from "Caramel".
Michelle Rodriguez from "Lost"
Shakira would have made it to my top 3, but she's admitted having surgery, which automatically removes her from my list. Instead,
Eva Mendes, though she could defiantly gain a little weight.
My "picks" often tend to be either Hispanic or look like they are. Paula Patton and Zeo Saldana are pretty cute as well. Ashly Judd and Scarlett Johanssonis make my "cute white girl" list, while Marcia Gay Harden and Susan Sarandon top my "50+ list".
So there you go. Probably the first and last celebrity post I'll ever make.
I've been asked quite a bit in recent weeks how I feel about Caguas Mayor Willie Miranda Marin's recent speech on the state of the PPD. I didn't feel much of an impulse to write on it, as I didn't feel as if anything new was brought to the table. Maybe it's the fact that I'm not in Puerto Rico right now and don't see the impact that such a speech might have on the media and populace. Be it a speech that hits from the front page or a mussing that barely pops up in newspapers' online websites, RSS feeds do not discriminate.
Cuando estudiamos muchos de los indicadores económicos y sociales disponibles de la época, casi un cuarto de siglo del 1940 al 1965, constatamos que los resultados de aquel proyecto de país liderado por don Luis Muñoz Marín, fueron indudablemente transformadores. Pero cuando echamos el mismo vistazo a los 45 años que le han seguido hasta hoy, casi medio siglo, ¿con qué nos encontramos? Tristemente constatamos que todos los indicadores de transformación y crecimiento positivos dejaron de anunciarnos buenos resultados...
La tasa de participación laboral, que en 1950 era de cincuenta y cinco punto cinco por ciento se ha reducido a su nivel más bajo, cuarenta y tres por ciento, que se traduce en la existencia de un cincuenta y siete por ciento de nuestra fuerza productiva, personas capacitadas entre los 16 y los 66 años, que no participan de ninguna actividad en la economía formal. ¡Más de la mitad de nuestra población productiva viviendo del modelo asistencialista y la economía informal!...
Y para ello, como para don Luis Muñoz Marín en su tiempo, es necesaria una ruptura. Una ruptura que haga posible crear las condiciones políticas que viabilicen un nuevo proyecto de país.
I have heard some folks speak of Miranda Marin's "rupture" as a formal break from the PPD. I would interpret his reference to a "rupture" in its social sense. It's very much true that with Puerto Rico's current economic and political arrangements, there is no way that we could obtain a radical change equivalent to that of the Muñoz era.
Puerto Rico from the 1940s to the mid 1960s was an functional model emulated by other nations. Economic and social growth was steady, the population was (generally) politically and socially united, and "everything was okay". We will never obtain development so grant with such a divided population. I believe that Miranda refers to a "rupture" from "old politics", similar to that which spawned the Muñoz era. In said era, Puerto Rico had its division, corruption, and institutionalized political parties much like we do now. Nobody could have fathomed what was to come and nobody could have imagined that Puerto Rico's ruling parties were to crumble almost over night.
Though I sympathize greatly for Miranda Marin's pro-autonomy stance, social policies, and capacity as a public administrator, I have difficulty imagining a Puerto Rico where the population is as united as we once were in the 1940s. Then again I'm sure that was the consensus on the eve of the PPD social revolution.
Hector Luis Acevedo, former Mayor of San Juan, former candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico, renowned leader within the PPD, and a former professor of mine recently spoke at a Mayaguez ceremony in respects to the "father of Puerto Rico", Luis Muñoz Marin. Acevedo's speech addressed Puerto Rico's modern issues with writings from Muñoz Marin's memoires; a sort of "What Would Muñoz Do?"
The speech was posted on Primera Hora and offers a number of affirmations:
1. We must protect our right to vote. Acevedo cites efforts to debunk the "pivazo", the "non of the above" option, and public financing for political campaigns as dangerous. I have always thought "pivazos"to be crucial to the dynamics of our democracy. Not only is "pivazo" voting convenient when it comes to tabulating statistics (i.e., how many PIP vote PPD), it gives the electorate the ability to vote for other candidates' political parties without abandoning their own. It sends a message to winners and losers of elections and exerts our independence from political parties. Those who wish to eliminate it simply seek to artificially skew votes or to institutionalize the ruling parties.
The elimination of the "none of the above" vote is also a farce. How else can the electorate express their distaste with a given slate of candidates without outright boycotting a vote? I wouldn't be surprised if a "none of the above" option in the general elections won the 2012 elections.
2. We must moderate our rampant spending habits. Acevedo quotes Muñoz: ""Es decir, el dilema es entre invertir y gastar. Mientras mas se gasta menos se invierte. Mientras menos se invierte menos hay para gastar despues." ("I'm saying that the problem is between investing and spending. The more one spends, the less they have to invest. The less you invest, the less you have to spend later.") Puerto Ricans' unhealthy consumption habits as well as the widespread "mantengo" culture are what I believe to be the two most dangerous traits of our society. Unfortunately, Acevedo did not mention the later, though Muñoz had expressed his preoccupation of such.
3. We must promote a culture of work, criticizing the elimination of section 936 tax breaks and the lay off of public employees. Even though section 936 tax credits assisted in fortifying the Puerto Rican bank industry (which is renowned for its stability and strength compared to other nations); I have always opposed economic incentives, subsidies, and corporate welfare. I also acknowledge that public sector layoffs were inevitable, though I believe there were more productive ways of doing so.
4. We must defend the Commonwealth. Muñoz states that "Autonomia fiscal es autonomia cultural, es autonomia politica" ("Fiscal autonomy is cultural autonomy, which is political autonomy.") I would take this more as an anti-Statehood quote than a pro-Commonwealth one, as "fiscal autonomy" is also possible under independence. Unfortunately, with the way things are set up now, it would not be long until Puerto Rico's "fiscal autonomy" is shadowed by international banks such as the IMF and World Bank.
5. We must defend our culture, strengthening efforts such as the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in face of globalization and modern society. I could agree with this. Culture does not only have its spiritual, philosophical, and psychological benefits, but it fortifies solidarity, national empathy, community empowerment, inter-generation reverence, and even environmental consciousness.
Overall, I am pleased with Acevedo's speech. I respect him highly and enjoyed learning under him, though I always considered his positions on the status issue to be too conservative. Despite this, I applaud his intellectual capacity, stamina throughout the years, and his status as a scholar.
Today was Jacob's birthday. We ate at Carrabba's (not sure if the spelling is right and I'm too lazy to Google it right now). I must say that this was the best Italian joint I've ever eaten at. Pictured above in Jacob's son, Dante.
You all know that I get a kick from fooling around with those online chat customer service reps. I had some business to take care of recently with AT&T and decided that everything that I say to them was going to be in rap format. Here's the transcript:
Welcome to AT&T. My name is Perry. How may I help you today?
Perry: I will be happy to answer your questions regarding AT&T services. I specialize in setting up new phone service, FastAccess Internet, and DirecTV. To start, could you please tell me what city and state you are located in?
You: Hey Perry... I have to ask you a question/
You: What's AT&T Fast Access' fastest connection?
Perry: Please proceed with your question.
Perry: The AT&T 'Extreme 6.0' 'Elite Package' is our top of the line product.
You: We have cable internet right now. How does it compare?/
You: When we first got it my girlfriend sunk in her chair
Perry: With AT&T High Speed Internet, you get a more consistent speed because you will have a dedicated connection. With cable service, you share your speed with other people in your neighborhood.
You: What you say is good/, but what if I'm the only person w/ it in my neighborhood?
Perry: The AT&T FastAccess Internet 'Xtreme 6.0 Package' offers maximum connection speeds up to 6.0Mbps/768Kbps (100 times faster than a normal dial-up)
You: Hmm... I dont know
You: What is the cost of the Extreme 6.0? [point "o"]
Perry: The AT&T FastAccess DSL Direct 6.0 plan (No voice line) offers maximum connection speeds up to 6.0Mbps/768Kbps (100 times faster than a normal dial-up) for $47.95 per month.
Perry: Have you checked the availability for AT&T FastAccess DSL service at your location?
Perry: Please hold for a moment while I check your address.
You: Just letting you know:/ I already did that and it said that I'm eligible
Perry: Thank you for waiting. Your time and patience is appreciated.
You: Sure thing Perry, don't worry/
You: Take your time, I'm really in no hurry
Perry: If you order AT&T Home phone service with FastAccess DSL Xtreme 6.0 plan online today, then the price of the plan will be $24.95 for 12 months.
You: I dont need no TV don't need no phone/
You: I just want my Internet, to each his own
Perry: The AT&T FastAccess DSL Direct 6.0 plan (No voice line) offers maximum connection speeds up to 6.0Mbps/768Kbps (100 times faster than a normal dial-up) for $47.95 per month.
You: Hmmmm... I havn't paid that much in ages
You: If I pick the first plan, wow much is installation am I facin'?
Perry: You will get free activation for your services.
You: That's the s***! You're the boss!/ Are you sure there's no additional costs?
Perry: There is no rental for modem. You will get full mail in rebate for DSL equipment.
You: Meaning I have to buy it? (More or less)/
You: Let me ponder about it for a sec.
Perry: If you order home phone and 6.0 plan online, you would receive $75 a mail-in rebate towards the purchase of a Modem or and $100 for Wireless Gateway (router) with in 4-6 weeks after order is placed.
Perry: You can see the cost for your services recapped on the order verification page. You will not be charged or committed to any of your selections until you submit the order.
Perry: You will be billed for home phone $17.45 + $24.95 + Modem.
You: ophhh.. so its 42.40 and not $29.95?/
You: I'm not paying that as long as I'm alive!
Perry: Yes, you are correct.
Perry: I'm sorry sir. Could I ask you how much you are paying with your current service?
I've never written a restaurant review. I'd probably be terrible at it. But I just felt the impulse to document my recent experience at "Hamilton's" in Auburn, Alabama:
Crystal had taken me there last Sunday for a Valentines Day lunch. Though the place was "cute" and the menu was satisfactory, we did not get past the appetizers. Sure, they took a bit longer than expected to bring us our food, but I am a forgiving customer who understands that sometimes waiters and waitresses can be bogged down by picky clients. Despite this, our appetizers were just plain out stank.
Crystal ordered fried green tomatoes with shrimp. Large shrimp and tomatoes were stacked up with two big, thin bread sticks holing them together. The sticks poked out like 6 inches, making the shrimp-tomato pile look like an insect. Crystal held the plate against the light and noticed what she thought was hair. After I inspected it with my superior male senses, I concluded that it was not hair, but a layer of lint. How so much lint got on our appetizers, I'm not sure. It looked like someone put the top tomato slice into their pocket, ran around the building, and then put it back on the plate. It kind of looked like sicote, as mom would say.
My "hummus", or so it was called, was little more than Dollar Store cracker sheets, broken up and scattered over slices of olive. The hummus paste was actually pretty decent, but I was expecting some nice, warm, fluffy hummus from a place like this.
We ditched the joint and head over to the Amsterdam Cafe for some fancy pizza and hamburger plates.
Friggin' amazing. It's like Wu-Tang Clan had a baby with Justice. Via Rapidshare via Filestube via Google.
Minimalist with a music collection of 5,000 albums. Primitivist with an iPod. Hermit with an affinity for travel. I can go from stone cold serious to putting M&Ms in my nose within a matter of seconds. I don't drink, don't smoke, don't use drugs, and don't even drink coffee but I am coping with an addition to candy.
I like boring things like sight seeing, news paper editorials, and book fairs. I enjoy hearing old music. I'm a big fan of old school Salsa (Cortijo and Zodiac stuff) and Bluenote-era bebop jazz, preferably recorded live at about 200bpm. Applauses and chattering in the background are a plus. I don't own a single pair of jeans but have like three dozen pairs of khakis in assorted shades and textures. Games like Tetris and Dr. Mario are the best.
A childhood of playing Sim City had led me to a career within local government. I work for my city government in community development and use my position to try to rid the world of stop signs and other symbols of the authoritarian state.
