Archives for January 2007

Well, Shannon and I are going on a cruise in the end of February and into March. It’s been 2 years in the making and is with some old friends from Nor Cal. We’re going on the Grand Princess on the “Western Caribbean Cruise”. It’s 25 days away.

Here’s our itinerary:

• DAY 0: Fly to Galveston and hang out in the city for a day.
• DAY 1: Board and leave from Galviston in the evening.
• DAY 2: At sea.
• DAY 3: Port at Costa Maya, Mexico.
• DAY 4: Port at Roatan, Honduras.
• DAY 5: Port at Belize.
• DAY 6: Port at Cozumel, Mexico.
• DAY 7: At sea.
• DAY 8: Disembark the ship back in Galviston, fly back to SD.

Here’s our plans so far:

• One day at sea, shannon and I are having breakfast on the deck and getting a couples massage. This will be my first ever massage. I hope it’s by a big strong hungarian chick who beats on me until all my bad karma comes out of my muscles and releases into my body so I can pee it out later.
• One night we’re going to splurge and eat at some 17 course.. yep 17 courses… of Italian food. It comes highly recommended to taste it all, and finish none of it. Ok… but I’m having some wine.
• We are set to eat dinner every night at the 8:30pm slot. We have 2 dress up nights where I have to wear a black suit.
• We’re going snorkeling in Cozumel… we board a small boat and go snorkeling in some reef and then they drop us off at a private beach for a while. All 8 of us are going together with the other people who sign up for this “excursion”. Should be fun. I bought a water-proof case for my digital camera so I can take some cool pics underwater. Oh won’t that be fun.
• While we’re in Costa Maya we’re thinking of going on a 4×4 drive to a beach excursion thingy.

ADVICE I’VE BEEN TOLD SO FAR:

• Keep your receipts. Check them against your final bill. Sometimes stuff gets charged to the wrong room.
• Bring your own bottled water on board from port stops cuz it’s cheaper and cuz you can.
• Ask the concierge on board for advice, they’re a wealth of port information.
• Room service is free- enjoy it.
• If you buy a glass of wine, buy the bottle and have them cork it for you. They’ll hold onto it and bring it to you anywhere on the ship. It’s cheaper this way too.

ANY OTHER ADVICE FROM YOU CRUISE VETERANS? Comment away…

WARNING: RANT ABOUT TO ENSUE. FEEL FREE TO SKIP IT.

I love to read Scot’s blog. But this post is what bugs me most about my education at the higher level. I know he’s just asking a question, but at the core, I think at least 50% of what my professors care about is who said what first and the flow of an idea being sited like some kind of genetic history.

It’s just my opinion- which you may only quote if you cite it properly using only the specific quoting method MY syllabus requires…. APA is not going to work. And I personally just don’t think whoever “Turabian” is, that he or she should not be able to make up his or her own method to torture students…. So my method involves saying this: “I found this on Brian Berry’s blog post dated _____ and called “________”. Or you can skip it all together… cuz evidently all the Bible writers did. If they wrote today, I think they ALL- every last stinkin one of them would have been fired from Academics for not citing their sources, plagiarism, and stealing some of their ideas from other cultures and not saying so. I mean Luke gets away with one statement about the integrity of his research and the purity of his intentions and then bammo… he’s good. And he’s one of the few who actually bothered to even tell us he was the specific author in the first place. I mean, can you imagine what would happen if I turned in an anonymous history paper without a bibliography today and then said it was Holy Spirit inspired. HA. Now that’s awesome. I think the Holy Spirit would get fired too.

SIDE NOTE: Here’s my public thank you to the way Rob Bell did his Bibliography and End notes in his book “Velvet Elvis”. Thank you for doing so in a way that is readable, personal, makes sense, and is genuine.

OK.. RANT NOW OVER. I’M SURE I HAVE A BIBLIOGRAPHY TO GO WRITE.

SUNDAY: Jake pukes in his sleep while napping and doesn’t wake up. No one else heard it, not even his brother who sleeps above him. We threw away his pillow and had to shower the kid and wash his carpet.

MONDAY: Jake skips school, does fine all day, and pukes after dinner.

TUESDAY: Jake skips school, does fine all day again and pukes after dinner.

WEDNESDAY: Jakes skips school and stops puking. Shannon pukes all evening and spends half the night in the bathroom making various contributions to the porcelain queen.

THURSDAY: family puke break.

FRIDAY:– TJ goes to sleep and wakes up in the middle of the night puking. All over the carpet. I get up and wash the floor. TJ vomits most of the day.

SATURDAY: TJ stops puking. 5:15pm I go drive to Coronado to have dinner with our adult volunteers from youth group. 6:35 we’re seated. 6:55 I excuse myself and tell everyone I don’t think I can stay and have to drive home. So I do, with a trash bucket ready, my left hand on the window lever, and praying like crazy that my stomach holds on til I get home. 7:31pm I run upstairs and bow down and puke my guts out- more technically I puked my kono’s breakfast burrito #1. Such a shame. Maybe I should have spewed all over the stairs to keep the carpet cleaning tradition alive.

SUNDAY: I’m supposed to teach in high school. Maybe on Jonah evidently. Puke report to come.