Friday, October 3, 2008

A Second Career?

I love my job. I really do. Even when there are multiple "opportunities for excellence" coming my way at once, I still love my job. I work with a great set of people - each one unique, bringing a cornucopia of talents to the table. I work for a great company, too. By and large, I like the work values they ascribe to and I appreciate their emphasis on enriching the family and other's lives. However, last night, I contemplated a career change. Briefly, but still the thought was there. I want to be (drum roll, please) a...

Personal Shopper!

Yep. Really, when you think about it, it's like playing with Barbies as a grown up. Remember picking out Barbie's perfect outfit for her day out with Ken? And what about Ken? It didn't matter what you put on him, the guy just looked good. The advantage as a grown up, is as a Personal Shopper - you help people match, look good AND spend THEIR money. Does it get any better than that? I think not. :-)

Last night found me at Value Village with a couple of the Compadres - shopping for their formal attire. Did you know that the leisure suit can be found in an array of colors? My favorite was a madras plaid in green and red, lined in gold. Bummer - Kadar wasn't going for it, but I thought "hey...it's a cruise - live a little!" The better part of wisdom won out and we did find a treasure in a navy blue sporty suit coat. Sharp! Even better when the green tag items were half off. A little digging and a few good sales at Land's End/Sears and Wal-Mart provided a new Formal Attire wardrobe for the youngest male Compadre.

It's funny...I can go all year and buy a couple of new items of clothing. OK, probably more than a couple, but outside of special occasions, they all work for work and play. So why is it that I feel the need to shop when I'm going on a cruise? I'm not doing anything any different really. I still go to bed and wear pajamas (although, my fear of having to leave my stateroom in the middle of the night for some bizarro reason spurs me to ensure my pj's are new and hole-free); I'll still get up and take a shower and dress to go outside (something about being on a vacation makes me think capris are THE fashion choice that will catapult me onto the cover of Vogue); and while I don't normally parade around in a swimsuit, I will put aside all qualms and take the plunge into the deep end of the pool (after all - I'll probably never see most of these people again and as long as I can wrest the video camera and zoom lens from my Compadres, I'm safe). The one exception to all of this is the formal attire. We have 4 formal nights on board and each night requires something a little different. Well, at least for me. I've allocated 1/2 of my single suitcase to formal wear. I hope it's enough...

Tonight is our last meeting before heading for the airport. Oh, our meetings are not the typical round table-agenda-gavel-type of meetings. Ours usually involve copious amounts of snack food, good travel books and Wii. We plan our steps, discuss any lingering questions, hand out information and then we play games - eating snacks along the way. After all, we need to condition ourselves for the mounds of food and buffets on board - we'd hate to waddle away without doing our share. Maybe tonight we'll review how to pack for all our new clothes and the Formal Attire. I better check the labels for Spandex...

Thursday, October 2, 2008

The Business of Preparations

After a crazy little experience with the hotel in Athens, I'm happy to say that we have a place to rest our weary heads and to freshen up upon arrival into Athens. All together now - say it with me..."Whew!" I'm sure the collective guest registry on board is thankful that we'll be able to shower and change before boarding the ms Rotterdam as much as we are. No one wants to cruise with stinky people. :-)

Why is it that whenever you go on a trip, every little thing that has been put off to do, or accomplish, suddenly comes to the forefront and MUST be done before departure? Really, is it that important if it's been sitting for the past 6 months, unattended, to complete it before I leave for three weeks? Not likely, but somehow, I feel the need to "git 'r done". Last night is a case in point. The clothes that I've been meaning to donate for the better part of a year now finally got sorted out of my closet. Lest you think it was any easy task...think again. Three very large storage containers later and I can say that I think it's finally all sorted. Now, just to get them downstairs and to Value Village for donation - that will be the true test!

Another project that's been on the "to do" list for a long time is painting a little tiny section of the wall where it meets the ceiling. I mean, seriously - one episode of CSI:Miami and it'd be done...if I'd only start. Maybe tonight...

Back to the real preparations of the trip: A few months ago, the youth group began to develop a source of income for their various projects. Personally, I think it's a brilliant idea for youth groups to do this. Not only does it ease the burden a bit off the general fund, but more importantly, it teaches a skill set as well as valuable life skills of teamwork, management and in this particular case - creativity. The youth group at Muldoon Community Assembly is in the Silk Screening business. What a cool idea! Anyway, one of our Compadres came up with the idea that our little travel group should get T-shirts printed. It would be fun to be identified as a group, but also provide some income as well as critical multi-color process skills for the youth group. Last night, I saw the results of their hard work - and I'm impressed! These kids, with their leadership, have done a great job! We may tweak the color a tad, but other than that the printing process is ready to go. I'm excited to be able to proudly wear the design, but even more so that I can say our youth group did it! Anyone need some custom shirts printed? I know a great little print shop...

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

And so the countdown begins...

It's only 8 days until The Compadre's Cruise of 2008 commences. There's a lot of excitement, nervousness and anticipation as the last few details are being worked out. Actually, I think a lot of the anxiety might stem from what and how to pack! :-) Perhaps I should provide a little background as to how this whole adventure has come about...

One night, while enjoying the company of friends and playing games, we decided to take a trip. My friends and I wanted to go back to the Middle East as our love for Israel continues to grow from our previous trips. While it didn't seem prudent at the time to just tour Israel, we decided upon a Holland America cruise. The itinerary was fantastic - the first time Holland has presented it, in fact. We're embarking on a 14 day cruise of the Mediterranean and the Black Seas - "Black Sea & Egyptian Explorer"! I've always wanted to go to Egypt. Last year, we tried and got as close as the Israeli-Egyptian border, but our taxi driver was adamant that we not go in and by the looks of the guards at the border...it was probably a wise decision.

Our itinerary is great. We start from Athens, Greece and continue to Istanbul for two days, overnighting on the ship. From there, we go into the Black Sea and visit Sochi, Russia. Then, it's off to Sevastopol, Ukraine; Constanta, Romania; Varna, Bulgaria: Haifa, Israel; Limassol, Cyprus and finally, Alexandria, Egypt before returning to Athens.

The planning and preparation for this adventure has gone really well. In fact, maybe a little too well. It seems that there is rarely a trip planned (by anyone) of any magnitude that there isn't a little hiccup that has to be calmed, or a wrinkle to be smoothed. I had commented earlier that I couldn't believe how we hadn't encountered one with only 10 days to go. That is...until yesterday morning. The hotel that we had planned to stay at upon arrival into Athens prior to the cruise - cancelled. Yep. Cancelled. Granted, it wasn't the end of the world, but holy cow - none of us really wanted to spend the day of arrival at the airport. We get in at 12:50 in the morning and the ship doesn't sail until 5pm. That's a really long time checking out the local airport. Seriously. So, what's a girl to do?

I let my fingers do the walking and after looking extensively, finally found a hotel that offered triple rooms. Oh, and one that didn't break the bank. We'd all like to have a few coins to spend on the trip - and not all at once before we even set sail! Oh, I should mention that there is some sort of National celebration that is going on in Greece that created a shortage of inexpensive hotel rooms. It's going to work out - of that, I am certain!

It's my intention to chronicle the adventure as we go, so keep checking back and please, feel free to leave comments!