Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Tourists leave more than just their money here. It’s time for the airport to get rid of all the stuff that you left behind.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY AVIATION AUTHORITY

NOTICE OF PUBLIC AUCTION OF SURPLUS AND OBSOLETE PROPERTY AND LOST AND ABANDONED PROPERTY FOUND AT TAMPA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a sale by public outcry will be held on Saturday, November 3, 2007. Bidding begins promptly at 9:30 A.M. Pre-registration is available online at TampaAirport.com. Bring the printed form to the registration table on the morning of the auction. Individuals searching for lost items must call (813) 801-6086 prior to November 1, 2007 or arrive and register between 7:30 A.M. and 7:45 A.M on the day of the auction.

For those wishing to view items for sale, doors will open at 8:00 A.M. Sale will be located inside the Airport Maintenance Hangar located at 4102 N. Westshore Blvd., Tampa, Florida (South on Westshore off Hillsborough).

Items for sale include: Clothing, Jewelry, Luggage, Electronics, Computers, Cameras, Sporting Goods, Airline Club Room Furniture, Office Furniture, Office Equipment and other miscellaneous items. All sales are cash currency, Master Card, and Visa only, “AS IS” condition and all sales are final. Some items may be subject to a reserve price.

Oh boy! I’ve never been to “a sale by public outcry” put on by the airport. Shop Victoriously!

For those of you who think growth can just be completely stopped, think about this.

Imagine a January Monday “up there” somewhere - you wake up early, pile on a bunch of clothes, put a parka on over that, and go start the car. Then you grab your snow shovel, create a path for the car, and consider scraping the ice off the windshield. Deciding to let the car heater dissolve the ice instead, you head back inside for a cup of cocoa and flip on the TV, where Al Roker is telling you about the clear, bright, cool day in Tampa, with a high of 70.

And you think about BREAKING THE LAW:

(Toledo, OH)

521.01. Removal of snow and ice from walks.

(a) The occupants of each single residential, commercial or industrial property and the owner of any multiple residential, commercial or industrial property or of any unoccupied or unimproved property, abutting upon public walks shall clear the walk of snow, ice, dirt, or any other debris within twenty-four hours after such deposit.

(1952 Code § 7-4-29)

(b) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.

You think about DEATH:

…he passed away today, suffering a critical heart attack while shoveling snow in his driveway.

The Great State of Florida is among the most wonderful locations in the world. The miles of beaches and wintertime weather here have drawn people to visit the area for over a hundred years. Along the way, hoteliers, roadside attractions, and other entrepreneurs have made the place even more enticing, giving the impression to the rest of the world that the entire state is just a big playground. How many of your out-of-state friends wonder if you just hang out at the beach on the days you don’t go to Disney World?

So when those pasty folks up north begin to contemplate a change, it should be no surprise that the SUNSHINE STATE almost always makes the short list of places to go.

Florida’s population increases by more than 1,000 people every day. Natural increase (births minus deaths) account for less than 13% of Florida’s population increase from 1970 to 2000. So net migration (people moving in minus people moving out) is about 872 each day.

But at the very least, sixty-two of those moving here find their way to Hillsborough County. The average household size is around 2.5, so those 62 people are gonna need about 25 households. EVERY DAY. That’s over 9,000 households a year. Traditionally, about half of those are gonna be single family detached homes, so we’re looking at building more than 350 houses a month in Hillsborough County.

So the question is not whether we “want” growth, the question is where do we want to direct our inevitable new neighbors?

The Tampa Port Authority is going after a fifth cruise ship, and hopes to have one in by 2010 to sail alongside the other four.

The existing cruise ship lineup includes Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival Legend, Carnival Cruise Lines Inspiration, Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas, and Holland America’s Veendam. Holland America brought the Veendam here in 1982, and that ship continues to call Tampa its home port.

Tampa’s very first cruise line was the Bahama Cruise Line. The Veracruz began sailing from Tampa in 1979. Check the 1982 prices for sailing to the Western Caribbean:

Bahama Cruise Line VERACRUZ Capacity 704 passengers, outdoor pool, international cuisine. Nov. 27 - Seven-night cruise from Tampa, calling at Cancun, Cozumel and Key West. (Additional departures almost every Saturday.) From $495 to $785.

From $495 for 7 nights. But in 1982, The Love Boat was free on TV.

Did any of you take the Veracruz or any other cruises out of the Port of Tampa?

Davis Islander Jennis Thomas will be performing (and marching) in the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In fact, there will be hundreds of locals marching with the Awesome Original St. Petersburg Second Time Arounders Marching Band. And you can join the band! Here are some excerpts from a piece published in the St. Pete Times:

I’m a 40-something living on Davis Islands with a fine job and great family, but through the years I never lost my love of performing in a marching band… Now entering its 26th season, the Awesome Original St. Petersburg Second Time Arounders Marching Band is a 500-plus-member adult volunteer marching band… After marching in parades and festivals all over the United States and St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland, when I found out we landed the big kahuna, an invite to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2008! Yes, 2008; traveling with more than 600 people takes at least 18 months of planning, you know…

So, I want folks in South Tampa (and all over the Tampa Bay area) to know that we would love to have new members join us for the season and the band trip of a lifetime…

The AOSPSTAMB welcomes members of all ages, as long as you are out of high school. Recent graduates are part of the group, as well as folks in their 90’s. If you were ever in a marching band, and want to recapture that experience, check out the Awesome Original St. Petersburg Second Time Arounders Marching Band website, learn more about the trip to New York City, and then sign up to join the band!

It’s good to be back.

I have to apologize to all the writers here in the sticks… They continued to post items here for you readers, and I assumed I would be able to check in every other day or so to publish them. Uhhmmm.. Nope.

Oh sure, wi-fi is abundant and free, but finding an actual computer was a bit of a challenge. Because the casino barges were all sunk by Hurricane Katrina, hotels in Biloxi have moved the gambling operations into the conference rooms. And business centers are now cashier’s cages. So there is no place to check your email. Or update your blog.

On the way to Abita Springs (1. yes, you’ve heard of Abita Beer, it’s made from 2. Abita Springs Water in Abita Springs, LA.  3. when in Abita Springs, LA, I highly recommend you visit the UCM museum), we did see a library, so we pulled in to the Lacombe branch of the St. Tammany Library.  I attempted to publish a few posts there, but after writing a quick update about getting a speeding ticket (two miles after crossing into Louisiana), and then publishing Sarah’s bit on HotSpot@Home, the entire thing got hung up.  I waited a few minutes, but figured the hamsters running the St. Tammany internet got tired and went for a nap.  Plus there were a couple of Louisiana teenagers itchin’ to check their myspace pages.

Yes, yes, yes - I should have brought a laptop, but I didn’t.

Anyway, we are back - all is well with everyone, and I will be publishing all of these tardy items over the next couple of days, so please forgive me if they are not exactly timely.

And if you plan a trip to the gulf coast, bring your laptop.

So… What happened while I was away?

What’s this about a time capsule?

Last night, brother Mike took us to the Bradfordville Blues Club.  The website says the experience is like no other, and I gotta say they are spot on.

Heading north on 319, take a right on Bradfordville Rd. In less than a minute, you are in total darkness on a two-lane blacktop. Drive until you see a small sign lit up by a tiki torch. Turn on that dirt path, and follow it through a very rural part of Tally, and you’ll see the cars parked at the top of a small hill.

They are only open on Friday and Saturday nights, and host the best of the best blues musicians each of those nights. We were lucky enough to see E.G. Kight in action last night.

If you think you know the blues, take a trip to the BBC. One look inside the one room cinder block “juke joint” will let you know if you are in the presence of true blues. No matter your expectation, your visit will not even seem close. You really have to experience this place yourself.

Posting has been light recently, and we’re heading out of town this week, so it may be even more sparse.  We’ll future-post a couple of items, and check in now and again, but can I suggest you take a few minutes to check some other local blogs.

I have this list of about 200 Tampa Bay area blogs, but it has not been cleaned up in months.  If you notice that any are no longer posting, please let me know.  Likewise, if you know of any blogs that are not listed, tell us in the comments.

The family is hitting the road!  I’m sure many of you are on vacation right now.  The Fourth of July holiday falls on a Wednesday this year, so it makes perfect sense to take the entire week off.  Which is what many of my coworkers did, so we’re going the following week.  Plus the band is off for two weekends in a row, so it works out well all the way around.

Earlier this summer we asked the six year old what she wanted to do on vacation.  She said she wanted to see a different state.  “What state?” she was asked, and her immediate response was “Alabama.”

Alabama.

Heh.

It’s not exactly Six Flags, is it?

And how is it that of the 49 other states in the union, the first she considers is Alabama?

I can think of a million other places to visit besides Alabama.  But I really couldn’t come up with a decent reason NOT to take her to Alabama.  So that is where we are headed.  The whole family - wifey, the High School Senior, the 2nd grader, and myself.

What the six year old doesn’t know, is that daddy figured out a way to turn this request into a dreaded “learning experience.”  A double learning experience, really.  And for daddy, a bit of time at the casino.

First, there is the geography lesson.  Not only will she see Alabama, but she will also see Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and that strangest of states, Tallahassee.  Wifey and the teen have plans to lay on the beach in most of those states.

Second, we’re going to bring up some school supplies for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.  As you know, the gulf coast has still not fully recovered from the Hurricane season of 2005.  They still need all sorts of help, and this trip will give us a chance to help directly (donations), and indirectly (spending some money there).

On the way over, we’ll visit brother Mike in Tallahassee, but plan to base operations on the beach in Biloxi.  Day trips are planned to Mobile, Gulfport, and New Orleans.  The trip back includes a stop in southern Georgia.

So, why am I telling you all of this?  Well, I just think “Alabama” is funny (not as funny as, say, “Arkansas,” though).  Plus wifey suggested I let you folks know what’s going on, in case you have some school supplies you want delivered to the gulf coast.  We plan to take anything we get directly to a non-profit up there for use this school year.  We will take anything you have lying around, but could really use a couple more backpacks.  Contact me if you are interested.

And listen - I don’t want you to think that wifey and I are boring people.  We have plenty of fun stuff planned for the kids, too.  We just want to make a big deal out of the “helping others” part.

PS:  There is something in the works for local students, too.  More info on that is coming soon. 

JGLB goes to Nashville - a photoset on Flickr