Gainesville

Yesterday, we walked around Savannah in a light drizzle and visited Juliette Gordon Low’s birthplace and Paula Deen’s kitchen store. Odd pairing, but both interesting and enjoyable.

Every place I visit, I want to buy property and live there. Savannah is no exception. The homes are beautiful and many front village green squares (there are 20+ in town). Of course they all look like money pits. Because it is a historical district, not only does the 1800’s plumbing need to be fixed, it needs to be fixed “historically correctly.” Guess I will pass.

The trip to Gainesville was about 4 hours and it rained the whole way. We continued to listen to Call Me Ted. In the chapter we are on, Ted Turner has now purchased the Atlanta Braves. As I sit in the car, eating Twizzlers, I feel like a slug. Why can’t I turn-around billboard companies, AM radio stations, UHF TV stations and the Atlanta Braves? This is a rhetorical question. Please do not respond. Much of Turner's drive he attributes to an abusive and controlling father. Guess it was my misfortune to be raised by loving parents.

There was a certain smugness in the air driving into Gainesville. Those of you who are college football fans will know why. They won their championship (supposedly a NATIONAL championship) and the Nittany Lions didn’t. Oh, well, Barack Obama may be able to change the whole BCS thing after he solves the economic crisis, Mideast Crisis, and global climate change.

Since it is sunny and 50 degrees here and snowing and freezing in State College, I will put up with the smugness and all the blue and orange regalia. The town is a lot larger than State College and while the campus dominates, as the PSU campus dominates State College, it really has a different feel….and about 10 times the number of shopping plazas.

We are the guests of the University of FL Management Dept. Well, Don is the guest, I am the “spouse.” We had a lovely evening last night dining with a member of the faculty, Henry Tosi. The next two days Don will be meeting with other faculty.

This afternoon is free and we will be venturing to Cedar Key which is on the Gulf. According to Henry it is like the Florida Keys of days gone-by. Don is looking for barbeque for lunch. He feels deprived because I talked him out of buying boiled peanuts on the drive from Savannah. (Have you ever eaten boiled peanuts? YUK).

Some of you need to know the answer to the Manassas/Bull Run question. Kathy Gaetz posted her response (and has made suggestions regarding posting pix), but Moh Jiun sent hers in an email which I share with you:

In regards to the name of the Bull Run/Manassas Battlefield, here is a possible answer from the web; here is the URL (scroll to the bottom of the page)-- http://www.nps.gov/mana/

"During the war, the North generally named a battle after the closest river, stream or creek and the South tended to name battles after towns or railroad junctions. Hence the Confederate name Manassas after Manassas Junction and the Union name Bull Run for the stream Bull Run"