Tuesday, December 15, 2009

i don't really know

I really don't know who to talk to about this, or even if i'd be able to formulate what i'm thinking right now, but I need some sort of outlet. Ever since I was little I've been really close to my grandparents. They've always lived in New Jersey so it'd be a 2-3 hour drive either way to see them, but I grew up with them. Last year my grandfather took ill and was nearly on his deathbed. My brother and I, both at Pittsburgh for school at the time traveled about 5 hours to see my grandfather for what we thought would be the last time in our lives. Miraculously he pulled through and he's even able to walk by himself now. Unfortunately, tragedy struck our family again during this time. My grandmother also was diagnosed with cancer, except this kind was malignant and just a few minutes ago my brother called me and told me she might not make it past christmas. I don't even know what to think or do now. I feel like i'm rambling, but I just can't believe that in a matter of days she'll be gone. My brother and I are going to make the trip as soon as possible to see her, but I'd give anything just to see her okay... When I saw my grandfather on the verge of death, it was almost too much to handle. His body was frail and it looked like he was fighting just to breath... The worst part of it all was his cognition. My grandfather is the smartest man I know and the fact that he didn't seem all there scared me. I don't want to see my grandmother or my grandfather like that again... I remember everything they've done for me... Holidays, birthdays, any occasion worth mentioning in my life they were a part of it. From the second I was born, to my Bar Mitzvah, to my high school graduation, they were there. Every christmas, hannukkah, thanksgiving, passover, or anything memorable, they were there. To sleeping over their house and waking up to my grandma's "special" pancakes (they were really just the bisquick pre-made kind but they were still my favorite) to playing poker to eating my grandma's brisket (it was horribly dry but once again, i still loved it) to just everything about them... It's going to end. She was going to go to my graduation! She was going to go to my wedding! She should be there for my first child! She doesn't deserve this. My grandma always said that being a grandparent was the best thing in the world since she doesn't have to discipline her grandchildren or have them be mean to her. And that's how I'll always remember her, as THE best grandmother. I swear, everytime I would visit she would tell me how much taller and skinnier I got. That's the kind of person she is... I don't know why I'm typing all this out, I know only Emily actually reads this (sorry for the rambling). I just needed some way to keep my memories in order. Keep my mind from going chaotic... I just wish I didn't have to be here when my family needs me the most. I'm not a very religious person, and I know my grandma isn't either, but I really do hope that when she goes, she won't be afraid... and I hope someone or something out there will be there for her...

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Eventful weekend to say the least.

G20 was held in Pittsburgh this week. 20 world leaders came together to discuss the world's current financial situation. This was a huge event for Pittsburgh, a city that reinvented itself from a failing economy in the 80's to one of the most livable cities in America. 20 world leaders brings thousands of riot police and hundreds of protesters. For the most part the protesters were civil and peaceful and those that had permits did not have any trouble with the police. It was the handful of anarchists denouncing capitalism that caused destruction of many businesses, some even local ones(they hit Pamela's, home to some of the best damn pancakes you'll ever have). These handful of ill-informed twenty-somethings incited the wrath of hundreds of police with tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and police batons. Curious college students, wanting to see first-hand the importance of G-20 and why thousands of policemen in riot gear have invaded their campus, got caught in the mix.

On thursday night, after being reminded many times that people outside were part of an unlawful assembly and must disperse, a large group of students seeing their campus overrun by police and protesters were gathered on their dorm patio. The police were apparently tired of waiting for the students to disperse so they stormed the patio, causing students to flee towards the locked doors of their dorms. Those too slow were slammed to the ground and arrested, no questions asked. It was a frightful night, the police acted quickly and with excessive force, but over 10 businesses had their windows shattered due to unruly protesters and some action had to be done. It was the next night where things really got out of hand.

Friday night a peaceful protest was held at 10 pm in Schenley plaza, a common meeting place for college kids. Some protesters were playing duck duck goose, or as they called it anarchist anarchist cop. At around 10:30, the police declared it an unlawful assembly and called for immediate dispersal. What followed was students and protesters alike in the streets of their own campus, getting trapped, gassed, shot at, pepper sprayed, beaten and arrested. The show of excessive force on Friday night by the police against students on their own campus is something that should not be overlooked.

These ireports and other videos will show you how brutal these policemen really were. Sorry for a not-so-funny post, Emily.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-333876
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-333897
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-333880
http://www.pittnews.com/node/20100

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The title of my post goes here.

I don't feel like making this post cohesive so here are random statements about stuff. Every damn night starting around 1 am there is loud construction noises that keep me up at night. This equals very little sleep and a very grumpy Jonny. I missed out on getting tickets to see Duff Goldman(dude from Ace of Cakes) speak to the school and that makes me sad as well. Everyone at Pitt seems to be getting swine flu and it's only a matter of time till I catch it. Here's hoping it comes and goes. Anyway, I gots work to do. Farewell Interwebs!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

New school year, new blog.

So I'm going to start writing in this thing again. I believe only Emily will follow it but who knows, maybe my witty remarks and classic good looks will bring in more readers. But please (this is mainly your responsibility Emily) make sure I do not turn this into a xanga. Last thing I want or anyone wants is to read about how boring my classes are or how lame my day was. Only interesting, insightful thoughts here (except for this post). So anyways, another school year has begun and so far so good. No classes tuesday or thursday sounds pretty good to me. Insert closing comment here.

Friday, May 15, 2009

May 14th

Oi! Sorry for the delay on this post. I don't feel like putting up another lame school oriented blog post so instead I'm just going to say I love Brazil so much, BUT I need some sleep and I have not been getting any of that here. Anyways, i'm tired as hell so I will just leave this here for you. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

May 13th

Today we returned to Cubatao and visited two companies. We visited Petrobras and carbocloro. We took a bus tour of the facilities at Petrobras first. There we saw only a small glimpse of the nearly 6 square kilometer facility. Petrobras is the 8th largest petroleum company in the world and helps produce and refine much of Brazil's oil. The entire refinery was strewn with pipes carrying liquids such as water and petroleum. There was also an entire waste management facility much like the one we witnessed about a week ago in Mongungua, only on a much larger scale and with waste from the plant itself. We saw many of the oil towers that burn the extra gas such as methane at the top of the tower so as to reduce the amount of pollution. The facilities were huge and the amount of machinery and manpower needed to operate the plant was astounding. Engineering of all disciplines, mechanical, civil, chemical, bio, etc. must be applied here in order to keep the company running smoothly.

After the tour we had one of the spokespersons there give us a presentation on the company. The presentation told a lot about the history of Petrobras and showed a lot of graphs and data about the world's need for energy. There was a lot of emphasis on the fact that Petrobras is leaning away from just being an oil company and is now becoming an energy company. They plan to increase the amount of natural gas they produce, research and implement more alternative energies such as solar and wind power, and are constantly keeping the environment in mind. The information presented to us really opened my eyes to see how much energy the United States uses and how much it produces. We are the leaders of consumption, yet we produce very little energy ourselves. It seems like we need to diversify our energy grid just like Brazil and Petrobras seems to be doing now.

We then went to another company visit, carbocloro, one of Brazil's leading chlorine gas producers. Chlorine gas is used to clean water for drinking, soaps, shampoos, and other cleaning products. This company visit was sort of a surprise for all of us since the Cosipa steel mill currently has many of its employees on strike due to wage negotiations. The tour of the facilities of carbocloro was pretty interesting. We all had to wear safety goggles, hard hats, and have an emergency respirator (just in case). We walked around the facilities and saw many wildlife preserves on the work site. The attention they pay to the environment is astounding in Brazil. They keep animals found in the wild who need rehabilitation at the facility and nurse them back to health. We toured around the zoo section a little bit, and then we started looking at the bigger machinery. The amount of pipes, tubes, and gas/liquid containers were impressive. The only problem was that I could not hear our tour guide very well and I did not get a real clear picture of what all the machinery did. Nonetheless we were able to see much of the plant and afterwards we had a nice conversation with our tour guide about the differences between America and Brazil.

After carbocloro, we once again visited the favellas in Cubatao, but this time we actually entered them. We had a news crew follow us around as we walked through the slums of Cubatao. Words really can't describe my experience walking through the slums. These slums/communities are built by people who can't afford to pay property tax and don't have other options. These communities have nearly no safety measures, no plumbing or sanitation, and use stolen electricity and cable. One shouldn't be quick to judge though, most of these people have jobs but just can't afford to live elsewhere. They have families to feed and sometimes this is the only thing they can do. The government is offering housing to some of them, but many are reluctant to leave since, even though they live in desolate conditions, it's still the home they grew up in, raised their kids in, etc. The kids in the slums were all very friendly and excited that we showed up, but many of the adults seemed resentful. The kids may look up to the luxury that we have and see that as a goal, while the adults may despise us because we're able to waltz through their town and leave and go home to luxury.

The sights we saw there is something that you won't see in America. Their water source, a small river, is also where they defecate and throw their trash in. The smells of certain portions of the favella was comparable to the waste water treatment plant. During our visit in the slums we met a radio newscaster who interviewed a few of us, as well as some teachers who spoke very good english. We conversed, laughed, and talked about the issues facing everyone there. After experiencing the slums for myself, I can see why the Brazilian government is so active in relocating these people. These living conditions are really not up to standard and no one deserves to live in their own filth. However, despite the unsanitary conditions and the poverty, the people their still make the best of things. They really are people just like us, and I applaud the Brazilian government for seeing that as well...

Damn, today was real tiring. It was hot as hell, but I learned a lot and experienced poverty firsthand. It reminded me a lot of my trip to the Philippines a few years ago. They too have villages like the ones I saw today and it really is hard to imagine living like that. Makes you really appreciate what you have, but for me at least it makes me want to do something about it. Whether it will be through charity or somehow through my future work, I want to be able to improve the lives of these people. Anyway, that's it for today. Tomorrow we tour a military facility. Exciting! Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

May 12th

Today we spent the entire day touring the city of Sao Vincente. We started off the day by meeting the vice mayor of Sao Vincente. He welcomed us and encouraged us to enjoy the many sites and activities the city has to offer. We had tour guides accompany us throughout the city as well as a cavalcade of police officers following us. Apparently we were that important to need police escorts throughout the day.

The tour guides guided us through many of the city's public parks, monuments and we even drank from the natural spring. They say that those who drink from the spring are destined to return to the city. The city was very beautiful and had a great beach along with a fisherman's wharf. We walked on the wharf and saw a few fisherman catch some very very shiny looking eel-fish things.

After the fisherman's wharf, we visited a small recreation of what the city of Sao Vincente was back in the 1500's. There were people dressed in old colonial dress as well as native brazilian dress. We stayed there for a little bit and then had lunch at a nice buffet restaurant.

After lunch we traveled up in two separate vans up to a monument for one of the most famous architects in Brazil. The monument was sort of a platform with a big arch above it, sort of in the shape of the Sydney opera hall. We looked over the peak, took some pictures and then headed to the landfill!

The landfill was actually renovated in the last decade or so to be a recreation place and for sustainable greenhouses. The entire area used to be covered in trash but now it has playgrounds, greenhouses, and recycling areas. Brazil makes many efforts to clean up the environment and provide safe areas for people to inhabit and this is one of the many municipal projects that Brazil has worked on.

After visiting the landfill we visited a zoo which also acts as a water reservoir, adult education center, and a children with disability teaching center. We got to see all the little monkeys, hippos and birdies flying around. Out of the like twenty zoos we've visited already this one was probably the best.

One last thing to do before the end of the day (twas a long day). We took some two seated lifts up to the top of a cliff where they have para-gliders. A handful of us (not me, i ain't got no money) paid the 100 real to jump off with them. They all landed on the beach and said it was a crazy experience. And that was the end of our day. It was tiring, very very hot in our "business casual" clothes, but it was also pretty cool and entertaining. Now tomorrow is packed with company visits, no lunch and no breaks. Yay?

^ that was the regular blog post again. But anyways, yeah EC if you're reading this, you somehow knew we'd be jumping off cliffs. Like literally, they jumped off a motherfuckin' cliff! I completely would have but unfortunately I don't have the money for that right now. I can't believe it's pretty much their winter/fall here. It was at least 85 degrees out and sunny as hell. I can't imagine what it's like in the summer. I'm tired as hell and think i'm going to call it an early night soon. Thanks for reading and have a pleasant tomorrow!