The Dark Cloud Over My Head Wherever I Go

When I left Santa Barbara in January, it was raining.

As I traveled around South America, it rained far far more than it was clear.

When I vacationed in New Hampshire, a state of emergency was declared, there was so much rain.

Now I am back in California and it is raining. It never rains here in May. I looked it up, and the precipitation average in all of May is .2 inches, and is normally in the form of wet falling fog over many days.

But I am here… so it is raining.

I feel like I have been stuck in a damp fall since last December. (There was an exception of two weeks in the Caribbean, which not even my dark cloud could dampen.)

If you know of any drought affected areas who would like to pay my airfare, I would be more than happy to visit.

OK, I am done complaining about the rain. It is time now time to conduct my obligatory complaining about the cost of gas.

Here is a crazy thought. I left in mid-January. I returned in mid-May. Gas is a dollar more per gallon than when I left. Striking, isn’t it?

And I will let you in on a dirty little secret VW does not share. I have been using my father’s cute little 2006 powder-blue VW bug. It has the worst gas mileage of any car I have ever driven. Wait, that is a lie, my Dad used to have a 1973 Buick LaSaber, 455 cc engine, seemingly 18 tons. I think it got 7 miles to the gallon. With the exception of the 1973 tank, the bug gets the worst gas mileage of any car I have ever driven.

It is stretching for 20 mpg. 20 MPG! How the hell does such a new little car use so much gas? I think it is funneling it into another universe. It is the only reasonable explanation I can come up with. (That or maybe the worst aerodynamics known to man.)

OK, review time:
Stupid: Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain.
Cool: Lush green foliage. (But not quite cool enough to justify this much rain.)
Stupid: Cute little cars that get worse gas mileage than huge SUVs.
Cool: The return of my beloved Honda with far better gas mileage.

(I love my car.)

Where have you been?

Before I left the ship, there was a list of countries going around, nearly 150 listed. The idea was to count how many countries you had been to. I had coworkers who were around 100.

Why did I leave the ship, you may wonder. I am on vacation. I didn’t want to go on vacation. I sort of feel like I was voted off the ship or forced into exile. But everyone is exiled periodically, so I guess it is ok.

Anyway, here is my list as best as I can remember. When you live on a ship, you don’t pay that much attention.

You spend a lot of time saying, “Where are we?”

Followed by “Um, yeah, what country is that?”

Countries visited this year:

1. Antigua and Barbados, aka Wadadli
2. St. Lucia
3. Panama
4. Costa Rica
5. French Guiana
6. Brazil
7. Uruguay
8. Argentina
9. Chile
10. Portugal
11. UK

Last year (excluding ones from this year):
12. Italy
13. Monaco
14. Spain
15. France
16. Netherlands
17. Channel Islands (Bailiwick of Guernsey)
18. Ireland
19. Norway
20. Denmark
21. Sweden
22. Finland
23. Germany
24. Estonia
25. Russia
26. Canada
27. Iceland
28. Poland
29. Belgium

Previous years (exclusion of recent years)
30. Mexico
31. Israel
32. Egypt


I return to Croatia on June 16.

And here is a random picture, me and a penguin in Ushuaia. Ushuaia proclaims itself the end of the world, being it is the most southern city on earth. If you ever go to Antarctica (as I am sure you all will) you will stop at Ushuaia first.