Personal Quote #131

"Our most valuable possession isn't an object; rather, it is having the free time to do as we wish side by side."

Dennis Sylvester Hurd (1959- )

Wine Brewed by Friends

Cruise ship companies make a whole lot of money selling booze. When at sea, I do miss being able to drink craft beer from cheap growlers.

On our recent eastern Mediterranean cruise, we were in ports for 20 of the 24 days. I was able to try interesting mugs of foreign brew during our days ashore. I also purchased a drink card, so an evening glass with our formal meals didn't show up on the end-of-trip billing. The poolside bar on the Westerdam even had a few interestingly-labeled craft varieties in bottles. I'm not used to paying $US 7 for a beer, I admit.

The Holland America Lines allows just two bottles of wine when first embarking. I have friends who make a lot of wine in local, "you-brew" businesses. They always have a very nice selection when we visit. I was very happy they brought along two bottles of white when visiting last weekend. These bottles will be uncorked somewhere on the Pacific Ocean.

We'll Meet on the Embarcadero

We're already excited about boarding another Holland American cruise ship. It seems we just got off one in Rome so recently, but with two full weeks in between, these aren't really back-to-back. We've had just enough time to recuperate and let the local weather turn towards winter.

Before the MS Noordam heads to Hawaii and points beyond, we take a few leisurely days to move south. First, we spend next Monday in Seattle. We hope to meet up with some friends. It's been so long since we spent leisure time in Seattle, we have yet to do the Seattle's Great Wheel. It'll be nice hanging around Pike Place Market sipping either Starbucks or craft beers.


Daragh in Coal Harbour, Vancouver, BC - May 7, 2009
Then, before changing course westward, we dock at Pier 35 in San Francisco. We spend all of Thursday, the 28th there. Thankfully, I was able to message our old friend, Daragh. He's a friend from a long time ago and the adjective describes us all nowadays. We met this bloke during our days in Dubai. Time at the Higher Colleges of Technology was a different but delightful epoch. We have seen the guy a few times up here in Vancouver.

If I Had One to Trade

Sorry, I wouldn't take three of your shiny, one-ounce, pure gold coins for one bitcoin.

Columbia Street Gang

It was our turn to host dinner and, luckily, the guys were available last night. We had to scramble for this chance as we leave on the cruise to Auckland next Sunday. When we return in November, one member of the clan will be away. Then, later that month, we depart for the winter.



So, this had to be it until April of 2018! It was nice seeing everyone.

From Albania to Vietnam

I am absolutely sure I never want to do paid work again. Just the thought of getting up in the morning to go teach a class makes me physically ill. I shall never, ever understand why some people keep at it for so many, often unnecessary, years. Therefore, I find it a little bit odd I enjoy keeping my resume up to date. The document does contain some of the very first computer keystrokes I ever made. The formatting has changed over the years and much data has been added, but this document surely contains pieces created in the 1980's on the clickity keyboard of an IBM-compatible PC.

Since my early-retirement, however, this document's basic structure has remained pretty much the same. Just about the only part which needs updating nowadays is under the Foreign Travel section. I just added four new countries in anticipation of the beginning of next week's 42-day cruise to New Zealand.


Click the image to load a printable PDF copy.

Dredging the Fraser River

I've been watching this ship a lot this week from our balcony. It's working to dredge this part of the Fraser River of mud and silt.

Nearly across the river from us, the reclaimed dirt is piled on vacant port land. I cannot get close to look at the process up close, but the pumps utilized must be amazing pieces of mechanical equipment. I find these sorts of things fascinating.

The Chrome Dinosaur Sucks!

I'm happily connected at just 25 Mbps at the moment. I'm not greedy. We're fairly heavy Internet users compared to many; however, my present connection seems perfectly fast enough. I think I'm just happy being back online, period.

I didn't know how weird being disconnected would feel during our Adriatic/Mediterranean cruise. I thought spending a month without an Internet connection would be relaxing. It doesn't seem that many years ago we assumed we'd be without wifi during vacations.



Oh, my. I simply felt stupid. How fast is 19 knots per hour? Well, without Google I had no way of finding out. We're just so used to a ubiquitous connection that being without it was more than a bit disconcerting.

But you know what? We made it. We experienced life without constantly checking screens. It didn't kill us. Yet, I'm really not sure how well I'll cope if we do the same on the 42-day cruise to New Zealand which is coming up next weekend.

There's No Place

Man, it's taking us a while to get in sync with Pacific time. Who wants to be up really early in the morning when it's not necessary? Oh, it is never really necessary for us nowadays. Never.

The weather was great all day. It is nice being in such a beautiful location and then realizing it is the place we call home. Returning to New Westminster always makes me appreciate it much more.

Why the Hell Not?

It's not as if this is a Purchase Agreement; it's only a receipt for a Reservation. And, it'll take more than a year before they can even offer to make one for me. I can change my mind anytime.

Never Know What May Turnip

Today is a gorgeous, September day in BC. In the morning, we went up to our favourite place to buy fruit and vegetables. Although we stocked up after coming back from our recent trip, we have friends stopping for dinner this weekend. We eat a lot of local produce at this time of year.



I grew up when there were two choices for vegetables. For example, one could either buy a tomato or grow one's own. The homegrown ones were definitely always better. Now when I visit a farm market, I'm struck by a plethora of eatable plant parts, many of which I cannot identify without the helpful store signs.

The picture above shows nothing that I ever called a summer squash as a kid. Don't get me wrong: I think variety is great and choices preferable. It is good that mono-agriculture has moved towards diversification. My tomatoes might now be heirloom or range in size from a grape to a near pumpkin. On the same vein, or should I say vine, I'm sure I didn't know nearly as many types of apples when in school. Why? It's probably because there weren't as many.

Sometimes, labels really do help me identify a fruit or vegetable. For example, the following image is a Red Anjou. By the way, that means it's a Washington state pear.

I've Started Publishing

Days 4 to 28 - We boarded our cruise ship on August 15th. During the time aboard, my eJournal and images posts remained unpublished. This blog has been active since the fall of 2003 and so, of course, I continued creating daily posts and snapping pictures. They magically appeared online today now that we're at home.

We soaked up the sun and culture in the Western Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. "Wishing you were there."

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To see every single post detailing our trip, please click here. Of course, they'll show up on three pages in reverse order as is the norm this type of document.

Or one can start at Day One and progress through the trip by selecting the 'Newer Post' option under each day's text and pictures.

Personal Quote #130

"There are always a few good reasons for returning home. For me, one of them is the beer."

Dennis Sylvester Hurd (1959- )

Civitavecchia to Vancouver

Day 28 - Our stateroom's television screen showed the disembarkation schedule. We didn't want to lug suitcases to Rome and back, the only way to get from the ship port to the airport. We paid for Holland America's service to get us to FCO.



There were at least four other huge cruise ships at Civitavecchia. That meant thousands of others heading to the airport as well. However, it was all well organized and went very smoothly. Rome's airport was beautiful and efficient.



We flew through Toronto in order to get home tonight. The first flight was about nine hours and the second around four and a half. Air Transat was okay but I hated transferring through Toronto Pearson International Airport. It was a zoo and I can picture a lot of people not being able to make connections.



I hate flying and I forget this fact between trips. I kept counting down the minutes until we could get home! I didn't sleep and the food on the domestic segment was of course non-existent. Our bags made the transfer and I should be grateful for that, I guess. I did have to wait a bit at YVR for mine to show up on the carousel.

We SkyTrained back through downtown. It is so nice being home! It was 11:25 when we got in the door.

Naples, Italy

Day 27 - This was my third visit to the city of Naples. Although one of my favourite places in Italy, I was not really looking forward to this port. Jay and I had already done most of the 'touristy' things. We've climbed Mount Vesuvius, taken a hydrofoil to Capri, walked the streets of Pompeii, and visited beautiful Sorento. I was thinking that we'd just take the time to walk around town.





The port is in a premier spot right near downtown. We walked out and then the rain started. It poured for most of the day and not just showers. We spent about an hour in a big church waiting for the rain to let up. It didn't. We saw a lot of folks inside and figured they were doing the same, but after we finally decided to get a little wet, we passed a hearse destined for our place of refuge.

We came back early. This big ship feels as though it is home. After a bit more than three weeks, we will come to miss our time on the MS Westerdam. As the ship slipped out of Naples in the evening, we felt a little sad in knowing it was time to pack our bags. We fly home from Rome tomorrow.





We ate many fine dinners during the second half of our trip with Brian and Val. They are Australians and it was nice to get know them. Tonight was our final dinner with them at the 8:15 sitting on level 3 of the main dining area. It ended with a birthday cake for Jay's birthday. He turns another year older tomorrow and it was nice of Holland America to commemorate that fact.