Yesterday was a good day: To celebrate my mother's 75th birthday, we took her out for a day around Sarasota doing things that appealed to her love of animals. After starting with a big breakfast, we went to a local attraction that we've all been meaning to see for years, the Big Cat Habitat that takes care of exotic animals that were born in captivity but abandoned by their owners. The lions and tigers and liger were the prime attraction, but they also had bears, monkeys, a chimpanzee, parrots, emu, turkeys, goats, koi, and even stranger animals like a kangaroo, kinkajou, and coati. Sarasota is a circus town, so I'm not surprised that something like this was built here. The centerpiece of the visit was an arena demonstration in which the trained animals did tricks for the audience while the habitat owner hammed it up for the kids. It's a good cause and I wish them lots of continued success. After that, we went to the local art-house theater to see a documentary about pelicans being nursed back to health by rescue organizations. It seems to be in exceedingly limited release; the trailer has less than 2000 views. We all enjoyed it, but it was so dreamy that I think we all needed a nap afterwards. After a day out looking at animals, our cat enjoyed the extra hands-on attention when we got home.


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

Fuzzy Logic

Headline: Britney Spears goes bald. I'm her publicist. My client has an album coming out soon. Go »

2012

What a great year. Kelly and I got engaged. Kelly gained permanent employment and health benefits. Go »

Rocky

Let's take a moment to mourn Rocky Aoki, who lived one hell of an interesting life. And that article barely even mentions his kids (in the sidebar), who have their own interesting lives. Go »

Good Company and Busy Nights

Highlights from my last two weeks, in no particular order: - Miah Poisson, his fiancĂ©e Ines, and her friend Denise have always wanted to see The X Files, and it just so happens I have the complete series on DVD. We've started getting together every Monday night to watch a couple of episodes and eat sandwiches. I'm taking the opportunity to do something I wanted to do the first time I watched the series, which is keep a kill-count. Go »

Fossil

The soap says Cambria & Taylor. "Is that trilobite soap?" "What are you talking about?" Go »

In Love, in Tampa

Last night we took in a special show by Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman for Valentines Day. Kelly is a huge fan of both and I was happy to take her to see them. I did not start the evening as a Palmer fan, but I was one by the time it ended. Go »