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Tag Archives: Vacation

Negativity Gets You Nowhere!

26 Sunday Jun 2016

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Cancer, Depression, Photography

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Anniversary, Beach, Condo, Doctor, Down, Family, Heat, Humidity, Kids, Sand, Steakhouse, Sunset, Vacation, Water, Waves

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I’ve been down on myself the last few weeks. I thought being on vacation would snap me out of it but the whole time I was gone I kept thinking of the time lost that I would have when I returned back to work.  The exciting news that I got from my doctor while I was away seemed to have helped but now that I have my doubts about the results I just can’t help but feel down again.

The heat has a lot to do with it I feel because I wanted to do something with my kids today being that they were home and not working but everytime I went outside I was just drained from the heat and humidity.  Plus, with all this humidity, it makes it difficult for me to breath.  The next two days the rain chances has increased to 70% so maybe after the storms roll in here at least it will cool things off a bit.

This coming Thursday, June 29th, I will have been married for 25 years.  I have already made reservations for Saturday at a place called Perry’s Steakhouse.  It’s a bit pricey but my wife is worth it.  Putting up with me and all my ailments; she deserves more than a pricey steak and a night on the town.  She’s going to flip when she sees the prices on the menu though. But maybe the flowers that I have ordered that will be sitting on the table when we arrive will take away some of the shock.  We don’t usually go out on the town like this.  It’s usually places like Logan’s steakhouse where you pay $12 to $15 for a steak or go to Cracker Barrel.  Those places are more to our taste.  If I get out of Perry’s for less than $200 I’ll be lucky.

July 4th is coming up in a week and I have that day off which means a three day weekend.  If I can just make it through this week.  So you see, I have a couple of things to look forward too.  With this in mind maybe I can get out of this slump that I’m in and I can have a brighter outlook.  It’s going to take me some time for me to build up more vacation time but at least my doctor’s appointments are down to a minimum right now.  That’s another thing that has me upset is the fact that right now if I have a family emergency I can’t do anything about it.  I can’t take off right now if I had too.  Tomorrow, if I’m not wrong, I should have 10 hours built up.  That’s not much but it’s a start.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead.

 

 

Vacation to Walt Disney World Parks

19 Sunday Jun 2016

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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Crowds, Epcot, Florida, Fort Wilderness Cabins and Campgrounds, Graduation, High Price Foods, Kids, Long Lines, Orlando, Vacation, Walt Disney World

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My first day back to work from a week long vacation is tomorrow and I should be going to bed but as luck would have it I’m waiting for a video to render on my computer.  Once that’s done I’ll eventually go on to bed.

The family and I  drove the ten hours back from Orlando on Friday.  We spent four days there and I must say we had a pretty good time.  Because of some breathing issues I had to cut my days a little short the last two days we were there.

We drove down on Sunday and if you’ve been following the news that’s when Orlando had the nightclub shooting which killed those 49 people.  Security was beefed up a bit and it took longer to get in so I’m told. And of course, we also learned of the tragic death of the two year old boy that got drug into the water and died.  Orlando had a trying week last week.

Like I said earlier, we had a pretty good time.  The lines were long, temps were high, food prices were high, some of the patrons were rude and the security was tight.  Nearly every ride my wife went on broke down at least twice during the ride.  Fast Trac was the only ride that offered another ride without having to start back at the beginning.

This trip was a graduation gift to my three kids.  Our son graduated from college and my two daughters graduated high school.  Taking three kids means that you have three opinions at which time caused problems within itself.  They either all wanted to do something different or just one wanted to something different.  I tried to stay neutral because this was their trip and I wanted to do what they wanted to do.  By Thursday afternoon I was tired of all the bickering I went back to the cabins so they would work it out themselves with me interfering.

We did encounter a couple of problems.  With the alligator incident Disney decided to close down all the beachfront activities which included the boat that left out of Fort Wilderness where we were staying.  If you stayed at Fort Wilderness Campgrounds the only transportation to the Magic Kingdom was to take the boat.  When the boy was attacked the transportation department didn’t realize this and stranded many guests.  Of course, you could hop a bus and go to another resort and catch another bus to Disney but that would take a lot of time and most likely they would lose their “Fastpass” time slot.  Communication between transportation and the resorts were non existent during this time and neither knew the answers to the questions being asked.  On Thursday I had a backstage pass to the steam locomotives and had to call many people just to get a ride from the campgrounds to the Magic Kingdom.  I made it just in time not to be late.

Most of the problems we had were personal and had to deal with it our own way.  When I say personal I mean being raised differently I guess.  An example;  When standing in line for a ride I would always give the person in front of me their “personal space”.  Meaning, I don’t want people breathing down my neck when we stopped or not bumping into me every time I stopped. Cutting in line.  We actually had adults send their kids in front of us and cut in line and once they were in place the adults would come up and join them.  I watched them do this several times by several different families.  Maybe that’s what they do in their countries but I have a problem with it.  Dress, or should I say lack of.  I saw teen girls wearing outfits that should only be worn in the presence of their own mother and no one else.  And another thing.  Just because you own the outfit doesn’t mean that you should wear it in public.  My kids are nearly grown and they were even embarrassed by them.

Well, the video is finished so I guess I’ll take my meds and go to bed.  All in all a good trip and would do it again if I had the money.  Next year will be a nice relaxing trip to the beach which is a lot closer and a lot less crowded.  I just hope my kids can work around their schedules and go with us.  They’re getting to the age now where they may not can go with us.

05 Sunday Jun 2016

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Cancer, Photography

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Back to Work, Flu, Pneumonia, Sick, Vacation, Work

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Tomorrow will be my first day back at work.  It’s been two weeks and I’m not real excited about going back.  I’m to the point that I just don’t care any more.  I had to use up all my vacation time and I’m scheduled to take a week of vacation in two weeks. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.  My plans are to take a week off without pay. We’ll see how that goes.

It’s going to be rough getting up in the mornings because while I’ve been home I’ve been sleeping in to at least 8:30 or 9am.  I’ll have to get up at 6am to be able to get to work on time.  I think I can do this as long as they don’t have me climb a bunch of stairs or do a ton of walking.

Time to Vent

03 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Cancer, Leukemia, Photography

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Alabama Theater, Ambulance, daughters, Flu, Graduation, Hospital, Pneumonia, Sick, Sick Time, Son, Vacation

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November 2015 I caught the flu and spent 5 days at home.  December 2015 had kidney stones in which I spent another week at home.  Last week of December, 1st week in January 2016 I spent 4 days in the hospital with some sort of chest infection in which I was off a total of 2 weeks off from work.  With all that time off from November 2015 to the first week in January I used all of my vacation time.  From January to now trying my best to build my time back up which meant for every hour I spent at the doctor’s office I had to spend an hour working overtime without pay to make up for the time lost. I have vacation planned for week after next and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to take off because someone came into work sick with the flu and I caught it.

I had finally built my time back up to 77 hours but I got sick with the flu and pneumonia and had to spend a week in the hospital and another week at home recuperating. This was very costly not only money wise but I missed some things that I’ll never get back.

While at the doctor’s office Monday a week ago, I passed out because my O2 levels were so low that  I had to be carted off to the hospital via ambulance.  That within itself is quite costly.  Two weeks of vacation time gone, my vacation to Disney is in jeopardy because I won’t have the time to take off and the most costly of all was the fact that I was not able to go to my daughter’s graduation from high school.

I have the most inconsiderate co workers that anyone can have.  They always come to work sick and in most cases, I end up catching whatever they have.  They don’t care either.  All they want to do is brag about how much time they’ve got accumulated.  This is twice in six months that I’ve used up all my vacation time being sick and I’m so mad right now that I could take these guys and beat their face in with my fist.

Thankfully my wife and kids have not gotten sick from me being sick.  While I was in the hospital they took all the necessary precautions by wearing a mask and disposable hospital gowns.  I’m better now but easily get out of breath when doing the least little thing.  I’m scheduled to go back to work on Monday.

Rant over.

The above picture was taken after the graduation was over by my son.  I think he’s got a hidden talent in photography.  He did an awesome job.

 

A Lot Going On

10 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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Alabama, Disney, Family, Flowers, Graduation, High School Graduation, Orlando Florida, Rose, University of Alabama, Vacation

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It’s been a busy past few weeks here in the deep south. In fact, the whole month of May is going to be very busy.  My son graduated from the University of Alabama this past Friday evening, my twin daughters had their spring concert last week, and they had their awards program tonight to list a few.  I’ve got cataract surgery on Thursday, a bicycle ride that I’ll be working communication this Sunday and my daughters graduation in two weeks.  Not to mention a couple of other doctor appointments thrown in there for good measure.

I knew this month would be busy and I’m trying to build my vacation time up so I’ve been working a lot of overtime so as to not have to take personal time when taking time off.  It’s an okay plan but I’m not getting home until late and the girls have already gone to bed when I do get home.  I’ve got a week in June that I’ll be taking off to take the kids to Disney in Orlando Florida so I’ve got to have at least forty hours to be able to take off.  It will be close but I’ll make it.

365 Day Photo Challenge 201/365 “Caution! Work Week Ahead!”

19 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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365 Day Photo Challenge, Bike Riding, Cycling, diet, Vacation, Work Week, workout

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Tomorrow’s Monday.  It was inevitable but I’m really not prepared for it to arrive so soon. It’s going to take me working eight weeks straight without taking off, excluding weekends, to make up for one week of vacation.  Doesn’t seem quite fair does it?  The way I look at it, the time I spent with my kids will be well worth the time that I’m going to have to work to recoup my time.

My vacation is officially over with and I’m already looking forward to next year when we will be going on my daughter’s senior trip.  It’s in the works and now that this years vacation is over with we can start getting serious with the planning.

On another note; I was able to ride a little over 25 miles this morning.  I was able to control my eating somewhat and hopefully I’ll be able to continue into next week.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 198/365 “Not Ready to go Home!”

16 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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365 Day Photo Challenge, Beach, Florida, HDR, Ocean, Photography, Sunset, Vacation, Waves

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Vacations are never long enough.  Even though we had two full days at the beach I could’ve used another week at the least.  Everyone had a great time and we had great weather.  The waves were a bit rough but that didn’t keep us out of the ocean.  I was able to get to the front row this morning.  I had to get up early to do so but I was there when they set out the beach chairs.

Kids are wanting to do some shopping before we actually set the gears in motion toward home.  It’s a five hour trip so I’m in no real big hurry to get home.  The girls will have to go into work Saturday morning and my wife and I will be moving our son out of one apartment and into another so Saturday will be a busy day for everyone.  Sunday will be my rest day before having to start my work week on Monday.  To be honest, I am not ready to go back into that Hell hole.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 197/365 “Putting it in Perspective”

15 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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365 Day Photo Challenge, Beach Chairs, Beach Time, Destin, Family, Florida's Beaches, Ocean, Seagrove, Vacation

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The place we’re in is not near as nice as the place we stayed in the past few years.  The beaches have a lot more people and you have no where to have a clean view of the beach without having to look over the people in front of you.  There are rude kids everywhere throwing sand and running into you.  There was a family of five kids just in front of us that had their radio jamming where everyone within a five mile radius could hear it.  The five kids all played paddle ball just in front of us and my son got hit several time with their wild hits.  The umbrella that they used was tossed in the air by the winds and I nearly got impaled through the chest.  At the days end I was not a happy camper.  I was ready to go home.  Not to the room but home.  I had enough.

I wanted to get to the beach earlier but my wife, who by the way knows everything, informed me that the chairs would not be available until 9am, (our room has complimentary beach chairs). I was not going to argue with her.  In a perfect world the chairs would be waiting for us at 9am but we don’t live in a perfect world.  I looked down and saw all the people heading to the beach before 8am and I knew what was going on.  Of course, I arrive at 8:30 to find that all the front row chairs were already spoken for leaving only the second row.  I put my belongings down next to an empty chair and sat in the other waiting on my wife to arrive.  When she did her first words were, “Why are you sitting back here when all these chairs are empty on the front??”  I politely informed her that those are already spoken for and that we should have gotten down there earlier.  She hates being told that she’s wrong.

To put things in perspective.  The place may not be as nice and it may be more crowded than the other place but we are here at the beach and I’m on vacation.   I had to bite my tongue several times today because I didn’t want to add to an already bad situation.  Our family has had several bad experiences and of course I’ve made it worse by saying something when I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.  So, I’m trying to exercise some knowledge that I’ve gained over the years.  The safety of my family is first and foremost on my mind.  I will say something when I feel that the wellbeing of my family is involved.  Otherwise I will just grin and bearing it.

Tomorrow is our last full day down here at the beach.  My plan is to get to the beach early enough to sit my big fat butt on one of the front row benches and reserve one for my wife and I.  Hopefully the family of five kids will be on the other end of us and I won’t have to worry about being impaled by an umbrella.

“Life is Good!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 195/365 “Bad Day For Pictures”

13 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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365 Day Photo Challenge, Alabama, Model, Oak Mountain, Photography, Vacation

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I met up with the young lady at the designated spot.  The shoot location was up a dirt road behind two locked gates.  I’ve shot there many times with no problems.  But today was different.  The first gate was unlocked when I drove up to it.  I started to go through it but though differently after I checked the lock only to realize that the combination was not the same.  Someone had changed the combination.  My fear was that as soon as I got to the shoot location someone would come behind me and lock the gate while I was still in there and I would be locked in.  Not happening.  I knew of another place and off we went.

The other place was not as nice as the first but there would be some privacy.  We drove up to the entrance and there was yet another gate.  This one was shut but not locked.  I got out and opened the gate and drove on through.  Probably not one of my smarter moves of the day.  The road to the top was about five miles and most of it was a one lane road with no room to pass.  We made it to the end of the road to where we were to shoot and there were construction going on exactly where we were going to shoot.  There were bulldozers, dump trucks and front end loaders.  Not a chance to shoot there.

On the road to the top there are a couple of overlooks where one could pull over and see down below.  Pretty nice view during the fall.  We pulled over to find a hiking trail so we did what any desperate photographer would do, we went hiking.  About a mile in we found a little outcropping of rocks that overlooked down below and we decided to shoot there.  It was a nice little location.

About twenty minutes into our shoot a group of mountain bikers road by and asked if that was my truck sitting at the trailhead.  It seems that the park ranger was looking for someone to tow it away because of the heavy equipment being used on that road.  Needless to say we packed up and left.  We decided to call it quits for the day and try it again some other time.  It was a sign for us not to shoot today.  We did get a few useable shoots but to be honest, I normally get around 900 to over 1200 pictures during a two hour shoot.  Today I only got 227 pictures.  Well below my normal.

Heading to the beach tomorrow.  I’m excited.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 193/365 “Southern Vintage Fire Apparatus Association”

11 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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365 Day Photo Challenge, Alabama, Car Show, Fire Engines, Fire Trucks, HDR, Heat, Photography, Vacation, Vintage, Volunteer Fire Department

I had all these plans lined up for today in preparation for our trip next week.  I have a habit of procrastinating and I’m always in a rush getting ready so I was planning on getting a lot of things done today.  It didn’t happen.

I got an invite from my uncle to go to a car show today and see some of the fire trucks that that have on display.  I couldn’t resist.  The photo above is a 1918 fire truck that has been fully restored.  It got most of the attention today.

This engine was with volunteer fire dept. where I grew up.  I was involved with the department mainly because my dad volunteered.  I was able to ride in this truck to several house and brush fires.

After taking pictures of all the trucks, I took my wife out for lunch and came straight home and got out of the heat.  It was in the high 90’s today with the humidity was around 85%.  It was not comfortable outside at all.  Not even in the shade.  Tomorrow morning I will be outside cleaning my truck out and giving it a good cleaning.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

“Life Goes On!”365

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