Paz and I went to the 22nd Annual Pompano Beach Seafood Festival last night(http://www.pompanobeachseafoodfestival.com/). You should check out the links I put in the story. Just paste into your browser (without the parentheses)since this sight does not allow hyperlinks. Anyway, Pompano Beach, sometimes referred to as Fish City, one of the oldest cities in south Florida, a former fishing village, is named after the pompano fish (http://indian-river.fl.us/fishing/fish/pompflor.html) which frequents the waters there. They feed on small shrimp and crabs and especially the mole crab, also known as a sand flea (http://www.mexfish.com/fish/cwmolec/cwmolec.htm) which lives in the sand and can be caught as the waves break over the beach. My kid's used to play with them when they were little. Pompano is one of my favorite fish. Very tasty, especially grilled. Always cooked with the head on because there is an oil gland that runs through the head similar to that of a sperm whale which contains the spermaceti (but that is another story all in itself). Anyway, the oil diffuses into the meat. Yum. Oddly enough, I did not see any for sale which does not surprise me because it is not a commercially caught fish and it's numbers are not quite what they were years ago. I did eat some excellent garlic steamed clams, raw oysters, mussels in a paella type broth, a cevichi type bowl of a shrimp, crawdad and conch vinaigrette and a couple of yummy ice cold stone crab claws served with that special Dijon mustard and mayo sauce.
The Temptations were playing on the stage which is set up on the beach (see gallery). It was a beautiful night and the old boys could still really play, dance and sing well. Good old Motown. Amazing how many hits they had and how you know all the words. It was fun but it was almost archival, like watching a video at the Smithsonian or at a Hard Rock Cafe in Detroit.
One weird thing did happen. We went with two other couples, one of which were my neighbors. The young lady next door had an unexpected fainting episode. I had seen this before in women in their 20s and 30s. Not that uncommon because it can be caused by several factors. She was not drinking or doing anything else "unhealthy" for that matter and best we can tell it might have been caused by some allergy medication she had taken with not much to eat so it caused her heart to race. The really weird thing is that I have a great picture of her passing out (see gallery). I was getting ready to take a couple of pictures and my friend turned to me panicked and said, "Joe, I don't know what to do here!" and I instinctively snapped the photo as she was going down. She said everything went white and down she went. Look at their expressions. The paramedics arrived and all that good stuff, vitals were fine and she snapped out of it and was OK but needless to say, we left early. That's OK. We are going back on Sunday.

A few weeks back I went to Key West on business, though not much of it. I call on a few accounts there but I went down on Sunday morning, made my calls Monday morning and came back Tuesday in the middle of the day. Plenty of pleasure mixed with a little business. I took Paz with me and we had an absolute blast. We stayed at a really cute B&B, rented a moped and just had so much fun seeing the sights, shopping, eating and drinking. I really hated to come back. It's soooo laid back in the Conch Republic! I put a couple of pictures in the gallery. And, oh yea, that's me fighting Spongeman. See ya'

I got to go fishing again on Sunday. Went kite fishing to target sailfish. First experience with kite fishing. Pretty interesting. See this link for an explanation/diagram:

http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/saltwater/fishing/article/0,12746,191101,00.html

It's worth looking at if you want to learn something new.

Went with a customer who is also a friend. Lives on Palm Island south of South Beach. Pretty nice setup. Went out on a 36' Intrepid. Has his own Captain/guide and everything. Only one problem. We got skunked. Nobody out there was catching anything. Winds and currents weren't right. Heard chatter over the radio and saw with the binoculars a guy fighting a big thresher shark. Thresher shark has a long fin on top of the tail. Turned out to be over 500 lbs. Tail fin alone was 7' long. He couldn't get it over the gunwales so he dragged it in to shore. Nobody else reported anything. Better luck next time. Still a beautiful day and a great time and learning experience.

I took a couple of well deserved vacation days on Monday and Tuesday. Was supposed to go flats fishing and camping with Junior (who owns one of my local watering holes, Rattlesnake Jake's) down at 10,000 islands at the SW tip of the Florida peninsula. Unfortunately, his Grandmother died so we could not go. My sympathy to Junior and his family. I ended up going fishing on Tuesday with my buddy Shorty. Of course Shorty is anything but short/small (picture in the gallery). We went trolling. He has a nice fishing boat. Tried along the reef and then out to about 800'. Maybe five miles off shore. Was a beautiful day. Anyway, we were fishing along a weed line (an area of floating seaweed and/or debris that holds baitfish and consequently the big fish that feed on them) about an hour into the trip. We were still a little mellow/tired and had slowed to remove some weed hooked on one of the rigs we had out. Suddenly, at the most inopportune time, Shorty says, "crap, here come the dolphins". Sure enough, a school of small dolphin fish, "schoolies", come ripping toward our lines. For those of you who don't know, dolphin fish are mahi mahi, not Flipper (pictures in gallery). Interesting pelagic species and delicious. They come fast, jumping out of the water. They reminded me of land mammals, maybe like gazelles, leaping in tall grass so you only see them on their leap otherwise you don't know where they are or maybe like the velocaraptors hunting in Jurassic Park. You just see them when they appear above the water then they disappear again. Eating machines. Anyway, they attacked all of our lines (which were not being trolled under maximum conditions as previously noted) except the one we were pulling weed from and we were caught totally off guard. They hit the baits too far back we could not respond fast enough to hook any. Those were the last fish we saw all day. Not another strike at all. I guess that's why they call it fishing and not catching. Oh well, a lousy day of fishing is better than a great day of work any time!

I went to Calle Ocho in Miami on Sunday. What a beautiful day and what a party. Simply put, it's the largest Hispanic festival in the country right in little Havana, downtown Miami. So huge we could not walk it all. The adventure starts just trying to find a place close enough to park. The local residents offer up their own parking spaces of their little houses or apartments. For a fee, of course. You need to be weary as this is inner city but the way I figure it is that people are all pretty much the same everywhere, same proportion of good and bad in all cultures, plus I am pretty street smart, familiar with the area/culture and I can hold my own and my friend Paz speaks enough Spanglish to communicate effectively. Most are hard working individuals and it's broad daylight. So we decided to interface with a decent looking couple on one of the corners close to the festival so we could haggle over their parking spot. We met Carlos and his wife and for $20 we parked in front of his apartment which he was very proud of. We did not take my new car. Anyway, here is an excerpt from a local paper so you can understand better. I have also pasted the web address below and uploaded some photos to my gallery. By the way, the food was fantastic and the sights, smells and sounds were all quite interesting and enjoyable.

http://www.carnavalmiami.com/

From Renee Chapple,Your Guide to Miami / Miami Beach, FL.

Right in the heart of Miami is an area that is from a Cuban storybook. Here in "Little Havana", you can find hand-rolled cigars, fruiterias, meat markets, herbal stores and windows with cafecitos for only 25 cents. Although Miami is new, as far as cities are concerned, you can walk from downtown with all of its art deco high rises right into old-time Cuba. On 8th Street (or Calle Ocho) between 12th and 27th Avenues lies a time warp into another reality.
A good place to start your sight-seeing is (like anywhere in Miami!) with the food! Calle Ocho offers many authentic Cuban restaurants. El Pescador offers shrimp tortillas and fish croquetas- rare but excellent. El Pub offers traditional Cuban dishes with wonderful atmosphere; spend an afternoon browsing the Cuban memorabilia on the walls.

At Maximo Gomez Park, or Domino Park as the locals call it, you can see the older generation of Cubans meet to play dominoes or chess each day. There is a large mural depicting the Summit of the Americas in 1993. Around the corner, don't miss the Little Havana Paseo de las Estrellas (Walk of the Stars). It is reminiscent of the one in Hollywood, but stars are given to Latin American actors, writers, artists and musicians.

At the corner of 13th avenue lies a memorial park with monuments to many Cuban heroes. It is a peaceful place, a nice place for a break. You can see memorials to Jose Marti (poet and revolutionary), Antonio Maceo (war hero), the Island of Cuba Memorial, and the Memorial Flame (to the heroes of the Bay of Pigs). There is a large ceiba tree with things around it- don't touch! These are offerings left by patrons affected by the souls there; to touch or remove these offerings is considered very bad luck.

For an authentic Cuban evening, plan your trip around the end of the month. The last Friday of each month is known as Viernes Culturales (Cultural Friday). It is a large Latin street party complete with music, dancing, street performers, food, local artist's wares, and theater. It is good, clean fun for the whole family.

Of course, each March Calle Ocho is best known as the biggest street party in the country- more then 1 million people from around the world come to this single-day event! In 1998, more than 119,000 people joined in the world's longest conga line, and the festival still holds its place in the Guiness Book of World Records. You'll see dancing, eating, partying, costumes, street performers and the biggest latin stars performing. Major news crews from all over broadcast the event as Cubans from all over the country return to celebrate their roots.

Whether it's your first time on Calle Ocho or you want to see it with new eyes, whether you are coming for a day in Domino Park or the Calle Ocho Festival, there's always something new here in Little Havana. It's a piece of history you have to see to understand.

Can I share something with you? I have come to the conclusion that, unfortunately, people will always let you down. Simple flawed humans we are. Makes me sad to be one of the same species sometimes. This is why I constantly challenge myself, mind, body and soul. Learn through my mistakes. Trade up is what I say. Not down. Those who are either mindless, spineless, short sighted, short on character or totally content with mediocrity all tend to live in the same limited gene pool. And we all know what happens to animals in a limited gene pool. They eventually become extinct and it's not a real pretty picture leading up to that inevitable ending. Now, having aired that, let me move on.

I was traveling in wonderful Hialeah, FL on Valentines Day. A sprawling heavily Hispanic, light industrialized suburb of Miami. I happened to pass a couple being serenaded by a Mariachi band. Not sure who treated who to such a delight. Of course I had to pull over and whip out my digital camera. I have uploaded a photo for your enjoyment. Unfortunately my digital picture files are so large I had to split the photo and reduce the quality. Sorry, but you get the point. Check out the guy in the middle. Zoom in if possible. He reminds me of Los Lobos as the undead band in Dusk Till Dawn with George Clooney and Quentin Tarrentino.

I have these really ugly ducks that live in my complex. They are big and black and white with gross lumpy tumorous looking bright red heads and things on their necks. They are some sort of mutant domesticated ducks. Another invasive species in Florida. They can't quack although they try really hard. Nothing comes out. Well we started with one that flew to the pond a year or so ago, than another and, well, they multiply so fast we have a dozen or so full grown now. People feed them. They crap everywhere and are basically parasites. I remember thinking how cute the nest was and the babies and how mean I thought it was when natives said, "you need to step on those eggs when ya' see um". Well it's spring time here and that means it's mating season. It's like a frickin' duck orgy out here. They go at it constantly. Two on one sometimes. It's actually pretty aggressive. Kinda' like duck rape. And they are so goofy. Flying around without looking. I was taking out the trash today and a few came flying low across the lake and I had to jump back or one of them would have taken out my legs. It was like an attack duck cruise missile. Anyway, I will be stepping on those eggs this year. They must be culled! By the way, I had no idea that so many other creatures prey on the ducklings. From large mouth bass to raccoons, osprey and great blue herons.

About my life? I bought a new 2006 Mustang convertible. Legend lime green. Retro all the way, baby. I look pretty good in it if I say so myself. I will upload a picture when I get a chance. I continue to train in Kung Fu. A different style than previously mentioned. Still pretty tough and aggressive. Someday I will be able to do a split, damn it! I have a long way to go in my ninja training. And I have a very nice special friend named Paz whom I am very fond of and happy with. I guess she gets all of me now. And that's not a bad thing. Till next time.
Joe