Tap Tap

There was this protest in downtown Miami -- something about the Florida Democratic primary election votes not being counted. Mariana was going and she asked me to go with her and then we were going to go to dinner. But I had plans with with Mike and Joe, so I had to pass.

Mike, Joe and I went to Tap Tap, this great Haitian restaurant in South Beach. It's been there for many years but this was our first time. A Tap Tap is the bus/truck -- thing in the top picture.

Joe had this whole fish with the head, you know I hate that. He kept asking if I wanted some. I didn't.
The place is so colorful, there are murals all over the place, every wall, every ceiling. Look at the chairs. Loved it.

I loved the food, too (except for the whole fish). This is goat, which you dip into the sauce. Really good with a Mojito. That's pumpkin soup, too.

We loved the waiter Brian, he was flirting and giving me free things. I didn't realize it until Joe told me. Brian even took some photos with my camera and was teasing that his pictures were the best ones.

The place gets such a nice crowd -- all mixed. Next to us were a bunch of girls all in their beachwear -- wraps around their waists and bikini tops. Then there were families and boyfriends and girlfriends and boyfriends with boyfriends. It's loud too, you can just talk and sing and yell and it is ok. Really a great place to hang out and feel totally comfortable.

I want to go back soon. I miss Brian already.

Lumpy, when you're down here we'll go, maybe with Leela and I think Carlos and Rosano would like it, too. It's totally bohemian, right up their alley.

I went back to sniff around the gallery

So I went back to the gallery yesterday and there is the Peloop thing, right where it was the night before. Ironically my friend, Mariana moved things around on the desk, she actually changed computers and had the new one set up on the desk and she packed the other one up for her travels.

But through all the changes, she left the yellow Peloop right there on the end of the desk. Is she waiting for someone to claim it?

We went down the block to an empty store and she wanted some of the cubicle dividers, so we trudged up the block, rolling the big things and it was a mess, the wind was getting them and they were going all over the place, so some of the other merchants along the way came out and helped us. Before you knew it, there was a bunch of people in the gallery, dragging the large dividers.

It was Sunday morning and I guess all the merchants were catching up with each other and I really did have a good chance to swipe the Peloop since they were all chit chatting and gossiping and milling around the gallery. But I didn't.

I may check back tomorrow and the day after that and then I think Mariana is leaving town for awhile and maybe then I can get it then when someone else runs the gallery for her in her absence.

My face is still red

This guy contacted me, he invented Peloop thing for the penis and he wanted me to try it out. So he mailed it to me to try and then blog about.

I'm not quite sure what it is supposed to do -- keep you hard or make you larger, I don't know. I didn't have it long enough (that's what she said) to see how it works. I lost it. I had it on and it slipped off some time during the day yesterday.

I realized it was missing when I got home after being out all day. I was hoping that it was in the house because it could be embarrassing if found elsewhere.

So I looked in my house, the stairwell, the elevator, my car and then I decided to pray to St. Anthony. If you lose something pray to St. Anthony and he'll find it.

Well, he found it. After praying to St. Anthony, I got a fast "message" or gut feeling that said, "Go to the art gallery." So I headed out to the gallery. Now I was all over town yesterday including Pubix, CVS, Whole Foods, the car wash, the gym, a friend's house, a couple of places where I ate, the farmer's market, Starbuck's, and my friend's art gallery. I was praying that it wasn't the gallery, but St. Anthony is never wrong.

I walked into the gallery and there it was -- right on my friend's desk and she is there at the computer typing away -- Mariana, an innocent 70-year-old woman. My heart went into my throat.

I stared at it and wondered where she had found it. Was it on the chair I sat in earlier? Did she know it was mine? People came and went and it just sat there in the open staring up at them. You can see it in the photo below on the desk. I took the picture with my phone. It is unlooped because I picked it up, unlooped it, and made a show of it.

A little girl was in earlier in the day and I said, "Oh look, that little girl left her bracelet." And I put it around my wrist and I said, "Look at this, it fits me, I have such small wrists."

Mariana didn't look up from her computer, she didn't miss a beat and said, "That's not a bracelet." She isn't as innocent as I thought.

* crickets *

So to make a long mortified story short, it is still sitting on her desk. I stayed there about three hours last night and I just didn't know what to do. Over a hundred people must have come into the gallery in that three hours and there it was, on the desk, just staring up at them.

She is leaving town this week and hopefully I can get it when someone else is running the gallery in her absence. I am going back today and I'll try to figure something out. Oh, the embarrassment. It's not that I have to have it back, it is just that I don't want it there.

But St. Anthony was right on -- he sent me back there. The last place I wanted it to be.

Pigging out after the doctors visit

I have this guilty pleasure whenever I leave the doctor's office.

I live a block away from a hospital and my urologist and cholesterol doctors are there in the medical arts building. In fact, that is where I went for the sonogram and the MRI the other day.

Well, after I leave my appointments I pig out at Au Bon Pain, which is at the entrance. I buy every pastry and sandwich up in sight and I just go crazy, usually after having to fast for 12 hours because of bloods tests etc. It's the only thing that makes it bearable. I fasted 17 hours before the MRI and had to drink that putrid stuff, so I really pigged out after that.

More scanning of my nuts

I have to go for my pelvic scan today. They are still trying to see what is up with my enlarged testicle. They think it is a hernia, but the doctor wants to be sure before he operates. So this morning, I have to drink this banana flavored stuff -- Barium Sulfate Suspension -- blah -- and not eat or drink anything else until after the scan.

There is this interesting phenomena I have seen in the past year or so as I am going to doctor's offices more and more.

In the waiting room, as new people enter, the people entering say, "Buenas dias," or "Good morning," to the whole room as they enter -- not to anyone in particular, but just into the air. And everyone in the waiting room responds with a "Buenas dias."

In Miami, most people are Latin, so therefore the Spanish, but I have heard it once in awhile in English, too.

Now this is anyone entering the office, a patient, a nurse, a delivery guy, anyone. They just say, "Buenas dias," and when they leave, they don't say anything.

I just enter and don't say anything. Very American (and cold) of me. :)

Pearls Before Swine

These are a few of my favorite things

Well, these are a couple of my favorite things. Both involve push-ups. I told you about the "Soda Pops," which you push-up in the clear sleeve to eat.

I got Dr Pepper and Orange Crush, they also have 7-Up and A&W Root Beer. I have had so many of the pops by now that I am sick of them. I overdid it and yesterday at my parents they had 7-Up and A&W Root Beer (the actual sodas) and I couldn't even drink any because I kept thinking of the sweet pops and the thought was getting me sick. (Too much of a good thing).

I found this "Perfect Pushup" thing at Sports Authority. I had been wanting to get one and finally saw it and got it. I paid $39.99, Mika said he got his for $19.99 at Wal-Mart, but I didn't think it was worth all the trouble to return it and go to Wal-Mart and rebuy it so I kept it and I love it.

I leave it on the floor and a few times a day when I walk by I do a few push ups. The twisting and turning motion really do great things. I always had a big chest, but this really defines it better than the free weights at the gym. Cooper you would love this.

Going to Mom's for Mother's Day

Going to my parents' house for Mother's Day today. We usually go to a restaurant, the whole family does, but my two nieces wanted to cook or bbq or something instead this years, which is great, I prefer being there than at a restaurant.

My third blog post was about Mother's Day and a fly in my iced tea. That post is here from 2005.

I see three years ago, I was rushing home for two of my favorite shows. Tonight I am gonna be rushing home to see the three hour "Survivor" finale. That's me, running my life by the tv schedule. I know I can Tivo it, but I like seeing it "live."

I want Cirie to win, before Ozzy was voted off I wanted him.

Getting my car a/c fixed

I was having a/c problems with my car so I brought it to the dealership, it was under warranty. I asked them if I could wait, they said no and told me to get a loaner car (which was about an hour wait for that). I finally got the car and came home.

Half an hour later they called me. My car was ready for pick up.

I could have had lunch, killed a bit of time and saved them money since the loaner is actually a rental car from Enterprise. They do some sort of reimbursement thing.

Anyway, glad my car is fixed. I am ready to go wild now. I am driving up to Lumpy's for Memorial Day. He doesn't live in Hooterville (Port Charlotte) anymore. He moved to the "big city" of Sarasota, which really is one of the most beautiful cities in Florida.

Don't worry, I'll take you along with me -- through the blog -- unless you wanna pile into my back seat and ride along. :)

Simply the worst

I did a dumb thing.

I bought 10 Tina tix. I thought that I should buy a bunch just in case.

Every time I bought a ticket, they sent me a free iTune download and I was sending the free downloads to a friend via email.

The dumb thing is this: Instead of "forwarding" one batch of songs to my friend, I "responded" to Ticket Master instead with: "Here are four more songs, I am buying lots of Tina tix and scalping them, these are not duplicate songs, they are all new downloads."

I was praying that the email would bounce back but it went through because I got a message back thanking me for the email and saying that that they would respond within 24 hours. I am waiting for them to void the bar codes on my tickets now. I may end up having to purchase from a scalper if they void my tix. :(

We're going to see Tina!

I am freaking out. I just got two great tickets for Tina Turner -- on the floor right in the center! They have Lumpy's and my name on them.

I always say if she ever went on concert again, I would be the first in line. She's on "Oprah" with Cher today and I started sniffing around and I noticed that Oprah is giving out a password for you to go on line and get the tickets as a pre-sale, so I went to Oprah's website and got the code, long before today's show comes on because I figured when she gives that code out, they will sell out in seconds.

I've seen Cher a few times, but I've never seen Tina.

So I got two prime seats for November 2! It's going to be the perfect ending to a perfect Halloween weekend.

I remember one year Lumpy and I went to Bette Midler on Halloween, that was lots of fun, this should be even better. I worship Tina. :)

I think the code may be different for each city, so just to to Oprah.com and get your code.

Cue the Twilight Zone music . . .

I have these weird powers. I don't understand them.

About 10 years ago, I took a photo of a house I liked in the neighborhood, five years later I was actually buying the house, but the deal didn't go through because the lady was a bitch and it was a war of egos and I told her to go to hell and I walked away. I actually ended up with a much better place and that worked out perfectly for me. But I could have had that place I had photographed just a few years before.

About two years ago, I took a photo of another house. I saw the house at a block party and loved it and took the photo. I didn't tell anyone about the house. I didn't want to buy it, I just liked it. Well last Friday, my realtor sent me the listing for that house -- just out of the blue -- he had no clue I liked it all this time.

This past Monday, two years later,, I went to see it -- I had the chance to buy it. But when I went to see it, I wasn't crazy about the inside and I didn't feel at home. So I passed.

To top it off, I couldn't afford it unless I sold my current place. Well a week ago, two separate neighbors called asking if I knew anyone in the building who wanted to sell a three bedroom unit. So I already had two buyers for my place lined up if I did want to sell. :)

Weird huh?