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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1. As blizzards, ice storms, and cold and wind events sweep across the free nation from California to Maine we seem to be stuck in a summertime weather pattern aqui a America’s Riviera / El Sur de Florida. I’m forecasting a continuation of our well above normal temperatures for at least another 7 to 10 days. That means afternoon high temperatures well into the mid-80s (with heat indices approaching or exceeding 90°F). We’ll have to wait awhile to get in on some of that cold and crisp air not too far to the north of us.

2.  If you’ve been following me via my Twitter account then you already know that I’ve been working on my first big speech that I give tonight at my Toastmasters club. It’s an ice-breaker speech, so that means that I have to talk about a very familiar subject that’s near and dear to me – ME !  It’s all about me for 4 to 6 minutes. I think I’ve got it down to about 5½ minutes, so we’ll see how it all works out. I’m really looking forward to the evaluations afterwards – positive and negative. I can only get better from this point forward.

3.  I felt like a Toastmaster today at work. I facilitated a 1-hour and 40-minute briefing over at our Base Conference Center this morning in which I stood behind a podium at the front of the main briefing room and guided the slide presentation and introduced the various speakers. It was actually some great practice for tonight and future nights at Toastmasters as well as my hosting duties on occasional Sunday mornings at Life Pointe Church.

4.  On January 04TH 2010 I make the momentous 100TH monthly payment on my current home (out of 180). I’ve got a 15-year mortgage loan on my current home that I bought during the week prior to ‘9-11’ in 2001, so it’s about 55% percent paid off now. It feels weird to know that I’ve been living in this home for 14½ years now – longer than any other by far. (I rented for 6 years before I bought.) When I moved in to this home I had just turned 28-years-old. Now I’m 42½-years-old. (Yes Kelly J. I just said ’42½’.)

5.  And now I’ve got a new home on Fleming Island in Clay County Florida (southwestern fringes of the Jacksonville area) that I need to get officially transferred over to my name to make it all legal and everything. My parents lived in it for about 6 years up until this past February when I moved them over to Fairview Texas (within 5 miles of my brother and sister-in-law). Once I get their home officially transferred over to me then I get to pay for it !  BRING IT $ !

Be sure to catch my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ in less than 48 hours !

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Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– For the first time ever I’ve got 2 systems connected to the ‘Net simultaneously.
– I bought a ‘Wireless-N USB 2.0 Adapter‘ for my antique laptop.
– That’s the laptop that was my main system before I bought my new desktop.
– It’s so old that wireless technology was a mere option when it was new.
– Now I can access the Internet whereever there’s Wi-Fi.
– OK so I’m about 5 years behind the times here – at least I arrived.
– This suddenly rejuvenated laptop is going on a long road trip with me !
– Next Thursday night at this time I’ll be on vacation.
– I’m actually working for about 5 hours next Thursday morning.
– After that I’m off for the rest of the month.
– I return back to work to celebrate my 22ND anniversary at the air base.
– I’ve got an early departure time to hit the road next Friday morning.
– I’ve got about 825 miles to cover on the first day of my road trip.
– I can’t wait to get out on that open road.
– Late this morning I ventured over to Beef ‘O’ Brady’s for Lunch.
– I rarely eat cheeseburgers nowadays, but when I do Beef’s is the place.
– They also serve up some mightly tasty buffalo wings !
– Pretty much everything that I’ve ordered there was hot and delicious.
– Well the cold air from the north is advecting our area as I type this.
– Once the skies clear out our temperatures will tumble rapidly.
– I’m forecasting a low of 56° for Homestead from 6 AM to 7 AM on Friday.
– But wind chills will actually be closer to 50° !
– Tomorrow (Friday) we will struggle to reach 75°.
– It’ll be another chilly morning on Saturday.
– I can’t wait until I can walk around my neighbourhood in it !
– That’s right – I’m doin’ a ‘Walk-A-Thon’ on Saturday morning.
– This Saturday night on the ‘Retro’ I’ve got a funky Neil Sedaka from 1975.
– But first before that we’re gonna do the “Jungle Boogie” at the ‘Disco Party’.
– Be sure not to miss those weekend shenanigans.
– Those are my ‘Mini Thoughts’ for this Thursday night.
– I thank you for checking them out, and I’ll see ya back here tomorrow.
– In the meantime – REMEMBER THIS !

Chris At The Beach

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  Today was a very tough day at work for me and my co-workers in my building at the air base. We received the unsettling news shortly after 7 AM that one of our own was down on the street (SW 288TH St. – just down the road from the base) in very bad shape after being t-boned by a car and thrown off of his motorcycle. Word came in a short while later that he had died as a result of his injuries. Our building was in mourning for much of the day, and one of the  Base Chaplains spent much of the day with us. The guy that we lost was well liked by all, and I considered him as one of my favourite people to talk to and hang out with during the course of any given work day. Yesterday afternoon I spent the last 10 minutes of my work day doing just that – talking, hanging out, and laughing with him – not knowing that it would be the last time that I would ever be able to do that. God – Please bless Kevin up in Heaven, and take care of my buddy. I know that he’s in a much better place now that he’s with You. Thank You Kevin for being a good man – and for being my friend.

2.  This was actually the 2ND death in our base’s extended work family in the span of roughly 36 hours. The pilot who lost his life on Sunday night when his private plane crashed into the Everglades near I-75 was also one of our own. He was a Lieutenant Colonel / Deputy Commander on the base, and I used to work with him back in the mid-1990s when he was a Captain. He left work on Sunday night, went to Tamiami Airport, and took off in his plane to fly back home to North Central Florida. He never made it. He was 49.

3.  Yesterday was Day 7 of my severe cold that was born at work exactly one week ago today, and I still had a noticeable trace of the leftovers of the cold via sporadic sinus pressure and drainage issues. I’m not yet ready to officially declare my cold to be completely done and over with because I just now blew my nose quite thoroughly, and a lot of excess leftover snottage came out and my nose made some funny drainage sounds during the process. I do wish to thank my friends Airborne, Zicam, and Cold-EEZE for their great efforts to make me feel just a little bit better during the peak of the severe cold.

4.  I never knew that my all-time favourite take-out Chinese Food restaurant actually has the biggest, boldest, and bestest chicken wings in town – but they do. I deviated from my regular Lunch on Monday, as I ordered a pint of won ton soup, an order of 4 chicken wings, and an egg roll. These chicken wings were GINORMOUS. They were hot, juicy, and tasty. I highly recommend them. I must warn you though that these are your standard fried chicken wings – no sauce – no seasoning – but if that’s all that you want – and you want them BIG – then go and get you some at Shanghai over at the Waterstone Plaza in Homestead.

5.  Get ready for cooler and dryer air to sweep through America’s Riviera early this Thursday morning. Our coolest morning should actually be Friday with actual air temperatures bottoming out in the upper-50s and wind chills in the mid-50s. Friday should be sunny, crisp, cool, and dry with temperatures getting no higher than the mid-70s. It should be a little bit warmer on Saturday, Sunday, and beyond, but no rain is expected after tomorrow (Wednesday).

Be sure to check back here in about 48 hours for my weekly ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ in bullet statements of 15 words or less.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day here in the U.S.A. Never forget all of those brave men and women who have served and who are currently serving our country and defending democracy and freedom during wartime.

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Saturday Night Retro

Whenever the first two weeks of November roll around I think of cooler and drier weather, the upcoming holiday season, and The United Kingdom.

Cold fronts from the northwest are sweeping through America’s Riviera for the first time since last Spring dropping temperatures down below 72°F on a nearly nightly basis.

Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day are all within the next 8 weeks. Season’s Greetings Everyone !

These first two weeks of November also remind me of my two-year stint living in The United Kingdom serving as a young airman in the USAF. It was 24-years-ago this weekend that I departed stateside and arrived on British soil on my own to begin duty at my first permanent duty station. I served my country for two years in the U.K., and I took in all of the mid-1980s British and European culture at the time. It was a fun fun time for me and my friends that I spent it with. Good Times Forever.

22-years-ago next weekend I left the U.K. behind en route to my follow-on duty station at the original Homestead Air Force Base. Some time later on in my Life I plan to return to the U.K. to check up on the land across the sea I left behind.

Back in June of 1987 English novelty act The Firm scored one of the most unusual songs to ever hit # 1 on a major national hit music chart. It was a # 1 radio smash for 2 weeks all across The British Isles, and its unprecedented mainstream success reached deep into the European continent eastward into Asia and southward into Australia.

Here’s the original-length music video of that multi-continental # 1 smash, and it’s all about the legendary “Star Trek” television series from 20 years earlier: