FOOD: Nona Tap Bar

This past Saturday (7/23/11) was one of my fonder days of recent memories' past.

It began at 3:15am, an hour after when I was originally intended to wake up. By 4:30am, I was at Downtown Disney, in front of the World of Disney store, waiting for the Passholder Sale. In line, I met a mother & daughter from Tampa who were awake, perky, and somewhat covertly "conservative" as I picked up on their references to "Fox & Friends" plus the tone in which they encouragingly implied that someday I will get married [as in the traditional way] ... seriously, do I not put out the gay vibe? Anyways, between them and the attractive young Latin couple in front of us, 6:00am came quickly, and the madness was on.

Really, there weren't many great deals this time around, but I managed the following:

• Two full trays of Vinylmations (Toy Story and Have a Laugh),
• Four polo shirts with a Mickey on them (2 black, 2 orange),
• Four new outfits for Duffy Stitch (Australia, United Kingdom, China, and Buzz),
• Two awesome fabric, 40th anniversary jackets,
• Three girly scarves,
• Two Kermit Mickey ears, and
• One Disney kid's bank.

All-in-all, the damage came out to around $300 -- oh well, I was glad to have left the store in good spirits. Tired and depleted, I went over to Ghiradelli's and, per tradition, picked up a chocolate croissant and a small coffee -- a small breather before heading onto Event #2.

Next was the District 84 DEC Meeting at the Tupperware Headquarters. Registration at 9:30am, meeting to begin at 10:00am. I always enjoyed these meetings when I attended as an area governor last year. It was an opportunity to be part of a well-run, professional meeting. The difference this time was that I was there without any real responsibility, and there was a new generation of area governors -- it felt like I just stepped into a television spin-off. Anyways, I was there just to, during the breaks, distribute Club Ambassador forms and speak with each division to answer any questions and to get them excited about the program. The meeting was a really cool time, and I met a lot of people -- and many who I'd like to get to know better. At the meeting, I did get positive feedback from some of the district officers. I was appreciated for my energy and for taking pictures -- that communicated appreciation is what really fuels me and keeps me wanting to go back and do more.

That meeting ended about half-an-hour ahead of schedule. It was hot outside with the weather possibly changing. Instead of heading back west to the parks (dressed in slacks and a polo), I headed towards home, but not before stopping by the Lake Nona area to go exploring.

I'm a big Gowalla fanatic -- I recently reached over 2000 unique check-ins. Long story short, a Gowalla friend of mine who I never met had taken a picture, earlier in the week, while checking-in at a toll plaza, and made a comment.

His:

Rob Morris checked in at Boggy Creek Mainline Toll Plaza and took this photo.

5 days ago

• 
  Rob Morris: I tried to recreate Cedric's photo. I think I was pretty close to it.
  5 days ago
• 
  Cedric Ching: Nice timing! :) +1
  3 days ago

And here was my pic...

Mine:

Cedric Ching checked in at Boggy Creek Mainline Toll Plaza and took this photo.

3 months ago

Well, I then made it a mission for me to recreate one of his photos. I was going to pass by his area anyway, so let's have fun with it. The picture that caught my eye was one that he took of his Banana Bread Beer at the Nona Tap Room because it looked so delicious.

His (my goal):

Rob Morris checked in at Nona Tap Room and took this photo.

9 days ago

• 
  Eric Longstaff: Congrats! I keep forgetting to give my beer club card when I close my tab
  9 days ago
• 
  Cedric Ching: That looks so good.
  3 days ago

After the Toastmasters meeting, I drove over to Lake Nona and to the Nona Tap Room. As I walked up, a family was leaving. As I got to the bar and told the bartender my goal, my purpose, my mission, she told me that "yeah, he was just in here with his wife and daughter." I had given him a long look, but I didn't say anything other than "thank you." I might have wanted some recognition back... but then I remembered that my profile pic was of Stitch, and maybe 1 of my 1566 photos had me in it. Upon that realization, I felt like a stalker on one of those CBS procedurals.

Anyways, the beer turned out to be of the $15 variety... but it was my main purpose for being there, so alright. And I think that I did pretty good -- I had to get Stitch in there. What could've helped even more is if I had brought a print out to do side-by-side comparison, but perhaps that would've been even creepier.

Well, about an hour later, I receive notification of a comment on the pic, and it was Rob.

Mine:

Cedric Ching checked in at Nona Tap Room and took this photo.“Howdy Rob, here's an attempt to copy one of your pics. :-)”

2 days ago

• 
  Rob Morris: Nice job Cedric! I think I might have passed you on my way out the door.
  2 days ago
• 
  Cedric Ching: Yes, thanks for holding the door for me.
  2 days ago

Side-by-Side:

I was proud and scared at the same time. Proud that I accomplished my goal. Scared that I was being creepy. I didn't mean to. After finishing up there -- the beer was good (not overpowering) and quite a bit (two of those glasses' worth) -- I continued on to try to complete his Local Nona Living trip (10 spots, need 5). I picked up some Walnut Shrimp from Mr. K Chinese Restaurant and a large unsweetened iced tea from Dunkin Donuts a couple doors down, but that's it. I couldn't manage any more food. I will have to accomplish his trip another time. I brought the foods over to Moss Park -- a bit of an exploration. It had a nice view of Lake Mary Jane... $3 admission, but it's going to a good cause. The break from the ordinary was nice, and it fed some of my Gowalla-ing obsession.

That's about it.

(I'm sure that I could really work to tighten up the Lake Nona visit description -- plus add more links -- but I'd rather get this stuff up sooner than too late.) *smiles*

PROJECT: Home Office Chair

Once I got home, I couldn't wait to put together my new office chair.

before
new rug down, box sealed and open
mission accomplished

HOUSE: Kitchen Refurb -- Garbage Disposal (Pt. 1)

At 1 AM, I finally get around to replacing my broken garbage disposal in the kitchen. On the way home from Orlando, I stopped by Lowe's and picked up a 1/2 HP Insinkerator unit

After flipping the circuit breaker for the disposal, I removed the old unit.

Here's the new unit out of its box.

And even though I didn't have to replace the sink flange (the old unit was also an insinkerator), I wanted the fresher-looking font found on the flange.

In order to install the new flange, I need non-hardening plumber's putty, which I don't have, so that's my work-stoppage (I'll get it tomorrow). Until then, my kitchen'll look like this.

Well, there you go... I haven't electrocuted myself yet. Looks like it'll be done tomorrow.

Good night.

RUN: 2 miles @ slow. Home <--> WM. Catching Up.

Two things that I'm not liking lately are 1) lots of sun, and 2) lightning. Both are good reasons Not to run, but the Need to run was getting too great, so after work, I went to run while it was "between the two scaries" outside... bright but also with partial cloud cover and about to rain but in the "maybe God's getting ready to beat his wife (again)" sort-of-way.

Anyways, I ran. 2 miles. With water. And it really felt like I had forgotten how to run. It's such that I really can't believe that I used to run sub-7-minute miles. My legs (knees in particular -- no jokes Cori) quickly start to hurt, and it's a struggle to run more than a couple minutes at a time (what's up?!). But I got out there.

...

As posted, I had been on hi8us from the blog for about a week. It's been nice not to be particularly glued to the computer organizing/posting pictures and agonizing over typing words. But I also felt as though I was losing a short segment of my chronology. So, my goal for the month is to try to find a good balance of splash and substance.

And on that note, here are just a few pictures from the past couple weeks:
[this should also make up for the recent (quick-and-easy/lazy) video posts]

Running (I'm getting chubby, all the while still looking decent *shrug*)

7/05/07                      7/06/07                      7/12/07
Food (using up what's laying around the kitchen)
Projects (more hanging up of stuff)

Friends(July 4th at Universal with Cori, Marty, and Tiffany) (Watching Harry Potter at Cyn's with Dan and Beth)(Toastmaster Training in Orlando with Nga)
Pets (my nephews and nieces)Ollie and Sam

Caleah and Zeus

StinkyPants and Nala

Miscellaneous (...)Bling City Grills

Guitar Hero


Lizard Hitch-Hiker


Sense of Accomplishment