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My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1999

Every Friday night I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 10, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week). Here it is – for the week ending Sunday May 16TH 1999:

  1. “The Hardest Thing” – 98°
  2. “I Want It That Way” – The Backstreet Boys
  3. “Livin’ La Vida Loca” – Ricky Martin
  4. “Special” – Garbage
  5. “That Don’t Impress Me Much” – Shania Twain

Good solid pop music back then – with Garbage being the anomaly.

I like to do this from time to time. Looking back at my checkbook register is a lot of fun. Back then I wrote a whole lot more checks than I do today. (The only checks I typically write today are my weekly tithes to my church.)

So 20 years ago this week I got paid. I got paid today too. My net pay back then was about 58.6% of what it was today. That’s good progress.

My telephone bill for a month of service 20 years ago was $52.85. Last weekend I paid $78.99. You may be thinking, “Why do you even have a telephone bill ?  It’s 2019 !” There are many logical reasons why I still have an “old-school” land-line telephone. I get very few telemarketing calls on my cell phone – because I rarely give out my cell phone number. I give out my longtime land-line number instead. The telemarketers call that number. I also live deep in the heart of hurricane country. During bad storms cell phone towers lose power, get damaged, or topple over. Most of our standard telephone lines are underground and operate continuously during and after hurricanes.

I paid my Chevron bill during this week 20 years ago. Gas was cheap back then – about $1.25 per gallon. It’s more than twice that amount today, but I’m not complaining about $2.70 per gallon. I remember when it was approaching $5 per gallon. I’m planning a road-trip in about 4 months from South Florida to North Texas and back. That’s about 3,000 miles. At $2.70 per gallon and about 42 miles per gallon with my car that’s a little less than $200 in gas. I got this !

You know 1999 was not that good of a year for me – privately and professionally. It was a rather forgettable year, or I’ve just chosen to forget about that year over time. The music of yesteryear brings back those memories – good and bad. As Shania said, “That Don’t Impress Me Much”. I feel the same about 1999.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon and Monday night with two more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Go make some good memories that you’ll cherish for years to come.

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Home Sweet Homestead

I’m back from vacation !  My 6-day / 590-mile / 14-county Florida road-trip has come to a close. My trek started in deep South Miami-Dade County (where my home is), and it continued northward through Broward, Palm Beach, Hendry, Glades, Highlands, and Polk Counties, westward into Hillsborough County (Tampa), southward through Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier Counties, and then back into Miami-Dade County. I also came within a few feet of touching (mainland) Monroe County for a second.

It was a fun trip. I saw a couple of current movies, I did a little bit of shopping (didn’t buy anything), I ate a lot of good food, I walked over 60,000 steps (to burn-off that good food), I did a lot of sightseeing, I visited some historical museums and animal-based tourist attractions, I went to two Christian music concerts, and I spent a lot of time at the beach.

I saw and I did things that I had never seen or done before in my life. This was a classic vacation. I get to spend the near future reminiscing about the times I enjoyed via the 140+ photos and 1 video I captured during all of the fun.

The 1 video I captured is a spectacular 3½-minute video of this past Tuesday night’s sunset on Venice Beach Florida. The video captures the 3 minutes leading up to the sun dropping below the horizon at sea as well as the 30 seconds right after that moment. I intended to post that video in its entirety here on my blog, but I realized that I can’t upload videos on here with my current WordPress plan. The video is also about 1:10 too long for Twitter, so I’ll have to figure out how to trim it down to 2:20 for Twitter.

In the meantime here’s Monday night’s sunset at 8:05 PM EDT on Venice Beach.

Sunset

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets – the name of the LORD is to be praised. (Psalm 113:3 NIV)

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Sunday Scripture

Earlier this week I stated that I attended the Greater Miami Youth For Christ annual fundraising dinner after church service last Sunday.

Today following our Lead Pastor’s sermon I talked about a young man by the name of Billy. He was a young Pastor in his early-to-mid-20s serving at a small Baptist church in the far-western suburbs of Chicago. His friend was the Founder of a local Youth For Christ movement in Chicago, and he himself was a fellow Baptist Pastor. One Sunday he came to the suburbs to see his friend Billy preach. He was impressed with what he saw and heard. He asked Billy if he’d be interested in hosting a radio show in Chicago. Billy accepted, and thousands heard his messages on the radio.

Billy was asked to kick-off the first night of the Youth For Christ meetings in Chicagoland. He accepted. Billy served as the first full-time evangelist of the Youth For Christ ministry. He eventually became the first Vice President – with his friend the Founder as President – of Youth For Christ International – which was established in 1946.

The Founder – in his mid-30s at the time – could’ve had any famous preacher from the big city to move Youth For Christ forward to the next level, but he wanted to work with a small circle of younger ministers who shared his vision and truly understood the youth of the day. These young ministers were all born and raised Chicago men – except Billy – from the western mountains of North Carolina. The Founder was totally convinced that there was no one better than Billy to deliver the message of God’s Good News to the youth of the day.

Billy is the Reverend Billy Graham. He held his first Crusade soon after in 1947.

When you are called on this fantastic journey – accept the calling – receive His gifts – and trust that God will lead you every step of the way as you fulfill the purpose that He has given you. God didn’t give us The Holy Spirit to do nothing with it. God gave us The Holy Spirit to change the world.

And then He told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (Mark 16:15 NLT)

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The Summer Of 2011

Saturday June 04TH 2011
Volume 3 / Number 17 / Edition 114

Well here it is the 1ST Saturday night of June of 2011, and it’s Summer in the city. The regular TV season is over. The NBA and the NHL are playing their respective championship series. A new Atlantic basin tropical season has begun. School’s nearly out for Summer !

Where has the time gone ?  Whatever happened to the now lost art form of creative expression that was blogging ?  This is only my 6TH blog post of 2011. Once upon a time in a year not so long ago I was blogging at least 6 times per week. That was in a different era. All things must change. Life must continue to evolve. Unlike virtually all of my closest friends I have not totally abandoned the fine art of blogging. I’ll continue to make occasional appearances here on WordPress to let you know what’s happenin’.

Here’s what’s goin’ on. Today is the last day of me being 43. I celebrate my 44TH birthday tomorrow – June 05TH. I plan to kickoff the celebration bright and early tomorrow morning at Denny’s where I’ll enjoy my free birthday Grand Slam. Naturally I’ll go with the All-American Slam® – a favourite of mine at ‘America’s Diner’.

This Monday I observe the 26TH anniversary of my High School Graduation, and next Sunday marks my 26TH anniversary working for the USAF (military and civilian combined). It actually does seem like 26 years ago !

June 06TH 1985, McLean Virginia

I’m not blogging on a regular basis anymore, but I’m still active online. Just don’t look for me anywhere on that vast wasteland known as Facebook. I’ve never signed-up for it. I don’t follow what the rest of the world is doing. If you want to ‘friend’ me then please do so in person rather than on the fake world of Facebook.

I’m on Twitter, as I tweet daily @majorhitwaves. I’m also quietly building my photographic collection on Flickr. So far I’ve got 278 pictures up. They are mostly vacation pictures of the past 5 years (many taken by family and friends). I try to add at least a few pictures to the site every few days, so my photostream should look new to you if you check it out every so often. One of my biggest regrets in life is the fact that I never took any pictures of my life up until a little over a year ago. I actually got my first camera last year when I bought my first Android smartphone. It’s a 5 megapixel camera that takes really good pictures. See for yourself on my Flickr !

My Fantastic Journey following my Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ continues stronger than ever. He rescued me from the darkness of the world 57 months ago, and the Life that I live today is radically different than the life that I led for the first 39 years on this Earth. I don’t force my faith on anyone; however, if you wish to know more about the God that I know and my relationship with Him then please don’t hesitate to walk with me on this journey and I’ll share The Good News with you. You won’t regret it pal !

Everything else in my Life is pretty much status quo for the most part. I’ve been working at the same place – Homestead ARB – for the past 23½ years. I’ve lived in the same home for the past 16 years (next week is the anniversary for that). I’ve driven the same car for the past 8 years (the end of this month is its anniversary). Home Sweet Homestead. Life is good. God is GREAT !