Florida Sucks, But It's Also Great!

Wow, it feels like I've been gone forever. Some of you probably thought I was, though I'm sure many more didn't even notice. Anyway, my lack of posting was a direct result of being away from home. Where was I you ask? In Florida, freezing my butt off of course! Goose was playing in the Disney Soccer Showcase in Orlando, so we left TX at 6am on Christmas day and drove all the way to Florida for the tournament. I wasn't too keen on having to leave on Christmas day and I sure didn't want to think of all the money we were going to spend on gas, hotel, food and whatever else. So I guess you could say I was really pissed when this happened.

Yeah, one hour after arriving in Orlando on my way back to the hotel from the most congested Wal-mart ever and wham! I was one lane from being safely in the hotel parking lot. Traffic around Disney the week after Christmas sucks big time. The worst part was, it was actually my fault for turning in front of another car. The traffic was just so ridiculous! The 2 lanes I was crossing had never ending traffic backed up for miles so when the drivers of both lanes stopped and waved me through the gap I went. Problem was, there were 3 lanes (which I somehow missed. I would have bet a million bucks there were only 2!) and the 3rd driver wasn't really letting me through. So yeah, the trip is off to a good start.

Then comes the soccer part. Now I love to watch Goose play, but I'd just as soon do it in TX as Florida. There, it's always been free, but nooooo, Mickey's gotta make some money somehow. Might as well be off of the parents who drive their kids halfway across the country to play. Wanna know how much it cost to get me, Mrs. Big D and Baby Peas into the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for ONE of Goose's games. 37 FREAKING DOLLARS!!! The only reason we didn't have to pay that 2 days in a row was because one night his team played the last game of the day so we snuck in after the box office closed and went in without paying. Man what a racket! At least Goose's team did well, though you'd never know it by this picture.

He's actually got a Silver medal around his neck, but he looks like he's the one who just wrecked the car. What can I say, he's extremely competitive. (The first and actually only time I ever heard him cuss, he was three and playing Memory. He flipped over 2 cards that didn't match and let out a SHIT! At least he used it in context.)

So the trip was somewhat good and quite a bit bad and I'm not looking forward to going back to Florida anytime soon. (Though I will have to go fetch the Dodge once the repairs have been made.) After arriving home and checking my mailbox, however, my opinion of Florida got a little brighter. That's because there was a package from the Troll inside. I had made some custom cards of Troll's wife, Esther Gin & Juice, so that he could give them out as stocking stuffers for Christmas. This package was my reward and what a good one it was. Check it out!

Mrs. Troll sent me a thank you package consisting of a program for one of their roller derby matches, a team magnet and what do you know! My own custom coming right back at me but new and improved. My very first TTM custom auto of Esther Gin & Juice herself. In silver sharpie even! It's totally awesome and makes it one of the coolest cards in my collection. That's not all though. She also threw in this...

a rookie card of one of my all time favorite baseball players Tony Gwynn. I didn't have this card yet, so it was a great surprise too! Maybe Florida isn't so bad after all. At least I know I've got a few friends there. Thanks for the great gifts guys, this was a really fun trade. Later.