USN59-79

Kind of busy yesterday and didn't get to the Daily until last night. A few months ago I noticed that I had more than 100 old National Geographics in my storage room, some as old as 1916, a few from the 1920s and 30s and the majority from the 1950s to the 1980s. I spent a few weeks reading each of them and it was very enjoyable, learning about countries just after WW1 and prior to WW2 that I have actually visited in the last few years. Some of the ads were interesting, such as a 1919 Locomobile, or how wonderful lead paint was. Wasn't sure what to do with them, so they are back in the storeroom. Decided yesterday to have my roof cleaned. It is metal, shaped like Roman tile, so can be pressure washed. Used something like Angi's List and quickly received four bids. Chose the one who actually came to my house, measured it, and described what he would do.

Finally a dry, sunny day in the Pacific NW. Went out on my deck to get the outside portion of my AccuRite weather station and with the instruction sheet figured out why it wasn't sending the outside temperature signal to the inside unit. Hadn't been working since I changed the batteries a few days ago. Guess I must admit that I am actually a nerd. Looking at the "Dream Catcher" meme that @Quartzsite Cruiser Lenda posted I could see that mouse trap couldn't work. So I had to go to the garage and look at a real one to find out what the problem was. Who does things like that? Ray

I imagine that if anyone is angry about the missed stop to Fanning Island it is the local residents. And the people they are angry at are the government officials who decided not to show up for work. Suspect most of their income comes from cruise ship visits. Ray

Interesting that we are discussing Medicare today. Went to the monthly DAV meeting this morning and heard a presentation about something called AARP Medicare Advantage Patriot (PPO) from United Healthcare. You don't have to be an AARP member and United Healthcare is just one of the insurance companies offering this. This is called a Medicare Advantage plan and its cost is zero monthly premium. It is appropriate for those who already have Medicare parts A and B and also have something like Tricare for Life which most retired military have. She mentioned that after free enrollment, our monthly Medicare Part B premium will go from $164.90 to $69.90 for both me and my DW, we will receive $2K per year for comprehensive dental services and $400 per year for over the counter medications, like vitamins. I had never heard of this, but the retired Marine next to me said he has been using it and it worked fine for him. I plan to meet with this sales agent next week and see about signing up for this. I also talked to one of the DAV people about getting the VA to pay my dental costs based on my disability. He said he went through the same thing and you just have to be persistent and expect it to take some time to get it started. Ray

If you think about it, this is the purpose of Cruise Critic. Ray

I wonder if the cruise director was trying to encourage people to use HAL transportation when he mentioned $300. to get to Narita from Yokohama. We have always used the Limousine Bus from YCAT to Narita. Cost is $35. per person. YCAT is Yokohama City Air Terminal, located about 2 miles from the pier. If I remember correctly, they also offer a senior discount making the cost closer to $20. Look it up on the internet. Ray

An update on the dental situation: Sara had two implants successfully started yesterday. Looks like a good dentist; no problems and very little pain today. I made a call to the VA hospital dental dept. yesterday. Got thru after 45 minutes. Instead of a bottle of wine while waiting I popped a bowl of popcorn to snack on. Talked to the person, told her my situation and problem and she promised to pass the info on to the dental people and they would call me back. They called back this morning stating that they are taking care of getting my "Community Care Referral" and I can expect a call back next week. I asked if that meant Monday and they said probably not. Tomorrow is the monthly DAV meeting in Bremerton. I plan to attend and get some insight on how other veterans are dealing with this same problem. Luckily there is no urgency on my part to get this dental work done. Ray

@Quartzsite Cruiser I am not going to give up on dealing with the VA. I have learned to either work through or around their onerous procedures. When I was diagnosed with leukemia associated with Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, the VA recommended that I work with DAV (Disabled American Veterans) to put in a claim for benefits. That worked very well. Some things, like hearing loss are not covered by Medicare or Tricare, but are covered by the VA. Took close to a year, but finally got the VA to take care of my hearing aids. Once approved, no problem to get them to handle the cost. Later today I will get on the phone again with them. I am a member of our local DAV chapter, so that is another option. Ray

We have spent this week dealing with dentists and dental insurance. For years we have used Delta Dental which is associated with our military retired health plan. Sara needs to have two teeth removed and implants placed there. We found a local dental office that can do it and asked them to prepare us a plan showing us the costs for each procedure, what they wanted to charge and what the insurance would pay. When through about four iterations of that, and finally came up with it would cost us about $5K. So Sara is scheduled to have dental surgery tomorrow. I have a similar problem; need to replace one tooth with an implant, but that tooth is part of a bridge so two other tooth are involved. I found that the VA will fully cover my dental costs as I am 100% disabled. But to get them to do it is the problem. I called the number given me by the local VA clinic, punched in the numbers to get to the appropriate person, waited 52 minutes and finally got a person who said he couldn't help me, but gave me a number to call tomorrow. So I put my phone on speaker, sat at my desk, and had three glasses of red wine waiting for them to answer. So if I have an alcohol problem, blame it on the VA! Ray

I think the reason all of the Carnival brands recommend CBIT is that they get a hefty kickback from them.

Interesting negativity. We are on a 33 day leg of the 2024 Sojourn WC starting in January. Just received an email from Seabourn stating the visa requirements for our cruise. A visa on arrival will be arranged for Timor L'Este and Indonesia; a visa is required for China, an eTA is required for Australia with a link, and which nationals need a visa for Taiwan. It ends with a sentence thanking you for your trust in us. I think I will trust what they said. Ray

A nice, sunny day here in the Pacific NW. Should go to 75 today. Have my monthly eye injection for AMD later this afternoon. Did something today that I have never done in roughly 1300 days of cruising. Bought insurance for our next cruise. Was surprised at how inexpensive it is; roughly 7% of the cruise cost. Bought it through the cruise line (Seabourn) and had until final payment to purchase it. We have been around Australia, but I don't remember stopping at Albany. The next cruise has some stops at some unusual ports there; Moreton Island, Airlie Beach, Townsville, and Cooktown, plus Cairns and Darwin. One of the advantages of sailing on smaller cruise ships. Ray

My understanding of the offset in social security for state employees is that while working for the state you don't have the same social security deduction from your pay checks as employees who work elsewhere. After retiring from the Navy I worked for the Defense Department long enough to retire from there. I had to choose whether to accept Civil Service retirement or USN retirement, so I gave up my 20-year Navy retirement. Still kept all the other benefits such as Tricare, though. Ray

We remember most of these things except skeet shooting off the fan tail. Our first HAL cruise was in 1996, an Alaska cruise on the old Noordam. After our 42 day cruise on the Westerdam earlier this year, we decided to try something different. Our next one is on Seabourn, 33 days Sydney to Taipei this February. Ray

Actually, the DAM Dollars are actually called "Grand Dollars". I still have 211 of them, 6-20s and 91 singles. A nice touch is that they show the HAL symbol with the modern ship bow and the sailing ship. I believe it is called Halve Moon. I also still have my Passport to Fitness jacket. Ray

A little gloomy this morning as they expect some rain to come in from the Coast this morning, then good weather the rest of the week. I have owned a lot of cars in my time; my first was a '36 Buick coupe that I drove in high school. However I never named one of them. Was surprised to hear that a 12 year old station wagon was ready for the junk yard. We have an SUV that is 21 years old, Sara's Lexus is 23 years old and like new, and the Prius is 6 years old and the daily driver. Luckily in our part of the country cars seldom rust out. I am not a fan of many of Elon's statements, but I am a fan of his products. He changed our perception of electric vehicles and who would have thought that we could send a rocket to space and reuse it again and again. Certainly not NASA. Ray

I noticed the following on our disembarkation info form from the Amsterdam in 2002: Although Holland America sails under the "Tipping Not Required" policy, if you do wish to recognize staff members, we suggest you do it the last night of the cruise as most of the crew will not be at their regular stations on the morning of disembark. Ray

A couple of last minute things from yesterday's Daily. Thanks, Bruce @aliaschief for the heads up on ordering the new covid tests. Got an email confirming my order this morning. Tony @sailingdutchy mentioned TSA confiscating two jars of peanut butter in his carry on luggage. Not sure if they still do it, but they confiscated my tooth paste once. The limit on weight for "liquids" is 3.4 ounces. The tooth paste I get from Costco weighs 5.8 ounces. Something to think about on your next flight. Ray

Looks like our rainy season has started here in the Pacific NW. Back to wearing trousers and long sleeved shirts. A few years ago we stopped our subscription to the local newspaper. Seems that when people notified their carrier that they were going to be gone for awhile he would notify his friend the house thief which house would be empty. Ray

Easy answer. This is not a military forum. Ray

Thanks for all the input. It included an extensive acronym listing posted in 2010 by @Wesley Furman and printed it out to have on my desk. Fortunately I just bought a new printer that uses ink tanks. Ray

Thanks, Carolyn. That makes sense. Not what I would call my dear wife though. Ray

Nice to know that I am not the only one who struggles with this. I can usually figure it out from the context. However, today a person mentioned losing their SO and I don't have a clue of what she meant. Thought it could have been a typo, but later someone offered their condolences, so someone knew what it meant. Ray

As an alternative to HAL excursions, you might want to check your Roll Call for the cruise. Often people will book a 6-person van for an excursion that is less expensive and more comfortable than the HAL excursions and look for persons to join them. Ray

At one time there was a listing of the shortcut for dear people in your life, such as DW for Dear Wife. But I am unsure of some of them particularly when the first letter could describe something else, like is DS Dear Sister or Dear Son. Can anyone point me to the listing? Thanks Ray