wolfrunswithhorses

A few weeks ago, a half-starved, flea-bitten, and tick-laden part Chihuahua female puppy followed my wife and daughter walking home from the pharmacy near Plaza Carrousel.

I would love to keep her, but we already have three kittens and an older Chihuahua, so another pet would be too much for my wife to keep up with. Claudia has cleaned the puppy twice to get rid of the fleas and the ticks and we had her de-wormed once. Her most recent bath was Friday, Sept 9. But as much as we enjoy the puppy, she needs to find a new home. She needs a family for her alone. She gets along with the cats but she is jealous of the other Chihuahua.

We live near 5 Y 10 down Diaz Ordaz and up the hill a couple of blocks from Plaza Carrousel. Anyone interested in adopting a pet should write me at: dancanedo@hotmail.com.

Thank you.

We went for a sunset outing in Playas yesterday and decided to try La Scala Italian restaurant on the inland side of the beachfront road between the border fence and the little Rotarian park in Playas. The place was very clean, the bathrooms impeccably so, and the food was reasonably priced and good. I had the pasta arriabiatta (spicy) for about half the price as Vitorios on Ave Revolucion, my wife had a personal pizza, and my daughter had alfredo. All of it was delish. Both the wife and daughter had Italian sodas while I had a Coca Light. And...they also let us tether our chihuahua in the back patio while we ate.

Nice people there. My wife left saying she might consider living in Playas when we move. Let´s hope so. I told her it seems that most ex-pat Americans live in that area.

Well, we are finally back together in TJ, my Mexican wife and daughter having come back up from Coatzacoalcos, VC, and me down from my son´s place in Marysville, CA. We are staying temporarily with an old friend at Los Edificios Beige (nee Los Edificios Maron until they were re-painted) in La Zona Rio. Currently I have a crap-paying job with a marketing research job in downtown San Diego and will soon head back north to work for 8 weeks as a Census Bureau enumerator for twice as much dinero.

Upon my return, we will have found our own place (I´m trying to talk my tropical Jarocha wife to consider the cooler environs of Playas de Tijuana) and I will be seeking new employment. An old associate is trying to help me set up a Skype account to work on my PC out of the house doing marketing work and some outbound sales work. Earlier, an English-language school in Mexico had contacted me about an English-language teaching gig here in TJ with business execs as students, but I haven´t heard from him since our initial email exchanges.

I am considering two alternatives, neither of them being mutually exclusive:

1. Teaching English out of my home using the Ingles Sin Barreras method. I have the complete DVD set and can augment it anecdotely with real-life examples and games like English cross-word puzzles for la tarea. My question is how much can I reasonably charge per hour for either individual or small group lessons of no more than three persons?

2. I would also like to teach English in a private preparatoria or adult school. My advantage is that I can teach others to speak the language without an accent. My daughter has had several English teachers and only one did not have a heavy accent that made the other teacher´s accent seem almost unintelligible. Any recommendations on where to seek employment down here?

I do not have an ESL credential but I have several years of experience in teaching business courses at the college level and was a national training manager for a major research, training, and consulting company in the L.A. area and had experience in course design and development along adult learning principles. I also have both a BS and an MBA from USC.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

I have been reading with interest the thread on satellite TV. I had narrowed it down to either Direct TV or Dish. Dish has the lower prices but is missing some of the American sports channels I want.

Then I looked up the website for Cablemas. They have a 3-fer going: Cable TV, telephone, and fast internet for $664 pesos monthly if you set up an automatic payment using a credit or debit card.

QUESTION: Does any of you have Cablemas?

QUESTION: Are the sports channels like ESPN and Fox Sports the Spanish language version with emphasis on Mexican deportes or will I be able to pick up NCAA football that isn't on ABC like I can in the U.S.?

QUESTION: Can you DVR programs with Cablemas like you can with Dish and Direct TV?

It sounds pretty good because the cost for all three is equal to or less than one would pay for satellite alone.

I think I may go with it when I move. Worse comes to worse, I'll go to the Caliente betting parlor next to Pueblo Amigo for my USC football and you're welcome to join me if that is what I have to do.

Italian. I have three that I recommend:
1. Vittorio's at the corner of Agua Caliente and Calle Ocho. My favorite dish is linguini arrabiatta, a spicy pasta with shrimp.
2. There's a Italian place in the strip mall behind the Pemex and AM/PM on Agua Caliente just south of town. It's name is something Giornio I believe. Nice ambience like a good Italian trattoria
3. For a quick pizza, the little Pizza place in Plaza Rio behind Comercial Mexicana is good, and their salad isn't bad either. It's small and sometimes full.

Steakhouse.

In the same strip mall behind the Pemex on Agua Caliente is Sajuaro Steakhouse. One of the best porterhouses I've had including tortillas, baked potato, and frijoles al charro for like 110 pesos! very tasty. There used to be a Nopali's (Sp?) in the same mall but it shut down.

Breakfast.

Nido's in Rosarito. Eggs, frijoles, papas, and tortillas for about 50 pesos. Fresh squeezed OJ is available as well. Nice rustic atmosphere just up the highway from the HOtel Rosarito.