So here he is, the guy who sells dresses at the corner of North Boulevard and Columbus, right in front of the King Grocery. He takes Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.
Ooh, everybody look at who makes all kinds of money lawyerin'! He's got himself a cell phone! Not some stupid old regular phone that any jerk in a tee shirt would have, but a cell phone. And you can even call him on it! I'll bet he talks on it in his car. Or when he's eating food. For dinner. In the building he lives in, with walls and a roof. Where he wears clothes. And watches programs on a television. 
Do you know somebody who kind of looks like other people? I don't mean one person who looks exactly like a certain other person. I mean somebody who kinda looks like several other people. Apparently, some think Rays rookie pitcher Jeff Niemann is one of these people. Hmm, I don't know. I see some resemblance in some cases but I'm not entirely sold. Judge for yourself... 
Niemann and NBA legend Larry Bird
Niemann and actor Jeff Daniels
Niemann and Alf 
Heaven knows I've complained long and loud about the Lightning when they've done something stupid, wrong, ugly and/or stupid. Considering who's "in charge" over there, I'm sad to say that's probably going to continue. But fair is fair and when they do something right, I feel obligated to point it out. Especially if doing so also helps the cause in any way.
Creative Loafing's annual "Best of the Bay" poll/competition is wrapping up soon. Voting ends on August 31st. This is the last time I'll solicit your votes for Best Blog. If you've already voted, THANKS!!! If you haven't yet, here are three more reasons why you should vote for this blog...And I thank you for your support.
This is a "food" item I came across the other day that I'd like to share with you. Behold Mrs. Freshley's Race Cups! At least I think that's what they are...there is no mention of Race Cups at the Mrs. Freshley's official web site. That's a little odd. I mean, no offense to Mrs. Freshley or the people who work for her (you know, I'll bet there isn't even a real Mrs. Freshley!), but let's be honest; what we're talking about here are knock-offs of products from Hostess, the McDonald's of baked goods. That isn't setting the bar very high. Is somebody knocking-off a knock-off? That's setting the bar on the ground and walking over it. There's a lot to suggest that this might be a bootleg product:I sure would like to know what the deal is with these things. Aside from the fact that they were delicious. I figured that out on my own.
Our vehicle parked next to what I dubbed The Over-Compensationmobile
Entrance to Woody's River Roo. This is actually in Ellenton, along the Manatee River. Great music, great food.
Colorful rental bikes at Casperson Beach
There's something about watching animals just do their natural thing that I find endlessly entertaining. I think I got that from my grandfather. This little bird (somebody told me it's a tern) cracked me up. "Yeah, I know I'm the size of a parakeet. So what? I'm hungry and I'm going to the edge of the Gulf of Mexico and getting some dinner. Why the Gulf of Mexico? Because I don't live near a bigger body of water, that's why. Bitches."
This is a device we used for finding sharks teeth. The beaches near Venice are LOADED with sharks teeth and we found quite a few:
The big piece on the far right might be a piece of a dinosaur bone, possibly either a Mastodon or a Wooly Mammoth. The quarter is from the Philadelphia mint.
Speaking of prehistoric artifacts, check out this old-school placemat we found at the Lucky Family Clock restaurant (or whatever it's called). They don't make 'em like this anymore.
The entrance to Pop's. Our bartender George was an extremely gracious host. Maybe too gracious for my own good. Thankfully, my companions are 100% trustworthy and I was in good hands.
The intracoastal outside of Pops at dusk.
Not a lot of idiots here yet, but there's signage waiting for them when they get here. Yes, knowing how to swim before you get in the water is a good idea.
"You know, some day soon, I hope you break through and become a big star. I'd be so thrilled if that happened."
God bless him and his family. Heaven help the rest of us.
The Rays are running a couple of performance-based promotions that pay off in food for fans. Last night's 5-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles was a Daily Double...And tonight they're doing .50 hot dogs! At this point, I may stop grocery shopping and just go to baseball games.
The on-line bid for validation and popularity rages on, but Creative Loafing says this blog already deserves to win "something". 
A long, long time ago when I was getting ready to leave for my tour of duty in the Army, all I wanted to do was go over to Chicago for a couple of days and see a ballgame or two. However, at the last minute my best friend at the time pussed out (sorry, but that's really the only way to describe how that went down) and I didn't get a wild, blowout weekend. 
Q: On what web site would you find out what Quentin Tarantino is working on, how many movies Tom Hanks has been in, a complete list of all the films Steven Spielberg has made and me?
By popular demand (well, one person asked about it; that's enough to make her popular with me) and for the benefit of those who didn't already see these on Twitter or Facebook, here are the "Failed Broadway Show Titles" that I threw out there over the last day or so. For the rest of you, please enjoy this special encore presentation...
Who?After that, the Teddheads were quieter and a man named Larry Halstead piped up with this:
Is it possible that at least some of the people we like to follow in the media that we think are really telling it like it is might just be telling us what we want to hear? I don't need to know their names or what channel they're on but is there somebody on tv or the radio with whom you agree almost (if not) 100% of the time, who says the kinds of things you like to hear in the way you like to hear them? If so, has there ever been anybody in your life who has really cared about you, parents, friends, lovers, etc. that you can say that about? And if that's so, did/do they talk to you in eight-to-ten minute segments, interrupted by commercials for cell phones and headache remedies? I know we're not doing a whole lot of consideration these days. It's just something to think about.
We weren't provided instructions on whether we are supposed to use this against those who seek to do us harm or on ourselves, but it's probably equally effective either way.
"Hey, if you could be any animal, what would you be?" 
This morning, I woke up at 5:00AM to what sounded like a very heavy rainstorm outside. Except, once I sat up, I realized that the noise was coming from inside the apartment and not outside. The rest of the cobwebs burned off pretty quickly as I realized this was not a good development. I went into the hallway where the noise was coming from and found wet carpet and water spraying inside the closet where the water heater lives. I couldn't figure out how to turn off the water so I called the apartment complex's phone number, knowing I would get a recording. Sure, enough I got the world's longest recording, instructing me twice to leave my name, apartment number, description of the problem and a phone number.Grrr! Too much anger and sadness in the last few posts. Getting a little monotonous. Need to shake it off and re-adjust attitude and perspective.
So look what I found...
I stole this from found this at "It's Free To F", a blog authored by the mysterious MGRAND. She has lots of cool things there.
"One time early in my career, I got into a fight with a New York writer, this real skinny cat, a real sidewinder. He said, 'I'll tell you a secret, Prince. Writers write for other writers, and a lot of time it's more fun to be nasty.'" --Prince, in Rolling Stone, 1985
I was thinking about going to the big town hall meeting here in Tampa last night. What was it about? Health care? Astroturf? Something like that. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t expect to get in; I knew it would be more than packed and honestly, I just wanted to sit outside in my lawn chair and witness the 10-car pile-up of jackassery I knew would ensue. I didn’t go, discretion being the better part of valor or being part of the solution by not being part of the problem or because it looked like it might rain or something, but apparently it lived up to the hype."After two consecutive bitterly negative presidential elections and many years of what was turning into a highly deflating military adventure in Iraq, the American public had reached new levels of disgust with the very concept of elections. People no longer voted for candidates they liked or were excited by; they voted against candidates they hated. At protests and marches, the ruling emotions were disgust and rage; the lack of idealism, and especially the lack of any sense of brotherhood or
comon purpose with the other side (i.e., liberals and conservatives unable to imagine a productive future with each other, or even
to see themselves as citizens of the same country), was striking."
The recent so-called "beer summit", convened by President Obama in an attempt to open a dialogue about race relations in America in the 21st century, forced me to ask myself a tough question: With what U.S. president would I like to sit down and have a couple of beers?For what it's worth, here's my list:
Creative Loafing is holding their annual "Best of the Bay" poll. You can vote on all kinds of things like best barbecue restaurant, best beach, best place to buy a bicycle and all sorts of nonsense like that. More importantly, you can vote for BEST LOCAL BLOG. I would like to take the opportunity to ask you to So VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE and VOTE!
(NOTE: Odds of winning = a snowball's chance in hell. Some...okay, all...prizes may...okay, will...be unavailable due to various factors such as that permission was not granted, or even sought, from the people listed, the item has been sold on Craigslist or the item never existed in the first place. Honestly, you should know better by now.)
PS: Vote!
This is a mural depicting Eve tempting Adam in the Garden of Eden, as seen on the west wall of one of Tampa's many "gentleman's club", The 7 Seas (locals refer to it as The 7 Diseases). The Garden of Eden was quite literally paradise on earth. Apparently it was also a tow-away zone and surrounded by a chain link fence.
If you're in Clearwater Beach and you want to relax along about 6 square feet of the intercoastal and you're willing to walk there, there's a spot for you.