RGV Life

Construction on 107 Originally uploaded by shainelee . I saw a crew cutting across Hwy 107 as I was entering Edinburg this morning. This is a good time for construction as UTPA is out until January. Can you imagine the backed up traffic if all those students were rushing into town in the morning?

I just caught this video of a fellow Hipster PDA user. I thought I would share it. You can see the post where I found the video here . Subscribe in a reader RGV Life Store

Outlet Mall in Mercedes, Texas Originally uploaded by shainelee . I've written on the new Premium Outlet Mall in Mercedes, Tx a couple of times. The first post was on the day when the mall had just opened. Traffic was backed up onto US Highway 83 from so many shoppers wanting to go there. The second post was recently when my family and I went to check it out. Both posts have received a lot of traffic from the Internet. I am amazed that there is so much interest. I do agree that if you are coming from Mexico and have the money available to spend on some of the high-priced brands, going to Mercedes is a much better option than travelling to San Antonio. I would go there simply to find the brands, but not necessarily to save money. In my visit to the shops, the prices were far from bargains. At least they aren't bargains like you find in San Marcos. But then, if you factor in the cost of fuel to travel to San Marcos from Mexico and the cost of a hotel, you come out even on cost ...

Christmas Tamales 2006 Originally uploaded by .imelda . This Christmas, my Mother-in-law made tamales with 20 pounds of Maseca. It was a lot of tamales. We had pork, chicken, beans, and the sweet tamales. A joke that comes out every year is: Why do Mexicans eat tamales for Christmas? Because we need something to unwrap! It's a stupid joke, but it makes me laugh. I sure unwrapped planty of tamales this season. It's hard to pick a favorite, they all have their distinct goodness. One thing that gave me trouble this year was that I ate and got the sleepies. After a nap, I had some indigestion. The comino (cumin) was very strong. I tried some Tums to no avail. Guess what worked? Bean tamales. Go figure. Fresh tamales are delicious; however, my favorite tamales of all time are those reheated on a griddle. There is something special about that toasted flavor that brings peace to my heart, which happens to be next door to my stomach. Don't get me started on the Menudo and ...

It's funny how a seemingly innocent conversation can be misconstrued and come back to you in a way that you don't recognize. This Summer, during my migrant adventures in Wisconsin, I had occasion to converse with somebody about religion. At the crux of the conversation, was my resistance to joining the Jehovah's Witnesses. As a disclaimer, I should note that I have no antipathy towards the Witnesses. Rather, I simply have no desire to abandon the Catholic church, even if I'm not a slavish follower. When the conversation bounced back to me through mutual connections, it turns out that I'm an atheist. Here is how it all started. My friend's wife has converted from Catholicism to the Witnesses. She is really gung-ho about it. He's not so devout, but he does find value and peace in the teachings. We were chatting over beers, mind you. He thought that he would ask me to join them on a weekend. How do you tell somebody that you have no desire or curiosity to learn...

Breadsmith Originally uploaded by shainelee . My wife and I went to Breadsmith, a bakery on the corner of 10th and Nolana, near the Barnes & Noble. My brother-in-law requested that we pick up a coffee cake at Breadsmith for Christmas Eve. You won't believe how incredible it smells when you walk into Breadsmith. Baking bread instantly makes you hungry. It's just one of those scents that hits the most primal parts of your psyche. As if to further make a point to us, we had to stand in line at the bakery just to place our order. I expect this at a panaderia as most of us like the Mexican sweet breads. I wasn't expecting a line at a shop that makes different kinds of bread loafs. Going back to our task, the coffee cake at Breadsmith is delicious. The small cakes are $2.50 and the large ones are $6.50. We have decided that this is where we will buy our specialty breads from now on. I suggest you make a quick stop at the bakery and decide for yourself whether Breadsm...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coolmel/179720084/ Originally uploaded by ~C4Chaos . Yesterday, I installed Second Llife on my computer. I wanted to try it out after reading that IBM bought an island inside Second Life and set up a copy of one of their research centers. They and other companies are setting up presences inside the virtual world. The SL virtual world is huge, You can spend hour upon hour looking around the place. There are casinos, clubs, and public events to keep you entertained. You don't need a car to get around. The creators were thoughtful enough to allow you to teleport, fly, or walk around. You need a good graphics card, I've discovered, to allow your computer to smoothly render new scenery as you come upon it. Next time I get on Second Life, I'm going to have to set a timer. You can easily kill hours exploring the virtual world. Probably the most interesting aspect of Second Life is that you can buy and sell things. You can own a piece of land and set u...

P1020731 Originally uploaded by nile red . I called the owners of the apartment complex where we stayed in Rice Lake, WI this summer. I had previously called the apartment manager to request our security deposit. We have not received it yet and it's been since October. We went through the trouble of steam cleaning the carpets and bleach cleaning everything ourselves so that we could get back our deposit in full. We were beginning to worry. A while ago, the apartment owner called me up and took down our mailing address so that she could mail out our deposit. She says we did a good job of cleaning and will send us the full amount. I hope it gets here before Christmas, or at least before New Year.

Pan Dulce ( Mexican Sweet bread) Originally uploaded by NoNo Joe . I think that we kind of accept that we are going to gain weight over the Holidays. It's our duty to pack on a few pounds. Otherwise, we'll not have any resolutions for the New Year. Can you believe it? We are less than 15 days away from 2007. The retrospective shows on TV will be airing soon. We'll be looking back on all the events of the past year. Some stuff we'll remember, some we would have forgotten. Some things seem like over a year ago. Even though our winter has been unseasonably warm, even by Rio Grande Valley standards, pan dulce is beginning to make appearances. We've had some show up for the recent funeral in my wife's family. There is some pan dulce at home as well. I have a weakness for the cornucopia-like bread with the cream inside. I also like pumpkin empanadas and some new triangles with cream cheese filling that showed up in the latest round. Of course, you wash it down with a ...

I'm making RGV Life more personal now that I have a politics site and a work site. I've taken out some links and added some that I frequent. Subscribe in a reader RGV Life Store

Waiting Outside Danny's Originally uploaded by shainelee . We went to Denny's in Mission yesterday, but it was packed with a waiting list. Rather than wait, we went to Danny's in Sharyland. Danny's is as RGV as Denny's is American. A good trade-off. What's best is that Danny's serves breakfast all day. We caught the matinee for Eragon at Tinseltown in Mission. We were disappointed. To me, the whole movie just seemed like a series of movie previews. I thought I was the only dissatisfied person. My wife was upset at how lousy it was. My son started getting bored halfway through. He doesn't do that for Harry Potter movies or any of the animated ones. Save your money, don't watch Eragon. Wait for the DVD if you must see it.

Outlet Mall in Mercedes, Texas Originally uploaded by shainelee . We went to visit the Premium Outlet Mall in Mercedes this morning. There were a lot of people there. Just from checking license plates in the parking lot, half or more of the shoppers are neighbors from the south. Parking is very limited. There is plenty of parking, but it's mostly taken. If you like buying big brands like Liz Claiborne, Skechers, Fossil, and so on. then it's the perfect place for you. They weren't kidding when they named it a Premium Outlet. Personally, we were disappointed. We expected a range of products. The most excitng place we visited was a kitchen store. The Disney Store at La Plaza Mall in McAllen is much better than the Outlet. I doubt very much that we'll go shopping at Mercedes again. We like to get as much for our money as possible. This is coming from a guy who bought 2 identical pairs of shoes on clearance for $3 each this summer. I bought 2 pairs of $10 clearance ...

I have a beat up old Ford Aerostar. It is rusted out on one side. It leaks a little oil. I've been putting work into it. Just today, I had a tough time changing the belts on the van. One of them was beginning to crack and chip away. It's an easy repair IF you have the tools. It took me a while and a little cursing, but I finally got the belts replaced. One wasn't so bad, so I've kept it as a spare. I still need to do some work on the van. It needs a new distibutor cap and rotor. I've had them on hand for a while, but never got around to it. The problem with minivans is that the engine compartment is really cramped and a pain in the ass to access for the simplest maintenance. Changing the spark plugs on the van is something I do not wish to repeat. Still, it runs. We bought the van in Wisconsin for $900 this summer. It served us to get around. It took us to the Renaissance Faire in Shakopee, MN from Rice Lake, WI a couple of times. It brought us from Wisconsin to Tex...

Foggy morning Originally uploaded by shainelee . Today started off foggy. On the way to work, everybody was doing their best Sunday driving. On the one day that I decide to leave a full 15 minutes early so that I can arrive at work early, the fog makes everybody drive slow. The result? I arrived on time. Later in the day, it was beautiful with the sun out while I was at a groundbreaking ceremony . An hour later, it rained. After that, it was just cloudy.

Yahoo has recently unveiled a couple of great improvements to their web products, flickr.com and Yahoo! News. If you are a blogging type, these are great additions to your arsenal to "get out there". Starting with Flickr, they used to offer a Pro account at $24.95/year. It's still the same price. However, instead of limiting you to 2GB in uploads per month, they are allowing Pro accounts unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth. The free accounts now offer 100 MB upload bandwidth/month, I think. This is great in that it allows you to work in all your photos as needed rather than have to pace yourself throughout the month. I like using flickr to post to my blog with pics. Ironically, I'm posting this without a picture. I've been busy shoving all my pics on my Flickr account and geotagging everything. As we speak, one computer is uploading while I post on the other. Oh, that's another thing. You can geotag your photos so that you can see on a map where you took...

Rocinante Originally uploaded by simonse15 . I thought I had added El Rocinante to SpinRGV. I remember being excited that the site had gone blogger. Well, I finally went in and added the php script to add the feed for El Rocinante. It has both the blog feed and the comments feed. Enjoy!

Hidden Valley Ranch Bike Club Originally uploaded by shainelee . I saw this group of bikers out for a ride in Palmview this morning. They are from the Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park. These are untired retired people. For anybody who is not from the Rio Grande Valley, I should explain that our region is a popular destination for Winter visitors. Our mild Winter weather and low cost of living are popular attractions for retirees. Many, in fact, eventually give up their nomadic lifestyle and settle down in the RGV to live year round.

Doctor Visit Originally uploaded by shainelee . One thing Mrs. Mata is fond of saying is, actually, she exclaims it, "You don't babysit your own kids!" I must say that I am in agreement with her. You babysit somebody else's kids, you parent your own. I had to take the girl to see our family doctor today on a walk-in visit. My wife was off on a field-trip with her Head Start class, or else she would have done it. Her momminess kicks in and she wants to be the lead when it comes to our family's health. As parents, we tend to be interchangeable, so I took the personal time off work to take care of the daughter. Poor thing was and still is miserable. She started getting sick yesterday at the funeral of her uncle. Overnight, it has developed into a bad cough and fever. She seems to be getting worse. My wife is out getting the prescription filled. Probably the most worrisome aspect is when they get fevers. For now, I'm keeping an eye on the girl's condi...

Lyme Hall, a.k.a. Pemberley Originally uploaded by Equilibr . My wife enjoys watching movies that take place in History; she has a degree in History. She's willing to sit through many action flicks chock full of anachronisms and inaccuracies. I think that she understands that without firm documentation by primary sources living at the time, most of History is made up anyway. She especially loves European History with all their bloody wars and court intrigues. I don't have the same passion for History that Mrs. Mata does; however, I do appreciate the significance of History. My passion lies elsewhere; but, my understanding of History makes for wonderful dinner conversation with the Mrs. Well, tonight, we watched Pride and Prejudice, a chick-flick. We had already seen the BBC version, but she wanted to watch the recent movie. It certainly is a period piece. It has no action. I watched it with her anyway. I'll make an effort to watch chick-flicks with Mrs. Mata as par...

Tinseltown Originally uploaded by shainelee . My wife and I ran off to catch a matinee today. We went to see Mel Gibson's latest movie, Apocalypto. We've been waiting to see it ever since it was first announced. We did not take our children because we knew that the movie has bloody violence. Overall, we both liked the movie. I liked that for once a scrawny Indio was the hero of a movie. Even though the lead actor is physically fit, he's not a Schwarzenegger. I'm not going to sit here and pound my chest claiming some connection with the Maya. I know for a fact that on my mother's side of the family we come from the Chichimeca nation. On my father's side, I don't know. Based on my skin color, there is plenty of mestizo. Going back to the movie, I totally missed the allegory to the fall of our nation. Gibson claims that sending troops to Iraq is basically senseless sacrificing. Last I checked, it's the fanatics over there who are decapitating peopl...

Wake Originally uploaded by shainelee . We spent some time at the Ric Brown Funeral Home this afternoon. It's always a bit sad to attend a funeral. There are family members who are mourning their loss. At the same time, it can be a good time because you get to see family, from whom you may have lost touch. You have a chance to remember old times when things were happier. Then, there are children. What do you tell them about death? My son was very insistent on going to see his uncle in the casket. Magnus is only 5 years old. I wonder how well he understands the significance of his uncle being gone. He seemed to accept that his uncle is sleeping until God calls him. The other aspect with children is that they can only behave for so long before it goes against their nature. They are quite the opposite of a funeral. Children are life, hope, and happiness.

Originally uploaded by deborah lattimore . Yesterday at work, my Mother-in-law called me to text my wife to return her call ASAP. Her uncle passed away from cancer in the morning. The family is busy this weekend making funeral arrangements. We'll be spending time with my wife's family at the funeral home this weekend. That's probably all we'll be doing until the funeral. I just wanted to make note that it seems every time somebody dies, it rains. I don't remember a funeral on a bright, beautiful day.

Waitz Winterfest Originally uploaded by shainelee . Today, after school, my daughter called me to tell me that her mom told her to ask me if I would take her and her brother to the Winterfest at Waitz Elementary. That was her diplomatic way of asking me to take her. I don't know how to desribe it, but I could hear in her voice that she wanted to go. I told her that I'd call her as soon as I was on my way home so everybody could get ready. As a parent, sometimes you don't want to do some things or go places; but you do them anyway because you know that you'll find more pleasure in seeing your family have a good time than the displeasure of having to do it. I could sense that going would mean a lot to my daughter, so we went. It wasn't so bad. They had menudo, funnel cake, buñuelos, frito pie, nachos, popcorn, cotton candy, sodas, tacos, and other foods. In addition, they had things for the kids to do like face painting, temporary tattoos, fishing for prizes...

[ happy buddha ] Originally uploaded by rahkzin . Today, after work, I stopped by to visit my friend Jason at China Wok in McAllen. In case you've never been there, it is a little bit south of 10th and Nolana. China Wok has been a full-service restaurant for 13 years. This means, they are not buffet. Each dish is individually prepared to your likes. If you want spicy, they make it spicy. More garlic? Just ask the waiter. Yes, you can have white sauce instead of brown sauce, or vice-versa. Anyway, Jason was telling me that he started advertising on KURV this Monday. I'm sorry to say that I missed listening to the radio on Monday. There will be other Mondays this month when KURV does remotes. You may be thinking that one Chinese restaurant is like all the others. Just try it. They have good stuff. I really like their egg rolls, which are hand made. They make beef egg rolls. The General Chow is delicious. That's their most popular dish. And, my favorite dish is the Jalapeño Co...