9/30/2023

Hello Blog Readers,

Welcome to Orlando, Florida!!! Yayyyy! This place is EXACTLY what you think it’s like. Everything here is sticky. There are a lot of tired looking families with overly zealous, Disney-obsessed kids walking around. The locals all look like they have way too much time to workout but no time to work. While I was having dinner here at a Mexican restaurant, the guy at the table behind me was bragging loudly to his date about the size of his ummm…manhood, which kept making me laugh into my margarita because it was such a ridiculous conversation. During my walk back to my hotel, a group of bros was yelling “hey, show us your boobs” at some poor girl who was swimming in the hotel pool. And during my Uber to my hotel, I witnessed a family over-the-top arguing in a gas station parking lot while their 5-year-old was off to the side trying to figure out how to use a pay phone (presumably to dial 911). Ahhh, what a magical place. Such interesting energy. Smell the air. Swampy. But, on the positive, at least there are palm trees back in my life again.

I’m here NOT for debauchery, but for work. The International Catholic Stewardship Council (ICSC) Conference is being held here this week, and yours truly is the Diocesan representative from Marquette. The conference kickstarts tomorrow with an early afternoon mass, and I’m actually realllllly looking forward to that mass after everything that I’ve witnessed today in this city. I’m hoping that it cleanses my ears and eyeballs like soap. After the conference, I’m going to be spending some days with my sister both here in Orlando and back at her home in Tampa, so stay tuned! There will be adventures worth blogging.

My travel day started at 4 a.m. this morning back in Marquette. Groggy, I dressed, watered my plants, and made my way to the airport (this time extremely early to avoid what happened during my Japan trip), and the flights went smooth. Chicago looked just as dystopian as ever on landing, and the flight to Orlando was slightly traumatizing due to all of the families with young kids on it making their way to Disneyworld (it was a very LOUD flight), but other than that, everything went perfectly!

In fact, things went so smooth today that I actually have my luggage! While losing my luggage in Japan taught me the joy of minimalistic travel, this trip is teaching me the joy of actually having my things with me. Look at all of this stuff! A closet full of suits and nice clothing? Not one, but FIVE pairs of shoes!? A “tie station” that I created with a wide-variety of ties, Green Irish Tweed cologne, and a (knockoff) Keurig machine? My actual toiletries, including a dental station with TWO brands of mouthwash (something that I feel will make a dentist that I know happy)?What is this heaven? I’m so happy!

As for the hotel itself, it’s a giant convention hotel near Universal Studios. Not the best room that I’ve ever stayed in, but it checks the boxes for sure. And…omg, what is that!? A hud display clock built into the bathroom mirror!? I’ve never seen anything like this before, and it’s awesome! I need this technology in my life. In fact, why aren’t all of our bathroom mirrors just extensions of our iPhones at this point???

Finally, it wouldn’t be my blog without delving into my personal life. Following my trip to Sault Sainte Marie a few months ago, I ironically got really sick again! And it made me lose a lot of weight. But then, when I got better, I decided to go with it as a health-wake-up-call and to just keep running and working out. Now, I’m back to running about 5 miles a day, my abs are definitely back, and I’d say that my overall strength and fitness level matches where it was more-or-less pre-pandemic, which is great! I’m feeling healthier, happier, and stronger than I’ve felt in a few years.

Annnnd finally, finally…on the lady front…there’s something that I wish I could report! I really do! I want to share news so bad. But it’s still all so complicated right now, and it would be premature to say anything. I mean…let’s just say that I’m still firmly friend-zoned and there’s a lot of distance involved with her living way far away back in California and me up in Michigan, but there’s hope. And we communicate. And we’re fast to forgive each other, and I do my best to also wish her good night every night. And hope and communication and forgiveness and every-night good nights are good things. Especially with this woman. So pray for us please! I want this one to stick. She captivates me all of the time.

And that’s it. I’m not sure how much I’ll be blogging during the conference the next few days, but I promise that as soon as the conference is over, I’ll have some exciting content to share. For now though…did I mention that I’ve been up since 4 a.m.? It’s time to wind down.

Cheers,

-Rob