Things that cross my mind this week:


We interrupt this bloggy post to provide a linky to another bloggy post, this time from the brand ambassador John Heald  It is his thoughts about the cruise ship crash.


We now resume your regularly scheduled bloggy post.  We hope you enjoyed the diversion.


Neighbors
snow plows
evolution of friends
spring
motorcycle rides and rallies
coffee makers

If you're my FB friend, you probably saw that first pic.  It's the pot of petunias that Val's mom gave to her last spring.  Mid November I brought it inside to see if it'd last/live thru the winter.  And so far it has.  It's been blooming all month, but it doesn't really look right...looks like the leaves are dusty.  I mist it occasionally, don't know if it helps or not.  We bought some of those watering bulbs at Menard's, $2 with a $2 rebate so the were free except for tax and a stamp and an envelope.  I've found that if you jam it into the dirt so that the dirt sort of plugs the hole, it will last several days.  If the hole is well developed, the water drips out pretty fast.  "jury is still out"


Middle pic?  Some bulbs that I planted to force.  I brought this pot out mid Jan, which is when I took the pic.  Today, the plants are mostly 6-7" tall and quite recognizable as to variety.  Well, maybe not variety, but a clever green thumb will know what plant they are.  IE tulip hyacinth daffyodil crocus amaryllis.


3rd pic?  Obviously it is the cat with a ball o yarn, taking a break from attempting to kill it.  He must have killed it and ate it too, we can't find it.


Motorcycle rallies.  Just got word on when the rally is in LaCrosse this year, MidJuly.  (Midwest Motorcycle Rally)  This is nice, since it does not interfere with our regional ride or Jerry's ride or the Ia rally.  (Across the Border Raid)  Also considering Hawgstock, but dunno.  Of course, I've heard the Davis Rally is also very nice...and it's close too.


Snow plows.  Seriously, people.  Respect the plow.  A friend posted on FB that she didn't know that snowplows didn't have to stop for stop signs.  Well, of course they do,but often it's easier if they don't.  Inertia, newton's law, gravity, that sort of thing.  Also....move your car so they can plow the entire street.  Do I need to say why?  Ok, just in case.....here's why.  When the street is free of cars, the plow can do a much better job....w/o having to swerve around cars, worry about smashing one, etc.  It is by better to have your street plowed once and be done with it than for them to keep coming back as the cars are moved out of the way.  It will save you money, too...by saving fuel and wages, they can keep the snowplow budget lower...fewer trips with the truck...etc.  You can imagine how much money you'll save.  


Friend evolution.  This one is interesting, I think.  A few years ago I had a bunch of friends that were married but had no kids.  Just like us.  But, unlike us, they felt the need to reproduce, and created some children.  Before kids,  we could go for coffee, have a beer, have a party, go out for lunch, a Pampered Chef party thingy, etc/so on, with no trouble at all.  Soon as a kid arrived...well...you know how things change.  Suddenly there's no time, no money, no clean clothes, no sitter, sitter didn't show up, weird stains on the sleeves, no money!  It's by far easier to make friends with people that already have kids than to stay friends with people that make kids during the friendship.  


Friend evolution.  Friends change jobs, and friendships evolve or dissolve.  Of course, they all say "we'll keep in touch!", but do they?  Usually not!  This is when you find out who your friends are and who is not really a friend.  I had a job for 3 months in 1999/2000 and still think fondly of some of those people.  Saw one in a restaurant couple months ago and talked with him for a while.  But to stop down there at the shop and talk?  Not going to happen.  I could stop in at the Printer shop where I worked for a spell, and I should.  No one that has left the bus barn has ever come back to see me as my friend.  For some reason, not too many people seem to like me there.  (I think I'm misunderstood.)  Oh, sure, there are some good smart people there, but....


Friend evolution.  Kids grow up.  Thank god or AlGore, one of them is responsible, but I'm not sure which one.  People that used to be busy all the time and broke all the time are a little more available but are still broke, due to the kids insatiable needs for phones, eye pods, ear pads, textings, fancy clothes, expensive lessons for this that or the other...cars, sports, etc.  No such thing as a $300 car any more.  Gotta add another 0 on the end just to get started.


Friend evolution...sometimes a guy meets a girl that has a couple kids.  Instant family.  Kinda interesting.  The folks I'm thinking of have been together for about a year and a half.  They seem to be quite happy, I wish them well.  

A word on cruising and Happy Friday...


A friend wrote a bloggy thing about cruising, and I agree with it.  She says it as better or good as I could possibly write it.  Yes, that was intentional.  Here it is:  http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fthereandbackagainblog.com%2F2012%2F01%2Fi-will-not-hesitate-cruise-agai%2F&h=JAQEuDd6o Hope it works. 


Basically it says:  yes it's a bad deal that the ship ran into some rocks and sorta sank, killing some people.  But cruising is one of the safest modes of international travel, so I won't hesitate to go again.  


Like my FB status said yesterday, saw some really goofy people yesterday.  Women, of course.  I think I've commented on this before...but why do people hold their phone with their left hand to their right ear?  So clumsy!  And why would this woman try to push her snow shovel with her right hand?  Must have been an important call!
And then I saw a woman at the gas station that swept her back window clear, then went to the passenger side of the car, swept the roof clean, then re-swept the back window, then cleared the other half of the roof, then re-cleaned the back window AGAIN!  HEY LADY...CAUSE AND EFFECT???  Oh well...at least she cleared it...but why didn't she do it before driving to the gas station?


Yeah, it's now Saturday and I still have not posted this bloggy.  sorry.  Computer was acting up and had to restart.  


Cold enough for you?  You bet.  National Hug Day, that ought to warm you up. Winter is exactly one third over...

Carnival Legend December 2011 Roatan Honduras Mahogany Bay Tabyana Beach


We get into Honduras pretty early, and leave early too...like about 2pm, which sucks.  They should change things around so that we're in Grand Caymen for 20 minutes, which is enough to see that it's a load of bollocks and stay in Honduras all day, since they have the best beach ever.  I'm not referring to Carnival's Mahogany Bay, either.  I've never been there...I'm referring to Tabyana Beach.  It's a long bus ride there now, since they've built the new pier, but it's very scenic.  We saw the hospital, some junk cars, trees, run down houses, mansions, a light house, some resorts, and a lot of pot holes.

You can see that this is one of the best weather days that we've had, clear and sunny, hot and humid.  This is a beautiful beach, fantastic snorkeling, truly  a wonderful place.  We stayed a couple hours, drank the free beverages...iced tea, lemonade and water.  It was sweet tea, blech.  It was lemonade with vanilla added...interesting.  And the water was added to what was already in the cup, so that was odd, too.  Not their fault, my choice.  We went back to the port/pier and wandered around the crap for sale.  When we were here 4 years ago, it was all in stalls up and down the street, now it's like a mall.  I bought some coffee, and looked at the carved wood stuff, but we already have a pineapple from there.

Here's a couple shirts available for sale.  


Friday.  Formal night, we went to dinner, went to a show or something, and I found myself alone.  So I found some trouble/mischief.  We took a bottle of wine, that we had picked up in WI a couple years ago, poured it in the cabin and took it to dinner.  I was waiting in the lounge area for the comic when the asst cruise director and some other dude came in and wanted to know who wanted a free caricature.  The other pic is of Jerry with a girl that was trotting around with the wagon promoting the $30 pp steak house.  We didn't partake in that, we can cook a damn steak at home.  And the escargot/snails.

It's little things like this that I enjoy.  I don't remember what I did after this, probably went up to Billie's piano bar, she sang/played several good songs, such as Stairway to Heaven.  

Whoops, I chose a blurry pic.  Oh well, you get the point.  Actually, this might be the final night, Saturday.  I might have gone to bed after the picture drawing.  don't know....and you don't either!  HA.

Couple years ago, I went down to the corner store to buy a box of rubbers.  Not having purchased rubbers in quite a few years I was amazed by the selection.  Size, colour, options, conveniences, cost, materials.  


I asked a sales girl for advice and recommendations.  She snorted with derision and disdain:  "I don't use rubbers", she announced, then flounced away.  She was long gone before I could ask her what she did use for protection.  Damn the luck.


Finally, I chose a box, made the purchase, went home.  Soon an opportunity to use the rubbers arose, and I got out the box, only to discover that I had bought the wrong size; they were too small.  I put them on the shelf, thinking I'd find the receipt and return them...but I could never find the receipt.  So then the trouble really set in:  what do I do with rubbers that are too small?  Give them away?  Donate them?  Who would I give them to?  It's not like you can tell just by looking at a guy.  So there they languished, sad and alone, dusty on the shelf.  


The years pass, and the house gets crowded.  I finally get tired of looking at that box of rubbers that I can't use and decide to dispose of them, once and for all.  They go into the pile of crap to donate to Salvation Army, I choose the SA because they're just down the street and they take a lot of crap.  


Just before making the trip, I take one more look at them, I open the box and realize that I've been wrong the entire time...the rubbers are the right size.  So last night, I've got opportunity to use the rubbers, I open the package and slip one on.  You read that right, it slipped right on....all this time I thought they were too small but really.......they're too big!


Using rubbers that are too big is dangerous.  Stuff can get in that you don't want in there, stuff can get out, you can lose one when you least expect it, leaving you without protection when you need it the most!  A rubber that is a little too small, if you can get it on, anyway, will at the very least offer supreme protection until it breaks, which it will, eventually.  Usually with a great big tear after leaking for a while.  Right now you must be wondering how long a guy like me wears rubbers...and I'll tell you that I wear them the whole time.


So anyway, back to last night.  I slipped on my new/old rubbers because I needed the protection.  I got into position, and got busy.  No, I did not make an announcement at the time that my rubbers were too big.


Sure enough, wasn't long before I could feel it...foreign substance leaking into my rubber.  A guy's foot gets cold fast when his rubbers fill with snow.

Carnival Legend, December 2011 Thursday...Belize


OK, since it's been about a month since we went on this trip, it's getting fuzzy and I don't remember all the fine details.  Oh, sure, I could make them up, but do you really want to know which brand of underwear I wore on which day?  Bottom line, (HA) is they are white (mostly) and I didn't wear any when we got off the ship on Thursday morning.  


I wore my swimming suit.  Why do people call them bathing suits?  Why do people say that they're giving their car a bath????It is clearly a shower.


Right.  We started the day by eating breakfast, of course.  Yep, same stuff, same dining room, same menu, same old boring things.  Belize does not have a pier for the ship to dock, so everyone going ashore has to ride a tender boat.  Lots of excursions pick up at the ship, so we can skip going to the mainland, which is good since if you go to Belize, then you can't give blood for a year.  Here's the procedure.  Go to the theater with all of your crap and esp tickets, they will tell you where to sit, and will probably give you a sticker to put on your shirt.  It's amazing how long some of these people wear their damn sticker.  We got there a little later than they told us to get there, and we still waited a long time past when we expected to leave.  Must be quite a challenge scheduling all those tender and excursion boats.  Since ours was a Carnival sponsored event, we got to go sooner rather than later, actually, as they really make some of the private tours wait.


They call our number, we shuffle out and follow someone down some stairs to the door in the side of the ship.  There is a largish catamaran tied up, so we get on.  We head up toward the front, Val's favorite thing to do is ride right in the very front with the wind in her face, her tongue hanging out, panting.  Wait, that was the dog.  No, Val really does like to ride in the front like that.  She did it in Antigua a couple years ago and she did it in Hawaii last year.  Sadly, this boat was too big for that, didn't have that area.  So we ride out to the reef, they yack at us for a while, they pass out snorkel vests, say we have to wear them.  Ok, whatever.  Make sure you get that wedgie strap tight, or else it will ride up and knock your mask off, choke you, etc.  What's a wedgie among friends?  I've got my flippers smeared with sunscreen, got some salve under my nose so the mask will seal, my camera in my pocket, I head for the back of the boat when it's time.  Into the water, check the camera.  Leaking.  Damn...no backup water camera.  Put it back onto the boat, round up my snorkel buddy and we head for the reef.  The fish and reef and coral are all very very nice.  The water is kinda rough and cool and salty, the waves strong, the sun hiding, the clouds thick, we have a nice time.  I had to keep tightening my wedgie strap to keep pulling that damn thing back down, it really was choking me.  I didn't need it at all for flotation, remember, I'm shaped like a whale.  I think they make everyone wear them for a couple reasons.  Liability, and a handle.  If they have to help you out of the water...they have a handy helpful handle.  Wouldn't be too comfortable!  Finally my buddy says it's time to get back on, so we head back.  She gets up close to the boat and takes off her flippers, immediately starts to drift away.  I can see her start to panic, so I go to rescue her.  I had gone to the ladder and was clinging there, waiting my turn.  So I rescue my snorkel buddy, she climbs up the ladder and is gone.  I pull off my flippers and haul my self out, ask if anyone found a green camera.  What do you know about that!  Zuzu's petals! No, really.  They had it on a hook and gave it back.  We haul our crap back to the front, I get my glasses, my hat and some rum punch.  


Rum punch is awesome.


Now that snorkel time is over, the rum punch is flowing freely.  I don't know what it is about being in salt water, but it makes me have to pee....a lot.  so I drank a lot of rum punch to make up for it.  Our boat went to an island, really, it's a sand bar in the middle of the ocean.


I'm a little pissed off about this first pic.  It's not focused, the entire tree is not in the pic, etc, so on, so forth.  Come on...it's really not that hard!

See?  clouds.  and wind.  See the shells? Best shell picking I've ever seen.  

My camera did indeed die, but someone posted pics, so I copied them.  Pretty good, too.  So, anyway, back on the Belize Glory and more rum punch.  I don't know how many I drank...6?  8?  Many.  I was thirsty!  I hadn't had lunch!  So when we got back to the ship and after I nearly carried the drunk lady up the stairs and thru security...we went directly up to Lido for lunch.  The rum punch kept sneaking up on me, holy hell, it was good stuff.  A guy walked by that I knew from the cruise critic meet and greet, I asked him about the SD card getting wet, he was nice enough to put it into his camera to see if it'd work.  And it did, so that made me happy.  Not as happy as the rum punch was making me, however.  Maybe I drank them too fast.  Good thing I didn't have one more.  We had lunch, went to our room, took a nap, shower, shave, get dressed for dinner.  

Oysters Rockefeller, pretty good.  Apparently dinner was uneventful.  For desert, Val had the peach soup, which is excellent, and bitter N blanc, which is also excellent.

We really enjoyed a couple of the comic guys...one guy started by asking the audience if anyone had ever lost their license...that was pretty funnny, and then went on to tell about how he does a public service by knocking those that deserve it into the ditch.  So if you ever hear or see me say or write something about being in the ditch, or knocking someone into the ditch, that they should be....this is what the reference is.  Trust me, you would have laughed off your ass if you'd been there.

Here in bloggy land, there's buttons for stats.  Occasionally I click it to see what's going on there.  It shows things like page views, and traffic sources.  The below is copied from one of the traffic sources, I hope you enjoy reading it.  In fact, I wish you luck in reading it.  Linky included, just for fun.


http://aromatherapycourse.blogspot.com/

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Well, friends...it was inevitable.  It was bound to happen.  It happens to everyone, so I've heard.  I guess I'm lucky; I've driven a bus for 9 years...and finally, my luck ran out. I'm picking up little kids; one is crying.  I ask:  "are you ok?"  Someone says that she's puking.  I pull over, take the trash can back along with some tissues...she's a mess.  I call the office:  can you ask someone to meet the bus, got a sick kid.  YEP, they'll meet you.  Pull into the school, everyone but sicko gets off, where the hell is the nurse person.  Finally I go to the playground person, she says she'll get the kid and take her in.

She enters the bus, there's puke all over.  All over the floor, all over the seat, all over the kid.  There's stuff on her clothes, her coat, her mittens, her packback, the seat, the floor, everywhere!  I can hear the teacher making all the appropriate mouth noises, I can't imagine knowing what to say or how to say it.  Finally here comes the "vice principal" or asst principal, he's got a bucket and gloves!  He's going to clean up the bus!  Wrong!!!  He was coming to get the kid.  He was supposed to be out there 6 minutes ago...some help he is.  So she gets her off the bus, and he makes all the right noises and takes her away.  He doesn't bother talking to me, and since he's my bosses brother, that's all I'm going to say about that.

Speaking of mouth noises...what's the deal with making kissy noises at the dog?  Who thought that one up?  And then how about for the cat???  Val's mom thought she'd call the cat, so she turns on this voice I've never heard before, yells KITTY about 40 times at 1000 decibels in less than 10 seconds.  Ok, the cat, named "George" can hear a mouse fart 2 counties away will run and hide at that onslaught to his ears.  Seriously, he's a cat.  He'll come when he's ready to come...and not before.  Sometimes we trick him with treats, but he's getting wise to that.

So for all these years, I've been driving around feeling smug that none of my kids dared to yack all over my bus.  Never had to clean up after some rude sick kid.  Consequently, I didn't know how to go about cleaning it up.  I pulled into the heated shed and got the hose...kinda made more of a mess.  Of course there could not be any clean rags, luckily I had a towel in the car so I could dry the seats.  All this reminds me of when I was riding the city bus to learn the routes in 2000....someone got on, Dave, the driver I was with kept looking around making this weird face....finally he said "I smell manure!"  I didn't smell it, I didn't even see it...but finally he did...he pulled over, and wiped up some dog shit that someone tracked in.

BTW, I'm pretty sure that the sick kid ate half a pound of raw hamburger for lunch today.

What I need:  a noise that I can make that will entice people to come running to my massage table, they'll throw off all their clothes, jump onto the table and pay me lots of money to give them a massage.  I actually needed this in 2004, but I would accept it now.  If you're going to design one, make sure it only attracts people I like or will like.  Preferably people with very little body hair, no bad body odor, and I don't want anyone with wet toe nail polish.

Yeah, I felt bad for the sick kid, and for all the other kids on that route...I didn't spend much time comforting her, and I kept yelling at the others that kept hollering when a new kid got on:  there's puke!  don't step in it! etc/so on.  But what about me!  I had to clean it up!  And I don't get paid any extra to do it.  Like I said, I pulled into the shed and hosed it...the nozzle was partially broken, took 2 hands to operate.  The hose was dirty, got my clothes and hands really dirty.  I can't even say that I understand how she feels...I only have memories of being sick to the point of puking about 6 times.

First memory was first grade, Miss Benbow (Mrs Volkmar?)'s class.  Felt something weird in my throat,  and out it came, all over a desk and maybe another student, Annie, perhaps??  I remember going to the restroom for some paper towels, but when I got back the janitor was there and said he'd take care of it.

2nd puke memory was 6th grade math class.  Special math class, boys and girls were separated, for the most part.  There were only a couple boys in the girls class, and I was one of the lucky ones.  Didn't really feel right, and blech, all over the book and desk, don't know if any got on the girl in front of me or not.  Mrs McCune was not impressed.  She implied that I knew it was going to happen and should have ran off.  Well, she was wrong.  I had no idea I was going to explode all over that 40 year old book. 

I recall waking up one morning, swallowing like crazy, leaned over the trash can and made a deposit.

2 more times were tequila induced, I think the Maryville event was a near miss, someone alluded to a mess.  Sorry Glen!  The Mexico event was a huge mistake.

Seems like I've been sick once more, here in our little house, but I can't be sure.  I do remember having pain in my sides/guts afterwards from the heaving, I suppose.

FWIW, Val barfs on a regular basis.

Skylar and Duke did too, as did Alison. George only barfs up a hairball the size of a small kitten every couple months...never really makes a mess.

The summer after I bought the 84 Ranger, I noticed that it smelled strongly of barf when it'd sit in the sun with the windows up for any length of time.  That lasted for a few years.  I wonder if that is why they sold it.  Bastards.

Back to the driving around in the bus listening to all the poor suckers with puking kids.  One dingy b_____ offered anyone $20 to clean her bus, she was sure she'd get sick herself if she had to do it.  But by the time the desperate volunteer arrived, Big Cyndye had hosed it out herself.  They do indeed  give us a helpful "body fluid clean up kit"  It consists of some sawdust and a little scraper that you could use to sop up a drop of blood., but not a quart of fluid and pound of raw undigested hamburger.   Of course it was not in such a nice large pretty block, it was in little tiny clumps.

Don't you wish I had my camera along today?  Oh, and if you didn't feel sorry for me before, maybe you will now....my neck and shoulder were causing a great deal of pain PLUS I needed a trip to the restroom.  Afternoon temps were 55, so it was nice to have some windows open to help the floor dry, don't feel to sorry for me....you were probably cooped up in a stale overheated office.  Hey, what should I put into the label box?  I assume that helps this thing to be searched...not that I really care that.

Carnival Legend western Caribbean cruise Dec 2011

So today, we cooked a turkey.  Didn't roast/bake it whole, I cut it into pieces and parts before the baking.  Why?  Too lazy to find a bucket big enough to brine it.  Chopped off the arms, the legs, separated the chest from the back.  Put it all into a big pot and brined it most of a day, then rubbed some oil on the arms, legs and chest and baked it for a while.  put the back and neck into some water and boiled it, will make some stock and will harvest all the bits of meat off the ribs and vertebra.  After dinner, then, we pulled all the meat that we could get off the chest, then put those bones into the pot to boil awhile.  Should make some pretty good soup or maybe turkey & biscuits.  We also have a large container of white and dark meat to gnaw on, make sandwiches, etc.  Feel free to submit your left over turkey ideas.

Wait!  what the hell does that have to do with the cruise?  I'm pretty sure we didn't even eat any turkey on the ship.  So.  Let's see.  Wednesday, Cozumel.  Coz is a Mexican island on the Eastern coast of Mexico. 

I don't know who she is, but she had a nice pose, so I took her pic.

Took a pic of the ships photog and also the 2 "characters" the ship provides for "candid" pics.  Of course, you get yer pic taken with these people, but not with yer own camera.  They want you to buy the pic for $20.  Maybe it's worth it, but for the most part...I don't think so.

I went into town, walked around a while.  Pier is 3 miles or so from the downtown area, didn't walk that far...kinda hot, quite humid, I have to be on a motorcycle at 2.  So I went back to the boat, changed into my jeans, dropped off my good camera, went and found Jerry chatting with a nice girl from NY.

Yeah, she's sideways.  Big deal.

the ride came with lunch, which is odd for 4:00.  come on, we have dinner at 6!  Oh well, it was nice.  The bike was ok, kinda loud, funny though, the exhaust on all these bikes had been put back together with hose clamps and tuna cans.  On mine...it must have been low on oil, because when coming back, the engine didn't sound good at all, and the clutch slipped a lot.  That was fun.  Try to accelerate, the engine would rev way up and pretty soon the rest of it would catch up.  We got back to the pier at 5:30.  Actually, we got back to the parking lot at 5:30, which is when we're supposed to be on the ship.  It's about a half mile to the ship...we made it, but it was aggravating.  They do this 6 days each week, twice a day.  They know how long it takes to go around the island...there is 1 road.  So their tardyness cost their photographer 40/50 bucks, because I think we would have both bought the pics he took, but we didn't have time.  I would have bought a bottle of whiskey or rum to take back on board, but I didn't have time.  Oh well, still had a nice MC ride in Coz in December. 

Look, pier runners!

So I had about 15 minutes to shower and get dressed for dinner.  Val met me in the room, she had taken pics  of us strolling down the pier, so she got out my clothes, helped dry off my back, etc.  No, no rumpy pumpy...so anway, the above pic is smoked duck.  Looks raw, doesn't it?  tasted pretty good.  Oh, right.  Had MDR for breakfast again, same as yesterday.  Lunch was lido buffet, same old crap there too.

Entertainment was the marriage show, which used to be the newlywed and not so newlywed game show.  I don't know if they asked the old guy to be obtuse and difficult...but he was, in a fun sort of way.  Kind of tired tonight, so I didn't stay up too late.  Seems like tomorrow is a busy day...

Carnival Legend Dec 2011 Tuesday Grand Caymen

Crap!  lost my notepad.  I took notes every night of the day's activities so I could remember for this reporting.  Let's see what I remember, and whatever I don't remember, I'll just make up. See if you can tell which is which.

Seems like I was ready before Val, so I went down to the MDR for breakfast.  I believe Jerry was there, maybe Brenda too, not sure.  I ordered Eggs Benedict Arnold, which was quite good.  Seems like Jerry shared his bagel/cream cheese/smoked salmon.  They serve the smoked salmon as 2 rosettes, they include 3 or 4 little pink bicycle tires, (George Carlin reference), 3 red onion rings, and several caper berries.  There was a weird lettuce leaf too...perhaps to insulate the tomatoes from the plate?  To make it pretty?  The gratinize the eggs benedict arnold; I hope that is the right word...anyway, they put it under a broiler thingy to give the hollandaise a little bit of char.  That and coffee makes for a pretty decent breakfast.

Dink around some more, find my wife, ride the tender boat to Grand Caymen.  It was a nice big boat, fast, comfortable.  We had an hour or so before we were to go on our excursion...so we wandered around shopping.  We got back to the pier, and I don't feel like typing out the whole CF, but we didn't go on a shore excursion due to a mixup or 3.  Grand Caymen is very expensive.  they have some locally made beers for $8.  We didn't have any of those, Jerry and I shared a bucket of Miller light and Amstel Light, which they have to get from Denmark or some such place.  5 beers for $22...way more than they are worth.  When we realize we were not going on the excursion, we went back to the ship, had lunch, took a nap, wandered around, etc, so on before dinner.

We went to the past guest party, got some free drinks, and went on to dinner.  I don't remember what I had, but it was good. 

Actually, I think the towel dude was from Monday night.  Dunno if you can see the water on the floor...the shower drain is not working right.  We've complained about this before but they didn't fix it.  I guess when we left a note on top of all the room's towels for the maid...she took care of it and it worked good after this.  Except that they didn't bother to reconnect the sink's stopper to the handle, so I hid it somewhere in the room on our last day.  I wonder if she found it, and just jammed it back in, or if she got it repaired properly. I considered taking it home, taking it to dinner, leaving it on the desert plate, etc.  Each day, I'd take it out of the sink, leave it on the counter so she could see it, each day she'd jam that fucker back in the hole.

MoTown show, comedian, etc for entertainment.  Comic got pretty mean, actually.  Seems like we asked the dude in the piano bar that was playing guitar to do "Aint no Sunshine", which he sort of did.  He made the attempt, anyway.

Yep, kind of a boring bloggy thing, huh?   ohwell.