Lagers and liberty: Have Kelly Kirschner pour you a drink — and get involved with your community

Interesting event coming up to kick off your Independence Day weekend:

Former Sarasota Mayor Kelly Kirschner is bellying up to the bartending side of the bar on Friday, July 1st at the Shamrock Pub, 2257 Ringling Boulevard.

photo from unidosnow.org

There will be music, a band, and a foosball competition with a cash prize.

Organizers describe UnidosNow as local non-profit organization seeking to stimulate conversation and movement for greater levels of civic participation by Florida residents, in particular focusing on the Latino community of SW Florida.

Meditate your workplace stress away

Anyone who reads my blogs and columns knows I’m a big fan of Gary Halperin’s yoga classes, and now I hear he’s got a very unique service for businesses and organizations.

This could be a very cool “benefit” for employees and business colleagues — can see a forward-thinking HR offering this to staff during a lunch hour or at the end of a day.

Workplace Meditation Workshop Offers Lower Stress and Improved Decision-Making

Studies show that even a few minutes of daily meditation have been proven to have long-term benefits for workers at every level – benefits such as stress reduction, better sleep, lower blood pressure and improved decision-making. Award-winning yoga and meditation teacher Gary Halperin is offering a one-hour Introduction to Meditation Workshop for businesses and workplace organizations in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Halperin believes meditation may help co-workers and colleagues deal more effectively with workplace stress and feel better equipped to cope with increased work loads common in today’s challenging economic environment.

This unique workshop gives workplace managers the opportunity to provide colleagues and employees with a relaxing, educational, and beneficial experience – in the comfort of their own office or business setting. Halperin teaches with a straight-forward, practical approach and provides easy-to-understand instruction and basic meditation techniques that individuals can easily and discreetly use every day in any workplace environment.

The cost for an in-office workshop is $100; groups of varying sizes can be accommodated. As part of the workshop, all attendees who have not already taken yoga classes with Halperin will be offered a free, one-hour class at the Radiance Center studio, located at 2868 Ringling Boulevard, in the Gold Tree Plaza. Call 941.952.0960 or visit www.feelbetternowyoga.com for more information.

Halperin has been voted “Favorite Yoga Teacher” for the past three years by readers of Natural Awakenings Magazine. He is a professional-level certified Kripalu yoga and holistic lifestyle teacher, and has taught meditation technique to thousands of people including Sarasota County Government employees, Ringling School of Arts and Design students, staff, and faculty, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Sarasota Music Festival, top real estate agents, religious leaders, medical doctors, and the Mayor of Washington, DC. Prior to settling in Sarasota, Halperin was Spa Director at the four-star Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Spa Programs Director at the Coolfont Resort in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. He is a graduate of Amherst College and the author of “Feel Better Now … Meditation for Stress Reduction & Relaxation,” available as an e-book on amazon.com.

Drill off our #1 beach? Heck no! Help draw a line in the sand!

Hands Across the Sand … Siesta Key, FL on Sat. June 25th 11:45-ish between the Pavilion and the Tennis Courts

Local “Hands Across the Sand” gathering in solidarity with events around the country to raise awareness about the dangers of offshore drilling and call on leaders to end our oil dependence and move America into a clean energy future.

At noon, participants will join hands for 15 minutes to form a line along the beach. A pot luck picnic will follow the Hands Across the Sand gathering. This year the Sarasota County Parks Department is not supporting the gathering as they have in the past. There will be no signs, posters, fliers or speakers allowed. Instead there will be a simple, silent remembrance of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Several hundred citizens and visitors from the Sarasota area will be joined by volunteers from the local Sierra Club and Transition Sarasota.

Hands Across The Sand was founded by Floridian Dave Rauschkolb in October 2009. Hands Across The Sand is endorsed by national environmental organizations including Transition Sarasota, Sierra Club, Audubon, Surfrider Foundation, Oceana, Defenders of Wildlife, Alaska Wilderness League, Ocean Conservancy, Friends of the Earth, Environment America, 350, MoveOn.org, Center for Biological Diversity and CleanEnergy.org

Lovin’ summer means getting physical

photo courtesy of Florida EcoSafaris at Forever Florida.

For print readers — just turn to the next to the last page of the TICKET. Online? Just click on the link below to read.

Summer lovin’ means getting physical.

Sweet deal for dads

Just passing along this sweet deal for Dads and the people who love them and want to feed them on Father’s Day!

Dad’s Eat FREE on Father’s Day at Gecko’s Grill & Pubs
Purchase an entrée from our regular menu and your dad
will receive a complimentary meal from our Special Father’s Day Menu
on Sunday, June 19, 2011.
No substitutes
Visit GeckosGrill.com to see menus.
One free meal per dad per day!

5 Convenient Locations:
4870 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL * 941-923-8896
5585 Palmer Crossing Cir., Sarasota, FL * 941-923-6061
1900 Hillview Street, Sarasota, FL * 941-953-2929
4310 SR 64 E., Bradenton, FL * 941-744-2664
7228 55th Ave., E., Bradenton, FL * 941-727-8988

Day with Dad Fuels Lifetime of Security and Love

Father’s Day is Sunday June 19th … hope you enjoy my “Sense and the City” column in today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune — page 37E for you print readers out there and if you’re an online reader — just click here:

Day with Dad Fuels Lifetime of Security and Love

Here’s a snippet to get you started …with the spectacular, ever-changing view of the water, jumping mullet, and a family of ospreys flying directly overhead, it’s a challenge to look at a computer screen. I just want to watch the world.

Sarasota’s Sports Page Celebrating Sweet Sixteen

A gazillion businesses, restaurants, and bars have come and gone on Sarasota’s Main Street over the years, but the Sports Page — 1319 Main Street — is celebrating 16 years, sixteen years, folks! in the same location, under the same ownership.

Maybe you know the owner? Bob Richards and Kenny Barr?

Either way, stop in to this minor miracle of staying power on Thursday June 16th (that’s tomorrow) from 4 to 8 when they’re celebrating their sweet 16th with free munchies/light bites. Cash bar … but who can complain about that!?

Parking meters be damned … go on out and support this Sarasota mainstay!

Sarasota Magazine and sister pub BIZ 941 Nab Awards

Local publications Sarasota Magazine and BIZ 941 won several 2011 Sunshine State Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists South Florida chapter, which I think announced the awards earlier this week.

Two big must-reads (if you haven’t … you can click on the hyperlinked text and read them online) won — one by Biz(941) editor Susan Burns who won second place for Serious Feature Reporting in “The Collapse of the Colony,” and Sarasota Magazine’s Bob Plunket “Havana, 1960,” which won first place in a featuring writing category.

Plunkett also picked up second place for his Arts/Cultural Reporting piece “Masterpiece Theater,” and Sarasota Magazine executive editor Kay Kipling won third place for her Sarasota Magazine Arts/Cultural Reporting, “Maestro of the Museum.”

Kudos to our local writers!

Reasons to avoid downtown Sarasota!

So, I was asked to go out the other night for dinner — to celebrate some good news I received earlier this week and my date asked me where I wanted to go. It was a toss-up for both of us between Caraguilo’s Restaurant on Palm Avenue (a favorite of mine for years) or another place not situated in downtown. It took less than a nanosecond for us to both say the name of the non-downtown restaurant — no cost for parking! It wasn’t a drawn-out decision, no big debate — just a no-brainer.

It’s not just paying for parking. Here are the two things that put the nail in the coffin for me as far as downtown goes:

“Those who choose downtown’s sidewalks and parks for their front yards deserve the same consideration as a gated community,” said Peter Fanning, president of the Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association. “We should be able to walk unmolested by catcalls, panhandling and unwanted approach.” Yup, you read it right. The downtown residents should have the experience of living in a gated community — hmmmm …. at taxpayer’s expense, I guess. We can pay for the parks and the pretty twinkling lights …. just don’t go downtown to enjoy them if you don’t live there! Source: SRQ Daily 6/8

Then I picked up the Pelican Press and read an article about how the Downtown Improvement District just decided to support the City Commission’s removal of the park benches at the Five Points park.

I absolutely won’t shop or eat downtown now as much as I can avoid it — which will be pretty much always. The meters were bad enough, but now to know that the folk who are supposed to be in charge of improving our downtown for all of us to enjoy are actually supporting this crazy bit of bench business — it’s too much. There are too many other places to go in Sarasota County.

I’d LOVE to hear how anyone else is experiencing the new meters, the park bench removal — wherever you fall on the issues, pro or con or somewhere in the middle — I invite you to post your comments here.

Ferocious and sweet … Saturday’s Music Festival Concert is NOT to be missed!

I give you at least a gazillion reasons as to why you CAN. NOT. miss Saturday night’s Sarasota Orchestra Music Festival concert at the Sarasota Opera House — they’re all in my Sarasota Herald Tribune Sense and the City column (page 37E if you’re reading the print paper — or click on the hyperlink below).

Beg, borrow, or buy a ticket!

Stuart Malina will be the guest conductor.