MacDill Happenings

The Brandon Broncos Youth Football team in Brandon are getting ready for Fall football.  The Brandon Broncos is the oldest youth football and cheerleading organization in Brandon with hundreds of children participating.  Registration takes place the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month from 10am to 2pm JC Handley Field at 3104 Kings Ave in Brandon.  Teams fill up fast so sign up as soon as you can.  Football registration fees are $200 and cheerleader fees are $175.  Football teams are divided into 5 age/weight divisions so that similiar sized children are playing against each other. Brandon is an affordable housing alternative from many people who work at MacDill AFB. Brandon is about a 30 minute drive from MacDill AFB. The LeRoy Selmon Expressway runs from Brandon to Tampa and can cut 10 to 15 minutes off your commute during rush hour. Make sure you buy a SunPass transponder it’ll save you .25 cents at each toll booth. Also, instead of waiting to pay at the toll booth with a SunPass transponder, you can go through the automated pay lane and save yourself some time. Brandon has all the amenities that anyone would need. The Westfield Shoppingtown is one of the largest malls in the Tampa area. It not only a shopping destination but also a great place for dinner with the Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen and Sam Selzer’s Steakhouse along with a host of other restaurants. A great local jazz club is Dela’s After Dark with its initimate setting and delicious food for dinner. There is a large variety of housing available. From single family homes to condos to townhouses, there something for every budget. The local community is very supportive of military families with many establishments offering military discounts. In Brandon there is the MacDill AFB Branch Medical Clinic across the street from the AMC 20 Brandon Regency movie theater so that military families don’t have to drive onto MacDill AFB for medical appointments. Make sure ask to go to the branch clinic in Brandon when you register at Tricare. A great source of information about Brandon can be found at the Brandon Chamber of Commerce website. There are some great neighborhoods in the Brandon area: FishHawk Ranch, Bloomingdale, Providence Lakes, and Brentwood Hills. Towns near Brandon include Seffner, Riverview, Lithia and Apollo Beach.

The Student Dance Production Board at the University of South Florida will present an evening of new and exciting student choreographed work.  The performance will take place at Theatre 2 starting at 8pm.  Tickets costs for advanced sale are $8 for students and seniors, $12 for adults.  Tickets purchased at the door are $10 for students/seniors and $15 for adults. The Dance Program in the School of Theatre & Dance, one of three academic units in a nationally-acclaimed College of The Arts, is housed in its own state-of-the-art Dance Centre. Interdisciplinary projects and course study in Theatre, Music and Visual Arts are encouraged, and involvement with Graphicstudio and the adjacent Contemporary Art Museum keeps students aware of current national and international issues in the Fine Arts. The University of South Florida is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. USF was awarded more than $360 million in research contracts and grants in fiscal year 2007/2008. The university offers 219 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The university has a $1.8 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 46,000 students on campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland.

Today is the big day for those who haven’t filed their taxes yet!  Your Federal tax return is due tonight at midnight!  If you want to mail in your tax return, then the Post Office at Tampa International Airport is open 24 hours a day, but expect a long line of cars.  Don’t wait until the last minute!  To help ease the pain on tax day, a couple of local restaurants are offering everyone a little break on the cost of food.  TGI Friday’s will offer $5 Bonus Bites cards toward sales of $15-$25, and $10 Bonus Bites cards for sales over $25 Wednesday. You can also receive double points on your frequent diner card. There’s even a TGI Friday’s at Tampa International Airport that you can stop in for a bite after dropping off your tax return! Cinnabon will give out Tax Day Bites, free bite-size cinnamon rolls usually known as Classic Bites, from 5pm to 8 pm at all locations.  Check out the US Postal Service website for locations near you and hours so that you can get your return in on time and not have to fight traffic.

If you have an out-of-state license, and it has not expired beyond 30 days, you may be able to convert your license without taking a written or road test.  Florida law requires identification, proof of date of birth, proof of residential address, and proof of social security number (if issued, Chapter 322, Florida Statutes, requires the Department see proof of social security number for the issuance of driver license and identification cards) from all customers before a driver license or identification card can be issued. The name assigned to the social security number must match the name that will appear on the Florida driver license or identification card. If you have recently changed your name, update your records with the Social Security Administration before you apply for your license or identification card. Each U.S. citizen who applies for an original driver license or identification card must submit: proof of residential address, proof of social security number, primary identification and secondary identification. At some Driver License Offices, you can make an appointment online to avoid waiting in a long line.

If this is the first time that you are moving to MacDill AFB, then you will be in for a treat.  MacDill AFB is run by the 6th Air Mobility Wing and has two major commands, U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command that account for most of the personnel who live and work on the base. However, there are also 51 other tenant commands on the base.  There are about 9,000 military and civilian personnel who work on MacDill with the majority of the people working for CENTCOM and SOCOM.  MacDill is located on the south end of peninsula in the commonly known at south Tampa. The base has a large exchange and commissary with a 24 hour gas station with a small store.  The gas station also provides mechanics services.  The hospital provides out-patient service with a full range of services expected from a large in-patient hospital.  There is a new hospital being built near the Exchange and gas station. MacDill offers a large range of recreational services.  The Bay Palms Golf Complex offers two beautiful courses with a driving, putting and chipping range and a grill offering a great breakfast and lunch meals.  There is a skeet range open Friday-Sunday with shotguns for rent and ammunition for a small fee.  The gym has a full range of workout equipment, racquetball courts and an indoor basketball court.  The gym also provides personnel to acquaint you with the fitness equipment and help you get started on a personalized workout schedule MacDill Lanes, next to the gym, provides complete bowling services with 12 lanes and a bar and grill.  If you want to work on your car, also next to the gym is the auto hobby shop with an arts and crafts center next to it.  If you like to fish, then MacDill is the right place.  There are two piers with covered shelter on Bayshore Drive and a great beach with a restaurant, SeaScapes, on the beach.  Besides the two piers, there is plenty of access to the bay including a boat ramp and rental boats at marina near the beach.  Even though the price of gas has come down, to save money and wear and tear on your car, the base offers free monthly Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) bus passes for express bus service that comes in from several surrounding communities.

One of the best things about living in Tampa is the all the entertainment venues nearby. Busch Gardens is located in the northern part of Tampa easily accessible from I-75 and I-275. If you’re new to Tampa, then one of the best entertainment values is the Busch Gardens Florida Resident Fun Cards. A Florida Resident Fun Card provides unlimited general admission through December 31, 2009 for only $69.95 for adults and $59.95 for children ages 3-9. For $79.95 you can buy a Fun Card where can pick 2 parks to see for the rest of the year either SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Aquatica, or Adventure Island. At Busch Gardens you’ll find some the country’s best and exciting roller coasters and rides, more than 2,700 animals, live shows, restaurants, shops and games. This 335 acre park has an Africa theme. The Serengeti Express train runs along the Serengeti Plains where you can see the animals in their natural habitat. The park is broken up into several themed areas: Congo, Jungala, Stanleyville with Sheika, a giant roller coaster, Nairobi, Timbuktu, Morocco, and Egypt. Of course, there are plenty of restaurants available. To save money on snacks, buy the big sized drink that offers discount refills that you can use every time you come back and the big popcorn bin that you refill at a discount all year. Park areas vary depending on the time of year so check their website before you go.

If you’re thinking of using your Walt Disney World Armed Force Salute 2009 discount and staying for a few days in Orlando, then check out this special hotel discount. Active duty and retired U.S. military personnel a 20 percent discount off the best available room rates through 2009 at seven hotels in the Downtown Disney Resort areas.The hotels are the Best Western, DoubleTree Guest Suites, Regal Sun Resort, Hilton, Royal Plaza and Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa and the Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel. These hotels are very convenient. Instead of driving each day into the Magic Kingdom and paying a parking fee or taking a crowded hotel bus, you can park or walk to Downtown Disney and take a bus instead! Here’s a couple of tips to save money at Disney World. First make sure you take advantage of the free breakfast at your hotel. There is a MacDonald’s at Downtown Disney that will probably be the source of the most inexpensive meal available to you. The sit down restaurants in Disney World are relatively expensive, but there are some good deals at venues where you order and pickup your own food, but the price will still $7 to $10 a person. You might want to bring a disposable water bottle to refill during the day to save a few dollars. For the hotel rooms, some blackout dates may apply. But you can check reservations and get more information can be found at www.downtowndIsneyhotels.com.

The Florida Railroad Museum in Parrish will be operating train excursions to its Easter Egg patch on 11 April! Many activities are planned including the annual Easter Egg Hunt. Mr. Bunny will greet all the children. The entire round-trip will last approximately 2.5 hours. The train departs with the Party Caboose at: 9am, Noon and 3pm. The Florida Railroad Museum was founded as The Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum with the stated goal of preserving Florida’s railroad history. Over the years, the Museum has acquired and restored rolling stock and equipment to operate for the public’s enjoyment. See the sights and sounds of Florida railroading as it existed in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The Museum operates on a six mile line between Parrish and Willow in Manatee County. This railroad line was the first railroad to be built in Manatee County. Each weekend diesel locomotive pulls equipment consisting of open window coaches, a covered gondola, and an air conditioned coach and lounge car. The trains are operated entirely by Museum members volunteering thousands of hours a year to make this unique experience possible. The Museum operates train rides every Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 2pm, rain or shine. Trains depart from the station on 83rd Street East in Parrish just behind the Post Office. Tickets cost $16 for adults and $12 for 3-11 years of age.

To help save water during this dry spell Tampa is experiencing, the City of Tampa is offering a free plumbing retrofit kit.  Retrofitting is the installation of simple and usually inexpensive devices that replace or modify existing plumbing fixtures in your home to save water. Some devices will restrict the output of water like on your shower head and some will displace water so you use less like in your toilet tank. This is a great way to save water and save you money!  Unless your home was built in the last few years, you probably have pre-conservation era plumbing that guzzles water. Toilets usually use the most water in your home. If you choose not to replace your existing 5-gallon tank (or more in some older homes), then you can make your own toilet displacement device. Simply fill up a half-gallon milk jug with water and place it in the toilet tank. Make sure nothing interfers the internal mechanisms and test flush to see if there’s enough pressure to do the job!  If a half-gallon jug is too big, then try a quart size jug.  Make sure you check the rubber flapper to see if it’s leaking. It may be time for its replacement. Most flappers should be replaced once per year. The average showerhead uses between five to ten gallons of water. Replacing showerheads with new low-flow models can save up to six and a half gallons per minute. It will also reduce your energy bill because you’ll use less hot water. The free showerhead that you can obtain from the Tampa Water Department uses only 2.5 gallons of water. The average bathroom or kitchen faucet flows at 3 gallons per minute. By installing faucet aerators in the bathroom and kitchen, you can cut water consumption by 20 to 40 percent. The Tampa Water Department can provide you with a bathroom faucet aerator that uses only 1.5 gallons per minute and a kitchen aerator that uses only 2.2 gallons per minute.

The Patel Conservatory at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center is sponsoring a free and unique movement workshop for adults on 10 April. Formed in, Galumpha delivers a fast-paced, athletic brand of movement, distinctive for its ingenuity. Starting at 6pm members of Galumpha, a performance art group that combines stunning acrobatics, striking visual effects, physical comedy and inventive choreography, will lead adult participants in a unique movement workshop using choreographic games, trust and awareness exercises and some basic acrobatic partnering. Galumpha has created a sensory feast of images ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, drawn together into a seamless whole, consistently bringing audiences to their feet. Pre-registration is required by calling 813.222.1002. TBPAC is located on the eastern bank of the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa and easily accessible from I-275, I-4 or the Crosstown Expressway. Parking is available at several nearby lots or at the William F. Poe parking structure next to the German Library for about $4. If you can find a spot on the road on the north side of TBPAC, you can park at a metered spot.