Saturday, 21 June 2003: Here goes the start of the entries recapping our cruise in the Caribbean (read up from here).

I guess the start of this long mother of a day could really be considered Friday, but I'm trying to make things simple here. Yes, Katie and I were up all day on Friday getting last minute crap done and getting ready to head up to McHenry for...

Harry Potter, baby! Yep, book five -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- came out today and we were there for the midnight sale at a Border's in McHenry. It was absolutely insane. Hundreds upon hundreds of people. I can only imagine with fright what bigger stores like the ones in downtown Chicago must be like right now. Well, we got our two copies (one for us and one for Katie's cousin Lauren) and got out of there by about 1:30 in the morning to return to her parents' home to learn how to play euchre with her brothers Scott and Steve. Scott and I teamed up against Steve and Katie and came back from a 0-9 deficit to win 10-9. Not bad. It's a fun game if I do say so myself.

An hour or so later, we all ventured out to the Milwaukee Airport for our 6 a.m. flight. Not fun. But it's funny to see just how many travellers are toting around their copies of the new Harry Potter book. Both young and old. Really funny actually. Due to the lack of sleep from the last several days (as you've read), this constitutes one of the only times in my life that I've actually fallen asleep on a plane ride. I usually like to stay awake. Not this time though.

You wanna know one really cool thing about this plane ride? While we were in Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport, we saw a vending machine that goes well beyond the norms of the vending industry. This thing had CDs, DVDs, Digital Cameras, and even cellphones (the rechargeable kinds where you can buy more minutes but don't need a contract). It blew my mind. Hell, it even took credit cards. I guess you would need to in order to buy these high ticket items. Talk about your high-end service industries.

Once in Tampa, we discovered that Scott's dufflebag had been lost by the airlines. It was his only bag, so he lost it all. Damn thing probably got a world tour. Next, we checked into our hotel. We had to get one for overnight because our cruise doesn't technically leave until Sunday. While there, some old friends of ours checked in as well. Jason and Kara. Our partners in crime! Not that we didn't know they were coming. Yes, it was planned. Well, we stayed up pretty late drinking, talking, and playing cards which is what we all normally do. Between the four of us, we finished off two cases of beer and a six pack of those malt drinks, but I can't remember which one. Good times.

Thursday, 19 June 2003: Pearl Jam, baby. Last night was the night that Katie, her brothers Steven and Scott, their cousin Adam, Scott's girlfriend Liz, and, of course, me went to see PJ rock the United Center. It was great. They really can play to the crowd pretty well.

I will admit to not being incredibly well versed in PJ's music even though I own all their albums. I know their music by the sound of it. However, I really don't know too many song titles unless they come off the albums Ten or Vitalogy. I only know a few scattered song titles from the rest of their albums. So, while I think there was only one or two songs I didn't recognize last night while they played them, I really couldn't run down the set list for you right now because I have no idea. But it was still fun. Lot of the old favorites were played and the crowd really got into it.

However, I am paying for it this morning. I finally got to bed sometime after 1:30 a.m. and had to wake up at 5:45 this morning to get ready for work. I finally actually got up and rolled out of bed at about 6:20, struggled through my shower and breakfast, and got to work about a half hour late.

I truly need a nap. Maybe a coffin.

Tuesday, 17 June 2003: Truly the strangest experience of my life. Well, at least it's up there in the top 10. I went to a tanning booth for the first time in my life.

Before you ask why, I'll answer it... Katie and I leave for a cruise this weekend. Yep, a bunch of us are going on a cruise in the western Caribbean and, therefore, I will not be posting from June 20-30. Fear not, I will do the same thing as I did with my honeymoon entries, I will just post them after I return listed on the days those particular notes pertain to. So, you will have some catch-up reading.

But anyway, I digress.

So I went to this tanning booth to help get a basecoat before I become susceptible to burning while on the cruise. And, when I burn, I burn. I become clambake. I really want this cruise to be memorable for good reasons, not because I'm hospitalized from sun poisoning.

Have you ever gone tanning? If so, wasn't your first time just really weird? I spent the first seven minutes of my ten-minute session tense as all get out. I had no particular reason for feeling that way, I just did. I loosened up a little bit for the last few minutes and I do plan to go back a couple more times before we leave, so I'm hoping I'll be a bit better about it. But it was weird nonetheless.

Monday, 16 June 2003: Sorry, I didn't realize it had been nearly a week since I gave you guys something new to read. My bad.

Well, this one is pretty sad. It's a bit of information that confirms some of my worst fears... the U.S. public really doesn't know much of what it's talking about. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on a recent poll taken (the weapons related questions were asked on May 14-18 of this year to 1,256 respondents). And the results are scary.

About 1/3 of the U.S. public believes that weapons of mass destruction (heretofore to be referred to as "WMD") were actually found in Iraq since the war started. Nearly 25% also believe that WMDs, be they chemical or biological in nature, were used by the Iraqis against coalition forces during the war.

Um, folks... neither is true.

While I will admit that the next poll topic may be a little tougher to really know the answer, it is still worth noting in this entry. Before the war started, half the people polled believed that Iraqis were among the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks.

Again, nope. Not a single Iraqi national in the crew.

Steve Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, said that of the people polled that supported the war, the number of people who believed that WMDs were found/used went way up. Don't know what the exact number for "way up" is, but still and all the same.

You see why I was afraid that people who supported this war were doing so blindly? Just look at these results. We, as a public, are very uninformed. But, it's not the media or the government's fault. This information is out there and readily available and not at all difficult to find. It just takes common sense, people. Open your eyes. Smell the coffee.