Vacation Highlights

A couple of days ago, Cory was telling one of our coworkers about our vacation. She asked him what the best part of vacation was.

At the time, he couldn't think of a good answer. I mean, he saw three spring training ballparks. He watched the Cardinals win twice (and tie once), he got to go to five amusement parks he'd never been to. He touched a dolphin's dorsal fin (cool), petted a sting ray (slimy), and hand-fed a Lory (beware the poop).

Later that night, he came up with his answer. Baseball? nope. Roller coasters? not even close. Apparently, the best part of his vacation was the sweet pair of dress shoes that he found at the outlet mall for just $30.

For me, the best part (other than actually getting seven consecutive days off from work and spending them with Cory) was seeing Jason and Peter. I hadn't seen them in years. In fact, we'd tried to figure out how long it had been, and we firgured it must have been about six years.

Back in Kirksville, we used to be inseperable. Then Jason got a job in Iowa city, and even though they were only three hours away, I only saw them a few times after that. Now, they live in Jupiter, Florida, where Peter works for a jeweler and Jason is the general manager of a beautiful hotel. They have a gorgeous home and are living the good life. Their hospitality was priceless.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much time with them... just dinner and cocktails one night and a baseball game with Jason the next afternoon. I do, however, have pictures!

Cory took this picture at Roger Dean Stadium as the Cardinals played the Washington Nationals. That's me (obviously) with Jason, who was hosting a client party in one of the luxury suites.



Here's me with Peter, on their Lanai. I think he's smiling that way because he was considering tossing me into the pool.


Me with the boys, in front of Jason's favorite potted palm (behind Pete's shoulder). I really need a haircut.


My Boys. Again with the palm.


Had to use the self-timer on the camera for this one. We're on vacation! Wheee!!!!!

Vacation By The Numbers:

Miles traveled: 1,716
Hours (approximate) spent in car together: 34
Waking hours spent together: 103
Arguments due to 24/7 relationship immersion: Zero.
Baseball Games attended: 4
Home team victories: 2 (plus one tie)
Amusement parks attended: 5
Roller coasters/thrill rides ridden: 6
Motion simulator rides ridden: 4
Trips to Orlando Walgreen's store: 4
Photographs taken: 197 (some substantially better than others)

Dorks In Space

Oh, and I forgot... when Cory and I went to Florida, we made a little side trip to Outer Space.

You could say that we put the "Ass" in "Astronaut."

And We're Back...

Cory and I have returned from our all-star spring-training & amusement-park extravaganza (if you're wondering why I haven't posted in a week, there's your answer).

Just ten short hours after rolling back into town, I was back at work, where I'm currently waiting for a game to end so I can edit highlights.

I know that every time I go on vacation, I say I'm going to blog all about it, and even post pictures... and then I never do. I'm saying it again this time. Whether it will ever happen, I'm not so sure. Only time will tell.

News To Me:



I always thought I was a nerd... but the quick growth of technology over the last couple of decades has rendered me virtually nerd-free.

Still, I ain't that cool, either.

Thanks to Meredith (Don't Call Me "Missy") for the link.

Bring on the Tar Heels!

As I write this, I'm wearing my Oakland University Golden Grizzlies sweatshirt (like this one, only without the hood), purchased about seven years ago, shortly after the school made the change to Division I. (I might add, I purchased the new sweatshirt only because I loved the new nickname and logo... when I went to OU, the school was Division II and the mascot was the much less threatening "pioneers.")

For those of you who didn't know, Oakland won its first NCAA Tournament game in school history tonight, a lopsided 10-point win over another NCAA newcomer, Alabama A & M.

Remember, Oakland qualified for the tournament after posting a 12-18 regular season record. As OU Coach Greg Kampe noted, there's only one way the Grizzlies could break the .500 mark for the season: "If we win the national championship, we'll finally get to 19-18."

For their efforts, the Golden Grizzlies will now play North Carolina, ranked #2 in the nation. Bring 'em on, I say. This is the most publicity Oakland's gotten since... well... ever.

Leapin' Lizards!
(Now with a hyperlink so you can actually see the video I'm referencing. Sometimes I can be a little absent-minded...)

There's an old show-biz adage, courtesy of W.C. Fields:
Never work with animals or small children.

Apparently, nobody told the news staff at NBC 5 in Dallas... at least the part about working with animals. This happened back in 2002. And I know someone who used to work at that station.

Sweet Dreams

Excerpted from a e-mail newsletter I received today from Delta Airlines:

-- Effective March 15, we will no longer carry pillows on flights withinthe 48 contiguous states or flights between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico,Central America or the Caribbean.

Can discontinuing those crappy airline pillows really save them that much money? Last month, American Airlines got rid of pillows on their domestic flights, in order to save an estimated $375,000 annually... A nice chunk of change, but not exactly the type of money that multi-billion dollar corporations worry about.

Will I stop flying Delta because of the pillows? No... since moving to Georgia, I've become a Delta frequent flyer, and have already racked up enough SkyMiles to earn a flight to the Caribbean. If it'll keep the airline from declaring bankruptcy before Cory and I go on our honeymoon (which we're hoping to partially finance with frequent flyer miles), then I guess I can suffer without a little germ-harboring square of softness.

Stressed?

My intern, Pearl, suggested that if I was stressed, I should go to this website and click on the pig.

Now I'm stressed and a little freaked out. Thanks a lot, Pearl.

Cinder-Fellas

When I got home from work tonight, I sat down at the computer and logged on to the internet. There, on my homepage (ESPN.com), in the upper right corner, happy news.




For the first time since moving up into the Division I ranks eight years ago, the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies are headed to the "Big Dance!"

Their RPI (ratings percentage index) has them listed as #211 out of 330 Division I teams in the nation. But, despite a 12-18 record, my alma mater will be in the field of 65. And my guess is with that stellar win-loss record, they'll be the #65 seed, battling some other no-name school (i.e. the Bucknell University Bison, the Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights) in the "play-in" game, just to have the honor of losing to a #1 seed (i.e. the Illinois Fighting Illini, the North Carolina Tar Heels) in the official "first" round.

By the way, the four schools mentioned above haven't yet officially earned their invitations to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The Grizzlies have. And until the opening round play-in game on March 13th, I suspect they'll be partying like rock stars.

I should note here that the Oakland University women's hoops team made it to the NCAA tournament in 2002... the school's third full year as a D-I program. As a #16 seed, they got slaughtered by Vanderbilt in the opening round.

Oh, Crappy Day

Monday was a real downer of a day. I just couldn't seem to get away from bad luck. It bummed me out so much that I'm still not prepared to talk about it... but get ready for a rant tomorrow.

Reason #4,192 Why I Miss Mike:

Because he would have thought this article was really, really funny.

I should, however, note that while Mike's funeral was in Athens, Ga... it was most definitely not at the Hurley Funeral Home.

Marking My Territory

This is getting ridiculous.

In the ladies' room at work, I have a makeup case, a hairbrush, some body powder, body spray, and a bottle of cheap hairspray, among other items.

At least, I had those items. Over the course of a year, I watched my body spray (which I used about six times in that year) slowly get depleted. I caught a few co-workers using it on occasion... but at the time, my thought was that I'd rather have a few people using my cheap Suave-brand body spray than have stinky co-workers.

About once every six weeks or so, I have to go out and buy a new bottle of hairspray. And while my friends can attest to the fact that I do use a lot of spritz, I only anchor three days a week. That means I only spray my hair three days a week. I spray on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays... and yet, when I come in the following Saturday, there's always substantially less hairspray in my bottle.

Evaporation? I think not.

I don't know if it's because I use cheap hairspray that my co-workers will think I won't care if they use it. And I understand that sometimes we all have hair emergencies, when we need to use hairspray, even if it means "borrowing" someone else's. In fact, today, I had to "borrow" someone else's hairspray, after I discovered that my bottle, which had been near-empty last week, had been depleted and kindly thrown out by the person who had used it up.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the many shades and textures of hair that I find in my brush on a weekly basis. Yuck.

So what do I do? Revert to 18-year-old college freshman roommate tactics and write my name on everything that's mine, with the words "Do Not Use" emblazoned across them in permanent marker? Deal with it and buy enough hairspray for all of my co-workers to have their own bottle? Stop wearing makeup, and fixing my hair as a form of silent protest?

Or should I just urinate on everything that's mine?