MWNews 276

I've said it before and will probably say it again, but I am not as good a writer as I was before. I do ok, but these things used to have some very clever and amusing parts to them. I think some of that is missing these days, or it seems like they are. I am not sure if it is me, or maybe the kids are not as funny as adults, or maybe I realise it would be embarrassing if I wrote stuff about them like I used to. I don't know what it is. I know if I try to be funny, it never comes out right and I delete most of the funny parts. I used to not have to even try, but now, it is a little harder and doesn't come as easy as it once did. Probably just losing my fastball, but I still enjoy writing and this is something I really enjoy doing. The fact that I just published the last entry and started this one immediately after might indicate how much I like it. Or, I am just bored and not wanting to work anymore, so I do this in between classes. It's fun, and I expect to be doing a lot more of it when I retire. Might even start a book, but that seems a bit ambitious. I guess I will keep going, see where it takes me, and find out if it is all worth it. I hope the kids get enjoyment out of it someday. I know, since I have been back to the writing, no one is actually reading these anymore. I get a lot of views, so maybe they are, but nothing that it consistent or any kind of feedback on if they are actually good or not. Probably just people flying by in their search for something else. I don't mind. As I repeat over and over, it is for me and the kids. A remembrance of Daddy, I hope. I was here once and they are the only legacy I will ever have or need. 

Now I have a show to do.

Oh, and by the way, I just got a notice that Blogger is going to start enforcing some content rules soon, or maybe they already have. I have no idea what that means. They sent me a copy of the rules. I am wondering if they are going to object to my posting pictures of the kids. I know, from other things I have read, there are restrictions on what and where you can post pictures of kids. Even from the beginning, I have always worried about putting pictures of them in this. I know how people are these days and some of the things that could happen. I have always kept this semi-private and not gone the push for views route partly because I was worried about that. I am just wondering if now, Blogger is going to flag some of my entries. I guess we will find out. I thought I would mention it in case things started to change for no reason. I don't know what it might be, but it's possible I suppose. 

Once again, back to our regularly scheduled program.

We didn't get up early the next day, or they didn't. I think we got on our way around 9 or 10. First on the agenda was going to the downhill cart racing track. This is a little roadway built into the side of a hill that you take a cable car up to and then sit in the little carts and race down the hill. Didn't really need reservations for that, just show up, pay your money and ride down the hill. Turns out there were 5 different tracks you could go on, but I think one of them was closed. You can pay for sets of 1, 3 or 5 rides and you get to pick which track you want to go on. They all start from the same place and there are different exits you can turn off to go to the different tracks. 

I got the set of 3 rides for me, Maeghan, William, Anna, and the boyfriend. There was no way Juanita was going to go on it, so she stayed at the top to wait for us until we finished. There were a couple of restaurants and a gift shop up there, so there was something for her to do. Each ride only took about 5 minutes and then you had to take a ski lift back to the top. We would meet back with her after about 10 or 15 minutes and then go again.

It was fun, except for the ski lift part, which was terrifying.  William took off each time and raced down the hill as fast as he could go. The boyfriend kind of did the same thing so I was left to make sure Maeghan and Anna were ok. It was nice. The first time, we went down the scenic route. They had dinosaurs and cabins and other things to look at on the way down. The carts themselves were easy to drive, once you figured out how, so not a lot of problems. The only real problem occurred when I tried to get out. You are supposed to just stand up and step out, but they are so low to the ground, I had to crawl out sideways and then roll over to stand up. Several of the workers helped Maeghan each time, so that was good. 

On the last trip down, William and I decided to take the fast track. It was steeper and had many more turns. A big issue was if you did not turn correctly, your cart would dig into the pavement and slow you down, or in Williams case, flip you out of the cart. That happened when I passed him and he was trying to catch up. Got going to fast and did not make the turn. He crashed into the wall and flipped his cart over. I was long gone but could hear him yelling behind me. He wasn't hurt, but now he had a big story to tell to his mother, and everyone else, that he milked it for all it was worth. I think by the third or fourth telling, he had flipped the cart and did several barrel rolls down the track before coming to rest in a giant pit on the side of the road. I am sure it would have been exciting to watch.

All in all, the carts were really fun and if Anna and her boyfriend did not have a fight, it would have been a very pleasant experience. Another place I would recommend.

I think we went to lunch next, although we might have done that later. I only mention it because we went to Wendy's. Wendy's has just opened in Australia and they all love it. Especially, William. There was one on the way to the carts and we said we were going there before we left but I am not sure if we went after the carts or for dinner that night. Doesn't matter, I just thought I would mention it. We ended up not being that impressed. It just didn't have the same feel as the new one's in Brisbane. And, they were out of chili, so that was a big disappointment. Maeghan and I love the chili. It is even mild enough for Juanita, but they didn't have any. Very disappointing.

Our next adventure was the tree walk. This was on the other side of town, but since the town is not very big, it didn't take more than 10 minutes to get there.

The tree walk is just what it sounds like. They built a raised platform between the tall trees in some forest. Kind of like the one in Tasmania that we have been on before. This one was pretty good, or it was at least longer than the one in Tasmania ( I refuse to say Tassie, which is what they call Tasmania over here) but the scenery in Tasmania is much better. And the trees are much bigger and taller in Tasmania. This one, they have put art works and stuff in the trees and most of the walkways sway slightly. We were scared to walk across the really long sections. There was a cutout point where you could end your trek early and not go on the really tall and swingy bridges. Anna and the boyfriend opted for that, although I think the boyfriend wanted to continue with us. William and Juanita went ahead as Maeghan and I took our time with each crossing. They finished about half an hour before we did. 

Maeghan and I took about an hour and a half to complete the whole circuit. Juanita and William did it in about an hour. Anna finished the shortened version in about half an hour. Maeghan and I stopped several times to let people past and to sit and rest. It was a long trek, with lots of up and downs. We met several older people along the way. They were fascinated that I was from Texas and that Maeghan was 21 years old. They thought she was very brave to go all that way on her own until they found out she was a young adult. They stayed with us for a while but eventually, I think they went on ahead. 

Another fun time and again, I would recommend it if you are in the area. None of these things are what New Zealand is famous for. It is the long mountain hikes and scenic roads that most people go for when they are there, but those are kind of unavailable to us. Me with the heart thing and Maeghan with the wheelchair, but what we did do was very enjoyable and I would do it again if given the chance. It was a fun couple of days in Rotorua and we ended up fairly well exhausted each day. There are other things we would have liked to do, like the heated spas and stuff coming out of the local springs. I won't go into that as much but it is really what that area is famous for. That and the sulfur smell that permeates the town. There are other things, but with only two days, I think we got a lot of memories out of it. Maybe someday we will go back, but there are so many other places to go in the world, and I am so old, I don't see it happening. Maybe, but probably not.

We do still have the drive back the next day and our one day in Wellington. I have that for the next entry. I didn't really think I would be going into this much detail, four entries if you are lucky, but I just keep typing and it keeps getting longer. This one is too long. Time I closed it out. Since it is Friday, I won't be back until Tuesday. Maybe I will type at home. I have to start doing that at some point since I plan on retiring in the next year or so. For now, it is a way to pass the time when the students are in class.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 275

I tried to think of a clever opening for this entry, but as you can tell, I didn't think of anything.

We left Hobbiton at around noon. We had an appointment to the caves at 3. It was about an hour away. We had the option of taking the canoes through the caves or taking the walking tour. We decided on the walking tour. There are several companies that do the tours. I have no idea which one is best or anything. I thought I had booked one place, but it turns out, I booked another. The one I thought I had booked had a restaurant and a gift shop in it. We went there first, only to find out our reservation was down the road a bit, near the start of the caves. 

There are several caves in the area. I am not sure if they are all connected or not. Since we seemed to be the only ones going on our tour, I don't know if the other groups went to different caves or were all on the water. It didn't really matter. Our tour was great. 

Since we had so much time, we went to our tour place, looked around, and then decided to return to the other place to have lunch before our tour started. It was only about 5 minutes up the road.

Lunch was ok, although everything we wanted, they seemed to be out of. We wanted a cheese plate, no cheese, a pizza, no pizza, some chili fries, no chili. We ended up just having a couple of orders of fries and I think something else, but I can't remember what it was. Wasn't bad, just wasn't what we wanted. 

Of course, we went through the gift shop. Juanita got a t-shirt. Maeghan got a poster or something. The rest of us just kind of waited for them to finish, or they waited, I had to hang around and pay for everything. Funny how that works.

The tour itself was pretty good. I had picked that one because it said it was wheelchair friendly. I am not sure what other paths there might have been, but this one was friendly except for one very tight squeeze. We made it, but not without some finagling. There were a couple of places where it was totally dark, where they turned off the lights for us and you could just hear the water running down below. What I assumed was far down below, but when they turned the lights back on and shined a flashlight over the side, it was about three feet away. Scared most of us as we didn't expect it to be that close. We did have one other encounter with the water when a group of kayakers went by far below us. We could talk to them and they to us but they were pretty far away. Good acoustics I guess. 

The highlight of the tour was something that is not normally part of it, or so I am told. The young lady who was our guide, and I say young but being as old as I am, everyone is young, she apparently was a singer. On the way back up, she sang a couple of songs. Long slow dirges, but she was pretty good and we enjoyed it immensely. She was that good. She went on a bit long when we were on the spiral walkway back to the entrance, but it made the walk a bit easier. She apparently couldn't walk up with us and sing at the same time, or maybe she had to wait at the bottom for some reason, but once we got to the top, we had to wait for her to climb up to let us out. 

It was a good tour, and I assume the other tours that other companies have are just as good. I would recommend going to the glow-worm caves if you get the chance. Well worth the drive from Rotorua, about an hour and a half from there. Hobbiton is about an hour but it takes you towards the caves, so that is why we did both in one day. A very good day and I must say it was planned very well, even if I did all the planning. 

We had another busy day planned for the next day. We didn't need to get up as early or travel very far, so it was a slow, see the sites and do some adventuring the next day. I was going to put it all in this one entry, but I think I will do the next day in the next entry. I know you are probably getting tired of this trip report, but we had fun. 

And, I believe, I can say this is the best trip we have ever had together. We have had some good times before and have done a lot of things that were enjoyable, but this one was a good trip. A bit short, I should have planned for 10 days instead of 7, but we were busy the whole time and were doing things constantly, even if part of it was driving back and forth. A good trip. I guess it is up to the others to say how good, but I had fun. And I haven't even talked about the next day. Maybe I should have put this paragraph at the end of the next entry. I probably will, so memorize it now and play it back again later.

But until next time, that's all for now.

Later 

MWNews 274

Once again, I am going to say I will not have time to do this. I am over-worked and need something to break up the day and even though I have a lot to do, I am going to ignore it until someone tells me to do something specific. I am tired. This job is getting to me and has for a few months now. I don't want to do this anymore. But what can you do. I will forge ahead.

On with the show.

We arrived to this huge house to stay for the next few days. The first day, I think we went out to a restaurant for dinner, but I am not sure which night that was. Had to have been the first one. We were tired from the trip but had a lot we wanted to see so we went to the restaurant district. Some special place that has a lot of restaurants and bars. We walked past them all before picking on that was ok. Nothing to write home about but apparently it was good enough for me to mention it here.

The next day was a big day. We had plans for Hobbiton and some glow-worm caves. Hobbiton in the morning and then another hours drive to the caves. Hobbiton was an hours drive away from us, although I think it took an hour and a half. 

I wasn't too sure about Hobbiton. I expected a few fake Hobbit houses and some fields or tourist shops

or something. It was over priced for that. Or so I thought.

Hobbiton is worth it. It really is. I think there are over 40 hobbit houses and gardens and trails and all kinds of things to look at. It really was interesting. Far beyond my expectations. Lots of hobbit holes, lots of walking also, up and down hills, but they were all interesting. You could only look from the outside, which was kind of disappointing, but it is a movie set and not meant to be real.

At the end, they had two hobbit holes you could go into, although you were only allowed to go in one since there were 40 people in our group. I have to mention you can only go through Hobbiton as part of a guided tour. I am assuming they range in size but 40 is the maximum. I had booked the second tour of the day, months in advance, and it was full. That is another thing, not only do you have to book, but you have to do it at least two months in advance as they fill up quickly. I did mine three months in advance and most of the later tours that day were already full when I booked. We wanted the early one anyway, so it didn't matter to us.

The hobbit holes we went in were packed with all kinds of stuff. I think it would take at least an hour to look at everything in there. We only stayed for 20 minutes, but you could have stayed longer I think. Then again, they have tours following you, so they might have kicked you out at some point.

This was the last thing on the tour, unless you count the Dragonfly Inn, which is kind of a bar at the end of the tour where you get one free drink, beer or wine, and can pay for more if you want. They have food, but we didn't really look at it. I don't know how long you are allowed to stay at the Dragonfly. We were called back to the bus after about 20 minutes, but I am sure you can stay longer and come back on a different bus. I should say you have to get to Hobbiton by bus. No one is allowed to drive there. There is a parking area with shops and restaurant across the street from where it is located. You catch your bus from there and return when your tour is finished.

The shop is typical tourist souvenir shop. A lot of Lord of the Rings themed things. I think we picked up a few things. The restaurant was not bad. Not really anything special about it, although they did have a different variety of the usual pies and sandwiches. I might have liked to try some of them, but we were not there to eat. We did get some chips and a couple of different sandwiches to share after our tour was over. Since we were headed to the caves for the afternoon, we decided to eat when we got there.

All in all, Hobbiton is really worth the price. There are other more expensive options where you get a private room at the Dragonfly to have lunch or dinner. The tour is no different but the end of the tour is where you would get the extra meal and celebrations, whatever the celebrations are. I would recommend the tour, can't say anything about if the other meal is worth it. I can't imagine it is, but then I thought the tour would not be worth it and it turned out to be great.

I am going to end this entry now and go into the caves in the next one. That will also probably include what we did the next day, which was in the town of Rotorua. Tree climbing and go cart racing. We never made it to the spas or the lake, but we had a good time. More about that later.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 273

 Maybe, maybe not. I don't have time, but I will make time. It's a quandary.

Well, I was thinking about Hobbiton. I had misgivings because it is kind of pricey for what I thought was not a great reward. It is located near a town called Rotorua. I had a look at what else was there or what else was near by. Turns out, it is quite a destination place. Lots of things to do. I didn't like the drive, but once there, if we stayed, there was plenty to do.

I made the decision to go for it. Spend the money, spend more money, and then spend money again. It was going to be a costly trip. I knew Anna and her boyfriend had never been there, or I assumed they had not, so I included them on all the tourist packages I was booking. It would be a busy time with adventure filled days, but I thought I could make it worth our while.

I was going to go into the entire itinerary, but I will just hit the highlights. Probably mention everything we did, but not in the detail of what we did every day. Just what we spent time on.

We were to arrive in Wellington around 2 in the afternoon. I rented a car, so we had to pick that up at the airport. A van so we could haul six people and Maeghan's wheelchair. We got the KIA Carnival like I used to drive. It was different than I remembered, but not too much. The plan was to pick it up at 3 and then drive to where Anna was. I had rented a room there, so we were not staying with her.

The problem was, they had big storms before we arrived. The main road between us and them had been closed due to the road being washed away. I kind of thought that was a big deal, but according to the locals, it happens all the time. There is an alternate route around the mountains that takes about 4 hours to travel on, instead of the 1 1/2 hours the pass over the mountains takes. 

We didn't actually get to leave until around 4 because the car was not ready, and then we had to get dinner in Wellington somewhere. We ate at Burger King, which was a treat because in Australia, Burger King is Hungry Jacks. Same exact menu, same exact store, just a different name. Basically, we ate there because it was the first place we came to and we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us.

Other than saying, it was dark and we crossed the mountain passes on very narrow and winding roads, we got to the hotel around 10. I had already called ahead to say we would be late due to the road closures, so they left the door open and the key on the inside for us. It worked out well, and we were only staying the one night, so even though the room was nice, we really didn't see much of anything when we arrived and before we left the next day.

We went to pick Anna and the boy early the next day. We wanted breakfast and I didn't want fast food again, I was trying to avoid fast food for most of the trip, so we ended up in some Indian/Arab place. Not really a breakfast place, but we went anyway because no one knew what was on the road ahead of us. It was different, but we managed to get away a bit after 10, so not too bad. I wanted to be on the road by 9, but that was never going to happen.

Not a lot to the trip. We stopped for coffee at some point and I wanted to get to the lake town we would be passing through. It ended up being a lot farther than I thought it was. We didn't stop for lunch until around 2. But we did have a reward waiting for us. The have a Popeyes Chicken in New Zealand. I insisted we go there. Mainly, because I had heard about the chicken sandwich for a long time and I had never tried one. I am not sure everyone else wanted to go there, but I'm driving so it was dealers choice. Turns out, it wasn't all that great. I don't think they actually cooked it like it should have been. Probably because it was not that great of a fast food restaurant and the staff really did not seem to want us there. They probably don't get a lot of business because I know Australians seem to think KFC is good fried chicken and I have always told them, in America, it barely ranks as fried chicken. Lots of KFC restaurants, in America and Australia, but the ranking for KFC is never high. The workers did not seem to like the idea of 6 adults showing up at 2 in the afternoon to order a lot of food. 

When we got it, some of it seemed to be a bit over-cooked. I ordered a bit of everything so everyone could try it. I was not impressed, especially by the chicken sandwich, but they seemed to think it was ok. Better than KFC, at least. The one thing I found disturbing was the lack of Cajun rice on the menu. They did not have it. I thought, and my memory is old, that the Cajun rice was the main reason I choose Popeyes when I was in the states. They had none. I have no idea why. I never thought the chicken was that great, but what made it nice was the rice and we didn't get to order any. A big disappointment for me. Not so much for the others. Overall, it was a good experience and it got us out of the car for a while, so all good from there. We only had about an hour left to travel, maybe 2, but we were ready to go when we left.

Nothing more to report about the rest of the trip up there. I have already reported more than I had planned. I'll end with the house I had rented for the next three days. It was an Airbnb type thing that I had arranged for. Kind of expensive, but as the trip was expensive, one more addition didn't seem to make a difference. It was a four bedroom house with a large kitchen and three baths and a huge rec room. I have to say, it was a huge house. Very, very large. It was a hike to get from the back bedroom to the front of the house. We had an ensuite and there was one in the front bedroom, plus another bathroom in the middle. The kitchen was nice also and I would have liked to cook a couple of meals there, but we were not going to have the time for that. Just a very large house we stayed in for the next three nights. And kind of centrally located. Still an hour away from Hobbiton, but there are no places to stay closer to there. I will go into that with the next entry.

So long for now. I am going home from work. I have to take online courses the next few days, so I won't have time to do this, although I have typed this entry in the afternoon, so maybe I will.

Later 

MWNews 272

Back for more adventures. 

As a side note, before I get into the actual entry, I have been re-reading and trying to correct all the previous blog entries. I am up to about 120. I got over the missing years. Only a few posts over about a 5 year period. A sad time, as I recall, and some of the entries reflect that. But I hope it gets better as I read. 

Back to this entry.

I was talking about the New Zealand trip. We had decided that was where we were going. Juanita wanted to visit Anna, so it was a good place. Now I had to come up with an itinerary. 

She lives near Wellington, which is the south end of the northern island. It looked to have a lot of good things there, but nothing that was going to take any time to go see. They lived about an hour outside of town, but it was across the mountains. Going back and forth from where they were to Wellington was not really an option. We were going to have to stay in Wellington for most of the time. And while there were things to see, it was not really the big touristy things in New Zealand. Most of that requires hiking or backpacking to see the picturesque parts and we are not really the hiking kind of people. Plus, I don't think I mentioned, I was taking the kids with us, so Maeghan has her wheelchair and everything would need to be wheelchair accessible. Staying in Wellington made that possible, but was not really exciting.

Early on, Juanita mentioned that she had friends somewhere in the north of the north island. Near some famous bay or something. I am not going to look it up. It was a six to eight hour drive to there and she was not sure what part of the bay they lived in, so that could possibly add another two hours to the drive. I did not think this was a good idea, spending at least two days of our total of seven days traveling. And on unfamiliar roads and unfamiliar weather. Seemed like it might turn into a major issue. I said it was a last option, but if we found nothing else, I would consider it. Fortunately, her friend said they might be going away during that time and we would only have one day to visit, so that encouraged Juanita to agree it was a bad idea.

I was trying to discourage it and I had looked it up, but there is one major attraction on the north island, and it was only six hours away from where they lived. That of course, is Hobbiton. It is about midway between Wellington and Auckland. Auckland was out of the question, unless we flew there. I wasn't going to waste that much time driving. Hobbiton is in, or near, Rotorua. Turns out, there is a lot of things to do in or near Rotorua. So much so, I decided to make that our base of operations. It was a good decision.

I have to step away now. It would seem someone found me some work to do and since I do not work on Mondays and it has to be ready Monday, I am going to spend the rest of the day doing work. It means I will forget my train of thought and the rest of the entry may not fit with what I have done so far, but I will attempt to do this at home. Have to switch the keyboard to one I can type on, but William is not there this weekend, so he won't notice, unless I forget to switch it back. He says he got the new keyboard for me, but it is more for Juanita as she likes those types of things. Me, not so much. 

Be back soon. I have to go to lunch before I do all this work.

Ok, several days later. Been busy and not up to doing this. Might be more to talk about on that front later, but for now, I am going to end this entry and start another one. I think I was deciding or describing making plans for the New Zealand trip. I will complete that maybe today, but work is kind of busy, we are losing another person, so there is more work to do. We have lost four in the last month. I had a meeting about two months ago trying to tell them that people were not happy. I don't mean hating their work, most of them like what they do, but this place is not providing any incentive or joy to come to work. I tried to tell them that it was not just a few people, it was almost everyone, in all departments. They wanted an example and I mentioned an incident I had recently witnessed. Instead to listening to what I was telling them, they took it to mean that this one person was a problem and they needed to do something about it. She quit two weeks later, along with one of the people I had the meeting with. I will say it in here, but I have said it many times to people up here, they just don't get it. I have always, or for the last three years, said it was not my problem and I did not need to fix it. I am retiring soon, and taking on more responsibility is not what I want to do. I want to pass on responsibility. So now, I am treated like I don't know anything and my opinions or suggestions don't need to be listened to. Maybe that is right, but maybe it isn't. Not my problem, not my issue to resolve.

How I got into that when I was just going to close this entry, I have no idea. Maybe it was because I might have insulted some people last night, we had another good bye drinks excursion. I can never hear what it going on because it is just a too loud environment, but I thought they were talking about one thing and I made my comments about warning them about it again, but they seemed to think I was talking about them. I was, but not in any insulting way. I think they might have taken offense. So I had to try to clarify myself.

And there I go again. I am going before I start another diatribe. Is that the right word. I have no idea, but the word I wanted I can't think of. Mental issues that doctors say are just normal. Makes it hard to work.

That's it.

Later

MWNews 271

 Remind me to tell you about New Zealand. I put this note in here, so when I actually do make this entry, I know what it was about. I’m on my phone and don’t have time to type, so it will have to wait until later.

Well I am back on Tuesday. Not knowing when I did the last paragraph, that probably doesn't mean a lot to you or me. But I am back to work and ready to type.

I wanted to tell you about our trip to New Zealand. It was about six months ago and we did quite a bit while there, so it might take more than one entry. Depends on how much I type, or remember. I am hoping I have not already mentioned it in my latest blogs, but that is a possibility. I seem to recall typing something, but since I just started doing this again, I don't think I did that. Enjoy the ride.

We were planning, or I was planning, something for our anniversary. Nothing special, or actually something more special than what we usually do. Now that I have access to my retirement fund, I can plan things and not worry about saving the money. That is replaced by the overwhelming worry about spending my retirement money. But that is another story.

At first, I was just going to plan a short, five day cruise. We have never been on a cruise and three days seemed do short and seven too long, so five was it. The problem with that is, you don't actually go anywhere. Not a problem if you like being confined on a boat for that long, but I was not sure I would not just get bored after a couple of days and want to do something else. Which, on a boat, is not possible. I was afraid I would just spend all my time eating, or drinking or just sleeping and not really doing anything that was really fun. And, you have to do it all with a constant crowd around you. And, I did worry that Juanita would be spending all her time in the casino. That was a very strong possibility. Bottom line is, I don't think a cruise is for me. Maybe I am wrong and maybe I will find out someday, but the prospect of spending five days confined to a boat just does not really appeal to me. Of course, next time I bring it up will be to tell you how our latest cruise went, but that will depend on how much money I spend from my retirement between now and then.

I started looking at other possibilities. I would like to go back to Tasmania for a bit. Or even go someplace else in Australia but that didn't seem all that special and it was something we could do on a normal basis after I retire. Not really a vacation I should plan. 

I considered Bali or Vanuatu or one of those type places, but I hear so many mixed reports about them that I was not sure about those either. They are cheap and close, but that means they are cheap and close. And hot, or so I understand. I know people love to go there, but then I hear reports of all the problems they had when they were there, so it kind of puts me off vacationing there.

I even considered Japan but that was too much and not enough time to go there with the limited amount of vacation I have. Two weeks would seem good but that is kind of expensive for that long and Japan is relatively expensive as it is. Speaking of expensive, I thought of going to Dubai, but that is one of the most expensive cities to visit in the world. I would love to go, but Juanita does not. I might plan a trip anyway, someday but I want the kids to go with us and that doubles the price, so I am not sure that will ever happen. If I have one great vacation left in me, I want it to be Disney World. I would have to do that before I get too old to enjoy it and work around the kids schedules, if they have schedules. Right now, they do not. That is a very expensive trip, but if I only go one place, that would be it.

I then thought of New Zealand. It's close, it's cheap, and we have family there. Seemed like a good fit and Juanita thought it was a good idea. So we went, with the kids, and spent a week there with Anna and her boyfriend. Probably could have spent ten days, but I only had a week and I think Juanita had less, so I made it a week. We got to see a number of things, but not everything we wanted to see. Maybe a return trip someday.

And now that I have spent time telling you all the places we considered, people have come into work and I think I am going to cut this short. Start another entry tomorrow, maybe. I tried typing these at home again, but I cannot type on William's new colourful keyboard. It just has too many problems that I cannot handle. So for now, it is work when I have the time. 

Hope to talk again soon.

Later

MWNews 270

Hard to make entries, or continue my effort to cleanup all the misspellings and mistakes from previous entries, during the holidays. I thought I would have more chances, but I am being forced to sit at my desk and I am surrounded by people who will wonder what I am doing. Trying to get this one in before anyone arrives. Not that I mind them seeing it, just not letting them know I do it at work. 

Been pretty uneventful lately. Maeghan is currently at camp. We sent her to camp for the summer, or winter, or whatever season it is right now. It is Queensland, which means it is hot, all the time. I think we had a day when it was 8 degrees Celsius. By the way, how do you make the little degree symbol on the numbers. I think I looked it up once but I don't remember and can't be bothered to look it up again. So I just wrote the word degrees. But it was 8 as the lowest I think. It was around 10 in the mornings for about a week. That is all the winter we get. I am thinking Queensland might not be the best place to retire. Since that is a number of years from now, I don't have to think about it now.

The lights just went off in the office. I am hoping it is just because I am not sitting under a sensor to tell it someone is here and don't turn off the lights. I am assuming since my laptop and screens are still working, it is not a general power failure. Yesterday, we got an email that they had shut the power off to one of the buildings, after they had shut it off. You would think that is probably not that big a deal, but we are IT. We have equipment in that building. It should not just be shut off without warning. I haven't heard if they have turned it back on yet but when they do, we have to go over and turn everything back on and make sure it is working. And I say 'we' but really, it is everyone else. I am not required to do a lot at work. With no students, I am not really required to do anything. I am not sure if that is by design, or preference, or just an accommodation to my advancing years. I never get asked to do anything. I make it plain that I prefer it that way, but I also say I will do anything they need me to do. I guess they don't need me to do a lot. 

And I am typing this into this blog that no one knows about or no one reads, but if they come in and see me typing in it and ask what it is and then go to it and start to read, they will see this entry and wonder why I am telling everyone this. Maybe I should wait to publish this entry until after any initial acknowledgement of the blog takes place. You know they will go to it, read the latest entry, nothing else I am sure, and see that I talk about work and maybe discover any secrets I might have put in here. Have to be careful about what I say, I suppose. But when has that ever influenced me. More than you will ever know, I am sure. Enough of that, back to your regularly scheduled program as I think someone just came in. They are probably wondering why the lights are off. 

It was just the maintenance workers. They asked why I sitting here in the dark. I told them it allowed me to sleep easier. They just took a cabinet out of the bosses office. Maybe I should have said something. Hope he emptied it out first.

Maeghan is at camp. I think I wrote that sometime ago, but can't remember. And I have lost the ability to type. Maybe a stroke. I am going to take a break. If I don't come back, think happy thoughts for me.

Been longer than I thought it would be, but apparently it wasn't a stroke. Or, at least, it was one I am ignoring. Really strange. I was typing but the keys just seemed to be random keys. I knew what I wanted to type, but it would not do it. I typed the last message before I left with one finger. Even that was hard as I had to look at the keyboard and deliberately pick the letter I wanted to type. I am ignoring it.

Maeghan is at camp. Just in case you missed it. It is some church camp that she has to pay for but she is a councillor there. Not sure what exactly that involves. I think she has fun, but it is camping, so how much fun can it be. Old man talking I suppose. I know we used to go camping quite a lot but I would never have called it fun. Or at least, fun for me. Everyone else had fun. I had to do all the work, so my back was always sore, I was always bent over, and there was dirt and grass and wind everywhere. Not a lot of fun, but enough fun that we did it multiple times. And it told me that I spelled councillor wrong, but when I went back to check how to spell it, it gave me three different spellings that all look right. I picked the one you see but I am still not sure it is correct. 

I don't know when Maeghan gets back. William is planning on staying at his friends this weekend. That means I have the weekend free to do what I want. Not that William being there ever stops me from doing what I want, but I am thinking Juanita and I might go to one of the new American restaurants that has opened. Bubba Gump Shrimp recently opened. The is also a Firehouse Subs opening soon in the mall. I don't mind taking William, I would prefer it, but he is so picky I always feel bad when there is nothing really on the menu that he will eat. I mean, a sub sandwich, he only eats ham and olives on it at subway. Not really worth the price for just that. And a seafood restaurant, forget it. He might eat the fries but nothing else. I am not sure what to do about that. He doesn't eat anything and that will be a real hinderance in life, especially if he has a girlfriend. They are not going to want to restrict their diet to what he eats or places he will go. I have no idea what he eats when he is at his friends place. He is almost 21 years old, but what can I do to make him at least try other things. He never does. He won't even eat spaghetti sauce because it has onions in it. He will eat pesto, and cheese sauce but no tomato sauce. I think he has even stopped eating it on pizza. BBQ sauce only. What can I do. I know I didn't eat onions until I was about 18 or 19, and there are several things I eat now that I never used to eat. Brussel sprouts, cabbage, spinach, lots of things that I love now but never used to when I was a kid. I keep thinking he will grow out of it, but no signs of that happening anytime soon.

This has gotten way too long. I should probably go, maybe do some work. And, there are some very large leaves or branches falling outside my window and I need to find out where they are coming from. I am assuming someone is trimming the trees outside the office, but it seems kind of strange and merits some type of investigation. 

So I will be going now.

Later