Let's Start Over in May

Boy, I am glad April is over. I'm sure everything will be just peachy keen tomorrow when it becomes May. No more bankruptcies, breakups, layoffs or swine flu. It is a new month. The sad Chrysler news today makes me think about the number of people that I know that work for that company and its ad agencies and suppliers. My heart goes out to them. I know this reorganization may save some jobs, but let's face it. A lot more people still have to go. Fiat will want to do it their way, just like Daimler did when they took them over and Cerebus did when they became the boss.

It is very strange to be so close (via the Internet) and still so far away when stuff happens.

Everybody keeps asking us about GM and Dan's job. Who knows? For right now, I think GM do Brasil is a great place for us to ride out the storm. We are here so we are trying to make the most of it. Dan is working really hard.

Finally, turn on your prayers for my friend Al's son, Christopher. I just found out today that he is on his third round of chemo for non-hodgkin's lymphoma. They are an amazing family so if anyone can get through this, it is the steely Sebastians. We also need prayers for Detroit. With Chrysler's setback and so many other hardships, we need new strong leadership. Let's pray that that happens...and soon!

My New Car

It took about six months for my Meriva to arrive but Ro picked up my new little beauty today. There are very few red cars here but I wanted to be able to find it in the parking decks. We took a quick snapshot of it this evening in the parking garage. I had been driving this rather large minivan, a Chevy Zafira. It was nice to have the space but I'm glad to say goodbye to it. With its blistering 1.8 liter engine, the Meriva will be a lot more fun to drive around Sao Paulo. It has an easytronic transmission so I can drive with it in manual and automatic. Giving my lack of driving skills, I think that thing will be in A always. Ro drives an Opel Vectra.

We're starting yet another feriado (holiday) weekend this Friday. This is the Brazilian Labor Day. Jackson has a double-header on Friday and is taking the SAT on Saturday. Guess we won't be sneaking away anywhere fun this weekend.

Killing Time in the Newark Airport

I feel like the Terminal Woman. I left Detroit this morning. I had a few meetings and an awards program in New York City for work so I fixed my flight back to Sao Paulo so I would have time to go into the Big Apple and get back to Newark in time for the 10 p.m. overnight flight back to Brazil. Well my afternoon meeting got canceled. Cool....I can bum around New York for the afternoon. Not to be.

It was pouring rain. I went to my favorite weaving store after the awards luncheon but after that I wasn't really in the mood to walk streets in the rain in my high heels hauling around my heavy briefcase and laptop. So I got back to the airport around 4:30. So now I am juicing up at the power station and people watching in the international terminal. It is kind of fun.

I am surrounded by rude business people having loud conversations on their cell phones. A whole bunch of stressed out leisure travelers are loading up on enough carbohydrates to run a marathon. This long hair guy is trying to pick up on the hot girl next to me. He's romancing her by telling her he can get her free wireless.

Today was a weird day. My cab going into the city got rear-ended in the Holland Tunnel. We had to fill out police reports and deal with all of that drama. Then at the luncheon, Automotive News received an "Engaged Media Brand" award. Very good. The bad part was we got beat out for the top honors by Martha Stewart Living. Didn't she go to jail? Shouldn't that prevent her from being honored by industry associations? Evil woman!

Oh well, a few more hours to go. Time to get out my book and try to stay awake.

P.S. No sooner had I posted this entry than I looked over and saw this! I'm not making this up. These two weary travelers did yoga for about 30 minutes. Guess I'm not the only one that is a little stir crazy.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hard to believe my beautiful baby girl is 15 today. She (and Jackson) left this morning for a four-day sports tournament so we did all of our celebrating this past weekend. What fun! We went with the Mishras to Templo Kinkaku-ji, a Buddist temple right in the middle of a huge ecological park on Saturday. For Easter, we went to Embu das Artes, a great little town with an art fair throughout the streets. To celebrate Easter and Hannah's birthday, we went to the local churrascaria and ate way too much beef and then had birthday cake at home. Hannah wore the new skirt she bought at the art fair out to dinner (last picture).

I took this photo for my brother Tim. They deliver beer to the table here with a tap. It holds about six beers and has ice in the middle. You must have missed that when you visited Sao Paulo. Guess you'll have to come back.

I'm off to Detroit tonight. This will be a quick trip (I hope!). I'm back on Thursday next week. Ro is going to be alone for four days. The poor guy hasn't had any peace and quiet for months. Good thing Java is here.

Feliz Páscoa!

Brazil has a huge population of Catholics. So I thought Easter would be a solemn and beautiful occasion here. No way. It is all about the ovo de chocolate (chocolate eggs). I was at the local supermarket today and everywhere you go you are surrounded by these things. They hang them overhead. The aisles are filled with them and the workers are unloading them as quickly as the customers gobble them up. The eggs are wrapped in brightly colored theme paper of everything from Disney characters to soccer teams. I took these photos with my phone so I'm sorry they are not better.

We are going to have a very quiet Easter this year. Easter Vigil is on Saturday night so we're going to celebrate Easter AND Hannah's birthday on Sunday. I'm sure we'll be thinking about Aunt Sue's rock-em, sock-em, blindfolded Easter Egg Hunt at Carolyn and David's house in Chelsea that we'll be missing. Hannah and Jackson are in the Big Four sports tournament in Nosso Recanto next week from Tuesday-Saturday and I'm leaving for the States on Tuesday night so Sunday is our day to party! So far, Hannah wants to go to a churrascaria for her 15th.

Mii Old

We bought a Wii Fit over the holidays and shipped it to Brazil with our friends Pete and Shannon. Well the darn thing got here this week so we were all excited to play with our new toy. Jackson, of course, got into it first and set it up. It begins with a fitness assessment that tests your balance, weight and BMI and gives you a fitness age. It assigns you a Mii character to work with you to meet your fitness goals. The icon even looks like you. Jackson's was right on. His age was 17. He can crank through the 40+ yoga, balance, strength and aerobics units like an Olympian. No problem.

Hannah did it and her fitness age was 19. She likes the aerobics. She is the Mii character in the green.

So yesterday, after running three miles at the Graded School track in the morning I might add, I got my sorry butt on the balance board. It said my fitness age was 67!!! I had some trouble with the balance assessment so I did it again and it came down to 54. Still!! The funniest thing was my Mii character. As soon as I weighed myself, the character puffed out! Doesn't Nintendo understand that I was the one who bought the Wii Fit in the first place and they should be nice to me?

Dan hasn't done it yet. (The fourth character on the TV screen in yellow is Jackson's friend Sunny.) Poor Ro. He played in a charity softball game yesterday with GM and one of his own teammates decked him with the ball at full speed. Luckily, he was wearing sunglasses so they took some of the blow. He has a shiner today. Add to that his continuing problems with his foot and I bet his Wii age will still be less than mine.

Happy Birthday Judy!

I am very tied to my computer, phone and home office with my job so it is rare that I get out past Graded School and the grocery store during the week. Today, I snuck out at noon and went to a birthday lunch with a bunch of the GM crew for my friend Judy. For a group of women who didn't know each other before this whole escapade began, we sure had a lot of laughs today. Ro and the kids met Judy and her husband Rick when they spent the first two weeks at the Transamerica Hotel. They arrived in Sao Paulo the same week as us. They are a great couple. For her birthday, they are going to celebrate in Buenos Aires. Very cool. Parabéns a você Judy!