So I combined a couple of activities into one trip out of the city today, because I’m a “green” kind of Masked Blogger.

First, I drove up to my old stomping grounds in Lake Mary to meet Denise, my friend and former colleague at the big government agency office up there, for lunch at Gator’s. The food and service are good, but the one reason I like to eat at Gator’s is their appetizer known as Tailgate Chips, which is like food of the gods. Here’s how their menu describes this unbelievably delicious dish (which is best served hot, by the way):

TAILGATE CHIPS
Popular oh yeah! Home made potato chips drizzled with Gator’s famous bleu cheese dressing then topped with cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, chopped bacon and green onions. They are sooo… good you won’t believe it till you try them! Served cold or hot upon request

We had an enjoyable lunch, catching up on things and generally making fun of all the people we used to work with, lol. Except, poor thing, she still does.

After lunch I drove up to Seminole Towne Center Mall to meet Blog Princess, Mikey and Heather at a kid’s play place called Silly Monkey. I took lots of photos, of course, but I’m including this one on my blog page because of what the guy on the right is doing.

Yes, he’s sticking his tongue out when I’m taking the picture. I didn’t notice that when I was shooting because I was focusing on Mikey and Heather, but when I was reviewing all the photos I took I saw this and I’m thinking, “Wha?????”

Looking back, I’m trying to remember if he could have been looking at his kid above me in the climbing equipment and sticking his tongue out at him/her, or if he was just being a dick and trying to ruin my shot. Regardless, he looks like a moron and I had to post this one for all 3 of my readers to see. You can see all the photos on Flickr by clicking the link above or the photo itself.

Anyway, we had a good time, but I think Mikey was overwhelmed by all the kids in Silly Monkey and wanted to get home to watch a video he had been looking forward to, so we only got to spend about 90 minutes together. Heather is getting bigger all the time (well, so is Mikey, lol) and she melted her old granddad’s heart by running up to me and throwing her arms around my legs and hugging me.

So that was my day, fun with a friend, fun with the grandkids and fun with a guy sticking his tongue out. My day is complete.

Saturday we met up with our good friends Kirk and Laura at Universal Studios around 5 pm. We thought the plan was to meet for dinner and to stroll through the Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. And it was..sort of. It turned out that Kirk and Laura wanted to treat us to dinner for our anniversary and had made reservations at a restaurant that Blog Girl and I had looked at back in October and said we wanted to come back and try; the interesting eatery known as Mythos, Grotto of the Gods.

Mythos is located on the Islands of Adventure section of the park in The Lost Continent. The interior of the restaurant is filled, or rather I should say the walls, ceiling and floor are shaped like incredible statues of mythical creatures and there is a waterway running throughout the restaurant. The water represents the River Styx and the mythical shapes are Perseus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia, among many others. Click on my Flickr Badge on the right and you can see pictures from inside the restaurant of the various mythical gods and goddesses.

I had the filet mignon with asparagus tips and fried onion sticks and it was delicious. Cooked as I asked (medium-well), flavorful, tender and juicy. We enjoyed the food and the chance to catch up with each other (mostly Kirk and I, as Blog Girl and Laura work together). The atmosphere of the restaurant, the decor, the lighting and the otherworldly ambience, made for a delightful experience.

After leaving there we walked through the rest of the Islands of Adventure section, passing through Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, Marvel Superhero Island and Dr. Seuss Landing before heading over to Universal Studios to enjoy the fun of Mardi Gras, or at least the early part of the celebration. Lots of pictures over on my Flickr page.

We finished up with an ice cream dessert and left for home around 9:30. We had a wonderful time and appreciated the gift of the fantastic dinner our friends gave us for our anniversary. Thanks, Kirk and Laura.

April is Autism Awareness Month. Autism receives as little as 5% of the research funding as other less common diseases.

A couple of friends have asked how the 10th Wedding Anniversary celebration went, so I guess I should post a little about it.

When Blog Girl awoke on Friday morning I had a nice card waiting for her, but that was all…for the moment.

At about 11am the dozen red premium (premium translates to about $30 added to the price) roses I had asked to be delivered at 9am finally arrived at her office, surprising her and making her the envy of the rest of the staff.

I have a gripe about florists (at least the last 2 I’ve used in the area where Blog Girl works) but this is not the place for that rant. Maybe some other time.

Blog Girl and I each got off work a little early to come back to the Blog Cave and get “freshened up”, as she likes to say, before heading out to a 5:50pm (that’s important) dinner at EPCOT.

Yes, EPCOT.

If you’re unfamiliar with EPCOT, that might seem like an odd choice of location for a 10th Wedding Anniversary dinner. But in the World Showcase section of EPCOT there is the French Pavilion (it even has a scaled-down version of the Eiffel Tower) and in the French Pavilion is a popular French restaurant named Les Chefs de France. Although 5 weeks after our anniversary we would be in the country of France itself (4 weeks now), we thought it would be fun to “visit” a little early by having dinner in a French restaurant.

We arrived a little early for our 5:50pm dinner (that’s important), so we went over to a little theater where they show an 18 minute film about France. Amazingly, in all the years I’ve been going to EPCOT, I’d never known the theater was even there, or what it showed. The semi-circle shape of the seats and screens gives you the impression you are flying through the sky over landmarks, castles, rivers and countryside. It only served to increase my desire to visit this beautiful country.

We arrived at the restaurant at approximately 5:45pm (that’s important) and as I stepped up to the podium where the Maitre’De was standing and greeted him with an excellent (if I DO say so myself) “bon jour”… he actually laughed and then stifled it. I asked him “What?” but he just kept looking down at the reservation book and, while smiling, told us it would be a few moments before our table was ready. I’m still not sure why he laughed. I used the proper form of greeting (if it had been after 6pm, and thus in the evening, the proper greeting would have been “bon soir”) and my pronunciation was decent, I thought. It’s not like I said “Bone Jore” or something like that.

Anyway, the meal was good, the service was excellent, the company was perfect and I discovered I don’t care for Creme Brulée.

After the meal we walked around the rest of the World Showcase, buying some things for Blog Girl at the Moroccan Pavilion and an Easter present for Mikey at the Japanese Pavilion before returning home around 8:30.

More about our Anniversary Celebration tomorrow.

April is Autism Awareness Month. The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders to be about one in every 150 children.

The last post of 2006.

I am getting over this cold or flu or whatever it was. I still have a cough, but it is easing up some. Heck of a way to end the last week of the year.

BG and I are taking it easy and staying home for the night. We had dinner out, then came home and took BlogHound for a long walk and watched some of the fireworks that were being set off in and around the neighborhood of the BlogCave. We just now finished watching “The Goonies” DVD that BlogPrincess let us borrow. The last time I watched this was about 20 years ago when my kids were 9 and 11 and I remember enjoying it with them so much.

My favorite character was, of course, “Sloth” Fratelli, the disfigured son/brother of the bad guys who, when he removed his coat, was wearing a Superman shirt underneath. “Sloth” was portrayed by the late John “Tooz” Matuszak, a former football star turned actor who stood 6′8″ and weighed 280 pounds. BG loved the part when Sloth and Chunk yelled out “Hey you guys!” and then imitated the scene from Captain Blood by sticking a knife in the pirate ship sail and sliding down to the deck. Matuszak would pass away a short 4 years after filming “The Goonies” from heart failure, most likely brought on by his party lifestyle.

2006 has been a good year for me. I got to take the first overseas trip in my life and visited Scotland and the city of London, my government and writing careers are progressing along, I’ve watched my grandson make great progress in his life and seen my granddaughter grow from a month old infant in January to a 1 year old toddler (yes, she’s walking) today and, despite every good reason to do so, BG hasn’t divorced me…yet. All in all, I’ve been a happy Masked Blogger.

Here’s wishing you and your loved ones a happy, prosperous, full of joy and progress 2007. May all your wishes for the coming year be fulfilled.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

After kids and grandkids left the BlogCave on Christmas morning, BlogGirl and I proceeded to clean up the living room and kitchen and to check online for movies to go see. BG decided she wasn’t really in the mood for “Rocky Balboa” and we eventually settled on “Eragon” which was showing in the early afternoon.

However, as the time to leave to go to the movie theater draws nearer, the weather worsens and just as we would normally be getting into the BlogMobile, thunderstorms blanket the Orlando and Central Florida area. We decide to forego the movie theater trip and instead stayed in the BlogCave to watch a DVD I had given to BG for Christmas, “The Lake House” starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in a story of love crossing time.

Of course the storm blew through quickly and just as we would have been sitting in a darkened theater to watch “Eragon”, the skies were clear and the sun was peeking through the window. So, later in the afternoon we ventured out to see the movie and then enjoy a meal at Bennigan’s afterward. The movie was “ok”; not great and not horrible, but to be fair I had a headache and (for some reason) was sleepy. Of course, “Eragon” opened at number 6 across the country over the weekend, so maybe “ok” is an accurate review.

Here’s what BlogGirl gave The Masked Blogger for Christmas:

Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete First Season. This has been on my Amazon Wishlist for years, lol, waiting for the price to come down. I used to have all 7 seasons on VHS video tape (homemade by me with commercials edited out), but when I put this (and the remaining 6 seasons) on my wishlist, I started taping over the shows because I knew that one day I’d be getting all 7 seasons on DVD. Granted, the first season is not this series’ best (Roddenberry was supplying recycled scripts that he originally planned to use years earlier when he wanted to bring back the original Star Trek series, which never happened), but ya gotta have that first season.

Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Second Season. Same comment as above, with the exception that, while the stories improved in this season (but wouldn’t really hit their stride until the third season) I hated the replacement of Dr. Crusher.

Amazing Marvel Universe. This is a cool book because it is more than a printed book, it is also an audio book. The book includes 50 of the top happenings within the Marvel Comics universe over the years, with the added bonus of 45 minutes of commentary by the creator of many of the Marvel Universe characters (as well as being the former editor and publisher), Stan Lee.

A MetroBlog Logo Black Tee Shirt. Since I write for Orlando MetroBlog, I thought it would be neat to have one of these and mentioned it to BG a couple of months ago…then promptly forgot about it, so I was surprised to open a box and find this in it. Even more surprising is that this shirt only has the “MB” logo on it, not the word “MetroBlogging”. That means if I want to I can tell everyone the initials stand for Masked Blogger!

Frommer’s Best RV and Tent Campgrounds in the U.S.A. This is a great addition to my library. It’s a book I can use personally for locating camping locations when I go tent camping and one that I can use as a reference professionally for my other writing job. This is almost 1200 pages of site reviews, amenities, fees, photos, directions and maps of almost 5,000 RV and Tent Campgrounds in the continental United States.

Marvel Heroes 2007 Calendar. Every year BG gives me a calendar to hang in my office next to my desk. They are usually either Star Trek, Comic Book or fantasy artist-themed. Sometimes I point out one I would like in the days before Christmas and sometimes she surprises me. This year she really surprised me because she didn’t give me one! That’s right, I didn’t get this gift until the day after Christmas when we were walking through an office supply store and I saw the calendar display and exclaimed, “Hey! You didn’t get me a calendar this year!” It completely slipped her mind. We laughed and she let me pick this one out.

SanDisk Sansa e250 2GB MP3 Player. My newest toy. This one was really a surprise. BlogGirl said, “I wanted to ask you if you wanted one, but I knew you’d say you wouldn’t use it if I did, so I just got it knowing you would use it if you had it”. That’s why she’s my wife, she knows me so well. I can play audio files, video files, listen to FM radio and use it as a digital voice recorder. This might be fun to listen to when I’m hiking, though I usually prefer to listen to the sounds of nature around me…we’ll see. I know I’ll use it when walking for exercise. At least now I can look like all the kids that work in my office. Ok, I won’t really look like them, but I can have this hanging around my neck with the earbuds stuck in my ears like them.

I think that concludes my list of Christmas gifts this year. Now I just need to carve out enough time to enjoy them.

Busy, busy weekend.

Friday I got off work early to take Blog Girl and her wares to a festival where she was a vendor. After helping her set up her booth, I met up with my friend Dave, who lives nearby, and we went to dinner at Chevy’s and then to see “Flags of our Fathers“. Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial offering was noteworthy in its portrayal of the true heroism of Iwo Jima, but sometimes disjointed and confusing in its presentation. The movie finished up in time for me to return to help BG close up and secure her booth for the night and we got home around midnight.

Saturday morning I went to work for 4 hours, then returned to the Blog Cave, picked up BG and we drove back over to Winter Garden for the second day of the festival. We finished up there, packed up the booth and returned home around midnight again.

Sunday morning we were up and out to her regular weekly Eola Market gig. After setting up the booth, I left and did some grocery shopping, came back to the Cave and started a load of laundry. Then I drove out to Animal Kingdom to meet ZenGrrl and Rhonda. ZenGrrl graciously gave me the “Batmania” CD, which I will enjoy listening to during the next couple of days. While at Animal Kingdom I did a book release of the “Mayday” book I just finished reading for Bookcrossing. Then it was back to the Cave for about an hour before returning downtown to pick up BG and help tear down her booth.

BG did very well at the Winter Garden Music Festival and at Eola Market this week. I imagine she’ll write about it over on her blog.

Yes, it was a very busy weekend. And the thing is…this time of year every spare moment is filled with extra activities; family gatherings, holiday events, extra work, etc. It all keeps going through the end of the year, practically nonstop.

As the song says, “Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight.” I’m just trying not to sink in the fight.

Since I was off today Blog Girl took a vacation day from her job and we went out to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure this morning. This is one of the great things about the annual passes; you can go out for a few hours without thinking about it. If you pay for a single day ticket you feel obligated to spend the entire day out there, no matter how tired or exhausted you may be, because, “Dammit, I paid for a full day and I’m going to get a full day!”

We went on only one ride; The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. I was surprised because, even on a Friday morning, the line for the ride was longer than the ride itself. But the ride was a lot of fun, especially the 400 foot drop that is stopped by Spider-Man’s webbing.

Everyone knows my favorite comic book superhero is Superman, but Spider-man is my second-favorite. I probably aggravated my fellow riders by shouting out, “Hey! It’s Spider-man”, “Spider-man will defeat you Doctor Octopus!” and “Thanks for saving our asses Spider-Man!”, but I didn’t care because I was having fun.

Afterward we strolled over to the Toon Lagoon and had lunch at the Comic Strip Cafe. Below is a picture of our lunch, which you may or may not be shocked to learn is $25 worth of food.

Now, to be fair, the 2 drinks are $5.50 drinks which are refillable for $1.39 every time you are in either park, but still…I mean the “pizza” was thin, hard, tough to chew dough with canned pizza sauce and the barest minimum of some mozzarella cheese substitute sprinkled over  it. Blog Girl’s chicken strips were tolerable, the fries were not. We’re thinking next time we’ll try the Mythos restaurant over on the Lost Continent Island.

After walking all the way around the attraction, we went back over to Marvel Superhero Island and watched the superhero character appearance, where comic book heroes like Captain American, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Storm, Rogue and Cyclops, come out to pose for pictures with the public. Here’s one picture, I have several  others posted on Flickr, over on the right.

Speaking of over on the right, I’ve added a “100 things About Me” page (up at the top) and a link to chat with me if I’m online. Take a look when you get the chance.

Today, Chili’s restaurants across the country will donate 100% of their profits to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help fund the hospital’s pediatric research and treatment efforts.

This is an opportunity for patrons to enjoy a delicious meal and support a worthy charitable organization at the same time. Blog Girl and I plan to share dinner at our local Chili’s tonight. Perhaps you’ll consider doing the same at some point during this day.