what's on your Wednesday menu RNY'ers?

Humpty Hump everyone!

Sadly, it appears that the age of the Bingo Dabber has drawn to a conclusion.

You may ask "Is it really a good idea to travel home with a cheap plastic container full of ink in your suitcase?", or "Does it make sense to advocate for single use plastics while sailing?", and I do hear you. I do. But I'll always love a good dabber.

Instead, the dabber has been replaced by perforated chads. Have those ever caused controversy before?

Sea Days. I used to consider them a low point, but now I love a good Sea Day! Half hearted trips to a limited gym to lift dumbbells in a rocking ocean, Art auctions full of lithographs and Giclees (French for photocopy, I believe), arts and crafts, and ****tails of the day. But most of all, BINGO.

We were at Sea all day on Friday, Saturday and the following Thursday. There were Bingo's each day, with two on Thursday. They even snuck a fifth BINGO in on the next Friday morning. We hit all of them. And when I say "we" I mean Dad paid and the kids sipped ****tails of the day and played.

I've never been named Queen of BINGO. Never had the free plays or wore the card crown regally in the buffet line. But I held my little dabber proud like a scepter. "17, Drama Queen". Bam, I'd hit my three cards containing I17 with a green blotch from the Dabber. Dab, Dab Dab.

But now it's gone. We are onto the age of the chad. And this new BINGO system is purposely designed to produce hanging chads. In fact, hanging chads are the objective.

People don't know this, but in order to win you have to call out "BINGO" during the roll of the winning ball. If you miss out and have to go back later and say "Oh, I won a few turns ago, sorry guys", you have achieved a BONGO. Nobody wants a BONGO. No payout and the shame of being the BONGO guy. Everybody knows. It follows you around ship like the Curse of the Ancient Mariner.

Therein lies my fear. What if the chads fold back into the depression? What if N43 is no longer hanging and I don't find out for a few turns? When I check the board after "57 Heinz Varieties" and see that I have BINGO what do I do then? It seems a high price to pay in order to keep ink off my suit. Even if it is Hickey Freeman.

And you know that the chads are not perfectly perforated. Sure, most of them depress evenly. But every now and then you get a difficult chad and have to live in fear of pressing it too hard and tearing right through Free Space and into N33 - All the threes. Thus invalidating your card. It's probably not outlandish to suggest that this dexterity issue could be exacerbated by ****tail of the day. BONGO by a different name, my friends.

There are six card strips and three card strips. Inevitably someone decides that they would like all of their cards to be the same size and cuts the 6 card strip in half. That invalidates the card. As long as its discovered before the game, the miscreant gets a walk of shame and a new card. The assistant cruise directors are very diligent about catching the halvers and making sure that the cutter gets settled with a conforming card. But there is no fix for a card ripped during play because of an errant chad/chubby finger/robust Mai Tai.

DS won twice on Thursday - $180 in the morning and $260 in the afternoon. Marilyn tried to explain to him that he didn't really win that much when you consider how many cards we had to buy for the family, but he wasn't buying it. Oh, and I got a Norwegian BINGO Tee Shirt. It will go nicely with my Royal Caribbean BINGO Tee shirt.

QOTD: If you work, are you back to the office full-time, part time, or none? We are trying to get people to come back part time 2-3 days a week. It isn't going very well. Personally, I am trying to comply because I am in relative terms a short timer.

Breakfast: PB toast

Lunch: Roast Beef

Dinner: Happy Hour

Have a great day, all!

Good Morning! It seems quiet this morning....

TSS: 7 years 11 months

B: SF latte, Fiber/protein oatmeal , turkey sausage, and an orange

L: Kolhrabi vegetable pasta, creamy basil pesto sauce, shredded cheese, SF pudding and an apple

S: Protein puffs, a peach and yogurt

D: Italian sausage, TJ's Mexican style cauliflower rice, sliced orange/banana, and 2 squares dark chocolate

ES: Greek yogurt and toast

E: Elliptical and treadmill

V/W: On track

Totals: Cals:1403 Protein:111 Carbs: 124 Fat:58

Have a great one!

Mornin' All!

we're having our documentary film discussion group at a park this morning since it's supposed to be nice and people want to be outside. Although it looks kind of cloudy so hopefully it won't rain - but then there's a big shelter at the park, so we should be fine regardless. People can bring treats if they want to. I have a box of Indian sweets (mithra and ladoo) in the basement fridge that I got a month or two ago. I don't even think I've opened it, so I'll take those. I don't need them sitting around because I'm trying to get serious about losing these unwanted 10 lbs... Other than that, nothing really on the agenda for today.

B: protein oatmeal topped with Carbmaster cinnamon yogurt, coffee with half & half

MS: I'll take a protein shake or more coffee with me to the meeting. And hopefully will keep my eating under control (if people bring a lot of treats..)

L: Jimmy Dean D'Lite breakfast sandwich (the "light" kind - with egg whites and turkey sausage)

AS: ??

D: leftovers from last night's restaurant dinner (I got smoked meat sliders - there were three, and I just ate the chicken one last night. There's a pork one and a brisket one left over. I'll eat the meat from one of them (DH can have the other) and have some kind of vegetable with it)

have a great day, everyone!

QOTD: I'm retired, but DH works full-time. They're back at work 2-3 days a week now (they rotate so there are always at least a couple of professional staffers in the office). He actually loves this hybrid arrangement. He likes working from home, but he got bored sometimes during the worst of the pandemic (when they were 100% remote) and needed an occasional change of scenery - so going in a couple of days a week has resolved that. He hopes they'll stay hybrid permanently.

Good morning ~ Happy Hump Day! Cool waterfalls, Jim. I've been having a harder time going to sleep. I used to be able to lay down and with a few minutes - relax and crash. Now I'm tossing around. I'm not having any issue getting up anymore, so I guess it's a trade off. Today I have an evaluation due (ugh), two meeting and plugging away at the piles. Seeing all the school supplies everywhere has me longing for fall and all that comes with that - PSL's, football, cooler weather, holidays...

Accountability - great - finally seeing the scale move, almost back to signature current weight.

BTW - overnight oats: no thank you. I'll take my oatmeal hot or in cookie form thank you very much.

B- coffee, egg bites and avocado

l -chicken, feta, tomato, salad mix, Kalamata's, lemon vinaigrette

d- pork chops, green beans

e - 45 minutes on the treadmill watching ipad TV - no complaints until the last 2 minutes. Progress.

have a wonderful day!

I am so ready for fall.

No on fall because that means winter is just around the corner. I am enjoying the hot weather. Walked 3 miles last evening in the 95 degree sun and heat! Loved it.

No do not wish fall on me yet. I do like it, just need me some more sunshine. Your SV is amazing. Hold your head high.

Awesome photo Jim

QOTD: I never left the office, we were/are considered essential. During the lockdown I had to carry a letter saying so, not that the local law enforcement felt the need to pull anyone over. I loved that time cause NO traffic.

Off to the pain doctor, have to go for check in every 2-3 months. That is a pain, but at least they don't require monthly visits. Other than that a few errands.

Menu, protein shake, cottage cheese, fruit. Dinner is crack cole slaw aka egg roll in a bowl.

Oh how lovely work was when us essentials had to go to work. I miss those traffic patterns. Seeing Lamborghinis speeding by over 100 miles per hour and going 80 and being the slow car.