Gators

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. ...

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]That little spec in the center is the duck. And in the bottom right corner is the one mom threw in. So today (December 20th) marks the 2nd Anniversary of Forrest’s passing. Last year, I rode the Harley out to Cedar Key, Florida and threw a duck into the ocean. Why a duck? Well, when I graduated UF back in 2006 (Go Gators), my parents threw an open house graduation party for me....

To me, Thanksgiving represents not just a “vacation” day, but rather a day to reflect on the past year — no matter how bad — and be thankful for what life has given to us. Every year I look forward to celebrating two days with my family and friends; selfishly, the first day (my birthday) is all about me. And, as you can guess, the second day I look forward to comes on the fourth Thursday in November....

[][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)....

Greetings from Vegas and thank you to my Alma Mater, the University of Florida, for a history making domination of college athletics. And an even greater thanks to the State of Nevada for legalizing gambling and allowing me to make some change off of the Gator win. Why? Because when you’re a Gator, you don’t bet that the Gators will beat the spread… you know in your heart that they’ll win and then you bet accordingly....