Valley Vista Mall in Harlingen

The opposite of what the Valley Vista Mall look like.

If your are considering taking a trip to the Valley Vista Mall in Harlingen, because you have never been and you think it might be cool, DON'T. I honestly can't think of any reason to travel to the Valley Vista Mall from any other town. Either go to Sunrise Mall in Brownsville or La Plaza Mall in McAllen. There is nothing VVM has that the other's don't. You can't even people watch properly. Another words it's usually just an empty. 

I'm still shocked Valley Vista Mall is still open. The place is usually a ghost mall during the week. The only people I usually see in there are teenagers visiting their friends that work at the little kiosk in the middle. Stores are always in and out of business at that location. I've heard it's because the rent is really high. Nothing like paying for prime location and not being one. I guess if Sun Valley Mall can stay open any place can.

It's actually quite funny how the stores around the mall are doing very well for themselves. The strip centers next to the mall seem to bring a bunch of traffic to them. However, people avoid the mall. It seems like Valley Vista Mall has the shopping plague or something. 

I suppose stores in VVM make their money like t-shirt stores on the island do. They lose money all year long until the right season comes along to make their whole year; Spring Break for the Island and Christmas for the mall. There are still hordes of people who come from Mexico to visit the mall in Harlingen during holidays. I'm not sure if they just live closer to Harlingen or they are trying to escape the stampede at the better malls. La Plaza Mall during Christmas can be a madhouse. 

So, just to recap. Valley Vista Mall = Nothing Special + A Waste of Time.

Anonymous Warns The Rio Grande Valley

I visited Facebook this morning. There was an article from Valley Central declaring, "Federal agents arrest Starr County narcotics investigator." This follows on the backs of numerous corruption allegations across the Rio Grande Valley. It seems every month someone is being arrested for corruption. Upon a quick search on Google about corruption in the Rio Grande Valley, I came across, "Anonymous Message to Rio Grande Valley 2014" on YouTube. I'm surprised I had missed it. 

Anonymous has received a reputation for defending the everyday man's interest though online means. However, I feel the legend has outgrown the fact. I, for one, would love to see a group of people who brought down the evil people of this world via the Internet and make this a better place to live. I can think of better places to focus on than The Valley: North Korea and Iran to start. However, I don't think everything you see from Anonymous is what it appears. Let me explain.

Anonymous is an ideology not a specific group of people. If you feel you want to help "them," then you jump on the your computer and read through their chat groups and find out what you can do to help. So basically, anyone can say they are part of Anonymous. 

Back to this video I saw from last year. The video makes many great points to the corruption in the Rio Grande Valley. Do I believe the video is going to make any impact? No. Do I believe the people in the midst of corruption are going to run for cover or beg Anonymous to leave them alone? No. For all we know, someone was bored one day and put this video together. Honestly, to me, it looks like someone took a previous Anonymous video and voice recorded over it. 

I would recommend taking the time to watch the video if you are not familiar with the corruption in our area. Whether it is from the real heavy hitters in Anonymous or not, it brings up some good information. You might learn something.

Free Jiu-Jitsu Training

I heard through the grapevine about free Jiu-Jitsu training her in the Rio Grande Valley. Free Jiu-Jitsu training sounded too good to be true. So, I reached out to one of the instructors to get more details. Mr. Eric Martinez is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and one of the trainers

What experience does the instructors have?

Our classes are primarily taught by myself and Dr. Robert Schweller, our faculty advisor. I have been involved in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for the past 8 years and am a purple belt. I love teaching and helping others. I have been running this club successfully for the past 2 years. In the past, I have also had experience teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as the instructor for the kid's program at Paragon RGV Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Dr. Robert Schweller, is a fantastic grappler. He has been involved in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over 10 years. On top of being an excellent professor at the University, he is great at breaking down and teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We also encourage other high-ranked members to help and teach lessons.'

Do you focus on Gi or No Gi? 

Almost all of the moves we teach are applicable to Gi and No-Gi. We encourage members to bring their Gi, if they own one. I believe in the value of the Gi as a training tool. We leave it up to the members to decide whether they want to spar Gi or No-Gi.

Where can I buy one and how much should I expect to spend?

You can buy a great low-cost gi from dogoapparel.com. The owner is a local gentleman who is a great martial artist. There is a very good gi on his website for $74.99. You can also buy one from mmawarehouse.com. They have great deals on Gi's. They will start at around $99 for a single weave. Locally, you can also check out Quad Force Fitness Couture in Mcallen.

Can any age participate?

Only 18+ may participate in practice sessions. There is no upper limit to age. We have had a gentleman come in who is 69 years old (and a purple belt!) come in and it was an absolute delight

How much is it? And who can attend?

Practices are free! Anyone 18+ can attend. You do not have to be a student. I cannot stress this enough. If you are 18+, you may join us. This club is open to the general public. You do not need any experience in martial arts. We will teach you from the ground up.

What is your view point on tournaments?

For the purposes of our club: competing in tournaments is not required but encouraged. We have people who are here to learn self-defense, or to just have fun, and some to compete. We want to accommodate everyone. Practice and competition are completely different things. The preparation involved in competing brings out the best in people. However, competition can be very taxing on the body. A lot of people just want to have fun and we will fully support that. Competitors, however, are what move the needle. They bring prestige. They bring accolades. Competition is what will serve as the primary reason that this club will be funded by the University over the next school year. Competition is the benchmark that outsiders use when evaluating sports groups. We will commit to providing partial funding for entry fees, travel, and transportation to UTRGV students who wish to compete in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. Although participation in practices is open to the public, the funding opportunity is only open to UTRGV students.

Does attending the class help towards any type of college credit?

No. This is a sports club and not sponsored by any of the educational departments in the University.

What happens to the club wants the lead people graduate out?

Only time will tell. We are fully committed to providing the highest level of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training that we can. On top of that, we are fully committed to providing the highest levels of leadership training that we can. We currently have a group of 30 people interested in competing over the next year. I'm confident we should be able to transition the leadership over the next year to the best from this group

For more info you can contact Eric Martinez at on Facebook

Kid Fit in Harlingen

Had a chance to attend Kid Fit today. After last weeks Autism Day turn out, I expected it to be dead. Waking up to rainy weather only increased my expectation to be disappointed. Happily, I was wrong. There was a great turn out and the weather changed for the better. 

The vendors were very friendly and many had a chance to do demos of their services in front of the main stage. A company called Life of the Party came with many characters. It really helped to build a fun atmosphere to the entire event. At first, I thought the characters were hired by the city and I was thinking it was a great idea by the city.  I found out later it was Life of the Party because there were right by our favorite martial arts school's kiosk, Honorable Warrior Martial Arts. 

I took my son with autism to the event. I was hoping to get him in a bounce castle because it's a good thing for him to play on and I don't have to worry about him running off when he's in one. Unfortunately, I had to register for a paper bracelet for him. I tried to explain that he wasn't going to wear it. It fell on deaf ears. It came off multiple times rather quickly. Then I had to carry him to multiple vendors that he had no interest in. He had to get 8 punch holes in the paper bracelet, so that, he could get a blue bracelet to get in the bouncing castle. So, as my son was highly agitated about the whole thing. I had to wait for these poor vendor's to give their pitch just to get whole punches. I'm not sure who it was worse for; them, me, or my son. 

I would highly recommend people to show up next year if you haven't been. It's a great cause and a lot of fun for almost everyone. 

Autism Awareness Day in Harlingen

Last year my wife and three boy went to the Autism Awareness Day in Harlingen and had a great time. They were there for 2 hours and all 4 of them had a great time. It's hard to have all 4 of them have a great time at anything. So, this year I looked forward to going with them since I didn't have to work on Saturday. 

Sadly, I was disappointed. There was only about 12 vendors there and some of them didn't seem to have anything to do with autism, such as, taxes and banking. I have nothing against the taxes and banking companies. I just wish more autism-centric vendors would have been there. 

As I look back at the advertisement, I'm left wondering what happened. The flier stated:

Fun for the Whole Family

My 9 year old had some fun line dancing in the street with about 12 other people. There really wasn't much else for the rest of us. 

Meet First Responders 

There were a few nice police officers there. Harlingen PD does a good job mixing with local activities. I feel comfortable with them there and not like I'm going to be the next story about police brutality on the national news. 

There was a fire truck as expected but I didn't see anyone around it. It was away from the rest of the activities and didn't see like it was open to the public. I was hoping my son could get on it. He really loves being in the front seat of cars. I think he would have had a blast in the fire truck. 

I never saw the ambulance.

Learn About Services in the Community

There was a few doctors offices and a dentist office there who were supposed to be autism friendly. They also had the ID station from the police department, which apparently you have to go get printed on your own somewhere else. If the event was to show what the city offered for autistic children, then it's basically zero. At least I know some of the Harlingen PD knows about autism, unlike some police officers in other cities who have a reputation for shooting people with autism because they aren't following orders.

I'm not sure why this year was so different than the last but I would like to thank everyone who did show up and those who tried to make it work.