Thirsty?

The Doubletree offers all the comforts of home...

Feed Me!

You won't have trouble finding nearby restaurants during your stay at the Doubletree. In fact, you'll find a number of options right here at the hotel.

Of course, some locations offer a little more than just food...

I think I saw something out the window.

Tropical Storm Debby took a few minutes off today, long enough for the observer to note, for the first time, that this is actually Florida during the early summer, not the Phillipine Islands during monsoon season.

Crazy Woman Talks to Machines

I find it highly likely that this reunion will be remembered as the Year Technology Took Over. A good number of us have arrived already, but the relationships they have with their new devices is worrisome.

I was talking with Debbie Holl and casually asked her if she knew which way to walk to the nearby pharmacy. She picked up this pink thing and said to it, as though conversing with plastic was perfectly normal, "I need a drug store."

Then she looked at the thing for a few seconds and said, "Walgreens is .3 miles north."

I've always thought of Debbie as a sensible woman. I'm beginning to wonder...

A break in the storm

I'm awake, I've run some errands, seen some people and will post photos later today.

--The severe weather we're experiencing in Orlando is Tropical Storm Debby. It pulled into town this weekend at the exact same time Debbie Holl arrived. She insists that the slight difference in the spelling of the names is proof that it's not her fault. We know better.

-- Seen around and about the hotel: Bob Leketa, Kim and Debby Holl, Terry Chesson, Leon Harris, Randy Martel, Jim and Stephanie Richards, Cecil Strange, Wilbur Smith. As I just came in, returning from a grocery store trip, Bill Sterck was checking in.

--Any piano players who are still on the fence are cordially invited to come. We need more than me, who is unusually lame, and Bob Leketa, who is usually busy.

-- We are experiencing our first break in the tropical storm. Water is currently not gushing from the sky. I had no idea there were palm trees outside my window.

--The storms will continue, but are expected to clear up, depending on what climatological expert you listen to, on Wednesday or Thursday. This is good for us, not so good for the thousands of people who brought their families to Orlando for fun in the sun this week.

-Later, friends.

Finally: Orlando

Real late Sunday night, 24JUN12--

Despite thunderstorms in Moline and Detroit, and a tropical storm in Florida, I made it to Orlando without an airline hitch. Well, hardly a hitch, but I'll tell you about that later. For now, let me just say that as the plane approach Orlando, the turbulence was extreme, barf bags were in evidence and the landing was like touching down in the Philippines in a C-130 piloted by a JG who just got his wings. I led the cabin in a chorus of "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

I got to the Doubletree at 2200, and discovered that my plans to be the first NMA member on site were all in vain. While I was checking in at the Doubletree, Jim and Stephanie Richards stopped by to say hi. They told me Bob Leketa, Leon Harris and Kim and Debbie Holl were around, and Terry Chesson and Dennis Allard had just arrived.

I haven't seen any of them yet--too pooped to party, I wound up here in my room. I'm planning to cop some heavy zs starting in about two minutes.

I'll be back in touch sometime tomorrow morning.