– It’s 9:54 PM EDT here on the U.S. East Coast as I begin compiling this.
– This easily makes it the latest edition EVER of the ‘Mini Thoughts’.
– I wanted to try something a little bit different this week.
– I wanted to compile this from a different time perspective.
– 10 PM at night is much different than 4 PM in the afternoon.
– My work day is done at 4 PM, but I’m just getting started at home.
– My entire day is virtually done at 10 PM, so I can look back at it.
– God performed yet more miracles for me at work.
– Some of them I noticed right away, and some of them were ‘God-Winks’.
– God keeps everything exciting for me in this 44TH month of my journey.
– It’s a fantastic journey that’s a winding road with dangerous curves.
– I try not to get too close to the edges.
– The enemy is anxiously waiting all along both sides of the journey.
– Today was an abnormally busy day at work in a strange way.
– It was weird how the events played out, but I was a player.
– After work I ventured over to Publix – where shopping is a pleasure.
– It’s my favourite store in the entire world.
– That’s because eating food is one of my favourite hobbies.
– If this U.S. Government thing doesn’t work out for me then I’m goin’ to Publix.
– The’re always hiring.
– I’ve heard that their work benefits are some of the best in the industry.
– I finally got home shortly before 5 PM EDT.
– That gave me about two hours to chill before heading over to Life Group.
– I was at Life Group for nearly 2½-hours.
– The time flew by as we studied His Good News – His Truth.
– So as you can see it’s been a rather hectic Thursday out and about.
– This is a Life that’s far different (and radical) than it was before Christ.
– Before I was rescued and saved 43 months ago I lived a different life.
– I really believe that if I had continued on with that life I wouldn’t be here now.
– God saved my life.
– Actually I died from my first life and He granted me a new Life.
– God took the dead man out of me.
– As Good Friday approaches in less than an hour I honour Him.
– I honour Jesus Christ for giving it all up so that I could live.
– I honour Him for dying on that bloody hunk of wood.
– I owe Him the rest of my Life for what He did for me.
– Tomorrow night I’m hangin’ out with my brothers and sisters.
– We’re having a special Good Friday service down in The Keys.
– I’m looking forward to celebrating Life with my church family.
– As a result I’m taking the night off from blogging.
– I’ll be back on here on Saturday night with your ‘Retro’ for the week.
– In the meantime be sure to follow me on Twitter.
– You won’t regret it pal.
Category: Career
A fresh new week of blogging begins – right here – right now !
I. Year-Long Standard Time – If we stayed on Standard Time all year long and eliminated Daylight Saving Time from March through November then life would be so much more simple – and timely. Here in America’s Riviera in the middle of June when our days are at their longest and our nights are at their shortest we would have a sunrise of exactly 5:30 AM on Standard Time. That means that daylight would begin showing its presence shortly before 5 AM ! All the way up the Atlantic coast in Portland Maine the sunrise would actually occur just before 4 AM with daylight appearing before 3:30 AM ! While farmers everywhere would absolutely dig such an early sunrise in June most Americans would simply not appreciate it. So the next time that you scoff at losing an hour of sleep on that one weekend in March when you have to ‘spring forward’ just remember what life would be like without it. You would be up at the crack of dawn – the crack of 5 AM in June ! Next week I will explain to you what life would be like in December for most of us if we stayed on Daylight Saving Time all year long, but right now it is time to move on to my next thought …
II. Public Speaking 101 – Tonight at my weekly Toastmasters club meeting I’ll be giving my 2ND major speech since I joined just a little over 4 months ago. This is what it is all about. It will be a 5 to 7½-minute speech mostly comprised of a subject matter that I knew little to nothing about just 5 weeks ago. I’ll be standing up in front of my new friends and speaking directly to them with minimal usage of notes. Much of my speech will be based on actual experience rather than written material. In fact my notes are essentially one giant outline rather than an actual speech. It does include a few supporting facts and figures that I’ll be referencing during my speech. I’m also on the active hosting rotation at Life Pointe Church on Sunday mornings. I lead Communion, I pray, and I speak to my brothers and sisters from the big stage armed only with a wireless microphone and my notes. Who would have guessed that this would ever happen in my Life ? That I would be standing up on a stage at a church in a movie theatre on a Sunday morning ? I’m also facilitating and leading formal information briefings at work on most Thursday mornings. Who would have guessed that I would be involved in all of this public speaking at an organized club – at church – and in my career. All of this is brand new as of the past half a year or so. Each public speaking opportunity has found a way to complement and enhance one another, and I am so amazed at the progress that I have made in this once dormant area of my Life. Once upon a time I was the most timid dude I knew. Public speaking was just never going to happen – no matter what. It was just totally impossible to occur. But then something miraculous happened some 43 months ago. God saved me. He took the dead man out of me. He said “Follow me.” I did.
III. The 400-Mile Road-Trip – I’m still 3 days away from my next road-trip over to the Naples area, yet I’m already planning my next big road-trip for the final weekend of April. I’ve got a 400-mile (at least) road-trip planned that will take me up to Lion County Safari in Palm Beach County. After a fun-filled day at the park with the animals big and small I’ll be following the old historic U.S. Highway 98 over to the eastern shores of Lake Okeechobee. Around the Big Lake ‘O’ I go until I reach the coast-to-coast ‘7-0’. That’s Florida State Road 70 near the city of Okeechobee. I’m taking it all the way to Fort Pierce where I’m spending the night at a hotel. The next day it will be a nice scenic Springtime drive from the Atlantic shores of Fort Pierce Beach down to Palm Beach County solely along Florida State Road A1A and U.S. 1. It’s a huge chunk of southeast Florida that I’ve never seen before, and I’m so looking forward to discovering what’s there for me in my quest to find my ultimate vacation and retirement destination.
Those are my Thoughts on this Tuesday night. I thank you for your time, and I hope that you continue to spend a little bit of your valuable time each day supporting this blog and living Life with me.
Until we blog again (tomorrow) … REMEMBER THIS !
I do hereby declare the start of another fresh new week of blogging !
I. This Old Car – My 2003 Saturn is aging, and while it may not look very old on the outside and on the inside (due to recent professional cleaning and detailing) it is starting to act its age. It’s starting to sound and feel at times like an old man – making strange sounds occasionally. It’s pushing 67,000 miles, and this June it will mark 7 years in operation. It’s the 2ND longest period of time that I’ve owned a single car – 2ND only to my 1989 Geo Spectrum that I drove around in for 8 years and 3 months from 1989 to 1997. Well it’s really cool and everything to drive around in a car that’s fully paid off and completely mine, but now that it’s getting older it has to be taken care of on a regular basis – more so now than ever before. Yesterday morning I took my car to the local Chevy (GM) dealership here in Homestead (since Saturn dealers don’t exist anymore), and I expected to be there for perhaps 3 hours and maybe spend around $100 in needed maintenance. Those 3 hours turned out to be 5 hours, and it cost $867.91 to get my car thoroughly tuned-up to where it should be. Now it seems to sound and feel like a kid again. I’ll be keeping this old car for awhile. With a little bit of tender loving care it will hopefully continue to purr along on the road.
II. Have Road Will Travel – Looking ahead at my planned vacation schedule for 2010 I’ve got at least 3 trips to the Dallas Texas area planned for May, July, and November to visit my family. I’ve also got a 7-day Carnival cruise to look forward to in September. I also think that I’m gonna visit the Orlando area for a long weekend in June. I haven’t been up there on vacation (non church business) since 2006 (before the fantastic journey began). I also wish to take a few days (maybe in April) and discover a broad section of the southeast coast of Florida that I’ve never experienced before. It’s known as The Treasure Coast, and it includes the cities (south to north) of West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Juno Beach, Jupiter, Tequesta, Stuart, Jensen Beach, Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, and Vero Beach. I basically want to drive the 80 miles or so from south to north only on U.S. 1 and State Road A1A, and simply stop along the way at the various places that look interesting to me. I’d do it over 2 or 3 days and really explore the region. I may even combine it with a trip around the Big Lake Okeechobee. I miss doing exploration road trips like that. It’s time to get back on the road again and enjoy God’s Creations along the way.
III. I Am Not A Computer Expert – I have never claimed to be a computer expert, and I have never demonstrated any notion of being a computer expert. (Some people may disagree with that.) Nevertheless the impression that some people get (for whatever reason) is that I am some sort of genius at fixing computers. Here’s the real deal. If I actually knew how to physically fix a computer then I would not be dealing with my current computer systems at home. I’d fix them. I’d upgrade them. When a computer at home crashes I do what a lot of sensible people do. I set it aside and go out and buy a brand new one. Do I know how to use a computer ? Sure – I’ve been using personal computers for a little over 17 years now. I used Hurricane Andrew relocation money to help me buy my very first computer system (a 486SX) towards the end of 1992. I’ve gone through a lot of computer systems since then. I’ve never fixed any of them. I’ve bought new ones to replace broken ones. It makes more sense for me to do that. I’m mechanically challenged – and that includes computers. What’s my current job at work ? I manage resources. That includes (but is not limited to) computers, databases, and finances. I provide guidance on computers, but I do not buy them or fix them. I’m responsible for information that gets input into databases as well as the output based on that data, but I do not put any of the data in myself. I’m responsible for the effective and efficient spending of money, but I do not spend any of the money myself. I’m your classic liaison. I hope that clears everything up for everyone.
Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ later this week. I’m sure that I’ll find something new to rant and rave on, but please keep this in mind at all times – I’m a lover not a fighter. I heard that one !
Standard Time comes to a grinding halt early tomorrow morning – Sunday March 14TH 2010 at 2 AM local time – as Daylight Saving Time begins. Be sure to ‘Spring Forward’ by one hour before you go to sleep tonight, or else you will be one hour late for everything tomorrow. You will lose an hour of sleep, but have no fret for you will get that hour back next November when Standard Time returns. I know – I’m not crazy about it either. I say leave the time alone !
We don’t ‘Spring Forward’ every Saturday night on the ‘Retro’ – we ‘Fall Back’, and this week we take a trip back 18 years ago to the Spring of 1992. It’s when “The Silence Of The Lambs” won the Oscar for Best Picture. It’s when Microsoft Windows 3.1 made its much-anticipated debut at computer stores everywhere. It’s when the ‘Long Island Lolita’ Amy Fisher shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco. It’s when Johnny Carson retired from “The Tonight Show” after 30 years – and Jay Leno took over as the new host. It’s when USAF SGT Chris M. Day drove all around South Florida in his red Geo Spectrum listening to the hottest hits on Y-100.
It’s also when Ms. Amy Grant rocked the radio airwaves with this positive uplifting smash. It’s “Good For Me”, and it’s one of my favourite songs EVER:
This concludes another week of blogging for me. I’ll be back LIVE on Tuesday night for another action-packed edition of my ‘Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’. Until then you can catch me on Twitter at majorhitwaves. Enjoy your weekend !
CountUp 