Category: Travel

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Blogging Career Driving Food History Holidays Life Music Philosophy Shopping Travel Weather

The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

PREFACE:
It’s the dawn of a brand new weekly series here on my personal web log. Following in the storied tradition of the surprisingly successful and long-running ‘Friday Night Blogroll Review’ (81 editions) and ‘The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party’ (36 editions) I proudly present to you my newest creation – the sensational summer series debut of ‘The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off’. This fresh new weekly series brings blogging back to Fridays – where it belongs. It also serves as the de facto replacement series for two now defunct weekly series – ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ and ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’. I’ve ended the run of both series after a combined 200+ weekly editions dating back to this blog’s infancy in 2007.

THE FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGE OF THE WEEK CLUB:
“The best angle from which to approach any problem is the TRYangle.”

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
Red Lobster – Caesar Salad, Cheddar Bay Biscuits (4 of them), Wood-Fire Grilled Grouper, Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Broccoli, Sprite

15 WEEKEND MINI THOUGHTS:
– It may be Friday night, but it’s NOT the end of the work week for me.
– I actually have to work tomorrow for much of the day.
– I took the morning off today, and I got my car serviced at Firestone.
– They did the oil and filter change, tire rotation, wheel alignment, and A.C.
– I was in and out in just about two hours flat.
– After that I ventured up to Target in the Cutler Bay area.
– I went on a spontaneous shopping spree.
– Target is my favourite place to buy clothes.
– Tomorrow is actually the 7TH anniversary of the purchase of my current car.
– It’s my 2ND longest-owned car.
– I drove a 1989 Geo Spectrum for over 8 years before I bought my first Saturn.
– Next weekend I’ll be hanging out in Texas with my family.
– That’s become an annual 4TH Of July Weekend tradition.
– I’ll be prepping for 100°F heat next weekend.
– But it’s a dry heat (compared to South Florida anyway).

BLATANT PROMOTION:
TOMORROW on the ‘Retro’ I’ll be remembering the first rock concert that I ever attended in my life. It was exactly 24 years ago this weekend in London England. Coming up in 5 weeks on the ‘Retro’ it’s the ‘Awesome ’80s In August HI-NRG Dance Party’ – a month-long celebration of the decade that was. Be sure not to miss that my friends. You won’t regret it pal !

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Food History Holidays Life Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

My first ever trip to New England this past week reminded me of some of the fun times that I enjoyed as a kid growing up in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs  surrounding Washington D.C. That vibe – that feeling – that weather this past week up in Western Massachusetts – or as the natives refer to it – ‘West Mass’. It reminded me of a simpler time from an era not so long forgotten. It was a long time ago, but the vivid memories are still there for me to cherish in their own special way. We spent several Summers for a few days or a week at a time over at the popular seaside resort of Ocean City Maryland. I remember the sights of the town, the smells of the sea, and the tastes of the food permeating all up and down the boardwalk. I haven’t been there in about 30 years, but I think that I will check out the place sometime soon on a future vacation. I can easily spend a bunch of days and nights having a lot of fun along that three-mile stretch of boardwalk, so what am I waiting for ?

Here’s a cool tune from that fun era that’s all about a sun-drenched seaside place such as Ocean City Maryland. Musician Jay Ferguson fondly looks back at his “Thunder Island”. He recorded the track right here in our own seaside resort of Miami Florida back in 1977. Enjoy the ‘Retro’ !

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Career Driving History Life Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

On this exact date I’m celebrating my remarkable 25TH silver anniversary in the United States Air Force. Back on the 12TH of June of 1985 – a mere 6 days after my high school graduation and just a week removed from my 18TH birthday – I made my way via cars, buses, planes, trains, and shuttles from Northern Virginia (Fairfax County) to San Antonio Texas (Lackland Air Force Base) to enter Air Force Basic Military Training. It was the most grueling six-and-a-half-weeks of my entire life – then and now. I arrived as a boy. I departed as a man.

I’d do it all over again. It was the very start of a long and rewarding military and civilian career, and I am most greatful.

Fast forward 5 years later … 20 years ago this Summer I enjoyed the greatest, the wildest, and the craziest time of my life. I drove up to Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City for two weeks of Aircraft Maintenance Systems Database Management school. I remember next to nothing about the actual school, but I remember a LOT about the fun that I enjoyed after school. Me and a buddy from class totally rocked our faces off on the beach at neighbouring Spinnaker Beach Club and Club LaVela. We partied hard – every night. We agreed that it was our own personal Woodstock Music Festival – 21 years later. It was the mother-of-all college spring breaks big and small all rolled up into one giant blur. Of course all of this occurred several years before Panama City Beach was eventually discovered as the North American continental mecca for Spring Break.

What a total blast it was. It was the greatest most outrageous two weeks of my entire military career exploring Tyndall AFB, Parker, Callaway, Springfield, Cedar Grove, Panama City, Panama City Beach, and the scenic U.S. Highway 98 corridor through the region in my red 1989 Geo Spectrum. If I could do it all over again – I would NOT. I simply could not survive another two weeks like that again, and it’s quite simply incompatible with my current new Life. I just have the memories to look back on, and sometimes that’s more than enough.

Here’s a hard rockin’ smash that took the free nation by storm back during that memorable Summer of 1990. It’s laughed upon today as cheesy sugar-coated hair-metal-pop, but back then it was the signature rock song of my two weeks on the white hot sandy beaches of Panama City. It’s twin bros Matthew and Gunnar Nelson with their megasmash “(I Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection”. It’s ‘Retro’ from my ‘Summer Of Fun’ in 1990. You know it !

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Annoyances Blogging Driving Food History Life People Politics Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Here’s another collection of my spontaneous combustion ‘Mini Thoughts’.
– What else would you expect from me on a Thursday night here on my blog ?
– Tonight I may offend pick-up truck drivers – the bullies of the open roads.
– I may also offend soccer-mom mini-van drivers who are just plain horrifying.
– Let’s start with the bully pick-up truck drivers who think they own the roads.
– Pick-up truck drivers rarely surprise me, as they are very predictable.
– Stop signs and lane markings generally mean nothing to them.
– I often wonder why they run the stop signs yet stop for a red light.
– If you break every other law in the book then you might as well just keep goin’.
– Speed limit signs along the sides of the road don’t apply – and don’t exist.
– What do I see in my rear-view mirror – a GIANT pick-up truck tailgating me.
– Do you really need tires that are bigger than most humans ?
– Do you really need your truck to be so high that you can walk underneath it ?
– Does it really need to be as loud as an F-16 jet ?
– OK soccer-mom mini-van drivers it’s your turn now.
– Men and women are equally bad drivers in soccer-mom mini-vans.
– You guys and gals are stark raving mad lunatics behind the wheel.
– You’re driving your giant gas-guzzling tanks as if they are little sports cars.
– And you’re usually doing so with half a baseball team as passengers.
– When you make a fast turn a wheel should not lift up from the road.
– It’s no wonder that you cause more accidents on the road than any other.
– There should be a special license that’s required to drive a mini-van.
– Incidentally a mini-van is any vehicle that’s not a car or a pick-up truck.
– It’s my somewhat generic label for every obnoxious vehicle on the road.
– Some of the nicest most friendliest people turn demonic behind the wheel.
– Parents that are bad drivers raise kids that are bad drivers.
– The national driving age should be 18 – not 15 or 16.
– Kids should not be driving any vehicles on the road.
– That is all that I have to say about this subject.
– Moving on to even more controversy – Politics:
– The media’s intense love affair with President Obama continues.
– He can do no wrong, as he walks on water that’s up to 2% crude oil.
– Everything bad that happens in the world today is still Bush’s fault.
– President Obama and his administration loves to blame others.
– We’ve been down this same road before – the Clinton administration.
– They blamed the elder Bush while their boss was out playing and partying.
– Don’t get me started.
– Yesterday I had a bad experience at a popular local Latin eatery.
– I got bad service and perhaps bad food.
– I ended up with an upset stomach that lasted the rest of the day into the night.
– The bad service alone was quite shocking, as it was perhaps racially-motivated.
– Needless to say I won’t be frequenting that establishment anytime soon.
– I’m boycotting places that don’t treat all customers equally with respect.
– Well this turned out be a rather dismal edition of the ‘Mini Thoughts’.
– I didn’t intend to shred bad drivers, bad political leaders, and bad restaurants.
– But that’s what happened in this spontaneous combustion.
– You should have seen the original unexpurgated version of all of this.
– This weekend it’s an all-new ‘Saturday Night Retro’ here on the blog.
– It’s the 20TH anniversary of my ‘Summer Of Fun’ in 1990.
– It was my Woodstock – my Spring Break – my endless party on the beach.
– I’ll look back at that decadent summer and present a signature rock song.
– It’s the song that brings back all of those vivid memories of a previous life.
– On Sunday it’s an all-new ‘My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics’.
– We are like totally going to jam to some awesome worship music.
– After that this blog goes on hiatus for 5 days.
– Stick around this weekend as we kick-off an all-new summer of fun for 2010.
– You won’t regret it pal.