THEY CALLED IT STORMY MONDAY, BUT TUESDAY'S JUST AS BAD

They called it stormy Monday, but Tuesday is as just as bad

Oh, they called it, they called it stormy Monday, but Tuesday, Tuesday is as just as bad

Oh, Wednesday is worst And Thursday oh so sad

The eagle flies on Friday now, Saturday I'll go out to play

Oh, the eagle, the eagle flies on Friday Saturday I'll go out and play

Sunday I'll go to church, and I fall on my knees and pray

I say, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me

But Lord, Lord have mercy Lord have mercy on me

You know I'm crazy 'bout my baby

Lord, please send my baby back on to me

Stormy Monday

B.B. King and others

Ana Adiong

How strange to travel from one border to the other, Seattle to Brownsville in '66 and meet Nena Perez, then 52 years later half way around the world to meet another soulmate, Ana Adiong.

Making a 1:58 AM pot of coffee has been the norm recently, especially with 3 videocalls with Ana daily.  BTW, to be on Philippines time, just change from AM to PM or PM to AM, then add two hours, a simple formula I finally figured out.

Jim Barton, Carlos Rios

My second day back from Asia, I got a Facebook invite to a "Celebration of the Life of Carlos Rios," the 25 year old TSC candidate recently passing away.

The tragedy was mentioned on Erasmo Castro's Sunday podcast with newly announced mayoral candidate Trey Mendez saying that, while he sent flowers to the celebration, he seldom attends funerals of people his age or younger as he finds them "extremely depressing."

Matamoros attorney Jerry Danarche was at the celebration, though, extending comfort and condolences to the family of Carlos Rios.

Jerry,  who also does a weekly radio show with studios in Brownsville and Matamoros, said he wants to do a show soon with bloggers Juan Montoya, Jerry McHale and myself.  When I told Danarche that McHale will freeze me out by speaking only Spanish, Danarche said:  "I will take care of that."

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

After seemingly spending half my life in the Taipei's overwhelming Taouyan International Airport and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the Houston Metro driver dropped me off two blocks from the Greyhound Bus Terminal in downtown Houston at 4:00 AM.  A black man out front asked me for money to buy a "cup of coffee."  

The last leg of my trip, not actually in a Greyhound, but a Valley Transit Company bus, landed in Harlingen with only 4 passengers.  About a dozen more were added for the trip from Harlingen to Brownsville as we changed buses.  Conditions at the VTC office in Harlingen were beyond deplorable, easily the worst of my entire trip.

What I retain from the trip comes largely from conversations, the family from United Arab Emirates, in Houston to avail themselves of world class medical care for the wife's cancer, the Vietnamese family returning to Ho Chi Min City for their mother's funeral, the savant microbiologist I met on the return Cebu to Taipei leg and the homeless school teacher in Houston, who sleeps at IAH at night, then teaches English at a middle school during the day.  The teacher, who I met at a bus stop outside the airport, wished me "good luck" as he was dropped off by Houston Metro at his school.