Job Discussion Forums

[Fitzgerald]

[Fitzgerald]

[BadBeagleBad]

[MotherF]

I've heard told that the cartels send their kids to live in Queretaro which is why it's safe.
It is truly lovely.


Edited and I promise not to post on public transit ever again.

[Fitzgerald]

[BadBeagleBad]

Man, I am moving to Queretaro. There have been a bunch of assalts on buses here in the area I live in, all at night. We went to Fresnillo on Sunday and had a scary minute, when a car darted in front of the bus and the driver thought it was trying to stop the bus, but it just turned out to be an idiot driver. The did catch a group of people this week, but they aren´t sure if they are responsible for all of the assalts or only some of them. We still have no police here, though there are Marines 30 minutes away and the state police drive through from time to time. It is not good. Yeah, I´m moving to Queretaro.

[Fitzgerald]

Alain de Botton has recently been theorizing about what makes cities attractive, and he came up with these six points. Queretaro clears all six bars without breaking a sweat.

Challenging the notion that beauty is subjective, Alain de Botton has made a case for attractive cities, believing that a city’s beauty is key to its success and citizens’ quality of life. The Swiss philosopher, author and founder of London’s The School of Life believes that attractiveness is the primary reason why many choose to vacation to Paris, and not Frankfurt.

“We think beauty is subjective, and so no one should say anything about it,” says Botton. “It’s a very understandable qualm, but it’s also horribly useful to greedy property developers.”

So, what makes a city attractive? Find out Botton’s six points for beautiful cities, after the break.

Variety and order – “Order means balance, symmetry and repetition… Order is one of the reasons so many people love Paris… However, excessive order can be just as much a problem.”

Visible life – “There are streets that are dead and streets that are alive. And in general, we crave the live ones.”

Compact – “All the most beautiful compact cities have squares… The ideal square must offer a sense of containment not claustrophobia.”

Orientation and mystery – “By definition, cities are HUGE. But the cities that a lot of people love also have lots of little backstreets and small lanes where you can feel cozy and get a bit lost.”

Scale – “Modern cities are all about BIG things. Joseph Campbell once wrote, ‘If you want to see what a society really believes in, look at what the biggest buildings on the horizon are dedicated too…’ The ideal height for any city block is 5 stories high – no more… Of course, occasionally there can be a huge building, but lets keep that for something really special – something all of humanity can love.”

Make it local – “We don’t want building’s to look the same everywhere.”

[Fitzgerald]

I am blogging about my experiences now, and including plenty of photographs:

http://queretaroencantador.blogspot.mx/

[Fitzgerald]

[Fitzgerald]

Update in the ongoing novel:

My former boss finally texted me to say that I am being "nasty," and then tellingly wrote: "I'm expecting one of my clients to pay today and then I'll be able to meet you tomorrow."

I responded:

I will need that remaining pay in cash. I have waited long enough for it.

You say that I am being "nasty," but believe me, you have not seen me nasty, and you don't want to, so let's not go there. As I said in my earlier email today, I have followed all your instructions to the tee. It is you who have not been able to keep up your end of things. I am somewhat sympathetic to financial difficulties, and I do not hate you, or even dislike you. But when you constantly delay, in part by simply not responding to communications, you wear down my patience, and I then feel it is necessary to take a more direct tone. You did not pay me off last month for January's work until I had sent you a pretty direct email. The same will be true this month. But instead of realizing that you owe ME an apology, you take this affronted, petulant tone for my supposed offenses to YOU. It does not come off very well.

The fact is, as you well know, that if you cannot pay "employees" on time WHETHER OR NOT your clients have paid you, then your cash flow does not justify having employees. It is really that simple. No explanations to the employees could possibly suffice. Both last month and this, you have made paying me contingent on your getting money from someone else. For a business owner, this looks terrible.

But whatever, water under the bridge, let's just finish this up. Although your behaviors have undoubtedly annoyed me, in the end I bear you no ill-will. As soon as I have been paid, I forget and I move on.

[DebMer]

I hope your situation is resolved soon. Your former employer has no sense of reality if he thinks you're being unreasonable for demanding payment for services rendered. He knows very well you were not a volunteer, and that you have expenses of your own. What an absurd way of thinking.

[Fitzgerald]

[DebMer]

Great news! Now to move forward to better things!