Living with a xubby Xicano

How To: Shop at a Local Market

2011-11-13T08:22:00.001-08:00

So, you've walked into a local flea market or multi-vendor boutique or someplace similar.

These can be interesting and fun places, often showcasing products and items you won't see in main-stream stores.

Of course, you can walk through acting like an oblivious, rude, self obsessed idiot or you can actually take some time and keep a few things in mind that will make your time in the market place an enjoyable experience for everyone.

1) You've taken the time to go into a market place with many different vendors and types of products. It is really a waste of time for you to speed through the place without really looking around and seeing what there is. Who knows, you may just miss something you've been looking for or had an idea of buying for awhile. Take your time, enjoy the experience.

2) You spend the whole time talking on a cell phone or texting, etc and you don't really "see" anything. Again, what's the point of being there if you're not going to mentally be there? Many vendors have put in time and effort to create a nice presentation of their products. It's nice if you could at least take the time to pay attention.

3) We look with our eyes, not our fingers. There's a little rule we should have learned as children. Yet all too often people are not only not guiding their children in a market, they are just as guilty of handling and rummaging everything they see.

It's fine if you want to see something that interests you more close up. However, just grabbing and touching everything absentmindedly or letting children roughly "play" while you don't pay attention to them is a recipe for trouble.

It's far too easy for careless hands to accidentally break something that they shouldn't have been touching in the first place. Remember, if you break it, you bought it.

4) Unfortunately, more and more flea markets are starting to look like over grown yard sales and second hand stores. Part of this is due to the increased awareness and popularity of the "Storage Wars" activity of people buying out the contents of storage unit auctions when people have abandoned or can't pay for their stored items.

The real problem here is that customers walking through these flea markets now expect every vendor to haggle and drop prices to used or pre-owned product levels.

Many vendors though are still selling brand new and often custom made products that don't warrant such pricing as the second hand vendors and it is considered very rude to expect vendors of new and custom products to sell for the same pricing as those who sell pre-owned/used stuff.

Please pay attention to what kind of vendor you are interacting with and act accordingly.

5) Most markets have many different people, sometimes from different places and speaking originally different languages. In the U.S. most flea markets don't care if you speak another language, but most require that at least English is spoken. This isn't always the case, but as the old saying goes, "When in Rome..." Most vendors have the sense to speak English themselves or have someone with them who does.

However, there are occasions where a vendor does not speak English or have someone with them who does. This does not mean you as a customer need to create a scene, cause a disturbance or berate loudly vendors (or other customers for that matter) who do not speak English.

Please feel free to take your concern to the manager of the marketplace. you do not have to give any particular vendor your business, so don't, but please don't make the whole marketplace un-enjoyable because of your concern with one vendor.

If you keep an open mind, stay aware and mind your manners, the marketplace can be a fun and interesting place for you and everyone else.

Hello, here's what I think

2011-11-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm just one person living here in America that most of you don't know or give a rat's patoot about. That's fine by me. To be dead honest, I don't give a rat's patoot about most other folks either.

I've talked on other blogs recently about how the Constitution allows each person freedom of speech. The right to express yourself. I also noted how the Constitution doesn't say we have to pay one bit of attention or care one whit about what everyone is expressing.

You can say it, we don't have to give a chitlin about it though. I think that's pretty cool.

Yet, we have a lot of people who seem downright militant about trying to make other people not only listen to their story, but try to guilt them or use other emotional bribery to make people accept it as written in stone truth and fact. That is so not cool.

For example, I hear every frickin day about people pushing a gay, lesbian, weirdo freakshow agenda.

I know homosexual people (I refuse to use the word "gay" to refer to homosexual. Gay means happy, not horny)with the unspoken understanding that I live my life and they live their life every day without even discussing each others sexual lives. We don't care.

We go to work, do our jobs, are confident in ourselves respectively and the world goes on.

Then there are the people who jump and scream on the tv and in parks everywhere else demanding that people are hateful and vicious if we don't all happily go along with their personal hangups, gender confusions and general idiocy. To them I say, go away.

If you want to dress like you don't know what gender you are, that's your problem, not mine and no, I don't "have" to accept your exhibitionist abnormalities.

The law says that regardless of how you pray, dress, speak politically, etc.. I can't deny you a place to live, a means to take care of yourself and be educated, etc..

I have no problem with that. But I don't have to accept your deviancy. I don't have to think of it as "normal" and I don't have to agree wit it. So take your noise to someone else, somewhere else.

I specified the politicized homosexual groups here, but really, this applies to just about anyone who thinks that just because they want to force people to pander to their whims that we just have to do it.

No, this country is beautiful that way. Say what you want, the gov't won't arrest you or punish you for it.

Don't think that everyone else on a personal level has to give it two thoughts though. Political correctness holds no sway with me.

I don't have to like you, be your friend, give you a christmas present or drop you a few dollars when your down. Same goes for you to me.

You can't demand respect. It has to be earned. Everyone is a bit different on what it takes to earn our respect. Some people give it freely, some rarely if ever.

Nothing in the Constitution says we have to respect each other. It says we have to respect each others Constitutional rights, that's it.

You want my respect? maybe, maybe not. If you do, demanding I give you something that I don't feel you deserve ain't gonna make it happen.

No matter how loudly you yell, cry, harass, threaten or accuse.

Cuz I don't care. It's my right.

A smart person knows when education is necessary or not.

2011-11-06T03:13:00.000-08:00

Here's what I thought was an interesting question.

Does "everyone" really "Need" an "advanced" education?

I am inclined to think the answer is "no".

As a society that has knowingly created artificial boundaries and "classes, we seem to love to create hoops that people must jump through to "prove" they are worthy of recognition that do not necessarily have anything or much at all to do with what might actually be necessary to have comprehension of.

First of all, not everyone aspires to be an accountant, Doctor, IT Specialist, etc.. and so on.

Some folks just don't think along those lines, other folks simply aren't capable of thinking along those lines.

As a matter of fact, education has become so synonymous with intell8igence that as a society, far too many people believe that an un-educated person (meaning formally, in a school building) is also un-intelligent as well.

Intelligence and education are two different things though.

Personally, I think we have far too many educated idiots wandering around getting paid to look smart and act smart without actually being smart. Simply educated.

At the same time, there are countless people in the world who accomplish incredible things with only the things they have at hand and the people around them willing to help.

The things we value the most, like leadership skills, integrity, courtesy, problem solving, relating to others, etc.. are things that are learned but not necessarily taught in a classroom. These are things learned by experience, observation, and practice.

Sadly, unless we have a piece of paper saying that certain people at a certain institution recognize that you paid to learn these things from them, most people refuse to acknowledge it.

The piece of paper is about money and class-ism. You can change your "class" by making more money.

I say, don't climb the class ladder. Stay as far away from it as possible.

If you want and find you have a need for advanced education, it should be there for you and you should be able to pursue it if you want.

If you don't have such a need, then don't feel bad or guilty or somehow less than anyone else about not having said advanced education.

The American dream was never about making more money, it was about being who you want to be. It has been corrupted and co-opted by people playing the class-ladder game.

The American dream is about opportunities. About making choices for yourself and not forced to live by the rules of a group, religion or government.

ONE of those choices is the ability to accumulate wealth, IF that is what a person desires. If you are one of those people, fine,so be it, pursue your wealth and I hope you enjoy it by (I also hope you obtain it legally and ethically).

There are so many other choices we can male in our lives, for our lives that don't necessitate the accumulation of wealth. Those are viable choices as well.

Don't allow the one choice of wealth accumulation to be the standard, the measuring stick against which all other choices are made.

Money is not why one should choose advanced education in their lives. Goals, life pursuits, those are what should be your primary motivations, for wanting an advanced education.

You don't need an advanced education to be "smart" or intelligent. You were smart or intelligent without that education. Education only gives you more information, more tools to use as an intelligent person. Education isn't what makes you smart in the first place.

Re-invent or go away

2011-11-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing more stories and articles about the "death" of local radio. This has been given lots more attention what with ClearChannel razing loads of local DJ's and programming recently.

The advent of Pandora, Spotify and other online services has many people predicting the demise of radio in general.

I think not.

As usual, technology has caused a platform shift and this will force local businesses to refocus and find ways to make their product more relevant.

Online content providers are the Walmart of the media world. Local small vendors and retailers have been dealing with the big money, high tech, and massive stockpiles of the Walmarts and Targets of the world for years now.

Local businesses must become locally relevant. They must offer something that the big, bland, every customer is anonymous stores do not or cannot provide.

Usually that is personality, customer focus and specialization and niche markets.

Local radio and television has to do the same thing now. Adapt, specialize, customize. Be unique and stand out.

Money is scarce, people who want to buy local and support local businesses find themselves shopping the big boxes because it boils down to "Do we eat this week or do we have principles this week." for so many of them.

However, show people the value of your local product. Show them that they will save money in the long term using your better product. Show them you know what their immediate, local needs are and how to best address them instead of applying generalized and vague solutions.

Believe it. Do it.

2011-07-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a day or ten since I posted here last. I have been working very hard and trying to make the world make my oyster. Well, at least my oyster cracker.

In a world full of blogs and webpages and social media, with everyone spilling everything to anyone who will read it, I find myself writing as well.

Why? Because I find it therapeutic. Also because it helps to see things in writing. Makes things easier to grasp when it is in tangible form like the printed word.

Another reason, perhaps the most important, maybe someone will be helped in some way by reading what I write. I have no problem leading by example. Even if it turns out I am the bad example you should not follow. At least someone learned what not to do because of me. If it helps them, so much the better.

One thing I want folks to understand is that I write what I do and I do what I write. Kind of like doing what you say you will do and saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

What I think I really want to get to today is believing.

Believing is very important to doing. If you do not believe something can be done, you will not do it.

If you do not believe some should be or will be done, it will not happen.

It will never even come close.

It all starts with believing. I believe I can make this small, family business work. I believe it is possible to live up to ideals and values and not crash and burn because of them.

I believe that money is not everything and that living a life I value is worth every bit as valuable as any money I bring in.

I believe a good life is not in spending money and accumulating things. I believe that it's about selling yourself and showing people you are worth their investment.

I believe it's not about being popular. It's about doing what is right.

Doing these things is not always easy. Somedays, it's not even easy to believe in them.

When you stop believing, you stop doing. You don't even try. No effort, no investment, no accomplishment.

The best is when somebody believes in you.

There are days I am tired, I am distraught, I am stressed. I am having trouble believing.

It seems like on days like that, when things seem at their lowest and the Creator is using me as his jester to laugh at, not with, someone elses belief carries me through.

Like when, on those days, when I feel like just giving up, one of my kids will do something. They will come out of the blue with it. They will show me they believe in me. Even if it's a simple drawing or a quick poem or telling me a secret or a story. It never fails to remind me that I am not alone.

They show me that they believe in me, even when I am having trouble believing in myself.

Then, I go on and do what I need to do anyway, and things get better.

It's not just about cutting spending

2011-02-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

Normally I would save this kind of discussion for the other forum "American-ated" but it's not really about the constitution, it's more about how people think.

Everybody and their brother is getting all fired up about proposed slashes and cuts in federal and state spending.

The real problem isn't the changes that are being proposed, it's the thinking that brought them to this point to begin with.

The idea that the government should be doing everything for everyone is un-realistic. the fact that they try to anyway reeks of people who desire a nanny state. People who want everything done for them.

May I put it simply?

The government should not be involved with what some people want. Their concern is with what all people need.

Big difference.

I talked in another post about how the government spends it's money hiring it's own people to do the jobs that private business should be contracting with them for. I think it's very important for the government not to try to do everything itself. Not to make guarantees it has no business making.

In general, we as a people have decided that health care for everyone is important to us. What we disagree about is how to make sure it happens. Who pays for it, who provides it. How to make sure those scumbags who always find their way into the market don't get away with ripping people off. Those kinds of things.

A healthy population is a strong, working, armed services capable population. It is in the country's best interest to have decent health care for it's citizens. That doesn't mean the government has to pay for it all. They just need to see to it that it happens and that it happens fairly. Or at least as fairly as possible.

There is an old song that has been talked about for decades. "Live and let die". No truer words have ever been spoken. We are a people who have been fed the myth that everyone can live forever. That everyone should live forever. The sad truth is. That's not how nature works. The more we struggle against natural order, the more we convolute things and often make them worse.

People will die, we are made to die. it is asinine to fight to keep someone alive who does not want to be or cannot survive on their own. How many times are we shown the stories of people that laws and stubborn relatives keep alive on feeding tubes and breathing machines against their will and against what would naturally happen without the intervention.

We want to play this mental game that we won't let someone kill themselves to escape the pain and misery of disease and injury. At the same time, we honor and support someone willingly joining the military with a high chance of being sent to the front line of somewhere where intense battles rage and soldiers are sent home by the thousands.

What hypocrites we are. One group volunteers to die and we applaud them, another groups begs to be allowed to die and we refuse out of "mercy".

It's how we think. So what if we cut funding and slash budgets now. If we don't change how we think about things, we will do the same things that got us to this point in the fist place.

What's the point in that?

Those Sunshine People

2011-02-13T05:13:00.000-08:00

I think there ar , when it gets boiled down, two kinds of people in the world. There are Sunshine people and there are dark people.

I'm not talking about colors of skin now. No, I'm not.

I'm talking about people who are ruled by fear and people who accept fear and move on.

Sunshine people are the folks who are terrified by the dark. What is the dark, it's the absence of light. When suns die and stars twinkle out, what is left is the darkness. Sunlight is not forever. Darkness is.

Cities are contraptions of Sunshine people. They create cities to huddle together for they believe safety is in numbers. Even when the predators are among the invited.

They create artificial lights to bring light to the night.

Sunshine people do things because they are afraid. Dark people do things in spite of fear.

Dark people feel fear, but they have accepted the dark as what is and they move on. Whether the sun is shining, light or dark, they move on. They do not hesitate, they do not stop living. They do not seek out things to fight the darkness, they work with it.

They see light as a tool, to help them see but not as a replacement for darkness. They know the light will eventually go away. Batteries die, generators run out of fuel, the sun sets, candles burn down. The dark is always what remains.

Are dark people afraid? Of course they are. They don't let fear control them though. They don't let fear be the motivating force in their lives. Thy fight to stay alive not because they fear death, but because they love life. They accept death when it comes, but they hold onto life as long as it's there to grab onto. To enjoy it, to live it.

Sunshine people are afraid of death. They spend their entire lives running form death, hiding from it. Searching for ways to put off the inevitable. They don't enjoy their lives. They are to afraid and to busy trying to collect as many things as they can to ward the darkness off.

In the end, the true survivors will be the dark people. One day, the lights will go off. The sun will set and they will be over run by fear.

The dark people will keep living and doing as they always have. Adapting and doing things as they need to stay alive. While the sunshine people coming running, begging for shelter and protection form all the things they fear.

Income and go

2011-02-09T05:50:00.000-08:00

I have a theory. There are different philosophies about making money. Yeah, major intellectual moment huh?

Seriously though, By talking with people, reading history and learning even a little about economics, I had this thought.

There are "types" of income earners.

There are those who only seek to "make a living" then there are those who are into "profiteering".

I think that the majority of people, due to spiritual, religious, social and other values, are happy with "making a living" They don't need to be "rich" or have an abundance of money to be happy. They just want to live decently, feed, clothe and shelter the family. Educate the kids reasonably well.

They don't want to be destitute or in abject poverty, but they don't feel the need to have more than what they really need.

Then there are those who aren't satisfied with "making a living". They are "profiteers. They live and die in the pursuit of ever more money. They are the reason corporations and "corporate thinking" exist. They want to get the most money out of everything and everyone around them and they don't care what anyone else thinks or does (you see that exhibited mostly in the corporate structure of removing liability from the individual.)

No, I don't think the profiteers are the majority of the population. I think there are more and more people who are looking at that way of thinking than say, 25 years ago, but still, not the majority.

The problem is, the minority that is among the "profiteers" is not only in pursuit of money, they are in pursuit of "power" as well. They want not only the means to purchase, they want to have the ability to make anything a commodity to be bought or sold. This is one of the reasons you see so many profiteers involved in politics.

Many people try to create drama around the interaction of the two types. The create ideas of "class warfare" "haves vs have nots", etc..

The truth of it is, the "have nots" are mostly people who don't want much. The problem is, when you think like a profiteer, life is about accumulation. They don't care if there is a limited supply of money or goods or whatever it is, they just want to own as much of it as they can.

If they get more than their "fair share' as some would view those products and resources, they have no concern. It all comes back to they have accumulated it.

Of course, this leads to hoarding and in a society made of many people, hoarding is not commonly viewed as a good thing. Especially where those products and resources are limited as it is.

Hence, class warfare, have's vs have not's and so on.

To be a profiteer, as I mentioned before, is all about accumulation of what the person sees as valuable. I mentioned hoarding above as an extreme result of this.

In a community, we see this hoarding in people who do not accumulate money but in other things they come to find valuable, if only to them. Be it books, newspapers, secondhand products, etc...

Hoarding is seen as a mental disorder. I am suggesting that it is only the extreme example of a general disorder in people who are driven by profiteering. Mass accumulation of anything, like wealth, "power", property, etc...

The problem is, we are a wishy washy society. We want to be too flexible in our definition of things like that. If the profiteer in question is accumulating wealth, we don't say they have a disorder, we say they are "driven to succeed" or they are "highly motivated".

BullPucky I say.

It is what it is, whether we feel "comfortable" about it or not. it's funny how we value the notion of "telling it the way it is" and even exemplify it in our language and prose, " A rose by any other name is just as sweet." That means, call it what you want, like it or not, a rose, by definition, is a rose.

A "disorder" is a disorder. A flaw in the thinking or mental capacity. Call it what you will, it is by definition, a flaw.

In the U.S, we tolerate this flaw though as it is too closely concealed by "freedom". We have the right to accumulate possessions of our own to provide for our own and our family's needs and wants. no one can tell us how much is "too much'. Therin lies our problem.

We hesitate to begin down the slippery slope to saying how much accumulation of wealth and property and power is "too much" because if we start controlling that, where will the next line be drawn?

I say only this, I have found happiness not in the accumulation of things, but in the sharing of them. Take a look at your life, are you a profiteer or are you making a living.

Life is not something that can be stored on a shelf. It is meant to be shared, not squandered or collected.

Y'all come back now, Y'hear?

Un-disciplined thieves

2011-01-26T04:05:00.000-08:00

Ever notice how much we tolerate thieves while seeming to hold such disregard for them at the same time?

A buddy of mine has the opinion that basically, you can't expect better from people as a whole.
I notice there are a lot of people who figure that other people will steal from them and that justifies their own five fingered discounts as they go through life.

However, nobody likes a thief, at least publicly. Most times in private as well. Even thieves hate having things stolen from them.

Some people claim that it's inherent in people to follow a "might makes right" way of thinking. if someone has the might (say robbing you at gunpoint) then it's "oh well for you".

What about the thieves that don't use force, they steal behind your back?

Personally, I think it's a matter of people who are willing to do whatever to fulfill instant gratification.

For them it's a matter of "I want it and I want it now but I don't have the money to buy it or I don't want to spend my money."

There are people who steal using poverty as an excuse. There are poor people who wouldn't steal even if they were starving.

Again, personally, I believe there is a certain lack of personal pride in people who steal. They don't care about themselves or the way they see themselves enough to find the idea of stealing as beneath them.

Others have to make justifications in order to feel "ok" with stealing.

There has always been a mixed message since this country began about this. From the beginning, we have been told of the virtues of "making" our own way. We take pride in being rugged individualists. Able to make our own way and not needing to hand on anyone's coattails to survive.

At the same time, "taking" has been ever present at every point. The government took land and resources it wanted from other people. whether at gunpoint or by broken treaty. The government has no problem taking in the form of taxes. If you can't pay those taxes, it will take what you own and sell it.

Some could say that government is the biggest thief of all time.

I follow the notion that if it isn't mine, I leave it alone. I may want whatever it is, but, wanting isn't the same as getting. I have my pride.

If I want something, I will get my own. Either by buying it or by making it myself.

No, I don't think people are inherently bad. i think people are inherently greedy. I think people are inherently un-disciplined. I think people are inherently self-centered.

People want things all the time. There are a lot of promises this country makes, but there are very few actual guarantees.

Getting everything you want is not a guarantee. Being rich is not guaranteed, it's not a "right". "Getting" things is not a guarantee.

The Constitution of this country says that might is not right. It says that discussion, planning, debating, thinking, is right.

It says that we as a people agree to let laws bind everyone equally. Force is something that is reserved for a time when words fail and a few (or many) would try to use might to get their way instead.

What is truly incredible about the Constitution is that it is better than the people who wrote it. It is ideals and things to live up to. It is a set of standards we should hold ourselves to. It insists that we raise ourselves to the point of meting those standards.

It says nothing about taking something because you want it is ok or acceptable.

One thing I think most people lack now and is a leading cause of theft and other problems is that people have gone through their lives not knowing what the Constitution is. They don't teach it anymore.

People don't take pride in the rights they do have because they don't really know or understand them.

We have the right to pursue happiness, not just take it from someone else.

product replacement hassles

2010-12-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Oh ho boys and girls. It's gift buying time and I would like to help you avoid some trouble in the future.

Think twice before shelling out for product replacement plans at Walmart and other places.

Take this into consideration.

I bought a digital camera from Walmart in may this year. Nice little Kodak digital camera. Worked great until recently. Yep, paid for the product replacement plan, "just in case" Everything covered, no hassles.

WRONG!

Later this year, after using said camera for my business. A lot. Some glitches started coming up. Pretty odd. this camera has never been dropped or treated poorly in any way. let's call Walmart and get this fixed or whatever, after all, I bought the product replacement plan.

Well, it turns out that the product replacement plan only kicks in after the manufacturer warranty runs out. Kodak had warranty for a year. Sorry fella, go bother Kodak.

I call Kodak. They tell me I need to pay to ship the camera to a service center (in Ohio or Illinois or somewhere) They will then take 4 to 6 weeks or so after they receive it, to fix the problem.

Well, what do I do for my picture taking needs for the next two months I ask.

I dunno, she says.

Not good enough, I respond.

So then she tells me that they will send me 3 disposable cameras to use while my camera is being fixed. Of course, I will have to pay to have the film developed and then transfer to digital myself (because I bought a digital camera so I can post pics and video on my business web site).

This is getting to be a worse deal by the minute. Whatever happened to "no hassle"?

To make a long story short, I will use this camera as long as I can get use out of it but...

I will NEVER buy another Kodak camera again and I will NEVER pay for Walmarts product replacement ever again.

Be careful of these products and product replacement/insurance type plans. They are just another way to get more money out of you for little to no benefit to you.

Nostalgic for when the American Dream wasn't just about money

2010-12-01T02:22:00.000-08:00

I grew up in a weird time.

It was the end of one era and the beginning of another. I got to see things that had been in place for decades, if not longer.

The main streets were still populated by little shops and stores. So called "Mom and Pop" shops. Family businesses.

Small grocery stores, shoe stores, upholstery shops, taverns, bars, diners, restaurants, bakeries, auto repair, photography studios, game parlors, the corner drugstores.

I walk down the same streets now and I see empty buildings, national chain stores and still some small businesses. Yet, these new small businesses are different.

Not different in that many are started and run be "minorities". You could go into any neighborhood and find shops particular to the neighborhood going back to the start of the town.

No, I mean that there is a different feel about the new small shops. Like they are waiting to be the next national chain. Except for the maybe one third of them which feel like they are a front for something less 'nice' going on. Run down, unkempt, staffed by surly people. You've walked by them and maybe into them before.

They are missing pride in being a small business. In being a family business.

There are fewer of them out there as the government continually makes laws that favor corporations in taxes and considerations for loans and other considerations related to doing business.

Everyone is looking for the next big pile of money that they think corporations represent.

Have you ever noticed how many people think the American Dream is about accumulation of wealth?

Forget the "old" American Dream. Of being free and having opportunities to be your own person. To do what you believed in with dedication, work and commitment.

That's what the American Dream was. The ability to do it your way, beholden to no religious rules or government micro-management.

These days, everyone seems more concerned about what kind of big payoff they might get by being an investor in a big or soon-to-be-big corporation. Did you know that a corporation is a legal game? It's just a way to remove liability, accountability from the people running the business and who make the decisions. It's an artificial entity, a ghost. The people in charge a removed a step step. They answer only to investors who tell them one thing, "make more money".

The shop, store and other small, family business owners from the past weren't all looking to be rich. They wanted to be comfortable, sure. More importantly though, they wanted something that was theirs.

There is a special sense of pride you ave running a small business. One that comes from not just selling products or services. It comes from being part of something bigger. Community.

That means being responsible for what you do, People knowing you, knowing they could trust you (or maybe not trust you, there were some of those too), not just the company name or the staff members, but they had direct access to you, the business owner.

In so many ways, it seems like those days are gone. I can still see and go in to so many of those small shops from when I was younger. An experience my younger brothers even started to miss out on as I got older. Experiences my own kids likely won't ever really see, unless something changes.

Now, they won't even let people open up a shop in their own neighborhoods where some of the old ones still stand empty. Because the city has changed the rules, wanting to keep residential neighborhoods only residential. Meaning that now instead of running down to the corner or a block or two to get something, you have to go at least a mile in any direction to get something.

More of the city government telling you what to do "for your own good".

I have started a small, family business. It's service oriented and run out of my house and a rented storage facility for now. someday I hope to have a brick and mortar shop though. A place people can come in and ask questions, talk to me or buy some of the items I have to sell that goes along with the services I perform as well.

I want to get one of those closed up, small shops in the neighborhood and open it's doors back up.

To me, that's a dream worth having.

Making a choice

2010-11-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

I'm going to get serious again for a minute or two.

I am thinking of the world and of people and living and dying.

I ask myself, is it a life worth living if I am not living a life I choose?

Governments cannot wage war if we are not willing to be soldiers.

Other people cannot enslave us if we are not willing to be enslaved.

What are the options, you might ask.

Emiliano Zapata once said "I would rather die standing than to continue living on my knees."

He made a choice.Life is about making choices, including the choice to live or not live.

What Zapata was talking about was living a life of his choosing. A life where the choices were his to make. A life where a person chooses how they live for themselves.

Of course, the choice to live or not live is not an easy choice. Far from it, it is one of the most difficult and stressful choices one can make. Yet and still, it is a choice.

Sometimes choices are ours for the taking. Other times, they are thrust upon us.

Would you choose to be enslaved so that your children may live, even as slaves?

Do you choose your battles carefully. Not fighting today so that you may live to fight another day. That's fine, as long as you fulfill your promise. It is a promise you know, otherwise you simply chose defeat.

The Dylan Thomas poem which tells us

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

is yet another affirmation of choice. You can choose whether to meet the darkness, the night, the end quietly or you can fight and rage. You do not need to meekly accept and fade away as a whisper.

Though I am not a Christian, even the Bible gives us the same advice in the 23rd Psalm...

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

Once again telling you that you have a choice. You need not be afraid if you choose to follow what you beleive is right. (in that case it would be the teachings of the biblical figure Jesus Christ.)

The point is there though all the same. You have the power of choosing your path with your choices and actions.

The message of choice is universal. At the same time, choice is limited by belief.

Do you truly beleive that you have a choice? Do you believe that the choices available to you are "worthy" or "reasonable" choices?

Can you choose life or death without it being a "failure" or submission to defeat in your mind?

Is your life the life you choose or is it one you simply accept?

Halloween with a capital Z

2010-10-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Have you ever lived vicariously through your kids?

Up until now, I never really have. This Halloween though, all that changes.

My boy gets to be Zorro for Halloween and man am I excited. You know why? Because he is excited.

That's important, stick with me here.

I have been a Zorro fan since I was a kid. I grew up a xicano in the U.S. midwest. There were lot's of fictional heroes around. Superman, (not a xicano), Spider-Man (not a xicano), The Incredible Hulk, (Way Cool, but still, not a xicano). See the pattern here?

Now, I know as well as you do that there were plenty of ways to identify with those heroes like being a teenager (Peter Parker), or having different skin color(Hulk) or or wanting to be a vigilante and do to those creeps committing crimes what they got coming to them.

It's still kind of cool to have a hero who is a lot more identifiable, or in so many ways.

Problem was, I was not a skinny kid. I never got to go be a Zorro (cuz the other kids would have laughed me out of the neighborhood, as they did from time to time) let's face it, "husky" kids were not Zorro material. Kind of hard to swashbuckle in that situation.

But now, after telling my kids about Zorro and them watching the modern Zorro movies, my own boy, who is a perfect, not "husky", build is going to be the masked hero.

Isn't that the coolest dang thing ever?

Fake tears of concern over a burger

2010-08-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

I have seen it all now.

Just saw an article online lamenting some new additions to fast food restaurant menus.

It seems some over the top ideas like strawberry cheesecake pancakes and a cheeseburger with grilled cheese sandwiches for buns are making the "healthy eaters" nervous and complaining about the calories, etc....

Oh how bad for us. boo hoo. Insert wail, moan and gnash of teeth.

I think it's funny all these folks are so worried about calories and cholesterol when most of the beef has been chemically enriched to the point our stomachs are glowing after we eat.

The number of pesticides and genetically modified crops that we end up eating turn our foods into little more than cancer and disease transporters.

But yes, let's worry about being overweight and expanding waistlines. That makes sense.

Dairy cows are force fed so many steroids that dairy products can practically walk themselves to the stores.

but yes, all that sheese and milk is certain to ruin our figures and choke our hearts.

Let's not bother with how much high fructose corn syrup has been added to practically everything we eat and since it's introduction, juvenile and type 2 diabetes has skyrocketed.

No no, that's not important. We simply must eat "healthier". It is far better for skinny people to suffer from chemically induced cancers and diseases than for overweight people getting heart attacks on top of it.

Then, to top it all off, the "healthier foods they tell us to eat, the "organic" foods and the foods made on 'special' farms and ranches which are not made using the pesticides and chemicals the 'main' producers use are so expensive that 'po' folks can't afford to eat healthy.

They don't have the money to buy the food not made using poisons and chemicals that are absorbed into the substance of the food and is ingested with every bite.

Tell you what, the food is killong us no matter what we eat.

So, if I know I am going to die from eating and be it heart attack, diabetes or cancer that gets me, doggone it, I am gonna die happy and enjoy every greasy, cheesy, delicious bite as I wend my way to the grave on a tray that is pushed by the corporate farms and chemical companies who along with their well paid off friends in the government, are determined to kill me regardless of what I eat.

Someone wanna pass me the ketchup?

Shackled by the technological chains of "Productivity"

2010-08-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

How many people are aware out there that the USDA predicted back about two years ago that the U.S. would be importing maybe about forty percent (40%) of our vegetables from China within about five years?

How can that be right though? I mean, hasn't every technological "advance" in agriculture supposed to increase our production? Haven't we been told that the U.S. is the number one food exporter in the world? Haven't we all seen the news that told us we grow so much food that the federal government actually pays farmers NOT to produce or to minimize production of certain crops?

But now we are told by the USDA that up to possibly 40% of our vegetables needed for our use will be imported from China by 2013. Why on earth should that be the case?

I will tell you my friends, that the more we push technology to solve our problems, the more problems we create in society.

By creating advanced tech methods to grow more food with less manpower, we have fewer farmers. We have fewer people who know how to work in agriculture.

So when we have an economy that is greatly down, people can't afford to buy the local produce and grains, nuts, etc.produced by the commercial farms, they must downsize. What happens when there are fewer commercial farms or downsized commercial farms? What happens when they can't make enough money? They sell land and let workers go.

Who buys the land they sell? Developers for ever more suburban housing. When we need more crops when the economy improves, how do we reclaim that land? We don't.

Technology has cost us experienced farm workers, it has cost us land to grow crops on and it brings the agriculture system down to dollar bills, nothing more.

For all we are supposed to gain by implementing advanced technology in our society, it has only cost us dearly because instead of being used correctly, to supplement the work and abilities of people, it has been used to replace people instead.

Technology is supposed to prevent things that are 'missed' by people, such a salmonella outbreaks in eggs and meat being recalled due to contamination. Instead, because of the increased production, we find ourselves facing ever bigger and far reaching recalls that the technology missed.

Don't get me wrong, I love technology as long as it is used in it's proper place, as a tool.

Computers aren't meant to replace person to person communications, only facilitate them. We have studies and polls that show us that more and ever more people in today's world feel isolated and alone though.

People aren't just using computers to enhance phone service and communications, they use them to create virtual worlds where they can escape. They surround themselves with games that become ever more advanced and attempt to make the virtual world as or more appealing than the real world.

No wonder they feel isolated and alone. They have imprisoned themselves in technology.

The has come folks to "de-tech" ourselves. To re-connect to the real world around us. Put computers and machines in their rightful places as tools while we still work in the fields and the production plants and every other area.

Take a look at the movie Wall-E, that wasn't fiction my friends, that was prophecy. it was a warning that we are too dependent on technology to do things for us instead of just assisting us to do them.

Halloween Month is coming

2010-08-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

Yep, you heard right, Halloween Month.

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year and I take the whole month of October to celebrate it. Capping it off on the 31st with the Big Day and taking my chongos out to Trick or Treat.

What I like to do most to celebrate Halloween Month though is, I watch horror movies. All of them. From Micheal Myers to Saw and Vincent Price movies and old black and whites, the b grade, the big budget ones. Just all of them.

I play spooky music, like the theme songs from "Halloween" and "The Exorcist" and hokey, fun songs like the "Purple People Eater".

I read Edgar Allen Poe stories and poems (got a few recorded by people like Christopher Walken doing "The Raven") and others.

Other holidays get a month to celebrate, like Christmas. Heck, Christmas music is played thanksgiving anymore and Christmas displays and products are on the shelf about that time as well.

So, I celebrate Halloween for the whole month. I have a reason to do so. I hate fear.

Moreso, I hate being controlled by fear. Won't do it. Nope, nuh uh.

Halloween is the time of year to spit in the face of fear. To mock it and show that not only can we live our lives not under it's frozen spell, but we openly challenge it.

I personally defy fear. I must admit, I have done some pretty dumb things in my life just to show I wasn't afraid. A testament to my fearlessness and my idiocy at the same time.

The Halloween holiday gives me a chance to celebrate conquering fear and driving it back into the shadows. I will mock fear by wearing it's own face as a mask. I will undermine fear by watching horror movies and yawning at the 'worst' parts.

I will challenge fear by pinching that vampiress on the butt and taking her candy as I leave the door. (OK, I might not pinch her butt, but it sounds like fun, heh heh)

That's a lot of fear defying. It takes more than one day. I have to spread it out and pace myself.

Oh yes, Halloween month is coming and all the fearmongers out there beware, if you think you are scary, you ain't seen me yet.

MWA HA HA HA HA HA

My (Super) Hero

2010-05-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

I am now going to admit that I am possibly the biggest fan of "EL mariachi" by Robert Rodriguez out there.

A mexican, gun slinger who gets the hottie and busts up the bad guys with one of the coolest assortments of violent weapons ever assembled in a guitar case.

He's tough, he's not afraid to bleed, he sticks up for the innocent yet comes down on the really bad guys like a steel safe full of bricks.

He encourages women to be self sufficient and strong as well as effeminate. He takes little kids who just need someone to give a darn about them and gives them encouragement and mentoring.

He's not afraid to pistol whip some smart mouth trash talking punk who hits a woman.

I watch the movies and I think that someone has been peeking into my macho fantasies.

The "El Mariachi" movies are a link back to the spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood, just with a spanish language script and perhaps a little bit more music.

Have I mentioned the terrific soundtracks to the movies?

You can have your Batman or Captain America.

El Mariachi is my favorite hero anyday.

Living is Doing

2010-04-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well now, it's been a day or two since I last posted here.

I originally set out for this place to be humorous most of the time. Sometimes though, it's not a bad thing to take things a little calmer.

One of the things I try to teach my kids that I have learned is that life is for doing. Not just talking about doing or thinking about doing, not even wishing one can do something, but actually getting out there and doing things.

What things? Anything you set your mind to.

There is a saying that thought without action is a waste of time and action without thought is a waste of energy. I agree with that statement.

When we go about our lives, we need to learn all we can about those things we intend to do. We want to not only do things, we want to do them right. We want to do them the very best that we can. That means we must take it upon ourselves to learn about what we are doing.

So many things in life look good "on paper". We live much to often in theory. We become idealists in the way we want and expect things "should be'.

Having expectations is a good thing, having ideals and values to live up to is a good thing. When these thoughts and ideas never take form or are never put to the fire of seeing how they work out, not just "on paper" but in practice, They are mere words that have gone through our mind and bear little impact on what we have actually done with our lives.

I can say " I am a honey bee conservationist and I will make it my personal objective to keep honey bees alive and healthy." all day, every day of my life. If I never 'DO' anything with Honey Bees though or on their behalf, then I never really was sincere or truly intent on 'being' that kind of person.

Think of all the phrases that we have in society that reflect a common appreciation for 'doing'.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

"The proof is in the pudding."

All of these reflect wanting to see something be done instead of merely said or thought about.

Learning in itself is actually 'doing'. The act of going out and finding, researching information about the tasks and objectives you intend to pursue is doing something other than just thinking or talking about it.

It is an act of obtaining information, gaining knowledge. However, it cannot be alone. It must go hand in hand with the experience of doing that which you are studying.

"Doing" in and of itself is a combination of educated thinking and experienced action. Wen you first start doing something, it may be you have little to no experience at the start, but you are undertaking the action anyway and are gaining more experience by the doing.

When people ask me "How am I supposed to learn 'this'?" (whatever 'this' is) I reply, "learn by doing".

Meaning, there is no better way to learn to do something than by actually doing it.

You can 'do it' with the direction of someone who has already done it, or you can 'do it' by having a manual or book about it in front of you, or you can 'do it' simply by taking that which you have learned and just going for the gold, so to speak. At any rate, you are 'doing' that which you wanted to learn and can gain the precious experience of seeing what on the paper works and what is not working.

Nike had it right when they said "Just Do It."

Money and bees

2010-02-06T05:03:00.000-08:00

For anyone who actually gave half a gollygee, I am a beekeeper. Well, I call myself a bee technician.

At any rate, it behooves me to make most, if not all, the equipment I use, myself. This serves more than one purpose. I like to work with my hands, I know what I am getting (because I made it) and I can save a lot of money doing it myself. Let me stress this, I can save A LOT of money.

Buying beekeeping equipment retail is convenient, to be sure. However, until you have done enough business with a vendor, you don't know what you're getting quality-wise until you have dealt with them a few times, and what if they change suppliers? You really are not 100% sure on what you will be getting.

Not only that, retail prices for beekeeping equipment is not inexpensive. So not inexpensive. Don't forget, shipping costs are tacked on to those retail prices as well. Holy Moly.

Heck, buying bees themselves (yes, people will sell and buy honey bees) is not low cost either. You can spend anywhere from $65.00 to about $125.00 for one colony of bees. Just the bees.

Me, I don't buy bees. I decided to go collecting them. When someone calls the county or a certain exterminators, because honey bees have landed in their yard or moved into a wall, I go get me some free bees.

Now me, I am not judgmental. If someone decides it's in their best interest to pay retail for all these things, more power to them. There are a few reasons people pay retail. They are not good working with their hands, convenience, They like to flaunt how much they spend to others, the list goes on. To each their own I say.

If someone wants to know how to save a bit of their money by building or doing it themselves, I'm always glad to show them how I do it, it may work out for them as well.

Of course, I am always one to negotiate. I see a sticker price and think to myself, {I bet I can get a better price than that.} You never know until you ask. I have no problem with a vendor sticking with a set price, it's their prerogative. But I prefer to deal with people who like to deal. They want to sell their stuff, I want to buy it (maybe) let's talk a bit my friend, see if we can find something agreeable to both of us.

Yes, I know there are those people out there who see negotiation as the same thing as asking for a handout. You are essentially begging for freebies by attempting to negotiate, to these people.

No, it's true. Some people insist on paying sticker price and buying retail at every turn. it makes them feel good. It makes them beleive they are 'real' Americans who support American business by paying full price for everything. Anything less is just communist.

To those people, I say, knock yourself out, have at it, go to town. I don't agree with it, but I certainly won't step on your personal freedoms to spend in a way I think is foolish. This is America you have the right to live foolish if you want, doggone it!

It's not just beekeeping. Not everyone is independently wealthy. Just to further scandalize those who think of being so wealthy, not everyone wants to be.

For many of us, we want enough to cover our needs. We don't seek to buy happiness, we can make our own happiness thank you. All we want in terms of money is to obtain the necessities of life, food, clothes, place to live, etc... For some of us, anything and everything beyond that is negotiable.

None of it is guaranteed. So, we learn to make the best of things with what we have and help ourselves and help others around us and in the end, even without all that money, we get along pretty well for the most part.

Which takes me back to beekeeping. I got into beekeeping to work with honey bees, to have fun and do some good for the bees. I didn't get into it to spend a lot of money. Because I take the initiative to build my own hives and negotiate where I can, I am able to do just that. At the same time, by doing these things, I improve on skills, I meet new people and I have even managed to help others seeking ti do some of the same things. So, even the bit of money I have spent, has gotten me so much more than just what I paid for.

Life isn't just about how much it costs to live, it's about what you get out of living.

Man, that's a lot of enchiladas

2010-01-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I can't help but wonder what is going on in the world.

I'm afraid to turn on the news, it's more scary than a Halloween movie. Even Micheal Myers has got more sense than some of these people.

Maybe it's just the of the 24/7 news cycle. They got nothing else to fill in the space or time till actual news happens, so they go digging up anything remotely interesting to a public that has been jaded beyond sensibility.

We have a government that wants to increase the national debt by trillions.
hear that?, T R I L L I O N S, that's a lot of enchiladas amigos.

In the United States, we still have un-educated people, under-educated people, homeless people (even some who didn't choose to be), children who live in homes where the animals are treated better, homes where the new immigrants seem to have forgotten where they immigrated to and demand that they and their children still live as though in the 'old country'.

But hey, let's spend trillions of dollars we don't have, our kids won't have, neither will their kids and likely not their kids after that, on things like un-proven massive health insurance schemes that don't even do what they rare supposed to try to be there for.

Let's spend money on pork projects like building tennis courts and walking bridges over rivers that no one wants to go over.

Let's spend money to force people out of their homes so that the local government can sell it to some big companies that won't hire local folks but bring in immigrants who will work for minimum wage instead or less and create even less 'real' opportunities.

Better yet, let's spend the money on enchiladas and send them all over to everyone.

No one will be hungry and everyone will be a lot happier, that's for sure.

When a good marriage goes to...Taco Bell

2009-01-26T18:32:00.000-08:00

hola companeros,

You might never believe what craziness I just heard about.

One of my best friends from forever ago is getting divorced. I know, loco huh?

It gets worse. It's a tragic tale of brutality and unkindness. Here is this pobre little xicano, married to this uh, 'rubenesque' chica for about 10 years or so.

Turns out, someone was cheating. AND, got kicked out of the house on several occasions.

It's so sad when a bato has to go outside the house to get his needs met. What else was he supposed to do though?

She simply wouldn't do it for him anymore. As a matter of fact, it turns out, she quit doing it for him shortly after they got married.

To make things worse, she still expected him to do everything he always did, regardless of whether she capitulated or not.

It doesn't get much lower than that companeros. When a man and woman who get married with certain ..understandings and even expectations end up broken because one of them won't fulfill their sacred duties.

What was he really asking for anyway? Some display of affection, a little love. Just enough to know that he was appreciated que no?

NO no no. She wouldn't have it. She began holding out almost as soon as the ring was on.

Oh, she gave him plenty to look forward to before they got married. Back then, there were no undiscovered joys. They were almost perverse in the way they carried on, and she only encouraged him...Until.

She had him where she wanted him. Married and knowing he was a man of his word and faith. She knew he would never break his vows. She took full, unfair advantage of him.

He was a man in love, more, he was a man infatuated. She did things for him that were thought only to belong to gods and immortals.

Oh, she could cook.

I witnessed it myself before they got married. They would invite me over for dinner and I would arrive to a scene that was almost wondrous.

Tamales, sopa de arroz, tacos, enchiladas, and oh my God the frijoles. She did unnatural things, incredible things, with the beans.

It was like winning the lottery to be invited to a meal at their place. It didn't matter what meal, Breakfast lunch or dinner. She always had food. Tremendous food, lots of food. Tantalizing and intoxicating food.

Homemade corn AND flour tortillas. She made her own chorizo for God sake. Tamales made the old fashioned way with Puerco de cabeza. Oh lord, I am drooling just thinking about it.

Yes, she cooked for him like no other woman could cook. She served him like a king at the table. He would want for nothing when they were just shacking up.

He worked two jobs with overtime at each just to pay for the things she would cook.

He sacrificed, scrimped and saved to keep the pantry and refrigerator full. Anything she wanted, everything she asked for, he gave it to her. Just to keep her in his life, being his comida queen.

He proposed, she accepted. In the months after the wedding, everything went as it had before. Then, she began slipping in a TV dinner here. Picking up fast food. Within six months, she hardly cooked anything anymore.

He tried everything he could think of to salvage the relationship. He begged, cajoled, even tried to bribe her. Nothing doing. The kitchen was closed.

He began to sneak out, after work, stopping in at greasy little taco joints. Picking up a Gran Burrito at the trokas by the packing house parking lots.

He began to slip though at the end. She would find a smudged restaurant receipt or balled up napkin in his pocket or coat. Then the fight would begin. The accusations would fly.

She finally kicked him out. telling him she didn't want a man who couldn't be faithful to his wifes comida.

He desperately argues his point that no man should be cut off entirely just because they are her recipes and the right to use them.

"Meet me halfway", he insists. "I can handle chinese takeout every so often or frozen pizzas on a weekly basis, but give me something to live for."

Marriage is not something to take lightly, companeros. When you make a solemn promise in front of God and everyone to provide and take care of your partner, it is a lifelong promise.

If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

The Virtual Smokestack by Dude

2009-01-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

Oh man, you will not believe this. It is so hard to maintain the mellow. Lavender had this incredible idea last night.

We had talked about opening the Club, The Smokestack and thought it was a really great idea. Then, out of the blue, she says, "what if there were like, two smokestacks?" and I was lie" but I don't know if we can afford two of them, I mean, selling some of my artful things will most definitely get the club off the ground, but two of them, I just don't know.

But she was like, no way, we can have The 'real' Smokestack' in the club, but, you can have your own virtual Smokestack to tell people all about the different things like I tell people about in these posts.

I thought about that and I was like, my buddy the Xubby Xicano let's me borrow some space now and then when I really have to gt a story out, but, he is so not mellow, it might be cool to have a totally mellow spot to tell folks about the stories that run through my head.

Then, get this, Lavender said, what if instead of writing , I just talked to people, actually told my stories in person. That is AWESOME. What a rush. I could do like a mellow version on the radio or something.

So, a couple of my buds were talking it over and they thought it was a really cool idea. Everyone should be able to be mellow and it would be a lot of fun. Now, I have a place on the Internet Ican record a show, tell my stories and call it "the Smokestack" just like the real thing.

That is AWESOME!

Now, I know, I sound like I am being so not mellow right now, and 'm kinda being excited, but that's ok because I have Lavender to help bring me back down from all the excitement.

So, starting next week, you will get to hear me, Dude, like live and in person, telling you all about the way crazy stories about Lavender and me just trying to make it mellow in a way harsh world.

Just keep your eyes on this website: The Smokestack

Stay Mellow

HO HO Que Paso

2008-12-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

How sad. Some loco priest in Italia is telling people there is no Santa Claus.

He told children in a mass no less that "Father Christmas" is only a fable.

What is more sad is that he doesn't believe in Santa Claus. I wonder where he got that idea?

Santa Claus is as real as you and me. Now some of you might say, " Well Xicano, Santa Claus IS you and me." and you know what, you'd be right.

I am real, and you are real, so how can Santa not be real?

I can tell you for a fact. If it weren't for Santa Claus, my chitlins probably wouldn't have gotten fine things they have gotten over the years.

I am no friend of the Christmas holiday.

My wife says I make the Grinch, pre-who enlightened, look like a nice guy.

Unlike Santa, I hold a grudge. If my kids don't act right, I got nothin for em, not even coal., they're lucky my wife is the nice one out of the two of us.

I told one of my hijas one Christmas she was going to get a brick for Christmas, not even wrapped.

Yet somehow, magically, every Christmas morning, there are presents from the man in red and white.

Now I can tell you, as I sit in the living room late on Christmas Eve in my KC Chiefs football team t-shirt, I never saw the guy. Not Once.

Never so much as heard a reindeer fart.

There they are though, under the tree, year after year. Christmas presents in totally different wrapping than we used on the rest of the families gifts.

Looks like someone went to a lot of trouble to wrap them up nice and wow, they look like they cost a lot more than my cheap self will ever pay for some toys. I don't spend that much for me.

Yup, if it wasn't for Santa Claus, the very spirit of Christmas and giving and making the holiday special for children around the world, my ninos wouldn't get a dang thing but some clothes they needed and a brick. Just to show them I didn't forget who broke my razor or colored on my LazyBoy with magic markers.

Oh yes, Padre Pendejo, Santa Claus IS as real as you and I.

My kids count on it.

Living the American Dream, On twenty pesos a day

2008-12-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, maybe not twenty pesos, but not a lot more.

I look at my hermanitos and primos and everyday, I see them buying new toys like big screen televisions and Nintendo game systems and just gotta have that new mini-truck with the tricked out rims.

I see them spend their whole paychecks ( that's the ones that work, those little cabrones who just sit around with their hands out begging I don't EVEN want to get into.)

Ususally, it's gone in a flash. Concert tickets here, a tattoo there ( and there too? oh my!) A new stereo or amplifier, you know, everything but what they really "need".

Then, when the money is gone and the rent needs to be paid or the heat bill or water or whatever, they come crawling around to their parents and grandparents houses and , sabes que, they have the cojones to ask for a "loan" till payday, to help pay the bills. "Please Mami, please Abuelo, I got to get food for my 3 kids all by different mothers." "I need to keep the heat on for the 4 chongos I had with 3 different Daddies.".

They expect a bailout. Maybe they should hit up Uncle Sam instead. He's really good at bailing out people who can't handle their money.

It's the times. People just haven't figured out how to live within their means.

These chavalos think the "American Dream" is "Get it all and get it now". There's no sense of patience or thought of if they really "need" it. It's all about what they want. Gotta have it, gotta have it NOW.

Of course, the slick sales people and marketing burros keep pushing that thinking. They tell these rubes They can afford it, oh sure. You can buy this new car even if you only make 40 dollars a day. or are a day laborer. "Got a Co-signor Buddy?"

Now, it's funny as heck to watch these people go begging. and it's sad at the same time. The older generation who has managed to mostly hold on to some little bit of common sense, even though they didn't do a good job of passing it on, has to tell these youngbloods they can't have the "loan" or the help, because times are a little tougher and they have their own bills to pay.

I learned a lot from my grandparents. I watched them pay for things they had the money for. They didn't live on credit cards and loans. No cash, or sure plan to pay a loan off, then "it" didn't get bought.

It was OK to "Window Shop" as long as those things stayed in the store window.There were always priorities. Things like the house payment, groceries, Keep the car running. That kind of thing.

Fun things came on in when there was a little bit extra. They weren't huge on saving every penny, just making sure things were taken care of. Money was made for spending, They told me we need to spend money to "spread the wealth" ( which was just a funny reference to the weekly paycheck that didn't even resemble 'wealth' ).

I learned to keep back enough money to keep things going in case you got laid off or lost a job. Long enough to pay bills till you got another job. I keep enough to pay things for three months, if I don't have a new job in three months, something is very wrong or I am being too picky.

So, I sit around and I watch while they flaunt their toys and trinkets past me on holidays and get togethers'. I take all the jokes about my old car ( that's totally paid for and runs fine ) and my little house ( that has a payment I can afford even when I am out of work, which is rare ) and I just smile, or not.

I feel bad for my Tios and the viejos in my family who can't "help" these Dream Chasing cousins and relatives as much or at all anymore. They mean well, they want to to help. That's what we are taught family is for. To help out when times are tough.

What they forgot to teach these locos is that you don't go out there looking to make things harder than they have to be. A little self restraint, some self control can go a long way.

When the repo man pulls up and takes one of their new toys they can't afford anymore, I just pat them on the back and tell them, " That's the American Dream companero, Easy come, easy go."

Everyday Heroes

2008-11-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Veterans Day has come and gone.

It brought to mind the sacrifices and hard choices made by soldiers in difficult times and hard places.

Everyday since this past Veterans Day, I read the headlines and see the video of the days newest tragedies.

War in this place, violence and unrest in that place.

A man shot his girlfriend in one town.

A woman stabbed her husband in one neighborhood.

a 12 year old killed a 15 year old in some neighborhood.

Evey day. Right where you and I live, people are living in tough times and hard places.

There was the story recently, a man tried to stop a fight between one of his drunk buddies and some stranger at a bar. He was just trying to keep anyone from getting hurt.

His buddy shot him.

Was it a hard decision for him to make? Did he really expect to die breaking up a bar fight? All the guy tried to do was keep a couple of punch happy drunks from hurting themselves, each other and anyone else. Everyone at the bar was in shock. This man was known as a good guy. He had a family, a decent job. He got along with most folks they all said.

He made a choice.

He saw two guys starting up trouble and in his mind, I bet he saw that gun. Maybe not being pointed at him, but I bet he saw it being pulled in a state of drunken stupor and rage.

There was another story in the world news. Some terrorists broke into a business place in a middle eastern country and began taking hostages. Apparently, taking hostages wasn't good enough for their god, they began killing the hostages for being infidels and traitors.

A man was in the place with his 2 teenage sons. Apparently, one of his sons was seen to be a "traitor" because he spoke up against the killings, even though he was of the supposed "same" religion these hostage takers were.

The man was a pacifist. So the story goes. He only carried a handgun because he lived in hard times and a rough place. When they began to come for his son, the man mad a choice.

He pulled his hand gun and shot down two of the terrorists where they stood.

Yes, he died. There were three other terrorists and one shot him as he was shooting the two that came for his son.

However.

The terrorist who killed him didn't kill anyone else. The distraction caused by the father. The man who feared for his sons lives, who stood up to a troop of terrorists with automatic weapons with only a handgun and determination that his sons should not die, caused enough of a distraction for security guards in the building to take advantage of his surprise attack and eventually overtake the terrorists.

Some have called him a martyr. His sons say he never thought of himself as such ad wouldn't like to hear it of it now.

He wasn't a officer, not a soldier or even a security guard. He was just a scared man who had the courage to make himself take action to defend his family.

His sons and the people who were in that place call him a hero though. I would say I agree.

People make hard choices like that everyday, all over the world.

Everyday people who suddenly find themselves in incredibly difficult situations. Finding themselves forced to make hard choices.

These are my everyday heroes.

On the elections

2008-11-05T06:38:00.000-08:00

A horrible thing happened last night.

We replaced a crook with another crook.

Not to say that the other guy isn't a crook either, they both were.

Neither of the candidates will take any stance on politicians being bought out by corporate lobbyists.

The corporations will continue to buy the politicians votes with gifts and vacations and any other way they can sneak money into the politicians pockets.

Of course, if the politicians were stand up enough to not be bought out, the issue wouldn't be as bad, but the corrupting influence is there and isn't likely to go away on it's own until some leader with cojones throws them out.

By the way, the USSA ( United Socialist States of America) is still going strong by continuing to be led by party hacks who do as their parties tell them to vote and think.

What difference is there between the Republican or Democrat parties as the Communit or socialist parties?

They are all parties run by select groups of people with established platforms and ideologies that the politicians who accept their money and their support agree to push that platform.

Not a platform that can and might benefit all the people, or even most of the people, only those who ascribe to THE party. It doesn't matter what he name of the party is, it still boils down to one select group of people influencing and shaping policy that impacts everyone in the country, whether they are followers of that party or not.

Ridiculous.

If a man or woman wants to represent the people of their community in elected office, they should represent themselves, their ideas and their values. Create their own platform and present it to all the people.

If the people at large believe in that one persons platform, they will support him or her for their own merit.

That elected person then is beholden then to no one but the people at large, not some select party.

Someday,this country will be free.

When the elected leaders actually represent all the people and not just the corporations an the power parties.

When a man or woman stands up for themselves and holds their own.

Tis the season for political insanity

2008-10-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

Most of the posts here are for fun. At least, that's how I intend them to be.

This time, I want to be a bit more serious and discuss the modern world of American politics.

Now, I am not going to badmouth Democrats or Republicans. They simply aren't worth the time or expenditure of energy.

Speaking for myself, I think they are all crooks. Worse, I think they are all un-American. I really do.

Not just them either. I think the same way about members of the Libertarian party, the socialists party, and, come to think of it, any and every single political party there is.

Here's how I see it. Political parties are Un American and I think, should be unconstitutional.

Why you ask? Because when a candidate joins any political party, there is a tradeoff that takes place. in exchange for funding and resources, provided by the party, the candidate agrees to push for and represent the "platform" the list of ideas and commitments of the party.

Thus, the candidate no longer seeks to represent the best interests of all the people, only those subscribing to the ideals and concepts as delineated by the party platform. He or she is representing a small group or segment of the population and is no longer trying to find the best solutions for ALL of the citizens. regardless of party affiliation.

How is that different from communist party officials in any other country that is condemned by many politicians in this country?

Candidates agree to support votes and measures as approved by the party, regardless of the interests or effect on the rest of the people.

We see the impact of this every day on the news. It results in finger pointing and polarizing people into camps without actually resulting in coordinated and collaborative work.

Iam registered as an independent. I will not affiliate myself with any political party.

If any candidate wants to get my attention and earn my respect, he or she needs to run on an independent ticket and put together a platform of his or her own crafting.

If the issues and concepts are those that impact the society for the best overall, that will show and will be what I can get behind. That person. Not a party. Not a group of ruling elite. This can and should apply to every elected position in the government, at all levels.

The candidates should be concerned on the impact of laws and decisions on ALL of the people, not just a certain segment. Instead, we get parties playing to class envy, racism and numerous other social failings rather than looking at the overall picture. and how to provide the results that will turn out the best for results for the city, county, state, country...overall.

The way things are currently going, the choices we are offered are akin to getting our choice of muggers.

You can have mugger A who will only use a knife and may or may not be as lethal but certainly hostile or we can choose mugger B who has a gun and is less hostile but can pull the trigger just by getting over excited, whether he meant to or not.

Either way, we're still getting mugged.

Who taught you to do that?

2008-08-12T05:19:00.000-07:00

It's a question most all of us have heard from some adult as we were kids, usually our mother.

I read an article today by someone lamenting the use of animals for testing. Rather, he was lamenting on the reaction some people have in the form of using violence against researchers who use animals for testing.

He makes a comparison of those people to people who advocate capital punishment and even to war.

Who taught us to do that?

Why do people use animals for testing? It's a reason as old as people in this world. When the first people were looking around for things to eat, some of them learned to watch what the animals eat and don't eat.

From those first observations, people have looked to animals to see how they pick and choose. How they react and respond to various elements.

Modern animal testing is that habit of observation gone wild. As usual, people take things too far and only regret their actions when it's too late.

People have often taken cues from the animal world in what to do and how to respond in circumstances, especially "natural" circumstances, that they ( people) are uncertain what to do.

Did people learn to be violent from watching animals, or is it just something we happen to be good at all on our own?

Let's take Capital Punishment. The death sentence. This has caused boatloads of controversy among people. Where did we learn to do that?

Let's go ahead and look at animals again. Let's look at animals that travel in groups. Wolves, Lions, pick a group, it's ok.

Most often, we'll find that when one of the pack, the pride, whatever, has done something that the rest of the pack finds intolerable, one of two things happens. The offending animal is shunned, run out, evicted, banned and don't come back. Option two is, ostracizing isn't a good enough guarantee the offender won't do it again, so, buh bye. See Ya. Hasta La Vista, Baby. Better luck in the next world.

Harsh? Perhaps. Reality? Totally.

Even the animals are "logical" creatures. When anything threatens the overall safety and security of the group, they take action to remove the threat. it is not always just "survival of the fittest" especially where animals live in social groups. Most often, it's survival of the group.

That's where we, people come in. We are social animals. We group together to share food and resources. By taking care of our "herd", our "pack", we take care of every individual within the group as well.

Conversely, when an individual within the group threatens the safety of the rest, action must be taken. The animal, the person that threatens from within is more offensive than the one from outside the group. Not only because it has access to any and all of the members without their guard being "up", but because it is a betrayal of trust. Trust is one of the few things that keeps a social group together.

We don't necessarily trust people from outside our "group" say, someone from another country or village. Someone from another army. We are on guard because the trust has not been established. so when one of our own, one among us, betrays that trust, we are even more offended and prone to take extreme action.

Someone who betrays from within is someone who doesn't have the least regard for others. They have no "decency", no sense of community or loyalty. They are traitors and can be tolerated even less than the stranger. So what do we do with them, those violators of trust? What have we learned?

Do we send them away? To return no more among us? Banished. We used to. Some tribal communities still do when the "crime" is not a lethal one.

What if the traitor among us has killed one of the pack? How can they be trusted to not try to do it again? What if we banish them and they come back for the sole intent to kill more? They know where people sleep. Where they hide, where they store weapons because they were once one of us. They are the worst sort of threat.

So, is prison the answer? Does this person who broke the publics trust and violated the relationship, the bond of kinsmen, deserve to be fed, clothed and sheltered at the expense of the same community he/she preyed upon? That is one of the greatest arguments of our time.

The last option, the option reserved for those who perpetrate the lethal crimes. For those who kill and cause misery unspeakable to the whole. Death. It is the last option to guarantee that heinous person will not be able to kill or hurt again. When our backs are turned and we feel we should be secure, they take the worst advantage of the community's trust and faith.

Interestingly enough. In these times of great "sensitivity" to animals. When an animal is injured beyond repair. When the veterinarian says the animals pain is too great to be assuaged. When the public official proclaims an animal is much too dangerous to run free. That animal is "put down'. Killed. Euthanized.

We cannot be expected to sit in judgment of other people, who do we think we are? A God? No no and more no. But, we can sit in judgment of absolutely every other living creature on earth. We can decide which animals live or die. Our vanity knows no bounds when it comes to anything but people.

Is it really vanity though? Maybe it's just fear. Maybe we are just afraid that if we can give the ceremonial 'thumbs down' to another person, we realize, it could be us, watching the jury decide our own fate.

After all, an animal can't decide to kill us or not. At least, not the same way another person can. Sure, if the animal is hungry or threatened enough and the victim is able to be overtaken, the animal has just made that decision. But, not necessarily for the same reason.

Wolves in a pack have been observed to show care and empathy for others that have been injured or simply affection for cubs. They have been observed to show respect and allegiance to a leader. To say these animals are not capable of other "feelings" like fear or anger or show a sense of outrage when another commits an act of violence on another member of the pack unwarranted, is not reasonable either.

However, most of the time, just to get out of trouble, when my mom asked me, "Where did you learn that?" I always blamed my Dad.

Heh heh.

Survival of the fittest indeed.

Artful Things (by dude)

2008-07-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

Ya know, I like to do artful things. Like painting or drawing or doing screenprints for T-Shirts and stuff.

That's how I met Lavendar, ( She's my Main Lady, if you know what I mean) because of my artful things.

A bud of mine that always used to ask me to draw stuff for him, he would always give me some money for them, met her at his store one day, he runs a T-Shirt shop, and when she asked where one of the drawings on a shirt she liked came from, he told her I did it. So then, after talking to her awhile, my bud thought she was a lot like me, I guess he thought she was mellow too, and he said he would introduce her to me. He even called me an "artist', as if.

Well, they walked over to my place, cuz I only live like a block away from his shop, and when I opened the door, I saw her and was like blown away. This chick is HOT, I thought to myself. Then she said, "Dude" and I was like, "what?" and she said "what?" and I said, "well, you said dude, so I said what." Then she said "what's your name?" and I said "Dude". and she said "what?" Then all of a sudden, it's like a light came on and she said "oh, you're dude" and I said "right." So I said, "what's your name?" and she said "Lavender" I thought that was a way cool name cuz I really like that scent. So I asked her what her last name was and get this, she said " Skyy". Her name is Lavender Skyy, isn't that just Way Cool?

Then they came in and she was like "hey, I love your art and stuff". I was like "oh hey, that's cool, thanks". And we were totally getting into each other right off the bat ya know? She was walking around the place looking at different artful things I have done and just checking out the place in general. Then my bud from the T-Shirt shop said he had to get back but she could hang out if she wanted, so she looked at me and asked if she could hang out for awhile and I was like sure. no problem. So he left and then it was like just her and me.

From that moment on, I couldn't get rid of her dude. Which is cool with me, cuz not only is she hot, but she is mellow too, maybe even more mellow than I am. if you can wrap your head around that idea.

After we went out for awhile and really got to know each other, she asked if we could like, live together, I said "that's cool, where?" and she said right here, in my place, but it would be our place and I was like "sure".

The rest is history. We've been together for a lot of years now and she is still the hottest chick around and still mellow and she helps me avoid the jones and we just really work well together and get this. She has even started to do artful things. Not a lot though, cuz she does have to go to her job and I help make some money for stuff, but mostly because she likes what she does. I don't have to go out and work cuz I am busy doing artful things all the time and my buds still buy them and for the last few years, Lavendar has been collecting a bunch of them together and sells them downtown in the summer. She says she can make more money selling my artful things than she can make at her job all year, so I guess that's cool.

A dude has to get more paint somehow and stealing it would just be wrong, so If she sells some of them to help pay for stuff, it's cool, cuz I trust Lavender.

Anyway, stay mellow and do artful things when you can. it's fun and will help you maintain the mellow. And maybe you will even meet a hot chick too.

The SmokeStack, by 'dude'

2008-06-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hey dudes, my name is dude.

I always tell people my name is dude, that way, even when I just walk in somewhere and no one has met me before, everyone just says "Hey dude" and it's like we've been buds forever.

My whole philosophy to life is "maintain the mellow". No matter how much stress is coming your way, or if someone is major gettin in your face, all you gotta do is maintain the mellow. If you can do that, then folks around you will stay mellow too. And life is a party when everybody is mellow.

I just wanted to let you all in on some seriously cool info. There's gonna be a new club coming open real soon like, ya know.

My main chick and me are going to open it up together. She's been with me like forever and we do EVERYTHING together ya know?

Oh, duh, her name is Lavendar, Lavendar Skyy. Isn't that so cool?

She's from North Dakota.

We were just hanging out today because she had to take the day off on account of the UV rays were WAY to high and the humidity was really wrecking her hair. So we just kicked it here and like, brainstormed all day. Just us, maintaining the mellow together.

Anyway, we thought , wouldn't it be cool to have a place where people could just be mellow? No wild music or crazy people trying to ride stuff. Just some seriously mellow music in the background and a big bar, where they serve all the old fashioned drinks like Roy Rogers ( which is just cherry cola) and Shirley Temples (which is just like , cherry seven Up, right) and all other kinds of mellow drinks and stuff.

I even made up a drink myself. I call it the Fruit Loop, cuz it has fruit punch and club soda in it. Oh man, it's SO cool.

Lavendar says we can't do real smoke and stuff like that anymore, cuz bad people are mixing all kinds of dreadful things in with the smoke and other things. So I haven't had a 'real' toke in a whole lot of time. but, if I take a puff from my 'imaginary' bowl and just go through the motions, ya know, hold it, hold it, hold it....release sloooowwww. aaaaaahhhhhh. That can still trigger the mellow for me man. I guess if you've had enough practice, you're mind just kind of keeps the effect along for the ride.

In the SmokeStack, we could keep the lights low and burn incense all over and get a real good mellow feel in the place. It would mostly be a place for people like Lavendar and me, who let go of the toke and other stuff but still feel that maintaining the mellow is important ya know.

We could have lamps in places by couches and stuff where people could read and stuff and just hang out.

We will even have an "oldies" night where we play some 40's music, Big Band kind of stuff and let people get really retro for a while.

Oh hey, Lavendar says to be careful this weekend, cuz it's gonna be real hot and she don't want anybody to get a serious burn or fade their hair or anything so stay indoors if you can.

Sometime real soon, you'll be able to come into the SmokeStack and keep out of that harsh weather and mellow out with us.

keep it real dudes.

dude

An American Success Story

2008-06-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true. I am an American success story.

That of course depends on how you determine success. If you see success as the accumulation of wealth, well then no. I am not "wealthy " in terms of money. Far from it.

Success is interesting to define from within the U.S. From an insiders view, A terribly large part of the population measures success in terms of money and the accumulation of it. You then display your wealth, your success, by the things you buy or spend that money on.

There is another way to describe and view success in America.

That largely comes from an "outsiders" view. The idea that success is not being owned by another. That success is not being confined to a pre-defined role for your and your family by some governmental or religious body.

Success to me is this:

I am able to pay my bills with one job. A job I like to do. I do not need to work overtime or additional jobs just to meet my expenses. My wife and I are able to keep our kids at home to be cared for. She stays home and takes care of them, not because she has to, or because she is told that is all she can do, but because I can afford to.

Because of that, I am able to spend more time with my family. To teach my children. To be a Dad and play ball and tell stories and be there to discipline them if need be.

I have the time and opportunity to help family, friends and neighbors. To help the community and volunteer.

My children have books and toys ( more than I ever did and more than I think they need ). They go to a small private school that takes up A LOT of my finances ( one of the reasons I am not accumulating money ) but money I believe is well spent. They have smaller class sizes, more attention from teachers and they have my wife and I around to help when they need it.

Having excess money around is nice. It never hurts to have some around for special things. Money is not the only or even primary basis for how we define success. Important to success, yes, but not success all by itself.

I have worked hard, and still do, while I am at this good job that allows all these things. I beleive in doing the best I can and in doing things the "right" way.

I have it "better" in a lot of ways than other folks do. Depending on how they define success, sadly, so many of them are chasing dollars and more dollars and it is costing them everything else. Their families, their values and themselves in the long run.

I am an American Success Story and I am not the only one.

It all depends on how you define success.

but can a tortilla really love you back?

2008-05-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Oh My lord.

Madre de dios y aye chihuahua tambien!

I got a good life. good work, good kids, GREAT wife. How do I know she really loves me?

Like this:

My hard working and nearly insane mother of three of MY children ( let's say eccentric instead, shall we?) esposa knows that a day without the meat in my meal is a day closer to death for me.

I barely qualify to use the word "omnivore" as it requires one too many veggies in my proximity.

Bless her heart, she made spaghetta one night for dinner, and the meat didn't defrost in order to add it to the the noodles. So all I was left with was runny noodles. The tears were near to my eyes.

Days go by until it was grocery shopping day and I had nearly forgotten the tragedy of spaghetti night, mostly because lingering on the idea of meatless spaghetti is terrifying to me and best not though of.

This beautiful loca of mine comes home and gets to putting away nearly everything then she turns around and holds up a seemingly golden light emitting package of chorizo.

This time, I couldn't hold back, the tears welled up in my eyes, I felt it was my birthday or something.

In another bag, was a pack of fresh corn tortillas. oh yes, peoples, this is love at it's best. There is nothing more incredibly sexy than a xicana holding a pack of spicy meat. My heart bursted with love for this saint of a woman.

I waited another two whole days before that special lunch was prepared, I made it that day, I just wanted to savor the view every time I opened the refrigerator.

In the midst of chasing down children that are entirely too much like me ( and isn't more than one me really just too much?) She had the presence of mind to bring this old bear honest to goodness meat.

I tell you companeros, if that isn't love, there's no such thing.

Viva Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

Cinco de Mayo is a celebration that spans Mexico and the U.S. It recalls a key battle between French and Mexican troops where the Mexican troops, underfed, poorly armed and outnumbered, defeated the enemy and held their ground in the attempt by France to take control of the Mexican government and thereby, the country itself

So, what happened?

Cinco de Mayo is supposed to awaken feelings of pride, cultural and national ( depending on your citizenship) and remind us that even when the odds are long, that pride, endurance and perseverance will win the day.

Cinco de Mayo is not only a day for Mexicans ( or Xicanos) to celebrate, it carries a message to all people that ones autonomy, the ability to govern yourselves, is worth fighting for, it's worth being proud of and it's worth sacrificing for.

To hear the actual story of the the Battle of Puebla, to think of the courage and the conviction of the young men who were sent to defend their homeland, this should bring a strong emotional response to anyone who values such notions.

Where is the pride now? Where is the commitment to doing right by the people and where is the notion of sacrifice to keep independence, hope and opportunity alive?

Cinco de Mayo isn't about Mexican Independence Day, that's in September and has it's own value and meaning for Mexico alone.

Cinco de Mayo is a day to celebrate the little guy. To celebrate winning in spite of the odds. It is a day to see the warrior within each of us, the passionate, strong man or woman who would give what they have to see their families, their children protected and safe. To see that at least the potential for change and self determination is possible.

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday built on a global concept. That a people, any people, all people, have the ability, the determination and the courage to stand strong in the face of those who would take freedom and your way of life away from you.

Looking at it that way, does it make you feel proud of your country? Do you feel that same sense of commitment and sacrifice? If not, why not?

If you don't feel that you could do what those Mexicans did way back then for your own family and way of life now, why not?

All it takes is believing. Believing that what you have has potential. Believing that no one has the right to come and make you change your values, your freedoms and your very way of life.

What is so different between that time over 100 years ago and now? Has technology and time changed us that much? Are we so different people now from the people then?

Cinco de Mayo is about much more than a battle over a hundred years ago. It is about believing, it's about rising to a challenge and it is about determination.

To all of you who value freedom, cherish life and honor sacrifice, I say, Viva Cinco de Mayo!

Time out for Papi

2008-04-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

It probably isn't what it sounds like.

Then again, if you have kids and know what a "time out" is, maybe you do.

Our goal as parents is to help our kids understand the world around them, to give them the tools to think and act and make their way in the world.

That means teaching them about respect and following rules and being a good sport, a team player, yada yada yada.

One of the tools we use, at times, is the infamous "Time Out". Go somewhere quiet and be by yourself. Think about what you did. That kind of thing.

It's usually something that comes at times of great frustration or when a kid is making a rukus unimagined. There is stress and noise and even some scuffling as said Time Out-ee is having to be taken to the Time Out place.

What happens when you teach your kids so well though, that they think you need a time out?

It's usually hilarious, to the parent at least.

Have you ever noticed there is usually one parent who gets more Time Out's than the other? Whats up with that? What did I do? It wasn't me. She started it.

A couple of days ago, I made a tragic error in judgement and missed the super moment when all the heroes in "SuperWhy" (A PBS show to encourage reading, for you non PBS aware people.) meet in front of the super clubhouse.

I was working on some business stuff in the kitchen, when suddenly and quite alarmingly, my 4 year old starts calling me loudly to "come here, Papi, come here!)

It takes me a minute or two to finish up what I am writing, then I go to see what is being demanded of me.

As I sit down on the futon, she tells me to put my arm in.

Huh? Well, duh me, I think she wants me to look at something on her arm. As she is sticking her arm straight out, I grab it and begin a serious medical examination thereon. The look of "How dumb can you be, Man?" on her face was quite clear and made me reconsider immediately what I was doing.

So I asked her again what she wanted and she pointed to the super group and said "Put your arm in Papi."

AHA! I may be slow, but I'll get it eventually.

I put my arm straight out and she did the same, touching her little fist to mine. As she did, she cried "To the Rescue!" and all was well with the world.

Except.

They were way past that point on the TV.

She looked at the TV, then at me, with a sad, disappointed look.

I said, "I'm sorry, I was late wasn't I. I missed it."

She stood in front of me and said with that same expression on her little, serious, 4 year old face, "Yeah, you have a time out."

What? Now?! But, but, I have work to finish. Forms to complete.

She just looked at me, turned slightly so she could switch her gaze between me and the TV.

So, I resigned myself to being in Time Out and sat there on the futon, in the living room, thinking how I shall never be late again when SuperWhy is on, while my 4 year old super daughter sat with me to finish the show with a smile on her face.

My wife, who was out at the time, thought it was hilarious.

I used to, till you're the one in Time Out.

Some freedom please, and who the heck is Bobby McGee?

2008-04-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

Freedom. What a word. It has so many meanings to so many people.

In a song made popular by Janice Joplin, " Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

There is truth to that. Depending on what 'definition' of freedom you are talking about.

When most people think of freedom, they think of being able to do as they please. What they want, when they want, how they want.

Many people think of freedom as an absence of rules, which is not really freedom, but anarchy.

Some people think of freedoms as individual privileges, such as things delineated in a constitution that says what they can do or have.

What it boils down to, is that freedom is relative. yes, it's a cop out, easy answer, but it is true regardless.

However, in that very idea, is a notion.

Every one person should seek to find freedom and define it, for themselves.

Instead of looking to others to define freedom for us, we should first find out what it means to us individually.
Sure, we can look for examples and hear what others have found, it's part of learning.

Freedom that is "granted" by any gov't is only those privileges that the people as a whole feel important enough to agree on and share with each other.

Think of how many 'freedoms' and rights we need when we live alone. No one bout ourselves.

How do you steal from yourself?

How is that rock responsible for falling on you?

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

When you are left alone, you have all the freedom anyone could ever want. You have no social obligations, you have no civil obligations.

There is no one else around to expect you to not do something that might be considered inappropriate.

When you are utterly and entirely alone, you are the free-est you will ever be or know.

The very moment another living being is introduced, that you are aware of, you have just had freedom limited.

Now we must share. Share living space and resources such as water and food sources.

That means we must come to some form of agreement to the usage and distribution of these things. Now we have rules, laws, to guide interaction between two or more people. The very moment you make a concession to such rules, you have essentially agreed to restrict in some fashion, your personal freedom.

If you value interaction with other people or living beings, you may find those concessions worthwhile and important.

Going back to living entirely alone for a moment. How "plush" is that lifestyle? How many cool toys and tools and other things do you have available to you that you did not make yourself?

Think of tales such as Robinson Crusoe and other 'stranded' stories.

You are only limited by your imagination, resourcefulness and the resources available to you. Heck, if Gilligan and co can make a coconut radio, you can too, right?

What if the resources around you are rocks and trees?

Now what? Do you invent a crude stone axe to make other things with?

Do you create a small, very simple tent or hut, or live in a cave.

When there is even one other person around, yes, you concede some person freedom(s), but, you now have help to make bigger, better things. Life can possibly be "better" given two people to solve problems and be creative.

But, to live together, there must be rules, agreements, so as to be fair and respectful of each other.

Now add a third person, 5 more, 20 more, a hundred.

You have society. Community. Individual 'freedom' diminishes in small, gradual bits as more people come together.

Community and other people are nice and valuable, but you are one person and you and I need that 'space' to be ourselves and alone, from time to time. We need that 'individual freedom' and we need others to respect that as they want theirs.

Individual freedom is the first freedom we have. Community rules and rights and privileges can 'equal' that importance, but should never override.

A community, a society, is made up of individuals. There is no mind link, like the fabled 'hive mentality' or "Borg collective" whee separate bodies share one mind.

Individuals should respect the community, it provides for them and provides opportunities otherwise unavailable to them.

Community should respect individual freedoms as much as possible. Without every individual willingly participating, there is no community.

When people are happy to be sad

2008-03-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

Today is a good day to be sad. Not really "sad" per se, but to cry in our beer and wish for better days.

A day to express dejection over why the world hasn't met our high expectations.

Xicanos love to cry. We cry when we're drunk, we cry at our daughters weddings, we cry when we see the hero bite the dust (because we always see ourselves as that hero, so when the hero goes down, he takes a piece of us with him.)

Crying is healthy. OK, maybe not "macho", but even the most macho xicano will have "leaky eyes" from time to time, especially when they are drunk or their daughters get married. At that point, it's ok.

We even have songs custom made to cry to. "La Puerta Negra" is a great example. There are moments in the song where a sad 'grito' is timed in to give it more effect. ( A 'grito' is a loud, long shout or a "cry" like a battle cry or a shout of happiness, etc). This particular grito though, often heard by at least a dozen drunk or sentimental xicanos at a dance or party when "La Puerta Negra" is played, is more like a lament.

It's great. Loads of fun, heck, people expect to hear these gritos, look forward to them even.

You see, xicanos are by and large an emotional kind of people. I can't say if it's genetics or social attitude some weird combination of the two. We love to show how we feel. We get loud about it.

Actually, it's not just a xicano thing. People all over the world love to be sad. You know what blues singers are doing right? They're crying to music. A grand lamentation, with a score.

People come from miles around to hear a good blues singer. What about "Country Western" music? Basically, it's blues too. Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, many many more, all of them crying to the music.

It's especially true in regard to music. Music was made for crying. No matter what culture or race, ethnicity, etc... People love to sing sad songs. People love to hear sad songs.

Now, I could get all scientific y todo and say that all this musical crying is an outlet, a socially acceptable way to allow us to "bleed" our wounds. We get those "sad" feelings out, wallow in them for a moment, even celebrate them, just for that brief time, then we let them go. Afterward, when we go home and the dance is over, we feel just a bit better, not so glum or depressed.

So now, I have my cerveza, I can visualize my daughters dressed in white and I have my paystub in front of me. Los Tigres are on the stereo and my wife is all mad at me for something ( doesn't much matter what). I am ready to cry.

This is gonna be fun.

Dave's not here, man

2008-03-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

I was having a fun little talk with a twenty something recently. An early, young, twenty something.

He was talking about comedians and actors. Who was his favorite and so on.

He said " man, I love George Lopez."

When he asked me who my favorite xicano comedian is, without blinking, I said, Cheech, as in, Cheech Marin, as in Cheech and Chong, the lively and dubious entertaining duo.

He thought for a minute, then his eyes caught that glimmer of recognition. "oh yeah" he says. He was the wacky uncle on the Spy Kids movie, huh?"

I felt a slight twitch in the side of my neck. My left eye rolled up, ever so slightly in it's socket.

I said. "Like the Cheech and Chong movies. you know, 'Up in Smoke', 'Nice Dreams', 'Still Smokin' "( I chose not to mention 'The Corsican Brothers")

This little bato gave me a look like I was an alien, illegal or otherwise, and just gave me a smile like " I have no idea what you're talking about, man"

So I said 'OK, what about the albums, the stand up, like "Dave's not here" or "Basketball Jones" Sister Mary Elephant for God's sake".

Then he flashed me The Grin. If you're over 35, you know The Grin, it can only be used by people under 25 and is intended to shrivel you up on the spot.

The Grin that says " Wow, you're old".

He said "Albums?"

I had no choice, I was stuck in it now, this death trap of a conversation.

I said" Yeah, albums, you know, vinyl. Big circles with a little hole in the middle. people used to record music on them y todo."

He said "who's Toto?"

I could only reply "Dorothy's dog, man"

I looked at him, saw he was about to ask who Dorothy was, so I said something that only made it worse when I thought I was being clever. " it's a band."

His eyes glazed and he rocked on his heels a bit. No connection. Now I knew I lost him.

I had to end this, fast. so I did the only thing I could. I asked him, "So, how about that George Lopez?"

She's a "Real" American

2008-03-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

I know a young lady. She is a truck driver. She is from Europe and is in America all by herself.

I talk to her every so often. She reminds me of a cousin or younger sister. Big smile, a bit on the shy side.

Her mother and sister still live in Europe, in a bitter, war torn area. Her father and brother, seeking a way out of the despair their war torn country is in, have traveled very far to find peace and work. She traveled here.

To become a truck driver.

All by herself. No family or even "friends".

This young, and I mean about 26 year old woman, for all intents and purposes, lives in her truck. No kidding.

The company she works for specializes in bringing people over to America from these far eastern Europe locations and puts them to work on Americas highways. Very few speak or read English well. For most, they are driving a big rig for the first time. They are inexperienced and fresh from places that are not anyplace you or I might want to live.

She has worked for this company for about 4 years now, literally living in this truck. They always keep her moving. She gets to rest only as long as they can legally get away with letting her be off the road, then because the dispatchers keep a very close eye on drivers schedules, she is back on the road the moment they see she is legally "available".

She always has a smile when she comes in. Always polite and almost a little "gunshy" when talking in front of a rowdy bunch of local drivers.

She has saved enough money to buy a house she is only at once a month for only about four days at a time.

She is saving money so that she can afford to bring her mother and sister over to live with her, in her house, that she is never at.

Her current living and working condition is not one many would envy. Yes, she has a job, but she has no "life". She is young, alone and in a "new" country. This isn't like moving across town or even into a neighboring state. This life altering on a scale only immigrants from the ages have known.

Poor, tired, hungry, having literally nothing in their "native" land. They give up all they have had and grown up knowing, to find some kind of life wherever they might the opportunity.

This isn't a lesson from a history book for her. She is living it now, in the 21st century, and...

She is succeeding.

Success for her isn't the same "American Dream" that most of see pitched on television ad billboards. She isn't concerned with becoming rich or famous. She justs wants to have her family safe and together in one place. To her, that would be just perfect.

I know many people just like her. Not just from Europe, but Africa and Mexico or Central America. They live outside the "stereotypes" that society has created for them.

They aren't lazy or greedy. They don't expect others to do it all for them and they don't care if the jobs they take are hard, dirty or not socially appealing. They don't identify themselves as their jobs, they are much more than that. They are people, people who have families, dreams, ambitions and the determination to not let life drag them down.

They are "Real" Americans. They don't get involved in politics or anti-America trash talking. They are grateful for opportunity. They don't ask for much more than that. Opportunity.

I know a young lady. She is a truck driver. She is an American and knowing her makes me proud to be one too.

Pedro Pan in No Way Land

2008-02-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

I wonder sometimes. OK, a lot. What do I want to be when I grow up?

Maybe a better question is, what do I want to do?

Kids have it easy. My kids want to be an artist, a zookeeper, a dancer, a pilot, it's actually a pretty good list they've got going.

All good ideas.

When I was a kid, I wanted to drive the big rigs. I thought it was cool to drive those monsters of the road.

Now, I'm "grown" and I drive tractor-trailers. It's not as cool as I thought. I mean, it's not bad. Actually driving place to place is kinda fun.

But, loading and unloading only God knows what, from day to day gets old quick.

When I was about 12 or so, personal computers were just coming out. I thought it would be cool to work on computers. ( Hey, Hey, it wasn't THAT long ago, cut it out you guys)

A Novell /MS certification and countless hours, nay ,years of online time later. Well, it's a tough business to crack. I guess all the other kids thought it would be cool too. ( Although, Linux makes it a lot more fun )

So, here I sit, with Class A CDL and network tech certifications and I'm still asking myself what do I want to be when I grow up?

I know, deep in my heart what it is. my deepest, most fantastic dream.

I want to be the Xicano Peter Pan. I just won't grow up. HA!

If I were Pedro Pan, I could fly and eat tamales and pizza and enchiladas anytime I wanted. I could drive a deep candy apple red Cadillac convertible lowrider all day long. ( with the large metal flake, que no? )

I could just hang out and play football or baseball when ever I want. Yup. Good times.

Now, my wife resists this idea. She seems to be of the opinion that my being Pedro Pan won't pay the bills or get my kids into college.

If you go that route, I guess she has a point. Sorta.

I mean, I could refuse to grow up any, but I will still grow old, and an old Pedro Pan is just sad, not inspiring at all.

I see old "lost boys" all the time. Still living in their mamas basements, eating TV dinners and scalping tickets to concerts that were old twenty years ago.

Nope, Pedro Pan is only cool if he doesn't have to get old either.

But, think about it. Wouldn't that be cool?

The good, bad and the ugly about germs

2008-02-09T22:23:00.000-08:00

My son told me today. that there were such things as good germs and bad germs. I listened to him explain to me that some germs could make one sick ( bad germs) and some germs did not ( good germs).

While the cold, hard rationalization of a six, soon to be seven, year old is hard to argue with, I found myself telling him , well, yes and no.

I told him that germs were really just germs They didn't try to go out and make people sick. It just so happens, that when some germs get around some people, they don't always get along.

I took the moment to imagine billions of germs, all dressed like microscopic Snidely Whiplashes, parading down into my head, intent on giving me the sniffles.

No, I told him, like most of all things in Creation, germs are not made bad or good. They simply are. They don't make conscious choices to do harm and make millions of people call in to the boss, too sick to go to work, or school. It is interesting though, how someone too sick to go to school can force themselves to feel good enough to go outside and play or eat pizza and ice cream as soon as the decision to stay home is made. Or can tough it out to play a quick 9 holes later that afternoon after experiencing a near death situation when talking to the boss on the phone.

No, germs are what they are. just billions and billions upon billions more little living entities that float around the same space we move in. Unfortunately for us, sometimes they have a less than desirable effect on us at first meeting.

He took all this in quite seriously for a little fella. Pondered over it an entire three seconds I believe.

After which, he said to me, in all earnestness, " Can I have a fruit punch slushy for dessert?"

Way to shake it off kid.

I'm dreaming of a....project planner.

2008-02-03T09:19:00.000-08:00

Did you know, I almost made it. Yup, it's true. I was so close. I could feel it's breath on my cheek.

What happened? I woke up. Just as the dream was about to culminate in an explosion of happiness and excitement. I found myself jarred awake by the sound of barking by my window.

Oh, the words I had for that dog. Never-the-less, try as I might, sleep would not return, the dream would elude me once more.

Oh and what a dream it was. Seductive and teasing, alluring and out of reach at the same time.

I almost had it in my grasp.

I'm sure you buncha perverts are thinking way down deep in the gutter by now. Tsk Tsk.

The dream, so close, so evasive, never quite yielding itself to me was my dream job.

I was happy in the dream. Why, Because I'm a workaholic. My dreams are filled by things I can think of to do. Ways to get things done, stories to write, tasks to finish. You are listening in on the feverish fantasies of a workaholic.

Some people are passionate about women, money or power. There are people who dream of a life carefree and easy, with nothing to do but see what frivolity lies ahead, naught a care in the world.

Me, I dream of things to do. Sad isn't it?

I daydream about hitting the Lottery. I have daydreams about what to do with all the money. I have set up trusts for PBS and college students. I created a business that operates non profit, but pays most of it's profits back into the company, not for me to get richer, but to offer the kind of jobs and careers for people the way it could be done.

I fantasize about getting a grant ( or the lottery again ) to open a non profit IT support center serving non profit community programs and schools. ( Yeah, I'm just a tech deep down. ) I get to be the coordinator, in my dream.

Like I said. Sad. I know, I know. I could be dreaming of luxury and mansions and what not. But, those just don't "do it" for me. I need to be busy. Doing something. Having fun and learning. Helping make things better. Helping people be what they want to be.

Sigh.

I once dreamed I found a Genie's bottle. I rubbed it and out popped the Genie. He told me for freeing him, I earned three wishes. What did I want?

Heh Heh.

I asked for a Grant and a transport van, to help folks with unexpected car trouble still have a way to get to work inexpensively. Oh yeah, I asked for a Twin Bing too.

Couldn't resist. Even in a workaholics dreams, a guy has to splurge.

An exercise in idealism

2008-01-24T05:36:00.000-08:00

Idealism. it's defined by Webster's as:

"Noun

1. The doctrine that ideas are the only reality.

2. Impracticality by virtue of thinking of things in their ideal form rather than as they really are.

3. Elevated ideals or conduct; the quality of believing that ideals should be pursued."

It boils down to believing that something is possible and that there is a way that things should be done. It's about high expectations and hope.

It's what drove people from Europe to the Americas, looking for an escape. It's what built Rome and the Incan empires.

Ideals and believing there is another way. A better way.

The early European people who left Europe to find a way to live to their ideals and beliefs clung to idealism. It's all they had.

Red Cloud, a great Chief, was an idealist, he knew there was a way that should be followed and not let others distract you or drag you down.

The early framers of the American Constitution were idealists. They were putting into words not what they knew they were, but what they wanted to be.

They were not a perfect people, there is no such thing as perfect people and there never will be. All people are susceptible to corruption and bad choices. These folks weren't all exactly the best role models in their own lives and times. Among the men who wrote that "All men are created equal..." were slave owners and killers of Indian people, heck, many of them wouldn't even admit Indian people were people at all.

And yet...

They did sign that constitution. Because it gave them something to work toward. It was an expression not of who they were, but who they wanted to be.

The day will come when people will stop looking at each other as white or black or brown. We will see each other only as people and begin to really work together for the common good. We will stop using history as an excuse for why we can't do something and use it as a tool to learn how not to make the same mistakes.

America is about much more than what has already happened and what we are now. It's about what we want to be. It gives us the chance to be better than we were.

How much more freedom do we need than to be able to become the people we want to be, instead of forced to being what someone else says we should be.

When these corporations and politicians come about, telling people in order to be "American", you need to own this or belong to that or else... That's NOT America.

What America IS, is a place governed by laws. It has a Constitution that is about letting people be what they want to be. It's about keeping government out of the way and providing access, freedom, to be the people we WANT to be.

The day we let corporations 'buy' that out or let politicians/would be dictators, steal it out from under our feet, we have not only failed to support America and the Constitution, we have failed ourselves.

We will have failed ourselves, our grandparents and our children. Regardless of the type of people we are, there is hope and opportunity. There is freedom to say I don't want to be X, I want to be Z.

There is nothing that says changing ourselves, becoming something we want to be, instead of what we are, will be easy or uncostly. There are no guarantees anywhere in life for that. There is however the chance, the hope and the opportunity to become something better.

Any laws that these politicians make that stop that, are unconstitutional and not American. They try to hide their corruption with excuses. You will be "safer", you will be "richer", you will be "smarter". You will be what they allow you to be.

A gilded cage is a cage all the same.

People around the world are taught about America from textbooks that focus on the Constitution and the freedom, the idealism. Then they turn on the Television or the radio and see that we are not what was written in the constitution. It can be disappointing for many, especially if they see only one perspective thrown at them all the time.

They need to understand though, the Constitution is not necessarily what we are day to day. it's who we want to be. Better people.

Someday, we will be, as long as we don't throw that opportunity away.

The things parents say

2008-01-20T17:03:00.000-08:00

You've all heard the phrase " The things kids say..." Some of those things can be most amusing and interesting.

However, being a parent, I have observed that some of the things my wife and I say to or about our children is a step beyond.

One day, as I enter the Kitchen from another room, I loudly hear " Will you quit rolling the watermelon across the floor!"

That struck me as ludicrous. Yet, there was my supposedly sane wife, standing there, telling a 3 year old, to quite literally quit rolling a watermelon around the kitchen floor.

Or once, when entering the kids room, I encountered a scene, to which all my wife heard was, " If you are going to fart, don't do it on your sisters bed."

That was not a proud moment, but had my wife laughing hysterically. As she did not see our son, face turning purple, trying to fart on his sisters bed to get back at her for doing the same while standing next to him earlier. ( he figured the odor might linger).

I think of comedians like Bill Cosby and Sinbad, who infamously commented on the mental state parents end up in after spending time with their children.

Were I to record the sounds of the house at any given time with 3 children under age 10, you might think you were listening to a recording of an insane asylum. I mean it. Really.

Never in my life, did I ever think to hear the words " blow that cherry out of your nose now." come out of my mouth. Who would think such a situation would arise as to need to?

How about, " Take your foot out of the dogs mouth."? There's something to walk into.

I once had to explain to a 5 year old " You cannot feed pizza to your goldfish." I felt particularly bright that time.

It's worse when you are in another room and hear another adult say something that seems like it MUST be nonsense. dear God, please let something that odd sounding, be nonsense.

I married my wife, believing she was a intelligent, capable, right-minded person, she says she felt the same about me. That was many years ago, before we had kids. Oh sure, she babysat, we both had younger siblings. But, it's not the same thing. Not even close.

I, believe it or not, worked with kids and families as a professional. Working with families, helping to get kids who were into way too much trouble, get their lives straitened out. I was good too.

But, it was nothing even close enough, to prepare me for the inane things I would eventually utter, in all seriousness, in my own house, with my own kids.

"Why are you dribbling in bed?" is not a question I want anyone to overhear again. Which is what I asked my oldest daughter, who is on her school basketball team, one night.

The things parents say...

A vow to help others...who can afford it.

2008-01-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

I don't mind doctors. Usually. They have their place and are handy to have around from time to time.

I am not one to hinge my whole life around whether there is one around though, like one guy I know. Fella just can't relax unless he knows he's within a 15 minute ambulance ride to a hospital. I have told him more than once he would make a terrible cowboy.

I don't trust doctors, is more what it boils down too. Most of it comes down to that hypocritic oath they supposedly take. Yes, I do realize I spelled it hypocritic and not Hippocratic

The one argument I always get into when on this topic always comes down to money. There are lots of folks who sympathize with doctors and say they deserve every penny they get because, by golly, they save folks lives every day.

I have no doubt they do, but I see paramedics and other emergency personnel who do the same thing, and statistically, they save just as many lives and possibly are one of the main reasons people on said death beds live long enough to get to see a doctor to begin with. They do it minus the big paychecks and no one seems to rally to their side when contract time comes up with the city.

If you are going to promise as an idealistic, young person, to dedicate your life to helping others with the gross stuff ( and believe me, most of the stuff doctors deal with is gross. Sinuses, fungus's, bleeding, infections and one of my favorite doctor quotes " reverse swallowing" ( Yes, you know what it is, you really don't want me to say it while you're trying to drink your coffee do you?), then don't come back to me later after you're tired of all that wonder and happiness, trying to tell me that idealism has had a price hike.

I have a cousin who is a firefighter. He has personally saved many peoples lives and whisked them from deaths door. He has done impromptu chest massages, cleared breathing and tied more tourniquets than more people have learned to spell tourniquet. He has worked all these wonders for that last 15 years or longer, all for about 38,000 dollars a year. Heck, to top that all off, he can put a fire out AND chop holes in your roof too. Let's see a doctor do that. Oh no, wait, it's at least an 'extra' and not likely covered by your HMO either.

It's not that I don't appreciate what doctors do, believe me, I have found them handy on more than one occasion. I have watched ER and other TV shows enough to see it's not all mansions and golf courses ( yet), but still.

Think about it this way, everyone has an ugly job ( well, not everyone, but we won't get into actors lives this time) and we do it because we need to be fulfilled and have something to do to stave off boredom. A way to pay the house payment or rent doesn't hurt either.

Truck drivers save lives too. Think how many times they DIDN'T run over the dweeb who sped up to cut in front of them, then stomped on their brakes with force? 80,000 pounds of truck just doesn't stop on a dime you know. That takes experience and a conscience decision to say " I either kill this little dope and possibly others by letting this truck run through, or I risk taking my self out and look for a ditch. " More often than not, all you hear is that some truck driver hit a ditch and clogged up traffic, never knowing that he most likely spared who knows how many people and risked himself instead, because of one little dimwit who couldn't bother to be a good driver. I can tell you, truck drivers don't make what a doctor does and are very capable of saving lives in ways you never knew of.

What does that have to do with the hypocritic oath? Only doctors take a public oath to take care of others and then expect to be paid handsomely for it later. Everyone else who has to take care of, and for, others doesn't take such an oath and doesn't get a doctors paycheck either.

Actually, that brings up an interesting idea. Maye if I take an oath to only write things to help others, I can charge them later for... Nah. Then I wouldn't have as much fun.

A dog is a dog. ( unless he's your kid.)

2008-01-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

There are some people who get carried away with their dogs. They buy them clothes and talk to them in "baby talk" voices. They cater to the dogs hand and foot and refer to themselves as the dog's 'mommy' or 'daddy'. I know people like this. It's almost scary.

I go to the vet to take my 84 lb mini-horse, I mean dog, for a checkup and almost every, single time, at least one of the assistants will say to the dog as they take him to the back, " It's ok, I'll bring you back to daddy", or something along those lines. At which point I actually cringe.

Now, I have been told I anthropomorphize my dog as well as anyone else. I talk to him the same way I talk to my kids. The dog lives better than I do in some respects, or at least there are days I wish I had his life.

I talk to my dog the same way I talk to any person actually. I look at him as I come out to pick up his bowl, one more time, and as he stands there watching me do it I will tell him, " What on earth are you knocking things around for? What's the matter with you? I spent good money on this water bowl, don't be knocking it around just because you're bored."

Like I said, I talk to him the way I talk to my kids.

And he knows what I am saying. he would be what many people consider to be well trained. I tell him to sit, stop, be quiet, knock it off, go to bed, come here, go away, get in the backyard, go pick that up, etc... etc... and he will do exactly as expected in each case, and usually, also like one of the kids, is mumbling something under his breath while he does it. Until I ask him "What was that?" and of course I get the 'oh nothing' turn of the head and more quiet compliance.

He argues and gets rowdy with the kids, just like one of them also. I send one of the kids to go feed him and if they aren't fast enough, or don't bring a treat if he thinks he should get one, he'll bark and make all sorts of sounds you know have meaning, like "hurry up" or " "what did you do with my toy?" etc...
Just like one. of. the. kids. I swear.

He's only partly bilingual though. I can holler at him in English and he knows what I'm saying. If I holler at him in Spanish, he gets the gist most of the time , then there are other times he just looks at me with a turn of his head and you know he's saying "Que?" Oh, you know what I'm talking about dog.

I don't put clothes on my dog. I don't say I'm his 'daddy' or anything like that ( I may be big and furry, but I mean, c'mon) and I certainly don't talk to him in baby talk.

I treat him as an equal. He's never tied down to a line, I bring him in the house if there's a tasty looking mailman or meter reader that needs to come around. He only gets put on a leash if there's a posted rule or law saying he needs to have one. When we go for walks, when we get to a point to cross the street, I tell him stop and wait and he sits at the curb till we look both ways, then I tell him go and he gets up and walks right with me or just ahead of me. Leashes are for dumb dogs. ( I've met a few people who could use one too.)

So yes, I do anthropomorphize my dog. I don't see him as property or as a 'lesser being'. He's one of the family, on his own standing. But I don't treat him like a baby, heck, in dog years, he's older than I am. Try walking up to your uncle or Grandfather and saying something like " Does Grampy wampy want his toast now? yes he does, theres a good Grampy, good boy." just see if you don't get knocked on your head.

Be nice to dogs, they're people too.

'The Wall' (or, Where's Pink Floyd when you really need them?)

2008-01-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

The Wall, or the Fence maybe? Either way, someone, somewhere wants to cut off access from one country to the next and a river just won't do anymore.

The politics are frenzied and filled with rhetoric, delusion and misinformation. You have fascist paranoids who think that allowing "other" people to enter the U.S. means there is a plan to exterminate anyone who isn't 'brown", then you have the opposite in those re-conquistadores who think their job in life is to retake ethnic AND political control over the turf.

In the middle are a lot of people who are annoyed beyond belief by the two extremes and just want to fence those two groups into a little compound of their own to fight it out and let everyone else get on with life.

In the middle, there is no real clear information on how much detriment is really added by 'too many' 'extra' people as all the information is hyped and pumped to support a platform rather than describe the reality of the situation.

But, let's suppose, just for the sake of an interesting discussion, that there is some need to 'manage the flow' of new 'extra people' to the U.S. How Now Brown Cow-boy?

One of the biggest troublemakers in the discussion is the criminalization of showing up. Lot's of people love to talk about Ellis Island and how folks from Europe had to go there ( or other points similar), stand in line and wade through paperwork, etc, some were even turned away.

That's reasonable. No one was arrested for just being there though. Many people from Europe did manage some way to get on a ship and get to the States without ANY previous legal arrangements, they just showed up, hoping for a chance to make a better life. Upon their arrival, most had more paperwork than the others to fill out because they didn't do it before getting here.

In the newest situation though, coming not from the east but the south instead, why, if you dare even arrive at the border, you are a criminal, tip your toe over the line and that's it for you.

That makes no sense at all and defeats the drum call of " Send us your ..." stamped on the base of the Statue of Liberty, known the world over.

If The Govt DOES feel a need to control access with a physical barrier, why not make sure to create a few Immigration office points AT the border. Then, flow can be manipulated to these offices and new arrivals won't be criminalize just for showing up to try for a new life.

Every so many miles, an INS point could be established, giving visible and accessible means to 'new' people who can apply for various means and intentions of entry.

The Govt could have people there that represent a number of existing programs such as for permanent residence, or temporary work programs, etc and be better able to monitor those who are here because they were enrolled and identified at the entry point instead of waiting to see who owns up to 'illegal' entry after already being here awhile.

It would reduce the flow, better enforce existing rules and minimize the impact of 'new' people on existing services such as hospitals and jails.

But NOOOOO. Instead, they would rather create more problems and leave solutions for non election times.

Reminds me of a guy I know who when trying to figure out how to impress his new girlfriends kids wanted to build a tree-house for them.

They got the house built and then were trying to figure out the best way to get into it. A rope? A ladder? An elevator? A magic carpet maybe? ( these were all actual considerations, the elevator and magic carpet being the most "cool" methods)

In the end, she (the girlfriend) walked up and proposed a rope ladder. It could be used for one kid to torment other kids by being flexible enough to draw up and yet still sturdy enough for her not to worry about her kids falling off a magic carpet.

This was not a popular choice, as it wasn't as exciting as a magic carpet or life threatening as a makeshift elevator ( nor nearly as expensive) but in the end, it won out and by golly, the kids still had fun and were able to get in and out. Amazing what a little logic and compromise can bring.

A Breakfast for Xicano Xampions

2008-01-09T07:37:00.000-08:00

I first posted this in a thread on a Linux distro forum. It is what actually prompted me to create this site.

I did say recipes and cooking would be involved here, how else would you expect a xubby xicano to be xubby to begin with?

Chorizo con huevos

essentially, this is Chorizo with eggs.

What is Chorizo? you might be asking. Don't ask what's in it, you don't want to know. it's like asking how they make hamburger. Chorizo is a spicy ( varying degrees) type of sausage in Xicanoland.

You can cook up Chorizo in a variety of ways and use in various recipes, but the most easy, and one of my favorites, is simply, with eggs.

First, you make the Chorizo, ok, ok, you can buy it. if you must. Most Towns with any size of Xicano population will have at least one groceria or even offer some Xicano products on the main stores shelves, and Chorizo is a Xicano staple. It usually is offered in "Hot" and "mild" versions.

Chorizo is not A sausage, it is sausage. it most always comes in a "tube' and is not a complete solid, like you would think of a polish sausage or something.

Anyway, get out a BIG pan. You do NOT need cooking oil.

Squeeze out the Chorizo from the package and use your spatula/wooden spoon to break it up as it cooks.

Yes, there will be lots of grease as it cooks. Don't whine, you will die anyway, you may as well be happy and satisfied when you do.

as you notice it start to brown up ( it will usually start out a very red color, due to the chile powder in it ). As it browns, you get out a carton of huevos ( eggs ).

break the eggs directly into the pan of mostly cooked Chorizo, mixing them in as you go. One pkg of Chorizo can handle from 6 to a dozen eggs, depending on how many sinverguenzas will be eating and you need to thin it out some to spread it out.

Cook it up to the desired consistency of the eggs you like ( some folks likes em runny, others want them well done )

You are NOT done yet.

Move the pan to another burner.

On your hot burner, turn the flame up to about medium. And start warming up some tortillas ( corn or flour, doesn't matter, depends on taste. I grew up loving tortillas made fresh by my abuelita, but hey, some good, homemade corn tortillas from Jacobo's are great tambien.)

and by the way, if you try to warm up tortillas on an electric stove, you WILL live to regret it.
Anyway, natural gas is more efficient, and 'authentic' anyway. ( so there )
Anyhow, after the tortillas are warmed up, in a nice, warm, stack wrapped in a dishtowel to keep them warm. It's time to get fat and live well.

add picante or chile sauce to taste. ( I like to eat them like this, or make a pan of fried potatoes to go along)

don't cuss me if you gain weight from too much Chorizo.

Hola, Aloha and Heya

2008-01-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome aboard the xubby Xicano train.

God only knows what will end up here. The point to this blog is living. I don't even really care if anyone reads it or not. it just goes to help me do what I love to do. Write.

If anyone is reading this, I hope you have as much fun reading as I do writing.

First off, what on earth is a xubby Xicano?

Well, xubby = chubby, as in, not slim.

Xicano is a non-political definition of being descended from the indigenous people of Central and North America. Has nothing to do with political ideas or being an activist. merely saying "hi, most of my family has been here for a very, very long time."

Put the two together and you have a not slim person who likes Mexican food.

The topics range from politics to religion and spirituality, to books , philosophy, sharing recipes (of all things I could write about!) and life in general.

You don't have to like what I write, or agree with it. At the very least, I hope you are entertained by it. If even that happens, I am one happy xubby xicano.

By the way, I might throw some spanglish in from time to time, I might not. There is no law that says one must speak a certain amount of spanish in order to keep your Xicano card. For that matter, Most folks so concerned with people needing to speak spanish to be considered mexican or Hispc or whatever "enough" need to remember that Xicanos existed way before the Spaniards ever dropped their pants in this continent. They most certainly did NOT speak Spanish.

Big Bear