Subject: Postcard from Florida--#8

Friday, January 22, 2010

Port of Call: Orlando, FL

Today is our last day in the condo as Saturday we will head down to Miami to start our cruise. The morning started off at 69 degrees with lots of clouds as the storms came through the area last night but are moving out now.

This morning went to SAMS for some much needed shopping. Turns out, the digital age of photography is becoming a tad more of a hassle than I thought. When I purchased my first digital camera I thought "great, now I can travel light" since I didn't need to carry all those film cartridges around. Well, it turns out that in addition to the camera you need to bring a spare memory chip and also a spare battery. Still, not as bad as the old 35mm days. But then The Barb needs to take along a PC so she can download the thousands of pictures, for "safe keeping". Now, it turns out that she wants to get an external hard drive to backup the backup that is on the PC. Hence, the trip to SAMS.

Did I mention that The Barb has taken over 1300 pictures in just the first 4 days of the trip? And I thought cub reporter Earl was the master picture taker. I told you The Barb is the more worthy adversary. In her defense she says; “But some of them were awesome pictures…”

I think I'm going to need a larger car.

While driving around Orlando, we see mostly the same retail stores they have back home with one exception. Down here they have numerous Sony Outlet Stores. They are everywhere and more common than gas stations. Outside my condo villa there are 3 of them within 1/2 mile on the same street. My curiosity got the better of me and I went into one to see what they had. Basically they are the same electronic stores you would find in NYC’s electronic shopping district, selling mostly outdated electronic merchandise at high prices. I’m not sure why there are so many as why would anyone spend money there when they can get the same items cheaper elsewhere. I’m thinking “money laundering” so I leave before I become part of a sting operation. Nothing will mess up a vacation quicker than being part of a sting operation (or, so I’m told…).