Category: Travel

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

It’s that time of the week again. It’s time for the flagship weekly series here on the big green blog – the one that started it all back in 2007 !

1.  Fire season is in high gear all across America’s Riviera. It started early this season due to the cold and dry winter that we enjoyed – oh yeah – and the frost that killed the grass all around and made it crunchy. Over the past 5 months (since Oct.) we’ve only had one rain-soaking day. America’s Riviera – ON FIRE !

2.  Travis watched the beautiful sunrise kick-off Tuesday morning over in Seoul South Korea at around 6:50 AM local time. That was at 5:50 PM EDT yesterday evening here in America’s Riviera. Nearly 14 hours later at around 7:40 AM EDT this morning I watched that same sunrise kick-off Tuesday morning outside of my east-facing office window at work.

3.  I want to fly Jet Blue somewhere. It looks like a really cool airline. I spent a lot of time on their official web site last night. I took some virtual trips to Austin Texas, Washington D.C., and Hamilton Bermuda. They don’t fly to Dallas-Fort Worth, but they fly to Austin. I’m almost willing to fly in to Austin and then grab a rental car and drive up to the Dallas area the next time I visit Texas.

4.  I have a fun afternoon planned for Southland Mall later this month. I plan to see the comedy blockbuster “I Love You, Man“, and then I plan to eat pig-out at the all-new Buffalo Wild Wings. I have a feeling that I’ll be visiting the mall more frequently now that BWW is in full effect.

5.  I’m having problems losing the pounds that I packed on during my recent Carnival cruise. It appears that I’m actually gaining even more weight, and that I’m stuck in the mid-170s (if not approaching the upper-170s) !  I may have to contact “The Biggest Loser” for assistance in this matter.

… And that’s what I’m thinking about on this Tuesday night.

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Driving Travel

Driving The Numbers

It’s Wednesday night on the big green blog – the only night of the week in which I don’t yet have a regularly-scheduled series in-place. From September to February ‘My NFL Weekend Game Picks: The Results Show’ was the Wednesday night series, but now that we’re in-between seasons I have nothing scheduled for this night of the week. I may just keep it this way too. Anything can happen on Wednesday nights, so stick around to see what’s up my sleeve. PRESTO !

And now here’s something we hope you’ll really like !  (obscure “Rocky And Bullwinkle” reference)

‘Driving The Numbers’ – what’s that all about you may ask ?  Check this out:

I’m approaching 57,000 miles on my current car that I bought brand new a little more than 68 months ago (in June 2003). I drive a bit below the national average of 1,000 miles per month. In fact it typically takes me about a month-and-a-half to drive 1,000 miles. Over the past 12 months I’ve driven about 9,000 miles. It helps out a lot to be able to drive to work in the morning and then drive back home again in less than a 15-mile round-trip.

On my road-trip last week with my Mom, Dad, and Cat in which I moved them (literally) from (south of) Jacksonville Florida to (north of) Dallas Texas I drove over 1,800 miles over the course of a 5-day period (actually just 4 days because on one of those days I rested in Texas). I essentially did about 75 days worth of driving in just 4 days. Of course only about 750 out of those 1,800 miles of driving was done so in my own car. I drove my parents’ car from Florida to Texas. Their car – a nice new BMW – was POWERFUL – much more so than my measly 2003 Saturn. It was certainly ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’.

Incidentally I-49 within Louisiana may just be one of the most peaceful and quiet Interstate highways in the southeastern United States.

Once I drove past New Orleans last Wednesday afternoon I had driven the furthest west in my entire life. I once drove a stretch of I-35 between San Antonio and Austin Texas, but that was in a rental car after flying in to San Antonio. About a decade later I drove all around San Antonio on another trip there. That was also in a rental car. Perhaps one day I’ll drive my own car past New Orleans, past Texas, and straight on over to the U.S. West Coast. I’ll probably have a different car by then. I’m sure I will.

And now my friends I present to you for your midweek ‘Retro’ review this classic 1988 television commercial for the totally awesome new line of Geo automobiles. It was these bubbly commercials that persuaded me to buy my very first car here in America’s Riviera back in January 1989 – a sparkling new bright red Geo Spectrum. I put over 96,700 miles on that beast for over 8 years !

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Home Politics Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  Happy Square Root Day !  3 X 3 = 9 – and that’s today’s date – 03-03-09. This numerical phenomenon last occurred on Groundhog Day in 2004 (02-02-04). It next occurs on the 04TH of April in 2016 (04-04-16), and then after that on Cinco De Mayo in 2025 (05-05-25). Numbers are my favourite toys !

2.  How many times did we hear on TV and Radio yesterday that ‘March came in like a lion’ with the late-season blizzard and Arctic-like temperatures all across the Gulf Coast and up and down the Atlantic seaboard ?  This has been an unusual Winter season all across North America. Here at America’s Riviera it’s been one of the coldest seasons in modern recorded history, and perhaps one of the dryest ever recorded. Does anyone remember what rain looks like ?

3.  Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) was widely panned by both Democrats (obviously) and Republicans (surprisingly) for looking unprepared, amateurish, and naive during the Republican response to President Obama‘s address to Congress and the Nation last Tuesday night. I just watched his response for the first time a couple of days ago, and I didn’t see anything wrong with it at all. If he were a Democrat then the media would have called him a refreshing breath of fresh air. The Democrats did what they do best – mock and ridicule anyone that doesn’t think exactly as they do. It’s politics as usual for the left-wing.

4.  My Mom and Dad and their Cat now live precisely 4.6 miles away (by road) from my Brother and his Wife and their Dog. My parents have moved to Fairview Texas, and my brother and his wife call neighbouring Allen Texas their home. That’s 1,416 to 1,420 miles away from my home here in Homestead Florida. This has been my home sweet home for the past (going on) 22 years, and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. This is where I belong !

5.  We return to Daylight Saving Time this Sunday morning at 2 AM local time. At that precise time it will suddenly become 3 AM local time, and we will instantly lose an hour of sleep. Get ready for darker mornings and brighter evenings. Enjoy Daylight Saving Time for the next 34 weeks !

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Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

I have returned back home again safe and sound. I officially walked in to my home at 9:06 PM EST on this Saturday night. I haven’t seen daylight here in America’s Riviera since before the sun went down on Monday the 23RD of February.

February was a crazy month for me. During this past month I was transported in 5 states – Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas – and one foreign country – Mexico – via my own car, my parents’ car, my brother’s car, my brother’s wife’s minivan, a friend’s minivan, several taxicabs (two en Cozumel Mexico y one in Jacksonville Florida), a ferry (across the Mississippi River in New Orleans), a Carnival cruise ship (down the Mississippi River and across the Gulf Of Mexico), a couple of shuttle buses (en Progreso Mexico), a tour bus (in New Orleans), and 3 American Airlines jets.

It is now time to settle down and chill for a few months, so hopefully I can do just that starting tomorrow to kickoff the month of March.

In the meantime I present to you for your ‘Retro’ review this appropriate transportation-themed track. It’s the International pop smash “Joyride” from Roxette from 1991. It’s one of my all-time favourite songs ever, and it’s a family favourite for my Mom and my Brother. C’Mon Join The Joyride !