Plunging headlong through a day of haphazard revelations

Tampa columnist HOOPER E-mail: Click here Archive

© St. Petersburg Times
published May 8, 2002

From start to finish, Tuesday was a day of realizations for me.

5:50 a.m. Wake up. Realize it was a bad idea to engage in PlayStation 2 action until 1 a.m. Realize Daylight Savings Time is still taking its toll (do we ever get that hour back?). Realize I need to move to Indiana where I can support my Colts and live in a place where they don't play games with the clock.

6:35 a.m. Realize my two boys have to perform in school chorus production tonight. "TONIGHT? When were you going to tell me?" Cancel plans to attend "Meet Bill McBride" event tonight.

7:45 a.m. Drop boys off at school. Realize Matthew left teacher appreciation gift in car. Wonder why he is so forgetful.

8:25 a.m. Leave day care after dropping daughter off and head for work. Realize I'm supposed to be at a breakfast event, but can't recall what it is. Stop wondering why Matthew is so forgetful.

8:50 a.m. Realize I'm supposed to be at Breakfast At Tiffany event. Start singing Moon River (I bet my Huckleberry friends didn't realize I knew the words to Moon River).

9 a.m. Arrive at Tiffany & Co. The event has a dual purpose: salute the Child Abuse Council's 25 years of service in Hillsborough County and showcase the new collection of Tiffany designer Elsa Peretti. Realize glass of orange juice handed to me is actually a mimosa.

9:15 a.m. Get rundown on Elsa Peretti collection from Tiffany & Co. store director Jonathan Bruckner. Check out 18-karat mesh brassiere on live model. Realize wife might like brassiere as Mother's Day gift. Realize she might prefer car when Bruckner tells me it's $12,000.

9:45 a.m. Talk to Debbie Gavalas, development director of Child Abuse Council. She says there is a flip side to the recent depressing front page headlines regarding the Department of Children and Families and Catholic priests. Realize Child Abuse Council's array of programs has created success stories.

10:05 a.m. Start driving back to my Seffner hacienda to wash chorus T-shirts and jeans for TONIGHT'S choral performance. Realize I need energy boost. Stop at gas station to get super sugar bomb combination of Code Red Mountain Dew and Krispy Kreme doughnut.

12:20 p.m. Leave hacienda to attend Times Scholarship Luncheon at A La Carte Event Pavilion. See new billboard of Mix 100.7 morning DJ Nancy Alexander on Interstate 4. Realize Alexander's bright purple and pink top with circle patterns may cast hypnotic spell over drivers.

1 p.m. Arrive at A La Carte for 12:30 p.m. lunch (I swear the invitation said 1 p.m.). Hear inspiring stories of Times Scholarship winners and great motivational speech by federal Judge Mary Scrivens. Realize no matter how frantic this day is, it is nothing compared to obstacles scholarship winners have overcome.

3:35 p.m. After getting parking ticket for leaving car in loading zone at Times building, arrive at NFL Youth Education Town Center grand opening in Jackson Heights. Realize that while NFL will get most of the credit for the new recreation center with computer lab and classroom, the efforts of many local people played as big a role.

3:45 p.m. Realize NFL's YET event is as much a tribute to the late city of Tampa Recreation Department director Joe Abrahams as it is a grand opening. Abrahams passed away last weekend, but his wife Jo-Anne Wolfson still made it to ceremony. "He knows and he's watching," Wolfson said.

4:35 p.m. After checking out cool NFL photographs inside NFL YET Center (the photos were courtesy of the city's Public Arts effort and the Tampa Museum of Art), I leave center to pick up, feed and change kids before concert. Realize my day is far from over.

That's all I'm saying.

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