As the world says good bye to Microsoft’s classic financial software, many people have been looking around for good replacements. Of course, there are several commercial softwares out there to fill in the void, but the trend seems to really be in the web rather than your desktop. Three days ago, when I decided to begin a home budget in order to understand where the heck is my money going, I saw a few options. Mint and Quicken Online, both very resourceful and free for basic use,  impressed me but it soon became clear that they weren’t going to help me – turns out they aren’t very  suitable for Brazilians, as Quicken doesn’t even allow you to subscribe unless you have a valid zip-code (mine didn’t appear to be so).

I kept looking for free software that could help me do my home budgets, and finally I found GnuCash for windows. Yes, you heard me: for WINDOWS. I have been using windows again because many of the softwares I’m used to aren’t compatible to Linux.  Anyway, this is the third day I’ve been using it, and so far I’ve reached the conclusion that this is a powerful – but possibly cumbersome – tool. It is not really heavy on your computer; it’s your mind I’m talking about.

First of all, I couldn’t really do ANYTHING with it before I read a few pages of it’s documents. And now, three days since my first contact, I stand in awe of how amazing GnuCash is – although there’s a long way for it to go in my opinion. So, if you’re looking for a quick review of this software by someone who is a real beginner in the whole accounting thing, here is what I like and dislike about it:

The Good Side

The best thing about this software must be it’s capacity for detailed money tracking, which really fascinated my neurotic obsession for precision. You can be as detailed as you want – right now I can even track the cents in my wallet! Of course, you don’t have to go that deep and you might just use it to keep track of your bank account… but I really want to get detailed info about my expenses this month, because my clumsiness towards money has led me to a point where I feel like my money is disappearing from my pockets. The double-entry system surely is handy for keeping such precise records, as it forces you to always know where this money came from (your wallet, your paycheck, your checking account, etc…) and where it is going to (groceries, entertainment, etc…).

The Bad Side

The worse aspect of GnuCash must be it’s flattened learning curve. As I mentioned, you can’t really do anything unless you already have some notions of bookkeeping or read a few pages of the manual. Myself, I already managed to put most of my finances in order on the system, but I have two company loans – yes, I’m tracking my company there too! – that I haven’t been able to insert in the system, because I still haven’t a clear notion of how to register my debt and the monthly interest rates in there – apparently, GnuCash won’t just calculate it for me. In MS Money I would just insert my current debt – the amount I have yet to pay – and keep track of my montlhy payments. Yet, that wouldn’t give me such a clear picture of my balance, so I prefer to dive a little longer into the documents.

In sum, GnuCash is a wonderful application to keep your money in check. It doesn’t have the automated features of it’s web competitors and, although it may be considered user-friendly, it is not a software for the lazy as it does takes some effort to be properly learned. If you’re migrating from MS Money, don’t expect to tame GnuCash instantly, but do not give up and you may enjoy the benefits of detailed and precise bookkeeping.

By the way, if you’re a windows user -such as myself – and have no idea how to compile the software by yourself as the GnuCash website tells you to do, don’t panic! There are executable installation files around the web in download sites – I found mine at www.superdownloads.com.br .

How bad must things be when you see a third world freelancer complaining about the low payments being offered for online jobs? I’m just asking because it’s actually happening right now in front of your eyes. I am a Brazilian, and as such I am used to low wages, but even I am disgusted by the state of affairs in the web freelancing market.

When I first began to work through the oDesk system I was quite impressed. Finally I had a way to offer my skills world-wide and work under a flexible time schedule – an important thing when you’re trying to conciliate work and studies. I thought I’d take a couple of jobs for a low income, just to try the system out. After a while, though, better opportunities came my way in the real world – you know, the one that exists whenever we get a chance to look away from the screen -, so I decided to step away from the web market for a while. Now, I come back to oDesk to find a myriad of almost disrespectfull payments for jobs due to the competition against countries even poorer than my own. A result of economic crisis? Maybe… or maybe it’s a sign of the end of days. Filipinos, Indians and others, clutching themselves for the priviledge of working for three dollars an hour! I saw people accepting to work for as low as two dollars an hour in the website. My cleaning lady got payed more than that, and she doesn’t even know how to use a mouse! If things keep going this way, I might be looking for cleaning jobs around real soon.

Okay… So I went to bed and couldn’t sleep. Damn! But there’s a song that is so naively joyful that seems to always sooth my moods. It’s from “Legião Urbana” (translates as “Urban Legion”), a band that began as a punk rock silly things and grew up to make some of the most poetic lyrics of Brazilian music.

Although they’re noticeable for sadder songs, and also for political lyrics, this one makes me think of a mature composer thinking maybe about his kids, or about a school girlfriend. Well, who cares about what I think? Enjoy the lyrics (I hope my translation doesn’t completely ruined it) and make up your own mind.

Let’s make a movie

(Legião Urbana)

I found a small portrait of you

And could not believe

It was from so long ago.

A nice example of goodness and respect

That a true love is capable of.

“At my school there are no characters,

my school has real live people”!

Somebody talked about the end of the world

But the end has come and gone;

Let´s begin it all again:

One for all and all for one.

The system is evil, but my friends are alright

Living sucks, dieing is hard

To see you is a must,

Let’s go and shoot a movie.

And nowadays, what’s the way to say “I love you”?

No way for this “I’m lonely” stuff!

We’re so much more than that;

We’re penguins, we’re dolphins,

Men, mermaids and humming-birds,

Lion, lioness and seal.

I need, I want to have tenderness, freedom and respect,

Enough with oppression!

I want to live my life in peace.

I want a million friends,

I want a million brothers.

It must be silly of me,

But the only way I still can

Imagine my own life

Is to look at it like a musical from the 30’s

And in the middle of a depression,

See you and have peace and fantasy.

And nowadays, what’s the way to say “I love you”?

And nowadays, what’s the way to say “I love you”?

And nowadays, let’s shoot our own movie.

I love you;

I love you;

I love you…

As for myself, I’m going for a hot bath after this, and hopefully have a silly dream about sunshine and butterflies.

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Just like many windows users, it’s been a while since I’ve got the feeling that there’s something wrong with my computer. Weird things have been happening here, and its almost like the PC is haunted; it’s not that it crashes, but it has disconfigured my cd burner, the internet becomes incredibly slow from time to time and many of my microsoft products have been… well, misbehaving. Also as any windows user, I know this is a sign that it’s time to reformat the disk-which really has to be done periodically when your computer runs on windows. The prices practiced by Microsoft in Brazil are simply absurd, and I haven’t been able to update myself to the vista yet. With all this in mind, pissed the hell out with my PC, I started shopping around the internet for a user-friendly Linux version.

The fact that I find the ideals behind the open-source development higly noble was never really enough to drive me into changing to Linux. Every single computer expert I’ve ever met claimed that Linux is by far a better and safer system to use, and I actually experienced using the Ubuntu for a while because it was running on the machines of my university labs. Yet, I never used it for nothing more complicated than opening documents, editing texts and such. On the other hand, I’ve been a windows user since childhood, and I already know how to do mostly anything a laymen may need in there, and I was afraid to make the change and suddenly become unable to find my damn files again – like it happened on the first times I used Ubuntu, due to it’s different directory structure.

Now, I’ve finally grown some guts to put my computing were my ideals are. On a user-friendly system such as Ubuntu, how hard can it really be to become proficient? Certainly, it does not compares to how hard it was to it’s developers to bring this beautiful software up, completely free for our benefit. It really moves me to know that there are people out there working on a product that actually makes possible for poor countries like mine to have running computers on schools and houses, not hostages to the good wills of the big paid companies. The generosity of these people astonish me, almost as much as their competence in programing.

Since I can’t burn my own CDs now, and since my internet connection is rather slow, I ordered an Ubuntu CD on the internet last night. It will be sent to my very home, free of charge, thanks to the support and sponsoring provided by Canonical. To tell the truth, it’s been a while since I first thought of making that order, but it felt abusive to let them press the CD and pay it’s posting since they are already giving the software free for download at the site. Kinda got my conscience heavy, but with all the problems I’m experiencing with my windows, and fearing it’s “suckability” (not instability, because that could be considered defamation) may keep threatening my activities. Plus, I’m pretty traumatized about the time I lost over 50 pages of reports due to one of these “weird things” going on here.

Mr Gates… count me out!

Erm… Ok, maybe I’ve just had a busy day and didn’t spare the time to write a proper post. But, what the hell… I’m going to hide my lack of efficiency as a writer behind a fake political action supporting the American writer’s strike. This writer is on strike, baby! No post tonight!

Like me, millions of people around the globe choose the January 1st to quit smoking; although it’s never really too easy, there are a few things you can do to ensure success this time around. Why are my tips worth the reading? well… here’s a little story for you (rushed readers can just skip it):

I started to smoke when I was 9 years old (holly cow!). It started with like two packs a week, as I had to hide from my parents to do so, and the amount slowly grew until there was no way to really hide it anymore. At eleven I was already a full-fledged smoker, with a little less than a pack a day. I still hid it from my father for a while, since he worked long hours, leaving home before I wake up and coming back just to go straight to bed at night. I tried to quit when I was thirteen, and kinda succeeded in going back to those mere two packs a week for a while, but it didn’t last long. By fourteen I went from the light cigs to the real nasty ones (like there’s any which’s not). In my school, of course, smoking was absolutely forbidden… I had quite a number of meetings with the principal because of that. I began to really get scared on the way I couldn’t keep myself from smoking on the intervals and how I didn’t even feel the smoke on my throat anymore, although I was smoking the most spicy brand I knew. That’s when I quited, and I stood clean until my late nineteens!

When I made it into college, I quickly got myself into a variety of extra-curricular activities and I had no time for working-out – which, really, is the only healthy way I know for dealing with stress. I started getting weight from overeating, turning food into a guilty indulgence to myself, and I had to control that too. So, can’t work-out, can’t over-eat… what alternative did I know from a breakdown? Cigarettes!

Now that conditions are favorable again, I’m on summer vacations and have got all the support I need, non-smokers world, here I come!

So, here’s how I did it the first time:

1- Professional help! – Nothing can make it easier… really, quit smoking tips are useful, but having a professional to back it up is the very ideal way. On that time I asked for a friend who’s a neurologist for helping me up. He prescribed an antidepressant and recommended a cognitive-behavioral therapist – which, to be sincere, I never went to. Still, now that I’m a student on the matter, that kind of therapy is indeed very effective for addiction treatments. The combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and drugs is, as far as I have learned, the very best way to quit these damn things.

2- Conditioning – This tip is pretty much covered by the therapist I recommended above. He’ll give you the real good tips on how to do this. Yet, I’m posting here as a mere quitter myself, and here’s how I applied this principle. It’s as simple as this:

2.1- Reward yourself! Spent the whole day without smoking? Hell! That’s an achievement worth celebrating! Do something about it. Give yourself a chocolate bar, a beer -given your not addicted to that too, of course- , a tap on your own shoulder, whatever works for you! Glue a damn star to your forehead if you want to! You did it! You deserve it! … What, a whole week without smoking? Wow! You’re the man! Tell that to the girl next to you on the bus! She’s bound to fall for a guy that bold! Tell mom and dad! Tell your fucking dog!!! You’re the king of the world! Boost your self-efficacy! Know that you can do it!

2.2- Pavlovian conditioning (?) – Erm… this isn’t the best tip ever, and no respectable professional would ever consider talking about it with you. The fact is, the instrumental rewards above are pretty enough, and, to be honest, being harsh on yourself can really, and I strongly emphasize this, it can really really really really really backfire. Just smoked a cig? Whatever, just don’t glue the damn star tonight. Don’t beat yourself up on it, guilt will only work against you. The only reason I’m posting this here is because I used this principle back then, and I strongly feel it helped. All I did was the popular technique of keeping a rubber band on my wrist, and, every time I felt the cravings I’d pull it as far as it went and… SLAP! I could write a whole dictionary with all the brand-new curse words I invented doing this, but, what the hell! It works for lab rats, works for me too! Eventually the cravings pretty much disappear.

3- Fell of the wagon? - Awwww, god! I’m no longer king of the world? Course you are! You just aren’t superman! Anyone who can’t fly is bound to trip on their own feet from time to time. Last year I stumbled on a rock amidst the campus and did some acrobatics before I landed on my ass. Pulled myself up, had a laugh along with the people around, and kept going on my way. You know where you’re going, right? You’re going to a smoke-free life and you have a good idea of all the good things that wait for you there. Are you really willing to stay sitting on the ground at the smokers area until your heart goes boom, just to save yourself the effort of getting up? Is it really that humiliating? Come on! It was just a cig; ok, maybe it was a whole pack… whatever. It’s not like all the effort you’ve put to it wasn’t worth. The wagon brought you a long way, and there’s another one coming. Hop in! Welcome back on our journey!

4- Family and Friends - Every article I’ve read on addiction recommends asking people for support. I don’t know about your family and friends, but in my case I’ll just skip this one (again). The thing is, the fact that someone cares about you doesn’t mean that he or she knows how to help. It would be helpful, for example, if they were to encourage you while you’re on abstinence, compliment you for your effort and such. The fact is, as long as you’re holding on they will assume it’s all ok. Most people just don’t have the habit of acting reassuringly when you’re ok; on the other hand, since you asked them for their support, they´ll feel free to show up at your door with stones on their hands every time they learn you might be about to indulge. That’s surely not what you need, and people who make you feel guilty about a moment of weakness are not the best advisers. If you trust your folks to be a positive help, please, go on. Myself… I trust my rubber band better!

5- Be aware of all aspects of your addiction – The chemical addiction is definitely the hard part, but it’s not the only one. For years after I quited, in many occasions I’d get distracted and suddenly realize I’ve put a pen between my lips. Chewing gum became an obsession, and my dentist was well satisfied with the extra income I provided. The thing is, after years lighting cigarettes, smoking is not only a chemical addiction, but also a strong bad-habit. Ever met someone trying to stop biting their nails?

In my case, there was also the transgression factor. Even after I quited smoking, I was still a regular on our hidden smoking spots around the school. I kept being taken to the principal every time a teacher caught us there, because docents just couldn’t believe I was there and, yet, not smoking. Also, my parents had given up on forcing me to quit by the time I was 15, so it wasn’t much of a transgression at home anymore. I bet my left arm that, in case they had acted any other way, I’d never have had the space I needed to come to my own decision that I wanted to quit. Anyway, a good therapist will guide you through your own issues… just don’t underestimate these non-chemical factors, or they might get you by surprise.

6- know your triggers- There are things in our environment that are really able to boost our cravings. Know which are the ones that trigger you, and be aware of them. Some you might even be able to avoid, but many you’ll just have to deal with. Myself, I have strong cravings after a cup of coffee, after eating meals and (oh god, how cliché) after sex. You can be sure I’m not avoid any of those things! Ask for your professional to teach you how to properly deal with the triggers. I, once again, will appeal to the rubber. By this time next week, if I’m lucky, my wrist will be the size of an orange!

7- Enjoy the life as a non-smoker! - After a couple of weeks without smoking, take a few minutes regularly to point out to yourself all the advantages you’ve already acquired, and all the ones that are yet to come. Your partner no longer says you taste like an ashtray? Yay! If you’re single, just go out and try hooking up with a smoker… you immediately understand how you managed to get 90% of your turn-downs. Notice how your food now actually has a taste other than salt and pepper; notice how you feel more energetic along the day. You can run a little and not feel like you’re about to spit your heart out! If you start exercising, you’ll see the improvement on a daily basis, and, if you already do exercise, you will clearly understand why everybody else in the academy seems to enjoy it more than you did!

Just as a last tip, remember: improvise! Nobody knows what works best for you other than yourself. Don’t stick blindly to pre-made tip-lists like this one. Have an Idea that works for you and it’s not on this list? then use it! And, of course, share with us. I can really use it on my own project, and, by the way, a few encouraging comments on this post wouldn’t hurt.

Great new year, ladies and gentleman!!! I wish you all success and prosperity in every single project you set your minds to!

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Atheist parents often have to deal with the “spiritual” inclinations of their kids. In many online atheist communities these matters often pop up on discussion. Should I talk to my kids about it? Should I contradict my son’s teachers and little friends by telling him that there’s no such thing as a god?

You see, young children have a hard time trying to understand abstract concepts such as moral values, and we have a hard time trying to teach them; Jean Piaget’s work points that out for us, but here I’m gonna make a wild extrapolation:Fable characters, such as Santa, the easter bunny and god itself, serve both the purpose of giving shape to those concepts and of providing reassurance to the child. So, Santa -for example – is that kind, paternal adult ruler, who will watch over your behavior and reward accordingly and, from that point of view. on the same principle, God is the all-seeing father, who controls the world; It’s good to know that there’s someone there to make sure that the moon won’t fall down and that Billy, the kid who stole my toy, will go to hell! If he wasn’t there, the world would be a scary, random place! Adults can deal with randomness – not always sanely -, but children need that safety-net, and it’s insensitive to take that away.

Taking that in consideration, what I do with my little brother is to instigate his curiosity and teach him how to learn rather than teaching him things. You can’t (and shouldn’t) prevent him from learning the many misconceptions that he’ll hear from other sources, but you can – and remember, always carefully – instruct him into thinking critically.

By the way, a little tip: Since the first time we spoke of Christmas I made sure to let my brother know that god also lives in the north pole along with Santa and the easter bunny. One of the reasons I think the belief in god outlives the belief in Santa is that it’s a much more abstract character – you know, he’s everywhere but nowhere at the same time, he is good but can drawn Egyptian pharaohs and all. So I try to ground that concept, and, hopefully, when the day comes that the kid realizes that Santa was a fantasy, he’ll also bury the other ones.

PS: I just hope the poles won’t melt before that…

Last night I had an splendid conversation with a friend who is an odontology student. Going on and on about the tooth paste of choice and the effectiveness of several other health products, I realized I’m probably one of the very few people who still dares to be skeptical about those things.

Not that I think these products don’t work. It’s just that, in most cases, they completely unnecessary. And don’t even get me started on the pseudo-scientific advertising! I am talking about real pharmaceutical products, the ones that are actually supposed to work. My problem with those products rests on the fact that they’re advertised to the general public using scientific verbose in order to justify they’re very high prices, and, nonetheless, are just as effective (if not less) as a simple glass of water.

Why, oh why would you pay thirty dollars on a daily cream to hydrate your skin! What the hell do you think hydration is?! It’s what happens when you drink water! Baby, quit smoking, ingest appropriate amounts of salts (through balanced meals) and you’ll have that gorgeous Hollywood star skin! Keep your creams for when they’re actually needed, like after a long sun-bathing.

Your expensive toothpaste keeps your teeth white and shiny? So does mine – which comes from the bottom shelf! Toothpastes are basically abrasive substances that are meant to help your brush in removing residues of food from your beautiful whities. Yes, they add a few other substances to enhance whitening and resistance to your teeth, but all that is also done on the cheap ones. Why is your toothpaste so much more expensive than mine? Probably because of brand. Of course, there are those which are supplemented with drugs that are meant for purposes other than prevent cavities and keep a clean and white smile on your face. Your dentist will usually prescribe them if he sees need for it. If he doesn’t, why the hell would you buy them?

Yet, my favorite branding abuse has got to be the omega-3 pills. Yes, Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid, of which we tend to consume much (I mean, MUCH) less than we should. News about the great effects of it’s adequate ingestion are all over the place nowadays, as it seems to strongly benefit different aspects of our health. Many studies show it can have an important role in controlling depression, bipolar disorders and even Alzheimer’s! Yay! I’m 100% pro omega-3 supplements! Lets run to the drugstore and buy a lot of these expensive little pills (ironic smirk)! For Christ sake, those pills are filled with nothing more glamorous than fish oil! You can buy a gallon of it with the bucks you’d spend on the pills!

About six years ago, a popular brand of shampoos in Brazil began to advertise their brand new line featuring DNA from certain vegetables. Shortly after that, my school invited renowned genetics professor Renato Zamora Flores to give a lecture on critical thinking. In this occasion, he asked the class to raise their hands if they had bought that shampoo; a few hands poped-up all over the room… he grabs his hair in anger and yell: “what the hell did you expect it to do??? Grow flowers in your hair?!!”.

Bottom line is, ladies and gentleman: Don’t be fooled by the long difficult words on the ads hanging at the drugstore. I swear to you, those words aren’t magical, and just because the guy writing the ads read a scientific thesaurus, it doesn’t mean they aren’t selling bullshit! Instead of buying five different creams, expensive drugs and supplements, give yourself a healthy lifestyle, good habits, and keep your health in check with the pros… if you need anything else, they’ll let you know.

As usual, when the new-year is close at hand articles about “how to reach you goals” are all over the place. Every blog, flog, news site, papers, magazines, etc. have something to say about the subject. Earlier today I read a list of rules on how to achieve your objectives in the new year, and I though I should get a list like that on my blog, so I started to think about who would be the ideal expert on success from who I could get ideas to help you. Well… Everyone knows I’m usually not very sympathetic to ancient techniques, because I believe that we live on an age where absolutely everything that was ever done before has already been improved and made more efficient. On the other hand, I couldn’t let myself do just what everybody else is doing, talking about modern “eyes on the prize” techniques. Instead, I decided to take my advice from a legend: Mr. Myamoto Musashi.

Who was Musashi, and what does he knows about success? Well… imagine this: you are son to an renowned “rural fidalgue” japanese family, born amidst the Tokugawa period. During a rough childhood, your parents instruct you in the martial arts in a very… erm… intense way (it’s said that Musashi’s father threw knives at him when he missed a kata). At nine years old, you become an orphan, and is raised by your uncle – a priest. Rebellious as a teenager, your only goal in life is to follow the Bushido and become the greatest warrior that could ever be; many samurais are in “pilgrimage” all over japan searching for lessons and challenges through which they can gather fame in order to become valuable assets to the warlords, and, when you’re just thirteen years old, you manage to defeat one such samurai using not more than a chunk of wood. A while after, you too take on your own pilgrimage, searching for valuable duels all over the country. It’s a profession where the only alternative to victory is death! Yet, somehow, you outlive all expectations and, after over sixty duels (and a few participations in war fields), you are still alive! and more, you’ve granted yourself enough reputation to be desired as a master by the richest “lords” around. At age 59, astonished for having lived so long and maybe feeling that death is on it’s way, you look back at your life, all the wars, all the reckless duels (sometimes with more than one opponent at a time), and all the privileges you’ve managed to gather. With all this in mind, you say “Holly cow!!! How did I do that?!”, and you retire into a cave to try and answer that question.

So, there! The guy knows about success. The book that came from those years in the cave speak mostly of kendo and his sword techniques, but, also, of principles of success that can be applied in the lives of any one. It is the book that many great executives keep on their bedside, and, of course, as any book that executives actually read (sorry folks, just a joke), it presents a small list of practical rules – not that practical, really, since they demand a whole lot of discipline, but, well… it’s a list of rules.

1- Do not think dishonestly.

2- The way is in training.

3- Become acquainted with every art.

4- Know the ways of all professions.

5- Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.

6- Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything.

7- Perceive those things which cannot be seen.

8- Pay attention even to trifles.

9- Do nothing which is of no use.

Can you follow those advices? I even try, but I’m doing a lousy job. Anyway, it’s at least worth to know they’re there.

The beginning of a new year is always a good time to retrace your goals and get them back on their feet. Some say that it’s just a note on the calendar, but that, in my view, is an important underestimation of the symbolic power of the date. At January 1st, a whole cycle announces itself on our lives; the parties, the celebrations, the superstitions, they’re all there, in all their power, influencing our ways to see ourselves and the universe around us.

You think it is I who overestimate the matter? maybe, as a scientist-wannabe, I should be more careful about the words above. But, then again, think about the placebo effect; in most double-blind tests, about 20% of the patients who are given the sugar pills instead of the real drug actually experience improvement. Also, it seems that these 20% are the ones who tend to believe they were given the real medication. So, there! That’s what I mean when I mention the power of symbols. Instead of a pill that makes you believe you’re being cured, the new years eve is all about “rituals” that reinforce our beliefs on the matters of luck, will-power and success.

So, there you have it. That was a sum of the reasons why I’m choosing the new-year’s eve for lighting up my (hopefully) last cigarette- Unfortunately, I’m not a superstitious fellow. I’m also looking forward to my return to the college life – a bit reluctant, I admit (see the why on my “about” page) – as a breath of fresh air when it comes to intellectual activities since I’ve spent the last two years studying only the subject of one certain exam.

So… stumbled on this little article? Let us know what are your new-year’s resolutions, and a bit on how you plan to achieve them… it’ll be, at least, a nice exercise!