Bound for Brazil

Saludos desde Miami International Airport! I am leaving the country shortly, heading for Sao Paulo, Brazil. I've had a long layover here in Miami. Being back here reminded me why I dearly love and hate this city. Having spent two critical and incredibly formative years of my life here, I owe much to this place. But it's still homebase for a whole lot of people on the crazy train. I could never live here again. Ever.

I could eat here. A lot. There's an outpost of a decent Cuban place called La Carreta in the Miami Airport and I grabbed lunch there today. The picadillo was as greasy (and DELICIOUS) as I remembered; the black beans and rice (morros y cristianos) were awesome; and the fried plantains (platanos maduros) were incredible. I nearly cried like a little girl. Take a look:
Once again, curse the BBerry phone for a blurry photo.

But you get the jist. I love me some Cuban food. I even bought some plantain chips for the flight to Sao Paulo. Based on the line at checkin for the TAM flight, I appear to be the only Americano on the flight. Good times.

What will not be a good time is clearing TSA here at Miami. The lines are hideous. I'll have to make a break for it here shortly and go get in line. So, Brazil, where it's 82 degrees, here I come!

The Megalomaniac

It didn't take me long to snap out of my state of Aloha. All it took was a look at the insane, pathetic, and what will be futile media blitz of our fine state's sociopathic governor, Rod Blagojevich. For the longest time, I was convinced that he was a full-blown sociopath. Turns out he's not your garden variety sociopath. Oh no. No, brothers and sisters, Rod is a megalomaniac, no if's, and's, or but's about it.

His stunning disregard for what the people of Illinois want (that would be his immediate departure from office) and his bizarre media blitz (so misguided that his attorneys who never met a nutty defendant they didn't like) have abandoned him. His proclamations (Oprah was on the short-list for Senate!) are further proof of his delusion. I could rant on and on but I think I'd point you to Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass and his column, "A comedy for some; for us, a horror show." It's quite brilliant. Read it.

One thing I can't let go, though. Do remember the old song from, if I remember correctly, "Sesame Street"?

"One of these things is not like the other/One of these just doesn't belong"

I may have the lyric a little off, but I know you can hum it along with me. While humming let's play the game. Look at the pictures below and then tell me which one doesn't belong:




So which one doesn't belong?

If you said the creepy looking guy with the even creepier looking hair, you have chosen wisely. You've chosen Rod Blagojevich. Unfortunately, this is a game he does not know how to play. His megalomania has him convinced that his 'ordeal' likens him to Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela. How dare he! Two of those men gave their lives, THEIR LIVES, in pursuit of bettering the human condition (and that doesn't even do their sacrifice justice) and Mandela sat rotting in jail for years, all for wanting to be treated equally. And yet Blago thinks he's on par with them. Wow. There are no words.

All right. Enough. I'll stop. It's enough already. Clearly I need some more aloha. Or Brazil. I leave for Brazil Friday. It's warm there. That will soothe me.

Kung Hee Fat Choy

"Kung Hee Fat Choy" - that's Happy New Year in Chinese. 2009 is the year of the Ox and it's being brought in resoundingly here in Honolulu. Sadly, I am going to miss the rest of the festivities. I'm boarding the first of two flights that will get me to Chicagoland later tonight in just a few minutes.

I'm bummed because it's going to be a plethora of Chinese and Vietnamese food on display for the tasting in the markets and various celebrations. Street market food is awesome and seems to be particularly good during a time of celebration.

Instead, I am in the Red Carpet Club at the Honolulu Airport. Note to United - tan and cream colored chairs show every speck of dirt and filth and by the looks of things here, your chairs haven't seen a cleaning in, umm...forever. I don't want to sit in most of the chairs without a HazMat suit on. Seriously.

This has been a good trip, but that being said, would have been all the better had the stunningly patient SML been able to accompany me. Maybe I need to rethink my aversion to taking vacation time at the beginning of the calendar year. I've never liked doing that, but I'm starting to think it's not such a bad idea.

78 Degrees - that's good

Since arriving in Honolulu, I've rediscovered that I like it when it's 78 degrees outside. I like it. A LOT. Doesn't matter where I am - 78 degrees is good. When it's 78 degrees in Chicagoland, it's late spring or a summer morning. That's good. When it's 78 degrees in Phoenix, it means it's not so hot that you want to die like most of the year there. When it's 78 degrees in Hawaii, it's good.

I've spent most of the day today in a meeting room in a hotel. They were good meetings so that didn't make it too tough to be in the meeting room, rather than outside. I did get outside at lunch and got this picture of Diamond Head from Ala Moana Park:
Again, apologies for the blur of the BBerry cam. You get the idea - it's beautiful.

It all comes to an end in the morning. I head back to Chicagoland. It's four degrees there right now - without the windchill. Perfect. It's only 74 degrees off my ideal temperature. We'll get there.

This much I know, though, we have to do something for Spring Break. Like head south to Florida like so many other of our Chicagoland compatriots. Let the travel planning begin. I'm open to suggestions too.