helping out?

In case you haven't noticed, the name of the blog has changed. Before, it was called Sistema de Almacenamiento: a name in Spanish, but everything else was in English. Because I'm venturing (with my poor commitment to blogging) with another blog purely in Spanish, even more personal and at the same time more didactic, I wanted to completely differentiate this one. The other blog can be found at mexoracontinua.blogspot.co.uk . The reason for the previous name was that my initials are SA and I wanted to use them as the initials for the name of the blog; this idea I took from a book (can't be sure whether it was La fuerza de Sheccid) by Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez. The current name, Lights at noon, is more related to the corresponding URL and also depicts better the topics that are covered: details and anecdotes that may be common place but some times don't go unnoticed, like lights at the brightest time of day. A few weeks ago my wife and I went to the cinema on Saturday morning, as we generally do, using the city's Metro system. We arrived to the station almost at the same time as the train we wanted to take and I ran to buy the tickets to catch it. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to catch it but in my desperation to pay the fare I asked my wife to go into the train without a ticket hoping that the machine would provide the tickets on time. It was about 9:10 AM and there was another train that we could take in ten more minutes. When my wife entered the wagon, a young man who had boarded the same train at the same station blocked the door so that I could go in. Once I got the tickets, I boarded the train and the young man let the doors go. I thanked him as profusely as I could and went to sit down. A moment later, the driver admonished us through the speakers reminding us that blocking the doors could grant us a fine of £100 or something like that. The driver took about ten more seconds of awkward silence before the train moved and we were finally on our way. I was grateful to the young man but at the same time I kept thinking that the whole incident should not have happened. Obviously, my wife and I couldn't keep the incident out of our minds and the trip was not as pleasant as in other occasions. Was the act of the young man harmful? Was it instigated by my wife coming into the train before I did (in other words, by me asking my wife to go into the train)? Would I do the same thing for somebody else? The action per se produced a delay of half a minute in the schedule. I don't think that it caused any of the passengers to miss another train or change their schedule drastically; it might have, though. I don't think, either, that the safety of the passengers was jeopardised. But, I do think that the action was not correct because those are the rules of engagement if you want to use the service in a compliant way. Am I too square? In addition, it may be that our behaviour brought about the young man's reaction; if we had not run or had looked less anxious, the young man wouldn't have noticed us. With all those facts and thoughts, I don't want to block the doors for other perfectly-able people... On the other hand, I can't but admire and respect the interest of the young man for others. I don't think I would have noticed that other people were trying to get on the train against the clock. What he did was unselfish and risky; I would like to have those attitudes... Oh, that young man, helping us get on time to watch a movie and teaching us to care for others with bold actions. #respect

2014 World Cup challenge

It's been days since I want to write something. Sure, something like... anything. I've got a couple of topics I'd like to discuss which soon will become obsolete but today I don't want to touch them. I want to talk about the World Cup (obviously football), but there is nothing that I can originally add to what is written in the news or social media. Therefore, I will just outline the schedule of the tournament and make my predictions. You can predict the outcomes too, and send me the filled form attached below (nobody reads this blog, but just for the sake of it you can contact me at @mexbguy on Twitter). So, let's see: there are eight groups with four teams each; that means six matches in each group to total 48 matches during the Group stage. Group A: Brazil wins with difficulty against Croatia, easily against Mexico and draws with Cameroon to top the group. Cameroon draws with Mexico and tops Croatia to take second place. Croatia wins against Mexico and takes third place. Group B: Spain has difficulty beginning these tournaments, so they tie with the Netherlands and Chile, crushing Australia to win the group. Chile draws with the Netherlands and wins against Australia to take second place. The Netherlands wins against Australia, but the goal difference is lower than Chile's and stays behind. Group C: Colombia's Radamel Falcao doesn't get fit on time for the first games but Colombia passes over Greece, wins against Ivory Coast and ties with Japan to win the group. Japan ties with Ivory Coast and wins against Greece to earn a place in the Round of 16. Ivory Coast wins marginally against Greece taking third place. Group D: England begins defeating Uruguay and Costa Rica, and tying with Italy to win the group. Italy defeats Costa Rica and draws with Uruguay to take a place in the Round of 16. Uruguay wins against Costa Rica to avoid the bottom of the group. Group E: Switzerland wins against Ecuador and Honduras easily and draws with France to be top of the group. France also ties with Ecuador but wins against Honduras. A point for Honduras and Ecuador is third. Group F: Bosnia-Herzegovina upsets Argentina, defeats Iran and ties against Nigeria to win the group. Argentina wins the remaining games taking the second place. Iran can't earn points and is bottom of the group. Group G: Germany can't win against Portugal or Ghana but win the group defeating the US. Portugal ties with Ghana and wins by a lower margin against the US. Ghana draws every game and is third of the group. All CONCACAF teams are bottom of their respective groups... Group H: Belgium is the only team that wins every game. Russia wins easily against Algeria and marginally against South Korea, whilst the Asian team defeats the African to avoid the bottom place. With no more margin for error, Brazil, Colombia, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, England, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Belgium advance to Quarterfinals. In Semifinals Brazil defeats Germany and Belgium takes care of Spain to allow the Germans to have another third place trophy. Finally, not only Belgium gets the glory in the Maracana, but also Romelu Lukaku becomes the best scorer with 7. By the way, Miroslav Klose scores three times to beat Ronaldo as the most prolific scorer in the history of the World Cups and finally a European team wins the Cup at American (I mean American as in the whole continent) soil. Ah, and a few days after the end of the tournament, a new vote for the venue of the 2022 World Cup is scheduled and Joseph Blatter is destitute of the presidency of FIFA. Ok, I should consider beginning a career as an oracle, but for now I just leave you with the rules of the World Cup challenge in case you want to participate. Nothing to lose, glory to win: - 1 point for each disqualified team - 1 point for correct position of disqualified teams - 2 points for each team in round of 16 - 2 points for exact place of team in round of 16 - 4 points for each team in quarterfinals - 4 points for each team in its actual cell in quarterfinals - 8 points for each team in semifinals - 8 points for each team in its actual cell in semifinals - 12 points for each winner or loser in semifinals - 15 points for correct fourth place - 20 points for correct third place - 30 points for correct runner-up - 40 points for champion - Best scorer used if two or more participants tie in points