It's off to Alaska!

 

By the time you read this, I should be home from my cruise.  We flew out to San Francisco from New York, then spent 3 days there until the cruise started.  I expected a different experience than when I took my first cruise to Alaska on this line almost 30 years ago.  Then, I was still filled with grief, having lost my wife the year before.  Now, I'm with a partner with whom I expect to spend the rest of my days.

Over the next few days, I plan to journal my daily activities.  Unfortunately, I could not take this trip as Marian for several reasons, the most important of which is that my feminine wardrobe is not geared for Alaska's climate. And now, with the Orange Snowflake in power, I would not feel safe going through any TSA/CBP checkpoints as Marian.  We now have a repressive political regime in power these days, and I don't want to be caught in its crosshairs while it's in power.

- - - - - -

Assuming one is interested in an Alaska cruise, one has several decisions to make when choosing a cruise itinerary, a cruise line, and a cruise ship.  Since I am very comfortable with Princess Cruises, it was topmost of the 3 lines allowed to sail into Glacier Bay:

• Princess
• Holland America
• Norwegian

Other cruise lines are allowed to cruise these areas for glacier viewing:

• Endicott Arm
• Hubbard Glacier
• Tracy Arm 

I had several port requirements:

• The cruise must make port in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway.  
• The cruise must spend a full day in each Alaska port. 
• The cruise must make port as close to the Alaskan town as possible.
  (This ruled out Norwegian, which makes port at Ward Cove, 6 miles outside of Ketchikan.)

These requirements limited me to choosing a Princess cruise sailing out of San Francisco. Unlike my last Princess Alaskan Cruise package from this port, they did not have me stay at an airport hotel.  Instead, they booked me into the Mark Hopkins in the heart of San Francisco.  It's one of San Francisco's more well known places to stay with prices to match.  But then, this is a "Bucket List" type vacation and I feel that Princess now wants to make sure that people feel they are getting something special when they book their Alaskan cruise.

- - - - -

San Francisco will always be a special place for me.  My late wife always wanted to live there, but couldn't do so.  After visiting the place once, I wished I could live there.  But life made other plans for me.  It's just as well, as San Francisco lost much of its vibrancy with the Covid pandemic.  Businesses left town, and storefronts were shuttered.  It has yet to recover, and I doubt it will in my lifetime.

On my last visit to San Francisco with RQS, we visited the Japanese Tea Garden, the Musee Mechanique, and had a meal at the Swan Oyster Depot.  With 3 days in town, our choices have expanded, and I will document them in later posts.  Needless to say, we knew where to feast..... 

 

Updates on the last days before my cruise.

 

Lately, I've been preparing for my upcoming cruise, and trying to get as many things in order before flying to California.  I had been thinking of buying a camera for this trip and realized that it wouldn't make sense because I usually get good enough pictures on my cell phone and realized that that the DSLR camera I already own is gathering dust on one of my shelves. (In my defense, the camera doesn't take SD memory cards, lenses aren't made for this camera line any more, and the rig is bulky as hell.)

- - - - - -

Yesterday, I decided to look at cameras on Amazon and found that most of the inexpensive rigs would take more than 2 days to be delivered to my house.  (I wasn't going to pay extra for 1 day delivery.) This was unacceptable, and was one of the main reasons I started to think differently about buying a new camera.  For the most part, this was an unneeded expense, like my drive to the family homestead I took.

Why am I mentioning my drive to the family homestead?

My brother and I own a house that we've been renting out for years. This year, our tenant left, and the place has been vacant since January.  There were upgrades we needed to make to the house, such as replacing the water heater, replacing leaking gas pipes and replacing the washer/dryer in the basement, that had to be done before we could rent the place out again.  While we were doing this, another "might as well" came into play - we repaired and painted the basement walls, then redid the electric wiring and lighting to make it appear as an almost finished basement.  Yet, my brother forgot one thing: Did he make sure that the fire extinguisher was back in the kitchen before the final inspection.  So, I took 4 hours out of my life to find out that the extinguisher was in place when I could have spent it doing something more enjoyable.

There was no way I could do anything else that day.  I had to open up a co-op board meeting specially held to interview 2 applicants to purchase apartments.  This kept me from doing what I would have liked to have done - having one last evening by myself before 2+ weeks of being in the constant presence of others.

- - - - - -

Today, I had only one thing on my docket: seeing an acquaintance I met on the first post Covid shutdown cruise I took in late 2021.  J, as I'll call her here is a retiree who can afford to take several cruises each year, including at least 1 from a bucket list category.  We have been in very loose communications over the past 3 years, and we had another opportunity to meet again - She's going on a cruise that sails out of New York tomorrow, and I'll be leaving for California the next day.  But there is one problem.  She's staying at an airport hotel.  (Why she's not staying in Manhattan I'll never know.) So, this makes my journey to see her more complex, as I have to take Metro North to Grand Central, take the Long Island Railroad to Jamaica, and then the JFK Airtrain to the TWA Hotel where we planned to meet.

My friend was supposed to arrive in NYC at 9 am, but got bumped to a later flight.  That worked out for her, as she didn't have to wait as long at the hotel to check into her room.  I started down to the airport when she was checking in, and was lucky to catch an express train with a few minutes to spare.  (It helped that some people were leaving early, and I found a parking spot within 50 feet of the parking meter kiosk.

With parking voucher in hand (I won't call it a ticket lest a reader get confused), I hopped onto the train (train ticket in hand), and made it to Grand Central at 3:45 pm.  I had a little time to kill, and went to the LIRR concourse at 4:15 pm, catching the next train to Jamaica.  It was easy to kill a few minutes in Jamaica (nothing much to see here, as the train station puts function over form), and then I caught the Airtrain to the airport.  (The Port Authority still uses the obsolete Metrocard to pay for Airtrain rides, and will eventually shift to a "tap and go" system sometime in the next 12 months.  But I digress....)  Given that I was in the airport at 5 pm, I decided to go to the JetBlue terminal, then walk over to the TWA Hotel.  Well, my friend made it to the Airtrain station earlier than I expected, and I trekked back to the Airtrain station to meet her. 

We met around 5:30, and proceeded to the TWA hotel for dinner.  This hotel was originally the TWA terminal at the airport and was decommissioned when American Airlines took over TWA.  It didn't make sense to preserve this terminal for flights, as it couldn't handle today's jets.  More importantly, this building is a landmark piece of architecture designed by Eero Saarinen.  So, it made sense to turn the place into an expensive airport hotel and make the place a living history museum.

I didn't get the chance to explore the whole place - it was time for dinner, and I was hungry.  We talked about cruising for the most part, and indirectly talked politics in a neutral way.  (She pays no interest in politics, but understands why I'd have trouble with the current regime in DC.  She loved the place, and was very glad that I suggested we eat there.  Service at the restaurant was fast in the delivery of our food.  Our water glasses were kept full.  And they weren't in a rush to chase us out for more paying customers.  So it was I who noted that it was 9:30 pm, and that I had to be on my way.

Hopefully, I'll see my friend soon on another cruise, or when she's in New York for some other reason.

PS: My friend is going on the same cruise as another friend from my Yonkers game night group.  Hopefully, they will bump into each other and have a great time.

  

Closing out a weekend with RQS (a short post)

 

Sunday came, and with it came a trip to RQS's storage locker.  Like many, she inherited lots of home furnishings from her parents and other relatives and couldn't store them in her home.  Since she couldn't deal with parting with this stuff, it was stowed away into the storage locker above.  RQS has purged about 50% of the locker's contents over the years, and there is still a lot of work left to be done.

I got dressed in one of the dresses I had at RQS's place,  This dress was a little cooler than I wore into Manhattan, but not one in which I'd want to do any heavy lifting at the storage locker.  After a several block walk, we reached her storage locker and proceeded to do some work there.  Since there was no AC in the building, I wasn't going to work up a sweat and ruin a dress I had only worn twice.  This was just as well, as it gave RQS an excuse to stop working and for us to go out for a burger.

 
We stopped at RQS's place to rest a while, and I noted that I had to make sure I had a parking spot that would stay legal on Monday morning.  Once we visited my car, we saw a couple eating ice cream cones.  Both RQS and I wanted something cold, so we walked several blocks to find a Saturday/Sunday only shop, the Ice Cream Window.  According to the website, the window opened in the midst of Covid for 3 weeks, and has been open every summer since then.  While there, I asked one of the employees what goes on from Monday to Friday and he noted that the main business in the shop was a graphic design studio.

- - - - - -

The next morning came, and I packed up some of my gear and got ready to leave RQS for a few days.  But first, we had to deliver some of RQS's stuff to the Salvation Army.  This meant driving a couple of miles in slow traffic to get there.  So I dropped RQS off with her donations, and drove home for the day.  After a pit stop, I drove over to Uncle Giuseppe's and picked up some food to last me until I leave for my cruise.

Am I ready to cruise yet?  Probably, but I don't feel that way.  

A visit to the Poster Museum (a short post)

 

Sadly, lighting at Poster House made it impossible for me to capture good images of the posters on display without getting reflections from the glass that covers these pictures and protects them from damage.  The above photo was taken of one of the few posters for which I didn't get reflective distortions when taking it.

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Yesterday, it was cool enough that I wore a denim jacket to RQS's place.  Today, it was just warm enough to leave the jacket at RQS's place.  

But first.... 

We woke up a little later than planned, and I had my usual GI-Tract issue at the worst possible time.  Instead of leaving for Poster House at 11:30 am, we didn't get out of the house until noon.  To make things worse, we missed the bus and had to walk to the subway and climb the stairs to the platform.  Once on the train, we had to make a transfer at Myrtle-Wykoff to take the 14th street line into Manhattan.  Instead of taking the advice of the MTA app which recommended that we get off at 6th and 23rd, RQS figured we should go to 8th and 23rd.  By the time we made it to Poster House, it was a little after 1:30 pm.  At this point, I needed to cool down, as the wig I was wearing was keeping me way too warm for comfort. So, we didn't start exploring the museum until 2:00 pm.

After an hour of exploration, we went to a sandwich shop to have a late lunch and chat.  We had a great time until they decided to close the shop around 4:30 pm.  So, we packed ourselves up and proceeded home for the night. I was exhausted from all the walking we had done, and passed out from almost 3 miles of walking added to a touch of dehydration caused by not having a cold water bottle with me.

I was glad that I was able to present as Marian today.  On a day like this, it was nice to be able to wear a comfortable dress, as many women were doing today.  I didn't stand out, and was treated as the woman I appeared to be. 

 

 

It was a good weekend to go to RQS's place. (a short post)

 

The above picture was taken this spring.  Except for the change of seasons, I could wear the same clothes to RQS's place that I wore before our last cruise.  However, I was bringing my luggage to RQS's place for our upcoming cruise and I decided to present as Marian the whole weekend.

- - - - - -

We expected the weather to be in the Mid 70's-Low 80's, and on Saturday we'd be seeing her former coworker in Manhattan.  As a result, my decision was made for me - dress as Marian, and deal with the subway's heat.  So I packed a change of clothes even though I have 4 dresses at RQS's place, with enough underwear to last the weekend.

Since it was Friday, I expected the usual traffic jams on the way to RQS's place.  And the traffic was as expected - terrible on the approach to the Whitestone Bridge, bumper to bumper on the Van Wyck "Expressway", and lethargic on the side roads between Rego Park and Ridgewood Queens.  What bothered me most of all about the drive down was the erratic drivers on the road.  People are driving more aggressively these days,and it bothers me much more than it used to.  (I was once one of those erratic drivers.  As they say, it takes one to know one.) Luckily, I had a choice of spots within a couple of blocks of RQS's place, and took the closest one I could find, just a block away.

Although my large bag weighed under 50 pounds, it felt like much more when I carted it up the stairs to RQS's apartment. There are things I may still need to pack.  But I figure that I'll stuff any remaining things I need into my backpack, and bring them down with me the day before the cruise.

At this point, we were in for the day.  Tomorrow, I'll meet RQS's former coworker on a visit to the Poster Museum.  And I wanted to be presenting as Marian. 

Some Unorganized Thoughts

 

I know that I have gotten much more political as of late, as I am very sensitive to the Orange Snowflake's regime and its desire to crush freedom and human rights in this country.  Being in one of the groups that he wants to erase from history, I don't want to be in his crosshairs.  So, I'll travel in stealth mode much more often than I'd like. In the past, I had ambivalence about applying for a second citizenship (via a foreign births registry).  But now, I know I need to be able to leave the United States if the government becomes even more authoritarian and hateful than it is now.  I no longer can take the risk of being caught up in a modern day pogrom instigated by the Orange Snowflake.

- - - - - - 

The last time I was in Chicago, RQS and I met with our Texas friends.  Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston are among the few cities where I feel comfortable traveling as Marian.  We're hoping to find a way to meet up with them again.  But it will need to be in a time and place which is good for them.  But where would we meet?  I miss being able to be with them in person, even though we were only able to get together in the same place once. 

- - - - - -

Although MAR says that she wants to get together with me, I think that she is too cash poor to do so.  I am not the one coming out of the woodwork to schedule things.  She is getting hit with bills that she can't afford on a home health care aide's salary.  I plan to keep in contact with her, but not attempt scheduling anything.  I'd be willing to pay for a cup of coffee at Starbucks.  But she thinks that getting together has to be done over dinner.  (As I write this, it's the first time I've thought about her in weeks.) Even if she thinks of me as a friend, she is not someone who has much to offer in the friendship.

- - - - - -

It's been a long time since I've seen Pat (my former hypnotist).  Each time I think of her, I wouldn't mind seeing her.  But I don't want to deal with her feelings of victimhood and loneliness.  She's lived a very hard life, and I understand why she feels the way she does.  Unfortunately, this has turned her into a demanding beggar.  (Beggar is the wrong word here, but I can't think of one that fits right now.)  When RQS and I last saw Pat, she asked if we could go to Starbucks for a cup of coffee.  I felt that she wouldn't mind a short drive into New Jersey to visit an outlet that always had more than adequate seating.  Yet, she felt upset that we weren't going to the one near her nursing home.  It was if she was afraid of being in new places, and wanted to demand that we visit a place of familiarity.  Who knows what the objective truth is?  Since then, neither of us has made any effort to visit Pat, and it's just as well.

- - - - - -

The family homestead is on the path to being rented out.  Our inspection is scheduled for next week.  Unfortunately, neither my brother nor I will be available to open up the place.  Luckily, my brother enlisted the help of a friend to admit the inspector into the house.  Hopefully, nothing else will slow down the process of getting new tenants, and for us to stop bleeding money from our bank accounts.

- - - - - -

The co-op board I'm on needs new members and new leadership.  No one should serve as long as we have.  But too many people are treating this place like a rental, and do not care to help out.  Sooner or later, the board's president will resign, and I will follow soon after.  Hopefully, I'll be able to buy a new place by then, and unload the apartment I live in before the crud hits the fan.  (No, I'm not planning on abandoning it while we're working out some issues.  I am planning to leave after they have been resolved.)

Will I miss being involved here?  Yes.  But someone else will need to step forward, and I will have to put myself first when things are running smoothly.

- - - - - -

That's enough for now.   

Preparing for my upcoming cruise

 

Today, I am driving down to RQS's place and will be dropping off a couple of bags containing the clothes I will be wearing on my Alaska cruise.  For the most part, I am wearing the same clothes I had planned to wear on my New England / Eastern Canada cruise that was moved over to later in the season.  

- - - - - -

Alaska is a very informal place, where formality can be defined as wearing a freshly laundered (and pressed) pair of jeans to dinner.  (I may be exaggerating things, but I'd bet that few local women wear dresses, given the weather in the state.)  The weather can go from 40° to 80°, rainy to sunny, all in the same day.  One has to be able to dress in layers, as they will be put on and taken off as needed.

This will likely be my last visit to Alaska, unless we find a cheap cruise there which has an itinerary which interests us.  Once I've seen the best of the Inside Passage, I don't want to keep repeating similar itineraries. There are so many other places in the world worth visiting, and I want to visit them while I'm able to do so.

- - - - - -

Several years ago, I felt comfortable humping my cruise luggage on various forms of mass transit.  Other than taking commuter trains into/out of New York City and using the JFK Airtrain from Jamaica to the airport, I will no longer do so with more than a carry-on bag.  The NYC subway system does not have enough "Accessible" stations, and there is no way I want to deal with staircases on my way to a cruise.  If I'm sailing out of Manhattan, I'll take a cab from/to Grand Central to/from the cruise terminal. If I'm sailing out of Brooklyn, RQS and I will take an Uber from her place to the terminal, and use a combination of a ferry and an Uber to return to her place.  If I am cruising alone out of Brooklyn, I'll use a cab to go between Grand Central and Pier 11, then use the ferry to go between Manhattan and the Brooklyn cruise terminal.

This trip will involve an Uber to the Airport, coupled with the expected airport delays.  I'll be sure to carry a book or two with me, as well as a fully charged cell phone for entertainment.  Given that the plane's entertainment system will require corded headphones, I may bring my own pair with me, as the quality of those provided by the airline usually are sub par.

When we arrive at our destination, I know what to look for when using cruise line provided transfers.  (One time, I missed the transfer, and had to make my way to the airport hotel myself.)  Yes, I'm lazy.  I pay for the simplicity of having the cruise line make all of my arrangements to travel between my home airport and the cruise ship.  Simplicity is a blessing, especially when traveling.

- - - - - -

But enough for now.  I'll be on my cruise within a week's time, and I have to get showered, dressed, and out of the house before traffic gets bad.

You can't make this S**T up!

 

By the time you read this, two weeks will have passed since I wrote this entry.  Normally, this wouldn't be much of a concern, but one of these news items will likely add even more fuel to a scandal hitting the press.  The other of these items affects something more precious to me: the separation of church and state.

- - - - - -

I'll start out by talking about the most important of these issues: the proposed IRS settlement regarding the Johnson amendment and churches' political speech rights.  For the past 70 years, churches have been allowed to exercise their free speech rights to advocate for certain causes, but NOT endorse political candidates or parties.  This has helped maintain the separation of church and state.  Now, with the Orange Snowflake in charge, I expect to see preachers and their churches abuse their churches' tax free status and directly meddle in politics. The effects of this change may take months, if not years to have an effect on the American body politic. But it has the potential to cause great harm to minority religious groups to practice their own faiths.   

We've seen what happened in a country when religious leaders got unchecked control of Iran.  Forty years ago, Iran was a prosperous, modern, and moderately free (if one didn't offend the Shah) nation.  Now, religious police patrol the streets, and the people have to do their best to live within a religious authoritarian state.  Do we want that here?

- - - - - -

Yet, the thing that may be the most consequential in the short term is the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.  The Daily Beast reported that the FBI has the Epstein prison tape with no missing minute.  There was another report (I can't find the source) that someone in an orange jumpsuit was near Epstein's cell on the night he allegedly committed suicide.  Hmmm.  Could this be a rub out?  The Orange Snowflake acknowledged that Virginia Giuffre was stolen from his employ at Mar-a-Largo by Epstein. My first question is: Why did the snowflake hire an under aged female to be employed at Mar-a-Lago's spa? Then, I ask: What was going on at Mar-a-Lago.  According to an article in Vanity Fair, the snowflake and Epstein had a "Calendar Girl" party  where they were the only 2 males present.  Even MAGA loyalists want answers now!

No matter how much the snowflake tries to deflect things, I think this scandal has legs.  It's one thing when the snowflake abuses the power of his office and accepts a $400,000,000 bribe from the Qatari government.  But when it comes to the combination of possible adolescent child abuse coupled with lies from the snowflake saying that he'd release all the files on Epstein, it's something else.  MAGA is upset, as this is one betrayal they can not deal with.

The snowflake can't have it both ways.  If he is innocent, why not release all of the files.  The worst that can be said about him in that case would be that he once associated with the wrong person and cut off contact when he felt Epstein had crossed the line.  But if he is guilty, then MAGA rightfully is upset, as the snowflake is as much a part of the swamp that he claimed he wanted to drain.  This will likely stay in the news for weeks to come.  I certainly hope that this is the case! 

My paperwork is complete. Now to send it out.

 

I finally filled in the last form I needed to register a foreign birth and gain a second citizenship in a European country (which I will leave unnamed for now.)  There's a part of me that has been hesitant about doing this.  But, with all that's going on in GOP politics in this country, it pays to have the ability to go somewhere if this country turns into a fundamentalist "Christian" autocratic kleptocracy.

- - - - - -

My grandmother was born in Europe in 1903.  She came here when she was 17, and gave birth to my dad out of wedlock.  (Yes, I can affectionately call my dad a bastard.  But then, I never did so.)  30 years later, my mom gave birth to me.  Luckily, according to the laws of one country, the child of a citizen is automatically considered a citizen of that country.  Grandchildren must file to be recorded in the foreign births registry before they are considered citizens.  It's a shame that my brother didn't do this before his children were born. His children would have been able to inherit citizenship from him, and be able to be citizens of 2 countries.  (My niece is preparing to become a UK subject, but that's another story.)

It's strange for me to think of myself as a citizen of more than one country.  But then, it's strange to think that America's democracy may be dead by our 250th birthday.  As a transgender person, I worry what will happen if the wall between church and state no longer exists, and that people are allowed to proselytize in the workplace. No longer will we be able to be free to hold our own beliefs and practice them. We're already seeing signs that this is happening with some of the rule relaxations that the Orange Snowflake is proposing.  I am still not emotionally prepared to pull up stakes and move to another country to be safe from America's madness.

- - - - - -

Once I was done getting the application form notarized, I prepared everything to be mailed out in the morning.  And then, I decided to take a drive up to Goodwill to see if I could buy a cheap carry-on for the times I am out doing an overnight as Marian. (One carry-on for Marian, and one for Mario.)  The used clothing there looked in much better shape than the used luggage.  I guess that I'll have to order an inexpensive carry-on from Amazon for this purpose. 

This weekend, I will likely be in Marian mode when I go to RQS's place. I have a set of dresses there that I can wear, and I figure that I might as well be comfortable.  We'll be seeing one of her friends (who has seen me in both presentations), and I not sure of what we'll do after that.  At least, I'll be able to drive down to her place, and not try to find the bus to her place at its new starting point. 

 

 

 

 

PS: on August 6th, I received word from the Foreign Births Registry that my paperwork has been received.  Now to wait a few months before the next step in the process.  Hopefully, bu this time next year, I will be a citizen of two countries. 

I started repacking my bags for my Alaska cruise

 

 

As I write this, we are in the middle of a nasty heat wave in the NYC area.  The temperature peaked around 97 degrees in the shade, and I was very glad that I took the opportunity to stay inside and relax. This meant that I had no excuse not to work on repacking my luggage in preparation for our Alaska cruise.  Somehow, I still have to figure out how I'm going to bring my winter coat with me, even though I doubt I will need it.

- - - - - -

About a month ago, RQS and I were about to go on a New England / Canada cruise when we got an offer that we couldn't refuse: The cruise line would pay us (in refundable cruise credits) to take a different cruise (up to 10 days long) to the same region.  Instead of each of us paying $2000+ to take the cruise, we'd get a free cruise with the money we paid for the original cruise refunded to us (minus charges) once the replacement cruise ends.

We took Princess Cruises up on this offer 5 days before the cruise was to sail.  This left me with a packed 28" bag, a 20" carry-on bag, my backpack, and my CPAP machine - all ready to go on a summer 10-day cruise. Now, I had to repack, pulling out all but a couple of short sleeve shirts, replacing them with warmer garb. There was no way I was going to travel as Marian, given the current political climate.  Certain minorities are being rounded up (legal residents and non-legal residents), and ICE is treating many of them worse than we treated the Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps during World War 2.  Cruelty is a trademark of this authoritarian administration, and I don't want to be one of his victims trying to travel as Marian through any CBP checkpoints.  Luckily, it made much more sense for me to dress as Mario on the Alaska cruise, so much of the packing I did for the cruise we did not take made it easier for me to repack for this cruise. 

For the most part, repacking for Alaska is relatively simple.  Replace most summery gear with wintry gear and assume you'll have autumn weather often interrupted by rain  Even if we lived in "normal" times, I'd still be traveling in trouser-like garments in Marian mode (if I were full-time), as Alaska is a very informal place to visit.

- - - - - -

On other matters....

Right now, my brother's availability may be the weakest link in us getting the rental permit for the family homestead completed. Officially, someone has to inspect the place.  However, the place has already been through 2 inspections by the same fellow working for the town, and it will be up to my brother to take care of things.

Sle's leaving home, bye.... bye....

 

When I started writing this entry, the Beatles' song, "She's Leaving Home" came to mind.  It often feels like RQS and I have second homes at each other's apartments, and that we miss each other as soon as the other leaves for home.  Although we'll be on the phone with each other every night, and that I'll be going down to her place this weekend, there is still a void around here.  But that's not what I want to talk about today.

- - - - - -

Neither of us had that much energy this morning, and I dropped RQS off at the station an hour later than planned.  Given that I was presenting as Marian (as I prefer to do), I figured that it would be a good day to browse the racks at Lane Bryant.  So, I drove down to Pelham Manor instead of driving up to Poughkeepsie.  On the way there, I decided to get a car wash.  And yes, the car needed it!  I would have been happy with an exterior wash, but the standard wash included cleaning the inside of the car as well.  When the attendants were done, my trash bag had been disposed of, and all of the nooks and crannies I don't bother to keep clean were cleaned!  Can't complain much for $25.

Browsing through Lane Bryant, I saw only two things I'd want to buy.  The first was a sturdier denim jacket than the one I have now.  The second was a robe that coordinates well with one of the nighties I like to wear.  Neither of them said "buy me" given the price and sale type (BOGO, 50% off on the second piece.) I never buy at this price point as they expect you to buy 2 items at a combined discount of 25%.  Instead, I wait until I see things at 33% off (which tends to be a standard markdown), and preferably 40%-50% off.  It's a shame that the stores have trained people to shop for discounts instead of only having "Occasional Sales" from a standard price maintained through the season.  (J.C.Penney tried to shift customers to my way of seeing prices several years ago, and it backfired.  But then, the CEO at the time thought he could shift Penney's to a more upscale model and trashed the core business.)

Once done browsing, I returned home.  When I laid down for a short nap, my brother called.  He did well on his interview.  Hopefully, he will have a job offer within the next couple of weeks.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

It was almost the perfect weather to be wearing a short dress. (a short post)

 

I wasn't sure that I'd like the above dress.  However, I decided to buy it because it is inexpensive, and because I wanted one more dress in this style.  Today, I had the first chance to wear it when I picked RQS up at the train station.

We didn't have much scheduled for the day, so we first went to eat. After lunch, it was off to Uncle Giuseppe's to do a little shopping. Entering the store, we were greeted with the sounds of a man singing to a karaoke soundtrack.  His music filled the store, and I have to admit that he was very good.  Could he a professional taking up any type of gig needed to pay the bills?  I have no idea, but it was much better than the muzak that fills many stores.  Regarding what we bought, little is the key word here, as we didn't fill up a single bag and were able to spend less than $40.  One of the things I bought was a crumb cake, minus the cake.  The label said it all: "Just Crumbs."  I haven't had anything like this since I was a kid, when my mother called this a "Pizza Crumb Cake."  And that's the best description of this delicacy. Yum!

After our supermarket run, we went home for the night and had some salmon I had in the freezer.  Given how much food I have in the freezer, it's time to rotate old food out (and into our stomachs) and replace it with new frozen food. Did I care much for the salmon?  Not so much.  But I think this was related to the seasoning on the salmon, and not the quality of the fish.

Then, the day was over.  Not much to say for the day, and then it's just as well.... 

Today didn't go as planned - and it's just as well.

 

Yesterday, I sent out two pieces of paper by snail mail.  The first was a form my brother needs to have notarized so that we can send it in to the town for a rental permit.  The second was to my best friend from college, trying to find out why his special email account was disconnected.  (Given that he had a stroke a few years ago, I assume the worst - he passed away, and both his email account and his domain (blueroan.com) were shut down.)  Hopefully, my brother will be able to get the first piece of paper taken care of before his vacation, and I will get notice that my friend is alive and well in Florida.

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Today, I planned to get some passport photos taken, fill out the form to register my overseas birth with a foreign registrar.  This would allow me to get my second passport, something I might need if things go "impossibly" wrong here for us transgenders.  Well, I got those photos taken, but I didn't fill out the form, as I wanted to make sure I could get things notarized and a paperwork package in international mail on the same day. Next, I wanted to do some laundry, so that I would have fresh clothes for an upcoming trip.  (This I did later on in the day.)  Then, things went wrong - I knocked over a lamp in my bedroom and glass was scattered on the floor on RQS's side of the bed.  Now, I had to take care of two things: (1) Clean off the carpet as best I could and vacuum the remaining glass fragments out of the carpet; (2) Buy a replacement lamp, so that I have enough light in the room when I'm not sleeping.

If I had gotten everything done as planned, I would have switched into female presentation to close out the day, and consider going to the movies where I'd be entertained for the evening.  Given that I needed to be male presentation for the passport photos and it was in the 90's outside, it wasn't worth switching into Marian's presentation to go shopping.  At least, tomorrow I will be able to get into Marian mode again.

An afternoon with Vicki

 

Although I dropped RQS off at the train station today, I don't have much to say about it except that she will return in a coupe of days.  Instead, my focus will be on the time I spent with Vicki nd my thoughts about that lunch date.

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Once I dropped RQS off at the station, I killed a little time before Vicki came to pick me up for our lunch date.  The first thing on our docket was a stop at J.Jill to return two garments that she mail ordered but didn't want to keep. So it was off to the Westchester mall in White Plains.  Vicki thought she could get in and out of the mall within 20 minutes, and not get charged the $4 for parking.  (She's losing a sense of time, now that she's not working. But that's something that gradually happens to retirees.)  Neither of us saw anything we were interested in the mall, both of us feeling a sense of sterility about the place.  Hardly anyone was there, and neither of us wanted to spend any more time there than we had to.

Vicki was in a mood today, taking control of the conversation when I wanted to explain my feelings.  She has stronger feelings about my exes and my late wife than I do - and she is likely projecting her feelings about her past relationships onto mine in this conversation.  Later on, she mentioned that she sees me as being authentic in my living life as a woman. She noted that for me, it's not putting on an act like Drag performers.  It is truly wanting to be seen and treated as a woman.  She disagrees with me about the things I need to do (partial facial feminization surgery, FFS), noting that my face isn't strongly as masculine as I feel it is.

After lunch, we drove back to Croton (with a stop at the Blue Pig for ice cream), and she dropped me off at my apartment.  Shortly afterward, I went to Walmart in search of pillow protectors and pillowcases for a new pillow I bought the other day.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the pillow protectors and will need to buy them from Amazon.  At least, this wasn't a totally wasted trip.  

 

 

 

 

 

A trip to the Amazon fulfillment center

 

Recently, I went on a tour of an Amazon Fulfillment Center in Edison, NJ. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos.  But I will use similar photos from Business Insider to illustrate some of the things we saw today.

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This was a day I was glad to be traveling as Mario.  No, I wasn't concerned about having to expose myself as a non-op TG who hasn't had her ID updated.  Instead, I was more concerned about the heat inside the fulfillment center building - and I was right

RQS and I left the Croton area at 11:30, and started off towards Edison after a quick pit stop for a breakfast sandwich. Google Maps originally directed us to take the George Washington Bridge to get to New Jersey, but we took the Tappan Zee Bridge, cruising down the Garden State Parkway to Edison. We arrived at the fulfillment center around 1:30, and killed some time before entering the building.

After our legal IDs were checked against Amazon's list, we were given visitor passes and brough to a room where we were given headsets to protect our ears against the loudness of Amazon's operations area. The tour guide showed us the steps which a product takes from the point it enters the building, and then brought us to the floor where these processes take pace.

Amazon operates 24x7, 363 days each year, only being closed for Christmas and New Year. Our guide had never seen a day where the fulfillment center was closed, although there was a time that the center was temporarily out of operation due to a water main break. First, we went to the station where product is placed into inventory.  The 4-sided storage shelves above each weigh up to 1,500 pounds, and are moved around by robots each of which weigh 300 pounds.  As one can easily surmise, it can be very dangerous for a human to be on the other side of the area where these robots operate.

Humans load prod product into inventory in a special area where robots move these storage shelves into a neutral (safe) zone where people can reach into these shelves and store products.  Each product is registered one item at a time, and when no more items can be loaded, the human sends the robot on its way and a new storage shelf is moved into position.  One should note that items are stored at random, and tracked in its associated bin on the storage shelves until it is picked for customer delivery.

Occasionally, there are problems in the robots-only area, and they must be fixed by humans.  Amazon has a special procedure for this, where a special person wearing a "anti-robot" vest is able to resolve the problem without risk of injury from the robots and storage shelves.  (Who wants to get hit by 1,800 pounds of merchandise and equipment while on the job?)  I can only imagine what it took to design the safety process that separates human areas from robot areas.

Eventually, a human picks items from the storage shelves and sends them along to packing areas.  Robots move storage shelves to the interface area, and computers tell the human from which bin to pick an item for shipping, which item to be picked, and which bin to be sent for packing and shipping. This is also done under computer control, as items are routed to packing stations.  From these stations, packed boxes are routed to labeling stations, then to carts which then get loaded on trucks for delivery to Amazon delivery centers, or other delivery services.

It was over a mile of walking with a few pauses to tell us what was being done in each place.  Compared to what we used to do to process checks inside our bank, this was at least an order of magnitude more complex.  

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On our way home, we got stuck in traffic jams, and I made it worse by taking side roads.  In the end this was a blessing,  I didn't plan this, but I would pass by one of the Jackson Hole diners and stop in for a good burger with RQS.  So, I made a quick turn onto a side street and parked in their lot.  When one enters the place, one sees an ancient pay phone, along with the memorabilia on the Northern side of the building. Both of us ordered burgers, and we had a hard time eating them - there was too much tasty meat on each burger without making a mess of ourselves.  RQS saved half of her burger, while I ate it with a knife and fork.  Yum!

At this time, it was close to 7, and I wanted to make it across the bridge while it was still light.  Taking side roads North, we made it to the bridge and then home with a stop along the way.... 

I have a problem with a website that I can't solve - so I'm cloning it

 

For the life of me, I can't fix what went wrong with the Blogger Website I set up for the co-op.  I bought a domain name and successfully connected it to the Co-Op site.  Unfortunately, I flipped a switch and everything stopped working.  Even after I reset things to the default settings and repeating the process to connect this site and the domain that once worked, I couldn't get things to work.  So I tried a second domain, and had the same result. At this point, I knew I was going to need to clone the site and try again with the two domains the co-op owned.   Today, I started the process of cloning the original site.

As much as I am the technical expert for our co-op, I am far from up to date with today's technology.  I figure that I will learn as much as possible doing things for the co-op, and then build my own site for the Cruise Blog/Vlog I have been working on for a while. Luckily, I have no time constraints for either of these projects.  And I care more that I get my personal project done correctly, as I will have more at stake once I set it up.

Eventually, I will purchase a domain for this site as well, and make it easy to find via search engines.  Who knows, I might even get a wider readership than I have now. 

The Late Show Must Go - Oh No!

 

Steven Colbert and the Late Show.  It's a sad thing when the "Tiffany Network" cancels a great show because of the Orange Snowflake.  Yet, the economics behind this makes sense: Paramount/CBS needs to merge with Skydance to deal with financial losses from its movie and streaming businesses, and they can't do this unless they curry favor with the snowflake.  It's cheaper to kill a profit making show and keep the business alive, than to stand on principle and tell the snowflake to F-off!  I'm not worried about Colbert.  He'll likely use the remaining months he has left on his contract to hammer away at our president, and make him rue the day that he took on a comedian. 

What I am worried about is big business's capitulation to fascist power.  In the past, we had a lot of small businesses who could (and would) stand up for principle, as they had no fiduciary duties to others.  They could run their businesses to the ground on principle, and as such, had great power.  Now, with the consolidation of corporate identities, CEOs must look out for the health of their businesses, and not worry about the principles that they as individuals may hold.  This is a shame.  But we did it to ourselves by accepting corporate consolidation as a norm.

No one has to say much about the snowflake's flaws:  He is vindictive to a San Andreas Fault.  He could teach Satan cruelty lessons.  And an Amoeba has more brain cells than he has.  I could go on and on about this, but I'd bore the readers of this blog. The other day, he posted a series of insults involving all of the late night TV show hosts, showing how much he hates what they saying about him.  Instead of taking their zingers from these court jesters with grace, he wants to shut them down - as if he's afraid they are right and he is wrong. 

There is a saying that whatever this man touches, dies.  For God's sake, I hope he stops touching America soon.  There is a joke about a man who went to the newsstand every day and looked at every newspaper's front page.  

Eventually, the newsstand owner asks:

"Why do you look at every newspaper's front page and put it back on the rack?" 

The customer replies:

"I am looking for an obituary."

The owner responds:

"Obituaries are usually inside the back of the newspapers."

The customer replies:

"This one will be on the front page."

No one needs to ask whose obituary we are talking about here.

Sadly, even a broken clock can be right twice each day, and there are some points on which I will agree with the snowflake, but not his methods for correcting things, such as we have let too much manufacturing move to China.  In case of a conflict between the US and China, we might only be able to win a short war.  But they will win a long war, as we no longer manufacture the goods we need to keep an economy running. One can't shift manufacturing back to the US overnight.  It will take decades to do so.  Supply chains must be rebuilt, and American labor must be willing to get its hands dirty again.  We no longer have the project management skills in the USA needed to manage the supply chains, the way China does.  So, why start a trade war that we can not win?

 
Recently, one Democratic congressperson was asked why GOP congresspeople hate what the snowflake is calling for them to do, and still doing it?  She answered: Fear!  Given what happened to Nancy Pelosi's husband in her own house, why should they risk their families to the actions of unruly members of his mob?

We saw this 90 years ago, and I'd hate the same thing happen to America.  If we don't stand up now, we will see history repeat itself - with the same ending.

 

Lunch with TCL

 

I was semiconscious for part of the morning, and I didn't start getting ready to see TCL until 11 am.  My original plans were to get some paperwork taken care of, get passport photos taken, go to the bank to notarize a form, and then send it in for my second passport - all before driving to TCL's place.  None of these things took place - all I could do was to shave, shower, and dress as Mario before driving to New Jersey.

The usual trip to TCL's place has been getting longer over the past few years, as more traffic than ever is on Route 287. Making note of the Eastbound traffic on the bridge, I made plans to return home via the Bear Mountain Bridge.  Just before my intended exit, there was some road construction that backed up the highway for 1 1/2 miles.  So I was glad to have built in some extra time to get to TCL's place, as I barely got there on time at 1 pm.

TCL took a few minutes to get ready, and we first drove to the mechanic's shop to pick up her car.  And then, we went to lunch in town.  TCL treated me to lunch, as my birthday was earlier in the month, so I was a little bit ahead of the game today. However, my mind wasn't in sync with our conversation, as I was still a bit out of things until lunch was halfway over. This was just as well, as she has some of the same judgemental habits that she doesn't like in others.  After lunch, we went back to her place, and I took care of hanging some pictures for her. 

Around 3 pm, I left TCL's place and drove home via the Bear Mountain Bridge, arriving home at 4 pm.  At this point, I needed a nap, and didn't regain a form of consciousness until 7 pm.  At least some paperwork I requested for our family homestead was ready and I'm now ready to submit the next set of paperwork, so that we can rent out the house.... 

At least, after taking care of some more paperwork, I will be able to switch back into Marian Mode tomorrow. 

A day trip to Olana

 

RQS and I planned to visit Olana for a long time, but couldn't get out of bed early enough to make the drive to Hudson, NY.  Today was the day we finally made it.

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The first thing on my docket for the day was a Zoom meeting that took up the better part of an hour.  I had gotten dresses in a red floral dress I bought from Target a year or two ago.   When I had come out of my bedroom (this is where I usually work on the computer), I found that RQS had decided to wear the exact same dress in her size!  Today, we would look like the Bobsey Twins whether we planned to or not. This would be my first time at Olana since I was there with XGFJ several years ago.  My visit with RQS would be different - we'd be able to see the second floor of the house as well as the main floor. 

Instead of driving straight up Route 9, I decided to cross over the Hudson at Newburgh, and then speed up to Catskill on the Thruway, instead of getting caught in slower traffic on the East side of the river. This was a wise choice, as we were able to make it to Olana by 2 pm.  Given that the house tours end at 3:45 pm, I figured that we needed the extra time on site if things were busy.

For those unfamiliar with Olana, it is a 250+ acre site that was landscaped and developed by one of the leaders of the Hudson River School of painting.  Frederic Church was extremely successful at his craft, and had the money to make this site both a work of art, and a masterpiece of site location - it is impossible to get a scenic view that isn't fantastic from this property.

With Olana's setting in mind, Church's house is priceless.  .For the most part, it looks exactly like when it was lived in by the Church family, and New York State was lucky to acquire it when it did.  (Could you imagine Church's artistic studies and his own art collection being sold off at auction?  I can't.)  

However, the house was very warm when we visited, and I needed to cool down within an hour of starting the tour.  (Don't worry, I saw everything, missed nothing, and chatted with the docents quite a bit.) So RQS and I got in the car, and started our drive home through scenic rural landscapes.  Eventually, we reached Poughkeepsie, where we stopped to eat (too much), then drove home.

All in all, it was a good summer day, and we had a great time together....