Dadeland Today

This is today's look of the Miami Dadeland Village skyline. The building in construction seen on the right is the Town CenterOne office building. The windows are being fitted now starting from the lower level.

DraculaMobile

I missed my September annual blood donation this year so I stopped by this morning for a "feel good" moment. It was quite painless, and it's one of very few things we can give because we can manufacture it for free.

Teenager Bear

A new look of Bear. He has happily grown from a baby to a toddler to a teenager today, at about 2 year old (14 in human term.) As he matures, Bear is less turbulent and no longer dashes around like a bullet. This is what a happy life looks like.

Pretty in Pink

Here is my faithful (as in blooming reliably) bromeliad growing totally unattended along a fence. Aechmea fasciata is an epiphytic Bromeliad from Brazil and there are about 150 species of them in the wild. This plant grows on trees in mountain forests at 1,800 to 4,000 feet above sea-level. Aechmeas are among the most beautiful of all Bromeliads for indoor decoration thank to their large, colorful blooms that rise high above the leaves.

Veterans

November is a nice month to be in Miami. As soon as the weather cools, signs of the holiday season in the US start to appear. One that never fails is that showing charitable organizations seeking money to help those in needs. This is for the US veterans from all wars. They do need a lot of help.

Neo Miami Skyline

Here is the most recent look of the Miami skyline from the Rusty Pelican restaurant across Biscayne bay. The photo was taken at 1PM today. Many new high rises are dwarfing the older tall buildings. Economic downturn or not, they keep rising.

It's Barack!

I am sure all newspapers in the US have a similar front page as the Miami Herald's this morning: the US has a new President starting January 20th, 2009. The insert shows the US electoral map. The tally is not completely finalized but it scores electoral vote 338 - 163 in favor of the "Blue" team: Barack Obama - Joe Biden won big.

The US presidential election system keeps track of two scores: the popular vote (52% for "Blue" and 47% for "Red";) and the electoral vote which is the one that counts (338 for "Blue" and 163 for "Red".) The magic electoral number is 270 for a win. The result was known at 11:00PM US Eastern Daylight time last night, November 04, 2008.

Ylang-Ylang II

This Ylang-Ylang tree blooms all the time. Every time I look, just like today, it shows perfumed flowers. The tree is full of these hard to see green flowers that permeate the surrounding air with fragrance.

Blue Wins!

OK. Instead of beating around the "Bush," here is my prediction for tomorrow's US presidential outcome. If you pay attention, you may notice that this sign is the same as one of that is used by tog . I think this prediction is in line with all the polls to date. It gives a feeling of inevitability. Get it over with, already!

No Luck

It's impossible to find a BIG "Red" political banner lawn sign in Miami so I gave up after some search! This may be a bad omen for the "Red" team this Tuesday. Instead, this is a shot inside Dadeland Mall of Miami. Not too many people there today partly due to rainy weather, but more likely because of the slow economy. I hope things are better in other parts of the world.

e-Books

I am converted many years ago to favor e-Books. The good side is that I can get thousands of e-Books free from the Guttenberg project on the internet. These are books that are in the public domain and there is no copyright to worry about. I convert these books to read them in my cell phone, a Nokia E62. Once in a while, friends would loan me their favorite books. That is when I grumpily carry around these heavy books with real paper pages inside them to read. So, what's the bad side? I do have to buy contemporary e-Books that are protected and I have yet to be able to convert them to my cell phone format. I can do it, but get the correct permission for transporting these paid e-books away from my lap top is a pain you know where. My books are GREEN (and mostly free.) There are hundreds of them in my cell phone, and they are all bookmarkable. I love it!

Fright Night

We all need a break so let's celebrate the American traditional Halloween, October 31st every year. The kids go "Trick or Treat" for candies and adults have fun dressing up as monsters to go bonker in all night parties. Here are two party goers posing in their car next to mine. Happy Halloween!

Big Blue

Driving around Miami these days, you can get your own "scientific" poll of the US presidential race by tabulating the signs in the front yards. This is the biggest "Blue" sign in town. Trust me, it's the biggest! To be fair and balanced, I'll try my best to find a worthy "Red" retort by tomorrow. Come back to see if I can succeed.

Sleeping with the Enemy

With only 6 days to go, the US presidential race's shadow is everywhere, especially here in Miami/Florida. This is one of the biggest battle ground between the Red Elephant and the Blue Donkey. Equally in Americans' minds are the election and the deep worries about the economy tanking, the Miami Herald newspaper eloquently said this in its front page today. When the husband roots for the Red Elephant, what is the Blue Donkey wife to do? Especially when both have just lost their jobs? Can we vote for a "Purple Dragon?"

Mother Load

How does one move big earth mover equipment from one construction site to another? Here's how.

Twinkle Little Stars

Brassavola Little Stars (B nodosa x B cordata) is a primary hybrid (which means for you non-orchid readers a cross between two original species) of the nodosa and cordata species of Brassavola. I got this from tog a few months ago and just dumped it inside this green plastic basket. You can see how easily this orchid grows and flowers: no requirement whatsoever, just my ticket. I used to have several Brassavola nodosa plants, known as the "Lady of the Night" orchids. I love the scent of this orchid at nights: Out of this world. I am not sure if the Little Stars hybrid smell as good. I'll find out in a couple days.

Pro Audio

This is the Miami warehouse selling professional audio equipment and Peavey musical instruments (guitars, amplifiers, mixers etc...) and public address systems for outdoor concerts. This warehouse is typical of the old time Miami when buildings are predominantly flat. Nowadays, new high rises are the norm.

Lunch Break

Police officers need time off for lunch too, and this is the proof. This is a very popular sport grill on Sunset Drive in South Miami. Chicken wings from here are to kill for. A ritual here on weekends is football parties. The ads say US $8.00 for Miller and $9.50 for Heineken beer pitcher. I can't tell which is a better deal because I do not drink beer at all. I vote for wine.

In the Blue Corner

Yesterday, you had a glimpse of the American political "Red" team. Here is its counterpart, the "Blue" team. This sign is on the lawn of a house not far from the one blogged yesterday. I hope that this competition does not turn ugly like the legendary battle between the "McCoy" and "Hatfield" families in the old wild West days. Come to think, it did turn ugly and the news showed people driving around Miami in SUV to rip the adversarial signs up and take them away.

In the Red Corner

The general US election that elects the next US president is in 12 days. The whole country is excited and the competition is fierce. I get "RoboCalls" all day long from both sides who bad mouth each other and that is very annoying. It's a good thing I don't answer the phone. For those of you who do not know about the political system of the US, there are basically two teams, the Republicans (symbolized by an elephant and it likes the color Red,) and the Democrats (with the symbol of a donkey and its favorite color is Blue.) Others claim there is more such as the Independents, but they don't really count. When the rubber meets the road, citizens pick either the Red or Blue color. That's it! This household in Miami supports the "Red" team. For the life of me, I can't understand why the banner is in the "Blue" color. They should know better. Tomorrow, you will see the other side of the political coin. Come back here to see the "Blue" team in action.