Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I'm too Cheap.... I mean frugal.

If you dont want to go the route of whole house generator, you can pick up for $500 to $1000 a decent portable generator.  Something like a 5000 to 6500 would be plenty to keep your fridge, lights, tv, etc going.  

[Momof3gurlz]

18 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

So glad you're OK. Pfew !!

 

About losing power -- last week we were advised by the Electricity Company that they'll do "maintenance works" Thursday between 9am and 3pm. Advising is OK, they have to do it by law.

 

BUT, no electricity for 6 hours????

 

It is very hot here, and we usually stock meat and fish in our fridge's freezer, and we also have another small freezer too. It is common here.

 

Moreover, we just stocked meat for the High Holidays in 2 weeks time, when, for the 1st time in 2 years, we'll celebrate the New Year with our married son.

 

The Electricity Company doesn't compensate for spoiled food.... This is such a PITA and worries me, and then I'm reading that you hope that power will be restored in 2 days !!!

 

What happens to all the food???

We have a gas powered generator that we can connect some lights & our refrigerator/freezer to using a long, heavy duty extension cord. We ended up not needing it today, but if the outage had gone into the night we would’ve started it up.  Without opening the freezer door at all, everything is still frozen solid even without it running for 6 hours.  
Also, here in the US most homeowners insurance will cover food spoilage if the power is out for an extended time - usually more than 24 hours.  The amount paid varies by policy & insurance company. 

[Jimbo]

16 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Looks delicious.  This is your homegrown corn?  

Google corn fritters, that's where I found a good zucchini fritter recipe.

Enjoy🤩

Yes, from my garden in the back yard. Picked 12 dozen so far. Gave a lot of it to the neighbors. Probably have another 10 dozen to pick. Will be freezing some this coming week and using some for fritters.

Edited August 22, 2021 by Jimbo

[reallyitsmema]

28 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

So glad you're OK. Pfew !!

 

About losing power -- last week we were advised by the Electricity Company that they'll do "maintenance works" Thursday between 9am and 3pm. Advising is OK, they have to do it by law.

 

BUT, no electricity for 6 hours????

 

It is very hot here, and we usually stock meat and fish in our fridge's freezer, and we also have another small freezer too. It is common here.

 

Moreover, we just stocked meat for the High Holidays in 2 weeks time, when, for the 1st time in 2 years, we'll celebrate the New Year with our married son.

 

The Electricity Company doesn't compensate for spoiled food.... This is such a PITA and worries me, and then I'm reading that you hope that power will be restored in 2 days !!!

 

What happens to all the food???

 

One thing we always do when we know there is a big storm coming, like Henri, is to make a bunch of ice and put bags or covered bowls of it in the freezer.  If we do lose power, we never open the freezer.  Since you have a scheduled outage, if you have space, I would make some extra ice to help maintain the temperature for the outage.

[island lady]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

@island ladyI really like this place that you are staying in now.

 

So do I.  😉  Have it booked for next year again....for 2 months.  

[Lionesss]

Dinner tonight is at a a local watering hole just outside of Richmond Kentucky. PROUD MARY. 
 

Underneath the interstate 75 expressway bridge. 
 

BBQ. Everything to seafood. 
next to the Kentucky river. 
 

And of course wished we had drink package. 

[Sunshine3601]

33 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

So glad you're OK. Pfew !!

 

About losing power -- last week we were advised by the Electricity Company that they'll do "maintenance works" Thursday between 9am and 3pm. Advising is OK, they have to do it by law.

 

BUT, no electricity for 6 hours????

 

It is very hot here, and we usually stock meat and fish in our fridge's freezer, and we also have another small freezer too. It is common here.

 

Moreover, we just stocked meat for the High Holidays in 2 weeks time, when, for the 1st time in 2 years, we'll celebrate the New Year with our married son.

 

The Electricity Company doesn't compensate for spoiled food.... This is such a PITA and worries me, and then I'm reading that you hope that power will be restored in 2 days !!!

 

What happens to all the food???

When super storm/hurricane sandy hit our area in PA we had no power for about 3 weeks.  Thank god we had a generator.  Many of my neighbors didnt and still dont have them.  

My worries are sump pump in basement, extra freezer and the fridge in kitchen.  

Our shore in LBI, NJ was without power for more than 2 months.  The utility companies had shut everything off, including gas until they made sure every house was secure with no leaks.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, jagsfan said:

Wow! It’s like night and day. 
you can really feel at home in the new place!

 

Thanks!  Yes we are indeed.  Happy to have this place booked for 2 months next year.  🙂  A Chef's dream in the kitchen...and that office!  Yes!!  🥰

[Sunshine3601]

38 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Yes, from my garden in the back yard. Picked 12 dozen so far. Gave a lot of it to the neighbors. Probably have another 10 dozen to pick. Will be freezing some this coming week and using some for fritters.

Wow!  That's a lot of corn.   Did you grow it when you lived in NJ?   I love NJ sweet corn and always buy a bunch and freeze it.

[Keksie]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I'm too Cheap.... I mean frugal.

We were going to get a whole house generator but instead got a 15,000 watt generator.  We had an electrician wire our box so that we can plug it in and not worry about the linemen when the power comes back on.  It is enough to run the refrigerators, air conditioner, lights etc.  If we need to wash clothes we can turn the air conditioner off and run the washer and dryer.  The entire set up didn't cost that much and we didn't have to get a huge propane tank for a whole house one.  My husband usually has at least 60 gal. of gas around which will be enough to last quite awhile.

[harryfat1]

 

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

This reminds me a little bit of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel.

 

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I remember that crash. Total pilot error as I recall

 

What's the cost to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?  It costs $6 per pop to cross the San Mateo Bridge. So those of us who had to cross it daily for commute, multiply $6 X 5 days week X 48 weeks (not counting holidays/vacations) equals a nice chunk of change just to try to get to work, not even counting gas/wear & tear on the car.

 

Yeah, they ruled the accident to be pilot error as he over relied on instruments and lack of experience flying into SFO.

 

Here is a video reconstruct of the accident as the pilot came in too slow and too low and the back of the plane broke when it hit the runway as he tried to pull up too late when he realized he would miss the runway and land in the bay otherwise.

 

 

 

[akcruz]

1 hour ago, dani negreanu said:

 

So glad you're OK. Pfew !!

 

About losing power -- last week we were advised by the Electricity Company that they'll do "maintenance works" Thursday between 9am and 3pm. Advising is OK, they have to do it by law.

 

BUT, no electricity for 6 hours????

 

It is very hot here, and we usually stock meat and fish in our fridge's freezer, and we also have another small freezer too. It is common here.

 

Moreover, we just stocked meat for the High Holidays in 2 weeks time, when, for the 1st time in 2 years, we'll celebrate the New Year with our married son.

 

The Electricity Company doesn't compensate for spoiled food.... This is such a PITA and worries me, and then I'm reading that you hope that power will be restored in 2 days !!!

 

What happens to all the food???

 

During Sandy we were out if power for 10 days, as soon as we realized it would be a but we started up the barbecue and cooked up a bunch, the rest went in the trash.  As someone mentioned just don't open the doors and it will stay pretty good.  Adding some extra ice ahead of time will also help.

 

44 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

When super storm/hurricane sandy hit our area in PA we had no power for about 3 weeks.  Thank god we had a generator.  Many of my neighbors didnt and still dont have them.  

My worries are sump pump in basement, extra freezer and the fridge in kitchen.  

Our shore in LBI, NJ was without power for more than 2 months.  The utility companies had shut everything off, including gas until they made sure every house was secure with no leaks.

 

Yikes, thought we had it bad, didn't realize it was that long.  We had no interest in a generator in NJ, and so far here in SC haven't gotten one either.  In the 5+ years we've been here we only lost power once for more than a few hours and that was from Matthew.  We weren't here full time yet and happened to be in NJ when it hit, fortunately didn't have much here to worry about then, now it's a but different.  Although do know quite a few here with full house generators so know where to go if we need.

[Luckynana]

1 hour ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Look forward to meeting you & all the others!

Thank you, Deb!  So looking forward to it!

1 hour ago, Momof3gurlz said:

I posted earlier but it went poof. We lost power at 11:30 am and it just came back at 5:30.  Lots of leaves & small branches down in our yard, but thankfully nothing worse.  We have very hot weather coming Tuesday so I hope everyone else gets their power back by then. 

Glad you got your power back, and nothing more than small branches down.

1 hour ago, dani negreanu said:

 

So glad you're OK. Pfew !!

 

About losing power -- last week we were advised by the Electricity Company that they'll do "maintenance works" Thursday between 9am and 3pm. Advising is OK, they have to do it by law.

 

BUT, no electricity for 6 hours????

 

It is very hot here, and we usually stock meat and fish in our fridge's freezer, and we also have another small freezer too. It is common here.

 

Moreover, we just stocked meat for the High Holidays in 2 weeks time, when, for the 1st time in 2 years, we'll celebrate the New Year with our married son.

 

The Electricity Company doesn't compensate for spoiled food.... This is such a PITA and worries me, and then I'm reading that you hope that power will be restored in 2 days !!!

 

What happens to all the food???

Hopefully it won't be for more than an hour or so.🤞

[Luckynana]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

So do I.  😉  Have it booked for next year again....for 2 months.  

Nice!!  That will also give you plenty of time to shop around for the house you'd like to purchase.

[harryfat1]

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

That restaurant looks familiar.  I think we have eaten there.  What is the name of it?

 

We flew into, and out of both SFO and Oakland this year.  Choice of airport depended on which one had a direct flight and a good time.   I hated that we had to fly from Cleveland instead of Pittsburgh, because Pittsburgh is a more convenient drive for us.  SFO is nice, because we can get a bus from there that will take us to a couple miles from our son’s house. We must have picked good times for our Oakland flights, because traffic was light when our son picked us up or dropped us off there.  Guess it all depends on the time and day of the week.

 

The restaurant is called Grand Harbor in Burlingame by SFO.  They shared parking lot with Benihana so you could have gone to either of them.

 

http://grandharborsf.com/

 

Pre Covid, traffic in bay area was awful with the High Tech companies hiring people left and right and everyone was jamming the freeway/bridges trying to get to work.  Post Covid with many of those employees working from home, traffic is much more reasonable.  Although there was a bit of resurangance in traffic in the Spring when some companies though the coast was clear with the vaccine and started to bring people back to the office.  Some have since postpone the return with the Delta variant.

 

Personally, I'm in no hurry to go back to the office as I don't miss the commute/sitting in traffic daily. WFH is much better and it will be interesting post Covid to see how the various tech companies deal with remote workers.

 

My WFH set up

 

[Luckynana]

30 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

 

 

 

What's the cost to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?  It costs $6 per pop to cross the San Mateo Bridge. So those of us who had to cross it daily for commute, multiply $6 X 5 days week X 48 weeks (not counting holidays/vacations) equals a nice chunk of change just to try to get to work, not even counting gas/wear & tear on the car.

 

 

Do they not offer Commuter discounts?  Here in NY/NJ EZpass commuters get a break.  Of course, the bridges here can run up to $15-$18 dollars a trip.  I believe the Outerbridge to Staten Island from NJ is close to $15 now.  Depending on whether you travel during Rush Hour or not, you get a certain discount...I think between $5 or $6.  I'll have to check next time I get a statement from EZPass

[Sunshine3601]

Watching Oasis sail away on NY harbor webcam.  Left on time at 7 pm.  Their doing a little extra cruise around NY Harbor, looks like they looped around Statue of Liberty.

 

[Luckynana]

I was watching it also, Debbie.  I was wondering if the ship is doing a little cruise around the Harbor and then going back to Port for the night?  

[harryfat1]

3 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

 

I love those egg custards and cocktail buns.  

 

 

Foster City is where I used to live.  Most of my family are all in Foster City still.  We use the Dumbarton Bridge when we want to go to Chevy's in Union City.

 

We just ate the egg custards as late afternoon snack.  I feel fatter already...

 

My sister's family is over at the peninsula as well

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

So do I.  😉  Have it booked for next year again....for 2 months.  

I could live there. Probably couldn't afford it though. 

[harryfat1]

11 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

Do they not offer Commuter discounts?  Here in NY/NJ EZpass commuters get a break.  Of course, the bridges here can run up to $15-$18 dollars a trip.  I believe the Outerbridge to Staten Island from NJ is close to $15 now.  Depending on whether you travel during Rush Hour or not, you get a certain discount...I think between $5 or $6.  I'll have to check next time I get a statement from EZPass

Nope.  Nada on commuter discount.  You get a transponder and they charge you every time you cross the bridge as they no longer have live toll takers. 

 

Only discount you get is if you carpool with someone during the commute times (up to 10 AM or 3 PM to 7 PM in the afternoon) and then you can get 50% off driving through the commute lane. There are many people who tried to get through the carpool lane on the bridge/freeway by dressing up mannequins and putting them in the front seat...

 

 

[Sunshine3601]

46 minutes ago, akcruz said:

 

During Sandy we were out if power for 10 days, as soon as we realized it would be a but we started up the barbecue and cooked up a bunch, the rest went in the trash.  As someone mentioned just don't open the doors and it will stay pretty good.  Adding some extra ice ahead of time will also help.

 

 

Yikes, thought we had it bad, didn't realize it was that long.  We had no interest in a generator in NJ, and so far here in SC haven't gotten one either.  In the 5+ years we've been here we only lost power once for more than a few hours and that was from Matthew.  We weren't here full time yet and happened to be in NJ when it hit, fortunately didn't have much here to worry about then, now it's a but different.  Although do know quite a few here with full house generators so know where to go if we need.

We bought our generator right before Sandy.  So happy we did.  We have had to use several times over the last 9 yrs.  Summer and Winter storms, it has been very useful. 

We usually hookup several power cords and run thru basement window of my neighbor to hook up her sump pump, fridge and tv too.  Shes in her 80s and her husband, who passed away last year, he had alzheimers and had to have tv on non stop.

[Sunshine3601]

28 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

I was watching it also, Debbie.  I was wondering if the ship is doing a little cruise around the Harbor and then going back to Port for the night?  

Beautiful seeing her all lit up and going under the Verrazano bridge.    They are off to CocoCay.

[harryfat1]

Finishing up day 4 of the Disney trip report:

 

After Cars Land, we walked back to Avengers Campus to spend a little more time there since we were in a rush this morning.

 

I’m going to reference a whole bunch of Marvel names below. I’m going to assume you know who’s who within the Marvel Universe from the many movies/TV shows.  If not, just skip this post as it won’t make sense to you.

 

Pym Kitchen prop (from Antman/Avenger movie)

 

 

Quinjet – there should be a second ride in this area of the park in couple of years

 

 

Supposed to be Thor but doesn’t look like Chris Hemsworth other than both have a beard

 

 

They have numerous “mini-shows” throughout the day to keep people occupied since there’s only ONE ride on the area and it’s by appointment only so there’s not much “to do” for people just wander in.  Thus there are many shows to keep people entertained.

 

We’re standing in a long line to wait to get into the Doctor Strange show

 

 

Everyone sitting on the ground waiting for the show to start

 

 

Now this guy looks like Doctor Strange

 

 

Thor’s hammer looks like a beer mug

 

 

Had our picture taken on the Wanda Vision Prop

 

 

Here's Ms. Minute from Loki

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After touring the Avenger’s Campus, it was after 7 PM.  Time to head back to the hotel.  Unlike the previous night, we are not coming back after dinner as CA Adventure closes at 9 PM and we won’t make it back anyway.  After two back to back days of theme park touring, time to start winding down a bit.

 

Made it back to the hotel.  Rested a little and drank more of the Aloe drink (hotel ice machine is just next door down the hall so super convenient to get ice to make the drink nice and cold) before I headed off to get more take out food.

 

Per the phone app, didn’t walk as much today at “only 7 plus miles".

 

Spent the rest of the night in the hotel just relaxing and resting the aching feet/leg.