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Flailing — not Failing! Flailing is a cool word and I think describes my blog at the four month mark. When something is said to be flailing, it is thought to be kind of moving, swinging, or beating in a wild manner. It’s movement that is less than productive, but the movement has intention. If the flailing object were to find its groove and the energy being expended focused, there would be big results.

I think flailing is a good choice here. In many ways, I have been all over the board with this. I have had days where I really felt like I was finding that groove and then, like recently, days (maybe even weeks) where the focus wasn’t happening.

I started this with the intention that it would take at least one year of commitment to see where it goes and what it does. My struggle has been in a couple of areas. I am challenged in being transparent and unpretentious because doing so risks opening myself up maybe more than I would like to. Although the way I see it, putting it out there honestly is probably the key to what I ultimately see the key the development of the blog.

And then there are the developing themes I have for the blog. Right now I see those being my perspectives of life at 50, Arizona living, and personal achievement in others that I personally find very inspiring.

In the four months of blogging, it has been amazing the reach it has and the search rankings some of the posts are getting, sometimes immediately! Visitors from every continent except Antarctica have found their way here. Some of the posts that get the most hits include the ones on Camelback Mountain, the house in Colorado that is being given away in an essay contest, and a couple of the personal achievement stories.

I also really appreciate the comments many of you have left and am committing to doing a better job responding. Blogging is supposed to be about developing conversations. I haven’t done a very good job participating in those. But I do read every one of them and keep them in mind. Example, Leo made a very powerful comment in response to the post I wrote about the teenager that had developed an online business that was producing a killer income. He suggested I watch the movie The Producers. Well, it has taken me quite some time to get this done and Leo probably thought I would never get around to it as I commented to him that I would be watching it soon. THAT was months ago. BUT! I have it arriving tomorrow through Netflix! Can’t wait to talk about it.

I also have some very deep subjects suggested by Steve, who was the guy that successfully rode his bike across America. He is presently writing about it and actually plans to attempt to have a book written by end of summer. Hey Steve, maybe I can be one of the first to review it. The topics he has suggested to me are a great base focusing on some good stuff.

Anyway, it’s been four months. We’re flailing. But I think that’s a good thing.

I’ve been trying to catch a sunset lately but they haven’t been up to Arizona standards. I just missed probably the most impressive part of tonight’s sunset, although here are the final minutes. This was taken from the Lookout Mountain park just off of Greenway.

The wind had been blowing and some drops of rain were short lived. I thought between the dust in the air and the smoke from the river bed fire that has been burning this past week, the colors would be good.

My Carnival’s Eastern Caribbean Glory Cruise Part 5

After living in Colorado for over 38 years, I find myself often thinking about the friends, places, and scenery there. Waking up on the first morning on the Carnival Glory, look at what was on the morning news!

This was a kick. It was 47 in Colorado Springs. It was about 80 in the Caribbean that morning. All week we enjoyed the satellite feed of the Denver television stations.

Leaving the beach on St. Thomas I was waiting for a cab. I shared the ride back to the ship with a friendly couple. I asked them if they were on the ship and they said yes. I asked them if they were enjoying it and they kind of looked at each other. The young woman said that actually, they worked on the ship. I thought cool. I asked what they did and found that he (Scotty) ran sound and lights for the shows and was from New York City. She, (Adriane), was the lead entertainer/singer/dancer for the main show room, the Glory Dancers.

Talking further, Adriane asks if I had seen any shows, and I hadn’t! So she invites me to her Thursday evening show as it was the main one of the week. She must have sensed my hesitation as I am not a big show goer. So she says, “Phil, it will only be 45 minutes out of your life!” I had to laugh and of course, went. It was a great show with fantastic props and songs, sung by her and a lead guy, whose name I can’t remember!

Adriane is the one second from the left in this picture in the floor length dress, which was taken after the show Thursday night. She has been doing this for a number of years, and I hope to be able to share her story in the future. Both her and Scotty were some of the nicest people I met on the cruise.

Anyone who has cruised looks forward to the towel animals found in your room each evening. It’s a fun touch. I have to note that the cabin stewards we had were outstanding. Sentana knew both Beth’s and my name by the end of the first day and was there to take care of anything we needed. It was like having a butler, much like some cruise lines offer in their suites, for additional cost.

I had asked Scotty and Adriane where the best beach to visit on St. Maarten would be. (Pointer: Ask the crew for recommendations on things like this as they know the best spots to check out.) They said Bikini Beach, which is on the French side would be perfect, and it was. The whole group went there and it was beautiful. I overdid it in the sun that day and the peeling on my shoulders is only now stopping!

Here’s a shot of the area we hung out in that day. Two chairs and an umbrella was $18 bucks. I sat ON the beach that day or was in the water. That $18 went toward a few Presidente’s! a beer from Santa Dominica. They are only sold in the Caribbean, from what I understand. Julian introduced me to them.

For those of you who missed me, I did try to call as I was thinking about all of you, especially those back in cold Colorado. From the beautiful Bikini Beach. By the way, you didn’t find many bikini’s to the far left or right of where we were. Up the beach a ways was topless and down aways was — . Noooo, I can not confirm that, but other’s did. I’m just sayin’ I stayed where I belonged! (Look at the color of that water — it really is that stunning.)

I can’t say my kids don’t have a sense of humor. Beth took this picture. I couldn’t put the side view up — this kiddo had a gut that would put a summo to shame. I think maybe that Ginger beer might have just been taken from him and he was looking for it.

Lastly, we said our goodbye’s at the pier. My kids headed out for a long drive back to Louisville and I to the Orlando airport for a flight that would take me to Charleston and then on to Phoenix.

It was a fantastic trip.

Part 5 Cruising on the Carnival’s Glory: St. Thomas

Here’s a first hand report on the Rum Shack’s recommended drink, the Painkiller. I had just spent a few hours at the beach on St. Thomas and was heading back to the ship (which you can see in the background) when I found this cool little place. And now I know why I was calling it the Rum Shack! The bartender called it that!

Carnival Glory’s Cruise Part 4

You can’t take a cruise without coming back with some stories. Here’s a few I’ll choose to share. First, this cruise became a reality when in thinking about how to celebrate Beth’s graduation from college, there was a consensus that taking a cruise would be a great way to do that and at the same time involve the whole family. And so began the plans to do that in the fall of 2007.

As I’ve noted, Beth is just the second member of the family to accomplish this. Here we are at dinner the second night out. Celebrating our kids accomplishments is something all parents can take joy in. It was just a moment ago that we stood together at her high school graduation and took a picture that I posted with a caption: HS grad — Soon to be college grad. Life moves, quickly. Here is that picture:

Al, my brother’s Father-in-Law, had the idea that we should have made a t-shirt that noted that we were all traveling with the graduate. That could have been funny.

I have three younger brothers, Steve and Barry were able to make it while Scott could not, unfortunately. We all spent a day at Bikini Beach on St. Maarten and our faces show it here!

As a matter of fact, my shoulders got such a burn that they are still peeling! Now both of these guys are pretty funny. The night they did karaoke is a good story and I may be able to post the video of it in a later post. Steve sang Neil Diamond’s Hello My Friend, and found after each refrain of singing “Hello” to hear a crowd heckler belt out “HELLLOOH!” At first he thought it was some guy that had had one too many Caribbean rum and Cokes. As it turned out, he realized half way through it was Greg, my son! Not a drunk heckler.

But it was Barry that had the biggest faux pas. They were on a shore tour and he observed a teenager giving a terrible attitude to what appeared to be her grand parents. She was rude. So Barry, embarrassed for them, goes over and tries to say something encouraging like she will grow out of it and how some day she will really appreciate the cruise her grandparents had taken her on. With a somewhat disgusted look, the man looked at him and, yes, you know it, says, “THAT is my DAUGHTER.”

So Barry quickly comes back with a line he remembers from Saturday Night Live and says, “Yeah, that’s what I’m SAYIN’! I wish I could have had parents or grand parents that would have taken me on a cruise. I would have appreciated it!” The guy just kind of looked at him as he walked away. For the rest of the cruise, when anyone would say something a bit off or in disagreement, we would respond with, “Yeah, THAT’s what I’m sayin’!”

Click here to read about the Rum House …..

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From the Glory cruise sailing June 7th - 13th, 2008 - Part 3

Sunrise and sunsets from sea are indescribable, much like those here in Arizona. For me, they are as important on a cruise as the destinations, and I made every effort to see them. Who can watch one without thinking they themselves are proof of an awesome Creator.

Here is the sunset from the first evening. We had just gone to the dining room when I looked out and saw it starting. I ran up to the Lido deck and caught it.

Next, this was a couple hours prior to sunset from St. Thomas. I think I missed the actual setting because of the fact it was starting to happen at a different time than previous nights and the couple hours I had had at the Rum Shack!

A crazy thing happened and it took me a couple days to realize that as we cruised, we were actually heading further East, so each evening the sunset actually happened earlier. I couldn’t just plan each night at dinner to see it. Our position was changing the time it set each night. Here is night three.

Click here to see more…

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PART 2

The Carnival Glory is part of the largest class of ship in the Carnival fleet. It is 110,000 gross tons. That’s pretty big! The Glory’s statistics are as follows: Length 952 feet (almost a quarter of a mile), beam 116 feet(this is the width at its widest). Passenger capacity is 3,700 with an average of 2,974 per cruise. Not sure the total on our cruise but I do believe it was sold out. The Glory was commissioned in 2003. We picked this particular cruise for its combination of price, itinerary (it had stops in both St. Thomas and St. Maarten) and the wide choice of on-board activities.

I was up at or close to sunrise EVERY morning and would head to the Lido deck, grab some coffee and take a walk around the ship, outside. These pictures were taken at that time.

Here’s a reflective shot with one of the yellow Carnival drink glasses I found set on an upper deck rail. Each day there was a drink of the day offered in these cups/glasses which you kept. They would range in price from 6 to 8 dollars with the glass becoming a souvenir. I got mine for free and no headache!

Here is the Glory at the pier in Nassau, Bahamas, as we head out on a water taxi to see the Atlantis Hotel Resort.

Laura, my brother’s Mother-in-law, kept this quiet spot on the ship to herself for a few days! This is Deck 3, just off of the lobby and was a wonderful spot to read and enjoy a peaceful break from the ship’s activities.

In St.Thomas, I was returning from the beach and a place called the Rum Shack (story to follow soon) and noticed just how the ship dwarfs nearby shops at the pier.

Click here to see more pictures.

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