Week one back left me exhausted.  I decided to nap last night after work, wiping out for nearly 3 hours.  Very little got done after as I was back in bed by a normal time and slept through the night, forcing myself to get up a few minutes before 8 as to get to Carmen's first thing.  I walked in a few minutes after 8 and already had a good 7 people in front of me.  So I sat there until 11:30, but at least they were able to get the work done.

Rear rotor and brake.  They think the smoke that was witnessed may have been from exhaust, as that too needs replaced and will need done when she gets inspected (yay).  I know I should start shopping and figure out what I want to buy, but I really really don't want a car payment, so I am putting it off as long as possible.  It's nice to not itch wanting a new car, right?

After leaving Carmen's I grabbed a bite and then hit the grocery store.  The sun is out even though it remains a little chilly, so I was feeling motivated.  I am a pro at getting the mulch down and it looks so much nicer out front, even though there is still lots of raking and other work to be done out there.  Two loads of laundry are done and starring at me from the love seat saying "fold me". 

I've made food that needs baked, but here I sit waiting for my sister's last flight to take off.  It's pretty crappy when flight aware tells you the AVERAGE time this flight leaves is over an hour after it is suppose to, and the majority of times in the past few weeks it was more like 2 or 3 hours.  How does an airline get away w/ that crap?

Right now I'm thinking about another nap.

Fri, March 27 - Flying Out
I dropped the girls early and headed to work for a little while.  We had a late afternoon flight, so there was plenty of time to work out and shower before hitting the road to Latrobe.  This is the second time I've flown on Spirit and I'm content.  Sure, the seats don't recline that whole 2 inches, the weight limit is only 40lbs rather than 50, and there isn't an included drink onboard, but they leave on time (or early), have free parking, short security lines, and are a short 45 minute drive away.  The prices were pretty competitive to those from the burgh as well. Since the parking is free it was perfect to just meet my Favorite Egg there.

We stayed at Rodeway Inn again.  The convenience of knowing they have an airport shuttle, included transportation to the pier, an eatery attached, included breakfast, and wine for sale make it a great choice when leaving from FLL.  Unfortunately, the restaurant there no longer offers the cranberry hamburger I fell in love with.


Sat, March 28 - All Aboard
We headed towards the ship around 10:30, but weren't onboard until close to 12:30 thanks to the security lines being halted.  Not sure what their deal was, but they moved us to a new line where we stood waiting for a half an hour easily as the staff just stood around, not processing anyone.

Our first night at dinner we had a family of four, but they were gone the second night (gee, thanks) but were replaced by a very nice couple and a Mother/son that we got on well with.  The third night two female friends traveling together also joined us at the table to fill it up.  Our staff there was nice, the assistant waiter quite good.  Our stateroom attendant was also very pleasant and efficient - completely out of our way and covering everything we needed.  Food was good.  I even tried a special they offered on the last night and indulged in a filet from Chops.  It was good, but will I cough up to go eat at that specialty venue?  Probably not.



Sun-Mon, March 29-30 - At Sea
I'll use these days to talk about Independence.  Our room was as I expected, and very conveniently located down a wider than many hallway very near the concierge lounge making it easy to get a morning cup of cappuccino.

Indy seemed to be in good condition.  It boggled how good the casino could smell like it was constantly being febreezed, but still wreak of smoke at the same time.  Same deal w/ half of the pool deck and deck 4.  I really wish they'd just eliminate smoking onboard entirely.  It's just disgusting to have your hair stink after walking through a section for 30 seconds.

During our time onboard there was the requisite art auctions, ice skating show with an amazing violinist, trip to Johnny Rockets for a greasy meal, nightly drinks, others flowriding to watch, mini putt, time in the hot tub, a little less time in the gym than I should have spent, and nightly shows.  The shows included a ventriloquist I've seen before, a comedian, and a 'strong couple/aerial act' that were pretty darn amazing to watch.  The last act also introduced me to a Sade song I've never heard before but instantly fell in love with.


Tues, March 31 - St Maarten
Let's talk about the most fun I've had on an excursion.  We booked a jet ski tour that went around part of the island.  Oh yes.  Not only am I going to want to jet ski every time I vacation henceforth, but I want one of my own and somewhere to live that I could actually use it. There was very little instruction before we headed out and boy did we head out, sailing up to 40 mph at points.  Thank goodness I had a driver who wasn't sick of me and didn't toss me off the back, although there were a few really rough spots that I had to cling pretty tight to stay onboard.

Before we headed back onboard I drug him to get a Guavaberry cocktail and into a couple of the stores on the pier side.


Wed, April 1 - St Kitts
Third trip out with Thenford Grey's tours.  This time we ended up with his older brother as our guide.  I've done this specific tour before, but I figured it was a nice overview of the island for him.  Plus the views from the fort are quite nice, as is the beach time at the end (we went back to Carambola and I caved and tried some of their sushi which was pretty tasty).


Thurs, April 2 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
This is where the crazy event of the trip occurred, but I wasn't made aware of it until I returned to work on Monday.  A news story was brought to my attention of a couple involved in a murder suicide on a cruise ship while I was away.  I read the article and realize - oh snap, they were in San Juan w/ us and THAT is where the people were found on that day!  I quickly searched the name of the ship for a photo.  Imagine my surprise to see it is the ship I photographed as it came in (while we were at the one fort) a mere hour before the couple were found.  A later photo I took has her right beside our ship in port a half an hour before they were found.  It's kinda creepy to me.  Here are those photos.  I'm sure there was a bit of controlled mayhem onboard shortly after these photos were taken, but I never heard sirens or anything outside of our ship that made us aware anything was up.

Fri, April 3 - Labadee, Haiti
We headed out and straight to the Dragon's Cove area for that view and to listen to the 'dragon breathing'.  Good thing too as it was pretty empty when we went.  We pulled in here w/ Granduer, who beat us into port and left before us.  It was lovely to see her.

Remember that surprise I had in the works?  This is it - time for the reveal!  I had been in contact with the concierge, Raj, ahead of time to try and secure a cabana for our time in Labadee.  Turns out he had availability and was not only able to get us one, but he was able to get us one along Barefoot Beach, rather than Nellie's.  Barefoot Beach is the gold-pass holders (suite guests) only area.

We had an awesome hillside cabana, which offered us privacy and a great view.  There was much floating about on the mats in the water, taking in the view, and just enjoying a bit of a slow/quiet day.  There is a slightly upgraded lunch buffet there, but it's pretty much the same food, minus the lines, and strikingly absent birds stealing your food.



Sat, April 4 - At Sea
Nothing really else to say here other than, as always I get to this day and think two things:
1).  Dang, there are so many things we still didn't get to do.
2).  I don't wanna go home.

I did get another sailing booked on Liberty, snagging an interesting aft cabin with a bit of a strange set up.  But that's kind of far off.  Things may change between now and then.


Sun, April 5 - Homeward Bound
Leaving the ship went relatively smoothly considering something as hosed up and they didn't process our charges to our credit cards as we had wanted them to.  Again, thank goodness for the concierge who cleared this up for us while we sipped our morning java.

We had a bit of a wait at the airport, but nothing too bad, and our flight left a few minutes early - so bonus!  We arrived and headed straight to Egg's Aunt and Uncle's for Easter dinner, arriving JUST in time.  Can you beat that?  After a few hours I had to head out, on my own for the first time in over a week.  Gratefully the weather has finally broke here.  The sun was out and the temps reasonable to welcome us back.  It is, of course, chilly and rainy again today.  I have way too long until I see my honey again.  :(

It's already 10:30, so there is no way a full report on the vacation is happening tonight.  But since I left the computer running all night and today while I was at work I did get all of my photos uploaded and some free prints ordered (before the freebies expired at midnight).

I didn't work out (again) but I did do a little bit of raking outside, even after my massage, which I'm shocked didn't make me want to go straight to sleep.  There is always so much needing done in the spring.

I also ran to see my jeweler over lunch.  He had two pretty green shiny objects in for me to check out and I made my selection.  Marquise it is.  Now to find the time to figure out a setting.

Ouch, my soul.

It's happened, I've finally gotten so fed up with the piss poor speeds of my Verizon internet and reached out to... Atlantic Broadband. I am hoping and praying the sins of their past are only there, in the past. Fact is, even after paying for the install and buying a cable modem I'll recoup costs in a few months because my bill will be $14 less each month and I'll actually have speed to speak of.

This morning I ran a speed check:
1.29 Mbps down
0.38 Mbps up
Yeah, that's why I was uploading vacation photos all evening and left it run after I went to bed but still have more to go. This will also be nice for my find a grave photo uploads. Maybe having a good connection will also press me to get the new television I've been eying and doing a bit of streaming! We'll see.

I'm still Walmart free, so perhaps my soul isn't irreparably stained. More information on the vacation forthcoming!

In my pile of mail that was waiting I finally received the cancelled out paperwork from my mortgage. That only took ya'll 6 months. Good work.

Last night is the first in a few that I haven't worked out.  I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like my leg was getting a charlie horse.  Never came to that full out sheer pain, but the pain didn't subside either.  I woke this morning gimping.  Seriously, I got hurt sleeping.  No I wasn't sleeping oddly, I was flat on my back.  Getting old stinks.

Email confirmation received!  Surprise secured... springing will take some time!  Here's hoping my Favorite Egg likes it.

Another routine dr trip for the new year.  I really hate the forms they make you fill out every year.  What a waste of paper and more often the not, nothing has changed.  Never mind that you can't read my hand writing well enough to then type in what information I gave you.  Of course, this year, needing to cross out my Mother's name as an emergency point of contact wasn't enjoyable.  At least they didn't press me to manufacture someone else to replace her on the paperwork.

More good stuff is started coming together today, but I can't post about it here, it's a secret surprise.  All will be revealed if it comes through and after the surprise is sprung.

This weekend I went to my very first gun raffle.  I didn't leave the owner of a new toy, but I did leave a little bit richer.  I don't know what it is with pull tab games, but that is where my luck seems to lie.  This time I won three times.  One of the $50 (top prize) bingo pulls in $3 worth of purchases, then twice on the qualifiers out of 5 rounds there, each for $100.  Yeah, that's how I roll.  I had a full tummy, my ticket was more than paid for, I got to see the Wild ones and Davey T again, and it was warmish and sunny out how can you beat that?

 

This week is starting out pretty darn good and it's only going to get better.

Much like the groundhog, Drake has come out hibernation.  No more winter, so say we.  It was a nice afternoon to drive him around to charge back up, even if the sun was come and go.  I should have stayed put today and worked on my cleaning list, but, I'll get to it - eventually.

I couldn't take the loose handle on the back door any longer.  Of course, to tighten the loose part meant taking the whole thing apart (or having an INCREDIBLY short screwdriver to access it between the glass and the handle)- great design, right?  Either way I took it apart and fixed her up.  In the process I thought why not tinker around a bit more with the lock, which hasn't worked in years.  [Keep in mind this door was replaced years ago, the latch worked for a year or so and then stopped catching.]  I managed to get her working properly again!  I no longer have to rely on strictly a hockey stick to lock my back door!

I'll blame the spring vibe going on outside (despite cooler temps) that is giving me little spurts of motivation.  Of course, tonight and into tomorrow they are calling for 3-6" of snow.  Go figure.  Happy spring.

On Monday it was nice enough that Saffy and I went for a walk and saw robins everywhere. Today they're calling for 3-6 inches of snow tonight and into tomorrow. This has to be winter's final hurrah, right? The 10 day forecast looks promising, but I'm just so done w/ the cold.

...and, we say goodbye to another weekend.  The warm up seems to have been all to short lived as it is rather cold again today and there were small bits of snow collected here and there when I woke this morning.  The good news is this should give the sump pumps a small, and well deserved break.  Thank goodness for them, or I fear my basement would have been quite horrible to experience.  There were spots at cracks and where concrete seams meet that I could tell ground water was trying to wick up, but we held nicely.

I had a nice weekend with my favorite Egg and we ate like champs.  I had made pork, kraut, and mashed potatoes on Friday, we went for steak on Saturday at Lone Star w/ the Schmou family, pancakes and eggs this morning, and Quaker Steak for dinner.  We also went to see Chappie.  It seemed necessary since Yolandi and Ninja (from Die Antwoord) were in it.  I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by it, but the two hours was quite a long run.  It was entertaining, but it runs a lot like a 2 hour featurette.

My headache seems to be gone during the day now, but wants to come back when I rest my head.  Here's hoping this week at work is a little less stress inducing.

It's been quite a while since we had squabbles in our house, but twice in the past week Dani and Vix were displeased with one another. I don't know how they started, there wasn't any growling just pissy fit.  This had best not be a renewed trend.  I guess it's time to implement a little more separation again.

The adrenaline rush that comes with jumping into action for stuff like this sure doesn't help me forget the headache I've been fighting.  Boom boom boom.  I'm thrilled that the snow is mostly melted off of the back yard, but the slightly more agreeable weather probably is a factor in this.