television update

Since I have been in China the past two weeks I fell behind in my shows. So, today I did some catching up. I am caught up on Amazing Race and Related. I still have ER, Grey's Anatomy, Lost and Desperate housewives left. Whew. But anyways, I wanna talk about Amazing Race.

The old couple, kinda grate my nerves. They give up so easily yet always end up still in the race. Not fair, because some people are positive until the end and get kicked out! Anyways, I like the hippie guys they are hilarious. The pink girls are annoying with their matching outfits and talk about boobs. Makes me vomit. I really don't like the married couple from the south. That guy is such a dick! He is rude and pompous. Like the time he told the old couple they would help them with their motorcycle and all he said was "that goes there. see you. bye". And then another time he told another couple that they had to help him because he helped them with something small. You can't demand people to help you! And he's so rude to his wife!

Anyways, in Related, Bob had the opportunity to become the sound engineer on JAck Johnson's tour! OOOOOH!!!! My ears perked up when I heard that!

MM is coming to LA on Wednesday...let the eating tour begin!

--RD

Samba!

My client and his friends took me to a local Brazilian samba club where they proceeded to "feed" me caipirinhas and teach me to dance the samba. I had no problems with the caipirinhas but struggled with the samba. As many of you know, I have NO rhythm...unlike rocketDOG who has more than enough for both of us!

One thing I did learn is that Brazilians love their samba. As the live band warmed up, the club-goers warmed up too. Chairs were folded up and tables pushed aside so that there was more room to dance. Unlike the clubs I've gone to in the U.S., everyone in the club got up and danced. There were no wallflowers in this place. I think that was the most amazing thing about this samba club...everyone got up and danced. My impression is that the Brazilians are really proud of their samba. I wish we had some of that pride here in the U.S. --MM

Stuck in an elevator

Hey! Ever get stuck in an elevator? Maybe the electricity went out or maybe you needed a special keycard to acess certain floors? Well, I bet you've never been stuck in an elevator that had no buttons! Okay, not exactly no buttons but there were no NUMBER buttons. There were actually a total of 3 buttons in the elevator: 1 to open the doors, 1 to close the doors and 1 to sound the alarm. Little did I know that there is a keypad to program the floor number you want to go to BEFORE you step into the elevator. I stepped into one of a half dozen elevators and was wondering why the group of people standing in the lobby were just standing there! Of course, the two people who were already on the elevator didn't say anything to me...maybe because they could tell just by looking at me that I didn't speak Portuguese! LOL --MM

cookies?!

This week, I'm in Brazil and Ecuador while rocketDOG is in China so don't expect much from us in terms of blogging...not like I've been keeping up with it anyway. I have some free time before I head out to dinner.

I just wanted to blog about my wonderful plane tride from Cleveland to Houston. I was wedged into the window seat. I really don't like window seats unless it's a red eye flight where I'll sleep through the whole ride. Fear of takeoffs and my bum knee (which needs stretching throughout a plane ride or extended sitting - like a movie) keeps me from sitting in the window seat but sometimes it just can't be helped. At least the 2 guys (sitting in the middle and the aisle) were quiet and not spilling out of their seats. Both of them pretty much slept through the entire flight until close to the end. However the guy sitting directly next to me had gold teeth. Hmmmm....

Well, as were approaching our destination and doing our final descent, the kid across the aisle tossed his cookies - yup, he puked and he puked A LOT! All over his own lap and his mom's arms & hands and her carry on bag which was on the floor. Of course I felt bad for the horrified mom and the sick kid and his younger brother who was whining about the smell. On the other hand, I felt sorry for all of us who were sitting near by. We were all struggling to keep it together until we could get off the plane!

So the guy with the gold teeth woke up and started talking to me. Turns out he just moved to Cleveland recently too but he does a lot of traveling especially during the season...which led me to ask him which season? He doesn't actually play any sports but he's the manager of one of the quarterbacks for the Cleveland Browns. Interesting, huh? He was actually a nice guy but I had mistakenly judged a book by its cover when I first got on the plane. That's something I need to learn NOT to do. --MM

$3 a day!

This was one of the best meals I had on my trip to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and the whole meal cost less than $3! Beans & rice, tender chicken and potato salad...don't ask me why I didn't take the plastic wrap off the potato salad before taking this picture.

Anyway, I bought this meal from a local restaurant/deli that was located a couple of blocks from my hotel. There's a sit-down section and then there are these 2 other sections in the restaurant...there's a room for all the baked goods/pastries and another section with glass cases of food. The best part is that I could walk in and point to whatever I wanted to eat and just speak a minimal amount of spanish. Now I hope I can places like this in Brazil and Ecuador. Yup, I'm off on another trip. --MM

I've been away...

Well, it has been a while since I blogged! I feel as if I have nothing interesting to say but out of respect for RocketDog, I will try.

Recently, I've been traveling a lot for work. In fact, I was gone for most of February so being home 2 weeks in a row has become an unknown luxury for me. Although I think it does make me that much more efficient...I want to get stuff done. For example, it just took Mr. Moc and I a few hours to get our papers/receipts/documents ready for our meeting with the accountant. Last year, it took us many more hours/days to get ready for tax season!

This weekend, after our meeting with the accountant, I'm going to try and tackle another big project. I still need to put the finishing touches (hemming) on the draperies that my mom made for our living room. I've been putting that off forever...well, feels like forever...actually since mid-January. The curtain rod has been hanging since end of January. I bet our neighbors can't wait until we hang the drapes. I think the light from our living room shines into their bedroom late at night. Sorry neighbors!

Anyway, this picture is from the streets of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico...I was there about 2 weeks ago. Most of the buildings were colorful like the ones in this picture. Feels so tropical, doesn't it? --MM