two people dead 30 feet from our house!

South Beach residents and tourists said they are shaken after a gunman fatally shot a pharmacy employee then took his own life just blocks away on a busy stretch of Alton Road Wednesday night.
Witnesses said they heard two gunshots about 6:15 p.m. Police found the first shooting victim at the CVS pharmacy near 14th Street and Alton Road, a place where residents are accustomed to walking to nearby shops and restaurants. According to witnesses, the victim worked as a loss prevention employee for CVS. He was shot after confronting a man outside the store, Local 10 reported.
CVS employee Jafari Hilbert was not working at the time of the shooting, but he told Local 10's Kellie Butler that he believes the gunman shot the loss prevention officer after he tried to prevent him from shoplifting.

complete article:http://www.local10.com/news/15241064/detail.html?rss=mia&psp=news

good baby news

Pam had a follow-up ultrasound - the placenta is NOT low lying! This means, among other things, she can resume jogging! Here are some images of the baby. They may be hard to make out. One shows the head and an arm. Another shows mostly the head.

Jonathan Dickinson State Park

On Sunday we went to Jonathan Dickinson State Park. It was a bit of a drive - about two hours - but we still had some fun. We took our fishing gear, swim suits, and mountain bikes. We rented a motor boat. The bad news is that the weather didn't totally cooperate. It was mostly sunny, but very windy. We caught one and a half fish. (Pam had one on, got too excited, reeled in too fast, and the fish got off - hence 1/2 fish caught.) The park is very nice though, and is far from major roadways making it quiet. We observed ospreys or kestrals (not sure what they were) return again and again to feed their young fish. (They had a huge nest high on a tree.)


We then decided to check out the bike trails. They have some trails that look pretty good. Of course, mountain biking is not something I'm supposed to be doing at 21 weeks pregnant. Still, we did the 1.6 mile novice trail. Things went well, except of course the part where Steve's seat bolt broke and his saddle popped off! Luckily, we were on a novice trail, so he wasn't barreling down some long, technical hill or anything. We kept riding though - Steve rode without sitting down!

I think we will go back to the park, but maybe make it into a one- or two-night stay to make the drive worth while. They have cabins you can rent.

Oh, also they have a "high point." The Hobe Mountain Observation Tower is a whopping 86 feet above sea level! (Hey, this is high for southern Florida!) From this vantage point, you are able to see the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. It was interesting to see a scenic view again.

A 5K and some new colors!

Today we did the Tropical 5K. It is great to do a race in the middle of January in quite reasonable weather and temperatures. Race start temperature was 67 degrees. I had to walk the whole thing, which was very frustrating. However, Steve kept me company, which was quite nice!
Our friends Elizabeth and Jennifer ran the 5K - their first 5k ever! The results are not up yet, but I'm sure they did great!


The other thing we did today was paint the "second bedroom." I call it this because I don't know if we are ready to call it the "baby's room." It all started when Steve was at class and I had an inclination to paint the room. The room was painted this horrible dark-royal blue. A bad idea for a small room (8X10). So I began with the primer. Then Steve got home and joined in. We decided to just go ahead and paint the whole damn thing. We decided on a color the was supposed to come out as a very, very light green. The color turned out to be more of a cream color with maybe a slight hint of green. In the end, despite the walls being in terrible shape, the room at least is a lot brighter. (To do the job correctly would have required a lot of effort and hours of sanding, so we decided to just screw it an paint.)

South Beach Comedy Festival

We went to the South Beach Comedy Festival last week. We saw Kathy Griffin at the Filmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater on Wednesday night. Very funny stuff. We were about 10 rows back. She talked about how mental illness is the new black in Hollywood. Rehab is so last year....

Then on Thursday we saw Stephen Lynch at the Colony Theater on Lincoln road. He does very funny songs and we had second row seats. It was the only time I have biked to go see major comedy shows in January. I realize how lucky we are to be able to do that! In the United States there are very few places where that is even possible!

alien bumps & spinning with earplugs

I took my first spinning class after a long hiatus. If you take a look at the photograph you will see the alien bump beginning to form on my middle section. (19 weeks and so far things are going well. I even think I've been feeling movement or "quickening." It kind of feels like there is someone with a feather duster under my skin every once in a while.)

I've been missing biking - and it's partly Laura's fault, well, not really. But she is doing some really cool road racing - Blognuggets. Anyway, I did about 40 minutes of a 60 minute class.

I'm not sure if it is common in all South Beach clubs, but at Crunch they play "club music" to the point that one might feel like vomiting. Not only this, but in the spinning classes, they blast - and I mean BLAST- this club music. I wear earplugs. Yeah, that's right, EAR PLUGS TO A SPINNING CLASS! And with my $25 earplugs, the music still seems loud. However, it felt good to be on a bike of sorts and I kind of did my own thing in the back of the room. I got tired after about 35 minutes and went home.

south beach fun

Just dropped off John and Aileen after a fun filled weekend. I had no idea Aileen was such a big San Diego fan. Here's a picture moments after the Charger's victory today. Also shown is shot with Pam and I with John and Aileen on Lincoln road.

John and Aileen come to visit

John tried on some south beach fashion and aileen took in some sights. (see background!)