E's not only home, but already has burned her retinas from trying to view the eclipse of the Sun by Venus happening RIGHT NOW by looking at it with a mirror and three pairs of sun glasses.  So don't anyone else try that today.  Eclipse glass ONLY, or the old pinhhole/shadow method, but I think the little DOT of Venus will be too small to see that way.  I'm now going to look on the NASA website.

Next chance...105 years.

Hot off of Yahoo News and, as an early stager, I am very interested:

Blood test 'can save breast cancer patients' lives'

We take the path. report at its word when it says no LVI, but I seriously want to inquire whether I could get this CTC blood test done.  I'm supposed not to have anything circulating, but I'm all for checking that out.

On a related note, today is my big day to re-check my low platelets.  Can you all cross your fingers that I come out o.k., because I really don't want a summer of trying to figure out what the malfunction is.  I am hoping the last blood draw was a freaky fluke and today I will have platelets galore.

Meece,  Lucky you, how cool.    (Smiley in eclipse glasses!)  Lucky me, my retinas have recovered.

I did just fine with my platelets this morning.  Last time, I had them use an alternate vein , so then the needle was not placed well and the draw went very slow.  I surrendered my usual vein this morning and had over twice the number of platelets as last time.  I guess there is a lesson in there that  it's possible to get a false read and it doesn't hurt to do a re-check before taking further action.

Don't think I was ever actually low, but if I was then that cruise ship cuisine was great for builing them up again!  Must have been the "Chocoholic Buffet" night.  If you ever get low platelets, how great to get a 'script for that...Rx = one night of total chocolate binging and call me in the morning. 

I'm about ready to get some pics onto Photobucket, but I'm not quite ready to tell my tale yet.

Alright, let me begin some of the Cruise story...which, unlike the Fantasy Cruise we had on this thread a year ago, will be all factual.

Cruise Part One: Seattle Departure/Juneau

I flew in the day before departure, so was able to check the bags fairly early the next day and then have some time to wander in Downtown Seattle.  My son and I decided to head over to the Pike Place Market (pic #1 below) which is very active on a Sunday...lots of people milling around the street, shops, craft stalls; watching buskers, or getting jacked on caffiene at the original Starbuck's location. 

We returned to the ship (Norwegian Pearl) for a late lunch.  Their biggest dining room for open dining is called the Summer Palace. It's Russian themed and adorned with large paintings of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.  Over the course of the week, I had many a dee-licious 3-course meal in there, and I can tell you for a fact that nothing gives me more of an appetite than staring at old-timey representations of a tragic royal family wiped out by Bolsheviks, but that's just me.

Sailing was calm enough while we were in Puget Sound, but a few hours later we were on the open sea.  Oh Lordy, we were reeling and rocking and reaching for the diphenhydramine.  (That's a no-no with Tamox., but I'm a veteran rule bender and there was no way I was going to start off barfing on the first day.  It worked like a charm.) The next day was all at sea, but calmer.  We explored the ship and I am going to skip that mostly.  The Pearl is probably similar to most other cruisers out there.

Our first port day was in Juneau.  Lots of people sign up to do pricey side trips involving boats, helicopters, dogsleds, etc.  In my low-brow (and you can substitute the word cheapskate here if you want to) syle, we instead took the $16 shuttle trip to the Mendenhall Glacier (pic #2 below.)   While not being an official tour guide, our driver pointed out some hills where we spotted a few (white) bald eagle heads in the tree tops, a black bear crossing the road (he was a Yogi, living on the kindness and food scraps of strangers,) and "the biggest garage" in Alaska (what? it was a metal barn.)  An inlet blocks everyone from walking right up to the glacier, but we still got close.  At the end of the trail leading there, there is a big waterfall.  There is nothing more refreshing to drink than the water that comes from an icy mountain stream.  Sure, there is a possibility that a molecule of bear pee might be in it, but I got a couple looks like I was drinking the runoff from the pallisades along the Hudson.  Now Juneau is not what I would call a cute city.  It looks kind of scrappy.  I saw the capitol building.   It was nothing special at all.  I have an indigent hotel in my city that looks very similar.  The only way to get to Juneau is boat or plane, but everyone has cars that have been ferried in.