FUN-travel: Day at Sea – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 6
September 8, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Day at Sea – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 6
Day 44 – Wednesday, August 13 – Sea Day – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 6 – full sun w/clouds in distance – mid 40’s
What I LIKE
- Typical Sea Day
- 8:00 – typical morning routine
- 9:30 – enrichment lecture – the bear essentials
- – watch on TV instead going to theatre
- 10:30 – quiche snack in room from breakfast buffet – pretty good!
Totally Forgot to Tell You About Seeing Mr. Fox in Alkjefellet!
- 11:15 – enrichment lecture – sea birds of the arctic
- – watch on TV instead going to theatre
- 1:30 – typical lunch
- 2:30 – typical nap
- 5:00 – typical happy hour – martini’s this time
- 7:00 – typical expedition recap & briefing theatre Deck 4
- 9:30 – Variety Show – singing & dancing Lounge Deck 3
- – room packed and glad we got there early for good seats
- 10:15 – show ends – hang out
- 11:30 – night night
- No satellite coverage – no internet
- – just enjoy being in present w/o distraction
- Get another hour back
What I DON’T LIKE
- middle of night jolt – either heard thunder or we hit ice
- Starts raining @ lunch
- No satellite coverage – no internet
FUN-fact – The North Pole is water covered with ice surrounded by land and the South Pole is land covered with ice surrounded by water.
More FF – The mean annual temperature at the North Pole is -0 degrees and the South Pole is -58 degrees.
Arctic Terns
Word Of the Week #526: Zeal
September 4, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word Of the Week #526: Zeal
Zeal –great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.
Is there something that you want to excel in or achieve? What is your personal inspiration that drives you? Are you able to stay motivated in the face of a setback?
This week I want to continue from WOW #519 on self-motivation. In Daniel Goleman’s book on Emotional Intelligence he says, “Consider the role of positive motivation – the marshalling of feelings of enthusiasm, zeal, and confidence – in achievement. Studies of Olympic athletes, world-class musicians, and chess grand masters find their unifying trait is the ability to motivate themselves to pursue relentless training routines.
What seems to set apart those at the very top of competitive pursuits from others of roughly equal ability is the degree to which, beginning early in
life, they can pursue an arduous practice routine for years and years. And that doggedness depends on emotional traits – enthusiasm and persistence in the face of setbacks – above all else.”
You’ve heard the saying, “Practice Makes Perfect?” Well it turns out that the earlier they start the better. The top violin students at the best music academy in Berlin, all in their twenties, had put in ten thousand hours’ lifetime practice, while the second-tier students averaged around seventy-five hundred hours.
And this quote comes from long time subscriber, Don. “Perfect Practice Makes Perfect!” Many years ago, I had a meeting with a Disney Executive, when I lived in Orlando and we were talking about motivation, and the passion for excellence and so forth. In our conversation I told him that I believe practice makes perfect. He said; ‘That isn’t correct.’ I was perplexed with his reply, because this is what I had always believed, but he shed a new paradigm on my belief; he said that ‘PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!’ If you practice and your level of practice isn’t the best or perfect or at the highest level, then you will never achieve the level of excellence of the greatest or highest level. From that day forward, I changed my belief and that it is only when we practice at the highest level, can we achieve at the highest level.”
Now don’t let this discourage you. The point is that enthusiasm is a key component to being able to achieve what you want. You need to be able to stay motivated in the face of defeat. Your emotions get in the way of – or enhance – your ability to think and plan, to pursue training for a distant goal, and to solve problems.
This week focus on your personal and/or professional plans and/or goals. What level of enthusiasm do you have for them? In what areas of your life do you feel zeal? Are you willing to practice at the highest level?
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FUN-photos: Driving Germany, Poland & the Netherlands
September 3, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Driving Germany, Poland & the Netherlands
We landed at the Berlin Airport in the late afternoon of July 15th and spent the night at the Mercure Airport hotel so we could get a car first thing in the morning. Our stops included Kraków, Auschwitz and Wroclaw, Poland before returning to spend time in Berlin. Then late on July 20th we headed to Warnemünde, Germany to board our 11 day Baltic Sea Cruise on Princess.
We returned to the same port on the morning of July 31st where we picked up another car. Our stops included Bremen & Cologne, Germany before dropping the car in Amsterdam where we stayed until August 6th. The highlight was having Cinzia (Chris’ sister) & Fabio from Trieste, Italy join us in Amsterdam!
FUN-photos: Uniworld Russian River Cruise
September 2, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Uniworld Russian River Cruise
We arrived in Moscow very early on the morning of Thursday, July 3rd for our 13 day river cruise. We spent 3 days touring Moscow and set sail on the evening of Sunday, July 6th. We cruised the Moscow Canal, Volga River, Lake Rybinsk, Lake Onega, Svir River & Lake Ladoga. Our stops included Uglich, Yaroslav, Goritsy & Kirillov, Kizhi Island, Mandrogi and ended in St. Petersburg for 4 nights. We disembarked the morning of July 15th and flew to Berlin, Germany. Little did we know that was the same day the Malasian Airliner was shot down over Ukraine.
If you click on the first picture it will allow you to create a slide show. Enjoy!
FUN-travel: Raudfjorden, Svalbard – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 5
September 1, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Raudfjorden, Svalbard – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 5
Day 43 – Tuesday, August 12 – Raudfjorden, Svalbard – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 5 – foggy – calm seas – low 40’s – 24 hrs daylight
What I LIKE
- 7:30 – typical wake up
- 9:00 – scout boats sent to look for polar bears
- 10:00 – 1st expedition in 1st group – zodiac tour
- – see mama bear w/baby bear on shore close to water
- – only 40 yards away!
- 11:30 – return – AWESOME 10+
Mama Bear
- 1:00 – lunch
- Room R & R
- 7:00 – expedition recap & tomorrow schedule in theatre Deck 4
- 7:30 – dinner Deck 2 – mushroom soup, frog legs, salmon – VG!
- 10:30 – swing out w/music in Lounge on 3 – piano, vocals & dancing!
- Get an hour back!
- No satellite coverage – no internet
- – just enjoy being in present w/o distraction
Baby Bear
What I DON’T LIKE
- missed mama bear jumping in water to pull up carcass
- only one expedition – early sail to Greenland
- – no satellite coverage – no internet
- – getting board w/only bi polar documentaries
FUN-fact – Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (16 July 1872 – 18 June 1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the Antarctic expedition (1910–12) to become the first men to reach the South Pole in December 1911. In 1926, he was the first expedition leader to be recognized without dispute as having reached the North Pole.
