Category: Shopping

Categories
Advertising Blogging Computers Driving Holidays Home Shopping Television Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

It’s time to kick it with the final ‘Grab Bag’ of 2009. Let’s rock and roll:

1.  Technology-wise I made GINORMOUS strides in 2009. I ditched analog cable television after nearly 25 years and switched over to AT&T U-verse. That switch included my first experience with a modern DVR; thus, upgrading me from VHS (gasp !) and DVD recording of television shows. It also included my first exposure (believe it or not) with wireless technology. I now have two working computers – a fixed desktop and a roaming wireless laptop. I’ve also got a real nice digital (DECT 6.0) telephone system in place with three handsets scattered around my home. Just last week I bought my very first LCD HDTV set, and I upgraded my AT&T U-verse to enable all of the HD channels. Everything looks sparkling bright and amazingly clear in HD !  That’s a lot of technological change I can believe in for a single year !  What shall 2010 bring me that’s modern, new, and exciting ?  BRING IT ON !

2.  As far as sleek new personal hygiene products are concerned I haven’t been very successful with them in the past. I lost count of how many nose and ear hair trimmers I’ve bought that I used just a few times until I realized that they hardly worked efficiently. So you can imagine my skepticism when I saw ‘The Essential Do-It-Yourself Electric Back Hair Shaver’ from Mangroomer on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond. I bought it this past Sunday morning, and I used it that same afternoon. Let’s just say that for the first time in several years I now have a non-hairy and somewhat smoothly shaved back. It actually feels weird like that – and cool like that at the same time. Thank You Mangroomer for such a spectacular personal hygiene product that I can believe in !

3.  Why is it that the Christmas spirit (the decorations, the cards, the shopping, the gift giving, etc.) seems to begin earlier and earlier each year (right after Halloween it seems), but then it all comes crashing down on the first day after Christmas. I actually know people who took down all of their decorations and threw their Christmas tree out with the garbage on the 26TH of December !  What’s THAT all about ?  Aside from the whole true meaning of Christmas being lost in the first place whatever happened to the “12 Days Of Christmas” ?  They start on Christmas Day (the 1ST day of Christmas) and then continue on through January 05TH (the 12TH day of Christmas). That’s followed by Epiphany on January 06TH. Don’t be a Scrooge. Keep the Christmas spirit alive !

4.  It appears that I’ll be taking a nice long drive up to the Jacksonville Florida area sometime within the next couple of weeks to discuss local real estate conditions with the management company that’s currently managing my newly acquired home up there. I have a lot of critical decisions and corresponding actions to make soon that have a lot of legal and financial ramifications. Hopefully this situation will work out beneficially for me, my parents, and the management company.

5.  It was a cold morning this morning in and around Homestead with 47°F officially at the air base with wind chills deep down into the lower-40s !  Tomorrow morning I’m forecasting a low temperature at 7 AM of perhaps 8°F milder – right around 55°F (still a bit nippy). Our next cold front arrives with a vengeance from the northwest during the day on New Year’s Day – and it’ll be a doozy !  It’ll be the start of an extended cold snap for us that could last for 5 to 7 days with daytime highs stuck in the 60s and nighttime lows deep down into the 40s with even some 30s possible out in the Everglades. Cold weather fans (hello there Ela O.) – you’re gonna love it !

Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ LIVE this New Year’s Eve here on the blog that’s cool like that. You won’t regret it pal !

Categories
Food Health Holidays Music Shopping Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Can we talk here ?
– It is JUST …
– Today for Lunch me and my closest coworkers ate at The Big Cheese.
– Most of us ate GINORMOUS slices of pizza and loads of garlic bread.
– Garlic is good for the heart.
– So is my Lipitor.
– The electricity just went completely off for about a half a minute.
– Let’s try to keep the power on during this severe weather FPL.
– I’ve got things to do, and I need electricity to do all of them.
– Parts of Downtown Miami received up to a half a foot of rain today !
– We didn’t get much of anything in and around the Homestead area.
– But just wait until tonight and tomorrow for the great deluge.
– I’m looking forward to a breather from the wacky warm and wet weather.
– It will be absolutely delightful outside starting this Saturday morning.
– For at least 5 to 7 days temperatures will be a bit below normal.
– Wind chills will be in the 40s for 4 mornings in a row starting on Sunday.
– It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – everywhere I go !
– Santa Claus will be sliding down chimneys one week from late tonight.
– Santa Claus is one kool dude !
– Last Friday night I ate at P.F. Chang’s at The Falls for the first time ever.
– Tomorrow night I’m apparently going back for an encore.
– Travis and Kelly insisted on it.
– I might get creative and try something radical on the menu.
– But I know that there will be some banana spring rolls on the docket.
– Yesterday afternoon I went to Target on an unexpected shopping spree.
– I got a modern new cordless telephone system to replace my aging one.
– Ela O. was the first legitimate telephone call that I received on it.
– But I couldn’t answer at the time because all of the handsets were charging.
– So I called her back on my antiquated cell phone.
– We enjoyed a lively discussion.
– I also bought some clothes and some other odds and ends at Target.
– I go there perhaps 4 times a year.
– Whenever I go there I tend to buy a wide variety of items.
– I even bought a 1970s roller disco music compilation CD.
– I was jammin’ on the way to work this morning listening to that !
– Well those are my ‘Mini Thoughts’ on this Thursday night.
– Your time is precious, so I thank you for spending some of it with me.
– Keep on doin’ your thang my friends.
– This blog was compiled LIVE before a studio audience.

Categories
Blogging Commerce Driving Food Holidays Movies Music Shopping Sports Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– So just because it’s Thanksgiving does NOT mean I don’t have some thoughts.
– Today of all Thursdays I have a special assortment of ‘Mini Thoughts’.
– Most of them involve food.
– Did you expect anything different on this mother of all food days ?
– This morning we went to see “Old Dogs” at a local area movie theatre.
– All of the critics were right – this was one stinker of a movie.
– But I did laugh quite a bit all throughout the flick.
– It won’t win any Oscars, but it was still funny.
– Thanksgiving Dinner was served promptly at 3 PM Central Standard Time.
– It included Honey Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, Sweet Potato Casserole …
– … Broccoli & Cheese Casserole, Spinach, Brussel Sprouts, Croissant Rolls …
– And last but definitely not least – Pumpkin Pie with Cool Whip.
– Our Thanksgiving meal certainly lived up to its reputation.
– I won’t be eating like this again anytime soon.
– Tomorrow is Black Friday – the wildest and craziest shopping day of the year.
– I bet that shoppers are already camped out in the Best Buy parking lot.
– Let the maniacal stampedes begin at 4 AM !
– I’ll be sleeping in as the mass chaos commences at the shopping meccas.
– Later on in the morning we may go for a round of miniature golf.
– I need to redeem myself from what happened last year.
– I just learned that Fuddruckers is on the agenda for Lunch tomorrow.
– I’m a P.C., and Fuddruckers was my idea !
– After Lunch I’ll be packing and getting ready for the return trip back home.
– I’ll begin my long road trip home bright and early on Saturday morning.
– I’ll make it as far as Marianna Florida after about 13½-hours of driving.
– On Sunday I’ll drive the remaining 9 hours or so back to Homestead.
– After that it’s back to work on Monday the 30TH of November.
– I have no further vacations planned until the middle of Feb. (my next cruise).
– ‘Saturday Night Retro’ will be presented on Sunday night after I return home.
– No new blog will be posted on Saturday night.
– Need your Disco fix for this week ?
– Well then stick around because I’ll have that for you tomorrow afternoon.
– Until then have a peaceful and quiet remainder to your Thanksgiving.

Categories
Blogging Commerce Food Holidays Shopping Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  This morning me and my brother visited a local area (Plano Texas) Walmart, and this particular Walmart was something special. It was brightly lit, sparkling clean, smelled good inside, had fully-stocked aisles of unopened merchandise, had extra wide aisles, and had cheerful and helpful employees working all around. Oh yeah – and the MASSIVE parking lot out front had no active crime scenes. So I guess that not every Walmart is just like the one that’s close to home that I pretty much avoid.

2.  Post Walmart me and my brother drove on over to Sonic, America’s Drive-In for an early Lunch. After a few years of watching the very low-budget yet very amusing commercials on television I finally got to experience the culinary delight (in my brother’s car) that is Sonic. They have an extensive menu (including Breakfast), but I selected something very basic – the Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster Combo (with fries and a Sprite). It’s was a rather delicious 1,045 calories (424 of them fat calories). I wish we had Sonic back home in America’s Riviera. Once upon a time (before Hurricane Andrew) we had two of them in the Homestead area alone. I ate there occasionally back in the day. Nowadays in order to eat at Sonic we (South Floridians) have to go north up to The Palm Beaches or north and west over to Naples. It’s just not right !

3.  39°, 40°, and 44° – Those have been the minimum early-morning temperatures thus far since I’ve been here (Sun., Mon., and Tue.). Right now at 2 PM the actual air temperature is 61°, but we’ve got gusty northwesterly winds so wind chills are way down in the low-50s. Next week when it gets much colder here in North Texas I’ll be back home in South Florida basking in 80° warmth and higher humidity again. Bring it on !

4.  I asked my brother (who is technologically savvy when it comes to modern cell phone devices) what is the difference between ‘3G’ and ‘4G’, and strangely enough he had no clue. This made me wonder if the average consumer knows what exactly a ‘G’ is. One thing is fairly certain though. My antiquated cell phone from the middle ages (2004) is ‘ZeroG’. But it does just what I want it to do – send and receive text and Twitter messages and the occasional call.

5.  This Thanksgiving my family is trying something new and different for our MASSIVE LuDinner meal. We’re going to The HoneyBaked Ham Company to grab a 3-pound boneless ham – sliced and glazed. This will be our first turkey-less Thanksgiving meal that I can ever remember, so perhaps it’ll be the start of a new tradition. My sister-in-law will be making all of the various side dishes that will go along with the tasty ham. I just hope that one of those side dishes is either spinach or collard greens or broccoli. YUM !

Those are my ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’. Be sure to check back here later this week for my spontaneous ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’.