Gators

Florida Field

It’s homecoming… a weird concept if you happen to live in the town where you went to school… but nonetheless, a holiday the City of Gainesville takes very seriously. Yes, I said holiday. You see, in town the schools are closed. Many businesses close their doors or have allowances for people to leave early. There’s a parade (which means UPS drivers come in a few hours early to make sure they can deal with the traffic/road closures). ...

[][1]Dream Day Cakes A little self promotion never hurt… in theory. 😉 I have great news. Yeni’s been baking now for well over a year and her cakes are simply amazing. Living in Gainesville provided us the perfect opportunity for Yeni to follow her dreams and try doing something she truly loves. And with that introduction, I introduce Dream Day Cakes — Gainesville’s newest Wedding Cake Bakery. I’ve posted a few of the cakes before, and Guillo with o3b....

I’ve had a few dealings with UF and money over the last few months. Basically, many (many, many, many) calls to the house asking for donations, etc. When one of my favorite teachers had left UF, I had donated money to help start a scholarship in his name. I was not happy with the way it was handled, and have been reluctant to donate money to the school since (not to mention, I’m not impressed with the way the college is handling money — or my personal information — whatsoever). Today, I received an email (posted below) from Florida President Bernie Machen asking for my voice. Seems they have created a new organization to lobby the Florida legislature for issues important to the school. To me, I am always offended when someone making 750k a year (including bonuses), gripes about a lack of funding. Simply put, Machen needs to lead by example. ...

Back in 2007, I was floored by the University of Florida’s President (Bernie Machen) accepting more than $200,000 in bonuses. I was so floored, I sent him a letter (below) and asked him to decline the bonus. After all, he already receives in base salary more than 10 times the annual income for a Florida family sending their child to the University of Florida. As expected, I did not receive a response and there was no mention of donations, declines, or anything else from Bernie Machen. ...

Update June 11, 2009: The Chief is now leaving in early July – 4 months earlier than he had advised. Norman Botsford, the current Police Chief of Gainesville, Florida, announced that he would be retiring from his position. Although the following Gainesville Sun article highlights his history, they don’t mention how in recent years he has helmed a department who’s morale has dropped faster than, well insert your metaphor here… it’s way low. This is a good thing. Here’s what the Gainesville Sun said: ...

I ranted today about YET ANOTHER security breach at the University of Florida (Go Gators). It’s a decent rant: http://www.voiptechchat.com/tech/245/university-of-florida-security-strikes-out/ I like ranting now and then 🙂

[][1]Fred with family at Thanksgiving Good morning world and welcome to the snowed in Monday morning edition of Fred Posner dot com. Let’s discuss the weekend… Not much happened. Let’s see, in random order: Yeni and I had Pizza so good I reactivated Fat Freddy Says The Gators beat Alabama and are headed to Miami for the Championship Game My Harley is back from the dealer… and is pretty much packed away until March (but sounds GREAT with my new pipes) Thanksgiving Pictures were posted Blogged about an idiotic FBI Warning Yeni and I started on the Holiday Vegitation and the Chicago Tribune filed for bankruptcy....

[][1]Fred enjoying Dunkin' Donuts Yeni and I started early — very early — Saturday morning. After loading the truck and topping off the tank, we hit I-94 somewhere around 4 am. It was BEYOND cold with the truck showing outside temperatures ranging from 10 – 15 degrees. Normally, I make as few stops as humanly possible; combing fuel stops with rest breaks (and yes, “rest breaks” means exactly what it sounds like)....

The plan was (originally) to quickly stop by the house in Gainesville, check on it’s condition, and continue on to South Florida. The new plan is to arrive in Hogtowne around 2 AM and crash for a few hours. Our day started at 3 AM in Ann Arbor, so a little rest will be nice. Yeni’s set on driving until she hits Florida so she can have driven all through Georgia....