Day 54 (Friday, August 4)

This has turned out to be one of the best weeks of the year. The only thing that stands as a better week this year is my graduation week, when I saw all my good friends graduate and when I took part of a very emotional Aztlan Grad ceremony.

I have to say that I am blessed for being able to go to New York for a week. I had a lot fun and I was able to get some inspiration. I see who my future colleagues are going to be. They are an amazing crew.

I finally got on a plane and headed toward the Midwest. The flight was pretty early and I didn't have much sleep since I got back to the hotel pretty late. The good thing is that I slept most of the way to Chicago.

I did get a chance to wake up just in time to get a photo of Canada. It's hard to see it, but that's Canada in the frame. Whoa!

I flew into O'Hare Airport and had to take the Blue Line train into downtown Chicago. It was a pretty long ride, but I was able to make some phone calls and make sure that my loved ones knew I was finally home safe.

The thing that stands out about the train ride is the kids. There were two toddlers in the train. Across the way there was a couple and their young boy. Mom and son sat on the front seat while dad looked after their baggage as he sat in the backseat. He played peekaboo w/ the young child. And every time the child would find his father's face behind his mom's, the child would giggle and laugh adorably. I have been talking a lot about having a child lately. I really would love to have one. The condition I am in will not allow me to. But it sure is great to think about.

The other toddler sat w/ her mother next to me. She was laughing and trying to say words the whole way through. She was beautiful sporting a pink outfit that highlighted her bright blue eyes and her gold blonde hair. She was adorable.

When will it be my turn?

The train ride was long. I had to jump from the Blue to the Red to the Orange lines in order to get home. Finally, I was back at the house and it was just in time to get ready for this evening's event.

Diego and I went to the Molotov concert at the House of Blues. Wow! What an experience.

Let's just say that I found myself in an unfamiliar place -- the mosh pit. Yes, I don't know what got into me, but I found myself in the middle of a bunch of screaming 20 year olds jumping and pushing each other around. I almost crowd surfed, but I wasn't that daring. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun jumping around in the mosh pit.

That was just the beginning of it all.

Randy "El Gringo Loco" Ebright, the Michigan-born U.S. citizen who forms part of the Mexico City-based Molotov gave us an amazing drum solo to close out the show. Once he was done w/ his performance, he took his right hand and threw his drumstick to the crowd. Somehow, I managed to grab it in mid air before taking it away from two other guys.

Now, let's think about this for a second. This has been an amazing week. I went to New York. I wished for an extra night and I got it. I caught a The Pinker Tones t-shirt at the show last night, I hung out w/ some of the most talented journalists in the country and I topped it off by catching "El Gringo Loco's" drumstick? Wow!

This week will always be remembered as a great week in 2006.

Wow!

The night did not end there. Diego and I headed into a Tapas Bar down the street. I was enjoying some good food and a drink when I was pulled away by a group of women who were out on a lady's night out.

One of them, a beautiful Asian who spoke immaculate Spanish, asked me what the meaning of the CH inside a heart I was wearing on my black t-shirt.

I had to give the ladies a lesson in Mexican pop culture history. Told them all about Chapulin Colorado and the reason why every character on that show has a name that starts w/ a CH. Roberto Gomez Bolanos, the mastermind behind "El Chavo," always thought that Shakerspeare's name in Spanish should be spelled w/ a Ch, since it is a letter in the Spanish alphabet.

So, as his tribute to Shakespeare, he named his characters w/ CH names. El Chavo, Chapulin, Chompiras, Chimoltrufia, and Chaparron, to name a few.

After talking to the ladies I found out they are all television journalists. Wow! What a small world. There were some reporters, producers and writers at that table. That was cool.

I finally was able to get back to the food as I enjoyed some of the Spanish Rock they played at the restaurant.

We decided to go to Ñ because that's where Jorge, Anna and Javier were hanging out.

We showed up and the place was happening. I walked up to the bar and order some drinks and the bar tender, another attractive w/omyn w/ Asian descent, screamed out "El Chapulin!"

My shirt was becoming quite a hit. Crazy!

Turns out she used to live in Mexico as she did an exchange student course.

The night was cool as I enjoyed some dancing.

It was by far a great day. Molotov came through for me. Woohoo!!!

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