– It’s New Year’s Eve y’all !
– At 6 AM here on the U.S. East Coast New Zealanders were ushering in 2010.
– As I type this ‘Mini Thought’ at 4 PM Saudi Arabians are celebrating 2010.
– I arrived in Saudi Arabia 19 years ago this week for the first Gulf War.
– I was over there for 9 weeks through the conclusion of Desert Storm.
– That was my most memorable New Year’s Eve / Day.
– 2009 was a success story for me both personally and professionally.
– Every year since 2006 has been an overwhelming success story for me.
– That’s because I have been reborn.
– I totally expect 2010 to be the brightest year yet for me.
– I’ve decided that I will always pronounce the new year as ‘twenty ten’.
– It just sounds so right to say ‘twenty ten’.
– Last Feb. 28TH I thought that I had seen the last of the Jacksonville area.
– That’s when I drove from there for the very last time (as I thought).
– I had just finished moving my parents over to the Dallas Texas area.
– I no longer have any family members living up there.
– Next weekend I’m driving back up there to my parent’s old neighbourhood.
– I’ll be up there for one full day and two nights.
– I now own their former home.
– It’s all mine – debt and all !
– I’ll be talking face to face with the management company that’s renting it out.
– I’ll be getting a lot of answers for a lot of questions.
– The answers will assist me in making decisions and taking actions.
– Get ready for a cold month of January South Floridians.
– It’s the extended period of colder weather I’ve been shouting about.
– It all starts on New Year’s Day when temperatures drop like a rock.
– We’ll go from heat indices in the lower-80s to wind chills in the mid-40s !
– We’ll be stuck in the 60s for daytime highs for at least 5 days in a row.
– We’ll have nighttime wind chills in the 30s for at least 4 nights in a row.
– This extended cold snap is the first of several during the month of January.
– Our chances of experiencing a hard freeze later in January are quite high.
– If you dig cold weather then you’ll dig January here in America’s Riviera.
– After three weeks of Christmas music on the ‘Retro’ we’re goin’ back to basics.
– We’re gonna spin up the ‘Wheel Of Cheese’ this Saturday night.
– It’s a cheesy gold-certified # 1 smash from over 35 years ago.
– It comes complete with an antique music video you’ve gotta see to believe.
– But before that it’s another Disco smash tomorrow night on the ‘Disco Party’.
– And the hits don’t stop ’til we reach the top !
– Have a safe and festive New Year my friends !
– Peace be with you.
– And also with you.
Category: Blogging
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 !
1. My brother, his 4½-month pregnant wife, and their dog are driving well over 1,000 miles northeast this Friday from the northeastern suburbs of Dallas Texas to northwestern Ohio. They will be taking turns driving the Interstate highway system – perhaps in 4-hour shifts – until they reach their destination. They will spend a festive Christmas week hanging out with her side of the family. Please pray that their journey up and over to Ohio and then back home to Texas is safe from all harm.
2. Last Thursday night within my ‘Mini Thoughts’ I announced ‘a major continental shift in the jet stream’ with ‘temperatures of 25 to 35 degrees colder than now’. Are ya ready my friends ? It’s gonna happen – really ! – this weekend ! Some of the coldest air of the winter season is getting ready to dive deep into the southeastern U.S. and even into the subtropical Caribbean. On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we could actually struggle to reach the 70°F mark, and we probably won’t even make it. Look for highs mostly in the mid-60s on those three days with early-morning low temperatures possibly dropping all the way down into the lower-40s in and around the Homestead area (a bit milder at the beaches).
3. With less than 10 days before Christmas I’ve got an updated score in the annual Christmas Card Derby – 22 to 10. Translation – I’ve sent out (either mailed or hand-delivered) 22 Christmas cards thus far, and I’ve received 10. Time is running out. I’ve got a few more to send out, and I’ve got a whole lot more to receive. As is always the case Christmas cards will be gladly accepted through the ‘Twelve Days Of Christmas’.
4. Last Friday night me and my girlfriend ate Dinner at P.F. Chang’s up at The Falls in Kendall. It was my very first visit to that particular location. I’ve been to the one near my brother’s and sister’s-in-law house in Allen Texas. It was perhaps the most delicious Chinese Food meal that I’ve tasted in quite some time, and I’ve enjoyed a lot of great Chinese Food in my lifetime. I especially adored the banana spring rolls with strawberries and ice cream for dessert. I’m looking forward to future visits to Chang’s to experiment with some of their other delicious menu items.
5. Staying on the subject of delicious food (clearly one of my favourite subjects) tomorrow for Lunch me and a coworker and our supervisour will be enjoying a relaxing extended meal at Los Ranchos up at The Falls. I’ve eaten there a bunch of times for Dinner, but not for Lunch. I never even knew that they were open for Lunch – or even had a special Lunch menu. Incidentally their official web site is at the domain name beststeakinmiami.com. I don’t know if I would go that far, but it is some good eatin’ !
Be sure to catch more thoughts o’ mine this Thursday night here on the blog.
– Let’s get spontaneous.
– It’s how these ‘Mini Thoughts’ roll.
– I wouldn’t think of doing it any other way.
– So this past Tuesday night I gave my first speech at Toastmasters.
– I essentially talked about myself for 6+ minutes.
– I got rave reviews.
– Is this the same Chris that used to be terrified of speaking in public ?
– Is this the same shy guy who had no friends all throughout high school ?
– Actually it’s not the same Chris.
– That Chris from yesteryear was from a different miserable life.
– This is the new and improved Chris that was reborn some 40 months ago.
– I’ve got a crammed and jammed weekend planned.
– I’ll probably run out of time before it’s all said and done.
– I need to work on my outgoing Christmas cards.
– I need to organize nearly 7 years of paperwork regarding my new home.
– This will be a stay-at-home-and-confine-myself-to-my-living-room weekend.
– Well except for Sunday morning when I’ll be at Life Pointe Church.
– I’m hosting the 9 AM service, and I dig that !
– Our Kids’ Life Kids are putting on a show for Christmas.
– It’s hard to believe that Christmas Eve is just two weeks from today.
– It’s even harder to believe that 2010 begins three weeks from tonight.
– We actually have a cold front slowly approaching us from Central Florida.
– It should reach us early tomorrow morning – and then stall out.
– Afternoon temperatures may be up to 10° cooler tomorrow – in the upper-70s.
– But the cooler air will only last for a single day.
– If you’re looking for much colder air then I’ve got a treat for you !
– It’s coming next weekend – a major continental shift in the jet stream.
– We may be talking about temperatures of 25 to 35 degrees colder than now.
– You have been warned – to break out your Christmas sweaters !
– Here on the blog Christmas starts this Saturday night on the ‘Retro’.
– I’ve also got a Disco smash for you tomorrow night from a Pointer Sister.
– Be sure not to miss another ‘Moldie-Oldie Music Weekend’.
– You won’t regret it pal.
CountUp 