"A February "Height of Season" Weekend..."

I've overheard "There's nothing to do here..."I offer another opinion...

Last Friday, I left my office a little early and went for a 2-mile swim. Then I headed for a late lunch at the 3-day annual Greek Festival for a gyro, Greek salad, and some live Greek music and belly dancing.  Then I back tracked to the complimentary "Cook-Off" at Northwood Nights...the bacon wrapped bananas, crab cakes and dim sung were delicious! Next I headed south to the opening of the Delray International Tennis Championships.  I arrived just in time to see Andy Roddick from eight feet away on a practice court...the cool evening weather was perfect!  Still heading sough and with an earlier theme, I stopped at a Greek diner!

After 4 hours sleep, and breakfast number two, it was back to the indoor pool to swim 2 more miles.  Back in the car on the Intrastate and oops ...a tire blowout!  AAA said it would be 1.5 hours to get a service vehicle, so I bumped off the highway, and got a store owner to fill the tire with a portable unit, that allowed me to drive two more blocks to a branch of the store where I had purchased the tires!  Since I had "road hazard coverage", the replacement tire  cost half price!   But when I looked for my credit card I realized the box office had forgotten  to return it at the tennis tournament!  So I rushed back down to the tennis stadium in Delray, picked it up, and turned around to stop by the Lake Worth annual Street Painting Festival! It had quite the artist turnout!  From there I drove north again to join 3,000 of my closest friends in Palm Beach County's "Wheel of Fortune" tryouts.  You lined up for an hour three times to drop an application into a box.  From these they randomly selected 5 people, 20 times in an hour for a mini-version of the show.  My usual good luck wore off for the two ladies on either side of me...both were called...I was not!  After that, I had to take a jacuzzi, watched UVA lose to UNC in a nail-biting close basketball season final game, and rest for a dinner reception back south again! An artist and his partner opened up their beautiful home that displayed his work, while we enjoyed an unusually catered meal!  Then it was time to head back north to Jupiter to catch the late show of the actual Navy Seal footage "Act of Valor" terrific film.

After another four hours sleep it was time to head back to Palm Beach for mass with Mom, then back north to brunch at a hotel that I was trying to sell.  After dropping Mom home, once again, I headed south to board a cruise ship for a champagne brunch business meeting cruise along Palm Beach's Intracoastal waterfront.  It finished in time to catch the "Unsinkable Titanic" lecture at Palm Beach's Whitehall Museum.  Then, back north again to meet my brother and mother for dinner at the Waterway Cafe!  Afterwards, it was home to do an architectual project while watching the Oscars, and preparing for a Monday workday!

Nothing to do?1?!

"Presidents' Day Weekend, 2012"

South Florida is a buzz in the "height of the (social) Season" this Presidents' Day Weekend.  The weather cooperated with clear skies and temperatures in the mid 80's Saturday and Sunday with a drop to a refreshing high 60's Monday.  The local newspapers related that this "Season" has been the busiest in many years with booked hotels and filled restaurants.

Regionally, events included the Miami Boat Show; the Coconut Grove Arts Festival; pre-Lent Mardi Gras at the German American Club; Artigras Art Festival; The Palm Beach Jewelry, Art, and Antique Show; Polo; National Equestrian Championships; the India Fest; Movies Under The Stars; George Hamilton in La Cage Aux Faux; and more...

Observations..."complexity and contradictions"...

In order to drive to all of the events, I found myself at the gas station filling up four times...regular unleaded...$3.61 to $3.64 to $3.71 to $3.79 per gallon!  Our gas prices are expected to keep escalating this year (to over $5 per gallon this summer) due to our reliance on foreign imports...and Iran is developing 30 plus nuclear bombs with Israel ready to attack!  While Canada's economy is escalating due to using their natural resources, we have decided to limit the use of our own! 

To make the two mile drive from the State park beach I sat in bumper to bumper traffic for 45 minutes (idling at those gas prices!) due to the decision to reduce to alternating traffic lanes to start the access bridge ("stimulus program") construction during this "Season" height.  The alternative route's bridges are in their third year of construction... 

Always in search of a bargain, I went to our local branch of a large national department store to look for a few items.  I could not find a one pair of plain gray socks that was not packaged in a "three-pack"with patterned ones.  All of the t-shirts were on sale except for the XL ones.  Of the 1000 plus groups of long-sleeved shirts, the store had made a policy to only carry 100% cotton need to iron types...no more wash and wear brands (a good idea with the outrageous cost of dry-cleaning and our 24-7 always in a rush, no free time to iron schedules!).

The local restaurants unveiled their "new" menus to present their new prices!  The alternative is to cook at home...two months ago my groceries for a few days cost $50...then a month later, $60...and now $70!

I decided to stock up on incandescent 3-way bulbs...because our government has decided to outlaw their sale (in the interest of "global warming") and replace them with the migraine-inducing fluorescent and disposal-toxic LEDs...

I went to the indoor pool for some laps...the heater was broken...COLD cramp-inducing...the spa was perimeter "yellow-taped" with "do not use" signs, while a gentleman was sitting in its middle, disregarding the warnings!  so I went into the sauna.   a local fireman and paramedic struck up a conversation..."I can't believe I was being paid $18.95 per hour in 2005, and I'm receiving $15.95 per hour in 2012!  I work double my regular hours in unpaid overtime, and my nightly call outs have increased from five to forty!  People out there are nuts!  I have an air-conditioning and an electrical business to attempt to make up for the reduction.  I hardly ever get a chance to workout anymore...in fact I hardly sleep.  I'm SO stressed!  My pregnant wife lost her job in a corporate down-sizing. She wants a divorce. My bank increased my my mortgage payment from $1,200 to $3,900 per month, and they wouldn't renegotiate with me, so I lost my home in foreclosure.  Don't you find that the few of us that are able to work, have to accept lower pay for tremendously increased work loads?"

"I know what you mean!!! In my graduate school years in 1978 I substitute taught in New York for $125 per day.  When things were slow for architecture in 1990, I taught in the Palm Beach school system for $95 per day.  In 2012, our local substitutes are paid $78 per day, and you know the prevailing contemporary discipline issues!"

Presidents' Day...any president, any politician, any of us...we all have so MUCH work to do!

  

"It's The End Of The World As We Know It...And I Feel Fine (Take II)...

Tonight, I attended a lecture by an author faculty member of our local Honors College. The lecture was titled "It Is The End Of The World As We Know It...And I Feel Fine".  The speaker commenced by showing a slide of a Mayan pyramid, and discussing their accomplishments including their 52-month "short" and 5000-year "long" calendars.  The 5000 year calendar's end falls in December 2012, just a short 10 months away!  There are some individuals and groups who believe that this will be a (another!) violent end of the world as we know it!  

Slides of marketed "coping" devices like armory beds were shown, while a descriptions of the earth reversing its axis spin direction to cause violent weather (greater than the "global warming" ones!) was given in a satirical presentation.  The question was posed as how the speaker would handle an impending end of the world?  She reminded of the previous historical predictions "of the end", while stating "nothing lasts forever". She referred to favorite contemporary books to present her answer.  In the discussion she addressed the potential positive benefits of negative emotions like "rejection", "isolation" and her most emotional, "loss". 

The conclusion...turn our inevitable end in to a positive reminder to live each day as if it is the last...introspect to determine what is important to yourself as a unique individual, and work toward these goals...