Home Stretch

Well tomorrow is my last day. I can't wait to be home. Although as soon as I get home, I turn around and get back on a plane to my fathers. My replacement is doing a great job. He will be a great asset to the Jewel. I am leaving things in good hands. It will be very interesting to see if the sound tech is still here when I get back. If he is still around it will be a miracle. I can't even begin to tell you how bad he can be at times. He has been running the shows for weeks now, and is still missing cues. It just sucks because at this time of the year it is dame near impossible to get someone out to replace him, and to boot the office is having a hard time finding techs.

Reminder to self, that I need to find a snow screen saver to send to the ship before Christmas!!!!!

Almost done

Well the first week of my handover is going great, it is almost to an end. Tonight's show is such a pain in the ass. The group is so unprepared. We thought we would be find, as we already had their show in the console, but when we came to rehearsal. We found out they were doing a completely different show. And to help make matters worse, they didn't even sing anything, it was only a sound check. I am so glad that my replacement knows what he is doing. Speaking of my replacement, is name is Andy, he is from Dublin, Ireland. Who knows we could be distant cousins.
We have had a great time, he is a hard worker, and we have gotten a lot of work done. We had one of the moving lights break just when he got here, It took us about 2 days to fix it. Not very much fun!

The End is in Site

Well tomorrow should be a very busy day. The day will start out with getting ready for Barbizon to visit the ship. That's a lighting vendor that we us the help us get things fixed. Then we have to sanitize the theatre, because too many people are getting sick. The big news is that my replacement gets on tomorrow. I hope he had a good time at martin training and learned a lot. I have heard that he had a lot of problems with hotels and the suck, so I am expecting him to be in a bad mood when he arrives, but at least he won't be jet lagged. He has been in the states for a week. I have two more weeks. I think most of my Christmas shopping is done. I have never done so much shopping. Some things should have already arrived at my fathers. I have nice big box of things to mail home from St. Thomas this coming week. Anything I can do to keep the luggage weight down. I found out that my friend Marie is working on the Freedom, so we are going to go to lunch my last Cozumel, should be nice to see her and ketch up on things.

Just another post

Ok boring title, so I couldn't come up with anything. Well Boston is in the past, we have finished repositioning to Florida, and Cast change is done. It was great seeing so many friends and family in Boston. I hope everyone enjoyed seeing the Jewel.

William has been transfered to the Freedom of the Seas, the world's Largest cruise ship. I have heard he is having fun, but it is a lot more work.

Christmas is coming fast, I am glad that I will be home. It will be a nice change to be home for the hollidays. Cigars anyone!!!

Still no word on Liberty takeout, hopefully I will hear something come December.

Halloween was a fun time onboard, although I dispise the holliday, we had fun. The haunted house was fun. I ejoyed putting up some nice patterns in the lounge that I purchased. I can't wait to bring my ipro back with me next contract. Now if I can only find a turkey screensaver for thanksgiving. If anyone has a good mac turkey screensaver send it my way.

Our Sound tech is now on vacation, so I am head sound and light tech. Our new sound tech is settling in. It is his first time on ships, I think he will be good, he just needs some time. This isn't rock and roll!

Well I guess the next time I post will be with news of Liberty or from Vacation.

One show down and almost gone

Well the new cast opened Tango last night. They have two other shows left to put in. Funny thing, by the time we get to Florida and the put in is over, so will Tango. All that work for just 3 nights of performances. Oh well. With all the techs, I think I can run the thing blindfolded and with no sound. Teching that show, without the singers on mic, and without the tango dancers and musicians it can get somewhat tricky to figure out where the cues go.

Looking forward to tomorrow. I haven't seen my best friend from High School in a number of years. I am taking a number of the techs from the ship with me to see the Boston University Theatre where he works. I think the guys will get a real kick out of seeing a real land theatre.

Small World

Who would ever have thought the two guys from the University of Idaho would unkowing meet and work on the same cruise ship in the same department. Dean you must be doing something right!!! I also hear that the Light Tech on the Mariner is also from UI. We must be taking over the world!

William Stafford (left-Stage Staff)
and
David Wetmore (right-light tech)
in Bar Harbor, Maine
with the Jewel of the Seas in the back.

Almost heading South

Well it has been a while since I last posted. Things have been busy with work lately, and being is so many US ports it had been great to get off the ship as much as possible. If you don't know I have been porting out of Boston for the past few weeks. It has been so nice to see so many people. My Father and Step mother were able to make a visit that was unexpected. My friends from Yale made the trip north, as did my Aunt and Uncle today. I have had so many visitors it has been great. So many people know what I do, but never get to see where I work. Others need to come sail with me for a while, you know who you are.

Things are getting cold in New England, although no where near as cold as my father and Sister said it was in the Inland Northwest today. Now that we are getting ready to head for warmer water, the leaves are finally starting to change. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to see them change before we left.

Some news that I might not have told people is that our new Stage Staff on the Jewel went to the University of Idaho. He has a degree in Mass Media, and Theatre. He started 2 years after I left and just graduated. He is great, we have so much in common, and its nice to talk about home with someone that is from the same part of the world. Although I really haven't lived much in the WA/ID area other than college, we still have a lot in common.

I might be coming home for the holidays, I have been told that I might be heading for vacation on Dec 16th, but I still haven't seen it on paper. I have a contract till the end of January, so we will see.

Our Rigger just got promoted to Production manager for a trial period, so he left today to join another one of our ships. Studio B will be interesting for him. He has never worked with ice before. I forgot to ask him if ever ice skated before he left, of well. We wished him all the best.

Well for those of you that actually read this blog, and have been bugging me to keep it updated, here you go.

The new cast just arrived today so many tech runs over the next few weeks to look foward too. I am exited that I have already worked with one of the Singer when I worked on the Oosterdam, small world.

Oh the joy of the North

Well I am not more than halfway to North America, Europe is behind us. I have crossed the Atlantic two times before, but this is the first North crossing. The weather has caused a few issues. We started off the cruise by having a guest singer get sick, and had to move our comedian up by a day. Then we had to cancel the second show of a guest singer, due to sea sickness. We luckily got a "spare" guest singer onboard, just in case the weather was too bad to not do our production show. So yesterday we rehearsed that show, just in case, then rehearsed our production show. The weather was on our side, so showtime went as planned. This has made today a pain in the butt. We start off with a matine of the "spare" singer. Then normal showtimes, then the showtime for the show we canceled the other day. So that means 4 showtimes today. yuck.

Canada tomorrow, sea day, Canada, sea day, BOSTON!!!!! I can't wait to be back in the States.

Last Europe Cruise

Well I am halfway through my last Baltic cruise before we head over to Boston for the fall foliage cruises. I can't wait. Yesterday we were in Copenhagen, Denmark. We had a visit from a few of the execs at Martin. I toured them around the ship, and they gave us a few goodies. The really liked what we do, and I enjoyed giving them some suggestions on how they could improve a few things, to make the tech's life a lot easier. We also had a Tech come over from England to fix our log fog system, interesting fella. He also looked at a few lights with me. I can't wait till I get my parts order so I can finally have my rig up to 100%.

Sitting here waiting for band setup, board as hell. I have been watching the new flyers, learn how to do their thing. I have a lot of floor lights to setup for tonight's show, and almost no time to program the changes that the Entertainer wants for tonight, plus the few special things I am adding, that he doesn't know about yet.

Settling in and looking forward

Well almost to the end of my second cruise, but I feel like I have been here for months. That tends to happen when you do long cruises. My first cruise was to the Norwegian fords, and the UK. I got to see a little bit, but being my first week. I had a lot of things to do other than getting off the ship.

Second cruise and the rest of my European Cruise will be to the Baltic. I have been able to get off in about half of the ports. I have been on duty or had to do maintenance , but I still have 2 more cruises before we head to America. Russia was very interesting. We do an overnight, so being able to get off the ship at night is great. The interesting part of Russia is that you have to go through immigration every time you get off the ship or come back the ship. It is kind of a pain, but as long as you have a bit of patience, it isn't that bad.

So after we finish Europe we will be heading to Boston. As most of you know that live in that part of the world, I have already contacted you about visiting. I am really looking forward to seeing you.

Although I just starting my current contract, it is never too soon to be thinking of what is next. I have come close to bringing out a new ship, when I worked on the Oosterdam I was the second tech ever. But installing things is something I have been looking forward to doing for years. I asked my office about doing the next newbuild for royal Caribbean. I got the first email yesterday that indicates that I will finally be going. I don't want to jinx anything, but things are looking very positive. I have been told by many supervisors and designer that they enjoy working with me and have told the powers that be. I think these comments have finally come full circle. I am looking forward to a lot of hard work.

More details to come.

Traveling to the Jewel

So I am finally off to the Jewel of the Seas for my next contract.
My trip was interesting. My flight from Oakland was delayed due to a fuel spill under the plane, so the didn't want to load us because they couldn't turn on the AC. I was watching my watch in fear. My flight was sppolsed to land at 6:10 and the second flight board at the same time. Yuck. When we landed I ran for the train, and just as I was coming down the escalator to the new terminal on the other side of the airport, they called my name, they heard me say "I'm coming". But turns out I wasn't last, but nearly. I knew that if I barely made it that my luggage wouldn't have. Sure enough my name was called at Gatwich that my bags didn't arrive. They were very good about it all, they said it would come in on the 8am flight the next morning. Off to the hotel I went, after waiting forever for the shuttle, because I missed the one by 5 minutes so I had to wait almost 2 hours for the next one, but at least it was scheduled. No problems at the hotel except no AC. Food was alright. The next morning the airport called, they had my bags, and they made arrangement with our port agent to bring them to the ship with the passengers they were picking up. So all is good. Now where in the world are my tools.

I am settling in good on the new ship. My predecessor isn't here the entire cruise, he has to leave because of a wedding, but it is a long cruise so we still have over a week together. We have already fixed a few things, and gotten frustrated at some others. So is life, new ship, old ship, everything brakes at some point.

Anyway if you want to see where I am in the world, just go to www.cruisecal.com it is a great new site that I was told about that shows where all the cruise ship are on a given day for every cruise line.

I havn't tested if I can upload pictures yet on this ship or not, if I can you will see some shortly.

More Photos

This is the Ice Rink onbard the Voyager of the Seas.



When the Voyager arrived in Europe they had a big fireworks display for us the first night.

Pictures finally

Well I am finally home so I am going to try and post some photos for the first time.

Cross your fingers

I hope I don't jinx myself by saying this. My replacement is arriving tomorrow, and I begin the final countdown to leaving the Voyager. I should be leaving the ship in one week. Time off is just what I need. Good food, and lots of rest.

Jewel of the Seas

Well I just found out that my next contract will be on the Jewel of the Seas. If you want to find out where the ship will be sailing, just click on the Title of this post.

Italian Team

Well on this special cruise we have had the pleasure of the Italian Olympic Skating Team. Lets just say they have been interesting to work with. Sorry the photo is blurry, it wasn't the best of conditions. Also note the girl on the left is one of our stagestaff.

Med at last

Well it feels good to be back in the med again. I wish we could have gone through the straights of Gibraltar during the day, but oh well. Our first stop was in the Azores, it was nice to walk around for a few hours after being at sea for five days. One more sea day then Lisbon, I have been their before, but I had to work too much so no time to get off. The cadiz the next day. I got off for a brief time, again I have been here once before. Took a few photos then back to the ship. Now we are back to sea again, but now we are in the Med. Today is the last sea day of the cruise so it feels really weird to know we still have one more day. France tomorrow, then Finally to our new home in Spain.

Europe for a little bit

Well I new I hadn't posed for a while, but it has been almost a month. Well I am going back to Studio B for about a month. I am taking over for the current tech while he takes care of some family matters at home. This puts me on the ship for Europe. It will be nice to be back for a few weeks any way. Things have been going good, I have enjoyed my time in the main theatre. At least I am still going to be on board to see a few project through to completion, or at least be able to hand them over.

5 weeks to go

Well I have been so busy that I have not had time to even remember that I had a blog let alone post too it. 5 weeks to go till vacation, well sort of. 5 weeks till I transfer for one week then vacation. At this time the most important thing is that their is only 2 weeks till I get to see my mother. She is going to come visit and sail with me for Easter. The weeks is going to go so fast. I can't wait to get home and get new glasses, and maybe even contacts. That will be a big change for me. I need to remember to take lots of photos around the ship before I leave so I can post them when I get home because I can't do it on board.

I have been on duty today and it really has been a day from hell. I might not have been so bad but on top of all the duty stuff, plus the duty crap that came up, I had to deal with one of our scenic contractors being on for the day.

And to top it all off, time change tonight!!!!Yuck!!!

St. Patrick's Day

Well sorry for not posting for a long time, but just a short post to say Happy St. Patricks day to everyone. Green bar shirt on, No Black alowed tonight, and Guiness in hand.

New Theatre, Same old Ship

Well my replacement finally showed up. So I have now moved into the main theatre. I have learned the spot cues for the shows, and everything is going great.

I spent the day getting some new par cans ready for the pool deck. Way more work then is should have been but its kind of my own fault. I changed the plugs on the new lights from Edison to 120v twist and then later realized that they needed to be 220v twist. Oh Well, now we just have to find some color and get them hung.

"As the ship Turns"

Well as someone close pointed out, ship life is like a soap opera. Not that I would know, I never liked the shows, but I knew what she meant. This past week, actually weeks have been crazy. My replacement has gone back and forth as too if he is coming. That issue is finally resolved, he is waiting for the ship to come into port tomorrow, so that is a good sign. We have had 3 tech's quit or get fired for various reasons. So staffing is going to be interesting for a while again.

I have started my handover to the main theatre. I can't wait to start designing shows again.

I have not posted for a while, and I have had so many things that I have wanted to post but just not the time. Now that I have made myself sit down and write for a while I can't think of anything.

Oh for all of you having bad weather, sorry. It was in the 80's today in Miami. And all the sailboats for the Miami Sailboat convention was a nice site.

Lights Aren't Perfect

Port: St. Thomas
Weather: Not too bad.

Well last night I got a couple of Studio Colors in the rink fixed. One blew up a control card, man did it smell bad.

Got off the ship today and had a nice lunch at the Shipwreck. Two of the musicians played pool to see who would be called Ben and who would be called by a nickname, both are named Ben.

Our Production Manager left today, she broke her foot after the superbowl. We all wish her a speedy recovery. No word on a replacement as of yet.

I also found out that my replacement might not be coming back. Anyone want to work in a ice rink and run moving lights??? Just kidding, our office will find someone.

Show is open

Well the new show is finally open. Everything went very smoothly, the audience loved it. Not much else to say.

Today has been a funny day. Although I was up half of the night programming lights for the new ice act, I got a good nights sleep. It was good to be back in my old room, it kind of like coming home. Not much was going on this morning. We are only in Nassau till early afternoon, so no reason to really get off the ship. Now we are in the middle of the superbowl. The place is very busy. Should be an easy night.

New Show

Well its Quest night again, and once again a very empty house. Quest is an adult gameshow, very funny. But some crowds of passengers just don't come. When we do have a full house it is quite the event.

Anyway back to the new show. The cast have been working very hard blocking and doing costume fittings. Today we had two costume runs, I think they went very well. I like most of the show. Even though we open tomorrow, I like to think of it more as a preview, it still has a lot of work to be done.

Usually the carpenters and lighting designers work all night long, then they do tech's all day. Somehow they manage to fit in shows every night.

The other light tech and myself have been putting in a lot of hours, We finally have most all of the lights working. We have had a few brief moments of everything working.

I will definalty try and find sometime to post tomorrow after the new show opens, if we aren't partying too hard.

Cast Change and New Show

Well I must be very busy, it has been a little over a week since I have had some time to breath and even think about posting.

The new cast is doing good. They opened the first show at the end of last week, so now we are concentrating on the brand new show. We loaded scenery on the ship for the past three times in Miami. This show is big, but at least most of the scenery all flys.

The lighting designer are now on, so we are working with them a lot. I am on duty this week, so sleep, what's that. I have to get up at about 8am and check the music in all of the lounges, it only takes about 15 minutes. Then I do my normal schedule for most of the day, popping my head into the main theatre to see what's going on, and help out when I can. Then when the main theatre is done with shows for the night, the carpenters and lighting designers come in and start working. I am usually with them doing lighting notes till around 3am.

Next week is going to be busy also. Its superbowl, so that changes things a little bit. We have a new ice act coming and also at the same time some of the music for the ice show is changing. So we have to run the new changes with the cast, and also design and tech the new ice act into the show, all this with the superbowl taking up the normal tech time for the week. After superbowl, things should calm down.

Life Goes On

Weather: Don't know but the sea conditions are rough
Port: Nassau this morning, at sea now heading to St. Thomas

Well Saturday was a long day, well let me back up a little bit. Last week we dropped the cybers in the main theatre, turned out to be really easy. So late Friday night I got to fixing them. Its something I like doing, being by myself one with the light. Taking it apart finding out what's wrong, putting it back together. Anyway, the first one tested great, nothing wrong. The second one on the other hand needed a new lamp base, new power cord, the list goes on. By around 1 am I said that's enough, and headed for the disco. If you haven't figured out yet, I don't tend to go to the disco all that often. Just not my scene. Well because the review cast was signing off and they were all out for a few drinks I figured I should show myself. But as usual after a couple and I do mean two, I did my disappearing act and hit the sack.

I was planning on getting up really early the next day to finish the cybers, but alas a few extra hours of sleep felt good, my back wasn't hurting much. I guess all that being bent over in the catwalks helped it. So around 9 I was back in the grid. I got the last light that we had dropped fixed, easy, just a few color motors. I wanted to test the last light, the one we hadn't dropped but with all the people waiting to get off the ship I figured I would wait.

At this point it was time to help off-load the old show, the one that wasn't going in the dumpster, so that it could go to another ship. That really didn't take long, so we all scattered. I had a few hours at this point so I meet some friends for lunch in Miami.

After coming back to the ship early to help load the scenery on for the new show, it wasn't ready to come on, so I went and tested the last light. Everything worked just like I had hoped.

Eventually the new scenery came on, lots of it. I can't wait to see what it looks like.

So along with the new scenery we also got a new cast. Lots of young cast members. I have briefly meet a couple of them, very nice.

Well time for bed, early day tomorrow.

All Better Now

Port: Cozumel - Still tendering
Weather: very overcast
Got off: Yes

Well our system is finally fixed, not exactly sure what went wrong or how we fixed it. But lets just say I wouldn't want to see the phone bills. We almost had to have someone come out and fix it for us, but alas we are getting ready to do show 4 for the week, so all is good.

Back is still giving me some troubles but at least it is keeping me from sleeping all day. It only hurts when I lay down. I have tried to stretch it out, but it doesn't seem to help. Once I get moving for the day it is good.

Starting to think of what changes to make to the disco. Many lights have issues, and lots just need to be replaced. The upper management wants it to be kick ass for Europe, and he says he has the money, so lets spend some!!! Martin get ready for a big order, at least big for a ship disco. It really isn't going to be that big, but for us it is.

Next week the main theatre gets a new cast. They have been taking out the two old shows all this week in preparation for the new show. What a mess!!! They say it is the largest show ever installed while the ship was still sailing, ie not in drydock.

Well more details to come on the new show latter.

Sometimes it hits the fan

Well yesterday started off great, but just went downhill fast. Got off the ship early and went to Best buy with friends. Picked up a few little things, some for me, some for the ship. Then we took the train back to Bayside, and had a great lunch at Chili's.

Well when work finally started, I went to start the obession II, no dice. Well it hasn't been fun, we are still in the process of fixing. I will update you later.

A New Member of the Family

I got great news today that my Cousin Heather just had a baby boy a few weeks ago. What a Surprise. His name is Carter Lance Kenndy. I tried to add an image to this post, but alas the ship computer would not let this be possible. If you know me personaly and have not see his photo yet, email me and I will send it too you.

Another day, another show

I feel like it has been forever since I have posted. None the less, I can't wait till I move to the main lounge. I am getting really board with doing the same show over and over, and did I mention over again. We weren't going to have an ice show today, but we had to do the show for the people that we canceled on earlier in the week, due to bad weather. The weather wasn't really that bad, but for the skaters it was. It wasn't a steady back and forth rocking, we can Handel that, but this was just rough and unpredictable, and that is dangerous.

I started off the day around noontime trying to get things ready for the show, when I discovered that the electricians had borrowed the genie lift. Wasn't too happy about that. So I reset the scroller from the ladder.

I finally got all of my cyber light parts moved out of the pit to the candy store. That's what we call where we store all of the spare light and sound parts. Lots of parts but nothing you ever really need at the time.

No I have a break for a few hours till it is time to set up the parade and do the quest. So all of my lights have been put a way for a few days, the floor is coming on, and it is time to ketch some news for a while. Maybe I will go check out the new CD someone made at my friends Brandon.

Sea Day tomorrow, so not much to do.

Shipwreck

Well St. Thomas today. Just sitting here between shows, thinking about what new lights I want to try and order for the Disco. The Hotel Director wants it too look really good, but I don't think he has any idea how much that could cost.

Well by the time I got off the ship it was straight to the bank, ok the post office to send monies home. Then to radio shack to by a cable for the PM's computer. He got really used to my usb extender, and when I took it back he didn't know what to do.

Then off to the Shipwreak. This is a very nice bar, actually it is now very very nice. It was the first time I had been in a few years and had not seen the renovation. They did a lot of changes, but didn't change the food. The burgers are what this place is known for. They are huge.

Well after a good nap, its showtime. Two shows tonight, then DUTS. That's Dancing under the Stars. I have to set up a few lights on the pool deck. It isn't really that hard, but the lights are very awkward to carry. Then I have to show back up at one am to strike them. That's the part that really sucks.

Anyway Boat drill tomorrow. This will be the first time I will get to tell you what that is like.

Discover Boardum

Well for the first time in weeks the Shopping Show is back in the ice rink. Although I program the lights to turn on by themselves. It is still a good reason to get out of bed. Man this show is boring, but the place is packed and that is a good thing.

Working on ships is all about contacts and knowing people. I tried to get reservations to our specialty resturant, and got told that they were booked. Then I saw the manager in the bar last night, and he said not to worry, call him in the morning. Called him, not a problem.

not much today

Well today was very uneventful. Not much going on. My new room is nice, it is nice to have storage space. I think I might try and do some work in the disco tomorrow, but I have to look and see if they are doing piano lessons or not.

Miami shouldn't be cold

Well today was home port. That means we disembark (leave) all our passengers, and embark (arrive) all of our new ones. It is amazing to see what 3000 plus peoples luggage looks like in one place.

Anyway, I got up early and moved cabins, no problems.

Then I got off the ship and headed to Best Buy to spend some give cards I got for Christmas and my birthday. I got a nice Bluetooth handsfree device for my phone. Works very well.

The interesting part of the day is that Miami is having a cold spell, so it was cold as heck today, and very windy.

Anyway back in the "warm" ice rink, time to turn on the rig for the kids welcome show. Piece of cake! Then its off to setup the Parade.

Avoiding the inevitable

So today is just like any other last sea day. Not much to do. As the ice rink is booked all day with skating, it is a good time to do paperwork, and clean. Well today I have an extra project, I need to pack. No I am not going home or anything like that. I am just moving cabins. I am going to get a bigger cabin, still inside, so no porthole. I get the porthole in about 2 months. I really hate packing, but at least this kind of packing is just throw everything in a few boxes, and carry it to the new cabin and unpack again. I havn't seen this new place yet, but I will let you know tomorrow.

Game Show Time

Well it has been an eventful day. Once I finally got off my but to do some work, I finally got the studio color to work. After much trial and error, I finally found the problem. Usually when a studio color has a problem it is due to a motor seizing, or a belt braking. The unit only has 2 sensors for 6 motors, so three each. When you have problems with one sensor, it is usually one of the three motors that cause all three wheels to not work right because the sensor can't do its job. Well what it turned out to be was that focus motor was out of balance. Something I haven't encountered before, but troubleshooting paid off. It only took about 2 hours. But at least I know what to look for in the future. It might also explain some of the other problems I have around the ship.

The parade went well, except for the fact that half of the Mac 500 weren't lamped on. It took me at least half an hour to get most of the on. Some I just gave up on as we were half way throughout the parade and it only lasts 12 minutes.

Now its on to the Quest. The Cruise Director liked the powerpoint that I made for preshow. Many thanks to the sound tech for helping with the Spanish translations.

Well I think I have some ques coming up so I better get off the computer.

Ship Vibrations

Well today we are in Cozumel. As some of you might or might not know. Cozumel suffered a lot of damage from hurricane Wilma this past season. Hence all three of Cozumels piers got destroyed. I haven't seen any work being done as of yet to get them replaced, but the Mexicans work in strange ways sometimes. We are going to show up one week and they will be done. Although most of the piers are actually Own by the cruise lines and not the Mexican government, only time will tell. So ship vibrations; unlike Grand Caymen yesterday, we can not anchor here, we have to use dynamic positioning all day. This means the the big bow thrusters are going all day long and a computer on the bridge makes subtle corrections all day long to keep us in one place. Well living on deck 1 at the front of the ship, means that your room shakes and vibrates all day long.

I got a call from my friend Brandon at around 11:30, they had just made an announcement that the ship was going to let crew off. He wanted to go eat Chinese. I don't think he realized yet that we were actually tendering to downtown today not were we were a few weeks ago. I really didn't want to get off the ship today, and I also knew he didn't have any cash (too many cigars purchases), so I told him no. He had been up till four am anyway drinking like normal so I knew he was hung over and would go back to bed anyway.

So off to the mess to see what crap they are trying to feed us today. Hamburgers, yeee haaaa. They aren't the worst I have ever had, but nothing special. I tried to bring it to life with some of the bbq sauce from the chicken but it really didn't help. The French fries weren't too bad today, they tend to very.

Well I guess its time to fix a few lights. I am hopefully going to try and solve my problem of a few of the Mac 500 not indexing the same all the time. I think the patterns just need to be secured better in the light.

Talk to you all tomorrow. Parade, and Quest tonight.

Grand Cayman
Well another day, same old gig, different port. We are in Grand Cayman today. This is a tender port. That means that you can't dock the ship. We stay out at anchor and tenders come up to the side of the ship and ferry people back and forth to shore. I like Cayman, it is where I fell in love with Cuban coffee, and what better place to find Cuban coffee then at my favorite cigar store. I had wanted to get some coffee to send home for Christmas, but they have been out for a while now. They say that the shipment is stuck in Cuba. My "hookup" is heading to Havana in a few days, and will be back before the ship comes back in two weeks. So he told me he would try and remember to bring some coffee back with him, since I have been waiting for so long.

Anyway yeaterday was interesting. One of our skaters broke his ankle during warmups. So now we are short one skater. I don't think we are going to be getting a replacment, but one can hope. So for the distant future we are in a perminate reblock.

Oh if you are a bit confused by me saying skater, instead of dancer, it is because I work in an ice rink. Most large ships today have at least one or two theatres of some kind. One for large scale production shows, and one is more like a lounge. I will get into more about these things later. But on the ship I work on we also have an ice skating rink. Kinda cool, no pun intended.

Well only one show today, then I think I am going to fix a few cybers that were giving me some trouble yesterday, and maybe reopen the studio color that is being a pest. Wish me luck.

The Blog has begun.
Well I finally decided to start a blog. People are always asking me what I do, and it's very hard to answer that question. Working on a ship, can be a very hard life, and it can also be very easy. Ya I don't have to worry about rent, or if I have enough money for groceries. I was reading a friend of mine's blog today and she was talking about this being the first time she has had only one job, not running all over town to different freelance jobs. Hey I miss it at times also, for God's sake I live at my job. Not only do I live at my job, I live with everyone I work with. I live with the performers, the techs, and everyone else that works on the ship. But hey at least you always know where the bar is, and if you don't know anyone that is at the bar, you already know what they do for a living and where they live, so you might as well buy them a drink. Drinking and driving, no problem. Well I will try to post something here as often as possible to try and give you a sense of what a ship tech really does for a living. Not just what is in the trade magazines, trust me when a real ship tech reads them, we always have a good laugh.