Gas Price Hike in B-ville

Yesterday night I recieved a text message from a friend at Texas A&M saying:

"make sure that you fill up your tank tonight because gas prices are gonna rise$.49 cents tomorrow! - luv nicky"

It seems that Hurricane Katrina is about to create an national economic disaster not just a physical one in New Orleans.

Reflections

photo by steven saul king

The Puppies

Buttercup has so, so, sooo much love to share. Poor Nutters.

Photo by Miriam

Brownsville Scenes Logo

W.A. Snake King Letterhead

This is the scanned copy of one of many original Snake King letterheads.

Linens and Things

"Linens and Things" is almost complete with it's addition and the expanions on the Sunrise Mall's south side. No more than a block away "Bed, Bath and Beyond" will also join Anna's Linens in the Sunrise Mall area. Sooo... I dunno, get ready to buy lots of linens?

Fort Brown Resaca at Sunset

by steven saul king

New Home Depot

A high school friend and loyal customer was at my store tonight. He is a manager at the new Home Depot being built on Morrison Rd. He caught me off guard when he told me that they are already in the store and are scheduled to open next month. I can't wait. It'll be nice to have a nice hardware store on this side of town!

First day of Fall Classes

The Start of the Fall 2005 Semester

Photo by Steven Saul King

Hooters Opens Today

Brownsville opened up it'd very first Hooters resturant today with much fanfare from all men and chicken wing lovers in town. The location is at the old Konami place across from Bucana's and the Copa Cabana.

Although Miriam and I both have the temptation to check out the new place, the best thing is to wait until the craze dies down first. Until then, we'll get our boneless chicken wings at chili's!

by steven saul king

The Student Union Debate

A new debate is starting to swirl over a decision that we made years and years ago. When Diego, Joel and myself were first contemplating whether we should try one more time to bring the student CENTER debate back into the hands of students, we went through many scenarios.

First of all, we all agreed that the university was going to have a huge growth spurt and if we didn't act soon the student's future HOME was going to be over looked... We knew that the university wanted the building too, but we weren't going to under take this effort so a VP could call it home. Since we were always going against the grain, we decided to make the tactical move of naming it a STUDENT UNION... Because students pay a fee for THEIR own building, our OWN building. If it were a student CENTER, significantly being paid for by UT or with District money then they would have a say so, but they don't. The Union is self sufficient. The student union should be collecting student fees and would collect fees to any non-student oriented event and UT administration events.

It takes years to approve, plan and build a building made to last no less than 100 yrs. Since then, the university conveniently forgot it's purpose and we had long since moved on to bigger, better things. The new SGA will meet soon this year on a movement that would kick the existing VP and staff out of the student's HOME. It'll be my pleasure to help them...

Graduate School

The last couple of days I've had to bend and flex the schedule at work to accommodate everyone's school schedule. It's been awhile since I have personally had a thirst to go back and finish my MBA... but I'm ready to go back now.

I don't need a whole lot of classes to go, maybe 3 at the most. Getting my MBA is the achievement my whole family is waiting on... It's the goal my father told me I needed to accomplish every morning on the way to elementary school (for god sakes!).

I also made a personal commitment to myself... I waited on the opportunity to buy a class ring when I was in high school and when I got my bachelors because I didn't consider those moments as the ultimate educational achievement in my life, I will with my MBA. Hopefully by summer '06 I'll be sporting a new ring!

Another Brownsville Sunset

a picture is worth a thousand words but i think sometimes you actually have to be there to understand. i've been out of town so much this year and each time i'm gone, i couldn't quite nail why it feels different being somewhere else (other than the obvious)... it feels good to be home and under texas skies...

well, with the week over and the weekend just beginning (and school starting up again on Monday), people start to unwind at their favorite hang outs. chili's is one!

by steven saul king

A Small Gift

I got this little bird as a gift from my boss. He picked it up from his last trip into the interior of Mexico.

Along with the bird came a note with a map that reads, "Mexican craftsman make this figure from clay, molded and painted by hand in Guadalajara area that belongs to the state of Jalisco. Every artisian signs his piece as authenticity of his unique work."

Historic Fort Brown Band Stand

This is the original Fort Brown Bandstand that once stood on parade grounds during military exercises. Unfortunately I haven't actually found the oldest picture of this gazebo or one where it was used in the early 1900s. I'll keep looking.... Anyway, it's currently located next to the Neale House but that might change after the relocation of the Neale House. The Fort Brown Bandstand was built in 1912. It would be interesting to find out by who?

all photos by steven saul king

Support the Laguna Madre Humane Society

I urge everyone to support the Laguna Madre Humane Society. This organization, unlike the Brownsville Animal Control Shelter, is a no-kill shelter, free of politics and they genuinely care for their animals in the most humane ways possible. Also it is mostly compromised of volunteer people who dedicate their time to make a difference...

Bird Watching

I live in a nice and beautiful part of town, i can't help but take my camera out everytime i take the dogs out for a long walk. What kind of bird this is, i don't know? But it made weird noises and apparently didn't see me approaching. You can take a good guess.

Tax-Free Weekend Brownsville Texas

*sigh* the end of another tax-free weekend... that is, until next year. Surprisingly enough i think i saw more mexican nationals then local customers. i don't know why, they still get their taxes back either way.