Sunday May 25th, 2008
    TEST BLOG It's Memorial Day weekend and we hosted a cook-off today at our house. Michael smoked a brisket and salmon, Bob smoked a brisket and don smoked pork and chopped it up for BBQ sandwiches. Also, this was somewhat of my going away party since I'll be leaving for Brazil on June 14th. Lots of people showed up for the party and even though we setup places to sit inside and in the garage, everyone seemed to flock to the screened in porch. I haven't been boxed in with that many poeple in one room since I was in Spain. It's Memorial Day weekend and we hosted a cook-off today at our house. Michael smoked a brisket and salmon, Bob smoked a brisket and don smoked pork and chopped it up for BBQ sandwiches. Also, this was somewhat of my going away party since I'll be leaving for Brazil on June 14th. Lots of people showed up for the party and even though we setup places to sit inside and in the garage, everyone seemed to flock to the screened in porch. I haven't been boxed in with that many poeple in one room since I was in Spain. It's Memorial Day weekend and we hosted a cook-off today at our house. Michael smoked a brisket and salmon, Bob smoked a brisket and don smoked pork and chopped it up for BBQ sandwiches. Also, this was somewhat of my going away party since I'll be leaving for Brazil on June 14th. Lots of people showed up for the party and even though we setup places to sit inside and in the garage, everyone seemed to flock to the screened in porch. I haven't been boxed in with that many poeple in one room since I was in Spain. It's Memorial Day weekend and we hosted a cook-off today at our house. Michael smoked a brisket and salmon, Bob smoked a brisket and don smoked pork and chopped it up for BBQ sandwiches. Also, this was somewhat of my going away party since I'll be leaving for Brazil on June 14th. Lots of people showed up for the party and even though we setup places to sit inside and in the garage, everyone seemed to flock to the screened in porch. I haven't been boxed in with that many poeple in one room since I was in Spain.

Saturday, June 14th, 2008
     I began the day with optimisum. I spent all morning packing bags, making photocopies, running through lists, and making reservations. Even though I've been in this smae scenario many times, it always feels like I forgot something... Finally we get to the RDU airport and grab the tickets. I expected that there would be a complication with the number of bags or answer a hundred question about my intentions, but it was quite the opposite. Once the lady who could type at the speed of light checked me in and handed me the ticket, I said my goodbye's to Mom and Michael and went off to security check. "This is going to be interesting" I said to myself as I stepped in line iwth a book back completely stuffed with everything I would need for at least 3 days. Once my turn came up I put everything in the gray containers and stepped trhough the metal detector and... nothing happend. I grabbed my stuff and walked off. I felt like pressing the "That was Easy" button because that's how everything felt. As I continued, the worst that happend was a 20 minute delay shown on the airport departure screens. But that allowed me to chat a little longer with a nice landt named Marylin who was headed to England for work. She worked for a company in N.C. named LORD that supplied vibration dampaning systems to various companies around the world, and guess what, Sikorskey is one of them! Eventually the plane boarded & all was well except for a little kid who would not stop screaming "Nooo! I wanna fo Home!", and "Pilot! Don't take off! Don't take off!" It was halarious. Then, as we began to taxi to the runway, the plane suddenly stopped and the pilot opened the intercom and said "Due to technical difficulties, all flights at the Atlanta airport have been grounded until further notice." Later the pilot clarified by telling us that a storm knocked out osme runway equipment and it would take at least 40 minutes to repair. Everyone shrugged... One hour later, many poeple were on their cell phones calling around because they had connection flights that they were going to miss. This whole time we were still stuck on that little plane and we were getting very cramped. Another hour passed and the pilot finally told us that we had been released to take off. Apparently the kid who was screaming set things straight in his mind because he was as silent as a mouse. After we all got off
     Continuing the journey in the airport, I found out that my flight to rio was delayed for a hour and decided to have dinner at Qudoba grill int he cafeteria. I knew I had plenty of time to get to the terminal on the other side of the airport, so I took my precious time. Everything was going well until I made the unfortunate mistake of listening to my music with noise dampening earphones. Walking along, I checked my watch periodically. As I neared the terminal, I decided to stop and go to the bathroom. I had 10 minutes, there's no problem right? As I approched the counter, there was no one around... And I asked the lady at the counter what was going on and she said "Sorry the doors closed 10 mintues early. WWWWhhhaaaatttt??? Luckly, my mother has intuition surpasses all that is great. First, she booked me with Delta which reschedules missed flights for FREE. Secondly, she made me pack extra pairs of clothes and everything i would need for a couple of days in case I didn't get my luggage. And lastly, she booked my connetion flight in Atlanta where she knew if the I didn't catch the plane, I could stay with my Aunt Elma. And guess what... IT ALL HELPED! THank you MOM!!

Monday June 16th, 2008
     I am at Aunt Elma's house and we are having a Great time. Elma and I have talked before but we have never seen each other so this was a real treat. I was able to meet her precious chiwawa Martin Luther and I was her gorgeous house. She gave me a tour and my jaw dropped at the sight of all the antiques she had. A lot of it was from Germany she said and the rest she was either given or found at a yard sale. We talked and talked about so much. I found out that she managed and consulted for bowling centers all in many states along the east coast. She had so many stories about the kind of leagues she sponsored and the poeple she helped. I felt like every word that she said was pure gold. Later that day she took me out to dinner at an italian food restaurant and told me all about what our family was like when she was young. She mentioned things like how Sarah(Granny) never liked to cook or clean but she always was always good with managing things, like money. Whereas Elma, she loved to cook and she played all kinds of sports. One of her favorites of Softball. She told me about girls like the pitcher who could underhand the ball so fast, the other players wouldn't know what hit'em. Later on, she took me around town to buy some clothes, get ice cream, and help me do random stuff like buying supplies at the CVS and look for an applebees with internet connection. Since my plane was scheduled to leave for Brazil on Wednesday at 8:30pm, we decided to go to Stone Mountain, which is literally a huge stone that looks like a mountain. So on Wednesday morning we drove to the mountain and saw sights like the horsemen carving on the side of the mountains and the building at the top of the mountain they can only be accessed by cable car or hike. I got to walk around the top of the mountain and I was able to see Atlanta in the distance. It was a wonderful day, only it was a bit hot. During the whole trek around the mountain, Aunt Elma kept telling me about this antique museum with antique cars somewhere at the base of the mountain. After some searching we finally found it and as I walked in this little museum my Jaw dropped. It was a huge area filled with all kinda of antique items from early to mid 1900's. The whole middle section was lined with all kinda of old automobiles. It was a blast from the past. Elma especcialy enjoyed it because her appreciation for antiques. Once we finished we were eager the get home to see was how the golf game between Tiger and Rocco went. The only channels Emla watched on tv were Sports and news occasionally. Even though Elma hadn't played golf before she enjoyed watching the game. Like Granny, her favorite player is Mickelson. I had such a great time with Aunt Elma, and it was so sad that I had to leave, but I had a taxi coming to pick me up. So we said our goodbye's and I told her that I'd very much like to visit her more often, and she's going to hold me up to that.