Category: Weather

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Holidays Music Travel Weather

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

When you think of Christmas you may think of a cold wind and a fresh snow, but in most parts of the world that rarely or never happens. It never happens in places like the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand because it’s tropical or summertime there. Here in the U.S. you’re likely to have a cold wind but no fresh snow. Some parts of the country experienced a White Christmas this year. In fact the Dallas-Fort Worth Texas area saw its first White Christmas in well over a century with at least 3 inches of fresh new snow on the ground.

If a cold wind and a fresh snow is your ideal scene then may you enjoy your “Winter Wonderland” on this Christmas Day.

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Food Holidays Movies Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  I just got home from work about an hour later than normal. We had a GINORMOUS Christmas party at work starting at 3 PM. ‘Twas the mother-of-all all-you-care-to-eat buffets (or as I like to pronounce it – ‘boo-fays’), and there was enough food for 75 of us even though there were only about 25 of us. I ate my fair share of food for myself and two other undetermined people. We also had a fun and hilarious Christmas gift exchange where previously opened gifts were being swiped left and right by the participants. I ended up with a totally awesome (and useful for me) gift. Let’s just say that I can buy food with this gift. I HEARD THAT ONE !

2.  It’s been a ridiculous week of eating for me. I actually went to Shiver’s BBQ for Lunch today just 3½-hours before the start of the Christmas party this afternoon. Yesterday morning I indulged in what amounted to essentially a 10-course Breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. Get this – 2 scrambled eggs with melted swiss cheese, hickory-smoked bacon, sausage patty, sugar-cured ham, hashbrown casserole, fried apples, cinnamon biscuits, sawmill gravy, grits, buttermilk biscuits, coffee, and water. YEAH !  BRING IT !

3.  This past Sunday afternoon me and my girlfriend checked out the hot new Portofino Coal Fired Pizza joint that’s located in the former Atlanta Bread Company restaurant. Portofino clearly poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the space to make it look real nice and modern. The service was near superb, and the coal-fired pizza was great. I hope this place succeeds. It’s pretty much upscale for Homestead, but I definitely recommend it as long as their service and food remain outstanding. Go check it out and support this hot new local business here in our own hometown.

4.  69 consecutive hours – That’s how long we were stuck in the 50s and 60s here in Homestead from Saturday afternoon through late this (Tuesday) morning. Sunday and Monday were our coldest two days in a row since two similar days way back during the first week of February !  I can’t believe how many people around me were whining and complaining about the cold air invasion. Look for warmer temperatures (day and night) through Christmas Day before it cools back down again late this weekend and into early next week. We could actually be back into the lower-80s on Christmas Day !

5.  Box Office Round-Up – Last Friday night we saw the critically trashed box office flop “Did You Hear About The Morgans ?“. Hugh Grant was sarcastically hilarious (my type of humour), and I thought that it was an “A+” movie. It maintained my undivided attention and entertained me all throughout from start to finish, and that’s what matters to me. It was the 15TH movie of the year for me, and that’s one more than I saw in 2008 – and six more than I saw in 2007. Here’s to more screwball comedies and bone chilling thrillers in 2010 !

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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
Animals Blogging Driving Food Holidays Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  My brother, his 4½-month pregnant wife, and their dog are driving well over 1,000 miles northeast this Friday from the northeastern suburbs of Dallas Texas to northwestern Ohio. They will be taking turns driving the Interstate highway system – perhaps in 4-hour shifts – until they reach their destination. They will spend a festive Christmas week hanging out with her side of the family. Please pray that their journey up and over to Ohio and then back home to Texas is safe from all harm.

2.  Last Thursday night within my ‘Mini Thoughts’ I announced ‘a major continental shift in the jet stream’ with ‘temperatures of 25 to 35 degrees colder than now’. Are ya ready my friends ?  It’s gonna happen – really ! – this weekend !  Some of the coldest air of the winter season is getting ready to dive deep into the southeastern U.S. and even into the subtropical Caribbean. On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we could actually struggle to reach the 70°F mark, and we probably won’t even make it. Look for highs mostly in the mid-60s on those three days with early-morning low temperatures possibly dropping all the way down into the lower-40s in and around the Homestead area (a bit milder at the beaches).

3.  With less than 10 days before Christmas I’ve got an updated score in the annual Christmas Card Derby – 22 to 10. Translation – I’ve sent out (either mailed or hand-delivered) 22 Christmas cards thus far, and I’ve received 10. Time is running out. I’ve got a few more to send out, and I’ve got a whole lot more to receive. As is always the case Christmas cards will be gladly accepted through the ‘Twelve Days Of Christmas’.

4.  Last Friday night me and my girlfriend ate Dinner at P.F. Chang’s up at The Falls in Kendall. It was my very first visit to that particular location. I’ve been to the one near my brother’s and sister’s-in-law house in Allen Texas. It was perhaps the most delicious Chinese Food meal that I’ve tasted in quite some time, and I’ve enjoyed a lot of great Chinese Food in my lifetime. I especially adored the banana spring rolls with strawberries and ice cream for dessert. I’m looking forward to future visits to Chang’s to experiment with some of their other delicious menu items.

5.  Staying on the subject of delicious food (clearly one of my favourite subjects) tomorrow for Lunch me and a coworker and our supervisour will be enjoying a relaxing extended meal at Los Ranchos up at The Falls. I’ve eaten there a bunch of times for Dinner, but not for Lunch. I never even knew that they were open for Lunch – or even had a special Lunch menu. Incidentally their official web site is at the domain name beststeakinmiami.com. I don’t know if I would go that far, but it is some good eatin’ !

Be sure to catch more thoughts o’ mine this Thursday night here on the blog.