Category: Travel

Categories
History Life Music Nature Radio Sports Travel

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

In June of 1980 I became a teenager – 13-years-old. I successfully completed the 7TH grade at Robert Goddard Junior High School in Lanham Maryland, and I was also actively involved in the Boy Scouts. We used to go on regular hiking and camping trips up in the mountains along the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. I remember hiking through the small town of Harpers Ferry West Virginia on many occasions. It was one of the few portions of the trail that actually went right through the heart of a town. Although I don’t miss the hiking with heavy backpacks and rugged shoes I do miss the scenery. While we have a nice subtropical landscape here in America’s Riviera nothing can beat the beautiful views that I remember from high atop the A.T.

On the radio during that memorable time of my life was this funky jam. It’s often referred to as ‘Disco’s Last Dance’, as it wasn’t even released here in the States until January of 1980 – some six months after Disco allegedly died at a Chicago White Sox baseball game. It took another 5 months after that to reach # 1 on the U.S. pop chart where it stayed for the entire month of June of 1980.

Here’s Lipps Inc. with their unexpected and untimely # 1 Disco smash – a year after Disco died. Welcome to “Funkytown”. Population – You !

Categories
Animals Driving Food God History Music Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Let’s not hold nothin’ back.
– Can we talk here ?
– Today I ate Lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse.
– It’s transitioning into a weekly tradition for me.
– It’s my favourite of all of the new eating joints that have opened recently.
– Homestead has come a long way over the past few years.
– We are turning in to quite the eating mecca down here in suburbia.
– I dig that since eating food is one of my favourite hobbies.
– So next Friday night I’ll be seeing what should be a GREAT concert.
– It’s Toby Mac, Skillet, and House Of Heroes.

– All three acts rock my face off !
– I’m seeing them over at the Germain Arena between Naples and Fort Myers.
– I’m actually driving over to Naples early in the morning next Friday.
– I plan to spend the entire day over there and visit various places.
– The Naples Zoo and the Collier County Museum are on my short list.
– I’m also spending the night over there following the concert.
– I thought about driving back home after the show, but then I reconsidered.
– It’d be a 2½-hour drive in the dark across Alligator Alley (I-75).
– I’m not into that.
– I’d rather relax in a hotel room and get a good night’s sleep.
– And then the next morning I can see more of Naples before I head home.
– It’ll be like a short little vacation for me.
– I want to do those at least once a month.
– I’m already planning a nice little road trip for a later weekend in April.
– It’s fun to get out on that open road and visit places and see things.
– I used to do it far more often back in the day.
– Homestead Air Reserve Base reopened 16 years ago this weekend.
– That’s when I moved back down here to Homestead after a 19-month hiatus.
– If I had to do it all over again then I’d do it all over again.
– It’s straight-up and down six o’clock in the evening as I type this.
– That means that Life Group is just an hour away.
– Life Group has been the crown jewel of my work week in 2010.
– I get excited about it every week.
– It’s fellowship done right.
– Have a great night my friends.
– Celebrate Life !

Categories
Career Computers Driving God Holidays Nature Travel

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

I do hereby declare the start of another fresh new week of blogging !

I.  This Old Car – My 2003 Saturn is aging, and while it may not look very old on the outside and on the inside (due to recent professional cleaning and detailing) it is starting to act its age. It’s starting to sound and feel at times like an old man – making strange sounds occasionally. It’s pushing 67,000 miles, and this June it will mark 7 years in operation. It’s the 2ND longest period of time that I’ve owned a single car – 2ND only to my 1989 Geo Spectrum that I drove around in for 8 years and 3 months from 1989 to 1997. Well it’s really cool and everything to drive around in a car that’s fully paid off and completely mine, but now that it’s getting older it has to be taken care of on a regular basis – more so now than ever before. Yesterday morning I took my car to the local Chevy (GM) dealership here in Homestead (since Saturn dealers don’t exist anymore), and I expected to be there for perhaps 3 hours and maybe spend around $100 in needed maintenance. Those 3 hours turned out to be 5 hours, and it cost $867.91 to get my car thoroughly tuned-up to where it should be. Now it seems to sound and feel like a kid again. I’ll be keeping this old car for awhile. With a little bit of tender loving care it will hopefully continue to purr along on the road.

II.  Have Road Will Travel – Looking ahead at my planned vacation schedule for 2010 I’ve got at least 3 trips to the Dallas Texas area planned for May, July, and November to visit my family. I’ve also got a 7-day Carnival cruise to look forward to in September. I also think that I’m gonna visit the Orlando area for a long weekend in June. I haven’t been up there on vacation (non church business) since 2006 (before the fantastic journey began). I also wish to take a few days (maybe in April) and discover a broad section of the southeast coast of Florida that I’ve never experienced before. It’s known as The Treasure Coast, and it includes the cities (south to north) of West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Juno Beach, Jupiter, Tequesta, Stuart, Jensen Beach, Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, and Vero Beach. I basically want to drive the 80 miles or so from south to north only on U.S. 1 and State Road A1A, and simply stop along the way at the various places that look interesting to me. I’d do it over 2 or 3 days and really explore the region. I may even combine it with a trip around the Big Lake Okeechobee. I miss doing exploration road trips like that. It’s time to get back on the road again and enjoy God’s Creations along the way.

III.  I Am Not A Computer Expert – I have never claimed to be a computer expert, and I have never demonstrated any notion of being a computer expert. (Some people may disagree with that.) Nevertheless the impression that some people get (for whatever reason) is that I am some sort of genius at fixing computers. Here’s the real deal. If I actually knew how to physically fix a computer then I would not be dealing with my current computer systems at home. I’d fix them. I’d upgrade them. When a computer at home crashes I do what a lot of sensible people do. I set it aside and go out and buy a brand new one. Do I know how to use a computer ?  Sure – I’ve been using personal computers for a little over 17 years now. I used Hurricane Andrew relocation money to help me buy my very first computer system (a 486SX) towards the end of 1992. I’ve gone through a lot of computer systems since then. I’ve never fixed any of them. I’ve bought new ones to replace broken ones. It makes more sense for me to do that. I’m mechanically challenged – and that includes computers. What’s my current job at work ?  I manage resources. That includes (but is not limited to) computers, databases, and finances. I provide guidance on computers, but I do not buy them or fix them. I’m responsible for information that gets input into databases as well as the output based on that data, but I do not put any of the data in myself. I’m responsible for the effective and efficient spending of money, but I do not spend any of the money myself. I’m your classic liaison. I hope that clears everything up for everyone.

Be sure to check out my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’ later this week. I’m sure that I’ll find something new to rant and rave on, but please keep this in mind at all times – I’m a lover not a fighter. I heard that one !

Categories
Career Driving God History Home Life Music People Radio Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Let’s not hold nothin’ back.
– Can we talk here ?
– Miami has an all-new Christian music radio station !
– I discovered it for the first time this afternoon at work.
– It’s Life-FM at 90.9, and it’s a powerful 100,000 watt station.
– I think their transmitter is right alongside the 18-Mile Stretch.
– That means that you get a clear and rich signal here in Homestead.
– Life-FM is Christian music for my age range and older.
– Its secular equivalent would be hot adult contemporary.
– I may be approaching 43-years-old, but I still like to rock my face off.
– That’s why I’ll also continue to listen to Call-FM at 91.9.
– My favourite radio deejay in the entire world works there !
– Driving here in America’s Riviera is always very challenging.
– We drive over 80 different ways here.
– That’s because we learned how to drive in over 80 different countries.
– The single problem that annoys me the most is tailgating.
– It’s also the most dangerous problem.
– I get tailgated virtually every day to and from work by multiple drivers.
– I generally slow down when a tailgater is at work.
– If the speed limit is 40, and I’m going 48 I’ll slow down to 42 for a tailgater.
– I do it for my own safety.
– If I have to slam on my brakes for whatever reason then I may be toast.
– I’d rather be that much closer to 0 MPH in the event that I have to brake.
– Tailgating should be a crime right up there with drunk driving.
– I’ve seen police cars tailgate – and also be tailgated !
– It’s a chronic problem down here.
– I appreciate those peaceful, quiet, and uneventful drives here in paradise.
– But they are way too rare.
– This is a multi-anniversary month for me.
– Celebrate Good Times Come On !
– 19 years ago I returned home from Operation Desert Storm.
– 17 years ago I started my post-military civilian life in Melbourne Florida.
– 16 years ago Homestead Air Reserve Base reopened for business.
– All of our F-16 ‘Fighter Falcons’ returned home, and so did I.
– It’s good to celebrate 16 years here in Homestead.
– That’s in addition to the nearly 5 years that I was here before Andrew.
– Homestead has been my home in 4 decades since the late-1980s.
– I belong here.
– I have a purpose here.
– If I didn’t belong here, and I had no purpose – then I’d move away.
– I’ll be here for as long as God wants me to be here.