November 30, 2004: Maggie's 1st Birthday

I decided that I wanted to celebrate Maggie's first birthday by throwing a doggie birthday party. I invited our neighbors, friends, and their dogs to come.    We played a couple of games.  One of the games was to see which dog ran the fastest.  Of course, Maggie won that game, as she knew what to do. The other dogs just wandered around in the backyard.

Cody, Conner, Shannon, Brittanie, Ashley, Jim, Melanie, Jasmine, Patty, Jackie Balcom, and some neighbors came. I had food for the dogs, as well as the humans.    I bought a cake for Maggie to blow out.    Well, actually I blew out her candles.      I think the party was quite a big success.       Maggie is like a kid to me, so why not throw her a birthday party.

October 16, 2004: Columbus, OH/Longaberger Homestead

Well, we made it here to Columbus, Ohio. We got here around 9:15. We had some stops to do on the way, so that is why it took us longer. I usually don't like to drive in the dark, but didn't have much of a choice as I had to work until 11 a.m. today. I think I only have around 6 hours left of vacation.

It is hard to drive when it is dark and rainy and you are in an unfamiliar place.


We are staying at the Marriott Hotel by the Columbus Airport. Then, we will drive over to Dresden, Ohio tomorrow to visit the Longaberger basket homestead. We have reservations to make our own baskets so that should be fun. I will have to keep my basket in a safe place, away from Maggie, as she loves to chew on basket material.

October 2004: Little Sister, Brittanie

I decided that I wanted to make a difference in a child's life, so I volunteered with Big Brother/Big Sister.    They assigned me to Brittanie Kammers.   She was around 8 yrs old and had 2 brothers.        Our first meeting was at her house off of Lakeshore Drive.       The first actual activity was at my house.  She met my mom, as well as my dog, Maggie.    The leaves had fallen on the ground.    I took a picture of her with Maggie in the leaves.      

I took her on many activities over the next few years such as:   Chicago,  Mackinac Island, Spa Day (10th Birthday gift), hockey games, dog walks, movies, scrapbooking, Butterfly Farm at Meijer Gardens,  Badger Trip, etc.     I enjoyed spending time with her.    It got harder to spend time with her as she got older and wanted to spend time with kids her own age.  She truly has been a blessing to me.  

September 24, 2004: Chucke Cheese

Mom and I took the neighbor kids to Chuck E Cheese for Cody's birthday. They were so excited. I think they had a good time. We all got little prizes. One of the girls took forever to pick out a prize so we were all helping her, as we had to get home at the time I promised the parents.

August 2004: Los Angeles Vacation/30th Birthday

August 21, 2004:  Beverly Hills

We left Detroit around 9 a.m. and took Spirit Airlines straight through to Los Angeles. Our cousin Carol was there to pick us up. She got a different car. It is a 2002 Cadillac. It has black leather seats, on-star, Bose sound system, etc. I think we are going to ride in style in Beverly Hills. She told us that on the registration for the car, that it used to be owned by a talent agency. I can't remember the name, but I thought that was pretty interesting.


From the airport, we asked Carol if she had any plans for today and she didn't, so we drove into West Hollywood and stopped at the pet boutique, Fife & Romeo's. The owner had this neat African hat on and had his little white dog, Cookie Monster, dressed in this cute shirt and the hair was colored pink. He used food coloring on the dog's head to get the color. It was so cute. The dog was adorable. It made me miss Maggie. Then, a customer came in with her little dog and the dogs were yapping at each other. This pet boutique is frequented by the top stars. He told us 'what hollywood star hasn't been here'. Paris Hilton buys her dog things at this store all the time. You have to ring a door bell and he will open it for you. That is for security, but also as a service to the famous people who may want a private showing. He said he has only 1 store in the United States but about 5 in Japan, as they aren't so competitive as they are here.


After that store, we went to Sunset Boulevard as I wanted to stop at this store "On Sunset" that is owned by one of my soap stars, Lauralee Bell, from the "Young and the Restless". She is joint partners with another gal, who was in the store. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see the actress. That would have been fun to see her. Anyway, the clerk, Maria, was showing me the new trends for this year and tried on this vintage looking necklace on me. It was $195. Nothing in the store was affordable for me, but it was fun to browse.


Then, we went to the Beverly Hills Hotel which is also on Sunset Boulevard. We had to valet park. We ate at the famous Polo Lounge. We had soup as we weren't real hungry. Plus, the prices were high for lunch. We didn't get very good service, though. We think that they weren't good to us as we didn't look like a movie star or something. They didn't give us a knife for our butter, didn't ask how the food was, etc. We never experienced that before, as we were always treated like queens on the cruise ships and the restaurants in Europe, but I guess things are different here.


We went to Rodeo Drive and I finally got to walk the road. It was great to browse the shops. I would like to get a Louis Vitton purse, but one of the imitation ones for $50. The real ones are about $500 or more. I will save my money for the imitation one.


Carol and Eddy live out in Pasadena which is so charming. There are alot of trees and flowers there, whereas, there are mainly just buildings in Los Angeles with not alot of trees.

August 22, 2004:  Mann's Chinese Theater/Cemeteries/Madre's Restaurant

Well, we had another early morning. We drove to Hollywood in about 30 minutes from Pasadena to go to the Mann's Chinese Theater. From there, we took a tour through Starline Tours that went to two cemeteries, Hollywood Cemetery and Westwood Cemetery to see where some old movie stars are buried. Then, we took a tour of some of the stars homes in Beverly Hills and Bel Air. We did get to see Aaron Spelling's mansion which has 123 rooms. It is well hidden behind the trees, though. It is supposed to be the largest home here.

Then, we took at VIP tour behind Graumann's theater. You can pay $20 to see a movie there where you have a special VIP lounge and are served food, waited on hand and foot, and get a special room to watch the movie. That is where the stars go when they have a premiere. They sit in a special room upstairs and the audience sits below, so that they can see the reactions from the audience to their movie.


We drove home and got ready for my 30th birthday dinner which was at Jennifer Lopez's restaurant, Madre's, in Pasadena. It was a gorgeous restaurant with about 11 chandeliers in the main dining room. Jennifer chose every decoration for the restaurant. It served Cuban food. I got seranaded by the band. They played some Puerto Rican/Cuban music which was fun to listen to. It surely was a wonderful meal and something I will never forget as my 30th birthday dinner.

August 23, 2004:  Caramia Justian's Condo in Manhatten Beach

Today was a relaxing day for us. We slept in until around 9, had breakfast, and then got to drive Eddy's 198? Mercedes to the local mall. The mall was very nice. The weather here is perfect. I would love to have that year round. Traffic is quite heavy in Los Angeles. I guess if I had alot of money, then it would be a nice place to live. But, I think I would live in Pasadena or the Arcadia area if I had alot of money as it is a charming community. Los Angeles itself is just a bunch of buildings without too many trees.



In the afternoon, Carol drove us to Manhattan Beach to meet with Caramia Justian, who is the granddaughter of my grandpa's girlfriend, Beulah. We got to see her condo, chat with her daughters, and then she took us on a tour of Manhattan Beach. We walked out to the pier. She also showed us her kiosk in the mall where she sells different gift items. She said it costs about $1800 a month to rent the kiosk. She said she has put alot of money out for the merchandise and not sure if she will continue with that business once January rolls around. She had some beautiful things there.


Then, we came back to Caramia's place and she had made us a roast. It was a wonderful evening.


August 24, 2004:  30th Birthday

Today was my 30th birthday. We got up quite early to drive down to CBS Studios to be in the audience at the Price Is Right. I was so excited because it has always been a dream of mine to see the show in person. This is the 2nd time I have tried to go. The first time I had tickets that my relatives gave me, but wasn't able to go as I couldn't get enough time off of work.



We got to the studio a little after 7 a.m. and they gave us these orange numbered tickets. Then, we had to sit on these benches until 9 a.m. Then, we had to be in numerical order and they went down the line and put a number on your actual ticket. If you didn't get a number, then they put an 'SB' on your ticket for stand by. Well, I was the 50th stand by ticket. There were a ton of people there in line when we got there after 7. We were told to be there at 8, but I didn't realize that many people were there at 5 a.m. waiting. There were even some that camped out the night before.


So, we went to the Farmer's Market and browsed around as we had to come back at 11 a.m. to see how many stand by people could get in the show. If you have a group of 20 or more, then you are guaranteed a seat and they had 3 tour groups coming today, so if they didn't show up, then the stand bys would be chosen. It is a lengthly process to just get into the audience. They only have 325 seats available. What they do is send tickets out to practically everyone in the mail, so there is no guarantee.


We came back at 11 and waited some more. There is one lady who wrote people's names on their nametags, so we had to wait for that before they even got to the standby people. So the standbys got number and only the first 38 people made it. Needless to say, I was quite bummed as I had planned for so many months to go to the show, got the t-shirt made, and was quite excited. Not to mention, I wanted to be on it on my 30th birthday. It may sound dumb, but I was quite upset over it.


Carol and Eddy knew how much I wanted to see it and are offering to drive my mom and I back to CBS early tomorrow morning to try and be in the audience again. Carol and Eddy have been so wonderful to us! They even had a nice birthday cake for me today and made their famous shrimp that we were told was so wonderful.


For dinner, we went to a chinese restaurant. On the way home, we had fun popping our head out the sunroof window. It was fun letting the wind go through our hair. I had seen the daughter on National Lampoons Vegas vacation do that out of a limo window, so we did that.


Even though I was quite disappointed with the process that the "Price Is Right" goes through to just be an audience member, I did have a great birthday with my mom, Carol, and Eddy. They are always so good to us.


So, I have to get to bed now as we are going to get up really early in the morning and try this again. Most people wouldn't even think of trying it again, but there is just something in me that wants to see this taping. After that, I won't ever go to the Price Is Right again, as it is such a hassle and you waste most of your day there. I have never had that experience at another taping of a show.

I am happy to announce that we did make it on the Price Is Right after a long day of waiting.



August 25, 2004:  "Price Is Right"Show Experience

Carol dropped us off outside of CBS studios at 5:30 a.m. That's right, it was that early in the morning. The gates at CBS don't open until 6:30 a.m. When we got in, they gave us an arrival ticket. We were number 130 and 131 this time, so we were in good shape.


At 8 a.m., then they had us line up in numerical order of arrival numbers and then wrote a number on our actual ticket. At that time, we were free to leave the CBS studios for 2 hours. So, mom and I went walking around the Farmers Market and the Grove. Then, we had a bagel across Fairfax Ave which was quite good.


At 10 a.m., we came back as we had to be lined up in numerical order to have them check our photo ID and social security cards. Around 11 a.m., we finally got our price tag name tags. That meant we were going to be in the audience.


We got to know the kid who sat next to us. His name was Christopher and he was from Cleveland, OH. HE had quit college and come out to California to go to school. His sister lives out in Long Beach, but he didn't like that area. Then, the 4 ladies next to us were Mexican and go on a vacation together once a year as a reunion. One lady, Carmen, was from Cancun. She was born in Texas, though. The other sisters were from Dallas, Houston, and San Diego.


At around 1 p.m., we had our mini interview for the contestants. When I told them where I worked, they got a kick out of it.


Finally, it was 2 p.m. and we were escorted into the studio. I guess the soap operas are taped right upstairs from the Price Is Right.


We got seats around 6 rows from the front and in the middle. I am seated behind a guy in a service uniform. The set was much smaller than how you see it on TV. That isn't a surprise to me, as I have seen talk shows like Oprah, Jenny Jones, and Jerry Springer and those sets are small.


All of the games and the wheel are on rollers and they just roll them out. Finally, Bob Barker came out and everyone cheered. He is sure looking skinny and looks like he is about to keel over. The models looked like a size 0. I know that TV adds 10 pounds which I think they need. lol


The taping got done at 4:30, so that means we spent 11 hours at the Price Is Right. Isn't that ridiculous? Well, I fulfilled another one of my dreams so that is all that matters.

August 26, 2004:  Wheel Of Fortune Taping

Today we went to Culver City to Sony Studios to see a taping of "Wheel of Fortune". Sony is sure a huge place. We were quite impressed with how the Wheel of Fortune was run. We didn't have to spend hours in line to be in the audience. The show was shown on stage 11 which was next to where Jeopardy is also taped.



Wheel of Fortune tapes 6 shows in 1 day. We were there for 3 of the shows and then there is an afternoon group that sits in for 3 more shows. I think I would love a work schedule like that. Wheel of Fortune only tapes for 33 days out of the year. Then, the Wheel of Fortune will be on the road in 3 different cities (3 weeks at a time).


It was interesting to learn that the contestants stand on adjustable podiums. That way each person is the same height and it is easier for the cameras to tape that way. Vanna White was very pretty in person. Both Vanna and Pat seemed short to me. The set was also smaller than how you see it on TV.


I found out that the puzzles are decided on by writers, Vanna, Pat, etc. They will spend days writing down possible puzzles for the show.


What was nice about this show is that they raffled out tshirts/hats/bags to audience members during the commercial. We got to meet Vanna's daughter, too.


After the taping, we went on a Studio Tour of Sony. Sony bought out MGM studios. It was interesting to learn that the studios will rent out stages for productions. This gives them additional income.


We saw some real trophies won at the Academy Awards for some movies that won them. They are pretty impressive.


One of the buildings at Sony has been used for several shows. This building is where we saw the Academy Award trophies.


We got to be on the set of "Joan of Arcadia". It was interesting to see the police station, the bookstore where Joan works, and the high school. The actors are told to bring pictures of themselves to use as props on the set.


For a 1 hour show, it takes 8 days to tape. Actors spend about 12 hours a day rehearsing.


Sometimes, they will tape an actress talking to a puppet instead of an actual person. They have ways of just taping the face of the actress. So, they have to be really good at acting. The scenes aren't taped in order. They are constantly taking polaroids of the sets or the actress to be sure that if they tape a scene one day and continue the next day, that the actor's hair is parted in the same place or that a prop is in the same place.


We found out that the character, Ralphie, from the movie "A Christmas Story" is now grown up and is a director for a film coming out in the next year.


We also found out that sometimes an actress will walk up stairs as if they are going to the 2nd floor but there really isn't a second floor. There are all kinds of tricks that are done in film making.

August 27, 2004:  Botanical Gardens in Pasadena/Taping of '8 Simple Rules'

Eddy dropped us off at the Los Angeles botanical gardens and we wandered around there for 3 hours. It is sure a beautiful place. We got to see the house where "Fantasy Island" was filmed. It is the part where the short guy says 'Da Plane, Da Plane". Then, I also saw some parts of where "Wonder Woman" was filmed.



There was a gorgeous Victorian house there, too.


At around 2:30, Eddy and Carol took us to this famous burger joint in California called 'In and Out'Burgers". The fries are not frozen, but made from actual potatoes peeled each day and done in 100% cholesterol free vegetable oil. It was very good.


Then, we drove to Burbank and went to a taping of "8 Simple Rules". The big stars in the show are: Katy Segal, James Garner, and David Spade.


Found out that they rehearse for many hours during the week and tape the show on Friday nights. Some portions of the show are pre-recorded during the week and then the audience that comes on Fridays will watch that clip and laugh. That is how they add the laughing into the clip.


It was neat to see a live taping of the show. I think it will be the 3rd episode for this season.


They have to make sure that the show is no more or less than 21 1/2 minutes long. So, sometimes, they have to tape a clip 3 or 4 times until it is right.


The set is small in person and in the middle is the living room set. To the left, was the kitchen set, followed by the nurse's office set, and school lockers set. To the right of the living room was the front of the house set, then next to that was the girl's bedroom set.


Katy Sagal's 10 year old daughter was in the audience. She said she wants to go into acting, too.


They have quite a few crew people working on this show. Found out that each of the cameras used for filming cost around $105, 000. No wonder why it is so expensive to produce a show.


Again, this is an ABC sitcom, but it is filmed at Disney Studios in Burbank. Many of the shows are not necessarily filmed at the networks studio. The networks will often rent a stage at a studio.


It was neat to meet the actors/actresses and see how it is all done.

Tomorrow, we may drive down to Manhattan beach to visit my grandpa's girlfriend's condo. She went with us on the cruise a few months ago.

August 4, 2004: Grand Am/Blueberry Picking

The car I traded in was a Honda CRV which is considered a smaller sized SUV. It was a good car, but I felt that paying payments like that, the insurance, and gas, were taking too much of my income. So, I got a 2001 Silver Pontiac Grand Am. I showed my grandpa today and he really liked it. He said the price is good too. I will feel better not shelling out so much money on car stuff. I want to have a home someday and don't want my money all tied up in car payments and insurance.

Today, I took the neighbor kids blueberry picking. They seemed to enjoy it. My grandpa took us along. Boy, I have never seen my grandpa act like he did today. He was yelling at me because I mixed my berries in his bucket. Apparently, he was wanting to time himself and see how many he could pick in an hour. Then, he slapped me on the hand and got mad when we went to pay, as he said my bucket wasn't heaping over like he likes it. Then, he didn't want to pay the owner the amount she said he had. I had never seen him act like that before. Then, he got mad when he put his berries in his box. He said I had too much junk in my box. I have gone berry picking with him for many years and he always said I picked the best berries. I usually pick the big ones and I don't ever have twigs and green berries in my bucket, but he usually has a bunch of that stuff in his bucket. So, I found that strange that he would yell at me about that. I think he has alzheimers. He seemed to forget all about it around 10 minutes later.

Then, the kids and I got ice cream and came home. Then, I helped clean the house and then took the neighbor boys down to the lake to play on the playground equipment, then we took Maggie to the doggie beach. At first when the waves came up on the shore, she jumped away. Eventually, Maggie did go in the water and she seemed to enjoy that. She went to bed right away tonight. i guess we wore her out.

Tomorrow, mom and are driving to South Bend, Indiana to visit her friend Judi. We are going to eat brunch at the Studabacher mansion. We went there last year too, and the food was wonderful.

June 28, 2004: Paris

We got up pretty early today as we had a full day tour of Paris plus we had alot of other things that we wanted to see.    We took the subway from Bercy Village and got off at the Louvre stop.   We got one day passes and that made it so much easier.  We didn't have a problem with the subway system.   It is the best subway system I have been on.  It is so smooth and not loud, like the ones in Chicago or New York.   We walked to Paris Vision Tours on Rue de Rivoli.   Our tour left from there and we walked to the Louvre which was right across the street.  Boy, that place is huge.   I have never been in a museum that large in my life.   There are restaurants and shops inside there, in addition to the many rooms.
We went to the 4 main rooms.  Got to see some Leonardo di Vince paintings and saw the Mona Lisa.  The Mona Lisa painting is in this protected glass case.  We were able to take pictures of it, though.  It was actually a small painting.   I guess the glass protects it from camera flashes and such.   People were nuts taking pictures of it.   I had to push my way out of the crowd.   They don't speak English, either.
After the Louvre, our tour took us on a river bus over to the Eiffel Tower where we had lunch on the first floor of the tower.   The meal was wonderful and very upscale.  We overlooked the city.   My mom and I were going to go back later to the very top of the Eiffel Tower as the waits can be up to 3 hours for that part.  Then, we took the river bus down the Seine River to Notre Dame and the tour guide told us about that.   I guess the original Paris was on that island where Notre Dame is and then it grew from there.    Our tour concluded there at 4 p.m. so my mom and I went inside Notre Dame and looked around.
Then, we walked over to this department store called Semaritaine and browsed around there. I wanted to get an outfit but they either were too expensive or the ones I could afford didn't have good quality fabric.  I did get some scarves, though, that I can wear with my blouses.
We went up to the 5th floor as they had a pet store.   They had the cutest things in there. I wanted to get Maggie a rhinestone collar but they wanted $100 for them, so of course, I didn't. I did get her this little shirt that had some french written on it.  It is quite cute. Then, I got her a dog toy, too.  There were some French women in there with their dogs.  One of them had a small dog in her purse. It was so cute.   It also had the cutest outfit on it.   You can bring in your pets to just about anywhere in Paris...many restaurants, airports, and department stores.
Then, we walked from that store to the subway and took it over to Champs Elysees and walked down that road. It is famous for its shops and cafes.   By then, my feet were getting pretty tired.   We walked down to the Arch de Triumphe and walked up the 245 steps to the top.  What a gorgeous view!  You could see down all of the streets that branch off from the circular road down below. I took some pictures so hopefully they turn out.
After the arch, we took the subway back near the Louvre as we wanted hot cocoa at Angelinas, but it was closed by then. It was around 8:30 by now.  We ran into Beulah and Caramia down at the Vision Paris office. They were going on a night tour of Paris.  
My mom and I were so tired so we stopped at  McDonalds for a coke.   The bathrooms there were disgusting, but we didn't care by then, as we had to go.
We walked from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower which took about 45 minutes.  The Eiffel Tower lights up around 10 p.m.  At 10 and at the hour of every hour, the lights blink on the tower for 10 minutes and then it changes to just being lit up.   We got in line around 10:15 to go up to the very top.    There were tons of people there. We had to stand in line on the 2nd floor of the tour for over an hour to take the elevator up to the very top.   When we got to the top, it was great.   I got to see all over the city at night.   Now, I can say I have been to the very top of the Eiffel Tower.
Today was one of my best days of my life.  Paris is so much fun to explore and it has been a dream of mine to go to the sites I went to today.  
We got back to the hotel around 12:30 am and were exhausted.  We had been on the go non stop since 8 a.m. that morning (16 hours).   We ordered some hot cocoa from room service and then went to bed. 

June 27, 2004: Genoa to Paris

We left the ship around 8:30 a.m.  I was quite impressed with how easy it was to get off the ship.  It was actually organized. Wow.    Our bus to the Genoa Airport had no AC so it was pretty hot in there. It had just gone out at the port.  Luckily, it was only a 45 minute ride there.  We flew Air France from Genoa, Italy to Paris. It was about a 1 1/2 hour flight.

We got to Paris around 3:30 p.m. and of course, there was no rep from Costa there to take us on the bus from the airport to the hotel, so my aunt called the hotel and they had someone come with a van to pick 7 of us up.   So, we waited 2 hours at the airport for our ride to the hotel.  We finally got to the Hotel Sofitel near Bercy Village in Paris.   Then, the driver gave us the bill.  We were shocked. They wanted $170 Euros for the ride which is over $200 in American money. 

My grandpa's girlfriend charged it and then we got a copy of the bill to give to Costa Cruise line as we intend to get reimbursed as they never showed up once again for our transportation.

It was 7 p.m. by now so my mom and I went to the concierge and signed up for tours. Grandpa, Beulah, my mom and I walked across the street to Bercy Village which was a hang out place for the young people.  We dined at an outdoor cafe and watched the people walk by.   It was an interesting experience seeing how they dress and carry themselves.    Grandpa, Beulah, my mom and I went to the 11 p.m. Moulin Rouge show. It was fantastic.    The dancers were wonderful as well as their costumes. It is something to see if you go to Paris.   We got to bed around 1:30 a.m. and had to get up early the next day for our adventure of Paris.

June 26, 2004: Marseilles, France

We went to Marseilles, France after Barcelona, Spain.   Then, we took a bus ride up to the city, Avignon, which is about halfway between Paris and Marseilles.   It is a beautiful town.    There is this huge palace in Avignon where another Pope used to reside hundreds of years ago. I didn't know there were two popes way back then.   There was a struggle with that in both France and Italy at that time.  It was due to alot of politics.   We went on a guided tour of this magnificent palace.   Then, we had lunch at one of the outdoor cafes in the town.   It was a charming little town.    There was also a double deck carousel in the town which I have never seen before.
We did a little shopping here and then took the bus back to Marseilles and toured the city.  We went to a cathedral at the top of this mountain that overlooked the city.   There were quite a few steps to the top. I was worn out walking up there.
I started coming down with a sore throat on this day so I was starting to not feel so good, so after the tour, I went back to my room and rested most of the evening.   I had to pack my bags, too, as we were getting off the boat the next day.  
My aunt came down with a cold, too, that same day.   My cousin had been sick in the beginning of the cruise and so was another person that was with us, so that is probably how I got it.   Plus, being on the go so much, I probably lost the resistance to fight off the cold.
Sunday,  we got off the ship and flew from Genoa to Paris.

June 24, 2004: Palma de Mallorca/Marseilles/Barcelona

Yesterday, my mom and I went on our own in Palma De Mallorca. We took a bus along with a bunch of other tourists and got off where everyone else did, which was the wrong Plaza. There are plazas all over in these cities. We walked around and found some gelato ice cream which is wonderful. I love Italian ice cream. Then, we asked an Italian man to show us how to get to this cathedral and he showed us the best he could, since he didn't speak English and we don't speak Italian.

Palma de Mallorca is a beautiful city. It is very upscale. We saw the store Escada which is an expensive brand of clothing. Plus, we saw more shops and cafes. We were there in the afternoon which is when their siesta time is.  They usually go home for a large lunch and rest for 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon and then their stores stay open until 7 or 8 in the evening.


We saw this gorgeous cathedral that overlooked these gardens. Then, we walked along the water where there were hundreds of boats and large yachts. This is surely a rich man's town. I guess Michael Douglas has a home here, so we can see why.


Then, yesterday evening, my Grandpa, his girlfriend, my mom and I took a tour which was a dinner and show. The food was delicious and the show was fantastic. It is called Son Mar. It was in an old Spanish home. The dancers were professionals and wonderful. They did Irish dancing, Spanish dancing, etc. I have never seen anything so professional like that in my life. The Drifters which are from the 60s or 70s sang for about 45 minutes. They were fantastic. I heard a bunch of good comments from everyone who went. Of course, my Grandpa complained and he did fall asleep during part of the show.
We had to nudge him as he was sitting in the front and that doesn't look too good.  He has trouble hearing so I think that is a big reason why he complains. But, the rest of us loved it.


Today, we were in Barcelona, Spain. There are about 4 million people who live in the city and about 4 million who live in the suburbs. They primarily speak Spanish here. We went up to Montserrat which is a monastery. About 80 monks live there and choose to live their entire lives in silence and prayer. I don't think I could live in silence.
We were hoping to see the boys choir there in the cathedral but they had just done their 4 years up at the monestary and were about to go home to their families.


Tomorrow, we are in Marseilles and will take a tour of the city as well as Avignon. Then, Sunday, we get off the ship and fly up to Paris to spend a couple of days. I am looking forward to that, as I want to do some shopping there and see some things that I didn't see last time.


We haven't been real thrilled with this cruise ship, as I have mentioned before. I wouldn't suggest going with Costa. Our steward didn't do a great job with cleaning our room. One day, she didn't do it until 4 p.m. We have been on 7 other cruises and had excellent service and food, but this one is mediocre, so I will be listing my comments on the comment card at the end of this cruise.
All of our other cruises have been excellent. I will say that our excursions have been quite good on this cruise. The only exception is the organization of the tour in Capri which was a mess.


I will be glad when I don't have to listen to another Italian. I swear they never shut up. On the bus today, there were two in the back who kept talking when the translator was telling the English people things. Plus, they are quite rude people and push their way into lines and cut in line. One Italian yelled at another for doing that yesterday. It was funny. Of course, I don't let them in front of me. I hope I didn't offend anyone who might be Italian, but that is just what my whole family sees about them. We love the sound of English now.

June 23, 2004: Tunisia, South Africa

We took a tour of Tunisia which is the northern part of Africa. The buildings are all white with blue shutters. It is supposed to be 95 degrees today. That is why our tours were early in the morning. I didn't notice a lot of women dressed in Arab gear. This country is more liberal. 55% of the women go to college so that is pretty high for here. They used to have a law where women students could not wear their Arab gear to school, but that has since been changed in the past few years.


I don't think I would want to be stuck here, though. It is real humid and hot, and there isn't much air conditioning. People here are quite poor and constantly beg you to buy their goods. But, it wasn't as bad as it was in Mexico at the Pyramids, when my mom and I went several years ago.


My aunt and her friend did get their luggage Monday night.  So, they were happy about that. It was found in Nice.


Everytime I see a dog, I think of my Maggie. I sure do miss her. She always brightens my day.


Tonight is our formal night so we will all get dressed up.


Like I said before, we haven't been too pleased with this cruise line. They are so unorganized, not really service oriented like the other cruises we have been on, and they don't put chocolates on your pillow at night. This is a first since we have always got a piece of chocolate on our bed. That must not be a tradition for Europeans.
There are quite a few Italians on the ship. They are all thin and good looking people, but boy, they are chatter boxes. They never shut up. We were at this house in Capri and behind a bunch of Italians and they were so loud. I think that would drive me crazy.


My grandpa is happy that I am going to type up his diaries of when he was in World War II. We were talking about it since he was in Italy, Sicily and northern Africa when he taught. It will be a big project, but I think it will be worth it in the end.


I am going to take a snooze before dinner. Tonight was our formal night. Tomorrow, we will be in Pallma de Mallorca. I heard that Michael Douglas has a big fancy home there.

June 22, 2004: Pallermo, Sicily

Today, I am in Pallermo, which is on the northern part of Sicily. It is around 4 p.m. right now (6 hours ahead of you). We took a tour today of the city and got to see the catacombs. It was an eerie place to go. Hundreds of years ago, the wealthy people in Europe used to have their bodies kept in crypts so that their families could come and visit. There are about 6,000 corpses in this place. Some still have the skin on them and there are clothes over them. They had the women in one room, the men in another, and the little ones in another. To me, it is pretty disgusting to preserve a body that long for people to come to see. But, they didn't have burials like we did back then, so this is how it was done. I wasn't supposed to take pictures, but I snuck and took some. Then, I noticed on my way out, that there was a security camera.


We also saw some beautiful churches. We stopped at the big Opera House which is beautiful. Then, we stopped at a local outdoor market and saw them slicing tuna. It kind of makes you not want to eat it.  I am not a seafood lover, anyway.


Their zuchinis are long and skinny and their raspberries are smaller than ours. I got a picture of a cotton tree with cotton on it which was interesting.


Last night for our entertainment, there was a man and a woman who did impressions of famous people using their hands in front of light. They did an excellent job. I don't know how the guy was able to do this, but it was pretty amazing. It might sound cheezy, but it is a talent, if I might say.


This afternoon, my mom and I went on the curly slide on the ship. My mom was scared to go, but she went and loved it. She went down twice and I went down 3 times, since I am a kid at heart.


Tonight is casual night and tomorrow night is our first formal. Tomorrow, we will be in Tunisia which is the northern part of Africa.

June 21, 2004: Naples, Italy

Well, my aunt and her friend, Marnie still don't have their luggage. Costa thinks it is still in New York, so they have been borrowing clothes from the rest of us. No one has even told them they are getting money to buy new clothes.

I am having a good time on the trip, but I suggest that no one take Costa Cruise line. This particular trip with Costa caters to the Europeans. There are only 75 people out of 3,000 that are Americans on the ship. You waste time waiting for people to tell us stuff in several different languages.

Today, we went to the island of Capri which isn't far from Naples. It is a cute little island. Of course, we didn't learn a whole lot because of all of the languages. We have never had this problem with other cruise lines because they always spoke English and I think they catered to us.

One thing I will say is that Costa is not very organized with some things. It's very strange. We have been on 8 cruises now and this one is the worst for organization.

But, the food on the boat has been really good. I don't know what they do with their scrambled eggs, but they are sure good.

We had already gone to Pompeii on a prior cruise, so that is why we wanted to see Capri. Oh, the boat over to Capri was rocky and some people barfed. They gave everyone barf bags, if you can believe that. I felt queasy on the way over, but it was better on the way back. I don't get sick on these big boats, but sometimes, I do on the smaller ones. When we go on the ferry to Milwaukee in July, I am going to take some medicine, as I heard it is a bit rocky and 2 1/2 hours would be long feeling queasy.

We got some good Italian chocolates in the store on the boat. They don't put chocolates on your pillow at night like on the other cruises, so we had to treat ourselves.  The chocolates were actually quite mellow and tasty.

January 2004: Maggie's Debut

Betsy Floyd, a nurse I work with at Muskegon County Health Department, was giving away some pekingnese/pomeranian/poodle mix puppies.   In the beginning, Jean Chang, our epidemiologist, wanted the white puppy, but then decided against it, which was great for me.
Maggie was born on November 30, 2003, underneath a computer.   Betsy brought Maggie to my house at 6 weeks old.   She was only 3 pounds and so adorable.   I have never had a pet in my life, so this was all going to be a new experience for me.   Maggie looked so chubby.

Maggie had a bunch of visitors on her first day, including Patty Kmiecik, Beth Short, Matt Tomasiewicz, Cody, and Conner Schotts.     She ran all over the house, trying to hide under the lazyboy or behind the refrigerator.

My mom left to do some errands, so I was alone with Maggie and she got behind the refrigerator and I panicked.    I had no idea what to do and was scared she was going to get hurt, so I called Betsy.

I called Betsy many times during the first 6 months with questions.     Maggie is so loveable with everyone. I have never seen such a friendly dog.

Maggie truly has been a blessing to me, for which I am very thankful.   Now, I know why 'DOG' spelled backwards is 'GOD'.