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Given the heaviness of that last post, maybe it’s time for a bit of levity as I attempt to recount my experience in renting an automobile in Mexico City last Christmas.   Here is the multi-step process for your enlightenment, and perhaps use, if you ever have the courage to do the same.

 1. Using the Orbitz web site, search for rental vehicles in Mexico City.   As a search criteria select “vans” since there will be eleven of us in two vehicles.

2. Determine that all vans in Mexico City are outrageously expensive.  Select Budget as having the best rate.

3. Begin to wonder about insurance coverage.   Go to Visa & Master Card web sites and read the really fine print about collision loss waiver in a foreign country.   Go to legal web sites to determine what “collision loss waiver means”.    Take two ibuprofen after reading legal web sites and decide this can wait until tomorrow.

4. On the following day, do a Google search for “insuring your rental car in Mexico.”   Find several web sites, one of which recounts numerous horror stories of Americans ending up in jail because they had accidents with insufficient coverage–including credit card coverage.  Site recommends getting maximum rental car coverage from rental car agency just to be safe and to keep from ending up in jail.

5. Get bright idea.  Find Budget site IN MEXICO, rather than the USA version, and use it to book the car.  Fortunately, Mexican web site for Budget has an English version.

6. Use said site to investigate insurance offerings.  Find something called “deductible waiver” (DW).   DW seems to cover every contingency if the (altogether likely) worst case scenario happens.  It is expensive, but allows one to sleep better at night–unless of course one has the Montezuma’s revenge at night while in Mexico–but that is in a separate blog article.

7. Decide to book the Budget minivan with full DW & every other policy they offer just to be safe, and since this “once in a lifetime event” needs to be “the best vacation we ever had” (see Angie’s recent posts).

8. Save booked confirmation in numerous places and formats to ensure that there is no mistake.   Print out copy to present at rental car desk.

9. Go to Mexico City (see separate process flow diagram for details.)

10. Rental car is to be picked up at Benito Juarez International Airport upon the arrival of oldest son & family on Sunday after their flight from JFK, arriving at 10 PM.  Decide that oldest son should be principal driver since his experience in Brooklyn eminently qualifies him for driving skills needed in the notorious Mexico City (aka “DF” for District Federales ((loosely translated)) ) traffic.

11. After late dinner in the DF, youngest son & self proceed towards aeroporto.  As we enter car, instant message from oldest son shows up on youngest son’s elaborate mobile telephony device (EMTD).   Youngest son uses EMTD to determine following message from oldest son: “Our plane is 30th in line for takeoff.  Wife & son chewing on arm and asking “are we there yet?”   Expect substantial delay.”

12. Abandon trip to Benito Juarez International Aeroporto.  Instead, drive to youngest son’s apartment where he will trade EMTD for elaborate IP-enabled voice mail device (EIPEVMD). 

13. On EIPEVMD hear voice message “takeoff delayed at least one hour, maybe two.  Wife & son have switched to other arm.”

14. Decide to go to airline web sites to determine actual arrival time.  Since flight is code-shared between Delta (arrives terminal 2) and Aeromexico (terminal 1) it is critical to determine which airline is actually handling flight.   Youngest son informs self that if arrival at terminal 2, many many problems will arise.

15. Web sites disagree on arrival time and terminal.  Go to Benito Juarez International Aeroporto site.  It shows flight as on time.  No gate information provided.

16. Youngest son calls Aeromexico.  After long conversation in Spanish, he tells me they don’t know which terminal. 

17. Decide to call Budget rental car to tell them that flight is delayed since in their system they show 10 PM arrival.

18. Youngest son calls Budget rental car.  Intense highly articulated conversation in Spanish continues for 5 minutes.    Highly articulated conversation in Spanish continues for 10 minutes.   Highly articulated conversation in Spanish continues for 15 minutes.

19. Am informed by youngest son that the minivan corresponding to our reservation “has been sent back to central site and won’t be available until tomorrow.”

20. Decide to go to Benito Juarez International Aeroporto.

 

21. At Benito Juarez International Aeroporto, am dropped off by youngest son to go to Budget rental car counter alone while he parks his automobile (in distant land).   Armed with  the four words I know in Spanish (”si,”no”, “bueno,” and “banyo”) enter the madding crowd of brown faces all speaking rapidly in an unknown tongue. 

22. Youngest son has thoughtfully procured simple mobile telephony device (SMTD) for my use in communicating with his EMTD in case I need words translated as I encounter Budget rental car personnel.

23. Arrive at Budget rental car “counter”, which is actually a glassed in room whose door is locked.   Room is empty.  On door is stated: “Open 24 Hours” (in English).

24. Encounter harried international traveler who, in English, wants to know if Budget is open.  Assure him I don’t know.  Said traveler mutters something about no rental car counter being open and wanders off.

25. Youngest son arrives and together we stare at door.

26. Youngest son decides to use his EMTD to call the telephone number listed on the door of the Budget rental car company.   Person answering assures youngest son that Budget rental car company is indeed open, and they will “pick us up”  outside.

27.  Go outside.  Small car drives up.  Two men–wearing no identifiable uniforms or badges–seem to recognize us.  (Explanation: gringoes are readily identifiable in the DF.)  Words exchanged in Spanish.  We enter small car and drive off (to distant land).

28. Arrive at gate in distant land.  Car horn is honked.   Man in guard box sleepily appears and opens gate.  We enter.

29. Exit car and enter small office with sign “Budget Rental Car.”

30. In office greeted by third man (Senor 3) attired in uniform with drooping tie around neck.  He enters a side room and disappers, not to be seen for a long time.   Later discover door of room is labeled Caballeros.

31. Youngest son begins dialogue with driver of small car (Senor 1) who seems to be in charge.  Senor 2 sometimes interjects unintelligible (to me) Spanish words.  Senor 3 emerges from roomed marked Caballeros and disappears for good.

32.  Dialogue between youngest son & Senor 1 becomes animated.  Glance at watch.  Time is 12:30 AM Monday morning.

33. Dialogue continues for 30 minutes.  Youngest son seems to have Senor 1 on the run, but still no rental car emerges.

34. Youngest son translates: no minivan available.  Budget rental car company will provide us a temporary sedan and then present said minivan at this location tomorrow.

35. Dialogue between youngest son and Senor 1 continues for another 30 minutes.  Senor 1 makes phone call.  Youngest son indicates that this phone call is to Senor 1’s supervisor.

36. Senor 2 disappears.   Senor 2 reappears as driver of white Ford minivan.

 37. More dialogue ensues.  Youngest son informs me that yes, they did have the minivan all along, but it was low on gas & had not been cleaned.  They will rent said minivan to us if we agree to accept as is and supply our own gas which they will reimburse us for.  We agree.

38. Dialogue now ensues about insurance.  I indicate to youngest son that I had made reservation with full insurance coverage, including the coveted DW policy.   Dialogue resumes.   Senor 1 informs youngest son who translates that the DW covers full replacement value of the vehicle if totaled in accident, but if the mirrors or wheels are stolen we would have to replace them out of pocket. Youngest son & self exchange confused glances. 

39. More dialogue ensues about the deeper meaning of DW.  Senor 1 does not give gound.   We accept the DW coverage as explaned.  We agree to guard mirrors & wheels with our lives.

40. More dialogue continues about “principal drivers.”  Informed that only 2 can be said drivers at no charge.   Both said drivers must appear in person.   Hence, oldest son will have to go to distant land after arriving to count as a principal driver. 

41. Rental papers signed.  Car inspection begins by Senor 2 & self.

42. Inspection completed.   Senor 2 drives small car containing himself & us past sleepy guard back to Terminal 1 where we hoped oldest son & family would arrive.

43. Stand in front of customs doorway at Terminal 1 awaiting oldest son & family.   Continue standing.   Continue standing.  Continue standing. 

44. Decide to sit in nearby bar overlooking customs doorway.  As waiter arrives to take order, oldest son & family arrives through doorway.

45. We Rejoice.  Time: 2 AM.

46. Youngest son uses EMTD to call Budget auto rental company to inform them that oldest son has arrived.

47. Self & oldest son repeat steps 27 - 29 above.  With some difficulty, since neither of us speak Spanish, sign papers establishing oldest son as principal driver.

48. END–RENTAL CAR RENTING PROCESS.

Appendix:  Oldest son & family 4 days after arrival showing no worse for wear.

 

 

Appendix: The famous aqueduct at Queretaro reached by Ford minivan rented to us by Budget rental car company.

 

During Peter’s time home the last few weeks he encouraged me to be more regular in my blogging efforts. Regrettably, real life (taxes, perpetual cleaning of the closet, dealing with the unexpected…) continue to interfere. One of those interferences lately has been cleaning up the hard drive of my 3+ year old desktop computer. It got so full that I was forced to buy a spiffy new 500 GB external hard drive to take care of the overflow (video files, photo files, music files, etc.) (This new world is too full of “bits” that have to be stored by hoarders like me.) But in doing the cleaning I stumbled over a blog that I wrote back in May, 2002, that apparently never got posted. Or at least I can’t find it in the archive that appears to your immediate right. So, in the spirit of heeding Peter’s encouragement, with the minimum expenditure of time, I offer the following post. Please keep in mind that it was written over 5 years ago when circumstances were quite different than they are now.

The Missing Blog (May, 2002)

What Did Adam Die Of? And Other Interesting Questions.

Disclaimer: The material below is highly speculative and may or may not be in line with the views of religious, scientific or other organizations that I am a member of or have an interest in.

Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. (Gen 5:5)

While reading an article in the Wall Street Journal recently about the challenge retirees face in preserving their investments, I was directed to a web site maintained by Harvard Medical: http://www.livingto100.com/. The WSJ columnist wanted his readers to realize that they might live a lot longer than they think, and thus need to plan to make sure their assets outlive them instead of the other way ‘round. So I dutifully filled out the 20 or so questions on the site, and lo and behold, it predicted I would live to be 95.2. I am highly skeptical of this result—the WSJ and Harvard Medical School notwithstanding—because it didn’t ask me about my current health, like “have you ever had angioplasty?” (Answer: yes: subtract 10 years…) Instead I believe my high score was due to the quiz’s genetic bias, and the fact that at 98 (and a half) my mother is going strong. “Has a parent lived in excellent heath to an age greater than 90?” A strong “yes” to that one!The quiz also has some other interesting and revealing questions, such as: “Do you floss your teeth daily?” (A yes buys you some extra years because the medical gurus think that not flossing makes you more susceptible to disease.) You also get positive credit if you drink 2 glasses of wine a day (the French paradox), but negative credit if you drink more (the Russian orthodox).

Even if I believe the 90+ years predicted by the livingto100 guys, it’s still a factor of 10 less than our forefather Adam. Can you imagine him taking the quiz? Did he floss, for example? How many glasses of wine did he consume each day? Was he French? And what did he die of? For us 21^st century Americans, it’s likely to be either heart disease or cancer. Did these two maladies exist in Adam’s day? Since he probably had a pretty low fat diet (no Mickey D’s then), could he have died of cancer?

Readers of these pages know of my intense interest in cancer, in light of my beloved’s experience with it over more than a decade. Recently, an article appeared in the journal Nature which gives an overview of what is known about this dread disease. It can be found in the free issue at www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nrc/journal/v2/n5/full/nrc795_fs.html. (Note: link no longer works 5 years later.) Here’s the abstract:

Cancer arises from a stepwise accumulation of genetic changes that liberates neoplastic cells from the homeostatic mechanisms that govern normal cell proliferation. In humans, at least four to six mutations are required to reach this state, but fewer seem to be required in mice. By rationalizing the shared and unique elements of human and mouse models of cancer, we should be able to identify the molecular circuits that function differently in humans and mice, and use this knowledge to improve existing models of cancer.

Sounds impressive, but also daunting what with words like: “neoplastic,” and “homeostatic.” The article itself I found impervious to understanding as a mere physicist. Clearly, the biology course I took in high school is going to fail me in understanding what the article says. But I could take away a few conclusions. First of all, the biological processes that govern the creation and reproduction of each cell of our bodies are incredibly complex. For example, see the reference above to “molecular circuits.” The authors of the paper even publish what they call a “subway map” (because of its resemblance to the maps seen in Manhattan for example) showing how these molecular circuits interact. Here is the map:

In addition to showing how cancer develops the map demonstrates just how complex are the normal cellular processes needed to sustain life: human, animal or even plants. Basically, these process have to do with information. To state it simplistically, cellular processes are concerned with moving proteins around. But proteins are manufactured in the cell through a complex coding process that uses software instructions stored in the double helix molecule known as DNA. The various software modules are called “genes” which refer to a specific region of the DNA molecule. This molecule in found in the nucleus of every single cell, and is the most efficient information storage device in the universe.

Now those of us in engineering, particularly electrical and software engineering, are very familiar with “circuits” and “software code.” The modern microprocessor like the one running the PC that you are using to read this page, is at its heart a combination of electrical circuits and on board software code (in a read only memory or ROM for example). Each move made by the microprocessor is dictated by the coded instructions that it receives from various memory units, just like what happens in a biological cell. Except each cell is much more complex, and furthermore is self-reproducing. Think of it like this: suppose each Pentium IV could produce an identical Pentium IV using only materials available to it locally. In actuality, a Pentium IV requires an elaborate set of manufacturing elements found in clean rooms that approach a billion dollars in cost. The cell, on the other hand, does it using just the stuff you eat! (Even those greasy burgers from Mickey D’s…)

This common sense comparison between human-designed processors and the workings of the biological cell have led a small, but increasing number, of scientists to say about the cell: “it must have been designed!” (See for example Michael Behe’s book, Darwin’s Black Box.) These brave souls have risen up, under the umbrella name of “intelligent design,” to challenge the ruling paradigm of Darwinian evolution, which says that all these complex biological objects we see only appear to be designed: they really evolved by undirected natural processes that didn’t have them in mind to begin with. Readers interested in the ID movement are directed to www.arn.org

But back to Adam. Could he have died of cancer? I, of course, don’t know. A second conclusion one can draw from the article above is that cancer arises in stepwise fashion as a result of 4 to 6 genetic mutations. Normally, these mutations are initiated by environment factors (tobacco smoke being the most famous) and require time. That’s why most of the people Susan and I see in the cancer centers we go to are older. They’ve lived long enough to have the 4 to 6 mutations finally take place over their lives. ( In Susan’s case, the mutations were given a head start since she was born with one of the mutations in place already. This was a single missing letter “A” in the genetic code that has to do with cell reproduction in breast and ovary cells.)

Since Adam and his early descendants all lived extremely long lives (by our standards) he certainly had years and years to allow these mutations to build up. On the other hand, maybe he just caught the flu and died of a viral infection. Ah, viruses! They have cells also, and thus exhibit the same biological complexity as a human cell, for example. In other words, they too appear to be designed! In fact looking at the cancer map above with all its complexity suggests that cancer itself is designed by an intelligent agent!
So who is the intelligent agent? For Christians it is not hard to see that the Intelligent Designer of the biosphere is none other than Jesus Christ the Son of God. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. (Colossians 1:16).

But what about objects that aren’t good, but bad, like cancer and viruses? Was He the creator of these also, as part of the judgment on man after the fall of Adam? Or could there be another intelligent agent for bad things like cancer and viruses?

In a recent book entitled No Free Lunch, the mathematician Bill Dembski develops his idea that information cannot be generated by natural forces, but rather it must be created by an intelligent agent. We see that every day in the activity of human intelligent agents, such as those that wrote the software that runs this program called “Word for Windows.” So could a human agent have created the complex information processes associated with viruses and cancer? Not likely. The finest minds among us have yet to figure out how cancer “works” much less how to cure it. What other intelligent agents are candidates? The Bible would appear to give us 3 other choices beyond a human agent: God Himself, angels, or devils (including the prince of devils, Satan). Both angels and devils are presumably highly intelligent beings with the possibility of “designing” things, including disease.

Now here’s where we get speculative. There’s an enticing reference in the (English translation) of the book of Job, which some scholars tell us is possibly the most ancient of the Biblical texts (older even than the books of Moses). Here it is:

“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. (Job2:11ff)
The dialogue between the Lord and Satan is interesting as regards who will strike Job with a physical illness. Satan tells the Lord to “stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones.” But when the Lord acquiesces to Satan’s request, He says “he is in your hands” and indeed the end of the passage indicates that it was Satan who did the afflicting.

So, is it possible that Satan is the intelligent designer of viruses and cancer, and a host of other illnesses that afflict humankind?

In the New Testament we see another interesting connection between disease and demonic activity. For example:

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. (Mark 1:32ff)

In this passage from Mark’s gospel we see Jesus healing diseases and casting out demons simultaneously across a spectrum of individuals in an entire village. This is certainly consistent with a linkage between demonic intelligence and the creation/existence of disease.

This explanation might work for influenza viruses, say, or the bubonic plague. But cancer is a more complicated situation. As opposed to a distinct creation, it seems to be a defect in an intelligently designed system, namely, the process of life itself at the cellular level. Usually, this defect is generated by an environmental factor, like a cosmic ray or a tobacco carcinogen, etc.

This leads to an intriguing question. If Adam has passed the test regarding the forbidden fruit, and therefore obtained the right to eat of the tree of life, would he therefore have figured out how to overcome these environmental factors and provided for himself the cure for cancer? Or perhaps the fruit itself would have changed his cellular processes to insulate them against his environment. Or perhaps the environment itself would have changed. Of course, it could be argued-and probably is held tacitly by most Christians-that had the Fall not happened, there would be no disease at all. Implicitly in this view the processes of life would somehow be shielded from environmental factors so the 4 to 6 mutations would never happen.

Human curiosity loves to speculate-just read some neo-Darwin “just so” stories about evolution, or cosmologists’ conjectures on oscillating “big bang” universes. But with no data there is no way to confirm or deny the speculations. Likewise so with the speculation on Adam. Perhaps someday in eternity we will know the answers to these “what ifs”; but more likely we will be told that such “what ifs” are inappropriate questions in the first place. Although Adam had a true choice, in the mystery of God’s providence there was no way the Fall could not have happened, given that the Lamb of God was foreordained from eternity to bear His people’s sins.

So where does that leave us vis-à-vis cancer? It appears our generation has been given the opportunity to overcome this disease through the means of medical research in the spirit of the original pre-Fall commandment to Adam to subdue the earth. As the microscopic understanding of this part of the “earth” is enlarged at the molecular level, ultimately one hopes that cancer will be defeated. (On the other hand, a true plague of our times: HIV seems almost invincible.) When cancer is finally conquered, what is the spiritual implication? Unfortunately, in our secular society such victories as the one over polio two generations ago, are viewed as the triumph of science over against, say, the “superstitions” of religion. Yet, the conquest of polio from the Christian perspective can and should be regarded as a spiritual victory also, just as Job’s eventual healing was.