The Ribcage

  Most of the time, whenever a new restaurant opens in Laredo, all the buzz is centered around the northern part of the city. For example, you have chains like Dunkin Donuts and Alamo DraftHouse that have created a local anticipation for months now since their initial announcements.

 Not one to be blinded by that bias, I must give mention a new local restaurant, the Ribcage, that quietly opened up several months ago now. Having frequented the place several times, I must admit I did enjoy the flavor of their BBQ. Who needs Rudy's when the Ribcage in south Laredo offers better choice and flavor, and all without having to drive across the city. In fact, its just around the corner from this blogger's house in Santo Baby, TX. So next time you take a wrong turn on Loop 20 and get lost in south Laredo, give 'em a try, see what you think.

LareDon't do this to me

For reasons that are not too clear to me at the moment, I haven't stopped by this blog and shared my thoughts with my public lately. There are few things worse in life than letting down all 11 of my loyal readers.

Maybe I was too busy running for office. Maybe I just could not be dragged away from those spinning maquinitas that line every corner of this creepy city. Or maybe I was just too sick from all the carne-asada ingesting, Dallas Cowboys orgy-loving that seems to once again wrapped its kinky arms around this god-forsaken city.

Truth is I have been indulging myself in endless re-runs of shitty TV shows that have made it difficult to drag my fingers from off my remote control onto this aging laptop, with keyboards so sticky you'd think I ate toast with jam over it. Alas, the stickiness is not due to strawberry jam.

Which brings me to my point. One such show that seems to have hit a little too close for comfort is Californication. You might know the show or its premise. If you don't, its cool, I wont bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that, some of the gritty, over-the-top, disgusting moments from that show seem to bare some strange resemblance to the last three years of my life. But as that old disclaimer says, any resemblance to real people is clearly coincidental. I'm not saying I'm David Duchovny, in fact I've been told I look like Paul Rodriguez' ugly younger brother. The point is, I've been busy not blogging due to so discrepancies within my own twisted life.

However, there comes a time in a man's life, even a man like me, a poor schmuck from Santo Baby, TX to grow the hell up. There comes a time to look past the instant gratifications of the flesh, throw caution to the wind and immerse oneself in a good-old fashion, south-Laredo monogamous relationship that even Ricky Ricardo would approve.

Having been married several times already, I figured what the heck, why not again? Maybe because I've had so much practice at being married, I could actually do it right this time. That's what I figured. How many times can a man mess up? Isn't redemption always just around the corner? Having driven around all the the major points of this city throughout this Sunday afternoon, from Meadow to Saunders to Pita Mangana Road, I've come to the conclusion that it's definitely OK to accept my past, but its much more important  to mold a better future for myself. Having said that and having invited a band of cliches to take a seat upon my couch, I decided mucho more than just that.

We all make minor changes within our lives, at one point or another. This blog has always been therapuetic for me and, heck, I can honestly say it has been instrumental in keeping me in touch with who I am and where I come from. And I'm ok with that. Even though I neglect the blog, I know I can always come back to its waiting arms, ever so desperate for my warm embrace. And I know what I am, now. I'm a 30-something year old man from south Laredo with big dreams, no money, zero talent but all the ambition in the world to correct the wrongs and make them right. And I'm OK with that. All it took was a quiet Sunday drive from Meadow to Pita Mangana Road to make understand the obvious.

I'm definitely OK with that.

Walking through Laredo

Some of you might have noticed that recently my blogging output has slowed down to a trickle. That is due to several factors with the major reason being that I have recently moved from one residence to another. Because of the move, most of my time has been absorbed in that transition. Now that I am beginning to be firmly settled down once again, I can begin to sit down and blog about my city like I have for the past three years.

However, it was during this move to my new "home" that I came across something that once meant the world to me: my Sony Walkman with MegaBass.

similar to my trusty Walkman, but in better condition

 You see, back in the late 80s and through out the 90s, whenever I would jog or run through the dangerous streets of south Laredo, my trusty Walkman was always hanging off my belt clip, like a can of police-issued mace. Also with me I carried various music tapes, usually the home recorded-off the radio variety. I loved my Walkman and off course I took it to school for boring French class with Mr. Jacobs, rocked it on Saturdays at the old RiverDrive Mall, and carried it with me on the rare Sundays that my primos took me cruising to La Sanber (er Sanbe to some).

Sometime in the late 1999, I lost track of my battery draining Walkman and it did not resurface until 2009. I was at my parent's house going through an old box of mine when I spotted my closest friend since the time of Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski. Time was not kind on my trusty Walkman, but after putting in fresh batteries and sliding in my old copy Grupo Mazz's "No te Olvidare", the Megabass shook my body, like a visit from Monica Lewinsky.

I slapped on my warm-ups, grabbed my Walkman and trotted out into the stray-dog filled south Laredo night, as if the the past decade had never happened.

I just now this is going to be a great new year, even if it's not 1995.

Loop 20 Beauty Salon

Over by Loop 20 and Ejido St. is this golden beauty salon where for $5.00 dollars you can get the best fade ever. No kidding; I was a customer here for years being that I just lived down the street. The parking is ample, the scissors are efficient, the price is economical, and even though it doesn't look like much, the place is always filled with eager long-haired bushy customers. So if you find yourself in the south side and you need an express haircut, this is the place to go. In these troubled economic times, $5.00 is a steal worth saving.