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The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

Happy First Day Of October Of 2010 !  Let’s BLAST-OFF this weekend !

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
Well Tropical Depression # 16 / Tropical Storm Nicole has come and gone. It’s a tropical system that my weather models accurately visualized some 9 days in advance. Early on they depicted a Category 1 or 2 Hurricane over or just off the coast of South Florida, but then they quickly backed-off on that scenario and simply brought a Tropical Storm over us. In actuality we didn’t receive any Tropical Storm force winds at all, as they were displaced some 250 miles east of the center of the storm. Here in Homestead we received about 5½ inches of rain. I forecasted 6 inches. Portions of the Upper Florida Keys actually received over a FOOT of rain !  For those of you who don’t live in South Florida we can handle 6, 9, and even 12 inches of rain in a single day or two. It creates a short-term nuisance, but then it drains away. We’re tough like that. We’re also very green right now after a very hot and dry Summer. Come and check us out during this upcoming Winter season once you start to shiver up north. We’ll be open for business. Our beaches never close.

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
Shiver’s BBQ – BBQ Beef Brisket, French Fries, Collard Greens, Garlic Bread, Sweet Iced Tea. I truly believe that this is the best BBQ joint that you’ll find anywhere here in deep South Miami-Dade County Florida. They’ve been in business since the 1950s, and I believe that they’ve been at the same location ever since then – at the SE corner of U.S. 1 and SW 280TH Street in Naranja Lakes. Good service. Good food.

THE FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGE OF THE WEEK CLUB:
– It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others.

THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:
Here’s a homemade video featuring two cats – one on the left that’s normal – and one on the right that’s a lunatic. The one on the right marches to his own beat. He’s got no cares and no worries. He the life of the party. The one on the left (who remarkably looks very much like my own legendary cat from the 1980s and 1990s – ‘Fluffy’) is just chillaxin’, but after awhile he feels the need to get away – far away – from that crazy cat. Enjoy:

BLATANT PROMOTION:
Tomorrow night here on the blog it’s the 101ST edition of my continuing saga that is the ‘Saturday Night Retro’. I’ll be flashing back 14½ years ago to the Spring of 1996. The more things change – the more they stay the same. I’ll also feature one of the greatest rock songs ever made – and a big hit back during that memorable era in my life. In the meantime don’t forget that you can follow me on Twitter to see what’s on my mind. Have a wonderful weekend my friends. I hope to see you out and about !

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Animals Blogging Food God History Humor Internet Life Movies Music People Travel Weather

The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

It’s time once again for the weekly blog series that’s 7 days in the making. Let’s kick-off this final weekend of September of 2010 !

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
Ever since this past Monday night I’ve been tracking a developing tropical system to the south of us deep down in the Caribbean. Once we get in to late-September and definitely October and November we stop looking east for any storms that may affect us – and start looking south and west. During the latter portion of the Atlantic basin storm season our tropical systems come from behind us – from our own backyard per se. Who can ever forget Hurricane Wilma – one of the most destructive in modern recorded history. It wrecked havoc on South Florida during the final week of October of 2005. Now we’ve got Tropical Storm Matthew. It formed in virtually the same exact spot as Wilma. Its trek through the southwestern Caribbean is virtually identical to that of Wilma. Up until last night it appeared that its entire trek would mimic that of Wilma (from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico northeastward across South Florida). My weather models consistently placed a Category 1 or Category 2 Hurricane Matthew sweeping directly over South Florida for next Thursday and Friday (September 30TH and October 01ST). This morning I awoke and I updated my weather models with all-new overnight data, and for the first time in 5 days they no longer bring that system to South Florida. They keep it over the Yucatan Peninsula for a few days where it stalls and then degenerates into an open low pressure system. I’m not quite buying in to this new scenario, but we’ll see. It’s an interesting new development, and a positive one for us. I’ll keep my eyes on Matthew, and I’ll tweet any relevant news associated with him and how he may (or may not) affect us late next week.

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
This was the work week in which I said ‘good-bye’ to a good coworker friend over a Monday Lunch at Red Lobster. On Wednesday I enjoyed a delicious Shiner Bock BBQ Burger at Chili’s. But this week my ‘Best Lunch Of The Week’ occurred at downtown Homestead‘s quaint and historic White Lion Cafe. I enjoyed the Fried Chicken dinner (not what you think). This was a MASSIVE hunk of boneless chicken breast dipped in egg and flour and seasoned to juicy perfection (not at all greasy). The mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and sweet ice tea complemented it perfectly. I also enjoyed this feast with a good friend of mine. In fact she’s one of my longest-running friends. I’ve known her for all 23 years that I’ve lived here in Homestead, and we celebrated her birthday at one of our city’s nicest restaurants. If you’ve never experienced the White Lion Cafe before for Lunch or Dinner then try to do so whenever you get the chance. You won’t regret it pal.

RETWEET:
NEXT weekend I will almost definitely see “The Social Network“. It’s all about one of the most demonic web sites ever created by mankind.

PANDA WITH AN ALLERGY:

BLATANT PROMOTION:
TOMORROW on the blog I’ll be presenting the remarkable 100TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’. It’s one of the many weekly blog series that were created during the frantic 2008 heyday of this blog, and it’s the lone survivor of them all. ‘Retro’ gives me a chance each week to look back at my life and highlight some of my most vivid memories – good and bad. I can’t change the past, but I can certainly learn from all of those mistakes that I’ve made in times gone by. In the similar-concept tradition of the long-running ‘Major’s MASSIVE Memories’ (from my old hit music web site) I always include a memorable pop song from the era that I’m flashing back on. The music is the soundtrack of my life – then and now. It instantly transports me to a time period  that was once present day time and space. Music was even used by God some 49 months ago to radically change my life. That’s Life. That’s ‘Retro’.

COMING SOON:
As announced on Twitter earlier this week I’m kicking-off ‘The Great Chris Day Winter Of 2011 Cultural, Historical, & Economical Stimulus Tour’. From October through February I’ll be visiting and exploring fun and exotic locations near and far such as Everglades National Park, Monkey Jungle, Jungle Island, Naples, Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, Panama City Beach, Dallas / Fort Worth Texas, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and San Juan Puerto Rico. I’ll be tweeting and blogging every step of the way.

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Animals Annoyances Blogging Computers Driving Food History Internet Life People Television Travel

The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
I’ve got an interesting idea for a new and innovative television show. It would be similar to the long-running “Cops“, but this show would utilize helicopters instead with no police action involved. They would fly directly above our streets – neighbourhood and city roads and high-speed expressways alike. They would simply fly around the region and record the traffic down below. Don’t even look for anything unsual. Just record what’s happening down there. Make sure that the cameras that are utilized to capture this footage are very high quality so that everything is clear and visible (aside from license plates and people’s faces). Make it in HD. We could then show that footage during a half-hour nationally syndicated nightly TV show – perhaps right after the local and national news at 7 PM. We’ll have a variety of traffic analysis experts in the studio showing each day’s footage and analyzing it via the extensive use of telestrators. They can tell us everything that’s being done wrong and right while we drive. They can show us all of the near collisions that occur. They can spotlight the good, the bad, and the ugly. They can tell us what we need to know to survive and stay alive. I bet that most people don’t have any idea on how bad their driving actually is, but if they saw it for themselves on television then maybe they would get a clue. The TV show idea sounds simple enough. I’d watch. Not reality. Actuality !

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
It’s been a too long 25 days since I last ate Lunch at my home away from home – Longhorn Steakhouse – so what better way to spend an hour late on a Friday morning than to pull in to the parking lot, open the front door of the joint, and be welcomed by my regular greeter and my regular waitress. FRIENDLY customer service. DELICIOUS food. I can’t ask for anything more out of a Lunch hour. I enjoyed my standard fare – Renegade Top Sirloin (8-ounce / Medium-Well), Mashed Potatoes, Bread, Coke.

RETWEET:
Facebook is like your high school yearbook getting circulated and signed by people you don’t know or like. Twitter is like tagging a wall.

THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:
My longtime cat Boots (1995-2007) did this frequently with geckos on our back porch screen. It was his warning call. If the gecko didn’t scram within a reasonable amount of time then Boots would run and jump on it and push it off the screen himself (thus saving my life of course). Here’s somebody else’s home video that reminds me of the fun times that I enjoyed while I was living with my very own feline buddy. Maybe some day – when the time and the place is right – I’ll go to a local animal shelter and adopt another abandoned feline and bring him or her to my loving and happy home.

BLATANT PROMOTION:
The weekend blogging continues tomorrow night with the 99TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’. I’m flashing back to 2003. It was only 7 years ago, but it seems like an era that’s just so foreign to me looking back at it from the light of the present day. Don’t forget that you can stay in touch with me and my Life in-between the weekend blogging simply by following me on Twitter – @majorhitwaves. Watch as I tag my walls with the more notable events of my Life. Have a fun and safe weekend my friends, and I’ll see you out and about.

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History Internet Life Music People Radio

Saturday Night Retro

Saturday August 28TH 2010
Volume 2 / Number 48 / Edition 97

I’ve got a lot of hobbies and skills that you may or may not be aware of. Some of them I think I’m pretty good at (of course others may disagree). Some of these hobbies and skills I wish I could be better at and spend more quality time with. Some hobbies consume a lot of time, and some just occur naturally without much effort at all. Some hobbies have developed over time – while others have faded (thankfully and regrettably). Hobbies come and hobbies go – as we grow.

One of my lesser-known hobbies over the past 25 years of my adult life that pretty much came out of nowhere but has developed quite nicely over the years is that of a personal historian. It goes along with my fascination with dates and numbers, and it fits right in with my organizational skills. Nowadays my blogs and my tweets serve as the public recorded history of this new Life of mine. Previously my web site fulfilled that role during the latter portion of the 1990s into the new millennium. Before the evolution of the web I recorded the significant events of my life via pen and paper. Now that’s what I call ‘Retro’ !

Because of this hobby I can tell you that on Friday June 30TH 1989 I was at the original Miami Arena in downtown Miami to see ‘Downtown’ Julie Brown host a LIVE concert featuring The Information Society, Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam, Milli Vanilli, Tone Loc, and Was (Not Was). They were some of the biggest hit music artists of that era. I can also tell you that 21 years ago this weekend on Sunday the 27TH of August of 1989 I was at the Sunrise Musical Theatre for 8 hours for Y-100‘s Sweet 16 Birthday Concert featuring all of the Y-100 deejays at the time and their musical artist guests Bandera, K.C. And The Sunshine Band, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Damian, and Buster Poindexter.

Another HUGE pop artist at the time was Ms. Paula Abdul – back during her heyday. She stormed onto the pop culture scene with 5 HUGE smash hits and videos in a row in 1989. Here’s one of them – originally a miserable flop in 1988 before anyone knew who she was. It was reissued during her 1989 pop chart explosion, and it was MASSIVE the 2ND time around !

History – It’s always occurring, and it’s always expanding. Recording it some way some how allows you to look back at it fondly from a different era in the future. It’s your ‘Retro’. Treasure it.