How to fill time in retirement

I guess I took retirement to the extreme the past year. Basically, I did not get anything done. I did do my Bucket List of New Restaurants which I will summarize today. But, no travel, not even my usual trip to Vermont. I did not even leave the state of Florida for one day. What the hell? No cruises, no new states or countries, no exotic locales where I can drink Mai Tais or Painkillers? I do have my rationalizations for my actions but in simpler terms, I was lazy! And I am not getting younger. Well, I will not let that happen in 2019. I visited 27 new restaurants in 2018, one more than was necessary. It was a pretty good variety: American  - 11 Seafood - 4 Mexican - 3 Asian - 2 Hawaiian - 2 1 each of Barbecue, Cajun, Irish, Italian, and Japanese Scores were in a normal distribution: Good - 3 Good to Great - 6 Great - 7 Great to Excellent - 6 Excellent - 5 No Bads and no Memorables Location was all Florida but that makes sense since I never left the...

I do not stop going to new restaurants when I hit my yearly quota, but I just keep going. Last night I had the pleasure of visiting the Senor Loco Tacos and Tequila Restaurant with my friend Mac. Located in Indian Harbour Beach, it has been many kinds of places through the years, and I remember when it was the ABC Liquor store with an attached nightclub that included a revolving bar. If you left the bar to go to the bathroom, there was a good chance you would not find your seat when you return because the whole bar continuously revolved. Now I am eating Mexican food here. My waiter was Jesus and I was seated before Mac had arrived. He had to stop on A1A to get a bottle of Tanqueray gin. What is ironic is it was the ABC liquor store. Jesus brought me a bowl of hot chips and a tasty salsa. The salsa did have a little kick and I liked it very much. The dining room is very large with both tables and booths. There is a bar with 20 seats. The decor is very Mexican and festive, wit...

My first hoarding post was in March, and the second post came last July. Now it is time for another digital hoarding post. When I started work at ENSCO back in 1980, we had an IMSAI 8080 at work. PCs were just becoming available. This was a great deal. The whole hard drive was 10-Megabyte. That would not hold one photo from my current Canon camera, even when compressed to JPEG. I forgot who had posted this but it cracks me up. This photo was probably photoshopped, but I like to think that an astronaut would be cool enough to give a finger, but I know times were different in the 1960s.  I posted a photo I took on FaceBook of the Cocoa Beach Baptist church without a steeple after the hurricanes back in 2004. I found this photo on one of the Cocoa Beach web sites. Some photos I save are just so nice. This first one is by my friend Bob Bicknell. This is the 13th hole at Neshobe Country Club in the fall. This next one is a recent photo by my fri...

My Bucket List Item was to visit a new restaurant every two weeks for a total of 26 new places. On Friday, I completed the task when I visited the Bonefish Grill at the Avenues in Viera. I did not take a lot of photos because I was with Nancy, but I was able to get a few shots of the food we were served by our waiter Jesus. I had a Guinness beer which came in a can but I drank from a glass. I really enjoy watching the nitrogen bubbles in a Guinness. Nancy had a soda. We ordered a soup and an entree. Bread was served with an olive oil & herb dipping bowl. The bread and dip were both excellent.  Nancy and I both ordered the Corn Chowder with Lump Crab. It came with crab as a large lump in the middle of the bowl but I had stirred it in before taking the picture. I ordered a seasonal dish called Kung Pao Monkfish: Wild Monkfish aka "Poor Man's Lobster" flash fried and tossed in a sweet chili soy glaze, with a traditional medley of Asian vegetables and peanut...

I was busy this week eating out because I really needed to go grocery shopping but I was too lazy to do that. On Sunday, I went to an Italian Restaurant which I had never been to before. Wednesday was a visit to a new diner/cafe. And Thursday I tried a new place at Port Canaveral. Pane E Vino Italian Restaurant, Deli & Bakery Located next to the Oaks Theaters on Hibiscus, I have walked by it many times but never stopped. It is a restaurant but they also have a deli and bakery. On this visit, I hit the first two but skipped the bakery. My view from my patio seat out front. It was Sunday and they had a lunchtime buffet, but I decided I wanted to try one of their personal pizzas. The entree prices seemed a little high but I have heard the food is great. Even though I had ordered the pizza, they gave me a basket of Italian bread with butter. I was good and had just a glass of water to drink... The reflection messed up my shot of the bakery items in the window, but ther...