Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

I’ve never taken a look at Wikipedia before, so I started with the entry about Tampa.  It’s very interesting and might even be accurate.  However, it could use some more input. 

For example, my rather large neighborhood didn’t appear on the list of neighborhoods inside the city limits.  I’m also curious about the nicknames.  “The Big Guava” and “Cigar City” I’ve heard before but even my Tampa-native husband has never heard of “T-Town.”

The other section that caught my eye was the sister-city listing.  I’ve heard of sister-cities and I figured that Tampa had them but I couldn’t have named even one before today.  There are eight sister-cities listed on the site.  I’m curious about that.  How are sister-cities chosen and what purpose do they serve?  An internet search for another day, I reckon.

If you’re dying to know what the Tampa City Flag or the Tampa Seal look like, click on the Wikipedia links.  And nobody will want to miss the list of famous people born in Tampa, I’m sure.

Maybe one day there will be a mention of Tampa’s great blogging community on the site. Enjoy!

Editor’s note:  I’ve never heard of T-Town, unless it was uttered from the mouth of a cheesy, non-hip wanna-be hipster.  Although, I don’t know how native Ocalans refer to Tampa.  Also, check old issues of Sticks of Fire for more on Tampa’s sister cities.

You might remember my rather snarky post in February about Mrs. Tampa’s volunteer military recruitment efforts. (Her family and friends sure do!) At the time I found her comments about combining glamour and a killer instinct a little odd. I still do. But I don’t find Evie Alexopoulos personally odd and I am not surprised at all that the military is agreeable about having her as a recruitment tool.

And now I’m informed that she went on to win Mrs. Florida America! So I was asked if I cared to do a follow up.

In a word, uh, “no.”

See, if I do a follow up, I would have to tell you what I think about the Mrs. America pageant system or any other beauty pageant. At the Mrs. Florida America website (click on “enter now”) you find quotes like this:

“What is the judging based on? Community service? Charity? Well, no you do not have to be a community slave or charity wizard. We are a beauty pageant!”

Enough said, I hope. Evie, you’re beautiful and in my opinion, you don’t need this kind of title to prove it. But if this is what you want, I hope you go on to win it all!

I’ll save my rant about beauty pageants for another day when it can’t possibly be construed as a personal attack on you or any other contestant.

A suspected Saudi Prince came to Tampa and spread some money around. 

Why should this be considered news?  Even if he is a prince, he was obviously not here on official business.  He also favored privacy (thus all the after-hours reservations).  After reading the article, I felt like the guy was stalked by the newspapers for no reason other than he appeared to be quite wealthy.  The article went so far as to mention the type and price of his car rental. 

Since he was not here for any official business, then his reasons for visiting are his own, no matter what anyone thinks of royalty or Saudi Arabia.

Last week, Howard Troxler of the St. Pete Times told us about the proposed changes at Ft. DeSoto Park.  His shorts are in a twist about the addition of a 225 seat restaurant and some other “improvements.”   He called for readers to write to him with their opinions and I was surprised to find that I didn’t have one.  I hadn’t been to Ft. DeSoto in ages.  So I took my seven-year-old Girlie and went yesterday to check it out for myself.

As it turns out, Troxler is right.  And those who contacted him agree 15-1.  Not only is it a bad idea to further develop the island, I think they should take out about half the stuff they already have there, like those lovely little surreys with the fringe on the top.  You know, those two-seater pedal things with a roof?  Girlie and I went to both the main beaches and I think that it’s fair to say that we represent the split in opinion.  I prefer the more natural beach by the Fort; she liked the “playground” beach.  So did another couple - wondering why anybody would go to the North beach when there’s so much stuff built out at the other.  Such as the playground.

Any further development and it’s going to feel like a theme park.  Again, Girlie would like that but she’ll have to find somebody else to take her.  Maybe she could climb into a big yellow taxi and pay the $50 admission to visit the Ft. DeSoto Hands-On Big Thrills Beach Museum Experience, Package Store, Seaquarium, Arcade, & Food Court.

Is Tampa Bay ready for bird flu?  Are you?

I’m curious.  How many of you are actually making preparations in case of a bird flu pandemic?  We in Florida are used to preparing for the tragedy that may or may not arrive (hurricanes, of course).  Should we also be stocking up even when it’s not hurricane season in case the bird flu threat materializes?  Or is it just the latest media fad?

I’m very curious what others in Tampa are doing (or not) in case we are faced with several weeks of a very deadly flu epidemic.  My Girlie already suffers from a reactive airway disorder so any flu, bird, swine or other makes me nervous.  I confess that the second we find out that bird flu can transmit easily from person to person, I’m checking her right out of school.  And I’ll put my world travel on hold.  But have I prepared?  Not really.   My larder isn’t full and I don’t have a bunch of bottled water on hand.

So you tell me, should I?

This is just weird.  In the St. Pete Times, they ran an article about the current Mrs. Tampa’s volunteer army recruitment efforts.  Evie Alexopoulos, pictured in a nice suit, a sash and a tiara, was in the army herself and she wants you to know:

“You can be glamorous and graceful and be a trained killer behind the scenes,” Alexopoulos says. “And you can be a mother and a daughter and whatever you want.”

I wonder what her talent will be in the upcoming Mrs. America pageant?

Have you taken your little one to Disney World lately? I hadn’t been to the Magic Kingdom in ages but I took Girlie and three other kids (and two other adults - I’m not crazy) there yesterday for her 7th birthday. I should have known that security measures had changed when I went to AAA on Friday to purchase tickets. It used to be that you could get actual tickets from AAA and avoid the ticket line at the park. Not anymore. AAA gives you ticket vouchers that you exchange at the ticket window. Here’s why.

Before you can go in the park, the identification of each adult is checked and swiped through their computer. Then you have to write down the names and birthdays of each child on a slip of paper and wait while the ticket agent enters all that into the computer. (Won’t that be easier when everybody, even a baby, has to keep an national ID card on them at all times? Don’t answer, I’m being sarcastic.) Then you get your tickets and proceed to bag check and on into the park.

Perhaps I’m slow on the uptake, but how exactly is my security improved with these procedures? I’m sure that Disney benefits from having the names and information of everybody entering the park. And they own it, they can do it, I realize that. My question is: is this a valuable security measure that all parks should be employing, like Busch Gardens, or is this security measure just a thinly disguised way to get information about park visitors? Entering Disney was no less cumbersome than entering the United States through customs. What do you think?

This intrepid reporter for Tampa’s best website is back from assignment on location in France.  As always, I keep my eyes open for any reference to Tampa or Florida when I’m abroad.  I invite you to take a look at the beach in Nice, where part of their waterfront is called “Plage Floridian.”  Look carefully at the stack of rocks in the lower left-hand corner.  This is what passes for a sand castle when all you have are rocks the size of oranges on your beach.  The only other reference to our area comes with a caution.  When you see anything with Cheval on the menu, you may want to consult your French dictionary.  It does not mean “nice meal like you might enjoy at the country club north of Tampa.” 

Coming soon to a school near you — thanks in part to Jeb!.

“Okay kids, good news. We will no longer be teaching math in school. Some people think that math is simply too complicated to have been created by science alone. You’re all free to discuss the different points of view about math in school but math shouldn’t be part of the curriculum. Ditto physics, chemistry and home economics.”

“Oh, and we aren’t going to teach spelling anymore either. Some of the so-called ‘words’ are really secret code for gay sex. I mean, come on, ‘alliance?’ ’straight?’ How can you interpret them in any other way. Of course your little social clubs are out too.”

“We will still be teaching English, of course, and possibly Spanish, but we will most definitely not be teaching you English in Spanish. There’s that little thing called the State Constitution. We Floridians monkey around with it a lot but last I checked, English was still the ‘official’ language.”

“Since we have more time, we will be offering more electives like art and music. Wait… Scratch that. Too many religious overtones in the history of music so that’s out. But we can all still paint pictures as long as it’s of bunnies. Just not Easter bunnies. Thanks, kids.”