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Astronomy Food Health Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

You came here on a Tuesday night for this, and I shall not disappoint you. This week’s theme – hot versus cold.

1.  We’ve got light rain here in Homestead right now because we have an incredible phenomenon occurring – an actual wintertime cold front approaching us from the north – in September !  It should ooze on through tonight, and then on the other side of it – clear, crisp, cool, and dry. The sun will shine brightly for a few days, and temperatures will only peak in the mid-80s during the afternoon hours with temperatures early in the morning possibly dropping down into the upper-60s !  It’s just a tiny taste of Autumn !

2.  The hot Sun is now south of the Equator. That means that our nights are now slightly longer than our days. It also means that the Sun rises to the south of due east – and sets to the south of due west – but not by much. After all we are in the subtropics.

3.  We had no working A.C. in my building at work yesterday, so everyone was hot and sweaty. Temperatures were in the mid-80s inside. It was quite unbearable. They fixed it overnight, and today we had A.C. struggling to cool off our building (from yesterday’s sudden heatwave). Nevertheless 78°F felt much better than 86°F.

4.  I ate Lunch with a longtime friend of mine at El Nachito today. I ate enough hot and delicious Mexican food for 3 people. When there was no more food left in front of me I realized that my face was sweating. That happens sometimes when I’ve eaten enough food that could satisfy a small horse.

5.  Can you believe this ?  I think I’m coming down with my 6TH cold over the past 10 months. The first sign of an impending cold for me is typically a weak sore throat. I felt the first sign of it this morning at work, and I exclaimed, ‘Oh no you didn’t !’ I then took a Zicam, and then I took another one 3 hours later, and then I took another one 3 hours after that (just now). Please cold don’t bother me now with your antics !

Categories
Blogging Food Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1. TODAY is the exact 11-month anniversary of this durable weekly series here on my blog. It was Tuesday October 16TH 2007 when it made its nonchalant debut back on the old MySpace blog. It’s a Tuesday night tradition on here. It’s our flagship weekly series. I think that an all-points bulletin or perhaps an amber alert could be issued for me if I don’t do this on any given Tuesday night.

2.  A totally impromptu and definitely spontaneous blog entry last Wednesday afternoon regarding Chuck Norris’s upcoming appearance on Larry King Live ! (four hours later that night) resulted in thick dense rush hour traffic clicking over to this blog. It enabled this blog to experience its busiest Thursday and Friday in history, as well as the busiest week overall (by a MASSIVE margin). That single blog entry is suddenly approaching the TOP 10 (of all-time) out of over 500 posted !

3.  Here’s a restaurant that I’ve been going to forever that just seems to get better and better over time – Peking House – Homestead‘s # 1 Joint For Chinese Food, Music, & Fun !  Today’s Lunch buffet was absolutely crammed with hot delicious food just 10 minutes after opening time at 11 AM. That joint was jumpin’. It was really jumpin’. By 11:30 AM it was nearly packed in there !

4.  After Lunch I went over to the Life Pointe Church offices where I said ‘Hi’ to this smart cat, this creative dude, and this crazy guy with the really weird yellow hair. Oh yeah I also hung out with my fellow 41-year-old friend for about 2 hours of topical discussion spanning some 2,500 years of history !  I loved every single second of it too !

5.  At the present time there are absolutely no named Tropical Storms or Hurricanes, no numbered Tropical Depressions, and no areas of mere concern out in the Gulf Of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Atlantic Ocean. This statement was brought to you by our fine friends over there at the ‘What A Relief’ bureau.

Have A Great Tuesday Night My Friends !

Categories
Blogging Food Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  Hurricane Ike has passed us by well to our south, and that’s exactly what I forecasted it to do last week. As Ike was heading in this general direction suddenly everyone around me had become instant hurricane experts. I had to listen to a lot of ridiculous explanations about how hurricanes interact with high pressure systems and such. Some of it even defied science !  I merely listened and kept quiet, but it was very hard to do so at times. After all is said and done one thing is certain. I got it right.

2.  Today and tomorrow (while supplies last) you can pick up 3-dozen assorted fresh-baked cookies from Publix (where shopping is a pleasure) for the low low price of just $3.49 (on sale from the regular price of $5.09). At $3.49 for 3-dozen that’s less than a dime per cookie. Dude that rocks my world !

3.  I ended a self-imposed 99-day boycott of The Atlanta Bread Company yesterday morning. I actually ate Lunch there. The meal was not very good, and the customer service was not very good. My hot sandwich was cold, and I didn’t even receive the potato chips that come with it. I had to walk back up to the counter to retrieve them. It’s a nice fancy restaurant decor wise. It’s a shame that the food and the service don’t match the decor.

4.  My brother should resurrect his WordPress blog. Even if he only blogs in it once a week that would be good enough. How about a funny TOP 10 list or something similiar to my weekly ‘Monday Night Countdown’ ?  My brother is the funniest guy I know. He’s also cooler than global warming.

5.  I’m going on this trip next May into June:

America's Magnificent National Parks
My Vacation Next May Into June

It includes 3 states that I’ve never set foot in – Montana, Wyoming, and Utah. It’ll be another vacation of a lifetime.

Categories
Weather

The 2008 Hurricane Season: Familiar Names

Every 6 years the National Hurricane Center recycles names in alphabetical order for Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. So Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, and Edouard – we’ve seen you all before – in 2002. We’ve even seen Fay, Gustav, and Hanna before in 2002. None of those storms were rather significant back then. In fact Gustav was the only Hurricane of the bunch – a Category 2 storm that eventually made landfall way up in the Canadian Maritimes. We’ve probably seen the last of both Fay and Gustav. I’m thinking that both of those names will be retired early next year and replaced with all-new names for the 2014 season. Fay and Hanna were actually born during the Spring of 1997 when Fran and Hortense were retired following the 1996 season. Gustav was used in 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008. In its 5TH incarnation it will probably be retired due to the damage that it caused and its mere notoriety all along the upper Gulf Of Mexico coastline (particularly the New Orleans area).

—> DID YOU KNOW that prior to the 1979 season only female names were given to Tropical Storms and Hurricanes ?  Equal Rights !

And then there’s Ike – a name that’s never been used before. That’s because ‘Ike’ replaced ‘Isidore’ following the 2002 season. Isidore was the costliest and 2ND strongest hurricane of the 2002 season. It was retired following the season (along with Lili).

It remains to be seen whether or not Ike will be retired after this season is over. It will be retired if it causes a lot of damage and / or kills a lot of people. We’ll know for sure within the next 7 days.

Prepare for the worst. Hope for the best. Be safe.