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.

I bet Jesus could keep a party going all night on one six-pack.

After getting home around 3AM after the 10K I got up around 9 to head to the drop zone to do a couple of jumps. I met up with Jon to try to organize a fun 4-way with a few others, something like a tube exit, however by the time we got everything planned out and geared up, we got a weather cancel just as we were heading to the place. I couldn't stay to wait it out since I had a party to attend. I was graciously invited by a couple of different friends to a July 4th, Monte Carlo party that I was told was going to be a blast. I talked to the organizer previously and arranged to bring out my daiquiri machine to contribute a bit to the festivities. The organizer went all out in the planning and detail of the party. There were real casino games set up by dealers that stayed throughout the night along with professional bartenders, tons of food, professional photographer taking party pics, and even fireworks later in the evening. I had a great time getting a chance to meet so many new people and recognize many faces of those I had gotten to know over the past few months at different events.

We have a two party system in our country: us vs Them

About 60 people showed up at our house for a party this weekend. In the early afternoon we set a trail from nearby Limona Park that looped around to come in behind the house and end in my driveway. The trail was long enough and fortunately no one got stung when I have looped a portion a little too close to a local bee farm, but the pack was kept pretty close together. The after-trail party was essentially for the birthday of Kiddie as well as Kristen. I set up some work lights in the wooded area behind the house for some back lighting that ended up looking great. Besides having the daiquiri machine churning out frozen concoctions all night, the kegerator was cold and full, the fire pit was roasting, and the weather was perfect. It was just cool enough to not require kicking in one of the AC units and just nice enough that the small fire provided a nice sitting area outside. Kiddie and Mams picked up some pulled pork, rice, and a few other things while Kristen put in a lot of time making the cheesecakes and they went over incredibly well with the friends. While I'm not sure if I can afford to have this kind of event too often, it was nice to bring together a lot of friends from around the state that I hadn't seen in a while. Several of the folks were good at helping keep the place clean, of which I was quite thankful. It had been a long week with a lot of projects with which I was dealing at the office; so the rest Sunday was quite nice.

If OCT 31 = DEC 25 is Halloween equal to Christmas?

One of the local krewes held a 'Halfway to Halloween' party tonight at one of the clubs in Ybor. Wanting to get a bit more mileage out of it, I wore my 'Steve Erwin' costume, though figured it would not have quite as much impact as it did last year. Angie was an corrupted school girl, Gina was selling (herself) girlscout cookies while Jay was Lt. Dangle. There was a costume contest, but of course Dangle took the first price and received a pretty decent prize package for it.

Pics of the party can be found here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.8qfy67uv&x=1&y=262b67

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.

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

Today was the annual Tampa Gasparilla day parade. The hash has lucked out in that one of the members lives/lived right off of Bayshore Blvd and has allowed the group to use the place as a base of operations. several of us met in Temple Terrace and carpooled down to make parking a lot easier and arrive around 10:30. just before it was going to get crowded. The parade is a great excuse just to get silly, hang back and have a good time. A lot of people dress up, so I decided to play along and see how many beads I could get. Since I didn't use it for Halloween as I intended, I pulled out my old Burger King mask, threw on an eye patch, and waited as the parade drew near. I certainly wasn't expecting all the attention from the crowd, laughs, and picture requests that I received as well. For the past few years many of the guys have thrown on bras as a means to get more beads, so I figured, 'why not complete the ensemble'? Life is only as fun as you allow it it be and the day ended up being quite enjoyable. I had mentioned to a lot of friends where we would be and had several people drop by to visit. The beads, floats, and laughs were indeed plentiful and I even recognized several people in the parade itself, so that was always a treat (plus it being very beneficial in terms of the bead booty). After all, I'm pretty sure that even the invading pirates enjoyed seeing people out having a good time.

After the parade we retreated back to Finger's place to hang out and wait for some of the traffic to die off. The group eventually made its way to Tiny Tap and later to the VFW for the evening until we finally decided to check out Whiskey Park, a club I previously never had occasion to check out. We hung out and danced until midnight at which point I decided I had enough and needed some rest since I planned to go to the office the next day (yes, a Sunday). The weather outside for the parade was great and I had another great time. The Tampa Red Dress Run is the evening of the Gasparilla night parade, so hopefully it'll turn out to be an interesting time then as well.

The weekend pics can be found here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.4fidlhm7&x=0&y=re7rz

Friday night I crashed your party. Saturday I said I'm sorry.

Friday night was the annual party that Mammaries of Orlando puts on for the birthdays of a few friends. She goes all out for the party and gets 3-4 people to cater it and spends about 2k in food and another 1k in booze with her place getting stocked better than some small store. Kiddie, VC and I headed over after work Friday and had planned to stay the night, an honor bestowed to the Tampa folks for a while now. When we arrived, there were already plenty of people mingling around. A lot of people were coming in an out throughout the evening, so it stay pretty busy. It didn't take too for us to get a game of tippy-cup going until the keg was floating. I originally thought it was a party for herself aas well as others, so besides the card, I got her a gift. Last weekend Mams was telling us how tired she was of noodles and rice since that was pretty much all they had to eat during the trip. Thinking that she might really be missing them, I got her a couple of packages of Oriental Ramen noodles. Even though she lobbed one at my head upon opening them, I think she really liked it.

The food was phenomenal with all kinds of goods being made available. There were wings, fondue, salads, cakes, beef, fruit, and so many other items. Everything was set for a great party, rocking hot tub, warm pool, etc. While the party was going, Mams had pics from her recent Asia trip playing on the big screen and would tell us various stories of things that were going on. I was still a bit tired from the heavy tailgating at the Buffet concert, but somehow I managed to stay up until 3:30AM. Even when going to bed someone yelled out, 'hey, how about a couple of shots before sleep?'. On the lights came and someone scurried off to get some glasses and nameless concoction. When we finally got up in the morning, few people were wanting to move, so the most we did for a little while were mix Bloody Mary drinks and rehash old hash stories, including ones from the evening before.

Here are some of the pictures I took of the event: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.bou49h8j&x=0&y=34d4dz

We are the people our parents warned us about.

I'll be going to the Buffet concert with a bunch of friends on Thursday. Most of us are taking a half day from work and will be heading to the parking lot around 4 o'clock (if not earlier) for some tailgating goodness.

I'm sure there are a bunch of Tampa friends going as well, so you are all invited to run by and say hello. You are welcome to bring any food you want to throw on the grill or join us in margaritas, daquries, or other different kinds of golden nectar. In the least bring a chair and share in what we'll have.

I'll be taking the blender, grill, stove, awning, and other necessities. I am going to try to see if I can park near the high voltage power line tower closest to I-4 (on the north side) as a rally point. If you come out, look for the silver Nissan Xterra with the small 4x8 silver teardrop camper attached. I'll probably also be flying my green 'Hash House Harriers' flag if I remember to pack it.

Give me a call if you happen to be by and cannot find us.