Year: 2009

Categories
Astronomy Food Health Movies Shopping Television Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

It’s that time of the week again. It’s time for the flagship weekly series here on the big green blog – the one that started it all back in 2007 !

1.  Fire season is in high gear all across America’s Riviera. It started early this season due to the cold and dry winter that we enjoyed – oh yeah – and the frost that killed the grass all around and made it crunchy. Over the past 5 months (since Oct.) we’ve only had one rain-soaking day. America’s Riviera – ON FIRE !

2.  Travis watched the beautiful sunrise kick-off Tuesday morning over in Seoul South Korea at around 6:50 AM local time. That was at 5:50 PM EDT yesterday evening here in America’s Riviera. Nearly 14 hours later at around 7:40 AM EDT this morning I watched that same sunrise kick-off Tuesday morning outside of my east-facing office window at work.

3.  I want to fly Jet Blue somewhere. It looks like a really cool airline. I spent a lot of time on their official web site last night. I took some virtual trips to Austin Texas, Washington D.C., and Hamilton Bermuda. They don’t fly to Dallas-Fort Worth, but they fly to Austin. I’m almost willing to fly in to Austin and then grab a rental car and drive up to the Dallas area the next time I visit Texas.

4.  I have a fun afternoon planned for Southland Mall later this month. I plan to see the comedy blockbuster “I Love You, Man“, and then I plan to eat pig-out at the all-new Buffalo Wild Wings. I have a feeling that I’ll be visiting the mall more frequently now that BWW is in full effect.

5.  I’m having problems losing the pounds that I packed on during my recent Carnival cruise. It appears that I’m actually gaining even more weight, and that I’m stuck in the mid-170s (if not approaching the upper-170s) !  I may have to contact “The Biggest Loser” for assistance in this matter.

… And that’s what I’m thinking about on this Tuesday night.

Categories
Driving Food Money Television

Monday Night Countdown

I’ve had the same checking account ever since the 2ND day that I’ve lived here in America’s Riviera – way back in December of 1987. Later this year I’ll write Check # 3,000. I may throw a ‘checkwarming’ party to celebrate the momentous occasion. 😀

This week on your ‘Monday Night Countdown’ I’ve got the TOP 5 most intriguing checks that I wrote exactly 20 years ago this month in March of 1989.

CHECK it out in chronological order:

– Check # 376 – 07 March 1989 – $52.20 – VISA
I didn’t make a lot of money back then. A $52.20 VISA bill makes me LOL today !

– Check # 377 – 07 March 1989 – $37.47 – International Cable
I actually had cable TV in my dorm room at the air base. We had to pay for it ourselves. I had Showtime as a premium channel back then. I enjoyed watching “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” every week.

– Check # 379 – 16 March 1989 – $9.50 – Little Caesar’s Pizza
Once upon a time just outside of the north (hospital) gate of the old air base there lived Little Caesar’s Pizza. They delivered constantly to the dorms on base from lunchtime clear through late at night. My old checkbook registers from back then are totally littered with evidence of Little Caesar’s Pizza meals. PIZZA !  PIZZA !

– Check # 381 – 22 March 1989 – $97.12 – Southern Bell
YES – I had my own telephone in my dorm room, and I had to pay for my own service. I still have that original telephone today, but I don’t use it anymore. The sound quality is shot on it. That was incidentally a payment for two months of service because apparently the check that I had sent for the previous month’s bill was lost in the mail. (I keep meticulous records.)

– Check # 382 – 22 March 1989 – $326.40 – Allstate Indemnity Co.
As a 21-year-old ‘kid’ I paid over $1,100 for 6 months of automobile insurance back in 1989. I pay less than half that amount today in 2009. I’m a mature driver today. The fact of the matter is that I was back then as well.

Categories
Humor Money Politics

Sunday Night Funnies

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House. One is from Chicago, another is from Tennessee, and the third is from Minnesota.

All three go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Minnesota contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. “Well,” he says, “I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, “I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”

The Chicago contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, “$2,700.”

The official, incredulous, says, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys!  How did you come up with such a high figure?”

The Chicago contractor whispers back, “$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy #2 from Tennessee to fix the fence.”

“Done!” replies the government official.

And that, my friends, is how the new stimulus plan will work.

Categories
God

Life Pointe Church Sunday Morning Tossed Salad

Here are my takeaways in 15 words or less:

– Daylight Saving Time is here, and most of our attendance was still asleep.
– Among The Thirsty was our house band this morning.
– They seriously rocked my face off !
– They have a big radio single out called “One Sound”.
– It’s from their big album called “Wonder”.
– They did a tremendous job leading us as we all sang to God.
– During the first service Communications Director Kelly D. hosted.
– She’s quickly developing into an efficient leader at Life Pointe Church.
– Have you seen her cool new blog ?  It’s at kellydowning.com.
– Kelly D. is on my car radio every morning as I drive to work.
– I get to listen to her for about 15 minutes every morning.
– She’s my favourite radio deejay !
– Mark S. did the teaching for the first time ever.
– It was an awesome effort.
– He taught us all about forgiveness.
– Forgiven people forgive people.
– You’re not justifying their actions when you forgive someone.
– You should always remember how much you have been forgiven.
– You should reflect on who you need to forgive.
– You should release the other person(s) from your grudges.
– You should forgive instantly, completely, freely, and repeatedly.
– There should be no ‘ifs’ and no limits to your forgiveness.
– Jesus placed no ‘ifs’ and no limits so that you could be forgiven.
– It’s all about God’s purpose in the forgiveness process.
– I was rescued and saved by God over 30 months ago.
– Before this journey started I didn’t know how to forgive people.
– I carried grudges deep down inside for years and even decades.
– I even denied the mere existence of some of these grudges.
– How could I forgive someone if they never did anything bad to me ?
– But they did – and I have.
– This morning’s teaching was based on 17 verses from the Good News:
  – Matthew 18:22
  – Colossians 2:13-14
  – Psalm 103:12
  – 1 John 1:9
  – Matthew 5:25-26
  – Psalm 139:3-4
  – Matthew 18:32-35
  – Romans 12:18-19
  –  2 Corinthians 3:17
  – Colossians 3:13

Be sure to catch my buddy Phil’s take on this morning’s events at Life Pointe Church. This morning he was dressed up in his ‘Sunday finest’, and that’s ironic considering he wrote this ‘Major Bloggie Award Winner’ earlier in the week !