TampaBLAB

I got a big laugh this week watching The Bad Girls Club on Oxygen.  Saw it channel surfing one day, and got quickly hooked..

So after a series of episodes where the girls push, shove, throw food at, and spike food at each other (not to mention peeing in unusual places), two of the girls, Tanisha, a big, rude, unmannered African-American girl, has a phyiscal fight with Jennavecia, the heavy metal, pierced, wild lady from Las Vegas.  And of course, you could have seen this coming from Pluto if you had watched the series for at least 30 seconds.

So, in comes the "Bad Girls Producer," who chooses to remain nameless, to remind these hellcats...ahem, ahem... no violence is allowed in the house.

So let me see if I got this straight, pissing in the sink...that's okay, one girl pouring milk on another girl (and not in a sexy way, either)...that's okay.  Verbal assault...that's okay, too.  But violence?!?  The show seems to promote violence and confrontation any chance it gets!  Are you kidding me?

So the producer tells these two combatants that you'll either go to counseling, or face a vote to get kicked off the show.  Tanisha goes to counseling and stays, Jennavecia doesn't, seeing it for the crap it is, and now faces a vote to be kicked off the show.  

To me, it's total crap.  Both girls should have been kicked off, counseling or no counseling.

I've always wanted to read Ball Four by Jim Bouton.  Thanks to the Pinellas Park Public Library, I got that chance this week.

Amazingly, this book was highly controversial in it's day, because it was the first book to give an inside look at major league baseball.  With my problems with the apartment complex I was in last year, who, in turn, kicked me out, perhaps because I was giving details they didn't want shared, perhaps not, it was a very good read for someone like me.  Perhaps it could have been, in many ways, the first ever blog, no?

Anyway, if you're a sports fan, and haven't read the book, I give it a high recommendation.  It's a good book to "pound the ol' Budweiser" with.

NOTE: Click on the pictures to see full-sized view!

Enroute to the keys I discovered several misconceptions in my knowledge of the trip down. 1st; The major part of the trip is actually land-based and much of the Northern part thru swampy coastal lowlands. 2nd; I thought the bridges were twin spans of two lanes in each direction. Wrong! The picture above shows the span on which we drove…a single lane each way…and to the right the older original bridge which in many places is used for walking/biking/fishing. In others, such as this stretch, the old bridge has been dropped across channels, thus abandoning the rest of the span. Rusted old railings are collapsing. The spans will eventually collapse, but concrete has a long life!

We spent our 1st night downtown and I did not take pics. Some more revelations. Parking meters are everywhere and cost $.25 PER 10 MINUTES! Thus $1.50 per hour. Steep. We ate a much-overpriced meal at Conch Republic at Greene and Elizabeth Streets. Drink apiece at the bar….$15 w/tip. Small dinner of some appetizers and a split meal of stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon (barely adequate meal in taste and quality) topped $85 and we had to wait a long time for it. The view was lovely along the boat dock.

More pics of Boyd’s campground & downtown after today’s tour.

Duke

Here is a shot of paul taken last summer. You can see his condition was detererating. He did not want anyone to know he had lung cancer. He was in his glory in front of a computer with a cold beer.

Rather than pursuing a normal lifestyle filled with champagne, yachts and terribly expensive party frocks, I have, rather dismally, been studying and working for a living, which can’t be at all good for my health.

Luckily, my office is organizing a “Team Outing”, which I am hoping will involve alcohol and attractive celebrities. Unfortunately, pesky legalities have removed most of my suggestions for fun and educational team building activities. For some bizarre reason, an actual memo was distributed to ban the following events:

Unapproved Activities
· Bull Fighting
· Bull Riding
· Bungee Jumping
· Car or Boat Racing School
· Cave Diving
· Cliff Diving
· Hang Gliding
· Mountain Climbing – Technical
· Piloting Private Aircraft
· Racing Boats
· Riding Motorcycles and All Terrain Vehicles
· Running with the Bulls
· Skate Boarding
· Sky Diving

However, this still leaves BASE jumping, alligator wrestling, extreme fighting, competitive flamethrowing, tightrope walking, bear-baiting, professional wrestling, machine gun-jet skiing, artistic welding, human cannoning, swimming with sharks, firewalking, and naked kickboxing. So, all is not lost.

The only thing more random than this dream is the fact that I just remembered it for no apparent reason: The setting: Shimberg Playhouse, TBPAC Time and place: no clue What was it? Apparently we were doing a show, it was sold out. It was something between Gorey Stories and Embedded. It was black and white and we were wearing modern suits and crazy masks. I was bitter cold. I don't recall

The success of the Teco Line Streetcar should be rewarded with expansion and a permanent future in Tampa's evolving urbanism.

Now that the NFL’s only two bowls (Super and Pro) are complete, TALB can turn the page on 2007 and get started on 2008. This very first post of the 2008 TALB season will lay out, in boring detail, how I plan to do things this year. I tried some structure back in the bl0gax [...]

Just keeping everyone posted!

Thursday morning we’ll be off to Key West where we’re booked in at Boyd’s Campground…the only apparent RV park actually on Key West. We’ll be there until Monday morning. My very 1st trip to Key West. Duchess visited many years ago. We are getting conflicting info about our use of the Schwinn electric scooters….some say yes, some no. 1st Key West policeman I find will be the deciding factor.

The ratings are high for Boyd’s, more so than several which we considered on the Lower Keys away from Key West. Of course, one pays the local freight which is steep!

I’ll be posting again as we visit Key West. We’ve been home since Thanksgiving and that is way too long!

Duke

Anyone who works with the Federal courts will be familiar with PACER, the federal judiciary’s electronic public records system. The great thing about PACER is that any current (I’m not sure how many years are encompassed) court case is in the system, allowing the public to access any document filed in any federal court case. The not-so-great side of PACER is the eight cents per page fee charged for each record. Eight cents per page is pretty reasonable, compared to most comparable systems, but it can really add up when you consider the number of pages in a typical court document (my local court rules allow25 pages for a brief, for example) and the number of documents in a given case. And we know the money;’s adding up - apparently, the judiciary has noted a “significant accumulation of unobligated balances” (hows that for a euphemism for “obscene profits”?)

Once you pay the fee, though - or if you’re a lawyer on the case and get “one free look” - you can do anything you want with the document, because it’s considered public domain. That includes uploading it to public.resource.org, through their PACER recycling tool, so that anyone will be able to download the documents for free.

I’ve spent a few minutes looking through the site, and have even uploaded a few documents. Here’s what I’ve noticed right away:

1. They’re just getting started. Only a small percentage of recent cases are represented, with most cases having only one document available.
2. Unless you know exactly what you’re looking for, you’re not likely to find it. There’s no search function whatsoever, and Google doesn’t seem to get deep enough to index the documents themselves. But everything is organized by court and by case number, so if you have those two bits of information, you’ll know in seconds whether your documents are available.

I think this is a great idea, if a bit underdeveloped at this stage, and I wonder if it wouldn’t be possible for someone to produce a more complete archive using an ad-based revenue model instead of a nonprofit model. But in the meantime, if I need something from PACER, I’m pretty much resigned to paying for it.

Via Stay Violation.

In what can only be described as an effort to remain the NFC South's doormat, the Falcons have released about half their decent players including Alge Crumpler. For reasons that are beyond me some have advocated signing Crumpler, despite the fact that he is an average tightend. What's even more amazing is that same person has demanded the Bucs offer Crumpler a $4.5 M contract, even when the widely acknowledged best tightend in the league (Antonio Gates) makes $3 M a year. So let's break down why this is a phenomenally bad idea.

First off the Bucs have a pretty good tightend in Alex Smith. I will admit some bias here as I've been a big fan of Smith since his first game when he caught two touchdowns. Smith is the new age prototypical tightend, a big man with speed and good hands, i.e. a tightend who is more receiver than blocker. Which is exactly what Alge is as well. Let's take a closer look at the stats (I know, a novel idea to say the least)...

The Football Outsiders have Alex Smith rated one spot ahead of Crumpler, which means the two players are about even. Both have a catch percentage of 60% and roughly equal value per play. So Crumpler is essentially Alex Smith part deux, or vice versa depending on how you look at it, i.e. they are almost exactly the same players. Now Alex Smith will make $460,000 next season and is under contract for the next two seasons. So explain why it makes sense to sign an identical player to Alex Smith for ten times more money? Of course, if Crumpler could be signed for the veteran's minimum I would sing a different tune.

NFL DRAFT

I am starting to feel better and better about the possibility of the Bucs drafting Mario Manningham in the first round. Mike Mayock of the NFL Network has him listed as the top receiver in this year's draft. And in Don Banks latest mock draft he has the Bucs drafting the Michigan receiver. Now at this point the draft is all speculation, at least until we get past the combine. But it appears most draftniks are running with the idea that the Bucs need a receiver or an offensive tackle in the first round.

I got word from some friends I still have at Imperial Palms Apartments (and Petty Dictatorship) that the fellow who got me thrown out for the heresy of supposedly slamming a door is at it again.

So clearly, this wasn't about door slamming.  This was about the management of the complex quashing the negative publicity and comments I had made.

I'm not going to rehash the past.  I don't live there anymore.  I would like to ask one question, though: if they really wanted to punish me, wouldn't it have been better just to leave me there?!?

It's strange how I've never been to DeKalb, but NIU's presence as a MAC school and active forensics community member makes Thursday's shooting particularly meaningful. If it had been at, say, Eastern or Western Illinois, I'd be less affected. (If it had been at SIU, perhaps moreso, given the number of friends I have there.)

Yet unlike the Virginia Tech shooting, this one, to me, seems less "senseless," insofar as responding to "how will we ever know what leads a person to do this" goes. Yes, it appears he planned it far ahead of time. That doesn't compute. He shot up a geology class -- despite his having been a sociology major. That doesn't make much sense either.

He was a smart kid, a grad student, and a mental illness sufferer. And he cracked.

That part, at least to me, makes sense. And privately, I've found I'm not the only one who, upon hearing the shooter was a grad student, gained a bit of understanding about what might have happened.

Obviously neither I nor any of my colleagues will ever commit something like this terrible incident, I'm simply trying to say that the experience can be very overwhelming, and for someone suffering from mental health issues, it can be overwhelming to the point of madness. I'm fortunate to have nearly unlimited mental health resources, but few Americans are afforded this.

I have this to say about health care, and psychiatry. First, while universal health care will almost assuredly improve our nation's productivity, given the millions of workers who currently do not engage in preventative care/checkups, it will (more importantly in my opinion) open the door for those who feel trapped by the chains of mental illness -- with locks held in place by poverty or the high price of mental health care -- to seek help.

Secondly, it provides me even more reason to pay attention to the ongoing efforts of "Anonymous" and their attempts to bring public attention to the Church of Scientology. I have no opinion on the cosmology, metaphysics, or belief system of Scientology. Yet when I watch Scientology leader David Miscavige speak of "destroying" psychiatry, with the same use of language and imagery our President uses to describe terrorism, I cannot help but immediately be turned against the organization.

It's now understood the NIU killer had been brought to this point by turning away from his medication. If Scientology had its way, we all would.

My best friend Paul Meagher has passed away after a long bout with cancer. He was retired Air Fprce NCO. He also drove cab for United a couple of years, and that is where I met him. Paul was my best friend of ten years.

Paul was the type of friend everyone wants to have. The friend that you hang out with on Saturday and crash on his couch and go see when you are bored. He was the friend that would call if he had not seen you in a few days. He ould give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.

His wife Debbie took care of him in the final weeks. He will be missed by many.

In honor of the holiday, I was going to post on all that is good and beautiful about love and flowers and puppies and sunshine and rainbows and peanut butter cups…. but most especially romance.

Here goes.

There was a young fellow named Skinner
Who took a young lady to dinner;
At half past nine
They sat down to dine,
And by quarter to ten it was in her.

There was a young lady of Norway
Who hung by her toes in a doorway.
She said to her beau:
“Just look at me Joe,
I think I’ve discovered one more way.”

There was a young plumber of Leigh
Was plumbing a maid by the sea.
Said the maid, “Cease your plumbing,
I think someone’s coming.”
Said the plumber, still plumbing, “It’s me.”

A very smart lady named Cookie
Said “I like to mix gambling with nookie.
Before every race
I go home to my place
And curl up with a very good bookie.”

There was a young lass from Dumfries
Who said to her lad, “If you please,
It would give me great bliss
If, while playing with this,
You would pay some attention to these.”

Have you heard of the Widow O’Reilly,
Who esteemed her late husband so highly
That in spite of the scandal
Her umbrella handle
Was made of his membrum virile?

*all poetry attributed to Anonymous

Well, I just returned from the hospital after visiting a friend who has a TWENTY-FIVE POUND tumor (!)

I really had no idea they made them that large, the doctor was flabbergasted, and we’ve considered giving it a cheerful name like “Steven” or “Roderick” since it’s practically a person anyway. Luckily, my friend is being given all sorts of lovely drugs to cheer her up while concerned-looking people in scrubs earnestly discuss how enormous scars aren’t all that bad, really, and she wasn’t using some of her internal organs anyway.

some observations:
1. Apparently, hospital regulations require all patients to watch ten hours of “American Idol” and “Entertainment Tonight” in order to be properly anesthetized for surgery, so her girlfriend and I couldn’t stay very late.

2. These regulations also state that each patient’s buttocks should protrude no less than three inches from hospital gowns in order to give the staff a giggle.

3. All cafeteria meals must be constructed from only the very best and latest imported space-age plastics

Although she spent much of her time demanding fried chicken and glaring at tubes, she did manage to amuse herself by pretending to be a straight married woman who desparately desires seven children and is hopelessly traumatized by the loss of her uterus. Unfortunately, as a ploy to win sympathy cigarettes, it was a miserable failure. She cheered up a bit, however, when we told her it could be a record-winning tumor; so she hopes the surgeon will give her a photo for a memento.

I missed frisbee (again), so it looks like I am back to sanding paint off the bathroom walls…….

Nothing has demolished my faith in this nation and its government more than watching this jibberish in Washington today. Our elected officials -- the ones who write and pass the laws under which we live -- are quite possibly the stupidest and most pandering individuals I have ever had the disgusting experience of listening to. The lower third on MSNBC says "Congress grills Roger Clemens" but I think they accidentally typed "grills" instead of "fellates." If you're going to waste my money investigating this nonsense, then ask real questions, and follow up on them when you get unsatisfactory answers. I have never in my life seen such a parade of idiocy and ridiculousness as this circus that is unfolding on my television screen right now.

I anxiously await a day when our citizens are educated to the point that they elect intelligent, capable legislators instead of the goons and clowns that I see in this hearing chamber.

Deep Throat once said "follow the money." Well, we are. In fact, Obama is receiving the staggering rate of ONE MILLION BUCKS a day and Hillary's donations are dropping. There is a reason for that.

When the Clinton's first came onto the National scene I tried SO hard to like them. They were young, smart, idealistic, energetic, ambitious, and they had guts. They had come from somewhere nobody had ever heard of and took the White House.

What I and many others began to realize was..THEY WERE CORRUPT. Corrupt in the worse way possible. Nothing meant anything to them but their own political ambitions. They would do anything and bring anyone down that got in their way.

I am not going to bore you by listing the scandals that followed these people. You know all about that. Jennifer, Paula, Monica, China-gate, file-gate, Vince Foster and so forth. Do we really want to go down that road again.

JFK once said that there is always someone who is better looking and has more money. The Clinton's are learning that first hand. Obama is smarter then they are and he and his wife are a better looking couple then the Clinton's are and he gives a better speech.

Oh, by the way, the Obama's are not surrounded by scandal and that does not seem to be what they are about. Obama should win all four primaries tonight and I believe he will not be headed after tonight. So I will watch the returns and smoke a cigar and say....."Good rid-dens Clinton's...goodbye redneck hicks."

Can anyone recommend a good European style join in Tampa that serves moules y frites? Or just a place that serves a big deathpig bucket o' mussely goodness?