Erin and I have spent a fantastic day thus far, without actually doing anything. We slept relatively late, due to the fact that we went to a late movie last night (A Knight’s Tale) then we went to the gym for a half hour treadmill session. They’ve got nice machines there. Anyway, after showering, we watched Junkyard Wars (which I’d never seen before, and kind of wanted to see) then went for a soak in one of the nearby hot tubs. There is a pool complex of sorts with two hot tubs and a small pool fairly close to here (practically right above our cabin, but not quite) after a brief soak, we came back to the cabin and had a nap for a bit - it was getting quite hot out.

Something I forgot to mention about the flight from Toronto. Just as we were flying over Miami, the pilot broke the bad news about the Canada Russia game at the world juniors. After he was done his announcement, a stewardess “translated” the announcement into French. She had “us” losing to the United States, which I found quite amusing for two reasons - 1) we weren’t playing the US. and 2) we were flying into Miami, so it’s not a given that the majority of the passengers were Canadian. I found it funny anyways. I’m glad I took French through high school. I can’t speak it very well (read at all) but when I hear it spoken, I can generally understand what’s being said.

Anyway, that’s enough of a side-track. Back to our day. After the nap, we went to the buffet place and got some pineapple and watermelon to eat, not a whole lot, just enough to tide us over until a (planned) late supper. Tonight is Formal night onboard, so we (Erin) ironed the wrinkles out of the stuff we’re going to wear tonight. We went for a bit of a tour of the ship after that, going to a couple of places that we hadn’t been yet, specifically the business center (where Internet access is available, but really only Email and Web) and some kind of children’s center where people dump their kids for the day. Then we came back here to grab our books, and sat on the deck (well, not literally, we were sitting on deck chairs) for a while to read. Erin’s getting showered up for tonight, while I write this, then I suspect we’ll go out and watch the sun set over Cuba (which we’re travelling by right now) I’m hoping I can get a good picture or two at any rate.

Cease operations immediately and leave the building by the nearest exit or fire exit. Do not use the elevators. Do not use the elevators.

That’s what woke me up this morning (admittedly at 9:30) Not a pleasant way to start the day…

That’s right, I won’t be able to do updates from the ship. Kinda sucks I guess, but such is life. I will still do all the updates, then put a link up to the beginning of the cruise updates in the final entry.

We’re on board, and underway. We had supper a little while ago, met some people, tried to go to a show (that was full) and then went and had dessert. Our cabin is right at the back of the ship, so we can basically step out our cabin door to a deck which looks like it will be mostly deserted - nice and private like at any rate. The ride hasn’t been super smooth to this point, so hopefully it smoothes out some. It kinda feels like I’m sitting on a vibrating bed typing this up. There’s only one plugin in the room, but that’s not a huge deal, the laptop won’t need charging if we only use it plugged in, and the camera can charge overnight.

We’re doing “Personal Choice” dining, which means that we can go for supper when we feel like it, and get seated then - no worries about the strict 6:30 and 8:15 dining times. Supper was good, if unspectacular - I’ve certainly had better at Poverinos back home. Speaking of which - we haven’t run into anyone who knows where the *&%$*% Saskatoon is :) Not really surprising, though we haven’t run into any Canadians yet either. <Sarcastic Comment about Americans view of Canadians Deleted >

I forgot to pack a belt, so we had to buy one for an exorbitant rate, though not as bad as it could be. Hmmmm. I don’t know what else has happened since the last update. Oh yeah. We went for breakfast at the hotel - it wasn’t great, but the fruit was fantastic. The waiter asked if we wanted Coffee or Orange Juice, and we declined, but then I remembered that we were in Florida, so we asked for some juice after all. Now, normally I don’t care for Orange Juice much, but this was so completely unlike any orange juice I’ve ever tasted, it’s not even funny. Very freshly squeezed from very fresh oranges I suppose. Super good OJ.

After that, we waited outside with our luggage for a while, basically waiting for the bus to arrive. There were a whole bunch of busses going to a whole bunch of ships - its a wonder that we have our luggage, though it’s mostly because we made damn sure it was on the same bus as us, tagged properly and everything. Nothing worse than having your luggage somewhere that you’re not. After waiting in line for what seemed like a long time to get on a bus, we got driven to the ship. Then we got to wait in a super long line to go through security, then another super long line to get our room keys, then a shorter line to get on the ship. We learned all about long lines. I literally have never spent so much time standing in lines - not even when we went to the Ex last time…

I suppose I should help Erin unpack, since she’s basically done now :)

I’m writing this from Gate A at the Lester B Pearson International Airport in Toronto. We’ve got a bit of a layover here, like I mentioned in my last post. Anyways, the security is pretty tight - they’ve got the metal detectors set so high that the rivets on my jeans set it off. Lots of people get stuff confiscated, we had a thing of bug spray in our carryon that wasn’t allowed through the security checkpoint here (though they didn’t say anything in Saskatoon.) We had to check one of our carryons, or leave the bug spray behind. We decided to check the bag…No big deal, we just moved a couple of things around, and everything is fine.

The flight was good, though I didn’t have a very good time. They served breakfast in flight, and it was good, though I’m wearing quite a bit of it - damned orange juice jumped at me, and it was all I could do to subdue it. It got my shirt pretty good though. I also managed to stop the runaway bit of hashbrowns that was making a break for it. It got my shirt pretty good too.

I guess Erin and I are going to play a game of Galactic Empires 2051 A.D. now, so I’ll sign off. I won’t be uploading this right now though :)

I’m without my collection of Simpson’s quotes, so I’ll have to forego them while on holidays. Sorry everybody. (Sorry Dr. Nick…)

This is being written from the hotel room in Fort Lauderdale. Our flight out of Toronto was delayed by technical problems on the plane - one of the tv screens wasn’t working, so they had to remove it, and in the process of removing it they screwed up one of the oxygen masks, and so on. In the end, it was about an hour delay before we took off - no big deal, we made up half of that by speeding - the cops couldn’t catch us up there anyways.

When we arrived at our hotel, we were (still are actually) quite tired, so we played a few more rounds of GE2051AD (in which my surprise attack was completely successful in turning the tide of the game :) When we came into the hotel room, I spotted a rare Hilton Spoon in it’s natural habitat, on the bed. Somewhat disconcerting to find a dirty spoon in the middle of one of the beds - just how thorough are the housekeeping staff if they leave a spoon in the middle of the bed. I did manage to get a picture before it went into hiding on the room service guy’s tray.

Speaking of room service - I don’t understand it. They’ve got prices for the stuff on the menu, then you add $2.50 for delivery (no big deal) plus 18% delivery charge. I’m not sure why there’s another 18% added on there. Then, they expect a tip too - I’m not sure why a $10 pizza (10″) costs $16 to have delivered to your hotel door… We likely would have been better off ordering from a pizza place - likely would have been better pizza too. I think we’re spoiled in Saskatoon with the price of things. The stuff in the hotel room costs the same or more than in Saskatoon (last time I checked) but it’s in Canadian money in Canada, and US here. For example, if we wanted to watch Seinfeld, it’s $6 per episode (only one episode to chose from) under their “Best of TV” category. Movies were $11 - Rush Hour 2 for example. Geez, a guy could buy the DVD for that practically (well, not quite, but you see my point)

I guess I’m just too cheap to go on vacation :)

This is the last entry I’ll be posting on this site from Saskatoon, until we get back from our cruise. I hope to be able to post some from the ship, but if not, I can hopefully post from shore. If not, I’ll likely just post comments to this article. It all depends on how we can get net access. I suspect that it shouldn’t be too difficult to wrangle a couple of minutes of net time to ftp the site up every now and then.

My bags are packed, and I’m anxious to leave, but the plane doesn’t leave until tomorrow at 7:55 in the morning. I think it’s going to be quite a nervous time sitting around the airport in Toronto, where we have a long 3-4 hour layover before continuing on to Miami. I think Erin and I will both sleep really well Friday night in the hotel room, cause we’ll be exhausted from the flight, and the lack of sleep (can’t sleep, too excited) leading up to the flight out.

Oh, by the way,

I am an Asteroid.

I am a drifter. I go where life leads, which makes me usually a very calm and content sort of person. That or thoroughly apathetic. Usually I keep on doing whatever I’m doing, and it takes something special to make me change my mind.

What Pre-1985 Video Game Character Are You?

I’ve seen a lot of those “what X are you” quizzes popping up lately, so many in fact that I’ve been quite selective of which ones I’ve done. But seriously, who could resist finding out which pre-1985 video game character they are? Not me apparently.

Erin and I went to Maguires last night as planned, and met up with both Jason’s, and their spouses (Amy and Mandy for those of you who are keeping track) I discovered that this web page has made me boring. Everyone had already heard all of my cool stories, and funny jokes (which didn’t stop me from trying to tell them anyways :) We had a good time, a few beers, and some food. It was good to see Jason and Mandy again, it’s been a while. For that matter, it’s been a while since we’d seen Jason and Amy. There’s really no excuse for that though. I think that’s going to be my new years resolution (other than 1024×768 on the laptop and 1152×864 at work) - to make sure we see our friends more often… Of course they might not appreciate that :)

Thus ends this chapter of the life of Greg…

Ah Frink, sadly we must say adieu, I’m running out of good Frink quotes. Ah, but I’ve saved perhaps the best for last - ok, not really…
Frink: “Well, sure, the Frinkiac-7 looks impressive, don’t touch it! But I predict that within 100 years computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.”
Apu: “Could it be used for dating?”
Frink: “Well, theoretically, yes, but! the computer matches would be so perfect as to eliminate the thrill of romantic conquest.”

I went out on a bit of a safari today - down 20th street to a pawn shop, looking for a set of binoculars. I was thinking we should get a pair quite a while ago, and the trip seemed like the perfect excuse to buy some. Well, seeing as we leave Friday morning at 7:55 (that’s when our flight leaves at any rate) time is running out, so I thought I’d make the trip today. I made it there in one piece (which is not always a given on 20th street) and had a look at their binoculars. What seemed like a nice selection turned into a poor selection once I tried them out - I couldn’t get most of them to focus well enough to see stuff through them. I don’t know if that’s because the optics were crap, or what, but when I did find a pair that focused properly, I snatched them up. Not only that, but they were the cheapest pair in the store - a whopping $29.99 - Most of them were in the $50 range, and there were some as much as $120, but as far as my needs, the cheapest ones seem to be best - plus they came with a handy pleather carrying case and a manual :)

Which brings me to today’s moment of hilarity - The manual start out with the following quote: “Haven’t you ever been asked the question ‘What is the difference between a field glass and a binocular?’ Certainly you have, a (sic) probably you are still wondering what that difference is.” Ah good stuff that. The rest is mostly normal sadly. Anyway, now I have a set of binoculars.

Tonight, Erin and I will be at Maguires around 6:15 - 6:30, we plan on getting supper, then just hanging out with whoever shows up - Jason and Mandy are in town (for those of you who don’t read the comments) so we’re meeting them, as well as Jason and Amy, and possibly others…That leaves one more night that we have available to get stuff done, like changing the locks, and stuff like that.

Link of the day: Harvard admissions e-mails blocked after AOL glitch identifies them as spam My only thought is that this is just another way for Harvard to try and weed out the unworthy (Come on, do you really want to admit people to your exculsive college if they use AOL?)

Frink of the day: “Step away foolish amateurs, just keep back, keep out of it the role is mine with the acting and the groupies and the “Luke! Luke! Save me!” with light saber and vwingg– vwingg– vwinnnnnnnnng”