Confectioneries, Screamin' Deals & Mossy Oak Pursuit Energy

This won't be the most exciting thing I'll ever post on a Monday, I'll put it that way. Last week, Monday through Wednesday was pretty dull for me. Monday, I went with someone to the local Outback Steakhouse, as a few days prior that other person got a coupon in the mail worth a few bucks off the bill. It was a good decision to go there. Tuesday, I went to McDonald's for dinner, where the person at the counter was a real maroon. I tried to put up with him the best I could and at least the order was not screwed up. Wednesday, nothing happened... except that for a period of time, there was another Internet issue. Thankfully that was fixed but hopefully sometime soon that black cloud over my head will vanish.

Thursday was more interesting. I ended up in Orlando; the main thing I'll mention is that I returned to Sanford. Recently I was at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the city but only had time to have a drink. This time I was also able to eat dinner there. That went fine. After that I went to the nearby Murphy USA gas station to fill up on some cheap gasoline. In their convenience store was a new energy drink. It was Mossy Oak Pursuit Energy, in “original” flavor. Yep, original meant a standard energy drink flavor; it was fine. As hunting outfitter Realtree has offered their own energy drink for yeas now, no surprise that competitor Mossy Oak would try to do the same thing.

Friday and Sunday I did nothing, but Saturday I returned to Orlando. I'll mention two things I did there. I first returned to the Safeway grocery store. I did not know it beforehand but they had some screaming deals. Being able to purchase 5 12-packs of Pepsi products for only 10 bucks, yes please. I then went to the nearby Altamonte Mall. The highlight there was that on the floor they had set up a confectionery stand which offered a bunch of odd candy and you could fill a bag with it, the weight determining what you paid. I did not get too much but what I have eaten so far was good.

Like I said, the preceding week for me was pretty dull. When I return next Monday, things should be more exciting.

Dunkin' Donuts, Klingon Beer, Internet Issues & Pandora: The World Of Avatar

There were some ups and downs this past week. Last Monday I went to a Walmart to get a few items. Tuesday, I ended up at a Target for some other items, and before that I went to a Dunkin' Donuts. I rarely go to that establishment. While there I got a grilled cheese sandwich and one donut, which did taste good. One day I should find some of those gourmet donut places, where you can get some elaborate creations. Wednesday was a long day; in the morning I ended up at Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. That is because I wanted to visit the just-opened Pandora: The World of Avatar. For a movie that made an incredible amount of money, I am not sure how many people care about that property now; it certainly is not a cultural zeitgeist like Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Mickey Mouse, etc. Still, I was interested in how it looked and plus, I think the movie is good although there are James Cameron movies that I do think are better, like the first two Terminator films and Aliens.

The new Pandora area is breathtaking; it is no exaggeration. I thought it looked amazing and it's better seen in person than described. Along with visually, sounds are piped in and it's a great experience. It's not a large area and there are only a few things to do, but that is OK with me. I was only able to go on the boat ride, which is the standard indoors boat ride a la Pirates of the Caribbean, except that with this one... like in the movie, when it's nighttime in Pandora, everything is lit up and it looks incredible. The other ride is more elaborate and thus, it's not a surprise it only worked part of the time and a huge line formed... so no I did not go on that. Whenever that happens in the future, I hope to give it rave reviews. I walked around the other parts of the park and it was nice as always to see all those animals. After that I went to the Sanford Airport to pick up someone. As it was raining then... no shock to me I saw the aftermath of two accidents. I've already ranted and raved about traffic as of late so I won't do it again, but I definitely am not happy with all the tailgating I've had to deal with in the past few weeks.

Thursday I relaxed; Friday, the Internet stopped working properly. It was after lightning struck right by my abode. In the evening I planned on that being an issue for the next few days, so I went to a Barnes & Noble to use their WiFi to post on a few sites explaining this. I sat in their Starbucks cafe and had a lemon bar & a random drink; both were fine. After that I went to the nearby Twin Peaks for a drink, as I figured I needed one. Speaking of drinks, recently at a World Market I found something quite wacky: Klingon beer. A small brewery from New York state called Shmaltz makes it and I have no idea how much it costs to use a Star Trek license like that. It was an Imperial Porter, which seemed appropriate for a Klingon to drink; it was fine. 

Saturday, the cable provider (Spectrum) was called, as they also provide the Internet. The suggestion was given that the router was the problem. As it was a few years old anyhow and was not always reliable, it was time to get a new one. I got the NETGEAR AC 1750 and what a breath of fresh air it is. It's definitely faster than my old router... yes, that actually was the problem. Sunday was Father's Day and hopefully that was a nice day for everyone. When I return a week from today, I am not quite sure what I'll be discussing... yet.

Wonder Woman, Cricket, Antojito's, Okahumpka & Batman

Here's what I've done in the past week. It wasn't the most eventful week for me, honestly. On Monday the 5th, I went to drop someone off at the airport in Sanford. Yeah, sometimes I am like a taxi service but that's alright. I had to deal with rainy weather and as I've said many times before, if you think that Florida drivers are terrible on dry land... that was a source of aggravation. Tuesday, I did something on the spur of the moment. I went somewhere to eat... that will remain nameless as it's another one of those places that can't differentiate between “medium well” and “well done”. I then went and saw Wonder Woman. I am not a comic book movie watcher as most of those have zero interest for me; it's just personal taste, that's all. But, as I saw Marvel last month on the big screen, I might as well be fair and watch DC theatrically also. I thought the movie was good; it just looked a lot more appealing than something like Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman, which may be movies that I never watch.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty boring; I imagine people don't care to hear me talking about getting pizza from Pizza Hut, so let me move onto Friday. In order to do something different, I returned to Universal Studios CityWalk; thankfully things went better there than the last time... that was the night where my battery died and it was great luck on my part it was in a place where security could get an employee to use a gimmick to jump-start it. I walked around and got some exercise... which was then immediately negated as I had some frozen yogurt from Menchie's then went to Antojito's, which is an “Authentic Mexican Restaurant”. That sort of food is not for me and my picky tastes (to be blunt) but I imagine it is tasty; I had a random mixed drink which naturally was made with tequila, and I don't know if it was just for me but I was given free chips & salsa, which I did take advantage of.

Saturday, I did nothing. As when I was real little I did watch the 60's Batman TV show when it was in reruns on a broadcast TV station, I was saddened to hear that Adam West passed away. Sunday, that turned out to not be so great. A new exit opened on Florida's Turnpike and it's not that far from where I live. People I know will soon be asking me about it so I decided to go to the exit so I can tell them where it is in case they want to use it in the future to drive north on the Turnpike. I made it to the exit and I decided to head north to the Okahumpka service plaza. It was rainy and traffic was even worse than I expected. Then, when I got food from the KFC Express, there was a picture of the amount of popcorn chicken I was supposed to get... what I actually got was a small pittance. I'll give any advice to those in the future that live north of me and are driving down I-75 to reach the Florida's Turnpike: before getting on the Turnpike, eat food and get gas in Wildwood. Oh, and using this new exit means having to drive through a toll plaza on the road... and it's THREE dollars each way as you go through it. Those people may not want to use the new exit after all.

To end this on a lighter note: something I did not expect to say before was that after stumbling upon some articles and seeing parts of games and highlights of games on the Willow TV channel, cricket's not a bad game after all. Heck, a simplified version of the game was played during PE in my youth but it was something I never paid much attention to. What I've seen is not the “short” version that is still 3 hours long nor the test cricket that has games which last for a few days, but the One Day cricket which are still long by American sports standards. I haven't seen a full game as they are at least 7 hours long but I imagine I'd have no problem if I could theoretically ever watch a game live in person; seeing it on TV as I am surfing the web is no sweat. I think it's something I should have paid more attention to sooner.

When I return a week from today... hopefully there will be no bad days to speak of.

Pepsi Fire, The Spy Who Loved Me, Fidget Spinners & Covfefe

As May ended and June began, here is what I did. My Memorial Day was a little unorthodox as in the early afternoon I had to drop one parent off at the airport in Sanford, drive home for a few hours then return to Sanford to pick up the other parent in the evening. I was happy to help them out and during the two times I was in Sanford, I stopped at a World Market to pick up a few items and I was also at a Buffalo Wild Wings for a bit. Tuesday, I tried a drink I was interested in despite a lot of people hating it before even trying it. It was Pepsi Fire, which was cinnamon-flavored. As others have noted, it'd be better if it was Pepsi mixed in with Fireball Cinnamon Whisky and that is true as at least with Fireball, you get drunk. Still, I thought it was fine and not an abomination as some people say it is. Tuesday I went to Chipotle for dinner and that went fine. Wednesday was rather interesting.

Wednesday I ended up at Disney Springs; first I ate at Splitsville as they always have very good food and that was true on this occasion. After that I walked next door to the AMC Theatres to see a 007 double bill that they did (and some AMC's did across the country) where they showed two old Roger Moore films and half the money will go to UNICEF. That always sounds like a nice cause to support, so I went there and saw The Spy Who Loved Me then For Your Eyes Only. Those are two films I enjoy a lot so I loved seeing them that way. Thursday, I ended up at a World of Beer I had not been to before; it was the one in Altamonte Springs. That went fine and I even had dinner there too. Friday through Sunday were boring; the main highlight was going to Walmart on Saturday evening, where I wish I could have checked out in a line where the employee did not take 5 minutes to figure out how to use my Walmart gift card to pay for what I got, but alas...

I'll just mention a few odd ends before closing this out. First, something I was going to mention the last time I wrote: at Megacon I realized how popular the phenomenon of fidget spinners were. I think I just heard about them around this time last month and at least to me it looks as if their popularity skyrocketed in just a few weeks. Maybe I would like to try one in the future. Traffic... it's the same old same old for this year, meaning “amazingly bad”. Finally, there's the word “Covfefe”... that tweet was a little concerning unless it was done on purpose to distract, and as the deal happened in Paris hours later... a lot of jokes were made about it and honestly, most were just dumb and not funny or clever in the least. That's a bipartisan opinion, by the way.

When I return a week from today... I'll have somewhat of an idea of what I'll be talking about.