Book Review: College Fast Track - Essential Habits For Less Stress and More Success in College.

From time to time I get the opportunity to share a book review from authors who have sent me books or books I have found interesting.  One author named Derrick Hibbard, who wrote one of my favorite books of 2010 This Side of Eden, has also written a series of non-fiction books to help college student survive.  The first book is called, College Fast Track: Essential Habits for Less Stress and More Success in College.  I know a lot of people are headed back to school and are looking to make more money so grabbing this book for Christmas may be the perfect gift for that future college student.

College Fast Track is a quick "how to" manual that affectively hits the key areas of college academic life.  Everything from setting goals to effective reading and even taking exams.  Since I was a career college student and took what seemed forever to graduate, I appreciated the simple way Derrick approaches the subject matter.  At no point did I feel I was reading a text book or a complicated "how to" manual.  Instead it was fun and light hearted and kept me interested in the next chapter.  Even though I have graduated I found myself reading and wishing I had applied some of his ideas early on.

One chapter in particular stood out to me was about note taking.  I used to write notes for hours and hours when I was in college.  At some point I gave up and just tried to do quicker outlines for my notes and I found my comprehension level increased.  When Derrick mentions this same technique I felt validated in my skills.  I wish had known this for my first couple of years of college and could have saved a ton of time in studying.  All the more reason why this is a must have for any college student.  Filled with a number of examples, ideas, and concepts that is surely to get the college student thinking on how they can improve and even get the future student excited to attend school.  Developing these habits, as Derrick puts it, "...is doing things without thinking..." and will enhance the students ability to quickly make smart decisions in their college career.

Students will find this easy to read and may even use it as a reference guide as they are getting overwhelmed in school.  As the student prepares for a test they may want to reference the section on exam rituals and how it can stimulate the mind by listening to the same music or eating the same things they did while studying.  College Fast track will improve the average college students chances at success and prepare them for a rewarding career.

Well worth the this quick read!  He has a number of other books including the Fast Track book on Law School as well.

Libya is not El Salvador...People Remember When it Was.

In Libya News, we have seen the country is still has major issues with terrorism and violence in the street.  Recent news shows that the city was hit today with a car bomb killing an army colonel.  (See the Daily Star here) How ever it was not too long ago El Salvador faced similar issues.  The 1980s and 90s were filled with similar stories from both sides of the bloody civil war.

As I look to the situation of Libya and the past events of Benghazi, I am thankful El Salvador has been working through many of these past issues.  But just when they are almost forgotten; they are once again brought to people's memory.  Recently reported by many media agencies that the Pro-busqueda offices were ransacked by men looking destroy there work.  Tim's El Salvador Blog has a number of posts regarding the full story.  But to give a brief summary, during the civil war it was widely suspected that children were stolen from families and forced into adoption through out the country and abroad.  Pro-busqueda and other such groups has been determined to find this children and reunite them.  As they get closer and closer to the truth, terror has returned to quite the voices.

So as I look at Libya and I am thankful those day are behind this country, I can't help but wonder if they are really around the corner with such obvious lawlessness and lack of respect.  So far no one has been charged nor does it seem to be of a major concern this has happened.  There was a few simple stories in the paper and one or to mentions on national TV.  U.S. media I feel covered the story more than El Salvador did.

Could a country like El Salvador take such a step back or can't it learn to heal and move forward?  One blogger from El Salvador did a detailed post denouncing the destruction at HUACAL including photos of the attack.

When Government Gets Involved with Private Business

In the United States we are constantly discussing the limits of government in the free market system.  Without defining the differences between liberal and conservatives we can see there are two sides of the argument.  More involvement and regulation to maintain a certain level of "fairness" and less involvement and allow the market to regulate and police itself.

In the next three weeks, El Salvador will pass a law that has been passed in many other Latin America countries.  (See Here in Spanish - La Pagina) This law requires employers to pay severance to any tenured (2 years) employee and equates to two months worth of pay.   Of course there are some rules, like you must give 15 days notice, etc.  But essentially if an employee wants to leave they can and you have to pay for it.  El Salvador already has many laws that complement this new one, like required christmas bonuses for all employees, severance for employees who are terminated, etc.    Though the cost to operate here maybe lower than the United States, it is filled with rules and laws that actually can make it more expensive.

Tonight at a party I had a discussion with a local business owner, he has offices in Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.  His father started the business 37 years ago and it is still going strong today.  I asked his opinion on this new law and he immediately explained he was all for it.  Stating that El Salvador is behind, everyone else already is doing this and it isn't fair to not give people money for there time.  He talked how this would inspire people to work harder or to quit the job they hate and get paid for it so they can go to a new job.

Then I asked him a simple question that changed his mind, I said, "If your father was here today, starting his business for the first time and then three of his tenured employees decides to quit just when he starts making money, what would have happened to his business?"  He replied, "He would have closed down."

This was the lightbulb moment for him realizing having government tell him how needs to run his business and how needs to pay people may seem fair upfront, if we are looking to make things fair for everyone (even the bad employees) but it creates a situation for the employer where they could lose everything just because someone isn't happy at work.  Why take a risk on a new venture if in two years your employees can run away with everything.  I predict this will hurt overall investments and small business in this country.  Employers will start looking for ways to avoid employees even reaching tenure status and keeping wages low to avoid higher payouts.

Seeing how a socialistic government operates and how a country that is essentially one big union functions has given me the chance to really reflect on the blessing of freedom and the free market system.  It also hurts to see when government constantly thinks it knows better how to run business in the United States, Latin America or any country.  Venezuela is now moving towards profit caps and price caps placed on everything to control what is considered too much greed.  (See Wall Street Journal Here).

I say keep government out as much as possible, work together to pass meaningful laws that are win/win for both side; but let business operate and grow as freely as possible.  Regulations that keep things sanitary and free of discrimination I understand, but don't tell me how to handle my employees when they quit or that I have to pay for their insurance.  That should be my decision to make as a company not the governments.

Comments welcome.

Utah Attorney General John Swallow Needed to Step Down.

John Swallow resigned today and though I am obviously not in Utah these days; I pay close attention to what is happening in my home state and country. The John Swallow saga has been at the top of my news feed for weeks. If you are unsure what is happening Former State Senator Dan Liljenquist has a great op-ed in the Deseret News: (See Here).

But in a nut shell is suspected of a whole slew of misdeeds but I wanted to focus my comments on my own personal experiences and observations of Mr. Swallow.

For the few years I was heavily involved in Utah politics starting around 2001, I had the chance to casually meet John Swallow, but I definitely got to know his campaign staffers and those around him.  You see, campaign staffers know a lot more than people realize; but we are often sworn to secrecy if we want a job after.  However we are not immune to telling each other the dirt.  In a nut shell John Swallow is an ambitious person who would stop at nothing to get elected to office.  But as Oscar Wilde once said, "ambition is the last refuge of the failure."

His campaigns were always dirty, his staffers often talked about him as someone demanded to be pampered and treated like a king.  From nice cars, food and gifts.  It appears to me he has burned a lot of bridges and was limited in friends.

His press conference today was worthless and I am disappointed he couldn't even come forward.  If he really was innocent push forward and make a case, but instead he just keeps digging a hole deeper and deeper.  I love he said that because he stood strong through this he experienced the greatest blessings of his life.  Not sure how resigning shows that especially since he has tried to run for office so many times.  It is too bad, his ambition got the best of him and brought him down.

He said in the end today was a truly sad day because he was innocent, I disagree.

Substandard Candidates Should Get Less Money from the GOP

The AP had a big story today on GOP candidates getting less money from big donors because of substandard candidates losing in 2012.  (See Here)

Heading into next year's congressional elections the GOP is 6 senate seats away form a majority but spending is way down from the previous election.  With things so close to edge why isn't the GOP in full swing?  Typically a year out we would be attacking big time, especially with the issues regarding ObamaCare leaving Democrats vulnerable.

The GOP is going through a serious identity crises, with people all over the map from hard core tea-partiers to almost Democrats.  The GOP is trying hard to find a way to appeal to the masses and re-energize the party. Having been a moderate and willing to vote for whom ever is best for the job I can understand being underwhelmed by the current field of GOP candidates across the country.  So many are trying to be the voice of the GOP but I feel the GOP has splintered too much to even know what it is anymore.

Through this I have had to think are any of the Utah GOP legislators someone who represents my values and ideas 100%.  I would have to say no.  Are any of us on the GOP side, moderate or extremely right wing finding ourselves represented or have we settled for the next best thing since we are have been so against the Democrat way of view?

Well obviously a number of big players are feeling the same way and are holding the purse strings until a real candidate that can really strike chord with the GOP rises to the top.  But can the GOP even survive in its current form or will need it need to make a full swing one way or the other?

El Salvador Elections 2014

In the next few months the El Salvador elections will be heating up here in the country.  I was interested to see former El Salvador finance minister and World Bank managing director, Dr. Juan Jose Daboub, held a meeting in Washington D.C. to discuss what to expect. The discussion was posted on PanAmPost last week (See Here).

Essentially we have three candidates:

Salvador Sánchez Cerén, representing the current ruling party, the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN)

Norman Quijano, current mayor of San Salvador, representing the Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA)

Tony Saca, former president (2004-2009), representing the Unidad coalition.

Tony Saca has relatively no chance of winning this election and with new info regarding his previous administrations corruption issues with the Monsignor Romero Highway; So I feel the concerns are justified.  In fact his meager 15% of the vote is simply stealing votes from Quijano, which might be the whole reason he is in the election to begin because of his outage from the ARENA party.  But in a race between Ceren and Quijano the choice comes down to who will really make changes for the country.

Daboub says that there is no clear favorite but feels Quijano has a good chance of winning. His comment is a little concerning because of a recent poll showing Ceren finally gaining a two point lead over Quijano, as reported by the Prensa Graphica and reposted on Tim's El Salvador Blog (See Here).

In addition Daboub says the following about ARENA and Quijano:

Between ARENA and FMLN, Daboub said, ARENA would create a healthier environment for investment and be more likely to strengthen El Salvador’s judicial system. Governing El Salvador won’t be easy, he said, but ARENA gives him more optimism. This includes controlling the fiscal debt — almost double that of previous years — strengthening weak governmental institutions, and addressing security. Right now, he contends, innocent people must protect themselves by hiding inside their homes, while drug cartels and gangs have license to operate freely in certain areas and do whatever they want.

Interesting that Daboub is bold to call this out as to who should win, he later goes on to say what is most important is to have an individual who will work with the United States as a partner.  Having met Quijano I could see this as a potential; however in talking to some state department officials they have told me their concerns that neither candidate is likely to be a friend to United States.

What this country needs is a clear winner, no fraud and strong leadership to change things.  Quijano has shown the best potential of doing this as mayor of San Salvador.  From an investor stand point this country has grown more difficult and new laws have not been on the side of employer or investor.  Current president Mauricio Funes is not a solid FMLN party member and has been more of a moderate, but Sanchez Ceren is as far left as you can get.  In his new book "El Pais Que Quiero" he clearly defines a better democracy for El Salvador as country with strong redistribution of wealth and other socialistic ideas (Sanchez Ceren, 2012)  His ideas are popular because he spends more time in the poor regions of the country and is quick to show these photos in his book.

Elections are not the same as they are in the United States.  No nominating convention (they are chosen by party leadership), no real public debate like we see and the advertisement is about half of what we are used to.  Candidates will give away food and kiss babies.  The large turnout and voter pride will be a great post from another day.

Comments welcome.


Sanchez Ceren, S. (2012). El pais que quiero 2014:elecciones presidenciales en el salvador. (Primero ed., p. 24). Mexico : Ocean Sur.

From Where I Sit Returns

Nearly 2 years ago I put a serious pause on my blogging due to the fact my hard earned URL was stolen by a squatter while I was moving to Latin America.  Now thanks to some hard work and patience I was able to win back my URL and begin posting again.  I am excited to have my old website back; I had thought about moving to Wordpress, but I am too comfortable with Blogger these days...so we will see where this new adventure really takes me.


What all this being said, my blog before reflected mostly on a few random views and a lot about the politics of South Ogden City, now I feel it is more about what I see in the world and help me to make sense of it all.  I had the great opportunity to visit the country of Nicaragua last week.  I have spent nearly 5 years in El Salvador over the past 12 and this was my first time to another Central America Country.  I was shocked at the stark differences:

• nobody carried a gun
• everyone dropped their s
• cultural dances and traditions were stronger
• not nearly as developed or americanized

Yet with all the differences and lack of resources, these seemed to be doing better than El Salvador.  The economy was more stable, GDP more diverse, and every eager to make things happen to bring more investors to the country.  I didn't notice one of the more prevalent realities is the still lack of understanding of family and responsibility.  Over my years here in El Salvador I often run into young boys and girls who already have children at the age of 15 or younger.  My cab driver in Nicaragua was no exception to this rule.  31 years old, had 3 children the oldest was 17.  His 17 year old would have been born when he was 14 years old, and she already had two kids.  This made him a 31 year old grandfather.  Not married, but driving a taxi and proud of it.

Tough reality of what is going in the world, not just here in Latin America but in the world in general.