Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– It’s time for another collection of ‘Mini Thoughts’ on this night before Friday.
– Whenever I compile these I know that the weekend is not too far away.
– I’ve got one more work day to go, and then 63 hours of weekend fun begins.
– Next week will be a short 3½-day work week for me.
– That’s because I’m going on vacation again next Thursday afternoon.
– It’s all part of my new master plan for 2010 and beyond.
– I don’t want to be more than a month away from my next vacation.
– So far it’s working out swell like that.
– This has been a rough and tough past several days for me.
– The nonsense started on Sunday morning when I woke up in a sweat.
– My A.C. was blowing out warm and tropical outside air.
– A power surge allegedly blew out the wiring of my A.C. up in the ceiling.
– Upon further investigation it also blew out my compressor outside.
– A new compressor had to be shipped in from the Fort Myers area.
– After more than 72 hours my A.C. crew finally got everything working.
– This morning I awoke in my own bed with temperatures in the mid-70s.
– During the ordeal I slept here at home in the heat for one night.
– I slept another night at an undisclosed cheap motel in Homestead.
– I slept a final night at the luxurious new Hampton Inn in Homestead.
– Lesson Learned:  Don’t think twice about it – check in to the Hampton Inn.
– That place – like most Hampton Inns I’ve stayed at – was truly amazing !
– You will spend more money to stay there, but I think it’s definitely worth it.
– Speaking of money I’ve lost a lot of it over the past couple of weeks.
– The stock market is currently on a psychotic bender.
–  As of this morning I had lost 3.3% of my retirement savings since its peak.
– Today alone I’ve lost at least another 3.3% on top of that.
– This will probably go down as the worst two weeks combined in over a year.
– I’m in it for the long haul, and I must keep reminding myself of that.
– Nashville Tennessee has been devastated by unprecedented flooding.
– It was caused by nearly two feet of rain in just two days.
– It’s considered to be a 1,000-year catastrophe.
– People have died, and buildings have been damaged and destroyed.
– The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center is closed indefinitely.
– It sustained millions of dollars of damage and destruction.
– Check out this video: 

– Please pray for the residents of this wonderful part of our free nation.
– Help them in any possible way that you can.
– I’ve been to Nashville just once in my life – about 20 years ago.
– I picked up my little brother from Space Camp in Huntsville Alabama.
– We went on a nice road trip from there through much of Tennessee.
– We climbed the Great Smoky Mountains along U.S. 441.
– We visited Atlanta Georgia for the first time ever.
– It’s one of our most memorable and enjoyable vacations ever.
– I will return to visit Nashville again – and hopefully visit friends too.