Vroom Vroom

Is that fall in the air? This was the first morning it actually felt cool out. The temps have been in the low- to mid-80s all week, but the humidity still kept the feel-like temps around 90. The stickiness continued no matter what time it was, but it seems we're supposed to have a 2-day break with drier air. Yippee! (Note: Summer's not letting go so easily; it got pretty darn hot.) The best part is that our friends are in town again! And this time we don't have to run a half marathon. And they aren't forced to sleep on an air mattress in our tiny apartment!

They're not the only ones to arrive. About 10,000 motorcyclists also descended on Key West for the annual poker run. There were 6 to 7 blocks of bike after bike after bike (or choppers). Wow.



What was funny was the fact that some had radios blaring. AC/DC? Lynyrd Skynyrd? Nope. Michael Jackson. Gloria Estefan. The Bee Gees. I kid you not.

This was probably more my style.

Mike's:

For those of you wondering what's up with our future:

Happy Birthday, Mikey!

So today is Michael's birthday.

Remember typewriters & whiteout? The Love Boat? Getting up and turning the tv channel? Where's the Beef? Leg warmers? Cassette tapes? Floppy discs? He does!

We started the weekend celebrations by going to a free Septoberfest beer tasting Friday at the Cork & Stogie. You'll remember that they were the only bar still serving by the time we made it down to that end of the street during last year's Food & Wine Festival. Last night we got to taste four beers, in surprisingly large amounts, considering we didn't pay anything.

One of the reasons we decided to check it out was because they were offering food. More specifically, they mentioned pretzels. We were hoping they were the large, soft German kind, but noooOOoo....Of course, we ate what they had anyway. I mean, they're pretzels!



Okay, so they didn't have real Octoberfest pretzels, but they had something better (sort of). Horseradish cheddar cheese. We'd never had it before, but Michael became obsessed with this cheese (remember our addiction to the baguettes in Les Saintes? It was like that). It was good, had a bite to it, and did a great job cleaning your palate for the next beer. I'm going to say it again - Michael became obsessed with this cheese. I finally had to stage an intervention: Step away from the cheese and no one will get hurt. He switched to potato salad, but I could tell he was pretending it was horseradish cheddar cheese.

This morning, I made breakfast burritos (there is enough protein in that thing to last a week). You'll note how clean the kitchen is when I cook.



I thought I should have added some sour cream on top, but Michael said it would have tasted better with horseradish cheddar cheese. Jeez. Food and presents. What more could you ask for. Well, beer. I wish I'd thought of beer.



I gave him a kitchen knife for a present (his favorite one had rusted and snapped). My mom also sent him a kitchen gift. You know you're old when people only buy you useful stuff. Anyone else see the resemblance?



Then it was a day at Fort Zachary beach. It's still very humid here, so that was definitely the way to go. It got a little nasty when we first got there, but as usual, the weather just passed by us.



Strike a pose! A man and his Eagle's Tervis cup (with beer) and trash magazine.



First day with the new toy! Yep. It's sharp!

And then it was time for the birthday "cake." I have to admit, I completely forgot about any such thing. Normally I buy something sweet and stick a candle in it - a muffin, a peanut butter cup, a slice of pie, etc. but I forgot. I don't have candles, anything to light one with, or a dessert. So we went for gelato instead. You do what you gotta do.

Duetto's gelato is delicious. We got to taste every flavor and liked things we don't normally like. Michael decided on peanut butter & chocolate. He was so in love with his gelato that he even said it was better than the horseradish cheese. ?! Talk about fickle! Personally, I could share this obsession. I want gelato for my birthday in two months too!

A Friday 13th Ending

Watch your back! Happy Friday the 13th.

This has certainly been a Friday the 13th kind of week. It started with me locking myself out of the apartment, something I've only done twice my entire life (I used a nearby ladder to get on the deck this time), and ending with another toad incident (this time with Jack). Considering he's okay, I'll consider it lucky since I usually do have pretty good days on the 13th. Here's hoping.

We got all our utility bills this week and two of them came with huge, ugly surprises. AT&T gets a thumbs-up for resolution. Comcast stays on my sh** list. The electric bill is slowly coming down, but not by much, despite the fact that we're unplugging things and only running one a/c unit part of the day. It's ridiculous.

Did you know that 3 things can use as much juice or more than a refrigerator? Even when off, a microwave, cable box, and smart phone continue to communicate with the mothership and eat up tons of electricity. Well, we don't have the smart phone anymore, so that's one down. The rest, we're unplugging or turning off at the power-strip switch. I know our bills are cheaper than most, but still. If we're getting/using less, shouldn't we be paying less?

Anywho, let's tie this up for now. Too much chat, not enough fun. I think we've zoomed in on Flagler Beach. Michael's got some loose ends in St. Kitts that need to be resolved. There are also a couple of certification classes he has to take. If we're staying in FL, work must be found farther north. For myself, I continue to look for anything that doesn't involve sales, customer service, or waiting tables. It's not that I look down on those jobs, it's that I would be horrible at them. I don't have enough patience for the masses to do those kinds of things. There was a reason I was a writer/researcher/editor, but since I'm not seeing much of that right now am thinking truck driver. I'll have to work on my CB handle. Uh oh. Did I just date myself? Is that a Smokey & The Bandit thing?

Have a good weekend everybody!

And The Verdict Is....

Let's just say yesterday was one of the most stressful days we've had in a long, long time. From a housing standpoint, we looked at just about every place that had a "it's not terrible" status applied (the top 4 were: Flagler, Melbourne/Sebastian/Vero Beaches, Indian/Redington Shores, and Naples - but we looked at Sarasota, Jacksonville, Ft Myers Beach, and Bradenton, too). Going inland got us rents around $750 to $1,100/month. Staying on the coast was usually around $1,300 and up.

Flagler Beach on the east coast was the only one that had anything affordable either on the beach or within walking distance. There, we were finding coastal places that were $850 and up, most even included utilities. Plus we had another housing option, a little more inland, that would avoid upfront costs and utility deposits and allowed us to go month to month (thanks guys). Flagler has outdoor movie nights, a weekly farmer's market, a few places within walking distance to hang out, Friday entertainment, is close to not-ugly shopping, and even has cafe owners with a St. Kitts connection. It's also near park trails for running and has a great beach. Jobs weren't plentiful, but there were a couple of possibilities. Until we called them. Gone already. Uh oh.

Road Trip - Day 4

This is so not a bad way to start the morning. Michael was all excited because in just a couple of days, he'd dunked himself in both the Atlantic and the Gulf. Life is full.



No need for shoes, just a saunter straight to the beach. Well, actually water shoes might have been nice, it's a bit shelly/pebbly here (Redington Shores).



You really had to be careful where you walked because little sting rays were buried in the sand everywhere, right at ankle level.

Road Trip - Day 3

Day 4 was an emotional roller coaster ride. Once we got past Flagler Beach, we hated everything. Everything. You name a hare-brained scheme, and we were coming up with one so we didn't have to live here. We couldn't even find a nice cafe by the beach to have lunch - it was Taco Bell or McDonald's (no quiero...). By Daytona, our mood was darkening, and by the time we reached Cocoa Beach, we were hating life. We kept saying something was either 3-D (drab, depressing, dingy, dated, dank, dirty, dumpy - pick 3) or "wasn't that terrible." It wasn't going well. Ugh. There is so much ugliness. Dirty concrete buildings, streets, medians, malls, parking lots, strip malls, mobile home/RV parks. So many strip joints, I mean "gentleman's clubs." AAGH! Why does anyone want to live this way?! It was on the water - so what - it was still ugly.

And it was hot!

Road Trip - Day 1

Well, we're starting day 3. Day 1 involved getting all our stuff (pillows, sheets, clothes, etc.) on the moped and over to the rental car.












Then it was off to Publix for what everyone has told us has the best Key Lime pie to present as a thank you gift, and we were on the road by 9am, as planned. It was 92 degrees....at 9am.... This is what 20% chance of rain looks like.