TBPF!

Travel, Business, Pleasure, Fun!

As if this blog wasn't random enough, this page is just about the most random of them all. I'm not sure what I'm putting on this but I made sure to keep the title extra broad just in case.
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February 28, 2012



CHOCOLATE WALK... IN THE RAIN!





At the corner of Madison St and Franklin St a crowd gathered with one common goal...to walk for chocolate. How dedicated was this crowd, well lets just say the wet streets and sporadic rain were no match for these chocolate lovers. In honor of "Valentine's Day" month, the "Do the Local Motion" group again gathered for one of its bi-monthly walks around Tampa, only this time it was a 3 mile hike to the Channelside District and back. We were in search of Qachbal's Chocolatier in the heart of Channelside for some delicious confectionery.




Though it rained, [most of] the group came prepared for the journey. Ponchos and umbrellas were as useful as swords an shields of yester year and onward we did march. Now maybe the dedication of the walkers were for the love of getting a nice workout, but my guess was that the chocolate at the end of the trek through downtown was the true motivation! LOL
Along the way we got a chance to see the newly opened USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS).  This center "is dedicated to making life better by improving patient safety and health care quality through the use of simulation. This 90,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility integrates three floors of innovative simulation experience with education and research excellence to push the latest advances in health care into practice."



Once we reached Qachbal's, we were able to enjoy a chocolate ganache with whipped cream, topped with a plump chocolate covered strawberry and a coconut macaroon; talk about well worth the walk. We then headed over to Splitsville in Channelside where we received a tour by the lovely Tiffany and learned some fun facts about this entertainment mecca and I was lucky to win a free appetizer and 2 for 1 bowling for accidentally shouting out SUSHI during the trivia part...when in doubt just say sushi! haha


All in all this walk was a success; we got a 3 mile hike in, some free chocolate and, thanks to Tiffany, an excuse to come back to Splitsville with some friends! Sounds like a win to me.

If you are in the Tampa Downtown area this Friday (March 2) and have an hour to spare, come join the walk, I'll be there: 

ArtLoud Sculpture Tour

Date:
2012 Mar 2 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Meeting Location:
Franklin @ Madison
Route:
custom route
Get an up close and personal tour of the downtown sculptures that are part of the ArtLoud project.





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February 13, 2012


TAMPA BAY HISTORY CENTER


GET CULTURED! Make sure you take the time to visit your local history museum, you might just be surprised to find out what took place on the same land your home occupies or how the very city you're in came to fruition. All this time I was under the impression that Tampa Bay was founded by the Buccaneers, thus Gasparilla, boy was I wrong. And here I am, celebrating pirates when in reality I should have been celebrating the Native Americans; don't get me wrong the parade and drinks were my kind of party! lol But none the less, learning about your city's history is something that everyone should make the time for.

Which brings me to the Tampa Bay History Center. Although this place is rather small it lives by the motto "good things come in small packages". A vast amount of knowledge of Tampa and its close surrounds fill this 60,000-square-foot center. Its located in Tampa’s bustling Channelside District. Here you can take a journey through 12,000 years of powerful stories.


This interactive touch screen map allows visitors to search the
Tampa Bay area for all things important; wether it be famous
locations or counties


The TBHC allows you to follow in the footsteps of the first native inhabitants, Spanish conquistadors, pioneers, sports legends and railroad tycoons. During your journey, you will stroll through a 1920s-era cigar store, row up the Hillsborough River, ride along with a cattle drive and learn about the early exploration of Florida in a dramatic theater presentation.



So again I say, wether your in Tampa Bay or not, take some time to visit a museum to learn about the city you're living in. The prices aren't usually that expensive and the knowlege is priceless. Plus its interactive, so just let the kids run around and play with history... but don't tell them I said it! 



The Tampa Bay History Center is located at:

801 Old Water Street (formerly St. Pete Times Forum Drive) | Tampa, FL 33602

Ph: 813.228.0097



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January 26, 2012

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES CAME TO MOSI!


I guess I haven't been to MOSI in a while 'cause there have been some drastic changes since my last visit. For those of you who have no clue as to what MOSI is, it's the Museum Of Science and Industry, located in Tampa, FL right next to University of South Florida, any more info check out their website. Lets just get started with parking. IT IS NO LONGER FREE, ugh. That was one of the few places I looked forward to not having to worry about paying for parking, granted its only 4 dollars for the entire day, but that adds up. Now, it is free for members, but really who needs to go to MOSI more that 2 times a year unless its for the IMAX? Not this guy. 

Once we finally got in, it was time to explore. I was impressed by the new set up; its no longer random and ridiculous but actually has a flow to it. The first part on the 2nd floor is "DISASTERVILLE" which deals with the different types of natural disasters. Including this enormous hailstone below:



There was also a hurricane simulator, or for women, a "do not enter unless you don't care that your hair is gonna get F'ed up" simulator! lol One of the things there which made me go "Too soon" was the display where you could flood a house. Of course is wasn't real water but the concept just reminded me of Katrina and I wasn't excited for it, but if you felt like it, you could flood the entire house up to the rooftop. 

 Moving up to the 3rd floor, which was the biggest change for me, was the entire lifespan of a person from birth to death. Yes we walked through the entire life process...in 2 hours, LOL. Starting with birth

and then through the growth process of the brain and other learning skills, which reminded me of the many field trips as a kid, ahhh good times. But what really made my experience at MOSI worthwhile was the "Health Hollywood Squares" game. I was pretty impressed by this functioning display. I of course played my overly competitive mom and after I beat her she wasn't too happy with me, but she beat me in almost all the trivia games so we're even!




 Of course I have to make a mention that the black puppet was pretty dumb, MOSI what are you trying to say? (Not gonna get into that on this post, haha) All in all it was pretty fun, so great job MOSI for keeping the museum an interesting and fun place to go; it brought the kid out of me again!



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January 21, 2012


Jehovah's Witness Aids In Death Of A Spider


Earlier this morning I was woken up to the sound of a very annoying knock at the front door. A list of possible people it could have been immediately ran through my head, then I realized that none of them would come to the front door because we don't use it and plus its too dang early in the morning. So I reluctantly climbed out of bed and headed downstairs towards the front door. As I approached I heard the loudest knock ever, it couldn't have been from a hand, it had to be a foot. I'm thinking "Who the hell is tryna beat this door down, we don't live in that kind of neighborhood" but I kept my cool and looked out the window (for some reason the front door doesn't have a peep hole, I need to let the home owners association know about this, SN). I saw a middle eastern family, so I was a bit confused but they seemed nice so I figured might as well open the door to see what they wanted but not too wide in case they tried to run in this place. 





I opened the door to a "Good morning, did we wake you?".  First thing that came to my head, but wasn't said, was "Yeah you woke me up and from a good dream too, now what the hell do you want?" but all that came out was "yes I was sleep, had a long night, can I help you".  The lady then told me they were sorry about the last knock and that is was her little niece that kicked at the door. If I was in my "keepin' it real mode, I might have said something, but I knew they didn't mean anything by it". Long story short they were Jehovah's witnesses and they wanted to talk to me about God and if I have accepted him into my life. They even handed me a mini magazine. 





Now while they were chatting away I noticed to the left of me was a spider crawling up the door. I no longer focused on what they were saying, instead I was watching the spider slowly creep to the edge of the door. Now I'm thinking "if these people don't stop talking I swear I'm gonna close the door in their face 'cause I am not trying to have a spider in this house, hell to the no". I didn't want to be rude so I just kept nodding and saying yes to whatever they were talking about. Don't get me wrong I loves me some God but I also know God made doors to shut things out we don't want in and in this case it was the pesky spider.




They older gentleman continued to talk about pages in the magazine they gave me and with every turn of the page the spider drew closer. Now the lady noticed that I saw the spider and then she made the comment "maybe we could come by tomorrow to continue this"...Brilliant I thought, but old man mumbles kept talking. Well that spider got as close as I was gonna let it, so I politely took the magazine that was in my hand, rolled it up, and smacked the ish out of it. And as if nothing happened, I turned back the the old man and said, "so you said there are important questions on page 23?". He then looked at what I assumed was his wife, then back at me....and said "Well we will just come back tomorrow, have a great day".  So the moral of this story is, if you want them to leave, just kill something with the materials they hand you...because THAT guy said it!

**Disclaimer: I am in no way making fun of this or any religion for that matter. It was an incident that happened and I wanted to post it to the blog, so religious fanatics please do not start a protest against me!!**



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January 19, 2012

WE BOUGHT A ZOO!!

Well not really, that's just a movie title, but we did go to one today. Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo is not that bad of a place if you're new to the whole zoo experience; a great starter zoo if you will. It's been a while since I got a chance to attend so it was interesting seeing the new additions. What I find inevitable for most attraction locations is how they eventually acquire rides. I guess if business wanes the only other saving grace is a roller coaster. At least that's what Sea World and Cypress Gardens did.  Gotta do what you gotta do I guess.




I was pretty impressed with how close we could get to the rhinos now...#WIN4LPZ! Too bad this particular rhino decided he wanted to put out a none existent fire. I'm pretty sure he peed a few gallons...but I digress. I figured Lowry is now finding creative ways for raising money because there was a sign stating "$2 to feed the Rhinos". YOU GO LOWRY FINANCE DEPARTMENT, MAKE THAT MONEY!







Getting a chance to see the giraffes and zebras up close was pretty cool too. Just kind of glad I didn't go during mating season 'cause I'm still a little traumatized from visit as kid when I  witnessed an epic mounting of a giraffe. YEAH he wanted to get him some and didn't care who was watching.




 I'm more excited because of the fact I got to spend time with my mom. If you don't know how she is from those previous posts on Facebook, then you haven't gotten a chance to get to know a very interesting person. lol She is very blunt; she says what she wants no matter who is listening and I love that about her. Every time we passed the bird cages, without fail, she would say "Ewww is smells so bad, somebody light a candle".  I'm like mom do you see candles around here...SMH. She managed to complain about most of the animals and at the same time was so excited to see them up close, well except for the rhinos 'cause she was not having that. I told her I wanted a squirrel monkey which, after glancing at one, she said "Awww they are so cute, they're like an ugly adorable cute".  Mom what is an ugly adorable cute? LOL. NEVER A DULL MOMENT WITH THIS LADY





And no zoo day is complete without seeing a Meerkat. I love these little guys. They're always looking out for nothing. I wanted to yell "YOUR IN A ZOO, THERE ARE NO PREDATORS COMING!" But the little guy's face looked so focused I just couldn't deprive him of his determination to spot an eagle or something.

All in all we had a blast. Lowry definitely isn't the San Diego or New York Zoo but if your a Tampa, FL native then its a good place to enjoy a day with friends and family!!





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January 19, 2012



MOMENT OF SILENCE PLEASE


R.I.P SAINTS 2011-2012 season





Gone this season but not forgotten