Category: Food

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Food God

IHOP: It’s What’s For Breakfast

So this morning I woke up WAY too early – during the latter portion of the 4 AM hour (!) – and then I eventually got out of bed at about 5:45 AM. I tried to go back to sleep – but to no avail. So much for preparing for a cruise ‘awake’ schedule.

I made plans to return to the Homestead IHOP for the first time since the early part of this current decade. I started off there virtually every weekend morning way back then, but then due to various reasons I drifted off to the Naranja Lakes IHOP about 4 miles up the road where I eventually discovered my favourite waitress in the entire world. (Postscript – She now works at the Florida City Cracker Barrel.)

My long-awaited return to the Homestead IHOP will be a memorable one – for all of the wrong reasons. When I arrived there I was the only customer, but that peaceful tranquility quickly ended. My waiter was the same exact waiter as before, and he remembered me after all of these years. He’s not a very good waiter, but he’s not particularly awful either.

Here’s the problem area. A group of about 5 or 6 young people came in and immediately grabbed the adjacent booth to my table. In a nutshell these kids (perhaps age 18 to 22) were loud, rambunctious, rude, disrespectful, profane, sexist, racist, and a few other choice adjectives that simply aren’t coming to my brain right now. These kids were apparently kicked-out of Denny’s down the road before they got a chance to place their order because of the same bad behaviour in public. (It sounds like I need to return to Denny’s more often.) From what I gather these kids had been drinking all night, all day yesterday, and all night on Friday night in one continuous birthday party celebration somewhere within the vast local area. I believe that illegal drugs were also involved.

Needless to say I couldn’t wait to finish up my delicious meal, pay my bill, and get out of hell.

You know I’m the type of guy that essentially avoids confrontation and controversy (I consider it to be a weakness), but if I wasn’t that type of guy I probably would have given each and every one of them a piece of my mind. Some people are really far away from God. But even so nobody in this world is too far away from God, for He is all encompassing and almighty. He can reach anyone no matter how evil and dark they are. God’s Kingdom here on Earth will always be more relevant and more powerful than any other realm. So why would you wish to be on the forever losing team ?  Reach out to God. He’s got His open arms out there for you. It’s not too late. As long as your heart is still beating and you’re still breathing then it is never too late. He is waiting. The light is on.

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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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Computers Food History Holidays Home Internet Life Travel

The Major’s Tweets

I finally found a purpose for my 5-year-old-plus Samsung cell phone (commonly known as ‘Junkyard Dog’). I can actually tweet with it, and I have done just that on a few of my tweets. Most of the time I simply type in my 140-character-or-less tweet via the Twitter web site, but sometimes I’m not near a computer – so I use my antique cell phone instead.

Going back to last Tuesday morning here are my TOP 5 most amusing (and interesting) tweets of the entire week – in case you missed any of them:

5.  Remembering my Grandmom (1915-2004) – http://wp.me/p837L-1fC – Some of the greatest memories of my early childhood. [Aug 29th from web]

4.  At this precise time next Monday afternoon I’ll be sailing away with @carnivalcruise waving adios a Miami. I heard that one !  [Aug 31st from web]

3.  3 out of 4 Americans agree – Tomorrow is NOT Labor Day. That would be a week from tomorrow. [Aug 30th from web]

2.  Pretty soon I will own a 2ND home – a 2-story townhouse in Clay County FL. That’s right – I’m one step closer to being Donald Trump. [Aug 26th from web]

1.  I believe that Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Homestead has the tastiest wings in town. Prove me wrong if you dare. [Aug 26th from web]

Follow me @majorhitwaves.

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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.