Are you going to Florida on vacation, or do you have to go there for some sort of business meeting?  Whether you are going there of your own accord or not, here are a few things to do in Florida, which will hopefully help to brighten your days.

1. Golf!  Golf is fun no matter where you are — and especially if you are in Florida for a business event, taking a break to get in a little golf can make you feel a whole lot better.  Plus, since golf is such a favorite business sport, you may be able to convince your colleagues to come with you, and do your business on the golf course.
2. Go to Disney World.  If you are going to Florida with your family, take the kids to Disney World — they are sure to love it!  Even if maybe it isn’t quite as much fun for an adult, you will feel good seeing the unadulterated joy on their faces and knowing that you are helping them to create memories they will treasure for the rest of their lives.  After all, every kid loves Disney!
3. Stay in a vacation rental.  Vacation rentals, also known as villas in Florida, are basically homes that the owner has furnished for guests, and rents out to vacationers.  Yep, that’s right — with an Orlando villa, you get the whole house to yourself.  Really, you can’t beat that — whether you are on a business trip and want to pamper yourself, are on a romantic retreat with your significant other, or on a family vacation, it’s worth looking into Orlando Florida villas.

No matter why you are going to Florida in the first place, that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun while you are there.  What do you like to do in Florida?

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Just last year, my step grandmother died.  While she was a cranky old woman who clearly felt threatened by my grandfather’s children and grandchildren — she had only been married to him since the early 1990s — she also more or less took care of him, doing things like tying his shoes and helping him remember things.

After she died, obviously we decided my grandfather needed full time care of some sort.  When he fell a couple of years ago and had to go to the hospital, the abrupt change in surroundings triggered some major problems with dementia, so my mom and her siblings decided that home care would be best.  Money is typically not a big concern for my grandfather, so they were able to look for the best care — people with home care provider training, for example, and specifically someone who had access to caregiver resources such as Alzheimer’s training DVDs.

Unfortunately, the trouble with the stock market lately has made my mom and her siblings a little more concerned about the cost of providing this twenty-four/seven care.  My grandfather had a lot of his funds in Citigroup stocks, which of course is really struggling now.  Hopefully the stock market will recover before we lose the ability to provide him with the level of care he needs!

Technorati Tags: Alzheimer's training DVDs, caregiver resources, Citigroup, dementia, home care provider training, stock market

When we first started this game of cat and mouse, give and take, love and loss, it wasn’t that much of a challenge for us.  Only three people ever worked at Barney’s portable spas store at a time, and the summer months were just busy enough to keep them occupied.

Obviously, we asked Barney first, but we had no plans of taking ‘no’ for an answer.  Apparently, he didn’t know of our plans because the first time he caught us, he flipped.  He literally chased us out of his store with a broom.  It was cartoon-like (then again, so were most of the late 80’s and early 90’s).

Being the proud children that we were, we could not let Barney’s actions go unpunished, so the next day we met at the arcade, we plotted to get back at him.  Three of us embarked on a trip to Barney’s, and while two of us darted through the maze of portable hot tubs while Barney gave chase, one of us went covert and vandalized a handful of hot tubs and spas with every vulgarity we knew of at the time.

We did this a couple days a week for a few months, until Barney successfully lobbied the strip mall landlords for a security guard.

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I once dated a man who contracted gout. I remember upon his diagnosis how we were both amazed at the ambiguity of the disease. We went out and bought some natural healing books and changed his diet. One of his friends was a in a human movement graduate program and referred us to a physical therapist.

Gout is a form of arthritis that attacks joints and causes swelling and pain. Gout is caused from a buildup of uric acid in the blood, as the acid builds up it forms crystals around the joints. Foods high in the chemical purine such as beer, certain meats and fish can bring on a gout attack.

My roommate was getting her masters in a health science program and told us to talk to a nutritionist. At times the gout attacks would get so bad, my boyfriend, who owned a five speed car, could not push in the clutch to switch gears, and therefore could not drive.

Eventually he got into a transitional physical therapy program which helped when his joints got stiff and achy. In addition we made some changes to his diet and increased his water intake, which helped to ward off the painful gout attacks.

Technorati Tags: human movement graduate program, masters in health science program, transitional physical therapy program

Sometimes I wonder if we have a bowling team that drinks or if we have a drinking team that bowls! I’m sure it is the same in many other adult leagues, but really, when most people think of bowling leagues they think of beer bellies.

One of the things that I like to do as team captain is buy a round of Jaeger bombs for the guys on my team every time we win a match. That’s right, as captain I don’t view my position as one where I have to know how to coach these guys. A Jaeger bomb is a shot which you then drop into a beer glass which is about halfway full of Red Bull energy drink. Then, of course, you chug it. Let’s just say that it seems to do the trick!  And it’s cheap because we rarely win.

Maybe that is part of why we have gotten the reputation of being the “party team.” Or maybe it’s the fact that our team name is “Here for the beer.” Who knows? This one thing is for sure though: our team is full, and I regularly have people ask me if they can be on my team! It’s totally cool being the popular team. Now if we could just win every once in awhile, that’d be even better!

Technorati Tags: adult leagues, bowling, how to coach, team captain