So apparently it's been almost 2 months since my last post and a ton has gone on since then so hence the title of random long posting about what's been happening.
During the last stint in Brazil (5-6 weeks) on my new visa I needed to register with the Federal Police in Campinas where I live in order to get an alien resident card, alien resident number etc. Well I paid all the fees, had all the paperwork, photos etc and I went to register, only to have my application rejected once I arrived at the station. Needless to say I was not thrilled and when I questioned as to why it was rejected the woman told me that I needed the original application for my visa from the consulate in Chicago. Keep in mind that I already had the visa in my passport, so I am not equating this to bringing your resume to work everyday after you've gotten the job. The application is the means and the visa is the end, so why do you need both? It's like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? The world will never know, so another question asked another non-answer from the Brazilian government.
The woman at the police station did tell me that on my way out of the country I needed to pay a fine otherwise I could have issues entering country when I returned. So I get to the airport 11 hours before my flight only to find out that that I cannot pay the fine because it's triggered when you return to the country yet the 15 calls we made to the police and to the airport that day all told me to pay the fine when I leave. Needless to say it was not the best start to a Holiday vacation and return trip home.
I arrived back in the cold snowy Chicago to my mom and Big Rick wearing reindeer headgear in the car to pick me up and that really helped start to get me in the Holiday spirit because something about sweating, not wearing a shirt, and wearing shorts and flip flops more than half the time doesn't put me in the Christmas mood. After the picked me up we headed to my apartment in Chicago to unpack and repack and pick up packages, mail, etc that had been waiting for me and then finally got back on the road and headed to Sullivans for a late lunch, and man was it good!
I spent the next week or so in the burbs with my family having Christmas, spending lots of time with my sister and my niece, taking her to McDonalds, playing on the floor, going to Meijer to let her look at the fish, etc. Basically anything to keep a 2 year old entertained which involved lots of playing with babies. I headed back downtown on Monday or Tuesday after Christmas to host a party for the Iowa v Missouri game with some college friends and their wives, gfs, etc. Not too much of the game was watched but it turned out well because Iowa won in the 4th quarter and it was great to see all of my friends since I didn't get to see too many of them while I was at home due to the Holiday's families, travel, etc.
After Christmas I decided to meet one of my friends from Brazil (he is from AZ) in Las Vegas for New Years eve and so I booked a couple of free tickets that I had on SW and American Airlines and headed out to Vegas on New Years eve for a couple of days. Got there in the afternoon in Vegas and met a few people on the plane that offered to give me a ride to my hotel so I didn't have to wait in line for a cab at the airport. All in all it was a great weekend, spent a lot of time watching the football games at the MGM sportsbook, got to see my first UFC fight in Vegas and the tickets were given to us by a guy that played Santa Claus for Dana White (President of the UFC) so we were in the 11th row with $400 tickets that cost us $75. I felt a little bad for the guy that sold us the tickets bc he was supposed to go with his son but he couldn't make it and he admitted that he was an addict for video poker and had recently gotten a royal flush on a machine and won about $3,000. Granted he probably has spent 10x that in his life gambling but who knows. He seemed like a really good person, just felt bad that he was alone during the holiday's. So after the fight my buddy and I got some food and then started to do a little gambling at the roulette wheel at Tropicana. It wasn't too busy so it was a good time there and I managed to dig out of my hole and was only down about $200 at that point. I decided to head to a poker room at the MGM with my buddy and after a couple of drinks, what I thought had flopped 8, 9, J (I am holding a 10 & Q thinking I flopped the straight) i started to increase my bets only to have the dealer tell me what I thought was a 9 was a 6. I pretty much decided that was it for my night told everyone Happy 2011 and started to leave. Well on my way out I have to pass the roulette wheel and as any of my friends will tell you that have been in Vegas with me, it's a point of weakness. So I head over to a table ($25 min) and started to bet $100 per spin on colors letting it ride for the first 4 spins. So after about 10 min (if that) I am up $800 as I am betting so much on each spin. I started to go nuts, cashed in to $500 chips and kept playing until what I thought was about 4:30 or 5 am. I look down at my watch and see that it is 8:30 in the morning and my flight is in just over 2 hours. I head to the cashier, book it back to the hotel, sleep for an hour, get up, pack, and get to the airport. When I arrive at the airport I desperately need food and the only thing I see (sorry Dad) is Burger King. At this point I reach into my wallet and am looking at this wad of bills wondering if I did a drug deal in the middle of the night because when I am done counting I have 19 $100 bills in my wallet and no receipt for an ATM. As the memory comes back and lack of sleep wears off, I realize that I won big, FINALLY, at the roulette wheel and made some decent money this time in Vegas, so I treated myself to some Chinese for dinner and a taxi ride home instead of taking the el.
I spent a week in the Chicago office working there, and then one last weekend in the burbs with my family where we all went out for dinner and then spent another night with Madeline and my family out in the burbs. I got to see my old volleyball coach and friend and her kids which are now approaching teenage age (she had her first when I was in high school) so immediately felt very old.
Heading back to Brazil was very nerve racking for me and again I appreciate all of the prayers and thoughts as I was traveling back here and wondering if I would get in or be sent packing to catch another flight back to the states. I was advised by the attorneys to enter into Rio because they can be somewhat more lax on letting you back and in as I stood in line I was extremely nervous and when I got to the counter the girl told me I needed to talk to the Federal Police so I was placed into a small room with them where I had to answer questions as to why I had not registered etc, and they finally decided to have me pay a fine and I was on my way. All of my bags made it through fine as well (also nervous about that due to how much I was bringing in). After that I met the driver that was taking my bags for me to Campinas (the baggage limits are really high in Brazil and I had to catch another flight to Campinas from Rio so my bags were driven there and met me there at night). All said and done it was 25 hours to get back which normally takes half that.
That's about it for now, the next post will be updates for the past few weeks in Brazil and the adventure of finally registering with the Federal police.
