Kickball Tragedy.

There is no humorous subject line for this post. Christine Hodill, the main organizer for the local kickball league and related events was killed last night around 2:30AM in a hit and run accident. Many of us have met or had spoken to her recently regarding kickball or even at the pub crawl this weekend. Even after the game last night we were talking to her at MacDinton's and I spoke with her for a short time after she had expressed interest in checking out our running group after she had met several of our members this weekend.

Christine was instrumental in handling the organization logistics and did a LOT of work putting together everything for the charity pub crawl this weekend and was mentioning last night that they raised more than ever before and how the PAL charity would be able to use the money for new equipment.

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http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/newswire/story/woman-dead-in-hit-run/

By CHRIS CHMURA
cchmura@tbo.com

TAMPA - Police officers are scrutinizing Nissan Maximas and Altimas
today, following an early morning hit-and-run that killed a pedestrian.
The victim’s acquaintances, meanwhile, are publicly mourning their
friend’s senseless death.

Christine Hodill, 28, of Tampa, was struck around 2:30 a.m. at West
Cleveland Street and East Moody Avenue, one block south of Kennedy
Boulevard.

Hodill may have been trying to cross Cleveland Street, officers said.

A police statement says the vehicle failed to stop, struck Hodill, and
then fled the scene. Hodill died at the scene.

The Nissan was dark in color, possibly green or black, according to
investigators. “It had a spoiler, rear view mirror missing and front end
damage,” said police spokesperson Lisa Parashis.

Anyone who spots such a vehicle is urged to call the Tampa Police
Department or 911.

Hodill’s friends are publicly expressing their feelings in comments that have been posted online.

“Christine was a good friend. Always in a good mood, fun to be around,”
wrote Matt Johnston on TBO.com. Johnson said Hodill was passionate about
kickball and was a local representative for the World Adult Kickball
Association.

“We will miss you in the kickball community,” he said.

http://www.myspace.com/christinewtf

A post by Brian Hummel reads, “Christine I’ve cherished the moments
we’ve had together and I know God is with you, you will be forever missed!”

The Joy of Sax - Life is like Jazz, it should be improvised.

I was set to hare the trail for TBH3 and had it arranged so that we'd meet early and close enough to be able to make it to the Pub Crawl that was sponsored by WAKA, the kickball league with which we have a team that plays Tuesday evenings. I had intended to scout a bit earlier, but I had so much to do this morning, and of course yesterday was obviously unproductive, that I didn't have a chance to do anything. I hared from that general location previously, so I knew my way around. The entire trail was live and I was the only hare. After giving 'caulk talk' to a couple of virgins that showed up, I took off. trail was fun and I was able to keep it fairly interesting by running the pack through a couple of bars, a house under construction (taking them through the back door and out the front window), and down the street through an art show in Old Hyde Park that I had not know was there. I looped them back to the start for a beer stop and then on toward Howard, through McDinton's pub (where we would start our pub crawl) and then through a few apartment complexes on the way to the end. Though there were only a couple of runners, the pack enjoyed the trail and we finished in enough time to get to the pub.

The pub crawl was fun for the portion I attended. I had to leave early since I want to the Harry Connick Jr concert at the invitation of my friend Heather, whom was able to join the start of the pub crawl. after a scenic tour to Ruth Eckerd Hall, we arrived just in time. The show was enjoyable, however I was surprised as to how much talking he was doing instead of music playing. He related a lot of stories that were humorous and interesting, so at least it was entertaining. I really enjoyed listening to the music and recognized a few songs, including a rendention of 'Hello Dolly'. Afterwards we went back to see if anyone was still around, but most had gone home. I was able to hang out with Michelle and her out-of-town friends until the bars closed down for the evening and had an overall great time.

She's Gone.

I slept on the floor with her last night and she died in my arms this morning. My home will be so much more empty without her to ever greet me again. I miss her so much already.

Kinda

The plural of "musical instrument" is "orchestra"

This evening I decided to go to the Florida Orchestra concert at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg to listen to them play music from the score of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. I have been a LOTR fan for a while and was always moved by the music that was composed by Howard Shore and felt it made the movies so much more moving and potent. I wanted to get to the theater early, but I had an issue at the office with which I had to deal, so I left really late and was in a rush to get there. I didn't pre-purchase any tickets due to online 'convenience' fees and such and figured I'd just chance it and hope for the best. This strategy has worked out in the past such as the recent concert I attended at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater last month. I was then able to get great seats in the orchestra section through someone selling from Craig's list for less than the cheapest seats in the house. I do tend to believe in karma a bit in terms that if one is willing to help others, then they may be helped as well.

I arrived less than 10 minutes before curtain, so most people had gone inside already and I figured my only chance was to get something from the box office. Unfortunately someone was just ahead of me, so I had to wait a bit. Just as I was starting to get antsy, someone came up and asked if I needed tickets. I inquired a bit more and apparently the guy had some extras and was just willing to sell them for about $20. Since even the cheapest tickets advertised were at least $25 (I later found out that all those were sold out and the only available seats were $45), I decided to go for it. I was dismayed to find that I only had 2 one dollar bills, a ten dollar bill, and an hundred dollar bill (just got paid for a job) that I was going to use at the ticket counter. The guy was very kind and accepted the $10 since the seats were right next to him anyway. After he went inside, I tried to get chance for the large bill, but was told that she didn't have enough. I went inside and when I looked at the ticket I was surprised that it was for the orchestra section, in the seventh row!!

I explained to the guy about the change thing and tried to give him my address and phone number so I could later send more money, however he politely declined any additional money other than the last two dollar bills that I had thrust into his hand. Apparently he did web design for the orchestra and instead of getting paid, they gave him tickets to events. sine they were nearly free, this person could have just as easily not even taken the time to offer them to someone standing in line, especially when the concert was minutes away from starting. Though they left during intermission, I did try to extend my appreciation and get a chance to chat for a few minutes.

The performance itself was phenomenal! With some minor variations, it was very nearly like the soundtrack, only better. Besides just the instruments being played, there was a 170+ person chorus consisting of the USF Chamber Singers, Florida Boychoir, and the Clearwater Christian College Chorale. Almost all of the major pieces from the soundtrack were played with splendor, including soloist vocals by Kaitlyn Lusk. I have no problem admitting that parts of it were as stirring this evening as they were when I first heard them in the theater. In all they played a little over two hours and I am very glad to have had a chance to experience this and am encouraged to attend more events when I have the time or money available. In the warmer weather there will be some free concerts in the park that I'll have to add to my calendar of events.

Red meat is not bad for you, fuzzy blue-green meat is!

I, along with Kiddie and Service, went to Orlando this weekend for their Red Dress Run. I've missed the event in the past since their event is the same weekend as Tampa's in the past, however this year they move it back a weekend due to the biking campout they had last week. We got a late start Saturday and didn't get to the clinic as early as I had hoped since I was taking Kinda to remove the drain tube that was put in last week after the surgery. We decided to just meet with Mammaries at her place and head off to the start since she was a hare and had to get things organized and ready.

People slowly trickled in and we had folks from Naples, Daytona, and even out-of-country hashers join the run. We hit 3 different bars with the last one being a large, and apparently very popular bar/ resort call 'The Parliament House'. We had some food at the end and hung around for a few hours since we had free access to the 'Dreamgirls' show put on by the Footlight Players. I had never seen such a show, but I suppose it was entertaining enough for once, just nothing terribly exciting. I was probably too tired to really get into it, but we did hang out for a while, but the thick smoke really started getting to me and we finally left to crash at the house for the evening. On Sunday we went to the clinic to get Kinda finished up and then had breakfast before heading back to Tampa. I got a call in the afternoon with emergency computer issues at the office and had to go back and deal with that for the evening, so it was a pretty long weekend.

Pics from the weekend can be found here:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.1pel19rj&x=0&y=354iz3

Truth, like surgery, may hurt. But it cures.

Kinda has been my most loyal, and sometimes only, companion for over a decade and it saddens me to see her starting to take on the burdens of age. Besides some hip dysplasia and ocular degeneration (Pannus), she was recently showing signed of a tumorous growth. When Mam's looked at her Sunday, she said that it would be quite important to get the growth removed as soon as possible. I'm more concerned with quality of life than taking expensive extraordinary measures that might not even work just to stretch out life a bit too long. I trust my friend implicitly so I took Monday off to drive to Orlando to bring Kinda to her clinic. I was out the door around 6AM and was there by 7:30 or so to get her prepped for surgery. I went off to get a drink and breakfast for a while after signing her in, but when I got back Mams invited me into the back to check out the place and hang around for the day. I got to stay back office, read my trail hiking guides of Yosemite and Grand Teton, and talk to her and the staff throughout the day and even stay for the surgery.

I must admit it was tough seeing my dog completely knocked out with eyes rolled back and tongue completely limp while tied down to a surgical table, but I knew it was something had to be done. The surgery itself really didn't bother me at all and thought the process of cutting the skin open and digging out the tumor was quite interesting. It was a fairly bloody process and took quite a while, but in the end a tumor mass that was the diameter of a banana and as long and hard as a potato was removed from the abdomen along with some mammary glands and a fair amount of skin. I am sure I could have, but for once, I really didn't think of bringing out the camera and taking a lot of pictures, though I wish I had now so I could post them for you all (so I'll just have to post some various old shots)!

After she was done and taken to the post-op area I also got to watch a cat being spayed as well and learn about all the surgical processes. We went to a nice Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch while Kinda was recovering with an IV drip to replace a lot of the fluids that she lost due to the massive blood loss. Over the next day or two, she was really lethargic and slow to move around as I could tell she would inevitable be in a lot of pain and quite sore; poor girl. I took half of Tuesday off to make sure that discharges were normal and that there was not any additional seepage. Mammaries called me Thursday night with the unfortunate results of the biopsy of the tumor. Apparently it is indeed an aggressive cancer. While few things are absolute, the likely scenario is that the tumor could crop up again elsewhere in another few months, if not the same spot. Considering the old age and previous surgeries (when she was spayed a couple of years ago apparently a tumorous mass was discovered in the ovaries), I don't think she'll be able to take a lot more, nor would I want to put her through additional pain. It'll be sad to see her go and I'm sure it'll be a while before I get another animal, mainly because I am not around often enough to care for a new dog, but it has been a great run. Everyone that has ever met her has commented on how well behaved she is. Hopefully things will turn out well and she'll go on for a while comfortably, but these things happen in the circle of life and at some point it'll be time to let her go and move on.

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I could only afford half my biking lessons, so now I can only ride a unicycle.

After getting back from the RDR I decided to head over to the Interbash event at Wallaby Ranch near Haines City instead of going to bed. There were a lot of people camping for their annual biking event so after throwing some different clothes on, Acropolips and I headed on the road again. I took Kinda along since my friend Mammaries (being a vet) said she would take a look at the growth that had developed in her abdomen. we got to the place around 1:45 AM and walked over to the fire. It took a while I was recognized, but was immediately welcomed into the fire circle.

Before leaving the house I was pretty tired from the day's events, however after downing a can of Rockstar, I was full of energy and was dancing and singing around the fire and enjoying the chance to meet some new folks. Since I took my teardrop camper, I really didn't have to do anything to set up, so when we were ready to go to bed all I had to do was open the door, crawl in an fall asleep. I had a 12 volt travel blanket that I was able to plug in and stay pretty toasty, even though it did get pretty cold that night, but it was just nice enough to be able to snuggle up. After breakfast a few people decided to go hang gliding while the rest of us just lounged around for a bit. Later that day we played a few rounds of Ultimate Frisbee before helping everyone pack up their stuff and head home. I was pretty exhausted, so the rest of the afternoon was spent on naps, small tasks around the house, and a movie.

Pics from the event can be found here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.atktlmn3&x=0&y=28g2fn

Red Ship Hits Blue Ship - Sailors Marooned

Saturday was Tampa H3's annual Red Dress Run. We had about 80 people show up to enjoy the nice weather and had folks from Daytona, Naples, and BVD show up. As soon as people were showing up they were directed down the road to the first bar where pictures were being taken to be made into key chains for the attendees. It was nice to see some of the old school hashers (ones that rarely show up to normal runs) attend and get to see some of my traveling friends from other hash kennels. After our first stop at some neighborhood bar we headed to Dogwater Cafe for a while (the location where we ended a few years ago and general hash bar whenever we do any runs nearby). After what was a short jaunt down to 'Wild Gentleman's Club' (yes a strip bar) where there was a full keg waiting. Along the way, apparently some of us thought it would be funny to play in the lined up traffic waiting for the light to change. I'm sure we were quite entertaining for the denizens that were just expecting to go about their business. Oh well, it was fun and no one got smashed by a car, so I suppose it turned out well. The entertainment provided by the hashers was more fun that the paid ..er... staff. The last time we were here (a couple of years ago) there were rules that said we were not allowed on stage, which was of course ignored after 10 minutes. This time they specifically allowed us up there and let everyone dance and have a good time. It was quite a bit of fun and large enough to move around, but small enough to keep everyone together.

After leaving this spot we loaded up into the special transportation which of course ended up being a large U-Haul truck, though it was empty inside (e.g. no couches or mattresses). A short ride to the next bar (Blondie's) was made shorter by group songs. Soon after arriving our dinner of pizza showed up, after which it became eerily quiet. apparently the only way to shut these people up is to stuff their mouths with something! anyway, we were soon off again, this time to gay bar called Valentine's that happened to by next door to my old dance school. I went by to see my teacher, but there was a class in progress that I did not want to interrupt. We were at the bar for a while and had our ceremonies and awards (for 'Sexiest outfit', 'Most Complete Package', and so forth). Our last drive was to the bar where we first started so we could pick up the key chains. We headed home around 11PM or so since I had to drop off Service and Candy at their place. Except for the key chains being SNAFU, it was a great time. This was unfortunately BMW's last hash event as she was getting reading to head out Thursday for Army boot camp. She'll be out of touch for a while, but as soon as we get her APO address we're planning on sending care packages that will surely embarrass her and be a grand source for entertaining stories for when she gets back.

Pics from the event can be found here:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.bu99p51r&x=0&y=pvd2e0

Life is fair - it's people who aren't.

Last night I headed over to the Florida State Fair for opening day. I guess stability is a good thing at times, but I don't think the county/state fair has really changed much in the past 20 years of memory. I think the same rides are there and I'm quite sure the same fun houses are there. I left work around 3PM, did a quick bit of shopping for the weekend, and then headed to the fair. I was supposed to go with a friend, however they got stuck in Atlanta on a job, so I ended up wandering around for most of the afternoon checking out the same exhibits that seem to be there year after year; Cracker country (the 'sample of Florida living in the early 1900s'), steam exhibit (where I had a educational conversation with one of the volunteers there for a while about Faraday, Tesla, and Edison), and the art exhibits.

After a while one of my roommates showed up just before the 'Reel Big Fish' concert. I was excited about seeing the RBF guys play and had been listening to them for a while. Though they played a little over an hour it was non-stop fast tunes and debauchery (well fast tunes stuff really). They played a bunch of different covers, most appreciatively a-ha's 'Take On Me' and even a portion Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' for a few minutes. Live bands like this are what makes the music scene fun when the band seems to have a good time and just feeds off the crowd.

After the show we decided to hit the Midway section for a while and take in some rides and high calorie ladened food. Of any fair I attend I have one single tradition, I have to do the yellow slide since this is the first fair memories that I have. Fortunately the roommate humored me enough to let me have my indulgences. After a couple of rides of that, I think I reverted back to being the age of 7 for a while as we hit some of the other rides, slides, and fun houses. When I say things seem to stay the same, I meant it. Not only were almost all of the rides the same as they have been for 20 years with few things added, but there were more of the same! I think we went through at least 4 of the same 'house of mirrors' that were designed and laid out in nearly the exact same way. There were probably 3 examples of the 'Gravitron' (the spinning flying saucer thing that would slide you up the wall through centrifugal force), 2 bumper cars (which were a lot faster and more fun that the cheesy Busch Gardens toned-down junk), 2 zippers, and 4 Ferris Wheels. Why is it though that one still has as much fun as we did in the old days?

I suppose one really cannot mess with old memories.

We're all going to "Helen's Handbaskets"? That's lovely. Oh wait... that doesn't sound right.

In relation to the '7 Deadly Sins' hash I had been planning, after having borrowed the idea from Executive Spread when I was in Tuscon a few weeks ago, BoingBoing.net had a blog post. Apparently, If you arrange them around a heptagon using labels A-G, and connect each sin to the others, you get 21 secondary sins. For example; Lust + Pride = Trophy Wife.

Using the binomial coefficient you can also count all the possible ways of combining any number of the sins. In all, there seems to be one hundred and twenty seven (127) ways to piece together any number of the seven sins.

My girlfriend thinks I put football before the relationship even though we just celebrated our third season together.

Yesterday I opened up my house for a Stupor Bowl party that consisted of mostly hashers and some close friends. I set a short running trail in the early afternoon that went through MOSI to the top of the IMAX dome so folks could get a great view of the area. The walkers were sent back to the start while the runners had some additional trail that took them through the Tampa Renaissance Festival grounds and back towards the start for a nice 2.5 mile trail.

Overall about 21-25 people showed up to watch the game and hang out. I donated the space as well as a couple of kegs (both old [but still good] hash beer] and some pizza while most of the attendees really stepped up and graciously provided other food such as chicken, pigs in a blanket, sausages, etc. While it may have gotten a little cramped, more showed up than I was expecting, I think it went well and was quite pleased to see folks have a good time.

Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with truffle pate', brandy and spam.

Last evening I attended the 'Spamalot' show at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center after having been invited by a friend. When it first started I thought it was just a complete rehash of Monty Python's 'Search for the Holy Grail'. I was wondering why the audience was laughing so much when one of the famous scenes came up; bring out your dead, King Arthur arguing with mud peasant on the aspects of government, etc. It is like constantly laughing at the first word of a joke when you already know the punchline. Thankfully though, things changed around enough to allow some new things, but still remain in familiar territory.

It was an enjoyable show ad there were a few funny new bits, so I'm definitely glad to have been offered the opportunity to check it out. I did miss two of my favorite bits from the movie that were not in 'Spamalot', mainly the clapping prisoner in the dungeon during the Camelot scene of the singing of 'Knights of the Round Table' and the slaying of the narrator at the end. Other than that, it was quite enjoyable and I hope this encourages me to see even more productions in the future.

If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? Lust has 20-20 vision!

Last night I was the hare for the 'Full Snow Moon' trail. Since it was also Tampa H3's #669 run, I decided to use it as the first of my '7 Deadly sins' trails. I got the idea (well more stole/borrowed) from Executive Spread when we were chatting while I was in Tucson a few weeks ago. Each trail will have a particular theme. Last night it was the 'lust'.

I found the most densely packed porn shop area of town and whenever we passed by one, there would at least be a 'porn check' instead of the normal checks where the pack has to search for where trail resumes within 360 degrees of that point. To add a little interest to it, I had at least three stops where the trail ended in front of a shop and the pack had to go inside to buy something before they were given a map that told them where the next portion of trail resumed. The clerks behind the counters all seemed willing to play along and I received several compliments regarding the different aspect of the trail. I'm still try to plan out the rest of the themed run, but it should be interesting, and fun!