Homecoming '08 - Part 1

I finally figured out why we always stay up late packing the night before a trip. It's because a) we know, based on precedent, that we can get it all done in one night, and b) we plan too carefully and try to consider everything we might possibly need. Sure it would be quicker to just throw some stuff in a bag, but then we'd more than likely find that we left something. So which inconvenience do we prefer: not having something we need, or staying up late packing?

One trip that I did the "just throw everything in a bag" technique, I got to our destination (I think it was Florida in December) with no long-sleeved shirts. So there you go.

With that said, I got to bed last Wednesday a little after midnight. Not too bad!

We had to get up at about 4:45 am (not cool). We said our goodbyes to a sleepy Sofia still in bed and Cristina drove us to the airport. No problems on the flight.


We switched planes in Atlanta. I was prepared to volunteer for "bumpage" if the opportunity arose, but it didn't. Alex even had an empty seat beside him on the way from Atlanta to Jacksonville.

"We're going past you, Papi!"

Jarue picked us up at the Jacksonville airport. On the drive back to Gainesville, I missed the exit for the 301 (in all fairness to myself, Jarue was talking to me and she missed the exit too). So we took the scenic route, through Lake Butler. The result was we got to Gainesville a little later than we could have. We had some dinner, baths and went to bed. I tried to get some former students together at Maude's after the kids were in bed, but I couldn't get a hold of anyone.

The next morning, we had breakfast and headed to the Homecoming parade. This was Bella's first, and we staked out our spot very early. Too early, actually. I thought the parade started at 11 am, but it didn't actually start till closer to 12:30. In the meantime, we bought chicken sandwiches from a big Chick-fil-a cow, and tried to stay dry. It rained off and on throughout the whole parade. We had ponchos, but we left the umbrellas in the car (I didn't want to keep up with them). I wished we had brought chairs. Sitting on the curb was okay, but for the amount of time we were there, chairs would have been better.

We sat right across the street from the stadium, and also right across from the Channel 5 TV cameras. We had Elena tape it at home so that we could maybe see ourselves on TV later.

I forgot the camera at home, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the parade. We did meet an old friend, Sandra Pak, who took a few pictures of us with her phone. She said she wasn't sure if she could figure out how to email them, though, so until I hear from her, no parade pictures!

Back at home, I picked up Elena and went to Wal-Mart for a couple of things. Then, we picked up her friend Leigh from work and went home for a dinner of North Carolina barbecue. Elena's boyfriend Brendan came over also, as the three of them were going to Gator Growl (as were Alex and I).

Like last year, I did not buy Gator Growl tickets ahead of time. It's quite easy to buy them outside of the stadium. Last year, I paid face value ($20 each) and then as I walked into the stadium, I overheard someone else buying some for $10 a piece. So my goal this year was to pay no more than $10 a piece for tickets. After walking around for about 3 minutes with 2 fingers held up, I got two tickets for $10 each.

The seats were up high, on the sky box side. Alex liked the seats, but I didn't like the angle we had of the big screens beside the stage. Elena and friends were down at field level. Via cell phone, she told us that there were a bunch of empty seats. We waited about 15 minutes after the show started and then came down and joined them. The view was much better.


Unfortunately, because of all the rain, they couldn't do much stuff on the field. So no parachutists swooping in or band stuff on the field. Last year one of the highlights was a flaming baton that accidentally caught a trash can on fire, but there were no flaming batons this time.


Overall, the show didn't seem quite as funny as last year. There was a little bit of political stuff, with taped messages by both candidates. The comedian was the guy that won Last Comic Standing (also of the "that thing got a hemi?" commercials). He was pretty funny.

My camera's auto-focus is crappy when it's in camcorder mode. But it's better than nothing.

I enjoyed the Steve Miller Band, even more than last year's Lynyrd Skynyrd, although they were great too. Steve Miller played a longer set than Skynyrd did. I think he played about 8 songs. Alex recognized "The Joker," which was the final song they did. Steve Miller was wearing a Tim Tebow jersey and seemed in fine form. I was impressed that he played lead guitar on all the songs. A lot of times these aging rockers let a younger guitar stud take the licks on stage, but Steve Miller nailed it.



Gator Growl concluded with some fireworks, which are always fun.

Stay tuned for Part 2...the game.