USVI Wig Experience ‘24

I didn’t manage to launch this rocket from the islands, but I made some notes on the plane.

First off, many thanks to Wigs one and all for the invite and the bonhomie. I’ve referred to Wig’s brother in a couple posts as The Running Beast so that, or RB, is now his official blog name.

RB and his wife made the trip to St. John to participate in the 8 Tuff Miles run, which consists of a lot of hills, just like the island itself.  The Wigs and my wife and I lounged around the manor while they were toughing it out, sending good vibes to the competitors.

We stayed in a spacious villa in a gated community.  Some might say it was gated to keep me in, but that’s just idle talk. The only problem we had was the master suite inhabited by the RBs had a faulty shower, providing them lukewarm water at best.  They solved that problem by not showering after the first day. Oh, I kid.

The whole crew had some good meals. Our first night was at 1864, which served up some pretty tasty fare in an open-air setting. Reservations were a little tight due to the event, so we ended up at the Westin one night. It was pretty good, but the waiter had approximately 35 tables, so service was a little slow. Wig became grill master on our last evening, churning out burgers and seared tuna.

The Wigs and RBs were busy on the home front as well.  Both of them had kids that were negotiating job offers, so they had to huddle for some advisory sessions. And for the Wig, a day would not be complete without a real estate transaction, so they sold their current home and will be moving down the street about 100 yards. They close on June 14th, which I pointed out will be the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation.

We had several beach excursions.  We went to Hawk’s Nest and Trunk Bay on St. John. The water was warm and inviting, and the views were gorgeous. Parking was a little precarious, but our Jeep was able to navigate the tougher spots. It was a five-seater that we turned into a six-seater with a beach chair in the back.

One of the trip highlights was our trek to Jost Van Dyke in BVI.  We got a new stamp on our passport then headed to the Soggy Dollar, which is run by the family of Mrs. RB. Earlier in the trip we were graciously welcomed to their home for dinner. We had a few cocktails and a tasty lunch at Soggy Dollar and I got a t-shirt. Towards the end of our stay there we got hit with heavy rain, but since we were in bathing suits and it was 80 degrees, we got through it OK.

My wife and I headed out on Monday.  We took a ferry ride over to St. Thomas.  The gruff captain told my wife to get moving as she tried to have our second ticket scanned. She’s a little sensitive, so I consoled her on the boat. The taxi to the airport took the non-scenic route but got us there in plenty of time. Going through security, I had to wait a bit for the 80-year-old TSA agent to notice me and wave me through the scanner. We spent the night in Ft. Lauderdale and treated ourselves to some extremely dicey Chinese food, since it was the only place within walking distance. I nibbled a bit of it, but the mystery meat in the dumplings put me off. We arrived back in the Bay mid-afternoon Tuesday, dealing with mild jet lag that evening.  I still may be dealing with it, as I got up at 4:30am today.

So, the President and I both had our annual physicals yesterday and the report was the same, in that we are both a “healthy, robust 81-year-old”.  You may remember Trump boasting about coasting through his dementia test, memorizing “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.”. For the first time I got a version of that, with “Garden. Picture. Captain”. I didn’t do as well as the Orange Duce, but I passed.  They also had me fill in the numbers on a clock and put the hands at 11:20, the time of my appointment. I aced it. 

My apologies but I have not kept up with celebrity news during my travels, so I have no nuggets to share with you on that front. I hope my next post will be chock full of that type of info.

I’d like to wish my pal Katie a happy 17th birthday.

This is DJ...Now

I'm still as self-absorbed as ever.

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday and hopped in a Lincoln town car supplied by my brother-in-law to hang with them in their West Palm winter digs for a few days. Sunday we took a cruise in the rain to check out a few houses on the market before we drove by Mar-a-Lago. I tried to stop in on 45 but, as ex-presidents often do, he was off on a sneaker marketing tour. When he gets done with that, he'll go back to casting aspersions on anyone and everyone that does not bend the knee while he tries to find some suckers from whom he can extract half a billion in cash to pay for his crimes.

We had a luxe dinner that night at Cafe L'Europe. My brother-in-law picked up the tab so I was on the hook for a couple meals.  I was going to suggest Wendy's or Mickey D's, but they outsmarted me and made a couple reservations for Monday and Tuesday. We ate at Renato's, where we had a dinner several years ago when we stayed at The Breakers for my wife's 60th birthday. I perused the wine list that had several four figure entries and settled on a California cab that didn't break the bank. The chow was good. Last night was an 8:30 reservation at Palm Beach Grill that threw my bedtime completely out of whack. I think we had been here before as well. This is a top spot to see and be seen. I encountered a couple plastic surgeries that almost jolted my appetite, but a Tanqueray martini set me straight. Two thumbs up for all these joints.

We said goodbye to the in-laws this morning with an extended hug-a-thon and headed to FLL for a flight to St. Thomas. The wife and I are at the Green Iguana for one night before we sail over to St. John's for the USVI Wig Experience '24. We'll be joining not one, but two Wigs, and their better halves. In this case, better halves is not merely an idiomatic expression. If your lucky, I'll be inspired to drop a post from St. John.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Like most normal people, my wife huddled in her home office with the space heater on this morning.  She’s generally an active senior, but she’s under the weather so I think today’s course of action is prudent. DJ, on the other hand, went to the outdoor pool at the posh club and did multiple laps on his back with the rain pouring in his face.  This was after a stretch and bike session. Yes, you are correct.  He is a BEAST.

This is my first post for February, but I do not expect it to be the last.  I have not recently caught any flak from #1, but that is mainly because he has been at Disney World for the last week.  In celebration of that, I bought some DIS puts. They report after the bell today and it is my fervent hope that they tank big time.

Yes, I’m back in the options game. I backed off a while ago after an extended losing streak, but my sister got me to put half of my remaining meager resources into some META $440 calls before earnings. Ka-ching! Now I got some dough to piss away.

There’s a possibility that I’ll be blogging from St. John’s later this month. The Wig’s brother told him to extend us an invite.  The Wig was firmly against it, as he had just seen me, but he was overruled. This will be an interesting trip.  I first met Wig’s brother in Binghamton, so we go way back. I can be cordial for a short period, like a wedding or family get together.  But three days with DJ? I’m not sure he has the constitutional fortitude for that.

So 4M shot a few blog ideas my way, which confused me because that son of a gun does not read my blog.  Once SB1 fixes the email application on this platform some time in 2027, I’ll start spamming him. His first idea was all the Taylor Swift prop bets floating around for the Super Bowl, like "will she wear an outfit made by Kyle Juszyck's wife" and other important stuff like that.  He also sent me this article, which led me to tell him I’m an old man and cannot keep up with crap like this.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/05/economy/loud-budgeting-financial-trend-tiktok/index.html

We had a home invasion a couple Fridays ago.  My wife had her work pals over for a soiree.  I dutifully stayed in my room for the duration, except to cop a chunk of lasagna.  I sometimes make a brief cameo and turn on the charm for a few minutes during these events, but not this time. I thought about asking “Aren’t you ladies glad I’m not a hugger”, but I’ll save that for another time.

I sometime bounce blog ideas off #1. I had told him a while back that I had an interesting post office experience.  The lady in front of me had a box labeled “human cremains”. I was going to ask who was in the box, but I thought the better of it.

I told you my chicken man story last time. My wife has since been to Costco to replenish our supply.  I made myself a note “chicken out” to get some out of the freezer.  I woke up the next day, before coffee, and saw it.  I briefly tried to recall what I was telling myself to chicken out of.

We went to a 70th birthday party Saturday night at Unc’s house. These events are becoming more common, regardless of the fact that I still look like I’m in my 40s. Unc tried to razz me when I was leaving.  He said he almost unsubscribed from the blog mailing list after my last post.  I told him, “You wish you could quit me.”

I’m keeping up with the latest Prince William news.  They said he was going back to work full-time.  I wondered whether he’d go into the office or work from castle.  And this is my FB take on another article.

Did you folks see the Grammys? It was nice to see Tay Tay finally get some recognition.  I liked the Tracy Chapman duet, but my biggest take away was “Why does Miley Cyrus have a career?”

GO NINERS!!