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This work by Sean A. Donahue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Uberblog of 08

In this blog entry I’ll discuss:

Trip to Florida,

Trip to see the kids,

Mom and I having a heart to heart,

among other things…

First I went to Florida to a conference.  It was great to see a bunch of new and wonderful old friends.  Sometimes you go to these conferences and there are different feelings to each.  Some are very powerful and amazing experiences.  Some are drab and boring.

This was INCREDIBLE.

First a vignette (story with a song mixed in it) of MINE was nominated for a Miracles in Media award.  My friend Jeff did some amazing stuff about me telling the story about how I knew the exact time that Tara died.  We didn’t win the award but when I looked across the room and saw Britt from the hospital crying I knew that he understood why I do things some times some ways. 

The local TV host , Abner was wondering why Britt and I were tearing up as we heard this story, until Abner was told that the nomination was for my story.  It was one of the most moving and powerful things to hear that Abner now knew my passion.  I felt like I could fight the world.

But instead I met Jodi,

from Murphy Sam and Jodi and we talked the night away.  She tried to get me to convince my bosses to leave our current morning show and go with them.  I politely declined and we had some fun joshing each other the rest of the conference. 

I know that I have connected with someone where all we have to do is give the nod and the other says  ”What are you looking at?”  and the other is “Nothing, what are YOU looking at?”

So the first night I got to the Disney resort I was looking at the new bar that was in the Coronado Springs resort and introduced myself to the staff …

The key, which I credit to Alcanthang, is getting the staff to know you and it pays off in the end.

By Friday, we were invited to go into the VIP section hidden behind a curtain and enjoyed the quiet room where we could talk and have some fun.

I ran into Chris from Jay,Chris and Dina from Z102 and we had a good time catching up.  He’s in Mississippi now.  Good Luck Chris and you can buy the next round when we next get together.

I talked to Jim L and Jodi until Jodi bailed to sleep around 1 in the morning on Saturday morning, but Britt and I talked with Jim until we realized that it was 4:30 in the morning.  I was slightly panicked because I hadn’t done my required water drinking and sleep before the 5K that I was running in under 3 1/2 hours. 

So I went back to the hotel room with yet ANOTHER door key and took a power nap.  I woke up 15 min before the event was to begin and got dressed and ran downstairs.  Steve Young was there and got everyone pumped up for the event and we started.

Now I was still feeling the effects of the drinking and non sleeping from the early morning rise and I was moronic to forget to put on sunscreen.  Not one of my smarter moments especially since we were jogging a 5K around a LAKE!  As I came around the clubhouse turn for lap 1 my two bosses came out of the clubhouse. 

“Go Sean, you are in 177th place, keep running, you can do it,” as they sat back in their chairs eating donuts.

The woman next to me jogging with her kid in a stroller looked at me and stared. 

“If they do that again when we next walk by I’ll slap em both for you.”

All I could do was gasp for air.  The first kilometer was good, the second kilometer I was wondering where my legs were and if I could suck in any more oxygen.  But as I passed the clubhouse hoping that my two coworkers would still be there so they could get slapped, I knew that I could do it.  I was feeling the pain. I was in a zone.  It had to be no sunscreen.

As I crossed the finish line a smile came over my face.  I had ran my first 5k.  I was feeling fine. They gave me bananas at the finish line to help me from the obvious pain that I was inflicting on myself.  I went back to my room and started to take a shower.  The phone rang and it was the chuckleheads asking me if I was ready to go to Animal Kingdom. 

“We’ll meet you downstairs in 15 min to go to Animal Kingdom.”

I clearly was not and told them to go ahead without me.  I put my head under the water of the shower and stood there.  I had won my class. 37 year old men from Lubbock.  WEEEEEE!

I had accomplished so much.  I felt so good.  I felt like I could go down to catch the bus.

Then I threw up. I took a 15 min nap and woke up with a call.

“We’re on the way to Hollywood Studios. Meet you there.”

Now I got ready and HAD sunscreen in my bag.  Note to self. Put sunscreen IMMEDIATELY after I come out of the shower next time.

Instead I left rethinking the concept of sunscreen after I was on the bus.  I didn’t want to chance the whole thing with my key card again.

You see (flashback sound here) I had gone through six key cards getting the last one before I went to see Jodi and Jim.  I kept getting locked out of my room. It was frustrating to me.  Friday night (before the drinking and the VIP room) I had a major migraine and I fell asleep for a couple of hours and told everyone else go to dinner with out me.  I didn’t feel like Cuban food.  But I woke up and thought I could meet everyone, so I got dressed and left thinking 5 steps out the door that I needed my camera.

Turn around and tried my door.  BOOM. DENIED.  REJECTED.  So I headed to the front desk, which I had visited 3 other times and presented my 4th key card to them.

“It’s yours, doesn’t work. Make it work.”

The look on the managers face was priceless.  It was as if I had shot his dog Pluto.

So I told him I was trying to get my camera out and get into my room.

“Let me program you another key (#5) and send someone up with you to make sure it works.

So I walked outside to the cart and it had been sprinkling like it does in March in Orlando.  But then the drain was let out.  The water poured down like Niagra and all I could do was smile as the slightly covered cart took me back to the room.  She took my new key #5 and put it in.

DENIED!

“Hell,” she said as she used her Master key to let me in.  I changed from the shorts I was wearing into pants and headed back to the front desk.

I showed him the key that didn’t work again and asked if someone could please look at the lock.  I knew I had to lose weight, but walking the distance from the front desk to my room over and over to get a new key every time I wanted to get into my room was rediculous.

I told him I was going to get dinner and I would return.

It was a rotten night. I didn’t get the answer I wanted earlier in the day, I was nervous about running in the 5k on Saturday morning but I decided that I was going to treat myself.

Rather than meeting everyone at the Cuban joint, I went to Fulton’s Crab House and had Crab and Lobster.  I had a drink and I was starting to relax.  I didn’t care about the $80 tab.  I just wanted to have something good for me.  I needed to treat myself. SO I DID!

I walked around Downtown Disney and saw the most unique thing.

Now the question I have is …

If a person is blind, how are they going to know where the map is to read it?

Maybe I am just wrong.

I headed back to Coronado Springs (my hotel and site of the convention) and the manager met me when I walked in. 

“Did you enjoy dinner Mr Tragedy?”
“Yes I did.”
“Did you eat on the Disney property sir because I pulled up your record and didn’t see you charge anything to your room.”
“Well, since I thought my card didn’t work in my door, that I wouldn’t work for my account.”
“Which card did you pay with and do you have the receipt?”

I gave both the AMEX and the bill to him.

And he comped it off.

BOOM!

Then after that joy I went and say Jodi, Jim and Britt.

(End Flashback)

So after forgetting the sunscreen I realized that it was just going to have to be a long day.  I beat the boys to Hollywood Studios and rode Star Tours before they even got there.  It’s one of my favorite rides next to …

Aerosmith’s Rock and Roller Coaster.  Now I had never gotten to ride this and I was excited, we got Fastpasses and had fun at the park until it was time to ride.  Now usually I am not an upside down and corkscrew type of rollercoaster rider but this is the bomb of coasters. 0-60 in under a couple of seconds.

I was glad we waited for it and then we had the idea of going and trying to catch the Braves playing at Disney’s Wild World of Sports as I called it.

So we went.  Now everything there at the WWoS was available to be bought, hats, gloves, new bats with your name in it.  Even the grass was MLB certified…

Now we got there just at the top of the fifth.  Now most major league games you are lucky to see any runs.  We were lucky including to see a grand slam!

So after the game was over we headed back to the convention center for dinner and fun.  At the end of the night I found out how red I was.

Notice me in the Red Shirt and Red Face.

UGH!

From there I got home and relaxed for a week, recovering from the sunburn and knowing that everything I want and hope for, may or may not be what I need.

I was excited, enthusased because I was going to see my kids.  So I did what I had to do, gave away a remote at the last minute and headed to Dallas and then to Texarkana.

Why?

Because of these two:

It was Easter, my birthday and the day where I slept with my kids snoring in sleeping bags on the floor next to me. You could have hit me with a hammer…

And it would cause me no pain. I had my kids and life was good.  Until the next day Ryan threw up on me.  Mom, who has sympathetic toss, couldn’t help me and I had to clean everything up while Ryan had the flu and Shelby couldn’t understand why we couldn’t go out without Ryan.  It took a bit but I got her busy helping my dad earlier breaking up sticks:

It is so amazing to see how smart Shelby and Ryan have become…

And I have so much more to tell you…

But you will have to wait for tomorrow for part 2…

Thanks for stopping by!