MacDill Happenings

The Bay Palms Golf Complex at MacDill AFB is having some great specials during the month of September. You can pay one price for a cart and green fees and play as much golf as you want during the day. As always, the price is determined by rank and time of day. These prices are great! You can’t play nine holes at a course out in town for these prices! The prices will range from a low of $10 to a high of $26 for ID holder depending on rank and time of play. For guests the price range is $18 to $30. There is also a special for 3 guests and 1 ID holder to play 18 holes with a cart for $100! Plus a hot dog lunch which is available after 11am. The final special is in the well stocked Pro Shop. Shoes are 15% off the sticker price. Of course you don’t pay tax so you save even more than you would out in town! The Pro Shop is stocked with all the latest clubs, bags, ball, gloves, shoes and clothing. The Bay Palms Golf Complex was named ‘Best Golf Program in the Air Force’ for 2002. There are two 18-hole, par 72 courses. The challenging South Course runs along the bay. The North Course offers a prefect opportunity to work on your game. The complex has a lighted practice putting green, a 24-hour-a-day lighted driving range where a bucket of balls is only $1, a practice chipping green and sand trap areas. The clubhouse has an excellant pro shop with a great friendly staff ready to help you. The snack bar serves a great variety of food and has an especially nice breakfast menu!

If you need lodging for your golf outing or visit to MacDill AFB visite MacDill AFB Lodging!

Get out, get fit and have some fun at Mommy and Me Skate on Wednesdays at United Skates of America! United Skates of America is located at 5121 N. Armenia Ave in Tampa. This weekly Wednesday event will take place from 9am to 11:30am. This is a great opportunity for mom’s to get some fun exercising skating and sharing with their toddlers. You put your child in a stroller, ride-on toy or push cart and speed them around the ring while you skate. Bring some friends along! The admission price is $3.50 and this includes skate rental. Come check out the rest of the facility. This is a great place to host a birthday party or a school fund raiser. For new skaters, skating lessons are available. For youths interested in hockey, there is a youth roller hockey league. There is a pro shop available to meet all your skating needs. The video arcade has the latest games and with your winning tickets you can redemp them for some great toys. The pizza restaurant serves a delicious pizza and other goodies that will satisfy everyone.

Come checkout the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Fan Fest today!. The St. Pete Times Forum will be open from 3pm to 8pm for this free event. Watch a scrimmage with Lightning players and local personalities, and the jerseys from the game will be auctioned off for charity. There will be autograph opportunities with Lightning players and coaches, question and answer sessions with players and management, including one starting at 4:15 p.m. with general manager Brian Lawton, Martin St. Louis, Mattias Ohlund and Victor Hedman. An open skate for the public is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. following the charity scrimmage, but you have to bring your own skates. Located in the Channelside district of Tampa, the Forum is near downtown Tampa and easily accessible from the Selmon Expressway as well at I-4 and I-275. Parking is available at several public parking lots. Before or after Fan Fest, there are plenty of nearby eateries, including Andreychuk’s directly across the street from the Forum. The Channelside complex is within walking distance of the Forum. At Channelside you can find a wide variety of restaurants from Hooters to Bennigan’s and everything in between. Across the street from Channelside is a multi-level parking structure.

The Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary of Sarasota has guided tours on Friday and Saturday evenings. The gates open at 6pm and the guided tour begins at 6:30pm. The Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary is a non-profit safe haven for big cats, bears, and other animals in need. The goal of the Sanctuary is to provide public education on the appreciation for animals and the importance of habitat preservation. The Sanctuary was founded by Kay Rosaire who continues to run it today with help from her son, Clayton. They provide care for the lifetime of the animals which for some is up to 20 years, double their normal life span in the wild. There are 3 large indoor/outdoor housing complexes with adjoining exercise habitats, and we are continuing to expand. Each habitat has a swimming pool, toys and palm trees to provide the emotional enrichment that maintains optimal mental and physical health. At the Sanctuary you can learn about exotic and endangered Siberian Tigers, Royal Bengal Tigers, African Lions, and rare White Tigers. Big Cat Habitat offers life-long sanctuary supported by income from the demonstrations and from donations. Volunteers are also a critical part of the support of the sanctuary. Donation for admittance is $20 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under.

For a break from that first week of school and a break from spending a lot of money for a night out, stop by the MacDill AFB Movie Theater this Friday and Saturday. You’ll find out that you will only spend about half of what you spend out in town for a movie and refreshments. You can’t beat the prices on base! On Friday at 8pm, the latest Harry Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” is playing. Rated PG for adult language and adult situations, this movie has a run time of 155 minutes. Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again. On Saturday at 7pm, the teenage romantic comedy “I Love You Beth Cooper” is playing. Rated PG-13 for teen drinking, language, drug references, crude/sexual content, and brief violence, this movie has a run time of 98 minutes. Nerdy teenager Denis Cooverman harbors a secret crush on Beth Cooper, the hottest girl in high school. During his graduation speech, Denis lets the cat out of the bag and declares his love for Beth, who, instead of dissing Denis, shows up at his house later that day and promises to show him the time of his life.

Looking for a new job? Getting close to retirement? Well, get ready for the MacDill AFB Career Fair on 28 August. The Fair will be held at The Bayshore Club from noon to 3pm.
Participating Employers include:

Gemini Industries L-3 Intelligence
Orange County Sheriff’s Dept
General Dynamics ASD
Northrop Grumman
Technical Tech USA, LLC
Futron, Inc.
EDS
Tampa Bay Trane
Florida Hwy Patrol
Lucas Group
US Border Patrol
Kforce
Chenega Technology
General Dynamics ISD
Concurrent Technologies
TEKsystems Government Serv.
US Secret Service
And more!

Bring a copy of your resume to hand to prospective employers. If you haven’t written or updated your resume lately and need some help, then you can turn to the internet or the Airman and Family Readiness Center for help. The Airman and Family Readiness Center offers classes from pre-seperation counseling to resume writing to job search techniques to assist you in looking for employment. If you are interested in one of the listed employers, then get on the internet and start doing some research on the company. This will help you find out if you have the right skills for the company and if the company has something that interests you. You can also the internet to help figure out what types of questions you want to ask the human resources. Develop sound bites that are compatible with what a potential employer is looking for. Be prepared to tell them about yourself, why you left your last position, why you are looking for a new job, and why the company should hire you. Some of this questions are easy to answer if you are seperating from the military. But it always a good idea to have a 30 second sound bite so that you can sell yourself. Make sure you dress for success. Even though there will be a crowd, you can stand out with a good coat and tie. Grooming is important. You want to make a good first impression.

The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa is having a Homeschool Open House on 25 August from 9am to 5pm. The Homeschool Educators Open House offers free self-guided tours of over 450 hands-on MOSI exhibits including Disasterville featuring Bay News 9 WeatherQuest, The Amazing You, Kids In Charge! The Children’s Science Center and The Saunders Planetarium. Highlights include a preview of MOSI’s Homeschool Education programs for the 2009-2010 school year, science demonstrations throughout the day and a 20% discount on MOSI memberships with on-site registration. Guests will also receive discount admission into ANIMATION featuring Cartoon Network and the IMAX Dome Theatre. MOSI is one of a handful of museums in the world to display one of the largest articulated dinosaurs ever discovered. Sauropods were the colossus of their age, some tipping the scales at a full forty tons. The sauropods that occupy MOSI’s lobby reach three stories with a total combined length of approximately 150 feet. Experience a Gulf Coast Hurricane and get ready for the upcoming hurricane season. The BioWorks Butterfly Garden is an engineered ecosystem that emulates how natural wetlands clean water as an alternative to current wastewater treatment techniques. BioWorks houses a free flying butterfly garden that is home to thousands of butterflies each year, an animal husbandry laboratory where guests can watch the butterfly life cycle from egg to adult, extensive outdoor gardens, and two ponds. Kids In Charge! The Children’s Science Center at MOSI is uniquely designedspace for children twelve and under. Based on cutting-edge theories about learningand skill building, Kids In Charge! emphasizes the value of learning through playby bringing together science, creative thinking and inspire the imagination. If you get tired or hungry and want a break, visit the Red Baron cafe for a tasty meal or a refreshing drink. At the end of the day, there is a large selection of sounviers available at the MOSI store. MOSI is located on the north side to Tampa right across the street from the University of South Florida and near Busch Gardens and is about a 30 min drive from MacDill AFB. Parking is always free at MOSI!

If you’re thinking of starting your own business, you can get some free help in St. Pete on 25 August. The St. Petersburg Business Assistance Center at 440 Second Ave. N St. Pete is presenting a “10 Steps to Start a Successful Small Business” workshop from 6pm to 8pm this Tuesday. This is a free workshop presented by SCORE Counselors to America’s Small Business. SCORE is a national non-profit organization comprised fo working and retired business executives who donate their time to assisting people in the US in starting up a new business or by providing business counseling for existing businesses. The St. Petersburg Business Assistance Center (BAC) is your one-stop facility for starting or growing your existing small business. It’s wonderful resource that can help assess your goals and plan your future. The BAC provides business counseling, training and access to capital and credit for startups as well as established businesses seeking growth or specialized assistance. The Business Assistance Center (BAC) provides case management and follow-up services for the creation, retention and expansion of small businesses. To register or for further information, call (727) 893-714 or go online.

The classic Judy Garland movie, “The Wizard of Oz” is playing at the Tampa Theatre at 3pm this Sunday. Most people have seen it at home, but even a 60″ big screen televsion is not the same as a movie screen in the classic Tampa Theatre. Come see Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion as go to see the Wizard and battle the Wicked Witch and her band of flying monkees. See Dorothy the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion learn about themselves and life as they go on the adventure of a lifetime. General admission is $8. Built in 1926 as one of America’s most elaborate “movie palaces”, the Tampa Theatre today is a historical treasure of Tampa. Located in downtown Tampa, the Theatre is easily accessible from I-275 and I-4. Designed by famed theatre architect John Eberson, the Tampa is a superior example of the “atmospheric” style of theatre design. Inside the Tampa, audiences are transported to a lavish, romantic Mediterranean courtyard replete with old world statuary, flowers, and gargoyles. Over it all is a nighttime sky replete with twinkling stars and floating clouds. Tampa Theatre was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, is a Tampa City Landmark, and is a member of the League of Historic American Theatres. There is on street parking nearby and parking lots within walking distance. Remember the street parking meters are not in service during the weekend so parking at street meters is free. It’s a tradition to hang out at The Hub, downtown Tampa’s classic dive that’s located two doors down, before or after a theater outing.

For a free event with the kids, the art deco fronted Beach Theatre in St. Pete Beach is having a free showing of the classic 1982 movie “E.T.” The Extra-Terrestrial. The movie is playing this Saturday at 10am. While visiting the Earth at Night, a group of aliens are discovered and disturbed by an approaching human task force. Because of the more than hasty take-off, one of the visitors is left behind. The little alien finds himself all alone on a very strange planet. Fortunately, the extra-terrestrial soon finds a friend and emotional companion in 10-year-old Elliot, who discovered him looking for food in his family’s garden shed. While E.T. slowly gets acquainted with Elliot’s brother Michael, his sister Gertie as well as with Earth customs, members of the task force work day and night to track down the whereabouts of Earth’s first visitor from Outer Space. The wish to go home again is strong in E.T., and after being able to communicate with Elliot and the others, E.T. starts building an improvised device to send a message home for his folks to come and pick him up. But before long, E.T. gets seriously sick, and because of his special connection to Elliot, the young boy suffers, too. The situation gets critical when the task force finally intervenes. However, Elliot and his friends come to the rescue. The St. Pete Beach Theatre is a historic landmark along the west coast of Florida. Built in 1939 for about $50,000, it was said to be the first theater ever erected for sound equipment on the coast. The original theatre was fitted out with 528 seats but today there are 245 seats. The Theatre was the first building on Corey Avenue, which was a fairly busy road in those days because the causeway was the only route on and off St.Pete Beach.