The Bay Hill Post

Yesterday was the final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, at Bay Hill. The annual golf tournament is held in the Bay Hill area which is right on the outskirts of Orlando, and where Dick and Sharon Simmon’s have a house. Every year they throw a pig party at their house, which is perfectly sat right on the 18^th hole. Bruce and I went by yesterday and had a blast hanging out at the Simmon’s (the palace was packed), wandering the course and visiting a few other parties along the way. The house has a beautiful 2^nd story balcony that looks right over the final hole, which is where I watched Tiger’s big winning put-which was pretty awesome. *

I got to meet Henry’s brother aswell as hangout with Mark, Henry, George, Victor and a few other people from the office. Lost a few rounds of pool to Mark’s son Caleb, and chowed down on some delicious pulled pork.I was able to borrow a lanyard pass and get into the pavilion areas down by clubhouse which was very cool and provided a nice break from the sun. Afterwards we met up with Mum, Dad and Jake at the Tommy Bahamas restaurant at Pointe Orlando for a late dinner, which was lovely. Looking forward to spending the week with them in town. With the drinking and the heat teaming up on me I was pretty dehydrated, which mean for a wonderful headache this morning. Really glad that I got to go, and very appreciative to everyone involved, I had a blast. Thank you.

* I won’t pretend to know anything about golf, aside from the few pointers Dick was giving me yesterday, and what Papa has shown me in the years past; but I was able to appreciate the great put and fantastic finish from the tournament. Very cool to get to say I was there in person.

The Animal Kingdom Post

This past weekend we headed off to Animal Kingdom (Jake, Mum and I) which was a lot of fun. Though I’ve never been a big zoo-fan, the environments they have at the park are really stunning to see. Lots of terrific carvings and lush plants that they shipped in from allover the place, and some pretty cool original stuff. The animals were interesting too I suppose. Hit Expedition Everest, the new coaster, and was pleasantly surprised. It reeks of Thunder Mountain, but has a nice ride-plot and some really good segments featuring the Yeti. 2^nd time was a lot better, guess I had a better seat or something but the stomach lurching was a little more evident than the first. Tried to tape the whole thing but my camera turned off for some reason. Also hit the big safari tour which I missed last time I was there with Dad. Pretty impressive setup once again, but is cut too short by the fast moving trucks that drive you about, and ends with a very weak ‘stop the poachers’ storyline that it could stand to loose entirely.

Due to unforeseen circumstances centering around Premier being a total jerkface, there will be no video for this post. Had some nice footage…but I guess I’ll be keeping it all to myself. Here are some pictures instead.

The Epcot Post

Epcot was next on the list, and we hopped on a bus after lunch. Enjoyed Spaceship Earth and Test Track (though the ride photo would have you believe otherwise), but was less than impressed with the new Living Sea’s Nemo themed upgrade. Spaceship Earth needs to be totally redone. It’s laughably outdated. You know when the ‘future’ consists of being able to talk to people on your TV across the globe, that its time to play some catch-up. The International Showcase was fun as always. We stopped by the British pub for some overpriced import brews, then wandered about for the rest of the day. Ate dinner at the German beer-garden which was awesome. All you can eat buffet with massive beers. It was opretty sweet. And the real icing was that they had a live accordion and Ricola-horn show.

The Pathetic Pirates Post

Jake and Mum arrived late Wednesday night and have been spending time down here visiting me. Last night we went to the Pirates Dinner Theater, which is a Medieval Times type dinner with a high seas theme. Oh and a lot crappier.

The stunts were awful less maybe 2 or 3, the acting was almost as bad as the singing (but not quite as atrocious), and the food was small, tasteless and gave me the shits. I did however have a blast. Mum, Jake and I spent the whole time laughing at how bad the whole production was, and made a night of it. The set was really impressive I’ll give them that…but oh man...dreadful show and fittingly shitty food. I would not recommend going unless you want a night of laughing at crap (which can be a lot of fun mind you). They have an impressive holding tank ahead before you go into the main show that has palm readers, snake charmers, gift shops galore and some impressive themed bars, which were pretty cool. We milled about before the show with the crowd for a good hour orso before being escorted to our seats in the main water tank area. The main set is a huge ship with rigging galore and a myriad of trapease access platforms, in a large water tank. Around the tank are colored sections where people are seated (we got the blue section). Each area has a team pirate that you are supposed to cheer for (and boo all others). Our guy was the main hero so he got the girl at the end and won the most fights. But he was also the most weenie and hard to cheer for. Didn’t stop us from getting pretty rowdy though. All in all a great night, but because of the company not so much the entertainment.

The Brotherly Post

Stefan’s off to boot camp today as his processing is at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow morning. Mum took him this afternoon up to Maryland where he’ll stay in a hotel overnight. It’s a tough time for the family, Mum in particular, considering that Jake and her are the only two at home at the moment they are having to rely on each other for comfort (Dads away on business and Sam’s back at college). I called and offered my support best I could, and anticipate doing so for the next few days.

I was edgy about calling Stefan, one because I didn’t know if he still had access to his cell phone at this point, but also because I don’t know what to say. I’m proud of the guy, and know that this is something he really wants to do, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being worried for him considering the times. While he is only a reservist*, and is going to be trained for paramedic duties, I still worry about him being called up for combat. I’m sure a lot of that is my ignorance with the actual situation overseas, as well as my current frame of mind, but the feeling is still there no matter how happy I am for him.

*By ‘only a reservist’ I don’t mean to belittle his position. I simply am trying to distance his position from combat overseas.

In the end I did call, and had a brief conversation. I think that if I didn’t at least make an attempt to wish him well and have that cookie cutter conversation before [he is processed and doesn’t have phone/email access], I’d get really down about it after the fact. I didn’t have much to say, and neither did he (such is the way of our conversations these days unfortunately) but it meant a lot to me, and I’m feeling chocked up now having just hung up. He’ll graduate boot camp in 6 months then he’s off to Texas for paramedic training for another 3-4. Once that’s over with he gets to move home and needs only report for drills every 3 weeks or something of that nature. I think his current plan is to rent a place in Maryland and work at a volunteer firefighter station, which is what he has always wanted to do. I really hope his plans pan out for him.