My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos Day 7

This duet by Bing Crosby and David Bowie is perhaps one of the most beloved Christmas pieces of all time. I remember the first time I saw the two of them do The Little Drummer Boy (Peace on Earth) on television and I make it a habit to see it every Christmas.  I hope you enjoy it as well.  Merry Christmas!

Thanks for listening!  Have a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos Day 6

Perhaps my all time favorite Christmas song is Silent Night.  This is the first version of that beautiful song that I will post and is the 1980 version sung by the R and B legends The Temptations.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Have a very Merry Christmas!  Thank you for listening and have a great rest of the day.

December 7, 1941. A Date, Which Will Live, in Infamy

It was on this day, 71 years ago, that the United States of America was maliciously and without provocation or warning, attacked by the Imperial Navy of Japan at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Over 2,400 Americans lost their lives, with 85% of the Pacific fleet destroyed or damaged.

It was the start of the war for us here in America and the thinking at the time was "We didn't start this war, but by God we will finish it!".  My grandfather fought in this war, as did my wife's grandfather and it is to men like them that we owe a great deal of gratitude and thanks.  So for all of you who have served, no matter what theater, thank you for serving your country and defending this country.

As FDR stated, this is "a date which will live in infamy" and I hope that we never, ever forget the date and what happened.

I came across this video on YouTube, about the attack and there are some interesting tidbits from Japanese citizens as they heard the news of the attack.  I think it's worth the time to watch it.

 

After you watch it, remember these words from Isoroku Yamamoto, who was a Japanese Naval Marshal Admiral and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy.   He is quoted in the movie "Tora Tora Tora" with this saying after the Japanese planes returned from their fight:  

 "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Even though he orchestrated the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was greatly disturbed that it was a sneak attack and told the Japanese Admiralty that "He could run wild for six months in the Pacific. After that I have no expectation of success."

Six months later we defeated the Japanese at Midway, and from that point on, we never looked back.

Take the time out today to thank a veteran for their service.  If you know of any living survivors of World War II, shake their hand and say thank you.  Remember Freedom is never free.

Thank you for reading.  Have a great rest of the day.

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos Day 5

Even though "We Three Kings" is not exactly biblical per se, I still love the song.  After all, the three wise men from the east came not at the birth of Christ, but later after He had been born.

I hope you enjoy this rendition of "We Three Kings" as performed by the incomparable and legendary Ella Fitzgerald.

Have a Merry Christmas and a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos -- Day 4

Not all of my favorite Christmas music is traditional.  I discovered Trans-Siberian Orchestra by accident one day when I saw a video very similar to this on YouTube.  I had to know what the tune was and who performed it.  Turns out it wasWizards In Winter by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  Bought their mp3s and had more Christmas music to listen to.

Hope you enjoy.  Have a Merry Christmas and a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos -- Day 3

Two of the greatest opera tenors sing one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.  Enjoy Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo singing O Holy Night / Cantique De Noel  from the Christmas performance filmed in Vienna 1999.

Merry Christmas!  Enjoy the rest of your day.

It Feels So Good to Be Able to Workout!

So for the first time in over two weeks, I was able to head to the gym and get a workout in and man it felt good!  I still can't do any running right now as my big toes are still healing from the in-office surgery, but I was able to get a cardio workout in on the elliptical machine.  I did 30 minutes at a 30% resistance and had an incline of 5 out of 10.  The total for that workout? 544 calories burned with a distance of 1.25 miles.  Did I mention that I really miss my road work?

After that I moved on to my resistance circuit training.  I wanted to concentrate on my upper body this session and I could tell that after two weeks of not being able to work on resistance training, I was not at my best.

Overall I did shoulders including shrugs, front and lateral raises and shoulder press.  For arms I did bicep curls and the triceps machine.  For the chest I did sets on the incline bench press, and chest flys.  The last sets I did was for the back.  This consisted of sets of seated rows on the rowing machine, rear delt flys and lat pull downs.  The last thing I did was work on the abs.

It is a short summary of a 55 minutes resistance workout and I will, in a later post this week, post my full resistance workout, but tonight is short and the morning comes fast!

For now I am happy I can work out again and will be even more happy when I can start running.

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos Day 2

One of the great crooners of all time singing one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.  Enjoy Mr. Bing Crosby singing "I'll Be Home For Christmas".

Thanks for listening.  Have a great rest of the day.   Merry Christmas!

An Update From The Bench

The last couple of weeks have been tough on me.  First the pulled muscle in my Rhomboid muscle area of my back had me out of my lifting routine for a couple of weeks.  That was okay as I could still run.

Then I went to the podiatrist a week ago tomorrow and had both of my big toenails partially removed due to chronic ingrown toenails.  I was told I could start running as soon as I felt like it.  That was before they appeared to become infected.

So I go back to the podiatrist tomorrow and hopefully in the next few days I'll be back to what I was getting good at: becoming healthy.  I miss running and I miss my resistance circuit training.  I'll be back to it soon enough, but soon enough simply can't come quick enough.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great rest of the day.

The True Meaning of Christmas

Every year I try very hard to post a video a day in December of something Christmas related.  Usually that is a video of one of my favorite Christmas songs and starting tomorrow that won't change.  But I wanted to start off my Christmas blogging tradition by showing you a clip from perhaps one of the greatest Christmas specials of all time: A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I watched this as a child and we continue to watch it every year, now with our children.  It never grows old and the truth in it remains the same.  So I hope you enjoy.  Linus explaining the true meaning of Christmas.

Have a Merry Christmas!  Thanks for reading and have  great rest of the day.