The T3sk3y Defenestrator

While everyone back in Minnesota is experiencing the third (or is it fourth?) straight week of 45 degree temperatures, it was 90 where I’m at. Not that it’s a good thing…

I hinted at it a few days ago – I’m actually in Orlando, Florida at this exact moment. For those back home, I thought I’d give a quick update and recap of the trip so far..

We left straight from work on Friday afternoon and caught the light rail for the trip to the airport. Though I’ve never been the biggest fan of the system (I think our population density is too low to make it fly) – the “Downtown to the Airport” subcase does work really well for the couple of times per year that I use it. Heather left her knitting in my truck – and spent the entire train ride fretting over whether she’d make it back in time to get it. Since we were running late to start with – she would have had no room for error.

The flight took off late, and got diverted a couple of times around weather. This made for an extra hour or so on the plane. I had the finale from “The Amazing Race” on my laptop (thanks to BitTorrent) and I was really looking forward to hunkering down and watching it. That’s when the inconsiderate boob and the inconsiderate Mrs. Boob in front of me decided that another 2″ of reclining would make all the difference in the world. If you’ve never ridden a plane with me – I’ll give you a clue. There isn’t 2″ of spare room in my seat space!

Airline Etiquitte 101 people – reclining your chair is the rudest thing you can do on a plane. It doesn’t make you any more comfortable, and it makes it hell for the person behind you. It almost always breaks your laptop screen, too…

If anybody is looking for a gift for me.. I’d like one of these, please.. The Knee Defender

Anyway.. we got to Florida at about midnight, and had a 30 minute wait to get luggage. Uh.. yes, that would probably be one piece at a time for those keeping track.

Saturday started very early – a 7:30 breakfast call from little Mitchell waking us up. I’ve eaten a lot of breakfast burritos in my day – never a breakfast chimichanga. That’s a fine breakfast right there.

Our afternoon was spent at “Gator Land”. Yes, Gator Land. We saw gator wrestling, gator feeding with whole chickens (I somehow doubt they were free range), gator nuggets, petting zoos, turtles, iguanas, and so forth. Not the classiest joint, but the kids LOVED it. Mitchell, Jared, and Natalie were extremely well behaved. Actually, Natalie (who is 6 months), just made little cooing noises and didn’t seem the least bit interested in gators.

After a two hour nap, the family went for dinner at the New York Pizza Department and watched Jared make eyes at the waitress. If it wasn’t for the 18-year age difference, Jared I think had a pretty good chance.

Heather, Debbie and I split off after dinner to meet Debbie’s boyfriend at a sports bar for Trivia Night. I love trivia, but these were some toughies!

Ones I knew:

• Oldest symphony in the US: NY Philharmonic
• Phonebook sorted by first names: Iceland
• What is H2O2: Hydrogen Peroxide
• 3 wonders of the ancient world: Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Lighthouse of Alexandria, Colossus at Sardia

Ones I didn’t quite get:

• 5 presidents to survive assassination attempts: I got Reagan, Ford and Jackson
• Capitols of Switzerland and New Zealand: I said Bern, then changed it
• Who knew you spelled Ophthomology with an OPH at the beginning?!?

Tomorrow – Kim runs her first triathalon at Disney, and it’s a BBQ with the family! More later as the trip goes on…

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