Fun, Good News, and Stupidity

Lots of stuff to write about tonight. Geez, where to start. With the fun, I guess.

A week or two ago, I discovered another cool sailing/cruising blog called Zero To Cruising. Mike and Rebecca are from Ontario, Canada. They bought themselves a nice cruising catamaran: a PDQ 32 and, a few weeks ago, set out on a long-term cruise to....wherever. When I discovered their blog, their tale resonated with me, for a couple reasons. First, I really like the idea of just sailing away on one's boat to explore and have adventures; when I'm done with the Navy (and now, with raising the kids), I want to do the same thing. Second, back when I had just graduated from College, I toyed with the idea of forgoing the apartment and furniture thing in favor of living on a sailboat. I researched several different models of boat while pondering that idea. Two of those I looked into were the PDQ 32 and its bigger sister, the PDQ 36. I decided against the liveaboard plan then, but I remember being very impressed with the PDQ boats, though I never set foot on one.

Anyway, Mike and Rebecca sailed south across Lake Ontario and then into the Erie Canal. When I discovered their blog, they were just nearing the Canal. I forwarded their website to the Admiral's email, saying that we should hook up with them when they get to the Albany area. I left a comment on their blog suggesting the same thing, and sure enough, yesterday we all hooked up for dinner. The Admiral and I met them at the waterfront in Waterford, NY. We found their boat no problem. They left a note directing us a few boats down; there we found them and a few friends having a beer. It was a fun group. We hung out for a while, but after a little bit the four of us took off for dinner. The Admiral and I drove past a place in Clifton Park called Peddlers that we wanted to go to, but as it was a BAR and grill, it didn't seem appropriate to bring the kids to. Last night we had a sitter, though, so we decided to take Mike and Rebecca there.

It was a very cool place. Shoot, it even had its own valet parking. Of course, I was leery about paying for a valet, but when they said "It's free", we all poured out of the car faster than you can say "Go!" Peddler's ended up being cooler than we thought. There was a band playing, and the bassist looked just like Hulk Hogan! After they stopped, it turned into Karaoke night. I know, I know, everyone is cringing. But the folks who sang while we ate were really good! So was the food, for that matter. The only down point of dinner was when we were talking about the valet and I went into my pocket to find the ticket....and couldn't. Images of having to get a cab home flashed through my head....and probably everyone else's....but then I saw a ticket on the railing behind Rebecca. When we left, it ended up being the correct ticket. I guess it fell out of my pocket but someone picked it up and left it on the railing. Lucky!

After dinner, we went back to the waterfront and got a tour of their boat. I was very impressed. It had plenty of room for a couple, a ridiculously secure cockpit, and was overall very nicely put together. Great boat!

So that was the fun part.

The good news is on the baby front. Kid #3 is on the way, as I'm sure I posted before. A few weeks ago, during an ultrasound, the technician at the Admiral's OB saw a cyst in the kid's brain. This got the Docs thinking about a condition called Triso-something 18, which leads to stillbirth...or a very short lifespan after birth. They referred the Admiral to a high-risk OB office for a level 2 ultrasound. I took off early from work today to go with her. Verdict: the cyst went away on its own and there is no sign of any problem with the baby. Gee, that's a shock! I say that tongue-in-cheek because, in my experience, almost every time someone starts freaking out about the worst possible circumstance, it never ends up coming true. Now, I realize that real people do have this condition, but I gotta think it's fretted about far more often than it ends up coming true. In fact, the high risk Doc backed this up: she said that 90% of cases that are referred to her end up being nothing. So great news, even if neither I nor the Admiral were surprised to receive it.

The stupidity occurred at the OB too.

Two black ladies were in the waiting room when we got there: a pregnant lady and her friend, sister, or something. The pregnant lady got called to the window and given some paperwork to fill out. She brought it back to her seat next to her friend and started bitching and moaning about the racial portion of the information sheet. "Black", she said, "don't they know it's African American? How offensive!" Those who know me know I can't stand bigotry, but I also can't sophistry or idiocy. So I piped up "The offensive thing is that it lists anything under race other than human. There's no fricking difference, after all." The Admiral then added "Yeah, who gives a damn about that stuff". We both judge people by whether they're douchebags or not, not by whether they are more resistant to sunburn than we are. Both ladies, though, gave me a long-suffering look, but shut up. A minute later, the pregnant one went in to her appointment. I looked over at her friend, who gave me a half-hearted flash of a smile before looking away. I think I embarrassed them, or at least shamed them into stopping their conversation.

But seriously though, I have no doubt those ladies aren't offended at all by the National Association for the Advancement of COLORED People, the United NEGRO College Fund, or the Congressional BLACK Caucus, or any number of other organizations that make millions of dollars dividing people along racial lines while claiming to be the ones who aren't racist. This sort of selective, fake sensitivity is repugnant to me, and ought to be to everyone. Hypocrites! Bigots! They all ought to be tarred and feathered, then run out of town on a rail.

I could go on, but I'm too annoyed.

Good night, all.