A Week's Worth of Ramblin'

I must admit, it feels quite odd to not have blogged for over a week but what an odd week it has been. I experienced the worst of disasters last Thursday - a hard drive meltdown. My somewhat trusty laptop which follows me everywhere, whether in briefcase, backpack, or Harley saddlebag finally bit the dust. After spending a very frustrating Friday morning attempting to fix the thing myself, I broke down and logged onto Dell customer support and much to my surprise realized my computer was still under warranty for another 435 days. I believe that's the first time in my life that I've benefited from the extended warranty. At 5:30 AM Eastern time, the Dell online chat support was still snoozing so I attempted the 1-800 number and astonishingly found a live human on the other end; and not only live but a pleasant English speaking female. Apparently the tech support line to India had not yet opened. Miss Friendly Tech asked me to run some tests and, after several minutes of sitting on hold, informed me that my hard drive died. Dell offers great support and she advised me that a new "blank" one would ship FedEx that same day.

Dejected I left for work only to find myself severely handicapped without my electronic companion. I managed to fire up an antiquated machine and downloaded emails which enabled me to send out a few quotes but it was not a productive day. I left early and attended the 50th anniversary celebration of Garden Street Iron and Metal. The catered event provided excellent food, free beverages of any type, and an armful of souvenirs including a cap, cooler, t-shirt, and water bottle. Owner Earl stood all night like a beaming proud parent!


After a good night's sleep, I awakened and headed to Daytona Beach on the mother ship of touring bikes, the 2007 Patriot edition Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic.


While travelling through Florida I noticed a disproportionate number of McCain to Obama yard signs. For weeks, the liberal media had informed me that our beloved red state was turning blue. Just that morning, NBC news announced that Florida was up for grabs and Barack Obama had gained serious ground. But I noticed none of that during the ride from Fort Myers through LaBelle and Okeechobee, then up to Fort Pierce and Vero Beach and north on A1A through Satellite Beach, Cocoa and finally Daytona. I observed 30 to 40 McCain yard signs for every one of Obama's. Possible the elitist Obamites are too proud to stain their yard with a simple corrugated step-stake sign.

Daytona proved once again to be a wonderfully lively spot for the annual Biketoberfest event. Please view below a sampling filmed by yours truly of the oddities both on foot and wheel cruising Main Street Saturday night.



The following morning, I one again mounted my trusty steel steed and headed east on I-4 toward Tampa for the Sunday night match up between The Seahawks and the Buccaneers and to meet my wife in Ybor City.

I felt honored to have an opportunity to attend that game since most of the night was spent as a tribute to recently retired fullback and future Hall-of-Famer Mike Alstott. Mike attended with his entire family and humbly received from the Glazer family the jerseys worn during both his first and last games. Funny how the jersey from his first game mistakenly spelled his name "Alsott". Jeff Garcia stole the show completing 26 of 37 passes for 310 yards including a 47 yard touchdown throw to Antonio Bryant to propel the Bucs past the Hawks 20 to 10.

A late Sunday night game meant sleeping over at the Hampton in Ybor City and heading to Fort Myers Monday morning. Sun burnt and wind weathered I arrived at work in Fort Myers to pleasantly find my new hard drive sitting on my desk. That night I figured out how to replace the bad one and after several days of installing drivers and software, I'm finally back in business!