The Blog Where I Recap My Kansas Vacation

For the holiday season my parents and I got out from Florida and like last year did something different by visiting family in Kansas and doing so via a roadtrip. 

Like last year my parents and I drove out from Florida to Kansas-to haul presents, you see-and visited one of my two sisters, her husband and twin nephews, who are now 2 years old. This time my other sister was also there. The drive on this day was from Florida to Conway, Arkansas, a little bit northwest of Little Rock. The traffic was pretty brutal there and there was a lot of rainy weather. Turns out that it's not just Florida drivers who become real stupid when there's “sky water” on the road. I don't mean to stereotype here but we stopped for lunch at a fast food joint in a random southern Mississippi town known as Wiggins and well, the customers there could safely be classified as “white trash”. Yes, I did go through the area which 24 hours later was hit by a tornado. For dinner we ate at a McAlister's Deli, a place I hadn't been to before; their food is more than halfway decent.

Tuesday, the drive was made from Arkansas to Park City, Kansas, just north of Wichita. I won't say much about my time at my sister's house (she may prefer it that way) but it was great to finally see my nephews again. They just turned two and they provide plenty of entertainment and except for naps they also provide a lot of commotion. They are pretty perceptive and usually they do get along with each other. From Tuesday to Friday not too much happened that I'll recap here, except that the twins did enjoy all the Christmas/birthday presents they received. The Christmas meal of ham was also pretty nice. Friday night we ate by Wichita's airport in a joint known as Hangar One Steakhouse. There is an aviation theme and the young boys loved that as they love airplanes. As for the food, it seemed to be either undercooked or overcooked; if it wasn't for that... I'd give the place nice reviews.

As nice as it was to hang out with family and all that, I started to feel rather terrible on Friday, and the feelings didn't really go away until today. So, even though I won't get to see all those family members for at least another year I still had the itch to return home. Like the last time the drive back was made all in one day; it wasn't my decision to do that! The “highlights” of that never-ending day:

Some A-hole in Arkansas changing lanes and almost crashing into the car; not even honking the horn stopped the lane change. I certainly saw bad driving during the vacation; nothing like what I deal with on a daily basis in Florida, though.

The way back was different. We went through the southern part of Memphis. There was a light that had turned red and someone was obviously not paying attention (they were probably on their damn phone) so on wet roads-yes, more rain-they slammed on their brakes and thankfully instead of wrecking multiple vehicles he veered right and crashed into a curb.

Like last December we ate at a Hardee's in the middle of nowhere Alabama, this time in Luverne.

Despite being too amped up from arriving home and only getting a few hours of sleep, I did go out and about on Sunday, which wasn't the wisest decision; there's still holiday traffic and plenty of rude behavior. I wasn't in the mood for it so I made it known what I thought of their atrocious driving. I did not go out to see the final game of this season for the Chicago Bears. I figured they would lose... and I was right. No surprise then that after a 5-11 season their coach got fired today. As said before no way should they have been that bad. Anyhow, what I did was visit a few stores on the east side of Orlando and I also filled up the gas tank as I found some stations selling it for pretty cheap.

When I return next Monday to type up my first post of 2015, I have a few ideas as to what I'll be talking about. I won't be doing anything exciting for New Years Eve, but I rarely do anyway.

The Blog Of Activities I Did Before Going On Vacation

As I mentioned last time, the reason why this is a special primetime Sunday night post is that real early Monday morning I am leaving and I'll be out of town for almost a week. When I return on the 29th I'll give all the important details about the trip. So for now, a real short blog as this past week was even less exciting for me than usual.

Once again this isn't the most exciting blog but I am alright with that. This past Monday the only thing I did was return to the library to drop off what I got the week before... oh yeah, and there was also the Chicago Bears game against the New Orleans Saints. The Saints aren't a great team themselves but they handily defeated the pathetic Bears. I don't even know what else to say besides that.

Onto Tuesday, where me and someone I know went to a new restaurant that opened only a few miles from where I live, and yet that chain I had been to a number of times in the past: the Texas Roadhouse. As it had only been open a few days at the time, it was still rather popular; thankfully the service was speedy considering the crowd and the food tasted pretty good; I had my “almost always” of a burger and fries, naturally.

Wednesday and Thursday I didn't do a damn thing of note. So, onto Friday, where I thought of going out and about and having a little day trip; but, due to various reasons-including wanting to rest and make sure I am ready for the upcoming trip-I did not actually do that. However, I can at least say I have now had one of the new pizzas that Pizza Hut has introduced; it was their pretzel crust pizza in particular and yes, it was quite tasty.

Saturday I didn't do a thing so Sunday, Sunday, Sunday... I did go somewhere, mainly to have lunch and watching NFL games was a side effect of that. The Bears played against the Detroit Lions and while Chicago lost by only a few points and somehow did well with a terrible backup quarterback even worse than the star quarterback that's been awful as of late and was humiliatingly benched for this game... yet the close score was mainly due to Detroit playing poorly themselves and also, some putrid officiating. At least the other games I paid attention to were a little more interesting. Oh yeah, I should mention that I saw this game at the Ale House Restaurant location in Altamonte Springs. That went fine, although I am not sure why a lady bartender there kept on talking about Cheez Whiz! True story. 

After that I stopped at a Walmart on the way back to get some last-minute items for the trip. As the trip is all about seeing family members I rarely get to see anymore, it will be good times and I definitely am looking forward to it.

The Blog Where I Met People Calling Themselves Rocky and Mayo

Unfortunately this is yet another brief blog from me. Those are the breaks. Last Monday, I went out and about and sad to say it was a dreary cold rainy day. Still, I pushed on. It was of absolute zero shock to me that I saw the aftermath of a 2 car car crash on the way back. I went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few items and ate at BurgerFi as I hadn't eaten there in too long and I do like their burger & fries.

Tuesday, I went to the local library and that was as thrilling as the day got. Wednesday, I didn't do anything but Thursday I went to Walmart in order to pick up some miscellaneous items, such as soda. I know that I am boring now but that's how things have turned out. At least I can announce that on the 22nd I'll once again be out in Kansas for the holidays, getting to hang out with family and getting to see my twin nephews again will be quite great also.

Friday, I finally did something a little more interesting; I had to deal with some brutally bad traffic and some real rude drivers but it's Florida so that is expected. At least I went to a particular location I hadn't been at before: the World of Beer in Dr. Phillips; I'll always laugh at the wacky name of the town. I also laughed at the wacky name of the lady bartender that served me, as she wanted me to call her Rocky. I decided to have dinner there and as it's me I had the burger and fries, which were good. The beers I had were:

Beerlao Lager: I thought it was wacky to drink beer from Laos. It was fine.

As it was in the limited release section I decided to try out a brew from Lexington Brewing in Kentucky and it was known as Kentucky Honey Barrel Brown Ale. I did not know what to expect but it was actually good.

Also good was Hitachino Nest XH, a darker ale from Japan. I don't know if I've gotten older and more mature or what but my beer tastes are more varied than they used to be and I am glad it's the case. If you can find both beers (likely only at a place like World of Beer) I say they are worth a shot. My time at the joint was fine. Sure, I could have done without the creepy weird customers around, but alas; I tried to ignore them the best I could and while most of the jukebox music was newer tunes I did not even recognize at all at least they played some older ditties once in awhile.

Saturday and Sunday were more lazy days for me. At least on Saturday night I was able to watch parts of the UFC show that was free on TV (it was fine) and Sunday I went to the grocery store king in Florida known as Publix to get their sandwiches as they are a cult favorite around these parts, for good reason. So it made for a nice meal. Hilariously, there was a guy working there who must have a first name he hates if what he put on his nametag was MAYO. Yes.

Because of my trip and how I am leaving real early on the 22nd, I'll actually post my next blog primetime on Sunday the 21st; I know I'll talk about a few things, such as two Chicago Bears games and going out to see at least one movie.

Natty Daddy, French Fry Heaven, Nightcrawler & Lazy Weekends

This will be another blog on the short side. That is just how it worked out.

Last Monday was pretty dull so let me skip ahead to Tuesday. On that day I had a dentist appointment; it was just a check-up and teeth cleaning. While there something quite out of the ordinary happened. I do not know who was the gift-giver but someone gave the dentist office a large cake, and they admitted they'd never be able to finish it on their own... so they asked me if I wanted a piece to bring home! At first I thought it was a joke due to the irony of that place giving me something sugary and sweet but it wasn't, so of course I accepted the offer and brought it home; it was good. The appointment went fine, also.

Wednesday I didn't do anything so let me mention that on Thursday I went with someone to the local Steak 'n Shake for dinner. The food tasted fine and I enjoyed their limited edition white chocolate shake, but I wasn't pleased by all the stupid ogre people there, especially the ones that refused to control their extremely loud kids. Sigh... and I don't even want to talk about the Bears game, except that they once again lost, although it was another loss I expected. What a crappy team they are.

Friday was another interesting day; I drove down to Lakeland to have some fun. I could have done a few things on that day and with information I found out after the fact maybe I should have done something different; I shouldn't complain though as my Friday was still a decent time. 

The only part of Lakeland I went to was the Lakeland Square Mall, which is connected with the real nice Cinemark Theatres I always enjoy going to. This time I saw Nightcrawler, as I heard a lot of strong praise for it. While the movie is very dark, it's pretty great and I rate it rather highly. Jake Gyllenhaal just looked creepy as hell and he was tremendous as the lead. After that I walked in the mall for a bit and I had dinner, which was eating fries from a joint known as French Fry Heaven; it was indeed pretty tasty. I also had food to eat once I made it back home. I also got another shake-this time peppermint bark from Haagen Dazs. Yep, it was good also.

The weekend, I didn't do a thing. Part of it was that I “did a favor” for someone so I didn't go out and about on Saturday night and I didn't see the latest UFC pay per view. In hindsight it may not have been the worst thing from what I heard... I was happy to do the favor. I just stayed in and relaxed both Saturday and Sunday. So, let me mention how during this weekend I saw an online advertisement for a new beer called Natty Daddy, a strong brew sold in a 25 ounce bottle. If it tastes the same as Natty Light and Natty Ice, I am not sure if I want to try it! I've had both way back when in my college days and the former was beer-flavored water and the latter was like liquid bread.

When I return a week from today... I hope to have more to talk about. I do have some ideas in mind, as always.

Artegon, Auto Shows, Thanksgiving & Long-Awaited Returns

Due to the weather I decided I should go out and about on Monday instead of the next day, where it was all but guaranteed there would be a few inches of rain. Monday was a real nice day in the low 80's so good call on my part. 

I decided to go to a place that had a big makeover. In the past I've talked about the Festival Bay Mall a number of times; it's on the north end of I-Drive and for whatever reasons the mall was a flop and eventually it was a ghost town in there with hardly any stores open and if it wasn't for places like Bass Pro Shops and the Cinemark Theatre it would have shut down long before it did; they spent months remodeling it and now it's Artegon Marketplace, and most of it consists of booths that sell local artisan items, like paintings, other art, some food, jewelry, etc. A lot of it isn't really for me but I still hope that this new gimmick ends up working; if it doesn't I will feel bad. I did get some food items and I was fine with buying locally. After that I went down I-Drive to Twin Peaks as I do enjoy the food there. It has nothing to do with the scantily-clad women who work there... or at least that's what I'll tell myself. I had a nice dinner.

Tuesday was dull and Wednesday the only thing I did was get more paper for the printer from Staples, so let me mention that my Thanksgiving turned out fine. It was with my parents and my aunt and it was a tasty meal while we watched the Chicago Bears play at the Detroit Lions. The game went how I expected, meaning that the Bears looked bad for the most part and they lost, by the score of 34-17. That was the highlight of the day. Tomorrow was more interesting, and no I did not engage in any Black Friday shopping; I never do that as it's way too chaotic for me and I'd rather not be around buffoons who are encouraged to act like buffoons all for the sake of “a good deal”.

Instead, I did what I typically do on the day after Thanksgiving, and that is go to the Central Florida Auto Show at the Orange County Convention Center. While there aren't as many manufacturers there as in the past it's still a good time seeing many different model year '15 automobiles, including the likes of the Corvette, Mustang, Camaro, and the Charger; they even had the limited edition Hellcat Charger, which has SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVEN horsepower; no kidding. There were several very interesting new cars there so I was quite happy to check them out.

Saturday I rested and I was OK with that considering all the walking I did the day before. So, let me talk Sunday, and I returned to an establishment for the first time since the summer, that being the World of Beer. I went to the one right in Clermont. One big change is that it used to be one of the locations that didn't serve food alongside several hundred different beers, but now it does; it made things easy for me as I was able to have dinner there (a burger and fries; of course that's what I would order) while drinking some European beers and watching some sports. The best one I had was from Iceland, of all places: Einstok White Ale. It was quite tasty and now in the future I'll have to try that brand's other beers. I tried to ignore the idiots who were around that joint. There were annoying or just loud people around and that never makes me happy. Still, I had a nice time there and the last week of November was good overall, which I am thankful for as I had some real crap days during the month.

When I return a week from today, I know I'll have a few things to talk about, although it may not be as interesting as the preceding week I had.

Lionman, Keith McTeeth, Roller Motion & Three Kilos Of Pure Dirt

I am referencing the pinball tables Swords of Fury, The Bally Game Show, Rollergames (the glass art included a guy who sort of resembled James Caan, and that couldn't have been by accident) and Waterworld; yes they made a Waterworld pinball table. I played all those games this weekend.

Here's the recap of what I've done in the past week. I don't even remember doing anything last Monday so I presume it was a dull day. Tuesday, I went to Wawa for dinner; I got a sub sandwich for me and a sub sandwich for someone else. I also got myself a frozen drink, as that was the perfect thing to do on a day where the high was only in the 50's; the day before that it was like 30 degrees warmer than that, so it was real strange. At least their food is pretty tasty.

Wednesday, I went out to dinner with someone. We decided on Chili's as we hadn't been there in who knows how many months. Turns out, that place was remodeled. Well, it could be called a refresh as it wasn't extensive but it was still obvious. The food there was about what you'd expect from a Chili's. My time was there but I saw an odd site as the nearby bar area: a young man dressed as a pro wrestling referee! It was a Wednesday evening and while I do not follow the local independent pro wrestling scene like I used to, I thought I'd hear about a random Wednesday night show happening in the area. I did not recognize the guy either, so it was pretty odd. Thursday I relaxed as I knew Friday and Saturday would be busy days and oh they were... unfortunately the days were pretty terrible aside from the main thing I did.

Late July of '12 and '13 I attended events in Orlando on International Drive in a hotel known as Gamewarp, where a big room holds plenty of arcade and pinball games and by paying a flat fee you get to play them all. They didn't have a Gamewarp this year for whatever reasons; who knows if they'll ever come back. However, on this weekend was a new event (well, renamed from something else) called Free Play Florida and it was quite similar, down to being at a hotel on I-Drive, although one that was by the convention center and I didn't have to spend too much time actually driving on I-Drive; that's a plus as the road's always busy and always full of stupid tourists.

Friday, I experienced horrific traffic on the way there and back; there was tailgating, for one thing, and on a road with a 35 mile an hour speed limit a lady driver was a complete maniac, going way over the speed limit. Was she drunk, mentally ill, on drugs... I have no idea; I thought of calling the cops but to be honest if I tried to speed myself to get her license plate, she may have started driving even more erratically. As for the hotel, it was a Doubletree, so it was frou-frou and having to pay a few bucks for parking, I wasn't a fan of that. Having to pay each time you park, that limited food choices; most of the food they had there wasn't “normal” or not priced outrageously. Friday I ate at the bar in the lobby, where I had to listen to two random socially awkward dudes throw a huge stink over one of the employees asking for their credit card after they ordered some food; that sort of thing has become standard procedure now but those fools did not get the memo. I didn't even try to explain it to them as it'd be a futile gesture.

As for the crowds there, Friday wasn't too bad but Saturday was more hectic; it was what I expected. They had a mix of games there I played before and new ones. The number of tables based on 90's films was impressive, from Stargate to the mediocre Jurassic Park sequel. I'll list the ones that left the biggest impressions on me:

Swords of Fury will always make me laugh as the one I've seen is LOUD and a digitized voice screaming “LIONMAN, LIONMAN!” is amazing.
The Bally Game Show is actually a fun table, and the “game” is hosted by a stereotypical host known as Keith McTeeth.
Rollergames is a table I recently heard was good, and it was.
As I did well on it, I'll mention the Spiderman table.
The Twister table was rad, with some nice gimmicks.
NBA Fastbreak wasn't even a table I had ever heard of but I dug it and how you picked a team to start off with and the way you score points is to shoot the ball into the basket.
Baywatch was a table I had played before, way back when.

I did see people there I knew. It was nice to see them and I presume the feeling was reciprocated. There wasn't much time to chit-chat with them but that's expected at such a hectic event. Unfortunately aside from actually playing the games there my Friday and Saturday were pretty bad, between the traffic and other issues I won't get into. I can mention that I was disappointed how there were too many rude/ignorant people around on Saturday. It's a shame as most of the people there were fine, but there was also jerks present. I'll try to forget about all that and how I was dead tired by the time I left Saturday night, and I'll remember the good of playing those games instead of all the bad.

Speaking of bad, the Chicago Bears game vs. the Tampa Bay Bucs on Sunday... I was able to watch the game at home, so I did. It was quite hard to watch, as both teams are terrible and while Chicago won 21-13, for the first half of the game they were getting embarrassed by a team that had won only two times all year, and it was their mistakes more than anything else that let Chicago win. The Bears are playing Thanksgiving Day also, and it'll be while I have the big meal with some loved ones. I am expecting the game to be a loss.

I will return a week from today and while that week won't be as action-packed as the one I just had, there still will be some interesting moments.

Interstellar, BurgerMonger, MMA & More Embarrassing Wine Purchases

I do indeed have a more interesting blog post this go-around than the last few I've done. Unfortunately it was an up and down affair. Last Monday I was able to drive all the way to Tampa (the north part, meaning I didn't have to take the dreaded Interstate 4) to see the film Interstellar, as the museum in town as a giant IMAX dome (it's literally shown in a domed building with the screen being projected on the curved side of the building and you look at it while seated in steep seats; it may sound odd but the picture was pretty incredible as it was actual 70mm film instead of the digital that's at most theatres these days. I just wasn't happy with the museum in that constantly you are screwed over if you haven't been there before; you're just supposed to know everything about the place, such as which spot is the best to park at, paying for parking and whatnot. That sort of thing never makes me happy. Obvious things, you don't need to but those things would have been nice for an out of towner.

As for the movie, I've never been a Christopher Nolan fan, which I know is blasphemy to many people but I've thought that way for a long time now. More often than not I don't care for his films. I mainly went and saw this for the 70mm aspect as I had never seen a film that way before. Overall I'll say the movie is average. I can't fault the ambition in trying to tell a serious and mature big-budget tale rather than mindless stupid garbage like the Transformers films or the other atrocious big budget movies of the past few years. There are great images and some nice performances. Unfortunately, the story is a mess and I had many issues with the plot. It's a shame as it's the sort of film I should love and while I often disagree with “the common opinion” it'd be nice if I could agree with the masses more often.

After the film I went home but on the way I stopped in a city for gas and dinner. I wanted to try out a place famous in Tampa (the only area in Florida you can have it) known as BurgerMonger, as I know more than one person who digs the place. Well, to cut the story short I had a strong need to use the restroom by the time I got there... and the men's room was out of order! I was not happy with this as it was not like I could use the ladies room, so I just left and I now will swear off that place without having their food due to that. I had to go so I walked to the nearby Jersey Mike's Subs, which I can get at home and I preferred trying out someplace new but alas... at least I ate there and it included a pair of chocolate chip cookies, which were great.

Tuesday I didn't do a thing which was fine with me. I was feeling down in the dumps anyhow. Don't worry, it isn't anything major; “not understanding people in general” isn't a big deal and besides, I should be used to it by now. I definitely should not complain when I know several people who definitely have had it worse than me as of late with much more serious problems. Wednesday, I just went to Winter Garden Village to visit a few places and you'd think there'd be no problems if I just went to a place that's like 12 miles away from where I live. Well, you and I would be wrong! The issues with traffic were so bad the thought seriously crossed my mind of calling 911, as I wasn't sure if more than one driver was drunk, on drugs, mentally ill, too old/senile to drive, or what. I won't delve into the whole mess but it's a moot point as nothing of consequence happened but even for down here it was a bad day of travel.

Thursday was thankfully more sane. I did more driving, but nothing went wrong this time. I went to another Total Wine & More and this time I bought the other kind of 50 Shades of Grey for the person who asked me to do that a few weeks ago from them. After that I don't have to do it any longer... thankfully. I went to the nearby Mall at Millenia and walked around for a bit. I then ate at a restaurant I hadn't been to in months, Burger 21. I had a nice dinner there with food that's typical in my diet... a burger with fries and a shake. Friday, I didn't do a thing but Saturday was more interesting. The UFC returned to the big screen with their latest pay per view. I actually hadn't seen a pay per view in awhile. As many others think they've expanded too fast and they have been destroyed with injuries so many of their shows aren't really worth going out of the way to see, including this one.

Of course, it wasn't until after the fact that I discovered because of this guard getting destroyed by injuries and it likely bombing on pay per view, they will try again and they'll show the next pay per view in a few weeks on the big screen also. I won't complain about seeing the show on Saturday night as it was actually entertaining even if the star power was weak and I saw it at Universal Studios and not too surprisingly the crowd was just me and a few random people.

Sunday, I actually stayed in and did not go out to see the Chicago Bears play; the legendarily bad way they played in their last two contests was great motivation to stay in, even if they were playing another bad team. Chicago won that home game, but just barely, and as I saw in the highlights their field was atrocious which is embarrassing for a major pro franchise... and the game clock at the stadium wasn't even working right. What a joke.

When I return a week from today, I know my week won't be too interesting... except for the weekend, where I'll be doing something different from the norm. You'll find out in 7 days what that is.

The Blog Where I Realize I've Become Pretty Old And Lame

This past Monday the 3rd, I actually did do something with the day, and that was return to Epcot at Walt Disney World to enjoy the last days of their annual Food & Wine Festival. I walked around and I purchased some items and also had dinner there. The musical act they had there on that night was Boyz II Men, who I remember were a huge deal way back when, and on this day they had a huge crowd for when I listened to them for a few minutes. Thankfully it was a beautiful day out so I enjoyed spending that time outdoors. What wasn't so nice... late at night I had an issue with my laptop; it took some time but I was able to fix it on my own, although I was not happy about the whole ordeal.

Tuesday, what I did was go and vote, stop at a 7/11 for some Mountain Dew Solar Flare (I hadn't had it for awhile) then I went to the library for a bit. I enjoyed the relaxing day. Wednesday, I went and got a haircut as I needed one. The lady who gave it was new at the job and while overall it ended up looking fine... I also could have done without her comments about how I “should get haircuts more often” (?) but maybe that's just me. Maybe if I get her again in the future she'll be improved. Anyhow, the traffic there and back was also a headache; at least it was the only thing I had to do on this day.

Thursday, I went with someone to a restaurant, and that restaurant was one I've been to a few times before, Oakwood Smokehouse and Grill. It was a fine experience. They typically draw a “senior citizen” crowd but that's fine with me. Friday, I didn't do a thing. I was thinking about being out and about on Saturday night, but then some things happened. 

The idea popped into my head of going to a football game in the evening, only to find out it would probably be raining there. Alas... I can always see schools like Southeastern down in Lakeland play a game next year and heck, I am thinking of going to a small-time college basketball game or two in the next few months. 

Plus, something popped up and as a matter of fact, today I'll be doing something for the first time, and that is see a feature length film in 70mm, which I've always heard is much better than the 35mm I was used to seeing at theatres back before most of them converted from film to digital. Plus, it's in IMAX on a legit screen rather than the much smaller ones that now get to use the name too, so you can't beat that. It happens to be Interstellar and I am a heretic who says that Christopher Nolan is overrated, but even then from what I've heard it should be a great experience watching that film in such a spectacular way so next Monday when I return I'll talk all about that and the trip I'll be taking to Tampa to see it in the city's museum.

So it's alright that I had a dull weekend and I did nothing of note except go to Walmart on a Saturday afternoon (not as much of a headache as expected but still) so let me skip ahead to Sunday night. Oh, Sunday night. For the second and last time this season the Chicago Bears played against their hated rivals the Green Bay Packers and well, for their second game in a row they soiled the bed and were disgracefully bad. They were losing 42-0 at halftime and the final score was 55-14. “Pathetic” doesn't even begin to describe the legendarily bad way they have played the last two games. Should I even go out to some bar to see the rest of their games this season? I am seriously wondering that right now.

While this was another blog post where I come across as old and lame, the one I'll do a week from today will be notably more interesting, I promise.

Halloween, John Wick, Flea Markets & Chilly Weather

Here's the recap of what I've done since this past Monday. On Monday the 27th I decided to go out and about in the evening. It was to Downtown Disney to watch a movie; I didn't have to go there to check it out, but it was on their giant screen and it's nice to see films that way. With how busy it was and all the construction still going on... who knows when I'll return there. Anyhow, I saw John Wick. Besides it being a movie that sounded up my alley and all the positive reviews I've heard, there's actually a personal connection to it, in that someone I know from the online world worked on set in an uncredited PA role. The movie's indeed pretty great. It's a simple yet effective action movie done in the style of old but it is its own thing and it's one of the best 2014 movies I've seen. Needless to say I highly recommend it.

Tuesday, I went to a restaurant with someone, and it happened to be Buffalo Wild Wings. I actually hadn't been there in a long while, so I needed to rectify that. For the most part it's the same as when I was there last. I had the boneless wings and they were good. Wednesday, the only thing I did was watch the big World Series Game 7 between the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals. I have no favorites between the two but I preferred the Royals winning as them going that far was a surprise and they've been awful for most of the past 30 years, while the Giants have been much better in the same timespan. The Giants ended up winning 3-2 and I wasn't too disappointed by that as they had some great players help them win it all.

Thursday, I was thinking of returning to Epcot at Walt Disney World but I heard there'd possibly be rain in the area so I decided to wait until today, actually... I don't know about there but where I live there wasn't a drop of rain. Eh, at least I got to go to the library for a bit. Halloween, I certainly didn't dress up or go anywhere. I just stayed in and relaxed. There weren't too many trick or treaters, unfortunately. Saturday, things got more interesting.

It was on Saturday that I returned to a place I hadn't been to for over a year and that is the Flea World in Sanford. It's a huge covered but open aired flea market. I walked around and got some exercise, and I got some random DVD's. I could have done without many of the vendors blasting music to the point that the cacophony of noise just about disoriented me & gave me a headache, but then again I could have done without the absolute horrid traffic that reminded me why I only make it up to that part of Orlando & the suburbs once in awhile... anyhow, after the flea market I went to the Winghouse, as I hadn't been to that Hooters clone in a long while. The food there was alright but at least I was able to catch up on Twitter/other online activity and I warmed up; for Florida it was chilly but I know most outside of The Sunshine State won't have any sympathy for me.

Sunday, the Bears did not play as they have a bye week. With the way they played I was actually glad I didn't have to watch them play. I just stayed in and relaxed; I did enjoy the extra hour of sleep.

I know this wasn't the most exciting blog but I promise that when I return a week from today, it will be better.

The Blog Where I Purchased 50 Shades Of Grey Merchandise... But Not For Myself!

I swear, it wasn't for me.

Monday the 20th I decided to head on over to the Winter Park area. I went to the Rocket Fizz store first to get some more gourmet soda as I had run out. Then, the next and final stop was the Shake Shack restaurant, right by the Trader Joe's. Neither location was crowded so parking was actually a cinch. I had a very tasty meal at the Shake Shack then I went to Trader Joe's, where I purchased only a few items. Aside from the typical traffic, Monday was a fine day.

Tuesday was dull so I'll mention that Wednesday, I went to Walmart as I needed more Mountain Dew; I got that, then saw that the limited edition Mountain Dew Gamefuel returned, this time hyping the upcoming Call of Duty game; I've never played one of those, but as I am not a multiplayer guy at all and prefer the solo story-based mission stuff... other games out there are more for me. Anyhow, I got both flavors; one of them-lemonade-is new and it tastes like how you'd think it would. To me that's a good thing. Thursday I didn't do anything either so onto Friday.

I could have done a few different things for the weekend (and one thing was only known to me after I committed to my plans; more on that later) but what I decided on doing was going to Lakeland on Friday to visit a few spots, do nothing on Saturday then go watch the Bears on Sunday, after doing something rather wacky; I'll also get to that later. The places I went to in Lakeland included the Books-A-Million, where I finally found the book I was unsuccessful in finding the previous week. I also stopped at the Rocket Fizz store they have there to get even more gourmet soda (I'm set for the rest of the year, pretty much); so Friday was a fine day.

Of course, late on that day I finally heard that the next night there'd be an independent wrestling promotion (albeit a major one, comparatively speaking) who was having a show... in Lakeland. I had heard nothing about it beforehand, and I still follow a decent amount of local wrestlers online, and not a word from them either. That promotion definitely isn't like what they used to be but I wouldn't have minded going. But, I wasn't going to drive to Lakeland and back two days in a row; so, I stayed in on Saturday but I still had a rather unique weekend.

It started on Saturday with someone I know; she and some of her friends are fans of... 50 SHADES OF GREY. Yes. I'm only judging it by brief passages I've come across online and other people's opinions but apparently it's a poorly written series of books and it has a bad message & inaccurately portrays the BDSM scene. I've never brought it up to her, though. There's no need to. Anyhow, she noticed on Amazon a piece of jewelry related to the series (how, I have no idea) and she wanted it; she asked me all about Amazon and it was there I realized that I'd have to swallow my pride and order it for her off of my account, and get compensated for it.

Then, Sunday before I returned to the Friendly Confines bar/restaurant after weeks away from there, I had to stop at a place I've been at a few times before, Total Wine & More, as that same person had heard that they were now selling 50 Shades of Grey wine. Yes, this is a thing. If buying something related to that franchise is embarrassing, imagine doing it in person! Then, I returned to the Friendly Confines restaurant to watch the Chicago Bears game against the New England Patriots. The Bears have been pretty bad this season but this game, they really took the cake for being awful. They played so terribly I left at halftime. I ate my lunch and had some soda and I had seen enough; they were already losing 38-7 at that point. The final score was 51-23.

Another reason I didn't stay there the entire time = my fellow Bears fans. Being mad and upset over how the game went is one thing, but people whining and complaining NONSTOP from the very first play of the game = I quickly got tired of them being such whiny crybabies who needed a diaper change. The worst offender was a guy who looked like Beavis with glasses! With their next few games, it'll be awhile before I'll have to go anywhere to see them play... if I even want to go anywhere to see them play. They do not play next week, which to me is a relief.

When I return a week from today I know I'll have a few things to talk about as I already have plans for the rest of this month and next weekend.

Surge, Moe's, Chipotle, The Guest & Fat Bearded 300 Pound Wrestling Fans

The “fat bearded 300 pound wrestling fans” thing relates to someone I know who is a fan of pro wrestling and yet doesn't like most pro wrestling fans. He often uses that phrase or something similar. Well, last Monday night I was somewhere (more on that in a bit) and I actually saw someone wearing a late 90's pro wrestling shirt (it was of the NWO, to be exact) and I was amused and shocked to see such a thing. My pal will be exactly 0% surprised to hear that shirt-wearer is in fact “a fat bearded 300 pound wrestling fan”.

What an up and down week I had. This past Monday I went to Downtown Disney; it's a place I don't visit as frequently anymore due to all the construction that's going on there; it makes things more crowded for the time being and that whole area is tore up. Yet, I had to go there as the AMC Theatres there was the closest place that was showing a film called The Guest; it's from the same people that did the horror film You're Next. The Guest is best described as a psychological thriller and it's about a dude who just got discharged from the Army and he visits a family who lost their son during combat and he says he was pals with him. That's all I'll say. It's great. It's a very interesting plot, it gets pretty bloody and it's so stylish. I am glad I am one of the few who got to see it on the big screen; most will have to wait until video on demand or disc but I give it my highest recommendations.

Tuesday, I returned to Winter Garden Village. I ate at Chipotle, went to Target to get some items, then ended up at Barnes & Noble looking for a book. They didn't have it. At least at Target I found some apple cider and I had to purchase it; it reminds me of the good old days back in Illinois when I was a kid and my mom & my sisters went to the local apple orchard each fall and it was always a great time.

What wasn't a good time was Wednesday. It was a crappy day as a matter of fact. It was not one big thing, but rather some little things, from awful traffic to what happened when I had dinner. I was on the east side of Orlando, where I went to a few stores and then I was going to eat at a Qdoba restaurant before heading on over to pick up a parent at the Orlando International Airport... the same one who I dropped off the preceding Monday. I discovered that the Qdoba changed to a Moe's, which is similar and yet I had never eaten at before. I thought about it a moment then I decided to give it a chance. That was a mistake.

I can safely say that the entire franchise is heavy on the douche vibe; thinking that you HAVE to yell at customers whenever they walk in (even if you're just welcoming them, yelling is not OK) is unacceptable. Speaking of that, the service I experienced. I won't get into it but I was not treated well and it made sure that I'll never go there again. The fact that the food wasn't so great AND once I got back home I got an upset stomach and those are further demerits against that awful franchise. I'll stick with Qdoba or Chipotle instead.

Thursday I only did one thing: on Monday I saw that on Amazon they had new cases of Surge Soda available. In the late 90's and early 2000's I sometimes had it and while I prefer Mountain Dew it's still fine; they stopped making it over a decade ago but it was literally fan demand that brought it back, but you could only get it from Amazon, so that's what I did. Thursday was the first time I had it in over 10 years. I still think that Mountain Dew is better although it's not bad by any means. As for Friday: it was another crappy day! I was still looking for that one book and I still can't find it; maybe I'll have to go to Amazon for it also. Blah. At least I found some items I did need but the traffic was brutally bad so I was happy for a lazy weekend.

Saturday I did not do a thing so the day went fine; Sunday, I wasn't sure if I had to go out to see the Bears play against the Miami Dolphins; thankfully I discovered the day before that the game would be on locally so I could watch it from home. Of course, Chicago looked rather poor so Miami kicked their ass and won 27-14. The less said about it the better; at least I didn't have to go out somewhere to watch that pitiful performance. After the game I did return to Winter Garden Village, but this time to go to Jersey Mike's Subs to get food for me and someone else. That went fine, although I could have done without the young girl throwing a temper tantrum at the same time I was trying to order.

When I return a week from today, I have an idea or two in mind for what I'll be doing. I also have a few plans that will happen farther into the future, as in November and December. No spoilers on what they will be.

Sugar Ray, BangBugs, Ebola & Guys Named Ulrick

This past week wasn't quite what I was expecting but that is OK. Extenuating circumstances got in the way.

At least this past Monday I had the free time to go to Walt Disney World, Epcot in particular. It was to check out the annual Food & Wine Festival; much of the food they offer in various booths was the same as usual; that is OK with me. At least the weather wasn't too hot there and I didn't sweat like Danny Glover in Predator 2. 

It was nice to walk around and get some exercise too. The Dole Pineapple Whip is always pretty magical, but I certainly had more than that for dinner, which was basically getting some food from random booth. Oh, and the musical act they had performing there (during these festivals they have an act from the past perform a few times a day for about a half hour each; in the past I've seen parts or all of everyone from the Village People and Hanson to Chubby Checker and .38 Special) was Sugar Ray. I felt ancient once I realized that their hit songs were from when I was a teenager and that was 15 to 20 years ago. I only listened to part of the performance.

Tuesday was dull so I'll mention that I recently got a spam e-mail from something calling themselves BangBugs; I laughed at the obvious spoof of a website known as BangBros; if you haven't heard of it before... well, I'll just say it's a site for adults.

Technically real early Wednesday morning, I had to drop off another parent at the airport. I was OK with doing this, even if it meant going to the Orlando International Airport. I stopped to have a meal at the nearby Denny's; the last time I ate at a Denny's after an airport run, I saw a young man that defines the term “white trash” getting mad at the staff and he had to be stopped by his girl from attacking them or yelling at him or whatever he was going to do. In comparison this time there was dull... thankfully. The guy who waited on me was a dude with an indeterminate Caribbean accent and I was amused that his name was Ulrick. I made my own Grand Slam Breakfast and it was tasty, especially the limited edition pumpkin pancakes.

Now, I was expecting to do more the rest of the week; unfortunately, I started to feel under the weather. Don't worry, it was nothing serious; Lord knows it wasn't Ebola! Still, aside from getting pizza from the local Papa John's and getting medicine from the local Walgreens, there's nothing to report about the rest of the week. That's just how things turned out.

In fact, instead of going out to see the Chicago Bears played I just stayed at home and watched the NFL Redzone Channel, which on Sunday switches between all the games going on to show the best moments as they're happening. Not too many highlights of the Bears game were shown, which is not a surprise. I was hoping they'd beat the Atlanta Falcons but with the way they played the past few weeks, who knew for certain. However, thankfully Chicago won 27-13. I was fine staying at home and relaxing; today I finally feel more like myself now, so that was the right move in the end.

When I return a week from today, things should be more back to normal. I already have some plans in mind for things to do.

The Tales of Philly Brown, Humanoids & More Local Football

Oh, what a bad day I had  during this time period. This past Monday, I had to go to the local library to drop off those DVD's I got in the preceding week. This had to be done despite the fact that the rainy weather continued and it was pretty bad when I was out and about. I also stopped at a Walgreens for some miscellaneous items; it's no surprise that on the way back I saw the aftermath of an accident; as I've said hundreds of times online before, when it rains Florida drivers are even worse than usual. Tuesday I didn't do a thing and yeah, more rain... so onto Wednesday.

Wednesday, I had free time so I was thinking of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to eat for dinner. I decided on going to a MovieStop as I don't think I had been there in a few months. I did get some DVD's/Blu-ray discs. After that I drove on over to an open-air mall known as The Loop where I spent a short amount of  time in a Books-A-Million then I ate at BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse; giggle if you wish at the name. I do think it's amusing but they also offer up some tasty food & drink.

Thursday, due to the weather my plans changed. I don't know if it's for the best or not. Originally, I was thinking of driving down to a city to see two small colleges play. However, it looked too likely for there to be bad thunderstorm weather for me to want to be there; instead I went with Plan B, and that was see a game on this night. It was over in Melbourne and it was Florida Tech (they only started playing football last year) vs. Delta State, from Mississippi. I had a feeling it'd be a high scoring affair and competitive and it was... for the first half. The second half, Delta State opened up a can and they ended up winning 58-20. Aside from the game itself and having dinner in the local mall... not a good day overall.

The traffic there and back was a huge hassle (even worse than usual, and a decent amount of the journey was on a rural highway) and while there were plenty of people there that were fine (including some college students), there also were many awful loathsome people there, mostly the college students. They were loud, rude, and just complete buffoons all around; it's incredible how many buffoons I had to deal with throughout the day. I don't think too highly of “the youth of America” in general and this day proved that with a burning intensity.

What didn't help matters was that the town, people at the stadium and the stadium itself didn't think it was helpful to give out important information for people who weren't familiar with the city or the building. Such things as “labeling major roads in the city when you go through the intersection while on a side street” and “telling people once they get their ticket where you should sit if you have a general admission ticket” just did not happen and I was greatly aggravated by such things. No offense to the athletes of Florida Tech (I also got what pretty much was a rally towel from the school's ladies volleyball team) but I don't feel like returning to Melbourne anytime soon.

Friday and Saturday I didn't do a darn thing. The game I was going to go to originally was Webber hosting a school that started playing this year, Arizona Christian. Webber won 49-26. Sunday, I had to drop off a parent at the airport and the timing worked out to where I could do it and on the way back I would stop and watch the Chicago Bears game. I decided to do something different and I watched the game from an Ale House restaurant/bar; it was the one in Altamonte Springs.

While some people there I'd call “humanoids” they weren't too bad and my experience there was fine. The Bears game wasn't fine; they played like crap again and they lost again, this time to the Carolina Panthers; while I think it's incredible the Panthers have a player named Philly Brown, I did not enjoy the game and I still have a dim view of the National Football League. Yet, the people there at the joint were at least fine, the service was quite good, I was able to have a nice lunch/drink some pumpkin-flavored beer, and it certainly was better there than having to drive on the highway. Cripes, in the last week or so I've had to use my horn an absurd amount of times and it was real bad yesterday.

Anyhow, when I return next Monday I know it won't be as eventful a blog but that's alright. I'll find something to talk about.

The Outback Steakhouse, Sham Colleges & Bumpus Jones

Monday the 22nd, I went to the local library to drop off the DVD's I had and I got some more. It was a rainy day; then again it's been a rainy summer, which is fine with me. Also on this day I realized that the woman from Florida who allegedly had surgery to have 3 boobs (which was later proven to be false; it was just a 3 boob prosthesis; I didn't know such a thing even existed outside of the film Total Recall), well, TWO people I know have talked to her in the past. Honest. Also, I should have mentioned this before but during the big NFL game with the Seahawks and Broncos, I actually recognized someone in a crowd shot. They were in Seattle at the time and were at the game. I was not expecting to see someone I know on national television.

Onto more normal conversation, the Bears defeated the New York Jets on Monday night. It was another game that was hard to watch, but at least this game I was able to see it in full without turning it off in disgust. They were certainly helped out by how poorly the Jets played, that is for sure.

Tuesday I didn't do a thing on a day that was real ugly and rain-filled. I was happy to stay in. Wednesday, I went with someone to a restaurant and this experience was better than the last time I sat down at a restaurant. We decided to go to the Outback Steakhouse as there's one right in town and it's easy to get to. The food tasted fine and many on the staff actually were fast and didn't sit there with their thumbs up one of their orifices, so that was nice.

Thursday, I went to Walmart to pick up a few items and while some of the people there fit into the expected Walmart stereotypes, at least my time there was uneventful. Friday, I went to Wawa to get a sandwich for dinner and that was as exciting as the day got. Late at night I did see the big Grand Final (i.e. championship game) in the Australian Football League; yes I still do watch Australian Rules Football. I also saw the Grand Final last year, which was competitive; the game this year was as much a blowout as February's Super Bowl; Hawthorn kicked Sydney's ass. Still, it was nice to see that game live.

Saturday, I thought of attending a football game between two upstart college football teams, the University of the Southeast and the University of Faith. But, while the former has been a school for decades now and just started a team this fall, the latter and its sister school the College of Faith has gathered so much notoriety that there's a popular thread about them on Reddit. Neither school is accredited and I understand they're online schools and they are highly sketchy at best with players and coaches that aren't so good-to be kind-so it's no surprise these guys get blown out in games and yet somehow they count as official games. I decided not to go after all as it was likely there'd be rain AND thunderstorms during the game and the night before there was actually flooding in the area; avoiding that seemed like a wise idea. The University of Faith lost 55-15, by the way. Instead I just stayed at home.

Sunday, I returned to the restaurant known as Twin Peaks in order to see the Chicago Bears play against their hated rivals, the Green Bay Packers. Chicago got their ass kicked. I know that they were awful to both teams and Green Bay would have won anyhow but Holy Cripes were the officials in that game atrocious. This does not improve my now dim view of the NFL. At least my time at the restaurant was fine overall. But, driving there and back was especially bad due to all the awful traffic. My mood was brightened last night when I heard that there was once a baseball player in the late 19th century who called himself Bumpus Jones. What an incredible name.

When I return a week from today, I do have several ideas in mind for what I will be doing. If the weather is better than it was the past 7 days, my plans should go swimmingly.

The Blog Where I Announce That I Am Against Misogyny

I thought that I wouldn't have much to write about this week as it was another quiet one for me. Then, someone I know on Facebook did something dumb, and I got mad. I'll explain all that a little later.

Monday the 15th, I went out with someone to dinner. Inspired by the new ads they are running with their crosscut ribs, we decided to go to Applebee's; the neither of us had been there in a long while. It will be a long while before we return, especially to that location (the one in Kissimmee by 429). The food tasted fine; unfortunately, the service was pretty horrible and even though it was not busy there, it still took a long time before we got our meal. We were not happy about this. There are other Applebee's in the area but after the experience I don't feel like going to any of them.

I didn't do anything on Tuesday but Wednesday I did a nerdy thing: I won't get into why but it had actually been a few years since I had gone to the local library. I have no idea where my library card is but they have new ones anyway so that's what I got then I rented some DVD's of old films. Like before I'll be doing more of that than actually borrowing books.

Thursday, I drove to the Big Lots that was by the Florida Mall and I got some miscellaneous items. Then I went to the Florida Mall itself and besides walking around, I had dinner there via Five Guys. I am thankful that they have an option where you don't get an obscene amount of French fries. It was a rainy day and the last two times I've been there it was just pouring while I was in that mall. At least this time it stopped by the time I left.

The rest of the week for me was looking to be rather dull. Then, Friday night happened... I saw something gross posted on Facebook. It was someone from the local wrestling world and I'll leave it at that. I will not go into detail on what the photo is, but it was something that made light of the frightening reality of women being killed by the men they are in a relationship with, and actually said that it was because the women “wouldn't shut up”. Honest. Really, is it something that should be posted at anytime, but especially during a month where in the sports world domestic violence is SUCH a huge deal? No! 

That's pretty disgusting, to be honest... but not as gross as the number of people who actually liked the picture. Now, I am not against off-color or politically incorrect material, including humor. There have been many other times during the years where I saw something stupid on my timeline while I was on Facebook. But this is pretty nauseating all around. 

I made mention of it on Twitter and my own Facebook page and I made it clear how I thought it was distasteful. If you're wondering why I didn't comment on that guy's photo and say how much I disagreed with it, he and someone else made it clear that all the people who were offended were “tards”, “pussies” and “bitches”. I am shocked the word “fags” wasn't also thrown in. Clearly, I didn't even bother if there wasn't going to be any sort of INTELLIGENT conversation and instead there'd be fools resorting to cheap homophobic insults. It's still quite disappointing to see many people actually support the idea or think that in any way it was “funny”. At least you can rest assured that I would never do such ignorant things. I know this opinion won't be popular; I am OK with that.

But anyhow... Saturday and Sunday I did not do a thing and I was perfectly content with that. For reasons not completely known to me I haven't been getting the best night's sleep during this past week so staying at home was fine with me. At least when I return a week from today I'll have more to talk about. There would have been 2 Chicago Bears games played, hopefully officiated well-enough to where I'll actually be able to tolerate watching them, and I have other things in mind. If there isn't any drama due to awful photos being posted, that would be nice too.

The November Man, Dubstep Truck Drivers & Deplorable Athletes

Unfortunately, this will be a rather dull blog. That's just how it turned out.

Here's a recap of what I've done in the past week. I don't even remember doing anything last Monday so it must not have been an interesting day. So, let me talk about Tuesday. I had free time so I returned to Lakeland and this time I went back to the fancy Cinemark theatre they have which I think is really nice and all the screens are rather large. I went and saw The November Man, which did get mixed reviews but I happened to enjoy it. While it's not a groundbreaking tale that does much different than expected, I was still entertained.

After that I went to a Denny's. It was nearby and the one that was in town closed last year so I rarely go to Denny's anymore. While there I had the Super Bird, which I've had a few times before as it's usually good and that was indeed the case here. As for th other people there, what a cross-section of Americana! I don't have anything negative to say about them... except for the guy who was real angry about his meal and it took a few minutes of talking to the manager before he left; although, maybe he actually did have a big issue with his food, I have no idea. They were just quite the mix and wait until you hear who it was there that had a loud ringtone on his phone and it was a dubstep song... why, the old grizzled bearded man who looked like a truck driver! I couldn't believe it.

Wednesday the only thing I did was go to Winter Garden Village. I walked around that outdoor mall for awhile and went inside a few places. Thursday and Friday I didn't do a thing. I was fine with not doing anything on 9/11. I was not fine with seeing someone I know seemingly make light of the day and wasn't even successful in his attempts at humor. Sigh... to talk about something else depressing, during this week there were so many reminders of how there are many terrible athletes out there. I am not painting everyone with that brush; after all I've known and still know plenty of athletes, whether in high school or somewhere else. There just seem to be many awful people in sports, including the people that run the National Football League. They've done a lot in the past few years to turn me off, but this past week may be the breaking point. Sure, I'll go to sports bars and whatnot, but being a big fan and enjoying the action, I don't know if I'll ever have that passion ever again.

Saturday, what I did was return to Winter Garden Village, and to show you how hip and happening my life is now, my big thing for the weekend was... go to Target, eat at the Pizza Hut Express they have there, then I purchased a few items; no, I didn't pay with a credit card. I mentioned a cross-section of Americana, this was a bad version of that. I won't rant and rave about all those people but I saw plenty of terrible individuals, and yeah... at least the dinner I had was good.

Sunday, the Chicago Bears played at night so I did not go out. What an awful past seven days for the NFL and that includes there being many bad games during the day and this had to be the worst. Both teams just played atrociously but the worst aspect is how the referees reffed the game. I am not one who constantly whines about sports officials; I am not the typical sports fan and I am thankful for that. So, when I bring it up, it must be for a good reason and indeed, it was so bad I couldn't even stand watching the entire game so I bailed before halftime; it is hard to believe I did such a thing but it's true. The thing is... the Bears won! That is a huge shock to me as I never thought they could beat the 49'ers. I guess I'll have to thank the refs for the result but wow am I ever down on the NFL.

Sorry for a blog that ended on a downer. When I return a week from today I'll hope to be in a happier mood; I only have a faint idea about what I'll be doing in that week, but I'll cross my fingers for a cheerier-and more interesting-blog post.

Rural King, Sky Water, The National Football League & Kickapoo Joy Juice

Here's what I've done since the last blog. Tuesday I didn't do a thing but Wednesday was different from the norm. I decided to make the drive up north to Leesburg, a city I mainly only pass through when I'm even in the area anymore. I first went to Lake Square Mall, the big mall for the area that I've been at a number of times throughout the years. Wow is it not doing well now. I know the company that owned it sold it earlier in the year... and that company already sold it to someone else just a few days ago, and I have a feeling the ultimate fate of the place is rather dark. I mean, they lost two of their three big anchor stores (JC Penny and Target) and it's an already small mall which has a lot of vacant spaces. Leave the memories alone! I did spent some time in a Books A Million but there are other ones in the area and besides, when I was there I had to deal with inattentive employees, awful parents who think it's alright to let their hellion children loose and have them run all over without any supervision at all, AND the type of white trash that gives white trash a bad name. That doesn't make me want to return to the Lake Square Mall anytime soon.

However, things went better when I went to the Rural King store, also in Leesburg. I heard about the place from someone I know and you can guess what they sell there based on the name. Aside from the rural items they sell, they also have some food & drink items (I did go and get some of that) along with clothing. If you wanted pro NRA T's or shirts with tractors on them, that's the place to go to. I just got a red Rural King shirt, as it was only a few bucks. At least my time at that massive store was uneventful, but driving through the town of Leesburg can be hectic due to traffic and some horrendous traffic, as was the case on this evening.

Thursday was dull so I'll just mention that on Friday I had to go to Walmart to pick up a few items. Yeah, some dumb people were there; I tried to ignore those oafs. I did see some other individuals... to use an old joke, it looked like a Duck Dynasty convention with those people.

Saturday I stayed in and did not do a thing except drink one of the sodas I got from the Rural King. It was known as Kickapoo Joy Juice; the explanation for the wacky name is that it's a reference to the long gone comic strip known as Li'l Abner. The main reason I know about it... both my parents have mentioned before that they read it when they were kids. The beverage itself... I thought it was only average at best.

Sunday, that was the start of the NFL season so I went to the familiar haunt of the Friendly Confines restaurant/bar in order to see the Chicago Bears game in full. They played against the Buffalo Bills and they should have won the game; they didn't. They usually did not play well and I was thankful I could watch the other games being played at the same time. Thankfully it was an uneventful time there; various times in the past I've gotten mad while I was there due to rude idiot crybaby drama queen “sports fans” and other things, but there were no problems like that on this day. I did do something different and I not only had lunch there, but before I left I ordered dinner to go and once I got home me and someone else ate it and we enjoyed the meals.

It was raining the entire time on the way home and to my non-surprise, I saw several wrecked cars on the highway. To borrow something from a friend, when there's “sky water” on the road Florida drivers are even more atrocious than usual.

Before I end this, I have to note... what a bad week for the NFL. Besides all the bad news and injuries and whatnot, someone I know saw all the games on the Red Zone Channel and complained about how horrible the games were and how badly the players played. What a terrible day today has been for them.

I'll return a week from today and nothing is on the agenda for the upcoming week; the Bears play on national TV so that makes things easy for me. I'll have to think of adventures to get myself involved in.

Tales of Chicken Fries, Football Road Trips & Dick's... Sporting Goods

Yeah, this wasn't the most exciting week for me. It happens. At least one evening I went to Burger King for dinner and I got some chicken fries, which recently returned and I don't love them like seemingly a lot of people do but they still taste fine.

Monday the 25th, someone I know wanted to eat at Uno Pizzeria and as the neither of us had been there in awhile I figured that'd be the place to go. It was busy there and there were too many screaming kids around for my tastes but at least the food tasted good... and I had no food poisoning issues like the one time I ate there then late in the night I suffered from the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had, and trust me you don't want to hear the details of why I can say with certainty I hadn't had food poisoning so bad!

Tuesday I did nothing but Wednesday I had to go out and about... simply to Walmart to pick up an item important for me. In my room the cable service was “on the fritz”, and I figured it had to be because the RG6 coaxial cable itself was at least 10 years old and it was failing. Turns out I was correct and in my room I really had to move some items around and bend into funny positions just to unhook the old RG6 and then there was hooking up the new RG6 up; but, I was able to do it and all my problems were solved. My time at Walmart was uneventful.

Thursday I stayed in but Friday, I decided to do something, albeit minor. I stopped at a Redbox to pick up a Blu-ray then I visited a Dick's Sporting Goods that opened recently in town. I walked around and I rarely make purchases there; however, on this day I decided to be sensible and figured that for the days where I do a lot of walking around I should wear some athletic socks, so I decided to spend the money to get some as my feet will thank me in the future.

The movie I got was The Lego Movie as most people love it. Well, I didn't. I could go on and on but I didn't care for the story, the characters or the humor. That's the super brief recap from me. At least the movie's animation was cool. I am fine if the movie worked for just about everyone else and it didn't work for me personally.

Saturday, that was the interesting day for me. It was the start of the college football season and I actually went to a game, albeit one that's decidedly more low profile than a battle involving the Florida Gators or the Florida State Seminoles. Last year I went to one between the small schools of Webber and Warner, the latter just having started their program. Well, I saw Warner again and for reasons unknown to me the program is already in turmoil so I figured they wouldn't do well against Stetson (another program that started playing football recently) and yet I still wanted to check it out. It was technically a home game for Warner but it wasn't in their home city of Lake Wales; instead it was in Lakeland at a very nice high school stadium; it was at a private religious school so no surprise to me they could build a fancy small stadium.

Before I went to the game I returned to PDQ; I really do rate that restaurant highly. I then drove to the stadium and thankfully the weather cooperated; some parts of Central Florida dealt with horrific weather but there wasn't a drop of rain at the game, let alone any lightning. While the game wasn't like a major game you'd see on TV it thankfully was entertaining and Stetson won 35-16. The crowd was around 1,200 people and I had little problems with idiots, at least personally. I felt bad for the Warner player who clearly to me broke his leg, but otherwise I can't say much bad about my time there... oh wait, I do have to mention how they played some Christian music before the game; it was “modern” so it was rock tunes and even rap, but it was still different from what I'm used to, hearing a Christian rap song.

Sunday I relaxed but Monday I actually did do something. I went and got pizza to eat from Pizza Hut. I know it's not the healthiest thing to eat... still, it tastes good! I will return on my usual day of Monday the 8th and as always I'll stumble into a few things to talk about.

Culver's, Sam's Club, Baseball & Wawa Sandwiches

Here's the recap of what I did in the past week. Monday the 18th, I went with someone to Sam's Club to pick up some items; after that a short journey was made over to Logan's Roadhouse, a restaurant I have eaten at a number of times before and both the trip to Sam's Club then the restaurant went fine and were nondescript. Sam's Club is an interesting place to go to and walk around once in a long while.

Tuesday afternoon, I finally went and saw The Expendables 3. No, not via leaked torrent download like several people I knew did. I saw it on the big screen. I know the first two movies are real polarizing but I think that they're both great. This third one, though, it's just awful. I won't go into details about it except that it was a bad story badly filmed; the action scenes are the opposite of exciting and even though I don't care for him personally Mel Gibson as the villain had the best character and the best performance. I had a feeling the third one would be disappointing (and not just for the usually true trope of the third movie in a series being pretty bad no matter the quality of the first two movies) but this was just bad and it makes me sad.

Wednesday, I had the time so I decided to return to Tropicana Field to see the Tampa Bay Rays play; this time it was against the Detroit Tigers. But before that I went to a restaurant from my past. A Midwest restaurant staple during the time I lived up there before I moved to Florida is Culver's, originally from Wisconsin and they make great food and treats. Recently they opened at a few locations in Florida but that was in the southwestern portion of the state before they finally came to the Tampa Bay area, and I had to go there as the last time before that was the last time I was in Illinois, which was 5 long years ago; it certainly does not seem that long but it was. I had a burger, fries and shake and I enjoyed all of them. After that I went to see some baseball.

Pretty much right after I saw live the Rays game where they lost vs. the St. Louis Cardinals they morphed from a pretty bad team to pretty good. I do take credit for that! They've cooled off as of late and well, they lost again; this time the Tigers beat them 6-0. A lot of the game wasn't exciting offensively but the pitching for both teams was quality... until it got pretty bad for the Rays and that's how you got the final score. Like the game vs. St. Louis, plenty of fans for the opposition were there to cheer on their team. Well, at least the stadium wasn't as empty as it unfortunately usually is... I sat in the upper deck and I wasn't sure why an old couple was sitting in my seat but due to their age I didn't press the issue and I just sat in a nearby seat instead. Hopefully history will repeat itself and after seeing that loss they'll be good for the rest of the season. Other than what I mentioned it was a rather uneventful day.

Thursday, the only thing I did was go somewhere to pick up dinner and that was at the local Wawa gas station. If you've never been to one, you can order sandwiches (and even tasty concoctions such as milkshakes to drink) from a touchpad and build it however you like. I got a turkey sandwich myself.

Friday I did nothing so I'll mention that Saturday I returned to Wawa for their sandwiches; this time I got one for myself and one for someone I know, who hadn't had food from there before... or even stepped foot inside a Wawa before. We both enjoyed our meals. I also had to get some printer ink from Staples so that's what I did; it cost an arm and a leg... like all printer ink does.

Sunday I did not do a thing (aside from drinking a large bottle of hard cider) so I'll end this here. It's not set in stone yet but I already have an idea what I'll be doing next weekend and that will provide some content for me to write about for the day after Labor Day; that's when I'll post next instead of doing it on a holiday. I'll have to stumble into some more adventures to not have it be a short post, though.

Robin Williams, Mountain Dew Solar Flare, & German Restaurants

Here's a recap of what I've done in the past week and it's had some interesting moments. Last Monday I decided I really needed a haircut and this was a good day to do it so that's what I did. Nothing interesting to say there. Then, the evening hit and I heard the news about Robin Williams... due to my age of course I've seen more than a few of his movies in my life; I actually remember watching reruns of Mork & Mindy when I was really young. So, I was saddened by the news and especially how the death happened.

Tuesday, I needed to renew my annual pass at Walt Disney World so that's what I did. I went to the Animal Kingdom in particular; I figured it'd be busy there and I was correct. That's OK as at least I was still able to walk around and see some animals. I got exercise and while I could have done without the oppressive heat and humidity, it otherwise was a nice way to spend a few hours.

Wednesday, that was a day of ups and downs. Despite the downs and such things as tailgating drivers and other idiocy, this day turned out fine overall. I went to Lakeland to do a few things. On the way there I stopped at a 7-11 to get a Mountain Dew Solar Flare soda as they only sell it there, and in fountain drink form. It's tropical punch flavored and it's good.

As I really enjoy the restaurant known as PDQ, I went there to eat dinner and as always I enjoyed the food; I had it with a Cap'n Crunch Berries shake and yes I enjoyed that too. I then went to an outdoor mall that's nearby & I discovered they now have a Rocket Fizz store; that's the gourmet soda joint I like visiting due to all the odd pops they have; I killed time there and I did make a purchase; I enjoyed being there too. I then did something that wasn't so enjoyable and that was my experience at the Silver Moon Drive-In in Lakeland, which I've been to a decent number of times before and while I've gotten annoyed with other customers there I've never had a problem with how the place was run, until this day.

I went there to see Guardians of the Galaxy then Into the Storm; neither I need to see right away and I can wait until DVD (I know it's not a popular opinion but comic books and comic book movies aren't really for me, I've come to realize) to see them; as a drive-in is cheap I figured that'd be a nice way to see both. Well, I got there like an hour before that double bill starts (they have two screens there; the other was showing two other films but it started at around the same time) as I figured they'd be open and I'd have plenty of time to relax. I had nothing else to do at the mall so I thought this'd be fine. Oh no.

I got there and there was a lineup of cars in front of the entrance where you pay to get in; everyone was stopped and in fact some were out of their cars; were they opening the box office later? Did something happen that delayed the opening? Was there something else going on? Who knows! There sure as heck wasn't any sign up or any employee around to explain what the situation was so I got annoyed and I decided to turn around and go home. The day was exciting enough it was OK not to see those films. It likely will be a long while before I decide to go back there if that's how they treat their customers.

Thursday and Friday I did not do a thing; I was fine with that. Saturday, I did something that's now a yearly tradition around this time of year and that's attend a birthday celebration for someone I know; that get-together is held at a German restaurant in the city of Sanford; at least a dozen people show up and it's all a good time. The party last year was canceled due to circumstances beyond anyone's control so it was nice to see all those people after all of that time. Considering my heritage it's horrible to say that I don't care for most German food but it's true; I did have dessert there, though. The triple chocolate cheesecake was as good as it sounds. I ate dinner before I got to the restaurant.

Considering that on Saturday I had to deal with atrocious traffic and way too many idiots on the highway I was happy to stay in and do nothing on Sunday. When I do my next blog a week from today, I'll be doing my share of driving too so I am hoping for traffic that isn't as awful; I do have a few things planned already so it should be a good blog.

Hippo Size Sodas, Fufu Berries, Shake Shack & Deepsea Challenges

Hippo Size is a brand of gourmet soda I found recently and I had to pick it up; it's short and squat and what I've had tastes good. The rest of the title will be explained in due course.

This past Monday I did not do anything of note so let me skip ahead to Tuesday, where I had free time and I was wondering what to do so I decided to head on over to Downtown Disney, in order to walk around there (even if it was hotter than Hades at the time) and to see all the construction there as by 2016 it will be known as Disney Springs and have many more things to do there. Right now, that entire area is torn up and quite a few places are closed off for construction. I did walk around and as I dig the fancy bowling alley/restaurant known as Splitsville, I decided to have dinner there. I enjoyed the food (as usual) and I did have a frozen alcohol drink... but only to cool off! Other than it being busy and the heat, nothing to say about my time there.

Wednesday and Thursday I didn't do a thing, so I'll mention that once again I experienced some incredible moments of stupidity but I can't really get into what exactly I'm talking about. I am not referring to awful traffic on the highway either; I mean, that's a near-constant struggle whenever I'm driving. I just wish I didn't have to deal with such situations sometimes.

Friday, that was definitely the most interesting day of the week. I did not even know of it until the night before, but if you didn't know, a few years ago James Cameron (he's been a life-long fan of the ocean and between directing movies he goes there) went in a personal submersible and he went down like 7 miles down to the deepest part of the ocean, and they made a 3D documentary on the preparation for the trip then the trip itself. It's called Deepsea Challenge 3D. I am a nerd so I did find it interesting and I knew little about the deep dive so it was a nice way to spend a Friday. I went to the AMC in Altamonte Springs and I could have picked one of a few joints in Orlando to see it but I picked that because it fit my schedule best and I did want to go somewhere in particular after the movie.

While I had to deal with some bad traffic, I still was happy to return to Winter Park. I went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few items and then I went to a restaurant that's in the same shopping plaza. While this means that parking at Trader Joe's is even more of a hassle, I was happy that finally a Shake Shack restaurant (from the Northeast; there's three in South Florida) as I think their food and drink is great. I didn't even mind waiting in line. I had a burger, fries and a custard treat as dessert. At the time there was lightning all over. I sat outside, as they have a nice area and there's a canopy covering part of it but I sat in a rare available seat... which was not covered. I soon realized sitting there when there's lightning all around was PERHAPS an unwise decision so I wolfed down my burger, had a small amount of fries and treat, then got the heck out of there and went home and ate the rest of my meal there.

Saturday I did not do a darn thing which is OK. So, let me mention another gourmet soda I had on that day. It's from Jones Soda (known for putting out strange pops) and the one I had was something known as Fufu berry; I don't know what a fufu berry is or what that made-up flavor is supposed to be but I thought it was only alright. It is mainly a combo of raspberry and strawberry. Sunday, the only thing I did was go to a Publix supermarket to pick up a sub sandwich for dinner.

Not the most exciting week, but when I return a week from today it should be a more exciting blog; I already have several activities planned.