Mon, 08 May 2006

I'm finally posting DBK's storm hash.
It was a couple weeks ago, on 4/26/06. It was down in Boynton, in a bank parking lot, and there was a good turnout. We got our chalk talk instructions, and DBK set off, but there were some gathering storm clouds. Just before it was time to go, the heavens opened up, and we all ran for shelter under the the bank's drive-through overhang. It just kept storming. After a while Addadichtomy drove up, and then two guys in a Miata pulled in to get out of the rain (I don't know why they didn't just put the top up). Finally the rain let up some, and we went out on trail. Of course all of the markings had washed away, so we ran around aimlessly for a while until someone in the know let it slip that the halfway point would be the Boynton Ale House. So we all ran in that direction, and eventually we came across fresh, dry flour, and ultimately, the hare. He led us on to the beer check, which was near, but not at the Ale House. Eventually the pack continued on to the Ale House, which was the second stop, and we spent some time there. After we were sufficiently relaxed we finished up with a slow walk back to the cars from the Ale House, then a nice circle, and then off to our respective homes.

posted at: 09:20 | permalink | 100 comments

Fri, 05 May 2006

This was the last year camping at Knight's Key Campground.
We always stay there for the 7 Mile Bridge run, but apparently they have sold out to a developer who is going to fill the property with homes. I guess the land is just worth too much to let it stay a campground. Here's a couple shots of the windshield sticker. If I knew how to use Photoshop I could make them part of a collage for the home page.

posted at: 10:08 | permalink | 100 comments

I went back to Jonathan Dickinson for the first time since the fire.
That was on Sunday, and I had so much fun that I went back on Tuesday with Rob. I had heard how bad the fire was, and how the trail had been bulldozed, but it turned out to be in pretty good shape. Only the southernmost portion of Osprey Loop was closed. It wasn't too sandy on Sunday, but when we went back on Tuesday it was really loose. Climbing up those sand piles was a lot of work. It was about 7.5 miles total without Osprey Loop, in 1:11, although that includes 2 minutes of stopping time. I'll be back.

posted at: 10:02 | permalink | 83 comments

Tue, 02 May 2006

Margy (High Bush) was in town last week.
And she brought her Melanie Griffith-looking neighbor, whose name I forget (sorry). That's her in the second photo. Margy is in the first photo, but you already know that, or why would you be reading this?

We first saw them at Clematis, along with a bunch of other hashers and hasher kids. They had a pool going on how long it would take Melanie to fall off her platform sandals. I think the winning time was around four hours.

Then on Saturday there was a party at Sue's house. Sue is a volunteer at Linda's school; I'm not sure how she knows Margy. But I bet there is a story there. The party was a lot of fun. It was (probably) the last cool night until November, so there was a fire going, and we toasted marshmallows with the kids until they all fell asleep. Then we all sat around and talked for a couple more hours. Bye Margy! Come back and visit soon. Or maybe we should go up there.


posted at: 10:05 | permalink | 100 comments

Mon, 01 May 2006

Here's some pictures from the second half of our 7 Mile Bridge trip.
These are after we went down to Key West on Saturday afternoon. We found the hotel and checked in, and then took our bikes down to Duval. We wound up at Sloppy Joe's (surprise), where we collected a big crowd of hashers. Finally the group decided to move on to the Half Shell. Nothing really special about these first seven pictures; it's just a bunch of people that I know sitting around in a bar.


There was some confusion once we left the Half Shell. It mostly involved where our bikes were and where we were going next. After a couple false starts we found ourselves at PT's for some lunch.

Then we scattered to the four corners of Key West, only to meet back up at our new Key West hotel: Eden House.

posted at: 07:17 | permalink | 100 comments

Sun, 30 Apr 2006

The jet ski is back!
It has been resurrected from a muddy grave. Those of you who have been long-time readers will remember the saga of the ski. Read the latest installment here.
.
posted at: 07:17 | permalink | 100 comments

Sat, 29 Apr 2006

We tried out a new range this weekend.
Tactical Edge. They don't have a website, but they do have a nice store and range. And the best part: they don't require range ammo. So me and Rob walked in with our WalMart 9 mm. I did have to buy another box, and we got some targets there, so it wasn't like we just paid for the range time. It wasn't crowded, the counter people were nice, and the range itself was like every other indoor range. It had fans instead of (or maybe in addition to) AC, but it was comfortable. I brought the S&W Sigma again, and Rob had gotten the Browning back from the shop. If you look closely at the middle of the target in the third photo you can see his bright red laser dot.

I was happy with my shooting because I kept most of my shots in the black on a 25 foot pistol target. Then I looked a little closer, and saw that it was a 25 YARD target, that I had put 25 feet away. Now I have something to strive for next time.

posted at: 12:38 | permalink | 100 comments

This is the kind of bike that would be good around town.
I saw it down in Mallory Square in Key West. It looks like a useful bike for commuting. I didn't get a picture of the trailer that goes with it. There's actually a ball mounted on the back fender, and a small trailer that goes on it. It belonged to a vendor who was selling something out of the back. (I just walked by and took the picture, so I'm a little short on details).

posted at: 09:23 | permalink | 101 comments

Fri, 28 Apr 2006

I hate the Geek Squad so much.
They are the sell-outs of the IT world. "Yassuh, boss, I get that computer fixed real soon now." They are living up to the stereotype. Plus they have a reputation for having only one decent tech per store, with the rest being just entry-level trainees. Their first resort when confronted with a difficult computer problem is "nuke and pave", which means that they just reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. It solves the problem, but a better technician would be able to fix the problem without wiping the disk.

posted at: 07:07 | permalink | 100 comments

Thu, 27 Apr 2006

I have been remiss in posting hash trashes.
Here is one from April 19. This was NGB's pre-7-mile bridge hash, so it had a strong 7 theme to it. There was no 7&7, though. We met about 0.5 miles from my house, so I rode over there by bike. There was a strong turnout from Ft. Lauderdale, perhaps due to the resounding success of the hash awards? Anyway there were lots of people and cheap beer. NGB took the usual 15 minute head start, afterwhich we set out to catch her. I was doing well, and got most of the checks right. And even the ones I missed, I was able to catch up on. I think DBK passed me three or four times. The beer check turned out to be at Coasters, a neighborhood bar on Dixie. They seemed happy to see us, although we did run them out of beer mugs. I don't mind drinking out of a styrofoam cup.

The second half was mostly a straight shot back to the start. The circle went well, with Yeast presiding. Lots of quality down-downs. And them back to Coasters to finish off the evening.

posted at: 07:28 | permalink | 100 comments

Sun, 23 Apr 2006

The 25th running of the 7 Mile Bridge Run was as good as ever.
Of course, this was only the second year I've actually run it. I was legally registered, unlike a lot of my friends (cough) bandit (cough). This was the last year for camping at the Knight's Key campground, because some greedhead developer bought it, and the low-rent camping will be turned into high-end condos ("from the low 800's" or some such).

But we enjoyed the camping anyway, and on Saturday morning we all walked over to the start. I (and a lot of other people) had to use the port-o-lets. I made it to the start with a minute or two to spare. All of the number-less bandits were starting at the back of the pack, but I moved up a little. There was a bang, and we were off!

I ran a slow pace this year, about a 10 minute mile. The run isn't too hard when you go that slow. The pack gradually thinned out, and before I knew it, the finish line was coming up.

I met some friends and we watched more friends come in. There were only two people we know who suffered the indignity of being picked up by the bus. They were still on the course 90 minutes after the start, so they got a free bus ride. There were some non-runners in our group who had brought their cars over the bridge before the start of the race, so we piled into their cars and went back to the start. The beer (various flavors of Michelob Ultra) was flowing at the start, and the racers were partying. I saw lots more people from home that I knew, and we even ran into Karen.


We finally walked back to the campground to get out of the sun. Most people were napping or swimming. We socialized for a while, and finally broke camp and headed down to Key West. Where the story continues...

posted at: 13:18 | permalink | 200 comments

Mon, 17 Apr 2006

We went back to the range on Saturday afternoon.
We've been going out to shoot by the canals, but have been hearing from other people that the sherrifs are starting to run people off of there. So we went to the local range. Last year the range started requiring people to use only range ammo (which you have to buy from them). So I can't use a box of Winchester 9mm that I buy at Walmart for $6. Instead I have to pay them $12 for a box of reloads. To justify this they have a couple blown-up revolvers on display. Of course, the revolvers were blown up by someone shooting hot handloads, but that's beside the point.

This was my first time firing Rob's new Ruger .22 pistol. It was very smooth. After shooting the 9 mm, the .22 felt as though it had almost no recoil. And it was pretty accurate. Mostly, though, I shot my S&W Sigma 9 mm. I put around 200 rounds through it.

Rob had these cool new stick-on targets. They have some kind of coating on them that pops off when you hit them, so it's really obvious when you have a hit. Here's a before-and-after of my target after I blazed away at it at 15 yards. That's the other thing I don't like about indoor ranges: they're so short. And you can't shoot at washing machines there, either.

posted at: 07:24 | permalink | 200 comments

Sun, 16 Apr 2006

The 2006 South Florida Hash Award ceremony was held on Saturday night.
Me and C. stopped to pick up PH, CC and SF on the way down to Miami. We had all opted to skip the run portion of the day's events, and just do the food and the awards.

We finally got to south Miami, and headed east on the Rickenbacker Causeway to the old Marine Stadium. There was nobody in sight, but we did find a parking lot of hash vehicles, and a cooler full of beer that someone had thoughtfully left behind. We hung around for a while, more lost hashers appeared, and eventually SotB appeared to lead all of us to Jimbos. Jimbos was a colorful place near the water. I don't know the story behind it, but it has the look of one of those places that was grandfathered in, like the Biscayne Bay stilt houses. A location like that should really be a 30 story condominium instead of a simple place where you can go to get a beer and sit outside.

There were lots of hashers we hadn't seen for a while, but the most shocking of all was... Blowhoe. He was in town for a while. He moved from Hollywood, Fl a couple years ago, to Hollywood, CA. He is now appearing as a rapping roller skater. Check him out at www.rollerrapper.com. We took lots of photos for his site.


Then it was time for the group shot. Someone, possibly Jimbo himself, climbed up on a table to get the shot. The crowd was encouraging for a while, but began to mock him when he took way too long to get it done.

One the way out I took a moment to appreciate this monument to the VW bug.

Back at the parking lot, the circle commenced. We matched up Blowhoe's girl-of-the-day with another young hasher. They did a co-down-down, but despite plenty of encouragement, would not fight or kiss.

There were plenty of other down-downs as well, although S&Minator was not able to stay awake for them. Horshack did have a nice drinking vessel, and Itsy pants were just a masculine as ever. Which is to say, not at all.

Then the party moved inside for food, beer, and the awards ceremony. I stopped taking pictures around then. There were twenty awards given out, for all kinds of things, like Rookie of the Year (DBK), and Best Ranger (CA). It was a grand time. There were some skits, too, including one with me in the cast. Fortunately you don't have to see me in a bikini top, but check out P-rick and Yeast. Then they ran us out of there for the Latin Disco Party.

posted at: 13:18 | permalink | 162 comments

The annual Race For The Arts 5K run was yesterday morning.
Linda is heavily involved as the webmaster, and has other duties as well. I hadn't pre-registered, so I rode my bike down to get there by 6:45 am so I could pay my $25. Linda was gettting her school's artwork up. The amphitheater was still mostly empty.

I helped Brent set up a few tables. Dean was open for business at the soda stand. And TJ was getting ready to race. Pretty soon we crowded up to the start line.

The tension mounted, and then we were off. I didn't get any photos of the race itself. I ran an easy race, next to Mark. I was a little slower than I was in the Race for the Cure, but I felt a whole lot better.

Afterward we listened to the music for a while. Kit recovered on the curb. And I saw GD for the first time since the InterBash. The IHOP was there with pancakes, and I won a four-volume set of Harry Potter books in the raffle. All in all, it was a good morning.

posted at: 11:24 | permalink | 100 comments

Sat, 15 Apr 2006

We tallied up all the votes for the Misc Awards.
After the regular four miler at Run and Roll, we met at the Dwarf. Mark logged me into the hash web site as an admin, and I tallied the votes. Then Sheldon and Gary showed up. What are the odds?

posted at: 14:07 | permalink | 62 comments

Rob got himself a new Ruger Mk III pistol.
It's a .22 pistol so he can do cheap target shooting. If you're not familiar with these (I wasn't) Ruger has been making them in various versions since 1949. This one has a fluted bull barrel, which should make it more accurate. It also has an amazing amount of safety features. It comes with a little hex-type key that will lock the safety in the "safe" position. It has a magazine disconnect so it won't fire without a magazine inserted. And it has a chamber loaded indicator so you can tell if there's a round in the chamber. The internal workings must be pretty complex. At one point Rob pulled out the "jackknife" style breakdown mechanism in the grip, but then he couldn't get it back together. There was something rattling around in there, and he had to fiddle with it for a while. Eventually he got it working, and we went off to try it out.

posted at: 13:38 | permalink | 101 comments

Thu, 13 Apr 2006

I thought they were remaking the Italian Job. Again.
I was on my way home, when I saw a car carrier full of Mini Coopers. And not these fancy new BMW-style Minis, but the original, tiny, underpowered ones. I have no idea what was going on. There was no name on the car carrier. Maybe it was someone moving to Florida and bringing their Mini collection with them? I know I didn't see any advertising for a demolition derby for dwarves. I guess the conspiracy nuts will have fun with this.

posted at: 07:38 | permalink | 100 comments

Mon, 10 Apr 2006

Here's a Barracuda I saw out at the fairgrounds on Saturday.
It looked totally stock, with simple silver paint. It was parked next to a new Corvette, and as we walked away, the Corvette owner walked up to his car. He spent a long time checking out the Barracuda. Me and Rob were trying to decide which car we'd rather be driving. I finally decided on the 'Cuda, but Rob went for the 'Vette.

posted at: 07:07 | permalink | 100 comments

Sun, 09 Apr 2006

The Reggae Hash was better than ever this year!
At least that's what I heard, since I didn't go last year. We all met up in the Head's back yard (where did we meet last year?). Lots of hashers from down south, including the one-and-only OP.

The first half was a familiar one, since it was in Lake Worth. We went east, south, west, north, and then east over the bridge. The beer check was under the east end of the bridge. It was hot, but there was plenty of coconut with lime in it to cool everybody down. On the way back we timed things just right for a quick like-down in the street.

The second half went pretty much straight back to the Head's house. Which was find with the pack. Then the knife came out. I had given OP and GH a ride to the St. Paddy's Day hash, and afterward I found this nasty-looking Gerber in my car. I asked both OP and GH about it, but they denied knowing anything about it. GH grabbed the knife for himself, though, and began threatening OP with it. I'm sure it was all in good fun.

After we got the knife put away, the down-downs began. Yeast had set up a whole bunch of Red Stripe in cups to facilitate the process. The circle virgin (Nicole?) did a nice job on her down-down, although we only got a joke and not a body part. Lots more down-downs followed.

Plenty of standing around in the sun. GH kept his new knife close at hand.

There was even a new song for the occasion. Yeast had printed up copies of it and handed them around, and we all joined in.

Eventually we adjourned to the front of the house to watch GH ride his bike. Amazingly, no one was hurt. The hashers that were motivated wandered on down to the park where Reggae Fest was playing, to party on into the night, and some others of us just headed on home.

posted at: 13:38 | permalink | 49 comments

Sat, 08 Apr 2006

Here's a couple portraits I took with my new camera phone.
This one has a flash built in, so the close-up photos look much better. I had lunch with my dad, and I got a shot of him while I was showing him the phone. He just got a Samsung phone from Verizon, and he loves it. He's still working on the voice mail, though. The other picture is of my cow-orker Bart. We had lunch a couple days later, and I got some shots of him. This is the best one. The flash defintely helps.

posted at: 21:45 | permalink | 100 comments