Maybe the toothpick was really just a metaphor for "the Bible?" And then... if you carry the one. Oh, yeah... definitely a heretic.

I was reading this wondering if he made some inappropriate gestures (or so they'd say) with the toothpick. But, wizardry? Its a palming trick. Does this school board actually believe he made the tooth pick disappear?

This is just too bizarre for comment! I suspect there is more to the story.
You can hardly "fire" a substitute teacher anyway, since they don't have contracts.
Sounds like a personality conflict and overblown story.

I teach in Florida.

Rather than worrying about a disappearing toothpick, how about worrying about the piece of paper or pencil that never appears from the students' backpacks. How about the ever disappearing dollars from the education budget? How about the slugs who punch a clock and get paid for it?

Ugh...

There has to be more to this story. I can't believe, in this day and age, that people could honestly believe that a sleight-of-hand trick is evidence of "wizardry" - and that, even if they were that ridiculously superstitious, the substitute wouldn't just demonstrate and explain the trick to his supervisor, the principal, the offended parents, etc.

Mr Piculas should direct Pasco Cty. District officials here:
http://www.randi.org/
and here:
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/
Marco #5
Yeah, she should not try so hard.

If there isn't more to this story, then...sheesh.

can't we Please just let the south secede from the union?!!

This an old story -- it happened in 1640, right?

AndrewK @ 4:

I was reading this wondering if he made some inappropriate gestures (or so they'd say) with the toothpick. But, wizardry? Its a palming trick. Does this school board actually believe he made the tooth pick disappear?

Video of the toothpick trick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDPd3hM5Qtc

How auspicious for me to wake up to this story after making a Mystery Box (painted shoebox with hole for sticking in hand, feeling around and guessing what "it" might be--a spoon? a feather? a light bulb--no, potentially hazardous--a toothbrush?) to bring to kindergarten this a.m. I subbed there on Friday and there were no lesson plans for me to not follow, so I have to improvise. Am I risking my career, or will my wizardy/witchy box be okay in a district where "helpers" come into the classroom and sit at "my" desk to apply nailpolish? I kid you not. This is California, not Florida. Gotta go! Wish me luck?

You have GOT to be fuckin kiddin me!
Wizardry? WIZARDRY?!?
These people need to be "re-educated".

Can we abolish religion now? these bible thumpers are fuckin retarded!

C'mon C & L, there is more to this story. Although the teacher in question denies the other allegations, there were other allegations (failure to follow lesson plans, unsupervised computer allowance). If you are a sub, and your looking to gain full time status as a teacher somewhere else, don't rock the boat.

Get tenure first, then perform all the magic you want.

There is a whole land of wizards, witches, fairies and women that live with dwarves, just a half day drive away in Orlando.

While Joe may be right, still , What would Carnack do?
And on a more serious note, off topic,
Tragedy strikes in China( again)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24573168

Joe Pasetto @ 26:

C'mon C & L, there is more to this story. Although the teacher in question denies the other allegations, there were other allegations (failure to follow lesson plans, unsupervised computer allowance). If you are a sub, and your looking to gain full time status as a teacher somewhere else, don't rock the boat.

Get tenure first, then perform all the magic you want.

That isn't what they told me in the email they sent me.

They explained it's all about the safety of the children and that a student was traumatized by the trick, and his father complained.

John Small Berries @ 10:

There has to be more to this story. I can't believe, in this day and age, that people could honestly believe that a sleight-of-hand trick is evidence of "wizardry" - and that, even if they were that ridiculously superstitious, the substitute wouldn't just demonstrate and explain the trick to his supervisor, the principal, the offended parents, etc.

In a county where people believe that throwing out a Harry Potter book can restore health, this most certainly could happen. Welcome to an epicenter of Evangelicalism where Satan could most definately be now hiding in a toothpick and have duped the part-time sub into being his slave.

Sigh. A teacher's life. Teaching is cool, but the PARENTS or the SCHOOL BOARD are not.

Joe Pasetto @ 26:

C'mon C & L, there is more to this story. Although the teacher in question denies the other allegations, there were other allegations (failure to follow lesson plans, unsupervised computer allowance). If you are a sub, and your looking to gain full time status as a teacher somewhere else, don't rock the boat.

Get tenure first, then perform all the magic you want.

Maybe he should of just used magic to get tenure. You know how crafty those wizards are.

XuYu @ 1:

I don't blame the school. We can't take any chances when it comes to protecting our kids!

ba da,ba da, ba da,...........................................say wha????????????

Weaseldog @ 31:

Joe Pasetto @ 26:

C'mon C & L, there is more to this story. Although the teacher in question denies the other allegations, there were other allegations (failure to follow lesson plans, unsupervised computer allowance). If you are a sub, and your looking to gain full time status as a teacher somewhere else, don't rock the boat.

Get tenure first, then perform all the magic you want.

That isn't what they told me in the email they sent me.

They explained it's all about the safety of the children and that a student was traumatized by the trick, and his father complained.

what is your relationship to the story? are you the poster of this thread? are you the guy who got fired? are you just reporting on it?

"Huge issue"

That's going into my list of 2008 quotes.

A bloody toothpick. Bravo to C&L for covering this absurdity.

It's stories like this that make it so easy for Carl Hiaasen to write his wonderful and hilarious books. He doesn't have to make up that crazy stuff in his books, he just takes the craziness from the Florida news.

When he wrote one of his first books, his publisher called him and said some of the events in the book were just too bizarre. He dug up the newspaper clippings of the event to show her that he wasn't making this stuff up.

Well, I guess the old, fake pull the top part of your thumb off trick is out to. I suppose any trick not sanctioned by a church is considered heresy.

See Weaseldog's excellent post on this

Bill B. @ 38:

This is Exhibit #2042 that the entire South is basically a third-world country unto itself. I think it's about time to re-examine whether Abe Lincoln really made the right move.

I couldn't agree more. Let's take a BIG saw and cut along the Mason-Dixon line, let that sucker float away with all the inbred hicks on it!
And, don't forget Texas. Give Texas (and all of it's "cowboys") back to Mexico.

Cowboys. What a crock of shite.

Those damn Harry Potter films. Next thing you know, some kids gonna try to ride a broom.

Weaseldog @ 46:

For those of yoiu that have never worked in the government or corporate world, when human resources needs to let someone go, they'll compile a laundry list on inane issues as excuses. It's called, Covering Your Ass, ir CYA for short.

An imaginative human resources worker can compile a laundry list of problems for any employee. Even if an employee never causes problems, even that can be construed as a negative by pointing out that the employee never shows initiative...

What is important is not the allegations themselves, but the length of the list.

While what you said is true, the employer almost always has to provide notices to the employee of any "violations" in the event of legal action or an unemployement claim is filed. The district would not only have to provide all relevant documentation, but would even have to provide it to the employee due to Sunshine Laws. The "wizard" and anyone reporting on this story can at any point demand that the district turn over any and all emails or other documents between or to any district employee so that they could be read.

That woud show what really happened.

And we wonder why so many kids dropout of school.

I'm not sure what to make of this story. On the one hand, the article doesn't read like equal amount of time was spent covering the story with the sub, the school and the school board. Most of the information seems to come from the sub only. So that kind of coverage is unfair and posting it on here seems unwise. However, if it's true that all he did was a simple parlor trick with a toothpick and it alone launched a complaint of wizardry against him, then the story's focus really shouldn't be on the ridiculousness of his firing but on the fact that an insitution entrusted with our children's education would entertain the belief of wizardry long enough to suffer a casualty. Pursuing that angle might reveal something more substantial. I know the school board is hiding behind a gag order of some type and claim the sub is free to exploit this situation by telling any story he wants while they cannot. That in itself sounds like an attempt to discredit the sub but it still leaves the story entirely one-sided and most unsatisfying. I still don't know if his being fired for a toothpick illusion is a fact or not.

ashton @ 55:

Weaseldog @ 46:

For those of yoiu that have never worked in the government or corporate world, when human resources needs to let someone go, they'll compile a laundry list on inane issues as excuses. It's called, Covering Your Ass, ir CYA for short.

An imaginative human resources worker can compile a laundry list of problems for any employee. Even if an employee never causes problems, even that can be construed as a negative by pointing out that the employee never shows initiative...

What is important is not the allegations themselves, but the length of the list.

While what you said is true, the employer almost always has to provide notices to the employee of any "violations" in the event of legal action or an unemployement claim is filed. The district would not only have to provide all relevant documentation, but would even have to provide it to the employee due to Sunshine Laws. The "wizard" and anyone reporting on this story can at any point demand that the district turn over any and all emails or other documents between or to any district employee so that they could be read.

That woud show what really happened.

That didn't happen though. This was the first notice he got.

And he's an 'At Will' employee. So he's not really fired. They'll just never ask him back.

We're becoming a nation of contractors with no rights, no insurance, and no actual employment. This helps keeps unemployment figures low, even as the number of people without jobs, continues to rise.

40 bitter Edwin Hussein Says: IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 3:

I am embarrassed that I live in Florida. Yeesh, what’s next?

====================
You do know it’s illegal to feed homeless people in Orlando, (where the theme park wizards live). Jailable stuff, apparently.

====================

No, I wasn't aware of that. I haven't been to Orlando in years. It certainly doesn't surprise me. I don't think it is illegal here in Sarasota COunty. I better check on that.

submitted for comment @ 59:

I'm not sure what to make of this story. On the one hand, the article doesn't read like equal amount of time was spent covering the story with the sub, the school and the school board. Most of the information seems to come from the sub only. So that kind of coverage is unfair and posting it on here seems unwise. However, if it's true that all he did was a simple parlor trick with a toothpick and it alone launched a complaint of wizardry against him, then the story's focus really shouldn't be on the ridiculousness of his firing but on the fact that an insitution entrusted with our children's education would entertain the belief of wizardry long enough to suffer a casualty. Pursuing that angle might reveal something more substantial. I know the school board is hiding behind a gag order of some type and claim the sub is free to exploit this situation by telling any story he wants while they cannot. That in itself sounds like an attempt to discredit the sub but it still leaves the story entirely one-sided and most unsatisfying. I still don't know if his being fired for a toothpick illusion is a fact or not.

Sometimes things are as stupid as they look. This is not the first time that some idiot has done something that is just plan dumb. Look how many school districts have banned Harry Potter books for the samething.

Good thing he didn't do that trick where you shake a pencil and it looks like it is bending. I grew up in the rural south - stuff like this happens much more than you think. They tried to ban KISS t-shirts in my middle school - "Knights In Satan's Service" and all, you know.

Keith in Modesto @ 60:

Radically Moderate @ 36:

Joe Pasetto @ 26:

C'mon C & L, there is more to this story. Although the teacher in question denies the other allegations, there were other allegations (failure to follow lesson plans, unsupervised computer allowance). If you are a sub, and your looking to gain full time status as a teacher somewhere else, don't rock the boat.

Get tenure first, then perform all the magic you want.

In this clip he admits further allegations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP83Db9XDJ0&feature=related

He also asserts that these further allegations are embellishments after the fact and that when he first talked to the supervisor, it was all about the toothpick.

If only we could have a peak at his evaluations we could better understand how a toothpick trick could get a teacher fired.
Those evaluations would be privelaged information, and not open to public scrutiny.

Apprently the only trick the Florida school system allows is of the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND type.

LockeNessMonster @ 67:

Good thing he didn't do that trick where you shake a pencil and it looks like it is bending. I grew up in the rural south - stuff like this happens much more than you think. They tried to ban KISS t-shirts in my middle school - "Knights In Satan's Service" and all, you know.

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid

?

Jesus did magick, they would of fired him too. True magick is getting our ADD/TV/Internet/Bling Bling culture children to actually pay attention to a lesson.

RW @ 72:

OK... this proves it... the Earth has indeed NOT passed from "The Big Stupid" ... we entered The Big Stupid in 1999 and things have digressed steadily ever since... GOD HELP US... this cosmic cloud is far larger than I feared.

Technically, "The Big Stupid" was not reached until Jan 20, 2001.

Radically Moderate @ 69:

Keith in Modesto @ 60:

Radically Moderate @ 36:

Joe Pasetto @ 26:
In this clip he admits further allegations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP83Db9XDJ0&feature=related

He also asserts that these further allegations are embellishments after the fact and that when he first talked to the supervisor, it was all about the toothpick.

If only we could have a peak at his evaluations we could better understand how a toothpick trick could get a teacher fired.
Those evaluations would be privelaged information, and not open to public scrutiny.

What is the point of this speculation? Do you think that if we could just access the right secret information, it would prove that the authorities were really right all along? Because whenever you're not sure who is at fault, assign blame to the least powerful -- it's the safest course.

Radically Moderate @ 69:

Keith in Modesto @ 60:

Radically Moderate @ 36:

Joe Pasetto @ 26:
In this clip he admits further allegations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP83Db9XDJ0&feature=related

He also asserts that these further allegations are embellishments after the fact and that when he first talked to the supervisor, it was all about the toothpick.

If only we could have a peak at his evaluations we could better understand how a toothpick trick could get a teacher fired.
Those evaluations would be privelaged information, and not open to public scrutiny.

Well, according to an article from down there, other factors played a part - most notably not following lesson plans and having a generally unruly classroom, which are both big issues when it comes to whether to retain a substitute teacher.

Then again, maybe those complaints were spun up in importance in order to find a more concrete reason to tell him his services aren't needed, rather than the charge of classroom magic. I could see this going either way.

I'd bet money (well maybe a couple of ounces of gold since no-one is actually thrilled about being payed off in Federal Reserve Notes anymore) that this (asshat) hypocrit of a father, has instilled a belief in such gross magical events as; the creation of the earth in six days, Jesus' physical body resurected, and the Virgin Mary appearing on a taco shell...
I guess it is just a matter of time until Homeland (in)Security shows up to arrest me for all spells and hexes that I have been placing on Dick(head) Cheney for the past six years!
The only display of true religious faith that I have seen in this country, EVER, was the way that the Quaker community came together with love and forgiveness after the tradgic school shooting in their Pennsylvania community.
This once Great Nation has become a naton of bed wetters. WTF

Back tothe Ghost Dance

You guys fail to understand that substitute teachers have no rights, no contract, no commitment. The school doesn't have to explain what they did (or may have done). This is one side of a story, blown up out of all proportion.

Normally if a sub is unsatisfactory, they simply don't get the phone call to come in to work, or else the school is so desperate, they'll call them anyway. Susstitute teachers, generally do not teach, just babysit. Around here, if you talk about evolution you won't get the call. THAT should be a story, but isn't.

J. Edward Tremlett @ 81:

Radically Moderate @ 69:

Keith in Modesto @ 60:

Radically Moderate @ 36:

He also asserts that these further allegations are embellishments after the fact and that when he first talked to the supervisor, it was all about the toothpick.

If only we could have a peak at his evaluations we could better understand how a toothpick trick could get a teacher fired.
Those evaluations would be privelaged information, and not open to public scrutiny.

Well, according to an article from down there, other factors played a part - most notably not following lesson plans and having a generally unruly classroom, which are both big issues when it comes to whether to retain a substitute teacher.

Then again, maybe those complaints were spun up in importance in order to find a more concrete reason to tell him his services aren't needed, rather than the charge of classroom magic. I could see this going either way.

That article doesn't have any more information than the youtube clip had. It looks like just a print version of the same television news story.

Un-fucking-believable.. This is great Holy Crap stuff here! Hail Satan everybody! The disappearing toothpick trick is on page 55 in the Necronomicon.... Too bad there isn't a disappearing Florida trick too.

Bet they still have book burnings and witch hunts. What a buncy of mouth-breathers!

If they are so worried that their religion will be corrupted, they must not have much faith in its reality.

What is the REAL thing that disappeared in Florida? ............... Intelligence.

The slight of hand to make the toothpick disappear is a state secret simular to how this administration made our rights disappear.

Ex-Canuck @ 91:

Bet they still have book burnings and witch hunts. What a buncy of mouth-breathers!

If they are so worried that their religion will be corrupted, they must not have much faith in its reality.

They don't burn books, but school districts all over this country have banned books like Harry Potter for teaching magic. We wonder why kids drop out of school and why the rest of the world are beating our brains out. We let the dumbest people set what will be taught in our schools and then wonder whats wrong.

Look, my mother taught elementary ed in upstate NY for 35 years. When she got to the top of the pay scale and declined early retirement, her assignments got progressively worse (troubled kids to say the least). She finally took the buyout. I get that part of the deal. The bureaucracy stinks. And yes, there are some backwater spots in this country where 'being oneself' poses some risks.

I finally saw the interview with this guy. This is no 'fresh out of U of Florida newbie' (for which I would have some sympathy). This guy has some life experience. It's like the scene in 'Clerks' where Dante, Randall and the roofer are debating the plight of the subcontractors working on the Death Star in Star Wars. He should've been a little more cognizant of his environment.

Matt Hussein in Texas @ 90:

pissed off patricia @ 82:

liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 76:

pissed off patricia @ 68:

At least let me get outta the keys first!!!

No, stay in the Keys, it's the sweetest place on earth. Okay they ruined Key West when they let the big ocean liners dock there, but the rest of the Keys are great.

I totally agree!! I lived in the Keys for 8 years, and had to leave to follow my career. I still own a small house in Key Largo, and look forward to the day when I can move back down there for good.

I left my hometown to follow my career down here, and shortly discovered that the saying on the t-shirts is true..."a small drinking village with a slight fishing problem"...
Not much to do down here except drink heavily, to make it easier to listen to the gawd-awful jimmy buffett cover bands...I HATE jimmy buffett! LOL!

mike hussein @ 94:

Steve, I also grew up in Florida and moved to the Rocky Mountains as soon as I could. I mock Florida from afar, amazed that the know-nothings and fundies continue to prosper in Tampa and Daytona and Tallahassee. Still, I love the place, possibly for the same reasons that I mock it.

I grew up there in the 40's and there was not too much there. This was before Alligator Alley when you had to do the Tamiami trail to get over to Naples. Miami Beach stopped just past 30th ave and then it was pretty much just open beach. Used to take the train down to Key West. (OK, now you know I'm an old dude)

fastfeat @ 102:

mudshark @ 74:

This is a ridiculous topic, sorry, it just is.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24573168
Read this. This will pull at your heart .

Saw this earlier. Truly sad, and will probably siphon attention away from Myanmar as well.

There was a major earthquake 7.8 in china this morning. The MSM is reporting 5000 dead in just one district so far.

Florida makes me feel better about living in Kansas, but not by much.

So, the guy was trying to engage/entertain the kids with an innocent slight-of-hand trick and he loses his $9.50/hr. part-time job for it. (I know what subs make in Florida, my wife does it). The bottom line is that the chickenshits in the school admin. would not stand up for their employee and found it more expedient to fire the guy than to deal with some asshole fundamentalist parent with a bible up his ass.

This is precisely why religion needs to be kept out of the schools. Imagine if the "wrong" prayer were said... or the "wrong" interpretation of a bible story... geeezus.

This is also why South Florida wants to separate from Northern Florida (aka Southern Alabama).

I don't know what's more annoying - that this guy got fired or that Fox News ruined the trick by explaining how it's done. Nice work, Fox.

And here I thought for certain it was witchcraft -- after all, a toothpick floats.

This is what fear, ignorance and superstition will bring you...

They should have burnt him at the stake. It says so in the Bible ("Thou shall not suffer a witch to live." Exodus 22:18).

I like to bring that verse up when supposed Bible thumpers try to play the anti-gay verse on me, and then I'll ask them, "When was the last time you had a good witch burning at your church?"

Then if they say that they don't, then I accuse them of not following all of God's laws. That usually shuts them up for a while as the stew with that thought.

This is a very simple situation to resolve. Merely dunk the teacher in a pond. If he drowns, he's innocent.

One would think that given the Disney presence in Orlando, and given all of the "magic" that takes place in any number of Disney films over the last 70 years, that some people might not be so sensitive to this kind of thing.

But then, I suppose, Walt Disney was the anti-Christ.

Seems to me that if the school administration had any sense whatsoever, they would have kicked the "traumatized" kid out of the school instead of the substitute, and explained to the father that the school and his child were evidently not a good fit, and that he would need to take his child to some other, more backwards school that fit in better with their belief system.

I attest to the fact that I saw Goody Proctor gliding above the rooftops clutched to the bosom of Satan!

Dr. Know @ 119:

I moved from GA to FL, before it crossed over to the dark side. A massive influx of second generation family money (i.e. useless, avaricious scum), GOP offspring fleeing prosecution in their hometowns, unbridled carpetbagger developers, and the freaking Bush family and the 20-odd Bush appointees who went down in flames due to various perversions have ruined the state forever.

Yet not unlike the images depicted in Carl Hiaasen's books, Florida is a healthy dose of the sublime and the bizarre. The farther north you go, the further south you get - South GA, that is. Even the St. Johns River runs backwards - South to North. Pasco is a relatively recent phenomenon, a retarded hellhole of immigrant GOP inbreds. 30 miles south in St. Pete is another world. 10 miles east there is Tampa, where 12 year old boys prostitute themselves on the streets of Kennedy Blvd. at 3:00AM, and the glass ceiling is so low that 80% of the women I met were or had been strippers. Orlando should drop into a sink hole, the epicenter being The Majik Kingdom. In Clearwater, locals gather to worship the image of the Mother Mary in a bank window (how's that for symbolism). I could write a book about the place, no one would believe most of it, yet it's all true. The magical toothpick incident is just another footnote in a long list of lunacies.

And to think I moved there to escape the crazy SOBs in GA.
The natural world was nice, the beaches were nice. Many of the people, not so much.

Well said!

fastfeat @ 115:

pissed off patricia @ 111:

liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 101:

Matt Hussein in Texas @ 90:

I left my hometown to follow my career down here, and shortly discovered that the saying on the t-shirts is true..."a small drinking village with a slight fishing problem"...
Not much to do down here except drink heavily, to make it easier to listen to the gawd-awful jimmy buffett cover bands...I HATE jimmy buffett! LOL!

Well, if that's the way you feel about the keys, I guess you would be miserable. I suppose the Keys either seduce you or they don't. The only thing I don't like about the Keys is leaving them behind when it's time to come home.

Not sure which is worse--the drive there, or the drive back.

On the drive down there you are looking forward to all the fun you're going to have and thinking about your plans.

On the drive back you are tired, hung over, have a ton of dirty laundry and dreading going back to the normal life. The drive back is all kinds of worse.

The drive back is all kinds of worse.

Man, you said a mouthful. Not to mention the hangover...

pissed off patricia @ 124:

fastfeat @ 115:

pissed off patricia @ 111:

liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 101:

Well, if that's the way you feel about the keys, I guess you would be miserable. I suppose the Keys either seduce you or they don't. The only thing I don't like about the Keys is leaving them behind when it's time to come home.

Not sure which is worse--the drive there, or the drive back.

On the drive down there you are looking forward to all the fun you're going to have and thinking about your plans.

On the drive back you are tired, hung over, have a ton of dirty laundry and dreading going back to the normal life. The drive back is all kinds of worse.

I love the drive actually, leave at 3am though...you miss the totally insane south fl rush hour traffic.

One thing you do have to hand to Florida is the way they were able to spred the lie that they have a good climate.

Yeah there's nothing like a climate where you can break out in a sweat sitting on the couch watching TV.

125 pissed off patricia Says:

Are we related? My family moved to Fla from Ga too. I was in the third grade at the time, so I sort of call myself a semi-native of Florida.

Don't know, POP. If not, we could be - got a single sister? ;-)

I had numerous relatives in St. Pete that I visited every summer. It was the high point of my existance as a child, so it was natural that I chose to move there. But my, how things have changed...

bob @ 130:

One thing you do have to hand to Florida is the way they were able to spred the lie that they have a good climate.

Yeah there's nothing like a climate where you can break out in a sweat sitting on the couch watching TV.

LOL! Got that right! Nothin like 100% humidity, and 97 degrees. Loverly....
And don't forget all the bugs!

As an Elitist Liberal East Coast Yankee I never thought I would understand how these peoples minds work, but Betty Butterfield cleared it right up for me! > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8RLQvE0Si4&feature

fastfeat @ 135:

liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 128:

pissed off patricia @ 124:

fastfeat @ 115:

On the drive down there you are looking forward to all the fun you're going to have and thinking about your plans.

On the drive back you are tired, hung over, have a ton of dirty laundry and dreading going back to the normal life. The drive back is all kinds of worse.

I love the drive actually, leave at 3am though...you miss the totally insane south fl rush hour traffic.

Fear of hitting a Key deer with a BAL close to the legal limit, combined with my poor night vision, eliminates this option for me, unfortunately.

I hear ya...better safe than sorry.

pissed off patricia @ 139:

liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 128:

pissed off patricia @ 124:

fastfeat @ 115:

On the drive down there you are looking forward to all the fun you're going to have and thinking about your plans.

On the drive back you are tired, hung over, have a ton of dirty laundry and dreading going back to the normal life. The drive back is all kinds of worse.

I love the drive actually, leave at 3am though...you miss the totally insane south fl rush hour traffic.

Do you mean leave the keys at 3am? No way, still too inebriated to drive at that time of night.

Yeah, that's the best time for leaving...no traffic at all...
well ya gotta give yourself an extra day to sober up...No way could I leave @ 3am after a night of drinkin.

pissed off patricia @ 137:

Dr. Know @ 132:

125 pissed off patricia Says:

Are we related? My family moved to Fla from Ga too. I was in the third grade at the time, so I sort of call myself a semi-native of Florida.

Don't know, POP. If not, we could be - got a single sister? ;-)

I had numerous relatives in St. Pete that I visited every summer. It was the high point of my existance as a child, so it was natural that I chose to move there. But my, how things have changed...

When I was five my family came to Florida on vacation. We went to Clearwater and stayed very near the beach. I thought that must be what heaven would be like. Big beaches and all the birds and water. I was hooked.

Yes, the state is growing way too fast and as it does it is destroying the beauty. Makes me sad to see what has happened.

Oh don't even get me started on the crooked ass developers in this state...99% don't give a damn about protecting the environment.

liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 142:

pissed off patricia @ 137:

Dr. Know @ 132:

125 pissed off patricia Says:

Don't know, POP. If not, we could be - got a single sister? ;-)

I had numerous relatives in St. Pete that I visited every summer. It was the high point of my existance as a child, so it was natural that I chose to move there. But my, how things have changed...

When I was five my family came to Florida on vacation. We went to Clearwater and stayed very near the beach. I thought that must be what heaven would be like. Big beaches and all the birds and water. I was hooked.

Yes, the state is growing way too fast and as it does it is destroying the beauty. Makes me sad to see what has happened.

Oh don't even get me started on the crooked ass developers in this state...99% don't give a damn about protecting the environment.

Most of them came from the north and they tear our state apart due to their $$ greed. That is the only good part about the housing bubble popping, those guys are taking it in the shorts. The over built and now they can't give the damned houses away.

If you heat a bottle just right, you can suck an egg intact down into it. I performed that feat in sixth grade, to the delighted hoots of my classmates.

Not wizardry, just science.

America is sick and dying.

fastfeat @ 145:

pissed off patricia @ 144:

liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 142:

pissed off patricia @ 137:

Oh don't even get me started on the crooked ass developers in this state...99% don't give a damn about protecting the environment.

Most of them came from the north and they tear our state apart due to their $$ greed. That is the only good part about the housing bubble popping, those guys are taking it in the shorts. The over built and now they can't give the damned houses away.

But, but, but we NEED to encroach on the Everglades to build a new Lowes...:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/west_kendall/story/510412.html

Ah GEEZUZ!
Y'all hear about those developers in the panhandle who wanted to bury some kinda turtles that were living there (they live in the sandy soil where they HAD to build another cookie cutter housing development) They were denied as far as I know.