8/15/09-Eastern-Tortola Treasure Seekers #3

[hmansure]

Hi all, posting from Animal Kingdom Villas. This place is beautiful, ADR's for Boma tonight for dinner. Hey Harry, a full report of this resort when I get home with pictures!! We've been swimming, watching movies, and relaxing. There was an area to make t-shirts by the pool, Jordan loved that activity, and last night a parade through the lobby with African instruments, she loved that too. This is all feeding my picture addiction.

BTW, Kristen the rooms look great!!!!

Awesome! Looking forward to the report. Need a report on Boma, too - that's on our list of possible restaurants for November.

 

[captaincrash]

OK..... OUCH!

Hey I get da message!

Hoz everyone doin'?

I justgot in from seein' IRON MAN with my little girl and a buddy with his son. It's a real winner! Aside from a couple of racy moments where my daughter averted her eyes, and a couple of slightly intense moments - it's a nice "ride"!

 

[captaincrash]

Hi all...

Guess,, what they finished our addition today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jd99]

Hey Harry!
It's Penguins-Flyers! Can't wait. Wish I had tickets for a game but I'm not up for standing in line overnight to score some of the 2,000 tickets that they save for non season tix holders. I used to work in a business where I had tickets offered all the time but now that I'm an entrepreneur I'm supposed to be the one providing the tix to my clients. Fat chance.

Let's go Pens!

jeff

 

[kritter]

Hey Crash,

Good to hear from you. How are things out in your neck of the world!!!!!!?????????

 

[captaincrash]

Busy, happy, sad, relaxed...

The Usual K, Busy and happy cuz we have our 90 day payment deadline approaching and I got several families (and our TA) asking Qs. Plus we started girl scouts with the kids, and we've got vacation travel more or less fully booked from now through September. Relaxed because everything is cool. We have a nice gathering of friends and family aproaching in August and another series of smaller gatherings planned before and after Aug.. Sad because of folks near us who are ill. In one case a couple of teachers at our preschool are mother and daughter. The family has had terrible times with a devorce and subsequent developement of Chrons' Disease with the daughter. And, the Mother and daughter were not on speaking terms for a while... yet they continued to work at the same school together. Making the mild animosity a persistant issue. Sad. Recently the daughter withdrew for medical reasons - and the Mom more or less THEN discovered her daughter was terminally ill. Just today the daughter returned to work at school - and from what I've heard they (the Mom and daughter) are on better speaking terms with the illness being known to all.

This plus another friend who is now on chemo for life with a medication that is costing her ins co. $96,000 a year for this one medication alone. It's supposed to be quite good with no side effects - one of those new age "magic bullet" medications that has few applications yet the same high developement costs for any medication of its' sort. SO... the cost is justified and the cost mildly eye popping. Alicia tells me there are medicatons in this field that push up to $150-180,000 a year for some patients. But those medications are almost certainly worth 100x thier cost to thier patients.

These kind of things give rise to my sometimes sober reflections on life in general. I'll try to find a copy of a recent story I shared on the other thread - a discussion with my dentist last week. Let me go and see if I can find it to edit in here....

I have a mildly interesting story to share...

Today I went to my Dentist to get a filling fixed that fell out a couple of days ago. He's pretty good - and when he came in he paused to chat with me a bit as usual. So - when asked whats' up with me - I told him we were looking forward to sailing a couple weeks from LA to FLorida. He then asked - if we were transiting the panama canal... I said yes and that we had a group of about 26 going plus a larger group of several hundred Disney Cruise enthusiasts on hand too. He replied that we were very lucky to be doing the trip... he had not taken a vacation that long in too many years.

I believe he was waxing candid... as he went on to share that a woman he had been chatting with today (or yesterday) spoke of how they had wished they had done more fun travel because she had brain cancer. When they found the cancer it had grown to a large size and had crushed the optic nerve causing near blindness in one eye... so she was now considered legally blind. He went on to chat with a note suggesting he needed to slow down and do some fun travel with family and friends.

I then replied we had family and friends in part because we were spending time with loved ones who might be chronicly ill... and so this was in part a plan to achieve maximum quality family time together ... and that we had friends who were fighting bad cancer problems. One friend in particular had renal cancer that had spread to develope into a brain tumor that had to be removed recently. Now her medication was a "for life" thing and cost the health insurance company $8,000 a month! He responded with naturally sober astonishment.

I added that I now look on the times we have as usually precious. Silly how we spend this time too sometimes... but I do pay special attention to nurturing good times while allowing annoying moments to wash over and out of me... for example ... when I recently got another traffic ticket (I tell you - our fiscally bankrupt California government has directed the police to crank up the pressure on writing lots of tickets!)... as I wuz saying... when I got a ticket I took it... sinserely thanked the officer for doing his job to protect us from everything bad ... and I drove off without a real care as to what this was going to cost. And yeah... it is annoying.... but I'm doing a real good job of telling myself ... "so what?".

At any rate, the moral of this story... a) we are indeed lucky to do such an extraordinary trip... it IS going to be a truly memorable and special thing, b) Life is indeed too short NOT to do things like this ... which is a great reason to have this sort of "fun", and c) in all other respects ... travel aside .... we should all do what we can to relax more on the things that threaten our sanity... while developing more time to wax romantic on things worth living for and enjoying in life. No matter WHAT that might be. SO ... with that in mind I am going to go get me some creamed spinich because I have a craving fer it! And it's gonna put a smile on my face as my tummy humms with pleasure!

SO.... when I stepped out of the Dentists' office there was an elderly lady standing in front of my car - I asked if she needed a lift. SHe said she was waiting for a cab. I asked if she had just seen my Dentist - and she said yes. I told her I had just finished too and that I would be happy to give her a lift almost anywhere she needed to go. So after a little more chit chat she accepted. On the drive over we talked about how we found our dentist and how he came highly recommended to me. Than as we parted we parked and just talked for a spell. It turns out she was nearly 90 but did not really look a day over 70 to me. She really liked that remark - and it was the truth. I was glad to have saved her cab fare and shared pleasant conversation with her.

Nad here is the first remark that appeared to this - it was mildly embarassing - and charming just the same.

your coolness continues to amaze me.

So truly, life is wonderful! Things are cool... and I hope the same is true for you as well!

 

[captaincrash]

Hey K...

... check out this custom Bobble head doll I ordered of Alicia! I have a recordable voice chip installed and I'm gonna use it for our anniversery on the August cruise (2008). What do you figure her brothers and parents will say?

On another point ...

I just ordered a custom made Bobble head doll of Alicia for chuckles...

... it won't get here in time for Mothers' Day ... so I was thinking of giving it to her on our TOAL...

... or I will save it to give her for ... gee ... I don't know know what?

Valentines' Day? ... or Christmas? Well... I'll figure something out...

... our anniversery will be celebrated on the TOAL... so maybe it will be given on the TOAL!?

She's sooo tough to buy for - this is definately something she doesn't have (yet)...

http://www.whoopassenterprises.com/step1.php?productTypeId=1&categoryId=5

I ordered it with a special recordable 10 second VOICE chip (cost $15 extra)

All said it came to $83.45 after adjustment for $5 email referral discount and inclusive of $13.50 handling fee.

Am I a little unstable or what?​

I hacked an image of Alicia to match up a simulation of what it might look like. Hilarious, eh? The kids think I should make one up for each of them too!

 

[captaincrash]

While searching for a posting to edit into my posting 2 up from here - I stumbled across this again - and I think it's too good not to share again here!

Hope you look upon this with sage curiosity...

Here I go getting serious but I thought I would share since I consider you my friends.

A Birth Certificate shows that we were born
A Death Certificate shows that we died
Pictures show that we lived!

Have a seat . . . Relax . . . And read this slowly.

I Believe... That just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do love each other.

I Believe... That we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I Believe... That no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe... That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I Believe... That you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I Believe... That it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
I Believe... That you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe... That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I Believe... That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe... That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe... That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I Believe... That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I Believe... That my best friend and I, can do anything, or nothing and have the best time.

I Believe... That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe... That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe... That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe... That it isn't always enough, to be forgiven by others. sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I Believe... That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe... That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but, we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe... That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life Forever.

I Believe... Two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I Believe... That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I Believe... That even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you - you will find the strength to help.

I Believe... That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe... That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon "The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything."

 

[caitlinsdad]

Hey crash

Glad to hear from you.

 

[captaincrash]

Hey!

Hoz it goin'?

... anything nu in your neck of da woods?

 

[hmansure]

Hey Harry!
It's Penguins-Flyers! Can't wait. Wish I had tickets for a game but I'm not up for standing in line overnight to score some of the 2,000 tickets that they save for non season tix holders. I used to work in a business where I had tickets offered all the time but now that I'm an entrepreneur I'm supposed to be the one providing the tix to my clients. Fat chance.

Let's go Pens!

jeff

Hopefully it will be a good series - I think it will be. For the Flyers - going from worst to the Final 4 is an unexpected treat really. We're going to Game 3 and Game 6 (if there is one)... Game 4 I have a conflict - I think I'll do pretty good selling them though

 

[caitlinsdad]

Hey!

Hoz it goin'?

... anything nu in your neck of da woods?

Just working and paying bills

 

[captaincrash]

Work and bills, eh?

All I can say in response then is...

​

 

[DisCrazzy]

Aboard!!! my name is Samantha and i'll be 17 by the time we cruise.

Hi Samantha. My son Brett will be celebrating his 17th birthday on board. His b-day is 8/17. He is so lucky...we always seem to cruise during the week of his birthday!

I'm sure you guys will be hanging out.

Jenn

 

[hmansure]

Hi everyone! I, along with many others, are parked on another thread as we impatiently wait for November hours to be released....

 

[MephamKickliner09]

Hi Samantha. My son Brett will be celebrating his 17th birthday on board. His b-day is 8/17. He is so lucky...we always seem to cruise during the week of his birthday!

I'm sure you guys will be hanging out.

Jenn

Thats awsome!!! i got to celebrate my sweet 16 this past august on the disney cruise early. my b-day is 10/22 so i got to celebrate my b-day early. this cruise i'll be celebrating my high school graduation nd my brother will be celebrating his middle school graduation.
I cant wait to meet Brett and i'll be hanging out with everyone on the cruise too

~Samantha

 

[uncw89]

Hi everyone! I, along with many others, are parked on another thread as we impatiently wait for November hours to be released....

me too Harry! when are they going to post those hours! I'm also waiting for the dates of SSW to be released!

 

[kritter]

Evening All. Just in from a LOONG day how is everyone???!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hmansure]

me too Harry! when are they going to post those hours! I'm also waiting for the dates of SSW to be released!

Hopefully soon. I think SSW is going to be pushed back a week to 11/15 though (we're not soap fans anyway). Last year we had Fantasmic dinner ADRs for the Saturday not knowing it was SSW. We ended up changing our park plans that day - not because of SSW specifically, but not wanting to have to deal with additional crowds, etc.

 

[kritter]

Hey Harry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!