Current location:	Home
Current mood:	grateful
Current music:	Nothing

Year(s) in Review
Well, good thing I've been able to keep on top of these updates eh?  :oP  Anyway, here's the past forever in a somewhat small nutshell.   If anyone is interested in more details of any of the listed events, comment and I'll post more.

May 2007: Richard and I went to Vegas; he'd never been there.  Stayed at Imperial Palace.  Went on a helicopter tour, Hoover Dam tour, horseback riding & steak cookout in the hills, kayaking the Colorado River & going in caves (my favorite thing we did there), and of course walked all of new & old vegas.  Had a great time.  We both left to go to the airport; Richard flew home and I continued on to Honolulu Hawaii.  The hotel was amazing.  I hiked Diamond Head & Manoa Falls, went to the Aquarium, zoo, Arizona Memorial, Dole Pineapple farm, Polynesian Cultural Center, and Waimea Bay Beach Park to find Sea Turtles (never saw any), shopped, walked downtown Honolulu, ate shaved ice at Matsumoto's, hiked & swam in Waimea falls, and snorkeled at Hanauma Bay.  Everything was freaking amazing and far surpassed any expectations I could have ever had.  The snorkeling was like swimming in an elaborate fish tank.  It was hard to believe that I was in the ocean.

05/29/07: I started my new job as a Special Agent/Federal Investigator with the United States Office of Personnel Management.  I have been with them around a year & 1/2 and still love it.  I got a promotion in 07/08 and hope to do the same this coming year.  I've even helped out on a counter-intelligence case with the FBI & the Army!!!  How cool is that!?  I had a mentor for a couple of months when I first started and he was awesome.  Still a good friend/co-worker of mine today.

07/07/07: Earl finally took me flying - this was the "date" I had bought/won from the LAE date auction from like 7 years ago.  It was totally badass.  We went in one of the little 2-person choppers without the doors on.  It was so awesome I am really thinking it's something I would like learning down the line when I am a bit more financially secure.

07/21/07: The last (7th) Harry Potter book released.  I went to the release event with Richard, and Janet & Ryan wound up being there.  They acted like nothing had changed, like we had been friends without issue forever.  The entire night was a huge blast, and I was excited that things might go back to the way they were.  Richard was pissed they never addressed anything that night.  Richard asked Ryan about it, and he blew the question off.  We have never heard from them since.  It still bugs me/is a bummer after all this time; I think about them pretty frequently.  To the point that Richard said he doesn't want to hear me mention them again.  Anyway, the book was awesome.

Aug & Sept 07:  I spent a month up in Boyers, PA for the Basic Investigator Course (BIC) - the academy for my job.  It was a lot more lame than I thought it was going to be, but the people were awesome.  I had a great time hanging out with them.  We went to Fallingwater (a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright), the Butler Farm Show, Pittsburg (and watched a Pirates game), Carnegie Museum of Art , Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and around Boyers.

10/12/07 - 10/15/07: Flew out to Austin with Eric and met Richard & Toby there for the 2007 Livestrong Challenge.  Went to San Antonio (beautiful, would like to go there again), had horrible food, went to Inner Space cave/caverns, Sea World, and was the support car for Richard & Toby during the race.  Eric & I got lost trying to find the cheering station and actually wound up on the same road as the bikers.  There were thousand of bikers at all different points on the course, and Richard & Toby passed right in front of us as we were making a turn!!!!  WTF are the chances of that?!  Anyway, I was driving  and Eric was hanging out of the window taking pictures.  It was highly funny, and I'm sure we embarrassed the crap out of them.  But what are girlfriends/friends for right?

10/07: I moved in with Richard into his condo.  We also went to Food & Wine Festival this month and got into a totally retarded & bad argument.  Richard was yelling/swearing at me and I was crying in front of people at EPCOT.  Fun times & very embarrassing.

11/07: Went on a riverboat lunch cruise for my Dad & Mrs. Wright's B-Days.  It was Mr. & Mrs. Wright, my Dad, Gina, Richard, and I.  Nice time, okay food, decent music, great views.

01/12/08: Ate at Gino's pizza downtown w/Eric, Amy, Jon, Richard, Greg, & Kim then went to Ringling Bros. Circus.  The lady behind Eric promptly dropped her funnel cake - sugar side down - on Eric's head the second the lights dimmed for the start of the show.  It was hilarious.  What was not hilarious was that the lady ate the funnel cake afterward!!!!  Bleh!!

02/08: Went to Sleuth's Mystery Dinner Show with Yon, Jon, Sara, and Amy on my birthday, and to Animal Kingdom and dinner at Fuji Sushi with Barclay, Gabrielle (new coworker), Caroline, Babe, Eric, Ashley (Eric's g/f at that time), Greg, Kim, Richard, Scott Ward (from KB), and Terry (stopped by) that weekend.

04/08: Went on a 8-day cruise with Richard & his family to San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and St. Maartin, Netherlands Antilles.  Went to the Bacardi "Experience" (lame) in San Juan and on a snorkeling/champagne catamaran ride in St. John (amazing) with Richard's parents.  Went scuba diving for the first time in St. Maartin with Richard.  Really neat.  Not neat was that I wound up getting bed bugs from the room (EW!).  My Mom also came up that month at stayed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge for her birthday.

05/08: Went to Disney's Polynesian Luau with Eric.  Great time & food.  Since 10/07 I had been working in Brevard county for almost all of my cases.  This is where Eric moved to, and we wound up becoming closer friends than we ever were-even as roommates.  So that has been really cool.  He actually just got engaged last month (12/08) to his most recent girlfriend Michelle (she's very cool & pretty).

06/08: Went to Adventure Island with my Dad for Father's Day.  Had a great time.  Eric also visited Pinellas for the first time.  We putzed around Pinellas and went to Seminole Hard Rock & Casino and Busch Gardens.

07/08: Richard's parents came up to Orlando for the weekend and we went to SeaWorld for the Fourth of July.  I was also in Gainesville for two weeks for work the end of the month.  Spent a lot of time with Guzman and got to know him and his girlfriend Jennifer a lot better.  Also saw Middleton and Frierson.  During the weekend I went to Silver Springs with Jimmy (great time).  It was nice to see him again.  I rarely get to talk to him and pretty much never see him anymore now that he lives in Ocala.  I miss him a lot.

08/08: The manager I've had since I started thankfully finally retired.  He was a nice guy, but should have retired a long time ago.  The new guy is super awesome and way on top of things.  He's a great person to work for.  At the end of the month Richard and I took a roadtrip to Philadelphia for the 2008 Livestrong Challenge.  We visited the historical sites and downtown Philly.  Went to Hershey (AWESOME!!!) & Sesame Place (not awesome), Washington D.C. (Richard had never been there), Colonial Williamsburg (I had never been there), and Busch Gardens.  The trip was great and I had a lot of fun.  During the trip I was notified that a bid I had put in on a house was accepted!!  I then had to try and work out all the craziness (inspections, deposit, etc) over the phone on a holiday weekend!  Thankfully Greg really helped me out.

Sidenote: With regards to the house, it was a total fluke.  I was still happily living with Richard and wasn't actively looking for a place.  I was checking out apartments and the housing market every couple of months just because I didn't know what the future held, I was living with Richard, and he's made no remote insinuations, intentions, or anything about a future together.  Yes, 8 years later.  I know I'm stupid.  Anyway, one night we got into a big fight and ended very unhealthy (no violence or anything, so don't worry about that).  Underground Bluz/Broadway/Walk home/Greg.  I didn't know how things were going to work out, so I hopped on the internet when I got home.  I came across the house (3/2 w/pool in Waterford/East Orlando), and couldn't believe the price.  It was out of my price range, so I sent the listing to my Mom and Jon more of a "wow, look what the market has gone to".  My Mom called me less than 2 minutes later and said to go look at and put a bid on the house if I liked it.  She would help me with the small difference of $$ that put it out of my reach.  I did and now own it.  Thanks Mom!

09/08: I closed on my house on 09/23/08.  Went to Halloween Horror Nights with Richard & Jon on 09/26/08 (and the rest of October), and went on the Keys to the Kingdom Tour (interesting but not great) sometime during the month.

10/08: Went on Disney's Steam Trains Tour (totally awesome) sometime during the month.  The Gowers had an amazing Halloween Party that my Mom and I went to along with Eric, Michelle, Jon, & Amy, and Jon and I went to Downtown Winter Park & Orlando on Halloween.  I had a great time and look forward to doing something again next year.  We ran into Terry, so that was neat.

11/08: Went to Food & Wine Festival w/Richard.  Much better time this year.

11/15/08:  Took my Dad to Trans-Siberian Orchestra for his birthday.  Guzman & Richard went; Guzman's girlfriend, Jennifer, actually played in the orchestra!

11/08: At the end of the month I went to Albany, GA for one week for work.  Very ghetto (Hip Hop Chicken & Fish Chicago Style), but had a good time overall.  Went to the Flint Riverquarium and became hooked on the Twilight series.  I finally moved into my house.

12/08:  Went to Mannheim Steamroller with my Dad at Universal Studios & met up with Jennifer (Guzman's g/f who was playing in the band again) and went to dinner at Hard Rock.  Ran into Dan & Annabelle from KB there.  Jon, Amy, Steve, & Arum held the "Lansel Holiday Extravaganza" dinner party-great time with Greg, Richard, Eric, Michelle, Sara, Susan, Kim, & Gabrielle.  I hosted my Office's Christmas party at my house the following day.  My Dad & Carol came up for a day to see the house the day after that.  Earl left for his new life in Washington state near Seattle.  He got engaged (seems to be a trend now), got a new job, soon to be new house, and couldn't have moved any further from here.  Going to miss him a lot.  Thankfully I'll be able to see him in 06/09 for the LiveStrong Challenge that's in Seattle.  We're planning on staying wih him.  Had Christmas Eve with my Mom over at Richard's parent's.  Stayed the night there, spent Christmas morning with the Wrights, visited my Dad at work, went to my Grandma's, my Dad's House, Carol's, Jon's. Kate's, and then drove back to Orlando where my Mom had driven the night before.  Left on a roadtrip with Richard to New Orleans on 12/29/08.  Went to the Tobasco Plant, Jungle Gardens, checked into the pimp hotel, and walked around a little bit.  Walked through Harrah's, ate at a brewery, got Doubletree cookies, and went back to the hotel.  Next day we walked around Decatur & Burbon.  Jon, Amy, Arum, & Steve met us the next day.  Ate at a good jumbalaya/seafood place, walked around a bit more, finally ate Beignets, went to the Riverwalk (lame mall), ate at a pizzaria, and then celebrated New Year's with them.  Went to the Aquarium, drove around the different districts, and then drove home.

Other misc things I've been doing: went to Crash-O-Rama in Bithlo with Jon a couple of times, been working on the house- had to buy new appliances, blinds, paint, fence, landscaping, etc.  UCF finally got a stadium on campus and we've been going to the football games for 2007 & 2008.  Not sure if I'm going to renew this coming year.  Been boating w/Greg, but not recently - miss that a lot.  Also been spending time with Guz and Jennifer whenever he's down here - Margaritaville, Big River Brewery, etc.

I would be surprised if anyone checked this anymore, but if there are any additional events I have forgotten, please let me know.