rknapp

Apple? No thanks. Overpriced proprietary garbage that provides less of an experience compared to its competitors. I have loved every Android phone I have had (Droid 2, Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR Maxx HD), while every iPhone and iPad I've toyed with left me wishing it could do this/that/the other thing that my Android devices can do. I much prefer my Nexus 7 to the iPad/Mini for the same reasons. Once I purchase a DSP (digital sound processor), my Nexus 7 will replace the double-sized Kenwood SatNav in my 300M, giving me all the wonders of Android and Google on the road without having to use my phone (which is illegal in most places). Where OSX is concerned, I prefer Windows 7 over OSX (I tried using a Mac Mini for a few months after my PC was hit by one power surge too many, and thought the user interface was positively horrendous), however I'm not sure Windows 8 is any better. My custom-built desktop has 7, and I prefer it to my laptop, My laptop (Samsung Series 7 Chronos Touch) has 8, and I'm getting used to it. Apple products are far too expensive for what they give you, and Apple is to focused on filing lawsuits against everyone and their grandmother to bother improving and updating their products. People can say "Oh they want to perfect new technologies first" all they want, but that is a cop out, and a lie (Apple Maps? try to find a coffee house, and you wind up at a church... or a bank... or a grocery store...). LTE and NFC were perfected long before Apple adopted them. It's fine if they don't want follow Samsung and throw a crapload of gimmicks into their phones (waving your hand to answer a call? What's wrong with sliding your finger over the appropriate action?), but the least they could do is try to keep up.

Off the top of my head.... * Lisa and Joel - Honeymoon, Gitmo, Trevor and Shane's previous idea of alternating yacht operations with them in AU and US * Shane - US visa * Trevor - End of his HS education? Captains license? * Atlantis - Repaired? Scrapped? Insurance bullied into repairing it again by sensationalist media? * Kookaburra - We know she was not destroyed. What was the fate of all aboard? I don't recall there being a resolution to this end, involving Martin, Trevor's mother, Shane's friends, etc. If there was, my bad, so many delays it was tough to keep track. * Gold - Any and all issues involving that. * Trevor and Shane - With the Cartel largely disposed of, will they stay in FL, or will they relocate as planned and keep running? Are the Bahamas safe for them? Do they finish their book and restart Trevor's chartering business together? * Cartel - Fully destroyed? Is anyone still interested? Who is the top dog cartel now? Will they be friendly to Trevor and Shane and Lisa and Joel? * Birthday present - I recall someone pointed that out earlier and you admitted to totally spacing on that. * Trevor's car - Will he drive Lisa into a white jacket and padded room by fixing it? Will it be scrapped? Is there anything still in it that Bridget had intended to harm him with legally? * Bridget's estate - Her house was razed, but her cars, garage, guest house, dock all lived. What became of them? Property sold to someone? Did they rebuild (kinda irrelevant, just curious)? Her cash and fake businesses and aliases hiding most of it? * Jim and Dirk - What becomes of their lawsuit against Bridget's estate? Of their relationship? Of their lawsuit against the police? * The Blakes - What becomes of them? * The Grundigs - What becomes of them? * The Fowlers - What becomes of them? * Shanes friends - What becomes of them? * Media - How about the media blitz that surely will rocket the four friends to the top of the newsfeeds, having survived a Cartel assault, and a category 5 hurricane? I'm sure I'm missing some things.

MikeL, Yep still 6'4". I shrank horizontally, not vertically... though I wouldn't mind dropping a couple of inches from my legs! methodwriter, thanks, they're blue.

Philly has been warmer than most people would appreciate (I love it). Many 90+ days. The weekend of Chrysler Nationals in Carlisle was up to 110 each day. I didn't mind so much. I had my car cleaned and set up before the fireball got too high up. This week has been typically upper 80s with rain and flood alerts the past few days.

Thanks Vic. It did, we've gone on several dates since then and I've met most of his family.

I look quite different now than from when my avatar picture was snapped (which was roughly four years ago, maybe even six). I've lost 55 pounds since then. This is right before going on a date: No idea why my lips look so red there. Reds get highlighted very well in that mirror with my Razr. Sigh.

I go on hiatus for two years and this is the conversation ya'll have? Geez...

Ceej, this new cliffhanger style of yours is getting tired... you know, delaying the next chapter right when we're expecting it. You're gonna have to get craftier for the next one!

Lies! Now where's my cawfee...

Goat, you were supposed to leave the coke in the suitcases. Not take it for yourself.

Yes, present tense. 2011 present tense. At the time of Trevor's excursion, the boat belonged to some other guy, an airline pilot I think. Well away from where Bridget's dealings took place! At the time of Rachel's disappearance, it wasn't yet built, and we did not possess anything resembling any of Bridget's vessels. If I hadn't been in the area in 1997, would I admit it? It's not like I'm a present company wiley goat, saying one thing and doing another.

Funny how you conveniently leave out the part where I said Sundancer 420, while Bridget's yacht is a Sea Ray 39 (I don't recall you calling it a Sundancer, either). Ours is 3 feet longer my hooved fiend, err, friend. Last time my passport was stamped = last time I visited the Islands, and that was Port Lucaya, not Bimini or Freeport, the two destinations you seem to favor. I also visited Port Lucaya in 1995 and 2011. Not 1997. Not 2006. Not 2007. Last, I lived in... well I didn't live where Rob's Marine is.

You know, something I learned last night while having dinner on a certain Caribbean island whose west end was 70 miles from Ft. Lauderdale got me thinking. I was with my parents and a travel agent who knows the Bahamas very well, having arranged yachting excursions to the islands for decades. He said only complete morons go boating in the Bahamian islands at night. Why? Coral reefs are easy to get stuck on. That in itself is nothing noteworthy, but what IS noteworthy is the Bahamian equivalent of the US Coast Guard is comprised almost entirely of volunteers. They will not rescue you at night. They will wait until morning, then come get you. His story was of a boater in his group venturing off at night in a convertible fisher, despite warnings from other boaters. They found him the next morning stuck on the reef. Worse, they found blood in the water and on the hull. Luckily, that was just from him walking around on the reef, trying to free his yacht. Luckier still, sharks didn't come after his stupid ass. So, you will almost never find boats out in Bahamian waters at night, and may day calls will go unheeded. Rachel could have picked any night to perform some scheme and expect not to be rescued until morning. I also will question what CJ calls "calm waters". The open seas surrounding Grand Bahama this morning were about 1-2 feet, with some areas of the Florida Straight being almost 3 feet... I was in the Straight in the mid 90s (95 was the last time my old passport was stamped in the Bahamas, so don't let the wiley old goat fool you into placing blame on me) and we hit 25 footers. Given that, I'd call 3 feet calm. I'd even say that in those conditions, you'd be fine making the journey from Port Lucaya to the St. Lucie Inlet sitting at the back of a Sea Ray Sundancer 420. Hell, you'd even have a blast at about 20 knots. In these calm waters, the gulf stream was about 3 knots to the northwest... kinda the same direction as anyone going from Port Lucaya to Jensen Beach. Of course, I am not at liberty to say precisely how I know these facts... there are wiley goats about, dontcha know. Just food for thought...

I agree with half of this post. I believe he is straight, and comfortable enough with his own sexuality not to be bothered by a gay man accidentally getting an erection in his presence. Additionally, I feel that Shane's part in this novel does not end with Australia. He and Trevor certainly have bonded very well since they crossed swords (fists?) when Trevor landed in Carnarvon. Their connection feels a lot like that between Trevor and Joel. Honestly, think about it. Shane has NO ONE in the entire world, save the Blakes. He and Trevor have clicked on a level he hasn't felt since whatever childhood friends he may have had in Cairns. It's only natural for him to feel sorrow knowing the one friend he's had in years will be leaving for a far away region of the world in fewer than six months, and may not come back any time soon. He wouldn't be losing anything if he asked the Blakes to find a new caretaker for Kookaburra and boarded Atlantis for the journey back to the Caribbean, and South Florida, into the mouth of whatever horrors await them should they escape whatever peril Bridget is setting Trevor up for. Hell, Shane might BE that escape, as I'm not sure Bridget will be overly concerned about the crew of a boat Trevor is renting. She's getting trigger-happy, and sloppy.

Please tell me that is some sort of sick April Fool's joke.