I'm a code monkey and I've been writing web code for over twelve years. People often think that because I work on the Web that I can fix their broken computers. Sure, I probably know how to fix them, but I would really rather not because I know that most people suck. MONKEYS RULE!
After much anticipation, I finally made to the Pensacola Seafood Festival on it's last day. The festival started on Friday but I had work that day, and on Saturday, I had to go out of town to get a new phone (I'll post about that later). So, it wasn't until Sunday that I would be able to go.
I manage to get there around 3PM and you could see the crowds gathering from blocks away. At the festival, I saw the types of food vendors who were serving a plethora of seafood albeit most of it was breaded and fried. There were some selling grilled food, but that tended to be the chicken, beef, and pork kind. I did my usual thing and grabbed a couple of chicken shiskabobs and a soda. I did notice something that wasn't there in previous years; I saw someone selling turkey legs. They also served beer and other cocktails at this year's event.
I have two gripes about the festival. First, the price of food is getting a bit rediculous. I paid $10 for two shiskabobs and I saw a sign that said $7 for an Italian sausage. For Pensacola, this price level is insane. If the price goes up next year, I don't think I'll be buying any food there anymore. Secondly, the music venue needs to get better. I have lots of respect to the local bands that play at these events, but it feels like it's the same band that plays at all the festivals. Whoever organizes this event needs to try to get some big name bands to come if they really want to market this event as one of the Gulf Coasts best events.
This year, I failed to get a t-shirt to add to my collection of festival shirts. I actually do not collect these shirts but I do buy one to support the events. I wasn't able to get a shirt this year because they ran out of large and above sizes. (I guess people in Pensacola are getting heftier each year). I didn't want to just buy any shirt, so I decided to keep my money. Better luck next year, I guess.
I'll be posting some more pictures in the photoblog and on this site. I need to find my cables or my card reader so I can get them out of my digital camera. I'm not digging through my box of cables tonight, so, I probably won't get to it until some time tomorrow.
This past weekend, an old friend asked me if I wanted to go to the first Amine convention in Mobile, Alabama. Being the Anime fan that I am, I decided I would check it out on Saturday. The convention was held at the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel from June 5-7th.
All in all, the event seemed humbly small. It wasn’t as grand and elaborate as some of the convention that I had been to in the past, but it was a good freshman effort. Hopefully, they’ll get much better next year.
When I attended on Saturday, they were having the costume judging. Lost of kids were dressed up as their favorite anime characters and sci-fi characters.
If you want to learn more about the event, you can visit http://www.animealabama.com/ for more details.
Below is a quick video that I took from the event. More pics are available in my Photoblog.
After briefly loitering around at UWF's Festival on the Green, the gang and I decided to grab some grub at Pensacola Beach. We started off with a plan to get some hot wings at Hooters, but somehow ended up going to Crabs Seafood Restaurant. To be honest, I can't really remember what made us change our minds but we ended up there somehow.
At the restaurant, I realized that of all the times I have been there I had never ordered crabs from Crabs. For years, I had been limiting myself to the appetizers or the fried seafood baskets. Well, I decided that I would fix this major oversight and ordered some crabs.
Now, one of my main character flaws is that I can get somewhat indecisive on things that are very similar. Often, I try to do a lot research when I have to deliberate on things. This time, I didn't have the luxury of knowing what kind of crab was good, so I opted for the Combo Crab Platter which had a little of Alaskan Snow Crab Clusters, King Crab Legs, Dungeness Crab from San Francisco. There was some coleslaw, boiled potatoes, and corn on the cob also thrown in there for good measure.
To say the least, it was very good meal. Although it was pricey at about $30, I felt it was worth every dime. I don't make a habit of spending that much when eating out, but I'm a firm believer in treating yourself every once in a while.
Remember that you only live once. Don't die with any regrets of not having tasted something. If it looks good. Why not treat yourself and give it a try!
The crowds at the Pensacola Seafood Festival were actually pretty decent while I was there. This year, I decided to go at night to avoid being baked by the sun. There were so many people that it was actually somewhat difficult to find a place to plop down and eat my mountainous platter of fried seafood and roasted meat-on-a-stick. Despite these challenges, I actually had a great time. My only suggestion to the organizers of the Festival is to try to get some big name bands to play. The music was somewhat weak in my opinion.
Many of you who frequent Cordova Mall know that the food court has been under construction for quite some time. Today, I managed to sneak my camera phone and snap some pictures of the construction progress.
From what I could see, there is still a lot of work to be done, but I think the final results will make everyone happy. I just hope they step up the construction work and they don't piss off too many people with having to deal with the current cramped eating area that they have been torturing people with.
I know it's late (or early 3:45?), but I needed to post something before I lost my train of thought. So, my weekend festivities are somewhat over. I say 'somewhat' because I haven't decided whether to continue tomorrow having Monday being a work day and all. For the most part, I realize why I stopped going out. I usually burn too much of my money and drink a little too much than I should.
If I Twittered everything that happened so far, then the following list would be most of the entries. At some point my thumbs were inebriated so I couldn't text. But I would say it was fun. Some highlights for the curious:
Had the radio on my car fixed
Had my ipod integrated to my car
Had free dogs and burgers at a health fair
Had dinner and drinks at Crabs with my friend Rodney
Quickly toured the boardwalk
Took Rodney back to his place cuz the bloke doesn't drink (yes. weak. I know)
Got a call from some old friends from waaaay back.
Drove back to Pensacola beach to meet up with old buddies.
Second tour of the board walk.
Some drinking was involved.
Drunk cute girl grabs my non-existent ass. (either that or she was trying to get to my wallet)
More drinking was involved.
Discovering that I am louder than I sound in my head when I have had one too many: Priceless
Watched someone get arrested and decided it was a good time to wind down.
Sobered up a bit.
Drove home. Got sick.
Blogging to capture the moment and now crashing into bed.
Swearing to God that I won't do this again. Good times.
It has been one long tortuous week at work and I am mentally exhausted. I've gone through literally thousands of lines of web code just to implement some new security measures for the company web site. I am very sleep deprived and tired. The only thing keeping me awake is all the caffeine that I ingested during this trifle time.
Work has progressively become more intense for me. I have more and more projects coming in and there doesn't seem to be enough time during the work week to do it. It's a good thing I don't have a life because this week alone, I gave up all of my nights to squeeze in more hours to work on the web site.
With all of this, I have decided to unwind this weekend. As soon as the office clock points to 5 o'clock, I am going on my trip to Margaritaville.
