Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Thursday, April 26 – April 30, 2013 – At Sea – Atlantic Ocean - Partly Cloudy to Windy and Drizzly – 70 – 75 F

Thursday, April 26, 2013

A nice day at sea…

It looks like our new favorite place will be the Sky Bar on Deck 14.  This venue is generally quiet and affords a nice view of the ocean and the pool area. 

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The sea may look smooth and it is except for the swells causing the ship to pitch.  This turns the water in the pools to tsunamis so only the brave are in the pool at the time.  Shortly after these pictures were taken, security cleared the pools and they were drained.

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Water exiting the pools on Deck 11

I decided to be go to Ben Sodek’s first talk this morning at 10:30 AM in the Lyric Theater - “Pirates of the Caribbean”.  It is a modest turnout – the time change didn’t help – maybe 60 folks. 

My first talk - “The CSI Phenomenon” – is at 2:00 PM in the Lyric Theater.  My AV set up went quickly, the  most difficult part being finding a headset that would fit.  The crowd was not bad – perhaps 180 or so.  I previewed the talks to come and finished on time.  The sound system is great but some feedback indicated that I needed to slow down a little (the first talk is long and I rushed to get it done).

Not a bad start…people said they would come back.

Just a super lazy rest of day – either in the Solarium or on the open deck. 

At 4:30 PM, I wandered down to the Conference Center to hear Megh Goyal talk about Medical Devices and Biomechanics .

Dinner once again was great and we spent the after dinner time reading in one of the public places.  I finished the Pendergast Audio Book and am making good progress on the Spenser Novel. 

We have given the Piano Bar in the Schooner Bar a try.

Showtime tonight featured headliner Jane Curry.  Jane is from the Northern region of the UK and tops out at 5ft 2 in – something she mentions several times during her set.  Bottom line – she is simply terrific – great voice coupled with great stage presence and humor.  She had the audience at the first note.  She is right up there with Lindsay Hamilton in voice but they have very different styles.

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Jane Curry in Concert

Friday, April 27, 2013

The seas are very rocky – no doubt due to the opposing wave action out there.  The ship continues to pitch severely so the pools are still empty.

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At Sea

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Ship churning up some foam

I went to Ben’s second talk about “Are We Alone?” which dealt with exoplanets.

Talk number 2 - “Forensic DNA Testing: Landmark Cases” – was mis-advertised in the Cruise Compass as “Cold Cases” but despite the fact that some passengers wanted to see Cold Cases, the audience was larger.  The talk went well.

Following a nice dinner in the Vivaldi Dining Room, I caught my first sunset of the cruise and it was a terrific one.

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Sunset  

We have tickets for the Signature Ice Show tonight at 9:00 PM.  We head down to Studio B at 8:30 PM and the line already has snaked all the way through the lobby and is back up the stairs toward Deck 4.  The lines moved quickly after the doors were opened and we still got a nice seat in the side front section.  The show is called “Cool Art Hot Ice” and is intended to combine artworks with skating.  The skaters, mostly from Canada (even some from the US) do a pretty good job.  One skater did a Cirque type of act using a hoop and some slick acrobatics – she also skated.  The show was entertaining and is summarized in the slide series below.

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Saturday, April 28, 2013

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At Sea – 4/28/13

The seas are still rocky and the pools are still empty.  The photo below is a Rube Goldberg type of apparatus involving a golfer and moving golf balls.

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Golfer Rube Goldberg machine

I took in Ben’s third talk - “Fermi Theorem” (why haven’t aliens contacted us?).  Amusing talk with all sorts of TV and movie aliens including Superman.  The answer to the Theorem was not forthcoming.

Talk 3 is still not Cold Cases but “Mystery of the Romanovs” – the attendance continues to rise now topping 200 people.  I told the audience that Cold Cases would be coming up on the last sea day before we land at the Azores. 

Dinner again in the Vivaldi Dining Room – again a very nice meal. I skipped the salmon tonight for manicotti – it wasn’t really manicotti but it was good.

The Headliners tonight are “Ash and Mike" or as they call themselves, Ashley and Michael.  They are a musical singing duo who met in band camp about a decade earlier.  Mike reminds me a lot of Darrin Criss of Glee and someone who could easily be Frankie Valli in the Jersey Boys.  Their act was very entertaining and the audience really responded to them.

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Ash and Mike – Headliners

The captain had indicated earlier that the swells would decrease and the ride would be smoother.  The vibration has been markedly reduced in our Cabin suggesting that the wave action has something to do with the vibration. 

Monday, 4/29/13

A much smoother but cool day at sea…

This is confirmed by the fact that the pools now were filled – some of the water was leaving the pool but to a much lesser degree.

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Talk 4 – as advertised – was “Forensics and History: Search for the Unknown Titanic Child” (all talks have been at 2:00 PM in the Lyric Theater).  I estimated the audience at about 220 plus people based on a good number of folks in the balconies and that the theater holds 1400 people.

I guess I didn’t read the Compass carefully enough because while speaking to someone at the talk, I found out that Jane Curry would be performing a sing-a-long at the Schooner Bar at 4:00 PM.  We got there at 3:30 PM and the place was packed for trivia.  Before the show, we chatted with Jane and Ash, who had attended and enjoyed my talk earlier in the day and then by Christopher Carress, the hypnotist who immediately told me that he had watched me on TV.

Jane’s Show was great…especially her version of “The Rose”.  She also mentioned a Jane MacDonald that she is often confused with (I will need to look that up).

Her performance is captured in the photo series below.

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She was terrific and the crowd wanted an encore but trivia trumped an extra song. 

Tonight is formal night and we were simply too tired to get into our formal gear and deal with the Dining Room.  Instead, we went to the Windjammer, where you can have your own pizza creation baked.  The pizza was great – the window seat was great.  A nice calm meal.

Christopher Carress, the hypnotist, was the headliner tonight.   

No time change tonight and the seas are calm – the vibration we were feeling earlier in the cruise had to be related to the wave characteristics since the ship was still moving at about 18 kts but the vibration was essentially gone.  We are hoping for a good night tonight.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A nice day at sea…

It helps to sleep until 8 AM.

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Am off today as the Captain has the 2 PM timeslot for his “Captain’s Corner” Q and A.  He had about the same attendance as i did at my most recent talk.

Today we had lunch in the Dining Room – they make a great salad for you – assisted salad bar.  Also had some Linguini Alfredo with microscopic pieces of Salmon.  Too rich and too much.

Spent the afternoon reading – I finished the Spenser Audio book a few days and am now reading “Riptide” by Lincoln and Childs (a non-Pendergast novel about a pirate treasure).  Such a different feel totally as if it were written by different authors.

At 5 PM, we went to the “Enrichment Lecture” given by Ash and Mike on piano vocalist throughout modern history.  It was very interesting combining music with facts about the music.  To my surprise, it was very sparsely attended.

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Ash and Mike – The History of Piano Vocalists

Back to the Dining Room tonight for my blackened Salmon dinner.

We have the whole night to ourselves tonight since the Ice Show is on again tonight.

Another bonus tonight – no time change.

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