Guide to Running a Hurricane Newscast

Before I begin this article, I want to state that I am grateful that Hurricane Dorian missed Jacksonville, and I am also very aware that the storm's destruction was catastrophic for some. This article is not about trivializing a hurricane. It's more about trying to fill air time when the hurricane shows up and is just a wind storm in your area.

The only torture worse than waiting for a hurricane to hit is watching hours of news leading up to the event. And then hours of news people trying to make a small, off-shore hurricane seem like something else in order to keep viewers tuned in. The news channels know a lot of people are watching, so the show must go on, and on, and on. The stars are the weather people, but you need the anchors to provide words such as "devastating" to describe storm potential, as well as general assignment reporters stationed at important spots in order to monitor that which needs no actual monitoring.

New-to-Florida Guide to Pressure Washers

I got the dreaded letter from my HOA that I was in violation of something new. This time, it was the driveway and sidewalks that were deemed dirty, so it was suggested that I pressure wash them. While I'm not a big fan of pressure washing houses or cars, as it can (I assume) create leaks or strip paint, I figured washing concrete was a DIY job I could handle. However, I needed to decide if a rental or a purchase was in order. 

Male Fashion and Lifestyle: $100 Shoes

If you've read some of my other blogs about male fashion and lifestyle, you're not impressed right now. $100 shoes! That's way too expensive, and I agree. But I'm not talking ONE pair of shoes, my friends. That's FOUR pairs of shoes. $25 each, on average.

Why a Private School Parent in Jacksonville Supports the DCPS Sales Tax

I went from being a public school teacher to a private school parent. I don't always love public schools, but I also don't think private schools are for everyone. However, the existence of strong public schools should be a goal for ALL parents, public and private. 

Does HOA collect police reports for crimes in my neighborhood?

Someone on Nextdoor was asking this question, and I was tempted to respond that the only thing HOAs collect is money. The real responses to the question ranged from, "It depends on your HOA" to "That's not part of what an HOA does." While I can understand that crime is separate from house paint and green lawns, since crime is the #1 factor in property values, HOAs probably need to DO something when it comes to crime.

Jacksonville List of Neighborhoods

I keep seeing all the Jacksonville neighborhoods as backdrops to maps, but I have yet to see them listed for those of us who like lists. So, after using the government websites to find the GIS maps that contain the neighborhoods, I was able to extract the lists of areas in Jax that appear on maps. It could be useful to those of you who also like lists and deal in real estate or something where you'd need the names of all the neighborhoods here.

Top 4 Spots in Jacksonville's Arlington Neighborhood

I was on the News4Jax website when I saw an "article" about local restaurants. The article said it was about Arlington restaurants, and I figured it wasn't that big of a deal that my location was being used to show me stories relevant to where I was. However, after reading the short blurbs about the top 4 restaurants in my area, I saw the disclaimer on the bottom of the article:

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor.

My Messy Office

My messy classroom, home office, and garage all indicate the same thing to people: I must be careless, cranky, and uncaring. That's according to a study that showed two different work spaces to participants. A messy workspace left people with a negative perception of the unknown worker who occupied the space.

There Was a Time When St. Augustine Stole The Biltmore Ads

There was a time when I saw an ad for St. Augustine, Florida. It was a simpler time, when none of the other ads were about politicians of ill repute. But it seemed to be a time when St. Augustine had decided to infringe upon the terminology associated with Biltmore. It was last year on local TV.

What is the most popular city in Florida?

This is an interesting question that pops up on Google when you search for information about Jacksonville. I believe people want to know the most populous or populated city in Florida, unless they are total tourists who are just interested in popularity. As far as being popular, I suppose Miami is tops, then Orlando and Tampa. Population is always a bit more complicated.

Deep Forest Airport, Please

I've complained a little about the local JAXEX Craig airport, and while I am hoping it stays at a manageable size, I wanted to take this opportunity to redirect some of you to an airport I never knew existed. I am hoping some of the rich and famous who fly over my house will choose to hit up another rich and famous local resident to use his private runway instead. Please, all you robber barons, carpetbaggers, venture capitalists, elite socialites, property developers, and ponzi schemers, give your buddy George a call and use the Deep Forest Airport instead of JAXEX.

Male Fashion and Lifestyle: Matching Hats

If you want to be really cool as a group, get you some matching hats. Most of us don't think about it ahead of time, and we often make the mistake of matching t-shirts or NASCAR jackets, but matching hats are really the way to go for guys. Let's take a look at how to decide on those hats so that you can look your best.

Male Fashion and Lifestyle: Sunny Boy Hair

I originally got the "Sunny Boy" wig when I was an extra in an independent film that was never finished. I had to wear a Polo shirt, a sweater over my shoulders, and the Sunny Boy blonde wig. I was the bad guy, and my Mercedes 300SD also fit the bill. We only finished one day of filming, at Lake Park Golf Course in Milwaukee. I was probably revealing my devious plans to co-conspirators while golfing. I don't recall. However, Sunny Boy stayed with me, and I put it to some use over the years.

Check Your Google Adsense, Fellow Jacksonville Bloggers

I'm not going to keep this one to myself, since someone not on my site isn't clicking my ads, anyway. If you have a blog or even a big ol' company website that has some Adsense ads on it (the Google ads), then you need to add a custom ads.txt file to your website. I did not receive an email about it. I just showed up to check earnings, which I don't really bother to do very often, and there it was: a dozen websites without the right code. 

I-Selling in Jax: OpenDoor and Zillow

Zillow is going to join open door in Jacksonville as companies that will buy your house fast. I assume we've also had the We Buy Ugly Homes folks in Jax for a while, too. Flippers, and those types. But Zillow and Opendoor are supposed to be more mainstream, and I assume the business model is just to buy low and sell high.

Northeast Florida Churches, Schools, Non-Profits and Businesses - FREE Tech Tools

Local Jacksonville churches, schools, and businesses, you are in luck. If you're looking for some FREE advice on how to use FREE marketing tools, then I've got the presentation for you. I'm linking out to my Passive Ninja website where you can see the presentation embedded better. I used the presentation while speaking to a group of church leaders in Orlando, and I can speak to your church, too. However, the tools mentioned can be used with other types of organizations, and I have a lot of advice on HOW to implement the tools.

Is Jacksonville in the Panhandle?

Jacksonville is not in the Panhandle. Florida's Panhandle extends east-west from about Tallahassee to the western-most edge of the state near Pensacola. While the I-10 does go straight across the top of the state to Jacksonville, the Panhandle ends where the Gulf of Mexico ends as a southern border and becomes the western border.

The Worst Real Estate Client Ever

The title of this article was from a query I got from Help a Writer Out. The author wanted stories from realtors. I figured that since I couldn't send in my story because I'm not a licensed agent, I'd write about that worst client ever here. Me.

Is My Back Yard Pond a Lake?

I read somewhere that there are more lakes in Florida than in Minnesota (Land of 10,000 named Lakes) or Wisconsin (15,000) COMBINED. 30,000 lakes! All the water, if nothing else, reminds me of Wisconsin. When we moved to Kansas for a year, it was very different that way. I think I counted five lakes in the state, with two of them man-made. But it also got me to wondering if some of the 30,000 lakes in Florida are also man-made or even subdivision-made. Basically, what makes a lake, and is that a pond or a lake in your back yard?

Male Fashion and Lifestyle: The $12 Perfect Suit

I am not a suit kind of guy, but I learned after one of my only failed interviews that suits are expected. (I was told later that I won the job on three of five categories, but wearing a casual outfit lost the position. That was two decades ago.) It might seem ironic that a teacher, who will not wear a suit again for the next 20 or 30 years, needs to don the traditional male formal attire just to get that job. But I'm OK with irony, since I teach English. Besides, a perfect suit doesn't have to be expensive. This "perfect" Dillard's suit cost me $12.