Starting early for the holidays, here’s another pattern meant for mitties: reindeer charts
Fortune October 2, 2008
I don’t think they have fortune cookies in China. But I like Americanized Chinese food all the same, and for the record, my fortune is: “When the moment comes, take the last one from the left”.
SCUBA September 29, 2008
I started and finished a learn-to-SCUBA course this weekend. It was a small class, and we did all the skills in the pool, and I only drank about a litre of pool water while I was there, so big win! I feel fully prepared to jump in the ocean off a boat and see shiny things. My instructor said that he’s more interested in wreck diving, but I think I’ll stick to pretty fishies… and sharks. Chomp, chomp! Which leads me to the check-out dives. I could do them in Maryland/Virginia, but the quarry is supposed to be yucky, at least compared to the Caribbean waters. So I will probably do them with K on vacation. She can float around in the water until I’m done and then we can see shiny things together! But where?
The Florida Keys are the most obvious choice, given that they’re closer to us than most other fancy destination SCUBA trips. But neither of us has been to Hawaii, so what about that? Okay, that’s probably a bit out of our price range. In fact, anything international probably is, given that I am a newbie so we can’t even see the Good stuff immediately, anyway. So Florida it is! I think we’re thinking January or February. That means I only have three months to find a pink wetsuit! I’d better get on that!
A Journey Begins August 27, 2007
This is my fun-filled travel journal. Since I spend most of my time not on the road, I have been asked what I will write about between trips, and as any of you OCD types know, that is, of course, planning (and over-planning) the trips, and future places I want to go, how I make decisions, what I’ve seen, where my karma currently stands, how I keep a budget, and why I want to go certain places. I also make interesting day-trips and sometimes encounter wild adventures that I like to talk about.
Our next grande (with an ‘e’) trip is to the US Virgin Islands: St Thomas and St John. We might hit a British Virgin Island, too, while we’re down there. This trip started out “free” but has grown in cost enormously. Then the cost pared itself down (thank you, off season!) and has since grown moderately day by day. Since I tend to travel on a tight budget, but I won’t be caught dead in a hostel-like environment, I can really speak to the challenge of cash conservation. It’s one of my favorite subjects!
The future of this journal is wide-open.
