Camping Trip Finally Nailed Down

Carrie and I have been talking about going camping this summer since the end of last year’s outing, while a few specifics were discussed, we hadn’t actually made any reservations or anything.  During dinner at her parents’ yesterday, the topic sort of came up again, and I figured we had better make reservations now, rather than later.

We knew we wanted to go on at least one trip this year, and for longer than 2 or 3 nights, so I decided to kill both of them there birds with the same stone.  We’re going to Hoffmaster, which is near Muskegon on Lake Michigan, and we’re staying 5 nights.  We’re not going until the day after Labor Day, which will help ensure its not too busy during our stay, and arriving on a Tuesday almost guarantees we’ll have our choice of sites.  And being that we’re arriving on Tuesday and leaving on a Sunday, that will give me an entire week of vacation for Labor Day, which is awesome.

One of the reasons we got Platinum Season Passes to Cedar Point this year was so that we could also use them to attend Michigan’s Adventure (owned by Cedar Fair, the parent company to CP).  Unfortunately, Labor Day marks the last non-weekend day that MA is open, so we’ll only have Saturday and Sunday to visit that park, and we’ll miss hitting the water park at all.  As much as that bums me out, all we need to do is hit CP once more and we’ll have more than gotten our money’s worth from the passes once the MA trip is factored in.  So that’s a win, considering I’m sure there’s at least 2 more day trips to CP in our future – once in the summer, and another for Halloweekends.

Even though this camping trip is still 78 days away, I’m already geeked. 

The Chronicles of Nausea: The Virus, the Scripts and the Coasters

When’s it gonna end?  First, I was feeling off toward the end of last week.  Then came this passed weekend’s illness that left me couch-ridden.  I recovered well enough though, and the vacation went quite well.  Because I’m not as immune to motion sickness as I was when I was a child, I sometimes elect to take Dramamine before a long day of riding, just to be on the safe side.  Its never fun ruining all or part of the day because you feel like shit.

Anyhow, Tuesday went well, with plenty of sun and riding and enjoyment.  In the afternoon, Carrie and I left the park for lunch an also to pick up my prescription for Protonix at Target.  I had actually run out on Saturday, but my heartburn wasn’t problematic at all until Tuesday, and even then it wasn’t unmanageable.  Nevertheless, we got the meds and were back in the park for the evening.  Toward the end of the day, I was feeling a tiny bit nauseated, though not enough to really impact my mood or anything.

Tuesday night was terrible, as I slept like shit.  There were kids partying at the hotel until well past 4:00AM, and I was up probably 3 or 4 times with an annoyed bladder (one of the downsides to drinking “enough” water .  On Wednesday morning, I came down with a rather sudden bout of pretty intense nausea.  I wasn’t sure what the cause was at that point, but I just figured that lots of coasters and crappy pizza and park food were the cause.

Then today at work, about an hour before lunch, I started feeling crappy again.  Its still with me, though the intensity has waned somewhat.  A text message to Carrie confirmed my suspicion that the most recent afflictions – both yesterday morning as well as today – are likely due to my meds.  I had dealt with similar symptoms when I started on Protonix, and because I lapsed in taking them between Sunday and Tuesday, those symptoms are back.  Awesome.

So, I’ve effectively been nauseous, off and on, for almost a week now.  Yay.

Cedar Point Mini-Vacation Forecast #1

Chaostivity

I’ve already been more productive in 2 hours today, so far as moving some of my projects forward is concerned, than I have in any full 10-hour day this week.  Its not that I’ve been particularly lazy or unproductive, but rather one of my projects has been consuming my world in chaos.

In fact, my entire world has been consumed in chaos for what seems like months now.  Come to think of it, it has been months!  Carrie and I started ‘officially’ looking for a place to live back in mid-February, and ‘unofficially’ as far back as December, though there was a respite during the holidays, which are chaotic on their own, and especially so this year.

But as my biggest project at work moves forward, it will become both more time consuming and less stressful at the same time, which is a trade-off I’m more than happy to live with.  And with the housing situation finally mostly settling down, that will also become less stressful.  We’ve still got a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, as well as some Spring cleaning, but compared to what we’ve already been through, that aint shit!

And then there’s Spring…  It seems as though we may finally be turning the proverbial corner, and this weekend looks to be the first ‘real’ taste of Spring.  Weekdays don’t count.  Well, at least not until I get an office with windows. 

To top it all off, I’ve just requested a vacation day for May 13th, so Carrie and I can go redeem our Cedar Point season passes.  And hell, since we’re gonna be down there doing that, we might as well ride some coasters too. 

Today marks the first day…

Today marks the first day of the year where it actually felt like spring as I left the house.  Even at 5:00AM, it was warm and inviting.

Today marks the first day that we won’t have to make any more trips back to the apartment.  That’s right – no more moving our crap and no more cleaning.

Today marks the first day that we can finally concentrate solely on unpacking.  And, with any luck, we may just have a house devoid of boxes by August.

Today marks the first day of what I imagine will be a pretty damn good month.  With Mario Kart Wii coming the day after my birthday and finally having some time to devote to SSB Brawl, I’m a happy guy.

Today marks the first day of the last month that Carrie and I won’t have season passes to Cedar Point.  The park opens on May 10th, and I think we’re going on the 13th or 14th.  We’ve never had passes before, and we’re pumped.  Get yours!

Today marks the first day of a month in which the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.  The Detroit Red Wings are, once again, one win away from clinching the President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best regular season team.  Again.

Today is a good day. 

Season Pass Redemption

Cedar Point posted their 2008 season pass redemption details, and holy shit am I excited.  Having ‘free’ access to that place is going to be incredible, to say the least.  It makes what would be a $200 day (for two people) become half as expensive.  This, combined with my doubled-for-2008 vacation days makes it so we can go on a whim if we choose.

We can drive down to process our passes on or after April 16^th.