This was the news delivered to me on Monday morning by telephone by someone trying to process my move order from old house to new house. They are not able to process my order for new TV and high-speed Internet service until I get in my car, drive 19 miles down I-4, show them my drivers license, then get back in my car and drive back home. At that point they would be happy to schedule an installer to come to the house and hook up my service. I was offered no other possible remedies, despite pointing out several times that this was an undue burden for opening an account. Can I fax a copy of my drivers license? No.

The reason I was given is that the previous occupants of this home have an outstanding balance. This is not my problem.

With DSL for Internet and satellite for TV being perfectly acceptable substitutes for a coax cable, does Comcast really want to be throwing up barriers to signup?

I’ve engaged @ComcastCares and @ComcastWill, and while they’ve been responsive, I’m still looking for a call or email that can give me a yes or no as to whether Comcast would like me as a customer. The only reason I’ve waited 2 days so far is that I own a cable modem I’m really happy with!

The hospital expects to break ground as early as October and finish by summer 2013 on a $19 million, three- or four-story, 60,000- to 80,000-square-foot medical office building. The $11.5 million, 1,000-space parking garage is expected to start in September and finish in May 2013.

Parking has been a challenge here for as long as I can remember. One of the best things about living here is being so close to top-notch health and medical facilities.

Celebration, Fla.: The town Disney built

Bonus points for appearance by Robert, Maxine, and James, who live behind us.

I’ll be interested to know more about how outdoor seating will be arranged and if there will be wifi. Regardless, I’m looking forward to this new addition to our community.

The gist of the email was that the sender has visited the Disney area and Celebration a few times, and is doing preliminary research on escaping the Garden State to warmer climes.

We moved to Celebration from Chester County, PA — Lionville, if you want to be pretty specific. Our 4bd house sat on 3/4 of an acre, surrounded by trees, and only 6 miles from work. Here in Celebration, we have a 3bd house with around the same square footage inside, but a postage stamp for a yard. This is what we signed up for. We were willing to trade private outdoor area for public, and 4 seasons for an oppressive summer that lasts 7 months.

It might not be for everyone. Remember, when you visit here, you’re in Vacation Mode: no work responsibilities, looser scheduling, probably eating out more than normal, and so on. If you live here, you have all the same life crap you did back home, and you’re adding tourist drivers to the equation.

I’m not trying to scare people away. The opposite, in fact. I want people to move here, but with realistic expectations about what life is like. All that said, allow me to answer some of this reader’s specific questions, and add some of my own observations.

• Do houses in Celebration have basements? No. Basements are not common in Florida because of the high water table and sandy soil. Even though I spent 30+ years in Florida before I moved to Pennsylvania, moving back was troublesome because we were moving from a basement house to a non-basement one. We unloaded extra junk on Craigslist before moving down, but we still struggle with having a “junky” garage from stuff that would’ve been stashed in the corner of a basement up North.

• How bad is it dealing with the Covenants? We’ve found the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions quite reasonable here in Celebration. Most kinds of changes to the outside of your home need to be approved by the Architecture Review Committee (ARC). We built a fence last year. Upon request, a member of ARC visited our house before we submitted our plans and gave us pointers and advice for making a successful application. What kind of fence? Will it enclose your yard? Can you provide a sketch? Ok, thanks, we’ll let you know after the committee meeting. No big deal. To me, it’s an acceptable trade-off to living next to a pink house with a shoddy above-ground pool and overgrown grass.
• What are Association Fees like? What’s covered? We pay around $830/yr (billed quarterly) to the Homeowners Association. That allows access to the parks, any of the HOA pools (North Village, South Village, East Village, Lakeside Park downtown), tennis courts, basketball courts, and more. The HOA (formally known as the Celebration Residential Owners Association, or CROA) also hosts great events for residents during the year (see here for a list). Garbage collection is not covered by HOA dues; we pay around $250/yr for that.

If you’re moving from the Northeast, then remember: Florida does not have any State Income Tax. Nor am I aware of any Local Income Tax. You won’t need to buy heating oil, either.

A grocery store on “this side” of 192 will be more convenient for NEV owners and bike riders than the current Publix at Xentury City.

Our downtown all lit up for the holidays:

An impromptu snapshot of our street with the iPhone:

My father and my son over in Aquila. Thank you CDD or CROA or whoever for the new bench.

Son enjoying some time in the backyard.

Eastlawn. Hello, Moon.