Category: Commerce

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Saturday Night Retro

My old (and well-preserved) checkbook registers reveal a lot about the storied history of my life.

19 years ago in May of 1990 my take-home pay from the base was less than one-fifth of what it is today. Things were much cheaper back then !

Back then I drank Coca Cola Classic and I used Plax and Act in conjunction with brushing my teeth. I also washed my clothes with Tide. I know this because I wrote these items down within the ‘description’ lines of the checkbook register. Some things just never change !

My cable bill was $40.12 and my long distance carrier was MCI. It cost $20.60 to register my vehicle for another year. That’s almost exactly half of what it just cost me to do it again this past month.

One last thing. I was buying cat food at the HAFB Commissary. I didn’t ‘own’ a cat at the time. Oh yeah – there was however that mangy yellowish cat that essentially lived underneath my car in the parking lot of my dormitory on base for a few years. I suppose that it picked my car as its ‘roof’ because it (allegedly) continued to find miscellaneous food laying there.

Back in May of 1990 this was one of the hottest songs in the entire free nation. It’s the U.S. TOP 10 megasmash “I Remember You” from heavy metal glam rock band Skid Row (featuring then lead singer Sebastian Bach). It’s from their self-titled multi-platinum debut album, and it was one of the top high school prom songs in the nation in May of 1990. So all you 37-year-olds out there from the ‘Class Of 1990’ – this one is for you !

That’s my long distance dedication from Chris in Homestead to the entire ‘Class Of 1990’. Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for God. Oh yeah – and keep your web browser tuned – right where it is !

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Commerce Health Politics Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  TODAY will go down in South Florida history as one of the coldest October days EVER !  We officially dropped down to 57°F at Homestead Air Reserve Base this morning, and we’ve been stuck in the 60s all day long. Tomorrow morning when we wake up we could have howling wind chills deep down into the 40s !

2.  Homestead was shivering (I love that phrase), and everywhere you looked you saw adults, children, and pets alike all bundled up in thick winter clothes that usually only see the light of day about a dozen days a year. Those people over there in the tee-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops ?  Those are what we like to refer to here in Homestead as ‘snowbirds’ – also known as Canadian tourists.

3.  My 7TH cold in 12 months is officially in the history books, or as I like to refer to as my very public history books – this blog. This cold seemed longer and harsher than a lot of the previous ones, so it was not my ‘Lucky 7TH Cold’. I’ll be flying back from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so that’s only 32 more days until I get my 8TH cold in 13 months !

4.  Last Friday was Election Day in my living room. I voted via absentee ballot. I put it in the mail on Saturday morning. I just checked online with the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, and they have indeed received it as of this past Monday. One week from tonight we should find out who our next President Of The United States is. Whoever it is I will stand behind him and support him as he takes on a mountain of problems. I have very strong political views. They are so strong that I keep them to myself (most of the time) because they would offend and shock most people I know – including many of my close personal friends.

5.  Let me tell you something about a company by the name of ALLSOP with headquarters in Washington State, Ireland, and Shanghai China. I recently bought a ‘Metal Art CPU Caddy’ which is basically a little metal cart for my computer to fit in. The cart has 4 wheels, but one of the wheels was defective in that it was missing a bolt so I couldn’t attach it to the bottom of the cart. The cart was useless. I sent a short and simple E-Mail to the company on a Friday afternoon, and they sent me a personalized response back the following Monday morning. I replied to that response later that same day, and the next morning they shipped a replacement wheel to me via first class mail. I received it a few days later, and my CPU caddy is now in business fulfilling its mission !  In this modern era of widespread poor to non-existent customer service from retail companies I was totally ecstatic to discover a company that still does business the old-fashioned way no matter how big and universal they are. They cater to their customers who buy their products. You just don’t see that very much nowadays. THANKS ALLSOP !

Those are my thoughts for this Tuesday night. Thank You So Much for taking the time to read them.

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Commerce Driving Music Shopping Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Now Hear This. It’s On My Mind (Pure Energy):

1.  Tropical Storm Fay flooded Florida from Key West to Tallahassee, Hurricane Gustav brushed us aside this past weekend en route to the U.S. Gulf Coast, and now we’ve got Tropical Storms Hanna, Ike, and Josephine lined-up across the Atlantic. I’ve never been concerned with Hanna. She could disrupt plans further up the Atlantic coast of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Ike could be flirting with the southeastern Bahamas and the north coast of Cuba on Sunday and Monday as a Category 2 or 3 Hurricane. I’m watching Ike closely. You should too.

2.  Yesterday an 18-year relationship ended. I’m talking of course about my relationship with State Farm Insurance. They insured all 4 of my cars during this time-period. Effective yesterday morning at 12:01 AM GEICO became my automobile insurer. Hail to the gecko !

3.  Why do I not shop for clothes at Hollister ?  It’s because I’m not 18-years-old, I don’t surf the wild waves totally bodacious dude, and the strong SoCal smell of that place frankly makes me wanna sneeze !

4.  Michael Jackson recently turned 50-years-old, and he stated that ‘the best was yet to come’. I doubt it. He was cool 25-years-old. He was still cranking out the hits 15 years ago. The best came and went. It’s as clear as “Black Or White” (my all-time favourite song of his).

5.  Florida City (where all of the food is) is the fastest-growing city in Miami-Dade County this year as far as property values are concerned. In fact it’s one of only three cities in the County to show any growth at all this year amidst the current economic slowdown. Read all about it.

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

CBS has ‘60 Minutes‘, FOX has ‘American Idol‘, ABC has ‘Dancing With The Stars‘, NBC has ‘America’s Got Talent‘, and I’ve got your ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts. Let us pray:

1.  I wish that actors and musicians – particularly those on the far-left-wing – would act and play music rather than try to convince me that President George W. Bush is Satan, Senator John McCain is his identical evil twin, and Senator Barack Obama is God. The actors and the musicians certainly don’t represent me, and they don’t even represent a majority of this country. They are the loud and obtrusive minority.

2.  I ate Lunch today at Panda Express, and a portion of my Lunch consisted of a bowl of orange chicken. As I ate the orange chicken I was dreaming about the new Homestead Pavilion shopping and dining complex that will open up in just a couple of months. There – That should rack-up another 450 views to this blog !  😀

3.  The sparkling new Chevron gas station / convenience store / car wash is now open for business (finally !) at the northeast corner of Campbell Drive and Speedway Boulevard (NE 8TH St. & NE 43RD Ave.) in Homestead. Regular gas went on sale this morning for $3.93 per gallon.

4.  Why does every soccer-mom mini-van (SUV) in front of me always have at least two tires that are near flat ?  If they kept their tires properly inflated then their gas mileage would probably increase by at least 5 MPG. If they drove a regular car instead then they could probably double their current gas mileage.

5.  I may buy a hot new computer system this Saturday morning at either Best Buy or Circuit City, and it may just be a lightning-fast desktop computer system in lieu of a moderately-fast laptop. Either way it’s gonna be an HP Pavilion with at least 4 or 5 GB of RAM and a 500 to 750 GB hard drive.

6.  Publix Hot & Spicy Wings are neither hot nor spicy – and that’s why I like them. I wouldn’t eat them if they were indeed hot and spicy.

7.  It was great to see my ‘new-look’ Washington Redskins in action this past Sunday night. Before the game I had never heard of Colt Brennan. Now I want him to be our new starting quarterback !  Sure he’s not your conventional quarterback, but isn’t that what they said about Tom Brady and Kurt Warner ?

8.  When I saw Coach Joe Bugel by the sidelines during Sunday night’s game I nearly fell out of my chair. I thought for sure that he had retired along with Coach Joe Gibbs. Apparently he’s running the running game this season while Jim Zorn spearheads the passing game. I like that plan !

9.  I’m flying to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for Thanksgiving Week again this year, and I’m already booked to go non-stop direct on American Airlines. It’ll be the most expensive round-trip flight for me ever !

10.  It’s almost time to vote again aqui en Miami-Dade County. I know this because today my (old-fashioned) mailbox was stuffed solid with campaign literature from various cats that are running for District 9 School Board, Group 19 Circuit Court Judge, State Committeeman, and Senator. I’m not voting for anyone in any of these positions.