We arrived at Lake Noonan around 9:30PM and promptly grabbed canoes and headed out. The bugs weren’t biting bugs, but if you had any type of light on you, you were getting swarmed! We slowly paddled the canoe down the canal following floating lights showing us the way out. When we hit the lake, it was beautiful…the temperature was perfect and random small fish were jumping in the water…one even landed in the canoe. The moon was completely full and shimmered across the surface of the lake, rippling with the water.

We stayed out on the lake for about 2 hours and my favorite parts were when it was quiet and you could just hear nature.

After we returned to where had started out journey I was impressed by the number of people who were there in canoes and kayaks. I’d say 20-30 people total. I can understand why people do this for relaxation and to enjoy the beauty.

The trip itself was only about 24 hours and since I had just broken another window regulator in the convertible I rented a Jeep Patriot for the trip. It still feels weird to be in a vehicle that high.

Thursday evening was a business dinner hammering out the details of a couple of projects. Friday morning was breakfast with Steve and Friday afternoon was lunch with Rush and Todd. I think I may go there for a few days in June while Lindsay is off on her trip so I can do some more catching up.

Saturday morning we all work up and headed to the beach in Fort Meyers. I had to stop and pick up a new bathing suit and apart from forgetting to put suntan lotion on my legs and burning the crap out of them, I had a good couple of hours on the beach. Everyone spent the evening eating and watching the Final Four games on Saturday night.

On Sunday, Lindsay, her Mom, two brothers and I headed to the outlet malls. I have to admit, I’m still highly amused to be running around with two 6’8″ guys. I know we all look extremely tall together but the focus is on them. Kevin is built similar to me and Adam is pretty damn big at about 275. The guys were looking for golf shoes as they were hitting the links early the next morning. After some shopping, we hit an Asian restaurant together and then back to the beach. I was exhausted and my legs were burnt from the day before so I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and went outside again late in the afternoon where the crew had built a drip/sand castle.

For dinner the group of us all went out to a local pizza place and did a fair job of demolishing 6 large pizzas…I know I put down 5 big slices. Had a great time and soon enough it was back to the house for bed.

Monday came and we all headed home early in the afternoon. I have to admit I really enjoyed this trip as I got to spend individual time with both of Lindsay’s brothers and learn a bit more about them. I think they’ve just assumed something is wrong with me to spend this long with their sister and assume they might as well be nice to me as I’m apparently handicapped to some extent for doing so! I’m looking forward to the next trip.

Although there was very little sleep for a few days…it ended up being worth it! Over 6000 people attended the walk and it was amazing to see how important this organization and event is to the community. As walkers returned to the central staging area…after an 8.5 mile walk, they were greeted with food from local restaurants and entertainment. The highlight of the day for me was watching Anna Moo. Who is Anna Moo? She is a fifty+ year old local woman who is an entertainer and all I can say is that she brings it. I really think she is my new favorite local celebrity.

Saturday evening, we ended the night with a dinner with the staff at Ballyhoo’s and then it was home for a good twelve hours of sleep!

Personally I’m dating a great girl whom I’ve been with for six months. I can’t thank Lindsay enough for the happiness and stability she brings to my every day life. She’s been a key to a lot of this.

I’m also thankful for my many friends who continue to support me and in turn whom I try to help and support when I can.

Life is good.

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

-Mother Theresa

I know this coming week will be much better and I wish I had more to add…it is what it is. I chose to follow my heart and as a result have broken up with the girl I’ve been dating the last few months.

A great source of pride for me was that I was able to use the success of this year to sponsor a corner in my company’s name. Ground Zero for the event was a local park where pink was the prominent color and walkers assembled. As I walked into the event, I managed to get teary eyed a few times thinking about my Grandmother. Among the sponsors present were Rhonda Faehn and the UF Gymnastics Team who strongly support the event and were there to encourage the walkers…I have to admit that I was a bit freaked out by how small the gymnasts were in person.

The walk itself was a 5k or 3 mile course winding its way through Downtown and NE Gainesville. Most people chose to walk although a few of the FGU crew were running. Nancy, my friend and client, was there in all of her survivor glory and 60+ years of age, two bad knees, and all she was off to the races and left us in her dust! Eventually I caught up about 2/3 of the way through! As the finish line came into view, you could practically see the Rocky Theme music playing in Nancy’s head as she charged to the end!

To cap off the morning…yes…I walked 3 miles before 10AM…we all went to the the Swamp for an early lunch. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to give and to be a part of this event. I believe in many ways it was a continued healing experience for me in regards to issues I still struggle to overcome.

In my humble opinion, past Gator Growls have often skewed a little too much towards the alumni or *cough* Older Money *cough* demographic. This years Growl still featured a comedian I didn’t care about…Dana Carvey…see above remark about catering to the old alumni…but it featured a musical act…OAR that I was interested in seeing along with the Jabbawockeez the ridiculously good dance crew. The girlfriend bought tickets and insisted on taking me so…off we went.

Pre-event festivities included a nice dinner at Mildred’s Big City Food with Jodi and her boyfriend Ian along with Jodi’s parents who are the proprietors of Sun Country Sports. Dinner ran a bit late so we were lucky to find a parking spot semi-near the stadium and hurried over in the first chilly night air of the year. We missed the first few 20-30 minutes of the show but none of the main acts and squeezed ourselves into seats that were designed for people under 5’8″ apparently…no wonder how they fit 90,000 people into the stadium…they’d only fit about 10,000 non-midgets. Speaking of the size of the crowd, the stadium looked half empty to me but I was later to find out that the crowd of 35,000 was actually a very large crowd!

The night started rather slow with mostly student skits that were more miss than hit and the introduction of various sports teams. Also were various famous alumni and famous stars in general shown in video clips saying, “Let the Gator Growl”. Danny Wuerffel was actually pretty damn funny during his parts of the show leading into the introduction of the Seniors on the Men’s Football Team. This was highlighted by Brandon Spike’s busting out a few lines of the Black Eyed Peas song “I Got A Feeling” and the introduction of Tim Tebow which of course elicited a huge reaction.

Next up was Dana Carvey and personally I’d give his performance a C-. He had a couple of funny jokes but he is at his best when doing imitations or characters, not as a standup comic. His act was a mix of jokes you feel as if you’d heard before basically telling a joke to the student side and then to the alumni side. Nothing too special.

The next major act were the Jabbawockeez who performed on the student side of the stadium. You could feel the energy as the students went ape shit as the crew came out. The alumni on the other hand were like, “WTF? Who are these guys?” The performance was fantastic…standard fair for the Jabbawockeez I’m sure but absolutely amazing to see in person…I feel lucky to have been there just for this one act. You could tell the Jabbawockeez had never performed in front of 35,000 people and were incredibly pumped out…they were all jumping around and having a great time when the performance ended.

The closing performance of the night was OAR…known to most people for their recent hit song “Shattered”. I had never heard any of their music before and came away a big fan. Their musical style ranged from Pop to a ska-reggae-style aka Sublime. These guys are great musicians as many of their songs featured brass instruments and at times multiple drummers…once again…well worth the price admission and it is rare to see the variety of instruments played by the band and true talent in a world often dominated by Tween Pop BS.

I had a fantastic time, I’m thankful to my Girlfriend for purchasing tickets and taking me…a new adventure experienced and more important survived!