Even if we had somehow managed to finagle our way into Canada without serious, bank account disrupting damage – the Radiance of the Seas simply wouldn’t be at dock. She never made it back from her Down Under Summer. Obvious if you think about it – her season was cut short prior to end April which is her normal trans-Pacific travel time. Her usual route has stops in Tahiti and Hawaii. This year was different.
But, like so much else, it isn’t happening.
Or, actually not.
Much earlier – in fact before the whole pandemic started, we had planned a cruise this fall. The “we” being George and I. It was going to be a reward to the two of us for having survived this past year.
This was a replacement for the one we missed last fall. That lovely Windstar Cruise was to leave NYC on 26 Oct 2019 and sail over 16 (?) days and end in Barbados. It was a one off and repositioned the ship for their winter season. Obviously, with George not even a full month post transplant, it was off the books.
So I looked ahead and found one of my favorite ships – Radiance of the Seas. She was sailing from Vancouver at the end of the Alaska Season via Japan to Singapore. What an opportunity. Again, this was a one-off route with it appearing that she was headed to dry dock at the end of the second leg,.
Australian/New Zealand friends of ours were going to join us I was considering taking George for a spin around Australia before flying back home (he hasn’t ever been).
And then SARS-COV2 hit and we aren’t going anyway.
So – tip of the coffee cup to our heading to Vancouver today. Even if I really, really wanted to visit that lovely city – the Canadians wouldn’t let us in….
neither pretty or exciting
My cabin is a lovely and surprisingly quiet outside tucked into the forward portion of Deck 3. I have few neighbors. The corridor deadness which totally eliminates through traffic. Much to my amazement, neither the noise from the ice rink or the theater noise are audible from my cabin.
Spending much of the morning in a 14th Deck lounge making a valiant effort to write more on “that paper” as well as stay out of the way of my poor cabin attendant. I then head back to hole up in the cabin for the rest of the day. Today is Cozumel – oh, I said that already – and tomorrow we head back toward Galveston.
I figure if I can force myself into 1-2 hours every morning, the icky thing will be finished by the end of Feb. Complete with all references, citations, tables and other assorted “wow” bullshit. I can’t help still being irritated by the general attitude that a needle can fix every disease while it does nothing to over come the conditions which lead to the mess in the first place.
It worked. Sort of. Maybe.
Otherwise worked on my paper and did a bit of cross stitch.
Oh, wah. Not. There are much worse fates than not having computer based connections.
I left my cabin early and headed up to one of the lounges. Last night I scouted out both key card lounges and picked a nice location to work. Out of traffic and right next to both 110 & 220 outlets. Did I mention the presence of the coffee machine? Essential for keeping sanity while working my way through I don’t know how many pages of notes.
This particular ship carries way too many passengers for my comfort. One of the larger ships, but not the largest, she carries over 4k worth of passengers including way too many children and a lot of adults in flip-flops and beer in hand. I am sure that noise cancelling headphones are going to be a serious help.
For those who care about such things, there are 22 Pineapples (Pinnacles) on this cruise, most of whom seem to be local to the area and have earned their status by cruising around and around and around the same routes out of Galveston, Boring,….
And back to my paper, interspersed with detours into cross-stitch and pattern design on MacStitch.
and the reason for this ship? Leaving this weekend, not a mega-ship (altho large) and the most affordable when I booked it last weekend. My other options only had more expensive cabins available, weren’t back for George’s next appointment, or didn’t have a lounge with latte machine. Royal? I have enough status that they give me free wifi. Always useful when you find that there is still another item to look up or check reference details.
The Plan –
| Sun, Jan 19 | Galveston, TX | 4:00pm | |
| Mon, Jan 20 | At Sea | ||
| Tue, Jan 21 | At Sea | ||
| Wed, Jan 22 | Roatan, Honduras | 8:00am | 5:00pm |
| Thu, Jan 23 | Belize City, Belize | 8:00am | 5:00pm |
| Fri, Jan 24 | Cozumel, Mexico | 7:00am | 5:00pm |
| Sat, Jan 25 | At Sea | ||
| Sun, Jan 26 | Galveston, TX | 6:30am |
Current plans? Not leaving the ship. Not doing any of the entertainment, happy hours, or sit down meals. Other than the mandatory safety drill at 1530, I will have no excuse not to write…
I started this practice a number of years ago, right after SFO adopted the use of Mobile Passport. Since I was flying into the US regularly from overseas locations, and being too cheap to fund a system that the government should be providing, Mobile Passport proved ideal. But, you can’t load your data to include entry information if you are not connected. WiFi works, or phone carrier network works. Initially, the App always went for Wifi, and if it was turned on and not connected, then you were stuck. So I developed the habit of turning on my phone without the WiFi on approach, loading the data and then being at baggage claim eight minutes after exiting the plane. That is right, eight minutes. Easy, Peasy, no lines. faster at SFO that Global Entry. Faster than the kiosks which were a huge improvement over static lines which took forever (which anyone who entered through US Immigration in Houston or Toronto up until the last couple of years can attest). I can’t say how things are now, since I haven’t been out of the US for almost a year. For that matter, the last time I went any where was last June to DC for the ISTM meeting. I can’t claim attempt to decrease my carbon footprint – family and baseball just have disrupted my schedule along with grad school which wiped out any opportunity at the Spring TA season.
But anyway, turning on my phone is just habit. Besides, I needed something to read while waiting my opportunity to escape the plane, being seated in row 34/36. (and, just so you know, rows 33 and 35 don’t exist on this particular plane). It was packed to the gills complete with a number of families (small crying and screaming children), a number of travelers who didn’t see to comprehend that ONE carryon doesn’t mean a roller, a duffle bag, a computer bag, a backpack and some shopping bags.
I could partly understand those members of the Chinese tour group, which numbered about 40, having more than a small back pack. But the rest of the passengers? Especially those who were sitting up front and could check luggage? Not so much. My backpack, with a week’s worth of computer, clothing and cross stitch, fit under the seat in front of me, which turned out to be a really good thing. The pilot was cheerful, one cabin attendant (obviously the one on the tannoy) spoke with the speed of light, and the other two trudged up and down the plane attempting to hand out pretzels and beverages.
I am now ensconced in my Houston hotel with a 0700 scheduled return trip to the airport in the morning. From there I am off to Galveston and a week on the Liberty of the Seas with the plan of completing the rest of my last outstanding paper somewhere with a latte machine, meals prepared, and no other demands on my time. Since George is now on an every two week schedule for UCSF, this seemed like an ideal window of opportunity. The Liberty was the RCCL ship with a reasonably priced cabin available. RCCL because I see no reason to pay for wifi and am sure that I will need it.
It was a much more intelligent question that the previous – What are you knitting? Are those Warrior Colors?
the start of a scarf
Hello? This is a Cal Basketball Game. I am sitting the CAL Bleachers. I am wearing the exact same colors (blue, gold, and a bit of white). I have no idea where the Warriors got their colors, but, since Cal has had Women’s Basketball since the late 1800s – I have a feeling that Cal had these particular colors first.
Anyway – back to the Owls –
two small Owl Earrings
There is actually a nice history behind the owls. I purchased them in 2010 while on a P&O Cruise with Noah. We were headed up along the Norwegian Coast with with a great crew and a passenger collective that averaged age 74. Which doesn’t seem anywhere as old to me now as it was then. It certainly was a bit much for Noah who had age and interests in common with some of the crew. In Aleslund, after hiking to the top of the overlook to see all the islands which made up the town, I stopped at a Husfliden on the way down. Besides all the standard amount of Rauma yarns, fabrics, trims, and patterns for traditional garb as well as a number of lovely wooden handmade items, there was a case of jewelry off to one side. Sitting by themselves on the top shelf were these owls.
No question, these were my souvenir of the trip, even if they were in a color that I rarely wore. So now, when I am stuck on land, they bring back a bit of my travel memories.
Ok, so maybe I am being a luddite, but getting a second key in this case is going to be a lot cheaper than getting a second electronic key since that involves changing out the whole electronic lock.
What started me down this trail of concern this morning? I have been staying with a friend in the outer Sunset. Driving in yesterday, I parked my car in her driveway last night. Drivers in this area where there is extremely limited street parking don’t leave that meter free at the end of a driveway. They park as absolutely close to the edge as possible. Meaning that the width of the space through which I had to drive was less than a meter wider than the car. As I parked last night, I was thinking that backing out was going to be even more fun.
This morning I packed up everything and worked my way through all the locks to place my backpack and bag in the car. Went back in to check on everything, then back out to the car. Key? Where was the key? Obviously I didn’t lock it in the car (not physically possible). Went through my two bags. And the floor of the car, and the back seat. Nada. Went back in the house, checking out the bedroom in which I had been staying. Checked under the bed, checked the garage. Trying not to pull my hair out, I decided to take a deep breath and retrace my steps once more. It is not like I could Muni & BART to the East Bay to get the other key, because SOMEONE lost the other key and hasn’t gotten around to replacing it.
I am trying not to wake up Jessica and her son with my rustling around. My last hope was the hall. Turning on the light, I didn’t see anything along the carpet. But, hello? That lump under my shoe which I must have bumped, moved and stepped on at least twice?
My car key.
Take, for example, my need to use Muni & BART. Yesterday I took Muni, followed by BART followed by AC65 up the hill to our house. Each step of the way required me to produce my Clipper Card. No problem, right?
This morning I ran some errands with Shana, ending with her dropping me off at El Cerrito Plaza. I needed some more of a single color of floss. It should have been obvious to me, but I somehow forgot – floss is dyed. Dyeing is done in lots. If you are doing a large project with a single color, you need enough of the same dyelot to finish the whole project. Yes, I had an infinite amount of black around, but somehow I decided that midnight blue would look better. End result? I had to buy more floss. Ok. Then I stopped at Luckys and picked up teriyaki chicken wings. Which turned out to be too salty for me. Seven/eight left.
Arrived at the El Cerrito BART. Couldn’t find my Clipper Card. It wasn’t in the jacket pocket where it normally hides. I wasn’t wearing jeans, so it wasn’t in my back pocket. It wasn’t in the front pockets of my backpack; nor was it at the bottom of my craft bag. So…. I bought a regular adult one (note – us seniors get a 40-60% discount) and used it to get to Embarcadero. Exiting there, I ran into a tired young man hoisting a back pack. “How are you doing?” “I’ve had better days.” “Would chicken wings make your day a bit better?” “Yes” So I passed along the chicken wings to someone younger, less likely to be bothered by the salty and obviously hungry.
Got on the N-Judah at Montgomery Street Station. Got off at UCSF, entertained most of the way by a pair of young boys (ages 3 & 5) traveling with their parents. The boys really, really, really wanted to hit the red “stop requested buttons” and continued to be disappointed when it wasn’t their stop. They did me the favor of pressing the button for me. I can only hope I didn’t start a new game.
After spending the rest of the day with George, I headed back to the N-Judah. checking my wallet in the elevator – my BART card – the Senior one with the discount – was exactly where I put it yesterday. So why hadn’t I remembered to check there earlier? Can I use the excuse of a new phone wallet? Or should I just accept the fact that the pocket it was in was obvious and that I spent double what was needed to travel the first half of my journey?
Then I noted some rather low flying, fast, expensive aircraft buzzing the Golden Gate Bridge.
Right – Fleet Week – when Navies get together and show off – their ships, their abilities, and, in the case of the US Navy – the Blue Angels.
I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing last year – but I remember 5 Oct 2017. I was headed round trip through the Panama Canal on the NCL Sun in the company of good friends from Australia. We were due to pull out from San Francisco at a reasonable time of the afternoon. And then the fun started. It was a Friday afternoon. The tannoy announcement informed us that we were going to be delayed secondary to the Blue Angels rehearsing. Along with dozens of others, I went and staked out my territory on the upper deck. Up at the bow with a good camera and excellent lens. I checked the old post to discover that I hadn’t uploaded pictures at the time. And since I have changed laptops since then, I have to find the connector, pull out the backup drive, and find the photos.
Right.
Anyway. It is Friday. And what started out this whole train of thought was seeing what I thought was a low flying aircraft out of the corner of my eye. George’s window mostly faces another section of the Long Building. I can see toward downtown (East) if I look out and too the right between the two wings of the building. Huh? Walking to the lounge at the end of the hall, I had a clear view of the stretch of Bay which separates San Francisco from Marin and includes the Golden Gate. Contrails slowly dissipating. Oh – ok, Fleet Week, Blue Angels.
Back to my audio books and knitting.
I returned the rental car this morning at San Diego Airport. Picked up a physical boarding pass from Southwest Airlines and worked my way through the usual disorder of TSA. Of note is that the USO is at Terminal 2 (which makes sense as the “International Terminal). I decided it just wasn’t worth the hike over and back. My flight was on time and I arrived in Oakland with more than enough time that I could have gone home.
But since there was about 3 hours to this evening’s game; the final homestand of the 2019 season it just didn’t seem worth the effort. Instead, I hung out in the terminal long enough to make sure that my phone was charged before heading on the mono-rail to the Coliseum BART station and the overpass to the Stadium with plenty of time to locate both food and drink.
I lasted till about 2100 when it was obvious that this game was going to take forever. Two hours in and we were not even out of the 5th inning. Managing to miss the Richmond train by seconds (I just love people who block stairs, escalators with their intense conversations or cell-phone huddles) so had to wait 25 minutes for the next train.
I was home in time to watch the 9th inning. To watch the As lose to the Royals, perhaps the second worst team in the league. In good news – the Twins won. If the A’s can get it together, they actually may hang on to their wild card slot.
And tomorrow is another day. Another drive to UCSF.
Jacket back
What else?
My backer kit from the PDX Broadsides kickstarter arrived.
Relatable Content
This is a Filk/Folk group from Portland Oregon which I first heard at WesterCon a few years ago. I have a number of their other albums (electronically from BandCamp). The best track on the album is Rewind. I suggest you take a listen. Not that thrilled about the rest of the tracks – excellent quality, I am just not in my 30s. The t-shirt is from an earlier album/track Ultimate Riot.
My working group is dispersing back to their home countries (Australia, Austria, France, Canada, India, UK, US) with plans made for future conferences and collaborations between.
And then it was time to head for the airport (closing ceremonies are never my things, especially when the last speaker in the conference doesn’t end on time). I was flying Delta. Arriving at the airport early wasn’t a problem. Finding a location where I could sit down was, especially after a gate change.
Did I mention that all the flights were so seriously over booked that the airlines were offering hotel vouchers, meal vouchers, $600 in flight coupons and rebooking to 0600 in the morning. Was not seriously tempted, but it thought about it for all of 30 seconds.
Then the delays started. Slight delay of plane arriving from Atlanta (duh). Followed by mechanical on the way out to JFK. Then the flight arriving in? Medical pickup followed by 20 minutes of deplaning before loading for La Guardia. So we were only 20+ minutes behind for my connector to Detroit. Which was packed. Which was filled with all of the above mentioned passengers attempting to bring their entire life possessions with them on the plane in suitcases obviously too big to fit anywhere other than the baggage compartment. It meant that the boarding process had to be stopped part way through to take cases back out of the plane and check them.
Detroit is just a short flight away. We arrived with 45 minutes till my next flight (not the 90 that I had planned). And the fun started all over again. Announcement – this plane is completely booked. We are looking for volunteers to delay travel till tomorrow morning. Ok – not happening from the looks of things. And…. we need 37 roller boards checked as there is not going to be room on the plane for all of them. !5 minutes later – Folks – we still need 32 large pieces of carry-on checked. If you are in Main 2 or Basic boarding, there is not going to be cabin space for anything that doesn’t fit under the seat in front of you.
And on it went. There were a few intelligent people, but the majority once again had to be stopped on boarding and handed luggage tags. The flight from DTW to SFO is almost five hours. Add in packed plane and turbulence, I was glad for my window seat and head phones. It was after 2300 when we landed at SFO. Looking at the BART.GOV website – the very last train headed toward the city was scheduled for 2354…
Taxi in, escape the plane, hustle to the Air Train, bail out and dash down the steps to BART. The train is there: Antioch (with connections to all stations but for two). The doors are closed. The train is partly full of passengers waiting. Suitcases, lot of suitcases. And the doors are closed. I am at one end of the train, watching unbelievingly as someone at the other end boards. One open door – down at the other end.
Not stupid here, I head down the platform figuring the worse that happens is the train departs and the best is that I can board. Once on, I head up the train three cars and find a seat. Then the doors open for about 2 minutes, close and we leave. I change to Muni at Civic Center. Unlike during the day with hustle and bustle, the station is mostly inhabited by various people who view the station as their home away from home. Muni is much the same. Not many of us taking the various trains, but interesting people watching while I wait for the N-Judah.
I am the only one getting off at UCSF facing the challenge of figuring out which door I may enter, then finding I have to sign in with security. It is just short of 0100 when I get to George’s room. I will not bore you with what passes for a “family sleep chair.” Just to note that I can stretch my legs out if sitting down, or I can curl up in fetal position. But the night will be short….
(date altered so that it comes out on Sunday. Because I feel like it is still Sunday….
Of course, it was this morning that I discovered that the DC Metro doesn’t open till 0700 on Saturdays. What is worse, the station nearest my hotel, like the rest of the Metro doesn’t open till 0800 on Sundays. Once again, a system which is designed for white collar office workers on a Mon-Fri schedule and discounts everyone who works shifts and needs to present at 0700 on a weekend or holiday.
The lectures and symposiums ranged over all age groups and types of travels with, still, an emphasis infectious disease. Probably the highlight of the morning was the presentation by the Smithsonian on their “Outbreak” exhibit (which is on epidemics in a connected world).
they fed us lunch – (who says there is no such thing as a free lunch)
excellent veg option
And for those medical types – ABCs of resuscitation? Airway, Breathing….camera….
After attending the business meeting, I skipped the reception to get back to my hotel before it became dark. My congrats to any Texans–the As just didn’t have it and lost both games of the double header.
George is holding his own – minus platelets and white cells.
shiny inside as well
some of interior design is the same as BART. But there is a noticeable difference; both are there sidewalls which create compartments, but also blocks free movement of passengers. I also noted the complete lack of space for bicycles. Apparently, no one in the DC Metro area uses a bike for commuting.
outside the NOMA-GALLAUDET U METRO STATION
where my hotel is located. There are various bits and pieces of that particular leaf (Oak?) around the station.
That was just the getting to and from the conference portion of my day. Otherwise, I went to a number of excellent presentations and a couple in which I was all too easily distracted. On me, maybe. Our military related symposium went extremely well as did our working group meeting. Surprisingly, the Canadian contingent outnumbered the US. Otherwise, we had representatives from Austria, Australia, India, Taiwan, UK, France, and a few who never said anything,.
I had a chance to FaceTime with George who is getting extremely bored (watching the eucalyptus sway and paint dry). Otherwise, there is news on the TV which is not necessarily thrilling. And of course, there is baseball and on some nights, basketball. (The As almost managed to toss away their win against the Rangers.)
I successfully made it from the airport to the Metro to the meeting hotel. I am still contemplating whether it is better to walk 4 blocks up hill from Dupont Circle, or 8 blocks downhill from Woodley Park. Such hard decisions are the bedrock of life.
The pre-course, mostly organized by my French colleague ran smoothly, so that is one critical item checked off my list. After thinking carefully, I bagged the opening ceremonies and reception in favor of heading to my hotel (the cheaper one a few stops up the Red Line Train to ….
Yesterday while I was waiting for the NCL Bliss to dock (and Mary to get off the ship) I wandered along Pier 27, checked with one of the guards to find out that the end of 27 was closed off, but I could walk out to the end of Pier 29. Just in time as it turned out as the Bliss came around the corner from Pier 39 accompanied by her pilot boat. The guard was charming and on the way back I stopped again to thank him for pointing me in the right direction in order to take photos. A second gentleman was standing there. As it turns out, he was the Port Engineer. After attending the Maritime Academy followed by interning on several of the NCL ships he decided that enough travel was enough. Returning to home to the Bay Area at just the right time, in 2014 he became the engineer for the brand new Pier 27. More interesting than ships’s boilers, steadier land beneath his feet and not much more interaction with the general public.
At some point, I transitioned from the general public, and I am not sure why. But I was offered the opportunity to go up on the roof. Yes, the roof of the Pier building to take photos. Inside the industrial portion of the building, then up stairs, then up a ladder. No elevator, but then you don’t want anyone up on the roof who can’t get there themselves. Part of my view was blocked by the ship, but being able to see the rest of the city without vehicles and pedestrians in view? Wonderful. Now I just need to figure out a thank you for the next time I am in the area.