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Merry Christmas

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 19, 2019

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On this Thursday before Christmas (next Wednesday) I take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you following me and reading my blog a very Merry Christmas.

My traditional family “Christmas” actually occurred 3 weeks ago today on Thanksgiving Day. For the past dozen years or so my family has enjoyed a hearty home-cooked Breakfast, and then shortly after that we’ve opened all of the presents underneath the Christmas tree. Once they are all opened it’s time to watch the Macy’s Parade, and then football for the rest of the day and into the night – pausing for about an hour to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner at around three in the afternoon.

On the day after Thanksgiving (“Black Friday”) Christmas is done and over for me. Well – sort of. For the first 3 weeks of December I get to observe and celebrate bits and pieces of Christmas here and there by putting up the Christmas tree and decorations in the church sanctuary, listening to Christmas music on the radio, watching Christmas shows on television, writing and sending out Christmas cards to friends from afar, and enjoying several Christmas luncheons with friends and coworkers.

We all celebrate Christmas in our own unique and traditional ways. May you spend this season with your loved ones. Make and share good memories that will last a lifetime. Honor each other. Love one another.

And may we remember why we celebrate Christmas.

And she will have a Son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21 NLT)

The LORD saves.

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Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 14, 2019

Let’s try this again – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

It’s been awhile since I last did this.
In fact it’s been 5 weeks.
I enjoy writing these spontaneous off-the-top-of-my-head “Mini-Thoughts”.
Let’s get started, as I look at my wall calendar.
Can you believe that November is nearly half-over ?
Thanksgiving Day (here in the U.S.A.) is 2 weeks from today !
This will be my final Thursday blog post of November.
I’m going offline again next week, so no new blog posts.
I’m going on a 12-day hiatus from blogging and social media.
After this weekend’s full slate of posts I won’t post again until December.
That’s December 01ST when I return with “Sunday Scripture”.
This has been a big year for attending shows and concerts.
My 9TH concert of 2019 was this past Sunday night.
I enjoyed Casting Crowns, Hillsong Worship, and Elevation Worship.
I wrote a nice review of it this past Monday here on the blog.
My 10TH concert is coming up on December 22ND.
I’m seeing comedian Jim Gaffigan LIVE in concert in West Palm Beach.
10 shows and concerts in a single year makes it one of my biggest years ever.
33 years ago tonight I was at the Oxford (England) Apollo at a concert.
I saw Ultravox back when they were big in England.
I still have my original tee-shirt that I bought at the concert !

That tee-shirt doesn’t fit me anymore.
I weigh over 40 pounds more now than I did back then when I was 19.
Ultravox scored with a minor Top 40 hit at the time – “Same Old Story”.
I always thought that the song underperformed.
It didn’t get much airplay on national radio, and that stunted its growth.
I think it’s one of the greatest songs of my life.
I still love it 33 years later.
Its style of music wasn’t particularly popular in the U.K. in 1986.
Check out lead singer Midge Ure practically inventing the “selfie stick”:

I don’t think I’ve ever featured a music video as a “Mini-Thought” before.
That was Midge Ure at 33 – half his age than he is now.
I had a wonderful 2-year stay in the U.K.
This weekend marks 32 years since I left and moved back home stateside.
I haven’t been back since, but sometime I’ll make it back.
Well the Arctic Blast has avoided South Florida so far.
Our lowest temperature recorded so far is a mere 67°F.
But much cooler air should invade us this weekend.
We could actually drop into the upper-50s by Sunday morning !
The natives will be breaking out their flannels, coats, and hats.
We may not reach 80°F all weekend !
Incidentally I live in Homestead Florida.
This is the home of the NASCAR Championship !
The Homestead-Miami Speedway is just 3 miles from my home.
I’ll actually be able to hear the echo of the cars racing this weekend.
You can watch all of the action LIVE on NBC-TV this Sunday at 2 PM.
Well that’s gonna do it for this edition of my “Mini-Thoughts”.
I’ll be back again tomorrow for my regular Friday feature. #RETRO

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No Home Telephone Service

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 24, 2019

I’m 52. For the first time in my life I have no home telephone service. Well at least that’s what we called it up until perhaps 5 years ago – “home telephone service”. Now we call it “land line” – as if a cell phone was used solely at sea, but whatever.

My “land line” went dead sometime on September 06TH 2019. I realized so the next day on September 07TH, and I reported it to AT&T online. I was given a “service restore date” of September 16TH. Well that date came and went and AT&T did not restore my land line, and they did not contact me on my cell phone to explain why.

Since I was about to embark on my 3,000-mile road-trip to and from North Texas just a few days later I didn’t bother to contact AT&T on their lack of action. I would wait until after I return home on October 01ST to contact them. (Maybe they would restore my land line while I was away.)

Still no service on October 01ST, so I contacted them again – this time via my cell phone instead of online. After getting the runaround and getting transferred around to various AT&T employees, spokespersons, and call centers around the world about a half-dozen times I finally got someone on the other end who actually listened to me, understood me, and had the capability to react to my dilemma. I told her to disconnect my home phone service forever (she did so immediately), and send me a complete refund of what I am owed. I didn’t need my home phone for 3½ weeks, and I don’t need it anymore – especially since AT&T was non-responsive to it not working.

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that AT&T cutoff my home phone service intentionally back on September 06TH. Perhaps I was the last man standing – the last household in my neighborhood to still have a land line – and I was wasting their precious resources by still utilizing antiquated 20TH Century technology.

I still remember all 3 of my childhood telephone numbers from 1972 to 1985. I had the same telephone number here for 25½ years from March 1994 until October 01ST 2019.

Now I just have my cell phone, and I’ve had the same telephone number since my very first one in 2002. I rarely utilize my cell phone to talk to people (other than text). My cell phone is essentially a small computer, and I use it for everything else. I’d rather talk to people in person – like we used to do back in the 20TH Century.