Bert Garcia^2.0

Nine bodies found hanging off Mexican bridge (AFP)

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — The bodies of four women and five men were found hanging off a bridge in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo with an apparent message from a drug gang, an army official said Friday. The bodies showed signs of beating and torture and “we believe they were members of a criminal gang,” the official said, declining to be named. Photographs showed the bodies strung, with their hands tied, along a wide road bridge in the border city in northeast Mexico, across from Laredo, Texas, in a typical sign of score-settling between drug gangs. A large banner hung nearby with a message alluding to gang disputes. There were scenes of panic as road users first saw the bodies, which police reports said had been strung up early Friday. Nuevo Laredo, the main road trade crossing from Mexico into the United States, is regularly the scene of vicious disputes between the Zetas drug gang — set up by ex-army officers-turned-hitmen in the 1990s — and their former employers the Gulf cartel, now believed to be allied to the Sinaloa cartel of billionaire fugitive Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Mexico has seen a rise in violence blamed for more than 50,000 deaths since the start of a nationwide military crackdown on organized crime in December 2006.

You could see me reaching
So why couldn’t you have met me half way?
You could see me bleeding
And you would not put pressure on the wound

While visiting the local mall, my grandchildren fell in love with Uggie, a Jack Russell Terrier, at Best Friends Puppies boutique. After a few weeks living in an apartment with a 1 year old and a 4 year old, it became quite obvious that Uggie wasn’t a good fit.

Uggie is a cool dog, but a Jack Russell is not recommended for children under 8 years old. Something my son came to realize after seeing Uggie nipping at his 1 year old daughter and chasing his 4 year old son around the apartment. In my son’s own words “It felt like I had 3 small kids running around, constantly fighting, and I was the referee”.

What I don’t understand is how the proprietor of Best Friends Puppies allowed Uggie to go to a home with small kids, knowing full well that all available online information advises against it. Irresponsible is the word that comes to mind, not a cool act for such a high profile pet store.

Long story short, Uggie is living with me now. I have a house where he can run around the backyard and I have no small kids. The only problem I have is getting Uggie to play nice with Mookie, a Shih Tzu Yorkshire Terrier mix. Mookie is 4 years old and prefers to lay around all day, but Uggie wants to play, being the puppy that he is.

I was born in a crossfire hurricane
And I howled at my ma in the driving rain
But it’s all right now, in fact it’s a gas
But it’s all right
I’m Jumpin’ Jack Flash, it’s a gas, gas, gas

A mild March got me back on the mountain bike early this year.

March saw me log 363.14 miles on my 6 year old Trek Fuel 70. A dual suspension mountain bike that has weathered the test of time. A rear shock, a rear shifter and some broken spokes have been the only parts that have failed. 3 years ago I put new tires on it, they’re still rolling great.

The highlight of my day is when I suit up and go for a ride, away from all the noise, just me and the sounds of the nature trails. My bike log is at Bike Charlotte, a website that was spun off from a section on this site. Content flows easily onto my bike log, there’s always something to write down about a ride, no two are quite the same.

This year makes it 22 years that I’ve been actively riding a bicycle. I started off on road bikes and have been on a mountain bike for the last 6 years. I’d like to get back to road biking but I’m having so much fun going off road. With a Greenway entrance a block away, I have to take advantage of my present situation, one day I may only have the roads to ride on.

Riding that thing
I gotta sing
It’s a blast
I never believed
I could go so fast

When I got my Nook Color, I got hooked on Angry Birds.

Angry Birds led to Rio and then Seasons. I enjoyed Rio but never really got hooked on Seasons. Rio had an upgrade the other day that seems to have only added video advertisements making it a less enjoyable experience.

When I heard about Space, I was psyched, but that enjoyment lasted only a couple of days, since the 60 levels available on the Android free version were neither challenging nor were they enough. Cyan’s Bug Chucker is a better Space based game.

Whatever happens to companies when they get successful and begin to wreck the formula that got them to the top is a strange phenomenon. It’s happened before and will happen again, success and money have a way of making people feel safer, less hungry.

Rovio should read or re-read Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford, especially the famous last line: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

What’s our fascination with Zombies?

I like watching The Walking Dead, it’s one of the few shows on TV that I look forward to. I don’t know what it is, but it does keep me intrigued.

Hopefully we’ll get to the conclusion of the story before it gets cancelled. We’re actually very early in the story, and I’ve done my best not to visit the Wikipedia page that discusses the comic book series that AMC bases the TV series on.

I know if I read ahead, I won’t be that interested in tuning in anymore and I’ll just wait for the seasons to end and come out on DVD.

As to our fascination with the show, I think it’s about survival. The last man standing fighting off the herd and all that. Especially this year, with the Mayan calendar ending on Dec. 21. Whatever may come, I want a shotgun like Hershel had in the last episode of Season 2 ;)

But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know, why should I care
Please don’t bother trying to find her
She’s not there