Bye-bye 09

In the best tradition of news organizations around the world, I am taking advantage of New Year's Eve to write the laziest post possible - The Top Ten List. After 254 posts in 2009, I am pleased to tell you the ten most read entries of the year:

1. Politics as Usual (August 28). This is the one where LK and our friend Walt renew their commitment to spirited political debate. And remember, as far as each of them is concerned, they never lose.

2. Birth of a Notion (September 30). No idea why this trifle was widely read. Perhaps it is because I violated copyright and used a Dilbert character?

3. Bronze to Jorge (March 30). Our favorite reality TV contestant lost. And we were devastated. At least this started some e-mail correspondence with Jorge, which was the highlight of my fan mail. (OK, my only fan mail.)

4. Blog Block (May 3). It's easy to see why this one got read - I linked to many of my favorite blogs. And nine months later, it is interesting how few of these blogs I am still reading. Fickle me!

5. A Shaggy Don Story (September 4). The one where I got my hair cut. Seems everyone I know enjoys it when things don't work quite as I had hoped they would. My mother told me that when she the pictures, she laughed and laughed and laughed.

6. Elementary School (February 25). My first - and certainly not my last - post about fixing the toaster.

7. All at Sea (September 11). With little to do, we eat, drink and gamble on the ship. Which is pretty much what we do when we have lots to do.

8. Connie Francis Saves the Day (July 27). In which Don and LK play games in the car.

9. Bowled Over (May 18). A brief essay on how to cheat at Wii bowling.

10. The New York City Marathon (December 5). In which I describe a virtual death march in NYC ending in the terrifying place called Tiffany & Co. Still scary.

Happy New Year to all. We are spending New Year's Eve by driving to the northern beaches of Oahu to fill in the hours before we can start drinking without feeling totally dissolute. See you in 2010.

Aloha At Last

Aloha! Yes, we finally made it here two days late.

This post may be one of the few I will ever write like this. I am writing about a day in which nearly everything went as well as anyone could want. No grumbles, no complaints, no observations about some jerk or other.

Nope we woke up to 7 above 0 Fahrenheit in Pittsford and went to bed when it was 75 in Honolulu. (You may have noticed by now that I can't figure out how to do the degree sign in this program, but we're all friends so let's not get too hung up).

We got up at 5am to confirm our flight was actually leaving, and packed the last few odds and ends. Sandy and Dave picked us up a little before 6am to go to the airport. We were expecting long lines at security after the scare on Christmas Day, but we had the easiest and fastest time getting through I can ever recall at Rochester Airport.

Waiting to board the plane, they announced it was a full flight, so would everyone do their best to board quickly because they were hoping to -- ready for this? -- leave early so we could all make our connections. And we did!

In Chicago, our next gate was about 150 meters away, and we had about 40 minutes to kill before boarding. Actually most people on the flight were killing their time by standing in one of the longest queues I have ever seen. Apparently the plane was overbooked and people had been given boarding passes without seat assignments, so they all had to line up at the gate to get a seat while they airline begged people to take a really good deal and let them put on a later flight.

Our seats had been assigned when we checked in at Rochester, but we got in the queue just in case there was a problem. But before we got to the desk they called boarding and we took two steps to the left and got in that line. We were on board within seconds.

Once in the air, the stewardess - sorry, flight attendant - insisted we have a second Bloody Mary. "That's the whole point of going to Honolulu," she said. Such wisdom in the air. And then they served what may have been one of the better meals I have had in the air. I watched a great movie - Inglourious Basterds. Then we slept a bit. And we were in Honolulu.

Shirley was waiting at the hotel. She had made sure there was plenty of ice in the freezer. And I had what was my toughest choice of the day - Grey Goose or Absolut.

We were feeling a bit lazy and ordered a pizza and salad to the room. The pizza was fantastic. And by 9 o'clock I discovered that I had stayed on the East Coast long enough to be on their time zone so my body clock thought it was 2am and time for bed. I am pretty sure the Grey Goose had nothing to do with it.

After 8 hours of sleep, LK and I woke up around 5 and dressed to go out and have some coffee while we let Shirl sleep in to a more civilized hour. And for the first time in 5 weeks I was able to put on my retirement uniform - shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. I'm telling you, it's been a very good 24 hours.

Waiting, Waiting

Oh the weather outside is frightful.
But the fire is so delightful.
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

But we do have some place to go! We want to get out of here and go to Honolulu.

We didn't clear the waitlist this morning, and we're in Pittsford one more day. Our friend Shirley is all alone in the hotel there, waiting for us. Undoubtedly she is having a miserable time because we are not there with her. It's lonely at the pool!

So now we're confirmed on the 7:55am flight tomorrow. Only, they're predicting 5 to 10 inches of snow tonight.

Oh God, will we ever get out of here? Will I ever be able to wear shorts and t-shirt again? Will Linda lose her tan?

Escape from New York

Right now I am winging my way from the cold and snow of upstate New York heading to beautiful, sunny Honolulu.

Oh wait, that's what I was supposed to be doing. Instead I am still here in Pittsford (Peg, Sandy - please note I did NOT say "stuck" here in Pittsford) because there was a big snow storm in Chicago. That was where we were due to transfer to the Honolulu flight, but that isn't going to happen today.

And because this is the busiest week of flying, the airline can't even guarantee they will find seats for us tomorrow. They have nicely confirmed that we can get there two days late.

I woke up at 5 this morning to get ready for the early flight. First thing I did was check flight status, and that's when I saw the bad news. Then I checked my new itinerary and that's where bad news turned into a horror show.

Because our Rochester flight was now going to arrive at noon, a couple of hours after the Honolulu flight had departed, they rescheduled us. Oh, not to mid-afternoon, but to a flight to Denver at 6am tomorrow morning. The bad news? We would have to spend Sunday in an airport hotel. The good news? Because it was a 6am flight we would have to leave around 4am, what with the extra security measures in place.

You know travel is getting sucky when leaving a hotel at 4am would be the good news.

Once we got to Denver, we were scheduled to enjoy six or seven fun-packed hours sitting in the waiting area. Even I can't pace my Mile High Marys well enough to endure that much time. We would finally arrive late at night in Honolulu on Monday.

So I called United at 5:40am to seek alternative flights. This is no exaggeration - I finally hung up at about 7:40 with waitlists for tomorrow and confirmation for Tuesday.

The woman who was assisting me tried everything under the sun to find seats for us, but couldn't do it. She even called two competitive airlines to see if they had seats. I cannot fault her efforts, but I do wonder why I can now go on the Internet and see four different routes for tomorrow that would get us to Honolulu. After a 2-hour phone call, I will give it a break and wait for this afternoon to see if someone else can't get us on those flights tomorrow.

Besides, there's good and bad with staying here a little longer.

The good? Well, it's at least one more day with Peg and Sandy and Dave. (Mind you, I am not sure they all consider it a positive, but I do.) On a lesser note, I get to watch all the Sunday afternoon football games I would have missed while on the plane.

The negatives? Well, we're missing a day or two of beautiful Honolulu and laughs with our great friend Shirley, who is already there waiting for us. And we are a little concerned that Shirl may feel the need to drink our portions of the booze in the room, just to make the bottles look balanced.

Oh, and one more negative. LK just looked around and said that there was nothing for her to do since she had done everything yesterday in preparation for leaving this morning. "Looks like I may as well go shopping," she said.

I wonder if the airline would consider those costs the sort they compensate for.

Stuffing

Animal rights advocates protest against the treatment of geese raised for fois gras, the fancy French version of chopped liver. They protest because the bird is confined and has food forced down its throat in order to create a fat liver, which is after all what foie gras means.

I am beginning to understand how the geese feel. It is now 30 days since we landed here. Our first full day included a Thanksgiving feast at Bob and Deb's and last night included a magnificent Christmas dinner that Sandy prepared - crown roast of pork, stuffing, brussells sprouts, a pomegranate and arugula salad ... well, you're getting the idea. And in between we've had more breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and drinks than I care to recall.

It seems like all I've done is open wide and swallow since we landed here. And I have even been really slack and haven't done my WiiFit exercises since we left Oz. In fact, about the only exercise I have had is walking to dinner when we were on the cruise ship.

I can honestly say that the wisest decision I have made this year was to buy pants with expandable waistbands.

I do think I need to do something about this girth of mine. Last night at dinner I discovered that a former neighbor of Peg's had asked her if I was still fat. Even taking into account that retired people develop new topics of interests, it surprised me that someone who barely knows me would be interested in my weight.

It reminded me of a tweet from director Kevin Smith I read the other day. He made me aware that I have passed the Point of Husky, turned left at Chubby Road and ended up in the neighborhood of Really Fat. Smith was doing a whole riff on "You know you're too fat when ..." and he got to "You know you're too fat when you own the airplane seatbelt extender that you used to be too embarrassed to ask for." And all I could do was visualize that little bit of belt sitting in the bottom of my cabin bag.

It is obvious I have to take another stab at dieting. Oh, not on on our last day here. And certainly not in the next week as we celebrate New Year in Honolulu. And I suppose it won't be practical to try to start in January with all the stress of getting the house cleared out. And Jaki and Robert are over in Oz all of February so that isn't going to be a good time. I suppose March is possible. Let's pencil it in.

Merry Christmas

We're halfway through Christmas, and it's been fun and is sure to continue so.

I say halfway because the day is over in Australia. This is the first time we haven't been in Sydney for the big day since we moved there in 1988. We've talked with Jay and Lora, Matt, Rachael and Lily, but it's not the same as being there. We realized how much we miss all of them and how we have become so used to having them around.

Having Christmas with Lily the past several years has really made the day very special again. I had forgotten how wonderful Christmas is when you see it through the eyes of a child. We've promised Lily a Greek or Russian Christmas on January 6th when we get back. I hope it doesn't seem like week-old leftovers by then, but somehow I suspect a 7-year-old will always be able to get in the mood for more presents. I am just hoping she isn't expecting 12 lords-a-leaping by then.

On the plus side, this is the first holiday season we have spent with our parents and siblings in over 20 years. We had a great Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad and Bob and Deb in Rutland and are really enjoying this Christmas week with Peg, Sandy, Dave and Jordan. We will be heading over to Sandy and Dave's to open presents soon, and then back again later for the feast.

Everyone gets a bit sentimental at this time of year, but why not? Family, friends - all the people you love and care about. What great people and what a great time. Merry Christmas.

Christmas Presents

Last night Sandy and Dave gave Linda and me a great Christmas present when they treated us to a wonderful dinner at a new restaurant in the area, the Next Door Bar and Grill. That simple name is misleading because it is quite an elegant place, with fantastic decor and equally great food.

They offer what very well may be the best sushi and sashimi this far from the ocean. Three of us started with that, and Dave stayed on the sashimi wagon with his main course.

LK opted for cooked food and started with chicken livers in a cognac sauce and then braised veal cheeks with spaetzle and red cabbage. Thumbs up on both.

Sandy and I had scallops with an arugula and pancetta salad with a sweet-and-sour vanilla sauce that may have been the tastiest bit of greens I can remember.

It was a great night, and a wonderful Christmas present from two of our most special people. Sandy said they thought the dinner was a great idea because LK and I were impossible to buy gifts for.

I assume that means that one of us has simple tastes and needs and does not require anything making it hard to buy gifts, whereas the other one gets whatever they want whenever they want it and therefore is impossible to buy gifts for. Of course, I am not naming names.

I've already given LK her Christmas present. While we were in St Maartin on our cruise, I bought her a Pandora bracelet and told her then that it was her Christmas present. When I reminded her of that today, she argued that I had said it was Cruise present. Silly me - I didn't even know I was expected to give a Cruise present but - faced with the idea of having to go to the mall on Christmas Eve afternoon - I convinced her she had misheard me.

I asked her if she had bought a gift for me yet. She hardly took a second to answer that I already had my gift. "Your Christmas present is that the bracelet is the only gift I got."

I think LK has perfected the concept that it is the thought that counts.