- Joe's Blog - Mas

Vacation with Mickey & his Friends

Summer of 2008 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mex. What to do? Que hacemos? Uncle Joe suggested they all go to California and visit Mickey at Disneyland, among other places. Cousin Paty talked about when she and her husband, Eduardo, came to San Francisco in the mid 1980's and Uncle Joe gave them a tour of San Francisco.

My Sobrinas also wanted a tour so it was decided. Great!! Pack the bags, find the passports and make the plane reservations. It was a last minute decision because the Visa's had to be in order but it was easy to make plane reservations with Mom's credit card.

Cousin Paty said her daughters took care of everything and were ready to go as soon as the visa's cleared. So all I had to do was pick them up at the airport. My Sobrinas had never been to Disneyland or anywhere else in California so it was decided I'd take them to Disney first to meet Mickey. Estefi, Carolina Y Poala could not get enough of Disneyland. I don't know how many times Estefi went into the Pirates of the Carribean. We got to enjoy most of the rides and amusements like the Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, and Toon Town where Mickey' was found at his home and took photos with everyone (except me).

The girls are back in Guadalajara now but they can't forget their vacation which also included San Francisco, Knotts Berry Farm, San Diego Tour, Hollywood and Universal Studios. I, of course, also had a great time with my Prima and Sobrinas and look forward for future excursions. (included are a few photos of Disneyland).

Bristol is pregnant???

Palin Says Daughter, 17, Is Pregnant

NEW YORK In a surprise announcement, the McCain campaign revealed today that Sarah and Todd Palin have announced that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter Bristol is pregnant.

The couple said in a statement that Bristol will keep the baby. (Duh!! What else could she do with the baby?)

When news broke, it had not yet been reported by her home state papers, which have often been the source for outside media for other background on Palin.

When the Anchorage Daily News did report the news today, it pointed out: "The Daily News had asked Palin's press secretary, Bill McAllister, over the weekend to address rumors that Bristol was pregnant. 'I don't know. I have no evidence that Bristol's pregnant,' he said on Saturday."

Reporter Kyle Hopkins updated that later: McAllister said he found out this morning along with everybody else. I said people might find that hard to believe. 'I guess they can call me a liar then, but that’s the truth.' Again, he said the only time he talked to Palin about it was when she approached him and said rumors about Bristol weren't true."

The McCain team asserted that he knew about the pregnancy when he selected Palin. She has five children and now a grandchild coming as she hits the campaign trail. (The McCain team has to save face)

Steve Schmidt, a top McCain spokesman, said: "Life happens." Reporters pressed him on whether McCain knew about this before he picked Palin but he would only say that McCain knew "last week," meaning it could have been before or after. (Life happens whether you want it to happen or not)

Time magazine's Web site reported today, from Wasilla, that it was an "open secret" around time that Bristol was pregnant. If McCain did not know about it, this would be revealing.

The Palins' statement continued: "We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support." (What else could Sarah say that would not cause more damage?)

CNN.com reports that Palin "indicated during her run for Alaska governor that she was a firm supporter of abstinence-only education in schools. In a 2006 Eagle Forum questionnaire, Palin indicated that she supported funding abstinence-until-marriage education programs instead of teaching sex-education programs. 'Explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,' Palin wrote in the conservative group’s questionnaire." (What's she going to do, throw her daughter out of the house? Looks like Sarah Palin needs to pay more attention to her children's needs instead of running around all over the country).

The Anchorage Daily News reported earlier today that rumors had abounded in the state for months that Bristol Palin was pregnant. This turned out to be true, but what it fostered was other rumors that she was the real mother of Sarah Palin's fifth child, who was delivered in April.

The Tribune Company's political blog, The Swamp, reports, "Mark Okeson, the assistant principal at Wasilla High School, said Sarah started her junior year there last fall, in the town where Sarah Palin grew up, but Bristol transferred to an Anchorage high school mid-year. 'I never heard the story why,' he said Monday."

Note: Last I heard, having sex with a minor is a crime and punishable in prison. Palin says that Bristol's boyfriend is going to marry her? Hmmmm , this I like to see! Sounds more like a shotgun wedding!

The 15th Annual Hispanic Consumer Trade Show

I just want to remind everyone that our annual Hispanic Consumer Trade Show will be held at the Kern County Fairgrounds this coming Sunday, 08-17-08 from 11am to 5pm.

It's free (no charge) and there will be great food, beverages, live music and entertainment and children's activities so bring your kids.

There will be a lot of businesses there dispalying their business wares and there will be an overall of fun so see you there. Oh and if you get lucky and get arrested and sent to the trade show jail, Do not fear, Gotta Go will be there to bail you out.

Hey Somedude......where you at?

Hey Dude!! Where are you? I know we don't agree on a lot of things but hey! We kind of have something in common in our heritage. I was kinda having fun talking to you so get back in here and tell me your wisdom!!

WHERE HAVE THE GOOD OLD DAYS GONE ?

"Those were the good old day!" Yeah...where have they gone? I'll tell you about mine and you tell me about yours!~ The best years of my life were in high school. You might say the same but mine were during the years of 1965 and 1969. What were your years?

I remember cruising Main Street Delano after school and on Friday nights and whenever else we could to check out the gals, Las Leonas and the other cars. My 1960 Ford Falcon was a "bomb" and was raised in the back with "shackles". In those days we were "high riding" instead of "low riding". I remember tying strings to my windshield wiper blades during the rainy season and runnning the strings through the driver and passenger front windows. The wipers weren't working so I would pull the left string one way to make the wipers go to the left and then pull the right string to pull the windshield wipers back. It worked!! And so it went as we cruised Main Street. Why fix them? The rainy season wasn't going to last that long anyway.

I had something happen to me and the "Millenium" Falcon that I will never forget. On this particular school day, I started driving the Falcon and noticed that I was having a hard time turning the steering wheel to the left. I picked up my friends, Gonzalo Venegas and Frankie Chavez at their residences and headed to school. I made a right turn into the school parking lot and as I straightened out, my left front tire, rim and all, popped out of it's axle and was rolling straight ahead into the quad while the Falcon was rolling on 3 wheels. That was the most embarassing day of my life and the funniest. Before you knew it, everyone knew about it and were making fun of my poor Falcon and/or me. Geeesh!! It was eventually repaired at the Delano School automotive shop by the students. It turned out that my wheel bearings had frozen and the tire just broke off the axle.

PE was my favorite subject. I remember my Delano PE teacher pulling on my sideburns and saying they were too long and I had to shave them to my ear lobes (Yikes!!). I remember getting detention for having my shirt tail out. I've also done detention time for kissing my girlfriend in school grounds and for chewing gum. Heavy crimes eh? I remember girls being sent home because their skirts were higher than the 4 inch limit above their knee. Teachers actually carried rulers to measure the skirt lenghts. An old classmate of mine was sent home several times because his mustache was below his lip and his head hair was touching his collar. The hair in front could also not reach down to your eyebrows. In those days, the students couldn't walk around in white T-shirts as they do now and girls could not wear shorts or anything above 4 inches above their knees. Our shirts had to be buttoned up and our shoe laces had to be tied.

I remember I had a great job during the high shool years working at a citrus farm. I was making $1.00 an hour which was more than minimum wage. Cesar Chavez was fighting for a minimum wage raise from about 50 cents to 75 cents. My father and mother were in the middle of struggle attending UFW meetings and then marching to Sacramento in 1967. I think that was the year I marched too! I remember joining the march from Lodi, CA to the State Capitol with my brother and father. Governor Edmund Brown failed to appear at the capital to receive us or answer our questions but we all had a great time.

I remember a loaf of bread being about 17 cents. Milk was at about 24 cents, gasoline was running at a high price of 17 for regular, 19 for unleaded and about 24 cents for Super. Those were very high prices compared to your earnings of about 50 cents an hour. In my job, on a good day, I would make about $8.00 a day. I remember an earlier job delivering the "Delano Record" newspaper.

It was fine during the week delivering the newspaper on my bicycle after school. I didn't like the idea that I was fined 50 cents for every complaint I received....throwing the newspaper in the bushes or on the wet grass, not landing the paper on the porch or hitting the dog with it. Sundays were very bad for me because the newspapers were very heavy and I had to make two trips to the newspaper dispatch to load up my newspaper bag again. I remember that just about every Sunday, I would end up pushing my bicycle through the newspaper route because I would always end up with a flat tire in the back wheel. I would make my own repairs and remember counting like 30 patches one time on my rear inner tube and a couple dozen in my front inner tube!!

I remember my father giving me a beautiful red 1960 Chevy Imapala for my graduation in 1969 and I drove it to Disneyland over the old grapevine with mom and my sisters. Some of you may remember the old grapevine with all the steep hills and downgrades. Tow Truck businesses were a hot business in those hills because they were kept busy towing vehicles up and over to their garages. We were about half way over the grapevine and came upon the steepest hill of all and lo and behold, my engine got hot and started smoking. By the time I stopped and parked, I had cracked the engine block.

We waited for hours for a tow truck which eventually towed us (my mother and sisters) to Castaic where we were told it would take a couple of weeks to repair. We waited for a Greyhound Bus at Castaic that did not come and we went out to the highway and hitchhiked. No one would stop to pick us up. Duh!! I wonder why? After all there were four of us. So we walked back to Castaic and decided we would take the first Greyhound Bus out of there no matter where it went to. After a couple of hours a bus finally arrived and it was going south so we continued our journey to Disneyland. Yeah, we hitched a ride back to Bakersfield after the park closed. Those were the good old days and we had a great time...after all...We learned that it was a "Small World After All" and we were going home "enchanted".

I remember teaching my youngest sister, Rosa, who had turned 16, to drive in my 60 Chevy Impala and we drove out in the country near "40 Acres". Some of you might know it as Cesar Chavez's headquarters during those times. My father help build it with Adobe brick. Anyway, my sister was driving, or trying to, and I told her to make a left turn towards the 40 Acres bridge that crossed a canal and into 40 acres.

Instead of applying the brakes to slow down and enter into the bridge, she pressed the accellerator and slammed into the adobe brick bridge guard rail, totally damaging my right front fender and bending the right front axle. I was angry but glad that we didn't get hurt. We left in a hurry before someone saw us. Up to this date I have not told anyone that the bricks that were busted off that bridge were caused by my Impala.....so don't tell anyone okay. I mean, we're talking about 1969 and it was a long time ago anyway. A few hammer blows and some red paint did a nice job of patching up the fender although it looked like "S___), but hey the car still ran, even though one of my front wheels was rolling sideways.

Yeah, just thinking of those days makes me laugh. Those were the good old days and they have been missed. They were my "Happy Days". I have so many stories to tell and like "Legend and Twinkie" may someday write a book. What was your dress code like when you were in high school? What henious crimes did you commit that you were punished with detention? What were the funiest things that have happened to you, the most embarassing moments?

Good bye 2007, Welcome 2008

To one and all.....

I'm here to say good bye to this year, 2007, with a tear, I may add, because 2007 has been a great year for me. When we left 2006 behind, the only goal I had was to survive another year. Things happened for me without me asking for them and I was blessed with my health. Yeah, I went to the gym a few times a week but there were breaks when I didn't go for one reason or another but yet I still continue to walk forward.

I started off with one title as a Private Investigator and ended up with three (3), now a Bail Agent and Notary Public. I've been more involved with the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce promoting their goals and most of the photos you see on their newsletters and website were taken by my camera.

Check out: http://www.kernhispanicchamber.org/home_en.asp

I've made new friends this year and of course have been a lot busier. They say things happen to those who wait but I'm here to tell you that "If you seek, you will find". "Move a little and your blood will circulate a little faster". Yeah, my wife can tell you that I probably work more than I should but as I've told her, "I like doing what I enjoy doing."

One thing I like to do is write as you've noticed here but most of my writing is in form of reports. Some day, I plan to write a book about my favorite criminal cases.

Yes I'm thankful for 2007 and although I can only think about what I would like to do in 2008, I'm going to take it a step at a time and work for what it is I want. Health, Peace and Love are at the top of my list as in everyone elses, but as you must know, you have to work for them. What this means is going to the gym more, meeting and having new friends and promote good things for the community and treat my neighbors (everyone) with kindness and a good heart.

Let us not forget our armed forces in other lands and the sacrifices by them and their family and friends for world peace. I ask that our new President, whomever that may be, will take us out of the middle east and concentrate on our citizens here in the good old U.S. of A.

And now, I wish everyone to have a great new year and suggest that you work for everything you need and would like to have. I personally thank God for this life and what he has allowed me to accomplish and ask for continual blessings in the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE !!

I'll be at my mother's for Christmas

Twinkie, in responds to where I've been. I've been here but in the blind with no time to do anything and much to do. I've just completed my second murder jury trial which has kept me busy for the past month or so. Other criminal cases also keep me busy in the evenings and very late at night. Bail Bonds is another story. People are getting arrested every day and everyday, people want to bail out. Who do they call? Gotta Go.....When do I sleep? Whenever I can!!...Investigations and Bail Bonds are 24 hour businesses. We are here for you!!

I got a little time before my next murder jury trial but the investigations are still there and people want to be home for Christmas so we're there for them. Well....Gotta Go, Wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I'm up in San Jose right now with my family and will spend it up here. Perhaps I'll play the part of Santa Claus again. I might as well, all my little nieces and nephews call me Uncle Santa...so I must be Santa. What are your wishes?

THE GHOSTLY RESCUE

One afternoon, a middle age couple was traveling on the hilly and curvy road to town when all of a sudden at a far distance, they saw a woman in the middle of the road waving her arms and asking them to stop. The wife told her husband to keep on driving because it might be too dangerous to stop. The husband decided to drive by slowly so he wouldn't stay with the doubt on his mind of what might have happened and the chances of anyone being hurt. As they got closer, they noticed that the woman in the road had bloody cuts and bruises on her frace as well as on her arms. They then decided to stop and see if they could be of any help.

The cut and bruised woman was begging them for help, telling them that she had just been in a car accident and that her husband and son, a new born baby, were still inside the car. She told them the car was in a deep ditch. She also told them that her husband was already dead but that her baby seemed to still be alive.

The husband that was traveling decided to get down and try to rescue the baby. He asked the hurt woman to stay with his wife inside their car. When he climbed down to the ditch, he noticed a man and a woman in the front seats of a 57 Ford with their seatbelts still on. He didn't pay any importance to the man and woman and reached in and took out the crying baby quickly. He then climbed up the ditch with the baby in his arms to return it to the grieving mother. When he climbed out, he couldn't find the mother anywhere so he asked his wife where she had gone. She told him that the woman followed him back down the ditch to the crashed car.

The man rememberd that there was a man and woman in the front seat of the Ford and they were obviously dead so he decided to go back down the ditch and look for the woman that had flagged them down. When he got to the car and looked closer at the buckled man and woman, he noticed that the dead woman was the same women that was begging them for help and to save the baby!

MALE OR FEMALE?

You might not have known this, but a lot of non-living objects are either designated as Male or Female. No offense intended to those of you who fall into these categories !

Here are some examples:

	FREEZER BAGS: They are male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them
	PHOTOCOPIERS: These are female, because once turned off; it takes a while to warm them up again.They are an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed. But they can also wreak havoc if you push any buttons at the wrong time
	TIRES: No doubt, tires are male. They easily go bald and are often over inflated.
	HOT AIR BALLOONS: Also a male object, because in order to get them to go anywhere, you have to light a big fire under them.
	SPONGES: These are female, because they are soft, squeezable and they retain water.
	WEB PAGES: Female, because they're constantly being stared at and frequently getting hit on.
	TRAINS: Definitely male, because they always use the same old lines for picking up females.
	EGG TIMERS: Egg timers are female because, over time, all the weight shifts to the bottom.
	HAMMERS: Male, because in the last 5000 years, they've hardly changed at all, and of course, occasionally they're quite handy to have around
	THE REMOTE CONTROL: Female. Ha! You probably thought it would be male, but consider this: It easily gives man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know which buttons to push, he sure keeps on trying

TRICK OR TREAT

Holloween was different for us last year. Alma and my niece, Lizette, who was visiting from Guadalajara and myself went to Universal Studios Horror Nights. Hijole man!! Talk about one scarry night!! Tenia miedo! I'm glad I took my blood pressure medicine!!

As soon as we entered the gates we were greeted....er...frightened by an army of zombies and madmen brandishing chain saws and other deadly weapons. Sangre was flowing freely on this night since everyone was dripping or soaked with blood. Rotting flesh was everywhere. The flys were having a good old time. Other folks were deformed or had their eyes hanging out of their sockets. Alma and Lizette were frightened to death continously on this scarry night. They ran but could not hide. They were trying to grab on to me so I would protect them. But who would protect me??? Was I scared? "No".....No way Jose!! Well okay "yeah" but I didn't scream as loud as they did!!

After we had our fill of screams, we jumped into a tram which carried us to a film set where a Boeing 747 had crash landed or just dropped out of the sky. There were mutilated cuerpos everywhere. The scene was horrendous. It was bad enough to scare me from boarding another plane to Mexico.

Let me tell you, this place is not for those with a weak corazon nor young children. I think you have to be a certain height to get in there. Luckily we just barely made it out alive with both of my eyes in my sockets. Would I return to Horror nights at Universal Studios? Seguro que si!! You bet I would but this time I'm taking my own ax.

I included photos here but I warn you, look at them at your own risk!!