The hurt doesnt show; but the pain still grows

OK, so the last ceiling fan is up, finally. Though no attic work as I was replacing the crappy contractor fan, it was still a pain. Ironically, this was the one I really needed a 2nd person for, and yet this one I do by myself. For those who have not seen our bedroom, it has a vaulted ceiling, and the fan is on a slant. Which meant I was really high up on a ladder trying to bring a heavy fan down (held in one arm while I quickly unscrewed wire caps), and putting a heavier one up.

Of course in the middle of trying to take the fan down piece by piece, there is an emergency at work (by the way, 29 releases on the same day is NOT going to go well, no matter what testing says). So I hastily attempt to reassemble it and get on the problem. Only to find that I've completely unbalanced it and the light isn't working now. After taking care of the problem, I was left with the fact that while I had attempted aborting this task today, I now have no choice but to proceed. Fearing another call from work, I said screw taking it down piece by piece and just brought the whole thing down as described above in parenthesis, which you probably skipped reading.

With only one false start after that however (one must put the coverings over the wires and drop rod BEFORE one wires it up), we had success. You'd think that after hanging 3 of them so far, THIS one would go smoothly. Well you'd think unless you knew me, then you'd just expect the opposite.

On the Gavin front, we stole the toddler bed from Pam's parents and put it in his room to get him used to it before moving him to it. Gavin had none of that however and immediately wanted to take a nap in it. Probably the first (and last) time he has been eager to take a nap. 2 nights later he probably doesn't realize he still has a crib. Though this sudden transition was unexpected, it was far from unwelcome. Though I had to instruct him not to bounce in this bed, though in return, he may bounce in Mommy & Daddy's bed (this is true). Frankly, our bed is pretty big and Gavin probably won't fall off of it. When I was growing up I always resented the no bounce rule, so I feel I should give him something. Sort of a very delayed rebellion.

However he's taken this to the next level apparently as today he was showing off for C by jumping from the bed to the floor. I greatly admired his technique, distance, and the fact he did NOT take a step on the landing. Then I put him in the corner and told him never to do it again. So if he's anything like me, my grandkids will be jumping from the bed to a specially made floor. That's progress.

And yes, I do realize that the song referenced for this is puny due to the subject matter, and all I can say is no one is perfect, and puns run in the family, so its not COMPLETELY my fault.

Crazy skies all wild above me now

I'll make you google that title to understand it, I'm in that kind of mood.

Anyway, we're back from our vacation, hence the lack of posting. To be quite honest we've been back close to 2 weeks now, I've just been very lazy. That and the fact that apparently I can't leave work for a week without things going nuts.

But first off, the cruise. It was fun, food was good, but I have discovered some rules.

1) Always leave yourself 2 hours after your excursion to make it back to the ship
2) Always assume your excursion will come back 2 hours later than stated
3) 30 SPF does nothing for you while snorkeling
4) It especially does nothing for you when you do your second snorkeling dive.
5) Only do one excursion a day
6) The cruise ship knows nothing about the excursions its selling you, especially about things like how long it takes to get there, and how long the event actually is.
7) Use my wife to book all your excursions (pam@pmmtravel.com)
8) The entertainment staff love their jobs, I mean REALLY love their jobs, or they are REALLY high.
9) Tenders suck, if you can, book a trip with the least amount of tenders to go ashore as possible.
10) If you go into the shops in multiple ports, you are not crazy, they are actually selling the same stuff with different names for the most part.
11) Fresh pineapple is much better.
12) If you're going to pay extra for the fancy dinner, don't eat. At all, I mean the whole trip up to that point.
13) Go to the piano bar early, as the night goes on the guests will start buying the player shots. He'll still do good, but after 3 shots, there is a limit to how good.
14) Towel animals are cute for about 5 minutes, then they're just in the way.

Those rules aside, the cruise was quite nice. I even got to play some volleyball, which I miss. However you can't play volleyball for any community area unless you have a team. Getting 6 people is hard. Especially since you should have 8 in case someone doesn't show.

If you get the chance to do a dolphin encounter, I highly recommend it. It was a lot of fun, and hey, dolphins are cool. Pam enjoyed the stingrays which I don't understand at all, frankly I'm not wild about being in the water with an animal with the word 'string' in the name. Bad things are bound to happen.

Its late, so I'll stop there for now and catch up on other stuff later on.