My Thoughts On The Homeless in Bowling Green, Ky.

I think the older I get, I have more empathy for the homeless in our city of 80,000 in Bowling Green, Ky. But on the other hand, I have more gratitude and appreciation for what I have too in my life (my home, my family, my dog and my car among other things in my life). It makes me think how lucky I am to have the life I have had at age 62. I think about the homeless in the path of Hurricane Helene down south right now. I hope and pray that they did not get swept away into the Gulf of Mexico. There are ways of helping the homeless in Bowling Green and other towns across America without even leaving your home. You can give to the Salvation Army or Goodwill online. Or give to your local church. I am sure they have a mission to reach out to the homeless. I think two positive things that Bowling Green has going for right now is that a brand new intake center is being built with several agencies involved including law enforcement as a place they can be taken to instead of jail when picked up off the streets. They will be evaluated and then determine what the next step is for them. And the other great thing that has happened recently is that the Salvation Army has remodeled one of their older buildings across the street from their newer one where the homeless can take a shower and wash their clothes. They probably have some other things that the Salvation Army can do to help out at that point also. When you see the Homeless on the street corner holding up a sign or panhandling people for money, don't roll down the window and yell "Get a job!" I admit, I am guilty of that many times through the years. Instead of giving them money to them on the spot, give them food items, bottled water or clothing items according to the season. As far as money goes, give to your favorite charity who has a mission to help the homeless. (Disclaimer: Recognize that there are some people on the street corners posing as homeless. They are not homeless. They treat it like a job and they are scammers. I have been scammed before. That's why the experts who work with homeless or government officials say there are better ways to give to them such as giving online to your favorite charity who help the homeless directly in our community).

The New "Bob Marley: One Love" Movie Is Jamming While Bringing Back Good Memories For His Fans

 Nowadays there's so much to watch on TV. Actually, there's really too much to watch in my opinion. 

We got internet streaming flat

screen TV's with built in apps that have taken the thunder out of me watching my large collection of DVD movies that I have been collecting these last several years.  We have Dish Satellite TV also.  And I am really scratching the surface on that too.  Half of the buttons on the remote, I don't even know how to operate. Lol. To be honest, I think I have gotten too lazy to get up put the DVD's in the machine lately.  It's just much easier to flip on the TV and start pushing buttons on the remote and began chipping away at the tip of the iceberg on the tons and tons shows, documentaries and movies available to watch on the internet streaming TV apps and Dish Satellite TV. 

But every now and then a new movie comes along that is being shown at our local theatre.  And usually if it's a rock music biopic, I am very interested in going to see it.  In this case with this latest biopic, it's a movie about reggae music legend "Bob Marley" which is currently being shown here in Bowling Green. The movie is called, "Bob Marley: One Love." My wife (Patty) and I went to see it last Monday and I thought it was a great movie and really enjoyed it.  And course, I always have to sit on the outside seat in in the theatre just in case I have get up to use the restroom. And we always purchase a large popcorn with butter and a large Pepsi at the concessions stand beforehand that we share together to enjoy our movie with.

I won't spoil the details of movie by talking about what happens or how the movie is portrayed.  However, the movie brought a lot of good memories back to me while watching it. It reminded me when I was in college at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss., in the early 80's and I was in the Sigma Pi Fraternity.  We played a lot of Bob Marley back in those days at the frat house especially during parties.  Also, Patty and I owned a Bob Marley greatest hits CD and we wore it out playing it over and over in the car in the 90's and 2000's. Especially when we would drive down to Pensacola Beach at the Gulf of Mexico where we go on vacation for several days at the beach.  I thought the movie was well done and I loved the music.  Patty and I have started getting back into Marley's music here at the house on the Amazon Prime Music app on my Android phone with the JBL bluetooth speaker lately I have noticed. 

One major thing about the movie I will say, Bob Marley and his band members definitely loved their "Ganja" (marijuana) down there in Jamaica. I supposed that was to be expected. He and his family and some of his bandmates were members of the Rastafari religion. The smoking of "cannabis" is part of their religious ceremonies. It is legal for their religion in Jamaica to smoke it but illegal for others on the island. If someone is caught with a small amount of marijuana is not a criminal offense but they do have to pay a fine. And if it's over a certain amount, it is considered a criminal offence. In just about every scene of the movie, Marley and his bandmates had several joints of Ganja lit up and passing it around.  The only thing that I didn't like about the movie, is that I had to go use the restroom and unfortunately I missed the scene where the Rolling Stones met Bob Marley backstage.  Just my luck, right? Lol.  Oh well, I am sure I will catch the movie again next time on a streaming internet channel app or Dish Satellite TV very soon. No doubt.

Margaritaville Beach Hotel, Pensacola Beach, Fla.: The Hotel With A "Million Dollar View"

Early Morning Sunrise at the Beach

   
It was one of the first things that caught my eye when I walked into the  beautiful and spacious lobby of the Margaritaville Hotel at Pensacola Beach, Fla., earlier this month when Patty and I made our annual short vacation trip down to the Gulf of Mexico from Kentucky. This hotel which is only five years-old, in my opinion, has a "Million Dollar View" of the Emerald Coast with its very white sandy beaches just below your feet as you stand at the glass panel windows looking out into vast blue, green waters of the ocean. You can see for miles and miles. This type of view of the ocean always stirs an awesome feeling inside me-a feeling of relaxation and inspiration.  I noticed that the hotel also had a very nice gift shop in the lobby with lots of Jimmy Buffett merchandise and Jimmy Buffett and reggae music was constantly playing in the background in the lobby at a very decent low level volume. The staff at the front desk were really nice and helpful. They gave us good directions on how to get to our room and where to park. And when we checked into our room in which we did on the very top floor, the seventh floor, we experienced a even more incredible breathtaking view of the Gulf of Mexico.

Patty standing in front of the hotel beachside

I loved the balcony with its two chairs and little table. It's a non-smoking hotel, so you don't have smell any cigarette smoke blowing up towards you from guests down below. I am an early riser so I really enjoyed getting up before dawn and watch the sunrise while drinking a cup of coffee from the Keurig Coffee Maker in the bathroom and sitting in the waffle cloth spa robe that the hotel provides for you during your stay. Patty always loves to sleep in especially in the wonderful king size bed that was in the room with its fantastically soft, white linens and duvets. The towels and wash clothes were super soft too and smelled very fresh! The first night we walked around the hotel and out to the pool and out on a long boardwalk from the hotel to the beach. The sun was setting and we took some awesome pics. Very romantic! We had dinner in the hotel's full service restaurant in the lobby called, "Frank & Lolas Pensacola Cafe" and it was really good. Not too

The front of the hotel bayside

Our room with the million dollar view

overpriced with a friendly and attentive staff. I had their delicious blackened grouper Fish Sandwich and fries and Patty had the House Sirloin steak dinner. I also tried some of their local brewed beer and I went with the Fairhope beer brewed just down the road in Mobile, Ala., which is a classic American pale ale, brewed with a combination of American-made Falconer's Flight hops and German hops. The next morning I woke up early and did my early sunrise thing and snapped a few pics. We spent about a half of a day at the hotel's awesome pool and Tiki bar and then went to the beach of course. Patty thought the weather was a little too cool but I thought it was perfect. Of course, I was in and out of the water several times also. I loved the fact, the hotel gives you two free Landshark beers coupons when you check in and I used those at the Tiki bar. Earlier in the day, we had walked the boardwalk area of the beach hitting a few gift shops and had lunch at Sidelines, our all-time favorite sports-bar and grill. Later on that evening, we drove over to Flounders Chowder House for some of our annual favorite seafood with a couple of Pina Coladas. We even purchased the really cool glasses that they came in and brought them home with us.

The awesome pool

Patty and I at breakfast

The next day we had a late lunch at Peg Leg Pete's another one of our favorite seafood restaurants on the beach. Apparently we ate so much seafood we totally skipped dinner. We also drove down to Casino Beach pier and paid a $1.25 each to see dolphins, sharks, jelly fish and fishermen fishing-everything you'd see while walking out on the pier.  I've always enjoyed the pier because you never know what you're going to see. Earlier that day, we had gone downstairs to the lobby and had breakfast at Frank and Lola's. We sat outside on the deck and the food and coffee was out of this world. We had a super nice and friendly server by the name of Belinda. She did a great job! She said she has been working there pretty much ever since the hotel opened. Patty later asked at the front desk if they had laundry service because she had dropped some food on her sweater and they said they did but it had already gone out. However, Constance, the Executive Housekeeper, happened to be there and she said would be glad to help out with a friendly smile.  She personally laundered Patty's sweater and brought it back to the room and hung it up in the closet and would not even take a tip that we tried to give her! Now that's first-class, elegant personal service. We really appreciated this type of service when employees at a hotel or restaurant go above the call of duty while on vacation and it shows that this hotel really cares about their guests experience and stay.
Our stay at Margaritaville Beach Hotel, Pensacola Beach, was way beyond our imaginations of how nice of an experience that we would have even though we had read all of the reviews and watched the videos on YouTube about the hotel before we left Kentucky. If you want a hotel with a "Million Dollar View" and you enjoy beautiful sunrises like I do, make sure you get a king gulf view room facing the Gulf of Mexico. You won't regret it. You'll probably find awe and inspiration like I did and your stay at Margaritaville Hotel might even help you forget life's problems for a moment like it did for me in this hectic, face paced world that we live in. http://www.margaritavillehotel.com/

Does Anyone Know How To Stop A Leak?

My wife and I cancelled our vacation plans for a trip to the Gulf of Mexico this past week. We were planning to stay at the Holiday Inn Express at Orange Beach, Ala., for a couple of nights. However, after the BP off-shore oil drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico about 37 days ago, we decided not to go down there out of the fear of oil washing ashore of the beautiful white sand beaches of Alabama. Also, we had a lot of questions that really couldn't be answered by anyone via phone at the hotel or from even a friend who lives in Mobile, Ala. Even recent news reports were apparently of no help in trying to determine which direction that the oil was heading. There were no guarantees that there would be no problems to affect our visit there regarding the thousands and thousands of barrels of oil that are leaking into the ocean.

It is really ashamed that this has happened not only for our vacation but for the Gulf Coast tourism and economy but more important, the environment and the planet. And more disappointing, there has not been nothing done yet stop the leak. I'm sure BP executives and engineers have been pulling there hair out trying to figure a way to stop it. They're latest attempt by pumping cement and mud to seal off the leak might work. But who knows? BP now even has a link to a web-site where you can watch a live camera of the leak in action at the bottom of the ocean. http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.htmlThe other night, I was looking around on Youtube and I came across an interesting video that really makes a lot sense to me. Believe me, I not a big environmentalist or "Going-Green" person. However, I do recycle and I do not believe in littering. I am extremely against littering. I believe trash has it proper place along with recyclables and etc. But this video clip "Pale Blue Dot" on Youtube by Carl Sagan, the late famous astronomer, who wrote and narrated the highly acclaimed PBS television series called, "Cosmos," is about our planet, "Earth." In this short video clip, Sagan tells us that our planet is the only planet like it in the universe that sustains life as we know it. Our planet is very unique and it's the only home that we know in the universe. The other night on my Faceback, I posted the "Pale Blue Dot" video and commented, "This is the only home we have in the universe. Perhaps, we should find better ways to drill for oil in our oceans in the future."