I am Chris M. Day, and I live in the Heartland of Florida in northwestern Highlands County near Sebring and Avon Park along the U.S. 27 corridor. I purchased my home here in February of 2023, and I moved here in March of 2023. It was previously my favorite place to vacation. I now live in my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida.
I lived in or near Homestead Florida – about halfway between Miami and Key Largo (actually a little closer to Key Largo) – for 36 years (starting in December of 1987). I’m originally from the #DMV – the Washington D.C. area – both Prince Georges County Maryland and Fairfax County Virginia. I lived there from age 2 to 18.
I worked at the air base in Homestead for all 36 years (aside from about 19 months immediately after Hurricane Andrew on August 24TH 1992). During those 19 months that the base was being cleaned-up and partially rebuilt I worked at Andrews AFB Maryland (near Washington D.C.) and MacDill AFB Florida (near Tampa).
I’m retired now after almost 39 years working for the United States Air Force. For the final 16½ years I was an Accountable Officer / Financial Manager for a major facility maintenance and repair contract on base. I’ve also been a Computer Systems Administrator (13 years), and a Fighter Jet (F-16) and Tanker Aircraft (KC-135A) Maintenance Systems Analyst / Statistician (9 years). When I was considering joining the USAF during my Senior year in High School in 1984 – I really wanted to be a Meteorologist – or a radio deejay – or both. The USAF determined that math and numbers was my greatest strength, so they put me to work in that career field.
Although the USAF selected a different career path for me – I consider myself to be very knowledgeable in the field of Weather. I’m an Amateur Meteorologist. One of my lifelong hobbies (since I was a teen) continues to be the further study and analysis of weather forecasting. I’m the most accurate and dependable weather forecaster I know. I’m fortunate to live in such a subtropical paradise as South Central Florida which can stake its claim as having some of the nicest weather in North America – at least from October through May (our 8-month dry season).
In addition to Selma Alabama (where I was born in 1967), the Maryland and Virginia suburbs of the Washington D.C. area, Central Florida, and South Florida I’ve also lived in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.
I lived in the U.K. for 2 years and 1 week from November 1985 to November 1987. I was stationed at my first official USAF duty station – RAF Fairford – located in the scenic Cotswolds of Gloucestershire – just up the hill from the village of Fairford. Swindon (to the south) and Cirencester (to the west) were the nearby cities.
I lived in Saudi Arabia at Al Kharj Air Base (“Tent City”) for a little over 2 months from January 1991 to March 1991 during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I was sent to war as “punishment” by my supervisors at the time, but it became a major turning point in my military career. It began the greatest 2 years (of 8) of my Active Duty USAF career. It would also be the final 2 years of the Active Duty chapter of my career.
I worked as a USAF Civilian (GS-employee) since the Summer of 1993. I retired a few months after my minimum retirement age of 56 years and 6 months. My official retirement date was “Leap Day” – the 29TH of February of 2024.
As a retiree I’m now able to spend more time relaxing, enjoying life, and doing fun things. I’ll be socially active in my neighborhood. I’ll be volunteering as a docent at one of our local museums here in Sebring. I’ll be continuing my ministry. I’ll be traveling to places in America that I’ve never seen before, and I’ll be visiting friends and family along the way.
You can read all about it here on my blog 3 times per week on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays.
All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
CountUp 