Hello Again.

A post. An actual post. I know for all my dedicated fan(s) that a year is a long time to wait for my inspiring words of wisdom. The Sopranos were famous for taking a long hiatis between seasons, so I'm in good company. How, dear reader(s), have you survived this long? I hope the past 18 months have been kind to you. .

It's been nearly 4 years now since I left Brazil. I came back in June, 2006. The experience still is vibrant in my mind, and I look forward to my first chance to go back. I'm hoping in the next few months there may be an opportunity to travel there for work.

Here is an intesting video about chairs. I know, perhaps not as exciting as the dog catching balls from the tennis ball shooter, but clearly this will be a more enjoyable post to have on top than the Villa Alegre deal.

Perhaps one day when I'm ready to give up my current career, I'll become a documentary film maker. I really enjoy these type of short films - seemingly about nothing, but the documentary maker is able to pull the pieces together in a way that is enjoyable, clever, and tells a story.

Blu Dot Real Good Experiment from Real Good Chair on Vimeo.

Mystery Solved.

This one has been bugging me for years. As a child of the 70's, I was of the fortunate generation to have been reared by the best TV shows. Partridge Family to Gilligan, Brady Bunch to Magic Garden, all classics, and I'm sure still stand up well with the 5-8 crowd. Anyway, apart from all the other shows we all know and love, there has been this one that has been bugging me for years that I couldn't remember the name of. What I remember is that in the mid-70's it came on really early on Saturday mornings; I mean nobody else in the house is awake and you had to sneak downstairs to watch kinda early. The show was a Spanish and English mix of some sort, and had a Mexican village theme. I remember the opening had fly-by of a Mexican village, and for some reason I picture a ferris wheel - but, I'm not sure how that ties into the Mexican theme (are ferris wheels popular in small Mexican villages?). And, there was this theme song that occasionally pops into my head - not the whole song, just this "la la la la la la la la la la la la la" part. I finally gave a good search in Google, trying all permutations of "saturday morning spanish tv show" for the search terms, and finally got it.

It was called "Villa Alegre". Strangely, nothing of it on Youtube. And, not much more anywhere else. But, I did find the theme song. I'll warn you now about the "la la la ..." part. It's going to stick in your head the rest of the day. Only now I realize if I had remembered just the next two words after the la-la's I would have solved this years ago...

Here's the link to a myspace page dedicated to the show: Villa Alegre

I really don't recall much about the show at all, so the pictures on the myspace page don't ring a bell for me. And, the show was no where near the caliber of the other Saturday morning staples (say Land of the Lost or Superfriends) as evidenced by it's early morning time slot and the number of websites dedicated to it having ever existed (one). But, I'm happy at the moment to have solved a mystery which has been chewing up brain cells for years.

Fetch

I can imagine my brother's dog doing this for hours. Its funny the way he looks at the machine like it was a person after he gives it the ball. His pavlovian response to the whirring of the motor to raise the barrel is hysterical.

Ashes to Ashes

Here's a question you don't hear often enough at the airport: "Did anyone bring an urn onto the plane?"

Urn Trouble.

Guess who was caught up in this mess on his way home from Indianapolis this week?

We were first delayed on the ground for about a half-hour, then at one point a police off icier got on the plane asked if anyone had brought an urn on board, which was the first time I heard that question on a plane. Two minutes later, we had to de-plane (I think that's an official term) and go through security again. After long lines for security, then to get back to the terminal, then to get back on the plane, we took off about 2 hours late. Nobody knew what was going on until we got back on the plane.

At the time it was happening, we didn't really know what was the story with the urn. I must admit though, apart from the frustration of de-planing and going through security again, it was relatively well organized, and the TSA did a fine job of moving hundreds of people back through security in a reasonable amount of time. It would be nice if they lines always moved that fast.

Sold.

After over 1-1/2 years on the market, my townhouse finally sold. This past Friday I closed on my townhouse, and it took all week, but we are now fully moved into our new place. We are renting a little house in a nearby town, just a few minutes from my old crib. Honestly, the townhouse never seemed like home to us after we returned from Brazil. It seemed small, and we just didn't feel the same about it. While we were ex-pats, we had rented the townhouse out for about a year, and it sat vacant for the other year. Over that time, Edge got bigger and we grew accustomed to the luxury of nearly 3x the space and living detached from our immediate neighbors. Our biggest regret was that we didn't put the townhouse up for sale in 2005 or so when the market was at it's peak. I bet it would have sold for another 10% beyond what I got for it this week. But, hindsight is 20/20 I guess. Regardless, I am very happy with the check I received on Friday.

For now, we're renting and plan to wait out the market at least a few more months before getting serious about looking for a place to buy. Why rent? We like this area, and will be looking around here for our new house.

But, for now, it's a time to relax a bit. Ahhh.

Bourdain

My favorite TV show and the topic of my blog have collided, producing the finest 60 minutes of television since the Sopranos finale. Now that Sopranos is off the air, I'm down to routinely watching just three shows - No Reservations, Dirty Jobs, and Battlestar Galactica - and Battlestar is on hiatus right now. (Yes, Battlestar Galactica, and no, not the Lorne Greene/guy-from-"The-A-Team" version).

"Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations" is on the Travel Channel, Mondays at 10pm. You've probably seen it, if not, your should. Each episode, Tony travels to a different country and offers his New Yorker-edged, surly commentary on how the local culture is influenced by the local foods. He comes off a bit gruff at times, but seems to be a genuine person at heart. I think he'd be the kind of person I could sit an have a few beers with.

What makes the travel aspect of his show different is that Bourdain avoids the touristy areas or cliche attractions, and heads straight to where the locals eat. He has broken down my fear of street food (to some degree anyway) because it's what he claims is the most authentic local cuisines.
I'm just about finished with his book, "Kitchen Confidential" which gives a behind the scenes look at life in the kitchen of your favorite restaurants. Really, it's enlightening. You'd be amazed at what's going on back there.

Last night's episode featured Tony in Brazil, more specifically São Paulo. He met up with a couple of his Paulista pals and went to local markets, restaurants, street vendors, and bars. I noticed Tony drinking Brahma, Bohemia, Skol, I believe Antartica, and, of course, caipirinhas. He had Bolinhas de bacalhau (cod-fish fritters), linguiça cebolinha (sausage with onions), cheese on a stick, feijoada, and what looked like picanha. I've told you about all these things before in other posts, so you know that I miss them. He was mainly in São Paulo city, but took a side trip to São Sebastião, a beach town not too far from the city which we had been to many times en route to Ilha Bela. You can tell from the episode that he truly enjoyed being there. The genuine friendly nature of the Brazilian people, that I have tried to explain in the blog, comes through in the episode.

It's on again this Friday night, 8pm and 11pm. Check it out and let me know what you think.

First Day in SJC (August 17, 2004)

On August 17, it will be three years since we first arrived to live in Brazil. I had been there on at least 9 separate trips since January, 2004, but this was when we moved as a family to stay. I still remember the final preparations at home in the US and the ride to JFK airport where we were still straightening out our visa paperwork in the back of the car. We were all fairly nervous and excited about the big move. When we got there, our driver brought flowers for my wife to welcome her, and I think some candy for Edge. When we arrived at our house in SJC, our real estate agent and our soon-to-be best friends in Brazil where there waiting for us outside. This was the first time my wife and Edge had seen the house, and of course there was a lot of excitement as we toured the house. The real estate agent had stocked the 'fridge and pantry with food (some we had never heard of before). Then, Reinaldo (a local driver who also became our friend) spent the afternoon with us driving us around to the important local spots (Walmart, Carrefour, the malls, McDonalds for Edge). Then, if memory serves, I went to work in the afternoon! It was an exciting day I don't think any of us will forget.

(Your might remember the house from an earlier post: Alemeda dos Acaras, 23

Over the next few weeks, we explored SJC on our own, and started becoming locals.

Here's a video I dug up out of my archive that I made to entice our family and friends to come to Brazil.

Three years ago. I can't believe it. I still think of our time there very often, and miss it. It was a life changing event, and a period of our lives we can never forget.