Recently work has been absolutely excruciating. I have been working on the same project for the past few weeks, nonstop. This includes all of this week so far, and at this rate I will be working on this project for the remainder of my last month here at this job. Unfortunately, I have to work on this project all by myself, no one can help me. My co-workers are busy with similar projects of their own, forcing me to go solo. I start on the project as soon as I clock in, work on it all day long, and after 8 very long and droning hours I stop to clock out and go home, knowing full well that the next day will not be any different. The project is titled Doing Nothing.
That's right, ever since 90% of the staff that worked in my building was laid off at the beginning of September, there's not much for me to do anymore. At the beginning of the month all the agents, team leads, most of the managers, and a handful of others were let go, leaving me and few others to soldier on in this big and empty building. Most of my work was transitioned to Caremark just prior to the mass departure of all those employees, leaving me without a shred of responsibility. Being an hourly employee, my work day mainly consists of clocking in and clocking out each day, with an 8 hour gap in between the two.
Fear of someone from work reading this deters me from divulging what I actually do do at work all day. Rest assured, I'm not doing anything illegal or detrimental to the company. But, from an outsider's point of view I'm sure my activities would look extremely unproductive. Do I feel guilty about that? No. I mean, what do they expect me to do? Sit and stare at my Outlook for 8 hours? Since I have nothing productive to do my only option is to do something unproductive.
Now, if I were to tell you what I do here at work, you'd probably be jealous and think it's cool that I get to do that at work and get paid for it all the same. Don't be. I'm sure we all have things we like to do and I'm also equally sure that we would lose interest in those things after a few hours, let alone 8. Trust me, I know. To get through the day I normally need to find four or five things that I enjoy doing and keep moving from one to the next every hour and a half or so until it's time to clock out and go home. One day down, twenty six more to go.
For those who are interested you'll be happy to hear that I have found a new job. I will doing the same type of work I am doing now (or was doing, whatever) and I was lucky enough to be offered a salary a decent amount higher than what I'm making now. So despite all the bitterness this story in fact does have a happy ending. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to know more about my new job. I start November 2nd, which I'm excited about. But I don't think I have to tell you that November seems very, very far away...
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
"We strive to improve the quality of human life"
That is the Vision of CVS Caremark, the colossal mega corporation of pharmacies and prescription benefits management (http://www.cvscaremark.com/our-company/our-culture/vision-mission-values ).
Apparently they feel the best way to improve the quality of my life, as well as nearly 200 of my colleagues, is to eliminate our jobs.
You may remember when I announced that my company's parent company (Long's Drugs) was bought out last August by CVS Caremark and the uneasy feeling it gave me. I have to tell you, for a while there I was actually quite impressed with CVS Caremark. For a while I truly believed that Salt Lake City would be a great addition to their existing cluster of call centers specked across the United States.
Utah is not a stranger to call centers, and there's a reason. Utah does not have tornadoes, devastating earthquakes, hurricanes, and of course, volcanoes. We do have snow, but as long as we can still tell where the roads are, we go to work. So it goes without saying that Utah is an ideal location for call centers since 99.9% of uptime is a must for that industry.
The point I'm getting at is that a call center in Utah could have been a great asset for CVS Caremark and they certainly could have stayed a very profitable business without needing to put 200 or so people out of jobs. Sadly, that small percentage increase of profit margin is worth more than the lives of 200 people. I imagine that the increase is small because CVS Carmark literally has hundreds of thousands of employees, and laying off 200 is taking a drop out of the bucket. For that, I have lost all respect for CVS Caremark. Shame on them for making me believe for one second that they cared more about improving quality of life than making a buck. Maybe I'm alone in this thought, but if I ran a business that was already making millions of dollars a year in profit I would seek out the best solution that wouldn't require anyone to lose their jobs in this situation.
So that's it. I have until the end of October. Wish me luck.
Apparently they feel the best way to improve the quality of my life, as well as nearly 200 of my colleagues, is to eliminate our jobs.
You may remember when I announced that my company's parent company (Long's Drugs) was bought out last August by CVS Caremark and the uneasy feeling it gave me. I have to tell you, for a while there I was actually quite impressed with CVS Caremark. For a while I truly believed that Salt Lake City would be a great addition to their existing cluster of call centers specked across the United States.
Utah is not a stranger to call centers, and there's a reason. Utah does not have tornadoes, devastating earthquakes, hurricanes, and of course, volcanoes. We do have snow, but as long as we can still tell where the roads are, we go to work. So it goes without saying that Utah is an ideal location for call centers since 99.9% of uptime is a must for that industry.
The point I'm getting at is that a call center in Utah could have been a great asset for CVS Caremark and they certainly could have stayed a very profitable business without needing to put 200 or so people out of jobs. Sadly, that small percentage increase of profit margin is worth more than the lives of 200 people. I imagine that the increase is small because CVS Carmark literally has hundreds of thousands of employees, and laying off 200 is taking a drop out of the bucket. For that, I have lost all respect for CVS Caremark. Shame on them for making me believe for one second that they cared more about improving quality of life than making a buck. Maybe I'm alone in this thought, but if I ran a business that was already making millions of dollars a year in profit I would seek out the best solution that wouldn't require anyone to lose their jobs in this situation.
So that's it. I have until the end of October. Wish me luck.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Cruise - Day 7
Ok, day 7, our last full day on the ship and we were at sea the entire day. Firstly I have to go back to day 6 because a lot of the goings on stem from what happened the day before. On day 6, around 11:00 AM we realized that we were out of clean clothes, specifically our undergarments. On our last cruise you had the option to pay for your clothes to be laundered or you could use the ship's public laundry areas to do it yourself. After setting out to do our laundry we found, to our dismay, that NCL did not offer public laundry. So, we had no choice but to pay them to do our laundry. The charges depended on what type of clothing and how many of that article of clothing you wanted laundered, so we decided to just get our garments cleaned (we were very reluctant to do this, as most LDS people can understand) to keep the cost as low as possible.
Now, when I talked to the front desk asking about public laundry I was told they could have our laundry done by 6 PM that day. This was good because we were literally wearing our last clean pairs. When I started filling out the form I noticed that there were 2 services offered: Regular (collected before 9 AM and returned before 6 PM the next evening) and Express (collected before 9 AM and return before 6 PM that night). The Express charge was an extra 50% of the total. I wasn't happy about this, but again we were forced to go with it.
So, 6 PM that night rolled around and nothing was delivered. I wasn't too upset at this point, all I cared about was that we had them before the next morning. Well, when we woke up the next morning we still didn't have our laundry. I figured since our laundry wasn't collected before 9 AM the previous day that our "express" service would have our laundry here by 6 PM the current day. Lame.
So we put off showering and got some breakfast but after that we decided to go ahead and shower and wear robes until our laundry arrived. Well, luckily for us all we had planned to do that afternoon was watch movies. We were planning on seeing Kung Fu Panda in the cinema (btw the ship had a movie channel that played on our little room TV's and they also broadcast that channel in the cinema) but the cinema had a towel folding demo going on at that time so we would've had to watch the movie in our stateroom anyway.
So anyway, long story short we had to wait until 6 PM to have our laundry delivered so we could get dressed. When I checked our room charges later on I saw that they didn't charge us the express fee, which kinda made me feel better.
Ok, so the big show of the day in the theater was called Cirque Pacific. It was performed by the same singer/dancer team that did the other shows but they were also joined by the China Stars Acrobat Team. Again, the singer/dancers were ok, and the China Starts were absolutely amazing. If I saw the stuff they were doing on TV I would scream FAKE/Special FX! but when they were doing it in front of my very eyes all I could do was gawk and awe. At the end of the show they brought up what seemed like half of the entire crew from each of the different departments on the ship and gave a grand farewell since the cruise was coming to an end. I'll admit that this sudden realization of the end of my vacation stung a bit.
Now, as you recall a few nights ago we saw a group called Second City which did short skits and improv routines. They actually had other performances after that but they were 100% improv so weren't inclined to go seem them. However, they did have one more performance that night that was advertised as "adults only" and do not attend if you are offended by suggestive humor. We decided we didn't want to miss this one. So, it was basically another improv show but the actors could say whatever they wanted. And they did. At the end of the day though, it was still improv which in my opinion is hit or miss. But there were still a few moments when I laughed pretty hard. It was just kinda awkward since, up until that point, all the entertainment we had seen was pretty family-friendly. Also, oftentimes it seemed like they would throw some extreme profanity in there just because they could.
Well, that's about it. After we got back from the show we packed our bags and placed them outside our room for pickup. The next morning we got a quick buffet breakfast and waited in our room until it was our turn to disembark. We took a shuttle to the airport, had some Panda-style Chinese food from the terminal food court, took a plane home and our vacation was officially over :(
So, who's coming with us in 2 years???
Now, when I talked to the front desk asking about public laundry I was told they could have our laundry done by 6 PM that day. This was good because we were literally wearing our last clean pairs. When I started filling out the form I noticed that there were 2 services offered: Regular (collected before 9 AM and returned before 6 PM the next evening) and Express (collected before 9 AM and return before 6 PM that night). The Express charge was an extra 50% of the total. I wasn't happy about this, but again we were forced to go with it.
So, 6 PM that night rolled around and nothing was delivered. I wasn't too upset at this point, all I cared about was that we had them before the next morning. Well, when we woke up the next morning we still didn't have our laundry. I figured since our laundry wasn't collected before 9 AM the previous day that our "express" service would have our laundry here by 6 PM the current day. Lame.
So we put off showering and got some breakfast but after that we decided to go ahead and shower and wear robes until our laundry arrived. Well, luckily for us all we had planned to do that afternoon was watch movies. We were planning on seeing Kung Fu Panda in the cinema (btw the ship had a movie channel that played on our little room TV's and they also broadcast that channel in the cinema) but the cinema had a towel folding demo going on at that time so we would've had to watch the movie in our stateroom anyway.
So anyway, long story short we had to wait until 6 PM to have our laundry delivered so we could get dressed. When I checked our room charges later on I saw that they didn't charge us the express fee, which kinda made me feel better.
Ok, so the big show of the day in the theater was called Cirque Pacific. It was performed by the same singer/dancer team that did the other shows but they were also joined by the China Stars Acrobat Team. Again, the singer/dancers were ok, and the China Starts were absolutely amazing. If I saw the stuff they were doing on TV I would scream FAKE/Special FX! but when they were doing it in front of my very eyes all I could do was gawk and awe. At the end of the show they brought up what seemed like half of the entire crew from each of the different departments on the ship and gave a grand farewell since the cruise was coming to an end. I'll admit that this sudden realization of the end of my vacation stung a bit.
Now, as you recall a few nights ago we saw a group called Second City which did short skits and improv routines. They actually had other performances after that but they were 100% improv so weren't inclined to go seem them. However, they did have one more performance that night that was advertised as "adults only" and do not attend if you are offended by suggestive humor. We decided we didn't want to miss this one. So, it was basically another improv show but the actors could say whatever they wanted. And they did. At the end of the day though, it was still improv which in my opinion is hit or miss. But there were still a few moments when I laughed pretty hard. It was just kinda awkward since, up until that point, all the entertainment we had seen was pretty family-friendly. Also, oftentimes it seemed like they would throw some extreme profanity in there just because they could.
Well, that's about it. After we got back from the show we packed our bags and placed them outside our room for pickup. The next morning we got a quick buffet breakfast and waited in our room until it was our turn to disembark. We took a shuttle to the airport, had some Panda-style Chinese food from the terminal food court, took a plane home and our vacation was officially over :(
So, who's coming with us in 2 years???
Friday, May 22, 2009
Cruise - Day 6 (Prince Rupert)
Day six was Thursday, May 7th. We had a lot of time on the boat this day because we didn't arrive at Prince Rupert until about 4:oo PM. The first activity was a behind the scenes presentation of our cruise ship, the Norwegian Star. Unfortunately we were kinda lazy that morning and were late to the presentation and had to stand in the back of the lounge. It was pretty interesting, the cruise director shared with us a lot of pictures and stories of the ship and how it was made and what it takes to make an entire cruise happen.
Next was NCL's version of the Weakest Link, also called the Weakest Link. It was lame, mostly because the host sucked. There were two people from the entertainment staff that we saw quite frequently, the Cruise Director Paul and the Assistant Cruise Director, Gary. Paul was cool, he had had a lot of charisma and was very witty and brought a lot to the table in everything he was in. Gary... did not have that much charisma and struggled a lot every time he had to read something. So, unfortunately Gary was hosting the Weakest Link, and it was to get into the show when he was struggling to get through every question. He was reading a golf question and said "misshit" instead of "miss hit". His excuse was that there was no space in between the words on his paper. I'm not an avid golfer but I'm pretty sure "misshit" isn't a golf term. Whatever, a lady from Utah won the show so that was cool.
So later on we went ashore when we got to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. This was the coolest stop, even though I'd never heard of it before. This was actually a real town and not a tourist town. There were real residents walking the street. So Cassie and I just walked around town and saw the sights. There weren't very many traffic lights at all, and I guess the law is that you yield to pedestrians because traffic would stop if anyone looked like they were trying to cross the street at a corner. Needless to say, we were a little hesitant crossing the street since we are used to the douchebag drivers back in the good ol' U.S. of A.
The people of Prince Rupert were actually pretty nice as well, for the most part. Oftentimes people would recognize you as a tourist and ask where you were from and all that and be all friendly. There was this one extremely intoxicated guy that tried to ask me for some money so he could by cigarettes. He had a friend with him too that just sat back and laughed. I said I didn't have any cash or cigarettes and we got outta there. It wasn't that scare though, it was broad daylight and there were people around. The guy was just dumb.
Anyway, we were in Prince Rupert for a few hours but I don't really have much to write about because we just walked around and saw what there was to see.
Back on the ship we went to the nightly big show which was a ventriloquist this time. He only had one puppet, which was a Jamaican woman. The guy was actually pretty talented, and his comedy was pretty good. I hardly saw his lips move so I had to give him props for that, but still ventriloquism doesn't appeal to me that much.
That does it for day six.
Next was NCL's version of the Weakest Link, also called the Weakest Link. It was lame, mostly because the host sucked. There were two people from the entertainment staff that we saw quite frequently, the Cruise Director Paul and the Assistant Cruise Director, Gary. Paul was cool, he had had a lot of charisma and was very witty and brought a lot to the table in everything he was in. Gary... did not have that much charisma and struggled a lot every time he had to read something. So, unfortunately Gary was hosting the Weakest Link, and it was to get into the show when he was struggling to get through every question. He was reading a golf question and said "misshit" instead of "miss hit". His excuse was that there was no space in between the words on his paper. I'm not an avid golfer but I'm pretty sure "misshit" isn't a golf term. Whatever, a lady from Utah won the show so that was cool.
So later on we went ashore when we got to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. This was the coolest stop, even though I'd never heard of it before. This was actually a real town and not a tourist town. There were real residents walking the street. So Cassie and I just walked around town and saw the sights. There weren't very many traffic lights at all, and I guess the law is that you yield to pedestrians because traffic would stop if anyone looked like they were trying to cross the street at a corner. Needless to say, we were a little hesitant crossing the street since we are used to the douchebag drivers back in the good ol' U.S. of A.
The people of Prince Rupert were actually pretty nice as well, for the most part. Oftentimes people would recognize you as a tourist and ask where you were from and all that and be all friendly. There was this one extremely intoxicated guy that tried to ask me for some money so he could by cigarettes. He had a friend with him too that just sat back and laughed. I said I didn't have any cash or cigarettes and we got outta there. It wasn't that scare though, it was broad daylight and there were people around. The guy was just dumb.
Anyway, we were in Prince Rupert for a few hours but I don't really have much to write about because we just walked around and saw what there was to see.
Back on the ship we went to the nightly big show which was a ventriloquist this time. He only had one puppet, which was a Jamaican woman. The guy was actually pretty talented, and his comedy was pretty good. I hardly saw his lips move so I had to give him props for that, but still ventriloquism doesn't appeal to me that much.
That does it for day six.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Cruise - Day 5 (Skagway)
Before I get into day five I have to go over something that happened at the end of day four that I didn't mention in the last blog. At the end of day four we saw Karaoke Idol (yes, NCL's version of American Idol). The way it worked is that everyone who wanted to participate submitted their name and three names were chosen. Those people would perform karaoke of the song of their choice and then, after each had performed their songs, they would perform a random song. The contestants were also provided wardrobe for their second song. The Entertainment Staff also provided stand ins for Randy, Paula, and Simon. They played their roles very well, especially the girl playing Paula. The funniest thing that happened was this old guy who performed a country song was forced to sing the song Material Girl by Madonna. They gave him a blonde wig and a hot pink jacket, and he hiked his jeans up to his knees for the full effect. He "sang" the song as best he could and danced as best he could and it was nothing short of hilarious.
Ok, so day five was in Skagway, the northernmost city of Alaska that we visited. Like Ketchikan, Skagway is only accessible by boat or plane. Skagway was originally founded during the Klondike Gold Rush. There were two trails that early gold enthusiasts took back in the day, and we took a train ride that followed one of those trails: the White Pass. So, everyone wanted to know which side of the train to sit on to see the most. They told us once we get to the summit the engine will be moved to the other end and we would go in reverse and everyone would switch to the other side of the train so everyone would get to see everything. Well, everything was on the other side of us going up... So we still got to see everything when we went back down, but since this was our second time hearing the background stories the spots of interest kind of lost their luster. Also the ride was about 3 hours long and we had trouble staying awake after a while.
After the train ride we walked around Skagway for a bit. We went to the Tourist Center and watched a video about the history of Skagway, which was pretty entertaining I thought. Someones phone rang right behind us during the movie, and if that wasn't annoying enough the stupid lady answered and took the phone call in her seat! Grr, I was so pissed. I wanted to turn around and punch them in the throat but I'm glad I didn't cuz I got a look at her after the movie and she was like 70 years old.
After that we decided to get food on land for a change and went to a Pizza/Italian/Mexican restaurant. I got a pepperoni and sausage pizza (no sauce of course) and Cassie got cheese enchiladas. The place was kind of expensive but the food was way good. I wanted to save some pizza for later but not having any way to refrigerate it forced me to eat the whole thing (this is because of a story I forgot to include in the day 2 blog. Long story short, I asked our room steward to remove all of the alcoholic honor bar items in our refrigerator, he misunderstood me and removed the entire refrigerator).
After that we did some shopping and went back to the ship. There were two shows going on in the theater today. I mean, two different shows instead of the same show with two show times. We didn't know a lot about the first show, only that it was a comedy based show. Unfortunately we took a nap after getting back on the ship, which caused us to go to dinner a little later than we wanted and we were a few minutes late for the show. As luck would have it, this was the best show of them all and the only place we could find to sit was up in the balcony. Well, Cassie found a place to sit and I stood behind her. The show was a improv group of actors called Second City. They were hilarious. The show was mix between short comedy sketches a la Mad TV or SNL and improv sketches a la Whose Line is it Anyway. The improv sketches were ok but their short comedy sketches were just hilarious. They had me in tears. If you ever see me in person you can ask me to recall a couple of their sketches.
Anyway, the second show of the night was basically a showcase of some of the hidden talents of people that worked on the cruise ship. We saw a really good Michael Jackson routine, complete with lip syncing, good dancing and the iconic moonwalk. We also heard some stellar singing, and saw some cultural dances. The show ended with a bit they called Fountains which consisted of the Entertainment Staff sipping water from cups and spitting on each other. It was actually pretty funny.
That does it for day five!
Ok, so day five was in Skagway, the northernmost city of Alaska that we visited. Like Ketchikan, Skagway is only accessible by boat or plane. Skagway was originally founded during the Klondike Gold Rush. There were two trails that early gold enthusiasts took back in the day, and we took a train ride that followed one of those trails: the White Pass. So, everyone wanted to know which side of the train to sit on to see the most. They told us once we get to the summit the engine will be moved to the other end and we would go in reverse and everyone would switch to the other side of the train so everyone would get to see everything. Well, everything was on the other side of us going up... So we still got to see everything when we went back down, but since this was our second time hearing the background stories the spots of interest kind of lost their luster. Also the ride was about 3 hours long and we had trouble staying awake after a while.
After the train ride we walked around Skagway for a bit. We went to the Tourist Center and watched a video about the history of Skagway, which was pretty entertaining I thought. Someones phone rang right behind us during the movie, and if that wasn't annoying enough the stupid lady answered and took the phone call in her seat! Grr, I was so pissed. I wanted to turn around and punch them in the throat but I'm glad I didn't cuz I got a look at her after the movie and she was like 70 years old.
After that we decided to get food on land for a change and went to a Pizza/Italian/Mexican restaurant. I got a pepperoni and sausage pizza (no sauce of course) and Cassie got cheese enchiladas. The place was kind of expensive but the food was way good. I wanted to save some pizza for later but not having any way to refrigerate it forced me to eat the whole thing (this is because of a story I forgot to include in the day 2 blog. Long story short, I asked our room steward to remove all of the alcoholic honor bar items in our refrigerator, he misunderstood me and removed the entire refrigerator).
After that we did some shopping and went back to the ship. There were two shows going on in the theater today. I mean, two different shows instead of the same show with two show times. We didn't know a lot about the first show, only that it was a comedy based show. Unfortunately we took a nap after getting back on the ship, which caused us to go to dinner a little later than we wanted and we were a few minutes late for the show. As luck would have it, this was the best show of them all and the only place we could find to sit was up in the balcony. Well, Cassie found a place to sit and I stood behind her. The show was a improv group of actors called Second City. They were hilarious. The show was mix between short comedy sketches a la Mad TV or SNL and improv sketches a la Whose Line is it Anyway. The improv sketches were ok but their short comedy sketches were just hilarious. They had me in tears. If you ever see me in person you can ask me to recall a couple of their sketches.
Anyway, the second show of the night was basically a showcase of some of the hidden talents of people that worked on the cruise ship. We saw a really good Michael Jackson routine, complete with lip syncing, good dancing and the iconic moonwalk. We also heard some stellar singing, and saw some cultural dances. The show ended with a bit they called Fountains which consisted of the Entertainment Staff sipping water from cups and spitting on each other. It was actually pretty funny.
That does it for day five!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Cruise - Day 4 (Juneau)
Day 4 was Tuesday, May 5th and we spent it in Alaska's capital city of Juneau. There wasn't a whole lot to do in Juneau. We bought some stamps and mailed some post cards we got in Ketchikan and then walked to the State Capitol Building. We walked around there for a while but there wasn't much to see. I was hoping to run into Sarah Palin but it didn't happen. After that we browsed some shops. There was this big tram that took people up the mountain but it was like $27 a person so we decided it wasn't worth it.
So this day we were supposed to go cruising right next to a glacier, the Sawyer Glacier to be exact. To get there we had to cruise up a narrow channel between the mountains. Now when I say narrow I don't mean super narrow, because it was still big enough to fit our ginormous ship and still have ample room on the sides for maneuvering. Still, we were out on our balcony taking in the scenery and the mountains were pretty darn close to us at times.
So as we were cruising up the channel we saw that ahead of us the channel was covered with a sheet of ice/snow for about a 50 yard stretch. Apparently the ship's myriad of instruments deduced that it was safe to plow through it. It was freaking awesome. It felt as though for a small period of time the ship was gliding across a big pond.
So after that we kept going up the channel and again up ahead of us we saw that the water was covered with a sheet of ice and snow, but this time we couldn't tell how far up the channel it lasted. Unfortunately they decided that this sheet was not safe to plow through and we had to turn around. So we did not make it to the Sawyer Glacier. Oh well.
So shortly after that Murray was doing another show up in the Spinnaker Lounge. This time he mostly did card tricks and had people come up and witness the tricks up close. He also showed everyone how to do a few simple tricks. One funny thing that happened was while he was talking somebody spotted what they thought was a whale out in the water and everybody jumped up out of their seats and ran over to the windows. Poor Murray, but he didn't seem to mind. He offered a free pack of cards to anyone who got a good picture of the whale. I didn't see any pictures and can't say with any degree of accuracy if there was any whale at all. By the way, I found another youtube video of Murray where he actually talks if anyone's interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGYEB6KKHSo
After Murray's show we went to the big show in the theater. It was called Band on the Run and was another performance by the singers/dancers that did the Music of the Night show on day two. This time they were doing disco songs from the 70's. I enjoyed this one more than the first because I knew more of the songs they performed. Again, they were talented but it wasn't as great as the other shows that went on during the whole week.
That's all for day four.
So this day we were supposed to go cruising right next to a glacier, the Sawyer Glacier to be exact. To get there we had to cruise up a narrow channel between the mountains. Now when I say narrow I don't mean super narrow, because it was still big enough to fit our ginormous ship and still have ample room on the sides for maneuvering. Still, we were out on our balcony taking in the scenery and the mountains were pretty darn close to us at times.
So as we were cruising up the channel we saw that ahead of us the channel was covered with a sheet of ice/snow for about a 50 yard stretch. Apparently the ship's myriad of instruments deduced that it was safe to plow through it. It was freaking awesome. It felt as though for a small period of time the ship was gliding across a big pond.
So after that we kept going up the channel and again up ahead of us we saw that the water was covered with a sheet of ice and snow, but this time we couldn't tell how far up the channel it lasted. Unfortunately they decided that this sheet was not safe to plow through and we had to turn around. So we did not make it to the Sawyer Glacier. Oh well.
So shortly after that Murray was doing another show up in the Spinnaker Lounge. This time he mostly did card tricks and had people come up and witness the tricks up close. He also showed everyone how to do a few simple tricks. One funny thing that happened was while he was talking somebody spotted what they thought was a whale out in the water and everybody jumped up out of their seats and ran over to the windows. Poor Murray, but he didn't seem to mind. He offered a free pack of cards to anyone who got a good picture of the whale. I didn't see any pictures and can't say with any degree of accuracy if there was any whale at all. By the way, I found another youtube video of Murray where he actually talks if anyone's interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGYEB6KKHSo
After Murray's show we went to the big show in the theater. It was called Band on the Run and was another performance by the singers/dancers that did the Music of the Night show on day two. This time they were doing disco songs from the 70's. I enjoyed this one more than the first because I knew more of the songs they performed. Again, they were talented but it wasn't as great as the other shows that went on during the whole week.
That's all for day four.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Cruise - Day 3 (Ketchikan)
So day three was Monday May 4th and it started off kinda funny. I received a call from my boss at work. He called around 9:00 AM, which was 6:00 AM where I was. I didn't answer but I thought it might be important so I called him back. Turned out he didn't know or forgot I was on vacation and was wondering if I could bring in a copy of Star Wars to play on the TV in the break room.
So this day was our first port: Ketchikan, Alaska. It is one of two of our destinations that is only accessible via boat or plane as there are no roads in or out of Ketchikan.
So one thing we were told to visit in Ketchikan was Creek Street. Creek Street used to be Ketchikan's main source of brothels and prostitutes. Boo yah! Creek Street is now Ketchikan's main source of tourist shops. But we did get to take a tour of the house of Ketchikan's most famous and favorite prostitute: Dolly.
The story of Dolly is a sad and prosperous one. She ran away from home after multiple molestations by her father had left her unable to have children. In those days if you couldn't have children you were considered quite undesirable and non marriage-worthy. So Dolly took to whoring herself out to the boys in town. Her success allowed her to buy her house where she ran her "business" (the same house that we got to tour) with cold hard cash. Some of the highlights we saw were an old vintage electric vibrator and her shower curtain which was adorned with old silk condoms that were strung together and resembled roses.
After that we walked around Ketchikan, which wasn't a huge town so we didn't need any transportation other than our own feet. We walked to a fish hatchery and bald eagle preserve. For the two of us the tour would have been $20. So we agreed but when I handed over my debit card we were informed their card machine was broken. I only had $15 cash. They asked if we worked on the boat or were in the military because if we were we'd be eligible for a discount. After I said no they suggested running across the street and getting some cash from the ATM. How about a $5 sorry-our-card-machine-is-broken discount ya jerks!? Yeah, we didn't go back.
Back on the ship later on we went to another one of Norwegian Cruise Line's own version of Family Feud: Friendly Feud. It was okay, just like watching the show I guess.
The big show of the day was Magician Murray. He was a comedy magician and he was awesome. His comedy was better than his magic, but this was one of my most favorite shows of the entire cruise. You can view his opening bit here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foK01dmakeQ&sso=True&client=mv-google&gl=US&hl=en. We saw the exact same thing only there was much more afterwards. And yes, he does talk.
After the show we hiked up the 6 flights of stairs to get to Spinnaker Lounge. Here we saw the China Stars Acrobat Team. These people were amazing. Seriously, I can't even describe the things they could do, but you didn't know when to clap because every time you thought about clapping because what they were doing was amazing... they would take it up to something even more amazing. There were only 4 of them, but I believe that if it was their will, they could have killed every single person on that gigantic ship and then got on their backs and juggled the corpses with their feet.
That's it for it day three.
So this day was our first port: Ketchikan, Alaska. It is one of two of our destinations that is only accessible via boat or plane as there are no roads in or out of Ketchikan.
So one thing we were told to visit in Ketchikan was Creek Street. Creek Street used to be Ketchikan's main source of brothels and prostitutes. Boo yah! Creek Street is now Ketchikan's main source of tourist shops. But we did get to take a tour of the house of Ketchikan's most famous and favorite prostitute: Dolly.
The story of Dolly is a sad and prosperous one. She ran away from home after multiple molestations by her father had left her unable to have children. In those days if you couldn't have children you were considered quite undesirable and non marriage-worthy. So Dolly took to whoring herself out to the boys in town. Her success allowed her to buy her house where she ran her "business" (the same house that we got to tour) with cold hard cash. Some of the highlights we saw were an old vintage electric vibrator and her shower curtain which was adorned with old silk condoms that were strung together and resembled roses.
After that we walked around Ketchikan, which wasn't a huge town so we didn't need any transportation other than our own feet. We walked to a fish hatchery and bald eagle preserve. For the two of us the tour would have been $20. So we agreed but when I handed over my debit card we were informed their card machine was broken. I only had $15 cash. They asked if we worked on the boat or were in the military because if we were we'd be eligible for a discount. After I said no they suggested running across the street and getting some cash from the ATM. How about a $5 sorry-our-card-machine-is-broken discount ya jerks!? Yeah, we didn't go back.
Back on the ship later on we went to another one of Norwegian Cruise Line's own version of Family Feud: Friendly Feud. It was okay, just like watching the show I guess.
The big show of the day was Magician Murray. He was a comedy magician and he was awesome. His comedy was better than his magic, but this was one of my most favorite shows of the entire cruise. You can view his opening bit here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foK01dmakeQ&sso=True&client=mv-google&gl=US&hl=en. We saw the exact same thing only there was much more afterwards. And yes, he does talk.
After the show we hiked up the 6 flights of stairs to get to Spinnaker Lounge. Here we saw the China Stars Acrobat Team. These people were amazing. Seriously, I can't even describe the things they could do, but you didn't know when to clap because every time you thought about clapping because what they were doing was amazing... they would take it up to something even more amazing. There were only 4 of them, but I believe that if it was their will, they could have killed every single person on that gigantic ship and then got on their backs and juggled the corpses with their feet.
That's it for it day three.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Cruise - Day 2
Ok, here we go. The second day of our cruise was Sunday, May 3rd. We were at sea the entire day, which I think is awesome. I'm more comfortable on the ship whereas Cassie prefers to go ashore when we're stopped at a port and spend all day on land. Each morning we went to the buffets for breakfast, because the breakfast buffet was awesome. I usually got croissants, sausage, french toast, milk, and all the bacon I could eat. Yum.
The first activity we went to was a lecture in the cinema about what to see in Ketchikan and Juneau (our first two stops). The lecture was given by "Doc", who was an 80 year old guy that was on his 99th cruise. He was a nice guy and could talk forever, as most senior citizens are capable of. He told us where we should go in Ketchikan and Juneau and also gave us some background and history of the towns.
After the lecture we went out on deck and played a little shuffleboard. I kicked Cassie's butt.
We also watched an ice carving demonstration that day. I was expecting a big block of ice and a chainsaw. Unfortunately there was no chainsaw, but there was a big block of ice. It was really fascinating to see the guy carve it. He used only three tools, which were basically different sized chisels, and all he did was hack away at the ice. He basically thrust the chisel into the block at different angles and ice would just fly everywhere. He made a mermaid in about 15 minutes.
After dinner in the dining room we went to the first of the daily shows in the big on board theater. It was called Music of the Night and was one of I think three performances by the same group of singers/dancers. The performance was good, not great. The singers/dancers were talented, but I didn't know much of the songs that they did and it was hard to get into it. Still entertaining though.
I'm gonna take a moment here to talk about our ship and where a few things are located. First of all, the ship is HUGE, and to help you find places they basically split the ship into thirds: Aft (Back), Mid-ship (Middle), and Forward (Front). Then of course there are decks (floors) and Port and Starboard (Left and Right). Ok, so our room was on deck 9, Fwd. The big theater took up two decks and was located on decks 6 and 7, Fwd. And another venue where a lot of things were going on was Spinnaker Lounge, located on deck 12, Fwd. So as you can see, we were lucky enough to have our room on the same end of the ship where most of the stuff was going on, and our room was right next to the elevators and stairs. Yay for us.
So anyway, right after the show in the theater (decks 6/7, Fwd) we had an activity in Spinnaker Lounge (deck 12, Fwd). Since there were so many people exiting the theater and trying to take the elevator we opted to take the stairs. So we had to tackle 6 flights of stairs from deck 6 to deck 12. We did this almost daily because just about every day there was something at Spinnaker Lounge immediately following a show in the theater.
So the cruise always did a lot of their own versions of game shows, and on this day it was the Newlywed Game. If you wanted to play you submitted your names for drawing. They had a drawing for couples married 0-5 years, 6-20 years, and 21 years and over. We put our names in because I thought it would be fun. We were pissed because the couple chosen for 0-5 years wasn't even married! Those cheaters. Anyway, they chose a couple from each bracket and then a 4th couple who had been married the longest.
First of all, I grew to dislike most of the couples and found myself wondering why they even submitted their names because they were seriously lacking any type of charisma. But anyway, the funniest question in the show was the question "where is the most unusual place you had sex?". One couple did it in a staircase in India, one in a bathroom in a coffee shop next to Walmart, one couple did it on the hood of their truck while visiting a relative, and the final couple... did it in the guest bedroom. The host gave them a hard time for that, which was funny.
Well, that's all for day two, stick around for day three.
The first activity we went to was a lecture in the cinema about what to see in Ketchikan and Juneau (our first two stops). The lecture was given by "Doc", who was an 80 year old guy that was on his 99th cruise. He was a nice guy and could talk forever, as most senior citizens are capable of. He told us where we should go in Ketchikan and Juneau and also gave us some background and history of the towns.
After the lecture we went out on deck and played a little shuffleboard. I kicked Cassie's butt.
We also watched an ice carving demonstration that day. I was expecting a big block of ice and a chainsaw. Unfortunately there was no chainsaw, but there was a big block of ice. It was really fascinating to see the guy carve it. He used only three tools, which were basically different sized chisels, and all he did was hack away at the ice. He basically thrust the chisel into the block at different angles and ice would just fly everywhere. He made a mermaid in about 15 minutes.
After dinner in the dining room we went to the first of the daily shows in the big on board theater. It was called Music of the Night and was one of I think three performances by the same group of singers/dancers. The performance was good, not great. The singers/dancers were talented, but I didn't know much of the songs that they did and it was hard to get into it. Still entertaining though.
I'm gonna take a moment here to talk about our ship and where a few things are located. First of all, the ship is HUGE, and to help you find places they basically split the ship into thirds: Aft (Back), Mid-ship (Middle), and Forward (Front). Then of course there are decks (floors) and Port and Starboard (Left and Right). Ok, so our room was on deck 9, Fwd. The big theater took up two decks and was located on decks 6 and 7, Fwd. And another venue where a lot of things were going on was Spinnaker Lounge, located on deck 12, Fwd. So as you can see, we were lucky enough to have our room on the same end of the ship where most of the stuff was going on, and our room was right next to the elevators and stairs. Yay for us.
So anyway, right after the show in the theater (decks 6/7, Fwd) we had an activity in Spinnaker Lounge (deck 12, Fwd). Since there were so many people exiting the theater and trying to take the elevator we opted to take the stairs. So we had to tackle 6 flights of stairs from deck 6 to deck 12. We did this almost daily because just about every day there was something at Spinnaker Lounge immediately following a show in the theater.
So the cruise always did a lot of their own versions of game shows, and on this day it was the Newlywed Game. If you wanted to play you submitted your names for drawing. They had a drawing for couples married 0-5 years, 6-20 years, and 21 years and over. We put our names in because I thought it would be fun. We were pissed because the couple chosen for 0-5 years wasn't even married! Those cheaters. Anyway, they chose a couple from each bracket and then a 4th couple who had been married the longest.
First of all, I grew to dislike most of the couples and found myself wondering why they even submitted their names because they were seriously lacking any type of charisma. But anyway, the funniest question in the show was the question "where is the most unusual place you had sex?". One couple did it in a staircase in India, one in a bathroom in a coffee shop next to Walmart, one couple did it on the hood of their truck while visiting a relative, and the final couple... did it in the guest bedroom. The host gave them a hard time for that, which was funny.
Well, that's all for day two, stick around for day three.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Cruise - Day 1
So for those who don't know, we just got back from a cruise to Alaska. The cruise left from Vancouver on Saturday May 2nd and ended in Seattle on Saturday May 9th. Since I can't sum up the entire cruise in one blog I'll be breaking down the days and doing a separate blog for each.
First of all, for everyone that hasn't been on a cruise I highly recommend it. It may be a little more expensive than a weekend trip to Vegas but it is definitely worth every penny. Let me go on about how awesome cruises are for just a little bit. You get to see the world on a big floating hotel, and you will never be hungry. Your cruise costs basically cover all your food and board. You get a very small room to stay in for the trip, not that it matters because you don't spend a lot of time in it anyway. You get ALL THE FOOD YOU CAN EAT. There are round the clock buffets, cafes, and grills where you can get food any time. Each night for dinner you go to the dining room and it resembles a restaurant. You will be waited on, and there are new things on the menu each day, with a few comfort items that are available every day. How many times have you gone to a restaurant and either didn't get an appetizer or a dessert because of the price? On a cruise you will get an appetizer, entree, and dessert EVERY TIME. This is because there are no prices on the menus! It's all covered in your cruise cost and there's no reason to not take advantage.
Ok, so let's talk about the trip. On Friday we took a late flight into Seattle and stayed overnight. The next morning we went back to the airport in order to catch a shuttle all the way into Vancouver. The shuttle goes to Vancouver airport and cost us about $90. Once at Vancouver airport we would need to take another shuttle to the cruise port for $60. As soon as the shuttle left Seattle airport an Asian man on the bus spilled his coffee all over the place. Now, normally this would piss everyone off, but since 90% of the people on the bus were going on the cruise and were in a good mood this man became the most popular person on the bus. He became Coffee Guy, and was the only person that received a nickname. He kept apologizing as he frantically wiped up the coffee but everyone assured him it was ok.
So, luckily for us, since so many people on the bus were going on the cruise our bus driver took us directly to the port instead of the airport. Since this saved me $60 I gave the driver a $20 tip. We got to the port and had to wait in long lines and show our IDs a hundred times but we finally were able to board the ship and go up to our room. It was about 4:00 PM and the ship departed shortly afterward.
Not much is happening on that first day. I think all we did is go to the buffet and get some food. One thing they do, and this is true for probably all cruise lines, is do a safety drill where everyone has to grab their life vests from your room and meet at some part on the ship depending on where your room is located. For us we had to meet in the big show theater and practice putting on our life vests.
So, that's pretty much it for day one. The cruise really began the next day, and I'll cover it in my next blog.
First of all, for everyone that hasn't been on a cruise I highly recommend it. It may be a little more expensive than a weekend trip to Vegas but it is definitely worth every penny. Let me go on about how awesome cruises are for just a little bit. You get to see the world on a big floating hotel, and you will never be hungry. Your cruise costs basically cover all your food and board. You get a very small room to stay in for the trip, not that it matters because you don't spend a lot of time in it anyway. You get ALL THE FOOD YOU CAN EAT. There are round the clock buffets, cafes, and grills where you can get food any time. Each night for dinner you go to the dining room and it resembles a restaurant. You will be waited on, and there are new things on the menu each day, with a few comfort items that are available every day. How many times have you gone to a restaurant and either didn't get an appetizer or a dessert because of the price? On a cruise you will get an appetizer, entree, and dessert EVERY TIME. This is because there are no prices on the menus! It's all covered in your cruise cost and there's no reason to not take advantage.
Ok, so let's talk about the trip. On Friday we took a late flight into Seattle and stayed overnight. The next morning we went back to the airport in order to catch a shuttle all the way into Vancouver. The shuttle goes to Vancouver airport and cost us about $90. Once at Vancouver airport we would need to take another shuttle to the cruise port for $60. As soon as the shuttle left Seattle airport an Asian man on the bus spilled his coffee all over the place. Now, normally this would piss everyone off, but since 90% of the people on the bus were going on the cruise and were in a good mood this man became the most popular person on the bus. He became Coffee Guy, and was the only person that received a nickname. He kept apologizing as he frantically wiped up the coffee but everyone assured him it was ok.
So, luckily for us, since so many people on the bus were going on the cruise our bus driver took us directly to the port instead of the airport. Since this saved me $60 I gave the driver a $20 tip. We got to the port and had to wait in long lines and show our IDs a hundred times but we finally were able to board the ship and go up to our room. It was about 4:00 PM and the ship departed shortly afterward.
Not much is happening on that first day. I think all we did is go to the buffet and get some food. One thing they do, and this is true for probably all cruise lines, is do a safety drill where everyone has to grab their life vests from your room and meet at some part on the ship depending on where your room is located. For us we had to meet in the big show theater and practice putting on our life vests.
So, that's pretty much it for day one. The cruise really began the next day, and I'll cover it in my next blog.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Welcome to Taco Hell
Yes, it has been a while. Get over it.
I like Taco Bell. Well, I like Taco Bell when they don't suck. Their chicken quesadillas are delicious, and you can't go wrong with nachos. So when I head to Taco Bell I usually get a chicken quesadilla (sometimes steak, depending on my mood) and an order of nachos or two. Usually the only problems I have with Taco Bell are with its less than talented staff.
Here's one thing I get almost every time I go. After ordering the quesadilla I say I'd also like an order of nachos. The answer invariably comes back, "just the chips and cheese, right?" Have you looked at your menu lately? I'm reading from it verbatim, it says "NACHOS", I'm not trying to describe what I want you to make me, I'm reading the menu item that I would like to have, so where is the confusion? When I go to Wendy's and ask for a double bacon cheeseburger I don't hear "you mean the hamburger meat patty, slice of cheese, and bacon strips all juxtaposed between two bread buns?" No. You know why I don't hear that every time? Probably because they've heard of a bacon cheeseburger before, probably because it's on their effing menu.
Now, before you all go "but David Taco Bell offers more than one variety of... blah blah blah..." I'm AWARE that Taco Bell has different Nacho-oid menu items. I don't care, they all have different names and the reason they all have different names is so that the consumer can communicate to the vendor what item they want without the need for follow up questions. If I said I want nachos when I meant 7-layer Nachos I only have myself to blame when I am handed chips and cheese in all their 1-layer glory.
I have more. This happened a few weeks back. I was in the mood for a quesadilla, but was unsure if I wanted chicken or steak. Since the price is the same I thought I'd go for broke and ask for half and half. Here's the following dialogue between the drive through box guy and I:
Me: Yeah I'd like a quesadilla, chicken on one side and steak on the other. Can you do that?
Box Guy: (thick Latino accent) ... um, you want a chicken quesadilla, half chicken half beef?
Me: Uh... sure (if it helps you to refer to it in that way)
So when I get back to the office I try my best to observe the innards of my quesadilla to see if they got it right. I see chicken on both sides of the quesadilla. So it looks like they just threw it all together and didn't bother with separating the meats on each side. Whatever, beggars can't be choosers and I figured I'd cut my losses and move on. So, as I'm eating I realize that the quesadilla just doesn't taste right. I open it up and I don't see any steak, instead I see TACO MEAT. Not only that, the whole thing looks like nothing short of a soiled diaper. Into the trash it goes and I have not since tried special ordering my quesadilla.
More on Taco Bell's nachos... I don't know if you have looked at their nacho menu and pricing lately, but here's how it goes...
Triple Layer Nachos 79¢
Beefy 5-Layer Nachos 89¢
7-Layer Dip Nachos 99¢
Nachos $1.19
Notice anything wrong here??? Why are they punishing us simpletons who only want freaking chips and cheese? It's like, "here's some chips and cheese and for an extra 20 cents less we can throw on some meat and salsa and sour cream and guacamole." "Well what if I don't want all that?" "Then you pay more, that's how it works, the more you want the less you pay." There ya go folks, it's like Supply and Demand of bizzaro world's economy.
Next time I'm going to ask for the Triple Layer Nachos, hold everything but the cheese.
I like Taco Bell. Well, I like Taco Bell when they don't suck. Their chicken quesadillas are delicious, and you can't go wrong with nachos. So when I head to Taco Bell I usually get a chicken quesadilla (sometimes steak, depending on my mood) and an order of nachos or two. Usually the only problems I have with Taco Bell are with its less than talented staff.
Here's one thing I get almost every time I go. After ordering the quesadilla I say I'd also like an order of nachos. The answer invariably comes back, "just the chips and cheese, right?" Have you looked at your menu lately? I'm reading from it verbatim, it says "NACHOS", I'm not trying to describe what I want you to make me, I'm reading the menu item that I would like to have, so where is the confusion? When I go to Wendy's and ask for a double bacon cheeseburger I don't hear "you mean the hamburger meat patty, slice of cheese, and bacon strips all juxtaposed between two bread buns?" No. You know why I don't hear that every time? Probably because they've heard of a bacon cheeseburger before, probably because it's on their effing menu.
Now, before you all go "but David Taco Bell offers more than one variety of... blah blah blah..." I'm AWARE that Taco Bell has different Nacho-oid menu items. I don't care, they all have different names and the reason they all have different names is so that the consumer can communicate to the vendor what item they want without the need for follow up questions. If I said I want nachos when I meant 7-layer Nachos I only have myself to blame when I am handed chips and cheese in all their 1-layer glory.
I have more. This happened a few weeks back. I was in the mood for a quesadilla, but was unsure if I wanted chicken or steak. Since the price is the same I thought I'd go for broke and ask for half and half. Here's the following dialogue between the drive through box guy and I:
Me: Yeah I'd like a quesadilla, chicken on one side and steak on the other. Can you do that?
Box Guy: (thick Latino accent) ... um, you want a chicken quesadilla, half chicken half beef?
Me: Uh... sure (if it helps you to refer to it in that way)
So when I get back to the office I try my best to observe the innards of my quesadilla to see if they got it right. I see chicken on both sides of the quesadilla. So it looks like they just threw it all together and didn't bother with separating the meats on each side. Whatever, beggars can't be choosers and I figured I'd cut my losses and move on. So, as I'm eating I realize that the quesadilla just doesn't taste right. I open it up and I don't see any steak, instead I see TACO MEAT. Not only that, the whole thing looks like nothing short of a soiled diaper. Into the trash it goes and I have not since tried special ordering my quesadilla.
More on Taco Bell's nachos... I don't know if you have looked at their nacho menu and pricing lately, but here's how it goes...
Triple Layer Nachos 79¢
Beefy 5-Layer Nachos 89¢
7-Layer Dip Nachos 99¢
Nachos $1.19
Notice anything wrong here??? Why are they punishing us simpletons who only want freaking chips and cheese? It's like, "here's some chips and cheese and for an extra 20 cents less we can throw on some meat and salsa and sour cream and guacamole." "Well what if I don't want all that?" "Then you pay more, that's how it works, the more you want the less you pay." There ya go folks, it's like Supply and Demand of bizzaro world's economy.
Next time I'm going to ask for the Triple Layer Nachos, hold everything but the cheese.
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