Best BlackList Lite

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but it's pretty.

When I contracted my cell phone from Telcel, I was given a recycled number, standard practice and something which they neglected to inform me of when I purchased it. In any case, I have been getting calls from Banamex telling me that I have outstanding credit card debt with them because they believe that I am someone else named Mario Rosio Eight More Names. I don't have an account with Banamex, nor have I ever, nor will I ever after this whole kerkuffle. In any case, after months and months of trying to nicely resolve the issue with Banamex, which proved to be impossible due to their disorganization and incompetency, I got completely fed up and Evaristo suggested that I block their phone numbers on my cell phone. Now, Telcel doesn't allow you to register numbers and block them from what I have gathered (Boo!), so Evaristo searched the interwebs and came up with a small, free application called Best BlackList Lite.

Best BlackList Lite is the free version of Best Blacklist, an applications which allows your phone to instantly detect incoming numbers in real-time and then depending on how you have configured the program, it will either send the caller a busy signal and/or an SMS notifier. You can set up a schedule for your blacklisted numbers if for example you don't want to receive work numbers after 8pm. It's also very easy to add numbers to Best BlackList directly from your contacts; in fact, you can even insert groups of your contacts into the blocked-caller list. This last feature is important when using the free Lite version.

I recently got a new phone, a Nokia 5530, and Best BlackList Lite was compatible, easy to install and easy to set up. And the best part is that it works! The Lite version is free and has limited capabilities, the most noteworthy being that you can only add 5 numbers to the blocked-caller list; however, this version counts groups, such as "All contacts", "Work Numbers" or "Family", as only one contact and so you can easily get around this 5 number restriction with a bit of creativity. For my purposes, I was most interested in adding a number template to the blocked-caller list that would block any phone number from Mexico City (HA! TAKE THAT BANAMEX, YOU RIDICULOUSLY ANNOYING AND BUREAUCRATIC BANK!).

To set up a number template in the blocked-caller list, you must review the Best BlackList User Maunal for examples of number template options, but it's really easy to do. The only draw back to this application that I have found is that it isn't able to block SMS messages. However, I feel this is a small price to pay for an otherwise great, free application that really works. Right, Banamex?

Ensenada de Todos and Sea Lions

Once a year, the city of Ensenada hosts the "Ensenada de Todos" event where families, clubs and groups representing the different cultures and interests of Ensenada come together in front of our ginormous flag to offer samples of their unique foods, drinks and activities. Evaristo and I went this past Sunday to drink some mojitos from the Cuban stand and to eat some food from the Oaxacan post. We sat down in front of the bandstand to enjoy our Tlayudas and watch the recitals of local elementary school kids.

Afterward, we walked along the boardwalk and stopped to watch a new assemblage of sea lions that have taken up residence on one of the piers. It certainly isn't uncommon to see one or two sea lions swimming around the fishing boats every day, hoping to catch some scraps, but to see this many all sunning themselves on the pier was so cool and very out of the ordinary.

I have no idea how long the sea lions have been using the pier, but their arrival has been recent. Not everyone has had the opportunity to see sea lions up close and personal and if you haven't, now is a great time to go and check them out. As I sat there watching the sea lions interact, it was neat to hear what everyone else thought of them. Some little kid behind me spent a good while trying to convince his mom that sea lions are cold-blooded and that that's why they need to sun themselves. Some guys next to me were giving play-by-plays of the small fights and skirmishes that broke out from time to time between the bigger sea lions over space on the pier. I enjoyed watching the little sea lions climb over the big ones in hopes of finding more comfortable spots, only to annoy all the other sea lions in the process. I hope the sea lions stay for the summer.

New Earrings

A very talented friend of mine from CICESE makes and sells jewelry of her own design. I asked her to make me a pair of earrings with purple stones and she came up with this beautiful design. The earrings are dangly but not at all heavy to wear and go perfectly with either dressy or casual outfits. I love the metalwork on them; it's so pretty. The earrings have quickly become my favorite pair.

Swimming Season Opens

A good friend of mine from CICESE and I have been braving the frigid waters of Playitas since the beginning of April to go swimming. Granted, in April we went weather permitting and without regularity and nearly froze to death each and every time. Starting in May, once the weather was much friendlier, we devised a fixed swimming schedule, which we refuse to waiver from, that includes trips to Playitas three times a week for an hour of swimming. Currently, we are swimming two kilometers in approximately 50 minutes and we hope to increase that distance to three kilometers in the month to come. My friend loves the water just as much as I do and swimming gives her the same happiness and satisfaction that it gives me. It's been a pleasure to have her as a swimming buddy. In fact, last year, she and I and Evaristo participated in a swim event from Playitas to El Mosquito and have been wanting to establish a swimming schedule together ever since then.

In the summer there are lots of swimmers that go regularly to Playitas to train, Evaristo and myself included. One of the most common swimming routes to take is "The Triangle", which as you may have guessed, is a triangle formed by the points delineating Playitas. The Triangle starts at the entry, beginning with the first 250 meters along the breakwater and ends back at the entry (see: diagram below).

There are some who think that swimming triangles is the way to go and hard core or whatever, but I prefer to swim up and back along the breakwater because I have a ridiculous, unfounded and irrational fear of sharks that seems to rear its ugly head around the second leg of the triangle. Plus, along the breakwater you can see a whole community of rocky-reef organisms while you swim, from different species of seaweeds, sponges and encrusting algae to colorful fish, like the Garibaldi, as well as bat starfish, ochre starfish and sea hares, which are kinda fun to pick up and play with once you get over the slime factor. In any case, there are lots of things to look at along the breakwater and it makes swimming just that much more enjoyable.

Part of the benefit of having a fixed swimming schedule is that you can open it up to other people who can plan their other activities around the swimming hour. According to his crazy math, Evaristo declared that as of the 15th of this month the Playitas swimming season was officially open and that he was now free to join the group. Another friend from CICESE has swum with us without fail for the past week and so now we are a group of four. Little by little, more people are showing interest in swimming with us and our small, stalwart group is growing, making the whole experience that much more enjoyable. It's going to be a great summer.

La Comecables

Suki has a penchant for cables. She's not picky—any cable will do. To date she has chewed, mangled and destroyed a total of 10 cables, some of which cannot be replaced. Among the fallen are included: two laptop cables, three cell phone chargers, the power cord for our fan, the digital picture frame cord (that one really upset me), two speaker cables and one ethernet cable. If she wasn't so damn sweet and cute, I think she would've been sent to live in an olive tree a long time ago; but alas, those eyes just kill me.

Dear Anonymous

Dear Anonymous and Wonderful Ensenadense (You'll know who you are),

I came home yesterday to an empty yard. Rio was nowhere to be seen. He didn't come to greet me; his cry-barking welcome was noticeably absent as I opened the door to the house and once inside, I looked around and noticed that something just wasn't right. I looked back outside and realized that Rio was gone. I frantically checked the yard thinking that he was hurt and was lying somewhere amongst the weeds and wild shurbs, hidden from view. I called his name only to be answered by the meowing of the cats, wanting to be let inside to have dinner and to snuggle up in their favorite spots to snooze in the afternoon sun.

I checked the perimeter of the yard looking for holes that would confirm my worst fears—that Rio was not in the safety of our yard and was God knows where with God knows who and in God knows what condition. The yard was secure. Someone had opened our gate while I was gone and in doing so, Rio had wandered away. The sinking feeling in my stomach threatened to become an all-encompassing pit, ready to consume my ability to think, to reason, to come up with a plan. I checked the corners of our street hoping that I would see Rio sniffing in familiar spots and found nothing.

I knew I could cover more ground in the car and so I speed away hoping to see some sign, some indication of what had happened to Rio or of where he might be. In the back of my mind, I was prepparing myself to accept that the chances of finding Rio were slim to none. He was gone and the best that I could hope for was the someone had decided to keep him and look after him, but the thought of someone else doing so made me sick to my stomach and the all-emcompassing pit threatened to get out of control.

I focused my thoughts on tracing the the familiar routes that we walk. Maybe Rio had headed to the local market; he knew how to get there, but the parking lot was empty when I drove by. I drove in circles, backtracking and expanding my grid, doubling back, hoping that I had missed him walking on the streets. I eventually made my way to my Dad's house thinking that it was highly unlikely that Rio could get there on his own but wanting to check all the same. I hoped that my Dad had come home from work and that he could offer some comfort, some reassurance that Rio would be found.

I pulled into the driveway and as I stepped up to the gate, I heard the familiar tinkling of Rio's dog tags. His curly gray face came trotting up the drive to greet me and I almost didn't believe my eyes. I opened the gate and scooped him up and held him close. Relief and stress slowly eased out of me and I was able to breathe once again. Rio was alive and unhurt and back in my arms. I cried like I haven't cried in a long time as Rio squirmed to lick my face.

The gate to my Dad's place had been closed and no one was home. Someone, some wonderful and kind Ensenadense, you know who you are, had found Rio and taken him to the address on his collar. I am so thankful that you were kind enough to take time out of your day to help a lost dog find his way home. Rio is much loved and I am forever in your debt. Thank you for what you have done for me and for my dog. I can only hope to follow your lead and to do the same for someone else someday.

Thank you again,

Andrea

After a long day, Rio is safely back at home where he belongs.