First off, I’d like to say hello to all the friends & acquaintances out there. I feel like the offhanded Uncle that nobody hears from unle$$ they need $omething. Sorry for being away so long. The past few weeks have been busy what with preparing for vacation, vacation and coming back from vacation. Yes I’m lucky, but there are no harder work weeks than before or after taking time off. It could be worse, though, I could be working for Sea World. Too soon, I know….bad story, but they do call them Killer Whales for a reason. My heart goes out to the deceased trainer & her family.

I had a great time in Costa Rica last week. My wife and I stayed with her two brothers in Samara Beach on the west side of the country near the Pacific Ocean. In a word, HOT! I suffered some form of heat exhaustion the first two days we were there.  Of course, stupid me and my not thinking of how close we were to the Equator didn’t help. I literally got very red skin being in the sun for ½ hour the first day. Day #2 consisted of a long beach walk and way too much sun. 

  On the way down, our flight was delayed in Chicago which then shrunk our original 3hr layover to 10 minutes! We had to go through customs in Mexico City Airport and didn’t quite have the documents filled out all the way (we were in a hurry!). The unforgiving customs agent made darned sure we pompous Americans filled them out completely & CORRECTLY! The mad dash from customs to the gate became longer since our gate moved about 11 more terminals away! I wound up leaving my wife behind (at her request) and literally sprinted for 5 minutes to reach the gate. As I approached, my wife’s and my names were loudly proclaimed over the airport PA system. Sweaty, red faced and winded; we made our connecting flight.

 We arrived in San Jose Costa Rica at about midnight. We waited for our luggage at the turnstile…NO LUGGAGE!!! We filled out forms with about 12 other passengers from the same delayed connecting flight (how the hell did they get to the gate faster than us was my first wondering). Anyway, we filled out claim forms with a young non-English speaking Costa Rican. We all wondered aloud if we’d ever see our baggage again! Haggard and smelly, we reach our Hotel Barceló in San Jose to rest before we leave on a bus to Samara Beach the next day. A young adventure advisor at the hotel helped us greatly by calling the airport and taking our information so he could contact us to let us know if our bags would get to us.  

 Undaunted and lighter than feathers, we left on the bus in a seedy part of town the next day all the while wondering if our luggage would find us like a long lost pet left behind mistakenly. We stayed at the Tico Adventure Lodge in Samara and wound up buying a few basic warm weather clothes. We received a call the first day from our friend our bags were found and were on their way…three days later and with much help from our Hotel Barceló friend, our luggage arrived!

 The town itself was slightly impoverished. The people were friendly and everywhere we went was a warm experience with the locals. We ate very well and spent a lot of time in the ocean. My wife even tried learning to surf which was great for laughs. She got the hang 10 of it eventually. Anyone who likes the local domestic feel of an area when traveling should stay in Samara. Sadly, my sunburned skin is shedding faster than a reptile’s! I’m blessed and thankful for the experience. I even learned a little about traveling light.

I’ve been watching what I can on the Olympics and I’m mainly interested in hockey. I’m not a fan of Ice Skating or Ice Dancing and I certainly am not on the edge of my seat about curling. I actually thought maybe that sport was a derivative from frat boys’ weekend imbibing. Now that could be interesting to watch. Seriously, the hockey games have enthralled me to say the least. I was once an avid NHL watcher until TV changed and hockey was not televised out here in the sticks where I live. In the 20-some years since I once watched, I’ve never really gotten back into NHL. But the Olympics have drawn me in, in a big way. Again, I’m very much a casual fan, but the games seem fast to me and exciting to watch. More so since teammate and countrymen are involved, I suppose. The pride is brewing for my home country USA team. I hope we meet the Canadians in the gold medal final. How fitting would that be!

The NFL combine is today? Is this true? Is anyone going to watch? Not me. I’d rather watch Tiger Woods’ concubines crying at the microphone than watch the NFL combines.  How stressful would it be if one was a prospective draft pick and have your 4 years of college football success brought down into a few days of running, jumping and answering some supposed intelligent questions? I know it’s a gauge for players, but there’s a little too much emphasis for my tastes.

Last, on the way back to work from lunch today I saw a “Mobil Pet Grooming” trailer pulled behind a van. Now this has my mind wondering…is there a dog or cat being groomed in said trailer as it whizzes by me? I don’t know about you, but I scarcely carry the dexterity to groom myself in front of a stationary mirror with both feet firmly planted on the floor. Some people amaze me.

Thanks for reading.