I was reading Whit's blog about Benjamin Franklin and some of his quotes. After reading his post, I made a comment about how I would have loved to have met Benjamin Franklin. Which led me to thinking,
"Who else would I have loved to have met?" And so I am asking you, is there someone from the past that you would have liked to meet. To ask that person questions about what they did. And why they did it?

I will get the ball rolling. I am hosting a dinner party, and I am inviting ten guests. All ten guests are historic figures. They can be political, literature, art, science, etc.
Here are my ten guests:

1.) Benjamin Franklin
2.) Abraham Lincoln
3.) Theodore Roosevelt
4.) Franklin Roosevelt
5.) Norman Rockwell
6.) Katherine Hepburn
7.) Dorothy Fulheim
8.) Alfred Hitchcock
9.) Albert Einstein
10.)Marilyn Monroe

Now, what is your list?

Here I am at the apartment on a Sunday morning hanging at the apartment before I go to work at the theme park. Have to pay the bills, thanks to George, Dick, and Buddy. A few thoughts before I go.

Don't you just hate it when you misplace something around the home, knowing that it is around here somewhere,but you just can't find it.

After I got off of work last night, I turned on the television to the Live Earth concert. And it seemed like I either got a commercial, or someone being interviewed.

I was watching the American Film Institute list of the Top 100 films a few weeks ago. In case you are wondering, Citizen Kane was voted the best film of all time. I noticed, however, throughout the list, that several films were directed by a few particular directors, such as John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, and a few others that I have not mentioned. No wonder why several of my personal favorites were directed by these guys.

Why is it that when you are driving to work, there is always that one traffic light that turns red when you approach?

Where did Rachel Ray come from? I mean, did this woman come out of nowhere, or what?

Speaking of women, I want to see more of Ivonna Cadaver. In case you are wondering, she hosts a television show featuring horror films from the 1960s-1970s. If you have seen her, you know what I mean. An Elvira for the 21st century.

Well, it's that time to get ready for work. The breakfast dishes need to be washed, as well as a few other things before I go. Have a great Sunday, and I'll drop in on your blog soon.

And to Raspberrytoast: Keep Jamming!

Here it is, the day after the Fourth of July holiday, and back to work. Anyway, I hope that you all had a great holiday, and that you had good weather to enjoy it in. It was overcast all day here in Orlando, so I did not make the trip to my friend Ron's place.

I had a few things to do on Tuesday, so getting off early from work was nice. This allowed me to get a few chores done before the holiday. So no sooner do I get to the laundromat and put my clothes in the wash, it starts to rain. And rain hard. Lightening. Thunder.

Did someone piss off Thor?

Anyway, it is not as bad as to what has been happening in Texas and Oklahoma. I really feel sorry for the people who have lost property due to flood waters.

Yesterday was overcast, so I stayed in town and hung out at the pool. It may be cloudy, but it is still hot and humid. And that water in the pool was nice and cool. Even cooler with a cold beer. Several of my neighbors brought out barbecue grills and cooked out. I had a large package of hot dogs, so I brought those out and grilled those. That way, if anyone wanted some, they could help themselves.

It finally rained around 7:00 p.m., so everyone packed everything up and called it a day. The rain finally let up at dusk, so several neighbors lit fireworks off. Let's just say that it there was a haze of smoke around the apartment grounds.

I finally came in after 10:00 and got on the computer, only to become sleepy and retire shortly after 11:00 p.m. It was a good day. As far as work was concerned, I didn't do anything with the exception of a few chores around the apartment. It was a good day to visit with friends and neighbors. And even with people that you don't know.

"Here, try this."

"Would you like something to eat?"

"Watermelon?"

"Who wants an ice cream bar?"

"Want to try a shot of Puerto Rican rum?"

"That buffalo wing sauce isn't that hot. Is it?"

That alarm clock felt like it went off really early this morning. But it was worth it. Too bad that we have to wait until another holiday to do it again.

I just finished watching the Cleveland Indians beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 10-2. As much as I like the Devil Rays, I have to root for my hometown team. Go Tribe! Now all I need to do is get some Cleveland Stadium Mustard.

I am really looking forward to the Fourth of July holiday. It will be the first day I have had off since Memorial Day. It will be nice to just take it easy. I have plans to go visit my friend Ron in Astor, but the weather forecast calls for rain tomorrow and Wednesday. If the weather is bad, I may just stay in Orlando and do some things around the apartment.

The City of Orlando has a fireworks display at Lake Eola every Fourth of July holiday. Lake Eola is a park in Downtown Orlando. It always attracts a lot of people. The City of Sanford will also have a fireworks display at Fort Mellon Park at Lake Monroe. Their fireworks display also attracts a lot of people. I have not gone to see the fireworks the last few years, with the traffic congestion and the parking problems that large amounts of spectators cause.

Last year, my friend Ron and me took his boat out to the St. Johns River and went to Lake George. There were several other boaters out on the water, so we anchored at a distance and started up the grill and brought out the cooler. No sooner as we got the grill going and the ribs cooking, a damn alligator shows up. It was like as if he heard the words "ribs" and "beer" and decided to see if he could crash the party. So here we are, with a boat anchored in water three foot deep, wading in the water with a beer in our hand as an alligator swims by. Albeit at a distance of about fifty feet. Sure as hell don't see that in Lake Erie!

If the alligator is in the wild, chances are they will not bother you. The only time an alligator becomes a problem is when they lose their fear of human beings. Many people do the mistake of feeding alligators. Then the alligators associate people with food. So that causes a problem. During mating season, alligators will go to another body of water looking for some strange, er,...I mean a mate. When that happens, the emergency services such as animal control, the police, and the fire department, will get phone calls from someone who has an alligator in their yard. It happened to my friend's parents over a year ago.

Imagine going out in your yard and seeing a six foot alligator in your backyard pool.

Anyway, I am going to try to see my friend Ron for the holiday. And maybe we will take the boat out and cook some steaks and drink a few beers. And wait to see if we have another uninvited dinner guest.

It's not getting my steak. And it sure is hell not getting any of my beer.

After I had finished my post while on break at work yesterday, I decided to finish my shift by doing some work that needed to be done outside. As I walked around the grounds of the neighborhood center, I noticed dark clouds coming in. That is usually a good indication that it is going to rain. Seeing that it will soon rain, I decided to take down the flag.

Our flag pole is out front of our neighborhood center, and is near the parking lot. As I walked up to the flag pole, I noticed a man standing near. I figured that he was a parent of one of the children in our summer camp.

As I began to take the flag down, he said, "Excuse me...", and then proceeded to tell me that his Ford Excursion is about out of gas and if he could borrow a few dollars.

Excuse me?!

If I remember correctly, when the Ford Excursion was brought out in 1999, it had a base price of $34,000. That is not including options, which would bring the price up to anywhere from $37,000 to well over $40,000.

Now let me get this straight. You are driving a vehicle that costs around $40,000. So that means that you must be making twice as much money as I am. And you want me to give you a few dollars for gas?

I think you know what my answer was.