My Wife The Pharmacist

Well well well, for the last four years my lovely wife Janelle has been slaving away at the books studying to become a pharmacist. She's been eating the vitamins and saying the prayers just like Hulk Hogan says but at the end of four years and a bachelor of science in pharmacy, it all comes down to one test.

To become a licensed pharmacist you have to take a licensing exam. The tricky thing about it is that you not only have to pass the exam (duh) but you cannot be in the bottom 15% of all who take the test at that time (they do it twice a year). So you could get a great mark but if you are among the bottom 15% in the country you fail and are not issued a license. Well this morning the results were in and Janelle called to find out she is licensed. She was so excited, I never doubted for a second!

So that means in 2 weeks I am no longer the bread winner anymore but that is ok... I married a pharmacist.

Drilled

Well just call me Mr. HandyDan because the ol cordless drill has never seen as much work as it has lately. This goes for all my tools actually. At Christmas time there was a tool theme in my gifts, I got like two of everything: cordless drills, tape measures, hammers, saw, level, you name it. Now they are getting good use as the "man of the house" ,which I was in PEI too, is installing everything in the house. So if anybody needs a space saver radio installed, a bed put together, picture hung or a tie rack put up, just call Dan the "handy" man.

Table Talk

Well yesterday Janelle and I had our first meal in our place that wasn't over the cupboard or sink and not on the couch. That's right, we ate at our very own kitchen table. This may not sound like a big deal to you but it is to me. Our place is looking better every day and having the table in the kitchen is awesome to me.

In addition, the handy man of our household (that's me so don't ask CREEP!) installed our space-saver radio/CD player underneath the cupboard with my handy dandy cordless drill. I am patting myself on the back as you read (maybe).

Anyways, I can't really compete with my cruise stories but this what you are going to have to get used to! Sorry I forgot to take pictures.

Back

Well we are back in Fredericton NB and trying to get our place set up. Today's project is to get the phone hooked up... thus we have no internet LISA! haha. Anyways our townhouse looked great until the wedding but now that we are married and have another slew of gifts (I am not complaining in the least!) our place is once again a mess. It is good though. It is actually kind of fun to get everything unpacked and put in place when it is in fact your own semi-perminant residence.

Well on my trip I had all kinds of neat and interesting things happening around me... today I am setting up my new office...

Here are some dolphin pictures!!!

An Update (Part 11) Packing It In

Today is our last day at sea. We have started packing and it is kind of sad but it will also be nice to get home. We did some more sunning on deck nine and had lunch in the dinning room for the first time on our trip. It was great. No real big happenings today. Mostly trying to get organized so we can get off the boat with no hassle from customs. If you are not a USA citizen there are a lot of extras to take care of. Oh well, it is certainly worth it.

Well tomorrow after we port, our flight leaves La Guardia New York at 3:40 PM EST and arrives in Portland at 4:55 PM EST. We are planning to eat at the Olive Garden in Portland and then truck it home so that will put back in Freddy in the wee hours of the morning. Should be good though!

It has been a great trip! What a Honeymoon!

An Update (Part 10) Lazy Day at Sea

(picture 131)
This will be my last update from the ship as the internet is getting expensive! I’ll blog about the last day at sea when we get home. Today was kind of a lazy day. We got to sleep in which was really nice. It is really cool to wake up and look out the window and see nothing but sea, sky and sunshine. We had breakfast on deck nine, (I had corn-pops!) and soaked up the sun for most of the morning.

Around 2:00 we went to try and get on the “Newly and not so newlyweds game” but didn’t get on. This ended up actually being a good thing as some of the questions were not ones you would want to answer in front of a lot of people. It was funny by times though. Then we took the galley tour. This is where you visit the places on the boat where most of the food prep happens. These are really big. It was a long wait but kind of interesting. To clean these rooms they completely empty them and then fill them with water and soap and then drain them!
(Picture 322)
We also got to see a small demonstration of how they fold the towels into animals and the napkins so neatly. You could by a book that showed you how to do them too but we didn’t buy it. Not too likely to be folding them that way for the closet!!

Tonight was formal night again and this is the last one. (picture 114) Once again our waiters are awesome and I am confident in saying they are best on the ship. We also have the best table. (Picture 248) Joy & Trevor and Eric & Sarah are so nice and great to talk to. All six of us have had an awesome time together. (Picture 249)

After supper we bolted to see game seven on the big screen they use to show movies. They served poutine in honour of all the Canadians there and of course Edmonton lost… so to cheer ourselves up we went to the biggest buffet you have ever seen in your life. (Picture 336) Some of the desserts took 18 hours to prepare. It was awesome and I think I am going to be sick. Chocolate is coming out of my ears!

I must comment on this as well as I get ready for bed. The water is rough tonight, it was last night too. I love it when the water is rough at night. It makes you feel like you are sleeping in the world’s largest hammock. Well it feels that way for about 5 minutes and then I am dead to the world in the 9th stage of sleep. I will be there soon.

Good night.

An Update (Part 9) Swimming with the fishes in Tortola

(Picture 285)
Well this morning we woke up in Tortola, a British Virgin Island and things went quite swimmingly. Much like St. Thomas the water in the harbour was crystal blue and the landscape was beautiful. Not much to do when you walk right off the boat, especially on a Sunday but it was interesting to note that chickens and roosters were just out walking all over the place like pigeons or something but not as many.(Picture 261) We could have taken a cab to the beach on the other end of the Island but opted not to because we had an excursion at 11:45AM and did not want to be late or miss it.

Now I understand that the title “Swimming with the fishes” sounds a lot like what we did yesterday (snorkelling with tropical fish). Today we swam with fish again… but they weren’t tropical fish and we didn’t use snorkels. Today (are you ready?) we swam with DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!!! It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life! They love people. They actually remind me of dogs in a lot of ways. They are so excited to see both familiar and new people, when we walked out on the deck they swam right up to us and started… well making the noise that they make. They loved to be touched and played with too. The dolphin we worked with was Hercules and he was awesome. He was the youngest dolphin there at five years old and as a result he would sometimes disobey. This wasn’t bad though (for us). It just meant that sometimes when she told him to go do something, he would come to us for a belly rub instead!! We all got to rub his belly and back. Then we had a water fight with him, which he clearly won. We got to be kissed by him and kiss him back. Janelle got to dance with him (her and only one other person). The highlight for me though was that we got to call him over, grab a hold of his fins and let him pull us through the water! It was SOOO much fun. Unfortunately due to how wet this excursion was we couldn’t take any pictures to post. (Picture 287)


By the time the excursion was over it was time to get back to the boat which headed for New York, New York at 2:00 PM. Supper is a lot of fun. Tonight the waiters danced for us again and made, as many that would, ourselves included, join in a conga line. Really fun stuff.
(Picture 267)


Sorry again for no pictures, I will go back and edit these when I get home and I don't have to pay by the min for internet!

An Update (Part 8) Oilers Win!!!

Just so you know we still get to watch the games here! There are a ton of Canadians on the boat, especially on staff and they are seeing about putting game seven on the BIG SCREEN!!!! Too much fun!

An Update (Part 7) Hot in St. Thomas!

Today we ported in St. Thomas, perhaps one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It literally gave me goose-bumps to look out the window of our ship and see the picturesque landscape of the port. One of the first things we noticed was that unlike New York and San Juan the harbour was so clean, it was crystal blue.

We also went on our first excursion today! This was snorkelling in the Caribbean Sea and it was really fun. We got on a catamaran and sailed for 45 minutes out to Buck Island and snorkelled there for an hour and a half seeing all kinds of sea creatures and tropical fish. I was hoping to see a sea turtle but no such luck. We did, however, see a… well I forget the name of it but the kind of fish Dori is on Finding Nemo, yeah. It was awesome. After our excursion was done we came back on the boat to eat where it is good, safe and FREE! Well not really free because we paid for it to begin with and… So anyways after lunch we went to Magan’s Bay Beach. This was the most beautiful beach I have ever been to in my life and I am pretty sure the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The water was like… it was like when you draw yourself a bath but get used to it too quick so it is warm but not hot. That is what it was like. The water was blue and clean, the sand was soft and, despite the intense heat, didn’t burn your feet! It was amazing.

Well I know this is not a complete day but the internet is cheap right now so I am blogging now to save cash!

We love you all, thanks for commenting and keep them coming, we love to hear from you!

*Once again blogger needs to start working so that all my pictures work

An Update (Part 6) Greetings From San Juan!

(Picture 148)
Today we slept in for a while and had a late breakfast on the back deck. You should see the guys make omelets! Really cool. Anyways after breakfast and a little sunbathing we ported in San Juan Puerto Rico. Now in every stop there are excursions that you can do and they can be quite pricy. There was really only one in San Juan that interested us and it was a walking tour of the rainforest here… a four and a half hour walking tour. We decided not to go. It seemed like a lot of walking in a very hot climate so we opted not to take any of the expensive tours and decided to just walk around ourselves. (Picture 154) That is until we ran into Albert. I said, “Watch it buddy or we’ll be sending your butt back to Porto Rico!” (That was for you Ben!) Just kidding. He was a local tour guide who offered to take us all over the city to see the sites and explain the history for only ten dollars! So we did. It was great and he was really funny. It rained a lot too so we were glad to be on a bus!

Once we got dropped off we hightailed it for the boat to escape the rain. (Picture 161) I will say this though, the rain was warm. And I don’t mean like at home, this rain was really warm. But there was a lot of it and I had my camera so, what can you do?

Once on the boat we had a little nap and then hung out on the back deck… we do that a lot eh? Supper was excellent as always and I must comment that we really enjoy who we are sitting with. Trevor and Joy have only been there twice but they are great and we see them around the boat quite often. Eric and Sarah have been there every night and they are great too. Supper time has been a treat to look forward to each night and not just because of the food… by now you are well aware of my thoughts on the food.

After supper we went to the show which featured the village idiots and holy cow were they ever funny! I mean I thought I was going to die! They did tricks and stuff but Wally the Great’s one-liners were killer! Like when the two of them were juggling 6 knives between them, picking them up one at a time, he said “Watch as I grab the sixth knife with my tortoise like reflexes and arthritic grip!” It was a great show.

(Picture 117)
After the show we went to the sail away party on, you guessed it, deck 9 which was a Mexican theme. HUGE Mexican buffet and a lot of dancing! We are a sweaty mess!
(Picture 181)
Having and unbelievable time,

Good night.

Ok so blogger seems to be having mega problems with pictures and internet is expensive so you will have to wait untill I get home to see these I left the #s later.

An Update (Part 5) Sunny Day!

What a beautiful day it was today, WOW! We woke up this morning to the bright Caribbean sun and it was hot… really hot. We got up and had breakfast out on the back deck. What an experience. Yesterday we had breakfast in the main restaurant and it was really good. This morning we got our food from the main buffet and wow it was amazing.

A lot of today has been just hanging out on the deck and sitting in the pool. It is really nice out and Janelle and I have been soaking up the rays! It has been super relaxing. Another perk was that I got on TV today. Just in-boat television but still. I was teasing the guy who was giving the shopping talk and he called me up on stage and gave me a prize for being married only a few days. That was fun.

The only real thing we did today that took effort was swing dancing lessons! That was super fun. Janelle and I got most improved as the instructor said that I started out with 12 left feet!

Before supper we went outside and watched the sunset. This was amazing. Sun and water as far as the eye could see. Supper tonight was also special. The food and service were exquisite as always but tonight the waiters all danced for us and SO DID JANELLE!!! They all sang “Won’t You Be My Girl” and it was frigging hilarious. Our waiters are awesome. After dinner Janelle and I skipped the show and danced on the back deck instead. This was a beautiful setting which was lit with stringed lights and stars. We had the whole deck to ourselves and finished the evening in the hot-tub on the same deck with some other newlyweds. Great day.

*Once again, blogger keeps messing up so I couldn't put up all the picture I wanted.

An Update (Part 4) First Full Day at Sea

We woke up this morning to the light reflecting off the ocean shining in our cabin. Absolutely breath taking. It wasn’t very nice outside weather wise but that didn’t really bother us that much. There is so much to do inside that it was nice to have a day to take it in without worrying that you were wasting such a nice day. I will spare you the details of everything that we ate today and just say that it was a lot! I can’t say enough about the food.

In the afternoon we went to the middle deck to see if I could play survivor but I didn’t get called. It was still fun to watch though, really funny. Then we went to a game show in the lounge witch I didn’t get to play but once again fun to watch.

This evening we met the captain of the boat at a cocktail party with free drinks and hors d’oeuveres. Tonight was also one of two formal nights where we got dressed up for dinner. Don’t we look nice? Thanks mom! After dinner we went to a Vegas style production which was pretty good.

At the end of the night we came to this little critter on the bed… hope he doesn’t bite!!!

Good night

An Update (Part 3) Wow...

Ok, so we have been on the boat for approximately 11 hours now and we are so glad that we came!!! As soon as we got on the boat we went to our room and it is really nice. Then we immediately went to the unicorn café. Here you can eat pizza, sandwiches, salads, Asian food, bistro style, burgers, desert bar, ice cream parlor… those are the options that I can remember! So good. By the way, at this point the boat has not left yet. When it does leave we cruise by Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty which was really cool. Then we went back for a little tour of the boat by got sidetracked by the unicorn café and more food! Then supper! Notice a theme here? At supper we sat with two other couple and really enjoyed their company. For appetizers, I had hickory smoked salmon and a romaine and cherry tomato salad with ranch sauce while Janelle had chicken skewers in peanut sauce. For the main course she had the sirloin steak with three peppercorn sauce while I had the zini pasta with sausage and bell peppers in tomato sauce with a side of sirloin steak with three peppercorn sauce. For desert we had milk chocolate champagne truffle cake and it was awesome. Before serving desert they asked if anyone at our table had a birthday, anniversary, honeymoon or anything of the sort…. You have not lived until you have had 2 Slovaks and a Chinese person sing “happy honeymoon to you” followed by, “boom boom boom back to the room!” After having our picture taken 18 times, including by one guy who just wanted Janelle in the picture (I don’t get it!), we went to the evening show with a New York comedian. He was really funny. Anyways, I am really tired and ready to turn in. Going to wake up to the ocean, no regrets, so far this is worth every penny!

... well for some reason Blogger is being stupid and won't let me put the rest of the pictures on, I'll try later.

An Update (Part 2) All Aboard

Hello all! We have just boarded the Carnival Legend! Unbelievable and we haven't even done anything yet! Just wanted to let everyone know that we are on with no problems and I will give you a better update later!

An Update

Well well well, right now I am in New York, New York at a Best Western with my new wife! Today is the first day of our honeymoon and we are having a great time. We didn't do much today really, lots of traveling. We drove from our place in Fredericton to Portland and stopped at the Olive Garden to eat. WOW! That has got to be my favorite restaurant! As you can see I was stoked to be there and Janelle was loving the food!. This was easily the highlight of the travel. Then we arrived at the Portland airport and had to carry all of our stuff... my back and shoulders are sore. Anyways, they, for some reason, never gave us seats so our tickets had us in seats not really near each other. A little friendly conversation later and we had side by side seats in the front row. Took a little while to get our bags and then finally get picked up and taken to the hotel but we are just settling in and having a great time.

That's all for now!

The Reason Why

I am going to tell you right now that I will probably not be blogging for a while because tomorrow I am getting married to the the most wonderful gal in the world. So LILY before you start leaving comments about how this post is old and how I'm old and (insert something exeptionally funny and or clever here), that is the reason why.

On a personal note, thank you in advance to everyone who helped out with my wedding. I have the best wedding party ever.

Little is Much

What is the measure of a life well lived
If all I can offer seems too small to give
This is a song for the weaker, the poorer
And so-called failures

Little is much when God's in it
And no one can fathom the plans He holds
Little is much when God's in it
He changes the world with the seeds we sow
Little is much, little is much

Who feels tired and under-qualified
Who feels deserted, and hung out to dry
This is a song for the broken, the beat-up
And so-called losers

Consider a Kingdom in the smallest seed
Consider that giants fall to stones and slings
Consider a child in a manger
Consider the story isn't over
What can be done with what you still have

This is a song by Downhere that really inspired me. God really does use litte things and underqualified people to acomplish big things in his kingdom. That is the only reason I am in ministry today.