Stream of Unconsciousness...

Paul? Brandon? I’m sure you’ve both seen the costume for couples where the woman is the wall outlet, and the man is the plug. What you HAVEN’T seen is a 60-year-old couple wearing this on costume night on a cruise liner Halloween party. Sorry, but I feel that you’re obligated to share in my unpleasant mental image.

NOTE TO Kennesaw/SPSU BCMers: No, I didn't wear my shadow costume this year. I didn't quite think the cruise line would approve.

Trevor accidentally tripped over my audio cord last night. The result wasn’t pretty. The cord got ripped out of my computer, bending the plug. Fortunately, my MacBook stayed put. The only problem is that the audio jack in my computer got jacked. No more headphone audio for me for the next three months. :o(

BUT NOT QUITE.

Mom, Dad, Paul, Brandon, Travis, ONCE AGAIN, MY OVERPACKING PAYS OFF! You’ve all laughed at me for over-packing, saying that I brought stuff that I didn’t need. Well, I brought an external USB soundcard with me, and I didn’t think I’d need it, but now, I have it! And I don’t have to go music-free for 3 months just because Trevor attempted murder on my MacBook. :oP :oD

We’ve started a new cruise! New passengers, and some new crew, too. I’m sad that a few of our entertainers left, but ‘tis the nature of the contracted cruise liner business. At least we have a magician on board, so at least I’ll have some entertainment to fill the void.

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My current cruise class schedule was posted in the Princess Patter (our daily newsletter of current events). My OLD schedule was posted in the Scholarship@Sea brochure. Today, I had two groups of people show up for classes at the same time, both expecting different classes. So, what did I have to do? I had to scrap the entire day’s profits (over $1000 worth) because the printer made a mistake (poor guy got an earful from the Cruise Director, since Princess gets a cut of our profits). What can I do about it? Not much.

FLICKR PHOTOS

Okay, my geekbuddies. I’ve made a discovery today. My cell phone works while I’m out at sea! And what’s even stranger than that? It DOESN’T work on land.

“How does that work?” you say. Many of you know that you must have a quadband phone to use your phone in both the USA and Europe. My LG EnV is not one of those special phones, so that’s why it doesn’t work on land in Italy. The Grand Princess has a satellite relay for US-based cell phone service that functions ONLY when we are out of range of land-based services.

Today marked my first day of actually teaching. A few things immediately went wrong. I found out that three of my 12 classroom laptops were busted. The previous instructor, Larry, thoughtlessly didn’t mention that they needed repairs before I arrived, so not I have to limit my classes even less than they were. On top of that, the instructor had made my schedule for me, and apparently made up a title of a class that didn’t exist. The challenge here is to teach on a class that 12 people signed up for, when you don’t have the correct course description or the curriculum listed anywhere. (Just between you and me: IT’S IMPOSSIBLE!)

There is only thing that could make me more frustrated than I already was, and that is that Larry wrote my schedule to exclude my lunch hour. Let me say that again, I DIDN’T GET TO EAT LUNCH UNTIL 6PM!

I nearly made an idiot of myself by teaching something that I wasn’t prepared to teach. Now I realize that I probably should’ve let the class know the circumstances behind why I was so flustered at the beginning of class (don’t forget, I just found out that three of my laptops are busted). My first class didn’t even know the concept of right-clicking, selecting items with the mouse or where to find the My Documents folder, so you might imagine my initial frustration. I got delayed by HALF-HOUR with the first class, and by the end of the day, I was about an hour behind.

The good news is that I made it through the day, and my reward is my trip to Santorini tomorrow!

Hey guys and gals!

I’m sorry that I haven’t been writing nearly as much as I should. I just haven’t had time until now. I’ve been super-busy getting lost on this 17-deck 1000-ft ship.

I’ve already started teaching private lessons, and guess what? They’ve all been Mac-related lessons! I’m sure that my boss would be interested in knowing this.

When I got in from the airport, a small shuttle pulled up to the terminal, and as it turns out, I was to be the only passenger, sent for by Princess Cruises. Made me feel special. ;o)

Pablo, the driver didn’t speak a lick of English, and I didn’t speak Italian, so we struck a compromise and spoke Spanish to each other. I learned a few things about Pablo on out half-hour drive to Civitavecchia, for starters, he has a wife and a 14 year old daughter. We was born in Rome, but he and his family now live in Civitavecchia. Pablo happens to like a wide selection of American 70s and 80s music, he even knows the lyrics and sings along loudly in his bus (but he still doesn’t know what they mean).

As you might already know, Europeans are CRAZY drivers! And by “crazy”, I mean “skilled”. Even with the shuttle, Pablo was still on a mission to get me to the dock on time. I have to say that’s the first time I’ve ever broken 100mph (160kph). To tell y the truth, I was scared for my life, but I’m still here, so he wasn’t too bad.

When I arrived at the dock, I had to check-in as an entertainer, but as it turns out, I wasn’t on the crew OR PASSENGER list, which made it VERY difficult to board. The “welcoming committee” in Civitavecchia wasn’t too welcoming, but after walking the length of the ship about 4 times with my luggage, I was finally given a boarding pass and allowed onboard.

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I promptly went to my room, only to find that my luggage hadn’t arrived. I DID happen to meet the internet café manager (the dude I’m sleeping with) and I (by the way, don’t read anything into that) got the grand tour of the Grand Princess. I was pleased to know that I had a dedicated classroom and that I had my own space. Post-tour, I was exhausted, as I had brought two 30” rolling duffel bags and a 17’ laptop bag and a 24” duffel as a carry-on. As you might imagine, I was a little worn out and took a nap right then.

Our first destination was in Monaco, quite the colorful city (in more ways than one), a great place to take pictures…..and to get lost. You can actually see a bunch of my pictures on http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottabraham. I didn’t do anything by snap pictures all day long, over 800 of them (notice that you only saw about 80).

Not a lot happened over the next couple days) except the previous entry about my visit to Livorno), I was mostly just trying to find my way around the ship, and figure out how to get to the dining room.

Anyways, it's 2:30am here, and I'm already sleep-adjusted, so I'll give more details later!

Love ya!

Today started out pretty great.  I got to the airport in record time today (thanks to Evil Knievil, AKA Brandon).  I also got through airport security in less than 30 minutes.  I get to the gate approximately an hour before the flight takes off. 

Lucky me, I got seat 12A, which happens to be an exit row.  Talk about legroom.  I could stretch out all the way and I’d still be unable to reach my laptop under the seat in front of me.  That about made my day, right there.  I’m not a large person, by far (or a normal-sized person, for that matter), but still, the extra space was really nice.  I’d probably be able to sleep on the floor, if I had wanted to.

After I got settled, I felt completely content simply with people-watching.  Especially the foreigners in the seats across the aisle.  Since this was the exit row, the attendant had to get a verbal agreement from all four of us that we were comfortable with the necessary emergency responsibilities.  The problem was that the couple across from us could hardly speak English.  The attendant was a little irritated (and I little humored) that she had to repeat herself several times before she got a timid “yes” from the couple.  Well, at least I won’t have to go out her window in an emergency. 

“Good afternoon, and welcome to….United Airlines….blah, blah, blah” said the less-than-chipper flight attendant. 

“The flight crew today consists of Captain….Huh…Hehh…Hevares, and….”  She trailed off.  Apparently, she didn’t know how to say the co-pilot’s name, either.

The attendants took their places in the aisle, as they went through the standard emergency procedures.   “The cabin is pressurized for your comfort [and livelihood].  Should there be a lost in cabin pressure, oxygen masks will pop out of the overhead compartments.”   I look up, and I see several scratch and scuff marks surrounding the O2 panel above me.  ‘What the HECK happened here?’  I think to myself.  It looked like someone had clawed at the panels the LAST TIME the airplane lost cabin pressure.

“In the unlikely event of a water landing (from Atlanta to Dulles, mind you), you can use the bottom seat cushion as a floatation device….”  

If I wasn’t ever scared of flying before, this crew surely did the job.  I swear it was a motley crew of newbies.  Maybe I was just too sensitive, but the woman next to me was nearly terrified, as she noticed the same things that I did.

I finally got everything put away, when the Captain came over the intercom.  “We apologize for the delay.  Our automatic fueling system isn’t working, so we’re going to have to do it manually(?).  Not sure what he means,  I see this guy pumping gas into the top of the left wing with a simple hose, no fancy connectors, nothing.  AND he’s sitting on the wing, right on top of a “NO STEP” sign.  He finishes topping off the tank and hops off the wing.  Shortly after, he jumps back up and screws the gas cap on.  If only I could roll down the window and yell at him to make sure he clicks the cap three times. ;o)  We can’t have that thing coming loose in flight, not like you can just pull over, get out and tighten the cap.  “CAN SOMEONE IN THE EXIT ROW REACH OUT AND TIGHTEN THE GAS CAP?  THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON!” 

We finally taxi out onto the runway and, as is routine in small cars (and apparently large jets, too), they cut off the A/C briefly as they throttle up and “merge” into the skyway.