Action Pose

Action Pose
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr

Well, my schedule's all a mess again. Unsurprising. On the plus side, it looks like we won't be having to do all of these ships back-to-back, which is a good thing. On the down side, we're back to the "scheduling" phase of things where I had previously thought that we had everything nailed down in an inconvenient but orderly fashion.

So scratch those travel dates. May fly to Istanbul on the 10th, but we'll see what happens. I might yet be able to schedule that trip to St. Kitts.

Today's picture is from the Jonathan Coulton concert that I attended with Jason and Marianna, also featuring Paul and Storm as the opening act. It was a really great show, and I recommend seeing them should they tour near wherever you may be.

Retiring The Quote

Time to give Thomas Paine a break, I think. New quote is up at the top.

"Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good." -Thomas Paine

Upcoming Schedule

Well, at this point, here's what my next couple of months look like, travel-wise:

3/30-4/11: Cruise from Barcelona, Spain to Istanbul, Turkey
4/12-4/20: Cruise from Miama, FL to...ah, bugger...somewhere. I think it's the Bahamas again.
4/27-5/4: Cruise from New York to the Bahamas (same itinerary I just traveled).
5/10-5/17: Cruise from Honolulu, HI, around the Hawaiian islands.
5/24-6/1: Cruise from Seattle, WI up the Alaskan coast.

Yeah, I suck. Keep in mind that all of these trips are going to be far more of a grind than this last one, where most of the groundwork had already been completed. So if you're jealous, console yourself with the knowledge that I still can't really relax. And I'll send pictures.

Everything, of course, is still subject to change. Heck, until I'm on that ship, they could still pull the rug out from under me.

Arthur C. Clarke

"Mighty hunter, we have lost us another."
--Conrad, This Immortal

Arthur C. Clarke, dead at 90.

Great Stirrup Cay

Great Stirrup Cay
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr

Still in transit, darn it, as my flight has been delayed due to inclement weather in Atlanta. This link will take you to the small gallery on Flickr; I'll be setting up a full gallery soon.

In Transit On The High Seas: Day Seven and Homecoming

3/14

It's a sea day, folks, not much to write about. I completed what little work there was left to do, all 'T's crossed and 'I's dotted. Really, that's it. I didn't even take any pictures (nothing to take pictures of!).

3/15

Disembarking is not really any more difficult than leaving a hotel. I signed up for early departure, since all of my luggage is Matt-portable; otherwise, porters come by the night before, gather your luggage, and offload it for you the next day. The line to get off the ship was long, but moved quickly, and there wasn't even a delay at Customs. I was impressed.

There have been two problems today, though. First, my new luggage is awful. Terrible. Avoid like the plague. When I've got it in front of me again, I'll rail about it with more specificity. Second, there were no earlier flights to Atlanta today, and even the one I'm on is overbooked. I arrived at La Guardia at about 10:30, which was too early to check in. At 11:30, I checked in, and got one of four remaining seats! Six hours early, and the plane was almost full. So I've been cooling my heels here at the airport, catching up on my Internet time, and working on photographs. Mind you, I'm having to sit on the floor in the concourse, just because power outlets are so few and far between. I had to split an outlet with a fellow named Dan, on his way home from Iraq, so we got to talk for a while; very interesting guy.

And here I sit; my flight should start boarding in another couple of hours. Watch this space for pictures.

In Transit On The High Seas: Day Six

3/13

The city of Freeport is a taxi-ride away from Port Lucaya, where the Norwegian Gem docked, and I just didn't feel like making the trip. I did get off the ship for a little while, though, to walk around the local Straw Market and take some pictures, mostly of a bold and curious lizard. I didn't buy anything at the market, as they (for the most part) had the exact same wares as the market from the day before.

I tried to shake my malaise by getting involved in some things on the ship, like jumping in for the "third period" of a field hockey game--held on the tennis court--against the ship's crew. It was a lot of fun, and I met some interesting folks with whom to talk hockey; the next best thing since I can't actually watch any on the ship!

It also reminded me that I'm out of shape. Terribly, terribly, out of shape. On the plus side, my sunburn is almost gone, having evened out nicely. If nothing else, the cruises ahead will give me ample time to work on my tan.

Later in the evening, I visited the steakhouse for my victory dinner. The work is done. I have saluted it with steak and scotch.

The performer this evening is the comedian Ross Bennett. He's not bad; presumably, being on a cruise ship limits him in the jokes he can make, but otherwise his demeanor reminds me of Lewis Black. The night before, I'd gone to see a magic act: Duck Cameron and (The Lovely) Nika. He was good...nothing too far out of the pale, but his stage presence and general presentation were excellent; I believe I've seen him on TV before.

But that's about it; we left port at about 3:00, and I'm having to get my sea-legs back all over again. I'm not the only one, though, as people ahead of me in the hallway abruptly lurch from side to side as well.

In Transit On The High Seas: Day Five

3/12: Changes in Latitudes, No Corresponding Changes in Attitudes

I actually signed up for one of the ship's excursions; a two-hour tour of Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. I, along with about 25 other passengers, climbed aboard a bus that took us through downtown Nassau to Fort Fincastle. We spent a good 20 minutes there, long enough for me to take some pictures. It's not a large fort--quite the contrary--but it was located on a tall enough hill to provide a good view of the harbor. I suppose that was the point.

Next stop was the immediately adjacent Queen's Staircase. This is a slave-carved stairway leading down into a small natural canyon, originally designed to provide quick access from the fort to the beach. It's called the Queen's Staircase after Queen Victoria, whom the Bahamians give a great deal of credit for ending the British slave trade; she's a popular figure, unsurprisingly, with a statue right in front of the main government building despite the fact that the Bahamas have not been a British territory since the mid-Seventies.

After that, the bus took us to Fort Charlotte, a rather larger fort directly overlooking the harbor. Impressive, but I think I didn't miss much by not paying more to get the internal tour.

The last stop on the tour was the Pirate Museum. If you know nothing about pirates, you will learn things here. If you're as much a pirate geek as most of my friends, you will not. I suppose it qualifies as a museum in a broad sense, though there are few actual artifacts on display. It's basically a series of dioramas about Pirate Life and Important Pirate Events. And there's a gift shop attached, with the usual suspects on display: pirate hats, pirate flags, shot glasses with clever sayings (which I later found in one of the ship's gift shops as well!), and some interesting piratical toys.

As tours go, it was kind of a bust. Imagine the most generic touristy tour you can, and it was about like that. That said, it's not like I know enough about Nassau to strike out on my own, so at least it gave me something to do for the morning. I had a leisurely lunch at a little restaurant nearby, tried the local beer (Kalik. Not bad!), and took my time walking back to the ship. Other than that, I have generally stayed out of the sun; my sunburn is easing as expected, and hopefully I can spend a little more time outside tomorrow. I haven't decided if I want to spend the $100+ for the Jeep Safari Tour; honestly, as I write this, it's probably too late. Oh well.

If I ever had any doubt that nothing beats tourism on your own terms, this would have dispelled it. The main industry in the Bahamas, by far, is tourism. And I wonder if that's ruining what tourists come to see. That may seem like a bit of a cliche, but there's a reason for that. The stalls selling Genuine Hand-Bahamian-Made Crafts are all selling the same things; the woven bags they make and sell have Dora the Explorer embroidered onto them, or a Disney Princess of some kind or another. You see the same shops and fast-food joints here that you see in downtown areas in America, because they know that tourists will seek out the familiar. There's truth to that; I do it, too, especially when I'm tired. You stop feeling like taking a chance, and you go straight for that McDonald's just because you know what you'll find there, you can get what you want without really having to make a decision, and then you can go back to your hotel and go to bed.

End of rant, for now. I've been trying to catch up on my Asian action movies. As I mentioned before, I finally got to finish watching The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. This one is a classic, featuring Gordon Liu (in what I think was his first Shaw Brothers feature), and it consists of a paper-thin plot wrapped around a movie-length training montage. Everyone likes a montage, right? This movie is for you, and it lives up to all of the cheesy acting, fight scenes, and dialogue you expect from a Shaw Bros. flick.

This very evening, I also watched The Protector, starring Tony Jaa. If you've seen Ong Bak, then this one will seem awfully familiar. Instead of "Oh, no, Innocent Country Boy Who Is Also A Terrifying Muay Thai Badass! Evil big-city-dwellers have stolen the head of our Buddha statue! You must go save it!", simply replace Buddha-head with Elephants, and you're pretty much set. Tony Jaa is still eminently watchable, though if you're prone to cringing at a bit of kung fu ultraviolence, you may get a little twitchy at points. This is the first Dragon Dynasty release I've seen where I wasn't too keen on how they did it; specifically, the movie has been re-edited and had new music added by The RZA, of the Wu-Tang Clan. The introduction of rap and rock music seems intrusive. But the special features restore a lot of my good will toward the edition. And the movie itself features some spectacular fight scenes, including a roughly five-minute-long scene that was shot all in one take using a Steadicam. That speaks well for Tony Jaa's stamina as, choreographed or not, a fight scene that long is just grueling (you can tell that he starts to wear down toward the end).

A couple of nights ago, I visited the sushi bar here on the ship. I hate to say it, but it was disappointing. We're on the ocean; why didn't the fish seem fresh? Tuna, especially, should not have a "fishy" taste to it. The variety isn't bad (and the octopus was actually quite good), and the selection of sake available was also impressive, but overall, the sushi bar here gets a C+. The pickled ginger was mushy. Bleh.

In Transit On The High Seas: Day Four

3/11: Great Stirrup Cay!

Today, I decided to get off the ship, along with every other person on board. And who could blame us? It's the first beach day we've had.

Great Stirrup Cay is mostly owned by NCL; it's the north-most of the "Berry Islands" archipelago in the middle of the Bahamas, and rates its own lighthouse and "International Airport". The sign said so! OK, someone had a sense of humor about that last one; it's a small helipad that is losing it's battle against the native flora. Apparently the island was home to some small military installations dating all the way back to the Civil War.

I stormed the beach, saw signs for the lighthouse, and set forth. There's not much to it, really, as it's no longer manned; it operates strictly off of solar power and timers. But I did get to see some iguanas, most of whom were a little too quick for me to get a good picture.

The water in the Caribbean is as clear as a swimming pool, and as cold as the Atlantic Ocean. It just seems like it should be warmer, darn it. The sand is acceptable, and the beaches are very scenic. Overrun by tourists, but scenic. I walked around for a while, took many pictures, had an overpriced-but-welcome massage on the beach, and went for a brief swim. I may have to hit the spa on the ship for another massage. The knots in my muscles will not be thwarted by a single 25-minute rubdown.

Back to the ship! I got some sun, that is for certain. I shall be more careful about applying sunblock tomorrow; fortunately, I tan well, and most of the red should be faded by morning. We'll see. I've arranged a tour of Nassau tomorrow, including the Pirate Museum (souvenir time!), and there will be a couple of forts available to explore. Sweet.

But tonight, I work! Hopefully. My associate, the arcade technician, is taking equal advantage of the shore leave, and has not been available when the ship is at its most quiet. Ah well, there's still work I can do on my own.

[later]

Triumph! The two problem machines are now online and talking. Now I can spend the remainder of the trip doing documentation. This is a good thing, as the more I know about connecting the power wires, the less likely I am to electrocute my dumb ass.

In Transit On The High Seas: Day Three

3/10: Spaaaaace Coaaaaaast!

My alarm woke me at 9:00, in time to call my contact in Finance, report progress, and confirm that the transactions were posting correctly on her end of things. Good. I then attempted without success to get back to sleep.

The ship is at Port Canaveral today, on the "Space Coast". I didn't bother going ashore, anticipating (incorrectly) that I'd be able to get more done on board. But I didn't have the keys to get into the machines I needed to work on! So I occupied my time by taking pictures, none of which I can yet post. There wasn't a lot to take pictures of, though; my main amusement was in testing my telephoto lens with pictures of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, a building so big it has its own internal weather systems. It turns out that with a 300mm lens (thanks to my sensor size, equivalent to 450mm) you can get a surprisingly close shot of the VAB from the port.

My day consisted of "testing" the video games, working on a couple of the units to repair some loose pins and some wiring, and that's about it. Bugger. I went to bed relatively early to try and catch up on some sleep.

I later discover that I had the keys to the machines the whole time.

In Transit On The High Seas: Day Two

3/9:

After a surprisingly restful evening, it's time to face the job at hand. The weather has cleared up, but the seas are still a bit rough. It's a Sea Day, today, with no ports of call. The upside is that I'm not missing anything else. The downside is that everyone stays on the ship and gets in my way.

I meet my contacts: the IT manager, the Finance officer, and the arcade technician. We swap numbers; I am given an official ship-working-guy phone to carry with me so I can be reached if needed. We go our separate ways.

Myself and the tech proceed to the arcade to begin work. The goal is to get one machine up and working, so that we can verify our settings, and then do the big push on the next day while everyone else is on shore. Getting things to work takes a little while, as my laptop doesn't want to log on to the correct and well-hidden network the devices will be operating on. Finally, using a wired connection does the trick, though it limits my movement, and we get a machine working. Yay us.

We break for some dinner (well, a late lunch for me, having worked straight through), and agree to meet back up at 8:30. I amuse myself by checking emails and trying to get some other work done. It's possible that I'm becoming a bit of a workaholic. I consider this, and think to myself that I'm the only person I know who could be on a cruise ship and think, "I need a vacation."

The tech and I meet back at the arcade, and start working on machines. My plan was to get a few done, and then call it a night. What I have failed to consider is that my associate wants his shore leave, by damn. Seven hours later, we've finished every machine in the arcade. I stagger back to my room and call it a night.

In Transit On The High Seas: Day One

Moving through the Manhattan Cruise Terminal is not unlike moving through an airport. Traffic is heavy; I hope you took a taxi. You drop your bags off with the porters, after tagging them with the room number.

Don't know your room number? I didn't either. Someone will have a manifest. If your name isn't on there (mine was, fortunately), then your problems run very deep indeed.

Did you print off your boarding pass? Get in line. If you didn't (I didn't), go find the desk to get your ticket. Now get in line. This line will take you through a security checkpoint just like an airport's. The big exception is that I didn't have to take my shoes off, nor did I have to take my laptop out of the bag. Nice change.

Norwegian Cruise Lines is a (relatively) small line with about 10 ships in the fleet. They aren't huge, either, as far as cruise ships go. No "mega-ships" here, sea-going leviathans with shopping malls and the like. That said, they're still pretty big. NCL's schtick is that of "Freestyle Cruising", where there are no set schedules (apart from time in port, excursions, and the like), and you can do whatever, whenever (within operating hours, of course). There are restaurants open at almost any time (though the only 24-hour one is the small "Blue Lagoon" atrium cafe), and you can go and be seated whenever. The specialty restaurants will charge a cover fee, and you will also be billed for drinks. This particular setup has been referred to as "Fleece-style Cruising", as you can get nickel-and-dimed very quickly, and your bill can get out of hand. I shudder to think what mine will be, even though most of it will be expensed back. I'll keep you posted on that.

The Norwegian Gem is the newest ship in the fleet, and the fleet's new flagship. It's also the one I visited back in the fall when it was still docked at Eemshaven. Due to the way their on-board network operates, I'm pulling out the old equipment that I installed, which works on 802.11b protocol, and replacing it with new stuff that works on 11g. Anyway. The rooms are small but comfortable, and the king-size bed takes up about half of it. There's a small TV that only gets a few non-shipboard channels, but why would you want to watch TV anyways? The navigational stuff they display is interesting, though.

Internet service is either pay-as-you-go at $0.75/minute (!!!), or purchase plan (250 minutes at $0.40/minute (!!)). It's very slow, as you've got a bunch of people all trying to use the same satellite connection. Don't even try to send a picture to someone; if you think download is slow, upload is glacial, and will most likely time out.

(I am taking pictures, though; you'll see them.)

Cell phones work normally in port, but once you're at sea, everything goes through the ship's system, for which you will be billed your provider's international roaming rate. Fear.

If, like me, you're on board as a contractor, keep in mind that all of your contacts will be too busy to see you on the first day. So relax. Lay your groundwork and do a site survey. Build an action plan. You'll need it.

The weather remains crap, and the ship is actually shifting quite a bit in the wind and the waves. I'm on the 10th floor, well above the waterline, and you can really feel the rocking motion. It's an inside stateroom as well, so there's no window. I'm not prone to claustrophobia or motion-sickness, which is a good thing; this would be a terrible room for anyone with those problems. Lower decks feel less motion, and windows can help the seasick.

It's cold and windy outside, and it's raining. Nonetheless, I try to get some good pictures of the Statue of Liberty as we leave. This is also my chance to test my new telephoto lens; given the instability of my platform, it's not working out so great. I retire to my room to finish watching The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (aka Shaolin Master Killer), and marvel at the difficulty of recognizing Gordon Liu in this film as opposed to his roles in both Kill Bill films.

In Transit: New Jersey, 3/5-8

If you travel to New Jersey, always make sure you're near a bus station or some other form of public transit. Sure, the Hilton Garden Inn in Secaucus has a bench out front for the bus, but trying to figure out the bus schedule so you can get back is the real nightmare. I broke down after the first day and rented a car.

A mixed bag, this trip. Visited my problem child in Secaucus, listened to their complaints, fixed what I could, and attempted to set up solutions for the rest. Visited the new customer down in Jersey City, and quickly discovered that there was no reason for me to be there; the little installs are what we have service providers for. It also helps, of course, if Production sends out the right equipment. A day later, the correct stuff having been sent out at great expense, we discover that the customer has not installed the correct data lines. Figures. I set up everything else, and pledge assistance once they've got the correct lines in place.

Thursday night, after a tough day of trying to get around without a rental car, I manage to get into the city for dinner at Mandoo, and a visit to the greatest comic book shop ever. Traditional. It may seem kind of boring, but I'm never able to get into the city early enough to visit the museums I'd like to see, and the weather this time of year isn't always conducive to seeing things outdoors.

Cold and rainy Friday night. I stay in, surf the Intertubes and watch TV.

Saturday morning, time to pack up and return the rental car (All gas stations in New Jersey are full service, so when strange people walk up to you in the parking lot and start helping you pump gas, don't be alarmed. I forgot about that. I was alarmed.). I get a ride from a garrolous taxi driver out to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal to start my next adventure.

In Transit: Philadelphia, PA, 2/27-29

Considering that I just got a new camera, it's very silly of me to go on a trip and think to myself, "I won't have time for any sightseeing; I'll just leave the camera at home."

• The hotel was just a couple of blocks from the City Hall, which is a gorgeous piece of architecture. I didn't have my camera.
• The hotel was right next to Chinatown. I didn't have my camera.
• I dragged my sidekick Nick to a Philadelphia Flyers game (he liked the fighting; kids these days). I didn't have my camera.
• I got to see a Toynbee tile (NW corner of 15th and Race Street, near the crosswalk)! I didn't have my friggin' camera.
  

Not much to talk about regarding this particular trip. The weather was clear but cold, but not as cold as Chicago. The most notable thing about the install is that everything happened on schedule, and it all worked the first time. This is the way it should always be, and yet for the past four months or so, it's been bad luck and unwelcome surprises most of the way with the new hardware I'm working on. So we looked good for a change. Not me. I always look good. But the company looked good, too, this time.

We flew Southwest Airlines, which I'm not really fond of, especially the "cattle call" method of boarding the plane. If you're like me, you'll always be toward the end of the boarding line, so just assume that all window and aisle seats will be taken by the time you get on board. Find a middle seat near the front of the place, to make it easier to disembark later, and look for that middle seat between two people your size or smaller.

Trust me. It's the best way to do it unless you get lucky enough to get an aisle seat.

More information on Toynbee tiles can be found here. It's a very weird form of graffiti, in that it's meant to be looked at (else why do it at all), but it's not necessarily obvious, unlike your basic tagging, which is not much more than a "Hey, look at me!" The message (which may change slightly depending on where you find it) doesn't make a bit of sense, and the unknown fellow that did it originally is clearly a bit deranged. But it's one of those things that helps keep the world a weird place, and I like that.