RGV Life

Today, I went to drop off some papers at the CoStep office, here on Trenton Rd. I've been meaning to go, but never made the time. After I dropped off the paper, I looked across the parking lot and remembered that Congressman Ruben Hinojosa's office is on the corner. So, I decided to pay a visit. I've never been to a congressman's office. So, when you go in, it's up on the third floor. I picked up some brochures and talked to the receptionist.   She tells me that not every day is the same at the office.Many people stop by for constituent services. I asked her if they are able to solve all problems. She replied that, unfortunately, they don't always solve problems. It depends on how serious the problem is and how the constituent has handled things to that point. I asked her if she liked her job and she said that she does. It's interesting, she said. I thanked her and she gave me one of the Congressman's business cards. It wasn't a planned visit, j...

I gave blood today; that's my good deed quota for today. Everybody else is out of luck. Of course, I am joking. It turns out that the blood drive at UTPA is through the Red Cross and not United Blood Services. Still, they help each other out on occasion, and it all goes to hospitals. So just as a reminder, make some time to give blood. Even if you miss the blood drive, you can always stop by the UBS headquarters to donate in McAllen or the Red Cross office in Harlingen. They can never have too much blood. Blood can be stored up to 45 days, but it never sits around that long as it goes to help somebody within days. Thank you in advance for your donation.

I've covered illegal immigration and immigrants on this blog in the past. Here are some posts I've written: One confused Mexican Why we have so many illegal immigrants speaking of mojados it's amazing Everybody is making a big deal out of the immigration issue. Just chill, everybody. Congress can pass whatever law they want, let's see them enforce it. This is something that lawmakers don't seem to understand. They need OUR participation when they pass laws. Let's say they make it a felony to help illegal immigrants. Some people will be happy, others won't. As a human being, you know that it's right to help somebody in need. So, many of us would be felons. I'd like to see what Congress does when half the country is behind bars and not paying taxes. If the will of the people is not with Congress, they might as well not pass any law because we won't abide by it. If they pass a law requiring all illegals to exit the country, I'd like to see the...

I was just listening to KURV. Davis Rankin interviewed State Rep. Aaron Pena about the special session coming up in April. The Rep. says that right now, everybody is cautious in Austin. The legislature is led by Republicans, so tax increases are not favored. Their biggest problem will be getting dems to assist and vote for a plan, any plan. Can they come up with enough votes to advance a plan? Democrats will be necessary in this session. Legislature is very partisan because of redistricting where officials have solid Democrat or Republican bases. What I got out of the interview is that the infighting within the Texas Republican Party is an obstacle to the majority party coming up with an agreable solution. So, the Governor and those in his favor will have to be more inclusive of dems in this session. Rick Perry needs a solution to come out of Austin. As writen in another post, lawyers are willing to pay taxes for their labors. However, it sounds like they will only do it if other busin...

There is this song called Summer Breeze. I've heard it by several artists. I've heard the original, but the first time I heard it was with Type O Negative . It was a bit dark with them, but still a pleasant song. I heard it later with the original artist. More recently, I heard Jason Mraz singing his version. He makes it a fun song to hear, and it's still a pretty good song.   There is a phrase in the chorus   Summer breeze makes me feel fine blowing through the jasmine in my mind   I found out how cool that actually is. Lately at UTPA , the jasmine is in bloom. So, there are parts of campus where you walk through and it just smells great. Blooming jasmine is some awesome stuff. I didn't stop to smell the flowers, but you can't really help smelling them anyway. The scent just eminates? from the jasmine beds. If you see some somewhere, I recommend you walk by and check out the scent. It will put a good connection in your mind next time you hear that...

Now that I got your attention, if you're passing by UTPA this week, United Blood Services is at the Library taking blood donations. Having been the recipient of blood after a hit and run as a high school student, I donate blood whenever the opportunity presents itself. I haven't given yet as I've been tied up doing other things, like finding work. But, I will be giving blood during this drive.   I urge you to help out the community by donating blood. You never know when you might need it, and the only way they get it is by donation. Plus, I hear that KURV has a Plasma TV giveaway to a lucky donor at another blood drive somewhere. How can you go wrong with a plasma TV?

I am submitting another batch of applications with the University. This time, I am adding a resume to the deal to see if that makes any difference. See more progress on: Find Work

  Pan American Days 2006 * Highlights * ______________________________________________     Dr. Alfredo Angulo Rivas Fulbright Scholar “What is Happening in Venezuela ?” ·         Monday, April 3 ·         4:30 PM ·         Communication Arts and Sciences, Room 341   Chicano and Mexican Folk Art Exhibit Opening Ceremony Artist: Ben Varela ·         Monday, April 3 ·         5 PM ·         Library Lobby   Followed by: Latin American Food Tasting   Performance by: UTPA Marimba Quartet   Dr. Isidro Morales Fulbright Scholar “Contested regionalism in the Americas : US vs. Brazilian approach. Convergence or Confrontation?” ·         Tuesday, April 4 ·  ...

I’ve been dusting off the old resume today. I haven’t submitted any apps with a resume because my work history has been rather unimpressive. There are a couple highlights for me, such as when I worked as a computer tech and a cable puller. Those were my two favorite jobs. The rest has been part-time. The full-time jobs I’ve done don’t relate to the type of work I want to do, so I don’t see why listing them would make a difference. So, I am compromising and putting all the work I’ve done. All of it. Even the burger flipping. I’ll be posting my resume at http://www.4oddjobz.com for the world to see when it is done. See more progress on: Find Work

I am remaking Spin RGV. It occured to me that a CMS like php-nuke is overkill for what the site was doing. Basically, it only had one good page and the rest really wasn't doing much. The Drudge Report has it right by having one page linking to all the news of the day. In addition, Matt Drudge has the occasional story written by himself that he puts on the front page. In my case, with RGV Life, I don't have to do that. As soon as I write something here, it will come out on SpinRGV. I realize that many of you are night owls and probably read blogs in the dark, so I made SpinRGV dark to reduce the glare. I have also discovered the Brownsville Herald's newsfeed, so it is now included on the headlines. I just need to do some CSS work to style the page a little more consistently. Through the magic of php, I was able to make the page load faster than before. The site pre-loads the feeds onto the server and then uses that to push content to you faster than the CMS was able to do. ...

I’m kicking off my entry into the business market. I am offering computer and errand services. In short, I am offering the public an Odd Jobs Service. I am still working on some of the details, but I can take care of those as I go. My new website is at (drumroll please)..... http://www.4oddjobz.com The basic structure is there, but it is still a work in process. I need to flesh it out and add some pictures here and there to keep it from being too plain. If you are in the Rio Grande Valley, I hope you will keep me in mind when you are looking for somebody to help you with an odd job. It can be at home or in the business. If you live outside the Rio Grande Valley and need somebody to conduct some business on your behalf, I can help you. Perhaps you have elderly parents and would like somebody to check up on them here to help them out with things. I’d be glad to do that too. I am grateful if you are able to let others know about me. You can contact me by calling (956)...

I am working to be able to launch my business by Monday. Today, I made some flyers. I’m starting off with 200. I have some free VistaPrint.com business cards coming in. I’ve decided to go with a “hand” theme on my marketing material. After all, I’d be a hired hand. And I’d be giving people a hand. The cool thing is that I made the flyers without the use of a computer. It’s all made by “hand”. I couldn’t resist that pun. I can proceed without the website, I but I do need to define my target services and set some pricing to make it worthwhile for me. I’m going to work on the website a little bit. I need some little hand logos and pictures to start developing the site theme. I’ll get those later. For now, the content is what is important. I’ve already got the structure of the website laid out. I’ve decided to try out my hand with a Windows server this time around instead of the standard Linux. So, I...

I had gone to UTPA earlier today to work on my new business website. I thought I'd check the latest headlines. The page loaded and then suddenly there was a page redirect. My site got hacked! Bastard.   I disabled some of the vulnerable php scripts and took down the site while I went in to clean up the mess. I was able to get the site back up faster than I thought. I came up with a tlaquachada, so it's back in business. Since most people only really visit the first page, that's what's active. My admin page and the modules page are disabled for now. So, even if the guy is able to get the admin password again, the script that will allow changes isn't active. I've downloaded a script upgrade from PHP Nuke 6.5 to 6.6. I'll be migrating the site up to the latest, which is around 7.9, I think. I'm going to research a little bit more because it's tedious to have to upgrade a little version at a time. I'd rather jump versions if possible.   The ...

Update from the campaign trail for the Rio Grande Valley in 2005. MP3 File

Since I’ll be doing handywork, I’ve decided to go back into business. I used to do computer work and kind of fell into handyman stuff. Both pay well enough for me and will provide sufficient income for my basic needs. I’ve sort of expanded the services a little. I will be offering handyman work, computer services, errands, and projects. I need to make up a pricing list and figure out what So, I just ordered some business cards and ordered a new website. The new domain name resolves on the Internet now, but the “account” is still not set up; it takes 24 hours. I will be heading out to the Courthouse tomorrow to register my assumed name. Once I’ve got that set up and have edited the new website, I’ll be posting the business name, which luckily had an available domain. I also need to go to the comptroller’s office to file for a tax ID and to figure out which services are taxable. Once I do that, I can open a checking account. I’ve g...

I was talking to my wife earlier. It seems that we are getting close to the end of my unemployment ride. I’m going to have to start seriously looking for work soon. In the meantime, I’m going to earn some spending money doing some handywork for my former boss. He needs some repairs at the restaurants, so I’ll be doing that. Nothing major, just changing a doorknob, patching holes in the walls, painting, and some plumbing. Actually, I should probably visit real estate agents who need to fix up houses they are listing. I’m also going to look for computer repair jobs. I should probably print up some business cards. While I’m at it, if you need any handy work, call me at four three two, four three two two (keeps the search engines from listing my number all over the universe). If you can live with me working between 9 am to 5 pm, then I’d be perfect. I have morning and afternoon classes, leaving business hours open. See more progress on: Find Work

I pulled an all nighter to get an assignment done. My prof gave me a break when I did the wrong assignment. So I had a chance to do the right one and turn it in today in the morning. The problem is, I don’t get out of class until 7 PM. I also am not fresh on Accounting, so it takes me longer to do the homework. Still, she didn’t have to give me the opportunity, so I did everything I could to get the assignment done. I’m going to go back to previous assignments and practice some more. I find that practice is what is making a difference in my performance. It takes a lot of time, but it’s effective. I took the opportunity to talk to my prof to learn about her background and ask about the accounting field. She sees that I am having trouble, so she’s going to pick on me more in class. This is good because it forces me to work harder to avoid looking dumb. See more progress on: learn cost accounting

I was listening to Alex and Mike on KVLY 107.9 as I was waking this morning One of them mentioned working at a 94.5 station outside the RGV where he got in trouble for playing a live version of an Eric Clapton song that plays for 9 minutes. What I thought was funny was that he said it was out in Brokeback, Texas. I'm wondering, where's that? My first thought is probably Austin. Anybody have a clue?   Sometimes those guys are funny. A lot of times they talk about stuff that doesn't really interest me, like news about Hollywood, bands, or other fluff. I usually do pay attention to Alex, Mike, and Stacy when they talk about their own experiences. There is something really compelling for me when I hear first-hand accounts of what happened to somebody. Usually people will have funny stories about what happened to them with a friend or whatever. It's those stories that they tell that make me laugh.   Gotta go, have an assignment to finish and turn in later today. I m...

I have discovered one of those ironies of life. I was able to simplify maintenance of the different sites by making them more complicated. In addition to RGV Life, I own MissionTexas.net, Missionhsreunion.com, and SpinRGV.com. Up until today, they were all tied into the same email, flickr, myweb2.0, and other servicing accounts. So, everything blended together. If I wanted to check my personal email, I'd have to wade through Yahoo Group posts, spam, comments, blog entries, and other stuff. Working on one site led to working on another, and another. By separating everything into different accounts, I've managed to create "mindsets". If I'm logged into RGV Life, I take care of RGV Life, and so on for the other sites. Even my pictures will feed sites separately. It was necessary to compartmentalize everything by project. Most of my work is connected by feeds and links, so there will be some blending in the final product. The important thing is that mentally, I can ma...

still studying , originally uploaded by shainelee . I was thinking about researching masons in Mexico on a previous post. The wierdest thing is that I found a book on the masonic history of Mexico right next to the camera in this picture. Let's get past my vanity and focus on the blog entry. So, there are two volumes on the subject. I'm going to have to delay my research until the Summer when I expect to have more time to read. Isn't it strange how it worked out? Is it coincidence or some grand design? Hmmm...

This isn't related to the Rio Grande Valley, it's more of a general topic. Tonight, I was watching Neil Cavuto on Fox. He was interviewing an author who studied parents and parenting. She looked into the effect of money on how parents raise their kids. Cavuto has a poll ( results ) asking if parents who make more money are better parents. For now, the poll is a landslide towards NO. Before you jump all over this, the poll is non-scientific and keep in mind that the people who watch Cavuto are either finance freaks like me or have money to invest. So, it's likely that people with money are saying that money is not making them better parents. Being that I am a poor Mexican and people often feel compelled to confide in me, I've spoken to nannies who usually tell me about how awful some of the families for which they've worked are. This goes for nannies here in the RGV and in Austin. By the way, if you want to get the dirt on a family, don't befriend the couple, a f...

It looks like The Monitor is getting into blogging. I noticed that they put in a blog link on the site (http://www.themonitor.com/blog). So, what does this mean for the current Rio Grande Valley bloggers? Does the fact that professional writers are getting in on the action validate our hobby as something of value? Are they going to show us what real writers can do? I'm wondering how this project will turn out. A while back, The Monitor tried using forums. I think that the vulgarity that is common in unmoderated venues put them off, so they shut that project down. I noticed that the blogs they have now ARE moderated. What's the fun in that? I suppose that reporters may have little side stories, adventures, or tidbits of stories that don't fit into The Monitor's main sections. So, hopefully they'll be a source for news that doesn't get printed. We'll see. The new blogs will include direct RSS feeds to individual writers. For now, not all of them are blogging, ...

My wife graduated from UTPA with a degree in History. Understandibly, we often have discussions about historical events. Lately, she has been watching a novela on Univision named La Alborada . Part of her interest is the novela, and part is how the people of that period are portrayed. Our discussion started over the period of the novela. It takes place back in the mid 1800s when France occupied Mexico under Napoleon III. At this time, Napoleon tried to install the Emperor Maximilian , who was a Habsburg. Obviously, the Mexicans under Benito Juarez did not recognize the Emperor. This is the French occupation that led to La Batalla de Puebla on 5 de Mayo, which Mexicans don't really celebrate but Mexicans on this side of the Rio Grande jump all over. The Emperor prior to Maximilian, Agustin de Iturbide, is the person responsible for granting Stephen F. Austin and his settlers permission to settle around San Felipe. Austin had permission from the Spanish prior to their overthrow, but...

Let me start off by telling you that there is no connection between St. Patrick's Day and Masons. I will however write about both on this post. On the former, I feel some obligation to hope you all had a Happy St. Patrick's Day. There is no Irish in me. The only Irish part of me is my name, Shaine. So, I guess I have some inkling of obligation to wish you a Happy St. Patrrick's Day. That is all. There is also a part of me who is Catholic who also wishes you a Happy St. Patrick's Day. So, I hope you had a fun day and drank plenty of beer. If you can swing it, try a six pack of Guinness. If you remember at what point you lost consciousness, you're cool. I know what is going on by the fourth Guinness. Numbers 5 and 6 are usually related to me the next day, accompanied by a headache. As for the Masons, I want to announce that I'll be writing about the influence of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, also called Freemasons, on the history of the United States, Tex...

I'm going to apply for jobs at UTPA again. If I work part-time, I know that I'll basically be paying for gas and lunch. I really need a decent salary to cover tuition and other expenses. I'm deficient a few hours because I dropped a couple classes last time I was here three years ago. This means that I need to take Summer courses to make up for the deficient hours. You can only make them up in the Summer. So, the classes I'm taking now count for my GPA, but don't count for Financial Aid. So, I have to pay this semester and the Summer. It's going to be tough to pay this semester as it is, so I definitely won't make it into Summer courses this year. This means that I will have to wait yet another year before I can make up the deficient hours and qualify for financial aid. So, you see, I really don't have much choice. I have to have a decent paying job in order to be able to graduate soon. The problem is, if I could get a decent paying job, I wouldn't h...

I've heard several people mention Nacolandia in the last couple months. If you're not from around here or Mexico, you may not know where this Nacolandia is. Obviously, Nacolandia is where nacos originate. By nacos, I'm not talking about Ron Stoppable's favorite food (see Kim Possible cartoon). Of course, Nacolandia is not exactly a real place like Disneylandia (Disneyland to you gringos). Nacolandia is a made up place by famous Mexican comedian Luis de Alba . De Alba created a character called, El Pirruris, who is supposedly the son of a wealthy and influential Mexican. Pirruris talks and acts like the children of the upper-class of Mexico, which most of us recognize because we are not part of that group. I would be considered a naco. In any case, on his show, El Pirruris shares his expertise in nacologia, the study of nacos. Nacos according to the Wikipedia, are "people with illusions of grandeur, airs of importance, bad taste and colorful slang". If it we...

Self-portrait , originally uploaded by shainelee . I usually arrive at UTPA before 7 when I have a morning class. This way I get a good parking spot and a chance to drink some coffee. This morning I swiped the digital camera from home to take some self-portraits. I generally take pictures of everybody else, so I don't appear in as many photos. Usually, at this hour, there are a few people around, but nothing is open. If you want coffe, you have to shell out 75 cents at a coffee machine. The library is closed. Some classrooms are closed. The Student Union is closed. On the plus side, it's quiet and you have a few moments of peace and tranquility to start the day. There was a light rain last night as evidenced by the wet sidewalk. The temperature is cool. If it weren't for the presence of mesquites and absence of maple trees, it almost seemed like a summer morning in Wisconsin.

If you have been a regular reader of RGV Life, or perhaps stopped by by accident, you may wonder, who is this guy and why the heck is he blogging? After all, what makes me, a guy from Mission, Texas, significant in the grand scheme of things? Why would anybody care what I think? According to some comments I've received in previous posts, I don't know what I'm talking about. I would agree with that assesment. I don't know what I am talking about, or writing about, as is the case. No, I'm not a complete moron. I have a perfectly good explanation, so please indulge me. You see, RGV Life is not my first exposure to writing. I'm not a writer. I'm not a journalist. What I have done is write a journal since my graduation from high school. At times, I have been lax in maintaining my journal. At other times I do it religiously. Often, if I'm heavy into blogging, I lay off the journal. There is a little redundancy in doing both. I started writing a journal as a me...

I have opened up a shop for RGV Life merchandise . I only have one design at the moment. As I think of stuff that's more creative, I'll be adding more. The first item in the shop is undergarments. Bloggers, such as myself, usually blog at night and on occasion do so in underwear. I know it's not an image that you want in your mind, sorry. In any case, the shirts and undies say "I Read Blogs..." in large print, and "in my underwear" in smaller print. These would be a great gift for the blog reader in your life.

I often get questions about the equipment that I use to work on this blog and on the podcasts. Today, I'll go over what I use to record the podcasts and why. First, let me tell you that there are different ways I record podcasts. Ultimately, however, all the recordings are put into mp3 format before they are uploaded to Audioblog.com for downloading and playback on your computer or mp3 player of choice. To start off, Audioblog.com gives you the option of calling in your blog post, uploading your pre-recorded post, or recording it on the fly. When I am out and about, I usually call in the recording using my mobile phone. You really can't edit too much with that. Or, I use my wife's iRiver mp3 player. I'll give you more details on that because the iRiver is an awesome device. When I am at home, I record the podcasts using a USB headset that has headphones and a microphone. This gives me the best recording quality. The headset is good for recording onto the computer's...

I'll be offline, somewhat, for the next couple days to take care of some school business and look around for part-time work. I have a couple of exams tomorrow, so I'll be studying at the library. Right now, during the lull in political activity, nobody will probably notice. Recently, there haven't been many posts by my favorite bloggers at SpinRGV . I have a personal blog at ShaineMata.net where I just post personal stuff and notes not related to the Rio Grande Valley or Politics. It's easier for me to post there because it's tied into my Yahoo! account, which has me locked in with all their features. There would have to be a Super-Yahoo! to lure me away.

I don't think Spring has officially been declared, yet. Who has time to keep track of those things? I can tell you that in my area of the Rio Grande Valley, the air smells much sweeter. I hadn't realized it earlier, because I don't live near any citrus groves, that the citrus trees are blossoming. It hit me as I drove by the Shary-Shivers Estate on the way to UTPA . The area is surrounded by orange and grapefruit trees, so naturally you can't help smelling the sweet perfume given off by the blooms. Today is such a great day. If you have a chance, drive with your windows open and turn off the A/C a while. Enjoy one of the gifts that the RGV offers us if we take time to notice.

My wife, Alma, joins me on this podcast. We discuss movies, music, and other stuff. In the Rio Grande Valley, we have a tendency to switch between English and Spanish while speaking to each other at home. It is spontaneous, but we don't lose track of the conversation. Duration:35 minutes, 47 seconds Date Last Updated:Sun 12 Mar 2006 05:50:02 PM CST File Size:8.59 MB MP3 File Music: Cartoon Machine by Xenotoxin

I am redesigning the blog from scratch just to make it stand out a little. It's time for RGV Life to outgrow the standard blogger template and become something on its own. So, you may see it do different things while I tweak it here and there. I would like it to have the 3 column look, so I may end up doing that. The only issue is that I need to refresh my CSS skills from so long ago.The content will remain the same. I'll still post pics and articles about the Rio Grande Valley. Hang in there while I figure this out. UPDATE I finally got the layout I wanted. Now it's just a matter of organizing the stuff on the sides a little better. I am also working to streamline some of the administration between SpinRGV and RGV Life to make life easier. I'll be adding newsfeed buttons up higher later on. I've also added a side adsense script and there is another in the comments section.

I was just reading an article (click on the title to visit it) about next year's budget allocating $4 Billion more to border security. BILLION! It will go towards hiring 150,000 new border agents and building more detention facilities. Obviously, the Rio Grande Valley is not the only border area. We have to share that $4B with the rest of the border. However, think about the economic impact such an allocation would have for us. Of 150,000 new agents, let's say we only get about 2% from Brownsville to the farthest reaches of Starr County. That gives us 3,000 agents. Let's say they earn $40K, which is lowballing it because after overtime and such, they make more. That means that the Rio Grande Valley captures about $120,000,000 from these agents' income (they are likely to spend most of it). You also must factor in detention facilities. The construction or expansion of detention facilities would mean money for that purpose. Once the facilities are up and running, there wo...

In case you're into club music and ravish things, Energetik has this going on here in the McAllen area... markg@instinctivegrooves.com wrote: To: valleyraves@yahoogroups.com From: markg@instinctivegrooves.com Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 18:47:32 -0700 Subject: [Energetik] April 1st, 2006IG presents VIRUS feat. REID SPEED Instinctive Grooves presents VIRUS ; an April Fools Day weekend Farenhite Nightclub; Rio Grande Valley The Wikipedia defines a computer virus as a self replicating/self-reproducing-automation program that spreads by putting in copies of itself into other executable code or documents. A computer virus behaves in a very similar way to biological virus, where it spreads by inserting itself into living cells. Tonight we?re going mimic a computer virus to infect you with a virus known worldwide as the sounds of Drum and Bass, with a dash of Breaks spread thru out the night. Get ready to feel the low end vibrate in your chest with additional sound being brought in for low e...

Have you ever googled yourself? Sounds dirty, right? What I mean is, have you ever searched for your name on google? You may wonder, why would I do that? You would do this just to see what information is out there about you. If you are a public official, you may get one or two entries on a search. This is because there probably is somebody out there who shares your name. In my case, there aren't that many Shaine Mata people out there, so all my stuff comes out on the first page of searches. By writing my name again just now I further mucked up the system. Back in 2000, I never came out on a search. I would be on page 5 or 6. Now I'm on page one multiple times. Most people, however can't do that because they have common names. Try Juan Garcia. I bet each entry is going to be about different guys. Ramon Garcia turned up a link to a photographer of nude men. JD Salinas actually does come out. Laura Hinojosa does too. Aaron Pena, as a result of his blog and his media presence, ...

The wind died down a little bit today. We had nice temperatures in the Rio Grande Valley. The kids and I hung out at home. I made a simple breakfast. I helped my daughter with a school project. My son and I went on a rafting adventure and I read him a couple of his books. For a while, I even made some time to clean the apartment a little. Since I'm not working, we don't use the air conditioner. This brings our electric bill to about $40/month. The bad side to this is that we get a lot of dust all over the apartment. It's not the fine dust that floats around and gently lands somewhere every time you move. It's a brown, gritty dust. It just layers over every horizontal surface. I had time to wash dishes, make the beds, and generally make myself useful around the house. I made the kids some alphabet sopa with vegetables for lunch. I got the boy to take a nap in the afternoon. I put the girl to work on her project. They both will watch TV all day if I let them, which I didn...