Ike & Val Woods - Live @ Upstairs @ the Van Dyke!!

If you're a fan of blues, funk, soul, and gospel music and love to see a kickass musical performance then boy have I got somethin' for you.  My favorite band in Miami - Ike & Val Woods - will be playing this Saturday night Upstairs @ the Van Dyke on Lincoln Road.  Show starts at 9pm and the place fills up quick so get there and grab a table or shore up at the bar and get ready for a great time.  I love seeing live music at this venue because it's small and intimate.  Bar prices are reasonable for South Beach too.  Also, you may want to wear a Teflon face mask because there is a pretty good chance Reverend Ike might melt your face off with one of his face-melting guitar solos.  Ike IS the blues and I am so thankful to have someone like him here in Miami playing music that I love.  Ike & Val and their whole band pour their entire lifeforce into every performance and it's awesome to see.  Their drummer had an epic drum solo a few months ago that was so awesome I bought him a beer when the song was over.  Check it out, you won't be sorry and you'll leave there feelin' real good.

One for Ricky

I usually don't read forwarded emails.  Yup, usually they get the delete key at the preview screen.  Today I happened to read one because it came from a pretty good source and was titled, "Something to think about..."  The email indeed was something to think about and also took a political tone that of course reminded me of Rick at South Florida Daily Blog and his political posting that his readers suffer through each week.  :)

I've taken the liberty of copying and pasting the email below.  Share your thoughts...

To: SteveBM, etc, etc
Subject: Something to think about...

There is something in here that I imagine all or most can agree on - except
ex-congressmen/senators and current ones! I like the thinking at any rate.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took
only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people
demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail,
before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or
less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

I'm asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty
people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do
likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have
the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.


Congressional Reform Act of 2011


1. Term Limits.

12 years only, one of the possible options below..

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay
when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social
Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social
Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans
do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional
pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in
the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American
people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective
1/1/11.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.
Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.


Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s),
then go home and back to work.


If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only
take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.
Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!! If you agree with the above, pass it
on. If not, just delete

You are one of my 20+. Please keep it going.  

Press On

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

-Calvin Coolidge

9 Years and 10 Games of Patriots and Doll Fans

It was a warm fall day when I pulled into my new home in South Miami on October 6th, 2001.  I had just moved down to Miami from Boston for absolutely no reason at all.  I was jobless but looking forward to the adventure of starting a new life in a new city.  I arrived to an empty house and began unpacking.  My roommates were out on the water for the Columbus Day Regatta and came home all sorts of riled up.  They decided to throw a party to welcome me that night which was pretty awesome.  I met a lot of cool people that night but the one who surprised me most was a Colombian girl named Maria who was into classic and alternative rock.  We talked for a bit and somehow sports came up and I mentioned I was a Patriots fan.  She didn't know much about football so that was that.  The party ended around 5am from what I remember.  Good times.

The next morning at 10am, there is a knock on the door and someone ringing the bell.  "What the hell is this shit?", I remember thinking to myself as I trudged over to the door in a zombie-like state.  It was a guy who said he was Maria's cousin.  He had two tickets and a parking pass for the Patriots/Dollfans* game and would sell them to me if I wanted them for $80.  Sold!  My first day in Miami was off to a great start!  I vowed that from then on, I would make it an annual event to go to the game when the Patriots were in town.  It's been 9 years to the day and I've kept that vow, having attended 10 Pats/Dollfans games since. 

2001 - Not much tailgating for this one since we got the tix that morning.  My roommate and I got to the game right before kickoff and parked in a lot far from the stadium, guzzling a few beers on the walk in.  On our walk from the car to the stadium, Troy Brown ran the opening kick back to the Dollfans 5 yard line.  We then heard from other tailgaters that the USA had begun bombing Afghanistan.  It was 1 month after 9/11.  The Pats took a 7-0 lead but it was all Dollfans after that as Lamar Smith ran all over the Pats D.  The final score was 30-10, Dollfans.  Two more things about this game...  Having moved to Miami from a small un-diverse town just North of Boston, I was experiencing major culture shock.  It seemed like no one spoke English in Miami.  At halftime, I was very moved when the American flag was draped across the field and a moment of silence for our brothers and sisters in war overseas was observed by all in attendance.  The other part about the game wasn't so surprising.  Jay Fiedler was having a great game.  He threw one pick in garbage time when the game was out of reach and was booed like no tomorrow as Doll Fans around me talked about how much he sucked.  Way to get behind your team.  The Pats would finish the season as Super Bowl Champions for the first time in my lifetime.  Figures the year I move away they win it all...haha.

2002 - A buddy of mine flew down with his girlfriend for this game.  We had an awesome tailgate with Pats fans who seemed to outnumber Doll Fans 2-1.  At least we got a nice buzz on because the Pats lost again 26-13.

2003 - I went to this game with my buddy, Ryan, whom I was also battling in fantasy football that week.  We sat in the upper endzone and he was rubbing it in each time the scoreboard flashed scores from other games where his players were scoring points in our matchup.  I had Tom Brady on my team and as the game went on, my fantasy team was making a comeback.  Our match was close when the Pats game went to overtime.  The Pats made a key defensive stop and then Brady hit Troy Brown for a 75-80 yard TD to not only win the game but give me the W in my fantasy matchup.  It was awesome and one of the best times I can remember having with Ryan.  He passed away 5 years later.  I still think about him all the time.  He was a great friend.

2004 - The Pats/Dollfans game fell on a Monday night this year.  A buddy of mine and I got to the game early and got the fire going to cook some dinner and drink some beers.  It was a good thing we had a nice fire going because it was the coldest night I can remember in South Florida.  At kickoff it was 52 degrees and there was a ton of wind.  We used the fire to keep warm and had 2-3 layers on!  Sure, it was nothing like a snow game at Foxboro but for Miami it was cold!  We scored killer seats for this game about 5 rows up on the 40 yard line and sat there with our hands going numb as they clenched beer after beer.  The Pats went up 28-17 about halfway thru the 4th quarter and my buddy, who had driven us to the game, wanted outta that stadium like a typical shitty Doll Fan.  I laid into him as we walked to the car for being a shitty fan and as we opened the doors the stadium goes nuts.  The Dollfans had scored but botched the 2-point try and were down 6.  As we drove South on 93, Brady threw an interception and Derrius Thompson (I'll never forget that jobber beating us) scored the game winning TD.  "THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T LEAVE EARLY!!!", I yelled at my friend the rest of the way home even though I was glad to not have had to deal with the loss in person.

2005 - I get to see my 2nd Pats win as they take the game 23-16.  Heath Evans, a former Dollfan, starts for the Pats at RB even though he's a FB and has a great game.  This was also the first time the Pats would see Nick Saban as coach of the Dollfans.  It was also the last.

2006 - The Pats played the Dollfans on my birthday this year and I scored great tickets for me and an old friend of mine from back home.  The game, however, will forever be remembered by me as the "Birthday Beatdown".  The Patriots lost 21-0 in a horrible game.  It was like I was a Patriot out in a boat on my birthday and a dolphin jumped out of the water and over my boat, taking a crap on my birthday cake in the process.  It sucked.

2007 - Redemption.  For as bad of a beatdown as 2006 was for the Patriots, they more than made up for it in this game.  Tom Brady threw 6 touchdowns with 2 going to former Dollfan, Wes Welker, and 2 being lobbed up in the air for Randy Moss.  Both Welker and Moss also had 100+ yards in this game.  The Pats would go on to break a bunch of records this year with an undefeated regular season and nearly a perfect season.  I still don't care what any Doll Fan who clings to the past says - 18-1 in the year 2007 is still more impressive than 17-0 in 1972.  I was at the Super Bowl when the Giants defeated the Patriots on a lucky heave and catch and that would've sucked more than the "Birthday Beatdown" had it not been for the insane time I had out there.

2008 - Tom Brady was injured and knocked out for the season on the opening drive of the first game of the season.  Matt Cassell came to Miami and led the Patriots to a blowout 48-28 victory, throwing for over 400 yards with 3 TD passes to Moss.  I got really shitfaced at this game and that's about all I remember haha.

2009 - Disappointment.  The Pats shot themselves in the foot this game.  Belichick overcoached and the players underperformed after going up by 14 on a bomb to Moss (one that I called before the snap) and a TD run by Kevin Faulk in the first half.  They led 21-10 after a lucky pass caught by Sam Aiken led to a TD but then blew a number of chances to score as the Dollfans crept back into the game and eventually won 22-21.  Davone Bess had a great game and looked like the Dollfans version of Wes Welker in this game.

2010 - This year I was nervous about the game.  The Patriots defense is abysmal this year and although the Dollfans offense doesn't impress me, I figured they would score easily and that their D would play strong and give Brady trouble all night.  We tailgated a good 4 hours for this game and sucked down many beers.  I couldn't have been more wrong about feeling nervous that the Pats would lose.  They won in a blowout 41-14 with Randy Moss not even catching one pass.  It was all defense and special teams.  The Pats would trade away Moss 2 days later to the Vikings and the Dollfans would appropriately fire their special teams coach.

Wow, nine years and 10 games of Patriots and Doll Fans.  My record at Dollfan Stadium/Landshark Stadium/Sun Life Stadium is an even 5-5.  Looking forward to breaking that tie next year!



*Out of all teams in all sports, I don't think there is a team I hate more than the Dollfans and that's coming from a Red Sox fan with extreme dislike for the Yankees and their fans.  I HATED Dan Marino growing up.  Not because he beat my team but because I thought he was an asshole.  Every time he would throw an interception or fumble, he would always yell at his teammates.  It was never his fault.  I also can't stand the majority of the Doll Fans and can't believe they would enjoy that moniker of fandom.  They are fair weather fans and most have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to their own team.  Just a sad group of fans.  Not all but many of them.  They also cling to the "perfect season" and bring it up whenever they feel the need to pretend how much their current team doesn't suck.

Wow, Good People In Miami

I'm blow away by an event that has transpired over the past 2 days.  I arrived home from work yesterday and got my mail and found I had a letter from the Traffic Citations department of Miami.  At first I thought it might have been those new video cameras in Coral Gables that had busted me doin' a "California Roll thru a stop sign or something but when I opened it up I found a parking ticket inside.  ""WTF?", was the only thought that entered my mind.  Not that I'm immune to parking tickets by any means.  I get them occasionally when I don't have change or something.  This one was different though.  I knew I didn't have my car that day.

I went online and found out where the ticket was issued.  It was a place I'd only been to once.  I had turned in my car that morning at Bimmer Shop, a BMW repair shop located caddy corner from Braman BMW.  I had wires on both tail lights short out and needed to replace the whole damn panel.  Bimmer Shop repaired it and did a great job.  In fact, I was impressed with how nice everyone that worked there was and that they completed the work within hours.  However, I guess at some point they had to move my car to a parking spot (their place isn't enormous) and while it was there it was ticketed.  I'm assuming they took the ticket and intended to pay it but forgot or something because I never saw it.  I knew nothing about it until I got the late notice yesterday in the mail.

I left a voicemail and sent and email to their office because it was after hours.  I also called the next morning. The girl who answered the phone was really nice and had just listened to my message.  She asked for my tag number and said they would take care of it.  Most of the time in Miami this means you have to call the person every day to remind them to do it.  Not this company.  She called me back within 10 minutes and let me know the ticket had been paid.  I couldn't believe it.

Bimmer Shop will definitely be recommended to any and everyone I know.  They can do body work on any auto and mechanical work on any BMW and they do a really good job in a short amount of time.  The people in both the office and shop are friendly and they showed me that they will make amends to any mistakes they make.  Good stuff all around.

"For a minute there...I lost myself."

Those lyrics from Radiohead's "Karma Police" couldn't better describe the events that transpired around 4:45pm at my workplace today.  After years of snide comments, insults, misrepresentations, mountains of disrespect, and casting it all aside, I couldn't accept it anymore.  I lost it.

I can't remember ever being that angry ever in the thirty-two years of mornings I've been blessed enough to wake up for.  Sure, there have been times where I've been angry but never teetering on the edge of physically assaulting someone without following through with it.  At least when I'd get into a fight there would be anger leading up to it but knowing that a scrap would end things right then and there made it easier to not be so angry if that makes sense. Even if I wasn't the victor (and believe me, I've taken my fair share of shots) at least my feelings were communicated in a way that was easy to understand.  As time aged on I sought out the path of more reason, telling myself that there was nothing worth getting so worked up about.  I let things go and it worked.

But there I was at 4:45pm, hands shaking as rage coursed through my veins causing them to pop out of my forehead and neck, turning my face tomato red.  I removed myself from the situation three times because I felt as if I couldn't trust myself to stay cool and, no matter how good it would've felt to communicate my feelings physically, that the repercussions in the end would not have justified the means.  Unfortunately, that just fanned the flames.  This was my job, my means of living life, and that was being used as leverage against me.  I felt trapped.  I felt owned.

My buttons had been pressed for years but this time the "out of order" light didn't illuminate.  Action was getting reacquainted with reaction.  I took all my frustration and anger and I let it go in a verbal way, refusing to give in and turn the other cheek.  I didn't curse (I'm still in shock I was able to do that) but instead chose to finally let all my feelings fly with the understanding that my little share session could result in my termination.  I didn't care.  I was not going to take one more ounce of disrespect and I was there to make sure everyone knew that.

In the end I was a little disappointed that I blew my stack because in a way I felt as if I'd lost the mild mannered person I'd worked so hard to become.  Overall, however, I was proud.  I was proud of myself for taking a stand, even if it was potentially my final stand.  I'd rather starve than feel owned like that.  After all, at the end of the day I report to myself, not a boss, not friends, not family, not God.  Me.

Wow, something's wrong with me

I love to gamble.  I gamble on sports occasionally, but my real love is the casino.  Lately, I've been hitting the blackjack tables but my real love is playing craps.  Nothing beats the camaraderie of a table full of people exploding with glee when a point is made or when a shooter gets hot and rolls for awhile.  I'm not a big gambler because I like to play for awhile and don't want to get busted early.  My conservatism also comes with a slight whiff of responsibility, you know, just in case I get busted.  Besides, I gamble because it is fun.  I don't gamble like it's a second job because one job is enough for me.  Knowing all this, you would think I would be excited to head to Vegas for a week on a basically all expenses paid trip?  Truth is, I'm really not that excited.

Gambling has been a real bitch to me ever since 2008 when I raked in about $8500 in winnings on four trips, the biggest being $3200 on my last trip of the year.  Since that epic year I haven't walked away a winner on a gambling trip.  It's been about two years of losing that has gotten into my head.  Yes, I gamble because it is fun but, for crying out loud, losing all the time kinda takes away from the fun.  And by "kinda" I mean "majorly".  I attribute most of the losses to playing more blackjack than usual after hitting big a few times in 2008.  Blackjack can be a very frustrating game.  When you constantly get dealt 12-16, the worst hands to be dealt, it's demoralizing.  I also blame my decline on my decision to gamble at the Hard Rock in Fort Lauderdale.  That place is full of losers and I think their funk has rubbed off on me.  The final piece of blame lies in my attitude when I get to the tables.  I catch myself nervous about losing and feeling cursed instead of saying, "Win or lose, who gives a crap, let's have some fun!"

On my last trip to Vegas in April of this year, I couldn't believe that I spent less than 30 minutes gambling on my entire trip!  And that was a 4 night stay!  I think it was good for me though.  I got back to having fun in Vegas the old fashioned way, with good ol' alcohol and partying.  Maybe that's what I needed?  A kickass time in Sin City without gambling to boost my spirits and get back to having fun in Vegas.  With a pocket full of cash and a flight that leaves soon, I guess it's only a matter of time until I find out.