Computer repair in Tijuana

So here’s what happened:  I got a crazy computer virus and everything, and I mean everything, pretty much shut down.  I called The Geek Squad and got two things: attitude and a quote of $59 just to have them look at my computer.  Screw you Geek Squad.  So instead, I put out a complaint on Twitter and found two guys, two strangers, I now consider friends.   The Beam and Ricardo Rosales, who’ve seemingly turned my computer into a super ninja-speed machine that’s 10 times better and faster than it was before the whole virus ordeal.  If you or anyone you know needs your computer fixed, don’t even think about going to the Geeks.  Hit up my buddies and (for a ridiculously affordable price) get things done right.

Happy 119th birthday, Tijuana

I was shocked when I first learned Tijuana was just over 100 years old. Usually, it takes centuries to earn the kind of jagged scars and deep wrinkles this border city boasts. But yes, Tijuana is exactly 119 years old and the Tijuana Tourism Board wants to celebrate the city’s short but hard life by inviting people to make a “video birthday card.” Pretty hip and cool if you ask me.

Shinichi Osawa in Tijuana

Friday night (June 27) there’s no place I’d rather be than at The Lobby in Tijuana to see the handsome electrotastic Shinichi Osawa.  Straight out of Tokyo, Japan, the man is a master of the hypnotic type of computer pop you’d be silly (or just dead inside) not to want to dance to.

The viral disconnect

“Invisible Princesses” by Kinsee Morlan

So, I’ve been disconnected from my blog for days now and I’m starting to experience major withdrawals. I suppose it’s my huge ego feeling like it’s alone and insignificant again.

Anyway, the reason for the unwanted disconnection from my beloved blog is a crazy computer virus I got late the other night when I was using MSN messenger to chat with my Mexican friends. Let me just get this out of the way before I dive in to explaining the virus — the phenomena that is MSN and other methods of online instant messaging is not strictly a Mexican thing; however, I never ever used it until I started meeting Mexican friends. I suppose the love of instant messaging is related to the Nextel radio. Jesus, I guess I’ll have to explain that, too — I never knew what a Nextel radio was until I moved to Tijuana. But everyone and their mother uses these things down here. The “beep, beep, beep” they make can be heard in taco stands, in line at grocery stores and virtually in the open streets. People hold them away from their ears and scream into them, then comes the next succession of beeps signaling they’re done saying what they needed to say.

If you hate PUC (Public Use of Cellphones), you’d absolutely die if you witnessed PUR (Public Use of Radios).

So the things are annoying and seemingly not as reliable as normal cellphones, which gets me to my point. Regular cellphones just aren’t as common as they are in the U.S. (because for some reason, most likely financial, the radio has become an accepted, however half-assed mode of communication), Mexican friends rely on the internet as one of the main (if not THE main, in some groups of friends) way to chat.

So there it is. My long drawn-out explanation as to why I was using messenger late the other night and why, when a friend of a friend of a friend from Mexico sent me a photo download I went ahead and clicked on it, instantaneously infecting my laptop (which is my best friend these days) with a virus that does many strange things, including not letting me get on certain websites; mainly and most importantly, Google, Myspace and almost every blog program in existence.

It’s been hell, my friends, but hopefully my new friends over on Twitter will come through for me and get my laptop running as good as new.

Oh, and don’t even ask me about the Twitter phenomena. You’ll likely get a dissertation in response. If you want to be my Twitter friend, however, click here.

Tijuana doctors taking things into their own hands

“Hand Up” by Kinsee Morlan

Recently, about two dozen doctors and surgeons in Tijuana have been kidnapped and held for ransom by lowlife thugs looking to make a quick and easy buck.

It was working until the kidnappers went too far by nabbing a top surgeon at one of Tijuana’s leading hospitals. The public outcry and doctor strikes that followed convinced the kidnappers to let the surgeon go unharmed and without a payment.

But the doctors aren’t done. This Saturday, Tijuana doctors are planning on wandering through the mass of cars crossing at San Ysidro and conducting surveys on the security situation in Tijuana.

“How safe do you feel? What could be done to improve the situation?” — these are the types of things they plan to ask. Then they’ll turn in the results to the local police.

How effective will the survey be?  Not very. But it’s highly symbolic and represents the way most people in Tijuana feel about the kidnapping and the ineffectiveness of Tijuana police.

Most people with money in this city (thank Jebus I’m not one of them) have been forced to flee to East Lake (aka “Chulajuana”), a rich suburb of Chula Vista. If you click on that last link, by the way, scroll down to “From the Center to the Suburbs,” a short little piece I wrote about a guy whose family left Tijuana after his brother was kidnapped. But even with the D’Volada (Mexico’s equivalent to Starbucks) that’s sprung up in East Lake’s center, I’m sure most of those rich Tijuanenses would love to be able to come home. Life on el otro lado, my friends, just ain’t the same.  If only Tijuana could shake this damn safety problem, it’d truly be the happiest place on earth.

Gas is cheaper in Tijuana

“Saints Everywhere” by Kinsee Morlan

That’s right: Gas is about 8 pesos a liter, which makes it approximately $3.30 a gallon. I’ve been going to Mexico with my parents since I was just a wee girl, and, if my memory of high gas prices in Mexico serves me correctly, I believe this is the first time this has ever happened.

And before you start blabbing on about how crappy Mexican gas is, give me a specific example of your car breaking down because of it. Until then, I will continue filling up in TJ because, aside from the cheaper prices, they have people who pump your gas for you and most of the time those people are wearing cute little uniforms that involve plastic red hats that make them look like Mario from Mario Brothers.

Stop this crap

“Beauty in Ruin” by Kinsee Morlan

A manifesto just came in from my friend, artist Luis Ituarte, who plans on sending it with signatures to the United Nations and other international human-rights organizations. If you want your name to appear on the document, email luis_ituarte@hotmail.com.

Click below to read the manifesto:

Tijuana bike ride 2

For this bike ride, I headed east across the Tijuana River and into the hills near Otay Mesa. I’m not sure what the colonia I found is called, but the people who live there hold an open-air market every Sunday.

My favorite moment? It’s a close tie between being honked at and called “wera” about seven times and seeing a little girl in the open market sticking both her hands deep inside a pile of uncooked pinto beans.

Click below for more photos:

It’s all about the people

“One of my Best Buds” by Kinsee Morlan

I just wanted to share this picture with everyone. Derrik Chinn is also in love with Tijuana. Ask him why and he’ll give you many reason, one of which is “TJ Green,” a very bright crisp green that appears on Tijuana municipal buses, laundry detergent, junk-food wrappers, a certain cocos restaurant in Playas and, of course, the almighty Mexican lime.

Read Derrik’s new blog here.

Living alone in Tijuana

“The Connection” by Kinsee Morlan

Late at night a few weeks ago, during when of my many trips to the refrigerator for a swig of cold water, I thought I saw a face staring into my little kitchen-door window. I did what any girl alone at night would do — froze stiff.

Unlike most Tijuana apartments, mine doesn’t boast the decorative steel bars over every window, so the imagery man I saw, if he had been real, could’ve easily smashed the glass and jumped on in. Compared to my last apartment, which was enclosed by a 10-foot steel gate followed by a locked gate at the stairs and a locked gate at my door, my new apartment is a big piece of Swiss cheese just waiting to be nibbled up by the roaming malvados. And it makes me a tad bit nervous.

But I refuse to be outright scared. I did, however, think about purchasing a bat. See, even I, who has had very little bad experiences in Tijuana over the past two years, am prone to thinking bad things about the county when I hear nothing but a stream of bad things coming from mainstream media.

Yesterday, while driving to the bank, I heard an NPR report about a fashion designer in Mexico City who merges couture with bullet-proof to make something akin to shotgun-safe suede jackets for rich people worried about getting caught in the crossfire between rival gangs.

And a few months before, I had to deal with friends and family members concerned over the travel warning to Mexico issued by the U.S. State Department:

Violent criminal activity fueled by a war between criminal organizations struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade continues along the U.S.-Mexico border. Attacks are aimed primarily at members of drug trafficking organizations, Mexican police forces, criminal justice officials, and journalists. However, foreign visitors and residents, including Americans, have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border region. In its effort to combat violence, the government of Mexico has deployed military troops in various parts of the country. U.S. citizens are urged to cooperate with official checkpoints when traveling on Mexican highways.

Mexico is hurting right now, it’s true. There’s definitely some unrest, but the answer isn’t fear or avoidance. The answer, mis buen amigos, isn’t something I or anyone else has figured out just yet.

The only thing I do is write and take pictures. Something you can do is come to Tijuana. Check out my art crew’s latest project and plan a trip in July if you’re looking for something different to do.