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The Virgin Islands, or Where They Used to Be

The Virgin Islands, or Where They Used to Be

This morning, I was pumped and excited, I work up stupid early so that I could emerge for breakfast and grab some amazing, red sky in morning, photos of the island as the sun peaked over the horizon. For this morning, I wanted to be ready to go early and quickly plate loaded from the buffet. I then returned to my cabin to shower and prepare the day bag with everything I needed, camera, phone, tripod, sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, and wallet. I really had no plans at all what to do and I had no US cash on me so the vague plan was to get off the ship, find wifi and catch-up, post some pictures to make those at home jealous, and find a bank. Today I arrived at the port of Tortola, one of the British Virgin Islands. I got off the ship and it was a nice close walk to the Tortola cruise village. It was actually quite obvious that the cruise village was a fake example of stereotypical island life and all the usual shopping. I sat on a bench in front of Diamonds International and got on the wifi there. It was pretty good wifi,…

Posts from SunTrip 2018

Posts from SunTrip 2018

This is a collection of posts from my cruise on December 14-22nd originally posted to Facebook. 14 December 2018 – 19:04 So there is an episode of mayday where the prop flies off the wing and takes out a seat. I’m in that seat. ? 14 December 2018 – 22:11 Thought it was going to be checked the whole way but $12.50 is not bad for luggage storage for the night. 15 December 2018 – 03:29 There’s a guy in the way of the stairwell smoking and cooking his crack pipe. 15 December 2018 – 04:04 Two very drunk men can barely stand on the standing room only night bus. Toronto should follow Vienna and London’s night tube on weekends. 15 December 2018 – 07:08 Overheard Air Canada Rep: Just follow the signs with the American flag. Passenger: Is that the one with Stripes and Stars? ?‍♂️ 15 December 2018 – 08:49 “Don’t line up until your Zone number is called” works as good as looking for volunteers to check their bags. 19 December 2018 – 14:31 Life’s a struggle right now. Apparently, there is a snowstorm home right now. 19 December 2018 – 14:35 There is a very bad storm…

The Irish Finale

I departed the Enterprise starving, and in pain a bit from the ridiculous amount of walking in Belfast. I went down the stairs to the tram station and the Google Transit app said there were no more trains but there was a dot-matrix display showing next tram in 7 minutes with a group of at least fifteen people waiting for the tram. Then a local said to the group no more trams tonight and the screen was for the next station down the line. A vocal man with an American accent convinced the group of people that the local was wrong. I looked at the sign and noticed it said “Busáras” and the blank one said “Connolly”. Since I can also read perfect Gaelic, I recognized that Busáras means Bus Station and Connolly was the name of the train station. I decided the local was right and since I didn’t know where the Bus Station stop was, I just followed the track, and it was not even a block away. My plan for the night was to go to an Irish Pub and grab dinner there, but once I got off the Luas (what Dublin calls trams/streetcars) near my hotel…

If at First You Don’t Succeed… Build a Museum

Shall we continue where we left off, attempting to sleep— Update at 2:24am #1 stopped snoring and #4 and #6 are sharing #6 and double “bean flicking” #FML Facebook Post After the above comment to the Facebook post in my last post, I passed out with exhaustion regardless of the hostel situation. Buzz!!! Buzz!!! Buzz!!!… it’s 5:45am! That meant it was time to get up. For once I was prepared with my go bag and clothes for what I needed for the day. Went to the shared washroom, brushed my teeth, and ran (hobbled quickly with only one ankle) to the tram stop a few blocks down. It was a brisk and crispy morning as the sun was already rising over the buildings in the square. I arrived several (23) minutes before the first train. (or so I thought) to the train. After determining that I had time, I went to Costa to get coffee. (Sorry, Closed) The coffee shop across the street.  (Sorry, Closed) The 15ish coffee shops in this college/young urban district of town. (Sorry, Closed) Needless to say, I was going to get on this tram without a morning coffee. The tram arrived, I got on several…

Europe 2018 #33 – Part 3

After a well rested night, it is now my birthday. I slept a bit late and left the hostel to wander around Dublin. The most important first stop was the local Costa Coffee shop across the plaza, and to pump up some energy for the day, and to Facebook creep what was going on in the world. After coffee, I went to the waterfront (river the passed through the city) and walked towards the area that the hostel said was where all the tour tickets could be brought about a 25-minute walk away. I took a lot longer taking photos and resting due to my limitations every couple of blocks. It was at this point that it hit me that, I was near no one I knew, in a place I knew nothing really about. This got me really sad. The first bridge I came across I thought was the famous (according to my map) Ha’penny Bridge. I Facebook Live posted a video going across it. (Which had no viewers.) Then as I continued on to the next bridge it had a sign that it was the Ha’penny Bridge. It looked cooler but yet less impressive and had about a…

My Messed Up Canada Day Roadtrip

My Messed Up Canada Day Roadtrip

I was off the Friday before Canada Day and had Physio and a call for the pre-op to fix my pinky finger. I came up with a plan to take a spontaneous road trip to Ottawa. My surgery is concerning the possible side effects. I was pretty devastated after the call with my anxiety. Since I was less than 500km from my oil change mileage I went to Kia and booked the appoint for this past week. I went home and cleared out everything from my car I didn’t need, grabbed my passport and wad of US cash and took off down the Hwy 1 towards the border. At the border I got through pretty quickly and had no issues. Having all the signs in a weird foreign system of measurement increased my anxiety. In Calais, I fueled up and headed down Route 9 to Bangor. I stopped for dinner at Dysart’s. It was a pretty good meatloaf. I then proceeded down Route 2 to Skowhegan where I needed to pee bad so I stopped at a gas station and it was there my fate turned. My GPS lost my route and I was lost. I kind of remember Route…

Arrivederci Roma, and The Life That Was

Arrivederci Roma, and The Life That Was

This post also has a soundtrack. The André Rieu version of Arrivederci Roma. It is September 24th, as we left for the sightseeing of Rome. I was a bit worried to go out on the street. There was a long protest going down the street for the freedom and recognition of a people in a region near Georgia. (The country) The parade ended just before go time and my feet were really sore. My last pairs of socks had holes in them and combined with the bleeding heels walking was getting harder. Rome is also not known for the flattest and smoothest sidewalks/streets either. We hopped on the bus and went to the area near the Italian government buildings. For there we walked around Rome to the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and various other buildings. We also ran into a group of protestors that were fighting for the right of deaf people to have interpreters at churches. They made a lot of noise. Then we went for a fancy supper and my feet were killing me. At supper, I had noticed my feet were still hurting even when not standing on them, and my butt and hip were getting a…

Oh Lucky, I was pooped on…

This journey can begin in many places, so I will start where things started to change, the trip began, and I was shit on. Before this event every week was just like the week before and there was very little interesting going on. Somewhat crippled by my anxiety. I had posted on Facebook that I was going to audition for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on a whim. I had at this point never really auditioned for anything like this. So as the day came, I was dreading doing the audition, but felt deep inside it was something I had to do. I even took the preparation of actually listening to the audiobook of the play, or just part of the first act actually. To be honest I had never read a work of Shakespeare in its entirety before this. Reading a complete book has rarely ever happened in my life. As I entered the room there were several others there that reading the material and debating their take on the characters and knew them all like they were best friends. It was rather intimidating being the first interview but I knew I wanted one of the small roles and was…

Let the saga begin…

Let the saga begin…

Over the past few years, I have not posted as much lately here. Let’s face it Facebook is where it is at these days to share things. But the main reason has been that I had been in a slump where almost nothing felt interesting to me let alone share. Back in 2009 when I left university for the last time and decided to leave university and start travelling, I was really in a search to try and find meaning. Then in 2010 when I first set foot on British soil and took my first Contiki it was amazing. Then came 2011 and I tried to duplicate the experience and it was more disappointing and less amazing (just a little). Then when my Great Aunt passed away in 2012, I tried again to travel Europe and it just wasn’t quite the same as that first time either. I wasn’t having any luck at finding meaning in anything, or a relationship. Then in 2014, I took a cruise and it was impressive. So, I did it again in 2015 and it was very much less so than the first time although it was still special like each of the trips before…

Hamlet: The Notes

Last night I went to see this show from Saint John Theatre Company’s Canadian Series at the BMO Theatre. It was honestly an hour and half of almost non-stop laughs with well fitting serious moments. I really enjoyed how this is not the typical show that you go to see, but interactive with the audience and slightly fluid. There is another performance tonight that you just have to see. You don’t even need to know the Hamlet story to enjoy it, although if you do it is equally enjoyable.

John Frees (1951-2014)

It is with sadness the family announces the passing of John Percy Herman Frees, loving husband to the late Barbara (Blount) Frees, which occurred on Wednesday, December 17, 2014, at the Saint John Regional Hospital. Born 1951 in Dalhousie, he was the son of the late Robert and Emma (Donahue) Frees. John had a wonderful sense of humour and enjoyed spending time with his family, especially his precious granddaughter Lexxis. He is survived by his sons Paul Frees, Ryan Frees (Crystal Wright) and Charles Frees-Melvin; daughter Rosa Frees-Melvin; granddaughter Lexxis Wright; brothers Jerry Frees, Elwood Frees, Max Frees, Bobby Frees, Bruce Frees, Perry Frees; sisters Isabelle Hobbs, Tina MacDonald, Holly Saunders, Sally Frees, Judy Dundon, Jill Blount, Kim Frees; several nieces and nephews. In addition to his wife and parents, he was predeceased by his brothers Wilbur Frees, Carl Frees and Aubrey Frees. Following cremation, visitation will be held at Fundy Funeral Home, 230 Westmorland Road (646-2424) on Saturday, December 20, 2014, from 3-7 p.m. By request, there will be no funeral service. Charitable donations may be made in John’s memory to the following organizations: Canadian Diabetes Association (NB)  The Joshua Group 

2013 the Year of Firsts!

2013 the Year of Firsts!

After the mess of a year 2012 was my New Year’s resolution was that 2013 was going to be a year of firsts. This year also seemed to acquire a slogan as well due to my Contiki trip, and that was #noregrets. Now I know that I have ignored updating here as often as I should in favour of quick tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagrams. For the year-end post I thought I would take a moment to list my firsts for the year (in no particular order). 1. Had a real birthday celebration. 2. First time in Monaco and Liechtenstein (small enough to be a single first). 3. Went to an adult costume party for Hallowe’en. 4. Exceeded my custom’s limit. 5. First major out-of-town music festival. (Osheaga) 6. My first “snowboard”. 7. Tried out a few new restaurants. (Decimal 81, Britt’s, Lemongrass) 8. Volunteered for my first theatre event. (Fundy Fringe Festival) I have also included below a gallery of some of this years best moments that I have photos of.

200th Post: A Last Post for Facebook

200th Post: A Last Post for Facebook

Although I love reading the messages of some of the people who I have accumulated on Facebook, I just can’t stand by for the envision of privacy. I had joined Facebook back in 2006 when it first opened to the public. I was a fan of social media before that, in fact, it was really the terrible designs in MySpace that convinced me to make the move away from there and Yahoo! 360. I have always used Facebook as a private way to connect with my friends and connections I have acquired. However, in recent privacy changes, Facebook has decided to leave full global access to all the advertisers, Facebook connects users, and any of the hundreds of thousand developers, whether you use their app or not by having just one of your friends to use their services. If you were one of my contacts then see my contact info page here at this site, or join me on Twitter. So, let’s finish off and let Facebook go off into the sunset as the bagpipes play the “Last Post.”

Good Bye, Facebook!

After being an early adopter of Facebook it is now time to move on. Within 14 days my account will be totally deleated forever. Just like the prior Social Netwoks I used to belong to Yahoo! 360, MySpace, MSN Spaces… The new terms of service that gives Facebook rights to all the content you link to is what I found objectionable. Fear not if you are looking to follow me you can always view me here. Or follow @cefm on Twitter, flixster, last.fm. There is a list on the left of many options.

Is the was digital revoluton really a revoluton?

This is a topic I usually don’t get into here on my Blog, nor do I get this deep into a topic ether but I was listening to TWiT 180, and they were discussing a migration from blogs to Twitter. This got me thinking of the term revolution that gets applied to new technologies all the time. In a non-physics (my head hurts) interpretation a revolution is when something or a group of people become so outdated and useless that by force and necessity need to be replaced. The Internet revolution was not a forced or possibly necessary revolution it is merely a change in preference. It is not like the upper class and the peasants of the 1700’s France. The digital and non digital worlds can and do co-exist. TV and YouTube can coexist. It is all in preferences not a Revolution. Therefore, Twitter will not replace the Blog. Then again I do have the capability to re-post all my Twitter tweets here but I tend to see Twitter as like facebook.com but without all the annoying apps. In fact my Facebook front page is all I really use.

My MacBook and Twitter vs. WordPress

Okay lets start by this stupid article from Wired: Steven Levy on the Burden of Twitter wired.com — The shame and remorse of not keeping up with Social Networking… I’m digging this story in honor of Steve Levy as he’s never ‘Dugg’ before… I think this article is a crock, just because this guy doesn’t update the Blog as often as he used to doesn’t mean that Twitter is to blame. For ages now it had become a popular thing in Windows/MSN/Windows Live Messenger that people would change their name to include a “status”  of what they were doing that it was eventually permanently added as a feature. AIM, IRC, Facebook, Twitter… the short message is usually the perfect size to let others know what you think. I am still certain however that this does not replace the need for the long format that a blog allows to express your full thoughts on a topic. Generally speaking I use Twitter to update something quickly as I’m usually only using me iPhone or Macbook while laying in bed in the morning so I can tell the world quickly my thought or things of interest, and have it auto populate to the…

Just some updates

I’ve worked hard on editing a lot of the content on this site. I’m even just found most of my old university essays, and am going to get around to posting them soon in the writings section. I even have a few pieces of my poetry that I wrote to add here. As you noticed there have not been many posts with pictures in them, that is because my site is running a RC version of WordPress and that functionality is not quite working for me yet. You can also see now that these posts are cross posted to Twitter and Facebook. I don’t really like the idea of dividing my audiences so I’m working on further deep integration as we speak.

I now got my Mac :-)

Because I want to make a post but did not have a topic, so I am going to make this post about my new MacBook. I really am now wishing my main computer was a mac but this is really one of the best computers I have used. (Leave comments with your recommendations). I’ve still been looking for places to get free software for it. I’m having issues at the moment networking with my PC but I thing the problem it is because I can’t even network my Windows XP with it ATM. I’ve also been working on new patches for WordPress 2.5 that is due to come out March 10th. It wasn’t working in IE7 (back-end) so that was also one of the reasons I never made a post lately, that and starting a Full-time job that I haven’t really done since July 2005. It is really tough getting used to a FT job if you’ve been away from it for a while. Although I am glad that now that I have more experience it seems better suited than the last time I have done call-centre work. Finally, since it is getting late (2:12AM), I am working on re-structuring…

My IQ

I just did the IQ test on Facebook and scored a 134. I think that is pretty darned good, and typical to what I get on most of those on-line IQ tests. I only had 3 out of thirty questions wrong. Probably the ones I had to guess on. And while we are on the topic of Facebook, I would like to point out how annoying some of those application invites get sometimes. And that vampire one actually sends an IM to you after you have left it and even blocked the application. I usually block many of the applications before I even get invited most of the time. And for my loyal crowd I’m going to give you all a sneak peek (moved to portfolio) at the graphics I have just created for the TV Auction that will air next Sunday @ 1pm on Channel 10. See www.lancasterkiwanis.net for more info on it.

A Quickie

I guess to compensate for this short post I will post a humorous picture for you, my loyal viewers. This I had made and posted to Facebook a few days ago, when someone question whether or not I really had a barcode scanner. In retrospect it could be considered a metaphor for the way many people on the retail sector think during customer disputes. And when it comes to disputes I think I have just learned the secret to dealing with a dispute, and thinking back to past experiences I believe this is an actual approach that will always work. “Never loose the control in a situation” I think it is that split moment when the control is lost that leads to an escalation. By keeping control, it allows for “Personal Accountability,” keeping the situation in the range where you have control. I think that if you gave a little but have the customer, client, co-working believing that it is better for them to beat there head against a brick wall than challenge you for more, you remain very likely to succeed in your delima. Although key factors in this actually working is, you appear to actually know what you…