Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

Sheba and I had a wonderful time kayaking today at Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast. Cedar Key is a lovely little town about an hour away from Gainesville; this is the 3rd time that I've gone over there. There are many small islands in the area and I see dolphins everytime that I'm there. It took a lot of patience to convince Sheba to get in the boat, but once we got started she seemed to enjoy herself nearly as much as I did. It wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze. There are more pictures here.

While there are some lovely outdoor opportunities here in central Florida, there are some drawbacks as well. Sheba frequently picks up ticks on our walks. However, I was horrified to find a tick on ME this past week. It was absolutely disgusting.

I recently wrapped up a legal dispute with a towing company in Los Angeles. Many of you are familiar with the old 1987 Honda Accord that I drove in LA. While it got me where I needed to go, it certainly had it's problems: no air conditioning, a chronic oil leak and it needed to be jumpstarted every day. Before I left LA, I sold the car for $500. Thankfully, I went through the trouble to submit a "Release of Liability" document with the California DMV. Well, 2 months ago I received a bill for $900 (!) from a collection agency on behalf of Hollywood Towing Agency. Apparently the guy that bought the car got fed up with it and just abandoned it somewhere in early January. Apparently, he also never bothered to transfer the title into his name. This dispute led to countless phone calls to both the towing agency and the DMV. One of my good friends in LA volunteers with the "Dispute Resolution" program and agreed to take on my case, which was very helpful. After a lot of frustration and time, the towing agency has finally agreed that I am not the owner of that car and am not liable for the $900 bill. The take-home message here is: when you sell a car, don't trust the new owner to transfer the car into their name - make sure to submit a release of liability and keep a copy of everything!

Ash Flurries

Gainesville has been smoky and hazy for the past few days. Wildfires in Georgia have been the cause of most of the smoke, but a local brush fire started on Monday. This evening while I was driving home and walking Sheba there was ash falling from the sky. Flurries in Florida, especially in May, are a strange sight.

There's nothing exceptional happening here. I am staying busy with work and taking care of my pets. Sheba and I are nearly finished with a 6-week obedience class. The class is held in the parking lot of the local community college. This college also has a "teaching zoo", so while we are at obedience class I can hear the zoo's peacocks vocalizing. It makes me very nostalgic for the Los Angeles Zoo. Sheba has done pretty well at the class despite a slight stubborn streak. She has surprised me several times by already knowing the task when the teacher first introduces it. It's like she's pre-programmed and I just need to learn the access codes.

One of my posts last October dealt with the disgusting Love Bugs that are common here in September and May. Of course it is now May and I saw a pair of these guys today (in the lab!). Argh, it is only a sign of bad things to come.

I saw the new Spiderman movie this past weekend. It was better than the first installment, but not as good as the second. I really like the sweet, dorky cuteness of Peter Parker, so the evil "goth" Peter Parker was bothersome. Surprisingly, this was the first movie I have seen in Gainesville. I guess the fact that the majority of the movies coming out these days do not appeal to me is a sign that I am getting old. Speaking of non-appealing movies, on netflix's recommendation I tried to watch West Side Story and boy was it terrible. I didn't even finish it.

I took my male cat to the vet for what appeared to be an injured paw; he had been holding the foot up all week. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with his paw and speculated that he was feeling neglected in the wake of Sheba's adoption. At least he seemed to realize that faking an injury would land him at the vet's office because he has pretty much "recovered".

5.9.07 Addendum:
After complaining about the smoke and ash here, I logged onto CNN and MSNBC this morning to find that Los Angeles is apparently burning. The fire is in Griffith Park, so it's close to the zoo and downtown LA. It's been a little scary reading the news stories and seeing places that I recognize.