10 Things I learned in Flordia

I could post a top ten list or I could just post a travel-log, but by doing it this way not only do I re-cap what we did, but I do it in a way that is educational. There is no relevance to the order of this list.

10. I like the Daily Show
We don't have cable, but if I did have cable I would watch the daily show nightly, which I did for a week. It is funny, and does a brilliant job at showing just how absurd news journalism is in this country.

9. I like Rally Racing
The other thing I watched on cable (along with History channel in the morning while Abigail was sleeping) was some of the X-Games coverage. What I liked the most was Rally Racing. I really enjoyed watching the cars go head to head on their dirt/street course.

8. I am done with 24
Over the course of a year and a half Abigail and I have now watched all six seasons of 24. This week we watched Season six, often getting a few episodes in at night or during the heat of the day. I know that 24 has certain conventions that it relies on, such as fudging travel distances, playing lose with time between episodes, and solely relying on Dues Ex Machima to drive the plot. However, this season did me in. I liked the slower more methodical pacing that this one took at the beginning (kind of like the first season). I also liked the plot with the terrorist and his nuclear weapons. However, with about a third of the season to go, they completly and totally changed the plot. Now usually, at the 12 hour mark 24 somehow tweaks and evolves the plot, but this time they completly changed it. They wrapped up what they were doing and started something else. Unfortunately, what they started I didn't care about, and the last seven hours were a chore to sit through (and actually we skipped one of those episodes).

7. I am not done with the X-Files
While in Flordia, Abigail and I saw the X-Files movie. It was decent. I would say it is required viewing for anyone who use to like the TV show, but that is all that it will really appeal to. It would have been better if the movie came out like four years ago when X-Files was still relevant. However, watching the movie made me really want to go back to watching X-Files. . .so those DVDs might need to find their way into the budget.

6. Free is worth the wait
Due to an unique series of events Abigail and I got bumped from the flight we were going to be on to come back to Indianapolis. This resulted in us having to wait an additional five hours in the Atlanta airport, but we now each have a voucher for a free round trip ticket

5. Things shrink when I get older
Growing up, my family went to St. Augustine Florida. This is the oldest permanent settlement in the US. It is also the home to a fort. The first time I was there the fort really made an impression on me. We went back there and I have to say, while I enjoyed it the place was smaller than I remembered it. I had memories of a gigantic, and ancient coastal fortress. Maybe it is because I have since been to bigger and more ancient coastal fortress, but the place really did seem to shrink and look less old.

4. Sushi. . .mildly overrated.
While in Florida I had sushi for the first time. It was from an authentic sushi place, the real deal and everything. It was good, but I don't get all the hype. Sushi fans act like it is the best food ever and that it is capable of bringing people to a culinary nirvana.

3. I suck at skim boarding
While we were there the waves were not the greatest. In fact a couple of days the official surf report at the beach was this :(
No joke. Since the waves were not so good I decided to try skim boarding. This video does a great job at showing what I am talking about:

With a few exceptions where i got lucky and may have actually looked like I knew what I was doing, I mostly looked like the "do not" clips, and I have the bruises on my legs, elbow, and foot to prove it.

2. Drive-Ins are not the way to do church
On Sunday we went to the Drive-In Christian Church. Basically, for this church everyone parks their car in an old drive in. The pastor and worship leaders stand on a balcony and everyone listens on the radio in their car. This service is a standard, traditional protestant service. It was silly, a little dumb, and just not a good way to do church. Of course that is just my opinion. They have been around since 1953, so clearly worship in this style appeals to someone.

1. Playing in waves is a lot of fun but. ..
It turns out the waves were not the part that made it. I have been to a beach many, many times in my life. However, this is the first time I went with Abigail and not my parents and siblings. Abigail did give it an honest attempt but riding wave is not her thing, which meant I spent most of the time in the ocean by my self. Like I mentioned it was still fun, but I discovered that I missed a lot of the experience. I missed the gentle guidance and constant encouragement from my dad and I missed the passive aggressive competition with my brother to always have the better ride. So the ocean was fun, but not as fun as every other time I had been there.


Overall, it was an excellent vacation that was full of relaxation and a good time had by all. See, just look how happy we look: