Value of Coaching

In the area of high school football I became aware of the value of coaching when our local football team challenged for the high school state championship in the 90's. Mark Speckman, the coach without hands, directed this team to glory with marginal talent. Many games started in the same fashion. The first half would be a very close contest. The opposing team tried its magic. Even with teams exchanging tapes of the previous games, the reality of actually playing a game the first half was pretty unpredictable. The line is fresh, the team usually has figured out a defense for the team. Much of the time in the first half the team works against its own tendencies. In high school ball the reality is that a successful outcome is more of a function of the players correctly identifying the defense and accurately execution of their plays. The coaching staff works to put the players in places where their natural tendencies will enhance the execution sequence. In the years that our local team won the state title, Mark Merced High's head coach designed a smoke screen back offense that made it hard to confirm which back had the football as there was a great deal of horizontal movement right behind the line. The fullback could have the ball or not as they passed right in front of the quarterback. This was seldom done the high school football basically because the "fly" offense is so hard to make happen fast enough to complete the illusion. The blocking ahead of the offense has to be impeccable as well. The back has to hit the hole without a question in his heart. Mark is now working in the pro ranks, for the Montreal Allouettes of the Canadian Football League as their back coach.It was fun to pick him out on the sidelines this summer as I was flipping channels.

A similar move was done at the University of Nevada when the 49er quarterback Colin Kaeperneck led their team. They called it the pistol. The added wrinkle to the fly  is a very effective short pass available in this formation. When Colin was playing for the Turlock Pitman High School team, he tore the local Merced High school teams to shreds.

The Forty Niners also have a similar rhythm in their games in comparison to the Merced High State competition teams. The Forty Niners have to be winning or close to winning for a typical blowout to occur in the 2nd half. The difference is the same. Excellent coaching with less than stellar performers can result in an amazing performance. The difference is coaching. Changes are made in the 2nd half that allow for the Forty Niners to dictate the rhythm of the game. Match ups are made. The commentators have mentioned that the offenses have a decided advantage in the modern game. It still takes superlative coaching to see and take advantage of the execution of the game plan in the 2nd half.

Coaching was the highlight of the recently completed America's Cup sailing catermaran series. The team was down to its last loss, but a cleverly positioned time out allowed the Oracle USA boat to chang the way the cup was played. Suddenly the Oracle team representing the home USA cup holder figured out by coaching how to tack (move against the win) while staying on their little wedges in the foam. On the last race a tack was not completed as well as could have been done and boat almost skidded into disaster. The boat made it screaming at almost 30 miles an hour while headed up against the wind. They and recovered to pound the lead into the New Zealand boat which raced much better in lighter air. The last races which all had to be won to keep the cup were ferocious wind days. The team that figured out the tide advantage in the end (The USA Oracle Boat) won in decisive  fashion. Coaching and understanding the tides in  San Francisco Bay in September was vitally important for this boat to continually win from behind. And did it ever win!

By the way, the coverage and commentary for this sporting event was extraordinary. For the first time tech brought the TV viewer closer to the race than ever before. The graphics on the screen allowed the viewer to see the relative speed of each of the boats as well as the turning radius and boundaries in each of the races. It is still amazes me that 70 ton racing cats with 14 story sails could survive on the bay let alone race.

Hats off the coaches of the games.. they figure it out so that the stars can look good.

: ) Pat

Interesting Pairing Through Netflix, Driving Lessons and The Perks of Being a Wall Flower

I recently watched two very interesting movies.

Perks of Wallflower from IMDB
Based on the novel written by Stephen Chbosky, this is about 15-year-old Charlie (Logan Lerman), an endearing and naive outsider, coping with first love (Emma Watson), the suicide of his best friend, and his own mental illness while struggling to find a group of people with whom he belongs. The introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors, Sam and Patrick, who welcome him to the real world.

And Driving Lessons from IMDB
A coming of age story about a shy teenage boy trying to escape from the influence of his domineering mother. His world changes when he begins to work for a retired actress.

Both of these descriptions of their movies do not adequately describe the emotional impact the characters have in their plots.
________________________________
Both feature a boy about 13 or 14 trying to make sense out of the awkward role of being sensitive and not fitting into the usual strata of "kids" his age.The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about this kid as his  co-opted by a group of kids three years older than him. They gather him up and introduce him to the mainstream of activities of older more agile students even as this group is setting on the outside of mainstream crowd.

The other movie, Driving Lessons is about an awkward 17year old that was raised in the shadow of the ministry of the Church of England He is introduced to pieces of adult independence by an elderly English "Dame" of the stage,who sets him up  to go camping against his parents wishes as she uses him as an assistant during his summer vacation. He sets out to earn some money to help a human mission project of a very strange parishioner who ran over his wife and needed to be forgiven by the church in the form of  his mother.

Both of these movies have a decided independent feel and depict coming of age not from the usual teen royalty prospective, but rather from the prospective of that awkward group of guys that probably will need to wait until they are in college to make their romance connection. This doesn't seem to be a problem for girls of Perks as they reach Junior and Senior levels. Their only issue is how to drop the guys they have been going with as they head for college.

The big issue in Driving Lessons is how to learn some independence from your parents when it is forced upon you. The main character is this movie was genuinely trying to follow his mother's overly restrictive measures but the real world of his summer job and his poetic heart could not be contained. A truly awkward 17 year old was in for an interesting ride when he signed on to help the elderly alcoholic romantic actress. His own poetry found some appreciation in her even if it did not work among his female contemporary.      

There is a bittersweet ending for each story and overall a satisfying journey in each. Watch for stellar rolls for Emma Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Laura Linney as the stern mother in Driving Lessons.
Hope you enjoy... : ) Pat

The Backyard Re-creation

Sue laughed at me when we first moved into our house 34 years ago. We moved in Labor Day and by January I was out hunting in lumber yards for the first of our fruit trees.

One of my favorite trees was given to us by my sister. It was a dwarf miniature Bonanza peach tree. Bonanza was one of the first true dwarf peach trees on the market. It is prolific in its production. Its total height is about 8 feet tall.  I planted it in the front yard as a bareroot tree in January. It is still there. Its big fruit is ripe around the second or third week of June. What a treat.

The trees in the back have had some renovation over the years. I started off with three almond trees. I discovered after they were mature that I really didn't like processing almonds and was somewhat allergic to the dust that came off of them as I shelled them. They were cut down or the fell down as the case was with the one in the front yard.

A couple of peach trees thrived in the backyard until they outgrew their lifespan and had to be cut down. One was a  pretty nice Early Elberta and the other was a July Elberta. I tried a couple of cherry trees. They didn't last long either. A late Santa Rosa plum was a real gem. The kids enjoyed swinging on the backyard swings and grabbing ripe plums from it. A reworked backyard took out the Santa Rosa Plum and the turf and some tomato growing boxes. 

During this time an apricot tree of immense proportions was growing in the backyard, producing Tilton apricots every 4th of July. It still produces so many that I run out of patience before the tree runs out of fruit. I pruned it in a  particular way when it reach early adult hood. I took a sawsall to its upward limbs and maintained its height to just a little over 12 feet. Most of the tree is 9 and a half feet tall. It spreads across the backyard covering about 40 feet of fence space. Apricots are sort of hard to find in this valley and this tree certainly fulfills my every need for a fresh apricot in the summer. Each summer I hack off the top branches so that it does not out grow the space. It provides some shade, but its main function is to provide a green barrier between our fence and the neighbor's yard at that height.

In our backyard redo the apricot tree stays. The first thing that had to go were the two palm trees blocking the entrance to the backyard. One was about 35 feet tall, the other about 18. The main function recently was the blocking of the TV Channels in the satellite. The volunteer trees that have been brought in by the birds are being hacked up and carried away. So goes the shed that now takes up way too much space in the backyard. A metal gazebo over 140 square feet of terra cotta colored tile from Saltio, Mexico is about to be installed.It will be nice to have sustainable shade in the backyard once again.  Sue has made me promise to plant a set of birch trees for a backyard oasis.  Part of our backyard is shaded by the neighbor's 100 foot redwood tree.

Our contractor loves having work to do in this economy. He has two adults to work with the project as well. In two days an amazing amount of work has been done.

Forge on to a new backyard!

: ) Pat

Pledge of Alligance

While waiting for my wheelchair lift to be looked at in Modesto. The owner of the shop sho shoed the two vets out of the main office to the waiting room. They were carrying on a conversation that was just getting too loud for the conduct of business over the phone. One vet was on a wheelchair and had a service dog. The service dog was an older yellow lab. He was proudly showing off his purple heat vest with two handles on it to all that were in the waiting room.

There are times that you know you really should keep your mouth shut and let the public squirm or reveal in their fact-less preconception. But I didn't and so the statements got louder.

First... you have seen a lot of changes in the world since you were little. The Purple heart decorated man agreed. Wasn't it better when you were in school. The students all pledged the flag and sang my country tis of thee?

Old golden lab found a comforting spot and layed down on my feet and leaned up against my legs. 

I had to jump in. I have never been working at a school where they didn't do this in some form or another. The pledge was always done. The students and the teachers all stood at attention. They did not always sing My Country Tis of Thee... but I could bet that maybe one of these characters did not sing it every day they were in High School. So I gave them the wisdom of my experience and asked them if they knew of any school in the area that did not do the same. They could not. Even when challenged.

Then I heard the usual crap about our country losing its Christian themes. Another one hard for me to swallow. Maybe if they spent a day or two on a campus they would know the diversity of ethnic origins that the modern day students bring to classes. Then one said a person from the far east said that their religion was the basis for all religions that followed. Again not true and he knew it.  If you look at the dates Christianity predates Allah. Its pretty crazy when you hear these untruths.. he had to admit that the following of the Sun was probably the really first religion. 

Sadly its this kind of stuff that is getting in the way of a lasting peace in the Isreal/Palestinian issue. There might be some changes as reported in the last couple of days if some trust issues can be solved. Pretty amazing times.

We all backed out of the conversation noting that it was good to talk of people of varying opinions. I am sure that I will be quoted as the wild eyed liberal that was totally out of touch.  Maybe I am.

: ) Pat 

County Fairs During an Economic Down Turn

It is true. In this year's state budget for California, the county fairs essentially lost their funding. Some counties such as Santa Clara have completely given up on its county fairs.  At one time, fairs were supported in large part by horse racing. This sport has hit a new low too and many tracks have closed down. Even some of the ones that make up the fabled triple crown are dragging along financially.

Some counties have off track betting on their fair site. A small building on the Stanislaus County Fair Grounds is devoted to off track betting. Patrons come in and bet on horse races around the country broadcasted to them via video satellite links. It is a small spot compared to the Indian Reservation gambling that builds huge casinos in the foothills.

Its interesting that in Fresno's Fair their entertainment venue is sponsored by the Indian casino. There is a finite number to gambling dollars out there. It seems that that these dollars are finding new places to be rather than at a race track. The race tracks with their loss of patronage cannot afford to subsidize county fairs. The state that over sees the race track gambling and the county fair support in the past from these race tracks.

The state walked away from funding of county fairs this year. There are a number of approaches that counties took to make up for this loss of funding.

Almost all of them gave up their entertainment budgets for big names to appear for concerts. The big names in entertainment were replaced by tribute bands that used to play in the side venues of these fairs. The is a big name or two out there but more than likely the band will be an oldie made up of one or two members of the old named band and a troop of younger replacements. This may speak more to the condition of modern music groups and their need to pay their dues in the lessor venues. The county fair circuit may not be as important of a place than a photo in People or a guest shot on Jimmy Kimble.

Some counties such as Merced elected to keep the prices low and bring in as many people as they could for a much shorter fair. Merced's fair entrance was 5 dollars an adult. Grandstand events were another 5 dollars and it took 5 dollars to get a parking place. More branding was done with local merchants and health companies.

Stanislaus County maintains a much longer fair, charges 12 dollars an adult and 5 dollars to park. Their entertainment was free but the grandstand events, such as tractor pulling and destruction derby ran from 8 dollars to 16.

Both plans seem to work. There were many people attending each of the fairs. There seemed to be a fewer number of commercial booths at the Stanislaus County Fair than usual. The Merced Fair offered some pretty decent tribute bands to Journey and CCR on their main stage. Stanislaus County Fair offered Tower of Power... which always puts on a great show especially if you can hear it from the parking lot.

The kids are always great to see at these fairs. They exhibit unbrindled joy at being at a family friendly venue. The animals are groomed up to the nth dregree  and shown off beautifully at these fairs. Nothing changes about that.

At the Merced County Fair I always go for the Eagles lenguisa sandwich, at the Stanislaus County fair its the beef kabob with the fresh tomatoes and Assyrian bread, from the Assyrian club. It comes with rice and a sprinkling of cilantro and green onions. Sue had the chicken.. a tad dry but still great. She is not a fan of cilantro or green onions but oh such a fan of the rice.

We always enjoy the photography and the art.

The flowers are always cool and both fairs did not disappoint.

Great to still have these fairs!

: ) Pat

Mother's Circus Animal Cookies

Its sad to have a particular food addiction.

There are just some things at the grocery store I just do not buy. The reason is clear.. I cannot leave them alone until they are gone.

Mothers cookies is the Northern California bakers for frosted circle animal cookies. They are traditionally pink and white and come with sprinkles on top that are often blue. Sounds pretty awful as its written down.

There texture is pure lard. The frosting leaves a coating across the top of the palette that takes a frosty soda like beverage to break down.  Its an amazing taste combination and a textural one as well. The crispy animal shaped cookies are enigmatic of an era in the 50's long gone. As you travel through Oakland on BART just past the coliseum, the factory is let up with its characteristic almost Barbie pink circus tent details. The home of "mother's cookies." They highlight the Circus Animal Cookies on their building.  I must not be the only one that likes these!

In the grocery store these gems are sold by the bag. They are not neatly stacked within rows of plastic like other members of the Mother's cookie line. They are often sold out. A new variety of the same favorites has made an appearence on the shelves. Its a green jungle animal version. The people at Mother's were clever enough not to change the recipe... so even through they are formed in the green swinging chimpanzees, the result is the same flavor and texture as the original Circus Animals.

I have been recently informed that my addiction to these gems is not singular. My daughter has a "thing" for them too. Does it speak to us genetically?

The biggest indignity ever happened when I was looking for a new variety  ice cream to drag home. Our Raley's carries Sunnyside brand ice cream along with others. Sunnyside is their generic like set of dairy products. There in the freezer department was a "Mother's Circus Animal" flavored ice cream. It has some dough like components of pink and white. It has flecks of spinkles, which everyone knows is a flavor all to its own, and there are even a few Mother's Circus Animal Cookies thrown into the mix as whole cookies to be discovered as unexpected treasure. It is totally successful as an ice cream flavor.

So.. watch out for the Mother's Circus Animal flavors headed to a cookie counter or a ice cream freezer near you!!

:  ) Pat

Computerless but now restored!

Early last week (Monday) I left my computer for a few minutes. As usual it went through the usual screen savers and eventually went to sleep.

I mean really sleep.. the power board in the computer died.  No smoke, no crazy sound.. my power board died in its sleep deep within the hard of this thin computer.

When I arrived back at the desktop to imput in a great story and edit some great photos... nothing happened.. no sound, it was dead.

I plugged it into other outlets in the house that I knew were active and alive.. still no progress. No response. I knew from past experience that it was probably a power board. There was no crazy in appropriate behavior occuring in my computing experience.. so from past experience I concluded it probably wasn't the logic board.

The next morning I took off at the crack of dawn.. about 6:45 to get a new powerboard at the closest Apple store around.. Vintage Fair Mall in Modesto. Its about 45 miles from my home in Merced. It is on the dreaded 99 freeway corridor but still just shy of an hour away all the time careful driving is required to dodge the trucks that ply this artery for their livelihood.  If you want to know if the economy is getting better drive our freeways. As the economy gets better, more big trucks are require to move the raw materials and finished goods. I arrived in Modest well before 8 am and noticed that the Apple store was in moth balls. Some cheezy Frank Sinatra music was playing above the outdoor fountain that aperiodically spouts streams of water into the air.  Outside the Apple store was a sign that claimed to be having in inservice and planned to be open at 10:00.

Just as wel, I thought, l as I was hungry and needed a coffee shop breakfast. I traveled around the perimeter of the shopping center and crossed over the freeway to the Plendale and the Denny's restaurant that was located there. As I took my time eating a pancake or two I suddenly got the idea that it might make sense to reserve a spot at the genius bar before I got here. Using the Iphone, I used my Sarfari browser to get to the support spot for a genius bar reservation. It showed the only appointments available were after lunch.  I signed up the 12:15.  I thought that maybe since this was a repair I would not need a genius bar appointment anyway.  I arrived back at the store at 9:30 and a customer rep in a bue shirt asked me what I needed or if they could be of help. I explained my situation and was told that I indeed needed a reservation and  I was moved up to 10:15. I asked if I could move my computer into the store until that time...no.. bring it in at 10:15. I became a Mall walker as I walked from one side to the other of the mall and timed it so that when I walked back out to the car I would be close to the 10:15 of my target.

I arrived with by 21inch IMac under arms and after a quick plug at the genius bar they concluded just as I,, that a new powerboard was needed. The guy sitting next to me was also named Patrick and he had a similar issue. The genius bar guy asked if we could share him. I said sure and he said sure. As it turned out, his issue with the fullsized Mac Pro was more involved than mine.  He had replaced his video card before and he had a screen but nothing on the screen. His fix it estimate as about 530 dollars. Mine was 106.

In the mean time, another Apple employee had taken over mine and was doing the paperwork for mine to be fixed. He said that it would probably take a couple of days to get the part and it would take a day or two to get it into the line up to get the actual work done.  It was to cost 106.

I got an email on Thursday at 4:40 that my mac was ready to pick up. I made some plans to go get it. This time Sue was on board to do her Thrift shop survey on the same trip.

We took off on Friday around 11:00 and I showed my ID (required) and walked out the door after 116 in payment for a new life added to my computer.  We did the Goodwill survey in Modesto which included a trip to the dollar store. I had a great lamb kabob meal across the street and we headed home in the 97 dregree heat.. much better than it had been lately.

As you can see the computer is up and cranking and I am able to do this kind of blog entry. This would be much harder to do with the phone and or the Ipad.

The Ipad tech thanked me for my patience on the way out the door.

Life is good

: ) PAT

Electronic Subscription

One of the most remarkable benefits of Ipad ownership is the ability to get your print subscriptions in electronic form.

Print Mags have Free Electronic Versions for their Subscribers
 
Time magazine is always with you whenever your with my Ipad. After jumping through the hoops of print subscription verification, the latest issue is downloaded to the Ipad and available. The publishers have included the electronic subscription into the cost of the print one.  One week last month the Time magazine did not come in the mailbox. It never came in print form. I didn't miss an issue as I had downloaded it and could read each page including all the advertisements.

Sue loves her People subscription. It comes each Thursday. The electronic download through the web to the Ipad comes at the same time.  It is often delayed through the post office.

Last night I tapped into Sunset magazine's electronic subscription. It was a little harder to substantiate my print subscription because it needed the code from the mailing label. My magazine had come in a plastic bag. After putting in my complete address, and my email address their side validated my subscription.

Electronic Versions bring added Benefits

The electronic subscription offers many benefits that the print subscription does not. There are always added features to the electronic version that are not in the print version. Electronic ink is much cheaper than print ink, so each of these subscriptions can and do offer more depth in feature articles. Some are pretty amazing.

 Time

In a recent Time magazine when the cover is selected by the viewer, the whole screen shakes and you hear this sound of the hurricane as it approaches.

Time has video bonus coverage throughout its issues. As you read the articles the reader can touch the blocks and interviews with news makers referenced in the article download and play. The electronic version my be read in the similar way the print version works as well. Some of the sidebars on the articles are pretty interesting. In the print version these areas as shaded side articles that relate the the main article. In the electronic version, these open up and become as big as the full page they often accompany.

People

People magazine is full of these additions. Extra red carpet, fashion coverage is always added to the big events with People's electronic subscription. I find the last page on each People electronic magazine interesting. It is a breakout of 8 cover shots of their magazine through the years. Represented as dots with the number in them, the reader can travel back to see what was presented last year on the cover, 5 years, 10 years and 15 and 20 years ago. The covers are revealing in how the magazine and its readership has changed over the years.  People magazine has some additional interviews that are available directly from the their pages to the Ipads that you would view them on on.

Sunset

My latest electronic magazine download is Sunset. It is beautiful on the retina display. I like that it is also included free with the print subscription.

The main benefit for the reader is the collection of all the versions into the electronic version. Sunset prints about 5 different versions of its magazine each month. Southern California sees a very different version that Northern California. There are different gardening tips and different recipes and comments as to places that you may visit in the region. I once picked up a Sunset at my local Costco before I had a print subscription. It was the Southern California version. The gardening was all off and the restaurant reviews were for So Cal places. This would be okay if I were not looking for Nor Cal stuff.  The electronic version bridges this gap and clearly points out in the gardening section which is written for which area... the articles are from all of the versions even one it appears to be from Alaska. So Sunset is a beautiful magazine in all its flavors. The electronic reader has the benefit of seeing all of it.

Have a great Day..
: ) Pat

Post 4th of July 2013

 The 4th of July... the middle of the Summer?

I used to think that the 4rth of July marked the middle of the summer. It really doesn't. It is just one month into the Summer if you are going to school or teaching school. The middle of the Summer break occurs around the middle of July.

There are some exceptions. School sometimes around here is out around the first week of June and it starts back soon after the middle of August.

While going to school, in the Bay area, in the 50's and 60's school was out around Memorial Day or a little after and never started back until after labor day... September.

As a retired old F_ _ _ T we plan around the kids going to school instead of when they are out. As teachers we would always plan when the kids were out and we were out rather than the reciprocal. So now we are planning a Disney trip for September when the kids are back in school.

The summer heats up here to the triple digits usually in July. This year we didn't have to wait, and the tripple digits, temperatures that are over 100 made their presence known in June.

This resulted in early apricot ripening. In many years, the Tilton apricot tree is just starting to produce ripe apricots on July4th. This year it is near the end of the crop and some of the apricots got "baked" on the tree. Its been pretty hot and the well functioning air conditioner is fabulous for keeping us 78 degrees every day and night despite the 108 to 111 degree heat.

Annual Front Yard Tera Cotta Garden

This year I was a little late getting the front garden annuals in pots started so no petunias planted.. they are pretty much gone in a normal year around here by the 4th of July. So on a "hot" year.. it doesn't make sense to plant them. In their place are the beautiful bicolor marigolds. They are bright orange for the majority of the blossom but have some highlighted red brick colored petals on the inside. These pots take a beating in the summer heat. The really big pots do much better than the smaller ones even when all the pots are watered each day.

The nectarines in the front produced nicely this year. They are pretty fragile and don't stay well on the tree. I passed out as many as I could while they were ripe to neighbors and a few to my postman.

Today it is Monday.. and no lawns should be watered. Our city has imposed a watering schedule for landscape watering. We are supposed to water on every other day... in the morning. My annual flowers have to have it everyday. I stand over them and make sure there is no run off.   They are a true delight on the North front entrance patio. From the street you would not no this secret garden exists.

The Round Robin Sketchbook Project

The round robin art project has started this summer and most people in the round robin have received their sketchbooks and have sent or are about to send their first rounds to their partners. We picked up the Lindsay to Sue's this weekend. Linz's is unthemed but has a couple of nice drawings in them. Sue is about to produce her first one... birds and will get it out soon.  I have done a prilimary planning one to more the one I received from Kelly on.  The message from Camie is that hers is ready to ship this week... so it looks like the arms of the spider through the mail are ready to pounce the priority mail sacks.  7 people in the family have agreed to be a part of this adventure. The most I have heard of that have tried this is 4 and most of them did them on a single sketchbook. So we are really bumping up the curve.

: ) Pat

Health Care Costs in Grand Junction

This article comes from the Grand Junction Sentinel. I am sure there are such discrepancies within many two hospital cities.  Those that are for a more market approach to healthcare may note that the reasons why one hospital charges so much more for the same care really don't stand up for scrutiny. Mercy can charge more because they can charge more.  Thought you might enjoy this bit of knowledge from Western Colorado.

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Discrepancy in local medical costs can cause sticker shock

Procedures at St. Mary's can be twice as high 
as Community Hospital, but context is key

Anesthesia technician Fran Duke, right, puts clean sheets on the bed as surgical staff member Kristin Bentley works at the new anesthesia machine as they prepare one of the operating rooms for surgery at Community Hospital.

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By Charles Ashby
Friday, June 21, 2013

St. Mary’s Hospital and Community Hospital in Grand Junction are barely a three-minute drive from each other, but the two are far apart when it comes to what they charge patients.
Medical costs at St. Mary’s are almost always more expensive than those over at Community, and in some cases twice as high, according to a federal database on hospital costs.
While the two hospitals, and others in the region, are still cheaper than most parts of the state, St. Mary’s costs were higher in 18 of 19 diagnoses in what hospitals charge Medicaid and Medicare patients, according to a federal database maintained by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Dan Prinster, St. Mary’s vice president of business development, acknowledged those numbers as accurate, but said a true comparison of the two hospitals isn’t that simple.
“If you have a patient who has additional complications, they’re going to come here before they go there (to Community),” he said. “We’re at a different level as a facility. We offer many more services that they don’t.”
While patients may get comparable care at both facilities for certain procedures and treatments, the two hospitals really can’t be compared because there is a limited list of conditions the two facilities have in common that they treat, Prinster said.
St. Mary’s has services and staff that Community doesn’t, so its expenses are naturally higher, he said.
Furthermore, Community has made a conscious effort to keep its charges low, a philosophy that eventually will hurt them, Prinster said.
“I know from having looked at charge data that Community has made the decision over several years that they’re not going to raise rates in certain areas,” he said. “Our board has made the decision over the years that given cost increases for medical equipment, for pharmaceuticals, for staff and other things, is that we have to — from a fiduciary standpoint — ... adjust our rates on an annual basis. That accounts for some of the price differences.”
Chris Thomas, president and chief executive officer at Community, agreed that the two hospitals are different when it comes to the services they offer, but he said Prinster doesn’t have a clue what drives his charges.
He said St. Mary’s costs are higher simply because it can get away with charging more.
“A big part of this is, when little Community Hospital sits down with the insurance companies and says, ‘Boy, I’d like to get paid more,’ the insurance companies say, ‘Yeah, Chris. No thanks,’ and I say, ‘Okay,’” Thomas said. “But when St. Mary’s, who has 85 percent of the market share, goes in and says, ‘I’d like to get paid this,’ they get it. I’m limited in most of my (insurance) contracts to not be able to increase my charges more than 6 percent a year. St. Mary’s doesn’t have those kind of restrictions.”
As a result, the difference in costs continues to widen, he said.
According to the Medicare cost database, St. Mary’s charges more than $46,000, for example, to treat a blood infection such as septicemia, but Community Hospital charges only about $21,000 to treat that same illness.
Dr. Donald Nicolay, chief medical officer at Community, said the only thing that is different in the treatment of that infection between the two hospitals is what patients would be charged.
Prinster, however, said cost considerations don’t stop there. When complications develop while treating such life-threatening conditions as septicemia, patients prefer to be at a hospital that has more services, and can more quickly deal with unexpected situations.
Oftentimes, Community Hospital patients end up being transferred to St. Mary’s because it doesn’t have the wherewithal to treat those who develop complications, he said.
Prinster points out that when there are no complications, the cost between St. Mary’s and Community is nearly identical.
Indeed, the database bears that out, showing St. Mary’s cost to be $27,158, and Community’s charge at $27,058. Charges for that condition, without complications, at Delta and Montrose are even cheaper, at $17,303 and $14,954, respectively.
Still, the Colorado Center on Law & Policy, a left-leaning group that advocates for affordable health care and responsible government spending that has studied hospital charges, says there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why costs for the same procedures vary so widely across the state.
In a recent study of those charges, the center found that hospital costs can range from 43 percent higher than the statewide median to 57 percent lower.
Community Hospital, Delta County Memorial Hospital and Montrose Memorial Hospital were among the bottom five charging the least of all major hospitals in the state, with Montrose and Delta coming in second and third to last, respectively.
St. Mary’s, however, ranked closer to the middle, at about 19 percent below the state average.
With the exception of Denver Health, which charges about as much as St. Mary’s, all other Denver-area hospitals listed charges that were, on average, 25 percent higher than the state median, with some as high as 43 percent over that baseline.
Prinster said that’s why it’s better to compare St. Mary’s with hospitals located elsewhere in the state, such as Fort Collins, Boulder or Pueblo.
When compared to those facilities, St. Mary’s costs are more often than not much lower, and that’s by design.
“What we don’t want to do is force people to go to Denver to get cheaper care,” he said. “Every year when we do that (cost) analysis, we look at how our rates compare to similar hospitals, and on average we’re 10 to 15 percent below them. So, with our rate increases, we’re still below them. What’s fascinating is, we raise our rates, and they do, too, and some of them raise them even more.”
Both St. Mary’s and Community are in the midst of major construction projects to expand their facilities.
St. Mary’s, which opened its new $276 million 12-story building in 2010, is spending another $40 million to complete construction on the four top floors, two of which will become the new home to its rehab and surgical units.
Meanwhile, Community is building a whole new hospital and medical office building for about $73 million.
# # #
HOSPITAL COSTS
Here’s a list of 41 charges of common ailments treated at regional hospitals, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Blood infection with a major complication:
• Community Hospital: $20,910.46
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $46,268.97
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $24,270.38
Fluid accumulation in the lungs and respiratory failure:
• Community Hospital: $18,812.58
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $39,572.48
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with a major complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $20,283.08
• Community Hospital: $17,501.39
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $28,461.46
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $14,539.19
Pneumonia and lung inflammation with a major complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $24,681.69
• Community Hospital: $24,361.82
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $34,133.83
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $17,892.29
Heart failure and shock with a major complication:
• Community Hospital: $14,361.91
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $28,228.12
Major small and large bowel procedures with complication:
• Community Hospital: $36,950.88
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $49,988.05
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with a complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $16,416.65
• Community Hospital: $16,959.93
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $23,603.48
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $14,115.83
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease without complications:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $11,723.56
• Community Hospital: $15,416.09
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $16,533.21
• Montrose Memorial Hospital:$9,141.40
Pneumonia and lung inflammation with a complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $17,302.14
• Community Hospital: $17,223.78
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $23,314
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $11,244.70
Pneumonia and lung inflammation without a complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $9,809.72
• Community Hospital: $12,720.14
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $18,100.51
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $9,680.86
Heart failure and shock with a complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $10,830.43
• Community Hospital: $16,268
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $22,092.77
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $12,705.17
Stroke or bleeding within the skull with a complication:
• Community Hospital: $19,931.47
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $24,025.42
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $12,592
Blood infection without  a major complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $17,303.91
• Community Hospital: $27,058
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $27,158.90
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $14,954.40
Inflammation of the esophagus, gastrointestinal tract or other major digestive disorders without major complications:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $10,339.65
• Community Hospital: $13,953.12
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $16,699.77
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $8,590.93
Skin or connective tissue inflammation:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $8,544.95
• Community Hospital: $11,641.08
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $21,005.58
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $11,164.12
Miscellaneous disorders of nutrition, metabolism, fluids and electrolytes without major complications:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $8,597.86
• Community Hospital: $11,695.88
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $13,354.75
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $11,812.36
Hip and femur procedures not including major joint replacement with complications:
• Community Hospital: $28,152.73
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $36,832.12
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $27,593.74
Major joint replacement or reattachment of lower limb without major complications:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $31,814.80
• Community Hospital: $37,524.77
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $34,378.06
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $31,441.26
Kidney and urinary tract infections without major complications:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $10,958.25
• Community Hospital: $10,073.53
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $14,433.41
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $11,141.69
Heart pacemaker with a complication:
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $34,939
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $64,094.60
Stroke or bleeding within the skull without a complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $12,147.29
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $22,598.36
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $9,385.70
Short term loss of blood flow to the nervous system:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $8,854.87
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $16,546.46
Seizures without a major complication:
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $19,283.85
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $7,573
Blockage of an artery of the lung without a major complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $14,768.68
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $23,736.04
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $13,054.44
Permanent heart pacemaker:
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $64,094.60
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $34,939
Perc cardiovascular procedure with a drug eluting stent without a major complication:
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $45,519.17
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $34,859.20
Perc cardiovascular procedure with a non-drug eluting stent without a major complication:
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $45,493.55
• Montrose Memorial Hospital:$34,072.92
Heart failure and shock without a complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $7,911.91
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $15,955.39
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $7,594.50
Heart arrhythmia and conduction disorders with a complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $13,749.77
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $23,247.50
• Montrose Memorial Hospital:$13,753.24
Heart arrhythmia and conduction disorders without a complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $6,109.94
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $11,970.62
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $8,613.79
Fainting and collapse:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $7,344
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $16,640.82
Chest pain:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $5,345.43
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $12,033.37
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $7,877.40
Major small and large bowel procedures with major complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $69,319.75
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $105,751.25
Gastrointestinal hemorrhage with complication:
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $20,359.18
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $13,632.23
Gastrointestinal hemorrhage without complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $13,628.12
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $14,011.36
Gastrointestinal obstruction with complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $16,624.83
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $21,347.64
Gastrointestinal obstruction without complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $9,029.35
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $12,163.70
Minimally invasive removal of the gall bladder without complications:
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $25,684.89
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $19,444.82
Fractures of the hip and pelvis without complications:
\• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $13,324.25
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $14,299.92
Medical back problems without major complication:
• Delta County Memorial Hospital: $10,025.12
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $18,586.62
Signs and symptoms without complications without major complication:
• St. Mary’s Hospital: $19,006.70
• Montrose Memorial Hospital: $7,925.31

---

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Fried Chicken to Die From

This recipe is from Cooks Country... It is amazing... and as Sue would say you wouldn't eat this everyday so its okay to eat this occasionally. It makes a chicken that easily beats KFC or the pressure fried types.  Everything needs to be close at hand and sequenced when the frying begins. I used my very cool infrared sensing thermometer to gauge the heat. I didn't quite have 3 quarts of oil... and I used a pint of peanut oil along with a medium wesson oil container.. it still worked. It took the time required to reach the meat temps required. The dutch oven my Kirkland version of the famous french Le Cruiset worked out beautifully.

Batter-Fried Chicken

From Cook's Country

August/September 2009

Why this recipe works: As far as technique went for our Batter-Fried Chicken recipe, deep-frying easily beat out shallow-frying. With shallow-frying, the batter always burned on the bottom. To ensure a crisp crust, we replaced the milk in our initial batters with plain old water. It turned out that when wet batter hit the hot frying oil, the moisture in the batter vaporized, leaving behind the solids that adhered to the chicken. With milk, the sugars in the milk solids browned too fast and produced a soft crust.
Using equal parts cornstarch and flour in the batter ensured a crisp crust on the chicken. And baking powder added lift and lightness without doughiness. We flavored our batter with black pepper, paprika, and cayenne for simple but unambiguous flavor.

Serves 4 to 6

Total time:

Halve breasts crosswise and separate leg quarters into thighs and drumsticks.

Ingredients BRINE

• 1 quart cold water
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (see note)

BATTER

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 5 teaspoons pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups cold water
• 3 quarts peanut or vegetable oil

Instructions

• 1. MAKE BRINE Whisk water, salt, and sugar in large bowl until sugar and salt dissolve. Add chicken and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.
• 2. MAKE BATTER Whisk flour, cornstarch, pepper, paprika, cayenne, baking powder, salt, and water in large bowl until smooth. Refrigerate batter while chicken is brining.
• 3. FRY CHICKEN Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. Remove chicken from refrigerator, pour off brine, and pat dry with paper towels. Rewhisk batter. Transfer half of chicken to batter. One piece at a time, remove chicken from batter (allowing excess to drip back into bowl) and transfer to oil. Fry chicken, adjusting burner as necessary to maintain oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees, until deep golden brown and white meat registers 160 degrees (175 degrees for dark meat), 12 to 15 minutes. Drain chicken on wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet. Bring oil back to 350 degrees and repeat with remaining chicken. Serve.

Fry in 2 batches.. if using a Foster Farms chicken don't bother with the back and neck pieces save them for soup. The foster farms fryers are generally larger than the eastern raised chickens. 

In the end you end up with a tempura style of fried chicken.  

yum yum! : ) Pat

Biscuit Cobbler

I think that this recipe was part of some family web pages that were deleted in the last revision. Linzi called me this morning as I was on my extended walk and asked for this ditty. This is the only kind that Linzi really likes.

Biscuit Part:
2C of All purpose flour
1TB of baking powder
4TB of sugar
1/2 tsp of cream of tarter (or not)
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 Cup of Butter
3/4 Cup of whipping cream, light Cream or milk

This is the topping.

The fruit goop:

4Cups of chopped ripe fruit
1/4 Cup of minute Tapicoca
1 Cup of Sugar (varies depending on your taste and the tartness of the fruit)
4 Tbs of Butter (sliced to drop on the top of the goop after assembly in the cobbler)

Directions: 
Fresh style: Oven at 300 degrees
Assemble goop into a well buttered baking vessel (like an 8inch square baking pan) , drop dough on top and bake the entire thing in  slower oven to allow for the goop to encorporate its tapioca. Take out when bubbles show up around the matrix and the biscuit looks done.

Controlled style
Combine the ingredients of the goop in a saucepan. Under 400 degree heat, stir and heat until the mixture solidifies.
 Roll out the biscuits and place on top of the goop. Bake in a moderate oven until the biscuits floating on the goop seem done and not goopy. 

Texas style: Oven at 300 degrees
Put the biscuit dough on the bottom of the baking pan. Spread the goop on top. As the biscuits come up they integrate with the goop. 

We have one more week before we have tree ripe fruit. Enjoy!

Waiting for the Heat

There is no denying it. Its Summer in Merced California.

Today we are waiting for the triple digit heat to begin.

Contrary to most diatribes coming from the rest of the family, it is not always 100 degrees plus over here in the valley. It is even true that at this time of the year we often get the last vestiges of rain for the year right in front of graduation ceremonies.

Its hard to talk realities to people who feel that 72 degrees is too hot to bear.

We will reach that thresh hold today at  9 Am. Most of the time the weather does not get in the way of outdoor activities. When it gets this hot we find things to do indoors or make sure that outdoor activities are completed in the morning. Sure we do not need jackets at anytime. You can go to the fair and not feel cold in the evening watching the performances.

Most people around here make sure that their liquid consumption increases with the weather. We drink more liquids. The Central Valley had to have beverage bars at all fast food restaurant settings. When every you eat you have to adjust your liquid content. Drink Drink Drink. This becomes pretty strange when in the late Fall the opposite occurs and the habit of glupping down liquid gives way to a more reasonable level.

Everyone on my block knows that the vegetation needs to be watered prior to the temperature changes today. 100 degree temps mean that water have to be in the ground deeply as the air temperature rises. All lawns were watered this morning before 9AM and they may get a short cool off shot this afternoon just to keep the roots from drying out.

The summer flowers love this heat. They also must have some water everyday in this streak. I have planted the front patio with annuals just like I try to do every year. There is always a battle that goes on when planting annuals. Do you plant for the short term. This requires replanting three times during the growing seasons. Or... can you use a planting scheme that allows for various plants to flower at the peak and then die off and then allow the next more sun related plants to take over and then plant one more time in the fall for the cool frost sturdy plants to keep blooming through the winter and into the start of the Spring.

This year I am trying a new strategy. The petunias which produce such sturdy color got eliminated because after July, they will not survive here. Marigolds (the dwarf variety) will do well up into September. Portulaca, or Moss Rose love the sun and will continue to produce all the way up into the Fall. They will not be as full as they will until there is consistent heat. Their drop off could be in October when the weather shifts. White Alysumm do well throughout the year and provide that garden fragrance. They need to be the base for the cool weather plantings that will occur in the early Fall and provide for the flowers in the Winter.

Overall I think that this garden is a pretty forward looking patio garden. Before each planting, I always add a couple of scoops of osmokote slow release fertilizer to the pots. My watering schedule for most of the summer is daily. I have learned the hard way that very large pots have to be used in this climate to raise annuals off the ground. Most of my pots are over 5 gallon in size.
It has been really fun to have a patio garden. We had it put in 8 years ago. There is something really nice and earthy about a saltio tile patio.

: ) Pat

OMG Peanut Butter Cookies

The classic peanut butter cookie is slightly greasy, crumbly and immediately calls for a glass of milk to wash them down.

Not so with this cookie recipe. I am not a huge fan of cookies. But... after making a batch of these... I think I could turn into a cookies monster. The recipe calls for 2Tablespoon cookies.. so they can be pretty large.  They are crisp and soft at the same time. The extra chopped up peanuts and the use of all butter.. makes them a premium cookie all the way.

So give them a try! From Cooks I.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2teaspoon table salt
• 1/2pound butter (2 sticks), salted
• 1cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1cup granulated sugar
• 1cup extra-crunchy peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1cup roasted salted peanuts , ground in food processor to resemble bread crumbs, about 14 pulses (about 1 cup, packed)

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to low center position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.
2. 2. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated.
3. 3. Working with 2 tablespoons dough at a time (see illustration 1 below), roll into large balls, placing them 2 inches apart on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Following illustration 2, press each dough ball with back of dinner fork dipped in cold water to make crisscross design. Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges, but not top, 10 to 12 minutes (they will not look fully baked). Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, about 4 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 7 days.
   yeah.. sure... : ) Pat

Reflections About the Cruise.. LA to Hawaii January 2013

Post Hawaii to LA Cruise Thoughts
__________________________________

1. Enjoy the environment there: There were people on the ship that will complain about most everything. It so easy when you are within your own fishbowl to find objection with tiny details that you would not possible think about if you were in your own world back home. A woman complained as we were waiting to get off the ship in Kaui that it was unbelievable that they only opened the laundromats at 8am when people had to clearly iron their shirts and dresses before leaving the ship at 8:30.  Kauli is a jungle type environment and no one was going to care if your garments were ironed.

2. Be a picky eater at the Buffet, There is so many really cool things to eat at the buffet it is tempting to try them all and overeat and fee miserable. Pick just one meat, vegetables if they look good and only one desert at each buffet seating. Drink lots of water.. Beverages are brought to you on Princess ships.. I always asked for two water glasses.

3. Do not rely on the ship to provide you books for your reading addiction. The Golden Princess had a very small library that was only open during a few hours each day. Most of the time the shelves were locked up behind glass doors. The other people on the ship brought the books that they had read from their own home collections and dropped them into a pile in the unlocked regions of the library and others quickly snagged them up to read. This didn't get strated until we were a couple of days into the trip and people had finished their paperbacks that they had brought on. I always had an eye out for Sue and she joins the many others that read the popular paperback books. The library shares the same square footage with the internet cafe. Only 6 upholstered chairs reside in the library portion of the piazza. There were many other places that people could hang out and read on this ship... and they did.

4. The Winter /Spring season is a great time to be in Hawaii. There seemed to be many more vicious storms that lashed out at our rubber necking when we took the trip in November. The end of January to the end of April is the whale season in the islands. It is really the best time to see such wildlife. While we were closer to the humpback whales in Alaska, the Maui Whale adventure was more fun as we saw more whales in a area.

5.Renting a car for a day was really worth it. The excursions that we would have gone on if we had not rented a car would have cost more than the two of us in a rental car in Hawaii. Hawaii is one of our states and renting a car and driving it in the United Sates is really not that hard to do. It gives you independence so that if you want to stop and have a bite to eat somewhere you can. Renting a car will allow you to get out an see more of the country than an excursion. Some of the people on the ship booked their own excursions. They ran into some pretty interesting people and had great experiences as well.  They were British so driving in the US was somewhat problematic for them.

6. If you are an avid TV watcher you may be disappointed. The ship subscribed to a service that takes the best sitcoms off the TV and provides the ship with an edited version that had no comericals. If you were falling a soap or a little known serial you might be out of luck as the Tv in the rooms at Fox and MSNBC and the BBC but no ESPN or any Guiding Light.

7. Work for a happy attitude. There were a great number of people that boarded the ship that fall into the category of curmudgeon. They had waited all their life for a nice trip like this and were ill prepared to take advantage of it. I would like to say that it was only the old men on the ship that faced this attitude. But sadly many of the older women were facing this attitude as well. Some of these old coots would turn down the hand wipes at the food stations. Theses protected everyone, There was always a health person overseeing the hand wipes at the station. Many of the older passengers were disgusted that they had to swipe their hands with a alcohol towelette before each meal. They would wave it off. These people would also walk the ship desks with foul looks on their faces. Some come with preconceived attitudes of how it should be. In the buffet area the people can cut in and out when there is a space. I got told off by an old bitty who thought that the buffet was set up like a mid western cafeteria. Everyone grabs a tray and in lock step action follows the one ahead to each station.  I smiled and did what I wanted to do.

8. Hawaii was hit with the recession like all small towns. It really is a collection of small towns with the exception of Honolulu. People are not quite back up to the economic prowess of a few years ago. Hawaii is much more agricultural than I thought. It is still pretty hang loose.  I drove past huge fields with people working in the field on Kaui and one person had just left his horse across the road from where was working. It had a huge rope connected to its bridle but nothing significant to tie it down. I suppose it was a worker's means of getting home that night.

9. I was amazed at the elevation gain in the drives that we took on the islands. The sides of the volcano are rather steep. When the elevation is gained, the air is much cooler. Grab that sweatshirt. There were only 2 days that shorts felt comfortable on the whole cruise... so too many shorts were packed but you never know. As you can tell from the ship diary, it was not a cruise that had a huge number of days were people were out in the sun..This trip was not a Mexican Rivera kind of voyage.

10. Hawaii was much less commercial than I imagined. People live their lives without hassle. There were no big signs along the roads I drove in Hawaii. There were road access signs to the macadamia nut company and other places of interest but there were no signs advertising cities or businesses within the city in any part of Hawaii that we traveled.

11. I was somewhat amazed that the breakers on the beaches were pretty far away. There were some exceptions but the access to decent water before the waves was pretty interesting. In January there were not that many people in the ocean all together... of course with so many ocean beaches it was pretty spread out.

12. The ship hit its marks on arrival time and departure time with the exception of the initial departure delay. 25 miles an hour 24 hours a day and night will get you a pretty decent distance. On the ship you also realize what it would take to get a sailboat across this stretch of ocean.

13. Important fan type activities can still be maintained while in the middle of the ocean. The division championship was easily broadcasted so that all could see the game in several venues.

14. There seems to be much less of a "sell going on in the ship." The drink hawakers were not so persistent on this cruise. There seemed to be a significant drop in the number of photographers on the ship. So you weren't hounded so much for photos. Even the ports had a low key sense of shopping. On every Alaskan cruise there were the usual Del sol tee shirt outfits that sell the shirts that change color in the sun and the Diamonds International that pitch in going ashore presentations promos for slick sales.  All of that didn't seem to be occurring on this ship. Most of the people on the ship were pretty savvy travelers and this pitch for the tanzanite would fall on deaf ears.

This lack of pitching an up pricing is pretty much gone in the ship experience. People took advantage of the soda cards and the coffee cards, so they became a useful tool rather than a loss of tipped service to the providers.

15. It was nice to see various parts of the islands. The one packing and unpacking allowed for more time to be spent having fun rather than cabin or room chores. The cabins in our category are significantly smaller than a hotel room but they offered the convenience of every night knowing where you would stay.

16. Hawaii in January was very similar to the Central Valley in April regarding temperatures (mid 70's during the daylight hours). Its great to be in either place for comfort in the weather.

17. People will find their own. Passengers will do the work around. When a small group of people decide to eat with people more of their liking.. they found a way to do it with anytime dining. When the books ran out of the poorly operated too small library... people donated books they had already read to anonymous passengers that also put up their walk on books.

18. Overall the evening entertainment is declining. On this ship with 15 nights of potential, their were only 4 song and dance nights with the cruise dancers and singers. The resident live band behind these performances as been replaced with recorded soundtracks. The comedians on the ship were less than spectacular. One or two night stands have become the rule. Almost first run movies have replaced some of the live stange shows of 5 years ago. The venue has changed to smaller cabaret settings for entertainment and much more available in smaller settings.  The piano bar signer has set up a Mitch Miller kind of sing along in one small walk through setting. The older people really liked the ability to sing along with the old favorites that they grew up learning.  The art auctions had fewer painting to sell. Triva in group settings has taken over some of the traditional small nightclub settings. Dancing to the big band sounds are out, but more string quartet venues were available. Elue and the Hawaiian themed music was featured throughout the on deck music venue and the Piazza. Elue gave a concert using all of Don Ho's music. Overall the entertainment package on ship has morphed. In some ways it takes away the need to consume alcohol at every venue and that is pretty much a good thing. I never saw anyone falling down drunk.

19. Overall it was a fantastic value. The cruise fare was $1200 each and our extras on the cruise card purchases, excursion and tips were under $800.  The biggest cost would be taking off work for 2 weeks and not getting paid during that time. As retired folks, that was not an issue. It was also really nice to have a neighbor get a little cash for coming over and loving our cats while we were gone.  

Day 15 LA to Hawaii Cruise Portside- Home

Day 15 LA to San Pedro CA, January 30th 2013

_______________________________________________
We woke up to a beautiful day in LA. It was cool and bright. The push was to get us out of the rooms by 9Am so that they could completely reset the rooms for the next cruise. They would start boarding on their adventure to Hawaii around 12:30.

Sue wanted to check to see if something she had lost was returned to the lost and found at the purser's desk. While we were there with all of our drag off the ship stuff, I talked her into the formal breakfast. I had some great  lox, french toast and some sausages. The wait staff found a good place to store our stuff as we ate. Since we are premium card holders... meaning that we have cruised with Princess for a lot of cruises, we got to stay in the Wheelhouse Bar. Its the same one that we took the ukelele lessons in with the high back chairs and the couches.  It also had cookies and beverages available to us. Most of all it had the mini couches that Sue desperately needed to sit or lay upon. Sue found it much more comfortable to "lay out" on one than to sit in her chair at the ready for our color and number to be announced. Some poor people were stuck on bar stools waiting for the call. Sue did some shut eye and I pulled out my kindle. We were called to hit the gangway at 11:15. We waited on shore to go through immigration and customs. We sailed right through.

We had a great porter. He got us and all of our bags out on the curb from the gigantic warehouse area that our bags were gathered. When I looked for a our Expedition truck in the parking lot it was exactly where I thought I put it, and I paid the parking charges with a credit card and pulled up to the loading dock. Our porter appeared again, he was helping others get their bags out and loaded. He helped me get the suitcases (the two giant ones) up on the top of the seat inside, so that the manual wheelchair could occupy the luggage area of the truck with the back seat pushed forward. The power chair got into its position after the lift had swung out to accommodate lifting the tail gate up. The lift worked to get the power chair up and we made sure that all bags made it in the truck and that we didn't leave one at the port.

We headed out of San Pedro, which is on the other side of the bridge from Terminal Island and Long Beach. We got on the 110 and sailed though LA without many stops and starts. From the 110 we merged into I5 around Burbank and headed north.

We got some late lunch/dinner at the stop near Buttonwillow that had a popies it was a first for us, we felt it was strange paying for our food... since for over 2 weeks it was provided at no charge on the ship.

We stopped again at Harris Ranch to use the restroom and get some snacks. I got a couple of pieces of Harris Ranch Beef jerky and Sue had a cheese pocket from the bakery and a fruit tart. Harris Ranch is almost exactly 100 miles from home. We pulled into Merced at 5:00pm. It was dark.

The kitties were so happy to see us.

Day 14 --- Land Ho in Ensenada at 4pm

Day 14 LA to Hawaii January 29, 2013
Ensenada Mexico 4-8
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Ukelele Hula Show

At 11:15 we had a rehearsal for the big ukulele hula show on the big Princess stage. They filmed it for the events DVD. The show was set for 2pm for the passengers to see. At rehearsal we all signed releases since there were a lot of mechanical on the ship's stage that need to be pointed out and we needed to be reminded on how to avoid injury. There was a particularly low spiral staircase right by the entrance to the stage. There were trap doors and uneven spots on the stage floor that could make it difficult for the hula dancers. The ukulele players were all positioned on the risers in the back of the stage. music stands were set up so that we could see our music. The ukulele players were 3 to a music stand.

We practiced the show. My position was in the back with 35 to 40 year old blonds Denise and Tammy with a husband Chuck. The women were into getting the sway going with the music. I was glad that I brought my big timberline black shoes for the formal night on the stage as they were the perfect counteraction to the sway of the ship on the platform risers when the ship started rocking.  After the practice, I had time to go back up to the room, take a shower and eat some lunch and go to the show.

All our dinner mates showed up to see the show. Sue was there too. The theater was packed with people.  It was so nice for all of my friends to come. David shot a movie of the ukelele players . When the show was over, I went up to the top deck to watch as come into Ensenada.

Ensenada has a large bay in front of the city. Many islands way out in the sea predict the bay to come. They were visible 2 hours before we got to the dock. They were there to let you know that the city was not far away. The islands got bigger as we headed to port.

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 The Ensenada Sailors

Ensenada is a Baja California town that is 86 miles for San Diego. In driving time since the toll road has been made is about 1 hour and 32 minutes away. From Newport Beach California to Ensenada is a 125 mile nautical venture. Every year a huge race with about 200 sailboats compete. This year's race was sponsored by Lexus. The overall winner received a two year lease of a brand new Lexus car.

I was up on the 14th deck near our cabin as the Golden Princess pulled into the port of Ensenada about one hour earlier than planned. Its a really beautiful bay to sail into and we were all hungry to see some land after so many days at sea from Hawaii. The Baja mountains rise up from the sea and a bay view from the houses was not missed from the  houses with big picture windows.

As the ship was throwing lines and securing itself to the docks I talked to a couple who was watching out the view windows beside the pool on the smoker side of the outdoor deck.

She was about my age, smallish with black close cut haircut... sort of what we used to call a pixie cut. Her husband was there with dirty blonde mustach and a full beard. He was about the same size as her.
 As we talked, I found out that they raced sailboats on the race from Newport to Ensenada. They told me of how the town had changed since they were active in the races. They said that during their time there were very few boats used to be in the harbor. How the winners limited their partying the night before the race but partied strong into the night when they arrived in Ensenada.

The husband claimed that at one time they had won three of the classes in the single race. He drank champagne from each of the trophies.

She told of the tale of the boat that in the middle of the night ran headlong into one of the islands. The boat exploded an all the sailors perished. The only reasonable explanation was the skipper and the navigator had fallen asleep. Usually the crew on the sailboat included enough people so that a 3 hour watch could rotate through the night and day. Some crews were less vigilant regarding sleep.

Later on the internet I pulled up the story. It seems from published story, it was the first fatality in 65 years. Their take on it was the smaller sailboat was smashed by a tanker of some sort and the they looked for the sailors in three miles of debris.

It was nice to be around when memories are discussed. Thier sailboat had three masts which means it could have been a ketch or a yawl.

We also had a conversation about the America's cup. They said that those new catamarans could not make turns. It was sure amazing that they could sail faster than the wind that was blowing.

The wife was not feeling so good. she had not been up on deck since we had left Hawaii. She though that she had motion sickness. Her friends looked at her quizzically. She explained that when racing she was always on the deck or the very highest spot on the sailboat. She was not used to spending time down below. If they take a cruise again, I bet they will be up with us on the top passenger stateroom deck.

I asked Sue if she wanted to go ashore and shop the mexican shops by the port. This a mile of walking distance from teh ship to the town. The causeway could be crossed by series of buses that designated just for cruise passengers. The ship said that it would cost 2 dollars each way to take the buses into town. When I got on the bus they wanted 3 but it covered going and coming a round trip.
There was a significant group of Mexican store right beside the ship in the port. Many people from the ship decided to do their shopping right there. I found two of our Mexican souvenirs right there even though I went into town looking for more variety.

I love the Mexican tin. On the walls were a red heart with wings that were silver and hammered. Heather collects Dia de Muerta (Day of the Dead) stuff. I found a cross that had a skelaton in the middle of it... homage to Dia de Muerta.

I got on the bus to go downtown. It let us off at the top of the hill of the tourist section. This is where 8-10 blocks down the hill were the shops for the Mexican crafts/ beer bars and food.

The massive halls/bars along this road are some of the famous. Papas and Beer bar/restaurant, Senior Frogs was also there. Non of the showed any action as we were there between 4-6pm... way to early for the action to start at these bars/

The craft shops had a couple of guitar shops, lots of leather products and just a few clothing and pottery shops. I found a place thta sold little purses that had classic needlepoint designs. I bought 3 for 3.50 each.

As for the pitch so common in Mexican shopping areas, I was touched 3 times on the arms and shoulders on my path up and down the blocks. This is way too much for Sue's safety so I was glad that she was not with me for this run.

As the sun went down over the Pacific Ocean in the East, a dramatic sunset spread across the sky. It was time for me to get back to the ship.

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 Elisabeth Celebrates her 75th Birthday with Us

It was one of our dinner table's seat mate's 75th birthday. She did not want the waiters to come sing her happy birthday. They have been doing that at least 4 times each night in our  sitting.

Sue made her a beautiful blue necklace and earrings set. She also made Deb, the other table mate an orange set made with some of the free beads that we all got when entering Hilo Hatties...they look like little conch shells.  She added some pretty orange glass pieces to it too.

I made her a home made watercolor card with fish on it. Elizabeth was crazy about going to the Maui aquarium The words on the inside said, "We are all schooled up to wish you a happy 75th birthday." I got Deb and Dave (the others at our table) to sign the card earlier in the day when we ran into them in the Piazza.
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Round the up and Head them to the Hall

When I got back to the room, we went over every inch of the stateroom to get it all into the luggage to put out in the hall for the porters to take away. It was important to leave out the clothes that were to be worn the next morning as we left the ship. We had four bags for the porters to take out of the hall to our disembarkation slot. This also included the manual wheelchair as Sue was to drive through the ramps with her power chair. So it was as always is a challenge. Every time we say to ourselves at this spot in the cruise that we will never take so many clothes on the next trip.There are 8 laundromats on the ship.
The sail up the coast was pretty uneventful. The Pacific Coast from Ensenada to San Pedro was pretty calm and smooth.

Day 13 LA to Hawaii Cruise

Day 13 January 29, 2013 Monday
3rd Formal Night At Sea
At Sea
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It was pretty cold on deck today but the boat is not swaying so much. Tonight is the 3rd Formal night on the Golden Princess. Its the night of Lobster and giant Shrimp.

I discovered that I packed the wrong blue shirt to go with the suit attire. Luckily, I had done laundry and so the red satin shirt was pressed back into action... It certainly fits better than the blue one that was at least 12 years old. I love the Goodwill silk tie that I bought for it.

Our dinner table Brit friends, the Bulmans had beef wellington instead of the Lobster because of allergies. Pheasant was also a choice at this dinner. Our Desert Springs fellow dinner couple were ready for the lobster and shrimp as we were. 

This is also the dinner that the cooks get introduced and cheered. So everyone stands up and waves their dinner napkins as the chefs with the tall hats and the cooks parade through the dinning halls. Our assistant waiter got us baked Alaska for desert. They used to come in flaming... not anymore.  There are battery operated votive candles that illuminate the frozen cake ice cream and whipped egg white creations.  Baked Alaska is not my number one desert... its okay.  I would really prefer a good apple pie slice. I ordered and got one those too. It was a night in the dinning room that everyone looked like they were having fun.

During the day we got ready for the performance on the ship of the ukelele songs we were practicing and the hulas that others were practicing. We had a couple of new songs as the hula class was going to perform to our music at least for one of the songs. Our new chords (D) and (D7) were integrated into Aloha Oui and Little Grass Shack. These songs were pretty tough for beginners.

Some people had taken the hula lessons and the ukelele lessons as well. They ahd to choose which group they wanted to be with for the performance.

Sue went with me to listen to the ukelele lesson . She was going to get some help with her heirloom lei. She bought a couple of kits and some pointers from Lilanan the hula instructor  that was also doing the lei kits.

We started to experience playing our ukeleles standing up. That was a new experience.
Unlike guitars, there is no neck strap because ukeleles are so light, they can be held and played without support while standing up.

There didn't seem the push push to buy extras on this ship. That is a good thing because most of those on this ship are older there might have been a backlash for an economic push.

According to our ukelele teacher he sees familiar faces on this cruise from people who take this cruise a couple of times a year, Their are some who take this cruise and his lessons once a month where this cruise is offered to Hawaii. Its what they want to spend their money on. They take ukelele lessons each time and have a really nice instrument and like to be in the classes to meet new people and to practice their skill.

After lessons, Sue went back to the room to rest.

The formal lunch in the dinning room is the one that is used for anytime dining. People who use this option, call in a reservation as to when they want to arrive for dinner. They have no particular waiter and could be seating anywhere throughout the dinning room. They trade this for being able to choose when and with whom they will eat with between 5:30 and 10:00 . If they don't call in, they have to wait outside until they can be seated in the dining room or use the buffet.

We generally pick the later traditional dining time at 7:45 seating. This is not the time that most people choose if they are older or have young children. the earlier seating is at 5:15 each night. There are assigned tables in traditional dinning and dinners eat with the same people and are served by the same waiter and assistant waiter each night.

Tips for the waiters and the assistants and the stateroom stewards are automatically charged to each person's ship card at the rate of 12 dollars a day. Passengers can reduce this amount or add to it by going to the front desk and requesting the charges be reduced or adjusted. We always give more. Our room steward usually gets $50 additional from us on the 15 day cruise and I always tip the waiter and additional 30 dollars for the head waiter and 20 dollars for the assistant.

Cash is not handled on the ship except when additional tips are provided. The passenger cruise card is used to pay for everything on the ship. The only exception being the casino. Here US dollar bills and up to 20 dollar bills may be fed into the machines. Winnings are collected as they are earned on the players casino portion of the cruise card. The casino bank is utilized with a pin number. It allows authorization right at the slot machine. When you are ready to "cash" in your winnings, the casino as a cashier booth where you show your ID and your cruise card and they pass over the cash you won. Passengers can have the "bank" transferred off their cruise card account that is secured with a credit card. If you overspend you limit on the credit card on file , the hotel desk will call and ask you to put up another card or make arrangements to pay.The run balances on the card as you are traveling. We did not have to reassign to another card on this trip... but on one Alaska cruise I had to put up another card mid cruise.

Day 12 LA to Hawaii Cruise

Day 12, January 27, 2013 Sunday
Partly Cloudy, Rain Showers  High 70 Low 63
Sunrise 6:45 Sunset 5:26

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ProBowl game at 3 pm on the Movies at Sea Screen above the Pool

It was pretty cold and windy outside today. The ship had just a little roll. Overall the ship movement is very tolerable. Its just enough to rock you to sleep at night, sue comments.

The naturalist covered a great deal on oceanography today. Tsunamis and Hurricane Mapping the ocean floors, and tides.

I learned why the tides are so large in Alaska. Apparently there are more SAT points where very little tide changes (in Hawaii) and those areas with far away from the SAT points like the Bay of Fundy (41 feet) of difference and Alaska (28 feet of difference). Hawaii has as little as 2 feet difference because they are new the SAT points. SAT points are the places on the earth where the waves begin.

He also talked about the company that he owned and sold that mapped ports and designed "wave breaks" for the marinas. They did the work involving diving to meet the Edison Power Company in Southern California. His company was often called to scuba through the inlets of the power plants to check for damages ... which required them to swim for 1/4 mile . There were often fish that got in. They would scoop them out and return the unharmed back to the ocean. One time they call was different. A small sea lion had made its way up the inlet. He was having a great time as the fish were stuck in the tank. He called the UCLA ocean team and they pulled the sea lion out. They transferred him to Doheney beach down by San Clemente Beach, about 35 miles a way. The release worked except that in 2 weeks he was back to the power tank with 3 girl friends.
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The lunch set up that was on deck was a stir fry Mongolian thing. People could pick their ingredients and it was cooked with Asian oils in a couple of woks one veggie only and the other with meat. Also away from the station was a place to get Thai green soup, seafood stew, sushis, beef and greens and four pre made stir fries. They replaced at different times, different dishes in replenishing the tables set out by the covered pool area. The RCMP wife felt that she was cheated and pleaded for a cut backwards in the line to pick up the duck instead of the chicken... I let her cut. I said they had heard there were Albertans in line, so they changed it right after in her honor. We had a laugh and she cut back in front of me.

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They introduced a new song at ukulele lessons today and a new chord. I think that most of the people in  the class now have learned another lesson with cords so..... with practice it should all work out.

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Sue wasn't out of bed today. She is not too concerned about pain pills arthritis but the inclement weather sure aggravates it. She thinks that she will be able to dress for the 3rd formal night tomorrow.

We got fruit delivered to us again this afternoon. They call first on the phones to make sure you are there to receive it.
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The probowl ws shown on the big screen outside. It was really too cold for comfortable viewing. It was pretty dramatic to see the players on the screen 4-5 times bigger than they actually are.

Only about 35 passengers watched from the outside. It was also shown below in the pub which I am sure had many more. There was a fairly decent group watching in the Princess Theater.
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Dinner: Chef's Honor:
Pat's
Appetizer: goat cheese souffle and shrimp coctail
gnocchi, (potato pasta with red sauce)
Entree: 3 meats... chicken kabobs, veal in a roll, and a lamp chop with mashed potatoes
Desert: 3 Chocolates, a small triangle of cake, a scoop of chocolate pudding, and a tiny chocolate brownie
A scoop of amaretto ice cream

Sue: Hamburger with fries
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 We watched "We bought a Zoo" on the in room TV
Moongold Kingdom was playing on the outdoor theater
I watched an illusionist perform in the small stage above the dinning room

Day 11 LA to Hawaii Cruise

Day 11, January 26,2013 Saturday
Partly Cloudy, Rain Showers
High 72 low 64
Sunrise 7:23 Sunset 6:01
At Sea Headed North East
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Breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet smoked mahi mahi instead of the salmon for the lox.

Sue got up and traded a couple of clothing items that she had bough previously for ship credit.

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Cassie and Newsome

I went to the uke lessons. The two younger girls were late (see below)... but it was good that they kept coming. We learned the notes on the frets. We also worked to hit each string individually in arpeggios of scales to go with the chords that we were pressing ion the neck. My barre chords are getting better. One guy behind me said the sound from ukelele sounded so much better than his. I told him that I had pulled several ukuleles down from the wall when I was choosing mine. The one I bought had the best tone of the ones I was shopping. Mine had better tone than many that cost more. I checked the price of mine in Lahaina ukulele shop in Lahaina and they wanted twice the price for the same one with the "islander" brand on it.  Later I think that there was a cost difference because mine is laminated wood and the one I was looking at in Lahaina was solid... both made in Indonesia with supervision from a very respected Hawaiian ukelele company. It was nice to hear that from my fellow student. One of the ones in Lahaina was a dread naught with a front cutaway so that the very highest notes could be played with ease.

The girls borrowed my snark  (tuner) to tune their ukes after the lesson.  Its hard to practice with a ukelele out of tune.

They said their names were Newsome and Cassey. Newsome was a psychotherapist and Cassie was working as a rec specialist with the same degree as Lindsay's.... planner. They were both from LA. I told them about my daughters. They wanted to know why they were not with us. Newsome was 29 and Cassie is 5 years older. They said that they had not planned on taking lessons on the ship but they were happy to "fall into them" Cassie has natural blond hair and had it up in a French braid. Newsome is a dark brunett with black rimmed glasses. They were also doing the hula lessons.

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Sue bailed for lunch but had been up the whole morning working on the heirloom lei.

She settled for the 5 cheese pizza and headed back to the room for some rest.

I walked into the dinning room restaurant and had lunch in a "made up table" with a couple from Las Vegas.
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Steve and Connie from Las Vegas

Steve stumbled into the restaurant with a major hurt foot. He had worn a pair of shoes that was not broken in on a hike prior to getting on the ship. Steve was a 42 year old that was a major baseball fan with red hair. Connie, Steve's wife is a 4 foot eight inch asian wife who was having difficulty with her stomach. Steve had been leaning on her when ever they traveled so that he would not need a crutch. She had no problem with that as long as he didn't grab her by the neck to support him.

 They were the only couple I met that said that they really would have preferred flying to Hawaii and spending more time on the islands.

Steve presented himself as a 240 pound red haired meatball. He thought that the SF Giants were the best. He was looking forward to seeing a couple of games in Spring Training when he meets up with his friend from Indy who is a Cubs fan. So we talked pitchers and those dreaded Dodgers. he mostly sees Dodger games on TV although he would rather see Giants games. He said that he was not much of a football fan... although he is cheering for Colin Kaeperneck. He has followed his career since he college career in Nevada.

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I have been working on some watercolor illustrations of ukelele and lei maker couple on a card. I was hoping to give it to them as a thank you. Its really pretty far from representation. Sue says that the most distinguishing feature of Ural (the female of the group) is her artificial eyelashes.. they are gigantic.

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I left my 4 boys in Alberta

A very attractive 43 year old burnett with a gold stud in her nose aske if she could sit down in front of me and drink her coffee and eat her pastry. I said sure.

She told me that it wasn't easy to get a spare seat at the Piazza and that some guys had turned her down. She just shook her head in disbelief. She continued,"Maybe they were afraid of what their wives would say."

She said that her husband and her were from Alberta, Canada. She had left 4 boys with her sister who assured her that she would not do that again.  She had been to Alaska with her elderly father when she had lost her sister and her mother 3 months prior. When they finished the land route.. which took them through Canada and back down from Alaska on Holland America, her dad turned to her and asked, When do we do it again?

Her husband who works for the Royal Canadian Police, told her she wasn't going on another until he had gone on one. They figured out a trip to Hawaii but it didn't work out for his cobbled vacation time, but the princess one worked out... so here they are. They have anytime dining but have started to "collect" people from traditional dining spots to join their table. They were collecting people that were closer to their age groups and and little more lively than most of the older set that was on the ship. I told her our number and she said that many people from around us were at their anytime dinning. In our dinning room, room and entire table has disappeared from getting service at their appointed time.  Some people did the buffet each night. Some people are not ready to sit through the courses and the social exchanges that are included in the assigned table.

The RCMP dispatcher showed up and I was happy to relinquish my seat to him at the piazza. He had been checking the kids via email and had been making arrangements for pick up in Alberta . They were amazed at the number of people that were from their province on the ship. I told them that I suspected there would be many as they were well represented in the roll calls in the social media forums for this ship. Both Princess through Facebook and Cruise Critic maintain these social blogs and people are happy to meet up with others before getting on the ship.  She wasn't too familiar with these venues. She wanted to know what they were saying on them.  I said that they were grouping up to save transportation costs on the LA side to get to the port from LAX. She said that they used the Princess connection. I said that I used it to find out information regarding renting a car since most of the information on the corporate websites were for renting a car for 24 hours or more. I didn't know whether they would send a shuttle for ship people or if a taxi call as needed. The roll calls netted someone that had been on this trip before and had all of the answers.

Dinner: Italian
Pat's
Appetizer: Eggplant Parm
Penne Pasta
Entree: Roast Beef with a carrot cooked through the center
Desert: Tirmasau

Sue:
Appetizer: Shrimp coctail
Fettuccine Alfredo
Desert: Limoncello sorbet

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Sue made it all the way through dinner . We watched "Safe House" a movine on the in room TV before going to bed.