Happy Thanksgiving from Florida!!!

My old man, was born to rock,

And he's still trying to beat the clock,

Think of me what you will,

I've got a little, space to fill,

You don't know how it feels,

You don't know how it feels,

No you don't know how it feels,To be me.

Tom Petty

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving from the Sunshine State of Florida. And in honor of being in Florida I have a song quote from who in my mind is Florida's greatest contribution to popular music. Now I think he only had to beat out KC and the sunshine band and Gloria Estefan so it's not a huge honor for the Heartbreakers but a pretty sad state of music for Florida.

I arrived late last week and spent a night in Celebration with Jacky at the Mona Lisa hotel. Disney is the planned community built by Disney. It has a quaint little shopping district, a beautifully landscaped walking path around lakes and ponds, very expensive homes on very little land, and makes St George, Utah look diverse. It is my all time favorite place on earth to walk. I love winding around the ponds and through the town early in the morning.

Next stop was Venice Beach, Florida where my parents retired to this summer. It is on the west coast of Florida about two hours from Orlando and one hour south of Tampa. Lets just say that the people selling early bird dinners, depends, golf carts and pre-arranged funer

als are doing very well in this town. I spent one morning walking the golf course in my folks neighborhood, one day walking the beach and pier, and one day walking a couple of bridges that lead in and out of town.

The fishing pier, which was attached to a tiki bar and where I actually saw some people pulling some fish out of the water. It will be even easier for me to laugh at the idiot ice-fisherman in Madison this winter knowing that other people fish off this pier in warmth while they trek out to frozen ponds and sit on buckets looking at holes they drilled in the ice.

Lunch with my mom and Jacky and some bird who actually lept on to the table during the meal.

Sunday night I got to spend at Raymond-James stadium in Tampa seeing the South Florida-Univ. of Connecticut football game. My college roommate Billy McGillis is the Asst Athletic Director in charge of Football at the school and he arranged for Jacky and I to see the game in a skybox on the fifty with his family and some friends. Now, Jacky who is about as interested in sports as I am in say...Prada handbags said that she was willing to go to any sports event that we could attend in this manner.

Wednesday we headed up to Orlando for Thanksgiving. My brother Jay and his wife and two kids arrived that morning and headed to the Nickolodean hotel and resort. My brother Jeff, his wife and two kids live in the Orlando area. My parents arrived last night around 5 pm. So we have now all been in the same city for 16 hours and I am confident in saying that the most number of people in the same house at anytime has been 6 of the 12. :) We may get it right today for atleast an hour or two. I got up this morning and walked the exterior of the World Quest Resort, then boldly ventured in to the swimming pool. It was about 45 degrees this morning outside and about 70 in the pool. My nipples could have cut glass, but I banged out some laps solo in the pool and then spent some time warming up in the hot tub. Tonight I will be watching the Terps take on Michigan St in basketball as part of the Old Spice tournament. ESPN 2 at 7pm est. look for me holding this up( the plate not the car)

Oh yeah I plan to eat, eat and then eat a little more. :) I have many things to be thankful for this year and high on the list is the many friends I have made from this blog. I hope you all have wonderful thanksgivings and Peace, Jim