New Video of Fully Furnished Apartment

Monday Dec. 1, awoke to breakfast of a grapefruit, oatmeal, and coffee. Scott, the maintenance man, arrived about 8:30 and worked on the toilet, although I still don't think it's completely fixed. At least the inlet valve comes on less often now. More importantly, he replaced the two torn screen panels on the lanai, so no more duct tape and I can relax about letting Abby out there to enjoy the outside, which she does ... very much!

At about 9 a.m. Wallace and his dad arrived to deliver the furniture I bought Sunday, which included the coffee table, nightstand, and table/chairs for the lanai. Here is the "after" video of the apartment:

Sorry if you are not able to play it. You need a fairly new version of both your browser software and Flashplayer. I'm not putting the link to "A-Drive" this time, because a couple people said they experienced unwanted software being downloaded to their computer when they clicked on the link. So if you can play the video, fine. If not, I apologize.

I went outside this morning to find both of my bike tires fairly flat, so it appears they were not sealed properly. I went to Harbor Freight and invested in a cheap tire pump and will just have to remember to inflate the tires once per week. There is a bike shop just around the corner on McGregor, but I don't know that I want to invest the money. We'll see how it goes.

For dinner, I was hungry for a steak, so I returned to "Stillwater," where Heather (former landlord) and I had met for snacks and drinks earlier. They have a nice steak section on their menu, so I got a 16 ounce ribeye prepared medium rare with garlic mashed potatoes, and a cold draft. All very yummy.

I have signed up for an outing this Saturday with the "Over 40 Singles and Couples" group within meetup dot com. This Saturday, it's an 11-piece R&B band called "Alter Ego" and again the venue is Cadillac Jacks. I listened to some sample tracks, and they sound great. I guess I created quite a stir on the group's discussion board when I asked whether "snowbirds" were welcome to join the group, or if it was for locals only. I did this because one of the members made a rather snide remark that the "snowbirds were back" and crowding up the joint last Saturday night, and he made the suggestion that the group should put these club outings on hold until April, when hopefully the snowbirds would go away. So I made the inquiry and basically said that I didn't want to intrude if snowbirds weren't welcome in the group. Well, you should have seen the ruckus that ensued. Basically, the group told this malcontent to shut the hell up, and that snowbirds were welcome and in fact most of the group members were snowbirds themselves once upon a time! So anyway, it appears I am welcome, and come Saturday night I will once again don my one good outfit and head out to the club! (Amy, yes, I hear you. I will have to go shopping for at least one other nice outfit!)

It's Tuesday and my plan is head over to Manatee Park and see if the manatees are congregating today. It's kind of hit or miss, and I'm told the major factor is weather. The manatees seem to gather more in this small inlet when the weather/water is colder, because the discharge from the nearby power plant warms the water in the inlet. As the weather and water get warmer, there really is no incentive for the manatees to congregate, and they're just as likely to head into open water. So we'll see.

Later,

Bruce