The End Is Nigh!

Well here we are, finally, in the last hours of 2022. I wasn't sure if I'd squeak another post in here this year; frankly part of me would much rather be cuddled up on the couch watching Dexter right now. It's too stormy today! My entire porch table blew over in the wind - and it's not light! Lots of power outages in our area with winds reported over 55 mph. But I had to some this blog thing some dedication, at least one more time in 2022.

The idiots in the neighborhood are just now out setting off fireworks. Sigh. Well I suppose you have to admire their dedication in this weather.

Meanwhile, the child is settled all snug in his bed, with visions of YouTube dancing in his head. We toasted in the New York New Year at 9pm with some Martinelli's apple cider. Watched the ball drop in Times Square. People cheered, people kissed. Sinatra sang New York, New York. It was all very nice and believable.

And that is pretty much the extent of my New Year's revelry. At least I'm fairly consistent from year to year. I suppose tomorrow I should start taking down Christmas decorations.

And Christmas went by too, without much of a clatter. "Santa" got Connor a new drone! It's a pretty cool toy, though we haven't had the weather to properly break it in. I wasn't even supposed to have Connor this week, the week after Christmas, but his mother flaked out on him and went on vacation to Southern California. We had Christmas dinner at my brother's house (Laurie's house?), as we tend do these days. it's the biggest house among us, and let's face it, Laurie is the most dedicated cook. And of course we did our gift exchange, in as flurry of torn wrapping paper. I got some new kitchen supplies for Christmas, Pyrex storage containers and a new blender and so on. All good stuff! Good Lord I must be getting old to be excited about food storage containers. That's one of the signs rights?

And of course Connor and I did our annual sugar cookie baking day, on Christmas Eve. Fun times were had! I made sure not to double the batch of dough, as it sounded so small on paper last year, and thank goodness! A couple dozen sugar cookies was more than enough. Well, in addition to the three dozen chocolate chip ones I also made. Ma and Da made an appearance too, to drink wine and assist Connor in the cookie cutting and decorating process.

This week was a bit unusual, as I said before, but Connor got to spend the night at his friend Thor's house last night. It was the first time he's done an overnight at someone else's house while under my charge. They grow up so fast! And the day before that we all went to see the new Puss In Boots movie at the Century Theatre on Arden and Ethan. In 3-D no less!

It occurs to me just now that I'm recounting the holidays in reverse, from Christmas to Christmas Eve and from Friday to Thursday. I suppose New Year's Eve is the day to reflect back, is that it? Maybe my memory just takes a while to get jostled, and runs better in reverse. Well. Sometimes it does.

And as the crashing explosions pf maniac Americans continue outside I'm suddenly bounced back to the present, and reminded that it's almost the end. Of the year that is. Sure, it's sounds like the world is ending outside, but I'm sure the morning will bring some peace and quiet. And all will be well once more. For now...let's go watch Dexter until the end is here!

Holiday Time

Well we've finally reached the holiday season, after surviving that pesky Thanksgiving that interrupts the flow of Halloween to Christmas. This is the first "full" season I have in my new place; I moved into my new condo in the second week of December last year. So I still had a bit of the season left to play with then, but it's not quite the same as having the "full" season - where you can officially start putting up Christmas decor - without inciting ridicule - as soon as the sun rises on the morning after Thanksgiving. Well, okay, I started on Saturday. But in my defense, my son was sick again with the flu. Delays, delays.

In any case, on Saturday afternoon I pulled the tree out of the garage along with my boxes of ornaments, and unlike last year I put up all of my Disney-themed ornaments on the tree. It's been a few years since I was able to do do a fully Disney-decorated tree, owing to most of my belongings being in storage, and I have a handful more ornaments than last time, since I still went to the Disney store right after Christmas in previous years to acquire new ones on sale.

No more Disney stores now, so I probably won't be acquiring any new ones at the conclusion of this season.

And the kid helped decorate; in previous years I was wary to let him touch my very breakable ornaments, and instead got him his own smaller tree to decorate. See the 2019 video for more on that. But this year, despite his general lethargy owing to being sick again (6 days of missed school since October 21), he put up 5 or 6 ornaments on the tree. And he did a good job, at least nothing was dropped, fell off, or otherwise was broken. Good boy!

And on Sunday morning I put up some holiday lights around the front porch. It's the first time since 2019 that I've done lights, and fortunately I had enough strings of lights already that I didn't need to buy any more. Though I did need to get some extension cords and a new timer. But that was all bought with State of California stimulus funds, so no out-of-pocket expenses. 

I don't really know how old these strands of lights I have are; they're not LED lights, but they don't appear worn at all, but I'm not sure when or where they were last used. If at all. But they all lit up, so that's a good sign. However. There's a serious issue with the blinkability factor. And yes, I made up the word "blinkability". Creative license. Sue me. (Please don't).

I have two lines of lights basically, each on its own extension cord. One on the left side of the porch, and one on the right. The one on the right has a blinker light. Actually it has a couple. You know, the one you remember from your childhood that are clear with a red tip. Stands out like a sore thumb. But this line does not blink. The one on the left has no blinker lights...yet half of the line blinks. Why? More importantly, how??

I've come to the conclusion that my lights are haunted, possessed perhaps, by a ghost. I do not yet know whether this spirit is friendly or has malicious intents. But having no evidence to the contrary, I have to assume it's a good-natured ghost. In any case, it's pervading the functionality of my lights and causing them not to behave as expected. I believe the only solution short of a seance would be to either a) ignore the problem and see if it fixes itself, or b) throw the whole thing out and buy new ones.

I...might just throw the whole thing out. It would be nice to get some new LED ones anyway, maybe ones that change color. 

Well. We'll see. Maybe next year.

Pancakes!

This, is a food post. Much like my Instagram page, which frequently features pictures of food, or drinks at least. And even this blog, which started with a post about food. Way back in 2009. Which is now 13 years ago.  13 years! Where did all that time go?

On Friday, yesterday, I had pancakes at Denny's. A Value Slam, to be exact, which used to be called a Grand Slam and cost $2.99. Now it's $5.99, Still a good deal, comparatively, to most everything else out there. But I had been thinking of stopping for breakfast on the way to work for a couple of months. Mostly because I drive by Cornerstone Cafe downtown every morning, and often go for walks around there when I'm early enough to do so. I kind of wanted to stop there, though I know it would have been twice the price. Though perhaps twice the ambiance as well. But as things happen, the weeks fly by and before I know it, it's Saturday and I've passed by my chance to treat myself to breakfast on the way to work. And then I look back and wonder why I didn't make it work, why I always got distracted or fell behind or just talked myself out of it. Why I didn't just...treat myself.

And that's important, to treat yourself! Now and again, at least. You deserve it. Well, I deserve it.

I don't have time to stop on weeks I have my son, as I have to drop him off at school and barely have enough time to make it to work by 8:00am as it is. Occasionally I hit enough green lights through the downtown corridor to afford the time to stop at the drive through at Del Taco for some Breakfast Rollers. Easily the best breakfast deal around. But yesterday, Friday, I stopped at Denny's art 6:00am and got some pancakes. They were good. It was worth it. I also had cocoa.

Today I could have gone to spend the day in San Francisco, but I didn't. I talked myself out of that, much like I talked myself out of stopping for breakfast for many weeks. Whether it's saving money or saving hours on the roadway, or both, it's easy to convince myself to just change course. Or perhaps maybe it's just hard to convince myself to do things, sometimes. It's easy sometimes, within your own mind, to present a reasonable argument and convince yourself not to do the things you had just recently fantasized about doing.

But it was okay today, I walked to the North Natomas Regional Park where they were having a holiday faire, had a breakfast burrito from Donna's Mexican food and a hot apple cider from a food truck there. Complete with whipped cream and caramel drizzle! What a bonus. And only $4, a bargain in these trying times. 

I also rode the choo choo train. It was free, and I'm a kid at heart. I won't apologize for that, nor should I.

So, it was a good morning, and a good day, in which I did little beyond this than rest and reflect...and get caught up on Alaska Daily and Ramy on Hulu. I may have had some corn dogs. And I did run some minor errands, if only to feign productivity. 

And yes, I know, I could make pancakes at home. It's not that hard. But it's also not quite the same. And now that's checked off my list.

Where Happy is the Main Ingredient

I met a new friend downtown for lunch today, in a break from my regular routine of having lunch in my office on campus. Sort of a celebration of not having any concerts today to have to worry about, which is certainly rare in mid-October. But mostly just a pleasant and convenient excuse to break outside of my box and play hooky for a little bit. It turned into a three-hour sojourn. It felt like a Friday. It still feels like Friday. But it's not. It's Thursday.

Anyways.

We dined at a place called Mendocino Farms, which is simply a code-word title for "sandwich shop". Possibly the fanciest sandwich shop I've ever dined at. From their website: "Our creative sandwiches, salads, and more take you on an unexpected culinary adventure with fresh ingredients and fearless flavor combinations."

Fearless? Well it was a good sandwich. It should have feared me, because I ate it right down. And it's all set in a gentrified area called Richmond Grove (at least that's what Apple Maps calls it) set around S Street and 16th.

And the eatery is in a line of shops of various wares, set at the base of probably overpriced but hip-looking lofts with full-wall windows. None of which was there, I'm sure, the last time I strolled through this area. I was just going to Safeway then, and don't even recall offhand what I was doing in the area, but back then the place seemed quite a bit more...dilapidated. 

In any case, it's quite a trendy location now, and has several more establishments of a food nature in the surrounding lines of freshly erected buildings which I might perhaps find some time to explore. Someday.

I eventually found my way back to work, about an hour and a half past the time I had listed on a little post-it note on my door. I...don't think anyone noticed. Or cared. So in the end it's just an anecdote of a story of a day in the life of this guy in his upper-middle-forties.

Oh yeah - the sandwich I indulged in today was the Prosciutto and Chicken on ciabatta bread. Washed down with their Rose Lemonade. Next time, perhaps the steak. And the shop's mascot is a blue cow, emblazoned on their website and immortalized in life-size statue form outside their main entrance. And their slogan? "Where Happy is the Main Ingredient".

Well, it was a happy day with happy company.

 

Back to the Bay

Today I finally scraped together a little time to return to the city of my soul, to San Francisco. It seemed like a long time had passed since I was last there. And it had; it was mid-July the last time I went. Not to be overly dramatic, but hat's an eternity for me! And it was great to be back.

As luck would have it, I stumbled into the middle of Fleet Week. I have this knack, you see, for being completely oblivious to major events going on in the places I travel to. Just lucky I guess. That's how I stumbled upon a Bernie Sanders rally there in 2016. And it's not the first time I've been surprised by a Fleet Week there either. But it's just as well that I knew nothing of it going in, for I surely would have talked myself out of going and just stayed. Which, frankly, would have led to a more productive day, but let's not go there.

As it was, all of the regular parking I normally use was cordoned off for vendors and staff and food trucks and probably dignitaries, if there were any. So I took a little drive and found a nice little parking spot past the base of the Golden Gate, up into the Presidio area, about two miles from Fort Mason. It was a nice little walk back in through Chrissy Field, so I'm not really complaining. But boy was it crowded in Sand Francisco today! It was almost like being at Disneyland, except I didn't get to ride Thunder Mountain. Folks lined the beaches and grassy knolls and just about every free space they could plant down some lawn chairs or beach cabanas. They were there, I imagine primarily, to see the air show. Which was ironic, since the fog never did quite burn off, so no one could really see any planes. But boy, you could hear them. Loud enough to set off varying car alarms. 

So it was not the normal tranquility (relatively speaking) that I found there today. It was still nice though, and I got my 10 miles of walking in, my Nob Hill Chill from Ghirardelli, and even had lunch at a little Mexican joint in the Marina District which I had never been to before. Always great to try someplace new.

One of these days I'm going to have to plan an overnight trip there again.

And I saw the Ruby Princess, again by sheer luck, since she's usually only there once every 10-15 days or so. Thousands of people embarking on a new and exciting journey out into open ocean. And even up in that part of the Embarcadero, there were crowds and crowds of people. And more vendors than usual, too, selling all manor of hats and toys and bacon wrapped hot dogs sizzling on the grill surrounded by beds of onions. Saw a homeless gu steal a couple of those hot dogs too, right off the grill. Fun times. 

All in all it was a fairly uneventful day, but after such a hiatus as I had, it was nice to be back in the fresh ocean air.

National What Day?

So today we celebrated National Chocolate Milkshake Day, or rather I did anyway, by going to Willie J's Burgers & More.  Not a place I've taken Connor to before. But they had nachos, and fountain sodas including root beer, so I figured it was a safe bet for him. 

But seriously. Today is National Chocolate Milkshake Day. Not to be confused with National Vanilla Milkshake Day. That fake holiday was back on June 20.  I find it rather ridiculous that we even have all of these "national" days. 

There's a national cookie day. And a national chocolate chip cookie day. There's basically a "national" day for just about any mundane thing you can dream up. And it's not just junk foods, or even foods in general. Nor is it just pets or other tangible things we possess in our lives. It can basically be just about anything that anyone wants to have some minor celebration about.

Are we really this hard up for value in our lives that we need to have these days?? And just how many of these days are there, really? One per day? More? I honestly have no idea.

So I googled it.

There are over 1500! That's an average of over four things per day. So, what else is today besides National Chocolate Milkshake Day? Well, I'm going to tell you. Because Google is my friend. Today is also "national boss/employee exchange day", "national day of encouragement", "national hug and high 5 day", "national just one human family day" (huh?), "national video games day", and - get this - "national report medicare fraud day". Yes, there's an official day to celebrate reporting medicare fraud.

Oh. My. God. We've gone insane. 

But don't worry, you don't need to keep track of all these, there's a website for that. Which is a good thing, because you can't be expected to remember that tomorrow is "national kids take over the kitchen day" and "national peanut day", to say nothing of it also being "national bald is beautiful day". And four others I can't be bothered to notate here. These sound like something I completely made up, created in an inspired spurt of sarcasm. And honestly, that's something I would totally do. But I didn't! It's all completely true! Look it up. Bookmark the site. You'll want to refer to it often.

Yes, this world has gone insane. Perhaps that is why I just focus on me and my son, and largely ignore all other events (and most people) that are still transpiring and basically just having the audacity to exist outside of my happy little bubble. I'm reminded of a line in the Disney/Pixar movie The Incredibles, spoken by the villain Syndrome: "And when everyone's super...no one will be". It's so true! There's so many "national" days for this and that, that no day is really special anymore. Except Christmas. And Halloween. I like those days. And nothing honored with a special day - whether it be cookies or peanuts or baldness or whatever - is special anymore, because everything has a special day.

But hey, at least I had a convenient excuse to get a milkshake today. 

Happy Birthday, Cat...Cats.

So yesterday was Scout, the cat's, fifth birthday. She dutifully posed for this birthday photo, or at least sat still just long enough for me to fire off a shot. And of course, she used to have a brother, Buster, who should have turned five as well.

I had gotten them in November of 2017, from a family living in an old single story ranch style house off of the frontage road of Highway 99 near Elk Grove, with a long narrow gravel driveway and a distinct lack of exterior lighting at night. The family's cat had had a litter some six weeks prior, and had advertised kittens for sale on Craigslist. Yes, my cats were Craigslist finds. I picked the dark colored female kitten who standoffishly kept to itself away from the rest of the litter, and the orange boy who kept tagging along after her like a lovesick puppy. They seemed destined to be a pair. 

So I took them.

Thus started several years of cat ownership, for which Connor was delighted at least in the fact that Buster took special interest in him and they soon became best buds. Unfortunately in March 2021, on a unremarkable spring day at the apartment in which we resided at the time, Buster suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Connor and I had gone to the park for an hour or so, and when we came back he was just laying on his side next to the bed. Connor didn't know what had happened at first, as he went and knelt down beside his friend to pet him hello. After a moment he said something to the effect that Buster was lying quite unusually still. I came in to look, and saw that he was gone. 

It was a shock for both of us, to be sure, and a traumatic experience for young Connor. His first experience, really, with death. 

This is the last picture I took of them together, about 10 weeks before Buster passed. Just after the New Year, in fact. I would have taken more towards the end, had we had any foreshadowing of what was to come. You just never know how much time you will have with a pet. Come to think of it, the same applies to humans as well. Although by comparison, our time with each other as humans is likely to be much longer than the average lifespan of a house feline, you never really know when the last moment you spend together with anyone may be.

What a tough lesson for a seven year old to learn. 

In any case, yesterday was Scout's...and Buster's birthday. I can't say we did anything more special than the normal routine of eating, sleeping, and pooping. Well, that's her daily routine anyway. But in defense of my lack of party planning, cats don't really have any concept of birthdays anyway.

We did, at least, watch the YouTube tribute I made for Buster. Or at least I watched it. Scout really paid little attention, as cats will do.

Oh well. Happy birthday, Scout. And to Buster as well, wherever his spirit may be.

End of Summer

Well here we are at the (almost) unofficial end of summer. School starts back up in one week. I know I say this or at least think it every year, but it sure seems like the road through summer is quite long at the beginning, and then before you know it you're at the end of the path already. Where does all that time go? Probably gets subjugated into some alternate universe, lost time never to be recovered. Certainly we cannot have actually experienced all that time. I don't remember half of it anyway.

But Mother Nature has been pounding us with her hot flashes, and temperatures well over 100 on more than a few days in the last couple weeks. It's been a great time to relish the amazingness that is the chocolate milkshake, which I admit I have indulged in more than once in the last week. What could be better on a hot summer's day?

I was suppose to be finishing out the second weekend of performances of the Light Opera Theatre of Sacramento's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe this weekend. But as is practically the norm for these times we now live in, several people in the company tested positive for Covid, and we could no longer continue. 

The first weekend went well, anyway. It was a talented cast and orchestra they assembled, but now it's ended early and will be but a footnote in history. You remember that time we have to cancel all our remaining shows of Iolanthe? Yeah, something like that.

But on this surprisingly mild Sunday afternoon, I elected to spend time relaxing at home, and put a movie on through Hulu. A classic: You've Got Mail. Who doesn't love a Tom Hanks flick from the previous century? From when I was a kid. Well, I was 23. But boy, is it funny to watch older films filled with the latest technologies of their era - which are obsolete by today's standards. AOL Online, dial up internet. laptop computers that were veritable bricks. All the things my son will never get to experience. 

Of course my childhood predates even this technology. I lived through the birth of the personal home computer, the rise of low resolution pixelated video gaming systems. The pager! The birth of the cell phone! My son will never believe we grew up with without these things.

And Tom Hanks just made a joke about people who collect shot glasses on their travels. I...totally do that.

But we still had our wall mounted home telephones and VCR's and romantic comedies like You've Got Mail. And who doesn't love a good romantic flick full of hope and dreams and all that sappy stuff that makes us gag but yet we secretly love.

Well. It's a nice way to end the summer anyway.

Cruisin'

Well it's been just a smidge over a week since we returned from our cruise voyage to Alaska, the trip that was cancelled and cancelled again and finally came to pass. So this post is simply the review I wrote for Cruise Critic (and submitted several days ago, yet they still haven't published it).

And oh yeah, view the pictorial slide show on my YouTube page

June 19-29, 2022

This was a 10-day cruise roundtrip from San Francisco to Alaska, aboard the Ruby Princess. This was my 7th cruise on Princess, 17th cruise overall, but first since Covid and first on the Ruby. 

We had bus transportation from our travel agent from Sacramento to the ship – it’s nice not having to worry about driving or parking (or paying for parking), nor having to worry about your luggage as once you put it next to the bus, you don’t see it again till it’s in your cabin. There was a lot of traffic on the embarcadero! The last mile took 46 minutes. Yes, I timed it. There was quite a line outside the terminal, which we had heard about from previous sailings. The Princess rep who met us at our bus just said to go towards the big Entrance sign; they seemed to be unaware there was a big line wrapped around the grassy noll (and someone even asked about that; they said they didn’t know what the line was like). This caused some confusion as people headed straight for the entrance (as they were told) and eventually had to be turned away to the big long line. We ended up spending about 90 minutes in line before we reached the terminal entrance. It’s not hot there…but being completely exposed to the sun with no seats, no water, no bathrooms, for that long had to have been a hardship for many of their elderly patrons. We finally saw that there was one portable toilet up near the front of the line, but just as my son went to go try and use it, a person came outside and padlocked it shut. Gee, thanks. About this time, someone came outside with a couple cases of water to hand out to people. We were already near the front by that time, but the line behind us had doubled and was wrapped around itself in a spiral. 

Interestingly, the security and check in process went rather smoothly once inside. I looked at my notes on this same trip from 2019: the time it took back then to get through security, check in, and step aboard the ship was 14 minutes. This time, it was only 18 minutes. And that despite the fact that they were manually checking hard copies of vaccine and test records as well as your passport (not sure why this was all uploaded to the Medallion app in advance?). The line outside was the one thing different. The ship ended up leaving port 75 minutes late as well.

As we stepped on board at 1:39pm, we went first to our cabin to drop off our carry-ons (Balcony room, C714). Pleasantly surprised to find our luggage already in our closet. Our room Steward, Marco introduced himself right away. Nice guy. Unfortunately he left midway through the cruise (we heard he had a family emergency back home). 

With the new technology you now watch muster/safety information on the TV. Apparently you have to be in proximity with your Medallion for it to work. Then you just have to go scan in at the Muster area. Much nicer than assembling in one place and waiting for all the stragglers. The TV system takes a little getting used to, to find everything, but it’s a pretty nice setup with large colorful menus. I’m pretty sure in the past, though, that there was kids TV programming (like Cartoon Network or simliar). There were family movies, but no TV stations with kids stuff.

I knew some ships had newer lamps with built-in USB chargers; ours did not. My parents’ room next door had a motion sensor light in the closet; ours did not work like that, but lights under the nightstands did. The ship does show a little wear for her age (2008), most notably in the metal bar along the bottom of the balcony glass, which was quite corroded with rust and missing large chunks. The automatic doors on the Lido deck were hit and miss the entire trip, and you often had to pry your way out of the buffet. The outside clocks on the Lido deck don’t really work – every single one displayed a different time and none were correct. The closest was 5 minutes off, the worst I saw was a couple hours off. I did do a load of laundry at one point, at $3 each for wash and dry. The dryers are incredibly underpowered; took three cycles ($9) to get it close to dry. Another family there mentioned the same problem, so it wasn’t just that one dryer. This was however the first cruise I’ve been on in a long time where I didn’t at some point smell sewage somewhere from plumbing problems. So, bonus on that.

Anyways, we had pizza for lunch and checked out the kids club for my son, and then had more drinks (why not? We had Princess Plus). Interestingly, on this day and for much of the cruise, waitstaff asked for cabin numbers when ordering, and wrote them down on napkins, instead of scanning Medallions. Not sure why. Sometimes bartenders at the bar would do this, even though they had mounted tablets which displayed little pictures of guests who were at the bar. Very inconsistent with the use of this new technology. 

The kids club, btw, is much nicer than the one we had on the Grand in 2019 (which had just been renovated in 2016 and was still pretty nice). This one felt way more spacious, and had foosball, air hockey, ski-ball, video games, board games, and lounging areas. My son had a very positive experience with it on this trip and met lots of kids whose names he rarely knew and can’t remember. One was Ethan. One was Nolan. 

Interestingly, they did one of their two production shows (Stardust) on embarkation night. Not sure why; I’m used to seeing a welcome aboard variety show with features a little bit of different things on the first night. Outside of these two shows, the other nights in the Princess theater featured a comedian/singer/impersonator, another comedian who was quite underwhelming, a ventriloquist/vocalist who was okay but his act just seemed all over the place, and several solo singer performances (I enjoyed Erwin the most just for his personality and variety of music – he’s also one of the production singers onboard). I’ve said this before – if you want a really good comedy show, try Carnival. 

The first two days up north were quite windy with choppy seas and fog, kind of what you expect out of San Francisco. The forward and aft sections of the promenade were roped off these days, again as I have seen before. What’s different though is that the aft section only opened on parts of days 8 and 9 of the cruise; the rest of the time is was closed and reserved as a staff smoking and quarantine worker area. Dang it Covid! That’s a great place to watch the wake, not to mention I enjoy doing the whole promenade walk around the ship. And yes, deck 12 port side was closed off for potential quarantine victims. Not sure if or how many were beyond the fire doors. 

The captain announced that there was 2507 passengers on board, which is about 85% capacity I think. I had problems by the second day accessing anything on the Medallion app – it just wouldn’t open any menu items. Someone online said we should log off and log on again – but with our cabin number not our email address. That…actually helped quite a bit. It was still a bit slow throughout the trip, but it did work. The big touchscreen monitors throughout the ship are rather nice, and can show schedules, give floorplans of decks, even locate your cabin mates. Internet outside the app was nearly as slow as it was pre-Medallionnet. Quite disappointing. Web pages would take anywhere from 30-90 seconds to load. Social media apps worked a bit better.  If they can ever figure out how to increase their bandwidth, it could really be nice. On the Medallion app, browsing the menus for drink options and prices, or room service options was quite nice. And necessary, since there aren’t printed menus at the bars anymore (you can get one if you ask for it in the MDR). 

You know what else they didn’t have? Long straws. All the straws onboard were short, falling about an inch short of the tall cocktail glass used for so many drinks. On the 8th day of the cruise they finally restocked them – at about the same time as the ice cream shop (named Cones) ran out of…cones.

We had dining reservations which we had made on the app months before, for the same time each night at the same table. Basically we had “traditional” dining. Not sure why they did away with that. Waiters and headwaiters we talked to all hate the new system. As our time was right when the dining room (Da Vinci) opened (5pm), there was often a line of 15-20 people when we got there. There’s a separate line that is for those with no reservation, and it was always much shorter. It did go pretty quickly, and only on the second formal night did it back up a bit more and we had to wait about 8 minutes. The backup is because they scan a medallion from each party to pull up the reservation and then see where they’re supposed to be; under traditional dining we would just walk right in as we already knew where our table was after the first night. It seemed like some people would do this anyway, and just walk past the lines and go in. Oh well.

One evening I tried ordering drinks in the piazza from the app just before dinner, just to try it. Took 14 minutes for our two drinks to arrive, which isn’t terrible, but it’s still far quicker usually to order at the bar or from a server directly. One area where servers took a big hit is the Princess theatre. There was no one serving drinks in there for the evening main shows for most of the trip. Towards the end we saw one – just one – server a couple of times. So don’t plan on ordering drinks in the Princess Theatre. You can’t deliver there from the app either.

Overall though, servers and bartenders were pretty efficient and generally plentiful enough, as was the waitstaff in the buffet in MDR. It was honestly hard to notice any deficiencies from the service received in 2019, pre-Covid. The biggest difference I saw is the pace of dining in the MDR. I think each waiter is covering more space than they used to – but what would happen is as the MDR filled up from all the different dining times people had, service would (understandably) slow way down. So that, drinks and appetizers and main courses might be gotten through in 40 minutes, and then dessert took 30-40 minutes by itself.

On our first formal night – and I know attire is a big topic on the forums – but it seemed to me that a majority of the people I saw were fairly well dressed. People still like dressing up! That morning we had breakfast in the MDR and I had eggs benedict (not always on the menu but always available). It was actually quite good. In fact, food on the trip in general was excellent, just as I remembered it from 2019. One thing I noted was at the Salty Dog grill, the street tacos weren’t quite as good as I had on the Grand in 2019. And later in the trip they took to stacking them in a bowl, for some reason, like elaborate tostadas. Supply chains still cause problems: there was no root beer on board. My son was disappointed. The International Café had no lids, and ran out of sleeves on the second day. After that they just doubled up cups.

Speaking of the International Café: here’s the thing. If you are scheduled to be doing Scenic Cruising starting at 5am (excruciatingly early btw), open of the Café earlier than 5am. (Oh yeah, it used to be 24 hours there, pre-Covid; now it’s 5am-midnight). So the line was a dozen deep at 5am, and with only one person working the coffee side, it took awhile. After a bit, a few more staff came and tried to help out, including one supervisor. They’re trying, they’re trying.

ON THE PORTS

Ketchikan was the first port. We got off early, as the ship arrived early, and as they hadn’t even announced that we were cleared to dismebark yet there was no line to get off. It sprinkled just a little this day. Did a nice walk to Creek Street and up the Married Man’s Trail, did some shopping and took my son to the Lumberjack Show. We hadn’t booked it in advance, just bought tickets through their website with my phone as I was standing there. Great show! Lots of fun for all ages. It was $37 for adults and $18.50 for children, plus taxes and fees.

In Juneau I got off the ship late as I had a business zoom meeting in the morning. But we took the tram to the top of Mount Roberts, which we had done before. Again I hadn’t booked in advance, just walked up and bought tickets. It was $75 for the both of us (I think $45 adult and $30 children; they didn’t have prices posted). It is nice that you can use it all day, so we took a second trip later, just because we could and had time, and there was no wait. Gorgeous views up there, nice hiking trails, as well as the visitor center and gift shop. And one bald eagle on display who was injured and can’t be released back to the wild. Go see the little theatre show in the center! Our host sang some traditional Tlingit songs, very cool. There was a little bit of snow up there, impacting some of the trails a little (mostly it was just a little wet and muddy).

In Skagway we walked around the town a bit and shopped some (we’d been here before several times and had done various excursions). I did a little bit of a hike up the trail towards Yakatania Point, a nice scenic walk along the coastline. Several shops in town were closed for the season already; not quite recovered from Covid I guess. What was odd here is they kept changing the disembarkation deck from Deck 6 to 7. Not because of tide; I think it was done whenever there was lots of people returning at the same time. Guess they didn’t have enough staffing to keep both open at the same time throughout the day. What was weird though was this: when they stopped letting people off at Deck 6, Deck 7 was not ready to let people off. So there was a period of time where no one could get off the ship. And a line backed up on the ship. Kind of awkward. We only had to wait about 8 minutes before they started letting people off, but I know this happened at least twice. 

We sailed Endicott Arm in anticipation of seeing Dawes Glacier, but there was too much ice in the way and we couldn't get close enough to see it.

Prince Rupert was a new one for us; the trip was originally slated to go to Victoria, but they changed all of the Ruby’s trips to this port instead. I will say first that the townspeople were quite welcoming and seemed glad we were there. There were volunteer ambassador guides just off the pier and a nice visitor center with interpretive exhibits, and both had a multitude of maps and guides they were handing out. We saw two bald eagles fairly close right by the waterfront there. The town is fairly small and not terribly tourist-orientated. There’s a few shops, and one that had souvenir type items, but compared to the plethora available in Alaskan ports, it was quite small. As an example: I collect shot glasses from places I visit. In Alaskan towns there’s approximately 294 different ones to choose from. In Prince Rupert: none. Not one. Small deal, but gives you an idea of the shopping scene. They have a small one-room firefighter museum and a larger native heritage museum ($8 admission) which is in the big wooden building without any signage at all as to what’s in there. On the ship they made a big deal about bringing proof of your ArriveCan completion and your vaccine card with you, but no one anywhere asked for anything. I think there was only two tours offered through the ship, a city highlights tour and a two-mile guided walk through the rainforest. We walked on the main road out of town to the Rushbrook nature trail that runs along the coast, and the trail itself was quite nice, though the salt marsh it ended at wasn’t entirely awe inspiring. In short: cute little town, nice people, but not much of a tourist destination. 

IN SUMMARY

The trip was quite nice and mostly what I remember from the quality of previous Princess trips. Weather was generally nice, gray and foggy in the mornings but sunny and clear with mild temperatures in the afternoons, pretty much everywhere we went. I would say that the food was excellent, as well as the service. It does seem they are a little short staffed in some areas, causing some slowdowns and lines here or there, but they did a great job overall. And honestly, I’ve had much bigger hiccups and longer waits come up on cruises long before Covid. I know many are wary these days about sailing in the post-Covid era, as was I, but I’m glad we took this trip. We’ll be on board again! But for right now, as my son has tested positive for Covid two days after returning home, I guess we have to quarantine…

Dang It Covid!

Wow, did I really go through a whole month without making a post? It seems so. Life gets away from you sometimes, I guess. And in all fairness, June was a big month for me, primarily getting ready for our first major family vacation since the summer of 2019. Cruising to Alaska! Our 10-day trip ended last Wednesday, June 29. In retrospect it seems like it flew by, but the days themselves plodded forward just as the ship plodded forward through crystal clear channels of ice cold water, surrounded by mountains of never ending forests.

But before I wax poetic on that, I should stick to the topic at hand. It's a holiday weekend, or the end of one anyway, as today is the 4th of July! Are we planning on going to an aerial explosive exhibition, setting off our own mini versions of them, doing a BBQ, hike, anything?? Nope. And this time it's not from my poor planning or introversive nature.

Connor got Covid.

Presumably at some time on our voyage, as he tested positive two days after we returned. Hard to tell, since his symptoms were mild. Mild headache, mild cough, most of that gone already. Honestly, symptom-wise, it's been indistinguishable from a minor cold. Something that, before Covid, we wouldn't have thought twice about. We'd be out and about and enjoying the brilliant sun outside on this holiday. We certainly would have gone to indoor soccer on Friday, especially since I had just paid for it an hour before he tested positive. Couldn't see it coming!

But now we're in quarantine.

For myself, I've been testing negative still, at least up till last night anyway. And I feel no symptoms. Not sure how Connor managed to get it and not me. But it's just as well, I can focus my efforts and energy on taking care of him, stuck at home, while washing and sanitizing my hands 74 times a day. 

It is what it is.

So for this holiday, we'll be sitting at home eating frozen pizza rolls and watching ridiculous gamer videos on YouTube. And as the sun sets on this Monday, the noise and explosive evidence of the holiday will surround us, I'm sure. People were setting them off last night anyway. Boom boom boom. Maybe next year we'll get to blow stuff up too. Dang it Covid! Maybe we'll do another cruise to Alaska instead...

Waiting in Anticipation

Well, today was another in a long line of successful day trips to my sentimental favorite city, San Francisco. But boy, was it cold! After enduring temperatures in Sacramento this week that inched their way above the century mark, it was certainly refreshing to experience temperatures in the low to mid 50s. I'm sure the wind chill brought it well below 50. My fingers were going numb by the end of the day.

But I walked and walked, and walked some more, and had a French Dip at Boudin, and multiple cups of hot chocolate, while enjoying the crisp, fresh sea air and the beautiful sights of nature in and around the marina and bay. And, well, people watching of course. There's always that too. 

Speaking of people, earlier this week I was going through old cards and letters from my previous life as an undergrad in college, enjoying the nostalgia of times gone by, and finding letters from some people who, for the life of me, I can't even remember. But I also found a couple of cards from an old friend who I have not seen or heard from in...20 years or so. I've never been good at keeping in touch with people, and frankly there are few who, looking back, I truly wish I had kept in touch with over the years. Which, I know, must sound a little bit snobbish or else just outright sad. Maybe a little of both.

But this person is one whom I do wish I had kept in touch with, as they were a prominent part of my life during a time which proved to be a great crossroads in my life, at least in retrospect. The last I had heard from them, they were married and had a kid (having proclaimed, "Look I made a person!"). And it was so, so long ago. I have no idea where they are now, what became of them, if they are still happily married and living their best life. If they even are alive (morbid thought). Or if they would even wish to hear from me again after all this time (pessimistic thought).

So, I did what any rational middle-aged man pining over his lost youth would do, in my newfound desire to rectify the mistakes of my past. I wrote her a letter. Not an email, mind you, but an honest-to-God, ink-on-paper, sealed-in-an-envelope-with-a-stamp letter. Seriously, who writes letters anymore? There was a time, before cell phones and computers and emails, where that's all we had. And we'd send these meticulously handwritten notes off into the world, trusting in an expedient and accurate delivery by postmen walking their beat through suburban neighborhoods. And in general it worked pretty well, though not always expediently. And of course it was this medium of correspondence that I was reminiscing over, so it seemed appropriate given the circumstances. 

I tell you, it's been a long time since I've written - by hand - that much. And it was only one page. Single sided. And my hand hurt afterwards. My how soft we've become!

In any case, I was somewhat limited in that the only address I had for this person was their parents' house. At least it was their parents' house 22 years ago. I have no idea if they're still there, or if anyone's there who would know them or her or could possibly pass the letter on to its intended recipient, wherever in the world she may be. But it's what I had to work with, so I figured what the heck, and sent it off into the void. It cost little for me to do. A postage stamp. Chances are, it will probably end up in someone's recycle bin. Or, if I'm lucky, it might bounce back to me as undeliverable. At least then I'd know.

But hey, what did I have to lose?

And who knows, maybe the hand of fate will smile down on me, and somehow, sometime, that letter will make it successfully to the end of its intended voyage. Stranger things have happened. Maybe not to me, but to somebody. So I've heard. And who knows, maybe, someday I'll actually receive a reply.  That's the thing that was kind of neat about mailing letters - waiting in anticipation for a reply. Checking the mailbox each day for a letter with your name on it. But again, in all likelihood, I will not see a reply. If I do...I'll be sure to update this post at the end. And thus, my dear readers can join me, waiting in anticipation for something that may never come.

You never know. At least I tried.

UPDATE: My old friend got the message. We had a nice chat and caught up a bit. Here's to finding friends from the past!

Mayday!

Usually I post a recent picture from my iPhone library on these things, but I found that this cartoon captured the essence of today better than any photos I had taken recently. It's May already? Good lord time sure flies. It seems like it goes faster the older we get. Or is that just me? 

It was actually a theme in a recent episode of This Is Us. Which, incidentally is one of the best dramas on TV. If you haven't watched it, go. Watch it now. It's amazing. But anyway, it was in a wedding toast by Randall where he describes how "the older we get, the faster time just seems to come at us." Too true.

So it's May now, and I can't seem to recall anything of great significance that happened in April. A lot of the usual - work, kid, school, soccer, repeat. Connor and I shared a lovely head cold, taking turns with Covid tests. But now it's a new month, the sniffles are almost behind us, the music is playing down the hallway as the kid has drifted off to sleep.

And hey, we're less than two months away from our family vacation, a return to Alaska on Princess Cruises. After being delayed for two years, it should be a welcome treat. And even Randall suggested that time seems to slow for important moments, like family vacations. I hope that's true. 

Meanwhile at work, much of our office staff is transferring or retiring, so we've got some new faces on board. Or coming on board soon, anyway. That will at least stir up some things, make it more interesting as we try and figure out who is doing what around there. Times change! Of course being in my 23rd year there I'm sure I'll get leaned on for training help, if even just to acquaint people with the stuff we do in music that differs from other departments. We are kind of in our own little world after all. 

I could technically retire in three years...

But first I have to get through this school year. And since it's May now, that means it's that much closer! Really, only a couple more weeks of concerts and then it winds down at Sac State. And my 23rd year will be done. 

Boy, that's a long time when you think about it...almost a quarter century! I was so young and fresh when I started. So full of life, bright eyed and eager like a puppy. Time came at me fast, and now here I am. Quite a bit older, hopefully a bit wiser, definitely more tired.

Mayday! Mayday! Nah, it will be okay. Time, come at me.

Birthday Eve

So here it is, the evening before my birthday. Tomorrow I magically jump forward one year in age, transitioning from 46 to 47. I'm still going to consider that my "early mid-forties". Have to hold onto youth as long as you can. Peter Pan had it so easy! So I included a photo here of the poppies in bloom in North Natomas. What better symbol of youth and renewal than the newly born flowers of spring! 

Having birthdays is certainly better than the alternative, but I could do without the aging. That part's not fun. It's nice however that the state of California saw fit to give me a holiday on my birthday. Well, okay, it's technically Cesar Chavez day, but I reserve the right to make it my day. Don't we all like to be king for a day?

Tomorrow I'm going for a hike. Somewhere new, for me. Specifically, Hidden Falls Regional Park, up north of Auburn. I debated going on my usual mecca to San Francisco. But hey, it's a new day of a new year of life, so let's mix it up a bit. This is supposedly a popular spot for hiking, but hopefully on a weekday - even a state holiday weekday - it won't be so bad. In any case, I always get an early start to the day, so hopefully I'll beat any sort of rush of outdoor enthusiasts. 

I think I'll even bring my big boy camera.

This evening, in order to start my birthday holiday right, I went downtown for a bite of dinner. I was actually going to hit Crepeville, but it seems they haven't come back to full operations since Covid. They were closed. As of 2pm! Yikes. Since I was already downtown hitting the pavement,  I went for another place, ending up at Golden Road Brewing. Another new (to me) place. Nice little place for a beer and a bite to eat. Not an expansive menu, but the carne asada street tacos were quite tasty! 

So after the hike tomorrow, we'll see what else the day will hold. One of the advantages of not going to San Francisco is not spending so much time on the road, leaving more time for other possibilities in and around Sacramento. A birthday is a good excuse, I suppose, to treat yourself. To something, anything. Happy Hour, anyone?

Ready for March

Here we are, on the eve of March. I promised to myself, more or less (some time ago), to write more here. It doesn't seem I'm succeeding. I suppose one could say that's a good thing - it's means I've been keeping busy in the real world away from the computer screen. And, well, I suppose I have.

This weekend was a banner weekend, as weekends go. I logged over 20,000 steps each day, including during one of my frequent and infamous trips to San Francisco on Saturday. It was a pleasant day for a walkabout there, if not a little bit cold and overcast, but I capped it off with lunch and drinks at Nick's Crispy Tacos (which, ironically, has little on the menu in the way of crispy tacos). And I splurged on my calorie intake with a Ghirardelli chocolate crepe, from a place near the Embarcadero aptly named The Crepe Cafe. 

On the way home on Saturday I stopped at IKEA, because they finally had the new office chair in stock that I've been wanting to get for my new place. So, that was a win.

Sunday was unusually productive - for me - with a morning walk to the distant Safeway in search of Starbucks hot chocolate, followed by a long stint at the computer where I completed and electronically filed my income taxes. Hooray! Somewhere in there I did some laundry and went by school to make sure an event was setup for, before doing a nice walk along the American River Bike Trail. And later I even found time for margaritas and Southwestern Eggrolls at Chili's.

Also, I found a nickel on the sidewalk. So. That was a good day.

In between all of this (and perhaps against my better judgement; we shall see on that one in time) I spent some time getting to know the dating app Match.com. I had actually been using the Facebook dating feature on the mobile version for the past, I don't know, year and a half or so. The Facebook one has the advantage of being free, which is certainly a good selling point. But frankly, little came of it. Little still comes of it, as I still periodically check in and like this profile or that profile. And then they disappear into the nether and you never hear from anyone. That is pretty much the essence of online dating these days. Or so it seems for me anyway. Your results may vary. 

The more legitimate dating apps like Zoosk and Match.com - which of course you have to pay for - tend to offer a little more hope as you navigate through piles of profiles, liking some here, sending a little message there. The messages amount, of course, to a fairly desperate attempt to get anyone to see your likes and respond to them. And, well, some do. On occasion. I mean I've only been using Match for half a week now, so we'll see how it goes as time progresses. But at least with the paid apps, you can see when people view your profile. Again. Instilling hope. And unlike Facebook, you have the ability to write more about yourself (up to 10x more than Facebook allows) and narrow the field of parameters in the profiles shown to you. Am I crazy for doing this? Quite possibly. At least I've already gotten to talk to some new people, which for an introvert is a HUGE step! Again, I'll see how it goes..

But, all in all, it was a good, useful, and quite varied weekend. Now, I suppose, I'm ready for March!

Sure, Why Not

So it's Valentine's Day morning! Another happy Monday at work.  I sent my V-Day wishes to the parents and of course to my son. Well, and I suppose also the cat, though that really amounted to her flopping over on the ground so I could scratch her back with my foot. But that was the extent of my reverie for this supposed holiday.

Well, it's a lot different of a "holiday" when you're single...not that I haven't tried dating in my post-marriage-mid-life world. I have, I have. But I'm still as yet buying my own chocolates (and not above eating chocolate chips straight from the bag). Dating in these times, with these circumstances, can be quite trying. So I guess for now I remain on the anti-V-Day team, as lines are typically drawn in the sand, on social media, wherever. You either love the day or fairly despise it.

And, well, that's it for that.

Oh, Connor broke his finger. His first broken bone! Quite a milestone in a young child's life, your first broken bone. It happened Friday night at soccer, he took a hard shot right to the pinky. Apparently. I wasn't there. But you know it's bad when he pulls himself out of the soccer game. I got him back on Sunday morning, and he was all bandaged up with a splint. Oh, this will provide memories for years to come.

In other news, I walk a lot last week. I mean I walk a lot every week. But last week, Sunday to Saturday, I logged 14379 steps. That's an average of over 8 miles a day. Go me.  And still, doctors recommend that you get 10,000 per days. Amateurs!

But that's really all I have to report on for now. Maybe I'll go get some dark chocolate somewhere...happy Valentine's Day to me! I mean, sure, why not?

Another Month Bites The Dust

Wow! Another month has passed by already. Well, almost. Close enough. It's the hind end of January, and the times they are flying by. Before you know it, we'll be winding down 2022 and looking forward to the next New Year. Or not. Who knows what may come?

Admit it. You didn't read the title of this post...you sang it.

Anyhoo, it's Saturday night and tomorrow my son returns home from whatever escapades he's been engaged in while at his mother's house. Seems like only yesterday there were still three nights to go. Flying! I went for an early morning walk this morning out along the parkway, in the bitter cold. But the sun was rising and it was quite picturesque. Hence...this picture. 

I went shopping afterwards, to Target and Dollar Tree and Big 5. And I went for a bike ride out around the North Natomas Regional Park. I went to Chili's for some drinks and food and lively banter with the bartender. And I watched Dear Evan Hansen - the movie - this afternoon. All in all, a busy and fulfilling day. As Saturdays go.

I figure, I should get out and about as much as I can - while I still can. I mean, come on, I'm not in my twenties anymore. I'm getting old! Slowing down. Who knows how long I'll still be fit enough to do these sorts of things? And of course, no one wants to reach reach the twilight years of their life and look back and wish you had done more. Though I'm sure pretty much everyone does. There's never enough time, it seems, and always so much to do, to see, to learn, to experience. Does anyone ever finish? Seems doubtful. If so, they would certainly be one content human being.

How much more do I have to do? Maybe I should make a list. A...bucket list??

Or, I can sit here clickety clacking on the computer and recording my thoughts for all eternity. Well, at least until someone in charge realize this Blogger thing isn't all that anyway.  But for now, it's good, it's good. I'd like to say, this past month, that I read some more and expanded my horizons. Nope. I did, however, take an overnight trip to San Francisco last weekend. First overnight trip anywhere since this whole Covid business started. Progress? I suppose. I did eat at places I had never been before, drank at bars I had never frequented before. Chatted up a cute bartender. So. There's that.

In any case, one month of 2022 is down. Next week we start February. Oh and also the second week of classes at Sac State. Not that you'd know from being there, since most everything was made virtual for the first two weeks. Hello, Covid surge! But I guess, at the end of the January was a pretty decent month. Well, it has to be - I can't very well go back and do it over! It's done. Next!