During our trip home we were both shocked at the numbers of people coughing. On our last tour bus we were surrounded by hacking and coughing. At least one woman wasn’t even bothering to cover her mouth. On the plane there was more coughing.
I have had a runny nose and slight headache ever since we got home Monday. Yesterday it blossomed into a full-blown cold. Why am I not surprised?
For the last year I have been keeping every piece of e-mail I received. In total I got 37,122 e-mails between 1.1.2002 and 12.31.2002. Thirty-seven thousand, one-hundred and twenty-two.
Of this total 11,553 were e-mails that I wanted to read. The remaining 25,569 were what I consider to spam. E-mails that were sent to me from people unknown to me that I didn’t want to get. Porn, drugs, credit, mortgages, and various other come ons.
This gives me a signal-to-noise ratio of 45.18%. For each e-mail that I wanted to get I got slightly over 2 that were spam. And the pundits predict that spam is still on the increase. Maybe as much as three times as many spams in just a year or two.
Just for grins, my contribution to the noise level was a mere 370 e-mails sent.
Michele and I are finally home from our 10 day Hawaii Cruise Adventure. We had a fantastic vacation. Being able to spend hour after hour with my Love, uninterrupted phones, computers, TVs, etc., was wonderful. We connected at a very deep and real level.
Parts of the actual trip were less than what we had hoped for. Norwegian has changed their approach to cruising to a relaxed style they call “Freestyle Cruising.” Basically this means a budget minded approach to everything, including the food.
Combined with equipment failures that forced the cancellation of the Maui stop altogether, this new style of cruising was not popular with any of the other passengers we talked with while on board. We will not be cruising with Norwegian again.
The flight ordeal to get home has left me fuzzy headed and dopey. I’ll write more once I figure out who I am and what time it is… lets see 2:10 pm here is only 10:10 am there, but I’ve been up since 6 am yesterday their time so it’s really much too long since I’ve slept.
Michele and I are immensely enjoying our Christmas time cruise to Hawaii and the Pacific. The day of travel Friday to get here was very long, but went as smoothly as one might expect. Flying from Springfield was a HUGE improvement over flying from St. Louis. We cleared baggage checkin in 10 minutes flat, and security took only a few more moments. Ha! This more than wiped out last year’s 3 hour marathon at the St. Louis terminal. The plane ride to Honolulu was long. Very long. Very, very long. Longer even. By the time we reached our room we were both exhausted. Room service and bed were all we accomplished that evening.
Saturday we rented a Jeep of all things and drove ourselves around Oahu exploring. The north shore is incredible with its lava outcroppings and huge surf. Sunday dawned and we returned our Jeep and waited for the bus transfer to the Norwegian Star.
The transfer was smoother than we expected but not without difficulties. It took about 90 minutes to complete the bus ride and check in process. The last leg of the process was being led to our cabin. Even though we told the crew member that our cabin was on the port side of the ship, he insisted on leading us down half the length of the Star on the starboard side. Once at the aft end of the ship (and seemingly close to California after all the walking) he admitted he was new to the ship and didn’t rightly know where our cabin was.
Our stress was compounded when we tried to find something to eat. The only food service open was outside by the pool, complete with hundreds of people, screaming children and a live band. Finding a crew member who could understand us was next to impossible. Our cabin A/C wasn’t working either, so our room was hot and stuffy. Eventually we were able to get a maintenance man to come and fiddle with it. After an Italian dinner we thought the cabin was a little cooler.
On Monday we sat and talked about the stress of the travel and being tired. In a complete reversal from Sunday we had a fabulous day. As most of the passengers were ashore in Hilo we had large spaces of the ship to ourselves and we enjoyed every minute of it. In the afternoon we attended an art auction and added 6 new pieces to our collection. The collection now stands at 6 pieces. We were able to get 3 Thomas Kinkades for a fraction of gallery prices. Also a Winnie-ther-Pooh cell from Disney, and a Chen of Yosimite. The last one was a free lithograph that we both love. It was exciting and felt very adult to get art at auction.
Today we are at sea on our way to Fanning Island. It is about 1100 miles south of Oahu! Almost to the equator. We are spending a quiet day in our cabin. Later we have Michele’s birthday dinner set for Le Bristo, the onboard French restaurant.
We are having a wonderful trip. Merry Christmas to all.
For years when I have traveled I have treated the whole experience as something to be done as efficiently and quickly as possible. If I were taking a week off I would arrange my flights in the evening so I could work a full day before going. Then I would return at the last minute, often getting home scant hours before having to return to work. My memory is filled with having to run pell-mell through airports to make connecting flights, and I also remember the stress and upset my tight schedule caused. My focus was always on the physical vacation more than the emotional one.
My wife has a much different approach to vacations and travel. She sets things up so that there is time before and after the trip to relax and enjoy just being off. On travel days there isn’t anything else planned so that all energy can be used for the trauma that is modern airplane travel. Her focus is on the emotional vacation more than on the physical one.
In my paradigm emphasis was given to the physical details in a way that made the vacation as stressful emotionally as working. Sure I was gone from work for a period of time but I never got an emotional or spiritual vacation.
Michele’s paradigm focused on the emotional and spiritual release and rest a true vacation provides. Minimizing the importance of travel or schedules, her style of vacation actually refreshes and rejuvenates.
We are less than a day away from leaving for 9 days in Hawaii, and the start of 17 days off for me. The past week or two I have started to become more focused on the physical preparations and less focused on the emotional and spiritual side of our trip. This morning I suggested a 3-hour round trip to buy additional luggage so we’d have a complete matching set to take. My focus was entirely on the physical detail of the luggage and not at all on the more important emotional cost that would entail.
To my credit I realized what I was suggesting and backed away from making that the goal of the day. Instead I am now working on making relaxing and enjoying the fruits of our preparations. I want to sit back and let my excitement at having a wonderful holiday cruise come to the fore, I want to let go of the need for schedules and stress and deadlines.
I am going to let myself have, maybe for the first time in my life, a true emotional, spiritual, and physical vacation.
Aloha!
Yesterday, Michele and I went to see this movie by Michael Moore. You may or may not remember him from the movie “Roger and Me” about the gutting of Flint Michigan by General Motors; or from his television show called “The Awful Truth.”
His documentaries have a decided viewpoint and agenda, and, whether you agree with his stance or not, they are compelling, provocative films.
In ‘Bowling" he tackles the thorny problem of guns and violence in America. This movie should be required watching in every high school and home across America. Whether you agree with his viewpoint or not, you need to see a different viewpoint than the one mainstream-corporate-bottom-dollar America wants you to see.
In Canada, a country with 30 million people, 10 million homes, and at least 7 million guns, there were less than 300 gun-related deaths last year. In this country we had over 11,000. The difference? Their news isn’t creating a climate of fear. America is living scared and in fear, and we are paying the penalty daily. The news is filled with death and mayhem. The gun, alarm, and home safety corporations don’t want you to feel safe because they can’t make money if you aren’t terrified.
Take a couple of hours and go see “Bowling for Columbine.” Think about where this country is headed and ask yourself if you want to live in the most fearful country on the planet.
I sure don’t.
I had a bit of shopping rage today. I needed to run out to the local Best Buy and get a Y-cable and some rechargeable batteries for my MP3 player. The Y-Cable allows two headphones to be plugged in at one time, and the batteries are, well, batteries.
The total purchase price was $23.75. My debt card was declined two times in a row. I was embarrassed in front of half a dozen people. It felt like the whole store was watching even though I knew better. I shame-faced made my way out of the store and back to my car. I decided to go to the nearest teller machine and double check my balance. I had well over 10,000 available to me. Since the teller machine was at my bank I went into find out the reason why my 23-dollar purchase was declined when I had thousands in the bank.
I am afraid that I took my frustration out on the first person I spoke with; he was very understanding but couldn’t provide any definitive answers why an account with so much available cash in it would be declined. He asked about my daily limit, as it would be in effect from Friday afternoon until Monday. Ours is set to $2000, and I knew we hadn’t spent anywhere near that amount.
Eventually the account representative came out and reviewed the transaction log for my card. She could see the $100 in cash I had just gotten from the teller machine, and she could also see the two-transaction attempts from Best Buy. Both had been approved and then immediately reversed. She said this was indicative of Best Buy’s system being down.
You’d think that there would be some way to inform the clerk what the denial reason was so the shopper wouldn’t have to be embarrassed by a flat refusal. I don’t know if a credit attempt would have worked; maybe that server would have been active.
Because there isn’t a human I can really lay this at the feet of I am left holding my anger and upset. I could vent it at the store, the clerk, or the bank; but none of them are really to blame. Instead, it’s the system that is at fault. We want to spend money immediately, with security and confidence. This means that when the lines of communication are down the systems errors on the side of safety and declines the purchase. I know that this is for my protection but I don’t like it when I run afoul of these kinds of arbitrary boundaries. I hate it when the worst-case scenario runs my life; I don’t like the lack of control.
So my shopping rage left me high with anger and helplessness. I had no place to express my emotion at this situation. Some would argue that I shouldn’t get upset in the first place, or that I should just not let it bother me. My belief is that keeping this kind of upset inside; that not acknowledging it; leads to disease and illness. I’d rather have it and express it and remove the toxicity of it from inside of me.
In the end I went to two other stores without finding my items. I had to return to Best Buy and get the items there. I avoided the same line even though it was the shortest available. I wasn’t sure I could keep a civil tongue to the clerk. Since I don’t do well eating when I have unexpressed upset I came back to work without getting anything for lunch.
Writing this posting has given me a release about this whole situation. I feel better for having gotten it out in the open this soon after it happened. I think now I could eat without throwing up.
Only 2 days, 1 hour, and 57 minutes until my Hawaii vacation starts. Not that I am counting down or anything…
Yesterday I ordered some roses for my wife’s birthday. Her favorite rose is called “Sterling”, which is the original lavender colored rose. They are rare and hard to come by these days, as there are other lavender color roses now.
The first shop made a huge deal out of the trouble it would be to get them and compounded their attitude by making a big deal out of where we lived and how much extra it would cost to deliver them. I canceled the order and hung up.
The second shop was much friendlier and helpful. They could get the Sterling roses, but they wouldn’t be ready for delivery until Monday and I was hoping for Friday at the latest. The clerk talked me into a breed called “Strange” which has a marbled appearance, mixing white and lavender together. Following her suggestions we put together what sounded like a beautiful bouquet.
Overnight I was very excited and had trouble keeping the surprise to myself. This morning my excitement to myself when the flower shop called and said the Strange roses they had were of poor quality and wouldn’t last more than a day or two. They wanted to switch to Blue Birds, another lavender breed.
I was upset and took my upset out on the clerk. After a few minutes I decided to call her back and apologize. My upset was due to work related events and not due to the flower situation at all. Once I made my apology, the clerk’s tone brightened immediately and I was able to verify the rest of my arraignments with her.
By making a simple choice to stand up and take responsibility for my earlier action, by admitting that I had been wrong to take my upset out on her, I was able to brighten her day and mine as well. I felt much better about myself for owning what I had done. And now the flowers will be more pleasing to me as they won’t represent my earlier anger.
Personal responsibility is easy to talk about and difficult to live. I didn’t want to make the call this morning and admit my shortcomings to a stranger, but I knew I wouldn’t be happy with myself until I righted my wrong.
My wife and I are taking a trip to Hawaii later this month. This will be my first trip there and her second. We are taking a 7-day cruise through the islands to celebrate her birthday, our 5th wedding anniversary, and Christmas.
Originally I was only going to take off 6 days plus Christmas for a total of 7 days vacation. However, since we get back on the 30th, I decided to take 2 more days off and return to work after the New Year. Then Michele asked why I wasn’t taking that Thursday and Friday off as well. I have struggled with a good reason for working those days for some time now, and have decided to take them off too. So in the end I am going to be off 9 working days and 2 holidays for a total of 11 days vacation.
This is only the 4th time in 20 years I have taken this many days off. All the rest of my vacations have been less than 2 weeks long. It just seems sad somehow that in 20 years time I’ve only had 4 really extravagant vacations in terms of time. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some wonderful trips and vacations, I just haven’t let myself take any really long vacations.
Here, then, are the four 2-week vacations I’ve had since 1983:
October 1986: Two-week drive to, and through, Western Canada, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.
August 1989: Two-week Windjammer Cruise in the Caribbean
June 1994: Two-week motorcycle tour of the Alps (Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland)
December 2002: Two-week trip to Hawaii
Now that I understand that taking the least amount of time off possible to accomplish the particular vacation is really a form of self-punishment, I am working hard to give myself extra time off before and after trips. Returning home from a trip late on Sunday night and going into work first thing Monday morning taints the whole experience in a negative way. I used to think I was being good by showing such dedication.
Now I have changed my perspective on time off; time off is a reward and as such should be treated in a positive manner. Our Hawaii trip is a case in point. We deliberately added two days before hand so we’d have time to recover from the flight before having to board the ship. And I am taking 4 days off after the trip to just be lazy at home. We’ve set up every detail that we can control to be as relaxed and simple as possible. Instead of being a forced march with rigid timelines and agendas, our trip is going to be relaxed and carefree.
Only 10 days to go…
Michele and I had a perfectly wonderful weekend. On Saturday we drove up to Normal and visited my brother and his family for an early Christmas. Since we won’t be in town for the actual day we decided to meet and share our present early. On the way we stopped at the only Vietnamese restaurant in central Illinois for a bowl of beef noodle soup. Our lunch was fantastic, and our time together with my brother’s family was relaxed and very enjoyable.
On Sunday we were lazy in the morning and then decided to have lunch out at Lone Star. Afterwards we went to see ‘Analyze That’ for a treat. The movie was great, even better than the first. The theater wasn’t crowded and the people who were there were quiet.
After we got home I brought in the Christmas tree box and set the tree up in the corner. We then spent some time decorating the tree and mantle with our Santa ornaments and lights. The room is very Christmassy and beautiful now. We celebrated by relaxing on the couch with a cold glass of eggnog and “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the DVD player.
For dinner we ate leftover beef stew, which was delicious and easy. We rounded out the day by going out for ice cream and then driving around looking at Christmas lights in town.
A very special, joyous weekend spent with family and getting into the Christmas spirit.