Enjoying Florida
cwilcox | April 27, 2009"Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" - better known as EPCOT - was originally Walt Disney's vision of a perfect city, home to 20,000 people. In his words,
"EPCOT... will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise."
Disney's vision was never…
cwilcox | April 5, 2009You know you've been infected with nerdiness when you're on vacation and you decide that, rather than sleeping in and relaxing like a normal person, you're going to get up at 5 am to hit Manasota Beach at low tide.
For the record, it's DARK at 5am. There isn't a hint of light yet. And since my car is in the shop *long string of cuss words in the Elantra's general diretion*, we decided to take Barry's motorcycle for the 45 minute trek down to Manasota Beach. The air was beautiful this morning. The night blooming flowers made it thick with perfume. It was a nice ride.
Anyhow, we get to the…
cwilcox | March 15, 2009Yeah, I know I'm lucky. While most of my readers are struggling to shovel the snow out of their driveways, I'm enjoying yet another weekend of 80 degree heat and lovely sun. So it only seems right to take advantage of the good weather and hit the outdoors.
So, on Saturday, Barry and I visited Historic Spanish Point. It's a local historical/archaeological site in Sarasota, FL. The site covers prehistoric human activity all the way to colonial gardening - and it is beautiful. There are a variety of flowers and other plants all around you. My personal favorite area was the butterfly garden,…
cwilcox | February 25, 2009Sure, seeing gators is cool. And the Jellyfish was a personal fetish. But this - this is so much cooler.
Before I get ahead of myself, let me explain. In Florida, we have these slow-moving, cow like sea creatures called Manatees. They're cute in an ugly sort of way. Anyhow, when it gets colder out, they like to travel upstream or to just about anywhere warm. As it turns out, a local power plant happens to make the water around itself pretty warm while cooling its systems - about 80 degrees F, which is upwards of 10 to 30 degrees warmer than the bay water temperature during the colder months…
cwilcox | February 23, 2009Ok. So, as a marine biologist, I happen to know a few things about marine organisms. Whenever I walk on a beach and find something interesting, I happen to enjoy talking about those few things I know to whoever is unlucky enough to be walking with me. I love finding marine life on the beaches - it just never gets old. So you can imagine my excitement when we're strolling along Casey Key near sunset and we see this:
It was about a foot across - it was huge! I had a total nerd moment.
At this point, I have a confession to make. I've heard that admitting you have a problem is the first step to…