Month: January 2010

Categories
Sports Television Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

I.  So we’ve got the Indianapolis Colts versus the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV in just XII days on the VII day of February. Have you ever wondered why the Super Bowl is identified in Roman numerals ?  Has anyone noticed that – new for 2010 – all of the ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ are Roman numeral numbered ?  Anyway back to the big game. It’s at Sun Life Stadium up near the Miami-Dade / Broward County line. You may remember Sun Life Stadium from one of these former names since 1987 – Land Shark Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Pro Player Stadium, Pro Player Park, and the original name – Joe Robbie Stadium. Oh by the way – Let’s Go Saints !

II.  Crystal clear deep blue skies, cooler temperatures, lower humidity, and a nice subtle breeze out of the north – what more could you possibly ask for on the final week of January here in America’s Riviera ?  I forecasted a minimum early-morning low temperature of 52°F with wind chills in the upper-40s. We actually dropped down to 49°F (officially at the air base) at 7 AM with wind chills in the mid-40s. So I was a little bit off there. It appears as if it could be a couple of degrees colder tomorrow morning, so I’m going with 47°F at 7 AM with wind chills in the mid-40s. Wear layers.

III.  I am now less than 18 days away from embarking on my next big Carnival cruise vacation. It’s an 8-day cruise that I booked last September just a little more than a week following the conclusion of my last big Carnival cruise vacation. I imagine that I’ll probably plan yet another Carnival cruise vacation for later this year once I return back to reality following this upcoming cruise. Nothing beats that overwhelming feeling that I get when I’m out at sea – free from radio, television, computers, the Internet, telephones (especially so), and all of the other daily routines of life. It’s really cool to be able to look in every single direction and see nothing but water all the way to the horizon and know that there are no crimes being committed out there. It’s surely a different world, and I like to visit it a couple of times per year. I couldn’t live out there all year long, as that would get old real fast. It’s just fun to be able to go out and experience it and know that it will always be there – even when I’m not.

Have a great Tuesday night my friends. Make it a memorable one !

Categories
Humor Life Philosophy

Monday Night Funnies

10 TWISTED THEORIES:

– Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me alone.

– The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaky tire.

– It’s always darkest before dawn, so if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper then that’s the time to do it.

– Always remember that you’re unique – just like everyone else.

– Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

– Before you criticize someone you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them you’re a mile away, and you have their shoes.

– If at first you don’t succeed then skydiving is probably not for you.

– Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

– Generally speaking you aren’t learning much when your lips are moving.

– Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

Categories
Astronomy Bugs Nature Travel Weather

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon: Special On-Location Edition – Everglades National Park

YESTERDAY I visited Everglades National Park to spend the day outside with nature. Here are my takeaways in 15 words or less:

– Me and a buddy arrived out there shortly after 9 AM while it was still foggy.
– I knew that it would eventually be a sunny and hot day – and it was.
– We took a cool 1 hour and 45 minute tour of the former Nike Missile Site.
– It’s a small abandoned military base that was active from 1964 to 1979.
– It’s remnants are now owned and operated by The National Park Service.
– They started giving (limited) guided tours of it just last year.
– Our tour guide – Ryan – was thorough and knowledgeable.
– Check out this article for more information on the site.
– After the tour and a quick Lunch in the car we went hiking on some trails.
– We took on a couple of easy trails at first – less than a mile combined.
– And then we went for the gusto.
– We went on a 6.0-mile hike through muck and mosquitoes.
– We walked the entire 2.6-mile length of the Rowdy Bend trail eastbound.
– Then we took the Snake Bight trail 0.3-miles south to Florida Bay.
– Then we walked the entire 3.0-miles all the way back to our car.
– I smothered myself with Off / Deet before the hike, but it wasn’t enough.
– The trails were totally infested with swarming and biting mosquitoes.
– They were drinking the Off / Deet, and biting through my shirt !
– In addition to the hundreds of mosquito bites I also got a facial sunburn.
– If I go out into the woods without sunscreen then I might just be a redneck.
– I was totally shocked as to the abundance of mosquitoes on the trails.
– They froze to death during the recent freeze, but then new ones took over.
– It’s been a very wet dry season, so it didn’t take long for new skeeters to be.
– They are totally hungry and thirsty for human blood, and so we were Lunch.
– After the 6.0-mile hike we ventured down to Flamingo on the Bay.
– We took a really nice 1 hour and 45 minute boat tour of Florida Bay.
– We went westward adjacent to the south coast and towards the sunset.
– The sun set at precisely 5:59 PM, as that’s when the disc touched the horizon.
– The sun hit the horizon and then took a mere 3 minutes to drop below it.
– It was one of the most perfect sunsets I have seen in my entire Life !
– There were no clouds in the way obscuring it in any way.
– As our sun was setting it was rising simultaneously in Shanghai China.
– It was a nice tour of the bay, and quite refreshing after a hot and sweaty day.
– Water temperatures on the bay have slowly recovered back to the upper-60s.
– It was recently much colder than that, and thousands of fish died.
– It didn’t smell very nice at the shore with all of the dead fish floating.
– It may take a couple of years for a normal fish population to return.
– I really enjoyed my day out with nature despite the bites and burns.
– I hope to do it again sometime before the end of the current dry season.
– Thank You God for all of your Glorious Creations !

Categories
History Music Radio

Saturday Night Retro

New for 2010 I’ll be looking back at the first decade of the new millennium every 4 weeks here on the ‘Retro’. The same applies for the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s – every 4 weeks I’ll look back at each of those unique decades.

In 2003 I was heavily into the dance club scene – on the radio – and in the clubs. European trance, techno, and house music was the soundtrack of my life at the time, and all I wanted to do was to follow the beat and go faster with it. The music was all based on ‘BPM’ – beats per minute – and once it got above 150 BPM it was all good !

Here’s a European trance track that was a hot dance club smash from January to May of 2003. It was definitely a cool song to dance to with glowsticks moving about in unison to the fast beat. It’s Noémi with “In My Dreams”: