Tag: travel plans

Travel Plans and Parental Controls

Bellana came home late last night. Late enough that I was asleep. I woke up at 4:00am for some reason and checked the driveway and her car was there. Wonderful! My step daughter is home!

By 8:30am though we had dropped her off at the airport. She’s flying to Denver, meeting a friend, and then driving back to somewhere in North Carolina. From there she’s going to Atlanta and flying to Orlando where she will meet up with the rest of us for our Disney trip the week after next.

That’s a lot of traveling!

Her flight hasn’t boarded yet, but according to flightaware.com it is still on time. Safe travels, Bellana! We love you!

On an unrelated note, I think I need to set up parental controls on my computer. I think I need to block ebay. Yeah… I bought another camera last night. What the fuck, Robert? This one is a 35mm with autofocus. It has a 50mm lens too. Bonus! I still don’t think I will take any film on our vacation, but it is pretty clear my self imposed two month film hiatus isn’t going to last more than a few days. Oh well. I tried.

While we’re on the subject of film, I got a notification from the lab I sent the last batch of film to that it arrived. That was Thursday afternoon. I was hope hope hoping that I would receive word that the scans were available yesterday but I gots nuttin’. I doubt they’ll be working over the weekend, so hopefully early next week we’ll have the results. I’m optimistic that the five medium format rolls come out okay. Four of them might at least. One of them might be a smidge under exposed. I had the light meter app on my phone set wrong during one roll. Dumb ass. Everything else (hopefully) was free of user errors or dumb ass fuck ups. Fingers crossed.

Past Peak?

My question for the universe…

And by universe I mean one tiny sliver of New Hampshire:

How’s the foliage situation in the White Mountains of New Hampshire today? Is it too far past peak to make the drive up tomorrow?

We didn’t go last week because we heard the crowds and the traffic were beyond unbelievable, but this week is probably too late… so should we go or not? That is the question that troubles my soul this morning…

And by troubles my soul I really mean that it doesn’t trouble my soul at all, I’m just curious and overly dramatic at 6:26am on a Friday morning.

Cook Out

The weather was garbage when we got up this morning, but by lunch it had cleared up nicely. I had a mini-cookout. I made us burgers and fries for lunch. I hope Jen enjoyed it. We were watching Disney Cruise videos while we ate… and now we want to go swimming in the Caribbean.

I have been in the Atlantic Ocean. I have been in the Pacific Ocean. I touched a Great Lake once… actually… twice, I think. I’ve been in lakes and ponds and rivers. I have never been in a Sea though. Taking a dip in the Caribbean could fix that oversight.

297/365
297/365

Okay, Robert. Back to your chores. That bathroom isn’t going to clean itself.

Things We Need to Do

We’re leaving for Florida a day and a half from now. What do we need to do before we leave?

Tonight we’re packing. I did all of the laundry in the house over the last couple of days. We need to sort, fold, and put away what isn’t going with us, and pack what is.

We need to pack toiletries. Everything that is coming along that isn’t going to be needed tonight or tomorrow needs to be packed.

On Friday morning before work I need to go to the grocery store and pick up some stuff. Bottles of water, maybe some Gatorade, and ice for the cooler… assuming we’re taking the cooler. Maybe we shouldn’t. It’s going to eat up a lot of room. I might be changing my mind on that one. I also need to pack up a ton of protein bars and sugar free snacks. I also, also need to figure out how to keep that stuff from melting in the car. Maybe the cooler is coming after all. I have an insulated lunch bag that I can throw an ice pack into that should work on a day to day basis, but we’re talking about a multiple day drive. I will also need to bring a stash of stomach safe foods to the parks each day, and I will need to have some for the drive home. That’s a lot of protein bars. I don’t know. I need to think about this.

What else? Chargers for our iPhones, Apple Watches, Air Pods, and laptops. All that needs to be packed. I also need to figure out exactly what my camera needs will be. One digital (my Nikon Z5) and one film (my Nikon FG-20, I think). Do I bring two lenses for the Z5? How much film should I bring for the FG-20? I also need a back pack to hold all of this stuff while I journey through the parks each day. I think I know what to do about all of this. I just have to pack it up.

Should we get an audio book for the long drive there and back? We’ve done that before. What book though? Do you think Jen will be down to listen to Isaac Azimov’s Foundation? Am I down to listen to that? Probably not. There’s a new Stephen King short story collection coming. Is that out yet? Maybe just go with the old standard and listen to a Harry Potter novel? I would be fine with any of them, but 3, 4, and 7 are my favs.

This seems like a lot of things to take care of before we go, but it’s really not. We’ll have everything set long before we load up the car and head out on Friday. The only real question I have is, will this place be open when we drive by?

Traffic

Traffic heading into the office this morning was pretty bad. Fortunately for my schedule, I left the house super early and made it to work with plenty of time to spare.

265/365
265/365

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend here in the United States. The expectation is that everyone and their uncle will be out on the highways at some point. We’re likely going to see them all. We’re driving from Massachusetts to Florida. The traffic is going to be epic. Or at least the potential for it is there.

I’m just prepping myself for the worst while hoping for the best. We’re giving ourselves a ton of extra time for the drive, so even a slew of awful traffic won’t put us off our schedule. We’re ready and we can hack it. I just hope we don’t have to.

Traffic sucks, man.

36 Minutes Left

It is 4:54pm. I get off work at 5:30. 36 minutes to go until the long weekend.

Do I have any plans yet? I want to do some cleaning. Jen and I might take a lunch time drive tomorrow. I want to go grocery shopping in the morning.

Anything else?

The weather is supposed to be clear all three days. There has to be some photography fun. I might get up for some ocean sunrise tomorrow. The sunrise is after 6:00am now. I can handle that. I might shoot some film at the ocean, including some black and white film. How would a sunrise look on black and white? Dreamy and cool or blah? We might find out.

I need to book a Genius Bar appointment. My iPhone’s lightning connection is failing. I need to get that fixed. They probably just need to clean it, but we’ll see. I might wait until next week for that one though.

As previously stated, there is a Disney World trip this month. It’s a short one, but it’s coming up quickly. Is it too early to write up a packing list and start planning that? Do I need to buy a bathing suit? What are the chances of Jen and me hitting the hotel pool? I don’t know. I’ve lost over 200 pounds since the last time I owned a bathing suit or a pair of shorts that could pass for a bathing suit.

In other words… I have no idea what we’re going to end up doing over this upcoming holiday weekend. All I know for sure is that it is now 4:59pm and the weekend is 31 minutes away.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone. Hello and welcome to 2023. 2022 can go suck an egg. Here’s hoping 2023 improves things.

We did not make it to midnight last night. I think it might be the first time in my adult life that I didn’t make it. I tried. At about 11pm last night I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. Jen was already sound asleep. I said the hell with it, sent the kids a Happy New Year text and then packed it in.

I woke up around 4:30am. My alarm was set for 5:00. I hate when that happens. I didn’t get out of bed until almost 6:00, but I didn’t sleep much if any during that hour and a half or so. When I did get out of bed we decided to go see a doctor to get some reassurance that we’re good to go on a two day drive followed by a week+ Disney trip followed by a two day drive. The doctor gave us the go ahead and now we’re all set.

My immediate plan is to do the 30 minutes of exercise that I didn’t do when I didn’t get out of bed at 5:00am. I’m going to take care of that as soon as I post this. After that, breakfast. After that… no clue.

The Bruins lost to the lowly Sabers last night. Hopefully they were just getting it out of their system before the Winter Classic tomorrow. I’m going to make my beloved bride listen to the game in the car as we drive south. I hope she forgives me for being a prick like that. Love you, sweetie.

Okay, time to faux job (pronounced “yog” with a soft J). Wish me luck.

Happy New Years Eve

So it is New Years Eve again. 2022 was a kick in the balls but it was probably better than 2021 and 2020. Not by a lot, but what can you do? Will 2023 be better than 2022? Who knows. Current annual trends imply that 2023 will be better than 2022 but it will still suck badly. It’s sort of the way things are in the 2020’s, you know?

So we’re all going to Times Square to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, right? Yeah… no. I am going to do some errands this morning and then visit my parents. The kids are coming over in the afternoon. I think we’re going to have a late lunch/early dinner while they are here (gnocchi again?) and then… who knows? Staying up until midnight is even up in the air right now. We might just ignore all of the festivities and go to bed. It’s too early to say.

What are we doing for New Years Day tomorrow? I haven’t a clue. Nothing? Packing? Yeah, packing. Then on Monday, the kids will come over with their luggage for the trip, we’ll load everything in the car, and then Jen and I will hit the road. The kids will fly on Wednesday and if all goes as planned we’ll meet them at the airport when they land.

Will I play guitar this weekend? Maybe. Will I play with my new camera? Definitely. Will I spend quality time with the love of my life? Of course!

New Lens Day? I Hope!

We ordered a new Nikon Z mount lens and a couple of memory cards from Best Buy this morning. The intention being a curbside pickup in Salem, NH.

An hour or so ago I got a notification that the memory cards are ready for pick up. Jen got a notification that the lens was being readied for pickup in Nashua, NH.

Oops.

I don’t care where I have to go to pick the thing up, I just want it for the vacation. It’s a 40mm, f2 full frame prime lens and I am sitting here kinda drooling over the thought of it. Nikon doesn’t seem to have a 35mm or 50mm Z mount lens yet, so this puppy is pretty much the sweet spot in between them. It’s also tiny, which is super nice. I’m really hoping I can wander around Disney World with a 40mm prime on my digital camera, and a 50mm prime on my film camera. Double fisting like a boss, right?

Speaking of film, I am still waiting for the notification that my test roll of film scans is ready to download. It’s been a couple of days since the lab notified me that they had the film. Now I just need the scans so I can be sure using Dad’s Pentax lens on my Nikon camera will work. I know it will because the camera is an SLR and I can see through it without any problem. I just want to make sure the film shots look okay. I’m hoping the adapter doesn’t screw with the focus, or let any light leak into the camera, or anything like that. If I don’t see the scans today I will likely see them next week, but there will be a few days of picture taking opportunities in between. I’ll probably just use the lens that came with the Nikon when I bought it off of eBay. I’ve already packed up the film I’m bringing along. There’s more than I can see myself using, but I will be set no matter what. There’s also this groovy new mirrorless camera that will be drawing attention away from film, so I’ll likely shoot less film that I was planning. I can’t say for sure though.

I am a nerd. You knew that already though. I think we’re all good with it.

Three hours and 32 minutes until vacation.

Driving Means More Obnoxiousness

We were going to fly to Florida for our nearly two weeks at Disney World. Now we’re driving. This means a few things. Obviously it means we’re leaving earlier and getting home later and it also may mean cutting the last day at the parks a little short. It means we’ll have a car with us for the whole time which implies we can leave the resort if we need to (as in, we need to buy protein bars or something). It also means gas money. We are going to do our best to leave the car in the parking lot for the whole trip. Disney provides transportation between everything on the resort so we will be able to travel all over the place without using our car. That’s the goal, and it’s worked fine the two times we’ve stayed on the resort in the past.

There are other things that driving allows too, and for me it means I have the opportunity to be WAY more obnoxious. Heh Heh.

I was planning on taking two cameras, the new Z5 and the film FG-20. I was planning on taking one lens for each camera. I was also planning on leaving some of my film behind, just the two rolls of ISO 800 film that I picked up from Amazon not too long ago, out of fear of X-Ray/CT scans at the airport. I was also planning on bringing some envelops with me so that I could ship film off to the lab a couple of times, rather than fly home with them and risk a second X-Ray/CT scan.

Now that we’re driving? All of the lenses are coming. All of the film too. No more worries about luggage space on the plane. We’re taking the Mazda because it’s the bigger of our two cars, and with just me and Jen on the drive we can fill up the back seat as well as the trunk. That means we can take the kids’ suit cases so they don’t have to check their bags, and it also means nerd boy can take his big camera bag rather than just putting the two cameras into his carry on backpack. Oh yeah, babie. Robbie is going to be photographically insufferable. Insert maniacal laughter here.

Driving also means we will have to load up on protein meal replacements for the drives down and back. I was likely going to do that anyway, but this just adds an extra couple of days to consider. It also means Jen and I will need to do laundry more often, though possibly the same number of times but needing to do the first loads earlier in the week. Something like that.

What else does it mean? I’m thinking! We might end up listening to an audiobook during the drive. Something like that. Maybe I’ll put together a Rob’s driving while Jen is sleeping music playlist. I once made a playlist of favorite guitar moments from the Big UK Three, Clapton, Beck, and Page. I shuffle it and let it go. It runs for a few hours. I only get the urge to use that playlist on long drives. Maybe it will get some use.

That reminds me! Total change of subject.

On Monday Jen, Bellana, and I went car shopping. We were in our second dealership and we found The Car. As we sat down in the office to start the purchase process, the classic rock station playing in the background (it was a Boch dealership. Ernie Boch, Jr is a rocker. Jen and I saw his band play at the Brad Delp Memorial concert back in the stone age. Ernie and the Automatics. Two ex-members of Boston were in the band. Or was it three ex-members… I can’t remember if Fran Sheehan was in the band or not, but Barry Goudreau and Sib Hashian [aka Dwayne The Rock Johnson’s father in law] were) played the Golden Slumbers medley by The Beatles. Pretty much my favorite thing in the entire Beatles catalog. I took it as a sign from the music gods that we were buying the right car.

Not long after that the radio played Trampled Underfoot by Led Zeppelin. I haven’t heard that one in years. The next song they played was Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. I thought to myself, two songs by two of The Big Three in a row. If they play something by Jeff Beck next it will be more proof that universe approves of the car purchase. They did not play a Jeff Beck song next. Oh well.

But wait, there’s more!

Last night we went back to the dealership to pick up Bellana’s new car. The song that was playing as we walked in the door? I’m a Man by the Yardbirds… with Jeff Freakin’ Beck on guitar. Holy Shit Nuggets! They weren’t consecutive, but the universe gave me all of The Big Three. Woah!

Anyway, back to planning the trip and being obnoxious… I can’t think of anything else right now. I’m sure I will later, and I am sure I’ll write a 50 page essay describing it. Until then, go listen to some Jeff Beck and then maybe go buy a car.