You might remember a couple of weeks ago (maybe a month) when I posted this video:
And said I was just going to roll the Honkin’ Huge Printer to the curb – until Jonathan volunteered to install a new carriage belt – so, this is really a HUGE HONKIN’ SHOUTOUT to Jonathan. Thanks – I’ve already printed all the tourist maps I’ll need for my upcoming Puerto Vallarta trip.
A pro can do this in an hour….Jonathan took longer, but was meticulous in his effort:
As the parts pile up in the living room – you really DO have to break this thing down to the carcass to get to this belt:
That pesky belt – it’s supposed to be in one piece, not shredded:
Here are the results from my doctor’s appointment yesterday… yes, test results in a little over 24 hours. I like them already!
So, here are the results (and his comments):
Your cholesterol looks fine. Some values are elevated, but you were not fasting for these labs so this is fine.
Triglycerides: 264 (goal < 150)
Total Cholesterol: 214 (goal < 200)
HDL “good” cholesterol: 46 (goal > 40)
LDL “bad” cholesterol: 115 (goal < 130)
Your glucose was 183 (like to see that below 100), but again you were not fasting. Your other labs looking at your kidneys and liver were normal.
Your tests for HIV and syphilis were both negative and the test we did for your prostate was also normal. All good news.
So — apparently I’m not checking out any time soon. Damn. Guess I’d better get that DNR necklace for myself. (Inside Joke). And to think what I drink!
So — work today. Checks signed, cashed, spent. Yard mowed and trimmed. Dinner cooked for Jonathan (Fillet Mignon, Lamb, Chicken, Beans, Salad, Bread, Wine).
Finished a nice run through the equipment tonight, god I love cleaning the new machine.
This week just a quick little trip a couple of hours north to celebrate Jonathan’s Spring Break at the WorldMark Blaine.
Nice little two-bedroom place:
With a pretty nice view…
Our room would be one floor down, right hand balcony:
And even a rarely used lounge (at least in the times I’ve visited this property):
To me, the downside of this place is that the decks don’t have BBQs – just a couple of shared ones outside the lounge:
Marinated chicken thighs the first night. Pork loin the second night. Pretty much cooked all the meals in. The second night the wind had kicked up so I had to use the grill cover to block the howling wind from blowing out the flames.
You can see what the wind was doing to the bay…
And I was definitely bundled up…
But the end result was worth it! We even did our breakfast’s in… scrambled eggs, bacon, fried risotto cakes.
All too soon it was time to return to Seattle, somebody (that would be me) is leaving the country Friday, but it was a fun little quick holiday.
With my pod fully vaccinated, off to San Diego go I and Jonathan.
Lunch in the Board Room:
Pretty views from the plane (over the lap of the window passenger):
I never grow tired of flying out of Sea-Tac.
And then lunch, part two:
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER A YEAR – hard liquor is back in First and Premium on Alaska. I almost cried.
Damn, no Cranberry Juice for those early morning flights (with Vodka). I find Orange Juice too acidic.
On the rental car shuttle (thanks, Jonathan for dealing with this), someone has A TON of checked bags:
And because of the Covid Meltdown of rental car companies, our car is buried somewhere behind another car.
Love the preserved detail at The Inn At The Park in San Diego:
We are in a Two-Bedroom Deluxe which comes with a “balcony” and a picture of the hallway carpet:
And a video walkthrough:
Some shots from the rooftop deck up a couple of floors:
Oh, and a sunset shot:
Dinner the first night was a true FIND – thanks again, Jonathan. La Taverna only opened a couple of months ago, so it’s still hard to find on search engines.
We started with the Grilled Octopus!
And the complimentary calamari (coupon from hotel):
Sadly, only shochu cocktails (oddly common in California to get around expensive liquor licenses).
The wine list was extensive (and expensive).
For the main, I got the short rib Bolognese special:
Jonathan got the shank special – we both got the house made pappardelle under it.
Large portions – we got take home containers!
Awesome food, served by the one of the owners – Jonathan, who is well-versed in Northern Italian raved that it was authentic – see his review here: Jonathan J.’s Reviews | Seattle – Yelp
The next lunch we sent to Hash House A Go Go – one of my favorites from previous visits:
Started with a couple of DRUNK CLAMS — What happens when you mix vodka, Clamato, and clam juice? You get a very Drunk Clam! Made with Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and chili pepper, this is the drink to spice up your meal. Their words, not mine.
Then Jonathan moved onto the Sage Fried Chicken and Waffle Tower, which is two sage friend chicken breasts, bacon waffle, hot maple reduction, and fried leeks.
And I went for the HH Original Benedict, which is smoked bacon, fresh tomato, spinach, roasted red pepper cream topped with two basted eggs served on a fresh split biscuit with griddled mashed potatoes:
Yep – you guessed it, MORE leftovers.
The afternoon was filled with the USS Midway Museum down in the harbor:
A great time on a beautiful day on the bay. And a lovely Fire Station on the way home:
Hello, mid-century modern!
Lots of leftovers to work through….
And I made little snack plates for when a friend from high-school visited – she used to live in San Diego, but now Alabama, but was back to visit daughter/granddaughter/ great granddaughter:
We were gabbing so much neither of us remembered to take a picture!
Before long, it was time to head home after a stop in the lounge, then onto the plane…
Continued the work I started in San Diego reading scholarship applications.
Spring Break trip number two – another student: Jonathan. Student Spring Break trips are on the cheap: driving. Teacher Spring Break trips, frugal, but flying.
The route:
Lots of miles on the Miata this Spring…speaking of which, when you travel in a small car, forget hard-side luggage, think lots of small, squishable bags:
And my stuff and ½ of Jonathan’s stuff in the trunk…not much room left:
But the reason that you own a convertible is for a little Miata on Miata action…..I really don’t know why they didn’t have their top down:
What I’d booked in Birch Bay was the WorldMark Blaine. I’ve stayed next door at the WorldMark Birch Bay in the 3-bedroom Penthouse units with the private hot tub that are out of a student’s network are lovely, but they just added the place next door (no private hot tub, no private BBQ). I’d booked the “2-bedroom Standard” and was somehow rewarded with a Penthouse Unit (again, no private hot tub, but the BBQs were just down the deck).
Top floor – out unit was on the end, at the other end was the communal lounge:
And then there is the view….
Before long, I was settled in on the deck in the sun, cocktail in hand…
It’s not a bad little place….
It was a two-bedroom 2-bath unit. Not quite up to WorldMark standards (no BBQ tongs, no non-stick fry pan), but the furniture was comfy.
Steaks for dinner the first night, then for me, it was off to WorldMark Owner ReEduction for a $100 AMEX gift card for an hour and a half of them trying to sell me more points. No more point purchases until I sell the next house, or Mom dies – and I don’t think either of those are coming soon.
The LITTLE “event” for today is Jonathan trimming my locks – thoughts? It’s short!
The BIG “event” for today is the Scholarship Reading….
The following morning we were up and out by noon (thanks for the GREAT breakfast strata DancingBear!). The only downside was that my laptop pack got put in the wrong car – no laptop on my next stop Vancouver.
But before I move on, a couple of other pictures:
It’s just me headed to Vancouver. Jonathan didn’t get his Enhanced Washington State ID figured out in town.
Easy border transit even with having to cross several lanes of stopped traffic to get from Duty Free and back into the Nexus lane…hopefully this will be fixed once they open the new lanes.
Destination is the WorldMark at The Canadian in Vancouver. One of my favorites. And when I got there after shopping for dinner, the unit wasn’t ready, but Hummingbird had already been by just getting off “work”. That would assume that being a priest is “work”.
But we did get a unit early – they switched us to get us in earlier…not a bad room:
It was salmon on the menu tonight (with bread, salad, wine). Much fun. Guests were: Solus, Hummingbird, and his friend Kevin who was standing in for BamBam who couldn’t make it.
Slept in, and then couldn’t find the Cathedral where Hummingbird was doing the Maundy Service (the Thursday before Easter) so I went back to the condo and went back to bed. Another dinner tonight.
Second dinner of the visit was steak, brazed green onions, salad, bread – and of course — starting it off, the Pu Pu Platter.
No pictures—don’t know what I was thinking. Guests Helene, Tom, Stephen – and much good conversation (and knitting on Helene’s visit).
Out of the condo a little before noon – and the signs were saying 70 minute delay for the truck crossing – even the Nexus line was backed up past Duty Free – but I took a shortcut via the truck entrance to get to Duty Free which as a Nexus pass holder you get to park right out front AND get 10% off your purchases. Talk about cheap whiskey!
Between the 10% discount and the 20% exchange difference… that’s some mighty cheap whiskey, and a 1.14 liter bottle at that!
But back in the line (they shunt you into the existing line if you show your receipt) there were only a dozen or so cars in front of me:
And before you knew it I was home (after picking up my laptop bag that got put in the wrong car yesterday).
Bless Lynne for taking us to Pier 30 this morning… it’s nice not to have to worry about that portion of the trip. Jonathan called — he’ll make his way there on his own. As will Jeff, as will Helene. If they don’t make it, they’ve already paid me for their tickets, so it’s their loss.
Curt and I are checked in, on board, and having lunch by 1:15. I opted for a salad and a toasted sandwich which makes me ask, why did I book this cruise just to eat the same things as at home — but the goal is to NOT gain a bunch of weight on this trip.
Helene and Jeff made it on board 3ish, and Jonathan barely didn’t make the boat arriving at 3:45. I prefer my more calm “let’s get as many hours out of this as possible” approach.
Cocktails and wine started flowing and by 6 we were hungry for snacks so Jonathan and Helene raided the nacho bar on the Lido deck and we prepared to have a late dinner at 8pm.
The suite is truly sweet. Would you believe a jetted tub (albeit small) in addition to a shower in the bathroom — and the deck has enough space and furniture for all five of us. I still haven’t seen the other rooms, but Helene got upgraded from an inside room to an ocean-view obstructed room — and probably twice the size of her inside one, with room for a sofa-bed as well as the king size sleeping bed.
After the 6pm snacks I opted for a light dinner of two small appetizers (seafood cakes the size of a small stack of quarters and the Thai chicken wrapped in lettuce) and a bowl of the shrimp corn chowder. Jonathan had the salmon, Wonderful and Curt the lamb shank, and Helene a Caesar salad. And then there was dessert (lemon sorbet in honor of Swanda) and an espresso.
It was a late night in the cabin after exploring the ship a bit — will do the rest tomorrow. I was surprised to find people smoking in the casino — thought everybody had gone smoke-free. But I digress — Curt is revelling in the fact that he can order an omelet at one in the morning, and does.
Too much whiskey. A dog at Lowes helps, but I still have to drive back north after a stop at Rich’s Chevron to drop off a wine review.
Stopped by the house, scrapped a little paint, met the neighbor (Jeremy’s mother) when Wonderful showed up out of the blue. A lost day since I have to make time for to launder my symphony clothes.
Upside is that doing laundry I’m naked so all I can do is read the New Yorker and check email.
Dinner is salmon fillets marinated in sake lees, a greek salad, and a wonderful bottle of Ridge Vineyards wine. Jonathan is a little late — especially if you think that I ask him to show up a half an hour early… missed that, and the orginal time as well.
A close call making the symphony in time. Parking gods were with us. And the symphony was stunning — it’s amazing what a guest conductor can do with our symphony. Makes me want Gerry gone even more. It was my second time in a month to hear Debussy’s La Mer — the last time was by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Jonathan and I did a quick tour of the new house after the show — and then Jonathan was off to see if he could have a date in a dirty hotel room.
Not much work on the house, but then again, I don’t want to be getting supplies at Home Depot on a Saturday.
I just wanted to mention some favorites of the first two trips.
One: The wonderful woman behind the counter at the Delta Crown Room in Honolulu. Always smiling, always happy to help. Kudos. I’m taking her a bag of Seattle’s Best coffee on tomorrows flight back to Honolulu.
Two: The Maui Enterprise location and it’s employees. Not only was the car cheap ($18.23 a day), they offered to upgrade to a convertible for $5 more, met me at the shuttle with paperwork, and on return were genuinely interested in how the renting experience was and was there anything they could do to improve. It’s also close to the cruise ship terminal as well (from my January trip with Jeff I recognized the location).
Three: I think I’m done with Hawaii for awhile — of course I just checked in for tomorrow flight to Honolulu.
But first — must get things done around the house, and cook dinner for four (myself, Chris, Jonathan and Eric). I declined adding two more to dinner — I know how much Jonathan eats, and there wouldn’t be enough! Plus, I’ve got an early flight tomorrow.
Bills to pay, pork to marinate, checks to cash, computers to fix. Oh, and I guess I should pack as well. Thinking I won’t need the router this time since the Board Room has wi-fi, and the Equus (hotel in Honolulu, not the naked play with Daniel Radcliffe) has wi-fi — Delta Crown Room does, but it’s T-Mobile and expensive — but I”m only there on the return for a couple of hours. Great — one less piece of electronics to pull out for the TSA.
Now if I wasn’t feel tired like a cold or sore throat coming on….
More later…
UPDATE ONE: Now Eric — seems to be lost in the ether, but Jonathan is coming early. Guess that means he’ll have to eat more food, but since he didn’t have lunch, it shouldn’t be a problem.
This was a stay at home week for me, between last week’s trip to Santa Fe and next week’s cruise to Mexico. Did I lay around and eat all the Halloween candy? Nope, it was project week.
Project Number One: Vermouth Rack For The Shop
Madrona Wine Merchants is less than 500-square-feet, yet we have over 650 different brands that we stock, and we’d like to stock more, so we need to get creative with our shelving. In this case I had to build a shelf unit to go over a small rack of white wines that has a water pipe running through it.
The finished project, with a little bourbon and ginger spilled on it:
And installed in the shop:
Project Number Two: Behind The Counter Storage Rack
If you ever have looked behind the counter at Madrona Wine Merchants, it’s a jumble of stuff randomly packed in. My quest is that before the Holiday Rush that we get a little more organized so we can find things quickly. Hence, this odd organizer that I built to extend the cash wrap to the post where the vermouth is now hanging. The drawers are made from wood salvaged from the tops of wooden wine boxes that we occasionally get in:
And installed at the shop:
Project Number Three: Install Back Board For 1A2 Analog Phone System & KSU (Key Service Unit)
I’m upgrading my “Mad Men” style analog phone system so that all four phones will have lights and the ability to mechanically put calls on hold. This, of course, means actually putting in more infrastructure than just the KSU that I currently have which is only wired up for one phone – this one:
And here is what the infrastructure looks like:
And I still have to pull all the wires under the house before the “punch-down” can begin.
And then there is the social side of a week home…
Sunday night dinner with Bliss, Monday night dinner with Wonderful, Josh, and Jill:
Tuesday night dinner with former neighbor Emily, current neighbor Paula (who was air rescued out of the woods a couple of weeks ago after getting lost hiking with her two dogs), and Jonathan after installing the new 42″ flat screen that I picked up for $299 ($333 with tax and shipping) that fits in the same footprint as my 32″, but is half the weight.
We (Jonathan and I) also relocated the swing arm mount so that not only can I watch from the couch, but it swings so I can watch from the bedroom, and as of the relocation, I can now watch from the kitchen as well:
Thursday and Friday morning filled with helping Jonathan move from his storage locker into an apartment. Upside is that it’s right next to the Two Bells Tavern, known for its burgers (which I order two for take-out):
With a Manhattan while I waited (and their house bourbon is Evan Williams Black!)
It was amazing to me that someone who was homeless two months ago could have so much stuff in storage. Thursday afternoon he filled the 14-foot UHaul to the top, and Friday’s load was another quarter of the same UHaul – all headed into a studio apartment:
Now imagine that space filled to the top – and here is what the apartment looks like now:
Kitchen above, living room below…
And doesn’t even show the three closets and the mechanics rolling tool chest in the hallway. Whew!
It being Halloween that means its shop duty time. It takes three of us to handle the crowds. Here are the stats from 5-7PM…
Out of our 130 wine and champagne glasses – we had 10 clean ones at the end of the day
Over 200 pieces of candy handed out
Four bottles of tasting wine emptied
Maybe it was my outfit…
Busy week – looking forward to relaxing next week.
Better known as the Atomic Testing Grounds north of Las Vegas.
The tale of this trip starts last June when I’m on the NNSS site trying to get a tour (http://www.nnss.gov/pages/PublicAffairsOutreach/NNSStours.html) which book up about nine months out as they are thirty people, once a month. Upside is that it is free. We finally got accepted in early July 2018 for a March 2019 tour. And, apparently, we all passed our security clearances.
Booked a three-bedroom at the WorldMark Las Vegas Boulevard for the week of the tour…and then it’s the waiting game to get airline tickets, rental car the rest.
Four of us (Myself, Rache, DancingBear, Jonathan) flew in on a variety of flights with Jonathan and I arriving first and picking up a rental car and some groceries….
Yes, I rented a pickup truck – it was supposed to be the HUGE F-150. What I got was a mid-size Nissan Frontier. I should have gotten the Jaguar F8 ragtop from Sixt! And, yes, I re-parked the truck better after the photoshoot.
Part of the groceries were fixings for breakfast sandwiches for Tuesday, the day of the tour. DancingBear got up early to make them, so we had some food in our stomachs to show up at 7:30am at the National Atomic Testing Museum where the tour began (museum ticket not included in the free tour):
If you look closely, you can see our 85-year-old tour guide Ernie in the front window of the bus – he’s worked in the field for most of his adult life after growing up as a farmer in Nebraska.
Here is the itinerary of the full-day tour…
And with Jonathan on the tour, he marked a copy of map with all the stops the night before the tour:
Notice how close we are to Area 51? I notice the map doesn’t show the airstrip in Area 51 that a jet lands everyday from Vegas for commuters to commute. Also, Area 25 isn’t on the tour as that was the Nuclear Rocket Engine test site.
At the museum (the following day), Rache found this on display – from the Jackass and Western Railroad which was a spur line that moved around the rocket engines:
I bring this up because Rache and I had the opportunity several years ago to ride on the switch engine (I was the engineer!):
If you want to see the whole post on that adventure: CLICK HERE
Thanks, Rache for these web-scrapped photos since we were all required to leave our phone in our cars – to photos, no booze, no, well, lots of things. Here is the poster:
But back to the tour…it’s an hour and a half on a bus before you see this sign.
You get a clue about the terrain, but here is a better shot of the 1350 square miles where we also saw Predator Drones doing “touch and goes”:
Here is the link to the Wikipedia link about the site: CLICK HERE
With the 90-minute bus ride, first stop is a bathroom/snack bar stop, which is good because I’m out of liquid, then we are off to Icecap, which could be reactivated in a year if we decide to no longer ban testing (which, with our current administration, be tomorrow).
Which I really wish I’d had a camera for – it’s a building in 40-foot chunks that san be craned off and shipped to the next test site – well, before they blow a big hole in the ground.
Speaking of big holes in the ground, our next stop was Sedan Crater, which was the most sobering of visits of the day, when 12,000,000 short tons (11,000,000 t) of earth of material were moved in 11 minutes.
Standing on the rim looking down, which was TRULY sobering, they could have ended the tour after this and I would be satisfied – but we had five more hours (starts at 8am, ends at 5pm).
More driving before we arrive at the Apple II houses – structures that they built to see how the “blast” from a bomb would react with structures….this one was fine except all the windows were blown out:
Thank god the next stop was lunch at what was basically a commissary that had a bus-load of people showing up at once. Guessing the cheeseburger would have been better as a one-off rather than done ten at a time.
And there were also train trestles that were bent by the shock waves – which all the photos are heavily copyrighted, but the warping was three feet across twenty feet.
You should also be aware that during all these tests, soldiers were out there watching. It was a coveted assignment – watching something big blow up.
We were shown wooden benches on hillsides still in place (and rotting into the dessert).
All-in-all it was a fact-filled-feast with someone who was there throughout the years.
Personally, I was exhausted by the end of the day – but they did send us a commemorative photo collage of our day around radiation. The big photo is on the rim of Sedan Crater, the inset from in front of the museum:
In a little bit of weird, the world is a small place, we met a friend of our friend Sierra, another Ranger, who was on the tour, along with a bunch of SpaceX/Tesla folk (though not “on business”).
First, a review of last nights symphony date (with Freebie). Dinner at the Brooklyn was a wonderful as always, and Freebie was beaming because he didn’t have to order fish (allergic) or meat (personal choice) and had the Eggplant Souffle as a starter and the Grilled Portabella as the main — both portions were so large he took half of each home for another meal. I had the oysters with caviar vodka sampler, then the beet and prosciutto salad, and then the venison wrapped in bacon as the main (though it’s on the menu as a starter. Yum!
The Moscow Soloists were surprisingly good for so few people on the stage. Three-quarters (or more) were men, and the lone bass player was truly a hottie — reminded me of Pucci at twenty.
Half-time in the Founder’s Room was better. Wine is back, but the crappy Seattle Chocolates (crappy compared to the Dilettante Chocolates) remained. Picked up a menu and a phone number for reservations. Menu and wine list below.
And now onto today… that would be bamboo. Found bamboo flooring for the Rose Street house — either $2.25 per square foot (a steal!) to $6.00 (would match better). Have to take the cheaper sample back to the house and see if it will match close enough (since it’s almost 1/3 the cost). Check them out at http://www.bamboohardwoods.com. Need to drop by some towelettes next time I’m headed that way.
Beef and boys is Jonathan and the Jockey (Adam) for dinner. Stir-fried marinated beef with saffron rice and salad. Had to double the amount that I had planned when it was just Adam and I. Jonathan will Hoover a table.
Back to the island tomorrow to check mail, take care of business, etc.
Been busy all day — up at 8am for those who care. Lots of little stuff done like stuff needing to go into the mail to get it off the desk.
Took Jonathan to the airport for his afternoon flight to a wedding. He’s back Monday midnight. Went to the bank on the east side, and the post office to mail Tokyo Dave’s mail, then to Jimmies to drop off a job — guess I’d better get them a bill! Stayed for a G&T and dropped him on the hill on the way back over
Home to finish unloading the car (thanks Jonathan for help with the printer before the airport). Deflected an alarm salesman — but looking back on it why. 21, blond, geeky in his company golf shirt. What was I thinking!
Planted the two trees that Jeff left before they start to die anymore — and watered them. Need to plant the tomato starts that Jimmy gave me along with the arugula. Need to mow the rest of the lawn (tomorrow before company comes) and bondage up the raspberries (and water them too). Damn — yards are hard work.
Off at 5 to meet SpaceOtter (Numero Uno Dato) for dinner at Tom Tuk Thai on Queen Anne before seeing “Skin of the Teeth” at the Intiman. All I know is it’s part of their “American Cycle” which I cynically refer to as the “if you want to get NEA funding — put on American plays.”
Blog lesson to the wise — if you are giving someone a gift that isn’t here yet — don’t mention it on your blog. RE: Knife Sets.
Since the bag is out of the cat, it’s called “The Ex”. Available at Overstock and Amazon.
What a sweet heart Jonathan is — he brought me good (i.e. not WorldMark) black coffee and a cinnamon roll when he came back from moving his car this morning.
I crawled into their (Jonathan and Adam) bed for a little bit, before retiring to the couch to watch a sport that I didnt’ even know existed — Woman’s Team Handball. Looks like soccer in terms of field layout and team structure and then add basketball. Napped through half the game between Norway and Korea (I assume South) that was close at the end. The Koreans scored a point at the five second mark to take tie — but those pesky Norse women to have a ball in the air when the whistle blew — and it was spot on. Point for Norway, and the game.
Photos have been updated, so here is a shot of the fridge before dinner was served:
And if you click on the scrolling bar of yesterday’s post, you can see almost all of the photos. Some had to be censored.
After a day of little bits of everything (work, play, errands), it was time to entertain friends this evening. The line up was Helene and Swanda — Jonathan was a no-show. I love my friends — Swanda shows up with a couple of bottles of wine — Helene showed up with most of the meat counter at Whole Foods — a standing rib roast, some chicken breasts, some buffalo. And crackers, cheese and olives for pre-dinner nibbles. WOW.
Yes, that is a bronze sculpture of me as bacchus holding up the nibbles platter. Please notice the Obama plate in the background, a late Christmas gift from Swanda.
Dinner tonight: fresh sourdough bread, spicy ricotta cornbread, high-heat roasted asparagus, salad, jerkked lamb. Yum. Of course there are leftovers, I was expecting Jonathan to hoover everything in sight. Just means a great breakfast instead.
I’m starting to get cabin fever. Or would that be SOB fever.
Day two of being sequestered in the RV with the AC cranked up to high just to keep up with the weather outside. Luckily the captains chair makes a very comfortable place to read the newspaper, and the banquette isn’t too uncomfortable to do all the computer work.
By dinner time the house was over a hundred degrees — I know this even though he temperature gauge on the thermostat stops at 99 degrees. How? The oven thermometer was registering 104 degrees — THE OVEN THERMOMETER. Yes, we set a record. Fine, it’s 30 degrees hotter than normal. I want normal.
My plan to have steak and a salad was replaced by Jonathan coming over with a half a salmon, fruit and cabbage for a salad. My original plans included Joanie coming over for a computer fix (which Jonathan did MUCH better than I would have) and so we were three for dinner. In SOB.
Yes, we all had dinner in SOB after quickly prepping and cooking everything in the kitchen and on the grill. We even had fresh baked bread.
Pam spent the morning wondering around downtown shopping for a shot glass for her daughter (and a really cool crab cracker for me!) while I got the weekly blog reports done.
Checked out of the Camlin around 11:30 and were back to the house soon after. I got the shopping list ready for a store run while Pam lounged and read her book.
The meal tonight:
BBQ’d lamb, pork ribs, tri-tip, Italian sausages
Green Salad
Cole slaw
Pam’s famous Potato Salad (which she made while I napped)
One bottle of white wine
One bottle of rose wine
Two bottles of red wine
And the guests:
Uncle Markie
Pam
Wonderful
Swanda
Jonathan
Adam
Pam and the gay boys — sounds like a rock-a-billy band.
Food remaining? one small piece of lamb, and one small piece of tri-tip. The rest was hoovered clean. You can always count on Jonathan for helping with that.
Luckily Pam went to bed before the Wii Strip Bowling started.
Nothing like rushing around finishing things up so you can get out the door and get to a meeting on time.
Just as I was leaving Joannie dropped by her computer for a tune-up… in the hospital again.
Meeting ran long, and the office was closed when I went by to check mail… another delay, though I did get lunch downstairs.
Clean the bills and the overdue letter off the desk, keep email up-to-date, get some flank steaks marinating, get the bread going.
Back to the house for a quick nap before BBHa shows up to pick up his printing job, and have a Gin and Tonic. He wasn’t out the door fifteen minutes when Jonathan came by for drinks and dinner — and to bemoan his taking unpaid leave until early November (health related).
A couple of beautiful steaks for dinner — even fired up the grill. A couple of baguettes of rosemary challah (one for tonight and one for Jonathan to take home). A salad. Wine. Good conversation.
First, a recap of yesterday’s events that didn’t get on the blog….
Jonathan not feeling good, running two hours late to pick me up because he was fighting off nausea
His car starts seeping transmission fluid half way to Canada
The beer belly wouldn’t hold the scotch and started dribbling (what is it with leaking fluids!)
But we were on the boat a little after 2pm. Here is a picture from our balcony:
And now for today.
It was a day at sea. Room service continental breakfast in the morning, late breakfast, late lunch, and a martini tasting at 4pm.
At 6pm it was the second installment of the Friends of Dorothy. For those of you who don’t know — it’s a standard event on cruise ships these days — just like the Friends of Bill W. for the AA/NA (Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous). Friends of Dorothy is for all the gay and lesbian travellers — though on this ship the attendees tend to be all gay men (though I’ve seen a couple of couples that I thought were lesbians).
Tonight was “Formal If You Feel Like It” night so Jonathan and I dressed up for dinner in the Seven Seas restaurant for lobster tails, beef wellington, and nice Carmenare from Argentina.
It was an early to bed evening for me, even with the double espresso with Cointreau after dinner. No post midnight room service for us tonight (like very early this morning).
Talk about a late morning…. I was out of bed at 10:30, Jonathan at 11! Just enough time to get to the Friends of Dorothy lunch at the Seven Seas which got 10 of the guys to show up at. Not bad. I’m figuring the gay men on board at something like 20+.
After breakfast – oh, I mean lunch – I stopped by the reservations desk to book Le Bistro, the French restaurant with the reasonable up-charge, for tonight and the steak place for our final night.
Here is where we were at 2:30 this afternoon:
A lazy afternoon of reading before the standard 6pm Havana Club rendezvous. It isn’t even in the printed schedule for today, but we passed the word around. Getting to be a habit to start the cocktail hour then.
On the way to dinner we ran into our favorite photo lady – and she got us to pose for her in some “fun” and “daring” shots — much to the amusement of many other couples in the lobby. Can’t wait to see how those turn out!
Dinner tonight was back at Le Bistro – which was good as always – I know this restaurant was on the Pride of America on the Hawaii route, and I believe that it was on the Pearl that Swanda and I were on last December.
After dinner I’m dead in the cabin and Jonathan is off helping the boys with internet access, then off to the White Party – I’m just hoping he brings me a twink for dessert.
Up at 10. So much for my plan of cheap Bloody Mary’s in the cabin followed by a morning Rosh Hashanah service with Rabbi Heyman. But what the hell, the sun is out.
It was more like up at ten, eat at 10:30, lounge around in the sun until 1:30, eat again, go back to the cabin for a nap, read some more, shower, dress for cocktails with the boys (Friends of Dorothy), go see the crew show at 7:30 and watch them “water” themselves in the production of “fountains” that I’ve seen on every NCL ship, go to the Steak House at 9pm for our final dinner and stay up until midnight to watch is go under the Golden Gate Bridge.
The original schedule for the boat was that we would see that about 6am in the fog, but wait – there is another medical emergency so all four engines are cranking us along at about 25-27mph to get use there by midnight. This will be medical emergency two on the ship – the first one delayed our departure from Vancouver Harbor while the tender boat removed an old woman on a stretcher… you will find a picture of that in the scroller bar from a couple of days ago.
Interesting side note: got a text message from United… I’ve been upgraded to first class for my flight back to Seattle tomorrow. Jonathan traded me a couple of his minutes on the ships wi-fi signal for a glass of Asti – his birthday drink for some reason – I’m nicely booked into seat 1C.
Also in a couple of days you will see photos and video from the fountains show… which they keep calling a “world premiere” but I’ve seen it three times now.
Dinner after the show in the Steak House, but both Jonathan and I are so exhausted that we don’t make a very good stab at dinner.
At midnight we are out of the front deck for the view as we go under the Golden Gate Bridge — again, more pictures, but once I’m home and can upload them.
A very late night for us since we hadn’t packed yet before heading up see the bridge. Gonna be a rough morning for us.
;)
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