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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

My Tuesday night tradition since 2007 continues now:

I.  Numbers That Drive Me Crazy – This next section is for my own personal amusement. This morning I started out with 67,613 miles on my car. That’s about 10,100 miles over the past year – a bit above average for me. I generally average between 7,500 and 8,000 miles of driving in a typical year. It’s been a busy year of driving for me – especially with the Thanksgiving Week trip to and from the Dallas Texas area. As far as gas prices are concerned they were much lower exactly a year ago – over 25% lower – right around $2.199 per gallon. It does appear that as the economy slowly improves the price of oil (and thus gas) will slowly increase – especially as we approach the summer driving months. $3.00 to $3.25 per gallon seems very likely as April rolls into May.

II.  Extreme Politics – I know what it’s like to be an extremist on the political spectrum. For the simple fact that I believe in God and unconditional protection of the unborn (that means Pro-Life) I am allegedly a proud member of the extreme right-wing radical contingent of the political spectrum. I am also a registered Republican. The fact of the matter is that one would be rather surprised to find out that I am much closer to being a centrist than an extremist. I actually hold a few strong viewpoints that would have some people out there accuse me of being a liberal. Here’s what I think. The loud and boisterous Hollywood elite are so far to the extreme left-wing of the political sprectrum that I can’t even see them. I think that President Obama appears to be a nice guy – but not a very good President that represents my views or even a majority of this nation’s views. I think that the Tea Party is an awesome movement. They are mainstream America as far as I’m concerned. Those who disagree with their viewpoints have simply hit the easy button by dismissing them as racists, hate mongers, and violence inciters. As a new follower of God over the past 44 months I have removed all hatred from my Life. It’s all about Love. Love thy neighbour. Is that so extreme ?  In this turbulent world – perhaps so.

III.  Modernization & Restoration – This is a frequently-utilized term where I work. It’s essentially any construction work that’s done on base under $30,000 that serves to modernize or restore a facility. My entire financial management job is based upon that concept. We have meetings throughout the week in which we discuss whether or not a job is M & R or not. Having stated that here at home while I have a few pockets that have recently been remarkably modernized or restored I am for the most part living like it’s 1988. I can best describe my living room as ‘Late-20TH Century Dorm Room Deco’. It’s just the way I like it dude – don’t be a hater. It’s hard to part with what I love. Nevertheless I have a revelation to make. This may shock and awe you to bits and pieces. Here we go. I’m interested in retiring my 2003-era cell phone with a brand new modern one made in 2010. I want one of them ‘3G’ / ‘4G’ deals in which I can surf the web and tweet anywhere with a full ‘QWERTY’ keyboard. I’m ready to upgrade soon. I don’t mind switching carriers either. I’ve been with T-Mobile since before they were T-Mobile. (They were originally Voicestream.) I’m actually thinking of switching to AT&T since I already have their U-Verse (HDTV + Internet). In fact the Motorola Backflip definitely intrigues me. I dig.

Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ up next on the blog.

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Blogging Career Driving Food Health Holidays People Shopping Travel

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Let’s kick-off a fresh new week of blogging – right here – right now !

I.  Every Other Month – I’ve got my vacation schedule all lined-up for 2010, and it’s an ‘every other month’ deal. I’ve got no vacations planned (yet) for this month (March) and next month (April), but then in May I fly to the Dallas-Fort Worth Texas Metroplex to celebrate a whole series of exciting events with my family to include my sister’s-in-law 29TH birthday, my mom’s and dad’s 44TH wedding anniversary, my niece’s birth into this world, my brother’s 36TH 35TH birthday, Mother’s Day, and my brother’s and sister’s-in-law 3RD wedding anniversary. We’ll celebrate all of those wonderful events during the short time (4 days and 4 nights) that I’ll be over there. Vacations later on in 2010 include a return holiday visit to DFW in July, my 10TH Carnival cruise in September, and then back to DFW for Thanksgiving in November.

II.  7-4 – I’m currently experimenting with a slightly later 7 AM to 4 PM shift at work to see if I like it. I’m able to set my own work shift (within reason), and this is the second change that I’ve made recently. I started with a 6 AM to 3 PM shift, and then I changed it to 6:30 AM to 3:30 PM. The problem with leaving work at 3:30 PM is that I get stuck in thick rush hour traffic on Biscayne Drive and Speedway Boulevard heading in to Homestead due to schools in the local area that are letting out just before that. So far the 4 PM experiment is working out pretty good for me with noticeably lighter traffic at that time. Of course I now have to deal with much heavier traffic going to the base just before 7 AM than I previously had to deal with prior to 6:30 AM. Incidentally for those of you who think that the base is dead with nobody working there and nothing going on there then I suggest that you stand out in front of the base between the hours of 6 AM and 6 PM to see for yourself how dead our base is NOT !

III.  DIG ! – And now ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, brothers and sisters, friends and colleagues – I present to you a complete list of everything that I dig according to my recent tweets:
– Publix Coconut Custard Pie
– The 2010 Buick Lacrosse
– My very normal internal parts
– The opening of Staples in Homestead
– My refreshing 25-minute walk in the cold
– My GINORMOUS hot Breakfast at Denny’s
– The booking of my 10TH Carnival cruise
– Tracking the number of miles I drive in a single day
– Eating Lunch at China Garden in Naranja Lakes
– Kelly Ripa (‘The Pipster’)

That is all for now. Be sure to catch my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’.

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Blogging Career History Life Music Radio Shopping Travel

Saturday Night Retro

17 years ago yesterday – on Friday February 26TH 1993 – I served my final day in uniform as an Active Duty USAF NCO (SGT). I did so at Andrews AFB MD just six months after Hurricane Andrew destroyed my previous duty station – the original Homestead AFB FL. The day was memorable for many reasons – a going-away luncheon in my honour, a snowstorm, and the first terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. A week later I moved back down to Florida (Melbourne) to start my new civilian life – which would eventually (and unexpectedly) take me back to the USAF in Tampa and then ultimately back to Homestead exactly a year later in March of 1994.

This year as I celebrate my 25TH silver anniversary working for the USAF (military and civilian careers combined) I look back fondly at those final six months in the Active Duty USAF from the end of August of 1992 through the end of February of 1993 up at Andrews AFB MD. It turned out to be the pinnacle of my military career. I certainly left on a high note, and that was truly a blessing in disguise that was unfortunately born out of the destruction and chaos that Hurricane Andrew left behind some 1,100 miles to the south.

Just a short trip down the road from Andrews AFB MD is the suburban bedroom community of Waldorf. Members of the punk-pop band Good Charlotte are originally from there, and they used to hang out as young teenagers at the sprawling St. Charles Towne Center Mall – the very same mall that I shopped at frequently while I was stationed there at the same exact time. Here’s their debut radio smash from a full decade later at the start of 2003. It’s all about those “Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous”.

This concludes another blogging week for me. It’s been a lot of fun getting back into the normal swing of things on here, and I can’t wait to do it all over again next week. Be sure to help me kick-off a fresh new week of blogging come Tuesday night when I present another new ‘Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’. Until then my friends – be safe – be good – and be reasonable.

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History Music People Radio Shopping Television

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

Disco Ball

One of the hottest hits on the radio, in the record stores, and out in the clubs during the last quarter of 1986 while I was living, working, and playing in the United Kingdom was “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by The Communards (Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles). It became the # 1 best-selling single of the entire year all across the British Isles. It was a spirited HI-NRG remake of Thelma Houston‘s 1977 # 1 Disco smash – which in turn was a remake of a 1975 Disco smash from Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes featuring the late great Teddy Pendergrass on lead vocals. (Teddy died 9 days ago. He was 59.)

Here’s Thelma Houston’s version as performed on “The Midnight Special”: