New Year's Eve
2004
9:30am
I thought that they were going have
public transportation services from Marathon and the lower keys to
Key West on New Years Eve. What happened to that? Does anyone know
anything about it?
The
Marine bank of the Florida Keys
(Big Pine and Summerland Key
Branches) have the best
banking service I have ever seen.
Anita and all her staff go out of their way to provide you with small town
friendliness and big town professionalism. The smiles are always there
regardless of how many hours they have been working, and some of them
work other jobs just to keep pace here in the keys. Oh by the way,
they installed a user friendly ATM
machine that does not take your card, you just insert it and pull it out.
It seems like some of us would insert our card, take our money and
leave. I know of one individual who was called twice to come back and get
his card. What an idiot.
I
have no problem with the guys that work for Waste Management
other than I never know when they are coming. One week they are there in
the afternoon and the next week they come at 5:00am. Maybe if we all
treated them like the human beings they are, they would treat you with the
same respect. They even take my trash cans out of the cages I keep them in
and return them near the same. All I ever do is say hello to them and wish
them a good day when I see them. It isn't too hard a thing to do.
Waste Management. I don’t think they have a regular route. They come to my road anywhere from 8:30am to 1pm. It’s little wonder that they miss our street so often. It doesn’t take much thought to establish a route. Maybe that’s why their garbage men.
Mystery: If a person who plays the piano is called a pianist, why
isn’t a person who drives a race car called a racist?
Waste Management has missed trash Pickups so much on my street that I can’t call there any more. They think I’m a crank. No, my neighbor has to call (until they deem him a crank). The last time I called they finally told me that they didn’t service my road. After five years of poor service they all of a sudden decide that they don’t service my road? They also frequently don’t take all the trash from the cans, especially packing worms which they leave all over the ground when they throw the “empty” cans wherever they land.
Garbage.
I never had to call Blanding (I think that was the company's name) in the
years when they picked up our trash. Only since Waste Management came on the
scene did I start having problems. Blanding was just a nice local guy who
did a good job not like the mega corporation Waste Management with it's
reputed ties to organized crime.
To the person that insists on picking on the Cracked Egg. Get a life and get on with it or get a closet and come out of it. Back off bubba. Name calling is slander.
I
am a former employee of the Cracked Egg.
Let's not take two weeks to inform the general public that they do not
deserve business. Actually, it's the best portion and one of the best
places to eat on Big Pine.
Kudos to Helen and Ricky. They deserve better business than they
have. I agree that the woman who owns the business is a troll and if I
ever want to confront her with this, I will go to her. In fact, she
should stop being such a troll and welcome her patrons, her
cook should as well. Rick, stop throwing temper tantrums unless
it's really time to hire some help.
I love you two. I miss you. (My
name is not Kelly.)
Recipe: I am shocked that people here shun King Mackerel. It is a fine tasting fish. Here is a recipe you will love. Steak the mackerel in 1" chunks. Push out 1" chunks with your fingers from the steaks (they come out easily) dip in pancake batter and deep fry for 2-3 minutes. Put the remainder in your chum bag.
Free puppy. Any takers?
$35
million to help people in need. $100+
billion to kill innocent people for oil and leave a country in shambles.
Bush is so compassionate (when it
comes to oil). A deep thinker
indeed. So
deep it took this mentally
challenged a** to speak out about
the 70+ thousand people killed. Maybe he was trying to finish his favorite
book "My Pet Goat" when the news came in. I can see it now, "Mr.
President, a tsunami just hit, thousands have perished."
"Leave me alone, I need to sound this word out."
They had to pull teeth to get $35
million to help the poor souls that lost everything. When they wanted
money for the war for oil there was no
problem getting Bush on board. I really hope all you people that voted for
him saw this and said, "Damn,
those arrogant liberals were right."
This sent a message to the world. Get ready for the second wave
my fellow Americans.
I
am stunned that all of the people who write in to this sight have not
expressed any concern for the lives lost because of the tsunami. All
you people are doing is bitching about your petty lives and berating other
people, when over 116,000 people have died in just a few
hours. That tsunami made
9/11 look like a drop in the bucket compared to what happened on Sunday.
I guess Americans are a selfish bunch of arrogant whiners. We
don't care about anyone else unless something actually happens to us.
Guess what, I'm an American here in the Keys and I am ashamed of our
government because they can spend BILLIONS of dollars to kill people in
other countries, BUT we can only send $35 Million to help save people.
THAT is a prime example of how arrogant Americans are. That
should be shocking to all of you Republicans
who voted for our President.
Re: "NYC is an inferior lifestyle to the south" You have obviously never lived in Manhattan. "True luxury" In Big Pine Key, you are joking?
Americans are overweight when compared to most Europeans. Did you know they are now making commodes bigger in the U.S. to accommodate the ever-expanding Americans? They have to put a special attachment on the seats so the Europeans won't fall through.
A penny for your thoughts--twenty bucks to act them out!
When
my parents immigrated to the USA, they chose to learn the English
language and raised my siblings and me to do the same. When they
naturalized, they had to speak English.
It was one of the USA requirements then. If a person tries to immigrate to
Australia, there is a point system there where a person needs 100 points
to immigrate. The only way to get 95 of those points is to either speak English
or to donate a huge sum of money to the government. In 1991, the amount
was $1,000,000. This system works so well there. Everybody
speaks the English language.
Immigration is such a wonderful thing for this country. The diversity
enriches our lives so much. I just wish our country would learn from the
Australians and require again that everybody use one language, and
hopefully that would be English.
To
the person who thinks the Muslims have a right to blow up other
people. I'm so sorry you have such little regard for life. Have you
ever lost anybody that was close to you. Life is so precious. I feel sad for
you missing the richness that one is rewarded with when they realize the
true value of life.December 30
2004
Kudos to the Tano Bobcat crew. They did a great job landscaping the Marshall building property, and they did it all in one day!
The owner of the Cracked Egg is NOT a “troll.” She
is a wonderful, caring person. She gave me a job when nobody else would, and
treated me wonderfully for the entire time that I worked for her (over a
year). The fact that she cannot find good, dependable help is not her fault. It’s
a pretty common problem on Big Pine.
I
have been reading all the comments on "Captain Lady Killer"
at Little Palm Island and was going to refrain from commenting, but I can't
hold back any longer. I worked there many moons ago when he was a
glorified bell boy. I am embarrassed to admit I, also actually, dated
the pig for about 2 weeks before I realized what he is all about. The final
straw was when he was at my house and asked my niece for a date in front of
me. Keep in mind, my niece was just 16 at the time. He was about
40. I must give him his due: He is a good looking guy and looks very
young for his age. Unfortunately, he also acts very young for his age
too. I can see how his looks got him many first dates, but also saw
first-hand why he doesn't get many second dates. The only thing bigger
than his collection of dirty pick-up lines is his ego and the only thingsmaller than his brain is his ***k. After all his nickname out at the island was "Boy Wonder". Keep in mind it was 'boy', not Man Wonder. I would have at least expected someone who talked about nothing but sex would been good at it. Was I ever wrong.
Brick
house in Queens: First, let's look at the prices of mobile
homes on Big Pine. The cheapest in the Avenues
is $225,000 for a 1 bedroom, 1
bath mobile home. Two bedroom mobile homes on a canal are going for up to
a half a million dollars. Go on line and tell me you can't
find something in Queens for that kind of money.
Our
government subsidies the smuggling. Once a smuggled Cuban is immigrated to
this country, legally they
receive $6,000.00 which they then
pay to the relatives that paid for them to be smuggled here in the first
place. We need to jail the smuggled as well as the smugglers. We as Anglos
need to stand up to the system that allows this to happen.
We need to boycott business that have illegal workers. A big example is the hospitality industry in Key West and the Florida Keys. I dare you to find out just how many illegal Polish, Russian and Latinos are in the hotels and motels. The other big employers of illegals is the lawn services. Check there ID's and make sure they have green cards. Ask. You have the right. If you find a business that employs illegals report them, tell everyone and call the authority's.
Ego-maniac war games: War games are training exercises to make sure we’re ready for the real thing. There’s nothing personal in those games at all. They are a very expensive necessity to have a military work. During a real war is not the time to work out “bugs” in the coordination of troops and equipment. Many lives are saved in this way.
I have dated women from N.Y. They are not all trolls. New Jersey people, on the other hand, grew up under bridges.
The idiot foreigner who couldn’t read English and went through a stop sign is a lousy example of language xenophobia. The idiot probably didn’t have a license because all countries have similar stop signs at intersections. What did he think that thing on the pole was for? Face it, he probably just ran a stop sign and used his language, or lack of it, as an excuse.
Re:
International travel. I’ve noticed that Las Vegas and Orlando is where all
the fat Americans go on vacation. On the other hand you seldom see
fat tourists in Asia or Europe. If you do they are most certainly Americans.
Is it because fat people are lazy and unimaginative and not adventurous?
When in a foreign land I was with a group of Australians. Some fat people
came down the street towards us and one of the Aussies said, “Here comes the
Yanks.”
I
have a question. Am I the only person who is not satisfied with
Waste Management? The drivers and helpers on the trucks are rude,
they have several times cut my
bungee bands that I must put on the trash cans to keep the Key Deer
out. They
toss the trash cans around like basket balls at 6 AM, they sometimes even
just leave them half full sitting in the middle of the street. And these
are just some of my complaints, I will not even go into my problems with
the recycling trucks. Oh, yes I
have even called the Waste Management office and logged my complaints
which I am sure have fallen of deaf ears. Isn't there another company here
in Monroe County that is willing to bid on these contracts?
Re: Irate Muslims in Iraq went to Sri Lanka to help. Yes, it would be great and if this country's leaders & religious folks did the same...well, who knows, maybe there wouldn't be a reason to keep blowing the hell out of everyone/everything! Namaste.
Coca-Cola was originally green. Not just the bottle.
Many women are blind in love. True. I see decent looking women with men so gross I would never even share a cup of coffee with them (I'm female). But men want a good looking woman no matter if she's illiterate, an ex-con or a bitch from hell. The exception is if she's a bankroll or homeowner. So women: start exercising, keep up your teeth, and pad your wallets & bras!
Q.
Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of
the year?
A. Father’s Day
December 29
2004
I
jammed the other night with a guy whose style was good, but he played
note after note never pausing, even once, all night long! In order to
have music you have to have space between some notes; otherwise you just
have an exercise in technique. It's like playing scales over and over--it's
fast, but not music. Santana uses spaces more than anyone I can think of. He
can hold a note for two days and make it sound interesting and musical.
"Love is blind" only to women; we fall in love with a fat, ugly guy as easily as a beautiful one. Men need props, i.e. lingerie.
You can not purchase a brick house in Queens, N.Y. for the same amount of money for a mobile home here on BP. If so, tell me where.
In
N.C., a Mexican truck driver ran a stop sign because he could not read
English. He crashed into a small car carrying a family of four whose car
burst into flames, and the innocent N.C. family burned alive--all four of
them. True story.THAT is only one example of why the people who move to the US need to learn English. The illiterate truck driver was arrested, but no news of his demise. I think he should serve life in prison for vehicular manslaughter. No parole.
Wouldn't
it be nice if all the irate Muslims in Iraq went to Sri Lanka
and the other devastated area's in
the south Pacific that were
affected by the tsunami and directed their religious energies towards
helping their brothers and sisters who are in need of assistance instead
of blowing themselves and innocent bystanders up with car and body bombs?
I washed, waxed and detailed my car for the first time in a year. It was so bad that it took four hours to clean. It looks so good now that I think it even goes faster.
Is this the kind of country you immigrant bashers want? Whenever I read those types of remarks I think that the writer has not traveled overseas and is thus still intolerant of others. When people travel it becomes harder for them to hold small views of the world.
It
is not important for the US or any other country to preserve a language.
Languages evolve. That’s life. Look at all the dead languages. I agree
that in the future Spanglish will probably be the common language, at least
in this hemisphere. Why not? Note: I find it small thinking that people will
automatically assume that I’m Hispanic for expressing an open opinion on
Spanglish. I don’t think that Ebonics will ever be the language of business
either. Yo!
This is a "kudos" to my mother, the Scorpion Queen. The nickname is nothing close to how caring and loving a mother she is. How generous and dedicated a person she is to the many veterans she supports in her job. I wouldn't be the strong, resourceful, independent woman I am today if it wasn't because of her. I love her dearly and only wish that she finds happiness and hope for 2005.
That coffee shop(?) was so rude for breakfast. I'll be glad when Kelly takes over she always gets what she wants and she has a plan. You go girl. Fire 'em all when you take over.
December 28
2004
President
Bush and Rumsfeld were sitting at the bar in Parrotdise
this weekend. I asked Ken, is that Bush and Rummy? "Yep, that's them." So I
walked over and said what an honor it was to see them in the Keys. I had to
ask, what are you guys doing here? Bush says, "Planning WW III." "Really", I
says, " what's going to happen?" "Well, we're going to kill 140 million
Muslims this time - and, one blonde with big t**s." "Why would you want to
kill a blonde with big t**s?" "Bush turns to Rumsfeld and says, "See, I told
you no one would worry about the 140 million Muslims."
Here
is a good question. When is the Cracked Egg going to be a
family restaurant again? The Cracked Egg has had Crack (Edited) for
2004. The sight of a server with their a** and their crack of their a**
hanging out and bending over in front of customers does not belong at a
family restaurant. Could the restaurant clean up their act for 2005.
The egg crack should be all that we see. I can understand some people are
hard-up and like to see that. We, who dine with our families would like to
know if it can return to a family oriented place again.Go Big Pine Restaurant & Coffee Shop for crack-free atmosphere! No Cracks Showing!
Why are there so many big mouths out there? You people need to get a real life. You are sick. Do what you have to do and let other people alone. You people are nosey. That is way you have no real friends.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
Unwelcome advances are irritating; both to the target and observers. Know when to holster your hormones and back off. Anyone working a public contact position should just switch off during working hours.
This is a request to all of you in the potential path of hurricanes to aim some prayers and well wishes toward the tsunami-affected parts of the world. There's a lot of nice people there who normally take good care of lots of foreign tourists. Personally, I have a cousin as-yet unaccounted for in the area and I am a bit worried.
Why are the cigarettes at the front of the drug store and the sick people have to walk all the way to the back to buy medicine?
Religion 101 Part II: A Pharisee was a top religious leader of the time, and a tax-gatherer was the job most hated by others. Paul, who wrote most of the new testament, was himself a Pharisee before his encounter with a bright and blinding light on the road to Damascus.
To
the guy with the attitude on Christmas eve about people
knocking New Yorkers and New Jerseyites. Just read your own column
and see why you are knocked. You have the "treat me special because I'm on
vacation" smell (or should I say stink?)
all over you. Many of us work full time, pay taxes, and live a real life.
Can you believe this? Many of us even have children. Because you don't see
us when you are on vacation here, doesn't mean we aren't here. Please be
aware that not all of us are on vacation or retired. When I go on
vacation, I certainly don't have the attitude that I should be treated
special just because I go on vacation. I realize I'm not God's gift to your
wallet and you aren't His gift to mine. If all visiting New Yorkers and New
Jerseyites came here without the "greater than thou" attitude, they wouldn't
be resented as they are here. You have the audacity to talk about our "rock
bottom" property taxes here. I know for a fact that for the same
money you can buy a 50 year old mobile home here in the fabulous
Florida Keys that you can buy a
brick house in Queens. AND... we pay hefty taxes here. Maybe our
millage rate is less than most cities,
but we aren't a city. We are a small town. Don't tell us about where you
are from as if it is the best and we are just a bunch of ignorant low
life's. Please. We
choose to live here.
Not in a concrete jungle where you don't know your neighbors and
haven't said hello to a stranger once in your life. And by the way, we
would do just fine without the few dollars you spend in Key West or Key
Largo. Most of you New Yorkers don't do Big Pine Key. We are too quiet and
boring for you. By the way, I was raised in New York City. I
never did think I was better than any other human just because I
lived with 10,000,000 other people.
Would the person who answered my let's go fishing ad please contact me again?
Multi-Language.
Yes, the
announcements at the Tokyo airport are also in English, but as soon as you
leave the airport you’re out of luck. The train system (which is the heart
of Japan’s transportation) is all in Japanese. They are so xenophobic that I
could find no other signs in English once I left the airport. It was a
nightmare. I stood in the middle of the main train terminal in Tokyo for an
hour until an expat took pity on me and put me on the correct train. No one
else at the station would help me. Other Japanese travelers would ignore my
humble request for directions because they didn’t speak English, or if they
did they thought that I should speak Japanese. I’ve traveled the
world over and never have had that kind of problem.
When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts," and
you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?
December 27
2004
You
can speak normally about normal topics and views and everyone will
understand you, but if you say profound things people just don’t
understand you and are always going, "Say, what?". It is a perfectly
normal thing to do. People hear speech patterns and sub-consciencely hear
your next word, but when your next word isn’t the one they expected--they’re
confounded. I’ve had to try to learn to speak English correctly, lose my
regional accent and enunciate because so many of the things I say are
unexpected, strange and off the wall. In my youth people weren’t sure if
what I said, I really said. It still happens, but not as much. This is just
a thought about how and what people hear. I guess that extends to writing as
well, but not as much because the written word is there to see, and
hopefully, ponder. Punctuation is the key to writing clearly (which I
haven’t got the hang of yet). I think that it does have to do with peoples’
set thought patterns. I’ve noticed, in this column, that one posting
will be completely misunderstood by another reader. I can only imagine how
those people misunderstand the spoken word.
If the Communists ever turn the Chinese population loose to explore the rest of the world they can outnumber and overrun any country speaking English OR Spanish!
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
I
was happy to see the Flirtatious Boat Captain at
Little Palm Island was finally fired for his actions. I am not an
ex-employee, I never worked there but did go out there for lunch and
dinner quite a bit before it got too corporate and lost it's ambiance.
I had the displeasure of riding on the boat with that jerk and am amazed
he didn't get the place in legal trouble with his mouth. He was a
disgrace to the good place that Ben Woodson, God Rest His soul, started.
Little Palm used to be a great place when Ben ran it. After he sold
it, due to health issues and then
passing on, it went way down hill. They now care more about the
dollar then the guest. That filthy man who never grew up was typical
of the corporate Seattle-Ass's who
now own it. I urge everyone who is unhappy with their experience at
Little Palm Island to write to Noble House Resorts in Kirkland Washington,
attention: Mr. Patrick Colee and
let him know how they are looked at in The Florida Keys. Maybe that
dirty captain can go work for them in Washington State.Technically speaking, the moon isn't 100% full until Dec. 26th. But that's perfect timing for Christmas carolers and Santa. The practically-full moon on Dec. 24th and 25th rises early, lighting up streets and rooftops as soon as the sun goes down.
What makes this full moon small? Answer: The moon's lopsided orbit.
Although astronomers often say the moon "circles" the Earth, it doesn't, not exactly. The moon's orbit is really an ellipse. One side of the ellipse is 356,400 km from Earth; this is called perigee. The other side of the ellipse is 406,700 km from Earth; this is called apogee. Apogee is about 50,000 km farther from Earth than perigee.
Right:
The apparent size of the moon at
perigee
(top) and
apogee
(bottom).
When the moon is full and near apogee, we get an extra-small full moon. Such is the case this Christmas.
Even the smallest full moons are very bright. They outshine Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, by twenty-five thousand times. They cast shadows, and provide enough light to read by. Finding chimneys? It's easy!
If you get binoculars or a telescope for Christmas, take a look at the moon. It's absolutely beautiful--a world so close to Earth that you can see its craters and mountains and "seas" in exquisite detail.
Reviews:
There
was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a
wine press in it and built a tower, than rented it out and went on a
journey. So when harvest time came he sent his employees to the
vine-growers to collect his produce
Why
are there so many different plugs on the back of a computer? The USB
plug has made them all obsolete. Removing the plugs would lower the cost of
the machine. They could be sold as an option for those who still need them.
i read where Dell cut assembly time (and costs) by four seconds by removing
one screw. How about removing all that other stuff in back?
RACIST?
What idiotic nerve! The objection is against forcing Spanish down the
throats of Americans. If anyone wants to move here, learn ENGLISH. It's
called respect toward America. Respect the country you are living in or
leave. I have never seen American Indian road signs, nor German, Chinese,
Polish, or any other. I have Cherokee heritage, so don't coddle the Spanish
speaking people who have no desire nor motivation to learn English. Why
should they learn English when they don't have to? Every other immigrant
learned English, but Oh, no-o-o-o, not the Spanish speaking people. Gawd
forbid they be treated like every other immigrant throughout American
history.
