If a tree falls in the forest and no one blogs about it, does it make a noise?

Yes, I am indeed back safely, but this week has had a hectic start, so I haven't had time to blog anything. I had one of the best times ever and am still on a bit of an emotional high with everything that happened. For whatever reason, I took responsibility of getting everyone's photos from the cruise so I could compile and distribute them via DVD. Excluding my ... ummmm ... dozen or so shots, I've already collected about 4000+ pics from the 70 or so folks that were signed up. We hit 4 stops in 3 different countries (Grand Cayman, Mexico, and Belize) and went diving, running (once from Mexican Federalies), and cave-tubing, and even nearly creamed by an oil tanker and water spout.

There were a lot of great highlights, especially a few particular moments, so I'll hopefully get to writting it all down soon. Yes, the attached picture does have a story behind it and it will be forthcoming eventually.

The last day does not bring extinction, but a change of place.

C-Day +6 Sea Day

Finally, no more having to get up early in order to make some boat! Today was supposed to be a day of relaxing, but then again we're on a cruise ship. I'll sleep when I get home! After grabbing breakfast, I hung around the Lido deck to watch some of the competitions. Apparently they had a game of 'Izzy-dizzy' which involves spinning around a bat a bunch of times and running to a couple of different points. Since I wanted to stay balanced for the rest of the day, I decided not to participate.

The next game though I thought would be fun; alligator wrestling. Apparently the object was to jumping into the pool with an inflatable alligator and wrestle around for a set time and then be scored by the crowd. I was one of those chosen for the competition and lined up with the others. I watched as those that were wrestling basically used variations of wrestling moves that they had probably seen on TV or Ace Ventura movies. I decided to take a different approach for something special. Everyone else did their show in the bathing suit, though I was in full clothes; jeans, dress shirt, etc. Instead of immediately jumping in with the gator at the round start I set it down and, Steve Irwin style (RIP) slowly approached it. Only those in the immediate area could here me, but the gist of what I was saying was something like 'Here was have the Australian crock, thank goodness it isn't a Stingray, those things are deadly!' and then proceeded to make it jump out and tackle me into the pool. I used several rolling techniques that I know is actually closer to real life, but if jumping in wearing full street clothes wasn't enough to win the crowd, I figured I had a clincher. I had a plant in the crowd that, once I climbed on top of the gator. tossed me their straw cowboy hat. The match turned into a alligator 'bull riding' frenzy with whoops and hollers in Slim Pickens style. That immediately met with much approval from the crowd and though I couldn't see it, I think my ratings shot up. I ended up winning the competition and received a 'gold plated plastic ship trophy'. I had to quickly change so that I could make it to the start of the hash trail.

The trail took us to several other sections of the ship including the water slide, crew portion of the dining room, gaming rooms, and several other spots supposedly 'off-limits'. Oh well. We met back up at the top deck for the circle and last bit of partying. While the group was distracted with the hash activities, I asked everyone if they remembered their muster station and evacuation drills; for I had noticed quite a large tanker that really seemed to be bearing down on us. A water spout had been sighted just off the ship when we were starting the trip and now it looked as if we were going to get creamed by this artificial monstrosity. How the bridge did not notice these large blips on RADAR is beyond me and though there was still quite a bit of distance, I admittedly did start looking around for quick escape routes. Fortunately I think the combined efforts of all the hashers waving it off must have saved the ship, so we felt satisfied for doing our part. After we finished, we returned to our rooms to get dressed for the sarong party in one of the lounge areas. I brought in the laptop so everyone could download their pictures and volunteered* to bun everything to DVD and distribute them to the group (*note to self: Stop volunteering for stuff). So far, I have collected about 6900 pics from the various hashers from this trip. After the party we headed to our last dinner and then to PIERCE's room to hang out and rest for a while before going to the 'Legends' performance that was put on by passengers that were lip-syncing to various songs. I probably would not have gone had it not been for one of our folks being in the show; which ended up being pretty decent. Afterwards we hit the improve show as well followed by the dance floor with a vengeance and shut down the club. Refusing to accept defeat with the battle against slumber, a few hearty souls headed to the pizzeria for some tasty calzones and goat cheese pizza. I'm not sure if we were punchy from the lack of sleep, realization that there was still some blood left in the alcohol stream, or whatever, but we had a great time over the next hour or so joking around and having a hoot of a time. At some point we tried to rouse some of those that foolishly had gone to bed hours and hours ago. We finally were able to get into one room for a final game of 3-man before the brick wall finally hit us. I think it was the yucca that was the kiss of death for us all. I walked onto the deck just long enough to watch us pass under the Sunshine skyway bridge around 4:55, thus completing the cycle. I finally made it to the room after being waylaid by fits of laughter due to something or other being recalled or mentioned in the group, it don't take long to drop off; exhausted and with sore muscles, but with a fully belly and a smile on my face.

C-Day +7 Back in Tampa

There was a pretty significant lack of sleep, as would be expected, since we had to get up early enough to pack before getting kicked off the ship so they could clean the rooms and prepare for the next boarding. Some of us were hypothetically wondering how hard it would be to remain on board and simply ride out for another week. It was hard leaving the folks that whose company we had come to so enjoy. Going through customs carrying all the stuff was a major pain, but eventually we made it outside and waited as my dad drove over with the truck and trailer for the luggage to take us back to the vehicles. Some of the goodbyes were particularly tough, but everyone realized there would be more events throughout the year and definitely time for the cruise again next year. I cannot remember when I have had such a pack and fulfilling week. Everything really seemed to really come into place and there were so many unexpected positives. I came away with so many great memories and enough pictures that I could not possibly forget if I tried!

After downloading some of pictures and getting a little rest, I still got to play host of one last evening since RING's flight wasn't until the next evening. We had lunch at Appleby's (I almost got up to walk out with even thinking of paying) and then went to the Zendah Grotto for some swing dancing since I promised my friend Adrienne that I would get some practice shots of her and Jesse dancing since their wedding was the next week. We didn't stay out too long since everything was catching up to me and I just hit my limit after the first real dance. Sleep came easily enough with it finally feeling good to be in my own bed again. It's going to take a few days before I realize that if I leave the towels on the floor, no one is going to pick them up for the wash and if I want a calzone at 3AM, it is probably going to have to be a Stouffer's Pot Pie.

CO2 + H20 = H2CO3 H2CO3 + CACO3 = CAVE

C-Day + 4 Belize

Uggg, another really early day. We had to get up at the butt crack of light so we could be among the first groups off the ship since we had to go quite a bit inland for the cave tubing trip that was set up. The ship was of course late in arrival, so we sat around the hall for a while talking and trying to catch up on a bit of sleep. We finally make it to shore, push past the street peddlers, and load up on the waiting bus. Pretty much everyone in our group of 70 went on the trip, so it took 2 full-sized buses to cart us all to the site. We convinced our driver to make a stop at a gas station where we loaded up some coolers with some local beer (the Belkin brew was pretty good) before heading out. The trip was long though made more fun by constant banter and singing and soon we arrived at the park. We grabbed our tubes and headed on a mile trek through the forest (after lathering up with bug spray) to the starting point. We had to line up in a single file line of tubes before setting off together. The whole trip was a blast with quite a bit of riding being done within the caves. There were shallow spots that required bringing the butt up else one would be rudely intruded upon by some rather large boulders. The trip ended way too quickly it seemed and we soon were back at the buses. We stopped at a small outdoor diner for some food and drink, but just looking around it seemed more people were interested in napping. One the way back to Belize City I laid out in the bus aisle and conked out until just before we got back to the terminal. Even the bumpy roads and dirty floors didn't keep my from some much needed shut-eye. There was about 20 minutes before the last tender left, so I walked around the streets for a short time check out some of the tables of trinkets and picked up one last bottle of local brew before heading back to the ship.

After resting up a bit I started calling all the hashers' rooms on the ship and set up a ghetto hall party on the 6th floor elevator lobby. Within about 20 minutes of the set time, most of the group had shown up for some drinking, chatting, and a few rounds of Twister! For added flair, I brought out the music with the iPod, an extra Twister mat (so we could play with more folks) and some beers. It was great fun for a while as we got a lot of strange and curious looks from passengers and crew that passed by, though unfortunately none of them would join the game. After playing for a while, we broke up and headed to see the hypnotist show. I tried getting up on stage and giving it a shot and we indeed quite relaxed, however I just didn't get to the point of hypnosis and eventually excused myself from the stage. It was a decent show and apparently one or two in our group seemed to succumb. After the show we headed back to dress up in our theme for the evening, 'Pirate Invasion'. We all met up at dinner and though we got some strange looks by the other diners (we were fast becoming used to that) we were pretty much left alone. Coincidentally enough, this was the night there the dining staff entertained us with a 'congo line' which of course meant that we all had to join in the parade around the room. After we finished eating, we met in one of the lounges for a private party for an hour of open bar and some other themed games that were set up by KIDDIE. I was definitely out classed by some of the outfits that people put together, but I guess that is what I get for waiting until the morning of the 7-day trip to start packing. After our event, many of us wandered up to the Lido deck where there was and official ship party. Apparently the theme was a bathrobe party since everyone was dressed accordingly, except of course our group as we quite literally invaded the area. Arrrggggg

We had quite a hoot dancing away for about an hour and a half, and I just so happened to have the twister mats with me in my camera bag and proceeded to lay it out. We were actually able to get in a few lurkers to play and at least gave people a chance to spin the board. It took a while to train those that were spinning. They did not seem to understand that one doesn't call out what is actually on the board, only the placement that would make the game more interesting. Once this concept was grasped, things went much more smoothly. We played until about 2:30 before heading off to bed to get some rest. I cannot 'Belize' what a packed day it was!

C-Day +5 Costa Maya

Finally we get a chance to be able to walk on and off the boat instead of waiting for tenders to make their rounds. Costa Maya seems to be a place that sprang up out of the middle of nowhere and exists only for cruise boats. It consisted of a one road town lined with trinket shops and street hawkers. We had a trail set from the gangway by one of the hashers and had a great time. At one point the trail went around one of the concrete walls. Security must have noticed the hares going by previously and were a bit befuddled when the pack came tearing around the corner. Before they could say anything some of us were already bouldering the sea well to get to the other side. When we thought we might have lost the trail I went back, only to be met by the walkers showing up and a few more security type folks. They seemed to have an issue with us crawling on the wall and one yelled at me to come back as I made my second attempt to get back around. Umm, no, I don't think so. I only returned when one of the hashers wanted to get an idea of where the trial went. A supervisor showed up and said we could not climb on the wall. I mentioned that the high water point usually marked the property boundary and if swimming in the area was allowed. He answered that it was and, from what I was told later, became astonished when I and one other person was off in an instant wading around and apparently stated that he really didn't think we would do that. Trail ended up in the 'downtown area' at the warehouse of the local beer distributor. We ended up buying a few hundred dollars in beer and hanging out at one of the beach side huts. I walked around for a while as the food was getting ready and ran into various other groups of hashers shopping. I was a bit exhausted and was nodding off quite a bit and decided to head back to the ship. After a very lovely nap I got dressed up again for the last of the formal nights. Before heading to dinner we all got together for a final group shot in the main atrium. After a little karaoke, we headed to the theater for another hypnosis, this time supposedly a 'R' rated version. A couple of our group members were apparently taken in by the show and provide a great source of entertainment to the crowd. After the show we pretty much headed to bed after another satisfying day in the Caribbean.

Divers can stay down for a long time.

C-Day +2 Grand Cayman

While most of the group went on the Stingray City trip, I decided to go diving since I participate in the same excursion the previous year. A few folks were nervous about the event since the day earlier word got out that Steve Irwin, the Croc guy, was killed by a stingray. Nevermind that the species are completely different and then so few people are ever injured by them compared to the tens of thousands of stingray exposures each year, folks were somewhat scared. Sigh, where is logic and education when you need it? I, along with RUNS, PIERCE, and WAYYY, took a taxi to the dive boat that we were going to use for the wall dives. We had to wait for a couple of other divers before shoving off. I set it up so we had nitrox available for the first dive and showed everyone had to use the tables, figure MOD (max operating depth for the gas) and give a brief intro to the advantages of the blend.

Since the water was extremely warm (being September in the Caribbean Sea and all) we elected to do the dives sans bathing suits after making sure it was ok with the other two divers on board. The wall was quite expansive and it was astounding to see it drop away in near nothingness. We were blessed with good visibility and had a max depth of around 110 feet while most of the bottom time was spent around 50 or so. The second dive was also equally impressive in terms of the wall and I couldn't help but make a quick bounce to 200 to see if there was any indication of bottom. I could easily see the surface water and the wall continuing down to what must be several hundred feet. After ascending a bit, I was able to find a bunch of swim-throughs to lead the group and then played around the anchor line for a while as my team ascended and as I waited for the other two divers to finish their dive. I never see a reason to hurry up to the surface to wait and even enjoy hanging out near the line so I can surface as soon as the last diver is on board so no one has to wait for me. The captain took us back downtown and met with some of the other group at the bar across from the tender terminal so we could board once the line had dwindled down. One of the hashers had a tough day that was a bit upsetting. While coming into shore, another passenger collapsed on the tender from an apparent hear attack. The hasher was a trained nurse and performed CPR for a long time, but the guy eventually died and never woke up. Other than that unfortunate incident, the group had a great time.

C-Day +3 Cozumel

We woke up to find that the ship wasn't quite into port on time and that instead of being able to use the pier, we had to be tendered to shore. At least we were dropped off directly downtown, so it was easy to find a taxi to the resort where the hashers were spending the day. CAPTAIN JERK arranged for a good many of us to go diving and had the boat pick us up directly from the resort, however no one mentioned that there was no dock available. We had to wade out with our dive gear on our craniums in order to board the boat. Add to that the fact that it really started raining as we were loading and we could tell that we were in for quite an adventure. Before leaving the boat prop got entangled with the anchor line and we then had to run to a nearby dock to pick up some tanks for a last minute addition. Finally, we headed out for the divers. Since we filled the boat, we were pretty much given free reign to do as we liked (which meant about 80% of the divers were sans suits) and separated into two groups. The first dives were great and AP and I set about going through ever swim-through we could find and had a blast navigating the maze of coral tunnels. I did a quick drop to 150 to putz around before rejoining the group. The surface interval had is parking near shore to eat the lunch we brought (mmmm, Calzones from the pizza bar) and do a bit of skinny dipping in the warm waters. For the second dive, we decided to go as one large group. The current had picked up considerably and I think the most fun was just buzzing around everyone and flying across the bottom. I even got bored for a while and took off my dive gear and let it float beside me at 50 feet. We found a few turtles as well as the other normal fish typically seen along a reef as well as some new species of moonfish.

We were out so late that by the time we returned to the resort, we had to catch a cab downtown to make it to the last of the tenders. I got back early enough and spent 15 minutes or so walking downtown and check out the various shops, but carrying my wet heavy dive gear certainly wasn't fun. I picked up a few bottles of Mexican Coke to use as run mixers, snapped a few pictures, and headed to the tender dock. Even though the ride back was less then 10 minutes, I completely zonked out and had to be awakened by one of the crew. I took a nap for a while before heading down to see a disappointing quiz show and then on to dinner. After dancing for a while I headed upstairs to grab a snack and ran into some of the Austin hashers on the Lido deck. We hung around for a while talking, telling some strange jokes, and eventually playing a game of bean bag toss at 2AM. After a couple of rounds I decided to call it a night and headed off to bed.

Men go on cruises for the fishing while girls go on cruises for the hunting

C-Day

Sunday morning I had to get up pretty early since we were supposed to be at the dock around 1 o'clock or so and I had literally not packed any clothes yet. Subsequently as most of the rest of the group slept, I had to go through drawers and the closet and get together the clothes I would need. Fortunately I went shopping Friday morning and had quite a few new pieces that made it pretty easy to transfer from the shopping bag to the clothing bag. I also had to get together the dive gear and the cases of beer and run to spread amongst the bags. Carnival charges quite a bit for drinks such as sodas and beer, so our solution is just to take our own. A flexible cooler gets stocked with ice by the room steward and keeps everything cool for the week!

To save everyone on the massive parking fees at the pier parking garage, we all caravaned to Brandon where my father graciously allowed everyone to leave their vehicles for the week. We threw all the baggage into the trailer, piled into a couple of vehicles driven by non-cruisers, and headed downtown. Loading was a breeze since we just stacked the luggage by the curb and walked over the meet the group at one of the Channelside restaurants. After hanging around for a while meeting new folks, we headed over as a group to board the ship. We took a group photo before getting on and then retired to our cabins for a while to get situated and wait for the luggage to catch up. After shoving off, we headed to the muster stations for an evacuation drill and, in hash tradition, wore the bathrobes that were provided in the cabins. After that was complete, we headed down to RICHARD PIERCE's suite for some champagne. The Coast Guard patrol boats were circling the ship and would always slow down when at our balcony since all the hasheriettes were showing their appreciation for the often boring and thankless job. I'm pretty sure that they appreciated the gestures.

We hit the top deck for the ritual of passing under the Sunshine Skyway bridge and then went to the cabins to rest for a while. Dinnertime soon came and we got dressed up and heading to the dining room to find our seats. For whatever reason, we were situated in the absolute middle of the dining room, a placement I'm sure the maître d' rued that decision for the rest of the week. :)

C-Day +1

This was our first day at see and after partying up the evening before, I think most people slept in. Part of the day was spent exploring the ship and partying it up again in PIERCE's room followed by a trail hared by CAPTAIN JERK. The trail was a lot of fun and took us through the ship with a lot of stops along the way for shots and beer. There was an open bar welcome-aboard party set up with games organized to help people get to know each other that was a blast. There were all kinds of questions that required one to find the appropiate hasher that was the answer. After the games were done, we went back to the PIERCE's room (that pretty much ended up as the main party spot for the week) to hang out with a bunch of folks just crashing on the bed wherever space could be found. Eventually most of us woke up and crawled back to our own rooms to change into formal wear for dinner. It is impressive as to how well some people (including me) can clean up and look respectable (though some decided to take it to an extreme and wear a white rhinestone suit a la Elvis style). After a bit of dancing, most headed off to bed since we had to get up early for the shore excursion to Grand Cayman in the morning.

Do not follow where the path may lead, instead leave your own trail.

Countdown -1 to C-Day (cruise day)

It has been really busy. Friday was spent trying to get some things organized while researching and preparing for the week long hash cruise. I was able to get some free lawn tickets to the Counting Crows / Goo Goo Dolls concert at the amphitheater and invited several of the hashers from Naples and Orlando that were staying at my place that evening to join. I got there decently early, and met up with Adrienne and Jesse and got ourselves set up on the lawn. I told Turf to call me when they were a couple of minutes from the gate so I could come down and hand them the tickets. She called, but either got lost or severely underestimated the time and took 20 minutes to show up. Overall the concert was good, but I think the Goo Goo Dolls should have headlined instead since I think most of us were there to see them anyway. We hung out though until the end of the concert and headed to my place for the evening. I know Saturday was going to be completely insane and I wanted to get a bit of sleep. The hashers got lost a few times and I felt like traffic control trying to get them in; 'no, when I said head west, I really meant it, not east. Have you no idea in what direction the sun usually sets?'.

I didn't have a lot of time to get anything ready since I had to meet BANGS HER MASH in the early afternoon so we could plan the trail. For some reason I volunteered to hare the pre-cruise trail and I knew with so many out-of-town visitors that I needed to make it a good one. He showed me a great little hack of Google Maps that is used by runners when measuring distance. With that tool (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=405192) I was able to get a good assessment of the terrain and distance. After pouring over Google satellite maps and a bit of scouting the weekend prior, I figured I had a good trail lined up. I had a couple of beer stops including beers from Caribbean countries to represent the places the ship would travel. There was a turkey/eagle split that took the walker over a bikeway currently being built while the runners were lead through Tampa Bay. I literally mean through the bay. It was low tide and the bottom was pretty packed, so it was fairly easy going, however going through the mangrove and swampy area to get back to dry land was pretty hard. It had rained pretty hard the day before and there was a lot of loose dirt piled up by the earth movers for the construction project. This made for some slow going through the waist deep, shoe sucking, mud. When I went through the weekend prior, it wasn't nearly so bad. Oh well, if I had to go through it carrying 10 pounds of flour then so did the rest of the pack!

We had a great turn-out with not only most of the cruisers showing up but also a fair number of Tampa folks that hadn't been seen in a while. A few hashers from Naples even decided to come up for the run as a road trip even though they weren't going on the cruise. The true trail ended up being just a hair over 5 miles and though the circle was a bit SNAFU* with a last minute decision to return to the start in order to avoid the bugs and ensuing madness of transporting everyone back (* note to self: plan A to A trail next time) to the start. We had our circle, only having lost a few folks along the way, and then headed over to the house party. Thankfully there were stacks of pizza waiting since I was starving having gone through most of my energy reserves already.

I hung around for a while, however I had to soon take off before the party was over since I was exhausted and since I had to lead the caravan to my house since I had 10 folks staying overnight. With a bit of fussing around, I was able to set up all the inflatable beds and get everyone a comfortable spot, though I had to take the army cot and sleep in the kitchen since my bed was being used by a couple from Tallahassee. They did me a wonderful favor by bringing down the teardrop camper that I bought the week prior and were able to save me an incredible amount of driving and gas.

True swinging does not require ropes or vines.

After a long hiatus due to summer traveling, I went to the swing club on Sunday. I had to run around and scout the running trail for next Saturday's event, but after getting cleaned up I headed over to the Zendah Grotto. There seemed to be a lot more people there than had been since I was last there. My friend Adrienne and her fiance Jesse were there and have been attending pretty regularly. They looked great on the floor and I'm glad to have a chance to be a photographer at their wedding in a few weeks! Since I'm leaving Sunday for the week-long cruise to Grand Cayman, Belize, Cozumel, and Costa Maya, I wanted to get in a bit more dance practice so I won't get as many 'white boy' dance comments as I did last year. :(

This week is spent organizing for the trip and getting in a lot of project work at the office and one of the rental homes. A tenant is moving out and has a serious amount of damage inside from marked up walls, torn window, to a dryer that had lint piled up inside the door. You would think someone would wonder why clothes were not getting dry. Could it be the lack of any exhaust because you didn't check the unit?!? How so many people can be oblivious to the operation of things one which they depend is just beyond me.

I also bought a new small camper this week. I've been researching the old teardrop campers for a little while and found one on eBay that had just what I wanted in terms of style, and features. The big camper is great from large events like at the hash campouts when I usually have 2-5 other people crashing with me anyway, but I wanted something that I could take to the mountains or on diving / kayaking trips without killing gas mileage due to weight and aerodynamic drag. I'll post some pictures when I get back from the trip. The camper is in Tallahassee and I was dreading having to waste 10-12 hours of my life merely driving up there and back just to retrieve it. Fortunately I thought to ask around just before I was about to go and found that one of the hashers that will be going on the cruise this weekend lives in Tallahassee and was willing to pick it up for me. This saved me an incredible amount of time and gas and it was really nice for the guy to be willing to help out another hasher, whom he had yet to meet, in this manner. This kind of camaraderie is one of the things I liked about the group when joining. I may not believe in karma per se, but I think such acts are rewarded. The guy is bringing down the camper for me and I'm hosting a bunch of out-of-towners, setting the trail, and even taking people to the airport, so in the grand 'circle of life' I think it will all work out.

Friday I'm going to check out the 'Counting Crows / Goo Goo Dolls' concert at the Ford Amp since I was able to get ahold of a bunch of tickets and will be taking some of the people I'm hosting for the weekend. I probably won't have time to blog anything until I get back, so I hope you all, assuming anyone even reads my blogs, have a great week. BTW, the picture I posted is something I created when playing around with some photo mosaic software. The picture is constructed using photos that I took when in California. I'm still learning the settings, but for a first attempt, it isn't too bad! You can see the original here.

Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.

I recently ordered a blender through a Froogle link from a company called outdoorandbeyond.com. After waiting a week I started sending inquiries, only to get auto-replies. After a while I came across a search and found some other threads of this company failing to deliver promised merchandise. I'm mosting this as a blog to att my experience and hope Google picks up the search links so that whenever someone does a search for this company they will be better informed. It took a dispute with paypal (the method used to pay) to get a refund that was finally given by chargeback@massmartholdings.com

Avoid these companies at all costs.

Jaggers Group (Jaggersgroup)
MassMart Holdings (MassmartHoldings)
Tools and Beyond (ToolsandBeyond)
Vogue and Beyond (VogueandBeyond)
Auto Rad (Austorad)
Outdoor and Beyond (Outdoorandbeyond)

Take me back to New Orleans, And drop me at my door

This weekend I was trying to figure out why it was people seemed to be much more receptive and considerate whenever one travels away from home. I think I've figured out that it isn't just because people outside of our home are so different, it is because we are different. I find that I am a lot more outgoing when I am in a new location because I'm excited and learning about the area, culture, and differences. As such, almost every traveling trip I have done, I have had a stupendous time because of not only the things to do but also the people I meet. This weekend I headed over to New Orleans for their annual Red Dress Run.
As tradition dictates, I did not seem to start packing until about 11 o'clock on Thursday night, even though my flight was at seven o'clock in the morning. Since I did not finish until about 1 a.m., I decided to just drive to the airport and nap there before my flight other than risk falling asleep and not waking up until it was too late in the morning. I had the unfortunate timing of being among the first travelers after the huge "liquid bomb" scare, but my experience was pretty straightforward and they're really seem to be no noticeable delays.

My friend Angela (FillMeUp), who was my host for Mardi Grass, was kind enough to pick me up for the airport since she had the day off. On the way downtown to check into the hotel we did some last-minute shopping and picked up some necessary supplies the weekend. we met several of the hashers from the Ft. Walton area for lunch in the French quarter. I went back to the hotel to crash for awhile so I can get some sleep before the evening partying, and was later able to see a friend, Ina, I met during my last visit. We have kept in touch a bit since March, and even though her youngest daughter is leaving home next weekend for college, she was able to come out and join us for some of the hash events. We all headed over to Tuckers on Magazine Street for the free pre-run party that was a chance for some people to show off their weekend outfits in a fashion show as well as trade any old ones. While there, a wedding party showed up for drinks. After a while, as an act of randowmess, I asked the waitress tell me what they were drinking and bought the bride and groom a drink and presented it to them. I may not believe in karma per se, but I do think such gestures really an make someone's day memorable.

Saturday morning I had to get a relatively early in order to help some friends get together their outfits. Since at sometime I apparently had professed myself as an expert finger painter in kindergarten, I was drafted to get up early Saturday morning and assist some friends in putting together their 'outfit' of liquid latex. This was almost every bit like finger painting including the massive mess and relative skill in getting almost as much of the rubbery substance on me as on the subject. While it took several hours of mixing, painting, drying, and reapplying, I think everyone attending the event would agree that it was an overwhelming success. We headed over to the run start to socialize for a while a good chance to meet with everyone. Our cabdriver thought that we were probably pretty strange until we rounded the corner and saw a group of two to three hundred other runners also wearing red dresses. One thing I like about the New Orleans hash is that they are runners and I certainly was not disappointed at this event with the 4 to 5 mile trail that we did throughout the day. The trail ran through the Riverwalk mall area, with the expected security guard confusion and panic as 400-500 people unexpectedly ran through, as well as several parts of the downtown and French quarter area. The beer stops were certainly plentiful with our stopping at several of the locations that we visited last year along with surprises along the way, including a kiddie pool being pulled on a trailer in which folks could cool off! One of the bars even had a mechanical bull that seemed to be irresistible to many of the group. I was able to stay on a but longer than I would have expected due to a decent amount of skill and luck. Actually I was aided by the fact that I have long legs and was able to hook the edges of my shoes underneath the mechanical bull to help stay on until the operator caught on and threw me off using centrifugal force by spinning me around. We eventually got back to Tucker's for a catered dinner and a bit of partying, and even volleyball, for the rest of the evening. Just by chance, I found out that there was a concert right across the street that one of my Friends was Tampa was attending. one of our hashers knew someone that knew someone, and through some sheer luck I was able to get inside to catch some of the performance by 'Better than Ezra', though I was not able to find my friend in the crowd. After that we headed over to Tucker's and hung out until about 2 a.m. before deciding to call it a night. Since I am almost always the driver/hair holder/voice of reason for my friends in need, it was a good to have someone look out for me since by this point I wasn't in much of a state to do anything, and pretty much passed out as soon as we got back to the hotel room (if not quite well before then, but that's another story that shallt be committed to print).

My Tampa friends had to leave early Sunday since they needed to drive back home, so the rest of the group and I had lunch (having completely passed every establishment's posted breakfast hours) and headed over to Southport Hall to check out a concert. when we got there, the Ft. Walton group decided to head back home since many of them had to work or get on with things done while Angela was starting to get tired and wanted to go home. I decide to hang out and and listen to the bands as I did not have anything else planned that day. I had seen 'Bag of Donuts' at a Lundi Grass performance last year and wanted to get a chance to see them again while I was in town. Pelicanpalooza was a fund raising event for a summer camp for children with respiratory illnesses and head several well-known area cover bands performing. They and the other bands, such as 'The Molly Ringwalds', 'Five Finger Discount', 'The Topcats', and 'Contraflow', put on a great show and had the crowd dancing and chanting for more. Even after 'Contraflow', the last band of the evening (with an amazingly talented lead singer), finished their last planned song there were several people chanting 'one more song' and were delighted when the group unpacked the instruments they just put away and belted out one more number. Impromptu things like this are what make local concerts so memorable! After that was over, I decided to walk back to the Garden District where Angela lived since it was only about 4 miles away, I decided to walk back so I could check out the area a bit more and stop for dinner. After finally getting in I took a quick shower, hit the Bulldog for a beer for traditions sake (since I had done so every time I've been there) and crashed. It was a great weekend and I met so many people and had an absolute blast. It is great to be able to experience so many good time with friends and just be able to meet so many strangers and establish a connection or friendship. I don't think I'll be able to get to New Orleans as often in the future, but hope to make it at least once a year and will probably aim to make it to one of the weekends of Jazz Fest next year.
Kudos to anyone that knows, without using Google, the song from where the lyrics in my subject line originate.

A zoo is a good place to study human behavior

There were a few things going on in the area that I wanted to attend such as the Lagwagon concert in St. Petersburg and a friend's party in New Port Richey, but I eventually decided to hit the 'Wazoo' event. This is an annual beer fest that Lowry Park Zoo conducts as a fund raiser where $30 allows get you into the park to sample some of the 180 or so kinds of beverages as well as some food from area venues. Since a couple of friends that lived down the road were going, they offered to drive since I'm usually the one to play taxi, which was totally fine by me! There were free taxis offered, but I figured the line at the event would be long enough as it was. We had excellent timing and got there just in time to miss the rain, get the last of the close parking, and get a spot near the gates. The event was pretty cool and I was able to keep with my plan of not getting any beer (that I had already tied at least) that I could get on the local Publix shelf. The evening went by quickly and I soon found myself safely home after having a great time meeting new folks, getting turned onto several different offerings, and running into friends as well as people I had not seen in a long time.

Sunday I had to get up relatively early to meet some friends in Dunedin for some paddling. Pretty much everyone there had been partying one place or another the night before, so all of us were dragging a bit, but knew that one we got on the water we'd be ok. The plan was to meet on the causeway to Honeymoon Island and go around Caladesi State Park. We took the ocean side first and had a real nice paddle for a couple of miles and even had a great time keeping pace with 3 dolphins that were zig zagging along our path. They could disappear at any time, but I think that they were even enjoying the attention and chance to show off! We stopped on the beach for a while to rest and I cooked up a batch of rice and chicken as well as some meat lasagna. After swimming around for an hour or so, we decided to head back. since I like new scenery (and prefer loop trails whenever possible) I decided to portage the kayak I was using to the other side of the island, which really wasn't that far of a distance, and paddle back on the bay side. Like when in Wheedon, I need to be sure to check tide charts before going since there were a lot of incredible low spots where the kayak could pass, since it has very low draft, but one could not get even get the entire blade into the water! I had been planning on hitting the Zendah Grotto for some swing dancing Sunday but after all that paddling just didn't have the energy and decided to stay home and crash.