Back in Florida
For the 4th time in as many months, I am back in Florida. In May it was for the Pentz family cruise (the family I married into). In June it was for a Pentz family birthday (Owen turned 1). In July it was a Christopher birthday (Basil's first), and here we are again in August for a Pentz family meeting.
We came in last night, arriving in Orlando at 9pm as I had worked until 1pm. We made decent time despite a lot of heavy rain and thunder and lightning between Gainesville, FL and the north end of the turnpike. The fun came after a stop at the turnpike rest plaza where Amy thought she lost her cell phone. She had been using it just before we pulled in, and she was sure she did not take it inside the building. We tried calling it with my phone and heard nothing so our only assumption was it fell out in the parking lot and we could not turn around. When we got to Orlando we found the phone. Amy had been sitting on it and not only could she not feel it, we could not hear it ringing!
We went straight to The Club at Firestone where Amy's brother Wes was to perform. He is an internationally known DJ, stage name DJ Diplo. Unfortunately we could not stay to see him as he was the headliner and was not scheduled to perform until about 12:30am. We instead drove to my momther's house, enjoying the drive with the exception of a 300 lb guy on a crotch rocket with a huge buttcrack.
Mom woke me up at 7:00 becuase my brother Tim had called as he was getting himself and Basil ready to leave for work and daycare. I got dressed and walked over to spend about 15 minutes with the baby. He's awesome. :)
For the rest of today we drove out to Edgewater, FL. We stopped at Target on the way so I could get a new watch and a UCF t-shirt and then we made time for the coast so Amy could keep her hair appointment. The guy did an awesome job for the price and now I should not have to hear Amy come home near to tears because her coworkers keep making comments about her roots. We had dinner and chilled at her parents' house for the evening, stopping to watch "The Benchwarmers." I liked it a good bit, but Amy was really tired when we watched it so she may need another viewing.
Saturday started with Amy going out to garage sakes with her sister Kelly and our niece Janie. It's an Edgewater tradition. Not much else went on throughout the day. We all went to dinner at Shells and Amy and I finally got to meet Mia, aka M.I.A. the Sri Lankan dance singer (www.miauk.com). She's very sweet and has a British accent from being raised in London. We chill again tonight and head over to Lake Mary, FL tomorrow for church at my friend Steve's church he's been pastoring for about 6 years now. He does not know we are coming, so it should be a nice surprise. We then drive home to Atlanta, perhaps arriving in time to watch WWE's Summerslam.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Sunday, August 13, 2006
More of those (possibly) interseting things....
21. I have only ever lived in three metropolitan areas in my life, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Orlando. Only two of those had professional baseball teams, and neither of those were in the American League. As a result, I had no idea who lead the AL in stolen bases 9 times in the 1980's when it came up in trivia last week.
22. My first experience was beer was when I was 14 and working at a Christmas tree lot in Stone Mountain, GA. It was Moosehead. It was not pleasant.
23. Last week I tried to do something good and called the police on a mother with a toddler not only not in a car seat, but with no retraint at all. About 3 hours later I was pulled over and given a warning for not having my seatbelt on.
24. I like to watch NASCAR races and professional wrestling.
25. The countries I have never seen but would most like to visit include Greece (#1), Germany, Italy, Australia, and Japan.
26. I have been in (including stopping at airports) the following states; FL, GA, AL, NC, SC, TN, KY, IN, WV, OH, PA, MD, VA, NJ, NY, NH, IL, TX, OK, CO, NV, and AZ. By my account, that leaves 28 I haven't seen at all, and of the 22 I have seen, CO, OH, and IL were just airport plane changes.
27. At age 5, I met Jimmy Carter (and remember the event) as he was campaigning for President of the United States. My father was a delegate to the Democratic convention in 1976.
28. My father served in the Army, the Army Reserves, and in the National Guard. His father served in the Army Air Corps (later renamed the United States Air Force) and was stationed at an Army air field in Hawaii that was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. He is considered a Pearl Harbor survivor. When he died in 2004 he received full military honors. Of my two brothers and me, I was the only one who would have considered enlisting in the military, but a diabetic diagnosis at age 18 ended any hope of ever serving in that capacity.
29. I like to make plays on words. Most people think it's corny. I think I ammuse myself and find it a sign of intellect.
30. Corn, peas, and broccoli are my favorite vegetables.
21. I have only ever lived in three metropolitan areas in my life, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Orlando. Only two of those had professional baseball teams, and neither of those were in the American League. As a result, I had no idea who lead the AL in stolen bases 9 times in the 1980's when it came up in trivia last week.
22. My first experience was beer was when I was 14 and working at a Christmas tree lot in Stone Mountain, GA. It was Moosehead. It was not pleasant.
23. Last week I tried to do something good and called the police on a mother with a toddler not only not in a car seat, but with no retraint at all. About 3 hours later I was pulled over and given a warning for not having my seatbelt on.
24. I like to watch NASCAR races and professional wrestling.
25. The countries I have never seen but would most like to visit include Greece (#1), Germany, Italy, Australia, and Japan.
26. I have been in (including stopping at airports) the following states; FL, GA, AL, NC, SC, TN, KY, IN, WV, OH, PA, MD, VA, NJ, NY, NH, IL, TX, OK, CO, NV, and AZ. By my account, that leaves 28 I haven't seen at all, and of the 22 I have seen, CO, OH, and IL were just airport plane changes.
27. At age 5, I met Jimmy Carter (and remember the event) as he was campaigning for President of the United States. My father was a delegate to the Democratic convention in 1976.
28. My father served in the Army, the Army Reserves, and in the National Guard. His father served in the Army Air Corps (later renamed the United States Air Force) and was stationed at an Army air field in Hawaii that was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. He is considered a Pearl Harbor survivor. When he died in 2004 he received full military honors. Of my two brothers and me, I was the only one who would have considered enlisting in the military, but a diabetic diagnosis at age 18 ended any hope of ever serving in that capacity.
29. I like to make plays on words. Most people think it's corny. I think I ammuse myself and find it a sign of intellect.
30. Corn, peas, and broccoli are my favorite vegetables.
I have a bun in the oven. Okay, so it's not a bun, unless you consider it to be a really big one. Within a year after my wedding to Amy, my brother, who had been unemployed for over a year, gifted us with his used bread machine. We have used it a few times over the years. We simply but the mixes off the shelves at the grocery and Publix has dropped down to just two kinds now. Kroger has a better selection, As we speak, there is a loaf of Royal Hawaiian Sweet bread cooking. That is Amy's favorite and it's the same kind of bread they make rolls from in the orange packages you find in most grocery store deli departments. I think a trip to Kroger or SuperTarget is in order to get some raisin bread, country white bread, or some other style mix soon.
When I met Amy, she worked in a hospital where they had a bread machine and they made it regularly during their overnight shifts. Fresh bread in the morning, yummy.
When I met Amy, she worked in a hospital where they had a bread machine and they made it regularly during their overnight shifts. Fresh bread in the morning, yummy.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
As inspired by cool guy Jeff Rushing (www.eeyorejeff.blogspot.com) I give you 100 potentially interesting things about me.
1. I was born on the same day of the year as Martin Luther King, Jr. and so was my wife.
2. I met one of my best friends (and groomsmen in my wedding) because we both were in an online community of Deborah "Debbie" Gibson fans.
3. I have had cats all of my life, but I now also am the owner of a basset hound. (Cats are much quieter and destroy a lot less property)
4. My first car was a 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier (a red one (true despite the Swingers reference). It made me mad that I had to buy it (assume the loan) from my parents because both of my brothers were given their first cars for free. I bought my first new car in 1993 (another cavalier) and my current vehicle in 1998 (a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee) which now has two blown out speakers, no working AC, and over 160,000 miles on it.
5. I used to be a volunteer leader/counselor for Younglife in Atlanta and Orlando.
6. If I could relive (not necessarily change) and part of my life it would be my sebior year of high school. I really enjoyed that time of my life.
7. I barely know my mother's side of the family. She has an older brother and an older sister. Her brother's sons are 7-10 years older than me and her sister's kid's are a bit closer, but they all generally live up north and I never see them. I last saw two of these cousins in NYC when I was there on business in 2000.
8. I used to play the trumpet and taught myself a bit of guitar.
9. I met my wife online at www.matchmaker.com
10. I never really dated or had a girlfriend until I was 27 years old.
11. It is a guilty pleasure that I enjoy Kevin Smith movies.
12. I believe that political correctness and the general lack of acceptance of the consequences of individual's actions/inactions/decisions by themselves is ruining society as it once was. On a related note, smokers have no consideration for any other people and cellphones have dramatically changed how polite people are to one another in a negative way.
13. My favorite cartoons growing up (childhood through high school) were Star Blazers (a serial cartoon dubbed from a Japanese series), The Transformers, G.I. Joe, Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny, the Justice League, and the Laff-a-lympics.
14. The first album (vinyl) I ever purchased for myself was the soundtrack to the Muppet Movie. The first cassette was Styx, Kilroy was Here. Before that my brother and my friend John would make mix tapes by recording songs from Casey Casem's American Top 40 on our boom boxes.
15. I had newspaper routes as a child in SE Pennsylvania. This enabled me to buy many, many, Atari 2600 games, and because of a sales contest, I won tickets to the 2nd game of the 1980 World Series. At age 9 and 1/2 I got to see my Philadelphia Phillies play and beat the Kansas City Royals. My father drove my older brother and I into Philly and dropped us off in front of Veterans' Stadium so we could go to the game. He watched it at a bar and came back to get us afterwards. You can't do something like that in this day and age.
16. I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout. I did not make it far in Boy Scouts, 2nd class or something like that was my highest rank.
17. I like white-water rafting and I have NEVER been thrown from a raft. With the exception of one run on the Nantahala, I have rafted exclusively on the Ocoee River.
18. I once met comedian Yakov Smirnoff after he attended a performance by the SAK Improve TheatreSports company in Orlando, FL.
19. I love Cracker Barrel Restuarant's hashbrown casserole, but the $1.99 for an extra side of it with breakfast is not worth the small portion you get.
20. I hate traffic, but I don't mind it as much if I am not in a hurry or obliged to be somewhere at a particular time.
1. I was born on the same day of the year as Martin Luther King, Jr. and so was my wife.
2. I met one of my best friends (and groomsmen in my wedding) because we both were in an online community of Deborah "Debbie" Gibson fans.
3. I have had cats all of my life, but I now also am the owner of a basset hound. (Cats are much quieter and destroy a lot less property)
4. My first car was a 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier (a red one (true despite the Swingers reference). It made me mad that I had to buy it (assume the loan) from my parents because both of my brothers were given their first cars for free. I bought my first new car in 1993 (another cavalier) and my current vehicle in 1998 (a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee) which now has two blown out speakers, no working AC, and over 160,000 miles on it.
5. I used to be a volunteer leader/counselor for Younglife in Atlanta and Orlando.
6. If I could relive (not necessarily change) and part of my life it would be my sebior year of high school. I really enjoyed that time of my life.
7. I barely know my mother's side of the family. She has an older brother and an older sister. Her brother's sons are 7-10 years older than me and her sister's kid's are a bit closer, but they all generally live up north and I never see them. I last saw two of these cousins in NYC when I was there on business in 2000.
8. I used to play the trumpet and taught myself a bit of guitar.
9. I met my wife online at www.matchmaker.com
10. I never really dated or had a girlfriend until I was 27 years old.
11. It is a guilty pleasure that I enjoy Kevin Smith movies.
12. I believe that political correctness and the general lack of acceptance of the consequences of individual's actions/inactions/decisions by themselves is ruining society as it once was. On a related note, smokers have no consideration for any other people and cellphones have dramatically changed how polite people are to one another in a negative way.
13. My favorite cartoons growing up (childhood through high school) were Star Blazers (a serial cartoon dubbed from a Japanese series), The Transformers, G.I. Joe, Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny, the Justice League, and the Laff-a-lympics.
14. The first album (vinyl) I ever purchased for myself was the soundtrack to the Muppet Movie. The first cassette was Styx, Kilroy was Here. Before that my brother and my friend John would make mix tapes by recording songs from Casey Casem's American Top 40 on our boom boxes.
15. I had newspaper routes as a child in SE Pennsylvania. This enabled me to buy many, many, Atari 2600 games, and because of a sales contest, I won tickets to the 2nd game of the 1980 World Series. At age 9 and 1/2 I got to see my Philadelphia Phillies play and beat the Kansas City Royals. My father drove my older brother and I into Philly and dropped us off in front of Veterans' Stadium so we could go to the game. He watched it at a bar and came back to get us afterwards. You can't do something like that in this day and age.
16. I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout. I did not make it far in Boy Scouts, 2nd class or something like that was my highest rank.
17. I like white-water rafting and I have NEVER been thrown from a raft. With the exception of one run on the Nantahala, I have rafted exclusively on the Ocoee River.
18. I once met comedian Yakov Smirnoff after he attended a performance by the SAK Improve TheatreSports company in Orlando, FL.
19. I love Cracker Barrel Restuarant's hashbrown casserole, but the $1.99 for an extra side of it with breakfast is not worth the small portion you get.
20. I hate traffic, but I don't mind it as much if I am not in a hurry or obliged to be somewhere at a particular time.
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