Thanks Everybody,
25 years, where did the time go! Beautiful wife, 2 great teenaged kids, a Pug and a Chihuahua puppy. I'm blessed.
This year has been terrible in my family and this cruise is a welcome respit. In the beginning of February, my dad passed away after a short but valiant battle with liver disease. As the only son, it fell on me to comfort and assist my mother. This was not done out of duty but love and respect for my mom and dad.
2 weeks after he passed away, I was handed my job termination date of September 30th and severance package. Now there is stress. The top 2 stresses a person can go through within 2 weeks but I had to continue on for my family and mother. Our company was sold to a multi-national transportation firm last year and they did not need any of us that worked in Information Technology. In July, I was approached by a company that I had consulted for on the side and asked if I would be interested in a full-time position to help them with struggles they are having with systems automation and backups. I jumped at it but then the lines of communication dried up and I thought they had a changed their minds. On Monday, I was contacted by the Manager of Computer Systems and he apologized for not talking to me sooner but he was on holidays for the month of August. He came in from his holidays to sign the paperwork to finalize my position and ask me if I would be ready to start on October 3rd. You Bet!!
Then just after he hung up, I got a call from my wife telling me that her dad has been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. He is 84 and is already talking about giving up. So we start all over again with him just like I did with my dad.
Hope I did not bore anybody but sometimes I have to let it out.
I will be taking lot's of photos and writing up a review. I'll post the photos of the Sky Suite and the Mercury in the gallery during the first week of October. I've heard good things about Celebrity and we are really looking forward to it.
18 days to go! But we still haven't received our docs. A call to my TA eased my mind. I filled out the forms online and I may not receive true documents like I am used to. The printouts will be my documents and I will be handed luggage tags at the pier according to her. Our reservation still shows on their web site as booked and paid.
Gord
Radiance of the Seas - Pacific Northwest September 2001
Norwegian Wind - Alaska May 2002
Radiance of the Seas B2B - Pacific Northwest October 2002
Star Princess - LA to Vancouver May 2003
Radiance of the Seas - San Diego to Vancouver May 2004
Diamond Princess - Seattle to Vancouver September 2004
Upcoming
Mercury - Pacific Northwest September 2005
