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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

It’s time to kick it with the final ‘Grab Bag’ of 2009. Let’s rock and roll:

1.  Technology-wise I made GINORMOUS strides in 2009. I ditched analog cable television after nearly 25 years and switched over to AT&T U-verse. That switch included my first experience with a modern DVR; thus, upgrading me from VHS (gasp !) and DVD recording of television shows. It also included my first exposure (believe it or not) with wireless technology. I now have two working computers – a fixed desktop and a roaming wireless laptop. I’ve also got a real nice digital (DECT 6.0) telephone system in place with three handsets scattered around my home. Just last week I bought my very first LCD HDTV set, and I upgraded my AT&T U-verse to enable all of the HD channels. Everything looks sparkling bright and amazingly clear in HD !  That’s a lot of technological change I can believe in for a single year !  What shall 2010 bring me that’s modern, new, and exciting ?  BRING IT ON !

2.  As far as sleek new personal hygiene products are concerned I haven’t been very successful with them in the past. I lost count of how many nose and ear hair trimmers I’ve bought that I used just a few times until I realized that they hardly worked efficiently. So you can imagine my skepticism when I saw ‘The Essential Do-It-Yourself Electric Back Hair Shaver’ from Mangroomer on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond. I bought it this past Sunday morning, and I used it that same afternoon. Let’s just say that for the first time in several years I now have a non-hairy and somewhat smoothly shaved back. It actually feels weird like that – and cool like that at the same time. Thank You Mangroomer for such a spectacular personal hygiene product that I can believe in !

3.  Why is it that the Christmas spirit (the decorations, the cards, the shopping, the gift giving, etc.) seems to begin earlier and earlier each year (right after Halloween it seems), but then it all comes crashing down on the first day after Christmas. I actually know people who took down all of their decorations and threw their Christmas tree out with the garbage on the 26TH of December !  What’s THAT all about ?  Aside from the whole true meaning of Christmas being lost in the first place whatever happened to the “12 Days Of Christmas” ?  They start on Christmas Day (the 1ST day of Christmas) and then continue on through January 05TH (the 12TH day of Christmas). That’s followed by Epiphany on January 06TH. Don’t be a Scrooge. Keep the Christmas spirit alive !

4.  It appears that I’ll be taking a nice long drive up to the Jacksonville Florida area sometime within the next couple of weeks to discuss local real estate conditions with the management company that’s currently managing my newly acquired home up there. I have a lot of critical decisions and corresponding actions to make soon that have a lot of legal and financial ramifications. Hopefully this situation will work out beneficially for me, my parents, and the management company.

5.  It was a cold morning this morning in and around Homestead with 47°F officially at the air base with wind chills deep down into the lower-40s !  Tomorrow morning I’m forecasting a low temperature at 7 AM of perhaps 8°F milder – right around 55°F (still a bit nippy). Our next cold front arrives with a vengeance from the northwest during the day on New Year’s Day – and it’ll be a doozy !  It’ll be the start of an extended cold snap for us that could last for 5 to 7 days with daytime highs stuck in the 60s and nighttime lows deep down into the 40s with even some 30s possible out in the Everglades. Cold weather fans (hello there Ela O.) – you’re gonna love it !

Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ LIVE this New Year’s Eve here on the blog that’s cool like that. You won’t regret it pal !

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The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

Time: 6:34 AM – 7:18 AM
Sky: Clear
Temperature: 61°F
Dewpoint: 60°F
Relative Humidity: 94%
Winds: N 7 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 29.99 Rising

Here are my walking thoughts in 15 words or less:

– This morning I walked around my neighbourhood in the chill.
– After an 81°F Christmas Day afternoon 61°F felt so nice and comfy.
– Wind chills were actually well into the 50s during my walk.
– I felt those 50s as I walked northbound into the cold winds.
– I walked for 44 minutes – about 2.4 miles.
– All of our dumpsters were jammed and crammed with Christmas gift boxes.
– Dear City Of Homestead – Please empty our dumpsters as soon as possible.
– We’ve got garbage-eatin’ ducks ’round these parts !
– We’ve got a lot of flying bugs where I live.
– They appreciate all of the thick foilage and big lakes around.
– They also appreciated my face as I walked right through them.
– During my walk in the dawn of this new day it was peaceful and quiet.
– I talked directly to God, and I thanked Him for all of His great creations.
– I prayed for all of my friends and neighbours – believers and non-believers.
– I prayed that God would bless us all like only He can.
– I thanked God for giving me a second chance at Life, for I am reborn !
– For 30 years I said and did what the world told me to say and do.
– I did what was cool – even if it was bad for my mind and for my health.
– Now I’m cleansing my body of all that is bad.
– It’s a physical walk to heal and strengthen my body on this walk with God.
– My Dad can no longer walk or even stand up.
– He’s confined to a skinny bed in a nursing home for the rest of his life.
– He has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
– I dedicate these physical walks to my Dad for all that I’ve learned from him.
– I thank my Father God for all that He’s blessed me with since He created me.

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Saturday Night Retro

It was my 19TH Christmas on Earth back in 1985 – and my first away from home and away from my family. I was newly stationed in the USAF in the United Kingdom by 6½ weeks, so there was no chance at all that I could take leave and return back home stateside for the holidays.

While I have vivid memories of my two years spent living, working, and playing in the U.K. I don’t remember much from that Christmas of 1985 away from my loved ones. I don’t remember if I was invited out to a coworker’s home, or if I stayed at the dorm and walked to the chow hall for a very special dinner. It was obviously a cold and forgettable holiday season in my life back then.

Here’s a song that I actually do remember from that Christmas, for it was the coveted Christmas # 1 smash on the radio all across the British Isles. It’s from one of the biggest-selling male artists in British music history. He’s Shakin’ (‘Shaky’) Stevens, and THIS is “Merry Christmas Everyone” !

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Blogging God History Holidays Home Life Music Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– It’s how these ‘Mini Thoughts’ roll.
– I wouldn’t think of doing it any other way.
– So this past Tuesday night I gave my first speech at Toastmasters.
– I essentially talked about myself for 6+ minutes.
– I got rave reviews.
– Is this the same Chris that used to be terrified of speaking in public ?
– Is this the same shy guy who had no friends all throughout high school ?
– Actually it’s not the same Chris.
– That Chris from yesteryear was from a different miserable life.
– This is the new and improved Chris that was reborn some 40 months ago.
– I’ve got a crammed and jammed weekend planned.
– I’ll probably run out of time before it’s all said and done.
– I need to work on my outgoing Christmas cards.
– I need to organize nearly 7 years of paperwork regarding my new home.
– This will be a stay-at-home-and-confine-myself-to-my-living-room weekend.
– Well except for Sunday morning when I’ll be at Life Pointe Church.
– I’m hosting the 9 AM service, and I dig that !
– Our Kids’ Life Kids are putting on a show for Christmas.
– It’s hard to believe that Christmas Eve is just two weeks from today.
– It’s even harder to believe that 2010 begins three weeks from tonight.
– We actually have a cold front slowly approaching us from Central Florida.
– It should reach us early tomorrow morning – and then stall out.
– Afternoon temperatures may be up to 10° cooler tomorrow – in the upper-70s.
– But the cooler air will only last for a single day.
– If you’re looking for much colder air then I’ve got a treat for you !
– It’s coming next weekend – a major continental shift in the jet stream.
– We may be talking about temperatures of 25 to 35 degrees colder than now.
– You have been warned – to break out your Christmas sweaters !
– Here on the blog Christmas starts this Saturday night on the ‘Retro’.
– I’ve also got a Disco smash for you tomorrow night from a Pointer Sister.
– Be sure not to miss another ‘Moldie-Oldie Music Weekend’.
– You won’t regret it pal.