Public Service Announcement

This is a small Public Service Announcement to tell everyone about a COOL new site that helps you improve your vocabulary while also giving rice to hungry people!! FreeRice.com has a simple word matching game that has you pick the meaning of a given word. As you play, the words get slightly harder until you get one wrong. Each time you get a correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Advertisers at the bottom of the screen pay for the rice while you play the game!

After only 5 minutes I had several hundred grains of rice donated and was in the 30's vocab range (max is 50--Genius level!). The game was fun and a good way to brush up on forgotten words. The skill level algorithm kept me on my toes without making me feel too dumb or too smart. Overall, FreeRice.com is a much more useful tool for burning a few minutes online than watching a YouTube video or reading another bogus chain email. Give it a try! At the very least, someone will get fed.

Dinner with old friends

Robert and Chale Fischer came down to Titusville last night for dinner with me and Jen. It was nice to see them and show off our house. This was their first time coming to see us since we moved to Titusville. We visited their home in Deland back in May and were nearly eaten by bears.

To give the evening a bit more adventure, we tried a restaurant we found online: New York New York. The online reviews said it was great, so we figured "why not?!" Honestly, we did a double-take when we saw the place. It is nestled in between some really nice houses right on the Indian River but looked a little run-down. When we pulled into the parking lot we could see the extensive deck and tiki bar--along with the VAB and Shuttle pads just across the water! Definitely a hidden gem for watching launches.

The food was good with generous portions. Jen's fried shrimp dinner was overloaded with 12 shrimps! I still have half of my grilled chicken sandwich and homemade chips in the fridge. The mac & cheese was homemade as well and delicious. Chale enjoyed her huge grilled chicken with Key West seasoning (think 'lemon pepper' but with lime!) and Robert liked his grouper sandwich. All-in-all, a great meal!

Best, of course, was just being with Robert and Chale. It was nice to have them so close when we lived in Port Orange. We've decided we need to have a game night at least once every month. The challenge now is to find a date when we are all in town... :-)

Tales from Miami

After spilling both my chicken nuggets (not so bad) and huge Coke Zero (very bad) all over myself in the car , I thought Flight Attendant annual training was going to be horrible.

Then I picked up Loretta (I found her on the third loop through the airport!) and brought her back to the hotel. Where she did not have a reservation.

Sounds bad, right?

Well, while we got her checked in to a non-reserved room I wandered over to the coffee station to get a drink that was hot, sweet, and didn't have caffeine. Alas, only regular tea bags! (the Courtyard Marriott in Ft. Lauderdale has great decaf fruit tea.) Instead I stumbled upon a new and CHEAP late-night beverage. To make it, add the following:

• lemons
• hot water
• Splenda

It makes a GREAT cup of... something delicious! Mmmmmm...... What a way to end the day!