Category: Career

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Saturday Night Retro

My old (and well-preserved) checkbook registers reveal a lot about the storied history of my life.

19 years ago in May of 1990 my take-home pay from the base was less than one-fifth of what it is today. Things were much cheaper back then !

Back then I drank Coca Cola Classic and I used Plax and Act in conjunction with brushing my teeth. I also washed my clothes with Tide. I know this because I wrote these items down within the ‘description’ lines of the checkbook register. Some things just never change !

My cable bill was $40.12 and my long distance carrier was MCI. It cost $20.60 to register my vehicle for another year. That’s almost exactly half of what it just cost me to do it again this past month.

One last thing. I was buying cat food at the HAFB Commissary. I didn’t ‘own’ a cat at the time. Oh yeah – there was however that mangy yellowish cat that essentially lived underneath my car in the parking lot of my dormitory on base for a few years. I suppose that it picked my car as its ‘roof’ because it (allegedly) continued to find miscellaneous food laying there.

Back in May of 1990 this was one of the hottest songs in the entire free nation. It’s the U.S. TOP 10 megasmash “I Remember You” from heavy metal glam rock band Skid Row (featuring then lead singer Sebastian Bach). It’s from their self-titled multi-platinum debut album, and it was one of the top high school prom songs in the nation in May of 1990. So all you 37-year-olds out there from the ‘Class Of 1990’ – this one is for you !

That’s my long distance dedication from Chris in Homestead to the entire ‘Class Of 1990’. Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for God. Oh yeah – and keep your web browser tuned – right where it is !

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Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– I always look forward to blogging on a Thursday night.
– That’s because this is one of my favourite weekly series.
– OK – It’s my favourite of them all.
– I have no idea what I’m gonna type on here until I actually do it.
– This is as spur-of-the-moment spontaneous as it can possibly get with me.
– “Judge Judy” just came on (at 4 PM EDT).
– An afternoon is not for real until I’ve had my hour-long dose of Judy.
– They don’t keep her around there because she’s gorgeous.
– They keep her around there because she’s SMART !!!
– The devil has been working overtime at my workplace all this week.
– He’s been making my Life miserable at work.
– But he started to retreat big-time during the day today.
– That’s because God gave me some stronger armour to wear.
– Ephesians 6:10-20 – I could (and should) read that every single day.
– If reading about God makes you uncomfortable then you don’t know Him.
– You should get to know Him.
– He can change your Life.
– I’m looking forward to the long Memorial Day holiday weekend.
– It all starts in less than 24 hours dude.
– I’ve decided to take a week off from serving at Life Pointe Church.
– I’m coming in late, and I’m attending the 10:30 AM service.
– Later on Sunday I plan to drive down to The Keys.
– I’m attending the 6 PM service at the Plantation Key campus.
– I’ve heard a lot of great things about this campus.
– I need to check them all out for myself.
– I also want my Tom Little update of the month.
– Homestead ARB has recorded 4.55 inches of rain over the past 5 days.
– Last week I boldly forecasted 4 to 8 inches of rain for this week.
– It looks like I so totally nailed this weather forecast.
– I do my best weather forecasting work during the rainy season.
– And I do it for free.
– I adore this picture of my first cat Fluffy:

Fluffy The Manx Cat - Late-1987
Fluffy The Manx Cat - Late-1987

– That doggie pillow still exists today on one of my living room couches.
– It’s much more faded now.
– Fluffy inspired ‘MANx CAT BBS’ – born on this day in 1993.
– That BBS is the Godmother of this blog.
– And those – my friends – are my mini thoughts on this here Thursday night.
– Keep it real dudes and dudettes.
– I’ll check you cats out this weekend.

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Blogging Career Food People Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– If it’s Thursday night then it must be time for some mini thoughts o’ mine.
– It’s the 14TH edition of these ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’.
– It’s the sleeper smash hit series of the season for this blog !
– Last night I spent nearly 3 hours with some good friends at the White Lion Cafe.
– They officially close ‘when the fat lady sings’.
– She sang last night, and we shut the joint down just before 10 PM.
– As promised I ate ENORMOUS quantities of food.
– I stopped eating at around 9:30 PM.
– That was over 19 hours ago, and I haven’t eaten a morsel ever since then.
– I may grab a snack after I post these Mini Thoughts.
– I’m not really hungry though.
– I also ate an ENORMOUS Lunch at Sonny’s BBQ 8 hours prior to Dinner.
– I may have consumed nearly 10,000 calories yesterday.
– Some of my friends didn’t like their food at the White Lion Cafe.
– Greg eats just like me – EVERYTHING on his plate !
– It just takes him a little longer to do so.
– My food was absolutely scrumptious from start to finish.
– Of course this is coming from a dude who cooks absolutely nothing at home.
– I only eat real food in restaurants and in other peoples’ homes.
– I was in meetings pretty much all day today at work.
– They were very productive.
– Over the past 21 months I’ve enjoyed a purpose-driven career.
– It just took over 22 years to get to that point in my career.
– Next year I celebrate my 25TH anniversary working with the USAF.
– The first 22 years were pretty much forgettable.
– At least I wish to forget most of that time.
– My little brother turns 34-years-old this Sunday.
– I remember when he was born.
– I also remember all of the fun times that we shared together as kids.
– My brother is my favourite person in the entire world.
– I’ll see him LIVE and in person next Thursday night.
– That’s because I’ll be visiting North Texas next weekend.
– We’ll be celebrating his birthday on the first night.
– And his 2ND anniversary with his wife on the second night.
– And my birthday on the third night.
– And Mother’s Day on the fourth night.
– That means that there will be more MASSIVE meals in my future !
– I am so looking forward to that !

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Blogging Career Computers Driving Food Politics Television Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Let’s kick it:

1.  Can you believe it ?  The ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ quietly turned 18-months-old last week. Who would have thought back in October of 2007 that this would become a weekly Tuesday night tradition here on this blog ?  I mean – besides me.

2.  So yeah at like 11:10 AM this morning I was just a few minutes away from getting up from my desk at work and getting into my car to grab a bite to eat for Lunch – but then the telephone rang. Instead of ignoring it I decided to answer it. That telephone call led to another nearly two-hour long distance telephone call with the Air Force equivalent of ‘computer technical support’ to fix a problem on a local computer system that’s within my area of responsibility. Long story (sort of) short I ended up leaving work at 2 PM – 90 minutes early – going to Lunch – and then taking Lunch home with me. Lunch was delayed by some 3.5 hours today, but better late than never !

3.  As part of my 2009 Economic Stimulus Tour of Miami-Dade County tourist attractions I plan to visit Everglades National Park this upcoming Saturday. I haven’t been inside the park in such a long time (maybe 10 to 15 years). I plan to drive all the way to Flamingo and back and walk many of the half-mile trails along the way. (I need the exercise.) I’ll blog about it after the fact on a very special edition of ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’.

4.  Another late-season cold front from the north made its passage through America’s Riviera this morning, and for a brief moment there it looked like funnel clouds were trying to develop northeast of the air base. Now we’re on the refreshing side of the cold front, and we could actually drop down into the upper-50s early tomorrow morning. Look for quite comfortable temperatures (daytime and nighttime) to continue for perhaps the next 7 days.

5.  Former President George W. Bush and Former Vice President Dick Cheney have been out-of-office, retired, and private citizens just like you and me for over 3 months now – yet you would think that they are still in office by the way that all of the late night television talk show hosts keep disrespecting them. That tells me that they are extremely (left-wing) biased – and afraid to rag on our current President and Vice President for fear that their Hollywood superstar guests would boycott them and call them racists for even attempting to make fun of the President. As it stands right now President Obama can do no wrong with the media by his side.