10-14-2006 Cruisetoberfest IV

[cdnmickeylover]

Thanks Rosemary for doing the magnets!!!

Was going to ask how much gas was where people were cause ours has just gone over the $1/litre mark overnight -- the gas stations all need new signs for the third digit. I think that there are 4.6 litres to the gallon (but I'm not sure if that's the US gallon or the imperial gallon -- help Eric?) so we are now paying a LOT for gas although not as much as Eric (yet). Hard to believe that it was 78.5/litre just 3 weeks ago.

Forgot to mention that I think Daisy is adorable. A lot of work probably but adorable.

We went to a warehouse sale this afternoon and bought crockpots #6 and #7 -- a 6 quart one and a 1 quart one (neither size that we had before) and they were only $32 Cdn for both. A great deal. Jim doesn't like ties but he loves crockpots (and they get to live together in the cupboard too!). If you ever want a crockpot recipe ask him -- he's got tons. We actually have one that with a convertor device thing we can use in the car. It plugs into the 12V plug. Really cool actually to pull into a picnic place and while everyone else is eating sandwiches we have a hot meal.

Kim & Bette -- We finally found noodles and are using the floating seats that we got at the Christmas store -- they work great for just floating in the pool.

Just waiting for Jim to get back with the pizza I ordered online for pickup. We did have a light supper/late lunch earlier but that floating in the pool discussing our abs is hard work and we are hungry.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend.

Fiona

 

[papa]

Fiona it is 3.8 liters per US Gal. The reason that I know that is because the toilet has that printed on the tank. I paid $2.37 a gallon this afternoon. A little over .62 cents a liter. Mike

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Thanks Fiona! Yes, Daisy is a handful right now. Not to sound too gross, but the meds and the stress of the crate is causing her much, um, stomach distress! So, I have been up to my elbows in dung. We went to dinner tonight, gone a mear 2.5 hours after walking and pottying her, and found her crate was a TOTAL mess...a bath for her and a spray down for the crate. UGH. And the crate is the right size, it's just she is not feeling well.

Gas prices here have sky rocketed! It is now 2.54/gal. It went up nearly 20cents in 2 days. It hurts when you have 2 big cars. Since the arrival of Daisy, the boys and I have not really gone anywhere. So my car sat in the garage from Wednesday until today. Now I have no where to be until Thurs...unless we need groceries before then. I'll just have to make sure I combine trips and have my list with me so I don't forget items. When school starts I'll just have to get the boys up earlier and they can take the bus. It's too bad that where I live you can't walk to the store, bank, post office...otherwise I would. Where my folks live, you can. Which is good for everyone!

 

[Viking]

OK Folks,
just to show you how lucky you are:
Gas prices jumped 5 Eurocents per liter this week over here. That's 19 Eurocents per gallon (3.78 liters) or 24 US Cents.
Super (95 Octane) is at €1.319 per liter $6.18 per gallon.
Our new convertible averages 8.8 liters per 100 kilometers or US-style 27 mpg with 70% city-driving/30% Autobahn.
Really tough it gets for those beefed-up Beemers or Porsches, which all guzzle Super Plus/Ultimate (98-100Octane) at €1.419/liter or $6.51 per gallon. But even the newer Volkswagen Golf or Jetta needs that stuff in it's 105hp to 200hp-engines as they use direct injection at a very high compression ratio.

IMHO there's a lot of unnecessary panic when it comes to gas prices:
-It's more or less the only price which is displayed at every street corner und thus everybody is very conscious of it. Compared to the rise in income, gas is cheaper nowadays than 20 years ago.
-People complain about it without thinking thoroughly:
Anja & I drive about 18,000km per year (11,187mls) at 8.8l/100km, which translates to 1587l/year or 420 gallons. so even if the price goes up €.10 per litre this costs us an additional €158,70 per year or € roughly €13/$16 per month - so what
-As long as people do things with SUVs they could very well do in a regular car, gas obviously is still very affordable. If you have a trailer to haul (i.e. horse, boat) or have a ranch/farm and NEED a car like that, it's OK to nag. But if you drive a hog like this, because you WANT it, you have no reeason to complain. For the price we paid for our convertible we could also have gotten a fully loaded Toyota Prius, which easily exceeds 50mpg. To be honest, we even considered it. But we WANTED that convertible and we can afford it. So I grit my teeth and pay €60-70 ($75-88) for a tank - and enjoy life cruising with the top down
-And here's another proof that gas is still cheap: Yesterday I saw that half a litre of Ben&Jerry's Icecream is €4,99 at our local supermarket, which translates to €37,72 per gallon or $46.77. That icecream needed not to be pumped out of subterranean rerservoirs, shipped around the globe and refined. Nothing justifies that price, neverteless people buy that treat.

So next time you fill up your bike, car or truck: Just praise your luck that you don't have to use Ben&Jerry's to propel it Or for those in Tennessee: Imagine you would have to fill it with Jim Beam

OK, I'm off the soapbox now

 

[winotracy]

Yesterday when we went to fill up to get home (would have run out of gas about 10 miles from home otherwise), we paid $2.679 for regular! I can't believe it is that high! I can just imagine what the prices will be in California next week!

Tracy

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Eric, I TOTALLY agree with your post! It's just hard when it goes up 20 cents nearly over night! I hate when milk goes up so fast too! I guess we just don't want to pay more for stuff. We knew when we bought 2 big trucks that gas would be an issue. I told my neighbor, If I can spend nearly $50,000 for a truck, then an extra few bucks in the tank should not be an issue. And when you break down the calculations, you are right. what's another few dollars each month. Try making a cup of coffee at home and taking it with you instead of buying that Starbucks. There's your extra gas money! As you said, this was the car we wanted. Sure, I could have got a smaller car, but for our lifestyle, it just wasn't going to work. We do need the space it offers. That said, it would still be wise to watch where I was going and combine trips when I do. Nothing wrong with trying to save a buck or two! Then, maybe I CAN stop at Starbucks every now and then!

 

[Viking]

I can just imagine what the prices will be in California next week!

Tracy

I can tell you, Tracy: About half what they will be here

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Thanks for the conversion Mike -- I know that the US gallon is smaller than the imperial gallon but wasn't sure of the actual conversion. I don't actually have to convert anything usually so don't know the conversion charts that well.

My problem with the gas prices is that it went up overnight not really that it went up. The gas at the gas station did not cost $67/barrel as it was purchased/refined long ago. I'll just have to pay more to get to work -- work is about 35km away each way so I don't have a lot of choice until I get a chance to move closer to work which would be wonderful.

I'll also fill up the tank the next time we cross the border too!! $2.49/gallon is cheap.

Fiona

 

[papa]

Fiona Kathy and I are always saying that the gas in the stations in ground tanks has been there before the price increases so that it is pure profit for the operators when they increase prices.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Mike -- And it's not like they are going to lower the price if the prices go down either!

Fiona

 

[Hygiene99]

that is just the way it works in the tank does not matter the price at the pump revolves around the futures price..
Price will drop and there is stuff in the tank ?


it is all very high around here....

 

[wendym]

Mum and I always laugh at prices for gas in the US - we live in the so called oil capital of the world and pay a fortune for gas so US prices are great for us. Eric, I love the comparison to ice-cream!
Rosemary, thank you for offering to make the magnets.
Tracy, you will find everything dearer in California. What got me was the 70 cents more we had to pay for bottled water in Disneyland as compared to WDW!
Wendy

 

[jeanneg]

Just for the record, gas in Raleigh is about $2.33/gal, which is slightly less expensive than some others have posted. Of course we don't like the higher prices, but we always tell ourselves we can well afford it in view of the fact that there are many others for whom this is a tremendous hardship. I am sure there are many people who must choose between fueling their cars and putting food on their tables. The rising prices are a bummer for us all, but hey, we're all wealthy enough to cruise (and multiple times for most of us), so we really have to look at it in perspective.
And now I shall descend from my soapbox!
JeannieC: yes, we used Magical Express and had no problems whatsoever with it. We checked our luggage in Raleigh and didn't see it until later on that day. But we were told that would happen and so we had all our important stuff (like park passes!) in our day bag. There's no reason why you should pay for the Mears bus. But you MUST let Disney know you are doing it ahead of time. They will send you a voucher and they did check them. If US Air doesn't participate, there's storage underneath the bus and lots of people used that so it's not a big deal at all.

 

[jeanneg]

Oooops, almost forgot....Thank-you, Rosemary, for taking over the magnets. I was wondering if we would have them this cruise because Renee did such a great job in the past and I am completely craft-challenged so I wouldn't even be able to make one for myself. I can help you will the cost if you'll do the actual making.

 

[wendym]

We used Magical Express too and had a wonderful experience. Our plane was 7 hours delayed but we never saw our luggage from Heathrow until our room in Pop Century. Ok we saw it briefly in Dulles when we had to go through customs/immigration but that doesn't count! We arrived at 9.50pm at MCO, were at Pop by 10.50pm and our luggage was in the room by 11.45pm!
Wendy

 

[Viking]

Thanks for taking over the job of producing the magnets, Rosemary
I'll show you on The List as 'The Magnetic Mistress' with the next revision.


We had constant rain for the whole day today and still have - at temps of about 10°C/50°F

 

[Tulirose]

Rosemary: Here's the link:

http://music.yahoo.com/promotions/whosnext

But now it's just a little more complicated. When the page comes up, click where the words MAE are underlined. You will get a photo of the lead artist. underneath it says "More" : click on VIDEOS and Suspension will be the first one. You want the video for Suspension and not the exclusive performance for it. The video features a little boy and a homemade plane. I hope that works.

No matter how many times I try, no matter how many internet windows I have open, whenever I try to access a video, any video, I see the commercial and then all my internet connections are closed and I get a window telling me to inform netscape of a problem.

So I guess I will never get to see the video.

And I think it is really weird how from my view in your post there is no link listed, nor is there a link listed in the quote above when I preview this post BUT the link shows in my quote post window. Did that make any sense?

 

[Tulirose]

Fiona...remember the snow fondly...not....we actually checked out of the hotel so we could get an early start and we were glad that we did....we hit snow as soon as we got to Connecticut ....... i

.......Tulirose...did you get to the Partheonon in Tennessee? We really enjoyed it there as Sarah loves those kind of things. Were the catfish still all around Nashville? We actually made a point to go and see Stacey's two fish (papa's very talented daughter). We also went to Belle Meade and the Hermitage. But the highlight of our trip was meeting Mike and Kathy and their family. Last year we met Jill Fox in Colorado.

I guess Rich and I were smart to leave cookienight the same day. I was jealous of everyone staying and going out to dinner. We made good time going home with no snow fortunately, and when we called a family member looking for another one, we were reminded that there was a family party going on due to a niece visiting from Wyoming so we got to make that party! We didn't realize you guys ran into snow and ice. Glad you made it home okay!

As far as you questions about Nashville, we got a private guided tour of the sights and sounds of Nashville including the Parthanon via the Papa Express. That was the first day of our arrival and it was an overview of the area. Then we went out to dinner! YUM! The next day was the Heritage and it was HOT HOT HOT!! but we had fun anyway. We really enjoyed more seeing and visiting with the friends and family we did on our our vacation rather than seeing things.

 

[jeanneg]

No matter how many times I try, no matter how many internet windows I have open, whenever I try to access a video, any video, I see the commercial and then all my internet connections are closed and I get a window telling me to inform netscape of a problem.

So I guess I will never get to see the video.

And I think it is really weird how from my view in your post there is no link listed, nor is there a link listed in the quote above when I preview this post BUT the link shows in my quote post window. Did that make any sense?

Rosemary,
It must be a firewall or some other sort of security attached to your computer. After the 30-second commercial it should play automatically. As far as never getting to see it, you could (1) watch Fuse or MTV2 24/7 in hopes of catching it or (2) you could come visit me since I have it Tivo'd several times over! (I like option #2.......)

 

[Tulirose]

.......
Ave...Not sure what we are going to do....drive, fly.....we will be interested in a room for Friday night, regardless. Do you suppose it might be cheaper to stay at All Stars or the like? Then we can take the bus, or rent limos and share rides? ......

....... Tell Anja that after about 6 months I may be willing to ship Daisy overseas...forever! J/K, She has really been very good, but I know too, that she is just "testing the waters". I dread those teenage puppy years! .....

It is so far away that it is hard to think of where to stay and such. Only thingS we are sure about at this point are:

• We are going on THIS cruise
• We are driving down
• We will arrive the day before cruise departs
• We will visit The Space Center the day we arrive in Florida (it's been ten years since we did this so we are due for another visit)
• We are looking forward to seeing you all!
• We will visit "The World" following the cruise for a few days.

In a post after this you mention how Daisy is having digestive problems. I hope she gets over them quickly. Our Hershey has been a very good boy but because of his size, at nine months old, I keep forgetting that he is still a puppy and loves to do puppy things such as chewing... which fortunately have only been his toys. He will take our sneakers, slippers, kitchen towel and my underwear and run around the house with them but gives them up readily and has not chewed them. Puppy Teenage years, I never thought of it like that before!