Check out the new (nearly) 50,000 square foot service station that’s going up at the busy (northeast) corner of Campbell Drive (SW 312TH Street) and Speedway Boulevard (SW 137TH Avenue) at the far-eastern edge of Homestead.
It appears to be an EXXON station, and it will include 8 gas pumps, a convenience store, a car wash, and a quick lube.
SPECIAL GUEST CONTRIBUTOR –
MY BROTHER DANNY, DALLAS TEXAS
So I’m driving to work on Tuesday morning….It’s rainy. The roads are slick. People are driving 20 MPH below the speed limit.
Everything was hunky dory until I get about 3/4 of a mile from my office building. I am in the slow lane on a road where the speed limit is 45 MPH. I am going around 42 to 45 MPH.
All of a sudden, a lady pulls directly in front of me, RUNNING A RED LIGHT, about 20 feet in front of me, and basically STOPS. I say “basically” because she was going about 5 MPH on a 45 MPH road. Was she “SLEEP DRIVING”? Was she “COLOR BLIND”? Is she from another PLANET where “RED” means, “Go as fast as you can with little to no regard for anyone around you”? My vote was for: ALL OF THE ABOVE.
So, as any normal person would do, I needed to either JAM my brakes on a wet road to avoid rear ending her (and of course it would be MY fault if that happened), or change lanes quickly.
So, I checked my rear view mirror, checked my side view mirror, checked my blind spot TWICE, put on my signal to change lanes, and all of a sudden, a CRAZY LUNATIC IN A MINIVAN going about 65 MPH, immediately got into the lane I wanted to get into, and honked her horn at me for about 30 seconds straight.
Well, I couldn’t get into that lane AND was quickly accelerating towards the SNAIL LADY in front of me (keep in mind this all happened in a 20 foot space), so all I could do was JAM my brakes in the rain. so I JAMMED, the BRAKES LOCKED UP, I braced for impact, thinking I am going to NAIL the SNAIL LADY, and somehow, luckily, MIRACULOUSLY, I did NOT HIT HER!!
Well, rather than count my blessings, the Irish Filipino in me came out and I immediately became very angry. So much so that I did NOT make a right to go into the parking lot of my office. I INSTEAD made a left and pulled into the parking lot of TJ MAXX directly across the street.
I was so mad that all of this happened, that I jammed on my accelerator, and turned my wheel all the way to one side, which caused my back wheels to spin and hydroplane. This manuever is referred to as a DONUT, and that’s precisely what I did. I spun in a circle at 7:20am CT in the parking lot of….TJ MAXX.
Afterwards, I briskly went to my office parking lot, parked my car, and got started on my day.
So to summarize: drove to work, snail lady pulled in front of me doing 5 in a 45, minivan crazy person almost side swiped me, got mad, pulled into empty TJ MAXX parking lot, did a donut to relive frustration, went to work.
And there is MY very first ROAD RAGE FILE!
Danny
1. I do my best thinking and dreaming while in the shower, and while driving to work in the dark in the morning. I wish I remembered more of my thoughts, hopes, and dreams from the morning later on in the day when it’s more opportunistic for me to seize more moments.
2. When me, my Mom, and my Dad first moved in to our new house in Lanham Maryland in February of 1975 the very first beverage that I drank in that new house was a can of Dr. Pepper. I don’t think that I’ve had a Dr. Pepper since then.
3. My favourite person in the entire world is my brother. I’ve known him since November of 1980 even though he was born 5½ years earlier. I say that because before November of 1980 I wasn’t allowed within a 50-foot radius of him.
4. I promised to make Ela the subject of the 4TH ‘Grab Bag O’ Thought’. (I just got off of the telephone with her.) A Tuesday afternoon is simply not complete until she has called me to inform me of the obvious – that I’ll be serving The Lord at Life Pointe Church on Sunday morning. Ela is one of God’s great gifts in my new Life.
5. A nice way to wish me a very Merry Christmas during this festive holiday season is to feed me food.
6. I’m about a day away from reestablishing contact with a former co-worker, friend, and practical mentor of mine from 20 years ago when I first started working at the air base in Homestead. It seems that he’s a good friend with a current co-worker of mine. We discovered that we have a mutual friend just this afternoon. It’s a small world after all !
7. My electronic thermostat is set at 74°F 7 nights a week from 7 PM until 6 AM the next morning. I like it like that.
8. From 1975 to 1980 I was a Cub Scout, a WEBELOS Scout, and a Boy Scout. Fellow WordPress Blogger Stephen Hollifield is bringing back memories of those memorable scouting years with all of his recent blog entries of late regarding hiking up in the mountains with a 20-pound backpack. I think I can. I think I can !
9. It’s ironic, but one of my favourite Christmas songs on the radio is actually a really sad one – “I Hate Christmas Parties” by Matthew Thiessen & The Earthquakes (a side-band of Relient K). You can see the music video here. Everytime I hear it it invokes memories of Christmas past for me. It gives me the chills. It brings tears to my eyes. I can relate.
10. A & W Root Beer‘s got that frosty mug taste !
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