Plan "B"

(Help! I'm in a nutshell)

I started writing a letter to a new friend, when I thought I might want to put it here instead/in addition. I haven't decided yet.

Me in a nutshell:

When I worry - I worry about today. Tomorrow has enough worries of its own. But when I do worry - it's usually about things that don't matter in the long run.

I take my job (but not myself) seriously. I'm blessed in that I like what I do, but if I didn't, I'd probably still do it. I just wouldn't be as happy about it.

I can be immature, but never irresponsible. I'll risk my pride, but not my life.

Spelling counts, mostly. It's o.k. if you over use commas, but you should really be familiar with its and it's.

The guy who cut me off this morning didn't do it to me personally, so there's no use getting upset about it. Let me know how if you know the secret for not letting this get to you.

The wages of sin is death. The wages of a donut is a two mile run at 7 mph.

My intelligence is affected by by surroundings. At my parents house, I know everything about computers. At work, I know some stuff.

Books can't hold my interest for very long. A good daydream is better than any mere book.

I can usually find the humor in anything. Sometimes, my mouth moves faster than my brain and that little thing that's supposed to act as a filter - just doesn't work. Most of the time, it comes out as humor, but sometimes, it comes out as a hurtful stab.

I very rarely swear. I don't see the productivity in it, but when I do, it's to make a point - darn it!

I like champagne. It makes me feel like I'm a grown-up. I like beer too, but I think my beergammon days are behind me.

I can be self rightous. When I'm driving 65, I can wonder why all these idiots are so wreckless. When I'm driving 90, I'm wondering why all these idiots are in my way. Lately, I've been better about just letting people do whatever they're going to do on the road. There's no sense in getting upset either way. What good could ever come from road rage? Like you're going to teach every idiot out there a lesson. (Thanks T)

Work hours are from 8:12 - 5:00. I've let that slip a bit in the strictest sense, but 9 hours is 9 hours, and I make sure work gets their money's worth out of me.

I can forget someone's name right after I hear it. I've tried several techniques for remembering things, but nothing seems to work. I forget almost everything except when someone hurts me. I can remember what I had for lunch and what I was wearing those days.

I love to tinker. I think you can build/fix almost anything with: duct tape, coat hanger wire, hot glue gun.

I'm not sure if I'd rather be a cat or a dog. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages.

My favorite color changes from time to time. Sometimes, it's blue, or red, or black, or some other color that can be found in a box of 8 crayons.

I don't put much thought about what people think about what I drive. I drive what I drive because I need something reliable with a good resale value (Tacoma), or I need something that's comfortable (Towncar).

Favorite movies:

• Casablanca - All the world's best movie lines are in there. I'm not sure if Rick knew that Ilsa lied about her husband in Paris, but you could see it in her eyes when he proposed. She knew.
• Matrix - One of the most well done "outside the box" movies. I just learned that Keanu Reeves and I have the same birthday. He should feel very special now.
• Beaches - I can't usually cry about my own circumstances, but this movie turns the waterworks on.

Photo Album - click here

It's apparent that I'm lacking the time needed to do a real trip report on the Caribbean earlier this month. Wow! It was still this month - not even a month ago. Snorkeling seems so distant now.

In a nutshell, I really had a nice time. I think I'm sold on cruises for the rest of my life. Until I go to Disneyland with Rocco and Pat next month, that is. Pound for pound though - you really can't beat cruising. One of my life goals is the 100+ day cruise around the world. That, and seeing Earth from space, but I think the 'round the world trip is more possible right now.

Most memorable are these:

The sail away party: I won a bottle of champagne for being the first to jump into the pool fully clothed.

Skywalker's nightclub: What 'cha gonna do wit all dat junk... [blech], but I really liked dancing again. I can't get enough of that sometimes.

Snorkeling: Snorkeled in Grand Turk and Princess Cay. Princess Cay was better because the beach is new and almost completely exclusive. Most people would probably just stay near the beach and bars. Saw a squid or octopus (probably a squid) hidden under a rock. Beautiful fan coral. Assorted shells and I believe a living sand dollar - all puffed up.

Snuba diving: Awsome! One of the reasons why I took this trip in the first place. It was wierd being neutrally boyant under 15 feet of water, but I adapted like a fish. I'd definitely look into get a rig if I didn't have to haul it around when I'm on vacation.

I'm thankful for tonight. Tonight at church, pastor opened the floor to hear what everyone in the congregation was thankful for. I thought we were never going to stop. Well, to be completely transparent - I thought they were never going to stop. Several times I had tried to raise my hand and speak, but I just couldn't. My shell is just too thick sometimes.

I almost didn't even go. I had a lousy day at work for it being the last day before a four day weekend. Most other people took off early and very few even hung around until 3pm. I, on the otherhand, was handed a truckload of work to do before I could leave. I got home late, and tried to call a friend who's flying into the area tomorrow, but alas - I can't dial long distance from my home phone. Doi. I was tired and really wanted to just relax and not think. I drifted really close to not going at all, but I missed a week of church while on vacation and I didn't want to miss any more.

Actually, it's more complete to say that after I missed a week of church, pastor mailed me a hand written letter saying that he missed me and hoped to see me soon. And in a nutshell, that's what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for the wrong turn I took about 4 years ago. I set out one day to find a nice big church where I could attend and basically disappear. I was going to be the polite stranger who sat in back and nobody knew. I was hopeful that this would count on my "church attendance scorecard" - but that's not how it works now, is it. For whatever reasons, I took a left away from where I was going that day four years ago. Then, I took another left - again for no reason. I ended up driving by a church which wasn't the one I had set out for at all, but something told me to go on Sunday anyway.

As hard as I tried (and I've tried) I couldn't just be the quiet stranger that nobody knew. Everyone greeted me with a geniune smile and a heart for God. They wanted to know my name - and they didn't have "greeter" pins on their lapels. As I look back, it was exactly what I needed at the time - accountability.

Anyway, back to tonight. There wasn't a dry eye in the house tonight. People were expressing their thankfulness in such wonderful and heartfelt ways - old and young alike. It renewed my spirit and welled my eyes with tears - and I was going to skip it because I thought I was too tired. Ha!

Sometimes, I'm able to remember back to when I was thankful that I was simply inside, out of the elements. I used to stare at the walls and the ceiling, and with complete satisfaction announce, "I'm inside!", and smile.

Day 1:

Princess has a pretty clean boarding process, although we're herded through like cattle. We all gathered into one line that eventually broke out into a separate set of lines for each deck. I don't think there was any real distinction between the type of service the Aloha people got versus the Plaza. It was all pretty much the same. Once we were checked in, it was an unceremonious trek up the gang plank to the ship and to our cabin. Sure, there was someone there to take my picture, but I miss the experience I got on Celebrity where they greeted me with a glass of champagne and someone personally lead me down to my cabin. Now, that was service. But I promise to keep my comparisons to a minimum on these trip reports. I had a very nice time.

JP and I got to our cabin and took a look off the balcony. At once I noticed the additional fire sprinklers and smoke detectors on each balcony. This side of the ship caught fire from a stray cigarette/cigar back in March of '06. I also noticed that the deck chairs on the balcony were alumininum instead of the resin ones that I'd seen in pictures. Smart move, Princess.

In short order, JP and I were meeting people at the upper pool bar - a pretty typical scene for the rest of the week. I didn't know how my cruise-virgin friends were going to like cruising, but I was curious to find out. After a while, we decided to check on the gals, who were on Emerald (8). I think we called down to their cabin or they called us - can't recall. But they came over, and we took a few quick sailaway shots on our balcony. I'm really going to miss that on the next cruise on this ship, but the price point is just too much for a balcony through Europe.

The cabin Aloha 334 (deck 12)

The culprit/blackmail target (JPM)

Incriminating photo #1

After a few minutes though ME and I were at the sail away party on the pool deck (14) all doing the electric slide. They had ice breaker games and assorted prizes. Then, the call went out for the first person to jump into the pool with all their clothes on would win a bottle of champagne. Before I could react, my brainstem was throwing its body into the pool. It's champagne after all, and I'm a sucker for it and a good time :-)




Electric Slide at the pool sail away party. Linked, since I still don't know how to embed movies into HTML. Doi.

Hey, What has two thumbs and knows how to have a good time?

Soaking wet, I went with ME to my cabin where JP and Ro were drawing house plans on a notepad - they'd missed the first party, and my fear was that they were going to spend the trip in their cabins reading or something. My fears were misplaced though. :-) Happily.

At the end of it all, I only had time to take a couple of snaps of the Skywalker nightclub, which was really great except Tuesday night when the whole boat was rocking - and I don't mean rockin'. I had to retreat to my cabin for some much needed Dramamine.

The begining of the end of thinking about work and bills and the temporary concerns of this life. We were sitting in the airport, looking forward to a few days of vacation. Across the terminal, a man sat with a large binder of slides that he was struggling to read.







The plane ride was routine and we checked into the hotel and slept.

The next day started out like many other days except this day didn't have work in it. We woke up and checked out of the hotel that we sought shelter in a year prior after hurricane Wilma came through. This time was different. I had to resist the urge to use the stairs because the elevator was working this time. Nice. We had a nice breakfast and decided to walk along the boardwalk shops and beach. I was asked to take a picture for Ro, which I did gladly. I took a few other random pictures just to start filling up my camera - I was pretty sure that I would have plenty of "film" for this first real day of vacation. A snap here and a snap there, and then a visit to the bar that was open during the hurricane. They boarded up all the windows except one small rat hole where people squeezed themselves in and out. When we go there, they were out of ice, but would sell you a warming beer for your troubles.







The whole area looked so different this time. It was more like a vacation spot and less like a disaster area. Palm trees were upright and sand was contained in the beach area. It's a nice area.

O.K. that wasn't the highlight of last week's vacation, but for some reason, it was the first thing to pop into my head as I sat down to make my first post-cruise entry. I ate snails for the first time.



I ate 1/2 of the ones on my plate - and then had nothing else to prove. I know now that I'm not fond of the texture of snails. The taste was almost completely covered by the garlic (which could have been stronger for my tastes).

Otherwise, it was another week on incredible food. I had swordfish for the first time as well. I think I did anyway - did I have the swordfish?

Anyway, it was fun dressing up like grownups and playing with the forks and knives.



After dinner, we all headed to the show. The Star Princess had a comedian named "Sarge" who ME and I had seen on another cruise. He was just as funny (with lots of butt jokes), and we really had a nice evening. Anyway, that's the short story. There was much more going on, but I must be brief because I'm still doing laundry and have to clean up around the house now that I've deposited all this sand from my luggage.



In a nutshell, this was an excellent cruise. It shot up the charts to #2 with a bullet. Pictures and bloggable entries to follow - once the kitchen stops rocking.

Hi Kim,

I hope you enjoyed your trip to the biggest home owner association in the world. :-0 Anywho, as you can probably tell, the maid was here and the place is looking pretty good. Well, average anyway.

So, since we're not going to see each other as we pass through different airports, here are some brief instructions about the new washer/dryer.

1. Use only HE detergent (or use very little of your regular detergent unless you want a Brady Bunch episode in the hallway).

2. The electrician hasn't shown up yet to wire the washer, so I usually connect it to the switched outlet in the living room (make sure the switch is turned on or you'll be spending hours trying to figure out why it's not working).

3. The washer doesn't start right away because... well, you know what? I think it would be better if I could just show you....

4. Click here for the 7 Meg video or here for the 13 Meg video

Don't know when I'll be back again. Well, actually, does anybody buy open tickets anymore? I'm off to visit the Caribbean for a few days. Short trip this time, and now I'm wishing it were two weeks.

Mostly, I'm planning on lying face down in the ocean with my snorkel/snuba gear every day. With any luck, I'll have snuba pictures to post when I return.

Have you ever Googled yourself? I just did. I got the idea from someone I met online. They wanted to see if I was an ax murderer I guess. :-) The first thing Google does to my name is:

Did you mean to search for: "Johnny Casino"

Yeah, Baby! Johnny Casino. That's my new name. But it's pronouced Johnny! Casino.

Anywho, in order:

1. My old fotopage where I started uploading photos a few years ago. I also did some 26 Things there.

2. IBM's monthly Ponder This contest that I participated in once back in 1999.

3. Comment on a software product called Brother Eagle that I bought a few months ago.

4. My new credit from some software I wrote in support of a book.

5. My Blog. Specifically, my epitaph entry.

6. Credits for some photos I took of Toon Town, Disneyland under construction. I have about 1,000 photos that I mean to hand over to Rocco for whatever purposes he deems worthy.

7. More fotopages - this time, "pages that start with 'J'"

And that's basically my Internet presence. Now, if you have a name like John Smith, you're probably not going to find out much about yourself by this exercise, but "Johnny! Casino" - now there's a name you can remember.

# posted by Johnny @ 11/01/2006 08:47:00 PM 2 comments links to this post