So on that note...
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
Going back to my comments on Kevin's predictions..
I'll take the time to make my comments.
1. I disagree with you. Dumbledore is dead. He will still have a significant impact on book 7, but he is dead. Not certain on the methods he will be impacting (pictures, ghosts, penseive, etc.), but he will be. Rowling
has already said in multiple interviews that Dumbledoor is dead and that she does not bring back characters.
Yup... he stayed dead
2. Yes, Snape is a good guy. It will be apparent in book 7 why Dumbledore begged Snape to kill him.
Yup... good guy. While this was the first point that I remember Rowling showing this level of emotion with Snape, she does continue with her general theme of love and loyalty conquer all.
3. I agree... Harry will live
Um... yes, he is alive at the end of the book. I had wondered more than once through Book 6 if Harry was himself one of the horcrux. I guess that answered it.
Your others (and maybe some of mine)
1. WTF?!?!?!? What are you smoking? [comment on Kevin's comment]
2. Hermione will live (can't kill off the main female.) Ron, I'm sorry to say, is toast (he will sacrifice himself for Harry, I think. He's already shown he has a tendency to do this [game of wizard chess in book 1])
OK... this one was 50% right.
3. Mr. or Mrs. Weasley... I was wondering that one myself. I think it is a possibility. However, if she is killing off Ron, I don't think she will also kill off one of the Weasley parents. Either Lupin or Moody then becomes the next likely subject.
Second line up was right on the money. It's kind-of hard to say how far down the line one can go when Rowlings comes out in an interview and says that she will be killing off two main characters.
4. Snape dying. Hmmm. I don't think so.
OK... completely wrong here. I suppose in a way he needed to die to appease the "Snape is evil" crowd.
5. A "good" person? Has she done something to show that she is not a good person? Perhaps you mean that she will rise above her current character and do something more heroic and help Harry out? [more comments on Kevin's predictions, though if anything, this book made her appear more needy and whiny.]
I am wondering if she is going to have Harry and/or others tracking down and destroying the other horcruxes over the course of this book. It seems like that is the direction that she was going, but if she does, is she actually still going to have the book set at Hogwarts? (Harry did say he wasn't going back...) Who is RAB? (I think it is Sirius's younger brother, but is he really dead -- the younger brother, not Sirius?)
A lot of stuff seemed to be just glanced over. Yes, RAB was Sirius's brother; so let's got get the amulet... I am glad to see that she stuck with Harry's plan of not going back to school, and gave a valid reason (even if it kind-of puts forth the idea into the impressionable youth of "go ahead, drop out of school".)
One thing that does bother me a bit is Draco. Books 1 through 5, Draco is a fairly important character to the storyline. Book 6, his character is still important, but he is not there nearly as much (while he is researching how to sneak others into Hogwart's and kill Dumbledoor.) This book, he is nearly non-existant, though I suppose since the book focuses almost exclusively on the main three characters and their fight against Voldemort, that is to be expected.
Now I guess all that remains, is to see what happens to the world of Harry Potter now that Rowling is done with it.
- Location:home
- Mood:
accomplished
IN 1987, Chet Fleming (pseudonym) was issued a patent for “keeping a head alive.” Mr. Fleming was an engineer and patent lawyer who became obsessed with the notion that scientists were about to develop a life-support system for severed human heads. He believed that this technological breakthrough would alter society more profoundly than the Industrial Revolution. In order to spark a public debate, he patented a cabinet that provides physical and biochemical support for an animal’s head that has been severed from its body. After being thoroughly tested on research animals, the patent suggests it might also be used on humans suffering from various terminal illnesses.
Fleming’s patent, U. S. Patent No. 4,666,425, was revoked two years later.
US Patent 4666425 via google
- Location:work
- Mood:
bored - Music:none
... of Night Elf ears. It has to be. I saw the group of hogs running through the exhibit and immediately thought that it had to be what the computer artists were looking at when they drew the first night elf in Warcraft.
 | You scored as Captain Jack Sparrow. You are definitely quirky and often mistaken for mad but if anyone is truly paying attention they can see there is method to your madness. You try really hard to be bad but in the end you tend to do the right thing.
What kind of Pirate are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
- Location:work
- Mood: hungry
- Music:none
You are the crispy noodle in the vegetarian salad of life.
So much could be written on that fortune/proverb alone...
By the way, Grindhouse is a good movie. The extra trailers are good (I REALLY want to see Werewolf Women of the SS now...) I liked Planet Terror better than Death Proof, but both were pretty good.
- Location:work
- Mood: hungry
- Music:none
The Picto-Personality Test When alone, you appreciate being able to do nothing if you want to, and setting your own pace for things. You are romantic, and when you are with your partner you like to woo them with your imagination. In the future you will be wise and healthy. |
| Take this Test at QuizGalaxy.com |
- Location:Gaming in Des Moines
- Mood: cheerful
Also have the two pictures that turned out decently of Rosy's 30th birthday party.
| You Are 68% Evil |
 You are very evil. And you're too evil to care. Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot. |
- Location:work
- Mood: bored
- Music:none
We were at Michele's parents, and her sister's co-worker brought a cat over for her sister, and decided to bring a litter of kittens over to see if any other them would disappear before going over to the Humane Society. When Michele saw them, this kitten ended up coming with us because it looked like the spawn of our two existing cats.
If only my allergies would adapt to the third cat. :-(
tired
You are The Hermit
Prudence, Caution, Deliberation.
The Hermit points to all things hidden, such as knowledge and inspiration,hidden enemies. The illumination is from within, and retirement from participation in current events.
The Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You prefer to take the time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.
The Hermit represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who can shine a light on things that were previously mysterious and confusing.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.
- Location:work
- Mood:
depressed - Music:none
Statistically the 17th most popular first name.
99.68 percent of people with the first name Paul are male.
There are 35,996 people in the U.S. with the last name Huber.
Statistically the 962nd most popular last name. (tied with 86 other last names)
- Location:Work
- Mood:
apathetic - Music:None
Heard about this guy. Almost got me to register to vote. If I would have found his site, I actually might have.
For those not sure which way to go and thinking that there just aren't enough pirates running for office...
As usual, I'm REALLY bad with names. Feel free to remind me who people are where I don't have them.
Thinned down to include only 2/3 of what I took!
Ships, ocean views, bikinis, stingrays, turtles, Grand Cayman, Cuba, Mexico, Belize,Mayan ruins, alligators, T.A.O.N.S.*, and More!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/templa
*Towel Animals of Normal Sizes
(With something like 9 days for thought, reflection, and forgetting....)
Woke up back in Florida. :-(
Most people had to have all their packing done and have their luggage outside the rooms before midnight last night. Since we have an "early" flight (shortly after noon today) we can do self-assist (rather than them taking out luggage out, we do it).
We did pack our luggage last night, got up early today to get a little breakfast before the day of travelling. We took our luggage of and got to stand in line for about 30 minutes. Once at the terminal, we saw a line snaking around and I saw hope flying away, but one of the customs officals came over and said, "Oh, you have a free hand, you can come this way." What???? It turns out that the line was for the elevator. As long as your luggage left you with a free hand, you met the safety guidelines for being able to take the escalator. Rather than the huge line for the elevator, it took us less than 5 minutes to go from the edge of the ship to the bus which was already waiting. I pulled out a book and started reading, and 15 minutes later we were on our way to the airport.
I looked up when I heard a scream, someone on the bus said "Look out!", and we apparently hit a curb and the driver slammed on the breaks. We had just crossed a divided street and were about to head up the on-ramp to interstate, when a guy heading down the street going the wrong direction (against traffic). The car hit us, spun around 180º, and then either hit or just missed another pole and the column holding up the interstate overpass. The driver of the car got out and started wandering around the street. One of the bus passengers was a vacationing fire fighter, so he put on his badge on quickly went out to help the man and take control of things out there until the police arrived. He later told us that, aside from shock, the guy had two or three broken ribs and a broken arm, and was on his way to a funeral. The bus driver's arm was bleeding for several minutes (the car hit right there), and the woman who was sitting behind the bus driver banged her arm pretty hard but at least at that time was just holding an ice pack to it. Damage to the bus? The front maintenance panel was down, so there may be some damage that was missed, but otherwise the fibreglass was cracked, paint was chipped, and there was a small dent. In some ways, its probably better that he hit the side of our bus than another car coming head-on. The police took all our names and addresses, as did the bus company; we got a new bus and proceeded to the airport.
At the airport, it started to dawn on me... in the Disaster Scenario Rule of Three we were missing something. We just had a car (land) crash. Earlier in the week, one of the tenders (tendors?) ran into our cruise ship (no damage), so we has a ship (sea) collision. What were we missing, now that we were at the airport, getting ready to fly home? At the ticket counter, Tampa has reduced their number of human staff and replaced them with computer terminals. Normally, I'm for this type of thing (ignoring the loss of jobs discussion.) We scanned our ticket -- not found. We tried to manually look up the info -- not found. Since we were holding up the lines, they offered to help us. She couldn't find it either. It was just as well, since we wanted to change flights to avoid the 7-8 hour layover in Cincinatti. She tried getting us an earlier flight out of Tampa and a connection to Atlanta, but it was sold out (which was what my searching the previous week had told me as well). She put us on the flight which left at the same time as what out tickets said, but a completely different flight number to Cincinnatti, and then got us a much earlier flight to Des Moines (the same flight that I found the previous week, but would have cost us another couple of hundred per person to switch to).
Made it through security -- regulations were lessened while we were at sea. I was not hasseled about my liquid prescription medications in my carry-on this time, which did not have to be hand searched this time. Incidentally, I while re-packing my carry-on, I found an item that was illegal in my carry-on for the first flight that they missed in the hand search. I'm not sure what I could have done to the plane with my camera lens cleaner, but I'm sure it was not good. ;-)
We landed in Cincinnatti without incident and made it to our terminal (Michele did have a baby kicking the back of her seat the entire trip, and a mother shaking a rattle for the baby most of the time as well). There they announced the boarding of a flight to South Carolina, then its delay, then its boarding, then its delay for repair, then its longer delay, then its plane replacement. When they finally got to leave, it was about an hour and a half late, and it was through the gate that had finally shown our flight. Hmmm... Our flight got a boarding call shortly afterwards. We went through the that door, but then were re-routed down the hallway to the repaired plane. I'm feeling a little ripped off here... and that sense of doom is coming back again.
We did make it to Des Moines without incident as well. Got out luggage without problem. Kevin and I never manage to directly connect on the phone, but he was busy avoiding the traffic accidents that he was watching. Got our car back from him, dropped off the Olympus Stylus Verve (underwater camera) with Steven Larson, and made it back home to cats that were both alive (thanks Jerel and Lannia) and seem to have missed us greatly.
Photos taken: 7
(With something like 10 days for thought, reflection, and forgetting....)
Another Sea Day
The entire day spent heading back toward Florida. Hard to believe that the cruise is already over, even though some parts have seemed rather long.
It was nice not setting the alarm for once. I woke up and not having much else to do went out on the balcony for a few minutes until the smoking neighbor drove me inside. Rather than being good and updating the blog, I booted Civiliation III and was going to play the Mayans, but I realized that the Mayans weren't an option, so I had to settle for the Aztecs (who were at least in Central America).
Over the course of the day we made it up to catch alligator wrestling (where an inflatible alligator and a voluteer wrestled in a pool, with the winner being determined by the audience.) There was also the anti-scavenger hunt (I don't remember what it was really called.) People were supposed to gather stuff into a bag and take it to the Phantom Lounge and then gather into your color teams (red, white, or blue) and let everyone know what you had. Then the entertainment directors would ask for an item, and if someone happened to bring that item, a team member had to grab it and run it up to the stage. I helped out by providing 40% of 5 shoe laces.
Lunch was something not to be missed. The main restaurant for lunch is a cafeteria-style place, where you get a tray and select which foods you would like. Their food prep area is in the center, and then there were four areas to choose from, each one having different food selections -- Chinese, deli, American (ham, mashed potatoes, steak fries), and rotations, plus a dessert area and a salad area. By rotations, I mean that every day that station had a different food. The last day, this station was sweets and chocolates. All sorts of sugared this and carmalized that and a chocolate dipping fountain. YUMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmm. There really does need to be more warning that you gain weight on cruises though.
Our final meal in Bacchus was less pleasant. The food seemed great and all, but something apparently disagreed with me. Just before dessert arrived I had to excuse myself and didn't feel well for the rest of the night. I think it was the chilled mango soup with pineapple chunks. It tasted OK, but I've never been a huge mango fan.
Back in port "tomorrow"....
Photos taken: 46
(With something like 11 days for thought, reflection, and forgetting....)
This was another day for exploring Mayan ruins. We were back in Mexico -- Costa Maya this time. This really says something for the power of the American economy, though whether is says something good or bad, I'm not sure. This part of Mexico, to my understanding, really had small villages and not much else until the cruise ship industry said "We'd like to stop... here. They built the dock and customs area, and tourism sprang up around it.
This was our first and only destination that we could actually WALK from the ship to land, though the dock so so long that it was nearly a 10 minute walk. Once on land, there were the usual "Take you photo with the natives dressed up like Mayans and then come back later and pay WAY too much for it" stops. Although I did not see it, another cruiser told me that nestled among the tree tops between the buildings was a soldier with a machine gun.
The trip to Chacchoben was much shorter. The guide joked about the poor Mexican economy, and we drove over several Mexican speed bumps (the 4-5 inch diameter ropes used to tie cruise ships to the pier, left strung across the road to slow people down). There was more than one dog sleeping right on the road as well.
These ruins were in better shape than the ruins at Xunantunich. I found at that was because these had more extensive work done rebuilding them. Archeologists had left something marking lines across the pyramids to denote what was the original remaining structure and what they rebuilt. This site was also one where archeologists entered one of the pyramids and found that it was a solid structure -- filled with rubble and build on top a a very well preserved smaller pyramid. Finally, one of the pyramids had enough protection through the centuries that some of the original, exterior paint still remained. It looks a bit plain now, but it was kind of amazing to be looking at 1500+ year old "house paint."
We made it back to Costa Maya with several hours before the ship left. (Incidentally, this was the ONLY excursion where I did not feel rushed...) We did some shopping and when back to the ship to drop stuff off and put on swimming suits, and headed back to the mainland for the pool. There is a huge pool there, surrounded by the shopping area, and flanked by two, swim-up bars. It has a really nice view of the sea (complete with its "No Swimming" signs). We hung out there for a while before going back to the ship.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful -- relaxing, reading, sleeping...
Photos taken: 112
Port of destination today was Belize (the country formerlly known as British Honduras). Our tour was for a partially excavated Mayan city (Xunantunich) about a mile from the Belize/Guatamalan border, making it over a two hour trip from the boat.
Getting out there was not what I had expected. I had expected to be sleeping and/or reading for two hours. Instead, the tour guides actually talked and answered questions the whole time, filling us in about Belize and its culture for most of the trip, and then the Mayans, and their history and culture once we got closer.
Xunantunich was great. There currently are only four buildings that are partially excavated. Most scholars estimate that it is only about 10% excavated. The largest temple is partially reconstructed and fortified to allow guest to climb to its peak. From there, you can see where other buildings lie covered by dirt and trees. I think it was an excellent intro to tomorrow, which is another Mayan city (whose name slips my mind at the moment) that is much more excavated and restored.
Leaving Xunantunich and getting back to the town outside where we were to meet the bus, the local police had shown up. We were told that this should be expected, but it was still a bit surprising to see people dressing in camoflage gear and carrying assault rifles. I thought about getting some pictures, but decided not to just in case it was something that might upset them.
Back on the boat we rested for a bit and then decided to go to the "fancy" dining instead of normal supper -- Nick and Nora's. I lost track of how many courses the meal covered. We were present with complementary appetizers that came before our appetizers, then salad, bread showed up three times, the main meal and sides, dessert, followed by an additional complementary mini-dessert. We were both stuffed when we managed to waddle out of there. Even now I feel stuffed. My 24 oz porterhouse steak was one of the best I've ever had though...
Pictures taken: 67
Today's port of call was Cozumel. Our excursion, rather than being on the island of Cozumel, was on mainland Mexico, outside of Playa del Carmen. We went to Xcaret, which is a bit hard to explain. I've been told it is a national park. It has several animals similar to a zoo, though most of the animals are not in cages, just kind of designated areas that you can walk to within a couple of feet. They also have exhibits on mushrooms, orchids, and stained glass (none of which we got to see.) On the water side, they have a long underground river that you can float though with lifejackets or snorkel through. (The temperature today I'm told was close to 100 degrees, and the water temperature was in the 70's -- it felt very nice!!!!) This place also has a swim with the dolphin program, but its prices are way up there, and neither of us really wanted to swim with a dolphin anyway. (If it were swim with a sea turtle, I'm sure Michele would be right there.)
We ate lunch at the park, at an outside park overlooking the ocean (and all 4 cruise ships at anchor since the peir was destroyed last year.) We decided we were on vacation since we had a drink that was served to us inside a hollowed-out pineapple that had fruit stuck to in making it look like a face. I think it was called a Pai Ai.
Leaving Mexico, I got to see my first instance of police officers walking around carrying SMG's. A bit on the scary side...
We got back on the boat and tried to get on stage for Game Show Mania Round 2. Both of us submitted our names to be drawn as contestants for a mock game show in which the goal was to answer trivia questions based on TV and movie sound clips. I think there was only 2 questions out of nearly 50 that either one or the other of us (if not both) did not know the answer to, but alas, neither one of us was selected to participate.
Supper was followed by a quick visit to the Mad Hatter's Lounge for adult karaoke. Michele sang a song. I flipped through the book and debated for too long.
Did find out while flipping through channels that, if the video is to be believed, Carnival does not dump anything into the ocean except processed food for the fish. All other materials are either incinerated or taken back to the docks for recycling even though maritime law says they could do otherwise.
Photos taken: 94
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