Day 112 April 25 (sea day)

The usual morning. Tai Chi, Vantage - we discussed a number of things. We spent some time talking about the political situation in a number of countries and unions (yes, I did open my yap about this) and education (more yapping - don't you love the guy who says spending more money won't necessarily improve the situation - I didn't hit him. He is right, of course but that is beside the point. Not spending more money will pretty much guarantee a continued status quo or even worse, degradation of the situation. I realized that each state has its own situation and since he wasn't a Texan and I was we might not be thinking of the same problems.) There was a lecture at 11 about coral reefs. Then trivia. We tied for first but lost in the tie breaker. Who knew the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas had 5005 rooms? The other guys guessed 5000. Almost as good as the other day when Ron hit the answer, $40,000 right on the head. (If I didn't share that, the question was about how much money an airline (I think) would save in a year by providing one less olive for drinks. Amazing!) Only one more trivia day. I will miss that. But I will be able to watch Jeopardy for the first time in four months. That will probably help.

Some of the Grand World Voyage passengers are taking offense at the interlopers in our midst. We debarked about 300 passengers in NYC and they were immediately replaced with new ones. Some of them are going to Ft. Lauderdale and others will stay onboard as the ship goes through the Panama Canal and up the west coast to Seattle where it will begin Alaska trips. The problem is we think of this ship as our home and these people have come into our home uninvited! Well, that is the way some feel. I have been welcoming the new ones aboard. They're pretty easy to spot. First they don't look familiar, second they are confused about which way to go to get somewhere (we all go through that at first) and last they have these big eyes as they look around. Pretty hard to miss those cues. I understand the attitude by my shipmates but it isn't the fault of the newbies that we're finishing up our cruise and they are just starting. The trip to Seattle is said to take 21 days. "That's not a real cruise", said Ann. Here's a secret. This was Ann's first cruise. No compassion for the newbies. Tsk, tsk. She is usually much nicer to people. I think she may be getting cranky.

Right now I'm in the middle (literally) of packing. I've got stuff to be shipped piling up on the couch, stuff to be checked at the airport on one bed and carryon stuff on the other. I'm slowly emptying out drawers, closets, etc and sorting. Hopefully I'll be done before bedtime or I may have to sleep on the floor.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to send one more email when I have reached San Antonio to let you know I'm back in Texas and share any adventures I encounter along the way.

Cheers!

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