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.:Monday, November 28, 2005:.
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Greetings from St. Maarten!
After a hellish plane ride(s) where we got no sleep, we arrived in St. Maarten on Saturday without any further problems re: checking in, car rentals... except our rental was a clunker so we got it replaced today, a Daihatsu Charade, we hard returned the original. The locals are pretty friendly and accommodating but a little pushy. Maybe a little affronted that the tourists don't really want to make friends/party with them.
So Saturday we checked into our hotel, relaxed a bit, then went out for dinner and a drive-around. We have no proper maps because there are none, so I am relying on visual cues and a finely-honed sense of direction. Here's hoping it works. It should... the island is only 37 sq miles. I wonder if i'll get cabin fever. Or island fever. Well I did drink the local water... maybe that explains the headache right now (either that or the air conditioning)
Yesterday we drove all the way around the island, (with the old car), got to see some cool beaches we will come back to but it was raining yesterday so we ended up around the whole island and then went to Sunset Bar for drinks at the end of the night. The Sunset Beach bar is where the planes land. We were there late so there were no big planes landing/taking off.
Today we stayed near the hotel and sunbathed... i haven't coloured much, maybe i should switch to 15 spf instead of 30? then we went to get the car switched and hung out at the airport beach again - nothing interesting there yet - apparently the days to go are thursday afternoon and saturdays. so we'll go back.
We attended a timeshare presentation for the sole purpose of getting a free 'gift' - 'twas kind of funny. everyone wants to sell you a timeshare here. but no worries. we sat through the sales pitch and now we are going on a day cruise to Prickly Pear! Instead of $85 we'll be paying $35.00. We also signed up for scuba diving, and are going to pick up our literature and schedule our dives tomorrow morning before the cruise. looks like fun.
Anywho that's the news for now... will update when I have another chance. Cheers!
2:20 p.m.
posted by tre
.:Friday, November 25, 2005:.
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Assault on the ears:
English-language butchering pet peeve of the day: People who say, "I says," instead of "I said," when speaking in past tense. E.g. "... and I says, you've got to pay for the extra time!" This is particularly annoying when it happens in a business setting. For all the suits and ties and proper behaviour - bad grammar just makes things less credible.
Will not get into the whole existentialism of grammar and fluidity of tenses in this post - I'm going on vacation today. Wheee!
10:14 a.m.
posted by tre
.:Wednesday, November 23, 2005:.
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Problems
I haven't started packing yet. I have a list, just haven't followed up with it yet. I barely started laundry today... I have three loads to do. Surely it will get done in the next day and a half? Well, considering I won't be home until late tonight, and late tomorrow, and I leave on Friday... I wonder if that's enough time to hang-dry my lulu pants and iron whatever needs ironing... and indeed, wonder if I need to bring the lulu pants at all? Will I make use of the exercise facilities at the resort? Will I go jogging? (All indications lead to... not bloody likely...)
Also need to buy batteries and download a few more mp3s. And go to the bank.
And find books to read while on vacation. I guess now would be a good time to finish Life of Pi.
My car is making noises again. A flappy noise in the engine somewhere. Here's hoping whatever it is doesn't snap between now and Friday. Will deal with it when I get back from vacation. Very good timing since my extended warranty may have already run out... grrrr.
Going to watch RENT tonight. That's not a problem, just wanted to mention. Will review later.
10:47 a.m.
posted by tre
.:Friday, November 18, 2005:.
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Oh right.
So I finished Atlas Shrugged... kinda disappointed. After the 50-page, supposedly 3-hour monologue (that took me a few weeks to finish reading), the climax was... well, after the 1000-page set up, somewhat triumphant, but also anti-climactic for me. Not sure if it's because I kinda had a sense of what was going to happen in the end anyway. That's the last time I read a book and expect it to change my life.
(Apparently this is the America's 2nd most influential book after the Bible. Yes, America.)
Well it might have, but I don't really see it just yet. I recognize that there is a moral standard that has been set by this book. Looking out our everyday world, be it in politics or other news, you can't really draw parallels with what happened in the book, exactly, but there are similarities. You could say it makes statements about a lot of things - capitalism vs. socialism, culture of greed, etc. As a novel it went on a bit too long, but as a manifest of sorts, well this is my first go at reading someone's manifest per se... so not bad. However I don't plan on reading Matthew Good or Moby's diatribes anytime soon (or if so, not planning on thinking abou them too much).
Now I need something to read for my vacation, as well as something to read during lunch and before bed. For lunch I am trying to finish off Eats Shoots & Leaves, and I've just started re-reading Bridget Jones Edge of Reason.
12:07 p.m.
posted by tre
.:Thursday, November 17, 2005:.
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November.
ah. the month of rain and general crappiness.
i had more to say but i've lost it.
thank god for vacations.
5:20 p.m.
posted by tre
.:Tuesday, November 08, 2005:.
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After a combined 2-day total of 7 hours on the phone, here are the results:
Friday, November 25, 2005
US Airways 518
Depart: 10:45pm evening Seattle, WA Seattle/Tacoma Intl (SEA)
Arrive: 6:21am morning Charlotte, NC Charlotte Douglas (CLT)
Economy Airbus Industrie A320 (320) 4hr 36min 2275 miles
Your flight is confirmed. The airline is assigning seats at check-in.
Change planes. Time between flights: 3hr 19min
US Airways 229
Depart: 9:40am morning Charlotte, NC Charlotte Douglas (CLT)
Arrive: 2:28pm afternoon St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles St Maarten Princ. Juliana (SXM)
Economy Boeing 757 Passenger (757) Snack 3hr 48min 1614 miles
Your flight is confirmed. The airline is assigning seats at check-in.
This is an overnight flight.
Total duration: 11hr 43min Total miles: 3889 miles
Sunday, December 11, 2005
US Airways 940
Depart: 2:10pm afternoon St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles St Maarten Princ. Juliana (SXM)
Arrive: 5:19pm evening Charlotte, NC Charlotte Douglas (CLT)
Economy Boeing 757 Passenger (757) Snack 4hr 9min 1614 miles
Your flight is confirmed. The airline is assigning seats at check-in.
US Airways 59
Depart: 7:30pm evening Charlotte, NC Charlotte Douglas (CLT)
Arrive: 10:13pm evening Seattle, WA Seattle/Tacoma Intl (SEA)
Economy Airbus Industrie A319 (319) Food for purchase 5hr 43min 2275 miles
Your flight is confirmed. The airline is assigning seats at check-in.
Sheesh. US Airways was so generous to NOT charge a change fee but they wouldn't ante up for an extra room night. So I had to call the timeshare people and spend a half hour with them on the phone. But at least it's all settled... I can go worry about getting a 'base tan' now.
11:41 a.m.
posted by tre
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That'll teach me...
...for gloating about my trip:
US Airways has royally f***ed up my return ticket from St. Maarten. Basically they changed the departing flight time from St. Maarten and it makes us miss all our connecting flights, and apparently all the other connecting flights are fully booked and yadda yadda yadda, the trip insurance won't cover staying an extra night in St. Maarten or Charlotte, NC... because the trip interruption coverage covers only if the airline doesn't have any other options available. Pffffftttt.
Anywho. I spent 2.5 hours on the phone with Orbitz trying to sort the whole mess out (most of it on hold), and we left it because I had to discuss our options with Blondie. So now I am back at it, multitasking on the phone, blogging, and working at the same time. Will update with results.
9:51 a.m.
posted by tre
.:Friday, November 04, 2005:.
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Checking in.
So it's been 2 weeks since my last post... lame... (Bless me Father for I have sinned, it's been two weeks since my last...")
Er.
Anyway. What have I been up to? Freaking out about mini strokes, going to Halloween parties, ogling hats, and being generally obsessed with snowboarding gloves. Yeah that's pretty much it. Still haven't made much progress in John Galt's 50-page rant... I've got about 15 to go. It's slow progress.
Oh, and I'm going on vacation in 3 weeks. Suckas!
5:19 p.m.
posted by tre
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copyright? what copyright? (2005)
guess what?
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...with...
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