Category: Animals

Categories
Animals Career Computers Driving History Home Life Music People Radio Travel

Saturday Night Retro

Saturday October 02ND 2010
Volume 3 / Number 4 / Edition 101

Let’s take a ride back 14½ years ago to the Spring of 1996. Back then I was not quite 29-years-old and living in the same home that I’m living in now and working at the same place that I’m working at now. In fact I was sitting at my computer (a different more primitive one back then) and working from the same home computer workstation that I’m working at now. All of the furniture here in my living room is the same furniture that I had back then. The more things change over the years – the more things stay the same.

Back during the Spring of 1996 my Mom, Dad, 21-year-old brother Danny, and our two cats Fluffy and Barney (born in the 1980s) were still living up in the Washington D.C. area. They were living in our McLean Virginia house that we moved in to back in November of 1980 when I was 13 and my brother was 5. Later that year (in November of 1996) everyone would move down to Jacksonville Florida. I got to visit the old house (built in the 1950s) one last time in May of 1996 when I drove up for a visit. I didn’t really know at the time that it would be my last visit. The move down to Jacksonville just 5 months later was a bit on the low-key side. My family lived in that house for 16 years – the longest tenure for any one home. I only lived in that house for 4½ out of those 16 years until I began my USAF career. Now I’ve been living in my current home for over 15 years. It’s hard to believe that I moved in to this place back when I was in my late-20s, and now I’m in my mid-40s. There’s a lot of history of me in this home of mine. Back in 1996 a young black cat by the name of Boots was loaded with energy – running all over the place and loving me. Today I have a little memorial set up for him at the edge of one of my living room couches where he enjoyed relaxing. This home of mine is indeed ‘Retro’.

On the radio back during the Spring of 1996 me and my brother listened to this song as we drove southbound on I-95 in Virginia en route to Kings Dominion to spend a fun May day at the park in the chill, fog, and drizzle. My brother won free tickets to the park by winning a radio contest on the rock station DC-101. Here’s Spacehog – “In The Meantime”:

Categories
Animals Blogging Food History Humor Internet Life Music Philosophy Travel Weather

The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

Happy First Day Of October Of 2010 !  Let’s BLAST-OFF this weekend !

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
Well Tropical Depression # 16 / Tropical Storm Nicole has come and gone. It’s a tropical system that my weather models accurately visualized some 9 days in advance. Early on they depicted a Category 1 or 2 Hurricane over or just off the coast of South Florida, but then they quickly backed-off on that scenario and simply brought a Tropical Storm over us. In actuality we didn’t receive any Tropical Storm force winds at all, as they were displaced some 250 miles east of the center of the storm. Here in Homestead we received about 5½ inches of rain. I forecasted 6 inches. Portions of the Upper Florida Keys actually received over a FOOT of rain !  For those of you who don’t live in South Florida we can handle 6, 9, and even 12 inches of rain in a single day or two. It creates a short-term nuisance, but then it drains away. We’re tough like that. We’re also very green right now after a very hot and dry Summer. Come and check us out during this upcoming Winter season once you start to shiver up north. We’ll be open for business. Our beaches never close.

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
Shiver’s BBQ – BBQ Beef Brisket, French Fries, Collard Greens, Garlic Bread, Sweet Iced Tea. I truly believe that this is the best BBQ joint that you’ll find anywhere here in deep South Miami-Dade County Florida. They’ve been in business since the 1950s, and I believe that they’ve been at the same location ever since then – at the SE corner of U.S. 1 and SW 280TH Street in Naranja Lakes. Good service. Good food.

THE FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGE OF THE WEEK CLUB:
– It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others.

THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:
Here’s a homemade video featuring two cats – one on the left that’s normal – and one on the right that’s a lunatic. The one on the right marches to his own beat. He’s got no cares and no worries. He the life of the party. The one on the left (who remarkably looks very much like my own legendary cat from the 1980s and 1990s – ‘Fluffy’) is just chillaxin’, but after awhile he feels the need to get away – far away – from that crazy cat. Enjoy:

BLATANT PROMOTION:
Tomorrow night here on the blog it’s the 101ST edition of my continuing saga that is the ‘Saturday Night Retro’. I’ll be flashing back 14½ years ago to the Spring of 1996. The more things change – the more they stay the same. I’ll also feature one of the greatest rock songs ever made – and a big hit back during that memorable era in my life. In the meantime don’t forget that you can follow me on Twitter to see what’s on my mind. Have a wonderful weekend my friends. I hope to see you out and about !

Categories
Animals Blogging History Home Life Music People Politics Television

Saturday Night Retro

Saturday September 25TH 2010
Volume 3 / Number 3 / Edition 100

It’s the remarkable 100TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ – an unsuspecting weekly blog series that began at the start of September of 2008.

While 100 is indeed a very special number signaling a milestone it is not often utilized in reference to time. You don’t often hear the terms ‘100 seconds’ or ‘100 minutes’. They are essentially irrelevant. ‘1 minute and 40 seconds’ or ‘1 hour and 40 minutes’ are more appropriate. ‘100 days’ is used to signify the first 100 days of a Presidential administration: ‘It’s his first 100 days. Here’s what he didn’t get done.’ Nobody really cares about 100 weeks or 100 months because 100 weeks is close enough to 2 years, and 100 months is just too many to keep track of. 100 years is significant because it’s a century. When you turn 100 that’s remarkable enough to get your name mentioned by the legendary Willard Scott on “Today” on NBC. I often find myself rooting for Willard to reach 100 himself. That could happen in 23½-years.

On this 100TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ I look back at 39 years ago in September of 1971. I was a 4-year-old kid living with my Mom and Dad in our small Greenbelt Maryland ground floor apartment (# 102). We watched a lot of TV together after my Dad came home from work. In fact one of my favourite TV shows during that time was the cartoon “Wait ‘Till Your Father Gets Home”. I also loved to visit my Grandmom and Granddad and their Pekingese ‘Meei Ling’. They lived just a mile-and-a-half down the road from me in neighbouring Lanham Maryland. Their grandchildren loved to visit them, and I loved to hang out with my cousins there – especially John John who is two years older than me. He was like a big brother to me back then. We loved to play with green Army men figures and colourful Matchbox cars. Good Times. 1971 Retro.

My Grandmom always played the hottest hits on her stereo and record player – like this one from The McCartneys:

Categories
Animals Blogging Food God History Humor Internet Life Movies Music People Travel Weather

The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

It’s time once again for the weekly blog series that’s 7 days in the making. Let’s kick-off this final weekend of September of 2010 !

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
Ever since this past Monday night I’ve been tracking a developing tropical system to the south of us deep down in the Caribbean. Once we get in to late-September and definitely October and November we stop looking east for any storms that may affect us – and start looking south and west. During the latter portion of the Atlantic basin storm season our tropical systems come from behind us – from our own backyard per se. Who can ever forget Hurricane Wilma – one of the most destructive in modern recorded history. It wrecked havoc on South Florida during the final week of October of 2005. Now we’ve got Tropical Storm Matthew. It formed in virtually the same exact spot as Wilma. Its trek through the southwestern Caribbean is virtually identical to that of Wilma. Up until last night it appeared that its entire trek would mimic that of Wilma (from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico northeastward across South Florida). My weather models consistently placed a Category 1 or Category 2 Hurricane Matthew sweeping directly over South Florida for next Thursday and Friday (September 30TH and October 01ST). This morning I awoke and I updated my weather models with all-new overnight data, and for the first time in 5 days they no longer bring that system to South Florida. They keep it over the Yucatan Peninsula for a few days where it stalls and then degenerates into an open low pressure system. I’m not quite buying in to this new scenario, but we’ll see. It’s an interesting new development, and a positive one for us. I’ll keep my eyes on Matthew, and I’ll tweet any relevant news associated with him and how he may (or may not) affect us late next week.

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
This was the work week in which I said ‘good-bye’ to a good coworker friend over a Monday Lunch at Red Lobster. On Wednesday I enjoyed a delicious Shiner Bock BBQ Burger at Chili’s. But this week my ‘Best Lunch Of The Week’ occurred at downtown Homestead‘s quaint and historic White Lion Cafe. I enjoyed the Fried Chicken dinner (not what you think). This was a MASSIVE hunk of boneless chicken breast dipped in egg and flour and seasoned to juicy perfection (not at all greasy). The mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and sweet ice tea complemented it perfectly. I also enjoyed this feast with a good friend of mine. In fact she’s one of my longest-running friends. I’ve known her for all 23 years that I’ve lived here in Homestead, and we celebrated her birthday at one of our city’s nicest restaurants. If you’ve never experienced the White Lion Cafe before for Lunch or Dinner then try to do so whenever you get the chance. You won’t regret it pal.

RETWEET:
NEXT weekend I will almost definitely see “The Social Network“. It’s all about one of the most demonic web sites ever created by mankind.

PANDA WITH AN ALLERGY:

BLATANT PROMOTION:
TOMORROW on the blog I’ll be presenting the remarkable 100TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’. It’s one of the many weekly blog series that were created during the frantic 2008 heyday of this blog, and it’s the lone survivor of them all. ‘Retro’ gives me a chance each week to look back at my life and highlight some of my most vivid memories – good and bad. I can’t change the past, but I can certainly learn from all of those mistakes that I’ve made in times gone by. In the similar-concept tradition of the long-running ‘Major’s MASSIVE Memories’ (from my old hit music web site) I always include a memorable pop song from the era that I’m flashing back on. The music is the soundtrack of my life – then and now. It instantly transports me to a time period  that was once present day time and space. Music was even used by God some 49 months ago to radically change my life. That’s Life. That’s ‘Retro’.

COMING SOON:
As announced on Twitter earlier this week I’m kicking-off ‘The Great Chris Day Winter Of 2011 Cultural, Historical, & Economical Stimulus Tour’. From October through February I’ll be visiting and exploring fun and exotic locations near and far such as Everglades National Park, Monkey Jungle, Jungle Island, Naples, Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, Panama City Beach, Dallas / Fort Worth Texas, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and San Juan Puerto Rico. I’ll be tweeting and blogging every step of the way.