Company Time, Company Dime
Anytime I venture out on the road for this job, I try to embed myself in the city I’m in and experience it as if I’m a native son. You have to ask yourself: “When am I going to be in this city again?” and “When am I going to be in this city again with a no spending limit credit card given to me by a multi-billion dollarcorporation?” To not enjoy the city I’m in without care or concern for monetary implications would not only be tragic, but I’d be cheating you, the viewer, out of vicariously living through me.
So with that in mind, I selflessly hit Miami this past weekend. Saturday night I hit the clubs. It seems most of the places I tried getting into down here were “Guys Only” establishments. I don’t mean that they’re designed for men trying to meet other men who share . . . . “similar interests.” But they were like a place for guys to hang out. Yeah, at every place I went, they’d have a nice security man come over and escort me to this line (usually behind a velvet rope). There’d be large groups of other guys, and we’d hang out and talk. Occasionally, large groups of women went straight to the front doors and then just disappeared. I imagine the doorperson just directed them to another club. Anyway, every 20 minutes or so, one or two of the guys in line would be asked to come inside. I was not of them.
On Sunday, I had a hankering for some authentic Cuban food (I’ve actually never had Cuban food, but I’d heard good things about it), so my cameraman Ted and I ventured to “Little Havana.” As we cruised down Calle Ocho (or 8th Street), we passed café after restaurant after café, finally settling on “Café Panza.” Mmmmhhh! It wasn’t until we got inside that I discovered I’d chosen the only SPANISH restaurant in the most popular CUBAN neighborhood in America. It was too late to leave, as I’d already polished off 2 baskets of bread, and I have terrible memories of my father doing that kind of stuff when I was a kid. He had a system for it and everything. He’d make us get up and leave one at a time- he, of course, was the first to leave. Anyway, the meal was still good and there was a cigar shop next door for me to buy authentic Cuban cigars. Naturally, the woman who owned the place was from
Honduras.
Comments
Sounds like your having a good time Pat. Try not to get to distracted. Make sure to check out the beach and try to go out in the ocean and do some surfing. Like you said, when are you ever going to have a chance to do this again.
Posted by: Clark | January 29, 2007 5:54 PM
Pat, the black socks with shorts confirmed your status as a video genius. Though really, you should have tried harder to get those two ladies to do a "soak" with you.
Posted by: Ken | January 30, 2007 8:55 AM