One of the ways I get to work involves taking 595 west to I75 south. There is construction on the southbound ramp until May 2009! One lane is closed and traffic backs up to SW 136th Ave. If you want to avoid the ramp, take these alternates:

If you are going to Weston:

Exit at SW 136th Ave and continue east on State Road 84 to Weston Road.

Exit at Flamingo Road and go south to Griffin Road. Take Griffin west to Weston Road or Bonaventure Blvd.

Exit at Flamingo road, go south to Griffin Road. Hop over to Orange Drive. Orange Drive turns into Shotgun Road. Make a left at SW 14th Street. SW 14th Street is called Indian Trace after you cross the Davie/Weston border.

If you are heading south on I75:

Exit at SW 136th Ave and continue east on State Road 84 to Weston Road. Take the I75 Southbound ramp at the intersection of Royal Palm Bvld and Weston Road.

Exit at Flamingo Road, go south to Griffin Road west to I75 (there is some construction here too, but it’s nowhere near as bad).

Take Flamingo Road to go south instead.

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Val shaves her head to celebrate the Big 6-oh.

Our dear friend Val is celebrating her 60th birthday. To mark this milestone, she decided to have her head shaved. Val invited all of us over to watch the shearing of her color-treated locks. Now she can start fresh and let the natural beauty of her hair come through, no matter what color it may be.

Val has always been a remarkable lady, but in the past few years, she has embraced change and transformation, all of it for the better.

The yoga bug bit her hard a few years ago, and now she is a registered yoga teacher with her own yoga studio.

We wish you many more happy birthdays Val. You are a woman of exceptional character. Our lives are enriched by your friendship.

I took my bike on the bus to run an errand yesterday, so I had a chance to do some exploration. I found a little hot dog stand on the side of the road. This isn’t just any hot dog stand. It’s a real New York hot dog stand. I am not kidding.

There are many ex-New Yorkers here in South Florida. It seems like New Yorkers know more people here from New York than they knew when they lived in New York.

The Rangers Suck!

I hate going to Panthers-Rangers games. Half the crowd is cheering for the wrong team! I’ve seen the Panthers play against the Devils, Islanders, and Sabres, but the Rangers seem to draw the most and the worst from the Empire State. I have nothing against New York or its inhabitants, but I paid money to see a PANTHERS game!

Real New York Food?

Ever watch two New Yorkers meet for the first time? They start talking about that deli on 72nd and Broadway. Then they reminisce about the pizza and the Chinese takeout. “The pizza sucks down here. I don’t eat pizza anymore. That place Mauro’s on the corner? They suck!” If you miss the food so damn much, then go back!

You can go back to New York just by heading over to 6401 Sheridan Street in Hollywood Florida. That’s where New York transplant Elliot has set up his hot dog stand and tent. He serves up real all-beef New York hot dogs, pastrami, brisket, and knishes! Is it authentic New York food? Yes it is. Elliot has all the stuff shipped from New York. The all-beef hot dogs with the natural casings are hand-made. You get that satisfying crunch when you bite into them.

I stayed and chatted with Elliot for a while. He saw the Nikon D80 around my neck, so we chatted it up for a while. He’s a photography buff too.

During the time we chatted, 3 ex-New Yorkers came by to order some dogs. One woman was vocally skeptical until she took the first bite. “Give me another one!” she exclaimed. “This is it! This is the real deal!”

It’s the Water

Elliot went on to explain that it isn’t the water. The word on the street is that New York’s water supply is the magic ingredient that’s missing here in South Florida. Most restaurants use reverse osmosis filtration systems to cook with and to provide water for the soda machines. It’s part of the insane overhead a restaurant has. Go ahead and order the “tap” water when you go out to eat. It’s essentially the same as that bottle of Dasani you pay $2.25 for!

Elliot insists that it’s the quality of the ingredients and the level of service that distinguishes New York food from the South Florida wannabes. He further explained that the food in New York is so good because, if it wasn’t, the people would riot. New Yorkers demand the best.

New York Pizza in Florida?

Before I left, Elliot endorsed another South Florida restaurant. “I went to Angelo’s Corner down in Hollywood. I took one bite and I was like, ‘where am I?!?!’ I live by Sawgrass Mills. At $4.25 a gallon, I drove all the way to Hollywood Beach just to have a slice. The gas costs more than the pizza!”

I’m not an expert on New York pizza, but I do know Angelo’s makes a good pie. Renee and I order the large pie with fresh basil, fresh garlic, and black olives. We save on gas because there’s another Angelo’s within walking distance.

The next time you have friends visiting from New York, take them down to Coney Island Joe’s.

Coney Island Joe’s is open daily from 11am – 7pm and accessible by BCT Routes 12 and 18.

My name is Elliott Kim and I approve this message. I was not compensated for this review.

When I discovered that 3 bus routes are within reasonable walking distance from my home, I began to explore the transit system further. If you’re using Firefox, you can just type “BCT” in the address bar and it will take you straight to the Broward County Transit homepage. Here you can download a map of the entire transit system and find maps and schedules for all routes. The maps and timetables are also available as printer-friendly PDFs. You can even find the maps and timetables for the community buses run by various municipalities in Broward County.

Use Google Transit and Google Street View

Google recently introduced Google Transit. It started with a handful of metro areas, and the list is growing. You enter a starting point and a destination. But unlike driving directions, you have to input either a departure time or a desired arrival time. Another tip: you can enter the time in 24-hour format. Instead of typing “7:00pm” you can simply enter “1900.”

After you click on “Get Directions” you get a page that looks a lot like the driving directions you are accustomed to seeing. You also get:

• How far you’ll need to walk to and from the bus stop
• Which buses to take
• How much money you save vs. driving
• The total time it will take to make your trip
• Alternate routes (if available)

You can also go to Google Maps to get driving directions. In addition to driving directions, Google Maps will tell you if public transit options are available for your trip.

Most of Broward County is covered by Google Street View. Google Transit and Google Street View can be used together to help you plan your trip. If you are going to an unfamiliar destination, this will ease your mind. The resolution of the images is good enough to see if there is a bus stop.

Buying the Right Bus Pass

For casual users of BCT, the 10 Ride Pass is the best value. As of July 2008, regular fare is $1.25, but a 10 Ride Pass is $10. You save $2.50. There are no transfers issued between BCT buses, so you’ll pay full fare or get ticked for another ride on your 10 Ride Pass when changing buses.

The All Day Pass is only $3. You can purchase these on the bus. Just tell the bus driver you want an All Day Pass. If you are taking 2 buses to get to your destination, you will need 2 buses to get back. Full fare, that trip is $5. On the 10 Ride Pass, that’s 4 rides, or $4. Are you a math genius? Neither am I, but we can both see why this makes sense.

I used an All Day Pass one day to run some errands. I rode 6 buses and brought my bike. Yes, you can get around South Florida quite easily without a car! This was also on a Sunday when the buses don’t run as frequently.

Other Bus Passes

31 Day Adult Pass – $40

7-Day Pass – $11

College Student Pass – $20

All Day Reduced Pass – $2 (seniors, youth, disabled, Medicare)

31 Day Reduced Pass – $20 (seniors, youth, disabled, Medicare)

These prices are current as of July 2008. Some bus passes will go up in price in October 2008. All bus fares will get an increase in October 2009. Click here for more information.

More Tips

The buses are pretty good about running on schedule. If the bus is running ahead of schedule, it will make an extended stop at one of the time points along the route. However, plan to arrive at your bus stop 5-10 minutes before the time posted on the schedule. Based on my observations, the clock used by BCT is most likely synchronized to the atomic clock servers operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Your computer and your cell phone are synchronized to this clock too.

If your destination is in Miami-Dade County, Google Transit seamlessly integrates the two systems. Google Transit is not yet integrated with Tri-Rail, Metro Rail, or Metro Mover.

All the buses are equipped with bike racks. Most accommodate 2 bikes while some of the newer buses have a different design that can carry 3 bikes. If the bike rack is full, you’re generally out of luck. Sometimes, a bike-riding passenger will opt to get off and ride a little further or inform the bus driver that his/her stop is just a few blocks away. In this case, the bus driver may let you bring your bike on board. When the bike rack is free, you must move your bike to the rack.

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Gladiators enjoy modern luxuries like cigarettes and cell phones.

I have no clue who these people are.

One of the most recognizable buildings ever.

A view from the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) in Firenze, Italia.

I have no clue who these people are either. If you haven’t tried taking photos of strangers, it’s a lot of fun.

I don’t even remember how I found this site. I was sure to Stumble it, so others can waste time online just like me!

To offset that time wasted, you can become more productive in another area of your life. Why not use the PocketMod to get more organized and stay on top of things? Any product with a calendar and to-do list built in will surely make your life so much easier.

Basically, you fold and cut a sheet of letter size paper to make a handy booklet you can customize and keep in your pocket.

The Flash player application allows you to make your own Pocket Mod booklet. There are several useful pages that you can drag and drop like to do lists, calendars, conversion tables, and tipping calculators.

A savvy graphic designer can surely reverse engineer this and create totally custom booklets this way.

Renee and Elliott are tech-savvy, but they recognize when low-tech still gets the job done.

In the early days of the web, we had hit counters. Today, we have Google Analytics. The depth of the data is incredible. You can see the number of visitors to your site, how many pages they looked at, and if you have a webcam hooked up, we get to watch you. I want to address the guy with the tacky wallpaper in the den:

Please! Call an interior designer ASAP and get that taken care of!

You can see what keywords people queried into search engines to land on your site. One visitor from Scotland queried “Are Elliott and Renee in love?”

The only correct answer is YES!

~e