Saturday, March 11, 2023

February 18, 2023 – At Sea – Mostly Cloudy – 84F

The Porthole Calm revealed a calm sea and a potentially beautiful day at sea. I was up early enough to see the dawn.

Breakfast was highly entropic – I ate on the Sunset Veranda – Pancakes and eggs.  There seemed to be very few staff up in Windows when I got there at 7:30 AM.  I had to track down both the pancake chef and the egg guy before my stuff got made and they made it to my table separately.  The craziness with the humidity and the salt continues – I tried to get a few crystals of NaCl out of the shaker and instead the shaker bottom came off and there was salt everywhere including a bit too much on my eggs and plate.  I tried to move the salt off the eggs and pancakes but there was still a lot there.  I ate a small bowl of Rice Krispies to try and neutralize the salt taste.  The servers did a good job of cleaning the salt off the table and the floor.  A mess.

I went to the theater at 9:30 AM - as Martin had indicated a 10:00 AM start - and there were just a few people there and they were pretty confused as to the time.  Roy stopped by and said that the talk would be at 11:00 AM even though Martin had indicated 10:00 AM.  Roy said he would put up signs on the doors indicating the correct time.  It was fine with me.  I took my decaf mocha latte and went to the room.

I came back at 10:30 AM to set up for “Extreme Forensics: Non-Human DNA Testing”.  Roy also showed up and said he was going to explain what happened.  I had a good turnout at around 10:55 AM and Roy asked me if this was my typical crowd and I told him that it was generally bigger and perhaps some people had other plans.  He did speak to the audience and explained the mix up and introduced me.  More people came in a bit late, and the actual audience was very good – in excess of 150 people.  The talk itself, which included the popular “OJ Moment” ran 51 minutes, and the feedback and post talk chat was positive.

Lunch in Windows was also interesting.  I’ve never tried the Blackened Grouper Panini from the Patio.  I took one bite, and I could tell I wouldn’t like it.  I defaulted to tuna salad on a baguette and some salad.  I felt bad that an entire plate – essentially untouched – had to be taken away but I don’t eat what I don’t like.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in either the Living Room or out on Deck 5.  I had an orange liquor-based martini made for me that was really good. I did not understand the bartender again so replication will be difficult. 

We had dinner in the Windows Café where tonight it was “Taste of Arabia”.  I had the falafel with a great tahini sauce, some baba ghanoush, and other grilled items (peppers, etc.).  It was all pretty good.  We sampled several types of baklavas and some very tasty bread pudding. We ate out on the veranda and stayed there for a while after dinner.  It was a perfect night, and we were treated to appearances by both Venus and Jupiter on a moonless night.

We opted out of “Amped Up” and instead went to the Living Room to hear East Pearl do their set.  Their volume was more in line with listening comfort tonight.  Don’t know what happened the other night. 

To the room after that.  Seas are a bit choppy, and the shimmy number is about eight.

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