– It’s New Year’s Eve y’all !
– At 6 AM here on the U.S. East Coast New Zealanders were ushering in 2010.
– As I type this ‘Mini Thought’ at 4 PM Saudi Arabians are celebrating 2010.
– I arrived in Saudi Arabia 19 years ago this week for the first Gulf War.
– I was over there for 9 weeks through the conclusion of Desert Storm.
– That was my most memorable New Year’s Eve / Day.
– 2009 was a success story for me both personally and professionally.
– Every year since 2006 has been an overwhelming success story for me.
– That’s because I have been reborn.
– I totally expect 2010 to be the brightest year yet for me.
– I’ve decided that I will always pronounce the new year as ‘twenty ten’.
– It just sounds so right to say ‘twenty ten’.
– Last Feb. 28TH I thought that I had seen the last of the Jacksonville area.
– That’s when I drove from there for the very last time (as I thought).
– I had just finished moving my parents over to the Dallas Texas area.
– I no longer have any family members living up there.
– Next weekend I’m driving back up there to my parent’s old neighbourhood.
– I’ll be up there for one full day and two nights.
– I now own their former home.
– It’s all mine – debt and all !
– I’ll be talking face to face with the management company that’s renting it out.
– I’ll be getting a lot of answers for a lot of questions.
– The answers will assist me in making decisions and taking actions.
– Get ready for a cold month of January South Floridians.
– It’s the extended period of colder weather I’ve been shouting about.
– It all starts on New Year’s Day when temperatures drop like a rock.
– We’ll go from heat indices in the lower-80s to wind chills in the mid-40s !
– We’ll be stuck in the 60s for daytime highs for at least 5 days in a row.
– We’ll have nighttime wind chills in the 30s for at least 4 nights in a row.
– This extended cold snap is the first of several during the month of January.
– Our chances of experiencing a hard freeze later in January are quite high.
– If you dig cold weather then you’ll dig January here in America’s Riviera.
– After three weeks of Christmas music on the ‘Retro’ we’re goin’ back to basics.
– We’re gonna spin up the ‘Wheel Of Cheese’ this Saturday night.
– It’s a cheesy gold-certified # 1 smash from over 35 years ago.
– It comes complete with an antique music video you’ve gotta see to believe.
– But before that it’s another Disco smash tomorrow night on the ‘Disco Party’.
– And the hits don’t stop ’til we reach the top !
– Have a safe and festive New Year my friends !
– Peace be with you.
– And also with you.
Month: December 2009
My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics
Tonight and tomorrow I wrap-up the 4TH glorious calendar year for me on this fantastic journey following, believing, trusting, loving, and thanking God. It’s a journey that unexpectedly started on a random August morning in 2006, and it just keeps getting more exciting as time goes on. I’m truly looking forward to what 2010 holds forth for me and those closest to me on this journey.
After more than 40 months one song on the vast soundtrack of this journey stands out a bit above the rest. It’s a bold and energetic song with a steady beat that calls on God by name no less than three times. It plays out like a passionate prayer with powerful words directed straight to our Lord Almighty:
I need You here with me to face the world outside
‘Cause I’m tired of “Sleeping In”
Open up my eyes, I’m tired of “Sleeping In”
In a world that’s dying to wake up
And it’s got me “Sleeping In”
It’s in the lyrics:
Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts
It’s time to kick it with the final ‘Grab Bag’ of 2009. Let’s rock and roll:
1. Technology-wise I made GINORMOUS strides in 2009. I ditched analog cable television after nearly 25 years and switched over to AT&T U-verse. That switch included my first experience with a modern DVR; thus, upgrading me from VHS (gasp !) and DVD recording of television shows. It also included my first exposure (believe it or not) with wireless technology. I now have two working computers – a fixed desktop and a roaming wireless laptop. I’ve also got a real nice digital (DECT 6.0) telephone system in place with three handsets scattered around my home. Just last week I bought my very first LCD HDTV set, and I upgraded my AT&T U-verse to enable all of the HD channels. Everything looks sparkling bright and amazingly clear in HD ! That’s a lot of technological change I can believe in for a single year ! What shall 2010 bring me that’s modern, new, and exciting ? BRING IT ON !
2. As far as sleek new personal hygiene products are concerned I haven’t been very successful with them in the past. I lost count of how many nose and ear hair trimmers I’ve bought that I used just a few times until I realized that they hardly worked efficiently. So you can imagine my skepticism when I saw ‘The Essential Do-It-Yourself Electric Back Hair Shaver’ from Mangroomer on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond. I bought it this past Sunday morning, and I used it that same afternoon. Let’s just say that for the first time in several years I now have a non-hairy and somewhat smoothly shaved back. It actually feels weird like that – and cool like that at the same time. Thank You Mangroomer for such a spectacular personal hygiene product that I can believe in !
3. Why is it that the Christmas spirit (the decorations, the cards, the shopping, the gift giving, etc.) seems to begin earlier and earlier each year (right after Halloween it seems), but then it all comes crashing down on the first day after Christmas. I actually know people who took down all of their decorations and threw their Christmas tree out with the garbage on the 26TH of December ! What’s THAT all about ? Aside from the whole true meaning of Christmas being lost in the first place whatever happened to the “12 Days Of Christmas” ? They start on Christmas Day (the 1ST day of Christmas) and then continue on through January 05TH (the 12TH day of Christmas). That’s followed by Epiphany on January 06TH. Don’t be a Scrooge. Keep the Christmas spirit alive !
4. It appears that I’ll be taking a nice long drive up to the Jacksonville Florida area sometime within the next couple of weeks to discuss local real estate conditions with the management company that’s currently managing my newly acquired home up there. I have a lot of critical decisions and corresponding actions to make soon that have a lot of legal and financial ramifications. Hopefully this situation will work out beneficially for me, my parents, and the management company.
5. It was a cold morning this morning in and around Homestead with 47°F officially at the air base with wind chills deep down into the lower-40s ! Tomorrow morning I’m forecasting a low temperature at 7 AM of perhaps 8°F milder – right around 55°F (still a bit nippy). Our next cold front arrives with a vengeance from the northwest during the day on New Year’s Day – and it’ll be a doozy ! It’ll be the start of an extended cold snap for us that could last for 5 to 7 days with daytime highs stuck in the 60s and nighttime lows deep down into the 40s with even some 30s possible out in the Everglades. Cold weather fans (hello there Ela O.) – you’re gonna love it !
Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ LIVE this New Year’s Eve here on the blog that’s cool like that. You won’t regret it pal !
Monday Night Funnies
On this 4TH day of Christmas my true love sent to me – a You Tube video of David Letterman’s “Late Show”. It’s this year’s crazy Christmas carols:
Life Pointe Church Sunday Morning Tossed Salad
– This morning we met corporately for the final time of the year and decade.
– Youth Pastor Mark S. filled in admirably for Lead Pastor Travis.
– Mark continued our “LoveWorn” message series and campaign.
– It was all about ‘Thread Bare Love’.
– It’s Love worn by us for others – our brothers, sisters, and neighbours.
– It’s comfortable, warm, and used – but still very full of Love for all.
– It’s appropriate everywhere – at home, school, work, stores, and in traffic.
– You don’t need to preach to teach what God is all about.
– The Bible says Love comes from God, for God is Love.
– Many people of this world don’t follow God because of His followers.
– Many of His followers don’t Love like God Loves.
– God instructs us to Love all of His creations – even those who don’t Love us.
– Love never wears out – it’s forever.
1 John 4:7-21 (NLT, 2ND Ed.) – Loving One Another
7 Dear friends, let us continue to Love one another, for Love comes from God. Anyone who Loves is a child of God and knows God.
8 But anyone who does not Love does not know God, for God is Love.
9 God showed how much He Loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal Life through Him.
10 This is real Love — not that we Loved God, but that He Loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God Loved us that much, we surely ought to Love each other.
12 No one has ever seen God. But if we Love each other, God lives in us, and His Love is brought to full expression in us.
13 And God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us.
14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.
16 We know how much God Loves us, and we have put our trust in His Love. God is Love, and all who live in Love live in God, and God lives in them.
17 And as we live in God, our Love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
18 Such Love has no fear, because perfect Love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect Love.
19 We Love each other because He Loved us first.
20 If someone says, “I Love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t Love people we can see, how can we Love God, whom we cannot see ?
21 And He has given us this command: Those who Love God must also Love their Christian brothers and sisters.
Saturday Night Retro
It’s time for the final ‘Saturday Night Retro’ of 2009, and it’s the classic Christmas tune heard on the radio during every Christmas season of the entire 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. After four decades it’s clearly become the most-played Christmas song on the radio of the entire rock era. It’s legendary Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and guitarrist José Montserrate Feliciano García – or simply José Feliciano. Here’s a special LIVE performance of “Feliz Navidad”:
The Major’s Walk-A-Thon
Time: 6:34 AM – 7:18 AM
Sky: Clear
Temperature: 61°F
Dewpoint: 60°F
Relative Humidity: 94%
Winds: N 7 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 29.99 Rising
Here are my walking thoughts in 15 words or less:
– This morning I walked around my neighbourhood in the chill.
– After an 81°F Christmas Day afternoon 61°F felt so nice and comfy.
– Wind chills were actually well into the 50s during my walk.
– I felt those 50s as I walked northbound into the cold winds.
– I walked for 44 minutes – about 2.4 miles.
– All of our dumpsters were jammed and crammed with Christmas gift boxes.
– Dear City Of Homestead – Please empty our dumpsters as soon as possible.
– We’ve got garbage-eatin’ ducks ’round these parts !
– We’ve got a lot of flying bugs where I live.
– They appreciate all of the thick foilage and big lakes around.
– They also appreciated my face as I walked right through them.
– During my walk in the dawn of this new day it was peaceful and quiet.
– I talked directly to God, and I thanked Him for all of His great creations.
– I prayed for all of my friends and neighbours – believers and non-believers.
– I prayed that God would bless us all like only He can.
– I thanked God for giving me a second chance at Life, for I am reborn !
– For 30 years I said and did what the world told me to say and do.
– I did what was cool – even if it was bad for my mind and for my health.
– Now I’m cleansing my body of all that is bad.
– It’s a physical walk to heal and strengthen my body on this walk with God.
– My Dad can no longer walk or even stand up.
– He’s confined to a skinny bed in a nursing home for the rest of his life.
– He has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
– I dedicate these physical walks to my Dad for all that I’ve learned from him.
– I thank my Father God for all that He’s blessed me with since He created me.
