If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting Suncoast Scribe!

I was never much a Disney fan until I moved to Florida. And then, when I had my daughter the Disney-mania really kicked in and took over in my life. My daughter is obsessed with the Disney Princesses and we go to the annual Pirates and Princess Party at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando for her birthday every year. And, when we can afford it, we enjoy the other parks as well. My personal favorite is Epcot.

You may be aware that Disney has been doing this Year of a Million Dreams promotion for more than a year now. People win random awesome prizes on a daily basis. Well, a Florida teenager won the ultimate prize last year – an around-the-world tour of all eleven Disney theme parks.

Joshua Peterson of Eustis, FL is only 18, but a visit to Epcot last year put his in the right place at the right time and he was given the “grand marshal world tour” prize – which makes this teenager a world traveler. His whole family will go along for the ride. It all begins with a parade at the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. Then, the Petersons get to visit the three other Disney parks in Florida, followed by the parks in Anaheim, California; Hong Kong; Tokyo; and Paris.

Yep. I’m just a tad jealous.

I have been wanting to get around to cleaning out the garage for a long time now. I very long time, in fact. It’s just that I never seem to wake up in the morning and say to myself, “Gee, this is a perfect day to pull everything out of the garage and spend hours sweating as I clean and reorganize!”

So, today fate took care of my motivation for me.

I was outside watering the plants in the front flower gardens when I saw a snake sunning itself underneath one of the shepherd’s hooks that holds some red petunias. I hate snakes. I have a fabulously irrational fear of snakes that makes my hands and feet go numb, I can barely breathe, and I start seeing dark spots in front of my eyes. It is terrible.

So, without my much thought, I aimed the hose at the snake. I have no idea where I thought the snake would go, but it promptly disappeared around the corner. I did not see it cross the driveway, so there was only one place I thought it could have gone – into the garage!

We just had a new garage door installed and it has a rather good seal at the bottom. Nonetheless, I could not figure any other place that snake could have gone. So, with white knuckles and questionable breathing, I set about dragging every single thing out of the garage to find that snake.

I never did find the snake. I suppose it actually slithered off into the yard somewhere and I just did not see its getaway. I did, however, find tons of stuff to throw away. I also loaded the van full of things to bring to a women’s shelter. And, now all of the bins and shelves and boxes in the garage are logically organized into rows. It’s quite nice out there.

And all that, thanks to a snake.

I took a look at Google’s Street View program way back when it first came out. I was kind of impressed, but wondered how I would feel if my apartment window was in one of the images, complete with a look at my bedroom. Or, what about the shots of the men coming out of strip clubs? Not too cool, really.

Anyway, Tampa finally made the cut and you can see ground-view, 360-degree images of hundreds of square miles of Bay area roads are in the system now. I took a look and although major roads in outlying areas are covered, things like my street are not included. I was actually pretty happy about that. Nonetheless, if someone coming to visit me wanted to see the roads right up to one of the intersections near my neighborhood, they could.

We see articles often enough talking about how one medication or another has been determined to cause different health issues. It’s not too often that one of those medication is actually one I am taking. I think the last time a medication I was taken was pulled off the market was 8 years ago.

I have been taking Merck’s Singulair for over eight years. My daughter has been taking the pediatric version for about three years. We both do well on it. For me, it is the first medication that treats both my asthma and my seasonal allergies without giving me a racing pulse. In fact, I have nee r had medicine work better for my asthma or my allergies. I have often said I think Singulair is a “life saver”.

And now, there are reports that Singulair is linked to suicidal tendencies. The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) say they are looking at a handful of reports that focus on mood changes, suicidal behavior and suicide in patients who have taken Singiulair.

Merck has updated the Singulair’s label four times recently to include information on side effects like tremors, anxiousness, depression and suicidal behavior.

Merck says the FDA’s inquiry is based on reports, not clinical studies. They say none of the 11,000 patients enrolled in 40 Singulair trials has committed suicide.

Nobody is suggesting that anyone stop taking Singulair in the meantime. And, for that I am glad. I worry a little that a medication that works so well for me would be pulled off the shelves. I might consider taking my daughter off the medication. I was never convinced it was a wonder drug for her, anyway.

When it comes to photo editing, I have always loved Photoshop. It’s been painful in the past when someone has asked me to recommend a photo editing software and I say Photoshop, but then have to throw in that it is super expensive and has a steep learning curve.

So, it is exciting to see that as of today Adobe Systems Inc. is offering their basic Photoshop Express for free. It is web-based, so there is nothing to download and you can access your account from any computer in the world.

Adobe says that the Photoshop Express software is designed with the layman in mind. Gone is that steep learning curve and now nearly anyone can master photo editing quickly. Of course, if you find that you like Express and want to go with something a little more advances, Adobe’s Photoshop Elements is still only about $99.

I personally still prefer the full, professional version, but even I never use all of the features it is equipped with. Most people are going to find that Express does the trick for them. Express allows you to store up to 2 GB of photos online, crop them, rotate, edit for quality. You can automatically correct color and lighting, retouch photos, fix red-eye, sharpen, add effects, and more. It has all of the features the basic user would ever need.

Just make sure you have Adobe Flash 9 installed, and you are good to go.

I was in the mood for something with oatmeal in it and not really in the mood to watch batches of cookies in the oven, worrying about remembering them so they do not overbake. So, I pulled out my mom’s old recipe for No Bake Cookies today and in a few minutes I will whip up a batch.

2 cups sugar
2 squares unsweetened chocolate or 5 Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups oats

Bring to a boil sugar, cocoa, and butter. Add the vanilla. Pour mixture over oats, mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and chill.

Some recipes use chocolate chips in place of the other chocolate. This assures that they will set firmly.

It’s been quite some times since August 26 car crash in Clearwater, Florida that left John Graziano incapacitated. Now seven months later, the Graziano family is finally filing suit against Terry Bollea (Wrestler Hulk Hogan), his estranged wife Linda Bollea, their son Nick Bollea (who was driving the car), and Daniel Jacobs (who was driving the car that was racing with Bollea’s car).

The suit claims that all four defendants were negligent in the acts leading up to Graziano’s injury. Damages in the millions are being sought, with proceeds from the suit to go into a trust for Graziano’s long-term care. Though there is no exact way to tell how much Graziano’s medical bills will actually cost over time, an attorney for the Graziano family says the costs are already more than $1 million.

There has been very little information released in the past about the exact condition of John Graziano, but now attorneys are saying that part of Graziano’s frontal lobe was removed due to crash, that he is in a “semi-conscious” state, and responds only to particular stimuli like heat and touch.

• The suit claims Terry Bollea is liable as the owner of the two cars involved in the street racing leading up to the accident, as a parent who signed a driver’s license application for a minor child, who legally assumed responsibility for the minor’s driving, and as someone who knew the likelihood of his son and Daniel Jacobs to race and drive recklessly.
• The suit says Linda Bollea knew of her son’s reckless driving and encouraged his dangerous behavior.
• The suit calls Nick Bollea liable for speeding, racing and consuming alcohol as an underage minor.
• The suit says Daniel Jacobs is liable for light-to-light racing.
• Related Posts

  • Graziano’s Mom Says Suit “will be filed”
  • John Graziano Update, Finally
  • Nick Bollea Sentenced to 8 Months
  • John Graziano Update?
  • When Motive Comes Into Question

Oddly, the latest local individual arrested for having a sexual relationship with a student lives in my old neighborhood – the neighborhood where I still own a house with my ex and from where I recently moved.

Lisa Robyn Marinelli, 40, of New Port Richey, Florida was arrested yesterday and has been under investigation by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office since February, because the alleged victim’s father said he saw his son get out of Marinelli’s car while pulling up his pants.

There are reportedly hundreds of cell phone calls and text messages between the boy and the Marinelli on record, including one that says, “How about a quickie 2morrow afternoon?” and another inviting the kid to Marinelli’s home “because real men only need 20 minutes.”

The boy also turned over a pair of Marinelli’s underwear to the police. Marinelli had been substitute teaching at Mitchell High School when she met the 17-year-old boy.

The question begs to be asked: isn’t there a fine line as to whether a 17-year-old boy is really a victim when it comes to a consensual sexual encounter? The kid will more than likely be old enough to vote in the upcoming presidential election, attend college this fall, and soon be old enough to buy cigarettes. Nonetheless, the law says he is a “victim”? I have to admit I am rolling my eyes right now. It is a fine line, indeed.

Still, the woman should have thought of her husband and her children before she got involved with anyone else, especially a kid who is going to be unable to keep his mouth shut about bagging the “hot teacher”.

I recently bought a beautiful Gymboree Easter dress from a line they put out several years ago – Garden Party. I got it on eBay for close to nothing. I think the seller had not listed the product line name or something. I was thrilled, since it was one of the dresses I had wanted my daughter to have for a long time.

Garden Party fabric

She wore it the day after her birthday, when we went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We had been to the Pirate & Princess party the night before and this was a follow-up leisure day on some free Park Hopper passes we got from a friend who works in the park system.

Anyway, close to the end of the day I noticed that Gigi had been carrying her little autograph book that she had made herself close to her chest, school-girl style. The ballpoint ink pen she had been using was in the spiral spine of the book and it had been open all along! Her dress was absolutely covered with with bright blue ballpoint ink marks. Covered.

My initial response was to soak the spots in Tide for day or so and wash the dress. That did not even fade the marks! Finally, I sat down with a Q-Tip and some rubbing alcohol and just gently rubbed at each mark. I noticed the marks were slowly fading, so I soaked the dress in cold water over night and then let the dress dry. I repeated the process three times and finally I had a dress completely free of pen marks!

It was a timely process, but it saved the dress. Ideally, you would put an old towel behind the fabric you are dabbing, so the ink will bleed onto the towel. The dress I was working on, though, was lined with a satin, so the towel was superfluous.

I have always wished I had a relative with a massive Victorian house. A house that had been in the family for generations and had an attic filled to the rafters with boxes, trunks, wardrobes, and crates of books, papers, corsets, and shoes. Alas, the only home in my family that has been around for generations has been continuously occupied for the last 200 years by people who are decidedly NOT packrats. The attic is spotless and absolutely not filled with timeless treasures.

And, sadly, when my grandmother passed away last August, the house went to my uncle who promptly rented it out and stopped taking care of it. I assume he will eventually sell the house and the acreage around the house because he prefers to live in his mansion atop as hill in a tony neighborhood. That, despite the fact that I have numerous cousins with young families who would be more than thrilled to carry on the legacy of the Watson farmhouse.

We live in an age where families do not stay together in their hometowns and pass along ownership of ancestral homes. We have given over tradition to mobility and new money. Who among us rally feel like we have roots? I still struggle over what to call my home town. It seems ridiculous that I was more at home in Gainesville, Florida than if I were to go back to where I was born and raised in the DC suburbs, where I no longer know anyone.

I long for Grandma’s Attic.

I am not a coffee drink. Well, I should be clearer. I am not a coffee drinker anymore. I love coffee. I adore coffee. I have been drinking it since I was six, because my pediatrician told my mom it would help my asthma.

I think it was about 2000 that I decided to go off of daily caffeine. I took myself off coffee at the office and put away my coffee press at home. It was a painful process, but I did it mostly so that I would be able to user caffeine when I had a migraine headache. That little headache tip does not really work if your body is used to regular caffeine.

This morning I was craving iced coffee, so I made a bog glass and because I am not used to caffeine on a daily basis now, I am flying just a little bit. I am trying to use it to my advantage: laundry, blogging, other website upkeep, sorting through my daughter’s old clothes. But, my mind is a tad unorganized due to the additional stimulants. So, I’m just flitting around doing a little of this and a little of that. It’s not terribly effective.

Ideally, I just need to go out in the backyard and burn off some energy on the mini trampoline or by pulling a couple of hundred weeds from the flower beds.

My mother has been calling my attention lately to the chem trails we keep seeing in the sky over our home in the Tampa Bay area. They are generally present on clear, windy days and last week, my 5-year-old daughter even looked up and said, “Mommy, look at all the stripes!”

You see, although we live near a major airport, the places coming in and out of TIA are not leaving checkerboard pattern trails. They just don’t. These trails are left by smaller, faster airplanes.

A microbiologist did an analysis of the trails over Tampa a little while ago and found influenza strains. According to the website robertghostwolf.com, the theories as to what the Chem Trails are FOR include “weather modification, radar interference experiments, creating electromagnetic reflectors for HAARP emissions, broad spectrum immunizations, broad spectrum poisoning of the population,” but are nearly impossible to prove, since the government will not acknowledge the actual action of these small planes.

Go to your favorite search engine (anything but the one that begins with “G” — as I cannot endorse a company who wishes to rule the internet with an iron fist) and do an inquiry on “chem trails”. If nothing else, it makes for compelling reading.

Am I solid believer in this concept? No, not really, but I am wise enough to read and listen and keep my mind open to what may indeed turn out to be startling truths.

I’ve only been to Chicago once. It was for a trade show back in 1998. I had just stared working for the company as their lead graphic designer and it was s time for me to both get to know the business and get to know my co-workers. The president of the company spared now expense and we ate at the greatest restaurants, ordered cocktails all over town, and had spending money to play with in the stores. I had a blast.

I ended up staying with the company until just before I gave birth to my daughter. In fact, I still do a lot of freelance for them.

While we were in Chicago we took a night and went to bar under the observation dck of the Hancock building. Of course, it is close to impossible to get a good table over by the windows. I observed firsthand that night, for the first time, how imposing my boss can be in public. He somehow strong-armed us a table and I think the people who had been sitting there never knew what hit them. I got to sit in a chair that bumped right up to the glass and when I looked down it felt like I was floating out over the city of Chicago.

The next day I had a whole other view of the “Windy City” when I was standing on a sidewalk in front of an office building and saw an entire window come crashing down from a hotel. The heavy winds had sucked the window right off the building. Thank God it did not hit anyone!

Now one of my best friends is moving back to Boston with her husband and children. We met when we were both living in Gainesville, Florida and she had moved there from Chicago. They just miss the city so much that her husband finally found a job there again so they can move back. I am planning to go visit them soon, so I can see Chicago on leisure terms, instead of having to mix business and pleasure.

Are you a gay porn star like James Zinkland or maybe an aging Penthouse Pet like Sheila Kennedy? Do you hunger for attention, even if it means going on National television and making a complete ass out of yourself? Do you feel completely comfortable knowing that fat, balding camera men are sitting in a control room giggling as they watch you use the bathroom and shower?

Then, maybe you should audition to be a houseguest on the next season of Big Brother. The reality TV show is holding tryouts in Tampa on Thursday, April 17th at 4 – 8 p.m. Just show up at Dubliner Irish Pub on 2307 W Azeele Street in Tampa and show the producers why you should be the next freak they choose to spend time in front of cameras 24-hours-a-day, every single day of the week.

My daughter goes to a private school right now, so she has Good Friday off. In the tri-county area here in the Tampa Bay region, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties stay open on the religious holiday. Pasco is wisely closed. Now there is a lot of panic over the expectation that a lot of bus drivers and educators will take the day off.

If a high percentage of your employees insist on observing a religious holiday, it seems to me that you might consider being closed for that holiday. It is already insane enough that Spring Break is two weeks away from Easter. At least let your people have a three-day weekend on one of the most important holy days of the entire year. If you were ask people in an informal survey, I am willing to wager that most people do indeed associate Spring Break with Easter. Let’s thank the small handful of religion haters who screamed long and loud in order to get almost all religious references taken away from our students.