My job and recession

Do you have a job? Make sure that you keep it! Job security nowadays is nonexistent. Everyday you hear of people losing their jobs due to the economic situation in the United States. Companies are trying to cut costs and one of the easiest way to do it, is to downsize. I work for a bank and this field has been affected tremendously by the recession. Just last month in my company they lay off 6 people and we are expecting another 3 workers to be dismissed before the end of next month. My department used to be composed of 10 officers now we are only 5. In addition to these lay offs there were changes on our benefits and our pay. Our 401K matching program was discontinued. Health insurance coverage was lowered, co-pays were increased and last year our pay was also cut by 5%. When I started working 5 years ago we had 6 branches, next month we will close another branch and it will leave us with only two. Regardless of all the changes my co-workers and I, we are still happy to have a job. We all know that this is not happening only in our workplace but also in a lot of companies. Our only hope is that this recession will be over soon and things will get back to normal.

A day in Lake Lanier

I went to Lake Lanier this past Saturday and I had a great time. My friend owns a boat and he invited me to spend the day at the lake. At the beginning I wasn’t so sure about it, since I was afraid of the water. But after he insisted and assured me that everything was going to be fine I accepted the invitation. We got there Saturday around noon; the boat was parked at the marina ready to sail out. The sun was wonderful; I laid in the boat to try to catch some tan which in fact I did. Maybe too much!! After a few hours it got so hot that I had to go in the water to cool off. To my surprise the water was warm and it was nice to be able to swim. After the first dip in the water I lost all of my fears and I was comfortable. I spend the rest of the day swimming around the lake until the sun had set and it was time to go back to the marina. On our way back to marina we could see the fireworks from Lake Lanier Island. We stopped the boat so that we could enjoy the whole show and it was beautiful. The only problem I had on the trip was that I got sunburn so I was in a little bit of pain the next day. But overall the trip was so nice that I will love to do it again, so much for my fear of the water!!!

Honduras farewell to the World cup

On Friday was Honduras last game in the world cup 2010. The team played against Switzerland. From the beginning I knew that we had no chance, the only hope of going to the next round was winning to Switzerland by 3 and Spain had to lose against Chile. Unfortunately for me Spain won against Chile with a score of 2-0 and Hondura’s game was 0-0. I watched Friday's game and I was impressed with the performance from my team. They gave their all in that last game, but still they were eliminated. Even though we lost the World Cup we gained something bigger. After 28 years of not been able to participate in this event we did it this year. Also Honduras was going through I rough time politically speaking and for a moment everybody stopped worrying about all the problems and focused on the soccer games. Everybody was excited just for having the opportunity of been part of something so special. I am impressed of how a simple game such as soccer, brought everybody together as it did. I guess the Hondurian team went back home proud because they did their best. I just hope that we get the opportunity of participating in the next World Cup "Brazil 2014".

Men and infidelity

Today I felt like writing about how I am starting to believe that there is no such a thing as a faithful man. Everyday I see how my friends have fidelity issues with their boyfriends or husbands and it makes me wander, is this a recurrent problem for men? In my personal experiences I haven’t had better luck either; I can honestly say that every men I ever dated has cheated on me at one point in the relationship. Whenever this happens you start to doubt yourself and begin to question what you did wrong. Recently my best friend found out that his boyfriend was e-mailing another woman and he was sending her pictures of him and saying that he loves her. Can you imagine how hard this is; knowing that the person that supposedly loves you is telling another woman the same thing. When my friend confronted her boyfriend he denied everything, of course!!
Why do most men cheat? Is it lack of love? Or could it be because is already in their nature to be unfaithful?
I asked my single guy friends if they believe in fidelity and I was surprised that 8 out of 17 guys responded that they could not be faithful to their girlfriends. At least they had the decency of being honest, can’t blame them for that but what a shock!!
If any man reads my blog I will really like your opinion on this issue hopefully you can gives us girls some hope but be honest.

Having a car is expensive

I just had to take my car to the shop and it ended up costing me $1,300 for repairs. I was so upset that I even thought about the possibility of selling it and buying another car so that I didn’t have to spend all of that money. After carefully consideration I came to the conclusion that regardless of which car I buy, I will always have to spend money on it. Even with brand new cars you have to do the oil change which lately is getting expensive either you get the cheap recycle oil or you are looking at a bill of $30 bucks and let’s not even talk about synthetic oil which can cost up to $55. And what about when you have to perform the maintenance like the 30,000 or 60,000 miles service these jobs can really turn into a big chunk of money. One more thing that will take some dollars from your pocket, is replacing your tires depending on what type of car you have it ranges from $400 to $1000 if you have a big truck or an SUV you will probably pay the highest. Of course after all of these mechanical expenses you still need to add up the cost of the monthly car payment and the insurance. For a moment while writing this blog I started to think, wow it really does get expensive. Unfortunately in Atlanta you need to have a car, since everything is far and the transportation system is not that efficient. Hopefully my car is not going need anything else in a while.

Summer

Why is summer the best season of the year? that's easy is this time of the year when the days are longer and the nights are shorter. Also is when the temperature is the warmest. when you think about summer you automatically relate it to fun. This season begins in the mid days of May and it lasts all the way to August. here in georgia you can enjoy the summer by going to the lakes. Another option is enjoying the pool. I also like summer because schools have their vacations.
For my kids is during this time that they take their annual vacation to Honduras. Every year i send my children to spend the summer with my parents. they really enjoy spending time with my family and friends and I get a break.
The main reason why I take this opportunity to send my kids to my country is because I want them to maintain our culture and specially the language. I personally take advantage of summer to take a vacation this year I will go to my hometown and spend one week there.
I am pretty sure a lot of people can relate to me on thinking that summer is the best season of the year but as you can see there are many reasons for this preference.

My trip to Spain

I traveled to Spain on July 2009. It was a nine hour flight leaving Atlanta and arriving to Madrid. I left Atlanta at 6:55PM and I arrived to Madrid at 9:00Am the next day, since their time zone is 6 hours ahead of ours. As soon as I arrived to Barajas I was greeted very cordially by everybody. My final destination was San Sebastian so I waited in the airport for 5 hours until it was time for my departure. I was tired but at the same time I was excited to be there. My flight to San Sebastian was just a 45 minutes flight that went by really quick. As the plane was arriving I could see a beautiful view of Playa La Concha. When I arrived to San Sebastian it was already 3:00pm, just in time for lunch!! My friend took me to eat to this little restaurant close to the beach and I had the best paella(traditional seafood dish) of my life. After we ate we went to this country house outside the city it was amazing to see that in a big city with beaches there was still a place with trees and nature. The lodge was really nice; it had a lot of architectural details that made it really interesting. But the best part were the owners I felt like family as soon as I arrived they invited us to have homemade sidra (cider) that was delicious.
On my third day in San Sebastian I went to see the town. The city was beautiful, the buildings were colonial style, some of them hundreds of years old but still kept in perfect condition. One of the best part of San Sebastian was that you could walk everywhere therefore I was able to get a glimpse of everything without having to drive. I was surprised of all entertainment that the city offer there was something to do for everybody regardless of your preferences.
My trip lasted 8 days and I had so much fun I wish I can go there again and of course I will recommend Spain as a good travel destination to anybody.