pics of siesta key

HERE IS A SAMPLE OF WHATS IN STORE FOR YOU WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO SIESTA KEY.
THE CHICK LAYING ON HER STOMACH IS NONE OTHER THAN LEELA. ISN'T SHE ADORABLE!!!!!!
THE STOMACH SHOT WITH THE GUY LYING IN THE BACKGROUND IS NB. NICE BELLY BUTTON NB.

And the week goes on.....

Sunday was a very nice, very exciting day.
We started off at Cracker Barrel. For those not privy to this establishment it 's a restaurant mostly along the interstate that serves country style food with a store attached to it. Sometimes the store experience is better than the restaurant as was the case today. Our food was great as always cause the food there is really good. No the bad experience was our waitress. My mom has this thing about ordering this tiny bottle of maple syrup that she loves to collect. We have tons of them in the house so it isn't like she uses the things. Well our waitress was this corporate girl in training and she was the whole time saying stuff like "If you want another milk you'll have to purchase it." I was half expecting her to charge us for extra cream or butter. She even told my mom that they stop serving oatmeal at 10:30 and just about refused to check the kitchen when she asked her to see. Anyway my mom asks for the tiny bottle of maple syrup and at the end of the meal she takes that and a muffin home with her. Ok I must admit I went to the restroom when this happened so I'm not sure how bad it was but supposenly she had a fit when she saw the bottle being taken home with the muffin. She tells my mom that this time she can have it but next time she has to purchase it in our store. Right in front of all our Miami friends! In fact NB thought she was talking to him cause he had one too and was telling her that he didn't even like the taste of it. Anyway my mom was mortified and told the manager. We left a tip anyways but people like that should not be waitresses.
OK onto our trip we go. The ride to Sarasota is about an hour away but it really isn't a bad ride. Before you know it you're there. And let me tell you there was NICE! What I'm talking about is Siesta Key which is considered like the 3rd best beach in the U.S. and worth every bit of it. The sands on this beach are powder soft and cool to the touch. In Miami you would have to wear sandals because the sands are burning hot. But not here.
The views were amazing as well. Everyone on this beach were just so happy. They smile and just look so pleased to be there. And by the end of the day we were just as pleased too. I'm not a cruisey person so I don't really notice things like that but my friend told me that its a very cruisey spot. Men were looming around the restrooms ready to strike. And some of these men were down right beautiful.
After we left there we were all hot and bothered (and not from the sun) so we traveled to another nice spot called St. Armands Circle. It's a very upscale little spot with restaurants and such and we ended up in a place called Hemingway's Retreat. There we had some of the best Pina Coladas that man can make. Very tasty and cool and creamy. Everyone loved theirs.
Well that seemed to be enough action for one day so we went back to Port Charlotte where we all decided to have a BBQ.
That was gonna be a problem cause I hadn't bought one yet and my mom didn't own one. So while Leela and Dean were out buying the food, me and NB went looking for the BBQ. We started off in Target where the selection was very slim. Next we went to Home Depot where we actually had a BBQ at the register but decided it wasn't the right one since it was a gas grill and we wanted a charcoal grill. So that left Walmart which I hate. Its always too crowded and dirty there and I just hate shopping there, but it was the place where I found the perfect grill.
It was this cute little grill that was also a smoker and a BBQ and a grill all in one. Its so cute that everyone in the store were coming up to us and saying how nice it was. We even had some guy inviting himself over to eat. We almost told him to come but the Miami city boy wouldn't allow it. You can take the boy out of the city but you can't take the city out of the boy.
Well that was Sunday and we all ended up tired and beat from the days activity and we still had one more day to go....

some pics of the past weekend

so many things to say...let me start at the beginning

Friday came and went without a hitch. I really can't remember too much of Friday now that I think of it. I guess I was just cleaning up the place for the arrival of my Miami friends. I'm sure my mom and I went somewhere and I think it was back at Hogbody's where they have 17 different types of hamburgers and 54 types of chicken wings. And let me tell you they have some of the best burgers and wings I've ever tasted. Finger Licking Good!!!
Saturday was very stressful! It started off with my friend NB calling and saying that Mapquest is the worst thing invented and that his friend J must be behind its creation. That's because anytime J says go left then you go right. Believe me he's that wrong that many times. Anyway NB was coming up I95 and he had to travel around a bend, go down a ways then end up on I75. Well he calls and says that he's lost and that he must have missed the exit and he wound up all the way back from where he started. OH BOY! I thought for sure he was just gonna go back home and call it a lost. Thank God I explained it to him in a way that he found his way and what was supposed to be a 3 hour ride turned out to be a 5 hour ride.
But boy was it worth it!
First thing he did was call and say "ok I'm here. come get me." So I went down with mom and picked him up at his hotel room. BTW that was a beautiful room right on the water. He cancelled the room like 3 times and ended up with this corner room facing the water that was just perfect. He has a very powerful guardian angel on his shoulder.
So we went to this place called Fisherman's Village where they have shops and restaurants very Key West like. We ate at Harbour Harry's which was just oysters, mussels and clams with the coolest looking beer bottle we had ever seen. It was for Michelob Light and the bottle was made of a hard aluminum with this blue design. It was so nice that we were gonna keep the bottle. That was up until we saw a Bud Light bottle with the same look. Bummer!
Well after we finished eating there we went to another restaurant. Yeah we're eaters. Anyway this time it was an Italian restaurant and it's the best Italian I've ever tried. Donato's is the name of the place and they have this cute little tradition where the staff sings Amore by Dean Martin and they really sing the hell out of it. I was telling NB about it and saying I hope they do it and I swear right after I said it they did! All together now "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's Amore".
Well that was just my one friend. There were more stressful moments along the way. Like for instance my friends Leela and Dean. They were on their way when they got a flat tire. I knew my Leela very well and the first thing I say is "honey just fix the thing and get here, we're gonna have a great time." Well this is all during my time with NB so we are doing our stuff when the cell rings...It's Leela saying that the tire guy wants to sell her a new tire and he won't fix the tire. It seems that the manager over at Martino's Tires feels like ripping off their customers by ripping new hole in the flat tire and telling their clients to spend unnecessary money on their product. Well this of course sets Leela off and she's calling me saying "Listen I can't get my tire fixed so I'm going back to Miami and I'll go there tomorrow. Well I knew for certain that that meant she wasn't coming this trip and that it was just me, mom and NB. After a time I get another call and IT'S LEELA SAYING THAT SHE CHANGED HER MIND AND THAT SHE'S COMING...YEAH!!!!!!!
Seems She went to Hialeah and got her tire fixed and decided that she would just come now. Oh Happy Joy! She and I both knew that if she didn't...well you know!
So Leela and Dean get into town and the party starts...

the weekend is here

Last night was my lame attempt to try to get the house fixed up for this weekend. I was juicing up the battery of the weed whacker and the automatic dustmop. Then I tried my hand at cleaning the bathrooms. Did you know that if you don't dust for years that dust turns into cotton? :)
You would not believe how thick the dust was in my mom's bathroom but believe me I attacked it like I was Rambo in the middle of a jungle chasing Charlie. Hey it's Memorial Day Weekend, I had to come up with a soldier story.
On that topic, the lady I work with has a son that's in the Army and she got quite a surprise at 2:30 in the morning. Her son came home for the weekend and she is just walking on a cloud today. As I've said before, everyone here is so nice and it makes personal moments like this feel great for all concerned. I mean I feel like my brother came home last night. God bless all those poor souls over there and all the guys and girls in the Armed Forces for putting their lives in jeopardy and defending our way of life. Anyway He's home and she said that on the way here some jerk actually drove them off the road and they ending up running into the guard rail. IN THEIR BRAND NEW CAR! I can't believe how crazy some people drive. They ending up getting stopped by a cop and he let them go with a warning. I guess good cops do exist. My last story is that he brought 2 of his friends with him and when she left for work this morning her home alert system sounded when she opened the door. Well one of the guys sat straight up looked around and went back to sleep. I guess he's well trained to wake up at the slightest alarm. Good Boy! LOL
Another cute story is we taped the last hour of American Idol to watch the season finale of Lost (Unbelievable) and when I got home we were gonna watch the end. Well she didn't find out who won and she was dying to see if her Taylor Hicks took home the prize. As we were watching she was saying stuff like "I have a bad feeling about this" and "he better win. I was dialing all night for 4 hours straight". Well of course I was saying stuff like "remember mom they are both winners" and "hey isn't it nice that they at least got cars". The big moments came when Prince came out and she says "Oh wow look its Prince!" For a second she forgot about her sweet Taylor. Then the real moment came and I swear I wish I had a video camera so you could see her face as her hands flew into the air and she screamed "OH OH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THEY GAVE IT TO HIM! OH OH!!!"It was so cute and funny, guess you'll just have to take my word for it.
So I will be heading home later on and finishing the bathrooms and then weed whacking the docks outside. Wish me luck!

Random Thoughts of Leela's Visit

If you notice the pics of us I'm holding a cell phone to my ear. Well thats not me being rude or anything that's Deese in the picture with us since she couldn't make the trip down. Deese is a long time friend who I met through Leela. She has a few kids at home so making a 3 hour trip isn't just jumping in a car and going.
Another thought... when Leela left home I was cleaning the sofa off after Kitty Kitty was sheding all over the place (he's so cute) and I found an Hawaiian map that we used when we went to Hawaii. It was stuck inside the fold of the sofa since 2001 and I just found it now.
My air conditioner broke and my mom had the repairman over and he absoultely loved Kitty Kitty. He was getting a kick out of him. Remember that Kitty Kitty loves guys so he very playful with them.
Taylor Hicks was amazing last night and I really hope he wins.
My friend cooled off and he's back on track for the trip.
OK if I remember anything else I'll post it but I'm here at work so I gotta git goin'

Commentary is here

The funniest thing happened yesterday, Leela and I were walking along the white powder beach near Port Charlotte in a town called Punta Gorda and along the beach front was seaweed. It was spread along the shoreline and it looked like lettuce. Leela is a very intelligent woman and it's very difficult to hear her say anything stupid but as we were walking she blurts out "oh look its sea lettuce!" I tell her "most people call it seaweed but Leela calls it sea lettuce." We laughed and I told her, "you know this is going in my blog."
Well this was the trip I was referring to earlier and it was so nice to see her and Dean.
We went to that place Gatorz you see in the pics and it was so good. We had a bucket of steamers and some chicken wings "Tim's Favorite" which was a mix of 911(hot) and teryaki sauce. Also we had to pitchers of beer and they were only 5 bucks a pitcher. I love Port Charlotte. They feed me for so little money.
But I digress. The real reason for her visit is of course that very huge very adorable Maine Coon. The cat for those who don't know what a Maine Coon is. :)
The cat was stuffed into this carrier for 3 hours and it just about flew out of the cage. He made himself right at home by touring the home. He went into the bathrooms, the bedrooms, the living room and his favorite spot... the very cool tiled floor of the kitchen.
His room though is the linai and right now it's screened off but soon it'll be sealed and nice and cool. Which is great for him cause he is one heck of a hairy cat. And boy is huge. In fact that is why we have decided on his name.
His first owner called him Zeus, Leela called him Bear but we have decided to call him......
Kitty Kitty.
Can you imagine us calling Kitty Kitty and our guess waiting for this little tiny nothing of a cat to come out and then...BOOM, he walks out. What a conversational piece we have made him.
But he already has warmed up to me and he likes it when I rub his belly and scratch his ears.
What I understand from Leela is he likes men more then women so he is perfect for me. I have a gay cat. LOL
Anyway it was so nice to see Leela and next week should be very exciting with everyone coming down.
But this just in...
My other friend is pissed off with me so he calls and says he is canceling. I won't get into details suffice to say he's a very touchy person and little things set him off.
Hopefully he changes his mind and we have a wonderful weekend.
But for now I am here at work and I gotta get goin'

pics of leela and deans visit..commentary to follow

Saturday in Park as in parking my @$$

Today was a very lazy day.
My mom and I waited around for Leela to drop by with the cat but really I was just being lazy. I started to clean up a bit but found myself drawn to the sofa where Mom was watching some show we taped on our DVR. We got the Dish Network and with it comes a DVR service but for the life of me I can't seem to get the thing to tape properly. I know it's me and that drives me nuts. Anyway we just sat around watching The O.C. season finale where they offed Marrisa in such a lame way I wanted to say something about it. What was that? A stupid car accident! Get some imagination guys. Anyway Leela calls finally and says that she will be coming by tomorrow cause it was like 6 and it takes 3 hours to get here so that would be like 9 by the time she showed. SO... I'll be seeing her tomorrow. AND I CAN'T WAIT! It's gonna be so neat seeing her and Dean. Dean is her cousin and a close friend of mine. He's also very dark skinned and my mom is flying the rebel flag outside. She says no one cares but I do so you would figure that would mean something. Nah! My step Father was a bit of a redneck and liked his old southern ways. He has my mom thinking the same way so until the day she feels its enough I'm stuck in a Confederate Household. Lucky me. Thank God she doesn't mind me being gay. I wonder if some of these Southern boys mind. Well speaking of southern boys she and went to yet another restaurant and there were so many cute southern boys, no men, there. Can't wait till I meet one all for myself. I'm not a very sexual person so I'm not one of those sexually driven gay men who feel the need to screw everything that moves. I just want one solid fun loving man to grow old with. But back to our restaurant. There is one thing that Port Charlotte has that makes it stand out...GREAT RESTAURANTS! And I have been to many restaurants but these are some of the best. Today was a place called Stockyard and it was oh so good. And yes the waiter was very charming as was the rest of the cuties. But it was the small things that made this place stick out. Like the blue cheese for the wings and the wings themselves and the sweet potato wasso soft and fluffy it was like mashed potatoes stuffed into the skin of the potato. Just divine. I haven't had a bad meal yet. Even the local Perkins is good. Go figure? That doesn't mean I like this place yet cause it still hasa lot of room for development but its getting there.
My mom and I went to see DaVinci Code yesterday and it was after we had dinner at the local Sam Seltzer's. They were running a special on lobsters for 14.99 and I have to take something back. It wasn't very good. Now the meal I had there before was very good but this time the lobster was way too tough and it wasn't very good. But what was good was the desert. It was this caramel turtle ice cream cake that was so soft and creamy I wanted to just melt into it. And before that we went to the local comic book store. Very good place to be and its in the local mall so it makes it very convenient. The owner is a nice enough guy and they give alot of things away.
Can't wait to start getting my comics again. I have two other blogs that deal with my obsessions and comics are one of them. The other is movies and lets get back to that. We were sitting in the movie DaVinci Code and this guy sits next to my mom. He just so happens to be black and he just so happens to be the typical loud, screaming nutcase that some of them are. It turns out that I was falling asleep ( due to waking up at 6 in the morning going to work getting home going out to eat getting my comics and then waiting almost an hour for the movie to start... nothing to do with this great movie) so him yelling and shouting woke me up. So I thank him for that. I think it actually adds a bit of flavor to the movie when someone laughs out loud or screams in the appropriate parts but then he starts talking on his cell. That was too much. Thankfully he wised up and walked outside. You can read my thoughts on the movie at my other blog site
http://mrmoviebuff.blogspot.com/ .
Well that's it for now. I'll tell you how my visit with Dean goes. He's scared about being dark skinned and coming into this town. I can't wait til he sees the rebel flag flying right here in this household.
Should make for a good blog story. (wink wink)

My weekend looks very conflicted!!!

Seems like my Grace is driving me just as crazy as Will's.
Dean called me today and tells me that Leela wants to come over tomorrow to drop off the cat. I tell him that she hasn't called so I'm not sure if she's coming, but he seems to think they are. Will she just show up on my door step with the cat in hand without calling first?
Wait let me start at the beginning.
I just moved into town (Port Charlotte in south Florida) around 3 weeks ago and the last night I was in Miami my bestest friend Leela stood me up on my Empty Apartment party. See I had moved everything out of my apartment a week early and what was left was an empty apartment for that last week. So I told everyone I knew that the last day I would throw an Empty Apartment party to say goodbye to everyone. Well just about everyone that I knew showed up. Even people that I hadn't seen in a long time showed. It was a great party and I was touched very deeply that so many people cared for me so. But of all my friends Leela is the my closest one...my Grace to her Will (Yeah I just finished watching the Series Finale and I'm a bit sentimental). I called her and she sounded terrible. I knew that she couldn't handle my leaving and I felt so bad about leaving her. She will always be a part of my life...Always. Time was slowly coming to an end when finally I called her with this heart wrenching message on her cell about how I understood and that I couldn't believe that I was gonna leave town without seeing her. Well about an hour later she was there in my empty apt and we starting talking until like 3 in the morning. In our conversation we spoke of past, present and future thoughts. How we first met, what she was doing with herself these days and what we would be doing on memorial day weekend. She said she wanted to come down and check out the house and I wanted her to. Also she told me that her pure breed Maine Coon cat neededa home and I told her to bring him over. I had room for him in my new place andmy mom didn't seem to mind. The cat could keep her company while I went to work and maybe give her a purpose in her life again. She seems a bit depressed these days and I worry about her while I'm 50 miles away working. But it seems like Leela hasn't called and that she plans to be coming over and bringing the cat this weekend. It's not a problem but I need some time to arrange for sleeping courters and such.
Well thats the story and here I am waiting for her phone call to confirm. I really would like her to wait a week and come up for Memorial Day weekend but I don't think that will happen.
My Jack to his Will is Tom and he's coming up the Memorial Day weekend so I want everyone to come that weekend. Tom is another friend that is real close to me and I miss him terribly. We chat on the phone and I can't wait to see him. He's renting a room on the water in Punta Gorda and it's beautiful. I think he's gonna like it.
Terry is another friend that I just met and she is my female equivalent. It's like they made two of me and made one female and the other female like. :) She's my Karen cause shes the party animal.
I don't know if she's coming cause she has to work but maybe she will make it for a day. If she does make the trip maybe she can bring a few others with her. Lets see there Rosano, Rainier, Shayna, Jonathan, Joey, Melissa and my soul mate Bryant which is Leela's ex but she did this test and found out he and I are soul mates. If everyone comes up they can share a room at this Best Western and be in Heaven while visiting me.
Sounds like a good enough plan. We'll have to see how it all plays out.
Anyway my mom and I went to Hogbody's which reminds me of Loggerhead and it was fantastic. Great food and great atmosphere and real cute waiters Tom so get ready.
I think I've said enough for today so lets wait until tomorrow to see what happens!

Work is a blast

I can't believe how different it is at my new job. The old job was so much more strict. We couldn't even talk to each other even if there was no clients around. By the way I am a teller and when we would talk across the lobby (it was a very small lobby where 3 tellers faced another 3 tellers) our supervisor would get mad. I mean all we would do is just ask questions and such. it was a total nightmare now that I think about it. But here its very nice. We all stand around and chat about all these TV shows. Believe it or not my main boss is the father of the writer for the TV show Scrubs and supposenly his son was one of the writers of tonight's episode. I watched it and laughed my ass off as usual. that is the best comedy on TV today. What a great surprise that was to find out. I'll have to suck up a bit and brag about how I loved the episode and how I laughed my ass off. Hold on a second, I did love the show and I did laugh my ass off...yeah I don't have to suck up I just have to tell the truth. I realize you don't know me that well so I'll let you in on a little secret... I was just messing with you. Believe me I'll tell the guy if the show sucked if it did but I just wouldn't even mention unless he asked. Which case I would tell him the truth, and lucky for me it was good.
OK OK enough of the scrubs stuff let me tell you what happened at work today. The temp was sitting at her station which just so happened to be the receptionist and a client went to close out an account and she was SLEEPING AT THE FRONT DESK! That's right. Right there in the middle of the lobby floor sound asleep. I actually felt bad for her cause just a little less then an hour before we were in the elevator and she sounded like she wanted to stay on as the main receptionist. But who knows maybe she will. Good luck chick.
Well that should do it for tonight. Hope Elliott and Taylor make it to the finals. Sorry Katherine but you should have gone instead of Chris.

my adventures with my mom

To start off my new blog I wanted to let all you bloggers know whats in store.
I just moved to Port Charlotte Florida from Miami to spend some time with my mom. About 3 months ago my step father passed away and left my mom here by herself. My 2 sisters and I tried to get her to move but she wanted her freedom and independance. See she purchased her home for cash and its payed off as well as her car. If she were to move then she would be giving all that up. In her mind she wants to die here and thats that. What can you do? So it was either leave her here by herself or move up here to help her out.
Guess which one I picked? ;)
So here I am starting my new life and I figured I'd start a new blog to go along with it.
This blog will chronicle all my adventures with her as I try to blend in with the locals while keeping some semblance of my originality.
My first 2 weeks have come and gone and today was my first day back at work. I got real lucky as the bank I work for had an opening close by. That's if you consider 50 miles close! It's in Sarasota but its real nice there. I hear that Sarasota is the art and culture hub of Florida so I look forward to visiting there after work. And it felt like I was on vacation traveling there to work. That will probably fade fast though considering I am working. But everyone at my new place is so nice. Its very laid back and everyone seems to have an interest in pleasing you. I look forward to meeting new friends and having a nice time. My first day was very quiet and the hardest part was learning everyone's name. They just have to learn 1 name while I have to learn many. Seems unfair but by the end of the week I should have everyone down pat.
My first 2 weeks here were a total disaster with only the fact that I as in a new place and spending time with my mom the only saving grace. We did some grocery shopping and my mom has problems walking so we got to get one of those motorized wheelchairs to scoot around the store in. She's pretty good at that thing too. Anyway I haven't stopped working since I got here. With unpacking and putting things away to having garage sales on both weekends. That was alot of fun...NOT! We made about 400 dollars the 2 weeks just selling junk that was in our way. We made a few mistakes along the way too by selling these old pocket knives that were worth around 30 th 50 dollars for 5 bucks each. My computer wasn't working so I couldn't jump on eBay to figure out what was a fair price. Talking about computers I had a hell of a time connecting the internet here in the boondocks. I went with Sprint/Earthlink cause preety much thats all they got. its ok ut they don't have a modem that supports USB ports and my computer doesn't have an ethernet so I bought this funky adapter that does not work. I'll probably return it and get a card that I'll have to install. That will be a story all in itself.
Well that's enough for now. But let me end by telling you what I did for Mother's day.
I took her to Ft. Myers to this real nice restaurant right on the water. People were actually riding their boats upto the docks and tying it off then getting out and sitting down to eat. pretty nice. But for some reason I was really pissed off driving up there. It was like some kind of attack and I kept losing my temper with everything. I have anger issues. But my mom had a good time and thats all that counts. We tried to go to a miniture golf place but they had hills andstairs to climb and she can't do that so we just drove around then went back home. Ended up seeing a movie. Read about it on my other blog
www.mrmoviebuff.blogspot.com
Well got to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow at work. Got to see if I remembered everything I learned today.
Bye for now...