What did you buy today?

Nice workspace. I don't journal, but if I did, I still think I'd do it on the computer. Do you find journaling more special in an actual book?

Older generation, I guess. I have a couple of very good software journals, but I still prefer the stream-of-consciousness thing with pencil and paper. I come up with ideas that way, then switch to the computer for structuring, etc.

Ann

And, about special books, yes. This one, in particular, has high quality paper in a creamy color with brown lines, and the simple dark green cover with gold trim feels elegant, but is still practical. It's a good size (9x7). Dark green is the perfect color for "entering the forest" of imaginative journeys.

Just me.

Ann

8/9/2010


I have sinned today , I bought this , the pot
is mine, I turned the photo into a watercolor.

Cheers..Joe

Sim card. It just arrived today via FedEx, and will go in a tri-band phone for use overseas.

New shoes -you can never have too much sparkle and flash!

Blueberries. They were plump and yummy and I ate too many.

Great shoes and I love blueberries!

I love blueberries!!!

LC, my daughter and her husband just returned from a trip to China. They loved it!!

I bought birthday cards.

Carol

8/13/2010

I bought one of my favorite plants.
Musa Cavendish , click onto thumb
nail...

Cheers..Joe

I enjoyed beer and a bratwurst with new acquaintances just arrived from Florida. The husband and wife are visiting relatives who live in our village. The man arrived wearing a bulletproof vest since he was/is afraid of terrorists.

A sushi dinner.

No sushi for me. I have lots of sushi stories. I had to eat it once as a guest in a Japanese home in Hawaii. I slathered it with the hot mustard and it slid down my throat - ugh.

I went out with friends thinking I would eat the California roll (cooked). I had one California roll, six pieces. They kept ordering trays of sushi. When it came time to pay the bill, I had 1/4 of a $250 bill to pay, including their substantial drinks tab.

No, I like rice rolls in seaweed with cucumber in the middle and California Roll; that's it. Nothing raw for me, no matter how pretty it is.

dkchristi wrote:

I went out with friends thinking I would eat the California roll (cooked). I had one California roll, six pieces. They kept ordering trays of sushi. When it came time to pay the bill, I had 1/4 of a $250 bill to pay, including their substantial drinks tab.

lol ...that was some expensive sushi.

My family loves sushi. We used to order takeout from a local Japanese restaurant twice a month, but cut back due to budgetary constraints (yes, I have those, too, heh). This was a celebratory dinner to see the kid off to China tomorrow.

What an exciting event - an experience in China. Perhaps there will be a blog of experiences to keep you in the loop? Hope so! If so, perhaps you could share. I envy that experience.

Oh, I expect I'll be kept in the loop when she needs more money. lol.

You might suggest a blog - many young travelers today blog and then later have their words to turn into a book. It also brings their friends and family along with them (also a good rational way to seek more funding as the blog reveals the dwindling financial resources...). If they have papers they need to write, it provides them later with background details they might forget.

My daughter, Peggy, recently returned from a trip to China, but couldn't blog as she had hoped. She loved the trip although it was not long enough.

Yesterday we went to dinner with our daughter, Maria, her husband and her two college age children. Her daughter is going to be a freshman at the University of Minnesota and is one excited young lady! My son-in-law says my daughter cries every night about her daughter leaving home. I think that is true. I will miss my granddaughter also as she drops in often.

We didn't have sushi.

Carol

My niece and nephew lived at home most of the time they were in college though my nephew did have an apartment and roommate for a while. He continued through his masters and then found a job three hours from home. The transition was gradual.

However he now has a girlfriend. He was recently ill and his mom called to give him advice. He said, "my girlfriend is already taking good care of me, don't worry."

She was not ready for that step and is still not over it....she put away the tea.

I didn't cry; the China trip has loomed so large all summer that I was ready for her to go already. And it was sort of a clusterf*. We got to the airport and she realized she didn't have her laptop case, which contained her laptop, passport and visa. ( that's how my face looked). We called a neighbor, who, bless her heart, got it from our house and rushed to the airport. I'm going to pay her $100 for that when I see her later, even though she didn't ask for pay. The kid missed her flight by 10 minutes anyhow, but the ticket agent got her on another flight two hours later for an additional $250. Which was very generous, because her ticket was purchased through a third-party site called Student Universe and the airlines typically have nothing to do with any problems you have with such tickets. In fact, the first two ticket agents during our efforts to at least send the bags through or find a later connecting flight wouldn't do anything.

At this point, I'm glad she's off! But those were my purchases today. lol

We talked to the kid! She made it to her Shanghai hostel, where she'll stay for two days before checking into the university. Calling wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I assumed I could call directly from my home landline. But I kept getting error messages. Turns out that because my phone is part of my cable package, you have to set up international calling ability separately. Everything is so complicated, lol.

The husband rummaged around in his desk and found a Microsoft LifeCam Show gadget, which he hooked up to the computer, enabling us to bypass the cable company with Skype. And we reached her at her hostel on her eBay-bought phone! Yay. I bought $10 of Skype credit, to keep this post on topic with the thread.

We're looking into tix for a Shanghai trip for next March. First class costs over $5K/person, so I don't think that will be an option. But I might make the grand sacrifice of sitting in coach...

Keeping on topic with "buying." All of the airlines have different ways of organizing their cabins. If you must go coach, check out which airlines (usually U.S., Australia, Germany, etc.) have the most space in the seats. Then pick out the rows with the most space. You don't want to be in a 5-person row; it is the worst.

Also keep in mind that there are new options that are less costly than 1st class like "extra leg room." Sometimes they have an entire "extra leg room" section.

Also there are classes between economy, coach and first class. Business class has the seats that lay back, and some business class seats even have a little privacy curtain.

The airline makes a big difference. I don't know that I'd pay for 1st class unless I could talk someone into selling me their points to upgrade; but I would definitely want at minimum, business class. If nine to eleven hours to and from Europe felt light a nightmare, I'd be looking for a parachute on the way to China.

I think Kayak and Priceline let you name what you want and then they continue watching for it for you. Travelzoo.com watches for great deals and there are some others.

For me at this point, a trip to China would not be every year...so, I'd want all the memories as peak as possible, even the flight. However, I saw some people throw their heads back obviously taking sleeping potions, and they never moved until the trip was over. That's one way.....just not mine.

LC wrote:

We're looking into tix for a Shanghai trip for next March. First class costs over $5K/person, so I don't think that will be an option. But I might make the grand sacrifice of sitting in coach...

You sitting in coach ... bummer.

Shelagh -lol. Bummer indeed!

DK, great tips. In fact, one of my BILs is an airline pilot and offered to sell us a bunch of his points. I didn't realize they were transferrable like that. Maybe first class will be an option after all, or at least "extra legroom." I'm not looking forward to a repeat of my St. Thomas experience, lol.

New books in the mail! Writing Story was on Al's advice. Grapes of Wrath is needed for my high schooler's AP English class.