Orlando, FL

What an interesting day! As soon as I sat down and got my computer turned on I heard wheels squealing outside on I-4 and I looked up just in time to see an orange Smart car sideways and up in the air and the heavy, "THUD, THUD, THUD" of cars hitting each other!!

Fay and I jumped up and ran outside to see how bad this one was. Seeing a Smart car involved, I ran back inside to get my camera and take a few snapshots of the carnage.

Two guys in a Porsche sports car stopped and ran up to help the accident victims. One of the guys was looking at the damaged front end of the Smart car and yelled out, "Oh my God!! It ripped the engine right off of your car!!" The owner had to point out that the engine is in the back of his little car.

We went back inside to work, but Fay asked me which TV station the helicopter was from - she wanted to find out more about the accident on the TV news. I told her I did not know, but I looked online and found the I-4 Traffic Cameras and found a shot of the accident from the camera at I-4 and Conroy Road.

Later Nancy and Nick came in to get literature on their way to the convention center to set up for the Florida School Nutrition Association Show. Nancy, bless her heart, was wearing a t-shirt that said "CNN", but it used a hammer and sickel (like the old Soviet Union) in the place of the "C" and it said "Communist News Network". She is such a die-hart right wing believer!

In the afternoon they returned to the office to change their clothes so that they would look nice for a dinner with Marion County Schools Food Service Director. While they were in the office Nancy asked us to go to Florida Solar Freedom to view her testimonial about the solar panels she recently had installed on her Deland, FL home.

Follow the Florida Solar Freedom link to "Testimonials" to see video of Nancy and her solar panels.

Soon another hectic and busy day was over. Craig phoned in to alert us that Joan Salah was bringing a big wig from Manitowoc to our test kitchen tomorrow to make a presentation to Disney from 11 AM to 2 PM. Fun. At least I am getting paid tonight and we can get some groceries bought this weekend!

Orlando, FL

It was another moderate day (for me atleast) at FER today. Phones were light and the rest of my work load was mercifully light.

Fay on the other hand had all she could handle and later in the afternoon she even screamed in frustration!

The news today was full of talk about Obama's first 100 days in office and of course, the swine flu epidemic.

Lunch today was a Chik-Fil-A chicken strips salad.

When I got home I had to start making a dinner with ground beef that had thawed in the sink all day. I chopped up and onion and put it into the wok with the beef on low heat while I took Buddy for his walk. Bob was still at work.

Poor Buddy. During our walk he did his business, but then he drug his butt on the concrete sidewalk for the next six blocks! He had a string hanging out and he was trying to get rid of it (from chewing up his tug-o-war rope).

When we got back to The Waverly we went to the second floor to check our mail. I took him into the mens room and using a paper towel, I pulled the string out of him.

Bob was home by the time we got back to the house. I finished making the chili for dinner and then sat down to read The Orlando Weekly alternative newspaper that I pick up every Wednesday because it is free. It's not as good as The Orlando Sentinel, the daily paper, but I sense that it is more honest.

Orlando, FL

The next book I will be reading is called Twinkie, Deconstructed. It is about processed foods and where all of the ingredients come from. I think it's important to know about the foods you put into your body. An article I was reading today about the head of the US FDA seems to agree.

There was more news today about the spreading swine flu outbreak. There were rumors of cases at Florida Hospital, but that has been debunked by the state surgeon general. With all of the travel to and from Orlando to see Mickey Mouse, it must only be a matter of time before we have it too.

From what I understand, the Jews are not too pleased with it being called "swine" flu and they are pushing to have it re-named!

The phones were busier today, but overall it was a moderate day. During lunch I fried two chicken breasts and added them to the salad that I took in with me. Fay had to go out and bring a salad back from Chik-Fil-A.

Each evening before we shut down for the day I am putting the day's orders back through the fax machine again and scanning them into the computer to comply with Gabe's wishes. So far it hasn't been too bad, but the fax is such a slow scanner!

Today is Bob's real long day - 12 hours at Florida Hospital and then he goes to his evening class. He is taking Healthcare Organizations now. He should be home around 9:30 or 10:00 PM.

Orlando, FL

Today was a moderate day. There were a few new orders and there were certainly issues to follow up on, but the phones were light and it was not too bad.

I had a little bit of pain from the sunburn I acquired at the pool yesterday.

At the end of the workday I scanned the days orders and saved them to an Acrobat file like Gabe wanted so that we can save paper and the $4.85 we spend every week on UPS. The fax is so

slow at scanning that it took 10 minutes to scan the three orders!

I spent a little bit of time thinking about my mis-spent youth at

NTC Orlando and how much everything has changed. The picture above is an aerial view of

Lake Spier and Lake Gear with Nuclear Power School still standing. The picture below is what the same area generally looks like today with the new Baldwin Park neighborhood developed here.

Nothing in this world is certain except change.

Lots of news about the swine flu today. Debbie came in and yaddered on for half an hour about it. She thinks it is all overblown and being done to distract us. She might be right about that, but if anyone in FER contracts flu, it will be Debbie.

Weekend

FER-Orlando finished the week with $327k in new orders. Hollywood brought in $119k. Not a bad week (for a change).

After work I drove home to take Buddy for his evening walk. Bob was home already too - he had the day off and he went to the dentist to have his cracked molar extracted. They gave him prescriptions of pain reliever and antibiotic. He has to eat soft foods, keep the socket rinsed out, and return to have an implant put in.

Dinner was chili, but Bob had to eat yogurt and mashed potatoes. We ended up looking for soft foods for Bob all weekend.

On Saturday we had scrambled eggs and coffee for breakfast. Then we drove out to my storage unit to put some stuff in, and Bob had to go through his boxes to find some papers about his house closing. While he did that I took the dresser drawer from the back of the car, spread Elmers Carpenters Glue on the dovetails, and then tightly clamped it back together. We will go back for it next weekend and take it to Daytona with us.

We read our books and worked on Rosetta Stone Spanish Language for the rest of the day. We thought about going to the Harmony Dark Sky Festival last night, but since we are almost broke, we decided against it and stayed home.

Today we ran the dish washer TWICE! Then we did three loads of laundry. After this we went to the Eola Farmer's Market where we bought six red bell peppers, three big yellow peppers, and three zucchini. We walked around the lake because an arts festival was also going on.

When we got back home we got ready to go down to the pool. I diced up the peppers and put them into a freezer bag for freezing. Then we packed some bottled water, a salad, the London broil that I thawed out, made a foil pocket with peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and Bob packed a seafood salad.

We went to the pool, wrapped the grill in foil, and lit it up. We cooked our food on the grill, enjoyed the frigid pool, read our books, and got some sun. I am a little painfully sunburned this evening. I finished Pilgrim In The Land Of Alligators. I will be reading Twinkie, Deconstructed next.

After a short nap we took Buddy down to the street for his evening walk, then we went back out to eat dinner. We went to the Metro Espresso Pizza. They had the TVs on in there and the news was full of stories about the swine flu. I guess that will be just the thing Obama needs to deflect attention from the economy!

On our way home we stopped in at Publix to get bread, eggs, and cottage cheese. We were looking at the ice cream and in one of the freezers we spotted ice cream treats for dogs!! There were warning signs that said, "Not for human consumption" on the shelf.

Now we have the floors cleaned, I cleaned the glass tables, our laundry is folded up and put away, and we are almost ready for another week. I get paid this week! Yeah!

Powers Of Ten

This little movie by Charles and Ray Eames is a classic and illustrates the effect of adding a zero to any number.

Orlando, FL

Today we went to lunch with Betsy Hummel. Craig drove Fay and me to Dr Phillips where we met Debbie with Betsy and Brian Winney. Betsy was full of news for us!

I simply ordered a chicken chiaruscuro salad. Fay ordered an enchilada and explained, "Today's a 'free day' on my diet." I just smiled and nodded.

The biggest news of all was how many people we knew who had been fired from Disney or fired from other vendors. A lot of unhappy people! Even Brian Winney at our table was given his papers! Greg Moore and him were told that their last day will be in September.

Craig has already started to ask our dealers if they need a project manager. Perhaps he will find a spot for Brian.

I spent some time this morning adding contacts to my LinkedIn page. I am up to 21 individuals so far!

Bob worked four hours today - his short day. He went to see an attorney this afternoon about his mortgage fraud case. I think he has a good case, but there is no telling how all of it will work out. The lawyer advised him to stop paying his mortgage to get the lender's attention!

I am tired - it's been quite a busy week - FER has logged over $277k in new orders so far!

Evelyn Dufner, the Computer Angel, is coming to work on our computers tomorrow afternoon. The main reason I don't like to see her visit is because she is so disruptive. She usually makes me clear the screen and re-boot the computer atleast once each time.

Tire Inflation

Bike Tricks

I especially liked the bicycle skipping rope from the 1901 reel! Of course the scene with the guy pedalling the bike with his ass was entertaining too!

Orlando, FL

Today was a very busy day at work. We processed $145k in new orders! I took plenty of phone calls today too!

It rained lightly today and because the roads were wet, I took the surface streets back home.

I started baking some hamburgers and got a bag of microwavable, steaming veggies out of the freezer, then took Buddy outside for his evening walk.

Bob works 12 hours on Mon, Tues, and Wed, so he would not be home until after 6:30 PM.

I started reading Pilgrim In the Land of Alligators this weekend and I am enjoying the short stories about Florida history! I will finish this book sometime this week!

Weekend

On Friday evening we ate a turkey breast that slowly cooked in the crock pot all day long. We added some carrots to it a couple of hours before we ate.

Bob was given "homework" by his supervisor. He has to make an ambulance deficiency checkoff sheet. I helped him by downloaded a model ambulance into SketchUp, modifying it to suit us, and then he dropped it into a form he made in Excel.

On Saturday we hung around the house all morning and read. I finished Digital Apollo. Then Bob went to visit the mortgage broker. While he was out I mounted the second pendant lamp he bought on the rail system we put up in the dining room. For some reason, the lights would not work after I did this! I do not know if it is the switch or the transformer. I am leaning toward believing the transformer is burned out.

In the afternoon we took Bob's car to The Octopus Car Wash to get it vacuumed out and cleaned -- Buddy left ALOT of hair on the back seat during our mini-vacation last weekend. Then we went to the barber shop to get Bob's hair cut. I browsed books at Barnes & Noble while he got his haircut.

I selected a travel book and another one I've been watching for - Twinkie, Deconstructed - the story of all of the ingredients in Hostess Twinkies and lots of other modern processed foods.

We came back home, walked Buddy, and had fried sausage links with peppers and onions that I fried in the iron skillet for dinner. We also had a French green bean casserole. For the rest of the evening we watched "How It's Made" on the Science Channel.

Today we had pancakes, Canadian bacon, and yogurt for breakfast. Then I hooked up the Passive Infra-Red sensor onto my Basic Stamp and wrote a simple program to make it work. Later we both got showered, and shortly after noon we headed up to Daytona Beach.

We mowed the grass at Tom and Louise's house, and we had to nail the wooden privacy fence back up -- it is 9 years old, dried out, and falling down. We will have to replace it soon. After this we went to Publix to get cigarettes and potato chips for them.

At Oaktree we delivered the supplies to Tom and Louise. We made Tom get up and we wheeled him down the hall to the patio where we all sat outside while Louise smoked. They didn't say much, but they didn't complain as much either.

We left Daytona around 5:00 PM. As soon as we got home we walked Buddy. Then we went back out to the Metro Espresso Pizza to eat dinner. I had a Mediterranean chicken salad and Bob had eggplant parm and pasta.

Now we have run the vacuum, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors, and dusted. It is hard to believe that it is time for another work week again!

Orlando, FL

Today was a sunny, clear, and warm day for us in Florida. Again, it was quiet and I am not sure if I took more than 12 phone calls all day long.

We have passed $110k in new orders. Not a good week for sales.

Craig had to go to Tallahassee today to talk with a consultant, but he phoned in four or five times. During one phone call I heard Fay asking him if he was alright. He was involved in a car accident - five or six car pile-up! His car was pushed forward into another car full of illegal aliens. They left the scene and certainly did not wait for the cops!

He just got that car last year too.

Bob had a short work day today. Then he had a dental appointment. I have not heard from him how that turned out. Now he is in his final music appreciation class.

A 5k run is being run through the closed streets downtown right now. You can hear the announcers amplified voice echoing off of the building next door.

Orlando, FL

Right now I am over halfway through my book about the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC). It is a very interesting story about engineering decision making.

Today was another fairly quiet day for us at work. We just passed $100k for the week. It's not shaping up to be a great week for sales.

I took chicken breasts to work today and fried them on Fay's George Foreman Grille for my lunch. This cooked them in about 4 or 5 minutes.

It was a sunny, warm, and breezy day. Much nicer than yesterday.

Today was also the deadline for filing 2008 income tax. There were demonstrations today against the IRS and about the administration bailing out businesses. I passed some of the poster carrying protesters on my way home this evening.

For dinner I made the quick-and-easy tuna casserole - whole wheat rotini noodles with tuna, peas, and mayonnaise. Yum!

Moon

Opens in theatres June 12. I think I want to go see this one!

Orlando, FL

Now we are back into the work week. So far FER has reeled in $70k in new orders, but it is only Tuesday. The phones have been much quieter this week and that has let me get some of my "projects" caught up - like updating the Dealer Discount Worksheet, etc.

Powerful storms rolled across Florida today. Orlando got its share this morning with lots of heavy rain, winds, lightning, thunder. It was mostly over by noon. The TV news is full of pictures of downed trees and other sensational weather-related news.

After work today I took Buddy for his walk around Lake Eola, then I put him in the house while I went across the street to Publix to get some fresh cut flowers, some canned beans, and a package of ground pork. I made fried hamburger and onions with (no sugar added) pork and beans for dinner.

I think I am going to go to bed early and read more of my book. I am beat.

Fort Myers, FL

I started the day around 7:00 AM with a walk with Buddy. We found a dirt road behind the hotel that we followed until it ran beside the interstate. After we got back to the room we fed Buddy and got showered.

We carried our luggage to the car, but left Buddy in the room while we took advantage of the complimentary breakfast in the dining room. Then we got Buddy into the car and checked out.

We drove into Fort Myers and, with the help of the Garmin, found the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. We took a picture infront of the banyan tree that was given to Thomas Edison by Harvey Firestone in 1925. This tree is over 400 around today and is the largest of its kind in North America!

We paid $10 each for admission to the estates and we took a self-guided tour with wands held up to the ear that played a recording at each station on the tour.

You can tour the gardens, the botanical laboratory, Edison's office, the family swimming pool, Mina Edison's Moonlight Garden, the "truck garden", and you can walk up onto the porches and peer into the rooms of both houses. All of the rooms have doors that opened onto the big shady porches - even the bedrooms!

After two hours of touring the estates we went back to the car and poured a bowl of water for Buddy, walked him, and then we got back on the road. We headed west out of Fort Myers, through Lehigh Acres, and then north up to US Highway 27. We went north on 27 through big cattle ranches and endless citrus orchards. I think we passed through every county in south Florida!

We stopped for lunch in Sebring, FL at Arby's, fed Buddy, and continued to Lake Wales, FL where we turned off the highway to see the Bok Tower and Gardens.

It cost $20 for Bob and me to enter the gardens. The lady at the ticket booth informed us that the dog was not allowed in the gardens, and I said, "That's alright lady, he already knows that he's staying in the car!" Well, along with the pamphlets and information about the tower and the gardens she includes a card that said, "Your dog could be dying!" and warns of leaving your pet in a car on a hot day. Sheesh!

The Bok Tower is a masonry carrillon tower on one of the highest points in Florida, an ancient sand dune on the Lake Wales Ridge. There are 60 bells in the top of the tower and a carrilloneer plays the bells with a large piano-type keyboard and footboard. We walked through the Frederic Law Olmstead, Jr. gardens to the top of the hill and arrived just in time for the 3:00 PM concert to begin.

There were folding chairs set up on the lawn for listening to the music, but all through the gardens there are park benches you can sit down and listen on. You are not allowed to go inside the tower.

After the recital we toured the gardens. We did not see all of it because it is over 250 acres, but we saw lots of fragrant camellias, magnolias, citrus trees, pines, and lots of ornamental shrubbery. We visited a pond with an observation room behind a picture glass window, and we encountered the famous squirrels here who are unafraid of humans!

Bob "operated" a sundial in the Endangered Plants Garden, but we were both getting very warm, and decided to head back to the car because we were sure Buddy was getting warm too. We stopped briefly in the gift shop on the way out and I picked up a book of short stories about Florida history.

We got Buddy out of the car and gave him water, but he did not drink very much. I walked him briefly, and then we were on our way again!

We got back onto 27 and headed north into Haines City. Here we followed 17/92 through Davenport to FL 532, County Line Road, where we turned and went north to I-4. We were back home shortly after 6:00 PM. We were tired from our weekend sightseeing trip!

It's nice that we have Easter Sunday to recover! We did some laundry, I cleaned our aluminum window sills, around noon we went down to the pool and cooked a London Broil on the gas grill, then we sunned, read, and swam for about two hours. It's a shame we have to return to work so soon!

Good Friday

We got up around 6:00 AM and packed the car for our trip to South Florida for an Everglades airboat tour. We headed over to Kirkman Road and filled the gas tank first, then got on I-4 to the Florida Turnpike and drove it south.

At the Fort Drum Travel Plaza we stopped at a rest plaza to get coffee and breakfast. Bob wanted something to eat so we stood in the line at the Burger King and got some little sausage biscuits. The wait was long, and then the wait after they took the order was longer! The staff moved so slowly. Then one of the old women making the orders up got a phone call and everything on the line stopped while she sent a Test Message!! OMFG!

I told Bob that we would NOT be doing that again!

We drove south on the Turnpike to Boca Raton. Then we got off and made our way along surface streets to Loxahatchee Road. We had to drive some six miles down to the end of Lox Road where the airboat operator had their station.

The tour tickets were $44 each, and Bob bought a Loxahatchee Air Boat Tours hat too. He forgot to bring a hat and I told him that he would need a hat under this bright sub-tropical sun and he could keep the hat as a souvenir.

While these tickets were expensive, they were nowhere near as expensive as what some of the operators wanted for an Everglades excursion.

Around 11:00 AM we were told that we could go on up to the boat. There was a large crowd headed up there and I doubted that all of us would be going on the same boat. Well, I was mistaken there. The boats were large flat-bottomed aluminum barges with seats for 22 people plus the guide! We were carefully loaded onto the boat so that the weight was balanced, hearing protection was passed out, and then the darkly tanned 70-something climbed on and started the big V-8 engine that drove the big propeller in the back.

We drove across the mud and grass through the swamp viewing birds and keeping an eye open for alligators. I think we saw a couple dozen alligators during our tour. Most of them were small and none of them were more than five feet long. The guide said that alligators can live for hundreds of years and can grow to be 19 feet long!

The airboat tour lasted for about an hour. The guide passed out DVD videos of the airboat tour with pictures and thanked us for visiting. Then we returned to the big earthen embankment that we started out from.

Buddy was sure glad to see us! It wasn't very warm and we made sure we parked in a shady spot, but he was panting when we got back. We drove down to the end of Lox Road and I went to Walgreen's drug and bought a couple of bottles of water for the dog and then we had our lunch at Quizno's. We fed Buddy and gave him water to drink. He was thirsty!

We drove south on I-95 all the way to Miami. We drove to the very end of I-95 and then got off of the highway because we were looking for a Shell gas station to fill up at. We drove through downtown Miami because Bob's Garmin is very talented at finding gas stations that have closed and are no longer in business!

After finally finding a gas station and filling up, we headed north out of Coral Gables and found "Calle Ocho" - Southwest Eighth Street in the "Little Havana" section of Miami. Here we turned left and headed west. SW 8th Street becomes US Highway 41/State Route 90 - Tamiami Trail. As we continued west we moved out past the suburbs and soon we were in a rural area of wetlands with a drainage canal on the right side of the highway.

The first part of the trail is an indian reservation and Craig warned me not to speed through this section because they are very agressive about giving speeding tickets here. The indian villages are a mixture of western-style housing and thatched roof huts. There are airboat tour operators and miscellaneous other tourist trap type shops along this roadway.

We definitely saw many more alligators along this roadway. We saw more alligators in here than we saw on our airboat tour! It would definitely be bad for your car to break down along this road at night!

The roadway forms the north border of the Everglades National Park and continues into the Big Cypress National Preserve. We stopped briefly at a wildlife education center to use the restrooms, but pets were not really welcome here. We continued along the roadway to Naples and then Bonita Springs.

Here we stopped and had dinner at Outback Steakhouse - the first time I have been in one in ten years! It was interesting to observe that most of patrons were very old white people, the waitstaff was young white people, and the bus persons were all Mexican.

We had a hard time finding a "pet friendly" hotel in Bonita Springs. If they let the dog stay at all they had a very high non-refundable deposit. So we continued a short way north and found a La Quinta Inn that let us stay for $89 a night.

It was nice to get a shower, lay down and read, and just relax.

Everglades Tour

Orlando, FL

Today was very sunny, but cool. It was kinda quiet at FER today - the phones were quiet. Our total sales for the week rose to $178k.

During lunch Fay and I took the carpet remnant to Floor Tech on Kirkman Road to have it bound as a finished rug runner. This will cost $54. Then we went to BJ's Warehouse to get bottled water, cases of soda, and cleaning supplies.

The afternoon was very quiet and we did not see Craig again after he left for Darden to meet Bob Chuhak.

This evening I walked Buddy, checked the mail, and made bacon-wrapped scallops and cheesy broccoli with cauliflower and carrots.

I am glad tomorrow is the last day of the week!

Segway PUMA

This is expected to cost around $5,000, have a top speed of 35 MPH, and a range of 35 miles. It will cost around $0.60 to recharge each night. Evidently GM is teaming up with Segway to manufacture this one.

I guess it would be adequate for tooling back and forth to work if I didn't get killed in it! Not so good for a family or carrying a load of groceries.

Orlando, FL

When I took the dog downstairs for our morning walk I was very surprised to find it cold and windy when I stepped outside! I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Temperatures dropped after the cold front yesterday and the wind was really blowing too!

Work today was kind of quiet. I probably took less than a dozen calls. There were only two orders today, but our total climbed up to $150k.

The UPS driver delivered the holographic ruled film that I ordered from Edmund Optical last week. I ordered two sheets of 6"x12" film with 12,000 lines per inch, and I ordered two sheets of 6"x12" film with 24,000 lines per inch. I am going to use these as transmission-type gratings for additional spectroscope experiments.

The holographic film was delivered in a big 18"x24"x6' box filled mostly with foam peanuts. The film was inside two manila envelopes marked "DO NOT FOLD" down in the bottom. A nice coincidence of this is that the box is large enough to hold the Eye-clops toy/digital microscope that I want to UPS to my nephew Kobe for his birthday.

On the way home this evening I stopped at Ace Hardware to get some Frontline flea and tick treatment for Buddy. I got four applications in a box for $48. I tossed his bedding into the dryer, sprayed his pillow and the carpet around his bed with Hartz flea spray, and then put the flea poison on his back when we returned from our walk.

Bob returned home from work around 6:30 PM. He had a busy day full of busy work. We had salads for dinner. Now the dish machine is running. I turned off the AC and opened the patio door and window to the balcony. Lower temps in the 40's tonight will keep the house nice and cool!

Orlando, FL

During our visit to Borders Books on Saturday, Bob picked up a book called Ultimate Adventures: A Rough Guide To Adventure Travel. I saw a travel suggestion that fired my imagination and we have begun planning our next adventure trip!

My passport expires this month, so one of the things I need to do is renew my passport. I downloaded Form DS-82 from the US State Department website and filled it out today. I need to get two passport photos taken, a money order for $75, and send all of it in for processing. We have plenty of time for the new passport to come back.

In the meantime, we decided that since we both have a three-day weekend over Easter, that we would go to South Florida and take an Everglades airboat tour!! We even found an operator who is giving 20% Florida Resident Discounts! This will probably be a lot of fun. The weather is still good for this and the mosquitoes haven't started to breed.

Today was a very busy day at FER for orders. I processed $118k in new orders! I started out the morning by taking the 8-section lemon wedger over to Darden Restaurants for the Smallwares people. Craig was concerned about it too - he phoned in from Dallas to make sure that I took it too!

It rained this morning and lower temperatures and winds came behind the front.

Fay said that she is going to take an early lunch tomorrow. SunTrust will be walking through her house to give an appraisal as part of her re-financing. On Wednesday we are going to BJ's Warehouse to get snacks and supplies for the office and we are going to take the carpet remnant to a place on Kirkman Road that will sew the edges up for us. They charge $1.50 per linear foot, and we measured 18 feet for each of the two runners we want made.

Bob is having a long day today -- 12 hours at work and then he had to go directly to his evening class. The good thing is that he will not have class on Thursday!

Buddy was sure happy to see me come home this evening. We took our walk and checked the mail. While I was making some chicken salad for dinner I heard on the news that a plane flying out of Orlando-Sanford Airport was struck by an eagle and had to return to the airport!

This will be a short work week and so far it looks like it is going to be a lucrative week as well!

Weekend

We found out Friday afternoon that I had indeed seen Debbie during my lunch on Thursday -- she came in complaining of a splitting headache and said, "I guess that hot rock massage I got yesterday afternoon was in vain..." She always messes up and tells us where she's been/going.

FER-Orlando finished the week with $305k and Hollywood brought in over $400k. Not a bad week at all.

On Friday evening we ate mozzarella-stuffed chicken breasts with peppers and onions. It was tasty and I liked it. I was tired, and this is a dish that Bob usually makes.

On Saturday morning I got up and walked Buddy around 7:00 AM, then we had eggs, sausage, and coffee for breakfast. After getting the dishes cleared and showering, we went out to start our monthly grocery shopping. We went to BJ's Warehouse where we spent over $300. Next we stopped at SuperTarget where we added another $179 to the bed of my pick up truck.

We brought all of this home and stacked it in the cupboards and in the laundry room. I divided a four-pound package of hamburger up into one-pound packs and froze them. We had this all done by 1:00 PM!

Next we went back out. We went to Skycraft to browse the electronics salvage for nothing in particular. I found $30 of nothing in particular -- some sensors, a small DC fan, some very small carbide drill bits (useful for drilling out circuit boards), and an optical reticle.

After Skycraft we went to GNC to get vitamins, but Bob forgot his customer loyalty card, so we left and went over to the Borders's Bookstore in the Winter Park Village. Bob found a book called The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. I browsed and found Digital Apollo. I had just added this book to my Amazon.com Wish List this past week!

Since we were in the Winter Park Village, we went to Cheesecake Factory next and I got a "low-carb" slice of cheesecake. Bob got a regular cheesecake. We left to go fill the gas tank and then go home after this because Buddy needed to be walked.

I put a beef chuck roast with fingerling carrots and new potatoes into the crock pot to slowly cook all night -- this would be tomorrow's meal. I made roll-up sandwiches with cold cuts on flatbread for dinner.

We both worked at our computers until late. Bob is writing a paper for his Music Appreciation class. It was around 9:45 when we put Batman: The Dark Knight into the DVD. We watched this movie until after midnight. Then we finally went to bed.

This morning we got up around 7:00 AM and walked Buddy. We sat down to the computers to check email and work on papers. I decided to tin the wires on the items I bought at Skycraft yesterday. While doing this the soldering iron tip was getting very dirty and fouled up. Without thinking, I tried to clean it off with my left thumb and forefinger! I heard it sizzling and I pulled away quickly, but I was left with a very painful burn on the pad of my left thumb and left forefinger.

We patched up my fingers as good as we could and then we got dressed for "church" and went to The Breakfast Club for our breakfast. We had to go to St Vincent's Anglican Church to observe the services and let Bob take notes about their music program for his class.

After the Palm Sunday service we came home, changed into shorts, and drove to Daytona Beach to visit Tom and Louise. We stopped at The Olive Garden and picked up a meal for them and then went to Oaktree. Nothing has changed. Tom did nothing but complain while we were there, remarking that this was the worst birthday he's ever had, yadda yadda.

We left Oaktree around 1:30 to go to the house and mow the lawn. We got this done and got ourselves cleaned up. It did not rain at all, but it looked like it would. After this we drove back to Orlando.

When we got home we took Buddy down to the street for his walk. The semi-annual Fiesta In The Park was winding down and we walked past this event in the park. It was warm, probably in the high 80's and Buddy's tongue was hanging out and he was panting as we headed back home.

We enjoyed our beef pot roast with a salad for dinner. I started my new book after dinner and Bob watered the plants outside on the balcony. Now that I have this blog caught up, it is time to run the vacuum cleaner, clean the glass tables, and Bob will clean the kitchen and bath floors.

Yuck. It is time for another work week.

Orlando, FL

The alarm went off at 5:00 AM and Bob got up immediately to start his shower and get ready for his work day. I snoozed until 5:30, then I got up and started to get the dog ready for his morning walk. I was still sore.

After our walk we came back in and found Bob ready to go. I got his pills and vitamins ready and then he was gone. When I went back to the kitchen to get my breakfast I found his pill box still on the counter!

I had to stop by his office to drop his pills off with him before continuing to FER.

Work today was constant. We ended the day with $275k in new orders.

During lunch today I caught Debbie in a lie. She phoned and said she was going to Toojay's to get the chopped salad for lunch and then she was going to Apopka to visit IRD and Hospitality Resource, but during my lunch I passed her on Millenia Boulevard! I guess she was really going to BJ's to do some shopping!

It was forecast to rain today, but we got lucky and it stayed dry. I am not sure how much longer this luck will hold though. Hopefully long enough for us to buy our groceries this weekend!

When I got home Bob had already departed for his evening class, but he left Buddy in his harness dragging his leash around the house! I imagine that Buddy was like that for less than an hour. As soon as I changed into shorts and sandals we went out for a walk.

We came back to check the mail and then I went over to Publix to get some ribeyes, salad mix, cheese, and some fresh flowers. I emptied the dishwasher and I fried the steaks up. I also sauteed onions and mushrooms and made a little salad.

Now I am getting my blog caught up and reading what passes for news.

Orlando, FL

I was dreaming that Buddy was locked up because he had rabies, and I remember thinking to myself, "How can he have rabies? He has all of his shots!" Then the alarm clock went off and I woke up.

My legs were sore when I woke up. I was sore all day today and my nose was running. I think I am coming down with something.

We were moderately busy today at the office. A very large order came in for a dining facility in Louisiana and that pushed our weekly total up to $250k!

Around 10:30 Craig phoned in to say that Bob Chuhak was coming over at 12:00 PM to see the equipment in our test kitchen. Fay and I went to the kitchen and began wiping all of the stainless steel down with Sheila Shine. Then I ran the vacuum cleaner.

I told Fay, "You know, this could be Hodges way of doing a great big 'Gotcha! April Fool's!' on us". She didn't think that was likely.

Bob came in and Craig gave him a quick tour of the "facility" and then they went to the kitchen to view and discuss the Cleveland Range equipment back there. Bob was really impressed with the kitchen and has decided that he is sending Red Lobster people over to see the equipment and our space too.

Craig took Bob over to the Olive Garden for lunch. So I went to Chik-Fil-A and brought back salads for us. As I was driving back up, they returned! They weren't gone long!

That was the first time I have ever seen someone from Darden come to visit our office. I have been with FER almost 4 years now.

It rained this afternoon, but this time it was a nice gentle rain. Not a monsoon like yesterday.

Bob called me at work today to give me a little news about his new schedule. He is working 6:00 Am to 6:00 PM on Mon, Tues, and Wed, and then 6:00 AM to 10:00 on Thurs. That's it. They are having lots of changes in his department and not everyone is happy with the changes.

This evening's picture is a liquid-fueled nuclear reactor called "Fireball". I think it was used in the (short-lived) nuclear-powered airplane program. Found some interesting, if heavy, reading on the Energy From Thorium blog.

I am very tired and even more sore than this morning. I am sure that I am coming down with something.