Author Lois Brown’s book “My Life” has been released.  “My Life” is an autobiography about growing up on a large farm in Newberry. The book is currently available at Xlibris.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, booksamillion.com or by calling 1-888-795-4274 ext. 7879./  

The State Bureau of Compliance Division of  Florida Condominiums, Timeshare and Mobile Homes is pleased to announce that Villages Services Cooperative has been approved to teach an approved educational program to Associations in North/Central Florida including Citrus, Hernando, Levy, Sumter and Marion Counties. According to a recent press release, Villages Services Cooperative in Citrus County Florida is licensed as a Community Association Firm and currently employee’s eight licensed managers.  They offer a wide variety of management and accounting services and… Read More »

The Villages of Citrus Hills, located is Hernando, has recently named Mike Casey as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, according to a recent press release.

Temayla Vishudanand of Belleview and  a student at Lake Weir High School recently received an invitation to join The National Society of High School Scholars. The Society recognizes top scholars and invites only those student who have achieved academic excellence.

OCALA - Asia Ingrassia-Franks, a student of the Marion Virtual Home School, has been selected to attend the Junior Statesmen of America Summer program at Princeton University this summer.  The program is available to only 250 students from across the nation, according to a news release. Asia received the invitation because of her keen interest in politics and government, along with her academic achievements, according to a news release. She needs to raise $2,500 to attend the program. Asia, 15, currently… Read More »

Robert Boissoneault Oncology Institute recently announce in a press release, that Sherry Barrett, RN received her Certification of Radiation Oncology with the Oncology Nurses Society inaugural class of 2012. Sherry has been employed by RBOI since 2005.  She has been in the oncology field for nearly 28 years.  Currently she is the nurse at the Timber Ridge office at 9401 S.W. Hwy 200 in Ocala.  Robert Boissoneault Oncology Institute is proud to maintain the highest standards in quality medical services… Read More »

Rasmussen College has partnered with New Horizons Computer Learning Centers – North Florida. The partnership will allow New Horizons graduates to transfer earned credits into associate’s or bachelor’s degree programs at Rasmussen, according to a press release. Rasmussen College has Florida campuses in Ocala, Fort Myers, Land O’Lakes, Tampa/Brandon and New Port Richey. New Horizons North Florida, which features IT training, has locations in Gainesville, Tallahassee and Pensacola. To learn more, visit www.Rasmussen.edu/NH.

Jason Priem, the son of Randy and Linda Priem of Dunnellon, is a third-year doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science. He and Heather Piwowar, a postdoctoral research associate at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, have been awarded a grant of $125,000 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for their Total-Impact Web application, according to a press release. The Total-Impact goal is to track the impact of scholarly… Read More »

YBOR CITY – Goodwill Industries-Suncoast will honor its Volunteer Group of the Year and Volunteer of the Year on Tuesday, April 17, during a luncheon at the Columbia Restaurant. The  Goodwill Volunteer Group of the Year 2012 will be given to Marion County readers for Goodwill’s BookWorks Program, according to a press release. In 2007, Ocala resident Linda Shanahan saw a newspaper article seeking volunteers for the BookWorks early childhood literacy program and became the first reader in the county.… Read More »

“Buy me some peanuts and a chef’s salad …”

No, going gluten-free at the ballpark doesn’t necessarily have me singing “Take me out to the ballgame.”

But after some disappointing spring training experiences, there is hope for the regular season: The Jacksonville Suns are offering gluten-free hot dogs and beer, and other items, at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

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Don’t be fooled by the name. Nabisco belVita Breakfast Biscuits are really cookies, but they’re not your run-of-the-mill treat. Nabisco claims the biscuits, which come four to a pack, will fuel your body throughout the morning if you eat them for breakfast with some dairy and fruit.

Members of the Times-Union Consumer Panel tried the Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Biscuits, which are made with whole grain wheat and rye flours, whole-grain rolled oats, cinnamon and dried apples, and most felt satisfied until lunch.

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SPECIAL EVENTS

Wine tasting to benefit the Ponte Vedra Woman’s Club, 5:30-7 p.m. today, Urban Flats, 330 Florida A1A N., Ponte Vedra Beach. Includes hors d’oeuvres. $25. (904) 687-5286.

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The Times-Union recognizes the area’s top high school sports athletes this week by publishing the All-First Coast teams for the winter season. The T-U high school sports staff selects the teams after nominations are solicited by email from all area varsity coaches. All-First Coast selections were made based on conversations with coaches and observers, the sports staff’s observations throughout the season, the players’ performance and statistics and their team’s quality.

First Team

Player, School, Yr., Pos., Comment

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In his first speaking engagement with his Big Ten coaching peers, new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer had to defend what he did in his last coaching job.

Meyer said he was disappointed by a story this week in the Sporting News which said he showed favoritism to star players during his six-year tenure at Florida and that his Gators program winked at disciplinary problems.

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Mellow Mushroom is coming to Jacksonville’s Avondale neighborhood.

Rumors about Jacksonville’s fourth Mellow Mushroom pizzeria coming to one of the historic neighborhoods have circulated for nearly a year, but owner John Valentino recently confirmed the planned Avondale restaurant.

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I’m a leg man, and I’m not talking about my appreciation for George Clooney’s current red carpet sweeper Stacy Keibler.

When it comes to chicken, you can have the breast and I’ll take a thigh and drumstick. Sure, there’s more meat on the breast, but there’s more flavor in the moving parts. At least that used to be the case when yardbirds actually roamed around a barnyard pecking after seeds. But it isn’t my intention to rip factory farming. I’ll save that rant for a three-part series.

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(10a) Avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally.

(10b) Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.

(10c) If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date (neglect of that one got me the closest I have ever gotten to death by gunshot).

(10d) Do not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks.

(10e) If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.

(10f) Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.

(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.

(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.

(10i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving.

"We are not advocating any type of violence or attacks on anybody, but we are prepared for it," [Commander Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement] says. "We are not the type of white people who are going to be walked all over."

A- The Miami Bike Scene has some info on a ride for a good cause.

B- Gun Free Zone interprets the Stand Your Ground law after warning us that he's not the least bit qualified to do so.

With the big caveat that I am not a Lawyer, not played on on TV, let’s get to basics.

C- UVu Blog shares a video of the opening number from the recent Carbonell Awards ceremony.

D- Eye on Miami remembers Jose Webeje who was killed in an Everglades City plane crash yesterday.

If my memory is correct, Jose had arrived from Cuba either on a raft or a small boat only a few months earlier. He was about our own age, a big raw-boned, barefoot kid. His knot tying skill was like his English: a work in progress. I remember pretty clearly; one day where Harry found bonefish everywhere, Jose couldn't find any until the very end of the day when just off Big Pine Key, a school tormented us to no avail. We kids circled the bonefish in the fading light, muttering. If you bet me then a live shrimp, that Jose would become a charismatic star of fishing television; an icon of a billion dollar industry, I would have swallowed the shrimp.

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A- Your CSA share Week 18 is pictorially presented at Redland Rambles.

B- The very low profile My Ceviche is open for business on South Beach, says Eater Miami.

Status: Sam Gorenstein is a very low key chef, which is why his 240-square foot South of Fifth youth hostel hideaway My Ceviche opened very softly, as they say, and very quietly. But not for long. Gorenstein and his partner, Roger Duarte, founder and president of the thriving stone crab delivery service George Stone Crab, previewed their selection of an intimate seafood takeaway and delivery counter, serving a handful of ultra-fresh stone crabs, tacos, burritos, salads and of course, ceviches, during Sony Ericcson and are now doing takeaway and delivery from its SoFi HQ.

C- Salty Eggs lists the 5 reasons it is okay to date a feminist.

1) The conversation is better: If Schlafly’s talking about people who care about whether women — especially low-income women — will have access to basic healthcare (and Schlafly is wrong when she says this isn’t about access; just ask 130,000 poor women in Texas), then she’s generally referring to a group of individuals who like to read, to stay informed, to educate themselves before voting, and who genuinely care about the people around them. That makes for good company.

D- Beached Miami shares some photos from last night's Paco de Lucia concert at the Fillmore.

E- The first thing that came to mind when I read The305.Com post that MTV's The Real World was having an open casting call at the Bayside Hooter's was: Is that show still on?

F- Easter thoughts from Obalesque.

Easter is one of the two annual holidays where pastors actually see their congregants inside the church. So if you’re a member of the C&E tribe, remember not to leave too early, as the regulars can get mighty fussy about their customary spots in the pew.

G- Coconut Grove Grapevine posts a decent video of the "Give It Back" campaign.

H- Another Miami New Times contributor is apparently running for office, as Random Pixels points out.

Gus Garcia-Roberts has has thrown his hat in the ring. He recently qualified to run for an open commission seat in the small town of Surfside.

You may not recognize the name, but surely you've seen his work. Gus - a staff writer at Miami New Times - is the evil genius behind one of paper's more popular web features, "Mugshots Friday."

Gus announced his plans to run for Surfside's open commission seat a few weeks ago in a piece on his paper's blog, Riptide 2.0.

"I'm going to make this town awesome," Gus wrote.

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*sigh*

I'll miss Chan Lowe's cartoons, for sure, but I'm fairly certain the crack team of Sun Sentinel owners and operators are going to find out real quick that charging for online content isn't going to be something that works for them.


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Miami After 40 is written by a very cynical South Florida resident who really knows the area. If you're unable to be brutally honest about our tropical paradise, you best stay away.

I learned this wonderful Cuban expression which to me encapsulates the essence of Miamians. The saying in Spanish is: "se cree que es el último Coca-Cola in el desierto" which directly translated means: "he thinks he is last Coca-Cola in the desert" Which really means something like "he(or she) thinks he's all that". I like that saying because to me it says things on so many levels about the conceit that exists in Miami among its residents.

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I don't know if it's the high rates of attractiveness, scarcity of mirrors (there are not a lot of them) or just that the members of the 1% like to play here, the self absorption is epidemic. It's a kind of willful ignorance that despite high rates of poverty, illiteracy and corruption that people breezily turn a blind eye to. It's like we're all Sarah Palin: confident, pretty, looking great in a pair of Giuseppe Zanotti platforms, what the hell else matters when you're wearing great shoes? I mean who couldn't conquer the world if they were wearing a $700 pump? Or live in an incredibly sexy town? So like that last drink in the desert, no not water, but the sweet one in the sexy curvy bottle. Miami: Pensamos que somos la ultima Coca-Cola en el desierto. We just think we are the last Coke in the desert.

Thanks to Sex and the Beach for the tip on the next blog in today's Blog Notes. Mac Stone Photography is, you might have guessed, a photography blog that captures the essence of the Everglades, Florida Bay and the other pristine areas of Florida. It's loaded with big, bold pictures like the one below that will make you appreciate our outdoor world that much more.

Freshly off the bus from Washington, DC, South Florida for Beginners is giving us their first impressions of the area.

This blog is an effort to pass on what I’m finding out as I go along. I hope it may also prove useful to others new to this strange, wonderful, and frustrating place.

I've always been somewhat fascinated by the way visitors view South Florida, so South Florida for Beginners is kind of like finding a steady source of those reactions to this place that many of us have grown weary of to one degree or another. Take, for instance, a recent post comparing Miami-Dade and Broward counties...

But for now, the neighboring counties do feel rather different. To me, Miami seems much more urban and cosmopolitan—a great big ethnic and cultural stew. There are times in parts of Miami and Miami Beach when I get flashbacks of Rio—or Brooklyn. It seems more chaotic and less planned. There is a bit more history there (though neither place really goes back very far), and because Miami’s growth spurt happened sooner, there are more neighborhoods gone to seed, though some have come back in spectacular fashion.

Fort Lauderdale seems newer and tidier and, to me, more suburban and white bread—kind of like Charlotte, NC but with a beach and more gays. Indeed, without the gay community (material for at least another post or two), I think the place would seem pretty dull. Las Olas is nice, but I find it a bit Disneyfied. (To be fair, Mary Brickell Village in Miami is sort of the same thing.) And Broward is probably a bit safer—and a lot smugger.

I like it.

You might be seeing more of it and the other blogs as we prepare to update the SFDB Blogroll.

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