They all told me that traffic would be a bear coming in from the beach. 45 min to an hour and a half for the 15 mile drive. So I got up early and drive in at 6:15. I was at then ARTCC by 6: 40. I guess it gets worse closer to rush hour. I’d rather be early and convey a profession attitude than walk in late and blame traffic.
More of the same from Carl. Nice guy but he needs to relax and realize, these guys HAVE the job already. All the stalling and secrecy in the world isn’t going to stop that. All he’s accomplishing is alienating these guys. Burning bridges. Bad idea.
Met Shawn. Waited to see how bad it was going to be. He seemed cool to me. I went into the field and worked with him the rest of the day, and now I know, Carl is full of shit. Shawn is one of the cooler cats I’ve met in a while. He’s a drummer and really into freestyle jazz. I’m learning a lot of ideas from him. He’s got a full rig of percussion. Congas, timbales, chimes, blocks, etc. We are planning on getting together in Jacksonville at some point. I told him about our regular Friday night drum circle and he wants to come play. He’s also beginning to sound like he’s really been around. Some of the things he says and the way he says them, this dude’s got some experiences I’d like to learn about. Anybody can say they play and some people can actually play. This cat’s a drummer through and through.
We had to break for lunch and he took me to a little hole in the wall type place that had some excellent chicken, black beans and rice. I drank something called Golden Kola and finished it all off with some fried bananas. Man that was a great lunch. I told him about not wanting to eat at freaking Burger King when places like this were around and he laughed, said he felt the same way. I told him about a buddy of mine who told me about one of his trips. He was in St. Louis with 2 other contractors he didn’t know real well. They went to dinner together and he was really looking forward to trying local food. St. Louis ribs. He said they walked down Beal St. and passed a lot of cool looking places and he wanted to stop. The other 2 guys kept telling him, “No man, you’ve got to try this place we found last night.” So they kept walking and passing all these cool “blues” joints. Finally they arrived at the restaurant. The Hard Rock Cafe! He was pissed! His only night in St. Louis and he ate at the Hard Rock.
Shawn and I finished up our work and planned to meet at a club later tonight. He said it’s a cool little place with live bands. We should get together around 9 or so. I went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and rest a little. At 7:00 Carl calls me on the cell to ask how the day went. I told him we got very little done because of the NOCC but we did all we could. He then asks me if I’ve had dinner yet. I told him no and he said he wanted to make sure I knew where all the cool restaurants were, he could give me directions to the Hard Rock Cafe if I wanted them. I swear I’m not making that up. Of all the restaurants he could have picked, he chose that one. Shawn must have put him up to it.
I fell asleep and must have missed Shawn’s call. I see he called at 7:30. Bummer, it’s 10:30 and too late to call him. I got dressed and walked over to Lincoln Road.
Lincoln Road is South Beach’s answer to Bourbon St. It’s a huge party atmosphere and people are there to be seen. Some are in tuxedos, some are in shorts and others are in jeans. Nobody looks out of place. A mix of everything. I saw 2 Lamborghini’s and at least 10 Ferrari’s. Dozens of tricked out Hummers, Navigators, Lexus and BMW and lots and lots of limos. But the ones that impressed me the most were the simple black Mercedes. I’m not normally a fan of Mercedes but the simple elegance surrounded by all this flash just looked classy. People pulling into the valet at these really fine hotels and clubs. It was cool.
I walked up and down the mall to see everything and finally sat down for dinner. I ate at Sushi Siam and had some of the best Sake I’ve ever had. The sushi was excellent. But the best was the view. I sat right out there on the walk way and saw everyone as they paraded by. Some nodded, some smiled, it was strange to be sitting there interacting with all these people. Strange but in a good way. While I was eating, I saw Andy Garcia with a few other people. No one was bothering him, I’ve heard they can do that here. People do the celebrity watch here but they don’t rush up on them. Nice.
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