Time for a fun new game.

Yesterday on my walk I tried out the zoom on my new camera, it has a whopping 20x optical zoom. So take a look at these sets of pictures, they were taken from the same spot only seconds apart. The only difference was the first was taken at full width, the second on full zoom. No digital zoom was used in this experiment.









There are couple more sets on my Flickr and you can really see the difference better at the larger photo sizes available there...So check it out.

Heron

It's been very nice weather here for the past couple of days. Temperatures in the 70's and a brisk breeze. Since I had this camera to try out I've been taking the dog on a long walk the past two mornings to try it out. Unfortunately we are having some internet connectivity issues so it's taken me longer than expected to put them up.

This one I took today. I was passing by a pond and saw the head of this dude poking up over the hill. I was able to walk a little closer to get more of his body in the shot, but since I had the dog with me I really couldn't get much closer without spooking him.

Playing

Recently, my Dad sent me one of his old cameras to play with for a while. It has a lot more features than my current camera, so I was out on the porch today trying to figure out how to change some settings (alas an instruction manual was not included in this loan). Since they were convenient and don't have a tendency to move around a lot I took some pictures of my container plants. This is a nice little Gloxinia bud with some caladium leaves next to it.

A new experience

Another thing we tried out while my parents were visiting was snuba. We didn't wear BCs or have tanks on us. The air was kept at the surface and we were connected to it via long hoses. My parents aren't divers, so we kind of wanted to try something that we all could do. Unfortunately, what I didn't know at the time was they only were going to take down two people at a time anyhow, and do the other two on the second location. So I would have been better off just diving so I could take more pictures of everything. Oh well, at least I got to try diving while only wearing a wetsuit. I found it less enjoyable than actual diving, but a good experience anyhow. My snorkeling at the second reef was marred by a jellyfish incident (they were everywhere that day), but I carry vinegar in my save-a-dive pack so it stopped stinging by the time we got back to shore.

Kayaking

After Christmas and Roland's Birthday my parents flew down for a visit. They stayed over the new year and we spent a few days having fun in the sun down in the Keys. The weather was much warmer than usual allowing us to partake in some Florida activities that would otherwise have been quite chilly. We were originally going to stay in Key Largo again, but one of my Dad's coworkers suggested Marathon. I'm certainly glad he did. I really enjoyed staying there and in the future will probably push to stay there again. It is centrally located being on Key Vaca allowing for day trips both up to Key Largo and down to Key West. We didn't make it up to Key Largo this time (except to visit the Key Lime Products store on the way back up to Fort Lauderdale) but we did go down to Key West for an afternoon.

One of my favorite excursions was to go kayaking. We even ended up taking Bleys! He wasn't too sure about the whole operation but I think we did pretty well since I'd never been in a kayak before and we managed not to tip over at all. Here is a picture of us in the foreground and my parents in the background. We bought one of those cheapy underwater cameras that uses film so they aren't the best, but it was at least something to preserve the memories. I think if my parents make noises about coming down again I may find a way to spring for an underwater digital camera. They have some that aren't too atrociously expensive and I think the quality would be greatly enhanced.

Pier 60

This weekend we made a little trip over to Clearwater to meet up with Roland's Grandparents. His dad had just driven them down for their yearly stay in Florida. By going over now he got to see both his Grandparents and his Dad at the same time. And to be honest we haven't been over there to see their trailer yet so it was probably about time. It was a long drive with some not very fun parts as it decided to pour rain for a while and there was also quite a bit of traffic at the end that was a little stressful. But we got there just fine and went out for a little walk on a nearby pier and grabbed some dinner. As an added bonus we drove right past the headquarters of Scientology, which Roland found particularly thrilling.

While we were on the pier I managed to take some pictures. I've noticed that Roland's families pictures are almost entirely of people all lined up in a row smiling at the wrong camera. So I tried to take some when people didn't know it, or weren't expecting it, so they didn't have time to line up. The first is a picture of Grandma Rosemary taking a little break on one of the benches along the pier. I'm pretty sure she didn't have any idea I was taking pictures at all.

The second picture is probably my favorite. I like the three generations thing and I sort of caught them off guard, giving them just enough warning to get them to smile (which they all did!). I really like how it turned out. Although I think I might crop it a bit and get rid of a little Roland's arm.

Third is another picture of this handsome fella with the monochrome filter. This was actually a practice shot, I was trying to sneak around Roland a bit so I could get a shot of him, his father, and his Grandfather who were all in a row leaning on the railing and looking out at the ocean, but I just wasn't fast enough and they started to walk away.

Aperitif

I think our vacation with Jason can be officially reported as a success. Every time we go somewhere with Jason I am reminded how vacationally compatible we are. We seem to move at the same pace and enjoy the same things. I just hope Jason feels the same! We had a lovely time wandering around enjoying good food and wine and not feeling the need to be on the go all the time and seeing every last ounce of Disney.

We started at Epcot this time. Usually when we have new people with us we like to start at the Magic Kingdom because that is the epitome of Disney. However, since we were all about the Food and Wine Festival this time we made an exception and started at Epcot. Pictured above, Jason bravely tries the Beverly, one of the interesting sodas of the world available at what used to be called Ice Station Cool. Then we moved on to the World Showcase and started eating our way around the world. It was very nice and the food was great. We also tried some interesting wines/drinks from other countries. I got to try some of the ice wine this year. I liked it, but I don't think we will be shelling out the money for any!

We were able to watch the candy lady in Japan, which is one of my favorite activities. And, thanks to Roland I was lucky enough to get a hummingbird from her. We also saw some of the bands around the world, including MoRockin' (I think Jason enjoyed the belly dancer), the British Invasion, and Off Kilter. I made everyone stop for a show with the Voices of Liberty too. Since Jason is a diver, we made arrangements for all of us to dive in the Living Seas. It was awesome, and neat to be able to show Jason. I think he agrees that the best part is playing with the people! Although many of the kids are a little freaked out when you come up to them. We were pretty lucky and the wildlife was fairly active while we were diving. A green sea turtle swam right up to us and gave Jason a good looking-over. After that it was over to the Rose and Crown for dinner. Roland and Jason both had the fish and chips (and I snitched a bit) and a beer flight. Add the Illuminations show and sticky toffee pudding for dessert and it was a wonderful evening.

Otis Jr.

When Roland came home the other night he saw this little fella, who had taken up residence in our front hall. I still have no idea how or when he got inside. He is one of the weird semi-transparent lizards that only come out at night. Kinda creepy.

Royal

I also took a picture of the other gloxinias that are blooming on the balcony. These are a really nice deep purple with white edges and look all fuzzy like the red ones.

Keen

My first begonia bloomed today. It looks lovely and I hope there are many more to follow. Unfortunately I've been having a lot of trouble with stem rot due to the extremely high humidity here. It has cause the loss of at least two begonias unless they are able to send out a new shoot, which I'm totally doubtful of.

Tips

As you may have read, Jason is taking a new position at Stryker (I wonder if he will have to wear a suit more). But before he does he will probably come to visit us for a little vacation. It's a good idea to take that vacation before starting the new job, because after he starts the chances of him being able to squeeze in time away will be much dimished. Luckily for Roland and I, it looks like Jason will be coming down to visit us!

We've been chatting a bit about what to do when he arrives and beside the obvious (some fun dining, some beach bumming, etc) we were thinking of visiting the Keys for a few days. Even after living here for quite a while now I still haven't been to the Keys. Bad Susan. Jason was thinking, and I am totally in agreement, that a little side trip would be cool and we could possibly do some diving while we are there. I'm always being told how great the diving is down there, but I'm not comfortable just driving down there by myself and taking my chances with a dive buddy.

So I've been looking around online at some info on the Keys and it seems like Key Largo has a lot of cool stuff going for it. Key Largo has some wicked looking diving, with the Spiegel Grove and cool statues underwater and all. They also have dolphin encounter places that would be really cool, but too expensive for the time being. Kayaking sounds cool and if they water is calm, relaxing too. However, it is tempting to go on down to Key West, because, well it's the end of the line. Plus, you hear a lot of about the interesting people who reside there. Right now Key Largo is calling to me, but who know what more cool stuff I will find online. I still haven't looked into places to stay for the few days we will be down there, but given how touristy it is down there, I'm sure they have all sort of options.

Date

My walks are getting fewer and farther between as the temperature rises. I'm currently getting up around 7:00 to beat the heat, but it's catching up with me. Here are a couple of palm trees I noticed the other day.

You see a lot of palms down here are aren't coconut palms, so here is one that actually is a coconut palm with coconuts to prove it.


And the other is a different kind of palm with the cool cross-hatch bark. It has some ferns growing out of it that I thought looked pretty sweet.

Where are the reindeer?

In the program I assist with sometimes at the nature center we talk a bit about lichen. Usually we talk about it in the hardwood hammock habitat, but here is some growing on a tree along my route.

Succulent

I found this neat little garden in front of a house I walk by. I never really notice it before, but I love the cactus! Although I would have designed the garden a bit different, but who knows? Maybe it's relatively new and will look different once it has had time to mature.

Snap

I think this is a gumbo limbo tree.



Sometimes the gumbo limbo is known as the tourist tree because the bark is always red and peeling.

Beware

On my walk I saw this tree in full poof.


The poofs were pretty and there were a bajillion of them.


It was fairly early in the day so the sun was coming through the poofy tree and I took this picture. Maybe you can find a poofy tree and take a picture too!


But be careful, poofs eat kites...and possibly babies.

Muscovy

This is what passes for a duck around here. They are actually domesticated animals that have set up a feral population here. They are not terribly afraid of people and like to congregate around strip malls looking for handouts, yet they are protected by state law so no hunting or hurting them.

With feeling

I still sometimes have a hard time believing that I live somewhere that if we had a house I could wake up, look out the window, and see this.





I thought the reflection of the heron in the first picture was pretty cool. I was also suprised that they turned out quite so well because I was facing into the sun and was using my hand as a shield over the lens.

Pointy

Today, near the same place I saw that cool bicolored plant I saw some sort of euphorbia. It's probably a crown of thorns, but it sure looks wicked. I wouldn't want to have to weed around that bad boy.

It's ALIVE

Good news! It's not dead yet either! It turns out that the poor little teeny tiny dead lookin' tree was just dormant. I think it might be a cypress, which is one of the few conifers that drop their needles.

Brown Anole?

I did manage to go on a walk today. It was a close thing at the end there as it got very warm on the last quarter of the trip. My path goes past the nature center where I do some volunteering and I saw this little one hanging out on a rock under the gate.

Orange

There have been a lot of pictures of Bleys lately and not so many of the local nature. A lot of this stems from the fact that it is getting hotter and hotter and my daily walks are dwindling in length and sometimes don't happen at all. I did catch this common gallinule the other day though. It was using one of those fake Canadian geese as a perch. Again this is one that is much easier to see if you visit my flickr.

I didn't make that up

I think this is a yellow bellied sap sucker (female), but it wasn't willing to let me get any closer. It's a little hard to see in the picture below, but if you embiggen it or, even better, look on my flickr version you can see it a bit better.

Bat

It got a little chilly here last night and this morning and consequently some of the indiginous insect life was a little sluggish. I found this ba-giant dragonfly on the landing outside our apartment. It didn't (couldn't) move so I ran back in and got my camera. I would guess that it was around 9cm long!



I kind of like this picture even if it is a little out of focus.

I know it would have been funny

Like most of the plants down here I don't know what this shrub is, but it's pretty. I would guess that it should have been trimmed more and kept at a smaller size (which also probably would have kept is a little fuller) so as not to overwhelm the tree lawn, but the contrast of the leaves and flowers is nice.

Better

I think I was right. This type of tree looks better with a blue sky background, although this isn't the same specimen used in the other photograph. More contrast I suppose, and because yellow and blue are complimentary. Perhaps the other photo would look interesting in black and white...or are the yellow of the tree and gray of the sky too close in density? I also like the splash of green in the corner of this picture.

Vengeance

Another bird that let me get very close was this little blue heron. It was so beautiful, and it's bill was iridescent blue. Maybe it's because blue is so rare in nature (birds, flowers, and such), but it just catches your eye when it does occur.




I think this is one of my favorite pictures that I've taken.

Glide

I don't know what was going on, but I managed to get really close to some birds the other day. This was a great blue heron that was a little leery of me, but more interested in fishing in the shallow water.


And then a closer shot of the bird.

Pop

I saw a cool plant on the way to the dog park the other day. I was part of some landscaping in front of a gated community. I really liked the contrast between the older red foliage and the new bright green leaves.


I still don't dig red mulch though. Plus in this case it actually detracts from the plant. If the mulch was, well, dirt colored the red leaves would then contrast with the ground making a more striking display.

Aware

People have been commenting (on my blog and on the phone) that they enjoy seeing the area where we live. This (and a hand-me-down pocket sized camera from my parents) has encouraged me to take more pictures and post them here for those people to enjoy. I've also noticed that having the camera and thinking about taking pictures has helped me get my eyes off the sidewalk in front of my feet and looking around...



...well most of the time.


The first picture is just a median along the road I generally walk along in the mornings, although It's getting to the time of year when I just can't do it anymore. The second picture is of a butterfly wing that was on the sidewalk. A little weird because, clearly, some butterfly somewhere isn't doing very well, but the contrast struck me.

Overcast

Being spring here in Flordia a lot of the trees are in bloom. Here is another cool one that is near our building at the complex.


I thought the shape of this tree was interesting too. I don't know if they trimmed it at a crucial point or if there used to be another tree above it, but it does that near 90 degree turn there in the middle.


This is a closer shot of the flowers. I think I would like this picture better if the sky had been clear like in the picture of the pink flowering tree.

Vert

I took this picture because the sheer green-ness of it was mesmerizing as I walked by.

Shutter

I hope ya'll like the nature pictures because I've got more. I snapped this one of some sort of bird of prey (hawk, eagle, osprey?). I thought it was cool because the sky was so clear and blue.



Update: Some help from a fellow scuba-boarder and my mystery is solved. This is vulture...probably a turkey vulture.

I also got a few of a neat tree in bloom that is along the route I normally take in the morning. I thought it was just lovely with the pink flowers and green leaves contrasting with the blue sky. I couldn't decide which picture I liked better so I'm putting in both and you can decide.

Tick Tock

When I was out walking I thought I would just take some pictures of the area around where we live and this was one. This canal runs along one edge of our aparartment complex (ours is on the right). There is another canal the runs perpendicular to this one that hems in the back of the complex.

I think I'll go for a walk

I came upon this tree and from a distance I thought, dead tree.



But then I got closer and behold...it's not dead yet.

Fuzzy

These are on a tree outside our apartment building. Only one half of the tree is in bloom though. It's sort of split down the middle, maybe one side gets more direct sun? I like how they sort of cascade.

Blooooood Suuuuuuckers

I noticed this wierd palm tree parasite plant while out walking. It looks sort of like the suckers you sometimes get on roses. If it continues like this and gets very many more of the root-looking things wrapped around the tree, it could look pretty creepy.



Also note the strange little dead tree in the lower right. Poor teeny-tiny little guy.

Some help please?

No walk today, it is and was raining buckets. But, I also saw this bird on yesterday's walk. I think it's a Lousiana Heron, but I'm just not sure. Any ornithologists out there?


I also had a dentist appointment today for a routine cleaning. I'm going back next week for him to play with one of my cavities. About 2 years ago the original filling had cracked and I had it re-filled. Then that tooth started to be really sensitive to cold and to a lesser degree heat. I went back and the dentist thought maybe it wasn't filed down properly making my bite not line up. So he filed it down a bit and that helped some, but still not great. So now this dentist is going to pull out the old one and try again. It would be great if worked!

Repeat

All my plants have arrived now. They are all potted up and I'm just waiting for some growth now. Since they were all dormant bulbs or seeds it will probably be a week or two before I see anything. My sister posted pictures of her bulbs which are starting to appear and it made me miss having a patch of dirt to play in...in a zone that I'm familiar with. I really don't know much about zone 10 gardening.

Out on a walk this morning I saw another Great Blue Heron. It was all tucked away in this neat little foliage alcove. Very cool (although much better embiggened).

A little bit of this

Some more wildlife has been spotted. This time it includes a male anghinga drying itself near the aquatic center and a widdle bitty lizard hanging out in a transformer(?) box at our complex. Both are much better embiggened.



In other news, I will be flying back to Michigan on Wednesday. I'm going to be staying in Muskegon to help out with Marcie's baby which should be arriving not long after I do...maybe. Who knows with a first baby. I'm actually going a bit early so I could get a decent price on the ticket. She is due on the 19th and right before that (when I would normally have gone) is Valentines Day creating some rather steep prices. I'm avoiding all that by going a bit early. Now I just have to decide if I'm going to rent a car and go over to Muskegon on Wednesday or have Karl pick me up at the airport and wait there until Friday when my Mom can come over to get me and take me across the state.

Pictorial

Over Christmas my parents gave me my mom's old camera. My old camera is awesome and I still use it quite a bit, but hers was much smaller and skinnier than mine allowing me to slip it in a pocket or my purse. So this morning I took it along on my morning walk with Bleys to document some of the neat-o wildlife I see around here. This morning we saw...

A great Egret and what I thought were some white ibises but they don't have any black on the wing tips*. Also a great blue heron hiding at a bend in the canal. There also about a ba-gillion tennis balls in the water because a little upstream along this canal is a tennis center.


An female anhinga (cousin to the cormorant) also known as the darter or snake bird. It was drying it's feathers presumably after a dive this morning. The second picture is a little grainy because I was using the enhanced zoom on the camera. I was trying to show what the anhinga was perched on. It is a canadian goose decoy that people put out in the water to discourage ducks from hanging around.


Also recently, some cool art has been installed along Sportplex Drive. Two sweet metal sculptures have appeared near a school crossing.


And last buy not least I was walking along and suddenly it was like being in Animal Crossing. There was this little tiny palm tree that looks just like when you plant one in the game and it isn't full grown yet.


*Update: They are, in fact, White Ibises.

Bedward

Back in Florida, tired but unpacked.

Fudge? Cake? I just want them normal.

I'm sitting here trying to soak up all the electricity based entertainment I can before we (potentially) lose power. Ernesto is due in a couple of hours and I tend to assume we will lose power so if we don't I'm pleasantly surprised. I think the only thing we get really concerned about when we lose power is the heat. Last year when we did lose power it was well into October and was surprisingly cool right after Wilma. Right now (8:30 pm) it still feels like it's 85 degrees. Today we have vacuumed the apartment, done laundry, run the dishwasher, and I just made brownies. Roland really wanted some so he bought a mix and I made it so that if we do lose power we will have a nice sweet treat. Of course that will be great because the rice crispy treats I made will be gone by tomorrow. ;) We also charged up our weather radio/emergency light/flashlight station. It is a nice little (but not cheap) addition to our hurricane supplies. I think the only other new item was a heavy duty tarp and some duct tape in case of window breakage. We also have some lighter weight tarps for covering our electronics from last year. I did forget to get a muzzle for Bleys though. I guess that will have to wait for a while now. Anyway, wish us a good hurricane.

Thar she blows

We're gearing up for Ernesto down here. The gas stations all have lines out into the street, the grocery stores are crawling with people and those folks with homes are all out putting up their shutters (well I hope they are anyway). The weather people are still hemming and hawing about how strong a storm it will be, but at this point it looks like they are predicting it to be a category 1 when it comes ashore sometime Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Schools have been closed for tomorrow already and the young hooligans of the apartment complex are out running around reveling in the freedom of their first hurricane day eve of the year as we speak. To think we had to wait for the morning of a snow day for them to cancel school, down here they know well in advance. The current weather is hot (it's actually about 88 degrees, but feels more like 95) and blue skies.

Roland stopped by the store a few days ago to stock up on some stuff. We have a lot of canned goods now and he stopped again today to get some more marine fuel for our fondue pot/hurricane stove. I think we are pretty much as ready as we're going to be.

and so it goes

The pile of branches, trees, and shrubs keeps growing. I think that even if they stopped adding more to it it would take weeks just to mulch what they have there now. However, they haven't stopped. Every day, all day more trucks come in and out. I just wonder what they are doing with it all. They should charge people and sell the stuff. I don't know how they would sterilize it to prevent spreading pests though. A lot of houses had roof damage from Wilma and I heard that most of the roofing businesses in the area have waiting lists of at least a year. Thats crazy. I suppose if you buy a house, you should also buy some of those blue tarps that can be a temperary fix to your roof.

Eureka

I'm baaaaack! We have the internet again. Woohoo and whatnot. As you might have read on Roland's blog it has been an eventful week. We started out last Monday with Wilma. It was frightening and yet interesting at the same time. I ended up sleeping through a large portion of the second portion of the hurricane. We were sort of keyed up Sunday night and ended up staying up late (2:00 am or so) and then waking up as the weather deteriorated (about 7:30 am). We watched and waited until the eye and then took the opportunity to take Bleys outside for a bathroom break. Then as the winds picked up again I dozed off again. When I woke up it was mostly over.

Thus began our odyssey into no power living. We made out fine, cooking soup, eggs, and yes, even steak on our alcohol burner fondue pot. As my sister said, we were using our
fond-genuity. So we actually ate pretty well for the duration. Then, with all indications that we weren't going to have power for quite some time, we decided that we were going to flee the area. It want at all necessary, but very nice. We drove to Orlando, an adventure in itself and people were freaking out about gas, mostly for their generators. So they were totally willing to use up all the gas in their car driving around trying to find gas for their generators. Why not just syphon gas from your car to use with your generator? Or maybe prepare ahead of time and fill up your gas can(s) before the hurricane you KNEW was coming for like a week.

Waiting for Wilma

Currently we are looking at Monday for our date with Wilma. Although that keeps changing, as does where it will pass over. At this point Roland and I are not planning to evacuate, but are keeping an eye on what the official peeps say and how strong it is supposed to be. Roland's classes are cancelled for Monday so that's all set. He looked at the numbers today and noticed that they only have like 9 classes left. That seems very fast, but I suppose they have been in session since August. I told him he should make sure to learn them all up quick.

Back off Baby

It is now October and its still a bagillion degrees and muggy here in Coral Springs. I'm having a hard time adjusting to the weather here. I woke up this morning to the sound of rain, but when I stepped out onto the porch it was more like a sauna than anything that could be described as brisk, or autumnal, or not-a-ten million-degree-sweat-bath. Very disconcerting for me. I wonder how long it will be before it doesn't seem quite so wrong. I feel like the wrongness is contributing to my general stressed-out-itude. It just feels wrong all the time even though intellectually I know its fine and normal for this climate. The internal dichotomy makes my head a splode. The rain also means I didn't go for a long walk with the puppy this morning, so he is a little antsy and bored.

Roland and I signed up for a community education dance class yesterday. It starts a week from Saturday and I'm hoping it will be fun. It is 8 weeks, but we will have to miss the last week due to driving to Disney World to meet his parents. It is Waltz and Tango class, we wanted a class that didn't have too many dances in it. Some of them purport to teach you the fox trot, merengue, cha-cha, tango, and salsa all in 8 weeks. Good luck. And since we already know the basic step of the waltz we figured two would be ok. Plus Saturday is a good day because it doesn't interfere with Roland's classes, meetings, or office hours. Its been tough because he is not on some email list that he should be on so he doesn't find out about meetings until the day of, and sometimes the minute of. But I'm excited, I really want the dance shoes I put on my wishlist now, but I suppose I should wait and find out if I'm any good first.

Snicker-Snack

Success! Roland and I finally successfully completed our get-Florida-licenses campaign and were awarded 100,000 experience points each (a little skimpy if you ask me). One thing I do have to compliment them for is that we walked out with our licenses. They print them on the spot, which is very nice. No walking around with franken-license for two weeks while they send it to you. So we trotted our shiny new licenses (seriously there is a whole lot of hologram going on) over to the AAA office and purchased our annual passes for Disney World. Woot! And I am obliged to say woot again all over the place.

And woot woot here and a woot woot there, here a woot, there a woot, everywhere a woot woot.

Sorry, short decent into nanny nanny boo boo to no one in particular. I am pretty excited about visiting there in December. We have a bunch of cool things planned. One pout-worthy item, Cirque du Soleil will be dark the whole time we are going to be there. Bummer, but now that we live in Florida we can go some other time to see that if we wish. Roland's parents found us Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party instead which looks pretty cool. Although I'm having some time displacement or something due to the heat here. It is still mid-August according to my heat index not just about October. I'm not sure what that is going to do to my holiday-sense but right now things decked out for Christmas seem very far away. But I still have two months to get a little closer. The next big hurdle is not being home for Anne's birthday and birthoween party. I don't think I'm even going to sew costumes this year.

Roland and I ordered in tonight, it was nice to eat all cozy at home and not have to cook or clean up. Now he is playing some on-line poker and looking at Fark and I'm avoiding finishing my puzzle because I'm pretty sure I'm missing at least 5 pieces. Grr and arg.

Poison

People of the interwebs we need your help! Tomorrow Roland and I are embarking on our third attempt to get Florida drivers licenses. I'm sure if you all think happy thoughts, or perhaps clap and think of fairies, we will persevere. As I mentioned we have tried twice before and had little to no luck and a whole lot of DMV attitude. You know the kind that you really can't blame on the person because they have a horrible job dealing with horrible people, but you don't happen to be one of those people and maybe they could spare a teeny tiny bit of civility.

First we went in to the place where you get licenses (which incidentally is not the same place you get your license plate) and noticed
1. that there must have been a capacity limit for the building, like they have in restaurants,
2. that limit was surpassed a long time ago, and
3. As newcomers to The Line we were to be viewed as suspect until we had waited some undetermined length of time, when we would cross over to be accepted as fellow sufferers.

The line to talk to the reception ladies (and the source of the attitude) looked to be about 3 hours long and after that there appeared to be a waiting area with enough people for another 3 hours. Then we saw a sign that said we could call a number to get an appointment. That clearly looked like the way to go so I stayed in line while Roland stepped outside to call the number. After about 5 minutes he came back in and reported that he didn't get anywhere in the automated system which took him in circles and I think eventually went dead. Roland asked the not-so-friendly ladies and they curtly told him that the best way to get an appointment was to go online. Having received our daily allotment of hostile stares we decided to beat a hasty retreat. Back at the apartment we faithfully went online and found the appropriate website. We booked our appointment for 2 weeks later (What? Yeah, 2, count them, 2 weeks later).

Alas this was not to be. After getting up early to get over to our appointments we arrived to discover...they were closed. Huh? Oh, I see, the sloppily handwritten sign explains it all. Hurricane Rita (barely category 1 at the time) was due to make landfall in about 12 hours way south of us. FINE, better safe than sorry. Back home we go. But there is no information about what to do if your appointment is cancelled. We are forced to assume that they are just that, cancelled. Reluctantly we make new appointments, for 9 days later. Whew, only 9 days. And that will bring us to tomorrow and our (hopefully) final attempt.

Good Jorb

I was all tippity typing away on a post and Bleys came along and turned off my computer by stepping on the power strip on/off switch. Bummer.

Its official...moving...sucks. I've been unpacking for two weeks and I'm still not done. Mostly what's left is the stuff I didn't have a place for in Michigan either so I guess that's fair. Its just that Roland and I got rid of a full stall of a garage worth of stuff before we left and we still have too much to fit in a nicely sized apartment. Ah, the loss of a basement. Part of the problem is that our storage space in stuffed to the rafters with boxes that Mayflower still hasn't called about picking up. When they are gone I think it will be easier to find places for everything.

Clean Sweep moment: If what you need is storage space for stuff that you will rarely/if ever need shouldn't you consider just getting rid of it? I need Peter Walsh to come and help me! Too bad I'm not terrible enough to get on the show.

Other shows I would love to be on:

What not to Wear - I've been wanting to change my hair for a while now (I'm one of those haven't-had-short-hair-since-4th-grade-people) and would love to have Nick Arrojo find me a new 'do. Plus $5,000 for new clothes!

Overhaulin' - Best reason my car should be overhauled: Its a Focus

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - Who wouldn't? If I found some land couldn't they just come in a build me a house?

Weird Florida Moment - No bottle deposit

I recently finished The Chronicles of Pern. I enjoyed it but felt like as soon as I got into a story it ended. I'm on to The Renegades of Pern, so far its a little disjointed, but I think that is on purpose. We'll see how I like it.

Lickity Split

Greetings from Florida! Let me just say that I don't particularly wish to drive from Michigan to Florida or vise versa again anytime soon. Bleys travelled very well although I don't think I like the harness I got very much. It had a tendancy to rotate around his body becuase of the uneven pressure of the seatbelt. I was thinking about getting a car seat, anybody out there have an opinion?

Roland and I arrived yesterday and did the whole lease/walkthrough thing. Our apartment is nice, but still an apartment. I miss our house (ex-house maybe, I wonder if there is as much paperwork to get a divorce as it does to divorce your house), I hope Veronica and Joe are enjoying the place. I miss a lot of things at the moment, I suppose it doesn't do to dwell on them.

Small world thingy for the day: the guy who installed our cable modem just spent the last four years getting his degree from Ferris State University! Go figure.