Category: Tampa Bay

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Reading a children’s book to Daniel Tiger

Even though the Glazer Children’s Museum isn’t open on Sunday morning (it opens at noon), I was there with Anitra this morning to record a video where we read Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are…

…to this young gentleman: Daniel Tiger…

star of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, which is based on the Neighborhood of Make-Believe from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Anitra’s on the Museum’s board, which is how we got the opportunity to sit with Daniel and read a book to him. The video of us reading Where the Wild Things Are will eventually end up under “Storytime with Daniel Tiger” in the GCM @ Home section of the Glazer Children’s Museum site. Here’s an example of one of these storytimes:

I’ll let you know when our video gets posted!

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Tampa Bay The Current Situation

In case you hadn’t heard…

Congrats to the Tampa Bay Lightning on their second Stanley Cup win in a row!

Between making it to the World Series, winning the Super Bowl and back-to-back Stanley Cup victories, our teams have earned the area the title of “Champa Bay”. 

I’ll close this post with my favorite meme from the playoffs. Congrats to Andrei Vasilevskiy on winning the Conn Smythe Trophy!

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Tampa Bay

What’s the story behind this sign?

Sign: “Absolutely ALL PETS must be CARRIED not walked! Reptiles NOT ALLOWED in flea market””
Photo by Anitra Pavka. Tap to view at full size.

I saw this sign at the Oldsmar Flea Market on Saturday and had to laugh. Behind every oddly specific rule is an incident, and I want to know the story behind this one.

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Tampa Bay

Happy birthday, Brent Britton!

Brent Britton, tech lawyer and friend to the Tampa Bay tech community, celebrated his birthday at the Bulla Gastrobar’s Luna Lounge rooftop bar, and we were there to join him. It was a gorgeous afternoon and evening, we were at one of Tampa’s nicest places to have drinks and tapas, and it was wonderful to see friends in person again (and the open-air venue helped).

One of my missions with the accordion is to make people’s special days a little more special, and I was only too happy to do that for Brent:

(Last year, Brent provided me with an incredibly helpful suggestion for dealing with a notorious copyright troll who was nastygramming me, and it worked. Even in small ways, he’s a big help to Tampa Bay techies.)

Happy birthday, Brent!

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Me and Anitra on Beach Drive

Joey deVilla and Anitra Pavka on Beach Drive, St. Petersburg, Florida, June 2021.
Me and Anitra, enjoying a lovely day in St. Pete.
Tap to view at full size.

As The Plague slowly recedes, we’ve been getting out more and more. Earlier this week, we were catching up with friends in St. Pete, where we took this photo when we arrived.

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Last night in St. Pete

St. Pete’s Beach Drive, right by Paciuga gelateria. Tap to view at full size.

Last night, Anitra and I had dinner with friends in St. Pete at The Birchwood Inn’s rooftop bar, The Canopy. We were having such a good time that I completely forgot to snap some pics of the gorgeous view from the roof, which would include the all-new St. Pete Pier.

It was such a pretty evening out, and I remembered to capture at least one photo (the one above) before hopping in the car for the drive across the Bay and back to Tampa. The Beach Drive gelateria, Paciugo, was doing some pretty brisk business.

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Tampa Bay

Tuesday Tipplers at Southern Brewing and Winery

Accordion, Anitra, Jenn, Emily, Michelle, and Erinn. Tap to view at full size.

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorLast night, Anitra and I were joined by our just-on-the-other-block neighbor Jenn, and local friends Emily, Erinn, and Michelle on Southern Brewing’s lovely patio, which Erinn has cleverly described as “Mr. Miyagi’s yard, if he’d opened a bar instead of a car lot.” It’s an open, yet comfy space, surrounded by a wooden fence for Daniel-san to paint, and lots of palm and bamboo. It’s one of the many reasons I love living in Seminole Heights.

Every Tuesday from about 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., the Seminole Heights locals hold the “Tuesday Tipplers” event, where we gather at Southern Brewing and Winery to have some good beer, good food, and most important, good company.

Tuesday night is Locals Night, which means that if you can prove that you live in a local ZIP code (33602, 33603, 33604, and 33605), you get a free beer with a purchase of a beer. Combined with happy hour, this turns into a really good deal.

Red Hat BBQ provides the food on Tuesday, and their ribs are excellent. They even have vegetarian options, such as vegetarian “ribs”, and their collards are cooked without meat to flavor them, yet are still tasty.