The Iron Ring

I am going to be in the lab on Christmas this year-
To tell the truth, I don’t really celebrate Christmas on account of being Jewish and all.

Most years I’m traveling on Christmas, it’s a great time to travel if you aren’t celebrating. Last year I was in Aspen with my family and my boyfriend had his first ski lesson on Christmas Day. I have pictures of him on the slopes with Santa!

Anyway. The reason I’m working through Christmas this year is so I can take a week off in January to go on a southern Caribbean cruise with above-mentioned boyfriend. We are sailing from San Juan on a new boat and we’re really excited.

But two small problems dampen my enthusiasm.

One, our boat tipped in June. It sort of listed to one side and then righted itself.
People got hurt and it made the news, and it was attributed to human error.

Two, the Norwalk virus has returned to cruise ships.

The Norwalk virus is a nasty bug that comes from bad foods, like raw oysters or
vegetables that have not been washed properly. It spreads between people through
stool-contaminated food or water and it tears through passengers on cruise ships.

Several cruise ships have had outbreaks in recent years and I thought it was sort of over but this week they announced several more outbreaks. Ships are being scrubbed as we speak.

I am already germ-o-phobic, as they say, actually ‘mysophobic’ is the technical word for it. I hate doorknobs. I breathe through my nose only on the bus because noses are better at catching germs before they enter your system than mouths are. I have hand sanitizer at my desk. I cringe at strangers who cough in public without covering their mouths. I hardly ever touch my own face directly unless I have recently washed my hands. When I finish washing my hands in a public place, I use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and to open the door if there is a door knob. I love bathrooms with automatic faucets, soap and paper towel dispensers.

And i LOVE the bathrooms in O’Hare Airport in Chicago...... anyone know why?

In the event that I can’t wash my hands frequently, I trust hand sanitizer. I don’t care what anti-sanitizer’s say, my alcohol based antimicrobial CVS brand hand sanitizer works. The mayo clinic even says so. According to their website, it may be more effective than hand washing at killing certain kinds of bacteria and viruses.

So wish us luck.

We sail after the New Year and yes, we purchased travel insurance.