NOTE:  This is the final part of a 6 part series about a family vacation to Florida

Friday, October 24, 2008 – We slept in (at least I did – my husband got up with the kids) and packed up and decided to depart early.  We were toying with the idea of renting an air boat to take into the swamp, but it was overcast again, and we weren’t sure how the kids would fare in the swamp.  So we headed out of the Orlando area, and we stopped at two beaches.  The first one was not memorable, and I don’t remember where it was – somewhere south of Flagler beach because we stopped there next after heading north up the coast.  The first beach had crushed shells for sand and it was still overcast and windy which made it a little chilly.  It was really cool to see two different moods of the ocean this trip; especially since we’re used to landlocked Ohio.  Well, we have Lake Erie, but that’s not the same as the ocean.  On the way there, it was a beautiful blue/green with soft, rolling waves.  On the way home, it was gray, and the waves had white caps and sometimes a large one would sneak up and catch us off guard and soak us.  At Flagler Beach, we found a coconut and a log, which we took with us – only after asking the park ranger on duty, of course.  He was friendly, and he said that coconut must have come a long way – and now it calls Ohio home!  Flagler Beach is a Florida State Park, and it was very nice.  There was a ramp leading down to the beach for the wheelchair-bound or strollers.  And the bathrooms were very nice for being outdoor state park bathrooms – they should have been a step away from port-a-potties, but these were really nice and clean too.

Since we were ahead of schedule, we decided to spend the night in a hotel, so we stopped outside of Savannah, Georgia at a Comfort Suites in Pooler.  It was a nice place, and we went swimming in the morning.  I think their chlorine content in the pool was way high because my husband’s eyes were burning and for weeks my girls and I had problems with our hair.  It was getting tangled really easily, and it wasn’t smooth or soft anymore.  My husband held my ponytail up to the hair closer to my head and there was a huge color difference – the ends of my hair were shades lighter than the top!  I have long hair, so I think the bottom part of my hair which was in the pool the longest got bleached by the chlorine.  I actually haven’t had the time to go and get it chopped off, but it seems to be getting back to normal now, thank goodness.

Saturday, October 25, 2008 – The hotel had a breakfast, which was actually kind of crowded, but we enjoyed bagels and cereal before our morning swim.  Got on the road about noon, stopped around 1:30 for lunch in the car.  I had an avocado sandwich (good!) from Atlanta Bread, and the kids had Bojangles Chicken, which has really good fries.  Chicken is pretty good too.  Stopped at a Shell gas station around Spartanburg, South Carolina, where we were approached by a man who had “run out of gas”.  Luckily, he had plenty of jewelry on display inside his coat to sell, so hopefully he wouldn’t be stuck at the gas station for long.  Traffic got a little backed up near Asheville, and it was bumper-to-bumper, but for only about 10 or 15 mins.  We decided to get off of I-40 to enjoy the mountainous scenery since we’re not usually in the mountains when there’s daylight on our trips down south.  In the peak of autumn color-changing season at sunset, the mountains were nothing short of gorgeous, and we pulled over at a few scenic overlooks for observation and picture-taking.  We stopped at a wonderful little restaurant in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee called “BBQ Garden Cafe”, and I can’t say enough great things about the place.  The ribs and corn were the best of each that both my husband and I have ever had.  And that’s really saying a lot because we are tough critics when it comes to food at restaurants.  Unfortunately, as we chatted with the owner we learned that they were days away from closing – just not enough business in the mountains.  It’s a real shame too – best food I’ve had in a long time.  And it was a family owned place, so the owner got your order and went to grill it himself, and he even had his kids helping – a really nice family, and a really nice family atmosphere also.  I really hope that by some miracle the place doesn’t close – I was going to make sure we go back there every time we’re in Tennessee.  Here is the address, just in case you’re in the area; I can’t say enough how much I recommend the place.  You might want to call first though, since they did say they were closing down!  It’s located at: 3323 Cosby Hwy, Cosby, TN 37722

After the delicious dinner, we headed for home in Ohio, and we arrived at about 5 in the morning, a little early compared to usual.  But that’s ok, we needed the day for catch-up on sleep, laundry, unpacking, etc.  As you can see, I’ve been busy ever since which is why it took me a month to finish the trip diary.  But now I have, and all I have to do is cut and paste all 6 parts into one diary for our family to read for years to come.  Thanks for letting me share it with you; here is a picture of the autumn Smokies at sunset:

This past weekend saw a feat never before accomplished by an Ohio State University football team.  The Buckeyes successfully defeated the dreaded “Team from the North” for the fifth year in a row (42-7).  How many rivalries can actually attest to the fact that a coach’s career seemingly hinges upon one game year after year.  Coaches are booed or cheered, lauded or fired on the outcome of the traditional regular season finale for OSU and UofM.  I had the thrill of sitting in the south stands of Ohio Stadium in the Block O section in November 1992.  What I remember most came at the closing moments of halftime.  A man decided to have his brief moment of fame by running across the field wearing absolutely nothing.  Although what is name actually is is anyone’s guess (so much for his fifteen minutes).  The streaker was subsequently given an overcoat and apprehended by officers following his run for the goal posts.  Incidentally, the game ended in a 13-13 tie much to the dismay of the OSU seniors who had never defeated their archrivals.

I was doing a search in the library’s database, and I came across the title Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow.  Further investigation showed it to be a science fiction book about Walt Disney World in the future.  Not usually my type of novel (and I strongly prefer to read non-fiction anyway), but since we’re Disney affectionados, I couldn’t resist the read.  It took me over a month to read it, and that’s not even soley because I’m so busy.  The book is difficult to read – author Doctorow does a nice job at placing the reader in the characters’ futuristic universe, but it’s almost too much – he neglects to provide an explanation of certain things.  For instance, the characters all have “Whuffie” and “HUDs”, and these concepts are constantly revisited throughout the story, but it’s never explained exactly what these things are!  My interpretation is that Whuffie refers to a meter in one’s body that measures a person’s positive characteristics, experiences, and emotions – and others can see your Whuffie level.  A person with low Whuffie is shunned in society, and sometimes even denied entrance to Disney World.  HUDs seem to be a person’s computer – it almost seems to be a part of their brain.  They can look up stuff and send things to each other instantly with their HUDs like directions to places.  It seems to be kind of like today’s internet, yet it’s built right into people’s brains.  So, yeah, you can see why it was slow reading as the reader had to get around all of these unfamiliar concepts.  But onto the story itself…

In the future when Down and Out…  is set – and I don’t know what year that is, he never specifically says – Disney World is now a retro-park; something that is preserved only because it’s an example of the great works of our current time.  The main character, Julius and his girlfriend Lil (who was raised in the Magic Kingdom) are on a mission to save the Magic Kingdom and keep the attractions as they are: old-fashioned rides through vintage dioramas.  There is a group of people trying to “rehab” all the rides and give them a futuristic makeover, and they do get ahold of the Hall of Presidents – they make it so that the guests can actually see what it feels like to be Abraham Lincoln and the rest of the former Presidents.  It is the goal of Julius, Lil, and their friend Dan to keep the rest of Liberty Square (a section of the Magic Kingdom), especially the Haunted Mansion, away from the “ad-hocs” as the rehabbing group is called.  Throw in Julius’ murder (don’t worry, he’s been “backed up” and can reclaim his life in a clone) and the fact that he now has to find out who killed him and keep it from happening again, and that’s how the plot thickens.

Overall, it was a very interesting read, but probably not something I’d re-read.  It was worth stepping out of my usual non-fiction genre for the experience to read a science-fiction tale, but it wasn’t anything stupendous.  The story was interesting, and the author did a great job of detailing life in the future, even if it was at times confusing to the reader.  I kept feeling like I was coming in on a sequel having missed the first part.  I thought there’d be more details about the Magic Kingdom, and in that respect, I was disappointed.  But if you like sci-fi books and you’ve been to Disney World, I recommend this book only if you read a lot and have lots of spare time.  On a grading scale, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom gets a C- from me.  Up next for me is My Lobotomy by Howard Dully- a non-fiction book about a guy who was involuntarily given an “ice-pick” lobotomy as a 12-year old.

What does a sub when it’s Thanksgiving week and three of four districts he’s signed up in is off all week? Catch up on TV of course 🙂 . For the fourth district it is near impossible to get a job off the web when few show up (teachers must have been told to not take this week off if possible) and it’s the time of day when the system calls subs as well as shows the jobs on the web. When trying to select such a job it is locked 95% of the time because the system is offering it to someone over the phone at the same time. So, as I tried this morning I finished yesterday’s paper (I’ll go out sometime later today to retrieve today’s paper currently laying at the end of the driveway), viewed a few more themes for this blog, and ate some breakfast. I think I like the theme I am now using, so barring any annoying bugs this should be the one. It has a static width optimized for 1024×768 it looks like, meaning there should be no gap issue with my readers- why did only one mention it by the way? Surely others encountered it unless only the one uses Internet Explorer- regardless of the window size and there is now only one sidebar making more room for pictures. Those with browser window sizes less than 1024 wide should see a scroll bar at the bottom since the theme width is locked, but the sidebar is on the right so that will be the first thing unseen. The window will have to be pretty narrow I think before you start having to scroll to read the actual posts. I really hope this is a good one because my options are quite limited. Three-column doesn’t work because I like to post images, a lot of the themes are static optimized for 800×600 so that would limit the image size again, and many just don’t appeal to me.

Back to subbing, I expected to have Wednesday through Friday off, but I was really hoping to work today and tomorrow at least.  There is still a slight chance for an afternoon job today, and a chance of course for tomorrow for the time being so I might yet make some money this week.  If I don’t though, there is a pile of recorded shows dating back to the beginning of the summer.  Why I didn’t watch the summer shows I don’t know, but they’re there along with several fall shows.  I would really like to replace all the VCRs in this house with DVD writers one of these days, but money is tight and the other member of this house is quite comfortable with video tapes and wouldn’t know what to do with recordable DVDs.  I set up my little DVD/media player for her to watch some shows I had downloaded, but for now she is skipping them and watching her own backlog of videotaped shows instead.

Speaking of a backlog on shows, I am down to reserve #12 of 32 on season four of The Office at my library, on three copies so I should hopefully have it by Christmas to watch.

WOW… One month from today is one of the most perfect nights of the year… better get started.  I’m sure I can fill my blog with many a holiday tale by then.  This one was prompted by an email that was sent to me which I forward to a bunch of people.  A list of questions that got me even more in the spirit of things.  One of the questions was

• What was the WORST Christmas present you ever received?

My answer was quite cryptic as I replied that it was a “keyboard that I THOUGHT I was getting after someone else snooped and informed me of.”   Santa always delivers our presents early and strategically hides them throughout the house.  How else can he get to all those houses in one night?  Anyway, my second oldest brother who is extremely fond of pulling little pranks (if you know him at all then you can imagine).  One day, he was investigating one of Santa’s favorite hiding places and came upon a small keyboard and immediately thought that he knew to whom it would be going.  He subsequently told that person of his discovery.  So, Christmas morning came and no keyboard.  At our extended family gathering, my cousin opened up said keyboard.  Of course Chad had to have been the one to open his mouth and say “oops. I thought that was for you.”  At the time, I am sure that I was a bit let down but soon after everytime the incident is mentioned, everyone in the know gets a big laugh.  Lesson learned by me: don’t trust everything your older brother tells you, especially THAT one.  I’m not sure if Chad learned any lesson that year, but judging from other years, I don’t think so.  It was a pretty easy prank to pull since Dan and I are both musically inclined.

Once again I caught a movie that I definitely should have seen on the big screen (darn Speed Racer, anyway). Iron Man positively ranks up there with my all-time favorite superhero movies (need I say which is number one… and it is NOT Howard the Duck).  I knew absolutely nothing about billionaire industrialist Tony Stark and his alter ego going in which made the movie even better.

I really appreciated the fact that Mr. Stark (played brilliantly by Robert Downey, Jr.) was a man who had conflicts.  He is in the beginning the swinging, drinking, womanizing heir to a fortune which he inherited from his father.  Tony acted as if he could care less about the company which provides state of the art weapons to U.S. forces.  However after a life and death struggle at the hands of Afghan forces, his view begins to change.  While being held captive, the brilliant spoiled rich kid develops the prototype to a new weapon that allows one person to become a nearly indestructible fighting force and uses it to escape his captors.

After returning to society, the industrialist vows to use his technology to fight evil.  However, there are sinister forces that will stand in his way.  Once again, a film in which no one can be trusted.  The supporting cast was also well developed.  Jeff Bridges is memorable in his role as is Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark’s executive secretary, Pepper Potts.

Following the movie, I saw that my favorite superhero movie and its first sequel were playing on TVLand.  However, I decided to break out my DVD collection instead.  I do not like to watch great movies interrupted by commercials.   Now it is time for the sequel.  Have a Super night.  And is it just me, or is Stan Lee quickly becoming the Alfred Hitchcock of this generation by appearing in most of the movies based upon his comic book creations?

Since justj and taylhis have gotten me thinking about fast food and their ad campaigns, I began to think about the characters in the Ronald McDonald family.  It seems that one of the characters that I do remember became the focus of a lawsuit in the mid-late 1970s. It seems that Mayor McCheese was discontinued as the result of a battle between McDonald’s and Sid and Marty Krofft, creators of H.R. Pufnstuf and Land of the Lost.  By the late 1970s, the entire concept of McDonaldland was all but phased out leaving only a handful of characters.  I also remember Grimace, Hamburglar (“Rumble, Rumble”), the Fry Guys, Birdie The Early Bird (introduced when the chain began to promote breakfast on the menu).  I also remember having my 6th birthday party at the old McDonalds which has since moved to the busy side of town where Wal-Mart, KMart, and everything else seems to be.  What is on the other side of town that once had such life including a drive-in theatre (but that is another story entirely).  Wendy’s, Dairy Queen, anything else?

There are also Captain Crook Who peddled Filet O’ Fish sandwiches, the animated pie tree, and a professor who I do not remember at all.  And don’t forget Officer Big Mac.

On another tangents.org blog, justj has been talking about cheeseburgers, namely White Castles and Burger Buddies (aka Burger Bundles), an ’80’s Burger King product.  I found an old Burger Bundles commercial on youtube and posted the link on his blog in the comments section of the cheeseburger post.  While I was looking around on youtube, I found this old vintage McDonald’s commercial where Ronald looks like something out of a horror movie.  Regardless of what his early incarnation looked like, the clown worked for them in helping to create one of the most successful companies of all time.

We’re all adults here, right?  Then you’d think the following sign spotted in the band room at a local high school would be less amusing:

Rectal Gas Policy
– Any student who releases audible rectal gas will receive one after school detention.
– Any student who “reacts” to audible or inaudible rectal gas will also receive  one after school detention.
If you feel the need to relieve yourself of rectal gas you must stand in the hallway to pass it.

Where do I start?  First, it must be said that I was visiting the school while attending a wonderful show choir performance starring (as far as I’m concerned) a good friend and my favorite teenager.  She did an awesome job!

After the concert, another friend gave us a brief tour of the new school where she works.  It’s a really nice school, but we were surprised to find that they apparently have an entire policy about a specific bodily function.  I wonder if students actually go into the hallway to abide by the policy.  And it really makes one wonder about the incident(s) that caused the policy to be drafted in the first place.  Asking my friend to make copies of the policy so I can post it on my blog is juvenile, I’ll admit…  but funny is funny, and I find it amusing.  I wonder if the teacher realizes that strangers come through her band room sometimes and read her rectal gas policy?  Did she have to submit it to the principal for approval before posting it?  Hey, Derek, do any of the schools you sub at have a body function policy?

Just trying new themes out.  Don’t be surprised if things change a bit daily as a take a look at some themes.  I know a couple I tried before had bugs so even ones that look good may change.  Now that I post graphics, I am trying out two-column themes to make more room for them.