October is my summer.

It’s the month where work is a little less chaotic, life is a little bit more relaxed and the wife is in Russia for two weeks.  Of course, the wife isn’t in Russia every October for two weeks, but she was this October.  (My how the world changes when you let it.)  Don’t get me wrong, I missed Angie while she was gone, but any guy who is married enjoys a little “bachelor time” now and then.  Harley Hound and I do okay by ourselves and we get to keep odd hours and have as much of the bed as we want.  I get all the diagonal sleeping I can stand, and Harley can chase rabbits without waking Angie up.  Angie left us plenty of good food, but we feel independent so that’s the important point.

So place the wife in Nizhny Novogorod and Moscow for two weeks, stir in some away football weekends, and add in a healthy disconnect from several regular Gainesville October activities (not even a run in the Gator Gallop this year) and you have all the making for what is by comparison to some other months of the year (cough June/July) a fairly nice month-long vacation … and without the use of leave time!  In fact, if it wasn’t for the summer-like weather (do I get a reprimand from the SEC office if I complain about it?), October 2009 would be a 300 bowling game.

Today starts a new month, however, and a new season as well.  The clocks have moved forward, the weather seems to have turned cooler again … hopefully this time for good … and we’re back in the swing of several of the things that make Gainesville … well Gainesville.

Earlier this evening we were walking back from our friends’ apartment downtown where we’d watched Green Bay give Minnesota a second-half scare.  As we made the 20-minute walk back to our house on the fringe of the Duckpond, we were thankful for the weather, Angie was happy for Percy’s night, and I was a little bummed that the Pack couldn’t serve up a little comeuppance for the Vikes.  More importantly though, we were figuring our end-of-the-workday plan for basketball tomorrow.

Yes!  Basketball!  I know folks are very excited about Tebow season, and it is easy to lose sight of other Gator teams that are also having a great Fall Semester, but the date I always imaginary circle on the imaginary calendar with the imaginary red pen is the first hoops game of the year.

The guys play two games and almost get a third in before the gals even play one, but we’ve got plenty of chances to watch both teams in the friendly confines of the O’Dome this month and we can’t wait to get started.

For men’s games, our season ticket position has improved just a bit and we look forward to a fresh take on all the action that Donovan and company typically provide.  For the women’s games, we plan to continue our habit of seating in the Level 1 bleachers underneath the basket by the Lady Gator bench.  Coach Butler always has an entertaining amount of energy and we don’t expect a little injury to curtail that one bit.

Just over 20 hours to tip… and counting!

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In the spring semester, we have a week without classes.  In the fall semester, we have a week without football.  In the era of the young man’s name that rhymes with “elbow,” it’s tough to know which break is more significant.  However, when you are punching a clock for the man, both time periods have a different flavor to them when compared to a time when making it to a 2nd period 8:30am class seemed a dubious bet at best.

One thing this time of year does bring that almost every Gainesville resident enjoys (student or not), however, is a break in the weather. Power bills and temperatures dip in unison and “Oh my gosh I am driving around town with the windows open!” is a pleasant experience not a nightmare from which you can’t escape.

Speaking of nightmares with the uh-oh-I’m-trapped-feeling … today in Gainesville, at least in my corner of Gainesville, one of the most talked about stories didn’t seem to be football, the forthcoming next chapter in a new UF sport, or the mid 50-degree temperatures provided by Mother Nature.  Nope… today, the most interesting talk was all about Zombies!

Though the buzzworthy portion of the site was taken down earlier today, for several weeks, along with disaster plans for a variety of other Irwin Allen inspired scenarios, you could have read all about “ZOMBIE ATTACK Disaster Preparedness Simulation Exercise #5 (DR5)” an exercise that had the stated purpose “to discern appropriate strategies for responding to a zombie attack and/or infection that might affect the University of Florida campus.”

It just rolls right of the tongue doesn’t it?

When the story broke locally with the Gainesville Sun, I knew it would be a matter of time before the documents got pulled from the site within the UF webnetwork.  I did have late hopes after catching the evening local newscast that the appropriate UF individuals would have kept a nuanced sense of humor and left the documents up … the story seemed like things were heading in that direction … but no such luck.

So that’s why I very early today I downloaded the documents and screen-shotted that website for posterity.

Let’s go to another excerpt shall we?

—–

Tentative Action Items

 Equip all staff offices with “blackout curtains” to prevent identifying worker locations to zombies;

 Equip all offices with easily barricaded doors able to withstand prolonged zombie incursion attempts;

 Equip staff with laptops and ensure IPCC software is installed, tested, and working for staff who may find commuting to work to be difficult;

 Equip all staff with long range (e.g. rifles) and short range (e.g. hand guns) firearms or other weaponry (e.g. chain saws, baseball bats, LPs) for defense against the infected and to dispatch possibly infected co-workers.

——

Whoa.

Okay… so with that last bullet point you can see why someone might have felt it was a good idea to take down the document.  Interestingly… ALL of the listed disaster plans were ALSO removed.  Not just the undead-inspired one.

If the evil hurricanes are smart, they may use this time to regroup and renew their tropical reign of terror.  ”The plan… where’s the plan?”

While I am sure the hurricane and other plans will eventually be put back up, it is doubtful the Zombies will return.  Everyone has their own opinion of the document and at the office where I work on campus, a diverse crowd to begin with, there was a wide variety of reactions.  However, I found the Zombie document equal parts fun, disturbing, scholarly, and creative.

If you’d like to draw your own conclusions about the Zombie document shoot me an e-mail and I will send you the PDF.  (bobbyuggles at mac.com)

Filed under: Ramblings | Tagged: Zombie | Comments

One of the things the University of Florida is kind enough to pay me to do is to recognize patterns.

It’s not very glamorous and sometimes it is downright tedious, however,  a few times a week it is very interesting.  Now “pattern recognition” really isn’t in my job description as such, but without it this skill in my toolbox ( a trendy 21st century workplace phrase if there ever was one), you’d probably be reading about me in ways that wouldn’t be good for me or my house payments.

Speaking of the house… this week… Angie and I have been taking sometime to do some projects around it (painting mostly) and we have also been treating ourselves to lunch at various places around Gainesville.  We kicked things off with old-favorite Burrito Brothers yesterday but today, we were in search of a place neither of us had ever been before.

Just a few miles away from our house near 16th Ave and Main Street is a nearly 50-year-old place called Sandwich Inn. It’s one of those places that you drive by during the lunch hour and see city vehicles, contractors, and retirees parked at … all waiting for their order.

It features dual drive-through windows, a walk up window, and a green roof.  It also has (according to a friend of ours who once donned a very famous green costume with pleated skirt and painted Alligatoridae tonails) fantastic French Fries… possibly the best in town.

We can report that the French Fries were very good (more pondering is needed before we can say they are the best), Angie’s hot dog had great flavor (my tuna salad was average), and the shakes were a fitting match– Angie vanilla, Rob strawberry.

Since we were having a good Gainesville kind of day, we decided to head over to the Millhopper Sinkhole to see whatever there was to see.  During the next 10 hours… the following things happened.

Devil’s Millhopper Park — Closed
Motoring on Major Road through Three Towns — Ends in Woods
Found Really Good Coffee Beverage at Bike Store — Really Good … Great Actually.
Mistook Paint Stripper for Thinner — Hey, that feels good.
Friend Facebooks pic from Hospital — Say What?
Walmart on Waldo Road — Nuff Said
Lawyer Friend from South Florida Calls — Unexpectedly
Ex-Wife Calls — Sort of Expectedly

Everywhere I went, I felt like I was getting a message to do something.

So…. on Wednesday… I’ll take the next step… and make a phone call and put some more things in motion.

We’ll pause this part of the story here for now.  However, tomorrow, we’ll be on the prowl again for another great Gainesville meal location and are planning to do the same thing on Thursday and Friday as well.

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All week the question ran through our head.

Not … “Should we take the points?” … although if Sheridan’s 73 was a legit betting marker … and if I was prone to betting on Gator games… that would have been tough to avoid. No, the question we faced this week… and only answered for certain earlier today … was “Go to game or not?”

There were only two things pushing us toward the “go.” It’s the first game of the season (Video Board!) and we have a friend new to Gainesville who was also possibly attending. As it turned out, he had just one extra seat near him … so Angie … as the legitimate football watcher in the house was ready to go with him, but that call never came.

End result…. not only did we not buy tickets, not only did Angie not go on her own with our new G’ville buddy, but we even waived off making one of or customary walkabouts where we see the sights and visit several of our tailgating friends. In fact, the most Gainesville thing I did today was listen to Tom Petty’s Gainesville concert from 2006 while working on some house projects. Angie spent the day cooking a great indoor tailgating dinner and on the couch absorbing all the football her sports head could take in.

It might seem odd to some, but six or seven times year, there is a silent population in Gainesville that goes nowhere near campus and also avoids several high traffic areas. Some of these people end up at the Oaks Mall … timing their trip around scoring, possesions, and quarters … others … just stay put near their comfy abode. Some like my wife, still get a heavy dose of college football. Others like me … check in on a few games …. Go Navy! … (NERTZ!) … or in some cases tune out all together. Even I don’t do that.

So… Week 1 ….. 62-3. That’s a good looking, but more or less expected score.

Week 2 and especially Week 3… the expectations and plans will be a little different for the team … and for us!

……..

Bonus Gator Sports Commentary … when I went to triple-check the football score, I noticed that the Volleyball Team is in action right now (1145pm)! The gals are up two games to one, but are in a bit of a dogfight against Pacific. If you want a little more nail-biting in your Gator Sports Life(tm) tonight, following the GameTracker action looks like a good nightcap.

Filed under: Football | Comments

The weather in Gainesville is oh-so-tantalizingly close to breaking this week but of course the weather is not front and center this week … it’s football.  I know this because today on our way back from lunch at the recently refurbished Arredondo Cafe at the J. Wayne Reitz Union, Angie struck up a conversation with a random person in the elevator about the subject.  I remembered two things about the conversation …

1) Angie was naming players and giving updates about them and I had no idea who she was talking about.  This is normal, but I still always enjoy watching the reaction of onlookers in these conversations…. reactions like…. “Wait… the wife is talking about football and the husband is giving the bemused shrugs?  Whaaaaaa?”  Today, I got to give my “Yeah I’m cool with it” return shrug.  Excellent.

2) When we left the elevator, I was referred to as “sir” in a manner that happens more and more frequently each year as I interact with college students who get relatively younger and younger by comparison each year.  This year most of the first year students are losing the contest to see who is older, them or my car.  Excellent.

The other thing September brings is my yearly goal (never met) to see every Gator sport in person in Gainesville at least once during the academic year season.  Pulling this off would essentially be the Gator Sportsfan equivalent of baseball’s batting for the cycle… if the diamond had 18 bases.  The key to doing it isn’t usually getting a hold of football tickets.  That’s actually not too hard.  While we don’t have season tickets, if you know you want to go to a Gator Football game and you aren’t too picky and you are even moderately resourceful, you can go.

The key to pulling off the gator sports fan cycle is planning for sports like Cross Country and Golf.  Both often have only one home meet a year and in the case of Golf… the men and women are not in Gainesville at the same time.

Cross country is up first in the Fall (18 September) so getting to that Friday, 7pm meet is the cycle’s first early test.  I’ll be sure to keep you updated about my efforts to pull this off.

I’ll round out this entry of the blog with a link to some pictures of a local concert Angie and I enjoyed a few nights back.  Take a close look in one of the pictures and you might just recognize a famous head.

Filed under: Football, Ramblings | Comments