deucers.com ~ miami ~ miami beach

Went on a Ocean Force Adventure today with Captain Maine Matt here we are in front of the A frame house in Stiltsville:

It was a gorgeous day to be on the water: blue blue blue and to add an edge – we saw a huge (10 ft) hammerhead chowing down, cue the Jaws Soundtrack:

We cruised around the Port of Miami:

Romped with dozens of dolphins on the Zodiac:

Hung out in Stiltsville, then passed by the Cape Florida Lighthouse:

Then back over to the Downtown shoreline, the cool Tequesta statue:

Then headed back to the Miami Beach Marina, full of vim and vigor. What an awesome way to start the day. I need to get out on the water more. Thanks for a great time, Maine Matt.

I got my fitbit a month ago and am digging tracking the stats. I was tracking my steps the old fashipned way – transferring from the pedometer to a spreadsheet; the fitbit automatically downloads my steps when I’m within 15 feet of my computer, and offers pretty pie charts and bar graphs monitoring my calorie consumption and burn.

Much more than a pedometer, the fitbit tracks sleeping patterns, how long it takes to fall asleep and how many times one awakens at night; you can also log foods eaten and other activities. My sister has a fitbit as well, and we are “fitbit friends” so we can compare our daily steps. It’s a great motivation tool for me and it’s so small that it’s easy to wear.

There’s a premium package you can pay for monthly, but the free graphs are more than sufficient for me. Also, there was a long delay on the fitbit.com website citing backorder issues. After waiting a month a half, I cancelled my order there, and then eventually ordered it online (from 24hourfitness.com) which delivered the fitbit within a week and was twenty dollars cheaper than fitbit.com. The fitbit retails for 99.

If you’re into stats and tracking what you do, this could be right up your alley.

This year I went through a Denis Johnson phase. He inspires, provokes, and evokes a particular time and place. Wonderful. A favorite selection this year was a Booker Prize nominee Parrot & Olivier in America by Peter Carey – beautiful. And I’m ashamed to admit how much I loved the low brow Girl Who series by Stieg Larsson. Long suspenseful books make for fast reads. Another strange book, My Lobotomy, was not especially well written (quelle surprise), but it got me off track and doing some interesting info-seeking on the period of time when lobotomies were legal in this country. By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham, as all his work is, was wonderfully well written and insightful. Perhaps my favorite book of the year was The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery – gorgeous… I’m starting Infinite Jest which at 900+ pages should take me into 2011. What were your favorite books of 2010?

Reading List for 2010:

1. This Boys Life Tobias Wolff
2. All or Nothing Preston Allen
3. Outliers Malcolm Gladwell
4. The Lyre of Orpheus Robertson Davies
5. Bred to the Bone Robertson Davies
6. Good to Great Jim Collins
7. Spending Mary Gordon
8. Moral Disorder Margaret Atwood
9. White Castle Orhan Pamuk
10. The Adventures of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblesk
11. Push Sapphire
12. Good Things I Wish You Manette Ansay
13. Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann
14. The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett
15. Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh
16. Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell
17. Vinegar Hill Manette Ansay
18. My Lobotomy Howard Dully
19. The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery
20. The Name of the World Denis Johnson
21. The Kitchen House Kathleen Grissom
22. 13 Moons Charles Frazier
23. How to Paint a Dead Man Sarah Hull
24. Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey
25. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
26. The Girl who Played with Fire Stieg Larsson
27. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Stieg Larsson
28. Resuscitation of a Dead Man Denis Johnson
29. Nobody Move Denis Johnson
30. Angels Denis Johnson
31. The Brain Rules John Medina
32. Too Much Happiness Alice Monroe
33. By Nightfall Michael Cunningham
34. Netherworld Joseph O’Neill
35. Jesus Boy Preston Allen
36. Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace

Checked out the new Frank Gehry New World Symphony building off Lincoln Road on Miami Beach. We got in trouble for taking photographs of it…:

So off we went to The Room (without Emma) to view Chiahui Ma’s Jakarta photography show:

There, we saw Dave and Nicky from Churchill’s:

With the power of suggestion, we headed across the bridge in search of a big can of PBR:

a pooltable:

and some live music:

Mission accomplished.

First we went to visit the Rana Rojo booth on Lincoln Road. Saw tons of old friends and great styles by Ash and Damian:

Ran into Devilish Matthew, clearly up to no good:

Thirsty we headed to Zeke’s and found cineaste Juan Carlos Zaldivar who had some cool sculptures in Art Miami:

Hash Ash was drinking beers from around the world:

The dead doll in the nearby chair clearly had a hangover:

Finally, had dinner at Rosinella and ran into journalist John Hood:

Pobre Michelangelo got rained out:

This was just the early part of our day…Good times on Stinkin’ Lincoln.

An Art Basel sign of the times:

And just when you’ve had enough of Shepard Fairey, there is hope through PBR:

Several irreverent works in Wynwood:

Some trigger-happy art work:

A tribute to Fidel Castro:

Here’s some more art that I found interesting from Wynwood galleries:

And finally, with burning lungs and a screaming liver, somebody throw me a rope:

Awesome weekend.

Gorgeous weather finds the Pink Snails basking in the sun. Look at the blue blue sky:

Hash Ash and I toured the Convention Center and saw some spectacular sights:

Arted-out people cavorted on the grassy knolls in the Convention Center:

Here’s some of the art I loved:

Sunday was a perfect day for a bookfair and I got to see one of my favorite authors, Michael Cunningham. Funny and engaging, his reading held the audience rapt and afterwards,  when he signed my copy of By Nightfall, he was equally charming.

I also heard Preston Allen speak with Vicki Hendricks. Preston’s getting rave reviews everywhere including the New York Times, for Jesus Boy. I ran into my mentor, Michael Hettich and picked up his new book of poetry Like Happiness. Also stocked up on some good winter reading and bought a few books for Christmas gifts.

Who says print is dead?

This wonderful day lead into a full moon evening.