– It was a bit noisier outside yesterday morning compared with last week.
– My neighbours were driving away, returning home, and walking their dogs.
– When I say ‘neighbours’ I mean all 1,500 to 2,000 of them.
– I had one cat sighting, and she knew that I was her friend and not her foe.
– The air outside was clean, cool, crisp, and dry.
– During certain parts of my walk I could feel that 60°F wind chill.
– It felt really good after a long and hot and humid summer.
– I did not forget my iPod for this walk.
– I jammed to tunes from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, ’00s, and today.
– One song in particular was rather ironic.
– It was Ferry Corsten’s “Rock Your Body, Rock”.
– 7 years ago I sweat by dancing to it late at night in a packed nightclub.
– On this morning I (not quite) sweat by walking to it early in the morning.
– I’m happy that I can look back at where I came from.
– I’m happy that God has placed me at this point here on this journey.
– This was a 2¼-mile walk, so that’s 4.4 miles towards my goal of a marathon.
– I’m lookin’ forward to the next 2+ mile walk – perhaps next Saturday AM !
Romans 10:13 – For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
– It’s the 4TH season premiere of my ‘Walk-A-Thon’.
– This all started towards the end of 2007.
– I changed my diet and I quit drinking in 2007.
– I started taking care of my body during my ‘Rebirthing’.
– I quit smoking completely 30 months ago in April 2008.
– I am in the best physical and mental condition of my life.
– Thank You Jesus for giving me a second chance at Life.
– Thank You for giving up your Life so that I could Live !
– This morning I enjoyed a nice walk around my neighbourhood.
– It was a 40-minute and 19-second walk at dawn.
– Sunrise occurred 25 minutes into my walk.
– There wasn’t a cloud in the sky this morning.
– My neighbourhood was peaceful and quiet as the day began.
– There was 1 feline sighting and 1 fellow walker.
– Felines know that I am their friend and not their foe.
– Nearly halfway into my walk I realized that I forgot my iPod.
– I realized that I was listening to nature rather than loud music.
– Nature sounded beautiful – as it always does.
– My legs actually ached a little bit before the walk.
– That’s because of all of the walking from yesterday.
– I’m certainly out-of-shape as I begin this new season of walking.
– My legs were even more sore after walking a tough 2.1 miles.
– That’s 2.1 miles towards my goal of a 26.2-mile marathon.
– And my ‘Walk-A-Thon’ continues next Saturday morning.
Happy Columbus Day Weekend ! Let’s BLAST-OFF this weekend !
WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
Well the cooler temperatures and the lower humidity arrived with a vengeance just as soon as October arrived a week ago, and it’s been no fluke. The South Florida dry season has officially begun – a few weeks earlier than normal. Lately we’ve been struggling to get in to the 80s in the afternoons, and we’re dropping well into the 60s early in the mornings with wind chills into the 50s at times. It’s our coolest weather in about 6 months, and it feels so good ! I must get out and enjoy this scrumptious Chamber Of Commerce weather. Last weekend I quietly kicked-off my ‘Cultural, Historical, & Economical Stimulus Tour’ for the Winter of 2011 with visits to Homestead Bayfront Park and Biscayne National Park. This weekend my fun-in-the-sun plans include the upper Florida Keys and Monkey Jungle. Between now and next April I’ll also plan to spend some quality time at Zoo Miami, Jungle Island, Miami Beach, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Stuart, Naples, Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, Jacksonville, Panama City Beach, much of the NW Florida panhandle, Dallas Texas, The Bahamas, The U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Have fun will travel !
BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD: Chili’s – For the 2ND time in 6 weeks the Quesadilla Explosion Salad wins the coveted award. If you’ve got a hearty appetitite for nutritious vegetable goodness then check out this masterpiece. It’s got grilled chicken with cheese, corn relish, cilantro, tortilla strips, and citrus-balsamic dressing – served with cheese quesadillas. I dig.
THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:
Some day – maybe 5 or 10 or 15 years from now – I may be a cat owner again. It’s because of these lovable shenanigans from my feline friends:
BLATANT PROMOTION: Tomorrow night on my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ I’m flashing back 23½ years ago to the Spring of 1987 – back when I was a young resident of the British Isles. I’ll take a glimpse at what I was doing back then during my final memorable months as a teenager. After that I’m bring blogging back to Sundays ! That’s right – it’s the 4TH season premiere of ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’. This year I’ve set a reasonable goal to walk a marathon – not all at once – but combined between now and April. I’m looking to walk 26.2 miles above and beyond my normal everyday walking. That’s an average of about 3.75 miles per month from October to April. In the fine tradition that is ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’ I’ll blog about my walking adventures, and I’ll track my progress towards the goal. Don’t forget that you can follow me on Twitter in-between all of the weekend blog posts. Have yourself a safe and fun holiday weekend my friends.
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.
CountUp 