Category: It Happened to Me

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

My photos from a visit to Seminole Heights’ new(-ish) store, Tiger Dust

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorSmall Business Saturday (which took place yesterday) is an excellent opportunity to check out local places that I don’t usually go to, or places that I’d been meaning to go to for some time. Tiger Dust, which has been in Seminole Heights for several months, falls into the latter category.

Tiger Dust calls itself a wunderkammer, a German term meaning “wonder room” or “room of wonders.” There’s a similar term, kunstkammer, which literally means “art room” but it often interpreted in English as “cabinet of curiosities.” This is from a time when “cabinet” was used more often to refer to a room than furniture for storing things (our modern usage of the word is a sort of downsizing).

If you’re looking for a gift for an unconventional friend, Tiger Dust just might fit the bill.

Need an interesting taxidermy piece? Tiger Dust has ’em in spades.

Kitschy art? Oh yeah.

Housewarming present for a friend whose wardrobe is entirely black? They’ve got ’em.

Need the complete works of Anton LaVey or Aleister Crowley? Do what thou wilt.

I almost bought the tiger kite pictured above. I may yet return to complete the purchase. I did buy a skull ring, because it’s a key part of the accordion rock and roll lifestyle.

Tiger Dust is located at 4222 North Florida Avenue, a couple of blocks north of M.L.K. Boulevard. Their hours are listed online as 12 noon to 7:00 p.m. daily, but the sign on their door might be a little more accurate — it says they’re open noon-ish to 7-ish.

Want to know more about Tiger Dust? Check these out:

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay The Current Situation

It’s Small Business Saturday!

With Thanksgiving having come and gone in the U.S., we’re now in the holiday shopping season, which starts with Small Business Saturday!

Small Business Saturday is an annual event whose purpose to encourage people to support their local small businesses. Instead of going to a “big box” store or chain, we’re asked to support local businesses, either by going to their local brick-and-mortar shop or shopping online. This event takes place every November and represents a significant opportunity to increase sales for small businesses during the holiday shopping season.

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorI live in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood, where we’re fortunate to have a number of small businesses that do provide goods, services, and those less tangible “neighborhood-y” things that chains and big box stores can’t or won’t.

The day is young, but we’ve already picked up some goodies at Gott Glass, the local glass-blowing studio and shop.

If you’re in the area, check them out! The shop is a lovely mix of indoor and outdoor, Susan Gott and her staff are nice, and they do glass-blowing demos and even have classes (which I plan on signing up for).

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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Music

The November 23 gig

Jay, Dave, and Tom, the other members of the band setting up on our “stage” — the dock of Bayou Bistro, which opens up onto Tarpon Bay. A beautiful sunset in the background.
Tap to view at full size.

Another Wednesday, another fun gig with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons, the house band for open mic night at Bayou Bistro in Tarpon Springs. It was a fun pre-Thanksgiving celebration, and a chance to play some good ol’ classic rock with great local musicians at a very friendly bar with tasty seafood.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to rock out!

A selfie featuring Joey deVilla in an aloha shirt with his accordion in the foreground, and Tom Hood and the Tropical Suns in the background. Behind them is Tarpon Bay and a Florida sunset.
Tap to view at full size.
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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me

Tell your kids this was Parliament/Funkadelic

Tell your kids this was Parliament/Funkadelic:

…and tell your kids this was Bootsy Collins:

(Actually, it’s me and the band from the Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway, which happened a couple of weekends ago.)

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America It Happened to Me

It took TWO YEARS, but my renewed NEXUS card finally arrived!

For people who often travel between the U.S. and Canada, the NEXUS card is so incredibly helpful. It says “this person is a citizen of Canada or the U.S. and has been pre-screened for faster processing.” Not only does it mean quicker U.S./Canada border crossings, but it also includes TSA PreCheck for quicker security clearance for flights within the U.S..

My NEXUS card expired during the pandemic in 2020, when a number of government services on both sides of the border either slowed to a crawl or stopped completely. I applied for a renewal back then, and…waited.

The NEXUS program has been delayed for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol wanted American NEXUS officers to be armed while working in Canada, because America’s the land of gun care and health control.

One flight to Canada, two flights to Salt Lake City, one flight to London, and two years later, my NEXUS card arrived a good two years after I applied for renewal, and wow, am I glad to have NEXUS privileges again.

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Scenes from this morning’s bike ride

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorI do a 10-kilometre (6.2 miles) bike ride as often as I can — typically 4 or 5 days a week:

At least once a week, I stop by the Seminole Heights branch of Spaddy’s, which is a coffee truck in an open-air courtyard:

The place is decorated with all manner of tchotchkes. Here’s the newest one:

I took a perch on the picnic table at the back of the courtyard, where I took this wide-angle shot…

…and while enjoying my Heights Cold Brew (cold brew with a dash of condensed milk), I worked on a proposal for my next article for the Auth0 developer blog. While writing, I noticed this rather cute grafitto that someone left on the table:

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It Happened to Me

Yeah, I’m going to be celebrating all month

After all, if you can’t celebrate your entire birth month, why bother celebrating?