2017 Year in Review: Filled Every Day with Adventure

2017 has been a year of new adventures. After nine years, I left The James Madison Institute in February to start a new job as Director of Philanthropy of National Review Institute. In late August, I had the opportunity to go on the National Review cruise, and just before that, travel through five countries (all new to me) in Central Europe – plus a final stop back in England where the NR cruise took off from.

As I move around the country (and sometimes outside of it), gathering support for National Review Institute – a journalistic think tank that complements the mission of National Review magazine and furthers the legacy of our founder, William F. Buckley, Jr. – my new job has me traveling by plane more than ever before. This calendar year, I’ve spent lots of time in Texas (four times), New York City (four times), Washington DC (two times) and Chicago (two times), as well as visits to places that include Wisconsin, Michigan, and Missouri.

 

In 2017, I completed my one-year program with Connect Florida. I also was a season ticket holder to the Orlando City Soccer Club and an annual pass holder to Walt Disney World – getting to park hop in all four Disney theme parks! I’ve seen my share of concerts this year – including an epic one at the top of my bucket list: U2.

2017 marked the year that I became an uncle for the first time, with my new niece Gabriella being born in October to my brother Tony and his wife Ann. When little Gabriella was just about 8 weeks old, I visited them in Santa Monica, California in December. Speaking of exciting family announcements: in August, my brother Manny became engaged to his (now fiancé!) Tiffany. Expect a wedding in February 2019.

 

“I’ve Been Everywhere”

I am never one to let a good opportunity slip away, so as I traveled around the country I caught up with great friends and experienced fun times in plenty of American cities. In addition to visiting California in December, I also…

• Took a group of friends sailing in Tampa Bay on the SailFuture vessel, Defy The Odds for my birthday weekend in January.
• Celebrated my friend Kristen Moran’s birthday in St. Pete Beach in February.
• In conjunction with NRI’s Ideas Summit in Washington DC in March, I was able to meet up for dinner with Kristen and several of my other friends: Mark Wadsworth, Dan Lesniak, Carter Fowler, and Erin Botsford. On a second visit to DC in October, I saw a number of friends as well, including Michael Werner. And a big thank you to my NRI colleague Nate Mills for letting me crash at his house on Capitol Hill (we save our nonprofit organization some money!)
• Celebrated St. Patrick’s Day weekend with Kristen and her friends in Savannah, Georgia.

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  Visited my friend Christian Minor in Tallahassee multiple times this year, including surprising him on his birthday weekend in March.

• In May, during a work trip to Dallas, I was able to take in a Texas Rangers game, making it my 17th unique MLB team ballpark visited!
• Visited my friend Nick Gill in Nashville in July, where I was able to record three podcast interviews: one with him, his roommate Jordy Searcy (both are talented musicians!) and with a major entrepreneur Mark Cleveland. I also caught up with my friends Steve Buhrman and Justin Baker and visited the headquarters of the Beacon Center of Tennessee, a state-based free-market think tank.
• Attended the big fat Greek wedding of my good friends Matt Farrar and Anna Alexopoulos in Fort Lauderdale in June.

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  Joined my friend James O’Keefe on his sailboat, the Lucky Charm II, in New York in June – taking along my NRI colleague Meredith Bogacz and my friends Fred Hoehle and Marshall Polston. In September, I also joined James for a two-day sail along the entire cost of Connecticut, where we slept on the boat and pulled into various ports, during a 48-hour journey on two amazingly beautiful days – all while Hurricane Irma was hitting my native Florida.

• Took in a beautiful weekend in Chicago in July, with my friend Kristen Moran. In addition to doing the architectural riverboat tour of Chicago, we saw one of our favorite bands The Currys play on the rooftop of an apartment building in Chicago and then saw another of my favorite bands, Scythian, play at the Irish American Heritage Festival.
• Visited my friend Andrew Bulvosky in Ann Arbor while I was on my way up to Midland, Michigan for a work event.
• Stopped into Gainesville to see my friend Houston Keen perform a live show on my way back from Tallahassee in late September.

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  Climbed up to the top of the Gateway arch in St. Louis during some free time I had during a work trip to Missouri. I was also able to visit the courthouse where the Dred Scott decision was first heard, as well as stop into the Missouri State Museum to learn more about the Show Me State’s important role in U.S. history.

• Took in a college football game in Boston between Florida State University and Boston College with my friend Fred Hoehle in October. It was a quick trip, but a very full day in Boston – eating pizza at Regina Pizzeria and cannolis from Mike’s Pastry Shop on the north end, while walking it off all the way down to Fenway Park.
• Visited Rockefeller Center in December with my friend Marshall Polston and his girlfriend to see the most famous Christmas tree in America.
• Visited my parents in Delray Beach multiple times this year, including being home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

 

 

On top of all those domestic travels, the most epic trip of the year was one I will remember for a lifetime. Over 11 days, my friend Marshall Polston and I traveled through five countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Among many sites along the way, we visited:

• Dachau, the first and longest serving concentration camp in Germany. It was a powerful, emotional way to start the trip, but a piece of history that all should see to understand the depths of evil human beings are capable of. We uplifted our spirits in the only way possible, by dining in a German beer hall back in Munich later that evening.
• Neuschwenstein Castle, built by the “Mad King” of Bavaria. We were fortunate to visit on a really beautiful blue-sky day.
• Salzburg, Austria, where we took “The Sound of Music” tour of the city and visited the Eagle’s Nest, the mountaintop hideout where Adolf Hitler held secret meetings with the SS and other Axis powers during WWII. Other than the fact it was a hideout of one of history’s greatest monsters, it was a beautiful site to behold, overlooking both Germany and Austria.
• Vienna, Austria, where we toured St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Schonbrunn Palace, ate some amazing Wiener Schnitzel, and took in a Mozart concert at the Vienna State Opera House.

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  Bratislava, Slovakia, where we toured the two thousand-year-old ruins of Devin Castle and walked the old city streets of Bratislava.

• Budapest, Hungary, where we ate gulash in the old Jewish quarter, had fun in the ruin bars, took a river boat cruise along the Danube River, explored Margaret Island, hiked up to a great perch overlooking the city, and caught many sites including their beautiful Parliament building.
• Prague, Czech Republic, where we took a walking tour of this charming Czech city, saw the famous Astronomical Clock, visited the Museum of Communism, and bid farewell by smoking cigars in Wenceslas Square, where the Velvet Revolution took place, accelerating the end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe.

After departing from Prague, I took a flight to London, where I spent two days. On my first day, I was able to tour Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War Rooms, and Buckingham Palace. The second day I toured the British Museum, before meeting up for a dinner with my colleagues and NRI supporters in London. The next day, we took a train down to Southampton, where we then departed on the following day on National Review’s transatlantic cruise. I spent seven days working at sea, as part of NR’s annual conference on a cruise, but this was certainly a perk of the job and afforded me the opportunity to interact with hundreds of supporters of the National Review mission.

We landed in New York the next week, where we were greeted by a wonderful welcome by Lady Liberty. I spent a few days at our headquarters in Manhattan, and then a few days on a sailboat with my friend James O’Keefe (as noted above) before returning back to storm-damaged Florida. Luckily, most of my home state was spared, and my home and city of Orlando suffered very little damage. We were fortunate, while others, especially those in the Florida Keys, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands were not.

 

Florida, My Home Sweet Home

While I definitely spent many days and weeks of 2017 on the road (and in the air, and on a boat, and on the railroads), I still found plenty of time to enjoy the sights, sounds, and friends in my home of Orlando, the City Beautiful, and my home state of Florida. Some of the highlights included:

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  Attending about 9 of the 17 home games of the Orlando City Soccer Club, where I was a season ticket holder this year. I was able to attend the home opener at OCSC’s new stadium in March with my friends Eric Smith and Adam and Nikki Guillette (we even found ourselves on live television during the national anthem). Many other friends joined in for other games, including Robert Agrusa, Christian Minor, Val Particini, Evan Ernst, Marshall Polston, Christian Camara, Nick Loffer, Josh Nadal and Kyana Jeanin.

• Attending the USA soccer game vs. Panama in October with my friends Evan Ernst and Adam and Nikki Guillette. It would be the only soccer game Team USA would win all year.
• Attending my first Orlando Solar Bears (minor league ice hockey) game with my friends Eric and Joleen Smith in April. A playoff game that ended with an epic fight!

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  Participating in the Children’s Miracle Network’s Central Florida Dance Marathon for the second year in a row. This is organized by my friend Chris Dawson. My “teammate” this year was Laura Heiselman – and between she and I, and all of our friends and family who contributed, we kicked butt! While another team beat us for the top fundraising spot before the deadline, donations from our teammates back home continued to come in, and we raised the most money towards helping children with life-threatening illnesses. A fun day for a great cause!

• Going to the top-of-my-bucket list concert, U2 in June with my friends Michael Long, Eric Jontz, and Lawrence Lyman at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. There just aren’t words to describe how amazing this show was, a 30^th anniversary of The Joshua Tree album.

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  Seeing Mumford and Sons at the Amway Center (arena) in Orlando in September with my friend Sunny Aggarwal. Another first for me of this amazing band!

• Being mesmerized by Jonny Lang (my all-time favorite) at the Plaza Live in Orlando with my friends Eric and Joleen Smith in April. I think that was at least the 21st live performance of his I’ve seen in my life.
• Seeing Needtobreathe (one of my favorites!) at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City with my friend Jennie Varela.
• Experiencing the Welcome to Rockville music festival in Jacksonville in April with my friends Christian Minor, Val Particini, and Adam and Nikki Guillette. Among many acts, we were able to see A Perfect Circle, The Offspring, and Soundgarden. Sadly, just two weeks later, Soundgarden front man Chris Cornell took his own life.

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  Seeing Bush in May at the Hard Rock Live with my friend Christian Minor. We bought the VIP package and were able to meet the band before the show.

• Catching Alter Bridge with my friend Fred Hoehole at the House of Blues in Orlando on Black Friday in November.
• Listening to Marc Broussard at The Social in downtown Orlando with my friends Marshall Polston and Chris Gonzalez in December.
• Enjoying the sounds of JD Eicher and Matt Hires at Will’s Pub in May, along with Melodime at the same venue just a few weeks earlier. All of these specific artists are friends and have been featured on my Agents of Innovation podcast at some point over the past two years, so it was great to see them at Will’s Pub, just down the street from me.

 

Entertaining Guests at My Home in Orlando

In May, I also hosted another house concert at my Baldwin Park condo, this time featuring my friends Shawn Fisher and Jordyn Jackson Fisher of the folk duo, Flagship Romance. In addition to hosting Shawn and Jordyn, I also hosted many other friends and family in my guest room. My parents visited several times. My brother Tony also came for a visit in March. My brother Manny and his (now fiancé) Tiffany visited in May and we spent an entire day at three different Disney parks: Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and the Magic Kingdom (Tiffany’s first time to Disney!)

Michael Long, Kristen Moran, Johnny Burtka, Ilya Shapiro, Matt Hires, JD Eicher, Dylan Kollat, Mike Werner, Josh Nadal, Andrew Fay, Brett Landau, Chris Perrigan, Nick Loffer, Andre Walsh, Marshall Polston, and Evan Ernst all stayed at my place at some point in 2017. Evan came back and stayed with me for a month while he was doing work in Orlando – and his family returned the favor when I stayed at his place in Cocoa Beach in conjunction with an event for his charity, Who We Play For.  In all, I’ve counted 26 different friends who made their home at my place for one night or more in my guest room in Orlando! I hope to keep entertaining more friends and family in 2018!

My friend Marcel Steigert came to visit me (all the way from Germany!) in April. On his stint here, we attended an Orlando City soccer match, went over to Cape Canaveral to spend a day touring Kennedy Space Center, and ventured down to Miami Beach and partied one night with my friend Gianni Breuer who was in South Florida at the time. In December, I gathered up with my friend Jean-Yves Aubone and his wife Stephanie, along with my friends Jose Romero and Jon Hartley, and we spent a fun night out in downtown Miami just before Christmas. I also have been able to visit my grandmother in Miami a few times this year – it’s nice to visit the city of my birth.

 

Connect Florida Class Year Concludes

It was a fun year on “Cisco’s Calendar of Fun,” but some of that fun was also had amid some great professional opportunities, including the conclusion of my one-year program as part of Connect Florida Class VII (“First Class”), a really amazing leadership program I shared with 44 other amazing people. We had a great 48-hour program in Tallahassee in February and another great 48 hours in Miami in April, which included a visit to the one-of-a-kind “Stiltsville” – call it a “but for Connect” moment. The class year officially concluded at the Leadership Florida annual meeting at The Breakers in Palm Beach in June. We joined together with members from the previous six classes of Connect Florida and the previous 35 years of Leadership Florida. I hope to be a part of this great organization for years to come as we continue to work together to improve Florida and keep it as the best state in the nation.

 

Agents of Innovation Podcast

2017 was the third calendar year I continued putting out episodes of my Agents of Innovation podcast. This year, I released 13 new podcast episodes (episodes 23 through 35). With the help of my friends Marshall Polston and Carter Fowler, we created an Instagram account for the podcast. Carter and I are now improving my personal website (about completed) which is now found at this new URL: LivingOurFloridaDream.com. In fact, this is the very first blog post on the new site. All the others from previous years are archived here as well. We are continuing to increase the marketing of the podcast, with a new website that will be unveiled in January 2018. Stay tuned — and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud!

 

Causes to Care About

This year, I joined the Central Florida Board of Advisors for the Children’s Movement of Florida, which has as its top goal providing quality early childhood education for all children in Florida, no matter their income levels. I also joined the board for AMIkids Orlando, which provides unique educational opportunities for children who have entered the Florida juvenile justice system. If we can focus on improving education for kids in their first few years of life, we will avoid many pitfalls in their education, health care, welfare, and potential criminal activity later in life. If we can give kids a second chance, we will ultimately help improve their chances of escaping the criminal justice system in the long haul. I hope I can continue to do my small part in helping these organizations and I am privileged to work with such great people on these local boards.

 

2017 Awards

The past few years, I’ve made some notable mentions for people and culture that I’ve experienced in and around my life. This section is also a good memory for me as I look back at what people and things inspired me that year.

Favorite Books

At the very begininig of 2017, I was finishing The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with Douglas Abrams. This incredible book details conversations between the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu and provides a lot of suggestions for how to approach each new day in our life, but more than anything it inspires a sense of gratitude for each day and for each new experience – the true ingredients for living a life filled with joy. I have personally bought this book for many family members and friends. That’s how much I like it and how much I think it is life-changing.

Towards the end of 2017, I started a book club in Orlando with several friends: Marshall Polston, Eric Jontz, Brittany Corfmann, Matt McMillan, and Mark Buckles, to read through the book The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray. It explores the mass immigration and cultural shifts that are taking part in Europe. It’s been a good read that has provoked much discussion among my fellow book club travelers. The author, Douglas Murray, is now an NRI Fellow. I was privileged to spend some time with him on the NR cruise earlier this year and we hosted him for an NRI salon lunch in Palm Beach in November.

 

Favorite Movies:

This summer, I watched the film Dunkirk about the epic battle that took place in 1940 as part of WWII. Germany had taken Belgium and Dunkirk was the last hold out in France. Nearly a half million British servicemen were on the beaches of Dunkirk and were almost wiped out by the Germans. Dunkirk was solely focused on the battle and the imminent evacuation of those British soldiers from the beaches and nothing else. But later this year, in December, I watched the film, Darkest Hour, which detailed how Winston Churchill rose to Prime Minister of the UK in 1940 and how dealing with what was happening at Dunkirk was his first major test. Among those who wanted appeasement, Churchill was a lone voice declaring that the British people must not surrender or negotiate with Hitler, but fight – his leadership, perseverance, and courage, led England and all of the West, out of its darkest hour. These two films should BOTH be watched to appreciate both the perspective of the battle on the ground in France and the political battle that Churchill had to wage back at home. The fact that I also was able to visit the Churchill War Rooms while in London this year really made these films come alive so much more.

 

Best Concert

U2 – The Joshua Treet Tour in Tampa in June. This may have been the best concert I’ve ever attended. Over the years, I’ve become less a fan of concerts in stadiums and arenas, but this show was HUGE and seeing it from the vantage point of a general admission pass on the field with a truly epic big screen and songs for the ages, was mind-blowing. I will never forget this day. U2 had been at the very top of my never-before-seen concert bucket list. My bar was raised very high – and they surpassed it. Bruce Springsteen in 2016 and U2 in 2017. Not sure these are going to be topped for quite some time.

 

Favorite New TV show

The Crown, a series on Netflix that details the rise of Queen Elizabeth II. This also complemented so much with my favorite films of the year, Dunkirk and Darkest Hour. To date, I have only watched Season 1. I have all of Season 2 waiting and hope to knock it out in early 2018. As a runner-up, I was able to finally get around to watching the 2001 series, Band of Brothers. When my own brother Tony saw the itinerary I had for Central Europe this summer, he told me some of the sites I would be visiting were sites liberated by the American forces in Band of Brothers. Thanks to technology, I was able to download the entire series on Amazon Prime (2017 was the first year I had this) to my iPad. I watched part of the series before I left for Europe, part while traveling on planes and trains in Europe, and the final amount while in my state room on the National Review cruise journeying home from Europe. It’s an amazing series and being able to visit a concentration camp, the Eagle’s Nest, and the town of Berchtesgaden in Germany (all featured in Band of Brothers) made it all the more compelling. This year I also got into the HBO comedy series Vice Principals and finished season 4 of Vikings on The History Channel.

 

Favorite New Places

This is a tough one: I visited six countries this year (five I had never been to before). I also went to numerous states in the USA, though no new ones. Out of all the amazing cities we visited, I have to say that Budapest, Hungary was my new favorite place. We were only there three days, but we had a great Airbnb experience in the heart of the city. We just had to walk everywhere – and we were only a five-minute walk to the Danube River. The people in Budapest were welcoming and hospitable. They accommodated us everywhere we went. The city is charming, the views spectacular. The food is amazing and the prices are low. Hungary is having some internal political problems, but other than that the culture and vibrancy of this city is amazing. Domestically, I would say Chicago has really grown on me – though there is massive crime in certain elements of the city. Texas is a place I visited four times (I went to Dallas on all four visits and to Houston on three of them). I can’t get enough Texas BBQ but it’s a great thing I don’t live there or I might gain too many pounds! And St. Louis was a real surprise. That city has rich history and culture and a lot of to offer. And, of course, there was nothing like Christmastime in New York City — the first time I’ve been to the city during the holidays.

 

Reflecting on 2017 – Ready for 2018!

2017 was fun, with great times with friends and family and the opportunity to see some amazing places in our country and in our world. In a matter of weeks, I’ll be celebrating my 40^th birthday here in Orlando. The end of a year and the beginning of a new one is always a great time to reflect on the year that has passed and an opportunity to set goals for the year ahead. I never did run that half marathon I thought I would in 2017 and I’m not quite sure I’m ready for one this year, but I did do my share of running (lost count, but definitely ran over 700 miles in 2017).

I have set a goal for 2018 to read 30 books. If my friend Grant Starrett could read 60 in 2017, I thought I’d go for half that goal – half his marathon I suppose. I think 2018 will be a good opportunity to catch my breath a little, focus on the things and people that matter, and charge ahead for the next 40 years of life … one year and one day at a time. Thankful to God for my health, my family, my friends, and the amazing experiences I was able to have in 2017 and the previous 39 years. With each day that passes, we must reflect on what got us to where we are. Thank you for reading the reflection on my experiences in 2017. Now, it’s time to keep our eyes ahead and tackle 2018! Make each day count.