Early 2025 Update

It's been a minute since the last time I posted, so here is an update for the first quarter of this year.

Real Florida 5k - 2/22/25

On a whim, I decided to sign up for a 5k. I have run this race before but it was a few years ago. Anyway, I put on some older running shoes, as it was a trail run, and went out to Wekiva Springs State Park. I finished the race and felt fairly decent at the end. Not my best but I survived.

They Might Be Giants - 2/27/25

A handful of months ago, Robyn, my friend Dax's sister, contacted me about seeing They Might Be Giants perform in Orlando at The Beacham. Of course, I said yes. On this night, Dax, Robyn, Olivia (Dax's daughter), and Chris (my friend, not related to Dax) all headed downtown, where we grabbed some grub from a Mediterranean restaurant and then went to the show. Olivia split off prior to the show as she had a test the next morning. We had a wonderful time in an extremely crowded venue. Dax and Robyn were singing their heads off to many of the songs.

Road Cleanup with CFFC - 3/2/25

I decided that I needed to get more involved in my community, and I found the CFFC on meetup.com, and there was a street cleanup event in Oviedo. So I met up with three other members and we cleaned the sides of the road of one of the main roads in Oviedo and later met up and chatted at a local cafe. It felt good to help out and also to meet other like-minded individuals in the area.

Dropkick Murphys - 3/8/25

My buddy Chris, mentioned above, invited me to see the Dropkick Murphys in Clearwater at Coachman Park. We drove over in the late afternoon and had an early dinner at a diner before hitting the venue. The amphitheatre was very cool, and the show was great. The opener, Teenage Bottlerocket, was amazing and really whipped the crowd up. The second act, The Menzingers, was a solid rock band but not exactly stirring me. Finally, the Dropkick Murphys hit the stage and blew the metaphorical doors off of the amphitheatre. They even had a moment that has gone viral. I'll be listening to them more often now.

Steve Hofstetter - 3/11/25

I have been following Steve Hofstetter's content for many years now. He has had many videos on YouTube and is mostly known for dealing with hecklers during his standup. So when I found out that he was coming to Orlando, I knew I had to go. So, I invited Erin, and we went and saw him live at the Funny Bone. He had two openers who did short sets that were funny. Steve came on and did a longer set that was both very funny and very insightful. I'm still in awe at his delivery of a joke about anxiety. After the three sets, they did a Q&A, and it definitely went poorly for a drunk guy on the side of the room. A great time. I need to see more comedy shows.

Scrubbed Rocket Launch - 3/12/25

I had learned the day before that SpaceX was going to be launching the Crew-10 mission aboard the Dragon module atop of the Falcon-9 rocket. Bubba and I drove out to the coast and killed some time at the Seminole Rest Historic Site in Oak Hill.

Bubba look out over the Mosquito Lagoon

We then attempted to find the best vantage point for seeing the launch, which was a boat ramp just north of Kennedy Space Center. But 40 minutes before launch, the mission was scrubbed/delayed due to a mechanical failure.

The launch did happen two days latter, and I was able to see it from my neighborhood.

Lunar Eclipse - 3/14/25

In the early hours of March 14th (approximately 1:30 am-3:30 am) there was a total lunar eclipse. I decided, kind of at the last moment, to stay up and bear the chilly outdoors to attempt to photograph the moon during the eclipse. It was pretty neat, and I got a couple of decent shots. I really need to get reading glasses, I think, to help when my eyes are tired, which would have helped make the shot crisper.

FreeFlo - 3/15-16/25

I was watching an atheist personality, Seth Andrews (a.k.a. The Thinking Atheist), and he mentioned that he would be speaking at a conference in the Orlando metro area called FreeFlo so I decided to sign up and it also got me in contact with the CFFC (mentioned above) who were hosting the conference. I registered for only the speakers and panels, but I think I'll sign up for the community stuff next time (dinner, comedy show, trivia, etc.). I did help a bunch in the service portion of the conference which was putting together child food packages for the Second Harvest Food Bank. I think I put together over 50 bags myself.

Autumn Garick

Autumn Garick, a Seminole County School Board member, was the initial speaker. She spoke of her efforts in the school board and how we should have hope for the future.

Kate Cohen

The second speaker was Kate Cohen, an author and journalist. She spoke about belief and the current state of the country. She really set the tone for most of the speakers of the day.

Jasper Hoffman

Jasper Hoffman, an ex-Mennonite podcaster and activist, spoke about her time among the Plain People, the culture of abuse within, and her activism to assist those in the community who are in abusive situations. It was extremely eye-opening.

Katherine Stewart

The last speaker before the lunch break was Katherine Stewart, an author and journalist, who mostly spoke about her most recent book and how it relates to our current political situation. Her points were dire but I didn't appreciate how every other sentence she was referencing her book. It sort of took me out of the flow of the talk.

The "Ex" Panel

After lunch, there was a panel with ex-members of various religious congregations, moderated by Seth Andrews. The panel delved deeply into each member's stories and deconversions. There were also topics related to abuse, the general state of the country in regards to religion, and humanism.

Kavin Senapathy

Kavin Senapathy, an author, journalist, and science communicator, spoke about parenting using science and progressive ideals. Honestly, not being a parent and also having the post-lunch lunch low-energy, I was having a hard time focusing on their talk.

Cat Bohannon

The final talk for Saturday was by Cat Bohannon, an author and researcher. Her talk was extremely enlightening and entertaining. To get a feel for it, here is a segment she did on The Daily Show with Sarah Silverman that I highly recommend everyone watch.

Forrest Valkai

The first speaker on Sunday was Forrest Valkai, a scientist and science communicator, who talked about science and how it impacts our society and how our current political climate is determined to hinder advancement. It was a great talk to start the day with. I didn't have a chance to talk to Forrest directly as he pretty much always had a gaggle of fans around him.

Policy and Activism Panel

This panel included both local and national advocates for atheist, secular, and humanist policies. It was great to hear from the advocates and learn about some of the plans and initiatives that are in the works, especially during this chaotic time.

Nadine Smith

Nadine Smith, journalist and activist, was the first speaker after lunch and her topic of discussion was the deterioration of equality in recent history and the work that is being done to combat it.

Fish Stark

Fish Stark, executive director of AHA, spoke about his work expanding Humanist principles and advocating for changes in policies to promote those principles. He was extremely fired up.

Seth Andrews

The final speaker of the conference was Seth Andrews. He had a hopeful message about love and disobeying authority when the authority figures are wrong. It was a powerful message on which to end the conference.

Conclusion

The conference was amazing. I met and talked with many people about many topics that are important to me. I learned a bunch about science and humanity. I think I have started to figure out that I need to do more. I was able to talk with people that I respected for their online presences and I have increased the number of these people that I follow. I even got to add to the discussion by asking questions to some of the speakers. I had a great time, and I'll probably attend next year.