Category: Radio

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Driving History Home Life Music Radio Weather

Saturday Night Retro

On this exact date 17 years ago – the 22ND of August of 1992 – also a Saturday – we were given our final instructions and orders to evacuate the air base as quickly as possible due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Andrew. We had no idea what Andrew would bring, and it ultimately brought a once-in-a-lifetime storm of mass destruction to the base and the surrounding South Miami-Dade countryside.

It was the most horrific experience of my entire life – a Sunday night / Monday morning that I never went to sleep. I never wish to relive that night or the nightmarish week that followed. I don’t like to write about it, and I don’t like to talk about it. A lot of good ultimately came out of that storm. I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t be living and working here in Homestead today 17 years later if it weren’t for Hurricane Andrew. I’d be elsewhere. But it happened, and here I am.

One song in particular was receiving heavy airplay on the radio during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. It’s the duet of Patty Smyth and Don Henley. Together they sang “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”. Patty co-wrote the Grammy-nominated song that played out like a post-love song. It was the story of two former lovers who were moving away from their relationship together and moving on with life.

I interpretted the lyrics in a slightly different manner:
—
‘I don’t wanna lose you.’
—
‘And I don’t wanna hate you.
I don’t wanna take you.
But I don’t wanna be the one to cry.
That don’t really matter to anyone, anymore.
But like a fool I keep losing my place.’
—
‘It makes a sound like thunder.
It makes me feel like rain.’
—
‘And there’s no way home.
When it’s late at night and you’re all alone.’
—
‘There’s a reason why people dont stay where they are.
Baby sometimes love just ain’t enough.’

This was treated at the time as my farewell love song to Homestead. I didn’t want to leave. But I had to. The Homestead that I had known for nearly 5 years prior to that was all gone. She was completely destroyed. My home was inhabitable. My job was non-existant. I looked at Homestead one last time in my rear-view mirror, as this song played on the radio and made me cry.

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God Life Music Radio

My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics

Skillet out of Memphis Tennessee have been one of the most consistent Christian rock bands of my fantastic journey over the past 36 months. They’ve hit me hard with 6 big radio hits including “Rebirthing”, “The Last Night”, “Comatose”, “Live Free Or Let Me Die”, “Whispers In The Dark”, and “Hero”. The first 5 of those hits came from their 2006 album “Comatose”. Their hot new album “Awake” drops at retail and online next Tuesday (August 25TH), and it includes “Hero”.

I’ve purposely held on to Skillet’s “Rebirthing” to feature it on this specific week here on “My Fantastic Journey”. It’s the 3RD anniversary of my “Rebirthing”. My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ rescued me from the darkness, saved me, and led me with His open arms into the daylight. He did all of this over a short period of time, and I didn’t even realize what was going on until later when He made it all evident to me. The fantastic journey had already begun for me, as He was guiding and directing me towards a different direction. My life became a Life. I was alive. I was reborn. I experienced a “Rebirthing”. All at the age of 39.

This song was on the radio for me in the beginning:

Rebirthing now !
I wanna live for love – wanna live for You and me.
Breathe for the first time now – I come alive somehow.

Rebirthing now !
I wanna live my Life – wanna give You everything.
Breathe for the first time now – I come alive somehow.

It’s in the lyrics:

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Blogging Computers Health Internet Radio Sports Television Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  WELCOME to the monumental 1,000TH blog entry here on the WordPress incarnation of this here blog. It took about 21 months to get to 1,000 posts. As most of the other blogs that were near and dear to me have come and gone this one right here just keeps on churning along. I thank each and every one of you for reading, commenting, laughing, agreeing, and disagreeing with me. Let’s keep it goin’ indefinitely.

2.  I finally gave in to Twitter, and now you can follow me at the majorhitwaves name. You can also read my last 7 Twitter tweets over on the right-hand side of this blog’s home page underneath the ‘Follow Me On Twitter’ heading. I personally made myself crack-up severely when I selected my Junior year in High School picture from 25 years ago as my avatar. I’m still chuckling at that.

3.  This past Sunday morning my favourite radio deejay in the entire universe – Kelly D. – actually tried to convince me that Major League Baseball should be my favourite sport to follow due to its extensive utilization of statistics (being the statistician that I am). I told her that I find Baseball to be boring whether it be on the radio, on television, or LIVE and in-person. Although the Florida Marlins do intrigue me with their consistent high-scoring games whether they win or lose. I adore numbers that constantly change. Numbers are my favourite toys.

4.  My ‘Trouble In The Tropics’ forecast from yesterday is right on-track as you can plainly see. We are now within that 24-hour window where the remnants of once Tropical Depression Ana are affecting us. The 3 to 5 inches of rain has begun, and the 25 MPH wind gusts at times are here. Expect rapidly improving conditions (sunny, hot, and dry) by tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon – and continuing for at least the next 4 to 6 days.

5.  I just weighed myself, and I currently weigh-in at 173 pounds. I’ve pretty much been stuck in the lower-170s for several years now. I was previously stuck in the upper-160s for several years, and before that it was the mid-160s. I see a negative trend developing here. I’m getting heavier as I get older. I’ve been advised by my middle-aged counterparts that this is standard operating procedure, and that there is absolutely nothing that I can do to prevent it from happening. Gotcha. As long as my cholesterol drops like a rock (with the Lipitor) it’s all good.

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Career God History Home Life Music Radio Weather

Saturday Night Retro

This month of August 2009 marks several notable anniversaries for me. It’s the 3RD anniversary of my new Life courtesy of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It’s the 8TH anniversary of me being a homeowner after renting this same home for 6 years prior to that. Further back into the 1990s it’s the 16TH anniversary of me working for my current employer – the 482ND Fighter Wing. That was an indirect result of what happened 17 years ago this month – Hurricane Andrew’s destruction of Homestead. And going way back 25 years ago this month it’s my silver anniversary with the USAF. I actually joined the Delayed Enlistment Program a month prior to my Senior year in High School in August of 1984. 10 months later I was getting yelled at in Basic Military Training.

Here’s a U.K. TOP 25 hit from 25 years ago from one of my favourite electronic pop groups of all-time – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD). It’s from their critically-acclaimed 1984 album “Junk Culture”. It’s a virtually unknown song here stateside, so this ‘Saturday Night Retro’ pick-hit of the week is for all of my European readers who enjoyed the OMD pop phenomenon back in its day. Here – my friends – is that song all about those “Tesla Girls”: