8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC #15 /Life After the PC

[ReAnSt]

I gotta go to bed. I am still sickish. I wish I could get rid of the Disney crud.

I have my doctor appointment tomorrow for my foot. I hope it is healed enough so I do not need surgery.

I am in major cruise withdrawal. I have a dummy date booked for Dec. 2009, but do not know when I will cruise again.

Hope all of you are doing well.

 

[RRBB]

THE DRYER IS HERE!!! THE DRYER IS HERE!!!

Someone told me that on the EB they called GS to find out about a washer/dryer that had an out of order sign on it on DCL paper. They found out that no order had been called in and someone was simply "reserving" it for their own use later on. OY!

Congrats on the new dryer.

If the Out of Order sign was on a washer on deck 7, I called it in. One of the washers (#4) took forever to finish. I had 2 loads that started at the same time and the one washer took at least 30-40 minutes longer to finish. And since the machine locks until its done you had to just wait for it to finish. A day or so after my experience with that machine I saw an Out of Order sign on it. Then the next time I did laundry no sign. I made the mistake of using that machine again only to discover that it still had the same problem. I hope they get it fixed/replaced while in dry dock.

I'm with you! I couldn't handle them 24/7. I look forward to dropping the kids off at school and then going home and actually getting something accomplished at home.

No home schooling here either. No patience for it at all. But then mine are only 3 1/2 & 1 months. I'm excited because the 16mo just started school so now I get a few hours/week to myself. I'll finally have time to finish her room, clean up the clutter in the house, and work on my scrapbooks. (At least that's the plan.)

 

[Stepht5]

From what I've heard, kids do better academically when they are homeschooled
It takes a lot of work, the right financial circumstances and a special kind of parent to do it though
My Mom was a teacher and used to take us out of school every year for a month so we could travel with my Dad. We always came back ahead of the rest of the class.

How cool was that??? What great memories for all of you!!!

This is our 20th school year of homeschooling........ Believe me I'm not that special! LOL! Some of my kids do/have done very well academically and a couple do *ok*. They are very individual children.

My DH was so stressed out by the sellers in Cartagena. He and my DD would walk near me to keep me from looking too closely at anybody or anything for sale
I couldn't help it, I found everything fascinating
DH prefers no pressure sales
And he hates to bargain, he wants to be told what the price is and pay it.
I'm lucky I managed to buy anything in Cartagena at all

You and Cheryl! LOL! John and I kept telling Cheryl *No eye contact. Don't ask them any questions.*

I thought I would die from the Disney Crud on Saturday. This is a record ....... I slept over 20 hours. John passed it down to me and I was down and out all weekend.

I forgot I volunteered for a church rumage sale too!!!:rolleyes1 I will be busy with that for the next week.

I think I am running out of energy. Anyone up for a cruise???

I have lots of pictures and John did not even look at the movies on our mini DVD yet. He was just too sick and now busy working. I hope we can figure out how to down load everying to the web site.

I'm glad you're better -- I was down on Frida. I missed the Toby Keith concert/Limo ride with my friends that I had planned.

I knew you *volunteered* for the rumage sale!!

I have plans for WDW the end of next Sept, first part of Oct...... I know it's a yr away but, a girl can dream.

Phone call next week!!!

Are you threatening people now?

I gotta go to bed. I am still sickish. I wish I could get rid of the Disney crud.

I have my doctor appointment tomorrow for my foot. I hope it is healed enough so I do not need surgery.

I am in major cruise withdrawal. I have a dummy date booked for Dec. 2009, but do not know when I will cruise again.

Hope all of you are doing well.

Were you front at RBD? I think I saw you and tried to introduce myself a couple of times but, you didn't hear me....so, I let it go. Because then I wondered *Did she not hear me or is she ignoring me?*

Since that happened with several people on the cruise I stopped trying to introduce myself to people..... I decided *I have my name tag/lanyard on. If they want to meet me I hope they introduce themselves.*

 

[Caropooh]

Don't forget the man with the Sloth!!

DD14 held the sloth but didn't get her picture taken. I'm sure that pissed Sloth Man off, but too bad. We'd already been hit up by Fruit Basket Lady for 2 pictures.
I was shaking my head at DH. He takes his wallet out so Fruit Basket Lady can see all the money in there. She wanted more money and I said NO! I told DH to keep some money in his pocket and not take his wallet out next time!

We had headsets on our bus. We just had a bus of Disers with us but I guess you came later while we all took over the entire bus!!! We did Best of Cartagena too!! Hope you go back to workd soon!!! Any news yet??

No news on the strike. There isn't even any negotiating scheduled. Some people are saying it could go a couple months. Last strike was 24 days, the one before that was 69 days.

 

[pdarrah]

Hi Everyone!

Long day today - Monday is the day I get DS9 after school (my mom takes Tuesday and my neighbor handles Wed-Fri ) and getting his homework finished and cooking dinner was majorly stressful. This is the first time I've cooked since we got home (DH grilled a couple times & we've had take-out! ) and of course someone came to the door right after I put a couple chopped onions into my largest pot with some oil (making chilli). By the time I got back to the kitchen I had seriously burned onion and spent the next hour trying to get the pot cleaned out since it is the only one large enough for chilli! DS9 was being a pain about getting going on his homework and actually spent over an hour doing a single math worksheet that should have taken about 10 minutes. WHY doesn't he get the concept that if he just DID it, he would have more free time to play?

Choir practice started tonight, so right after dinner DH & I had to leave and just got home about 20 minutes ago. We haven't had a practice since last May (we don't have choir over the summer) so aren't used to it anymore.

Pirates and Wenches:

Welcome back and it is good to hear you all had a great cruise. Chatty Cheryl told me all about the good and the bad and it sounds like the good far outweighed the bad.

Another birdie told me that the piratezone had disappeared, which was news to me, but then I hadn't gone out there in a while. So I looked into it. One of my credit cards was 'compromised' in August and since it was one I had not used in over a year, I just cancelled it. Turns out, that was the one the piratezone had been registered with and when the registration expired on September 1, the provider closed the account.

Anyway, since I think most of what it was being used for was chat, if you want to chat, you can use the same interface over my website at the following URL.

http://jrgray.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_blastchatc&Itemid=59

Sorry for the inconvenience.

JR - Another BIG THANK YOU for the website. It was wonderful of you to keep it for us even after you weren't going anymore!
I agree that chat is the thing we most miss. The other thing that I miss is the Pirate list with everyones names & photos - I'm terrible with names/faces and really relied on that. I don't suppose there is any way to post it somewhere for just a day or so? I should have saved a copy sooner!

Cartegena - We loved our day there! I did a bunch of shopping at street-vendor stalls. DH bought a couple maracas and another instrument from one of the guys walking around. Everyone we dealt with was willing to bargain. We have traveled to Mexico a lot, so we felt that the street vendors were fairly "normal" in their agressivness. If we aren't interested, we avoid eye-contact, say "No, gracias" and keep walking - we didn't have anyone continue to try and sell to us. If we are interested, we stop and look over the merchandise and bargain for a reasable price. We don't usually try and go for rock bottom - for example, I was looking at a couple necklaces that started at $10 each. DH first offered $10 for the pair and we settled at $15 for the pair. Every vendor we spoke with was surprisingly fluent in English. Not really into posed photos with animals, fruit ladies, etc so we just avoided them. We also are willing to tell "white lies" in these situations. We told several fruit ladies that we already had taken a photo with someone else!

Cheryl - I am sorry that you have been so ill! Call me sometime - I need a dose of DIS friend chatter! I've had a bit of a cold, but nothing as bad as you and John.

Jennifer - I'm glad your mom is doing OK. I was so sorry to hear that you had to leave the cruise.

Pamela

 

[alanapapa]

Hi all,
Does anybody have any photos of the Scout Patch Swap and Badge work? I would like to submit a story with pictures to the local council.

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

Back home from my monthly home-school parent meeting....

No one expected me to show..they were all shocked when I made it! If I had known I had a pass..i would have taken it.

Someone was giving a talk tonight and explained that some days...when she just couldn't face a day of teaching..she would tell her child...Today..I'm going crazy...want to come along?

I loved it! I think I will adopt it as my stress-out day motto!

She said they would forget the books and go do something fun instead....so I informed my DD that tomorrow..I was going crazy and she could come along..no school (she was heartbroken I tell ya!)

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

Hi all,
Does anybody have any photos of the Scout Patch Swap and Badge work? I would like to submit a story with pictures to the local council.

I am so bad! I was supposed to take pictures as my Council wants some and I forgot my camera that day so if anyone has some..espicially the group photo..I would really appreciate it too.

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Sorry I haven't posted, I came down with a cold the day we got off the ship, then as it was clearing up last week, I suddenly lost the hearing in my right ear. Finally cleared up today, but it's been annyoing enough that I didn't feel like doing too much. Also had to deal with submitting 4 insurance claims for our escape out of Aruba. Three for trip interruption and one for medical expenses. Plus, I've been signing my life to DVC. We started the process quickly before we got off the ship in Aruba, so we had a lot to go over with our guide once our paperwork arrived after the ship got home.

Yes, mom's doing ok, thanks for asking. We flew from Aruba to Charlotte to Boston and got in around 1am. Spent the night at my brother's in Lowell then drove straight to mom's doctor in Maine the next morning. A quick exam by her PCP to confirm what the doctors suspected on the ship, straight to the hospital for treatment, then finally home around 6 hours later. Mom's doing fine now and has a follow up visit/test next Wednesday to make sure everything's progressing as expected.

Cheers!

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer, have been meaning to send you an email to see how your mom was doing. We really missed you at the scavenger hunt and really wanted to thank you for the goodies . We had some stiff competition with Aly and AJ autographs but still had a good turn-out.

 

[SDHoneymooner]

JR - Another BIG THANK YOU for the website. It was wonderful of you to keep it for us even after you weren't going anymore!
I agree that chat is the thing we most miss. The other thing that I miss is the Pirate list with everyones names & photos - I'm terrible with names/faces and really relied on that. I don't suppose there is any way to post it somewhere for just a day or so? I should have saved a copy sooner!

I got a PM on the pirate site the other day and just checked it again. The message board itself is working fine. It's only the main info site that's down. Here's the link that I was sent to get my PM. Hope that helps everyone's withdrawals!


http://www.thepiratezone.us/

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Hi All!!!!

First day back to work today and it was very long. It just is not fair that we have to go back to work after having the times of our lives. What really got to me today was that I had to go back to work and did not have a future vacation planned to look forward too. Will October 7th ever get here so I can make some decisions on future plans. I really miss all of you. People here and at work just can't grasp the concept of vacationing with 500 friends that you met online. Cherie has been yelling at me that I have been spending too much time going through pictures, but then find her looking at them too. We spent the weekend in San Francisco for a family wedding which was nice but not really a vacation. We really did not have a lot of time to do anything fun while we were there but it was nice to see family. I am bu** tired tonight and really need to go to bed. I will try to catch up tomorrow.

PS

Coral, the family really misses you!! Madison out of the blue the other night said Bill had broken a serious law. I asked what did he do that was so bad. She responded "He removed Coral from Castaway Cay and brought it back on the ship." Can you feel the love?

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

Ok..exhaustion has set in..I am off to get some sleep!

Have a great Tuesday!

 

[Grandma x3]

Hi Gang,

I'm back from the 5 day - and I was sick for most of that cruise and am stiff sick - fever - resipiratory - deep chest cough - yuk!!

AND - I had quite an adventure getting home on Mon - 1st delayed in Orlando by weather - then - finally went Jet Blue to NY/JFK - and not too late - so we're on board Jet Blue to SFO - and taxi out - and then they announce that we must go back as the Captain has food poisoning!!! Okay - long - long story short we are now delayed 2 hours to get a new captain - and finally get off the ground on the way to San Francisco. However, my plan was to take an Airporter over to where I live and have DH Paul pick me up - Except - I was getting in so late that my poor DH had to drive all the way to SFO to get me. I figured that I ended up traveling for almost 20 hours!!!

I've been trying to catch up while I've been in bed recuuperating but I gave up and decided to just jump in and say hi!!

Gosh - It was so great to meet so many of "our dis family" - and I'm so sad that I missed meeting more of our "dis family"!!

Love to all

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I only hang up my own clothes. EVER. The kids all hang up their own stuff.
Claire's hangers are all pink Elvis's are Black & White, Samantha's are Purple and mine are Wood. But, the hangers are kept in their closets. They carry the clothes upstairs to their rooms and then hang their clothes up.
I don't put away any of dh's clothes either. I wash everything and put their clothes in seperate piles for each person. But, after that they are on their own! LOL!

I swear I could learn so much from you.. I gotta figure out how to get my kids to do that. LOL Took me many years to get DH to do his.... LOL

I gotta go to bed. I am still sickish. I wish I could get rid of the Disney crud.

I have my doctor appointment tomorrow for my foot. I hope it is healed enough so I do not need surgery.

I am in major cruise withdrawal. I have a dummy date booked for Dec. 2009, but do not know when I will cruise again.

Hope all of you are doing well.

I hope you feel btter soon! and hope you don't need surgery!
I know what you mean about major cruise withdrawal- I only just barely finished unpacking today (and by unpacking I mean got everything out of the luggage so DH could take it to the attic- that does NOT mean every single thing is in it's proper place yet!)

Congrats on the new dryer.

If the Out of Order sign was on a washer on deck 7, I called it in. One of the washers (#4) took forever to finish. I had 2 loads that started at the same time and the one washer took at least 30-40 minutes longer to finish. And since the machine locks until its done you had to just wait for it to finish. A day or so after my experience with that machine I saw an Out of Order sign on it. Then the next time I did laundry no sign. I made the mistake of using that machine again only to discover that it still had the same problem. I hope they get it fixed/replaced while in dry dock.

Well I almost asked if that was deck 6.. but I see you said deck 7. I had "issues" with 2 of the 3 washers I used on the one day I did 3 loads of laundry.... I came back at the time they should all be done and one was just at like 1 minute and the other two had like 16 min and 24min left. I was like wha...... how'd that happen? LOL

Hi All!!!!

First day back to work today and it was very long. It just is not fair that we have to go back to work after having the times of our lives. What really got to me today was that I had to go back to work and did not have a future vacation planned to look forward too. Will October 7th ever get here so I can make some decisions on future plans. I really miss all of you. People here and at work just can't grasp the concept of vacationing with 500 friends that you met online. Cherie has been yelling at me that I have been spending too much time going through pictures, but then find her looking at them too. We spent the weekend in San Francisco for a family wedding which was nice but not really a vacation. We really did not have a lot of time to do anything fun while we were there but it was nice to see family. I am bu** tired tonight and really need to go to bed. I will try to catch up tomorrow.

Okay so what she really meant was stop going thru the pictures so she can go thru them- I can understand that.

I agree. Not fair that the vacation had to end! *pout*

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Hi Gang,

I'm back from the 5 day - and I was sick for most of that cruise and am stiff sick - fever - resipiratory - deep chest cough - yuk!!

AND - I had quite an adventure getting home on Mon - 1st delayed in Orlando by weather - then - finally went Jet Blue to NY/JFK - and not too late - so we're on board Jet Blue to SFO - and taxi out - and then they announce that we must go back as the Captain has food poisoning!!! Okay - long - long story short we are now delayed 2 hours to get a new captain - and finally get off the ground on the way to San Francisco. However, my plan was to take an Airporter over to where I live and have DH Paul pick me up - Except - I was getting in so late that my poor DH had to drive all the way to SFO to get me. I figured that I ended up traveling for almost 20 hours!!!

I've been trying to catch up while I've been in bed recuuperating but I gave up and decided to just jump in and say hi!!

Gosh - It was so great to meet so many of "our dis family" - and I'm so sad that I missed meeting more of our "dis family"!!

Love to all

OMG... travelling for 20hrs! ack!

I'm sorry to hear you're sick too- hope you get to feeling better very quickly!

 

[danfromca]

We saw the entire 6th floor laundry room closed one day with the standard DCL sign "Being refurbished for your future enjoyment" or something similar. We joked that someone could reserve the entire room if they did that. Looks like someone tried it on a smaller scale.

We got up one morning at 4:30 a.m. to do our laundry and had all 6 washing machines to ourselves!!! When we started, there were still clothes in a couple of the dryers, but by the time we got done we had all the dryers as well. That turned out to be very helpful as it took two turns in the dryer to get everything completely dry. By the time we wrapped up, the laundry room was packed!!

I wonder if there's any truth to the rumor that after drydock the Laundry rooms will be run by Vista Spa. They realized that the rooms are hotter and more humid than their existing saunas, and that they can therefore charge more. I hear it will be $95 for a half hour session in the laundry room, including one wash and two dryer cycles. A special couples package for $180 will include an hour, two washes and enough dryer cycles to actually dry your clothes....

 

[captaincrash]

I wonder if there's any truth to the rumor that after drydock the Laundry rooms will be run by Vista Spa. They realized that the rooms are hotter and more humid than their existing saunas, and that they can therefore charge more. I hear it will be $95 for a half hour session in the laundry room, including one wash and two dryer cycles. A special couples package for $180 will include an hour, two washes and enough dryer cycles to actually dry your clothes....

 

[captaincrash]

Both kids said that the people in Cartagena scared them. They loved the city though and like the fact that we were on a new continent. We found that the venders did NOT want to bargain at all. One told me $45 for 4 screen printed shirts, 2 kid sized. I said $25. He said 45 so I said no and walked away. We looked in every shop on the way back to the bus and he kept following us lowering the price by $1 each time. I stuck to 25 and he was only down to 35 when I got on the bus and said we didn't need any more T-****s. The only thing we got in Cartegena was a card with their coins, 2 braclets and a little magnet.

We didn't buy much either Lisa. However, we did negotiate and I found the horse trading to be mildly entertaining. I settled on a card with the coins for $4 ... and after haggling at the door to our tour bus several other folks jumped on my final deal and bought several from the guy for $4 as well. Although it might have been possible to go lower... I just wanted a small concession as these folks were not exactly hopping into thier land rovers or ferraris when the day was done - compared to us stepping aboard the several hundred million dollar Magic to wisk us away to our next port. We also picked up a soft reversible hat for $4 and so musical things that resemble marachas except you scrape a stick along the surface to make sound... oh ... and I bought one of those bright yellow soccer jerseys for $8. When the guy started with me he wanted $40... and I was fairly polite about holding to my $8 payment. It actually took a long time to get to $8 with him shadowing me to talk price for maybe 15-20 minutes as we walked towards the torture place (how poetic for a drawn out horse trading round eh?).

Even after I paid the $8 he followed it up asking for a $2 tip... which I credit him with being imaginative ... even inventive in trying to pinch another couple bucks. Anyways... I was fairly certain if any of these vendors sold us anything it MUST have cost them significantly less to acquire... and I was fairly certain most of thier profits gained would go towards feeding and sheltering their families ... and probably NOT to splurge on some frivolity or abuse. Shame on us for having so much fun on the Disney voyage eh? Then again, I am fairly certain we've all paid our "price" respectively to accumulate the funds necessary to travel as we do too. So to each is their own ultimately.

 

[sk8ingmom]

I don't put away any of dh's clothes either. I wash everything and put their clothes in seperate piles for each person. But, after that they are on their own! LOL!

That's my system as well.
And when they can't find their (fill in the blank), my only response is "It was in your pile".

Hi Gang,

I'm back from the 5 day - and I was sick for most of that cruise and am stiff sick - fever - resipiratory - deep chest cough - yuk!!

AND - I had quite an adventure getting home on Mon - 1st delayed in Orlando by weather - then - finally went Jet Blue to NY/JFK - and not too late - so we're on board Jet Blue to SFO - and taxi out - and then they announce that we must go back as the Captain has food poisoning!!! Okay - long - long story short we are now delayed 2 hours to get a new captain - and finally get off the ground on the way to San Francisco. However, my plan was to take an Airporter over to where I live and have DH Paul pick me up - Except - I was getting in so late that my poor DH had to drive all the way to SFO to get me. I figured that I ended up traveling for almost 20 hours!!!

I've been trying to catch up while I've been in bed recuuperating but I gave up and decided to just jump in and say hi!!

Gosh - It was so great to meet so many of "our dis family" - and I'm so sad that I missed meeting more of our "dis family"!!

Love to all

Hi Chris! Welcome back. I'm sorry you had such a carpy trip home & I hope you feel better soon.

 

[cruisin'Mike]

Sorry I haven't posted, I came down with a cold the day we got off the ship, then as it was clearing up last week, I suddenly lost the hearing in my right ear. Finally cleared up today, but it's been annyoing enough that I didn't feel like doing too much. Also had to deal with submitting 4 insurance claims for our escape out of Aruba. Three for trip interruption and one for medical expenses. Plus, I've been signing my life to DVC. We started the process quickly before we got off the ship in Aruba, so we had a lot to go over with our guide once our paperwork arrived after the ship got home.

Yes, mom's doing ok, thanks for asking. We flew from Aruba to Charlotte to Boston and got in around 1am. Spent the night at my brother's in Lowell then drove straight to mom's doctor in Maine the next morning. A quick exam by her PCP to confirm what the doctors suspected on the ship, straight to the hospital for treatment, then finally home around 6 hours later. Mom's doing fine now and has a follow up visit/test next Wednesday to make sure everything's progressing as expected.





Yup, I'm the chicken lady. My best friend and I had these in high school, though I'm not sure why. We just loved them and when I saw them, I thought, why not. Rubber chickens are just plain funny and I like to make people laugh. Glad you all liked them. I witnessed the real dead chickens in Acapulco and thought it was hilarious!!


Cheers!

Jennifer

Thanks for checking in. Glad your Mom is doing better! Continued prayers for a full and speedy recovery.


And yes, we loved the chicken too! The kids thought it was the best!

I gotta go to bed. I am still sickish. I wish I could get rid of the Disney crud.

I have my doctor appointment tomorrow for my foot. I hope it is healed enough so I do not need surgery.

I am in major cruise withdrawal. I have a dummy date booked for Dec. 2009, but do not know when I will cruise again.

Hope all of you are doing well.

Good luck with your doctor visit today.

Hi All!!!!

First day back to work today and it was very long. It just is not fair that we have to go back to work after having the times of our lives. What really got to me today was that I had to go back to work and did not have a future vacation planned to look forward too. Will October 7th ever get here so I can make some decisions on future plans. I really miss all of you. People here and at work just can't grasp the concept of vacationing with 500 friends that you met online. Cherie has been yelling at me that I have been spending too much time going through pictures, but then find her looking at them too. We spent the weekend in San Francisco for a family wedding which was nice but not really a vacation. We really did not have a lot of time to do anything fun while we were there but it was nice to see family. I am bu** tired tonight and really need to go to bed. I will try to catch up tomorrow.

PS

Coral, the family really misses you!! Madison out of the blue the other night said Bill had broken a serious law. I asked what did he do that was so bad. She responded "He removed Coral from Castaway Cay and brought it back on the ship." Can you feel the love?

We both got asked "So how did that go, with those people you met online?" They have no concept, and were pretty shocked at howmuch better we feel the cruise was because of the people that we travelled with.

As a side note to Deanna:

You made Linda cry.

The saying that was on the back of your FE gift was perfect for our group and brought tears to her eyes.

Hi Gang,

I'm back from the 5 day - and I was sick for most of that cruise and am stiff sick - fever - resipiratory - deep chest cough - yuk!!

AND - I had quite an adventure getting home on Mon - 1st delayed in Orlando by weather - then - finally went Jet Blue to NY/JFK - and not too late - so we're on board Jet Blue to SFO - and taxi out - and then they announce that we must go back as the Captain has food poisoning!!! Okay - long - long story short we are now delayed 2 hours to get a new captain - and finally get off the ground on the way to San Francisco. However, my plan was to take an Airporter over to where I live and have DH Paul pick me up - Except - I was getting in so late that my poor DH had to drive all the way to SFO to get me. I figured that I ended up traveling for almost 20 hours!!!

I've been trying to catch up while I've been in bed recuuperating but I gave up and decided to just jump in and say hi!!

Gosh - It was so great to meet so many of "our dis family" - and I'm so sad that I missed meeting more of our "dis family"!!

Love to all

Glad to hear you made it home safely. We were worried about all of our pirates on the 5 day, between the cruise and the flights back home. Hope you feel better soon!