Author: Eugene

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Cruising

This past weekend I got to experience my first cruise on Royal Caribbean‘s Monarch of the Seas (henceforth known as “Connie’s Ship”). Since the ship is being sold, this was our last chance to cruise on her ship before it left Royal Carribean’s fleet.

Getting on the ship is a lot like getting onto an airplane. You check your bags, check in, wait for boarding and then get on board. On the cruise ship though, you can unpack things and relax while it takes you places. On a plane, you’re just cooped up waiting to get to the other end. On the ship, there’s always something to do, or you can just sit around and do nothing.

Food on the ship is plentiful, to the point where no matter what time of day it is, you can find something to eat somewhere on the ship. Lots of places to explore on the ship and the staff make sure there are lots of activities going on. In addition to being a first cruise, I got to climb a rock wall for the first time, had a first taste of caviar, sampled some new foods, and visited a new place. Food was pretty decent and the buffets offered a nice variety of food, snacks and desserts. I definitely ate more than was probably good for me.

I think what I like most about cruises is the forced disconnect. There’s no cell service out in the middle of the ocean, and using the ship’s satellite internet service is too pricey to make it worthwhile.

Looking forward to going on more cruises.

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A tale of Three Crowns

Crown Royal Original, Black and Reserve

Three bottles of Crown Royal. The left bottle is regular Crown Royal with the distinctive purple bag. In the middle is a bottle of Crown Royal Black with a black bag. On the right is a bottle of Crown Royal Reserve with a gold bag.

I’ve never been a huge drinker, but the bottles of CR Black and Reserve were just calling out to me at the duty free liquor store on the ship, so I figured “What the heck”. It is, after all, the nectar of Hoo.

Some time soon, I’ll do a side-by-side taste test and see what my not so discerning palate thinks about these three varieties of CR. I’m really interested in seeing how Black and Reserve compare to the original.

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QSL cards!

The QSL cards arrived! I think they came out pretty awesome.

A stack of AB4UG QSL cards
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Vacation blogging to come

The past week was a pretty great vacation, starting with a cruise on Royal Caribbean, a quick visit to Kennedy Space Center (yay annual pass) and finishing with touristy things in the historic part of St. Augustine.

There are a few hundred photos to go through and several cruise and vacation related blog posts tumbling through my head. Lots of stuff to do over the next few days as I get used to non-cruise life again (can’t seem to find that buffet anywhere, and Ronald has stopped bringing us bread!).

Stay tuned for photos and blogs.

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T-7 months

At some point about a year or so ago, I started following Connie/NR4CB on Twitter. Not long after that, I discovered she was a math geek, and also a licensed ham radio operator. I also learned she was one of Heather‘s friends and also the godmother of her kids.

Hey, I like math, and I’ve been interested in learning more about ham radio. This made Connie instantly more interesting, so we started talking more on Twitter.

We made plans to meet up at the Atlanta Hamfest, because it wasn’t all that far away and it was a good opportunity to meet up in person before she got to the Charleston part of her road trip.

The meeting at the hamfest went well. We were very comfortable being around each other and just hanging out together. We soon became a thing, Connie finished her road trip, and moved to Charleston.

Being the introvert that I am, there aren’t very many people I want to be around for any length of time. With Connie, there’s never any time I don’t want to be around her. It’s a very different feeling, but one that I enjoy.

Over the past 5 months, we’ve become best friends, great partners and a really good team. There’s plenty of love, and just as important, we really like being around each other (no small thing for a pair of introverts).

Now, in 7 months, we’re going to get married.

Nothing big or flashy. Just a small event with the people we really want to be there. A small, low profile ceremony, and then spending the rest of our time together.