Could Chris perhaps stop by the VCF? I always wanted to hear the inside story on what caused that house fire. When I was six, I accidentally started a fire. A decade prior to that, my father lost a barn (with 3 cars inside) to a fire. Things happen. More recently, I got a vintage Commodore PET – had it on for 5 minutes, and it almost went up in flames as well (apparently there are these old filter caps that can blow open even with the device off but still plugged in, and blah blah blah)… That PET still works OK though, just don’t leave it plugged in for long anymore.
About cruising… I once was on a cruise in the Mediterranean (yea, commercial cruising, not your suave “I own this” cruising), 2006 I think (same week Pope Benedict XVI visited Turkey, I felt like he was following us around!). We were ported for a day at Mykonos. It’s not a huge island, but I got myself quite lost (*I knew* which way the pier was – somewhere West down the hill — but anyway, my wife was stressed, something about a departure schedule…). This was before smart phones, and I didn’t speak any Greek. But this American comes over from across the street! Immediately says in a Boston accent, “here, looks like you need a map.” “yes we do indeed, thanks friend. you’re not part of the cruise?” (in his flip flops) “nope, I sail myself around the world.” I didn’t catch his name and we departed on time just fine, but I imagine you two cruising past each other out there. (and at the end of that very week, we had mass with that same Pope Benedict XVI himself back in Rome — my wife and I got accidentally separated in the crowd for about an hour beforehand; she still blames me for that, since she was *obviously* waiting for me at the better seats way up front… That’s another story involving a metal detector and Swiss Guards {who don’t speak any English}).
^ Just saying, if you need any accessories.
(that was always my dream, an 8-person sub.. grew up in Florida, good scuba areas)
All the Best! (tell Roberta I have a slight-slight-slight complaint on whoever centered some of her art in the paragraphs – it made me read in the wrong direction a couple times; but the story is absolutely wonderfully told, I felt it)
-SteveL