If you were to pass by the business office of Tony Caribaltes, you shouldn’t be surprised to hear a sharp bark or a tiny meow escape from behind the closed door. Caribaltes is an animal lover who sometimes harbors a dog or (more infrequently, because of allergies) a cat in his office.

As a member of the board of directors of the Friends of Jacksonville Animals, Inc. (FOJA, www.friendsofjacksonvilleanimals.com), Caribaltes sometimes has a hard time saying “no” when an animal needs fostering, even when the animal turns out to be ungrateful. “I once fostered a cat that was missing part of its jaw and was in bad shape. But, he ended up running away from me! He was about three years old, and I guess he liked his freedom more than getting all the food he could eat and having a cool place to sleep.”

More frequently, Caribaltes will take in a dog as part of the fostering program. “The Animal Care and Protective Services needs people to foster animals until they are healthy enough for adoption,” he explains. “I am getting a dog in the next day or two that has a cold—an upper respiratory infection. If he isn’t fostered and brought back to health, he would be put down at the [Animal Care and Protective Services] shelter. Unfortunately, the shelter is not no-kill. I’ll keep the dog and administer medications for about 10 days, then he’ll go back on the adoption block. That’s how we save a lot of animals.”

FOJA’s mission is to save the animals at the shelter, which receives about 2,000 animals a month, according to Caribaltes, and many of them are euthanized. Even those in good health only have 30 days to be adopted before they are put down.“Those numbers are pretty hard to take, especially when you see a perfectly healthy dog or cat that just needs a break and a home,” he says.

He says sick animals are tagged to be put down. But so are ones tagged as aggressive or hyperactive because of too much barking. “But barking doesn’t mean the dog is aggressive,” he says. “For example, I kept Sasha, a 6 year old mixed breed, for about a week. She was so well house-trained that she would not use the cage for her toilet, so she barked to go out. But, because the shelter is understaffed, the dogs don’t get walked often enough, so Sasha got constipated and was in pain, which caused her to bark even more. The shelter labeled her aggressive, but all she needed was to be relieved of her constipation. A FOJA member got her to the vet who fixed the problem, and then she recuperated in my office. She was adopted.”

Caribaltes admits fostering can be emotionally difficult, so instead of being a constant caregiver, he supports FOJA more actively in another way— by applying his skills, knowledge, and experience as a sales and marketing professional to FOJA fund raising and adoption events.

During business hours, he owns Caribaltes Consulting LLC., a year-old business that has two divisions with five employees. The sales division is called The Best of Jacksonville (www.thebestofjacksonville.net). “We act as the sales division to local small businesses who outsource that function to us because they don’t have the time, knowledge, skills, or money to do their own sales.” The marketing division of his company does social media management, marketing campaigns, fund raising, and event planning.

“FOJA is a nonprofit, and our mission is to save as many dogs from the shelter as possible,” he says. “One way our group does this is by holding adoption events. Recently we held an event at a local business from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We took five dogs and three cats, and before noon, we had all five dogs adopted. We went back to the shelter and brought back some more dogs. Within the four hours, we got nine dogs adopted and one cat. We were ecstatic, because all of those dogs were going to be put down within the next couple of days.”

FOJA volunteers hold adoptions almost every weekend at the PetSmarts at the Regency and Southside for cats and sometimes for dogs, and the group puts on one or two organized events a month at other sites, such as outside of a Winn Dixie.

“We also do fund-raising events two or three times a year,” he says. “For example, the company where we adopted out nine dogs and a cat was a fund raiser. All week the employees raised money, such as through a silent auction and a bake sale. Money from those events goes toward medications, toys, food, and blankets for the animals at the shelter.”

He adds, “When FOJA celebrated its first birthday in 2009, we turned that into a fundraiser. We had a first annual reunion and invited everyone who had adopted an animal from the shelter to bring their animals and celebrate. We had vendors, a show, a live band. It was a real party atmosphere.”

Parties and events are fun, but the real joy to Caribaltes is saving a dog from destruction and gaining a friend for life. His advice: “Adopt whenever you can. If you have a choice, try to save a life. The feeling is just incredible.”

FOJA welcomes volunteers. For information on volunteering, go to www.friendsofjacksonvilleanimals.com. Tony Caribaltes, principal of Caribaltes Consulting LLC. can be reached at 904-379-9060 or through his Web site, www.caribaltesconsulting.com.

It happens to employees far too often—corporate burnout. Personal chef Shirley Munn, owner of Let’s Eat IN! Personal Chef Service, distinctly remembers the day it happened to her:

“I was director of medical staff services for a major healthcare facility in Jacksonville. I’d been in the same job for 20 years. My department was responsible for credentialing all the doctors and allied health professionals who came through to make sure they were licensed and had the experience and training they claimed.

“One day, at the end of an especially frustrating day, a friend walked into my office, and I began to vent at her. When I was done, she calmly said, ‘You’re eligible for early retirement, why don’t you become a personal chef?’ She was aware of my love for cooking and sensed I was ready for a change,” remembers Munn.

Even though Munn wasn’t sure what a personal chef was, her friend’s suggestion that day ultimately changed her life.

“I thought a personal chef was someone who cooked for a private household on a daily basis, which didn’t appeal to me. But, my friend suggested I go home and research personal chef to discover whether it was something that did appeal to me. After a few hours on the Web that night, I called to thank her for the great suggestion.  I knew I had found a professional outlet for my passion for cooking. I took the first step in finding my bliss!”

Munn’s epiphany was in July 2004. In September, she attended a four-day conference in Portland, Ore., sponsored by Professional Chef’s Network. During the conference, she affirmed her personal-chef aspiration. “The conference had breakout sessions, workshops, and vendors. It was wonderful being with so many people who shared my passion for cooking. I was like a kid in a candy store, and by the time the conference ended, I was totally convinced that Chef Shirley was about to emerge,” she said.

She completed a home-study course to learn about the business side of being a personal chef. Then she registered her fictitious name with the state, got a business license and liability insurance, a Web site, and marketing materials. She was ready to dip her toe into the personal chef world, and requested to go part time on her “day job.”

“I started working three days a week, with Mondays and Fridays devoted to my new career. Then in January 2005 I took the plunge: I took early retirement and have been living my dream ever since. They say if you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life. I’ve been very fortunate that, even though I took a risk, everything fell into place, and I just love what I do.”

According to Entrepreneur magazine, the personal chef industry is one of the fastest-growing businesses in America. Personal chefs are not to be confused with private chefs. The latter work as full-time employees in private households. Personal chefs, on the other hand, run their own businesses.

Munn says the role of a personal chef is to simplify life for busy people by relieving them of the stress of menu planning, food shopping, and meal preparation. “As lives become busier, mealtime is usually the first to suffer, and families resort to fast food, dining out, and fragmented mealtimes. It doesn’t have to be that way,” she says. “A personal chef can be your best friend.” Instead of going out, Munn suggests, “eat in.”

Although she does not require a signed contract, Munn says most of her clients are on a monthly menu program. For a couple, that means she plans a menu (in consultation with the client), does the grocery shopping, and cooks four servings of six different entrees and sides (which allows the couple to eat each meal two times during the month). She packages, labels, and freezes each of the entrees and then delivers them to the client.

“Since each entrée is individually packaged, one member of the family may select one meal and the other something different on any given evening. Meals can be prepared on site in the client’s kitchen if that’s their preference.

Munn attributes the success of her business in part to her well-designed Web site. “At first I got a few clients from friends and acquaintances, but mainly I’ve gotten most of my clients through my Web site,” she says, adding, “My Web designer really knows his business. If you Google ‘personal chef Jacksonville’ my Web site is one of the first to come up. I believe it was divine intervention that got us together. He was formerly a personal chef himself and was getting into Web design, and I was just getting into the cooking business. I was his first client. It’s worked out well for both of us.”

Munn has been known to barter for her services if the client offers a service she may need, which benefits both parties. She also offers gift certificates.

Although most menus she creates are “normal,” Chef Shirley also accommodates requests for special diets. “I’ve had requests for salt-free, gluten-free, vegan, low cholesterol, and vegetarian. There seems to be an increasing need for gluten-free diets—food prepared without any wheat, barley, or rye. Any specialized diet only broadens my culinary repertoire, so I welcome the challenge.”

Munn foresees her business taking off in a slightly different direction—one that may be indicative of baby-boomer demographics. “Lately, my business seems to include more elderly folks. says Munn. “I have elderly clients whose adult children are concerned for their parents’ welfare, but who live too far away to tend to them. They find me on the Web, and we’re able to work out a solution that gives the children peace of mind that the parents are eating healthy meals.”

“I’m blessed to be living my dream.,” she says. “Not too many people can say that.” For anyone interested in becoming a personal chef, Munn’s advice: “Life is short. Take a risk, jump in, and follow your bliss!”

Shirley Munn is owner of Let’s Eat IN!, www.letseatinjax.com. She can be contacted at 904-629-5391.

SIDEBAR

To become a personal chef

• Research. The Web is full of resources, says Munn. Google “personal chef.”

• Visit association Web pages. As part of your research, check out www.uspca.com (United States Personal Chefs Association) and www.personalchef.com (American Personal & Private Chef Association).

• Attend a conference. You’ll get immersed in the industry and find out quickly if this is for you.

• Take a course. Certification courses are available, either through classroom study or home study.

If you think all beers taste the same, Ken Stevens would like a word with you. Stevens, the owner of Just Brew It, a retail establishments that supplies everything needed for home brewing and wine making, is a beer aficionado. Two of his recipes have earned him medals for their taste, quality, and craftsmanship, and those medals—along with years of experimenting with hops, yeast, and grains, qualifies him to appreciate the differences in beers.

Stevens’ knowledge of beers has developed over about 15 years. “I’ve been a home brewer for quite some time,” he says, assigning “blame” for his hobby (and store) to his wife, who initially bought him a home-brewing kit. “The shop where I used to buy supplies went out of business,” he says, “and I didn’t like ordering my supplies over the Internet. It was too impersonal. I didn’t want to travel to Gainesville or Orlando, so I decided to open up a home-brewing store myself.” That was in 2005, and business is flourishing.

“Our customer base has really grown. We have customers coming in from all over—from as far away as the Netherlands. That customer found us on the Internet and exchanged e-mails with us for a while. When he went on vacation to Orlando, he drove up here to pick up some supplies and ship them back home,” says Stevens.

International customers are the exception, not the norm, he says; the store caters to the wine and beer-making community of northeast Florida and South Georgia, and his Web site serves to point potential customers to the brick-and-mortar establishment, not as a point of sale. “There are a lot of home brewers in Jacksonville,” says Stevens. “When we opened the store, it was hard to find a really good craft beer here. Now craft beers are sold in groceries, because people are into variety. It’s the want for variety, I think, that has spurred an increased interest in home brewing.”

Stevens explains that craft beers are beers that emphasize quality, taste, and craftsmanship. Breweries are limited in what they can make, he says. Even microbreweries cannot make the variety and styles of beers that home brewers can.

“The cost of some of these craft beers is prohibitive for breweries,” says Stevens. “For instance, one of my recent beers was an imperial chocolate milk stout. The ingredients for a five-gallon batch came to about $80. That’s too expensive for even a small brewery to make. But, it’s a very nice beer that uses about three cups of cocoa powder as well as lactose, a non-fermentable sugar. The alcohol content of that beer is about 11%.”

Chocolate is not the most unusual ingredient Stevens has tasted—or used—in beer. “One of the most unusual I’ve tasted is swamp cabbage beer,” he says. “It definitely sounds weird. When the American Home Brewers Association had its annual convention in Orlando a few years ago, one of the Florida brewing clubs sponsored a hospitality suite. They served beer made from a palm called the swamp cabbage. It was surprisingly good, despite its name.”

Another unusual beer—one that has earned Stevens a silver medal—is a cranberry IPA (Indian Pale Ale). That beer incorporates a gallon of cranberry juice into it for aroma and flavor. Yet another unusual flavor is a cucumber beer. “People who have tasted it says it is very refreshing, with just a hint of cucumber taste,” he says.

About 200 home brewers are members of the CASK (www.thecask.org/), a local home-brewing club. “CASK stands for Cowford Ale Sharing Klub,” explains Stevens. “Cowford was the first name given to the city of Jacksonville.” The club offers members a monthly opportunity to find out how good their home-made concoctions are. The contests focus on a particular style of beer, such as lagers, ales, stouts, cream ales, pilsners, Belgians, and fruit beers. Altogether there are about 28 different styles with subcategories, according to Stevens.

Beers in a particular category are judged on head retention, clarity, taste, aroma, and alcohol content, all according to the standards of the Beer Judge Certification Program, an organization that sets criteria for beer evaluation. Local competitions can lead to national recognitions. The American Homebrewers Association (www.homebrewersassociation.org) also has national competitions to find the best of home brews, so individuals who want to enter their beers can do so on several different levels.

“Brewers like variety,” says Stevens. “Today you have many different varieties of hops, grains, and lots of strains of yeast. Brewers like to take chances, too—to experiment. It’s amazing the results you can get.”

Results like that imperial chocolate milk stout Stevens enjoys. “Yeah, that’s a good one,” he admits. “So good you can sometimes find me pouring it over ice cream for a beer float.”

Ken Stevens is owner of Just Brew It (www.justbrewitjax.com), currently located at 1855 Cassat Ave. In July he will be moving his establishment to 2670 Rosselle. He can be reached at Ken@justbrewitjax.com or 904-381-1983.

SIDEBAR

To get started in home brewing

Getting started in home brewing will cost a novitiate from $250 to $300, says Stevens. “Compared to other hobbies, such as golf or woodworking, that’s not a lot of investment. And that cost includes your first batch of beer—five gallons.” After you purchase the equipment (which comes in a kit), the cost drops to about $40 to $50 for two cases of beer.

Before investing in equipment, however, Stevens recommends doing some reading. “The Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian is a classic;” he says, “it’s good reading.” Papazian is the founder of the American Homebrewers Association.

Once you become familiar with the process, attend some club meetings, and then just do it. “Don’t give up if it doesn’t work out the first time,” says Stevens, who says that people rarely fail the first time out.

He gives one more piece of advice: Buy from a local retailer. “You’ll get the expertise and advice from the staff. We encourage our customers to call us with questions. Most problems can be corrected. Like, we had a fellow once who made a batch of beer. He put the yeast in when it was too hot. The heat killed the yeast. He thought he had made a fatal error and dumped the batch down the drain. I wish he had called us before he did that. All he had to do was let it cool down and throw in some more yeast. It would have been fine.”

If he had his druthers, Greg Swink, co-owner of Hobby World (along with his wife Rita), would rather take to the air in a four-seater Cessna than do most other things. In fact, he plans to bring his pilot’s license up to current status and buy a plane (the second he will have owned) so he and his wife can easily visit their daughter, who lives in Washington, D.C.

But, to get his fill of flying in the meantime, he has to content himself with piloting smaller (yet very realistic) radio controlled (RC) aircraft. “I’ve had up to 16 RC planes, although I only have three right now,” he says.

Swink has been an airplane buff all his life. “I took my first flight in a private airplane when I was about 9 years old and living in a small town in Indiana. The guy who owned our town’s only car dealership had a Cessna. Somehow I convinced him I really needed to go flying. So, he took me up. That day I swore I would become a pilot.”

When Swink was in the  second tour of his Navy enlistment, he and his wife made the vow come true. They both earned a pilot’s license. “It was on May 12, 1977. Rita’s has had her license an hour longer than me,” he chuckles.

About the same time they took to the skies, they also started planning for their future. “We decided to find a business we could run after I got out of the Navy,” he explained. “We saw a ‘for sale’ ad in the paper for a hobby/arts and crafts shop in Orange Park. It was a small store, with only about a couple thousand dollars in merchandise. My father, who was a baby-furniture rep, had connections with a hobby distributor in Miami. We put up about $20,000 and told them to send us what they thought we would need. They sent a truckload of stuff. That was the start. Now, almost 33 years later, we have two stores and more than $1 million in inventory.”

Both stores—one in Orange Park and one off I-295—are full-service hobby stores that carry radio control planes, boats, and cars; model trains; plastic models; rocketry; and other scientific activities. “Not a lot of craft items, though,” says Swink. “Mostly ‘big-boy’ toys.”

It was because of the hobby store that Swink enhanced his flying abilities from maneuvering full-sized aircraft to RC models. “For the first couple of years, while I was still in the Navy, Rita ran the store. Once I got involved in the store, I figured it would be good for me to learn some of the hobbies, so I got into them.”

He did something he advises newcomer RC pilots not to do: He taught himself how to fly. “Teaching myself how to fly only cost me about an airplane and a half,” he laughs. “But I did learn, and I fell in love with RC flying.”

Perhaps it’s a throwback to his second stint in the Navy—he re-enlisted after getting his pilot’s license and chalked up more than 8,000  hours as a flight engineer on P3 aircraft—but Swink’s RC aircraft of choice are “war birds.” “They are fast—really fast,” he says. “They can go more than 100 miles an hour. I like to fly them fastand low.” And land them upside down sometimes, he confesses.

“I’ve landed inverted three times,” he says. “The first time I was flying about five feet off the ground, going as fast as I could, and then the engine quit on me. I decided to land it on its back. It wasn’t too bad—only a broken propeller, scraped canopy, and about one-half inch shaved off the tail.”

The next two inverted landings weren’t so pretty, he says—especially the last one. “It was my favorite plane. The wind changed on me, and I accidentally relaxed my finger on the controls. The plane inverted and hit the ground at about 120 mph and left parts for about 100 yards.”

The crash demonstrates the danger gas RC models pose. Swink says they should only be flown at a flying field, such as those kept by the model airplane clubs around the area. Electric-motored aircraft, which are slower and much lighter, can be flown on playgrounds or other open areas, however.

Swink says he has seen trends in hobbies come and go as people cycle through them. They always seem to have an interest in airplanes, although the type may vary. Right now he says giant-scale aircraft weighing more than 40 pounds with wingspans exceeding eight feet—are gaining in popularity.

“I’ve been flying for 30 years,” he says. “I’ve got customers who have been flying for 50 years. RC airplanes are a lifetime hobby.”

Swink is intent on buying an airplane (a real one), but until he does, it’s a sure bet when he has a few minutes of free time, you can find him practicing take offs, maneuvers, and landings behind the flight simulator in either of his stores or out back demonstrating an RC aircraft to a customer. “Once you get the bug, it never lets go,” he says.

Greg and Rita Swink are owners of Hobby World, www.hobbyworld.biz, located at 7273 103rd St., Jacksonville, and 175 Blanding Blvd., Orange Park. He can be reached at 904-772-9445.

SIDEBAR

How to get started with RC aircraft

• Get the right airplane. Start with a trainer. They are slower, easier to maneuver, and more forgiving than some other aircraft, such as war birds. Swink and his staff work hard to match the customer to the right plane. “ If you give the customer the wrong airplane and it crashes on the first flight, you are going to lose a customer. So we try to fit customers to the right product.”

• Get instruction. Flying clubs have members who will teach you how to fly, usually free of charge.

• Join a club. The area has several RC clubs, including JAX RC, Gateway RC, Shade Tree, Clay County Flyers, and Ancient City flyers (St. Augustine).

If you met John Duss near the office complex where he works, you might correctly guess (in one or two attempts) that he is an attorney, one of five partners in Duss Kenney Safer Hampton & Joos, P.A., a well-rounded business practice whose bedrock is commercial and residential real estate.

What you probably would not guess (just by looking at him) is his passion—motorcycles. He is a far cry from the stereotypical middle aged, tattooed and gray-haired pony-tailed biker who rides down the highway straddling a Harley Davidson. “Actually, I consider myself a motorcyclist rather than a biker,” Duss chuckles. “A motorcyclist is someone who has an interest in motorcycles. The common profile of the biker-type as portrayed in the movies is a bit different.”

An early love affair

Duss’ love affair with motorcycles began when he was a boy. “When I was about 12, I had my sights set on getting a motorbike. I got a paper route and saved for about a year to buy one. That was in 1956. Later I got a motorcycle to ride from our home on the west side of Jacksonville to Bishop Kenney High School on the south side. I put a lot of miles on that bike. I’ve had motorcycles virtually all my life since then.”

Once he buys a bike, Duss usually holds onto it. He now owns 14 motorcycles. “I tend to keep things. I actually have one that I bought in 1975. It’s considered an antique now, but it wasn’t when I got it!” he jokes. “I like to say I liked motorcycles before they were fashionable—which they are now. But, for a long time, they weren’t.”

Duss loves all things motorcycles, but especially vintage collector bikes. He says he has only one bike manufactured in this century. “That one’s not even here in Jacksonville,” he says. “It’s in Colorado.” The oldest bike he has is a 1931 Indian. “Indian was a very successful world renowned motorcycle manufacturer. It survived World War II but went out of business in 1953. I own one of their most celebrated models, a 101 Scout.

Vintage bikes appeal to him primarily because of their history, he explains. “They represent a different mechanical success at different times in the history of vehicles. I enjoy the complexity of some of them and the operational differences that are distinct from modern pieces of machinery.”

If history and education were not enough of a justification for owning vintage motorcycles, Duss says the investment is. “They represent a reasonable investment. Once you buy them, they tend to increase in value over a period of time, so they are basically cost-neutral. Of course, I hardly sell anything. I’ve sold a few over the years and regretted it when I did.”

His avid interest in vintage motorcycles has led him to be actively involved in the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, which was held in March, as well as Riding into History, an annual event that attracts several thousand visitors each May.

“I’ve been involved in the Amelia Island event from the very beginning. It’s primarily a vintage automobile show, but we have a class [competition] for motorcycles. This year we had Triumph vertical twin cylinder motorcycles that were first begun in 1938 and went up until the middle ’60s. We had 12 on exhibit.” In addition to coordinating the motorcycle end of the Concours, Duss also judged the motorcycles, with appearance and style taking precedence over historical correctness.

Riding into History, scheduled to take place in World Golf Village May 15, is a charity event benefitting the Wounded Warriors. Sponsored in part by the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Northeast Florida and the Historic Motorcycle Society, it will feature 300 bikes in competition for trophies. Duss will be one of about 30 judges for the event. “I’m the chief judge there. This year we are featuring British motorcycles, which are classed by years: older than 1946, younger than 1965, that kind of thing.” As the name suggests, the bikes are vintage models. To win in this competition, motorcycles must be historically accurate and stylish.

Owning vintage bikes can sometimes be challenging, according to Duss. “If you are dealing with something that was made in the past, it may have been the best that was available then, but it doesn’t exceed that which is available now.” He admits to tinkering with the mechanics of the bikes, but he does not restore them.

Duss gets a regular weekly “fix” of vintage bikes when he meets with other members of the Historic Motorcycle Society (HMS) for dinner and bike talk. “HMS is social, and there’s not any real structure in terms of officers and dues,” he says. He belongs to many other bike clubs, including the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA). I’m an officer in AMCA Sunshine Chapter, which is devoted to antique bikes that have to be at least 35 years old.” He also belongs to “just about” every club dedicated to a specific make, such as the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Northeast Florida

Although not all of his 14 motorcycles reside with him in Jacksonville, Duss still has a tough time deciding what to ride. “It depends on a number of factors,” he says. “If I am going to an event, it might dictate what I ride, if the event has a particular theme to it. Another factor is the distance. If I’m riding a long distance, some of my bikes are better suited for that than others, especially in terms of weather protection.”

He doesn’t really care what he rides, however, so long as he gets to ride. “When I see a motorcycle policeman, I think, ‘Gee, he gets paid to ride!’”

John S. Duss IV, Esq. is a partner in Duss Kenney Safer Hampton & Joos, PA, 4348 Southpoint Blvd., Suite 101, Jacksonville. He can be reached at 904-543-430.

SIDEBAR

Interested in vintage bikes?

Motorcyclists come from all walks of life, says Duss. Many have had an interest since a young age, but others have their interest reawakened when they go to an event such as Riding into History. And some are “slow starters” who take an interest late in life. If you want to get involved in vintage bikes, Duss suggests:

• Read. Bookstores carry a number of magazines devoted to vintage motorcycles.

• Attend shows. Go to the shows and talk with the owners.

• Hang out. Go to some club meetings. HMS members, for example, meet at a local restaurant weekly. You don’t have to own a bike to get to meet the motorcyclists.

Some people run away from their problems. Not Jo Shott. She chases her challenges to the finish line.

Shott is a competitive runner, and when she’s in a race—or just running for the fun of it— the promise of finishing fills her with an exhilaration that is difficult to put into words.

“I love running,” she says. “I love the wind in my face and the feeling I get. I think it’s the endorphins. People think that running hurts and wonder why anyone would want to do that. I think it’s a matter of ‘it hurts so good!’ You get a runner’s high. You get so satisfied with yourself that you tested your own limits and pushed yourself to do better. The sense of satisfaction makes it all worthwhile.”

Because she loves running so much, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she is co-owner of The Jacksonville Running Company, along with her husband Owen and friend Ted DeVos. Opening the business was a natural fit with their passion for running.

“We opened the store a year ago,” she says. “Although the economy was bad, we decided to go for it. Owen had a vision of what he wanted—something more than an ordinary running store. Ted had a financial background. We think we’ve succeeded, because despite the economy, we had a fantastic year.”

Their success may be partially due to their investment in technology and because they opened their market to more than dedicated runners. “We didn’t want to be just another running store,” she says. “Our passion is to genuinely help people. Our logo is ‘Fitting shoes to make you fit.’ We fit shoes by making a scan of a customer’s feet to see where their pressure points are. Then we put them on a treadmill and video them as they walk or jog, to show them why they may be having pain. We’re able to better fit them in the right shoes that way. We also have a mobile unit that goes to businesses and health fairs to work with people who wouldn’t go to a running store because they don’t think of themselves as runners. We want to help people get healthier.”

Although running is in her blood now, it wasn’t always. “I was a late bloomer,” she says. “I didn’t start running until I got into college. Most runners start early—when they are in middle or high school. My high school—University Christian—didn’t have a track and cross country team for girls. I’m athletic, so I played basketball for several years, but I wasn’t very good at it. I enjoyed the drills, though—running back and forth. I finally realized that I was more of a runner than a basketball player. When I enrolled at the University of North Florida, I started running every day for exercise. I would see the cross country team practicing, so inevitably I ended up running with them in order to have company.

“I did this for two years. Finally the coach said, ‘You come to practice more than the people on my team. Why don’t you join the team?’ I didn’t think I was good enough, so I turned him down. But, finally, he prevailed, and I joined the team my senior year.”

Her desire to have company while running had a permanent (and pleasant) result in her life: her husband. “Owen started running with the UNF team for company. We like to say that we ran into each other so we were meant to be!”

Owen is more than Shott’s husband and business partner. He is also her trainer and coach and has encouraged her to be a serious runner. “A serious runner is someone who has a goal—either time and/or a race. We put a plan in place to get ready for a race. It’s a process that lets the body get prepared.”

Shott has been running 5K races for several years, but she has recently started to run 10Ks, which are about six miles long. “I’ve been mentored by a lot of veteran runners who tell me, ‘Don’t try to compete in really long distances like marathons until your body has matured and you have been running a long time. Women peak in their early to mid-30s. I’m not there yet,” says the 30-year-old.

Although she does not usually run marathons, she did run in the 26.2 for Donna Breast Cancer marathon in February. “I really like running in races that have a cause, especially for women’s health, like the 26.2 for Donna. When you see so many people carrying signs that say ‘I’m running for…’ you get really inspired,” she says.

Shott also enjoys “off-the-wall” runs, such as the one she and her husband did with their dog. “the dog run was a lot of fun,” she says. “Another one that I really enjoyed was the Ragnar Relay in November.”

That relay race started in Tampa and finished in Daytona. Shott and her 11 teammates passed the other 50 teams and came in first. “It took us about 21 hours to run across the state,” she says. “We started about 1 p.m on Friday and finished about 10 a.m. on Saturday.”

Her next competitive race? “There’s a 10K in Charleston, S.C. I’m going with a group of girl friends and we’ll make a weekend of it.”

Jo Shott is one of three owners of The Jacksonville Running Company, www.jacksonvillerunningcompany.com, located at 9823 Tapestry Park Circle, Jacksonville, Florida 32246.

SIDEBAR

Before you want to start running…

Running is something anyone in good health can do, says Shott. So, if you want to start running, make sure your doctor gives you the OK. Once you have the green light, Shott suggests:

• Get a good pair of shoes. Make sure they are properly fitted for the kind of running you want to do.

• Start slow. Don’t try to run two miles the first day. “It will hurt and you’ll quit,” says Shott.

• Get a partner. “Having a partner gives you accountability,” she says. Ask someone to walk or run with you. You’ll increase your chance of success if you make yourself accountable to someone.

Some people look forward to weekends so they can fish, go to movies, or just lay back. Deborah Thode, a business coach and owner of Inside Out Solutions, Inc., looks forward to the weekend so she can clown around—literally.

“I become Knock Knock the Clown,” she confesses. “I let my alter ego take over and have a lot of fun doing it.” Her alter ego doesn’t look anything like the serious business coach it replaces. Knock Knock has curly green hair, wide white eyes, a big red smile, and a red ball nose.

Thode says her clown face and outfit have evolved over the years. “I started out as a white-faced clown with big rabbit buck teeth. Now I don’t paint my whole face, and my costume has changed a bit.” She chose her name—Knock Knock—because she loves to tell knock-knock jokes. “Today’s kids grow up too fast, and they don’t understand knock-knock jokes,” she laments. “I love to teach them and get them to laugh.”

Thode has clowned around since 1991, but clowning wasn’t something she set out to do. In fact, the idea had a grim beginning. “My dad was seriously ill, and I asked him what he wanted to do before he died. He told me. Then I asked my mom the same question, even though she was in good health. Very seriously—my mother was always serious— she said, ‘I want to become a clown.’ That shocked me, because I had never heard her say anything funny!

“A while after my dad passed away, mom told me she wanted to sign up for a community education clown class, but they needed five more students for the class to happen. She recruited four friends and ‘shamed’ me into enrolling. I didn’t want to go. I had a stressful life and a difficult marriage, and I was working 50 hours a week. I was an unhappy person, and the last thing I wanted was to go to clown school.”

But Thode went, “kicking and dragging my feet.” The third week of class, Thode remembers, the group experimented with face painting. “My mother ‘volunteered’ me to be painted. The instructor painted a rabbit on my face, with big buck teeth.” When everyone burst out laughing, she looked in the mirror to see what was so funny. “It was like cracking the code. I looked at myself and started laughing harder than I could ever remember. It made me feel good, and I knew I was hooked. I was a clown.”

After the clown class ended, Thode and her mother felt a letdown, but it didn’t last long. The following week they discovered Gator Clowns was hosting a class of its own, and the pair enrolled for the six-week course. Thode has been a Gator Clown ever since.

“Gator Clowns is a not-for-profit organization that has two main goals: to preserve and promote the serious art of clowning, and to assist North Florida nonprofit, civic, and charitable organizations with their fund-raising events.” Anyone who has gone to the Jacksonville Car and Truck Show, the Scottish Highland Games, or some of the Daniel Foundation events has seen members of Gator Clowns entertaining the crowds, explains Thode.

Its annual six-week clown school is how the organization works on “preserving and promoting” the art of clowning. Tuition of about $100 includes the cost of makeup. “Wanna-be” clowns learn about the history and roots of clowning, how to apply makeup (the smile should not go beyond the corners of the eyes and only a few colors should be used or the face becomes scary), and humor.

Today, Thode only clowns with the Gator Clowns, but at one point she supplemented her income by clowning. “Jacksonville has a lot of corporate clowns,” she says. “For some people, clowning is their livelihood. In 1997 when I was going through my divorce I started doing a lot of paid clowning. Unfortunately, clowning three parties each Saturday and two on Sunday for two years straight burned me out,” she says. Other things such as family life, working on her MBA, and assuming a new role as a vice president for Arnold Palmer Design Company, took priority over painting her face; clowning went on a back burner.

When Palmer’s golf design business moved from Ponte Vedra Beach to Orlando in 2006, Thode decided it was time to take her career in a new direction. She became a certified business and executive coach and opened Inside Out Solutions. “Clowning helped me, I think, especially when it came to making presentations. When you’ve dropped your pants [as a clown] in front of 200 people, it’s nothing to get up and talk in front of a roomful of executives.”

Since she joined Gator Clowns in 1992, Thode has been involved in a variety of leadership positions. The group asked her to take the helm (again) as president in 2009 to reinvigorate it—something she has done. Membership is up from just a few volunteers to more than 50. Her clowning know-how has not gone unrecognized: The local Shrine Temple, which has its own alley of clowns, hosted a national Shrine Clown Convention in 2009. She was asked to be one of the judges.

Why does Thode take so much time and trouble to clown around? She ticks off a number of reasons: friendship (“The people are great!”); laughter (“Clowning taught me how to laugh again”); family fun (“It’s brought me closer to my mom, my daughter, and my granddaughter”); and a deeper appreciation of life (“We are who we choose to be”).

Although she is stepping down from the Gator Clown presidential role in 2010, she is looking forward to another successful National Clown Day at Riverside Arts Market where about 40 Gator Clowns entertained the crowds last August. Look for the clown with the curly green hair. It will be Knock Knock, telling corny jokes and having the time of her life.

 SIDEBAR 1

4 kinds of clowns

Although no two clowns ever look exactly alike, every clown fits into one of four basic types, explains Thode:

• White-face clowns. These are the ones, like Clarabell of Howdy Doody fame, whose faces are painted entirely white.

• Auguste clowns. These clowns have face paint, but their faces are not completely white; they are more flesh-toned. Most Ringley Bros. Circus clowns are auguste.

• Hobo or tramp clowns. Red Skelton is a classic example of a tramp clown.

• Character clowns. Whether white-faced or auguste, these clowns always act the part of a character, such as a firefighter or a Keystone Kop.

SIDEBAR 2

What’s an alley of clowns?

An alley is to clowns as a gaggle is to geese, explains Thode. The term came from the old days of tent circuses, which had a separate tents  for men and women. Clowns were not allowed in either tent because the talcum powder the clowns used got onto the shiny costumes of the others performers. So, the clowns were banished to the alley between the men’s and women’s tents. Thus evolved the term “alley of clowns.”

By Linda Segall   

Crisis management is serious business. So is public affairs and corporate communications consulting. So, when Simon Keymer, founder and CEO of the Keymer Group, a Jacksonville-based public relations agency, had an opportunity to take a week off and have some fun last summer, he jumped at the opportunity—which was to buy a $500 clunker and drive it, with a team of friends, from New York to New Orleans, in the 2009 BABE (Big Apple to Big Easy) Rally.

“My company is a public relations agency,” he explained. “But, our specialty is at the serious end of the PR spectrum. Though we’d jump at the chance to handle Britney Spears’ publicity, that’s not where our strengths lie.”  

That “serious end” includes helping companies to manage political and regulatory issues, building and protecting positive corporate reputations and handling business crises of all kind.

The gravity of his work finally got to him: It was time to do something fun, and last summer’s BABE Rally (www.baberally.com) provided the perfect opportunity, he said.

“Actually, I had three reasons to do it,” Keymer admitted, in a way that clearly identifies his British origins. “First and probably most important: I wanted to have a good time with my mates [friends]. Second, I wanted to raise some money for charity. And third, I wanted to raise our profile in the local community.

“We have a national client base,”,” he said, adding that his firm has a Washington, D.C. office in addition to its Jacksonville headquarters. “We actually have few north Florida clients; so we fly a bit beneath the radar here. The BABE Rally was in part intended to help us begin to change that.”

Keymer moved to Jacksonville when his wife, Dr. Tannahill Glen Keymer,took a position as clinical professor of neuropsychology with the University of Florida at Shands Hospital. “I’ve lived in Jacksonville longer than anywhere else,” he said, indicating that he has planted firm roots here. “It was time to give back. So, I thought I could use the BABE Rally as a way to raise money for a local charity and connect to our own community.” He chose the daniel Foundation (www.danielkids.org) as the recipient of his charity drive.

Having a good time was high on his agenda, however. “I’m nearly 40. I thought this would be a kind of last hurrah, to spend a week with my male friends,” he said. “That said, I seriously overrated the ‘fun factor’ of sitting in a car with my friends for nine hours a day!”

That “fun factor” was tested several times throughout the rally—beginning a couple of days before it even started.

The rally had one strict rule: The value of the clunker could not exceed $500. “I looked for weeks and test drove a number of vehicles, even one in which possums had been living ,” said Keymer. “I was getting desperate as the date approached. But finally I found a 1995 Dodge Stratus whose condition seemed OK and whose interior was clean. I talked the owner into selling it to me for $500 because this was a charity event.” Jim at Cedar Hills Tire & Auto Care gave the car a thumbs-up once it had new tires and brakes.

The evening before they were to put the car on the auto train, Keymer decided to have his mechanic take one last look at the electrical system. “There was an intermittent electrical problem I couldn’t find,” he said. “Sometimes when you turned the engine on, the car would drive, but it wouldn’t have any electrics—no radio, lights, wipers. You could drive for miles without noticing. It was worrisome.”

It was actually more than worrisome; it was almost catastrophic. On the way to the mechanic, in Friday evening rush-hour traffic, the car caught on fire. Thanks to the help of Good Samaritan motorists who stopped and poured water and soda on the fire until it was extinguished, the car did not die a complete death. But its new paint job was semi-ruined, and the pristine interior was smoke-damaged.

“I must admit, I felt quite glum,” said Keymer. However, an hour later his mechanic found the cause of the problem—a loose wire that was sparking—and fixed it. The next day, the car was on the auto train, enroute to Staten Island, N.Y., the start of the 1,500 mile drive to New Orleans.

Keymer and his local pal Holland Johnson were joined by Justin Doherty, an old army buddy of Keymer’s, who flew in from Abu Dhabi, where he resides. On Sunday they and 70 other clunker-driving teams started their five-day adventure, which was to include a kind of photo treasure hunt. Participants were to take pictures of specific things, such as a hot-air balloon or a Ferrari, to earn points. The team that earned the highest number of points—and finished the race—would win a cash prize at the end.

The first two days of the rally, Keymer and his team considered the rally a serious contest—and they came in first each day. “We made a big deal of it. Then we realized something: Everyone else was having fun and we weren’t! We were approaching this like a job to be done.” The third day, they decided to live it up and detour to Knoxville for a night on the town. A good time, however, was not to be.

“We broke down in the fast lane of the interstate,” he said. “The engine overheated. Smoke started pouring out. I had a bit of post-traumatic stress disorder considering my previous fire experience four days earlier. But when the engine cooled down and we turned the car on, the electrics came on, and I suddenly had an epiphany: It’s like a locked-up computer. You have to reboot it occasionally. We didn’t have any more problems after that.”

No more electrical problems, that is. On the morning of the last leg, from Birmingham to New Orleans, they were the last car out of the parking lot. “I was driving,” he said. “Suddenly I heard this massive bang, as if someone had hit a fragile part of the engine with a sledge hammer.” We got out of the car and found that one of the wheels had come off its ball joint.”

That was it; the race for Keymer and his Team Preteen Spirit was over. Keymer signed the title of the clunker to the tow-truck driver and the team flew to New Orleans for the end of rally party.

The rally was a bust, but the week was not. Keymer said, “We achieved our objectives: We raised some money for charity; we had a good time; and we drew attention to our business in our home community. All in all, a job well done.”

Simon Keymer is founder and CEO of the Keymer Group, www.keymergroup.com He can be reached at 904-383-4834 or simon.keymer@keymergroup.com

SIDEBAR

What is the BABE Rally?

BABE Rally stands for Big Apple to Big Easy: The Great American Banger Rally. It is a 1,500 mile rally, which the organizers stress is not a race, starting on Staten Island, N.Y., and ending in New Orleans, La.

“Banger” is the British word for “clunker,” explained Simon Keymer, founder of Keymer Group, a Jacksonville-based public relations firm. “Banger rallies are quite popular in Europe.”

The first BABE Rally was in 2006. Founded by StreetSafari (www.streetsafari.com), the main purpose is to have fun through “a unique motoring experience.” BABE’s Web site says it is easy to join the fun. “Just get yourself the worst looking vehicle you can for $500 or less and enter the rally.”

According to Keymer, the cars are environmental disasters. Some seem to be held together with duct tape and wire. But the participants really get “into” the event. “One team was dressed like clowns,” he said. “They did everything in their clown costumes and red noses—eating breakfast, working on their car. Every time you saw them, the funnier it was.”

To enter the BABE Rally participants had to agree to a few rules. Among them:

• The car cannot be valued at more than $500.

• It must carry insurance.

• The clunker must pass the safety inspection of the state in which it is licensed.

• All drivers must have a valid license.

• Basic safety rules must be followed.

• The team is responsible for disposing of the vehicle.

Throughout the five-day drive, the teams are challenged to do certain tasks, such as photograph specific sites. The team that comes in first with the most points earned from these tasks can win a prize: $1,500, first prize; $350, second; and $150, third. Only teams that finish with their clunker are eligible for the prizes. Keymer did not win, since his banger broke down before they could even start the last leg of the journey.

The rally is a fun event, but teams, like Keymer’s may participate as a money-making event for charity. Keymer’s team raised about $5,000 for daniel Foundation. The team kept the spirit alive by taking photos and posting them and commentary on Facebook and Twitter each day.

Keymer's clunker--before its BABE paint job

Keymer's clunker--after its BABE paint job.

BABE Rally clowns

Clunker alley

The Keymer team with its broken down banger. From left: Justin Doherty, Simon Keymer, and Todd Johnson

By Linda Segall    

To most people, “surf and turf” is a menu choice—seafood and steak. To Paul Beiderwell, surf and turf—or rather, turf and surf—expresses what he does—for a living and for fun.

“Turf” refers to Green Vision Services, the business he operates, which he describes as primarily a grass-cutting service, although he says he has also done some extensive landscaping. He’s been providing these services for homeowners in the Riverside and Ortega areas of the city for more than 20 years.

“I did the ‘corporate thing’ for a while,” he said, explaining how he got into lawn service, “but I discovered the company I worked for wasn’t employee-friendly. To keep my sanity, I decided to open my own business.” Lawn care appealed to him. It was something he knew well, since he had done it as a youngster; and it gave him the freedom to be outdoors as well as to schedule his own time.

At one time, Beiderwell was on the go from sunrise to sunset, servicing 85 yards a week. “That schedule was extremely tiring and hard on me,” he confesses. “Over the years I’ve let the business ‘relax’ so that the schedule is not as demanding.” He now has about 25 contracts. “People are happy with what we provide, both in the quality of our work and in our prices, which are generally about 20% less than others.” he says.

His less demanding work schedule allows him to engage literally in the “surf”—through kitesurfing.

Beiderwell got into kitesurfing in 1998, a period in which his lawn service company was at its peak and its demands were physically draining. “My relaxation was limited to collapsing on the couch and watching TV,” he says. “One evening I came across a channel with the kitesurfing championships from Maui. I was captivated. A week later, I had a trainer kite, and a month later, I had purchased my first full-sized rig with a board and various pieces that go with it.”

The sport was in its infancy then, and not much information was available on how to kitesurf safely. He says he was lucky. “I didn’t understand the power of wind on a piece of fabric. I didn’t know that a kite generates enough power to pull a car down the beach. I had no idea how close to death I was! I just set up the rig and let it happen.”

As he mastered the sport and learned to appreciate its very real dangers, he decided to help budding kitesurfers learn how to do it safely. At the time there were very few trainers and learning was very sketchy. In 2002, he became certified to train others. “Some of the best kitesurfing in the state is right here at Huguenot Memorial Park. The park’s conditions can be right for any level of kitesurfing. People with any skill level, in any wind direction, and at any tide level can find a safe place to practice,” he says.

Because the location is so well suited for the sport, it attracts kitesurfers from all over. “At one time the city and park management considered closing the park to kitesurfing for at least part of the year because they were concerned about kiters injuring other people,” he says. “I didn’t want the park to close to kitesurfing, so I got into training people how to do it safely.” He estimates that since 2002 there have been more than 500,000 hours of kitesurfing at the park without a single injury to the non-kiting public.

Beiderwell has taught more than 500 people, from ages 7 to 77, how to kitesurf, using a 14-step lesson plan that exceeds the certification requirements of PASA (Professional Air Sports Association). He starts with the basics, teaching his students about meteorology and concentrating on safety. The powerful kites are tethered to the instructor during the most dangerous part of the lesson and until students learn to control the kite in a safe way. Students don’t sign up by the hour; they sign on and work with him until they become competent, he explains. “Anyone who takes lessons and develops good safety habits can have hundreds of hours of fun without even stubbing their toe.”

He emphasizes that kitesurfing is a sport and requires the acquisition and honing of skills. “If you have good winds, you can learn the basics in two to four sessions,” he says. “Some people like my wife Linda are ‘fair weather’ kitesurfers. They go out to cruise the flat water. Others are into riding the waves and doing tricks, which require more skills.”

To Beiderwell, kitesurfing offers a way to let go of the day’s stress. “My wife says it’s a

Paul and Linda Beiderwell

 way to ‘defrag the hard drive’,” he says. One thing is for certain: Paul Beiderwell is a turf-and-surf man, and if the wind is up, you can probably find him at Huguenot Park, riding the surf.

Paul Beiderwell operates Green Vision Services. He can be reached at 904-424-2721. For information on kitesurfing lessons, go to his Web site, www.1stcoastkiting.com.

SIDEBAR

What is kitesurfing?

Kitesurfing, also known as kiteboarding, is an extreme water sport that uses the wind to pull a rider through the water using a wake or surf style board. The rider has control over the kite and often performs tricks or rides waves in the water, similar to a skateboard rider on land.

Kitesurfing differs from parasailing, which Beiderwell describes as a recreational activity. “In parasailing, the person pays a fee, gets strapped into a special parachute rig, and is pulled by a boat. He has no control. In kitesurfing, however, the rider is in control; it is a sport requiring skill.”

Watch a demonstration of kitesurfing at Huguenot Memorial Park:

As Tim Blin, owner of Premier Garage of Northeast Florida, approached the age of 40, he decided to make a “bucket list.” One of the items near the top of the list was completing a 480 mile bicycle trip across the state of Iowa.

RAGBRAI stands for the “Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa,” sponsored by the Des Moines Register newspaper. The ride starts on the western border of Iowa at the Missouri River, where bikers dip their back tires into the river’s waters for good luck, and ends on the eastern edge of the state, where bikers, by tradition, end their trip by dipping their front tires into the Mississippi River.

“We started in Council Bluff in the west,” said Blin, “The weather was great. You just never know what the weather is going to be in Iowa. I was thankful it was not one of those 90-degree plus weeks. RAGBRAI is a seven-day ride and takes place the last week of July. This was its 37th year. It is the longest, largest, and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. It attracts people from all 50 states and many foreign countries. This year they had 13,000 registered riders— people of all ages and physical abilities. I even saw someone riding a unicycle and another on roller blades.”

RAGBRAI is not a race; you take it at your own pace, averaging around 70 miles a day, Blin explained. Many riders take their time and stop at all the pass-through towns. Blin and his brother-in-law took a different approach: They rode to the overnight host towns as quickly as they could, although they did stop to enjoy the sites and food along the way.

“The towns really roll out the red carpet,” he said. “The town squares transform into a festival atmosphere with bands and all kinds of food. The homemade ice cream and pies were amazing!”

To take the ride, Blin shipped his bicycle to the starting pointing and flew to Omaha, Neb., where he met his brother-in-law, brother, and father, who were his support team. His father also had a motor home, where they slept each evening.

“This year the ride zigzagged through the southern part of Iowa,” he explained. “Every year the route changes. Many of the stay-over towns are quite small and to have about 20,000 people converge in one day is truly a site to see. Campgrounds and fairgrounds become tent and motor-home cities.”

To those who think riding across Iowa would be easy because the state is flat, Blin says, “Think again! It’s a beautiful part of the country, but it is definitely not flat. This ride was one of the 10 hilliest in the history of RAGBRAI. We climbed 22,000 feet over the course of the week. We found all of Iowa’s hills, and the muscles in my legs can attest to that!”

For Blin, riding across Iowa was as much of an accomplishment as opening his own franchise business five years ago. “I had been considering different business options when I visited my sister in Phoenix and saw that most of the garages out there had coated floors and storage cabinets—something you did not see a lot Florida. I then visited the headquarters of Premier Garage in Phoenix, and that led me to becoming Florida’s first franchise owner.”

Blin said business has held its own, even during the economic downturn. “Especially in uncertain times, people find comfort when things are in order. Getting rid of the clutter and having things organized has a strange effect on the brain. It makes you feel good and gives you a sense of control. I have a great team and we are approaching our 700th garage installation.” he said.

Blin is continuing to add to his “bucket list.”, “I’ve now taken up kite-boarding. This summer, I traveled to the outer banks of North Carolina to learn the sport and I’m hooked.”

After that? “I haven’t yet decided. But it will be something exciting—guaranteed.”

Tim Blin is the owner of Premier Garage of Northeast Florida, www.premiergarage.com. He can be contacted at 904-234-1699.