My Friends in Florida

Like a kid with a new toy, now that I have changed the Television font, I want to post to it.

This post is plucked from the idea pool that developed while I was in Florida. My buddy Chris requested this one.

As many of you know, my trip to lovely Florida was divided into two parts. Part one was a conference. It was fun. I stayed at a very nice hotel in the middle of "The Happiest Place On Earth"(THPOE). Very, very nice. Clean....bright, cheerful.

Then, over the weekend, I had to move to a more reasonably priced hotel. This second part of the trip (another 5 days) was much more work for me. Added to that, the hotel was not quite the same. Oh, it was quite close THPOE....but at the same time it was a world away.

I'm sure this hotel was quite nice....in 1979. The carpet was dark orange and brown....the furniture had wicker arms.....the room door wouldn't close by itself....the window drapes were closer to shower curtains than drapes....and the air conditioner was unable to "keep up".

However, there was a very redeeming quality to the hotel. Outside, they had a pretty good size pond. In the pond were lots of turtles, some odd looking ducks, and a bunch of monster carp. To get to and from the car, we had to walk across a bridge that went over the pond. So, every morning, before we would leave for work, I would stand on the bridge and watch the turtles and carp. We grew to be quite close.

On the bridge were three little vending machines. These machines were the kind that typically had gumballs or small rubber balls in them. However, these machines had animal food pellets in them.....and my friends were well aware of their presence.

Now, I'm not overly cheap by nature. I have been known to spend money. However, for some odd reason, I couldn't make myself pay 25 cents to get a handful of food for the marine animals. I did learn that if I shook the machines a bit when I turned the handle, several pellets would fall out. I am not saying......I'm just saying, if you know what I mean.

By the end of the week, my friends were recognizing my heavy footsteps on the little bridge, and were coming over to "visit" with their cheap, new buddy.

This is the stuff memories are made from....a true Kodak moment.

Cue "The Times of Your Life", Mr. Anka.

Good morning, yesterday
You wake up and time has slipped away
And suddenly it's hard to find
The memories you left behind
Remember, do you remember?