Cruise of the Dammed!

This weekend is the weekend to end all weekends. This weekend will go down in history. This is the weekend that will try men's souls.

My mother and I are going on a cruise.

I had suggested it last January and to my great surprise my father decided to let (ahem) my mother do it. Yes, I know, the less said about that the better. Mom had expressed interest in a cruise, especially after Matt and I did the 11-day Caribean for our 5-year anniversary. She was concerned, however, that she wouldn't like and that she would get seasick.

When I saw this short, 3-day introductory cruise on Holland America's brand-spanking-new Eurodam (HATE the name), I thought it would be ideal. The price was right, the location was good, it would be a good taste for her to get an idea on what it is all about. So we booked it.

We leave Harrisburg on Amtrak at 9ish this coming Friday morning. We get to NYC around noon, just in time to wait at the pier for maybe 3-4 hours because they bumped back the embarkation time. *sigh* The timing on this trip has become almost a comedy of errors:

• Embarkation was supposed to be at 1, but it was bumped back to 3pm. Since this is the first time the Eurodam will be in a US port the Coast Guard has to do its inspection, followed by
• The muster drill (lifeboat drill) we'd heard was pushed back to 11pm! That turned out to be inaccurate, thank god, or else we'd be in nighties and slippers and a lifevest. The new muster drill is 4:45, which will just give us time to head to
• Dinner, which we have a set time in the main dinning room at 5:45. If we skip dessert the first night we may just be able to make it to
• Sailaway, which was supposed to be at 7:30 but was bumped up to 7:00. Mom really wants to see the Statue of Liberty.

Don't worry, we can get dessert somewhere else on the ship or from room service. :) As many as we want.

We have an outside stateroom with an obstructed view, so we will get natural light but not much real view (which is fine because we're not GOING anywhere). This picture is actually of the cabin next to ours. I'm a member of CruiseCritic online, and it just so happened that one of the people on the boards was on the innagural cruise and happened to be in the room next to the one Mom & I'll be in.

This is a picture of the glass...art...in the atrium on the ship. People on CruiseCritic started calling it the 'condom pile.' I can see it. It's funny, because now the staff on the ship also call it the condom pile. And it changes colors, too.

And this is the casino. I don't know how much time we'll spend here, but some at least.

This is a really big ship. It holds 2100 passengers (the other ship we were on carried 1200 passengers, and it wasn't dinky by any stretch of the imagination).

This is a picture of the chairs in the Crow's Nest. Matt and I spent a lot of time in the Crow's Nest. It is at the top of the ship at the front (don't ask me to say bow and starbord and all that, I can't keep it straight) and is a great panoramic view. It also has a bar, and on the Eurodam it apparently has Star Trek seating. :)

So, wish me luck. We'll be home on Monday, again by train.

Business update

I'm working slowly to get my jewelry business going. I purchased the domain name and (barely started working on it. I will let everyone know when it has been 'published.' I have been working on getting some better photographs of my work so I can easily post them on the website, too.

I also have been working on tags for the jewelry, which are mini cards I purchased from Moo.com. My bud Tim told me about them, they are the cat's meow. I have grommets and a grommet gun that I'm using to make durable holes with a bit of color, then using thin ribbon to actually attatch them to jewelry.

I also bought a 1/16 inch hole punch to make earring hang tags with. all the card came printed on the back with my business name, website, and a blurb about me. They are really high quality cards, plastic coated. I would highly recommend them. MOO now has business cards, too, which if they'd had them when I'd been in the market for them I'd have gotten them from MOO.

So, it's going. Slowly, but that's what I wanted. Stay tuned.

Max update

We went to visit with Dr. Caruso yesterday, Max is doing well (notice he got part of a biscuit stuck in the bottom of his cone):

• His corneal ulcers are healed. He lost one contact lens but the other stayed in.
• He has some corneal edema (cloudiness) in both eyes (left more than right), and she's thinking that this is what caused the ulcers. It happens in older dogs. She prescribed another drop to help get rid of the the edema. I'm not sure if this is a forever thing or what yet.
• There is still some inflamation in the surgery eye, but it is expected and improving.
• There is a small cataract in his right eye, but no evidence of lens loosening in that eye.
• The pressure was good in both eyes, not sure if that is due to the glaucoma meds or what. She's planning on weaning him off those meds over time to see if the pressure stays down or goes up.
• She also bumped us back on the meds, so only 4 drops twice a day instead of 7 drops 2 or 3 times a day, and only 2 drops in the right eye.

While I was in there I saw a beagle, a husky, a french bulldog, a poodle, and several cats. I also saw a vet tech walk a lab mix outside, she had a bell around her front leg (the lab, not the tech :). I asked why, she said it annoys the dog and makes them lift the (injured/operated on) leg instead of dragging it and helps them heal faster. Interesting. They should do that for people.