The Colchester Vistors Post

Childhood friend Melanie, from the UK visited this weekend as one of her stops on a tour across America. She’s travelling with a buddy of hers; Craig, and has so far been to New York City, somewhere in Ohio, Boston and Texas. They where only in Orlando for four days before they head on to San Diego. While they were here I tried to show them different aspects of town; we hit Millenia’s BJ Brewhouse for some awesome food; Minigolfed on I-Drive, hit a few malls and the Van’s Skatepark, and went downtown to some of the more eclectic bars like Spybar and Independent. I think they had a good time. Yesterday they did an all-day-er at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Stuck around late for Halloween Horror Nights, which they said, was really good. All in all I think they had a pretty decent trip, albeit a small stop on a long list of many. It was weird to be playing host in my new apartment though having just been there for a week myself.

The Unproductive Morning Post

This morning kinda sucked. Got up early to go to the gym with Craig. We’ve been slacking recently due to him being allover the place on business trips, and me being incapable of exercising without someone to tell me to. As I stumble to my car I notice there is more broken glass allover the parking lot. I pick up two or three Corona bottles every time I head to the dumpsters these days. Apparently drinking in the parking lot is way cooler if I leave bottles in the middle of the street. Last night it seems, smashing them on the curb was the ‘in thing’ to do, as there were numerous patches of glass explosions on the ground on the way to my car. I start my trip to the gym and notice that my car is making odd noises. I pull over, and sure enough my back tire is flat, and all four wheels are covered in a powdered glass sparkle. I head back, change into work clothes find the closest place that is open and slowly roll down to Pep-Boys. Have to wait 45 min. for them to open then rush in with my car to have them check out my tires.

Turns out only one was punctured, the others were just dirtied. Interestingly enough it was a screw that had driven itself into the rear tire, not a shard of glass. Had I not have left for the gym early I would have been late for work, as the repairs took longer than seemingly necessary. When I got to the office I had to apologize for bailing on Craig, which is never fun. Found out that I had missed my dentist appointment I had scheduled for yesterday also, which was a pain to re-organize. While on the phone I also attempted to change my flight time on Friday to something earlier so that I’d get the chance to see Stefan before he leaves on Saturday for training. However after staying FOREVER on the phone I found it would cost me $240 bucks to shift my flight a few hours ahead. For that price I could make a second trip. So I had to abstain. Shame that I will barely see Stef on the upcoming trip though.

The Clermont Retreat Post

This week Nana and Papa along with Lel and Craig came down to stay in Cromar’s Clermont house for a week. The plan was to move some of Lel’s furniture up to her new place in Virginia via U-Haul. They left this morning. It was great to get to see everyone and hangout. Its funny how fast I fall into ‘vacation-mode’ when visiting that house. Crazy to think it’s been 7-months since I was living there. Seems much longer for some strange reason.

Craig and I caught Spider-man as well as hit the local comic book store on “Free Comic Day” which was a holiday I had never heard of before. We snagged loads of free stuff and got some awesome deals on some Spidey/Venom comics (I’m in that sort of mood these days it seems) and got to meet Bob Rollings, the creator of the Little Archie comics. Personally I had never heard of the guy before but he was announced to us as ‘the living legend’ by the cheery store clerk when we arrived. ‘Living’ was a bit of a stretch… the guy barley seemed to know where he was and had an attendent spell everyone’s name for him so he could do autographs. But either way, an unexpected bonus to meet a quasi-celeb and snag a limited edition autographed comic at the same time. Even if it is Little Archie.

During the week we got in a few trips after work to Carrabbas and Outback Steakhouse which was terrific, and I had everyone over for dinner chez-Jamie one night which worked out pretty well (and heavy on the Wii). Spent the weekend relaxing up at Cromar’s and hanging out. Loading the table and boxes into the U-Haul was a bit of an adventure in itself but we manage with little fuss and sent them on their way up to VA. My kitchen is now finally equipped with plates, bowls and glasses for more than two people thanks to some generous donations from Lel and Nana and Papa, which gives them the title as Best Guests Ever. It was great to see them all, and I’m looking forward to surprising Nana and Papa in a few weeks by showing up at their 50^th Anniversary party. Shhh don’t tell them.

The Bodog PPV Post

Bodog Fight league out of Russia had their first US televised Pay-per-View last weekend, and Craig, his buddy Neil and I, headed over to a guys house who was hosting a PPV party. Had a great time. The show was pretty awesome, brutal, yet much more technically solid and calculated than UFC. Juan (the guy who hosted) had a terrific spread set up with some really fancy finger foods, and a keg of Heineken. One guy who was their brought his wife along, which was a little odd because it was all dudes there. Except for the fact that she was a knockout herself (I’m talking perfect 10 by Jevan standards here), so nobody really complained to much about the breach of man-ness.

Speaking of man-ness. Craig is a former body builder and used to run a GNC style fitness store with Neil, an old buddy of his from South Africa. Craig is my gym partner, and has been terrific at motivating me to be less of a weenie and actually go to the gym. When we were heading to pick Neil up I was expecting another Craig pretty much (6’3”-280 lbs). I was very surprised when the guy was a Brock Lesner clone. Seriously, I have never been in the presence of a larger man (WWE wresters not included). Nicest guy in the world…but damn. Massive. As in-Couldn’t fit on the back seat of a very roomy Mercedes-big. It was fun showing up at a fight PPV party. I felt like the baby bear from Goldylocks. Only downside is my view of hot-wife was blocked by the bulging biceps of my ride.

The Continuation Post

Here’s some more photos from the other weekend Herb took. I figured I’d post them because…well. I’m in some of them, and most pictures I take don’t have that awesome feature.