2008 Year in Review

Hurricanes to Holidays. As always, the fall term was extremely busy. School got off to a shaky start thanks to Tropical Storm Fay. In September, I took a short trip to Guadalajara, Mexico where I was invited to give a talk (which I read in Spanish) on contemporary U.S.-Latin America relations at the Universidad de Guadalajara.


October was an exciting month. I had a hot date to see State Radio perform at The Social and got to see Paul Simon do a short performance and interview with poet Billy Collins on the Rollins campus. I rode with my motorcycle gang to Daytona Beach for Biketoberfest. I traveled to Cambridge, Mass. with a Rollins colleague to deliver a couple of talks at Harvard University. And I did my best David Beckham imitation for Halloween.

In November, I was excited to learn that I was named a Research Fellow at the Center for Inter-American Studies as the ITAM (Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico) in Mexico City. I will be moving to Mexico in September for a nine-month residency to coincide with my sabbatical (paid leave) next year.

In December, a long and busy semester mercifully came to an end. To celebrate the end of classes, I joined my friends and colleagues for the fourth annual Festivus Party at Jenny's place. After turning in my grades, I boarded a plane for Cancun (there seems to be a Mexico theme to my life these days) where my friends Martha and Sean were married at a splendid ceremony on the Caribbean Sea. Finally, I spent Christmas with my family in Myrtle Beach before returning to Orlando for a New Year's Eve party featuring the Legendary JCs at the Backbooth.

Spring to Summer

April means Fox Day at Rollins. To mark the occasion we traveled to historic Sanford for German beer and schnitzel at the Willow Tree Cafe and enjoyed the waterfront. Later in the month, my Mom and Aunt Sally visited to attend a special celebration for Rollins faculty authors. We also went to see the improv comedy show "Murder We Wrote" at the Annie Russell Theater.

May has been a blast. To celebrate the end of classes, I went to the Enzian Theater to see Airplane! as part of their cult classic film series. For the first time ever, I managed to successfully ride a wakeboard on Rich's boat. And our soccer team triumphed 2-0 in the President's Cup, a regal sounding title for the CFSL consolation tournament. Only the victors got to drink from the dismantled trophy cup.

Following graduation, I attended a number of local festivals, starting with the Great Orlando Beer Festival as well as the Orlando FRINGE Festival, where my friend Spencer performed his heartfelt and very funny one-man show "Red, White, and Ignorant." I also went to the Florida Film Festival, back in April.

For the memorial day weekend, I joined a large group of friends in St. Petersburg, FL. We spent most of the weekend out on the boat, where we saw a few dolphins. A good time was had by all.

In June, I took two short trips. First, I went camping in the mountains of North Carolina. Our trip included stops in Gainesville and Atlanta before we reached our main destination, the Nantahala national forest. We camped at Cheoah Point right on the Santeetlah Lake and hiked around the Joyce Kilmer memorial forest. Next we headed east across the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway en route to Spartanburg, SC, where I met up with an old friend, Lizabeth, before heading home from Greenville. Second, I traveled to Chicago for a Boniface family reunion.

Back in Orlando, I saw Modest Mouse perform at Hard Rock Live. Then, for the fourth of July weekend, I returned to St. Petersburg to watch the fireworks from Rich's boat. In late July, I met up with friends in Las Vegas for a short vacation at the MGM Grand. During our stay we took a short trip to Lake Mead and rented jet skis; after getting lost, we finally found the Hoover Dam. Returning to Orlando once more, I saw Jerry Seinfeld perform downtown.

February/March Re-Cap

Well, it's February again, which means I hung yet another year on the line. To celebrate, I continued a three-year tradition by hosting a party at my place featuring various drinking games. This year's turnout was record-setting, but friends were missed who couldn't make it back this year - Andrew, Rebecca, and Erica (now in Cali), as well as Shannon, Kim, and Dana.

Around midnight, we moved the party downtown to the Independent Bar, an indy music place. Although this is somewhat disappointing, nobody got kicked out this year.

If you look really closely at this picture on the left (me with my oldest Orlando friend, Debbie, with Mario and a portrait of Aldous Huxley in the background), you might be able to see a tiny scar on the left side of my chin. Or not. A few weeks ago, my chin was split open by an illegal high kick to my face during a soccer match. I received seven stitches. Luckily, the scar is mostly under my chin and largely unnoticeable.

In March, I took part (with an old high school friend, S. Zedeker, AKA the weatherman) in another annual tradition - Daytona Bike Week. This picture (right) was taken on Main Street, home to such proud establishments as Froggy's, Full Moon Saloon, and Dirty Harry's. AC/DC and Aerosmith live on, thanks to some really bad cover bands. Note: What happens at bike week stays at bike week.

What did I do with my Spring Break? Well, for starters, I went to see an energetic performance by Chk Chk Chk (!!!) at my favorite local live music venue, The Social. I also played a lot of soccer. On Sunday we suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat, but held on to our middling position in the standings. We're doing better on Thursday nights, where we actually have a winning record. To round out my break, I headed back to the Wallaby Ranch and went off-roading with Russ and Jethro, while also celebrating Jason's birthday.

2008 Year in the Making

2008 got off to a fun start with a return to Miami for the third annual South Beach Comedy Festival with friends Dana and Jenny. This year we saw comedian Dave Attell (best known as the host of Comedy Central's "Insomniac"). He was as sick and twisted as ever.

Of course, comedy was not the only form of entertainment. We enjoyed a nice wine sampler and delicious food at the celebrated Timo's in North Miami Beach and also dined at the trendy Yuca in South Beach where we were disappointed by the painfully slow service.

We also made time for cruising South Beach, grabbing lunch by the ocean and then heading to the Wolfsonian, a design museum with a nice collection of art deco miscellany (and peculiar movies playing in a cafe where you can get a coke for just $4).

Before heading home to O-town, we also toured Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, where we enjoyed a wonderful, belly-busting brunch.