Dear Luciana,

Sure, come to America.  Come to Louisiana.  Come to my cubicle at KTBS, where I will promptly, although accidentally, erase all of your pictures from your month-long stay in our country.

I am such the ambassador of peace.

I know you were gracious about my accident as I tried to download a single picture of you, me and Fletch.  Nice one, Sher.

But still, all of the sudden, when I hear “The Girl from Ipanema”, I feel nauseaus…like I felt before a track race in high school when I smelled Ben Gay as I was warming up around the track.  Like there’s no way I can do this justice. 

So, here’s to my new friend… a version of this great song I think is more beautiful than any American version.   Couple that with the reassurance that if all of your pics are not on the CD we made for you in an effort to retrieve them, I will personally come to Brazil for oh, a year or so, and help you take more pics that will be so much more entertaining than those you took of museums!!!    

Seriously, I so loved your visit here with us! Please come back soon, my friend! 

Sher   

-If a family member has been on a cruise within the last couple of weeks to Cozumel should there be concern? Caraway says depending on the date your family travelled, the Cozumel port might have been closed and the ship diverted to other ports. Most cruise ships have eliminated port stops in Cozumel into next week.  Carnival is extending its Cozumel elimination on cruises to May 10th. -If I have a trip planned for next month, should I cancel or replan now? Caraway says if your travel is several weeks away, take a wait and see approach. The situation is fluid. You still have up until May 31st to make a decision with most airlines.

(Las Vegas) - I’m here with several managers from the station for the National Association of Broadcasters.  More on that later.   Before I head to my first session, I wanted to share with you some things I heard and saw on the way here.

It was a very nice flight here on Allegiant, but the abruptness of some of the annoucements made me wonder how the need for them came to be. 

“There is nothing complimentary.”  I get it.  The economy.  When I walked in on a man in the restroom, I thought the airline was also cutting back on locks for the doors. 

“Please do not stand in our galley area or near our flight deck door.”  OoooKayyyy, never even considered doing that.   

The announcements reminded me of a quote from an irrate pilot on the Phil Hendrie Show:

“Oh, you want air, or you want us to refuel the plane?  We can turn on the air for you and you’ll be as cool as a cucumber as we sail that plane straight into the ocean!”

Ever spent the night in an airport?  Tonight’s my night!  This is my gate at the airport in Atlanta. 

 I got evil looks just now when I took this picture.  Apparently the flash woke some up.  What?  You’d think they were caught in flight delay hell today because of the storms.  I mean, they’re all acting like they missed several connections and have to sleep in the airport or something.  I appear to be the only cheery one here at the gate.  And the only one still awake.  

I have blanket envy.  The guy in the white t-shirt just pulled a blanket all cozy up around his chin.  I’m about to offer someone some serious money for an extra shirt.  

Hazel and Jimmy in London, on their way to Switzerland.  Maybe Jimmy will buy something to wear other than that dress.

While they were there, they actually put on a tea tour for tourists.  I know, I, too, was stunned since only one hand between the two of them is apparent.  These two amaze me.  Here are some of the signatures from the guestbook. 

        Hazel and Jimmy, moments ago, in the Flagship Lounge at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, on their way to Switzerland.

The good news:  H&J travel light and won’t have to pay those pesky new baggage check fees.  Heck, they wear the same thing every single day.   

The bad news:  Many airlines have started raising prices on what you eat and drink in the sky.  And Hazel likes a cocktail or two every couple of hours.  There goes the baggage savings.

My friend who is taking them overseas said Jimmy got detained and patted down by security, is taciturn, and she’s afraid of what he might say on the plane that might get his little cardboard behind tossed out over the ocean. 

I’m concerned that these creepy, elderly, disorderly babies could bring Switzerland out of its neutral state.  

I ran across this picture of me, HRB and Suzie on vacation somewhere and I suddenly realized why I force myself to go shopping before I leave town for any reason.  Whatup with the hard shoes, no socks and turtleneck?  No wonder in almost all of our vacation pics, we look very uncomfortable.  And well, what we used to call queer.

HRB apparently had to attend a business conference that day.   Points for Suzie for rockin’ the sailor top near the water.  She’s always had fashion sense.  Look at how she’s trying to distance herself from HRB and me.

That’s probably our dad in the background walking away like he doesn’t know us.

H&J are in recovery mode. 

-They’re suffering from jet lag.

-Their big heads are about to explode from information they took in during the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas.

-They had excessive fun (see previous posting’s pictures). 

-Their feet are blistered from walking miles and miles (our chief engineer told Hazel not to wear stilletos) 

Although they’re exhausted, they’re excited about using what they’ve learned in this age of new media transition.  Suggestions for how to recover and get back to work after a convention of this magnitude?  Throw a couple of geezer-looking babies some advice here. 

Where do you want to go next year?  Already have plans for a vacation?  Where do you wish you could go?  Your answer, rt, should mention where you would go in a fantasy life in which you actually left the house.