What a week! From the beaches of Miami to Los Angeles to San Francisco. My life in a suitcase.

But first, Miami. Sunday ended with Joel and I at the 12th Street Beach - the gay beach in SoBe - for the afternoon facing a hurricane. Well, perhaps not a hurricane, but we named it anyway. Bonnie just left, so we needed a "C" and we chose "Cabanaboy". Yes, Hurricane Cabanaboy struck shore in Miami around 2pm Sunday. There we were, in swim suits, on the beach. We shoved our things under our chaises and hit the water. Everyone else seemed to run screaming to shelter across the beach and onto the street. We felt smart. We were going to get wet, may as well enjoy the warm ocean water. Right? Ah, but then there was the lightning...

Sunday night, Joel and I were taken out to dinner by Sandra, my boss at Pearson. We chose Bongo's, the restaurant owned by Miami's own sound machine, Gloria Estefan. She was not there. Almost nobody was there. But we had a good conversation and a most enjoyable night.

The week passed along, these were not my favorite students and so the week seemed longer and less interesting than other weeks. I had a few dinners with Sandra, many lunches with Caitlin, and sampled a bit of Brazilian and Columbian fare. Near the end of the week, my last night, to be exact, I had dinner again with Ernie's boyfriend, Kareem, and his friend Ryan. A great piano bar, nice old place. And Ryan was an absolute hottie! Were I to spend another few nights there, I would have tried my clumsiest, most awkward move on him. But I refrained.

Thursday afternoon I flew out of Miami airport to Los Angeles. That was a long day, too. An hour delay on the tarmac while they tried to start the engine (it wasn't a problem with the engine, it was a problem with the machine that starts the engine... and they couldn't find another...) I got home at midnight in Miami time. That's a long day. But I did have one day to rest before...

... San Francisco