You know the holidays are truly over when your Roku homescreen reverts from the cheery snow-blown version to the regular old default screen. Sigh. Thanks for the reality check, Roku. Guess I'll get in the shower.
So the Florida Gators sportsballed to out-bowl the Iowa Hawkeyes 30-3 in the Outback Bowl. But the real winners might be all the local residents who make mad extra cash by renting out their digs via Airbnb for events like this one and next weekend's College Football National Championship. Also big winners: everybody who still considers Outback's battered, deep-fried Bloomin' Onion to be actual, edible food, because the restaurant chain is giving 'em away today in celebration.
Or maybe they're doling out whole fried onions covered in whatever because medical marijuana is finally legal in Florida! Unfortunately, don't expect to head down to your local dispensary just yet; there's still a lot of red tape to untangle and regulation to enact.
Yesterday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection computers went down at international airports across the country, causing hours-long delays on one of the busiest travel days of the year. TIA and Orlando International were somehow spared, so fortunately travelers heading home after the Outback Bowl didn't have to spend an extra night in town, and perhaps look forward to only a free, delicious Bloomin' Onion as a balm for their wounds.
And finally, a West Palm Beach man was arrested over the weekend for shooting at cows along Florida's Turnpike, first on foot and then from the window of a moving car. This idiocy was not, so far as we could tell, Bloomin' Onion-related.
This article appears in Dec 29, 2016 – Jan 5, 2017.