My wonderful wife and I were sitting together Sunday afternoon discussing….guess….yes it’s a tuff one. Give up? Yup, you got it first guess, our impending visit back to the island. We were discussing getting to the airport. Do we take an airport limo service, do we impose on a family member? We were looking up the pricing of an airport limo (big van) and she asked a great question. Does KC have a park, sleep, fly arrangement like many other large cities?
Surfed the net and low and behold, yes it does and the relative cost beats….limo service as well as the imposition of bothering a relative to get up that early.
Why is all of this necessary? Our flight from KC leaves at 5:30 in the AM. We live 45 minutes south of the airport and we are flying international meaning we would beat every chicken and rooster in the area out of our beds that morning and would be driving to the airport about the time all of the drunks are coming home from the bars.
My wife’s offered solution is awesome and frankly I am a bit embarrassed I didn’t think of it myself. Math works like this….14 days parking at airport (using the outer parking lot) would be $84. Then there is leaving home at probably 3AM to get there, get parked and to the gate early enough to check in go thru security and catch the Oh Dark:30 flight to Charlotte.
Another side journey here is if we stayed home the night before it would most likely be 11 PM or later before we headed off to bed with all of our pre trip activities like watering the plants and making sure everything is just perfect before we went to sleep.
So, we have agreed to leave shortly after my dear sweet wife gets home from work to drive to the hotel close to the airport. We will bring a bottle of wine, some chocolate and cheese and start our vacation that evening before the flight instead of in a rush the next morning. Cost $125 including the room, parking and shuttle to airport. So my math tells me for $41 I can rest close to the airport in a Sheraton hotel, car already parked. Enjoy the company of my wife without all the night before racing around and get at least 2 extra hours sleep.
After all that …the best I can say is GREAT IDEA HONEY, glad I listened this time..
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Who Knew?
Who knew that taking out the trash can be hazardous to your health? I sure didn’t think much of it as I walked out into my garage a week ago and bent over to pick up the bag and take it to the curb. Guess what…I found out right away. No pop or anything like that. I simply felt a sharp sting go down the side of my right leg, then the back spasms set in. I was down for the count! Thursday laid on the floor with a heat pack all afternoon. Went to work on Friday walking like an 85 year old with a bum hip, the only thing I was missing at this point was a walker. Made it to the doctor Friday afternoon.
He filled my hip full of cordozone and another steroid and prescribed a muscle relaxer and sent me home. Repeat Thursday afternoon lying on floor in pain. Sat came and still more pain….took meds but they did very little good. Sunday morning I rolled out of bed and told my wife as soon as I was done with a shower it was time to head to the emergency room, I have never felt my back hurt like this before.
The ER really fixed me up…I left there feeling NO pain. More Steroid and a bit of morphine for the pain along with a new muscle relaxer and an awesome painkiller. First time in several days I had felt at all decent.
I’ll save you most of the rest of the minute by minute cause I did a lot of sleeping and my intent is not to bore you any more than I have. Today is Day 8 and the spasms are most of the way gone but the nerve still tingles down into my leg pretty heavily. I am supposed to continue stretching and cut back on the meds for the next couple of weeks along with some physical therapy.
My biggest concern is there may be a bulging disc or something else that will lead to surgery…..Here is the biggest worry for me. We have 71 days until we load ourselves into a big metal can and fly to the Caribbean. I cant have this still going on while I am trying to get there. I will be going to PT, doing y stretching, cutting out the pain meds and everything else I can and or need to do to get better to include…the obvious dropping of a few lbs along the line.
Learning for the day, if I don’t stay fit, I will end up in a lot of pain by doing something as simple as taking out the trash…by the way I did take it to the curb today with no impact to my back. At this point I have been 21 hours with no painkillers in my system though I am sore enough that they sure would be nice to take they just aren’t necessary at this point.
He filled my hip full of cordozone and another steroid and prescribed a muscle relaxer and sent me home. Repeat Thursday afternoon lying on floor in pain. Sat came and still more pain….took meds but they did very little good. Sunday morning I rolled out of bed and told my wife as soon as I was done with a shower it was time to head to the emergency room, I have never felt my back hurt like this before.
The ER really fixed me up…I left there feeling NO pain. More Steroid and a bit of morphine for the pain along with a new muscle relaxer and an awesome painkiller. First time in several days I had felt at all decent.
I’ll save you most of the rest of the minute by minute cause I did a lot of sleeping and my intent is not to bore you any more than I have. Today is Day 8 and the spasms are most of the way gone but the nerve still tingles down into my leg pretty heavily. I am supposed to continue stretching and cut back on the meds for the next couple of weeks along with some physical therapy.
My biggest concern is there may be a bulging disc or something else that will lead to surgery…..Here is the biggest worry for me. We have 71 days until we load ourselves into a big metal can and fly to the Caribbean. I cant have this still going on while I am trying to get there. I will be going to PT, doing y stretching, cutting out the pain meds and everything else I can and or need to do to get better to include…the obvious dropping of a few lbs along the line.
Learning for the day, if I don’t stay fit, I will end up in a lot of pain by doing something as simple as taking out the trash…by the way I did take it to the curb today with no impact to my back. At this point I have been 21 hours with no painkillers in my system though I am sore enough that they sure would be nice to take they just aren’t necessary at this point.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Quack, quack….boing! Are you kidding me?
Things I read on Facebook can be a bit troubling at times, today I read a hyperlink on facebook that took me to a letter posted on the ST Marten News Network ( http://www.smn-news.com/letters/4440-american-tourist-files-complaint-against-club-orient-and-gendarmes.html ) I don’t normally send you to another link but I found this story to be pertinent to me as a photographer, take a few moments and read his letter as well as the notes following and make your own decision for I certainly have an opinion on this one.
This is a story about a guy that sat down at the edge of a naturist beach resort with a powerful camera that was accosted by the security folks of said resort. They requested to view what was on his memory card….he refused. They jerked his equipment away from him and took it to the front desk of the resort. The clerk viewed the pictures and then reformatted his memory card deleting the pictures he captured. He sent a letter off to the French Govt to complain about how he was treated on the beach as well as by the gendarmes after they were called. The folks at the resort say that there were graphic images of children that were undressed on the memory card. It was deleted so there is no proof one way or another.
I am concerned on a couple of levels here;
First and foremost if this “gentleman” was shooting photos of naked children…he is a sick man and needs see a therapist after he serves time for invasion of privacy and child pornography.
Second, I too am a photographer and bring some reasonably expensive equipment to the island but to capture nature’s scenery not people with or without clothes on.
I hate to feel that because I bring a professional quality camera to a beach to capture the beauty of the island that I will be lumped in with those trying to capture secret pictures of the unaware people on the beach.
When we go to a beach in which there may be nudity, I will shoot pictures of the landscape in the early morning light and if we choose to stay and enjoy the day on that beach I will put my camera away, not to see the light of the rest of the day at that beach.
I simply find the explanation of what occurred tasteless and rude…just the image American’s need. Thanks dude! It says in your note you are 60 but that doesn’t sound like rational behavior of any 60 year old I know.
The Facebook page that I found this on had a lengthy list of responses and basically one could shoot a lot of holes in the story that he told. His complaint is one that leads me back to Woody Harrelson’s character in the movie “after the Sunset” says…..”hey ,look over here at my assistant with the big tits while I take that Rolex off your arm”..one of deception and diversion from what was really happening.
In the end I responded if one walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I seriously doubt that they are a kangaroo….now you know why today’s title is ….Quack, quack, boing!
This is a story about a guy that sat down at the edge of a naturist beach resort with a powerful camera that was accosted by the security folks of said resort. They requested to view what was on his memory card….he refused. They jerked his equipment away from him and took it to the front desk of the resort. The clerk viewed the pictures and then reformatted his memory card deleting the pictures he captured. He sent a letter off to the French Govt to complain about how he was treated on the beach as well as by the gendarmes after they were called. The folks at the resort say that there were graphic images of children that were undressed on the memory card. It was deleted so there is no proof one way or another.
I am concerned on a couple of levels here;
First and foremost if this “gentleman” was shooting photos of naked children…he is a sick man and needs see a therapist after he serves time for invasion of privacy and child pornography.
Second, I too am a photographer and bring some reasonably expensive equipment to the island but to capture nature’s scenery not people with or without clothes on.
I hate to feel that because I bring a professional quality camera to a beach to capture the beauty of the island that I will be lumped in with those trying to capture secret pictures of the unaware people on the beach.
When we go to a beach in which there may be nudity, I will shoot pictures of the landscape in the early morning light and if we choose to stay and enjoy the day on that beach I will put my camera away, not to see the light of the rest of the day at that beach.
I simply find the explanation of what occurred tasteless and rude…just the image American’s need. Thanks dude! It says in your note you are 60 but that doesn’t sound like rational behavior of any 60 year old I know.
The Facebook page that I found this on had a lengthy list of responses and basically one could shoot a lot of holes in the story that he told. His complaint is one that leads me back to Woody Harrelson’s character in the movie “after the Sunset” says…..”hey ,look over here at my assistant with the big tits while I take that Rolex off your arm”..one of deception and diversion from what was really happening.
In the end I responded if one walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I seriously doubt that they are a kangaroo….now you know why today’s title is ….Quack, quack, boing!
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