Farewell, Sarasota.....
Today marks the beginning of my last full week in Florida. Next week, I leave for Alton, Illinois, and what looks to be a bright future ahead, both professionally and personally. As much as I look forward to what's ahead, I will miss Florida, and Sarasota especially. So this is going to be a rather personal Cheers and Jeers, and I hope you all will indulge me. (Fear not, Katherine Harris: Pure. Comedy. Gold. is included in the Cheers and Jeers. Can't leave my Congresswoman out!)
We all have places that we are from, and places we are in now, and maybe places that we want to go. It has never been the tradition of Cheers and Jeers for the C&J master of the day to designate a topic for comments, and I don't mean to do so here. But if you're so inclined, put in a cheer or a jeer for where you are now, or where you're from. Our individual homes are important to us, as well as the home we all share--our planet.
The final Cheers and Jeers MONDAY from Sarasota begins in There's Moreville (Swooosh!)...........right NOW! (Gong!)
OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: Doc's Cheers and Jeers are not associated in any way, shape, or form with Bill in Portland Maine's Cheers and Jeers. The use of the words Cheers, Jeers,, the swoosh/gong device, pie references, insults to Armando, cattywhompus, and pootie pics, are all used with permission of BiPM and the Cheers and Jeers Cafe' community. Any other resemblences in this C&J to BiPM' s C&J are deliberately coincidental. So there.
Doc's Bad Joke of the Week: (in the gray box so you can avoid it and not miss anything else)
It was a little girl's first day of school, and the teacher asked her what her name was. She replied, "Happy Butt!" The teacher said, "Honey, I don't think that's your name. You need to go see the principal and get this straightened out." So the little girl went to the principal's office. The principal asked the little girl, "What's your name?" The little girl answered, "Happy Butt!" The principal called the girl's mother to get this straightened out once and for all. After getting off the phone, the principal looked at the little girl and said, "Honey, your name is Gladys, not Happy Butt!" The girl then said, "Glad Ass, Happy Butt, what's the difference?"
Katherine Harris: Pure. Comedy. Gold.
Y'all know I'll miss having her as my Congresswoman. About as much as I'll miss my last bout of diarrhea. But at least she's been entertaining!
You can never have too many Princess-on-a-horse photos! But where's the spandex?
We don't know if the Princess actually ate at this Sarasota-area restaurant. But she could have:
What's that ad slogan again? "Come to Italy (and get enormous gazoongas)!"
Cheers and, "good luck, sucker!" to the newly hired campaign manager (#4 since declaring for the Senate race last August), Bryan Rudnick, a member of the Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee, and a former leader in the fight against gay marriage in Massachussets. I'm going to go out on a limb here and put the over/under for his resignation at 24 and 30 days, respectively. Any takers?
Jeers to a candidate so bad, even rank and file R's are noticing. According to this Miami Herald story, the Princess, in only three months, has lost almost half of the R's that had previously planned to vote for her. I like how Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice blog put it: "Katherine Harris' Senate candidacy in Florida is to increased poll numbers what garlic breath is to romance."
Jeers to a candidate so bad, RedState noticed. Mark Kilmer wrote a short diary posing these questions: "For what earthly reason is she doing this? Or is she getting signals from the spacemen?" You're close, Mark. It's the celestial drops. Definitely the celestial drops.
Cheers to the perfect "throne" for our Princess. Given her equestrian background, she should feel right at home on this, when the need strikes. (h/t Dave Barry)
Farewell Sarasota!
Jeers to Reason Number One why we are leaving: the high cost of home ownership. Not only is the median price of a home risen sharply in the last 2 1/2 years (the slight recent price drop notwithstanding), but homeowner's insurace has gotten positively outrageous, to the point where fully insuring a house became unaffordable. It has become a big political issue in this state, but until a solution is found, a lot of people are having to go with partial, or even no, insurance on their homes.
Cheers to Sarasota News and Books. I spent many hours eating bagels and other yummy food items in their coffeehouse, often with a paper from their newsstand, the best in the city. I also got to meet a number of famous people at SN&B-sponsored author events: Sens. Barbara Boxer and Bob Graham; political writers Haynes Johnson and Kevin Phillips; mystery writer Martha Grimes; and WW II veteran of the famous Doolittle Raid, Richard C. Cole. If the place was bigger, it would be perfect, but it was definitely close enough to perfect for me!
Cheers to laughing in rhythm. My Friday nights were made a lot more fun thanks to the Samba nights at The Rhythm Inlet, a drum and percussion store in Nokomis. Jeff Hanna and Barbara Gail lead the samba, and many people from around the community participate each Friday. There's nothing like samba to chase the cares and/or blues of the day away!
Cheers to some of the friends I made in Sarasota: Victoria and Donna, yoga instructors extraodinare (Donna also works at SN&B as a barista, and served me bagels and tea on many mornings); Joanna Maza, DVM, a great colleague and friend (far right in photo), and her fiance Scot (far left in photo, and yes, he spells his name with one 't').
A poignant Cheers to the awesome sights I'll be leaving behind. The developers and their Republican allies in the state government haven't succeeded in paving over all of Florida yet, so there's still amazing natural beauty to be seen, at places like Myakka River State Park, DeSoto National Monument, and the coastline of Holmes Beach, near Bradenton. Of course the sunsets on the left coast of Florida can be to die for also.
Cheers to almost being a marine mammal veterinarian. While I didn't get to fully realize the dream, I had the next best thing to it: assisting on the rehabilitation of stranded dolphins at Mote Marine Lab. The staff veterinarian, Charlie Manire, treated me just about as an equal, and I got to see many things in marine mammal practice I had heretofore only seen in presentations or textbooks. I directly assisted with the rehabilitation of three dolphins-- Bonnie, Clyde, and Val--and also helped with sea turtles. Of all the things I did in Sarasota, I feel the most pride for that.
That's me on the far left, helping restrain Clyde for a physical exam.
Hello, Alton!
Cheers to the reasonable cost of living in the Midwest. For the same money that would have bought us a 900-square foot crackerbox house in Sarasota, we are set to move into a truly stunning house, on the bluffs in Alton:
This house was built in 1900, and is fully restored inside. It's 3,500 square feet, five bedrooms, 2 1/2 stories. It's so big, Nancy and I may need two-way radios to find each other inside the place! Take the virtual tour here if you're so inclined.
Jeers to no more dolphins. The St. Louis Zoo has sea lions, which I also love, but the nearest dolphins to me will be in Chicago at two facilities. I'll miss getting to see them each day, but it does give a good excuse for some future road trips!
Cheers to getting an actual major league baseball team, intead of those sucky Devil Rays! On the other hand, I'm not quite ready to embrace the Rams as my NFL team. Go Bucs!
Cheers to joining one of the most prestigious veterinary practices in Illinois, Hawthorne Animal Hospital. I have never seen a better private animal hospital in my career, or one that is as well-run. I was stunned when they offered me a position there.
Cheers to finally living in a blue state. For the first time in my life, I'll have full Democratic representation at the federal level: Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, and Congressman Jerry Costello. Costello is the only one up for election this year, and his seat is considered safe! I get Blago for a governor, but hey, life isn't perfect.
But most of all.....
Cheers to having Nancy by my side again, after almost 8 months apart. That makes up for just about everything I'll give up moving out of Florida. Cheers (but not a little apprehension) to this little preview of coming attractions. Yes, it may not be just two of us for much longer. (Shudder)
I'll take up Mondays again once I'm established in Alton, probably mid to late September or so. In the meantime: Floor's open! What do you have to cheer and jeer about today?