I read on a friend’s poker blog this morning that the Seminole Indians have made an agreement with the state of Florida that will allow blackjack & baccarat to be played in Florida. Currently, the Seminole Indians operate two such casinos, in Broward and Tampa, and both are booming with business. Craps and roulette won’t be allowed just yet, and that’s got me bummed. I’ve watched Jim play roulette for years and finally bet on my own this weekend in Las Vegas. I played electronic roulette on Friday night and walked away $40 richer, and then lost $80 at a roulette table on Saturday night.

Ghosts are big business for Tampa Bay.

A few years ago, Jim and I went on a ghost tour of Ybor City on a cold January evening. There are similar tours at several locations around the Tampa area, including an old hotel in St. Petersburg. I’ve also done ghost tours in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I just found out that should a ghost tour not be spooky enough for you, you can stay at one of these haunted hotels. What a truly hair raising experience!

The closest haunted hotel to my house is the Don CeSar Beach Resort & Spa in St. Petersburg, Florida. Built by Thomas Rowe in 1925, the hotel has had reports of a couple walking hand in hand around the grounds. The couple is presumed to be the spirits of Thomas Rowe and his beloved, Lucinda, who were forbidden to continue their relationship.

As for me, I’m too chicken. I don’t even like staying in a regular, non haunted hotel room by myself…so I will not be booking an overnight stay with the spirits and ghosts anytime soon!

I’ve seen this Morpheus Photo-Morpher featured on a few other blogs, and I’ve been having so much fun looking at the pictures everyone decided to morph. When I saw what the tool did, I immediately knew what pictures I’d use for my personal photo morphing project. I scanned this old picture of me at the beach (Fred Howard) - I was 11 in it. And I have this great picture of my oldest - also 11. Since everyone says we look alike, I decided it would be the perfect pair of photos to use for the Morpheus Photo-Morpher!

After installing the tool, I just selected my pictures and got the placement ready - that’s easy, and the instructions are very clear. You just place little dots in things that are the same in each picture, like the eyes, the nose, mouth, etc, so that it can naturally morph between the two images.

I would love to continue using this to be able to play around with more pictures - maybe morph the kids baby pictures into their school pictures from last year? You can get your own version of the Photo Morpher from Zoombli.com - what a fun toy this is!

A friend who just started teaching locally was over last night, and the kids had to show off their new pet mice. She was asking about how their care, because she’d like to get a class pet for her new classroom of elementary school students. I told her to forget the live animals, and go with the online version, like Matthew’s teacher has done. Instead of a live class pet, his class has 2 Webkinz, and the students earn points for good behavior and can use those points to go online and care for the class pets.

If your child has outgrown the virtual pet, you can turn them on to cartoon dolls instead, at sites like CartoonDollEmporium.com - it’s one of the largest and fastest growing websites for young girls, the kind of girls who grew up with Webkinz, but have outgrown them recently. For any Hannah Montana fans you may have in your house, there’s even a doll for her at the site that children can dress up and play with.

The site is kid friendly, and kid safe. It’s nice knowing there’s a place for tweens who are too old for some websites, but too young for others!

I need something light hearted after writing my previous post. Eye of the Dolphin is just the thing - it’s a new movie about love, family, and and friendship that opens today! You can check out the movie website to learn more about the stars of the film, but the main character, Alyssa, is played by Carly Schroeder, who most recently started in “Gracie”.

You’ve got 2 days left to enter to win free tickets to see this new family friendly blockbuster, but I’ll bet you’ll see it even if you don’t win. It’s rare that a movie comes along that’s truly family friendly! I’ll bet the local aquariums and animal parks see a big surge in visitors coming to see dolphins after this movie.

I don’t think we’ll be able to see it until next week, but I’m looking forward to it.

It’s only August, but Christmas will be here soon enough. Now is the time to plan your special Christmas events - be it booking travel to go to Grandma’s house, making kennel reservations for your pets, or buying Nutcracker tickets! I went to see the Nutcracker every year as a child, and now my own daughters go to see it. The Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker will be touring the US this winter, bringing the classic tale of the Nutcracker right to you! The two locations closest to Tampa that will have the ballet this year are:

St. Petersburg - Mahaffey Theater at Progress Energy
December 21st, 2007 at 7:30 pm
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:00 pm
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:30 pm

Lakeland - Lakeland Center
December 28th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

You can buy Nutcracker tickets online for these locations, as well as the other tour dates for the Moscow ballet. Larger cities are already selling out, so call now to ensure you can get your seats! It’s such a lovely ballet. I love the music, the costumes, the sets - and the story is easy enough for a child to follow, so it’s a great introduction to ballet for your little ballerina.

This Sundar, comic book and anime fans will descend on Tampa for the Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention. Cartoonists and writers will be on hand, including writer Gary Friedrich, and authors Glenda Finkelstein and Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc. There will be 10,000 square feet of comics, anime, and even Star Wars items at the convention.

Hey, if the guys who are behind the Archie comics are there, I’m in!

During one of the local Harry Potter parties in the Tampa area last week, one lucky boy was ushered to the front of the line, ahead of 100’s of other people, to be able to buy the 1st book sold at that particular store. How did Josh Maraman get to be so lucky? Well, for starters, he looks very much like a young Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who has portrayed Harry Potter in 5 films so far. What do you think?

Apparently, it’s all about the eyeglasses, because Josh said when he got his first pair 2 years ago,
people started commenting on his resemblance to Daniel and Harry Potter. Congratulations, Josh!

I pre-ordered my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows months ago, but getting out to a local party to celebrate the release sounds like fun! Since the book will be released one minute after midnight on Saturday, you can head out to any of our Tampa area Borders, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, B.Dalton, or Inkwood Books to enjoy a release party with other fans. Be sure to call your local store to verify the start times of the parties before heading out!

Coach Tony Dungy, formerly of the Tampa Bay Bucs, and currently of the Indianapolis Colts, has written a memoir. The book is called Quiet Strength, and Coach Dungy is making his return to Tampa this week to promote the book. If you plan on buying a copy, head out tomorrow (Tuesday 7/17/07) to get your book signed! Tony Dungy will be making an appearance in 2 Tampa locations to sign copies of the book:

4pm til 6pm
Borders in South Tampa
909 N. Dale Mabry
Tampa, FL

7pm til 9pm
LifeWay Christian Store
12689 Citrus Plaza Drive
Tampa, FL

I think the coach will get a lot of people out - he’s still got a lot of fans in the Tampa Bay area. He’s an easy guy to respect and admire.

I love a good bingo game. Whenever we go on a cruise, you can always find me playing bingo, as often as the game is offered! There’s just something fun about a game that’s so simplistic, and totally based on chance. I’ve not ever played bingo locally because most of the bingo halls in our area seem to cater to the over 50 crowd, and some allow smoking too. Spending an evening in a large, smoke filled room with cranky 80 year olds isn’t my idea of a fun night. I just found out that you can play bingo online, at a site called Bingo House!

Just like the games on the cruise ships I’ve vacationed on, there are different game varieties, like BlackOut Bingo and Fair N’ Square Bingo, or even a game for high rollers. And since it’s online bingo, you can even have your card monitored automatically, so that you don’t need to worry about managing multiple cards. And, Bingo House and their online bingo games are open 24 hours a day! The numbers are randomly generated too, and you can chat with other players in real time.

Meeting new people can be hard.

You could join a online group (or start your own) for people with like interests. You can join community programs, volunteer groups, or chat people up at the PTA meeting. But perhaps you want to meet a “friend” - as in, a person to date and possibly fall in love with? Singles bars and socials are one way, and another option is FriendFinder. I just pulled it up and it immediately took me to listings in the Tampa area. (They must have some built in tools that detect where your IP address originates from, and then it matches you up with people in your area? Eliminates the searching through cities and states at least!)

At FriendFinder, you can meet singles to date for romance or friendship, and they’ve got over 1.7 million members. In fact, almost 3,000 are online right now. Most of the listings have pictures, and you can join for free. My sister has tried the online dating thing, but I’m not sure if she’s tried this site, so I’ll need to make sure she reads this blog entry I did a search for men ages 40 through 50 in her zip code and came up with 20 results right away. You can see the persons age, photo, and location without even leaving the page of search results.

When you’ve got limited time, you don’t want to waste it, right? You only get two days off a week, why do you want to waste an evening at a brad restaurant, or a day at a horrible golf course? You want to know about the best of the best, right?

Residents of California have a neat site called The Rundown that provides you with a new place to visit each day. You might find a recommendation on a great place to play golf one day, and the hottest place for happy hour on another day. You’ll find a place off the beaten path to spend an afternoon doing some scuba diving, or where to shop (and what to buy, in some cases!) The content changes daily and it won’t take you an hour to comb through the site and find what you need. The newest content and places are highlighted on the main page of the site, but all of the old stuff is in the archives.

Did I mention this is all free? I think we need a Rundown for Tampa!

Sheikra went floorless this weekend! What does that mean for riders? Well, while your stomach is turning at the thought of dropping 200 feet or more, at a 90 degree angle, you can actually SEE the ground below you now. Instead of just feeling queasy, you may just lose your lunch on someone below. HA!

I’ve never been on Sheikra, and I don’t plan to go on it anytime soon, either! A neighbor of ours has an “in” with the ride people and can get us on without a wait - still not interested! I don’t mind Montu, or Kumba, but I am not down with the straight down drop to Earth.

When I was about 8 years old, my parents took me to Mobile, AL, where I remember touring a battleship and a submarine. Cool stuff, even then! Tampa parents have a similar opportunity right now, in fact, all residents can enjoy this tour. Now through March 14, 2008, you can tour the SS American Victory. The ship is a WWII vessel currently docked down at Channelside. The tours range from $4 to $8, and this Sunday, Father’s Day, Dad can get in for free! This is one of only 534 ships remaining of this type, so see it while you have the chance!

We’ve got passes to Busch Gardens (as well as every other theme park in the state, or so it seems!) but we haven’t been in MONTHS! Disney has just been calling my name. I think we’re about due for a trip though, especially with their Summer Nights starting up again. Staying open late is a great idea, and I don’t know why more theme parks don’t do it. (I’m looking at you, Islands of Adventure. Open til 7pm on a Friday night - duh!) The B-52s will be in concert at Busch Gardens on June 2, and the park will stay open til 10pm on most weekends.

So you’ve been to tattoo artists all over the Tampa Bay area, and you still can’t find the perfect tattoo design? Not to worry, because a new website at BullseyeTattoos tattoo designs that you can download to take to your favorite tattoo artist. The site features tons of designs from the hottest, newest, and best artists around the world - everything is a line art stencil, perfect for full color inking. Just pick your image, download it, print it, and then take it to the artist of your choice locally. Browse through categories like flowers, celtic, gothic, animals, snakes, and symbols, or search by artist or top sellers. You’ll find amazing designs at a price you can afford.

Honeymoon Island State Park and Caladesi Island are 2 of my favorite beaches. If you haven’t been to these Dunedin beaches yet, now is a great time, because a new nature center opened this morning at Honeymoon Island. The nature center features exhibits and videos about the history of the island and the current residents (most of the 4 legged variety). You can walk nature trails before heading to the beach, picnic areas, and playgrounds. You can also schedule hikes with a guide.

The new center is open daily from 9am til 5pm.

If you’re a fan of the Tampa Bay Storm (arena football), stop by the Green Iguana in St. Petersburg this Sunday afternoon at 4pm for a fan party! The team will be in Texas to play the Austin Wranglers. Wear Storm clothing and get a discount, and there will be raffles - and inactive players and the dancers will be there! I personally love the Green Iguana, and this is a really neat way to meet players and win some cool stuff in a cool place!

If you’re a fan of Rick Springfield, you’ll want to head to Busch Gardens in May to sing along with Jesse’s Girl. Busch Gardens is presenting the Michelob MusicFest, and each weekend will feature 2 musical acts. The shows are included with the price of admission, so it’s a great way to have a night out with some free entertainment!

May 5: Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
May 6: Rick Springfield
May 12: Kool & The Gang
May 13: Three Dog Night
May 19: Lonestar
May 20: Creedence Clearwater Revisited
May 26: The Wreckers
May 27: The Bangles