Just Sit Right Back And You'll Hear A Tale...

Warning: Long post ahead... Stick with it, there's a prize at the end!

Well, I suppose a post is long overdue detailing my Christmas vacation. As my last post indicated, I went cruising this year over Christmas with the Fam. We left on Saturday, December 23rd from Fort Lauderdale, FL on the ms Zuiderdam of Holland-America Line. First let me get a summary of the entire post out of the way...

Cruising is all kinds of awesome.

Anyway, from Ft. Lauderdale we sailed (without technically sailing) to the privately owned (by the cruise line) island of Half Moon Cay (pronounced "Key") in the Bahamas. Being a private island, every service there was provided by the cruise ship. There were a couple bars and shops, but mainly there was the beach. And it was the best beach I saw all trip (ergo, the best beach I've ever seen). I should mention that at all ports of call, there were "shore excursions" that one can sign up for (for a fee, of course). At this particular location, I did no such shore excursion and spent my time sitting on the beach and wandering through the island, and it was the best way to start the week, I think.

The next day was Christmas, and we spent the entire day at sea (hence, I had time to make my previous post). They had a good amount (ie. not too many) of Christmas decorations on board. They also had a couple special Christmas shows that they performed on Christmas Eve. The shows stood out in my mind a little bit, and I'll tell you why. Every night there is a live show, whether it be a musical show or a comedian or magician, etc. There were three musical shows put on by their cast, and they're probably the same shows the put on week after week, all rehearsed to a T. But the Christmas Eve show was one that they'll only put on once, and yet it was just as good as the other shows. Of course, they were singing Christmas songs, so it's not like they really had to learn the music. But still, it stuck in my head. Also, since it was a Christmas cruise, there was a healthy mix of ages on board (not just old people as is the cruising reputation, earned or not), including children... So, the ship had Santa pay a visit on Christmas morning. Hurray!

Onward we go to Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Here I did a shore excursion with the whole family, which was a historical/sightseeing tour. We saw the island from Paradise Point, we went to Drake's Seat, and then to Blackbeard's Castle. It was a bit busy there, but not terribly so... after all, it was the day after Christmas, so everyone might have been out doing their shopping. Anyhoo...

On to the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Tortola is a much more laid back island (but then again, I think it's a bit poorer too) and the scenery is simply gorgeous. Having said that, all the islands in the Caribbean are beautiful, really. While in the BVI, Kier, Kyler and me took a shore excursion to The Baths on Virgin Gorda to do some snorkeling and swimming. The defining characteristic of The Baths are huge boulders on shore and in the water where there are coral. I have never snorkeled in a tropical setting before, so I loved it. I saw (and heard) fish, crabs on the rock, and I even saw a turtle and an octopus! It was also during this time that it rained for the only time (that I noticed) on the trip, which lasted for all of 15 minutes, while I was in the water.

After leaving Tortola, we had another day at sea. It was during the times on board that we could participate in the many activities on board. The ship had two pools, one outside and one underneath a retractable roof (designed by the same people who did Skydome, apparently). There was also two theatres, three dining rooms, a nightclub, numerous bars and lounges, a library, an internet cafe, a souvenier shop, a duty free shop, a jewelery shop, a casino, and various sport facilities. And it the sports where we did most of our activities. You see they had an incentive program which give you "dam dollars" every time you participated in a designated event. The events included volleyball games, basketball games, miniature golf and chipping, etc. At the end of the cruise, we could trade in the dam dollars for swag. So basically, we were being paid to play games. At the end of the cruise, I came away with a hat and a t-shirt. Sweet.

We then arrived in Nassau, The Bahamas. Here I didn't do a shore excursion and instead wandered the town with Kyler and Kier (for a bit, before she went to swim with the dolphins). We went to the straw market, which was the congregation of all the merchants of souvenir-type goods. It was crowded and it smelled. The thing that struck me the most about Nassau was the aggressiveness of the merchants, especially the ones on the street. Not to mention the sheer insanity of the drivers. All in all, Nassau the town was unimpressive. However, I didn't go across the bay to Paradise Island, where all the big resorts are. I've heard it's nice there.

The next day were were back in Fort Lauderdale and as we had about 11 hours to kill before our flight left, we decided to take one last shore excursion... this time to take an airboat ride through the Florida Everglades at the Sawgrass Recreation Park. That was pretty cool. We saw a couple of alligators in the Everglades and then a few more in the habitats they had set up. Also, there was a baby tiger, lynx, and panther. That was a good way to wind up the trip.

So, in closing, I had a fabulous week. I'd recommend cruising to anyone. You can do as much or as little as you want, and the service was top notch. Thanks Mom and Dad! Now for the prize I promised at the start. It's a photo album of selected photos that I put together. Click below to see!

2006 Cruise

This Had Better Be The Best Internet Ever

So, here I am on the ship ms Zuiderdam and I'm paying $0.75 per minute to use the internet. So, lets make it quick.

Merry Christmas from the snowy Caribbean. Santa made a visit to the ship, and he had dreadlocks and sang reggae. Today, it was mostly sunny with a high of 27 degrees and 87% relative humidity. If you care to look it up on Google Earth, as of 5:02pm our ship's coordinates are 20 degrees, 10.77 minutes north, 68 degrees, 18.12 minutes west. We're heading for St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands tomorrow. Yesterday we were at an island called Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.

That's all for now, I hope it's started to snow back home.

Oh yeah, and there's way too many good looking girls on this boat. Both guests and crew... especially crew.

Symantec Norton Internet Security Certainly Is A Great Program!

Norton certainly is not a resource hog, and it doesn't keep my computer occupied for 5 minutes each time I boot up my machine. It doesn't mess up the images while browsing in Firefox and I just love the seemingly random full system scans it run with no way to stop. Oh yeah, and the constant blocking of "intrusion attempts" certainly aren't annoying.

How's that for sarcasm?

Speaking of the endless "intrusion attempts", I think my most favourite one ever occurred just now. I circled the site that Symantec thought was trying to intrude onto my computer...

Tall and Thin... Just How I Like Them

I got my new monitor from Dell today. 20" widescreen...

oh yeah... and 20" tallscreen.

Speaking of Roundabouts

On Saturday night, on my way to my office Christmas party in Cambridge, I had the opportunity to drive through the new roundabout at Fountain Street and Blair Road in Cambridge. Funny, I don't remember much else from Saturday night... but I digress. It's a great roundabout to drive in if you're a novice, because it's a single-lane roundabout so you won't have to worry about what lane you're in. Anyway, one of the nice feature of a roundabout is that you can do something with the space in the middle whether it be landscaping or, in this case, some sort of artistic feature. On The Record's website there is currently a poll on which of three choices you like or if you don't want anything at all. There's been a bunch of negative letters in the paper recently from people who are against doing anything that would improve the look of the roundabout centre. It's my guess that these are also the people who, when they hear the word "roundabout", the first thing that comes to their mind is "opposed!". Anyway, vote if you want, or care, I just ask that you don't vote for the "no artwork" option.

New Roundabout Animation!

I just checked out the Region of Waterloo's website and found that the flash animation for roundabout has been updated and improved. Now it gives examples of what NOT to do, which is a great addition. Also, there's a video! Check it out here.

In related news, all of us here at Matt's Blog Is Stupid would like to welcome Silas Grace into the world and congratulate his new parents Dan and Faith. It's nice to know he'll grow up in a world where Roundabouts are becoming more commonplace. Hurrah!

Ever

Worst stadium Ever: Ralph Wilson Stadium
Grossest Thing Ever: Beneath the keys of a keyboard (specifically MY keyboard)
Best Thing Ever: Beef Stew

I'm gonna go... place.

Masters of Curling

I've been watching the Master's of Curling tournament over at the Waterloo Rec Centre the last two days, and I have to say it's some pretty good curling happening there. There's five games happening simultaneously, so there's always something to watch. I've decided that it's better just to concentrate on two game at once, so you can actually get into them, instead of trying to keep track of everything. I have a ticket for the rest of the days. So far, I've been going by myself, which makes it a bit boring at times. I have a ticket for each of the days left, but unfortunately I can't make the final game on Sunday, as I have to go see an NFL game in Buffalo... bummer. So, I'm offering up my Sunday ticket FREE OF CHARGE to whoever wants it. It's general admission, so you can sit anywhere in the arena, except the ends.

Here's a picture of the players being led in by the Fergus pipe band before the opening game.


Here's a video I took tonight. Kevin Martin and Jean-Michel Ménard went to extra end and this is the final shot where Martin make a tricky take-out for the win.

I Guess I'm Out Of The Family

Well, that's a 0 and 6 start for the good old curling team. Things are not going well. It's most likely because we're one of the only teams that only play once a week. Most of the other teams play on wednesdays too, I think, wednesdays being the main "Men's League".

Wednesday... the longer I look at that word, the weirder it gets. It doesn't look like what it looks like. Anyway...

We get three weeks off to think about what we've done. The curling club is shutting down for a bonspeil this week and the Grand Slam next week. The week after is our bye week (which, happily, counts as an automatic win).

Speaking of the Grand Slam, it's happening next week. I'm going to each of the evening draws, and probably most of the afternoon draws. Check out the website for draw times. It'll cost $16 for a one day ticket. Don't order over the phone as it'll cost an additional $5... just buy at the door. Maybe see you there? It's probably the next best thing to seeing the Briar itself (which is in Hamilton this year, BTW).

Who Are These Guys Again?

Don't forget to vote today, dorks.

And vote for whoever likes roundabouts. Because I know about how it's such a hot button issue.

hehehe... dorks.