Things You (Won't) Find On The Internet

And A Day Off On My Birthday...


As you probably noticed, I didn't write anything yesterday. It turns out that I also ended up not reading much on the Internet either.

In spite of it being a red letter day on my personal calendar, after much consideration and little fan fair, it was only at the last minute that I decided what I was going to do yesterday on my birthday. It was basically by default.

I still had a great time, however, because I live on an island, and thus I'm already where many people want to go on vacation. I sometimes have to remind myself of that fact, but not often.

Any way, besides smoking three killer cigars, my day consisted of sleeping late, having a late lunch at the Sea Palms Country Club, then lounging by the pool at our old condo for a couple of hours sipping cheep light beer--enjoying the company of Pat and Missy the Turbo Pup.

The weather finally broke for us, and I wasn't about to waste the breezy clear sky's and high eighty degree temperatures sitting inside, working on construction, or even blogging.

Dinner consisted of a wonderful slab of pork tenderloin, grilled to about 150 degrees F inside, and a couple of ears of sweet ripe yellow corn roasted to death in the oven.

After dozing on the sofa while watching Clemson beat Florida State in football, I capped things off by smoking the third cigar while doing a midnight bike ride covering five or six miles looping around the south end of the island and stopping to look at the lighthouse and stare at the beach for a few minutes, contemplating what is quickly becoming a half century residing on our lovely planet.

I don't think of myself as old yet...just "experienced."

In my first forty-eight years I've done some stuff that most people have never accomplished, some of which people usually try not to do.

For instance, have you ever:

Survived plugging a bobby pin into an electric outlet?

Won third place in the Soap Box Derby?

Built a balsa wood gasoline powered model airplane from scratch that flew away out of sight?

Played a trumpet solo, standing in the middle of a football field, in front of six thousand people?

Walked outside in the eye of a hurricane to use a chain saw to cut the trees off your parent's house and cars?

Took off and landed in a helicopter on an aircraft carrier? Flown a helicopter with an instructor pilot?

Helped dig bus passenger victims out of the mud from a landslide in the Philippines?

Been to Alaska?

Received a ticket for driving 110 MPH in a 55 MPH zone?

Had a shotgun pumped in your back and the barrel of a pistol broken off on your head in a robbery?

Took off and landed solo in an airplane? At more than one airport?

Driven a power boat 20 miles off shore, out of sight of land, and returned to the marina on time and without having to call the Coast Guard or appear on CNN?

Built over 400 industrial smoke stacks, and the process climbed a ladder 200' tall; or been lifted by a crane 250' into the air in a metal basket?

Designed and built your own house?

Attended a bowl game where your college football team won the NCAA Division I national championship?

Made a million dollars?

Lost a million and one half dollars?

Seen the smile on the face of a new homeowner when they get the keys for their new Habitat for Humanity house?

Survived having your house burn down?

Lived on the beach on the Gulf of Mexico?

Water skied in Montego Bay Jamaica?

Lived on a boat?

Lived on a Barrier Island?

Drank a beer with Travis Tritt?

Played the part of an insane guy in a mental institute? Or designed and built the set for a play?

Played harmonica on stage with Blues guitarist Theodis Ealy?

Written a Blog?

No?

Well, get busy then.

I've got to go now and try to think up some more stuff to do over the next 48 years...

UPDATED...

I almost forgot to mention these antics:

Taking off and landing from the water in a 1948 Grumman "Goose" seaplane on my way from Ft. Lauderdale to Walker's Cay Bahamas.

Scuba diving to the bottom 120' below the surface of the sea on the same trip.

Scuba diving with over 100 sharks (bulls, black tips, Nurse, Caribbean reef) and a bunch of other stuff with teeth on two different one hour dives on the same trip in 1997.