Author: Chris M. Day

I'm almost 59 years old. I've been online for 33 years - starting with my own dial-up bulletin board system in 1993 - and continuing with AOL, my own dot.com web site, Myspace, WordPress, Twitter / X, Flickr, and Facebook.

Categories
2000s Blogging Christian God Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2007

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 1ST Friday of the month, so I go back 15 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday June 03RD 2007:

  1. “After The World” – Disciple
  2. “Awakening” – Switchfoot
  3. “Cross The Line” – Ruth
  4. “Say Your Prayers” – The Wedding
  5. “Fiends” – Chasing Victory

9 months into my salvation in Christ – and I was heavily into the newfound Christian rock scene via The Call – a local indie radio station at the time here in Miami-Dade County Florida. Ruth – fronted by Dustin Ruth – was one of the calmer bands on the radio at the time. They were light rock with a cool Pacific coast sound. Their album at the time – “Secondhand Dreaming” – yielded their debut smash “Cross The Line”. It was the first of 4 consecutive Top 3 hit songs on my chart. All 4 of their hits are still in active rotation on my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace. They actually have a combined number of plays approaching 4,000 !

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 25 years ago to June 1997. It’s when a San Francisco California-based band entered my chart for the very first time. They would quickly become one of the hottest rock bands at pop radio with a short string of hits during the remainder of the 20TH Century.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going retro with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Career Driving Military Travel

Chicopee Massachusetts

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 12 years ago this month the USAF sent me to Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee Massachusetts for an observation of how my counterparts there do the same job as me at their base. Me and my supervisor at the time flew in to Bradley International Airport (#BDL) on a Monday. Bradley is located in north-central Connecticut about halfway between Hartford Connecticut (15 miles to the south) and Springfield Massachusetts (15 miles to the north). We got our rental car, and we drove northward into Massachusetts towards Westover. It was my very first time ever into the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and I haven’t been back there since.

Westover Air Reserve Base (ARB) is the former Westover Air Force Base (AFB) – built in 1939 at the start of World War 2. It’s been an ARB for the past 30+ years, and it’s the largest ARB in the U.S. in both size and military and civilian employee population.

Chicopee is the city that includes nearly all of Westover. About 55,500 residents call Chicopee home. The city reached its peak population during the early-1970s, and it’s been dropping steadily since. It’s a northern suburb of Springfield which it borders. About 156,000 call Springfield home, and about 700,000 live within the Greater Springfield metro area.

“When at Westover – eat at Bernie’s“, and so we did. It’s a nice restaurant located inside a train car. It’s very unique-looking from the outside, and the food is pretty good inside. I remember it to this day.

The area sits near the foothills of the scenic Berkshires – a low-elevation mountain range that’s part of the Appalachians. It’s about a 45-minute drive to the west. On a future visit to the region (and I hope that there is one) I definitely wish to explore this area. Chicopee is known as the “Crossroads Of New England”. My first (and only to date) visit to New England was way too short (barely 5 days). It was a sneak-peek of a future non-work-related trip that will hopefully include more of New England into Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Finally – I was wondering if Chicopee / Westover was the furthest north I’ve ever been here stateside. No. It’s near 42.2° north latitude. I’ve been further north – Detroit (42.3°), Milwaukee (43.0°), Syracuse (43.1°), and Niagara Falls (43.1°).

Next #TravelThursday we’ll visit ZooMiami. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio Television

My Top 10 Hits – Week 276

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday May 29TH 2022 – the 276TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 2 16 Sunday Sermons
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Anne Wilson
2 1 12 Egypt Cory Asbury
3 3 10 Fill My Cup Andrew Ripp
4 4 18 See Me Through It Brandon Heath
5 7 4 Me On Your Mind Matthew West
6 10 2 I Will Carry You Ellie Holcomb
7 6 4 Honey In The Rock Brooke Ligertwood Ft. Brandon Lake
8 8 18 Brighter Days Blessing Offor
9 9 3 For God Is With Us for King + Country
10 – 1 Love Is Everything We Need Unspoken

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight)” – TobyMac
2020 – “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters
2019 – “Born Again” – Austin French
2018 – “The Way (New Horizon)” – Pat Barrett
2017 – “Live Like You’re Loved” – Hawk Nelson

ANNE WILSON – 20-year-old Anne Wilson makes history on my chart this week, as “Sunday Sermons” ascends to # 1 in its 16TH week. The track debuted during the 2ND week of February, and it got off to a slow start. Its first 10 weeks were below my Top 5. Anne Wilson becomes the first female solo artist to hit # 1 on my chart since right before my salvation started nearly 16 years ago. (The last female solo artist to do so – Christina Aguilera.)

K-LOVE FAN AWARDS – The 3-day fan awards weekend and all of the shows, events, and festivities that go along with it are now complete in Nashville, and it’s my dream to one year be a part of it all. I’m ready to see the 2-hour culmination – the fan awards that occurred on Sunday night. The 2-hour broadcast airs this Friday on TBN. It’ll air twice in a row at 8 PM with an encore at 10 PM EDT. During the 8 PM broadcast I’ll be live-tweeting at my Twitter account @ChrisMDay. I’ll use the hashtag #KLOVEFanAwards so that you can follow along via your favorite Twitter app. You can also follow along at the bottom of this blog, and just keep refreshing every minute or so to see the latest tweets.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends !  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Holidays Military Scripture

Memorial Day

2008 Memorial Day Poster #3.

It’s Memorial Day here in the U.S.A. It’s not appropriate to say “Happy Memorial Day”, for this is a truly solemn holiday. It’s the day each year that we honor our fallen heroes – those military personnel who served their country in a time of war – and who gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep our freedom strong. They gave their life.

This is not a day for those like me who once served in the U.S. Armed Forces, for I am still alive. My day is Veterans Day on November 11TH. It is not a day for those who are currently serving in the military. That day is Armed Forces Day – the 3RD Saturday of May.

On this day I remember our fallen heroes. I will never forget.

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp