Category: Driving

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Blogging Bugs Driving Food Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

You’ve waited a full 7 days for this, and now you’ve got it. It’s the ‘Grab Bag’ !

1.  Once again today it’s the tale of two Homesteads. There’s the flooded Homestead (where I live), and there’s the dry Homestead (where I work). Over at the air base this afternoon we received barely a trace of rain. Here in my ‘hood nearly two inches of rain fell over the course of two hours. I can fully explain why this is happening, but I’d rather not bore you to bits.

2.  Yesterday (Monday) at Lunchtime there was an ENORMOUS vehicle collision on East Biscayne Drive (SW 288TH St.) between Wendy’s and the air base. It happened during the 10 minutes or so that I was at the Publix at Waterstone. As I proceeded back towards the base the scene was barely unfolding with mass chaos everywhere. It was probably one of the worst accidents that I have ever seen in my over 20 years of driving on that particular stretch of roadway. One woman was even airlifted via helicopter from the scene of the accident. 3 hours later the road was still a nightmare. I had to take U.S. 1 from Moody Drive (SW 268TH St.) to Lucy Street (SW 328TH St.) just to get home.

3.  TODAY on my way to Lunch with a buddy from work my Saturn flipped over from 59,999 miles to 60,000 miles !  It happened westbound on Campbell Drive approaching the Oasis Shopping Center. That’s 60,000 miles of driving in 6 years, 2 months, and 1 week. I hit 50,000 miles exactly 15 months ago tomorrow, so that’s an average of about 667 miles per month – or 22 miles per day. I love living and working in the same city !

4.  Apparently I undervalued my antiquated cell phone. It is NOT a 2002 cell phone. It is actually a 2004 cell phone, and that’s when I actually bought it. I had another (even more antiquated) cell phone from 2002 to 2004. I recently realized that I can actually tweet with it, so even in its old age it still has a purpose driven life. A cell phone’s equivalent human age can be calculated simply by multiplying its actual age in years by 20. My cell phone is the equivalent of a 100-year-old ! 

My Cell Phone

5.  If you see a very low-flying C-130 Hercules aircraft hovering over the mean streets of Redland, Florida City, Homestead, Leisure City, Naranja Lakes, and Princeton early tonight and tomorrow night then have no fear. It’s a mosquito killing mission. Stay indoors as the poison is sprayed from above.

The ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ is taking a week off next week. Be sure to catch the next ‘Grab Bag’ in two weeks – on the 15TH of September. Be sure to check out an all-new ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ later this week.

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Annoyances Blogging Career Driving Life Mail Music Television

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Today – just like every Thursday – was another hectic day at work for me.
– I was facilitating briefings in our conference room for a good three hours.
– The way we do it it’s like “Survivor” and “The Apprentice” combined.
– I loved every single second of it.
– Today is the birthday of one of my earliest friends as a little kid.
– I think that she would have been 36-years-old today.
– I knew her as a 2-year-old.
– I lost track of her over 30 years ago.
– It’s weird how I remember dates like that.
– Numbers are my favourite toys.
– The heavy vehicular traffic has returned to Homestead.
– So have the bad drivers.
– Actually they never left – they just multiplied themselves.
– This morning and this afternoon I encountered lots of slow drivers.
– That’s very unusual since 8 out of every 10 motorists drive faster than me.
– I only check my old-fashioned USPS mail about twice per week.
– I’ve been doing that for awhile now.
– It seems to work out just right.
– I don’t get nearly as much junk mail as I once did.
– There’s a strategy involved in receiving less junk mail.
– I should write a book on it.
– Actually there’s plenty of tips online on how to weed out your mailbox.
– I also receive very few telemarketing telephone calls nowadays.
– Once again – strategy – and common sense.
– I only answer the telephone from people and numbers that I actually know.
– I essentially ignore the telephone after 8 PM at night – even if I know the person.
– I generally make zero outgoing calls.
– That’s on my old-fashioned standard telephone line.
– I only use my cell phone for text messages and now Twitter tweets.
– Some people spend many hours every day talking on the telephone.
– I may spend 15 minutes per week tops talking on the telephone.
– If I lost my cell phone tomorrow I wouldn’t look for it.
– I probably wouldn’t even replace it.
– I can live without a cell phone.
– You can probably tell that I despise telephones in general.
– I’ve had many traumatic experiences via the telephone.
– I’ve been hated-on via the telephone.
– I’ve been abused via the telephone.
– Well these are my ‘Mini Thoughts’ for this Thursday night.
– These are as spur-of-the-moment spontaneous as it can possibly get for me.
– Friday and Saturday are music nights here on the big green blog.
– I’ve got another Disco smash for you on Friday night.
– On Saturday night it’s one of the most unique ‘Retros’ I’ve ever done.
– Be sure to catch the memorable music fun this weekend.
– You won’t regret it pal.
– Until next time my friends – may the good news be yours.

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Blogging Computers Driving Food Internet Music Sports Television Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  Yesterday afternoon immediately after work I got in my Saturn, zoomed down Biscayne Drive, hopped on the Turnpike, and cruised on in to Homestead‘s LongHorn SteakHouse during a raging thunderstorm. I figured that the joint would NOT be jumpin’ at 3:45 PM on a Monday afternoon that was the first day of school. I was right. I was one of less than a dozen customers eatin’ good in the neighbourhood. I jammed to hot country music as I ate my delicious grub.

2.  As usual I received great service and great food there during my LuDinner. A ‘LuDinner’ is the longtime term that me and my brother utilize to refer to a late Lunch / early Dinner. It is eaten in lieu of both Lunch and Dinner at their regular times respectively. It is usually eaten sometime between 2 PM and 4 PM. It must always be a MASSIVE meal. LuDinner on Thanksgiving Day is generally mandatory.

3.  It’s been rather wet here in Homestead over the past several days with 2 (east) to 4 (west) inches of rain across the region causing temporary flooding in the usual areas that are prone to poor drainage (such as my entire neighbourhood). It’s turned everything green again after a slight brownage due to a recent lack of rain. Expect above normal precipitation for the remainder of 2009 due to El Niño.

4.  ‘My NFL Weekend Game Picks’ will NOT be returning for a 3RD season here on the big green blog. The twice-weekly blog series has officially been cancelled. I couldn’t fit it in to the new Fall schedule. Alas I have too many hit series on my hands. One such hit series was an instant out-of-the-box smash just yesterday – ‘The Major’s Tweets’. It’s where I blog my TOP 5 most memorable Twitter tweets of the past week. I plan to feature that gem every Monday. 🙄

5.  I saw something rather unusual this past Saturday night. I saw a nationally-televised game from start to finish featuring my beloved Washington Redskins actually lookin’ good and beatin’ up on a Super Bowl Champion team (the Pittsburgh Steelers). Yes I know – Pre-Season – but it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to celebrate a Redskins win LIVE on television. I may not have many moments like that during this upcoming season, so I took in that moment on Saturday night.

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Driving History Home Life Music Radio Weather

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.