New Wheels

So I think the Great White North fried the air conditioning unit in my Accord. I didn’t notice until recently because, frankly, I didn’t need air conditioning.

However, once this hard heat started hitting Florida, the lack of a cooling system quickly became a huge issue. My quick 10 minute commute to and from work turned into a trip to the sauna. It was way beyond comfortable, and reached into the realm of extreme discomfort; so much so that the idea of running the car into a lake and hoping that I had GAP insurance to cover my losses seemed like a good idea.

In a passing comment, I told my dad the situation (and with the A/C gone, my passenger window motor just about gone and my driver’s window seal not properly working, it was obvious the fixes would cost more than the car was even worth) and an offer to help fix the A/C somehow quickly changed into the search for a new vehicle. It was a very surprising turn of events, and I still don’t truly believe it actually happened.

Three days later, and after looking through hundreds of used cars, the discussion turned to the thought of just purchasing a new car. With the help from a friend, we were fast on the road towards a brand new 2010 Honda Civic coupe.

Within twenty-four hours of the initial discussion, I was headed off to Tallahassee on Friday afternoon in a race against time to get to Proctor Honda before 7pm. With about 30 minutes to spare, and after a grueling four hour, sweat-drenched drive, I arrived at the dealership to meet up with Patrick and my parents. They had already begun the paperwork, and all I had to do was show a reading of my mileage and clean out the ole’ beater. And by 7:30pm, we were outta the place and on the road with my new ride.

I’m still incredibly shocked that everything happened the way it did, and INCREDIBLY thankful to my dad for doing this for me. It was a total shock, and part of me still can’t believe that it actually happened, however, that part of me is reminded that it is indeed a reality when I step outside, and sit into the comfy seat; in an interior just fuming with wonderful, cold air.

As for the car, I absolutely love it so far. I’m trying to get used to the oddly placed speedometer, and the emergency handbrake is a bit of a pain in my knee, but those are minor quips that will just take some getting used to. I’m so lucky to have a brand new car, and even luckier to have the dad that I’ve been given.

All Around the Sunshine

Tallahassee was a great visit. I can’t really find a better way to kick it off other than that.

I headed to Gainesville on Sunday, with Kara and her mom in tow, and we met up with my mom for lunch and touring. It was the first time our moms had ever gotten the chance to meet, and we both came away feeling accpmplished in the day. My dad was sick with the flu, however, and didn’t make the trip.

We started off at Macaroni Grill, which I’d never had before (still prefer Olive Garden) and had a nice, relaxing lunch. Everyone got the opportunity to get to know one another better, and then we headed off to The Swamp. Kara’s mom isn’t a particularly big football fan, but she wanted to see a Florida campus, so we started off showing her around the athletic areas, including a walk into the stadium.

My mom then parted and headed back to Tallahassee and I took the mother and daughter on a drive around campus. We stopped and took a brief walk around Lake Alice where I assured them I’d find a live alligator for them to view, and lo and behold we ran across one! It was awesome seeing one of these guys in the wild.

After a stop at Coldstone, we parted ways and I made the journey north, and they headed back to Orlando. It was a bit strange to be in Florida at the same time as Kara, and not be together, but I wanted to give her and her mom time together, and figured it’d be a good opportunity to visit with some friends.

Unfortunately, Monday morning my aunt called and told my mom and dad they needed to come to Orlando because my grandma was being put in a hospice. My mom told me to stay in Tallahassee as I planned to visit with friends, but to come see them as soon as I got back.

After they left, I headed over to Sean’s house to hang out and we spent a good portin of the day playing the PS3, before heading out to Po’Boys for dinner. Joining us there was Virgie, Patrick, Natalie, Jon and Wes.

Much to my dissatisfaction, Po’Boys seems to have gone downhill, and fast. I hadn’t eaten at the Pensacola location in over a year, and not only has the service been flushed away, the food was less than amazing as well. It was a bit of a disappointment, but I still had a great time with my friends.

All of us aside from Jon then took off to Patrick and Natalie’s place for the night. The night was wasted away playing XBOX, cards, listening to music, catching up and capped off by a 4hr Wii Bowling marathon that lasted til about 5:30 in the morning.

Obviously, everyone slept in the next day and when we awoke, it was more hanging out. We ordered some pizza, played some Rummy and had a great day. Patrick and Natalie headed out to my house that night to watch the Florida-Tennessee basketball game, and we gorged ourselves on Wing Street wings.

It was an amazing two days, and went far too quickly, but I’m so glad that I got the chance to go home and see a few of my friends, although I wish there was more time to see others.

Wednesday I left and headed back to Orlando, and went straight to my grandparents house. My dad and I then went to the hospice where we spent about three hours with my grandma, mom and uncle. Seeing my grandma like she is was pretty hard, and it truly was sad to see. Unfortunately, she was unconscious the entire time we were there so I didn’t get to speak with her.

My dad and I left around 7 and went to TGIFridays for dinner where another less-than-stellar dinner was had. Its really unfortunate that all of these places I love to eat at are going so far downhill. After dinner, I headed back home to spend the rest of the night with Kara and her mom, as she was scheduled to fly out early the next morning. When I arrived, they toured me around the apartment, showing off all the new goodies they bought to spice things up. I especially liked what they did with the bathroom, as we had problems finding a good mix of things we liked.

It was sad seeing her mom go, as we all had a great time together. Her mom is so nice and thoughtful, and I’m really happy we got to spend time with her and show her around Florida.

Yesterday was another crazy day as dad and I spent every minute crawling the city trying to find me a nice, new suit. After hours of store-hopping, we finally settled on something we agreed was attractive and multi-functional. Once finished, we headed out to the Give Kids the World Village where Kara showed us around her office (house), the entire Village, and we played a game of 7-hole putt putt. It was an awesome experience, and I’m glad my dad got to see it.

So now, its another chilly day in Florida and I gotta get ready for a job interview…and will probably follow that up with a trip to SeaWorld for hopefully some good luck.

Playing Catch-Up

Ya know, posting would be a lot easier, and probably less time-consuming if I wrote every/other day instead of scribing a novel to cover everything that’s happened in two weeks’ time.

The day after we saw the shuttle launch, Kara began her new job at Give Kids the World Village. Its been her dream to be in a position like this, and her experience thus far has been both exciting and a learning experience. I’m extremely proud of her for making the decision to take a risk in securing the job, and acquiring what she set her sights on.

Last Thursday, Todd and I headed out to Universal for an afternoon of park-hopping, and once again, I was reminded of the horrible state the company is in. Its unbelievable how badly run it is now. I’m planning on a blog on my thoughts sometime soon, just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Last weekend awarded me time to spend with two friends I had not seen in practically a year. Sean and Virgie came down for Valentine’s weekend and the four of us had a great time catching up. Saturday was spent playing ping pong and pool at our community center, hanging out at the apartment and a trip back to Clearwater to introduce them to Quaker Steak & Lube. Sean and I split an 88oz Lube Tube, and we all feasted upon piles of buffalo wings.

We said goodbye to them on Sunday, and Kara and I had a nice Valentine’s Day relaxing and watching Time Traveler’s Wife.

Wednesday night we had an amazing dinner at Outback, thanks to a V-Day gift card my parents gave us. I feasted on bread, a Caesar salad, bloomin’ onions and Alice Springs Chicken. I looooove Outback, and can’t wait to go back again.

Now, with the arrival of another visitor, this time Kara’s mom, we’re in for even more touring and exploring. SeaWorld’s on the bill for today, and probably Gainesville tomorrow. I’m hoping to make it to Tallahassee for a couple of days this week, but with my dad being sick, don’t know if that’s gonna happen now, but we’ll see!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Another week in Florida in the past, and even more memories.

The rest of my parents’ visit went well, and everyone enjoyed the time together. Saturday was spent shopping, and the night ended with a trip to Amway Arena to watch the Magic take on the Atlanta Hawks (and Al Horford!). It was probably the last time we’ll all go to that arena together for a game before the Magic move to their new digs next season, so I’m glad we got to do that together.

Sunday was spent grocery shopping, watching Florida lose at the last second to Tennessee (again ) and ended with grilling burgers and playing ping pong at the community center. It was a nice, relaxing day and night, and was a great last day spent with my parents.

Monday afternoon I went into meet with my (hopefully) future employer for about 30 minutes. It was a meeting that I felt went fairly well, but I’m still waiting to hear back. Kara and I relaxed that night and watched the Michael Jackson documentary, This Is It.

Tuesday was spent making calls and getting more stuff taken care of before meeting up with Corey and heading to Universal Studios around 4:30pm. We got to the park and headed straight for their new roller coaster Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit. We’d been trying to get here for the entire time we’ve lived in Florida, and finally decided to just get flex pay passes. The ride was fun, but wasn’t anything that great. The non-inverting loop was definitely cool, however, but the ride had a bit of a shimmy to it.

We had dinner at Chili’s and headed back to the community center and played ping pong, pool and virtual golf til about midnight. Corey left and headed to a friends house, and we went home and to bed.

Wednesday was a full-day at Universal and Islands of Adventure where we all had a great time riding roller coasters, exploring and just hanging out. We ended the night playing even more ping pong and then finally watching Zombieland. Absolutely loved that movie the first time around, but for some reason not so much this time. Unfortunately, I had one of my allergic reactions to cheese, and had to take benadryl this morning which effectively knocked me completely out all day today.

Now that I’m finally caught up on this, its time to go eat chicken, taters and corn on the cob and finish watching this When Animals Attack show. Tomorrow?

Busch Gardens!

Much Accomplished

Everything that’s gone on since the last time I posted has been pretty much a blur. When moving, even when you think everything is done, it really isn’t.

We thought we were settled and had everything ready to let us just kick back and relax, but that proved to be far from the truth. Monday morning, Kara had an interview with the company she’s wanted to work for her whole life; her dream job, in other words. She felt the interview went very well, and based on the events leading up to it, I never had a doubt in my mind that they would select her. It wasn’t until Thursday night that she heard back from them, when on our way to dinner, she got a call back congratulating her on the new position.

I was, and still am, so proud of her!

The rest of the week was spent finishing up around the apartment, Kara getting a new drivers license/insurance, and running more errands. We spent a lot of time exploring the area, looking in pet stores (I’ve got her convinced to get a Corgi!) and checking out home stores. We’ve managed to find a whole bunch of stuff we want at Best Buy, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and IKEA.

Our “free” time during the week was spent checking out and enjoying the amenities of our apartment complex. One particularly fun night, we battled it out playing billiards (I won 2-0) and then moved on to ping pong (where I, also, won 2-0). The thought crossed my mind to let her win, but she told me not to, so my competitive side gladly respected her wishes.

Thursday night my parents got in town, and it was on the way to a new Mexican restaurant (to us) called Garibaldi to meet them and my grandparents when Kara got the call about her new job. The news came at the perfect time, as it afforded us a chance to tell everyone at the same time. Dinner was good, reminded me of Los Compadres in Tallahassee, and afterward the 6 of us headed to the Altamonte Mall for a bit.

Kara and I came home, watched Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (eh….) and passed out.

The following day, Friday, my parents met us at our apartment. After a couple hours of relaxing, we headed off to SeaWorld! The day really couldn’t have gone any better, either. The crowds were light, we saw everything we wanted to, pet a couple dolphins, got to see another hiccup in the Believe show and…

Got my dad on Manta!

He was apprehensive about it, and vocalized his decision on the lifthill by asking, “Why am I doing this!?!” but in the end, he loved it. I was proud of him, and we all had a had blast.

After the park closed, we had a nice dinner at TGIFridays, and had planned to come back to the complex and play ping pong but everyone was exhausted. Instead, my parents headed back to their hotel and we rented Saw IV from the community RedBox and fell asleep.

Definitely a good week, and with my parents here two more days, it should be a great weekend!