The Start of a Really Long Weekend

Well, as of 11:30am Friday, I officially became retired from the State of Washington. I took my watch off and am getting used to not wearing it. I've been trying to sleep in without much success. I'll have to keep up the effort in this regard.

It'll be interesting to see how quickly (or not) I adjust to this new lifestyle. Heading to Belize on the 12th will probably help in that adjustment. We'll see.

It was a weird Lotto day today. While I was at Safeway getting  groceries, I bought five bucks-worth of Lotto and five of Mega. The girl  at the counter asked if I wanted five Hit5 tickets instead because then  the Lotto tickets would be free. I almost said no. Instead I ended up  with five Hit5s, five Lotto, and two Mega (she split them 2 and 3). I  felt rich as I left the store - my wallet positively bulging with  largess... well, a bunch of lottery tickets anyway. Who knows, this  could be my lucky day!

My father-in-law, Norman, and I are going to be doing a little  experiment while Dianna and I are in Belize. He's been using Net2Phone  to call us for the past couple of years, so I downloaded it the other  day and installed it. We're going to see if we can use it to communicate  with each other while we're down there. If it works, that'll be great.

If not, email will be the communications method of choice for the  foreseeable future. There's some question because I've read that while  Belize Telecommunications, Ltd., held a legal monopoly in Belize, they  routinely blocked all Skype, Net2Phone and other VOIP (Voice Over  Internet Protocol) type communications, including things like Microsoft  Internet Messenger. But, since their monopoly ended sometime last year,  supposedly, they don't block those things anymore. However, I've heard
(read) from several sources that they still block them - at least  periodically. We'll see and I'll let you know. It would be really neat  to have that capability - and affordable too!

Ramblings after the luncheon

The hotel we'll be staying at for at least the first week in Belize is the Copa Banana. Their Website is: http://www.copabanana.bz/.

Our plan is to reconnoiter the area (perhaps the whole country, who knows? Especially since it's only 70 x 200 miles or about the size of Massachusetts) and possibly shift our base of operations accordingly if we find a town/area we like better.

If we decide we really like the country, we'll immediately begin looking for a house to rent. We'll probably do that for 6 months to a year then buy. Of course, if we find the place of our dreams, we may buy much sooner!

Another note, it was a nice luncheon at the Super Buffet in DuPont. I was surprised at all the folks who showed up. I thought it would just be the Telecom Section, so that was really nice. Thanks to all who took the time from busy schedules to make it - including some already retired... Curt Kyle and Bob and Kathy Paterson! And the food was great. In my opinion, much better than the Great Wall of China.

This is Sunday, March 25th.

Talked to Daddy and David. Are both excited about our trip to Belize as we are too.

Just a sample shot to show that we can upload photos to our blog as well as text.

Miss Blue Tending Her Goldfish in the Pond

Dave and Dianna's Grand Adventure

This is the start of our grand adventure. I'll improve the formatting as we go along.

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Well, this may not be the best first entry, but it's tasty...

RUM SWIZZLES

(Courtesy of Mashup, Chief bartender on the S/V Mandalay)

• 1 ½ shot (oz.) of 151 rum
• ¼ - ½ shot of Meyer's Rum
• 2 ½ shots pineapple juice
• 2 ½ shots orange juice
• dash +/- Grenadine

Mix, pour over ice and enjoy!

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02/22/07 - Went over to Lonnie and Marilyn's last night. Superb lanai at their place. Lonnie turned me on to a running book – The Chi of Running. I'm going to try to get it on Amazon or Ebay when we get home. Also, went to dinner last night at Winjammers... no relation to the cruise line. Huge variety of chow though. More later.

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03/24/07 - Finally ordered The Chi of Running. Got it on Amazon for $2.95 US. Shipping cost more than the book - $4.95 US. Still, eight bucks for the whole thing! I'm looking forward to getting it in my grubby little paws.

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03/25/07 - Found a cool website for the Corozal area of Belize - http://corozal.com. It has tons of photos of the local area and what's been going on in the town. Really typical small-town stuff. But that's cool. We'll be heading there soon.

We're flying down on 03/13/07. Actually, we'll be leaving on the 12th... We take the Capitol Aeroporter shuttle from Olympia to Seatac the evening of the 12th - and get there at about 10:45 pm. 

Our flight doesn't leave till 6:00 am on the 13th, but since it's considered an international flight, we have to be at Seatac NLT 3:00 am. Which means that we had to catch the shuttle at 1:45 am, for $105 US.

I changed our reservations for the shuttle yesterday to have us go up at 10:45. Since, It's doubtful that we would be sleeping much prior to the 1:45 departure anyway, changing it to 10:45 saved $50. All we have to do is find a comfy nook at the airport for a few hours.. Yawn!

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Say, while I think of it, my last day at work is 03/30/07. I'm retiring. Sort of anti-climatic to write it - just doesn't have that zing!

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