Magic meds

Two weeks are enough. I woke up with a sore throat, and two days later it became a fever and headache, whole-body aches, chills and shivers, coughing and runny nose. Sunday was the worst, but I stayed in bed the whole day, took a cocktail of non-prescriptions, called in sick on Monday, went back to work on Tuesday, 75 percent better. I started getting better, taking various types of medications and going through dozens of Kleenex. By Friday I was 100 percent. Most of the time it was just sniffling and weak coughing, but I relapsed last Monday, and each day it got a little worse, until yesterday during lunch, when my friend John said,

“Ok, I can’t handle watching you like this anymore. Just looking at you makes me sick.”

With about three pesos in my pocket, on the desperate day before payday, we went to the pharmacy and he picked me up some azitromicina, an effective, three-day antibiotic that helps with nasal and respiratory infections. The label says, “Sale of this medication requires a doctor’s prescription.” Pharmacists and clerks will sometimes give you a prescription med if you tell them your symptoms and say, “This is what I had last time and the doctor prescribed me those pills and they worked.”

Even if they won’t sell you meds, you can see a doctor; most pharmacies have a doctor on hand, and you make an appointment for 20 pesos ($1.50 usd) and he or she will give you a prescription. It’s a great system if you’re a little ill, and it beats having to pay $50 in the US just to walk into the hospital. On the other hand, it’s better to go more upscale if it’s serious, ‘cos Dr. Simi ain’t gonna do it for ya.

As for these antibiotics…so far, they're working. I took the first yesterday afternoon, so that means no drinking this weekend.

Even if you don’t have insurance in Mexico, medical treatment is reasonable. My three pills cost 110 pesos ($7.50 usd). A good deal, since they also treat other things (that I'm not worried about), like gonorrhea AND the clap.

Last names

Nearly all Mexicans keep both their mom’s and their dad’s surnames and drops the parents' maternal names. If Guadalupe Reyes Santiago and Jorge Perez Martin have a kid, he might be called Juan Perez Reyes. The kid takes the first last name of the father and the first last name of the mother, in that order. Nowadays, many people prefer to unofficially use just their paternal surname – Juan Perez.

For a North American living in Mexico, this causes all sorts of problems. I, like most Americans, have only one surname, but opening a bank account in December they –required- a maternal surname. The only place that name appears on any document of mine is my birth certificate, next to my mom’s name in parenthesis. And the other day I had to get a CURV, (like a social security number), but they didn’t include my maternal surname in the lettering…which won’t coincide with my RFC, another bureaucratic number. Let’s hope this doesn’t cause any problems and another 2.5 hour wait at the CURV office downtown.

Award-winning journalists

Congrats to Reporter staff! We picked up 17 Minnesota Newspaper Association Awards last month for our stories, photos, editing, advertising and design during 2007-08 (the year I was editor and part of Derek Wehrwein’s, the current). And who said all those 4 a.m. nights weren’t worth it!

We won in a variety of fields, and in some areas we totally dominated. Supershooter Ray Starin won four awards for photography, including best portfolio ("Look for Starin to make his way to a metro daily. This guy's photos rock!", the judges said), and versatile Derek got four as well, including best arts and entertainment reporting (among 42 entries!), two for illustration and column writing.

Nia Jonesz, news editor, won best feature writing (34 entries), and Rachel Heiderscheidt won best social issues story, while Brittney Hansen and Dan Myers scored wins for A&E and sports writing, respectively. Madeline Zabee and Vanessa McDougall won honors for advertisements.

I won my first award ever, first-place for best column writing (29 entries), for a story on why people should drive more slowly. Below's what the judges said, and here is the story:

"What a refreshing take on an environmental issue -- oil addiction -- that's complained about so often but seldom offering solutions. In a conversational yet authoritative voice, Pettitt offers the most common sense solution possible: drive slower. He doesn't make the reader feel guilty for driving too fast, but he gives enough facts and figures to make the environmental case for driving 55. I'm going to give it a try myself."

The best cell ever.

Only a few scratches on the screen after two years of heavy use.

I´ve had this monochrome Nokia 1112 for two years and its suffered plenty of shocks, drops, bumps, bashes, bruises, scratches, sand, humidity, heat, cold and even water. The reception is great, the sound quality excellent and best of all, the battery lasts at least a week without recharge, even during motor-mouth mode. It has Snake Xenia and Rapid Roll to keep me mildly entertained in the bus, subway or bathroom, and no thief would give it a second glance. It has a calculator, an alarm, 35 ringtones and a converter for those of us who are metric system-challenged. This is the perfect phone, and at $400 pesos (about $30 now), this prepaid Movistar gadget is a peso-strapped oficinista´s best friend.

The cost to use the phone in Mexico (even for Movistar, a much better deal than monopoly Telcel) is a topic for another post.

Radiohead´s Grammy wins

Radiohead picked up a few Grammys last night: Best Alternative Album for In Rainbows as well as the Best Boxed Set or Special Limited Edition. (They were also nominated for Best Album).

Radiohead surprised a lot of people when it released that album solely online in 2007. What´s more, it was pay-what-you-want; buyers paid what they felt like, $.01 or $100.

Here´s their "15 Step" performance with the University of Southern California marching band. Apart from Thom Yorke´s goofy dance at the beginning, this is a great rendition. As a former band geek, this would have been my dream come true.

Foot stuck

Getting on the Metrobus is pure luck. Sometimes it’s so crowded you have to wait until five busses pass, when you plunge in and pray that your ribs stay intact. Other times you’ll get a seat by the window.

Coming to work today, the bus was hope-your-ribs-stay-intact. More and more people got on at each stop, but at Felix Cuevas, half flooded out. Three guys were waiting to get on, and as a mountain of riders were pushing their way off, one of the doors closed while the other stayed open. The guys struggled to get on board, two making it in through the narrow space, while the third leaped on as the BEEEEP sound buzzed, indicating the doors were about to be closed. Most of the third guy got on, but his right foot got caught between the two doors as they closed. It was painful to watch, and a few people tried to free it, but no luck. Someone yelled for the bus driver to open the doors, but nothing. After thirty seconds of pulling, the guy finally got his foot free. Distressed and blushing, he brushed himself off, put his earbuds back in, picked up his backpack and grabbed hold of the bars, as the bus headed to the next station.

It’s still better than the subway.