Boot Camp Has Started ... and Our Week in Naples

Hello everyone, well, those that might read this blog about Grant! It has been about three weeks since I last wrote on it, being a single guy living in Miami, not a whole lot of stuff changes in my life, so writing every week would probably get kind of old and maybe boring for some of you. But a lot has happened in these past few weeks so.....

As already mentioned, the reason I moved to Miami was actually for my job, and I officially started my "Boot Camp" training on April 28, which lasts for approximately 16 weeks, and is very exhausting actually, crazy that working with potato chips would be exhausting, but it really is! So you know what it is that I am doing, and why some of you wonder why you can't get in touch with me during certain hours, I have to be at the Miami Frito Lay Distribution Center by 3:50am every work day, and don't finish until around 4:30pm.

To start my day I get up a little before 3am, (usually to find my roomie arriving home after a fun long night, sometimes with his brothers or pals--laughing at me that I am leaving for work when they're getting home!!) and shower, eat breakfast, do a couple push-ups to get blood flow, and then I'm off to sell potato chips. I spend from 4am -5:15am loading the white truck, that most of you have probably seen driving around town, in a warehouse that has no AC, and is very hot and muggy. Then from 5:15am - 3:30pm I am riding with a Route Driver delivering our product to about 10 stores per day, in that same truck which has no AC, with 94 degree heat and "fun" humidity...I've already lost 5 lbs in less than two weeks! We then get back to the office, finish all of our paperwork, and then take off around 4:30pm for the day. I then eat dinner, shower, check email sometimes, and try to be asleep by 7pm or so, so that I can attempt to get around eight hrs of sleep for my next day, which is identical to the previous...and I do this five days a week including Saturdays, (but excluding Wed and Sun).

It is a very tedious and demanding job that I now have a whole new respect for these route sales guys, and the amount of work and time that they dedicate to their job, truly amazing. I have done it for two weeks, (b/c the week of May 5 - May 9 I had a training in Naples, FL) and I worked over 60hrs week 1, and 58 hours this past week ending today. I am usually beat by about 2 or 3 pm, and by the time I am on my bed at 6:45pm, I can't even concentrate on anything, and I just want to sleep for days, but then what seemed like mins later my alarm is going off way too early in the morning! And the best part about it is starting the week of June 16, I will be running my own route for 12 weeks, with no help from anyone, me alone! So my days will probably be about 2-3 hrs longer my boss told me due to not really fully understanding how to do all those little details that the veterans know ... I can't wait, 15 hr days for five days a week!

As I go through this training, I am so grateful that such a huge company is spending so much time and money to train me, to teach me all of the ropes of this massive global corporation. I know that this detailed and lengthy training will only be of great benefit to me in my future, and I am so happy that I am able to do it, and learn how Frito Lay truly runs a multi-billion dollar corporation, so that I can run it one day!! One thing you should know tho, don't park too close to the water, I found out the hard way.....haha


During all the work there is fun though, and that happened a few times these past few weeks! There are many great reasons to live in Miami, a lot of you already probably have quite a few in your minds, so this might be one to a lot of you, Latins know how to party, and they do it all the time! Cinco de Mayo weekend there was a lot going on down by South Beach and up and down the road alongside the ocean. I saw crazy people on stilts, transvestites, weird animals, some reggae bands, Latin bands, salsa dancing in the street, street vendors, and so much more, and it wasn't even 9pm yet! I unfortunately do not have any pics from that night, so please just use your imagination.

However, I do have pics from my week in Naples, FL for a region wide Frito Lay training and celebration that we had there, which was so nice and enjoyable! They really went all out for us, I wasn't able to take advantage of everything they had to offer; such as the open unlimited bar, but I was able to enjoy the amazing catered food, private Gulf of Mexico view rooms, private beach, and so many other fun and memorable moments. This is me standing on my balcony, with the Gulf behind me, it was so pleasant!

I was told that the Miami Zone is considered one of the "wildest and craziest zones in the entire Nation," and for sure the "biggest partiers in Florida," but I guess I really didn't realize it until I went to an open bar, karaoke singing to Pitbull, "Toma" oye loca, ven pa aca, nightly celebrations with everyone, a scavenger hunt that included jumping in the pool fully clothed, (or at least should have been!), hanging out on the beach, and so much more ... Miami really does know how to party. This group of guys and girls would be singing and dancing to any type of music, always holding a drink in their hand-of whatever it may have been, mine always water or Pepsi, and laughing or joking the entire time, in good ways! Just a little fun fact, I was the only one there out of about 150 that did not drink! I did not know that someone could turn the Cha Cha Slide into a very, whats the word I'm looking for, sensual dance, but they did, a lot, and it was so fun...although it is hard to tell, they eventually got down!

Something that really impressed me about Naples was how united and close our zone of Miami really is, we all get along so well, and are so close and friendly not only with each other, but with everyone else that attended! They are a great group of wonderful individuals, and I love being a part of the Miami team.

Also, I had the wonderful blessing of seeing some of our Heavenly Father's most beautiful creations while there in Naples, which helped me to reflect upon how grateful I am for all that I have and all that I have been blessed with especially recently. I am so grateful for my family, and the unending support and unconditional love that they always give me, to help me to keep pressing forward, no matter how hard things may appear. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father, and His perfect love and mercy in giving me this opportunity and privilege to be here on earth at this time, and to have all that I have; a wonderful job in a beautiful place, surrounded by people that are so kind and loving. I am so happy and so fortunate, and could never do enough to truly say thank you to Him, but I try regularly in my prayers and actions and example to all those around me b/c fortunately, and through my efforts, everyone knows that I am the Mormon ... and I get the great privilege of being able to share the gospel here and there almost every single day in some way or another, and I love it!

Friends and family, I love you guys so much and hope that we all find ways to share the gospel with people we are around, however we can do it, I just hope that we are in fact doing it. I am so happy out here in the MIA with my job and my opportunity to learn and grow, although it is not completely enjoyable I guess you could say waking up at 2:50am, and working 12-14 hrs per day, but I'm still smiling! And above all I am so grateful and happy for the wonderful opporuntity to be here at this time to progress on earth, so that I can hopefully return to live with my Heavenly Father and Lord again one day with my family. I love you guys and hope that all of you are having wonderful days and weeks, and know that although we may not talk regularly, you are still in my heart.

The King of MIA!

This past week was a good, pretty uneventful week for the most part, although I did have some good times. Well, I started the second official week of my job, which was fun and exciting b/c I went on some sales rides and set up a few displays in some grocery stores to try and sell more Frito Lay products ... yes, I technically sell potato chips and other salty food snacks to a very receiving and open market, it's wonderful! I am already well-known in my office as the big gringo that speaks Spanish, and I am getting along with all the guys very well. We joke and have a good time, I keep everyone smiling, and even sometimes laughing.

One really cool thing that I've noticed is that the sunsets in Miami are some of the best I have ever seen, as you can see in the photo to the left. I took that outside my apartment building a few days ago, which I officially moved in to my pad this past Monday. Although it is about 20 miles from my office, I have been fortunate that it only takes about 35 mins to get to work usually in the morning, and a tad longer getting home due to traffic and of course people keeping alligators in their backseats, and then cops pull them over and that slows things up. Also, in terms of traffic and Miami being very crazy, a very unfortunate thing happened this past week which is still being investigated, they found a body in the middle of the highway on Friday at 4am, there was no car, just a body. So they shut down one of the busiest highways in Miami for about half the day investigating, and still are not sure how, or what happened.

Also on Friday, my dad came down from Gainesville for a University of Florida alumni and employee networking event in Ft. Lauderdale. So I got to hang out with him for an exciting Friday night, and enjoy some good food, and was able to meet some good people down here in South Florida. It was a lot of fun. He and I went down to a famous road in Ft Lauderdale called Las Olas Blvd and saw some very nice cars, beautiful homes, and big boats. We then drove down to Miami to show him where I live and mi barrio, which wasn't quite as nice as parts of Ft. Lauderdale, but its nice nevertheless! On Saturday we just grabbed some breakfast and then he took off back to Gainesville, and I left back down to Miami. We had a good time, although it was short.

On Saturday I went to the beach in front of my apt called Sunny Isles Beach (which is North Miami Beach), and just walked around for a bit people enjoying the beach and ocean, and saw some disputes between a drunk and a woman with security involved, and found out that the water has some sort of bacteria in it and nobody should swim in it for a few days, or maybe they said weeks, we'll see! I then took the part back to my place where I swam in my pool and took a little nap over-looking the coastal waterway and the boats. It is beautiful weather out here right now, so I am trying to enjoy it before summer hits full blast in a couple months. Although it is really not that bad during the summer, it is just wonderful now!

Unfortunately, I get bored quickly, so I am looking for more things to do out here on Saturdays, and maybe some of the evenings, to keep myself busier than I already am, and I've got a couple ideas of what I'd like to do, but we'll see if they happen. So in the meantime, I just drive around and walk around checking out all the local hot spots ... South Beach, but this time in the evening! I went down there last night, and was very pleased to find out that I actually only live less than 9 miles from South Beach, and spent about 3 hrs just looking at some of the most outrageous cars I have ever seen, and some that are very nice. Sorry, but I only have a pic of a nice one, b/c the pics of the outrageous didn't turn out. As you can see, this is a very nice yellow on yellow Lamborghini. I also saw some old cars that had been raised quite a few inches, and then they put huge custom wheels on them, like well over 36" wheels, and some had the hydraulic systems that make the cars bounce. I also saw some trucks the size of monster trucks driving around down here, with neon lights, terribly loud stereo systems, and more things than I can list. South Beach is nuts!


As I was walking around down there, I came upon a very funny and unique name of a Chinese restaurant and could not pass it up without taking a photo of it ... I think I saw a good friend of mine Robert Campbell inside ... the sick part about this is that it is in South Beach, so that name has much more meaning that I'd personally like to think of.

One sad, but just very different thing that happened to me this past week happened Thurs when I was leaving Walmart with a lot of cleaning supplies, and a bag of chips and some Mt Dew, I had a beggar come up to me and ask me for money, so I asked her if she wanted food, she said yes, so I gave her my chips. She then was disappointed with me and asked for more, I showed her that I just had a lot of cleaning supplies, and she looked at me and didn't say thanks or anything, and again asked for more, and said "Come on, I've got four kids." I said to her, "are you serious, you come on, i just gave you food and you re not grateful ... get outta here." She walked away angry after getting free food, strange! Then last night, I had another beggar, another woman, in a wheelchair repeatedly bump into me while I was at a CVS Pharmacy trying to buy a soda. I asked her what she'd like and she said nothing, but then bumped into me with her wheelchair another 5 or so times! Great times!

Well, in closing, to the end this great week, I was asked by the Branch President to share my testimony during Sacrament today b/c we only had one speaker, the Stake representative. I love the gospel, and am sharing it as much as I can out here, its wonderful! Like I said, I had a very good week, I always do, especially this one as it was my birthday on Thursday! I am so very blessed, I have the true and eternal gospel, a wonderful family, loving girlfriend, great job, the only area I need to work on is in the friends category, I have only decent friends -- thanks a lot for not remembering my sweet sixteen guys -- haha! I love it here, and love all y'all so much! I hope you also had a great week and have an even better one this upcoming week. Enjoy this photo this week that I took of the beach today on my phone! Take care!

Bienvenidos a Miami!

Good evening friends and family from Miami Beach at night! I've decided that this might be the easiest way for me to let everyone know how I am doing, and what I am doing, in my new city of Miami, and with my new job with Frito Lay! So I will be updating this hopefully on a regular basis.

These past couple weeks have been fun, interesting, and at times very frustrating just trying to get accustomed to the way of life down here, especially knowing that when I drove through the last tollbooth the Latin woman asked for my passport, in Spanish, and then said Bienvendios a Miami! This is a very unique and exciting city for many reasons...probably mainly b/c the entire eastern side is a beach, it seems that many stores and shops are open all hours of the day the further south you go, and English is not the main language, nor is it in the top 3 or 4 languages! The weather is very nice, and rumor has it that it is nice year round, we'll see about that during this year's hurricane season. I could go on and on about what I've heard about this place, but I'll just share with everyone what I've personally seen and experienced thus far as the new King of MIA!

Last week I got to Miami, and had my first meeting with my company, and it went really well. They still seem to be excited about me, so I give it another couple weeks until their excitement wears off and they want to get rid of me. I then drove up to Gainesville to visit my parents, and sister and my niece and nephew Ashley & Austin (they were in town visiting for a week or so). Now Gainesville is about 325 miles north of Miami, which is close enough that I could visit my parents, but far enough away that I should never get any surprise visits from them! We all had a great time, and just hung out and enjoyed good family time for a couple days! Ashley is just over 2 yrs old and enjoys singing, and would sing like Ariel to me, which was very cute! Austin is about 5 ans 1/2 now, and is very kind and funny...must run in the family. Also, while I was in G-Ville, I got a new Camry, and I like it a lot, my only concern is how long it will last with all these crazy Latin American drivers down here that believe it or not, do not have turn signals installed in their vehicles, and left, right, and u-turns are allowed from any lane that you choose. It should be fun.

Well, I then got to Miami last Friday, April 4, and had a fun experience meeting an Ultimate Fighter in a gas station, that was very kind, and would like to hang out, but intimidated me enough so that I might just hang out so I am not found in an alley some night. As I was trying to get gas and a bite to eat, I then realized that you either speak Spanish, or you will have a hard time getting by, b/c nearly every single person speaks Spanish. I am fortunate that I also speak it, so thus far it has been fun, and reminds me of my mission I served for my church in Santiago Chile.

I have spent a lot of time, in fact almost every hour outside of work looking for an apartment to live in, and up until yesterday it has been horrible. Its very unfortunate, the real estate market in Miami is, how do I put this, not doing so well. In fact, every single place that I have looked at has coincidentally been in either foreclosure, pre-foreclosure, or the steps before pre-foreclosure begins. As sad as that is for those people, what that means for me is a headache of trying to determine how long I can live in a certain place before the bank takes it completely and removes all tenants; so I could have anywhere between 30 days and no more than probably 180 days in a place that is going through foreclosure. This is irritating b/c the owners do not want to share this "unimportant" info with me b/c they would be able to collect my first and last month's rent, and security deposit, and then if it gets taken, they take my money and run.

So I had not been able to find a place until yesterday when I met a very nice guy, Julio Triana, inside a bldg off of Collins Blvd in Sunny Isles Beach, which is North Miami Beach. He showed me a couple places, including his own where he introduced me to his wife and family, showed me some family pictures, and then topped it off by inviting me to his mother-in-law's birthday party with his entire family! Here I was, this 6'4" 225lb gringo, standing around with about 12 5'0" - 5'7" Latins, eating empanadas, chocolate cake, and singing Feliz Cumpleanos, and I was taking photos for them! It was a fantastic time, for both them and me, and even more amazing that they are so open to allow me into their home, to share that family time together...loving people! As a result of those fun times, I am going to be living with Julio's son, Jonathan, in a beautiful apt over looking the coast, so it will be fun and exciting next 9 months, probably more so for him than me.

This is the view from the pool, and our balcony... not too bad!















This morning I woke up and decided that I wanted to have just a little fun, so I drove to South Beach, and spent a few hours there walking around people watching, and enjoying the beautiful weather, that I have gotten very spoiled with just after two weeks, I love it, and trying to hang out with Will Smith...Dominican women with cinnamon tans! South Beach is funny, b/c you take Miami, and all the stereotypes of craziness and fun, and then multiply it by like 100, and you end up with South Beach! I saw a a lot of interesting things: a guy about 35ft up in a palm tree, throwing coconuts down to a guy that was trying to catch them in a trash can, but only caught maybe 1 out of every 4, and the rest were being dodged by pedestrians walking by, I am not sure how many drunks I saw, but a lot, I saw dogs that were bigger than me, many guys holding hands with guys as they roller-skate by, and girls holding hands with girls, and some other not so funny things, and many other funny things! I actually was able to enjoy a front row seat to the "AVP" I think it's called, which is some big Beach Volleyball Tournament with about 25 nets set up, and there were multiple matches and games and fun things to see and do on the beach around it. There was also some Miami Heat music dj, with a loud stereo system with the Miami Heat dancers and entertainers doing stuff for everyone-fun.


I started out at Lincoln and Collins and walked south about 20 blocks south to what is called 1st and Ocean, and then back up, which almost killed me, and especially my feet, b/c I haven't done much ejercisios lately! I really want my close, and beautiful friends Joshua and Michelle to know how much this meant to me, to see where it all started for them....

And to top it all off on Miami's South Beach, I was able to watch what I consider the most awesome thing ever, a live filming of Tru TV's "Beach Patrol: Miami Beach!!" My buddy Dave and I once spent hours watching Tru TV, and he told me before I left that I'd better get on that show! Unfortunately and fortunately I was not on it, but at least I got this as a souvenir from it...I love you DNix!

Well everyone I'm signing off, I know this was long, and for those that know me know that I am long-winded, but I hope you enjoyed it, b/c there will be many more coming in the weeks and months to come...and I plan on it only getting more and more exciting! I hope all of you are doing well throughout the country. Have a great week, I love all of you so much! Ciao for now!