Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

The first television station in Tampa Bay began broadcasting May 31, 1953. WSUN broadcast from the Million Dollar Pier (now known simply as “The Pier {beware popup}”) on UHF channel 38. Channel 38 changed hands and call letters over time, and is now part of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Tuning in to channel 38 will now get you WTTA WB38, an affiliate of The WB.

By the way, originally an extension of the radio station with the same call letters, the moniker “WSUN” was chosen to obviously invoke images of Florida sunshine (as was WFLA). But what you didn’t know is that WSUN also stands for “Why Stay Up North?”

I will no longer be posting here at Sticksoffire.blogspot.com. Some people may say it is the end of an error. But to those people I say the error has just been redirected. Sticks of Fire has moved to its new home at sticksoffire.com (catchy url, huh?). Please update your links if you want to. Skip the www if you don’t mind.

Some of the valuable (ha!) information has been moved over there already, such as Tampa government info, Tampa area concert venues, and a large and still growing list of Tampa Bay bloggers. Eventually I’d like to move some of the better (my opinion, of course) posts over there too, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions, so we’ll see.

I’ll take this time to thank Blogger/Blogspot for letting me use their software and space for these fifteen months. This old site will stay up as long as bloggerspot lets it remain. I’ll try to use it as an archive. And maybe to help with Googlebombs. Tampa Blog. Tampa Blog. Tampa Blog. Tampa Blog. Tampa Blog. Tampa Blog. Tampa Blog. Blog of Tampa. Blog of Tampa. Blog of Tampa.

Ok, that’s all I can think of this morning, so I guess now you can just go over there. Find your way by clicking on Tampa Blog.

ch ch ch changes….. are coming. Soon.

So, welcome to the new place. Take a look around. Click here and there. I hope you will find some entertaining and useful things while visiting.

Let’s start with the basics, shall we? The new home page url for Sticks of Fire can be found at http://sticksoffire.com. After mulling over several different ideas for the new home of Sticks of Fire, sticksoffire.com just seemed to jump out for some reason.

The posts and pages are made possible by blogging software WordPress. The switch to WP was made on suggestions from both Costa and John. Their recommendation along with WP’s ability for categories hastened the decision. The WP Theme (overall general look) is called trident (a 3-column theme), originally created by root, and ported through neuro.

Alterations to the theme were all made with the assistance of John and Brett. First up, let’s look at the header. The photograph you see at the very top was “borrowed” from another Tampa-centric site. I really like the picture, but do not want to use it too long, as there may eventually be some pretty big strings attached. If you know of (or have) an image that would be appropriate, please don’t hesitate to bring it to my attention.

Just below the header is the top menu. You’ll see a row of links each of which will eventually point to a different page within Sticks of Fire. The “home” button brings you to the main blog page, and the “Tampa” will one day lead to a plethora (there’s just a bit now) of information about my hometown. The other buttons will eventually take you to other places, but for now they are just space savers.

The left and right menus are basic stuff you might find on any blog. The left side items link to content within Sticks of Fire, including categories, a search function, and the archives. Most of the right side links will probably take you outside. You’ll notice the top right menu has a couple sponsor boxes. If you are interested in advertising here on Sticks of Fire, just shoot me off an email. Underneath those boxes are five random links. The links are chosen (more or less) from this list of Tampa based blogs.

The center column is going to be the place for all the main bloggy goodness, such as this missive. It is here I hope to post timely, entertaining, interesting, and thought-provoking information that you just cannot live without. The idea is to include stuff primarily concerned with or relating to Tampa or the entire Tampa Bay area.

And that’s about it. Once again, I welcome you to the new Sticks of Fire. Any ideas, comments, suggestions, criticisms, platitudes, and crusades are welcome at any time, just use the comments. And if you have some news or would like to share some gossip, or perhaps you know of a juicy scandal you would like to share, send me an email.

Welcome!

The Tribune wants Palm Beach County to approve construction of the Scripps research campus, even though environmentalists have complained the site may harm the surrounding land. Proponents of the Mecca site for Scripps say the dire predictions of damage to lands are overblown, and any lawsuits have no merit.

In other news, Clear Channel’s Ford Amphitheatre is being sued again for exceeding sound levels. You may remember that before construction was permitted, Clear Channel assured the county noise levels would not surpass community standards.

Touchdown! SB Redux Ho Hum Tampa Bay wins Bid Tampa is Super

It has just been announced that Tampa will host Super Bowl XLIII in 2009. This is fantastic news. Nationwide exposure for Tampa during super week means (perhaps) more visitors in the future. People can argue the accuracy of supposed economic benefits ‘til the cows come home. All I know is when the band played in Ybor City during Super Bowl XXXV, my personal economy was most definitely impacted in a positive way.

Dr. Beach announced America’s best beaches for 2005, and Fort DeSoto tops the list. Ranked #2 last year, Ft. DeSoto in South Pinellas is truly a great spot for fun in the surf, tanning, and catching some rays. We make our way over there a few times each summer, since it’s Wifey’s favorite beach too.

What they don’t tell you is that there is a portion of the State Park that was once unofficially clothing-op tional, and the push to make it official failed a couple years ago.

You can find more information about Fort DeSoto on Florida Unplugged, an unofficial FtDeS site and the friends of Fort DeSoto.

*sniff sniff* you LOVE me! You REALLY LOVE ME!!!!

**signed,
Boltsmag.com