So this weekend I did a little traveling and took a much needed break from the joys of running a company. Friday night I drove down to Tampa and went out to dinner with my sister Kim. We went to Lime which is a 1/2 bar and 1/2 restaurant. The food was great and randomly one of her other friends was having a birthday at the establishment. The music was a bit too loud…anytime you have to yell to talk with someone over dinner…that is a big negative. I was quite paranoid about running into the ex while I was there and thought I saw her roommate for a moment and wanted to throw up…luckily I was wrong!

I had a restless night of “sleep” and didn’t go to bed until about 5AM. I woke up at 9AM, washed the convertible, and met up with Tory to go the Tampa Racing Mazda BBQ. I was a bit disappointed by the turnout as I expected around 30 – 50 cars and I think there may have been 15 and only about a 1/2 dozen 7′s. We get more than that at the meets I setup in Gainesville. Still a good time.

After the meet I drove to Orlando to hang out with Dr. Smith who I hadn’t seen in 2 years. Between Tracy and Rush, I’ve now got a great reason to keep visiting O-town (even though I agree with my sister that it is kind of ghetto, but less snobby than Tampa) plus Ikea!

Tracy and I went out for Sushi and caught up and enjoyed or usual mutual humor. Highlights included me confusing a story of frozen iguanas falling from trees with a story about some of Tracy’s Hispanic clients and ending up with Mexican lizards. Later on Tracy referred to “The Holy Land Experience”, a religious attraction in Orlando, as “The Ned Flanders Family Park” which was a good Simpson’s reference. After dinner we met up with one of Tracy’s friends who was annoying but that really didn’t damper my fun. We went to an Irish Pub at Pleasure Island and hung out for a couple of hours listening to music.

Sunday (wow today) I woke up, had breakfast with Dawn, and went to Ikea to buy a bed. God Ikea is great for people like me who are poor but like nice looking furniture. While leaving Ikea, my sister Karen called and said she was in Orlando and had my Christmas present with her…which was an Ikea gift card…thanks ass…a month too late.

Utilizing creative packing, I managed to fit all of the bed components into the convertible with top down. One small problem…the forecast was rain. On the Turnpike between Orlando and Ocala it started to rain. I pulled into a gas station for gas and a Good Samaritan offered me some plastic to cover the bed frame parts.

Surprising note about the ‘vert. Almost no rain got into the car with the top down, even when pouring. The only reason my head got wet was, well because it sticks up above the windshield a bit! God I need to get a roll bar. So…I got a little extra bathing action plus countless bemused looks from other drivers on my way home. Once home it took about an hour to assemble the bed upon which I am currently residing comfortably as I type this. I’m hopefully going to Tampa in 2 weeks for Kim’s birthday and Gasparilla!

A very nice weekend!