Jen visits FL

Jen came home late on Friday and spent a [short!] weekend at home. We stayed at the house with the cats for the most part, only venturing out to get food and watch Premonition. (The movie was OK, but not anything to run out and see.)

Saturday we started out with a lazy brunch at Cracker Barrel and then went home and washed our cars. It's amazing how much I miss doing those little everyday tasks with Jen! I was really glad to have her home when I realized I had gotten sunburned while I was washing & waxing my car :-P

Later on Saturday we went down to Merritt Island and returned some unused supplies from the new vanity in the master bathroom. After getting some new pans for the cat box (Wal-Mart no longer carries them! Yikes!), we ate a nice dinner at Carrabba's. Instead of waiting in the hour-long line, we grabbed a table on the patio and got started right away. It was a beautiful day and a joy to be outside for dinner!

After dinner we went to the Funtasia MiniGolf place that we found with Robbie and Lindsey. There are two paths: Elephant or Zebra. We tried to go down "the other path", but realized we picked the same trail as last time! (Reminder: we've done Zebra: next time try Elephant!) We had fun and Jen beat me by a wide margin (as usual!).

We went back north to the Searstown Mall in Titusville to see the movie. It is a far cry from the nice new Rave theaters in Viera, but it was great because Jen was there! Also, she is the only reason I did not freeze to death in the sub-arctic air conditioning.

Sunday morning I tried to be cool and take Jen to a local eatery, Kloiber's Cobbler Eatery in "historic downtown Titusville." I'd been there with Robert and Chris last week on my birthday and had an excellent Irish lamb stew for lunch. Unfortunately, the place is closed on Sunday. So is most everything else. We ended up at the Village Inn instead. Not bad, but we were definitely not in the 'regular crowd' of elderly folk that come each Sunday!

When we got home, it was time to cook! Jen whipped up several batches of cookies and a pan of brownies before heading off to Alabama again.

I had a great time with Jen and enjoyed having a quiet weekend at home with my wife and cats. I look forward to having her back on a full-time basis :-)

St. Patrick's Day 5k

We survived! Our whole team crossed the finish line.
That was certainly a once in a lifetime event. Really...never again.

New Orleans!

Last weekend we met up in New Orleans with our friends Shannon and Roiann for a weekend of fun and relaxation. I flew into New Orleans while Jen drove from Ft. Rucker. Shannon found the St. Pierre hotel for us right in the French Quarter! It was very cute and the perfect place to base our adventure!

We had been to New Orleans in college, but somehow we didn't get much done other than drinking on Bourbon street! This time we set goals and objectives to do all of the cool stuff we'd seen before.

Friday night:

• Arrive at the St. Pierre and park in the scary old parking garage
• Get Hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's on Bourbon Street
• Drink Hand Grenades on the street from Tropical Isle
• Eat late-night, post-drinking pizza
  

Saturday:

• Tour of Lafeyette Cemetary
• Walk through the Garden District and admire the houses
• Get some daqueris for lunch
  
• Explore the riverfront area including the fountain where Jen and I got engaged

Saturday night:

• Ghost tour on foot with "Scary Mary"!
• Absinthe at the pirate bar

Sunday:

• Breakfast at Cafe du Monde
  
• Coach tour of the French Quarter with David and Knucklehead the mule
• Explore the shops in the French Quarter
• Leave!

The city is rebuilding beautifully with all of the French Quarter up and operating. There are numerous "Help Wanted" signs around showing how many residents chose not to return. Some of the shops and restaurants closed early due to a lack of staff!

We had a great time and recommend everyone go and enjoy New Orleans!

More pictures are available online at: http://picasaweb.google.com/spacebaileys/NewOrleans2007

Flight Attendant training

I completed my 3-day ZERO-G Flight Attendant refresher training! We were in class 8 hours each day (just like Jen!) doing things like reading over our emergency procedures and testing our skills at doing the safety demonstration. We even got to use fire extinguishers and a PBE (oxygen hood)! The slide was not as slippery this year, so it was not as fun (and gave me a wedgie!).

Andrea did a great job as our Director of In Flight for ZERO-G and FA trainer for Amerijet. It was great to see the other Flight Attendants and go over some of the things we've learned over the past year. It was also great to just hang out together! I miss seeing everyone all together. We are really a big family. In fact, we ate off each other's plates at dinner!! After three years together, we've bonded in ways we never expected. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing group of people.

More pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/tim846/ZEROGFlightAttendantTraining

Thanks for reading! Bu-Bye! Uh-huh, bu-bye. Bye now! Thanks, bye... ;-)