My Little Corner in Cyberspace

Test post from my iPhone.

After having to wait for what seemed like an eternity, I finally have a new iPhone!

These babies are in pretty high demand over here in Southern California. Neither the Apple store nor the ATT store had these phones in stock, and if they happened to get a shipment, they went pretty fast.

So far I am loving it. I am glad that the price went down with this new version. I could not see myself spending 600 bucks for the original phone a year ago.

I like the touch screen, the ease of use, and the intuitiveness that Apple seems to do so well. The touch keyboard is a little awkward due to not having tactile buttons to feel, but it really is easy to use. It is recommended that you start with one hand to get the hang of it and then gradually move to using both hands. I can tell that in a few weeks I will be using the keyboard as if it was second nature.

Another good thing is the willingness for Apple to open the phone to developers. I have been combing through looking for apps. Being how it's new I am sitting back and looking at free apps with good ratings and reviews. Not ready yet to start shelling out serious cash until the developers have had an opportunity to get their feet wet. As of this writing, there are just over 1,300 apps available, and new apps are being added daily. I have 9 applications so far, and I am patiently waiting for Blogger and Flckr to create their apps.

I wanted to get Anduin her iPhone, but her cell phone carrier wanted $200 bucks to cancel the contract that has only two months before the two year agreement is fulfilled. Craziness. Anduin said she would wait. The day after her contract ends, you will find us back at the Apple store getting her iPhone as well.

At 11:42 a.m. our time, we had a 5.4 magnitude earthquake here in Southern California. The epicenter was located in Chino Hills, about 2 miles from my work. News has confirmed that we were in the vicinity that received the heaviest and sharpest shaking.

It was very strong, and a bit scary. Some of the girls were a little freaked out due to how strong the shaking was. The building shook violently, the rattling and rumbling made it seem worse. That, with furniture moving, fixtures falling and breaking, no one can blame them.

We (The members of the Emergency Response Team for the campus), were kept busy after the quake. Once the shaking stopped, we made sure there were no injuries, awaited for any immediate aftershocks, instructed our coworkers what steps we would be taking, and waited to hear from our floor captain before we proceeded to evacuate the building, and made sure all of our employees in our dept were accounted for.

We turned things over to the building Marshall and waited for further instructions.

As you can imagine, cell phone service was flooded with people calling loved ones to make sure they were ok. No cell service was available from anyone. I was able to contact my wife via gmail chat before we evacuated the building, and it was about an hour before I could get a hold of my parents and sister via cell phone.

Slowly people left campus, mostly parents going to pick up their children from daycare and schools that evacuated and closed for the day.

According to reports, there was no major damage done to buildings. That is good news. Things could have been bad. Seems that the worst thing was all of the rattled nerves (No pun intended).

Just another day in Sunny Southern California.

iSee a new toy in my future. iWonder what it can be...

This was the day to relax and kick back. The excursions behind us we spend the entire day at sea.

We decided to sleep in that morning, no rush to go or do anything. Breakfast at the Windjammer cafe was about to change over for lunch service, we got there just in time for breakfast food. Always good choices for food.

After we eat we stroll the decks looking for a place to lay out and soak up some sun. Turns out that is easier said than done. Looks like we were not the only ones with the same idea. We eventually find some spots on the deck overlooking the pool.

During this time there is plenty going on in and by the pool. The performing bartenders were rather entertaining, lots of acrobatic type things with the drinks. With nothing to block out the sun we decide to find some deckchairs in the shade.

The announcement is made that the International Belly Flop competition will be underway and contestants are needed. I find the best location for pictures and enjoy the show. Lots of crowd favorites, including "Banana Hammock Guy" or as Anduin refers to him "Mankini". Mixed feelings from the crowd as to his popularity. Plenty of scores of 2 and 3, with one guy giving Mankini an enthusiastic score of 5 out of 5. LOL.

After the contest my attention shifts, I stop thinking just about me and start shooting what will eventually be going into the "Friends Only" folder. Much love to you if you have access. Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

Time marches on and before we know it we are headed back to our room to pack and get ready for our final dinner service. We enjoy the lamb and shrimp dinners, more good times with Tyler and Savannah, and this time our staff treated us to music and song. It was so nice to get the staff involved that way. It really did make a difference in the service.

The Sound of Music theater put on a great farewell show for us after dinner. Very talented individuals, at both singing and dancing. Some of the impersonations were dead on, while others required a little imagination. Before the show came to an end we were introduced to all the departments that helped make the cruise a success. Naturally not all of the staff could be there. It would have been tough to get all 800 staff members in the theater. The captain thanked us, lots of recognizing and applause.

One final show for the adults was held at about 11pm. Comedian John Wing was back with his stand up routine. Very funny stuff.

By the time the show was over it was past midnight and Anduin was ready for bed. Tyler and I on the other hand were not. While Anduin headed back to the stateroom, Tyler and I headed to "The Circuit", same place Anduin and I went the night before.

I don't have any guy friends for me to hang with, so it was nice to be able for Tyler and I to sit back, have a couple beers and laugh our asses off while exchanging guy stories. As an added bonus, watching drunk girls on a dance floor can be VERY entertaining.

We actually ended up closing the place down. We were a little surprised at how quickly the place died down after last call.

We finished our conversations on our way back to our staterooms, and I crawled into bed at about 3am. or so. Had to sleep fast as we would be docked back home in a little more than 3 hours.

The final morning. - With all of the packing done and the luggage gone, we pack our duffel bags and grab some breakfast. There was a delay in customs, so we end up having to wait for our group to leave the ship. Two hours after we were scheduled to be off the ship we are still waiting on deck, and wonder if we will be there long enough for lunch to be served! We did not mind the wait at all, if you have to be stuck waiting somewhere, the deck of a cruise ship next to the pool is the place to be. We are finally called and the four of us head down to disembark. Within the hour we are through customs, have our luggage and are headed back to our car.

Great. Trip.

Can't wait for our next cruise. I'm thinking seven days this time..., in Hawaii.

Day 2 was the busiest of the 3. Breakfast served a nice surprise as we were seated next to Anthony and Bonnie (The couple we met the night before while taking pictures). We immediately hit it off and with all the talking, breakfast seemed to fly by.

After breakfast we hang out for a while until we have to meet our party for our excursion. While we wait we realize that Tyler and Savannah will be joining us, good time to get to know them a little better. We get a little nervous because we see large groups (Upwards of 50 people or more) for the other excursions and hardly anyone for ours. So much so that we wonder if we missed it or if maybe it was canceled. As it turns out, our group was purposely limited to 12 people! So out of a ship of 2500 people, only 12 get to attend the bartending and shopping excursion! Not bad, and pretty exclusive if I do say so myself.

Rossy is tour guide for the day, and could not resist having a little fun. Once we are all on our little bus, she starts the tour...in Spanish! She continues speaking and interacting as if nothing is the matter, all awhile everyone has a look in their eyes like deer caught in headlights. Naturally, I am enjoying this being the only person fluent in Spanish, along with one other person who kind of understands a little of what Rossy is saying. You can hear the sighs of relief when she finally kicks the tour in English.

The tour was not so bad. Hit the major points of interest and monuments that were there. Learned about some battles, generals, people who made history and we learned about the gigantic flag on display. Turns out that every port in Mexico has a giant flag. The flag we were looking at was on a flagpole 330 feet high. The flag itself was 93 feet long, 160 feet wide and weighed over 500 pounds. The largest of these flags (So far) can be found in Guanajuato, which has a flag 4 times the size of this one. That is one BIG flag.

Once we finished our tour we headed into the strip, to Papas and Beer, where we had our bartending class. Our bartender for the class is Jesus, and he takes us through a very informative history lesson on tequila. Everything from the region it's made (A town called Tequila, Mexico) to the plants tequila comes from, the process by which it's made and what makes different types of tequila. Tequila can range from $12 a bottle to as much as $800 a bottle and beyond.

Once we started the class the fun really began. Throughout the step by step instructions we were asked questions and quizzes, and were rewarded correct answers by taking shots. Tyler was particularly good at getting the answers. Halfway through the class Anduin was done with our overachieving table and left the shots to Tyler and I. We learned several drinks including the perfect margarita, and we aren't just kidding about that. Maybe it just tastes better knowing we made it ourselves. Either way, they were great.

The highlight of the class (At least for some of us) was when Jesus gave Savannah a taste of what a "popper" was. Pictures 76 through 86 of the trip illustrate it nicely. Lots of shaking going on.

Savannah had no idea what was in store, but she was a very good sport about it. Turns out that the version Jesus gave was a toned down version of what they sometimes do. It's not unusual for thongs and boobs to make an appearance. Check out Youtube for examples. (Strictly scientific of course).

Once the class is over we head out to a place the locals go to eat. Rossy was nice enough to direct me to the less touristy place for some real good seafood. She didn't disappoint. The fish is fresh and Savannah gets to try some Mexican dishes for the first time. She loved it, as we knew she would.

After lunch we spend the next several hours walking down the strip, window shopping, actual shopping and haggling over items to purchase. Ty and Savannah are a little out of their element but quickly learn to stick close to me since the Natives seem to get better deals than the tourists. Sometimes as much as 40% or more!

Time flew by and before you knew it we were heading back to the ship, goodies in tow. We now had roughly 2 hours before dinner, which was the formal dinner of the cruise. I thought I was going to be under dressed seeing how I had just a suit. I was expecting a sea of tuxedos, and while we did see a few, the rest of us were all happy in our suits. We took the formal to mean no bathing suits or thongs at the dinner table. (I know, way to rain on our parade).

We decided to change after dinner to take some night photography while Tyler and Savannah hit the casino. It was a bit chilly that evening so we decided it was time to hit the dance floor. Another quick change and we were dancing the night away. We finally called it quits about 2 am.

Not a bad way to end our second day.

We arrive at port and are immediately told by security to put away our cameras and instructed where to park. It seems the port authority does not allow pictures of any of its facilities, inside or out. We are told we can take as many pictures as we want once we are on the ship.

Once on board, we find our stateroom and unpack our carry-on luggage. The rest of the luggage will be delivered a little later.

We head on to the top deck where there are people who are already in the pool! Not having any lunch yet we take advantage of the first buffet of the trip, careful not to overdue it since dinner is just 3 hours away.

Once everyone is on board, and before we set sail, we have to go through a mandatory evacuation drill. Everyone is required to participate, even if you have cruise experience. We all put on our life vests and head out to the designated area. Once there you can hear a mix of laughing, and fun as well as whining and complaining. Why are we doing this when we could be by the pool getting hammered? And they were not kidding, some people never left the pool. They took no excursions, and only ate at the Windjammer Cafe which served buffets and was located (You guessed it) next to the pool. I figured, it's your vacation, you paid for it, spend it any way you want!

We spend some time exploring the ship and take in a short first time cruiser's orientation. We learn the layout of the ship, a little history and future plans. As it turns out this is the last year that this ship sails with Royal Caribbean. It has been sold and will make way for a much bigger ship. Second largest in the world from what we understood.

Dinner at Vincent's. Our original dinner time at booking the cruise was "second dinner" at 0830pm. Turns out that they had changed it to the main dinner time of 0600pm., which worked out better for us. We get there and meet our waitress Armmie from the Philippines. She will be our waitress for all of our dinners at Vincent's. We will have rotating staff for breakfast and lunch if we choose to dine there. We also meet the second couple assigned to the table, Tyler and Savannah. They are there celebrating their 3 year anniversary. They end up being a great couple which whom we end up spending lots of time with.

During dessert our waiting staff surprises my wife with a birthday cake and a song, which I had arranged before the cruise. What can I say, need to keep the romance alive. Tyler also arranged to have cake for Savannah, to celebrate their anniversary. Both of our wives were surprised and happy. Lots of rocking on the ship that night, we blamed it on rough waves.

After desserts our staff treated us to a conga line. So entertaining! It really pumped up the energy level and set the tone for the rest of the trip. They all danced and balanced things on their heads or had a little trick up their sleeves. After that it was our turn, and we danced the Macarena. (At least we tried to. LOL)

After dinner we took a walk to get some sunset pictures where we met Anthony and Bonnie. They asked if we could take their picture and we ended up chatting a little. The Sound of Music Theatre was our next stop for the welcoming show put on by our cruise director. We were introduced to ship's singers and dancers, and were treated to the comedy of John Wing.

After the show we head back to our stateroom, finish our unpacking and turn in for the night. Overall a very good day.

Caught up in this called life and was unable to write the first cruise post. Have the day off tomorrow, so I will have time to write.

For my wife's birthday, I took her on a cruise. This was a big year, not only did Anduin turn 40, we celebrated our 15 year anniversary 3 months ago.

The cruise was fantastic. If you have never taken one before, it should be on your list of things to do. If you have been, then you know exactly what we are talking about.

Since there is too much to mention in one post, I am going to follow what Scotty Ice did when he and his lovely wife returned from Europe, write a post for each day. By the way, Scotty has moved his blog, he can now be found raising the standard and setting new trends in livejournal here.

Even though I will be posting on the cruise over the next few days, pictures of the trip are available for your viewing pleasure here. Naturally, IF you have access to the exclusive, rare, and highly coveted "Friends Only" set on my Flickr profile, a very special collection of pictures awaits you. Yes folks, membership does have it's privileges.

Day One of the cruise tomorrow.

Today is my Honey's birthday!! The big 4-0.

Just a few hours away from heading out to our first cruise. We intend to have the time of our lives in the next few days. There will be plenty of pictures from both upon our return.

Again, Happy Birthday Sweetie. I love ya.