Shaine Mata Blog

t-mobile in mcallen Originally uploaded by shainelee . Last night, after work, I stopped by the T-Mobile store in McAllen to pick up a Blackberry phone. They were out of Blackberries on special, so I got a T-Mobile Dash instead. After rebates, it comes out to about $100 with a 2 year contract. I thought a Blackberry would be good because the Texas Legislative Council recommends them so that you can have "live" access to your Outlook account anywhere in the Capitol. The substitute I selected has Outlook capabilities as well. I generally like simplification and have sold my PDA-type phones. I don't need a PDA for my work, notecards do just fine. However, this is a more economical alternative to getting a laptop and high-speed connection for a computer while I'm in Austin. I need access to the web only so that I can continue blogging and posting photos to the web without using the state computers. I chose T-Mobile because I already have an account with them for

We've had them for a while, but I keep forgetting to mention that we have 2007 Calendars available at the district office. Stop by 1110 S Closner in Edinburg to pick one up. They have pictures from around the capitol in Austin. They are very nice calendars. Best of all, they're free. You can't, in good conscience, start the new year without a calendar. Besides, we'd be glad to meet you.

We are in the last few days before the session starts. I've really enjoyed the Christmas vacation with my family. I know that Rep. Peña is spending as much time with his people as he can get away with before he has to go to Austin. We don't expect to see much of him in the coming days, and I don't blame him. There are so many details I think up and want to get squared away before departure. One big change that is coming is my work environment. So far, I've been working at the district office with Orlando and Maricela. Both of them have experience working in Austin during session and have been very helpful in preparing me for what is to come. I am fortunate in this. I don't know if other Legislative Aides working the session have the same good fortune. Just as I must bid adieu to my family, I must part with my friends here. The good news is that I am getting all kinds of raves about our Chief of Staff, James Lampley. I haven't met James yet, except over the phone

Merry Christmas to all readers of Session 80. Our office is on vacation until Wednesday. I'll be visiting the Internet on occasion during the holiday if you wish to drop me an email or a comment. Enjoy your time off with the family.

I was on a roll today. I was getting things done left and right. In the course of a day, many things come up. There are constituent calls, odd jobs your Rep. needs done or researched, people to call, things to read, emails to answer, and so on. Probably one of the worst things to do is to start something when you haven't finished something else. It messes with your head because you end up having to mind two mental threads or more while trying to concentrate on the new thing that popped up. It's like a memory leak in your brain. You have all these programs running and taking up more and more memory while doing nothing.   In any case, I was able to keep it together to finish one task right after another, even some stuff that I put out of mind. I use the David Allen GTD (Getting Things Done) method. Write things down and dump them in your inbox so that they don't clutter your brain. Knowing that you wrote it down lets your brain relax on that one project because you'll

I think I have a varied audience. Besides me reading this blog, there are a few other people out there. At least one of you is from the Rio Grande Valley. The other two readers are probably legislative aides like me. If you are one of those legislative aides, you are either married or not. If not, you may be looking forward to exciting times in Austin with anticipation. If you are married, and going to Austin alone, you may be like me, dreading the day you have to leave. I do look forward to the new experience and access to all the inner workings of our state government. There is something to be said for having a little influence on legislation. It's exciting to have access to the leaders of our great state. It's worth mentioning the possibility of making many new friends with other staffers, lobbyists, agencies, journalists, and anybody else who wants to get entangled in the affairs of the capitol. It all sounds great. There is a bit of a sadness that is settling in me because

Sorry for the lousy pics. Today was a pretty interesting day. We started off by going to the ground breaking ceremony at the Doctors Hospital at Renaissance. The Doctors Hospital is adding 3 new buildings with different specialties across from their current hospital. This is the first time I've seen J.D. Salinas, our new County Judge, since the primaries. I know where he works, I just haven't had the time, nor made the effort to go visit. After the groundbreaking, Rep. Peña was interviewed by Vanessa Mares from KURV Radio over his recent "Free Flow of Information" bill that would protect reporters from prosecution for not revealing their sources, except in some situations. Afterwards, I accompanied Rep. Peña and the other Reps to the Cornerstone Grill up the street. This was one of the rare occasions in which Kino Flores, Veronica Gonzalez, Mando Martinez, and Aaron Peña get together. They seemed to have a good time chatting over lunch. As for me, I got to meet other

Just an audio entry before going to bed. Mostly relates to moving to Austin for the Session. Boooring. MP3 File

As a legislative aide, you are probably on one of two sides. Either you are an insider to your Rep's politics or you are a technician. If you are an insider, then you've been there through the election campaign, the personal issues, the damage control, and the barbecues. You have the same beliefs and goals as your boss. Getting him to move on forward moves your own goals forward. The other alternative is to be a technician. You are there to do the job, do it well, and then go home to your real life. What happens at work has no bearing on your own life. The advantage to this approach is that you can take care of business you don't necessarily believe in. It's just a job. As a legislative aide, you need to make the decision early on. Are you going to be an insider or a technician? If you are going to be an insider, it is best if you become friends with your boss. Do be aware that if things go bad between you, things can turn bitter. If you choose to be a technician, and r

After a long day of work or extraordinary effort, it's nice to come home, kick up your feet and enjoy a cold beer or two. In a networking environment, however, it's better not to get too comfortable with drinking. Given the countless receptions and other networking opportunities during the first month in Austin, there may likely be plenty of opportunities to have a drink or ten. I am going to impose a one drink limit per night on myself for these events; I suggest you do the same. This is based on several reasons I've been looking forward at how I will deal with the session once it starts. You can successfully deal with a situation if you visualize yourself in it prior to being in it. This is like athletes visualizing themselves in a competition and all the steps they must take to win. This works like a mental checklist where you just mark off all the steps as you go along. Nothing is a surprise because you've already thought about what you are going to do to deal with

There is an internal debate going on in my mind as of late. The basic issue is whether ignorance is bliss or if knowledge is power. This relates to external relationships with Mr. Peña and the rest of the office. I'm sure other new staffers may have considered this question. On the one hand, I am beginning to think that I would rather NOT know about the history between The Rep. and other people so that I can establish my own rapport with others independently of whatever good or bad experiences there may have been in the past. My reasoning is that perhaps I can establish relationships where there aren't any. My mind would not be tainted with prejudices prior to dealing with people. A fresh start. On the other side, I have to consider that some people may be harmful to the team. If this job had less to do with politics, this would not be an issue so much. However, since I will be right smack in the middle of political machinations, I may have encounters that are deliberately mean

We wound up keeping the same office in Austin that Rep. Peña had last session. Therefore, there won't be any change of address. This is good because we don't have to go up to Austin to move our stuff AND it allowed us to order business cards. Had we ordered them prior, it would have been necessary to re-order after changing offices. We will be receiving them in a couple of weeks.

Austin Capitol Extension Outdoor Rotunda , originally uploaded by spentpenny . The time is coming near for me to go to Austin for the Legislative Session. As you know, Christmas and New Year's are coming up. Time will certainly fly by.