Sunday, January 29, 2006

An aquarium is an interactive television for cats.

After yesterday's fun, I decided to try to take it a bit easy. I went to the Florida Aquarium for a bit to see the white alligator that is on exhibit. It has been a few months since I had been there so I figured it would be a nice way to relax. After walking around for a bit and enjoying the pretty fish (and copy the aquarium to use as a wall in my bedroom for when I win the billion dollar lottery), I went to a friend's baby shower.

Several of the hashers set up a surprise party for Karen (Juggle These) and set everything up while Jon (ICP) got her out of the house for a bit. I missed the beginning of the festivities, but was able to join the after party that just had a group of remaining freinds hanging out and talking (my favorite part of parties anyway). I'm such a neophyte in terms of gifting in that I had not idea what to get and probably should have called my friend Adrienne for an idea. I just ended up picking up something that might help with baby's teething process and hoped mom might be able to get some use out of it as well. Karen (one of my favorite people) seemed to enjoy the event and quite pleased with the support and eagerly awaits to introduce her daughter to the world.

I think we're all eager for that as well.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Arrrrrr, avast ye mateys!

This was the weekend for Gasparilla, an annual event in Tampa that has a large boat flotilla, day parade with tons of beads and floats, and parties. As has happened for the past several years, the hashers were invited to Karen's (Finger in the Dyke) place since she lives a block from the parade route on Bayshore. Though I have only seen her a few times in the past year since she works in traveling sales, she has always tried to be around so the hasers could use her home. Candy, Just Shari, and Service met at my place around 10AM so we could carpool in. We were running a bit late since I had to get food and Candy had to get a new tap since the call came out that the normal one wasn't working. Since we had vital party gear, Finger saved us a spot in her garage instead of us parking up the road at Tiny Tap. For $10, we had a base of operations with clean bathrooms, a keg for the parade (plus one for after the parade), food (burgers, cookies, and snacks), and staked out spot on Bayshore for the parade. That was less than most people were paying for just parking anywhere that day!

The parade was fun with the normal debauchery by attendees in efforts to get some imported plastic beads. It was kind of sad to see people nearly fight over these things however. Most of the stuff I caught I threw to folks behind me or gave to the beadless when walking back after the festivities were complete. The floats were pretty elaborate with the individual costumes also being quite detailed and exquisite. It looked like everyone was having fun with even marching band members smiling the whole time; except for the tuba players that were not smart enough to on put cap covers since they just made themselves moving target receptacles for beads.

After the festivities were complete we had a trail to Tiny Tap and hung out for a few hours while the traffic cleared out. I eventually took the other hashers back home and considered going back out, however a call to Finger's found that most people had left and those remaining were dropping like flies. I stayed home and hung out with the roommates in the hot tub and crashed around midnight or so. Unfortunately, Finger is selling her house and moving to Houston in a few weeks, so home base will soon be gone. Hopefully we'll be able to have a 'Go away Finger' hash before she leaves (a tradition for any leaving hasher).

Friday, January 27, 2006

"My knowledge is no match for his ignorance."

On Friday I went to a friend's house for taco night get-together. I've known Monica for a little over a year and even got her into hashing. She co-hared (lead) a trail with me in December that went through an abandoned warehouse, old WWII airfield runways, and down my neighborhood where nearly every house is light up for the holidays in a pretty detailed manner. She went all out and had Latin music playing (every time someone came in they would ask why Telemundo was playing) and a paint can (yes, a paint can) of margarita mix for later consumption. The tacos were scrumptious with some imported salsa from her feather in Wisconsin that was an added fillip. I met her nice roommate Laura and chatted with her other friends for a while. Jodi brought over a game of Trivial Pursuit (DVD edition) and after about 30 minutes of trying to figure out the teams (doesn't bode well for the actual game) we started to play. If completely random knowledge ever comes in use (besides when trying to woo a girl, which might explain my lack of fortune in the past), this is obviously the time. There were a lot of really obscure questions here, though I suspect that some of the folks must stay up at nights just reading the cards by how quickly some things were guessed. Even knowledge of Pokeman, Starcraft, 7th Guest, and Magic the Gathering was quite useful (umm, not that those answers came from me). After a few hours we were close enough to the end that we decided to just have a sudden death round where the first team to guess the final question from the DVD would be deemed the winners. After some furious battling, Monica's team came out ahead and the game was concluded, though apparently my calls for 'the best two out of three' were met with some projectiles. I had to bail by 11 or so since I needed to prepare for the festivities Saturday.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

"Swing hard in case they throw the ball where you're swinging"

Well, I have finally decided to try to kill this 'white boy syndrome' that seems to be afflicting me! At the encouragement of my friend Adrienne through a Christmas gift, I am going to start taking dance lessons. I wasn't sure where to get started and so spent some time last week and last night checking out local dance studios and getting advice from fellow patrons (and even had a salsa lesson last week). I think I have decided to take up east coast swing. I'll start in February by taking the Thursday night class at the Swing City Dance Studio and then check out the Swing Gang at the Zendah Grotto on Sunday evenings. I considered salsa, however I've always just loved swing music and the style of dress (of course hot women swaying to Latin music is always good too). I'm looking forward to it, so we'll see how things turn out.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Oh man, do I hurt.


The weather has been great recently, so a few buddies and I planned a kayaking trip to the Everglades for this weekend. Jon (Insane Clown), having just come back from a Mexico caving expedition this week, planned and executed a lot of the logistics. He and his wife Karen have done probably 20-30 trips in the area of the years. He, Dave (Service), and Jason (Caught from Behind) and I drove down to Naples Friday night to meet up with Tom (HighBalls) who is the General Manager of the Naples Hash House Harriers. They were all cool enough to move their regular Saturday hash up a day so we could join them. Porcelina, Turf, and Queen were the hares for a 'Redhead, Blond, and Brunette Hash'. At each of the stops they had special beer (Killians Red, Amberbock, etc) to represent the colors. Trail was good with a little bit of a death march in a few spots and some decent shiggy. We had the ending circle in a small wooded area off the main road. When we were about done, we saw a cop car pass by and slow down. He made a U-Turn and had to pass by in the other direction across the median and then do another U-turn. We watched with a little amusement as he tried to figure out how to get off the road. We cleaned up the area and just stayed in circle while this was happening, so no one was worried. He finally parked a little way away and walked over to where we were and asked what we were doing, at which time we simply stated we were a running club and just finishing our run. He asked us then if we had seen a guy run by wearing a white tank top. Without a second of hesitation, the entire pack pointed out Rear Ender (a visiting hasher from Cincinnati) since he was wearing a white tank top and had recently been running. The cop just gave us a funny look and elaborated that the guy for whom he was search had on black jeans and handcuffs; apparently admitting to have somehow losing a suspect. After realizing that such a person probably wouldn't be hiding among a group of sweaty runners he left. The pack then went to the On-After, a bar at the bowling place next door called Nemo's.

Now knowing that we intended to be up by 7 to make our way to the park, the group decided to do some more drinking and karokee. When I taught my dive classes I remember how hard it was to get up, so after one drink, I was done and ready to go, but apparently that wasn't to be. At some point another hasher inquired as to the sanity of being up late, upon which Service states "I don't know about these guys, but all I need is a couple of hours, after all, I'm an athlete". At some point someone thought it was a good idea to start ordering some Yeager Bombs, I had no intention of going down in flames (and was smart enough to have stopped drinking for several hours by this point) I went back to the truck to crash. They finally stumbled out (HB was the only one smart enough to have bailed hours before) and we went to Turf Tit's (Liz) place a half mile down the road where they apparently wanted to get into a game of '3 Man'. The wake up and motivation to get started went about as you would expect, and I think we got headed towards the grocery store by 11AM.

The guys finally got food (steaks, chips, etc) and we headed to Everglades City. Since we got there a little more late than planned, the permits for the close islands were long gone, so we had to head to Lulu Key. The weather report hinted that winds would be up and to expect 2-4 foot seas, but it wasn't that bad with a plus of whatever wind we had being on our backs the entire way. Neither Service nor HighBalls had ever been kayaking, so ICP gave them a 2 minute course in what a paddle was, where to hold it, and how to move the arms, all while being watched by a kayak/canoe instructor that just finished an several hour long formal class for his group, complete with dry runs on the field. Here we come with a few bottle of booze, drag the gear to the water, and still cover more distance. "Hold here ... wave your arms ... try to get the paddle into the water each time ... and don't lean too far over. Let's go."

We packed up and shoved off for the 9.4 mile paddle and made it to the island in about 2.5 hours. Apparently when getting the stuff organized the question of who had the steaks came up. A search of the kayaks turned up nothing other than some breakfast bars, rum, corn, and several bags of chips. Apparently on these kinds of trips personal property become communal as the food I brought from Tampa [assuming people would have already gotten their food before leaving home] (ham, turkey bacon, eggbeaters, MY two marinated steaks, and potatos) were being hungrily eyed.

Umm, where is it written that I have to feed your hungover ass?

Once the fire coals were ready, I wrapped everything in foil and threw them in. It was like the Irish potato famine as we devoured the garnish-less balls of carbohydrates and corn whenever they were done. I eventually threw on my steaks and, after much knuckle burning, got them fixed up. Though there wasn't a lot, we were decently satisfied. In the morning (after discovering the remnants of the bag of bread in the woods from the raccoon ninja bandits that swept through during the night) we cooked up the eggs, turkey bacon, and the leftover potatos while Service tried to scar me with boiling coffee juice from the filter. What part of "It is easier to hold on the ground while easing the plunger" he interperterd as "hold in the air and just give it a swift push", I'll never know. We tore down the tents, policed the area of any trash, buried the fire pit, and finally shoved off around 10:30AM.

Apparently the weather report was accurate this time as the wind had really picked up. The open bays really sucked as the bow crashed through the waves with the wind blowing right at us. We didn't get back to the truck until 3 o'clock since our speed was cut down by more than a 1/3. We finally got to HighBalls place and while I took a quick shower and crashed for an hour or so, the guys cooked the steaks (found in the back of the truck) and remaining potatos. I forgot to put sun block on my feet and now (since I was on an open kayak) have beet red tootsies. I'm thinking of filling the tub with aloe and soaking tomorrow. My fingers ache from gripping the paddle and I'm sure my shoulders are going to start complaining in the morning when I go to work. I still have to wash all my gear, clean out the truck, and put everything back up.

Damn, that was fun.

Update: Jon added some picture to his website. http://hashflash.com/barebuns.htm
Just navigate to the Jan06 pics.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

"Sound off like you got a pair"

Here is an interesting commercial where all of the sounds effects experienced in a car are made by a chorus. It is a bit longer than the typical attnetion span of most Americans, but I'm sure those that read my blog are quite apt at being able to follow along. Here is a direct link to the video. http://84.40.3.164/

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Fear is not a factor for me


After visiting a friend in Orlando and even doing some geocaching Sunday, I decided to hit Universal Studios on the way back to Tampa. I did the MIB ride a couple of times and then went over to the 'Fear Factor Live' show that opened up several months ago. They were doing auditions for the last show of the day (in another 75 minutes or so), so I figured I would try. I put forth my most fun and excited personality and got selected as one of the 6 contestants. After going through all the paperwork and changing to the spandex outfits (complete with disposable underwear since no one wants to go combat in another person's fatigues) we were briefed. The first test was one of enduance where we went up to a 40' platform and had to hang on to some slanted bars as the platform dropped from under us. The first two to drop were out of the running with the last person getting an advantage in chosing the partner for the next round. I held on the second longest, so I didn't do too bad (next time if I plan to go I'll try to sneak in some chaulk). The winner of the first round chose some one of the older guys for his partner since if that team won, then those two would compete in the final round. He said that he wouldn't want to compete against me in the end. Anyway, the second round had one person hanging 15 feet in the air with a bucket and their other partner running to a tank containing eels, grabbing bean bags, and running back to toss them. Apparently one of my throws went astray (or the catcher missed), so were were down by one point. The second part had the partner swinging with some octopi with the other person (myself) teathered in a short area trying to catch them as they were tossed. Both the other guy and I caught them all, so the final tally had use down by one, thus we were eliminated and forced to do the 'Walk of Shame'. We got cleaned up and watch the remainder of the competition from backstage. Apparently only the 1st and 2nd place people get anything, so alas, there were no momentos, not even a photograph. Oh well, I'll give it another shot someday and we'll see if fear still won't be a factor. The first place prize (4 one day passes to the parks) would have been nice (sneeze.. ebay..cough cough), but alas. It was still fun since I finished the day by doing 'The Mummy Returns' ride three times in a row and met a couple of nice girls from UCF in the last line.

Overall, it was a good weekend. I have to get packed this week since I and a few friends will be kayaking at 10,000 Islands are (Everglades) for the weekend. We'll go to Naples and crash Friday night so we can be at the boat ramp 7AM or so On Saturday so we can hit the right tide.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Vibrators can have a lot of uses!


Want to make your own lockpicker, then check out this site that describes how to take an electric tooth brush and use it to open up your OWN personal locks. http://www.inventgeek.com/Projects/lockpick/lockpick.aspx

Sunday, January 01, 2006


In case you literally just woke up, welcome to 2006.

This is my year. For the past month or so I've been feeling like something good is coming. Whatever it is, I think I'm ready. I'm not old enough for a mid-life crisis yet, but I do feel something in terms of a change is coming for me. No, it isn't whatever it was I ate or drank at the New Year's party either.

This isn't a diary as it is more along the lines of a journal for myself. I'll post in this spot things that tickle my fancy, or things that I find sad, humorous, or somehow provoking. I'll try to share knowledge and insight as I do a virtual Walkabout.

So, I welcome you all to follow my and see if this year will be good. Will this be my year to reach perphelion? Tune in and we shall see.