Disney - Part 2

Still here in Orlando. Just got back from the airport from dropping off Mrs. Charlie Lee and the little one for their trip home. I'm here till Sunday for the remainder of the Bankruptcy Conference. Mrs. Charlie Lee was looking forward to going home - the only vegetable that we have seen since we've been at the hotel is tomatoes. Abby did great, except for the part where she's supposed to sit still while we eat. Thank God for room service.

Central Florida is freaking hot and humid. Enough said.

It rains every day at about 4:30 p.m. for about 15 minutes, at which point the outdoors becomes a sauna. Nice. Central Florida in the middle of July - who'd a thunk it????

Ritz crackers has a new snack called Ritz Chips - they rock.

I want to give a shout out to our waiter, Tony, from New York at Sunset Sam's here at the Gaylord Palms Hotel. He suggested a Rum Punch that Mrs. Charlie Lee found quite tasty, especially after the second one. Keep fighting the fight, Tony. The proletariat will overcome. Trotsky rules.

Tonight I'm on my own with Mike, Wendy, Kathy and maybe the bossman and his lady. Good thing they have their attorney with them at all times.

The Gaylord Palms is pretty nice. It's pricey, about $200 per night. There are a couple of restaurants here. There are 2 pools - 1 for all ages, and the other is 18 and older. There is a huge atrium in the middle, with walking paths, and live alligators. They feed the gators on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. I've missed it so far. I'm taking my video camera down there on Saturday night to get some film of the feeding frenzy. Sorry animal lovers.

Our room is on one of the walls facing the atrium, and it has a balcony, which you can walk out on and sit. It's nice, but it is really, really loud until about 11:30 each night. Fortunately, Abby was really, really, really tired every night by 9:00, so sleeping has not been a problem.

I give the hotel 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5. The price is high, but it's vacation, dammit, so I don't care.

Blogging on vacation is cool. Peace.

Disney Update

The family and I are at Gaylord Palms in Orlando. We've been here since Sunday. We did Disney - details to follow. Right now my darling little daughter is taking apart the in-room fridge. She's quite mechanically inclined. We went to Cocoa Beach today. We were going to watch the shuttle go up, but the launched was given the KO by NASCAR, I mean NASA.

Gotta go - the daughter is cleaning out the fridge.

I'm out.

Quote of the Day

Don't forget - Two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong.
- Mark Knopfler - Dire Straits

Competitive Hot Dog eating

My boy Kobayashi won his 5th straight July 4th hot dog eating contest today. Dude ate 49 wieners in 12 minutes, down from last year's total of 53 1/2. I'm glad that he won, and I always like watching a professional at the top of his game, but....he is slipping slightly.

I hope he hangs it up and retires at the right time, on top of his game. I don't want to see him hang around past his prime, just eating 20 or 25 hot dogs in one sitting, like Willie Mays embarrassingly chasing fly balls in his last year in 1973 as a New York Met. He should retire now, as the 5 time champ.

Late Night NASCAR

Memo to NASCAR. I heard you had a race Saturday night at Daytona. It ended at 1:50 a.m. EST. I'm getting too old to stay up that late to watch TV. I was half asleep on the couch as "Fat Boy", Tony Stewart, took the checkered flag. I feel sorry for those fans at the Speedway. They probably didn't get out of the parking lot until after 4:00 a.m. The race didn't start till after 10:30 p.m. They should have called it and ran it on Sunday night instead in prime time - it's not like there is anything worth watching on NBC otherwise.

Random Sports Observations

- Kenny Rogers (the pitcher, not the singer) is an idiot. 20 games isn't even close to a long enough suspension for him. Commissioner should have gone Ron Artest on him and suspended him till 2006.
- Somebody tell Terrell Owens to just shut up and just play football.
- Lance Armstrong will win Tour De Frog #7. All of his naysayers put him down, they drug test the boy about 5 times a day (and he always comes up clean), he beat CANCER for crying out loud, too. I think he can do a little thing like win that bike race on the other side of the pond.
- And I like Mikey Waltrip this weekend in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona. Dale Jr. finds another way to implode/blow up and totally takes himself out of the NASCAR Chase.