Category: History

New Year’s Day Morning Shenanigans

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 1, 2009

THIS MORNING I said hello to 2009 for the very first time just before 7 AM. I got a good 7 hours of sleep overnight. That means that when 2008 officially became 2009 at the stroke of Midnight (leap second notwithstanding) I was already asleep.

It’s 2009 now – the start of the 44TH year of existence for me since I was created by God (in 1966). It’s also my 26TH year as a U.S. Government employee, and it’s my 23RD year of living here in Homestead America’s Riviera. Most important of them all it’s the start of the 4TH year of this fantastic journey that I’m on following Jesus Christ. 2009 is going be the greatest year of my entire Life !

This morning I continued an unofficial New Year’s Day Morning tradition for me – I did my grocery shopping for the next couple of weeks or so at Publix. As is usually the case on New Year’s Day Morning I pretty much had the entire store to myself and perhaps not even a dozen of my fellow hungry pleasure-filled shoppers. Due to a MA$$IVE $ale at Publix I nabbed about $80 in food and other general merchandise for less than $45. That included the use of a surprising Publix gift card that I got for Christmas that was so amazing that I created a happy spectacle of myself right there at the checkout lane. Talk about Shenanigans !

New Year’s Day shall continue for me as I do several loads of laundry while watching hours and hours of televised New Year’s Eve festivities that I recorded last night from Carson Daly (NBC), Dick Clark / Ryan Seacrest (ABC), Spike Feresten / Mark Thompson (FOX), and Anderson Cooper / Kathy Griffin (CNN).

Have a great New Year’s Day my friends ! THRIVE IN 2009 !

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Bedtime Stories

As I begin writing this blog entry tonight there are just about 115 minutes remaining in 2008. I’ll probably be in bed asleep as 2009 officially arrives, but I’ll catch it fairly new – about 6 or 7 hours – once I awake in the morning.

2008 was the greatest year of my entire Life, and I expect 2009 to surpass it – just as 2008 surpassed 2007 – and 2007 surpassed 2006. It just keeps on getting brighter and more glorious on God’s fantastic journey for me. He constantly amazes me with His miracles.

If you wish to see why 2008 was so glorious for me then simply read any of the 613 blog entries that I posted – at least one per day – every single day from January 01ST through December 31ST.

Thank You Everyone for spending just a small portion of your Life with me via this blog and-or LIVE and in-person. Let’s keep on doing it into 2009. I’m ready. You ?

Until we hang out again in 2009 I wish you a very Happy New Year, and REMEMBER THIS ! It’s a Chevrolet commercial in living technicolor from nearly 60 years ago that plays more like a Chamber Of Commerce promo for the Miami Florida area – the way that it was back in 1950 !

History Holidays

Saturday Night Retro

This edition of the ‘Retro’ is not about a specific year, but rather the good times and past memories of Christmas Day mornings gone by with my family.

Back during the early-1980s in Northern Virginia me and my little brother would wake up extra early – like at around 4 AM or so. We would quietly bundle up, go out in the dark and cold of wintertime, and deliver newspapers for a couple of hours. We would then come back inside into the warmth of the house and prepare for the opening of the Christmas presents that had gathered and multiplied underneath the Christmas tree since about Thanksgiving Day.

Mom, Dad, Me, My Brother, and even Fluffy our Manx cat were all together for about an hour of warm giving and receiving. Even our lovable cat got a present or two, and as the gifts were opened and the wrapping paper was thrown astray a bunch of the decorative bows and ribbons eventually ended up on Fluffy. She would also tend to play with all of the wrapping paper that was all around her. We would rather that she play with the wrapping paper than ingest the icicles off of the Christmas tree and then wait for the undesirable result of that a day or two later.

My very first Christmas Day away from home occurred in 1985. I had only been living in the U.K. for about 6 weeks, and since I was so new over there (as an Air Force Airman) I couldn’t take time off to fly back to the States. I wouldn’t miss many more Christmases after that one.

During much of the early-1990s I drove the 2,200+ miles to and from the Washington D.C. area to visit my family from Homestead. Late in 1996 they moved down to Jacksonville Florida, so that 2,200+ mile round trip was reduced down to 800 miles or so.

This Christmas Eve I’ll be driving up there again to visit my Mom, Dad, and their current cat – Pumpkin. My brother and his wife won’t be there, but it will still be fine. We enjoyed Thanksgiving together at their place in the north of Dallas Texas.

Oh Christmas Tree - Late-1990s - Jacksonville Florida

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 16, 2008
10 Comments on Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Every Tuesday night the world listens to me. Hear me now:

1. Aside from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida the entire rest of the free nation from coast-to-coast and from border-to-border is shivering in a deep icy freeze. Even much of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas is socked-in to a deep freeze. Here in Homestead we’ve got fast-moving tropical showers moving in from the Caribbean. It’s December in Paradise !

2. The 17TH season of “Survivor” held in Gabon Africa is now done and over with, and it was quite the entertaining season finale this past Sunday night on CBS-TV. I’ve seen every single episode ever made since it became an overnight sensation back during the Summer of 2000. The 18TH season has already wrapped-up its filming up in the Brazilian Highlands. It premieres in February 2009.

3. Yesterday I was on a portion of Campbell Drive that is off-limits to most vehicular traffic. It’s located on a secluded portion of Homestead Air Reserve Base east of the South Dade Labor Camp neighbourhood. The original road surface of Campbell Drive still exists. It’s not in very good shape though. Once upon a time the main gate to the base was right there at the intersection of Campbell Drive and Tallahassee Road (now Speedway Boulevard). Today’s Labor Camp was once part of Base Housing.

4. Gas prices just keep on dropping. It’s in the $1.40s and $1.50s across much of the free nation. There are actually some analysts out there who state that gas prices could actually drop below $1 per gallon in 2009. These are the same analysts that forecasted gas to reach $10 per gallon earlier this year.

5. I’m eating at the Outback Steak House this Friday night for the first time in recent memory (many years). I’m totally looking forward to that. Afterwards I’m heading off to see a movie – “Yes Man“. It sounds like someone is dating again !