http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/tv/article.adp?id=20051021153309990003&ncid=NWS00010000000001

Here we go again. Another frigging hurricane. Watching Wilma closely. See NOAA pics in gallery. In a way it would be weird to be the first generation to witness a 22nd named storm in the same season if another one comes this year. They revert to Greek alphabet to name them. Alpha would be the next. A record I don't really care to be a part of. Of the 8 hurricanes in October since 1900, 6 have hit Florida. Joy. Not sure I can stand 30 more years of this particular climate cycle. Effects the economy here too which effects my paycheck. I have to go out of town on business this weekend too. I guess I will keep someone on retainer to put up my hurricane shutters if necessary while I'm gone. Just sucks. Ready for this season to be over with. Forecast for after storm passes is 69 degrees at night and 82 during the day. Bright sun, no humidity and light breeze. Good numbers.
Don't need this crap right now. Under a lot of pressure. Work mostly. Big week ahead and I take a hard exam next Saturday. One of those that give you letters after your name. Here's some letters for you: BFD! Really should be studying.
Feeling down lately anyway. Stupid and unfulfilled. Maybe even a little weak and abused. Choosing poorly lately. Have had an interesting life so far. Don't regret anything in the past much but might have added a couple of things to the list over the past year. Need less distraction and more focus. Purpose. Need to slow down and contemplate/meditate. Hopefully no irreversible damage done. Bought "God Wants You To Be Rich". Now just need the time to read it. Just need to make it to the holidays. Looking forward to them but even those thoughts are a bit skewed lately. Need something. Think I know what sometimes then get off track. I guess I'm just a regular old, every day, no good, run of the mill, flawed human. Oh well. Must....think......positive. Get in touch with the Source Energy. Utilize cognitive skills. Learn from error. Run the maze faster. What do you think Aliasqueen? I have read a lot of your writings. Perhaps I can learn from you as well.

Wow. Where do I begin describing this past weekend? One thing is for sure, I beat my own record for hanging out on the island (beach)! Hope this isn’t too long for your short attention spans! I think you will find it worth it.

Got my Jack Johnson autographed guitar. A nice new Epiphone acoustic. I might start playing again.

Anyway, Friday night I went out with a customer of mine named Pablo. Pablo is a 54 year old Cuban man (though he does not look that old) who owns and operates a distribution company in Hialeah (a cityscape and culture that warrants its own entry someday). His company sells to “roach coach” operators. “Roach coach” is politically incorrect so we now refer to them in the business as “mobile caterers” or “lunch trucks” or in Espanol; luncheros (spelled something like that). Pablo has lived in the South and Midwest and has actually been to my home town of Rock Hill, SC for softball tournaments with his girls. Pablo is going through a nasty divorce and I told him if he was ever up my way to let me know and I would take him out for some distraction. I can think of no better place to take a man going through a nasty divorce than The Cove for happy hour on Friday. The Cove bar and restaurant is on the intercoastal waterway and has all of the accoutrements you would expect and on this one day of the week the most beautiful women in the world fill every nook and cranny of the place. Beautiful people in general. Funny thing is, Pablo looks and sounds just like Cheech Marin of Cheech and Chong fame. Not the hippy look from back in the day but the way he looks now on the TV detective shows and bit parts in movies. So there we were in our south Florida attire, very ethnic, looking like Crocker and Tubs from the new Miami Vice movie, sipping our cocktails and watching the boats and the women go by. Its good being a local and getting the special treatment too. Then I took him to the island. It was a fun time had by all. Mission accomplished. Go Pablo!

Saturday I went down to the island around dusk, just in time to use a free drink chip from Luna Rosa that I found in my pocket. I met up with some friends and we went to the Brazilian Festival. It’s one of the largest in the country. They close off the road along the beach and there is a big stage and all kinds of Brazilian food, crafts and clothes. I got to see Nestor Torres. He was killer! He is an international Brazilian recording star. I am sure you heard his music at some point in time. He is a jazz/new age flutist who plays dreamy mood music with a Latin flair and also smoking hot sambas and such.

http://www.nestortorres.com/

There was a real good vibe in the audience and we were all dancing and partying like we were at Carnival in Rio. They dance this hot little dance where they take fast little baby steps to each beat and swing there hips. Let me tell you, nobody can swing hips like a Brazilian. The women were stunningly beautiful and I can certainly see the allure. There are some small crappy pics in the gallery from my cell phone if you are interested.

Here is a thought I have had:
If it was 1720 and I was forced by a press gang to sail on a wooden British vessel out to sea for months, watching my shipmates die of scurvy and god knows what, rats everywhere, the stench of the bilge, pirates, storms, eating my last hardtack biscuit and we suddenly landed on Haiti or Puerto Rico or Fiji or Brazil or wherever there were half naked native chicks in paradise greeting me like an animal that has never seen it’s natural enemy, there is no friggin’ way I would ever get back on that boat!

Sunday, besides the Brazilian Festival our beach hosted the International Superboat Races, Some of which are 50’ long, have 24 cylinders and go 170 mph.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/outdoors/sfl-waters07oct07,0,4593575.column

http://www.virtualthunder.com/speedways/trackstatus.asp?tid=1590

That too is a weekend long event. The boats are on display at a real nice park around the corner from my place. There are parties and the teams, fans and media are at the local bars and restaurants. I packed everything I would need for an extended stay and I went down to the beach about 9 AM, rented a couple of lounge chairs and picked a nice spot just south of the pier where the reggae music or Brazilian bands from the festival as well as the commentary from the race (which started at 1 PM) is piped in for all to hear. 82 degrees, blue sky, crystal clear water, cigarette boats thundering by throwing up rooster tails and going airborne, the helicopters following close at water level taking pictures and assisting their team, Brazilian bikinis everywhere. I remember thinking how fortunate I was to be there, and it’s all free and easy. My day could have easily been a grand prize from a contest that any of us would have liked to win. But it gets even more interesting. I was supposed to go with my upstairs neighbor, Robin, but it turns out she had misbehaved the night before and could not make it. So I started calling my friends and told them I was just south of lifeguard station 2, at the high water mark. Well, the only one who showed up was a local named Jennifer. She likes the beach so I met her at noon at Rattlesnake Jake’s where I was just finishing up an early lunch of fresh rare sesame seared tuna (pure protein) and my first beer of the day before returning to my spot on the beach. I feel compelled to tell you about my friend Jenny. I can call her “Jenny” if I am talking to her in my southern accent, “Jennifer” if I am speaking with the northern accent from my childhood (which has come back since I moved here). Jennifer is a beautiful 31 year old 5’ 6” woman with a slender and lovely figure, half Irish and half Lithuanian, bright hazel eyes with a hint of blue and shoulder length dark curly hair. Her nickname is Lion because of her mane she had when her hair was longer. I think it could have something to do with her demeanor as well. She has a pleasant voice and speaks with a lulling, rambling cadence. She is intelligent with an IQ probably over 160. She’s inquisitive and a little dangerous. She has dainty and meaningful tattoos on the small of her back and on her ankle. Her tongue is pierced in two places, front and back as well as her belly button. She is vibrant and has a really great, sort of square jawed smile. She was an exotic dancer in South Beach for a couple of years so her movement is very fluid and she is very comfortable with her body and her sexuality. She is fun to be around. She is very open and honest and she strives for good Karma in her life but often succumbs to her own insecurity and makes poor choices. Those choices often effect others adversely even though I don't think that's her initial plan/intention. Unfortunately, she has been spoiled or pampered by men for much of her life to the detriment of her own independence. She wiggles in her chair like a little school girl and I don’t think she even realizes that she just exudes a natural eroticism and sensuality at every move, look, glance or flinch (which makes it hard for me to stay on task when I am with her). Basically pretty hot, huh? That’s the good news. The bad news is that Jennifer is also a self-confessed bipolar patient with a disintegrating family and infrastructure, a somewhat sordid past, victim to strange twists of fate and currently unable to afford her meds. Does that shed any light on the above description or juxtaposition thereof? Here is an interesting observation: Other woman do not like Jennifer. They simply make eye contact and the claws come out and the hair on their neck bristles. It’s as though she sees something in them and visa versa or like they perceive her as a threat. Very primeval. You would have to experience seeing it to believe it. Best of all it seems to work best on women who know me well and who are unavailable. I mean unavailable to me either because of their age or because they are already in a relationship or whatever. Maybe they’re just jealous. Maybe they are just mothering me because they like me and don’t want me to make a mistake. I understand that Jennifer is a femme fatale and knowledge is power. You just keep that in the back of your head. They need not worry as I am a big boy and experienced in the ways of the world and can maintain a simple friendship with a woman. I’m not sure why the other women act like they do, but I DO know that it exposes their feelings for me sure enough. I have heard that if you are seen in the company of a beautiful woman that other beautiful women want you more. Might be some truth to that after all. All I know is that Jenny is a nice person and a lot of fun to hang out with. Heck, she even likes checking out the other girls with me! What more can a guy ask for. There is certainly never a dull moment when you are with her and she helped me enjoy my Sunday immensely. Thanks friend! I’ve got your back. By the way, I told her I would show her this for her approval before I posted it. How cool is that?

Oh, Heather (aliasqueen), after our last correspondence regarding the Burmese pythons in the everglades I saw on the news that night that a maintenance crew from the Florida Water Management Dept. was mowing tall grass around a facility out there and during the course of the day they ran over and killed 6 of them. The longest was 10’. Then today there was an article in the paper about one eating a ladies 18 pound cat. They’re taking over! By the way, I added your blog to my favorites as a link for others. TTYL. Joe

Attention all: I posted a picture in my gallery of my older sister with Napoleon. Napoleon Dynamite, that is. My weird sister did not want her face or the name of her business on the web so I changed her to protect the ignorant. Why pass up any free publicity?
Also, I just got a new digital camera so good stuff should be forthcoming. . Ya’ll come back now, here?

I was in north Fl this weekend attending a work related event that was visited primarily by blind people. To maintain innocence I will not give details as many of these folks are computer savvy to offset the disability. I mean no disrespect but this could easily have been a Marvel Comics moment where, maybe, mutants gathered to be interviewed by Dr Xavier to become X-men. Normally I dress up in a suit and tie for work. I could have gotten away with one of those t-shirts with a tuxedo printed on the front for this gig since most were visually impaired. Joke. But seriousely, no disrespect implied.
I took the Turnpike north and most of the way south of Orlando the landscape resembles a windblown African savannah in the rainy season (minus the giraffes and elephants and such but they do have the birds). Actually it looks like the highway that might lead to the parking lot of Jurassic Park. You could easily envision a heard of stampeding dome skulled vegetarian dinosaurs being hunted by a T-rex or compies chirping in the underbrush. Anyway, you can see for miles and there were lots of beautiful cloud formations and the sun was at about 4 o'clock. The road, though it appears straight, is actually a gradual zig-zag northward. The storm clouds merged and separated and were visibly dumping copious amounts of rain in the distance in all directions. The weird thing was is that for a couple of hours every time the road zigged or zagged I was heading into the only dry sunlit tunnel in the clouds. It was an ephemeral drive.
Played golf at The Panther at Orange National on Friday. I'm a lousy golfer but the cool thing is that it is like playing golf in the very same African savannah described above.
We are on the cusp of the dry season now and I am looking forward to it and the changes to the weather that it brings.