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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Let’s roll:

1.  If you don’t know what’s goin’ on in my Life today then you simply don’t read this blog. I pretty much reveal it all throughout the week on here. You snooze. You lose.

2.  As I compiled, wrote, and then ultimately posted last night’s ‘Monday Night Countdown’ on all things green I was pretty much laughing the whole time. When this lunatic posted his effectively sardonic comment late last night he thoroughly threw me over the edge – laughing hysterically all the way !  😆

3.  I ate a MASSIVE Lunch today at Beef O’ Brady’s, and for much of my meal I was the only customer in there. I had the whole joint to myself. I enjoyed the mother of all mouth-watering half-pound melted cheeseburgers – well-done !  Throw in a moundful of tasty curly fries and a large Coca Cola Classic, and THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ‘BOUT WILLIS !

4.  We are not in a recession. We were never in a recession. We probably won’t be in a recession anytime soon. Having stated the facts it’s all irrelevant if a majority of Americans have the perception that we are in a recession. If they think it is so then it is so.

5.  Home prices in Miami-Dade County plummeted an estimated 28% year-to-year from May 2007 to May 2008. That’s the second-steepest drop in the entire country – second to the Las Vegas metro area. My Homestead condo was once worth nearly $200,000. Now I’d be lucky to get $150,000 for it. That’s still triple the price that I paid for it less than 7 years ago !

6.  Gas prices are on the way down (just as I forecasted several months ago). I really think that they could drop down to the $3.25 to $3.50 per gallon range in time for the Thanksgiving – Christmas holiday shopping season. Remember I wrote that.

7.  Do you see me ?  I’m the one on the two-lane road that’s right in front of the tailgater and right behind the slow-poke.

8.  The NFL exhibition season begins this Sunday night on NBC-TV as my Washington Redskins take the field in Canton Ohio against the Indianapolis Colts in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame Game.

9.  Twice in a row I’ve received what I consider to be subpar service at the Homestead Starbucks drive-thru early in the morning. Three strikes in a row and they may be OUT !

10.  Music Choice needs a digital music cable channel for Christian Rock. The closest channel that they have is one called ‘Contemporary Christian’, but it’s too ‘adult pop’ for me. I ROCK !

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Monday Night Countdown

And now it’s time for Phil‘s favourite blog entry of the week here on ‘The Major’s Life Blog’ – whether he admits it or not. It’s time for the ‘Monday Night Countdown’, and this week we count down the TOP 5 items in my household that are green. I’m not talking about environmentally-friendly items. I’m really talking about items that are green in colour.

Let us begin:

5.  Renuzit – Tropical Melon
I’ve got these cones working overtime all throughout my home sweet home. I can’t wait to open this one up to let the flavourful aromas of melons permeate all throughout my living room !  I can smell the taste already !

4.  Lysol – Green Apple Breeze Scent
I see a trend developing here. It’s called making your home smell absolutely delicious with the delightful scent of fruits. This may be the most pleasureable Lysol brand scent available to mankind, but I’m getting worried that they may have discontinued this particular scent. 😥

3.  Act – Mint
After I’ve brushed my teeth for 5 minutes I rinse my mouth out with this tasty gem. Dude it helps prevent cavities, strengthens teeth, and freshens breath !

2.  Plax – Soft Mint
I can’t brush my teeth until after I’ve removed the plaque with this marvelous 20TH Century dental invention. Publix actually doesn’t carry this item, so I usually pick it up at Walgreens or Target. (It’s usually more than two dollars cheaper at Target.)

1.  Irish Spring – Aloe
I won’t take a shower without it. I refuse to use any other deodorant bar soap. This is it right here. This is what starts off my morning. This is where it all begins. It’s just me and my bar of Irish Spring !

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

I know what you want. Here it is:

1.  Tuesday nights have become ‘me’ nights at home. On Mondays I’m typically away from home for 13+ hours with work and the weekly staff meeting at Life Pointe Church. On Wednesdays I only have about 3 hours at home after work and before Life Group. But Tuesdays when I get home I stay home and catch up with stuff. It’s my ‘fun’ day – my ‘I don’t have to run’ day !

2.  TODAY I extended my ‘fun’ day by 4 hours and worked just a half a day. I went to Target for the first time since perhaps last December, and I went on a 90-minute shopping spree. Actually for the amount of time that I was scouring that store I didn’t really buy too many items (17). I could have really gone wild and bought 35 items !

3.  Standing right behind me at the same checkout counter at Target ? – This fellow LPC Blogger Extraordinare.

4.  If we had a Target that was closer to home then I’d probably shop there at least once every couple of weeks or so instead of once or twice a year.

5.  Jesse wants to see “Step Brothers” with me.

6.  I’m having a lot of fun and learning a lot too with my fresh new Panasonic DVD Recorder / VCR Combo. I bought it online at circuitcity.com a couple of Saturday nights ago, and FedEx delivered it to me (free of charge) less than two business days later !  I couldn’t believe my four eyes when it arrived that fast !  😯

7.  Since my new DVD recorder has a digital tuner I’m exploring and enjoying crystal clear digital television for the first time ever. I have 90 new digital channels (expanded basic) that I always had but couldn’t access until now. That includes 50 music channels. I dig that !

8.  Last night and this morning I recorded four hours of digital television programming on DVD-RW for the first time ever. I’ve got some tweaks to make to this process. I recorded it all in EP mode (which allows for 8 hours of programming onto a single 4.7 GB DVD). The picture quality suffered a bit. I’ll have to bring it down a notch for my next recordings. I’m learning.

9.  I’ve pushed back the purchase of my fresh new HP Pavilion laptop indefinitely – but not for too long. Once the initial enjoyment value for my DVD Recorder / digital television revolution begins to wind down a bit then it will be time for me to buy my next new toy – the laptop. It should happen sometime in August.

10.  Bright and early this morning I was once again reminded why I rarely go through the drive-thru at the McDonald’s at the Oasis Plaza en el este de Homestead. It’s because the service is subpar. They get confused handling more than one order at a time !  😕

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Home Money

Insuring My Home For Less Than $4.67 A Day

TODAY I paid the second of two homeowner’s insurance policies for the upcoming year that begins for each of the policies in about 6 weeks. One of the policies ($754.00 for the year) is for all perils except for wind, and the other policy ($949.10) is for wind only. So that’s $1,703.10 combined for the year – or less than $4.67 a day.

Here’s how my annual insurance costs have evolved since I’ve owned my current home (nearly 7 years):

2008-2009 – $1,703.10
2007-2008 – $1,697.30
2006-2007 – $1,922.00
2005-2006 – $761.00
2004-2005 – $703.00
2003-2004 – $701.00
2002-2003 – $707.00
2001-2002 – $331.98