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.
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 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday February 09TH 1997:
My Top 5 hits a quarter of a century ago were all # 1 hits – 2 formers, 2 futures, and the current. Also – “I Want You” and “I Like It Like That” were 2 of my Top 5 hits for the entire year of 1997.
“I Like It Like That” was an ENORMOUS smash in 1997 here in Miami, but it wasn’t the radio mix of the single. It was the D’Ambrosio Club Mix [Edit] that became an anthem that year in heavy rotation for most of the year from start to finish. Whenever that jam was played on Y-100 I cranked it up in my 8-year-old 1989 Geo Spectrum while cruising up and down South Dixie Highway. (Now that’s retro !)
Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 30 years ago to February 1992.
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
And now Week 4 of my 7-week series on my 8-day fun-filled vacation on the Carnival Liberty out of Miami Florida.
Back in 2019 when I was thinking about booking my next Carnival cruise after a fun 7-day cruise on the Carnival Glory I knew that I wanted to return to Aruba and Curaçao on my next cruise. The last time I visited new islands for the first time on a cruise was back in October 2012 on the Carnival Valor when I stepped foot on Dominican Republic, Curaçao, and Aruba on 3 successive days. That was an awesome 8-day cruise – seeing and exploring new lands for the first time ever.
When I saw that the Carnival Horizon (a new ship) was sailing from Miami to Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao – I was intrigued. Bonaire was the missing link from that October 2012 cruise. I’d be able to conquer all 3 of the ABC Islands if I booked that cruise. Bonaire is a fairly new port-of-call for Carnival (since January 2015), and it appears that they will be sailing there more often – and perhaps to Curaçao less often.
So I booked that Carnival Horizon cruise to the ABC Islands in February 2020 for January 2021 that was ultimately canceled (due to the pandemic). I then rebooked it for exactly a year (52 weeks) later in January 2022. The older Carnival Liberty replaced the Carnival Horizon for several sailings in January (including mine). Despite the downgrade in the ship – I was still excited about this cruise to the 3 small islands down at the south-end of the Caribbean. I would have loved to sail on that much newer cruise ship, but the bigger reason that I booked this cruise was the unique itinerary to all 3 of the ABC Islands on 3 consecutive days in alphabetical order.
So back to my story. It’s Day 5, and the 2ND-half of my cruise has begun.
Fun Fact: I embarked onto the Carnival Liberty shortly after 11 AM on Saturday January 08TH 2022, and I disembarked shortly after 8 AM on Sunday January 16TH 2022. That’s 189 hours. Half of that is 94½ hours. That would place the exact halfway point of my cruise shortly after 9:30 AM on Wednesday January 12TH 2022 – Bonaire morning !
The Carnival Liberty was the only cruise ship in port that entire day. We had the entire island to ourselves – and the 20,000+ permanent residents of the island.
We arrived in mysterious Bonaire early on that Wednesday morning just after 7 AM ship’s time (Miami Florida) / 8 AM local time. I didn’t have a shore excursion until 12:30 PM, so I had plenty of time to relax on the ship, and to take some nice photos of the island from the top decks.
The port, capital, largest city, and population center is Kralendijk. It’s on the upper-southwest coast of the island that measures about 24 miles from northwest to southeast. It’s about 3 to 5 miles wide at all points. It has a mountain range on its north side with peaks of up to nearly 800 feet above sea level. Bonaire kinda-sorta looks like a distorted Florida geographically that’s been elongated in its panhandle and squished a bit in its peninsula. The mountain range extends from “Pensacola” to “Jacksonville”, and Kralendijk is right along the “Big Bend” area.
I took a nearly 4-hour bus tour of the island (via a Carnival-sponsored shore excursion). I think it was the most popular tour. Our bus driver and tour guide were 2 older Dutch gentlemen with a weird and wacky sense of humor who often derided each other in a somewhat loving way. They were very protective of their somewhat primitive island, and they want it to stay that way and not become another congested Aruba or Curaçao. They did appreciate us (as tourists). They seemed very bitter that (in their general words) the Netherlands gives all of the money to Curaçao to distribute evenly between themselves, Aruba, and Bonaire; yet, Bonaire gets very little of that allocated funding – just a tiny percentage of it. Perhaps some of their comments out loud should not have been so, as they did a bit of political commentating rather than presenting their beautiful island to us.
Nevertheless I enjoyed the tour of the island from the salt flats of the southeast to the mountains of the northwest. I hope to see it again in the future !
I took almost 50 photos of the island. I’ve selected six of the best to present here:
Next #TravelThursday – it’s on to Curaçao.
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
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 40+ years. Here’s this week’s chart:
THE OTHER JORDAN – As Jordan St. Cyr continues on at the top of my chart into his 3RD month – the other Jordan – Feliz – continues his ascent up my chart with his 6TH hit in 5 years – “Jesus Is Coming Back”. It’s now Top 3, and it could climb to # 1 soon. It’s his follow-up to “Beloved” (# 4 in 2017), “Witness” (# 5 in 2018), “Changed” (# 9 in 2018), “Faith” (# 3 in 2019), and “Next To Me” (# 8 in 2021). Mandisa is featured prominently in the song, and it’s also her 6TH hit in 5 years as a lead or featured artist. She’s also my # 22 artist overall since this chart was resurrected 5 years ago.
Here’s the official music video for “Jesus Is Coming Back” – filmed in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic. (It was remixed for the radio in 2021 with added vocals from Mandisa and Jonathan Traylor.)
This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 4 new entries on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.
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
Greetings my friends. It is Sunday February 06TH 2022, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.
I have what is known as writer’s block. I can’t think of anything to write for this edition of #SundayScripture. On top of that I’m leading my church family in Communion this morning, and I’m not sure what I’m going to say yet. I’ll have that figured out by the time I step foot onto the altar. (I actually wrote this yesterday, so I have a full day to prepare for it.)
Usually when I can’t figure which direction to go with Communion I go back-to-basics. I always love to hear (and preach) a good old-fashioned back-to-basics sermon, and that works just as well for Communion. (We observe and celebrate Communion once per month on the first Sunday.)
I think I’ll speak of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, and how He suffered for us on that day. Never did He sin. Never did He deceive anyone. Never did He retaliate against anyone. Never did He seek revenge against anyone. None of us can claim that, but Christ can. Christ was innocent. We are guilty. He had no sins of His own, so He carried all of our sins – past, present, and future – to the cross. He died a horrible death to pay the penalty for our sins forever. He did that for us. That allows us to be dead to sin. That allows us to live for what is right. We didn’t deserve it, but by God’s Grace – we are saved. By His wounds – we are healed. By His suffering – we are free.
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.(2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV)
I think God took away my writer’s block. I have a Communion to prepare now, and perhaps my next sermon.
If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !
Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:
The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
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