Last night, I went on a very fun date up to St. Pete to see the Yankees play against the Tampa Bay Rays. Yes, I was wearing my Yankees cap, and yes, my date was a Rays fan. But we still managed to have fun.

The Yankees may have been outmatched in last night’s particular game, but they by far outclass the Rays when it comes to one particular thing.

The Tampa Bay Rays, formerly known as the Devil Rays, changed their name in 2007 — and the brand changed from being about “manta rays” to being “a ray of sunlight” that radiates across all of Florida. They developed a new logo to match this change in sensibility.

Um, too bad, they didn’t develop a new conscience to go along with all the show-me-the-money new branding. Read more »

New local radio host, Sherman L. Baldwin, has invited me to come on his program today for my fifteen minutes (literally) of fame. He hosts a program called Talk Sarasota — 1280 AM on the radio dial (WTMY), or streaming to your computer at www.talksarasota.com (though I have noticed the streaming seems spotty). Callers are welcome — and I hope people call in! The show runs from 3 to 6 pm, but I’ll only be on from 415 to 430 — that’s today — the studio line is 954.1280. Read more »

So tonight I moseyed on down to Bentley’s Resort Hotel in Osprey to see what kind of crowd Nancy Feehan — candidate for State House Representative District 70 –

would draw out on a rainy Wednesday in the dead dog days of late July.

It was a stellar turnout. Estimate of over a hundred people — including VIPers Sarasota Mayor Kelly Kirshner, Read more »

So President Obama is coming to Florida.

I wish he wouldn’t.

Look, I’ve lost jobs over my writings about Obama when he was running for president. I’ve supported the guy from the git-go. But now, I just want him to go. I mean, go — as in not come to Florida on a two-day mini-break in August in the first place.

I don’t want him to come because it’s just insultingly clear that he’s only coming because so many people bitched and moaned about him going up to Maine, etc. Read more »

I’ve waxed rhapsodic about Helen Mirren before. I’ve gone on record as saying she’s kind of what I’d like to be like as I get older.

Photographs by Juergen Teller.

So, it was with pleasure that I heard she was going to be in New York magazine (a weekly pub that I subscribe to). I was a bit shocked, though, by seeing Dame Mirren in nearly the full Monty. (Well, okay, only half a Monty, but still). Read more »

Want to join me at a campaign kick-off party for Nancy Feehan, District 70 next week?

Many of my readers both of this blog and from the days of my Reality Chick column with the Pelican Press live in South Sarasota, Venice, Nokomis, and Osprey – Florida State House District 70. The District includes most of the southern half of Sarasota County, from Clark Road and State Road 72 at the north and South Venice and part of Englewood at the south. It extends from Siesta Key and part of Manasota Key on the west to the Myakka River.

Nancy Feehan is running for State House Representative for the District — against Republican Doug Holder. And I’m betting on Feehan to take the race. Read more »

One of the best things I’ve done for myself lately is when I shelled out $125 bucks for a cappuccino maker. Now, in the world of capp makers I know a sawbuck+ is not a lot of money. But for me, actually, it is. Still, I broke my little piggy bank and splurged because I wanted to begin my days with more sense … and in the long run, more cents.

You see, for years, ever since leaving the North End of Boston, I’ve been drinking (and I know how lame this is, believe me), either a bottled Starbucks cold coffee (with a staggering 32 grams of sugar if I recall correctly), or I’ve been actually walking or driving to a local Starbucks and shelling out three to five dollars at a time for coffee that wasn’t all that great and which, the purchase of, was actually contrary to all that I believe in.

So you see, every day, I was starting off — beginning my day — with activities that weren’t really at all in alignment with my philosophies and/or the way I want to live and/or in ways that treat my body and my wallet and my planet well.

Driving a car to get a cup of coffee? Could there be anything more self-indulgent? Read more »

I went to a relatively new restaurant in Sarasota a couple of weeks back — Veg. It’s a vegetarian and seafood kind of place; located in a little strip mall right across from the Gulf Gate Mall (2164 Gulf Gate Drive). Read more »

Um, I’m all for acronyms. BFF — best friends forever. MC — Mary Catherine. SWAK — Sealed with a kiss. KISS — Keep it simple, stupid! and of course the unprintable ones — FUBAR and SNAFU (gotta love those!

Well, RSS is for Real Simple Syndication.

It’s a means, basically, to “subscribe” to my blog. Or to allow me to “syndicate” my column/blog to readers who want to make sure they know when I’ve posted a new blog. Read more »

One of the greatest things about doing this blog is when I hear about people helping each other because of connections they make or hear about here on this site. We’ve had people donating to All Faiths Food Bank — to the tune of thousands of dollars. We’ve had readers in other states giving me advice and following up on Tony the Tiger. We’ve had local doctors trying to help me get a stray kitty cat into a good home. And now, one of my readers read a blog last week, and took action about the Pennsylvania cats rescued by Sarasota’s Cat Depot story I posted and look, now I’ve received a really super nice blog comment below from the folks at Cat Depot to round the story out. Read more »