Into the Cold

My latest trip for work took me to two places I try to avoid in the winter; Nebraska and Chicago. Growing up in California I really own a light jacket and thats about it. So I packed my light jacket, took my bags and first headed to Lincoln Nebraska. This is my 4th trip there but first in the winter. I landed in Lincoln at 10:30pm. I put on my light jacket, got my rental car and headed outside. You see, my thoughts about going to cold places are simple. I feel that I will only be in the cold for a few minutes and then it will be over which is why I don't buy or pack a heavier jacket, gloves, scarf, etc. Anyways, I walked outside the 2 gate airport at around 11pm and immediately felt a burning feeling hit my head, ears, neck, and fingertips. Running to my car made it worse. I got to my car and it took 20 minutes to warm up before I was comfortable driving. So from Lincoln I headed to Chicago. This time I landed at about 7:30pm...still with only my light jacket. While in Lincoln I checked the weather in Chicago and it was colder. I didn't rent a car in Chicago as my meeting was right near the airport in a hotel. But to get there I had to walk to a bus station. The freezing wind was blowing so hard it blew my jacket off my shoulders. Well needless to say, I've learned my lesson. I should avoid cold places in the winter or buy the appropriate clothing to stay warm! Whats worse is I already have a trip scheduled to Denver in a coule weeks. Maybe I'll buy a jacket for that trip.

It always happens to me

I sit in airplanes a lot now. Just about every time there is no problem. I get on, try not to make trouble and then get off. Last night I was on a flight home from NY. I was in seat 38G, an aisle seat. To my right across the aisle was an elderly couple. About 2 hours into the flight, the husband gets up to go to use the facilities. The wife proceeds to get up and squat on both knees while perched on both hers and her husbands seat and began looking for something on the floor...I think it was her shoes. This normally wouldn't have mattered at all however what this woman failed to remember was that she was wearing a skirt. Not a short one but short enough that as she was bent over on her knees with her butt straight up in the air, she had exposed herself. Yep, a woman the age of my grandma was baring her backside to about 10 of us that unfortunately witnessed the event. She had no clue whatsoever. The guy to my left in the middle seat noticed and made a gurgle noise like he threw up in his mouth and quickly looked down. I didn't have quite the reaction but needless to say, I quickly looked away and began to focus directly at the seat in front of me.

It seems like those types of moments always happen to me and I don't get why. Why am I there at the precise moment to witness an 80 year old woman's exposed rear end?

Who am I?

Due to technical difficulties at my hotel in NY the other day I wasn't able to blog this during my trip. On Tuesday I was sitting on a plane headed to NY for work. I was asked to go there on Monday. So there I was sitting comfortably listening to the Beastie Boys on my ipod. I didn't feel like watching the movie "The Jane Austen Book Club" that was being shown so I grabbed the skymall magazine. I don't know if any of you have perused through this mag but I love it. Great stuff. On this particular occasion though I flipped to the page that was showing lawn care items. For some reason I was reading about the solar powered mole repeller. Its a long stick you put in the ground which vibrates to keep moles away.

In my backyard we have a gopher. I can't get rid of him. he comes and goes to feast on my grass as he likes. So I was reading this advertisement on the mole repelling stick thinking it could work in my backyard. At that moment, I caught myself and began to think about my life. Here I was listening to "sabotage" by the Beastie Boys but totally thinking about the state of my backyard. I didn't know how to react. I felt too old to be listening to the Beastie Boys and WAY to young to consider buying a mole repelling stick that may work on gophers. How did I get to this stage in my life. I'm almost 30 (not yet though).

Maybe this is only weird to me but I now ask myself alot "Am I too old for that?"

Bob and his blog is born

So there I was, sitting in this great Brazilian steakhouse called Fogo de Chao in Sao Paulo, Brazil this afternoon when it just hit me; bob and his blog. I don't know if it was the 15 different cuts of steak I ate that got my creative juices flowing, the "Coca Cola light" (which is better than the US version of diet coke by the way) or the fried banana that is traditional in Brazil, but it occurred to me that I actually wanted to have my own blog. I know, I was surprised too. I love the blog my wife keeps at http://www.allthingsjohnson.blogspot.com/ but felt like I wanted to do my own. My initial thought would be to keep this as a sort of travel journal to document some of my experiences when I travel around the globe but it could be more or less than that. I suppose we'll have to see.

This is an example of the meat at Fogo de Chao's. You should eat there.

This is my first trip of 08. So far its been uneventful. I spent about 3 hours cruising around Sao Paulo today only to discover there isn't much to see. Its a nice city, but nothing too exceptional. I did however discover that Portuguese is very different different that Spanish. I always thought they were more similar than they are. I was only able to catch about 15% of what the cab driver was saying.