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After trying to register for a class online and being unsuccessful, I decided to take a trip to the local community college. To my surprise, I found out that there was a hold on my account. This hold was based on my background. The registrars office stated that I would have to take the ESL test in order for him to lift the hold so that I could register for a class or I could have to go and talk with one of the counselors. For those of you who don’t know, ESL is “English as a Second Language.” While Spanish is my native language, it is not my primary language anymore. I’ve been in the US for well over 20 plus years. When I went to talk to the counselor, her initial response was that there was nothing she could do and that she thought that was going to have to take the ESL test. I told her that I did not need to take this test and that all I needed was to register for this one particular class to finish my degree. She left the office and when she came back she pulled up the information on the computer and lifted the hold. I wasn’t sure how this happened, but I’ve never experience anything like this before.

The title of this article should have been Former Democratic Presidents Carter and Clinton call for ‘A New Baptist Covenant’. Here is a prime example of a political party using religion to further their agenda. The key is in the last paragraph.. “Democrats have made winning over “faith voters” a major election strategy.” Religion should not be a “major election strategy”. I guess the Democrats really don’t understand what it is to be a person of faith.

It is sad really, because one party practices religion and the other uses religion to their own purposes. You also see a hypocrisy here, if these were former Republican Presidents, it would be on the front page of the Washington Post and the ACLU would be filing some kind of law suit.

To some people the holidays are finally over. To others, it is just beginning. Today, January 6th, Puerto Rico celebrate the Holiday called Three Kings Day. This is in celebration of when the three magis brought gifts to baby Jesus. Puerto Ricans continue the holiday celebration throughout the month of January.

In the US, the holidays are finally over and it’s back to work. After a nice break, we have to resume our normal schedule. This was a busy week at work. After being gone for almost a week and half, the mail has piled up and the workload has been heavy.

I took the dog to his vet for a follow up checkup.  The vet confirmed from the xrays that the stones were back in his bladder and he would have to have surgery to have them removed. The vet believes that it is struvite stones.  The surgery will cost approximately $1300.  This is the second time that we’ve had this procedure performed.  The last time was in 2004.  I wonder if there is a way to have the stones dissolved to prevent him from going under again.  I’ve read several articles about remedies to have the stones dissolved so they can be passed but not sure if they work.  My next step is to schedule the surgery.

This is the last posting for 2006. On New Year’s Eve, we went to church for worship service that morning and in the evening we went to a friend’s house to welcome the new year. We spend the evening playing sequence and Cranium–the old folks vs the young kids. The old folks did pretty good. We won some and lost some. But overall, the old folks are the Champions. When it got closer to midnight, we turned the TV on and watch the ball drop in New York City. We toasted the New Year with Sparkling Cider. It will be great to see what this new year has in store for us.