Friday Donuts

Friends, Beauty surrounds us. It doesn't have to take the form of a colorful sunset or gorgeous supermodel. From engaging conversations to warm embraces, beauty is always there for the taking. It can be a painting, a song or a building. A touch of silk, a whiff of coffee, a bite of a donut. Even the smallest things can have surprising nuance and beauty. A smile, a blade of grass or even a tiny seashell. All you need is an open mind and a positive attitude. So, as you go through your day, keep an open heart for the beauty all around you. Happy Friday!

Friends, When on vacation, I prefer to avoid big crowds, structured activities and fabricated entertainment. Give me a beautiful mountain, a tranquil beach or a city to get lost in and I’ll have a great time. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never been on a cruise ship. That’s also why I had never stayed at an all-inclusive resort – until now. My first experience? Not great. We arrived at San Andrés Island at 8:30 AM and were quickly whisked away to Decameron Marazul (presumably the weakest link in the resort chain). Once there, the staff proceeded to deny us check-in as well as the bracelets to enjoy the facilities until 3:00 PM, followed by a refusal to exchange our money so we could pay for a cab into town because, get this, we didn’t have a room. I managed to work through the circular logic and got them. The consistently lackluster service by an indifferent staff, the leak in my bedroom ceiling and exclusive use of bottom-shelf liquor… Then there’s the attempt to greenwash their cost-saving

Friends, People are not great at putting large numbers in perspective. Take spicy food. I think most folks would agree with me that a 5,000 Scoville Heat Unit Jalapeño pepper is pretty spicy. Follow it with a Rocoto pepper at 250,000 SCUs and you’ll probably say it’s hotter, but I doubt you’d tell me it takes 50 Jalapeños to get the same burn. Now say, hypothetically, someone received a bottle of Ají Escorpión hot sauce for their birthday last month (names have been omitted to protect the guilty). Say also they were foolish enough to spread some over their meal without reading the label (you’ve tried one hot sauce, you’ve tried them all, right?). Given this particular brand is made with Trinidad Scorpion peppers and clocks in at nearly 1.5 million SCUs, that person might go running for a leftover Salt Donut and then proceed to discard the remainder of that otherwise delicious fried rice. Needless to say, it’s going to take a while to finish that birthday gift. Happy Friday!

Friends, When confronted with a sea of work it's tempting to dip your toe rather than take the plunge into the deep end. The prospect of the monumental swim can be paralyzing. But once you're in, the water is brisk and the dip invigorating. Granted, distractions can make it so your attention and the tasks you're trying to accomplish are two ships passing in the night.You skim the surface and struggle to reach the depths you were meant for. But if you hold your breath and just keep swimming, joy awaits at the shore. Like they say, drain the ocean one teaspoon at a time (okay, maybe they don´t say that, but maybe they should). And with that, it feels appropriate that I head out to the Salty Donut. They recently opened a beachhead in Colorado. I hear good things. Ahoy mateys! Happy Friday! P.S. Peek-a-boo!