8 minutes ago, Gannan said:

Cholesterol battles are a pain. Mine has been high since my early 20's. When I first got mine measured it came in at 235. At the time I was 5'10 and 145lbs, so definitely more genetics than BMI. Both my parents had/have high cholesterol. My dad ignored it for years until he had a massive heart attack last fall. I can control it with diet and exercise, but its creeping back up despite that. This year I might finally have to go on meds for it. 

This is my issue too... it's genetics from my parents and also thyroid disease which unfortunately causes high cholesterol because an underactive thyroid can't remove as much bad cholesterol from the liver.  And I couldn't go on a statin to manage it while we were trying to get pregnant.  I just started one and it's giving me really weird dreams.

8 minutes ago, rambo said:

We do that, too.  Haven't done Europe yet, just US.  It's a little different with kids.  Our all-inclusive vacations are just the wife and I.  Just a chance for us to unplug and enjoy each other.  We've done Colorado with the kids and stayed in Big Sky and did Yellowstone with them.  I enjoy nature more than cities.  So hikes, some fly fishing and site seeing is my speed.  Was going to visit @vikas83 last year because my daughter was supposed to go to a national gymnastics comp but that was cancelled so no California trip.

Ireland and Iceland are 2 trips on my bucket list.

Those 2 are on my bucket list too!  Also Egypt, Austria, Australia, Greece, Israel, Patagonia, Banff and a bunch of other places.  Either they will remain on the bucket list or our kid will be really well traveled.  I'm hoping the latter. 

1 minute ago, binkybink77 said:

Those 2 are on my bucket list too!  Also Egypt, Austria, Australia, Greece, Israel, Patagonia, Banff and a bunch of other places.  Either they will remain on the bucket list or our kid will be really well traveled.  I'm hoping the latter. 

Let me add Lake Como. I hate traveling, but that is worth it. Went there on our honeymoon.

Otherwise, just let me go to Maui once a year and I'm set.

Why would I want to be trapped on a boat with my family for a week?  No thanks...  lol

3 minutes ago, binkybink77 said:

This is my issue too... it's genetics from my parents and also thyroid disease which unfortunately causes high cholesterol because an underactive thyroid can't remove as much bad cholesterol from the liver.  And I couldn't go on a statin to manage it while we were trying to get pregnant.  I just started one and it's giving me really weird dreams.

I went on a statin in my 20's and I got these really bad joint pains on my left side. My dad had the same reaction. He had no choice after the heart attack. Now I'm in my 40's and my joints ache anyway. I've been on a pretty strict diet (DASH) for my hypertension and I'm able to stick with it (so far), so I'm waiting to see how much its bringing my cholesterol down. Ill go on the one my dad is on if its still over 200 in May. My doc wants it under 200. Whole 30 will get it that low, but man that is a hard diet. 

2 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Let me add Lake Como. I hate traveling, but that is worth it. Went there on our honeymoon.

Otherwise, just let me go to Maui once a year and I'm set.

My wife's company has added Hawaii to their destinations.  I look forward to checking it out and at least getting a hotel at cost.  I know everything else will cost an arm and leg, but yolo.

Just now, vikas83 said:

Let me add Lake Como. I hate traveling, but that is worth it. Went there on our honeymoon.

Otherwise, just let me go to Maui once a year and I'm set.

Thanks I'll add that one!  We've been to Rome and Venice, and we definitely want to go back to Croatia, so maybe we could package it as one trip.  I'd like to go back to the Vatican again because one day there just wasn't enough to see everything and I'd love to go back to Venice too. But paco was assaulted by a 90 year old Italian woman on a water taxi and now refuses to go back   

Just now, Gannan said:

I went on a statin in my 20's and I got these really bad joint pains on my left side. My dad had the same reaction. He had no choice after the heart attack. Now I'm in my 40's and my joints ache anyway. I've been on a pretty strict diet (DASH) for my hypertension and I'm able to stick with it (so far), so I'm waiting to see how much its bringing my cholesterol down. Ill go on the one my dad is on if its still over 200 in May. My doc wants it under 200. Whole 30 will get it that low, but man that is a hard diet. 

My mom had this problem on Lipitor and they changed her over to Crestor which she tolerates much better.  I asked for Crestor because I tend to tolerate drugs the same way as her.  So far just weird dreams. There is also a supplement called Cholestoff that some people have success with that you can buy over the counter - it's basically plant sterols.  

1 minute ago, rambo said:

My wife's company has added Hawaii to their destinations.  I look forward to checking it out and at least getting a hotel at cost.  I know everything else will cost an arm and leg, but yolo.

If you have kids, check out the Grand Wailea. It's like 5 pools, slides, a Tarzan swing, etc. My best friend is from Hawaii and has 3 kids -- we go there with them so the wife and I can rent, but not own, kids for a week.

2 minutes ago, binkybink77 said:

Thanks I'll add that one!  We've been to Rome and Venice, and we definitely want to go back to Croatia, so maybe we could package it as one trip.  I'd like to go back to the Vatican again because one day there just wasn't enough to see everything and I'd love to go back to Venice too. But paco was assaulted by a 90 year old Italian woman on a water taxi and now refuses to go back   

We did Florence and Lake Como for the honeymoon. The food in Florence was unreal.

50 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Wow. Good luck dude. I'm no expert/doctor, but that seems pretty damn serious.

Not everyone can be Dr Oz, he will be fine , he should go have some fried chicken

47 minutes ago, rambo said:

1.  Dinners are solid.  I guess it depends on what cruise line you're on.  Most of the time you're eating a quick breakfast and getting off the ship.  Nothing spectacular.

2.  I agree.  Secrets that we have stayed at have some fantastic options for dinners all different restaurants (French, Italian, Hibachi, Seafood, Steak).  Far and away above cruise ship food.  Also have sit down options for breakfast and lunch which are all good.  Then the rooms have big jacuzzi tubs, big showers, 24/7 room service included, ocean view balcony with a jacuzzi if you want to spend a little more.  And multiple pools, some quiet, some party, ocean view, etc...  Server bringing you drinks (tip them $5 and they'll be your best friend since tips are included in the package price).  I like to be pampered when I go on a vacation.

When schmoopie and I were long distance dating she wanted to do a week long trip together since we only saw each other every other weekend.  The phillies were doing a "Phancation" at the Now Saphire which was a pretty good deal, so we jumped in.

 

When we got there, we found out that in addition to the options you mentioned above, they had a "Romantic Dinner".  It was a couple of hundred bucks, or you could get it for free if you sat through a one hour timeshare presentation.  We thought, what the heck, why not, so we signed up for the presentation and hit the beach. (It was a nice sunny day)  The next day it was a gorgeous morning but we had to do the presentation so we headed over.  First, they have this guy join us for breakfast picking our brain.  Where you from, what do you do, etc.  Basically probing us to see how much we could afford.  That lasted an hour.  Then we go to the presentation.  They were relentless.  "No thank you's" turned into "No's" that turned into me shouting "NO!!!" as loud as I could in an effort to cause enough of an disruption for them to end the presentation "early". (we were already several hours in)  They did not.   We finally are shown the table where we get our certificate for the Romantic dinner.  We then go over to this other table to schedule our hard earned dinner and was able to get a slot the second to last night of our trip.  Then we step outside and its raining.

 

It turns out that was the last sunny morning of our trip.

 

Fast forward to our romantic dinner.  We show up at the time we reserved and ask for our table.  Apparently our reservation got lost and they didn't have a table.  But if we wait two hours they could get us in.  We only had one more night and after the hell we went through to get this table, there was no way we were going to blow off the dinner so we say fine.  Two hours later we return, starving, and sure enough they have a table.  They seat us and their whole thing is that they give you 20-30 minutes to yourself to quietly enjoy the ocean, which was awful because we haven't had anything to eat since breakfast that day and just wanted them to take our order. A waiter finally comes to our table and hands us a menu.  It was the menu from the French restaurant they had on site.  We know this because we at there the night before.  When I point this out to the waiter and ask him where the other menu was, you know, the one that they advertised as part of the romantic dinner I'm told "That menu is for the paid romantic dinner, we use this menu for the comp'd romantic dinner".  Murder.  So it took us roughly 30 seconds to decide what we wanted because, you know, we just had the French dinner the night before.  Problem is, the waiter was no where to be found.  I guess they wanted to give us more time to soak in the view.  Finally the waiter comes and takes our order.  Another 30 or so minutes go by and we finally get our food.  Our cold food.  Because I guess the waiter forgot to pick it up from the French restaurant that we just ate at the night before no more than 200 feet from where we were sitting.  Also at some point during our romantic dinner I see a resort employee shoo'ing away a possum that was scurrying right behind us.  When the waiter asked us what we wanted for dessert, we placed our order, asked that we get it ASAP in a to go container and went straight back to the room the second it was brought out.

 

42 minutes ago, binkybink77 said:

But we stayed in a Penthouse room at The Confidante on Miami Beach and it made all my mid-mod and Rat Pack dreams come true!   

 

The hotel was filled with snooty French designers yet we had the best room in the house  

Everything about that Mexican vacation was so plebian   Like no wonder paco proposed only a few months later - he was like wow this girl isn't high maintenance or expects expensive things at all.  Philly phancation and free dinners from timeshare presentations are right up paco's thrifty alley - if only he knew then.    

8 minutes ago, paco said:

trip from hell

 

Yeah.  We avoid anything that is comped like the plague.  Anything additional that is free is a sales pitch.  Wife just tells the front desk who she works for and they know better not to bother us.  Usually find a nice bottle of champagne with a note greeting  us waiting in our room when it's ready after check in.  Only thing we do right away is book a reservation at the hibachi.

14 minutes ago, binkybink77 said:

Thanks I'll add that one!  We've been to Rome and Venice, and we definitely want to go back to Croatia, so maybe we could package it as one trip.  I'd like to go back to the Vatican again because one day there just wasn't enough to see everything and I'd love to go back to Venice too. But paco was assaulted by a 90 year old Italian woman on a water taxi and now refuses to go back   

I dont refuse to go back!!!!  

 

I want to simply wait another 10 years so that I know she is dead.

I'm not skinny by any means. But I'm pretty average for a 30-year-old American.

And THIS comes with potential heart disease and major cholesterol issues.

Yeah, genetics aren't good. But my cholesterol numbers are WAY worse than my parents'. Even my mom, who had triple-bypass, had better numbers than me. 

Just now, paco said:

I dont refuse to go back!!!!  

 

I want to simply wait another 10 years so that I know she is dead.

I'm sure covid finished her.

3 minutes ago, rambo said:

Yeah.  We avoid anything that is comped like the plague.  Anything additional that is free is a sales pitch.  Wife just tells the front desk who she works for and they know better not to bother us.  Usually find a nice bottle of champagne waiting for us with a note greeting  us waiting in our room when it's ready after check in.  Only thing we do right away is book a reservation at the hibachi.

We went to the hibachi twice on the trip.

 

Both meals one of us was black out drunk on tequilla and making a complete scene.  

I will say one thing about that trip to Mexico:  We did a tequila shot with the Philly Phanatic.

 

Not too many people can say that  

Holy crap I was never so drunk in my life.  I was literally doing tequila shots with the Phanatic (Tom Burgoyne), Scott Palmer, and Tommy Greene.. like a lot of tequila shots.. I asked Scott Palmer if I could wear his World Series ring   

6 minutes ago, IFB DOG said:

I'm not skinny by any means. But I'm pretty average for a 30-year-old American.

And THIS comes with potential heart disease and major cholesterol issues.

Yeah, genetics aren't good. But my cholesterol numbers are WAY worse than my parents'. Even my mom, who had triple-bypass, had better numbers than me. 

 

not bad, ifb-cup!   

 

 

Vikas wouldnt be caught dead in that polo.

Just now, binkybink77 said:

Holy crap I was never so drunk in my life.  I was literally doing tequila shots with the Phanatic (Tom Burgoyne), Scott Palmer, and Tommy Greene.. like a lot of tequila shots.. I asked Scott Palmer if I could wear his World Series ring   

Followed by me saying "Thanks a lot, now she's going to want a diamond ring that big".  If memory serves me, this was after I was drunkenly thanking him for setting up that private tour of CBP and on the field passes to watch batting practice for my mom after her brain\lung\thyroid surgeries.  

 

I'm pretty sure he thought he was going to get murdered in Mexico.

10 minutes ago, paco said:

We went to the hibachi twice on the trip.

 

Both meals one of us was blacked out drunk on tequilla and making a complete scene.  

Yeah that happens.  We went with my brother and SIL one time.  We went on a catamaran excursion from hell where they shoved tequila down our throats and a romantic lunch at some shady island resort.  Wasn't a great excursion.  Got back to the resort and my brother gives the bartender a $20 to keep feeding us booze at an incredible pace.  Get back to our room to get ready for dinner and my wife passes out half naked on the bottom of the bed while trying to get dressed.  SIL calls our room and says my brother puked on the floor and passed out.  Needless to say I had room service that night and made sure they left it outside the door.  I wound up with Montezuma's revenge from something I had at the excursion's romantic lunch (most likely jalapenos washed with not filtered water).  Good times and lessons learned.

2 minutes ago, BirdsFanBill said:

Vikas wouldnt be caught dead in that polo.

Work polos.

4 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

 

not bad, ifb-cup!   

 

 

A-cup, on the weekends.

Working on my corset hips, next.