Category: Weather

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Career Driving Politics Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  “Chris – Your gray facial hair has put you in a rocking chair. Your beard is weird.” Someone actually inquired about my gray beard today at work. First of all – I don’t have a beard. I shaved last Saturday afternoon as part of my twice-per-week ritual, so I have a mere three days worth of facial growth. Second of all – I can confirm that my three days worth of facial growth is actually more gray than not. Sometimes I get mistaken for a guy in his mid-20s. Sometimes I look my age.

2.  I ‘tweased’ about this on Twitter last night. I’ve been working on my winter season weather forecast for America’s Riviera over the past couple of months or so. Here’s what I think. I’m looking for a consistently cooler and wetter November through April. I don’t think that we will see as many sudden frost and freeze events as we did last winter, but I do think that our milder cold snaps will last for extended periods of time. We could actually experience a month-long period of continuous below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation.

3.  It was another wacky day at work today – perhaps a tad bit less wacky than it was yesterday (Monday). Sometimes what happens in the last 5 or 10 or 15 minutes of the work day – whether it be positive or negative – determines how I feel overall of the day in hindsight. Today ended on an unexpected high note during the last 15 minutes. That turned an otherwise blah day into a wacky but happy day.

4.  I’m going on a 400+ mile / 37-hour road trip during this upcoming holiday weekend. At least that’s what I’ve got planned out. Anything can happen – and it probably will. I’ll be hangin’ out for much of that time over in the Naples area. I can actually see myself living over there in the future whether it be part-time or full-time. I once lived in Melbourne and commuted to my job way over in Tampa for about 7 months after Hurricane Andrew. I basically lived and played on the east coast during the weekends and lived and worked on the west coast during the week. I can actually see a reverse scenario for me sometime in the future where I live in two homes on two coasts of Florida.

5.  It’s Election Day all across the City Of Homestead, but I didn’t vote in this one (absentee or otherwise). The truth be told I’ve lost interest in city politics. More than a decade ago I actually considered a run at City Council. Nowadays I don’t even watch the meetings on television or online. Maybe some day I’ll come back around and show an interest in it again, but not right now. I have a fantastic journey that I need to concentrate on more than any other entity.

That’s the ‘Grab Bag’ for this week. I thank you so very much for your continued interest in my Life, and I surely hope that you stick around to see what happens next.

Categories
Food Health Movies Music Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Approaching it’s 2ND anniversary it’s another exciting edition of the ‘Grab Bag’:

1.  I waited an unusually long period of time in my Doctor’s waiting room this past Monday morning. I even watched calmly as at least a dozen patients who arrived after me saw the Doctor before me – including an apparent brand new patient straight off of the streets. All was forgiven though when I finally got to see the Doctor and he promptly delivered the good news to me. After 49 days of taking Lipitor my cholesterol has PLUMMETTED by over 50% !  My overall cholesterol was previously in the mid-220s, but now it’s barely over 100. Are you kidding me ?  Happily I’m not !

2.  Although I no longer eat the non-stop junk food that I previously did for about 25 years I still indulge occasionally. For example I celebrated my unbelievably low cholesterol results yesterday morning by immediately enjoying a MASSIVE Lunch in the same shopping center (as my Doctor’s office) at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s. I enjoyed the ‘O’ Brady Burger – their signature specialty. Good Stuff !

3.  This past Sunday I picked-up a package of 20 hot wings from Publix – where shopping is a pleasure. I like their hot wings a lot because they are barely hot (as in spicy). I would describe them as having just a dash of hotness. If they were too hot then I wouldn’t like them. I ended up eating 14 out of the 20 for Lunch at home that day, and then the remaining 6 I ate cold for Dinner the next night. Fried chicken and chicken wings are two of the rare foods that are intended to be eaten hot, but for me they also taste delicious cold straight out of the fridge.

4.  Can you feel the difference outside ?  We actually have unusual (near record-breaking) dewpoints way down in the upper-50s this afternoon here in Homestead. That is bone dry heat, and it’s more typical of late-October and early-November. It’s a sure sign of some cooler air to come. For the next two mornings much of the Florida panhandle will be shivering down into the lower-50s (actual air temperatures). Tampa, Orlando, and Melbourne will be comfy into the middle-60s, and a few select pockets of the Homestead farming areas could skirt with the upper-60s !  It’ll be the coolest air that much of the state has seen in about 5 months.

5.  My brother is off to the American Airlines Center in Downtown Dallas Texas tonight to see Metallica LIVE in concert as they rock the house with their hits from the ’80s, ’90s, and today. Maybe my brother will send me an in-depth review of the concert so that I can post it here on the blog for the entire world to see.

6.  Here’s a special bonus 6TH ‘Grab Bag O’ Thought’ – it’s 3 movies that I plan to see over the next 3 weeks – “Zombieland” this weekend, “Couples Retreat” the following weekend (in Naples), and “The Stepfather” the weekend after that.

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Blogging Books Driving Food God Health Holidays Music Travel Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– It’s time to continue a Thursday night tradition since January 2009.
– It’s time for some spontaneous ‘Mini Thoughts’.
– 3 out of 5 therapists recommend the ‘Mini Thoughts’ over any other thoughts.
– I came home from work today and I immediately weighed myself.
– I thought for sure that I’d hit 180 pounds for the first time since 1988.
– I actually lost a pound-and-a-half and fell below 175 pounds.
– That’s despite the fact of what I did for Lunch today.
– Me and my coworker buddies raised a ruckus at The Big Cheese Of Homestead.
– That joint was jumpin’ !
– Homestead and Florida City is big pimpin’ eatin’ cheese in the ‘hood !
– I selected the whole (foot long) meatball sub.
– That included a trio of ENORMOUS Italian meatballs smothered in mozzarella.
– It was perhaps the tastiest meatball sub that I have eaten in modern history !
– I can’t wait to try those meatballs out on a bed of tender spaghetti.
– I also enjoyed 3 garlic rolls, and the garlic was so heavy and yummy !
– I probably could have eaten a dozen of them – right then and there.
– Lipitor – CHECK !
– I can’t compare The Big Cheese with Mamma Mia Pizza.
– I hope that they both survive and prosper here in the city.
– Want some signs of Autumn here in Florida ?
– How does the upper-50s in the morning sound to you ?
– Well if you want that then travel to Tallahassee next week !
– The upper-60s could reach as far south as the Tampa area.
– I can forecast no better than the lower-70s for inland pockets of our area.
– Just wait a month and then we’ll get in on some of that cool relief as well.
– I’m trying hard to squeeze in a short holiday weekend excursion.
– I’d like to visit the Naples / Fort Myers area for Columbus Day Weekend.
– It would be my first visit over there since Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2008.
– I’d like to check out a rock concert that my friend Casey is putting on.
– It’s Jubilee, Horizons Fall, and Manic Drive.
– Manic Drive headlined that concert of January 20TH 2007 that started it all.
– The next morning I went to church for the first time in over 30 years.
– I hope that I can make it over there.
– Don’t forget that tomorrow night is Disco night here at Studio C.M.D.
– Grab your lava lamps and bring the fondue so that we can kick it like it’s 1979 !
– You won’t regret it pal !
– Until then – check this out !

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Blogging Sports Television Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  After a rare one-week hiatus the legendary ‘Grab Bag’ is back with an all-new edition. Last Tuesday night at this time I was at sea in the Florida Straits a few hours southwest of Key West on my way to Cozumel Mexico aboard the Fun Ship Carnival Imagination. In case you missed it I blogged my ‘Carnival Imagination Grab Bag O’ Thoughts‘ last Friday night.

2.  I enjoyed a 231-hour vacation from the mid-afternoon of Friday September 04TH through the early-morning of Monday September 14TH. That’s about 69 hours before the cruise, 92 hours on the cruise, and 70 hours after the cruise. My cruise was virtually smack in the middle of my extended vacation bookended by dual three-day weekends. It’s crazy how those numbers worked out that way !

3.  I watched and enjoyed the series premiere of ‘The Jay Leno Show‘ last night, and so did a lot of you. It was a runaway smash in the ratings. I’ll be DVRing it tonight because I’ll be watching the LIVE season finale of ‘Big Brother 11‘ tonight. This was the most successful season ever as far as viewership is concerned. I will definitely miss it during the off-season.

4.  My beloved Washington Redskins are in familiar territory – dead last in the rough and tough NFC East division. They lost their season opener to the Giants of New Jersey 23-17, but the game really wasn’t as close as the final score. I’m thinking that my ‘Skins should have an easier time this Sunday afternoon in their home opener against the lowly Rams. They are favoured by 10 points with an over / under of 36.5, so that equates to (roughly) a 23-13 win. I’d rather see a blowout such as 42-3.

5.  We’re about a month away from seeing cold fronts reach and sweep through America’s Riviera on a regular basis. Those frontal systems from the north and west will drop our humidity and temperature ever so slowly. It’ll be an El Niño winter, so don’t look for the unusually frigid and bone dry winter season that we went through late last year / early this year. Look for a wetter and milder than normal ‘dry’ season. Last season we had between 15 and 20 mornings that started in the 30s and 40s. I’m forecasting less than 10 of those such mornings for the upcoming winter season.