www.CostaRicaTicas.com
https://forum.costaricaticas.com/

Signing off
https://forum.costaricaticas.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6465		 Page 1 of 4
Author:  Gringotim [ Sun May 15, 2005 2:21 am ]
Post subject:  Signing off
How many mongers have actually seen how many of the chicas live? I'm not talking about the f*cking Colombianas or Nicas, because they really don't count, as they are in a 'foreign' country to begin with. I'm talking about the Ticas. In two years on this board, I think perhaps a total of two or three people have actually witnessed how they live. Besides myself and Astroglide (?), who else has actually stayed in a chicas abode? Of course Mente knows what I'm talking about. I've spent many a night in the hills above Desamparados near Aserri in a tin shack. What's my point...I'm not sure. I know someone has jokingly referred to Circus as living in a 'doublewide'. I don't regard that as humorous, as I'll be homeless in a couple of weeks. What a f*cking country the US is...I have over twenty years experience as a computer
programmer, and have a master's degree in computer science, and I
can't get work. The idiots in the upper echelons of government in the US better stop worrying about foreign terrorists and start worrying about US citizens pissed off about being unemployed due to outsourcing to India.
This will be my last post. I've driven off at least a couple of posters (PirateMorgan, Dave). I apologize for that. I shall leave the Tampa Bay chapter of CRT in the hands of Prolijo. Maybe I'll move to CR and live a meager existence in the mountains of Aserri or Atenas. Or maybe I'll drink a bottle of rum and take some cold medicine to make sure I OD. I'm 52 and have nothing left. Zero. I have no future. What a waste!
My last two words...
Pura Vida.
Author:  Gypsy [ Sun May 15, 2005 3:18 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
Maybe I'll move to CR and live a meager existence in the mountains of Aserri or Atenas. Or maybe I'll drink a bottle of rum and take some cold medicine to make sure I OD. I'm 52 and have nothing left. Zero. I have no future. What a waste!
My last two words...
Gringotim, is that a joke? I hope so! Remember, where there's a will, there's way! You're still young and I'm sure that there's a job just for you out there. A positive attitute will be you greatest asset! DON"T GIVE UP!

Gypsy
Author:  BondTrader [ Sun May 15, 2005 10:01 am ]
Post subject: 
Spoken like a true Loser.
Author:  Danielson [ Sun May 15, 2005 10:15 am ]
Post subject:  I have to agree... you have a losers attitude
Gringotim


dude... you need to aqquire a new point of view on things.. because someone told me many years ago

"if you think you can't................your right.. :( . if you think you can... your right :D "


if you have that much programming experience post your self on sites like elance.com scriptlance.com rentacoder.com


stop phucking complaining and become a solution instead of part of the problem...


with a little marketing.. you will be servicing clients in no time..

but NOT with that attitude....

get some perspective.... like how would you feel if you were in the same exact shoes.. but in a wheelchair... and could not move anything except your head...


"a man looks into the abyss.....where there is no one staring back at him... it is in that moment man finds his true character.. and that is what keeps him out of the abyss"

I forgot who said this :?


best of luck

danielson
Author:  Danielson [ Sun May 15, 2005 10:17 am ]
Post subject:  Part 2
does this mean you won't be renewing yoru VIP membership :D

sorry.. only kidding :D :D :D :D :D
Author:  Osgood [ Sun May 15, 2005 10:36 am ]
Post subject: 
gringo tim, lay off the rum :wink: .........hope you are more positive to-day,easier said than done, right,..........
Author:  Raw [ Sun May 15, 2005 10:47 am ]
Post subject: 
Gringotim Ive only been to Costa Rica 1 time. Im very interested in how the average Costa Rican Family lives. While in Jaco I took some coronas and soft drinks in a cooler to a construction site. They were mixing concrete for footings in a wheel barrow by hand.The forman could speak a little english. He told me laborers made a dollar an hour, formen make 2 dollars an hour. I dont see how they could pay rent or buy a small house.The guy seemed sincere so I believed what he was saying. Could you elaborate on Costa Rican economic conditions. Hey, as far as work, try the Atlanta area. Thats were Im from. My sisters girlfriend is an IT tech with no degree. She just changed jobs, she makes 60,000 a year with no degree.Send me a PM if you dont feel like posting, and hang in there bro,Raw
Author:  PacoLoco [ Sun May 15, 2005 10:56 am ]
Post subject: 
Sounds like maybe a little rum induced depression, hope you bounce back with a vengance amigo. We all get beat down sometimes GT, but we're still alive- and things could always be a lot worse...
Author:  Prolijo [ Sun May 15, 2005 11:09 am ]
Post subject: 
Piroca wrote:
Spoken like a true Loser.

Spoken like a true dickhead. Kick a man while he's down, why don't you.

Most of us have been there at one point of our lives, out of work or for some other reason discouraged, and so should know how it can feel. That barely gives us a clue of how bad it is for people like GT. I work in a area that is closely allied to I.T. and know first hand how bad it is for people in that line of work.

These are not just like the blue-collar workers of yesteryear that have been laid off from one place and can easily transfer to other fields. These are highly trained individuals accustomed to making large salaries and since the burst of the internet bubble have found demand for their expertise drastically shrink. A good part of it is low-cost competition and out sourcing to places like India, but it goes much deeper than that.

Some have found re-employment in their field BUT at significantly lower levels of pay. Others are driving cabs or doing other such low-paying jobs just to get by. I know several other former programmers, like GT, who are either working for much less, still trying to find work and close to giving up or have gone into formal retirement. Bush likes to brag about the million or so jobs he created, and glosses over the 3 million jobs that were lost first under his watch. Its sort of like Kerry's I voted for it after I voted against it, only MUCH more serious. He completely ignores the fact that so many of these new jobs are in low paying service areas (like McDonalds), part-time or temp work (which lack any benefits such as health coverage) or that unemployment figures have declined because of the discouraged worker effect (people who have been out work so long they've exceeeded their unemployment benefits and have given up looking).

I'm not going to offer any platitudes to GT either, like keep a chin up. But I will offer some practical words of advice. As I recall your experience is with mainframe systems. Its no wonder you can't find work. If you want to continue to work in the IT field, you need to retrain. You should have been doing this all along before your money ran out, but its never too late. Secondly, you need to bite the bullet. Accept the fact that the chances are you might never regain the position you had in the industry or any position and do whatever it takes to get by. If that means going to work for Wal-mart and giving up your trips to CR, so be it.

I've seen far worse living conditions than anything GT has experienced. I used to do business in Haiti. Talk about abject poverty. Since that time, however bad it may have seemed to me, I have never ever felt sorry for myself. We live in a land of opportunity and at least for now, until the so-called compassionate conservatives manage to tear it apart, we have a social safety net. GT shouldn't have to starve and although he might want to move into a tin shack with one of his chica novias he still could always get a doublewide like Circus. No, our boy is going to be just fine, as long as he doesn't let this stuff he's going through get him down.
Author:  Coqui [ Sun May 15, 2005 11:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Signing off
Gringotim wrote:
How many mongers have actually seen how many of the chicas live? I'm not talking about the f*cking Colombianas or Nicas, because they really don't count, as they are in a 'foreign' country to begin with. I'm talking about the Ticas. Most of you don't have a f*cking clue as to how many personas live in CR. In two years on this board, I think perhaps a total of two or three people have actually witnessed how they live. Besides myself and Astroglide (?), who else has actually stayed in a chicas abode? Of course Mente knows what I'm talking about. Even the mongers that reside in CR don't have a clue...Vegas Bob (Escazu...yeah, get f*cking real!), Ding Dong, TexasVegas, et. al. I've spent many a night in the hills above Desamparados near Aserri in a tin shack. About a year ago, some members of this board, including an Admin, were trying to tell me how good the roads were in that area. They haven't been where I've been. What's my point...I'm not sure. I know someone has jokingly referred to Circus as living in a 'doublewide'. I don't regard that as humorous, as I'll be homeless in a couple of weeks. What a f*cking country the US is...I have over twenty years experience as a computer
programmer, and have a master's degree in computer science, and I
can't get work. The idiots in the upper echelons of government in the US better stop worrying about foreign terrorists and start worrying about US citizens pissed off about being unemployed due to outsourcing to India.
This will be my last post. I've driven off at least a couple of posters (PirateMorgan, Dave). I apologize for that. I shall leave the Tampa Bay chapter of CRT in the hands of Prolijo. Maybe I'll move to CR and live a meager existence in the mountains of Aserri or Atenas. Or maybe I'll drink a bottle of rum and take some cold medicine to make sure I OD. I'm 52 and have nothing left. Zero. I have no future. What a waste!
My last two words...
Pura Vida.


Guy we have a desperate need for computer experts here in Puerto Rico. Learn spanish and come on down, pay wont be spectacular but you will be on a tropical island and have a job. Just my two cents.
Author:  Prolijo [ Sun May 15, 2005 12:26 pm ]
Post subject: 
Raw,
The rate of pay in CR that the construction foreman described is very rough but pretty accurate description of the prevailing rates. The minimum wage for unskilled labor is just over $8/day or about $212/mo. The average income is $9100/yr and the unemployment is a fairly low 6.7%. Compare that to Haiti with an average income of $1600/yr, 80% living below the poverty line a 67% unemployment rate (with many of the other 33% being underemployed).

If you compare CR to the US, the surprising thing would seem to be why there isn't much more depression and suicide down there. There certainly is a problem of alcoholism, drug abuse and family violence, but not as much more so than in the US that their significantly worse economic conditions would lead us to believe should exist.

My old plant manager in Haiti, explained it this way. These folks certainly have a tough life, but they don't have to worry about huge mortgage payments, car payments, the heating oil bill or the A/C electric bill, orthodontist bills for their K*ds braces, co-pays for their health insurance, their K*D's college tuitions, chinch bugs on their lawns, impressing their boss so they can get that next raise to pay for the family trip to the grand canyon, and all the other typical concerns of our suburban lifestyles.

In CR, they are much better of than in Haiti and in some ways better than us. They live on the family-owned land or at least with their parents until they marry and sometimes even after that. They often share their houses and expenses with an extended family. And the houses they share are certainly not fancy by our more affluent standards, so the rents or taxes if any are comparatively low. Sure, they probably aware that their not living in a mansion or even in homes like ours, but they've never experienced anything else so it is giving far less attention than it would by any of us. Most don't own or need cars or A/C in their homes. Not having an army, CR has more to spend on public health care and education which is either free or very affordable for its citizens. Its an agricultural country and as long as you don't have a taste for imported products food is plentiful and cheap. I'm not saying life is all a bed of roses. I'm just saying living conditions are not as bad as a simplistic comparison of wages would suggest.
Author:  Dapanz1 [ Sun May 15, 2005 12:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
a man looks into the abyss.....where there is no one staring back at him... it is in that moment man finds his true character.. and that is what keeps him out of the abyss"


I know it was spoken in my favorite movie of all time "Wall Street." This was the part when Bud Fox was getting arrested for insider training. LOVE THAT MOVIE.

We all get down sometimes. I'm in an industry where I have NO control of how my clients fare. My business is essentially selling hope. It is frustrating, but I think our amigo will bounce back. Reading his post reminds me of the movie with Michael Douglas. The unemployed defense contractor, loses his job and goes ballistic. Forgot the name of the movie. Maybe it was called "Falling Down," not sure.

When we get down, we often think irrational thoughts. Happens to all of us. Keep on keepin' on mi amigo.

I am a little disappointed though, you must not be reading my posts. I have seen the face of poverty face to face. I have stayed in a tin shack in the Dominican. I can only imagine what life must be like day to day. Relax, have a little faith. You many not be perfect but your "God" will not forget you. You will weather the storm. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

dapanz1
Author:  Diego [ Sun May 15, 2005 1:08 pm ]
Post subject: 
Good luck, bro -- stay around with those who know you and care what happens. You've got lots to offer, and you are appreciated.
Author:  Tman [ Sun May 15, 2005 1:23 pm ]
Post subject: 
GT...it sounds like circumstances have got you quite angry and depressed. I have met you and know you have been under pressure. I will PM you some of my more personal thoughts...but a positive suggestion might be to email your resume around to anyone on this board connected to the tech industry. Anybody on the board here able to PM our man here with job ideas and resume requests?

Another thought is...I moved to CR partly because I realized my age was against me in the tech sector that was reorganized after the 2001 "market correction". While I wont say it's easy to get a tech job or company going here in CR, I CAN say there is a vacuum of knowledge and experience...and it might be easier to compete stateside from offshore. I make less than half what I made in the states...but I find myself living better and with less stress...and a lot less COST to live. Maybe an Aserri break wouldnt be so bad for you :wink: .

Try and get on the positive side my friend. More PM comments to follow...
Author:  Johnnie Black [ Sun May 15, 2005 1:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”
~ Albert Einstein

“IF opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
~ Milton Berle

“There is no security in life, only opportunity.”
~ Mark Twain


I am not qualified to even think for a minute that I have the authority to speak in terms of how a person show conduct his business or make judgment on one’s way of life…

However GT I know you to be a very sincere person that has compassionate feelings for the things you believe in and the people you let into your inner circle. Your comments about “who really knows” may be valid for the majority of visitors or hobbyist that visit Third World Countries but may be short sighted for many here that do have and made emotional connections with ladies, families, and friends in a Third World environs and have experienced the sights and sounds of poverty, deprivations and despair.

To say “don’t have a clue” because you reside in an upper scaled community in a Third World County and not wanting to necessarily celebrate the clattering sounds of a Tin Roofs on a rainy night or having to walk on narrow dirt roads through Street Sludge to get to your front doorstep is somewhat disingenuous.

I for one in September had the chance to see what you say, the Tin Roof, the Living Conditions, and the Roads Less Traveled… The family I met was happy, genuine, and was living as one does with the options given.

This is not about the “Haves” or the “Have Nots”, it’s about everyday survival and how we all adapt the best we can with what we have to work with…. Some folks are highly educated, come from a rich a bloodline that permits the feeding tube never to be dry.

Others have life experiences to carry them to the mountaintops or to stand up at the bottom of valleys and begin that new trek up that mountain. The spectrum is vast but one thing in common we all have a Heart, a Soul and a Brain ….

A Heart for the ability to Live and Love, a Soul for the Values that we come to know and believe in and a Brain to Dream of a better place and too take those thoughts to become Realities.

Remarkable to read some of the negative vibe… No matter the dislikes, attitudes, or opinions I always felt that we have a brotherhood at CRT and when a brother is down and out we have a little compassion or understanding. If this negativity is a sign of Brotherly Love then I would hate to meet my sister…


JB
Page 1 of 4 All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
https://www.phpbb.com/