ihpguy

Super hint on changing money: Banco Do Brasil in Terminal 1(the one where American Airlines is located) has an agency to the left of the food court past the gift shops on the upper level. They do not charge a fee and the best rates. Also there is a security guard inside the entrance for anyone at all fearful of the country on first entry. Most agencies of Bradesco(where I have an account) do not permit ATM withdrawals from outside the country. Ditto Banco Do Brasil. One needs to find an ATM with a sticker showing a list of cards accepted

Last night Meio Mundo was quite festive. There was a joint party for a couple of the favored clients with a large buffet, flowers, strippers, drag and BINGO. There were so many people there that in places there was even grid lock/traffic jams. Lots and lots of boys. One boy asked me if I was Argentino, with my Portuguese accent. When I said American, he quoted me 150Reais for a programma. When I responded that I was retired and living in Rio permanently, he dropped it to 70Reais immediately. When I didn't accept, he went down in an instant to 50Reais. Two others were at the same price. HOWEVER, they really, really want 60Reais, which gives them 50 to go home with, less 10Reais door fees, less their bus fare round trip of around 5Reais. Monday's and Friday's are the busy night there with Tuesday's at 117 that I can report. Someone I've been seeing: http://www.uomotv.com/public/index.php?model=285 Life is nice.

Nuts(not those kind -the other ones) are tricky as they are very high in calories. I would add chicory, mustard and collard greens. Low-fat ricotta for a bit of variety in your protein. Also papaya and honeydew/crenshaw. Papaya has some amazing properties.

Bill Maher has been railing about this for years. And so many apologists for agribusiness were in denial. Interesting that he might have been right. And now.....what about grass?

Story of my life. Almost the same on how I came to buy my home here in Brasil.

Other movie stars are still out there. Just not ones with all of the public baggage. Olivia de Havilland and her sis, Joan Fontaine come immediately to my mind. Without the public spells of alcohol and drug abuse. And a little spicy Sophia Loren balanced by apple pie Doris Day? Shirley "Give My Daughter The Shot" MacLaine?

Car Crash Syndrome. Gaper's block. We can't take avert our eyes from the tragedy. Interesting that Corey Haim died. Charlie Sheen is well on his way. And they co-starred in Lucas. Just incredibly sad.

Come stay in my neck of the woods. The guys are available for a few(2-3)beers or a maximum of 30Reais. It depends on where your interests and tastes lie.

Cost of the costume also depends if you are a wealthy visiting tourists or a poor but gorgeous favelado who catches the eye in the upper echelon of the school. In that case the costume/fantasia is free. Also, a poorer school like Portela/Sao Clemente is going to have aulas at the rear of their school where the costumes are very low cost. I was told 200-300Reais. The girl sitting next to me from Portela had a costume from the cheapest nylon and a few feathers. But from a distance, pretty. And on the other hand, the wealthy school like Beija-Flor has much stronger aulas with better costumes and floats from the beginning to the end. This year's Baianas from Unidos da Tijuca has incredibly gorgeous costumes with tons of feathers that I was able to examine from a distance of a couple of feet. This year was a great example. The costumers that the members of Beija-Flor's bateria/drum corps wore were really, really nice. Even this aspect was taken into account. And of course, even the peacock couldn't compete with the hummingbird's secret weapon - they had the son of God this year - Roberto Carlos on a float to go with their music theme. The most unbeatable, no impossible combination of Samba and Jesus Christ.

I loved my favorite school's performance this year. Unidos da Tijuca's come-on was that they were going to take my soul. And with their performance they did. The perennial favorite, Beija-Flor(hummingbird) looked great on TV Tuesday morning. The were declared the winners this afternoon. My peacock got crapped on by a hummingbird. Yech.

Meio Mundo is still 35Reais Monday through Saturday. The cheap cabines are free, but they then charge for the sheet and the kit. If you get the smaller rooms for 15 or 20Reais, the sheet and kit are included. Almost all of the boys will settle for 60Reais including gozando/cumming as this will include their entry. Most will even go upstairs for 50Reais without cumming. Last week I got their early and one offered me a programa for only 40Reais. I wasn't even bargaining. Just waiting to meet a friend from the States and killing a bit of time. So ....depends.

Or two of my favorites from back home by Wright - The Dana-Thomas House Springfield Illinois and Oak Park's Unity Temple, where I was hired to help with a gay union performed by a Methodist minister about twenty years ago.

Farnsworth House was near where I used to live. The trials and tribulations of the flood damage over the last few years do rival the problems with Fallingwater. Ditto another Wright masterpiece. The Ennis House of Los Angeles

While working at a pizza place I observed a man ordering a small pizza to go. He appeared to be alone and the cook asked him if he would like it cut into 4 pieces or 6. He thought about it for some time before responding. 'Just cut it into 4 pieces; I don't think I'm hungry enough to eat 6 pieces.'

I used to work in technical support for a 24/7 call center. One day I got a call from an individual who asked what hours the call center was open. I told him, 'The number you dialed is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.' He responded, 'Is that Eastern or Pacific time?' Wanting to end the call quickly, I said, 'Uh, Pacific.'

While looking at a house, my brother asked the real estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, 'Does the sun rise in the North?. When my brother explained that the sun rises in the East, and has for sometime, she shook her head and said, 'Oh I don't keep up with all that stuff.'

One day I was walking down the beach with some friends when one of them shouted, 'Look at that dead bird!' Someone looked up at the sky and said, 'Where?'

I walked into a Starbucks with a buy-one-get- one-free coupon for a Grande Latte. I handed it to the girl and she looked over at a little chalkboard that said 'buy one-get one free.' 'They're already buy-one- get-one-free, 'she said,'so I guess they're both free'. She handed me my free Lattes and I walked out the door.

I was at the checkout of a K-Mart. The cashier rang up $46.64 charges. I gave her a fifty dollar bill. She gave me back $46.64. I gave the money back to her and told her that she had made a mistake in MY favour. She became indignant and informed me she was educated and knew what she was doing, and returned the money again. I gave her the money backsame scenario! I departed the store with the $46.64.

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX),Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, 'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.' In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part): 1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash......... Twice a day. 2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car. 3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this. 4. Occasionally, executing a maneuvre such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. 5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads. 6 The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light. I love the next one!!! 7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying. 8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna. 9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car. 10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off. PS - I'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!

First and best thing to do which means that no one has the balls to do it is to unlink ALL government transfer payments from cost-of-living increases. This will of course cause whichever politicians have the guts to push this through the wrath of the senior citizens everywhere. If they are not hanged or shot, they will at least never be elected again. That's really the only way to resolve the deficit. But what politician wants to be the first to mention what really would amount to career suicide?

If anyone wants to come down and milk my bitch, she does lactate twice a year as she goes into heat. There might be enough of the white stuff for a scoop?

More than a bit disappointed with this week's episode on alcohol. Preachy, disjointed. Eric Stoltz directed this one so I was hoping for something a bit more. Tate Donovan was better two weeks back. Nothing very interesting on the camera work. Not too sure about the light blue vomit? Some very funny one-liners. Loved the Lea Darrin kiss. Can I take Lea's place? I want me some Pinoy lovein!

To actually see how difficult it is to get a Visa to travel to the US from Brasil, stop by the US consulate here. Every weekday afternoon, it is quite incredible to see the people waiting in line to apply for a visa. They carry whole stacks of papers with proof as to job, banking records, family to come back to, home ownerships, lists of other assets. Really striking to see. The US wants to make sure that they have enough reasons to return to Brasil and not overstay their visas.

Is it possible that the a shaved-down version of #5 could have been at Meio Mundo on Monday night?