8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC Part 16

[dahuffy]

Actually, it was a spork. We couldn't afford spoons AND forks.

We are using sporks at our school this year!!

 

[dahuffy]

Of course, we are still waiting for Crash's first non-fluff post.....

(just kidding)

OOO,Burn!!

 

[captaincrash]

I was very excited that my family received our Castaway Club cards in the mail today. We were on DCL for the first time recently. As non-CC members, it was impossible for us to book Brunch at Palo's on our cruise. We didn't even get a dinner because of the timing. I am hoping that now we will have a good chance of getting Brunch on the PC cruise. I'm sure 99.99% will be CC members, but at least we won't be in the .01% group. I just read that repeat cruisers receive gifts when the cruise, I am just wondering,"what type of gifts have you received?"

We've sailed 4x with DCL and have NEVER received CC cards. However, they've never missed sendingus the final payment bill.

< steady frumpy grins >​

 

[DisneyVegas1]

Hey Roger ,

I found something I think MR. Cotton really must have ...LOL
http://www.hasbro.com/furreal/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=19354

 

[micmse2003]

Hey Roger ,

I found something I think MR. Cotton really must have ...LOL
http://www.hasbro.com/furreal/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=19354

How is the non-smoker doing????? I finally saw an ad for Chantix. We are all so very proud of you.

We've sailed 4x with DCL and have NEVER received CC cards. However, they've never missed sendingus the final payment bill.

< steady frumpy grins >​

Hey Crash, all you do is complain to the right people. I now have 3 sets of the new cards and my old cards too.

 

[DisneyVegas1]

How is the non-smoker doing????? I finally saw an ad for Chantix. We are all so very proud of you.



:

Doing Great , Thanks For asking ...3 1/2 weeks smoke free

 

[captaincrash]

Of course, we are still waiting for Crash's first non-fluff post.....

(just kidding)

Tom.....

I have NO idea what you're talking about....

The "Kidding" part, that is....​

 

[Diznyfan68]

Doing Great , Thanks For asking ...3 1/2 weeks smoke free

THat's great! Congrats!

 

[captaincrash]

Doing Great , Thanks For asking ...3 1/2 weeks smoke free

Keep it up Todd!
You're doin' GREAT!

​

 

[Sarangel]

Hey Roger ,

I found something I think MR. Cotton really must have ...LOL
http://www.hasbro.com/furreal/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=19354

You are a sick sad sorry little Toy, er... Pirate.

Doing Great , Thanks For asking ...3 1/2 weeks smoke free

You ROCK! Keep up the good work.

 

[PBader]

From ALL EARS® Weekly Newsletter (10/2/2007):

Beginning this fall, Disney Cruise Line will introduce Onboard Airline Check-In, a new service that enables qualified guests to check-in for their post-cruise flights while on board the Disney Magic or Disney Wonder, eliminating the need to do so at Orlando International Airport. Guests participating in Onboard Airline Check-In will not have to collect their luggage upon debarkation, since checked luggage will be transported directly from the ship to the guest's flight. While on the cruise, guests' boarding passes will be delivered to their staterooms the day prior to disembarkation. Upon the ship's return to Port Canaveral, participating guests can proceed directly to Customs and then to Orlando International Airport where they bypass check-in and continue straight to airport security and on to their assigned departure gate. To take advantage of this service, guests will need to meet certain requirements and be booked on a domestic flight on one of the seven participating air carriers: AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, or United Airlines/Ted. Eligible guests will be able to enroll for Onboard Airline Check-in by completing pre-registration information received at Orlando International Airport or one of the Disney Cruise Line Hospitality Desks at the Walt Disney World Resort and turning it in during check-in at Port Canaveral.

I called DCL and was told this was still an experiment. I was told maybe by EBPC all trips will be doing this. This was how the magical express was started.

That will be so convenient!

I have been thinking of another sea day activity when Mike brought up the Hawaiian shirt contest. Last Christmas, I made pirate maps up with clues on each and hid them around the house. Each map had a clue to where the next map was located. The final prize was a small treasure chest with our tickets to WDW/Wonder trip this summer. The girls thought this was the greatest gift ever, not the trip but the scavenger hunt.

Could we plan our own Pirate Scavenger Hunt on a sea day? Maybe with teams and maps (clues) to where the next map or item was located? With the whole ship at our disposal it could be a lot of fun. I know DCL has there own scavenger hunt, but we could put a pirate twist to it. All of you creative pirates out there can come up with some more ideas for this. I would be happy to make the maps before we leave.

Love the idea Roger, sounds like a lot of fun

I was very excited that my family received our Castaway Club cards in the mail today. We were on DCL for the first time recently. As non-CC members, it was impossible for us to book Brunch at Palo's on our cruise. We didn't even get a dinner because of the timing. I am hoping that now we will have a good chance of getting Brunch on the PC cruise. I'm sure 99.99% will be CC members, but at least we won't be in the .01% group. I just read that repeat cruisers receive gifts when the cruise, I am just wondering,"what type of gifts have you received?"

Jennifer, I just love to get mail from Disney Our last cruise we received 2 mess bags, cc cups, hand wipes, lanyards and pins. Previously we have gotten beach towels, backpack, and a blanket and more lanyards and pins

To add to this:



And of course a map

I can't wait to try out the Hawaii DVC

Doing Great , Thanks For asking ...3 1/2 weeks smoke free

Congrats Todd!!!

 

[FINCANTIERI]

Doing Great , Thanks For asking ...3 1/2 weeks smoke free

It is great to hear some good news. Keep it up!

 

[captaincrash]

Ooo LooK...

Only 690 more til we reach the next pirate posting...

Anyone up for a friendly little sprint?

So who said I was guilty of fluffing with my contributions?​

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Hey Roger ,

I found something I think MR. Cotton really must have ...LOL
http://www.hasbro.com/furreal/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=19354

Doing Great , Thanks For asking ...3 1/2 weeks smoke free

Thanks Todd, will have to check it out in the store. Maybe need to add this to my list to Santa.

Congrats on the 3-1/2 weeks. Keep it up.

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Ooo LooK...

Only 690 more til we reach the next pirate posting...

Anyone up for a friendly little sprint?

So who said I was guilty of fluffing with my contributions?​

Tom, even better only 125 more posts for us to become the number one thread. They currently have 76,436. We should take them this week.

 

[captaincrash]

Tom, even better only 125 more posts for us to become the number one thread. They currently have 76,436. We should take them this week.

To keep things fair maybe I should go over tothe other thread and toss some fluff?

Seriously, are we a bunch of nuts or what? We'd become the highest posting thread and we're still 11 months away from the sailing? I think we're what? - roughly 9 months and 20 days as of today from the point at which we started this? And - most likely the crazy posting days remain ahead of us. Ooooooo..... I think I'll be taking a break when the posting kicks into high gear. Even "I" have my limits. And "I" remember the busy days in the past where I could not keep up by reading and NOT posting. Yes, those were strangely entertaining days.

So, on an entirely different note - I ran into town to meet with a friend who was quitting his company of 20 years. He cited a mid-life crisis where he sensed things had turned disfavorable at his company and he was seeking a fresh start. Plus at the same lunch we shared it with our old middle school science teacher - from 30+ years ago. We updated one another and recanted antics from the long distant past. On one hand this was an especially pleasant lunch - while on the other it was a bit of a tense lunch for my career shifting friend.

Lotta driving today - I'm zonked mildly from it all. Tomorrow holds even more driving for me. About 250 miles worth by midnite when I get home. Gonna be another one of those days I guess.

And on another note - a friend of ours declared they were divorcing. However, they shall remain living together in the same house. They are avoiding the fiscal damage attornys represent and choosing to live together but seperate - remaining as best friends of a sort - to maintain the front of a family for the children and perhaps to defer the sale of the home until the market improves. Up until now I had not heard of a divorcing couple doing this. I just assumed folks would physically seperate. At any rate - here is an article which acompanyied the email divorce declaration I received today.

BREAKING UP IS HARD — and expensive — to do.
http://www.smartmoney.com/divorce/basics/index.cfm?story=nondivorce​

That's why some couples choose to stay together, long after romance is dead, in a state of matrimony that can best be described as the "non-divorce."

While the situation varies, the couple in a non-divorce usually remains living together under one roof, more like passionless roommates than spouses. While there's no hard statistics, some divorce experts say they're seeing more of this unromantic phenomenon, driven by three big financial factors: the high cost of legal fees in divorce; the expense of setting up two households, and the difficulty in obtaining adequate health insurance, especially if one spouse has a pre-existing condition.

That's a shift from decades past, when couples stayed together because divorce carried a social stigma, or was forbidden by religious teachings. But along with finances, there's another driving factor in today's not-quite-a-divorce arrangement. Many couples, turned off by their friends' bitter, rancorous breakups, would rather stay together than endure the messiness or inflict it upon their children. "We've seen the fall-out from divorce," says Debbie Mandel, a Lawrence, N.Y., stress-management specialist who often works with individuals in loveless marriages. "There's so much viciousness, and then the draining of the pocketbooks to attorneys."

Spouses who decide to stick together are just "realistic people," says Mandel. Sometimes, the arrangement allows couples to discretely date other people, while keeping up the illusion of marriage to children and the community. And finances, significantly, stay intact. "They are really making pragmatic, business-like decisions for their marriage," she says.

Susan Goldfarb (not her married name) and her husband have been together for 26 years, but disagreements over their children's education strained their marriage about six years ago. The couple considered divorce but ultimately decided against it. "Neither of us makes that much money, and if we had to separate, it would be a hardship for us," says Goldfarb, of Westchester County, N.Y., who works in customer service while her husband teaches high school math.

The couple come from different socioeconomic backgrounds and fought "like cats and dogs" when their daughter and son — now 22 and 18, respectively — were in high school, she says. Goldfarb grew up middle class and wanted the children to take college-prep courses and attend top-ranked private universities. Her husband, from a lower-income background, didn't see the need and insisted they take classes at less-prestigious City University of New York.

Goldfarb decided divorce wasn't a good idea because split households would further the problem. "I didn't want him to influence the children," she says. "I felt if we were to stay married, I'd have more control. I could monitor what he was saying."

While the outcome was a compromise — their daughter attended a city college but their son is currently enrolled in a private school outside of Boston — the battlewounds remain. Divorce, however, isn't in the picture. "We do love each other — it's just not as deep of a love that we had before," she says. "We are really, really good friends. And we trust each other. We're probably both scared to find new partners." At this point, the pair, both in their 50s, "are sticking together," she says. "It's not that severe of a case where we need to change our lives."

Rich Gordon, principal mediator at A Fair Way Mediation Center in San Diego, says some couples stick together because "the devil that you know is better than the devil you don't know." In his practice, he has seen military couples (from a nearby naval base) staying together so both spouses can still be covered under the military's medical benefits and pension plan.

Some couples have approached him to craft postnuptial or separation agreements, which will divide assets while keeping the marriage technically intact. But it's not always easy to come up with an ideal legal solution. "Psychologically, you are really opening a Pandora's box," he says. Emotions run deep, even when a couple is leading separate lives. Infidelity, in particular, can create bitterness. A couple who wishes to stay married when the romance is gone should really think twice, for many reasons. "You are not leading a full life if you remain with someone with the title of marriage when there's nothing below the surface," he says.

Legal action might be a better plan for the couple seriously considering divorce but isn't ready to take the final step. "There are a lot of people who aren't really positive yet, but they know they can't stand to be together or need space, " says Brette Sember, a former divorce lawyer in Clarence, N.Y., and author of "The Divorce Organizer & Planner."

An initial step might be resolving child support, custody and spousal support in family court, which can be accomplished even if there's no divorce petition pending, she says. After that, the couple can decide what to do.

Judy Poller, who practices matrimonial law at Bryan Cave in New York, says some spouses decide to practice the non-divorce after they've looked into actual divorce — and decided it was too onerous. "I had a guy come in, who was married for 20-plus years, with two kids in high school. We spoke for quite a while, and I told him that his assets would be divided in half. He had a very nice lifestyle. His wife didn't work through the marriage. I told him my guesstimation of what his responsibilities would be, and his attitude was 'Well, I guess this is good enough for now,'" she says. "He figured he'd have his fun on the side, and do what he wanted to do."

Some spouses, of course, practice the non-divorce in the eternal hope that it will work out. Lynn Johnson (whose name we've changed due to privacy concerns), lives in the Midwest, and has been married for 29 years but estranged for the past six years — although she and her husband occasionally travel together "like brother and sister." The couple has two adult children, and she hopes that someday she'll be in a happy marriage. "In my mind, I am still married, and hope and pray for a miracle," she says.

There's been no infidelity, drugs, alcohol or physical or verbal abuse — just a falling out of love. For now, the two maintain separate households, and her husband pays the majority of the expenses, which she worries would change if they ever got a divorce. She describes her situation as "reasonable insanity." While not happy, she's reluctant to dissolve the marriage because of finances, the effect it might have on their children, and the questionable morality of breaking vows. "It is not how I dreamed my marriage would end up," she says. "I guess one of my favorite sayings about my situation is 'I would rather bury him than divorce him,' because I fell in love with him when I was young and I still love him today — but in a different way."

Please be gentle in any criticism or remarks on this news or approach to this developement. ​

I share this out of confused curiosity. The folks involved are looked upon with great care and respect by us - and we are filled with a mixture of great sorrow - and hopes that they will salvage thier individual paths towards a reasonably rapid closure ... or point of healing.

In more ways than I can fully convey here ... I have NOT the words to express my confusion and sorrow over this.

Oh well... there it is. Be it as it may, this was my day.

 

[AndyR]

Ooo LooK...

Only 690 more til we reach the next pirate posting...

Anyone up for a friendly little sprint?

So who said I was guilty of fluffing with my contributions?​

I'd like to.... but I have to leave Friday to get on the Magic Saturday, and I'm not taking a laptop.

Anyway, let's hear an Arghh! for the Swabbies during the next run.

Andy

 

[captaincrash]

 

[captaincrash]

It is great to hear some good news. Keep it up!

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Celestine you were asking about hot air balloons rides next year. Well I found the ultimate one for you. I just found this as one of the new giveaways for the extension of Year of a Million Dreams. Next year there will be tethered hot air balloon rides over Disneyland. The balloon will be in the shape of a giant Mickey head. I have read that it will be touring the Western States next year. Here are the dimensions.
Balloon Statistics

Height: 98 ft from ground to top of ears

Weight: Estimate 410lbs

Circumference: 168 ft

Diameter: 53 ft

Volume: 90,000 cu. ft (body) - 113,000 total

Lift capacity: 1800lb max gross lift

Thread Used: Approximately 9 miles of thread!

Gold Fabric for Mouse Ears: Approximately 750 Sq Yards

Fabric: Approximately 4744

One (1) Happiest Balloon on Earth Tethered Flight trip is available: Prize consists of a four (4) day/three (3) night vacation package to Disneyland® Resort. Package includes: round-trip, economy class air travel for winner and up to three (3) guests to Los Angeles International Airport (or any other Southern California airport as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion), round-trip ground transfers selected by Sponsor in its sole discretion between the airport and the Resort, standard hotel accommodations (one room based on quadruple occupancy), a 4-Day Disneyland® Resort Park Hopper® Ticket for winner and each guest, and Disney Gift Cards with US$75 per day for winner and each guest, which can be used for meals. During the trip the winner and guests will receive a tethered flight in the Happiest Balloon on Earth Hot Air Balloon at the Disneyland® Resort (specific location TBD at time of event). This prize also includes US$1,590 to be used toward the payment of taxes. Sponsor makes no representation or warranty that the cash portion of this prize will be sufficient to pay winner's tax liability. Travel must be completed by September 30, 2009. Specific travel dates to be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. ARV of the prize: US$6,890.