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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Let’s kick it:

1.  Can you believe it ?  The ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ quietly turned 18-months-old last week. Who would have thought back in October of 2007 that this would become a weekly Tuesday night tradition here on this blog ?  I mean – besides me.

2.  So yeah at like 11:10 AM this morning I was just a few minutes away from getting up from my desk at work and getting into my car to grab a bite to eat for Lunch – but then the telephone rang. Instead of ignoring it I decided to answer it. That telephone call led to another nearly two-hour long distance telephone call with the Air Force equivalent of ‘computer technical support’ to fix a problem on a local computer system that’s within my area of responsibility. Long story (sort of) short I ended up leaving work at 2 PM – 90 minutes early – going to Lunch – and then taking Lunch home with me. Lunch was delayed by some 3.5 hours today, but better late than never !

3.  As part of my 2009 Economic Stimulus Tour of Miami-Dade County tourist attractions I plan to visit Everglades National Park this upcoming Saturday. I haven’t been inside the park in such a long time (maybe 10 to 15 years). I plan to drive all the way to Flamingo and back and walk many of the half-mile trails along the way. (I need the exercise.) I’ll blog about it after the fact on a very special edition of ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’.

4.  Another late-season cold front from the north made its passage through America’s Riviera this morning, and for a brief moment there it looked like funnel clouds were trying to develop northeast of the air base. Now we’re on the refreshing side of the cold front, and we could actually drop down into the upper-50s early tomorrow morning. Look for quite comfortable temperatures (daytime and nighttime) to continue for perhaps the next 7 days.

5.  Former President George W. Bush and Former Vice President Dick Cheney have been out-of-office, retired, and private citizens just like you and me for over 3 months now – yet you would think that they are still in office by the way that all of the late night television talk show hosts keep disrespecting them. That tells me that they are extremely (left-wing) biased – and afraid to rag on our current President and Vice President for fear that their Hollywood superstar guests would boycott them and call them racists for even attempting to make fun of the President. As it stands right now President Obama can do no wrong with the media by his side.

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Saturday Morning Shenanigans

‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’ has once again been pre-empted this weekend due to non-ideal weather conditions (70°F, 100% relative humidity, scattered fog). Time is practically running out on this season’s walks around my neighbourhood, but maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in one more walk on a Saturday morning before it gets too unbearably warm, humid, and wet outside.

In lieu of the walk I did the following this morning:

1.  Cracker Barrel – I ate breakfast. The Shenanigans there included me being served by a different waitress even though my longtime breakfast waitress of the past many years was there working her shift. She came over and talked to me and told me a riddle. It was good to see her.

2.  Busy Bee Car Wash – I’ve taken 4 cars there over the course of the past 20 years (since 1989), and I’ve always gotten a clean car out of the deal. They do a very thorough job inside and outside. I truly recommend them. The’re in Perrine at theoretical SW 182ND Street at U.S. 1 (southbound).

3.  Target – I go there about once every 3 or 4 months, and I usually go on an extended shopping spree while I’m there. This morning was no different, and it was a mixed assortment of food, toiletries, and clothes. I like to go there when they first open up in the morning and there’s less people in my way. It started getting crowded towards the latter part of my shopping spree.

I ended up driving about 35 miles during my eating, car washing, and shopping excursion this morning. During much of the 35 miles I was either being tailgated, or I was stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle in front of me. I couldn’t wait to get off of the streets and back into my home sweet home this morning.

Those are my ‘Saturday Morning Shenanigans’ for this weekend. Be sure to check out 1979 on the ‘Saturday Night Retro’ tonight, and get ready to dance to some pop music of the times.

Until then – I leave you with one final Shenanigan, so REMEMBER THIS !

no-service

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Saturday Night Retro

22 years ago in 1987 I was a 20-year-old living in Gloucestershire in the southwest of England. Cirencester (to the west) and Swindon (to the south) were the nearest cities, and I visited both of them fairly often. Swindon was the place to go shopping and hook up with British Rail on my trips over to London. Swindon was also the home to this highway monstrosity:

The Magic Roundabout - Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
The Magic Roundabout - Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

I never drove a car while over in the U.K., as I rode with friends or took public transportation. I lived perhaps a mile from the village of Fairford. I walked to and from the village at least once a week or so.

11TH Strategic Group, RAF Fairford, United Kingdom
11TH Strategic Group, RAF Fairford, United Kingdom

That’s my military unit from November 1985 to November 1987.

NO edition of the ‘Saturday Night Retro’ is complete without a big hit song from the times, so here we go with this week’s retro classic flashback from the past. It’s the 1987 European dance remix of the 1975 disco smash “You Sexy Thing” from Hot Chocolate. Get up and dance my friends !

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Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– It’s that time of the week again.
– It’s time for my ‘Mini Thoughts’ in 15 words or less.
– ‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In’ had the ‘Quickie’.
– VH1 had the ‘Pop-Up Video’.
– AOL had the ‘IM’.
– Burger King has the ‘Burger Shots’.
– I’ve got the Mini Thought.
– Dude it’s hot and humid outside.
– Tomorrow we could have heat indices well into the mid-90s !
– I’m gonna try to yank a cold front by its tail down here next Monday.
– Maybe we could have a few cool mornings in the upper-50s !
– As the economy begins to recover so are gas prices. 
– The’re up about 40 cents per gallon ever since they bottomed out.
– I’m not complaining, as I remember $4.199 per gallon last July.
– I ate Lunch at Quiznos today.
– I dig that joint.
– I eat there weekly.
– Good food and good service is all I’m asking for.
– I always get that there.
– I think I know who’s gonna grab tomorrow’s ‘Major Bloggie Award‘.
– We’ll all find out for sure on Friday night.
– One of my favourite rock bands is Philmont.
– The’re from North Carolina.
– I like how they sound.
– I like their message.
– They’ve totally given it up for Jesus Christ.
– Check out this music video below for their current smash “The Difference”.
– The band made the video themselves for under $300.
– Listen to the lyrics carefully.
– I’m rolling to what the’re rocking !