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Saturday Night Retro

Saturday November 13TH 2010
Volume 3 / Number 10 / Edition 107

Back during the Summer of 2004 I was living in my current home and driving around in my current car, but things were a bit different back then than they are now.

At home I had a vibrant cat by the name of Boots following me around and loving me. On the road I was driving around in my fairly new (one-year-old) car. On one particular road trip that Summer I drove further west than I had ever previously driven in my entire life – all the way to New Orleans and back. It was my very first visit ever to ‘The Crescent City’, and I got to see and experience it a full year before Hurricane Katrina damaged it.

Back then my Mom and Dad were healthy and living and working in Jacksonville Florida, and my brother was still married to his first wife and living near Columbus Ohio. My Grandmom died that Summer in Maryland at the age of 88. I got to see her one last time during the Summer prior (in 2003). It was my first visit back to the Washington D.C. area since 1996, and I haven’t been back since.

The more things change – the more they stay the same. My cat died. My Dad has passed on. My Mom is now retired and living in Fairview Texas about 5 miles away from my brother. He’s been happily married to his 2ND wife for the past 3½-years, and they have a beautiful 7-month-old daughter (my niece). Still living with them – Buddy – the dog that was featured on my blog post from last night. I’ll be there in just about 5 days to enjoy the holidays with all of them !

When I look back at the Summer of 2004 I hear this song in the background. It seems so long ago. It seems like I lived it in a previous life.

I’ve found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is You.

2004 FACTOID OF LIFE – Myspace replaced AOL as the hottest place to hang out online. It began AOL’s long descent from its lofty peaks of 2002 that continues to this day. I was dragged onto Myspace in 2007 – and then quickly abandoned.

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The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

LET’S KICK IT with another ‘Weekend Blast-Off’ here on my big bad blog !

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
This afternoon I kicked-off my weekend at Southland Mall. I saw “Unstoppable” at the Regal Cinemas. This is its first day at the box office. Due to a whole bunch of reasons I don’t go the movie theatres nowadays as often as I used to, so seeing a movie on its very first day of release is definitely rare for me. This is only the 7TH movie that I’ve seen in 2010. At this point in 2009 I had seen 12 movies (the same in 2008). I wish Hollywood made more movies like “Unstoppable”. This was a suspenseful ‘edge-of-my-seat’ action-packed thriller from start to finish. My eyes were wide open during the course of the movie, and I never once looked down at my watch in boredom. I was rooting and cheering on the heroes to come through, and I had moist eyes at the end of it all. I was also exhausted at the end of it all. It was as if I was on the runaway train myself. It was truly a total 95-minute adrenaline rush !

There was only one thing to do after all of that intense action – EAT !

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
… And so I did just that – right there at the mall at the Buffalo Wild Wings. I discovered this jumpin’ joint up on International Drive In Orlando about 5 or so years ago when I used to hang out up there on a regular basis. I was so happy when they opened up a location much closer to home. If they were located in Homestead then I’d be there every week enjoying my usual meal of 12 traditional wings spun in Honey BBQ sauce, a regular order of potato wedges, celery sticks with blue cheese dressing, and Coca Cola Classic. Yeah !  Come On !

BUDDY DAY PHOTO OPPORTUNITY OF THE MONTH CLUB:
Buddy Roosevelt Day is my brother‘s dog. He bought him from a pet store in Orange Park Florida right around ‘9-11’ in 2001. He went to the pet store, saw Buddy, took an instant liking to him, and then walked away from him. He got in his car, and he drove away from the store. After getting a couple of miles away he made a u-turn and returned back to the store. He bought and adopted Buddy right then and there. Today Buddy is about 9½-years-old. I refer to him as ‘Old Man Buddy’. This picture was taken this past Halloween.

Buddy - The Day Family Canine

THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:

BLATANT PROMOTION:
At this time next Friday night I’ll be settled in at my brother’s and sister’s-in-law home sweet home in Allen Texas, as we enjoy 8 days and 8 nights together as a family celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas combined (our annual feasting and gift-giving tradition). I’m looking forward to it. This will be my first visit to Texas since the 4TH Of July holiday weekend. I left there just 13 days before my Dad passed on. I’ll be tweeting all throughout my upcoming holiday vacation, so you can always follow me to see what I’m up to out west. I’ll also be blogging next weekend with an all-new ‘Blast-Off’ on Friday and ‘Retro’ on Saturday. Tomorrow night on the 107TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ I’m flashing back 6 years ago to 2004. Until we meet again my friends have yourself a safe, productive, and fun November weekend. Make it memorable.

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Veterans Day – Honoring All Who Served

On this 11TH day of the 11TH month we salute our military veterans – about 25 million of us living today – who served our country during a time of war or conflict.

Some of us were ordered to go to war by our superiours, and some enthusiastically volunteered to serve. Some of us were overwhelmed and celebrated by our fellow Americans when we returned stateside, and some were ignored, abandoned, disrespected, and hated. Some of us were proud of our challenging work overseas, and some were ashamed of it. Some of us have good memories of our experiences abroad, and some never recovered from the hell on earth that they lived through. Some of us returned back home again to our friends and family armed with vivid war stories, and some returned back home lifeless in a casket.

On this day – and every day of the year – we should never forget our veterans. We are the reason why this free nation – The United States Of America – exists today. You may not agree with our reasons to be at war, but you should never take out your disagreement with national policy on those who served – on those who fought for your freedom to disagree. Let us always honor all who served. Let that honor be expressed in more than mere words.

Chris M. Day, USAF
Veteran, Operation Desert Shield & Operation Desert Storm
Tent W-23, Al Kharj Air Base, Saudi Arabia
05 January 1991 – 09 March 1991

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Saturday Night Retro

Saturday November 06TH 2010
Volume 3 / Number 9 / Edition 106

25 years ago this weekend I flew on an overnight flight from Northern Virginia to London England to arrive at my new home for the next two years – my first permanent duty assignment as a young 18-year-old USAF Airman. I took British Rail from London Heathrow Airport to Reading – and then from Reading to Swindon further west. From Swindon I hired a cab to take me to my new home and workplace at RAF Fairford. During that cab ride on that sunny and cold morning of Sunday November 10TH 1985 I heard the chilling song “Road To Nowhere” by The Talking Heads on the radio. How appropriate.

My first couple of months at RAF Fairford were mostly spent on base either working at the office (as an aircraft maintenance systems analyst / statistician), or living in the dormitory. I lived in the old-style dorm buildings on base – small ones strategically built in a series of rows shortly after World War II. There were no bathrooms in any of the dorm rooms. They were down the hallway – community-style. Our ‘Day Room’ was where we hung out after work to socialize and watch TV and play card games – mostly Uno. There were some fun all-night sessions in that room. Good times and good memories with good buddies at the time. I can still see us all sitting around that big round table in the corner laughing and carrying on at 3 AM in the dead of the British winter. It made it easier for me during that first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holiday season away from home in a foreign land.

Shortly after 1986 arrived I got to upgrade to my own 2ND floor room in ‘the new dorm’ – with shared bathrooms in-between each dorm room. I also made my way out of the dorm and began exploring the vast U.K. countryside and historic European continent.

But my U.K. experience all began during those first two memorable months of November and December of 1985. One of the top pop / rock hits on both sides of the Atlantic during those early days and weeks at my new home was this comeback smash from Starship. Here’s “We Built This City” – the # 1 smash on the Billboard Hot 100 exactly 25 years ago this month – and one of my favourite songs of all-time !