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Saturday Night Retro

EXACTLY 9 YEARS AGO TODAY on the 27TH of March of 2001 I sent an E-Mail to my travel agent at the time. She worked on Marco Island, and I was inquiring about the area. Here’s an actual paragraph from that original E-Mail:

I am in the process of planning a two-day vacation for myself over in Naples for the final weekend of April, and I pretty much know what I am going to see and do while over there, but I also want to spend some time (maybe three or four hours at the most) in Marco Island on the day that I drive back from Naples to the Miami area.

It seems that the more things change – the more things stay the same. Back then I was planning a two-day / two-night visit over in the Naples area – my first visit over there in about a decade (since before Hurricane Andrew).

TODAY – 9 YEARS LATER – I drove right by the hotel that I stayed at back then – and I drove right by Marco Island as well. I did visit Everglades City again on this visit – my 2ND visit to the area in about 5½-months. I’ll be visiting the area again later on this year, and perhaps I’ll even make a pit stop on Marco Island.

BACK TO 9 YEARS AGO during the Spring of 2001 when a younger Y-100-listening Chris M. Day was driving around in his brand new gold 2001 Saturn SC2 with this jam cranked-up as loud as can be on the FM stereo:

This concludes another week of blogging for me. I’ll return LIVE on Tuesday night with my weekly ‘Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ and a totally complete synopsis of my short stay over in the Naples area. Until then my friends have yourself a wonderful weekend, and be sure to follow me on Twitter. See you there.

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Animals Blogging Driving Food God History Home Internet Music Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Let’s not hold nothin’ back.
– Can we talk here ?
– Be reasonable – do it my way.
– Be radical – do it Jesus’s way.
– For the 2ND Thursday in a row I ate Lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse.
– It’s my newest (and coolest) weekly tradition.
– It’s my secret hideaway for one hour away from coworkers.
– When I walk in the joint some of the hosts and wait staff welcome me back.
– They identify me as a regular attender.
– I dig that notion !
– My favourite Tweeter is Jesse Santoyo, so you should follow him.
– Come to think of it he’s my favourite blogger too.
– At least someone out there is still kickin’ it old school.
– I’m gearing up for my short weekend trip over to the Naples FL area.
– I’ll be driving over there tomorrow (Friday) afternoon after work.
– I’ll be rocking my face off tomorrow night at the Germain Arena.
– Toby Mac, Skillet, and House Of Heroes are going to raise the roof !
– I used to go to rock concerts on a fairly regular basis before I was saved.
– It’s been a long time since my last one in a major arena (non-church setting).
– In fact it’s been over 3 years – since a Huey Lewis And The News show.
– On Saturday morning I have a few pit stops to make over in Naples.
– I’ve got to visit my animal buds over at Naples Zoo.
– I’ve also got to check out the Collier County Museum.
– I’ll also be glancing over at various neighbourhoods as I drive by them.
– I just have this feeling that I’m a future resident of the Naples area.
– I may even catch Lunch on Saturday at Sonic.
– That’s the closest Sonic to my home – 110 miles away !
– Rumours suggest that we may get our very own Sonic here in Homestead.
– Longtimers may remember when we used to have two Sonics on U.S. 1.
– One was in the Naranja area near SW 264TH Street.
– The other one was in Homestead south of SW 320TH Street.
– That was before Hurricane Andrew destroyed everything in its path.
– I’ll be at Life Pointe Church bright and early on Sunday morning.
– I’ve got to be there, as I’m hosting the 9 AM service.
– Grab your crew and check out that first service.
– That would help to free up seats for the second service.
– This Saturday night here on the blog it’s an all-new ‘Retro’.
– I’ll be flashing back 9 years ago to 2001.
– There is no ‘Disco Party’ tomorrow night, and no new blog post.
– Until I blog again on Saturday night my friends take care of yourselves.
– Spread Love – it’s contagious !

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God Life Music

My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics

I’m falling even more in love with You
Letting go of all I’ve held on to
I’m standing here until You make me move
I’m hanging by a moment here with You
I’m living for the only thing I know
I’m running and not quite sure where to go
And I don’t know what I’m diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with You

When you choose to follow, believe, trust, and love Jesus Christ above every one and every thing you choose to throw pride into the enemy’s darkness and emphatically exclaim that you can no longer go on and be a slave to this world. You can no longer say and do what the world’s agenda tells you so. You choose to die to the world, and let death bring Life to yourself. It’s a new Life, for you are reborn. Death brings Life – just like it did on that cross. Jesus Christ conquered death and created Life from it. He can take the dead man out of you and make you anew. If you believe. If you trust. If you hang by a moment with Him. It’s in the lyrics. It’s in the Truth:

Romans 6:4-5 (NLT, 2ND Ed.)
4  For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new Lives.
5  Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to Life as He was.

John 12:24-26
24  I tell you the Truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels — a plentiful harvest of new Lives.
25  Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
26  Anyone who wants to be My disciple must follow Me, because My servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves Me.

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Animals Astronomy Career Driving God Nature Travel

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

A fresh new week of blogging begins – right here – right now !

I.  Year-Long Standard Time – If we stayed on Standard Time all year long and eliminated Daylight Saving Time from March through November then life would be so much more simple – and timely. Here in America’s Riviera in the middle of June when our days are at their longest and our nights are at their shortest we would have a sunrise of exactly 5:30 AM on Standard Time. That means that daylight would begin showing its presence shortly before 5 AM !  All the way up the Atlantic coast in Portland Maine the sunrise would actually occur just before 4 AM with daylight appearing before 3:30 AM !  While farmers everywhere would absolutely dig such an early sunrise in June most Americans would simply not appreciate it. So the next time that you scoff at losing an hour of sleep on that one weekend in March when you have to ‘spring forward’ just remember what life would be like without it. You would be up at the crack of dawn – the crack of 5 AM in June !  Next week I will explain to you what life would be like in December for most of us if we stayed on Daylight Saving Time all year long, but right now it is time to move on to my next thought …

II.  Public Speaking 101 – Tonight at my weekly Toastmasters club meeting I’ll be giving my 2ND major speech since I joined just a little over 4 months ago. This is what it is all about. It will be a 5 to 7½-minute speech mostly comprised of a subject matter that I knew little to nothing about just 5 weeks ago. I’ll be standing up in front of my new friends and speaking directly to them with minimal usage of notes. Much of my speech will be based on actual experience rather than written material. In fact my notes are essentially one giant outline rather than an actual speech. It does include a few supporting facts and figures that I’ll be referencing during my speech. I’m also on the active hosting rotation at Life Pointe Church on Sunday mornings. I lead Communion, I pray, and I speak to my brothers and sisters from the big stage armed only with a wireless microphone and my notes. Who would have guessed that this would ever happen in my Life ?  That I would be standing up on a stage at a church in a movie theatre on a Sunday morning ?  I’m also facilitating and leading formal information briefings at work on most Thursday mornings. Who would have guessed that I would be involved in all of this public speaking at an organized club – at church – and in my career. All of this is brand new as of the past half a year or so. Each public speaking opportunity has found a way to complement and enhance one another, and I am so amazed at the progress that I have made in this once dormant area of my Life. Once upon a time I was the most timid dude I knew. Public speaking was just never going to happen – no matter what. It was just totally impossible to occur. But then something miraculous happened some 43 months ago. God saved me. He took the dead man out of me. He said “Follow me.” I did.

III.  The 400-Mile Road-Trip – I’m still 3 days away from my next road-trip over to the Naples area, yet I’m already planning my next big road-trip for the final weekend of April. I’ve got a 400-mile (at least) road-trip planned that will take me up to Lion County Safari in Palm Beach County. After a fun-filled day at the park with the animals big and small I’ll be following the old historic U.S. Highway 98 over to the eastern shores of Lake Okeechobee. Around the Big Lake ‘O’ I go until I reach the coast-to-coast ‘7-0’. That’s Florida State Road 70 near the city of Okeechobee. I’m taking it all the way to Fort Pierce where I’m spending the night at a hotel. The next day it will be a nice scenic Springtime drive from the Atlantic shores of Fort Pierce Beach down to Palm Beach County solely along Florida State Road A1A and U.S. 1. It’s a huge chunk of southeast Florida that I’ve never seen before, and I’m so looking forward to discovering what’s there for me in my quest to find my ultimate vacation and retirement destination.

Those are my Thoughts on this Tuesday night. I thank you for your time, and I hope that you continue to spend a little bit of your valuable time each day supporting this blog and living Life with me.

Until we blog again (tomorrow) … REMEMBER THIS !