Monday 2-19-24 Dancing, Virtual Reality & Having Fun

 

Just having fun

We had a cold day with the low of in the 30's and the high of 56 degrees. It had a little breeze out of the north so it kept it a little cool.

We started the day by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 at 9:00 for an hour. Di called 5 tips to 16 participants. We just danced and Di helped us by cueing the whole dance. Larry danced with me. We had a super time dancing with friends.

Dancing with friends

After the dance we went to Home Depot to pick up a couple of shelve brackets and a new shelve for Larry's workroom. We also got a sprinkler head for our septic system, one of the construction guys next door drove over one and it no longer sprays correctly. Over the past months they have also broken and buried a couple of our normal sprinkler heads. Their landscaping company is going to be working here this week and should get everything fixed.

On our way home we stopped by Burger King and split a chicken sandwich meal.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Free Cell). I worked on solving them for 3 hours, 18 minutes and 58 seconds before giving up. I ended up doing nine of the games. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends. 

Larry continued playing with virtual reality (VR). He played VR pinball for about an hour, he also did a session on Synth Riders. 

I worked out with the Synth Riders for a half hour and had a great time. 

I also played the weekly challenge of Black Rose in virtual reality. My first high score for the week was 12,500,180. It took awhile to get a picture to post. We're still learning. The below picture is what I see when I play the game. Each game has its own virtual room. Some are quite elaborate and others are simpler. This one makes it appear you are inside a ships hull. The Black Rose emblem on the right side appears to be floating in air. It is very difficult to understand how real all of this looks in the headset.

Black Rose

I worked on the diamond painting of Lion King.

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of Northern Exposure. Then I watched Doctor Strange in Multiverse of Madness. Afterwards I watched an episode of A Touch of Frost. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group. This is a great start for the week.

 

Sunday 2-18-24 Virtual Reality Games, Diamond Painting & More

 

Playing Virtual Reality Games

We had an awesome day of playing with virtual reality. It was a gorgeous day with a lot of sunshine. The low was in the 30's and the high was 53 degrees. The wind went away.

We spent part of the day of playing with virtual reality. The other day Larry bought a virtual reality workout program called Synth Riders. You have to use your hands to do a routine. You use your right hand to hit the pink balls, left hand to hit the blue balls, both to hit the yellow balls and you use any hand to hit the green balls. You workout using music and at the end the game will tell you how accurate your hits are. We played it about an hour and burned 204 calories. It was fun to learn the game and playing it. Larry used part of the game to learn how to use the controllers. Larry has it displaying on the TV but you don't need that, the player can't see the TV, only the observer can. The video in the headset is terrific, you would swear the world and the obstacles that are coming at you are real.

Working out with Synth Riders

Working out continues

Learning how to play

Learning how to use the controller (controller on bottom)

I played pinball on the pinball cabinet using virtual reality and normal mode. I played Indiana Jones and got a new high score for the week of 153,931,060. I started playing the new weekly challenge, which is Black Rose. I also played The Lord of the Rings. I played Black Rose and Attack From Mars in normal mode while the headset was charging. I had a super time playing in both modes. I like virtual reality better.

New high score in Indiana Jones

 

Attack From Mars

Black Rose

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 1 hour, 16 minutes and 11 seconds, which put me in 18th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I worked out on the Wii Fit for 45 minutes. I also continued working on Lion King diamond painting.

Lion King

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of Northern Exposure. Then I watched Spider Man: No Way Home and an episode of A Touch of Frost. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group for the week with a total of 119,702 steps.

 

Saturday 2-17-24 Reading, Games, Diamond Painting & Pinball

 

Cold Windy Day

We had a cold day with the wind out of the north. The low was 38 degrees and the high was 51. 

I started the day by finish reading Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash. It was a great book with twist and turns. 

Get a book and relax

I played this week challenge, Indiana Jones and got a new high score of 136,856,040. Then I played more pinball games Iron-Man and Johnny Mnemonic. I played the games in Virtual Reality. The tables that can be in virtual reality look better because they look more in 3D. I'm having fun playing games in virtual reality.

New high score

Iron Man

Johnny Mnemonic

When doing the weekly challenges I have to post the high score on the challenge board so I have to take a picture of it. When I play the game not in virtual reality I just take a picture of it. with the phone and then download it into my pictures. Now that I'm playing the game in virtual reality I have to take a picture through the headset. I'm having a little trouble learning because I hold the buttons on the headset down too long so it makes a video instead of a picture. Larry has to delete the videos and pictures from the headset that are wrong. But I was successful once. 

Larry thinks my new challenge for next week will be Black Rose. He spent part of the day getting it working. It should not have been very difficult, however getting it to work on both the normal table and the virtual reality table and not share the scoring proved challenging. It took him a few hours to figure it out.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Pyramid Mini of 5 games. It took me 16 minutes and 6 seconds, which put me in 21st place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

I worked out using the Wii Fit for a half hour and on Just Dance for a half hour. I worked out 10 minutes on three different programs (2014, 2015 & 2016). The songs I worked out with on 2014 were Trouble Maker, Rich Girl and I Kissed a Girl. The songs I worked out with on 2015 were Speedy Gonzales, What Does the Fox Say and Happy. The songs I worked out with on 2016 were All About the Bass, Born This Way and Up Town Funk.

Just Dance 2014

Just Dance 2015

Just Dance 2016

In the evening I started a new diamond painting project, it's Disney Lion King. We watched YouTube videos. Then we started watching the 4th season of Northern Exposure. When Larry went to bed I watched Eternals, which is a Marvel Super Hero movie. Afterwards I watched an episode of Father Brown. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

Friday 2-16-24 Working Out, Games, Dancing & Reading

 

Happy Friday

We had a wonderful day. It started out with the temperature of 60 degrees and the high ended up at 71 degrees.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Spider Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 49 minutes and 41 seconds, which put me in 10th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

I worked out on the Wii Fit for a half hour and a half hour with Gold's Gym.

After playing games I read. I started a book on my Kindle during my cruise called Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash. It's about a 10 year old girl being shipped from England to the United States family during World War II. How the two families survived the war and their lives beyond the war. The young girls calls both families her own. It's very good.

Reading is fun

As I read and played games Larry continued playing with Virtual Reality on the pinball cabinet.

In the evening I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 for an hour at 6:30. Ett called a lot of Motivate in different position. I had fun dancing with friends.

After the dance we watched a couple of episodes of Northern Exposure. Then I watched Spider-Man: Far From Home. I watched an episode of A Touch of Frost. I ended p doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

Thursday 2-15-24 Virtual Reality Pinball, Games & Having Fun

 

Just having fun

We had a great day.

We started the day out by going in town to wash the car because it was filthy. Now it's all clean. We went to Walmart pick up a few things. Larry wanted to get a few small extension cords. While in Walmart we looked for what he wanted, it needed to be very short, they didn't have them. We then stopped by Dollar Tree and we couldn't find any. Last stop was at The Home Depot. We bought the shortest extension cord they had. We also bought a closet pole hanger for the shelf in the garage. On the way home we stopped by Freddy's and shared a double patty melt, fries and a medium drink.

Pole Socket

 

Lunch

We played virtual pinball. I played the pinball weekly challenge, which is Indiana Jones. I used the virtual reality table. This version of Indiana Jones is different than the one we had, we both think it's a lot better so he took the old version off the cabinet. Virtual Reality is so cool because you see the game in 3D like the real pinball game. The ramps in the games are easier to see. I got a high score of 127,114,170. I also played Big Buck Hunter and Cirqus Voltaire in virtual reality. Larry played pinball in virtual reality also.  

Indiana Jones high score

Larry continues doing research on virtual reality. He watched YouTube videos on virtual reality in big screen theater, where you can watch movies like you're sitting in a movie theater. He said it was cool except he needs to work on the sound.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Klondike Mini of 5 games. It took me 15 minutes and 2 seconds, which put me in 30th place in my group. I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

I worked out on the Wii Fit for a half hour and a half hour with Just Dance3.

Working out

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of Northern Exposure. Then I watched Avengers: Endgame. Afterwards I watched an episode of A Touch of Frost. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.

 

Wednesday 2-14-24 Happy Valentine's Day & Dance Day

 

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a super Valentine's day. We had a great day.

We started the day with the low of 41 degrees and the high of 64 degrees. In the afternoon the wind came up.

I danced three virtual square dances. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Plus at 10:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. Di called the dance but Terry danced with her. Di called five tips to 10 participants. Some of the dancers wore red for Valentine's Day and some had Valentine background. Di worked on Crossfire From Columns, Relay the Deuce, Spin Chain the Gears and Spin Chain the Gears and Exchange the Gears. Dawn had a couple of special Valentine's cards for a dance they had during the weekend. They were full size and you put your head through the heart. I had a fun time.

Dawn and her cards

Robin with a gorgeous background 

Monday during their C1 dance people also wore red. Larry attended this dance with me. We had a great time.

Participants at Di's C1 dance

Second was Ett McAtee's C1 at 1:00 for an hour. Ett called four tips to 16 participants. Ett worked on Twist the Line, Relay the Top to the right and left and Circle By. I had fun.

Third was Dave Eno C1/A2. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave call the dance. The format was three C1 tips with 10 participants and three A2 tips with 12 participants. In each the C1 and A2 Dave called a tip, Karin and Greg called a tip and the last tip all three called. When Karin and Greg called their C1 tip they worked on Vertical Tag. In between the A2 tips they did a little Trivia. Don Moger showed up to say hi. I had a great evening of dancing with friends. During the dance Dave shared a cool looking amplifier. It was made in a plastic box.

Dave showing off his amplifier

In the afternoon Larry treated for fire ants and put pre-emergent in the yards. 

When I wasn't dancing I played some virtual reality pinball games. Larry continued working on virtual reality and solving some problems we came across when playing games.

Larry playing virtual reality

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. I did the event, which was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 30 minutes and 47 seconds to complete, which put me in 14th place in my group. I played some Angry Birds 2.

After Ett's dance I worked out a half hour on the Wii Fit and a half hour on Gold's Gym.

Working out

After my last dance we watched a couple of episodes of Northern Exposure. When Larry went to bed I watched Avengers: Infinity War and an episode of A Touch of Frost. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group.

 

 

 

Tuesday 2-13-24 Cruise & A2 Dancing in Corsicana

 

Awesome Day

We had a gorgeous day with sunshine. The low was 34 degrees and the high was 64 degrees.

During the cruise it rained three days but it didn't stop the ship from going into the port of three islands. They were Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Charlotte Amalie St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

Perfect Day at Coco Cay is a cute little island owned by Royal Caribbean. It's small island designed to enjoy swimming in the ocean and getting a tan. There were lagoons and the ocean to swim in and a lot of chairs to lay on to sunbath and read a book. They had trams to take you around the island to three different stops for you to enjoy your stay. There was a lot of entertainment. You could fly in a hot air balloon, water park, places to eat and more. Some entertainment cost to use. We ate at the Chill Grill, it was a buffet. The food was provided by the ship and it was very good. We tried one of the lagoons and the water was very cold. So we walked a little ways to the ocean and the water was warmer. As we were enjoying the ocean a few stingrays came to visit. Around lunchtime the rain came in so everyone went back to the ship. I had fun even though it rained.

Map of Coco Cay

 

 

The pool area

 

 

 

Coco Cay from the ship

 

Once everyone was back on the ship the captain announced we would depart a couple hours earlier then planned. The entertainment director also made an announcement of added entertainment because of the rain.

The next island was Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. We were at sea for a day. It rained all day but that didn't stop people from leaving the ship. Kathy and I met up with Lynn and Barb. We were suppose to go on an excursion called Amazing Race but it was cancelled due to the rain. This was a walking tour where the guide takes you through town looking for different things. Instead we walked around the port area. We looked for the bus but we couldn't find where to catch it. We went back to the port area and walked through a few shops. I ended up buying a magnet of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The magnet of the U.S. Virgin Islands

 

The bay from our balcony at St. Thomas

The Wonder of the Seas docked at St. Thomas

Barb and Kathy going back to the ship

 

Barb, Lynn and me in St. Thomas

Once back on board we participated in some of the entertainment. One was Royal Mystery, which was a Who Dunnit activity. We broke into groups of eight or more people to solve the crime of a missing painting. By the end of the 30 minutes no one solved the crime but one group came close. It wasn't a lot of fun because everyone in my group did their own thing instead of working together. Barb and I did a Salsa classes and Kathy watched us. This was a lot of fun, there were about 15 women doing the dance. A gentleman explained the moves and Isabella showed how to do the moves. They worked together very well.

The next day we went to St. Maarten. It rained most of the day. Lynn and Barb did their own thing and Kathy and I did our own thing. Kathy and I took a Water Taxi across the bay to the beach. Once across the bay we walked around town. We walked by the beach. A lot of people were in the ocean swimming. It was raining so we just walked around. I bought a dress. We saw Iguanas hanging around the rock in St. Maarten. Even though it was raining I had fun.

Me in St. Maarten

 

Walking on the beach of St. Maarten

Philipsburg Marketplace

St. Maarten Court House

Water Taxi

A couple of Iguanas

From St. Maarten we headed back to Port Canaveral. It took a couple of days. The last day we had a C1 dance and just hung around the ship.

When we got to Port Canaveral, Kathy rented a car to get us to Orlando, which was about 45 miles. We disembarked from the ship around 8:00. Our flight wasn't until 4:50 so we had some time to kill. On the way to the airport we stopped by Kennedy Space Center. We just walked around and took picture. Then we went to the airport and hung out.

Movie about the U.S. Space Program

One of the buildings at the space center

Entrance to the Kennedy Space Center

I had an outstanding time on the cruise.

While I was cruising Larry got Virtual Reality on the pinball cabinet and played other games. When I got home Larry introduced me to Virtual Reality. It's so cool and fun.

Today we went to Corsicana to dance A2 to Dale Smith and Glenn Martin. We left the house at 7:30 and didn't get home until 4:30. Corsicana is about 100 miles away from our house. The format was 9:30 to 11:30 dancing, 11:30 to 12:30 lunch and 12:30 to 2:30 dancing. We were short one person to have two squares.It was run by computer so everyone had a chance to dance and rest.  Dale and Glenn took turns calling the dancing tips, they called a total of 16 tips. We brought our lunch so we could relax after having lunch. We had a super time dancing with friends.

In the evening we played pinball with the Virtual Reality headset. When Larry went to bed I watched Ant Man and the Wasp and an episode of A Touch of Frost. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.