End of blog entry.

http://johnhealdsblog.com/2010/11/12/smoke-on-the-water-part-1/
http://johnhealdsblog.com/2010/11/12/smoke-on-the-water-part-2/
http://johnhealdsblog.com/2010/11/12/smoke-on-the-water-part-3/

John was Cruise Director on duty during the Splendor fire earlier this month.

ALPHA TEAM, ALPHA TEAM ALPHA TEAM, DECK 0 ENGINE CONTROL ROOM.

It doesn’t matter exactly what the words are, a crew member will know which announcements are normal and which are not. I can almost feel the goosebumps and sense of dread as if I’m there. By all accounts the crew performed as expected and tried to make the best of a bad situation.

Most of the guests had it within their power to make of it what they would. It was what it was. They could either see it as a grand adventure or as a horrible catastrophe; it was up to them. I don’t envy some of the inside cabin people having no A/C, but honestly… it’s not like it was a Lord of the Flies situation out there or anything.

Cruising is still a tremendous value. It’s a giant floating hotel, where the menus don’t have prices and you wake up in a different place every day without having had to repack. Personally, I can’t wait to book my next one.

I’m the owner of a one-year old person! Son’s first (well, second, I guess?) birthday was 10 days ago. We had a family party on the actual day with me, Sherri, the birthday boy, and Sherri’s mom, who was down from Canada. Then we had a “play date” birthday party last Sunday with his little toddler friends. Highlights: we made way too much food, Rowan didn’t dunk his face or hands into the cake like we would’ve wanted because he’s a generally fastidious eater, we took lots and lots of pictures, and he’s much better at opening presents than he was during the “winter holidays” or whatever we’re calling it these days.

I haven’t blogged (that’s a verb, right?) about my son much here. Foremost, it’s personal. I’m comfortable sharing many aspects of my personal life with the Internets — after all, who cares. But he doesn’t have the opportunity to opt out of my little blog stories here, so I refrain. He may grow up to be a very private person… who knows. So if you come here expecting to hear more about my family, now you know why I don’t talk about them. It’s not a lack of experiences to write about or anything; I could fill a novel. Once my son was born, I truly felt my life clicked into focus. But all those feelings that relate to him will stay personal for now.

The summer doldrums are definitely here. It’s too farking hot to be outside mid-day, so I can’t get out and bike or walk or run (haha!). I have a severe case of cabin fever, so I’m trying to get out of the house more so I can reset mentally, but I’m limited to air conditioned spaces. Bleh. Florida’s kinda shitty right now. I’ll be laughing my ass off come October, though. Counting the days until the Epcot Food & Wine Festival! We’ve earned back the money we spent on our Epcot After 4 annual passes many times over at this point.

Sherri’s mother was in town for a few weeks to visit. She arrives on Aug 4 and left on the 18. Sherri and I took advantage in the last few days of her visit… we had more “dates” in the last 5 days of her visit than we’ve had since the baby arrived. Saturday we had an amazing dinner at Il Mulino at the WDW Swan with some cherished old college friends of mine. Monday we had a romantic meal at Cafe D’Antonio here in Celebration. Tuesday I skipped out of work a bit early and we went to Epcot just the two of us and rode a bunch of rides we can’t do with the baby… silly stuff like the boat ride in The Land… and somehow they’ve made the Mexico boat ride worse with the addition of an animated duck overlaying the old movies? Anyway… the wife and I had the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company as FRIENDS rather than CO-PARENTS.

I’ll use this opportunity to out myself as a Florida REALTOR® as a side interest. If you have need of a home (buying, selling, renting) and would like some help with it, please let me know. I’m in it to help people, not for the money, so I’m cheap!

There’s no doubt that moving to Florida was the best move we’ve made, but still… damn… it’s hot here in the summer, all the time. I could seriously go for some high 52 and low 47 weather right about now.