h20skibum

Harry, I want to wish you and your family a Happy Lunar New Year. I hope you get to celebrate the year of the dragon with good food, family and friends. I am one of those old guys, born in the year of the dragon, as were both of my grandsons. My daughter-in-law’s parents brought us a few items, when they visited from China, this dragon being one. Unfortunately, they have not been here since the pre-Covid days. I remember their excitement over their grandson being a dragon baby. If you go to the parade on the 24th, I hope you post a few pictures. I don’t think I would go so far as labeling me as an expert. Always something more to learn or experience, but thank you for the kind words.

No, that was Symphony in December. Nice view from up there. The deck plans for the new Utopia doesn’t show any facing aft. Deck 18 Except maybe 17630 Deck 17

Thanks for those. I will have to look into them. We are looking for something nice and soft. It will probably be on a light blue shirt. Looks nice on that background. We are on August 2nd. I think it may be the 4th sailing. Then Susan and I will take our California grandson to the Disney parks for a week. Daughter and her family rented a house at the beach for after the cruise, since they have been to Disney a couple times in the past year or two. Then we meet in Orlando to all fly home together.

Speaking of Daryl, has anyone used an online service that prints t-shirts? We were looking at getting the family Daryl t-shirts for our Utopia sailing. (Yeah, we will probably be one of those families) When our grandkids stayed over last weekend, my grandson wanted to see what we could come up with as a graphic for the shirts. So he and I played around with my antique version of photoshop (ver 6), and came up with this. We may have names, or staff positions under the graphic. The front of the shirt would have a smaller version with the graphic with the ship name. Still have to tweak and align lettering, but this is the idea of what we want to do. Will need to find out from the printer if we need to turn the text into vectors, as well as any other requirements. And, I guess the real Daryl will be coming on that cruise too. Anyone have any place to recommend? I may check with a local place that prints shirts too.

That looks familiar, except Daryl was being a camera hog in mine.

Same here. My email was just flooded with 300 emails from CC, and they were not in any particular order

That is sad that they closed up. That was always our place to go when we were in Falmouth. Hang out at the swim up bar and have one of their Cuban sandwiches. Will have to look for someplace new if we ever have it for a port stop again.

Speaking of hearing loss, I was in for my 4 month check with the audiologist yesterday. They check my aids every 4 months to see if anything needs adjusted or replaced. Yesterday’s appointment included a hearing test in the sound booth to see how much hearing loss has progressed. The last sound booth frequency measurements were six years ago when I first got hearing aids. So, in six years time I have lost about 10 dB across the spectrum, which they say is a normal progression. I did some research online after the appointment, and found one study that was done that reported an average loss of 1.4 dB per year, so I may be a little higher than average. Just a few things as a PSA. Normal hearing loss will start in your 50’s and will continue. If anyone is hesitant about getting hearing aids, do it, because it makes a huge difference. Maybe OB is right about contacting the head office, because putting it on the surveys doesn’t seem to result in positive change. I know I will be bringing ear plugs for the grandkids when we take them on their first cruise this year.

Not necessarily true. Even when I have removed mine, or turned them off, the noise level has been uncomfortable on every cruise we have been on since the restart. And I am one of those in the severe hearing loss category. This chart gives maximum exposure levels. By the way, the average concert is at 120 dB.

Our county is in the initial stages of a countywide property reassessment. Of course, their explanation is that it will make property taxes fairer for everyone. Translating this, it means they have reached the limit of their taxing authority, and they need to do this to be able to raise taxes. Next, they say……. Don’t worry, we won’t have a windfall, because we can’t collect more than a percentage increase when the new assessments are implemented. Translating this means some of you will pay a lot more (because you took good care of your property), but others will pay less (because they didn’t). I am always leery when the government says they are doing something to help you, or make things fairer. So, yesterday the data collectors showed up at our door. I was surprised how much they had wrong about our house, listing features we do not have. Hmm, wonder if I can get a refund. I guess I am too late to give the place the run down look.

Bolaro’s was my favorite place to get a Hurricane. Come to think of it, I think I have a favorite drink at each bar.

One of the shows was speculating it is bladder cancer, because it was something they may see when he was in for his prostate.

That is probably a good range to start checking. Just check every day, starting 60 days out. If I recall, it was 54 days on our Symphony sailing. I posted the compass for each day of our 8 day sailing, and they are in my LIVE, along with the shows

Now you sound like my wife. Except she often wastes hers on cans of coke.

A couple of photos from walks the last couple days. We have seen at least a half dozen eagles every day.

Those pictures look like the weather was pretty nasty. Glad you got your awning down before it broke a window. Had a FaceTime call with my son last night. Lots of rain and water running down the hills at their place. They lost power after our call, but it was back on this morning. No major damage for them. He may have to have his yard guy come in to do cleanup. I know my son can’t, because he just had surgery on his back this week. Hopefully you don’t have a lot to clean up.

Good to hear they turned the volume down.

Our son was one of those who lost power. It went out after we had a FaceTime call with them last night, but it was back on this morning. Lots of rain at their place, but no major damage.

They have added a few fish since we were there last month.

It has been there for a while.

Yeah, I bought one of those Odyssey combo cap and shirt a couple years ago. I think it was closer to $30 then. I saw Jason Liberty on tv the other day, and he was saying how everything on their ships is still a bargain. Not sure I drink the same kool-aid as he does.

That is the same avitar I use on the Prince of Darkness site (also known as FB)

Are they listing Kai Sushi as a specialty? This article has listed it as one of the casual restaurants that would be part of the Plus 2 https://thetravelista.net/travel/cruise/sun-princess-dining/

We were pulling into our driveway after breakfast, and the grandkids saw a large bird in one of the trees in our front yard. I look at it, and I say “that is a Cooper’s Hawk” Our granddaughter says “Cooper’s **** !” (Although what she said was not hawk, but something that rhymes with it.). Of course, our grandson starts laughing, and he tries to correct her. She tries again, and it she repeats several times “cooper’s ****, cooper’s ****”. By now, Susan and I are laughing along with our grandson. Finally, our grandson says “stop it, the way you are saying it is a bad word.” I guess they haven’t taught that word in 3rd grade yet. I won’t put the word there, because I want to pass GO.

Our grandson and granddaughter stayed overnight at our house Friday night. They wanted to go to a really expensive restaurant for breakfast on Saturday morning, so we found them this one. We got lucky, because the meals they ordered were less than $899.