Only in Florida

This page has been far too depressing for the past few weeks.... and I've been avoiding updating it. But I woke up kind of early today, and figured it's now or never.

Remember last year, when I posted about the Mullet Toss (here's a refresher... in case you missed it). Good news this year... I didn't get hit by a fish. We all had a few close calls, though. Much like a football, they often bounce unpredictably after hitting the ground.

This one almost bounced out of bounds. To be honest, in the world of Mullet Tossing, I'm not sure if landing on the foul line makes it foul or fair. So don't ask.

There was, once again, an unusual assortment of folks at the Mullet Toss. The crowd wasn't as big as last year's... they had to re-schedule it to a later date this year, and a lot of the snowbirds had already left Southwest Florida for cooler climates.
The die-hards were still there, though. This guy was really competitive. He brought special boots to wear when it was his turn, did his share of trash-talking, and had one of the best tosses we saw (about 90 feet, If I remember correctly). He threw at least three times-- at $5 a pop.

Of course, some people do it just for the novelty of the event. I got a kick out of this woman, who (forgive the pun), looked a bit like a fish out of water. Not that Matlacha doesn't have it's share of bikers-- it does. But most of the folks there were dressed a little more casually. She was a trooper though, and despite the fact that she didn't come close to breaking any mullet toss records, she at least looked like a bad-ass doing it.

But like I said, for the most part, the Mullet Toss is a pretty casual event. It's hosted annually in Matlacha, with is an odd (but very cool) little fishing village-turned-artists community. Cute little galleries are surrounded by tiny little trailers. But don't let the single-wides in the background fool you. They're all on canals, and waterfront property in these parts doesn't come cheap (even with the current miserable state of Southwest Florida property values). Many of these single-wides have docks with boat lifts, and nice little boats parked outside... probably worth more than their homes are.

Back behind the main strip in town are a bunch of nice waterfront homes. Nothing fancy-schmancy, no "McMansions." But nice. In fact, the CEO where I work lives in Matlacha. But I digress.

Much like the attractions a few hours up the road in Orlando, the Mullet Toss is fun for the whole family. Little kids toss their mullets first. This little girl was a bit too fascinated by the whole process. After her tosses (which maybe went about five feet), she spent the rest of the afternoon chasing down other people's mullets. However, instead of gently carrying them back to the starting line (home plate?), like the other children did, she chose instead to practice her tossing skills on the way back. With each toss, her fish would get guttier and nastier, until she finally got back to the starting line and handed the fish to the next contestant.


Not surprisingly, it seemed as though the fish weren't lasting quite as long as they were at last year's event. Hmmm... wonder why?

Every time I tell people that we went to the Mullet Toss, they always pepper us with questions. The first question they ask is always did we do it ourselves.

The answer, once again, is no. No amount of coercion could get Cory to do it this year, and I didn't want to come home smelling like dead fish like I did last year.

But there are plenty of other questions. Some involve throwing style, some involve animal abuse (the fish are dead and frozen before the tossing, in case you're curious), and some folks just want to know if a lot of people with mullets attend the mullet toss (the answer is of course, yes. Florida has a pretty high redneck quotient, especially after the snowbirds leave town).

But most people just want to know what it's like. And here, I can help. I shot a little 20 second video with my camera this year. This guy had some of the longest tosses I've seen (about 100 feet), so grab some popcorn and enjoy:

My Baby Sister

Most of you probably know I'm an only child... so the only "siblings" I've ever had have been the four-legged kind. Actually, I've also had feathered and finned siblings, too.

Today, my "little sister," Keiko, died. She was a beautiful all-white Akita, and the sweetest dog I've ever met. I'm too bummed to write more right now, but I'll post some pictures instead....

Best Mugshot Ever

Need I say more?

Two Pats on the Back

Really quickly... I need to give Cory a big pat on the back (or a tip of the hat, if you prefer), for winning a "major award!"

This weekend, Cory's website won the Florida Associated Press award for Best Television News website. Nice, huh? It's the second year in a row that they've won. Cory busts his butt trying to keep up with the Joneses (the station he beat has three full-time web coordinators), and it's about time he got rewarded. He even got a fancy-schmancy trophy!

Second, our little twitter experiment, the Florida Freakshow, has 250 followers and is growing every day. If you'd like to experience a little Florida Freakitude, visit us and see what you're missing by living outside the Sunshine State.

I hate to intervene, but....

I was part of my very first "intervention" today. It was a pretty weird, uncomfortable experience.

It all started with another very weird, uncomfortable experience. See, the agency where I work has, as part of its mission, an initiative to help provide job opportunities for people with disabilities. Sometimes it's physical, sometimes it's developmental. So, there's a lot of folks with special needs around the office, which keeps things interesting at times.

Last week, on my way to my car for lunch, one of these folks struck up a conversation with me. He's a nice kid, but a little out of touch with reality at times. He gets lonely and will follow people around work, make himself at home in their offices, "escort" ladies around the building... all very good-natured, of course. Those are his good days. On his bad days, he lives in his own little world.

But, as a lonely young fellow, he also isn't quite sure how to behave around women. He stands too close, and occasionally touches people inappropriately.

That sounds horrible, the way I say it. It's very harmless. He hasn't grabbed anyone in their "bathing suit area" or anything like that. He just gets too familiar at times.

Anyway, that's what he did to me last week. I won't go into details... it was harmless, but it also wasn't cool. And he knew it right away. He even said "I'm sorry I touched you inappropriately." (He's obviously been talked to about this before)

Sooo.... I told his caseworker, who told his mom, who told his boss... who decided we needed an intervention. So the three of us explained to this troubled young man that touching girls isn't cool... and that it could get him in a lot of trouble if he continues to behave like that.

The poor kid was terrified, and kept asking if he was losing his job. For what it's worth, he apologized again. I feel really badly for him. When people are nice to him, he thinks it's an open invitation... but when people are strict with him, he's terrified he'll be punished.

In a little over a year at this job, it's the first real "situation" I've had to deal with. It really makes me appreciate what we do.

Economics 101

I thought this chart was a kind of nifty explanation for some of the wacky things going on in our economy: Check it out.

Sporty Weekend

First, let me preface this by saying I'm posting this on my phone... so if there are a few typos, cut me a little slack.

Cory and I are in the midst of a very sporty weekend. It started with Cory's beloved Mizzou putting up one helluva fight against UConn in the Elite Eight. They got hosed by the refs (or at least that's what Cory says), but it was a really good game.

Then, with acout 50 seconds left in the game (Mizzou down by about six), I look at the clock and say, "oh crap. We're going to the Hockey game!"

I might add that it was 6:50 pm. The game starts at 7:30. And we live half an hour away.

Oops.

See, a month ago, one of my Radio ad reps gave me some free tickets. Cool, right? Except when you forget you have them until half an hour to gametime.

So the game ends, we change into our Hockey-game clothes (Red Wings jersey for me, Charlestown Chiefs jersey for Cory), and haul ass to the game. The Blades win, all is right with the world. Cory even kinda forgets about the Mizzou loss.

We're on our way home now (Don't worry, Cory's driving. I had too many Molsons to drive).

Tomorrow, more fun... we have tickets to see the Cardinals play the Twins in one of the last Spring Training games of the year. We're hoping Colby Rasmus will play for the Redbirds... we'll see.

So that's our weekend. I've been tweeting about it on my twitter page, too... http://www.twitter.com/kbolesen.