By the end you'll see why on this busy week of MMA action and Super Bowl watching, I took a line from the Queen song Bicycle Race. By the way, the idea that ADAM LAMBERT will possibly join Queen as its lead singer and go on tour later this year... yikes! It's impossible to replace someone as awesome as Freddie Mercury but that guy, no way.
Monday, I decided to return to the James A. Van Fleet State Trail, but this time I went north from the spot I parked at and walked (as mentioned in the last blog I posted). The place I parked at this time was even more barren and in the middle of BFE than the other location. Points to those of you who know what I mean by BFE. It's on Bay Lake Road, which is way out in the boondocks and the trail crosses where the pavement ends and the dirt begins. If MySpace wasn't completely fouled up when it comes to blogs, I would go back and find what I wrote a few years ago when I took Bay Lake Road to go a different way to a wrestling show in Dade City and I ended up spending more time than I really wanted on dirt/gravel roads before I got back on pavement. Those roads were in the middle of a forest so I was glad my Mazda sedan survived that rough terrain with no problems; if I would have broken down in an area where I doubt I would have gotten any sort of reliable cell phone signal... that'd be quite the problem. Anyhow, I parked and walked part of that section of the trail and it was really scenic. Sometime in the future I'll have to borrow a bicycle (and the SUV) of someone I know as it's the perfect sort of trail for bike riding and I want to see more of the trail. Plus, while it's not a 4 wheel drive SUV it'd also give me a chance to explore those dirt/gravel roads again...
That night I found out that someone I knew and had at least briefly spoken to in person many times before got into a car accident; they survived but they did have to have surgery on something. I found that out late so that made me feel bad, but thank heavens they were able to survive what I understand was a pretty bad wreck.
Tuesday was pretty boring so I'll skip ahead to Wednesday, where I went out to Downtown Disney again to see another movie; this time it was The Grey. I know that movie has gotten mixed reviews mainly for how it ended, but I was fine with it and thought it worked for the movie. Your mileage may vary, though. While I was there I used the tremendous device known as the Coca-Cola Freestyle (where you can get over 100 different flavors!) and for the first time I tried Mello Yello Grape; it's pretty darn good.
Thursday, I did something that I don't think I've done for something like 15 years if not longer... ride a bike! No kidding. Also, the bike I rode (it came from someone I know, I'll put it that way) was a Huffy so old it only has 3 speeds, and it has to be older than I am, which means it must be downright ancient... but I'm just joking, anyone reading this who is older than I am. I was able to ride on the bike with no problems and aside from some really squeaky brakes it still works in a satisfactory manner.
Friday, I actually took the plunge and took the bike on a jaunt on the trail. I did that on this day and next weekend I'll spend money by going to a place I hadn't been to in too long; I'm already going to spend enough moolah this weekend so I might as well spread it out. I was able to use that SUV (it wasn't one with four wheel drive and it wasn't that large either, so the bike just barely fit in there) to go to that Bay Lake Road location. I parked there, got the bike out (it was wedged in there tightly; it was almost as tight of a fit as David Tuthill in a Speedo... and thankfully far less disgusting), put on that knapsack I got from attending that Orlando Magic preseason game back in late '10, and got going. I ended up going North on the trail a few miles then heading back. It happens that soon before I decided to go back I noticed that I couldn't go any further as they had it close to tear down and rebuild a bridge... or at least that's what it looked like. The bike worked fine; sure, it's not something I can go too fast on but a leisurely ride is always nice. I'm definitely not used to that sort of exercise as I was feeling the burn, so to speak, and I felt it from once I got done with the ride all the way to . Yeah, I'm not in great shape!
While on the trail I did see my fair share of wildlife, from a group of pheasants-do you call it a gaggle? A murder? Beats me-walking across the path in single file to an armadillo by the path, to various birds both big and small, both flying and on the ground. The most interesting thing, though, was seeing a deer (as in, one, isntead of a herd of them) far in the distance on the path. It ran away before I could get a close look at it. So yes, it's a pretty awesome trail.
On the way back I did not go back the way I came but rather I went West on the dirt and gravel road, just because. It wasn't too bad of an experience and I saw another deer, which was worth it.
Saturday night was watching the UFC pay per view... in a movie theatre. Back in 2010 they showed 4 pay per views that way. As I understand, attendance for those wasn't too great so that's why they stopped doing it. That was a shame as I always enjoyed it. Well, Saturday night it returned and this time another company presented it and this time in 3D. Overall, I had little issue with the presentation and none of the slight issues affected any of the fights. The pay per view itself was good, with the final two fights being quite memorable.
Yesterday was the big Super Bowl game and I didn't really care who I wanted to win. I decided to go out and about, and for the first time in a little over than a month I went to the local Buffalo Wild Wings. That place was more busy than the last Super Bowl, which I also went to in order to watch the game in a festive atmosphere. I sat outside on the patio this time; while I had to deal with those damn smokers it otherwise was fun as the crowd there seem to be split almost evenly as to which team they liked the most. The only issue was during the first quarter there was a middle-aged Troglodyte who was close by me (yep, I'm still a beacon for idiots!); he didn't sit by me but rather stood and walked around and sometimes was too close to me for my comfort. He just wasn't stupid and drunk and could barely communicate and had trouble comprehending the simplest things the bartenders told him... he also was an asshole who complained about the quantity and quality of booze he received. I SO wanted to spit in his face or kick him full force in his balls or even break my bottle of Bud Light Platinum over his head... thankfully he vanished during the second quarter, never to return. Speaking of the new Platinum, it tastes fine but the main appeal is that it contains 6% alcohol.
Otherwise the people I was around acted well. For a period of time I sat by a biker woman (she looked relatively normal; I mean, she wasn't like Mama Fratelli from The Goonies!) who had an adorable little puppy with her. I was so happy not to have to be around ogres and idiots. In fact, most of the people on the patio didn't act like drama queens or anything of that nature. As for the game, it was pretty darn good, as it was competitive throughout and it certainly had a memorable final few minutes of game time. If the Patriots big weapon (Rob Gronkowski) hadn't been playing with a bad ankle things may have been different but as is the Giants managed to get the win; I never thought when the playoffs started that they'd be the champs today, but good job on their part.
As for the commercials, I enjoyed them overall quite a bit more than all the lame ones you got last year. And good Lord was Madonna much better as halftime entertainment than the terrible performance the Black Eyed Peas put on last year. The only part of that halftime show worth anything was all the pyrotechnic stage stuff. This year, Madonna at least has a good singing voice (albeit she was lip syncing) and most of her songs I manage to enjoy, a drastic difference from all the crap Fergie and Co. put out. I was even able to tolerate the guest appearances by the terrible M.I.A and Nicki Minaj. The presentation there was rather extravagant with all the stage stuff and such things as that guy who looked like Richard Simmons bouncing and flipping about on that wire. I don't really get all the whining I heard about this year's halftime show. I thought it was much better than the one last year so there shouldn't have been so much bellyaching for that reason alone.
I'll be back around this time next week with a new blog. There's only a few things in mind I plan on doing, but they include finally going to a wrestling show (the first time in a few months) and something else I haven't done in far too long. It shouldn't be a dull blog, in other words.
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