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!