Mundane Mobile Meanderings and Dixon Dinners

Highlights of Day Two of the quick trip to the Gulf with the wife... you can read Day One here and get the answer to the question "What does The Lovely Steph Leann actually do?"...

So today, we were scheduled to leave the Marriott around 8:30.  Get up around 7:30, get showered and packed up, get that truck loaded up with our junk and be best up on our way.  Cue 8:30 and we are dragging ourselves out of bed...

On the way to the plant, we did stop and have breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Usually, that's a hit or miss kind of place, but today, they were on it... probably some of the best Cracker Barrel food I've eaten in a long, long time.  The waitress was great, the food was hot, the pancakes were fluffy--perhaps its because we came early.

The plan is to go to one of the plants and unload about twenty boxes of materials, hence the reason we came in a Dodge Dakota truck (its a rental)... which is what we did.  Pulled up next to a modular, unloaded the boxes, then drove around the area a bit to another warehouse, where we were given, via forklift, this massive pallet of about 30 large boxes, each containing materials vital to the continuance, nay! the mere survival of our nation, our world our...

...I actually think it was just paperwork and such.  But it rose above the outer edges of the trucks bed by about four or five feet.  We drove around the plant area again, slowly, parked and went inside to get The Lovely Steph Leann's other stuff done, namely working on blueprints, organizing, consolidating and on and on... boring work, really.

We did this for hours and hours and hours... I kept muttering to myself how this was my vacation day, and she kept telling me to essentially hush.  Anyway, I won't bore you with the mundane details of our day at work, but when we came out, we had to deal with this issue of the truck we were driving, loaded up with a pile of boxes, each weighing a good 20 or 30 pounds each, sitting on a wooden pallet, all wrapped in plasticy saran wrappy wrap. 

We had the brilliant idea of taking off the top layer of boxes, moving them to the truck's backseat, then shift and moving and such.  We did it, it worked, and off we went.

Now, onto dinner... before, I had contacted my friend Dixon by virtue of everyone's favorite way of talking to people that normally they'd never talk to again:  Facebook.  I told her that I and The Lovely Steph Leann were coming to the area this week, and for she and her man and her kids to come on along and meet up with us for dinner.  Apparently, her man is in Magic Land in Orlando Florida, work related supposedly, but she and her childrens Emma and Cooper met us at Peg Leg Petes.  Dixon said she was excited not only to see me, but to meet the famous The Lovely Steph Leann... then again, who doesn't want to meet The Lovely Steph Leann?

First, the restaurant.  Peg Leg Pete's is an oyster house and seafood bar located across the road from the ocean in Pensacola Beach.  It offered a wide selection of shrimps, scallops, crab legs and claws, fish and other such pleasantries.  I got the seafood combo, which included fried shrimp (average), fried oysters (I remembered I wasn't a fan of oysters), fried grouper (pretty good), and though it was supposed to have crab claws, they were out, thus substituting stuffed crab instead, which was fairly decent.

The Lovely Steph Leann wasn't thrilled, because she had her heart set on Peg Leg Pete's crab claws--neither of us had ever been here before, so she was curious to try them... yes, yes, she had crab claws last night, but they are some of her favorite foods, so she was eager to have them again... then our waiter told us they were out, so she ended up with the snow crab legs.  They were a might bit better than the ones I had last night, but overall, to me the food was average.

For dessert, I got key lime pie, and it doesn't even come in the same ballpark of being nearly as good as the chocolate peanut butter pie I had last night at The Original Oyster House.  Peg Leg Pete's was, however, fairly affordable, and The Lovely Steph Leann thought her meal was pretty good, and thought her dessert, the bread pudding, was exceptional. 

Next, the company.  Perfect.  Dixon and I have known each other since 1993, and were friends all through college, and during dinner, I'm sure we bored the stew out of The Lovely Steph Leann with our "Oh, I remember when you..." and "Do you know that..." and "When you did that, I..." tales.  She was quick to include The Lovely Steph Leann though, frequently turning to her and saying, "Oh my gosh, did d$ ever tell you about the time he and..." to which my wife would say, "No, tell me!" and there goes the story.



Dixon and d$, circa 1998, when we were young and
fabulous.  Now?  We're not as young but just as
fabulous.

 The kids were cute as could be, as I talked with both Emma and Cooper during dinner, and laughing because, like their mama, neither was shy.  I told The Lovely Steph Leann and Dixon both that I thought they would hit it off well... I said that Dixon didn't take any guff from me in college, and The Lovely Steph Leann doesn't take any now. 

Dinner lasted about an hour or so, then the three adults went down to the playground and let the kids play, while we camped out on barstools in the sand.  We tried to talk about the old days, there wasn't much we could recall, I guess the Lord knows what He's doing aaaaafter aaaaallll.....  it was a great time, and Dixon even gave The Lovely Steph Leann the invite to call her when she's back again, even if I'm not there. 

By the way, is there a rule that every restaurant on the beach has to have a gift shop?  Like, The Original Oyster House has a gift shop.  Last time we went to Hemingway's Grill... gift shop.  And tonight at Peg Leg Pete's... gift shop.  The Tom Thumb store next to Peg Leg Pete's has a gift shop.  As we passed by the police station, I glanced in, and there's a gift shop.  Most of the items were made by criminals, license plates and such, but still.  I went into the gift shop here at the Hilton, and there is a gift shop inside the gift shop.  The shot glasses say "Pensacola Beach Gift Shop's Gift Shop". 

And so here I am, at the Hilton on Pensacola Beach, in the business center.  The Lovely Steph Leann is next to me, on her own laptop working on Creative Memories stuff, while I'm blogging a bit.  But that's all I got tonight... this is kinda one of those blogs that isn't really interesting to anyone but me, but it will give me a reference point and jog my memory when I want to come back and reread...

On Facebook?  Search for Clouds in My Coffee and "Like"!  I would "like" if you "Liked"!  Shameless self promotion over...

Taking Alabama Adventure For a Spin

As I sat in the little gold car, snuggled up next to the lovely Steph Leann, with only a small metal bar across our laps to protect us from centrifical forces, I closed my eyes. I closed my eyes to perhaps stop the spinning. The little gold car, with its metallic sheen and blinky lights, spun rapidly on it's base. The base itself was attached to an arm which led to a small hub, where three other arms spread out in opposite directions, all arms spinning, each with its own gold car attached. The bigger hub of four cars was attached to a giant arm, which led to the central hub, the big fancy thing in the middle, the big thing that itself was spinning, creating for me not just on immediate spin, but two others occurring at the same time.

And this was all on an incline.

On thought went through my mind... Toby Keith. Well, not Toby Keith himself, but a Toby Keith lyric....
"I ain't as good as I once was... and that's just the cold hard truth. I still throw a few back, talk a little smack, when I'm feeling bulletproof"

When the ride stopped, and the lovely Steph Leann and I slowly made our way off the platform and wobbled into the walkway, we decided that would be the last time we'd ride the Mind Spinder again. I looked at Steph Leann and grimaced "Wow... I'm not 20 anymore."

But that's okay, we were at the Park Formerly Known as Visionland, that being Alabama Adventure Amusement Park. That's right, it was Birmingham's own Miracle Strip. If you're standing in the welfare line, and you ask for Land O'Lakes butter, Kraft cheese and Six Flags, they had you gubmint butter, gubmint cheese and Alabama Adventure.

Sidebar: I cannot express to you how my heart sunk when I discovered a few years back that Miracle Strip Amusement Park was being torn down for a high rise condo (of which the deal, rumor has it, has fallen through). I grew up in Samson, right across the Florida line, about 70 minutes from Panama City, and Miracle Strip Park was a yearly destination. They had all the rides Alabama Adventure has, only fancier, and admission was cheaper, and darn if the Starliner Coaster wasn't one of the scariest coasters ever... not because it was built scary, but because it was so old, you knew one day it would collapse.


Miracle Strip has become Miracles Condos. I weep for the future.

In our yearly trip to the beach with the Campbell Family in 2004, I drove by in horror as some of the rides had been removed, weeds grew in the parking lot and a construction fence was surrounding the lot. It actually hurt me. RIP, Miracle Strip Park.

Steph Leann works for Southern Company, and they sometimes do "team building days" where everyone from a SoCo department gets together has lunch somewhere (in this case, Alabama Adventure) and has fun "team-building" exercises and games. Late in the afternoon, after everyone else has left the team building un, I drove out to meet Steph Leann for some Visio... er, Alabama Adventure fun!

For those of you unfamiliar with the park, its really set up like any other park... when you enter, you have several shops and snack bar areas on either side before you get to any rides. There are actually two parks--Magic City USA (named for Birmingham being "The Magic City") and Splash Beach, the water park next door. Our tickets actually included admission to both, and part of me wanted to visit the water park, but just not tonight.

Go down the steps at the end of "Celebration Street", where all the shops are, and you enter into the game area, where you can pay five dollars to toss a ball and miss for the chance to win an oversized Shrek that if you did win, you'd have to carry around all day.

The big thing happening tonight is the Summer Concert Series, which this summer features such superstars as Aly & AJ, Jesse McCartney, Darryl Worley and tonight, megastar Bo Bice. Bo is from Birmingham, so his audience is a bit bigger than usual. For my money, though, I'm ready to ride the two roller coasters, the Rampage and the Zoomerang.

We tackle the ferris wheel first (which I hate ferris wheels, so I won't be doing that again), then go to the Log Flume, a ride that seems to take, oh, about 9 seconds. Seriously, in a fiberglass log, you go up a big hill, drop about a foot, go around two small curves and then down a hill. A little water splashes and that's the ride.

We go up the hill to the big swings... like the ferris wheel, I hate the swings. Just can't do it. So I sit this one out... Steph Leann loves it, though, and I see her smiling as she rides.

Immediately after the Mind Spinder, we gather ourselves and decide to ride something a little less spinny, The Scrambler. It doesn't spin quite as much, but still, it spins. Perhaps too soon after the Mind Spinder. After the Scrambler, we figure to play through the pain and just knock out the spinny rides. The Himalaya.

I ain't as good as I once was, my how the years have flown, but there as time back in my prime when I could really hold me own...

If you've never been to a county fair or festival, or have never seen the Mind Spinder (or rides like it) or the Scrambler (which is the universal name for this--or should be), you will probably know The Himalaya. Its a bunch of cars crammed together in a big circle, and the whole things spins. You go up an incline and down an incline. Then, about two minutes later, the whole thing sping backwards. Haven't been on the Himalaya in a while, and this one was missing something... The Unintelligible DJ.

At county fairs and festivals, there is an Unintelligible DJ in a booth next to the ride, playing loud music like "Pour Some Sugar On Me" or "Sweet Emotion" really loudly. This time there was music playing, but I think it was an OutKast cd. Anyway, the DJ is talking, but perhaps due to the ride spinning or the DJ having biscuit dough crammed in his mouth, I dunno, but you can never understand a word he's saying... save for two words. "Go Backwards". That's the announcement that now the ride will in fact be reversing its course. Here's what you hear:

mmphmmph mpm pmmph mp mmp Go BACKWARDS!!

Miracle Strip called it the Muzik Express, and they had The Unitelligible DJ.

We had a chance to meet Bo Bice, because I knew a few people that worked there from working with them in a previous job, but Steph Leann and I stood there in the meet and greet tent and just stepped out of line. I mean, what do I say to Bo Bice? I don't own his CD, I am not planning on buying it, and that terrible song "The Real Thing" that came out last year doesn't make me a fan. I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but we shrugged and headed for the coasters.

Steph Leann had ridden them both earlier, and it kinda gave her a headache, so I ventured solo onto the Zoomerang, a big metal coaster that resembled the late Viper in Six Flags Over Georgia.

I used to be hell on wheels back when I was a younger man. My body says "you can't do this boy" but my pride says "oh yes you can"

I have a firm belief that every coaster should be ridden in the front and back (NYC Jenni, insert your own joke here) so thats what I did. Front row, then climbed back in line and sat in the back seat. As coasters go, its not bad, but I can name several that are better than the Zoomerang. Someone liked it, though, as I passed by a triangular patch of hurl on the sidewalk on the way down. I was excited about the Rampage, though, as I've ridden it before--its a wooden coaster, and wooden coasters are awesome.


The reason I wanted to come to Visio... er, Alabama Adventures.

I've been on the Rampage before, a few years ago, riding it four or five times in a row, but I was excited to revisit the ride. The Travel Channel even listed it as one of the country's Top 10 wooden coasters, and its right here in Birmingham!!

Its never a good sign, however, to see four guys with harnesses and toolboxes walking up and down the tracks of the coaster. This led me to believe that I wouldn't be riding it tonight.

We hit the pirate ship and then the log ride again, battling swarms of gnats along the way, and decided it was time to get going. I missed The Rampage, though.

It's probably a good thing. After multiple spinny rides, and too many twists and turns when all I'd eaten was some soft serve ice cream and some of Steph Leann's funnel cake, I was about done. Heck, when climbing out of the back seat of the Zoomerang, the chick asked me if I wanted to ride it again. I politely declined. After all...
I ain't as good as I once was... I gotta few years on me now... but there was a time back in my prime when I could really lay it down...

Destin-nation Pirates (completed)

For those of you who read the first update, there are actually four parts to this post, so make sure you scroll down for what you might have missed!

So, here I am, blogging from a laptop, placed atop a dining room table in a home in Destin Florida. The lovely Steph Leann had three best friends in high school... DeLisa, Lesley and Suzie. All three are now married, with DeLisa & Nick living in Birmingham, and Lesley and Jason living in Crestview, Florida.

This past Tuesday, I looked at the new schedule and realized that I was off work on Sunday, Monday and even Tuesday, a great three days off in a row, which is very scarce. I called up the lovely Steph Leann and said, "Hey, let's go somewhere. I mean, get out of town. Atlanta, or Nashville or wherever, let's just leave town on Sunday morning and stay gone for 24 hours."

She agreed. That evening, she suggested coming down to Destin, where Susie and her hubby Mike live. We stayed here MLK weekend, and thought it would be nice to just come visit. I worked it out at the store where I could be off work on Saturday at 1230pm or so, so we left yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and traveled to Destin.

First stop was dinner... we ate at Captain Dave's seafood house, which wasn't bad. Every year we leave with the Campbell family for a week at the beach during Thanksgiving, eating one really nice dinner before we come home--one year was Captain Dave's. I remembered it being very, very good.

Truth is, perhaps they've lost their touch. Perhaps they were so busy the food quality suffered a bit because of this Memorial Day weekend. Or perhaps it just tastes much better when someone else is paying... I had the Seafood Platter, complete with scallops, fish (today's was Mahi-Mahi), crab, and a candidate in the Food Wing of Dave's Hall of Fame, fried shrimp. The lovely Steph Leann ordered a plate of crab claws.

The food arrived, and I looked on the plate to see two... 2... TWO... fried shrimp. This plate costs me $22, and all I get is two shrimp? Come on, you have to be kidding me. The food was decent, it wasn't bad, don't think it was gross or anything... but it wasn't great. It was just good. If I had paid $15 for the food, I might have been a little happier, but as it was $7 more than that, I was a little disappointed.

The lovely Steph Leann's crabclaw plate was $18. And she, too, was disappointed. Again, if it had been an $8 plate (it was an appetizer, mind you), it might have been better. So, our bill was a little over half-a-hundred, which in itself is okay, because we don't eat out like that very much. Once in a while is nice, though. But we would have liked to be more satisfied with it.

And it gave me acid reflux.

Random note... I just checked my myspace page, and I had a message from Kaci & Jojo. I thought I would mention it.

More on the weekend as the weekend progresses.
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Been out this afternoon. The lovely Steph Leann and Susie and I went out to the Destin outlet mall, where I dropped the girls off and headed off to find lunch. After driving down Hwy 98 a bit, I decided on Whataburger! for my meal of choice, enjoying a big burger, friends and a really big Pibb Xtra.

Fox News was on in the restaurant, and I watched a bit of a special on Natalee Holloway. You know, her mom comes in Starbucks at Cahaba Heights? Like, I've met Beth Holloway, she knows my name, its almost surreal.

Been a slow day, really, nice and relaxing. I went to The Destin Commons to pick up movie tickets for Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End, which we'll all go see tonight. Then, I went back to the outlet mall, just to look around.

I stopped by Bass, where I went in to find some sandals. My feet are a little wide, which means most shoes that fit me perfectly length wise are too narrow to put on. If the shoe doesn't slip on with relative ease, I've learned that the shoe will be uncomfortable.

Led to this exchange:

Saleschick: Hi, can I help you find anything?
Me: Yeah, I'm just trying on sandals. My feet are really wide, and your selection of wide shoes isn't very large
Saleschick: Yeah, my father has that problem. He has wide feet.

And then, she walked away. Without a word. Sigh. And when I went into Timberland, they didn't help me... of course, Timberland never helps me.

Stopped by the Disney Store outlet, picked up a great sweatshirt for $15, went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate and had some strawberry cheesecake ice cream and... Coco-Fizz Chocolate Soda. The girl said it tasted like a carbonated tootsie roll... and she was right. It was weird, but in a good way. Perhaps its the McGriddle Effect.

Then, I went to the Starbucks there. Apparently, a Pizza Hut burned out, and Starbucks bought the building and turned it into a coffee shop. A very, very large coffee shop. Possibly the biggest Starbucks I've seen yet.

And I sit again here in the dining room, on the laptop, waiting for dinner to finish (bbq chicken, baby) and then we'll head to the movie!

More later
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Dinner last night? Ah, BBQ chicken, baked beans, baked potatoes covered in onions, and somewhere in there, Susie made some biscuits. Wow that was some good crap.

Between last night and this morning there's nothing to really speak of, other than perhaps that weird dream I had while sleeping on the Temperpedic sleeper bed system. Its the one that you can jump on, while there is a glass of red wine on the other side, and the glass won't fall over. And that's because the bed itself is as hard as cement. I expected to sink into it, which I did... about 3/4s of an inch.

Anyway, I dreamed I was in a hotel somewhere, on some sort of big group trip. I know that there were tons of random people (only in dreams like this do friends from this area of your life meet friends from that area of your life), but the only people I remember were Paula Maddox and Melissa Robillard, sitting at a patio table having drinks, encouraging me to go jump in the pool because it was refreshing. I mean, any dream with Paula and Melissa in it can't be all bad, right? I'm sure Prince was around somewhere.

The night before I had some other weird dream that I can't remember, though I do recall in the dream I woke up and told the lovely Steph Leann about the dream. I woke up for real not too long after that, Steph and I laid there and chatted for about half an hour, then I went back to sleep, only to have my dream pick right back up where it left off. That ever happen to you guys? I've actually had some dreams take place over three or four nights, like its a mini-series. I need to start writing this crap down.

So, we saw Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End last night... and I really, really liked it. Contrary to the second one, Dead Man's Chest, this wasn't convoluted, confusing and too long. Well, AWE was long (157 minutes after previews), but it didn't feel that long.

The story goes that Barbossa, Will Turner, Elizabeth and the weird African voodoo chick are all going to find Jack Sparrow, who was killed in the last one. It seems he's trapped in "Davy Jones' Locker", which is some area between the real world and the all dead world... perhaps he's "mostly dead", which, according to Miracle Max, is not all dead, he's still some alive.

I thought it funny they were trying to bring him back to life, because all at one point had tried to kill him already (and Elizabeth did), but you find out quickly they aren't trying to save him just because of his winning personality. Everyone has a motive--which might get a little tiring, as Barbossa, Will Turner, Elizabeth and the weird African voodoo chick all have their own agenda, which sets up at least four subplots, but unlike Spiderman 3 which had waaaaay too much happening at one time, they all wind together nicely.

There still are a few unanswered questions I have, including what happened to Calypso, and where were the other ships when The Black Pearl and The Flying Dutchman were in battle in the maelstrom? The maelstrom scene, by the way... number one, baby. Absolutely terrific all the way around.

Possibly one of my favorite parts of the movie is Geoffrey Rush, who plays Captain Barbossa. From the very beginning, you can tell he is having the time of his life playing this character. I mean, the man has played major parts in "Les Miserables", "Quills", and "Munich"... he's had very little chance in his career to just let loose and go crazy with it--and here he absolutely does.

It's not the greatest film of all time, but its the best movie I've seen in a while--I recommend it on the big screen.

We're about to pack up and go get some breakfast... the lovely Steph Leann is craving Magnolia & Ivy, so I'll probably take her there because I'm such a good husband.

Oh, and who is going to watch Pirate Master on CBS? Raise your hand? Just me? Hmm.
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And finally...

...I'm here on Tuesday morning, awake and refreshed from a great weekend, great because it was out of Birmingham, great because I enjoy long car trips with the Lovely Steph Leann, great because we spent some money that we could afford, didn't go overboard, ate great, saw a great movie, laughed alot and made some fun memories...

We left Mike & Susie's around 10am... off to the tea room for Steph Leann, and to find something more manly to eat for me...

A few highlights (and lowlights) from the trip back:

**Stephanie had breakfast at the Magnolia & Ivy Tea Room, started by two older Christian chicks who felt that this business was a great way to minister. She goes there with the women in her family each year on our annual jaunt to the beach for Thanksgiving--as it stands now, though, we'll be at Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving, so I wanted her to go this weekend because she might not get to go
**As feminine as the place is, the scones are freakin' awesome. So what if they are cut in the shape of a heart. Eat two sides and you can make it look like a dinosaur claw.
**It's located at Baytown Wharf, a huge condo, golf and shopping community there in Destin. You really could do almost anything there--buy groceries, eat out, play tennis, play golf, swim, whatever. I'm sure its as expensive as crud to live there, though.
**I had a $5 ham/egg/cheese croissant from the Village Deli there in Baytown Wharf. Steph had encouraged me to get a 'to-go' breakfast from The Broken Egg Restaurant, then meet her on the patio of Magnolia & Ivy to eat. The Broken Egg had a 45-minute wait, plus they don't do to-go orders when there's a wait. So I went to the Village Deli.
**Took me 30 minutes to get my croissant. Only two people working there, and lots of people in line. The lady at the register would take about five or six orders, then run out all the prepared food that had been gathering right in the back. I was sitting in the cafe with my number, 31, next to a guy, #20, who's brother was buying a Mini-Cooper today, and needed to talk to a British guy named Kevin (568-8692) because Kevin owned one and could discuss it.
**I could see directly into the kitchen area, and could see when the food was placed there to be taken out... and could see baskets of food sitting there for ten or fifteen minutes before Register Girl could get to it. Number 20 and myself chatted about the lack of help, when 20 minutes later, we got ours. It had been sitting on the counter about five minutes.
**The trip back was quiet. We listened to Dave Ramsey on podcast. The only commotion was when we were slowed on the interstate due to a small fire that had broken out in the dry median. Steph was angry that some stupid person probably threw their cigerettes out.
**Lowlight of the trip... stopping at a gas station to use the facilities, walking in the available stall only to realize that A) there's not a lock on the door and B) because of A, there's nothing to prevent me from walking in on a really fat guy taking a slam. I only mention this because if I have to suffer, so do you.
**Other lowlight, stopping in Clanton's Shell station to again use the facilities (I have a woman's bladder, I tell ya) to realize that the men's room was out of order. So I stood in line like a chick. Finally got in, debated on whether to actually move the seat up (which means I'd have to touch it) and then to put it back down (didn't want the next people to think the smell was from me). Kinda weird walking out and seeing about five women in line for the room I just came out of. It's like I'm back at Troy State's Alumni Hall, standing outside the room of Roberto the Guatemalen Love Machine (this guy really existed, and there's not one shred of irony in his name, trust me)

It was nice getting home and sleeping in my own bed, though the weird dreams continued. John Travolta made it to my mental REM state last night, though I don't know how.

Orange Beach Retreated

Here it is, Monday night, after another weekend of Dave's Adventures... this time, the adventure was down at Orange Beach, Ala/Florida, for a weekend couples retreat with Stephanie and some people from our Sunday Sch... er, Life Connection class.

Some friends of ours have access to a few condos down at the beach, and we ended up staying at the Spanish Key condo resort type thingy... it was awesome.  Our hosts were already down there, and in Steph's dad's Yukon was myself, Tommy McLeod, Amy McLeod and James & Jessica Hawbaker.




Very close behind us was Willis & Meredith Watkins and Brett & Lindsay Mims. Anyway, the Yukon and the people inside all stopped for a fantastic dinner, then arrived late... the Lattas, the McLeods, the Hawbakers and the 2 Dollars stayed up in the $3 million dollar condo... the Mims and the Watkins were regulated to the condo that cost a mere $990K. Shame.

Anyway, it was the weekend of the great mullet toss... yeah, when I heard of it from Matt Latta, I thought of tossing hair too. No, actually, they toss fish. Mullets, specifically. Really, its just an excuse to get blasted and throw seafood to the wind... and there was alot of wind. A lot alot. It was windy pretty much all day Saturday...

For those of you who didn't go, I won't bore you with the details, because I don't have many--for whatever reason, I woke up feeling blah on Saturday morning... you ever do that? Wake up not really sick, or with a keep-you-from-standing-straight migraine... just feeling... eeech? Yeah, that was me. It didn't help that everything I ate, I threw up about an hour after it. Stephanie and Jessica went shopping, while most everyone else just hung out, went to the beach, went down the road to another condo that featured a lazy river type deal--which I heard was funny, because it was so windy that the wind stopped your float from going anywhere after a certain time.
Spent much of the day watching the NFL Draft, and in typical guy fashion, everyone wanted to know where Brodie went... Willis', the Miami fan of the bunch, was feeling pretty dejected (especially after someone had said "You know what I think of when I hear the word "Miami"? 1992.") until finally, Seattle picked up Kelly Jennings with the 31st pick. The mild surprise was that Reggie Bush went second to Mario Williams (Scott's blog makes good points) but I wasn't shocked... rumor has it that Reggie was a hold-out threat, and that the Texans had said they were'nt going to fool with it. Matter of fact, the Saints apparently grilled Reg's agent to get him to confirm that he would NOT hold out, or they wouldnt take him.
The draft also led to a fun discussion of names after D'Brickashaw Ferguson was taken by New York... what if we all put D's in the front of our names? D'Matt? D'Steph? D'avid? Yeah, it was funny then. Maybe it was just funny to me because I had just finished yakking my graham crackers. Either way, the name comes from the book The Thorn Birds. Not too bad... at first, I thought it was from the cheeseball mini-series in the 80s, The Thorn Birds... which led me to think "D'Brickashaw is better than Chamberlain, I guess."
Anyway, we ate dinner at The Oyster Bar, which had the best coconut shrimp I'd ever had. Of course, I could only eat two pieces and about two crab claws, because my stomach was very queasy... don't feel bad, though--I'd take a day of feeling eeh at the beach than a day of feeling pretty darn good in Birmingham.

Someone gave me a nausea pill, which helped me feel better later, we all stayed up and played Catch Phrase (more on that in a minute)

Sunday morning, the girls and a few guys cooked breakfast, James led a small devotion which was great, and we packed up and headed home. I could have done for another few days there, especially since I feel I only got half my Saturday's worth. It was still nice, though.

Highlights from the weekend included:
--Busting out the iPod for its first road trip. On the way back, we all created a playlist which included Jennifer Knapp, Billy Joel, Vertical Horizon, Amy Grant, Hootie and dialogue from The Big Lebowski. Good times all around. --The aforementioned Catch Phrase, which when James described a clue as "Something you do after you pee", Matt replied, loudly, "Shake it"
--Also the aforementioned Catch Phrase, which when James described a clue as "From Russia, three words", I yelled out "Mail Order Bride". Much to the room's bewilderment, I was right.
--The clash of wit from James Hawbaker and Tommy McLeod, two of the driest humorists I know, with a splash of Willis' goofy humor thrown in the mix

And so, today, I started on Starbucks' 280 location as their Assistant Manager. New crew, new location, new everything. I did bookwork this morning, then went behind the bar... its amazing how a store can be selling the same product, yet be so different. The set up is different, the style is different, the routine is different... not better, not worse, just different.

I'll be there for what they are telling me is the next six months, though Josh, the manager, is kinda predicting about two to three before they yank me out and give me a store. Who knows.

I've got Starbucks Open Forum tomorrow night at the Hoover Met, which is a big meeting of all the area partners. We'll eat, frolic, make merry, watch baseball and most will drink (not coffee, mind you). Anyway, I mention this only because after tomorrow night, plus opening on Wednesday morning, I won't have American Idol up until at least Wednesday afternoon. Just so you know.

Man I wish I had some more of the coconut shrimp.