Tag ave maria fail

I realized that I totally forgot what we actually did on Saturday night.  We didn’t sit at home, we went out driving in the van with the girls to look at Christmas lights.  After seeing some of the local lights the plan was to head out to Ave Maria (Catholic Town) to see their display.  I remember in past years trolleys running all the way out there just to see the lights, supposedly they really go all out.

So we head out there and see the bridge in the front of the town is nicely decorated.  Ali had not been to Ave Maria in years, actually the last time she was there everything was still under construction.  I gave her a narrated tour as we drove the 3 miles into town from the main road.

As we got closer to the town center I did not see any signs of a massive light display. Sure I saw some lights on the houses of the few suckers that actually bought a home there but surely nothing special.  As we pulled right in front of the massive church in the middle of Ave Maria there still was no out of the ordinary light display.  Shit, they mustn’t be doing it anymore.

I can’t say I am surprised.  The Ave Maria project is a financial black hole that was started at exactly the wrong time and finished in the midst of the housing collapse.  The last time I heard, the town had about 10% of the one time expected population.  It is basically a flop.

I have no idea where the money is coming from to maintain the massive tract of land.  The lush landscaping is still being meticulously maintained, the town still looks pristine.  There just is basically nobody actually living there.

So since we were there anyway we took some time to thoroughly explore the grounds.  We actually found there were some other businesses besides Publix in Ave Maria.  We saw a coffee shop, a chiropractor, some pizza shops and even a BAR, yes a BAR!  I told Ali at some point we have to go there and drink, as Troy says, we need to “sin it up”.

So we drove around some more to back areas of Ave Maria that I never saw.  The facilities are just massive.  There are multiple parks and even a “water park” which is a collection of pools, including a lap pool, connected by an expansive sun deck.  It just seems so weird seeing all of these facilities that were built on the assumption of a population that never materialized.

I guess it is no surprise that they stopped doing the big Christmas light display, they need to watch their dollars for sure.

We did drive by the few houses that did have some lights on them as a consolation.  It at least was interesting to snoop around the grounds a bit.

The past couple days have not been all that interesting.  I have been doing the normal week before Christmas thing, buying little odds and ends, wrapping presents, all that jazz.  I may need to pick up a thing or two for Ali yet even though with the NYC trip we really don’t need to give each other anything.  It would be a pretty bland Christmas morning if we just sat there and stared at each other around the tree.

One thing about Christmas I both like and dislike at the same time is the food.  Sure I love cookies and my birthday cake but I don’t like the way I feel when I over indulge in them.  Last year was the first year I can recall that I didn’t have a significant weight gain over the holidays.  I am hoping to keep that trend going this year but it’s tough to do with so many sweets in your face.

The one thing I have noticed since I have both leaned out yet built some more muscle mass is that my body can smooth out the humps in bad eating more easily.  The more muscle you have the more calories you are burning even at rest. It is a win/win.

I had my follow up appointment at our clinic regarding my thumb.  I have not had any flare ups of the extreme swelling for a few weeks.  I do however have something still in there.  Certain motions that involve moving the joint will still bring discomfort and my overall grip when using the thumb is not what it used to be.  But the thumb is basically operational for everything I need it for.

I have no interest in going on any sort of prolonged prescription for it.  It will basically be a wait and see thing. I’ll wait and see if it blows back up again.

So the unbelievable Republican presidential race roller coaster has turned yet again.  The latest numbers now show Ron Paul as the leader in Iowa.  To be honest this is the first good news I have heard from the right in more than a decade.  I like Ron Paul, I liked him in 2008 as well.

I still think his policies are far too radical to win widespread support from Republicans and their ultra-rich supporters since many of Ron’s ideas would take big chunks out of these scumbags overflowing pockets.  However if he is actually the Republican nomination I would probably vote with my registered republican party for the first time in two decades.  I think Obama’s heart is in the right place but he just caved far too many times to the republicans and got zip in return.

That being said, I would expect that Ron Paul and his stated goals if he took office would face similar road blocks that Obama has faced in getting anything done.  I really wouldn’t expect that to change no matter who is in there.  Whatever the money wants, the money gets.

So I hurried home last night so I could feed the dogs and then head out to the Ave Maria Publix.  You see, unlike most Publix that close at 9 or 10, this one closes at an early bird special time of 7pm.

As I pulled into the Ave Maria complex I drove by the now infamous abandoned gas station/convenience store.  This building was started, almost finished and then promptly abandoned.  I assume whomever built it saw the writing on the wall of Ave Maria’s colossal implosion and decided to cut their losses and run.

To catch people up to speed that may not know, Ave Maria was the first new catholic university launched in the last three decades.  It was designed to be a nearly self sustaining town literally in the middle of nowhere.  The university was supposed to be the hub of luxury homes, golf courses, shopping and more.  This was the brain child of the founder of Domino’s Pizza, Tom Monaghan.

Well Ave Maria had awful timing.  They broke ground towards the end of the construction/real estate boom.  By the time they were open for business we were firmly in the grease covered slide to the bottom.  The last time I heard they had sold only 10% of the homes in the area.  All of that proposed retail never happened, except for the Ave Maria Publix.

As I pulled into the 95% empty parking lot I had my choice of several front row parking spaces.  As I entered the store that is in the shadow of the massive Ave Maria church I was greeted by perfectly faced aisles with nobody in them.  I think I could have counted the customers on one hand.

Since the store has a totally different layout it took me longer than normal to find my items.  Luckily the list this week was pretty short.  They had one check out line open with nobody in it.  I was in and out of there in about 20 minutes.  I almost felt like I should have genuflected as I walked out the door.

The rest of my night went smoothly.  I did some prep of the guest room.  Nicki gets very excited when she sees us stripping the bed, she knows it means someone is coming.  She will be excited to see Uncle Randall I’m sure.

My weekend with Randall should work out well.  He is actually using my place as a launching point to head to Siesta Key Saturday to play in a vball tourney with Tabby.  Then he will come back and hang around till sometime on Sunday.  I will be able to get done what I need to around the house while he is at the tournament.

He is bringing his bike so we can put some miles in on Sunday. We also have tentative plans to go see Hangover 2 Saturday night.

As I mentioned, I have been real happy with using my Xbox 360 to serve up TV entertainment, especially with adding Hulu + to my arsenal which already included Netflix and Playon.tv.  I enjoy it enough that I think I am about ready to dump the Tivo that is in my bedroom.

Right now I have been migrating my 360 between the bedroom and the great room as needed.  It’s a bit of a pain in the ass.  Last night on a whim I took a quick look on Craigslist to see if anyone was selling a basic 360 for cheap.  Low and behold I found one, a guy selling his unit since his son went to college and no longer uses it.  The price was right, $90.

I called him and found out he lived right of a road I use for my commute to work.  I asked him if he would be interested if I picked the 360 up early on my way in.  Surprisingly he said that was fine.

I rolled up to his house this morning at 7:30.  When I was greeted he asked me if I could talk quietly, evidently his other son was upstairs asleep.  He had the 360 hooked up to his tv so I could verify it worked, which it did.  We quietly completed the transaction and I was on my way.

I have some extra vaca days to use, even with the upcoming time off I have for my PA Rumble trip and the Ireland adventure.  I decided to burn one by taking Monday off.  A three day weekend just sounded nice.