Month: September 2008

Categories
Life

Bedtime Stories

TOMORROW is National Grandparents Day all across the U.S.A. In fact it’s the 30TH anniversary of the holiday that we celebrate every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day.

My (paternal) Granddad died in November 1994 at the age of 82. My Grandmom died in May 2004 at the age of 88. Most of my greatest childhood memories throughout the 1970s occurred with the two of them at their longtime house in Lanham Maryland. I feel like I grew up at their house. The Grandparents that I knew from back then were actually younger than my parents are today. That seems weird.

I will always look back fondly at those precious times that I spent with my Grandmom and Granddad. They were together as husband and wife for over 60 years. After nearly a decade apart from each other she joined him up in Heaven a few years ago. Together again.

Categories
Driving Television

Saturday Night Retro

Let’s take a trip back to the heart of Miami in the mid-1960s. Here’s a classic television commercial for a trio of late-model cars for sale up at Municipal Auto Sales on NW 36TH Street near NW 31ST Avenue. ENJOY !

Categories
Internet People Politics

McCain, Palin, Obama, & Biden: It’s In The Hits

This is always fun. Let’s check out how many Internet search hits come up for each of our Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees:

YAHOO
Barack Obama – 427,000,000
John McCain – 286,000,000
Joe Biden – 77,100,000
Sarah Palin – 54,500,000

GOOGLE
Barack Obama – 65,100,000
John McCain – 44,100,000
Sarah Palin – 7,620,000
Joe Biden – 6,290,000

Additional GOOGLE Searches
George W. Bush – 52,200,000
Bill Clinton – 32,600,000
Ronald Reagan – 12,300,000

Categories
Weather

The 2008 Hurricane Season: Familiar Names

Every 6 years the National Hurricane Center recycles names in alphabetical order for Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. So Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, and Edouard – we’ve seen you all before – in 2002. We’ve even seen Fay, Gustav, and Hanna before in 2002. None of those storms were rather significant back then. In fact Gustav was the only Hurricane of the bunch – a Category 2 storm that eventually made landfall way up in the Canadian Maritimes. We’ve probably seen the last of both Fay and Gustav. I’m thinking that both of those names will be retired early next year and replaced with all-new names for the 2014 season. Fay and Hanna were actually born during the Spring of 1997 when Fran and Hortense were retired following the 1996 season. Gustav was used in 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008. In its 5TH incarnation it will probably be retired due to the damage that it caused and its mere notoriety all along the upper Gulf Of Mexico coastline (particularly the New Orleans area).

—> DID YOU KNOW that prior to the 1979 season only female names were given to Tropical Storms and Hurricanes ?  Equal Rights !

And then there’s Ike – a name that’s never been used before. That’s because ‘Ike’ replaced ‘Isidore’ following the 2002 season. Isidore was the costliest and 2ND strongest hurricane of the 2002 season. It was retired following the season (along with Lili).

It remains to be seen whether or not Ike will be retired after this season is over. It will be retired if it causes a lot of damage and / or kills a lot of people. We’ll know for sure within the next 7 days.

Prepare for the worst. Hope for the best. Be safe.