Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

New poll for your bemusement and discussion here as the clock winds down on 2007 and begins on 2008. Just how would you rate 2007?

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Leave your thoughts in comments on the year gone by… And while you’re at it, the year to come.

There sure is a lot going on around here today.

The USF Bulls will be playing today at 2pm at the Brut Sun Bowl in the great city of El Paso.

Both daily newspapers have comprehensive lists of the happenings for tonight. Take a look at the St. Pete Times New Year’s Eve lineup and the Tampa Tribune New Year’s Eve. I’ll be at the TECO Energy Parade & Band Blast, part of the Outback Bowl event lineup. Should be a good time watching fans of both Wisconsin and Tennessee mix it up along with band from both schools.

Eclectic Ybor City is the site of this festive celebration featuring the TECO Energy Parade and a pep rally by the college marching bands and cheerleaders. The parade will feature floats and twenty marching bands! This free family event is sponsored by our friends at Budweiser, TECO Energy Co., The Tampa Tribune, 93.3FLZ Radio and the City of Tampa. Be there early. The Parade starts at 5:30 p.m. and runs along 7th Avenue.

The ol’ JGLB will play after the parade at the Blue Shark. Come down and ring in the New Year!

Here’s what I accomplished during my public office hours yesterday:

1. I cemented my plans for FX 2008, a convention I’m going to Jan. 25-27.

2. I read the Sunday St. Pete Times.

I think it was a success.

I also discovered that talking to publicists to grant access to some pretty big Sci-fi TV and movie stars wasn’t enough. The number one request (from the one person I talked to at Panera) for a star interview was Fat Momma from Who Wants to be a Superhero.

If anyone else has suggestions for attempted interviews with film folks or comic book creators, authors, or artists, leave a comment.

The heading is true.

My family has been in three car accidents, in three separate cars, in 14 days. Not one of them was any of our fault.

First, the teenager was driving home at 1:30am in her (my) Mustang. An oncoming car was heading toward her in her lane on a curve! She swerved into the other lane, but not far enough to avoid a sideswipe. The oncoming car went off the road, into the curve sign and the trees. When the teen got out of her car to see what happened, they backed out and drove off! There were no injuries, but repairs cost $650.00. With a $500 deductible, it really wouldn’t be worth applying the insurance. Imagine the rate increase for an eighteen year old just to save $150.

Next, my husband and that teen were heading to the mall on Dec 22 to buy a last minute gift. While sitting at a red light to cross the intersection, the left hand turn light goes green. The car behind them went anyway, and rear ended them! So now the bumper needs to be fixed on the SUV! Again, there were no injuries, and this time there will be no cost. Police were called, and after an hour and a half wait, the other driver got sited.

Finally, my husband and I drove to work together this week because of an unrelated mechanical issue (of course) with the SUV. (By the way, can you recommend a good trustworthy mechanic?) We parked the Sebring in a city garage. After work, we walked out to the car and found that someone had hit it. Someone took out my front bumper and my quarter panel! No note, no insurance info, not even two words! Again there were no injuries, and who knows what this is gonna cost. And at this point, who really cares? I need a drink, I need a break, and I need this year to end all of a sudden.

I’m not sure what is going to happen next, but I hear things come in threes, so I’m hoping my family drama is done for now.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Thanks to an idea some modern journalists are kicking around, I’m going to start keeping office hours at local eateries. So, on Sunday, Tampans can find me at the Panera Bread on the corner of Fowler and Bruce B. Downs.

I will be at the location from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.; anyone with a story they’d like to tell is welcome to join me in breaking bread (literally). Eventually I’ll have cards printed up to bring with me, but in this initial meetup / office hours experiment, I’m only going to have my notebook with me.

In the next few weeks, I plan to have more meetups / office hours at different locations and times. If anyone has a story they’d like to tell but can’t make it on Sunday, please let me know through my email, wendylbolm (at) gmail.com.

Everyone is welcome. If any other bloggers / journalists in the area would like to join me, please come and enjoy. I will be wearing a very bright, yellow, patterned satin shirt.

Here’s a small list of blogs that we have recently been made aware of. Go give them a visit!

Lyndon and the Ladybirds Speaks Clearly - I talk about things. I love things. Sometimes I talk about the things I love.

Council of Neighborhood Associations - wants to unite existing neighborhood organizations, and to foster the formation of such organizations.

Dateline Tampa - A citizen journalism website for and by high school students in Tampa Bay

Bruce B. Blog - a St. Pete Times New Tampa Blog.

Gulf Beaches Public Library blog - The Gulf Beaches Public Library serves the citizens of Madeira Beach, Redington Beach, North Redington Beach, Redington Shores and Treasure Island.

Teens @ the Library - What’s new and now for teens at the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative.

Dear Uncle Joe,

Thanks so very much for the 30″ ceramic bust of Elvis Presley. We’ve put it on the shelf under the singing fish plaque we got from Aunt Louise, and next to the giant frog shaped paperweight you gave us last year. We hope you enjoyed our gift to you, the 4 DVD set of the history of pharmaceuticals.

By the way, we would like to suggest an end to this ridiculous facade. We will no longer be buying you any more Christmas gifts. We were “done” shopping in early November, until we realized we still had to find something for our grown-up relatives and a couple of co-workers. Wandering through various malls and superstores, it was difficult to figure out what you people really want or need based on the budget we had set.

Likewise we’re tired of receiving things that we have absolutely no use for.

It’s not as if we don’t like giving gifts. We are just no longer going to be pressured into getting some silly item (a dual bottle liquor dispenser??) just because it’s wintertime. As always, in March or June, if we see something you like or need, we’ll pick it up and bring it to you.

In lieu of exchanging gifts with you (and all the other grown-ups we know), we will be choosing a needy family (or a couple of foster children) and using our budget for that.

Again, thanks for all the wonderful gifts over the years, but we truly feel that Christmas is for the children.

Happy New Year!!

Among other things, the Clerk of the Circuit Court is responsible for keeping the official records of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners. In addition to keeping the minutes of official meetings and any other official documents, the Clerk’s BOCC Records department also records every vote made by the commission.

BOCC Records maintains the Master Voting Record for the Board of County Commissioners, which shall be open for public inspection. The program identifies the attendance of each Commissioner and how they voted on all issues.

That information has always been available to the public, but recently the Master Voting Record has been put online. As with most government record keeping, they are a couple months behind, but allowing access like this so constituents can take a look from the comfort of home is always a good thing.

By the way, the Clerk’s Office’s website was recently redesigned by Tampa Digital Studios, and subsequently selected to receive one of the JUSTICE SERVED Top Ten Court Website Awards for 2007. We found that by reading Clerk of the Circuit Court Pat Frank’s blog, Frank Talk Blog.