MacDill Happenings

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When you move to the Tampa area, your pets will be covered under Hillsborough County Ordinances. All dogs and cats must be vaccinated and registered for rabies and that dogs be caused to wear current Hillsborough County tags. All dogs must be confined to their owner’s property and be restrained by a leash or under the direct control of the owner or responsible person when in public areas.  A great place to get vaccinations completed is at the MacDill AFB Veterinary Clinic.  The Clinic is open M-F from 8am to 4pm and located behind the Commissary/PX on Blackbird St, Bldg 936.  Call to make a reservation at 828-3558.  You can also get a microchip and supplies for your pets.

Hillsborough County requires all dogs, cats, and ferrets that are four months of age or older to be registered with the department and issued a tag. All dogs must wear the tag when outside. Cats are required to either wear a tag or be microchipped, tattooed, or have an ear tag when outside. The rabies tag may be obtained from the department or a Hillsborough county veterinarian. A license tag is a “free phone call home” for a lost pet. License tags cost $10 for a sterilized animal and $30 for a non-sterilized animal. License fees for ferrets are $5. Senior citizens age 62 or older receive a discount and may purchase a tag for a sterilized cat or dog for $5 or $15 for an intact cat or dog. For further information, contact Animal Services at 744-5660.

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A new Tampa Bay Lightning hockey season is getting ready to start. Preseason has already started! With new players and a new general manager, the 2011 season looks to be exciting and competitive as ever! The Tampa Bay Lightning welcomes back fans and kicks off the 2010-11 hockey season with this free event including a charity hockey game with Lightning alumni, a question and answer session with players, Head Coach Guy Boucher and General Manager Steve Yzerman, an inside look at team practice, an open skate with Thunderbug and the Lightning Girls and a player autograph session. The first 500 to enter the Forum receive a free “All In” Lightning t-shirt. There will also be fun and games both inside the building and on the West Plaza for all ages, as well as food and beverage specials. Fans can also pick out the best locations for Lightning season tickets. Anyone purchasing season tickets at the event will also receive an equal number of tickets to see the Stone Temple Pilots, who will perform on Friday, October 8, at the St. Pete Times Forum as part of Lightning Launch weekend. The season opener is on Saturday, October 9, at 7:30 pm against the Atlanta Thrashers.

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Go Rays!! The Rays take on the Seattle Mariners at this afternoon Trop. The Rays magic number to clinch a spot in the post season is 3! Get ready for the post season again! The Rays won’t settle for a wild card spot, because if they win the division then they will be home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The first 10,000 fans get a Rafael Soriano Collectible Poster. Gametime is 1:40pm. Get to the game early and have a tailgate party! If you do get to the game early, then the first 50 cars with 4 people or more can park for free in the Trop parking lots. Normal parking price is $20 at the Trop. There are private lots nearby the Trop that charge $10 for parking. The Trop is easily accessible from I-275. Inside the Trop, check out the Ray tank in centerfield. In the Left Field Street area, fans can participate in a baseball-themed game show, take their picture on a Topps baseball card, have their name inscribed onto a Louisville Slugger bat, touch and feel real game-used equipment, and broadcast play-by-play of baseball highlights. At Right Field Street kids can experience the magic of baseball in the Rays Baseball Carnival, a real working carnival that includes plinko, spin the wheel, ring-a-bat and skee ball. Or take a swing against a computer images of real Major League pitchers in a batting cage or test their arms in the speed pitch, both found in the T.G. Lee Rookie Challenge area of the Carnival. There is also kids-themed areas such as “Bats, Balls, and Brushes”, “St. Petersburg Times Pressbox” and “The Science of Baseball.” Centerfield Street has the Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar, baseball’s first in-stadium cigar bar, as well as the Batter’s Eye Restaurant, located in the “batter’s eye” in center field. Centerfield Street also has the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall-of-Fame. For the 2010 season for every Rays Gold, Silver and Bronze games, the Rays offer a military discount of half off outfield tickets with a four ticket limit, when presenting an active military ID at the Tropicana Field Box office. This is a gold game, so the discount is available. If you purchase tickets on game day at the stadium, the price increases about $3 per ticket plus there is a $3 service charge! If you buy tickets at the Ray downtown Tampa store, the service charge is only $1.75, although you still have to pay the $3 day of game price increase.

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Saturday 25 September is National Museum Day. Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian Media in which participating museums across the country open their doors for free to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket. Make sure that you print out a ticket for free admission! One ticket for two is permitted per household, per email address. Many museums around the Tampa Bay area will participate. In St Pete, the Dali Museum, the Carter G. Woodson Museum, the Florida Holocaust Museum, Great Explorations, Morean Arts Center, Museum of Fine Arts, Pier Aquarium and the St. Petersburg Museum of History will participate. There is a free shuttle from BayWalk to Great Explorations and the Woodson Museum from 10 am to1 pm. The Looper Trolley to most downtown locations from 10 am to3 pm will be free. In Polk County, the Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Explorations V Children’s Museum, the Florida Air Museum and Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland will offer free admission. In Tampa, Cracker Country, Henry B. Plant Museum, Tampa Museum of Art, The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, University of Tampa Scarfone/Hartley Gallery, and Ybor City Museum State Park will participate in Free Museum Day. Although the museums are spread throughout the area, if you plan you time right you should be able to see at least two and maybe three of the museums on Saturday.

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Sign up with Giant Campus for comprehensive technology training programs for active duty personnel and their families, DOD and base personnel, reservists and retirees. In partner with MacDill AFB, Giant Campus is offering these classes online or at MacDill AFB or at the Brandon Family Resource Center. Giant Campus is an education and learning experience company that develops and delivers classes directly to military service members and their families. Since 1997, Giant Campus has received numerous awards and recognition in business leadership and online education. More than three million students worldwide have participated in Giant Campus programs. Giant Campus offers Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced, instructor-led classes at convenient times through the day on Microsoft Office 2007, Windows Vista, Photoshop, Website Design, Digital Photography along with Computer, E-Mail and Internet basics. Giant Campus also offers exciting daily after-school programs for teens and children at the School Age and Youth Centers on base. Giant Campus at MacDill AFB offers a variety of enrichment and professional development classes each month. Choose from on-site, instructor led classes or enroll in an online, self-paced course. Giant offers certification preparation to pass Microsoft 2007 Office certifications. Giant Campus schedules free daily courses at the Base Library and Family Resource Center. Walk-in open lab sessions are also available every day. For more information on our MacDill AFB Technology Training programs call 813-695-2110.

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Photo courtesy of Columbia restaurants

This Sunday the famous Columbia restaurants in Tampa, St. Pete and Sarasota roll back prices to when the restaurant opened in 1905. All six Columbia Restaurants will roll back their prices for “1905 Day” to celebrate the 105th anniversary of the fourth and fifth generation family-owned business. Come out to the original restaurant in Ybor City. As has been the tradition since their 75th Anniversary, the Columbia has developed a special menu with the prices of yesteryear for this day. From noon until 7pm on Sunday 19 September, guests will enjoy the Columbia Restaurant’s world-famous Spanish cuisine for the prices they might have paid in the “good ole days”. Menu items will include:

Chicken & Yellow Rice “Ybor” for $2.95
Boliche (eye round of beef) for $2.95
Merluza “A la Rusa” for $2.95
Columbia’s Original “1905 Salad” for $1.95
Sangria for $.95 cents
Flan for $.50 cents
Richly-brewed American coffee for $.05 cents

Reservations will not be accepted on this day, and to go and take-out items are not available. The Columbia Restaurant was founded in 1905 and is Florida’s oldest restaurant. All Columbia Restaurants are owned and operated by 4th and 5th generation members of the founding family. “1905 Day” takes place at the Columbia Restaurants in Tampa’s Ybor City, Sarasota, St. Augustine, The Pier in St. Petersburg, Sand Key on Clearwater Beach and Celebration. The Columbia Riverwalk restaurant will not be offering the 1905 special.

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The MacDill AFB bowling center, MacDill Lanes, will be hosting a 9 Pin No Tap Tournament on Friday 17 September.  Cost will be $12 per person. MacDill Lanes offers 12 lanes of top quality bowling with automated scoring and pinsetters. Bowling is great family fun! There is pro shop that has everything that you need for bowling including the latest balls that can be drilled to you hand size, bags, shoes and other accessories. The snack bar has great food at a reasonable price. The snack bar is open at 11am on Sunday to Friday and at 1pm on Saturday and closes one hour before the lanes close. The summer hours are Mon-Wed 11am to 5pm, Thu 11am to 8pm, Fri 11am to midnight and Sat 1pm to midnight. Per game rates during the week from 11am to 5pm is $2, and 5pm-8pm is $2.50. On Saturday from 1pm-8pm, the cost is $2.50. On Friday and Saturday night from 8pm to midnight, Xtreme Bowling with glowing pins and balls and flashing lights takes place with a charge of $3 per game. MacDill Lanes also has a birthday party special for $100 for 10 kids. The birthday special includes 2 games of Xtreme Bowling, shoe rental, table and chair set up, decorations and a choice of hot dog, fries and a soft drink or pizza and soft drinks.

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Salon Jack will hole its 5th Annual Cut-a-Thon for Cancer Cure on 13 September from 8am to 8pm. Located in south Tampa at 3215 S Macdill Ave., Salon Jack was able to raise about $4500 last year. Funds will go to the Florida Suncoast affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. There will also be an auction for items including Lowry Park Zoo tickets and signed items from the Tampa Bay Rays. Salon Jack stylists and several beauty school students will plan to spend 30 minutes on each haircut. The local Florida Suncoast Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure began in 1999 in Pinellas County and has expanded to a six-county area. The Florida Suncoast Affiliate’s service area is: Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota counties. With nearly $1 billion invested to date, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to curing breast cancer at every stage – from the causes, to the cures, to the pain and anxiety of every moment in between. The south Tampa area is the peninsula area of Tampa south of Kennedy Blvd with Tampa Bay and Hillsborough Bay on the on its eastern, western and southern borders. The eastern border has Bayshore Blvd that stretches the length of the bay. There are two public high schools, Plant and Robinson, along with a large variety of public elementary and middle schools in south Tampa. MacDill AFB is on the southern tip of south Tampa.

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The Tampa Boat Show will be at the Tampa Convention Center from 10 to 12 September. Admission is free on Saturday 11 September for military, police, fire and EMT personnel. Normal admission price for adults 16 years and up is $9. Kids ages 15 and younger are free when accompanied by an adult. However paid admission includes a one-year subscription to either Yachting, Motor Boating, Cruising World, Caribbean Life & Travel or Windsurfing. You can take advantage of interactive and educational on-the-water programs to get started in boating or improve your boating skills. Try out the 30 minute ski boating adventure, work on your docking skills and practice close quarter maneuvering aboard outboard powered ships, or sign up for a 90 minute intro to sailing course. Even if you’re not in the market for a new boat, come out and tour The Patriot, a 69-foot, 52-ton new Tampa Fire and Rescue boat. Firefighters will conduct in-water demonstrations on the fire boat. The Patriot has the capability to shoot water 100 feet in all directions. Show hours are Friday and Saturday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 10am–6pm. There are various public and private parking lots near the Convention Center and at Channelside. Usually the public lots offer the most cost effective price. But where ever you park, the Convention Center and Channelside are within walking distance of each other. The Florida Aquarium has a parking lot and Channelside has parking structure across the street. If you’re looking for a snack or a meal while checking out the tall ships stop by Channelside. There is a large variety of restaurants from casual eateries to fine dining. If you’re looking for pizza, sandwiches, steak, Thai, Spanish food or something in between, Channelside has it. Or if you’re just interested in dessert, then you can find some delicious ice cream at Channelside!

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This Friday 10 September start your weekend out right and stop by SeaScapes Beach Club on MacDill AFB for free live entertainment outside at the Tiki Hut. Starting at 5:30pm, Tommy “Bahama” Arnold will be playing beach music, new country, Motown and classic R&B. Take in the scenic view of Tampa Bay, while dining in the tropical atmosphere of SeaScapes. You don’t have to face the traffic or crowds like you find at other waterside venues. Sip delicious cocktails, or dine on delectable fare, while enjoying a magnificent view of the setting sun on the bay. A wide selection of menu items for dinner include grouper, seafood platters, coconut shrimp, grilled chicken and much more! You can’t beat the bar prices! SeaScapes is located at the MacDill AFB base beach and next to FamCamp. It’s a real casual atmosphere so beach wear is fine, remember this is Florida! It’s a great place to enjoy as a couple or bring the whole family! Or after an afternoon on the golf course, SeaScapes is a great place to relax!  You can’t beat the price of drinks at SeaScapes.  Draft beer is only $2 and well drinks are $2.75.  On Fridays from 5pm to 9pm, there is a seafood basket special for $8.95 which includes clam strips, cod, shrimp, potato and choice of side, either small tossed salad or coleslaw.

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