Travels with AURORA

Date:                           November 24, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0800

            I know, I skipped yesterday, but there is a reason and of courses that is the subject of my blog this morning.  We spent the early part of yesterday either having breakfast or doing laundry. Neither of which are very exciting, but they are what was happening at the bus.  The lack of excitement is not why I decided against a word tomb.  This has never stopped before and was not the sole reason for the lapse yesterday.  The reason was that I just did not want to talk about the previous day just yet.

            Sunday at our house is not so unfamiliar to most people.  We are too lazy to get up early enough to go to church most Sundays.  We watch a couple of the talking heads on TV and eat our breakfast and as the afternoon approaches we prepare for a day of football.  This Sunday we had planned for a junk day of snacks and bad food to enjoy American’s past time of unhealthy food, nachos and football.  It was going to be a Sunday and the Bills had a new coach so you never know.

            Our day was pretty normal except for one small moment which was to get in the way of my Monday morning blog.  The food was good, the nachos were spicy and the Bills lost.  So far it seemed pretty normal.  The Jets also lost, but the Giants won, so it was not a total lost day and there was, seemingly, a slight silver lining in the day’s cloud.  The glitch in the typical American Sunday was between the last talking head and the first kick off.  I decided to go to the campground office and get our awaiting mail.  That was to be a big mistake, or at least a wet blanket for the ensuing hours.

            Our mail had arrived on Saturday, but why should I be in hurry.  I picked it up mid Sunday morning.  In our package from Texas were some medications that we expected, some magazines we really don’t read and a couple of letters.  Most of the mail was very normal until Connie handed me the 4 page letter form the wonderful state of New York that informed us that we were to be audited for our 2006 taxes.  Now is that the tax form I filed in 2006 or is that the form I filed in 2007 for the money we earned in 2006?  I can never get that straight.  The four page letter was about a page and a half of information that, summarized, said I had misreported a portion of our income and now I owed the state of New York over $2000 dollars. That was about $5 dollars in taxes and $1995 dollars in penalties or something like that.  Just as we are preparing for a 25^th anniversary cruise this was not good news.

            After I picked up my stomach, that had dropped through the floor, I decided that I needed to start digging through our records and try to figure out what had gone so wrong.  Had I made a mistake?  Were we going to be arrested and placed in jail for tax evasion?  Was life ever fair?  Could I ever erase the depressed look on my wife’s face?  All of these question and, I am sure, many more had to be answered, but it was Sunday and if I started on Monday that would be soon enough and our financial consultant would be at work if I needed help.  It was back to football.  With 2 out of 3 of our teams forgetting to win it was not to be a great day.

            We awoke Monday with the same fear and angst hanging over our heads plus we had a pile of laundry to attack.  This should answer any questions about my blog yesterday.  We managed to get our laundry done and enjoy a very good senior lunch at Friendly’s.  I am sure a blog will emanate from the senior lunch experience at Friendly’s at some time in the future.  It was now time to start pulling records and files to attempt to understand what this _ _ _ _ letter was trying to tell me.  After rereading the letter, I realized that it was about an error in reporting a pension payment.  I don’t get a pension payment, my wife does.  It is not my problem, it is hers.  Wrong attitude!!!  It is still our problem.

            I called New York for some guidance.  I was sure this was going to be a big mistake, but I had no better plan at this moment.  I was very lucky in contacting a very nice and helpful young lady that guided me through the process.  There was a 1099-R form that they did not have that would have properly reported Connie’s pension. It was not my fault, but rather an error on their part. All I needed to do was make a copy of the form and send it to them and all would be forgiven and corrected.  To the little girl on the New York end of the call this was very oh-hum.  To the old fart in Florida this was 2000 pound weight off of his and his wife shoulders.  She said, “Oh well things happen and mistakes do occur.”  I had to go change my shorts.  By shortly after noon the problem had been addressed, the paper was in the mail and Connie had most of the laundry put away.  It was back to a pretty normal day in Daytona.  Although the Bills did loose, but I guess that is a pretty normal day also.

            We are back on schedule to leave for our cruise, the bank account is not quite as depleted as I feared, and I have learned that all of those paper I keep stuffed in my file cabinet are not just excess weight.  By next Monday the Bills will have lost again, we will be a bit further south in Florida and I will be preparing to blog from the MS Noordam as we set sail for the Caribbean on the celebration of our 25^th anniversary.  Thank you New York, but please don’t screw up again, I am running out of antacid.

6  DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com

Date:                           November 22, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0900

            Blogs are an interesting place to spend your time.  It is an adventure for me on most mornings as I place my laptop on its platform called my lap and I contemplate as to just what it is I am going to expound upon this morning.  It is a project that I restarted because Connie and I have planned a 25^th anniversary cruise and I wanted to save our memories to our blog.  In order to get in the habit I needed to get in the practice of scheduling my time to write my blog.  It may be a big secret, but I read these ramblings also and so does my wife.  We actually like reminiscing at times.

            There are days that I arise and just find no good reason to bore myself or anyone else with my garbled opinions  I try not to let these days take too much control because as I age and wish to reflect on my past thoughts and experiences I can use these days of aimless ramblings as a reference point.  It is the days of nothing that give meaning to the days of something.  I could “Twitter” my life with 140 characters at a time, but what fun would that be?  Besides reading a blog seems such a better use of a person’s time than to just view some ones tweet.  “Tweeting” is something a bird does, not a prolific bull artist like myself.

            I am sure that, as usual, it is about now that anyone that has stumbled on to this Oz-land of mystery starts wondering just what that _ _ _ _ _ is he getting at?  It is really quite simple.  In Tweet language, “My wife and I went to the movies.”  How boring is that?  And yet it is really quite wonderful to go on a date with your wife.  And what better date than to attend a new release move, popcorn in hand and large soda to share with your soul mate? 

            The movie was “Blind Side” if you really care.  It is a true story about Michael Oher and it stars Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw.  I will let you do your Google research and self investigation to learn about the movie.  We enjoyed the acting, the story and the feeling of reward as the movie came to a finish.  It is a chick flick, sort of, but it is about a starting left tackle that is a rookie playing for the Baltimore Ravens so a guy can sneak in and if he hides his tissue who would know.

            It was not the movie that made the day special; although it was well worth the ridiculous 13 dollars it cost to see it.  It was not the popcorn bathed in butter that made the day, but for some reason popcorn purchased for the terribly overpriced movie theater fee always taste better when procured at the movies.  It certainly was not the large cup of soda that made the day.  Yet, somehow the day seemed to be special.

            Our movie theatre is located on the beach and as we waited the few moments for our show to begin we could sit in the lobby and watch the Atlantic Ocean roll onto the beautiful white beach at Daytona.  This, alone, is enough to make our day very special.  We happen to choose the weekend that was also the release for a couple of other rather popular movies, one of which had something to do with vampires and werewolves and a Twilight series.  If this did not add to the special feeling for our date it did add to the number of people joining us at the theater on their and our special day. 

The charm of our day was more personally enjoyed.  It is always special when we can set aside a time to enjoy the pleasures of a simple date.  It is a chance to step out of our normal routine and anticipate a few moments of simple pleasure with a very special person.  If you add a bag of butter laden popcorn and a pretty darn good movie, then you have a super day.  It was a simple day with a memory to share with my wife.  I would guess that that is pretty special day on any ones evaluation.  You might want to go and see the movie.  It is worth the time, effort and even the price.  You might want to dig deeply into your pocket and purchase the bag of popcorn, soda and bath of butter. It is, mysteriously, so much better than Orville’s micro waved anything.  But most of all you must find a way to find a little time to sneak away on a date with your partner.  It will be from this little effort that warm and large memories are nurtured and grown.

By the way we came home to a dinner of homemade soup and a bottle of very fine red wine with a baguette of French bread.  Memories just keep on growing and my blog will just keep on going. 

8 DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com

Date:                           November 21, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0930

            We are quickly approaching one of those, “I know where I was when …..” days.  It is, of course, tomorrow and I do remember very well where I was when the news was delivered to our World History Teacher during class.  The fact that anyone in school dared interrupt her class was enough to warn all of the attentive students in her room that something very monumental had happened.  When Mrs. Fox returned to her position in front of the class after answering the messenger at the class door she wore a saddened and forlorn face that I will never be able to remove from my memory.  She immediately relayed the devastating news to us and promptly suspended class.  I do in deed remember where I was on November 22, 1963.

            The crispness of the pictures in my memory belies the fact that it was nearly half a century ago.  I have children that have children that have been born since then.  We all have lived a history book full of life in the past 46 years and yet I still can see the tear filled eyes of my World History Teacher as she slowly walked from class room door to her lecture position at the head of the class. 

Mrs. Fox had been a strong and wonderful teacher that dragged this lack luster history student up from the doldrums of a lazy student to the pinochle of an honors student in history.  On my first test I pulled my typical non effort grade of 70 something and was somewhat satisfied.  I had passed and isn’t that all htat maters?  Mrs. Fox requested my presence in her late afternoon activity period to discuss my effort in her class.  She, in a very succinct manner, informed me that she did think I had put enough effort into my studies and that she was a much better teacher than my 70 might imply.  I was to be allowed the time I needed to place a little more effort in my studies and I could retake the test.  Of course since it was the second time I was to take a test on the same information I would be allowed to achieve nothing less than a 95.  She hinted that a 100 might be more in my best interest.

            Mrs. Fox also told me that she thought I had a keen interest in history and that if I placed just a little effort in her class I could find it to be very rewarding.  To this avail she was willing to have me join her activity period so that I would be close to her if I should ever need any help.  Now in the old days of school activity period was the last period of school and time when most socialization and fun happened.   I was going to be allowed to forgo all of that fun so that I could study history.  Whoppee!!!!!  The other part of the deal I was going to accept no matter what I wanted was that as a special student of hers I was to achieve a minimum of 90 on all first test attempts and, if for some unknown reason, I did not I was to achieve a 100 on any retake.  I ended my honors history that year with a very high average.  But more importantly I ended that year with an undying love for history that remains with me to this day.  All because a teacher would not allow me to give less than she felt I should.

            I digress from my, “Where were you when” opening for no real good reason. It is just that as I begin these wordy blogs I often have no idea where I am headed and the rekindling of one memory just softly lead me to another.  I am sure that there is, hidden someplace in my meandering, a moral to this story.  Trauma will always leave a “bookmark” in your memory.  Once an old memory arise from the ashes of your mind it seems to ignite synapse that are, in some way, connected or relevant.  It might also be that through everyone’s life a person or moment will direct change or an attitude adjustment that will, forever, guide you in life.

            I am not sure if there is a moral to this mornings diatribe, but I now have to go back and continue reading my “pleasure” book “A Team of Rivals.”  There may be a test later and I don’t dare get less than a 90. 

            If you were, where were you 46 years ago tomorrow?  I will bet you can remember that much better than you can remember what you did 3 weeks a go.  By the way who was you most influential teacher?  If they are still alive write them a note and say thank you for being a positive guiding light in your life.  I will bet that they remember you also.

 9 DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com

Date:                           November 20, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0900

            We went to the beach yesterday, now there is a surprise, and enjoyed the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean up close and personal.  The beach at Daytona is how this place got its fame.  It is even why that overly large parking lot called a raceway is located right in the middle of the city.  The original Daytona race was on the beach.  Now the speed limit on the sand is much lower.  It is posted at 10 mph and most people do a good job of obeying the signs.  The single section of the beach that we frequent is about 6 miles long.  Yesterday we decided to drive the full length of the beach area and it took us just over an hour.  That is 12 miles round trip at 10 mph.  It is a worthy use of a person’s time to ride along the waves as they slowly wash ashore onto the pristine white sandy beach.  But then that is why we came to Daytona and why we are having a very hard time leaving.

            It is a personal pleasure to enjoy the beauty of nature at the sea shore and to enjoy being a part of nature. It is even more rewarding to see how many other people find means and reason to also position themselves on the sand, usually book in hand, to soak up the late autumn sunshine and bask in the warmth of a Florida day.  Some seem to be reflecting on the problems of the cosmos as they recline in their chairs, eyes closed, and minds wandering as they listen to the rhythmic calm of the ocean waves gently washing ashore.  On this day the waves were a bit livelier than on some other days as the rolling blue-green water formed 2 or 3 foot crest and crashed a hundred feet or so off shore and then smoothly washed on to the beach.  With the crashing waves, a warm Florida sun, and a book in hand it is little wonder why so many people were reclining, eyes closed and contemplating their navel.

            We had taken our bikes to the beach and expected to, again, ride along the sand and enjoy chasing the birds, but the wind deterred us from our plans.  The ride down wind would have been great, but somehow Mother Nature finds a way to make the return trip all uphill and twice as far.  And on a flat beach that is quite a marvelous event.  We wisely choose to, instead. Use our motorized mode of transportation to enjoy the beach ride and will save the more physical excursion for another visit.

            Our evening was planned around another foray into to culinary excellence.  Connie and found a recipe for Sichuan pork in her new cookbook.  My job was to help her turn this book temptation into reality.  I was not in charge of making the special sauce.  I was not in charge of combining the fresh and frozen ingredients to form a beautifully balanced presentation of culinary taste wonders.  I was not even in charge of stir frying the ingredients to a doneness of perfection.  I did, however, wield the knife that cut the pork loin into wrong sized pieces for cooking.  The recipe called for half inch slices.  We all know how well men can estimate size and often exaggerate and misrepresent reality with actuality.  We also know how well women can take a slight miscalculation make it seem perfect.  My half inch slices that were a lot closer to a quarter of an inch tasted wonderful and were cooked to perfection.  The meal was purely a trip into gourmet heaven.

            Did I mention that part of my duties on this night’s list of culinary chores was to help consume the resulting product?  This was a job which I handled with great aplomb and no lack of style.  I not only cleaned my first plate serving, but quickly lined up for seconds.  Sadly, the leftovers that Connie had planned for did not seem to exist at the end of the meal.  What did exist was a new recipe to file in our, “We Want This Again” category.

            To some this day may not seem like it was an overly exciting day.  We did spend a good share of the day’s time enjoying the beauty of nature seated along the ocean shore.  It is a place that will always be near and dear to our hearts.  We did soak in the warmth of a warm afternoon Florida sun as we allowed the eternal rhythmic sounds of nature’s lullaby sooth our thoughts.  And, we did finish the day with a gourmet meal created and consumed in our own little abode, with the accompaniment of a wonderful chardonnay.  If yesterday was not an overly exciting day, I am sure that it was a most definitely keeper.

            Today we have been greeted with clouds and haze, but that is not a totally bad thing.  We will, tomorrow, approach the single digit countdown to our anniversary cruise and I am sure that there are a few things that need to be accomplished.  I am also sure that Connie will do most of them, but I am always here to supervise and get in the way.  Isn’t that what men are supposed to do.   That is after they finish their measuring.

10 DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com

Date:                           November 18, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0815

            I entered my space ship and took a trip back in time last night.  It was not a long journey.  Just a few miles up the road and around a few blocks in Deland, Florida and Connie and I found ourselves at the Stetson University lecture hall, or at least one of them.  It felt like a step back in time as we walked into the lecture hall and took our seat near the back of the large auditorium at our school desk.  I don’t remember it being this much fun and entertaining the first time I experienced this sensation of attending a college lecture.  But the surroundings sure did bring back some memories.

            A few notes of reference and observation before I continue.  The audience was very eclectic in age and stature.  There were the obligatory student aged participants, along with many geriatric, slow moving, old duffers like myself.  There were a few people taking notes, some on small note pads, and others on laptops.  I used the back of a piece of scrap paper.  After the lecture the professor remained to answer any questions we might have and I noticed that just about every younger student aged member of the gathering sprinted for the doors and most of the seasonally aged participants remained behind to garner as much more information as was possible.  I will let you form your own opinions on these facts; I just wanted to share the observations.  I also noted that the older the participant the earlier they seem to arrive and the latter they seemed to leave.

            The lecture was on Mayan facts and fantasies about 2012.  With the advent of the new media emphasis on the up and coming December 21, 2012 celestial alignment and the Mayan long count calendar coming to an end on that date, plus the new movie it was easy to understand the standing room only atmosphere in the lecture hall.  The professor was very pleased to see the first 20 or so people arrive early.  He thought that was a large turn out for his evening lecture series.  By the beginning of the lecture every seat in the room was full and there was, literally, standing room only.

            At just a little past seven, that was to allow the late college students to arrive and get seated, the lights went down and the computer display screen lit up and we were off on a tour of Mayan myth and reality.  Of course, there were a few bumps on the start of our journey.  The microphone battery died 2 minutes into his lecture and the room sound system did not like taking to the professors PC.  Luckily the professor had a strong voice and the room was spotted with enough young electronic wonks to get the PC problem solved and the lecture “proceeded on.”

            I will not recap the whole evening’s information.  You can either go to the movie for Hollywood’s version of the upcoming calamity, or go to any book store for the educated entrepreneur’s version of the cosmic shift in existence that we are all to experience on the winter solstice of the year 2012 when we are galactically aligned and when the Mayan long count colander comes the end of the 13th Pik.  These are events that happen only once in 26,000 years in the galaxy and once in 5200 years according to the calendar.  To have them happen on the same day is kind of cool and special and should be noted one could argue. 

The Mayan people have no idea what we are talking about.  There myths and prophecies are not nearly as exciting as Hollywood would have us believe.  There is, still existing, only one Mayan prophecy recorded on any tablet or form that refers to the end of the long count calendar and it is missing the most important relevant information due to the erosion of age and degradation of the rock on which it is carved.  This, of course, has not stopped a very lucrative industry from starting up to scare us as we approach the date of December 21^st, 2012.  I will allow you to do some research and form your own apocalyptic opinions on 2012.  You still have a little over 2 years to either laugh it away or find a secluded cave in which to hide as the continents shift, or the oceans over flow, or the cosmic alignment pulls the Earth apart, or we are again visited by the alien space creature that placed us here some umpteen thousands of years ago.  I will pass on a bit of information that I garnered from this professor of Mayan history and culture.  That is that you might want to continue paying your mortgage, and car payments, and you might not want to move all of your belongings to some tick invested cave in Bolivia.  But the choice is yours.

The best part of last night was the exuberance of youth felt as I sat in this lecture hall partaking in the sharing of information and education.  It was telling to see the young leave early and the old stay late as that education process was acting out before my eyes.  I can not speak for everyone in that hall last evening, but for me, I know that education is so very wasted on the young.  It is with age and experience that we learn just how much we do not know.  I know that many of us have already lived through our genius years, usually our late teens through our early twenties, but some of us are learning that it is really surprising how smart our parents become the older we get.

Go now and dig a hole to hide in or find a cave in which to seclude yourself from the forth coming calamity or maybe just live each and every day to its fullest and damn the predictions.  It is not an old Mayan prophecy but just an old adage that says; “Each day is a gift, that is why it is called the present.”

12 DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com