A Good Day with Lots of Wind and Surf

I went for my interview this morning. I thought it went very well. I interviewed with the branch manager and the head teller. Basically, they followed a script and asked me typical questions. I felt relaxed and answered them in a way that got them smiling. It lasted about 20 minutes. They thanked me and said that they had a few other candidated to interview and I should hear something by next Wednesday. When I got back to my apartment, I was going to get online and apply to some more jobs. But instead...I rummaged in the refrigerator and ate an early lunch.

I hung around the apartment for a while, then thought that if I was going to be working soon, I wouldn't have the free time I do now, so I might as well take advantage of it and enjoy it! So, off to the beach I go!

As I approached the beach, there seem to be more cars than usual for a weekday, even a Friday. As I parked my car and walked towards the beach, I realized why. Because there is a lot of storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico, it was quite windy and the surf was higher than I had ever seen it here. Usually there may be a surfer dude or two at the beach, but today it was mostly all surfers. I was going to put up my beach umbrella, but noticed there was only one up. I figured that the wind would probably rip it inside out, so I left it in it's pouch.

I splashed on tons of sun block, and sat and read more of Harry Potter. This one is definitely fast paced!!!

Just before I left, my cell phone rang. It was the human resources office from the credit union I had interviewed with this morning. They offered me the job! Woo Hoo! (I hope!) So, October 10 is my orientation. Now I really have to enjoy the time that's left before that!

I tried to take some "artsy" pics, (remember "Endless Summer"?) There was a film crew filming something, but I have no idea what. They had a shovel and kept digging a hole in the sand right at the water. They had this huge mirror, and some other piece of wood or something. But, anyhow...here's my gallery:

Agador Spartacus

I had an interview with Grow Financial FCU this morning. Only the second time in a month that I've had on long pants, socks and shoes! I felt like Agador Spartacus. I was envisioning myself walking into my interview, extending my hand to shake with the branch manager, tripping and falling flat on my face. I'd look up from the floor and say, "It's dees chooze! Dey make me fall down!"

Chiang Mai and Juleps

My friend Otto called me this afternoon to ask if I'd like to go out for Thai food for dinner. How could I say no to that? I love all types of foreign cuisines and only had Thai maybe a handful of times. I had spent most of the day doing little things around the apartment, including some laundry. I had a ham and cheddar cheese sandwich, a carrot and a hard boiled egg for my lunch, so Thai food sounded GREAT!


We went to the Grand Central District of St Petersburg to the Chiang Mai Thai Restaurant on Central Avenue. Otto is a great one to hang out with. He knows everyone! He goes there a lot, so the owners and staff all know him. Our hostess/waitress spent half the night chatting with us at our table. He even persuaded her to give me a gift of painted chopsticks!






Looking East up Central Avenue.

When we left, we took a walk up the block to look in the windows of some of the art and craft stores. Otto pointed to a woman across the street, standing in front of Savannah's Cafe talking with two others. She was dressed in a long dress with matching scarf around her neck. He said that she was Edyth, one of the owners of Savannah's. She noticed him and waved. We took a walk over to talk with her. Otto introduced me as a newbie to the area. She was so friendly and invited us in for a drink on her! I guess one of their specialties is juleps and soon 4 pomegranate juleps were served up after her son had joined us. We sat for a while and laughed alot. It was her birthday and she was celebrating by telling jokes! The restaurant was originally a car factory and showroom! It had been restored and updated...was beautiful inside.

It was a good night and I am full! Two new restaurants, two places to go again in the future!

What ye be plannin' ter sing today?

Talk Like a Pirate Day: The Five A's

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Some New Friends

One of the fears about moving to a new place is not knowing anyone and feeling isolated and alone. I have been very fortunate. St. Pete seems to have a lot of friendly people, especially if they know that you've just moved here. It seems that they go out of the way to help you feel comfortable and at home.

I've been trying to balance the unpacking (long since done), cleaning and arranging, and job hunting, with some relaxation. The beaches are a pleasant and short drive from my apartment in Old NE. In less than 20 minutes I can be on Treasure Island. Within about 30 minutes, I have my chair and umbrella up and am spreading on the sun block!

A lot of people will say hello if you're sitting there alone. And just ask someone to take your picture and it opens up the conversation. And making one new friend seems to lead to making even more new friends.

I met Otto (in the red tank top) on the beach the other day. He was off today, so asked if I wanted to go to the beach and lunch today. I spent the morning online doing some more job hunting, and then joined Otto at the beach and we then went for a late lunch at Philthy Phil's on St Pete Beach. Later around dinner time I got a call from Otto saying that a couple of his friends had called to see if he wanted to meet for a drink. He wanted to know if I was interested in going along to meet his friends. I jumped at the chance! We met at Otto's place, a few minutes from where I live, and from there went out. I met Denny (black tank) and Ron (navy tank). They moved here last April from Michigan. Really nice guys. We had a nice time talking and laughing. Turns out, Danny was a chef and is cooking a dinner this Saturday night, and I got an invite! And those who know me know I LOVE to eat! [Update March 2011: I learned last night that Denny had passed away from cancer, just after Christmas 2010.]

Otto has a home in the "Historic Kenwood" section of St Pete. He showed me photos of his house when he bought it and I could see what it looks like today. It's amazing what he had done. I asked if it was ok if I took a few pictures of his garden. There is a bamboo planting that is at least 20 feet tall, some white giant bird of paradise plants like the one in my yard here. There are several bamboo water fountains around the garden. It's a beautiful patch of earth!















The bottom part of the bamboo planting.

View from the Living Room Window

I spent much of today putting away some little things that have been hanging around and washing the insides of the windows in the living room and kitchen. Too bad (well, not really) I can't wash the outsides. A thunderstorm went thru this morning around 10:30 or so, and it came down pretty hard. I figured as long as I had the blinds up, I'd take some pictures. Some of them may be hard to make out, with the glare on the screens, and the dirt on the outsides. But, anyway . . . my living room view. Can't see the Eiffel Tower, but this will do.

There's this flower that kind of looks like a bird of paradise, but it's white. This other shot may show it a little better.

There is this glass globe just below my center window.











On the right side there is this "trellis" that offers a view into the yard next door. There's a lot of palms so it's hard to see the pool.

And the Search Goes On

Yesterday was a productive day. I spent much of it hunched over my computer filling out online applications for employment with several banks and credit unions. Although I have an updated resume, it seems most employers want to gather the information in their own format. Now to wait . . . and apply to some more today.

I took a walk to the mail box which is two blocks south of my apartment to mail one application (filled out in Adobe pdf and printed). On the way I noticed a patch between the sidewalk and the street, filled with aloe plants! My first thought: Wow! Growing like that right outside! My second thought: Now I know where to go when I get a burn!

I decided to relax last night and flipped on the TV. One channel was playing Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl. So, as I was eating my dinner, I got sucked into watching it. I have it on DVD so decided to watch it in widescreen with surround sound, so popped in the DVD and went to the scene that I had watched up to. After watching it for about 15 minutes, there was this loud sound as if a generator had shut down, and then tried to power up again, but then shut down with a lound grind again. Poof! Total darkness. I thought I had blacked out all of St. Petersburg! I heard thunder rumbling around but didn't see any lightning. Weird.

I found my candles and lit a bunch. Not much to do, so I opened Harry Potter, book 7 and continued with my reading. I felt like Abe Lincoln....only I don't think he read Harry Potter. In a little while I began to hear a lot of voices outside and then saw flashing lights and heard trucks. I went out the back door and up to the landing where my laundry room is and there were 4 or 5 big power company trucks with cherry pickers in the street.
I came back in and continued reading. After about three and a half hours, the power came back on. I figured, OK, time to shut the lights and go to bed.

A Drive to the Beach . . .

Well, I had good intentions when I got up this morning. Go to motor vehicles and get my new driver's license and Florida tags. Well, I couldn't find my Jeep Title, so I'll have to get another copy before the Jeep can be a Florida Jeep. But, I did get my new license!

So, once again, my tasks at the motor vehicles department went incomplete . . . and I was so close to the beaches . . . So, I drove to the beach for the first time as a Florida driver! Woo! Hoo!







I stopped at a Walgreen's right on Gulf Blvd. And now I have my beach set up!









Some people on the beach saw me taking the picture and offered to take one with me in the chair! So, brace yerselves!






It was a gorgeous day there. Nice breeze. The water was refreshing. Gentle waves.





But . . . still no response to interviews . . .

Coffee Pot Bayou

The other night I had planned on going to the supermarket, a Publix, located a couple minutes from me. I decided to take a new route....heading about 6 blocks due north, to an area along the Coffee Pot Bayou. I was taken with how beautiful it is. I'm thinking that when I start jogging again....there's where I'm going to jog! There's a sidewalk that runs along Coffee Pot Boulevard, right on the Bayou.

I had a job interview in Tampa this afternoon, so I thought that I would take some time this morning to visit the bayou area again and take some shots. There are a lot of For Sale signs up. Any takers?

My Jeep was waiting for me on a side street. That's a circle with a big urn ("One Grecian Urn") in the background.

I'll talk about my job interview in a future post. I guess...depending on how it turns out!

I couldn't pass this shot up!

Sunday in St Pete

This is the view from my kitchen window this morning. I wonder what it will look like this winter without snow?


I tried to do a panorama of Sunset Beach from the water. This is the best I could do!

5 Days in Florida!

It's hard to believe that I'm now a Floridian. Well, maybe not officially, since I haven't gotten my Florida driver's license yet. But then again...I did receive U.S. Mail here...a postcard from Adele. So, if it's bonafide enough for Kris Kringle, then I guess it means I'm a bonafide Floridian!

Things have been going relatively smoothly. I arrived Friday night and picked up my key. Slept on an inflatable mattress on Friday night, and on Saturday at 8:00 am sharp, the movers were here with my stuff! I couldn't believe how the boxes just kept coming and coming! The living room was full! I took some pictures of the piles of boxes, but decided to present an après boxes view.

So, here are some shots of my new Florida abode:



I think my Jeep is going to like it here!


This is the back entrance. Going thru the locked gate, up about 6 steps into the back door, my apartment front door is just to the left inside. The door on the balcony leads into the laundry room. Two washers and two dryers and no coin slots!



I've got a lot done in the living room, but still have a ways to go. I'm sure I'll be moving things around for a while. Gotta keep space for a sofa and another chair!


I'm going to use this corner of the living room as my "dining room".



You can see the grandfather clock in the hallway.


This is the view looking out of the kitchen windows. Lots of palms for my viewing pleasure! At least now I don't have a spotlight shining all night into my kitchen window!



This is looking from my kitchen door down the hallway towards the bathroom. The 'walkthru' closet leading to the bathroom has tons of storage on both sides. The door to the living room is to the right of the bathroom door. The doorway on the right leads into my bedroom.

The bedroom is about twice the size of my old one. Here I can fit the chest of drawers and my Grandmother's cedar chest with all the other stuff! There are two closets in this room; one with the A/C exchange and some shelves and open areas, plus a window, and the other one for my clothes also has some cubby holes built in.