Month: June 2010

Categories
Food History Holidays Life Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

My first ever trip to New England this past week reminded me of some of the fun times that I enjoyed as a kid growing up in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs  surrounding Washington D.C. That vibe – that feeling – that weather this past week up in Western Massachusetts – or as the natives refer to it – ‘West Mass’. It reminded me of a simpler time from an era not so long forgotten. It was a long time ago, but the vivid memories are still there for me to cherish in their own special way. We spent several Summers for a few days or a week at a time over at the popular seaside resort of Ocean City Maryland. I remember the sights of the town, the smells of the sea, and the tastes of the food permeating all up and down the boardwalk. I haven’t been there in about 30 years, but I think that I will check out the place sometime soon on a future vacation. I can easily spend a bunch of days and nights having a lot of fun along that three-mile stretch of boardwalk, so what am I waiting for ?

Here’s a cool tune from that fun era that’s all about a sun-drenched seaside place such as Ocean City Maryland. Musician Jay Ferguson fondly looks back at his “Thunder Island”. He recorded the track right here in our own seaside resort of Miami Florida back in 1977. Enjoy the ‘Retro’ !

Categories
God Life Music

My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics

It’s the 13TH of June, and Summer is here. It’s hot and humid outside in most parts of the free nation, and the days are long while the nights are short. It’s time to get things done, and it’s time to relax at home or in an exotic land far far away. In whatever you do and whereever you go this Summer be safe and have a lot of fun. Take care of each other out there. Spread Love – not hate. There’s enough hate out there to go around, but there’s not nearly enough Love for all. You and I are the cure for that epidemic.

Make this a memorable Summer for all of the right reasons. Make this a Summer that you can fondly look back on 5 years from now – or 25 years from now. Make this a Summer that you can talk to your children and grandchildren about. Make this a Summer to remember.

For me it’s gonna be real hard topping the Summer of 2006. That’s when I accepted Jesus Christ as my ultimate Lord and Saviour. Talk about a Summer to remember (and I will always do so) !  46 months and 4 Summers later – this ‘Fantastic Journey’ continues to progress forward closer and closer to the ultimate destination, and I am totally on-board.

I Love You Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You
O my soul rejoice !
Take joy my King
In what You hear
May it be a sweet sweet sound in Your ear

It’s in the lyrics:

Categories
Career Driving History Life Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

On this exact date I’m celebrating my remarkable 25TH silver anniversary in the United States Air Force. Back on the 12TH of June of 1985 – a mere 6 days after my high school graduation and just a week removed from my 18TH birthday – I made my way via cars, buses, planes, trains, and shuttles from Northern Virginia (Fairfax County) to San Antonio Texas (Lackland Air Force Base) to enter Air Force Basic Military Training. It was the most grueling six-and-a-half-weeks of my entire life – then and now. I arrived as a boy. I departed as a man.

I’d do it all over again. It was the very start of a long and rewarding military and civilian career, and I am most greatful.

Fast forward 5 years later … 20 years ago this Summer I enjoyed the greatest, the wildest, and the craziest time of my life. I drove up to Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City for two weeks of Aircraft Maintenance Systems Database Management school. I remember next to nothing about the actual school, but I remember a LOT about the fun that I enjoyed after school. Me and a buddy from class totally rocked our faces off on the beach at neighbouring Spinnaker Beach Club and Club LaVela. We partied hard – every night. We agreed that it was our own personal Woodstock Music Festival – 21 years later. It was the mother-of-all college spring breaks big and small all rolled up into one giant blur. Of course all of this occurred several years before Panama City Beach was eventually discovered as the North American continental mecca for Spring Break.

What a total blast it was. It was the greatest most outrageous two weeks of my entire military career exploring Tyndall AFB, Parker, Callaway, Springfield, Cedar Grove, Panama City, Panama City Beach, and the scenic U.S. Highway 98 corridor through the region in my red 1989 Geo Spectrum. If I could do it all over again – I would NOT. I simply could not survive another two weeks like that again, and it’s quite simply incompatible with my current new Life. I just have the memories to look back on, and sometimes that’s more than enough.

Here’s a hard rockin’ smash that took the free nation by storm back during that memorable Summer of 1990. It’s laughed upon today as cheesy sugar-coated hair-metal-pop, but back then it was the signature rock song of my two weeks on the white hot sandy beaches of Panama City. It’s twin bros Matthew and Gunnar Nelson with their megasmash “(I Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection”. It’s ‘Retro’ from my ‘Summer Of Fun’ in 1990. You know it !

Categories
Annoyances Blogging Driving Food History Life People Politics Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Here’s another collection of my spontaneous combustion ‘Mini Thoughts’.
– What else would you expect from me on a Thursday night here on my blog ?
– Tonight I may offend pick-up truck drivers – the bullies of the open roads.
– I may also offend soccer-mom mini-van drivers who are just plain horrifying.
– Let’s start with the bully pick-up truck drivers who think they own the roads.
– Pick-up truck drivers rarely surprise me, as they are very predictable.
– Stop signs and lane markings generally mean nothing to them.
– I often wonder why they run the stop signs yet stop for a red light.
– If you break every other law in the book then you might as well just keep goin’.
– Speed limit signs along the sides of the road don’t apply – and don’t exist.
– What do I see in my rear-view mirror – a GIANT pick-up truck tailgating me.
– Do you really need tires that are bigger than most humans ?
– Do you really need your truck to be so high that you can walk underneath it ?
– Does it really need to be as loud as an F-16 jet ?
– OK soccer-mom mini-van drivers it’s your turn now.
– Men and women are equally bad drivers in soccer-mom mini-vans.
– You guys and gals are stark raving mad lunatics behind the wheel.
– You’re driving your giant gas-guzzling tanks as if they are little sports cars.
– And you’re usually doing so with half a baseball team as passengers.
– When you make a fast turn a wheel should not lift up from the road.
– It’s no wonder that you cause more accidents on the road than any other.
– There should be a special license that’s required to drive a mini-van.
– Incidentally a mini-van is any vehicle that’s not a car or a pick-up truck.
– It’s my somewhat generic label for every obnoxious vehicle on the road.
– Some of the nicest most friendliest people turn demonic behind the wheel.
– Parents that are bad drivers raise kids that are bad drivers.
– The national driving age should be 18 – not 15 or 16.
– Kids should not be driving any vehicles on the road.
– That is all that I have to say about this subject.
– Moving on to even more controversy – Politics:
– The media’s intense love affair with President Obama continues.
– He can do no wrong, as he walks on water that’s up to 2% crude oil.
– Everything bad that happens in the world today is still Bush’s fault.
– President Obama and his administration loves to blame others.
– We’ve been down this same road before – the Clinton administration.
– They blamed the elder Bush while their boss was out playing and partying.
– Don’t get me started.
– Yesterday I had a bad experience at a popular local Latin eatery.
– I got bad service and perhaps bad food.
– I ended up with an upset stomach that lasted the rest of the day into the night.
– The bad service alone was quite shocking, as it was perhaps racially-motivated.
– Needless to say I won’t be frequenting that establishment anytime soon.
– I’m boycotting places that don’t treat all customers equally with respect.
– Well this turned out be a rather dismal edition of the ‘Mini Thoughts’.
– I didn’t intend to shred bad drivers, bad political leaders, and bad restaurants.
– But that’s what happened in this spontaneous combustion.
– You should have seen the original unexpurgated version of all of this.
– This weekend it’s an all-new ‘Saturday Night Retro’ here on the blog.
– It’s the 20TH anniversary of my ‘Summer Of Fun’ in 1990.
– It was my Woodstock – my Spring Break – my endless party on the beach.
– I’ll look back at that decadent summer and present a signature rock song.
– It’s the song that brings back all of those vivid memories of a previous life.
– On Sunday it’s an all-new ‘My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics’.
– We are like totally going to jam to some awesome worship music.
– After that this blog goes on hiatus for 5 days.
– Stick around this weekend as we kick-off an all-new summer of fun for 2010.
– You won’t regret it pal.