Posted by Mike Blake Sat, 03 Sep 2011 14:17:00 GMT
My friend Kevin Mincio from New York is currently biking across country to provide education and support for families of fallen soldiers.
Kevin and Matt Sauri will be running in this 5K at the end of their bike ride.
Running in this 5K is a great way to commemorate 9/11. I just registered. If you’ll be in New York on the anniversary please join me.
Posted by Mike Blake Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:01:00 GMT
Thomas Corbett was my Great Great Grandfather on my Mother’s side. According to research done by my cousin Danny Corrigan, Thomas was a union soldier.
From Danny’s records:
THOMAS CORBETT (Son of JAMES CORBETT) was born 1838 in New Castle West(County Limerick) Ireland, and died October 15, 1884 in Columbus, Ohio Franklin County. He married MARGARET KAPEL April 29, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio, daughter of MAURICE KAPEL and MARY. She was born 1838 in County Cork, Ireland, and died September 15, 1910 in Columbus, Ohio Franklin County.
More About THOMAS CORBETT: Burial: 1884, Mt.Calvary Lot 68;Columbus, Ohio Franklin County Corbitt-Union Soldier: We have documentation that Thomas was a Union Soldier and traveled down the Mississippi river and probably was there for the siege of Vicksburg. He did get sick and get mustered out a few years later. He apparently never recovered and died in his mid 40s.
From the site Ask about Ireland I found a record ( Griffith’s Valuation ) of Thomas Corbett as a tenant of The Earl of Devon. Thomas lived on Maiden Street. The document was printed in 1852, four years before he married Margaret in Ohio. He would have been 14 when he was put on this document. According to other Geneology research , minors were listed in Griffith’s Valuations. That’s likely Thomas on line 85. His older brother , Michael, may be the listing on line 55. A search for older brothers Patrick and James also shows listings in Newcastle.
The corresponding maps point to what is currently Lower Maiden st ., Newcastlewest, Co. Limerick, Ireland
Posted by Mike Blake Mon, 11 May 2009 17:38:00 GMT
The Orlando Fringe is just days away. If you don’t have time to hang out at the beer tent to get instant show reviews, here’s a few gems I’ll be attending. I’ll start with the more mainstream picks, shows that should be fun for the whole family, then move on to some picks for mature audiences.
The Fringe can get freaky. If your hanging with young ones, or old ones, you may want to ease into any potential culture shock with one of the shows with a “General Audience” Rating.
These clowns are really season veterans from Orlando’s own Sak Comedy Lab who have been honing their craft for years on Monday nights at Taste. With a completely new show every performance, and only $7 a ticket, this show may be the best bang for your buck in the whole festival.
How about the “Best Solo Performance” in the DC Fringe? This presentation of 7 Samurai “complete with peasants, bandits, samurai warriors, and a spectacular fight scene ” will not disappoint!
The talented students and staff of Winter Springs Performing Arts are putting on an all out production they’re calling a “Musical Theater Dramady”. Supporting local artists and showcasing new talent is the Fringe at its best. This show should be very entertaining.
The talented local favorites at Voci Dance team up with NY’s DeXdance team up for an “edgy, intelligent adventure in contemporary dance theatre.” These dancers are pure pleasure to watch.
This is a must see. A fresh look at a refined art form, perhaps the most accomplished artists in the Fringe do the entertaining in this show. Ricardo Garcia’s guitar playing could put this show in the Music category below, but you get the idea. Just see this show.
Did I mention award winning shows? Mevlin Brown has gotten rave reviews from Edinburgh Scotland to Ausin Texas, and a couple of Fringes in between. We’re lucky to have international stars like this here in O-Town.
Heather Henson brings together the best of Orlando’s amazing puppet scene for this all out Puppet Fest. Local favorite Wavey Davey performs Friday the 15th at 6PM. With a different show every night, you may want to attend the Puppet Slam more than once.
This show’s not really ‘cheeky’ just different. Click on the link above, than click reviews. Even professional reviewers don’t know how to describe this show. I sure don’t, but I’m seeing it again. It’s that strange, and that good.
Hope to see everyone at Loch Haven Park!
Posted by Mike Blake Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:08:00 GMT
This morning I made a long list of things I’d like to do more, and things I’d like to do less. In the interest of brevity, I decided to combine similar items. Hoping to get my New Years resolutions down to a sentence or two, I did even better. All my goals boiled down to one word. Focus.
For instance, I’d like to play more guitar, and exercise more. Obviously focusing on these goals for short periods of time will help.
Ironically, focusing on the activities I want to do less will also help. My things I’d like to do less are really “Less is More” resolutions. Having my own business allows me to take Fridays off. It’s my way of sticking it to the man. But this year I’m going to take off fewer Fridays. Why? Because when I always have Fridays off I don’t enjoy them nearly as much. That’s just one example, but the “Less is More” maxim applies to any excessive habit. So this year my bad habits will be less frequent, but much more enjoyable. Thanks to my new habit, Focus.
Posted by Mike Blake Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:37:00 GMT
The purpose of KPoz sports is to demonstrate a sports rating system that is completely objective. The KPoz model satisfies the required properties of statistical ranking models: transparency, verifiability, and accuracy. The result is that KPoz ratings and point spreads are often more accurate than the prevailing systems. So what does this get us?
The two prevailing Rankings in the NCAA, The BCS standings, and the AP Top 25 are based partly on emotion and human influence. Everyone respects an unbeaten record, but sometimes that’s the result of an easier schedule.
KPoz NCAA Football Rankings have Texas at number one this week. The other two have them at number 3. So how do we know who’s right? Head to head matchups.
The only way to know for sure when a team is better than another is a game. KPoz computes point spreads for upcoming games based on the rankings. When the KPoz spread is signigicantly different than the prevailing spread, KPoz really shines. Take the NFL Office Pool Picks each week and pick the top 5 games whose spreads are the most different than published spreads. You can get all this data in spreadsheet format as well from the Football Statistics page. Here you can compare to other spreads, sort, then make your picks. You’ll be surprised.
Posted by Mike Blake Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:46:00 GMT
(Analysis of each swing state is below.)
Barely Obama’s, and historically Republican, but holding the Democratic convention here turned out to be brilliant. McCain didn’t even get it back during the GOP convention, so I think Obama wins Colorado.
McCain’s most brilliant move is the Sarah Palin pick. The Hockey Mom with the folksy accent wins over the suburban Ohio family and keeps Ohio a red state.
Democrat in the last four elections, and should stay that way since McCain couldn’t manage to take the lead here even during the post convention bounce.
No need for Katherine Harris’s votes this time. McCain has a good lead and should keep the Republican trend.
Another Republican state, and McCain is hanging on tough here, although a bit closer than Florida, it will likely stay red.
For every other swing state, I’m predicting a win for the candidate with a slight lead in the polls, and backing it up with historical precedence in that state. That strategy leaves New Hampshire open. Since McCain fared better here in the primaries than Obama did, and he has a slight lead today in this University of New Hampshire poll , I gave it to him. Plus that leaves us with the fascinating result of an Electoral College tie.
Although Virgina was tied for a while, McCain seems to be pulling away. And Republican margins of victory in prior elections have been quite large.
If you border more than one Great Lake, you’re an Obama state. Even taking advantage of delegate strippers won’t change that.
Posted by Mike Blake Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:10:00 GMT
Last week I played four golf courses in Orlando with four of the Cusack brothers. But there was one Cusack brother missing. From the Raffle flyer:
You can follow John’s progress here:
And if you’d like to help out with a donation or a journal ad : johnnybgfunraiser.googlepages.com
Thanks for your support,
Mike Blake
Posted by Mike Blake Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:54:00 GMT
In a freak accident back in September my friend John Cusack fell off a bicycle in Northport, NY and suffered a serious head injury. It’s been a very painful year for the Cusack family and friends. Obviously it saddened me deeply to learn that Brian Maguire suffered a similar injury.
Brian crashed on his motorcycle last Sunday night. Updates are available on Jim Abbott’s blog at The Orlando Sentinel, and There’s a Brian Maguire Relief Fund.
In John’s case, the waking up process was very gradual. After about a week in an induced coma similar to Brian’s, John began to show signs of life. The first sign of a functioning brain was the ability to blink when asked to blink. Slowly, day after day, there were subtle improvements. Response to stimuli, Open eyes tracking movement . At some point John was moved from a ventilator to a trachea. Then there was recognition of friends and family. Eventually there was movement of limbs and talking, (although talking is nearly impossible with the trachea.) . Now after a cranioplasty to restore his skull, John is scheduled to be moved to a Rehabilitation Center today where he will relearn basic muscle movements, and hopefully walk again.
The Cuscacks have set up a site here if you’d like to learn more. John Cusack .
With a brain injury, there is always hope. I pray that good news continues to break for both John and Brian, and however long it takes, I hope I can spend time with them again in this world.
Posted by Mike Blake Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:57:00 GMT
My family and I had a great weekend at the end of August in Cleveland Ohio. My Mom’s side of the family , The Corrigans, had a reunion at the North Chagrin Nature Center in Lake County, OH. This was the first time all seven of us have been together in about five years.
The Blakes are, from left to right, Conny, Brian, Michael, Richard, John, Paul, and Maureen.
Posted by Mike Blake Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:47:00 GMT
Quoc Van came to my house a few weeks ago. He’s an extremely bright guy, and is running for congress in the 8th Congressional District here in Florida. I’m not kidding you, I got the sense that I had just met the next Barack Obama.
Quoc needs signatures from 1% of registered voter’s here in the 8th district in order to appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary. I admire Quoc’s grass roots effort so I was happy to sign.
The immediate goal is getting Quoc on the ballot. You can help out in three easy steps (if you live in Florida’s 8th congressional district):
1. Print out this petition.
2. Fill it out.
b. Check major candidate and put in “Democratic party” on line 3
c. Put in “U.S. House of Representative in the 8th congressional district of Florida on line four
d. Fill in your information in the boxes.
a. Put in "Quoc Van" on line 2 where it says name.
3. Mail the form to:
Quoc Van
1110 Butler Way
Sanford, Fl 32773For more information on Quoc Van visit vanforcongress.com.
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