RGV Life

Museum of South Texas History Originally uploaded by shainelee Yesterday we went to the Museum of South Texas History. I had never been there before despite having wanted to go. My wife and I finally made up our minds to go and take the children. It turns out the museum has some great exhibits, well worth the admission. It is not a huge museum, but they do pack quite a bit of history into the space.

Here is a video of driving down Conway Avenue through the middle of Mission, Texas . We start from Palmhurst and finish in the community of Madero, a small community South of Mission. Madero is less than 1 mile away from the Mexican border. Unlike Palmhurst, Madero is a part of Mission. Play Windows Media version

I've got a video bug lately. I've been thinking about creating come video content to help highlight and promote the Rio Grande Valley. I've come to realize that you cannot create good video without a decent tripod, so that's my next equipment purchase. Another good thing to have when producing content about the RGV is places to visit. I have some places in mind. All I need to do is write some scripts so that I can plan the video shoots. With any luck, and some hard work, I'll be generating some fair video about the RGV. So, keep checking back on occasion while I work out the details.

Due to my travels over the past year or so, I have neglected to update the SpinRGV website. What the site is, basically, is posts of the latest press releases by elected officials. In this way, they are able to get the word out to the public without the filter of the press. What often happens is that the newspapers and television stations don't think that a story merits any coverage. This is a show of bias from people who claim to be unbiased. In order to help our elected officials get the word out about what they are doing, I created SpinRGV. I can't promise that I'll keep it up to date with breaking news. However, in the moments that I have a little extra time, I'll update the posts. As it is, I have my hands full retroposting the press releases I have missed.

I have to admit that before going to Austin, I did not really think about or consider craigslist as a tool for getting the things I want in life. I've used eBay to buy and sell. I knew about Craigslist, but they did not have listings for the RGV. After successfully finding an affordable apartment in Austin within minutes of seriously using craigslist for the first time, I became a fan. Posting stuff on there is free except for one type of listing. There are no transaction fees like on eBay. Best of all, the listings are local to the RGV. This means that you can save on shipping by simply driving by or meeting up somewhere to pick up what you want to buy. Before you buy the classified ad, put your stuff on craigslist. As more and more people get turned on to it, you'll see that we'll have all kinds of great bargains listed. Think of it. If you are trying to get rid of something by selling it cheap, do you really want to spend money to advertise it? Of course not. With craig...

$2.74 per Gallon Originally uploaded by shainelee Gasoline price is $2.74 per gallon. This is the least expensive I've seen today. This is a convenience store just North of Alton, Texas. Elsewhere, it is $2.82 per gallon.

I am organizing the RGV New Media Group for all podcasters, videocasters, and bloggers in the Rio Grande Valley. If you got skillz and the willingness to share and learn, please join us at Moonbeans on July 21st. Sign up on the Upcoming page; bring friends. To help get us started, I have also created a Ning group for the RGV New Media Group. If you are seasoned or new blogger or podcaster, you are welcome to join the RGV New Media group. For more information, you may visit my home page at Shaine to read the details. If you have any questions, you can contact me at 432-4322.

In my previous post, I wrote about starting a new Podcaster or Blogger group for the Rio Grande Valley. I had a couple of suggestions in the comments, which totally make sense. I'll work on starting a New Media Group for the RGV.

An Idea I am doing some preliminary planning to start a Podcaster and/or Blogger Meetup group in the Rio Grande Valley. I know that there is interest in some kind of Internet or technology group in the area. Thus far, nobody has moved to organize a group. I have really enjoyed the friendship and information sharing that I experienced briefly with the San Antonio Podcasters . I would like to bring that to the Rio Grande Valley. Precautions Instinctually, I am against putting money into a meetup group without first knowing if people will show up. However, it's a Catch 22. If I don't pay up, how will others know? So, before I do that, I need to contact potential members and ask them about their level of interest in such a group. As in business, you should find the customers before you commit resources. That is not to say that the group would be a money-making venture. Simply, I should know how popular the idea is before spending my hard-earned money. Benefits of an RGV Meetup One ...

I was trying out my digital video camera and decided to do a little "day in the life" and some talking about home here in the Rio Grande Valley. I did some driving around Edinburg in the end to fill time. Take this video with a grain of salt as it's merely an effort to learn all the aspects of putting video for the Internet together.