I'd never fired a hand gun before, I told the Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy as we walked across a grassy field to the firing range on firearms training night at the latest Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Citizens Academy class. Technically I had fired a sniper rifle before, but I only got two shots, and it was a whole other story I didn't feel like getting into. I felt excited and a little nervous when we stepped up to the range. We put on eye and ear protection, which included a radio so the instructor could communicate. A line of about 15 targets — a bad guy brandishing a handgun — was …

As a fan of TV crime shows like "NCIS," "CSI," and "Bones," I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived for my Sheriff's Citizens Academy class at the Sheriff's Forensic Science building. After all, sometimes TV shows have a tendency of putting a glamorous Hollywood spin on real life scenarios — like, c'mon, in real life (ambiguous) they can't really find out our identity by running our photo through a database, right? That's all Hollywood.  Boy, was I wrong. Apparently, in real life they can run facial recognition from their patrol car and have an ID match within minutes. And the characters …

We were instructed to wear comfortable clothing and sneakers. We would be learning "hands on" defensive tactics, the email said. The words "comfortable clothing" and "sneakers" meant business. The closest I'd ever come to partaking in organized, group bursts of controlled aggression was a series of BodyPump classes I took in my early 20s. I can still hear our instructor, a super tiny and in-shape woman of Latin American (or Swedish) descent, screaming at us for four more "little babies," otherwise known as bicep curls, over Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" blaring on the loudspeaker at the …

The car crash images flashed up on the screen during our second Pinellas County Sheriff's Citizens Academy class, and my eyes instantly welled with tears.  I was somewhat surprised at my reaction. It wasn't anything I had not seen before, but it dredged up memories I'd long since buried. In my years as a community journalist, I've been at the scene of many a DUI-related crash. I've held someone's hand through the most heart-wrenching of interviews, interviews that often left me crying with whomever had just tragically lost their wife or child to a drunk or reckless driver. Sometimes, I can …

Relative to the universe, one year is such a puny amount of time. Even so, today is a monumental day. Dunedin Patch turns 1 today. I had only been on the ground in Florida two weeks on the day Dunedin Patch launched. I left a perfectly secure, well-paying job, left my good friends and memories, packed up my life in Virginia and moved to Dunedin (sight unseen), where I didn’t know a soul. Many of my friends and colleagues thought I was crazy, but the path seemed clear to me. I was en route to fulfill a mission to serve my new community in whatever capacity I could. In the beginning the Patch …

To me, the whole spirit of giving is to expect nothing in return. "Nothing" means no accolades, no "thank yous," no monetary compensation, no pats on the back ... nada. That was the idea behind a Patch donation to The Backpack Lady Project. The story I wrote about the project happened to be Patch's 1 millionth story nationwide, and Patch wanted to acknowledge it: "This story is pure Patch," Brian Farnham, Patch editor-in-chief, wrote in his blog. "By that I mean it's a small, meaningful story that goes to the heart of our mission: connecting users with their communities, and with each other…

You know it’s real when you get chills under the sweltering sun of an 80-degree evening. I spent a good chunk of my Friday volunteering my humble photography skills for Dunedin’s Relay for Life. Folks sign up in teams to raise money for the local chapter of the American Cancer Society and then walk laps all around Florida Auto Exchange Stadium all night long. The event is known for its moving luminaria ceremony, in which walkers craft paper bags honoring loved ones impacted by cancer. The field lights go out, and the track is illuminated with the handcrafted bags. Everyone walks a lap in …

Long ago, my dad acquired the reputation of being a “pimp daddy.” It sounds ridiculous, but it all springs from a failed matchmaking attempt from my early 20s. The background: My dad, now a retired Army officer, was chatting with his Marine officer buddy whom he’d served with in Afghanistan. The topic, naturally, was conducting an evil social experiment with his daughter. The two conspired to have his Marine buddy spring a surprise semi-mandatory happy hour at the Officer’s Club. He claimed to have access to Marines in my age group. My dad’s only job was to get me to attend, but posed it as a…

My being new to Dunedin could either be considered a great disadvantage or a fortunate advantage. On one hand, when it comes to covering the city’s news, I have no baseline for events, history or venues. This means I may not inherently know things that are common knowledge to longtime residents. On the other hand, it could be considered a great advantage to you. I have no baseline, so I approach everything with a free and open mind and a commitment for absorbing it in its entirety. Sure, there's a learning curve, but it comes with an objectivity guarantee. When folks in Dunedin hear that I’m …

I almost overlooked her perky smile, bright blue eyes and gorgeous blond locks, leering at me from her sandy perch. What coincidence landed this legless plastic princess before me, propped upright on the beach? I had no idea. She annoyed and amused me. I smirked indignantly. She looked to be deliberately amputated at the waist and placed, likely by one of the neighborhood boys, near my special beach spot coincidentally, two days before my big race: the Disney Princess Half Marathon (going on today, Sunday, Feb. 27). Almost a year ago, when one of my best girlfriends and I signed up together …

I should have seen this embarrassment coming from a mile away. I knew it’d only be a matter of time before I’d have to get a bicycle for getting to-and-fro. (After all, parking in downtown Dunedin isn't always fun.) You might be wondering how this could be embarrassing. To that, I have an answer: I have absolutely NO idea what the heck I’m doing. I learned to ride a bike when I was about 6, but not like most kids. Most kids slowly graduate to two wheels with the help of training wheels. Not me. My headstrong and determined, 6-year-old self learned to ride on two wheels in one afternoon. By …

I have been so busy lately that some days I just forget to eat. I pretty much live on coffee now. Sometimes it feels like all the time and energy I put into my daily projects is completely fruitless. Those are the frustrating days, and it's on those days that I really wonder if all the running around is worth it. That's when I force myself to pause, step outside with my coffee, walk to the beach near my home, and allow myself just 10, 15, sometimes 20 minutes to wallow in self pity before I take a deep breath and regroup. One particular day, when I was feeling especially overwhelmed and …

I crossed the Florida state line on Dec. 5, 2010, at approximately 3 p.m. The “Welcome to Florida” sign read like an emancipation. My Washington, D.C., identity, a mere 72 hours old, was instantly erased. I felt as happily blank as if I’d hit a magic reset button on life. My life would begin again in a city unseen. It was called Dunedin, and it sounded like a glorious place to be. It would be four long hours before I reached my parents’ house in the Tampa Bay area. I’d been on the road for three days. I was tired and hungry, yet all smiles. Not that I was leaving behind some dirty past in …