The Buzz on ‘A Day In My Life
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 |
I thought I’d share my new adventure.
Our neighbor stopped by the other night before he headed out to the casino. I found myself particularly interested in the fact that he plays the penny slots and actually wins, on occasion. Still being unemployed and having no income. I started thinking maybe this was an avenue I should pursue. I actually became excited at the prospect of a new adventure and winning some money. Even if it was minimal, it’d be more than I’m taking in now.
The first time I had ever gone to a casino was in Las Vegas with my ex. The only thing I remember about that experience was that I played the “one arm bandits” and every time I won a little, he would take my winnings and go lose it somewhere. Not a good experience for me.
The second time I was with Mike and we went down to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, FL. By the time we parked the car, we were both aggravated. The casino was packed and I basically watched Mike play the slots for a little while and we left. No great thrills there.
For my new adventure I was slightly hesitant to 
go by myself so I try to enlist my parents and my sister-in-law. Neither of them were available. Determined to get the ball rolling, I decided to go it alone. The Seminole Casino Coconut Creek is approximately fifteen minutes from my house, so I planned to head over there bright and early Monday morning. Well, early turned out to be around 10:00 and as I approached the casino there were buses pulling in and out. I noticed the names on the buses were from a variety of senior citizen communities. I quickly made the assumption that my timing was off, but I continued on my adventure.
As I walked in the door the lights and sounds were blaring. The sounds of the machines added to my anticipation as I wandered around. Although I’m not overly superstitious I thought I would find a slot machine with a name that had some meaning to me. Now my quest was to find “that” machine which was also a penny slot. On my first round I spotted one called “Night Sky” and no one was playing it. Reminiscent of the skies at our place up north, I thought that would be the one I would play. Yet, I was still a bit apprehensive and I was aware of the fact that I had no idea how the slots worked, I decided to make the rounds. I walked throughout the casino in circles three times, never seeing another “Night Sky,” but observing (not grasping) the way the slots worked.
Finally, I ventured back to my machine and there was a woman playing although she was actually sitting half hanging off the chair as if she was going to jump off her seat any minute. I watched her as she eyed a slot machine across the way. Apparently people have their favorites and she was waiting for “hers” to be free. In a matter of minutes, it was. This was my chance. I hesitantly sat down, made myself comfortable and looked at the “Night Sky” machine in front of me hoping that all of the symbols and numbers would make some sort of sense. They didn’t. I’m big on reading instructions, yet found none. It was time to put my money in and take my chances.
I had decided before I entered the casino that I would take a $20 bill, put it into one slot machine and play until it was gone. Of course, my full thought was that I would put the twenty in and when I won I would pocket everything above $20 and keep playing the same $20.
Finally, I put my twenty in the slot and determined to get the most out of my money I continued to push the button that said “1 line,” which I did figure out, only deducted 1 cent from my money on every turn. I found that if I continued to do this I would win a few pennies. My tactics were to play one line for one penny until the dollar amount was, for instance, $19.80. At that point I would get brazen and play the “10 line” button for .10 cents. I even played the 20, 30 and 40 line buttons, a few times. Playing this way and winning and losing I hovered around $16.00 for about 45 minutes.
All the while, there was a woman sitting next to me that I made small talk with. I told her it was my first time to which she replied that she’s seen a lot of people with beginners luck. (A renewal of my faith that I would win.” During the time I was playing the women took the time to explain all the buttons to me and continually tried to stress the fact to me that I should be playing 40 lines and playing more than a penny. I probably should have listened. Although, watching her clad in diamonds and feeding her slot machine with $20’s on a regular basis, I wasn’t too anxious to follow her technique.
By the time my $20 had deteriorated to $4, I decided it was time to really gamble. I played the 10, 20, 30, 40 line buttons consecutively until my money was gone. I’d said all in all the $4 was gone in less than a minute. I was done. I guess “Night Sky” wasn’t my slot machine after all.
I turned to the women thanked her for her assistance, wished her luck and gathered my things. I took note of her expression as I said goodbye. It was as if she couldn’t believe I put in a $20 bill, lost it and didn’t feed the slot machine another one. I have a fair amount of will-power, I kept walking.
As I left the casino I made the decision to go back again, Thursday, tomorrow. I do believe I’ll play a different slot machine or maybe not. I may follow my dads advice and play more lines to begin with. Whatever the case may be, I’m hoping I’ll be carrying just a little luck on my shoulder.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010 |
As I had previously written in my post “Our Return to South Florida,” we had returned home and I had received a letter from an attorney that was offering his help in retrieve money that had been turned over to the state of Florida. I had done my own research at The National Associations of State Treasurers and found that stock that had been in mine and my ex’s name were turned over. This, by the way, I take full responsibility for.
For the first year after my divorce I was able to cash the dividend checks. I’m not sure what changed, but after a year Washington Mutual wanted my ex to endorse the check as well. Mind you the checks were a whopping $23 a quarter. What it actually came down to was that my ex and I were not on good terms and I had no way to acquire his signature that would not entail having to see him. I ultimately filed each and every check uncashed for nine years.
Now nine years later the stocks were in the state’s possession. Being that the stock was actually a wedding present from my parents, I wrote my ex explaining the situation and requesting that he sign them over to me because they were in both our names. He agreed. Nine years is a long time and taking the necessary steps to claim the stocks by having my ex sign the appropriate forms was not in itself a big deal. We did also need a gold medallion seal, which I had to meet him at the bank for, but it actually was uneventful. I submitted all the paperwork in August 2009 and knew it would be a long wait before I received a check. I did not, however realize how long.
Five months later in January, I received a check. If you’ve read any of my posts, you know that nothing in my life goes on without a hitch…the check was for half the amount. I really wasn’t sure what to think. I went back over the numbers and checked the amount. I thought for some stupid reason that maybe the other half would come separately. I was right. However, the other half was issued and sent to my ex despite the fact that we filled out all the paperwork to the contrary. Actually, he was amiable about it, probably because he has more money than he knows what to do with. He signed the check over to me. I’m not talking mega bucks, the check was for $2400 and I intended to cash it, although I anticipated some resistance at the bank.
I have not previously mentioned this, but my ex and my current husband are both named Mike. As you can imagine, it’s been a little bit of a pain in the ass in certain situations when both or either of them come up in conversations. I didn’t ever imagine that both of them having the same name could ever be beneficial. When I went to the bank to cash the check the teller quickly looked at it, saw the name Mike, claimed he was on my account and cashed the check; no questions asked. For the first time ever the name similarity paid off and it made my day! I guess Murphy was on someone else’s shoulder that day!!
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Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 |
I’ve been unemployed since January 6th. I’m one of those creative people which generally is a good thing, but it does have it’s downside. I always have something to do. I have no less than ten projects going at one time; whether it be painting, working on transferring or formatting my pictures, looking for a job, writing articles or posts and of course the every day things like cleaning. Cleaning by the way is as written, my last priority. Essentially being unemployed and always having something to do presents a problem. I enjoy being unemployed which obviously is something that my mortgage, electric and phone companies won’t accept to kindly.
The other unfortunate thing about having so much on my plate is that I find myself extremely contemplative. It difficult at times to decide what to do first. Of course, the job search should be a priority yet I find that I do that halfheartedly. I need a job to help pay the bills. I feel extremely guilty that Mike is the sole provider and that he is working as hard as he is to make ends meet. It’s that guilt that keeps me looking for a job, yet when I find a potential position I apply without enthusiasm.
The other downside to working is that it will hinder the sale of this house that we desperately want to sell. I need to fix things up and maintain it and be available to show it. And, why get a job if we’re leaving?
I am a believer. I know somewhere online I will find my niche and draw the income that we need to survive. As I continue my search, I contemplate!
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Monday, December 7th, 2009 |
Are you wondering what Murphy is up to? The same Murphy whose law seems to affect us all at one time or another. I’m starting to think he has more siblings than we can count. I don’t remember a time when I’ve spoken to so many people that have one thing or another going wrong.
The end of September, I wrote a post, “Our Return to South Florida,” in which I recounted the less than usual events of our return. I could have sworn Murphy was just hanging around on our shoulders and that soon he’d be leaving. This was not the case.
With Christmas coming right around the corner we’ve planned to celebrate at our house and we are also preparing to put the house up for sale. Now wouldn’t it be a perfect time after 17 years for the dishwasher to decide to start leaking? A non-fixable repair, according to Mike, my serviceman husband. Thank you Murphy!
Saturday, I was looking forward to a whole day to catch up on blogging and commenting and responding to messages. I turned on my computer, went into a friend’s blog and enjoyed the delightful sound of my virus alert telling me that I had a Trojan. It was that wonderful bankerfox.a virus in conjunction with the win32/nugel.e. I did finally clear it up with a solution at Geekpolice.net , but it took me all day! Murphy struck again!
I guess I wasn’t thinking because if I was I probably would have remembered that “things happen in 3’s.” On Tuesday, I left work, came to the corner of a busy intersection where I needed to cross traffic and when I hit my brakes I heard a pssssssssssss! As my brakes were serenading me they all of a sudden became very difficult to push. Being that I’m so versed in the workings of a car, I panicked and called Mike, still sitting at the intersection and afraid to move. He offered to drive the car home for me, but I told him I’d take it slow and keep testing the brakes. I drove in the right lane anticipating jumping the curb and hitting a tree to stop if my brakes failed. I drove really slow and made it home incident free. After some inspection and a phone call to a mechanic friend, Mike found that the problem is my brake booster. It turns out that the brake booster gives more braking power with minimal pressure on the brake pedal. If the brake booster is not functioning properly, the brake pedal will be very hard to push, but you will still have brakes. Good to know! It’s also a good thing I have strong legs, but needless to say it needs to be replaced. Murphy strikes again!
It’s almost become comical waiting to see when we’ll have our next encounter with Murphy. And, I am so thankful that these problems are minimal. Our family is blessed with its health and although things are difficult we have it easy compared to others.
I’m pretty sure, though, that Murphy must have siblings that we didn’t know about. Almost everyone I speak to has one mishap or another going on. What’s funny is that people keep saying it “Murphy’s Law” that affecting us all. Another thought I wonder, is if we might be bringing negativity on ourselves because of the stress we are dealing with in regards to the state our society is in. Regardless, we trudge on with a smile getting ready to hurdle the next bump in the road.
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Thursday, November 12th, 2009 |
Go straight to survey
As I sit and contemplate my next post I wonder how many people are doing the same thing I am. I have been feverishly manning my blog for months, trying to come up with posts that will interest people, trying to find the best way to monetize my blog. Day after day I’m trying to keep up with commenting and responding and following and joining! I don’t mind any of this although it’s not all that easy to keep up when you’re working a full time job as well. I find that by the time I get home, settle in and spend some time with my husband there is little time left in the day. The answer, work into the next day!! With laptop on my lap I am generally poised on the couch until 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning, as I click away. The only break I take is when the computer apparently overloads and locks up and I have to restart it.
My point in all this is I often wonder how many people are actually making an income online that truly supports working at home. In all honesty, my goal is a measly $500 a week. In reality and in comparison to the claims online, this is very little to ask. I find myself surfing through blog after blog where there are posts on how to make money online. When visiting the users’ web pages on Twitter, I find that ninety-nine point nine percent are sales pages or pitches with everyone claiming to generate mass amounts of income.
I have been using the internet almost since its inception. I have searched and researched every online scam that is out there and I admit that I have even fallen victim to a few. The dream of having financial freedom is just so enticing that it’s worth some risks, right? I learned the hard way that you can’t always believe what you read and that there are way too many websites that are mass produced with different people promoting them. A big selling point for me was always the testimonials. Call me naive, but I thought for sure that these people were making tons of money. Then it dawned on me that very infrequently did I actually come across dollar amounts in the testimonials. In fact I even went as far, a couple of times, to search for these people by name and state. Their existence is still questionable. In conjunction with that I have become pretty adept at manipulating graphics and I’ve come to realize that any screenshot of a check or of a list of checks could be so easily fabricated that it’s gotten to the point that I pay them no mind.
All of this leads me to one conclusion. Most of the people promoting these websites and blogs are just like me; striving to find a better way to actually make an income. More than likely, I’m willing to bet that most of them have actually made such a minimal amount that they will eventually walk away and move on to another misadventure. Of course, as anything else, I can’t be sure of this. Maybe, just maybe,
I’m going down all the wrong paths.
Never-the-less, I find myself getting frustrated. Not in the fact that I spend an exorbitant amount of hours trying to generate an income, but in the fact that I don’t know if what I’m doing will actually produce one. There are so many MLM’s and then you read you can only make money with a “niche” blog, or selling an “Ebook” or selling “something.” Too much info, so little time.
My husband and I are looking to downsize, A LOT, and if knew that I could meet my eventual goal of $500 a week then I could have unsurpassed enthusiasm. For this reason, I’ve created a
survey.
Considering that I am more than likely not the only one having these thoughts, I think the
survey will benefit many if it is completed honestly. It is anonymous; no names attached, but will give US, the striving entrepreneurs something to gauge our efforts on. Hopefully, a boost of encouragement, hopefully a “light at the end of the tunnel.”
All of you money making entrepreneurs, please respond to my
survey and give us a gleam of hope!
PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY HERE
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 |
It was Monday, which in itself is not a good thing. I got up in a pretty pissy mood because of issues over the weekend; step-parenting leaves a lot to be desired, but that would be another post altogether.
Anyway, our son, Scott called me this morning. He is a very bright, intelligent and caring person. He’s in his last semester at FSU (Florida State University) from which he’ll be graduating with a degree in Biological Science. He’s been working in a lab for the past six months and had finally come to the conclusion that he wants to go into Neuro Science. I felt that this was a wonderful thing because it seems like it would be a interesting and satisfying field to go into. More importantly than that, Scott finally felt that he had some direction. He had been in limbo for a while which had become increasingly frustrating and stressful to him. I was glad that he seemed to have found his calling.
Well, this morning he called me which he often does, usually just to say hello. To my surprise and out of the blue, he just informed me that he is very strongly considering joining the Peace Corp! After my heart skipped a beat, we conversed. He’s not really ready to commit to grad school, he’s feeling like he needs a break from the “academic” world and he really wants to dedicate at least some time to helping people that are less fortunate than him. Now as a mother I’m as proud as I can be of him and his unselfishness. Also, as a mother my worries start about his safety and missing him but I assure him that what ever his decision, I’m behind him 150%. Of course, and understandably his only real hesitation is leaving his girlfriend, Liz. Will their relationship be able to withstand a 27 month separation? I told him that if it is strong enough it will.
As soon as we hung up the phone, I did what any mother would do, I went into the Peace Corp web site to find out as much information that I could.
The Peace Corp is an amazing organization that provides assistance 139 countries. As a volunteer there are a wide variety of areas that they might contribute such as education, health and agriculture.
Volunteers are provided with a living allowance that enables them to live in a manner similar to the local people in their community. The Peace Corps also provides complete medical and dental care and covers the cost of transportation to and from your country of service.
Peace Corp volunteers are committed to 27 months. They are entitled to a two day vacation per month and can utilize this however they wish. Some choose to visit other areas that are also in need, some have their family members visit and some volunteers take those two days to visit home.
After the volunteer serves their 27 months and return home they are provided with around $6000 to use as they like. It’s something to get their feet back on the ground whether they choose to use it for education, housing or other needs.
After reading as much as I could to educate myself as to what Scott’s new endeavor might entail I felt better. It would be a wonderful and educational experience that he would proudly carry with him through his life. I anxiously await his decision.
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Monday, October 5th, 2009 |
As a continuation of the week we had upon our return to South Florida, I am writing now.
As a habit and as a form of protection against Bank of America and the low lives perpetrating identity theft, the first thing I do when my eyes are open, is to turn on my computer to check our bank balances. To my surprise, one morning I found a $289 charge for golf clubs. We don’t play golf. On numerous occasions, I had woken up to find charges to my account that were mysteriously debited between 3:00 am and 7:00 am, causing one or more overdraft fees. To clarify, yes, sometimes my balance is dangerously close to zero, which in no way justifies the early morning practices of Bank of America. I do find that if I can catch the debit while it’s still pending I stand half a chance of having it reversed with a little less aggravation.
Back to my story. My eyes opened and I turned on my computer, well I thought I turned on my computer. I pushed the button, walked away and came back to a black screen. Even though it did sound like it was running, I did exactly what you’re not supposed to do and held the button until it shut down. I figured it was a glitch which happens sometimes. Why expect a $1500 piece of equipment to work all the time? I pushed the button again totally assuming that this time the screen would light up and I’d be up and running. No such luck! When I pushed the button it would say, “no connection” and then go black for good. I called my dad who fixes other people’s computers and he informed me that without an error message there was little he could help me with, but suggested I change the power supply. Late for work, I intended to pick one up on my way home. In all honesty, my thought process was that my computer just needed time to rest and it would be fine when I got home. With this thinking in mind, I decided against buying the power supply. My intention was to go home, fire up my computer, which by the way contains all my financial records, and then pay a couple bills. I hurried home, pushed the button, nothing!!! I guessed I’d buy a power supply and assumed that would resolve my problem.
Excitedly, I purchased the power supply from Office Max and slowly went through the matrix of wires to install it. I never saw so many connectors attached to nothing, so I maticulously disconnected one of the old and connected one of the new one by one. Then, I sat back, lit a cigarette and took a breath and waited five whole minutes before hitting the button. I pushed the button, took another deep breath, and looked at the black screen. Okay, now panic started to set in. I am very thorough with my finances yet like an idiot backed up everything to my desktop. Why? Because, I didn’t want to take the time to reach to my left and get the disc that my previous save from three months ago was on. Just stupid!
At this point and in desperation, I did what any computer savvy person would do, I turned on my lap top to search the forums for possible solutions. After a while, I found a possible solution and as far as I was concerned any possible solution was worth trying. Replace the video card. I returned the power supply to Office Max and purchased a video card and hurried home. Installation of the video card was really simple. I turned on the computer and my monitor lit up, what a wonderful feeling. I needed now to install the software and as I did it said something wasn’t compatible, but honestly I didn’t care. I continued the installation and everything worked fine. Mind you the first thing I did after that was to take the 1 TB backup I had bought months ago and I backed up everything. That little black box is now one of my most valuable possessions.
In conclusion, if you turn on your computer and it sounds like it’s running, fans and all, and it says “no connection” and then the screen goes black, it very well might be your video card. A $59.99 solution that was well worth it!!
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Friday, October 2nd, 2009 |
I do know that some people have lives that are wrought with misery. I understand that there are many, many people that are suffering everyday. I do not take what I have for granted. I, and those close to me (most of them) are healthy, somewhat happy and keeping there heads above water. When I write about my day to day stress it is a release for me. Everything each one of us faces is relative to what we are used to. Although there seems to be a black cloud lingering over my head right now, I know that because I am married to a wonderful man and happy in love that we’ll get by together. Sometimes it might be by the skin of our teeth, but repeating, “this too shall pass,” is often all I need. I try like hell to live each moment as if it’s my last and if it’s not a good one I am confident that those moments will come. My only wish would be, that those deserving of it, should have happy and fulfilling lives as well.
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Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 |
While it’s fresh in my mind, I’m going to write about our first day back from Hastings. I should fill you in that we actually live in Fort Lauderdale, but have a place, in Hastings that I’ll tell you about another time. We bought it 3 years ago with the intention of relocating and retiring there. Still our dream, but the economy has screwed us up. We do, however, drive up every other weekend, a four hour drive, but well worth the peace.
We are so done with South Florida and this is what awaited us when we returned.
Not even an hour after our arrival home, Mike received a voice mail. For the 3rd time in two months, and actually the 2nd time in two weeks, his company truck had been broken into. Just to clarify, it’s not “his” company truck, but the truck owned by the company he works for. The problem is that in this wonderful city we live in, associations rule the city. You are not allowed to park a vehicle with lettering on it in your driveway. The association also tell you when you need to clean your roof, or driveway or house. They even tell you to remove plants that they don’t like and they do all this for an astronomical fee. That’s another story in itself. So, anyway, Mike parks his truck in a parking lot on a main road in a lighted area. The braizen thieves break the back window of the truck, climb through and hand out their take. Being a air conditioning and appliance tech the truck is supplying the low-lives with multiple Freon tanks, guages and motors. Each time there’s a break-in Mike has to file a police report which entails waiting an hour for the police to show up and then filing the report. This takes a half hour to an hour depending on the officer and thorough he chooses to be. Of course, this is also on Mike’s time, not the company’s. The police department has no leads and no idea who might be doing these break-ins, but the hassle is no longer worth it and Mike will now have to leave the truck at the shop which is a half hour away, rather than five minutes from our house. Thank you, low-lives.
The following day I received 4 pieces of mail. The first of these was actually an $8.00 ticket for a toll violation in New York. Our son, Jason, just moved up to Albany and had his car shipped there. I called Jason and informed him about the ticket to which he replied that he didn’t run any tolls. A little while later he called me back. He had checked the date of the violation and realized it was the day the car was shipped. He hadn’t driven the car that day. As it turns out, the driver who hauled Jason’s car on an eighteen wheeler, did not want to drive the truck into New York City where we had scheduled the drop off. The truck driver drove Jason’s car into the city and blew the toll. Nice!!!
The second piece of mail was a letter that I received was from an attorney. He wanted to “help” me retrieve unclaimed property that the State of Florida has in it’s possession. And, he wanted a mere $200 to do this. The property that FL has now taken over is stock in Ashland Oil. My parents had given my ex and I stock when we got married and since our divorce in 1999 I hadn’t been able to cash the checks because they were in both our names. The checks were a whopping $21 a quarter so I ignored them. Not a good idea. Ultimately, the stock was turned over to the state as unclaimed property. Now this lawyer wants to cash in on getting me the money owed to me for the stocks. I suppose a lot of people would have signed the documents and allowed this lawyer to file for what is owed them, but $200 is $200. I threw out the letter and then proceeded to www.fltreasurehunt.org where you can search for unclaimed property in your name. Lo and behold, I found four items that I could claim. I printed the forms, signed where necessary, attached a copy of my license and mailed everything certified to the address specified. Within 60 days, I should have a check. I’m pretty sure that in this economy everyone would rather have every penny they own in their pockets and with a little effort I saved $200.
The final two pieces of mail were the largest cause of aggravation. Not because I couldn’t handle it, but because someone else should have handled it and now it wound up in my lap (again.) The story: Our daughter, Tara was in a car accident. (I’ll detail that story in another post.) The only thing that pertains to this story is that Tara’s girlfriend was driving her father’s company truck and is well insured. I point that out because the incredible state of Florida is a “no fault” state regarding auto insurance and although most drivers carry PIP (personal injury protection), it only covers $10,000. In Tara’s case the bills were to be much higher, but in this case with the insurance coverage that the driver’s father’s company carries the insurance company will be paying the bills. Now being that the insurance company will be paying all bills they gave us a claim number and instructions to submit the claim number for every medical facility, doctor and service. These instructions were reiterated to Tara’s biological mother along with the claim number on numerous occasions, but because of the nature of the “beast,” (also to be embellished upon in another post) she seems to conveniently give them Mike’s insurance info everytime. Not sure I’ve met anyone more dense. Subsequently, upon receipt of every bill I have to call, explain the situation and give them the claim number. I do have to comment though that when we received a $36,000 hospital bill, it was a phone call that I took great pleasure in making!
Well, that was day one of what would turn out to be a chain of events yet to follow. I’m sure “Murphy” has taken up residence with us, hopefully not for too long. It seems “anything that can go wrong will.” Such is life!!! More to follow…
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Monday, September 28th, 2009 |
Last weekend. Mike and I went to Tallahassee, FL. We decided to take a trip up to see our son Scott who’s in his last year at FSU (Florida State University.) We surprised him by showing up at his door unexpected. Normally, it might be a problem to surprise a college student at his residence but, I have a wonderful relationship with both of my sons, so I knew this wouldn’t be a problem. This might not be advisable for all parents. I guess you’d have to know whether or not your relationship with your college student will allow this. So, anyway, we showed up at Scott’s door and he was thrilled. Deciding to meet up again when his girlfriend, Liz got home we headed over to the hotel to check in.
I had previously booked our room through Orbitz.com at the Day’s Inn on West Tennessee, which was the closest hotel to his apartment, at the cheapest rate. We checked in to the hotel with no problem and headed to our room, great location, right next to the pool. Upon entering our room we found clay colored sand, all over the chairs and floor. This compelled Mike to wipe down everything in sight feeling that it just wasn’t clean. The WIFI that was promised didn’t work; the safe in the room wouldn’t lock. I guess the saying, “you get what you pay for” is absolutely true. It’s a good thing that we’re not particular or materialistic. Being that I had already unpacked, I had decided that we weren’t going anywhere.
We relaxed a bit and then headed back over to pick up the “kids.” Our first stop together to get our weekend started was to go to happy hour at a bar called “Bullwinkles.” Yes, it’s safe to assume in a college town it was filled with college students. No big deal! So Mike and I ordered our usual drink; Dewars and water. No Dewars!? We ordered Bud on tap. With the $10 cover the beer was all you could drink; we could do that. Well, after our first drink, they were out of Bud. What bar runs out of Budweiser? Time to leave.
We headed to dinner. Scott and Liz chose the place, decent food, very long wait and apparently we won’t be going back because I have no idea what the name of it was or where it was located. Back at Scott’s apartment, we hung out for a bit and left.
Next morning we drove for what seemed to be forever to a wonderful breakfast place called “Another Broken Egg.” The area was quaint, the view was magnificent, the service was impeccable and the food was delicious. Apparently, this is a franchise that’s all over the United States and growing and very worth visiting, if you have the opportunity.
After breakfast we took a ride through an exclusive residential area so that Scott and Liz could show us a “house that looked like a castle.” 
They, being young, are still in that mode where they have their lives ahead of them and dream of things that are possibilities in their lives. Of course, Mike and I are past the point where we could ever hope to possess anything of any great monetary value and honestly we’re not the kind of people that actually ever cared for those things. As we drove, Scott couldn’t wait until we came up to the “castle.” It did look like a castle, we stopped took pictures and contemplated the interior furnishings. What do you imagine?
From there we decided to shoot some pool, have a few drinks, shoot some darts and watch the truck race. Funny how girls on the street think they have to advertise a “car wash” wearing a bikini. Actually, not so funny!!! Funny how “kids” in a bar gravitate toward the new touch screen technological games while Mike and I would rather play pool. Funny how at 21 years old Liz needs 2 hours to get ready for dinner and me who’s somewhat older and could use more work, only needs 20 minutes. We left the bar to get ready!!!
Well, 2 ½ hours later, because “Ghost” was on and I had to watch it for the trillionth time, we picked up the “kids” again and headed out to Harry’s. It’s about two blocks from the capitol building in Tallahassee, a very nice restaurant with a really nice atmosphere, good service and high priced, but delicious meals. Oh, I shouldn’t forget to mention that they vacuum the dining area while you eat! Never saw that before.
Now we were off in search of somewhere to relax. It was pretty odd to us that on a Saturday night there were so few people out. We found a place called One O One. 
It’s said to be Tallahassee’s social dining experience. “It’s coming for dinner and staying for the nightlife!” Nice atmosphere, classy place and they had Hookahs in all different flavors. For anyone that doesn’t know, a Hookah
is a single or multi-stemmed water pipe for smoking. The popularity of Hookahs and Hookah bars has increased dramatically over the last few years. The draw to Hookahs is that you are smoking Shisha which is a mixture of tobacco and treacle, honey or sugar, and distilled water with fruit flavors. Shisha tobacco is very light and flavorful with a wonderful fruity aroma. Shisha is not your typical tobacco. It’s nothing like the tobacco in cigars, cigarettes or dip. Smoking true narguile shisha is an entirely different sensation. Shisha Tobacco is smoked for flavor and not for any kind of effect. It provides a relaxing and peaceful pursuit. The most popular flavor is apple and others include strawberry, pineapple, apricot, grape, rose, mint and even cappuccino! Hookahs are generally allowed to be used in places where smoking is not permitted thus providing the “smoker” a form of appeasing their habit. We stayed for a little while testing the different flavored Hookahs. A new experience for us.
From there we headed through the city and found another bar, the name slips my mind and the only excitement 
in that place was a drunk college student making a fool out of himself jumping up and down, which I assume was his rendition of dancing. He was amusing though and gave us all a good laugh. We left, stopped for a few pics and retired for the night.
For our final goodbye and meal together we went to a nice little bagel place called Bruegger’s. They had fresh bagels, great coffee and quick service and have several locations throughout the United States.
After breakfast we dropped Scott and Liz off at the apartment, said our goodbyes and headed back to our place in Hastings, FL. The 3 1/2 hour trip was uneventful and quick. Quick because we used to take the trip straight from Fort Lauderdale, a 7 hour trip, which was definately a long ride. None-the-less, other than the fact that I starting missing Scott as soon as we left, it was good to get back to our place in the woods where the only thing you hear are the birds, the crickets and an occasional owl at night!
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