Hi all, About 2 and one-half hours to go - the deadline for posting is almost upon us! Deadline to post containers for Zone Wars: 11:59 pm (23:59) tonight! (Eastern Daylight Time) That's what Terrene has previously announced. Please note that Gardenweb uses Eastern Daylight Time (Summer Time) for the date and time stamp. Any post dated Wednesday, May 2 does NOT count as we want to wrap this up and announce the winners! You can see the date and time that will be on your post when you take "Preview Message." It's at the end of the line with your screenname. Terrene has asked me to sort the spreadsheet and announce winners in various categories based on the sort. Exciting. Here is a link to a clock showing different time zones. You can check how your local time differs from Eastern Time used in Boston, New York, or other cities in that time zone. Thanks to everyone for your hard work and for a fun competition. See you later! Cities listed on link - Boston/New York vs Chicago/Dallas vs Denver/Salt Lake City vs San Francisco/Seattle Here is a link that might be useful: Clock with time zones

This is how I count: one, two, three, a handfull, a shitload. Once I get to a shitload it goes from a shitload, to a thick shitload, to a super shitload, and then five hundred, then I start counting by the thousand. Well, actually I've only gotten to a thousand once this past year counting buckeyes.

My brother for years would go on cruises and would talk of the great time they had, mentioning many of the benefits that others here have brought up as well: meals included, only unpack once, the shows and the other amenities on the ship. However it has never really appealed to me. The "only unpack once" sounds good, and not having to find accommodations in each new spot visited sounds great, but the rest of the experience did not seem enticing: shows? pass. gambling? I don't think so. Going somewhere "exotic" and then eating glorified cafeteria food? Bleah. And no matter where you go, even if the place might otherwise be a great place to visit, it is instantly crowded with people from the ship. However a couple of years ago, my wife was teaching on the Semester-at-Sea ship, which went out for a month-long voyage around the Caribbean, I went along as a plus-one, and had the best time of my life. She had to teach her class during the 12 days at sea, but on the days in port, she (and all of the students) were free to travel in and around the port country. The "voyage" was similar in many respects to a commercial cruise, but I think the differences are a big part of what made the trip more enjoyable for me. Some key differences were: no casino -- its been replaced with the largest library at sea. spends more than 6 to 8 hours in each port -- we had two or three days in each port rather than broadway-type shows there were sometimes lectures or movies about our upcoming destination small enough that it can stop in smaller, less visited ports we were allowed to bring aboard no more than two bottles of alcohol per person per port. The differences to me seem analogous to the differences between a credit union, and a large nationwide mega-bank, ie. same ostensible purpose, wildly different practices and methods employed in service of that purpose. For instance I'm sure there is someone at each of the major cruise lines whose job (in part) is to determine what the optimum level of quality for the food served in the regular service should be, to nudge people towards the pay-extra-restaurants, without driving people away altogether. Admittedly, since I've never been on a commercial cruise, I'm comparing my experience on the SAS ship with my cynical, pre-conceived notion of a commercial cruise. So even if you are a person who thinks "Cruises are not for me" there may be something similar, but slightly different that could be the time of your life.

OK, Raeanne--I hope you've got your comfortable shoes on, aaannnndddd away we go!!! :) Dance for me my friend--you don't know just how light I feel! NHSuzanne--yep--the old boot--and this is the happiest I've been in a looong time. BJ--yep--a draftin' we do go--and a letter to that couple that I met at the BBQ, too! :) Well, it was an interesting morning, to say the least. I got called into boss's office, and I just knew. She lit into me about something that she told me to do, I did it, and went 20+ steps farther (with her knowledge and permission), and then after she could find the time in her buzy life to review it, she found that she told me wrong. (Now, I am the very first to own up to screwing things up. The very first. And yes, I won't lie and say that I didn't make a mistake--and a stupid one at that. However, the crux of the massive problem was caused by her telling me wrong. I, thank heavens, took detailed notes during our meeting when she told me wrong, and when I pointed it out to her, she siad that I must have misunderstood. Maybe I did--I'll never know.) So, anyway, she started on this isn't working out, blah, blah, blah... (7 years working for her, and all of a sudden, things aren't working out? Well, then.) So, she tell me to get me things together and to be out by 1pm. Not a problem, so I'm in my office, and I'm shuting down my computer, and the male owner/boss walks in, and tells me how sorry he is that things didn't work out (there's *that* again), and that if he can ever do anything for me, please let him know. So, I thank him, and told him that I had enjoyed my time (yes, I know-- a liar and a hypocrite; I just didn't want to leave on a horrible note--I've got more class than that), and then he asks what I'm doing. I told him I was shutting down my programs on the PC, and shutting the PC down. He started saying something about incrimnating evidence of me on the 'net (WTF is that??) And then he tells me to stop, and I said that I couldn't--I had already clicked the button to shut down (and I had). He then gets beligerent, and yells at me to get away from the computer, and then grabs my hand that I had on the mouse (which *I* bought), and yanks the mouse towards him. I'm looking at him like he's nuts, and asked him if he really thought I would be so low to do anything to the PC. (Now, a lot can be said about me, but I would never, in a million years, ever do anything like that deliberately.) He growled that he wanted me out of there as soon as possible, and I looked that short, arrogent, @sshole-in-sheep's clothing SOB in the eye and told him that not any faster than I wanted out of there. So, i finish packing up my cr@p (and gawd... did i have it), and my 2 girlfriends walked out with me. I am going to miss them. So, I'm worried what Rog will think, although, he was the first I had called as soon as I got back to my office. I went to the unemployement place (which I will bet you that they will fight me on), and they are closed. So, I go home, and Rog is fine with it. Thanks heavens--I hate to put all of this on him. Oh, and in retrospect, I think I partially know what happened. The old place where we all came from is shutting down, and my boss told me last week that she had already gotten 7 or 8 resumes. I'll lay odds that she wants to hire one of her buddies from there. And this happened before to one of our account executives that was a brillient CPA. A bud of the male owner became available, and he fired our CPA to make room for this chick. (I do know that's what happened, because my boss told me (the VP and an acct exe.) So--I am leaving for a Saturday in Memphis with Rog, and yes, we are still going to Canada next week. The trip is paid for, and I'm going to enjoy every d@mned minute of it!!! Thanks for always listening, and always being there--you guys are great!!!! :):) And...... all things for a reason! Hugs, from a deliriously happy Maddie