Keep Calm, 'Cause It's My Birthday!

Once again it's that tiME of the year when people coME together to celebrate in brotherhood and share good will with all of Me. 'Cause Let's be clear, it's all about Me.

That's why I registered with about 65 websites that have automatic birthday MEssages. Fills My Inbox with birthday cheer like an avalanche of candy makes Halloween. All those MEssages simply reinforce the notion that, hey, the focus is on Me. And no, I don't read any of the other crap they send Me the rest of the year.

Now unlike most of you, I don't limit My Birthday celebration to such a blink-of-tiME as a MEre "day." Nuh-uh. I crank up the celebrating in early December and let it build moMEntum with judicious prodding in February, April, June and August. It then hits high gear in September and takes off as "Birthday Bash" mode after Mrs. Jenius ignores hers on October 13th. So yeah, it's a big deal, year-round.

I tell strangers when My Birthday is. Makes them pause, and about half smile. That's okay: the half that doesn't smile isn't invited to the wrap party in July. Their loss.

I've gotten free stuff by wearing My "Birthday Boy" blue ribbon, mostly coffee. Best part: even when I 'fess up and say it isn't My Birthday, most of the time I still get free coffee. I say it's 'cause the party is hearty, but Mrs. Jenius says it's 'cause people want to get rid of weirdos quietly. Huh.

As for why the "Keep Calm" part, it ain't about the posters, despite the scattered evidence here. It's more about My Attitude over the past few months. If I were to give it a recipe I'd say it's 2 parts frustration, 3 parts disgust, one part concern, 3 parts anger and one part hope. And that's the problem right there, Kemosabe: just one part hope. Used to be more. Ain't that much now.

At times I focus on the "one part concern," 'cause it isn't indifference. If it were, We wouldn't be having this discussion and I could spend more tiME yakking about My Birthday proper. But the feeling remains, and though feelings are not facts, feelings are real and reality in My Mind is that My Island is in danger.

But hey! It's My Birthday, as you may have noticed, and what's the point of partying if We're going to harsh buzzes with reality! Forget about that! Let's! Party!

And yet... I have to remind Myself to stay the course, to keep looking for the bright side. Used to be automatic; it isn't now.

I catch Myself shrugging at things that used to cause outrage. I then kick the outrage lever to make sure I don't fall into indifference. Used to be automatic.

'Cause I've lived in 20+ places in My Life, I don't attach too much MEaning to any one of them. Except My Island. Until I wrote that, I hadn't realized that to feel the same way took an effort. Used to be...you know.

So yeah, it's My Birthday! Capitalized like every holiday should, except for Arbor Day. So raise a cheer, to Me if you feel so inclined (and thank you!), but raise a cheer to yourself, to your loved ones and to everything you care about.

Yeah, My Brethren, things here are tough, but Keep Calm and celebrate My Birthday, Yours, and Everyone else's, as well. But in all that celebratin', Let's not forget that things are tough, and that they won't get better by partying on and letting them continue to slide.

There isn't that much farther they can go, MEaning We've pretty much hit rock bottom.

Keep Calm. It's My Birthday!

And let's keep working on making My Next Birthday even better.

Please.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

Pick A Problem, Any Problem

Woke up a little earlier than usual and sat on the balcony. I'd made coffee and while I waited for it to cool, I took in the unfamiliar scene of My Street coming to life just past dawn.

I thought about health centers seeking federal funds and how to expand their reach to under-served communities, a task made more problematic by the lack of doctors and nurses. According to a 2013 study, We have 18% fewer doctors for every 10,000 people than We did in 2005.

I thought about the declining performance of Our public schools and how several efforts were being made to expand classroom offerings to include art, music, theater and dance. The main obstacle was, as ever, the Department of (Mis)Education, mummified in stupidity and centralized to the point of jamming its own moronic head up its own fetid cloaca.

I sipped some coffee.

A local agricultural cooperative was trying to come up with a revenue stream that could sustain small farm and ranch efforts. Their primary focus was federal funds, but the bureaucracy to qualify for proper registrations was apparently going to take another 4-8 months, extending the effort into its second year. The members, down to 17 from a high of 39, were close to letting the whole thing fade away. Like the other four cooperatives did, all of them overwhelmed by red tape measured in miles and months rather than pixels and minutes.

More coffee.

Should I blog about Our misbegotten excuse for an economy? Political claptrap? The continued collapse of what passes for journalism on My Island? The impending meltdown of Our infrastructure?

Finished the coffee. Sat for a few minutes, with other problems flitting in and out of the picture I was trying to make sense of. The minutes became longer as the list grew.

Can't solve them all, or even most of them. Not by Myself.

Ann Marie Sastry

So I picked one.

Got to work.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll sleep late.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Observations On 3 Men I See Almost Every Day

There are three men I see almost every day. One of them, the one I encounter most often, spends 9-14 hours a day at the light near McDonald's, asking for money. He is invariably polite, fairly well-dressed in skateboarder faux-chic and offers quick advice, such as "Drive calmly" and "See the good around you." He is an admitted drug addict, looks the part, and I suspect he's using again.

The second sits on steps outside a couple of local stores night after night and aggressively asks for a quarter or half a dollar. He acts churlish if you give him a soft answer. There are no needle tracks on his arms, he seems well-fed and healthy, his eyes and skin are clear. If prompted to speak, he will quickly shift from a hard tone to a wheedling nasal whine, the proto-bully quickly morphing into victim mode. He once tried to block My path to re-ask for a dollar. I was carrying several small bags after leaving the drug store and maybe based on that, he made a move at Me. I dropped the bags and took a step forward. His eyes locked with Mine and he took off, nearly getting creamed by a passing car. He doesn't talk to Me anymore.

The third appears at the light where Our local two large supermarkets intersect with a hardware store. He is very quiet, rarely speaking. Tall, he looks like a junior college shooting guard. He wears a cap and fairly fashionable sneakers. He makes eye contact with about half the people in cars, but never reacts when he gets ignored or turned down. He'll spend 2-3 hours a day at that, sometimes skipping a day, but usually not more than 2 in a row.

I'm sure the first one, call him Juan, is essentially homeless. However, he bathes twice a day, using a friend's house for that. The second guy, call him Edward, is not homeless, but he pretends to be. He has keys in his pocket and I once saw him use one of them to enter a local apartment building. The third guy, call him Luis, is not homeless. He lives across from the local gun range, the one that punctuates My days with distant pop-pop-pop or rattatatatat sounds from morning to night.

Are they lazy? Not really. They seem to work hard for their money, to almost-quote a disco goddess. Juan sometimes sells produce at "his" light, or hands out flyers, scrupulously limiting the handouts to one per person. Edward acts like work is punishment. Luis seems indifferent to work or anything other than his own thoughts.

Are they addicts? Juan was and probably has fallen back into that lifestyle. (Yes, it is a lifestyle, based on choice. Not a good one, but a choice nonetheless.) Edward and Luis don't fit the profile, at least physically. I'd say the odds are against either one being addicted to illegal drugs.

Are they useless? Most of the arguments against helping the homeless or those begging at large are based on (a) they deserve their situation, (b) they could get out of it if they wanted to and (c) they are simply parasites seeking more to freeload on. All three arguments are wrong, as most blanket statements tend to be.

No one "deserves" anything: it is either earned or imposed. Does a person "deserve" cancer, even if they smoke 2 packs a day? Actions and decisions have consequences, and many of them are accidental. Yes, you are more likely to end up homeless if you are an addict, but did the person "deserve" to be an addict?

The problem with "deserve" is that it implies a direct causal relationship where none might exist. Most people who end up homeless do so from events far beyond their control, so no, they didn't generally "deserve' it.

Unless they've been out there, living on the streets, a person will have no idea how hard it is to get out of that situation. When survival becomes the primary daily activity, how and where to get food, water, shelter and comfort (if possible), notions of "upward progress" are not options. Even if you wanted to climb out of that abyss and live a "normal" life, you would find it hard to take care of yourself, search for a job, rent an apartment or do any of the myriad things a person takes for granted when survival is not an immediate concern.

As for parasites, there is a large degree of that in folks who panhandle and beg. But job and work options are often denied to people who most need it because they look slovenly (having no place for shelter and to bathe does have its consequences),.have no permanent address or valid I.D. and have difficulty adhering to a schedule since, you know, surviving on the streets is not exactly subject to workshift patterns.

Does this excuse someone like Edward? Hell no. He's a punk with the chutzpah to con money out of people rather than making a living. I don't know about Luis, but I know Juan will work if you ask him to. I've seen it several times and he delivers to the best of his ability every time. But he won't accept being treated like a bum. He was selling newspapers for two weeks and the agent tried to keep the gas money Juan earned  (about $22 all told) because, of course, Juan doesn't own a car. So Juan quit.

If you react like Juan should have kept his trap shut and thus keep his menial job, you are a blithering idiot. Would you have taken that "deal"? Of course not. You won't let someone brazenly steal your money like that. And if you say "Yes, I would have," you are both a blithering idiot and a liar.

Our problem with the homeless, the panhandlers and the beggars is not them: it's Us. We act like their situation is a personal failing when in fact, it is Our collective failure as a society. We have failed to provide enough opportunities, enough support, for everyone to find their path to stability.

Can We "save" everyone? Hell no. Some people are self-destructive and there's nothing We can do to stop someone who simply insists on wrecking their life with alcohol (by far the most common addiction), drugs, violence, video games or any other of the thousands of potential obsessions humans can focus on.

But We can help more of Us by developing the kind of society that fosters self-growth, self-motivation and rewards honest effort fairly. Yes, I know I'm asking for My Island to change almost exponentially, but asking for less is part of the problem: We ask for less because We really don't think We deserve more.

That sucks.

As for what I'll do with the three guys I've mentioned: I'll still give Juan rides to and from his friend's house when the opportunity arises and maybe buy him a burger on the days he's selling produce; I'll wat to see of Edward is anything but a punk, and I'll watch Luis a couple of times to see what his deal is.

Can I help more than I am doing now? Certainly. Do I want to? Depends on what's needed and how much effort I have to make to pitch in and lend a hand. No one can truly help another if that help exceeds the capacity for helping. In other words, if it doesn't cost Me much, I'll make the effort.

It won't be enough, I know, but at least it's honest.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Yes!! It's that glorious tiME of the year (roughly a 9.4-month period) that culminates in...wait for it...MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Feel free to applaud. Hoist a drink. Dance a jig. Freedom of expression rules here.

For the past 9 years, I've been celebrating MY BIRTHDAY as part of My Jenius utterings. This year has been different. I only recently got back into this groove, or actually, a new groove. We'll see how far this takes Me in terms of accomplishing soME things I've been pondering for a while.

Yes, "utterings" is a word.

I'm keenly interested in the Center for New Economy's "The Mysteries of Your Electric Bill" campaign. Our local power company is a monopoly, run by cronyism, charlatans and crooks, and it's way past tiME that soMEone jabbed a pointy two-by-four into its eye.

Now for those of you who have followed My trajectory here, you know I'm not a fan of the CNE. I considered them a cynical useless piece of Establishment fluff with the mental acuity of toejam. I may have been wrong, or more accurately, they may be evolving into a group that can prove Me wrong. If they do, I'll take partial credit for the upgrade.

In a recent developMEnt, I have a friend, a brother actually, who is on the opposite side of the world right now. He is working, aiming at completing a task that few could hope to even imagine doing. I haven't seen him in over two years and I hope that absence ends soon.

My Son continues to gain My admiration simply by being a more well-rounded person at 13 than I was at 31. And I don't think it's a coincidence that I have had only a tiny handful of "ugh" days since I met Mrs. Jenius seven years ago. For a person who had almost three years of continuous "ugh" days, the difference is truly life-changing.

Unlike other years, this version of MY BIRTHDAY has a greater sense of gratitude in it. Life isn't perfect, it never will be, and though there are several things I yearn to fix (mainly health issues faced by wonderful friends), I can accept that I have limitations. Not easily, but acceptance it is.

And as for the problems faced by My Island, I'm no longer consuMEd by anger, spiking into occasional rage. There's a sense that a change is coming, not because We willed it into being, but because the system is so befouled, so broken, that a change will happen anyway. A rotting log will eventually collapse under its own devastated weight. (Feel free to add imagery of creepy-crawlies and the appropriate MEtaphor related to the Fools who hollow out Our Island, skittering in darkness.)

In a little while, I'll pin My "BIRTHDAY BOY" blue ribbon on and take a couple of hours to sit soMEwhere and continue writing. (I'm doing NaNoWriMo again.) Maybe I'll get free coffee again. (It worked in March. And June. And September.)

Yeah, it's MY BIRTHDAY!!! Pretty much all year long.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Gil The Jenius: Solving Puerto Rico

Aside from the fact that I just found out about Tribuna Puerto Rico, an online digital newspaper that makes Me want to dance,  I have an announcement:

The Jenius is launching a vidcast, titled "Solving Puerto Rico."

Beginning next week, I'll be talking with folks about all kinds of subjects, from education to economics, technology to security, politics to filmmaking, all with an eye towards offering solutions that can help Puerto Rico move forward.

Being The Jenius, there's a need to clarify what this vidcast will be. After all, a quick glance through the archives would indicate that engaging with Me might be akin to a wrestling match. That is not what Solving Puerto Rico is about.

* It is not about arguing with anyone: it is about exploring ideas.

* On that basis, I don't have to agree with the idea. It might even be better if I don't, for that may help push the idea into new, unintended arenas.

* It isn't about making money. I don't derive a cent from this blog and that will continue. (Heck, Mrs. Jenius gets 98% of everything I make anyway, so it's not like I'm losing a ton of money.)

* It is about presenting the conversations in a public forum. The vidcasts will be made using Google Hangouts, and uploaded to YouTube.

* Only two questions will be pre-arranged. The first: What do you think will the "tipping point" for this solution? The second: Who would you recommend for this vidcast?

Aside from the above, the conversations will take about 15-20 minutes, and most will be carried out in English. Why? Because this blog is already in English, with the language intended to reach a certain local audience and a wider global one. I see no reason to change that, just as I see no reason to not include a Spanish-language vidcast if the mood strikes Me.

Now I extend My invitation to all of you: Who should join The Jenius on a vidcast? Nominate yourself or someone you admire, know, like or just want to learn more about. Nominate folks who teach, inspire, create, modify, or simply do their job under everyone's radar. Nominate people that make a difference, whether they are poor, rich, native-born or "gone native." They don't even have to live in Puerto Rico, for there are several hundred thousand of Us making a huge difference while living in the U.S. of part of A.

Most of all, nominate yourself or someone who wants to talk about solving something in Puerto Rico. Too many of the conversations on My Island end up in a downward spiral of negativity that culminates in a nadir of hands-thrown-in-the-air despair.

Enough.

Solutions are out there. We have solutions. It's time We made them known.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

A New Leaf: Philip Newey And His Book

Things have been quiet lately here in Jenius Land, the blog. Busy elsewhere in Jenius Land, the reality show. To the point where today's post marks a fundamental change in what I do here. I shall, of course, explain.

The Jenius is a writing creation. But it isn't all the writing I do. (I hear sighs of relief from some of you. Go away.) Just peek left and you'll see a cavalcade of colorful covers that represent part of My writings, in fiction.

Yes, I write stories; some longer than others.

Which brings Me--somehow--to one Philip Newey. Author. Reviewer. And like Me, developing his craft and brand as a self-published writer.  That's him over there on the right. Say "Hi!"

I met Philip through Reddit, a multi-layered, multi-faceted hyperkinetic expanse in cyberspace that mimics real life the way comic books mimic Olympian gods. He offered to review books and I volunteered My Enter The Phenomenologists. In a couple of days, he came back to Me with a 4-star rating for the book and a review that showed he read carefully, took notes and cared about doing his part right.

Now really, what more could you ask for? Actions speak louder than words and Philip's deeds were thunderous roars of "Right on!" execution.

So when he asked Me to post a link to his blog, I said yes immediately.

But.

My "writer blog," Gil C. Schmidt At Work, has been on hiatus all year. (How's that for irony?) To really help Philip, I would prefer to place his blog link where more people could see it and multiply the effort...

So Philip Newey's blog link goes here. And you can buy his novel, Maybe They'll Remember Me, from Amazon.

That's the book's cover on the right. Racy devil.

And that opens the door to this idea: I just completed NaNoWriMo and noticed that there were several dozen other writers from Puerto Rico engaged in that 50,000-words-in-November challenge. I've highlighted Brethren from many walks of life here, but with one exception, I've seldom presented writers.

It's time to correct that. 

So.

If you are a writer, preferably from Puerto Rico, but anywhere else is more than okay and you wish to have your work mentioned/highlighted/presented here on The Jenius, let Me know in the comments to this post.

To the best of My ability, I'll oblige by interviewing you, reading your book(s) (but honestly-reviewed and without a "tit-for-tat" agreement to "trade 5-star reviews") and even writing a review if I like what I've read.

In the meantime, check out Philip's blog, his novel and the works of authors who haven't yet hit bestseller lists but write in genres you enjoy. It could take a few attempts, but I'm sure you'll find a writer you thoroughly enjoy, your very own "hidden gem". Nothing satisfies more than having a great secret...except sharing that great secret so others can enjoy it.

Writers are secrets that are worth more when shared. Indulge.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes, it's that glorious tiME of the year when I can say--and actually MEan it--Happy Birthday to ME!

However, unlike years past where I write soMEthing clever and enjoy the attention I place on ME, I've decided to be more subtle this tiME. Yes, that's a sign of maturity, so Let's celebrate that, too.

I want to thank Mrs. Jenius for making every day We have together a delight and Jenius Son Kaleb for being an actual Genius in ways I haven't yet mastered.

And now, My MoMEnt of subtlety:

 Definitely, subtle is an improveMEnt.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

20 Years...And Counting

Aw, hell.

With 2 runs allowed in the 9th, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost 4-3, for their 82nd loss of the season. What that means is that for the 20th season in a row, the Pirates will have a losing record when the play-offs begin.

Twenty. Seasons.

Twenty. In a row.

As late as August 6th, the Pirates were 16 games above .500, clicking along within striking distance of the division lead and leading a healthy race for the new "wild card" play-off spots. They had a legitimate MVP candidate in Andrew McCutchen and a pitching staff that was holding its own well past the All Star break.

But.

The pitching became erratic. McCutchen cooled off from his scorching .370+ pace and started to feel the wear and tear of being a superstar at the plate, on the field (he routinely tossed his body around to make spectacular catches) and on the basepaths, stealing like a politician. The rest of the team didn't have the depth or experience to break out of slumps. And the losses piled up. Over a 23-game stretch, the Pirates lost 18...then later lost 8 of 10.

Today, as the Bucs celebrated the 40th anniversary of Roberto Clemente's 3,000th--and final--hit, the loss not only cemented a record of futility, it marred the memorializing of a golden moment.

Twenty seasons.

I was so sure this would be the one to end the streak. Unlike some sports fans, I don't live and die with My teams. But I do hurt when they lose. I hate to see the Steelers struggle and believe Me, I hate to see what the Pirates have become. As one of the original National League franchises and one that should have blown by 10,000 victories a few years ago, as of today the team has an all-time record of 9,958-9,856. At the pace they were going up to 1992, they could have been the first, but certainly would have been the second or at worst third team to break the 10,000 mark; they'll make it next year, the seventh team to do so, as they try to break the two-decade long streak.

And I hate to say this, but next year doesn't look good. In 2011, the young Pirates were going great until July. This year, they pushed the envelope to August. But young teams seldom improve three years in a row; not in baseball. The pattern is usually a step forward one year, a leap the second and then falling back in Year Three.

Why? Because young teams don't have the experience to overcome big disappointments. That's where veteran players and established stars come in. McCutchen is a stud, he'll be 26 next year, hitting his prime, but surrounded by players younger than him and those that are older much less successful than he. Who's going to help him?

This is where management comes in. Except for signing McCutchen long term, Pirate management has had the mindset of "Get good money by selling stars and prospects," to the extent that some 14 All Stars on other teams were once part of the Pittsburgh team or system. In baseball terms, that makes the Pirates a farm team.

Will they do better in 2013? I'd need to see three things before I'd feel confident that 2013 is the "Snap the sucking streak" year:

1) Signing 1-2 solid hitters to beef up the offense.

2) A new pitching coach who knows how to develop young arms.

3) Management willing to put itself on the line for a winning team.

Maybe those things will happen while the hot stove league has its heyday. I'll keep an occasional eye on the team's doings and when April rolls around, I'll get the familiar feeling of quiet joy that baseball season always gives Me. And sometime closer to May, I'll look at the standings and see how the Pirates--still My Pirates--are doing.

Wait 'til next year. After twenty years, the waiting is nothing but emptiness.



The Jenius Has Spoken.


[Update: 3 Oct 2012: The Pirates finished the season with a record of 79-83.]

Pirate Fever! Catch It!

Yes, I know things are going to Hell in a handbasket here on My Island, but I'm setting that aside to focus on something special: My Pittsburgh Pirates are in first place.

As the second half of the marathonic baseball season is about to begin, the Buccos are riding high, 11 games above .500 (48-37), a peak they haven't achieved since their last winning season...in 1992.

Yes, 1992.

It's been 19 years since the Pirates have ended a season with a winning record, a streak so futile it has eclipsed the previous record 16-year streak (Phillies) by a margin long enough to launch "Game of Thrones." For a franchise that dates itself back to the origins of the National League, this 19-year streak has practically ripped the Pirates into oblivion.

Last year, they were in first place until a--get this--19-inning game was lost on a clearly-blown call by the home plate umpire. The loss put the Pirates into a tailspin and once again, as they have since George Bush Sr. was piddling in the Rose Garden, they finished under .500.

That the blown call was against the Atlanta Braves, the same team that beat the Pirates in the 1992 playoffs with another close call at the plate just made the whole thing worse.

So what makes Me think they'll really break the streak this year?

1) Schedule: The Pirates have the second-easiest National League schedule from here on in, meaning they've achieved their lead playing their toughest opponents in most series. Counterpoint: The Cincinnati Reds, in 2nd place, have the easiest schedule, but that just means the Pirates could miss the playoffs and still win 88-92 games.

2) Andrew McCutchen: The 25-year old All Star centerfielder is racking up big numbers, hitting .362 (1st in the league), slugging at a .625 pace (1st), with 18 home runs (4th), having scored 58 runs and driven in 60 (3rd in both categories). Unlike previous Pirates teams, this superstar is signed through the 2018 season, so the "Sell the star now" crap the Buccos used to make other teams great has (apparently) ended.

3) Pitching: The Pirates are not the old "Lumber Company" they've been historically, but are winning with pitching. The staff is well-balanced and isn't relying on one big arm to keep it in the hunt.

4) Mindset: The players now feel they can challenge for a division title and management is making noise to bring in the kind of players that make a layoff run a virtual certainty. By signing former Yankee A.J. Burnett and giving McCutchen a big extension, Pirate ownership is literally putting money where their mouth wasn't even flapping for almost 20 years.

For once, I'm looking forward to catching a baseball game soon. Since My Dad died, and with My Pirates deep in a losing streak, I'd lost interest in the games, barely catching even the playoffs. My lifelong love of the sport remains, but banked from a touch of sorrow, the loss of My only true fellow baseball fan and the bad decisions My team made year after year. Maybe this year I'll reconnect with the joy of a game I started playing with Dad when I was 3, in a tiny patio, with a hollow plastic ball and a hollow plastic bat almost bigger than Me.

And even if I don't reconnect yet with that little boy and his father's love of baseball, I'll still get to cheer as My Pirates win game 82 this year...and many more.


The Jenius Has Spoken.


Update: 16 Sep. 2012: The Pirates finally broke a 7-game losing streak today, edging the Cubs 7-6. The Bucs' record is now 73-71, a far cry from the heady two-digits-above-.500 they had in July. Pitching and offense have both declined, and the race to 82 wins in 2012 is now tight. Because the second picture's URL was deleted, I uploaded a different picture, one from when the Pirates were in good stead, heading into the playoffs with a still-dangerous Bobby Bonilla and a super-talented, pre-steroids Barry Bonds. 

Health As In HELLth

I had surgery yesterday, for an umbilical hernia I aggravated more times than I care to admit. It wasn't as traumatic an event as one might think for three very good reasons:

1--This was My third operation, the first occurring when I was 3 years old.

2--I wanted the operation, since My overall health was being compromised.

3--My Wife is a medical doctor.

What struck Me most about My surgery was several seconds after having an anesthetic dropped into My IV, while watching the nurse place a blood pressure cuff on My arm, I went blank. Out like a light. Zap. Woke up about 3 hours later with Dr. Mrs. Jenius sitting next to Me and within an hour of that I was getting into the car to go home.

All's well that ends well, right?

Not exactly. For although My surgical experience was relatively painless, the whole procedure leading up to it was a sidewalk in the upper levels of Hell.

It took a total of eleven visits to doctors' offices to get the required paperwork, seven of them to the same fat toad of a bitter bitch who after the fourth visit "suddenly remembers" at 3:00 o'clock that I need an X-ray done that day... with the radiology center closing at 4:00. If I had followed My instincts, the fat toad's bitter box of an office would have harbored My arrest for vandalism, but Dr. Mrs. Jenius' wisdom and practicality prevailed.

The problem, as several doctors took the time to tell Me, is that Our health system is a shambles, where insurance companies make out like bandits, specialists are being used primarily to pad medical records (in attempts to ward off lawsuits) and general practitioners are treated like wage slaves. And since the focus of the health system is on treatment rather than prevention, We as patients get less-than-stellar service that borders on fostering addiction rather than enhancing health.

Nothing new, right? Well then Why do We put up with this? I see 3 reasons:

1--Health care as politics: The overwhelming vision about Our society's health system is that it is a political issue rather than a medical one. In other words, health care is manipulated to garner votes, not to actually improve health services. And since We are what We are, the political side invariably leads to corruption, so hospitals are sold in sweetheart deals, insurance companies play merry-go-round with health services and medical personnel are respected yet treated like peons.

2--The business of health care is business: If mechanics worked on Our cars the way the health system works on Us, they'd staple, glue, tape or jury-rig autos to run for a few miles and then break down again in order to create a steady stream of clientele. Insurance companies count as profit the money they don't spend on Our health, so the system is set up to generate revenues by not really curing a patient and not really treating a patient. That's where the real tug o'war emerges, further pushed by pharmaceutical companies and laboring under the weight of potential lawsuits...that raise the already-crushing insurance rates for doctors.

3--We believe in "magic cures" rather than taking care of Ourselves: Take Me. Knowing I was already injured, I kept indulging in sports, hell-bent on competing. I knew surgery was needed to patch the break in My abdominal wall and kept putting it off until it wasn't optional anymore. Many of Us do the same with Our diet, alcohol, drugs, laziness and more. In short, We do what We want and then expect the health system to fix Us up so We can go back and do what We want again. Because We don't take care of Ourselves, We care very little about the system. Because We don't take care of Ourselves, We end up needing the system, especially when it comes to diabetes, high blood pressure and heart conditions. And because We don't take care of Ourselves, We end up being held hostage by fat toads with bitter bitchiness spewing from every pore.


I'm feeling fine now, somewhat sore and walking in a hunched manner. I already know I'm going to very careful in the next several months, exercising to get back into shape, but making sure I don't let My competitive side take over and push Me too far. What's crystallized in My Mind is that to every extent I can, I will not be held hostage by another fat toad of bitchy bitterness. That's part of hell I don't want to visit again (or have Dr. Mrs. Jenius do for Me.)

Odd, but the very hellish nature of the system make actually be My strongest incentive to focus on prevention. That and avoiding another look at the ugly toad's sour wreck of a face.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

DOCTOR Mrs. Jenius Now

Today, My Beloved added "M.D." to her name. So Mrs. Jenius is now Dr. Mrs. Jenius and she earned it every step of the way.

One aspect of many that I admire about Dr. Mrs. Jenius is that she knew from a very early age that she wanted to be a doctor, to help people get better. Her sense of purpose was evident early, and despite the hundreds of innocent and not-so-innocent remarks about her perceived chances, today is proof that she was right all along. For although it is true that Mrs. Jenius didn't have close relatives who were doctors, didn't study in some fancy private schools, wasn't rolling in moneyed circles and didn't have any sort of patronage, it is also true that she succeeded brilliantly in spite of--or actually because of--those "shortcomings."

Dr. Mrs. Jenius did it by focusing on the part of medicine she loves best: patients. Where most of her colleagues were focusing on books, tests, social amenities and future hubris, she was making a name of herself as a medical student who grokked the people she was treating. Whether it was a baby in distress, an elderly post-op patient or a drug-addled homeless person, Dr. Mrs. Jenius connected with them, finding a way to alleviate their pain and concerns. Her fellow students largely ignored this; her future colleagues couldn't and didn't.

Now Dr. Román Delgado steps forth on the career she envisioned as a child. I have no doubt it will be a glorious career, touching thousands of people from all walks of life. A true doctor's career, focused on service rather than self. Not the easiest path, but then again. Dr. Mrs. Jenius has never taken or had the easy path.

I love you, Mrs. Jenius. And I'm so very happy for you.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Happy Birthday, Kaleb!

Today you turned 12. Aside from it being My favorite number, and that you are My Favorite Son (hee hee), turning 12 is important: it means this is your last year as a pre-teen.

But those teenage years--however they will be--are yet to come. For this last year, I've noticed a growing admiration of you...in Me. Most parents would state unequivocally that they love their children, as I do, but "admire"? And at such an early age? Not often.

One incident will do. Think back to the championship basketball game We were in last year. Down 18-17 (what an astonishingly low score) and with 9 seconds to go, We lost the ball on a turnover. I called timeout and I could see that the team was devastated. Even you were chagrined at the situation. Though I spoke to the team, I was looking at you: We need a steal. I repeated it to get the boys to think that with 9 seconds left, getting the ball back meant We had a chance. And We did.

You all took your positions and I watched as you crouched against the boy you were guarding, intent on him and the inbound pass. The tableau seemed to freeze and once again, I felt calm. Secure. I knew...because I'd seen it before.

The pass almost took too long and the other team's boy nearly panicked as his target--the boy you were guarding--had no chance to get free and receive the pass. The ball came out and you pounced. Without hesitation, you passed cleanly to Our top scorer, hitting him perfectly in stride. He drove to the basket, rose for a floater...and got grabbed, pushed off-balance by his defenders. The ball rattled out and the buzzer sounded.

We lost. No whistle. No call. No win.

It was hard to accept. But all I could think about was how once again, when the game was on the line, you made the play. Like you did in your first year when you guarded the biggest kid in your league, almost a foot taller than you  and held him scoreless in the last period, including a key "non-defense" move that saved a technical foul in a one-point victory. Or in your first All Star Game, which you were supposed to be picked for and got passed over, then invited as a last-minute replacement: an MVP performance with 4 points, 10 rebounds and the key steal to seal the game. Or your second All Star Game when I sent you in with a minute left in a 22-20 game to "get rebounds" and you did--twice--to seal the victory.

You see, Son, not everyone can come through in pressure situations. In fact, most people don't. They shy away from the "Put up or shut up" moments, they make excuses and deny making excuses. They blame the world and never step up...but you do. And you deliver.

That's rare, and precious. You do it in sports and I'm seeing you do it in other areas as well. It's like you're expanding your skills in ways that took Me years to even fathom, much less improve. A part of that is due to your mother, stepfather and their relatives, a part of it from your cousins, aunt, stepmother and friends, and I know a part of it is from My being your father, but in the end, all of it is You.

Your successes are your own and as much as We may feel pride in them, whatever you achieve should be for your own reasons. Like playing defense with the ferocious intensity that makes your teammates want you to guard someone else or tackling math with high-energy skill or adapting to the moment and situation while remaining essentially You, these are all praiseworthy, yet keep doing them for yourself rather than for anyone else. You're on the right path to being happier than most, and more successful as well.

Maybe this year We'll win a championship together. You know I want that very much. But whether We do or don't, I'll be proud of you and your effort, admiring of your skills and determination and pleased beyond reason that My Son is well on his way to becoming a better man than I.

However, I still play chess better.

For now.

I love you, Kaleb. You're a gift of love every day of the year.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

My Day, Today

Drank My breakfast this morning. Had "Boost" (Cool Strawberry),  a 5-hour energy drink, coffee and orange juice, in some order. Then I ate a Sloppy Joe. Breakfast of champions.

Dove headfirst into My daily infodump, a 14-website tour. Opened tabs like only an Opera user can, by the dozens, with the abandon of a carefree child hyped on sugar. Or caffeine. Slashed through the tab deck in uncharacteristic fashion, bookmarking and closing left and right. And left and right. And then again. Good. Only 16 tabs left. For now.

Sometime yesterday I passed 10,000 bookmarks. All Mine. Been collecting them since 1992, but really, the oldest one I have now is from April 9, 2001. An essay on classic board games. Typical.

Had to leave to deal with government bureaucracy, but this time it was relatively painless. The woman at the semi-empty office wore a huge green-glassed ring on her left index finger. No other rings. I wondered if the ring was advertising or camouflage. Didn't ask.

Ate too much for lunch, probably because the 5-hour energy drink barely pushed My needle up at all. Doesn't usually. Maybe I need to drink two of the little bottles, if I could somehow get past the taste of rancid donkey piss. Which reminds Me, I only had a half cup of coffee before lunch. Maybe that's why I ate too much. And no, My coffee doesn't taste like rancid donkey piss, it's just that My mind works in strange ways.

Here's a song I came up with this morning, while showering. Took all of about 15 seconds. To the tune of "Yankee Doodle":

My mother said I was a punk, and just like Yankee Doodle,
So I shot my mom again and farted on a poodle.

For the record, I love My mom. She's been wonderful to Me. And Mrs. Jenius and I don't have a poodle. Yet.

Got a phone call from a woman in Utuado who wants help in developing a day care center with community outreach services. She found Me because she downloaded a free copy of My book on getting federal grant funds. I hear it's being used as a textbook in two local university systems now, so being free, I make nothing off the book. Except phone calls. I'd forgo the phone calls if people just used the book more.

Noticed for the 58th time that I haven't posted anything here for over 2 weeks, thanks for noticing. Liquid breakfast with a Sloppy Joe chaser, oddball songs, too much lunch, random phone calls I stretch out to amuse Myself...

It's time to get back here. I don't need to draw Myself a picture...well, maybe one. Involving the poodle.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

A Change In Inner Voice

Stopped at a gas station, for petrol. (Look it up.) Read a banner about a jazz fest. Weekend event. City park known more for being "kiddie-oriented" and across the way from the Central American and Caribbean Games facilities in Mayagüez, about 20 minutes from Chez Jenius. Borders the ocean. Nice place. The park; not Chez Jenius, which is a nice place, but not near the ocean. Sometimes in a lake, though...

Jazz. Not my favorite kind of music. None of the musicians and groups rang a bell. (Maybe while performing...) But Mrs. Jenius and I have a habit of just taking off and going places, seeing things, exploring. Our inner voices on events like this are a combination of "Could be fun," "Never done that," "What else can We discover?" and in My case, "What will I end up writing about?"

Personally, My inner voice adds sub-vocally: "I hope it isn't crowded." Don't like crowds. Can deal with them well now, but still don't like 'em.

Back to the jazz event. Colorful poster. No Jenius plans for that weekend. Mrs. Jenius and I always looking for a something new. Close by. Different. (Mrs. Jenius is a clarinetist, but jazz is not her main musical taste, either.) And then, My inner voice pipes up...

"Yeah, but what if you get shot?"

Public event, across the street from a housing project, a couple of thousand people expected, beer galore, on an Island where murders are close to 100 a month...

Made Me pause. My inner voice was definitely yapping negative. Made it shut up. But the point had been made.

It's not the same Island, is it?

Shook My head. Drove to Chez Jenius. Thought about the poster, the event, the location, My inner voice...Mentioned the event to Mrs. Jenius. Took her a second to answer...

"Sounds good. But what if something happens?"

The "something" Mrs. Jenius referred to wasn't "something good," or "odd" or even "awkward." The "something" was "something bad." This from a woman who hiked into the Amazon and has also voluntarily tended to the sick and injured along the Haiti-Dominican Republic border and the drug-filled streets of San Juan. She's not the sunniest optimist, but she's not the gloomiest pessimist, either. Her inner voice has changed, too.

And for the sunniest of optimists, like Me, that change in Our inner voices is heart-breaking.

We blame the pathetic excuse We have for a (non)governor and his hyena pack of vandals, and yes, they deserve part of the blame. But I've said many times: We are to blame as well. What brings Me back to that topic now is that when Our inner voice changes, everything else changes as well. Mine is going from "adventure" to "caution," while that of many of My Brethren is going from "I don't care" to "I'm getting out of here."

So I ask: does that sound like a formula for success?

That's My inner voice making itself heard. Wonder what your inner voice says in response...


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Yocasta Brugal Has Screwed 570 People...And Counting

So the San Juan Bautista Hospital has fired 300 employees as part of the $5.1 million bankruptcy buyout by Menonita Hospital Group.

That's what Brugal MendDacious and her lying liars were hiding: that the bankruptcy deal would leave 300 professionals without a job, many of whom had not been paid in months.

What a piece of work this Yocasta Brugal, huh? Screwed the hell out of 270 students by being so massively incompetent and possibly criminal that the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine lost its accreditation (and got it back only by going to court) and now her """leadership""" has royally screwed 300 employees of the Hospital she claims she "didn't run," but made practically every major decision for.

Let Me ask this, finally: Why the hell is this Brugal thing in that position? What the fuck is going on that a woman so demonstrably and viciously incompetent (see the list below) is nevertheless allowed to continue screwing people?

Here's what's on Brugal MenDacious' resumé, since she took over and squatted at the SJB School and Hospital in 2007:

* BOTH the School and Hospital lost accreditation and regained it only only by outside intervention, i.e., not because she and her lying liars did anything to improve either institution.

* The Hospital went even deeper into debt to the point of tossing it into bankruptcy, with no debt reduction perceived in 4+ years.

* Hundreds of employees were treated no better than slaves by having their paychecks unilaterally curtailed or cut off. And now they're fired.

* And as detailed in My previous post, the SJB had received almost $23 million in federal funding over a 5-year period UNTIL 2007-2008, when--you got it--Brugal MenDacious plopped her incompetent fundament at the helm and suddenly...no more funds.

A summary looks like this:


* The SJB School: Lost accreditation, now on probation.
* The Hospital: Lost accreditation, got it back because the local Health Department intervened directly, no debt reduction causes bankruptcy and a sale for $5.1 million, with 300 employees fired.
* Federal funds: Down from $22.8 million to $78,000. And under investigation for possible commingling of funds.

Okay, I'll ask it again: What the fuck keeps this incompetent lump in her job?

If she were a politician, her record would be "average." Ask The Larva, who tried to buy police votes with lies. As an administrator, her record proves she has the Sadim touch--the opposite of the Midas touch: everything Brugal MenDacious touches turns to shit.

The School? A shitstorm with the loss of accreditation that Brugal MenDacious caused and then hid from the students.

The Hospital? A shit sandwich diet shoved for years down the throats of 300 employees, fired today.

Federal funds? A shitfest that's about to hit the fan.

Again: Why is Brugal Sadim still at the helm of the SJB? Why hasn't the Board of Trustees--also known as the Mon(k)ey Cage--fired her incompetent Sadim ass? How long are the employees and students of the SJB School of Medicine going to sit back and watch the (bull)shit fly into their faces? Are they going to react only when the whole crapload is thrust down their gullets, like the Hospital employees?

And now I can turn My attention to the Menonita Hospital Group, who I considered blameless in a straight-up deal But this is not a straight-up deal. The Menonita Hospital Group (MHG) is no better than a self-righteous pimp exploiting a crack whore and calling that "missionary work." Taking over the Hospital is a good thing: knowingly doing so at the expense of 300 employees is wrong. All the MHG has shown here is that it is willing to descend to Brugal's level in dealing with employees, the mushroom level: keep 'em in the dark and shovel shit on them.

So here's what I want to see:

Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars fired. Now.

The Menonita Hospital Group dragged to court and spending $5.1 million to defend itself...and losing the case.

But first steps first: Fire Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars now. Am I sounding like a broken record? That's only because Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars are the very epitome of a broken--a very broken--record.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

22,848,733 Reasons To Fire Yocasta Brugal & The SJBullshitters

In 2002, the San Juan Bautista Medical Center was awarded $5,986,306.

In 2003, the SJBMC received a $6,233,513 grant.

In 2006, the SJBMC received another grant, this one for $5,660,545.


In 2007, the SJBMC received a $4,968,329 grant.

It seems that the 2002 award was deemed a good start and the 2007 award was the crashing end. (Kind of like what happened with the accreditation thing.)

So what happened with that $22,848,733?

Let's close a circle around that question, shall We? For comparisons in funding, between 2000 and 2008, the SJBMC received exactly four federal fund awards, for the total of $22,848,733 over that span. Now granted (pun intended), this is not revenue with a lot of profit, but it does denote an institutional ability to get jobs done.

In that time span, tracking only the two other private medical schools in Puerto Rico, you will find the following awards:

2000:
Ponce School of Medicine -- $5,008,075.

Universidad Central del Caribe Medical School -- $6,092,289.


2001:
Universidad Central del Caribe -- $550,289 and $5,576,264.

Ponce School of Medicine -- $5,317,538.


2002:
Universidad Central del Caribe -- $237,740 and $332,844 and $7,765,360.

Ponce School of Medicine -- $7,672,536.


2003:
Universidad Central del Caribe: -- $208,935 and $251,951 and $7,584,175.

Ponce School of Medicine -- $7,417,070.


2004:
Universidad Central del Caribe -- $262,394 and $392,541 and $6,349,547.

Ponce School of Medicine -- $8,045,161.


2005:
Universidad Central del Caribe -- $358,970 and $6,972,037.

Ponce School of Medicine - $5,793,999.


2006:
Universidad Central del Caribe -- $5,994,906.

Ponce School of Medicine -- $7,088,814.


2007:
Ponce School of Medicine -- $5,220,078.

Universidad Central del Caribe -- $6,505,781.


2008 (only Quarters 1 & 2):
Ponce School of Medicine -- $497,469.


Over the same time span, the other two private medical schools in Puerto Rico had at least the following totals:

Ponce School of Medicine:  $41,735,127 (averaging $5,216,890 a year).

Universidad Central del Caribe:   $55,436,323 (averaging $6,092,297 a year).


So SJBullshitters: What happened to that money stream?



What happened with the federal fund stream that pumped $22,848,733 into the SJBMC over a 5-year period?


Why did the federal fund stream dry out around 2007, when the School received its accreditation? 

How is it that the School listed for the LCME Status Report (covering 2010 data) only $78,220 in federal funding for 2010? Yet it also declared a total revenue of $7,657,164, with $5,319,348 in expenses, leaving a gross profit of $2,337,816.


What happened to that profit, SJBullshitters?


While the other medical schools add $5.2 million and $6.1 million a year to their revenue stream, the SJBullshitters can only claim $78,220 for one year. No wonder the School gets 70% of its revenue from students: Brugal MenDacious and the SJBullshitters fucked up the SJBSOM's federal funding potential.


So how did they do it? Could it be that the SJBullshitters--as a commenter suggested--were caught commingling funds, robing Sam to pay Pedro, or Enrique or Marta or someone who shouldn't have been paid with federal funds? Or did they violate some other financial, legal and/or ethical standard? Again?


And another thing: how bad is the SJbullshitters' incompetence? Even when they were allowed to compete for federal funds, they were unable to match the other local private medical schools in leveraging the three huge advantages they share for federal funding:


1) A region with higher poverty levels than almost anywhere in the States.

2) Minority (Hispanic) status, with the concomitant sociocultural angles.

3) Unique (in the U.S. of part of A.) socio-economic demographics and health-care infrastructure.

[I'm not saying these are good things, only that they are relevant to every aspect of procuring federal funds.]



How much would $4 million a year, less than the other two schools average, help the SJB School of Medicine? How much would it have helped to avoid the precarious situation the School has been since 2007, culminating in the loss of accreditation? Why isn't that funding making a difference now? 


Because these questions are fundamentally relevant to firing the SJBullshitterss, We have to ask Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars, loudly, insistently and with ferocious intensity: What happened to take the reality and potential of federal funding away from the SJBSOM?




The Jenius Has Spoken. 




[Update: 28 Nov 2011: San Juan Bautista Hospital employees protest that their jobs are about to be terminated under the new deal with the Menonita Hospital group. At this time (5:44 PM), no SJBullshitter has responded to either employee requests for information nor provided a written response to a local TV news department (WAPA-TV), as they said they would. Lying liars need to be hit. Hard.] 

If True, Then Kick Yocasta Brugal & The Board Out NOW

From the Comments to My previous post Stiff Yocasta Brugal & Her Lying Liars concerning the situation at the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine (SJB):

One little known fact is that the chairman of the Board Aracelis (sic) Roque hired her son to be the lead attorney for SJB...  


Feds are looking into a commingling of funds problem...  


Fraud, misrepresentation lawsuits being prepared, SJB has to be taken over in order to survive, the name should be changed and a new identity given by a reputable institution of higher learning.


The anonymous commenter has left Us with a few points to ponder. Let's take the first one, that the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Aracelys Arroyo de Roque hired her son to work with the SJB.

First of all, Arroyo might be the Chairman of the Board, but she's listed only as a member of the Board (along with legendary golfer Chi Chi Rodríguez) in the 2008-2010 SJB catalog. That would mean she rose to the Chairmanship after 2007, in other words, after the SJB received its accreditation.

Why is this significant? Because it means that Arroyo has been privy to what the SJB administrators, particularly Yocasta Brugal MenDacious, have been saying or doing for the past 4 years, the period covering denied accreditation/granted on appeal/withdrawal of accreditation/placed on probation after appeal. Toss in the Hospital fiasco and you have a log that looks like the last 8 hours of the Titanic...only with barely enough lifeboats.

This places Arroyo in a position of full--let Me repeat that--full responsibility for what has happened in the SJB and for what the SJBullshitters have wrought. If from that position she has committed a serious ethical breach along the lines of hiring her own son to be the legal counsel for the School, then she not only confirms what We've been thinking about the SJB and its pusillanimous Board (and what I've been saying with sneering contempt), she has placed herself and the Board squarely in the argument of "Dump them as part of the SJBullshitters."


Point two. Commingling of funds is not proper financial management, crossing legal and ethical lines. It simply means using money entrusted for one purpose on another.  In the case of the comment above, one needs to stress that federal funds are never--repeat, never--to be commingled. Quoting: "The federal government especially forbids commingling their funds with other funds because they want federal grants to be used only for the purposes intended by Congress... If you do...they will pull the plug on the program and take their money back plus a penalty."


The commingling issue is made very clear at every step of the federal funding process, from RFP to grant award to funding award and subsequent audits. If the commenter is accurate, then We have further potential confirmation that the SJBullshitters did a shitty job with money management and federal funds, causing the School to lose potential monies that nearly every other medical school uses broadly. That incompetence led to decisions like straining already over-used clinical resources by bringing in students from other Caribbean med schools in a desperate search for cash flow...a key issue in the subsequent loss of accreditation.

So is the commenter's closing paragraph any surprise? Is there any doubt that the shadow spasms of incompetence desperate to cover their baboon asses is emerging into sharper focus? And is there any doubt that pushing the SJBullshitters out NOW is the only way to truly correct the chaos?



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Stiff Yocasta Brugal & Her Lying Liars

Happy Thanksgving! Thank you for visiting The Jenius any day of the year. 



In a surprise announcement, the San Juan Bautista Hospital (SJBH), affiliated in some nebulous way with the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine (SJBSOM), incompetently run by the SJBullshitters (SJBullshitters), reports it is to be purchased by the privately-owned Menonita Hospital Group.

In one action, the SJBSOM's lack of clinical resources could--could--be improved. Given that the School is on probation now, after a fulminating loss of accreditation in early October, strengthening an obvious weak point, a vital component for accreditation, seems like the right move.

Seems.

The Menonita Group purchase of the SJB Hospital might be honest...from the Menonita's side. They currently operate two successful hospitals in nearby Cayey and Aibonito, as well as a handful of clinics in the same areas. A geographic expansion into a larger regional city, albeit with a troubled hospital, is a good move. But is this as clear as it appears to be, the straight-up salvaging of a weak hospital?

Let's be objective:

1) It is possible that the Menonita Group (MG) was already negotiating with Brugal MenDacious before the LCME arrived in March after finding out--from a press report--that the SJBH had filed for bankruptcy in February. Maybe placing it in bankruptcy was part of the "sweetening" of the deal to make the Hospital more appealing to the MG. (It happens.) But if that is the case, and given the enormous weight the LCME gave to the SJB's very weak clinical resources since 2007, why didn't Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars not mention any of this potential deal in their """defense""" of the School's accreditation? 

The Menonita Group would benefit more from the School being accredited, the Hospital would be more valuable to the LCME (for SJBSOM accreditation purposes) under MG than under the SJBullshitter's fecal-foolish follies and the deal could conceivably have bought the School time and not lose its accreditation. Any of these reasons would make at least mentioning the potential deal an absolute must, never mind all three--but only if the deal was already in the works.

2) Conclusion: the MG deal is recent, at least no older than late September. Why? Because the Appeal Panel hearing was in mid-September, and if--a huge "if"--Brugal MenDacious had the brains God gave a gangrenous bone(-headed) tumor she might have anticipated the School getting hammered badly and opened a channel to the MG as early as mid-September. But that would be giving her credit she hasn't shown she deserves. Ergo, the deal dates from after the loss of accreditation letter on October 3rd, meaning that Brugal MenDacious and whatever lying liar she used as a go-between (I'd look to the Board of Trustees on this one...) basically put this deal together in about 6 weeks.

Think about it: if Brugal MenDacious were operating from a basis of honesty and good faith at the (broken) helm of the SJBSOM and Board VP of the SJBH, would she have any reason to not talk about the Menonita Group? If she were operating in the best interests of the SJBSOM and the SJBH--a postulate with about as much evidence behind it as creationism--(a) couldn't she have avoided the loss of accreditation mess and (b) wouldn't the timing of this deal be different, i.e., earlier?

3) Given these premises, doesn't it seem that the deal is not exactly a godsend, but is probably another "trick" in the lengthy "Cover Lying Asses" saga of the SJBSOM and the SJBullshitters? To wit: what did the SJBH and the SJBSOM give up to close the deal? Note I'm not accusing the MG of any wrongdoing; Let's face it, they don't have to do anything even remotely off-center to get this hospital because the urgency is entirely on the other side. It's a buyer's market...and the seller is a desperate group of shitheads.

Did the SJBSOM get a good deal? Depends. The students should benefit from an expected exponential improvement in the Hospital, as well as having additional clinical resources. But is the School better off? What's going to replace the roughly $1.7 million revenue the SJBH gave the SJBSOM, an amount so significant that Brugal MenDacious made a point of including it in the Status Report appeal to "prove" that the School didn't receive 70% of its total revenue from student registration and fees, but only 50%...when the national average is 4%.

What exactly did the SJBSOM give up? What exactly are they hiding with this deal? And for those of you objective (or foolish) enough to ask "Why would they be hiding anything, Jenius?", let Me reply: read every Jenius post and comment made on this issue, as well as the Status Report and other documents. They hid the hospital's bankruptcy. They hid the loss of accreditation. They hid(e) the Status Report. They hid(e) their finances. The SJBullshitters have earned that nickname repeatedly. What makes anyone think they are changing stripes now?

So here's My call: Stiff Yocasta Brugal and her lying liars. (And that's funny because Brugal MenDacious is a forensic specialist, or as Jerry called them, a deadhead. Please feel free to chuckle at leisure.) Students, don't register until Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars are fired. Dumped. Tossed out like garbage. Their argument, and that of their feeble-minded apologists, that the School needs money now that it is on probation is facetious at best and fraudulent at worst. The School always needs money, but a well-run School earns it: no need for begging. And without a trustworthy administration, collecting student registrations and fees for a semester that could knowingly end in disaster is tantamount to theft on their part and outright foolishness on yours.


Put the pressure on Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars. Get her out of her fouled nest before she and her lying liars leave on her own terms, gained at your expense and that of equally-mistreated employees. Do it now...or watch as the whole lying house of cards collapses in the coming months.

As one of My commenters said, in closing: You have been warned.



The Jenius Has Spoken

Yocasta Brugal: Fire Her Now

In a surprising development, the Liaison Commission on Medical Education (LCME) reversed the San Juan Bautista School of Medicine's loss of accreditation (Public Announcement, 18 November, 2011). The SJBSOM is now under probation, pending a visit by the LCME in late January/early February 2012. The good news: The students, including Mrs. Jenius, can continue or complete their studies under accreditation, a huge academic and professional difference. The bad news: I was wrong about the possibility of a reversal, but I can take that because the right decision was made and I have been right about everything else.

Which brings Us to worst news: Yocasta Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars are still at the head of the SJBullshitters. And the possibility that they will get kicked out on their fat asses anytime soon seems remote. My guess is that they won't be kicked out before the LCME visit and I would LOVE to be wrong about that.

But I won't be.

The reasons to kick these incompetent lumps of uselessness out are legion, and many of them have been detailed in previous Jenius posts and the comments. (Check out "Yocanda Brugal: Incompetence Recognized" for a lengthy comment thread.) There are plenty of reasons, in truth, a veritable excess of plenty of reasons why Brugal MenDacious and her ilk have to go. The disease is diagnosed, the remedy is obvious and has proven quite often to be the successful cure for the disease. But the will to act is missing. And without the will, the action doesn't exist.

The will can only come from two collective minds: the Board of Trustees, a gang of monkeys with the total integrity of a frog's cloaca. Their interests--based on their inaction so far--seem to be deeply intertwined with that of Brugal MenDacious and the lying liars, so the incentive to dump their partner/ally/crony/shield/protector/benefactor is virtually nil.

The second group is composed of the students. If the students raise their voices in clear objections to giving the S.S.JBullshitters back to the captain and crew that piloted the leaky vessel into rocks, eventually that captain and crew will be replaced. Staying silent, acquiescing, granting approval by simply continuing with business as usual will doom the SJBSOM to lose its accreditation in 2o12. And this time, it will be for a very long time. I have absolutely no doubt on that point.

A comment on the post linked above called for the students to refuse to register for classes until Brugal MenDacious and her lying liars leave. Good start. But more needs to be done. There are three flanks to attack:

1) Revenue: Why is the SJBSOM begging for scraps from Antigua and the Dominican Republic?

2) Federal grant funding: Why is the SJBSOM so utterly useless in securing funding that nearly every other private medical school receives in bulk?

3) Clinical services: In a nation with a huge population density and complex widespread health problems, why can't the SJBSOM develop alliances and programs strong enough to secure accreditation?

Here's the crux of the matter: the SJBSOM is a miserable failure as a healthcare resource, and its recent actions prove it is also a miserable failure as a school. For the students, some 30-40 of whom have already chosen to leave, the battle must be seen as more than "getting Mine now": it has to be seen as "getting better for all Our sakes."

The chance to turn the SJBSOM from a pigsty run by retarded barnyard rejects into a worthy institution has to be won now...for if it isn't, if the animal farm is allowed to continue its manure-dumping ways, then the SJBSOM will quickly become shuttered, ignored by everyone as it closes its doors.

At that point, it would be very much like locking the door after the horse is gone, so why don't We focus on kicking the horses' asses out first and then making sure the barn is run by competent people?


The Jenius Has Spoken.

It's My Birthday!!

Yes. It's that magical tiME of the year (and those who know ME know I MEan "almost all the year") when the world celebrates My Birthday! The cakes have been baked, the candles have been warehoused in hangars (very funny, people) and the chili's hot enough to strip chroME from a new bumper. So We are ready!

What can I say about a year that saw ME get married and be happy? Well, for one thing, I can say: Thank You, Mrs. Jenius! I love you!

What can I say about a year that saw My Son excel in school (MEdals enough to start a museum) and on the basketball court (All Star selection and solid MVP candidate)? I can say: Well done! You're admirable in so many ways! I love you!

What can I say about a year that saw true friends step up and others lose the label "friends" as they pulled away in haste? To My Friends: you're all gifts from the Universe. To the others: I'm giving you back to the Universe. I expect refunds.

What can I say about a year that saw My Family struggle to deal with daily life and eMErge tempered? Family is the heart of a society, and as for My Family, its heart beats strong.

What can I say about a year where My Island sinks ever lower into a morass of violence and corruption? I can issue a warning: the reckoning is coming, jackals. It won't be pretty. For any of Us.

What can I say about life in general as I tack on another digit to My age? That it is tiME for a fundaMEntal change in My life. The groundwork has been laid for Me to move on to new challenges, to wholeheartedly pursue My ambition and push My talents to the utmost.

To My chagrin, I haven't challenged Myself seriously in almost four years. That's just wrong. What's the point of Life if not to tackle new challenges and explore new horizons. "Life is either a grand adventure or it is nothing." Helen Keller said that. And if she could pull that off, why can't I? Why can't We?

So here's to Me, to My Birthday and the chance to whoop it up with loved ones near and far. And here's to facing Life's challenges, from the personal to societal, with verve, will and integrity. It has been--overall--a great year for Me; I can foresee next year being even greater.

Hopefully greater for all of Us.



The Jenius Has Spoken.