I Smell Gringos

Today we drove to Volcan Poas, a semi-active volcano about an hour’s drive away. (It’s pronounced PWOSS…one syllable…though the p sound and the w sound aren’t real comfortable together for most non-Spanish speakers…think Barbara Walters saying the word pross, which I realize isn’t even a word). On the way up the mountain, I saw some Gringos walking in the road, so I said “I smell Gringos,” just as a joke. Bella didn’t quite hear me right and said “You smell geckos?” We all got a chuckle out of that. Sometimes certain moments happen and everyone recognizes it as a bloggable moment, as in “That’s going in the blog.”

Speaking of smells, when we reached the Volcan Poas National Park and got out of the car, we detected the distinct smell of sulfur. “Aww, that stinks,” Alex said. But you get used to it quickly.

We got Tico-price admission (even me…score!) and hiked to the principle crater. I remembered that the last time we were here, Bella was in the sling and not too happy. Her disposition was better this time, but I still wound up carrying her for part of the hike.

We arrived at the crater to see a spectacular view of…white. Complete and utter obscurity. “Look at that polar bear in a snowstorm,” I said. But a little patience can pay off, and before too long, the winds lifted the cloudy fog enough to glimpse the smoking crater below.



A group of about 7 or 8 Gringos were milling about, waiting for the fog to clear like we were. Two of them, an attractive girl and a guy that looked like an offensive lineman, posed for a picture in front of the crater and we then realized that these people were cheerleaders. When you see how they posed, you’ll know what I mean. We chatted briefly to them. They were all from various states, here to work for a guy who was opening some kind of fitness gym in San Jose.


Next we hiked up to the lagoon, which is an extinct volcanic crater now filled with water. The lagoon is okay, but the coolest part is the trail that leads to the lagoon. It’s paved and easy to hike, but it winds through a beautiful canopy of jungle vines and trees. You can easily imagine that you’re walking into another world, dark, cool, and primal. If a girl in a red hood had run by saying something about a wolf, it wouldn’t have seemed out of place.

Haven't I seen this set in a Tim Burton movie?

On the way back down the mountain, it seemed like we were running out of gas. The gas gauge in Miranda’s car doesn’t work, so you have to go by the trip meter. When the meter gets to 200 km, you better fill up. We were at 162 and it was starting to chug-chug like it was running out of gas. I wasn’t sure if it actually was, but I didn’t want to risk it. So I coasted down the mountain as much as possible. We had passed a gas station on the way up, so that was now our target.

You can buy strawberries up on the mountain where the weather is so wet and cool, so even though we were running low on gas, we still stopped for strawberries. We got gas later with no problems.

We ate lunch at a nice place near the gas station. The food was delicious and the waiter was kind and attentive. The restaurant itself was gorgeous. Even the bathrooms were lovely, resembling a cave beneath a waterfall. The only glitch to the meal was that their credit card machine wouldn’t connect. After fiddling with it for a while, they actually told us not to worry about paying the bill; we could just pay the next time we came. But I had $25 US dollars on me, which is exactly how much the bill was, so I paid with that. It was doubtful we’d be coming back this summer, and the food and service was too good to not pay for.

Onward we went to La Paz waterfall, on a road that had recently been destroyed by an earthquake. We were told by our waiter that the road was reopened, so we took the chance to see the waterfall, which was only about 10 km off the beaten path. The road, while open, was still visibly affected by the earthquake. It was a slow and rough journey. We saw many houses still in ruins or partially crumbling.

We drove by the Peace Lodge and Gardens, a fancy resort near the waterfall. They have all kinds of things to enjoy (for a hefty price) like animals, gardens, and flowers. We attempted to drive the road past the Peace Lodge, but it got even rougher and we finally came to a “road closed” sign. “Extremely dangerous risk of landslide.” That was enough for me. We turned around and went back to the Peace Lodge.

The Peace Lodge was about to close, so no luck in seeing the falls this time. All we had time to do was explore the gift shop and use the bathrooms, which were even nicer than the restaurant’s. The sinks were cool enough to warrant videotaping. Each sink was like a little waterfall. You rotated a rock and water poured down a stone chute into a ceramic basin. Totally touristy. Totally delightful.

This was the resident cat, named Hunter

If I needed a cane, it would have to be this one

We got home at last around 6. The kids watched a little bit more of Bolt, in Spanish. I worked on setting up a wireless network, but to no avail. I cannot get the router set up with a detectable internet connection. I think it may have something to do with the fact that Wito’s computer does not have an actual ethernet port, but uses a USB ethernet adapter. I finally gave up and watched some TV, then went to bed around midnight.

Lunch in Alajuela

On Saturday, the extended family planned a spontaneous trip to the beach for Sunday, but we had already committed to having lunch with Marta and Jose Pablo in Alajuela. Early Sunday morning, Wito and Maritza headed off to the beach with the others, and after a late start, we left for Alajuela around 11:15.

Marta is a longtime family friend and related to Cristina in some convoluted way that I can never remember. Whenever we visit Costa Rica, there are a few people we always visit and Marta is one of them. Marta’s husband is Jose Pablo, and two of their adult children joined us, Marta and Andrea (and her daughter Emma). They also have two miniature Doberman Pinchers which Bella and Alex took an immediate liking to.


At one point, we were shown Jose Pablo’s “man cave,” a little house in the backyard where he has his computer, stereo, and guitar. Cristina told them I played, so Jose Pablo invited me to play his guitar. It was a nice one, a sweet classical made in Spain. It felt good and looked fantastic. I felt a little self-conscious playing it, but Jose Pablo declined the offer to play it himself. He’s just taken up the instrument and isn’t ready to play in front of an audience. He has a computer program that he’s using to learn how to play. He showed it to me. Pretty cool. I gather he’s more interested in learning the traditional classical guitar type repertoire. It will be nice to see how he’s coming along the next time we visit.

Fun with magnifying glasses

Lunch was linguine with a creamy mushroom sauce. Jose Pablo once owned his own restaurant (which we ate at in 1994) so the food at their place is always good. But I have to give credit where credit is due: the younger Marta made the pasta and sauce.

After lunch we went back to JP’s man cave and showed them all some of our videos from my blog. The younger Marta likes Queen, so she particularly liked Sofia’s Bohemian Rhapsody.


Emma wasn’t feeling too outgoing, so Bella couldn’t play with her much, even though they are close to the same age. But Andrea let Bella watch one of Emma’s DVDs. Bella picked The Backyardigans. It was getting late, so she only watched one episode. Andrea gave us a pirated copy of Bolt to take with us.

We headed home around 6, but stopped at Lida’s house to see if she was home. Lida is another friend/distant relative. Her daughter Nelly lived in Gainesville for a while and we became quite close to her. Nelly is currently living in France (her husband is French). Lida was home, but she was in the middle of a physical therapy massage, so Cristina just said hello and told her we’d come see her another time.

At home, we got the kids fed, let them watch the first 30 minutes of Bolt (in Spanish because I couldn’t find the DVD remote) and then put them to bed. Cristina, Sofia, and I chatted around the kitchen table with Wito until late. We watched a little bit of TV, then fell asleep around midnight.

Planters of Trees

Wito and I woke up and drove to Fernando and Miranda’s house to pick up Miranda’s car. Fernando is one of Maritza’s sons. Miranda is from the States and is there right now visiting family, so she is letting us use her car while she’s gone. We actually drove this same car three years ago, when it belonged to Maritza’s son, Richard. In fact, I even got a ticket driving it, because the registration wasn’t up-to-date and I didn’t have my passport on me. This time the registration was in order, and I made sure to have my passport.

The whole family was due to be at Carmen’s neighborhood by 8 am. Carmen is one of Maritza’s daughters. I know I’m throwing a lot of names around, and it’s a big family, so let’s pause for a minute and break it down. When Cristina’s parents divorced, Maritza became Ramon’s new wife. She has four children from a previous marriage:

Oldest: Fernando…married to Miranda, the Gringa (a person from the US)...children: Sophia (1)
Middle: Irene…married to Edward (a Gringo)
Youngest (twins): Richard…married to Carolina…children: Ricardito (8), Santiago (7),
Maria Belen (4), and Maria Eva (2)
Carmen…married to Fabian…children: Mariana (10) and Andres (8)

We’ve never met Irene, who lives in New York. And we’ve never met Miranda face-to-face, since she traveled to the States the day before we arrived.

We got to Carmen’s neighborhood, a beautiful gated community, around 9. The event was a community service day. It kicked off with a fundraiser breakfast: gallo pinto (rice and beans mixed together), eggs, sausage, tortillas, watermelon, pico de gallo, fresh lemonade, and coffee. After breakfast, some of the neighborhood residents planted trees and others cleaned a little creek that runs through the area. The kids had a great time splashing around in the water and even picked up a bunch of trash. I helped a little with the trees. Cristina mostly took pictures and watched the kids.



Afterwards, the family congregated at Carmen’s house, just up the hill form the creek. The kids played with bubbles until the rains came. Then Cristina helped the older kids learn how to play Qwirkle. The adults sat around, having a few drinks, talking and telling jokes and stories.


They ordered Chinese take-out for lunch. The afternoon thunderstorm arrived full-force. After the lightning strikes, I counted the seconds until we heard thunder, to gauge the distance of the lightning for Bella. She got a kick out of that.

While we hung out, Fabian cooked and served “bocas,” little appetizers. Cheese tacos, fried pork and tortillas, tuna pasta, etc.

The hours drifted by and soon it was getting dark. We left around 6:30.

At home, Bella and Alex got in the shower, and Cristina and I headed to Plaza Rohrmoser for new eyeglasses. We’ve needed new glasses for a while, and we knew we could get a better deal in Costa Rica. We both got new exams (3000 colones each…about 6 bucks!). Our last exam was in late 2005. In the 4 years since, my eyes have gotten slightly worse (but they’re still not bad…I can do okay without glasses. I just get tired of squinting). And Cristina’s eyesight has gotten slightly better, which is amazing. Total cost for exams, 2 new pairs of glasses with transition lenses (the kind that darken when you go in the sun), and new lenses in our old frames: 202,000 colones, or about $350. That’s a much better deal than we would have gotten in Arizona. They’ll be ready Thursday or Friday.

We ducked into Mas por Menos for a few groceries and discovered with dismay that it’s now owned by Wal-Mart. So sad. Wal-Mart has bought many of the grocery store chains here in Costa Rica.

Back home, Wito and I needed to secure Miranda's car for the night. Wito has a porch area that he can park his car in and lock it up, but it's not big enough for two cars. The homeowners on the adjacent street pay for a security guard to patrol the street all night. We drove the car up to his little guard station and asked if we could park the car there. We gave him 3000 colones. He said it'd be fine. So we locked the car and walked home.

I checked my email and went to bed.

Costa Rica at Last

My alarm went off at 2 am. I showered and dressed. These little 2-hour snatches of sleep were contributing to my overall zombie-like feeling.

As I set the alarm on the house, Cash got out. This was not what I needed. I managed to catch him and keep him in the garage as I shut the door. With both cats in the house and the alarm set, I waited for Jim.

He arrived around 2:45. I scraped my knuckle as I put the suitcase in his trunk, and it bled. He didn’t have a napkin or anything, so I wiped it on a scrap of notebook paper. We got to the airport by 3.

I checked in (the bag weighed 49). It was a very full flight. I had an aisle seat, so it was hard to sleep well. I slept poorly for an hour or so on the plane.

In Houston, I ate breakfast at an airport restaurant: scrambled eggs, bacon, and grits. A Gator alum noticed my hat and chatted with me about UF. I vaguely remember what we said. Zombie, I tell you.

Finally, I was sitting on the plane to Costa Rica. And thankfully it was not as full. I still got an aisle seat, but the three seats across the aisle only had one person, sitting on the aisle. I switched to that window seat once I knew they were done boarding.

Being able to lean against the window makes for much better sleeping, and I slept decently for an hour or so. Continental even served a free light meal (I didn’t know any airlines did that anymore). A hot chicken sandwich and salad.

I watched Fanboys on my Macbook.

When we landed in Costa Rica, no one applauded. That was disappointing.

An old friend, Monica Fallas, met me at the baggage carousel. She works at the airport. I’ve been writing a book that takes place in Costa Rica, and I’ve emailed Monica with lots of questions about airport procedures and other Costa Rican matters. She’s been a big help, and despite what she says, her English is quite good.

Wito (pronounced WEE-toe…it’s the kids’ name for my father-in-law, a shortened version of abuelito, or grandfather), Bella, and Alex waited for me outside the airport. Wito had a new car, which was a nice surprise. I felt hot and sticky. Acclimated to Phoenix, this humidity was pretty bad.

Bella gave me some pineapple empanadas during the ride home to Pavas. At home, I unloaded my bags and napped for an hour or so.

Sofia and Alex have been practicing music with a group of local children as part of a Costa Rican cultural initiative that gives children the opportunity to learn an instrument and perform. Sofia brought her trumpet, so she’d been playing with a small youth orchestra. Alex had been singing with a choir (Spanish songs). They had already had one performance and tonight was their second one.

After my nap, I showered and dressed for the performance, which was at a church about a mile up the road.

Sofia played trumpet, Alex sang, and I struggled to keep my eyes open. But it was a lovely evening.

At home, I fell asleep with Bella and Alex, then moved to my bed where I finally got a full night’s sleep.

My Life as a Zombie

A little after midnight, I finally got around to putting my stuff into bags. Cristina had taken all our suitcases, so my only options were duffel bags. I took the two biggest ones and loaded them up. Cristina had asked me to bring two boxes of organic oatmeal from Costco, and they took up quite a bit of room. So when both bags were full, I still had a big stack of clothes that weren’t packed yet.

It was 1 am. To buy a suitcase would mean going to Wal-Mart, which I really didn’t want to do. Jim had already done so much for us by taking Vivien, but he was the only one whom I knew I could call after 1 in the morning. I called him up and sure enough, he had several suitcases he could loan me, though I only needed one.

I drove to Jim’s house, got a huge suitcase, and headed back home. I knew I had a few more hours to go before I could sleep, and I was a little hungry, so I stopped at Jack in the Box and got some mini sirloin burgers. They hit the spot, but it did feel a little weird eating burgers and fries at 2 in the morning. Like I was back in college or something.

I was finally packed by 4 am, and was so tired that I knew I could do no more without some sleep. I had already changed the sheets on our bed, and wanted to keep them fresh and clean for our guests, so I set the alarm and fell asleep on top of the sheets.

The alarm went off at 6. I showered and headed to the car wash. I got there before they opened. My stomach felt weird from the lack of sleep (and no doubt the 2 am burgers and fries) so I didn’t eat breakfast. I bought an orange juice at the car wash and drank it while I watched them clean the van.

Being at the car wash when it opened paid off, because I got done quickly and got to work by 8:15 (class started at 8:30). The last day of summer school is always occupied with doing final grades and check-out procedures. I felt like a complete zombie, slowly sleepwalking my way through the day. At lunch, I got my stuff checked-off at the front office (so I could leave as soon as the day was over) and went to the cafeteria to buy some lunch. I hate the school food, but I had only had orange juice and I needed something. To my surprise, they gave me a free lunch: pizza and salad, carrots and celery, and a brownie. And it was pretty tasty. I never thought I’d say that about the school cafeteria food.

I made it home by 2:30 and set the timer on the stove to go off at 5 pm. At 5, I needed to hop in the shower in time to be picked up by Roben’s son, Ian. I frantically worked on the top priorities remaining on my list: tidying up the living room, putting clean covers on the sofa, putting the back porch stuff back in place (it was in the grass from when I had cleaned off the patio). I listened to NPR while I did this and heard when Michael Jackson was first reported dead. Shocking, but not enough to deter me from my duties.

Vivien had spent a lot of time penned up in the dining room the last week, and had peed and pooped several times. I hadn’t cleaned it all up yet, and that was one of the top priorities that needed to be dealt with. But I kept putting it off and putting it off. Soon it looked like I wouldn’t even have time for that, but I could not leave pee on the floor. So I did a super-fast mop job.

At 4:30, Frontier Airlines called. My flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Denver. She asked if I’d be able to make another flight, now scheduled to leave at 7:45. Since my original flight left at 7:40, this seemed like no big deal, but it sounded like I needed to be there a little earlier than usual. I jumped in the shower.

5:30: time for Ian to pick me up. Aughh! I still hadn’t wiped off the table, which was covered with crumbs. Nor had I cleaned the sticky kitchen counter or washed the last dishes. I would have to leave it all. The shame.

My plan to be there earlier than usual failed (big shock, right?). Ian ran a little late, and I got to the airport by 6. The terminal was strangely empty and quiet. The few people in front of me in line were being told that they’d have to take another flight the next day. They hadn’t gotten the phone call I had, and I figured out it was because I was connecting to Costa Rica. These other people were just going to Denver, so they were being rescheduled for Friday. When I got to the counter, the Frontier guy was hesitant to check me in on the overbooked replacement flight. “It’s looking like tomorrow,” he said. “No,” I said. I had originally booked my flight on Monday the 29th, but when the Thursday flight opened up, I paid the $150 fee to change my departure date and have 4 extra days in Costa Rica with my family. When I told him this, he clicked some more buttons with a palpable sense of pessimism. His mouth said “I’ll check you in,” but his body language said “I’ll put you on stand-by where you don’t have a chance in Hell of leaving Phoenix tonight.” As he checked me in, he found my name already in the system for the flight. His attitude perked up a bit because my chances of having a seat were now greatly increased. I figured I was in the system because the lady had called me at 4:30. Whew! Good thing I had been there for the call.

I had checked the weight of Jim’s massive suitcase before I left home, but at the last minute I stuck one last thing in there. As it now sat on the scale, the read-out said 50.5 lbs. The guy looked at the scale. “Am I going to have to take something out?” I said with my best, exhausted-zombie voice. “Looks like 50 to me,” he said as he attached the baggage label to it. I was starting to like this guy.

When I went through security, the screeners said my container of shampoo exceeded 4 ounces. I didn’t think it did, but I was still worried about catching my flight, so I let it go. They asked if I wanted to go back and put it in my checked bag or fill out paperwork to mail it to my home. Yeah, right. It was in a nice Nalgene container, but it wasn’t worth that much trouble.

At the gate, the 7:45 flight was now delayed till 9 (“will update” was the status). The plane was en route from Omaha to Denver, then to Phoenix. The Frontier guys assured me that the flight would not be cancelled, and I should make it to Denver with 20 minutes to catch my connection to Costa Rica.

About 15 minutes later, the flight was updated to 10 o’clock. Now there was no way I could make my connection. Frontier called the 5 Costa Rica passengers up to the counter to discuss the good news and bad news. The bad news was that we were not going to make our connection. The good news was that they were going to find another flight for us on another airline.

After several tries, they booked us flights on Continental, via Houston, leaving Phoenix at 5 am. It was about 7:30.

I had to get my luggage again. Then I called Roben and asked her if Ian could pick me up again. The other passengers were just going to snooze in the airport until the 3 am check-in, but since I lived only 5 minutes form the airport, I wanted to go home. Plus, I needed to wipe the table off.

While I waited for Ian, I called Cristina in Costa Rica via Skype on my laptop. Ain’t technology grand? I let her know what was going on and told her I’d call her from home with more details later.

If I’d stayed at the airport, I would have faced eating overpriced fast food for dinner. Back home, I cooked myself a real dinner: panko-breaded talapia, yellow rice, organic broccoli, tater tots. Totally pigged out. I watched Farrah Fawcett/Michael Jackson stuff on TV while I ate.

I got things done that I thought I’d had to leave, like the table and the dishes, and moving something from the suitcase to the duffel bag. One last thing had to be figured out: a ride to the airport at 2:30 in the morning. A taxi costs $16, so I was prepared for that, but I thought I’d try Jim, just in case. He was happy to take me to the airport. What an amazing help he’s been!

I got to bed around midnight, once again lying on top of the clean sheets.

The Home Stretch

I’m not a neat freak. But there are two times when I especially like to have things clean. I like our van to be super-clean before we go on a road trip (even though I know it’s going to get dirty). And I like the house to be clean when we go on vacation. I want to come home to a clean house. It just makes returning home more pleasant.

Ever since Cristina started working (almost full-time) last year, the house has slipped in its level of cleanliness. Plus, having a dog and two cats contributes a decent volume of hair. So being home alone for 10 days gave me ample time to get the house just the way I wanted it before leaving for 4 weeks. A spring cleaning of sorts, free from the time constraints inherent in family life. And since some friends were planning on visiting Arizona while we were gone and staying at our house, I wanted the house to be clean for them too.

I’ve already documented my struggles with procrastination, so it’s no surprise that while my list of things to do was long, my time ran short. After work, I did a few more things on my housecleaning list. I wanted to finish shampooing the upstairs carpet as well as the stairs themselves, but that would mean not going upstairs for a few hours, while the carpet dried. So I planned some errands and then shampooed the stairs. I put Vivi and her gear in the van and headed towards Ahwatukee.

I dropped off some things at the library, then grabbed some dinner at In-and-Out Burger. Since our friends would be borrowing our van, and it was quite dirty inside and out, I took it to our favorite car wash. But I just missed the chance. I got there at 6:45 and they closed at 6:30. They reopened at 7:30 in the morning, so I had to make a choice: either leave the van dirty for our guests, or drive back in the morning before my last day of work.

Jim Gustafson, a friend through Desert Marigold, had graciously volunteered to take Vivien for part of the time we were gone. I had arranged to drop off Vivien after 7, and it was right at 7, so I called Jim and headed to his house. The drop-off went well and his four dogs seemed very interested in Vivien. She didn’t immediately master the dog door to the back yard, but I knew she’d get it in no time. I headed home around 8.

More cleaning and packing. As it drew close to midnight, I began to realize the fruits of my procrastination: some things on my list were just not going to get done.

Need Dog Help!

We have a big problem. (Although compared to the truly big problems in the world, this is actually a little problem.)

As you probably know, Cristina is already in Costa Rica with the kids. I'm finishing up summer school, and I fly out Thursday evening. We all come back together on July 28. The plan was for our usual dog-sitter to keep Vivien, our dog, for us while we're gone. I emailed her today to confirm drop-off plans and discovered that there was a miscommunication between her and Cristina. To make a long story short...drum roll please...she can't keep Vivien for us. And I now have 48 hours to make different arrangements.

Boarding her somewhere is cost-prohibitive. A month of boarding would run close to $1000. (Ridiculous...that's like a mortgage payment!)

It's incredibly difficult to get someone to take on a dog for a month (for free). So what I'm hoping is that I can get some volunteers to take Vivien for chunks of time. The longer the better, but at this point, I'll take any and all help. Before you put much thought into it, let me describe the dog. And I'll be brutally honest!


She's a French bulldog, small even for her breed, 2 years old, unfixed. I can't promise that she won't go into heat during July. Probably not, but maybe. She has a very sweet disposition. Extremely gentle and loving. She likes children. She likes anyone, especially if you're willing to pet her. She doesn't growl or jump all over you. She doesn't even lick. She's very low-energy, calm and sedate. Since she has the squished bulldog face, she can't cool herself as well as other dogs (i.e. she's not an outdoor Arizona-in-the-summer dog). She snores, but don't we all? She is relatively housebroken. I say relatively because she'll go to the back door when she needs to go the bathroom, but if no one is around to let her out, she might resort to going in the house. But she can easily sleep all night without using the bathroom. She's had all her shots and I would supply all her food. She doesn't get any kind of medications or anything. She does not even have to be walked. She just needs a yard to go to the bathroom in. She loves other dogs and she's always gotten along well with cats (we have 2). She is not a barker or yapper, but she might give an obligatory bark or two if she hears a dog on TV or if the doorbell rings. I think that's about it.

If you're not in the Phoenix area, please say a prayer or put positive thoughts out into the universe for us. And if you're local and think you can take Vivien for any chunk of time, please contact me ASAP. Right now we need June 25 - July 16 covered (22 days).

New Camera

I missed posting yesterday and Cristina is having blog withdrawal. So I'd better get on the ball. Two things: I bought a new camera. It's just another little Sony point-and-shoot. But ours is getting old and it was time to get a new one and pass ours down to Sofia. So far so good with the new camera, though I wish it had a regular USB out instead of the goofy proprietary Sony cable. The other thing is I've been doing some spring cleaning (hey, it was still technically spring until Sunday). So for lack of anything better, I'll post a few pictures, taken with our new camera, showing some of the cleaned/organized rooms so far. Oh yeah, and my new motorcycle license plate.

Alex and Bella's room. This corner was a real mess, but now it's actually reasonable.

Granted, their closet still looks like a mess, but it's actually organized. The main thing I'm showing in this one is where I moved the Star Wars toys to.

The top of Alex's chest of drawers. It was covered with all kinds of little bits of junk and treasure, and that framed photo thing was just sitting on the top amongst all the clutter. When Alex said he wanted his new goldfish bowl to be on his dresser, I told him it would have to be cleaned off. And now it is. (No fish yet...he'll buy one when we get home).

The loft, with refinished sewing machine table:

Closer shot. This section of the loft was really bad too. It still doesn't look great, but if you had seen it before, you'd think it looked really nice now.

New tag.

Cristina's Birthday

Cristina is in Costa Rica today, her birthday, so I recorded this song as a little birthday song for her. I wanted to do something a little less predictable than just sing "Happy Birthday to You." So I rewrote the lyrics of a somewhat-obscure 1979 Paul McCartney song. 

I recorded it on GarageBand and emailed it to her. She liked it! Several people asked to hear it, so I thought it would be most efficient to put it on my blog via YouTube. I threw on a handful of photos of the birthday girl, spanning the past 12 months or so.

Sofia, Rick Riordan says "Hi"

I planned my conversation.

Introverts will know what I'm talking about. When I know I'm going to have a conversation with someone whom I don't know very well, I do better if I can think up some things to say ahead of time. Extroverts must think this is strange. They never have time to pre-plan a conversation because they're too busy engaged in their current conversation. Natural-born gabbers, those extroverts are.

Tonight I drove to a Barnes & Noble in Mesa where Rick Riordan was signing copies of his books. Rick Riordan is the author of the Percy Jackson series. Sofia's 5th grade class read the first one together, The Lightning Thief, as they studied mythology. Sofia loved the book so much she talked me into reading it. I thought it was great too. Each year after that, Rick Riordan has written another one, and his following has grown and grown. In promoting the last book which was released about a month ago, Rick Riordan is doing book signings across the country. We had already booked the tickets to Costa Rica when we found out he was going to be in Mesa on June 19, 4 days after Sofia left the country. Luckily, I'm still here so I could take her books and get them signed. I just got home and here's what happened.

The signing started at 6 pm, so I left the house around 4:30. It took me about 30 minutes to get there, thanks to rush hour traffic. The bookstore was about 18 miles from our house.

On the way, I wondered if it would be crowded or sparsely attended, or somewhere in between. You never know. I'm reading a book right now by a famous fantasy author, Terry Brooks, in which he talks about his life as a writer. He says even since he's become famous he never knows what kind of crowd will show up to a book signing. While promoting his novelization of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace a few years ago, he went to a sci-fi conference and signed thousands of autographs and the next week went to a signing that hardly anyone came to. So you never know.

As I pulled up, an hour before the signing, I saw a sizable crowd. Looked like this was going to be well-attended. That made me happy for Rick Riordan and the series, but a little bummed for myself because I knew I'd have practically no chance of talking much to him. Hey, I just said I planned my conversation, I didn't say I didn't want to have one.

A table outside the store was handing out tickets. They would let people inside based on what ticket you had. They started at A. I got S. An hour early and I got S. I had no idea how many tickets they gave out for each letter, but I did overhear that some people had arrived at 9 am to get their ticket. Wow.

They put stickers on my books (so that they'd know I'd brought them and not just grabbed them off the shelf) and wrote the number of books on my ticket. They said Rick would be speaking to the crowd at 6 before the signing.

With ticket in hand and 45 minutes to kill, I figured I'd better grab some dinner. It didn't look like I'd be getting out of here any time soon. Just down from Barnes & Noble was a Pei Wei, so I ate there. While eating alone, I had a strange moment of uneasiness. Usually I'm perfectly fine being alone, but this time it just felt wrong. Maybe it's because we've always gone to Pei Wei as a family. Maybe it's because I'd seen so many parents with their kids there for the book signing. I really wished at least Sofia had been with me.

A little before 6, I got my video camera from the car and set up in a spot where I could get him speaking. It gets a little shaky at times because I was holding it over everyone's heads. But it's okay.

After the talk, the real waiting began. I'm glad I hadn't finished The Last Olympian because that gave me something to read while I waited (I'm on page 255, Sofia).

The S's finally got called around 8:40 (about 2 and half hours after the signing started). The Barnes & Noble people, to their credit, were incredibly efficient. They led us inside the store, snaking us around till we were at the signing table. Then a few helpers prepped the books. The first man asked which one I wanted him to personalize (only allowed one). I couldn't remember what Sofia had said, so I went with The Lightning Thief. So the man put that one on top and tucked all the book jackets so that the books would open directly to the title page, where he would sign. Then the next girl in the assembly line asked what the person's name was for him to sign it to. She wrote Sofia's name on a post-it note and stuck it on the title page. Then the last guy, right at the table, nested all the books inside each other, so that he could just sign--boom, boom, boom--without having to open each book. It was amazing.

I noticed that the girl who wrote Sofia's name, even though I said it was spelled with an "f," wrote it so fast that the "f" looked kind of like a "p."  I was nervous that he'd write it with a p, so when I got up to him, here's how the conversation went:

Rick: Hi!
Me: Hi! That's an "f," by the way.
Rick: Gotcha.
     (He scribbles his name in each book with a Sharpie.)
Me: These are my daughter's. She's a big fan, but she's out of the country right now. She was very sad she couldn't be here.
     (He's done with the books now and slides the stack to me, while I'm scrambling to take a picture or two)
Rick: Well, tell her I said hi.
Me: I will!

All my wonderful conversation topics that I had planned--about how I too am an English teacher, about how my daughter has gotten some of my older, inner-city kids to read and love Percy Jackson, about how great it is to see all these hundreds of kids here crazy about books, about whether or not he had read the screenplay and whether they were combining books into one movie--there was no time for any of them. "Tell her I said hi." Good enough. Pretty classy.

And then I came home. And here are the pics:

Those are Sofia's books on the right that the helper is prepping.

Sofia's books.

Those are Sofia's books in the stack in the lower right corner.  He was already signing the next person's by the time I got this picture to take.

Mission accomplished!

Procrastination

Man, I've got it bad.

I can't seem to make myself clean up the house. I'm finding a million different things to do, and half of those involve the computer. I did finally strip the kids' beds, and I'm emptying the trash cans, but I'm so far behind my goal. Plus, I need to take the animals to the Humane Society for some low-cost vaccinations. I should have gone in first thing at 8 am, but now it's noon and, while I am showered and dressed, I haven't left the house yet.

As much as I enjoy messing around and goofing off, I hate being so unproductive. I can be unproductive when I get to Costa Rica. Here, I have a limited time to get the house presentable for people that will be staying here while we're gone.

The biggest part is that it's not crunch time yet. I still have 5 more days. But I don't want to put it all off. I don't want to be scrambling to straighten up the house at 2 in the morning before the day I fly out.

Okay. I'm going to get off of here and shut the computer down. That will help me resist the temptation of the computer. The Humane Society closes for lunch, and I will be there waiting at 1 pm when they reopen.

Review of double feature

Do you remember in the 80's when old 50's music became fashionable again? "Fun Rock" (as seen on TV!) sold like hot cakes. Doo-wop crept into the music of Billy Joel and Huey Lewis. Even the Fat Boys remade "The Twist," for Pete's sake. During that resurgence, a restaurant chain started in LA that specialized in reproducing the look and feel of a 50's style diner.

Well, I went to eat there last night before my movies. I remembered that a Johnny Rockets was in the mall where the theaters were, I had a coupon, and I'd eaten there once before and still remembered how good the hamburger had been.

The meal took on a hint of surreality about half way through. "At the Hop" played on the juke box. While it played, I thought about how sick of these songs the staff must get. Then I noticed the manager talking to one of the waiters about some dance moves (I was sitting at the counter, so I could see everything perfectly). Then, when the song ended, the same song started up again, only this time louder. I looked over and the manager and the waiter were dancing in the middle of the restaurant. Not arm in arm dancing, but standing side by side doing identical dance moves. Soon, my waitress joined them. She didn't have the moves quite down, but she was trying to learn. Even the big guy grilling the burgers was singing along from his grill (the low "Oh Baby" part of the song). I'm not experienced enough with Johnny Rockets to know if this is normal or unusual.

When they finished, the other 6 or 7 patrons and myself applauded politely and things went back to normal. But a few minutes later, they were blasting KC and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight," and all 3 of them were out there again. This time my waitress had the moves down better. I know, that song's not from the 50's, but I said this was surreal.

The movies were fun. While the writing in Monsters vs. Aliens lacked the cleverness and heart of Pixar, the animation was top-notch. The IMAX screen really worked well with the movie, which included lots of enormity: vast, cavernous covert installations, a massive spaceship, even a fight scene at the Golden Gate Bridge between 2 characters who could have stepped on Godzilla.

Drag Me to Hell was thoroughly enjoyable. Just what the doctor ordered. Lots of gross-out gore, lots of adrenaline-inducing jump-out-at-you moments, and one of the best endings I've seen in a horror movie ever (though my sisters and mother would disagree).

The evening was capped off by one more surreal touch. Back home, I turned on the TV while I was brushing my teeth. We don't have cable, so our choices are limited. About the only thing I watch is a low-quality local channel that only shows music videos from the 70's and 80's. When I turned on the TV, the video for the Carpenters' "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" was playing. I didn't even realize there was a video for this song, which is a bizarre little number (but probably my favorite Carpenters song). The song was recorded around the time Star Wars and Close Encounters were mega-hits. Something akin to Neil Diamond doing "Heartlight" when E.T. was so big.

Anyway, I was transfixed. And thanks to YouTube, you can be too:

Double Feature on the Cheap

My self-imposed goal is to clean one room each day until I leave. Today's assignment was Sofia's room, which was probably the easiest. So after work I stripped her bed, washed the sheets, dusted off her ceiling fan and vacuumed the floor. I was going to shampoo the carpet, but I realized I had left dirty water in the shampooer, so I've got it soaking in a tub of water to loosen up the dried sand and grit. I'll get it all spic-and-span before I shampoo the carpets.

I decided to treat myself to a double feature tonight. I have an educator's pass for the IMAX theater closest to our house. This means I can get into any IMAX movie for free. But I rarely use it because 1) they don't always have the most appealing choices there (usually it's the nature-themed, made-for-IMAX films, and 2) I don't usually go to the movies by myself. Normally, using my pass would mean someone else would have to pay the overpriced IMAX admission. And it's 11 bucks for an adult. Ouch. There's too many things I want to see int he regular theater to burn a trip tot he movies on Under the Sea 3-D.

But sometimes when I'm home alone, I'll break out the old educator's pass and go watch something just because I can. And it's free. So at 7 tonight, I'm going to see Monsters vs. Aliens 3-D. I'd wanted to take the kids to see this, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. So I'll be previewing it for them. Alex will be so jealous.


Then, I'm going to walk over to the Harkins Multiplex (it's right beside the IMAX theater) and see Drag Me to Hell. I love a good horror movie, but I rarely watch them these days because no one I watch movies with likes horror movies. Least of all my wife. And I don't think my friend Peter cares for them either. I've heard good things about this one. And it's Sam Raimi. And he's been itching to get back to his horror roots after making three Spiderman movies, so I expect a lot of pent-up horror filmmaking to come exploding out on the screen.


I'll have to pay for this one, but I'll wear my Harkins t-shirt and get free popcorn. And I'll take my Harkins cup and get a $1 refill. So total cost for the evening's double feature, including popcorn, and soda...$8. That's what I call a cheap date.

The house is so quiet

My family is in an airplane, heading to Denver.

In case you're not a frequent reader or you're not privy to the details of my life, I should explain that my wife and children are heading to Costa Rica. It's been 3 years since Cristina last saw her dad. I decided to teach summer school to help finance this overdue trip to Costa Rica, but there's no reason why the rest of the family has to hang out here in the sweltering desert while I teach. So they headed out tonight (via Denver...don't ask...it was cheaper). It's a red-eye, which Cristina was less than thrilled about, but after living for 16 years on student loans or a teacher's salary, she's used to taking one for the team in order to save money.

My last day of teaching is Thursday, June 25. The bell rings at 2:15 and my plane leaves at 7:40. So I'll be joining them as soon as humanly possible.

We come back together on July 28. That's 6 weeks for them, 4 weeks for me.

So we had all weekend to pack, but Cristina procrastinated as usual (I can totally blame this on her, since I'm not leaving yet!) With everything packed but Cristina's stuff, I finally went to bed around 2 am (in Bella's bed, since Cristina had clothes all over our bed). Cristina finished her clothes and carried me to our bed around 4:45. OK, she didn't actually carry me, but I thought that would be a funny image. And then my alarm went off at 6:15 for work. Here's the funny part: I just re-read my 2006 blog and we stayed up till 4:30 packing back then and the alarm was set for 6:15!

We don't have many plans for while we're there, other than a few little things (get eye exams and new glasses--where it's cheaper--and renew Cristina and the kids' Costa Rican passports, etc.) I know we're going camping at a fish camp in the mountains, where you catch the trout yourself out of a stocked pool, they clean them and cook them for you, and you're eating fish that were literally alive less than an hour ago. Now that's fresh. That's a fun spot. And beautiful. We visited there once in 2006 for dinner, but this time we're going to stay a couple of nights.

And I'm sure we'll hit out favorite relaxation spot: Tabacon.



Yes, that's an active volcano in the background. Yes, that's a water slide that comes from the restaurant. And all the pools (there are about 10 of them) are filled with mineral waters warmed by the volcano. It's totally decadent and tourtisty, but it's one of the few splurges we usually take.

I'm also seriously considering taking a zipline canopy tour. Also a very touristy thing which we've never done because--except for my first trip in 1994--we've always had a baby or very young one. Now our youngest is 5 (the minimum age allowed). Bella probably won't want to do it, but the two older kids will. I think this might be the summer. We'll just have to figure out what to do with Bella.

In case you don't know, I'm talking about a thing where you ride along cables strung up throughout the canopy of the rain forest. Something like this:


It's kind of expensive, but so is Disney World, and Lord knows we've done that plenty of times. We have to do this at least once. I've been to Costa Rica 6 times and I've never done the ziplines. It's time.

In 2006, I blogged our trip. That was a first. I've always kept a journal and it has evolved over the years. The first one in 1994 was written longhand (egads!) on a tablet of lined paper. As the trips continued, and laptops entered the picture, I typed up my journals (much preferred) and emailed them to select family members that wanted to keep up with our exploits. So the blog was a natural progression (with photos to boot). But now I've been a bona fide blogger for over a year. The question is do I do this summer's Costa Rican journal on my regular blog, or do I create a special blog just for the trip? I decided that I would journal right here on this very blog. Better than making my regular readers have to check a new one.

And now my 4 hours of sleep are catching up with me, and though it's weird to go to bed in a silent house with no one here but a dog and 2 cats, I must do it.