Category: History

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Animals Annoyances Blogging Computers Driving Food History Internet Life People Television Travel

The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
I’ve got an interesting idea for a new and innovative television show. It would be similar to the long-running “Cops“, but this show would utilize helicopters instead with no police action involved. They would fly directly above our streets – neighbourhood and city roads and high-speed expressways alike. They would simply fly around the region and record the traffic down below. Don’t even look for anything unsual. Just record what’s happening down there. Make sure that the cameras that are utilized to capture this footage are very high quality so that everything is clear and visible (aside from license plates and people’s faces). Make it in HD. We could then show that footage during a half-hour nationally syndicated nightly TV show – perhaps right after the local and national news at 7 PM. We’ll have a variety of traffic analysis experts in the studio showing each day’s footage and analyzing it via the extensive use of telestrators. They can tell us everything that’s being done wrong and right while we drive. They can show us all of the near collisions that occur. They can spotlight the good, the bad, and the ugly. They can tell us what we need to know to survive and stay alive. I bet that most people don’t have any idea on how bad their driving actually is, but if they saw it for themselves on television then maybe they would get a clue. The TV show idea sounds simple enough. I’d watch. Not reality. Actuality !

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
It’s been a too long 25 days since I last ate Lunch at my home away from home – Longhorn Steakhouse – so what better way to spend an hour late on a Friday morning than to pull in to the parking lot, open the front door of the joint, and be welcomed by my regular greeter and my regular waitress. FRIENDLY customer service. DELICIOUS food. I can’t ask for anything more out of a Lunch hour. I enjoyed my standard fare – Renegade Top Sirloin (8-ounce / Medium-Well), Mashed Potatoes, Bread, Coke.

RETWEET:
Facebook is like your high school yearbook getting circulated and signed by people you don’t know or like. Twitter is like tagging a wall.

THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:
My longtime cat Boots (1995-2007) did this frequently with geckos on our back porch screen. It was his warning call. If the gecko didn’t scram within a reasonable amount of time then Boots would run and jump on it and push it off the screen himself (thus saving my life of course). Here’s somebody else’s home video that reminds me of the fun times that I enjoyed while I was living with my very own feline buddy. Maybe some day – when the time and the place is right – I’ll go to a local animal shelter and adopt another abandoned feline and bring him or her to my loving and happy home.

BLATANT PROMOTION:
The weekend blogging continues tomorrow night with the 99TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’. I’m flashing back to 2003. It was only 7 years ago, but it seems like an era that’s just so foreign to me looking back at it from the light of the present day. Don’t forget that you can stay in touch with me and my Life in-between the weekend blogging simply by following me on Twitter – @majorhitwaves. Watch as I tag my walls with the more notable events of my Life. Have a fun and safe weekend my friends, and I’ll see you out and about.

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Animals History Holidays Nature Travel Weather

Carnival Valor Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

I sailed aboard the gorgeous Carnival Valor during the recent Labour Day holiday week of Sunday September 05TH 2010 through Sunday September 12TH 2010. It was my 10TH Carnival cruise, and my 1ST of many more to come as a V.I.P. Platinum cruiser.

We sailed out of the Port Of Miami on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and we headed southbound into the pristine Caribbean Sea. Our 4 exotic ports-of-call were George Town, Mahogany Bay, Belize City, and San Miguel.

George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, British West Indies:
This was my 3RD visit to the rich U.K. island of banks. My last visit there was 4 years ago in October 2006 via the Carnival Miracle. The island has taken a beating from a series of major hurricanes over the past decade, but she still looks beautiful. I took a 3-hour coach tour along the far northwestern end of the island. We visited a turtle farm and a rum cake outlet before we all went to Hell !

Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras:
This was my very 1ST visit ever to Honduras. Of course this was actually one of the many outlying islands north of the mainland, but it still qualifies as my 21ST unique country, republic, nation, or territory that I’ve visited in my lifetime. It’s a relatively new cruise ship port, and the island itself is rather quaint and primitive. On a 4-hour shore excursion we visited the Carambola Botanical Gardens, the Roatán Tropical Butterfly Garden, and then a seaside shopping and dining village. It was a fun visit to a new Caribbean island discovery.

Belize City, Belize:
This was my 2ND visit to Belize. My 1ST was 4 years ago in October 2006. Belize is the only 1 of the 4 ports that you can actually drive to from anywhere in the U.S. It’s part of mainland Central America – south of Mexico and east of Guatemala. It’s the only English speaking nation south of the U.S. in the entire western hemisphere. Although it’s geographically located in Central America it’s culturally Caribbean. We visited the Belize Zoo – about 30 miles southwest of Belize City. I dig zoos, so it was real exciting to visit this zoo in a foreign country and see the animals of the jungle. It was also a real thrill to return to my cabin back on the cruise ship after Dinner each night to see which new towel animal was hangin’ out with me. Here’s a sample of 4 of those cotton creatures:

San Miguel, Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico:
And there I was again – the Caribbean port-of-call that I’ve been to more than any other – by far. 7 out of 10 of my Carnival cruises over the past 11 years have sailed there, and it always feels like my home away from home whenever I return. Hurricane Wilma devastated Cozumel back in October 2005, but it was quick to recover with all of those American dollars constantly pouring in to the island. The last time I visited earlier this year in February it was a bit chilly and dreary during a major cold snap. This time around it was hot and sunny – just like it should be on the island. I’ll be back again.

Miami, Florida, U.S.A.:
It was back home stateside this past Sunday morning after a week at sea and 4 exotic countries. This was perhaps the smoothest ride at sea of any Carnival cruise that I can remember. I barely felt the waves of the sea on the ship. Ironically that’s one of the advantages of sailing during the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. If there’s no organized tropical systems around then the seas can be as smooth as glass during this time of the year. While I was at sea the only organized tropical system was making landfall near the south of Texas.

Until I cruise again with Carnival in less than 18 weeks – I’ll remember this:

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Driving History Holidays Life Music People Travel

Saturday Night Retro

Saturday September 04TH 2010
Volume 3 / Number 1 / Edition 98

Although it certainly wasn’t as wild and crazy as the legendary Summer of 1990 this past Summer of 2010 will certainly be a memorable one for my own personal historical archives.

In June I stepped foot in New England for the very first time ever. I flew in to Hartford Connecticut, and I spent the better part of a work week up in ‘West Mass.’ as the natives refer to it. I enjoyed my short visit, and I can see myself returning for an encore visit on a future vacation. I wish to explore Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine as well.

In July I spent the long Independence Day holiday weekend out west in the Dallas Texas area with my family. I got to see my favourite Uncle and Aunt for the first time in about 7 years, and I also got to see another favourite Uncle and Aunt while I was there. It was like a ‘Day Family Reunion’ in Texas for a few hours on the 05TH of July, and as it turns out it would be the final time that my Dad got to see everyone together. He passed on to Heaven just 13 days later. He died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). I got the news just a few hours after returning home from a road trip up north and west in the rural panhandle of Florida.

I haven’t taken any trips since then, so I’m really looking forward to this upcoming vacation of mine that begins tomorrow. I’ll cap off the memorable Summer of 2010 on a high note out on the high seas as I visit Grand Cayman Island, Isla Roatan Honduras, Belize City, y Cozumel Mexico via the Carnival Valor. I’ll actually have a camera with me on this trip (for the first time ever), so I’ll try to take some pictures of my adventures on and off the ship and then post them on here and on Twitter upon my return back home.

This weekend’s ‘pick-hit video’ is from Milli Vanilli. It actually features LIVE footage from the “Club MTV” tour of 1989 that stopped over in Miami on June 30TH of that year that I was in attendance at. This was their 5TH and final smash hit in a row before the bottom fell out on their short yet extremely successful worldwide hit music career. From the Spring of 1990 I present to you the final song of ‘The Awesome ’80s In August International Dance Party’. It’s “All Or Nothing”. It’s ‘Retro’.

Categories
History Internet Life Music People Radio

Saturday Night Retro

Saturday August 28TH 2010
Volume 2 / Number 48 / Edition 97

I’ve got a lot of hobbies and skills that you may or may not be aware of. Some of them I think I’m pretty good at (of course others may disagree). Some of these hobbies and skills I wish I could be better at and spend more quality time with. Some hobbies consume a lot of time, and some just occur naturally without much effort at all. Some hobbies have developed over time – while others have faded (thankfully and regrettably). Hobbies come and hobbies go – as we grow.

One of my lesser-known hobbies over the past 25 years of my adult life that pretty much came out of nowhere but has developed quite nicely over the years is that of a personal historian. It goes along with my fascination with dates and numbers, and it fits right in with my organizational skills. Nowadays my blogs and my tweets serve as the public recorded history of this new Life of mine. Previously my web site fulfilled that role during the latter portion of the 1990s into the new millennium. Before the evolution of the web I recorded the significant events of my life via pen and paper. Now that’s what I call ‘Retro’ !

Because of this hobby I can tell you that on Friday June 30TH 1989 I was at the original Miami Arena in downtown Miami to see ‘Downtown’ Julie Brown host a LIVE concert featuring The Information Society, Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam, Milli Vanilli, Tone Loc, and Was (Not Was). They were some of the biggest hit music artists of that era. I can also tell you that 21 years ago this weekend on Sunday the 27TH of August of 1989 I was at the Sunrise Musical Theatre for 8 hours for Y-100‘s Sweet 16 Birthday Concert featuring all of the Y-100 deejays at the time and their musical artist guests Bandera, K.C. And The Sunshine Band, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Damian, and Buster Poindexter.

Another HUGE pop artist at the time was Ms. Paula Abdul – back during her heyday. She stormed onto the pop culture scene with 5 HUGE smash hits and videos in a row in 1989. Here’s one of them – originally a miserable flop in 1988 before anyone knew who she was. It was reissued during her 1989 pop chart explosion, and it was MASSIVE the 2ND time around !

History – It’s always occurring, and it’s always expanding. Recording it some way some how allows you to look back at it fondly from a different era in the future. It’s your ‘Retro’. Treasure it.