In the last three times that we had taken this cruise I had always stayed on ship when we arrived at Cabo. My daughters, however, have found places to be the last thee times and enjoyed the idea of having a margarita on shore at Cabo.
So this time Sue and I decided to get off the ship and get on the little boats and buz into Cabo San Lucas. Sue had her non powered chair to go aboard and the tender (the little boats) were patient. There were only 12 steps out of the big ship to get on the tender. Sue did this very easily. We also picked a time when the excursions were through jamming people on shore and the people anxious to get ashore quickly had done their bit to be on the first tender to the shore.
The weather was great. Even though it was a bit cool and breezy on the way down, Cabo in the afternoon was in the mid 70's with just a wisp of cloud in the sky. The tender dock was set up to provide some shade and easy exit. The waves on the way in were a little bouncy (but not worrisome like Mom had experienced on her trip). There is a long walk from the dock area to the city itself. All along the way there were street merchants with there wares and walking merchants with their wares in there hands. There were many many people trying to sell the silver that makes Mexico famous, There were many walking vendors that were trying to sell ocarinas in the form of little birds. These are clay flutes that easily fit in side a hand and have distinctive whistles. There were vendors on the side that were were pitching tee shirts, and dolls and clothing and trinkets. At times they were a little pushy, One grabed Linzi by the elbow and she wheeled around and told him off.
Linzi was looking for a piece of jewlery for Sean her husband. She found a lovely piece. Sue found a lovely green gauze blouse with ribbons tied through it. She was pretty happy about her purchase. She also found a couple of really nice bunches of seed beads strug together. The girls were looking for the place they had gone before and had a marvelous adventure. This place was not longer there. Heather collects crucifix art and nothing was in the realm of what she was looking for.
Sue and I stopped to dicker with a street vendor and Linzi and Heather plowed on a head. They missed us as we got to the tender.. but we reunited when we got on the ship. Overall it was a great adventure.. I am not sure that I would recommend Cabo as a place to do all of your Mexican crafts shopping if you have Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta ahead. The prices were a bit higher than in the other spots and the chances to bargin for a great price seemed limited.
Cabo seemed like a great place to go ashore and enjoy the day. We did a lot of that and it was rewarding.
: ) Pat
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Room Size and Handicaps
Linzi was great in getting our first room for the handicapped on the ship. There were a few choices and the choice she made was superb. We were next to the girl's cabin on the nineth floor. We were near the elevator and the room was huge. It was an inside room, but it had plenty of room for the huge powerchair that Sue brought and the push wheelchair that she brought for going off ship. And off ship she went! She got off at each of the docks for a little "shore" shopping. She really has shopping in her blood. The shops of the Mexican Rivera were made just for her.
Our room had a big shower that had a drop down seat. It had a floor drain that encircled the area and plenty of room to maneuver. The only downside to the room was the distance to a 110 plug, I brought a short multi extension cord but I still needed a 25 foot extension cord to reach into the bathroom to connect to the plug. I went down and talked to the reception desk on deck 7. Within minutes a German boy arrived with a hand full of extension cords and a ship's account bill. If I did not return the extension cord by midnight on the last night of the cruise the account would be charged 50 dollars. As I stood in line a 5:30 on the last morning of the cruise, there were others with their extension cords.. many much smaller than mine with the same 50 dollar charge unless they returned the cord. So the mental noted should be made to be sure to take along a 25 foot extension cord so that it will reach the socket and power my breathing machine.
Our room had a big shower that had a drop down seat. It had a floor drain that encircled the area and plenty of room to maneuver. The only downside to the room was the distance to a 110 plug, I brought a short multi extension cord but I still needed a 25 foot extension cord to reach into the bathroom to connect to the plug. I went down and talked to the reception desk on deck 7. Within minutes a German boy arrived with a hand full of extension cords and a ship's account bill. If I did not return the extension cord by midnight on the last night of the cruise the account would be charged 50 dollars. As I stood in line a 5:30 on the last morning of the cruise, there were others with their extension cords.. many much smaller than mine with the same 50 dollar charge unless they returned the cord. So the mental noted should be made to be sure to take along a 25 foot extension cord so that it will reach the socket and power my breathing machine.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Notes from Feb, 14th embarkation day
The day started beautiful in downtown Long Beach. I got out for my walk. I was crisp and clear and there was no sign of the drenching rain that we left in Bakersfield on the way down the Friday night before.
I had a great walk to the beach area. I still remember Long Beach as the Grand Prix site with its race cars creaming down the city streets (well almost). It is now a city of amazaing culture mix in the downtown. Many signs of eithipian and other African conclaves are on the street. We were staying on Atlantic which is a major street connecting the downtown urban areas with the hilly foothill ocean plateau that surrounds the beachfront. Around old churches of the major denominations were the places were store owners had set up storefronts to produce and customize African attire. There were no gangs out on Saturday morning but it was a very decent hike to get a Starbucks.
Our ship had docked in San Pedro which was a decent distance away but reachable via the Terminal Island bridge. before we got on, we had other items to get that we forgot. Heather was interesting in reading War and Peace,since she had finished Crime and Punishment. Sue was after some electrical tape to tape up the arm of her powerchair. So off we went with sometimes dubious help of the Iphone's gps system to find a Barnes and Noble and a Lowes or Home depot. We found them both and Heather and Lizi both learned to use their GPs or the Apple equivalent to track these stores down. It was a little more difficult that I would have thought since we were looking for these stores in an area similar to Carmel or Santa Cruz. Long Beach has a number of stores and tourists feeds that sit just off the beach and offer and ton of fancy restaurants, pizza places and specialty stores. Not exactly what we needed for these items. So we ended up driving up on the next tier of ocean plateau to more residental middle class areas. We found them and even had a go through the local CVS pharamacy.
We eventually worked through the busy part of Long Beach with all the beach traffic and back up through the town and found the proper connector to the Terminal Island bridge. We traveled on the elevated Terminal Island elevated and dropped down to the San Pedro (Port of Los Angeles) where we dropped people off and unloaded the powerchair and parked the car. They are always gracious to get you on board. This cruise lines meets you with a glass of champagne (free) or orange juice. This is a very classy way to take away the anxiety of the embarkation. You may read the previous entry to get a clue about what happened after we got on ship. Sue asked me about the location of my Ipod and the series of events that transpired after that were a bit frenic.
I had a great walk to the beach area. I still remember Long Beach as the Grand Prix site with its race cars creaming down the city streets (well almost). It is now a city of amazaing culture mix in the downtown. Many signs of eithipian and other African conclaves are on the street. We were staying on Atlantic which is a major street connecting the downtown urban areas with the hilly foothill ocean plateau that surrounds the beachfront. Around old churches of the major denominations were the places were store owners had set up storefronts to produce and customize African attire. There were no gangs out on Saturday morning but it was a very decent hike to get a Starbucks.
Our ship had docked in San Pedro which was a decent distance away but reachable via the Terminal Island bridge. before we got on, we had other items to get that we forgot. Heather was interesting in reading War and Peace,since she had finished Crime and Punishment. Sue was after some electrical tape to tape up the arm of her powerchair. So off we went with sometimes dubious help of the Iphone's gps system to find a Barnes and Noble and a Lowes or Home depot. We found them both and Heather and Lizi both learned to use their GPs or the Apple equivalent to track these stores down. It was a little more difficult that I would have thought since we were looking for these stores in an area similar to Carmel or Santa Cruz. Long Beach has a number of stores and tourists feeds that sit just off the beach and offer and ton of fancy restaurants, pizza places and specialty stores. Not exactly what we needed for these items. So we ended up driving up on the next tier of ocean plateau to more residental middle class areas. We found them and even had a go through the local CVS pharamacy.
We eventually worked through the busy part of Long Beach with all the beach traffic and back up through the town and found the proper connector to the Terminal Island bridge. We traveled on the elevated Terminal Island elevated and dropped down to the San Pedro (Port of Los Angeles) where we dropped people off and unloaded the powerchair and parked the car. They are always gracious to get you on board. This cruise lines meets you with a glass of champagne (free) or orange juice. This is a very classy way to take away the anxiety of the embarkation. You may read the previous entry to get a clue about what happened after we got on ship. Sue asked me about the location of my Ipod and the series of events that transpired after that were a bit frenic.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Back from Mexico
We disembarked this morning at 10:30 and were home at 5:15. A wonderful trip to Mexico on the Norwegian Star. This mega shop had just about everything. We opted early for this trip as we had this week off from school. In the past this week was not a big ADA cash cow for the district so between the two President's day's off.. thank you George and Abe we love your days.
Amy came in to watch the cats. The girls took most of their vacation days and we were headed off.
We left Friday night. We stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn in Downtown Long Beach. It was a great rate and it got us a comfortable overnight. It was two miles from the beach in a pretty rough part of town. The major draw for this Holiday Inn was the St. Mary's hospital next door. We found it with ease and had a pleasant "get it together to get on a ship morning." We boarded our ship at 1:13. Our room wasn't quite ready but.. it wasn't long before I realized that I left half of my life in the terminal metal detector scanner. My Ipod, my keys, my cell phone, and my camera were all in left, by me in the blue dish. I contacted the reception desk and they sent me back all the way to the the place where they did the scanning with the admonishment that the ship sailed at 3 no matter what. I made it down there and I had identified that I had left my car keys and my ipod there.. I hadn't realized that I had also left my relatively new camera. They quized me about what I had lost and I came up with the cell phone and the keys and the Ipod but I had completely forgotten that I had the camera in the pocket as well. Considering the swirl of activities getting a power wheel chair and a manual wheel chair and five bags and two back packs out and in the the hands of stevedores and family members its really a wonder more of it was left on the dock.
I all turned out okay and we headed out of the dock well before sunset and headed for a two day trip to our first stop.. Cabo San Lucas. More later.. Pat
Amy came in to watch the cats. The girls took most of their vacation days and we were headed off.
We left Friday night. We stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn in Downtown Long Beach. It was a great rate and it got us a comfortable overnight. It was two miles from the beach in a pretty rough part of town. The major draw for this Holiday Inn was the St. Mary's hospital next door. We found it with ease and had a pleasant "get it together to get on a ship morning." We boarded our ship at 1:13. Our room wasn't quite ready but.. it wasn't long before I realized that I left half of my life in the terminal metal detector scanner. My Ipod, my keys, my cell phone, and my camera were all in left, by me in the blue dish. I contacted the reception desk and they sent me back all the way to the the place where they did the scanning with the admonishment that the ship sailed at 3 no matter what. I made it down there and I had identified that I had left my car keys and my ipod there.. I hadn't realized that I had also left my relatively new camera. They quized me about what I had lost and I came up with the cell phone and the keys and the Ipod but I had completely forgotten that I had the camera in the pocket as well. Considering the swirl of activities getting a power wheel chair and a manual wheel chair and five bags and two back packs out and in the the hands of stevedores and family members its really a wonder more of it was left on the dock.
I all turned out okay and we headed out of the dock well before sunset and headed for a two day trip to our first stop.. Cabo San Lucas. More later.. Pat
Friday, February 13, 2009
Cotton Candy- New Tissue!
In referrence to the cotton candy lovers of the world.. like Mr. R, Heather, and Linzi..
I read this fascinating article on the medical use of cotton candy. Thought you might enjoy it. The on line referrence is the Boston Globe.
NEW YORK - Cotton candy may have found a new role: helping scientists grow replacement tissue for people.
The flossy stuff may be just right for creating networks of blood vessels within laboratory-grown bone, skin, muscle, or fat for breast reconstruction, researchers suggest. Dr. Jason Spector of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York and Leon Bellan of Cornell University present their preliminary research online this week in the journal Soft Matter.
Here's how their technique would work: First, you pour a thick liquid chemical over a wad of cotton candy. Let the liquid solidify into a chunk, and put that in warm water to dissolve the candy. That leaves tiny channels where the strands of candy used to be. So you have a chunk of material with a network of fine channels within. Next, line these channels with cells to create artificial blood vessels. And seed the solid chunk with immature cells of whatever tissue you're trying to make. The block is biodegradable, and as it disappears, it will be replaced by growing tissue.
AAAAA mazing
: ) Pat
I read this fascinating article on the medical use of cotton candy. Thought you might enjoy it. The on line referrence is the Boston Globe.
NEW YORK - Cotton candy may have found a new role: helping scientists grow replacement tissue for people.
The flossy stuff may be just right for creating networks of blood vessels within laboratory-grown bone, skin, muscle, or fat for breast reconstruction, researchers suggest. Dr. Jason Spector of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York and Leon Bellan of Cornell University present their preliminary research online this week in the journal Soft Matter.
Here's how their technique would work: First, you pour a thick liquid chemical over a wad of cotton candy. Let the liquid solidify into a chunk, and put that in warm water to dissolve the candy. That leaves tiny channels where the strands of candy used to be. So you have a chunk of material with a network of fine channels within. Next, line these channels with cells to create artificial blood vessels. And seed the solid chunk with immature cells of whatever tissue you're trying to make. The block is biodegradable, and as it disappears, it will be replaced by growing tissue.
AAAAA mazing
: ) Pat
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Headed for Mexico
We are getting ready to take the big ship down the Baja coast.
We will drive down to LA.. Long Beach on Friday night, spend the night at the Holiday in in Long Beach, and board the NCL Star on Saturday afternoon.
The girls are going with us. Heather and Linzi have cashed in their holiday days at work and are ready to go with us.
We are doing the 7 day cruise. Ports of call include Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerta Vallarta. It should be a pretty relaxing cruise.. and we certainly need it.
There are some very good rates leaving from LA and San Diego. We have been on this one before. It will be our fourth time taking this trip, the second time on NCL. NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines) does a great job going up and down the coast. There are 10 specialty restaurants on this ship.. freestyle dining and no set time that everyone lines up and heads in for dinner. Some of the specialty restaurants have a "co pay" or a premium charged for their menus. It is usually around 10 dollars.. although the fancy steak house was 25. The girls were very impressed by the French bistro the time we were on this cruise.
The ports of call are interesting. Baja is similar to a So Cal beach town, only warmer. It has some pretty impressive rocks, (Los Arcos) in the harbor. It requires a boat service to get you into town (tender).
Mazatlan is a great city with a huge amount of diversity of tour options, They have a gold zone were they bring goods from all over Mexico to sell to the tourista at inflated prices.. still good stuff. Heather and I did the bird watch here.
Puerto Vallarta is a relatively new city. It is on the exact same latitude as Hawaii. So the climate is wonderful all the time. It has a great beach walk (Malacon) and a super ice cream store.
Weather looks like it is sunny and in the 80's for the highs. It will be cool getting down their (two days down and two days back).
We are bound to have a great time.
Wish you all were going with us.. well next time..
Love
Pat
We will drive down to LA.. Long Beach on Friday night, spend the night at the Holiday in in Long Beach, and board the NCL Star on Saturday afternoon.
The girls are going with us. Heather and Linzi have cashed in their holiday days at work and are ready to go with us.
We are doing the 7 day cruise. Ports of call include Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerta Vallarta. It should be a pretty relaxing cruise.. and we certainly need it.
There are some very good rates leaving from LA and San Diego. We have been on this one before. It will be our fourth time taking this trip, the second time on NCL. NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines) does a great job going up and down the coast. There are 10 specialty restaurants on this ship.. freestyle dining and no set time that everyone lines up and heads in for dinner. Some of the specialty restaurants have a "co pay" or a premium charged for their menus. It is usually around 10 dollars.. although the fancy steak house was 25. The girls were very impressed by the French bistro the time we were on this cruise.
The ports of call are interesting. Baja is similar to a So Cal beach town, only warmer. It has some pretty impressive rocks, (Los Arcos) in the harbor. It requires a boat service to get you into town (tender).
Mazatlan is a great city with a huge amount of diversity of tour options, They have a gold zone were they bring goods from all over Mexico to sell to the tourista at inflated prices.. still good stuff. Heather and I did the bird watch here.
Puerto Vallarta is a relatively new city. It is on the exact same latitude as Hawaii. So the climate is wonderful all the time. It has a great beach walk (Malacon) and a super ice cream store.
Weather looks like it is sunny and in the 80's for the highs. It will be cool getting down their (two days down and two days back).
We are bound to have a great time.
Wish you all were going with us.. well next time..
Love
Pat
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tuesday Child vs Children
After running through a few tests it seems pretty clear that many of my students need help in irregular plurals. Classic in these is the Child Children probe. Many students will say childs instead of children when confronted with the choice. Soo
Today was child/Children day in class. I also worked in question asking plans.. Who are your children? What are their names? Using my family's name set, we ended up with a lot of questions to be asked. A lot of answers given.. so you all were part of my lesson today. My students were particularly interesting in my children. So they all found out about my children's names and where they were, where they were born. For my students on the spectrum, it gave them a chance to care about another. All in keeping with valentine's day which we all know is really blown out of proportion.
Today Adobe told me that they loved me by providing me with some very valuable serial numbers for my educational editions of CS4 design premium. Now if I can get the new Ilife 9 that I have ordered from Apple the new computer migration will be complete.
Going through the Dreameaver tutorial on Lynda. com shows that it will have a fairly steep curve for learning to be proficient in this program. It seems a shame that there is a trend toward more complex complicated versions of basic things to do that few years ago were easy. It seems that the complications of these new programs are not designed to make things easier, but rather to provide more depth. This is sad because the real reason many people choose to do Macintosh is because of the simple interface and the quick and easy way to do pretty cool computer oriented tasks. Instead we are getting programs that are so complex that the learning curve requires knowledge of complicated concepts and terminology to do what was reasonably easy before.
I am sorry folks but the Mac is looking and acting more like a PC every day... drat
Pat
Today was child/Children day in class. I also worked in question asking plans.. Who are your children? What are their names? Using my family's name set, we ended up with a lot of questions to be asked. A lot of answers given.. so you all were part of my lesson today. My students were particularly interesting in my children. So they all found out about my children's names and where they were, where they were born. For my students on the spectrum, it gave them a chance to care about another. All in keeping with valentine's day which we all know is really blown out of proportion.
Today Adobe told me that they loved me by providing me with some very valuable serial numbers for my educational editions of CS4 design premium. Now if I can get the new Ilife 9 that I have ordered from Apple the new computer migration will be complete.
Going through the Dreameaver tutorial on Lynda. com shows that it will have a fairly steep curve for learning to be proficient in this program. It seems a shame that there is a trend toward more complex complicated versions of basic things to do that few years ago were easy. It seems that the complications of these new programs are not designed to make things easier, but rather to provide more depth. This is sad because the real reason many people choose to do Macintosh is because of the simple interface and the quick and easy way to do pretty cool computer oriented tasks. Instead we are getting programs that are so complex that the learning curve requires knowledge of complicated concepts and terminology to do what was reasonably easy before.
I am sorry folks but the Mac is looking and acting more like a PC every day... drat
Pat
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