But first, was there any movement on Ukraine-Russia peace talks?  Well, there is this  guitar duo .  Have you seen  Zelensky, Putin and Trump entertaining  as three tenors?  Watch  We Run the World . Four of my favorite cities are Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and Honolulu. We are here in Vancouver, and this stop has been mostly wet.  But I've been here around a half a dozen times, and, aside from rain and cold, this city has much to offer. Our previous trip in October of last year began in Seattle, where we caught the Norwegian Encore for a 39-day cruise through the Panama Canal to Southampton, UK.  I've also been here at least 6 time, the first for the Seattle World Expo in 1962. The Encore's first stop was in San Francisco.  The San Francisco Bay area is my second home. Graduated from Stanford University. Worked at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View on the Search Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Spent two summers at the ...

Merry Christmas.  But first, from the  Honolulu Star-Advertiser : A Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist on Monday checks a webcam on the rim of Kilauea caldera. Kilauea began erupting again early Monday, with lava fountains up to nearly 300 feet. The eruption paused in the afternoon but lava resumed flowing onto the crater floor today . Every so often, the news of the day, or a film, or something just happens that reminds me of me.  Such is the case of a new series on Netflix,  A Man on the Inside .   Rotten Tomatoes,  95 reviewers and 92 audiences.   Read this article , which describes the production. Ted Danson plays an old, retired, engineering professor in the San Francisco Bay Area, whose wife has passed away.   Sort of like me. Of course you remember him.  Sam Malone on  Cheers , 275 episodes, where he won two Emmys and two Golden Globes.  And 53 episodes of  The Good Place , a comedy about a Heaven-esqu...

We spent 36 days on the Norwegian Encore: Launched in November of 2019, but suspended less than a year later because of the pandemic. Cost:  $1 billion. Maximum speed of 25 knots. 4000 passengers and 2100 crew. Godmother:  Kelly Clarkson. First stop, San Francisco: Next stops were Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo.  Very hot outside.  View from our veranda docked in Puerto Vallarta.  Remember the TV series  Love Boat ?  Came here now and then. The movie,  10 , was partly filmed in Manzanillo.  Next, Acapulco.  View from our lanai.  Kind of looks like Waikiki from a distance. From Mexico to Guatemala.  On the Encore is The Cavern Club, a smaller entertainment room which looks like where The Beatles began in Liverpool.  We saw them in the main theater and here a few times. This room is also where karaoke sessions were nightly held. The Social Club served as our disco room. Guatemala to Costa Rica.  Didn't g...