Interest in Curling is an All-Time High

I saw that the Curling Club of Jacksonville members were working out? on the ice recently, and the news story indicated that an Olympic win in the sport? has led to interest being at an all-time high. So there are literally hundreds of Americans interested in curling. But being from Wisconsin, I know a thing or two about ice-related activities, and I kind of wonder why curling would be taking off nationwide when there are several other ways to have fun on or with the ice.

I Miss Library Game Rentals

Jacksonville has a public library. It's not open as many hours as it should be, but it's not a bad library system. However, it is lacking in one area that I kind of liked back in Milwaukee and especially Johnson County, Kansas: game rentals.

Hot Attraction: Blow Up Slides

Florida's sun can be unrelenting. If you are planning on renting a giant slide like the one pictured here, you will need to figure out how to deal with the sun. The tree in this photo had little effect on the slide, and it's obviously higher than the adjacent building. Therefore, when my kids went down this slide after noon, it had been heating up all day, and the slide itself actually left burn marks on the kids.

I'm Not Blaming Armada For This...

I don't know enough about the situation to blame anyone, so this is not an article complaining about Jacksonville Armada, only it kind of is. Here's the deal, or lack of deal: my kid plays soccer on a co-ed grade 5-8 team that plays against other such teams. These are private schools, most of which without their own fields. We're not ritzy schools with big-time donors, so we use public parks. However, the arrangement we had for the use of Ed Austin Park has dissolved under Armada rule.

Ga-ga Ball is Sweeping Over Jacksonville

I have no evidence that Ga-ga (or Ga-ga Ball as my kids call it) is actually being played by thousands of kids in Jacksonville. I do know my kids play it at their school, so I decided to find out why. After researching the game, I can honestly say I still don't have a clue why it's the game of choice.