Year: 2009

Categories
Driving Money Radio Shopping Travel

Monday Night Countdown

Bright and early this Wednesday morning I’ll be jumping aboard the Miami-Dade Metrorail system for the first time in perhaps a decade.

Here are the TOP 5 things I’m looking forward to about that:

5.  I get the coolest non-Google Street View view of overly-congested Useless-One (South Dixie Parking Lot) – from about 25 feet up in the air.

4.  I’m on a never-ending fact-finding mission to see if any new and exciting shopping center districts are currently under construction or open for business along Useless-One. Hey – it’s how I discovered The Shops At Sunset Place (my former playground) back in 1999 !

3.  I’m yearning to know if that train is still leaving on Track 5 … for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc … amonga. (This is an old radio reference to ‘The Jack Benny Program’ circa 1949. If you have no clue what this means then you are simply a young buck. Get it ? – Buck ? – Buck Benny ? – Oh never mind.)

2.  I enjoy visiting the only place on Earth that accepts as fare every single U.S. dollar coin ever minted since the Declaration Of Independence was ratified.

1.  I don’t have to deal with three very scary Expressways that always make me nervous and sweat – the Don Shula, the Palmetto, and the Dolphin. I’ve had many near-death experiences on all three of these highways over the past 20 years.

Categories
God

Life Pointe Church Sunday Morning Tossed Salad

It’s the 2ND Sunday of January in 2009, and here’s what’s up:

– This morning Pastor Travis told us all about Charles Finney.
– He lived for about 83 years during much of the 19TH Century.
– Read his Wikipedia entry here.
– His concern was the lost.
– He was all about prayer meetings, seeker classes, home visits, and altar calls.
– We must be humble with our repentance.
– We must repent of our sins and turn to God.
– We must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.
– We must believe in life-changing prayer.
– We must keep on asking, for we shall receive.
– We must keep on seeking, for we shall find.
– We must keep on knocking, for we shall have a door opened for us.
– We must have a public faith in Jesus Christ.
– We must be loud and proud to everyone that we personally know Him.
– We must disciple to those loved ones who are lost.
– It’s all about reaching out to the lost, and guiding them to their saviour.
– It’s all about being the hands and the feet of Jesus here on Earth.
– It’s all about expanding His Kingdom here on Earth and keeping Satan far away.

Matthew 10:32-42 (NLT, 2ND Ed.)
32  “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
33  But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.
34  “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth !  I came not to bring peace, but a sword.
35  ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36  Your enemies will be right in your own household !
37  “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
38  If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.
39  If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.
40  “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me.
41  If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs.
42  And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”

Categories
Driving History Life Music Radio Travel

Saturday Night Retro

1989 – I started off the year in January by buying a brand new car for the first time in my entire life. I was tired of riding my 10-speed bike all over Homestead Air Force Base, so I bought a bright and shiny new red 1989 Geo Spectrum. It would go on to become my longest-tenure car. I had it for over 8 years – driving it for 96,745 miles. Since the purchase of that first car exactly 20 years ago this weekend I’ve driven just over 230,000 miles !  That’s an overall average of exactly 11,500 miles per year – just below the national driving average.

I bought that car when I was 21-years-old and living in one of the many dormitories on base. That car gave me the freedom that I wanted at the time to explore the South Florida all around me. It took me through 8 crazy years of my life – through the remainder of my turbulent 20s. It took me on countless road trips up north. It sat idle for a couple of months while I was in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. It survived the Category 4 hurricane winds of Andrew on the morning of August 24TH 1992. It moved me back up to the Washington D.C. area a week after the hurricane destroyed Homestead, and it returned me back to (Central) Florida about 6 months later. It eventually brought me back down to Homestead and the air base in March of 1994. It moved a lot of my possessions to my current home here in Homestead in June of 1995 – including my little feline buddy Boots.

What a cool little car that was – chock-full of a lot of great memories of my life at the time. No other Saturn since then has even come close.

This song reminds me so much of that year of 1989. I bought it on cassette single (that was the hot music medium at the time), and I played it over and over again. This is one of those few songs that I consider to be a pivotal theme song of the autobiographical soundtrack of my life. It’s from the legendary rock band Poco. They’ve been in existence as a group for the past 40 years – virtually my entire life !  Here’s their huge pop radio smash from 1989 – “Call It Love”:

Categories
Health Weather

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

Time: 7:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Sky: Mostly Clear
Temperature: 65°F
Dewpoint: 57°F
Relative Humidity: 75%
Winds: NE 3 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 30.17 Rising

Here are my thoughts in 15 words or less:

– This walk actually occurred on Friday night rather than Saturday morning.
– It was totally unplanned.
– Tammy exclaimed, ‘Wanna go for a walk around my neighbourhood ?’
– I enthusiastically responded, ‘SURE !’
– We started at exactly 7:00 PM, and we ended at exactly 7:30 PM.
– You can’t plan exact 30-minute walks like that.
– We walked about 1.5 miles or so, but who’s counting ?
– The Moon was not quite full – but two days away from being so.
– Many of the neighbours spend a lot of time manicuring their gorgeous yards.
– Some of the trailers have much more square footage than my condo !
– The snowbirds from up north are hangin’ out and chillin’.
– Dinner was being served all around, and we smelled what’s cookin’ !
– There were a few other walkers out and about.
– The neighbourhood was mostly peaceful and quiet.
– I totally dig that vibe.
– It was fun to do the ‘Walk-A-Thon’ with someone rather than alone.
– Perhaps this was the first of many more to come ?