Hot Times in NJ – Heatwave

Now I’m not one to shy away from a little heat wave, but the heat wave that central NJ is currently in, is almost equal to the heat that I’ve seen during my visits to India. Indian summers are summers where you can take 3 to 4 showers a day, and still feel sticky, ugh!

This morning, I was playing tennis (even though we started at 8AM, by 9:30, it was feeling like 100 degrees in the shade and it was unbearable.. Yeah the truly fanatical doubles players really don’t look as heat as an obstacle when it comes to their weekly game..) Of course this made me reflect on how the professionals play 4 or 5 sets in incredible heat at Wimbledon, Australian Open and French Open respectively. Of course when it comes the US Open in Flushing meadows, the heat has tapered down quite a bit by End of August.. BTW, if you see me at the US open.. I’m the lunatic going from court to court on the grounds.. trying to see as much as I can in one day!

The Pro’s when they play the tournaments, must either be superhuman, or their conditioning is absolutely the reason, they can play hours at a time in brutal heat conditions. When I saw the finals of Wimbledon with Federer vs Djocovic (sic), go on for an incredible 5 hours and almost 6 sets (including the 5th set tiebreaker, had to be the best match ever.

Yet, many of my followers know I digress!

Today, the entire Northeast corridor and parts of central US are in a “heat bubble“. Yeah that’s what they called it on the news. Of course in NJ.. a heatwave means the beaches are flooded, with the sun worshipers. Below are some things that occur in Monmouth County, NJ when there is a beach weather like today.. Of course Dad.. doesn’t do beaches, he’s more of a boardwalk junkie..

• Garden State Parkway heading to the shore sites are backed up for miles
• Since there are not many “free” beaches in central NJ (and believe it or not there are a few “secretly free” beaches in NJ).
  • The one I beach is worth looking into is the one between Ocean Grove, and Asbury Park. This little strip of beach is un-manned so buyer beware.
• The afternoon and early evening traffic from Sandy Hook and the beaches on Ocean Avenue traffic is somewhere I do not want to be.

So my plan for today is to chillax, take a nap (done) and binge watch “Netflix” and catch up on Stranger things..

What’s your favorite “free” beach in NJ as a comment and we can start a wave of “seekers of free beaches” movement..

Netflix and Chill – What??

Ok Friends and family,

I’ve not been blogging as the taxi as I’ve been reserving my thoughts for things that really disturb me.. and when I wrote this entry.. I was disturbed for quite a few days.

This week I learned that the expression “Netflix and Chill” does not mean what it literally means in the words.. Of course me being over 50 and not cool.. I had no idea that the connotation of this expression today.. of course the meaning of this phrase is way different from what it meant when I was in my 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. Of course during those days Netflix was not a streaming service but a overnight DVD business. So how would I know what how the phrase has evolved over the past 10 or so years? The true meaning is way different from what I thought it was.

For me.. these innocent words meant a friend comes over and we WATCH NetFlix and just relax.. oh no.. that’s not what it means.. I found out that I’m not the ONLY person that did not know what TODAY’s meaning of his phrase means. I found out that today’s meaning is “come on over, we will turn on Netflix and get busy.. (you can read into that what getting busy means)”. Since I write a PG13 blog, I’m not going to explain to anyone what the real meaning is.. If you don’t know, go ask anybody from Gen X or Gen Y.

When did this meaning change? Why didn’t I know? Did I just miss the boat on this?

Why didn’t I get an email or a text from someone on this gross lack of basic 2019 knowledge?

So I did what any person in my situation would do.. I took an informal poll of people from my age group (totally non-scientific poll) and I found that I was not the only one that didn’t know the true meaning of this phrase.. I asked about 10 people and they all agreed with my incorrect interpretation.

I then went to the generation X, Y, Z and asked the same question and I got the responses I expected:

• Inappropriate question Dad
• Dad, If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you
• OMG, why would you ask ME that kind of question
• Do you really mean that?
• That has been the meaning for years, why don’t you know?

I guess I really need to get with the right lingo for today’s world.. No more “Netflix and Chill” for me!