USN59-79

One other thing: I think the shirt @Horizon chaser 1957 crafted is beautiful, but I can't help thinking that the colors might fade away after a few washings. Is there a way to fix the colors? Ray

Well, our rains came back today after two dry days. Still preferable to drought. Today we also had zongzi for lunch to celebrate Dragon Boat Day. I remember watching the dragon boat races on the Tamsui River in Taipei when stationed there. Taiwan has a lot of National Holidays and so does the U.S.A., and while stationed there we got to celebrate all of them. A good deal for us as I don't remember any special Philippine holidays while stationed there. We have three bicycles that have been hanging in the garage for about the last 15 years. Not sure what to do with them. Got an email today from HAL congratulating us on our next cruise and listing a lot of pertinent information including covid rules. Our two other cruises were booked in April and we received nothing from HAL. Perhaps their headquarters is finally getting caught up in its paperwork. Ray

You are taking a repositioning cruise from Yokohama to Seattle. Yes, there will be a lot of sea days with only one other Japan port and three Alaska stops. Actually, 14 days is fairly short for an Asia to Seattle repositioning. We have taken a few and will be on this one too. One recommendation would be stay on for an additional 7 days and do the Seattle to Alaska and back to Seattle portion. We enjoy the relaxed cruising of repositioning cruises like this. Once we did an Asia to Vancouver repositioning and were offered a deal to take the next 7 day Alaska cruise portion. We were surprised how different those 7 days were. The ambiance changed from calm and friendly to almost frantic. The passengers were all in a hurry to do everything and see everything on their 7 day cruise and didn't want to meet other passengers as they probably wouldn't see them again. We have cruised over 500 days on Holland America and have never again taken a 7 day cruise. Hope this helps.

I find it amazing that a bird could be so clever to build a nest like that with no hands, no drawings, and no other bird to teach them.

Some thoughts on hearing loss and hearing aids. I lost a lot of hearing while in the Navy. Probably caused be being a fuse setter in a five inch gun mount and as the Ground Electronics Officer at a Naval Air Station in the Philippines at the end of the Vietnam war. I remember getting a physical there and the doctor remarking "If you buy a stereo here, don't pay very much for it, because you can't hear it." I kind of ignored it until a few years later I was teaching and having to have my students repeat their questions told me I had to do something about it. Even though I was retired from the Navy and entitled to medical care from them, they didn't do hearing aids. I had to get them from the VA hospital. Originally, they said that they would supply the aids and batteries, but it was classified as a zero per cent disability. That way they didn't have to pay any disability pay. Not sure if the hearing is worse now, but they may have gotten more liberal and they now consider it 40% disabling. About every five years or so they have provided newer hearing aids. The present ones work great. They fit inside the ear and have rechargeable batteries so I lay them on the charger before I go to bed at night. I can adjust the volume using my cell phone. Ray

Haven't cruised since covid, but when I wanted a tasty and large beer, I would order a Foster's Lager onboard. A 25 ounce can, we used to call it an oil can size.

I, for one, appreciate that @BruceMuzzis willing to provide us on the spot info on the current cruise situation in Japan. We are fortunate to have on CC a person in Tokyo who reads the local newspapers and can report what the Japanese people think about Cruise ships calling on Japan. While I know that some political factions in Japan will do what they can to instigate bad press concerning our military bases there, that is just a fact of life that we have to live with. We hope to cruise there starting next March and have until this December to cancel if necessary. I hope he will continue to give us an update on what we might expect. Ray

Thanks for that. I thought it strange that tests ordered in May would have an expiration date two months later. Ray

Thought I would throw in something different. We had our first and last covid tests in Cambodia in early 2020. They were given by the Pasteur Institute of Phnom Penh and were somewhat painful as they shoved the Q-tip far into your nose. Of course, we and the rest of the Westerdam passengers all tested negative. We now have a collection of free government issued covid tests and I noticed that they all expire in July and August this year. So I decided it might make sense for Sara and I to test ourselves just to make sure we have avoided Covid over the past two years. So I took out the earliest expiring test box (with two tests), read the instructions and did the test; first on me and then Sara did it. Really quite simple and easy to see that they both were negative. We have been more careful than most in wearing a mask and not getting close to strangers and are double boosted, but it is gratifying to see that those precautions probably helped. So today was a good day! Ray

What you said pretty much describes me. Some of the posters remind me of tablemates we have enjoyed on some of our long cruises. I enjoyed the pictures of the (ex)Amsterdam. We have sailed over 300 days on her. I think I understand now why HAL got rid of her - the lack of balcony cabins. If the cruise line can sell an outside cabin for $900 and a similar sized balcony cabin for $1300. I can see why all the new builds have so many of that type cabin.

It is interesting that today's port is Sasebo, Japan. It is also kind of confusing, as Sasebo is in Nagasaki Prefecture and its capital city, Nagasaki is about 40 miles from Sasebo. Our upcoming cruise on the Westerdam shows us in Nagasaki on 30 March, 2023. I spent many months in Sasebo in the 1970s as it was and is a major U.S. Navy base in Japan, shared with the Japanese Self Defense Force Navy. It looks like Carnival Corp. started building a cruise port there a few years ago which was supposed to be completed in 2020 and are calling it the Nagasaki Cruise Port. There is also a major ship building facility in Sasebo. So we shall see if and when we arrive there next year. Ray

The Coast Guard cutters my people worked on were called WHECs. I was the electronics repair officer on the USS Hector (AR-7). I remember that some of the electronics on those ships was 1950s vintage. Almost as bad as working on some South Vietnam Navy ships that we gave to France after WW2 and they gave to Vietnam when they left in the 1960s. Those were challenging times. Ray

Today was the first real Spring day we have had this year. Finally put on a short sleeved shirt after doing some outside work today. @Heartgrove mentioned his brother's Parkinson's and also his Coast Guard service. You don't normally think of Coast Guard sailors serving in Vietnam, but I remember working on large and old Coast Guard boats when serving on a Navy repair ship in Vietnam in 1970 and 1972. Not sure if he served there, but recently Parkinson's Disease is a disease that the VA says was caused by Agent Orange for those who were there at that time. I am aware of this as my leukemia was probably caused by the same thing. I understand Jacqui @kazu's feelings about an insensitive comment. Most of us are never taught how to respond to another person's grief. We often repeat platitudes that we heard from church or from funerals we have attended. I think she should give the person a pass - he or she didn't mean to be insensitive; it just came out that way. Ray

Thanks, that does help. Ray

I am sometimes confused how we use acronyms to describe relationships here on CC. For example, is DS a dear sister or dear son? Not sure what BFF means - best female friend? I assume that somewhere on CC there is a listing of these. Can someone point me to it? Thanks. Ray