I'm always amazed at how many people do not have a mirror in their home. For instance, at the gym yesterday there was a woman wearing a catsuit. Which she had accessorized nicely with a beer belly. And no bra.

This nicely feeds into the few words I'll say about our trip to Disney World (I figured I should cover that before I leave for Ireland, which I do in about 12 hours) ... for many years, I have considered the New York City subway system to be the world's greatest people-watching venue. But Walt Disney World is a strong challenger for that honor.

The uncovered, unsightly body parts. The outfits. In particular, the matching outfits (seriously, if you're in Disney, do you need to wear matching Disney shirts? In fact, are matching outfits for adults EVER a good idea?). It was sensory overload. Even my niece, who is 14 months old, seemed captivated by the people watching.

Now, I understand not everyone possesses the same fortunate metabolism I do. But where is the common sense? Rest assured, if I ever completely let myself go and find myself in the neighborhood of 370 pounds, I will not be sporting a tube top. A TUBE TOP! There's nothing holding it up! It's just a flimsy sausage casing! It's dangerous! We had small children with us!

(Deep breath)

Poor fashion judgment by fellow vacationers aside, it was a great trip. The kids had a blast and it was fun to experience it through them. The crowds weren't too bad and the weather was perfect.

That Saturday, after a few hours at the Animal Kingdom, several members of our party returned to the hotel for afternoon naps. Crazy Nephew #1 had expressed an interest in visiting MGM Studios, which was odd because we had never mentioned MGM. But he and I snuck off to check it out.

MGM is great for hard-core movie fans but it doesn't have a ton of rides like the Magic Kingdom or interactive rides and exhibits like Epcot. So after a quick trip into a commercial for the new Naria movie, which they sneakily advertised as a ride, we walked around a bit, trying to find something interesting. It didn't take long for him to announce, "I'm bored." I didn't entirely blame him. So we meandered through the movie set streets, which led to the two highlights...

First, we came across a woman who I believe had fallen out of her wheelchair and landed on the street with great force. This led to a sizable pool of blood, and my nephew could not have been more interested. I believe the woman was part of the ridiculous crowds in the park for this, and I think she got knocked over while the throng was bum-rushing Michael E. Knight.

(Now, I could easily digress into a rant about thousands of grown women chasing after soap opera actors in a theme park. And I am not kidding when I say 'chasing.' But I was out late last night and have a ton of things to do today so I will save my energy. Just know that I did not approve and let's move on.)

So I dragged him away from that scene as he asked no less then 400 questions about the situation and what they were going to do about it. We turned the corner into a small, quiet courtyard area, where there were a few small crowds assembled. And lo and behold, there was Buzz Lightyear.

To give you an idea of his reaction to this encounter, imagine me turning a corner and seeing His Holiness. For the crazy nephews, Buzz Lightyear is their His Holiness.

We stood in the short line and waited for Buzz to sign his autograph book, and then he posed for a picture. You will simply not see a happier face on this child. Giddy smile, adoring gaze, almost unable to speak. A great moment (and one that made me almost not care that OSU was losing to Illinois at that very second).




















I felt guilty that the other nephew missed this magical moment due to his nap, but the older one promised not to tell him. To my knowledge, he still has not mentioned it, which is incredible self-control for a seven year old.

Disney was also, as of Nov. 9, completely decorated for Christmas. As of Wednesday, so is Casa Magnolia. I wanted to get as much of the holiday tasks done as I could before I left the country, so the crazy nephews visited Wednesday and helped me decorate the tree. To thank them, I took them to the diner, which they referred to as a "fancy dinner place."

The older one, while at my house, was discussing my interest in a possible move (he came to an open house with me once and is fascinated by the fact I could switch houses). He expressed the wish that "maybe your next house could be closer to ours." I currently live 3.4 miles from them.

- - -

So sometime in August, my college roommate called and expressed her need to take a vacation. She asked if I would be interested in going to Dublin, which I considered for all of four seconds before saying, "Sure." So off we go. We haven't done a whole lot of planning except to research this and this. We're utilizing a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants approach for this one.

What we could not have imagined is that 24 hours prior to her stepping on a plane in Columbus, en route to meet me in Newark, she would be laid off from her job. A job she has done extremely well for 13 years, a job she has lost purely because her big-business company decided it needs to save money and thus eliminated her position. So that's gotten things off to an interesting start. As if we needed an excuse to drink more while in Dublin. I should probably add "Buy more Tums" to today's to-do list...

This has been a long-winded and rambling post. Enjoy it, because it will be the last one for at least a week. I'm not bringing my computer to Ireland. Instead, I'll be carrying around a notebook so I can capture any important thoughts.

I'll be sure to tell Bono you all said hello.