Category: Driving

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Saturday Night Retro

On this exact date 17 years ago – the 22ND of August of 1992 – also a Saturday – we were given our final instructions and orders to evacuate the air base as quickly as possible due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Andrew. We had no idea what Andrew would bring, and it ultimately brought a once-in-a-lifetime storm of mass destruction to the base and the surrounding South Miami-Dade countryside.

It was the most horrific experience of my entire life – a Sunday night / Monday morning that I never went to sleep. I never wish to relive that night or the nightmarish week that followed. I don’t like to write about it, and I don’t like to talk about it. A lot of good ultimately came out of that storm. I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t be living and working here in Homestead today 17 years later if it weren’t for Hurricane Andrew. I’d be elsewhere. But it happened, and here I am.

One song in particular was receiving heavy airplay on the radio during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. It’s the duet of Patty Smyth and Don Henley. Together they sang “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”. Patty co-wrote the Grammy-nominated song that played out like a post-love song. It was the story of two former lovers who were moving away from their relationship together and moving on with life.

I interpretted the lyrics in a slightly different manner:
—
‘I don’t wanna lose you.’
—
‘And I don’t wanna hate you.
I don’t wanna take you.
But I don’t wanna be the one to cry.
That don’t really matter to anyone, anymore.
But like a fool I keep losing my place.’
—
‘It makes a sound like thunder.
It makes me feel like rain.’
—
‘And there’s no way home.
When it’s late at night and you’re all alone.’
—
‘There’s a reason why people dont stay where they are.
Baby sometimes love just ain’t enough.’

This was treated at the time as my farewell love song to Homestead. I didn’t want to leave. But I had to. The Homestead that I had known for nearly 5 years prior to that was all gone. She was completely destroyed. My home was inhabitable. My job was non-existant. I looked at Homestead one last time in my rear-view mirror, as this song played on the radio and made me cry.

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Driving Life Music Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– School is back in session again here in Miami-Dade County.
– At least it is for the teachers.
– This morning’s typical drive to work was 10 times busier than it’s been lately.
– That’s because all of the teachers were on the road !
– They were frantically getting to their schools.
– They were making pit stops at gas stations to get gas, coffee, and donuts.
– The kids go back to school this Monday.
– I can hardly wait for out-of-control school buses to be back on the roads again.
– This Monday is the 17TH anniversary of Hurricane Andrew.
– He changed the Greater Homestead area forever.
– 3 out of every 4 Homestead residents today did NOT live through Andrew.
– I did.
– It was the most horrific experience of my entire life.
– And I wasn’t even in Homestead at the time.
– I was bunkered down at a house in West Kendall near SW 100TH St.
– First sight outside – a U-Haul on the top of the roof of another house.
– We’ve come a long way since then Homestead.
– Together we stand.
– It’s the 232ND day of 2009.
– This year is over 63½% done and over with.
– The 2ND decade of this new millennium is just 19 weeks away.
– 2010 is going to be totally MASSIVE for me.
– It will be the most important year of my entire Life.
– Well those are my spontaneous ‘Mini Thoughts’ for this Thursday night.
– Oh – before I go – don’t forget about the ‘Disco Party’ tomorrow night.
– I’ve got a jam that my friend Ela was probably dancing to when she was 19.
– That’s when she ruled the Miami dance club scene.
– When you hear it you will definitely get up and dance like a maniac.
– There’s nothing wrong with that.
– Until then you can follow me on Twitter at majorhitwaves.

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Blogging Driving Health History Music People Politics Television Travel Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous here.
– A tourist refers to this area as ‘Southern Florida’. We know it as ‘South Florida’.
– A tourist refers to it as ‘Route 1’. We know it as ‘U.S. 1’ or ‘Useless-One’.
– I filled up with gas at my favourite Chevron station after work today.
– That’s 10.899 gallons of gas at $2.739 per gallon for a total of $29.85.
– Almost exactly a year ago I paid $3.859 per gallon of gas.
– Gas prices were beginning their hard tumble from their July 2008 peaks.
– I thought about getting a car wash there.
– But I’m forecasting a lot of rain for this weekend.
– In fact Saturday could be our wettest day in Homestead in awhile.
– President Barack Obama‘s approval ratings are dropping like a rock.
– Americans are increasingly disgruntled over his handling of health care reform.
– The President is dealing with a tough crowd.
– It’s not easy to be loved and adored forever.
– I did NOT vote for him.
– Woodstock was exactly 40 years ago this weekend.
– I was NOT there.
– I was only 26 months old at the time.
– I don’t even remember it occurring.
– People that were there don’t remember it occurring.
– I’ll do a special Woodstock edition of ‘Saturday Night Retro’.
– But before that tomorrow night is Disco night here on the big bellbottom blog.
– I’ve got a former Disco superstar who’s now a reality TV star. It’s TRU !
– See what he looked like 30 years ago at the Discotech.
– You won’t regret it pal.
– Until then keep it simple – and give a hoot – don’t polute !
– Help keep America lookin’ good in the neighbourhood.

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Driving Food Health Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

The Tuesday night saga continues with the flagship weekly series of this here blog:

1.  TODAY I took a day off from work. I actually took 8.0 out of my accumulated 1,386.5 hours of sick leave. That’s just a little over one-half of one percent of all of my sick leave. I was not actually sick today, but sick leave may be utilized for any type of medical appointments, and I did just that today.

2.  This morning at precisely 9 AM I reported to my new personally hand-selected Family Practice M.D. Here’s a brief summary. My weight is virtually perfect for my height and age. My blood pressure is extremely normal. My heart functions as determined by the EKG is about as average as can possibly be. Oh yeah – they also took a lot of blood from me. They will check it all out to see how it all looks. I have a follow-up appointment for the ‘results show’ next Monday morning.

3.  Later in the morning I ventured over to Firestone for routine preventive maintenance on my car which incidentally hit 59,500 miles today. That’s 59,500 miles over the past 2,231 days for an overall average of 26.67 miles per day – slightly below the national driving average of 33.33 miles per day. Firestone did the oil and filter change, the tire rotation, and the alignment in about two hours while I waited. I’m always satisfied with their work.

4.  While I waited for my car at Firestone I walked on over to Mamma Mia where I enjoyed a GINORMOUS Lunch consisting of salad with blue cheese dressing, spaghetti and meatballs, garlic rolls, and soda. The food was great, the service was great, and they also have an unusually clean and modern bathroom for a mom-n-pop Italian ristorante !

5.  The last stop on my errand-filled Tuesday was at the legendary Woody’s Barber Shop for a haircut. My last haircut was 7 weeks and 3 days ago, so I imagine that my next haircut will be sometime during the final week of September. That sounds about right. I think I average about 6 to 7 haircuts per year.

6.  Most of the southeast coastal region of Florida has received two to three feet (24 to 36 inches) of rain over the past three months. It was a bit on the hot and dry side during much of the month of July, but I am forecasting a return to the cooler and wetter weather that we experienced during much of May and June for the latter portion of August into September and October. El Niño is in full effect here in America’s Riviera.

Thank You for your attention my friends, and Thank You for your continued support of the fine art of blogging. Good Day !