But go ahead, Tom, you’ve earned it.
Category: Tampa Bay
If you’ve ever driven south on Florida Avenue past Trip’s Diner, you may have seen the structure pictured below on the south end of Trip’s parking lot:
It’s the local “Twice the Ice” ice vending machine, run by Ice House America, which boasts a network of more than 3,500 ice vending machines around this world. It’s automated, open 24 hours, and a convenience that I’ve overlooked until recently.
This one is Seminole Heights’ very own, where you can buy filtered water for 25 cents per gallon (3.8 liters) or dispenser, a five gallon (about 19 liters) bag of ice for a dollar, or fill your cooler with 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of ice for $1.75.
I moved to the neighborhood two years ago, and on the rare occasions that I’ve had to purchase ice, I’ve been paying way too much for too little at the gas station like a chump. Later this year, when it’s time to have guests over for cocktails, I’m going to have make use of this machine’s services.
It looks like twilight out there, but I took this photo from our front porch at about noon today. Tampa Bay’s under a severe thunderstorm watch until 4:00 this afternoon. Today’s a good day to stay in and get started on your spring cleaning.
Pop-up sites all over Tampa
Here’s a list of this week’s COVID-19 pop-up vaccine sites in Tampa:
You don’t need to pre-register or schedule an appointment; just bring your ID and wear a mask.
Raymond James Stadium
You can also get the COVID-19 vaccine at Raymond James Stadium, located at 4201 N Himes Ave.
You don’t need to pre-register or schedule an appointment; just bring your ID and wear a mask.
The old greyhound track
There’s also the FEMA-run site at Tampa Greyhound Track (which now goes by the name TGT Poker), located at 755 East Waters Ave.
You don’t need to pre-register or schedule an appointment; just bring your ID and wear a mask.
There’s a bonus for going to this site — there’s a chance you’ll be greeted by Maggie:
The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County
You can also go to the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, located at 1002 E Palm.
You don’t need to pre-register or schedule an appointment; just bring your ID and wear a mask.
Well, it’s the best grocery store sign ever in my opinion, anyway.
My hunch that Trader Joe’s Tampa would be a ghost town last night during Super Bowl LV’s half-time paid off. It was the perfect time to make a quick but important grocery run, as you can see from the photo I took while at the cashier (see above).
This run was important because there are better-than-even odds that we’ll experience a COVID-19 spike, thanks to Super Bowl superspreader gatherings like the one in the picture below, taken in Ybor City on Saturday night…
This is officially the wildest I’ve ever seen Ybor. EVER. 1:40am. pic.twitter.com/7LTC9NvEfE
— Luis Santana (@LuisSantana) February 7, 2021
…and covered in the following articles:
- Washington Post — Thousands of maskless Tampa fans flooded the streets, celebrating the Super Bowl win while risking a superspreader event
- New York Times — In Tampa, Super Bowl Celebrations Bring Superspreader Concerns
- WFTS Tampa Bay — Tampa crowds, dance parties spark superspreader concerns over Super Bowl weekend
- Medscape — Superspreader Sunday: The Super Bowl With COVID Variants Afoot
My advice: Be particularly careful over the next couple of weeks, because a lot of people were careless over the past couple of days.