CAUTION: Do not look into laser with remaining eye.

After the picnic, I headed home to get cleaned up and was then off to meet the Tampa Adventure Group for an evening of Q-Zar. I had not played the laser tag game since I was in high school back in Charleston. I remember a summer where my buddy Matt and I even wound up in a tournament. So, for old time's sake I threw on my old play shirt and joined the other 30 adults in a team game. We had 3 games of 20 minutes each and while the group was pretty quiet before the first bout, the rest of the evening was filled with excited chatter as people shared war stories. This was one thing I enjoyed about paintball, when I last played probably over five years ago, the animated chatter and conversations that broke down to essentially being "no kidding, there I was" as any good story would start. It was as much fun as I remembered when coupled with playing with/against other acquaintances, several of whom were also signed up for the trip to Peru in December. I wish I could have had a chance to play paintball earlier this year when it was a bit more cool out and it had the opportunity to be a lot more fun, but sometimes waiting too long sees great opportunities pass by.

My mind kept wandering so I packed it a picnic lunch.

After taking dad to the airport at 5:30 in the morning yesterday and spend the rest of the day working on the rental house, I was ready for the weekend. This first event this morning was a picnic at Edward Medard Park just east of Brandon. The organizer of the event did a great job with planning all the events and food. Most of the expected summer games, such as water-balloon toss, kickball, tug-of-war, and the unfortunately named cornhole, were there. There was plenty of food available and it provided a good way to relax and read for a little while while watching everyone else move around; 'never leave camp chair'. Before heading out I walked around the picnic area a little bit to get some shots of the park. Though I'm not much into fishing, this would be a pretty convenient place to bring the fishing kayak sometime since the stocked reservoir is fairly large and easy to paddle.

Everything will perish, save love and music. (Gaelic proverb)

Last week someone made mention of going to the Hyde Park Music Series event being held today. I had attended this event a couple of times over the years, though it had been a while since I last attended. After working a little late to let traffic settle, I headed over and join a few acquaintances from the social group. The band playing was pretty good and the overcast sky and threatening storm in the distance kept things cool. With tons of other activities going on these days and large social or work functions happening regularly, it was nice to relax and bit and enjoy the evening over a couple of decently cheap beers. While Brandon is a good distance away, the elevated crosstown expressway makes the trip quite manageable and provides lovely views of the Tampa skyline on the way home.

Love your enemies. It'll make 'em crazy and is in itself the best revenge.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, does that mean you should just give your enemy ice cream? That might solve a lot more hurt in this world.

The only two things a pirate will run for is money and public office

Just for kicks and giggles I decided to make a last minute trip to Ybor to take part in the charity 'Half-way to Gasparilla Pub Crawl'. Even with a early start, there were quite a few people there with each bar seeing a pack dance area. The pub crawl included access to The honey Pot, The Castle, Club Skye, and Club Tantra (formally known as the Amphitheater). I was able to run into several friends and had a pretty good time. It had been many, many years since I had been to The Castle and I really liked getting back there and may have to consider visiting again in the future.

Carmen Sandiego, pick up the nearest white courtesy phone, please.

We can try to make the dreams we want in our life happen,
but sometimes no matter what we do,
or how hard we try, the final decision is not ours.
It can take a few seconds to hurt the ones you love, but years or a lifetime to heal.

What a strange pattern the shuttle of life can weave.

After at least 5 failed launch attempts, the space shuttle got to finally lift off from Kennedy Space Center for its rendezvous with ISS. Being and afternoon and mid-week launch, I couldn't travel over to the east coast, so I had to merely settle for a rooftop viewing from the Channelside Parking garage in downtown Tampa. Timing worked out very well since I was needing to be there for a social event at Splitsville upscale bowling place for a charity event. It was just clear enough to see it climb altitude for 30 seconds or so before disappearing into the haze. I've resolved myself to try to watch every night launch in the future; if not from the Titusville area itself then at least from a good vantage point as I am sure that even on the west coast, the night sky would be absolutely light up.

Flood: A river that's too big for its bridges

Before heading to a business networking function today, I took the kayaks out to the Hillsborough River near temple Terrace to get in a bit of exercise and to be a decent host to a couchsurfer from Ireland.

Be like a duck - keep calm and unruffled on the surface, but paddle like crazy underneath.

Since the boats were already loaded, I decided to head to the Caladesi Island kayaking trip that the Tampa Adventure Group was sponsoring. It was a lethargic morning and hard to get out of bed, but finally I mustered the energy to throw some of the food together and head out to Dunedin. I missed the group by about 90 minutes, but was able to catch up to them as they were about to land on the beach and took the opportunity to get some shots as everyone passed by. I've been to this area several times before, but never actually took the inland waterway, so explored the area a bit and even found the mangrove tunnels meandering about. With it being slightly overcast, the paddling was pretty comfortable with some nice views, especially of the storm passing off in the distance toward the end of the paddle. On the way home I even decided to make a quick stop at Pam Callahan Reserve on Memorial Hwy for a quick walk around and was pleasantly surprised to see hash trail marks along the pathway. Apparently the TBH3 hash had trail run through here just the day before. The water was too high with the tide and recent rains to get to walk the marsh trails, but it was still an enjoyable walk as long as pace was quick enough to avoid the bombarding mosquitoes.

I love dinosaurs, women that communicate how they truly feel, elves, and other fantasy creatures.

After at least three other attempts, I figured this would be the time to make it to Cape Canaveral to do some kayaking and see the shuttle launch. I was supposed to go on one of the previous kayak trips when I canceled last minute due to a need to work over the weekend; later learning the launch was scrubbed due to a leak. My next attempt was a trip over for one night; heading out around 10PM, arriving and setting up cameras and sleeping on the mattress in the truck only to find out that it was canceled (same fuel leak issue) after I woke up, and then driving back home to make it to the office by 9AM.

This time it looked as if everything was ready with a clean check of the fuel systems, decent weather, and closing window of launch opportunity. I got everything packed up for an overnight kayak with a local kayaking group and was excited about the chance to finally see another launch. Just as I was literally pulling onto the entry ramp for I-4 to head to Cape Canaveral, I got a call from my friend Dave saying that the shuttle was, once again, scrubbed. Apparently a storm the previous night had seen a lot of lightning activity, so everything had to be recertified for flight status. Not to waste an afternoon and fully loaded camera, I decided to just take the opportunity to hit a small theme park I had seen so many times before but never got myself to visit, Dinosaur World. Since the interstate system was developed, so many roadside attractions completely died off or are even now just barely surviving; Weeki Wachee, Silver Spring, cypress Gardens, Sunken Gardens, etc. I really didn't know what to expect here, only really being attracted due to the huge roadside advertising. I was pleasantly surprised by the theme park. Even without the 50% coupon from the Entertainment Book, the normal price of ~13 wouldn't have been too bad at all. The models of all the 'animals' were really well done where I was expected some kind of very simple structures, many of these were quite large in scale. This was a great little spot where I could play with some HDR photography. Being a very shaded area, things would have come out much better if I thought to bring the tripod along, but at least many of them turned out decently. If you're ever looking for a random activity to do for the day, then I think dropping by here would definitely be worth the time. Though I could barely pronounce any of the scientific, or even common, names, I still learned a few things. After wandering for a couple of hours, I next hit the nearby winery for an impromptu wine tasting. For $3 bucks one could try several wines on the list, including sweet wines with blueberry or peach infusion. I actually picked up a couple of bottles to somewhat build up something more of a collection for the game room wet-bar.

I've posted some of the better Dinosaur World photos here; http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2353714&id=5026895&l=4a7385dbb1