Category: Advertising

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

I.  I for one am glad that Jay Leno is returning to the venerable “Tonight Show” on NBC-TV. I watched the long-running show for some 27 years or so from 1982 to 2009. I watched the last decade of Johnny Carson and all 17 years of Jay Leno. I was never a fan of Conan O’Brien’s humor or style, so I never even considered watching the show after Jay’s final night last May. I’ve seen every single episode of “The Jay Leno Show” in primetime since it debuted last September, and unlike most fans of Jay Leno I also enjoy watching David Letterman’s “Late Show” on CBS-TV. I’ve been watching Dave ever since he arrived on the late night scene more than 28 years ago. I learned how to program a Sony Betamax back in the early-1980s for the sole purpose of taping Johnny Carson, David Letterman, and Saturday Night Live. We used to watch those three shows as a family (Mom, Dad, Brother, Cat) back then. Good Times !

II.  I do declare my first cold of 2010 to be done and over with. I picked-up the cold germs exactly one week ago while I was up in the Jacksonville Florida area. It started with an instant itchy and scratchy throat that eventually became sore, and then all of the rest of the typical cold symptoms followed thereafter – peaking on Friday and Saturday. I took the maximum recommended dosage of Zicam (RapidMelts with Vitamin C) on both of those days, and that pretty much did the trick. I felt much better on Sunday, as I retired the Zicam for my next cold whenever that may be. Looking back on this week-long cold it was minor in comparison to the severe cold that I suffered through just two months earlier. If the severe cold was an Arctic blast invasion of germs then this recent minor cold was a mere cooldown of germs. They came. They went. So long wimpy cold !

III.  I’ve always been a big fan of Domino’s Pizza for as long as I can remember. In fact here in the Homestead / Florida City area there is no other place to get a more delicious pizza than Domino’s as far as I’m concerned. You may disagree with me, and that’s fine. We all have our personal tastes in food. Pizza is one of my favourite foods in the entire world, and I’m generally not too picky about it. I usually keep it simple with one popular topping – pepperoni. If I add other toppings then they must all be meat (sausage, ground beef, ham, bacon, etc.). With their recent ‘reinvention’ of their pizza I think that it tastes even better than ever. It really is worth bragging about ! 

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Advertising Blogging Computers Driving Holidays Home Shopping Television Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

It’s time to kick it with the final ‘Grab Bag’ of 2009. Let’s rock and roll:

1.  Technology-wise I made GINORMOUS strides in 2009. I ditched analog cable television after nearly 25 years and switched over to AT&T U-verse. That switch included my first experience with a modern DVR; thus, upgrading me from VHS (gasp !) and DVD recording of television shows. It also included my first exposure (believe it or not) with wireless technology. I now have two working computers – a fixed desktop and a roaming wireless laptop. I’ve also got a real nice digital (DECT 6.0) telephone system in place with three handsets scattered around my home. Just last week I bought my very first LCD HDTV set, and I upgraded my AT&T U-verse to enable all of the HD channels. Everything looks sparkling bright and amazingly clear in HD !  That’s a lot of technological change I can believe in for a single year !  What shall 2010 bring me that’s modern, new, and exciting ?  BRING IT ON !

2.  As far as sleek new personal hygiene products are concerned I haven’t been very successful with them in the past. I lost count of how many nose and ear hair trimmers I’ve bought that I used just a few times until I realized that they hardly worked efficiently. So you can imagine my skepticism when I saw ‘The Essential Do-It-Yourself Electric Back Hair Shaver’ from Mangroomer on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond. I bought it this past Sunday morning, and I used it that same afternoon. Let’s just say that for the first time in several years I now have a non-hairy and somewhat smoothly shaved back. It actually feels weird like that – and cool like that at the same time. Thank You Mangroomer for such a spectacular personal hygiene product that I can believe in !

3.  Why is it that the Christmas spirit (the decorations, the cards, the shopping, the gift giving, etc.) seems to begin earlier and earlier each year (right after Halloween it seems), but then it all comes crashing down on the first day after Christmas. I actually know people who took down all of their decorations and threw their Christmas tree out with the garbage on the 26TH of December !  What’s THAT all about ?  Aside from the whole true meaning of Christmas being lost in the first place whatever happened to the “12 Days Of Christmas” ?  They start on Christmas Day (the 1ST day of Christmas) and then continue on through January 05TH (the 12TH day of Christmas). That’s followed by Epiphany on January 06TH. Don’t be a Scrooge. Keep the Christmas spirit alive !

4.  It appears that I’ll be taking a nice long drive up to the Jacksonville Florida area sometime within the next couple of weeks to discuss local real estate conditions with the management company that’s currently managing my newly acquired home up there. I have a lot of critical decisions and corresponding actions to make soon that have a lot of legal and financial ramifications. Hopefully this situation will work out beneficially for me, my parents, and the management company.

5.  It was a cold morning this morning in and around Homestead with 47°F officially at the air base with wind chills deep down into the lower-40s !  Tomorrow morning I’m forecasting a low temperature at 7 AM of perhaps 8°F milder – right around 55°F (still a bit nippy). Our next cold front arrives with a vengeance from the northwest during the day on New Year’s Day – and it’ll be a doozy !  It’ll be the start of an extended cold snap for us that could last for 5 to 7 days with daytime highs stuck in the 60s and nighttime lows deep down into the 40s with even some 30s possible out in the Everglades. Cold weather fans (hello there Ela O.) – you’re gonna love it !

Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ LIVE this New Year’s Eve here on the blog that’s cool like that. You won’t regret it pal !

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Advertising History Home Humor Life Television Travel

Monday Night Funnies

TONIGHT I celebrate my 22ND anniversary of living here in America’s Riviera – the Greater South Miami-Dade Florida region. I arrived at (then) Homestead Air Force Base very late at night – in fact it was so late at night that it was actually during the wee early morning hours of the First of December of 1987. Aside from nearly 19 months immediately following the horror and destruction of Hurricane Andrew I’ve been here ever since. I’ll be here for awhile.

In honour of my 22ND anniversary tonight I present to you one of my favourite classic television commercials (from the mid-1960s) that totally brags on this subtropical paradise that I call home known affectionately as America’s Riviera. It makes me laugh every time I see it !

Get ready my friends – it’s time to do the ‘MIAMI GO GO’ ! 

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Advertising Commerce Driving Food Mail Shopping Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  I receive a lot of junk mail in my old-fashioned traditional mailbox. I wish there was a way where we could select which specific stores we would like to receive weekly advertisements for, and then only receive junk mail from them. But then I guess that it wouldn’t really be ‘junk’ mail, but rather ‘want’ mail. I receive weekly ads from Winn-Dixie, Sedano’s, and Diaz Supermarket (among others). I don’t shop at any of these fine grocery stores. I do shop at Publix, and I think that I would actually pay a small fee just to receive their weekly ad in the mail.

2.  It’s ‘The Major’s Lunch-A-Thon’. This past Sunday I ate at Longhorn Steakhouse. On Monday I ate at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s. Today I ate at Olive Garden. The tour de force of fine dining establishments in and around Homestead continues on Wednesday and Thursday before I head out-of-town on Friday. Lunch – It does a Chris good !

3.  ‘For Crying Out Loud !’ – Where does that phrase actually come from anyway ?  It’s a phrase that some people utilize in lieu of cussing – particularly when the’re astonished and can’t believe their eyes. I don’t think that I’ve ever uttered that phrase intentionally or otherwise. I suppose it’s a phrase (like many others) that’s probably inherited from generation to generation within the family. Incidentally how can you not ‘believe your eyes’ ?  Have your eyes ever lied to you ?  Well maybe after drinking !

4.  I filled up my car with gas this afternoon on my way home from work. I’ll be doing it again this Friday morning up near Orlando along Florida’s Turnpike. And then I’ll do it again about 5 hours later up in the northwestern panhandle of Florida along I-10. And then I’ll probably do it again another 5 hours after that at my first pit stop on my road trip. The adventure begins in less than 60 hours !

5.  The weather should be nice and seasonal on my way to the Dallas Texas area this Friday and Saturday with temperatures within a rather narrow range on both days – pretty much mid-60s to mid-70s on Friday and low-50s to mid-60s on Saturday – so neither cold nor hot. I should be able to maximize my gas mileage during my trip there by not using the A.C. We’ll see.