My take on Michael Jackson

Today was crazy. I mean, today two iconic people passed away. I think we all were ready for Farrah Fawcett to pass. She had a rare and terribly painful cancer. But Michael Jackson? The man has been on a downward spiral since the early 90s (remember Free Willy everyone?) but he is truly an icon. I remember being a kid and rocking out to Thriller on cassette tape in my mom's van, and on record at our house. My brother, now a musician himself, used to put on his "fancy clothes" and dance to Michael Jackson (he was six.) And I will always remember how we used to go into our playroom, put Thriller on the record player and turn off all the lights for the Vincent Price part, just to scare each other.

It's strange, knowing that a pop music icon that you listened to almost obsessively as a child has passed on. Especially when it was so unexpected. He wasn't old, he didn't appear to have any sort of cancer. The only indicator that he may go young would be how much he mutilated his own body, and how badly he feared germs. I don't know if he ever molested those kids, and I won't lie, I wouldn't be surprised if he did, but that's not the point. Now it really feels like the end of an era.

And on a final note, I find it interesting that this story broke with a non-traditional medium. However most of the people I follow on Twitter, and many I met today at a networker event all said the same thing: I won't believe it until it's reported on the AP Wire, CNN or similar. So maybe the traditional media is not one of the deaths we are seeing, but merely a transformation. Either way.

South Point Park

I realize that I am late in the game with this post, as everyone else in the blogosphere posted about the opening of South Point Park in South Beach, but I just went for the first time since the grand opening and I'm throwing my $.02 in.
Since I moved off South Beach, almost three years ago, I haven't been back to that area, but before I used to go walking at least three times a week down to the southernmost tip of South Beach, sit on the rocks and relax. Only a few times did I ever wander up towards the park, and I remember it being picnic tables and grills, sort of a smaller version of Crandon Park in Key Biscayne.
On Sunday, El Hombre and I went on a mission to get me out of my irritable, cooped-up mood that I had been in all day, and on the spur of the moment, we elected to explore South Point Park.
I love it. I think it's so cool. I like the windy paths through the trees:
complete with benches to occasionally rest on.

I like the combination of tall buildings and the views of Fisher Island through the palms:



And I love that the path becomes elevated so you can catch a view of the water:


There's also a pretty cool playground for kids:


With funky benches for parents who want to relax and watch their kids play:


There's also the path that borders the water, with these things that light up at night:

and a view of downtown, through the port authority:


As we wandered down the hill, and towards the beach, I also caught some cool pictures:



We wandered out onto the rocks that jut out into the water where we saw many groups of friend camped out, enjoying the last few rays of the late afternoon sun, people fishing and taking pictures.


We also found a hidden cutey face!


South Point Park is awesome. The whole vibe was very laid back and fun, with kids running and shrieking the way they do when they are having the time of their lives, couples of all ages strolling, holding hands and laying on their backs in the grass, and families gathered around tables and benches. It's cool to find such a chilled out and happy environment in South Beach.

Driving in Miami

Today I was pretty stressed out at work. Really stressed out actually. So I went out to eat by myself. All was going ok, I was eating my salad and checking my email on my phone when I decided I felt like walking from Panera to PetSmart to go look at the kitties up for adoption (I'm a cat person so looking at the kitties makes me feel better.)

I was walking along and I saw a crowd of people gathered around, taking pictures of something and gaping. It wasn't until I stepped on glass until I saw this:


Apparently an elderly driver gunned the gas instead of the brake, rode over the parking curb, the side walk, plowed down a pretty heavy-duty sign and went straight through the window. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but damn! That's alot of car power, I mean, looking at the pole completely flattened and the damage on the car, the guy had to have really hit the gas hard.

I feel sorry for everyone involved, but really this is a sign that we need more strict regulations on drivers licenses, because while it sucks to realize you are getting old and your freedoms are waning as you have a more difficult time getting from place to place, if your motor skills are getting that bad, you shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car.

Thrifting in Hialeah

What could be a more interesting experience as a Gringa (who speaks very little Spanish) in Miami than an experience in Hialeah? Especially one that entails going to a collection of thrift shops on a weekend? Well, I did just that, with El Hombre in tow. We headed up to Flamingo Plaza, which is heralded as some of the best thrifting in Miami, to see what they had going on. We found gentlemen selling plants off the back of trucks, people in old cars with a PA System advertising pizza and lots and lots of shops with all sorts of things in them, including old stoves, bar chairs, wedding dresses, underwear and more. Many of the home furnishings, vhs tapes and board games reminded me of my childhood from the early 80s, like this:


Random things like this:

And who doesn't need a glass boot-shaped cup?


In addition, many of the clothes they had were your standard, basic pieces that people don't want, can't wear, etc, but then there were some truly glorious pieces:



(El Hombre was trying to decide which one would match his hat best)

I wish I could have grabbed pictures of the many late-80s wedding dresses with stains and huge bows, but I couldn't get around the crowds and I sort of felt bad. But I took advantage when I saw one in the window:


Outside of Red, White and Blue, which is by far the best and biggest shop, this guy was playing some tunes:

Kinda reminded me of Charleston.

South Florida Blogging

This past Monday I had the opportunity to sit down with some of Miami's local bloggers to catch an early bird of Miami Herald's new section that showcases bloggers in South Florida.
The site, an aggregator, features more than 200 blogs across South Florida, to include blogs from the New Times, Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel along with local bloggers like yours truly.

You may be thinking, "yeah, well, so what?" Yes the Sun-Sentinel already has something similar, but this is far more interactive than a list that is lost on a website. Each blog is in a category (or two) and if you are interested in a certain blog, like parenting, you can click on that section and it will bring up all the blog posts that have recently been updated. You can rate the entry, see the ones with the most comments, etc. And if you click on the "read more" section, it takes you too the blog. So those of you fellow bloggers don't have to worry about your traffic going down.

"How do I know the Herald isn't publishing blogs it approves of?" The system is automated to pull from rss feeds. And if the Herald is willing to post blogs that are critical of it, like Herald Watch then you can be rest assured that you will be included as well. As long as your blog isn't focused on selling things/advertising things.

It's really cool to see that the mainstream media are becoming more accepting of social media now. Don't get me wrong, nothing can replace tried-and-true successful journalism, but that industry is not just tied to paper and ink anymore. Plus it was nice to sit down with Vice Queen Maria, Carlos Miller, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Mango and Lime, Brickell Life, and Dayngrous Discourse and hear everyone's idea.

A stroll around the Gables

As you may have heard around the blogosphere, last week was the great storm of Miami. Seriously, it was ridiculous and I ended up with major cabin fever. So when it finally cleared up, El Hombre and I decided to go for a walk around the Coral Gables Golf Course right before sunset. Despite the thick humid air and mosquitos, it was fantastic to get out and stretch our legs. There were lots of other people biking, running, walking and hanging with their families. We saw kids chasing lightning bugs and groups gathered, talking with neighbors. Clearly everyone else was eager to get outside too.

The golf course itself is not that exciting, and has to be kind of boring to play because it's very flat (especially compared to the places in North Carolina) but it has tons of these massive Banyans that have to be a bitch of a trap:


I love Banyans because I think the sheer size of the canopy is really really cool and there's nothing like seeing all those roots hanging down. The first time I saw one of these I was fascinated.

We also found this historic site, which we explored but never found the fig tree:



This is a nice walk and there are lots of really nice houses to scope out. But next time I will wear repellant.

Bad sign over US1

So I have this weird part of my personality that's pretty obsessive compulsive about things and I tend to focus on things that are ridiculous or off-base a bit. When you combine these elements of my personality and then show me something that is poorly taken care of that ticks off that perfectionist in me, I have to snap a picture.

I get that the letters fell off. But fix your damned sign guys, you look like idiots. But thanks for making me laugh. And yes, I get that I'm immature.