Category: Military

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Fun With Numbers

A few days ago (this past Monday) I did not get in my car and drive it for the first time in over 5 weeks. I ended a 37-day streak of driving that started on Saturday March 06TH and ended on Sunday April 11TH. During those 37 days I drove 609 miles – an average of about 16½ miles per day. The 37 days surpassed a 28-day streak this past November and December. It’s the longest streak since a 41-day streak in January and February 2020 just before the start of the global pandemic.

How do I know all of this ? I record my odometer’s starting and ending mileage each day on an Excel spreadsheet. I do it for fun. I’ve been doing it for over 6 years. I work with Excel spreadsheets all day long in my professional career, and I play with them and learn from them off-work at home on my computer. What I learn at home I apply at work. There’s very little time available at work to learn how to do something new on a spreadsheet, so I get smart at home. I have a bunch of unique spreadsheets that I use at home that keep track of the day-to-day operations of my life. I collect the data, and I analyze the data. I perfect the analysis expertise as well – because – that’s also part of my professional career. I analyze historical data in order to make wise and efficient financial decisions to successfully support the mission. I’ve been an Analyst for the USAF for the past 36 years.

Oh – one last thing – you know that music chart that I present every Monday here on my blog ? It’s been fueled by an Excel spreadsheet for the past 25½ years !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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1990s Blogging Career Driving Home Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday March 17TH 1991:

  1. “One More Try” – Timmy T
  2. “Waiting For That Day” – George Michael
  3. “Joyride” – Roxette
  4. “Baby Baby” – Amy Grant
  5. “More Than Ever” – Nelson

Exactly 30 years ago this weekend I was at home – my teenage childhood home in McLean Virginia (just outside of Washington D.C.)

On the weekend prior I departed the pink desert sands of Al Kharj AB Saudi Arabia with some of my fellow Operations Desert Shield / Desert Storm airmen. We lifted-off from the runway in Saudi at 0326L on Saturday March 09TH 1991. After 7 hours and 7 minutes in the air we landed at Torrejon AB Spain (near Madrid). It was a longer-than-expected nearly 5½-hour stop before we took-off again for our stateside destination at Dover AFB Delaware. We touched-down there at 1656L (21½ hours after leaving Saudi). A bus transported us to Philadelphia where we spent the night at a hotel near the airport. We flew out (commercial) the next morning – Sunday March 10TH 1991 – arriving back in Miami at 1001L.

We returned to Homestead AFB with no fanfare at all, and the next morning I was back at my workplace office. I met my new supervisor. He replaced my previous supervisor who was “reassigned”. He told me to take up to 30 days of “R & R” (rest and recuperation) as a returning war veteran. That Wednesday March 13TH 1991 I was on-the-road northward heading towards the Washington D.C. area. I spent the night in South Carolina, and the next afternoon I arrived at my childhood home 1,096 miles from the base. I stayed there for the next 2 weeks enjoying family time.

I was sent to war as punishment by my supervisor at the time (end of 1990). I didn’t do anything wrong. She just hated me. She had issues with guys that looked like me. An investigation occurred while I was at war, and she was relieved of her duties. The war (and post-war) was the start of the best (and final) 26 months of my entire Active Duty Air Force career.

(I still work for the USAF today as a Federal Civilian – at now Homestead ARB.)

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to March 1986 – towards the end of my first year working for the USAF.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
1990s Blogging Career Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. That would be for the week ending Sunday February 17TH 1991, but I didn’t do a chart that week – or for any week in 1991 yet. I finally found some downtime in the desert, and my very first chart of the year was for the week ending Sunday February 24TH 1991. I compiled it and wrote it down on loose-leaf paper from my tent in the middle of “Tent City” at Al Kharj Air Base Saudi Arabia. I actually did a Top 40 that week (and every week thereafter). Here’s my Top 5:

  1. “High Enough” – Damn Yankees
  2. “Without You” – Mötley Crüe
  3. “Ice Ice Baby” – Vanilla Ice
  4. “It Must Have Been Love” – Roxette
  5. “The Heart Of The Matter” – Don Henley

As I wrote last month on the January 1991 edition of RETRO during Operations Desert Shield & Storm we had limited access to hit music on the radio. We only had a few stations to listen to via AFRTS (American Forces Radio & Television Service). “Eagle Radio 103 / 105 / 107” was picked-up out of Riyadh – about 65 miles away. My Top 40 chart was based on that limited radio. It was heavily based on private airplay from cassettes (mostly bootleg) that were sold on base. Also my tentmates played their favorite music – some of which I liked.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to February 1986.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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1980s Blogging Career Driving Health History Military News Television Travel Weather Wrestling

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

It’s Thursday, and it’s the start of a fresh new weekend of blogging. Longtime readers of my blog will know that this was once a Thursday night tradition. I only do this every once in a while these days. It’s my ‘Mini-Thoughts’ – a rapid-fire session of random thoughts on my mind right this minute:

  • I got my first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine a couple of days ago.
  • Right now only Seniors are getting in Florida.
  • I work for the military, so I was lucky to get it early.
  • My second dose will be in 4 weeks.
  • I got the COVID vaccine 18 days after getting the Shingles vaccine.
  • That was my second of two doses of the Shingles vaccine.
  • I am not an “anti-vaxxer”.
  • I didn’t know there was such a thing as an “anti-vaxxer” until recently.
  • Some don’t get vaccines because they believe they do more harm than good.
  • Some don’t get vaccines because it’s against their religious beliefs.
  • Getting vaccines are a personal choice for each individual.
  • I neither promote nor denounce vaccinations to anyone.
  • I recently signed-up for the Discovery Plus streaming service.
  • If I’m not careful I can easily binge-watch shows on it for many hours.
  • Looks like I’ll soon sign-up for Peacock as it absorbs WWE Network.
  • I also like to “Hulu & Hibernate”.
  • I don’t “Netflix & Chill”.
  • I’m looking forward to my upcoming Florida road-trip.
  • Looks like I’ll cover about 575 miles in 5 days.
  • I’ll blog all about it after I return home.
  • Looks like I’ll drive more miles this month than 7 months last year.
  • Next month I’ll drive more than twice as many miles as this month.
  • It’s been a chilly winter here in South Florida.
  • I was shivering in December and the first-half of January.
  • I think it’s our coldest winter since 2010-2011.
  • Recently we’ve enjoyed a few days in the 80s for the first time in 2021.
  • But it’s gonna get chilly again starting today.
  • 50s in the morning is chilly for us.
  • We’ve had 7 mornings in the 40s since the start of December !
  • Exactly 35 years ago today the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated.
  • It occurred right after I got home from work (in England).
  • I think I watched BBC coverage of it for the rest of the night.
  • Exactly 2 years ago today I was in the middle of the Caribbean on a cruise.
  • We were supposed to spend the day on Grand Cayman Island.
  • But we couldn’t reach the island due to ferocious northerly winds.
  • A strong cold front had made it deep into the Caribbean.
  • It was an unusually chilly day on the islands and at sea.
  • So we had an “extra fun day at sea”.
  • I can’t wait to get back on a cruise next year.
  • Here’s my towel animal from exactly 2 years ago:

Towel Animal

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries