I've Been MIA

After making a special effort to blog almost every day in February, my week in Orlando seems to have thrown me out of my blogging sync. So perhaps a brief recap of the past two weeks is in order.

Gerri and I had a terrific week in Orlando. The weather started out cool and ended up in the 80's, and the sunshine state lived up to its name. It was a "work" week for me, which means I worked a few hours on Monday night doing my night shops, then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6:00am until about 3:30pm. The rest of the time I was able to spend with Gerri.

We had three runs around Universal. The 3.5 miler that I already blogged about, another 3 miler after work one afternoon and finally a 6.2 mile run on Saturday morning. We ran this in honor of our friends that were running the Reedy River 10K back at home that morning. This was my longest run since the Kiawah Half in early December, and it showed. The warmer temps had some impact, but not as much as my Friday evening meal at the Ale House. It felt great to get it done, but required more "pit stops" and walk breaks than I would have liked.

One of the real treats about our trips to Orlando is the opportunity to visit with friends. One night we drove out to a nice area northwest of Orlando called Clermont to have dinner with my third grade teacher. Fran and her husband Gordon have remained good friends over all these years. They have lived an amazing life and have such terrific stories to tell. Like always, it was a wonderful visit and evening.

We also had a chance to see our good friends Mike and MaryBeth Smoot and their son Jimmy. I met, live and worked with Mike and MB back in the 80's during our time at People Express Airlines. Smoot is responsibly for ratcheting up my love of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

One night we met them for dinner, Hawaiian Fusion at a restaurant called Roys. The food was surprisingly good but could not match the company which was terrific.

After our run on Saturday, the Smoots picked us up at the hotel and we traveled to Kissimee to see my St. Louis Cardinals take on the Houston Astros in a spring training game. Mike was nice enough to think ahead and get tickets when he knew we were coming. There is nothing more relaxing and enjoyable for me than a spring training game sitting in the Florida sunshine. Being with Gerri and great friends made it even better, and a Cards victory was icing on the cake.

Traveling for work is something that I have become accustomed to as part of the job. If I could only enjoy each trip as much as I did this week in Orlando. Now I can't wait to go back again next quarter.