Category: Politics

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Saturday Morning Shenanigans

What a crazy abnormal Shenanigan-filled week in August it was !

At the start of the week Tropical Storm Fay began her whirlwind grande tour de force of the state of Florida, and me and my fellow Homestead neighbours received just a tad above 5 inches of windswept rains over a 5-day time-period. Some portions of South Florida received up to a foot of rain, and parts of Central Florida (on the Space Coast) received well over 2 feet of rain which caused catastrophic damage and destruction.

I went back to work on Wednesday (after the storm), and it was cool to get back to a more normal routine again. I prefer normalcy although it is fun sometimes to reach out and step in to a place that is outside of my personal comfort level. You can’t progress forward on God’s fantastic journey for you if you are always comfortable. You’ve got to mix it up a bit and throw in some real Shenanigans in order to enthusiastically serve and follow Him with reckless abandon.

Yesterday I gave blood at the lab. They will analyze it and give the results to my Doctor to see if the Lipitor is still doing its thing. Last night I had the honour of hanging out with a bunch of my LPC friends at The Molinas’ house out in Redland. We threw a 30TH birthday surprise party for this cool blogger girl, and we shoveled in pounds and pounds of delicious food items. Living up to my reputation I may have eaten more food than anyone else – even moreso than Richie N. (who actually wanted to argue this fact with me), or even this crazy cat who also adores tasty deviled eggs possibly as much as I do !  LIPITOR CHECK !

The big news all over the cable news networks this morning is the official announcement of Senator Joe Biden being selected (and accepting) the Vice Presidential position as Barack Obama‘s running mate. Good choice. Now that we’ve got that out of the way the Democrats can throw their inevitable Bush-Bashing party in Denver during this upcoming week and I can watch pre-recorded television shows during those Shenanigans. I’ll watch the Republican National Convention the following week. That’s my party !

Those are my Shenanigans for this Saturday morning, and I’ll leave you with this:

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Why wait until tonight what I can do right now – at 9 AM on a Tuesday morning. That’s right – it’s a special Tuesday morning edition of the ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’.

You think a girl named Fay is on my mind ?

1.  Tropical Storm Fay passed several hundred miles to our south late on Sunday night, and she passed about 75 miles to our west early this (Tuesday) morning. She made two landfalls – at Key West yesterday (Monday) afternoon and south of Naples early this (Tuesday) morning. She’s now taking an inland route through Florida northward along I-75, eastward along I-4 over to Daytona Beach, northward along I-95 up to Jacksonville, and then she’ll meander westward along I-10 over to Tallahassee and Panama City Beach between now and the weekend.

2.  Since she’ll be spending the next 5 or so days over the state of Florida before she dissipates we’ll be feeling the effects of her for the remainder of this week via gusty west winds out of the Everglades, and torrential downpours at anytime – especially with the heating of the day during the afternoon hours. We could see temperatures soar into the lower-to-middle-90s because of Tropical Storm Fay. Expect lots of sunshine in-between the tropical monsoons.

3.  Homestead has received just a little over 4 inches of rain out of Fay. That’s less rain than we’ve received on selected days during this rainy season thus far. Gusts of minimal tropical storm force (40 MPH or greater) were also felt here at times.

4.  I took a planned day off from work on Friday, I worked for 4 hours on Saturday (a rarity), I worked for 6 hours on Monday when I didn’t have to (since the base was theoretically closed), and today is another day off from work. I can’t wait to return to a more normal routine back at work tomorrow (Wednesday). I actually enjoy working at my job.

5.  How do you spot a survivor of Hurricane Andrew here in Homestead ?  He’s (She’s) the one that tends to overreact to all tropical systems that come within 1,000 miles of Homestead. Common sense is generally not a player during these overreactions. As a survivor of Hurricane Andrew I am not of the norm down here. It’s because I am a weather forecaster. I just don’t play one on TV !

6.  This morning on ‘The Early Show‘ on CBS-TV the ‘Happy Days’ gang had a LIVE reunion up in Milwaukee Wisconsin as they prepared for the unveiling of a statue of The Fonz. It was cool to see Fonzie, Potsie, Ralph, Joanie, and Mr. and Mrs. C back together again. I watched them every Tuesday night at 8 PM for 11 seasons back in the day. It’s one of the greatest television shows of my lifetime !

7.  Pastor Rick Warren did a fantastic job interviewing Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama this past Saturday night from his church. He was on ‘Larry King Live !‘ last night.

8.  If you do a Yahoo search on John McCain and Barack Obama then you may find that there are some 322,000,000 results for Obama – and 233,000,000 results for McCain. If you Google Obama then you’ll get 56,000,000 results compared with 40,800,000 results for McCain. So in conclusion Obama has a 58% to 42% lead on both Yahoo and Google.

9.  My Washington Redskins are undefeated at 3-0 in the preseason. Backup quarterbacks (veteran) Todd Collins and (rookie) Colt Brennan are looking impressive – even moreso than starting quarterback Jason Campbell. Is there a quarterback controversy brewing in the nation’s capitol ?

10.  I think that today may be a Domino’s day. It’s been a long time since Domino’s delivered to me. Once upon a time I used to have pizza delivered to me once – perhaps even twice per week. Nowadays it’s more like 6 times a year !  I still enjoy pizza today as much as I did back in the day. I just don’t eat it as much anymore. I’ve got 30 minutes. Where’s my Lipitor ?

Have a great Tuesday everyone !  ENJOY the rest of it.

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Let’s do it:

1.  It feels like a Monday for me because I took a 3-day weekend from work (to include Monday). I had so much fun setting up and personalizing my sparkling new desktop computer system on Saturday and Sunday that I spent Monday catching up on everything else that I would have normally done during the previous two days. I got it all done and then some on Monday !  I was proud of myself when I went to sleep.

2.  After over 15 years with State Farm I saved over 24% by switching my auto insurance to GEICO yesterday. Back in February I compared State Farm with GEICO, and had I made the switch back then I would have saved a mere 9%. It wasn’t worth the time and the trouble to switch. But a more than a 24% savings is definitely worth it !

3.  The MASSIVE political ads continue to inundate and stuff my (old-fashioned) mailbox. I’m actually taking the time to glance over all of the fancy and glossy literature, but the joke is on them. I’m not voting in the Primaries – not even via absentee ballot.

4.  A closed door that you can not open due to the fact that it is locked shut and you don’t have a key for it, or there is another impeding factour (such as a person who won’t let you in) is very symbolic of ‘The End’. You can’t go any further. You can’t proceed. Progress is halted. STOP !  It’s certainly not a positive symbol – especially if you are on a fantastic journey. Before I was saved by Jesus I regularly hit closed doors in my life – literally, figuratively, and symbolically. Nowadays (in my new Life) I don’t encounter too many closed doors. I am simply more aware of the ones that I need to stay away from. But when I do reach a closed door on this journey it is far more painful than it ever was in my previous life. Sometimes what isn’t that big of a deal to one person may actually be a closed door to another person. There should never be a closed door between me or you – and God.

5.  Back in November 2007 a Canadian Dollar was worth more than U.S. $1.08. Today it was only worth U.S. $0.94. The British Pound has dropped from above U.S. $2.10 to below U.S. $1.90. The European Euro was flirting with U.S. $1.60 as recently as the start of July 2008. Now it’s down to nearly U.S. $1.49 !  Our U.S. Dollar is making a substantial comeback. That’s allowing oil prices and ultimately gas prices to drop.

6.  The last time I went through the Starbucks (in Homestead) drive-thru I received exceptional customer service. That’s a good thing because they had already received two strikes in a row from me, and had they received a third strike in a row I would have initiated a temporary boycott of the joint. A boycott of Starbucks is something that I’m not sure that I’m ready for yet.

7.  I got a haircut at the legendary Woody’s Barber Shop yesterday. I always feel clean and refreshed after I get my mop cut. Believe it or not I actually don’t keep track of when I get a haircut via an Excel Spreadsheet. There’s no point to it. If my hair blows around in the wind then it’s time to get a haircut.

8.  If HP wanted to do a television commercial right here in my living room then all they would have to do is simply film me sitting down here at my computer workstation using all of their fine products.

9.  I have an HP printer-scanner-copier all-in-one device now. I bought it at Office Depot yesterday. Those two pictures of Barney and Fluffy that I posted on the blog last night were the first two that I scanned (as a test). I’m gonna look around for some more classic pictures. Maybe I’ll find one of me from my U.K. days some 23 years ago. You can see what I looked like as a goofy 18-year-old !

10.  My credit card company just raised my credit limit by a tad. They must’ve seen how much money I spent this past weekend !  😯

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

CBS has ‘60 Minutes‘, FOX has ‘American Idol‘, ABC has ‘Dancing With The Stars‘, NBC has ‘America’s Got Talent‘, and I’ve got your ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts. Let us pray:

1.  I wish that actors and musicians – particularly those on the far-left-wing – would act and play music rather than try to convince me that President George W. Bush is Satan, Senator John McCain is his identical evil twin, and Senator Barack Obama is God. The actors and the musicians certainly don’t represent me, and they don’t even represent a majority of this country. They are the loud and obtrusive minority.

2.  I ate Lunch today at Panda Express, and a portion of my Lunch consisted of a bowl of orange chicken. As I ate the orange chicken I was dreaming about the new Homestead Pavilion shopping and dining complex that will open up in just a couple of months. There – That should rack-up another 450 views to this blog !  😀

3.  The sparkling new Chevron gas station / convenience store / car wash is now open for business (finally !) at the northeast corner of Campbell Drive and Speedway Boulevard (NE 8TH St. & NE 43RD Ave.) in Homestead. Regular gas went on sale this morning for $3.93 per gallon.

4.  Why does every soccer-mom mini-van (SUV) in front of me always have at least two tires that are near flat ?  If they kept their tires properly inflated then their gas mileage would probably increase by at least 5 MPG. If they drove a regular car instead then they could probably double their current gas mileage.

5.  I may buy a hot new computer system this Saturday morning at either Best Buy or Circuit City, and it may just be a lightning-fast desktop computer system in lieu of a moderately-fast laptop. Either way it’s gonna be an HP Pavilion with at least 4 or 5 GB of RAM and a 500 to 750 GB hard drive.

6.  Publix Hot & Spicy Wings are neither hot nor spicy – and that’s why I like them. I wouldn’t eat them if they were indeed hot and spicy.

7.  It was great to see my ‘new-look’ Washington Redskins in action this past Sunday night. Before the game I had never heard of Colt Brennan. Now I want him to be our new starting quarterback !  Sure he’s not your conventional quarterback, but isn’t that what they said about Tom Brady and Kurt Warner ?

8.  When I saw Coach Joe Bugel by the sidelines during Sunday night’s game I nearly fell out of my chair. I thought for sure that he had retired along with Coach Joe Gibbs. Apparently he’s running the running game this season while Jim Zorn spearheads the passing game. I like that plan !

9.  I’m flying to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for Thanksgiving Week again this year, and I’m already booked to go non-stop direct on American Airlines. It’ll be the most expensive round-trip flight for me ever !

10.  It’s almost time to vote again aqui en Miami-Dade County. I know this because today my (old-fashioned) mailbox was stuffed solid with campaign literature from various cats that are running for District 9 School Board, Group 19 Circuit Court Judge, State Committeeman, and Senator. I’m not voting for anyone in any of these positions.