Category: Life

My Final 3½ Years Of My Air Force Career

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 28, 2020
1 Comment on My Final 3½ Years Of My Air Force Career

I am currently in my final 3½ years of my Air Force career (hence the title above). In 2 weeks I’ll observe my 35TH anniversary as an Air Force employee. After 5 years, and 10 years, and 15 years, and even 20 years – I never imagined making this my career. Even in 2007 after 22 years I was on the verge of moving on. But then the greatest 13 years of my career began, and it continues to this day.

According to my plans – which are always superseded by God’s plans (I wrote and preached an entire sermon on that) – I’ll be retiring sometime in December 2023 at the age of 56½ (my minimum retirement age). I plan to move about 3 hours north of where I am now – up into the central part of the state of Florida along the Lake Wales Ridge – the spine of the peninsular part of Florida. A long long time ago when present-day Florida was submerged underwater – only the spine existed as a narrow series of small islands (much like the Keys exist today). The sandy ground of the region are remants of when beaches existed there.

There’s a 54-mile stretch of U.S. 27 that rides high atop the Lakes Wales Ridge from State Road 70 to the south to State Road 60 to the north. It includes the historic small towns of Lake Placid, Sebring, Avon Park, and Lake Wales. That’s my retirement destination – with Sebring being Ground Zero.

I’ve already selected a few neighborhoods (online) that I’d like to check-out for future living possibilities. At some of them you have to be 55 years of age or older. OK – I’ll see you all in 2022.

Sebring Pier over Lake Jackson looking back towards downtown

During my retirement years I hope to work part-time somewhere (maybe Publix), and volunteer hours at various places such as a local military museum and a large state park. I also hope to go in to full-time ministry with a local church. I’ll be very busy during my upcoming retirement years, but I’ll also make time to travel more – especially right here stateside – where I’ve only set foot in a little more than half of our 50 states.

It’ll be a brave new world that I’ll enter into in about 3½ years, but I’ll be ready for it.

Tags Florida

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My First Car

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 7, 2020

1980 Chevy Citation

My first car was a 1980 Chevy Citation. I bought it used with my own money as a 16½-year-old in early-1984 as a Junior in High School. It was a beige 2-door hatchback. It looked very much like the car that is 2ND from the bottom in the ad above.

I was a “paper boy” back then. Once I bought the car my delivering of the newspapers around my neighborhood early in the morning became so much easier. It got a major upgrade. I went from a 10-speed bicycle that often got flat tires to an actual car !

I also drove my car to school sometimes, but not all the time. I’d get made fun of for my “cheap used car”. I lived in a rich neighborhood at the time, and my high school was one of the top in the nation as far as income of the parents of the students, so naturally the students were rich too. My parents were not rich, so I wasn’t either.

On June 12TH 1985 I shipped-off to Air Force Basic Military Training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio Texas. 2 months later I was at Tech School at Chanute AFB in Rantoul Illinois. Right around Labor Day Weekend my Dad and my little brother drove my car 700 miles from McLean Virginia to Chanute AFB. They essentially delivered my car to me. I showed them the base and the local area, they spent the night at a local hotel, and then they flew back home the next day.

Here’s a photo of that day. My 10-year-old brother took this picture:

Chris Soldier Dad_0002

Unlike high school I suddenly became popular in my dorm when people saw me with car keys and an actual car. Everyone wanted to be friends with me. People wanted to be advised whenever I planned to drive off-base to visit places in Rantoul or Champaign.

In October 1985 I received notification that after I graduate from tech school my first permanent duty station would be – overseas in the United Kingdom. I was enjoying the final month of my car. After graduation I drove my car back home to McLean Virginia, and then about a week later I shipped-off to England. My dad sold my car.

May is National Military Appreciation Month. I’ll present military-themed stories every Thursday this month.

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Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 16, 2020

It’s back for the first time in 5 months – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

I miss doing these fun blog posts.
This was a fan favorite from the early days of this blog.
By “early days” I mean late-2000s.
Most of you weren’t tracking with me back then.
“Tracking with me” – that’s a favorite phrase among pastors and preachers.
This “Sunday Scripture” I’ll look back at my 4-part sermon “Faces & Heels”.
It’ll be a nice wrap-up of that 4-Sunday experiment.
So I’m nearing the end of Week 4 of my work-at-home experience.
It’s an experience – no longer an experiment.
The biggest “pro” – not having to deal with traffic.
The biggest “con” – working longer (and more erratic) hours at home.
I’m working out of my kitchen.
I never eat in my kitchen.
I always eat in my living room.
I’ve driven only 88 miles over the past 28 days.
I last filled-up with gas 37 days ago.
Last week I walked only 11.63 miles.
That was barely over 25,000 steps in 7 days.
That was the lowest ever during my 4½-year #Fitbit era.
3 weeks ago was my 3RD-lowest week of the era.
Ironically despite little to no exercise – I’m losing weight.
I can’t explain that.
Maybe I’ll get up and walk at dawn this morning.
Lately we’ve been close to 80°F at dawn.
This morning we could actually dip into the lower-70s.
That’s an incentive to get up and walk around outside.
Next week marks 12 years since I quit smoking !
I smoked from age 11 to 41.
You know I’m doing a lot less laundry since I’ve been working at home.
My washer and dryer are using less electric power.
My A.C. is using more electric power.
It runs at the same temperature day and night now (77°F).
Happy 39TH Birthday tomorrow to my sister-in-law Christina !
She doesn’t read this blog.
Nobody in my family reads this blog.
Happy 10TH Birthday this coming Monday to my oldest niece Taylor !
I met Taylor for the first time at #DFW when she was 24 days old.
I’m looking forward to seeing my family again at the end of June.
Well I’m running out of things to write, so let’s end it here.
That was abrupt.

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Weekends Begin On Thursdays

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 12, 2020

Greetings my friends. It’s Thursday March 12TH 2020, and it’s the start of a fresh new weekend of blogging here at #CountUp.

This blog is currently experiencing great growth worldwide, so it’s time again to explain what I do here and when I do it. I blog on Thursday and Friday mornings, Sunday afternoons, and Monday mornings. My blog posts go LIVE at 3 AM U.S. East Coast Time on Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays, and by 3 PM on Sundays – following my time spent with church family. I don’t blog on Saturdays at all. That’s my day of rest with Christ and His Word. I generally do Bible Study and Sermon Writing on Saturdays. I occasionally blog on select Tuesdays during the year – generally when Monday is a U.S. Federal holiday.

My Thursday blogs can be about anything that comes to my mind at the time. They are my most spontaneous blog posts of the weekend. My Friday blogs go RETRO, as I look back at my life and the music that shaped it. My Sunday blogs reveal the God I know – the 3-in-1 God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. My Monday blogs highlight God’s music on the radio – my Top 10 hits of the week. It’s the continuation of a weekly music chart hobby that goes back 45 years.

This blog is currently nearing the end of its 13TH year online. It started on Myspace in May 2007, and then it moved over to WordPress (right here) in November 2007. It began fading away during the early 2010s, and that’s because I was tweeting on Twitter way too much before most of my friends even knew what a tweet was. All of my friends kept urging me to join them over on Facebook, and I finally (and hesitantly) did so on Easter Sunday of 2013. My blog was eventually resurrected on Facebook, but not too many of my friends were actually reading it. I ended my blog on Facebook on the final day of 2017, and just a couple of weeks later I brought it back here to its original home.

This is a political-free blog. I’ll never discuss politics on here. I don’t discuss anything that may be controversial on here. (I’m the same way in public.) This blog is essentially about my life of almost 53 years – then and now – 39 years before Christ and 14 years in Christ. I know that it’s not for everyone, but if you like what you see then I thank you for coming, and reading, and liking, and coming back again. As long as you keep coming back – I’ll keep blogging more.

I try to keep my blog posts short. Most of them can be read in 3 minutes or less. Your time online and offline is valuable. I thank you for spending a few minutes with me.