Ciao!

Two dream candidates

Technorati tag: West Wing

A long weekend, started off right w/ an amazing fondue party hosted by Megan. The rest of the time was spent in a combination of sleeping in, spending time w/ friends I've not spent time w/ for a while, and powering through my first nearly-polished chapter draft. I'll try to make that two chapters by the end of next week.

Posted by Miguel at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Friday in Kalamazoo

Chapter 2 is all but finished. I have the last two sections to type up; they're already drafted onto notecards — it's my writing process (yeah, yeah, everyone's got one). But that's the big news today. After a bout of writer's block, I've worked through an entire new chapter. The title? "Imagining Bolivia: The Historical-Institutional Development of the Modern Bolivian Polity." Catchy, yes? Technically, I've not even drafted the conclusion yet, but that's mostly small potatoes. I hope. I'll spend the next week polishing Chapters 1 & 3, before moving into the heart of the dissertation (Chapters 4-6).

Posted by Miguel at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

What've I been up to lately?

Sorry for the infrequent updates. But I've not been doing much, really, besides rushing through a semi-final draft of Chapter 2 (a historical overview of Bolivia as "imagined community"). After nearly a month of writer's block, the last few days have really shaken things loose. I'm now averaging about 4-5 double-spaced pages a day. I'm excited.

Posted by Miguel at 05:19 PM | Permalink

The Democracy Center debate

Technorati tag: Bolivia

There's an interesting post over at Publius Pundit that mentions this weekend's pro free trade march in downtown La Paz. The post contains a solid round-up of recent Bolivia blog coverage. But it also contains a barb aimed at Jim Schultz's Democracy Center (especially a link to this post). I'd like to address this briefly.

Posted by Miguel at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Reapportionment update

Technorati tag: Bolivia

A lot of activity, but not much new in terms of Bolivia's election. So far, parliament's still deadlocked over seat reapportionment proposals. Santa Cruz & Cochabamba diputados (lower house legislators) insist on receiving more seats; diputados from La Paz, Potosí, and Oruro insist on not losing seats. But there's enough outcry for elections to go ahead regardless, that I think it's safe to say that elections will indeed happen on 4 December.

Posted by Miguel at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hospitals & office time

My mom's more or less retired now. Medical issues. But she's in good spirits, and I think she'll enjoy the retirement. I've suggested she take up knitting. Though I'm sure she'll instead spend much of it reading, or planning trips to museums, or finding time to write about her life. Sorry it wasn't under better circumstances, mom, but you deserve a respite.

My friend Dave's recovering from his hit-and-run. It's difficult balancing wanting to visit w/ his need for rest.

And I'm frantically trying to catch up on work, as deadlines slowly slip onto my schedule. October's drawing to an end, and I'm still wrestling w/ this difficult historiographical chapter. Perhaps I'm too much a perfectionist. I seem to spend more time editing, reediting, and rereediting sentences & paragraphs than actually pushing through to the end. But I'm trying to ignore that urge — trying to just push through, work on footnotes, references, and details later.

I've told myself that by end of next week, I'll drop this chapter & leave it where it stands. Then turn my attention to just editing & polishing two other chapters, while outlining another two. Funny. The closer I get to finishing this dissertation, the more difficult it becomes. Some days I measure progress in terms of paragraphs, not pages.

Posted by Miguel at 06:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Leelanau getaway

So a bit late on the update. But my trip w/ K8 to the Leelanau was quite nice. Despite the hours of driving (which, frankly, didn't seem nearly that bad).

Posted by Miguel at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

1 in 400

Back from my Leelanau getaway. And I find out one of my good friends is lucky just to be alive after a hit & run accident. I sat w/ him & his family until he woke up, then off to surgery. But Dave Brzezicki's a real trooper.

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UPDATE: The Moped Army is raising funds for Dave, since he'll be out of commission for at least half a year. You can donate here.

Posted by Miguel at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Leelanau getaway

Heading up to Michigan's beautiful Leelanau Peninsula in a bit. So no email or web for me for the next two days. Instead, I'll be enjoying the start of autumn driving along the shoreline of Michigan's pinky. Including Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore & touring Leelanau wineries. Did you know Madonna's dad has a winery? Well, now you know.

In Bolivian news: The elections are a go, after the Constitutional Tribunal voted that the elections are, in fact, constitutional & should go ahead as scheduled. So let the campaign trail blaze away.

Posted by Miguel at 04:07 PM | Permalink

Learning how to lose

Technorati tag: Bolivia

I'm not going to delve too deeply into Bolivian electoral politics until next week. By then, we might know for sure (or as close to certainty as Bolivian politics allows) if a) there will be an election, and b) what the seat distribution & final candidate roster will look like. But a quick note on one troubling thing.

Posted by Miguel at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Digital life update

I have a new cell phone. I figured I'd pounce on the discontinued Samsung SPH-i500 while they were still in stock & going cheap. So long Treo, hello Samsung w/ Palm OS. Sadly, I can't get email to work. Happily, the web browser is faster/better. But if I can't figure out how to do email, I'll cancel the web package (save $15/mo) & just stick to a phone.

Posted by Miguel at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wedding Bells (or Another One Bites the Dust)

A long, tiring, but enjoyable weekend. First, K8 came into town for our trip to Zionsville, Indiana. Friday night, we briefly took in the monthly Kalamazoo Art Hop along the downtown walking mall. Followed by dinner at Food Dance, one of the best eateries in town.

Posted by Miguel at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bolivian election update

Technorati tag: Bolivia

Lots of Bolivian election news today. And w/ info graphics!

Posted by Miguel at 07:27 AM | Permalink

The academic blogosphere

A really good post on academic blogging at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Check it.

Posted by Miguel at 07:04 PM | Permalink

Sophie goes to the vet

Today it was Sophie's turn to visit the Kalamazoo Animal Hospital. She's a healthy 8 lbs 6 oz. A quick nail clipping & rabies booster, and we were on our way. I'm also supposed to give my girls more dry food, to help their gingivitis.

Posted by Miguel at 03:55 PM | Permalink

Annie goes to the vet

This is the week of health, it seems. Yesterday I got my life insurance physical (yes, Mom, I finally listened to you). Today Annie went to the vet. Tomorrow it's Sophie's turn. They're both due for their 3 yrs rabies booster.

Posted by Miguel at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Leave Bali alone

Technorati tag: terrorism

So there's been more terrorist bombings in Bali, Indonesia. Since Indonesia's not involved in the Iraq war, and isn't a long-standing Anglo or European nation, I don't think the standard excuses/explanations apply. Why terrorism? Well, because according to some small sliver of a percentage of people (I won't insult the religion by calling such people "Muslims") are determined that people who don't think, dress, or behave as they wish deserve to die. And since Bali is half a world away, and not a long-standing Anglo or European nation, we won't get overwhelmed w/ Bali images on TV (like, say, Madrid or London).

Posted by Miguel at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Quick notes

Technorati tag: Bolivia

Here's a surprising economic factoid. According to today's La Razón, income from emigrants sending money back relatives makes up the lion's share of Bolivia's income. At $860 million, remesas equal 40% of exports, beating gas exports ($796 million) & 18% of Bolivia's foreign debt ($4.8 billion). About 11% of the population receives remesas from relatives overseas (mostly from those in the US & Europe).

Posted by Miguel at 12:10 PM | Permalink

Three candidates online

Technorati tag: Bolivia

Here's links to the websites of the three strongest contenders for Bolivian president (really, none of the other candidates is viable). Despite the off-again-on-again election, it's important to note that the candidates seem to be moving forward as if the elections were sure to happen.

Posted by Miguel at 04:15 PM | Permalink

Bolvia at openDemocracy.net

Technorati tag: Bolivia

John Crabtree, a long-time scholar of Bolivian politics, has a great overview of the current Bolivian electoral crisis at openDemocracy.net.

Crabtree also has a new book out: Patterns of Protest: Politics and Social Movements in Bolivia. Couldn't find it on Amazon.com yet, though.

Posted by Miguel at 01:36 PM | Permalink

Statistical snapshot of Santa Cruz

Technorati tags: Bolivia Santa Cruz

Bolivia's parliament is starting to work towards a possible compromise on seat apportionment that'd ensure the elections still go on 4 December. So I thought I'd take a moment to go back a few days to 24 September, the Santa Cruz regional holiday. Because El Deber published an interesting special edition on the 195th Anniversary of Santa Cruz.

Posted by Miguel at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Random thoughts

Found an 1899 Indian Head Cent in a roll of pennies today, which was pretty cool. And it's in great condition, which is even cooler.

In other news, the Bolivian political mess continues, as per usual. Will there be elections in December? Will a third president step down in as many years? What will the different regions decide? Etc, etc, etc.

Meanwhile, I'm starting to polish up the chapter that covers Bolivia's political history from the 1930s (the Chaco War) to the early 1980s (transition to democracy). Take away the military coups and counter coups, and today's Bolivia looks like the late 1970s. Or maybe the 1940s, w/ the left cutting off its own nose to spite its face while "traditional" parties do what they can to keep their heads above water. Etc, etc, etc.

I forgot that West Wing airs on Sunday, not Monday. And since I missed this week's episode, I figured I might as well go up to my office and hammer out at least one polished page.

I guess that's about it. But I should also point out that Serenity was an amazing, fantastic, entertaining, funny, rip-roaring adventure of a movie. Wow. On the other hand, A History of Violence was one of the dullest things I've seen in a long, long time.

Posted by Miguel at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)