Florida

Brief notes on last week's trip to Florida:

The Sprint Nextel corporation/conglomerate is terrifying. Massive. Bigger than cocky, almost.. zeitgeist. I was reminded of the first scene in Star Wars, where the Imperial Cruiser rolls over the top of you. Or surfing in too big of waves. Or, better, trying to surf in too big of waves but spending most of your time ducking into them and wearing yourself out.

That said, we're also going places together. Like the little fish that keep the teeth of sharks clean. We need each other. Sort of.

After the Sprint conference, I spent another day in the swanky conference resort. $30 bought me a Killians and a Makers and the opportunity to sit at a bar reading a book on business strategy among the flirting grow'd up frat boys and prim ladies in biz caz. I went for walks around the infinity pool and along the beach. I decided that I needed to find a real bar with bonafide human beings and decided to walk north during what would, in Seattle, have been a typically overcast evening. Of course, in Florida that means that a tropical storm was coming, so I trudged through drenching warm horizontal rain until I found a shelter. I'd been told that storms here were short lived. All I know is I got though two more chapters and my jacket had almost dried before I was able to resume my quest. I rolled into one of the Great Bars around 7:30pm and proceeded to drink myself silly amid classic country songs and surfboards. I survived Hurricane Pathetic.

The next day I drove up to the Ocala National Forest and went horseback riding with my friend Jen. I'm not one to toot my own horn ungoaded, but this experiment verified my suspicion that I am an extremely naturally gifted horseman. I managed to retain my relatively balanced position on the saddle even at a full canter and even managed to coax the beast generally into the direction I intended. Normally not one to raise my voice, I regardless emulated our guide and barked, "Ghost! Walkalong!" as if I were a gifted programmer dev-testing a the last few lines of code in a massive software project. I mounted and dismounted like a man who has seen it done by the very best in movies. I rode like the breeze.