My Florida History obviously has a broader scope than “Tampa Area,” but I’m sure that local people in the Bay Area will find plenty to interest them in this excellent weblog. It is by no means all history, and I found interesting pieces here on the Devil Rays, Tampa’s Mayors and Florida Cookbooks. The writer also includes links to some intriguing websites like SOS (Save Our Sarasota), Sticks of Fire (Tampa’s website blog) and Save Riverview High School. (Shirley Deeter)

If, like me, you find one of the less pleasant experiences is standing in line to get your driver license renewed, you can avoid all that at the Go Renew page of My Florida.com. You can renew online or by phone with a credit card and save yourself some hassle. Over 80? Find out how to simplify the vision test requirement. Want to renew your vehicle tag? Sorry, you’re out of luck; that’s a different branch of government. (Kim Komando)

You live in Hillsborough County and want to find out about your property, or any other? Then visit the county property appraiser’s office site, enter a name or address and you’ll discover the current building and land values, the appraised value and the Just (Market) Value—whatever that means. You can even search by year built or by heated square footage. Also listed are the recorded sales transactions for previous years. (Lumm’s List)

Get the skinny on that Zip offers you some basic statistics for your area (race, education levels, etc.) For me, the best part of ZIPskinny.com is the side-by-side comparison between my zip and neighboring ones in areas like education, marital status and economic achievement. It works for any zip in the US. Numbers came from the 2000 census. (Jo Ann Sanderson)

You feel like going out somewhere but you’ve already trashed the newspaper? No sweat, there’s a great listing of upcoming events in the Tampa Bay area at Creative Loafing’s website. You’ll find hundreds of entries, conveniently divided into categories from Comedy and Community to Theater and Visual Arts. Plus you can search by date (today, this weekend, etc.), location (Apollo Beach to Zephyr Hills) or by a keyword search. It’s very handy. (David Henry)

To find out where the best gas prices are in your area, check out Tampa Gas Prices. In my area recently (12/05), gas varied from $1.90 to $2.49 for regular. The site relies on reports from members and deletes them after 48 hours so the display is pretty current. Watch when choosing the time to avoid a blank display (minimum setting is 4 hours). By registering as a member (free), you can submit a report, keep a fuel log and compete for cash prizes. (Pat Durkin)

What can I say about Tampa Gold, apart from the fact that it is a grab bag of what’s going on, what happened lately, places to go and things to do (click Calendar). Not like the official City of Tampa site, this one seems aimed at the younger business set, maybe the singles, and looks to support the various neighborhoods. It’s definitely ambitious as it has evolved from sohotampa.com, and should become a great resource as it matures technically.  (Devin Marks)

It seems that some part of the local interstate system is always under construction or repair. If you want to know the status of the various projects, including the times of planned lane, ramp, or other related closings, you can find the detail at Tampa Bay Interstates. There are some helpful maps showing recommended detours, and lots of photos showing the progress that is being made -- but they don't show the traffic backups typically involved. Future projects are also described on this site.

     A related and possibly more useful alternative is the new 511 service and 511 Tampa Bay website. Dial 511 to get up-to-the-minute traffic reports, using voice response technology. For example, say "Traffic" then "Fletcher Avenue Eastbound" to hear about any current blockages on that road segment. On the website you can zoom in to an online map and view any problems; or you can register, define major segments that you regularly travel, and receive an e-mail when a blockage occurs; this sounds pretty neat. The system is also set up to provide information on transit, airport, and seaport status. (David Henry)

Contrary to expectations, I was duly impressed on revisiting the City of Tampa website and seeing not only how good-looking it is these days, but also how impressive is the content, including the Tampa just for Seniors page (click on Information Resources, then User Guides, then For Seniors). In 2003, for the second year in a row, Tampa was awarded first place in the nation in the annual Digital Cities Survey. (I'll bet you didn't know that!) I suggest you click on the Site Map at the top of the page to get an overview of what the city government is doing for you these days. (St. Petersburg Times)

You've seen Busch Gardens, the Ford Amphitheater, The Sacred Heart Church interior, MOSI, the Dali Museum interior, even Super Bowl XXXV info, and on and on.  Find them at the Tour of Tampa Bay, courtesy of the TBO.com site. These are not just static photos, but dynamic 360-degree panoramas that you can control, up and down, round and round, zoom in and out.  Our fair city can be quite interesting seen this way. (David Henry)

Despite the goodies listed in the two previous entries, Tampa hasn't been on the All-America City winners' list since 1990, nor even on the runners-up lists. Perhaps it's because not so much has happened here lately, or maybe we are merely sliding into mediocrity. Or then it may be the criteria used by the jury just don't fit us too well. You can check out any theories you have by visiting this site. On a more cheerful note, you can see how well your own birth, college, or other favorite city has fared over the years--for example, Cleveland is a five-time winner. (David Henry)

One of the most useful sites on the Internet is Craig's List. It's like a free, searchable collection of small ads, but easier to use than those in the newspaper. It's now nationwide and worldwide, but you are probably likely to click on Tampa Bay in the right panel. You'll now see a page of links for our fair city in categories like jobs, housing, for sale (many with photos), services, events, and personals. Most of the ads have an e-mail link so you can immediately deal with the other party. It's easy to post your own free ad on Craig's List. (Smart Computing)

If you want to unload some of that clutter, but don't want the problem of hauling it away, why not try FreeCycleTampa? It's part of the nationwide FreeCycle network: you post what you want to give away, or you can respond to another's post. You might find a bargain... One man's trash is another man's treasure. Anyway, it beats junking your stuff to clutter up the local landfill. (Yahoo!)

If you would like to find a lost pet, or have thought of adopting a pet, a good place to start is Pet Harbor. It maintains a database, including photos,  of information on all the animals currently held at many animal shelters, including the Tampa shelter near Brandon. You can search for dogs, cats and other pets by gender, by age, by size and by basic coloring group. You can also be notified by e-mail when an animal fitting your lost pet's description is brought in, or one fitting your adoption preferences is available. (St Petersburg Times)

For those of us whose Internet background was firmly grounded in a heavy  diet of DOS, the notion of using a DOS based application to access a library catalog was a no brainer.  Others may have trembled at the thought. It is gratifying that in 2002, finally, the Hillsborough County Public Library Catalog has been made available to residents in the point-and-click Windows format. Library-based computers have been converted for some time, but now all of us can enjoy Windows access remotely from home. If looking for inspiration, you can click Find A Good Book or bestsellers and reading lists.  There are also eBooks for reading online and the Information Gateway accesses a wide range of services and information available to residents of the Tampa Bay area.  (David Henry)

There's a web site for all the local information you'll need - TampaBay.com from the St. Petersburg Times.  It offers the main contents of the rag, of course, plus the whole thing is customizable to suit your preferences. Also visit the site of the Tampa Tribune, with all the latest up to date news, weather and local information.  You can read the alternative news and views in the Bay area at The Weekly Planet, with columns on Food, Movies, Music, Performance and the inevitable Personals.

Your local government maintains a pretty useful site at Hillsborough County where among other things, you can find out how that extra half-cent sales tax is being spent.

  Tampa Bay SeniorNet Learning Center will keep you informed about our own activities. Course descriptions, class and registration dates and even online registration are possible at this site.