Friday, January 17, 2025

December 18, 2024 – At Sea – Off the coast of Hispaniola – Cloudy Rainy – 81F

The time change was, as always, a killer.  I got up a few time very early but then fell back asleep.  Got up for good around 6:30 AM.  Because I am speaking today, I shaved and showered before going up for breakfast in the Windows Café.

It's a dark and dreary day outside but still warm.

I requested sour cream and cottage cheese from a server (they are storing both of those in the frigs underneath the yoghurt offerings) and that went along with my one pancake.  I also had just a little bit of cereal and milk.  The pancakes, which have been difficult to cut with a fork, were soft and fluffier today.  The scrambled eggs are still a challenge but I rind that the ones made with some kind of cheese (feta or ricotta) to be better.  I ate inside as it looked pretty wet out on the veranda.  The breakfast was good.

I found a seat out on Deck 5 and read my "6:20 Man" book, which is turning out to be a very good read.  I’ve finished three of David Baldacci’s series’ in the past. I checked and found out that this book comes under the "6:20 Man" umbrella but it is not really a series involving Devine, the Reacher like character.

The ship was moving through some pretty big waves but the chop was minimal – must have been a following sea.  It was warm and comfortable outside.  

There were people working on one of the lifeboats and the weather started to change misting people on the deck.  I stayed out there until the real rain came and then headed indoors.  

I didn’t go to either of the two talks today – Tom Eastwood’s or the Captain’s Q&A – but found a comfortable seat in The Den.  

I also did not go to the “Onward Brunch” in the Discoveries Restaurant and instead went to The Patio and tried the Salmon Burger along with a small salad.  The burger was not too bad – I probably wouldn’t get it again because the other items were tastier.  I did stop in at the Brunch and had some Chocolate Babka and coffee. 

I went to the room so I could settle down before I had to go to the Cabaret Lounge for my third talk, “Open Unsolved Cases: Solving Cold Cases Through Forensic Genetic Genealogy”.

I got there at 1:30 PM – a half hour before start time – and Lee was hosting Bingo.  Somebody won $220 in cash today.  Lee mentioned me when I walked in and I waved.

The A/V looked good but the headset mic was not the large sized one and the alternate headset was hobbit sized and the tech and I couldn’t get it to work.  So I was forced to use the handheld mic (I don’t like it because it restricts my hand gestures and gives me a cramp in my arm).  I also am coughing due to something on the ship so my voice was cracking at bit.  Finally, I don’t like the sound of my voice with that mic so that kind of puts me off my rhythm.  On the plus side, the turnout was better than expected – maybe the Lounge was half full.  I stopped counting a while ago - as long as there are people there and they are staying, I'm good. 

Raspy voice and all (I had brought water and almost had to use it) I finished at 2:50 PM, which gave Chuck ample time to set up.  I chatted with a few people as I tried to escape – fortunately, the A/V tech broke down my setup so that Chuck could hook up. 

I stayed for about 20 minutes of Chuck’s talk on Marine Life.  Surprisingly, the turnout was very small – hardly anyone was in the center section of the Lounge.  Very unusual since Chuck draws huge crowds. It's raining outside so it can't be the great weather.  

The room was hot and I sweated through my dress shirt – I went to the room to cool off and because of the heat and time change, I was too tired to do anything but read a bit and check emails and the internet.  I did get documentation on what was going to happen during the turnaround – immigration, checking out and checking in. That's good because generally that information doesn't arrive in a timely manner and I have to go and get it.

Tonight was “Taste of India” upstairs, which is Hindi for” there is nothing for me to eat”.  I checked the Restaurant Menu and the story was the same.  I would have gotten a Beyond Burger from The Patio before it closed but I simply couldn’t move.  I was in no hurry to get up the buffet so I went to The Den and ordered a Mojito (I had a good one the other day and this was just as good).  Bob started his set a little late and I caught about 10 minutes of it before I went searching for food.  We will spend more time listening to Bob on the next leg.

When I walked into the Windows Café, the curry smell was overwhelming. I went through the whole buffet and the only thing I recognized was the vegetarian samosa.  I asked what the other dishes were and the crew just repeated the names of the items without explaining them.  Almost the entire buffet was vegetarian or vegan.  I actually tried some fried onion dish (maybe like onion rings) and two Indian Dishes that had some lentils in it.  I ate inside because the Veranda was wet (seemed tricky to maneuver).  I didn’t really like any of the Indian Dishes except for the Mimosa.  I wound up settling for some bread and butter, a fruit tartlet (the theme desserts were strange and I had no idea what they were).  I got some hot water and made decaf using the tube coffee and that was dinner.  A very strange experience.  I'm sure people love it but I've never gotten into Indian food.  Here's my mostly untouched plate.

What made my evening was running into two sets of guests that recognized me and had some nice things to say about today’s talk. I thought it was too technically confusing but they disagreed.  

I am back in the room writing this log and too tired to do anything else.  

Eric Walton, Mentalist, is on again tonight so I am passing on the show again.  Just not into magicians or mentalists.  

Current time is 8:16 PM EST. Seas are smooth.

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