A SCARY SENSE OF HUMOR

The U.S. soldier told a ISIS follower, "The reason why you people are so violent is because you don't have a sense of humor."

The ISIS follower replied, "Sure I do!"

The U.S. soldier said, "Ok...let's prove it by telling you a joke."

The ISIS follower replied, "Go ahead!"

The U.S. soldier continued, "Ok...let's see...Why did the chicken crossed the road?"

The ISIS follower replied, "It really doesn't matter."

The U.S. soldier asked, "Why's that?"

The ISIS follower replied, "Because I ran the motherfucker over before it can cross it!"

NEWSFLASH

It was announced in the news not to totally depend on your Social Security statements regarding the estimate monthly amount you are to receive when you retire due to the high frequency of complaints from retired U.S. citizens, who were given a completely different amount in comparison to their Social Security statements.  It should also be noted that at whatever age you are to retire, Social Security will only reflect the last 35 years of employment to be calculated for your retirement.  Many of the retirees have complained receiving less than estimated on their statement, so a person might consider an additional retirement program to offset any disappointing surprises, for instance 401(k) or PERS.

HOPES OF FORGETTING

I ran into a old acquaintance of mine the other day, who told me, “Hey Cruzer what you think of all these sexual harassment cases that’s been happening lately...I think it’s a bunch of bullshit...why do the victims wait so long to report it?”  Well, I believe this epidemic of sexual encounters (may it be consensual or nonconsensual) duals with a double-edge sword.  

First of all I would like to give the proper definition of sexual battery 243.4 (A) PC-Any person who touches the intimate part of another while that person is unlawfully restrained by accused or an accomplice and if the touching is against the will of the person touched and is for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification or sexual abuse, is guilty of sexual battery.  A violation of this subdivision is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, and by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000) or by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years, and if not by a fine exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

On one side of the sword are some of the reasons why sexual harassment cases are not reported in a timely manner and that is-for fear of losing their job or face demotion, for fear of causing a separation or animosity between families especially if the perp (suspect) is related, for fear of being humiliated or criticized by the public and fear of not being credible or believable, which in either case cause a cessation in the apprehension of the suspect(s) until 10 to 20 years later or even at the point of not reporting the incident at all, whereas, on the down side or opposite side of the sword allows the suspect a greater opportunity to commit this hideous act to other innocent victims for an extensive period of time, therefore, I do agree that it is essential to report any type of sexual harassment (no matter how minor) as soon as possible to prevent its continuation, which  outweighs the circumstances regardless of its outcome and believe me I had my share of sexual harassment, sexual battery and sexual exploitation of children cases during my career in law enforcement.  On the other hand, there should be some stern validity behind the accusation and not for the purpose of obtaining a substantial monetary reward or to defamed the accused and harsh punishment or some type of strict discipline should be imposed to those who make such a false claim. 

There was one particular case, which involved a 11-year old girl, who was a victim of a on-going case investigated by one of my junior detectives where she was molested by her Mother’s 34 year old boyfriend.  She had a face of an angel, which reminded me of a little princesses that I had previously seen in a walt disney movie.  She entered my office along with her Mother and she wanted to discussed with the assigned detective about her case, who decided to have this conversation at his desk side, which I instantly disapproved because it hindered her privacy of a very delicate nature and should not be conducted in the presence of other bystanders especially family members like her Mother.  The little princesses began telling the detective she recanted everything she claimed happened to her reason being because she was jealous of her Mother’s relationship with the suspect, so she made up this lie in hopes to separate their prevailing romance.  I noticed the Mother was monitoring every word that came out of the victim’s  mouth very closely and the detective begin to write down notes and started to lecture on the seriousness of filing a false Police report, so at the risk of showing the junior detective of his insufficiency, I had no choice but to interupt the investigation by kindly asking the Mother to wait in the lobby, who immediately protested at my suggestion and reluctantly left my office. 

I then sat next to the little princesses and held her hand between both of mine and told her if there was one person she believes can give her the protection she so desperately needs from everybody else would be me at the same time I silently prayed to God if he can grant me one wish and obtain her confidence in me so that we can find the real truth behind this horrible predicament and guess what....God answered me because tears started to roll down her face and her lips started to quiver as she spelled out the dark appalling facts of this horrendous crime in detail, which matched her original report, but was later coerced by her Mother to renege on her claim in efforts to save her (Mother’s) relationship with her so-call boyfriend (suspect).  After hearing the victim’s story, I made sure I fulfilled my commitment to her by keeping my word as  promised and I marched right into the lobby and placed the Mother under arrest for obstruction of justice, wrote out an arrest warrant on the suspect, who was later apprehended and I, along with CPS, found a safe haven for our little princesses, who guided a sound passage all the way to her highschool graduation. The Mother was released from the county jail after serving one year and she later went berserk, broke into the neighbor’s house and assaulted a female with a kitchen knife.  The suspect served 4 years in a state prison and was later deported to Mexico and banned from re-entering the U.S. 

When I got home that morning, I broke the seal of an unopened bottle of Jose Cuervo and started to watch the early news from the recliner of my living room while my wife and two daughters laid safely asleep in their beds as I took small sips of tequila straight from the bottle.  Thoughts of the little  princesses kept bouncing around in my mind, so much so that I’m embarrassed to say that tears also started to rolled down my face and I remembered looking up toward the ceiling and asking God why such a beautiful and precious little girl should go through such a heinous trial so early in life, but this time God didn’t answer me, so I took longer gulps of the Jose Cuervo and drank myself to sleep on my recliner...with the Hopes Of Forgetting everything the following morning. 

So please if you or someone you know is a victim of a valid sexual assault...don't wait 10-20 years to report it. Let the criminal pay for their crimes NOW and prevent it from happening again.

Hope You Are Doing Well Little Princesses!   

I don't know who is having a tougher year...Donald Trump or the 49ers!

OUR PATH

Congratulations to my wife, Olivia Balderas and to my in-laws, Benjamin and Maria Corrales for receiving their U.S citizenship at the Fresno Convention Center on November 21, 2017.    

The ceremony lasted approximately two hours, which contained over 2,500 successful applicants from various foreign countries ranging all the way from Africa to Zimbabwe.  I’m especially proud of my wife because she always thought since she did not graduate from highschool when she was a young teenager that she was not cut out to study for anything specific because she lacked the discipline needed to become a good student. “I’m the hands on type of person.” she’d say...well guess what...it’s never too late!  The immigration department supplied her with 100-index cards containing the questions to be asked on the U.S citizen test, which only 20 were to be asked on the actual test. Needless to say, my wife was only familiar with one of the questions when she first started off, but the day before the test, she knew every question by heart...all 100 of them! Just proves to show you that if you apply yourself...anything is possible. 

What impressed me the most about the ceremony was when the main spokeperson called the number of successful applicants from each country alphabetically, which went something like this...Africa 1, Belgium 2, Canada 3, and so on...the highest number 13 was from El Salvador...then Mexico was announced...625...625 Mexican-Americans stood up and cheered supported by another 2,500 family members and loved ones, who were cheering in the audience   

625...wow...what a number and to think of it this significant recognition is conducted three times a year with the same results, which are under a special program where the applicants are waived the fee, and that is not including other ceremonies where the applicants have to pay $750 to obtain their citizenship, which also are conducted three times a year with the same result.  By the time, Trump finishes building the wall there will be no-one from Mexico left to illegally cross over to the U.S except for the drug-peddlers, who will be using the wall as a revolving door. which will be secretly installed every 100 yards.  

Our Mexican bloodline is thickening the U.S population where our children and grandchildren will be given the golden opportunity to engage in our education system, open job and career opportunities, medical and scientific breakthroughs and research, and just as important, but vital is the role of political influence (where our people will be just as much involved in making imperative national decisions), which is still considered to be a minority group(16%) but there has been a steady flow in our population (60%) since 1990 and that number is increasing at a alarming rate especially with the verbal threats of a Mexican blockade by President Trump, therefore, our race is replenishing every state in the U.S and...yes...District Of Columbia...we’ll be coming there soon...knocking on your door and selling our homemade tamales and chile rellenos...so instead of avoiding us...why not join us...forget the hate and make this country great...once again.

Again congratulations to my wife and in-laws for all their hard work and participation in broadening and optimizing the thriving roadway of our much distinguished and authentic culture. “Together We Can Be United And Be Noticed...Together We Can Build Only By Taking Action...Together We Can Succeed And Our Raza Will Always Be Remembered...Forever!  Buena Salud Mis Hermanos!

PARENTAL INTERACTION

Interacting with your children is one of the most difficult task of communication ever given to the responsibility list of a obligated parent without intertwining into a short-tailed lecture.  Oh you might start the conversation with the intentions of being your child’s good buddy to win their inner confidence, but as soon you as hear something troublesome especially when the conversation pertains to sex, booze or drugs suddenly the interaction switches to a full blown lecture of what not to do’s, which will close the communication gap between you and your child, therefore, it is essentially important that the parent should prepare themselves before having the talk with your children or love one by practicing good parental interaction skills...let me give you a good example:

The other day I was coming out of the kidney dialysis room or as I call it the “death chamber” and I was waiting in the lobby for my bus ride when I suddenly heard someone say “Hey homeless” and I was surprised to see my nephew, Matthew, standing there having a friendly chat with our office secretary.  He came to the facility to give me a ride home and as we left the parking lot I asked how he knew the office secretary.  “Oh I went to school with her son.” he said.  He went on and told me that she had the pleasure to meet me when I first came to the facility, which was about two weeks ago, but two dialysis technicians joined our conversation, who I had known since highschool and we suddenly started joking around about our body-parts, (which I find it hard to believe because I would not joke around like that in front of a total stranger) and apparently the secretary felt uncomfortable and walked away.

Upon hearing her story, my nephew laughed and said “Yeah my uncle has no filter.” When I heard this I turned to him with a sour look on my face and said, “Of course I have no filter...fool...that’s why I go to kidney dialysis...so what’s your point!”  

You see...a perfect example of good parental interaction...please make a note of it!

LONE WOLF-cont.

On November 5, 2017 at approximately 11:29 p.m, Fresno Police responded to Southeast Fresno for a family disturbance and  located 25 year old, Michael Cervantes, inside a parked vehicle under the influence of a controlled substance and among other drug paraphernalia charges arrested for illegal possession of a short-barreled assault rifle and two high capacity magazines that can hold approximately 100 rounds.  Cervantes was wearing a tactical vest and had two air-soft pistols in his possession at the time of his incarceration....What was this young man thinking of doing....or about to commit?  Can you imagine the damages he could of done especially in a high traffic area like Venture Street!  I don't know about you, but that is too close to home!

Our country is now in the state of paranoia the only problem is we just don't know it yet, but look around you...there is really no safe haven not unless you plan to camp out in a Police station because everywhere else imaginable have been under attack take for instance, the churches (Texas massacre), the movie theaters (Colorado), the nightclubs (Orlando, Florida), the schools (Columbine), concerts (Las Vegas massacre)...so where can we go...inside a Army tank!  I still remember the days when it was always the mailman going POSTAL...remember that phrase?  Now it seems to be a contagious disease!

Now I want to buy a firearm to keep my family safe because I tell you what...I'm sure in the hell not going to be a sitting duck if some frickin fool freaks out and decides to become a instant martyr for ISIS or some other terrorist group and start rambo-ing the whole frickin neighborhood...no siree not this crippled old fart and I'm sure you feel the same way!  The only problem is that I haven't held a firearm since 2007, but I do know the dangers of crossfire and trigger control...what of the others, who never had a weapon in their hands and let me tell you from experience...drastic mistakes happen from drastic actions where innocent bystanders had been more harmed than the suspect.  So then what is the answer?  Hire more security?  How well trained are they and who can afford them?  Stricter gun control...yeah good-luck with that!  I'm afraid the ways of the old West are coming back...the only difference is that the Cowboys those days only carried single action six-shot revolvers not AR-15's!

DEATH PENALTY FOR LONE WOLF

Should the death penalty be imposed on mass murderers also known as "Lone Wolves" killers, who only distinct difference between the two is the lone wolf claim to have a special cause behind the killing for example as a symbolic representation for terrorist groups like ISIS or the Al-Qaeda.  Unfortunately, these lone wolf attacks are the only effective method that can cause chaos and destruction throughout our great country, which makes it nearly impossible for our defense system to detect and counter attack and has now become a serious epidemic, so the question remains...should our government both on a federal and state level imposed the death penalty on any acts of terrorism as suggested by President Trump regarding the person responsible for the Manhattan massacre in New York?  

Will it stop or at least slow down the bloodshed...or is it too late!

MOVIES OF THE MONTH

I recommend three Red Box specials this month:

1. "Shotcaller" story of a man, who makes a drastic mistake and has to endure the harshness of prison
      Starring-Nikolaj Coster

2.  "Brawl in Cell Block 99" story of a man forced to commit acts of violence.
      Starring-Vince Vaughn

3.  "Baby Driver" story of a getaway driver of several robberies.
      Starring-Ansol Elgort

STRENGTH OF A PEANUT

It’s was 1982 and I’m stationed at 29 Palms, California.  Just got out of Grunt training and been transferred to Communication school where I was going to be trained basically to be a frickin operator only difference it was supposed to be some top secret bullshit all I needed was to wear a dress and I be set.  Anyway, I discovered that we had a cornfed bully in our barracks, who wanted to be discharged from the military by starting fights with practically anybody and today he decided to pick on me!  Well...that wasn’t going to happen, so I stood up to face him and even though he was a little taller than me I wasn’t taking any of his crap and he backed down after seeing my defensive posture...the chicken-shit.  

I was all fired up from the ordeal so I took a walk with one of my partners and headed to our local bar to cool off during this time, I was eating a bag of hot peanuts and telling him my story with the cornfed bully when these two grunts came walking by on the other side of divider that was covered up by some large bushes and talking loudly.  I got so agitated by their big mouths that I yelled for them to shit-up and threw a single peanut to ward off my aggravation thinking that the peanut would bounce off one of the bushes, but as luck would have it, the damm peanut miraculously flew across the bushes, across the divider and struck one of the grunts right in the face.  He hollers something at me and came across the divider (bushes and all) followed by his buddy, Andre The Giant, and confronted me, “Did you just through a peanut at me?”  

I had the bag of peanuts in my hand, but I still had the nerve to say “No” so of course the grunt knew I was lying and just for info these grunts get pretty damm rowdy when they return to base after humping some mountains for a few months ( I should know I was a grunt for two years) and he was about to distill his hostilities on me because of a stupid peanut!  He tells me some shit and made a few threats and, of course, I returned the favor because everybody in my frickin barrack were watching us then the dude points toward a small ditch and said, “Lets go down there and settle this!” I’ started to walk down the ditch, but I noticed Andre The Giant was coming along with us and they both were carrying hunting knives in their utility belts so I decided to fight the son-of-bitch where we stood, “Naww, l ain’t going down there!” I said.

Suddenly the asshole said “ Lets do it then” and pushes me in the chest, but he noticed I didn’t budged a inch,which looked like it kind of spooked him a little because he had a drastic turn of attitude and started apologizing, “We just came back from an exercise and we’re still wand up.”  He then stuck his hand out and we shook hands, “Sorry about the hassle, some smart-ass  threw a peanut at me and that’s all I needed to get crazy...you take care Marine.  (He told me this when I was still holding the damm bag of peanuts in my hand!)  

The moral of the story is “Be careful what you throw at someone no matter how small the object is especially if it’s a damm peanut!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

A TOUCH OF KINDNESS

It was late Sunday morning when the family gathered in the living room of their overcrowded apartment and watched as 2-year old, Lea, and 3-year old, Mia, played with their brand new Barbie doll toy house.  We shall call the mother of the 2-year old...uhh...Rosa and the mother of the 3-year old...uhh...Haley and they are joined by the Grandparents...uhh...let’s see...we’ll go with Cruz and Oli.  Rosa was the first to speak out, “What are we going to do for Lea’s birthday?”  Grandpa Cruz suggested “Let’s take them to Storyland...that should be fun.” Then Haley started to complain, “Storyland’s boring...we should go to the beach instead!”  Grandma Oli joined in on the conversation, “This is for the children not adults.” “Well...I want this to be a special day for Lea’s birthday.” said Rosa “Since you and Haley are leaving to New Mexico...Mom...I want you and Cruzy to at least spend sometime with Lea before you leave.” Haley added, “There’s nothing to do in Storyland...it’s just a boring park.”  “No not really.” said Grandpa Cruz  “They have a bunch of kiddie rides, they even have train rides!”  

And so the argument continued on where the family should go for Lea’s birthday, which got so clustered that the entire living room sounded like a bunch of clucking chickens.  Then suddenly the 2-year old started to scream from the top of her lungs because her 3-year old cousin had ripped away a Barbie doll from her hand, regardless, that there was about a half-dozen other Barbie dolls to choose from that were piled up next to the three-story Barbie mansion.  “Mia...give the doll back to Lea!” said her mother, Haley, “She had it first...go get another one!” After some severe persuasion, Mia reluctantly gave the Barbie doll back to Lea, who accepted it with a great joyful laugh, but then she saw the tears building up in her cousin’s eyes and said, “Here”  and the two-year old handed the doll back to the 3-year old and then said, “Because you are my sister!”  

“Did she just said what I think she said?” asked her mother, Rosa.   “She sure did!” said Grandpa Cruz.  Suddenly, the entire living room became completely quiet, most likely, because a small 2-year old infant had just showed a group of disagreeing adults an act of compassion and a touch of human kindness that is very rare or seldom carried out in today’s society.  About fifteen minutes passed before everyone got over their guilty feeling of performing a feat of a very foolish and very unnecessary selfish act and Grandpa Cruz finally said, “So Stortyland then?” And instantly everyone spoke at the same time, “YES!”

WRONG END

Man...just to let you know what type of day I was having, I was taking a shower and thought of trying one of my wife's many brands of shampoos, which now come in various shapes and designs, so I grabbed one of them and tried it, but for some reason I couldn't get it to open.  I tugged a little harder even used my teeth, but still the lid wouldn't budged.  "What the hell....man...what good is it to have a  fancy bottle if you can't even use it!" I started to bang the lid on the faucet, the shower head, the wall...and believe or not...even the bathroom sink, but yet no go!  Then I closely examined the shampoo bottle and guess what?  I HAD THE DAMM THING UPSIDE DOWN!  Oh God...I'm getting too old for this shit.  I was so pissed at myself, I didn't bother shampooing my hair...eh...what's left of it.

LAST TESTIMONY

At the front entrance of the golden gates of heaven stood three eager men waiting to enjoy the richness of the promised paradise.  

God turned to U.S President Abraham Lincoln and asked, "What have you done for your fellow man?" Abraham humbling replied, "I paved the road to end slavery!" The Good Lord said, "Unfortunately, Mankind manipulated your un-selfished ideas to the American Civil War, which ended over 750,000 human lives!"

God turned to Physicist Albert Einstein and asked, "What have you done for your fellow man?"  Albert humbling replied, "I developed the theory of relativity!"  The Good Lord said, "Unfortunately, Mankind manipulated your genius talents to facilitate the development of the Atomic Bomb, which ended over 120,000 human lives!"

God turned to Comedian Jerry Lewis and asked, "What have you done for your fellow man?"  Jerry crossed his eyes and replied in a high squeaky voice, "I made people laughed!"  The Good Lord said with a big smile on his face, "The greatest gift ever given to Mankind!"

Rest In Peace...Jerry! 1926-2017

ANOTHER PASSING

My beloved Aunt, Rosa Balderas, died on Sunday, July 30 while sleeping in her bed, which is the style that I would choose for my last day on this planet...whenever that is.  She lived a full life at age 77, but she kind of went into seclusion after my cousin, Peter, passed away from Hodgkin’s disease.  In the early years, my Aunt was full of life and enjoyed helping my Uncle, Efrain, support their family of three daughters and two sons.  My father, Cruz Sr. and Efrain were brothers and we were a very tight-knit family, in fact, we all lived on the same street along with my Grandmother, Demetria, who treated us with authenticated Mexico/NuevoLeon-style home cooked meals toppled with salsaita de mero chingun  for flavoring.  I recalled during my adolescent years, which according to my wife, I’m still living it, how my Aunt and Uncle would staged plays of a quarreled, but yet silly couple just to get a laugh out of me every-time I visited, which was practically a everyday occurrence and they were pretty good at it too.  My Aunt would act as the aggressor waving a fist with her hands and say things like, “Now listen...viejo...I told you to make me some comida and it better be good or else you are going to get it mister..you hear me!” and my Uncle would played it off and pretend to act defenseless and say, “Ok...ok...geeez” and then we would all laughed it off.  Almost on every weekend our families would get together and celebrate something or another...you know...like other typical Mexican families do, but these were special times because they were ours as we once were...in fact, I still have the photos of a small party that my Aunt threw for me when I was leaving to the Marines...I really missed those days!   Unfortunately, my Grandmother, my Father and my Uncle are long gone and now my Aunt Rosa, who have never been the same person after the death of her son in 1992, which saddens me because she was always full of warm sunshine and fun every time I entered their home as they would stage out another act or play once I was inside. 

I’ll be missing you, Tia, and I am so sorry that I had not visit you before you went to the other side, but these days it has been very difficult for me to get around lately.  I love you and please say hello to my Father, Tio, Abuelita, Peter and Melissa and tell them that I miss them and love them greatly.  Good-bye Tia...I’ll never forget you and I love you..from your nephew, Cruzito. 

New Driving Requirement For DMV Driving Test

The Department Of Motor Vehicles announced today of a mandated driving requirement that will be included in the (FFDL-22) driving test by the year 2019.  The Off-Road Homo-Sapien Collision maneuver will be added along with the routine left and right turns, safe lane changes and straight-line backing.  The driver will be tested how accurate he/she can drive off the road and run over pedestrians!

YOU GOT THE WRONG GUY!

One day I went for  a drive with my partner, Devon Popovich, to his brother-in-law’s residence, Mario, which was in the outskirts of Orange Cove.  We talked for a few minutes and in the middle of the conversation, Devon mentioned to Mario, “You know he’s from O.C too” and Mario replied,”Yeah...I know,” which startled both of us.   “Oh...so you know Cruzer then?” asked Devon.  “He jumped me one time when he use to be with the Deacons” he replied.  I was dumbfounded! Because, in the first place, I was never a Deacon, which was a local street gang in O.C even though a lot of their members grew up on my street and we went to school together, in fact, their president lived across the street from my house, but I had my own click and I never became a active member of their gang. but yet Mario was adamant that I, along with several other Deacons, pulled him and several of his friends out of his car and robbed them on Main Street, which was dead center of town.

I backed away a few steps, “Man you are sadly mistaken” I said, “Believe me I would of remembered this...I don’t play that way...dude.”  Devon had this look on his face as if he was thinking to himself,  “Awkward...maybe I should of had him wait in the car instead!”  I continued to plead my innocence until he said, “Yeah...you told me to stay down and pretend that you robbed me so that the other guys wouldn’t do anything to me!”  Suddenly I had a flashback, “Oh shit!” I thought, but Mario had his facts all twisted up because he and his buddies were really wasted that time.

He had his friends had just came out the pub that night, which was a small bar located at the end of Main street, and they were whooping and hollering out loud as they were walking...(actually stumbling) home.  Me and my two buddies, who I will call David and Lupe, had drank a case of Budweiser and a fifth of 80% Bacardi each and David had the genius idea of doing something risky like break into a store or into someone’s home, at that very instant, along came the three stooges singing Vincente Fernandez’s songs at the top of their lungs.  Against my wishes, David convinces Lupe to mugged these guys so they each confront one on one and the pouncing began. The third guy takes off running down the street yelling for the cops, “Policia...Policia” and David yells out, “Cruzer don’t let him get away!” so pendeho me was able to tackled him down, and he was in a total panic as I pinned him to the ground,  but I immediately told him, in Spanish, that I was not going to hurt him, which gradually brought him back to his senses.  I didn't want the other guys to see that I wasn’t doing anything to this guy because I feared for his safety, so I pretended that the Police were coming, “The cops...the cops...we gotta go!” and off we went.

“That was you...huh?” I said shamefully.  “Uh huh and now you’re a cop?” said Mario.  “I was stupid back then” I replied,  “ I’ve made better friends along the way” and I pointed toward Devon.  “Obviously” he replied, “Anyway...thanks for the handout."  “Yeah don’t mentioned it” I said.

Several years later while on patrol, we had a barricaded subject at the John-Henry’s lounge in Dinuba on South L street and the suspect was a old home-boy of mine, who was drugged up and armed with a handgun.  He had become upset because the bartender discontinued his tab so he waived his weapon around and demanded to be serve.  During the standoff, he asked for me by name, “ I’ll surrender to Cruz only...don’t bring anybody else in!”, so there I go waltzing inside, but I wasn’t really worried because I have known Chung King for quite sometime, in fact, he was relieved to see me, “Cruzer!...man...I was hoping you were working bro” he said, “Man...I’m so glad to see you...I told myself...the only way I going to come out is by having a fellow Deacon take me in.”  “Deacon!” I replied as I placed the handcuffs on him, “Shit...did I robbed you too!” 

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY GIRL!

Congratulations to my daughter, Sara Marie Balderas, for receiving her bachelors in Psychology, which was held at the PETCO stadium in San Diego on Saturday, June 17, 2017.  So proud of you...mama!  It was a beautiful ceremony along with great weather, good food and lots of people!

COOL FLICS FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE

In Theaters
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (pt-2)-sci-fi comedy/thriller-staring Chris Pratt & Zoe Saldana

Redbox
FIST FIGHT-Outrageous dark comedy-staring Ice Cube
THE WALL-semi-horror film with ugly-ass giant insects-staring Matt Damon

Netflix
TROLLS-good cartoon for both the children and adults
DR. STRANGE-marvel comic hero

REAL-ESTATE INQUIRIES PT. 2

One day as I was sitting at the benches by our apartment’s swimming pool reading my accounting text book, someone came up to me and asked, “Hey Cruzer...why are you taking college classes aren’t you retired?”  At first I thought “Well isn’t it obvious!” but actually this was an interesting question, so I thought it over for a few minutes before answering.  “Hmm...why am I studying...I mean...afterall I’m retired for Christ’s sake!”  Then it all came back to me, “Oh my two girls...that’s right, Rosita and Haley, who are now attending Fresno City College.”  I received an associates in General Education back in the late 90’s, which was only done because the Pd. gave a pay raise for every college degree earned and then I told myself, “Ok...I’m done with it!” but then my two girls came along and looked in my school files (how dare they) and discovered that I only needed a few classes to get my degree in Accounting (which is one of the hardest motherfucking classes I’d ever taken in my life!) so they nonchalantly confronted me, “Oh...so you preach to us about not giving up..huh...and what about you!”   

Needless to say, I went straight to Fresno State to go for my 4-year degree and they told me that I needed to go back to city college...can you beat that!  Here I was thinking that I was done with community education and I later find out that I still needed about six more classes just to enter FSU!  So now I’m close to the end and in the process in obtaining another 2yr degree (this time in Business Accounting) and most of all setting a example for my two girls, Hanzel & Gretel, who are actually becoming my competition, which kind of makes studying fun, but actually there is no such thing as too much education because that’s one thing that no-one can ever take away from you...think of it...you can lose the ability to walk, talk, see or hear, but as long as you can think with your mind...you can practically accomplish about anything...just ask Stephen Hawking and his bank account plus using your mind is a good combative source to fight Alzheimer’s, Dementia and other senile diseases, thus, explains the reason that I now possess a real estate broker’s license, which brings up another subject...real estate investments.

A young lady came into class the other day complaining about the high price of renting in the decent part of Fresno, which is roughly between $850-1,200 a month ( I know... it’s practically a house payment...right!).  Now I’m constantly (with the help of different sources besides the WEB) conducting research on real estate trends and new developments, and several of Fresno’s real estate experts speculate that for somebody to survive owning a home and maintain it, for example, pay the monthly mortgage of $1,200 for a $150,000 home, electricity, water, groceries, clothes, cellphone, cable, property taxes, car payment & insurance plus any repairs acquired, medical, dental, vision & life insurance and recreational expenses, a person or couple must make roughly about $53,000 a year, where the median of a suitable job in the valley is about $30-35,000 a year.  And the worst thing about this scenario is that there is a major assumption that both house values and apartment rates are going up every year with the back and fourth restrictions on home loan accessibilities and rising interest rates added with increase unemployment hikes and a rapid declining financial economy. So what is to be done...Cruzer to prevent us from taking our hard-earned money from our wallet and putting it into the pockets of these rich apartment owner(s)!  

I realize that there are many young couples, who are barely starting in life, either sharing a apartment with another couple to split the expenses or living with their parents to save up.  For example, there are these four couples that I know, who are each renting a $850 2-bedroom apartment for the past three years, which is a total of $30,600 and have nothing to show for it except a non-cash incentive in their state income tax form.  Only the men work in this group because their young wives are trying to study for better careers and taking care of their babies.  Now each man makes roughly $29,000 a year and are on their 2nd year of employment with low scores on their credit report due to lack of any other financial obligations.  

The thing to do here is for these two guys to gradually build their credit scores to at least 750 for a decent home loan with workable closing escrow cost or perhaps a FHA loan with low closing costs and down payment and stay employed for a minimum of two years than merge their income together, which is approximately $58,000 yearly, to qualify for a roomy residence...let’s just say with a monthly mortgage of $1,400  that’s $150 less than a $850 two-bedroom apartment, but that $30,600 goes straight into their equity instead of throwing it away, which in several good years quickly doubles.  Now if they decide to depart from one another then they can simply sell the house, split the profits and get their own home with the proceeds plus now each has establish credit to get another loan.  If one party wants to keep the house then he/she can refinance and buy the other party out.  Renting the original house is also another option whereas the monthly payments can be used in a payment of another mortgage payment.  (This is how many people get into the house business) But you need to act fast before the inflation cycle starts up again and turns everything upside down, which has been proven by history, so whenever you’re ready...call me! 

THE LESSON

                                                                                      

  Every day was the same routine, first it was the early morning blood draw at 5:30 am, followed by breakfast at 7:00 am, then the nerve racking Doctor's visit between 9:00-11:00 am. hoping for good news that will finally relieve my worrisome anticipation.  Afterwards, I resorted to whatever’s left of my future whether it involved special treatments to my pre-existing medical condition or fulfilling and cherishing the counted days of my life existence I have left in this world, but as usual, I receive the same answer, “We need to conduct more tests,” which returned my heart, my mind and my spirit back to the dreaded life of despair.  After weeks of follow-up examinations with no light at the end of the tunnel and mentally preparing my wife on how to survive life without me, I finally succumbed to what I had feared the most...extreme depression and questionable fate.

  I began to realize that everything I have accomplished in life only consisted of pleasing one person .....myself!  Never had I given much thought in helping others or have I contributed to any charity or needy organization.  That night, before reciting the Lord’s prayer for mercy, I began to wonder if I were to died and I found myself standing in the presence of the good Lord, what would I say if he asks “What have you done to benefit your fellow man.”  Surely, I could not lie to him nor can I invent some excuse that will convince him to allow me through the golden gates of Heaven.  “What a selfish fool I was” were the words blurted from my lips.  I asked in prayer for the Lord's forgiveness for my self-contained greediness and yet above all else, I egotistically requested for a favor with a promised commitment that I would donate to several charities and attend church on a regular basis of my preferred religion. The following day in the presence of my wife, the doctor entered my room unexpectedly with a piece of paper in hand “Cruz!  you don’t have the disease!" He said with a cheerful smile “Here...see for yourself” Under the lab results in bold letters were the following words “No evidence of Lymphoma”...I was going home!

  I remembered telling myself on the way home from the hospital, how thankful I was to the Lord and that I will fulfill all the promises I had made to him.  For the next three months,  I attended church on every Sunday and contributed to various charitable organizations, but later in the year, I moved to another city and found myself barely making ends meet where I turned around and used as an excuse to skip church services because it was too far to travel and I convinced myself that the good Lord will understand my absences due to my financial instability and physical handicap with the same reasoning behind the inconsistency of charitable spending supported by my self-denial that I did not have a nickel to spare, but yet always had a dime to waste at the casinos or some other pleasurable recreation. 

 One Saturday afternoon, I made plans to go to my mother's house after I picked up my monthly paycheck and perhaps take her to the 5 o'clock mass so that I can gratify my obligation of helping her cope with the loneliness and misery of my father's passing and perhaps add a positive mark to my lagging track record of church attendance, but first I needed to travel to a nearby town to cash my check before the bank closed or I would not have enough money to comfortably enjoy the weekend.  On my arrival, I noticed the bank was closed because of the town's yearly festival and the next bank closes to me was back at my hometown, which was about forty-five minutes away, so I decided to cancel all my church plans and as I was calling to disappoint my mother, I received a phone call from my wife.  I explained to her about my situation and of my next step, and she told me that I needed to pick-up her brother from his house so that he could repair our dryer, but he was not going to be home at the time for several hours.  I tried to persuade her that we needed money for the weekend, but she was adamant about fixing the dryer.  So I asked her "Shall I go to church then?" which she replied "Well...there's no other better place to buy some time."

 So I met up with my devoted Catholic mother at the church, but as I entered inside I suddenly began to feel lightheaded due to the usual occurances of my declining bloodpressure.  During this time, Father Raul was lecturing about the ten Leopards, who were eventually cured by Jesus Christ, but only one of them returned to to show him any gratitude, while the other ungrateful nine carried on with their lives without so much as giving him a thank you.  At that moment my lightheadiness disappeared as I saw a beam of light gazing on top of the holy cross, which was where I suddenly realized " Am I one of the nine Leopards!  Here I am attending church to accomodate a inconvenience, and not for the sake of the Lord nor for the good intentions of my mother .

  Did I not make a promise to God that I would devote some time for him and work on improving his attempts to better mankind?  Where is my gratitude for his cure on me?  Why have I not returned to thank him?  I turned to my mother, who was in deep prayer and I remembered the guilt I felt inside of not being there for the only other true mentor in my life, besides the Lord, which was my father on the day he passed away and now here I am treating my mother's companionship as an obligation rather than a desirable privilege!  

"What a selfish fool I was and what a selfish fool I still am." I said to myself as I got down on my knees with the urged to cry, but instead, I asked the Lord for his forgiveness and thanked him for showing me the short journey of my wrongdoings. I only had a few dollars in my pocket and as the ushers passed the collection basket, I told myself that I was giving every penny to the good Lord and to the fellowship of his church.  I wanted to go home with absolutely nothing in my wallet nor in my pockets.  This was the very least I can sacrifice for this priceless teaching that was provided by my Creator, my Saviour...my true Father.  This is what I truly deserved to hold nothing of value on me except for a new unselfish beginning of my heart, soul and spirit.  Thank You Lord for this personal blessing and insight you had given me.  Thank you for the re-opening of my eyes and Christian virtue once again.  Thank you for finally ridding of my selfish ways and foolish past behaviors.  And most of ..oh good Lord....Thank You for this wonderful and valuable lesson!

A UNWANTED VISIT

Year is1994: Ok...so I’m gassing up my unit and talking with my girlfriend, Oli, (Now my wife) on my cell phone.  After hanging up with her, I left the bulk plant, which is next to Mono park and I went down Golden Way for a routine patrol drive when this chick, in a fancy dress, started flagging me down in the middle of the street.  I stopped and immediately notified dispatch about it and she opened my door, and I don’t know how in the hell she did this, but she somehow climbed over me and the steering wheel to be on the other side of passenger seat!  Why she didn’t use the passenger door?  I’ll never know.  She then starts telling me, in Spanish, not to have some guy touch her and I was like “What guy?”  Then suddenly my door opened again and here this idiot tries to crawl over me to get to this girl...what the....people...my car has another door to it..you know...anyway this dumb-ass doesn’t say a word and is being terco trying to reach out to her, so I pushed him back and made enough space for me to get my ass out.

The girl in my car starts to panic saying, “Por favor oficial no le dejes que me toque” and I’m like...”Ok..what's going on here” and this pendejo keeps trying to get to her by getting into my car, so I grabbed the son-of-a-bitch and told him “Dude...calm your shit down” but noooo, stupido keeps being ignorant, so I shove him against my unit, but this vato turns around on me and starts to throw blows.  Ok...motherfucker, so the fight is on and I end up flopping this dern fool to the ground and was able to pinned him down with my knee and I tried to turn him over to place the cuffs on, but then all of sudden I feel a dozen hands on my back trying to pull me off of this guy, but they were actually causing more harm than being a rescue.  One of them got brave and went for my weapon, so I backed away, but little desperado tried to escape from me by running toward his house, so I became a pro defensive player and tackled his ass, but there was a fallen chain-link fence next to us and I knocked the whole damm thing over.  These yahoos then decided to play pile up and started jumping on top of me, but a few minutes later, I felt what appeared to be somebody being beaten on with something hard and then I heard someone yell in agony, so I looked up and saw my partner, Rhino, going crazy with his ASP baton hitting everything in sight. 

The zombies scrambled for cover, but they regrouped and started advancing toward us, so I yelled “11-99” (Officer needs assistance) on the Police radio and the calvary came running tooting their horns and when they arrived it was every man for himself.  The whole damm street was in a brawl with mace spray being shot all over the place, even on me, but after it was all said and done, four guys were in custody, except for my guy, so I wiped the sting out of my eyes and searched inside this old shack that was behind the primary residence and there was tonto sitting on the edge of a bed with his head down because it appeared that someone really jacked his eyes up with pepper spray.  “You thought you got away...huh...cabron!” I told him as I pushed him to the ground and cuffed his ass.  

Hours later, everyone got booked and I found out how everything got started, which was because the girl did not want to go out with this guy (the main suspect) because he was drunk and could not take no for an answer....can you believe that shit!  All that fiasco for a drunk ass fool with a broken heart, who refuses to accept it...the next time I got wiser and took a longer lunch break instead!

REAL ESTATE INQUIRIES

OK...here it is...since I do have a brokerage business than it's my duty to let you know what's going on in the real-estate realm...no matter how boring it it...so let's begin...as we all know...we're slowly becoming a seller's market, and with interest rates staying at these low rates...it's now a perfect time to invest in a home before the interest rate hike, which is speculated to jump as much as 5% by the end of this year.  Large cities, for example, have seen their homes in Sacramento, Bakersfield and in the Bay area increased by 60% whereas the homes in the Central Valley only increased slightly, but included in  this agriculture industry effect are the low-paying jobs and high-unemployment rates that persists throughout our region, which also enhances the real-estate to be unsustainable.

Now if the forecast of the rising interest rates are valid this can also rise up the monthly mortgage payment by $500 to $600 a month, which supports the trend of homes sales that have occurred in the past 12 years, example,

2005-Home sales peaked in California.
2006-30% fewer sales than 2005.
2007-Home sales dropped another 30%.
2009-Home sales went up slightly after the house market crash of 2008.
2010-More decline in home sales and prices.
2011-Home sales increased slightly while prices decreased.
2012-Home sales increased considerably.
2013-Home sales are slow, but prices increased.
2014-Home sales decreased by 7% from 2013.
2015-Home sales 9% higher than 2014.
2016-Homes sales slightly higher from 2015.
2017-Home sales 3% above 2016.

Baby Boomers will be going into retirement and sell their homes while buying replacements in 2019, and their children (Generation Y) will add to the house sales as they find higher paid jobs and become first-time home buyers.

Mortgage lenders hopefully will loosen their lending standards, but a real-estate prediction indicates that the down payments might be squeezed out by high rent apartments and elevated interest rates.

CYBER-DEPENDENCY

How much do you depend on your computer (lap-top, I-pad, I-pod, tablet, smart phone etc...etc) to control your daily activities?  Take me for example, I check or conduct the following transactions on my MacBook Air notebook everyday for the following activities: Banking Activities including checking clearance and withdrawals, Bill Payments, Check the status of my PERS retirement and Workers Comp, Online College courses, T.Rowe Price stocks exchange, My Blog, Cash receipts or Merchandise Invoices, Real Estate contracts, Income Tax information, E-mails (ATT & G-mail) and that's just to name a few of the transactions that I depend my computer for and I'm sure there are many others, who use their computer for much...much... more...especially if they have their own business, so what happens when everything crashes because of a deadly virus or because of a noisy hacker, who just wants to ruin your day and every input of you and yours disappears...do you have a backup?  Have you been writing things down or been saving your receipts or other vital paperwork?  Or are they somewhere in your shredder's wastebasket.

Last week there have been a massive surge of cyber attacks where over 2000,000 computers around the globe had been infected with security flaws using a ransomware virus with the Microsoft's XP operating system, (ranging from British hospitals to Russian banks), which blocks the normal computer process and puts up images of demands for payment of $300 Euros.  The fight against the vicious cyber virus has reached over $120 billion this year alone affecting both the world economy and global stock markets and making the cyber security franchise explode with web-wide business contracts and there is even speculation that by year 2020 their profits will reach over $1trillion.

It wouldn't be very long until these viruses catch up with the everyday user and that's with any device no matter how anti-virus proof you think your toy may be, so my question remains...are we, as high-tech advocates, ready for such a disaster?  Do we have the capabilities to retrieve what's lost?  Are we truly protected by these promises of privacy from theses anti-virus crime fighters?  What would you do in this scenario?  What's your plan of action?  Maybe we should start looking for one!

ONLY IN MY DREAMS

It was 10 after 6:00 on a light-foggy Friday evening when I walked out of the dialysis center and as I approached my vehicle, I noticed both my Mom and my wife waiting for me in the parking lot, which besides their glooming smile, was the very first signs of a obvious red flag. “Hi mijo,” said my mother without smiling as my wife opened the back door for me to get in without saying a word. “Man...this is serious” I thought.  We sat in silence for a few minutes and my wife still hadn’t turned on the car. “Ok...what’s wrong?” I asked.  They both looked at each before saying anything as if they were wondering, who was going to be the bravest one to break the bad news.  Finally my Mother spoke out, “They say your Dad has cancer...mijo.”  At that instant it felt as if someone had just shot me through the windshield and struck me directly in the chest.  I was already feeling like shit coming out of dialysis and now I started to have breathing problems and something was making me sick to my stomach.  I was shocked.  “Whaa...my Dad?” I thought, “The most healthiest person I know!”  I actually thought this was someone’s idea of a sick joke. “Who in the hell said this?” I demanded.  “His doctor” replied my Mother.  She then went on to tell me about how my Father was diagnosed with a small cyst in his prostate that was cancerous, which I already knew, but according to the physician, the cyst was so tiny that it did not pose any danger, in fact, it was so small that there was no need of taking any anti-cancer medication, so of course, no concern from anybody was initiated until my Father went back years later for a follow-up medical exam and it was then discovered that this tiny cancerous cyst had traveled to his bladder.  ‘What happened with the cyst that did not pose any danger story?” I said.  “He made a mistake” replied my Mother.  “Oh no he didn’t make a mistake..Mom!” I said, “We made the mistake by choosing that damm doctor!  So what happens now?  Do I lose my Dad just like I lost my cousin? Why not!” I hollered, “ I lost Peter..I lost my kidneys...and now I’m going to lose my Pops...why not...let’s just destroy my whole damm life once and for all!”  “Don’t be saying things like that...June!” said my Mother harshly, “They are going to give your Father chemo for a couple of months...the Dr. thinks that should stop the cancer.” “Or make him their Guinea pig” I replied.  

We didn’t say a word to each other on our way back home.  After we dropped off my Mom, I didn’t want to talk to anybody, so I went straight to the bedroom and laid in our bed.  After a few minutes, my wife went to check on me and noticed that I was crying uncontrollably, so she panicked and called my sister, Mari, who immediately came to the rescue.  “What’s wrong?”she asked, “Mom told you..huh” I nodded my head as I embarrassingly wiped the tears from my face.  “Mom didn’t say it quite right” she said, “Look...the cancer is still small..they think with a couple of more chemo treatments it will kill it.” “Or just say they made another mistake!” I replied.  I know I was being negative about the whole ordeal, but that’s the way my life was going at the time.  “Hey it could be worse” said Mari “They say if you are going to get cancer it’s best for men to get it in the prostate gland because it’s a lot slower than getting it elsewhere.”  After talking some more for several minutes, I felt better and my sister’s advice had brought me hope that I would be able to cling on to my old man for just a little bit longer.

Six months had passed and my Father already completed his chemo sessions (without losing a single strand of hair) but a few weeks later he started to complain about getting frequent headaches so another follow-up exam to the same doctor sadly revealed that my Father’s prostate cancer had now traveled to the back portion of his head and was slowly progressing...my Pops was running out of time!  In desperation, I called several cancer clinics and institutions in attempts to prolong my Father’s life, but they all came to the same conclusion upon seeing his medical records.  “It’s too late...you should of come to us sooner!”  They might as well have stabbed me in the heart with a dull knife instead of telling me those very words, which have haunted me and my family ever since. Why didn’t we?  I kept asking myself, but I couldn’t answer that question except for out of pure ignorance and undeserved trust...my Father deserved far better...at least one more try...but no-one ever gave him that chance!  

The next following months my Father’s condition became worse and he constantly was in pain, so he spend most of the time in bed.  We tried to have a hospice company help us out, but my Mother was not very happy with their crumbing way of taking care of him, so she chased them away and between her, my sister, my brother-in law, Abraham (great guy) and my dear beautiful niece, Olivia, made their best effort to make my Pops feel as comfortable as they possibly can.  Hey you guys did a awesome job and don’t let anybody tell you less!  During my Father’s last few months, I started to visit him more frequently as much as I could physically could trying not to waste any precious time in between without seeing him, in fact, there was another empty bed in the same bedroom, so I decided to spend nights whenever I had the chance and didn’t have to go to dialysis the following day, which reminded me how my Father used to sleep next me when we use to live out in the country where I slept alone in my own bedroom...so now it was my turn..Pops.  He sometimes would wake up in the middle of the night and see me laying there and would ask my Mom, who frequently made checks on him, for an explanation.  “Because he wants to be” she said.  “But he needs to be with his wife and kids” my Father would say.  Then one day, he asked me that very same question and I told him that I just wanted to be there with him.  “You have your wife and family mijo...you need to be with them”  “Pops there is no other place in this whole wide world that I rather be than to be right here with you” I replied.  I then went to use the family bathroom down the hallway and where a sudden reality check would hit me and I’m not ashamed to say that I would spend the next half-hour crying to myself daring not to have my Father overhear me.  “I’m going to lose him” I thought, “My Father...my teacher...my mentor...my hero...my friend... and there is absolutely nothing I could do about it!”  

Then one morning toward the end of May, my Mother called me, “Mijo...can you come over”  I knew at that point why she wanted me over the house.”  And I was right...my father had just passed away. I didn’t cry though because I knew for once my Father was no longer in pain but in peace sitting right next to the good Lord.  I placed my hand on his chest as he laid there motionless, “It’s ok Papa...it’s ok” I said repeatedly “We will be fine” For I knew he was worried about what was going to happen to his family once he left us.  He had a beautiful funeral and all his remaining family and friends went to see my Father for one last time and when they placed him in the ground, I knew at the time, that he wasn’t really in that coffin, but actually with us overseeing that no harm would come toward us, which he still does till this day.  

So those of you who are fortunate enough to have your parents still alive...embrace them and let them know how much you care and love them..you have...well go back and tell them again and again until they are totally convinced because believe me when I tell you this, people, once they are gone...they are gone...forever!  Some of you definitely know what I’m talking about so don’t wait until it happens because then you will find yourself in the same situation I am where the only time I could see my Father is when I look at old photographs of him that sit on my Mother’s shelves or on her walls and sometimes a occasional browse through the family album.  At times without even thinking about it I get a lucky break and have the golden opportunity to talk to him where he still gives me important advice, but it is only in my dreams...only in my dreams...man...I miss you Dad especially now more than ever where I really need you by my side like you have been all my life when you were here, but I guess I’m just being selfish and only the good Lord knows why he took you away from us...until I see you again Pops..I love you!! 

HONORABLE MENTION: Luz Gomez

   LUZ GOMEZ

If you were to ask me in my highschool days…”Cruz you are going to be a cop when you turn 29 years old”  I’d probably would of laughed straight in your face and replied “Yeah right” because at the time, I  was way on the other side of law where I even spent some time in the joint just to prove to you how screwed up I was, but it happened!....how?  I don’t have a frickin clue, but by 1991, I found myself wearing a dark blue Dinuba PD uniform and driving a Crown Vic cruzin through the dark alleys of the city of Dinuba, and it wasn’t until a few years later that I had discovered that my Grandfather, Luz Gomez, (pictured above) was actually a county constable in his hometown of Edinburg, Texas during the 1920’s & 30’s, which was considered to be at the same level as a Deputy Sheriff in today’s law enforcement realm.  It was pretty difficult for me to find any information about his past legacy with the exception of my Mom’s memory about a certain incident where my Grandfather was transporting a violent prisoner in the back of his patrol car, which did not have any protected backseat windshield, and somehow the prisoner slipped out of his handcuffs and begin to choke my Grandfather from behind, but Thank God my Grandpa was able to escape  from the prisoner’s neck grip by stopping in the middle of a country road and physically overcame his attacker.  Now remembered this was during the prohibition era where violent assaults on Police Officers was a everyday occurrence, but I really wanted to find more info about my Grandfathers misadventures as a Police Officer,  unfortunately, he died from diabetes complications when I was only 10 years old, which was kind of ironic because I too suffer from the same disease, which scares the shit out of me because he died at the ripe young age of 62 and I'm turning 57 this May.…yikes!  To top it off, my Grandfather remarried a woman named Mabel and together they had a son named Sonny, who was about 15 years older than me (my real Grandmother died of Tuberculosis when my mother was just a small girl…I’m telling you... I’m really screwed) anyway it turned out that Sonny later became a Police Officer in the city of Edinburg during the 1970’s and was later promoted to detective during his career….just like me!...but he too died of diabetes complications, but at a younger age of 52…Shit!  I did find some old newspaper clippings where Sonny worked on a check caper and eventually apprehended his suspect, but man…It would have been awesome if I would of been able to write their stories as crime fighters, but I will still continue with my mission to get some more information about them…anywho…what I’m trying to say is that isn't it funny how things end up in life because I never thought in a hundred years that I would become a cop, but BOOM... it happened...and I became one!  Which shows that sometimes we cannot fully control our destiny so don't be surprised if it happens to you because for some reason God has planted this road for us..therefore some of us become lawyers...some of us become doctors and some of us become cops and there is nothing we could really do about it, but follow the yellow brick road , so here's to you Grandpa for leading the path, in fact, my nephew, Matthew, told me several months ago that he wants to become a CHP officer...Uh Huh...go figure!