yesthattom | What I did this weekend

It’s amazing that it’s possible to just “fly to Epcot” for a day. I mean, 100 years ago you couldn’t fly anywhere, and you certainly wouldn’t travel all the way to Florida just for a weekend. Amazing.

Friday I flew to Florida. Checked into the Park Plaza Hotel in Winter Park, Florida. It’s a very cute, antique hotel. Sadly, that meant very few power outlets and no internet access. However, when you wake up you can call them and they bring complimentary breakfast in bed (coffee, juice, muffins). There was a basket of apples, cheese and crackers when I got there.

Saturday morning I went to Panera to use their WiFi and eat. Les Lloyd came in around 8am and we had breakfast together. We walked to Rollins and met his class. I was guest lecturer and spoke on “Security vs. Convenience”. This is the third year in a row I’ve lectured for him and I think this was the first time I was really, really happy with my slides. The class is 8 hours long and I hung out for the whole thing. I enjoyed watching their presentations.

Saturday night I had dinner with

softlywhispered and Ian. We walked around Winter Park, Fl. It’s a lovely town.

Then we went out to some clubs and did some late-night shopping.

Sunday I got picked up by

zedrikcayne and

geminigirl and we went to Epcot. This was the last day of their “Food and Wine Festival”. We had food. We drank wine. Since i wouldn’t have to drive, I drank a lot. It was quite a thrill to be tipsy at a Disney park for some reason.

Epcot has this new attraction called “Space” which, I swear, was the best simulation I’ve ever been on. I was honestly convinced that I was in space. It made the whole trip worth while.

They drove me to the airport and I had plenty of time to go through security (which had an uncharacteristically short line for once... Orlando is really bad) and then the plane was late, so we could have spent even more time at Epcot. I was early enough to be bumped up to First Class. I was sitting next to this rich grandmother with her daughter and grandson. The woman spoke about things that made it apparent that spending money on First Class tickets for 3 was hardly a big deal for them. I wanted to tell her, “I fly first class every couple years, and only when it’s a free upgrade. Did you know that there are people that go hungry each night in our own country?” but I kept my mouth shut and went to sleep.

Anyway... back to the subject of Epcot. “Space” is amazing. The lift off makes you really feel like you are taking off and then hitting weightlessness for a few seconds. Totally amazing. Worth the whole visit.

And thanks to

softlywhispered, Ian, Les,

geminigirl and

zedrikcayne for showing me a great time!

The class won’t be offered next year, so I might not get to Florida until, um, 2007. *pout*. Hopefully ya’ll can come up to NYC to see me!