Feeling the love...

This past week has been a blessing for me...since I've been a bit soft lately I'll give you a *CHEESE ALERT*...THISClaimer: The following post may be a source of severe ridicule for the average Cold Hearted SOB, so please refrain from eye-rolling, gentle nodding, pointing, and flat out laughter as the comment section below is the only tool provided for feedback.

And so it's my 32 birthday and boy was it a great one. Starting it off was the arrival of Mami from Chile at the beginning of the month (June 2006). She doesn't visit that often, so it is cool to have her around. One slight mishap though was my absence at Havasu this year. Although she proly wouldn't admit it, I know skippin out to the lake that never sleeps would've been a total buzz kill for her. I got a lot of heat from the Go Dude brotha-hood and even risked missing Vic before a neverending term at sea. Graciously it wasn't so, but I'll admit they had me on edge.

Due to a missing child report sent out indirectly by Berto's mom, I called the boys up to make sure everything was ok. In the exchange I heard what were the receding waters of a tidal wave of love coming my way. Havasu stories were funny as ever, culminating with the announcement of Rod's engadgement...(I plan on making his wedding experience as seamless as ever). Their comments like "we woulda subsidized your trip" and "we voted you off the crew", were all small torture trips of my missing out. But one subtle P.S. brought it all back to love...from Joser: "P.S. So that you can't say that we forget about you. Happy 32nd Birthday." It turned everything around for me...transforming what seemed to be a collection of Grundy hating into clear messages that I was with them in spirit throughout the trip...that's priceless indeed. I'm still looking forward to the Rod's Famous Havasu Top10...one of everyone's favorite renditions of the traditional trip.

From my end of the country I spent my days building up to June 13, planning a day at the beach...going all out to gather the best of my south florida peoples. I must have gone to Target like 8 times exchanging and stocking up on supplies for an Evite list of close to 50 people. Then the rain came (and the wind)...talk about the ultimate disaster. I had preplanned for the bad weather (given Tropical Storm Alberto knocking on our door), so I had a sturdy gazebo to protect the munitions. Being the only ones at the beach along with Mami, my borther Mark, cunada Kim, and sobrinos Jonah and Ryan, it was certain that the life gaurds' evacutation alert due to lightning threats was aimed directly at us, :) So we gathered the soppinng sand covered gear and headed home in shame.

Plan B's execution was impecable...rerouting the group to Lucky Strike for a day of bowling took surprisingly little effort, thanks to Jeff and Ovi. We the hours chatting between gutter balls and drinks, all while watching the World Cup matches and the Miami Heat ass-wooping...

Then came the 13th...a Tuesday...another day or surprises. Ovi gets the win on the first one to grant me best wishes...then a flurry of emails, ecards, text messages and phone calls showered my day...a few random folks definitely caught me off gaurd, never expecting them to be aware of what the day meant to me or to get me something. I really felt special and I thank them all for it...including those reading this post, :)

The crazy part it that as satisfied as I was, there was more. Mami se paso...organizo y implemento una cena de compleanos que fue espectacular. Uno de los pocos cumpleanos como adulto que he disfrutado con la compania de tanta familia. It was awesome really, Tia Ani, Mami, Alan (hermano), Mark (hermano), Kim (cunanda), el Negro (Orlando), y yo. La pasamos conversando y hechando bromas toda la noche. They almost got away without me snagging a picture, but on my day I wouldn't allow it.

Mami Wakeboarding Highlights

This past weekend I brought my mom with me on a routine wakeboarding outing...Mami se paso de emprendedora....she joined me as a fan but quickly turned into a amateur...successfully getting up on the board on the FIRST try and skiing out of the wake in the second...now I know why I have such an affinity for the sport...Mami, me haces super orgulloso de ser tu hijo, te pasaste de lanza'a! :) TQM.

Palo de Agua!

The day of the wedding reception was full of activities and memories...so many that I can't possibly cover them all here as vividly as I remember them. I will try, however. The day started slow, with a 9am early rise to hit the gym and the pool. Great chats with the grooms' parents and friends resulted in precious laughs. Being the most outspoken, I found myself the victim of the best New York dry humor I've ever heard. Frank, Joe D, and Paul pretty much tore me a new asshole but I dealt my share of zingers, so it was all in good fun. I gathered some great wisdom and advice along the way while making a strong impression on them all.

After that, Jeff, Ovi, and I did the only tourist activity of the whole trip: visit Pico Avila by way of the teleferico. At 2000m or approximately 6000ft above sea level, the view of Caracas was awesome.

On the return trip to the hotel we took a pit stop en la Plaza Venezuela to try--what according to our driver, Castor-- where the best hambugers in world...Me meti 'La Criminal' which carried an egg and an avocado as key ingredients...tasty on the way in but painful on the way out. The right choice woulda been: 'Damelo pa Pola...pa pola manana!'

The wedding itself took place at 9pm and lasted through the night...til 6am I believe...yeah, that's a party alright...the pictures to follow say it all. The formal ceremony took place in New York so the purpose of this party was simply to celebrate...NICE!!

Drinks were in full effect, although I never got faded. Why? Cuz of all the dancing!! For real, there were like 5 live band acts, and all of them were GOOD! The night began with a solo Jazz musician, then an Elvis act, followed by La Hora Loca with the Carnaval theme, later a Salsa/Merengue group that I coulda swore was Oscar de Leon, Gilberto Santarosa, and Marc Anthony all rolled into one by the close imitation of all three.

The grand finale left nothing to be desired: Tambores. Yup, the ritualistic Venezuelan high-energy folkore dance and rythm common to the coastal towns. The MC captured the audience's attention with his clever commentary and typical Venezuelan humor...he challenged the bride and groom with following his quick commands that bounced at the beat of the drum. Tuku-ruku-TA!! He would say as he swayed his finger, indicating what thier hips should be doing... it was a blast indeed.

Y pa los que pregunten a que se refiere el titulo: "Palo de Agua"... es porque le caemos a TODAS!! JA!!

Gran Melia y San Ignacio

Our arrival to Caracas was smooth and unprecedented. We found our 'secure' driver without a problem and hit the winding road for the hour drive into the city. The damage and poverty left behind by the disasterous rainy season of 2002 and the lax government was very evident along the way.

Our driver, Castor, was passionate to share his view of Venezuela and current government. An older gentleman, proly in his 50's with dirty gray hair and blood shot eyes, went on and on about the failures of the Chavez leadership.

A city plagued with crime, a 40% unemployment rate, and a transportation infrastructure that frankly is a mild step up from mideval times, Caracas has really suffered the decay of an ignorant, absent minded, and unproductive government. I could go on for paragraphs about my ever changing perception of Venezuela's reality and the options left to correct it, but in interest of the brevity I shall digress.

Once we settled in to our 3 bedroom suite at the Gran Melia 5 star hotel *SWEET*... we took the time to get to know the surroundings...mainly the hotel, pool, gym, and attached mall "El Recreo".

We hit up a sports bar for dinner and caught the US vs. Venezuela soccer game. A 2-0 loss to the US was not what the crowd was looking for, so we tried to keep our "gringo-ness" to a minimum.

Later that evening we met up with the wedding crew for a little dancing at the San Ignacio complex in El Chacao. It seemed to be the safest choice...we had a blast.

I don't know why but for some reason I was in the mood for making faces in all these party pics...see if you can find me in the one above...HA!!

Wowi visits Venezuela

In the honor of my roomate and great buddy, Ovidio (aka Lil Wowi), I dedicate this most entertaining of posts. The plan has been set for months now...a trip to Venezuela for Memorial Day, 2006. The MO: Wedding Crashing. I seemed to have logged posts with this theme before but never to this extent. Picture this, a niece of a Venezuelan ex-president decides to marry a US national from Nova University and personal friend of aforementioned Lil Wowi. At the rate that past South American politicians looted the countries they represented, you can imagine the level of bling-bling this event aims to attract...lets just say Franco de Vita is on the guest list. So as a devout roomate and friend, I along our other buddy Jeff decided to accompany Lil Wowi on this adventure.

So far it has been just that, and we haven't even gotten there yet. We arrived at the airport on time (out of character for me but Wowi wouldn't have it any other way) to find that the flight was delayed by a plane malfunction...three hours later they get us another BRAND NEW plane, a Boeing 767-P to be exact.

Whatever, right? Well turns out that in the switch MY seat was eliminated and I was bumped to Business class...you know how people say that Business class on foreign airlines is like First class on american ones? uhhh, hell yeah!! And being the true homie that I am, I rose up to pull Lil Wowi up with me...it was a bit of a challenge to swing Jeff up as well but I'll get'm next time...At any rate...Gadang, we were balling it up!!! Drinks, confort, and technology...this is bliss...

White Hot!!

My friend Katie invited me to a Maimi Heat Playoff game against the Chicago Bulls...it was a tough game but we (the Heat that is) emerged victorious...I'm wearing a white pom-pom on my head that they gave out to support the White Hot marketing campaign...it was cool to see the whole arena covered in white!!!

One cool effect in the game that caught my attention was how they chose to pass out the free White Hot T-shirts...they parachuted them down from the rafters...I took a pitcure of it and indicated the parachutes with some red circles below...

Chi-town Busi-nizzy Trip

Motorola sponsored event...my coworker, Shervin, and I took full advantage of the nice weather the Windy City had to offer...Arriving Monday evening (4/10/06), we jumped in our rental and rolled down to Dearborn and Division where our cozy Hotel awaited our arrival. Hotel Indigo to be exact, affordable boutique style shelter turning faces in the city from what I heard. The room was spacious and the beds were fluffy enough to bury you, but we were ready to EAT!!


We strolled down to the Magnificent Mile to a quaint spot on right on Michigan called Banderas. My instructions were clear...order the Gluck and Moo...not on the menu, but tasty as ever. Boy was I happy with that choice...

The next day was hectic to say the least. Starting with the hour commute to the Motorola facility in Schaumburg (Chicago traffic SUCKS!), we spent the entire day jam packed with meetings. No breaks, just lunch at the award-winning cafeteria...err, NOT! Well, getting out of that fiasco to hit another hour of traffic wasn't thrilling...but once we got back to the city it was walkabout again. We tried to catch the Michigan shopping extravaganza but were semi-disappointed...the stores were top notch but the closing times were early and the selection not very impressive by Miami standards...nonetheless we scaled the John Hancock building for it awe inspiring views.

From the 95th floor we stared down at a neverending urban sprawl that only sighs disbelief. The roof top bar is free as opposed to the Observatory, but the waiters keep hounding you to order something...we didn't last too long, but snagged this sweet pic...


Our next stop that evening was Japonais, a Sushi/European fusion cuisine catering to the high profile crowd. Definitely worth a visit although it may seem it's a bit removed from the city action. The downstairs lounge was crawling with "gente fina" and the number of suits I saw was a bit overwhelming. Even up against my Banana slacks and Polo shirt, I felt underdressed...it was fun though, we sat beside a first-date couple that wasn't going too well. The girl was from Miami and I guess we drew more of her attention than we wanted to. It didn't help the situation that the dude kept going to the bathroom, 3 times by my count, wtf?

Wednesday was pretty much a quick day of work...mainly in close out meetings. I took Shervin to the airport around noon and returned for one last pow-wow. At around 4pm I was heading back to the city, you'd think I'd miss the traffic...err, NOT! Got in to the Hotel for a quick clean up and I was off to enjoy the great 70's weather...I bought me some sweet Addidas kicks that i'll be sporting at the World Cup this summer. To close the night out, I met up with my boy Chris Stier...aka Big C! We chatted it up in the Lex for a bit before deciding to check out a Latin fusion restaurant called Carnavale...with great atmosphere but an over-exaggerated menu (Arepas de Cangrejo n ish), we enjoyed the time. During the commotion we met an entertaining crowd of females who were heading out to a nightspot, Y-bar. We joined but couldn't sustain the energy level they had...by midnight we were dragging so we bailed. After the drop off, I set up for my 4:30am wake up call for my 6:30am flight back home. It's nice to be back!!

Saint Paddy's Day!

Green fever, leprachawn leasure...Saint Paddy definitely blessed Ireland with a uncanning merry attitude and contagious joy. This fact was evident as we disembarced the ferry from Scotland. Lost in freeway web of Belfast, Northern Ireland, we stopped for help..."Excuse me sir, we're lost..."...to which the jolly gentleman immediatly responsed, "you're not L0ST, you're in IRELAND!"...brought smiles to our worrisome faces. Once on track, it was a quick 3 hours to Dublin through the Irish 'brilliant' green mellows and prairies. We stayed at a 'lovely' bed & breakfast in a suburb of Dublin called Howth. It was a charming town really on the edge of the water isolated from the city by it narrow peninsula; however, we opted to swing through Dublin for the festivities. It was shear pandimoniom...green everywhere...people had costumes and a variety of props...I even saw a guy with large inflatable hammer that read "It's St. Paddy's Day...Get hammered!" that was nailing everyone on the head. Others would paint shamrocks and Guiness beers mugs on your face for free. Through this madness we all lasted for 4 hours when Tia Susana and Mami returned. Camila and I lasred the rest of the night until that last bus left for Howth. I met many people from around the world including Australians, French, Spanish, Polish, American, Italian and Irish. It was amazingly a fun time all around with now foul encounters or beligerent behavior common with people and alcohol in large quantity. I even had to borrow an extra couple Euros from some locals to cover our bus fare!!! ;)

Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh, Scotland...what an awesome city. Filled with feudal history and architecture, it's a wonderland for anyone who was inspired by the stories of King Arthur, William Walace, or Rob Roy. We arrived during the day to a massive city buzzing with crazy traffic and bus only streets. Compounded with driving on the left side and being completely lost, it made for apretty stressful time. Eventually with the help of some fine samaritans we found are way and settled in to a sizable apartment close to the downtown. We picked up some groceries, ate'm up, took a nap, and rolled out to catch Edinburgh by night. The first interesting encounter of the evening were two obviously intoxicated ladies lying on the sidewalk laughing histerically. Well dressed and coherent, one asked a passerby for help to get up while the other picked herself up with the side rail. We had a beer at acloseby bar and then bounced over to the night club Espionage to get jiggy with it. Made up of five floors underground, we were happy to find a good crowd in the last dungeon floor. Upon leaving at closing time (3am) we found ourselves in the middle of a full snowfall...which instigated a healthy snowball fight amongst strangers. That was a fun experience.

Take yourself back to the medieval times with Edinburgh castle. Wow! what a point of interest. It stands high above the city center it on the crest of an extinct volcano. At about £12/person, I was doubtful of the exhibitions' worth. I was pleasantly surprised, however, with no need for the audio guide. The 3 hours we were there were not enough to study all the displays but we took many pictures to capture its greatness. Since most of the castle viewing was outside, the bitter cold and snowy wind took a toll on our body temperatures. We took refuge in one of the worlds' oldest department stores, Jenners. Parking ourselves at the wiskey tasting counter, we learned the heating powers of aged drink along with the details of its laborious fabrication. We left happy as ever to return to the apartment for some tasty lamb roast prepared by Tia Susana and Mami. A full coarse meal indeed, we turned in early for the break of dawn rise to travel to Ireland... Saint Patty's Day, baby!

Again if you wanna send me a note, hit me back at richard.grundy@gmail.com!

Saludos,
Ricky

Hardrian's Wall

Today we drove form York to Carlisle through the Lakes district. It was my first experience driving on the left side but not at all as frightening as I imagined. The snow and narrow lanes were scary enough. Upon arriving and settling into our B&B, Camila and I ventured out to explore Tuesday nights in Carlisle. I saw a guy deck a girl and several near clothesless ladies walking the streets. Today we explore Hadrian's Wall seen behind me...

York This

The precursor to the business capital of the world (New York), the city of York welcomes me with freezing arms...yes people I took a vacation from South Beach to enjoy splendid high prices and low temps of the UK...at least I got to throw a snowball, ;)

UK Circuit 2006

Hey there, I've been running behind on my posts but I have a lot to share. Particularly a little trip that I just took...a series of belated posts will follow but at least you'll get the gist of my trip. The purpose was to cover as much of the United Kingdom as possible in 9 days. Groups members included Mami, Tia Susana, prima Camila, and me. Landing in London on March 10, 2006, I collected my things and hitched the Heathrow Express into town...Bayswater Station of the Underground. Price £14.50...for those who don't know the current exchange rate is about 2:1...so we're talking ~$30. Ouch. Anyway, needless to say that it was immediately clear that the trip was going to be an expensive one. Renting a car at $100/day not including gas, bed and breakfasts at $200/night, and meals at $20/each took a toll on the wallet. We cooked our own meals as many times as possible, whenever there was a kitchen accessible. Tia Susana and Mami were experts at throwing yummy meals together as shown in the picture above. The grovery store experience in the UK was very interesting mainly with their selection of produce. Almost 95% of the fruit and vegetables are imported from all over the world. Green beans from Guatemala, apples from South Africa, pears from Argentina, grapes from Chile, peas from Kenya, etc. Great Britan is covered with lush green pastures that are dedicated extensively to livestock...mainly sheep and cattle. Prone to heavy rainfall throughout the year, it was clear that the land was once a heavily forested area but since has been converted to grasslands. This explains how the Brits evolved as a super power since mideival times. The abundance of wood (chief source of fuel and construction material in those times) allowed them to evolve quickly. Now it seems Britain has no trees older than 100 years. You can tell while driving in the coutryside as all the trees are neatly lined up.

One of the main highlights of my time in London was going to see The Producers Musical...a very funny production from Mel Brooks, it served as an entertaining event for us all. "Springtime for Hitler"...sounds like a hit!

You can check out the rest of the pictures from the trip here.

SoBe-tter Fit

After months of waiting and battling with realtors, developers, and title agents, my move to South Beach is finally complete. The Elaine Condominium, built in 1926, has shown some signs of deterioration. The 930 sq ft we have to work with has made it difficult to place every piece of furniture. The move took about 7 days to complete, with only one major Uhaul rental, costing approximately $120. It's funny cuz they advertise $29.99 ALL DAY on thier trucks...the hidden costs of $0.99/mi is what jacks you. My roommate, Ovidio, had a 2 bedroom condo in Davie, FL entirely furnished so his elements constitute 90% of the furniture in our Unit #302. My futons and other minor articles will go the way of Goodwill or possibly my brother...I guess it'll come down to who shows up first cuz they are true "in the way". Ahead we have much to do on the remodeling front. Changing the floor plan a little by shrinking one bathroom to open the kitchen and expand the living room is the main priority. To follow will come some sleek flooring and a decked out kitchen...working with a limtied budget of $20k this will prove challenging at best. Fun nontheless so there's much to look forward to!!

Motorcycle travesty.

This is a lesson in bad luck. I was in Chile over the holidays and while I was gone my motorcycle was impounded in South Beach for being parked on the street with expired tags. I blame it on the fact that I never received the renewal notice in the mail. Whatever, honest mistake, $467 to correct it, ouch. Logistically though, this presented a problem since upon returning from my trip I found my car in need of emergency repairs. A new battery, tail pipe, and 120k tuneup. Whatever, I dropped it off at the shop, prepared myself for the $862 bill, and asked my soon to be roommate Ovidio to roll me down to the beach for the bike rescue mission. Almost immediately on arrival I realized I had left my keys at the shop with my car. Agghh! Ok, I dealt with it and thought I would just roll the bike to a dark alley or something. Better than incurring the $30/day storage fee, right? (Wrong!) I put the bike in a local park closeby behind a bush and prepared to return to get it soon after. A few days later I returned with a gallon of gas and the keys, to find that the motorcycle battery was dead...DANG! What the heck did I do to deserve this...I left with the battery in hand to trickle charge it at the autoparts store by my house. A few days turned into a week though and when I returned the bike was gone. I found it at the local impound again, now with two parking tickets and $320 in tow fees. Ay papa. New battery in place and the keys got it started and finally back in a safe section of private property...out of the reaches of the tow monster.

Xmas Tour 2005!

This year was a little different for me over the holidays. With all my direct family members scattered all over the world, I took on the challenge of paying homage to each me them. The first on the list was my brother Mark and his family coming down from West Palm Beach to see me off on Xmas eve. Little Ryan was upset due to the rude awakening from a long car nap. Jonah, on the other hand, was pumped to play Merlin with a Caution Cone on his head. We enjoyed each others company and gift exchange until it was time for me to roll out to the airport. Arriving in Santiago was a relief after the long 8hr flight. Mami scooped me up and we spent a pleasant Xmas day together. Her quickly decorated apartment was most comfortable and awe inspiring.

Story, a friend from college, arrived the following morning as I moved over to Papi's apartment. The city has taken big strides in transportation upgrades, and a new underground freeway traversing the entire city is accessible from across the street. Over the next several days Papi, Story, and I drove through the "Ruta del Vino" in the Colchahua Valley on our way to "las Sierras de Bella Vista" where my family has a pleasant cabin in the Andes moutains. Relaxing there gave pass to Valparaiso where the three of us went for the fantastic world-reknown fireworks display. Great times...

The next leg of the trip involved a 21 hour hike to the Futaleufu river in the Chilean Patagonia. Stopping along the way in Valdivia and Bariloche gave us a clear distinction between Chilean and Argentine cultures.

Futaleufu displayed the ferocity of the world's best white water rivers. Fearing for our lives, a mere 3 days there was enough to humble us of the power of nature. Motasem, another friend from college, and added to the journey on January 1st, had the most intense reality check with a lengthy tumble down nearly 300yards of Class 4 rapids.

On the return to Santiago, we drove straight through the night to catch some city touring before returning home...with luck on our side we ran into a full on Love Parade being held downtown.

RicoSU 2006

In an effort to add a new dynamic to the traditional Lake Havasu trip that the Go Dudes! share every year...I took the time to find a new spot to carry on this celebration. To convince the powers that be I assembled a video with some details and posted it online at:



Sneak a peak - Culebra, Puerto Rico.