Suzanne Calling

Senator Haridopolos and members of the Florida State Senate I write to you as a USF Tampa graduate student and a USF Polytechnic alumna. Please consider the following in your thoughts as you prepare to vote Wednesday on Senator Alexander's proposal to eliminate USF Polytechnic from the state university system. 1. When I decided to return to school three years ago, the reason I selected USF Polytechnic was because the campus was part of the University of South Florida system. It was important to me to attend a school where classes are taught by Ph.D.s. Poly delivered on this front and more. I attended small classes, where these professors insisted that students participate in topical discussion. The five semesters as a Poly student prepared me well for my next academic journey, seeking a master's degree in Instructional Technology at USF's Tampa campus. If the program I currently attend were available at the Polytechnic campus, I would have remained at the campus. Even...

Yes, please! It is strawberry season here in central Florida. However, the crops have been hit hard by this long spell of cold weather. Normally, a flat of strawberries at Parkesdale Farms would run you about eleven bucks, and a few good stands we've found would have them for around nine. This year, those are the going rates for a HALF flat of strawberries. This is the local rate, your supermarkets will double and triple those prices due to transportation and storage costs. It just might be cheaper to buy your sweetie a dozen roses for Valentine's day this year, instead of chocolate covered strawberries. $2.49 a quart. Yikes.

There was a time when a weather forecast in the 50's would have us reaching for short sleeve shirts and shorts. Five years later, it's a different tune. This week's forecast: And we're all complaining that we're cold ! Guess it is a good thing that we hung on to thermal shirts and jackets. No matter what your idea of cold is, this week is going to be brisk for most of the country. Try to stay warm, everybody.

A pictoral on the life of a strawberry from when it enters my house until it enters my belly! Sweet Sliced and diced Maceration (maceration, let the sugar do the work, maceration, make my tastebuds go beserk**) Fruity nirvana *If you get what movie song I adapted that from, I apologize for sticking it in your head all day :D (maybe not!)

Fay made landfall in Florida. So far, she's been fairly quiet in these parts-kind of like the friend and coworker of years ago. Since I *did* have a friend named Faye, does this count? Do I need to warn the rest of Florida of the storms named after friends and family? Maybe I should. In that case, we should worry about these: 2008 Nana (we called my grandmother Nana, but it wasn't her given name-does that count?) 2009 Bill (my stepdad) If we include Ed's relatives in the mix, then Fred will come visit Peter (my brother and we're seriously screwed on that one, folks) Theresa (aka Legacy, though her given name is Therese-again, we're fucked) 2010 Lisa (a former friend, but she'll probably end up like Fay) Paula (we're IMing right now, I have to tell her we can't be friends anymore! LOL) Walter (aka Socrates, but that one will loop around aimlessly) 2011 We are safe, because middle names have never been a factor. I'll be sure not to befriend anyone...

I moved to Florida in 2004, and rapidly experienced several hurricanes. At the time, I joked about the fact that the hurricanes that hit the state were named after relatives or close family friends. Charlie (my prank playing great uncle), Frances (the great aunt who had a lot of grace) and Jeanne (my mom's BFF that she found when she moved to Florida). Since then, I've joked that a storm had to be named for someone I know before it comes inland here, rather than further up the east coast or the gulf. Now Fay is staring us down and Ed brings up my coworker/friend Faye, that this may be another interesting ride. Are we prepared? Somewhat. Thanks to scouting and camping, we've got plenty of gear that would get us through a power outage of up to a week. On the other hand, I don't usually stock up on water, so we're short on that front. I'm thinking the fridge in the garage is going to gain a few pitchers tonight and tomorrow. I've got the makings for La...