Well, it took a while (laziness, traveling, Disney, snow and other distractions), but here in her own words… We’ve known Victoria for some time now and it was exciting to catch up with the latest happenings for her. Without MORE adieu… Victoria S. … Biography | I’m NOT My Parents | College Experiences | No-Can-Do for the N-Word | My Greatest Obstacle | Parenting | Social Progress | My Personality | Presidential Race | Today’s Problems | Sound Off | President Bush!!! | Why I Chose to Study Law | If I Had…

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Today was a classic Road-Trip day. We started out on our drive from Orlando, FL in the late AM (Why do pre-dawns if you don’t have to?) and Paula’s first item to accomplish was shopping at a factory outlet mall. I hate shopping (not the buying), but when your navigator gives you directions and turns that end up at a shopping only site what can you do?

After only partially satisfying the shopping urge, we left towards our today’s destination - Port Charlotte - to visit Uncle J. For those who don’t know him, Uncle J is a world traveler; is currently 94; is mentally sharper than a razor on his bad days; and is a thorough delight to engage for his stories and considerable insight on the human condition.

The drive was classic - we got off the interstate as soon as we could and took the back way US-27 to SR-17 to County roads that only the GPS knew about. On the way we saw lots of orange and grapefruit groves and the University of Florida’s Citrus Research Center crec.ifas.ufl.edu and decided to pull in and ask a few tourist-y questions. The receptionist there was MOST helpful and directed us to a good working orchard. Her directions were precise and colorful. During this drive it became abundantly clear that the primary crop being grown in central Florida is HOUSES! We saw a whole grove of orange trees that had only recently been pulled out of the ground and was waiting for disposal. I guess these were the seeds one plants to grow the tract houses that will grow there in a few weeks…

On the other side of the coin - the growers that the receptionist sent us to “true to life” authentic. Calloused hands, open smiles, genuine hospitality, friendly dogs - The Greens run a nice little citrus stand out of their house in the middle of the grove. We do not push any product/service we happen upon for fees of any kind, but, in case you want good citrus - see them at 10 Webb Road, Winter Haven, FL 33881 - (863) 324-2833. They seem to always give you the “best of the litter” because that the way they are and the way they think it should be all the time for everyone. Thanks Kay and Wilton - hold out against the developers across the fence as long as you can.

On the way to the Greens our instructions mentioned a Bar-B-Q stand. We saw it and upon leaving the grove decided to have lunch there. Brock’s Smoke Hut was part of Dennis’ enterprises that included Critter Creek Farm & Garden Store. During our introduction, Dennis said that although he owned the store and stand, in reality they owned/ran him. In addition to good food, the Bar-B-Q stand held a surprise - a nice garden along side the Farm & Garden Store. Again, not a plug, just to prove we really were there - Brock’s Smoke Hut, SR 542 at Country Club Road, Winter Haven, FL.

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As is our perogative, we decided to execute the road trip in a NON-sequential order. We are going straight to Florida without passing GO or collecting $200. It snowed heavily on us as we passed from mid-Connecticut to lower New York state. By we time we got to our 2nd stop (Teaneck, NJ) the roads were a mess; we saw a pretty bad accident; I had thoroughly tested the anti-lock brakes; our pristene clean SUV was caked with salty, dirty, frozen slush; and all the news outlets were talking about school closings and flight cancellations. Soooo….. We invoked clause #2 in the road trip hand book “We DON’T have to do anything we don’t want to do when we don’t want to do it!” Thus we are flying to Orlando and will hang out at Disney World, Universal Studios, visit Clermont and then onto Port Charlotte, Ft. Myers, Captiva Island, Bonita Springs, Punta Gorda, and a few other places in between. until this mess stops! If there is some place near these that we must see - let us know!

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After all of my reluctance, I am very excited about finally leaving for the trip. I have learned so much in the past three weeks about blogs, desktop editing, video editing, and setting aspirational but achievable goals. Now I need a vacation. :0)

As super shout-out to BeverlyD. ,Della C., Sandy T., Victoria S., Rohan S., Liz H., and David H. for their fantastic interviews and for helping us launch. Many thanks to Donna Russell for all of her creative support, Len Martinez for his logo design work, Sharon Kohn for legal advice, Joel Fliegel for the original idea for the road trip and to our adventuresome daughter, Courtney, for the great idea for this blog.

Now off to Reins!

PS the spell check on this blog doesn’t work. So if there are any error sit’s not that I over looked them, I’m just a lousy speller.

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The Road Trip is officially ON!!! Now that we’ve learned how to take interviews, process video, create websites (as video servers), post blogs (even in bulk), we are about to get under way…

First stop Reins Deli in Connecticut a - must stop - must get extra lean pastrami sanwiches - avoid coffee institution that we ran across YEARS ago.

This was the mid-way (not quite middle) stopping point all those years we drove between Ridgewood, New Jersey and Malden/Boston.

We’ll see if the food is still as good in the mouth as it is in the memory…

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This young man seems destined for success. On track for two advanced degrees from MIT this spring, his talents will pay dividends.

Biography | Advice to Children | Biggest Aggravation | I’m NOT My Parents | College Experiences | Hillary or Obama | My Personality | The Media | My Greatest Obstacle | Offshoring | Parenting | Student Awareness | Personal Philosophy | Presidential Race | Role Models | Reality TV | Taxes | Sound Off | U.S. Culture | If I Had…

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If you ask David H. what his favorite dessert was, he’d say GOLF! I suspect that he’d make a whole meal of it if allowed. By any and all measures David is one hell of a man. He has done with applomb what only few can attempt or contemplate.

Biography | Health Care | Advice to Children | I’m NOT My Parents | Off-shoring | Parenting | Education Quality | No-Can-Do for the N-Word | My Philosophy | My Biggest Obstacle | Back in the Day & Now | In My Spare Time | Presidential Race | Cross Cultural Relations | Today’s Problems | Women’s Progress | Sound Off | President Bush!!! | If I Had… | What I Really Want | He/She Is GOOD

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One of the perks of getting to be over 50 is that people will forgive you going on a rant about things. After all, by that time, you had better start getting some of that stuff out or you’ll become a REAL cantankerous curmudgeon! Catch my sporadic (but frequent) ravings and let me know how you feel about them. I’ll always hear what you say and maybe I might even listen…

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Two kids, a husband, two dogs, a business, this lady is running flat-out all the time!
Biography | Advice to Children | Biggest Aggravation | I’m NOT My Parents | Parenting | Education Quality | No-Can-Do for the N-Word | Mentoring | What Makes Me… | People See Me As… | Optimism | Social Progress | Back in the Day & Now | In My Spare Time | Impressive People | Presidential Race | Cross Cultural Relations | Today’s Problems | Women’s Progress | Sound Off | President Bush!!! | If I Had… | He/She Is GOOD

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Sandy T. the administrative core and “Mom-in-Residence” at a univerisity in Cambridge, MA.
The mission of her group is to actually create new recruits for the university to admit.  Sandy is truly one of the kind and goods souls that sustains and nourishes many others.  This is what she had to say to us…
Biography | Advice to Children | Biggest Aggravation | I’m NOT My Parents | Parenting | Education Quality | College Students | What Makes Me… | People See Me As… | My Greatest Obstacle | College Affordability | Back in the Day & Now | In My Spare Time | Presidential Race | Cross Cultural Relations | Today’s Problems | Sound Off | President Bush!!! | If I Had… | I Wish…

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