Category: Music

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Career Driving History Life Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

22 years ago in 1987 I was a 20-year-old living in Gloucestershire in the southwest of England. Cirencester (to the west) and Swindon (to the south) were the nearest cities, and I visited both of them fairly often. Swindon was the place to go shopping and hook up with British Rail on my trips over to London. Swindon was also the home to this highway monstrosity:

The Magic Roundabout - Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
The Magic Roundabout - Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

I never drove a car while over in the U.K., as I rode with friends or took public transportation. I lived perhaps a mile from the village of Fairford. I walked to and from the village at least once a week or so.

11TH Strategic Group, RAF Fairford, United Kingdom
11TH Strategic Group, RAF Fairford, United Kingdom

That’s my military unit from November 1985 to November 1987.

NO edition of the ‘Saturday Night Retro’ is complete without a big hit song from the times, so here we go with this week’s retro classic flashback from the past. It’s the 1987 European dance remix of the 1975 disco smash “You Sexy Thing” from Hot Chocolate. Get up and dance my friends !

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Blogging Driving Food God Money Music Radio Television Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– It’s that time of the week again.
– It’s time for my ‘Mini Thoughts’ in 15 words or less.
– ‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In’ had the ‘Quickie’.
– VH1 had the ‘Pop-Up Video’.
– AOL had the ‘IM’.
– Burger King has the ‘Burger Shots’.
– I’ve got the Mini Thought.
– Dude it’s hot and humid outside.
– Tomorrow we could have heat indices well into the mid-90s !
– I’m gonna try to yank a cold front by its tail down here next Monday.
– Maybe we could have a few cool mornings in the upper-50s !
– As the economy begins to recover so are gas prices. 
– The’re up about 40 cents per gallon ever since they bottomed out.
– I’m not complaining, as I remember $4.199 per gallon last July.
– I ate Lunch at Quiznos today.
– I dig that joint.
– I eat there weekly.
– Good food and good service is all I’m asking for.
– I always get that there.
– I think I know who’s gonna grab tomorrow’s ‘Major Bloggie Award‘.
– We’ll all find out for sure on Friday night.
– One of my favourite rock bands is Philmont.
– The’re from North Carolina.
– I like how they sound.
– I like their message.
– They’ve totally given it up for Jesus Christ.
– Check out this music video below for their current smash “The Difference”.
– The band made the video themselves for under $300.
– Listen to the lyrics carefully.
– I’m rolling to what the’re rocking !

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Driving God Music

Life Pointe Church Sunday Morning Tossed Salad

– This is the edition of the ‘Tossed Salad’ that nearly wasn’t.
– Allow me to briefly summarize my wild and crazy morning here.
– Phil Collins once sang “Something Happened On The Way To Heaven”.
– This morning I sang “Something Happened On The Way To Church”.
– A neighbour wanted a jump start from me at 7:30 AM.
– I said ‘Sure’, and I parked over next to him.
– He connected our two cars via his jumper cables.
– It didn’t work.
– When I went to pull out of the parking space I had no power steering !
– The message ‘PWR STR’ appeared under the speedometer.
– I could barely move my steering wheel with immense struggle.
– I think the jumper cable somehow blew out my power steering.
– It’s just a guess, as I really have no earthly idea how cars work.
– I called Saturn Roadside Assistance.
– They contracted with a tow truck operator in Homestead.
– My Saturn dealership is closed for service on Sunday.
– We know that because me, the tow truck driver, and my car went there.
– My car is now sitting in the tow truck storage yard until tomorrow.
– Meanwhile I’m now driving a rental car courtesy of Budget.
– It’s a fairly new Chevy Cobalt – silver in colour.
– It kinda sorta looks like my power steering-less Saturn.
– That Cobalt took me to Life Pointe Church about two hours late.
– Sorry Satan – You lose again.
– I attended the 10:30 AM service for the first time since last July.
– Rock star siblings Jesse and Alex led ‘Praise & Worship’. 
– I got to serve Communion during the 2ND service.
– Pastor Travis led this morning’s teaching on ‘The Challenge Of Eternity’.
– I must live with an eternal perspective.
– I must recognize that I’m created for eternity.
– I must secure my eternity in Heaven.
– I must invest my Life in eternal pursuits.
– This morning’s teaching was based on the following 12 verses of the Bible:
  – Colossians 3:2
  – Jude 1:21
  – Genesis 1:27
  – Ecclesiastes 3:11
  – Psalm 39:4
  – John 3:16
  – 2 Corinthians 5:1
  – John 10:28
  – Mathhew 25:21
  – Matthew 6:19-20
  – 1 Corinthians 9:25
– I’m glad that I was able to get to LPC this morning despite the difficulties.
– That’s where I belong every Sunday morning.

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Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

6 years ago in March of 2003 I went on Spring Break with my brother to the Tampa Bay area. My brother was actually there on business at first, and then it became a vacation for him as well. On my own I visited Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, The Florida Aquarium, and Florida International Museum. We spent a couple of nights at a hotel in Tampa followed by a couple of nights at a hotel directly on Clearwater Beach amongst other Spring Breakers. We were on vacation on the beach when Operation Iraqi Freedom began. Spring Breakers were out on their hotel balconies partying and singing in unison “Bombs Over Baghdad” (by Outkast). My brother often jokes that whenever he goes out-of-town on vacation major world events occur. This vacation was clearly no exception, but it was one of the best vacations that me and my brother shared together in our entire lives.

The soundtrack of my life from back in 2003 was almost exclusively European Trance, Techno, and House music. This was one of the biggest Techno jams from that era, and it’s one of my favourite tracks of all-time. It’s legendary Dutch DJ Ferry Corsten with his 2003 megasmash “Rock Your Body, Rock”.