The pictures don’t always appear exactly how I want them (like in the right place and with captions), but they are there. I try to post either early in the day (before 8) or late at night. Then we met the Marys for breakfast at Chops by the sea where the waiters now know what juice each of us drinks that I want oatmeal and will forget it unless they remind me, that we all want coffee and that I will invariably remember something else I want after Terry orders. I could get used to this.
After a leisurely breakfast we coordinate our schedules (like when we are going to eat next, that being the most important thing on my mind after just finishing a sumptuous meal) and then I went off in search of a Starbucks venti latte at Caffe-latitudes, Terry made futile attempts to get on the internet while strangers asked about his equipment (computer of course).
At 10 Professor Stooke lectured on Space Exploration. He offered stargazing at 10:15 PM if the skies were clear, but unfortunately they were not. Told us that the best time to find Venus and Jupiter was right before sunrise.
Beginning with Sputnik, October 4, 1957 and the Russian dominance of the early exploration years until President Kennedy decided the US should send a person to the moon. It was not really a scientific endeavor; it was competition with the Soviets. On 5/5/1961 Alan Shepherd was suborbital, on 2/20/1962 John Glen completed the first orbital flight to prove it was possible to control the spacecraft, navigate and land. The second step was Project Gemini a trip to the moon and back in two weeks. 4/21/1972 Neil Armstrong stepped out of the capsule and onto the moon.
Vision comes from the White House, funding from Congress, execution by NASA. The last vision was President Bush’s – fix shuttle, finish station, discontinue the shuttle, go back to the moon and prepare for Mars.
Economic conditions and the war interfered with the funding and execution. Professor Stooke seems to feel that we will eventually get to Mars, but it will be a really long trip. Perhaps 2020 the first human will explore an asteroid, mid 2030 first human expedition will head for Mars and later will land on the surface of Mars.
Currently robotic exploration is opted for as a cheaper alternative to manned space flights. Amazingly robots can be controlled long distance and pictures are sent back daily.
At 11 I skirted the frontier of a Powerful Posture seminar in the spa, decided I didn’t need one, and then it was time for lunch!
We headed for Sea View, a delightful café on Deck 13. Unfortunately on this particular day the aftermath of the hurricanes resulted in cold mist, that precluded the use of the outdoor tables and we got there just as the inside tables filled up. We asked Jo, manager of the Sea View and our waiter at supper, to expedite dinner that night so we could attend the Captain’s reception for suite passengers.
The Captain’s suite and that of the hotel manager were at the very front of the ship on deck 9. The Captain is from Norway. They also explained that the way the ship ‘rolls’ differs depending on the waves and the ship’s direction. It seemed to me it was more pronounced at the back of the ship.
I opted for orange juice although champagne and wine was offered, expressed thanks, said goodbye and headed for the theater to ‘reserve’ seats for the evening concert.
Terry went to the casino and won! But due to machine difficulty was late getting to the show so we were short a seat. I guess we made enough noise about it so the two people occupying ‘our’ seats moved elsewhere probably muttering something about rude Americans. I’m hoping they just didn’t like the seats.
Ryan Ahern, world championship pianist, performed a variety of songs from classical to country and blues. I managed to escape without buying the CD. Although I enjoy the music, I almost never play them once I get home.
Then it was a race to the Karaoke Super Star Competition at the Safari Club, other end of the ship to meet Mary P. who was reserving our seats, more successfully than I did. We listened to Jovencio Rosario and his band deliver easy listening hits. While their English was occasionally humorous with You becoming Chou, their delivery of songs in their native language was excellent.
Five contestants sang. The audience chose the best 3 by applause and the three ‘celebrity judges’ who were (I think) dancers from the show’s dance group judged and scored their second song , offering advice on how to improve. After the third song the judges compiled their scores and crowned a winner.
We have been to some karaoke contests where the range of performances ranged from abysmal to excellent. All of these contestants knew how to sing. One old guy (the ultimate winner) really surprised us with his performance as well as his vocal skill. But all 3 of the finalists did much better than I could have. I breathed silent thanks that I didn’t embarrass myself by entering.
Although there was still more we could have done, my ancient body was tired. We talked again about the Solarium at 2 or 3 AM. I knew I needed to submit payroll at some time when computer use was minimal to ensure connectivity. It was around midnight already. Suspecting that despite my best intentions, my body wouldn’t get up at 2, or even 3, I took my computer to the centrum (central part of the ship where there are hot spots for connecting to the internet). It took longer than I had hoped, but I finally got it done and played around some with my blog.
About an hour later I made it back to a grouchy Terry so I took advantage of our second bedroom and lulled myself to sleep with the Tom Cruise book.
Who says there is nothing to do on a cruise ship at sea?? NOT ME!
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