Just some random clouds...

It's been a week of high humidity here - 100 to 110 degrees and it's been tough to want to do things outside. 

News this morning said there's a massive heat wave going through parts of Europe as well. I've checked in with my friend Rachael, who lives in England, and so far she's okay, because she was recently visiting another part of the country so she didn't feel the effects of the heat in London. I'm sure she will be fine, but I know they're not used to it. I remember when I went to visit her in 2009, it happened to be one of those weeks where they had randomly high heat, but to me, it wasn't that bad. Considering I've since moved to Florida, there's definitely a difference in region and climate. 

It stands true when Rachael said to me today, "[T]he humidity makes it worse due to the 'wet bulb'. In other countries it regularly gets that hot but they are better set up for it". She's right; other areas of the world are used to the heat and humidity, and it all depends on where you are - there are places where it's a dry climate, so 115° isn't as sticky and drippy as it would be in the tropics (for US readers, think of Las Vegas dry versus Louisiana bayous wet). 

Before I started this post, I looked at the Weather Channel App on my phone and it was already 86° and felt like 90. I'm sure by the time I'm done writing, it'll be higher, as this time yesterday, it was already nearing the "feels like 100". 

Last night I had to get something out of my car and the sun setting was giving the clouds such an interesting share of salmon colored pinks and bee colored yellows. I wish my phone picked it all up better, because it was very apocalyptic outside. 

The pictures don't pick up everything, but the cloud coverage was strange in the fact there are some small swoops going on. Like bubbling on the outer edge of the flatter areas. I'm no meteorologist, so I don't have the vernacular to explain everything in detail. I just thought the color of the sky and surroundings, mixed with the way the clouds were forming, it was interesting. 

Maybe it's due to all the warmth we've been getting lately, that the sunsets are so different. Go ahead and call me weird. At least we haven't had a named storm yet, as we're officially 23 days into season. Let's keep it this way, even though some of us are a little hesitant to bring it up, as we don't want to risk a jinx on our heads... 

That's about it for now. I've got to get some stuff done early this morning before it gets hotter out, so I'll check in another time. Hopefully the temperature doesn't go past 105 today.. 

Take care of yourselves and totally get some water in you!

Cheers;

Happy Birthday, "Eddie" if you're still reading these posts...

See Also

* Have you read Rachael's book yet? Sangre De Toro

* The Weather Channel App via Amazon

* It's Prime Day with sales... are you buying?? 

Weight until you see it | Big Brother is watching you

I was out of town over the weekend (okay, I was in Sarasota; it was Monday to Wednesday), and went to the gym in the community I was staying in. 

As it is, this community has expensive houses because it's got a golf course and a couple restaurants. Actually, there's a small pop up bar type of restaurant and a new sit down restaurant. The pop up bar is by the giant pool. There's also a coffee bar and salon - both nails, hair and body (massage). 

This is where the gym comes in. 

The gym isn't exponentially huge, but there are enough machines that you have a grand choice of what to work out on. Treadmills, stair steppers, elliptical, bikes, weights.. the list goes on and they're the Technogym models to boot. There's another room for classes, unless you want to go in and do your own aerobic workout. 

The Technogym stuff is not like what we have in my community gym. The ones I was using this week are the upgraded models - more access to apps on the screens, safety lights on the handrails of the treadmills... there's a whole list of features and I can't link to the brand on Amazon since they don't carry the name (I'll link to the models I think I used from the actual website instead).

Although, just using the keyword "Technogym" brought up other types of equipment, as seen here.

Just to cite a price example, Technogym is thousands of dollars more than a Nordictrack or Peloton. We're talking over 10 grand as a starting point, where as other big names start between 800 and 1,000 dollars, working their way up to five thousand (or more.. which are combination platters - cross training type machines). 

From the Technogym website, this may be the treadmill:

It looks like it is the "Excite+ Run Live 22 9000" and the base model starts at $20,470.  Multiple that times 4, because that's how many treadmills this place had. The base model of this particular treadmill starts at $10, 640 ("Excite+ Run Connect 300"). 

The "Technogym Ride" ($7,300) (x2), "Bike Personal" ($12,300) (x1) and "Artis Recline" ($14,260) (x2) were spread out in the gym, so they weren't a straight line of bikes. 

Technogym Ride

Bike Personal

Artis Recline

The gym doesn't allow cell phone use to take pictures, or I would have gotten the exact versions used. This is a nice rule and I wish my gym enforced it because too many kids are using my gym and taking selfies and doing other stupid photo stuff; it's awkward and that's why a kid fell off a treadmill two weeks ago and slammed against the wall - they were messing around (on FaceTime) and did something stupid. 

Anyway, I could go on and list every single machine I saw at this other gym, but there are too many and it's too costly. As the items listed shows, it's probably more economical to purchase other name brands for your home gym, if you want to go that route. Or, just pay an annual fee for the local establishment (Gold's, Planet Fitness, Crunch, etc) and know you don't have to shell out several large car payments in order to lose weight. In the end, yes, it's nice to have the machines in your own house, but is a single eighteen thousand dollar multi gym pulley system worth it? You literally could have several years at a "normal" gym with added benefits (juice bar, workout coach) for that price. But to each their own. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One thing I did notice, however, in this community gym, is they have an interesting hybrid analog digital bathroom scale in the changing room. 

Forget the fact the bathroom is so grandiose, that there are plenty toilet stalls, lockers, showers (with full body wash, shampoo and conditioner bottles, plus the double shower heads - handheld and rain), towels for the shower (and there were towels for the sweating people in the gym), nice hand lotion, hand soap and hand sanitizer at the sinks, but the scale had a "wtf is this??" moment. 

It's an Eilison "Highly Advance 2-in-1 Digital & Analog Weighing Scale", and obviously well used since it definitely needed to be cleaned.

I did mask myself out of the picture, at least a little bit, but I did not get a photo of it turned on. The LCD screen lights up blue with white numbers, telling you how much you weigh. The analog dials also light up white with the same blue background. 

I think, because the Amazon pictures show white background light and blue foreground. I honestly don't remember because I only stepped on it for a brief second. 

I thought this was a good little contraption because it not only shows you on the dial, but it reads it out as well, just in case you couldn't make out where the arm was leaning to on the numbers. You're able to get a solid number instead of questioning exactly how much you weigh. 

The scale did seem solid and I would be tempted to get one, if we didn't already have a Weight Watchers digital scale in the house. At $59.99, it might be worth the price, because it doesn't leave room for error. Digital scales are nice these days, truth be told. This one looked well used, as again, it needs to be wiped down. But, if that means people are using it, then it's got to be good. How often do you see people randomly stepping on a scale anyway? 

Switching gears, my mother got a text from Hotwire this morning. 

This tech is so savvy, it knows when our boxes are breaking.

I don't know if we should be worried, scared, or hole up and disappear. 

Maybe all of the above?

Considering one time when the remotes weren't pairing or working correctly, we called Hotwire and they said to shut everything completely off. Put the remote face down on the cable box, but unplug the box as well. They're going to send a refresh signal to the devices and the remotes will work once it is complete. When they told us to plug everything back in and turn it all back on, the remotes worked, strangely enough. I don't know what kind of voodoo they did (*giggles* *squirrel*), but everything was matching. Even after changing batteries and moving things around. There's truly some outer worldly things going on with this company, and it's strange as hell. 

However, if the text and message are true, this time next week, a package should be at our door and I'm going to need to hook everything up. I wonder what I've got to do with the old wires, as it doesn't really say... 😒

All I know is it's time for me to figure out what I need to get accomplished for today.

Until I get work out the crazy... stay cool, hydrated and safe. It hit 110° with humidity here yesterday and we're on track for it to repeat itself today.

Cheers;

Shakey shakey

(Earth) Science!

My mom and I were watching television (2pm) and she wanted to go get something to drink from the kitchen. As she was putting the lounger back down from our couch (we have a reclining sofa), the couch started to slightly shake.

We both looked at each other and was like "earthquake? No. New couch breaking already? Hopefully not". We didn't think anything of it, even though there was nothing really moving around and really wasn't all too noticeable of a movement to begin with. Almost like baby shaking.. the kind of steady movement you quickly feel when a car passes by you on the road or construction in the neighborhood.

Totally not a shake that makes you wonder the seriousness of it.  

About an hour later, our North Dakota snowbird neighbors texted us - "Are you guys okay? Did you feel the earthquake?" We looked at each other and was like "What?? For real?" so we both texted back that we didn't think it was true, but thought something had gone on. We thought it was the couch or traffic or something else. Completely unaware that it was a for real thing. 

Come to find out, it was residuals from a 6.1 earthquake off the western coast of Cuba. The tremors were felt in various places in Florida, including cities in Lee County (me), Orlando and spots on the East Coast. 

According to various sites, including the United States Geological Survey, the 6.1 magnitude quake hit 104 km WNW of Mantua, Cuba. Which is why parts of Florida received some of the effects. 

Right now there are no signs of tsunamis - no warnings or anything, but a few high rises needed to be evacuated for safety reasons. 

It's the weirdest thing because it's been over 90° every day this week and hit 101° today due to humidity. rain needs to come, but instead a little quake knocked on our door. 

The news said there were some high rises downtown that evacuated for safety reasons until security figured out what was going on. Some viral reports on other sites were showing people in Hollywood, Florida and their home water cooler was shaking. That owner said "it was almost an hour" but I don't know; it seemed like two minutes for us. I think the Southwest corridor is closer to Mantua than Hollywood is. But it could also be the way things sprawled out, if Saint Petersburg also got a little aftershock; they're a little over 2 hours north of me. 

I'm going to add some screen caps, and the links to the articles are listed below. 

USA Today, 8 June 2026

WINK News, 8 June 2026

According to Wink's 3pm newscast, an earthquake hasn't been felt in Florida (or this area) since 2006.

Wink News 3pm news cast. Taken on my iPhone. 8 June 2026

We weren't even here for that. I don't even know what job I had in 2006 when it would have happened, but it would have been in Massachusetts. 

I think the last earthquake I remember noticing, I was under 8 years old. It was mid day, maybe? Or early evening? I don't recall fully, but I was real little and at that time too, I was watching television in my parent's room because I wanted to see a specific show. The room shook some. Not enough to move anything, but enough my little pea brain didn't know what was going on. My mom said she didn't didn't notice it and my dad was at work. There wasn't any other quake in MA that we got for me to compare this to. 

CiberCuba has an article stating "The National Center for Seismological Research (CENAIS) of Cuba adjusted the magnitude to 6.2 Mw and located the epicenter 142 km northwest of Minas de Matahambre, in the province of Pinar del Río, at a depth of 20 km". 

CiberCuba screen grab

The article went on to quote a local meteorologist, Matt Devitt. He had been working at Wink before the station reorganized, and he's one of the good guys that got everyone through a lot of bad juju down here. Devitt stated this was "the second largest earthquake ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico", which goes with what his former employer stated in the screen cap I took with my phone. 

It feels like the Earth is upset with the sentient beings inhabiting the soil right now. Between flash flooding, random high heat in places that aren't usually so humid at this time of year, cold still happening in places it should be warming up, earthquakes in areas you're not expecting.. there are things going on we aren't in control of. 

As my friend Cathy said, some "scary shit" is happened. Emi (in Orlando) said that a neighbor texted her asking if she and her boyfriend felt the apartment building shake, and both of them said no; they had no clue what the neighbor was talking about. I said that she probably figured it was normal amusement park stuff (they live central to the Mouse House and competition). She said, if anything, they would have thought it was construction stuff. Erica (in the Keys) didn't notice the movement either. She's usually spending her days at work, which is in and on the water. She wasn't working today, so she said she'll ask some cohorts later, as they're doing a DnD thing tonight.

It's so strange how news travels and what people know. My mom's local friends had no idea we had an earthquake, yet, a snowbird neighbor had to text us. We felt it but thought it was something different. Reports are saying similar things; the people felt a shake but didn't know what it was. They shrugged it off like it was a glitch in the matrix. 

I don't even know how to explain any and every thing. I keep seeing news clips about crazy weather in random spots and the more unusual it is, the more I'm reminded of the science fiction movies in the early 2000s. The ones where we were being warned but laughed them off because it wouldn't happen in our lifetime. Even watching the documentary style television shows that show you life after we leave.. what would happen to the grounds we walk on.. so unbelievable in one respect but true in another. 

Without raising a lot of questions or flags, I'm going to leave the tin foil hat just slightly bent and stop talking about things that could go sideways. I wanted to post about the earthquake Cuba had and was felt in Fort Myers and tell my friends that things are okay! 

Until something else surprises us, go learn something new.

Cheers;

See also

• Cervantes Jr., Fernando. "6.1 magnitude earthquake reported off the western coast of Cuba". USA Today, 8 June 2026, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/06/08/cuba-earthquake-magnitude-tsunami/90461901007/. Accessed 8 June 2026
• Hayden, Oceana. "Shaking felt across SWFL after 6.1 magnitude earthquake near Cuba". WINK News, 8 June 2026, https://www.winknews.com/news/6-1-magnitude-earthquake-reported-near-cuba-shaking-felt-across-swfl/article_4012f53d-a250-4792-a019-0392ceb81402.html. Accessed 8 June 2026
• CiberCuba Editorial Team. "Strong earthquake off Cuba felt in Miami and other areas of Florida". CiberCuba. 8 June 2026, https://en.cibercuba.com/noticias/2026-06-08-u1-e135253-s27061-nid331628-fuerte-sismo-frente-cuba-siente-miami-otras-zonas. Accessed 8 June 2026.
• I googled "fort myers earthquake june 8 2026" to get the links and articles

Sci-Fi movies and shows via Amazon

• The Day After Tomorrow
  
• 2012
  
• Life After People
  

What makes the drink "dirty"?

.. and why is it different from other flavored drinks?

It seems like an "all the rage" thing the last few months have been "dirty" drinks: 

Dirty Soda

Dirty Coffee

Dirty Tea (or not)

Dirty martinis (/liquor. This is pre-dating me. So let's scratch that)

I've had a dirty soda from a recently opened chain restaurant that specializes in the product. The place is called Swig and they're seemingly popular among young adults and certain mid west states. 

I'm not completely knowledgeable about the history of Swig, but online research says it was brought out of a need for something to have in the LDS (Latter Day Saints) / Mormon culture since the members abstain from consuming certain foods / liquids. They wanted to have something where they could stay within their restrictive diets but still feel part of a crowd or have something differently cool. They started mixing creamers in soda instead in lieu of creak in coffee due to java being one of those "no-nos". This crazy science experiment exploded out a new type of drink. 

This again, is just something I quickly looked up and very briefly summarized. I don't want to offend anyone by writing a list of reasons for the start of the brand, nor do I want to get anything wrong. I know very little about the lifestyle, even after working with someone who had left the faith and had a lot of bad things to say about her time in it. So I'm just going to leave it at that. 

It's not to say I didn't want to try the excitement. While it's true I've mixed stuff in my drinks before and had my own weird outcomes, actually ordering and paying for this out in the wild is totally a different beast. 

I have tried Swig three times since the store opened. Each time I got something different. Honestly, it's nothing to write home about; I don't know what the hype is. Someone, somewhere decided to mix some lactose with Dr. Pepper, add some fruit puree and sell it to the masses. 

Which is why I'm honestly wondering what the difference between this and a regular "Cherry Pepsi" is. The big name companies are already producing flavored products and people are buying it. What makes adding fruit puree or creamer to the drink a new thing? It's a quick fad, at best, but adding a lime or lemon to the Vanilla Coke has been around for decades. This is not really new; or is it a TikTok trend that someone forgot to say it's too viral to forget? I don't know; I'm seriously wondering this. I mean, it's interesting as hell because so many people have created other things from the dirty soda concept, and I would like to know "why". 

Why is Dunkin' Donuts now selling "Dirty Coffee"? I've seen so many YouTube videos about it over the last two weeks - the making of the drink and what it tastes like. The reviews are mixed, but I've seen more negative than positive comments about it. Including conversations about the price, the taste and how it's not real coffee. Some Dunkies workers have made videos to show exactly how it's created: in whatever size it's ordered in (medium is the standard?) there's ice, Dunkin's proprietary blend of coffee milk (which, in general, is a dairy-based drink made by mixing coffee syrup with milk), Pepsi (yup, the brands are collaborating) and Dunkin's proprietary cold foam (which comes in an aluminum / aerosol nozzle can - imagine a can of Reddi-Wip). All this for an energetically carbonated coffee pick me up. 

After seeing the videos, I have to say, this is one thing I won't be trying. It looks gross. I like milk, I like coffee, I like Pepsi (although growing up, we were a Coke household). I'm not going to attempt to mix any of them together to create some Frankenstein drink because there is nothing else to drink. Plus, if there's no actual coffee in the cup, why bother? 

(Sugar. That's why)

Yes, I know the concept of coffee milk, but I'd like actual coffee in my glass with the opportunity to add whatever type of dairy I'd like (creamer, milk, etc). Cold foam addition is nice, but not something I go out of my way for. Where I'm not an added sugar / sweetener person (anymore), I don't like putting in extra stuff in my drink. As it is, an "iced, regular" at Dunkies has the ability to be chewed. There is enough sugar on the bottom of the cup, that you've got a snack to go with your drink. Plus, once the cold foam starts liquefying in the cup, it becomes too white - super sweetened cream meets dairy cream. 

I'm by no means saying this product is no good, since it's out there for a reason. Maybe some YouTubers are right in saying it's a cash grab, but maybe others are right in saying it's a mainstay for a few minutes. It is something different for sure. But overall (in general), what happened to a coffee chain selling coffee? 

I miss Honey Dew Donuts for their over sugared flavored coffee. I didn't get Mary Lou's much, so Honey Dew was a bomb alternative to Dunkies... besides Cumby's random 99¢ any size. 😋

I'm not going to lie: I did try my hand last night at making my own dirty soda. 

Try some, buy some...?

I had some A&W Zero Sugar Root Beer, Horizon's Home Style Vanilla Creamer and some Torani Sugar Free Caramel syrup (small bottle. It was BOGO last month). Putting the root beer in a tall glass, I then added a shot of the syrup and creamer. The dairy fizzed with the carbonation real quick. But once that foam cooled down, I tried it. 

Holy cow... it was like drinking a root beer float. Due to all the flavors, there was no way this tasted sugar free. I know there's sugar in the creamer, so maybe that was cancelling out the other two products, but wow. This was good. It tasted like dessert. 

WooHooooOoo....

I really couldn't believe it. Even without ice, the drink acted like I had vanilla ice cream in it, due to the way the creamer reacted to the carbonation. It fizzed and foamed and almost went over the rim of the glass. Like a real after dinner spectacle treat. 

Yet there was no scoop of anything in it; just liquids.

It was like being back in middle school watching the kids at the fair make their volcanos rise up and smoke, but still stay really calm at the same time. There's some sort of magic with it.

(Fat kid getting excited over food. Nothing to see here. Keep moving)

Now I have to ask myself: Would I make a habit out of making this? 

No, because I don't want to have too much (unnecessary) dairy every day. 

If I can help it, at least. 

I have my morning coffee with cream. This past week, I've been using the Planet Oat brand oat milk in my smoothies. If I end up having a cup of coffee in the afternoon, I'm using creamer again. Or, if I'm having a cup of Teeccino tea (I'm currently drinking the Snickerdoodle flavor), I'm using creamer in that. By supper, if I'm drinking a cola product, I don't want another shot of diary in my drink. 

All these "ifs"! 

It actually becomes too much and I'm trying to limit my intake for health reasons (not that what I'm already doing is so healthy.. I know it's all bad for me). I also don't drink cola products every day. Maybe a couple times a week. I've been drinking various sparkling waters or just plain water, even though most time it's the former. 

Therefore, it was a valid attempt to take an idea I've seen around town and online and try it myself. I had the tools to get it done and I'd probably stick to buying regularly branded (or pre mixed / made) products. It's easier than worrying about keeping a pantry full of add-ins and add-ons, expiration dates, refrigeration, etc. Just buy a six pack of flavored cola and call it a day. While you're at it, buy some limes and lemons. Maybe a small container of maraschino cherries if you want the sugared version - drop one or two in the drink when you get Cherry Coke. Saved you an extra dollar, I did. It'll go a long way. 

I've kind of squirreled my way around this post and all my links below are for things I've mentioned. I get commission on things purchased on Amazon and if I link to an outside company, like Teeccino, I receive a credit on my own account for future purchases if there is a purchase made by the person clicking the link. It's easy enough and we all win from it. The Amazon links are for purchases or references or all of the above; suggestions and opinions. 

You do you. 

Think about what's popped up on your socials lately.. have you seen any ads for dirty drinks? What are your thoughts? Try it? Don't try it? Worth setting up a kitchen lab yourself and making your own concoction? You never know what you'll (literally) cook up unless you get an idea... 

Now go out and make some yummy magic. 

Cheers;

See Also

• Please note that with the perishable food stuff, Amazon and Whole Foods are working together to get it delivered. 
• The Horizon creamer is only available in Caramel flavoring, and has a $13.95 delivery fee on top of the $6.99 creamer price. This price is for a single carton too. If you want to check it out, here is the link but I suggest going to a normal grocery store to pick it up. If you have a Whole Foods and that's your jam, by all means, check their stock too. 
• The Planet Oat Milk I'm using is not a Whole Foods delivered item, but it is a refrigerated item. There is a $12.99 delivery fee on top of the $4.25 cost of the single carton. 
• There is a shelf stable version for $3.99 with no added delivery fee, as it isn't currently in a cooler. 
• Amazon has cans of A&W Zero Sugar Root Beer for $8.39 for a pack of 12. It's roughly the same cost as the grocery store. 
• Amazon has a 4 bottle variety pack of the Torani Sugar Free Syrups. It looks like it could be a good price at $31.88 because it comes down to $7.97 a bottle. They're the 25.4 ounce bottles too, so this is comparable to retail stores, as I've seen it between $8 and $10 a bottle. 
• "Try Some, Buy Some" and "WoooHoooo" comes from the George Harrison track "Try Some, Buy Some". It's on the 1973 album, "Living in the Material World"
• The Teeccino storefront on Amazon has most of the flavors. There's also the branded website has discounts or freebies if my referral link is clicked and an order is placed. But also, there's a weekly email blast with recipes that sound pretty stellar.