If the mind were exercised as much as the mouth, we would be a race of geniuses.

Today I participated in the Great Urban Race. This was an urban adventure race that involves solving numerous clues with a partner, finding the particular locations, and then completing them all before making it back to the finish line. I got in a little early so I could scout out the are a bit for clues and get a general layout of the place. I grabbed breakfast at Centennial Park at the weekly market event and then picked up a trolley/bus pass before heading over the Gaspar's Grotto. I set up my netbook with the Wi-Fi so as soon as the clues could be opened we could research the answer and make a plan of attack. after solving what we needed to get started, I took a picture of some of the puzzles and riddles and e-mailed them to friends to aid in the research.

Our first stop was Centennial Park where we had to find the 'Immigrant Family' statue. It was much more crowded than just a few hours prior as there was some kind of event going on at the same time, so it was a bit chaotic weaving in and out of the crowd while dodging other racers as well. We weren't even the first to get there since people in the park seemed to be caught up with what was happening and simply pointed the way to anyone with a race bid. Next we had to head downtown. The streetcar was packed, so we figured the best thing would be to just hoof it to the next clue and take the streetcar back in the afternoon. There were three of the clues in a short distance with challenges. We had to do a team bike partnership, find a particular 'Earth Energy' sculpture to take a pic, and then complete a blindfolded beanbag toss in a game called 'cornhole'. After that it was across the Kennedy bridge, cutting through to Platt, and then on to Hyde Park where there were several challenges, surfboard riding, drop off a purchased water bottle, soccer challenge, and smoothie eating. From there it was a straight run back to the Convention Center and then take the excruciating slow streetcar back to Ybor and then on to the finish.

Overall our team came in 21nd out of over 300 teams, meaning we qualified for the national event later this year. My partner was more of a jogger than a runner, but put forth a great effort and picked up things when we needed. Overall we did a great job and had a lot of fun. After that was finished we headed to beer fest to meet up with some friends and enjoy a few hours of beer sampling. I headed over to Carrollwood for a friend's birthday party with a 'crazy hat' theme for more drink, food, and games before finally making it back after 2AM.

Isn't the Department of the Interior, in charge of everything outdoors?

Attended the Outdoors Expo and Boat Show at the Floride State Fairgrounds to attend a fossil hunting talk that was given by Teresa Hattaway. It had been a while since I have been fossil diving, but after the talk I chatted with Teresa for a while about diving spots and experiences. Venice Beach, just south of Sarasota, is a well known location I used to pretty often to pick up shark teeth, however my biggest scores were in the Cooper River area of Charleston several years ago. I also saw Ed Ciesla, the operator of the first dive shop that hired me to do some teaching when I first became a dive instructor back in 1998. He still runs the Woods and Water SCUBA and Scout shop in Brandon and was conducting 'Discover SCUBA' classes in the portable pool that had been set up.

I'm not in my right mind. It's out cavorting nude in the mud.

I attended the Nude Nite Tampa Art Expo during the opening night of the multi-day event. I wanted a chance to work in a darker environment as I learn more about the lighting, ISO, and aperture advantages of my new camera. I try to be unobtrusive and prefer to take photos without the flash whenever possible. The atmosphere of the old trolly barn created a great location for just such an event. the whole Tampa Riverwalk project is coming along quite well even though this location will not be developed for several more years. Right near this location is the site of a sunken civil war vessle that is just starting to be excavated. I attended a talk at the Reefseekers Dive Club a few months ago that provided details of the wreck and how the property owner was surprisingly embracing of the archeological project and hoped to integrate it into future site plans as a historic site.































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