Category: Weather

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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.

Categories
Blogging Shopping Sports Television Travel Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– It was pouring down rain at work for about an hour or so just before I left.
– Meanwhile here at home there’s no sign of rain (aside from the thunder).
– The sea breezes are colliding directly over the air base.
– I’ll be embarking on my Carnival cruise in just 92 hours.
– I’m getting more and more excited by the hour.
– But first there’s just one more day of work before my 9-day break.
– There will be no blogging next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
– But I will send out a few Twitter tweets from Key West next Tuesday.
– I won’t have cell phone service from Tuesday afternoon until Friday morning.
– No cell phone service ?  Now THAT’S paradise !
– A spokesperson from Developers Diversified Realty hit up my blog today.
– Check out this hot new web site – shophomesteadpavilion.com.
– My Washington Redskins are currently in the great state of Florida.
– The’re up in Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars in their preseason finale.
– I won’t see it because it’s not a nationally-televised game.
– The Dolphins are over in The Big Easy to battle the Saints tonight.
– That game will air locally on CBS-4 Miami.
– The regular CBS primetime lineup will air on MY-33 which becomes CBS-33.
– That includes “Big Brother 11” – tonight at 8 PM on CBS-33.
– Tomorrow night here on the big green blog it’s the weekly Disco party.
– So grab your crisp all-white leisure suit and let’s get a steppin’.
– I’ve also got an all-new ‘Retro’ for you on Saturday night.
– It’s very mid-1990s, and it’s very Tropical Caribbean.
– Be sure to catch the next ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ in two weeks !

Categories
Blogging Bugs Driving Food Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

You’ve waited a full 7 days for this, and now you’ve got it. It’s the ‘Grab Bag’ !

1.  Once again today it’s the tale of two Homesteads. There’s the flooded Homestead (where I live), and there’s the dry Homestead (where I work). Over at the air base this afternoon we received barely a trace of rain. Here in my ‘hood nearly two inches of rain fell over the course of two hours. I can fully explain why this is happening, but I’d rather not bore you to bits.

2.  Yesterday (Monday) at Lunchtime there was an ENORMOUS vehicle collision on East Biscayne Drive (SW 288TH St.) between Wendy’s and the air base. It happened during the 10 minutes or so that I was at the Publix at Waterstone. As I proceeded back towards the base the scene was barely unfolding with mass chaos everywhere. It was probably one of the worst accidents that I have ever seen in my over 20 years of driving on that particular stretch of roadway. One woman was even airlifted via helicopter from the scene of the accident. 3 hours later the road was still a nightmare. I had to take U.S. 1 from Moody Drive (SW 268TH St.) to Lucy Street (SW 328TH St.) just to get home.

3.  TODAY on my way to Lunch with a buddy from work my Saturn flipped over from 59,999 miles to 60,000 miles !  It happened westbound on Campbell Drive approaching the Oasis Shopping Center. That’s 60,000 miles of driving in 6 years, 2 months, and 1 week. I hit 50,000 miles exactly 15 months ago tomorrow, so that’s an average of about 667 miles per month – or 22 miles per day. I love living and working in the same city !

4.  Apparently I undervalued my antiquated cell phone. It is NOT a 2002 cell phone. It is actually a 2004 cell phone, and that’s when I actually bought it. I had another (even more antiquated) cell phone from 2002 to 2004. I recently realized that I can actually tweet with it, so even in its old age it still has a purpose driven life. A cell phone’s equivalent human age can be calculated simply by multiplying its actual age in years by 20. My cell phone is the equivalent of a 100-year-old ! 

My Cell Phone

5.  If you see a very low-flying C-130 Hercules aircraft hovering over the mean streets of Redland, Florida City, Homestead, Leisure City, Naranja Lakes, and Princeton early tonight and tomorrow night then have no fear. It’s a mosquito killing mission. Stay indoors as the poison is sprayed from above.

The ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ is taking a week off next week. Be sure to catch the next ‘Grab Bag’ in two weeks – on the 15TH of September. Be sure to check out an all-new ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ later this week.

Categories
Weather

Trouble In The Tropics

Thanks to the continuing (and strengthening) El Niño phenomenon in the tropical Pacific Ocean conditions in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf Of Mexico remain rather hostile and counterproductive towards the development of tropical systems. One such system continues to struggle to get its act together. It’s located a couple of days away from the southern Windward Islands, and it will produce inclement (rainy and squally) weather for the Islands as soon as Tuesday night. I am forecasting it to eventually become an unorganized Tropical Depression. At this time I don’t see it becoming a Tropical Storm, but if it were to do so her name would be ‘Erika’. Any potential effects on North or Central America are still more than a week away.