A tax by any other name . . .

In case ye socks need any further evidence that Orlando is still a tourism-based economy, I submit the example of the ongoing brouhaha over the so-called "Travel Promotion Act" that is not only working its way thru the halls of Congress but is also being debated just about everywhere in this little corner of heaven.

Essentially, if passed, the act would tack a $10 FEE (read TAX) on every international traveler who dares to book a flight to the good old USofA.

Then, our friendly (and oh-so-trustworthy) federal government will use 50% of the proceeds to mount an annual ad campaign with a projected budget of $200,000,000.

None of the news accounts I have seen or read seem to know where or how the other 50% is being spent. Evidently, it will be eaten up by the typical Washington wastefulness that has made Beltway bureaucrats the perennial darlings of their fellow citizens.

Now, I know folks like Mitt Romney have been trying to disguise TAX increases by calling them FEES for quite some time now.

But, since when is it the job of the federal government to pimp our tourist magnets all over the world?!

Note, the junior senator from Illinois (and heir apparent to John Kerry, Al Gore, and Michael Dukakis) has signed on as a co-sponsor of this piece of trash legislation.

Surprised?

Don't be. Most socialists live for this sort of tripe. Take money out of the private sector. Waste half of it in DC. Then dole it out as needed to increase the power and influence of the central government.

I say, let the market decide.

And, surprisingly, so does John McCain in this instance.

Keep all of this in mind come November, ok?!

On the road again

I guess I just like quoting the great Willie Nelson.

But, seriously, yours truly is hitting the road up to Tallahassee today to visit with Gaga Lois and help my cousin Joanna.

I'm still going to compose my blog posts over the next few days. But, it may take a couple of days to get them online.

Thanks to all who continue their prayers.

States I've Visited

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

On the road again . . .

I couldn't believe how easily we made it back to The Sunshine State today.

Yes, it did take nearly 7 hours. But, the traffic was nowhere near what it was cracked-up to be.

There were only two "slow patches" along our 400-mile stretch I-95.

The first was in Georgia, between Savannah and New Brunswick. No surprise. People in Georgia don't know how to merge.

The second was in Palm Coast. But, it was at least anticipated and familiar. They've been doing construction there for an eternity. So, we knew what we were getting in to , and it didn't last very long.

Anyway, we got home with plenty of time to decompress, unpack, etc.

But, now I see the date on the calendar: 11/25. That means only one more month til Santa arrives.

My, how this year has flown!

Not-so-black Friday

The day after Turkey Day, and we're all still recovering from the feast my sister prepared last night.

We had turkey, mashed potatoes, carrot soufle, and some zucchini casserole she made from a magazine recipe. Oh, and Keith made some Easley dressing (not stuffing!), and Mrs. Smith made THREE pies: minced meat, pecan, and pumpkin.

Yes, we are all bloated this morning.

But, mostly we're all just grateful that Alice didn't follow-thru on her threat of dragging us all out of bed during the wee hours of the morning to participate in all the Black Friday shenanigans in thriving downtown Mount Pleasant.

If left up to her, we'd have been at Kohl's at 4 AM!!

Turkey, shoot!

Well, as soon as I got up here to Charleston last night, my brother-in-law Keith took me to a turkey shoot with some of his friends.

I was a little concerned, hoping that our Thanksgiving feast would not be dependant upon our marksmanship skills (or, the lack thereof).

Fortunately, my sister had a back-up plan, because the waiting list was so long that none of us ever got to fire a gun!

Anyway, I hope all ye socks are enjoying the first full day of the holiday weekend.

And, pass the gravy!

Road trippin'

Well, socks, I need to ask for your prayers today, as I'm heading on a road trip up to my sister's house in South Carolina for the long Thanksgiving weekend.



I don't usually hit the highway for the holidays, so not quite sure what I'm getting myself into . . .



Anyway, my postings here may be somewhat sporadic until I return to civilization.



So, if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, enjoy your time off, eat lots of turkey, and join me in cheering for the Gators on Saturday!

Going bananas in Orlando!

I just love it when Central Florida makes national news, especially when we are portrayed as idiots (which is not hard to do).

Well, we did it again.

Just as our infamous rush hour was coming to a close this morning, a truckload of bananas found its way all over the east-bound lanes of I-4 near the Par Avenue exit to fashionable College Park.

No big deal, right? Accidents happen.

Well, that's not what attracted all the media attention. That credit has to go to all the amazing local commuters who put their vehicles into park right there on a major interstate highway to pick up as many armfuls of free bananas as they could carry!

Come on, folks! They only cost 49-cents a pound at the Winn Dixie! Stop holding up traffic!!

How embarassing . . .

Blinded by the light

Ok, this post is NOT going to be a complaint about adjusting to the recent time change.

I actually enjoy not having to leave the house when it's still dark outside.

But, my morning commute takes me from the western fringes of metro Orlando into the city center.

That means driving eastbound.

That means directly into the rising sun.

I need some new sunglasses . . .

Visiting with the Franclan

Spent the day with my cousin Joanna and her three . . . yes, THREE . . . boys.

It was great weather for visiting, too, as we finally got our first cool snap down here in Florida. Way too long in coming.

Anyway, we took advantage of the brisk, envigorating weather to do a little Christmas shopping and nearly got thrown out of an Applebee's (a la Talladega Nights!)

It seems wierd to be Christmas shopping this early, but the temperatures were right and you have to take advantage of that down here . . . they're likely to go back up into the 80s at a moment's notice, which just kills the holiday spirit.

Well, at least we're getting it done early and avoiding the crowds!

I refuse to allow this to ruin my weekend

On my final work-related errand of the day, I discovered I had a flat tire. The right rear one to be precise.

Not an altogether traumatic situation in and of itself. But, it gets better.

I discovered the flat as I was barreling down Curry Ford Road, and it was only through the kindness of a fellow driver that I was alerted to the fact.

So, I pulled over at the first service station, which shall remain nameless, and went to get some air to solve the problem.

Now, this will reveal my age. The last time I had to put air in my tire, it cost me 50-cents. Well, dear socks, the price has now jumped to 75-cents - - - at least at this as-yet-unnamed "service" station.

Now, this will reveal how po' I am. I had only two quarters to rub together. So, there I was scrounging between seat cushions, the glove box, the floor board, etc. Eventually, I came up with the other 25-cents.

But, when I went to feed the machine my hard-won coinage, I discovered it only took quarters. So, I had to traipse into the "convenience store," stand in an inordinately long line, and ask the unjustifiably annoyed little girl behind the counter to exchange a quarter for my recently-scrounged pennies, nickles, and dimes.

Anyway, this post has gotten way longer than I intended, certainly way more coverage than the incident warrants.

Just thought I'd share in case any of you in the dryer are experiencing similar annoyances, and so I could encourage you not to let it ruin your weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

A triple shocker to get Monday morning started!

1. The BoSox came back to beat Cleveland last night?! I guess I got too wrapped-up in the GOP debate . . .

2. I forgot to check my mail on Saturday, so swung by to pick it up on my way to work. We don't have boxes in front of our houses in our neighborhood. Instead, we have these big grey metal things near the entrance, next to a retention pond. Anyway, as I was struggling to find the keyhole to my box in the darkness of pre-dawn, I almost stabbed one of those disgusting Cuban tree frogs. You know the kind I'm talking about. Big as my hand! Wouldn't have scared me so much in the daylight. But imagine touching something slimy when you're expecting to touch something cold and metalic!!!

3. Some jerk rear-ended me at Apopka Boulevard and Piedmont Wekiva Road. Not as bad as it sounds. Really just a tap of the fenders. But, I was still jumpy from the frog incident.

What more shocks might be awaiting me this Monday . . . wait!!! I don't want to know!!!

A Birthday and a Bon Voyage

Big doin's at the office today.

First off, it's the boss's birthday.

And, secondly, it's Cathy's last day. She's leaving for St. Thomas and St. Martin this weekend, and will then start a new job.


So, I'm hopefully optimistic that there may be some cake around here later today . . . or, at least some pizza, right?!

I just hope Linda and Becky don't embarrass us all with their usual party time shenanigans, dancing on the desks, swinging from the light fixtures, etc. . . but, if they do, I'm sure Yami will take pictures. So, tune in tomorrow for a complete report!

Road trippin'

Wow, I can't believe it's already been a week since I was getting ready to go on the big Labor Day road trip up to South Carolina.

I also can't believe it's taken me this long to post one of the pictures we took while we were there.

That's my mom, sister, nephew, and niece, in case you were wondering.

Nothing quite so exciting planned for this weekend. The road trip just leads HOME this afternoon. And, that's a good feeling, too!

Hope all you socks out there have a good weekend yourselves.

Cheers!

Turning a negative into a positive

So, I'm up in Charleston visiting my sister and the niblings, and our big "adventure" for the day was SUPPOSED to be a trip up to the neighborhood Publix.

I know, I know, how DO we pack so much excitement into a single day?!

Anyway, after all the shopping was done (and, you socks who know me well, know how much I like shopping) we got out to the car to discover my sister had lost her keys!

That was the bad news.

The good news was her friend Eric also happened to be shopping at the same store at the same time.

So, he was able to run my sister back to her house to get another set of keys. And, in the mean time, I got to take the niblings to a kid-friendly restaurant in the shopping center.

We had a blast!

So much so, we almost forgot about the lost key situation until my sister returned.

Then, to top it all off, we decided to check with the grocery store "lost and found" one more time before we headed back home. And, lo and behold! Someone had returned the keys!

Anyway, what could have been a frustrating situation actually turned out to be a lot of fun.

I love it when that happens!

Wardrobe Malfunction?

I don't know if this qualifies for that category, but the old clothes washer finally died.

You socks who know me well, know how fashion-conscious I am. So, this mechanical break-down is really going to cramp my style.

Oh, well, if some resolution is not achieved by Friday, I guess I'll just pack up all my stinky laundry and bring it with me when I go visit my sister for the holiday weekend.

Get ready, Sister! Love me, love my laundry!!

Back to reality, sort of.

Had a smoothe drive back from the beach. That is, it was smoothe all along I-95 and I-4. But, something happend on SR417, that had traffic backed up on the causeway spanning Lake Jessup.

That was a treat.

For you out-of-town or otherwise oblivious socks, Lake Jessup is famous for only one thing: Gators.

And, I'm not talking about the orange and blue national championship variety.

As we sat there waiting for the friendly officers of the Florida Highway Patrol to get the situation in hand, I casually surveyed our surroundings. And, within a matter of just a few seconds discovered we were completely surrounded by gator-infested waters.

Thank God for sturdy concrete construction!

I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally made it to the other side of the causeway and exited the 417, more than glad to take the winding back roads to avoid further tempting the hungry reptiles.

Last throes of summer

Decided to get in one last beach weekend before the end of summer, and what a nice relaxing blessing it has been.

The weather has cooperated fully, and allowed for a lot of beach-combing and contemplation.

The one thing I couldn't get out of my mind this evening as I strolled along these sandy shores, just close enough to allow the occasional foamy edge of surf to tickly my toes, is what this place must have looked like to the first colonists.

They certainly had a lot more intestinal fortitude than me, at least at this stage of life.

I mean, minus all the condos and magnificent beach house compounds you see today, this place must have looked like another planet to them. And, this is just a barrier island. Imagine landing here, thinking you've discovered "the new world," only to realize you've still got to cross the intracoastal.

Of course, they probably had better navigational skills in addition to their guts, so they probably figured the whole island thing pretty quick.

Anyway, hats off to the pioneer explorers.

Oh, and pass the Margaritas so we can give them a toast!

Cheers!

Headed South

After getting some last-minute quality time with the niblings this morning, I had to get on the road home.

Talk about a whirlwind tour!

Literally!

We had some high winds to contend with, pretty much the whole way home. But, the worst were when we had to cross those way-too-high bridges over the Cooper, Ashley, and St. Johns Rivers.

So glad to be back in Florida!!

Happy Birthday to me!

This bird is flying the coop!

Driving up to South Carolina to see my sister and the niblings.

Miss me while I'm away!