The paperwork is spread before me.
The deadline is right around the corner.
Got some tricky decisions to make, too.
Doing my taxes?
Nope.
I've still got to finish that and get it to my accountant.
Going over finances?
I let my bride-to-be handle that.
It's one of the nice advantages of marrying a banker.
Now if she'd only help me fill out my NCAA March Madness Men's Basketball Bracket.
She'd probably do better than me.
A lot better.
I'm one of those guys whose bracket is usually toast after the second round.
Some years I haven't made it out of the first round.
Yeah, I've got the crash-and-burn thing down real good at tournament time.
Got a funny feeling this is going to be one of those years.
Hey, hon, got a minute?
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Parade day a grand time for 'Miss Duffy'
If anyone enjoyed Sunday's 12th annual Beach Bistro St. Patrick's Day Parade on Holmes Beach more than Pat Geyer, I'd have loved to see them.
OK, maybe Anne Phillips, who celebrated hitting the Big 5-0 at Duffy's Tavern Sunday, too.
But Pat "Miss Duffy" Geyer had it down during the parade. And after.
Befitting her stature as beloved matriarch of the Duffy's Tavern family, Pat was driven in the parade by Rick Lewis aboard one of his pedicabs --- a three-wheeled bike with a bench seat in back.
Despite repeated complications from a knee replacement, the 79-years young former city commissioner was in her element, waving to throngs of parade bystanders all along Gulf Drive from the Wachovia Bank starting point to the City of Anna Maria border.
Then when Rick and Pat were done parading, they pulled over at the finish line to watch the rest of the parade go by.
Virtually everyone saluted her as their own float went by:
"Pat, hey Pat!" "Miss Duffy! Miss Duffy!"
Their cries were usually followed by a hail of beads, too.
When the parade was over at last, Rick pedaled Pat back to Duffy's, calling out to amused bystanders and motorists, "We're going to Duffy's! We're going to Duffy's!"
So was the City of Dunedin Pipe Band, a parade regular for years that had yet to make a post-parade stop at Duffy's.
Not only did they make a smashing entrance, playing as they marched through the crowded tavern, but they gave a mini-concert later, with two drummers and two bagpipers before the table where Pat sat.
They got the whole place on its feet, people joyously clapping along in rhythm.
Pat enjoyed every second, every sound of the bagpipers.
"You never know what's going to happen at Duffy's," she said.
Especially on the same day as the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
OK, maybe Anne Phillips, who celebrated hitting the Big 5-0 at Duffy's Tavern Sunday, too.
But Pat "Miss Duffy" Geyer had it down during the parade. And after.
Befitting her stature as beloved matriarch of the Duffy's Tavern family, Pat was driven in the parade by Rick Lewis aboard one of his pedicabs --- a three-wheeled bike with a bench seat in back.
Despite repeated complications from a knee replacement, the 79-years young former city commissioner was in her element, waving to throngs of parade bystanders all along Gulf Drive from the Wachovia Bank starting point to the City of Anna Maria border.
Then when Rick and Pat were done parading, they pulled over at the finish line to watch the rest of the parade go by.
Virtually everyone saluted her as their own float went by:
"Pat, hey Pat!" "Miss Duffy! Miss Duffy!"
Their cries were usually followed by a hail of beads, too.
When the parade was over at last, Rick pedaled Pat back to Duffy's, calling out to amused bystanders and motorists, "We're going to Duffy's! We're going to Duffy's!"
So was the City of Dunedin Pipe Band, a parade regular for years that had yet to make a post-parade stop at Duffy's.
Not only did they make a smashing entrance, playing as they marched through the crowded tavern, but they gave a mini-concert later, with two drummers and two bagpipers before the table where Pat sat.
They got the whole place on its feet, people joyously clapping along in rhythm.
Pat enjoyed every second, every sound of the bagpipers.
"You never know what's going to happen at Duffy's," she said.
Especially on the same day as the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Copying these guys no piece of cake
Matt and Dom Schole made it look so easy.
Whipping up a birthday cake, that is.
The 20-something brothers made a devil's food cake with pineapple filling and smothered in vanilla icing in no time at all.
Then it was our turn.
Herald photographer Paul Videla makes some terrific chocolate chip cookies and I'm not bad at making pancakes on Sunday mornings.
But doing a birthday cake right was a lot trickier than it looked.
That vanilla icing didn't go on as smoothly or evenly.
Nor did applying vanilla piping around the edges work so well.
Keeping the cake's turntable going in sequence with Paul's decorating was too fast for me.
After we'd done enough damage, Paul stuck some strawberries on top.
Looked like eyes and a nose.
The funniest part?
When we brought our handiwork back to the office, our colleagues at the whole thing!
Still, when it comes to making a cake, the Schole brothers definitely have the right stuff.
Whipping up a birthday cake, that is.
The 20-something brothers made a devil's food cake with pineapple filling and smothered in vanilla icing in no time at all.
Then it was our turn.
Herald photographer Paul Videla makes some terrific chocolate chip cookies and I'm not bad at making pancakes on Sunday mornings.
But doing a birthday cake right was a lot trickier than it looked.
That vanilla icing didn't go on as smoothly or evenly.
Nor did applying vanilla piping around the edges work so well.
Keeping the cake's turntable going in sequence with Paul's decorating was too fast for me.
After we'd done enough damage, Paul stuck some strawberries on top.
Looked like eyes and a nose.
The funniest part?
When we brought our handiwork back to the office, our colleagues at the whole thing!
Still, when it comes to making a cake, the Schole brothers definitely have the right stuff.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Saying goodbye can mean late fee
Saying goodbye can be tough.
Especially when it's a TV satellite company that won't let go.
After five years, I terminated the deal after the holidays.
Received a FedEx container to ship back the transmitter box and took care of that.
Got the pro-rated final bill and paid that.
All good, right?
About a week later, I get another copy of the pro-rated bill plus a late fee.
So I call.
Look, I tell them, I already paid this bill and mailed it back on the same day I got it.
What is with this late fee?
The company will write it off. Don't worry about it, I'm told.
OK. I won't.
Today I got another bill from them.
For the late fee.
I call again. Go through the same drill with another rep.
You should not have received the notice, she tells me. Just throw it away.
So we're all square, I ask?
All square, the rep said. Have a nice night.
Any bets I get another notice for the late fee next month?
Especially when it's a TV satellite company that won't let go.
After five years, I terminated the deal after the holidays.
Received a FedEx container to ship back the transmitter box and took care of that.
Got the pro-rated final bill and paid that.
All good, right?
About a week later, I get another copy of the pro-rated bill plus a late fee.
So I call.
Look, I tell them, I already paid this bill and mailed it back on the same day I got it.
What is with this late fee?
The company will write it off. Don't worry about it, I'm told.
OK. I won't.
Today I got another bill from them.
For the late fee.
I call again. Go through the same drill with another rep.
You should not have received the notice, she tells me. Just throw it away.
So we're all square, I ask?
All square, the rep said. Have a nice night.
Any bets I get another notice for the late fee next month?
Friday, March 5, 2010
Turn up heat for Saturday wedding
Have a wedding to go to Saturday.
Not mine.
That's next month.
Maybe it will have warmed up enough by then.
I hope, I hope, I hope.
As for Saturday's nuptials?
I just pray the temperature gets further north than it has been this week.
For the bride's sake and her family, who are good friends of mine.
I thought of them last Saturday when it was so cold and rainy, an absolutely dreadful day, another in what has been a positively lousy Florida winter.
Thank goodness they weren't getting married that day.
Yuck!
At least the sun has been out much of this week and is expected to be that way throughout the weekend.
As long as it's sunny out, I always like to tell folks, the chill isn't so bad.
I pray I won't have to use that excuse at Saturday's wedding bash.
Good thing it wasn't that day.
Not mine.
That's next month.
Maybe it will have warmed up enough by then.
I hope, I hope, I hope.
As for Saturday's nuptials?
I just pray the temperature gets further north than it has been this week.
For the bride's sake and her family, who are good friends of mine.
I thought of them last Saturday when it was so cold and rainy, an absolutely dreadful day, another in what has been a positively lousy Florida winter.
Thank goodness they weren't getting married that day.
Yuck!
At least the sun has been out much of this week and is expected to be that way throughout the weekend.
As long as it's sunny out, I always like to tell folks, the chill isn't so bad.
I pray I won't have to use that excuse at Saturday's wedding bash.
Good thing it wasn't that day.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Beating Tropicana train a little triumph
You take your triumphs wherever you can in life.
Like beating the Tropicana train to work.
Not easy to do on weekday mornings about 9:15 a.m. when it seems like our favorite orange juice company's train has traffic tied up daily at U.S. 301 south of 13th Avenue.
I know it does at other times during the day, too, but mornings are when I run into it.
It's part of living here.
Well, this recent morning I was rounding U.S. 301 near Red Barn and there was the train, guard rails down, flashing lights, the works.
There wasn't much northbound traffic to hem me in, and no police, so I took a chance.
I drove over the median onto southbound U.S. 301, turned right into 17th
Avenue West and took another right onto Ninth Street West past McKechnie Field.
Heading toward downtown, I checked for the train off to my right.
It was already across Ninth Avenue West, as expected.
Continuing north, I saw guardrails down and traffic stopped on Martin Luther King.
Getting green lights all the way along Ninth Street, I crossed Sixth Avenue and Manatee Avenue West where the guard rails were just coming down.
Nothing doing.
Finally, I had to turn right at Third Avenue West.
What luck.
No traffic. And the guardrails were still up.
Speeding up a little, I drove over the tracks unimpeded, pumping my fist just as the red lights began flashing and the guardrails started coming down.
Yesss!
I'd done it.
Like beating the Tropicana train to work.
Not easy to do on weekday mornings about 9:15 a.m. when it seems like our favorite orange juice company's train has traffic tied up daily at U.S. 301 south of 13th Avenue.
I know it does at other times during the day, too, but mornings are when I run into it.
It's part of living here.
Well, this recent morning I was rounding U.S. 301 near Red Barn and there was the train, guard rails down, flashing lights, the works.
There wasn't much northbound traffic to hem me in, and no police, so I took a chance.
I drove over the median onto southbound U.S. 301, turned right into 17th
Avenue West and took another right onto Ninth Street West past McKechnie Field.
Heading toward downtown, I checked for the train off to my right.
It was already across Ninth Avenue West, as expected.
Continuing north, I saw guardrails down and traffic stopped on Martin Luther King.
Getting green lights all the way along Ninth Street, I crossed Sixth Avenue and Manatee Avenue West where the guard rails were just coming down.
Nothing doing.
Finally, I had to turn right at Third Avenue West.
What luck.
No traffic. And the guardrails were still up.
Speeding up a little, I drove over the tracks unimpeded, pumping my fist just as the red lights began flashing and the guardrails started coming down.
Yesss!
I'd done it.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Winter Games withdrawals? Nope
Suffering post-Winter Games withdrawal?
Not me.
That they won't be back for another four years is fine.
Sixteen days straight of Winter Games is TV overkill.
Enough with curling.
Enough with cross country skiing.
B-o-r-i-n-g.
Enjoyed the figure skating, given the local interest generated early on by the foursome representing Manatee County.
Afterward, not so much.
Especially ice dancing.
Sorry, that is not a sport.
Speed skating? Cool.
Dug the gold medal U.S. four-man bobsled team.
Ditto for Shaun White and those half-pipe daredevils.
Those acrobatic skiing events, too.
As for downhill skiers Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller?
Yes, they medaled, but given all the hype, I expected a lot more.
Like a lot of America, I had Sunday's U.S.-Canada hockey game on the TV, but with the sound turned down. I was out by the pool, reading and enjoying the sun, and checked the score every few minutes.
Saw the U.S.'s game-tying goal with seconds to go in regulation, then Canada's game-winner in OT.
Then I turned it off.
The closing ceremonies?
Watched "Ben Hur," instead.
Not me.
That they won't be back for another four years is fine.
Sixteen days straight of Winter Games is TV overkill.
Enough with curling.
Enough with cross country skiing.
B-o-r-i-n-g.
Enjoyed the figure skating, given the local interest generated early on by the foursome representing Manatee County.
Afterward, not so much.
Especially ice dancing.
Sorry, that is not a sport.
Speed skating? Cool.
Dug the gold medal U.S. four-man bobsled team.
Ditto for Shaun White and those half-pipe daredevils.
Those acrobatic skiing events, too.
As for downhill skiers Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller?
Yes, they medaled, but given all the hype, I expected a lot more.
Like a lot of America, I had Sunday's U.S.-Canada hockey game on the TV, but with the sound turned down. I was out by the pool, reading and enjoying the sun, and checked the score every few minutes.
Saw the U.S.'s game-tying goal with seconds to go in regulation, then Canada's game-winner in OT.
Then I turned it off.
The closing ceremonies?
Watched "Ben Hur," instead.
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