Of Halloweens and Kings

2026-03-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

Rona and Me

RIP Theresa "Teri" Ellen Pickin (1961 - 2023), the oldest among us seven siblings, who I only met when we were both adults in 1992. She was admitted to the hospital in Marianna, Florida for a skin infection, where she contracted the 'Rona and died alone, isolated from her husband and family.

***

In 2021, everyone in the home of the previously free and the brave closed down schools, businesses, and public parks, including our beloved local softball fields. Many I knew piously demanded that anyone who wished to see them in person again receive a suddenly released dubiously tested medical treatment, that in September 2021, necessitated the literal redefinition of the word "vaccine." Believing in humanity's universal God-given Freedom of Choice, I made no such demands upon my loved ones and refused to live my life in fear. Goodbye, intolerant former friends.

All but bootleg nightlife in Florida's capital disappeared for a year as most I knew cowered in place, variously complaining and joking about masks and personal space violations. Social media was ablaze for months and anger was in no short supply -- at those who refused to share in the fear, or worse, appeared in public without wearing masks. I still chuckle when seeing the occasional compliant mask-clad motorist driving alone.

***

In early 2021, everyone in my department except me became eligible to "work from home" for the duration of the emergency, leaving me isolated and forgotten by everyone more important than me, which had recently become everyone. Two years earlier, my supervisor "Dagwood" breezed by my office, announcing, "Good news, Mitch, you're now a systems administrator!" Dagwood lied. After 25 years with great performance reviews, I'd been demoted to the department's lowest position, but my duties remained the same, of which no one else was made aware. Co-workers found glee in my predicament, emailing me, "LOL, Mitch, a customer had been looking for {a service I still provided}, but LOL, we thought you didn't handle that anymore." It became up to me to reactively notify customers that I still continued to perform the same work for them after my "good news" demotion. Colleagues of whom I regularly asked questions began asking why I needed answers. When I lamented of humiliation because of these interactions to my boss, "Milquetoast Mike," he invariably simply told me, "I'm sorry, Mitch." When I repeatedly asked what I had done to deserve this, 'Mike said he didn't know, and repeated his apology. He never seemed interested in knowing why and agreed when I remarked that no one demotes a valued employee but told me he valued me. Big whoop.

For more than a year, I was left alone to put my advanced college degree to good use for the first time in my primary occupation. I formed and led a diverse team from other agencies, achieving great public successes during and after the 'demic, which have been thoroughly documented here.

In Spring 2022, the Chief Information Officer gave the department's annual pep talk to hundreds, telling us all what a great job everyone was doing. He especially emphasized employees being in charge of their own careers, exhorting all to discuss personal plans for progress and success with their supervisors. I thoroughly documented all my recent achievements in email to my boss and asked for a well-deserved raise and promotion. 'Mike personally visited me and told me it was impossible because, "We pay you too much money already, and every systems administrator deserves a raise before you." 'Mike failed me spectacularly.

Then my team and I won three annual State of Florida productivity awards in the next three years. I personally won another in the same timeframe. Correspondingly, I was twice demoted annually, and then on Oct. 30, 2024, 'Mike told me I was required to remove my hat. I'd worn my hat every day on the job for the past ten years. Just a year before, I had complained to 'Mike that I'd felt that my every achievement was being specifically punished by the department. I believed it was to send a message to all in the department that I would never be rewarded for any achievement. "Please don't take this personally," 'Mike told me.

"It's always personal," I replied.

I called Human Resources and after weeks of consultation on Nov. 21, signed and submitted a formal complaint detailing and reporting all offenses by each party who had publicly belittled, demeaned, and gone out of their way to hurt me. It had taken a dedicated team of high-level department personnel working together to effect their malice, and I cited examples for each offender. I was told to expect a response within six to eight weeks and continued my team's and my valiant service.

I was ignored for three months and quit with a short month's notice served on February 21, 2025. I left quietly and on my terms after 32 years on March 21, 2025. I liked the work I'd been so successful at and would otherwise been happy to have continued working, so refused to check RETIREMENT on my presumably public exit interview. I checked "Other," and specified:

Bullying; Humiliation; Multiple demotions; Continuous punishment for achievement

My department's insincerity was only exceeded by its dishonesty, and I don't miss the discriminatory application of any of their "values." Good riddance to bad rubbish.

***

Family outings were difficult though not impossible to achieve, if we were willing to travel outside City limits, and not be too particular about meals served outside in Florida's heat and humidity, without paper products. If health inspectors were locked down "working from home," then what's a few violations among friends?

My youngest grandson was not yet grown, and we regularly sought out adventures around town, traveling to the Rusty Trucks monument in Crawfordville, canoeing on the Apalachicola River, and horseback riding with his 7-year-old niece, also my own very first riding experience.

***

While standing in line to renew my driver license during 'Rona, I was treated to the voice of an officiant at the next window telling a young first-time driver, "I will not be present in the car with you during your driving test..." Fortunately, those people have been driving for at least a few years now.

***

Halloween 2020 was in doubt all year. I'd enjoyed great success in 2019 dressed as Greg with Lofty Pursuits and his iconic green ice cream truck and needed something universal for 'Rona. I methodically disassembled the body of my ice cream truck and using most of its original materials, rebuilt it as an ambulance, complete with electronic siren and flashing lights. My grown granddaughter allowed me to use her baby doll Phoebe, which we had named together, on a gurney inside, viewable by opening the rescue vehicle's back doors.

I found and won a very few costume contests around town in October, and during my online searching for more, discovered virtual costume contests, held online. They required at least a photo and online description, but unlike local events, no physical attendance.

I have a large family, all of whom were living with me at the time and ideated including the children for Halloween. I suggested to my six-year-old great-granddaughter that I'd be happy to include her in my costume, and she was very interested. She dressed as a zombie nurse and I wielded a knife and wore a Jason mask. As the Vorhees Family EMS, we won more than a dozen costume contests across the world, in Canada, the United States, and Israel.

***

"Those were the best {and worst} days of my life."

The Sustainable Green Team (SGT)

2023-12-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

In 2018, I began working for the FSU Research Computing Center (RCC), and several months later, was asked to represent the division on the department's green team. I attended a couple meetings and then began pursuing RCC's green office certification with Florida State University's Sustainable Campus department. Sustainable Campus offers three levels of bi-annual certification, based upon satisfying percentages of four categorical sustainability initiatives they have defined. They provide an additional category for up to five possible "Innovation Points," that are defined and satisfied by organizations seeking certification. The levels increase for Green, Garnet and Gold certification, respectively.

In December 2019, RCC submitted its checklist of sustainable initiatives for certification, including three innovations for both of the office's locations, at Dirac Science Library and Sliger Building. Our initial pilot participation in the Green Office program satisfied one innovation point. RCC set aside and has provided a bicycle closet for employees at each of its office locations on campus, to promote sustainable living and transportation, which satisfied another. For the third innovation point, I published one Green Office Sustainability Tip of the Week (GO -STOW) from Sustainable Campus' list of sustainability initiatives to the department's elite leadership team every week, to be disseminated to their individual teams. Our score was 89.20%, above the 85% threshold required for Gold certification.

Due to the Coronavirus in Spring 2020, everyone besides me in my department of 400+ employees became eligible to work from home and began doing so. I was considered "essential," and required to be in the office during the entire pandemic. I worked alone for more than a year while managing FSU's data center in Sliger Building at Innovation Park.

In early January 2021, I began to hear occasional noises in the building, and walked upstairs to discover the source. I met Will Hill with the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering's Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Recovery (RIDER) Center. His department was in the process of relocating to Sliger Building, and I was able to assist with providing contact details for the various services he would need to engage to do so. We talked about our respective jobs, and I learned that the RIDER Center generally arrives on the scene as possible after a Florida disaster, to learn about and provide knowledge about how to more effectively respond to such events in the future. Management of the data center includes much preparation for disasters, and we had a lot to talk about. I told Will about my data center activities, including beginning to think about RCC's Green Office certification renewal, due later that year. This really interested Will.

I told Will all about what I'd done for RCC's green office certification. I shared my experiences and checklist, and walked through his office area with him to discover whether and how his current environment would satisfy enough sustainability initiatives for certification. We believed that with only a few changes, they were already well positioned to achieve a good score, and we could submit our checklists at the same time, for RIDER Center's certification and RCC's renewal. Will and I saw each other daily and talked often about our work and other interests.

Several weeks later, Will and I noticed another person come to work in the building, and introduced ourselves to Kev Sullivan, who works for the Center for Information Management and Educational Services (CIMES). CIMES provides interactive instructional information and knowledge management solutions to other institutions, which had nothing to do with what Will and I do or were currently working on at the moment. Nevertheless, it was a quiet building for three otherwise gregarious people, and we talked. Kev was very interested in Will's and my sustainability project. Since her office is in the same building, we discussed devoting attention to sharing some of the sustainability checklist details, such as a now-community bicycle closet, office supply re-use room, and shared resources and facilities, among others. Kev checked with the rest of her remotely working team, and they agreed that joining our certification effort would not present too much hardship for CIMES. Will, Kev and I became a working team over the next few months.

By March 2021, we'd begun also working with colleagues of Will's and Kev's, and invited Daynah Blake with the RIDER Center and Amy Finley with CIMES to join the Sustainable Green Team.

We met with Laurelin Haas with Sustainable Campus a few times, to make sure they knew what we were doing, and to ask her questions about our plans and progress. She invited us to attend her office's pilot green office training program, which could then serve as one of our innovation points, and we did so. We were especially curious whether we could as a group working in the same building share sustainability initiatives as previously noted. Yes, was the answer, and since we were the only departments in the building, we would then have a green office building upon certification. Laurelin enthusiastically observed that we had formed quite the sustainable green team, and so we thank Laurelin Haas for the origin of the name of the FSU Sustainable Green Team (SGT).

The green office certified building became our team's second innovation point for 2021 certification. RCC had only satisfied three of five available innovation points in 2019, so we wanted to attend to all five in 2021. One afternoon while driving back to the office from a luncheon, my mind wandered to trying to answer: What's the biggest sustainability or recycling problem we could solve? Then I thought of the ubiquitous photos we see of wildlife caught in plastic six-pack can rings.

I first checked FSU's website, and discovered that not only do we not recycle plastic of any kind besides bottles, but also, Sustainable Campus advises everyone to "Take your plastic bags with you to the grocery store! to be recycled. I called local waste facilities and learned that both the City of Tallahassee and Marpan Recycling recycles all plastic, including can rings. Unfortunately, the former facility would be no different from advising people to bring their can rings to the grocery store, and the latter imposes charges for recycling plastic.

After a half-dozen false leads on the internet, I found RingRecycleMe, headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, with an actual recycling facility in Waller, Texas. They allow anyone to print a free USPS shipping label, stuff as many can rings into a package as will fit, apply the label, and ship the rings off to actually be recycled. The team was ecstatic, as we've all seen the horrific images. We decided that each of our organizations would begin collecting plastic six-pack can rings. In May 2021, we used discarded cardboard boxes, and attached the appalling environmental impact image to one side, and notification about our team's newly coined "Bring the Rings" campaign on the other. After the evening trash collectors threw our first one away, we added "THIS IS NOT TRASH" signs. We put one in each of our offices' common areas.

We told our colleagues and friends about our recycling program, because we were so happy to be making a difference. Many lamented the efforts to which they already strove to cut up their plastic can rings before throwing them into the trash. We gave them collection boxes or told them to give or send the rings to us directly. Campus Mail allows staff to send mail for free, so all employees had to do was stuff them into an envelope and address them to the Sustainable Green Team at my Mail Code. We began a spreadsheet and listserv to manage our program, and at this date have 22 entities and organizations saving can rings for us for recycling. A local pizza establishment we habituate heard about our program and saves can rings for us for recycling. A quarterly service vendor brings his to the data center from Jacksonville, and some of our data center customers also bring the rings to us.

Our Bring the Rings campaign served as our third innovation point. We began appending a postscript with a link to the program in outgoing emails to serve as our fourth innovation point. We opened the formerly RCC bicycle closet to all building residents, to serve as our fifth innovation point.

In August 2021, FSU resumed normal operations, and we all became busier, and personally engaged with others. On October 9, I was offered leadership of the department's green team. I inquired about possibility of advancement or salary increase for such a role, and was disadvised of that, and declined.

In late August, our new department chief joined our team's staff meeting and met everyone. When my turn came to say what I was working on, I was very proud to announce that my team had implemented a ground-breaking recycling program at FSU, to actually recycle plastic six-pack can rings for the first time. "I heard that was an urban legend," precipitated my stunned silence. That afternoon, I went out of my way to visit a couple ring collection partners and round up all the can rings we'd collected since May and brought them to the post office for a receipt on Monday, August 30.

On October 12, 2021, I attended a 3-day Virtual #GCSHE Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education.

On October 25, 2021, CIMES, RIDER Center and RCC were all certified Gold, and Sliger became FSU's first-ever green office-certified building. The Sustainable Green Team's inaugural project was complete. RCC increased its score upon renewal to 96%. I wished we could have satisfied one particular sustainability initiative, "The office engages in office walking challenges or other fitness challenges to encourage employee activity," and decided to find a way to address that by our next certification renewal.

In December 2021, we began planning the Renovations and Resilience open house event, with all the residents in Sliger Building. We invited FSU Sustainable Campus, and Sustainable Tallahassee, and we all contributed content to a publicly playing PowerPoint demonstration during the event, to showcase all that our extremely diverse organizations do for FSU and the community. On March 24 at the event, I introduced and demonstrated our new recycling program, and then took a boxful of plastic drink can rings to the US Post Office to ship off to be recycled.

In January 2022, I worked with Britney White in Facilities to publish our ring recycling program info on (6) 55-inch screens at Mendenhall A and B, EH&S at Carothers and Recycling Building 1 on Crate Drive.

We began applying management concepts I learned in graduate school to Sustainability. Will and the RIDER Center began hosting our team's webpage, so I asked Will to create our team a logo. Its green letters "S.G.T." and shield shape symbolizes the team's green efforts and concern for protection of the environment. While we realize that plastic can rings come in many different enclosed quantities, six-pack rings seem to be most seen, and the team strives to allow zero of these to reach landfills, hence "0/6." The team worked together to create and adopt a mission statement, "We strive to promote socially and environmentally sustainable practices by empowering individuals to make the right choices."

I began thinking about other Sustainability and recycling opportunities as time permitted.

On May 3, 2022, Will and I visited the Leon County Transfer Station, to see exactly where all of our trash goes after it's been picked up. Director Calvin Holton showed us around. We watched dump trucks empty their contents and heavy moving equipment separate the yard waste from it before loading it all into semi-trucks to be transported 60 miles away to the landfill at Campbelltown, Florida. We hope to visit that facility someday, too.

I was feeling great about our team's accomplishments, and on May 4, 2022, provided my supervisor with a list of all my Sustainability achievements, and stated, "I have far exceeded responsibilities and expectations, and request a promotion and salary increase." A few days later, I received a personal visit, and was told my request was impossible, because "We pay you too much already," and that every other employee in my position deserved a raise before me, regardless of anything I did or do.

Florida TaxWatch was founded in 1982 by Winn-Dixie Chairman J.E. Davis, T. Wayne Davis, Publix Super Markets founder George Jenkins and President Mark Hollis, and Florida State Senator Phil Lewis and Florida State Senator Ken Plante. They began offering Davis Productivity Awards to State of Florida agencies and employees in 1989. On November 1, 2022, the Sustainable Green Team received a Florida TaxWatch Award for our green office-certified building and plastic can ring recycling program. I earned another 2022 Florida TaxWatch award, for renegotiating a maintenance support contract with a vendor, and saving the University money.

One August morning while driving to work, I saw a couple of the City's blue Adopt-A-Street signs with organizational names responsible litter patrol for those sections of roads. I thought it might be a great sustainability activity, and realized it presented us with an opportunity to get out of the office once in a while and also allow us to engage "in office walking challenges or other fitness challenges to encourage employee activity," and satisfy the sustainability initiative we'd wanted to do last October. The rest of the team thought this was great. On October 13, we completed our first trash pickup, which we are obligated to do and submit a report quarterly. We invite members of the team's listserv to participate, and have engaged in the activity ever since, most recently on October 26, 2023. Each time, we share a photo including us standing in front of our "FSU Green Team" City of Tallahassee sign.

By the beginning of the 2022 fall semester, we began aggressively trying to prevent any waste from reaching the dumpster in the parking lot, and then being taken to the landfill. We used a spreadsheet to list every type of waste that the data center was producing. Then we methodically developed a waste recovery procedure for each item, identifying steps taken and engaging a destination partner at the end to receive the materials. For example, when our data center customers bring and install equipment in the data center, in addition to the cardboard, plastic and/or Styrofoam they discard, they also amass and usually leave behind miscellaneous hardware, installation-specific tools, and fastening equipment. Fortunately, we never seemed to throw any of that away, because the local Habitat for Humanity often calls for donation of similar materials for their home-building projects. They are very grateful for the gallon or two of miscellaneous small hardware and tools we occasionally donate, and we're always sure to get a receipt, from them and all the other recycle/upcycle partner relationships we've developed, locally and elsewhere.

When learning in September 2022 that Happy Motoring suddenly closed and the venue was no longer available for Sustainable Tallahassee's October World Sustainability Day event, I called around seeking other opportunities. Thanks to Jacob Fortunas with the City of Tallahassee, Will and I hosted a table at the E-Bike Expo downtown Tallahassee on October 26 and spoke to attendees about the team’s initiatives.

In September 2022, I published Sustainability Training for new RCC employees, to satisfy an unaddressed 2019 sustainability initiative, "New employee orientation includes information about the University’s recycling programs as well as the office’s sustainability practices."

By September 2022. we had identified a waste distribution channel for most forms of waste produced by the data center and realized that we had begun to support a materials recovery facility to support our efforts and decided that our operations were mature enough to begin telling the community about what we do.

That September, we began publishing a quarterly Greenletter newsletter hosted at the RIDER Center's website, to all our recycling partners and advocates with whom we've worked, to ensure some longevity to our deeds. We announced the waste processing streams we were then processing, and our materials recovery facility that handles sixteen listed waste recovery streams with nine program partners in the United States and invited the readers to contribute waste to our initiative. We listed our services provided. Since we were finishing up three of our four green office certifications, we felt confident about our ability to help colleagues and listed "Green Office Certification Advising." We listed "Materials Recovery," due to our efforts above; "Freight Weight Estimation," because we have an accurate scale up to 150 pounds, to save an initial trip to the post office. Finally, because we inherited a large shredder, we will shred secure documents by appointment. Since our first edition, we began recognizing an Upcycle and a Recycle Partner of the Quarter in each publication.

On November 22, 2022, I brought two gallons of hardware and tools to Christopher Davis at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, and also met Michelle Register who works there, and as I later discovered, also at the Learning Pavilion in Tallahassee. In February 2023, we received an email from Ivory Miller at the Learning Pavilion, inviting us to speak to their pre-school classes about recycling. On March 16, Will and I spoke to 60 pre-school children about their and our recycling efforts as part of their Reduce, Reuse and Recycle educational unit, and told them we'd be happy to return next year.

We had so much fun talking to the kids, that we began looking for other speaking opportunities, to engage the community and talk about what we were doing and spread the word about responsible recycling, and how easy introducing sustainable concepts in the workplace could be. In February 2023, I submitted an abstract for "Sustainable IT and the Zero-Waste Data Center" to the Florida Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Offices (FACRAO). It was approved and I made the presentation on June 6 at their annual conference at the Florida Hotel in Orlando. On September 25, Daynah Blake, Nicole Blanchard and I presented "Our Green Office and Zero-Waste Workplace" at Oyster City Brewing Company, and Information Technology Services provided the pizza.

By Thanksgiving 2022, most waste items were no longer going out to the dumpster. Plastic and expanded polystyrene foam, also known as Styrofoam (TM), presented the tallest of our hurdles. Although Styrofoam is extremely light, it's also annoyingly bulky, and we had no confirmed one-size-fits-all material recovery stream for it. Then I remembered that FSU advises us to take our plastic to the grocery store, and realized we could probably find a creative way to deal with it. We used to have seven cylindrical barrel-shaped wheeled trash cans in the data center, until pitching all but two. We now have one for plastic waste processing efforts, and one for everything else, that we pick through and send its contents through our waste management channels. We accepted and learned to live with the directive to take our plastic to the grocery store. Publix is on my way to and from work, and I drop by at least 2-3 times a week on normal occasions, and it's not out of my way if I have a couple Publix shopping bags filled with miscellaneous plastic items for recycling/ Publix also has a foam recycling bin that we use for small quantities of Styrofoam. Team members' individual initiatives have addressed the larger volume. Whenever possible, we bring larger pieces of Styrofoam home, to our residential recycling bins, that the City of Tallahassee will pick up and recycle. For even larger quantities, we will pack up a van and drive six miles to Marpan Recycling, with whom we've established a relationship.

At the other end of the spectrum were the shards of linoleum floor tiling that the data center's Roomba (automated circular vacuuming machine) occasionally dislodges. The results of my internet searches for responsible disposal can be summarized as, "Great news - you can toss linoleum into the landfill with no adverse environmental effects." This was unsatisfactory, as we had decided that we wanted nothing to go to the dumpster and landfill. Then I remembered passing by a flooring business on my way to regular monthly luncheons, and called J.R. at Capital Flooring Specialists, who told us he would be happy to accept and recycle our linoleum refuse. On May 9, 2023, we brought J.R. our first "load" of 94 linoleum pieces and received a receipt.

I maintain a ledger of every piece of waste we responsibly process. In all my talks and travels, I stress how important creativity is to Sustainability.

On January 12, I visited with the Godby High School Key Club, and talked about our initiatives and programs, and welcomed them as new can ring collection partners.

On Saturday, February 25, 2023, the team attended the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's annual Open House, and were delighted to meet its director, Dr. Greg Boebinger.

In April 2023, I visited with my friend Karl Filsinger and his family, and we talked about old times and their geocaching activities, and CITO, which I thought would also be a great Sustainability activity. For the uninitiated, around the turn of the millennium and advent of the modern Global Positioning System (GPS), families and friends have been engaging in world-wide treasure hunts for booty both tiny and large. Some host the caches, while others simply seek them using the appropriate app. Often the cache is a relatively small waterproof box with a physical visitor log and some trinkets inside. If visitors enjoy and would like to take any of the items, they are expected to leave others of equal or greater value behind.

Also in April, I thought Geocaching could serve the SGT in at least a couple ways including name recognition, and the team agreed. We have a beautiful park area enclosed by the circle on which our office building resided, with a Central Pond Trail surrounding a small fishpond. The global geocaching community encourages Spring and Fall "Cache In Trash Out" (CITO) events around local caches. We host the "SGT Green Guide Alpha Geocache" in Innovation Park. On National Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 16, the team hosted a CITO event, and picked up trash along the trail where our cache resides.

In May 2023, we'd begun to accumulate a good number of unused printer toner cartridges, and worked with Cartridge Forest to obtain a free shipping label for fifteen toner cartridges that otherwise would have gone to the landfill, that they rehomed, and in return provided us with certificates proclaiming that we'd been responsible for planting 30 trees, two for each toner cartridge, and saving 5.4 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.

On June 29, 2023, the team was interviewed by Kandace Blake with WTXL ABC 27, and shared their adverse experiences in crossing the railroad tracks at Mabry Road every day to go to and from work. We hoped that public exposure of problems with the uneven rail ties and danger of exposed spikes will expedite restorative action.

On June 30 and October 4, 2023, the team attended Innovation Hub's Summer and Fall Open House events. I particularly enjoy their electronics projects and 3D printing, and Innovation Hub is one of our can ring collection partners.

By July 2023, I felt we'd established enough of a community and accomplished enough to begin thanking and rewarding the people and organizations that have helped us. I taught myself to make Microsoft Word certificates, and designed and created a template to begin providing our advocates and partners "SGT Green Guide" certificates. I would have loved to call them Green Scouts but discovered that the second word's usage is heavily regulated and protected. We sent or gave them to all our ring recycling partners, and advocates in the community who have facilitated and furthered the team's objectives. Whenever possible, we publish their happy photos on social media. I administer the FSU Sustainable Green Team's Facebook page.

In August 2023, we added Dr. Dina Vyortkina with the FSU College of Education, Health and Human Sciences to the Sustainable Green Team.

In September 2023, the SGT began publishing a QR code to “Become a Green Guide,” to attract interest from other individuals, teams and organizations that share similar interests, so they may join in on the team’s activities, and contribute to the community.

On September 17, 2023, the team attended Sustainable Tallahassee's 2023 Tally Trash Challenge event.

On October 24, 2023, RCC submitted its Green Office Certification checklist to Sustainable Campus and its Gold status was renewed. The score increased to 98%, since addition of the trash pickup and Geocaching fitness challenges, and Sustainability training to RCC employee orientation.

On November 7, 2023, I hosted an SGT table at the 2023 Registered Student Organization's Get Involved Fair and spoke to new and returning Engineering students about what our team does.

On November 21, the team worked to film a RIDER Center public service announcement with Insight Studios Productions LLC Executive Director Gabriel Curtis.

On December 6, 2023, the FSU Sustainable Green Team will be awarded with one of only ten Florida TaxWatch Government Productivity Awards, for "Implemented a Zero-Waste Data Center Facility." FSU's only 2023 Florida TaxWatch award recognizes that from December 1, 2022 through October 20, 2023, the Sustainable Green Team responsibly recycled and rehomed an extensive list of items that would have otherwise been sent to the landfill.

Denouement

2023-04-23T11:59:00.008-07:00

In 2011, I published a story a week about my life for my progeny, which at that time did not yet include four great-grandchildren.

The history of the Association of Godby Graduates (AGG) founded in 2003 is told here, and many related stories are published here.

In 2004, when a Godby High School teacher who had been maintaining the alumni webpage retired, I was asked by AGG Director Manny Joanos to re-publish it at a Florida State University site, which I was able to do as an alum, and I continued to maintain it. Twelve years later, FSU discontinued its policy to allow alumni to use fsu.edu domain names, and I began privately financing its publication.

Since my 2006 induction into the AGG Hall of Fame, I felt compelled to seek out others worthy of such a distinction, and each Fall, successfully nominated at least one alum for Godby High School's greatest honor. The nomination process is formally documented at the AGG's by-laws, and I took great care to contact potential nominees a year in advance, to work closely with them to thoroughly document their lifetime achievements, as in many cases, I had never met them. I asked to attend the Hall of Fame selection committee meetings, because I wanted to personally present and discuss the individuals' qualifications, so there would be no doubt or mistake. It was always a very collaborative process, among alumni previously inducted, and the AGG's Executive Committee, as outlined in the by-laws. I never told anyone I attended or served on such a selection committee and did not wish to be known for doing so, since vividly remembering the archetypal sitcom dilemma where the protagonist is chosen to be a beauty contest judge, and all acquaintances suddenly become dear friends with an ideal candidate.

After posthumous inductions for three military alumni killed in action, Godby administration began dividing the floral arrangements used each year at graduation and alumni would deliver them to gravesites of the two that are locally interred. In 2021, Godby staff informed me that the students were more interested in honoring their newly departed classmates in this manner, and discontinued the process. I then began acquiring year- and Godby color-specific trinkets and delivering them to the gravesites on behalf of our alumni, and that class year, anyways. The third interred at Arlington has a local public event held in his honor every year, and I always tried to attend.

I was a late-comer to social media, and acquiesced after the insistence of my granddaughter, who at age 11 attended the first Hall of Fame Induction ceremony with me. In 2008, I discovered Godby High School was the only area high school without a Wikipedia page, and created one. I love to attend parties, and made myself available for the planning of our alma mater's reunions, and attended more than forty reunions. If a class was not already represented on Facebook, I often created its page, so that the 2,500 members of the AGG Facebook group could see it and class members could congregate.

I'm a photography enthusiast, and attended every reunion, Hall of Fame and alumni function I could, to take numerous photos, and make them available for free to all alumni at the AGG's website and Facebook page.

I served as the AGG's first president in 2003, and again in 2011 per by-laws, after serving as vice-president. In 2022, when Manny announced his immediate retirement and selected a successive Director, I agreed to serve as president, to facilitate a smooth transition.

Late in 2022, I submitted a Hall of Fame nomination for a graduate of my own class, after working with that person for months to learn about life details and recent activities. I was invited to the Hall of Fame selection meeting in January. I arrived a minute late, because I had to call Manny to be let inside, as I have not been provided with the new Director's phone number. Once inside I was told by the Director that the AGG is now interested in support by younger alumni, and escorted to a desk far away from Manny, and all seats faced front towards the Director. The lone chair next to me was soon filled by an alum who works at Godby. We were each provided with a thick sheaf of Hall of Fame nominations. The alum arrived, and after glancing at the documentation, said to the Director, "You told me to submit this nomination." The Director then instructed us to rank the nominations in order, and to publicly state our top choices. The Director had an associate, obviously well groomed in the expected proceedings at hand, who handled many arrangements during the meeting. The Director informed us which {other} nomination had been the Director's. After this exercise, we were told to turn in our papers. I objected, saying, "I made personal notations on these in pen, and don't think I can erase them." The Director allowed me to keep the papers.

The meeting was promptly concluded, and I walked over to the Director, sat down and said I wanted to talk for a few minutes. The Director quickly rose and told me that the Director didn't have time, and began walking to the exit door with the associate. I followed and walked fast to keep up, and brought both to an immediate halt by saying, "I think the AGG should elect a vice-president, because per the by-laws they will become president after the current one." The Director looked at me, and said, "Repeat that," which I did, seemingly for the associate's benefit. Both strode off without saying anything further.

I was then excluded from all further discussion, preparation and planning for the AGG Hall of Fame Banquet on March 31, 2023.

Five weeks before the event, the Director published an image to the AGG Facebook group with the list of inductees, and details of the upcoming Hall of Fame event, and did not answer a response from an inductee who usually attends, who asked how to make a contribution. Five days before the Hall of Fame Banquet, I happened to chance upon the link to use to purchase tickets to the event, and published it to the Facebook group, as well as to the Facebook groups for the class members who were being inducted. I emailed the Director and expressed my embarrassment at having to simply discover the link to facilitate ticket purchase so close to the event, and also inconveniencing the 2,500 other alumni.

I received an I'm sorry if you were embarrassed reply, as of course it was not the Director's intention to embarrass me, but the Director will be excluding me from some things, though that had not been the norm, and asked for my trust.

At the event, I discovered a professional photographer had been engaged, though I have only ever seen 5-6 photos. Presumably, the others are available for sale at some location using information that has not been disclosed to me or 2,500 alumni. The Director did not speak to me that evening, or mention any AGG title besides that of the Director, and with one exception, did not allow my name to be publicly spoken. My nominee in acceptance thanked "all the people who nominated me." Near the end of the event, the Director thanked all the people who served on the selection committee and said, "Raise your hand when I call your name: Mitch Gans, {et al by name}."

I realized at that time I could not continue to serve as president of the AGG in that fashion, and at once removed myself from officers posted to the alumni Facebook group and website. On Monday morning, I asked Godby's webmaster to do the same.

I conduct business openly, and will not tolerate or be a party to bigotry, bullying or exclusion of others.

Best wishes to all Godby alumni.

"Collaboration, not condescension" -- Nancy Pelosi

"Trust is not a request, Trust is earned." — Jeffrey Gitomer

2021-04-21T10:58:00.005-07:00

Winning Travel Tips

Air Travel

In the airport

Hop on a courtesy tram as it goes by -- if going your direction.

On board

Ask for airline cards and wings -- and they'll laugh at you.

Delta gave out the last of theirs in the 1990's.

If travelling for pleasure, take your time finding just the right overhead compartment.
Unless your flight ticket specifies MEAL, bring food.
Wear a parachute -- ask to have it checked as baggage when they take it from you.
Be among the last to leave -- look for souvenirs.
Never steal the life preserver from under your OWN seat.

Lodging

If you've chosen to stay at a decent hotel, they have sewing kits at the front desk. Ask for one.
Hotel towels -- have your personal towels seen better days?

Take inventory of what towels are in your room.
Note how many are missing, and ask for them.
Leave initial inventory behind when departing.

Still need LED lighting at home?

Bring dead standard A19 incandescent bulbs. After last day's cleaning service, exchange them with your room's bulbs. While checking out, remark that lighting was substandard in your room.

If you really like the room's ice cube holder, immediately report it missing, as it's very important to have one in your room. Leave that one in your room.
Double-A and triple-A batteries cost at least a dollar apiece these days, If you're willing to wait a couple hours after arrival, is it no wonder there aren't any in your remote control? Pressing 0 on the hotel phone still usually reaches the front desk.
Complimentary hotel dining room breakfasts end on time. If you ate yours at 7 am and breakfast lasts until 9 am, be sure to return for that last cup of orange juice, hot chocolate or coffee. Bring breakfast to your room, if in need of dishes or silverware.
Bibles are rarely found in hotel rooms anymore. The Holy Bible is the most commonly stolen book.
Lobby and hallway cameras are everywhere -- refrain from moving DO NOT DISTURB signs.
It's ok to eat from trays left outside rooms, why care about cameras at this point?
If kitchenette glassware is really better than yours, be sure there is evidence of broken glass for any that was in your room.
"Lather, rinse and repeat" on the shampoo bottle necessitates quick usage of room toiletries. Ensure that they are replaced daily.
Visit an unattended service cart to address other room deficiencies such as pens/notepads, soap, toilet paper, or chocolates. Leave the wheels. Don't expect to find incendiary matches.
Tip service staff appropriately. If you've managed to keep them out of your room except to address important deficiencies you've reported, make it worth both your while.

At Sea

Meet the Captain, have a photo taken with him or her. Remember Capt. Francesco Schettino.
If you don't imbibe alcohol, purchase your duty-free limit and re-sell it to friends and neighbors.

If you drink, save your money. You'll need it for your own cocktails.

Ship casinos are closed while in port.

Other

Televisions are bolted down for a reason.
Delivery and caller ID services are now ubiquitous -- don't make prank delivery calls, even while away from home.
Resorts are huge. Since you keep track of must-have toys and model numbers from Christmas, visit their Lost and Found department and lament your specific loss.

All Our Yesterdays

2019-05-07T14:28:00.004-07:00

An initiative began earlier this year by the Class of 1981 will bring all Godby High School's yearbooks' content to public view for free.

On January 18, 2019, Phyllis Goodman Williamson forwarded me an email sent by Leon High School's principal to their students' parents, telling them that Leon had partnered with FSU Libraries to scan in all their yearbooks and other historical documents, which were then newly available for public viewing. Phyllis suggested that perhaps they could also do Godby's.

I made several phone calls, and spoke with personnel at Leon High School and then FSU Libraries Digital Archivist Krystal Thomas. I introduced myself and connection with Godby, and told her that although we don't have Faye Dunaway, we are a young school with only fifty graduating classes, and asked whether FSU Libraries would be interested in undertaking a scanning project of all our school's yearbooks.

A week later, Krystal confirmed that FSU Libraries would be happy to scan in all our yearbooks. In late February, we met with Godby Principal Desmond Cole, and received his approval.

Over the next two months, I determined which yearbooks were not already at Godby, and made arrangements with several alumni to temporarily provide us with those issues.

I have just returned from meeting with Mr. Cole, Ms. Thomas, and Ms. Jennifer Fain, and the scanning project has officially begun. Every page of every yearbook will be made available for free public viewing, well before our upcoming all-inclusive first 50-year reunion in early June 2020.

We will make an announcement in Summer when all images are available.

Godby Yearbook Project Team

L to R: Ms. Jennifer Fain, Principal Desmond Cole, Mitch Gans, Ms. Krystal Thomas

Many thanks to all who collaborated on this effort

Phyllis Goodman Williamson (1981) for bringing Leon's project to our attention

FSU Libraries Digital Archivists Krystal Thomas and Jennifer Fain

Godby High School Principal Desmond Cole

Marsha Wilson Long (1971), Karen Albritton (1973), Carol Marchant (1976), Donna Bruce Longfellow (1986), Jim Reilly (1988), and Jacklyn Burkett (1997), for loaning us their yearbooks to be scanned

July 17, 2019: All Godby yearbooks 1969-2018 are now available for free public viewing here.

Your First Class Reunion

2018-03-15T12:13:00.006-07:00

Hopefully, it's been only eight or nine years since you suited up to receive a blank High School diploma to be mailed later -- if you behaved yourself in late May and June.

If you're already a few months away from ten years, the following still applies, but often in an abbreviated, rarely unhurried fashion.

The Reunion Planning Committee: The group of classmates entrusted to periodically meet and make general plans and decisions on behalf of the class, not to include a large subset of the class, as progress attained is inversely proportional to the size of the group. An odd number of committee members is most conducive to resolving debates.

At least one, and as many as possible of the committee members should be local and available to meet on a regular basis, and provide progress updates to the class.

These minimum, not necessarily mutually exclusive roles should be established at the first committee meeting: Chair, Treasurer, and Public Relations.

The Chair is more than a figurehead, as most public announcements require that a contact person be specified, and venue contracts necessitate a responsible signature.

A Treasurer when activated, is responsible for receiving attendees' fees and making payments to service providers, as well as providing complete periodic financial reports. The Treasurer is expected to know Treasury Balance and Guest Count at all times. Assets = Liabilities + Capital is a most useful equation.

A class that schedules only pay-as-you-go events will likely not need a formal Treasurer. This more often occurs when an expected guest count cannot be easily determined, or when there remains too little time to collect fees and/or make deposits to secure venues.

If setting up a class bank account for the reunion, consider that there may be associated account maintenance fees and restrictions, and you will likely need to acquire and provide a federal Electronic Identification (EID) Number.

Many class Treasurers use their personal bank accounts for financial transactions for the reunion.

Decide if you will accept electronic payment of fees, and if so, set up a secure website to facilitate payments. If accepting checks by mail, determine the payee's name and address.

If collecting fees for the event, consider that planning committee members should be among the first to pay, to not only promote confidence in the venture, but also accumulate capital for deposits to secure venue and entertainment.

Will you allow family members, friends and acquaintances? If collecting money, the more the merrier, and more likely you are to surpass any minimum attendance requirements.

When all this information is known, prepare a reunion announcement flyer in PDF format to be published to the class community.

The person with the Public Relations role is responsible for providing announcement content to classmates, community events calendars, school and alumni websites, and social media.

Sub-committees may eventually be formed to recommend potential reunion dates, venues, entertainment, menu selection, and for event planning and decorations.

Meet as soon as possible for the first time with an agenda to establish roles, prospective dates and venues, assign tasks, and agree to the next meeting date before adjourning. Exchange contact information.

Popular reunion event ideas include a casual Meet and Greet event on either the Thursday or Friday before the main reunion, and a Saturday family event.

Consider alternative dietary requirements of the guests. Vegetarian and gluten-free menu options are frequently requested.

First class reunions are most often held in the summer months, to accommodate public school schedules of families with small children.

A Few General Ideas

Actively look for "missing" classmates. Scan in the Senior photo pages from the Yearbook and the Commencement list as included in the program at Graduation, and use them to locate classmates.

Recognize and honor the deceased. At my class reunions, a representative recites the names of the departed and lights a memorial candle in their honor.

Wild, public, open-ended questions regarding reunion preferences will encourage discussion to meander and continue far past any time by which you intended to make a decision. People will respond to that thread long afterwards, having just read the question for the first time.

Consider having donated door prizes that will travel well awarded in hourly drawings to keep classmates in attendance throughout the evening. I personally keep a roll of double-raffle tickets for these occasions.

Name tags can be as simple as purchasing "Hello My Name is...." tags and providing self-serve markers, or the technically inclined have printed yearbook photos with names on pinnable name tags.

Promote early payment of fees by having the fees increase over time. Advertise an early-bird discount, or a small discount for couples or families, and be prepared to add a premium cost for those who decide to attend at the last minute. Some come to a public Meet and Greet event and decide that they'd like to attend the main event after all. You've likely had to have already supplied an accurate guest count to the caterers by that time, so in general, you want to discourage too many late payments. Fortunately, most professional caterers will also build a cushion into their provisioning planning.

Some early respondents suggest a Reunion Cruise. Great idea, let a travel agent handle all the planning and collection of money, and everyone sails away together! Lots leap at the prospect until they discover they have to fork over a $50 deposit several months in advance, and then will have to come up with more than $500 per person to attend.

There have been five highly successful Godby alumni reunion cruises, but they have always been open to all class years, and I have sailed on four of them. The Class of 1974 has invited all Godby graduates, family and friends to join them on a three-day cruise to the Bahamas in April 2019.

Enlist volunteers to serve as Designated Drivers. I attended a class reunion Meet and Greet event in 2012, and one of the graduates didn't make it home alive. The next evening's main event began very somberly.

Some area hotels will provide a reunion discount, but be wary of establishments that require a deposit or a hold on someone's credit card to do so en masse.

Proper planning will prevent budget deficits, but there may be a surplus beyond what is relegated to event costs. Some classes will provide each attendee with a complimentary drink ticket to reduce the surplus, while surpluses may not be known until some guests remit cash fees the evening of the main event. Some choose a responsible person to hold onto the money for another five to ten years. Others have donated surfeit funds to the Association of Godby Graduates Legacy Scholarship Fund towards future education of Godby graduates.

What the Association of Godby Graduates (AGG) Can Do for You

The Association of Godby Graduates (AGG) is an academic booster club founded by Godby graduates in 2003 to foster, recognize and reward academic excellence and lifetime achievement. Each year, we host an annual alumni Hall of Fame Induction Banquet at the Godby Media Center, Friday evening before the annual Springtime Tallahassee Parade, and all proceeds benefit the AGG Legacy Scholarship Fund. We have given away more than $80,000 so that Godby alumni can further their educations. We facilitate class reunions.

The AGG has a database of contact email addresses for each class as provided to us by alumni at one time or another, and can give them to reunion planners. As graduates who supplied those email addresses would have had to update us whenever their contact info changes, you can expect to experience some undeliverable emails.

We will publish your reunion event at our alumni website and Facebook group which has more than 2,000 members.

I am happy to attend reunion planning meetings as possible, serve as volunteer photographer for the reunion events, make digital photos publicly available for free, and to pay the same fees as the other attendees. All I ask is for a few minutes at the main reunion event to talk about our alumni organization.

Please refer any other related questions you may have to me.

Mitch

Mitch Gans graduated from Godby High School, is one of the founding members of the Association of Godby Graduates (AGG), and has served to plan and attend forty Godby High School class reunions.

Why I Wear My Hat

2016-07-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Why I Wear My Hat

For my Great-Aunt Gus*, 97, who emailed and asked me last Thursday

By early 1981, I had participated in two Springtime Tallahassee parades with the Godby High School Drama Club since my family's arrival to town on September 1, 1978. The Godby Drama Club was welcome to walk behind the Godby Cougar Marching Band in the Springtime Tallahassee parades.

In 1981, the date of the annual Thespian Festival in Jacksonville, Florida coincided with the weekend of Springtime Tallahassee. I was one of a few who could not attend due to other commitments, and received approval from the Drama Club to march with the parade in their stead.

In the last few days before the parade, My First Halloween buddies and I, along with the Godby Wargames Club, my late brother Mike, and sundry friends, built a boat from wood, cardboard and an old baby carriage, and called it a float. I visited the Magic and Fun Costume Shop in Tallahassee and purchased a Captain's hat for $3.09. At parade time, we perched a cockatiel in a cage at its prow, and we alternatingly pushed and pulled it through the 1.1 mile parade route to the delight and astonishment of many thousands.

If we gave our boat float a name, it eludes me after all these years. No photos to my knowledge still exist, but there were at least seven of us involved in that crazy outing, and my wildest parade experiences were still several years away.

We didn't save the boat, and I didn't remember saving the hat until shortly before preparing for a move across town in Spring of 1990, when I noticed it in a box of costume paraphernalia that had not been unpacked since several moves earlier. I made major changes in my life beginning with that move, and completely forgot about the hat again for two more years.

In my early years in Tallahassee, I often enjoyed playing volleyball at Tom Brown Park on the weekends during high school, and then much less frequently after graduation. In Spring of 1992, I heard about Tallahassee Community College's annual Student/Faculty Day festivities including volleyball, and attended.

I ate a burger for lunch and played volleyball all afternoon. I hadn't played so much volleyball at one time in several years, and loved every moment of it.

Until later, when I stepped in the shower and realized I'd sunburned my head.

I wouldn't begin regularly playing softball for another year. I had just moved a few weeks before, and knew where my captain's hat was. It was the only hat I owned. I immediately needed a prophylactic for my head, and the hat seemed to agree with and please me.

Since then, and now more than twenty years later, unless I am playing softball, sleeping or swimming, I am generally wearing the hat. I've been going to the Magic and Fun Costume Shop for my specialty costume needs since they opened in 1979, and continued to purchase my captain's hats there until the owner retired and closed the shop in 2018. I consume two or three a year depending upon my activities, and keep a pristine dress hat for special occasions, and use the more worn ones for painting, yard work and the like before their eventual disposition,

On rare occasions, I will encounter someone else wearing the same style hat, and have had much success in asking these individuals to pose for a photo with me. I have a "Captains" Facebook photo album with these and photos with other Captains I've met. I especially enjoy wearing my hat on cruises, and with Halloween costumes that are complemented by it.

Halloween 2011

* Great-Aunt Gus is my grandfather's sister Augusta, who married my grandmother's brother Elmer.

* Great-Aunt Gus passed away at 100, on January 27, 2020.

Godby High School Reunion Designated Driver Program

2013-07-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

Association of Godby Graduates (AGG) President Roger Day and I attend as many class reunions as we can each year to help with the reunions in any way we can, and to talk about our alumni organization.

It was at the Friday night social at the downtown Tallahassee Center for the Class of 1982 last year that I met one of the reunion attendees for the first time, and no one would see him alive again after the party. Saturday's main reunion event began quite somberly the next day, and shortly afterward, I began hearing from many people who wished that they had been there to provide a safe ride home.

This year, we began the Reunion Designated Driver Program. Alumni volunteers from various class years, not at all necessarily from each particular reunion year, stand ready throughout the evening in case they are needed to guarantee a safe ride home to those who need it.

We are not a taxi service, and we are not there for people who intend to party heartily and then get a free ride home. We serve to ensure that a preventable tragedy associated with Godby High School and its precious alumni does not happen to someone who should have limited their consumption earlier in the evening. We also hope to serve as a deterrent to those who do not wish to unduly impose on their fellow alumni because of their own irresponsible drinking.

It is with that last hour or so of the reunion event evening we are most concerned, because responsible partiers typically make arrangements with sober drivers or public transportation earlier. We recognize that the time could have slipped by or taxi service might be less accessible later in the evening, so we stand by to prevent the worst of occurrences.

Whenever we can, we encourage planners to make their class reunions as inclusive as possible, because the Designated Driver Program does not discriminate against dissimilar graduation years, and neither do we.

Thanks to all who have volunteered to be reunion designated drivers. Your service is greatly appreciated by the Association of Godby Graduates and Family.

Roger Day, Class of 1980

Mitch Gans, Class of 1981

Mitch Gans, Roger Day at the Class of 1983 Reunion, July 20, 2013

Summer: Save the Children

2013-06-11T16:21:00.001-07:00

Summer has been my favorite season since I was 13.

When I was 12 and living in New Jersey, my parents sent me away from home for the first time, to be the youngest kid in a summer camp for twelve- to eighteen-year-olds -- for a month. That miserable summer is the one against which all my summers have been compared, and every other summer topped the one I spent away from family and friends in Minnesota.

That summer's experience was not without some benefits realized many years later. I played softball one afternoon at camp, and a couple of years ago, I reconnected with Brian, the only friend I made that summer.

With the exception of one summer in high school when I took Physical Education and had the time of my life swimming and playing dodge ball and softball with Keith, Kelly, Eric, Rob, Carla and others, summer meant freedom from school and many responsibilities, and afforded more hours of daylight to enjoy each and every day. Summer gets hot where I live, and I still play softball in it. Season 21 begins tomorrow.

Every summer, we read about three or four kids whose lives are ended in a hot car while negligent parents and caregivers conduct their business elsewhere. I have noticed that never more than a few such stories make the major news publications every year, and I was curious as to how often this actually happens.

There have been ten child heatstroke deaths in vehicles in America in the past month, with an average of 38 such deaths per year for the past 15 years.*

Why aren't these events reported more frequently?

Would many continue to subscribe to news media that feature a child dying in a hot car every three days?

Even if the Fourth Estate isn't willing to report it, perhaps enough of us can prevent it from happening.

* "Heatstroke Deaths of Children in Vehicles", Department of Geosciences, SFSU

Silver Anniversary 2013

2013-03-26T05:24:00.001-07:00

All that I am and hold dear are largely the result of this photo twenty-five years ago today:

Dave the Cat, Sen. Bob Graham and Mitch lead the 1988 Springtime Tallahassee Parade

Photo by Jamie Butcher

Story here

I found a courage inside myself I had not known before that inspired me to do many things.

Today, we are March on the 2013 Leon County Humane Society calendar.

I am very grateful to those who made it all possible and worthwhile:

Dave the Cat (1987-2004);
Dr. Hall and the Westwood Animal Hospital, Dave's lifelong healthcare provider;

My wife Donna, and my friend Charlie, who have always supported my endeavors;
My children, Heather and son-in-law Dave, and grandchildren, Alicia, Dylan, Gabriel and Caleb;

Jamie Butcher, The Photographer;
Karl Filsinger, for being there that day, and attending many of our parades;
Allison Davis and Kelly Rigsby, who brought me Tigger and Elliott;
Peter Holtmann, who brought me Dave the Cat;
Our biographers:
Julianne Hare, "Tallahassee: A Capital City History", 2002;
Jan Annino, "Florida's Famous Animals", 2008;
The Museum of Florida History, "Pets in America", 2008;
Springtime Tallahassee,
and the hundreds of thousands of people we met along the way.

Thank you.

Jasper: March 1999 - September 29, 2012

2012-10-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Jasper was the first kitten we acquired after the Fire. Since Dave the Cat had been the conflagration's only survivor, we intended for Jasper to be a companion kitty for Dave.

Donna and I answered an ad in the newspaper for a free kitten and only had to pick up a small orange and white tabby and then bring him to the vet. We called him Jasper because it was his traditional birthstone, and his eyes were green.

Heather brought us Clyde a few months later, who became Dave's buddy and did and still does all Dave did, except for riding a bicycle, and Clyde only leaves the property to see the vet. Clyde has probably spent at least as much time on my shoulders as Dave did, but indoors, and at his every opportunity.

Jasper was a well-mannered cat and lived with us for thirteen years before seriously beginning to lose weight, and so we took him to the vet, where tests confirmed a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, a common geriatric feline ailment. We were prescribed a pill a day for him for the duration of Jasper's life, which unfortunately was only another three months.

Jasper passed away on the way to the vet Saturday morning, in a topless short-sided cardboard box on the front passenger seat of my car while driving on Ocala Road. We made a slow turnaround toward home and I called the vet to let them know.

It was the first time I didn't have to do all the digging. Dylan did most of the excavation in the back yard, and Donna and all three of our grandsons, Dylan, Gabriel and Caleb, attended Jasper's final farewell.

Dr. Hall called to express condolences and we received a nice sympathy card from the Westwood Animal Hospital, where Dave always went.

Rest in peace, Jasper, and thanks.

Lighthouse for Sale

2012-09-10T10:33:00.008-07:00

OK, it's a Halloween costume, but it's an impressive adult-sized working lighthouse, and I've won more costume contests in it than with any other of my wild, personally crafted Halloween costumes.

In October 2000, I took my lighthouse to the Halloween party at Salty Dawg on North Monroe Street in Tallahassee, and it was immediately apparent I had brought the right costume to the right place at the right time.

I was the only one wearing a lighthouse, but lighthouses were all I saw. Prints on the wall, menus on the tables, and the blackboard outside with daily specials all had lighthouses on them.

The Salty Dawg's owner approached me shortly after we arrived and complimented me on my creation. She told me that she was especially fond of lighthouses and asked me how much money I wanted for mine.

Without even thinking, I replied, "A THOUSAND dollars."

I regretted saying the words even as they came out, and have no doubt that her derisive "Let me know when you have a serious figure," response saved my career.

As in My Grandmother's Pennies, I would have realized a windfall that would likely have ended any further personal Halloween costume aspirations. I would have been content with the lowball value I had assigned to my costume, and spent the next several years bragging about how much my Halloween costuming career had been worth.

I won the Salty Dawg's costume contest that evening, and all other contests I entered that Halloween. Before I suited up as the "Pinball Wizard" with pinball machine and wizard suit next Halloween, I had amassed well more than a thousand dollars' worth of prizes, and got to keep my Lighthouse.

I won several other costume contests with the Lighthouse over the years, including at the Two Nichols Family Restaurant in the very shadow of the St. Marks Lighthouse. I won in Monticello, Florida, and the Monticello News carried our story first across the top. I have done especially well at beach and coastal communities. I won first place at Schooner's Last Local Beach Club in Panama City Beach, and I know we would be a major attraction at any of the "Save the Lighthouse" efforts I occasionally read about.

It is my signature Halloween costume, no longer for sale.

As of 2015, my Lighthouse Costume, with all my other costumes, permanently resides at the Tallahassee Automobile Museum.

Brad Lewis and Emma Nutt Day

2012-09-01T07:19:00.005-07:00

Emma Mills Nutt became the world's first female telephone operator on September 1, 1878, when she began working at the Edwin Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Emma worked for at least thirty-three years until her death, and Emma's sister Stella was the world's second female telephone operator.

Many websites proclaim today to be Emma Nutt Day, although none can tell us when it first became a day of importance. Wikipedia cites other websites for its veracity.

One hundred years to the day after Emma Nutt began working for the telephone company, my family and I moved to Tallahassee, Florida from East Brunswick, New Jersey. I was born in Florida and have never regretted returning home.

Brad and I enjoyed many adventures during the years we worked together with Keith, Kal and Brent in the late 1980s, and we share a lifetime of memories and friendship. Brad's band the Engines that included Zollie and J.D. played at my 25th birthday party as told in Birthdays, and Brad inspired me to begin performing when he gave me my first of many gigs.

It's Brad's birthday.

Thank you, Brad, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Jethro

2012-08-21T04:41:00.002-07:00

Max Baer, Jr. played my favorite character "Jethro Bodine" on The Beverly Hillbillies television show for all 274 episodes. Jethro was known for being willing to undertake just about any career known at the time, and for his "bottomless pit" stomach. Jethro was always hungry.

In Spring 2006, a neutered adult orange-and-white tabby cat began coming by our house asking for food. He would rub against my palm and meow like our cats do when they think they are past due for dinner, and I readily brought him a share of theirs that evening, and most nights thereafter for a couple of months. He seemed to be in good shape, but was invariably hungry, so I called him Jethro.

Dave the Cat had been gone for two years. We had very recently acquired two dogs and fenced the yard, and had four other cats at the time, including an orange-and-white tabby named Jasper, but I was willing to accept Jethro as our outdoor cat, and he was very friendly to us.

It was when I took Jethro to the vet for vaccinations that I learned he belonged to someone else.

Since so many pets are now routinely implanted with identification chips, veterinarians commonly scan new patients, and in Jethro's case, determined that he had a registered human. Due to professional concern for private pet ownership, the vet could not treat Jethro, or tell me who belonged to him.

I sought help from the Leon County Humane Society and was then able to contact Jethro's person Michelle, who brought her two daughters by to pick up "Jinx". I had gotten the first letter of Jethro's name correct.

Michelle thanked me and said that Jinx had been missing for several months, and I told her that the last two had been spent with me, and that I had fed him well and given him treatments for fleas. Michelle insisted on paying me ten dollars for Jinx's incurred expenses. I said goodbye and they all drove away.

Jethro returned the next day.

I called the Humane Society and asked how transfer of ownership was done for a pet, and they advised me as to what wording to use for a signed statement by the former owner. I crafted such a statement with a blank for signature and sent it with a note to Michelle offering to continue to care for Jinx because he had returned so quickly. I enclosed a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a check for ten dollars.

Michelle's assent arrived a couple days later with my uncashed check and I became Jethro's person.

Jethro was one of the most loving cats I have known, good-natured to all, and he passed on six years later on May 16th, three months ago. I often mistakenly call Jasper "Jethro" and even the neighbors' orange-and-white tabby reminds me of Jethro.

Famous or not, they never quite really leave us. So long, Jethro.

Jethro at his favorite spot on the bird feeder

Election 2012: The Half Percent Solution

2012-08-16T05:06:00.002-07:00

"Sherlock Holmes is playing the bad guy!" is what I recall saying as a child when I first watched "The Adventures of Robin Hood" on black and white television.

I was an adult by the time I saw Robin Hood in color and learned that Basil Rathbone, despite losing two epic sword fights in the 1930s to Errol Flynn in "Captain Blood" and "Robin Hood", was the more experienced and better trained swordsman. I read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and watched many of Rathbone's cinematic portrayals of the famed detective, before eventually reading Holmes' 1976 return in "The Seven Percent Solution".

In 2002, Leon County Florida voters approved an additional half-percent sales tax for ten years, affectionately known as the "Half-Penny Sales Tax", to benefit Leon County Schools. In Leon County, Florida, the sales tax on all taxable goods is 7.5%, and the marginal .5% sales tax expires December 31, 2012.

Loss of tax revenue due to declining property values and the recent economic downturn have alarmed school officials, who decided not to pursue a quarter-millage increase in property taxes that would only affect homeowners, and are instead in favor of a continuation of the 7.5% sales tax, that would be paid by all residents, visitors and guests doing business in Leon County.

On November 6, Leon County voters are being given the option whether to renew the half-percent sales tax increase for another fifteen years. Leon County Schools employees are forbidden to directly ask for a vote to extend the additional sales tax. I have been a Leon County Schools volunteer for more than ten years, and will also not advocate a particular vote.

So that we may make an intelligent and informed decision at the 2012 general election, Godby High School Principal Shelly Bell has provided us with relevant sales tax facts and budgetary concerns in this presentation.

Please choose wisely!

Pro Fitness Competitor Jenny Worth Returns to Godby

2012-08-07T05:04:00.003-07:00

Association of Godby Graduates (AGG) Hall of Fame member Jenny Worth is coming to town from Long Beach, California to put on a fitness show at Godby High School.

On October 19 and 20, 2012, Jenny, with FitSpaceLive.com co-founder Jason Giardino from South Florida, are holding both national collegiate competitions, and competitions that are only open to Leon County residents. Local Leon County residents may also compete in the open division Tallahassee championships.

This event will be a qualifier for the 2013 Collegiate Nationals, and only the Top 3 from each class will qualify.

A scholarship donation will be presented to the school that the overall winners from each class attends.

Student or General admission begins at $20. Seats and registration are available here.

Jenny was once known as the youngest female professional bodybuilder, and has achieved titles including NPC Florida Fitness Champion, Ms. Florida and Ms. USA. Now, she and Jason train professional athletes and clients from all walks of life.

The AGG is an academic booster club founded by Godby graduates in 2003 to foster, recognize and reward lifetime community service and academic achievement, and to raise money for graduating Godby seniors.

The annual AGG Hall of Fame Induction Banquet is our primary fundraiser of the year, and all proceeds benefit the AGG Scholarship Fund. On March 9, 2007, Jenny attended as a guest of honor, along with Patti, Bob, Bart, Sharon, Chris, and Karen, and I met Jenny and her mom Sylvia for the first time.

Jenny is the first Godby graduate I nominated for the AGG Hall of Fame. Membership is based upon exemplifying the ideals and mission of the AGG, and Jenny continues to well represent her Alma Mater and the Association of Godby Graduates, and we are proud of her.

Photo by Mitch

Jeffro Ridner: 1954 - 2012

2012-07-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

I met Jeffro Ridner again at Godby High School's first fortieth reunion two years ago. His mom was a favorite teacher of mine while I attended Godby, and I told him so at that time. I have been working with his classmates since that reunion on the next 40th reunion, and was expecting to see Jeffro at his class reunion in a few weeks.

Jeffro is well-known among Tallahassee's bands, having played with many of them over the years. I was last on stage with him at the American Legion Hall in Tallahassee on December 31, 2002.

Jeffro passed away suddenly and unexpectedly of a stroke on July 8. I attended his Celebration of Life at the American Legion Hall on Sunday afternoon, July 29. I spoke with Mick beforehand about what I wanted to say, and was welcomed to do so shortly after the memorial part of the festivities began.

On behalf of the Association of Godby Graduates and his Class of 1972, I expressed condolences to his family and friends, and told everyone that Jeffro would be missed at his 40th class reunion at the Golden Eagle Country Club on Saturday evening, August 18. Acme Rythm and Blues then announced that they would be playing right there at the American Legion Hall in his honor Friday night before the reunion, August 17. That night sounds like a fun idea for any reunion attendees who are here in town the day before.

Others spoke of common experiences, and of Jeffro's kindness to his family and to all others in his life. His girlfriend with whom he had very recently reconciled after a thousand days apart, spoke of their love and close relationship with his extended family.

Then we were treated to a procession of Jeffro's bands, and I played "Love Shack" with Pure Platinum, with Jeffro's photos, tenor sax and hat on stage, and it was just like New Year's Eve again, on an early Sunday summer evening before dark at the American Legion Hall.

Jeffro's life touched a lot of others', and we were all happy to be there to remember him together where he had so often played for and with us.

Photo by Sandy Hopkins

Kristy Nolan Keen, Friend of the Godby Alumni Family

2012-07-25T08:13:00.004-07:00

Kristy Nolan Keen, 29, was diagnosed with stage 4 acute leukemia on May 3, 2012, and lives in Panama City Beach, Florida. Several within the Godby alumni community have assisted Kristy in establishing the The Kristy Nolan Leukemia Foundation, "A place where we can connect to share ideas, resources, prayers & anything we can to help Kristy through this battle!"

Kristy has a four-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son, and is expecting a bone marrow transplant in coming weeks. The Foundation is hosting a 5k Walk/Run benefit fundraiser for her at Frank Brown Park in Panama City Beach on Saturday, August 25, on Clara Avenue near Emerald Lake Drive. Registration begins at 7:30 am. The Fun Run starts at 8:00 am and 5k begins at 8:15 am, all Central Times. There will be a party afterward and a silent auction featuring, among other items, package deals from four resorts. Make a day of it if you would like to join Kristy's fight.

All event details and preregistration are here. Online registration is $10 for the Fun Run and $25 for the 5k. Registration for the 5k is $30 in person on the day of the race. All proceeds go to the Kristy Nolan Leukemia Foundation.

Whether or not you can attend the festivities, please visit Kristy's Journal if you would like to read about her struggle or contribute.

Thanks to Debbie Blackwood Crayton, Class of 1984, who serves on the Foundation's board of directors, and to Cathy Rolison, Class of 1983, for bringing this to our attention.

Best wishes to Kristy Nolan Keen and her family.

Deceased Godby High School Class of 1981 Alumni

2012-07-05T15:22:00.005-07:00

Condolences, best wishes to the families and friends of our deceased classmates.
We will not forget.

Roderick Barnes

Sheryl "Sherri" Dianne Blanton Hurst

Brenda Blount

Johnny Brown

Michael Brown

Reginald Brown

Charlene Clay

Marvin Clay

John Dennis Cogdill

Joel Emerson Collier

Timothy T. Collins

Andy Cooper

Jerry Deffenbaugh, Jr.

Ellino Henderson

Belinda Jackson Jones

Elizabeth Jackson Rhett

Shawna Kelly

Carla Madison

David McKee

John Merritt

Kelly Moore

Belinda Morris Strauss

Robin Newbon

Risa Paredes Lesinski

Larry Patterson

Lawrence Reddick

Richard William Singletary

Melody Regina Stanley-Jackson

Allen Whittington

Dave the Cat 2012

2012-06-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

Charlie, Peter, Allison, Kelly, Carla, and a few other people with whom I still converse remember Elliott, my first bicycle-riding cat. Many more constantly remind me of the almost seventeen years I spent with Dave the Cat.

Our story began with Tigger and Elliott in It Started With a Three-Legged Cat, and its current conclusion is recounted here. I state it that way particularly, because three times including this week since Dave's demise in 2004, I have been amazed by events in life that integrally included Dave and me.

We are Chapter 2 in "Florida's Famous Animals" by JG Annino, 2008, which was the second book to publish our story and photo. In 2002, Dave and I attended a book signing, because Julianne Hare put us on page 146 of "Tallahassee: A Capital City History", situated between two of my late personal acquaintances, "King Love" and Tim Simpkins, "Tallahassee's Super Hero".

Later in 2008, I brought my grandsons Dylan and Gabriel to the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee to see the "Pets in America" exhibit, also featuring "Dave: Tale of a Tallahassee Cat".

Two weeks ago, Lee and Vicki Norris passed the word to me that Quarter Moon Imports at Lake Ella was holding a pet photo contest for the next several days. I don't recall being more excited about the prospect of winning a contest since the days leading to October 1985, when I instinctively knew I had a good chance to win my second-ever Halloween costume contest, as the Big Choice Crane Game.

Quarter Moon had one day of in-person voting last Saturday, and I spent the day there outside, wearing my treasured Catman shirt, and showing passers-by Dave's memorable photos, and both books to win votes. It was a perfect day, almost cloudless with a breeze.

Quarter Moon was collecting pet food donations on behalf of the Leon County Humane Society, to be provided to low-income seniors to help them keep their pets in their homes. I brought several cans of cat food.

I visited with Matt at The Barber Shop next door and gave him a copy of "Florida's Famous Animals" inscribed by me, in appreciation for the twenty years he spent cutting my hair until I didn't have enough hair left to be worth our while.

I told as many people as I could that Dave and I needed their votes. Family, old and new friends, friends in New Jersey I hadn't seen in more than thirty years, former classmates and teachers, friends in Orlando, and Facebook friends across the world I will never meet were happy to vote for Dave and me.

On June 21, I attended Wendy's after-hours wine and cheese party at Quarter Moon and met her staff, and Sonja from Leon County Humane Society, on the last day of pet food donations, when the winner was to be announced.

Dave and I won first place by a comfortable margin.

Quarter Moon gave me a nice gift certificate, and has sponsored our entry in the Leon County Humane Society's pet photo contest in July.

Dave the Cat lives on through me, and I have been comforted through four decades with his physical and ethereal presence.

THANK YOU to all who made a couple of mouse clicks to help us win. In a few weeks, you will likely hear from us again for the next photo contest.

As I sign books,

Mitch and Dave the Cat

March 2013 conclusion is here.

Leon County Humane Society Facebook Photo Contest

2012-06-11T20:11:00.001-07:00

Please help Dave the Cat and me win the Facebook photo contest at Quarter Moon.

Click "Like" under the photo at this link.

Thanks!

September 2012: Conclusion added here.

Marty Sims' Class of 1981 Slideshows

2012-06-11T16:28:00.000-07:00

Marty and his family live in Texas now, but still occasionally come back to Tallahassee.

For a few years in high school, we spent a lot of time together at Drama Club events.

I have since had the privilege and pleasure to work with Marty on our last two class reunions.

These were created by Marty Sims for Godby's Class of 1981 and friends:
The Teachers
The Memories
The Drama
The Parties
The Cheers
The Sports

2012 AGG Hall of Fame and Springtime Tallahassee

2012-04-07T08:55:00.002-07:00

The seventh annual Association of Godby Graduates Hall of Fame Banquet was held Friday night, March 30th, for the second consecutive year on the eve of the annual Springtime Tallahassee Parade.

The Godby Air Force JROTC Color Guard presented the US and Florida flags.

We ate a chicken dinner, cooked by Manny Joanos and served by Mrs. Tatum and Godby's National Honor Society. Many of us arrived early and helped set up.

We honored:

Mrs. Mary Jean Curles Yon (1974), introduced by Janet Hinkle, Civic-Philanthropic Category, for her long-term service to the community and especially for her work with Audubon Florida and more than twenty years' direction of the Tallahassee Turkey Trot, which benefits the Shelter, Refuge House and the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Bend.

Ms. Kathy Miller Corder (1976), introduced by Gwendolyn Lynn, Educator Category, Leon County Schools Curriculum Services, former teacher at Lawton Chiles High School, 2006 Leon County Teacher of the Year, who now teaches teachers.

Mr. Todd Sperry (1978), introduced by Allen Nobles, Business Category, Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Renovations and Kimmel Development, 2010/11 Chairman of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, HGTV Dream House of 2003, leader of Sperry and Associates and Vice-President of Construction at St. Joe Company.

Dr. Shantanu Basu (1982), introduced by me, Professional Category, Department Chair/Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, Godby Valedictorian, for his academic achievement at Godby and afterward as a research scientist specializing in the study of star and planet formation.

Mrs. Debbie Orth Shearer (1982), introduced by Roger Day, Medical/Health Category, PGA Tour Management, a live kidney donor responsible for saving at least five lives through Alliance for Paired Donations, with "George's Chain of Life", named in dedication to her son who was an organ donor, but was unable to do so due to the tragic circumstances of his demise at 22.

Coach Darius Jones (1996), introduced by Manny Joanos, Sports/Athletics Category, Godby Guidance Counselor and Track Coach, decathlete, for his athletic achievement, and dedication to and coaching Godby students, five of whom to State championships.

Godby's longest serving principal, my friend Florida Senator Bill Montford, attended and spoke of Godby's beginning, and strong relationship between its faculty, students and especially parents. He told us that everyone is an expert on education, although some might not know anything about it, and asked us to please let him know of our ideas to improve education.

Leon County Schools Superintendent Jackie Pons spoke about how proud he is of our school system and Godby High School, and especially our alumni efforts.

Godby Principal Gillian Gregory talked about how she was new at Godby and she had previous Principal Jean Ferguson's big shoes to fill, and Principal Montford's shoulders to stand on, and that she is very dedicated to Godby High School.

We commended and thanked the attendee who had traveled farthest, and it was Shantanu, from London, Ontario, in Tallahassee for the first time since 1988. His flight had been late, and he had only arrived a couple hours beforehand.

We recognized the Hall of Fame members who are no longer with us, including last year's inductee, Jimmy Everett (1972), and our two posthumous inductees, Spc4 Robert Wise (2000, inducted 2006) and PFC Anthony Simmons (2003, inducted 2011), killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively. I had met Anthony, son of my late friend Steve, and his brother Nicholas still serves.

We thanked Teresa Deffenbaugh Featherstone (1978), President of Cruises by Sea, Inc, "Godby Alumni Travel Agent", for organizing four alumni cruises which contribute directly to the AGG Scholarship Fund.

We thanked Bobbie Fountain, who has been providing supplies and decorations for all of our Hall of Fame events.

We recognized the AGG's very first scholarship recipient, James Croft, who was in attendance.

2008 Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Patti Skates (1972), served as Master of Ceremonies, and presented the AGG with a check for $500 by, as she described it, "sacrificing 2 Starbucks a week for a year." She told us that there are now forty AGG Hall of Fame members, and asked us to look for other outstanding alumni to further the AGG's mission and to honor at future Hall of Fame banquets.

At my class reunion last July, Class President Karen Mitchell announced that the reunion committee had taken up a collection for the AGG in my name. We realized a budget surplus from the reunion, and voted to augment the collection to reach the public recognition threshold, and saved the remaining balance toward our next reunion. Tamara Gray and Debbie Rivest and I presented a check for $250 to the AGG on behalf of the Class of 1981.

We announced that Darius Jones has been elected to serve as AGG Vice-President in 2013, and he will procedurally become President in 2014.

I told everyone that alumni are always welcome to walk along behind the Godby High School band in the parade the next morning, and said to join my grandchildren and me there if they could.

We presented flowers to Principal Gillian Gregory.

I had been up late Thursday night preparing our first slideshow, including all photos from previous Hall of Fame banquets. Steve loaned me portable storage media with which to transport my multi-gigabyte files. I had had some difficulty integrating the audio files with the slide transitions, but Godby Senior Sarah Villa was able to fix the issue, and I thanked her in my closing remarks at dinner. I had included Godby's alma mater as recorded by Godby's band several years ago, and one of my favorite pieces, created especially for "The Inner Light", Star Trek Next Generation, Episode 125. Shantanu and I shared some amusement when we discussed its association with astrophysics, of which he is an expert. The slideshow played throughout dinner and was well received.

AGG Vice-President and Godby "Career" Photographer Roger Day, Class of 1980, took the photographs, assisted by Tyler Shearer and me.

Friday morning, the chance of rain on Saturday was 40%. It was a similar forecast three years ago for the 2009 Springtime Tallahassee Parade, when the Godby band canceled on the parade, which Dylan and Gabriel and I didn't discover until we arrived at the parade. It had been Gabriel's first parade. I was concerned that after many years' hiatus, I would be faced with the prospect of having to crash a parade -- with grandchildren, but Brenda Lake and the Lively Technical School float graciously invited us to join them, which we did, and we enjoyed ourselves.

This year, the same thing happened, and the Godby band announced Saturday morning that they and all other Leon County Schools bands would not be attending. I was prepared for that eventuality, as I had already secured two other float invitations, and would receive another one at the parade.

I attended a Lively Technical School Curriculum Advisory Committee luncheon meeting Friday before the Hall of Fame banquet, and Brenda told me I was welcome to join them again at the parade on Saturday. I was very grateful and told her my first commitment was to my high school alumni at Springtime Tallahassee, but that I would join them as before if I had no other way to participate with Godby.

David C. Jones, Class of 1972, 2011 AGG Hall of Fame inductee, attended the Hall of Fame banquet the evening before and told me that he would be happy to have my family and me join his float at the parade. David is a survivor of a serious hunting accident, after which he was inspired to found the Florida Disabled Outdoors Association in 1990. Through his Sportsability and Miracle Sports programs, he has enriched the quality of life for countless people.

At 9:30 am Saturday, it was lightly raining, so I brought umbrellas which we would not need. By the time we arrived downtown, the rain had stopped and the clouds had begun moving away. We arrived early enough to walk around and see all the parade floats. We noted that Taylor County Middle School's band had made the parade.

We met Senator Bill Montford at Float 23a, who invited us to walk with him, but I told him that we had already accepted David's invitation, and that we would drop by his office on our way back after the parade. We took our time walking back to David's position, and then boarded his pontoon boat on a trailer pulled behind a white truck in the parade.

Dylan and Gabriel and I rode with David in the boat. I stood, so I could see everyone better, and quickly developed a stilted gait while waving to both sides in the parade traffic. I especially liked waving to surprised people way up high on balconies and roofs, who waved back. Whenever the crowd applauded and cheered us, I gestured to increase the volume.

We saw my brother Joey and his family, owner of Au Peche Mignon French Pastry Shop, and Peter's and my former roommate Katherine and her family. I missed seeing Karl and his family for the first time in many years, as they recently moved to California and are three hours younger now. Karl came to see Dave the Cat and me at many parades. I had seen Charlie earlier in the year and he and his family were not expected.

After the parade and on our walk north back to my car, we stopped by Bill Montford's office on Monroe Street to talk with him. Thanks to redistricting, Bill is running for re-election this year, and as Godby alumni did two years ago for our former principal, we will be scheduling a Godby alumni campaign rally for him in the near future.

This was my 24th Springtime Tallahassee Parade, and the first one in which I had a ride, as Captain of a brand-new pontoon boat, too new even for a name. David's invitation at the AGG Hall of Fame banquet the evening before made the parade a huge success for my grandchildren and me despite the cancellation by our usual parade float. It was a pleasure to serve as Captain on the Florida Disabled Outdoors Association float on Saturday, and it was a great weekend.

Godby High School Links

2012-03-30T05:31:00.005-07:00

Here is everything I have published about Godby High School in order of publication date....

Welcome to My World
Association of Godby Graduates: History and Update
The Pineapple Story
Charlie
Class of 2011
High School Reunion XXX
High School Reunion XXX Part 2
Midsummer 2011
Band Rolling
Steve Simmons
Godby High School Homecoming 2011
2011 AGG Holiday Newsletter
Santa and Me
The Christmas Car Wash
Christmas 2011
AGG Invites Godby's Top Students to Dinner
Godby Class of 1981 30th Reunion and Photos
Godby Alumni Cruise III
2012 AGG Hall of Fame and Springtime Tallahassee
Marty Sims' Class of 1981 Slideshows
Deceased Godby Class of 1981 Alumni
Pro Fitness Competitor Jenny Worth Returns to Godby
Godby High School Reunion Designated Driver Program

Godby Cougar Alumni Newsletter

Godby Alumni Cruise III

2012-03-29T06:32:00.003-07:00

Donna and I had the opportunity to participate in Godby High School's first organized alumni cruise in September 2010, aboard the Carnival Ship Fascination to the Bahamas. We planned for it for a year, and it was our second cruise. Thanks to aggressive social networking and Teresa Deffenbaugh Featherstone, Class of 1978, President of Cruises by Sea, Inc, about thirty of us really enjoyed ourselves, and made plans to cruise together again. A portion of each cabin's fare went to the Association of Godby Graduates Scholarship Fund for Godby seniors.

Also on that memorable cruise, I played with the ship's band in Freeport, Bahamas, and Robbie and I instituted diner participation on that ship with the singing and dancing waiters in the "formal" dining room. When the waiters formed a line to begin waving their napkins as they danced in the aisles, Robbie and I joined them with ours and caroused around the room with them, too. It was on that cruise that the ship's captain greeted me personally and inspired me for what would become an extremely successful 2011 Halloween.

Sixteen months later in January 2012, many of us all again sailed into Summer to the Bahamas on the third Godby alumni cruise. Our ports of call were Nassau, and Half Moon Key, Bahama Islands. A second alumni cruise to the Bahamas had been undertaken the previous September.

It is less than two hundred miles from Tallahassee to Jaxport in Jacksonville, Florida, and about halfway there on our drive eastward the Saturday morning of our sailing date, I received an automated call from Carnival Cruise Lines to tell us that the ship had been delayed in arrival by heavy fog, and embarkation had been moved back by four hours. We had been running late, but arrived early to be in the first throng to board after only about twenty minutes, at least half an hour better than the last boarding. We sailed a couple hours late.

After our first day at sea, we arrived at Nassau, Bahamas before dawn. On our port side between us and the island was moored the Motor Yacht Fountainhead, a 288-foot Feadship XL Series super yacht christened and launched only four months earlier, owned by Mark Cuban, owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theaters and Magnolia Pictures, and the chair of the HDTV cable network HDNet. He is an Ayn Rand fan. The Fountainhead was a third as long as our 855-foot cruise ship.

On our previous visit to Nassau, we had visited the Atlantis Resort and found it to be as spacious as it is on the commercials, but in September 2010, it had been almost deserted. The casino was small by Las Vegas standards, but it had elaborate artwork and was under construction. There was a huge pond for swimming and boating, and a relatively small aquarium, but it had an interesting underwater walk-through.

This time, we walked about downtown Nassau and purchased souvenirs for the family. Nassau's small busy streets with narrow sidewalks were crowded with tourists from our ship and various local vendors and automobiles. I was surprised to note that although drivers drove on the left side of the street, the majority did so from American-style left-hand drive vehicles, vans and buses not excluded.

Our next port of call was Half Moon Key, Carnival's island, and from the ship it reminded me of the long shot of Gilligan's Island, but with a small visible beach from that distance. It was a beach party island, with a long stretch of beach and available boating, with a constant barbeque lunch for the day. Our dining room waiters (they were referred to as "waiters") also served lunch on the island, and it was a really nice day. I gave a dollar to the sundry concessionaires on the way out and received a nice handful of Bahamas coins.

I met the ship's Captain, Carmelo Marino, who had only been captain a few months.

If I had not had trouble depositing twenty dollars into my shipboard gambling account and inadvertently added that amount twice, I likely would not have won $39 in the first and only hand of Texas Hold 'Em poker I played on the cruise. It was a video game-driven poker game without a human dealer, and I have discovered I have less of an appetite for gambling than I did many years ago when I often played with Guy, Greg and John. Too much risk for the excitement level, and I don't have the stomach anymore for losing money unnecessarily.

I knew that Robbie and I had previously instituted diners performing with the waiters, because on this cruise, the maître d’hôtel invited us all to do just that, and we did. At dinner our last night on board, our waiters asked me to join them in singing Carnival's rendition of John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane," to the tune of "Leaving on a Cruise Ship...."

Our last night on board was a rough one at sea. The ship rocked, as did the 1980's show by "Far From Over," an acrobatic performance troupe using not only pyrotechnics, but also airborne dancers, which was quite impressive in the rolling seas. It took me more than a week to get my land legs back, much longer than from previous cruises, to which I attribute the rough weather on the last night of the cruise.

A couple of weeks later, I presented Manny with a nice check from Cruises by Sea for the AGG Scholarship Fund, and by then our cruise-mates were busy planning the next alumni cruise, in January 2013, from Tampa to Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and to Cozumel, Mexico.

Friday night, March 30, I will be attending the 7th Annual AGG Hall of Fame Banquet at Godby High School's Media Center, and I will be speaking about this and the upcoming alumni cruise. Teresa will be there, and I plan to publicly single her out and thank her for facilitating our cruises and for substantial contributions to the AGG's Scholarship Fund.

I will be introducing my 2012 nominee for induction, Godby's Class of 1982 Valedictorian, Dr. Shantanu Basu, who now hails from London, Ontario, Canada. Also from Class of 1982, Mrs. Debbie Orth Shear will be honored, nominated by and to be introduced by AGG Vice-President Roger Day, Class of 1980. Other honorees include Mrs. Mary Jean Curles Yon, Class of 1974, Ms. Kathy Miller Corder, Class of 1976, Mr. Todd Sperry, Class of 1978, and Coach Darius Jones, Class of 1996. 2008 Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Patti Skates, Vice-Mayor of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Manny usually handles everything else. We strongly encourage Hall of Fame honorees who can, to come back and help with future Hall of Fame banquets, and the parties get better each time.

Godby's longest serving principal, my friend Florida Senator Bill Montford, will be attending and speaking.

I look forward to seeing old friends, classmates and cruise buddies Friday night, and to the next Godby alumni cruise in 2013.