Bert Garcia^2.0

It’s March, where’s spring?

As I sit here in my home office looking out over my backyard pond, where the Kois haven’t broken the surface in months, I long for warmer weather but mother nature has a slightly different agenda. At least I can be thankful for not living in the Northeast where two feet of snow has been the norm this winter.

Next week calls for warmer temperatures, I can only hope that the forecast holds up. I do enjoy the changing seasons but winter needs to give way to spring, so we can shed the pounds we’ve gained, so we can feel renewed.

If spring can take the snow away
Can it melt away all our mistakes?

You’ll never look at dinner the same way.

After watching this documentary, I can say that the movie’s catch line is so true. Though I had given up on fast food many years ago, I’m reading the ingredients on every item I buy at the groceries and leaving on the shelf anything that has high fructose corn syrup.

Last month I wrote about how Great Value brand items from Walmart were so cheap but it so happens that most of the items I was buying had high fructose corn syrup. So you save at the checkout counter but later on your health suffers because of dangerous ingredients.

Food, Inc. is an eye opener and should be viewed by anyone that cares about their family’s health. Makes me want to buy a small farm and start growing my own food after seeing how chickens are raised. No wonder this country has such a high obesity rate, we’re killing our population slowly and there’s nothing the FDA can do about it.

Living in a fast food bag making friends with the ketchup and salt
People say that I’m crazy for not moving on to better things
Instead I’m sitting around trash talking with the onion rings

Snowball fight after school today
Pack it fucking hard
Throw it at your face
Snowballs turn to ice
We’re at war
Blood in the snow
Water mixed with gore
The kids are dying
Violence in the snow

On Friday afternoon, the snow started coming down and continued throughout the night. By Saturday morning, we had over 3 inches of snow on the ground in our neighborhood and for most of the weekend, Charlotte came to a standstill.

We took our vintage Flexible Flyer out of storage, oiled up the rails and tightened all the bolts. The streets were ours to play on, all of Saturday we spent it sledding down every incline in our neighborhood. On Sunday we headed into the McAlpine looking for fresh snow, the long incline heading up towards Boyce Park served as our luge run.

I want to roll around like a kid in the snow
I want to re-learn what I already know

So let me start the discussion of government spending by setting the record straight. At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion.

By — by the time I took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program.

On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget. All this was before I walked in the door.

But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. We can’t wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about the other side, a belief that if you lose, I win. Neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can.

To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades and the people expect us to solve problems, not run for the hills.

And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, a supermajority, then the responsibility to govern is now yours, as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions.

The more that TV pundits reduce serious debates to silly arguments, big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away.

No wonder there’s so much cynicism out there. No wonder there’s so much disappointment.

Those of us in public office can respond to this reality by playing it safe and avoid telling hard truths and pointing fingers. We can do what’s necessary to keep our poll numbers high and get through the next election instead of doing what’s best for the next generation.

That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane, Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn, world serves its own needs, don’t misserve your own needs. Feed it up a knock, speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height, down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn’t coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck. Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population, common group, but it’ll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right, right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched. It’s the end of the world as we know it. It’s the end of the world as we know it. It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Michael Stipe, R.E.M.

Went to my local Super Walmart yesterday to get some essentials, milk, bread, eggs, etc. When I arrived at the check out counter and began placing my items on the conveyor belt, I came to the realization that just about every item was a Great Value brand. Even though the packaging looks quite generic, the products contained inside taste just as good as the name brands.

We rarely eat out, fast food started getting me sick many years ago. As a survival mechanism, I learned how to cook, for those days when my wife needs a break. In the process, I began doing the buying for the meals I would prepare. At first I felt a bit awkward walking down the aisles with my grocery cart, but now I feel like a old pro.

Every man should learn food basics, you never know when you’ll need it. While my wife has the Rachael Ray 30 minute meal mentality, I take my time preparing meals with either a glass of wine or a bottle of beer as my companion. I find it quite relaxing to cook, I truly enjoy the whole process, I’m always experimenting, always tinkering.

I think of you and lick my lips
You’ve got the taste I can’t resist

Poor squirrels, their water supply is a Popsicle.

With the bird bath looking like a block of ice and the fish pond inviting us to strap on our skates, the animals that frequent our backyard have no place to drink.

This is the coldest winter we’ve experienced in North Carolina, the large heating bill will confirm that.

As we huddle around the fireplace trying to keep warm, 2010 is starting off as a very sedentary year. Outdoor activities is limited to walking the dog on the icy lawn, our usual walks around the neighborhood have been postponed for the time being.

Gladly this winter season I kept my holiday eating to a minimum, the 15 pounds I gained last year took way too long to walk and ride off during spring and summer. I’m itching to start riding again, the forced time off has given me a new appreciation for my two-wheeled friends.

If I have any resolutions for this year, it’s to spend more time on the analog side of things. It’s a lot of fun on the digital side, and I’m always finding new things to accomplish, but grand kids grow up way too fast and the Internet will always be there.

You got the nicest North America
This sailor ever saw
I’d like to feel your warm Brazil
And touch your Panama

Santa Bárbara bendita, para ti surge mi lira
Santa Bárbara bendita, para ti surge mi lira
Y con emoción se inspira, ante tu imagen bonita

Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó señores

Con voluntad infinita, arranco del corazón
La melodiosa expresión, pidiendo que desde el cielo
Nos envíes tu consuelo, y tu santa bendición

Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó señores

Virgen venerada y pura, Santa Bárbara bendita
Virgen venerada y pura, Santa Bárbara bendita
Nuestra oración favorita, llevamos hasta tu altura

Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó señores

Con alegría y ternura, quiero llevar mi trovada
Allá en tu mansión sagrada, donde lo bueno ilumina
Junto a tu copa divina, y tu santísima espada

Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó señores

En nombre de mi nación, Santa Bárbara te pido
En nombre de mi nación, Santa Bárbara te pido
Que riegues con tu fluido, tú sagrada bendición

Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó señores

Yo también de corazón, te daré mi murmurio
Con orgullo y poderío, hare que tu nombre suba
Y en el nombre de mi Cuba, este saludo te envío

Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó señores

Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó
Que viva changó señores

Celina González y Reutilio Dominguez Jr.

For everyone who helped me start
And for everything that broke my heart
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving