Posts Tagged ‘annoying crap’

Old Friends and New

{ January 17, 2010 @ 10:30 pm } · { Life Update }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Old Friend Friday

Friday, I got to pick up Cameron’s brother Brandon at the airport at 12:30. It was my first experience at the Miami International Airport, and it is similar to LAX in that it is circular and obnoxious to navigate/ nowhere to sit and wait for a minute for a person. However, that said I found Brandon on my second attempt circling and head to Coral Gables for lunch at CPK. One focaccia sandwich later, we headed back to our duplex. I showed him the place and then we unpacked his belongings from the trailer and put them in my car. His new storage unit is in Medley, FL. I can tell you this much… I do not foresee a return to there for any  of us anytime soon. Medley is an industrial city with a small population. The woman working at the storage unit set up a beauty area with her friends in the office.  I overheard that they were highlighting someone’s hair. Very bizarre.

We came home and prepared ourselves for dinner while Cameron was out exploring the world of Cuban food with his classmates. He brought home some leftovers, and I asked what they were. “Tons of pork!!! I told them you wouldn’t touch it, but they made me bring home leftovers anyway.” Apparently, he tried about 3 kinds of pork, and he loved it all. Two of his classmates are Cuban and thus know what to order and where to go for real Cuban food. I still want to try it myself, but not the pork. The stringy texture of pork freaks me out.

We met two friends of the Weiss family for dinner. Granville is a Bahamian who visited for the weekend and then Lauralynn lives in Kendall and just completed building a house in the Bahamas. We ate dinner at a place in Coconut Grove called Jaguar, which is known for its ceviche spoons. Cameron and I each tried one, and mine was spicy! They were delicious, tiny, and just a taste of what’s next. I recommend trying them as an appetizer, but the dinner dishes are large too. I tried the Mambo Mango Salad with seared tuna for dinner. The dressing was cilantro-lime-jalapeno vinaigrette, avocado, mango, and more tuna than I could consume! Cameron had poblano pepper and chicken quesadillas. Jaguar is one of the best restaurants in the Grove, and I can say without hesitation that it lived up to the hype.(sp

Afterwards, we went out in South Miami at two bars with live bands. The first was a rock band at Bouganevillia (sp?) and the second was a blues band at the Titanic. The two bars and South Miami are apparently a UM party area. I also heard Coconut Grove is too, which should change things once they return to school this week. I don’t like that you can smoke inside bars, it is disgusting. Miami is a bit behind the times in that sense, and hopefully that will change while we’re here. Titanic brews their own beer (one of two places in Miami to do so) and has live music nightly. I think it will be a good place to return to once school picks back up and it isn’t so dead.

New Friend Saturday

Cameron and I went to pick up our metal bed frame finally out in Cutler Ridge, which is down Dixie Highway about 20 miles. Neither of us wanted to drive in his truck without AC on a day when it finally was warm., but we had to get it done. I called ahead of time, and then we trekked out there only to find out the frame was simply not there. They offered me no explanation for our pre-paid piece other than, “It’s just not there, but we can order another one.” Thanks?? They won’t deliver it to our place, but since they messed up they offered to ship it to their location in Dadeland, and I will pick it up tomorrow. I don’t understand how paid for bed frames go missing, but such is life.

We came home, hung out, watched the latest Jersey Shore episodes, and waited to meet Cameron’s classmates for dinner. We went to a pizza place with the largest pizzas about 3 minutes away from us, called Calusa’s. A whole small pizza is 14″. 14″ is usually a large pizza under normal circumstances. Cam and I got a slice of green bell pepper and a slice of mushroom between the two of us. They take each piece and cut it in half… and I still couldn’t finish my portion! We went to Moe’s later in the evening, which is famous for “Moose Juice”. Moose Juice has 3 types of Bacardi, a few types of juice, and is a giant beverage that tastes like candy. Yummmmmmm. I enjoyed meeting Cameron’s classmates and 2 new girls! It was refreshing and I look forward to more enjoyable nights hanging out with them.

Sunday brought rain, gym time where I got to watch the Cowboys flounder, and lounging. I hope that Dexter wins all the awards its nominated for tonight at the Golden Globes– John Lithgow especially deserves that Globe for his creepy portrayal of the Trinity Killer. Currently, I’m trying to figure out what’s for dinner and if I’ll make it to the end of the awards show (11 pm our time, seems so late!)…

A Week of Unexciting Events

{ January 14, 2010 @ 9:12 pm } · { Life Update }
{ Tags: , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Mostly my week involves going to the gym and sitting on the internet trying to find more work. However, I still embarked on a few new things this week:

Assisting! I am now a personal assistant for a food critic in Miami. I started on Tuesday, and she is nice and cooks and knows everything about Miami unlike me!

Freelancing! I am now going to begin writing and getting paid for it, woohoo! My friend Caitlin helped get me the gig, and I am ever so thankful.

Cooking! Turkey chili is on the menu tonight with either rice or polenta and lemon coconut bars planned for a future dessert. Also, we made gnocchi with pesto, eggs in a basket, salmon pinwheels, burritos… We are glad to have our own kitchen again and are managing with its reduced size.

Lastly, the box and Comcast dilemmas. We shipped a package full of DVDs and cookbooks to my dad’s office. The intention was to ship it here once we had an address. However, it never arrived at his office. UPS alleges that it is in Dallas, but it still is sitting there lost! I am hoping one day it gets found, I would like to see my cookbooks (some were presents!) and my Arrested Development DVDs again. Comcast is another pain! Comcast installed our cable and internet the Saturday we moved in (almost two weeks ago), and so far it stopped working twice. The internet and cable went out last week, and the service technician fixed it. Well, after I called the day before, was on hold for 20 minutes, got hung up on, called again, was on hold for 20 more minutes, and then helped. Then, the On Demand went out and there were strange boxes ruining the picture on the TV. I called again, and I got helped sooner this time but still not as much assistance as I would’ve liked. When I pointed out that I did not really see a point in continuing the service if I needed a technician every week, he said ,”I’m sorry ma’am, but we have the fastest internet and great cable…”. What good is your great cable if it doesn’t work, right? So hopefully they fix it and we’ll see what transpires, but so far not thrilled with Comcast in general.