Move along. Nothing to see here.

We survived the holidays with a few less dollars and a few pounds more. Family has gone back home, Stephen left for school this afternoon with his girlfriend and her sister. Have not yet heard from him but I assume he made it to Austin before it got dark. Update: He just called in and they had arrived with out any problems (traffic heavy). Was nice to see him home for a few days. Over the past 2.5 years in college, he has really grown (both spiritually & emotionally) from when he left for college. I no longer have concerns if he will do well in life. I know he will do well and wind up with some high tech job making more money than his dad. He has already lined up a intership with Microsoft in Seattle this summer that most college kids would kill for. Certainly beats some of the summer jobs I had back in the ‘70’s. We are already making plans to go & visit with him this summer in Seattle next summer. We will drop in on my brother as well while we are in the northwest.

Did not accomplish much this weekend aside of getting a the computer set up. I had planned on getting the Xmas lights up and cleaning up the yard, but seemed to be running in slow gear all weekend long. I think the cruise has put me off my schedule (seems like a good excuse).

Speaking of cruise, now that my pc problems appear to be resolved, I will try to catch up on my vacation report (if anyone cares). Spending a week on a boat with your family will test even the hardiest of souls. We left Galveston a week ago on Sunday and, after 2.5 days of straight sea hauling, we reached Jamaica only to find the port closed. Rough seas closed the port on Tuesday and we could not dock. Of course, that meant all of the shore excursions were cancelled as we 180’d the ship and headed for Grand Cayman. My brother & I were slated for some doing some zip-lining in Jamaica but that was not to be. 4 days of straight sailing can get kinda boring, in spite of the ship board entertainment. I had planned to exercise/run every day on the ship to stave of the effects of non-stop eating, but Tuesday the wind was so strong on the upper deck that running laps was a serious challenge. I did hit the ship gym for a while along with sitting in the sauna, but prefer to run outside. I will note that running track on a moving ship is a weird feeling.