May 7, 2007:

Early Evening:

Damn technology!  I thought I had fixed the problem with my camera’s memory card by reformatting it. It worked OK when I tried it with a few test photos, but then after spending the day taking pictures I tried to transfer the images and once again the memory card died. So, now I’ve lost 2 days worth of photos......I’m finally catching on that this is an IQ test of sorts: How long will Rick keep using the same POS card and losing his pictures before he tries something else? I have now gone back to my older, much smaller, memory card and hopefully I won’t lose anymore photos.

The Cruise Critic party was a success. We had 40-50 people who indicated an interest in coming.....I thought that if we got 25 to attend it would be a major victory. But we ended up with well over 60 who showed up. It seems the cruise staff had put a reminder in the ship’s daily newspaper about the meeting and many folks, who were not part of the group, saw the notice and decided that they’d like to be “Cruise Critics” too.  A few of them seemed a bit disappointed that this was a social gathering and not an opportunity for them to complain about some perceived shortcoming in the ship’s operation. I had to explain to 3 different groups that Cruise Critic was the name of the organization, not a job title or the subject of a meeting. But, I think that all the invitees (and a few of the crashers) had a good time and got to meet some of the people that they had been corresponding with for the last year.

Sadly, my photos of the party were on the POS memory card and did not survive when the card crashed again.

(Note for those of you not familiar with technical terminology:  POS is a generally accepted term in the electronics industry that stands for: Piece Of Shit.)

I made my second foray to the ship’s gym this afternoon....the rough water had thinned the herd there too.....running on a treadmill while the deck it pitching is a bit of an art. Using the time honored engineering principle that “in order to improve something, you first must be able to measure it”, I sought out the scales so I could benchmark my weight before the cruise got too far along. Here, another little twist ensued; the cruise line scales are English....they measure in kilograms and in stones, but not in pounds....thus giving the portly cruise much latitude to visit the midnight buffet.

Note to Carol Shoop: I checked in to the onboard spinning class, but the middle-of-the-day schedule and the cost ($11/session) didn’t make it too attractive. I may try again later in the cruise. In the mean time I will wage my personal battle-of-the-bulge by taking the stairs, instead of the elevator, when I go to the lobby bar for my evening refreshment.

Late Evening:

Ohhh......dinner is turning really ugly. James Bond continues to gnaw my ear off with stories of his secret life....today’s adventure had something to do with the precursor to the National Security Agency and the twin brother of actor Lee Marvin (I am not making this up). I would give more details, but I lost consciousness after the first hour and can’t recall the whole monologue. But I was yanked out of the blissful void when Mrs. Bond started complaining because she couldn’t get the wine she wanted with a gift certificate that her travel agent had given her. I won’t bore you with details, but she ended up having every one in the food service department except the chef at the table trying to explain that she couldn’t get that particular wine unless she paid a $6 fee......a fee that one of the other couples at the table volunteered to pay if it would just END THE DISCUSSION. Many consultations were held and phone calls were made....including one to the Princess home office which is now 5 or 6 time zones away. In the end she was going to see the Purser to continue her quest for the $6 upgrade in wine.  I think I need an escape plan to find another way of handling dinner.  Part 1 of the plan is that I got reservations for one of the specialty restaurants (Tequila’s Steakhouse) for tomorrow night. But I will need a more permanent solution.

For the second time I find myself aboard the Star Princess on a rough voyage through the Bermuda Triangle. In the first case, in 2005, I faced hurricane force winds and giant waves that tossed the 110,000 ton vessel around like a toy boat. On this occasion the tempest comes from the incessant chatter and never-ending complaints of the Secret Agent family. I definitely prefer hurricanes.