Is it just me? #1

As far back as I can remember I can’t ever recall being comfortable with using public restrooms. Sure “uno” is fine but “dos” is out of the question no way, can’t do it. I have no idea where this habit formed. I can remember making sure I took care of things before going to school (my friends did to we talked about those kind of things we were disgusting belching etc but there was no way we were going #dos at school) because there was no way I was using the facilities there. Not even after practice in the evening, nope had to wait until I got home.

I doesn’t help that most men’s lavatories are some of the nastiest places on earth. One time while driving on a long trip with the Misses we stopped to gas up and use the facilities. We both walked back to the restrooms together and the ladies room was “out of order.” I went to the RR and came back out to see her discomfort. I said “there is no one in the Men’s room and it is clean.” She opened the door and her mouth dropped. She was disgusted and asked me “that’s a clean restroom?” I said it is one of the cleanest I have ever encountered. At that moment I could see the pity in her eyes she felt sorry for my gender and me.

The funny thing is I have never ventured out with a female who didn’t use the RR multiple times. I always thought how nasty for you all because you girls have to get up close and personal. Now informed that your RR world and ours is completely different I don’t worry so much about you girls.

As for me there is no number higher than one when I am not home

Port a potty is latin for suicide

The 13th Annual NE Florida Scottish games and festival

There was a Large crowd on hand for the event

It was a pretty unique event; the venue and the location were both interesting. The parking area was filling up quickly when we pulled into the last row and the cars were coming in steadily behind us. It looked as if rain may damper the festivities but the clouds blew off and we had a wonderful breeze for the event. There were a multitude of things to look at and enjoy but the best attraction at the event were the event attendees.
The venue was a cross between a 4-H convention and a bull-riding contest. The smells were purely country and it had been so long since I had experienced them that my olfactory nerves reacted with extreme prejudice. Once I was past that I was very excited to see everything the event had to offer. It was $12 at the gate to enter; we decided it was worth it. Heck we drove all the way out there so there was no turning back now.

The women got in on the action also

The amount of people dressed in the costumes of the day impressed us very much. We weren’t sure given the location that there would be many people dressing the part. As the pictures show there were plenty.

I think someone got their kilt in the wrong department

The people were all very friendly and jovial. At one point during the caber tossing event a fully dressed Scotsman remarked to me he thought lightning might shoot out his ar$e. The one thing that drew me to the event was the hopes of a fine pint but to no avail. I am not sure how a festival like this is thrown without the inclusion of Guinness. This was the only letdown of the trip other than that what a wonderful Saturday it was.

bagpipes are just plain cool....

The surprise of the day was S had a sweet tooth and purchased strawberry shortcake dessert. (I had no idea strawberry shortcake was in any way connected with the Scottish heritage) It was outstanding whoa man it was good.

"Go back to England and tell them there that Scotland's daughters and sons are yours no more"

My only regret is I didn't get a "McLovin" t-shirt to wear to the event maybe for the irish festival.

Daytona Beach 500....

We headed out on a gorgeous day this past Saturday and decided to take the advice of friends and drive 95 South to Palm Coast and then cut over to go south on A1A. This was an unexpected surprise; the highway actually runs right along the coast with amazing views for miles. This is the first time we have experienced a roadway here in Florida that does not have something obstructing the view of the ocean. There are usually homes, dunes, or even worse huge condominiums that obstructs the view of the ocean. Now we have never driven along the Pacific coast Hwy, but we would have to say that the drive down this particular stretch of A1A is as close as you can get here in Florida. There were only a handful of big developments along this drive. There were colorful little beach homes on the west side of the hwy and a beautiful beach on the east side. We drove down at a leisurely pace and dined at one of the small roadside diners. We had no idea what to expect of Daytona or the race festivities but up until this point things were going very good. Now that is not to say we hadn’t formed an image in our mind of the people we were going to be mingling with over the weekend. Our preconceived notion was that the number of people would be much higher than the number of teeth in attendance. After a wonderful brunch at “Betty’s A1A café” with some rabid NASCAR fans; who knew Budweiser was an option at 10 am, we headed south. The drive was something I would have been really sad to miss and am so happy we took this route. (Thanks all who recc’d it) We arrived in Daytona Beach and we instantly told each other that we felt the vibe was different. We hung a quick left onto the beach. It hit me first and I didn’t know what it was, but I was euphoric and instantly happy. Within a few minutes I knew what it was. The smell of Hawaiian tropic suntan oil, it absolutely makes me happy every time I smell it. I propose it smells better than perfume. We drove along the beach and took in all the sights. As everyone knows Saturday was beautiful and sunny and the people were out. I am not sure how long you can drive on Daytona Beach but it seemed that we drove for miles. You could tell this was a tourist destination, people were happy to be here. We really enjoy being around tourists for one reason. They are always happy; you don’t meet to many tourists who are in a bad mood on vacation. They worked for 50 weeks to be here for 2 weeks, I think we got the better end of the deal personally. So elated we decided to head over to the festivities at the Daytona International speedway. Miles and miles away you could see many planes pulling banners and a couple of blimps in the sky. They were circling and circling like gnats over a fruit bowl. It was a surreal scene; nothing in the sky as far as the eye could see but right there over the speedway as many aircraft as they could possibly have. Back to our expectations of the people we would encounter. What a nice bunch of people they all were. It was just your average families out having a good time. Grandparents, kids, yuppies, rednecks, you name it they were there. What a great vibe. Wow I have already written a lot sorry. Anyway we are not racing fans but we are Daytona 500 fans because it was pretty cool. Here are some pics. We plan on going back in 2 weeks for bike week woohoo
Pictures provided by MBH

News, Notes, and Thoughts….

I have a ton of things to do. I decided to do none of them and write this instead.

Well the Super Bowl is over and what a wonderful game it was. When the final seconds ticked off the clock the New York Giants became Super Bowl Champions and the fireworks lit up the sky here in New York South (Jacksonville, Fl.) It was one of the best Super Bowls I have ever witnessed. On this night the New York Giants were the better team. Congratulations to the NY Giants and their fans.

P.S. It was awesome to see Peyton Manning cheering for his brother. The Manning household has to be a great place to be these days. They finally gave their mother the accolades she deserves for raising such good men.

On another note Ryan Seacrest hosted part of the pre-game festivities. I have to say there are not many people I dislike more than Mr. Seacrest. It is amazing how disingenuous he is. Every word and emotion Mr. Seacrest tries to act out falls horribly short of believable. He would really benefit from a good beating.

The commercials during this year’s game were far more subdued and gentle than in years past. The Coke commercial with Stewie, Underdog, and Charlie Brown was a spot on ad for this game, seeing as the underdog won.

In our house the Etrade ads (with the baby) were tops along with the Will Ferrell, Bud Light ad. All of the Budweiser ads struck a warm and fuzzy chord in our house. Is there a prettier animal than a Clydesdale horse? The Justin Timberlake ad drew boos (Sorry Pepsi). The Tom Petty halftime show drew mixed reviews from the crowd. I for one am a Petty fan and thought; “I won’t back down,” was a fitting song. Good job Tom.

Did it strike anyone else as overkill that there was advertising for movies that are due out in June on Feb. 3rd?

For those of us here in NE Florida we are experiencing 80 degree temperatures today. So it seems the Super Bowl marks the end of winter. This coming week marks the beginning of the Daytona 500 festivities. So let’s stay alert on the local interstates these next 2 weeks as racecar fans will be traveling through our area looking to test their skills.

I would love to hear your cheers and boos for the best and worst from the Super bowl and anything else you want to share.