rubytue

Hmmmm. I used one of the service that popped up (onpoint). I was not particularly impressed with the quality of the test. I got my required negative which worked for verifly and it was a true negative, but…. * He did not verify the date on my box of tests * when I started to reaim the camera so he could see the table where everything was, he told me I didn’t need to * we only waited ~5 minutes to read the test. This brand had a 15 minute dwell time. I thought he was checking that the control line worked when he asked to see the test, but nope, that was it. * on the other hand, he did critique my nose swabbing technique, but not H’s. And H was in less that me.

I have the same amusement that the same people want the monoclonal antibodies made from… generically engineered humanized mice.

@janmcn so for the positive test. I hope he stays super mild. I’m also chuckling a bit. I have a good friend who is an MD, but doesn’t keep tests around. Twice now I’ve had to do porch pickup or drop offs because he needed test and didn’t have any.

That’s what we did, for the most part. We took several different types, and so for each brand, we group them together (with the instructions, because each brand is nuanced different), and put them in gallon ziploc backs.

A few years ago, we were in Aruba and came home with a couple wheels. It was like $22 for a 15 lb wheel. And since it was the full wheel, with the wax rind, refrigeration wasn’t needed.

He came out last week when we were at Hubbard Glacier! seriously, a guest brought a saint suit and was out on the bow during the glacier viewing.

We have a HAL cruise booked in December for Christmas. On this last one, we had the HAI package. I was toying around with pricing on the December cruise, but we decided to wait until after this one to see if we thought the HIA package was worth it. We’ve been home roughly 13 hours. Instead of laundry, I’m sitting on the couch so I decided to check. Based on what I could see online, through my membership big box TA, it was looking like it would cost us $480 to add on HAI. I mathed it out and decided it was good. So I called for a reprice. 20 minutes later, my cruise fare actually went *down* $500 and we got HIA. It’s possible there may be another misnamed “semi-live” thread in December! Ruby loves her WiFi!

Test-trace-isolate is a fundamental public health strategy. You may have heard of it’s origins in “Typhoid Mary”. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3959940/ a few other journal articles discussing it more recently. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263597 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8836351/ But, I do acknowledge the genie is out if the bottle here. We never broke the chain if transmission like we needed to 2 years ago. Partially because Covid is infectious before symptoms. It is the perfect virus, reproduces itself *before* the person gets sick. And that’s what makes it so tough to deal with. Since the person doesn’t feel sick, they say “I’m not sick, why test me.” But, you can still be infectious, and you’ll (probably) get sick in a few days. Personally, I try to see both sides of the argument. I get the fatigue. I get the frustration. But, because we can’t do perfect, we shouldn’t give up on good. We can’t stop everything, but does that mean we shouldn’t do anything?

Our connection sounds like it went a lot like your, @Cruise Suzy. But, in Las Vegas. Deplaned at C25, next flight at B14. So we had a hike. I turned toward decreasing Cs and got to the end and couldn’t find the signs for B. I found the train, but it said it was to baggage. Someone asked me how to get to D, I said I had to clue I was stumped getting to B. She assured me she had walked here from B and you just got down that hallway. So, I walk back toward where I came from and find the entrance to B right at C25. Who the #*11 designed an airport with terminal connects at the high numbers?! Anyway, on the hike, I notice the dark clouds outside. I was hoping the windows were tinted. I finally get where I need to be (H stopped at a restroom, and then, checked signs when he came out, so he beat me there by 15 minutes). Then they start talking about trying to get flights out before the storm. Great. Delay is already 30 minutes and growing. At least we made it in time to take advantage of our A10/A11 boarding numbers (Southwest). So, they board the As, and we were able to get our preferred seats, the two seater exit row! Yay. And then, boarding stops…. turns out, the computers went down between A and B (plane rumors was B55 tried to sneak in with the As, and they had to do something bc her pass was scanned before it was noticed, and that caused the reboot). But it was about 30 minutes before boarding continued. Then the pilot decided to change the route to avoid storms over Iowa, so he needed to top off the fuel tank. Then we taxi, and wait. Ground stop #1. Move to a new runway. Ground stop #2. Finally in the air 1:55 after scheduled. and, of course, delays at baggage claim. Took bags about an hour to come out, and ours were in the third wave. We got home about 1am. 15 hours of travel. And then cooked a pizza before bed 😂

Nope. We saw them. We even joked about ordering them. But, we couldn’t bring ourselves to try. 😂 I feel like I saw it on someone else’s plate (maybe in the pinnacle grill?) and decided we chose wisely. had some travel woes getting home. 90+ minutes on the tarmac on our connecting flight. And we only picked up a snack, not really processing how long it would be til we saw real food again. So, we cooked the frozen pizza at 2am when we got home. It’s like we are in college again!

We are at the airport. We took the 7am shuttle for our 9:30 flight bc I’d heard so many horror stories of SEA. Our shuttle driver said she actually recommends *4* hours early. I laughed and said “oh well, we are missing our flight.” But, I have pre check and H did the spot saver. And we were at the gate, with coffee and food by 8am! protrip: if you have the Starbucks app, the airport Starbucks allow you to do mobile ordering. At least the one at B7. I was in a long line, and on a whim checked it. Placed my order, but stayed in line because it didn’t seem trustworthy. Sure enough, they started calling my name before I was anywhere near the ordering register! we got our post cruise survey. I am totally laughing at this question.

The WiFi with the HIA package worked from almost everywhere. Except the bathrooms near the explorer lounge. But it’s not free. Not are there free terminals. If you don’t have HIA, you will be paying for internet access

Our flight home is tomorrow. My brother in law is picking us up at 9am and we are going hiking. Somewhere, not sure where. But, since we will be off the ship in an hour or so, I think I will conclude this semi-live/actually live travel log. years ago, I worked for the DoD, and there was this one guy who ended every presentation with the following phrase, that is popping in my head: This concludes the briefing; questions now.

Well, we have arrived in Seattle and Rainer was out to greet us. My understanding from locals is that is a good sign for the day. Or a pleasant surprise. as promised, I will review the cabin at the end. I have a slight bit of guilt that I wasn’t able to say hi to @Cruise Suzyin person. But, to go with that internet addict since 1992 thing, I also have a weird quirk that I have my internet persona (Ruby) and my real life me. And despite the fact I fly all my everything online, I like to pretend it’s internet anonymous. You won’t see me as an Insta Influencer 😂 So we were in 8138. After right under sky view pool deck. We had limited chair noise, but that’s probably an Alaskan thing. They didn’t have the loungers out until the last day. We were between a suite and a group that opened three cabins of balconies. So, there were often groups on the balconies together. It’s not that anyone was loud or doing anything outside the norm, but the H was saying it wasn’t “balcony quiet.” Overall, I found the cabin quieter than expected. But I also sleep with ear plugs. This cabin was different that every other balcony we’ve had in that the bed was closer to the window and the sofa and desk were by the bathroom. We were able to tuck the table into a space between the sofa and closet so, it didn’t get in the way for those midnight trips to the loo. I’m 80% sure the cabin is a bit shorter and the back wall with the window is not square. It’s subtle. But that is why I think things are reversed. I *loved* the motion sensor lights under the closet and that the bathroom had a built in night light! Perfect for said midnight trips.

Honestly, I feel like zoom might be more likely to be IP blocked. I think maybe peloton got through bc it’s a bit of a niche app. But I hope I’m wrong!

This is the first time in 12 cruises where we have not gotten off the ship. I figured with such a short and late stop, it would be 50/50, but it’s empty! I’m actually out an about and enjoying the public spaces for the first time this week 😁

This seems surprising to me, but we docked early and cleared customs by 7:45 tonight. My memories and I feel reports are similar, is that Victoria is usually late docking and later customs.

Aww thank you. It’s really quite funny in that this is, to me, entertainment. My typical evening at home is watching TV, with the iPad on my lap toggling between FB, Twitter, and 3 or 4 message boards. Posting while doing other things is so “normal” for me. Online addict since 1992. 😂

Salmon Bake night at the lido. It’s a nice, warmish, sunny afternoon. There are kids in the sea view pool. I didn’t think that was allowed, but they are enjoying themselves. We spent a few hours up on deck 10 aft whale watching. Saw a couple blows from what I assume was a humpback. And then we saw a couple orcas while a carnival ship was passing. One of the orcas was pissed off at the passing ship and treated us to what felt like 10 minutes of tail slapping. Visible through binoculars. He was much closer to the carnival ship. They probably could have seen it with naked eyes.

Currently on the westerdam in Alaska. HAI internet has been quit sufficient for my needs. The only time o had issues was about 8am this morning. Everyone was waking up on their sea day. I even managed to stream a workout from peloton about 11am today. I expected to have that blocked, but it worked. There are some computers available, I haven’t seen anyone using them. Given this is payroll, I would assume you’d be better off for PII issues to bring your own computer. I wouldn’t want my boss doing payroll anything from a public computer.

Anyone want to see Dive In burgers and fries? We did this for lunch several times. Was better than most of what lido had for lunch (that we found) . tonight is salmon bake in the lido. Yum (hopefully)! We are avoiding packing. Maybe while everyone is ashore?

Great! It’s been awhile for me. I think this is a great change! In other news, thumbs up to the Origins talk. Especially if you are a HAL lover. They get into immigration at Ellis island, WWII, and so one. I really enjoyed it.

Honestly, me neither. It’s an American booze size. Maybe a 5th of a gallon? Google says it’s 750 ml. So, I guess that’s why he said a liter was 25% more. 😂 I don’t do liquor.

A few weeks ago I asked about if the streaming block on WiFi was blocking entire apps or something else. I can report that the Peloton app is not (yet) blocked. I was able to do a yoga workout from my phone. So I was able to keep my streak going. Woo! I’ve been going pretty hard this trip, plus from an aft cabin, you get plenty of walking in, so I hadn’t been focused on exercise. But with sea day laziness and getting nagged that if I didn’t do something today, the streak would be gone. I gave it a shot! 20 min grunge yoga done ! (Did I mentioned I’m gen X, yoga to Pearl Jam and nirvana? Yes please).

Same! We usually buy two of the big bottle of Drambuie in the Caribbean. They are the same price as a tiny bottle back home. In fact, we joke that when we are out of drambuie, it’s time to book a cruise. I did just question my husband about the prices. He said a liter of Hendricks is what he pays for a fifth at home. “So, 25% bonus, but it’s not worth the hassle is packing it to fly”