Elevator Etiquette

Week number 2 almost in the books in Colombia. As mentioned last time around, I went on a city tour of Bogotá last Saturday. It was a whopping 8+ hours starting from 8:30am and lasting until just a little before the sun went down. A lot different from what I expected, but still very cool. Rather than a tour in the city through the major parks, plazas, and avenues, the tour, unbeknownst to me beforehand, was designed to be around the city; that is, up and down, in and around the many mountains that surround Bogotá and therefore seeing the city from a variety of aerial, panoramic angles to get a bird’s eye view of its urban layout. We saw the major avenues from afar and the municipal construction projects in progress to connect them in order to ease traffic flow. We saw the patterns in city planning change shape with the gridded, organized layout in the northern part of the city giving way to the more chaotic sprawl the further south you went. I was playing around with the panoramic assist mode on my camera so I took a bunch of shots which I share below. All in all the city is just way more immense than I imagined. I live extremely far north in the city (Calle 145) and my point of reference for “downtown” is more or less where the government buildings are, roughly Calle 30ish. But we ventured so far south past the Calle 30ish area that the high rises in that area were just mere specks in the distant horizon.

Colombia, like I observed Brazil to be, is a pay-it-forward, elevator etiquette country. Meaning, you get in an elevator and you exchange greetings with the person standing next to you. The door opens on someone’s floor and you each exchange pleasant goodbyes. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am, how hard is that?? That’s the way it should be. You acknowledge the person whom you are sharing a cramped space with for that fraction of your day. You don’t have to talk mutual funds or vacation plans. Nor are you obligated in any way to say a single word in between “buenos dias” and “hasta luego.” It can be a painfully awkward long ride of silence from the 1^st to the 15^th floor but it will at least be bookended by a pleasant hello and goodbye. I personally appreciate it a lot and the minor gesture of a total stranger wishing me a good morning or afternoon speaks volumes. It’s something that goes too much unpracticed in the US.

Sticking to the themes of mindless observations, several things near and dear to me in the wide world of sports have drawn my attention.

1) Carlos Beltran. As if the Mets don’t have enough problems (i.e. first base, starting pitching, and Jose Reyes’ scotch tape hamstring) now they are getting hurt before the season starts. CB15 gets knee surgery just last week putting him on the shelf for at least the first month of the season. Why he didn’t get it in October, November, or even December? IDK, why did Chris Farley and David Spade drive away from the gas station after paying but before filling up in those SNL skits? I guess they wanted to punk themselves.

2) Stephon Marbury signs with a team in China. 11 words: “Coach, please go get me a sandwich during the next timeout.” Let’s see how that experiment works out.

3) Thierry Henry. FIFA just ruled that he will not be punished for his handball against Ireland. Granted, his hand was on the ball long enough to make you think he was gonna slam dunk it in the goal. But the idea that he could be professionally sanctioned for a rule violation that occurred within the parameters of a game is mind-boggling. He didn’t punch a fan or spit in the ref’s face. He broke a rule of the game. The penalty for a handball in soccer is a penalty kick, free kick, or a card, depending on the situation….not banishment from the World Cup. That’s like suspending Albert Pujols from the World Series because he missed homeplate on a slide when it was the umpire who did not call it.

4) Pablo Escobar in MLS: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news-lite/97-news/7802-pablo-escobar-to-play-for-american-soccer-team.html

5) Lastly, although this is not sports related I just came across this link on Yahoo!

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/how-not-to-feel-humiliated-when-dining-alone-567610/

The article is entitled “How not to feel humiliated when dining alone.” They offer 8 respectable tips but I think left out the 9^th and most important….uuummm, don’t give a $h*t that you are dining alone!

That’s all folks. Have a good night.