Christmas cards: e-cards vs mailing

I love Christmas cards; both receiving and sending them. I especially love the photo cards a lot of people send.  I used to send close to 100 cards each year as a way of keeping in touch, especially with people I don't see often. I set up my address list to print out labels, and composed an update letter, recapping events of the past year.  I have struggled with sending Christmas cards for the past couple of years.  Mom & I used to do them together.  We would remind, prompt & encourage each other to get them finished on time.  Without that "kick in the butt", I procrastinate.  A few years back, I started using e-card & hand delivering cards to people & would see.  There have been many e-card vendors, though some have come and gone. Free e-cards are still available, but most of the major providers like Hallmark & American Greetings offer a few for free, while offering premium cards for subscription members.  Last year, I had a Hallmark.com subscription, and I sent many e-cards, using e-mail addresses when I had them and Facebook posts when I didn't.  Many of the e-cards went unopened; Hallmark sent a pick-up notice for the ones sent to an e-mail address.  It was difficult to tell if the Facebook posts were viewed or opened, because there was no pick-up notice for those e-cards.  Mailed cards also get returned because the person moved & I did not get an address update.

This year, my Hallmark.com subscription had expired.  I sent a few of the free e-cards from Hallmark, then I chose to subscribe to Jacquie Lawson cards.  These are premium interactive cards available only by subscription. Again, I sent to e-mail addresses if I had them, and to Facebook if I did not.  Again, many went unopened.  Jacquie Lawson cards send pick-up notices if the card was sent to an e-mail address and shows whether Facebook posts were viewed, but not who viewed them. Some people did respond on Facebook or by e-mail; but very few. It was disappointing.  I did send some cards by mail, but they did not get mailed until 12/21 and might be late. 

So why don't people open their e-cards?  Do they think e-cards are tacky? Are they reluctant to open the link to view the card?  Has their e-mail address changed?  If you received an e-card from me, please open it and respond.  It is the courteous thing to do.

Carnival Cruise 2012

Back from the cruise on the lovely Carnival Pride. While there were things I liked better on the Norwegian cruise in 2011, I think we got a lot for our money on Carnival. Leaving out of Baltimore was great; I didn't mind flying to FL, except for the layovers, but this was so much easier. We got a 7 day cruise for approximately the same amount we spent for a 4 day cruise with airfare. I would not book a cruise in Nov-Jan again. The weather was cold when we left Baltimore. It was pleasant in FL & the Bahamas, but it was not hot enough for swimming - on the ship or at the beaches.

We had a balcony stateroom. It was supposed to be "obstructed", which cost less than a regular balcony, but the 5th deck obstructed balcony was not really obstructed at all. I did not mind the inside cabin, but this was much nicer and DH could go out on the balcony to smoke. (Smoking areas were very limited). I did not purchase the wifi plan, so I had no internet access or phone for most of the trip except at Port Canaveral.  I put my iPhone on airplane mode, and kept a journal in the notes app.

The food and the shows are the best part. We went to the fancy steak house on the first night. While it was a great experience & worth the extra expense, I don't think I would do it again because the dining room food was nearly as good as the steak house. The buffet food had lots of selections and the room service was free unless you ordered alcohol, soda or fancy coffee. We went to a show almost every night, and 2 of the comedy shows. There were 4 comedians; the first show was "family friendly" , but not so good. The 2nd was "adults only", and quite funny. I would have liked to see all 4 comedians, but the comedy club filled up fast.

Alcohol is very expensive on the ship. I had some unrealistic expectations about how much DH would/would not spend on alcohol. We brought the allowed wine aboard and also some "hidden stash", which I expected to last more than just 2 days. I was happy to find the "Friends of Bill W." (AA meetings) on board, and I was welcome there as an Al-anon member. Casinos do not really interest me. There was one slot machine with a cat theme that I might have tried if we had the money, but we didn't. I think DH would have liked to play some of the casino games, but he was able to control that urge. You had to walk through the casino to get to other activities. I had fun playing some of the free games - bean bag toss aka corn hole and trivia. I wasn't very good at the trivia (or the bean bags) but it was fun. I also attended a couple of the informative presentations and the towel animal folding seminar.  There were also art auctions and sales but I skipped most of those.  We brought a "game kit" but did not play any of the games until debarkation day.  We kept the deck of cards in the carry on bag & played 500 rummy while waiting to debark.
 
The swimming pools were better on the Norwegian Sky. The Venus & Apollo pools on the Carnival Pride were more for jumping in and not really built for swimming. The "adults only" Serenity pool was the best one, but it was too windy & chilly outside for me to get in. One pool area had a retractable dome that was stuck open until Thursday. After they were able to get the dome over that area, it was warmer there, but the pool water was still cold. There was a water slide on the Carnival Pride but they did not have it opened until Friday and it was still too chilly for me. (There was no water slide on the Norwegian Sky) Because the weather was too chilly for swimming, we spent a lot of time in the hot tubs. DH was careful to limit his time in the hot tubs to the recommended 15 minutes, but I was not so careful. I wound up with a rash on my arms & legs & abdomen/belly that freaked me out. I did not know whether it was from the hot tub, or if I had developed an allergy to shellfish or if there were (heaven forbid) bedbugs. I treated it like poison ivy, washing with cold soapy water & I had some neosporin ointment. I went to the nurse and she said it did not look like bedbugs, but most likely an allergic reaction and that hydrocortisone cream might help. I looked it up online when I got home and it was most likely a hot tub rash. I went to the doctor today and he agreed that it was not bedbugs and most likely a hot tub rash, and gave me an Rx antibiotic. I will be more careful to observe hot tub rules & etiquette in the future - shower before/after, limit time in the hot tub to 15 minutes. 

Ports of Call. At Port Canaveral, we took the shuttle to Cove market and Cocoa Beach. It was too chilly for swimming and I did not even get my feet wet. I played corn hole at Cove market, then we went back to the ship. At Nassau, we took the frugal tour - rode the city bus around the island for $1.25/each, then went back to the ship. At Freeport/Grand Bahama, DH stayed at the straw market in Freeport, while I took the taxi ride to Port Lucaya. I walked around the market and to the beach. It was too chilly for swimming, but I did get my feet wet.

I did not buy much on this cruise. On the first day I went to the $10 sale & bought a belt for DH. They had a "groove for St. Jude" charity event and we got a T-shirt & wristband for a $10. donation. I bought one souvenir - a Carnival Pride Christmas ornament. We got some nice pictures on the iPhone and bought 2 of the pictures taken by the ship photographers. We did not get many taken by the photographers and now I know why I do not like having bangs. On most of those pictures, my bangs looked oily and stuck to my forehead.

All in all, we had a very good time and I would cruise with Carnival again.  I think I would like to go in a group.

Personal Web Pages

These were quite popular about 10 years ago.  I learned just enough HTML to create a few simple pages in Notepad, then used an HTML editor (Front Page). I also had a I had WS-FTP lite to manage my site.  I built several PWP when I was on Prodigy Internet, then I moved it to my cable internet server.  The Prodigy pages were viewable up until about a year ago, and today, I can no longer access my page on the cable internet server.  There was no notice.

Hey gas station owner, if you charge extra for credit/debit, you have lost my business

Several local gas stations have started charging anywhere from 3 cents to 10 cents more per gallon if you use a credit or debit card.  I understand the benefit of cash only sales to the vendor, using credit or debit benefits both the purchaser & the vendor.  The purchaser gets the convenience and the vendor gets increased sales. The cost to the vendor comes at the point of sale and the cost to the purchaser comes when they pay interest. These stations have decided to push their costs on to the purchasers; however, this is a bad business decision.  If they were the only station in town, or if all the others were adding this cost, I suppose they would not lose any business.  But there are many stations I can patronize, without going our of my way, that do not add this charge.

Sword of Truth

One of the first books I purchased for my Kindle was Wizard's First Rule, Book 1 of the Sword of Truth series.  I have had this on my reading list for a long time.  I first discovered this series while reading the Wheel of Time. Many of the reading & literature bulletin boards indicated similarities between these two series, and  I hesitated to begin another epic fantasy series while the other one was unfinished.   I became more interested during the TV series Legend of the Seeker which ran 2 seasons from 2008-2010.  Legend of the Seeker was loosely based on the Sword of Truth.  I loved the show, but had not yet read any of the books other than a short prequel called Debt of Bones.  So this week, I got into Book 1 & could not put it down. 

Multiply is closing, no export feature

I started posting a blog on Yahoo 360 in 2006.  When that closed, I exported the posts to Multiply.com.  They are closing their social network feature including the blog, as of December 2012, and there is no export feature.  Blogger appears to be the most stable blog, so I will be using it for posting my future random thoughts. 

Amazon Prime

I got 1 year free Amazon Prime when I signed up for Amazon student. I really appreciated free 2-day shipping, especially at Christmas time  When it came time to renew Prime, I was offered 1/2 price.  This year, I kept getting a notice that I needed to update the card, but no mention of whether the renewal was still 1/2 price.  I did a little searching, and the Amazon student membership is good for 4 years, after which I will have to pay full price for Prime.  I have discovered many benefits to having a Prime membership. I use the Kindle lending library, and now I found free Instant video.  

Online calendars

I have a calendar in Outlook, one on Yahoo, one on Google & one on Windows Live.  They are not coordinated in any way; I have the birthday list on Yahoo, & a daily prayer set up on Google; not sure what I have on Windows Live, and nothing set up on Outlook.    I send reminders to myself, but I never set up sharing.  I recently started using the Cozi Home Calendar. I added some events today & downloaded the iPhone app. I like it, but I am only using it for a personal calendar. 

Kindle edition vs paperback/hard copy

I bought a used 2nd generation Kindle, and I really like it.  Especially now that I actually have time to read.  One thing bothers me about Kindle e-books (don't know if this is true for Nook or other formats but it probably is).  Why do so many Kindle books cost as much or more than the paperback?  Some titles are available for borrowing if you have Amazon Prime, and there are many books available for $2.99 or less, and some are available for free. But many titles I have searched for cost as much or more than the paperback edition.  OK, I understand that with a Kindle edition, I have a copy that does not take up space in my bookshelf or wear out, but I can't lend it to anyone. I used to share my paperbacks & book club editions with my father or my sisters.  If the Kindle edition is more than $2.99, I prefer to get it from the library and return it when I am done.  Supposedly, my library offers e-books including Kindle versions, but the wait list is very long, and it seems like I can get the paperback or hardback copy much faster.  I asked the librarian about this and he told me it was a statewide wait list, and it moves faster than I thought, so I will try requesting a Kindle book.

Watching entirely too much TV

With Netflix & online episodes, I can pretty much watch TV whenever I want.  I had a DVR for a while, but I did not use it enough to justify the extra expense through the cable co.  I have a TV tuner card installed on one computer, but it is an older card & it does not have a remote &  does not work with Windows Media Center.  When I get a newer TV card, I will turn that TV into a DVR.