Happy Birthday Alegria!

37 years ago today, on April first 1974 an infant Alegria came out of the mold at Blue Water Boats, out in the woods near Seattle. She was then moved to our backyard where we changed her from a bare hull (no deck or anything inside at all, just a skin from the gunwales down) to an almost finished boat. She was put in the water for the first time July 1976.

She is patiently awaiting our return in Finike, Turkey.

Janet just had her last "Carbo & Taxol chemo". Only two more Taxol chemos to go, but the best news on that front was her CA-125, a test for Ovarian Cancer that began at 563 last year and is now 5! Anything less than 35 is "normal" as other things going on in the body can raise CA-125. It is not a precise measure of only ovarian cancer, but her oncologist says that in his extensive experience that people with 5 or less do not have recurrences of cancer! So her being told that she is in remission three weeks ago, has been underlined and writ in BOLD.

Dave and everything else are doing well and we need to go run errands, so I will spare you more text.

Happy Alegria's Birthday!

Selling John Heath's personal items

I am selling some of my father, John Heath's kayak related things online.

My father was John Heath (1923-2003) who, for nearly 50 years, did a
lot to make people aware of the amazing knowledge and technology of
various Arctic kayaks from Alaska to Greenland. If you are not
familiar with John Heath, here is my version of his biography at this
link:

https://alegria1976.wordpress.com/davids-father-john-heath/

Or look in the right column of the WordPress blog.

I will be selling many things of his, paddles, native art, John's
drawings and more over the next few weeks. Please frequently check
this next link. It changes. I have eBay items shown here.
http://shop.ebay.com/dave-on-alegria/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

I will run the eBay auctions for at least 7 days, so checking that
link twice a week will let you be sure to not miss anything.

At the moment, the ivory carvings and other art objects seem like they
will sell better on a Native Art auction sit, but I am still
researching that. Suggestions welcome.

I will be adding more as time goes on.

Janet has 3 chemos to go and is still doing great.

Dave & Janet

Good news from D&J. Bad news from Japan.

It has been a while since I updated and so here is a summary.

First Janet has only 4 chemo treatments to go. Yeah!!! But, the best news is that her oncologist has declared her to be in remission!

Now don’t take her off your prayer list, good thoughts, joss sticks, candles, prayer wheel or whatever you prefer. All positive energy is still much appreciated.

One of the tests for ovarian cancer is the “CA-125”. Lower is better. “Normal” is less than 35. When first diagnosed, Janet was 563. Some patients are much higher.

Each month her CA-125 was less than half the month before, and on March 7^th it was 8! Great news! Can she get it to 4 on the 28^th? That would be nice, but even 8 is wonderful.

So, Janet is getting great ‘grades’ and feeling very good. Thanks for the prayers, etc.

Dave is feeling fine also, but busy with keeping the medical insurance bills correct and selling some remaining items from his folks on eBay. You can see the eBay items here.

Dave’s father was John Heath, who, among other things was a World Authority on Arctic Kayaks. Here is more info about him.

The earthquake & tsunami

I assume that everyone knows about the troubles in Northern Japan. We send them our prayers, etc and cannot imagine what the affected zones are like. Janet & I feel their pain better than most. We were in the Mexico City 1985, 8.2 earthquake and for two days after, we were walking through rubble, trying to find a way to get word our families. Our hotel stayed up, but many, many near us collapsed into piles of rubble. Over 10,000 known dead. But, no tidal wave or radiation. Mexico City was terrible, but a piece of cake compared to the worst parts of Japan.

9.0 is nearly 10 times stronger than 8.2. And it is more complicated than that. How long it lasts, the kind of motion (vertical, horizontal, etc), and lots of things may be important in how much damage occurs. Mexico City is mostly built on a gigantic peat bog. Think, bowl of Jello. Our hotel shook so violently for about 45 seconds that it was hard to stand up.

Let’s just say that there are many factors for earthquake damage. And then they had a series of tsunamis and now radiation. We hope that all will join us in doing what you do to help them.

As most of you know, Pacific Rim earthquakes often cause tsunamis that affect much of the Pacific. You’ve seen the videos, but here is part of a letter from some cruising friends on the West Coast of Mexico. Tom & Janis Bell on TOMBOY.

>>>>>>>>>>
Subject: March 15 La Cruz, near Puerto Vallarta
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:04:49 +0000

Greetings everyone,

All is fine on Tomboy after the effects of the Japan Tsunami.  Fri the 11^th, I was up before 5am to do work on the internet.   As the sun rose I was finishing up contacts with the Agent in Tahiti to complete arrangement & payment for their assistance for check in-out and bond waiver.  Then a cruiser at the dock told us about the huge Japan earthquake/tsunami threat here.  Wow, what a shock.  The VHF radio net was intense with info at 8am.  The waves or ?? affects were due here near noon.  We decided to take Tomboy out into the bay for the day, as did about ½ the boats in this marina and the other 3 in Pt. Vallarta to be on the safe side.

The VHF channel 22 was full of land based info updates concerning Japan, and USA/MX coastal info all day. Near 1pm the marinas were reporting sudden continuous fast 1 ft rises-quick falls (all in less than 8 min) in the water based on the docks going up and down the pilings.  That steadily increased to 2 ft then 3- 4 and 5 ft+  increases /drops in that 8-10 min rapid water shift—major surge in and out of the marinas (all closed- huge currents in and out with the flushing action).  Out in the bay over 300 sail & power boats enjoyed a beautiful day with no obvious wave action.  It was expected to last about 3-4 hrs.  About 4pm many headed to shore expecting to go back to the dock.  In reality that surge was still at its peak exposing shore/rocks then pushing up to record high areas on the beach/ in the marinas which were totally unsafe to enter. The port captains closed all the marinas for entry.  As a result off La Cruz and up this side of the bay where the best anchoring is located all those 300+ boats anchored for the night.  We were off the Marina amid over 150 boats I counted early Sat am . It had been a calm night and everyone was courteous and orderly amid the stress filled day.

In new ultra modern Marina La Cruz that long intense surge weakened the end slips of the long mega yacht size dock #7 just inside the entry where the wild inflow/outflow was the strongest.  Sat morning (10am) when we returned to the marina there were workers dealing with the broken long end main finger (main support) and 2 interior fingers--only the massive double pilings for them were intact--$$ and difficult repair.  All the boats on that dock were relocated.   It was probably good that so many boats had left.  The other 3 marinas are located farther inside from the sea entry and reported NO damage to docks nor boats.  Yet all the entry channels had changed with all the shifting sand in the constant powerful currents.   It surprised everyone that that Tsunami ocean energy affected this bay well over 12 hrs. Boats in bays south reported similar fast rise/fall of coastal water all day also without significant damage. (Nothing like Santa Cruz or Crescent City, Calif.)

Tomboy now has full water tanks, fuel, produce, plenty of food/spares/charts and more.  We pick up laundry at noon and will spend the day getting ready for sea, cleaning up our computers, checking weather and enjoying walks in town.  Tomorrow 3/16 is our planned exit.  We are hoping for a NW wind push from the next pacific front to help us leave MX.  Five other boats from this area plan to head to the So Pacific this week.  Last night we listened for the 1st time to the Puddle Jump SSB net (0200 Zulu time- 7pm AZ) on 81  upper side band.  This is a check in net (roll call) for boats heading to the So Pacific to give location/ sea conditions.   6 boats that left last week checked in and we will join that roll call soon.  Future passage news will come via Emily. We are ready to start the next chapter of this adventure.    Janis and Tom

>>>>>>>>>

Everybody stay safe and happy and we will do the same.

Dave & Janet

A very nice article about Finike

Our boat, Alegria, is patiently waiting for our return in Finike. A
small, very friendly city on the south coast of Turkey. Google it.

This nice article, written for one of the English language Turkish
Newspapers appeared June of 2010, but this is the first that we have
seen it. One of the very nice boat agents in Finike just pointed it
out to us. His name is UMIT GOLGECI and he helps boaters from all over
the world, get things done in a (wonderful) foreign land.

It is a nice article and the English is excellent. Remember that it is
in a Turkish paper.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=the-multinational-neighborhood-of-finike-the-marinasouth-cover--2010-06-09

Janet and Dave continue to do well. We hope that you do too. Janet has
6 more treatments left and it is hard to imagine getting all of the
other things done that we need to, to be ready to go at the end of
that time.

Thing continue to be pretty good

I could feel people wondering when I would get around to an update, so...

A common email or phone question is

> Hope everything is progressing well for you Janet.

We are both doing very well thanks. It is Wednesday, so Janet is
getting chemo as I write this. There are typically several ladies as
patients and often some friends of theirs in the chemo room. Just 3
patients and one friend today. I am down the hall in an empty
examining room with a small desk, chair, electricity and reasonable
WiFi for free, writing this.

When Janet started this last Fall, the ladies were typically quiet and
perhaps sometimes not very happy as some types of chemo make some feel
bad or sleepy, or even vomiting, etc like a bad sea sickness. Janet
likes to chat them up and she can usually get them laughing and
carrying on. Having a great time, much like 'Ladies' coffee morning'
at some marinas we have visited.

Today is no exception and periodically great bursts of laughter come
rolling down the hall to my tiny 'office'.

Some website coined the phrase, 'the Chemo Chicks'.

Janet is very glad that so far the side effects for her have been very
mild and manageable. This can change, so it pays to not get cocky, but
she only has 7 more (out of 18 total) after today. So, our fingers are
crossed that her (our) luck will continue.

Our stolen phone was replaced later that week for just the activation
fee. For people that seldom need a phone (I may already know the only
three on the planet) we have really enjoyed

http://www.consumercellular.com/

My mom wanted a phone only to be able to call AAA (for the
non-Americans that is a company that provides aid to stranded
motorists for a reasonable fee). ConsumerCellular's basic plan for
members of AAA or AARP (for retired people) was $10.00/month and they
give you a basic flip phone for free. The use AT&T's network and have
many fancier phones for the rest of you. Minutes are $0.25/min, which
if there are few or none, is quite nice.

I think the $35, one time, activation is the only other fee, but it
was over a year ago.

AND if you are getting close to 40 minutes for the month on the pay
for minutes plan, which will add $10.00 to the bill, they notify you
that you might want to change to a higher plan. $20/mo gives you 250
minutes free and $30 gives you 500, etc. (With the usual hidden fees,
this works out to $24.44 or $35.53 for me depending on which plan.)

If you are on the $20 or whatever plan and you can see that a cheaper
plan is better for you this month, you can change to the best plan for
you right up to last days. This is new to me. My prior cell phone
plans loved to LOCK YOU IN to the most expensive plan that they could,
and sock it to you if ran over.

If there is anyone considering getting a ConsumerCellular plan, if you
say that I recommended you, we BOTH get $10 off, so ask me before you
do it. Or at least get approval from the sales person. They have been
very helpful to us. The support people have all been on the same
continent and English is their native language AND they know what they
are talking about! Also, rare nowadays.

Security dangers

I will probably write more about Internet and WiFi security in another
post but here is a start. The final straw was seeing several articles
on both nerdy and boating websites about these dangers. There is new
free software that makes it easier for even idiots to steal you
passwords, bank info and emails and I am trying to learn to be safer
as we use Internet and WiFi a LOT. If you are way ahead of me, please
get in touch.

So far I have switched to Mozilla Firefox with the 'HTTPS Everywhere'
Add-on and Astrill VPN with 40% discount from ActiveCaptain. See
below.

As I said, we use WiFi a lot and for banks and things that could be
disastrous if hacked. And I seem to be getting similar warnings from
many sources, so we are trying the offer mentioned in a link below for
a discounted version of Astrill. Many other sites seem to like
Astrill. But so far I have had a lot of trouble with it. I will try to
remember later to mention if I love Astrill or hate it after I have
some time with it.

ActiveCaptain has negotiated a special rate with two preferred Virtual
Private Network (VPN) suppliers. These VPN services allow you to surf
safer by encrypting everything from inside your computer through the
WiFi, the Cyber Cafe, all the way to a distant server in another city
that can be far far away. This makes WiFi much safer and if you are in
Turkey or on a blocked WiFi network that blocks certain sites, this
circumvents that blocking.

And, when we were in Spain, but I wanted to buy a US anti-virus
software they would only let me buy it through the Spanish branch of
their company, in Spanish and at a higher price. This VPN would have
let me buy from the US, since it would appear that I was in the US.

I also want to look at weather forecasts, but some pages were not open
to me because I was not inside the USA.

Confused? Read the links below and Google around to learn more. But,
beware fly by night companies!

You need to sign on to Active Captain to obtain the discounted rates
negotiated by them.

https://www.activecaptain.com/newsletters/2010-11-17.php
https://www.activecaptain.com/newsletters/2010-12-15.php
https://www.activecaptain.com/newsletters/2011-01-05.php
http://www.vpnsp.com/astrill.html

Janet's done, so I will close.

Dave & Janet

Our Cell Phone

We just discovered that our cell phone was lost or stolen Feb 3 and we
have turned it off because someone has been making calls on it. If you
were trying to reach us, you will need to use our motel number
713-895-2900 extension 9165 until we can replace the cell phone and
get a new number.
This is very frustrating, but fortunately not a lot of money is at
stake. It could be worse.
Dave

Moving Day & Blackouts

For several days we were wearing Tee Shirts and running the air conditioner, but today Houston and much of the USA is having unusually cold weather. Today is Wednesday, February 02, 2011. It is 23F (-6C) at 917AM, which they are not ready for, so they have "rolling brown outs" which in this case means that they turn the electricity off for several hours in different parts of Houston. Our electricity and phone and Internet at the motel went off at 730AM and so we went to the Hospital where Janet is supposed to have Chemo at 1030AM. Hopefully the Hospital is exempt from optional power outages.

 

Yes, I realize that hospitals have generators for emergencies, but we assume that they only supply critical needs, not a doctor's office.

 

In any case, at least for the moment, there is power and hot food in the Cafeteria.

 

Yesterday, we rented a tiny storage room and moved the remaining items from my mom's apartment. At 3PM we will have the inspection and turn the keys in.

 

Janet & Dave both continue to feel great.

 

Several people have asked if they can subscribe to the blog that they prefer and get emails telling them when something gets updated.

 

I have not tried it, but, I believe so. Look around for the "Follow" button at the lower right on this link for blogspot.

http://alegria1976.blogspot.com/

 

And I think that for WordPress that you can subscribe here

http://alegria1976.wordpress.com/feed/

 

Let me know how it works. Thanks for asking about it. I may have learned something.

 

Dave & Janet

PS: The chemo started on schedule. Yea! Only 10 more after this one.