Hertzler’s Outpost

The 7 Of Us Before Starting Out

Included in the tuition for our motorcycle class was a free one-day Harley rental. Today was the day, and I am now completely ruined. Even though they’re way overpriced, Harley V-Rods ($19k) are really cool bikes and I REALLY NEED one now. I used to think our recently acquired Escort had good acceleration, but after dropping off the bikes tonight and driving it home, I was wondering why it felt like a school bus by comparison. It’s a good thing I have no money for such things, otherwise Harley Davidson would have it now.

Seven of us started out the day riding together and headed northeast on the back roads toward the coast. After lunch in Osteen three of the group headed home while the remaining four of us continued on to put our feet in the ocean at Harley Mecca, Daytona Beach.

Riding a motorcycle with no windshield at, let’s say, “highway speeds” is not unlike holding on to the side of airplane in flight. Pretty fun, but the faster you go the harder it is to hold on. That V-Rod’s 125 horsepower was smooth all the way through the gears and really easy to ride, other than the wind.

None of us had any close calls during the day either, but ironically I almost got hit twice (by cars) in the Harley Davidson store parking lot as I was pulling the bike around to park it at the end of the day.

This was certainly one of the funnest days I have ever had, and I’m hoping it won’t be the last of its kind.

Yesterday I borrowed a friend’s motorcycle and did some more learning-driving. He has a Kawasaki Concours (an older model), and it had plenty of power. After a few trips across the CCCI Lake Hart campus, I ventured out south down Moss Park Road and around Lake Mary Jane. Really fun. On the way back I opened it up on the straightaway to several miles an hour over 55. It rode as smooth at that speed as it did at 35.

About ten minutes after I wrote my last post about being able to work like normal, they called my number. Seven hours later at the end of the day I was seated on a jery (mispelling intentional to prevent searches being associated with my name). This means I must be incommunicado until it’s done.

But here’s my observation on EVERYONE who commented about my jery duty. No one wants to do it, and everyone seemed to have an angle for getting out of it. As I went through the process myself, though, it developed more into an act of God. That is, responding truthfully to each stage of questioning resulted in the outcome I now must live with (being seated on a jery). Had I put an angle on it, I may have found an excuse, but I couldn’t do it with a clear conscience.

So now my American Government class will become more than just book knowledge.

Here I sit at the Orange County Courthouse doing my civic responsibility of jery duty (mispelling intentional). More than 300 people showed up mostly AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE today to provide a pool of jery candidates. The suspects we are to try may have stolen $500 of merchandise from a store (I have no idea which trials are on the docket this is just an example), but I guarantee you the value of what he/she stole from the rest of the county in lost work hours is far more. I was initially happy to serve my jery duty, but now that I see what this costs, I sure hope this is something more grave like a merder trial.

Meanwhile, I can keep working today as though nothing but my immediate surrounds were different. They called out a group of about 100 people already and marched them off for duty, and the remaining 200 of us wait like prisoners for our next instructions.

[After getting some instructions, let me clarify that nothing above constitutes the expression of an opinion based on any information about any trial. I have no knowledge of any detail of any trial on the dockets today. I could have written the above comment last night. I wouldn't want this whole batch of people dismissed because I expressed an opinion.]

Block Party BBQ

Easily one of the most enjoyable things we’ve done since moving back to our old house in Orlando was the block party we had tonight with our neighbors. Of the 15 houses on our cul-de-sac, we had 26 people join us for a barbecue and bring-whatever meal. Many of our neighbors met each other for the first time, and we all got to know each other better than before. Most of the families on our court have lived outside the U.S. at one time or another, so we have more in common with each other than just our current residence.

Jerry Surfing

After four trips to the beach in unsuccessful attempts, I finally stood up on a surfboard and rode a wave today. Check that one off the list.

Today was Jim’s (younger brother) first attempt, and he had it on his fourth try.

Yes, Orlando in the winter has its advantages. Surfing the day after Christmas is one of them.

Tonight the results of the exit poll is clear one week after the vote; I won the election by a landslide. The vote was split 25% - 30% - 45% with the Hertzler campaign taking 45%. My platform was “I can see things from your perspective.” I borrowed that from Bill Clinton’s “I feel your pain” speech.

The election I won was to our neighborhood homeowner’s association committee. No one had previously volunteered, so I stepped up to the plate. 45% was actually just 9 votes; see the humor? And we are just one of many neighborhoods in our larger subdivision which has a total of about 60 such representatives.

My neighbor says he’ll start calling me mayor of the street.

Sandhill Cranes In Our Backyard

These two adult sandhill cranes (red caps) picked off a helpless baby snake from our yard this morning for their baby crane. From the picture you can see why these birds exist in plentiful numbers here in Central Florida. They aren’t intimidated by suburbia in the least, let alone a snake.

Everyone hates snakes which makes me like them more. I had one as a pet when I was a kid, so they have my sympathy and protection. The cranes have just lost both. (Yes, I know it’s the natural order of things. I’m just trying to keep the tabloid interesting here.)

I took two things out the back door when I took this picture; my camera and the dog. Rather than fly away like most backyard animals, they turned and gave me and the dog the once-over. Annie was even barking at them, but they didn’t flinch. I suppose if I had a beak like theirs I would think it might be fun sport to jab it into a yappy little dog like Annie. Especially after devouring a snake.

The Green Pond

Yesterday the retention pond behind our house turned a teal shade of green. It looks like the liquid in portable toilets. My guess is that the neighborhood association added weed killer - in enormous amounts. So far the fish have not died, so maybe it’s not quite as toxic as it looks. It takes a lot to really frustrate me, but this succeeded.

Swamp Blackberries

The wild blackberries are ripe now on the fringes of the cypress swamp behind our house. They’re not extremely sweet, but they’re worth fighting the thorns to get them. I like finding things that help me forget I’m buried in the middle of American suburbia.

Snake!

Today was Field Day for Trace Academy, the last day of school. Similar to Field Days at the kids’ school in Budapest, it’s just a party to enjoy the last day. Only Trace’s Field Day is better. Sorry ICSB. Here we rode jet ski’s on a lake in the Florida sun and gorged pizza for lunch. I took the day off and chaperoned. Rough assignment but some of the parents had to do it.

The highlight of the day was when Michael caught this rat snake at the edge of the lake in front of his neighbor’s dock.

School isn’t quite out for Andrew yet; he has two more days of exams next week. Today he took his first college level exam, and, while we hear that most people in his class fail this exam, if he does pass it counts for college credit. Our fingers are crossed.

Our Fountain
[click to hear it gurgle]

Today when I sat down at my cart it sounded like someone left a faucet running. I knew what it was right away because I have watched the assembly of this fountain in our work area for the last couple weeks, and I have known of its expected arrival for the last nine months. The background noise of this fountain is supposed to make us want to work together near it while at the same time masking the noise of the conversations we have around it. Sort of like a giant water cooler.

This seems like a logical place to put things, though. Like coworkers on their birthday. Or loose change from your pocket. Or staplers from your coworkers desk. Or food coloring. Or dish soap from the kitchen area. Or a flock of rubber ducks. Or goldfish. Or Fluffy.

Fluffy at Lake Hart

Occasionally alligators visit us in the ponds around Campus Crusade for Christ’s Lake Hart campus. Most of them are less than 6′ long, but all of them get named Fluffy. This one showed up today and floated quietly for all the photos I wanted to take of him.

I walked out along the shore to get closer to him, and all the while he kept his eyes on me. As I was walking back, he followed, too. I was amused, so I took more pictures. Then he swam all the way up to the edge of the pond where I was standing and kept staring at me. That’s when I left.

Having Fun at CKC’s Easter Celebration

Tonight our church, Christ Kingdom Church, produced a neighborhood Easter celebration, complete with jump houses and cotton candy. I offered to help setup, and before I knew it I was towing the church trailer behind my van with a load of sound equipment. Backing that trailer into place three different times was quite a challenge.

This little girl is the daughter of our friends and never fails to give me a good picture.

The Pile of Bricks To Move

Cathy and I have had plans for years for what we would do if we ever had a pile of bricks. Our friends recently replaced their brick patio, and they offered to give us all their old bricks for free! It all seemed so easy; just get the bricks from our friends’ house, put them in a pile at our house, and complete our various brick projects at our convenience.

Our old minivan can only haul about a quarter ton each trip, but that wasn’t the limiting factor today. I was. After four trips I was done. Unfortunately the pile of bricks in our friends’ driveway was not done. It was only barely smaller.

I also think we will end up with enough bricks to pave our entire yard. That would certainly cut down on lawn mowing, but it’s not what we had in mind. So I’m going to have to figure out just how many bricks we want and come up with a plan to fulfill my promise to my friend to get all the bricks out of his driveway!

On the left is what one of our brick projects will look like. On the right is the measly, small pile of bricks in our driveway that finished me off today.

Cathy left me today.

She left for a week-long NILD conference in Virginia Beach (National Institute of Learning Disabilities). Throw in some good friends from Budapest who are there, a room with an ocean view, and a meal package, and this is shaping up to be a great week for her. She deserves it, and I’m happy for her. The ongoing education will keep her teaching skills fresh, too.

On the home front things really aren’t bad for me. Andrew and Audrey could take care of me rather than the other way around, if necessary. After the leftover food runs out they might be.

Anyway, this afternoon Andrew came home on his own, did homework, then went skateboarding with some friends in the neighborhood. He was in his element; friends and skateboarding.

Meanwhile, I kept busy at the office until the end of the day. I left Lake Hart and went to retrieve my daughter from our friends’ house. When I got there I found them doing their homework in the sun on the roof!

This is when I began to realize how good my life is here. My whole family is doing things they enjoy, and I didn’t have to work to make it happen. Maybe that’s just being lazy, but it was a nice feeling anyway.

And yes, they had permission to be on the roof.

Blues legend and Grammy winner, Buddy Guy, came to Orlando for a free outdoor concert tonight. It has been a long time since I have been downtown at night, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere. Cathy and I went with friends.

Blues Concert Rocket Launch

The show began with a rocket launch. I’m sure it wasn’t coordinated, but it made for a spectacular beginning anyway; something you would only see in Central Florida.

A few songs into Buddy Guy’s concert he jumped down off stage and walked around with the audience, all while playing his guitar. We were off to one side when he headed over to where we were sitting. This was at least a hundred feet from the stage, but his wireless pickup kept working. I walked next to him while he played as the crowd closed in around him. This was an unbelievable experience.

Buddy Guy Blues Concert

Click here or on the photo to see a video of him playing off stage.

I think tonight was the most interesting thing I’ve seen since moving back to Orlando!

Later update: You can also watch this video on YouTube.com. Click below.

Project24 Community Prayer Gathering

My friend, Scott Puckett, pastor of Christ Kingdom Church, led an interesting initiative this winter with the churches in our area. He organized Project24, a cooperation of the churches in east Orlando, Florida to pray for our community and help meet community needs. The goal is to show the love of Jesus during the Christmas season.

Today there were about eight different community prayer meetings scattered around. This was the one in our neighborhood.

Surf Class

Andrew recruited his friends and youth leader to try surfing, so today there were seven of us on rented foam surfboards. The waves were better, and we all got to stand up on at least a few of them. Compared to last attempt, these waves were easy to navigate. But catching a wave and then standing up while riding it is a lot harder than it looked. This trip gave us progress, but we still have a lot of learning to do. And the water keeps getting colder, so we’ll probably need wetsuits next time.

Learning To Surf

Surf was up this weekend, so Andrew and I tried to learn how to surf. My last experience at this was back in 1991 the day before Hurricane Andrew hit Florida. Conditions were better today, but we both found surfing more than we could master in a day.

The waves look small from the boardwalk. As your feet get wet they begin looking bigger. As you paddle out and bob over the first two footer you realize that four foot wave you saw earlier is bigger than you thought. Finally when you’re on your belly paddling toward a roaring, foam capped, five foot wall of water rushing toward you, it begins to feel like the ocean doesn’t want you to pass. It looked so easy from shore.

By far the hardest part was trying to get these big blue foam boards over the final break of waves. With a smaller, fiberglass board you can push them under the big breaking waves and keep your forward position. The purpose of these big foam boards was to keep 165 pound bodies like mine afloat on top them; no going under. And there is really no going over a five foot breaking wave either without getting pushed back to the point where you began the ascent.

So neither of us got past the point where the big waves were breaking such that we could catch them on the way back in. Instead we caught the smaller waves as they reformed closer to the beach and practiced standing up on the boards from there.

We were both exhausted before our two hour rental period was over.

And we’ll be out there again next chance we get!

Hertzlers at Cocoa Beach

Today was part of Andrew and Audrey’s fall break from school, so I took a vacation day, and we headed to the ocean. In the four months we have been back in Florida, this was our first trip there. We went with friends from church and had a great time. (We missed you Seelys!)

Cathy remembered what we did on this fall break three years ago; we went to Slovenia. Only the weather and conditions were quite different; snow and mountains. We went with friends and originally planned to camp until we heard about all the snow. It turned into one of our all-time best family trips.

Hertzlers in Slovenia, Oct. 2003

Hertzlers, Rodds, Parkers, Burroughs

Jack and Diane Parker are in town, so we got them up to the house along with two other couples who moved from Budapest to Orlando this summer. There is a unique experience we all share, living in Budapest, which makes our friendship in this context extra meaningful. Only this group would appreciate one of our prized possessions from Budapest; a menu from the Adler. We’re all making adjustments to our new lives, and it was good to dump those things out around friends who were in the same process. We miss Budapest, but it’s nice to have some of Budapest here with us, too.

The Bloggers’ Party

Grant (and Amy) called the party at High Tide Harry’s tonight, and we all had a great time. It didn’t take long for us to agree that we missed Rob and Patricia but didn’t feel sorry for them one bit. (Vancouver beats Hwy 50 and Semoran Blvd.)

Andrew and Virginia we met for the first time. We hadn’t even read their blogs, but we found out that Virginia will soon be our working neighbor over at Wycliffe, and Andrew is doing something both Cathy and I envy; going to a school of design. They moved to Orlando this summer and are in the discovery mode and seem to be doing quite well at it, too.

Paul and Cathy kept us entertained with stories from Warrior, Alabama where Paul was a band director. They said it probably wouldn’t rank high in the list of most desirable cities in the U.S., but it is apparantly so far off that list it sounds compelling. And yes, we discussed the post. [And I made sure the apostrophe in this post title is in the right place.]

It didn’t surprise me to find out that Grant never edits himself. Write then post. Let someone else read it. That’s one of the reasons I like him so much; OCD types like myself admire the things so lacking in ourselves when we see it in others. And we found out what got fixed on the car and why. D’oh.

Cathy and Amy were the only ones who could relate to the group as normal people who don’t blog, but by the end of dinner even Cathy was starting to think about writing one.

And all the guys said that I had inspired them to start swimming in Speedo’s, too. Don’t believe them if they deny it.

Our good friends, Scott and Laura Puckett, started a church while we were gone, Christ Kingdom Church. It is one of several new churches in east Orange County Florida in the metro Orlando area of Central Florida. Right now we meet in a school, Avalon Middle School, as do most of the other churches in the area. One of the ways I help out in our new church community is by webmastering the site, or at least helping a bit. Scott set the site up himself and did a good job. But like the former Danube International Church site, which I also helped out on, it has a limited range of options.

It’s my goal to have Christ Kingdom Church rank high in search engine results for “churches in Orlando” and other related search phrases, but acheiving this goal requires making changes to the site which are not currently possible with the system in place now.

In the mean time, posts like this which link to the site, will give it added weight in the great minds of Google and Yahoo.

Ernesto’s Predicted Path
across Central Florida

Instead of getting hit square between the eyes with our first hurricane, we’ll just get some rain and wind this afternoon. Ernesto veered east back toward the ocean this morning, giving us a sigh of relief and a day off school. Campus Crusade closed the office today, too.

Rob found this cool map. It’s a cross between Google maps and a weather prediction site; a “mashup.” (Say that in passing to impress your friends at being up to the minute on Internet culture).