Introductions and Howdys.

[02roadking]

How was the trip to Atlanta?

Great trip. Great place to visit but I really don't want to live there again.     The Georgia Aqarium is a sight to behold.(pics soon) Atlantic Station was somewhat impressive. It just seemed somewhat deserted(for a Saturday afternoon),except for that Ikea store. Holy smokes, once you get in there, it's hard to find your way out. I think they do that on purpose. LOL

[thelakelander]

Yes, IKEA was somewhat overpowering.

[jbm32206]

Welcome FSUJax....glad to have you join and hope you enjoy posting!

[zoo]

Funny commentary on IKEA. They set it up like a single-entrance, single-exit Disney ride on purpose. If you can't get out without walking through the whole store, you're bound to find something to buy (they always get me with the 10 wooden hangers for $2.99!)

Sticking with "Zoo" because I like it like that -- a bit of chaos makes anything more interesting...

[gatorback]

Hey ya'll.  My name is Tom Towkach and I'm a long time resident of Jacksonville.  I was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in California and went to school in Florida.  I've worked all over the east coast including Boston, to Memphis, Jacksonville and Orlando.  I have a BS in Computer Science and enough of a master's degree to know what management is doing.  I left B school for a .com startup in 2000 before the bubble busted.  Recently I've just accepted a management position with a large retailer and until I leave for my new life I will continue working a hot dog cart that belongs to one of my best friends, volunteering at my church, helping my friends as well as my family and having fun along the way.  Yes, I am hot dog on another forum, so please don't hold that against me. 

[Suzanne Jenkins]

Hey, I know you.  Congrats on the new job!  

[spidey]

Hi Tom-

I know you as well.  You're the hot dog vendor down on Laura Street a few blocks north of the Landing, aren't you?

[gatorback]

Thank you Suzanne.  P.S. don't enter the portal next to the hot dog cart...it's not good for maintaining that girlish figure. 

[gatorback]

Hi spidey:  Nope.  I work the late night hot dog cart at TSI.  www.clubtsi.com  Come join us one night.   

[jbm32206]

Welcome to the forum, Tom hope you enjoy posting and chatting with everyone.

[Seraphs]

Seraphs here!  I'm not sure where I am.  Is this a subsite of the old metrojax?  Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.  I recognize many of the names, I'm just glad to be logged back on in communication again.  As for the new board I'll get use to it.

[spidey]

Seraphs here!  I'm not sure where I am.  Is this a subsite of the old metrojax?  Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.  I recognize many of the names, I'm just glad to be logged back on in communication again.  As for the new board I'll get use to it.

Hi seraphs.  The easiest way to explain it all is to tell you that there's been a "divorce" of sorts in the family.  Metjax went down (due to Jim moving and other host server issues) right in the middle of a family squabble.  Out of that came two new boards:  www.metrojacksonville.com/forum and www.jaxoutloud.com/forum....they both came online (not knowing each other was doing the same) at the same time to try to fill in the space that was missing while Metjax was out, not knowing when or if it would ever come back on line.  Well, metjax has indeed come back online at www.metjax.com/forums.  I think you'll find the majority of us posting on all the boards.

Glad to have you back and posting.

[jbm32206]

Seraphs here!  I'm not sure where I am.  Is this a subsite of the old metrojax?  Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.  I recognize many of the names, I'm just glad to be logged back on in communication again.  As for the new board I'll get use to it.

Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy posting!

[Bruin Brain]

Hello!

I'm kind of a ghost of forums past who now fluctuates between long periods of lurking and short periods of activity. I got my start on Skyscraperpage about 8 or 9 years ago as the first and only Jacksonvillian for quite a while. I was "JFDinJax" back then. I mostly just took/posted photos of Jax back then  -- none of the cool reporting/researching stuff you guys do. (I'll have to post some of those "old" photos sometime; there are several of buildings since demolished). Then lakelander joined. Then he left Lakeland! Then I changed my name about a dozen times. Now I'm de-lurking on this wonderful board for some more fun times. I was on metjax for a while, before it really took off. BTW, what's the difference or affiliation between that board and this one? I always thought these two sites were one and the same, and now I'm a little confused. I even had to register separately for this one. 

Anyhoo, I'm no longer living in Jax, but I'm extremely impressed with and grateful for this site. My friends and relatives back home unfortunately don't tend to keep up with what's happening downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, so this site is invaluable to me. It's looking great, too!

[thelakelander]

Hello!

I'm kind of a ghost of forums past who now fluctuates between long periods of lurking and short periods of activity. I got my start on Skyscraperpage about 8 or 9 years ago as the first and only Jacksonvillian for quite a while. I was "JFDinJax" back then. I mostly just took/posted photos of Jax back then  -- none of the cool reporting/researching stuff you guys do. (I'll have to post some of those "old" photos sometime; there are several of buildings since demolished). Then lakelander joined. Then he left Lakeland! Then I changed my name about a dozen times. Now I'm de-lurking on this wonderful board for some more fun times.

Coldayman at SSP has always said you're the Jax expert.  So where are you these days?

I was on metjax for a while, before it really took off. BTW, what's the difference or affiliation between that board and this one? I always thought these two sites were one and the same, and now I'm a little confused. I even had to register separately for this one. 

Basically ownership, making it easier to enhance the site in a timely manner.  A few of us started this site 18 months ago with the intent of it being a front page for the forum and to make it easier to store, save and display data that many times can get easily lost in a forum set up.  Unfortunately, it's been difficult to merge the two as originally planned.  In any event, this site has always been a work in progress and we're always looking for ways enhance it's offerings.  One of those improvements was the idea of integrating the front page articles with a discussion board format that would increase the dialouge stimulating from the front page.  When MetJax went offline for an extended period of time a few weeks ago and a few other local boards immediately sprung up, we went ahead and implemented it.

Anyhoo, I'm no longer living in Jax, but I'm extremely impressed with and grateful for this site. My friends and relatives back home unfortunately don't tend to keep up with what's happening downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, so this site is invaluable to me. It's looking great, too!

You can thank Lunican for the site's set up.  He's dedicated a lot of time and hard work to get to this point.  We just invested a lot of money in increasing the site's capabilities, so we're here to stay and hopefully many of the things openly discussed here will result in the community having more respect for it's inner core.