Celebrity Constellation Caribbean Cruise More Random Observations January 2012
I had a disappointing encounter one morning in the fitness area just a couple of days into the cruise. I was there around seven am and there were plenty of treadmills available. I just had to pick my way around the bodies scattered participating in the morning exercise class. These treadmills each had a small TV screen and I liked to watch the news, even though I always had my Kindle in hand. The first treadmill had an inoperative TV so I moved to the second where the TV worked. However, the sound didn’t work. One of the young ladies who worked in the area walked over to give me some sort of discount coupon to their overpriced spa treatments and I asked her about the sound. She said it required ear buds. I asked her where those were, and she...
Read MoreCelebrity Constellation Caribbean Cruise Random Observations January 2012
Random Observations January 2012 One morning, the piped-in background music in the computer room on the ship was an instrumental version of the song which many people have heard on You Tube by the coed performing her sign language final exam – “F**K You.” With violins. Ya gotta love it. Last January on our Holland America cruise, the blue-light specials didn’t come out until near the end. On Celebrity, however, the bargains showed up on day two at sea. The sale was hyped in the daily newsletter that’s delivered to the cabins, and announcements were made through the ship shortly before it started. This was the “everything is $10 sale.” As the time approached, all manner of senior female was gathering, in singles and packs with a few...
Read MoreBig Box Store Encounters of the Snotty Kind
Recently, Ellen and I went to a big box home improvement store hoping for solutions to a kitchen problem. The house we bought seven years ago came with cabinets of the white ‘knock-down’ variety, that is, they were the kind you used to be able to buy, take home and assemble. And, I’ll admit it, they’re at the bottom of the price scale. These cabinets had been installed when the house was built in the mid-90s. With 3600 square feet, it sits on a three-quarter acre plus lot. It’s not a cheap house, so why cheap cabinets were installed I haven’t a clue. Regardless, a few of the doors have begun to delaminate and I want to try to find replacements rather than buy all new cabinets. At least, for now. So I had measured everything...
Read MoreVisit to Washington, DC October 2011 – Part One
Ellen has a cousin in the metro DC area – actually first cousin, once removed (whatever the heck that means) – who was celebrating, with her husband, their 50th wedding anniversary. Since we hadn’t been there in seven years, we decided to go. We looked into taking Amtrak and found it to be about $90 per person, one way. After figuring how much gas the Prius would use – about 8 gallons each way – and comparing the two, we decided that the ease and comfort of the train wasn’t quite great enough to balance out the cost. So we drove. Or rather, I drove… Driving long distances gives me lots of time to be annoyed by other drivers. And I’m never disappointed. What is it with people driving nice cars that you know have cruise...
Read MoreVisit to Portland, Oregon August 2011 – Part One
I haven’t traveled by commercial airline very much lately, so I had my attitude all jacked up tight in anticipation of this cross-country air trip and all the security headaches I knew it would entail. But the TSA ticket checker was pleasant, and I didn’t have to stand like a daVinci drawing in the diabolical backscatter xray machine. Yay! I only had to walk through the old fashioned archway. Nary a beep. So far, so good… The belt scanner personnel were concerned about some powdered medication that Ellen carries, though. They wanted to go through and check it, but soon allowed her to proceed. We’ve heard that it looks a lot like liquid on the scope. And liquids in carry-on luggage are now a bad thing. The older I get, the more things annoy...
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