Dog Days

There is a prize waiting for you on the mountain summit

Once you get the prize, use it well

If you use the prize well it will make your dreams come true

It was dawn and the air felt hot already, or maybe instead of "already" I should say "still". It felt as though the place had barely cooled at night, if it ever did. The sky was completely clear and a few bright stars were still seen. A hot sunny day was on the forecast. It was humid, I would soon be sweating gum drops but it did not matter, I came here prepared.

I had to climb a mountain so high that the summit was not seen from the base, but I was ready for this because I knew about the prize I was to get once I climbed all the way up. I packed some energy food and iced water on my backpack.

It felt as hot as I've ever felt, I could feel the sun burning my skin but it didn't matter, I was determined to get that prize. I found some relief along the way as there were large thick trees in a few spots. I took short breaks every now and then in order to replenish fluids, but I was running out of water after a while. I had finished all of my water when I saw the summit for the first time. It seemed to be relatively close, but there was still a long way to go. I was probably less than half a mile away when I realized how thirsty I had gotten. I felt my mouth and throat drier than ever. I remembered all those times in which I'd felt desperately hungry and never was the desire for my favorite food as strong as the one I had for a cold drink. It felt as though you are thirsty and instead of drinking something you spread peanut butter all over your mouth and throat.

I got to the summit and suddenly I began to feel a bit cold and started to shiver, I sat immediately afterwards because I felt that I was probably about to pass out. Surprisingly, the ground was burning hot. I had forgotten the symptoms of heat stroke and dehydration and I realized that I was feeling them now. I was perhaps about to faint until I discovered a water fountain a few yards away. I took the empty bottle out of my backpack and I drank. The water was perhaps near freezing despite the bright sun and the hot weather, but it did not make me feel colder, I began to feel all right. I might've been drinking almost continuously for about ten minutes by refilling my empty 20 ounce bottle. After eating what was left in my backpack and drinking some more water, I felt satiated. I was not aware of the rest of my surroundings until I was done eating and drinking.

There was big house a few yards away, and behind it, there was another mountain just about as high as the one I just had climbed. Was the prize in there? Just as I was thinking about that, a woman appeared. I could not deny it, she was beautiful, but she was perhaps five years older than me. She had red hair and her eyes had a deep blue color. She looked at me as though she had pity on me.

"I know why you are here, you must be tired, come in" she said. I felt confused as I did not expect this. The house felt cozy and it was also beautiful, the air conditioner made it feel even more comfortable. "I'll show you your way to the guest room, you may take a shower. There are clean clothes for you." I realized for the first time that I had not said a word, this woman seemed to be reading my mind. I was eager to talk, but I could not even make a sound. "Don't worry about that, I'll explain later."

She left me alone as soon as I entered the room. I took a shower. I came out with my clean clothes, my own clothes, the ones I use every now and then. I wondered how she got them all the way up there.

I got to the lounge and the red haired woman was standing there. "The prize that you're looking for is not here. I wish I could do something about it but I can't. The prize was taken away. The prize has always been here at the summit, but for the first time ever, third party powers have made this mountain grow. I cannot tell if or when will the mountain stop growing, but I can tell you that if you quit now, you'll have to climb all over again. The fastest way for you to get to the summit is by continuing right away. What I can do for you, now that you've reached this far is give you an alternate route. The path on your left will take you to the summit as well, though it will give you shade from the sun. You'll find food and water along the way anytime you need. This mountain is yours, only you can go ahead. As for the third party forces, they may or may not be aware of your attempt to get to the prize, as many others have their mountain to climb and they are treating others just as they are treating you. What I can tell you is that those third party members need people like you, they can't be doing what they just did to you to everyone else forever. The sun will not set until you either reach the summit or get back down where you came from. You need to hurry, as everything may fall apart if you take too long."

There are many questions that I wanted to ask, but all I managed to say is: "When I get back down, I would like to see you again and talk to you." The woman smiled and vanished along with the house.

Do you want to?

Sometimes there are things in life that you can't explain why they are happening the way they are. If I could see the outcome of events ahead of time, I'd make the best choice as soon as possible. Uncertainty is no friend of mine. I will fix this problem and I will meet my goal even if it takes more time than I expected, or I'll die trying.

Fortunately (for my self-consciousness), this is not my fault.

Finding good income sources from things that people like to do is the natural thing to do, just as The Killers sing in their song "Bones": "It's only natural".

Blue Skies

It was finally time to see blue skies. I can still remember how this haze that has lasted for about three months began. I blame this not just on the extreme drought that we've had, but also on the record wildfires in northern Mexico and Texas.

Chemistry TExES Test

Contrary to what it had been the previous days (and the days that followed), the morning of April 16 felt pleasant. Temperature was around 65 degrees at 9 A.M. in Laredo, Tx. Crossing the border took only 45 minutes, instead of our usual 2 hour wait when going to McAllen from Reynosa.

The Target Greatland store in San Dario was nearly empty, I took a look around in Best Buy while my mother kept shopping in this red store. I ate a double Whataburger with cheese and no mustard right behind these stores in Del Mar Blvd, it was delicious.

Going east through Del Mar Blvd until it ends, one block south through Bob Bullock road is Texas A&M University. The place is beautiful, just as all new college campuses should be built throughout the world. It is larger than TEC in Monterrey. Buildings were constructed with yellow cream bricks and most buildings had light iron red shingles on top. And the trees? They were everywhere, forget about being in a semi-arid place.

The test was a piece of cake, sometime during a lifetime does studying a bachelor in chemistry pays off, and soon it will pay off really well.

Krispy Kreme

Great news are coming soon and I just can't wait! Here is a little treat for now.

From Snow to extreme Heat in Monterrey

For the first time in six years, flurries fell in Monterrey's metro area. Curiously enough, the snow did not accumulate despite having temperatures in the mid 20s in places like my house. On February the 2nd, it snowed only on the Sierra Madre for a couple of hours. On the next day, the snow was much heavier, but at the same it was so light that it did not even wet the street or the cars. The high temperature reached the freezing mark under mostly sunny skies.

I was driving the car down the hill to take my sister to dance classes when I noticed a flat tire. I walked her home in less than ten minutes and asked my father for help in order to finish sooner. By the time we were done, it was 25 degrees (-4 Celsius) at seven P.M. Because there was no wind, It did not feel as cold as it normally would when it is 35 or 40 degrees and drizzling, something that normally happens several times each winter in Monterrey. That is about as cold as it usually gets each year. When it does, Europeans and Americans shiver, why? Because they've got excellent heating systems everywhere. Most houses like mine heat up but the walls and floors remain cold.

It got cloudy again on that afternoon and the last flurries fell for about five minutes before the sky cleared completely during the night. Low temperatures in Monterrey reached around 25 (-4 Celsius), but where I live the thermometer reached 19 degrees (-7 Celsius) on February the fourth. Further up and east in the Sierra snow did stick to the ground. Chipinque had record visitors.

This was the coldest spell since 1989. I can tell that for two reasons. Firstly, records in most of central and south Texas (including The Valley) recorded their coldest temperature ever on Dec 23, 1989 (or near record cold). For instance, places like Laredo, Tx recorded 13 degrees (-11 Celsius) while San Antonio recorded 0 (-18 Celsius) and Austin -2 (-19 Celsius), McAllen reached the upper teens. In addition to that, the meteorologist from channel 12 in Monterrey confirmed that this was the coldest spell since then, but he did not mention how cold did it actually get, and my parents don't remember.

A brief warm up followed shortly after, only to be followed by another strong cold front. It generally remained very cold through Valentine's day, but the second half of February has been very warm. Tomorrow's high may reach 100 (38 Celsius). This has been a warm winter, despite the brutally cold air during the first half of February. We've also had virtually no rainfall since September.

Curious things about the weather:

- It takes about 30 years to see snow in Barcelona, Spain, and last year it snowed in March!

- For the first time since 1976, flurries fell in parts of San Francisco.

It's incredible to find cities located much farther north than Monterrey and with cooler average weather year round to see snow much less often than Monterrey does. For instance, San Francisco has average lows in the mid 50s and highs in the lower 70s in its warmest months, about 20 degrees less than what Monterrey averages in the summer months. Places near Barcelona such as Madrid and Andorra receive snow every winter.

Sin Clima

Esta noche es la tercera en la que no prendemos el clima, no se ha necesitado. En los casi tres años que llevo viviendo en la montaña, para mediados o finales de septiembre refresca lo suficiente para dormir a gusto con el puro abanico y las ventanas abiertas.

Como me gusta dormir en oscuridad total, me pongo una toalla chica sobre los ojos. Normalmente dura pocos días la molestia de tener que pararme a cerrar las cortinas de la ventana cuando la luz del sol me despierta en días en que puedo levantarme tarde, porque en eso vienen llegando los primeros frentes fríos, y hace que ya no necesite dejar ventanas abiertas. Dije luz del sol porque ahorita aunque no esté muy fresco, está amaneciendo nublado todos los días y así dura hasta medio día, lo que hace que la casa (a la que nada le da sombra desde que el sol sale) no se caliente casi nada. Cuando no tenía cortinas y me despertaba con el sol dándome directo a los ojos...

Para cuando termina la época de lluvias de septiembre y empieza a salir el sol otra vez desde temprano hay dos ventajas: amanece cada vez más tarde y el sol empieza a meterse detrás del cerro cuando empieza octubre, y con eso empieza a refrescar desde antes que el resto de la ciudad. Me ha tocado que estemos a 9 grados menos que en Monterrey después de que se mete el sol, cuando normalmente son solo 4 grados menos.

Ahorita ya puedo salir a caminar en las tardes y no tengo que esperarme hasta tarde en la noche que refresque.

Todo esto pasó en los dos septiembres pasados, y espero sinceramente que no vuelva a necesitarse el clima hasta abril o mayo. A ver que dicen los ventarrones a finales de invierno y primavera.

México Bicentenario 2010, la mala Educación nos está costando

A unas cuantas horas del grito, por el facebook aparecen mensajes como: "Hidalgo moriría de vergüenza al ver las ratas que nos gobiernan" o de "Viva México, somos mayoría los que queremos salir adelante en un país justo..." Estamos en una crisis de inseguridad, pero esto viene de mucho más atrás.

Llegaron los españoles a México, muchos de ellos se quedaron, se multiplicaron y se mezclaron con la gente indígena. Algunas tribus como acá en el norestete eran salvajes, y se los echaron a todos antes de que acabaran con los españoles. En el sur los aztecas y otras tribus eran más civilizadas, y al menos los aztecas tenían educación.

Al llegar la conquista, el sistema de educación que se impuso fue el de los españoles, y seguramente ahí se perdió la educación que recibían los indígenas. Por rechazo a la cultura española, por clases sociales que se formaron y/o por gobernantes injustos o corruptos los descendientes de los españoles recibieron la mejor educación, y ellos hasta ahora se las han ingeniado para seguirle así. Por deducción, poco a poco, también los mestizos e indígenas brillantes han encontrado la oportunidad de tener una mejor educación y también mejor posición económica.

El que haya educación de tan mala calidad para la gran mayoría de la población nos está costando caro. El principal culpable es el PRI. Los 70 años que estuvo en el poder no los aprovechó para educar bien al pueblo, cosa que así le ha convenido para manipular al país a su antojo. A tal grado llegó esto que gente económicamente más privilegiada tuvo que gastar para pagar educación privada para sus hijos. Hasta hoy Elba Esther Gordillo no ha ayudado a cambiar las cosas, resulta que casi todos los maestros de escuelas públicas no están aptos para enseñar, pero si demanda mejores sueldos, prestaciones y más días festivos.

Desde el 2000, la incapacidad de Fox (¿y/o el congreso de mayoría del PRI?) para reducir la pobreza hizo que quien les prometió el cielo y las estrellas casi ganara la presidencia en el 2006. Llega Caledrón y empieza a combatir el narcotráfico, cosa que ningún presidente había hecho antes, pero dos años después llega la crisis por errores financieros en Estados Unidos, y quieren los del PRI echarle la culpa al presidente, para sacar ventaja electoral. Ahortia Televisa se ha dedicado (como por muchos años lo hizo) a apoyar al PRI. Las amas sencillas de casa, entre otras personas que se ponen a ver sus novelas están siendo bombardeados con publicidad de Enrique Peña Nieto, con lo que subió sus encuestas de opinión, y ahora está queriendo prohibir las alianzas de los principales partidos opositores para asegurarse de que siga el PRI en el estado de México.

La mala educación nos está costando, porque una gran parte de la gente en México es muy manipulable y no tiene memoria. No se acuerdan de las crisis de cada sexenio desde los 70s hasta "el error de diciembre del 94", la desaparición de periodistas que hablaban mal del gobierno, el empobrecimiento de muchos de ellos mismos desde los 70s, la falta de transparencia en las elecciones, (siendo manejadas por el mismo PRI hasta el 88), la excesiva compra de votos, entre otras. Está costando caro el tener al pueblo así de ingnorante, porque de recuperar el PRI la presidencia, nada me hace pensar que van a seguir con la lucha al narcotráfico o que van a dejar de ser el mismo PRI de siempre. El darles una despensa o algo de dinero a la gente pobre para comprar votos extras, saben que la mayoría de esa gente no va a pensar en su futuro económico, sino el con qué van a comer hoy, y eso les basta. Me daría coraje que todo el esfuerzo que ha hecho el gobierno desde el 2006 para poder vivir en paz (aunque lastimosamente tenga que haber esta inseguridad) se vaya al caño por un partido mayoritariamente corrupto.

Se que el voto fuerte del PRI es el pueblo ignorante; ignorante por culpa del mismo PRI. Otros votos son de la CTM, CROC y sindicatos convenencieros que tomaron ese poder del partido oficial y algunas otras personas compradas por intereses (como el acarreo de votos para Medina que se hizo con maestros de Nuevo León en el 2009. Algunas otras personas he sabido que votan por ese partido para garantizar tener trabajo, cosa que es más entendible. Unos cuantos votos más son de los mismos políticos que están en ese partido, y otros más de familiares y amigos de esos políticos.

Dentro de ese voto fuerte que tiene el Robolucionario Institucional se que la mayoría es gente buena, y solo necesita educación de calidad para saber elegir mejor a sus gobernantes, además de estar capacitados para mejores empleos, y ser algunos de ellos empresarios que generen empleos. Solo así va a salir adelante México.

Pienso en los 250 años de la independencia y en el tricentenario, en el que se recuerde al ejército que ayudó a traer la paz a México, y a las reformas que cambiaron la educación y redujeron significativamente la pobreza. Al ser mayoría los que queremos un México próspero y en paz, aunque no estemos de acuerdo en como se debe llevar a cabo este proceso, ¡Viva México!

Septiembre, Alex y "La Niña"

A casi dos meses y medio de que pasó el huracán Alex, (donde llovió más de lo que llueve en promedio en un año en Monterrey), la sierra Madre, los cerros de la Silla, las Mitras, el Topochico y la loma larga siguen verdes. Normalmente solo la Sierra Madre está verde todo el tiempo. Hasta los alrededores de la carretera a Saltillo, que casi siempre están entre color amarillo banqueta y café claro siguen verdes como nunca antes había visto. Afortunadamente ha llovido poco desde entonces hasta ahora, pero el río Santa Catarina sigue con agua, que ya sin lodo se ve color verde turquesa, cosa que tampoco había visto, y probablemente el agua erosionó casi toda la tierra a su paso.

Hasta ahorita septiembre ha estado igual de caliente que agosto, pero siento yo que más húmedo e incómodo. En los primeros dos años viviendo en las faldas del cerro, para mediados o finales de septiembre era suficiente con abrir la ventana y prender el abanico, ya no se necesitaba clima. Salvo que a partir del fin de semana se vengan muchos días de lluvia y/o muy nublados, esos días sin necesitarse el clima van a venir hasta octubre porque no va a llegar ningún frente frío antes de fin de mes.

A pesar del calor, los árboles a los que se les caen las hojas en otoño saben que se acerca la hora de quedarse pelones. En la foto de arriba se ve que algunas de las hojas ya tienen color café en el centro. La foto la tomé a finales de agosto.

Este invierno viene menos frío y más seco de lo normal, por el fenómeno "La Niña". Es de preocuparse porque con las lluvias del Alex, creció demasiada hierba no solo en Monterrey, sino en zonas como la carretera a Saltillo, donde es raro ver muchas matas. Con la sequía que promete empezar el mes que entra va a haber mucha hierba seca en primavera, y el riesgo de incendios va a ser muy alto no solo en bosques, sino también en zonas semidesérticas. Además, en febrero, marzo y puede que hasta en abril del año que entra se van a dar seguido los "ventarrones" de "febrero loco y marzo otro poco". Cuando estos vienen, el aire del oeste normalmente es seco y hace calor.

En el 2009 la sequía se extendió hasta finales de agosto en Monterrey, prácticamente no llovió en 11 meses (de octubre 2008 hasta finales de agosto 2009) y fue el verano más caluroso en el sur de Texas, y no dudo que en Monterrey también. Al menos hasta abril debe durar la sequía en esta temporada, ojalá me equivoque.

Houston, Tx

A forest in the middle of the city.

Walking around...

Katy Mills:

In and near the Galleria:

Curiously, there were more adults than kids every time I passed by at Dylan's Candy Bar.

The Rainforest Cafe:

Texas sized burger:

Volcano Sundae, the most delicious dessert that I've ever tried in a restaurant:

HEB Supermarket: not an HEB or HEB Plus, this one sold gourmet items and special food, even organic candy! Ready to eat food, along with cooking lessons.

Everything is on sale sometimes, I wanted a bite, wait, no, I want to crave all day long!

Uptown Park:

Cafe Express Classic Greek Salad, the best salad I've eaten. I just added extra olives and mozarella cheese.

At the airport:

I did not know that scorpions were edible, and I never expected to see one inside candy, especially in the US:

A friend's advice: good friends give good pieces of advice, so she told me: make sure to get lots of Sour Patch Cherry candy and lots of Watermelon and Cherry Nerds. As I generally have low blood sugar (not danderously low, though), eat a balanced diet (with all my special exceptions of things I don't like) and help myself with Omnilife's supplements, malnutrition will not be a problem in the future.

As my parent's friends were driving us everywhere, we didn't go to a normal HEB, where I usually find the sour patch watermelon, but hopefully we will this weekend, when we go to pick up some stuff my sister ordered in McAllen.