MacDill Happenings

If you’re moving to the Tampa Bay area and are looking for something to do, then you might want to consider joining the Tampa Bay Newcomers. It was founded in 1952 to help offer friendship to women who were moving into the area. The club is a social and community service organization. The Mission of this Club shall be to promote friendliness, provide venues for social interaction with other newcomers to the area as well as established residents, and to work for the good of the community by contributing to community services. Membership is open to new arrivals as well as to established Tampa Bay residents. Monthly luncheons are held throughout Tampa Bay. In the Newcomers, there are many activities, some of which include spouses. There is the Book Club, Community Service, Dinner for Eight, TGIS, Gardening, Great Escapes, and Coffees. The Tampa Bay Newcomer’s Bowling Babes will be meeting at Royal Lanes in Land O’ Lakes every third Monday of the month at 12:30 p.m. If you are interested in joining, then click this link for membership information.

The 2008 Tampa and St. Petersburg Home and Patio Show continues on Saturday and Sunday at the Tampa Convention Center. The Convention Center is located in downtown Tampa. If you need some ideas on how to improve your house or are looking for ideas on how to freshen up your house to get ready to sell it, then stop by the Convention Center. Saturday hours are 10am to 8pm. Sunday hours are 11am to 6pm. This is one of Tampa Bay’s best consumer showcase of new products and services for home remodeling, interior décor and landscaping. There will be diverse exhibits and selections of the latest products and services for virtually every area of the home, indoors and outdoors. There will be interactive workshops and seminars on two stages to help residents focus on the home improvement projects that make sense now and the ones that will pay dividends in the long run. See the celebrity experts including Joshua Foss of HGTV’s “Design Star”, and Don Engebretson, The Renegade Gardner, an award-winning garden writer and designer, and The Wall Wizard, Brian Santo, watch his interactive presentations on painting and wallpapering tips and techniques for your home. Admission is $9 for adults; children 12 and under are free and $7 for seniors (60 and over). You can buy tickets online for a $2 discount. There is plenty of parking around the Convention Center.

If you’re making your plans for the weekend, then you might want to include a trip to the MacDill AFB Movie Theater which is located on Florida Keys Dr right next to Grow Financial Credit Union and across the street from SOCOM.  This Friday at 7pm you can watch Jumper.  Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson star in this action movie where a genetic anomaly allows a young man to teleport himself anywhere. He discovers this gift has existed for centuries and finds himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between “Jumpers” and those who have sworn to kill them. This movie is rated PG13 for intense action violence, language and sexuality.  The movie is scheduled to run 98 minutes.  On Saturday at 3pm, College Road Trip is scheduled to play.  This comedy stars Martin Lawrence and Raven Symone from Disney’s That’s So Raven series.  This is a perfect children’s movie made by Disney!  Melanie is eagerly looking forward to her first big step towards independence when she plans a “girls only” road trip to check out prospective universities. But when her overbearing police chief father insists on escorting her instead, she soon finds her dream trip has turned into a nightmare adventure.  At 7pm on Saturday, you can watch the comedy movie, Semi-Pro, starring Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson.   This movie is rated R for  langauge and sexual content.  Run time is 99 minutes.  Jackie Moon is one-hit wonder who used the profits from the success of his chart-topping song “Love Me Sexy” to achieve his dream of owning a basketball team. But Moon’s franchise, the Flint Michigan Tropics, is the worst team in the league and in danger of folding when the ABA announces its plans to merge with the NBA. If they want to survive, Jackie and the Tropics must now do the seemingly impossible — win. Remember admission is $2.75 for all ages and a medium popcorn and soft drink only costs $4!

If you are new to the Tampa Bay area and are considering buying your first home, then consider attending the free Fair Housing Seminar on 17 Apr from 6pm to 10pm. This seminar is sponsored by the City of Tampa and the Greater Tampa Association of Relators (GTAR) and takes place at the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors Auditorium, 2918 W. Kennedy Blvd.,Tampa. The seminar is a great opportunity for individuals and families to learn from experts who can answer their questions about housing discrimination, rental rights and homeownership. Topics to be covered include: foreclosure, disability laws, and the rights and responsibilities of homeowners and renters. Giveaways, refreshments and complimentary parking are provided. To register for the seminar, please contact Rebecca Lopez at 813-879-7010, ext. 113 or Maritza Betancourt at 813-274-5856.

The Tampa YMCA has 14 locations throughout the Tampa Bay area. Of those 14 locations, 13 locations offer programs where children can take advantage of the 2008 summer program. You can chose from a large variety of programs from full-day programs, sports programs, half-day specialty programs, gymanstics, dance, and outdoor adventure programs (at Camp Cristina or The First Tee of Tampa Bay). YMCA Camp Cristina in Riverview offers exciting outdoor summer adventure programs for youth ages 6-15. Participants choose their own daily schedule from a range of exciting activities including swimming, archery, canoeing, horseback riding, environmental education, sports, arts and crafts, rope climbing and more. The First Tee of Tampa Bay in Temple Terrace offers golf camps throughout Tampa including one at the MacDill AFB Cypress Bay Golf Course. The Tampa YMCA will help your children develop their talents and character in positive ways. Through character building activities and interaction with positive adult role models, YMCA summer programs reinforce positive developmental assets that help our children become strong, responsible, caring, and successful adults. You can register online. The programs are open to all people. Members receive a discount. But financial assistance is available. If are active duty military, you be able to receive a discount to join the “Y”. Registration is now open, so sign up now to get the days that you want!

If you need a job for the summer or a job right now, then check out the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce Spring Job Fair this Thursday 17 Apr from 10am to 2pm. It takes place at the Hillsborough Community College-Brandon Campus at 10414 E. Columbus Dr. Employers are hiring for full & part-time positions. Employers are seeking professionals, management, entry level positions, recent graduates, students, customer service, retail, military retirees, technical or trade personnel. Anyone looking for employment needs to stop in and see what is available. If you are just moving to MacDill AFB, then is a great way for a spouse to find a local job or have your teenager find a job for the summer. Parking is free. Employers will be taking applications and resumes and offering on-site interviews. So update that resume or be prepared to fill out some applications and definitely make sure that you dress the best that you can to make the right impression. Make sure that you study up on job fairs and interviewing before you go.

Swimming pools are common place in Florida. If you don’t have one, then a neighbor probably has one. You need to know how to keep your pool safe. Florida ranks highest in the nation for the average number of drownings per capita. In Hillsborough County there is an ordinance that requires swimming pools to be secured with locked enclosures, fences or gates at least 4 feet tall. The gates need to be self-latching. The fence should be designed and maintained in a way that makes the pool inaccessible to young children and the gates should positively close when released six inches from the gates post. In addition, ladders commonly used to enter above ground pools must be removed and pulled away from the pool when not in use. You will see a lot of pools enclosed by a screen building or by portable fences that can have an alarm attached to the gate that will turn on when the gate is open. Doors from the house that will allow you to go to the pool are required to have alarms that are activated when the door opens to alert you that someone is near the pool. When you put in a new pool, the pool must be inspected by Hillsborough County to ensure proper compliance. Make sure that you have your children take swimming lessons and remember to keep an eye on them.

In downtown St. Petersburg in Vinoy Park this weekend the annual Tampa Bay Blues Festival takes place. Enjoy some great sounds with a beautiful view of Tampa Bay and the St. Pete Pier in the background. On Saturday, listen to Los Lonely Boys, Walter Trout, Tab Benoit, Tutu Jones and Trombone Shorty. On Sunday, listen to Robben Ford, Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers, Chris Cain and Tad Robinson. First run in 1995, the Tampa Bay Blues Festival has established itself as one of the preeminent blues musical festivals in the world. Bring a chair or a blanket to sit on the lush green grass of Vinoy Park. Food vendors will have seafood, barbeque, Cuban cuisine and other fantastic treats for sale. Vendors will have some unique arts and crafts for you to chose from. Make sure you bring some sunscreen and sunglasses for the bright Florida sun. Reasonable sized umbrellas are allowed but large canopy umbrellas that can block other patrons views are not allowed. Of course since this is Florida there is a 20 percent chance of rain during the weekend so you also need to prepare for that. No pets and coolers are allowed. There is a shuttle service to help alleviate the parking congestion or you can try your luck trying to find a parking spot. St. Pete is just across the bay from MacDill AFB and is about a 25 min drive. Admission is $30 for a single day ticket for 13yrs and older. Admission is free for 12 yrs and younger. Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Blues Festival 2008.

If you want to get your 4yr old ready for kindergarten for the school year, then you might want to try out the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) this summer. VPK provides a 300 instructional hours over the summer and is a free program. The educational program will allow children to learn things like their colors and how to interact with other children. They will learn how to follow directions, remember key concepts, express themselves verbally and learn to share with others. Eligible children must live in Florida, have been born between Sept 2, 2002 and Sept 1, 2003, be eligible to start kindergarten in the fall of 2008 and not attended the 2007-2008 school year VPK. There are no income requirements or income restrictions. Public, private, and faith-based providers may be eligible to deliver the program depending on whether they meet the minimum standards required in law. Each private provider must be a licensed child care facility, a licensed family day care home (registered homes are not eligible), a licensed large family child care home, or a nonpublic school or faith-based child care provider that is exempt from licensure. Every school district is required by law to deliver the summer VPK program for every eligible child wanting to participate. You can chose a provide online or through the Early Learning Coalition in Hillsborough County or in Pinellas County through the Coordinated Child Care of Pinellas.

The 34th annual Lakeland Sun-n-Fun Fly-In at the Linder Regional Airport is going on right now and runs until Sunday 13 Apr. This event is the second largest convention of its kind. Lakeland Linder Regional Airport is about a 40 min drive from MacDill AFB. The Sun-n-Fun participants include aircraft owners who fly their own planes to this event including vintage, home built and restored military aircraft. This year the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will be performing on Saturday and Sunday at 1pm each day. You can see the F-15′s they fly right now as a static display, and may be able to see them in action as they practice before their scheduled weekend performances. Beside the F-15′s there many more static displays of aircraft including vintage military aircraft. There are more than 500 commercial exhibits. There is a Parts Exchange (PX) if you are looking for something for your plane or want to cosign some parts for sale. There will be daily airshows. There are over 400 educational seminars and forums. There is nightly entertainment with a night airshow on Friday 11 Apr. Admission is $35 for a daily adult ticket. However during the weekend, military members can get in for $15 for adults, $5 for children 13-18. Children 12 and younger are free the entire event.