Universal Studios Florida "Grinchmas"

Last Saturday after the Sanford Farmer's Market, Cindy and I met up with AnnMarie, Jason, Mikey and Heather at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure to go see the "Grinchmas" show. Mikey decided that the Grinch looked a little too scary for him, so Cindy and I went to see the show while everyone else went to some of the fun rides for the little ones. Afterward we enjoyed a nice dinner together at Friday's restaurant.

Here's a pic from that afternoon. More are over on the Flickr badge in the right hand column.

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Back In Louisiana

I arrived back in Lake Charles this past Saturday. Not much had changed during my absence, except that the Burger King marquee misspelling of "Wopper" was corrected. Maybe the district manager came into town. I do love the new Burger King "freakout" commercials, especially the one where the guy who looks like the subway ghost from the movie "Ghost" is caught on camera saying in a VERY forceful voice, "You get back there and you make me a Whopper!"

Ok, you're a Whopper.

Sorry, old joke.

I just uploaded the pictures I took last Saturday while Cindy and I were at the Sanford Farmer's Market. You can click on the Flickr graphic over in the right column to see the rest of them.



Next post: photos from our trip with the grandchildren to Universal Studios and the "Grinchmas" Show.

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Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Merry Yule. Happy Kwanza.

Whatever and however you celebrate, Happy Holidays from our home to yours.

Heather's shirt says it all...

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Christmas Eve Fun

Here's a fun puzzle that my mother-in-law showed me earlier tonight at the annual family Christmas Eve Dinner Party. See how many Christmas carols or songs you can guess from the visual clues below. If you'd like to leave a comment with your guesses, that would be great. I'll try to post the answers in the next couple of days.



P.S. Click on the picture if you need a larger view.

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"I'll Be Home For Christmas..."

I'll be home for Christmas;
You can count on me.
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree.

Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love-light gleams.
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams.

Thankfully, in more than my dreams. Today I'm flying a small commuter plane to Houston and then a nice large jet home to Orlando for a few days, which means I'll Be Home For Christmas. And boy, am I looking forward to it.

Not sure how much I'll be posting while home, so let me take a moment to wish all my family, friends and loved ones who I may not get a chance to see this year, a very HAPPY HOLIDAY!

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My Favorite Holiday Song

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Have It Your Way

Apparently, judging by the photo below of a Burger King marquee here in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the Burger King company really is doing away with the Whopper, as their new ad campaign points out, but they're replacing it with the...Wopper.

Seriously, do you think the king (who is just as creepy as the Wendy's mascot I posted about here, regardless of what my daughter thinks) is pleased that his subjects have no clue when it comes to the correct spelling of his signature product?

The sign has displayed this misspelling for the past 16 days. I'm not holding out hope that it will be corrected any time soon.

P.S. Funny, even my spellchecker kept alerting me that I spelled "Wopper" wrong.

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Old Man And Castle of The Glass Head

Ok, ok. I'm just being a little sarcastic. Below is the official movie poster for the fourth, and probably last, Indiana Jones film; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I know my daughter will be happy to see it as she is a huge Harrison Ford fan. I think it's because he reminds her of me, of course.

Opening May 22, 2008. Seriously, I can't wait to see the old man do it again.

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Vampires Beware!

There I was, sitting at the desk in the hotel room pounding out some kind of worthless drivel on the laptop with the TV on next to me when I heard her say "Vampires Beware!"

Now, of course, that WOULD get my attention because sometimes I consider myself to be, if not a vampire, then at least sympathetic to their... lifestyle. After all, my internal body clock has always been set to sleep during the day and do my work at night and, before I married my beloved Cindy, I was known for being extremely attracted to beautiful female necks. Plus, although I'm definitely NOT, I always felt like immortality might be pretty cool.

So, when those words, "Vampires Beware!" penetrated my concentration, I swiftly looked toward the TV to see what is was they should beware. Ya know...just in case. What I saw was an attractive blonde female on the right lower corner of the screen with a local car dealership in the opposite corner and various vehicles in the background. Then she repeated her earlier warning. Except this time, with the added visual assistance and my concentration focused on what she was saying, I realized what she had said was...

"Van Buyers Compare!"

I swear it's these darn local Louisiana accents.

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Lake Charles Photos

Back on December 2nd I was able to walk around the North shore area of Lake Charles (the actual lake, not the town) which is right across the street from the hotel I'm staying at here in the town of Lake Charles. Last night I finally had time to get 124 of the 213 photos I took uploaded to Flickr (if you're wondering about the difference in numbers; I didn't think the others were really good enough to put out for all to see. Heck, these 124 may not be good enough either).

If you start by clicking on the photo of the map in the lower right corner of the set and work your way back through the previous shots (because somehow that's how they uploaded) you can follow my route on the map.


It was an interesting walk and encompassed the city's Veterans Memorial Park, one of their earliest cemeteries (where they added the "Millennium Christ" statue back in 2000), Harrah's Casino and Hotel, which were closed by hurricane Katrina, and some of the interesting things found along the beach/shore of Lake Charles as well as the 135 tall I-10 bridge in the background of several of the shots.

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Family Day At Disney

Today is our annual "Family Day at Disney" gathering. It's usually Cindy and I, her mom and dad, Ann, Jason, Mikey and Heather, Amber, Jeremy, Ed and Pam. This year, we get to add Wendy, Jeremy's significant other, and take away....ME.

Yes, since I'm still in Lake Charles, LA I did not get to participate in one of the most enjoyable things we do each year; meet at one of the Disney parks, usually (...hmmm now that I think about it, always) at Disney-MGM, enjoy a few shows or rides, have lunch at one of the nice-sit-down restaurants, have our family portrait made, spend a bunch of money on Disney merchandise and stay until it gets dark so we can walk through the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights display on the Disney-MGM (soon to be Disney's Hollywood Studios) Streets of America backlot, which my mother-in-law and I love to see.

I've talked to Cindy several times today and to Mikey, Heather and Ann once each, so far. Plus, Ann has been sending me cameraphone pics all afternoon so I could see what the grandkids are doing. Thanks Princess.





Here's a photo I took last year when we were there. My, Heather has grown. I love the look on her face as she stares at her older brother.



I miss being there.

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My Appetite Has Been Ruined

The new Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers mascot/spokesperson or whatever they're calling it, really freaks me out.

Creepy.

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Homer Has Left The Building

I'm sitting here looking at a list of things that I wanted to write blog posts about, but haven't had the time to do so. I probably won't write about any of them tonight either.

I did have some time this past weekend, but fate threw a sort of emotional monkey wrench into the bliss, rendering me unable to really have the ability to focus and concentrate enough to construct any semblance of words strung together to form a coherent thought. I DID spend a lot of time reading and watching TV (mostly CNN, for some reason) in an attempt to distract myself, but accomplished nothing that would stir the muse from its depths. When Monday morning rolled around, I was feeling pretty crappy about wasting time I had to be creative and productive, but there was "day job" work to be done and that could not be put off.

Anyway, though it has nothing to do with the paragraph above, I am happy to announce that Homer Has Left The Building. I can't say much more than that (signed NDA's and all that sort of thing), but those of you who are privy to what it means will smile and join me in a small amount of happiness.



Hopefully, more words will be forthcoming in the days ahead.

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Happy Birthday, Heather!

Today is my granddaughter's 2nd birthday. Grandma and Granddad love you Heather. Have a very Happy Birthday.

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I Feel Good, Da Da Da Da Da Da Da

The forecast thunderstorms did not materialize here yesterday on my only day off, so I was able to take a Photowalk around part of Lake Charles (the actual lake, not the city), taking some 220 photos. Boy, did that feel good! It's amazing what getting time to exercise a little bit of creativity with your camera can do for your inner child/spirit/daemon.

Now I just need enough time to get them all uploaded to Flickr.

Here's a little something to whet your appetite. Yes, that is an ornament I found on the beach of the lake.

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