Bill
and Cathy McArthur on
the Road 2010: 8
Monday, February 22, followed a night of fitful sleep for Bill, who was suffering from too many GU packs and too many running miles on Sunday. Cathy went to her exercise class and then to the gym. Bill worked on preparations for his noon tutoring session. His legs were very sore. Bill signed up for a free 2 GB account at DropBox, an online storage company. He tested it by uploading his 1.9 GB "clients" folder. It was a good test due to the intermittence of our Comcast Internet connection, which either sucks or really sucks, depending on the day. Bill left on foot at 11:30 AM to walk to LVCC and meet with his student Francisco. After a good tutoring session, Bill walked back and saw Cathy driving by on Airport Road toward her own tutoring session. Bill ate lunch and then chilled out for a couple of hours until Cathy returned. We went to country line dancing at the clubhouse at 6:30 PM until 8:00 PM. Then, after a quick stop back at the RV, we drove into Naples and ate pizza at the new restaurant, Rosa Pomodoro, on Fifth Avenue South. The pizza was very good. We watched some Winter Olympics coverage after returning.
Tuesday was warmer than the past several days. Cathy went to her exercise class. Bill got his kayaking gear together after doing his crossword puzzles. Cathy joined our neighbor Diane and Jean Reilly for lunch out and some shopping. Bill launched his kayak at around 11:00 AM, wearing a bathing suit instead of the usual wetsuit. He wanted to go out Gordon Pass into the Gulf, but a heavy fog rolled in just as he was ready to enter the pass. He turned around and traveled the ICW into Rookery Bay. His trip was 20.8 miles in 5 hours 40 minutes. It was a good, hard paddle. There were lots of idiots driving big boats as usual. We ate an early dinner of Red Beans and Rice and frozen entree and went to play bunco at the clubhouse. Bill watched "Wild Recon" while Cathy showered.
Wednesday morning was very nice. Cathy went to her exercise class and the gym. Bill went out on a tempo run:
He was very happy about running the 5th mile in the 8s. Bill spent the rest of the morning packing dry bags for the campling trip the following week. When Cathy got back from the gym, we went to Starbucks and Publix for some shopping. We stopped at Oakes Farm for quinoa on the way back. After lunch, Bill continued to pack drybags. Later in the afternoon, Bill completed his lesson plan for Thursday's tutoring session. A cold front came through duing the afternoon and evening. We had quinoa and grilled chicked for dinner. We viewed "Lost" during dinner. Afterward, we viewed Winter Olympics coverage.
Thursday was chilly and windy. Cathy went to her exercise class. Bill went out for an early shopping trip to pick up fishing jigs and duct tape at Sunshine Ace, water bottles and toothpaste at Walmart, and coffee, coffee press, and a free cappuccino at Starbucks. Afterward, Bill did most of the rest of his packing for the kayak trip, while Cathy went to the gym. He also upgraded his DropBox subscription to the 50 GB Pro edition. At 11:30 AM, Bill walked to LVCC to meet with Francisco for tutoring. They had a good session. Francisco presented Bill with a small flashlight and lighter to help on the camping trip. Cathy passed Bill on the road as she drove to her tutoring session. Bill ate lunch and organized more of his gear. Later in the afternoon, Cathy and Bill worked on "Mad Hatter" posters in neighbor Jan's cottage. We grilled burgers for dinner. Afterward, we viewed "24" via iTunes. We watched some Winter Olympics until bedtime.
Friday was beautifully sunny, but breezy and chilly all day. Cathy went to her exercise class and the gym. Bill wore a long-sleeved shirt (for the first time) under his wetsuit and headed out at 8:30 AM for a 20 mile paddle into Rookery Bay. He was out for 5.5 hours and battled wind and current part of the way. The sun was warm, but Bill was comfortable in his garb. After Bill got back, he ate a couple of bananas and yogurts for a late lunch. Cathy bathed in the sun for a while during the afternoon. Bill and Cathy both spent some time trying to track down the Dell laptop that they ordered for our friend Marty Gross. Here's what Bill reported on FaceBook:
We finally found out that her computer is due to arrive on 3/3/10, a day after Bill's is due to arrive. Bill rode his bike to Bad Ass Coffee for a quad-shot cappuccino. We went to Bert's on Fifth Avenue with Tom and Jean Reilly. The dinner was OK, but not as good as our first visit there on their opening night. When we returned, we watched Winter Olympics coverage for a while.
Saturday started out chilly and cloudy with rain threatening. Bill went over to his kayak rack early on to strip the kayak. He also enlisted the help of our next-door neighbor Fred to help carry the 85 pound kayak to our site. Bill discovered that he had to do some sealing work on one of the hatch gaskets, so Cathy and Bill drove to Home Depot to buy some silicone sealant and then to Starbucks and Publix for additional items. We gassed up the XTerra on the way. Once back, Bill got right on the sealing job, just beating the rain. He also worked on shelling and salting a pound of shrimp for fishing bait for the week in the 10,000 Islands. Just before lunchtime, a heavy rain began, so we hunkered down inside. After lunch, Bill worked on our online bills. Bill's Citi Card account had been closed again due to security concerns about hacking in a card processing center somewhere, so Bill couldn't pay that bill until the new card arrives. Later, when the rain abated, our friend Marty Gross came over to talk about her order of a Dell laptop and to get some initial instruction on using computers. Bill set her up with a base account, marty@computingdoc.com, and a Gmail account, marty.d.gross@gmail.com to be her main email account. As soon as the ground dried sufficiently, Bill enlisted the help of a neighbor Ed to put the kayak on top of the XTerra. Then Bill packed the car in readiness for Monday's early start. Cathy went for a walk along the airport while Bill went across the street to chat with neighbors Lou and Jerry, who thought that we were leaving to go back to the north. I was good to see them outside of the house, because they have become hermits, both suffering from dementia. Bill went back to get a shower. We had a pasta dinner and watched an old movie, "Virtuosity", which was quite good in spite of its age. We also watched some Winter Olympics coverage before bedtime.
Sunday began at 5:00 AM for Bill who was prepping for a 20 mile training run. The temperature was 49 degrees, so Bill had to bundle up for his bike riding and running in the chilly wind. He ran his 20 miles in the medley:
5K bike, 6.4 mile run (9:47 min/mile), 5K bike, 6.6 mile run (10:02 min/mile), 5K bike, 7 mile run (9:29 min/mile), 5K bike. 20th mile at 9:07 min/mile.
Bill was very pleased with his training run. Meanwhile, the day had gotten very sunny with a beautiful blue sky. The north wind was still a bit chilly. After lunch, we went with Tom and Jean Reilly to Stan's of Goodland for an afternoon of music and a big crowd of revelers. We found a sunny table out of the wind and enjoyed the music and people watching. Later, we drove to Snook's Restaurant on Marco Island and had good meals. Bill had a great Grouper dinner, Cathy had fried oysters. In addition, we had access to a good salad bar which Bill used 3 times. We said goodbye to Jean and Tom and arrived back at our RV at around 7:30 PM. We watched the close of the Winter Olympics. Bill got his last shower for several days before bedtime.
Note: Bill spent Monday through Friday on a kayak/camping adventure in the 10,000 Islands (click here for the report).
Bill
and Cathy
Having mega frustration with Dell on an order for a laptop that we placed for a friend. Dell's customer support website is the worst I've ever seen for a major online company. Now on interminable hold after the website seems to have lost our order.
Finally talked with a rep. It turns out that the supplier for the friend's laptop ran out of a part, so Dell gave the order to another supplier and changed our order number without notifying us or giving us any way to find out except waiting in the phone queue for some rep to finally tell us. This is no way to do business. Dell is looking a lot like Toyota!