Category: Home

Categories
Animals Career Computers Driving History Home Life Music People Radio Travel

Saturday Night Retro

Saturday October 02ND 2010
Volume 3 / Number 4 / Edition 101

Let’s take a ride back 14½ years ago to the Spring of 1996. Back then I was not quite 29-years-old and living in the same home that I’m living in now and working at the same place that I’m working at now. In fact I was sitting at my computer (a different more primitive one back then) and working from the same home computer workstation that I’m working at now. All of the furniture here in my living room is the same furniture that I had back then. The more things change over the years – the more things stay the same.

Back during the Spring of 1996 my Mom, Dad, 21-year-old brother Danny, and our two cats Fluffy and Barney (born in the 1980s) were still living up in the Washington D.C. area. They were living in our McLean Virginia house that we moved in to back in November of 1980 when I was 13 and my brother was 5. Later that year (in November of 1996) everyone would move down to Jacksonville Florida. I got to visit the old house (built in the 1950s) one last time in May of 1996 when I drove up for a visit. I didn’t really know at the time that it would be my last visit. The move down to Jacksonville just 5 months later was a bit on the low-key side. My family lived in that house for 16 years – the longest tenure for any one home. I only lived in that house for 4½ out of those 16 years until I began my USAF career. Now I’ve been living in my current home for over 15 years. It’s hard to believe that I moved in to this place back when I was in my late-20s, and now I’m in my mid-40s. There’s a lot of history of me in this home of mine. Back in 1996 a young black cat by the name of Boots was loaded with energy – running all over the place and loving me. Today I have a little memorial set up for him at the edge of one of my living room couches where he enjoyed relaxing. This home of mine is indeed ‘Retro’.

On the radio back during the Spring of 1996 me and my brother listened to this song as we drove southbound on I-95 in Virginia en route to Kings Dominion to spend a fun May day at the park in the chill, fog, and drizzle. My brother won free tickets to the park by winning a radio contest on the rock station DC-101. Here’s Spacehog – “In The Meantime”:

Categories
Animals Blogging History Home Life Music People Politics Television

Saturday Night Retro

Saturday September 25TH 2010
Volume 3 / Number 3 / Edition 100

It’s the remarkable 100TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ – an unsuspecting weekly blog series that began at the start of September of 2008.

While 100 is indeed a very special number signaling a milestone it is not often utilized in reference to time. You don’t often hear the terms ‘100 seconds’ or ‘100 minutes’. They are essentially irrelevant. ‘1 minute and 40 seconds’ or ‘1 hour and 40 minutes’ are more appropriate. ‘100 days’ is used to signify the first 100 days of a Presidential administration: ‘It’s his first 100 days. Here’s what he didn’t get done.’ Nobody really cares about 100 weeks or 100 months because 100 weeks is close enough to 2 years, and 100 months is just too many to keep track of. 100 years is significant because it’s a century. When you turn 100 that’s remarkable enough to get your name mentioned by the legendary Willard Scott on “Today” on NBC. I often find myself rooting for Willard to reach 100 himself. That could happen in 23½-years.

On this 100TH edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ I look back at 39 years ago in September of 1971. I was a 4-year-old kid living with my Mom and Dad in our small Greenbelt Maryland ground floor apartment (# 102). We watched a lot of TV together after my Dad came home from work. In fact one of my favourite TV shows during that time was the cartoon “Wait ‘Till Your Father Gets Home”. I also loved to visit my Grandmom and Granddad and their Pekingese ‘Meei Ling’. They lived just a mile-and-a-half down the road from me in neighbouring Lanham Maryland. Their grandchildren loved to visit them, and I loved to hang out with my cousins there – especially John John who is two years older than me. He was like a big brother to me back then. We loved to play with green Army men figures and colourful Matchbox cars. Good Times. 1971 Retro.

My Grandmom always played the hottest hits on her stereo and record player – like this one from The McCartneys:

Categories
Blogging Career Driving Food Health History Home Life Money Music People Radio Television Travel

Saturday Night Retro

On This 95TH weekly edition of my ‘Retro’ I take you back 22½ years ago to the Spring of 1988. I remember it well. I was a young 20-year-old USAF Airman First Class (two stripes) on the verge of becoming 21 and a Senior Airman (three stripes) at bustling Homestead Air Force Base Florida. My total annual salary was about $11,000, but I had no car, lived on-base in a dormitory, and all of the food was free. I rode my bike to and from work on-base through the heat, the wind, and the rain. I dreamed of someday owning a car and driving it all around South Florida. That day would NOT occur in 1988, but rather in January of 1989. So back in 1988 I had friends with cars, and that’s all that mattered. All I wanted to do was to eat and party – and so I did. I ate and partied so much that I ended up gaining a lot of weight. In fact I reached my maximum lifetime weight of approximately 185 pounds !  That’s about 15 pounds more than my stable weight of today. I was not very healthy back then, and the situation would only get worse once I hit the legal drinking age of 21 that June (of 1988).

Back then during what I like to refer to as ‘The Golden Age Of Miami Top 40 Radio’ we here were blessed with three competing hit music radio stations – Power-96, Y-100, and Hot-105. All three played the big hits of the day, and each station also specialized in its own genre. Power-96 was a bit more urban than the other two, and Hot-105 actually played American hard rock and European club dance back-to-back. Y-100 was the heritage mainstream pop station of its time.

As I rode my bike all over the air base – dreaming of tuning in to each of these three stations on my eventual new car’s radio – this smash was playing everywhere. It’s the Spring of 1988 here in South Florida !

‘The Awesome ’80s In August International Dance Party’ continues next week as we enter the wild and crazy world that was 1989.

Until then my friends – “GET OUT OF THE CITY !” (Balki Bartokomous from “Perfect Strangers”)

Categories
Animals Blogging Food History Home Life Music People Philosophy Shopping

The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
It’s the start of another relaxing weekend here at home, and I’m truly looking forward to this one. It’s been a crazy and hectic week at work and at home. Once upon a time I was rightly accused (often) of being too predictable and ordinary. In this new Life of mine I’ve learned how to be less boring and more spontaneous. The old me would have been shocked and embarrassed by the doings of the new me. Thankfully the old me died 4 years ago this month. The new me is more fun and exciting than ever before. That’s what keeps my fantastic journey moving forward. I have no idea what to expect around the corner, but I can’t wait to experience it !

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
Longhorn Steakhouse – Renegade Top Sirloin (12-ounce / Medium-Well), Mashed Potatoes, Bread, Coke. I hate to be predictable here, but this Lunch was even more special than it usually is. That’s because I got to spend a couple of hours with my good friend Pastor Paul.

THE FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGE OF THE WEEK CLUB:
– Vacation can wait. Stick to the project till the end.

MY FAVOURITE SONG RIGHT NOW:
“Center Of Attention” – Write This Down

15 WEEKEND MINI THOUGHTS:
– If you don’t follow me on Twitter then this is news to you.
– This past Wednesday afternoon I walked in to Mattress Giant to ‘look around’.
– Famous Last Words – I didn’t walk out empty-handed.
– I had made no immediate plans to do this, but I was in the area at the time.
– I ended up trying out a bunch of different mattresses.
– I could have taken a short nap right there in the store.
– I found a really comfortable pillow-top plush that wanted to go home with me.
– Then I picked out a nice modern bed to complete the package.
– They promised delivery of my merchandise between 1 and 3 on Thursday.
– They arrived at 2, put my new bed together, and hauled away the old one.
– My old bed was 16-years-old, so that’s about 5,500 nights together.
– Last night was my very first night with my fresh new modern bed.
– I slept good !
– I can’t wait to do it all over again tonight – with no wake-up alarm.
– Sleep well my friends !

THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:

BLATANT PROMOTION:
’The Awesome ’80s In August International Dance Party’ continues this weekend on the 94TH edition of the ‘Saturday Night Retro’. I’ll share my British life with you from 23 years ago in August of 1987. Then on Sunday ‘My Fantastic Journey’ moves forward. Be sure to check back in with this blog later this weekend. In the meantime enjoy your days and nights and make them memorable. Change the world !