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

Friday Freebies: Cowboys Coke Bottle

Fresh and freaky Friday freebies is finally here and I'm certain that many of you out there could not wait for this day to arrive. Luckily for you, the big day is finally here.

 I had promised many of you, that follow me on Twitter, some free items that I had planned on giving away. You see, I have boxes full of things / memorabilia that I no longer need, and some of those items I plan to give away on here during "Friday Freebies" to anyone that wishes to participate.

First item up for a giveaway is a vintage Dallas Cowboys, 1984, 25 year anniversary Coca-Cola Bottle, unopened and a nice collectible. I bought this bottle as a kid, way back in 1985 at a garage sale. It would really be a nice addition to any of Uncle Jerry's followers.

Friday Freebie (Episode 1)

To participate in Friday Freebies you must do one of the following:

1) Email me and state your reason why you should be the one to win this cool bottle. Email me at gbfilms@ymail.com

2) Follow me on Twitter and tell us why you should win.

3) Follow us on our Facebook page and give us your reason to why you should be the winner.

That is all. If you already follow us on either of those, just give us your reason. A winner will be chosen at random and they will be notified that they are the winner. You can use the buttons on the top right hand corner of our blog to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. One winner will be chosen. Thanks for your interest in our silly giveaway and look for other items soon.  :)

Contest ends on July 25, 2012
Good Luck!

DeLaredo

Celebrating cuatro de Julio

En el parque por el arrollo con carne asada y musica de Mazz. Happy 4 de Julio.

Friday Freebies

I'm trying to clean out my closet and rid myself of things I no longer want. I'm sure some of you out there would enjoy free items. First up is some Dallas Cowboys memorabilia that I'm giving away. Pictures and details coming up by mid-week. Stay fresh Laredo.

San antonio

The hand is currently in san antonio. Free stuff fridays will be in when I return. Sorry for the inconvenience.

El Mejor Pan

Who needs actual parking spaces anyway?

Don't mind the glare, pic taking incognito

Donuts were surprisingly good

These must be the colors of heaven and paradise

Everyone knows that when it comes to bakeries, I am partial to Quickies. However, every now and then, the 'pan dulce' from El Mejor Pan draws my interest and my weak-minded hands drive me over to Lafayette, down by the west side, for some warm-right-out-of the oven goodness.

Aesthetically this might not be the most pleasing place, but their bread sure does come through, and the drive to the opposite side of town is well worth it.

One thing about this business is that it has no real parking space to it. One just pulls up to the front of the store and runs down to make fast purchases, like something from Nvo. Laredo, but I'm guessing that this adds charm and local flavor. And that is always, lo Mejor.