Woke up early cause I found out there was a town hall for full world cruisers at the bright and early time of 9AM (which was unfortunate cause I slept at 4AM :D). Stumbled to the town hall to find that most of the information was old news that had already been communicated via multiple different channels, and we didn’t even get to real Q&A because people kept asking specific questions during the presentation portion.
I get it, but also, I could’ve slept in….sigh.
Cruise Perks
One of the perks that was pretty exciting was that they added the juice bar from some of the newer ships since they were a hit, so since I was already up, decided to go try one of the juices. Started with the Apple Mint today, and making my way down the list.
It was actually QUITE delicious. The first sip, I was already blown away by how great some fresh juice is in the morning…really hit the spot, so I ended up chilling for a couple minutes enjoying by myself at the back of the ship with a little bit of breeze.
Enrichment Talk
Less annoyed that I was awake after the juice, decided to catch Jessica Nabongo’s talk about her book, travels and general observations and advice. It was really neat that Royal Caribbean purchased books for us all (I assume for the full world cruisers), and we were able to hear her share her stories and journey.
Particularly liked the part about people being generally good and also that we’re more alike than we are different (spoiler alert…also why I enjoyed the new Luminous show at Disney….which might be a controversial take that I thought it was great…).
Flipped through a couple portions of the book and it was a pretty fun read, I’ll crack it open more when I have some down time.
MORE Cruise Perks
There was some chatter on one of the many facebook groups / chats, that there were books to track walking and stamps and stuff…and knowing how much I like a good collection / challenge, I just had to go check it out.
Turns out the rumors were true, and all full world cruisers are on a list to get one of the books (no idea why they didn’t tell us about it…).
Books are pretty neat, and have a ton of fun little goals to try to achieve that align with each port. I’ll have to add it to the little collection of journals I have with me :).
More Relaxing
After picking up the book, I was feeling it, so went back down, and took a very very long, glorious nap. Woke up and walked over to the front of the ship and there was no one around, so got to just sit and enjoy a cocktail for a bit.
Side Project
With all the random tech I upgraded for the cruise on Black Friday, I had a bunch of rewards certificates to use, and the week before the cruise, I was walking through a store and saw a compact printer, so decided to throw a flyer at it and see how the prints worked.
To my genuine surprise, the thing is super small, fits pretty well, and I was able to get it onto the ship no problem in my luggage (space wise). I tried out a couple prints, but it definitely will work. I’m also just fascinated by the tech itself.
Will probably print some post cards whenever there’s a particularly cool shot or update to send. Thinking about opening it up to general availability if people are interested….I can set up a patreon (I think it should be pretty easy) to just cover postage and supplies, and might be a fun way for people to keep in touch…just mulling the possibility though.
Comment or reach out if you are interested in prints!
Setting up the printer
Printing a postcard
Finally, the FOOLISHNESS
Remember my conundrum about the laps on deck 12, and the running track not seeming to add up? (See yesterday’s post for context). Well, I decided that there had to be a way to MEASURE the track. So after asking the staff, decided to just not bother them, and I pulled out my 6 foot charging cables.
First I checked the length of the cable to figure out where the 6 feet actually is on the cable. My first theory was that the 6 feet, is between the head to head of the cable (ignoring the actual usb-c part). I doubled th cable twice, and figured that that should in theory be 18 inches (6 feet = 72 inches, 72 inches / 4 lengths = 18 inches / length). Then was trying to figure out what could be 18 inches, thought about one of my laptop screens, then it hit me that I had just printed some postcards which were 4 x 6 inches. Turns out my hypothesis was right, and 3 postcards end to end was the length of the cable (without the heads).
Now, with my pseudo verified length of cables, I needed to wait till there were less people up on the deck to do my measuring….so I waited till after dinner. Tried to use the Go Pro, but full disclosure, I haven’t really looked back at the footage….it might be complete garbage…but I laid each cable end to end (minus the heads) and scooted my way down the track…I must’ve looked SO RIDICULOUS.
All in all, turns out that there were almost exactly 66 lengths of usb cable for 1/2 of the track (both sides are symmetrical, and I worked up QUITE a sweat just shuffling on my knees (which somehow got a blister :D), and then switching to standing and squatting every so often. So the final measurement was…
66 lengths per 1/2 lap = 132 lengths per lap
132 lengths x 6 feet / lap = 792 feet per lap
It was drilled into me how many feet are in a mile…not because of school or my math(ish) degree(s), but because of one of my favorite movies…
(5280 feet / mile) / (792 feet / lap) = 6.66 laps / mile (what a nice coincidence). I knew where the 1/3 and 2/3 points on the lap were by using the same measurement and conveniently on the lap there’s a small white electrical box on both sides of the track that denote that point.
So final numbers — 20 laps = 3 miles (so 6 laps = 1 mile is very short, but 4 laps = 1 km is still slightly short). A 5K is 20 2/3 laps.
Used these new numbers to run a relaxed 5K after measuring, and the pace lined up with my general pace (off ship).
That’s all for today’s #nerdcorner. Also, there were SO many 6’s in that analysis….
Entertainment Update
A couple oldies playing all over today. Walked into Into the Blue circa 2005, which I’m pretty sure I own on DVD somewhere, but almost burst out laughing at the resolution of the screen, it’s been a long time since I saw a movie so close to being a square.
While I was measuring and running the track, they were playing Moonraker, and I had flashbacks to playing 007 on my Nintendo64 at many a sleepover growing up. Good times….good times…
Food
Food was excellent again, as it was a formal night…I threw on a polo, long pants and shoes (gasp) so I wasn’t completely ridiculous in flip flops.
Escargot, lobster and shrimp, rack of lamb and baked alaska to finish it off.
I have a special place in my heart for the rack of lamb, as the very first time I had lamb was on a cruise many many years ago as a child, and fell in love with it.
Vibe Check
3 parts joy
1 part disgust (for measuring the track to find it IS short)
1 part anger (for having to wake up so early so needlessly)
TIL – Today I Learned
I’ve always seen the elevators have the nameplate on the floor, and I’ve always just ignored it, but someone in the elevator today was commenting about how they change it out everyday to the new day of the week.
I don’t know why, but for some reason, I thought each of the elevators had different names, and there was a monday elevator, a tuesday elevator, etc. it never occurred to me that they change…hilarious, and dying. I think it’s because I’m so bad at keeping track of days of the week anyway, that I never noticed…
Matti 
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