Joy and I went down to White Lake to get the old Mustang 17 out of storage. I hope she enjoyed her winter hibernation (the boat that is) because we are planning to have a lot of fun with her on Lake Royale when we get back from vacation. The forecast is that the temperature should reach 80F (27C) this weekend. Maybe we’ll have a chance to take her out.
Yahoo! It is almost time for our next vacation. Once again, we have chosen a cruise with Royal Caribbean. When planning a cruise vacation, we know that the trip depends more on two factors than any other – including ports of call. The first factor is the ship’s record of service. The second is the ship herself. This year we will be on the 11 Night Ultimate Caribbean & Panama Cruise Sailing On Jewel Of The Seas.
Here are some clips from how Royal Caribbean describes their own ship. The pictures were found on the web while investigating our upcoming cruise.
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Yes, the sun finally came out. After months, the boat started. Beautiful day on sparkling water. Lost in wonder I just motored down to the far end of the lake. Naturally, that is where the engine died. Apparently, the battery isn’t holding a charge or something. But even being towed back wasn’t enough to dampen the joy in just being on the water and in the sun.
Yesterday was Moku’s birthday. I can’t believe my little puppy has grown up to be, well, a little dog. Still cute and playful, he is so loveable (unless, of course, you happen to be a stuffed toy).
Video after the break. Read more…
Yes, I am quite sentimental about Christmas. Countless memories roll together to buoy my expectations each year. So many of my family and friends have stuffed me so full of love I just can’t can’t help myself. So, of course, when Christmas comes I’m bound to be disappointed right? No. Once again we gathered together. Ruth was nice enough to stop over from Tanzania and Alex from California, but Will? Well, Will wasn’t willing to fly in from Nevada and risk losing his job, so we had to do without him. At least we saw him at Thanksgiving.
Can’t wait until we can all be together again for a holiday. Now, it’s time for us old farts to fold a little love into the next generation’s Christmas expectations and I want to be part of laying it on thick with all of them. Joy and I hope you each had the joy and love you deserve over the holidays. If not, why not figure out how you can make that vision come true for someone next year – it can’t help but bless you at the same time.
Thanksgiving was, as usual, a time of overeating. It started on Thursday. Not the offical family celebration day, but we had to eat, right? Joy prepared a turducken (turkey-duck-chicken). We loved it, but next year maybe we’ll skip the duck part. Definitely, a yummy meal. Friday we left the Morgantown crowd and headed north to Cranberry Township in PA. Joy roasted a Trader Joe’s turkey at the Hellman’s. Good, but she says it wasn’t worth the extra cost so I think I see a Butterball turkey flying my way next year.
Saturday. Oh, how I loved Saturday. One of the few places on earth that I truly love that doesn’t have palm trees is “the Strip” in Pittsburgh. I have a poster of it on the wall in the exercise room. But never, ever in my whole life had I eaten at Deluca’s. C’mon it can’t be worth waiting in that long line in the cold can it? But Mary was held up and we (as in Joy and Lindsay) decided that the frigid Deluca’s line was as good a place to wait as any. Read more…
I like to think of myself as a strong man. I have to admit that in my youth this was not so much the case. But even a grown man can be weakened by temptations as enticing as some left lying about my childhood home. Louis L’Amour, Agathie Christie, Rex Stout, and, most dangerously, John D. MacDonald. But as I attained manhood I seldom succumbed to more than the mildest of geeky debauchery as I obsessively pursued some technological project or another.
I certainly was not tempted by, indeed felt pity for the less stout who, like my mother, could not resist the Brit-coms. I did not feel the least pull though my Mum repeatedly and carelessly exposed me to them. So I was of this cocky mindset when Mother very irresponsibly exposed me to Doc Martin. Oh, I know what you’re thinking. What can be so dangerous about a misanthropic G.P. played by Martin “Dumbo” Clunes and a head mistress played by Caroline “Bucky the Beaver” Catz?
Oktoberfest! Ja, das ist das, was ich spreche. Joy and I greatly enjoyed our time at the Raleigh Oktoberfest hosted by St. Raphael’s Catholic Church here in Raleigh, North Carolina. There was an oom-pa band, Bavarian dancers, Bavarian child dancers, and a bunch of other folks from the area with a dash or more of German blood (or at least spirit). I enjoyed a dark ale that may have been the best I ever tasted. The potato salad did not measure up to Mom’s standards or Gram’s standards but the food was hearty. It was a fun ethnic celebration and a nice diversion from our normal routine.
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Thanks to Wired Science, I learned of a 14 year old boy in a remote African village who should be an inspiration for all of us. William Kamkwamba noted the wind in Malawi and thought he could rig something up to power a light to read by. This boy, who had been forced to drop out of school for lack of the $80 tuition, went to the public library and checked out some books on windmills. What happened after that will surely give everyone a lift. Watch this video and share it. What a great young man.
This story has ties into so many of my values: overcoming adversity, ingenuity, generosity, bootstrap economics, and, of course, environmentalism. (Not to mention my love of the public library system.) Go William!
You can buy his book from Amazon, which also posts some related videos.
Retirement may be a decade out, but I’ve been planning for it since I was in college. Lately, our discussions had been rotating between a summer home in Pittsburgh and a primary residence in southern California, North Carolina, Virginia, or (a remote possibility) Florida. But as long as our family is centered on the east coast, Pittsburgh will continue to be part of the formula.
So, house, condo, or houseboat? A house is high maintenance and it has never been easy to find good yard or maintenance help – and we are talking about retirement not shifting careers to home upkeep. Condo? monthly fees are high, but it is a possibility. Houseboat? water view? Check. maintenance? Unless Steve is no longer on the scene, check. Friendly neighbors who keep an eye on things when we’re not home? Check.
