Proof that rental cars really do have the uniform "sameness" that makes them all look alike. Check out this story:

"Missing Mochila! Looking for my bag. On Wednesday night, in a case of strange circumstance, I left a computer bag in a rental car identical to mine. If you are the driver of a dark grey Toyota Corolla — likely rented from AVIS — you will recall the incident. PLEASE check the backseat or trunk. It is a black Eagle Creek computer bag containing documents that are only important to me.

You drove off with my bag after we realized I had tried to start the wrong car. This happened around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, right after the Ricardo Alarcón presentation in the parking garage of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

I urgently need to get my bag back. Please call Alfredo at (915) 449-6014."

Love blossoms on page one

All Jerry Berrios of the Miami Herald wanted was some help on her story. But she wound up getting much more when she turned to her fellow reporter Kevin Baxter.

The 36-year-old regularly covers Hispanic affairs in Broward County for the Miami paper, but had to seek Baxter out to get some quotes for an October story on Ozzie Guillén, the first Latin American to manage a team in the World Series. Baxter, 46, had the press credentials to meet the Venezuelan-born Guillén in Chicago while covering the World Series. She was so grateful she insisted giving him a “mercy byline,” putting his name next to hers on the story.

Now, Berrios and Baxter plan to permanently put their names side by side; the two will wed on Jan. 14, 2007.

Her story on Guillén ran on page one on Oct. 22, 2005, bumping a story Baxter was doing on the same day about the upcoming World Series. She felt so bad that she called the next day to apologize to him for knocking his story off the front page.

“He made me laugh,” she said. The two started going out. They clicked so strongly that on the third date Berrios asked him to marry her.

The two plan a wedding in Sarasota, Florida.

“I’m excited for my new family,” Berrios said. “On my wedding day I’ll have a husband, a stepson and a dog named ‘Closer.’” In keeping with the baseball theme, the dog is named for pitchers called in the 9th inning to win the game, or “closers.”

The bride-to-be advises NAHJ journalists to apply the skills of the trade to their personal life. “Check the facts and trust your instincts.”

-Nadia Rivera Nieves

“License and registration, sir”

It was around midnight when three editors from Latino Reporter Digital climbed into their rental car at the Broward County Convention Center for the short ride back to their hotel rooms.

As they approached the exit gate, a cop stepped out from a cruiser, blue lights blinking and waved the editors over. Puzzled, they pulled over and wondered, “Why stop us?”

No question. Security here is tight. The convention center is behind guarded gates presumably because it’s near a shipping port. You want to get in, you show an ID at the gate. Every day.

But we digress. Back to our editors, who by now had speculated that they couldn’t possibly have been stopped for speeding. And while the students may think they’re tough, they’re really not that menacing or suspicious.

“License and registration, sir,” the cop demanded as he trained a flashlight into the car. “Where do you work?” he asked the editor who was driving. “USAToday,” the editor responded, handing over a license and the rental car contract.

The cop takes the items, disappears for a couple of minutes and returns them. “Just a routine check,” he said, and the editors moved along.

Smoke gets in your eyes

The No. 1 annoyance here in Fort Lauderdale this week for eyeglass wearers: walking outside.

Why? Moving from the comfort of airconditioned hotels, restaurants and the convention center out into the hazy, humid Florida weather creates instant fog in front of the eyeballs.

We're getting wiped out down here.

Welcome to Fort Lauderdale!

Hey, don't keep all that good chisme to yourself! Blog this convention!

Send your contributions to the NAHJ Convention 2006 Blog to talkback@nahjdigital.com and we will post them on El Chismoso.

If you want your post to be annoymous say so. And we reserve the right to edit your stuff.

The Staff of Latino Reporter Digital