Good Friday, metro traffic, la raza, immigration blues, and crispy flounder.

Is everyone having a most excellent Good Friday?

Within the next hour, I'll be away from the office.

Well, wherever you are, have a great Easter Weekend. For those who celebrate, I hope you had a great Passover, too!

The office mates and friends have been distributing and leaving devilish chocolate delights in the hallways and tables this week. And, temptation is painful.

Alright, I'll be honest. I have been eating too much of the sweet stuff. There, I've said it. Even Roz has given me these addictive treats!

Egads, they are worse than any addictive beverage or substance.

This week's demonstration about immigration did not affect my commute at all.

Well, hardly at all, I should say. I was pretty fortunate. I heard other commuters waiting for their 3rd or 4th train at their stop in order to get into a train.

Some regular commuters who usually don't take my bus to get back home re-routed onto my regular bus route, creating conditions for excited conversations with the regular bus riders.

During the commute, it was interesting to watch all the demonstrators pack into the metrorail system and see the regular commuters scurry to find alternate routes for home. As I was going home on the yellow line, I watched a young 'suit' type in the standard power red tie what I perceived as an 'anti-immigration' stare at the demonstrators pack into the immediate metro train. They were carrying posters, American flags, and other flags.

His expression was of clinical disdain.

Not only were there Spanish speakers on the train, but Asians and Caribbean/African peoples as well.

That doesn't include the other regular commuter types sitting in their seats. They were a diverse crowd like the visitors congregating in the train aisles.

As one of the distributed posters written, "We're all immigrants". Too true, I say.


I guess you could call me "pro-immigration", at least in general terms. There is a big "but". What about those "legal" immigrants who actually whent through the proper procedures and channels to wait patiently for the "green light"?

Last weekend, I had to bluntly correct someone when he said that all immigrants should learn English if they were going to live in the US. I agreed that everyone should have the same type of access to that kind of education. I had to tell him that the area occupied by most Southwestern states were occupied earlier by the Spanish and Mexicans before they even became states.

Therefore, Spanish was the predominant language.

Back to the present story, after getting off the bus and running to my car I raced to Old Town Alexandria to meet up with a friend for a business dinner at Mai Thai. I'll eventually post a restaurant review of the place.

As I passed the King Street metro stop, I noticed more demonstrators pouring out of the metro station. I was surprised to see women's groups with name tags coming out of the train station also participated. Plus, a couple families with what looked liked adopted children were walking toward, I guess, home from the station.

Dinner at the Mai Thai restaurant was great, especially if I didn't have to pay for it. With such great dishes as crispy flounder, vegetables and noodles clay pot, and mango and sticky rice (for dessert; I had my fill of chocolate for that day) in front of us, we worked on her promotions and advertising campaign for her emerging business.

Overall, it was a great meeting, although we're pushed with a deadline to complete the campaign within the next couple weeks and my allergies started up again.

Even today, the demonstration still affected the nation as I saw a blurb from a Washington Times article that Americans take a stern look at illegal immigration. In the commentary section, there was mention from Thomas Sowell.

It definitely is a heated topic.

Anyway, again I hope you all have a great weekend!