I am Pablo

This year´s holiday celebrations have taken me to Quito, Ecuador with Katty and her family. Although we have celebrated Christmas before outside of Chicago, this marks the first time I am away from my family. Thankfully, I feel like part of the family here in Quito! Their traditions are a bit different than that of our family. The big family dinner is late on Christmas eve and the presents are opened at or after midnight. This doesnt exactly jive with Papa Noel (Santa) coming down the chimney in the middle of the night, so the Niño Jesus (baby Jesus) is the one that brings the gifts. Though apparently this is starting to change as Papa Noel´s presence is greater every year. That being said, its quite bizzare to see Santa everywhere in his full red garb and hat when its almost 70 degrees out!! Its a bit hard for the Quiteños to understand why I miss the cold at Christmas time, but it has been an ever present factor in Christmas most of my life!! Thought when I left Chicago it was -16F without windchill! Can´t say I´m missing that too much. But from what I hear, it was 60 in Chicago yesterday! Maybe sending warm thoughts actually worked??

view from Casa Salgado on Christmas Eve

I´ve been going from one family function to another as Katty has a huge family here in Ecuador. Lunch and dinners with 20+ people seems to be the norm! Of course, I can´t get enough of it because it reminds me so much of my family in Spain. It has also been great to get to know everybody in her family that much better! Each of these mini reunions are filled with food, drinks, conversations and laughter, they are such a blast!! I´ll come back with tons of wonderful memory and a huge panza (gut)!! I can´t complain that Katty´s family has so many good cooks! Speaking of, I decided to bring a bit of our holiday traditions to Ecuador. I made the vegetable casserole that we always have this time of year along with some christmas cookies - both were a huge hit!! I´m not sure if they were more impressed with the food or the fact that a man cooked it! Getting the proper ingredients was a story in and of itself!

My first week (of three!) has been great thus far! With the New Year´s celebrations around the corner, as well as trips to Cuenca and the Amazon, I have much to look forward to! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!

Mila's Masters

My sister in law Milagros graduated from the University of Chicago with her Masters of Arts in Social Sciences yesterday! The ceremony was at the Rockefeller Chapel in Hyde Park, followed by a reception by her program for the graduates! As Mom pointed out, she had never seen students so happy to be graduating! We, of course, were thrilled for Mila - what a huge step! Congrats to the graduate!!! We took her to Reza’s in Andersonville to continue the celebration!

Thanksgiving 2007

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving! My Aunt and cousins came down from MN, we made a TON of food and stayed up late into the night playing Rummy Royal! I had actually come up to my parents on Wednesday to make my Grandmother’s German turkey stuffing. I also decided to treat myself to a massage at Egea - it was very much needed! On Thursday we headed up in the early afternoon to help with the cooking and preparations. Teresa picked out a wonderful new recipe - Butternut Squash-Pecan Gratin with Goat Cheese. Wasn’t too hard to make and the results were spectacular! HIGHLY recommended holiday dish! (especially for the vegetarians out there!)

Chicago’s gigantic tree after the show on Saturday

Yes - Thanksgiving was over a week ago, but this past week ranks down with the worst of ‘em. I, as usual, stretched myself too thin during the holiday. I even preemptively took Wednesday as a sick day to enjoy a long 5 day weekend - but that wasn’t to be. After going out too late two nights in a row, running back and forth between the folks and the city, throwing in a trip to Madison for a night… my body decided it was payback time. I felt it creeping up on me on Sunday while having dinner for my Mom’s birthday - I was totally out of it. I got home at a decent hour, but Pepe was in town and wanted to go out for a drink. I convinced them to do coffee instead - which turned into dinner. I only ordered soup - but about halfway through our meal I started shaking. Rather then head straight home, I weathered it out - and as soon as I got home, I finally took my temperature - 101.9. Oops. Suffice it to say, I hardly slept that night, and ended up calling in sick on Monday and Tuesday. I felt better on Wednesday, but just getting to the office took a lot out of me. Headed to my Dad’s clinic and he verified that I still had a fever and now my glands were all swelling up. Wonderful. Went to work on Thursday and Friday - but did little to nothing at home. Finally went out for the first time last night, with the self-imposed midnight curfew. I have to say, I haven’t been hit this hard for quite some time. It ain’t easy being sick - and if it wasn’t for BSG - I’d have driven myself crazy by now! Still not 100% recovered - but almost there. My body is telling me to take things down a notch.

That being said, spending time with the entire family (including my Aunt and cousins from MN) was wonderful. I’m kicking myself a bit as I wasn’t collected enough to remember to take any group family photos - good thing memories last forever! I even got to catch up with my friend Marisa in Madison! It was fantastic seeing her and spending time with her - it had been over 5 years! Timing was a bit tight as I had a show on Saturday to go to with the fam, after a 2.5 hour return drive I arrived exactly when the show began! Luckily they started a bit late - so I got to enjoy every second of Tao! HIGHLY recommended!

In other news - congrats to the proud new parents Mark and Dana!! Their baby Caroline is adorable!

His Obituary

I have just arrived home from the return trip to Minnesota. It has been a long weekend - but it was wonderful to be surrounded by family, and to be there for, and with, each other to celebrate Unky Steve’s life. (we have called my uncles “unky” all of our lives) The funeral service today was beautiful, I can’t imagine a better way to honor his life. Last night I decided to write something to read during his eulogy, as thoughts about his life, and his impact on mine had been swimming in my head for days…

One of my first memories of Unky Steve is at the pool when we lived in Dixon, IL. Unky Steve would demonstrate to us the arcane art of the Cannonball. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Canonball, let me take a moment to describe it. Unky Steve would begin by taking a swig of brewsky, he would then walk confidently onto the diving board, once he got to the edge he would pound on his chest with his hands, then jump as high as he could, grab his legs close to his chest, and attempt to displace as much water as humanly possible. For my brother Greg and I, this was the ultimate spectacle at the pool. We would watch in awe as the resulting splash would send water in all directions, creating waves so large that they would spill over the edge. He would always emerge, vigorously shaking the water off of his head, with a jovial laugh, awaiting the report from us on how high the water went. “It was higher than the fence!!” “It went up to that tree branch over there!!” We were amazed at this talent, and would try to duplicate it ourselves, as Unky Steve would laugh heartily at our attempts while taking another swig of brewsky. Nobody can do the Cannonball like Unky Steve!

Now I see that Unky Steve himself epitomized the Canonball. His voice and his laughter were both explosive and infectious. He made waves wherever he went, his joy of life spilling over and touching the lives of all of those who surrounded him. He would face each challenge by standing at the edge, pounding on his chest, jumping higher than the time before and creating an even larger splash! He was always drinking in life, enjoying every last drop. Those of us that had the fortune to witness it will always strive to duplicate his resolve and his passion for life.

For his last Cannonball, everybody watched. He fought like hell, approached the edge, pounded on his chest saying “come on Kimball”, and then finally jumped higher than he ever has before. When he came down into the water – his waves washed over us all, the resulting splash reached the heavens.

We’ll miss you Unky Steve.

Thank you all for your phone calls, messages, thoughts and prayers - your support has helped me grieve and helped me heal.

My Uncle Steve passed away this morning at 11am. He had been taken from the Mayo clinic to a Hospice closer to his family in MN. My Mom and Uncle Greg were with him when he passed away - the rest of us are heading up there tomorrow morning. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. My Mom sent me this prayer recently:

Do not look forward to the chances and change of this life in fear; rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God will deliver you out of them. He has kept you hitherto…
Do you but hold fast to His dear hand, and He will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand, he will bear you in his arms. Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to beat it. Be at peace then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.
– St. Francis DeSales

I was going to enter the Engadget HD contest with my setup, but when talking to Greg about it I realized that his was far worse! We took the above video today for his entry. Unfortunately, the e-mail bounced - Engadget HD’s 3gb GMail account was full!! We await to see what they will say about those whose entries bounced. In the mean time for your enjoyment…

Greg and Mila have been backpacking through South America for over a week now. I’ve been meaning to link them for a while, click on the above picture to get to their blog. Follow them as they travel from Ecuador to Argentina - mostly by bus! They are currently in Peru - and it seems as though they are having a blast!

Buen Viaje Greg y Mila!

*edit*

Ohhh… you can embed a slideshow with Picasa now!

Event #1 Friday - Mila’s Citizenship party

Arrival: ~8pm
Departure: 4:30am
Lets just say that I had to see some of the videos that I took to jog my memory about the party!

Event #2 Saturday - Club Lakewood Memorial Day Party

First drink: 1pm
Last drink: 4am
Dave ended up ordering a second keg! Teresa and her friends came by later in the evening and ended up the last ones to leave!

Event #3 Sunday - Closing show for Hall of Hungry Ghosts (Mom and Teresa’s play) & Cast Party

Play started at 2pm
Left the cast party shortly after 6pm
The play was fantastic! Sunday was definitely the better of the two performances that I saw. Very proud of both Mom and Teresa!

Event #4 Sunday - Pepe’s going away party

Arrived after 7pm
Went to bed at 7:30am
LONG night - given the fact that I was already exhausted from the nights prior! Suerte en Nueva York Pepe!

Event #5 Memorial Day - Cubbies Rooftop Outing

Bloody Marys and Mimosas - 11am
Last drink for the day - 8pm
On just over 3 hours of sleep - I’m not really sure how I made it through the day!

Almost a week later, and I’m still not sure I’ve fully recovered! I ended up taking Tuesday off for some much needed R&R. The rest of the week went by quickly, and this weekend has been much more relaxed. Did I want to participate in every event? Yes. Did I have to stay up until the wee hours of the morning? No.

One of these days I’ve got to set my limits - before I find them the hard way!

I wanted to congratulate Mila for becoming a US citizen! Ready to vote in the next election!?

Glad I could be there for the ceremony, it was a memorable experience! By the way - I can’t remember the last time I stated the pledge of allegiance!