Vote for the Worst HEB in Laredo

It never fails that each time I need to run to the grocery store and pick up a few items, our local big-box store, HEB, is always jam-packed with so many people that I have to pop an Excedrin before I dare to venture into that food-filled jungle. It is truly impossible to just go in and out of an HEB. There are always so many customers and so few opened lanes, that each time I shop there, I always promise myself it will be the very last time I go walk through those doors.

"Stampede on aisle 3"

But in Laredo, HEB is pretty much the only grocery in town.

I have no other options. HEB is the only grocery store in this city. With no competitors, HEB can just gouge our eyes and we have to take it up the can because we have no alternatives. There is no Tom Thumb, Fiesta, Kroger's, Minyard's, or any of the countless other national, big-box grocery chains.

What are my options? Super S Foods and Narvaez. Please! Narvaez should not even count because they have closed down several of their locations. As for Super S, well, unless you are paying with the state-assisted Lonestar Card, a hard-working person has no business even wondering unto their parking lot to score pirated DVD's, much less shop for food.

By the way, I know what you're thinking. What about Wal-mart? They don't count for they aren't a true grocery store. Unfortunately, HEB is the only game in town. As has been pointed out before by many others, they have an unhealthy local monopoly on the grocery store industry and I think it's time we all pushed our HEB-carts in unison, make some noise and clamor for at least a Fiesta!

HEB Bumper Carts

While some local competition will be a thorn on the side of HEB, it will be a godsend to the denizens of this county.

This is not Laredo circa 1989. We are definitely ready for a new regional food chain.

Every HEB is always crowded. It does not matter the day or the time, there is always 10,000 people at any given moment. Some HEB's are worse than others (I'm looking at you HEB Zapata Hwy.) Others are mostly filled with families buying 2,000 lbs. of Cheetos and 100 gallons of Pepsi and all on their Lonestar Card.

But what do you think Laredo? What is the worst HEB to shop in Laredo? Which local HEB is the most crowded, loudest, chook-filled with Lonestar Card, buying- in our city?

(HEB Downtown, HEB Guadalupe, HEB San Dario, HEB Del Mar, HEB Saunders, HEB Zapata Hwy,  HEB McPherson aka Gucci-b, HEB Plus)

La Hechicera

"Para terminar esta bronca ya voy a travesar valles y fronteras,

 como un alguecil, ire tras de it, voy a comenzar por Laredo, Tejas".

 Back in the day, my cousins always played this song everytime we got together or every time we went to a Quincenera or boda. Now thinking back to those days, I often wonder where time has gone and why I no longer attend as many weddings as I did in 1990.

 Do people not get married as often? Have weddings gone passe? Why can't I go to a nice boda at Roli's and dance the night away as if it was 1989?

Oh, sorry for the reminiscing. It's just the Monday evening blues.

Baseball and Elena

     "How can you watch baseball on TV? It's so freaking boring," Elena muttered as she sat on the sofa beside me. It was a Wednesday night and I had invited her over to my apartment for some TV and tacos. Her long dark hair flowed freely over the shoulder as she reached across the coffee table  toward the remote control.

 
     " What are you doing?" I asked as she was about to flip the channel.

     "I'm going to look for the football. Pre-season started." Her response irritated me.

     "Pre-season?" I quipped getting annoyed at her changing the channel during the 7th inning of the Ranger's game.

    "Calm down, Gabito. I'll put it back in a minute," Elena smirked, noticing I was becoming visibly upset. If it wasn't for her 36c's, I would have gladly found a reason to show her the door.

     "You're the only boyfriend I've ever had that prefers baseball over football," she continued as she splashed open a cold can of Pepsi. At this, I couldn't help but roll me eyes. I was beginning to regret inviting her over to my place during such a crucial game with a divisional foe.
   
     After witnessing my obvious discomfort, Elena finally changed the channel back to the Ranger's game. "There, you happy now?" she groaned.  We sat quietly on the sofa watching the baseball game for a few minutes, but she quickly began to grow fidgety and impatient.

   Elena finally suggested, "How bout we watch wrestling instead?"

     "Wrestling? Really, Elena? What is this, 1989?" I asked incredulously.

  She bursts out with laughter, no doubt recalling some Ultimate Warrior wrestling bit from back in the day. At this point, I can see that this relationship is going to have its bumps along the road.

    Then, she looked at me with a serious face and uttered, "All you have to do is learn to watch football and wrestling and we can get along just fine."

     I took the remote control from the coffee table and flipped the channel to the wrestling program.

    "There," I told her, "we can get along just fine."

     "She finally smiled at and placed her head on my shoulder. On TV, grown men acted like fools, bodily slammed each other, and yelled fabricated dialogue.

     "The things I do for a fine pair of 36c's" I thought to myself. Maybe wrestling isn't so bad.

Lalo's Sportsman Club "El Pozo"

How come I'd never seen this place before?

Sometimes I find myself driving aimlessly around town and I come across a building that I had never seen before. Days ago, I was navigating down Lane St., north of the old Mercy Hospital, and I spotted this business that bills itself as Lalo's Sportsclub. According to their sign, they have been around since 1944, although I had never paid any attention to it in all the years I had been driving in the general area. I'm sure this is a fine establishment but from the looks of it it has seen better times during the days of World War II.

With a name like "El Pozo", how can I pass that up?

Lupe Ontiveros RIP

There was a time when Lupe Ontiveros was in every film I ever watched, from the "El Norte", to "The Goonies" to "Born in East LA" along with a string of other important films. I could go on and say how important she was as a Hispanic on TV, but I'm sure other will do a much better job of that. For now, Lupe Ontiveros, may she rest in peace. 

Blockbuster Video Closing

     It finally happened. The last true video store in Laredo is shuttering its doors. Blockbuster, long ago closing down stores nationwide, is now going to be completely gone from our city. Back in 1998, there were about 4 Blockbuster chain stores along with a slew of locally owned mom and pop shops. Now,thanks to RedBox, Netflix, the internet and a barrage of cable channels, video stores are a thing of the past.

The last place to rent a movie is closing down

I long for the days when I could stroll into a video store and peruse their selection, walking endlessly down their aisles, trying to decide upon a wise movie selection (usually some over-the-top b-movie horror flick). 

The sign that brought tears to my eyes

Now, with the last Blockbuster closing, all we have left are those silly RedBox kiosks and VideoMatic on McPherson. I must be the only person left that still misses the old video stores. Everyone else seems to be going RedBox crazy, but that is not the way God intended man to rent a movie.

Unnatural way to rent a movie

Lemurs Tshirt

So I went to the Lemurs game earlier tonight and I was finally able to witness the home team come out victorious. Attendance was rather low which is probably due to the Lemurs' losing ways. However,  one of the benefits of having a sparse crowd was that I was finally able to nab some of the freebies that are thrown out into the stands.  Take a peek at the awesome t-shirt I got.

 

 

Nice shirt! Go Lemurs. The front of the t-shirt is nice enuff.

  

WTFB! Too bad the back is spoiled by a BadNewsBears moment