Above: Me, Dave, on Monday morning on September 11, 2017, the very deceiving calm day after Hurricane Irma hit South Florida. Looking north, just off North Atlantic Blvd. and NE 30th Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Irma was the powerful storm that began some subtle-yet-unmistakable changes in my everyday life and the people I knew that soon cascaded and turned my life completely upside-down. And the following week, with no electricity during sweltering heat and oppressive humidity in Hollywood, was the least of it...
Below is an excerpt from an email that I sent out between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day.to roughly 225 people, mostly friends, devoted Social Media Followers and the handful of honest news media members, around South Florida, the Sunshine State and back up in Washington, D.C.
(If you are new to the blog, D.C. and Arlington County, VA is where I lived and worked for 15 years until returning to South Florida in October of 2003.)
Think of it as a condensed list of some of my hopes, goals and resolutions for the next 12 months.
Since it is relevant to many things that I have written about and commented upon in the past 10-plus years here on the blog when I lived in Hallandale Beach for 11 years, or for the past 18 months living in Hollywood -95% of the time in the Hollywood Lakes area east of US-1- where I will be living for the foreseeable future, I post it here so that those of you faithful blog readers out there who have kindly written or contacted me over the past few months expressing some degree of surprise about the lack of blog posts here of late, compared to the regularity that you'd all come to take for granted for so many years, will get a better idea of why that has been so.
I hope my words, however oblique, will better connect-the-dots on some matters many of you have been wondering about for quite some time, even as I try to maintain a degree of privacy about some upsetting recent personal news.
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Though I am by nature a friendly and outgoing person, one of my big aims for 2018 is to actually be more "sociable" and "present in the moment."
That's especially true with respect to Social Media, where I plan on doing a MUCH BETTER job of communicating my thoughts and concerns with so many of you than I did in 2017, where for reasons known to some of you, for the past few months, I was often VERY DISTRACTED by more important things than public policy, local government and politics in our area, South Florida and the Sunshine State.
That's especially true with respect to Social Media, where I plan on doing a MUCH BETTER job of communicating my thoughts and concerns with so many of you than I did in 2017, where for reasons known to some of you, for the past few months, I was often VERY DISTRACTED by more important things than public policy, local government and politics in our area, South Florida and the Sunshine State.
Which is, of course, why you saw a LOT LESS of me at Hollywood and Hallandale Beach City Halls, at Broward County Govt. HQ in downtown Fort Lauderdale, and at civic meetings and public events around the SE Broward area.
And when you did see me, I seemed not so much aloof as... distracted.
It's for very good reasons.
The same reasons why some of you expressed such great surprise -and for certain local elected officials, even genuine shock- at running into me at my usual hang-outs in Hollywood, Hallandale Beach and Aventura the past three months, often while I was still wearing a suit and tie from earlier at work, which is a different look for me than many of you are used to, though for my friends in washington, D.C., it was hard to think of me without a tie execpt on weekends or when i was going to orioles games at camden yards seeing me in.
That particular reason being that, quite reasonably, you hadn't expected to run into me.
The last time you'd heard from me -that you recalled- you'd thought that I'd soon-be or had already moved to... Las Vegas.
Which is why you said, dazed, "I thougt you were out in Las Vegas with yo know who?"
Some of you remembered every single word about why I was -happily- thinking I'd be relocating to Las Vegas for a few months. You mentioned her name a lot and even said it with a friendly laugh because you knew how absolutely crazy I am about her. EC is the most-amazing and fascinating woman I've ever met, so when she unexpectedly asked me while we were driving up I-95 up to her other rental property in Wilton Manors, and consider leaving my life and friends in South Florida behind and move in with her out in the desert in a matter of days, you know I took less than one second to say yes. That's how amazing she is.
Well, would it help if I told you that the scenario involved me abruptly leaving behind my life, friends and family in South Florida -at least for a few months- and moving to Las Vegas with a truly brilliant, beautiful and AMAZING woman that I positively love and adore, who, out-of-the-blue, while she was driving, turned to me and asked me if I would move and live with her in Las Vegas, and help her to start up a business there that she'd done a tremendous amount of research on while there for many recent previous trips?
And because I love her, wanted to be emotionally supportive of her efforts and see her succeed and... well, for many other reasons, not quite my own, that I don't want to detail here.
One of my other big aims for 2018 is to write you, talk on the phone, or, when possible, even meet with many more of my readers in South Florida in person than I have the past 18 months since returning to South Florida in late July of 2016, after being away for two years.
I also aim to accept the advice of many of you and to stop beating myself up by trying to make everything I write too perfect before posting/blogging/tweeting or emailing information, and thus, #procrastinating. That also includes my taking advice I usually give others: start using technology better and smarter, to wit, my finally posting photos once in a while to Instagram, where in 2018 I should have something interesting there nearly every day that should amuse, entertain, inform or beguile people in real numbers.
Some of you even know about some specific plans of mine to create a topical Podcast or video series on YouTube, part of which is tied into when and whether I do indeed make my next planned trip to Sweden and Iceland in the coming months, though I won't be going in January as I'd originally thought. My plans, once there, is to conduct some exciting, long-anticipated interviews with some prominent and talented people/friends in the #tech, #startup, broadcasting and music industry in... yes, beautiful Stockholm.
It's odd that I should have so many friends and acquaintances there who are both super-talented and also really well-known publicly, as compared to here in South Florida, but it's reality
It's odd that I should have so many friends and acquaintances there who are both super-talented and also really well-known publicly, as compared to here in South Florida, but it's reality
I may even get the chance to finally see a super-talented friend or two who,individually, are truly AMAZING singers, perform a concert or two in an arena or large venue for the first time, instead of in their home, a hotel, a small or-medium sized venue, or in a recording studio in snowy Stockholm.
If you follow me on Twitter at @hbbtruth or on Instagram, you may even have a good idea or two of who that might be! :-)
As always, any inspired thoughts, ideas or suggestions beforehand would be greatly appreciated!
In case it escaped your attention, no, Hallandale Beach is not exactly #SergelsTorg in Stockholm when it comes to reindeer....
@RundquistS I recognize those guys! The #SergelsTorg area of #STHLM is magical in Winter! :-)http://t.co/4hzIK8VDO2 pic.twitter.com/DzSRVU6WU9— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 3, 2014
Unlike amazing #SergelsTorg in beautiful #STHLM, #Christmas holiday reindeers in sunny #SoFL, at least in #HallandaleBeach, are NOT life-size, much less, larger-than-life. Another thing that makes me miss #Sweden. 
Of course, I have yet to post anything to Snapchat after FINALLY getting an account there four months ago, so, maybe there, I'll be more of an earnest observer of what you all are saying, doing, filming than being an active participant.
For now at least. Baby steps...
Adding this to my list of 2018 New Years Resolutions:
1.) Eat breakfast more often during week B4 leaving for work in morning instead of stopping 4 Fast Food;
2.) Have breakfast in bed more often;
3.) Whenever possible, have super-attractive fashion blogger/Instagram models over for breakfast when the latter occurs.
Henceforth to be known as the @micahgianneli Rule:When not possible to have #fashionblogger/@instagram models over for Breakfast -and deep discussions abt trends in #SocialMedia😊- head over to Chocolada Bakery & Cafe, #HollywoodFL for Breakfast and get in some high-quality #peoplewatching AND writing done! On my way there NOW! pic.twitter.com/GZFzpnXUPe— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 1, 2018
Made in the shade! Your faithful blogger, Dave, on a very windy Sunday afternoon about 4:30 PM, in between the iconic beach ball-colored Hallandale Beach Water Tower and HB Lifeguard stand #1, near @ETARURestaurant, October 29, 2017, Hallandale Beach, Florida.
Above, me, November 14, 2017, Hallandale Beach, Florida, with a loosened tie during lunch: Portrait of a Broken Heart Hiding His Tears Behind His Favorite Ray Bans -which have been lost in the interim! :-(
Dave
Snapchat: SoBeHoosier
My first blog post of 2018: Changes to look for in me and at #HallandaleBeachBlog in the year to come -and some oblique clues about the upsetting past few months and why you haven't been seeing me quite so much lately around #SoFL. https://t.co/c67K6YM2ts pic.twitter.com/oLLpULXe3W— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) January 11, 2018
