RGV Life

The Sound of Music Originally uploaded by shainelee . My daughter decided to learn to play the flute at school. At the beginning, she wasn't very good. Now, after weeks of practice, she is actually getting pretty good. I think that by the end of the year she may be ready to perform for her family. Playing the flute has been good for her in other ways. She is one of those for whom things come easy, like me. The thing is that music requires practice and doesn't care how smart you are. She has had to practice at this. It will be useful when she takes Calculus. I am glad she has found something challenging. I am most grateful that she did not choose to play the trumpet, drums, saxophone, or other loud instruments.

RGRWA Forum Originally uploaded by shainelee . I'm attending the Rio Grande Regional Water Authority Forum at Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen. The program for today includes a background on Rio Grande Water Rights by Carlos Rubinstein. We will learn About RGRWA from Sonia Kaniger. Funding Opportunities by J. Kevin Ward. There will be a question and answer session, a short break, and an overview of RGRWA Proposed Legislation, Discussion, and adjournment at around 5:30.

Memory upgrade Originally uploaded by shainelee . I went shopping for prices on memory card upgrades for my Hipster PDA. I still have not maxed out my current memory, but I wanted to be prepared. Expansion cards go from a couple of dollars for 100 to about $8 for 500. Then there are cards with different formats I'd like to try with my Hipster for compatibility. I like using my Hipster display in portrait mode, but there are some nice expansion cards that work in landscape mode only. In other news, I recorded another episode of the Davis Rankin show today, but left my recorder at work. I wanted to upload it tonight, but that won't be possible. I'll have it for you tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I'll be at UTPA tomorrow with Rep. Pena and Orlando. Afterwards, we will go to another meeting about water. That one will also be interesting. Today, I got in touch with several knowledgable people about our voter verifiable paper trails, even some who are against. There...

Morning commute. Originally uploaded by shainelee . I pass by the Shary-Shivers estate every day on the way to work. Even with all the construction, it's a nice scene. Some mornings, with the sun shining from behind me, it looks glorious. There are a couple other houses that look nice on the way.

I just learned about new variants of wikis that have me all excited. The most famous of wikis is the wikipedia . A wiki is basically a website that is updated by its users. There are several wiki sites available. Some are free, others charge a monthly fee. If you have a website, wikis are often available for installation, but require you to know how to set it up on a server and configure settings. I have great interest in wikis because they make it easier to organize information. You can start a topic and come back to it later if you go off on a tangent. For team collaboration, wikis are a great tool because the pages are editable by anybody on the team as new information becomes available. Therefore, anybody who has access to your wiki has real-time information available. If you have a small team, it's easy to simply call each other. In a large organization, this is very impractical. Emailing everybody is also a time-waster because the person has to sit there and read every single...

After dinner, I put in some work on a computer my mom's friend brought me. It was a good experience because it was a slight challenge. I'm just going to go over the case below. Client complains of: computer will not connect to the Internet. Initial diagnosis: software problem, probably a driver gone bad. Observations: hardware OK. Computer detects modem and ethernet adapter. Drivers working alright Internet explorer has trouble finding Internet connection. AOL fails to connect via TCP/IP. Ethernet adapter detects network, fails to obtain network address. Fails over to APIPA (Automatic Private IP Addressing). Actions: Look for any adware/spyware that may cause problems and remove programs. Remnants of Kazaa indicate likelihood malware is the cause of problems. Tried to change network settings in case it's a matter of bad configuration. Computer still fails over to APIPA. Set static IP. This prevents APIPA. Able to ping the router. IE still cannot find Internet. Tried disab...

We went shopping for some of the last minute stuff at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Palmhurst. It was crazy out there. The place was full of people. Like us, many people were doing a lot of last minute shopping. For the most part, we are ready for our Thanksgiving feast. We will probably make it a Thanksgiving Lunch rather than dinner. This way, we can pick at the leftovers for the rest of the day rather than go to bed stuffed. Later, I went to the HEB on 495 and Conway. That place wasn't any better. Everybody is stocking up. The cashier at Wal-Mart told us that the store would be open all day tomorrow. I think that HEB tends to close early.

Forgive me for not having caught this. I really depend on RSS feeds for all my information. I would occasionally visit El Rocinante because the site did not have an RSS feed. Tonight, I visited the site and found that there is a blogger site embedded in a frame. The good news is that this gives me an RSS feed . I'll be better able to keep up with what's going on in Brownsville.

We've decided to put Rep. Peña's blog at an adjacent address to where it was. If you want to update your links, we have moved the blog to http://acapitolblog2.blogspot.com until we find out what Google can do to restore the original address. I have started work on a possible future incarnation of A Capitol Blog at http://www.aaronpena.com/wordpress temporarily. It's a dummy site until we figure out all the functions and features. Your opinion is welcome.

Tonight, I was archiving Rep. Peña's website at A Capitol Blog. Blogger used to let you do this without losing you subdomain. However, while the blog was offline, it got taken over by a spam site and I am unable to get it back. The blog is still viewable at http://www.aaronpena.com/acapitolblog if you want to see his latest posts. I'm working on getting back his subdomain. If you could, temporarily, disable the link because there is a porn ereaser website that pops up. Obviously, it's not something Mr. P wants associated with his name.

At the beginning of this year, I left my job of three years at Confetti in McAllen. I went back to school , which I had left when I started working at the store. I needed a change. I was starting to get a bit depressed because I was working at the same job after three years. Sure, I was manager of the store and co-managed three restaurants. I worked my tail off, but I was still struggling. Furthermore, I couldn't hope for advancement or a promotion because the top is not that high in small business. It finally got to me and I started the year with those changes. I started to learn more about local politics and even got involved in the Laura Hinojosa campaign for Hidalgo County District Clerk . I met some interesting people. Things went more or less OK in the semester at the university. I had trouble finding work. My job options were limited during the semester due to my class schedule. My available options meant that I would work fewer hours at lower wages. I wasn't about to l...

I like politics. I love business. When I was a Biochemistry major, I really did not have any respect or desire for business. I think this was mostly due to my experience with business people and ignorance of the higher-level business concepts. At its core, business is simple; provide a good or service at a higher price than your cost. It's simple enough that people untrained in business have a good shot at succeeding. As a "civilian", you mostly interact with the underlings of most businesses or deal with simple businesses that don't require advanced business training. How often does a Rio Grande Valley peasant like myself deal with senior level executives of multi-national corporations? Hardly ever.   As I started to learn more about business, I started to enjoy the subject more and more. In any case, as I advance further in my business training and the classes become more challenging, I understand more and I love it more. I am currently not taking any classes, ...

  Today, Orlando Salinas and I accompanied Rep. Peña to Veteran's Day events. Personally, I was at a ceremony organized by Sylvia Handy at Delta Park, which is north of Elsa, Texas. The ceremony included recognition of the veterans attending. I don't have too many pictures as I was working the video camera. Orlando probably got more shots than I did with the camera he had.   The next event was an unveiling of the new stone memorial for Freddy Gonzalez in Edinburg. The memorial was erected at Freddy Gonzalez Elementary. Dolia Gonzalez, mother of the local hero, was present to see her son honored.   Let us also not forget the veterans who are still amongst us, for this is their day.

Moments ago, the Hidalgo County Elections Department updated the election results. Voters approved a $100,000,000 bond to strengthen our levee system and make improvements to our drainage systems. The need for flood protection became apparent in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Those residents of the Rio Grande Valley old enough to remember know that we are prone to flooding after being hit by a hurricane many years back.   The votes for the bond totaled 22,302 versus 17,181 against. Suprisingly, 8,434 people did not vote for or against the proposal. Thankfully, enough people voted for the plan to ensure the safety of lives and reduce the damage to property.   I agree that $100,000,000 is a lot of money. In fact, I have no doubt that some of that will be misspent given the susceptibility to corruption and cronyism in the RGV. However, it's way too much money for any small group of people to get away with stealing. I hope that the size of the bond is so huge th...

I've been sitting at the computer tonight listening to KURV and the AP Radio Network, checking the Texas Secretary of State's election results, Hidalgo County's election results, and I even opened up CNN.com. It's such a high-stakes election, both in Texas and in the nation. I'm wondering how life will change after this election.

I have updated pics from today's walk by America's Last Patrol Post #3. You can visit the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/shainemata/sets/72157594358138540/ I won't be able to make it to tomorrow's walk or event at the VFW. Take plenty of pictures if you can.

Veterans of America's Last Patrol Post #3 marched their fourth day in a row on their Brownsville to Roma walk to raise awareness for the need for a Veterans Hospital in the Rio Grande Valley. The group started around 8:30 in the morning at the Veterans Memorial on 29th Street in McAllen. Today's walk ended just outside of Rio Grande City. I first joined the group halfway between Bryan Rd and Conway Ave. in Mission. This was my second day walking with them. Yesterday, I worked at the dedication of the Rio Grande Valley State Veterans Cemetery and could not participate in the walk. From start to end, Juan Vela was like a machine. He just keeps going and going. The group kept asking him to slow down and wait for them to catch up. The group had another show of kindness by a local business owner in Mission. Gordhan "Victor" Bharat, owner of the Executive Inn & Suites and Mi Hacienda Restaurant, offered lemonade for all of us. He had read about the group and was quick t...

We have stopped for lunch at the Whataburger in La Joya. We've been joined by the group's CMDR.

This message is from a Virgin Mobile user. Enjoy. _____________________________________________________________ We are currently leaving Mission and entering Palmhurst. The group started their walk this morning at the Veterans Memorial on 29th in Mcallen. The group wants to walk as much as possible today so that they can have a shorter distance on their last leg of the walk tomorrow. As we keep going, we are gaining more and more people in the group. If you need to know our location, contact Jesus Bocanegra at 496-7827. Anybody supporting the cause for bringing a veterans hospital to the RGV is welcome to join. Despite having been at this the last three days, the group is going at a good, brisk pace.

Jesus Bocanegra is a member of America's Last Patrol Post #3. He and other veterans are fighting to bring a VA Hospital to the Rio Grande Valley. MP3 File

Traffic was lined up for a mile in either direction on U.S. Highway 83 this morning as shoppers flooded the opening of the new outlet mall in Mercedes, Tx. On the eastbound lanes, the line started from the stop light on the frontage road and backed up onto the expressway. Westbound traffic had an equally long long at one point, but was mostly on the frontage road until shoppers started driving up on the curb and driving through an open field adjacent to the outlet shops. You can see more photos here .

Today, I had the opportunity to join Mr. Peña on his walk with a good bunch of guys, and a few gals, from America's Last Patrol Post #3 on their walk from Brownsville to Roma. This was Day 2 of their 5 day walk. Just in case you're not up to speed, this group traveled from Edinburg, Tx to San Antonio, Tx on foot one year ago. The distance of the trek was 250 miles. This time, the trek is 125 miles. The purpose of the walk is to highlight the need for a Veterans Hospital in the Rio Grande Valley. Currently, veterans who need medical care must travel the 250 miles to San Antonio. For many of our veterans, this journey is a hardship for lack of funding or transportation. Therefore, these veterans got a feasibility study going to determine whether the government should build a VA Hospital here. There is no hospital yet, so they want to remind the public so that we don't forget. We caught up with the group at La Feria and accompanied them all the way to Weslaco. Along the way, m...

Backup in case video gets deleted from YouTube You won't believe the timing of this. Today I got the ball rolling to enlist in the U.S. Army Reserve. The recruiter was not too pleased with this clown's remark. The recruiter has a degree in Criminal Justice. He quit his job and went full-time with the Army. I am 21 hours away from graduating with a degree in Finance. With my pending job, what need would I have to risk deployment? Does the recruiter need the Army to get educated? No. He already is. I've got this far without the Army; I'm pretty sure I don't need it. Some other things I've learned today. The Army is seeing an increase in 41.5 year old enlistments. They are even seeing father/son and mother/daughter enlistments. Can you imagine going through basic training and AIT with your child beside you? Despite what some would have you believe, some of us want to serve our country because it's the right thing to do. I want to do more than just pay our veter...