The "I Was Wrong" Files: The Cereal Bowl

The Cereal Bowl is a cereal restaurant located near South Miami in a strip mall on US1. Yes, a CEREAL restaurant. Check out the menu on their website. When I first saw this restaurant appear in 2006, I had to pop in just to see if it was indeed a restaurant that served only cereal. I walked through the doors of their (empty) restaurant, took a look at their all-cereal menu, walked out, and started laughing hysterically. I gave the place 6 months, TOPS. I work in the foodservice industry; I spend my days selling to restaurants in the area, and I've acquired the nasty habit of making this kind of snap assessment of new restaurants. Often, I'm right--a lot of people have this dream of owning their own restaurant, but the reality of it is, it is a brutal business, and more new restaurants die than survive. And a CEREAL restaurant? I mean, please.... Now, as my segue, I will share a little story with you. Back in the day, when the VCR was newish, and so were videotapes, a small video store opened in my dad's little town. As he tells it, he walked through the doors of this (empty) store, took a look at their room full of rental videos, walked out, and....well, he didn't laugh hysterically, but he did mentally give the place 6 months. Video rentals? Hah! Bad idea. Never fly. Get the parallel?
My point is, last weekend, my mom's group was scheduled to meet with the kiddie's at The Cereal Bowl. "I can't believe this place is still around," I thought, as I looked to their website for hours of operation. I found that not only are they still around, they are turning a nice profit, and are preparing to franchise! Check out this recent article that I found about their business. So, this is one for the "I Was Wrong" Files. I ended up taking the girls that morning, and they loved it. Loved it! They shared a horrible concoction that the the nine-year-old created, of Cookie Crisp mixed with Rice Krispies and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and topped with apple pie filling (she ran a con game on this one by asking if she could get "apples on top"...grrr...I'll know better next time.) This was the two-year-old's first ever bowl of cereal, so as you can imagine, she was ecstatic. I had a coffee, and the girls wandered over to the little couch/tv area and watched some cartoons. I already know we'll be back--it's actually a great little place to take the kids. Cereal Bowl, I apologize! I Was Wrong.

As the Miami-Dade School Board Turns

I'm a salesperson, so I spend a LOT of time in my car. I listen to 91.3 on the radio all day long--home to NPR, PRI, and once a month, to the Miami-Dade County School Board meetings. These meetings can last for hours, and I used to switch the channel immediately when I heard the school board meetings begin--who wants to listen to several hours of a formal meeting? Then one day, I listened for a while, and found the meetings to be informative, and actually very entertaining--most of the board members have strong personalities, they argue, talk each other down, and present their points passionately. These days, the meetings are also full of important and disturbing information regarding our district.
This year, the state of Florida has made significant cuts in the budgets of our state's school districts, and the districts and school boards must attempt to bring their budgets in line. Here in Miami, this has been the cause of much drama, and as of yesterday's board meeting, over 2000 jobs have been cut for next school year. Teachers, counselors, specialists, assistant principals, PE teachers, and so on.
I read this article this morning on MiamiHerald.com, and all the followup comments from other readers.
What is going on here? All of these jobs cut, but no reduction in the salaries of the highest-paid administrators, including Superintendent Crew? A reduction in the salaries of the highest-paid administrators was proposed by board member Marta Perez, but was voted down. Here is a quote from an article on nb6.net: "Let the people who are in the trenches, doing the work, making the $8 an hour, know that we're standing in the trenches with them, that we're all willing to take the cut," Logan said.
District administrator Eric Parker spoke on behalf of his fellow employees.
"The true net effect of cost savings that you may have as a result of this item would not make a dent in terms of the $284 million deficit that you have," Parker said.
I tend to agree with board members Dr. Perez and Ana Rivas Logan--the fact that reducing salaries of higher paid administrators won't greatly affect the deficit isn't the POINT. The point is, if you are asking your staff to suffer, then suffer with them to show that you are all in it together--that one important way that leaders earn and keep the respect of those they are leading. Years ago, I worked for a national education organization that was geared to helping public schools succeed, and what I learned was that the biggest factor in turning a school around was the presence of a strong leader (school principal, at the school level.)
Miami is a great city in many ways, much beloved to me, but I have to admit that I have little faith in our city or county governments. Too much dirty stuff goes on and makes it into the papers, so who knows what is going on that we DON'T find out about?

Members Only, Part 1: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Our family is: me, Erik (daddy), Skyler (9yo), and Elle (almost 2). Also in the house, and really a part of the family, are Michelle (my friend who is also Elle's nanny), and her son Dom (almost 2).

So, if we go to the zoo, or the museum, or the water park, it is often worth it to buy a one-time family membership for the household that will allow any of us to go for an entire year as many times as we would like. We've had memberships to the Miami Metro Zoo, Fairchild Gardens, and the Miami Science Museum. I've also looked in the annual memberships at the Miami Children's Museum and Jungle Island. I'm going to report on the benefits of each from my firsthand experience.

Best All-Around Membership: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Miami is, well, LOUD. And Fairchild is not. As an adult, I love this membership because IF I can catch some alone time, there is no better place to wander. As a parent, I love Fairchild because there are truly amazing things for kids to discover there that aren't made of plastic, that aren't accompanied by some squeaky cartoon-character voice, that aren't desperately loud and in-your-face in order to catch a kid's attention. Giant lizards. Iguanas that gallop and climb trees. Big turtles that jump out of the water. Flowers that look like giant puffballs. Streams, lakes, tiny waterfalls. A tree that looks like it has been painted with watercolors. There are paths large and small, wide lawns for the kids to run free, and when a break is needed, an air-conditioned snack bar. Upon entry, you can ask for the "scavenger hunt" sheet for older kids, which will keep them occupied and is fun for all to help with.

They have really generous membership terms, too. A Family & Friends annual membership ($125) allows 2 adults from the same household, plus 2 guests per visit. Kids under 5 are free. The membership includes all their festivals and special events, of which there are many throughout the year. These events typically have a ticket price of $20+.

We live really close to Fairchild, so that's one more reason this wins Best All-Around Membership. Check out this page for a list of all the membership benefits, bells and whistles.

And The Winner Is...

I was registering for a contest on MomsMiami last night, and it reminded me of this weird (and ultimately unproductive) phase I went through a few years ago where I really got into registering for sweepstakes online. I know, weird, huh? Don't ask me how I got caught up in the frenzy of spending an hour a day searching for and entering contests online, but actually, there are lots of people out there who are really into entering sweepstakes and contests, and they enter several every day. Check it out here. At the time, I even found a website for people into sweepstakes, where they would give tips to each other on new contests, how to enter repeatedly, and on their boards, they would report when they had won something, and then congratulate each other and keep each other "pumped up" about sticking with it. It was a real little online community--go figure! For that short period of time, I entered at least 100 sweepstakes/contests--I could have won a new car, a new deck, gift certificates, trips, etc., and I won...nothing. Enough said.

Blogdentity Crisis

I haven't blogged since before the weekend, because I was having a bit of a blogdentity crisis. When I decided to start writing Miami Baby Mama, I envisioned this blog full of great info for fellow Miami parents, interspersed with witty commentary from yours truly. And then I starting checking out other mom blogs, and other Miami blogs, and I kind of panicked--there are a lot of amazing mom bloggers out there on the 'net already. And there is a lot of great info on Miami out there on the 'net already. And I'm not that "good" at the 'net for that matter. (Does anyone still call it "the 'net" anyway? Just me? I figured. Just checking.) Soooo....I decided I needed to figure out what my true blogdentity was before I started posting again. Why am I here in the blogosphere? What purpose does my blog serve? [NOTE: This is a very Taurean thing to do. All must compartmentalized, and put into order. Yes? Now Taurus can move forward.]

Today, I decided "screw that". As I was washing fresh raspberries, I found myself thinking about the tomato/salmonella link, and how creepy it is getting now that even fresh produce is making people sick. And I wanted to write about it. And when I was going through old emails, I came across a great quote that a friend had sent, and how it relates to life as a parent. And I wanted to write about it. I had a great time at Fairchild Tropical Gardens with my two-year-old on Sunday, and I want to write about it! So, end blogdentity crisis. Que sera sera, and all that. More to come tomorrow on those salmonella-y tomatoes....

Miami Moms Own Some of Florida's Top Businesses

I just read an article in the Miami-Herald online by Cindy Kirscher Goodman about the soon-to-be released list of of Florida's top Women-Led Businesses. The survey was conducted by the Center for Leadership at FIU, and the Commonwealth Institute. As a working woman in South Florida, I loved reading about these women business leaders, and their common characteristics, and I was really amazed to see that 72 percent of the women had kids! Seriously, I am NOT a CEO, or anything close, and I can barely keep it together some days to get through the workday without a nap! (Today would be a good example.)
Congrats and kudos to all these amazing South Florida moms/business owners!