Back to Work

I ended up going back to work at the Post Office. I wasn't supposed to work yesterday. When I put in my leave slip, I gave myself 3 days to recover from my Egypt vacation. I stopped by the Post Office where I work yesterday to give a co-worker a t-shirt and nubian hat I bought him. While I was there, another carrier who was working supposedly got sick and claimed she needed to leave. There isn't any way to know if she was legitimately sick. The supervisor was now in a bind. We were already short handed and, it would've been impossible to find someone on such short notice. He asked me if I could help out a little. I agreed to. I ended up delivering the entire auxiliary route. It was interesting to do that route as I haven't done it in a while. Another plus was I could use the bucks. I kept my charges down while I was in Egypt but, I still have a lot of bills to pay. There's this years taxes, the scooter I plan to get and paying off the U.S. and Canada tours. While an extra 5 hours won't make a huge dent in those bills, it will help a little. So, I was glad to do it. Today, I'm back on the schedule and will deliver Express Mails and who knows what else. Every day seems to be a crisis at the Post Office so you never know what you might end up working. We'll see how it goes. Now, I'm counting down to the U.S. and Canada tours. Approximately 120 days to go on those. Plus, I'm looking into doing another Caribbean cruise. We'll see what happens on that. Cheers all!

Adventures Log

Now that I'm back from my Egypt trip, I can start telling you my readers more fully about it. Here goes.

I arrived in Cairo a day early. I wanted time to recover from the long flight and ensure I was well rested before the important first group meeting. I haven't forgotten falling asleep sporadically at the group meeting at the beginning of the Scandanavia tour I did. Through my travel agent Joel, I made sure Globus/Avalon Waterways would have someone to meet me at the airport. I very much wanted someone there who knew their way around there and spoke the language. I visited Cairo before in March 2001 but, I wasn't any expert on the ropes there. I would be very glad to see a person from Avalon waiting for me when I arrived.

I stepped off the plane in Cairo and boarded a bus that took me to the arrivals terminal. I walked in there and to my surprise, I saw a sign saying Globus/Avalon Waterways. I hadn't passed through Egyptian immigration yet. I walked up to the representative, told him my name and he checked his list and confirmed that I was one of the people who was supposed to pick up. Then, he had me rush to the MISR Bank counter to buy my Egyptian visa which you had to have to get into Egypt. It cost $15. I expected some kind of form to fill out but there wasn't one to my astonishment. I paid my money and they gave me a sticker to put in my passport that was my visa. The man who met me at the gate took the sticker, put it in my passport, checked what I'd filled in on arrivals card I had to fill out and got me through the immigration line. Another man took over from there.

The man who took over from there would later be called Bob. His real name is something like Sopi. However you say his name, he was super nice and made sure the tour got off to a good start. He was the one who called Samy, my tour's guide and arranged for me to meet him at the hotel I would be staying at. I was a little perplexed why Bob would want me to meet Samy so soon but, I figured whatever. I do remember him saying Samy was outstanding. It turned out, he was right.

Bob herded me and a friend to the van and driver that would take me to the MENA House Oberoi Hotel in Giza. I don't know the driver's name but, he did a fine job getting me to the hotel. I was surprised how far it was from the hotel. As we drove along, I looked at the van windows to see some of the sights of Cairo. Some of the sights were surprising. I saw run down dirty multi-storied apartment building that appalled me. I saw people driving carts pulled by donkeys in the city. Traffic was a madhouse. Drivers drove where ever there was an opening on the road. Cairo sprawled for miles and looked like it had been built haphazardly. There was also a lot of new construction going on. I don't remember what it was for.

After over 30 minutes driving at least, I arrived at the hotel. I'd stayed at the hotel during my first visit in 2001. I had fond memories of it. It is an outstanding hotel and, the perfect place to visit the pyramids from. It's just minutes walking from them. The hotel staff were very prompt in helping me check in. I expected to stay in one of the rooms to the back of the hotel. To my surprise, I got a room the palace part of the hotel. The palace part of the hotel is I believe part of the older original hotel. It's considered more luxurious and has better views. I was knocked for six when I looked out my bedroom window and saw Cheops pyramid. Another advantage of rooms in the palace part of the hotel is you are closer to the hotel's various restaurants including the bar where I would meet Samy.

Bob had helped set up my first meeting with Samy. I'd heard about him on one of the few Egypt stories on Globus's exchange travel stories website. The reviewer said he was great but didn't give any real reasons why. I was surprised to be meeting the tour's guide so soon. But, I figured it would be worthwhiled as I could find out how the tour was going to run.

The first thing you get to see about Samy Hassaan is his warm and cordial smile. You would get to see it a lot during the trip. The second was his very professional manner. Samy got me and my friend our complimentary welcome drink and then, we sat down and got answers to questions like when could we sign up and pay for the tour's optional excursions and how was the first group meeting going to go the next day. To my delight, I was able to pay at once for all the excursions I wanted to take. This would enable me to avoid a hefty charge card bill when I got back to the U.S. Second, to my surprise, I found out Samy was going to take a few people to a museum next to the pyramids that we wouldn't get to see during the tour. It's the solar boat museum. The solar boat is a boat that was built for Pharoah Cheops (Khufu) that would simulate the boat he would use in the afterlife. It was never intended to be used. Surprisingly, it wasn't found until 1954. Samy said it was worth seeing. The same group afterwards was going to see the Royal mummies collection at the museum of antiquities. As I hadn't planned to do anything that day barring the group meeting, I willing to go so I agreed to join the group that Samy would take to the solar boat museum.

After my first meeting with Samy was concluded, we made our way over to a closeby ATM where I was able to get some Egyptian pounds. I withdrew 1,000 of them. Then, it was time for dinner. The MENA House Oberoi hotel has 4 or 5 restaurants. The Khan El Khalili restaurant is open 24 hours I believe. My friend and I decided to eat there. We'd have a nice meal there and discuss our upcoming adventures. There was going to be a LOT of things to see and do within the next 2 weeks. Continued in Adventures Log - Part II.

I'm Back!

I made it back to the good old USA but, I'm not home yet. I had to be up at 5 a.m. with my bags out at 5:30 in Cairo. The Avalon Waterways (MISR Travel) shuttle that would take me to Cairo International was waiting for me. It took me to the airport where I had a mis-adventure when the person at the check-in counter gave me the wrong boarding pass. I managed to get that fixed. Then, I had to endure a 12 hour flight to New York JFK Airport. That royally sucked. Finally, I arrived there and had to sit and twiddle my thumbs for almost 4 hours. I finally get to board the plane for Dulles International and, we find out the plane is overweight. They end up kicking a passenger off the plane. I bet she wasn't happy. Neither were the rest of us as we sat in the plane for over 35 minutes waiting for them to get that sorted out. My plane ended up leaving over an hour late.

By the time I arrived at Dulles, I know I'm not in any shape to drive home. No problem, I'll stay at Embassy Suites again right, WRONG! First, I miss their shuttle. I figure, they'll send another one in 15 or 30 minutes. WRONG! After waiting over 40 minutes with the time past 11 p.m., I go back into the airport and look up their number. I call them on my cell phone which it turned out had a very low battery so, I wondered if the call would disconnect because it ran out of juice. Thankfully, it didn't. The driver for the hotel shuttle shows up and takes me to the Embassy Suites where my car. I inform the person at the reception that I need a room. To my astonishment, he informs me they are fully booked! Luckily, there is a Homewood Suites next door and, they had some rooms available. So, later today (now), I'll finally drive home and conclude my Egypt adventure.

The tour itself was awesome barring me getting sick. I'm still taking antibiotics for that. I hope the bug I caught will be gone permanently when I finish the antibiotics. We'll see. I plan to post more indepth blogs about the trip some time in the coming days. I got to see a lot of neat stuff though I also saw some very sad stuff. The poverty in Egypt is appalling. So, stay tuned for more updates.

Last Blog from Egypt

This is my last blog entry from Egypt. I arrived back in Cairo this morning. Tomorrow, I fly back to the states. I hate it when a tour ends. I had an awesome guide in Samy Hassaan and a group of people to share the tour with. Plus, I don't look forward to going back to the Post Office. Oh well. I can solace that in approximately 4 months, I'll get to do another bunch of adventures when I go on tour again with Globus.

Concerning my illness, the antibiotics I'm taking are working. However, I am on a diet of bread, rice, soup and bananas as these would upset my stomach. I hope to fully kick this bug soon. We'll see.

Cheers from Cairo!

Sickness

To my great annoyance and pain, I've come down with some intestinal bug. I believe I caught the things while I was cruising on the Nile. At first, I suffered a mild case of diarrhea then, it progressed to stomach pain and finally steady intestinal pain. Luckily, there is a nurse in our group who knows about such things. She sold me a combination antibiotic/anti-diuretic. The drug has supposedly worked for her while she's been here. Now, I have to be patient and wait for the drug to do its stuff. That isn't easy when your gut is steadily hurting. There has been one blessing of sorts. Because of the bug, I woke up at 2 a.m. this morning and, I couldn't get back to sleep. I'd planned to skip the excursion to Abu Simbel because I didn't want to have to get up at 3:30 a.m. Because of the bug, I woke up earlier and decided that I might as well go on the trip.

Abu Simbel was very impressive. Rameses II didn't believe in building small monuments to himself. This one features 18 meter (approximately 60 feet) high statues of himself as well as a number of ingrained pictures telling of his alleged victory over the Hittites. The pictures are stunning. Another interesting thing about the temple is that apparently Rameses II was impatient to become a god. While a pharoah is alive, he is considered a semi-God. It is only when he dies that he become a full god. Rameses wanted to be a full God in life. He couldn't be one where people understood the Egyptian religion so he built a temple in one of the remotest parts of the Egyptian empire and told the garrison there to worship him as a God. The garrison reportedly did what they were told. Another interesting thing is that Rameses built a temple to his primary wife Nefertari. Egyptian Queens don't receive temples unless they become pharaohs like Hatshepsut. Nefertari was the first. This indicates that Nefertari was very powerful.

Overall, the temples were very impressive. I was glad I got to see them though I didn't enjoy the steady intestinal pain I suffered during the visit. For now, I have to wait for the antibiotic to do its stuff. Hopefully, it'll beat the bug quickly. We'll see. Tomorrow, I fly back to Cairo for my last full day in Egypt. I hope to post one last update while there. Stay tuned for further updates.

Tour Update

I found out Internet access is affordable at the Maritim Jolie Ville Hotel. Our group will be staying here one night. Tomorrow, we'll transfer to our boat. I actually got see it briefly as we drove to our hotel. Sami our guide assured us we get VIP treatment on the boat. We'll see.

Concerning the tour, we got started shortly after 8 a.m. I was sorry that it was time to check out of the MENA House Oberoi Hotel. My stay there had been really nice. If I ever return to Egypt, I'll definitely stay at that hotel again.

Our first stop was the famous step-pyramid at Saqqara. Sami took us to a museum dedicated to its architect Imhotep. The museum showed some of the artifacts recovered in the area and explained some of the unique aspects of the pyramids. After that, we visited the mastaba (tomb) of an Egyptian prince. The tomb was very impressive with carved figures in the wall showing how life was during those times. Some of the figures still have some of the color they'd been painted with. The tomb must've been very impressive when it was first built. Next was the funerary temple which had stone columns shaped like bundles of reeds. Every stall reportedly held a statue though it isn't know with certainty what the statues were in the stalls.

After that, there was a vast courtyard in the rear of the pyramid. It was built so the pharaoh could complete certain tasks in the afterlife. The step-pyramid itself was impressive though not as much as the 3 great pyramids that came after it.

From there, we went to Memphis which was the first capital of ancient Egypt. Sadly, there isn't anything remaining of the buildings from that time. They were built of mud brick according to Sami and would've been destroyed when the Nile river flooded. It was only due to a number of statues being found at the small museum we visited that archaeologists were able to determine that had to be where Memphis had been located.

Next lunch, lunch ironically was at the same restaurant I ate at when I visited in 2001. My visit this time was less pleasant as they changed the prices of the sodas when it came time to pay the bill and they pushed hard for a tip. They didn't get one from me.

Last, we visited a carpet factory. I remembered the carpet factory from my 2001 visit and decided to skip this. I wasn't going to buy a carpet that could cost as much as a used car.

From there, we drove to the Cairo airport where we said good-bye to our driver. He'd done a good job and, I made sure I gave him a nice tip. Sami was helpful in getting my United Airline frequent flier number added to my ticket so I could earn some airmiles on the flight. The flight itself lasted 1 hour and was uneventful. I hadn't slept great the night before and ended sleeping most of the flight.

Our driver was waiting for us at Luxor airport. We had a pleasant drive through the city and saw the Luxor temple as we passed by. It looked impressive. After checking it, it was time for dinner. The hotel had a buffet that was phenomenal. I piled my plate only to find out there even more entrees available. I decided to limit myself to 1 plate. I've already got a big enough gut.

So, tomorrow we see the Valley of the Kings and Queen Hatshepsut's temple. Then, we board our river cruise ship where we have our first meal on board. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers all!

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt with a population of 8 million. The city was founded by Alexander the Great though there was an important Egyptian village on the site of the future city. For my tour group, we would visit Alexandria to see the city, its museum, its catacombs and Pompey's pillar.

The city's museum was nice though not super big. It's housed in a former U.S. consulate and consists of 3 floors. The basement holds the Egyptian history exhibit though much of what's exhibited there isn't from Alexandria. The first floor holds the Greco-Roman period and includes some new artifacts that were recovered from the sea floor by French divers. The second floor hold Islamic and Coptic exhibits and more modern items. I checked out the first floor and found it interesting. Like the Egyptian museum in Cairo, I found items mis-spelled and mis-labelled. Also, the museum had a very lacklustre gift shop.

The catacombs were discovered purely by accident in 1900. 238 people were buried in them though all the bodies have since been removed. Still, it was interesting and a little spooky to visit them. A spiral staircase took you down in subterranean chambers were the various burial cells were located. There was also a small temple that showed the Egyptian God Anubis mummifying a body. Lastly at this site, we saw a burial temple that was recovered and showed a mix of Roman and Egyptian beliefs.

Pompey's Column is actually a column dedicated in honor of Roman Emperor Diocletian. The rest of the site has the remains of 4 temples as well as some statues left in Alexandria by various Egyptian Pharaohs. I thought it interesting.

After visiting Pompey's column, we drove along the coast to the hotel were Avalon Waterways treated us to lunch. The hotel was nice and the lunch was good. We had pleasant views of a small harbor and beach. Interestingly, the hotel is located next to the former Royal palace and now Presidential mansion. The mansion was a stunning building. Just a little ways down from the mansion was the mansion that held the last Egyptian King's harem. That was interesting.

Overall, the trip was a very nice one though it did involve a drive of 3 hours each way. The drive was an experience as Egyptians don't pay any attention to road markings and I suspect speed limits. After seeing how they drive here, I know I wouldn't want to. At times, it is pure chaos. My respect for our bus driver as well as the driver who picked me up at the Cairo airport has been very high.

That's all for now. Tomorrow, I get to see Old Memphis and the step-pyramid at Saqqara. After that, we fly to Luxor where we have a free evening and stay overnight in a hotel. I hope to post another update but, that'll depend on how much they charge at the hotel to access the Internet. Stay tuned.

5 March Update

Per my last post, I attended the Pyramids sound and light show. It was interesting and yet boring too. At times, I nearly fell asleep. Thankfully, it only lasted an hour and 15 minutes. Our guide Sami was waiting for us when the show was done.

Then, I bought one of the items that was at the top of my list to buy - a Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt. Ok, I know that is a little ridiculous but, I really like collecting the things. It turned out the Cairo cafe has a small shop that sells merchandise only. I looked over what they had and decided to get just a t-shirt.

Next, Sami took us to a shop where we could get supposedly (how would I know) good prices on Egyptian cotton clothes. It was there that I bought a ghabeliyah (I undoubtedly mis-spelled that). A ghabeliyah is sort of like a super long night shirt that Egyptian men were during the daytime. You'll see every once in a while a man wearing one. Sami said we're going to have a party during the river cruise where the men have to wear a ghabeliyah and properly Egyptian. So, I bought one of those and a head scarf. I looked at myself in a mirror at the store and laughed. I was a sight. I'm definitely going to get a picture taken at the party.

I also bought a copy of night t-shirts which cleaned me out Egyptian pounds wise. I'll have to pick up some more this morning dang it.

Last, we drove back to the hotel. It was around 9 p.m. and we have an early start for Alexandria this morning so I skipped dinner. I plan to make up for it by hitting the hotel breakfast buffet hard. I know very little about Alexandria so today will be a big learning experience. We'll see how it goes. Stay tuned for more updates. Cheers all!

Quick Note

I have to post a quick note as I'll be leaving in 30 minutes for the sound and light show at the pyramids. It's been a hectic first full day of the tour. We started at 8 a.m. and drove to the nearby pyramids. I climbed inside Cheops pyramid like I did back in 2001. The long low narrow passageway hasn't changed or the confined spaces inside the pyramid. I enjoyed the adventure but, I was glad to be back outside the pyramid.

After that, we had the chance to ride a camel for 50 Egyptian pounds. I had a better ride than in Australia but, I didn't like dealing with the Egyptian who led my camel.

Then, we visited the famous Sphinx. We learned about the 2 temples that would be built with a pyramid. One would be the funerary temple which was right next to the pyramid and, the other was the mummification temple where the body was mummified. We got to see what remains of the mummification temple for Pharoah Khefren (Cheops son). It was interesting. Afterwards, we took pictures of the Sphinx.

Lunch was next with a restaurant closeby. They had a fixed price lunch which was reasonable and good. I got to eat some good traditional Egyptian food.

Last, we visited the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities to see the King Tutankamun treasures. The treasures haven't lost any of their ability to awe. It's incredible to see what we buried with a boy king who only ruled for 9 years. The horde that would've been buried with a great pharaoah like Rameses II must have been truly mind boggling.

That's all for now. I have the sound and light show to go to and then, I have to grab a quick dinner. After that, I'll be hitting the sack quickly as we have an early start tomorrow morning for Alexandria. Stay tuned for further updates.

Initial Observations

Here are a few initial observations I've made on my trip so far. I suspect water is going to be a major concern. You can't drip the tap water in Egypt so you must drink bottled water. Bottled water can be expensive. A small bottle of it will set you back almost $2. That could add up real quick. Also, I continued to be annoyed by minor things I forgot to pack. I forgot to pack extra sweat bands for my workouts and, I apparently forgot my hairbrush. At least I hope I forgot it, otherwise, I left it at the hotel in Virginia. Lastly, I forgot my spare camera battery. My digital camera uses batteries you have to recharge. Apparently, I left the spare battery on the recharger at home. While I've never needed it past trips, it is nice to have it just in case. I hope I won't need it this time.

Food wise, I noticed the absence of real i.e. pork bacon at the hotel breakfast buffet this morning. I confess I like the real stuff vice beef bacon which is what I think they had. They also had beef and chicken sausages vice pork sausages. One interesting thing I got to try was hibiscus juice. I didn't even know there was such a thing. It was all right.

Lastly, it is a bit unreal to wake up, look outside your bedroom window and see the pyramids. Later, I got to see a bunch of people go off on a camel ride. I remember the last time I was in Egypt, they offered that. If I'm given the chance, I may do it though I've already ridden a camel. I did that during my Globus Australia tour. The ride itself wasn't terribly impressive but, I could say I'd ridden a camel. We'll see if I get to ride one here.

That's all for now. I'll post more later. I bought a 12 hour internet card from the hotel so I'll be posting a fair amount from here. I can't say how much I'll post from other places. It'll depend on the cost. Cheers all!

Made It

I arrived in Cairo this morning. The flight was long as expected. Egyptair was surprisingly decent. The main meal they offered was pretty good plus, they offered a choice of beef, chicken or fish.

Avalon Waterways came through too. There was a 2-man team waiting at the arrivals section at the Cairo airport. The first man showed me where to get my visa and got me quickly in line so I could get through immigration quickly. Note: Getting my Egyptian visa turned out to be ridiculously easy at the airport. I definitely wouldn't bother getting it at the Egyptian consulate in the states.

The second man helped me get my suitcase and directed me to where the driver was. He also contacted the tour guide who met with me later. The tour guide was fantastic. Because of him, I'll get to see the boat museum next to the pyramids tomorrow and the royal mummy section of the Egyptian museum of antiquities. It should be a serious blast.

Lastly, my room at the Mena House Oberoi absolutely rocks. I can look out my bedroom window and see Cheops pyramid. It's unreal.

So, my Egyptian adventure is going well. Stay tuned for further updates as I can post them. Cheers all!

Taxes

I received some good news from my accountant at McMillan & Associates (http://www.mcmillancpa.com/). I was expecting to pay around $2,000 total in Federal and State taxes this year. To my delight, I'll have to pay half of that. I suspect 2 things caused my lower tax bill. First, I didn't make as much money this past year as I did the year before. It's been over a year and a half since I worked at Medieval Times at Arundel Mills Mall. Also, the Post Office has gotten really tight about overtime. Lastly, when given the choice of delivering Express Mail and getting 2 hours or delivering mail on rural route 10 which I hate and racking up a 9 hours, I chose delivering Express Mail. I know that cost me money there. Second, I put more money in my Individual Retirement Account (IRA). I was able to put $5,000 in it vice $4,000. I know that made a difference. So, I won't have to give as much to the socialist government of Maryland or the spend happy clowns in D.C. I hope to take my accountant's advice and pay some of the 2009's tax in advance so my bill will be even lower next year. We'll see on that. I still have a number of other things I need to pay off. I still owe over $2,300 on my future scooter and another $2,300 on my future U.S./Canada trips. Also, I hope to buy a new laptop. Knock on wood, the one I have is still going strong but, it is coming up on 5 years. I don't want to push my luck with it and have it unexpectedly die on me. So, we'll see on the idea of paying some of my future taxes in advance. Cheers all!

Cluck-U

I've been hankering for some chicken wings for a while. There is a chain called Cluck-U that specializes in the things. They used to have one in the town that I live in but, for some reason, that store closed. While driving back from church one day, I saw a person in a chicken costume promoting a Cluck-U restaurant in Lanham, Maryland. Today, I decided to see if I could find the place and satisfy my hunger for some chicken wings.

I didn't know where the restaurant was in Lanham. However, I remembered that my Garmin GPS unit has names and addresses of restaurants. I decided to see if it had a listing for the Lanham Cluck-U. To my delight, it did. I clicked on the listing and, my GPS promptly figured out how to get me to the restaurant. Within a minute, it had the directions. I subsequently followed and found the place with no problem.

I decided to try their family pack which is 30 wings and four 8-ounce sides. They have a number of different flavors of wings going from super mild to super hot. I wimped and went for honey mustard. For my 4 sides, I decided to try their yellow corn, cole slaw, black beans and rice and mashed potatoes. The total cost with tax was $27.55. I believe it took them approximately 10 minutes to prepare my order.

The wings had a decent amount of meat on them and, the honey mustard flavor was all right. As I didn't want to make a pig of myself, I ate the yellow corn and mashed potato sides. Mashed potatoes tend to taste lousy cold and, corn goes with mashed potatoes. Both sides were all right. Overall, I was pretty pleased with the food and, I'll definitely buy some more wings from the Lanham Cluck-U restaurant when I'm out that way sometime. Cheers all!

Nice News

I got some nice news yesterday. I decided to call the travel clinic to find out the results of the chickpox blood test I had done. To my annoyance, they kept telling me they'd call me back with the information and never did. Finally, I got ahold of someone who was able to tell me the results. It turned out I still had enough chickenpox antibodies to where I don't have to worry about catching it while I'm travelling in Egypt. So, I won't need a chickenpox shot. As I don't like shots, I was delighted with the news. I just wish I didn't have to call them 4 times to find out. That takes care of that item on my checklist.

Not Much To Tell

I haven't been blogging much because, I haven't had much happening at my end of the woods. To my surprise, I've been getting a number of hours at the Post Office. That was a mixed blessing as I had to work on 2 routes I didn't know at all. I saw my Periodontist this past Tuesday for a cleaning. He wasn't pleased with me as I haven't been doing my homework i.e. flossing. I knew I had a fair amount of tartar build-up since the last cleaning. One of the reasons I've been seeing him every 4 months vice the normal 6 is to keep it from getting bad. The most annoying thing about tartar is that once its formed, it can only be removed by a dentist. You have to floss daily to keep it from forming and, I haven't been.

I continue to count the days down till my Egypt trip. I found out Avalon Waterways offers 3 sound and light shows during the tour. I think that's too many and, I asked my travel agent which of the 3 was the one I should definitely see. Visa wise, I'm going to do like so many others and get it when I arrive at the Cairo airport. This will be easier than driving down to D.C., trying to find the Egyptian consulate, hoping I arrive when it's open and hoping I get my passport back in time.

I continue to play scratch off lottery tickets. My luck has been great at times and crappy at others. I hit the $108 prize for a second time and won $172 total that time playing. Right after that, my luck turned to crap and I ended up losing $60. So far, it looks like no one is hitting the big prizes. The number of those still out there hasn't changed in 2 weeks at least. I wonder what's up with that. Did the Maryland lottery make it so only a bunch of the small winners would come up? That way, they wouldn't be stuck with a lot of tickets once all the big prizes are gone. I don't know. I continue to dream of hitting the $80,000 top prize on their Lucky 8's game.

The weather finally started getting warmer. Hopefully, this is a sign that winter is nearly over. I can't say I've been a big fan of winter. I'm less of a fan now that I have to work in it. I'll be glad when spring arrives though that'll have it drawbacks too i.e. rain.

That's all to report for now. I hope any readers I have out there are doing well. May you have a fun President's day weekend. Cheers!

Documents

I received my travel documents from Globus earlier this week. I've been waiting excitedly for them. I'm definitely ready to go on my upcoming trip to Egypt. It should be really awesome. The temples, tombs and history are fascinating. Plus, I'll get to cruise on the Nile River for 3 days. The only down side to the trip will be the long flights to and from Cairo. The flight from New York JFK to Cairo will be 10 hours 45 minutes alone. Plus, I know the flight will be delayed getting out of JFK. I think all flights out of there are now a days.

A different kind of travel bag came with the documents. The Nile Tour/Cruise is run by Globus affiliate Avalon Waterways. Their bag was blue and looked more like a messenger type bag. One pleasant surprise was the guide to the Nile that came with the documents as well as tips for cruising on the boat. I'll be curious to see how cruising on Avalon's boat differs from cruising with Royal Caribbean. Hopefully, Avalon won't try to milk me like Royal Caribbean did. If nothing else, I'll be on the boat 3 days which isn't too bad. It's sort of like an introduction to river cruises.

That's all to tell for now. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers all!

Shots

Last Wednesday, I made it to the nearby base immunizations clinic to get the shots I needed for my trip to Egypt. I found out I missed out getting the inhale flu immunization by a week. The supply they had on hand expired then. So, I ended up getting 3 shots. One for the flu, one for typhoid and a combination tetanus/diptheria/pertussis shot. I thought the typhoid would make the arm I got it in sore but, it turned out the tetanus did that. It's felt like I had a big knot in my left arm from that shot.

Thankfully, I haven't suffered any flu like symptoms from the flu shot. I was dreading that. I've had that happen previously.

Now, I have to wait for results to come back from the chickenpox blood test. I found out from the immunizations folks that if they come out low, I'll need at least 1 shot though the procedure calls for 2 30 days apart. Hopefully, I won't need either. We'll see. If nothing else, it's nice to have these done and out of the way. I should receive my travel documents by the end of this week. I can't wait to get those. Cheers all!

5 Day Delivery

I saw in the news where the Postmaster General requested Congress remove the 6 day delivery requirement. He'd like the Postal Service to go to 5 days a week delivery wise. This would save a lot of money as it would cut down significantly the amount of overtime the Postal Service would have to pay potentially. From my side of the woods however, this would be devastating financially. The Postal Service wouldn't be able to guarantee me at least 1 day of work anymore. The consistent time I'm needed as a substitute carrier right now is on the regular carrier's day off i.e. their 6th day. If we go to 5 days a week, the regular carrier won't have a day off they need a substitute carrier for anymore. The Postal Service will still need substitute carriers to cover for when the carrier's take annual leave or calls out sick but, those days are sporadic. I believe the Postal Service will have a hard time attracting substitute carriers if this goes through. I suspect it will. For me, I'll just have to bite the bullet and look for a second job though that'll be hard to find with the bad economy at the moment.

Blood

I decided that today I'd drive down to the clinic on the base that is near where I live in order to get the shots that I've mentioned previously. The trip is steadily getting closer and, I have to have the shots to be safe. Unfortunately, I had to have blood taken so they could see if I was still immune to chickenpox. Apparently, there is a danger of it in Egypt. I'd hoped the Air Force had a done a blood test on this earlier. I found out from the people in the immunization clinic that years ago (when I served), they would ask people if they had chickenpox as a kid. If they said yes, they took their word for it and let it go. If they said no, they got the shot. People learned to say yes so they could avoid the shot. Unfortunately, this didn't prevent them from getting the disease. After a number of cases of this happening, the Air Force instituted mandatory testing for chickenpox immunity. If you had it, you got to skip the shot and, if you didn't, they gave you the shot so you wouldn't get it as an adult which is supposedly worse than getting it as a kid.

One problem I have giving blood is I have small veins. I've had a number of times where I was stuck multiple times because of my small veins. This is the reason why I didn't want to give blood if I didn't need to. Sadly, I had to. Luck was not with me this time. The nurse did her best but, it took them 4 tries to find a vein. I took it in the best spirits possible. I had to have the blood taken because I had to find out if I'm immune or not. If I'm not, I wanted to get the shot to be safe. I won't like getting the shot but, I'll like a heck of a lot less getting the disease. So, I gritted my teeth and, they got their blood sample.

By the time I got done with the lab folks, the immunization clinic was closed. Work permitting, I'll go back tomorrow and get the tetanus and typhoid shots and the flu inhale immunization. The typhoid will make my arm sore which is annoying but, it's the flu immunization that will be really bad. I know I'm going to come down with flu like symptoms for at least 2 or 3 days afterwards. The doctor at the travel clinic assured me I won't really have the flu. That'll really make me feel loads better (not!) as I shiver and clog up from the fake flu symptoms. Stay tuned for more updates on this. Cheers all!

Map Update

Yesterday, I received word from Garmin that they had a map update for my Nuvi 750 GPS unit. I was delighted as I've noticed some blank spots on the unit. Some of these, I know are areas that have had construction within the last year or so. One glitch I don't understand is when I drove along Soil Conservation Road. The unit told me to follow the road to Greenbelt during a couple trips I've made to Bowie, Maryland. I did what the unit said and on the unit's map, it had me driving right off the road though I stayed on Soil Conservation Road the entire time. Weird.

The map update file to my surprise was HUGE. It was 1.9 gigabytes and it was compressed. Because of it's large size, this is when I could've used a cable modem as it would've significantly sped up the download. It ended up taking over 5 hours. Then, you had to extract the file which took another hour I think. Then, you had to install the new map. As you can see, the whole process took a while. Still, it'll be worth it in order to have the latest and most accurate maps on the device.

This first map update was free. I don't know how much it'll cost for others. I'll find out in time. Garmin says they come out with updates up to 4 times a year. As I definitely want the most up to date maps, I'll pay within reason whatever they want for my next update. Also, I'll remember how long the process takes and start the process just before I leave for work for the entire day or before I go to bed. It does take a long time to finish the whole procedure. Cheers all!

Another French Lesson

After nearly a month off, I did another French lesson at the Alliance Francaise with my teacher Nadya. The lesson went alright though I'm still having a hard time understanding spoken French. My vocabulary is slowly getting better. I was able to translate more today but, I still had problems with some flowery phrases a French writer used in describing some of the wonders around Aswan, Egypt. I'm still bad about doing my homework.

After next week's lesson, my teacher returns to France for 2 months. I don't plan to request a temporary substitute teacher as the sub wouldn't know where I am in my studies for starters. Also, I'd only be able to get in maybe 5 lessons before Nadya returned from France. Lastly, holding off like that will make it easier to fork up the next $1,000 for the next 25 hours of private lessons.

On a different note, I used my GPS unit to get to the Alliance Francaise and to get home from there. It did another great job. I hardly know my way around Washington D.C. driving wise so, it was priceless in helping me find a quick route through the city thereby avoiding having to take the long way on the D.C. Inner Loop (465). I continue to be really impressed with the unit. I'm very glad I bought it. Cheers!

You Get What You Pay For

I previously blogged about buying a parka at a Burlington Coat Factory store. I thought I got a good deal. I was wrong. I don't know how they put the down in the parka but however they did, they got it wrong. To my surprise, the down feathers are working their way through the fabric. The result is that when I take the parka off, I find myself picking feathers off my shirt. Funny in a way but annoying too. I never had this problem with my triple fat parka. I suspect this is a classic case of you get what you pay for. If I'd pay more money and bought a higher quality parka, I wouldn't have this problem. Oh well. Live and learn. For now, I'll continue to use the thing as I can't afford to buy a better one. Next winter, I'll see about buying a better quality parka.

Hard Day at the Post Office

I had a very hard day at the Post Office yesterday. I knew I would before I went in. We had a 3-day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King day. Holidays are bad for mail carriers. Just because you don't get any mail doesn't mean your mail isn't being processed. The Postal Service runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. The mail continued to be processed. All the holiday did was prevent it from being delivered which caused headaches for the carriers as that meant there was that much more mail to be delivered when they came back to work. That's what I faced yesterday. I had 3 days worth of mail to sort, pack-up and deliver. It was going to be a hard day made worse by the route I was on. The route I worked is one of my least favorite routes because, it has a lot of apartments that people move in and out of. This causes a lot of undeliverable mail that I have to bring back. Second, the route is all multi-mailboxes which means I have address ranges in the mail case. Example: I have one mail slot at the mail case for an entire condo building. There will be at least 12 condos in that building. This will make it easy to case at the Post Office BUT, I'll have to sort the mail again when I get to the condo. This is a real pain and, it causes me to be out on the street a LONG time. Yesterday, I was out delivering mail for 7 hours in the cold windy weather. It was a real pain. I was seriously glad when I got done and could go home. I definitely earned my money yesterday. Still, it'll help pay off my future trips so it was worth it. Cheers all!

U.S. and Canada Tours

I paid off sort of my future Globus U.S. and Canada tours. By sort of, I still have to pay the credit card bill off. The tours themselves will be interesting in a number of ways. For starters, they're both short. The U.S. tour is only 7 days. It's intended as an introduction to escorted tours. It starts in Washington D.C. and finishes in Philadelphia. It stops in a number of sights that I've wanted to see but, I've never gotten around to seeing such as Yorktown, Jamestown and Gettysburg.

The Canadian tour starts the day after the U.S. tour ends. To my embarrassment, I've never seen much of Canada. While living in Detroit, I was able to look across the river and see Windsor, Canada. My Dad took our family over there for all of 5 minutes. We subsequently looked back at Detroit and stared at it. Also, I got to stop in Montreal on a flight home from England. It was near Christmas time and all you could see outside was snow. Lots of it! This tour will knock out Quebec City, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Niagara Falls. I've seen more waterfalls in other countries than I've seen in my own. I'm looking forward to getting to see the famous Niagara Falls.

Lastly, I look forward to adding to my Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt. I found out there are 4 places where I'll be able to buy t-shirts on the Canada tour. I know it's kinda stupid but, I enjoy collecting them. They're a way for me to show off some of the places I've been. I'm looking forward to getting them and showing that I've been to Montreal and Toronto. They'll be cool.

Overall, the tours should be a lot of fun. I'm curious to see if the group develops the same camaraderie they develop on long tours. I hope it does as that is one of the things I really enjoy on the long tours. The only drawback I see is that the tours will be over in no time. If 2 weeks can really fly by, 1 week is going to be nothing. In that way, I'll be glad that I'll be doing back-to-back tours. The fun will last a little longer though it'll be with different groups. So any readers out there, stay tuned for some interesting posts in the future. I'll get to see some more interesting places and be able to post about some cool adventures. Also, there will be some nice pictures posted. Also, don't forget that the Egypt tour is coming up. It's less than a month and a half before that adventure begins. That should be an incredible adventure with lots of ancient things to see and experience. Stay tuned.

Rough Day at Work

I was supposed to do Express Mail only today. A month ago, I made an appointment with the travel clinic at the base I frequent. The travel clinic was the one that would authorize the shots I needed for my upcoming trip to Egypt. Because of the importance of the shots and the closeness to my upcoming trip, I couldn't possibly cancel the appointment.

To my disbelief, my boss called me at 6:45 a.m. and asked if I could do a full route. She knew of my appointment at the travel clinic. She said I could leave and come back and finish the route. As she didn't have anyone else to do the route, I agreed to come in at once. I managed to get all the mail cased that was waiting at the mail case. Around 8:30 a.m., I departed for the travel clinic. It would take 30 minutes to get there.

In my rush to get to the Post Office, I forgot my shot record. The travel clinic couldn't access the immunizations clinic database so, I had to go that clinic and get a copy of my shot record. By the time I got back, the chief nurse was seeing another customer. I had to wait over 25 minutes. Finally, I got in to see her. She reviewed my shot record, looked at what shots I would need for Egypt and told me some of the things to watch out for there. Then, she said I had to see a doctor to get approval for the shots. The doctor was seeing another customer. Aaargh! I waited another 20 minutes impatiently. By now, it was past 10:30 a.m. At last, I got to see the doctor who agreed with what the head nurse said. Also, I found out I'd have to do a blood test to make sure I was still resistant to chickenpox. I had that as a kid and normally once you've had it, you're resistant for the rest of your life. The blood test would show if I still was resistant or not. If not, I'd need a shot for that. Crap! Luckily, there is a inhale vaccination for the yearly flu shot. I just made the age limit for that. Right now, it's only available to anyone up to 49 years old. Cool, one less shot though I suspect I'll come down with flu like symptoms once I take it. Yuck!

I finally got done at the clinic and quickly got back to the Post Office. I found out no one had been able to case any of my mail. Dang! I would spend the next hour casing mail then, I had to get my packages in order (17 of them) and pull down my mail. I hit the street around 1 p.m. Thankfully, because mail was light, I was able to deliver all my mail in about 3 hours. I returned to the Post Office and, I clocked out about 4:30. It had been a trying day. Hopefully, tomorrow won't be as bad. We'll see.

Return to Maryland

This is the last post on my recent trip to Michigan for my step-mother's funeral. The events this posts described happened on January 8th, 2009.

I would've liked to have stayed longer with my Dad, Jane (my Philippino step-mother) and Hank (also known as foodcreep or the bottomless pit). But, I couldn't. I have a deal with the Post Office where I work where I won't take long periods of time off except once every 4 or 5 months. As my readers know, I'll be going on a 12 day tour/cruise of Egypt in March so, I couldn't take lots of time off for my visit.

I hoped to be on the road around 6:30 a.m. to avoid commuter traffic. That hope went out the door fast. My Dad asked if I would clear the snow from the driveway. My Dad has one bad leg and the good one isn't that good either. I didn't want him falling so, I agreed to clear the driveway. He offered to let me use his snowblower but, I didn't think it would need that. I was wrong. The snow was powdery stuff but, there was a lot of it and, Dad has a large driveway. I spent over 30 minutes shoveling snow. Finally, I got it cleared and, I got my car loaded up. I saw my good-byes and drove to the Howell, Michigan White Castle restaurant. There, I experienced another delay. They weren't prepared for a 90 hamburger order (3 cases). I had to wait over 20 minutes though they were kind enough to give a free lemonade while I waited. Then, I needed to tank the car up with gas. I wanted to be able to drive as far as I could non-stop before having to fill up again. I got the car filled up, started to pull out and noticed the car was having a hard time getting through the snow. The car continued to have a hard time on the main road to the highway entrance. Then, I noticed on the dash that the brake light was on. Shit! I looked down and sure enough, I'd forgotten to release the parking brake. Duh! After that, I didn't have a hard time driving through the snow.

By the time I was finally headed out of Michigan, it was 9 a.m. Prime commuter time and, I ended up bumper to bumper for over 20 minutes. Groan. At last, I got past that. I made good time from there and reached the Michigan-Ohio border around 10:30. I found out Ohio also got clobbered with snow. The road crews did a great job of making the roads drivable but, there was a LOT of salt and dirt on the roads. It was easily kicked up onto my car's windshield. I had to repeatedly use the windshield cleaner. Also, when I finally stopped for gas in Hagerstown, Maryland, I had to clean the salt off the passenger windows.

My GPS unit work superbly again. I never had to look at a map and, I had a good idea when I would arrive back at my apartment. When I turned off to get more gas, it quickly re-calibrated the route to my apartment.

I arrived back to my apartment around 5 p.m. which I thought good considering I'd driven over 550 miles with one short stop for gas. My car had worked superbly. I was certain the servicing I had done the previous week helped. I believe I saved over $250 driving though it took me twice as long as it would've if I had flown. I was totally sold on my GPS unit and, I plan to use it for all long trips as well as trips in Maryland. The next day, I'd be back at work at the Post Office. Life would return to normal and, I'd get over my step-mom's death though I'll remember her for a long time. Cheers all!

2nd Day

My second day in Michigan was filled with mis-adventures and sadness. As I previously mentioned, I planned to visit the Lyon's Den bookstore in South Lyon. Its in an old building with wooden floors and wooden bookshelves. If you like a bookstore that has a feeling of mustiness and charm, this is it. I found only one thing to complain of with it. Its shelves were pretty lean selection wise. I don't know if they were trying to hold down their inventory or hadn't received a new shipment in. I bought a book on France that showed 25 must see sights. I was curious to see how many I'd seen. Also, I bought a copy of "The Hobbit." I've seen the cartoon version but, I've never read the book. With them hopefully starting to make the movie version, I felt it was time to read it.

My Philippino step-mother Jane had decided to tag along. It was an easy way for her to get out of the house and, she wouldn't have to drive. She found herself a couple books to read including one on sale.

The South Lyon Post Office is right across from the bookstore and, we walked over to one of their mail trucks. I pointed out the 7 mirrors on the truck and, how a mail carrier would deliver mail from it.

Then, we got in my car and, I got to try to program my new GPS unit. The address was 3832 East Grand River Avenue. I couldn't figure out initially how to punch in the east part of the street name. I didn't see a button on the choices saying space. I finally punched in Grand River Avenue and got a location in Detroit. According to White Castles website, the restaurant I wanted to go to was in Howell, Michigan. Still, I decided to try it. Jane and I drove all the way into Detroit and found out I got it wrong. Worse still, the neighborhood didn't look too safe. I didn't want to place Jane in any kind of danger so, I turned around quick and got out of there. When we got home, I figured out what button was the space button on the GPS. Using that, I was able to find the right address for the White Castle restaurant in Howell. It turned out it was only 15 or 20 minutes away. I drove out there and bought a case of their hamburgers, 2 very small sacks of their onion chips (Jane really likes these) and a very small sack of their clam strips. The hamburgers were great and, I thought the onion chips and clam strips were good too. I planned to drive out to the restaurant again the next morning to get myself and some friends some White Castle hamburgers before I headed back to Maryland.

Around 3 p.m., I got myself ready for my step-mom's funeral. I hadn't slept well the night before because of that. I was terribly sad about the thing. I decided to drive out there myself as it would be less hassle for my sister. I seemed to be getting the hang of my GPS unit so, I was pretty sure I'd be able to find the place with its help. To my surprise, Jane decided to come along. Once both of us were ready, we got in my car and, I programmed my GPS unit.

The GPS got the directions smack on. My only concern was the weather. It started snowing and, that made the roads treacherous. I slowed down to avoid going into a skid. Worse still, my step-mom's house was on a back road in the country. I kept my fingers crossed that I'd be able to get back out after the funeral service.

To my delight, a number of people showed up for my step-mom's service. There must have been at least 40 people. My sister, Jane and I showed up from our side of the family. My step-mom's stepson from her marriage to her last husband Ed showed up with his mom too. I hadn't met him since he was a kid. Now, he was going to be a father soon. I had a pleasant chat with them before the service.

My sister and the lady who took of my step-mom in the later stages of her illness found a fairly new Baptist pastor who lived close by. He said a small service for Kay. I felt he should have concentrated more on the fact that for those of us who believe in Jesus Christ would be seeing her again so, this wasn't good-bye forever but, merely a short separation (in relation to eternity). We'd get to see her again in her new resurrection body and, she wouldn't be sick or frail like she had been in her last days. Instead, he tried to save some souls among the attendees. Still, it was nice of him to come and say a few words on such short notice.

After the service, there were food and drinks available. I passed. I found the container holding my step-mom's ashes. It was hard to believe that small metal container held all her remains. Sitting next to her ashes was a wooden box of sorts. I thought that might be a more appropriate container for her ashes. I later found out it held the ashes of her late husband. So, both their remains were at the service.

When Jane was ready to leave, we hopped in my car and headed back to my Dad's place. The roads were bad so I went slow but, we made it back safely. The GPS unit worked great again. I was glad the service was over though I would spend a couple hours talking about my step-mom with my Dad. She may have been my step-mom but, she really was my mother for all effective purposes. From the age of 12 and 1/2, she raised me. I've had very little contact with my biological mother. I don't hate my biological mother but, she hasn't played a part in my life in over 30 years. My step-mom did. No one at the service knew her longer than I did. For approximately, 40 years I knew her. I suspect that's why her death and loss hurt so much. She was so much a part of me and my life. Also, I felt she died too soon. My Dad told me she was born in 1942. That meant she was just 66 years old when she died. She should've lived at least another 10 years. Now, she will live in my memories. I do take some comfort that I will get to see her again some day as I believe in Jesus Christ. The pain lingers some but, it will pass. As I said in another blog, life goes on. The next day, I would head back to Maryland and all my trials and tribulations there. Stay tuned.

Arrived

I managed to hit the road around 6:15 a.m. It was raining. By the time I reached Michigan, it was snowing. Thankfully, the road crews were out and, I was able to make good time the entire way. I was surprised by the toll charges in Pennsylvania and Ohio. PA cost me $10 and Ohio hit me up for $7.25. The GPS unit I bought performed outstandingly. I never had to look at a map. The device would tell me when it was time to turn right or left. It would also tell me how far I had to go till the next major turning point as well as what the speed limit was on all the roads. It only had one hiccup when I-76 broke off and became I-80. I was pretty sure I was supposed to keep heading toward Cleveland vice stay on I-76. About 30 seconds after I passed the I-76 off ramp, it changed and said to keep heading on I-80.

I found it kinda neat to stop to fill up on gas and do a bathroom break. It reminded me of the Globus tours I've been on. I'm still counting the days till Egypt. I can't wait to go.

Tomorrow is the funeral. I'm not looking forward to it. I wish very much my step-mom were still alive. I wish she had told me she was doing as badly as she was doing so I could've come up here before she died instead of after. (sigh) Oh well. There is little point in wishing for such things. I have to deal with what is. She's gone and it sucks. Tomorrow, I'll pay my respects and then, I'll carry on with my life as every one else will. That's how it is. Life goes on.

That's it for this update. Not the most cheerful one but then, funerals don't tend to be very cheerful. There will be some fun things. Tomorrow, I'm going to go to a nearby White Castles where I plan to pig out on their hamburgers. Also, I plan to visit a very cute book shop in South Lyon, Michigan. The owner is pretty cool and, I try to visit there every time I'm nearby. It'll be neat to say hi. Stay tuned for further updates.

Road Trip

I found out my step-mom's funeral was rescheduled for January 7th. As it's on a Wednesday vice a Saturday, I'll be able to get the time off and attend. I plan to drive up to Michigan for the funeral. The drive should be something of an adventure as I've never driven from Maryland to Michigan. According to Mapquest, it should take 9 hours though I hope to do better time wise. Also, I'm hoping I can get my new GPS unit I ordered from Costco in time. That would help in preventing any wrong turns enroute. It's supposed to arrive on the 5th. We'll see. Stay tuned for updates on my drive home. Cheers all!

Servicing

I took my car in yesterday to be serviced. It was time for its 75,000 mile servicing. This was one of the major servicings and it ended up costing $300. Ouch! Thanksfully, the only thing they found wrong with the car was its front brake pads needed to be replaced. Still, that tacked on $169 to the bill. I found out my rear brakes are all right for now but, they are getting worn to. I have no idea how long it'll be before I have to get the pads replaced on those.

I had the servicing done at the local Carmax. I was very pleased with the service rep I dealt with as well as the customer rep I had to pay my bill with. However, I was very displeased with one item at Carmax. Carmax has apparently changed its policy concerning its free shuttle service. They'll give you a ride to where ever from the dealership (as long as its within 5 miles) BUT they won't give you a ride back when its time to pick up your car. In my case, that would've meant calling a taxi to take me back to the dealership. That makes their shuttle completely useless and, it meant I had to stay at the dealership and wait while they worked on my car. I didn't care at all to sit in their waiting area for almost 3 hours. I was very glad I'd made an appointment for my car so I could get it right in. I hadn't, I would've had an even longer wait. Because of their shuttle service thing, I have mixed feelings about them. Still, I want to make sure my Camry continues to run fine so for now for major servicings and repair work, I'll continue to go to them.

On a different subject, I hope all my readers have a Happy New Year. I hope 2009 brings you the fulfillment of your dreams. Cheers all!

Photos

Yesterday, I finally had copies made of some of my France tour photos. I suspect the reason I was so slow about getting it done was because I could see the pictures on my computer. Also, in order to make copies of the photos, I had to burn a CD disc so I could take them to either a closeby Costco or Sam's Club. I know you can upload photos to their website BUT, I use max resolution on the photos I'm going to get copies made of. That means a single photo will be over 3 megabytes. It would take forever to upload 124 pictures at 3 megabytes a piece. Lastly, I had a lot of photos to go through and choose from. I took over 300 during my tour of France. One nice thing about digital cameras is you can take tons of photos and, it doesn't cost you anything. Also, if you take a crummy picture or accidentally hold the button too long and take a second picture of the same thing, you can easily delete it.

One of the bad things about digital pictures is you can't pull them out of your pocket and show them to your friends. You might be able to do that if you have a camera phone but, you're not going to leave your phone with your friend while they look through your 100 plus photos. That's why I finally had copies made. Folks at the Post Office have asked repeatedly to see them as have my friends the Baldons. I kept saying I would and, I finally got off my lazy duff and did it. So, now they can see what I was talking about when I said Mont St. Michel was huge or Carcassone was impressive. The photos are for them vice myself. Me, I'll keep viewing them on my computer.

Difference

It was incredible the difference in package volume before and after Christmas. The Saturday before last, I had to deliver over 50 packages. Yesterday, I had 16 packages. The number of catalogs I would deliver was down too. The biggest shopping season of the year was over so merchants stopped mailing their various catalogs. Now, I'll get to see another difference mail wise as it'll gradually drop through the year until fall. The low point mail wise will be in the summer. I'll be happy about the lower mail volumes in one way and not in another. We're due to have another mail count for the rural routes at my Post Office. The last one didn't go well. If trends continue, this one won't either. We'll see what happens. For now, I'll be happy that I got through the Christmas rush and, I can look forward to my trip to Egypt. Cheers all!

Grief and Guilt

My sister updated me on what was going to happen with my step-mom's body. She'll be cremated Saturday and, a small service will be held afterwards. I think this makes sense. They'd have to use blowtorches to carve out a grave for her in the ground if they wanted to bury her. They have between 7 and 8 inches of snow and ice in Michigan right now. The high yesterday as far as I know was 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

As I stated previously, I very much wanted to attend the funeral BUT, Saturday is the worst possible day for me. Anyone who has ever worked as a substitute mail carrier knows that is the day most of the regular carriers want off. Also, as a substitute, I don't earn any paid vacation time. I checked into flying out the day of the service and, it would cost $70 more to do that. That would pretty much wipe out most of the money I would make the previous day (I usually get to work full routes Fridays and Saturdays).

I spoke with my Dad and, he said he didn't see any reason in my coming up there. It wasn't going to make any difference to her. He was right but, her death still hurts. There is also guilt over the fact I thought I had plenty of time and so I didn't mail her the gifts I'd bought for her and, I wanted her to have. I never knew she was that sick and, I would've liked to have been able to say goodbye and tell her I loved her one last time. Flying into the mess up there won't enable me to do those things so there isn't any point in going.

Her death however has made me determined to go home and see my Dad, my sister, my brother and my Dad's wife. I want to see them and enjoy them and make sure I won't feel this way if death should come knocking again God forbid. I've learned the hard way nothing is forever. Hopefully, I'll cherish the family I have left more thanks to my step-mom. We'll see.

Shock

As any readers I have know, I was looking forward to just getting Christmas over with and eventually going on a 12 day tour of Egypt. Christmas isn't special for me unless I'm home. My step-mom had asked me to come home for Christmas but, Christmas is the worst time to ask for time off at the Post Office. Mail volume is heavy and everyone is working extra hard. I had to tell her no. I'd bought her a china plate from Chateau Chenonceau and various other goodies. I was eventually going to get around to mailing it to her. I knew she was fighting her third battle with breast cancer. The last time I spoke with her, she was upbeat that she was going to beat it though she sounded really tired. I was concerned enough to ask my Dad (whom she divorced) how she was doing. He told me she also had liver cancer. Oh shit! He was skeptical about the treatments she was taking. Also, this time, the doctors found cancer buds throughout her body. They apparently didn't get all the cancer wiped out after her second bout with it. Crap! Still, she had said she was recovering and according to her, all was well. She was wrong.

Yesterday was a normal Sunday. I'd procrastinated about doing my French homework so I was busy trying to get that knocked out before I drove down to D.C. to do my French lesson. I get a phone call from my sister. My step-mom took a massive dive for the worst and was rushed to the hospital. Her liver was failing and her other organs were shutting down. Basically, her body was throwing in the towel. The doctors said it would be either a matter of hours or days. I was shocked. Shit! Damn! This sucks! Of course, there wasn't anything I could do about the situation. I live at least six or seven hundred miles away. I didn't want to fly home at once and then stay there for days when I was desperately needed at work. I asked my sister to call me when there was more definitive news on my step-mom's condition. Then, I called my boss's cell phone. She didn't answer so I left a message giving her a heads up that I was likely going to have to go home on very short notice. I would have to go.

I had to work hard to regain focus on my French homework. I kept thinking of my memories of my step-mother. All the stupid fights we had and some of the good times we had too. I remembered the Lord of the Rings film exhibition the 2 of us went to. We got to ride in a stretch limo to the hotel. We walked over to the exhibition hall and looked in wonder at all the cool stuff they had at the exhibition. Afterwards, we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. I was determined to get their t-shirt so I could add it to my collection. We shared a room and, she played mom again when she reminded me to pick up my clothes. I grumbled and told her we were going to get separate rooms next time. She mentioned that she'd like to do the Egypt tour that I'll be going on money permitting. I thought that would be cool as long as we had separate cabins (grin).

I managed to regain my focus and, I had another great French lesson with my teacher. I learned some interesting French idioms (like our idioms like you can't have your cake and eat it too). It seems the French like to use the word "coup" (which means kick or hit) a lot. While driving back through D.C., my Dad calls. There isn't any way I can answer it. D.C. is terrible to drive through. Plus, I'm paranoid about missing a stoplight after the $75 fine I got for missing my first (and hopefully last) one. The stretch I was driving on had something like 25 stoplights. I figured I'd call him as soon as I got back to my apartment which I knew wouldn't be long.

I got back and promptly called my Dad. He confirmed the news. I asked him what I should do. Should I come home immediately? There wasn't anything I could do to help. I was willing to fly back at once but, I didn't want to hanging around for days in the dumps waiting for the unmentionable. Shit! Damn! This sucks! My Dad said to wait for my sister to tell me what to do. All right, I'll go with that.

I quickly grabbed something to eat for dinner. I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I decided to walk over to my best friends the Baldons and tell them the news. They're always willing to lend a shoulder to lean on. I made it down to the 2nd floor of my apartment building when my sister called. She said she was gone. I swallowed, sucked in a breath of air and said "dead?" She said "Yes." Grief washed over me. I'd known her for over 35 years. She had played a big part in my life. No one that super close to me has died before. SHIT! Some Christmas this is going to be. I have to fly home and bury my step-mom. God damn it! I knew my brother who had enough hard knocks already was going to be stunned. My poor brother. Christmas is the highlight of his year and, it was now totally fucked.

I continued walking over to the Baldons and told them the news. They were awesome. After speaking with them for about an hour, I returned to my apartment and called my boss again. Again, I got her voicemail. I left an update. I spoke with my friend Harvey too who expressed his condolences also. Memories of my step-mom continued to flash by. It's hard to believe I won't see her any more. I never got to give her the souvenir plate I bought her at Chenonceau. I thought there was plenty of time. God! Grief which God had thankfully shown me little of washes over me. Damn. God may pick the perfect time for someone we love to die but, that doesn't ease the pain of their leaving much. I'm going to really hate it when I have to fly home and see the body. There will be someone who I loved and she's gone forever. Shit. Tears well up in my eyes. Suck it up buddy. Carry on airman. Figure out what you're going to do. So, I'm left with my grief and waiting for word from my sister. Once I receive word from her, I'll make my reservations for home and quickly pack a suitcase. This Christmas is going to royally suck. I hope you who read this have a far better one. Cheers all!

Quiet

It's been quiet the last 3 or 4 days. I worked a full route the last 2 days. It went fine. Packages were heavy (I had 50 of them yesterday) but, that's to be expected during the Christmas season. Once that ends, it'll get back to normal and the mail volume will begin to decrease. It'll keep on decreasing till next fall. Weather wise, I've been lucky. It's been cold and it rained Friday but, it hasn't snowed. I'll take rain over snow any day. Thanks to the cold but not freezing temperatures, I've been able to hold off turning on the heat in my apartment for the most part. My latest BGE bill was just $33.78. I was very pleased about that. I don't like giving BGE any more of money than I have to. If I've felt a little cold in my apartment, I've put a coat on vice turning the heat on.

Also, the winter solstice was this morning. You say no big deal. It does matter mail wise. Once the winter solstice hits, we start getting more sunlight vice darkness. Delivering the mail in the dark can be a royal pain as well as dangerous. I wear a reflector belt so I can be seen by cars when I'm crossing streets to deliver packages. Another hazard I have delivering the mail in the dark is my mail truck. The truck has serious blind spots. To compensate for these, they've installed 7 mirrors so you can see all around the truck but, these mirrors don't do a lot of good in the dark. You have to be very careful backing up a mail truck in the dark.

Barring working at the Post Office, I'm impatiently counting down the days till Egypt. Also, I'm slowly but surely paying off the Globus U.S. and Canada tours I'll be going on next summer. I'm impatient to get my scooter. I think the thing would be handy for short errand runs. I got approved for a new Dell credit account. I plan to use that when I buy a new laptop computer from them in May or June of next year. I wonder how bad my taxes are going to be this year. Last year, I got really clobbered. I plan to make a recycling run soon. I've been amassing a considerable pile of old magazines, cardboard and various bottles. I plan to treat myself to lunch at the Baltimore Hard Rock Cafe. I found out I'm less than $3 away from my next $20 credit with my All Access membership. I've been writing a few blog entries on MySpace. I finally figured out how to link pictures in their blogs so I was able to show folks on there some of my best France pictures. Slow slogging away at creating a database for my CDs. I need it so I don't buy duplicates of ones I already have. Been trying to get rid of some of the junk I've amassed. I'm something of a packrat and, the stuff does pile up. I'm gradually getting a pile together of stuff I'm going to take to the Salvation Army.

That's all to report for now. Like I said, it's pretty quiet at my end of the woods. And, it'll probably stay that way for at least another month. When it gets closer to the Egypt trip, things will start picking up as I'll get busy getting ready for that. Cheers all!

Multiple Blogs

Jim (I don't remember his last name) at Seratoninrain has multiple blogs. I know blogger offers the same option though I had no idea how that worked. Out of curiousity, I decided to find out. It turns out blogger creates totally separate and unlinked blog pages. With Seratoninrain, you can access all 3 blogs on the same base page. I guess that is one of differences between blog site providers.

In regards to my other blog pages, I don't intend to use them. I find it difficult enough trying to post things of some kind of interest on this blog and my MySpace blog. My life for the most part is terribly boring. While I enjoy reading about the issues of the day, I don't care to create a blog to discuss them. I've seen how rancorous those can get. So, I'll stick to telling about my travels, music I've listened, airmiles games I've played and whatever trivial stuff I can think of. Cheers all!

Surprise

3 or 4 days ago, I decided to try out my Sony CDP-C900 CD player. I'd bought the thing when I was stationed in South Korea back from late 1985 to late 1986. It was part of a dream stereo system I decided to buy while I stationed there. Korea at that time was the place to buy stereos or cameras if you were in the military. Supposedly, you could get good deals on them there. So, I bought myself a Sansui double cassette deck, Pioneer 2-sided record player, Yamaha pre-amplifier, Yamaha power amplifier, Yamaha tuner, Sony CDP-C900 CD player and Bose 901 Series 5 speakers. It turned out to be a really nice system.

In time, I lost interest in using the thing. It is a bit of hassle hooking everything up. It's a lot easier to just play a CD in a small portable CD player. At some point, I put 10 CDs in my Sony CD player. Then, I forgot about those 10 CDs. When I was re-located to my last duty station, I noticed that the CD holder cartridge was in the CD player. I didn't think anything of it. So, it sat for over 7 years. I did notice that I was missing some CDs but, I had no idea what I did with them. Today, I found out what happened to them. I decided to see if the CD player still worked. To my annoyance, I wasn't able to listen to the thing as I didn't have a set of headphones with a 1/4 inch stereo plug and, I didn't want to go through all the hassle of hooking my stereo system up. I had to drive to Best Buy and buy one. When I got home, I plugged in the new set of headphones I bought at Best Buy and popped out the CD cartridge so I could put in some CDs I'd been meaning to listen to. That was when I got a big surprise as there were 10 CDs in the cartridge. Now, I have to go through my CD collection and find out if I replaced the CDs or not. I hope I didn't but, I won't bet on it. I've done that before where I mis-placed something, bought another one then, I found the first one I bought. Crap! One good thing came out of this - my Sony CD player works fine. Maybe, I'll finally get around to listening to the stack of 15 CDs I bought that has been sitting on my dresser for the past year. We'll see.

Shots

Last week, I found out the recommended immunizations (shots) for Egypt. I fervently hate shots BUT, if I have to get them, I figured I might as well get it over with. So, today I visited the base immunization clinic for the first time since I retired from the Air Force. I didn't know how things would work since I'm retired. One advantage I have being former military is that they military gave me every shot I might remotely need including anthrax. So, I didn't think I was going to need too many. I thought I heard some where that I'd have to pay for the shots. I could deal with that. I didn't think they would be exorbitant so off to the clinic I go. I found out that I to make an appointment to see someone at the travel clinic who will apparently check my shot record and determine which shots I need. Then, I'll be able to get them for free and be all set for my trip to Egypt. So come January, I'll drive down to the travel clinic and hopefully get my shots. I found out the only one I REALLY had to have was a new tetanus that includes Pertussis and Diptheria and is good for 10 years. Since I'll only be in Egypt for 12 days, Typhoid is optional BUT, I'm going to get it any way though the arm I get it in will be sore the next day. It always is from the Typhoid shot. Oh well.

French Lesson

Yesterday, I did another French lesson with my teacher Nadya. I had 2 weeks off from the lessons because Nadya went some where to see her grandkids and the next week, I didn't feel like driving down to D.C. It's a real pain to drive in D.C. It's constantly stop and go. Also, you have to really pay attention to potential stoplights. There must be 20 plus of them on the route I take to the Alliance Francaise. About 4 weeks ago, I wasn't paying enough attention and got half way through an intersection before I realized the light was red. At that point, you might as well keep on going. To my rotten luck, one of the D.C. traffic cameras caught it and I got a notice with pictures of my car informing me of the $75 fine. I knew I did what the camera showed so I promptly wrote the check and mailed it. Since then, I've been really watching out for the stoplights.

The lesson itself went well. I still have one major problem - vocabulary. I'll try to compose sentences in French and, I'll find words I don't the French equivalent for. Nadya told me that'll come with me reading more articles in French. I'll keep looking up the words I don't know and, I'll eventually remember them. So, it'll just take time and lots of reading on that. I am getting better on translating written French. Nadya had me read in French an article where the Marquis de Lafayette was awarded American citizenship posthumously. After reading every 3 or 4 lines, she'd have me translate it into English. I could see I was slowly getting there.

That's all on the French lessons for now. Au revoir!

Keeping Airmile Accounts Active

One thing a less than frequent traveller must watch for is making sure they do some kind of activity on the airline frequent flier memberships. A number of them will delete all your miles if you don't have any activity in the past 18 months. There are a number of ways you can keep your accounts active. One of the easiest and most pleasant is through a dining program. Northwest Airlines has such a program. I haven't had any activity in my membership with them since April so I decided to check out a restaurant called Pasta Nostra so I could earn a few airmiles and have a nice lunch.

The restaurant itself is clean and pleasant enough looking. It's easy to get to. It's located just off of Van Dusen Road in Laurel, Maryland. It serves good Italian food like Penne al Salmon and Calimari Fritti (the 2 dishes I had). Price wise, it was reasonable. It is different from your normal fancy dining in that there is open seating and there aren't any waiters or waitresses. You go up to a counter where you order your and pay for your food. They give you a plastic number which you set on your table. When your order is ready, someone from the kitchen finds you and gives you your food. I wasn't thrilled with this aspect but, Pasta Nostra isn't trying to be a high class restaurant so it wasn't any big deal.

Overall, it was a nice restaurant that I wouldn't mind going back to. It was also an easy way to keep my Northwest Airlines frequent flier account active. That was more important to me as I want to keep my miles just in case I decide to try to use them for some kind of travel in the future. If you want an easy way to keep your airmile account active, you might check and see if your airline has a similar dining program. Bon appetit!

Puzzle

While at work, I noticed an interesting puzzle on my boss's desk. It's a paragraph that has 25 books of the bible hidden in it. Some are very easy to find and some aren't. I found it fun and challenging. You can find it online at http://www.eternalchoice.com/puzzle.php. For those who are less knowledgeable about the various books of the bible (like me), you might want to print a list of the books of the bible so you know all the books that could be in the puzzle. Cheers!

Won a Lot at Dave & Buster's

As I said I'd do, I made my way down to Dave & Buster's at Arundel Mills Mall and tried to put a hurtin on them ticket wise. It was 1/2 price game day. This is the best day to play their arcade games because you get twice the game play. I spent approximately $160 playing Spin & Win and, that enabled me to play approximately 250 times. I think that increased my chances of winning considerably. I ended up winning 34,200 tickets. I hit the 1,000 light 26 times! I was delighted. People kept commenting on how many tickets I won. It was sweet. I wish I could be that lucky when I play the Lotto. Oh well. I brought my total ticket winnings to 110,895. I'll savor that for a while. Cheers all!

Parka

About 7 or 8 years ago, my sister Ellie took me to a Burlington Coat Factory store to buy a winter coat. I needed it with as cold as it got where my folks live. The parka I bought turned out to be a really good deal both in price and in the job it did in keeping me warm. Unfortunately, clothes only last so long. Through wear and tear, part of my parka's zipper got ripped out and some of the seams were coming loose. My parka began shedding feathers (it has a down lining). So, it was time to get a new one. Because I was able to get such a good parka at Burlington before, I decided to try them again. There were a couple in the area where I live. I checked both of them out and found out one with the features I wanted (a hood, double zipper and down lining). The price was good again. My parka cost me $60 and would've cost around $150 else where. We'll see how it holds up with the coming winter.

Game Ticket Special

One advantage of registering your game card with Dave & Busters is apparently they will email you special promotions like their 1/2 price holiday game promotion. Last week, they emailed me a coupon where if I won 1,500 tickets, I would receive a bonus 1,000 tickets. There were some exemptions on the coupon. The biggest was I couldn't use it on 1/2 price game days. Today, I decided to use the coupon. I got lucky right off the bat. I hit the 1,000 ticket light on my very first spin at Spin & Win. Then, I went cold. I kept missing the 1,000 light by 1 or 2 lights. I tried to keep count of how many times I hit the 20 ticket or 40 ticket lights. Finally, I got up to what I guesstimated was 1,420 tickets. Then, I hit the 1,000 light again. Thankfully, I had the sense to stop. I took my tickets and went to the Winners Circle counter. It turned out my guesstimate was off by 180 tickets. I'd already reached 1,600. Oh well. I received my free bonus. Now, I have 76,692 tickets. I checked out the prizes they had and apparently a lot of the good stuff is going fast. All the 30 GB MP3 players were gone as well as the digital video camera. I'm curious to see what they replace them with. I plan to go back in the future on some Wednesday and try to run my ticket total higher. I want to take advantage of the 1/2 price games. We'll see how I do then. Cheers all!

Looking Like Christmas

It was definitely looking like Christmas on the route I did today. A lot of people had their outdoor Christmas lights up or were putting them up. I saw a pick-up truck drive by with a Christmas tree in the back. Lastly, we received some light snow flurries which gave a nice white dusting on the ground. I don't think we'll get any real accumulation. It's too warm for that. Still, it does make it look pretty outside.

Almond Bark

I visited the Trader Joe's in Columbia, Maryland. They have almond bark again. Their almond bark is made with dark chocolate and at 50% California almonds (I don't see what is so big about California almonds). They're selling it in 8 ounce single slab boxes vice last year when they were selling it in 1 pound/2 slab boxes. At the Columbia Trader Joe's, a box is selling for $4.99. This is a seasonal item so if you want to enjoy their almond bark, you'll need to buy it during the Christmas season. Come January, it'll be gone again till next Christmas season. Cheers all!

Hair Update

I haven't given a report on Propecia or the laser comb in a while so here goes. The Propecia is definitely working. My hair loss has totally stopped. However, there are some negatives to the Propecia. First, there is the cost. Sam's Club is slightly cheaper than Costco but a 3 month supply of Propecia will still set you back over $180. Second, you have to take the drug at the same time every day. This was a major hassle when I was travelling because of the time difference. It was a serious hassle to have to stop what you're doing in mid-day and make sure you took your pill. It's a lot easier to take it first thing in the morning.

In regards to the laser comb, I'm not sure how well it's working or if it is. That was why I held off buying the thing initially. There isn't any set success rate with the comb barring it is more than 30% effective and less than 90%. The comb has been a pain in 3 ways. First, I have to use a stopwatch everytime I use it. You must comb your hair/top of your head with it a minimum of 10 minutes. However, it doesn't do anymore good if you go over 15 minutes. Second, you have to remember to use the comb every other day. Using it more often than that doesn't do you any extra good. Lastly, you have to be careful using the comb with your eyes. It is a laser and it could harm them if it shines directly in your eyes. I make sure I have the thing over my scalp before I turn it on. The biggest advantage of the comb is what it could save you in money if it works. The comb costs approximately $580. A 1 year supply of Propecia would cost you $720. So, in the first year, it would save you $140 and the savings continue after that.

So, that is what is happening there. I still wish I'd started on Propecia earlier. But, I'm not going to go bald so I'm happy with that and I'll deal with the hassles. If you think you might be going bald and you don't want to, you might want to check into Propecia or the laser comb.

Computer Problems

I had unexpected computer problems this past Sunday. I decided to re-watch one of the extras in the extended version of Fellowship of the Ring. One of the interesting things they threw in with the extended version was interviews with the actors who talk about the other actors and their experiences. It's neat stuff.

Anyway, I put the disk in the DVD/CD player and it spins for a little bit but, when I click on the movie program to play it, it doesn't show the movie listed. Uh oh! I call up Windows Explorer and it doesn't show the DVD/CD player either. Something was clearly seriously wrong.

I called up Dell's Support Center (I have a Dell laptop) and had some suggestions on what to do about such a problem. I tried them and they didn't work. Finally, I contacted Dell's technical support. After waiting about 5 to 10 minutes, a person named Justin came up on the chat window. I told him what my problem was and he said he could fix it. It turned out he was right. The problem is fixed but, it brought up a couple unexpected issues. First, my extended warranty will end the middle of next year. I won't be able to extend it again for the coverage I have now. What that means is I'll have to buy a new laptop. That's the last thing I want to do. Still, I like having full warranty coverage on my computer just in case. I haven't forgotten what happened when the motherboard went out on my first laptop. It cost me $400 to fix and the laptop was never the same. Second, one of the major problems I had was a registry problem. I remembered that Norton's 360 program claims to be able to help with those. I didn't buy that program because I was cheap. I didn't care to spend the extra $20 for it. I'm wondering now if I should have. I suspect when it's time to get the latest version out i.e. 2009, I'll get that program vice the one I'm using now.

For now, my computer is running fine (knock on wood) but, I'll have to sadly think about replacing it. One of the rubs about laptops is they don't last like desktop computers. Also, you can't upgrade them like you can desktops. As I've been very pleased with my Dell, I'll buy another one of their computers. Hopefully, when it's time, I'll be able to get a good deal with them. We'll see. Cheers all!