Joey -<br /><br />You better behave yourself on the Monarch or I will know - after all, people are aware you are my friend.  It wouldn&#39;t matter if you were horrible, otherwise but, after all, you are a consort of the QUEENS&#33;  So keep that in mind.  I wish I would be there&#33;&#33;&#33;  <br /><br />Honey wine....well, I guess that is what mead is - from Wikipedia:  Mead (IPA: /&#712;mi&#720;d/) is a fermented alcoholic beverage made of honey, water, and yeast. Meadhing (&#712;m&#603;.ð&#618;&#331;) is the practice of brewing honey. Mead is also colloquially known as &quot;honey wine&quot;. A brewery that deals specifically in mead is called either a meadery or a mazery.  I&#39;ve had it several times in the U. K.  I&#39;m not especially crazy about sweet wines, however - though I will drink them with dessert.<br /><br />Oh, rat, I know what you mean....I bought myself the new Voyager phone by Verizon and I didn&#39;t take it out of my purse once while my Cal Poly senior was home for Christmas break...I was so afraid he would have gone back to school with it&#33;  He graduates in June and he would have carried on about what a nice graduation present it would make for him, a few months early.  He just upgraded his phone recently - I&#39;m so glad the Voyagers weren&#39;t out then&#33;<br /><br />Loveypinky, it&#39;s so good your dad didn&#39;t need surgery...I saw my doctor on Wed and have an Rx for physical therapy.  Still haven&#39;t called for an appointment.  Must do that on Monday.  Needed to get the car shopping done FIRST.<br /><br />Went out and got a used van yesterday.  It&#39;s a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan, with 23000 miles so it feels like a new car to me.  The boys thought I should just buy a sedan but I was so comfortable in my van - I like sitting up high and the seats were just perfect to me - great back support, something that I always have to consider with my chronic back problems, postoperative laminectomy and fusion and now, spinal stenosis....so, since I&#39;m the one driving it, I thought I should please myself.  The insurance company is giving me &#036;6000 for the other one, and I put my last &#036;1500 in savings down so I&#39;ll be making four years of payments of &#036;261.  It only had one year of the original warranty left up to 36000 miles so I purchased an additional three years.  I just hope my karma changes and no one hits me - it&#39;s always at risk in the parking lot at San Franciso General, especially since our building is where the methadone patients come for their daily doses - and they&#39;ve usually been dosing on heroin before they come careening in, at the last minute, in their clunker cars.<br /> <br />Pray for me AND my van.<br /><br />Skipper, it sounds to me like you and Roe are lucky to have each other.  It&#39;s always nice to hear that people are happy together - makes it easier to bear whatever comes along&#33;<br /><br />Joey, I didn&#39;t know David was in Oakland....I told you my brain hasn&#39;t been functioning...now, don&#39;t quip that it never functions&#33;  Why didn&#39;t we get together for dinner in the city?  We still could if he&#39;s here.<br /><br />Also, Joey, be sure to tell my darling bartenders Charlie Dang and Sahin ( that gorgeous Indian ) hello and ask Sahin if Simon Menendes is back from India.  He was home for his 25th anniversary.  Tell Seamus hi for me as well.<br /><br />Have to return the rental car today....take care everyone.<br /><br />