Category: Driving

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  This was originally going to be a quick tweet from me, but then I decided to upgrade it to a full-blown ‘Grab Bag O’ Thought’. This happened on the way home from work this afternoon on Speedway Boulevard (Miami-Dade County’s SW 137TH Avenue in Homestead). One slow-moving vehicle (in this case a ‘soccer-mom minivan’) can disrupt the normal flow of traffic on a single stretch of roadway for miles affecting dozens of motorists. I generally drive on the slow side. Typically out of every 10 vehicles on the road today 8 will pass me at any given time, and I will pass 2 of them. When I make note of a slow-moving vehicle then it must really be a slow-moving vehicle. These drivers are generally oblivious to the rush hour world around them. Just because you’re driving real slow does not necessarily mean that you’re driving real safe. It usually means that you’re being distracted while driving. Oh yeah – get out of the left lane !

2.  Speaking of my car by chance this past Saturday morning I checked out that brand new car wash that recently opened up on Useless-One caddy-corner to The Big Cheese. I was their only customer at the time, and I got my car washed on the outside and cleaned and dressed on the inside. They took their time and did it right. My 6½-year-old car looks nearly sparkling new now on the inside. The ultimate results far exceeded my overall expectations. I plan to be a regular customer of them in the future. After I return home from my upcoming road trip I’ll be going back there for a wash and wax !

3.  It’s Election Day here in Homestead, and I’m so glad that I’ve already voted via absentee ballot. I do it that way in lieu of being insulted at the voting precinct (inside and outside). It’s just so much more civil voting in the privacy of my own living room. On this day we’ve got the incumbant Mayor who’s a loose cannon, says what’s on her mind, and publicly degrades people along the way who she doesn’t agree with. Running against her for the job is a guy with a lot of experience in Homestead politics who’s (allegedly) got a short temper and gets into street fights with citizens (allegedly). I hesitantly voted for one of these candidates – not really for the person but really more as a vote against the other person.

4.  Last Tuesday night in the ‘Grab Bag’ I mentioned the fact that I picked up several of 8 colds in 12 months from November 2007 to November 2008 at Starbucks. Once I stopped going there I stopped getting colds. This past weekend I went back there to pick up a package of VIA Ready Brew (instant coffee). I did so because it’s the most delicious instant coffee that I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. Fast forward to this afternoon, and I believe that I now have my first genuine cold in about a year. In defense of Starbucks though I don’t believe that I picked up this cold from there. I think I got the nasty germs earlier today from either Publix or our base gymnasium. I’ll be able to confirm the mere existence of this cold as soon as later tonight or tomorrow morning – especially if it gets worse.

5.  Get ready for more seasonal (normal) temperatures around these parts of the free nation starting on Thursday and continuing through the weekend. Expect mid-afternoon high temperatures right around the 80°F mark and early-morning low temperatures deep down into the lower-60s with wind chills into the upper-50s. The humidity will be low, and the winds will be brisk and cool. Later in November I’m forecasting a major continental shift in the weather pattern (induced by El Niño) that will surge much colder air deep into Florida.

Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ in a mere 48 hours or less, and until then stay up-to-date with what I’m thinking and doing via my Twitter account.

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Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Let’s be extreme.
– Only 56 more hours until Daylight Saving Time ends and Standard Time begins.
– I’m lookin’ forward to that.
– I’ll appreciate the hint of daylight on my way to work shortly after 6 AM.
– I wish we stayed on Standard Time all year long.
– It was another meeting-filled Thursday at work.
– I was in our conference room for about 3 hours of various meetings.
– It’s sort of like the boardroom on “The Apprentice“.
– I dig it because I never get fired.
– If you adore the hot and humid weather then this is your last gasp to enjoy it.
– More normal temperatures return next week with a series of cold fronts.
– I’m also expecting a major cooldown in about 2 to 3 weeks.
– I hinted about that on my Twitter account last night.
– Are you ready for an unusually chilly and wet winter season ?
– December, January, and February could be ridiculous around these parts !
– I’m lookin’ forward to much lower electric bills this winter.
– They typically average as much as 60% lower than during the summer months.
– I’m hoping to kickstart ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’ on Saturday December 05TH.
– That’s where I walk around my neighbourhood early on Saturday mornings.
– I pray for my neighbours, enjoy God’s creations around me, and get healthy.
– Those are 3 things that I never did prior to the start of this fantastic journey.
– 3 weeks from tomorrow morning my long road trip to and from Texas begins.
– I plan to start packing up my car with odds and ends to take with me soon.
– The best part of it all is that I can bring whatever I feel like bringing.
– There is no charge for my luggage, and there is no weight limit.
– Sat. is Halloween for those of you that care enough to send the very best.
– I’ve got a special double feature for you here on the big scary blog.
– First in the morning it’s a special ‘Halloween Morning Shenanigans’.
– Then at night on ‘Retro’ we’re gonna do “The Monster Mash”.
– But before that tomorrow night is Disco night.
– I’ve got the # 1 smash in the U.S. the day Jimmy Carter became President.
– Be sure to check that out, and enjoy your upcoming weekend !
– Be safe, and turn around – don’t drown.

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Commerce Driving Food Health History Money Shopping Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

It’s the 102ND edition of the weekly ‘Grab Bag’ of my miscellaneous thoughts:

1.  It’s not supposed to be in the lower-80s outside when we wake up early in the morning, and we shouldn’t have heat indices way up into the mid-90s late in the afternoon – during the final week of October !  This is not normal South Florida weather for this time of the year. If you want more normal weather then stick around. I see a very gradual cooling trend beginning this weekend with a noticeable cooldown in about 10 days. How much cooler ?  Stay tuned !

2.  I tend to accumulate a lot of loose change in one of the small compartments of my car. Sometimes it gets totally out-of-hand where if I were a real annnoying person I could actually buy an entire fast food meal for over $5 in all loose change – but I would never do that. What I try to do is to pick out about $0.75 or so in quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies so that I can use it for exact change whenever I walk in to a fast food joint or store. Whenever I do that it always seems like the total cost of my bill is so many dollars and 98 cents, so I end up using no change at all. When I don’t prepare in advance with loose change I end up getting a bill for something like so many dollars and 2 cents – or 14 cents – or 26 cents – or whatever so that I end up getting another pound of loose change. Make cents sense ?

3.  For a whole year from November of 2007 through November of 2008 I suffered through 8 colds. It’s been nearly an entire year since then, and I can only remember one minor cold over the past 12 months – and even that one cold may not have actually been a real cold. There have been sick people and their nasty germs all around me everywhere I go, and yet I’ve miraculously stayed on the healthy side. I know though that it’s only a matter of time before the germs gather strength and invade my body like there’s no tomorrow – when I least suspect it no doubt.

4.  One of the places that I now avoid as much as I can is Starbucks. It’s where I picked up at least several of those 8 colds from 2007 into 2008. Once I stopped going there (both locations – Homestead and Florida City) – the colds stopped. Nevertheless I have a dilemma to deal with now. Yesterday morning I tried this for the first time ever, and it was outrageously scrumptious. It was perhaps the most delicious instant coffee that I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. I want more now !  I may eventually find myself at a nearby Starbucks purchasing some more of them, or I may even buy some online.

5.  4 years ago this week we were dealing with the aftermath of the surprisingly devastating Hurricane Wilma. It was the most destructive hurricane to affect South Florida since Hurricane Andrew 13 years earlier. Water, power, and telephone service (mostly cell) was out in some areas in a wide swath of South Florida for up to a month, and traffic jams lined up at the rare gas stations and grocery stores that were actually open for business. Due to a blatant lack of preparation on my part I waited in line for gas for about 8 hours on one of those early days of the aftermath !  It seems like it’s been more than only four years since that chaos.

Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ later this week !

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Animals Astronomy Blogging Driving Hoaxes Holidays News People Sports Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

The 101ST weekly edition – and the kickoff of a brand new year of the weekly ‘Grab Bag’ begins … NOW !  Get ready for this !

1.  I missed the entire ordeal as the news was breaking LIVE to a riveted International television audience last Thursday. That’s right. I was actually working – at my job – as the ‘balloon boy’ saga was playing out over the skies of Colorado. I found out about it after the fact later that afternoon. We eventually realized that it was an elabourate hoax orchestrated well in advance. Should the ‘balloon boy dad’ go to jail for his hijinks ?  No. Should he perhaps be fined or be ordered by a Judge to reimburse the count(ies) and state for all expenses incurred ?  Sure. The guy made some bad decisions, and he lied to the authorities. But he doesn’t belong in jail. He also doesn’t deserve to lose his kids over the matter.

2.  My Washington Redskins are NOT a very good team this year. You can blame it on the special teams – the defense – the offense – the quarterback – the coaching staff – the front office – George W. Bush – El Niño – whatever. The blame game is not going to make them any better than they are now. The bottom line is that they have a lot of talent on that team, but they are simply not scoring points and winning games. The best teams in the NFL eventually became the worst teams – and vice versa. Are you a fan of your favourite sports team(s) only when they win, or are you a fan through the thick and the thin – through the blood, the sweat, and the tears ?

3.  Exactly one month from today I embark on the longest continuous road trip of my lifetime. On the 20TH of November of 2009 I’ll be driving approximately 825 miles from Homestead Florida to Gulfport Mississippi over the course of 14 hours. The next day I’ll be driving the remaining 590 miles to north of Dallas Texas as I begin a week-long holiday stay with my Mom, Dad, their cat, Brother, Sister-In-Law, Nephew-To-Be, and their dog.

4.  We climbed back up to the 80s this morning at around 11:30 AM – exactly as I forecasted last Saturday night when we last dropped out of the 80s at the start of our recent cold snap. Officially at the air base we dropped down to 59°F on Sunday morning, 56°F on Monday morning, and 63°F this morning. (Minimum temperatures were several degrees cooler in some of the farming areas around town.) I don’t expect another cold front over the next 7 to 10 days, so get used to a lot of sunshine, warmth, and higher humidity – perhaps even some more record high temperatures.

5.  This will be our last full weekend of Daylight Saving Time. On the following Sunday morning – the first of November – at 2 AM local time we fall back to Standard Time, and I am so truly looking forward to being back on ‘real’ time. I’ll have the daylight when I want it – at 6:30 AM rather than 6:30 PM. BRING IT ON !