Public Transportation

With most of the air pollution coming from cars on a daily basis, people should pursue carpool or better yet, public transportation. This avenue is pursued by people who are not as financially stable as other people and it is a beneficial one as all they have to do is pay a $20 fee a month in order to ride the bus which beats having to pay monthly car payments along with gas as well. Such riding of these buses or other forms of public transportation can help reduce air pollution depending on what the bus is riding on and such increased participation in riding the buses can help reduce the amount of cars on the road, therefore making air quality better than with traffic on the road. This is created for reducing traffic on the beach as there is a separate getting onto the beach lessening the traffic getting onto Fort Myers Beach as it is a hassle. This can also reduce consuming of gasoline from cars as there can be a shortage of oil with the long distance being driven from many cars nowadays giving this way more interest for people that are wary of pumping plenty of gas. If there is a way to consume less of one thing, especially something as precious as oil, this oughta be looked at as a way.

Trip to Downtown

I went downtown twice Thursday, once for colloquium and later for lunch and getting my bus pass. Downtown Fort Myers is a pretty historic place to go to as memorials of historic commerce are displayed along the streets of the city. I learned that materials that were grown in the forests nearby the city were used for important inventions such as Thomas Edison using bamboo to create light bulbs. I also learned that Fort Myers was the only Union city in the south around Civil War time which could explain its hospitality around the area being better than other Florida cities. It was a city where Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone vacationed and thusly was honored in a statue called "Uncommon Friends". It was also where Billy Bowlegs was caught and exiled to New Orleans as a result of the Army trying to catch Indians and deport them to New Orleans as a result of trying to force the Seminoles out of Florida. Fort Myers is not a big city but a historic one and there is more history to come that will occur in the city.

Drought issues

As a Floridian at the moment, we always have to encounter the thought of frequent rain every day. It can be a burden on our day as it can affect our work day to day and our normal life with the unpredictability of the weather for the day, as it can be cloud free and sunny for two hours only for it to be cloudy and rainy the next two. But we should praise the fact that at least we wouldn't have to worry about a drought unlike other areas of the United States such as Arizona and the Great Plains in the summer where a drought can affect life around the area heavily as seen in the news lately with the wildfires destroying towns as a result of drought such as the wildfires in Arizona destroying homes. Sometimes, we have to respect that even in a hot state like Florida, it can rain on occasion which can cool down the state and make it liveable along with replenish plant life, think about that for a second.

A killer of the ozone

There are many things that we do that can hurt our living situation, polluting the atmosphere, things of that sort. One certain thing that can do that is smoking. I see this all over work as well as along with to and from taking the bus. Its something that needs to be lessened but it is a hard habit to break. Refraining from this from former smokers creates withdrawal and feeling the need to come back to it. I am told this numerous times from numerous people, especially from my mom and even smokers, not to smoke. Smoke also ruins air quality around people as the nicotine creates an unpleasant smell in the air from the toxins exhaled from inhaling the nicotine. Secondhand smoke is a huge killer as advertisements have shown people suffering from secondhand smoke to have altered lives as a result from it from lack of energy to not being able to walk. This proves the dangers of smoking as it can not only affect the smoker it self but also other people within breathing distance of that person. It is a huge killer and smoking killed my grandmother as a result. Kids I'm sure you heard of it before over and over again but really though, SAY NO TO SMOKING!

My line of work and wasting food

As I've said before in a couple of my essays, I work at Doc Ford's as a busser. As a busser, I see my fair share of trash. In this class, we talk about how we as Americans waste a lot of food, not to mention, how we always go out to eat and mainly receive an enormous portion of food to eat as our meal. While we enjoy these huge proportions, other countries are starving and fight extremely hard for a grain of overcooked rice. For every plate I have cleaned out into the trash can, I see at least a giant speck of food on most of those plates. I also am guilty of this too, sometimes not finishing my food and giving it to the bussers' at the end of the meal to let them know I'm full. This needs to change as we keep wasting food daily and this also can damage the atmosphere as the landfills take in this huge glob of waste and deposit the gases from it into the ozone. This reminds me that I also need to finish whatever is on my plate whenever I receive because once you package leftovers, they soon become yesterday's news and in the trash.

Comparing 2 cities climate-wise

I went back to my hometown of Vero Beach 2 days ago from Fort Myers and there is a big climate difference in the summer precipitation-wise. Fort Myers, with its wetlands and it being located near a watershed has sporadic showers in the summer which expand into clusters of storms in the day time which could affect business in the summer with the uncertainty of the weather. Vero Beach isn't really as unexpected, at least in the time I was there as it was sunny for most of the day. Its precipitation comes from fronts that travel throughout the area. Fort Myers is more of an area that is a creator of storms. Vero Beach is a receiver of storms with the city not being located near a watershed.One spot of rain in Fort Myers can expand into a big cluster of rain and thunderstorms which raises the unpredictability of the weather only for it to go away at night because of the Gulf Breeze coming into the area making the bad weather dissipate at night which is the same for Vero Beach with its ocean breeze doing the honors. Fort Myers is a good place to live in but its weather during the day can irk people from time to time.

Inland Florida weather

During my travel back to Vero, we encountered stormy weather along the way especially in the middle of the southern part of state which is where I get through in order to get back to Vero Beach. The reason for that is that is usually in that area, it is very warm and not breezy, a place like that is usually an area that tornadoes are more likely to occur which is a hazard for a town to experience especially with there being not as much business occuring in those areas in the middle of the state. The warmth of towns in the middle of Florida, especially on the southside, are subject to bad, gloomy weather and towns like LaBelle, Okeechobee, just to name a few are towns that are difficult to live in during summer as no sea breeze in the area makes life there resembling living in the desert. Sometimes, I realize that living on a city bordering the ocean is a good thing with its sea breeze cooling the area down at night as opposed to living in the farmland of Florida which involves living miserable days and nights daily during the summer, along with its lack of business occuring in the area, except for the usual suspects such as McDonalds and Wendy's, just to name a few. Unless you live in Orlando or Lakeland, the middle of the state is hard to live in with it being a magnet of tornadoes and hot weather.

Trip to Lover's Key

This Thursday, we all went to Lover's Key State Park for Colloquium and it pales in comparison to the beaches I come from in Vero Beach. There are no waves in the Gulf of Mexico where Fort Myers borders as opposed to the Atlantic Ocean which Vero is bordering where there is more wave action coming to land. It is more shallower in the Gulf than in the Atlantic as you walk offshore which can explain the wave action being what it is in those places. This explains why Fort Myers is more of a fishing city as opposed to Vero, which is more popular for surfing, especially nearby the town is Sebastian Inlet, which is a popular destination for surfers. The lack of waves on the Gulf makes for a more relaxing look at the water for a visitor which wouldn't be the same in the Atlantic as the waves block looking at the sea and going in the ocean would be more treacherous as 8 foot waves can make treading tough and the possibility of getting rashes from getting knocked down would be bad for someone with a low pain tolerance. Lover's Key is more of a place for a person who enjoys peace and quiet with the lack of waves and a look deep into the gulf 100 miles away.

Friday Afternoon Jog On-Campus

Jogging on campus can be a relaxing experience during the day, but it can vary from time to time or season to season. During winter, at any time, it can be relaxing and the only thing you have to worry about is the sweating. During the summer, however, can be a different story. Everyday, it is muggy with the gnats flying around the place as if they are confetti at a birthday party. This is a problem for runners as they are like travelling lanterns for gnats to run into in motion. We, kind of, are like moving lanterns as we attract flies into going towards us as sweat is like light for flies as it attracts them but getting too close can kill them. That day, I was covered in gnats from head to toe and it was a complete mess as my face and arms were covered with flies which made me learn a lesson, RUN AT NIGHT!

Shift at work 6/6

On June 6th, I came in at work at Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grille. It was supposed to be a quiet because earlier in the day, Tropical Storm Andrea blew above the city but my city of Fort Myers got some wind and some rain from the squalls and bands coming in from the storm. Because of this, the downstairs area was closed for the night. I came in to the restaurant witnessing the gray clouds, high winds, and spotty torrential downpours which soaked the outdoor level of the restaurant. The weather and supposed activity of the restaurant affected the amount of bussers needed for the night because of one level being available for the night.

I chose to take the single shift tonight because of the MLB draft going on for the next three days. My brother Harrison Cooney, a pitcher at my school, FGCU, is rumored to get drafted tomorrow which was why I took the shift tonight. I was supposed to work tomorrow but I gave that shift to the other busser scheduled to work that night because he had tomorrow off. It proved to be the right decision for me.

Somehow, right out of nowhere it was the most beautiful weather I have even seen beachfront with it being sunny, a bright purple sky and not a cloud in sight. Because of this, business for the restaurant shot through the roof that night as table by table was being filled by families and that led to a good tipout for me at 98 dollars for the night. What just happened that night is a good example of Floridian weather as its storms occur mainly in the afternoon which then dissipate at night with the only worry in the world in Florida at night being heat lightning.