A few days before the end of the year (2019) my friend A. sent me a message saying she wanted to search for rocks and shells at Ponce Inlet on New Year’s Day. The weather was expected to be good, so we made plans. I met her at the shop where she dropped off her car for some work and we drove the twenty minutes down to Ponce Inlet. We climbed on the boulders, A. looking for rocks and me taking photos.
Living in the small town of Daytona Beach, I don’t get to enjoy a lot of live music. But in 2017 my boss introduced me to a local punk bank called SHOT OUT. George, Rob, Furey, and Jon put on a fun show, four geeks not taking themselves too seriously and who clearly enjoy playing together. That night I bought their eponymous six-track CD.
Continue reading SHOT OUT
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach campus is home to several colonies of cats. Some are friendly while others avoid people. Before we moved into the new library in 2018, I sometime sat outside the temporary library during lunch. Often I would be surrounded by cats and I usually gave them some of my lunch: fish, turkey, and chicken. Around that time, some students, with the support of faculty and staff, formed a club to help feed and care for the campus cats. They called it P.A.W.S. or the Protecting Animal Wellness Society.
Continue reading Feeding the Embry-Riddle Cats
I enjoyed participating in Heart Walk 2018, so when the event was announced for 2019, I quickly signed up. Last year a Hunt Library team was formed after a few of us had already signed up for ERAU, so this time I immediately created the Hunt Library Team and invited my colleagues to join. Due to previous commitments and other reasons, only my boss Suzanne and I could walk. However, Hunt Library staff donated a total of $320 to the American Heart Association.
One of the reasons I like this event is that I get to drive into the infield and even on part of the road course of the Daytona International Speedway, where the event takes place. After parking in the garage area, we signed in and gathered in the Fanzone for snacks, photos, and instructions.
Continue reading Heart Walk 2019
The time has flown since I purchased my Porsche Boxster on June 26, 2019. In the two months since then, I have greatly enjoyed driving and also just looking at the thing, to be honest. I drive it to work on sunny days and have taken the Boxster on a few short trips.
But in that period I haven’t taken the time to do some of the basic things you’d do with a new car. I added only one radio station to the ones preset by the dealership and didn’t activate the satellite radio. I hadn’t paired my mobile phone with the car. I hadn’t changed any of the default settings on the displays or configured its optional features. I hadn’t even taken the Porsche on an extended drive just because. I barely tested the Sport mode. Although I actually did RTFM.
So on August 26, exactly two months after bringing the Porsche Boxster home, I decided to devote the day to getting to know my car.
Continue reading A Day with the Porsche
This is Hike #45 in the book 50 Hikes in Central Florida, started on August 22, 2019 (Part 1). Part 2 was completed on May 23, 2021.
Due to the hotter Florida Summer weather, I had not hiked in three months. But I had a day off and this park was nearby and sounded promising. I didn’t get a really early start, arriving at the park around 11:40 am after a 20-minute drive.
The book lists two hikes in the preserve. The first is Spruce Creek Bluffs, a 5.6-mile loop trail, which is what I did. The second is Spruce Creek Park / Rose Bay, a short out-and-back plus a loop, for another 2.6 miles. The total hiking distance is 8.2 miles.
Continue reading 50 Hikes: #45 Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve|
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If you know me or have browsed my website, you’ll already know that my most recent previous car (in addition to my older MINI Cooper) was a MINI John Cooper Works Coupe. While I like the sporty, yet practical, hatchback MINI Cooper, I have always preferred the two-seat sportscar. I don’t have a family or the need to haul many people or large items. This preference is why I bought the MINI Coupe in 2011 and the Porsche Boxster this year (2019). Despite the Porsche being a convertible, the two cars have several similarities. Continue reading MINI JCW Coupe vs. Porsche Boxster
After I bought my loft in December 2017, I began thinking about buying a new car. After researching the new car market, including MINI, I decided that nothing in my price range really interested me. Since the time I was a kid, I have always wanted to own a Porsche. So, about a year ago I started doing some research on the Porsche Cayman. The reviews of the car were excellent and I decided to try to find a recent (Generation 3 or 981 in Porsche-speak) with low miles. I had one requirement: the car had to have a 6-speed manual transmission.
In early June I spotted a 2015 Porsche Cayman in white with low miles that seemed perfect. But it was an automatic. I decided to go have a look at it at Porsche South Orlando and maybe test-drive it. Maybe it would change my mind. When I arrived, someone was just taking it out, so I went inside to speak to a salesman. I gave him my preferred specifications and he told me about a 2013 Porsche Boxster with a manual transmission that had just been sold to the dealership. Did I want to have a look? I hadn’t really considered a Boxster, which is the convertible version of the Cayman, but I thought it was worth viewing. So I followed him up to the large parking garage at the back of the building.
Continue reading My Porsche Boxster
Did you know May 22nd is World Goth Day?
Goth Day started in the UK in 2009. BBC Radio 6 Music DJs Cruel Britannia and Martin Oldgoth started the annual celebration of goth music and culture.
While not really a goth myself, at least not on the outside, I have enjoyed listening to “goth” music (and its rougher mate “industrial” music) as my favorite subcategories of classic alternative music. I am a longtime listener of Sunday Night Vinyl on Orlando’s 104.1 which plays all of these genres of music.
Below is a sample of some of my favorite goth bands. Please enjoy in a low-key, introspective way.
Continue reading World Goth Day
This is Hike #17 in the book 50 Hikes in Central Florida, completed on May 19, 2019.
I arrived at De Leon Springs State Park just before one o’clock to find the park was full, so I had to join the queue of cars waiting to get in. As cars left, the seven or eight cars ahead of me were let in. After waiting for about fifteen minutes I paid my $4 entrance fee and alerted the ranger that I would be hiking the Wild Persimmon Loop trail.
To reach the trailhead for the Wild Persimmon Trail you first have to walk up a short paved trail. From this trail, the book recommended taking a quick side boardwalk trail to see Old Methuselah, a bald cypress tree that’s more than 500 years old. So I did.
Continue reading 50 Hikes: #17 De Leon Springs State Park
