Day 7 - July 7, 2007 (I should have played the lottery): Happy Birthday to me (Rudy)! I’m all growns up ~ Swingers
Today we were in Orlando, home of Mickey Mouse and his magic kingdom. The magic for us began with a visit by Erik Hersman (Realty Thoughts, eppraisal.com) and Marcus Burke (CondoMetroplis blog). We met for breakfast at Panera Bread.
As we walked to Panera with Erik and Lauren, we were approached by a golf cart driving cigarette smoking security - uhem- officer that informed us we were not allowed to take pictures outside. Huh? I then asked her if smoking cigarettes on the job was allowed. The look I received was priceless. She asked me not to tell anyone and did say she was not permitted to smoke on the job. So I told her I wouldn’t tell on her if she didn’t tell on us 
As we walked away, she continued to mumble, “I’m serious, no pictures” . Anywho…..
Marcus, Joe, Erik
Marcus, Rudy, Erik, Lauren
We had a jolly good time with Brit blogger Marcus, who is a bright chap — he’s got a Ph.D. you know, and is a published British author– blimey. Marcus is a witty bloke and a lot of fun to hang around with. He showed us his new i-blower.
Mobile marketing by CondoMetropolis.com
Erik brought his lovely daughter, Lauren, who seemed to like the Googly ball we gave her (courtesy of CondoDomain’s big brown blog bag). Erik continues to enlighten the MLS crowd with his blogging seminars in Orlando. He took some great photos of out meet-up with his Nikon. (see Erik’s pics on Flickr)
Hey, did you guys know Erik is the White African?
Rudy The Bloggerrazzi
After breakfast, we headed to Office Max to buy the “Blogger Autograph Board”, another way for us to commemorate the tour. (we got the idea from our friends at www.roadtripnation.com — the ceiling of their bus is adorned with the writings of people they’ve met on the road).
We had Marcus and Erik christen the Board with their signatures. Bloggers we meet are welcome to leave a comment and sign the Board, which we hope to display at the Inman Blogger Connect to share with others.
We said our goodbyes and headed to Ft. Lauderdale to see my (Rudy’s) sister Diana, sister in-law Hanna and her fiance Carlos. Diana baked me a chocolate frosted marble cake - my favorite. Thanks sis! We then headed out to my favorite Chinese restaurant in Fort Lauderdale accross from the Galleria Mall. This is the first birthday in 10 years that I was away from my wife and the first one away from my 16 month old daughter - sad. Thanks for understanding Sara…..
Afterwords we headed to he local tiki bar for a couple of brewskies and talked to the owner of the Condo Hotel. He granted us a video interview during which we learned some interestng things about the local South Florida real estate market. Video to come………
Finding parking for the RV was tough but we befriended the night watchman at the local parking lot and he granted us permission to park our blogmobile. A little small talk can go a long way. Plus, we got to learn about some of his real estate stories which he gladly told us. Thanks John Luke.
to be continued, on the road….
Columbia Restaurant
Realty pondering
