cool stuff...

Living in the city of Orlando I have some pretty cool opportunities that I probably tend to take for granted. The past couple of days I've gotten to do and see a few pretty neat things and I'd like to share...

First of all...Orlando is now the proud home of a new IKEA store. If you don't know what IKEA is...you live in a hole... :) ...but I'll fill you in anyway...

IKEA is a Swedish based home furnishing store. Their "company vision" is "...to offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design and function at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. And still have money left!" Here are a few facts about IKEA

"SWEDISH INVASION"

"There are 268 IKEA stores worldwide in 36 countries.

The first U.S. store opened in 1985 in Plymouth Meeting, Penn., a suburb of Philadelphia.

IKEA opened its first store in the Southeast in Atlanta June 2005.

The first Florida store opened last month in Sunrise.

IKEA Orlando is the company's 33rd U.S. location.

An IKEA store is scheduled to open in Tampa in summer 2009.

Based on catalog/online orders and store transactions, IKEA estimates they have 250,000 customers in Florida."

The store is the size of THREE football fields...I spent two entire hours inside the store and literally saw less than half of it! It's simply amazing!!! check out the pictures and videos here



The store just opened today, however, they had a "family and friends" day on Saturday. Thanks to Lisa and Mac who work at Disney...and my dear friends Ashe and Lay...I was given a ticket to go for this special day. It was truly a unique experience and I'm so glad I had to chance to be a part of this special day.

The funny thing about Orlando is that more often than not you just simply stumble upon some pretty cool stuff.
Today, on my way home from work...just down the road from my house (near the airport)...Traffic slowed down a lot in a spot where it shouldn't have. I was curious but then I saw all these signs that said not parking, standing, or watching...at this point I was REALLY curious. I looked to my right and there was sitting a brand new BEAUTIFUL Airbus A380.


This plane has been the subject of quite a bit of news since it was announced.


It is the largest commercial jet ever...it can seat over 830 people!!! Literally, it is referred to as a "cruise ship of the skies."



I had heard about the plane because my students read a really great newspaper called "News-2-You" each week. The paper teaches them about fun current events with simple words and illustrations for EACH word in the story. A few weeks ago they read all about the Airbus A380. I didn't stop...as the signs had requested...but I was able to get a really good look at this amazing machine and that was possibly a once in a life time opportunity.

School is going well. I'm on a down hill ride just trying to get through Friday. We are off ALL week next week for Thanksgiving so that's going to be REALLY nice when the time comes...but for now, it makes the kids restless and generally disobedient. I'll make it through. I'm really looking forward to Friday when we will have a "Thanksgiving Feast" in our classroom with all my students and their families (who are able to attend).

Thats all for now...thanks for reading!!!