Make A List

All things list-worthy in the capital city – see how our lists stack upAre You Listless?

Contributors:
Rosanne Dunkelberger, Jason Dehart, Ashley Kahn, Shannon Grooters, Erin Sobel, Mike McLafferty, Tisha Crews Keller, Bonnie Lewis, Saige Roberts
Photography by Scott Holstein

Notepad? Check.

Pen? Check.

Bike? Tattoo appointment? Little plastic dinosaur? Check. Check. Check.

Intrepid Reporter D. Wright Mann here. Here’s my assignment: Hit the streets and scour Our Fair City in order to compile a list. Not just a list, but the Ultimate List of Lists. I’ve been given my Marching Orders: Leave no stone unturned, no feathers unruffled, no question unasked … you get the picture. No, it’s up to me to get the pictures, too.

It’s a big job, but I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I’m off …

*#@% Varmints!
Aggravating critters who share our ecosystem.

1. Ants – carpenter and fire
2. Termites
3. Cockroaches
4. Wasps (aka mud daubers, dirt dobbers)
5. Armadillos
6. Mosquitoes
7. Moles
8. Squirrels, particularly in the middle of the road
9. Ducks, particularly on Lake Ella
10. Geese, particularly on golf courses
11. Chiggers
12. Skinks
13. Snakes
14. Spiders – all varieties

Spirited Spots
Places around town where you’re likely to have a ghostly encounter.

1. Exchange Bank Building
2. The Star of Florida newspaper building (currently the Governors Club)
3. Westcott Building, Florida State University
4. Knott House
5. Old City Cemetery
6. The Columns
7. Cherokee Park
8. Kinhega Plantation House

Any Takers? A sampling of items offered on Tallahassee Freecycle.
Part of the national Freecycle network, Tallahassee Freecycle (tallyfreecycle.org) now has more than 3,000 members who offer and receive items that are “free, legal and appropriate for all ages.”

1. Motorcycle exhaust pipes
2. Algae eater
3. Crooked-footed cochin/silkie (with the frizzle gene) bantam rooster
4. 2 bowling balls, with bags
5. Scunci Self Holding Hair Rollers, used only once
6. 1976 Periwinkle Blue Ward school bus
7. Half-used can of spray starch
8. Unopened container of oatmeal
9. Green egg grill
10. Kefir grains
11. Feeding bags for people for feeding through the stomach. No takers.
12. Bag of about 20 soccer balls, orange cones, 2 sets of pennies, and a soccer coach book
13. 2 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, one unopened, one half-eaten
14. 3 lbs. food-grade diatomaceous earth
15. Actual posting: “Perfectly good toilet with a $30 seat on it. Husband just wanted an elongated unit.”

20 Places You’re Most Likely to Run Into Somebody
Tallahassee Police Department’s 2007 list of intersections where crashes occur most frequently.

1. Apalachee Parkway and Capital Circle Southeast
2. Ocala Road and West Tennessee Street
3. Apalachee Parkway and Blair Stone Road
4. High Road and West Tennessee Street.
5. Ocala Road and West Pensacola Street
6. High Road and West Tharpe Street.
7. Capital Circle Northeast and Mahan Drive
8. South Monroe Street and East Orange Avenue
9. West Pensacola Street and White Drive
10. Ocala Road and West  Tharpe Street
11. Apalachee Parkway and South Magnolia Drive
12. Old Bainbridge Road and West Tharpe Street
13. Apalachee Parkway and South Monroe Street
14. Allen Road and North Monroe Street
15. I-10 Eastbound and Thomasville Road
16. North Blair Stone Road and Mahan Drive
17. North Monroe Street and East Tennessee Street
18. Capital Circle Northeast and Raymond Diehl Road
19. Capital Circle Northeast and Centerville Road
20. South Adams Street and Orange Avenue 

What’s the Buzzword?
Twenty phrases you can count on to pop up in any given news story about development, the environment or politics.

1. Carbon Footprint
2. Multimodal
3. Stick-Built
4. Green Home
5. Giving Back
6. Greenhouse Emissions
7. Best Practices
8. Pedestrian-Friendly
9. Visioning
10. Efforting
11. New Urbanism
12. Walkable Communities
13. Low Flow
14. Off-Gassing
15. Concurrency
16. Leveraging Assets
17. Inclusionary Housing
18. Traffic Calming
19. Eco-Tourism
20. Charrette

Spend a Month at Tom Brown Park
Here are 31 things you can do at Tallahassee’s largest park.

1. Let your canine companion socialize at the dog park.
2. Play 24 holes of disc golf.
3. Pick out a companion animal at the Animal Service Center.
4. Take a slide on the playground.
5. Practice for your gold medal on the BMX track (it’s an Olympic sport in Bejing, China, this year).
6. How about flag football?
7. Baseball?
8. Tennis, anyone?
9.  Play soccer.
10. Racquetball? Handball?
11. Race remote-controlled cars on the track.
12. Fling a Frisbee.
13. Hop on your bike and hit the Magnolia Mountain trails.
14. Go fly a kite.
15. Read a book.
16. Catch some rays.
17. Enjoy the fireworks and country music at Celebrate America July 4.
18. Have a weekday picnic.
19. Rent a pavilion and have a party.
20. Hike the nature trails.
21. Bird watch.
22. Fish in Lake Leon.
23. Strap on the knee pads and do some rollerblading.
24. Shoot some hoops.
25. Find something interesting with your metal detector.
26. Point your telescope skyward and do some stargazing.
27. Practice your Tai Chi forms.
28. Set up your easel and paint a picture.
29. Go bowling – lawn bowling, that is.
30. Impress the ladies with your guitar playing.
31. Grab your handheld GPS and go on a modern-day treasure hunt. There are currently 40 caches located at the park for Geocaching enthusiasts.

Beware the Radar Gun
Sgt. Steve Gauding of TPD’s Traffic Unit shares locations within the city where traffic officers most often conduct speed limit enforcement.

1. Heavily traveled roadways such as Tharpe Street, Blair Stone Road, Orange Avenue, Apalachee Parkway, Capital Circle Northeast.
2. Roadways often used as “cut-throughs” between major roadways, for example: Monticello Drive between Tharpe Street and Monroe Street; Weems Road between Mahan Drive and Tom Brown Park; Sixth and Seventh avenues between Monroe Street and Magnolia Drive/Centerville Road.
3. Any school zone.
4. Areas where citizens have complained of speeding.
5. Areas where officers have observed speeding.

Well, if You’re Not Believing the Dog Ate it, Then …
Teachers in Leon County Schools share the most creative excuses they have actually heard for not turning in homework.

1. “My favorite was the child who told me their homework wasn’t done because their parent had been stuck in an elevator. I never did figure out how it was related to the missing class work!” Susan Vinson, Killearn Lakes Elementary, third grade
2. “My mom said I didn’t have to do it because I already know how.” Renee Walker, Hartsfield Elementary gifted teacher
3. “On the way to school this morning, there was a tree frog on the car windshield; so my mom rolled up my report and reached out the window to swat at the frog, but the report flew off onto the highway. That is why I don’t have my science report.”  Marie Worrell, Killearn Lakes Elementary, fifth grade
4. “My mom had to go to the hospital last night for memory loss,” said the student. When the mother was called she had no recollection of going to the hospital, but remembered the entire evening. Candi Kalfas, W.T. Moore Elementary School, fifth grade
5. Some favorites from Pat Phelan, English teacher, Lawton Chiles High School:
“I was in an accident yesterday. My car was towed away with all of my books and assignments.”
“I did it, but my brother accidentally took my backpack to school. He doesn’t go here.”
“My printer doesn’t work, and I tried to print it at school but couldn’t.”
“I e-mailed it to you. Did you get it?”
6. Some of the best excuses heard by Beverly Robinson, Exceptional Education teacher at Kate Sullivan Elementary during 25 years of teaching:
“I couldn’t do it because I had to go to the Super Bowl.”
“I had to go to the circus.”
“My baby sister ate it.”
“My mom says she is too dumb to help me.”
“I thought it was supposed to stay at home.”
“I left it at church, but I prayed for forgiveness.”
7. “My mom’s car broke down so she had to borrow my car which held my homework.” Anonymous teacher
8. “I had to pick up a friend who ran out of gas, and they were standing in the rain. My homework did not survive through the wet people in the car.” Anonymous teacher
9. “My grandmother’s cat eats shoelaces and everything so we put it in her closet yesterday to keep it safe, and I forgot about it!” Janice Schroeder, Killearn Lakes Elementary School, Second Grade (who says she’s actually been given homework that has been “chewed” by a dog and a little sister.)
10. “My brother flushed it.” Justin Elliott, Hartsfield Elementary, Third Grade
11. “Two years ago when I taught at Pineview, a fifth-grade student told me that he was walking to school when his backpack suddenly ripped open and the wind caused all of his papers to fly in the air. His homework assignment, he said, was picked up by the heavy wind and floated onto the rooftop of the school. When I asked him where his backpack was, he replied, “I left it at home.” Kesher Paul, Chaires Elementary School, K-1 Inclusion-ESE Teacher
12. “An 11th-grade U.S. History student told me she wasn’t able to do her homework because they were not able to sleep at their house ­– there was something dead trapped underneath that smelled too bad for them to stay there, so they spent the night at her mom’s workplace!” Sharon Thomas, Godby High School
13. “The dog ate it, and sure enough, it really did! The mom wrote me a note saying so!” Roberta Trowbridge, W.T. Moore Elementary School, third grade

Tallahassee Readers Love James Patterson
The 20 most popular items checked out at Leon County Libraries

1. “Step on a Crack” by James Patterson
2. People magazine
3. “6th Target” by James Patterson
4. “The Quickie” by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
5. Bob Books primary reading series
6. “I Heard That Song Before” by Mary Higgins Clark
7. “Cross” by James Patterson
8. “Simple Genius” by David Baldacci
9. “You’ve Been Warned” by James Patterson
10. “Playing for Pizza” by John Grisham
11. “High Noon” by Nora Roberts
12. “Lean Mean Thirteen” by Janet Evanovich
13. “Fresh Disasters” by Stuart Woods
14. “The Twilight Zone. Vol. 1” (DVD/full screen)
15. “Obsession: An Alex Delaware Novel” by Jonathan Kellerman
16. “Next: A Novel” by Michael Crichton
17. “Capital Crimes” by Jonathan and Faye Kellerman
18. “Double Take” by Catherine Coulter
19. “Plum Lovin’” by Janet Evanovich
20. “Nature Girl” by Carl Hiaasen

See-and-Be-Seen Spots for Sociable Dogs

1. Miccosukee Canopy Road Greenway offers 5½ miles of trails with parking and trailheads at Thornton and Edenfield roads.
2. Dine with your dog on the outside patios at TGIFriday’s, Po’ Boys and Shenanigans Irish Pub.
3. Dine with your dog in the car at Sonic and Whataburger.
4. Socialize with the other pooches at Tom Brown Park Dog Park.
5. Shopping at PetSmart on Saturdays after 11 a.m. Pet adoption booths are open, and there are lots of dogs to meet. Be sure to stop for a sniff of the bones on the doggie treats aisle.
6. Saturday morning at Tallahassee Nurseries is pleasant, and they welcome dogs.
7. Maclay Gardens’ recreation area has wide-open green spaces and a doggie water fountain. Leashes are required.
8. Circumnavigate Lake Ella.
9. Shopping at Lowe’s, Home Depot and Ace Hardware.

Two-Wheelin’
Best bets for trail biking in and around town

1. Goose Pond Trail
2. St. Marks Trail
3. Tom Brown Park
4. Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park Trails
5. Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park – The Red Bug Trail
6. Munson Hills Off-Road Trail
7. Miccosukee Canopy Road Greenway
Want to know more? Visit dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/regions/panhandleeast/panhandle_east.htm

There’ll Be Lots of Jaydens and Madisons in the Class of 2025
The Top 25 most common boys’ and girls’ baby names in Leon County in 2007, as reported by the Florida Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics.

Boys:
1. Jayden (21)
2. William (18)
3. Michael (16)
4. Gabriel (16)
5. Christopher (16)
6. Ethan (16)
7. Jackson (15)
8. Jordan (15)
9. Joshua (15)
10. Hunter (14)
11. Caleb (14)
12. Elijah (14)
13. James (13)
14. John (13)
15. Joseph (13)
16. Tyler (13)
17. Anthony (13)
18. Andrew (13)
19. Benjamin (13)
20. Noah (13)
21. Logan (12)
22. Alexander (12)
23. David (11)
24. Jack (11)
25. Landon (11)

Girls:
1. Madison (18)
2. Sophia (14)
3. Ava (14)
4. Abigail (12)
5. Hannah (11)
6. Isabella (11)
7. Sarah (11)
8. Emma (11)
9. Jayla (10)
10. Taylor (10)
11. Emily (9)
12. Olivia (9)
13. Addison (9)
14. Gabrielle (9)
15. Savannah (8)
16. Elizabeth (8)
17. Alyssa (8)
18. Brianna (7)
19. Jada (7)
20. Caroline (7)
21. Mary (7)
22. Sydney (7)
23. Amelia (6)
24. Asia (6)
25. Chloe (6)

FREE Wireless Hot Spots

1. Tallahassee Regional Airport
2. Under Downtown’s Digital Canopy
3. Qdoba Mexican Grill
4. Panera Bread
5. Florida A&M University Library
6. Tallahassee Community College
7. Florida State University Library
8. Bagel Heads
9. Bad Ass Coffee
10. Homewood Suites Tallahassee
11. Residence Inn Tallahassee
12. Bagel Bagel (all locations)
13. The Coffee Pub at Manor @ Midtown
14. Hopkins Eatery on Monroe Street

Web Sites to Visit When You’re Bored at Work

1. Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)
2. Orbitz.com golf game
3. Stumbleupon.com
4. Postsecret.blogspot.com
5. Freerice.com
6. Google.com
7. People.com
8. Facebook.com
9. Wikipedia.com
10. Careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail
11. Wordsmith.org/anagram
12. Jacksonpollock.org
13. Zanorg.com/prodperso/hyperactive_machine.htm (be sure to have sound turned on)
14. Rottentomatoes.com
15. Maps.live.com
16. The Open Dictionary www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/
17. Morethanyouthought.com

What We Like to Watch
As of Apr. 23, 2008, at 2 p.m., these were the DVDs most often rented from Netflix in Tallahassee.

1. “Bread and Roses”
2. “Top Gun”
3. “Ultimate Avengers: The Movie”
4. “Rounders”
5. “10 Items or Less”
6. “Miami Vice”
7. “Hustle & Flow”
8. “Napoleon Dynamite”
9. “Left Behind: World at War”
10. “Best in Show”
11. “ Bones: Season 2” (TV)
12. “Full Metal Jacket”
13. “ Friends with Money”
14. “This Is Spinal Tap”
15. “Fun with Dick and Jane”
16. “House, M.D.: Season 2” (TV)
17. “Secret Window”
18. “Taxi Driver”
19. “Life Is Beautiful”
20. “Highlander”
21. “American Beauty”
22. “The Sword in the Stone”
23. “Something the Lord Made”
24. “Big Nothing”
25. “The Game Plan”

IMDb Tallahassee
Movies which feature – or at least mention – our fair city.

1. “Recount” (Due out in May, this made-for-HBO docudrama is an account of the November 2000 presidential election and includes several scenes shot in Tallahassee.)
2. “The 17th Man”
3. “Something Wild” 
4. “Creature From the Black Lagoon”
5. “Manfast”
6. “Night Falls on Manhattan”
7. “The Longest Yard” (in which Bernadette Peters says to Burt Reynolds “I’m just as far from Tallahassee as you are, honey …”)

Strangest Tattoo Request
With commentary by Eric Taylor of Euphoria Tattoos

1. A young customer asked for a tattoo of thunder. (“I told him to bring in a picture for reference, and I’d be happy to oblige … I haven’t seen him since.”)
2. One young lady asked for a tattoo of roses in each of her armpits. (“Oftentimes tattoos can induce sweating … so needless to say those roses didn’t smell too sweet … It’s a good thing tattoos aren’t scratch and sniff.”)
3. Another young lady requested a portrait tattoo on her “backside” of her and her boyfriend engaging in obscene behavior. (“No explanation needed for
that one.”)

Burning Questions About Bedbugs, Mayhaw Jelly and the Jamaica PD
The Information Professionals (aka The Answer Squad) at the LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library will answer just about any question as long as it can be factually answered. Here are some of the questions posed to them in 2007. Some are easy, some hard, some serious, some amusing:

1. Is Pluto still considered a planet?
2. How do you cure a condyloma?
3. When did Thanksgiving get changed to the fourth Thursday in November and why?
4. What films has actress Kim Delaney appeared in?
5. What is the birthdate of Michael Jackson?
6. What is the price of a stamp?
7. What is the population of Leon County?
8. What does a chameleon eat?
9. How can you get rid of bedbugs if your house is infested with them?
10. Can you give me the telephone number of the Police Department in Jamaica?
11. I need a Hungarian holiday dessert recipe.
12. When was the Arrive Alive license tag issued?
13. Information about a 1970s-era Florida A&M University lunch.
14. Information about “Circle 6 Ranch,” a popular Tallahassee television show broadcast in the 1950s by WCTV, which featured interviews with local children.
15. Who is the Bond community named for?
16. When did the Northwood mall open?
17. Lots of questions about the history and naming of local places such as Camp Gordon Field, Dale Mabry Field, the Eppes family, Leon county schools, Mayhaw jelly, the Seven Hills of Tallahassee, etc.

Places to Take Out-of-Towners

1. The Florida Capitol – old and new
2. A great local restaurant
3. Dorothy B. Oven Park
4. Goodwood Museum & Gardens
5. Maclay Gardens
6. Mission San Luis
7. St. Marks Lighthouse
8. Wakulla Springs
9. St. George Island/Apalachicola
10. Railroad Square

Where the Heck Are We?
Roads that change names

1. Bannerman Road/Bradfordville Road/Roberts Road/Crump Road/Chaires Cross Road/WW Kelly Road/Old Plank Road
2. John Knox Road/Monticello Drive
3. Highway 90/Mahan Drive/Tennessee Street
4. Magnolia Drive/Centerville Road/Moccasin Gap Road
5. Bradford Road/Betton Road
6. Veterans Memorial Drive/State Road 59/Old Magnolia Road

Aaaaaarrrrggghhhh!
Spots in Tallahassee where your  cell phone service will drop

1. Blair Stone Road near Governors Square mall (Sprint)
2. Dillard’s parking garage (Sprint and AT&T)
3. Any Target (Sprint)
4. Any Publix
5. Wal-Mart on Apalachee Parkway (AT&T)

We’ll Believe It When We See It
Five projects that have languished on the drawing boards

1. Cascades Park
2. Gaines Street redevelopment
3. Performing Arts Center
4. The Waterworks rehabilitation
5. Fallschase

Good Plants, Bad Plants
Norma Skaggs of Native Nurseries lists flora suited for Tallahassee gardens …

1. Cabbage Palm
2. Longleaf Pine
3. Live Oak
4. Hop-hornbeam
5. American Beech
6. Sweet Gum
7. Red Cedar
8. American Plum
9. Blue Beech
10. Hickory
11. Needle Palm
12. Saw Palmetto
13. American Beautyberry
14. Wax Myrtle
15. Sparkleberry
16. Arrowwood
17. Red Buckeye
18. Yaupon Holly

… And plants that are bad news, because they’re either invasive or high-maintenance

1. Ligustrum
2. Silverthorn
3. Mimosa
4. Nandina
5. Mexican Petunia
6. Chinese Wisteria
7. Sword Fern

If Wishes Were Horses …
Retail Stores We Wish We Had

1. Restoration Hardware
2. Saks Fifth Avenue
3. Nordstrom
4. Cabela’s Outdoor World
5. The Apple Store
6. Pottery Barn/Pottery Barn Kids
7. Williams Sonoma

Restaurants We Wish We Had

1. The Cheesecake Factory
2. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
3. Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
4. Dave & Buster’s
5. Houston’s

Airlines We Wish Flew Here

1. Southwest
2. Air Tran
3. Jet Blue
4. British Airways