I Wish We Had Cable

Following Michael Jackson's sudden death MTV played a marathon of his videos. I would have enjoyed seeing that. I did watch several, of very poor quality, on youtube though.

I was 4 when the Thriller album came out, but I remember listening to it over and over at my cousin Tiffany's house. Tiffany also forced me to perform dance routines with her to Michael Jackson and Madonna's music on a pretty regular basis at family gatherings.

I also distinctly remember the Billie Jean video from the early years of MTV. I think they played that video and the Beat It video all the time. And of course, I was completely terrified of the Thriller video. I got to show that video to my 11 year old sister this past weekend. How had she never seen it?

All that to say, his death was sad for me because his music was a big part of my early childhood.

Cousin Tiffany, Cousin Meredith, Me

In the other picture Tiffany and I are at Hanna Barbara Land. I don't know why we were sharing that stuffed animal.

Random Vacation Tidbits

Here are just a few things that I forgot to mention in my earlier vacation posts.

1. When we got on the first ship the Delcambres’ room smelled like a bar. It was horrible. In trying to deal with that and hopefully get them moved to another room, Marcus was told that the ship was overbooked. Huh? How do you overbook a cruise ship? Where do the extra people sleep?

2. Marcus, the Delcambres, and I played games in one of the restaurants most nights of the cruise, and most nights the ship played some sort of Michael Bolton’s greatest hits DVD. I Said I Loved You But I Lied is the dumbest, sappiest song ever written. If I didn’t hate Michael Bolton before, I certainly do now.

3. During our 2 weeks in the Caribbean/Bahamas, we saw a whole lot of people in swimsuits. Now, I am all for people of all shapes and sizes wearing whatever swimsuits they want, with two exceptions: First, speedo wearers. I don’t care if you’re George Clooney or Brad Pitt (attention older gentleman with a beer belly and middle aged gentleman with Robin Williams level hairiness, you are neither) no one wants to see you in a speedo. No. One.

Second, thong wearers. While we are very impressed with the 23 hours a day you spend on the stair master at the gym, we don’t want to see your bare bottom. We really, really don't. We especially don’t want to see it when you bend over (repeatedly) to pick up your golf ball while playing putt putt.

Seriously, wouldn't the world be a better place if speedos and thongs were banned everywhere swimsuits are worn?

So there you go, now you are all filled in on our cruises.

P.S. I found lots of pictures of people in speedos that I could have added to this post. I chose not to. You're Welcome.

Should..Should..Should...

I haven’t seen my therapist since February because she retired. We both agreed that I didn’t need to see her regularly anymore (I’m cured ;-), but she is available if/when I need her.

Anyway, just because I’m not in therapy anymore doesn’t mean I’m not still learning stuff about myself. Recently, I realized another area in which I “should” myself constantly.

I suppose some people might envy those who are traveling across Europe, like my friend Irene; raising super cool little kids, like too many of my friends to even count (you know who you are); writing some pithy, hilarious, and popular blog like my blogger friend Kristina; trying to improve Non Muslim/Muslim relations in the U.S. like Marcus’ friend Kara; living a super fun life in New York City like my cousin Meredith; but not me.

Instead, I compare whatever interesting thing they’re doing with whatever uninteresting thing I’m doing, and immediately think something along the lines of “Why aren’t I doing something that interesting (or important or fun or active or cool or whatever)? I should be doing something that interesting.”

Should, should, should. It’s very tiring constantly thinking of all the things you should be doing. I suspect that it is more tiring than actually doing any of those things. (Ok, well maybe not parenting).

Anyway, I don’t have a solution to this particular should problem. I just find it interesting. The really funny thing is that I'm pretty sure I thought that way on occasion even when I was teaching full-time at a university at the age of 23. That in and of itself is pretty interesting.

I'm Still Excited!

Here's President Obama's entire speech from earlier today in Egypt. Normally I read political speeches (don't have to sit through all the built in applause moments that way), but I can't find the transcript for this one yet. Here's the video:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I'm loving this country's new direction under President Obama!

The Rest of our Vacation

After our Caribbean cruise with the Delcambres, Marcus and I hopped on a shuttle bus and headed to the Miami Seaquarium. It’s kind of like a mini Sea World. Since Marcus and I are big animal lovers we had a lot of fun. Plus we both got to see manatees for the first time.

The shuttle dropped us off at the Miami Air Port after the Seaquarium, and from that point we had to take a taxi to our hotel. I booked the hotel weeks before the trip using priceline.com’s name your price. I was certain that we were booked at the downtown Miami Hyatt Regency. In fact, earlier in the week I looked for restaurants near there that we could walk to, and earlier that day I pointed it out to Marcus twice as we passed by in the shuttle. Anyway, we took a $30 cab ride from the airport to the hotel only to find out that our reservation was really at the Coral Gables Hyatt Regency. Another $30 cab ride and we were there. Our room was great and we even had a balcony.

The next day we took yet another cab to the port for our Bahamas cruise. The first stop was Nassau Bahamas. There was a minor thunderstorm most of the morning. We got thoroughly soaked, and I was so tired that I actually fell asleep on the tender ride from the port to our excursion destination. Once our sea lion encounter started we had a blast. Marcus and I and 8 other tourists got to get in the water with Murray the sea lion and his trainer. We got to pet him, kiss him, and hug him. It is right up there with kayaking in Puerto Rico as the highlight of the cruises.

We actually ended up docked in Nassau until 1 am because of passing storm, so Marcus and I decided to brave the Nassau shops for a gift for my little brother. On the way to Senor Frogs near the port we were asked “if we liked to party?” And when I replied with an “excuse me?” The man then asked “Do you want some blow?” I responded with a probably too polite “No thank you.” I then realized that I made it to 30 without being asked directly if I wanted to buy drugs. Not too bad for someone born in Houston in the late 70s.

The next stop was CoCo Cay, which is a private island owned by the cruise line. It was actually disappointing. I was all ready to snorkel, but you had to get to the snorkel spot from the beach which was covered with rocks and slime of some sort. I HATE slime! Marcus and I did enjoy some time just hanging in a hammock.

CoCo Cay, Bahamas

The final stop was Key West, Florida. We signed up for a snorkel adventure. I was so excited because snorkeling is my favorite thing to do. On the hour long boat ride to the reef I started to feel funny, but I got in the water anyway. It was my last chance to snorkel! I’m glad I went. I saw all kinds of fish and plants. It was great. I could have stayed there all day. I’ve already started researching hotels in Key West.

An example of what I saw. I actually forgot the waterproof camera.

It was a really long time to be away from home, but we had a blast!