UMTravels

Last night wrap-up. 2-for-1 Martinis at Moderno Dinner at La Cucina (upcharge $10, Italian), met a nice young retired couple who gave us the rest of their wine – and wanted to give tiramisu as well, but no room for that Duty Free shopping – Hendricks Gin for $14.88 a bottle (50% off, so I […]

FOD update: moved the time to 5pm – and to a bar with no music – but a trivia contest that started 15 minutes after we arrived. WHAT are these people thinking – tomorrow it’s in the same place, but at 7:45pm and FAMILY KAROKE starts at 8-m. Really, they just need to hold the […]

I can’t remember the last time I went to a show that started at 11pm… and there is a reason why. You feel like poo if you have to get up early the next morning. That said – the Second City Comedy Troup’s show was short (45 minutes) but good. Mostly improv work with a […]

Stopped in to the FOD (Friends of Dorothy) for a few minutes before dinner. I think the boys are still trying to figure out our threesome. Dinner last night – back to the Tasting Restaurant — same menu as Manhattan – but with salt/pepper grinders… we might be converted. And they (Manhattans) threw a pair […]

Due to who we (not the usual Royal We, but Dan and myself) can get on the sloooow interent connection here at sea, most posts will end up being half yesterday, half today. YESTERDAY LATE: Lovely dinner in the Manhattan Club – which is the regular dining room that you must wear pants (as opposed […]

Breakfast and out of the house by 10 this morning – destination – The Epic, Norwegian Cruise Lines latest chip featuring the Blue Man Group and Comedy from Second City. So, what this means for the blog is very sporadic postings until October 2nd when we dock back in Miami and I can post all […]

I felt guilty getting up at 8:30am … turns out Dan had just gotten up, and Lisa was on the couch for a couple of hours, and the grandparents wouldn’t get up until 10am. Wow, not my parent’s (or my grandparents in the past) house. Beef Hash from Trader Joes (from Brazil) and an egg […]

Ah, the tropical heat of Miami – didn’t miss it, still don’t. Plane landed on time – and by 8am I’d had a quick breakfast and was looking for someplace quiet to hang for a couple of hours until Dan and Lisa arrive from Tampa (driving). The answer – across from the post office (I […]

This was my ride up on the vertical deck last night for the full moon. If I had more photographic ability I could have gotten all the backlit clouds, it’s like trying to photograph a sunset. The eyes are much better. Today is all about last minute errands… 4G/3G coverage experiment with Jill, liquor store […]

Sounds like a repeat of yesterday, just new people at dinner. Today I finished the stairs, now just have to decide if I want a railing … Items remaining … built in bench seating with will be more stable. More work to be done. Dinner tonight with the boyz – Swanda and Dancing Bear. A […]

Today was back to working on the deck extension… need stairs to get up to the lift platform. By the end of the day, here is what I got done: Then it was off to dinner with the girlz – Darcie, Jeanne and Jill. Much talk about how to maximize the WorldMark points that Jeanne […]

There are great shots of the car filled with lumber, but I’d like to show this shot instead. This is my kitchen filled to overflowing with friends. If this is my day, I’m happy. My kitchen doesn’t really seat seven – but it worked. Other than I’m looking like Santa. Thank god the lift is […]

Getting closer. This was the dinner I prepared, but someone slept through. It’s all good – I pigged out. [227.4]

Checked out of the condo at noon and dropped date off at Safeway – where he works. Swung through the outlet malls with coupons in hand and couldn’t find anything that made me want to pull out my wallet… this is probably a good thing. I took my time heading back to Olympia – stopping […]

Conference call this morning at 9:30… good news is that it looks like it will be some work in the October timeframe – some nice billable hours (before I leave for Thailand). The call ran a bit long (more billable hours) so I didn’t get out of the house until about 10:30 for the drive […]

Funny how an entire day can slip away from you once you start running errands and what not. The only news of the day (other than boring errands) was dinner with Dancing Bear before he checked into the hospital for a sleep apnea study. My guess is that he is about to join the CPAP […]

Picked up the rental car a little after ten and headed in the direction of Sooke Harbour. First stop… a Salvation Army… and a strike out. Next stop… Potholes Regional Park – they are actually talking about geological formations, though the condition of the road matches as well. Looks like it would be really nice […]

I should really look at my tickets – I could have sworn it was a 7:00am departure… luckily it wasn’t 6:30, but 7:30. So I was early. More importantly I could have slept another half hour. TOTALLY FULL boat to Victoria – I’ve never seen that. They must be loving it. Got in and through […]

The day started off with a flour delivery. Nothing like splitting 50# of flour. Apparently $8 gets me 25# of bread flour. Wow. You know, 3.5 inches isn’t much, unless it’s in the wrong direction. Two things I discovered today. The deck of the dining platform is 3.5 inches too high, and I got the […]

I’m making a little more progress on the deck structure – starting to put up some of the side bamboo: But got interrupted by the call of the Dindons… Dindon’s Winery that is: Had a nice afternoon wine tasting before heading to Ezells to pick up some chicken for dinner. Haven’t been there in years, […]