Day 3 - Wedding Recovery

After we finally dragged ourselves off to bed at around 6:30 in the morning as the sun was rising, we fell into a deep slumber and I woke up at about 1:30. "Breakfast" was on the table waiting for us and everyone else was up and at it except me. So I joined up with everyone and ate some bread and cheese and lunch meats while Ricardo whipped up some fresh mango juice in the blender. Oh boy, did that ever hit the spot for me!

Daniel's youngest sister had her first communion that morning and, in addition to the fact that the extended family was in town for Daniel's wedding, what other reason do you need to have a huge family barbeque? The Calandrino clan all come come over on Sunday afternoons and eat about three cows worth of food every week. We got a call from Daniel as we were lounging around and talking about the wedding instructing us that we needed to get over to his house because the food was ready for us. Boy, was life rough.

Ricardo is quite a character. Soccer is a serious sport in Brazil, and some soccer rivalries are so serious that fans of one team are not friends with fans of another team. Daniel's family are all fans (as am I) of the Palmeiras team, but Ricardo is a fan of Sao Paulo. This rivalry is pretty tame, but neither of the teams like another local team, Corinthians, who are the equivalent of the Raiders in American football. Anita told us that her family was okay with her marrying someone who was a Sao Paulo fan, but would never let her marry someone who was a Corinthians fan. So, with Sunday being a big soccer day in Brazil, Ricardo was preparing to lounge around all day with his Sao Paulo jersey on. Stefan was telling him about the previous day and how he couldn't find a Sao Paulo shirt that could fit him (hmm...I wonder why ;o), so Ricardo went into his room and brought Stefan a Sao Paulo jersey with the Habib's sponsorship logo and everything. But, it was also autographed by the goalkeeper, so Stefan, humbly turned him down. Well, as humbly as Stefan can be. But since we were going over to Daniel's bastion of Palmeiras fans' house, he put on his old Sao Paulo jersey from the previous trip.

Then it was churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) time. We joined up with the family at around 3:00 in the afternoon and most of the people had already eaten, but there was still plenty of steak and sausages and eggplant dish remaining on the grill and table. There were kids running all over the house and people littering the ground of the Calandrino compound, which was fun because they all knew us now and we all talked about the wedding and our upcoming trip to Fortaleza. The leader of the youth gang, Daniel's little brother Luis Estevo (who was about 10), had become good buddies with Stefan (mentally, they are about the same age) and they traded English, Italian, and Portuguese curse words with each other while Stefan threatened to throw him in the pool :o) . Right before we left, there was a surprise for Roland as Daniel's mom had made a birthday cake. His birthday was yesterday, on the day of the wedding, so she made a big cake with "27" on the top of it for him. The whole crowd sang happy birthday to him in English and then did the happy birthday cheers for him in Portuguese as well. I could tell Roland was on the brink of tears with the event.

The driver and van that was taking us to the airport that day as coming at 5:00, so at 4:30 we went back to Anita and Ricardo's to pack up our stuff and get back over to Daniel's place. Ricardo enjoys having lazy Sundays and was still laying in bed with his boxers and soccer jersey on, watching soccer while we were over at the churrasco so Anita teased him and told him to get off his lazy butt and go visit the family. Begrudgingly, he put on some shorts and went over to the house with us once we were finished packing. Obviously he's been spoiled by too many barbeque and Calandrino house parties and didn't appreciate them anymore!

While we were waiting for the bus to pick us up at Daniel's, the whole family came out to wish us all goodbye. Naturally, we too lots of pictures with them and we had to take oaths, in Portuguese, that we would come back to visit the family someday soon. Of course, we had no idea what we were saying, but since Don Calandrino (said with a Marlon Brando accent) was the one making us take it, we trusted it was good. Ricardo then made us take another oath, in Portuguese, in which we promised to send him money every month. What a clown. Him and Stefan were so much alike that by the end of the weekend that Anita (Ricardo's wife) said that they should go spend some time in San Francisco together ;o). Of course we prefer to refer to Stefan as a jackass (asno in Portuguese) than as a clown :)

When the bus arrived to pick us up for our journey to the airport and further onto Fortaleza, we all said goodbye to everyone in the family and said that we'd come back soon to visit them. They all said that everytime we come to Brazil, we only spend a few days with the family and they wanted us to come spend more time with them next time. As we piled into the bus, the two out of all of the family that didn't speak English, Daniel's mom and grandma, got very emotional and started crying. We could tell that we were truly honorary members of the Calandrino family...

The ride in the bus to the airport was much quicker than when Daniel drove us a few days earlier. Most likely that was because we were talking the whole time about the wedding and what our plans were for Fortaleza. Daniel and Kelly were flying from a different airport and so we would be at the hotel by ourselves for an hour or two before they arrived. Daniel told us about what happened when he and Kelly went to the hotel the previous night after the wedding. Apparently, the room they were going to stay at didn't have hot water, which wasn't a big deal to Daniel but it was to Kelly. So they called up maintenance and found out the whole hotel didn't have hot water. Daniel, slightly intoxicated from the wedding party still, was worried that Kelly was going to get really pissed at the people at the hotel but instead it turned out that when they went downstairs to leave the hotel, HE was the one that got pissed off. He was cussing and swearing at the people at the receptionist desk and saying even though it wasn't their fault, he was pissed off and very angry. They nodded and agreed that this was unacceptable, but Daniel just kept yelling at them and said that if they don't agree with him, he was going to jump over the desk and kick their ass. They nodded and agreed with him, but he just kept yelling and screaming. It was pretty funny the way he told the story.

Since they had to find a new hotel, they were thinking about just going to their new apartment and sleeping there, especially since the hotel that they had initially wanted to stay at had been booked up for a long time. Or so they thought. Daniel was talking to his father about the situation at the no-hot-water hotel at some ungodly hour in the morning and it turns out that Don Calandrino (said with a Marlon Brando accent) had some connections - go figure. He apparently knew the owner of the hotel and made a quick call and they had a room at that hotel. It's good to be part of the Calandrino mafia!

Many people think it's weird that we were travelling with them on their honeymoon, and it certainly seemed weird to us as well. But Daniel insisted that we come with them, saying that they would have their whole life together and that they don't get to see us very often. They would be spending time hanging around strangers if they went by themselves, so it would be even better if they had friends like us around.

On the way to the airport, Daniel also told us some interesting things about fuel technology in Brazil. I don't really know much about Brazil, but apparently they are very advanced in the area of alternative, renewable fuel for automobiles. They developed a way to use alcohol made from sugar cane as a fuel. And, since Brazil is very well known for their sugar cane plantations, they have an abundance of it. The alcohol also burns much cleaner than oil and all new cars in Brazil now have the ability to use use this alcohol or gasoline. In fact, you can use both alcohol or gasoline in the tank, the car will seperate it automatically. Check out this article for more information. I guess that's what you get when your country doesn't have stocks of oil and natural gas, not to mention the fact that our country is run by people from the oil business!

We made it to the airport with some time to spare, so Daniel and Kelly dropped us off and then went on to their airport for their later flight. While we were waiting for our flight, there were some plasma TVs in the terminal showing the Palmeiras soccer game. We watched for a while then headed over to get something to drink. I then remembered that three years ago we had been introduced by Daniel to the tasty cheese bread, pao de quejo. Since we were buying something to drink, what better way to settle or stomachs than to eat some tasty cheese bread with a soft, gooey inside. I bought two of them and liked them so much that I went back and bought six more. My stomach wasn't exactly pleased with that decision on the flight, but I sure was!

The three hour flight was pretty standard, we were all exhausted from the previous night so I slept comfortably with my neck pillow in the middle seat between Stefan and some random guy. Roland and Csilla sat behind Stefan and I. When we finally landed in Fortaleza, Roland was livid about the screaming kids on our flight. After he was done cursing the kids, I questioned whether or not Csilla would want this guy as her children's father ;o) . Roland said when he becomes dictator of the world he will ban children from flying until they are like four.

When we got to the hotel, we checked in and got our rooms. The hotel didn't know if Csilla was a man or a woman, so Vas got a room with two double beds rather than a queen sized bed, so they weren't too pleased about that. In any case, after unloading our gear, we headed down to claim our spot in the hotel lobby for poker. We played cards there about three or four times that weeks, utilizing the new poker chips that I brought him from NYC. They were actually pretty nice to have.

Kelly and Daniel arrived about an hour and a half later and joined into the fun. Kelly hadn't played poker before so Daniel tried to explain it to her but she quickly lost interest in Texas Hold'M. We crashed a few hours later, planning on getting up early for our bus trip to the first beach of the week....

Justinho, tomorrow the beaches start

Day 2 - The Wedding

Saturday morning I woke up at 9:30 with a dry mouth, thanks to the aforementioned fan. I woke up so early because the house next door, the Calandrino's, was being remodeled and the workers started working at 7:00am. What happened to island time down here??? In any case, I was greeted with a platter of food for breakfast as well as coffee (which I don't drink, even in Brazil) and juice. I love the Euro breakfast, with tropical fruit, cheese, cold cuts, and fresh bread.

We were having a pretty lazy morning, so Roland broke out his new poker chips and we played for a while. Ricardo joined us towards the end of the morning and we taught him how to play Texas Hold'm and I took his chips :o) . For some reason, I quickly was given the nickname "Binions" by Stefan because I had miracle hands all the time. He says I have pure luck, but I know that there's skill involved when I'm dealt two Aces or a Big Slick (A-K) ;o). This nickname stuck for the whole trip because I kept winning, but not like that first day. Stefan was coming up with every excuse in the book for why I was winning, including that I had a horseshoe stuck up my arse ;o).

After a while, Daniel came over and we were going to go shopping at the jersey shop for the latest Brazilian soccer gear, especially for my favorite Brazilian team, Palmeiras. Daniel's friend ran the store, so Stefan and I headed over to the mall with Daniel while Csilla and Roland went with Ricardo and Anita to go to a market and get strawberries and fruit. I wasn't planning on actually getting any jerseys, but Stefan wanted to get a bunch like he did last time. I immediately checked out Liverpool jerseys and also some hats that were there. I actually like Nike's soccer gear with the "90" logo, so I got a hat with that on it and not many Nike swooshes (since I generally don't like Nike stuff) and I passed on the blue Liverpool jersey since they are known as the REDS, not the Blues (that's Chelsea). I also really liked the new Diadora Palmeiras jersey and so I got suckered into a jersey and matching shorts. I guess I won't need a haloween costume next year!

Once we got home from shopping, it was time for the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game and for oogling over the girl who was there to do all the girl's hair and makeup for the wedding. She was a gorgeous lady who was apparently from Boston originally but didn't speak a lick of English. I said a few things to her using my exceptional Portuguese skills, like that I was from Novo York and things like that. Anyway, back to the game - both teams are some of the top teams in the world and are jam packed with Brazilian superstars, so we were eager to see it on TV. Many countries are crazy about soccer, but I have never seen one more fanatical than Brazil. Common people wear Brazil jerseys on a regular basis, watch games all day Saturday and Sunday, which fits me very well :o). We watched the game for a while but Barca was annihilating Madrid thanks to their Brazilian magician, Ronaldinho. Wanna see him in action with a ball? Watch this link. And this one - you'll see why they're called the samba footballers! If you want more, email me.

At halftime, I ran home and took a shower since the wedding started 1/2 hour after the game ended. After the game (3-0 Barca, two goals by Ronaldihno), we went back to Ricardo and Anitas and changed into our suits. Everyone looked great and it was fun getting all gussied up for the event. Vas had some issues with his tie, but it looked pretty damn good by the time I was done with it ;o). Sorry, no Full- or Half-Windsor on it, but it was small enough for him to like. Roland had told us that his suit was a Versace and Stefan bought it for a bit, knowing his yuppie habits. But the truth is that Vas hates suits and he would never wear something so expensive in his life.

After we were all dressed, we walked over to the church around the corner for the ceremony. It was really tropical-hot out and had rained a few minutes earlier so the suit wasn't the best thing to be wearing at the time. When we were hanging out outside the church, there was a fantastic sunset that we caught on camera. I couldn't believe how orange the sky was at that time. Very beautiful, just in time for the wedding :). There were a few cute co-eds outside as well so I introduced myself and asked if they were friends of the family and it turns out one of them was Daniel's sister??? I guess I hadn't met her before, but she was a medical school student and may have been out of the country the last time we visited. When Stefan and I, the perpetual bachelors, asked about single cousins or friends at the wedding, which had about 300 guests, Dan mentioned that he had some cousins and some of Kelly's friends would be there, including one that he described as "really cute" who had just broken up with her boyfriend and they weren't sure if he was coming or not (rebound!). But he never mentioned his sister (Daniel, please don't kill me ;o).

The ceremony was fabulous and there is plenty of video of it on my webpage. It was a traditional, huge Catholic wedding and we were seriously honored to be sat in the front of the church with the family. I don't know how to describe his family, they really treated us as their own, which was very special. They had live wedding music (horn, violin, drums, and keyboard) that added an amazing touch, as you will see on the videos. We didn't understand most of the Catholic message (since it was Portuguese), but my favorite part of the wedding was when Daniel and Kelly greeted and embraced each other's wedding party (composed of family members and friends) one at a time and then greeted their own wedding party. It was a very emotional point for everyone, especially with the live music right in front of us playing songs like Ave Maria.

The heat, travel, and food had caught up to Csilla by this point and she turned ghostly white and had to sit down. She was not looking good at all, so Roland and Ricardo (a doctor) took her outside to cool off a little and drink some water. Thankfully she felt better after that because it would've been a terrible way to spend such an amazing night.

After the ceremony, everyone travelled en mass to the banquet hall where the wedding party was being held, the Ipanema Clube. We sat with Ricardo and Anita and had nice conversations with many of the friendly family members and friends. One whole side of the clube had huge windows that opened up, providing a nice breeze and a beautiful view over Sorocaba. Ricardo was a class act, acting like a kid in the candy store whenever the waiters with the whiskey came around ("Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey!!!"). I personally cannot stand whiskey, even when mixed with liberal amounts of Guarana. I switched to wine and beer while dining on the pounds and pounds of cheese they had available for us to snack on.

After the snacking and initial binge drinking (especially Ricardo, who had four whiskeys before I even finished my first one), the dancing began. Most of the music from the band was initially slow 80's music, but they soon through down the gauntlet and picked up the ryhthm a bit more. They played lots of upbeat songs and Brazilian tunes, such as Axe music that is all the rage in South America right now. Luckily, there was a few ladies at the next table who were dancing in front of their chairs and looked interested in getting out on the dancefloor. After a few songs went by, and with Ricardo badgering us to get over there, I knew it was time for me to practice my Portuguese and speak the international language out on the dancefloor, where they had migrated to. I walked by them while heading to the bathroom and, lucky me, they were talking to Daniel and Kelly alone while the band took a break. Without missing a beat, Daniel introduced them to me and said they were Kelly's friends from college. He did some translating for me and let them know that I wanted to master the samba that night (hopeless as it was, it got laughs out of them). I told them that I'd be back in a bit. Word was that the next set would have more 60's style music that is right up my swinging alley!

When the band started up again, they were playing some great swingable tunes so I went to the ladies' table to find a dance partner. The pretty blonde jumped at the opportunity (and who wouldn't? ;o) and we were busting moves on the dancefloor before I knew it. Neither she nor her friends spoke a lick of English - well one knew a few words here and there, but less than my Portuguese. I used my Portguese though and we got by for the rest of the night. By the end, my vocabulary had pretty much doubled thanks to them. Rosangela and I danced and drank water the whole night and, at one point, the band started handing out party hats, clown noses, sunglasses, lays, masks, etc. Apparently this is a tradition at Brazilian weddings (or was it just Calandrino weddings?) and the band starts playing music like YMCA and other classic party songs. Of course, there were group dances with the boys, dances where everyone knows the moves (unless you're a gringo like we were) and other group activities on the dancefloor.

Much like weddings in America, Kelly throws her boquet over her shoulder to all the single girls. I'd heard that all the men grab their girlfriends and don't let them get near the boquet, but that didn't seem to be the case as many of the girls went crazy trying to catch it. I think one of the Calandrino brother's girlfriends (Paulo's?) caught it.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, there was a group of ravenous, crazy guys that started jumping around with a serving dish, screaming some Brazilian song and demanding money from all the men on the dancefloor. This was led by Daniel's brother Lucas and was the part when you give the bride and groom money for their honeymoon. Lucas had apparently forgotten to do it earlier in the night when there were more men around (too much beer I guess :o), but their banshee screams and celebrations when they got money was awesome and I gladly donated some dollars and reais to their delight. I heard that in the end they made more money than they expected because of the celebreation. Awesome!

As the night continued and guests left, the dancing got crazier, the sweat beads pourned, and finally people resigned themselves to just drinking. It was mostly Daniel's (and Kelly's ;o) friends and brothers left, and I was still hanging out with and "talking" to Rosangela. Daniel told me that all the guys at the wedding were totally jealous of me because I had gotten to her before they did and that, no matter what, I had to get (at the least ;o) a kiss out of her that night. At the end of the night, Daneil and his friends started jumping around in circles and shouting and singing soccer songs from their team Palmeiras's games. I joined in whenever I could figure out what they were saying since they are my team as well ;o).

Her and her friends were ready to go at around 3:30am and I walked them outside, saying "sou uma besso" ('just one kiss' in Portuguese) the whole time we were walking out. She resisted until her friends made some comment about us having blonde hair and then ran off laughing. I have no idea what they were saying, but I didn't complain because it worked in my favor :-D !

The bar finally closed at around 4:30am but Lucas sweet-talked the bartender, who may have been a family friend, into getting he and I one more beer for the end of the night. The progression then moved out into the front room of the clube since the band was done and the music was off and the bride and groome had left. The remainder of us finally left at around 5:00am, though the last ones at the place were Daniel's youngest brother (Luis Estevo, who was around 10 years old) and youngest sister and her friend (maybe 9?). One of the Paulo twins (the one that didn't have a test to take all day Sunday) took his girlfriend home with us in the back and then went to get a snack at a 24-hour bakery. The place was packed and gave you food and then you had to pay on your way out. I was looking around while Paulo payed and then he and Stefan walked out. They hollered for me and I walked out as well, but the security guys thought that I was trying to get out without paying. Two huge guys grabbed me out in the parking lot and thank god Paulo managed to explain to them that he had payed for me or else it wouldn't have been pretty. Those guys wouldn't have seen me coming ;o)

We got back at around 6:30am with the sun rising in the sky. Anita and Ricardo were long asleep (I'm sure Ricardo passed out early ;o), so we went to Daniel's parents house to try to get a key. The place was littered with bodies sleeping everywhere and Daniel's dad called Ricardo to let us in. I thought I was going to have to sleep in my suit that night, but luckily everything was fine and we got to sleep in our beds!

J. Riley, what a story....

Day 1 - The Arrival

My flight on Thursday night wasn't until quite late, so that meant that I didn't have to pack until the last minute when I got home from work that night. However, I was so excited about this trip that I actually packed on Wednesday night. The build up for the trip had been tremendous - we were all sending emails multiple times per day, and Stefan and I had been talking on the phone almost every night. Those of you who know this obnoxious character know that he takes quite a bit of patience to deal with, but he was very good for delegating tasks to, like buying Roland a jug of Red Vines from Costco buying Roland and I an extra battery each for our Canon cameras off of Ebay. My import/export duty was to go down to the ghetto in Brooklyn to pick up Roland's new $300 James Bond poker chip set that he bought online and had sent to me. The problem was that it was way the hell down at the Fedex warehouse in Brooklyn and they were only open during business hours. It was a pain in the ass, but he's worth it, even if they were heavier than bricks of gold :o| . Plus, we needed some entertainment for our late nights!

To make things interesting, I set up a gambling ring with the gentlemen about how late Roland would arrive on this trip. He had scheduled a five-hour layover in Paris to make sure that no delay would cause him to miss his connection, but I wasn't convinced. He was supposed to arrive at 9:00am on Friday morning and I was getting in a few hours later, but I made a bet with him that I would arrive before he would. The first wager was a round of cervejas, but Vas then called and raised the bet and said he would buy all the beers on the trip if I beat him. I read his email, gave it a double-look, and all I got was a straight poker-face from the words on my screen. He was bluffing, I knew he was. Damnit, I was convinced that I had the better hand, though. I called his bet. Stefan folded on the bet, and Daniel also called his bluff and thought I'd arrive first as well. This would at least make the trip entertaining...

So I boarded my flight at 10:00pm Thursday night for an overnight, nine hour flight down to Sao Paulo. I had tons of leg room (emergency rows rule) and sat next to a stock broker from Sao Paulo who was up in NYC for work. I didn't talk to much because I was tired and wanted to pass out as soon as possible to be ready for my week. So out came the glass mini-bottle of red wine from my jacket, which I sipped on like a stainless-steel flask in between flight attendant fly-byes. It did the trick though, and after dinner my iPod was spinning some nice sleeping music and I was out.

I woke up somewhere over the Amazon, about an hour and a half before the flight landed in Sao Paulo. Perfecto! When I arrived in Sao Paulo and finally made it through the customs line, I had a huge grin on my face as I entered the masses of people around the international arrivals gate, eagerly looking for my long-last buddies - Kelly and Daniel (the Brazilians). I was hoping I wouldn't see Roland's face because that would make my trip much more expensive due to my bet ;o). Sure enough.....I saw no one's face. I hate that, when you have that eager grin on your face and you walk out into the crowd hoping someone's going to greet you and instead you look lost while you wander around hoping to find them. At this point, I knew that my bet was a lost cause and I was going to have to pay for all of Vas's cervejas because if he wasn't there, Daniel and Kelly would have been on-time ;o) . I parked my luggage next to the cutest girl I could find and turned around to see the clan hollering my name and Vas holding a sign that said "Someone's Buying Me Some Beer This Trip". Of course I was ecstatic to see that sign and gave everyone a big hug. It turns out that Vas doesn't like cerveja anyway, so the bet was all for not. I knew he was bluffing in some way ;o)!

We went over to Stefan's terminal to pick him up (he arrived shortly after me) and he arrived in his bright blue "Yes, I'm American, please rob me" Hawaiian shirt. It was great to have our group back together and we all looked forward to the trip. We loaded up the Calandrino's new Caravan (we had destroyed the Grand Caravan three years prior, blowing a tire, ripping a bumper, and breaking a muffler and exhaust all in a week ;o) and started the long trip to Daniel's hometown, Sorocaba.

Everyone was hungry and a bit tired from the trip (Roland doesn't sleep on flights, Csilla couldn't sleep much, and Stefan only slept about two hours. I got a full six hours or so :o), so we planned on getting some food pretty soon after our arrival. We were staying next to Daniel's parents house at Anita and Ricardo's house (sister and brother-in-law) in the notorious Calandrino mafia neighborhood of Sorocabo. Don Calandrino (said with a Marlon Brando accent) was remodeling (not rebuilding, Daniel ;o) his compound next to Anita and Ricardo's house and the family had moved into another house around the corner. It was nice to have all the family so close and very convenient. The church where the marriage ceremony would be was just around the corner, as well.

What better way to start a trip than by visiting a Brazilian churrascaria (barbeque, more on this a few days later) an hour after arriving? Unfortunately, the bastards were still closed at 2:00, so we went to one of the Calandrino mafia's many Habib's fast food restaurants for lunch. Habib's has about 250 restaurants in Brazil and it is middle-eastern food. Daniel manages one restaurant and Don Calandrino (said with a Marlon Brando accent) runs four of them in the area. Daniel ordered up a bunch of food for us and I filled my belly with the food. Roland was too tired to eat anything but had plenty of room for a dessert. Csilla, as skiny as she is, eats manlike portions and ordered a massive banana split for dessert that she took a nice chunk out of, but called in for aerial support from Stefan's buddha belly and my welcome-to-brazil appetite.

After lunch, we headed back to the family compound to hang out with Daniel's awesome family and lounge by the pool. It was nice and hot outside, so the pool was quite refreshing. We messed around with a couple soccer balls with Luis Estevo and Tulio (two of the Calandrino brothers) that were laying around while Csilla did her nails. After a few hours of lounging, Roland and Csilla headed back to the homestead to get caught up on sleep. Soon thereafter, we realized that there was a hidden gem that Daniel had been hiding from us - ping pong tables. Snap-crackle-pop, the beer cans started to open and we found the ping pong paddles and balls. We played a few games and rallied around for a while before we found out that Don Calandrino (said with a Marlon Brando accent) was coming home from work and was bringing some pizzas from Habib's for us.

We thought we'd snack on a few slices in a quiet house as it was pretty quiet all night. But as soon as Don Calandrino (said with a Marlon Brando accent) came home and called us in, the place was buzzing with Calandrinos. This is a family with 13 kids, so they were coming out of the woodwork. It was great though, the whole family was there at 11:00pm, eating pizza, drinking guarana, and the adults were sipping on cool beers from the fridge and talking. Stefan and I had planned on getting to bed early that night so that we could be fresh for the next day, wedding day. That went out the window once Daniel's mom busted out a vat of an eggplant dish with vegetables and spices for us gringos to munch on. Daniel said that his mother and grandma like nothing more than to make food that people enjoy, that's like their sole purpose in life. Of course, with 13 kids, they don't have much time for much else! But you could see the smile on her face as Stefan and I dug in for seconds and thirds of the tasty dish. Daniel told us later that he can't stand that stuff, but he's glad that we enjoyed it!

We got home at around 12:30 that night and crashed pretty quickly in the sweltering room. The room had a ceiling fan that Stefan woke up in the middle of the night to turn on high because he has issues with his body temperature (I think you can figure out why!). As expected, I woke up with a really dry throat and mouth, even after I buried my head in my pillow. I always laughed at Germans because they are paranoid about moving air giving them sore throats, but lately I've been realizing that they might have a point. Maybe they don't need to be THAT paranoid, but whatever.

J. Riley, One Day down, Nine to go!

I'm Back in the Saddle Again

[Edit] Yes, I have pictures on my website!

Without the luxury of having a laptop (they took it away from me with the new job), I wasn't able to make notes or blog from Brazil, but I'm back home now and wrote about 10 pages in my journal on the flight home - that got me through the wedding on Day 2! Keep your eyes open for tales of adventure in South America as I will post them as I write! Of course pictures will be included and the album will be completed this evening....

Justinho, I miss the weather in Fortaleza.

J. Riley, Signing Off

With my baggage loaded and Roland's heavier-than-gold-brick poker chips loaded
into my backpack, I will be departing for my week-and-a-half vacation to South
America to attend Daniel's wedding outside of Sao Paulo and then hit the beach
with Roland, Csilla, Daniel, Danie's (new!) wife Kelly, and a certain Italian.

I doubt I'll have much internet access, so don't bother checking for updates.
Besides, I was given a travel journal for my birthday (!!) by some friends and
I am actually going to attempt to keep that up. I imagine that most entries
will be composed of "Woke up late this morning, got to the beach at 10:00am,
drank a Caiparinha every hour, ate sea food for lunch, took a nap, got
sunburnt....", but I'll try to make it a bit more interesting than that :) .

J. Riley, Até logo!

Sudoku

Has anyone out there played Sudoku before? It's a logic puzzle with numbers that's really hot out here in New York. I went in Barnes and Noble the other day to see if they had any books for my trip that had puzzles to play and they had a whole table full of them! Here's an example of a Sudoku puzzle:


The objective is to fill in all the blank spaces with numbers. Each horizontal row must have the numbers 1-9, each vertical column must have the numbers 1-9, and each 3x3 cube must have the numbers 1-9. I'm totally addicted to this game now and even downloaded a version for my PC so that I can waste time in between doing productive tasks like watching TV and chatting with insomniac friends from Central and Eastern Europe and folks on the west coast. I bought a book with 200 puzzles of different ranges of difficulty for my trip, that should keep me occuppied!

The Brazil trip is the only thing on my mind these days. I am extremely excited by the prospect of going to another international wedding and I even prepared myself by taking some kids on Saturday down to the capoeira studios for a free lesson, just like I did last year. I got a kick (again) out of the music and got to use a bit of my Portuguese with the capoeira "players", as they refer to themselves. If I end up moving to the East Village like I hope to do, I am seriously considering enrolling in classes since they are great for strength, flexibility, rhythm, and coordination, something that I could use some help in. While some of the kids did cartwheels-a-plenty, I was busy trying to do a side-kick without falling over. So enrolling in the classes will either be a major embarrasment or will actually help me get some coordination. Most likely the former over the latter!

Friday night I went ice skating at the Lasker skating rink in Central Park. It was Veterans Day and I "worked" for the day before the German Speaking Club event at the ice rink. This particular rink is one of the city's best-kept secrets because the other rinks are all super-crowded, super-strict on what you can and can't do (no picture taking and no skating backwards), and cost about twice as much. Alan, Andrea, and I went and had a few happy hour drinks before heading up to Harlem to meet up with the Germans. Turns out that most of the German-speakers there were actually from Poland, which was interesting. I think I definitely have to go to those events every month, it's just too fun speaking German again and the ratios are good, if you know what I mean....

Saturday night, I met up with Sean, Natalie (his girlfriend), Cathy, and Cathy's friend from Westchester County for some Lower East Side fun. After realizing that we weren't going to get a place to sit for a few hours at the miniature restaurant Zucco (which held about 10 people max), we decided to try out Cafe Charbon, which is a place I'd hung out one Friday night sometime last year. I had a great Cous Cous dish and the others had authentic French food as well - hamburgers. Oh well, we al enjoyed the food and the atmosphere was nice with some DJ-spun music, dim lights, and a bar scene in the background.

After our mellow dinner, we were going to head to Welcome to the Johnsons for $2 PBRs before I realized that there was a lounge that I'd been wanting to visit right in our neck of the woods. One quick message to Google SMS and we were on our way there. To continue the French theme for the night, the place (called Verlaine) serves cocktails with a Vietnamese twist. Very interesting, very tasty beverages. We chilled out there for a while and talked before calling it an early night at around 1:00am. Not before buying a few cheap shots of something really really tasty (I have no idea what it was - thank the waitress!) for my cute neighbors!

J Riley, if you liked Office Space, I highly recommend The Office on Tuesday nights at 9:30 on NBC. Quite possibly one of the funniest shows out there in my opinion. I love it!

Arkansas Bird Dogs

Good one, Dad. Kinda reminds me of....my teeth!

My Buddy

Tonight I went into the bathroom to start brushing my teeth, trim my goatee, put the thousand medications on my newly-injected eyelid, etc. As I was standing there admiring the shape of my goatee, my foot started to itch. I wiggled it without my eyes leaving the mirror, but it still itched. I looked down and this is what I saw on my foot:









Flashback: I was talking about cockroaches with Roland, who is a little wussy and is scared to DEATH of the stupid things, complete with nightmares and everything. He told me once he got one in Budapest where he was living and within a week he had moved out to the suburbs again because he was scared of them. I was chastising him for this fact. I mean, I've seen them in the stairwells here in NYC dead, maybe two or three in the past year. My apartment building is pretty new and clean and, really, they didn't bother me that much. Besides, I am pretty masculine and would never admit to being scared of these little things.

Tonight: Despite the fact that it's 4:00am in Slovakia, Vas is of course online when this happens and I told him about it and he can't stop laughing. My foot just touched my headphones that are on the ground below the desk and I practically jumped out of my chair. I'm freaked out of these things now!!

J. Riley, no sweet dreams for me tonight. May the bastard rot in cockroach hell - the NYC sewers. Actually, that's probably more like heaven for him....

P.S. New blog links added to the right!

Weekend Road Warrior

Desperate times call for desperate measures - like five and a half hour flights each way for a weekend. Faced with the fact that I now have a niece and that my schedule for the next few weeks is really hectic (between vacation, holidays, surgery, you know - the usual stuff!), I decided to hit the road last weekend and high-tail it for the sunny left-coast of San Diego. Given the fact that I have pretty much no vacation time at my current job, I was pretty restricted as to what I could do. But with red eye flights in abundance now, I could fit a lot into two days! So Friday night I jet-set for California and arrived at around 10:15. Summer graciously scooped me up at the airport and I stayed up at her place in Pacific Beach for the night since space was limited at Graham's and I didn't want to cause any undo stress, especially with my late arrival. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there was a one-week old baby in the house who was a nocturnal predator, feasting on the sleep and dreams, not to mention milk, of her parents! :)

Saturday morning I was up bright and early at 7:30am - Liverpool was playing the early game (it started at 4:30am PST) and I couldn't contain myself and sleep with the game already finished and the scoreline waiting for me to read on their website. Well, that and the fact that I had jet lag. And the fact that I was going out to breakfast with Summer and her roommate. And the fact that there was a princess for me to go visit up in Cardiff. And the fact that the sun was shining bright and warm outside. So, actually it had nothing to do with the game....

After dining on the splendid fusion breakfast cuisine of Cantina (all I have to say is "wow"!), Summer and I headed north to Cardiff to do a little shopping before heading to Graham's. I needed some gear for the weekend as well as my upcoming trip to South America's beaches so I picked up some new sandles (Summer's the expert on these!) and we stopped by E-Street Cafe to get some morning java for ourselves and Brie. A few minutes later, we were up at Graham's place and the relaxation began.

I don't know what I was thinking but for some reason I didn't realized how small and fragile newborns are, with their little tiny fingers, toes, and features. Ellie was a precious little thing, she loves curling up on your chest to sleep with her little feet curled up to her belly while touching each other - she's gonna love doing yoga in a few years! We pretty much relaxed the whole day, chilling out, watching college football, and catching up.

No trip to San Diego is complete without a stop at the beach. In the late afternoon, I headed up to Carlsbad to see my old high school friend Russ and his wife and child down at the beach. The day was getting late and it was starting to cool off, so I wanted to take advantage of what little warmth was left outside before the day ended. Russ and I headed out to the brisk, 64 degree water and caught/were-destroyed-by a few waves. The water was so cold that I got a few large white spots on the bottom of my feet that were numb still when I got back to Graham's.

We had some garlic and vegetable-loaded pasta, salad, and stuffing to eat that night. Even with sleep deprivation Graham and Brie can make a fine meal! We watched a movie about a couple kids back in the seventies that started the skateboarding revolution down in Long Beach - do the names Powell & Peralta or G&S ring a bell? These were household names back in my youth because they were the major manufacturers of skateboards and wheels. After dinner and the movie, I met up with Graham #2 down in La Jolla to have a beer and catch up before heading back to Summer's to get some shut-eye.

Sunday was more of the same, except we were watching NFL rather than college football. After chilling out for a while, we headed out to fulfill one of my standard San Diego visit requirements: Mexican food. Seriously, those of you in California don't know how good you've got it! I more or less refuse to eat Mexican food out here in New york, let alone anywhere else in the country, because of the lack of quality grub. There are a lot of Mexicans in New York, but I still haven't found anything that hits the spot. So we met Summer down at Fidel's in Solana Beach to have some nourishing, artery clogging enchilads, cheese crisps, etc. Yummy...

After lunch, we reconvened and then went to have a walk on the beach with everyone, kids (Macy fits in) included! She was wrapped up and cozy in the all-terrain-vehicle/stroller sleeping away. She had slept all the way through lunch and kept sleeping after our walk, so I'm sure she was a handful that night :) ! We had an awesome, orange and pink sunset in the hazy, overcast sky and a temperature that was a bit too chilly for swimming in - unless you have a permanent coat like Macy. She had no problem swimming in the ocean in an effort to kill her squeeky ball or to sprint after a flock of birds for several minutes non-stop. It was hilarious how she was after them, as they swooped just inches above the shallow water. She ended up so far away that she was just a dot on the horizon before the birds turned around and headed back towards us with her just behind them still. She was exhausted by the time she got back, but she fulfilled her responsibilities of being a bird dog...

I've definitely gotten used to taking red-eye flights back home from California and I think it's the only way for me to fly. I boarded the flight at 9:30pm that night and passed out before we even took off. My mind was at peace after a great weekend and the iPod was pouring forth soothing, ambient music that is awesome to sleep to. I woke up once on the flight home when my whole left side was frozen from an air leak from outside the emergency door that I was sitting next to. This happens frequently on American flights and is quite annoying. Maybe that's why I got a blanket and the other passengers didn't. I was able to fall back asleep thankfully and only woke up after the pilots made an announcement to prepare for landing. So the flight worked out perfectly, just like my whole weekend!

J. Riley, back into my routine.

From Server Farm to Cubicle Farm

This week I changed jobs - kinda. I still get paid by the same company, but I work at a new company - a gigantic financial services company (think: biggest bank in the world I believe). I've only been there for two days now and I can tell things are definitely different than my last job. Like, completely different.

Computer: My old boss wants my laptop back. My laptop was customized just how I liked it with all my bells and whistles and whatever email program and browswer I wanted (Thunderbird and Firefox, of course). Now, I have a cubicle desk, a cubicle phone, and a cubicle desktop PC that's so locked down that I can't even get internet access without requesting access. And no Firefox. And antiquated Outlook 2000 for email, one of the worst email programs in existence (in my humble opinion).

Coworkers: I have coworkers again! One of them is a lady who is married to a German and sits next to me. We call it our encrypted language since no one else in our group understands us. Plenty of eye candy at this job from the other departments in our giant building. My old job I worked by myself most of the time and there was one or two woman that I ever SAW in our neck of the woods - typical IT department!

Commute: Roughly a half hour door-to-door to my new job in Queens. Old job would be anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours each way in any of the five boroughs.

Structure: As structured as the cubicle I sit in. A form for this, a form for that, 9-5 but very stressful, hectic, and busy during those hours. There is a lot of uncertainty at the new job as they are now restructuring our recently-restructured department. Guess I'll need some more yoga therapy! Old job had pretty much no structure, and no one needed to know where I was at any time - worked from home sometimes!

I'm working in the Information Security department of said-company. But since this company is so huge, I am doing more work similar to that that I did when I was a consultant with E&Y in days of yorn. It's business work - reading boring policy documents and filling out questionnaire's with client answers. But I'm also getting a taste of some fun business-security stuff that will be incredible for the resume. And it's interesting stuff, too.

I have very limited email access right now and will probably for the foreseable future. And no instant messaging capabilities. If you want to email me during work hours, I recommend you email me and ask me for my work email address. But hopefully tomorrow I'll get internet access and will be able to use my alumni account, though response times will lag.

J. Riley, I realized that I've never worked in an environment like this before, should be interesting!