One more reason why I love living here (and the county’s emergency mailing list):

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
Traffic update - February 7, 2007 - 3:40 p.m.
Bridge stuck
The Jewfish Creek draw bridge in Key Largo is stuck in the up position and traffic is being diverted onto Card Sound Road. It is estimated that it will take at least two hours to fix the malfunction. In the mean time, tolls on Card Sound Road will be lifted. There are officers standing by in Florida City and on Highway U.S. One at the 106 mile marker to direct traffic onto Card Sound Road to bypass the obstruction.

I’ve never been a theatre buff, but with the myriad of experiences just outside my doorstep in Key West I’ve been pondering a trial excursion. For purely the kitsch factor there was Gillian’s Island starring the original Mary Ann (ne Dawn Wells) as Ms. Howell and Greg Brady (ne Barry Williams) as Mr. Howell. Then we have Love Letters with Barbara Eden and Hal Linden. Um, hello? Jeannie and Barney? To avoid the emotional and reality conflicts presented by those two combinations, I think I’ll hold out for South Pacific, which bills no one from the television of my youth and conveniently overlaps with Chris’ business travel.

Not to be outdone, the Red Barn Theatre has an assortment of five options this winter ranging from serious in ‘The Exonerated’

…a deeply affecting documentary play that shares the stories of six innocent survivors of death row and their loved ones and jailers…told in their own words. Assembled from interviews from many people who spent two years to two decades in prison for crimes they did not commit…

to the ridiculous in ‘Bat Boy: The Musical’

a musical comedy/horror show about a half boy/half bat creature who is discovered in a cave near Hope Falls, West Virginia

And we must not forget the Waterfront Playhouse, where such delights as ‘Urinetown, The Musical’ appear. A revolution sparked by toilets could be entertaining indeed. Yet I’m still recovering from the review of ‘Dinner With Friends’ in this past weekend’s newspaper.

The soundtrack, with its samba versions of 1980s hits from Joy Division, Public Image, Ltd., and Echo and the Bunnymen, is enough to make theater-goers of a certain age feel downright sentimental.

Samba-zak? Samb-alternative? I like samba, and I am a child of the 80s, but I’m hitting a hurdle at the intersection of the two. I’ve seen two of these bands live, and recently reluctantly purged their concert tees from my closet where they had rested unworn for far too long. I believe I’ll be skipping this production.

Somehow I managed to con my extraordinary homebody of a sister into leaving her husband, three boys, and myriad of furry creatures to visit Key West in January, with the pretense of her (and her running buddy) flying down for a long weekend to escape the Philly cold and run around the island for the Half Shell Half Marathon. After all, they needed another goal after completing their first marathon in November and who can object to Key West in January? Slacker that I imitate at times, I was nowhere near ready to tackle 13.1 miles on foot so I played the part of shoe-swap and protein-bar crew. The 10th Annual Half Shell Half Marathon is most definitely on my calendar for 2008.

Belated Merry Christmas, Diane! Despite the absurd humidity you persevered with a 11:16 pace and earned a very cool medal. Big sis, you’ll always kick my ass on a run. I do, however, challenge you to a triathlon. You pick, anytime, anywhere. See that little Comments link under the headline? Click it. I dare you.

With a refreshed vision of the course, I’m mailing in my registration for the 7 Mile Bridge Run in April. I have three months, a few 5k’s in between, lots of biking and running, and hopefully no bus for me. I’ll have to match or beat a 10:00 pace, which I’ve not done even on a 5k yet. But that was up north and somewhat hilly, and this is fast and super flat, minus the hump in the very middle of the bridge (it’s the one on the right, the one on the left is the old bridge to Pigeon Key).

Do I have a problem with running sentences and commas, or am I so used to thinking and visualizing in bullet points that any statement with double-digit words looks absurd?