Life goes on

We're officially in....as in moved in...not as in "trendy" in.  We're still looking through the last few boxes for specific items, but we've basically unpacked.  After several calls and visits to Rogers our tv/internet/telephone are all in working order...although it's been a battle.  We're waiting on one last visit from the electrician and the asphalt company that will pave our driveway.  

We've had our first overnight visitors on Friday when Kier's mother and David stayed over.  We went with them to Moncton on Saturday for some dinner and a short (??) visit at the casino...just long enough for me to win $200!  Well, I actually won $687...but when all was said and done, I went home with $200 more than I had spent.  The planning is in full swing for our next trip to Vegas...we've missed our second home ;)  and by the look of my e-mail in-box, they've missed me!!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:  If there is such a thing as reincarnation...then Kier will come back to earth as a Dyson vacuum cleaner.  I've never seen someone get such pleasure out of vacuuming.  In fact, if he's not careful, he may just wake up one day to find his right arm has morphed into a vacuum hose!! 

How do you spell relief??

Without a doubt, the last three days have been the WORSE since we began to build the house...and definitely since we got back from Australia.  Friday was a day of battles....the plumber who wouldn't install the kitchen sink to the Rogers installer who arrived w/o the necessary equipment.   It took three visits from the Rogers installer and 5 calls to the call center and things STILL aren't to my satisfaction.  I've resorted to an e-mail outlining my frustrations.  I just cannot deal with a 6th call to the call center.  If it weren't Sunday today, I would have called Rogers and inquired about the cost to break my contract with them... but who would I go with then???  So I'll suck it up and hope that me and Rogers can meet at some mutually agreeable ground.

As if Friday wasn't bad enough, Saturday was no improvement...I finally got around to opening my Visa bill that arrived the day before, and what did I find??  That "not so cheap-er meal" that I didn't eat at the Sheraton hotel in Toronto....the one that the front desk person said would be removed from my bill???  NOT!  It showed up on my bill anyway.  Why can't people just do what they say they're going to do??  What's wrong with being competent?  And then to add insult to injury I noticed that I was hit with a $265 interest charge on my credit card.  When I was in Australia I paid my Visa bill on-line, but unfortunately, I paid $100 to little...and the accrued interest was $265...that's 150% of the o/s amount.  Can you believe that!!!  That's almost as bad as a loan shark!!  But the good news is...one phone call to the Visa people and it was looked after...and believe it or not....I didn't even have to fight or argue...it was volunteered!!  I'll be a CIBC Visa customer for life now!!  I can't say the same about Rogers!!!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:   There are days that you just wish you could stay in bed.  I had 3 of those in a row!!!  The eternal optimist that I am believes that tomorrow will be a better day...

All good things must come to an end...

And that includes free wireless internet from your neighbour with the unsecured router.  All this served to do was prompt me to finally get my phone, cable and internet arranged.  I originally opted for Bell Aliant because I'm partial to satellite tv...I know, the little dish is ugly...I know, fibre optic is where it's at...but hey, I wanted a dish....so....I call them and jump through ALL the hoops, and there are several.  And what date do they give me for installation....November 8th!!!  That's 4 weeks away!!  Don't they know I can't live w/o tv and internet for that long!!!  I have Coronation Street to catch up on...and the Young and the Restless...I'm so far behind with that, I'll never catch up.  Not to mention that I've got important blogging to do!!!  I told them that I was going to have to call Rogers to see if I could get something earlier...thinking that would spur them to try a bit harder...but no dice.  The woman said she'd hold the appointment for me in case I didn't have any better luck.  And yes, I did detect a hint of sarcasm from her!  So, the next day I called Eastlink, who was my service provider in Antigonish....they don't even have service in my area!!  Who knew....I see advertisements for them everywhere!!  So, Rogers it is.  I got everything arranged....they sure had some good promotions on for people switching from another service provider...and they are coming on Oct. 21st.  Yaaaahoooo!  I then did the decent thing...I called back Aliant to cancel the previously set date....and what do they tell me...."If we get an earlier date for you will you stay with us....we can do the installation on Oct. 21st???"  I told them it's unfortunate that the person I dealt with yesterday didn't try a little harder cause then I never would have called Rogers.  I added that now, after speaking with Rogers I knew that Aliant could never match the deals I got (a free DVR no less!!) so.... I cancelled.  Bye, bye Aliant!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:  I don't like Aliant!

Don't take anything for "granite"

Yes, we did take something for "granite"...like the price of installation!!  We actually found a beautiful piece of granite from a local tombstone shop...yup, you read that right!  Really, they are more than just tombstones...they've branched out to include granite counter tops and marble flooring, etc. etc.  Anyway, we found a nice 14" wide shelf that was long enough to use as a counter top on the raised portion of our island.  We got it for a really good price and the owner said he'd only charge "a little bit" for cutting, polishing and installation.  We stopped in the other day with the final measurements and to arrange for installation.  Apparently our idea of "a little bit" and his idea were ooooh, about $150 apart.  Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound, I always say....and what were we going to do??? Leave the raised part of the island with nothing on it????  We just bit the bullet and paid the price.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:  Don't take anything for granted....make sure you both agree on the definition of "a little bit"...

If I only had a kitchen!

It's been a week of hiccups and problems as far as getting the house completed goes.  It was as if the wheel's fell off when we had installation issues with our kitchen, followed closely by countertop problems.  We found out that all our countertops had been cut by Kents even though we never gave them the final measurement sizes....so, luckily Kents came good for it and reordered everything that couldn't be salvaged.  The installers of our cabinets turned out to be fabulous after I had a kitten over a little glitch with our vanity installation.  Thanks to Donna who came and saved the day by dropping everything and coming to our rescue!!  Just a few finishing touches and our cabinets will be complete.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:  Who knew....the price for a kitchen installation doesn't include countertops????  We were flabbergasted to say the least...lesson learned!!  We've negotiated a reasonable price to finish the job, so as soon as those newly ordered and cut countertops are in...we're good to go!!!

Back by Popular Demand

Okay, so that's a bit of a stretch.  It was really only my cousin Bonnie who said she missed the blog...but she's popular...and I think I heard some "demanding" undertones when she e-mailed...so there, not a stretch after all.

After one horrendous trip back from Sydney, we finally made it home.  It was kind of a good news/bad news thing on our trip.  It started in Sydney when we learned that the outfit we were booked on for airport transport had gone belly up sometime in the previous month (since we'd taken their shuttle from the airport way back in September).  The good news was that the concierge company that we booked with honoured our return fair and made arrangements with another company.  Our flights were fairly smooth back to Vancouver, but the bad news was that I couldn't get any sleep.  The good news was that we were only going as far as Toronto and staying at the Sheraton Gateway, right at the airport.  Upon arrival at the Sheraton, the good news was that they upgraded us to the "club level", ie the top floor of the hotel.  The bad news was that the usual "club lounge" where you normally can get food and drinks gratis was under renovation so not opened.  The good news was that we were close enough to get a cheap"er" (than eating at the hotel) bite to eat at the airport.  The bad news was that when we checked out of the hotel in the a.m., we had been charged for someone else's "not-so-cheap-er" meal.  The good news was that we were nice and early to the airport for our flight to Boston.  The bad news was that so were 50,000 other people...and we were ALL caught up in the security personnel's work to rule campaign.  The good news was that they held the flight for us, the bad news was that we missed our shuttle from Boston to Portland...the good news was that the next shuttle came along within 5 minutes after us getting to the p/u spot...the bad news was that because we were late arriving, we ended up in suppertime traffic...the good news was that we arrived back in Portland only 30 minutes after than we would have had we caught the earlier shuttle, the bad news was that by then we were so tired we couldn't visit with the friends we were staying with.  The good news was that we were up reaalllllly early (because of the jet lag and time change) and headed for Bangor...and more good news, we had enough time to stop at the casino, and even more good news, I won $200, and the rest of the good news, we made it back home by suppertime.  I guess the good news wins out in the end!!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:  Time, rest, and a few zoplicone's and there's no jet lag that can't be overcome!!

Bingo....Schmingo!! Give me Horseshoes anyday!!!

Had it been horseshoes or hand-grenades that I was playing today, I would no doubt have come out $8000 ahead....cause, as the old saying goes, those are the only games where "close counts". That’s been twice during the cruise that I have come "close" to a winner...oh well, I’m leaving Australia and hanging up my Bingo Dabber...no more Bingo for me!! I really don’t know what people see in it...well, I don’t know what the majority of people see in it...the ones like me... that never win!!

It’s been a busy day today of balancing accounts, tipping our service staff, and, of course, getting packed. We’re just getting ready for our last meal. We’ve seen all the shows and done all the gambling that we can do here on the ship, so tonight it’s off to see a final movie before bed and up early tomorrow for disembarkation.

It’s been a fabulous cruise, but our holiday is not entirely over yet. We have one final day and night in Sydney...and I got a pretty good price on a hotel room through Expedia. I opted to book a 4 star hotel blindly...although it wasn’t entirely blind...I had a strong feeling it was the same place we’d stayed when we arrived in Sydney...and it was...only it was somewhat cheaper this time...quite last minute, I guess.
After we get checked in and drop our bags, we’re heading for Manly, which is a suburb of Sydney and only a ferry ride away. It’s described by the Sydney locals that we met as a "must do". Apparently it has more beautiful beaches than Bondi Beach, which we visited the last time we were in Sydney.
So this will be my last blog before returning to Canada...and upon my return I’ll have to decide whether my blog will become a part of history...or will continue. It has really fulfilled it’s mandate of:

A) helping me ease into retirement; and
B) chronicle the planning and execution of this "trip of a lifetime".

So, whether you’ll hear from me again in this forum....time will tell!!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: As I sit here on the balcony of my room on the Dawn Princess, listening to the waves lap against the ship as we continue on our charted course towards Sydney, I’ve learned that things and people are not always as they seem. I’ve met many people during the cruise from all over the world. Some were guests and some were staff. Everybody had a different reason for being here. Our waiter "Chai" is trying to improve his families financial position back in Thailand, and with every contract he completes, he keeps asking his wife "just one more?" Our new friends Bob and Mary are retirees from Australia and just enjoy getting away. The "president" and his wife, who sit close to us at dinner and are perpetually late (I say it’s cause they like to be the centre of attention....or perhaps they want us all to sing the Aussie National Anthem when they come in....thereby earning them the nickname "the president and his wife"), present themselves as "all that and a bag of chips"...but we happened to be behind them last night and discovered that these "upper crusts" don’t have "the presidential suite"...but an inside room very close to ours. There is also an elderly woman who we had dinner with one night when she was sitting all alone. She feels she’s too old to travel now, and only completed the trip because Princess wouldn’t refund her $$ after booking. She never went ashore once in 28 days....not once! She stays on board and reads. But, she says, this will be her last trip. It’s really been an enjoyable 4.5 weeks, but I don’t dread getting back home and back to reality... because just as it was with my job, the same will be with my retirement....just when I think I’m getting bored, there will be something new and exciting around the corner...and I can’t wait!!!

Bye bye Tasmania....

We’ve just boarded the ship after 2 days in Hobart, Tasmania. The weather has been uncharacteristically sunny for this part of the country...a bit cool today, but the sun is nice and warm. We had our last excursion yesterday out on the edge of Hobart. It was a bit of theatrical history called Louisa’s Walk, about a woman convicted in London, England of stealing a loaf of bread, and how she ended up in a women’s prison in Hobart. It was a very interesting presentation and a bit of exercise too, as we walked and watched for 2 hours.

The 2 actors on Louisa's Walk

　
Last night we completed our "casino tour" of Australia by spending a bit of time at the Wrest Point Casino in town. It is easily my second favourite casino after Melbourne...it has earned that rating because I won $200 there...half what I won in Melbourne.

Tonight we set sail for our final "sea day" before we arrive back in Sydney. We’re hoping to find the passengers who we saw playing our favourite game the other day...Phase 10...hopefully they’ll be tougher than our usual competition ;) ....right Sim and Jue?? (That shot should ensure a visit from you soon so we can have a rematch!!)

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: It’s been a busy couple of days...so I’ve actually learned 2 things. Firstly, Pepsi in Australia is crap...I wondered why Coke is everywhere and Pepsi is hard to find...so when I was ashore I found a store that had a sale on Pepsi...I know why it was on sale now....yech!

Secondly, we learned why the name "MacQuarie" is everywhere in Australia...even here in Tasmania (although it has one less ‘r’ than Kier’s). There was a governor named MacQuarie way back when and EVERYTHING is named after him...so when we get to Sydney Kier’s going to stop at the MacQuarie Bank...maybe he’ll discover he’s a distant relative to the owners, and entitled to some $$$....hopefully it won’t be something like the governor dropped the second ‘r’ from his name to distance himself from his criminal relatives who spelled their name with 2 r’s...in which case we may find ourselves escorted out of town...

Tasmanian Devil, where are you?

We’ve had a good two days in Melbourne (pronounced "Mel-bun", not "Mel-born") yesterday and Burnie, Tasmania today. Burnie has only been 13C, so a bit chilly, but the sun was nice. For such a small town, they really rolled out the red carpet for us.

These "paper people" were at the Maker's Workshop, Burnie
where they make paper from "roo poo" and "wombat poo"...
and you know I bought some!!

At the beach in Burnie
just after sticking our toes in the
Indian Ocean

We just pulled out of the harbour from Burnie and are enroute to Hobart where we will arrive tomorrow at noon. Our last excursion is tomorrow. It’s something really different. It’s called "Louisa’s Walk" and is a theatrical tour...more about that in my next blog entry. We overnight in Hobart before our last sea day and then returning to Sydney on Wednesday. It’s hard to believe we’re almost done. Has it really been 4 weeks so soon??

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: I guess I’m a "hard core gambler". The Crown Casino in Melbourne was HUGE, and it was just as described...not pretty...just a casino. But, it was also the only casino that I really liked of all that I’ve seen in Australia. The fact that I won $400 has nothing to do with it!!