February 21, 1999: Grandma Gonyo & Kim Creger

We left Nicole's house and headed back to Zephyrhills to see Kim and Grandma.    Kim, Sue, and I rode over to Lakeland in the red convertible and had breakfast at Bob Evans.  Kim said she only wanted 2 kids. She said she was having a boy.    Then, we went shopping in the mall.   Wish we had had more time to spend with Kim and Grandma before flying back to Chicago.   Kim showed us a video of her ultrasound which was pretty neat.    Then, Sue and I had to head to the airport in Tampa for our flight back to Chicago.

February 20, 1999: Cocoa Beach

Nicole, Sue, and I got up late in the morning and had breakfast at Dennys.      We went shopping in the mall. The temperature was about 75 degrees.    We drove over to Cocoa beach in the convertible.   I got to see Ron Jons Surf shop.  The store had 3 levels and was huge.      Then, we stopped at this restaurant on the ocean and had some drinks.    We drove back to Orlando and Nicole brought us to Church Street in downtown Orlando.   It had alot of bars.

We got back to Nicole's friend, Amy's house, and watched 'Rush Hour'.    

February 19, 1999: Nicole Drummond & Pleasure Island

Sue and I drove to Orlando and met Nicole Drummond.  I had met her over the internet through Joe Idstein.   After the whole blowout with Joe, Nicole and I became good friends and spent many hours on the phone talking about what a jerk Joe was.   We picked up Nicole's friend, Amy, at her house, as well as another girl named Kelly, who had a 1 yr old.    We all went to Pleasure Island at Disney World.   Pleasure Island had all kinds of dance clubs and bars for adults.   It cost us $20 to get in there.  I danced with a guy on the revolving dance floor.    We had some jello shots and had a great time.

February 18, 1999: Busch Gardens

Norm, Grandma, Sue, and I went to Busch Gardens.   We went to the ice show which was very good.    Sue and I went on the roller coaster 2 times in a row.    The ride went upside down several times.   Then, Grandma, Norm, Sue, and I went to the German area for lunch and watched the show.    We also went to the 50s music show.     Norm and I had a beer at the Budweiser area. 

February 17, 1999: Florida

My friend Sue Arnouts and I flew down to Florida for vacation.  We rented this cute red Sunfire convertible.   It was so much fun driving around Florida with the top down.   We stayed at my Grandma Gonyo's place in Zephyrhills.   Sue and I went shopping at Bells Department store.   I finally got to meet Grandma's boyfriend, Norm Schultz.    He was very nice.    We went to the senior dance with them at the Tourist club in downtown Zephyrhills.     Besides this 18 yr old boy, we were the youngest ones there. It was so funny.    All of these older widowed women were seated and looking for mates.   It was like a senior meat market.   

January 19, 1999: Joe's Car Accident

I had bought Joe this Kramer shirt for Christmas, as I thought he looked like that character on 'Seinfeld'.  He wore it to work today. I think he wore the shirt as he felt bad for hurting me like he did.  He had been lying to me about many things the past few months.   I had found out over the weekend that Joe and Dawn were now an item and that he had gone back to Michigan to see her. On his way back to Chicago,  his car slid on some ice on I-94 and flipped over.   The car ended up upside down in the snow on the side of the highway.   If it wasn't for the snow, he might have been killed.   He wrote me emails at work that he still wanted to be friends and how sorry he was he did this to me.    

In the meantime, he had also been talking via email to a girl named Nicole who lived in Orlando, FL.     He had gone down to visit her last fall and lied to me about that, too. His story to me at lunch one day was that he was going to Texas to see his friend get married.  That was a lie.  He had actually gone down to Florida to see Nicole.       Nicole had no idea that he was with Dawn now and I didn't have the heart to tell her. Joe had introduced me to Nicole online, as I had been thinking about moving to Florida. Nicole and I soon learned what a jerk he really was.     The story gets even better.    He was also involved with our boss's daughter, Melisa, who also worked at IRI.   She found out about Dawn and they were fighting on the phone for about an hour at work.    

This whole situation was like a real life soap opera.     I wasted the next 2 years dealing with this soap opera, which I hope I never do in my life again.  It was a complete waste of time.

January 2, 1999: Big Chicago Snowstorm

We got 21 inches of snow today. It was awful!   My roommate, Katy, and I took the 'El' to the movie theater off of Michigan Ave.  I've never seen Michigan Ave as desolate as I did today....not a person in sight.     The snow was drifted way over the parked cars.    These are the times when I hate living up north.  Nothing is worse than standing out in the cold, with blowing snow, waiting for the bus.