While Paula and I were in Vegas, NKHEA and family was on an Alaskan cruise. NKHEA was nice enough to share his trip with us via pictures. So without further ado, here’s pictures of NKHEA’s cruise:
Alaskan Cruise Pics 7/18 – 7/30
Arrived at night, view from room of the space needle
Getting ready to board the Golden Princess
Our cabin
Another view of our cabin
Seattle as we leave port
Bingo on board, amount of win depends on how many people play, last game for us was worth $2,200.00 plus smaller amounts for earlier games. We neva win anything. Also had slot tournament, which my wife won $500.00, got pics but she shy
1st stop Juneau
Salmon hatchery
Mendenhall glacier
City of Juneau
2nd stop Skagway, train ride up to Yukon
(my sister in-law dropped her camera on the way up so we took pic of it on the way down, it’s there but can’t make it out)
City of Skagway
(year round population 300, past year graduating class had 4 boys)
Dog sled ride at musher camp
(don’t ride in the front, dogs are trained to run and use bathroom at same time, things do fly when they do that)
Outhouses
Ketchikan, #1 for salmon in Alaska
Next day just cruise thru Tracey Arm see glacier (sorry forgot name)
Woke up that morning to sea planes taking off next to our cruise ship
City of Ketchikan
Back to Seattle, Pikes market, biggest king crab legs I ever saw, prices too.
Making cheese (sorry forgot name again, told you memory getting bad)
Chili peppers at market, don’t know if just for looks or can eat, but looks pretty
A stop to be Victoria BC was scheduled but it was to windy to dock, so we just dropped anchor about mile out and stayed on board till we sailed that night.
1 day at 2 winery’s , Chateau Ste Michelle and Columbia, also 1 brewery, Red Hook. Also went out to dinner at a place called Ohana Lounge, had karaoke also. The people that sang where really good, the beer was good, but the food not to ono.
Shop for couple days and back to home.
The eating on the ship is unreal, a 24hr buffet, 2 snack bars by pools (3 pools), 4 restaurants, lounge with live music, theater with movies, theater for shows like in Vegas, another lounge that they have guest speakers and shows, nightclub that looks like it’s hanging over the back of the ship. They also have mini putting green, jogging track, spa and fitness center, and some stuff that I know I missed.
As you can tell not to good at doing this, that’s why I work in the construction field. Next time I will know to take more pics of restaurants, food, and also some of the activities they have on board.
All the words in italics (including the captions) were written by NKHEA. I say he did an excellent job! Let’s hear it for NKHEA for taking the time to sort though the pictures and coming up with a beautiful entry.
Thank you NKHEA for sharing your vacation with us. Paula and I are hoping to do an Alaskan cruise for our 25th anniversary. Now I can hardly wait.
Have any MLCer’s been on an Alaskan cruise? If so, what do you remember being the highlights of your cruise? Even if it wasn’t an Alaskan cruise but some other cruise, share your memories.
On Monday, we had the pleasure of meeting Ynaku IRL (In Real Life). Ynaku lives on the Big Island and is here this week working on a job in Moanalua. He was kind enough to bring us some B.I. treats so we set up an appointment to meet up at The Advertiser building. Even though it was Shauna’s day off, she made it a point to be there to meet Ynaku. Bruddah Lance volunteered to go to Moanalua to pick it up, but Shauna and I didn’t want only leftover crumbs, so Ynaku offered to stop by The Advertiser.
So the meeting was set. I went downstairs to the parking lot but nobody was out there so I go to the front desk and hang out a bit. Here comes Shauna with Ynaku. We meet and greet and look for Bruddah Lance. Da guy no stay at his desk. WWD? So I go check out the parking lot again, no BL. Did he forget?
Then Ynaku gets a call. “Eh, get one guy down here at Moanalua asking fo’ you”. As the guy was telling Ynaku that he told BL that Ynaku left a while ago, Ynaku could hear BL’s motorcycle haulin’ okole back to The Advertiser building. So Shauna and I talk story with Ynaku while BL is whipping down the freeway. Must’ve been about 10 minutes and here comes BL, walking in from the parking lot. His face all red either from the embarrassment or the wind blowing against his face. Ok, his face wasn’t red, but this is my blog.
As we talked with Ynaku, I could tell that he is a real island boy - gentle, down to earth, and with a big heart. We talked a little about work, family, and what else, blogs. It was neat putting a face to the name. Ynaku is the second person I met from the blogs. Ocean Lover met up with me previously at a bon dance. Who knew that blogging would lead to new friendships?
Ynaku then presented each of us with a box of the famous Two Ladies Kitchen Strawberry Mochi and a Mochi/Manju assortment. The Strawberry Mochi is awesome! It’s my first time tasting this treat and I’m sold on it. Winnahs! And the Mochi/Manju is up there too. Some good! Stay ono! Broke da mout’!
But I know you folks like pictures, so here we go:
Shauna Bee, Ynaku, Me, and Bruddah Lance showing off the goods
Strawberry Mochi 6 pack - Paula already whacked one
Mochi/Manju Assortment
A big mahalo Ynaku for taking the time to stop by and letting us meet you IRL. And thank you for the goodies. That was very thoughtful of you. Whenever you’re in town, drop us a line and maybe we can meet up and share a meal together. Mahalos brah.
The MLC (midlife crisis) readers suggested a blog entry on our aches and pains. As we become seasoned citizens, our minds might tell us to “go for it”, but our bodies say otherwise. Sometimes our minds (mostly our ego) push ourselves until something gives out - and our body says “I told you so”.
One ache that I’ve been dealing with for the past 25 years is a bad back. Mostly my lower back. It started when I was a computer operator and was retrieving a box of paper. This was when reports were printed line printers on the blue or green bar paper. This box was in the corner of a store room and on each side there was other boxes of paper stacked about 3 high. So I bent over, reached down and pulled up the box using only my upper body strength. And it was all good.
Then the next day as I arrived at work, as I spun my body to get out of my car like I normally do, I felt a little “tick” in my back. I got up and walked into the office, no problem. As the night went on (I worked the swing shift by myself), my back started hurting more and more until I could no longer stand straight up. The next day when I woke up, I couldn’t get out of bed. I had to call for my mom to help pull me out of bed. When I finally got out of bed, I was bent over. If I tried to straighten myself up, a sharp pain would shoot down my leg and buckle my knee. Over the next few days I was slowly able to stand straighter and straighter until the pain was gone and I was walking normal again.
I never did see the doctor. But from what others tell me, they say the symptoms sounds like a pinched nerve.
Since then I always make sure I bend at the knees and pick up an item as close to my body as possible, keeping my back straight and using my legs to do the lifting. But if I stand for any longer than about 15 minutes, I can feel a “pulling” sensation in my lower back. I slowly bend over forward and stretch out my back, but nothing beats sitting down. I always watch how I lift now.
Another ailment - not sure if this counts - is allergy. I never had a problem with allergy until I got married. Paula on the other hand battled allergies from when she was a little girl. She had to go to the doctor every Saturday to get her allergy shot. I blame her and tell her that she gave me her allergies. It’s not that often that it acts up, but today was one of them - what Paula and I call a “bad nose day”. In fact, I just took a Rynatan so if I don’t finish this entry, it’s because the Rynatan knocked me out. Who woulda thunk that allergies were contagious.
And finally, an ailment that I deal with is asthma. When I catch a cold, I wheeze and feel like I’m going to die. The coughing causes my chest to tighten up so I use my inhaler to open up my bronchial tubes. The inhaler also loosens up the phlegm, but I have to cough to get the phlegm out. But the coughing causes me to tighten up again so I use the inhaler again. It’s a vicious circle. When I go to the doctor, he prescribes me Prednisone. That’s some good stuff. Usually after the first dose, I can breathe again. But I get a little amped up from it. I always save a one or two tablets for emergencies.
On old ailment - or more like a sport injury - that I used to have was swollen finger joints from bowling. All my balls were drilled fingertip so there was a lot of strain on my middle and ring finger joints. The first joint just below the fingernail (technically, it’s joints - knuckles are the bumps on the back of your hand below your fingers), used to get swollen after a night of bowling. And every so often when I’d shake someone’s hand, they’d shake with a tight grip. The pain would be so great that I’d just want to fall to my knees and surrender. But now that I’ve retired from bowling, my finger joints are no longer swollen and they don’t hurt. And as an added bonus, both my thumbs are the same size!
How about you? What ailments do you cope with? Or did you have to deal with previously? What kind of remedies do you have to ease the pain? Does a change in temperature make your ailments better or worse? And what about those “silent” ailments: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc? Did you know that eating Natto daily prevents heart attacks and strokes?
With the 2008 Summer Olympics starting, let’s start a new word association game, but this time with a twist. The words have to do with something related to the summer Olympics. It could be a country’s name, athlete’s name, equipment, sport, commentator’s phrase, etc.
Same rules:
No replying to your own post
Try not to repeat previous entries
Phrases allowed
Go with the first post for multiple posting to the same word
If someone replies to the second posting, just go with the flow
Keep it clean
PPEU (Practice Proper Emoticon Usage)
And like the other games, comments under the words are always welcome.
Let’s get started:
Gold Medal
*btw, on the right side of the page, under the Pages heading is a link titled Games. This has shortcuts to previous games that you can still play
In keeping with the bowling theme, let’s visit bowling in general.
First of all, I would like to thank Edward Sun for the very informative entry he contributed in the Remembering Bowling Alleys blog entry. If you get a chance, please read his posting.
When I was about 8 years old, my dad bought me my first bowling ball - a 10 pound Ebonite with the name “DEL” imprinted on it. Cost $5. My bag was a hard plastic case that we got at the Gold Bond stamps redemption center.
Later on in my early teens, I got my first brand new ball. IIRC, it was an Earl Anthony Mag-7. I loved that gyro looking logo on it so I just had to have one. I believe it was soft rubber - and hooked just about a much as a rubber ball could hook in those days. I didn’t bowl in any leagues - for recreation only, maybe once a year or so.
Skip to about 15 years later when I got married, I joined a team with my father-in-law in the Nisei Friday night Bowl-o-drome league. It was the second shift league and between the machines breaking down and the first shift bowling slow, sometimes we wouldn’t get started until 10:00 pm. Even though we were just a 4-man team, we wouldn’t finish until way after midnight. But back to my bowling balls, since I was now bowing in a league, that meant I needed a new ball - a Columbia Yellow Dot. I thought I was all that, until I saw the other bowler throwing something called a Hammer. A urethane ball with a unique block - unlike the old standard “pancake” blocks. Bought myself a black Hammer. Oh, but the red hammer hooked even more so I needed the red Hammer. Hmm, two balls. Now I need the 2-ball Hammer bag. This was getting expensive at over $125 per ball and about another $75 for the bag. But I was having fun and my average was improving.
The Nisei league started to lose teams and was getting almost too small to make a league. In fact, we only took up half the alley. The other half of the alley (actually a little less) was used by 2 leagues that rotated on a 6 month basis. The Department of Transportation league and the Department of Health league. Eventually we joined forces and formed the Department of Health league that ran consecutive seasons.
But due to the late nights, over time the league got smaller every season until it disbanded. Some of us joined a Thursday night league at Kam/Mak bowl. Going from Bowl-o-drome to Kam/Mak bowl was such an upgrade. No more broken down machines. No more overground ball returns. No more kicking the ball return when trying to pick up the 10 pin. And best of all - no more manual score keeping! At Bowl-0-drome I used to dread having to keep score. When it was our turn to keep score, I had to keep score by myself. My other team members just didn’t keep score. Sometimes I’d even have to write in scores between my first and second ball. Talk about throwing off the rhythm. With the automatic score keeper, I could relax and joke around with my team mates and stay loose.
By then, my bowling equipment had advanced quite a bit. I was partial to Track bowling balls with exotic drillings. Axis weight. Leverage weight. Sanded. Lightly polished. Finger inserts. Tape. At that point, bowling balls were costing me around $235 each. And the gloves and wrist supports all added up. Oh yeah, and the 2-ball Hammer bag was just too small. I had to have the Bruinswick Zone 3-ball bag on wheels. The hard decision was figuring out which 3 balls to take to the alley that night. I must’ve had about 6 different balls to choose from. My theory was that, like baseball players that get a new bat because the old one “ran out of hits”, I had to get new bowling balls because the old ones “ran out of strikes”. And the shoes, had to be the Dexters with the interchangeable soles for the different approach conditions.
But about 5 years ago, the Thursday night league also disbanded and that was the end of my bowling career. I did manage to “break the bank” once. That called for a game of 260+ with handicap. But I never did bowl a perfect game - even with handicap…
Some bowling tidbits:
Why isn’t bowling an olympic sport?
Bowling is one of the few sports where you can achieve a perfect score.
A 7-10 split is not impossible to pick up. I’ve seen it done.
The secret to keeping score:
A spare is 10 + the count on the next ball rolled
A strike is 10 + the total count on the next 2 balls rolled
2 strikes in a row is called a “double”.
3 strikes in a row is called a “turkey”.
4 strikes in a row is called a “4 bagger” and so on.
A “coke frame” is when everyone on the team strikes in the same frame except for one team member. That person has to buy the whole team drinks. I’ve been “coked” many times.
“Sand baggers or Dumpers” are those who know they have no chance to win the jackpot so they throw a junk game to retain their handicap.
“Horses” are those you give their money back to after you win a jackpot - because they usually give your money back to you when they win.
Most Embarrassing leave - a 5, 7, 10 split. Means your ball has no drive when hitting the pocket. Almost impossible to pick up.
Most Macho leave - a solid 5 pin. Means your ball has too much drive when hitting the pocket.
Improper Etiquette: Going on the approach when a person in either adjacent lane is getting ready to bowl.
Too Much Proper Etiquette: Waiting for two lanes on each adjacent side to clear before going up to the approach.
Worst Nightmare: Stepping on water with your sliding shoe (can’t slide).
Most Embarrassing: Having your ball slip out of your hand on your back swing.
Best Times: The end of season bowling banquet.
We visited memories of old bowling centers in the last blog entry. Now let’s visit old bowling memories that you have. Any funny stories to share? More bowling tidbits to add to the list?
Later on in my early teens, I got my first brand new ball. IIRC, it was an Earl Anthony Mag-7. I loved that gyro looking logo on it so I just had to have one. I believe it was soft rubber - and hooked just about a much as a rubber ball could hook in those days. I didn’t bowl in any leagues - for recreation only, maybe once a year or so.
