My Trip to Tampa (1) (p.7)

The next morning, Janet drove me around New Tampa for a little nostalgic sightseeing.

     
Portofino, Andover Place, and Park Del Mar

One interesting Edge City phenomenon is that the A.G. Spanos company, having worked out a pretty good set of apartment-complex blueprints, sets up new installations wherever there's demand. In our neighborhood there were three Spanos-built complexes, all of which are identical except for the color scheme. This would be sad and dehumanizing, if it weren't for the fact that it's a darn nice set of blueprints.

When the complex is 80% rented, they have an apartment management company made of relaxed crypto-fascists come in and manage them. This company, which I haven't bothered to name, is full of scary written pronouncements about "YOU MUST" do this and "YOU MUST NOT" do that, on PAIN OF EVICTION. It would be sort of Brave New World frightening, except that it turned out to be more Terry Gilliam's Brazil. Janet and I had up to 18 cats living in our spare bedroom over the three years we were there, and nobody from the complex ever tumbled to it or apparently gave a hoot. When I moved out, all that happened was I got charged $150 or so to replace the carpet in that room.

(I also think of the Jaspeeri Plasm Authority in Walter Jon Williams' Metropolitan. Our hero, who works for the Authority, is up to her neck in plasm theft (like embezzlement). One day she realizes, when she trips over her officemate's broken swivel seat for the twentieth time, I'm supposed to be afraid of an organization that can't even fix a chair?)

Then there is the Saga of the Stick, which someday I'll write down.

Lunch, back at Panera Bread

It looks like Shaene sneaked back into the saga when I wasn't looking.

MOSI

I thought it would be fun to visit the Museum of Science and Industry, one of my favorite Tampa tourist attractions. Mosi is architecturally very interesting. It's one of the few big funny-looking buildings I've been in that works well at its intended purpose.

I went for the winning touchdown!

They had some kind of exhibition on the physics of football.

There was an interactive demonstration where you try to balance on a platform, while it times you. This demonstrates the scientific fact that you aren't very good at balancing on a platform.

  
   We saw an IMAX film about the International Space Station. We also saw this film vending machine, which I only put in because I've never seen a vending machine selling film before.

[ Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 ]