Blue Planet Journey

So close, and yet so far!  The many islands of the Caribbean  have beckoned to me for decades, and life has now afforded Caroline and me the opportunity to visit a number of these special places.  Well, I hope we get to visit.  We are currently on the Celebrity Summit  which was scheduled to leave San Juan, Puerto Rico two days ago.  Yesterday morning, I woke up early to discover that we were not steaming to Saint Croix Island, but were still tied to the dock at the San Juan Cruise Port Terminal.  The captain announced that we either had navigation or propulsion computer issues.  Looks like those issues continue! The captain just made a ship-wide announcement.  "Our technical issues are taking a little longer than we expected."  Apparently we will leave tonight at 6 PM.  This also means our itinerary will be changed.  Good grief... we had lined up activities on every island, and now we have to make contact with each tour op...

Some readers may remember a  news item  that flashed across the country (and world) in 2016, when  Playboy  model Dani Mathers published a selfie in a gym locker room with a nude 70 year old in the background, commenting "If I can't unsee this then you can't either." Mathers lost her membership in the gym, her job as a radio host, and was charged with invasion of privacy.  She was convicted, and sentenced to 3 years of probation and 30 days of community service (graffiti removal), which she  completed . In an  interview  posted after her sentencing, she stated, "When you’re told how much of a monster you are, it pushes you to look inside. I don’t ever want to be someone spitting hate. That’s really what I’ve learned. I also gained a lot of empathy and learned that everybody, at some point, has judged a person. Going through this past year and making it to the other side, I know I can handle almost anything."  Of course, her  coac...

Running around Lake Estes, Estes Park, CO, with Tavi. How many dogs are in Logan, UT?   Nobody knows for sure, but a formula developed by the American Veterinary Medical Association calculates about 7000 households owning a dog and a dog population over 11,000 for a city of its size. In Logan, all dogs over four months of age are required to be registered with the city’s Division of Animal Control, and registrations are supposed to be renewed yearly.   In 2017, there were 1383 dog tags sold.   In 2016, the number was 1437. It appears that the vast majority of dogs in Logan are unlicensed.   Since all dogs older than four months are required to be vaccinated for rabies, with the vaccination tag attached to a collar with the current year's dog tag, I suspect many of these animals are not vaccinated as well. There are a number of dog owners who would like the city to allow dogs in our public parks.   They claim Logan’s policies...

I finished my ninth full marathon!  My friends Launi and Jim have each completed over 100.  Neighbor Chuck has run more than 50.  So, in some circles, I am just a novice. I've run the Honolulu Marathon twice, the Salt Lake City Marathon twice, and the Top of Utah (TOU) Marathon five times now.  This year was the 20th anniversary of the TOU Marathon, and its last running.  The TOU Marathon has been sold to another company, so it will be rebranded and probably rerouted. I can't capture the whole marathon experience in a blog, but I do want to give the reader a taste of the last TOU Marathon. Three weeks prior to the marathon, Caroline and I ran the TOU half marathon. Here we are, with friend Daren at the finish.  Daren lives 3 blocks from the finish line, so we walked over to his house, and Sree made us a fresh cup of coffee while we waited for other runners to complete the race! Training:   Well, I'm not one for giving advice on...