Our disastrous October

I thought times were trying when I lost my job along with my shirt in the stock market crash. But then things got really bad.

My dad had a serious debilitating stroke on Sat., Oct. 18. I rushed out to New Mexico to find him on life support. Then, with my dad still in the ICU, Candice's father had a sudden and rapid relapse of his mysterious neurological apnea. My dad is slowly recovering from his stroke, but Bryan Denton passed away early on Tues., Oct. 21.

Candice said, "I just don't think I can take anything else." I feel the same way. With me in NM, then her and Juliet going up to Canada, we've not even been together much, so we've not been able to comfort each other.

Travels

This will be the main post with links to all the places I have been. My travels have been fairly extensive in North America, Europe, and Australasia, but I have not even been to Africa or South America. However, some of the favorite places that I have visited outside the continental US are:

• The Caribbean: Jamaica, Haiti, Nassau, Cayman Islands, Florida, Roatan
  
• Alaska, Yukon Territory, Canadian Rockies (Banff, etc.)
  
• Vancouver, Victoria, BC; Gulf Islands
  
• Mexico - Pacific: Baja, Puerto Vallarta, San Pancho; Caribbean: Isla Mujeres, Cozumel, etc.
• Hawaii
  
• Thailand
• Vietnam
• Singapore; Hong Kong
  
• Bali, Java, Sumatra
• Nepal
  
• Australia
• Fiji
• French Polynesia (Tahiti)
  
• New Zealand
• Japan
• Siberia
• Russia and Ukraine
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the low countries, etc.
  
• Switzerland, Lichtenstein, The Alps
• Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  
• Paris
• London, England, Scotland, Wales

And within the US, it's easier to list the states that I HAVEN'T been to:

• Maine
• Rhode Island
• North Dakota
• Kentucky
• West Virginia
  

I'm not counting places that I've only driven through, and of which I have no memory.

Stuff worth blogging about

Now that I am a MAN OF LEISURE, I have time to consider what is worth talking about, or at least what I feel qualified to talk about. Well, in the spirit of de gustibus, they are just my experiences:

• Travels - places I have been, places I have lived; perhaps even places to which I would like to go.
  
• Spirits - Scotch, whiskey, gin, tequila, this, that, what have you.
  
• Wine - Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet, and the whole galaxy of oenophilic delight.
  
• Books
• Films
• Music
• Family
  

Many of these, I have already begun to address. Others will come.

These are the times that try men's souls...

That quote from Thomas Paine came to mind last week as the stock market was crashing, and the whole western financial system seemed to be seizing up. It certainly did not help to be unemployed during this crisis. I don't doubt that we will come out of it eventually, but it looks to be a fairly long and bad downturn. Some people were even using the "D" word--depression. I'm not ready to subscribe to that train of thought yet, but we are definitely tightening our belts.