Progress is good

First off, I have had more than a couple people comment on how tidy and clean I appear to keep my workspace. Granted, I am generally a person who keeps things organized, but in this case, there is an external factor at work. You see, the couple upstairs from me have a six month old baby daughter who needs her naps. Therefore, whenever Cora is going to nap, I get a call to stop my work. It's turned out that these enforced breaks are good. During these times, I can clean up as well as step back and think about what my next steps are going to be. In years to come, Cora can claim that her sleep was the reason why I didn't make any mistakes. So what does it look like now?

There used to be a wall in that hole

At this point, I have only a couple more edge pieces of wood to remove and then I'll fit the door in. To remove all that wood, I used a "sawsall."

The "sawsall"

I fully admit that when I got up this morning, I was a bit apprehensive about having so much power in my hands. My first cut was not a good one, but I got pretty comfortable with it by the end. Man, does it vibrate.

So, I leave the project at the halfway point as I jet off to the Midwest for a trip with my friend Peter S. We're going to see the Eisenhower, Truman and Clinton Presidential Libraries. They are located in Abilene, KS, Independence, MO and Little Rock, AR respectively. I will be blogging from the road and thereby returning the blog to its original purpose!

Wall Be Gone (part 2)

Thursday June 30th, 2005 -- 9:00AM

Wall Be Gone

The major project of the summer consists of me demolishing the wall between my bedroom and the front room of my place and then installing a set of French doors. For those who know me well, manual labor is not my forte. So the thought of me hammering away at plasterboard, using an electric saw (called a "sawsall"), and then trying to level a pair of doors must be causing bursts of laughter across the United States. You readers will be treated to the continuing saga of this project throughout the summer.

The wall as seen from my bedroom

The wall as seen from the front room

These prehung(!) French doors (on their side) will be installed in place of the wall, thereby providing me a sitting room attached to my bedroom.

The status of the project as of 9AM Wednesday June 29th, 2005.

A Florida Gator Union

This past weekend, because I didn't have surgery on my right foot as was previously scheduled, I joined Scott as he and I flew across the country for the wedding of one of his closest friends from his years at the University of Florida. To be more specific, Scott was one of the four groomsman at the wedding of his dear friend Rob (a Gator) and his bride Kristi (a Gator).

Scott and I flew into Orlando, arriving Friday (6/24) afternoon around dinnertime. Another of his friends from his Florida friends, Scott S.(a Gator) and his partner Jay(a Florida State Seminole, gasp), picked us up and we immediately attacked the drive (and traffic) of Interstate 4 to St. Petersburg, FL, the location of all wedding festivities. Friday evening was spent eating and reminiscing about their days of yore at Florida and the Florida Marching band. I had a fantastic time, sitting out in the warm evening on the balcony of Dan Marino's Restaurant eating Mahi Mahi and drinking fresh brewed lemonade. I can complain about the heat and humidity of Florida weather, but it's nice to never have to worry about being cold in the evening.

Saturday was spent meeting more friends, eating more food and attending the rehearsal dinner at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. The setting looked familiar as I remembered the view looked very reminiscent to the view from the reception of another wedding I attended here in St. Petersburg back in 1999. In speaking to my friend Gina, her wedding which I attended right here in St. Petersburg back in 1999, the location of her reception was a mere half mile from the Yacht club.

The wedding took place on Sunday, not Saturday. The wedding and reception took place in the afternoon at the Mirror Lake Lyceum. I would personally like to thank Rob and his bride for having all of us in attendance sit through a ceremony that lasted at most 10 minutes. Seriously. It was a tactical strike of a wedding ceremony. Afterwards, the reception was help in the same space and the wedding party asked the spouses of the wedding party to join them at a large center table in the middle of the dining room. That meant ME! In a matter of seconds, I went from anonymously sitting at a table with a family from Iowa to being seated at the center table. I had become a SPOUSE. Scott and Jay (from the drive down), and Scott and I were equal members of this wedding party table. I thought it was totally cool.

In fact, everyone at the wedding was kind and open to the Scott's, Jay and I. Rob, the groom, has been friends with the Scott's for so long, that the extended families are comfortable with gay relationships. On the flight home, I asked Scott what percentage of wedding attendees did he think were Republican voters, he said probably 90%. However, I never felt any overt hostility, and that was really nice.

However, what became most striking to me about this wedding was the pride all the graduates had in their alma mater, The University of Florida at Gainesville. Talk centered on the upcoming football season, who was going to attend which games, which games on the road were sold out (South Carolina and ten cool points to non-SEC football fans who can email me why) and the score of the Florida-Texas baseball game as the University of Florida Gators Baseball team had made it to the College World Series finals for the first time ever and the games were being played that weekend. I'm sorry to report that the Gators the best two out of three series, 0-2, having made valiant comeback attempts in both losses.

Here's what the groom's cake looked like.

The design of the groom's cake. GO GATORS!!

I don't think many of us who have lived our lives in the Northern tier of states truly can understand the passion with which those in the South identify with their schools. The "heated" interplay between those who went to Florida State versus Florida might be interpreted as outright hostility to those of us not in the know. But it's all apart of daily life here in the South. Many of Scott's friends are excited to have me experience it all when I attend the Florida versus Tennessee game in Gainesville on the 17th of September. It will be quite the experience as a) it will be Florida's SEC East Opener b) Urban Meyer's first SEC game c) Tennessee and it's coach Phillip Fulmer are the team most thought to contend with Florida for the SEC East division title d) the game time has been moved to 8PM thereby allowing for extended tailgaiting. I can't wait!

The most touching part of the evening was when all the Florida alumni were asked to gather and sing the alma mater. The fact that I got misty eyed (man I've been doing that a lot lately) was a testament to how much that place and time is held so dear in the hearts of those who were belting out:


Florida, our Alma Mater
Thy glorious name we praise;
All thy loyal sons and daughters
A joyous song shall raise.
Where palm and pine are blowing,
Where southern seas are flowing,
Shine forth thy noble Gothic walls,
Thy lovely vine-clad halls.
'Neath the Orange and Blue victorious
Our love shall never fail.
There’s no other name so glorious—
All Hail, Florida, Hail!

Best wishes to the newlyweds as they spend their honeymoon in Hawaii and then return to domestic bliss. Thanks to all those in St. Petersburg who made me feel welcome and recognized the significance of Scott asking me to attend this wedding with him.