Easter Trip

This weekend, we set sail for what is an annual tradition. We get on Velvet Elvis, and cruise for Easter. Where we go is a function of wind and weather. We sometimes anchor and enjoy the solitude of a quiet private marsh; we sometimes tie up in another town and enjoy their hospitality.

On Saturday, we scrubbed the trip just an hour or so into it. The wind was fiercely strong, and the lake responded with huge angry waves. The bow plowed into a couple of huge angry green waves when we first entered the lake, and there was enough wash to slosh into the open cabin through the boat's open pop-top on one.

When we were far enough out into the lake to make a turn, pass under a bridge, and try to make toward a destination, the waves were huge and confused. They rolled our little boat from side to side, and they pitched us back and forth. I don't want our little one to think our Easter trip is a frightful experience to be dreaded like hellfire, so I brought us all back in.

So, we had to do a shore-bound Easter. The Easter bunny didn't necessarilly know where to find Vanya, so he left the basket aboard, as usual. He found it very quickly after getting out of bed. (Stick with this video for a little bit. It gets better.)

Sunday was calmer, and I sailed hard and long that day. But we didn't leave overnight, because the Monday forecast was even worse that Saturday's. If we had gone somewhere, we would have had no choice but to wait extra days, or go back through the bad stuff.

Something strange happened either before or during my sail on Sunday. I'm not sure when or how, but when I returned, the marine radio installed on the boat and my ipod sitting right next to it were hosed. I could get both of them to light up the screen, but neither would actually come all the way on and work. In addition to that, my phone took one rogue splash when I had it in the cockpit with me on Saturday. It wasn't ruined, but it kept telling me that an unauthorized accessory was plugged in, and the speaker didn't work. I had to use headphones to hear calls.

My week turned toward the better when the Apple store set me up with a replacement ipod and phone without charging me a cent, buying my loyalty for many years to come, no matter how much itunes tells me that I'm not authorized to play all of the music that I bought from the iStore.

I also just took a call from my nephew to tell me that the radio on the boat fixed itself. So this went from a week that had the potential to be cripplingly expensive, to one that is just moderately inconvenient.

I decided that since I have to configure a new ipod and a new phone, I would come up with a new scheme for thier naming. "ben's iphone" is such a boring name.

I'm going with puns on names of Asian food. "pod stickers" for the ipod. I'm thinking of "Dragon and phone-ix" for the phone, but that's a little lengthy. It would also give me the obvious "pad Thai" if I ever get an ipad.

Of course, I'm the only one who would see the labels and get the joke. It's not like I would walk around the house saying, "Honey, did you see where I left Dragon and phone-ix?" I would still just say, "Did you see where I left my phone?"