Why are we mourning 26 lost lives today?

Why are we mourning more innocent children killed today?

Children being lead away from shooting scene. Dec 14, 2012
 

When is this going to stop?
Will it ever?
As is customary in these situations, everybody asks everybody else to pray for the parents, grandparents and siblings of the innocent victims.
And we do, well, I know I do.
But as I cry tears of impotence and pain for those little ones, I ask, if praying helps alleviate and console the feeling of loss and what should we do to stop the violence, the senseless acts of murdering our fellow human beings?
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty children, all first-graders, and six adults. All dead in a matter of minutes. Why?
Perhaps we will never know the entire truth of how this came to happen.The perpetrator barely 20 years old, nor quite an adult and in my eyes (and I am sure in the eyes of many) he was still a child,  and described by some as very smart and somewhat of a loner.
What was going through his mind?. What could possibly be tormenting him that took him to go to these extremes? What were his motive(s) to commit such an atrocious act. At some point, I would imagine, he realized what he had done and rather than face the consequences, shot himself, taking with him his own pain and guilt.
I think I could put myself in his shoes, so to speak and understand the bottled up feelings of guilt, anger and pain.
Although this young man, now identified as Adam Lanza committed a heinous crime, we need to pause a little and think that there's always the possibility of some mental disturbance, mental trauma, or the result of some form of mental abuse from somebody else. We also need to keep in mind that, as of now, it has been revealed that his first victim was his own mother.
What makes it more remarkable of course, is the age of the majority of the victims, so innocent and vulnerable.
So many questions come to mind that I doubt, as I said earlier, we may never know the answers to. But as I was saying, if this young man sought revenge by inflicting pain in such a massive manner, what was the cause?
Why didn't he get the help that he needed? What were the tell tale signs that in cases like this, in retrospect we find that were there all the time, but we missed them altogether. I heard Pierce Morgan and Soledad O'Brien saying the same thing that I said myself, what are we doing to prevent this tragedies? I bet money that the powers that be, the ones who write the laws of the land, will not act on it, they will step upfront to give a press conference and ask all citizens to keep the victims in our prayers and pledge to "do everything in our power to pass some legislature that will address gun control" and such, but history will repeat itself and we will find ourselves lamenting more innocent lives lost, because a deranged man had easy access to high caliber firearms or machine-gun type arms.
I don't have a plan, but I can make suggestions, like suing the firearm manufacturers for huge amounts of money. Money that could be funneled to increase security in all public buildings. Hitting the powerful NRA and its advocates where it hurts, which is the money being made with the proliferation of arms, could and it should make a dent in the gun control argument.
Enforce a moratorium in gun sales. Amend the Constitution, it is outdated. When it was written I doubt that the founding fathers had the problem that we face today.
 Ironic and sad is a fact that gun sales increase every time that a mass shooting occurs. Money is being made every time  innocents die.
So no, I don't think praying is doing much to help avoid the recurrence of tragedies like the one we live today. Action speak louder than words or thought for that matter.



 

Rachel

I dont know why but, it's been almost a month since Rachel passes away and she's still very present in us, her co-workers, barely a day goes by with one of us will say something that involves Rachel.
Today was no exception, I asked Cora that if she had worked the past two sundays and she replied that she has worked every sunday since. . . .Rachel, I said, and she said that she doesn't feel right mentioning her name all the time and I said that I don't see nothing wrong with it and that I couldn't help but remebering her smile and her friendly demeanor. Later while doing the 30-day count, Sandra and I, again brought up Rachel's memories. I had such high hopes, that she was going to  become my right hand by taking care of what I call logistics, sales numbers, records, reports and such routines that my goal was to free myself from doing that and focus myself in maintaining and following up in other areas that required my most immediate atention, like frame boards, compliance, and other operations. But nothing happens by mistake. God's hand is in everything and he works in mysterious ways they say. Rachel memory will live in my mind for a long time, she had that personality that touched something inside everybody that she talked to. God Blesses her. We missed her a lot.

 

Tragedy hits Walmart VC 5245

It's so sad and ironic. Here I am writing this today Sunday November 12th of 2012. Last week while I was in line voting, (and later blogging)to later proclaim a victory, a dear person of mine was leaving this world.
Rachel Ann Segura died of a heart attack early tuesday November 6, 2012.
She was the latest associate hired by me to complement the staffing at the Vision Center #5245.
She was more then just complementing the small group, she became,  in just four weeks, a valuable asset. She had a yearning for knowledge and for making sure that the daily routine of operations had to be mastered in as little time as possible.
Rachel will be greatly missed by me, more than the rest of my staff I dare to say. She transferred from the jewelry department after a number of years being shuffled to other areas in the store, even she was not so happy with the way Walmart management (Div 1) treats associates, sometimes borderlining in abuse, Rachel never refuse an assignment, she was always methodical and professional about it.
Sometime after I lost an associate to retirement, I hired an acquaintance from store #1347, but shortly after, I realized that I needed somebody else that could work early and mid-shift hours and Rachel was the indicated and right person. Due the Store Manager position being vacated not one but twice in a matter of three months, it was difficult for me to get the ball rolling and transfer Rachel from Jewelry to Vision Center swiftly and it was finally in the second week of October that I was given the green light to take her, and she was very happy and eager to start working in the optical field.
The very last day we worked together, Monday November 5, at some point and while seating in front of our computers I asked her how did she liked working in the Vision Center so far and if she had started to regret leaving Division 1 and she said, "God no, not for a minute do I regret moving here from jewelry, I love it here, I love what I am learning, it's a lot to learn, but I'll get it all sooner or later".
I sincerely had high hoped that Rachel could learn everything that there is to learn to become a Vision Center Manager and I told her so.
I had already taught her to take care of some papaerwork and what I call "Logostics" for me and I in that very short time was getting used to depend on her getting those sales number down on paper and finalize other reports as well.
God, is true what they say. Is the good souls that are taken early from us.
She was such a genuine nice and very friendly young woman, she always had a smile for averybody, acquantance or not. Always funny and ready to bright anybody's day with a joke or just a hearty laugh. I missed her already. And I know that my feelings are not as deep as the ones her family are going through. May God Bless her parents, brothers and husband.
Rachel was only 35 years old and her birthday was upcoming on November 25th.

Rachel and husband Eddie (taken from Facebook)
 

 

Bronco Bama wins!

As the little girl in the YouTube says it, "Bronco Bama" is the projected winner.

President Barack Obama is re-elected to a second term.

As of 10:18 local (central) time CNN and ABC News, (the ones that I'm monitoring, projects President Obama winner of the election and therefore to a  second term as Commander in Chief.
As of this writing Obama have 290 electoral votes versus 201 for Mitt Romney. I don't know how late I will stay up, but I am confident that all major networks can not get it wrong in making their assumptions and declaring my president Obama re-elected.
Locally, the incumbent Sheriff loses to the lady General . But the Mayor Castro's proposition to get approval for the 0.08 cent tax to fund pre-K education is still too close to call victory, so we will see the results tomorrow.

I will update this later as the results are finalized.

New record

Today I practiced the route that The Rock n' Roll Marathon/Bike Tour will follow come Nov, 11.
22 miles long and in exactly 2 hrs. with only two (very) short stops, both on the last leg; the first at about mile 19.5 and the second in front of my car parked in front of the Federal building, mile 20.5 for a sip of water. That's a record for me. I think I can do the Bike Tour.



Finishing the entire Leon Creek North Greenway Nov 2, 2012

 

Yesterday in my first attempt, it took me two hours just to do about half of the route, because I had to stop about twenty times to check my maps to follow the route exactly as shown, and I got confused  a few times.
According to the rules the race will last two hours and can not lag behind too far of the entire group because the Marathon runners will be right behind.
I don't know if I am still on time to register. Junior advised against and Raquel said to go ahead if I felt capable, my wife either, doesn't care or is neutral, she is okay if I do it and okay if I decide not to do it. I didn't ask Jesus, but I get the feeling that he would say, whatever you want to do.
 

Omen?

Today was a somewhat strange day, or maybe I should categorize it as unusual and extraordinary. In other people's views this may seem like nothing uncommon.
This man came into the Vision Center and asked me to straighten up a pair of spectacles that needed adjustment and alignment, well I succesfully fixed one of them but the second one had a very brittle temple sleeve that broke at the end when I tried to align. I apologized to the man and he started talking about hunting properties west of El Paso, Texas where you can still buy an acre of land, waterfront facing the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) for about $200 per acre, which according to him is a bargain, somewhat he changed the subject to being mugged in a little town between Cotulla and Hebronville, Texas, circa 1977. He then asked me if I knew Fox Tech High School, to what I responded that was my alma mater. I told him that I didn't graduated but that I belonged to Class 1981 and he said that he was there at that time, he was the school principal. I have never attended a School reunion because I would not recognize a single person there. The fact is I don't remember anybody attending school the time that I attended other than my now wife and a buddy of mine back then, Roberto Tovar who later dated and later engaged to Irene (I forgot her last name) who was my girlfriend's co-worker at Solo-Serve a Department Store in downtown San Antonio back in the 80's.
Back to the story. I told him that I have not talked to anybody from that era. Another customer walked in and we had to stop talking and he departed thanking me.
Less that 30 minutes later, another man came in and asked me for an estimate on his eyeglasses prescription and he said that he was only shopping around. I gave him a price quote and explained to him the difference on materials, their properties and what was best for fitting his prescription and budget. Very nicely he thanked me and left only to return in about five minutes. I helped him select a nice frame for his bifocal Rx, Once we started talking, we found out that he went to the same Primary school that I attended,  the Ignacio M. Altamirano and later El Instituto dr. Andres Osuna, mejor conocido como El IDAO, he said that he recalled that only people with money sent children to this school. At some point I mentioned that I founded bizarre or at the very least, extraordinary, the fact that twice in a single day I had met two people with some nexus to my life in younger years. The second man said his name was Manuel (I forgot another last name) and the former principal's Philip or Felipe Torralba.
Now the clincher.

Less that 24 hours before, I was looking a picture of myself with my schoolmates from my 5th Grade school year 1971-1972 that I had posted in Flickr about five or six years ago. I was 10 years old!  Last night I was just looking at the photo and tried to remember the names of everybody pictured. I was able to recall some twelve out of forty-one to the best of my knowledge.
Mr. Manuel also talked about Jesus Christ and how The Almighty changed his life forever, he is Catholic and hold priests in a high regard. He have seen God personified in a homeless, and disarrayed looking black man with very white hair. Years ago, while attending Mass in a Catholic Church, he had $20 to his name, he put $10 in the Diezmo basket at the end of the ceremony and with the remaining $10 he planned to get some breakfast tacos that some people was selling outside the church along with cup cakes and other stuff to raise funds for some cause or event related to the church itself. At the end of Mass he stopped to  talk to a friend in the back of the church when he noticed this black man dressed or covered with a tunic or something like the cloth that Gandi use to cover himself, he used a long and thick stick to walk, he had very white and short white hair at some distance towards the front of the church's altar, the man looked him in the eye and point a finger at him and then motioned his hand towards his mouth like in a feeding gesture. Manuel said goodbye to his friend and said "let me see what this man wants" and walked towards him, as soon as he was in front of him, the black man said "I am hungry" and Manuel looked at him for a moment and invited him to come to the church grounds and get something to eat. There, the man said "I was just sent here, He sent me" to what Manuel said "what? who sent you? and the man point upwards, to the sky. In a split second, he says, in one single second something distracted me and as turn back to the man, he was gone, Manuel looked around the corner of the church and nobody was there, and Manuel thought that he couldn't have run away that fast. He is convinced that he had talked to God.
At the end my sale didn't materialized when I told him that it would take 5 to 7 days to get the glasses back and ready, he needed them sooner.
Nevertheless we accord to meet another day for a cup o' joe and talk some more of our time in Piedras Negras.

My bike is broken

Yesterday I got home a little after 7pm and my first instinct was to get on my bike and ride a few miles, since on wednesday (today) had to go to work for just a few hours, being my day off, I was not going to be able to ride early. Well, that didn't go too well. The rear sproket came loose and in the middle of the street over by the Pearl Brewery it just would not shift gears. I stopped and tried to fix it but to no avail, resigned I walked all the way back to my car, which was by the MUnicipal Golf Course.
This post is being made possible by courtesy of AT&T Hot Spot accross from my store.

From here, my agenda calls for getting some breakfast before heading to check out the pickup trucks that Jesus is interested in;

1. 1.- At 12179 FM 1518 North, Cibolo, Tx. 1997 Chevy Silverado 1500 Z71, 166K $4,500 maroon.Carfax shows one owner. $208 under value.
2.  8903 Grissom Rd.- 2002 GMC Sierra Z71, has 204K miles , is maroon. Apparently driver's side wheel bearing needs service/replacement. Carfax shows one owner. $1080 over value.

Next , I need to see if I can fix my bike by myself or maybe I will take it to a bike shop if is not too expensive to do so, keeping in mind that two weeks ago I spend $75 just to get a new tire, tube and protective liner for the rear wheel, that was almost half the price of the bike.
If all goes well, I will go for a long ride, to make up for the time lost.
Laters. and let's roll!

07/15/2012 Salado Creek Greenway North.

Today I went for another long bike ride with  Cora.
We started at Tobin Park, headed north and bypassed Lady Bird Johnson Trailhead, went through McAllister Park, then trying to find the trail that connects to Walker Ranch Historic Landmark Park and then to  Volker Park, which is the same as Phil Hardberger Park right on Blanco and the Wurzbach Parkway (under construction).
We began the ride at around 7:45 AM and the round trip took us about 5 hours, with a number of stops for rests and mechanical problems along the way.
All things considered was a good ride, but my knees are sore and aching,since my wify and I went dancing last night and we had not done so in a long while.
I intend to keep posting all my rides along the San Antonio trailways. So far I have done most of the major ones.

07/11/2012 Wednesday Leon Creek Greenway North  and Central Bike Trail.

 Started on Valero Trailhead, corner of Interstate Highway 10 at Loop 1604 went on through Fox Park, Bamberger Park, Buddy Calk Park, Oxbow Park, OP Schnabel Park, bypassed Leon vista Trailhead, stopped at Mainland Trailhead, went to Walmart and bought supplies to protect my backpack and electronics from the rain. Continued to Grissom Trailhead then, Cathedral Rock trailhead connector, Border Brook Connector Trailhead and turned around as I approached the creek crossing just before the end at Via Ingram Rd Transit Center. Rainy and cool. I snapped pictures of two rabbits around Fox Park and a red-banded snake by Buddy Calk Park. 

Becoming a cyclist

Here I go again.
I want to try something new, and based on a pattern, I will probably focus on becoming a serious cyclist, for a while, or until something else catches my fancy.
As of now, I enjoy riding my bike. I like going for long non-stop drives and so I am constantly exploring different trails or bike paths in the city. As of now I like the Salado Creek Greenway that runs from Rittiman, north to McAllister Park.

In my humble opinion

In my humble opinion...
Not that anybody cares to ask me for an opinion in the Trayvon Martin case, except for my younger son, but here it is anyway and for what is worth.

I just finish watching Pierce Morgan interview with George Zimmerman's brother and he spoke some truth; for instance, when Pierce asks about the "altercation between Trayvon and Zimmerman" I feel just like Robert Zimmerman Jr. Pierce is just feeding into the assumption of issues of which there is no direct that can testify to.
Why isn't people in general seeing this with open mind?
At first reports the black community started crying "racism", "another innocent black kid killed by a white man". Then it came to light that George Zimmerman is of Hispanic ancestry and the black leaders of groups protesting around the country went like "...uh?" Okay, let's now change the tone to "it was just a senseless murder".
I myself don't take any side, for one, it is truly tragic when a life is lost, especially of a young and promising teenager. Mr. Martin was only 17 and I've seen some 15 and 16 year-old young guns that can kick the bejesus out of a more mature and older man (like myself). Anything is possible. And it needs to be said; Anytime, (or just about) a black person dies at the hands of a non-black assailant, it is called a race motivated attack, or a hate crime for the books. It is still inconceivable that in 21st Century we are still discussing racism in America.

On the road to success

This past January, my younger son's girlfriend, Sarah gave a book as my birthday present, The book is titled "Off the road" and is about the pilgrimage of the author -Jack Hitt- to Santiago de Compostela aka The Way of St. James. As I started to read the book, (I have not finished) I realize that in a parallel way I am starting a new position in my career in Walmart, I have on this road before, but this time seems different in the sense that I am more mature, abeit not quite wiser, as contradicting as it may sound.

Although I do have some experience in management, it's been a while since I flexed those muscles. People that know me tell me that I often sell myself short of my real intelectual value.

I do have trouble thinking of myself as a very smart and caring supervisor.

I took over the Vision Center at Store # 5245 on January 28th, I have been there less than two weeks and I'm on the brink of terminating an associate of 17 years. The circumstances warrant such dismissal. I am the kind of person that believes in second chances, but this associate have overstayed her time in this business, when is obvious that she can not perform her job duties without some supervision.

I have the enthusiasm to move this store to higher levels of success (and profitability) and notoriety among the best, the so called "Million Dollar stores". I am confident that I can drive this store, my Vision Center to the same level, if not higher that all those others. But what is distracting me is the disorganization I hereditated from the last supervisor.

So, finally, I feel like I am on a pilgrimage of my own. I concede that on my way there I will encounter ups and downs, and I must do whatever is apropriate to stay on the right path and not fall off the road until I accomplish my goal.