Disney's International Food & Wine Festival

I've been a lot places and eaten a lot of food, so when I heard I was going to be at Epcot during their International Food & Wine Festival I was interested so see if it was the real deal or just a cheesy tourist trap. I talked to a buddy of mine that lived in Orlando for a while and he assured me that this was a "must see" for any Orlando trip.

For you newbies here's a basic overview of what it is and how it works. I usually don't go into too much detail about these things, but the information found online is really poor.

Walt Disney World in Orlando is made up of various theme parks. One of these theme parks is called Epcot. You've probably seen the the giant silver sphere (pictured above) - This is Epcot. In the rear of Epcot is a section of the park called, "The World Showcase". This is where they have the International Food & Wine Festival for a few months each year.

The World Showcase is a built around a lagoon. They've recreated 11 countries around this lagoon that you can walk through and experience: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada.

I was impressed. Disney really paid attention to all the details. The cool thing is Disney has actual people from those countries working there. If you go during the International Food & Wine festival there are temporary food & drink booths setup from many more countries: Argentina, Scotland, Australia, and Greece just to name a few.

The food was great. My favorites were the fish & chips in the United Kingdom, boeuf bourguignon in France, and the avocado margarita in Mexico. I also appreciated the fact that the beers complemented the food they were serving in that country.

My only complaint was that the park closes early. So come early, make sure you come during the International Food & Wine Festival, and make sure you stay for the nightly fireworks show at the end. I will definitely be back to go eating and drinking around the world.

The pictures I took really didn't do it justice - so for more info here's a video.    

Axiom 50: The Road Less Travelled...

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

-Robert Frost

Looking at a map it would first appear to make the most sense for me to take the freeway to work but I don't. At rush hour the freeway is jammed full of cars slowly inching towards their destination. The journey on the freeway is truly miserable. Instead I choose to take the back roads.

Freeway or back roads - either way it takes the same 20 minutes to get to work. The difference is in the road less traveled. The back roads to work are peaceful. No traffic, no stress, and plenty of trees to look at. The journey is just more enjoyable taking the back roads. On the days where there are wrecks on the freeway the back roads are that much sweeter. For my daily commute to work the road less traveled has made all the difference.

The lesson here is that if you are doing things just like everyone else in the crowd it may be time to rethink your approach. Goals become harder when you are trudging down the well-worn path of the crowd. There are more people to get in your way. There are more people that have already taken the best resources for themselves already. There are more potential conflicts. It's much like arriving at a gold rush after all of the easy gold has been found.

Don't be afraid to create your own path instead of going down the same one everyone else is using, it could make all the difference in your life.

Software That Can Change Your Life

Here's my top five picks of software that can change your productivity and your life as well:

5. Adobe Creative Cloud (www.adobe.com / $49.99 per month)

I'm sure you've all heard or used some of Adobe's products. In the past their software was so expensive that only professionals could afford it. However, since their roll out of creative cloud it is now affordable for the everyday user. Sign up, then log onto www.lynda.com to watch some training videos that open up your world to the potential of doing some freelance work or launching the digital product of your dreams.

4. Evernote (www.evernote.com / free basic version / $45.00 per year for the premium version)

I store everything in Evernote: Models #'s of household parts, clothing sizes I wear, random ideas, account numbers, to-do lists, my goals, and so on. Evernote works as a desktop program, a website, and a mobile app that all sync. With Evernote you will always have the most updated versions of all your notes wherever you go.

3. Plaxo (www.plaxo.com / $5.00 per month basic version)

Plaxo is a service that syncs all of your contacts and calendars across platforms. This is great for any business people that have a lot of contacts and multiple computers.

2. Scrivener (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php / $40.00)

If you're a writer there is no better program than Scrivener. This is the best thing since Microsoft Word. The layout allows for quick and easy storyboarding. The best thing is you'll save hundreds of hours on your bigger sized projects with this software.

1. Active Words (www.activewords.com / free basic version / $49.95 premium version)

If you perform the same daily computer tasks over and over (opening files, writing the same text, going to the same websites, etc.) then Active Words could be the best computer program you'll ever use. You set up quick text "triggers" to automatically launch files or other actions. The amount of time I save each day at work is staggering because of this program.