gronkyco - just because

I recently got married and decided to take a cruise for our honeymoon. Having never been on a cruise before, I really didn’t know what to look for when booking a trip. Actually, it was pretty easy… I wanted to biggest, most lavish ship I could find. After about two days of reading, we settled on the Royal Caribbean “Freedom of the Seas” 8 day, 7 nights - Miami, Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel trip.

I had never been to any of these places, and needless to say was very excited about the prospect of experiencing the different countries. But, to be honest, I think I was actually more excited about the ship itself. I had seen countless videos and pictures of huge cruise ships, but had never been on anything larger than, say - 400 feet.

The morning after the wedding we flew down to Fort Lauderdale and took a bus to Miami, where the Freedom was docked. If you have never seen a ship of this type close up - words just do not do it justice. This thing is absolutely mammoth. The fact that it floats is a true marvel of modern engineering. I was speechless.

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If you think the 350Z NISMO is the Nissan’s production-car performance gem, think again. The far superior, but less well know Nissan GTR is about to stir things up a bit. The GTR has a huge cult following of diehard car enthusiasts, but aside from reading about it in magazines, gawking at it online, or driving it in video games, most people in this country have never had a chance to touch or even see one in person. The GTR is an all-wheel-drive, twin-turbo super car that pushes nearly 500 horsepower and 500lbs of torque right out of the factory. The one huge problem is that it’s not available in the US.

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Amesbury Ma has never been known for its nightlife. We have a few decent pubs like “The Barn” and the “Barking Dog” in town, but nothing particularly active. Well, I guess The Barking Dog can get a little jumping, but it’s nothing that would draw people in from other towns to experience. If you live in Amesbury, and want to go out for a night with some friends, you usually have to drive to Newburyport or Portsmouth to find something fun.

A few months ago a new placed opened up in town that seems to throwing everyone into a fury, the “Mad River Tavern”. I had someone tell me that is was hands down the best place to have some beers, watch a game and chill out. Someone even went as far as to say that it’s the best bar north of Boston. So, needless to say I had to scope this place out…

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I’ve been renting places to live for years. I’ve shared houses with roommates, lived in small one-bedroom apartments, and even had a 2800+ sq. ft. colonial complete with sun porch, loft, attic, yard, and barn. I’ve had good neighbors, and I’ve had to move because of really bad neighbors. I think I can safely say that over the past fifteen years or so, I’ve experienced the gamut when it comes to being a pay-per-month tenant.

My most recent place (the big house mentioned above) seemed like a really good idea when we signed the lease last year, but as it turns out it was not the best decision. It was pretty to look at with drop tin ceilings, loft, a slate-floor family room with eighteen-foot ceilings, wide pine hardwood, and barn, but that’s where most of the enjoyment and practicality ends. Actually, to say that this house is impractical is to willingly engage in reckless understatements. To sum up, it’s 200+ years old, has lead paint, very bad windows, spiders, mold and mildew in the basement, and cost us *drum roll* about five grand to heat last year.

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The time has come - we are looking at buying a half-house up the street from where we currently live. I don’t really want a condex, or condo, but I am tired of paying rent to someone else. Problem is, on our budget we can’t find a decent house in the area we want to live. Another issue I see with the condo thing is that it’s my goal to eventually build a jam room/recoding studio in my house. Having even one shared wall invites the embarrassing “knock on the wall,” asking me to be quiet. Paying all this money for your own place and not being able to jam seems to me outrageous.

So that said, we actually found a decent place with a huge unfinished basement. I’m thinking that I could possibly turn it into a music room/pub. It’s not perfect, but for a few years I should be happy.

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