Travelogue - Manatees and Gasparilla

What a great weekend!!! That is the best way I can sum it up. I could not have imagined how much fun we could squeeze into 72 hours but we did it.

After arriving about 5 hours late on Thursday night and not getting to bed until close to 3:00 am. Tara, Meggan and I woke a mere 2 hours later to hop in the car and drive 2 hours North to Crystal River, Florida.

Crystal River is the home of Cap'n Mike's Manatee Tour. Now before all the Manatee Activist start yelling, we took an eco-friendly tour with a company that is concerned with helping stop the path of endangerment that this amazing animal is on. Our Ship's captain Sheryl educated us on the Manatee as well as explained to us how they are able to conduct tours without damaging the Manatees or their habitat. This is not true of all Manatee tours and if you are every going to take one (which I recommend to everyone) you should do your research and go with a good tour outfit.

We set sail at 8:00 am, we had 6 hours on the river. The water on the river stays at 72 degrees year round, so wet suits were needed. After our lessons on the Manatees and how to interact with them we dove in.

Unless you have done a tour like this it is virtually impossible to explain what the experience is like. The Manatees just swim right up to you so you can rub their sides and bellys. Almost all of them have huge gashes on their back from irresponsible boaters encroaching on their space and injuring them.

The are so lovable and gentle you just want to take them home....but don't even try.





I was so happy to get to share that day with Tara and Meggan as I know that was a once in lifetime experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.

On Saturday Chip and Billy Geffken joined us and we went to the Gasparilla Invasion and Parade. Holy Moly is this a good time. The weather was a Sunny 74 degrees all day long. First we watched the Invasion which is a boat parade of hundreds and hundreds of boats floating through the Tampa Bay, the end of the boat parade is the giant Pirate Ship that comes into town and takes over the city. I have never been to an event like that, it was really cool.





After the boats dock all of their passengers throw beads at the crowd. It's been mentioned often that this event is like Mardi Gras. I have been to Mardi Gras a few times and I felt that Gasparilla was only similar in that there were beads to be had. NO ONE was flashing anything but a big smile to get beads. Not to say that we didn't have as much fun as at Mardi Gras, we just didn't feel like we were in the middle of a Girls Gone Wild video.

After the invasion comes the parade, this again is very much like a Mardi Gras parade without the nudity.

The 5 of us must have caught a couple hundred strands of beads between us. It was a beautiful, fun day and we can't wait to do it again next year. Hopefully more people will take advantage of a chance to get out of the cold and come have some fun with their friends next January.





I have inserted a few pictures in my posting.

To see all of them check out this snapfish link

New Bloggers on the Block

A few of my friends have started their own blogs recently. I have added links to my page but here are the addresses.

Check them out

Sam and Melissa Mason - http://skmskm.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Gerber Judd - http://mysite.verizon.net/rgjudd/

The Baby Boom Continues

I have another pregnancy to report. This week congratulations go out to Thad and Debra Davis. Thad and I attended Purdue together. He has been my partner in crime in many of our crazy trips. Thad and Deb married last July in a beautiful ceremony at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.



Baby Davis is due in August. Check out Rants from the Floribbean for more updates :)

CONGRATS Deb and Thad!!!!

and baby makes five...

Congratulations to Tony and Megan Rezza who are expecting their third child in July. 3 will join Mia who is 3 and Anthony, Jr. who will be 2 in May. Congrats Rezzas :)

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It's Official

After successfully completing my 90 day contract to hire requirement, today I became a full-time employee of the National Forensic Science Technology Center.



The first 90 days have been absolutely wonderful. I work with some amazing people, everyone here is bright and driven and also really nice. I feel so very fortunate to have this job as it really feels like I belong here.

The scope of my job is equally as satisfying. Much of my day is spent in areas where I have previous experience such as meeting and event planning and execution. My bosses are great and continue to give me assignments that are new and challenging.

Also, the nature of what we do here at NFSTC is so interesting to me. I have learned SOOO much in the past 90 days about forensic science and the U.S. justice system. As the company encourages continuing education and pays for it, I am now researching classes related to forensic science at the local community college. I think having a basic understanding of how this all works will help me excel at my job.

In other news, I am volunteering at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. They were in desperate need of someone to come in and organize their electronic files and create databases for them, so every other weekend I spend the morning there. This is an AMAZING organization. The CMA is run 100% on donations with their focus on Rescue, Rehab and Release. This means, the CMA takes in injured or sick animals, mostly marine life, but they will take any critter that needs help, rehab it, teach it the skills that it needs to go back out into the wild, and if feasible release the animal. Release is not always an option, so some have taken up permanent residence at the aquarium, while others are donated to aquariums or zoos around the US.

One of the newest residents is a bottle nose dolphin named Winter that was rescued from a crab trap in early December.



She was severly injured from the crab trap and now needs 24 hour care. One of the perks of being a volunteer at CMA is that you are able to interact with the animals. Soon, I am going to be able to get in the tank and swim with Winter as part of her rehab. I will definitely report back on that.

Click on the picture above to learn more about Winter.

Check out the website http://www.cmaquarium.org/

This place ALWAYS needs donations, so if you are feeling philanthropic send a few bucks to the CMA.

Looking forward to this upcoming weekend, Meggan Drake and Tara Pollock are heading to the Floribbean. We are going to swim with Manatees on Friday. Here is a link to our private tour - Ultimate Manatee Tour

I will update the blog next week with pictures from what I am certain will be one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life.

Chip's friend Billy Geffken is also coming this weekend and the 5 of us will be hitting Gasparilla on Saturday. THAT will be a fun day as well.

So that is the wrap up.

Please send me anything that is going on with you so I can post it in the blog.

A few movie reviews

As the harsh winter bears down on us, we settled in with a few movies...oh wait, that would be my opening sentence if I didn't live in the Floribbean :)

We have been watching more movies lately, here are a few reviews:

40 Year Old Virgin - I laughed alot during this one. If the whole movie was only the 5 minute chest hair waxing scene it would have been worth it. I read that they did that scene in one take, no prep for Steve Carrell's chest, they just got right into it. So all the reactions were pretty much real. I thought they handled the subject matter of the movie really well and I loved the relationship he ended up in with Catherine Keener.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith - You know how when a movie doesn't look that good you say "That's a renter" Well what do you call it when you rented it already. For all the hype that movie got I think it fell a little short. Yes, Brangelina looks perfect in every single scene, and I think I did see some chemistry between the 2 of them. But I just did not care about either of these people. They should have had some sub-plot that showed a side of their characters that made them a little more human and likeable. Also, I didn't expect all the Inspector Gadget effects. They made the movie seem even MORE unrealistic than it already was.

Wedding Crashers - I hate to make a blanket statement here but if any woman on earth liked this movie I would be surprised. All this movie did was give all the assholes out there who like to lie to and take advantage of women another venue to carry out their "let's get laid" schemes. I think it glorified the one night stand as something good and that everyone does. With the exception of the girl that Owen Wilson ends up with, every woman in that movie is portrayed as either stupid, slutty or crazy - and we wonder whey men disrespect women? Because movies like this give them the playbook. Oh and I didn't think it was funny at all.

Last Holiday - I am a firm believer that any movie that comes out in January usually sucks - so when I went to see Last Holiday I wasn't expecting much. I am happy to report I was wrong. This was a really sweet, funny movie. I wasn't rolling in the aisles or anything but it had its moments. And Queen Latifah was great!! I forgot that QL was on the screen and believed it was Georgia Byrd. The movie also has a great message which is Live Life to the Fullest - I always like that.

Oh and I saw the Mission Impossible 3 trailer at Last Holiday and even though Tom Cruise has gone bye bye this movie looks pretty good :)

Sirius Satellite Radio

Despite reading all the directions, Chip and I were able to figure out how to install the brand new Sirius Satellite Radio he got me for Christmas (Thanks sweetie) in time for the debut of The Howard Stern Show tomorrow morning.

Sirius is AWESOME!! The stations they offer are great. Yesterday we listened to the radio feeds from DC and Tampa (ok, we didn't need to listen to the Tampa feed, but it was fun) during the Redskins/Bucs Playoff game. That was cool. I can't wait till next year to be able to hear Merrill Reese call Eagles games again.

The variety of stations are amazing. I don't think there is a genre of music out there that they don't cover. Plus, they have 25 talk stations. What more could I ask for.

Check it out - SIRIUS

The Return of Must See TV

Are you watching My Name is Earl? You should be.





This show is great. Funny from beginning to end every single week, AND there is always a good lesson.


NBC just moved this show to Thursdays at 9:00.


check it out.

Flowers in January

Chip snapped this shot of our Hibiscus Plant this morning.


Beautiful

Introducing....

Miles Beaumont Hormell








Miles arrived last night (1/4/06) at 8:40 pm. He weighed in at 5lbs., 10oz., Mom, Dad and Baby are all doing fine.

Congrats Steve and Anne :)

A Very Floribbean New Years

Chip and I welcomed in 2006 down at the beach. We had champagne and strawberries and cool gulf breezes.

This is a common way for locals to celebrate the new year, the beach filled up as midnight approached. Then the fireworks started. They are legal down here so we got a 4th of July caliber show just watching what people were setting off from their houses. FUN!!!

Here are some pictures



Indian Rocks Beach







Not only is Chip the NYE coordinator he is also the staff photographer.