OHhhhh! Yeaaaa!

So, Jeff, the tickets are in. Our spots our reserved in the middle of the mosh pit. Excited yet ??? This is definitely the way to begin the vacation!

Hmmm vacation, sweet sounding words. After a year of hard work I think it is about time that I get some time off and enjoy some of the delights of the area. Disney World, Busch Gardens (again), Sea World, and much much more.

But not before we host another HPSN conference (The main reasons I have not been updating lately). We having (and continue to) prepare all our current projects for demos. So ... once it is all over I will be ready to a little movin' and goovin' ... oh yea!

It has been a few days ... a few busy days. But we finally picked the 27 pictures we felt represented our Valentines day best.

The day was full of excitement as we crawled out of bed late ... slept in for the first time in recent memory. It was nice! Then it was off to Busch Gardens for the afternoon. The weather was moody but Amy and Eric kept us company giving us the tour. The whole "Fun Pass" is going to be a well used park pass I think. ($10 more gets you unlimited entrance until December 31st) The zoo alone (not to mention the rides, bands, shows, etc) is well worth the price.

The park is kept in great condition; the animals are provided tons of room to rome (or swim). And there is tons of 'hands on' interaction with the wildlife providing great guest education. We really enjoyed the bird exhibits, but all of it was a lot of fun.

Then it was on to enjoy another hockey game in Tampa; Lightning vs Panthers in a Florida rivalry. I have been blessed this year ...

Thursday night Melissa and I made it out to the campfire pit at Myakka (we are out there a lot eh). Playing was the national slide guitar champion, Kraig Kenning.

Chalk up another wonderful night of music, all played in the great outdoors. Who could ask for more ?

Now this would have been a game to watch. Love the quotes!!!

Darren managed to snag a couple free tickets to the Leafs-Lightning game though work, and I could not pass up that kind of offer. Getting out of work on time was tough ... but we managed to squeeze out in time to grab subway and hit the road.

Check out the photos.

It was a great game ... Leafs dominated the first, Lightning pulled back in the second ... then pulled ahead. Down 4-2 in the third the Leafs would not give up. They pulled back to within one about half way through the third and applied the pressure. With an empty net and 6 attackers the Leafs tied the game following a disputed icing. The final frame kept us on our feet ... however, the game would end 4-4 (29 shots to 29 shots).

Next time I will be part of the home crowd as we head up for the March 5th game against the Devils. Though I must admit ... with the number of Leafs jerseys in the crowd I almost felt like I WAS as part of the home crowd.

Dinner at Kai's

Kemp, Jeff, Krishen, Melissa, and I enjoyed dinner put on by Kai. Sushi (Yes, she is Chinese ... so! She lived in California), was followed by veil stew and french bread, and topped of with a Florida tradition; Key Lime Pie. We are truly a multi-cultural group here at METI.

Tonight I will be heading to Tampa ... to enjoy one of those traditions that I miss the most from back up North. How I long for CBC Saturday nights.

The city of Sarasota is feeling a loss today. The body of Carlie Brucia, missing since Sunday, was found. They have a man in custody which brings some relief. The whole situation has hit the town hard ... just so close to home.

In brighter news, Melissa and I enjoyed another evening under the stars out at Myakka River State Park. This week they had a American Indian style flutist playing, very lovely work. Calming in our hectic world.

Melissa found a new friend, common jumping spider (about the size of a quarter)

Image looking down at your feet after just returning to the ATV to stop for lunch and finding this little guy tucked in between your leg and the tongue of your boot. Yes ... this boundy bundle of joy (along with several friends) decided it would be a fun game to play with Melissa. And if any of you know Melissa, you know how fun she thought that game was! In fact ... she had tons of fun that day ... you should ask her about it sometime.

See ... she gets all the excitement and have to site in a cube and stare at a screen. And she complains ... ha!

Caught on tape; image courtesy of CNN.com
If you have information please contact the authorities.

Seems that life finally hits home. Carlie Brucia was abducted on Sunday evening while taking a short-cut through a closed car-wash off Bee Ridge Rd, Sarasota, Florida. Krishen did not have an hour between finding out about the news and having his mother emailed to ask about it. Word definitely travels fast these days. Guess it being on CNN helps! There has been an Amber Alert issued for young Carlie Brucia, so hopefully it won't take long until her safe return.

I will first say that ... yes ... this is close to home. Not only in town, but directly in our neighbourhood. The McIntosh middle school, the school Carlie attends 6th grade, is not even a mile away from our front door and the car wash where she was apparently abducted is within 4 miles. (see the map)

Generally we live in a nice, quiet neighbourhood. I have felt safe and secure most places within the city. Sarasota has the same sort of feel you get from Victoria, just without the islander touch. The people are friendly and courteous. The city they are working hard to improve the downtown look - and the improvements look nice. Sarasota blends into Bradenton (a more blue collar district) which lies a little to the north. You get a distinctly United States view driving between the two cities; lots of strip malls, billboards, lights, restaurants , signs, etc - like driving down Aurora in Seattle. For some reason it just presents a different feeling than driving down the streets of Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Victoria. Interesting to find that the same style holds from Washington to Florida though. However, there are only a few areas in town that would make me nervous and only a few more that I would not want to raise a child in. And our area did not raise any flags.

I will post more if I hear anything. I wish the family the best of luck in their search and want to let them know that our thoughts are with them.

Amy puts the disc up

After Ultimate I headed over the Amy and Eric's place to watch the Super Bowl. Not a big football fan, I thought I would take in some of this American culture ... plus, I would finally get to see all those Super Bowl ads.

The half-time show had issues being as it was on prime time TV, but the game itself was decent. There were some great catches by both teams and since the game came down to the wire ... we stayed glued to our seats. Except with Amy made those wonderful brownies ;)