I challenge you

With regards to politics, I consider myself an independent.  However, I was a Republican for decades.  Bush changed my thoughts on that and those that remain of the GOP only serve to push me farther away.

I understand that there is a lot of Obama Bashing going on out there.  What I don't understand is why.  I would like your help.  I am looking for constructive, fact-based answers to the following questions:

Why do some consider Obama's earlier trip to Europe an "apology tour?"  I would like specific words taken in context where he is apologizing.  Saying, "I want to improve relations," does not sound like an apology to me.

What is wrong with him going on vacation?  He took 33 days during his first 18 months in office while Bush took 3 times that number.

What did the previous administration do about immigration that exceeds what Obama is doing now?  Don't tell me about a 20 foot tall fence that can be climbed with a 21 foot ladder

What did the previous administration do about health care that exceeds what Obama is doing now?  If you plan on telling me about how your costs will go up, I want to know by how much and why.  Saying "Glenn Beck said so," is worth zero points.

What did the previous administration do about financial reform that exceeds what Obama is doing now? Feel free to quote noted economists.  Once again, Glenn Beck's education peaked during his senior year in high school so quoting him is not very persuasive.

Why is Obama being criticized for lack of job creation when the jobs created during his short administration already exceed the those created in two terms by the previous administration by more than a factor of 10?

Why is Obama being blamed for a war started by the previous administration?

Why is Obama being blamed for an economy ruined by the previous administration?

If Socialism is a redistribution of wealth, how much more wealth is being redistributed now that before?

Why is Obama being blamed for the oil spill when the previous administration, the Oil Gang, allowed the oil companies to play by the same rules as they were when the spill occurred?

How does Obama's response to the oil spill differ from Bush's response to Katrina (other than the 1,000 boats put on-site within days compared to Bush going back to his vacation routine).

See, these are easy questions.  There are factual answers to all of them.  I think that if we all had perfect information, we might behave differently.

I think we need an Office of Just the Facts.  This office would give factual data to everything from political activities to the vitamin content of baby food.

In my job, them math is everything.  I try to never guess.  Why should I, when 2+2 always equals 4?

I think this is why "opinion news" frustrates me.  It's a far cry from Walter Cronkite's day when what we heard was "the way it was."

Three days until my next flight...

up, up and away...

j

A few Observations

I notice that North Korea has gotten really quiet.  No big surprise that they were able restrain themselves from bringing "nuclear death" to the United States.  At the same time, I saw a story that said sales of nuclear fallout shelters are way up.

Note to self:  Perception is EVERYTHING.

A short story.  I was driving in Croatia and noticed that the roads were perfect; very non-European.  Then I was told an American company had done the work.  Anyway, I came to a toll booth.  I was prepare to pay in Euros, dollars or Hungarian Forints.  They wanted Croatian Kuna.  I looked at the sign and it appeared that I needed about a suitcase full of Kuna to pay the toll.  Anyway, I offered the guy 20 Euros.  He took it and then waved me on.

Now, 20 Euros is a big toll; I don't care where you are.  As I drove away, I began to feel that this guy had ripped me off.  Not a big deal but for the rest of the week, whenever I thought of it I got pissed.  I was thinking "I should have gotten a receipt." or "I'll stop on my way back and point the thief out to his supervisor."

Anyway, I eventually took the road in the other direction.  This time, when it came time to pay the toll, I used a credit card and made sure I got a receipt.   The toll came to 24 Euros!

So, the guy hadn't ripped me off.  In fact, he had given me a break.

This small bit of knowledge changed everything.  Nothing had changed anywhere except my perception.  I carried this resentment for a week when actually I should have smiled every time I thought of it.  So, I chose to take the low road for a week and, as a result, carried a little bit of dark matter with me through what was otherwise a perfect vacation.

I have not been home for over three weeks.  I don't get home for another 7-8 days.

I saw a bear ate a guy in Montana. Will someone call Monya and ask how Tony is doing?  I could email her but it might turn out awkward if Tony was the guy.

This coming Monday, I fly from Budapest to Akron, Ohio.  I have been working on a project all week and by tomorrow, I should be ready to go.

Patrick, I know you read this every now and then.  Tell the gang I will be there for coffee a week from Friday.

My wife is in Vienna watching an Operetta.  I was invited but took a pass.  Felt like a day of shopping with the girls.  Anyway, I am home alone.  I know where the "meat store" is so I went there to forage for lunch.  I came  back with a bag of stuff.  Shopping at a meat store is a lot like shopping at an auto parts store.  Everything I looked at made me think, "I need some of that."  Lunch ended up being some type of dried bacon-like stuff that had apparently been dipped in salt.  It was great but I think my heart may have seized up for a few seconds.

Looks like immigration is the big thing now (based on what I am seeing on Europe CNN).  I know that is was just pure luck that I was born in the USA.  I want to take the high road and say "Amnesty".  At the same time, there is a cost.  I am not talking just financial.  For now, I am against all immigration until my wife is allowed to come to the United States.  Ask me how I feel after that happens.


California is in deep economic trouble.  What do we do?  We blame someone else.  Bottom line is that we are not in the business of printing money.  Either increase revenue or lower expenses.  This is probably the one thing all economists can agree on.

I see Greece is on strike again.  This country is on the brink of foreclosure and they go on strike as if that will make it better.  They interviewed a woman the other day.  She was 50 and retired with full benefits.  Greek law says that if you are a woman and mother, you can retire at 50.  She was convinced that she deserved her retirement and couldn't care less that the EU was paying for it with taxes from people that couldn't retire until they were 65.

If you are a man, and if there is a woman in your life, then you need this link: http://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-a-Premenstrual-Girlfriend

Getting late here.  Time to dream.

up, up and away...

j

Back Online

I have been on vacation for the last week.  I was in Vodice, Croatia. 

I won't spend a lot of time telling you about everything I did.  Let's just say the Croatians are courteous hosts and I had a great time at a very affordable price.  To see Vodice, Croatia, I recommend going to Google Earth.  I was offline nearly the entire time.  No news and internet only long enough to get email.

I see that India has developed a $35 Tablet PC.  They intend to cut this price even further and then distribute it to all of their school children.  They must be reading my blog.  The key is internet connection.  It can log onto the internet giving users the chance to use Google Docs which is the free office software provided by Google.  They can even save their work on the internet "cloud" also free and also provided by Google.

This means that I am using a computer with about $2,000 worth of stuff I could have gotten for free.

Here are two stories I could have written last week.

First of all, the United States and South Korea are doing a military exercise in the sea of Japan.  A perfectly legal and ordinary event.  I have even participated in this type of thing years ago when I was in the navy.  Predictably, North Korea is threatening Armageddon.  This is a country with a GDP equal to Kansas.  They have nukes but if they use them, there will only be a few possible outcomes, none of which are good for for dwarfs with tall hair.  (1) The nukes don't work  or (2) They launch and we shoot them down or (3) They work and wipe out 8,000 US Sailors. 

The first two outcomes will show the world that North Korea is nothing but hot air.  The third outcome will result in the United States taking charge.  Third world armies don't do well against stealth bombers.

The second story was the demise of BP's CEO, Tony Something.  If you couldn't see that one coming...

I also saw where a woman in the USDA was railroaded out of town because she was taken out of context.  From what I saw, all sides screwed the pooch on that one.

Finally, if you think the GOP is stonewalling as a new and inventive tactic, I leave you with this quote from Ambrose Bierce (b. 1842 - d. 1914):

Opposition: In politics the party that prevents the Government from running amuck by hamstringing it.

up, up and away...

Killing Time

Since I am at the Cleveland Airport with a couple of hours before my flight, I thought I would kill some time.

A list:  Things I miss when I travel overseas

• I miss American food.  This is not to say that European food is not good (it's great) but sometimes I just want a Mexican pizza from Taco Bell.
• I miss my kids and my dog; usually in that order.
• I miss the routine of taking my dog to work and then going for a long walk with him sometime during the day.  He likes this routine as well.
• I like playing pool during the day. We have a table in our office and I routinely beat Dan and Bruce.  Now, Dan reads this blog sometimes so he may have a comment - just disregard anything he has to say on this issue.
• I miss hearing people speak English.
• I miss television.  Only CNN is in English there.
• I miss playing golf.
• I miss all of my friends in Novato.
• I miss driving my Jeep around (when its working)
• I miss driving my own car and freeway signs that don't read like tongue twisters.

I am actually lucky to have gotten to the airport early.  I couldn't find a place to drop off my rental car.  I entered the airport and made and entire loop before I saw a sign for the rental car.  I followed that sign and it sent me on another loop (same loop as before).  Three loops later, I finally asked a cop who told me to get back on the freeway and drive another 2 to 3 miles down the road.  I had the following conversation with a Hertz rental employee:

Me: This sure is a hard place to find.  How was I suppose to know it was way out here?
Hertz:  They should have told you when you rented your car.
Me:  I didn't rent from here.  I rented from Akron.  I am just dropping it off here.
Hertz:  Well there are signs along such and such a road.
Me: I didn't come in that way.  I came in on this other main road. There are no signs on that one.
Hertz: Yeah.  We hear that a lot

That was it.  I thought is was kind of funny.

Right now I am connected to the internet through the free airport service.  It is probably slower than dial-up but its free.  I am trying to connect through my brick, I mean through my Blackberry but the phone and software seem to be confused.  Right now the software is "configuring" my telephone as if they have just met for the first time.  They have been going at it for 20 minutes now so I am giving up hope.  I looked up troubleshoot online.  They had the typical solutions (check cables and reboot)  None of their problems amounted to "It worked yesterday, why isn't it working today?"  I think it must be me.  I am one of those guys that has an electro-rejection aura.  My electrical devices seem to all have extraordinarily high failure rates.  I don't even need to touch them.  If they know they belong to me, they fail.

Funny, I have the same problem with house plants.  Every couple of months I go to the nursery and load up on a few new plants.  I place them on the passenger seat and talk to them as I drive home.  It's part pep talk and part apology.  I know what's in store for them.

Alas...

Time to board.

up up and away...

Lowering the Bar

Here is a little list of stuff.

I got a Little Caesars (<- hard word to spell) today for $5.  Now, this is not a great pizza but it's not bad for the price and it is ready the moment you ask for it.

Breakfast Croissants (<-another hard word to spell) from Burger King are a favorite of mine.

I love McDonald's double cheeseburgers, especially when then are on sale for a buck a piece.

Popeye's fried chicken is roughly 5 times better than KFC.

Google's chrome browser is better than Firefox (faster) and way better than IE8.

I hear the new droid phones are better than the i-phones but I don't have firsthand knowledge.  I do know that the droid has none of the app restrictions that the i-phones have so there will soon my more apps for that phone. Also, droids come out  (undated) every couple of months where the i-phones are about every 18 months.

A net book costs a little more than an external hard drive.  If you need an extra 160 gig of storage, get a net book for about $300 and you end up with a spare computer as well as storage.

The grande meal at Taco Bell is a good deal no matter who you are.

Some predictions:

Who will come out on top in the battle of operating systems?
Apple is better than Microsoft.  It always has been but Microsoft still rules.  However, the Google operating system, Chrome, will be so much better that Apple and Microsoft will retreat to small players until they fade away.

Who will win the phone war?
Apple's latest i-phone is so crappy that Apple's stock has fallen almost 8% since it was release.  Microsoft is a wanna be.  Blackberry is like IBM hanging on to typewriter production for too long.  Google's Droid phones are as capable as the new i-phones with the only real difference being that they work.  Also, Google does not have all those restrictions on what company can use the phone and who can make apps for the phone.  Google is more interested in making the phone better than in adding to a pile of profits too high to count.

What will the browser of the future be?
Safari will go away with Apple.  IE8 is already dead and gone.  I use Firefox out of habit.  When I need speed and reliability, I use Google's Chrome.  Firefox 4.0 is coming out but all it's really trying to do is catch up with Chrome.

By the time Apple is able to make an affordable, non-crashing I-pad, I expect Google to come out with something better and cheaper.

What will the office suite of the next 5 years be?
I was one of the first to dump Office 2003 for Office 2007.  Big mistake.  When I bought a net book, I went out and found an old version of Office 2003 and installed that.  Office 2010 is out now.  It is just Office 2007 in a new box.  Don't buy it.  It is a downgrade put out there with the belief that you will buy it because it's new.  I have tried the Open Source Office suite and found it clunky and often incompatible.  Google Docs is free but not yet ready to take over for Microsoft.  So, Microsoft's product is getting worse while Google is now in the game with a reputation for making things better and then giving it away for free.  Who do you think will win this one?

Tomorrow is my 9th and last day in Ohio for about 15 days.  I am off to Croatia for a vacation and then to Hungary for a week.  Then back to Ohio.

up up and away!

j

Time to Thoughtfully Consider the Truth

"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."

John Maynard Keynes

I believe there are people amongst us that don't merely put themselves ahead of another.  They put themselves ahead of an entire country.  I am talking, of course, about our elected officials.

Let me tell you where I stand because it certainly isn't in the middle  of the road.  I sort of bounce back and forth from one side to the other. 

I like Obama.  I don't think he is perfect but neither am I.  I think he is trying to do the right thing for the country.   He and I don't always agree on what that means but I am okay with that.  I have never felt that he was lying to me; that he had a secret agenda. I also never thought he was a slave to corporate interests.

I think George W. Bush was the worse thing to every happen to this country.  The Great Depression was less harmful.  He entered us into two wars for one of the following reasons (1) He believed there were weapons of mass destruction when there was no evidence - this is scary because,on the one hand, he thought he was doing the right thing.  On the other hand, he was too stupid to know he had been duped.  or (2) He did it for his ego. or (3) His staff convinced him it was the right thing to do.  They convinced him to enter into a war unprovoked.

W. also handed off the worse economy since the Great Depression.  He also handed over the worse international reputation ever.  Trust me, no one was on our side when Bush was in office.  No one.

What has Obama done?  Health care reform.  Financial reform.  Re-established our position as the country that others look up to. 

Let's take a look at these.  Because of Health Care reform, I think my bill will be higher.  I don't know this but I suspect as much.  Is this perfect?  No.  However, a lot more people will be insured because of this and if I have to pay for some of that, I will.  I would have liked to see a stronger bill but the Do Nothing GOP got in the way.  Those of you that say "Socialism" should read a book.  Socialism is the redistribution of wealth.  When we invaded Iraq, my wealth got redistributed to Haliburton and the rest of Cheney's bunch.   By the way, I believe we went to war because Cheney had a financial interest in it happening.  Face it, when a pothole is filled using public funds, wealth is being redistributed.  I am for some social spending.  I am not in favor of Bridges to nowhere, but I like a strong military, good education and healthcare for everyone.

Bush allowed the economy to fail.  It started way before him but for 8 years, he did nothing to change the path.  The economy now belongs to Obama.  There are those that, amazingly, believe the poor economy is his fault.  They think he has a wand that can grant prosperty to all.  Those that have "read a book" understand that the economy does not turn on a dime.  In fact, you don't want it to.  If we could become prosperous overnight, that means we could fail just as quickly.  It takes time.  The best minds in the world are on our side.  They are advising Obama.  He is not in a back room with a magic 8-ball. 

What has the GOP been doing the last 18 months.  First of all, they said "socialism" and people listened.  Its like the RED SCARE from the 50's.  It's more impactful to say "socialism" than "Obama wants everyone to be healthy.  The health care package they fought so hard to get rid of was nearly identical to the one Romney passed as governor.  Now he thinks it's evil because it is the only thing he can say.  He certainly can't say, "That Obama has an idea that I agree with completely."  His position of power would be lessened.

The GOP fought financial reform resulting in a bill that is much weaker than I would liked to have seen.  Why?  Because they can point at Obama and blame him when it has a weaker impact than a strong bill.

Now, Gingrich wants to run for president.  This is the guy that made a big deal out of Clinton's "stained dress" incident and then a short time later was found to be in the middle of his own extra-marital affair.  What a hypocrite.

I know a person that blames Obama for the oil spill.  Its as if he were in on a BP meeting and said, "Screw safety."  I think all of our elected officials are responsible.  The BP thing was years in the making.  My point here is that how could an educated person believe that Obama caused that spill? My guess is that they believe it because someone told them it was true.  I recommend an occasional fact check.

I was a Republican until a few months ago.  I am in favor of a strong military and a small government. However, I am not in favor of those that say, "Look at how I go to church.  Vote for me."  I cannot support those that put themselves before our country.  They would rather see millions not have health care, so they can gain one or two political points.  They would rather blame than solve.  They would rather lie to you to gain favor rather than tell you an inconvenient truth.

I simply cannot support the GOP.  I know that there are those of you that do. I am glad you do.  If my opinion was the only thing I had to go by, the world would be in a much worse condition.  I have changed my mind in the past and will certainly do so in the future. 

I don't think I will ever come to see Palin or Gingrich as anything other than talk.  I hope they both run for president.  When that happens, the truth will be much harder to hide.  I think they will stand on the stage in a presidential debate and the most innocent amongst us will point and say, "Look Mom, the GOP has no clothes."

up, up and away!

j

Biscuits and Gravy

The first thing I want to say is that "biscuits" is a really hard word to spell.  A lot of words are hard for me to spell.  That's the problem with Spell-check.  If you can't get within a couple of letters of spelling it right, then it's no help.

I remember in 8th grade, my friend (you know who you are - KC) sat behind me during a spelling test.  I would spell a word and then lean over.  If it was misspelled, he would kick me.  One time, I leaned over about 4 or 5 times for the same word.  I would lean over, get kicked and try another random combination of letters and get kicked again.  This went on until he started laughing out loud. 

Anyway, the day started with biscuits and gravy here at the Hampton Inn in Massillon, Oh.  Hampton Inn makes great biscuits and gravy.  Hampton Inn does a lot of things right.  That's why I stay there 50+ nights a year.  Once, I had biscuits and gravy at an I-Hop.  It was terrible.  I mentioned that to my waitress and her reply was, "I know.  Isn't it awful?"

Next, I went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Pretty cool.  It's only about 10 miles from my hotel.  However, Ohio has apparently elected to invest 100% of their Recovery Act dollars fixing the roads between here and there so the trip was about an hour.  I had to take a lot of detours which pisses my GPS off.  It has this "fed up" tone when saying "recalculating."

The Hall of Fame had some interesting things.  A lot of really old stuff.  They had the original shoes worn by Bronco Nagurski.  I think they were made of bark.  By the way, isn't that the coolest name ever for a football player?

Interestingly, Debe (ex wife) and my son, Matt were only about 60 miles to the north where they went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday.

Sometimes the world is weird.

For the last few hours, I have been in my hotel room working.

I like to watch TV while working.  I don't really watch it but I leave it on to keep me company.  I like to have something halfway interesting on.  I had Cool Hand Luke on for a while but it was "too" interesting.  I wasn't getting anything done.  Then I put on the finals of the World Cup.  I had to turn it off.  For some reason, it irritates me when the announcers get all excited about stubbed toes and yellow cards.  I don't get it.  Watching this was about as exciting as an endless loop of the TV show Crying for Dollars (aka Glenn Beck show).

I eventually settled on a Mythbuster episode where Adam is sitting in a tub trying to fart into a test tube.

One last note on Ohio television programming.  If you are either a Buckeye fan or a Jesus fan, this is the place to be.  There are 99 channels.  At one point, fifteen of them were religious programs while another 10 were local programing (which mean local religious programs) and another five were playing reruns of old football and baseball games.

They have one show called, "Gospel for Shut-ins."  I am not kidding.

Time to go back to work.

up up and away...

j

The Good, the Bad and on the Fence

I am six hours into my 31 days of travel. Right now, I am in Chicago on a 4-hour layover. So what better use of an idle mind than to begin scribbling...

I have decided to praise, complain and hypothesize.

The Good: Johnny Rockets has the best hamburger period. I just had a Rocket Double. This is a cheeseburger with two 1/3 pound patties. It comes with all the trimmings including grease soaked buns. This thing has to have 2,000+ calories in it. I can feel the arterial damage progressing with each bite. I always eat this fast based on the theory that once my body figures out what I am doing, it will start to reject the burger like a bad kidney. Onion rings complete the perfect meal. I don't need to eat for a week. I will have to jog about 15 miles to burn this thing off. 15 miles to the burger - I wonder how far I could go if I shoved this into my gas tank.

The Bad: Sorry to all of you Blackberry-philes out there. I am on my second one and it is a real dog. Slow software and a minuscule display put it well behind the latest pack of smart-phones. It just did an "important" update during which it loaded all kinds of apps that I could then pay for to use. The apps are junk. It's as if Atari downloaded Pong onto your game console and pretended it was competing with Gears of War (<- great Xbox game). Sell your stocks of Research in Motion today (Blackberry is theirs). Right now I am connected to the internet through my Blackberry. It costs me $50 a month to do this. There are smart phone apps that do that for free.

On the Fence: I got a few emails, all from women, that took offense to my suggestion that Russel Crow is on his way out. Maybe it's just me, but I have no interest in seeing his "sensitive" side. So much of Robinhood was just him getting in touch with his inner woman. Plus he is a bully in real life. It takes a hell of a movie to overcome that. Now, if he were to come out with a Viking movie with lots of senseless pillaging and such, I may rethink my position.

My flight to Akron is getting ready to board.

Up up and away!

Jim

Road Trip

It's time to hit the road. After 10 days at home, I am ready to go. This will be a long trip (31 days total).

I am going to Ohio for a week; then Croatia for a week; then Hungary for a week and then back to Ohio. After that, I am home for a week; then San Diego for a week the Ohio for two weeks.

Then summer is over.

As of the moment, I have 1.8 million miles on United alone.

Since I am blogging, I feel compelled to comment on current events so here is a quick view from the cheap seats:

1. Is it just me or is Meg Whitman basing her entire campaign on the actions of her competition. I have yet to see her say, "This is who I am." Instead, she runs entire ads blasting her opponent. She says ridiculous things like, "Jerry Brown spent his time as governor sending jobs to China." Really? My guess is that a statement like that is taken a little out of context. It's sort of like calling someone with a past due parking ticket a "fugitive on the run."

2. Why do we make such a big deal about the gulf oil spill and ignore the much larger spill in Africa? Because it's somewhere else - simple. So, what does that make us?

3. I saw that some Iranian airlines were not being fueled at international airports. My first thought was surprise that there was actually a sanction that went beyond finger wagging. Turns out the report was wrong. Back to wagging...

4. Is the world cup still going on? How about Hockey and Basketball playoffs? Someone wake me when college football starts.

5. I think the headlines on July 5th are the same every year. They just change the name of the drunk that blew off his hand.

6. Google Voice is really cool.

7. Toyota will recover. BP will not.

8. Every school year that includes the issuance of books instead of e-readers is another years with billions of dollars wasted. Write one Algebra book and share it with every school in digital format. There is room on a basic i-phone for every text book used for the first 12 years of school.

9. Not really news but my dog went "off-roading" during our last hike. He emerged back onto the trail twenty minutes later with ten pounds of stickers on him.

10. I wonder how many terrorists have been granted US citizenship since my wife applied for a green card two and a half years ago (and still has not gotten it). I know of at least one and he tried to blow up New York.

Enough from the peanut gallery. Up up and away!

j

Opening Lines

Some of you know that I like to write; others know that I like to TRY to write.

Writing is one of my hobbies.  I am not going to rely of my first novel (whenever that is done) to go super platinum and thus allow me to retire in comfort.

No, I write for fun.  I keep writing because I want to see what is going to happen next.

Nearly all of my writing is done on a website called www.writing.com.  If you like to read or write, I recommend you check it out.

I tend to enter a lot of writing contests on this site.  Some are daily, others happen every so often.  There is this one contest called "15 for 15."  This contest is limited to 50 entrants and takes place about every 9 months.  Here is how it works.  A prompt is posted.  In this case, the prompt is a picture.  You can look at the picture and think about it all you want, but when it comes to writing your story, you only have 15 minutes.  It's sort of an honor system.  This contest goes on for 15 days in a row.  Every day, the top five stories get points.  The one with the most points at the end of the 15 days is the winner.

Anyway, you would be amazed at the quality of some of these stories.  As you might expect, they are all very short, less than a page long.  I am posting 3 of the prompts in this blog.  What I recommend you do, is look at the prompt and try to think what you would write about.  Immediately after each prompt, I am putting one of the opening lines to a story written for that prompt in the contest.  I love these lines.

Here we go:

The opening lines (by W.D. Wilcox of Writing.com) are:

“And who is your master?”

The statue turned in anger and thrust its arm toward Bennett. “You are...” it hissed .

 Is that a great line or what?

 Here is the second picture:

 The opening lines (by Winchester Jones of Writing.com) are:

So Carl says to me, you want to go hiking naked to the top of Western Ridge?

I say, You better believe I do!

I thought that was hilarious.  

Here is one more...

The opening line (by W.D.Wilcox of Writing.com) is:

This is the last time I ever book cheap cruise tickets again, Sunuli thought.

This was my favorite line of the contest.

Now, just for fun, here is the story I wrote for the Boat prompt.

I don’t even notice the cameras any more.

It’s been seven days. Seven days since this nightmare started. If I weren’t such a coward, it would be over for me by now. But I’m afraid and I can’t help it. I don’t want to die.

Every day, no – every hour, living loses some of its appeal. The time will come when death becomes the preferred path. But for now, I will do what I have to in order to live one more minute.

I don’t even notice the cameras any more.

When we first put out to sea, they were everywhere. Even some of us had them mounted on our heads. Reality TV was better when it felt real. The audience needed to see the struggle. They wanted to be in on the alliances and the betrayals. Ratings were fed by conflicts and resolutions; winners and losers.

There are five of us left that are still conscious. Most starved to death. Some were killed. A few just slipped over the side and drifted away without saying a word. I would watch and not lift a finger to help.

One less person between me and the prize.

We started with one hundred and now there are five. We sit staring at each other, afraid to sleep because we know we will never be allowed to wake up. We don’t talk. We just sit and wait for the others to die.

A producer came by this morning. His boat pulled up alongside. Using a bull horn, he told us the first one of us to “go cannibal” would be given a loaf of bread and a gallon of water.

So far, there have been no takers.

But we’re thinking about it. I know I am.

Finally, I get to my feet and walk over to one of the dead. As I pick up an arm, I envision a TV ratings spike like no other.

“Thelma, come here! He’s going to do it!”

In disgust, I drop the arm and walk over to the side of the boat. I lower myself gently into the cool water and push away. As I drift off, no one lifts a finger to help.

And I am no longer afraid.

If you want to see more of the prompts and stories for this contest, go to the following link:

http://www.writing.com/main/forums/item_id/994771-15-for-15-Contest---Round-9-Winners