traci in the swamp

High Hopes, ants and Frank Sinatra

This song pops in my head every once in a while, especially when I'm holding out hope for certain things.  I remember making a small fool of myself and singing this at a karaoke bar once, many years ago.  Although I thought, I'd get laughs and boos, instead I got smiles and lots of people joining me.

Enjoy!!

We didn't start the fire...

Matt left a CD in my car this weekend (Matt's the music collector and has everything from the Shins, to Dave Matthews Band, from Frank Sinatra to James Taylor and Paul Simon).  This is important, because I own only two CD's (well, I have two CD's in my car, the Eagles-Greatest Hits and the other I won't mention for fear of embarrassment) and usually listen to talk radio on my drive home.  So this evening, as I was driving home from the salt mines, I remembered the CD.   Matt's got the CD collection, so when I reached for the radio and remembered the CD, I discovered Billy Joel and proceeded to jam out...I'm pretty sure the people in the cars next to me thought I was little odd...

Alvin and the Chipmunks

On Friday, we had one of those "working lunches", which really turned into a discussion about everything under the sun, but not directly related to work.  We talked about old television shows we watched when we were kids and what we were doing for holidays, what types of news we watched, etc.  Anyway, somehow we got on the topic of Alvin and the Chipmunks' upcoming movie (which I will not be seeing - Alvin and the Chipmunks, will always be animated IMHO) and this famous song.  Enjoy!!

All distractions welcome...

I really should be working on my paper, but I've been enjoying other distractions like looking up old movie clips on You Tube.  Here is one of my favorite scenes of all times:

Okay, I better get back to work now! 

There's No Place Like Home

Matt and I went to Orlando this weekend because his parents, brother and his girlfriend came down for a visit from New Orleans.  Matt lived in the Orlando area (he's a double UCF grad) for almost ten years, but lived in Altatmonte  Springs - which is clear on the other side of the famous attractions such as Sea World, Universal, and (of course) Disney World. 

We had a great weekend and did several things in just a day.  We enjoyed dinner at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney.  We visited Sea World and watched the Dolphin and Whale Show.  We also fed the sea lions and watched their show also featuring sea otters, and a walwrus.  We also had a wonderful lunch at the Shark's Underwater Grill and had a great view of the sharks swimming around.

Something very intersting dawned on us while we were Orlando.  Even though Matt and I have only lived in Gainesville for about two months, we missed it while we were in Orlando.  Gainesville has everything we need.  Shopping, entertainment, culture, nature, good restaurants, and great sporting events.   Without the unnecessary hustle and bustle, such as excessive traffic or too many people  (granted we were at an amusement park).  But still we realized this weekend that we have a wonderful new home here and although it is nice to visit Orlando, there is no place like home.