Fay Approacheth

August 18, 2008 by Mike 2 Comments

She’s moving up the coast. Tropical storm Fay can’t seem to make up her mind ¹Or more likely, the forecasters can’t figure her out.. First she’s headed right for us, then she’s heading up the western coast, now, she’s headed for us again.

Later this afternoon, we’ll batten down the hatches, bring in the potted plants and potential missiles ²Like the bird feeder, and settle in for the storm. Fortunately, so far the winds are forecast to be only 50 mph with gusts to 65 mph at the time it’s supposed to pass over.

So far it looks as though it will arrive in the middle of the night on Tuesday, but that’s been changing, too.

I’ll keep you posted as long as I can get on the internet.

Footnotes[+]

Footnotes
↑1	Or more likely, the forecasters can’t figure her out.
↑2	Like the bird feeder

Yippie We Won The Lawsuit

August 14, 2008 by Mike 2 Comments

Hey Folks, we’re getting a dollar from the State of Florida. They recently settled a lawsuit brought by four people for selling names and addresses of people who licensed their automobiles in Florida. Each person who so registered their vehicle between 1998 and 2004 gets a dollar off their next renewal.

The four who brought the lawsuit get $3000 each.

The lawyers get $2.83 million in fees plus $20,000 in costs.

Which reminds me of a joke. What’s the difference between a lawyer and a carp? One’s a scum-sucking bottom-feeder, the other is a fish.

A Miser

August 13, 2008 by Mike 2 Comments

“Every man serves a useful purpose: A miser, for example, makes a wonderful ancestor.” — Laurence J. Peter

The Rule

August 11, 2008 by Mike 1 Comment

Jake Winter, a specialist in forensic bureaucracy, explains The Rule thusly: “In any analysis of a confusing political problem, the rule is to ask, ‘Who benefits?’ You will find the answer to any political or bureaucratic question, if you can answer that one correctly.” — from Dead Watch by John Sandford

Cruising

August 9, 2008 by Mike 11 Comments

We’ve booked two cruises. The first to be booked is on Royal Caribbean in November 2009 to the Eastern Caribbean. We booked that in July. Next we booked a Panama Canal cruise in December of this year. You may think we’re rich, but we’re not. We won’t be eating or driving our car for the next two years.

The itinerary for the Panama Canal caught out attention. It only has one port we’ve visited before, Aruba. The rest will be new to us.

Here’s the itinerary:
Ft. Lauderdale
Aruba
Cartagena, Columbia
Panama Canal, Panama (transit)
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
Huatulco, Mexico
Los Angeles

The coolest thing about the itinerary is that there are seven days at sea including the Panama Canal transit. We love at-sea days.