“No me das coco…”

“No me das coco…” The words of a friend when I told him this morning that I resolved a personal issue in an hour, visit to the bank and traffic included. The fact is that I’m moving. And yes, moving is a pain in the ass. Simply put. There is no other way to describe it. Yet, the process of moving in this country tends to be a little bit easier or less painful, if you will, than, oh, I don’t know, Venezuela. One of these “pains” is the change of address process, the updating of all the information, transferring services, etc. And here is where this country excels: in making your life, at least in this regard, a bit ore easier. It turns out everything can be done thru the Internet (duh!). You don’t need a PhD to know that, but the following did strike my attention and has had me thinking all day long. Transferring your FPL account can be done thru the Internet. What is FPL? The EDC gringo. (To me it will always be Electricidad de Caracas, sorry my friends in red). Back to the story. So this is how is done: you go their site, log in, you give them your old address, the new address to where you are moving, the date when you’re leaving your old place and the date you are moving in. That’s it. No service interruption before nor delays in getting power in the new place. Also, and this is what really made me sing “Oh say can you see…” all day long, is that as A COURTESY, FPL will give you 10 days with power even AFTER you moved out, just in case something goes wrong with the moving process and you have to stay a few extra days in your old place. The same applies with the water service. Other things I took care online: get a new driver’s license with the new address, register my car (a.ka. el famoso RAP), schedule my cable and Internet service (works the same as FPL), change address in bank, credit cards, etc. You know, the basic stuff. “No me das coco…” is what my friend says. He can now pay for his new (I guess also renewal) passport with a credit card. Kudos! Here you can renew it or get a new one online and have it FEDEXed… Yes, this has been an ode to this country. But you know what? Those who know me, know I’m “pro-yanqui”. Those who didn’t know it and are finding out now, and you don’t agree, nor approve, I frankly don’t care. Still, I do have this final thought. Sure, this country has many flaws. Now more than ever. Still, there it stands. Organization, structure… some of its building blocks. Why can’t we have the same? Ah yes, I forgot. We can’t even get organized to direct the country in another way.