One of the great things about the cruise is the level of service you receive there. Everyone is very friendly and helpful, especially the wait staff. I can only think of a couple of other times I’ve experienced service at that level. What became glaringly obvious to me during that week is that the majority of people have no idea about etiquette and manners. Typically it is not done spitefully, but still people seem to lack even the basic habits of a civilized society and I think that it is time to bring manners back. Read more »

Posted: October 24th, 2008 under Improvement.
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Earlier this week I was reading the forums over at the Art of Manliness (a great blog by the way) and someone asked the question “When is a good time to teach kids about finances?” The general response was “when is not a good time?” This really struck a chord with me because I’ve wanted to talk to my daughter, Hope, about money but since she is only 6 I wasn’t sure it would stick. Still, in reading that post, it made me think about it more and I decided that even though she won’t understand the details, she should understand the basics of a budget and when to save and when to spend. So, I’ve drafted up a plan. Read more »

Posted: October 23rd, 2008 under Financial.
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During the cruise I had plenty of time to watch an interesting cross-section of people. By far the most entertaining/annoying are the group I call the “woo-hoo people.” Who are these people? They are the ones that end every sentence by raising their arms up and emitting a loud Woo-Hoo (“I’m going to the bar! Woo-hoo!”  or “I’m on vacation! Woo-hoo!”). Alcohol is often involved as well. What bothers me the most about these people is the fact that they feel like they must do everything in the extreme. They don’t have a few drinks, they get drunk. They don’t lounge by the pool, they splash around annoying others. They are obnoxious and are not concerned for the others around them, because they are on vacation. Read more »

Posted: October 22nd, 2008 under Improvement.
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If ever there was a good reminder for me to stay in balance, this week is it. Taking a cruise is a whole lot of fun, but it is not a relaxing vacation. Many times you need to be on the pier by 8:00 AM for whatever excursion you wish to go on and that is after staying up late the night before, so you tend to get by on 6 or less hours of sleep. Not to mention you are running around climates that are different than what your body is used to. So now that I’m back, my nose and lungs are full of gunk. Ugh. Read more »

Posted: October 21st, 2008 under Health.
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Back from vacation and I picked up some kind of congestion in my chest. Probably just ran around too much and weakened my constitution, so I’m struggling through the day dealing with a chest full of goo. Anyway, one of the stops we made on our trip was to Belize. Now I hadn’t really heard of Belize before, if asked I would have thought it was a city rather than a country. Still that’s where the cruise ship went, so we went too. Read more »

Posted: October 20th, 2008 under Balance.
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