Hurricane Irene is coming.  It’s gotten lots of coverage, and by the time it reaches my area it’s expected to be a Category 2, transitioning to a Category 1.  While Annapolis isn’t on the direct path for the storm, we’re close enough that they’re projecting up to a foot of rain and a storm surge up to 4 feet high, which has the potential to do a lot of damage.  It also has the potential to produce some really interesting imagery.

I’ll admit it: I’m kind of a weather geek.  The last time I encountered a named storm, I was taking pictures and videos of stuff that wasn’t even that exciting.  I was stuck on watch, and it was the best I could do in weather that was barely a tropical storm by the time it reached me.  This time it’s likely to be different.

So, I’ll be posting pictures, videos, etc. throughout the storm.  Some of it could be awesome, and some might only be awesome to me, but I’ll at least have fun doing it.  Check back periodically for updates.

I’ll also be live streaming during portions of the storm, which you can watch at my live page.  I’ll post on Facebook and Twitter when I’m going to be turning on the stream.

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

0032 EDT

The power is still out.

Monday, 29 August 2011

0910 EDT

Obviously the storm has passed without much incident. Still no power in my neighborhood, so last night I fell asleep to the sound of crickets and generators.

Given that we haven’t had power since around 2000 on Saturday, I haven’t been able to get any of my videos uploaded. I should be able to get them put up today though, since my office has power – and my new work computer comes today!

I’ll update this post (likely for the last time) later this afternoon with videos and pictures that have not yet been put up.

Sunday, 28 August 2011

1202 EDT

Power is still out, which makes it difficult to upload imagery. I’m going to take a nap and then start cleaning up the yard. Pictures and live streaming will ensue. Stay tuned.

0939 EDT

All clear. Lots of trees down and debris, but no damage to our property and only minor damage to friends’ property.

I’ll be posting pictures and videos of the aftermath shortly.

Saturday, 27 August 2011

2308 EDT

Laying on the couch in the family room, listening to wind & rain pounding the house. Sleep now, updates in the morning.

2023 EDT

Somebody has started playing bag pipes outside O’Loughlin’s in the wind and the rain over the sound of a generator.

1934 EDT

Power is out on the Broadneck peninsula.

1909 EDT

Here are a few videos I took less than an hour ago.

1730 EDT

After some television and a nap this afternoon while the mellow part of the storm came through, it’s finally starting to build and we’re seeing some stronger winds and rain. I’m planning to venture out and get some pictures & videos. I’ll also be doing some live streaming shortly. I’ll be updating on Facebook and Twitter when I’m live streaming.

1202 EDT

My first video of the storm, shot outside my house.

1036 EDT

The rain has started.

0948 EDT

Eye on Annapolis has a page they’re updating as well.  Annapolis area residents should watch their info.

0936 EDT

Still not raining yet, but the wind has definitely picked up.  I went down the street to make sure our neighbor’s boat was secured, and then came back and did some final prep around the house.  Now we’re just waiting for things to start.
Once the wind and rain really starts, I’ll get some pictures and videos to share.

Friday, 26 August 2011

1710 EDT

Here’s the latest satellite imagery of Irene:

The weather outside remains warm and beautiful, though it’s increasingly humid as the tropical air is pushed north.  We’re prepared with water, food, charged batteries, radios, first aid kits, flashlights, candles & lamps, rain gear, full gas tanks, and some clothes pulled together in case we have to leave.

What are others doing to prepare for the storm?

It’s that time of the year again: Blue Angels at the Naval Academy.  Every year the team of stunt aviators comes to Annapolis during Commissioning Week.  It’s a highlight of the season for Annapolitans, and massive crowds line the banks of the Severn River to watch the show.

You may remember that I streamed the event last year.  It went so well I decided to do it again this year too!  You’ll be able to view the stream & chat at my LIVE page.

The Blue Angels start at 2PM ET on Wednesday, May 25 2011.  I’ll start the live stream at 1:45PM.  Mark your calendar and enjoy the show!  Also, be sure to check my Facebook & Twitter pages for any updates.

Update (May 23): The Blue Angels have cancelled this week’s show due to safety concerns after a show in Virginia this weekend.  You can read about all the details.

I continue to be grateful to and flattered by the massive outpouring of support and voting during the course of the contest, and I hope that everyone who helped me try to achieve this goal understands how much I appreciate their efforts.  It’s been truly amazing to see such a huge group of people helping me.  Thank you.

Congratulations to all the entrants who made it through to the last stage, it’s been a pleasure competing with you, and talking BMWs with you!  Congratulations to the winner, and good luck!

I’m looking forward to seeing what things I do next, and am glad to have such a large group of supporters!

Update: For those that are curious, here’s the email:

Dear Ultimate Blogger Contestants,

Thank you so much for your interest in the competition and your incredible enthusiasm for the Endras BMW brand and the role of our Ultimate Blogger. It was a pleasure to meet you during your interview and see your passion for BMW. We had so many worthy candidates for the role of our Ultimate Blogger – all of you were obsessed with BMW, had a true passion for the brand and many of you had excellent ideas on how you would take hold of the position and promote Endras BMW. After interviewing all of you, we truly realized that any one of you could have filled the role and therefore it was a really difficult decision to choose just one of you.

We wish we could have hired all of you but as you know, we can only hire one Ultimate Blogger so I am pleased to announce that the Endras BMW Blogger is Alexander De Clerck (username Alexotics) from Vancouver, British Columbia. Congratulations, Alex!

Mark and I would like to thank all of you for participating in our competition and we do hope to stay in touch with all of you. BMW fans are a true community of enthusiasts and we sincerely hope you continue to fuel your passion for the brand as we do every day.

Thank you so much.

The Westboro Baptist Church picketed this morning at Meade High School.  As I discussed in a post the other day, they based today’s demonstration on claims that the school has a large number of homosexual students.  When they announced their intentions, a surge of counter protest movements fired up, and the result was impressive.

We got there around 6:30am and were already there was quite a crowd.  The police closed off the road where the protest was being held, and kept the WBC & counter protesters on either side of the road.  There were 5 or 6 people from Westboro Baptist Church:

Which was dwarfed by the crowd on the other side, which must have been at least 500 people.

There was plenty of press coverage, both of the counter protest:

And of the Westboro demonstrators.

While the signs held by demonstrators from Westboro Baptist Church were offensive and inflammatory on their own, the thing that perhaps made people the most infuriated was their dancing on the American flag, often smiling while doing so.

My mom made large signs which got quite a lot of attention, and I thought conveyed a great message of peace and tolerance,

But perhaps the license plate on the car next to ours described the entire situation best.

One thing’s for certain: as frustrating and bothersome as the WBC’s message may be, they managed to bring together a community in a peaceful way around a common cause of respect and affirmation of positive feelings toward people of all races, genders, creeds and sexual orientations – all of which were well represented this morning.

You can watch all my videos from the protest in the playlist on my YouTube channel.

This video was taken by John Frenaye of Eye on Annapolis:

Starting this weekend, April 9-10, I’ll be a news correspondent on Bob’s show Motor News Weekly.  The show is part of the Talk Radio Network and airs on hundreds of stations nationwide.  My spots will be 2-3 minutes long and will cover the week’s automotive headlines.  I’m very excited about this new adventure & all that it has to offer!

The show airs at 11AM Eastern on Saturdays & Sundays on your local Talk Radio Network affiliate.

Here are the key points for this round:

• The voting starts Monday, April 4 at 10:00AM Eastern
• Voting ends April 22 at 11:59PM Eastern
• You can vote for me once a day at the usual place, cconover.com/ubvote
• The top 10 people from this round move on to the final event: interviewing at Endras BMW in Toronto!

I’m not going to embed it here, for a couple of reasons: first, I’d like people to watch it on the voting page to ensure that they remember to vote.  Also, there are easy Share buttons right from there to post it on all of your social networks. Since the contest has ended, I’ve embedded the video here.

Thanks to everyone who’s been supporting me, please keep it going and let’s make it all the way!

Teaser: I recently discovered that I have a famous relative from radio, who’s a part of the video.

Once the video is posted I’ll need to get votes, just like we’ve been doing for the past few weeks, to get into the top 10 for round 2.  The top 10 candidates will then go to Toronto to interview.

I’ll use this page to update my progress throughout the weekend, so bookmark this to see how things are going!

Note: if you happen to be in the Annapolis area this weekend and would like to help out with the video production at any point, feel free to contact me.

Saturday, April 2 12:19AM

Here’s the email I got from Endras BMW with the rules & restrictions for the video:

Dear Ultimate Blogger Contestant,

Congratulations! You’ve made it to Phase II and you are one step closer to becoming the Ultimate Blogger.

You now have exactly 48 hours to submit your video for Phase II. As soon as voting  for this round begins (April 4 at 10:00 am ET) your votes will be reset to zero and the voting period for your video will commence.

Please read the following guidelines for Ultimate Blogger – Phase II very carefully and adhere to each. Failure to comply with these guidelines will result in the removal of your video from the site until the issue is rectified.

• Video must be submitted by April 3 at 11:59 pm ET.
• Failure to submit your video by April 3 at 11:59 pm ET (without proof of technical difficulty or proof that failure to post was at no fault of your own) will result in immediate disqualification.
• Video must be a minimum of 60 seconds and a maximum of 90 seconds long.
• Videos must comply with the rules and regulations of the contest (please see the site for a reminder if necessary), and cannot contain profane or inappropriate material. The definition of profane and inappropriate material is at the discretion of Endras BMW. Any videos that are deemed profane or inappropriate will be immediately removed by administration.
• Videos MUST prove why you are the best candidate for the Ultimate Blogger position, your obsession with and knowledge for BMW, and your obsession with performance.
• All contestants must confirm receipt of this email with a quick reply.

To submit your video, upload it to YouTube and email the YouTube link to ****************@endrasbmw.com by 11:59pm ET on April 3.

Good luck with your videos. We can’t wait to see them!

Ultimate Blogger Administration

Let’s do this, see everyone in the morning!

Saturday, April 2 12:42AM

I just received the following email from Endras:

Hello Contestants!

We have noticed a slight mistype in our Phase II guidelines email.

The previous email contained the text:

Video must be a minimum of 60 seconds and a maximum of 90 seconds long.

While it should have read:

Video must be a minimum of 60 seconds and a maximum of 120 seconds long.

Thank you and good luck!

Interesting.

Saturday, April 2 8:05AM

I’m up & moving, let the brainstorming begin!

Sunday, April 3 1:40PM

All footage has been shot, editing has started and we’re making good progress.  The video should be posted in a couple of hours!

Monday, April 4 10:00AM

The video is posted, and voting has begun! Go to cconover.com/ubvote to watch it & vote for my entry!

But it’s not over yet!

There’s another round of voting coming up, and everyone starts back at zero!  At this point it seems fairly safe to say that I’ll be in the top 20, which is the requirement to move on.  This weekend I’ll be putting together a video to demonstrate why I’m the Ultimate Blogger.  By the end of Sunday that video will be posted, and the race will be on.  I’ll be asking once again for everyone’s votes to put me in the top 10 video entrants.

Keep an eye out for information from me over the next few days on how the video voting stage will work and when it’s time to start getting those votes in & spreading the word!

Thank you so much to everyone who’s been helping and supporting me, let’s keep it going!

Vote for me!

You can check the leaderboard here.

I’ll also put up a PDF of the original article, as well as a scan of the article in the actual print paper when it comes out later today.

Update: take a look at the PDF of the article.

Here’s the text of the article:

Hopefully we’ll see a nice bump in votes from this!

If you want to check out all the details about the contest, check out my post with all the information.

However, there are plenty of things I’d like to share that don’t lend themselves to a full article but have as much value as the wordier stuff.  These could be one or two paragraph opinions, interesting things I discover in my travels, quick tips, etc. – things I could easily post in just a few minutes, which as a result could mean I’m posting a whole bunch.

That’s why I’m adding a new section to my site, called “Short Stuff” where I can put exactly these kinds of posts.  Things put in Short Stuff will show up on their own feed, and won’t show up in the main feed.  As of right now they’ll still show up on the home page mixed in with the regular posts, but I’ll track any effects of this & decide whether to change that in the future.  They’ll also be shared on all the social network sites where you see my posts currently, so if that’s where you get my content from then you won’t miss anything.

You’ll be able to find all the Short Stuff section at christiaanconover.com/short.  You can also subscribe to the Short Stuff feed.

Update: I’ve decided it doesn’t make sense for Short Stuff posts to show up in the main blog listing on the site, so they’ll only show up in the Short Stuff section.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been an entrant in a competition called the Ultimate Blogger.  When I submitted my entry & started promoting it, I figured I’d get a respectable number of votes, but it would be a ludicrous understatement to say that about what’s actually happened.  Within a couple of days I’d managed to grab 2nd place and pass 1000 votes.  At this point I’m a little more than 2 weeks in & have almost 4200 votes, putting me in 3rd out of nearly 500 entrants!

I’ve been in second place up until this morning, when an entrant suddenly surged to the front of the pack at a rather astounding rate (somewhere along the lines of 5000-6000 votes in less than 12 hours).  Regardless, I’m still doing very well with a significant lead ahead of the folks behind me, and my votes continue to climb steadily.

Don’t forget, you can vote once a day per IP address, so please do so!  You can vote by going to cconover.com/ubvote and clicking the “+1″ icon on the right.

Since this post is being written on March 2, that means we’re officially less than a month away from the end of this stage of the contest!  Despite feeling like forever at first, the time is actually going by pretty quickly, which is exciting.

I’m also doing a daily video update on my YouTube channel about the contest, so be sure to check that out.

Thank you to everyone who’s been voting & spreading the word, I’m very grateful for all the support!

I don’t typically like to do things like ask for votes or otherwise campaign for my own stuff on this site, but this one’s pretty big and I need your help. You see, Endras BMW in Toronto is running a contest to find a blogger to hire full time.  In addition to the opportunity to try out a new & unique experience, the perks list is pretty significant.  Plus, it’s great exposure & opportunity to make connections as I work to establish myself in this industry.

Folks who read my blog (which I assume is you, since you’r reading this) know that I’m skilled in writing, and readily interact with my readers.  I’m sure it’s also very evident by now that I’m obsessed with cars & have an especially strong love for BMWs.  I even do a show every week about them!  That’s why when I came across this contest that Endras BMW is running, I realized this would be perfect for me.

As I mentioned, they’re looking for somebody to hire as a full time blogger for their dealership.  The winner will be hired for a year, receive a $65,000 salary, a free condo in downtown Toronto, a new BMW every 6 months, and get sent to a bunch of events, drives, promos, etc. all over the place!  Talk about a sweet perk package.

I’ve applied, and now I need votes to move forward in the competition.  In order to move on to the next round, I need to be in the top 20 applicants.  If you’d be so kind as to vote for me, I’d very much appreciate it.  Who knows, I might just win!  If so, party in Toronto at my place!

Voting lasts until April 1st for the first round, and you can vote once a day per device and/or IP address.  So, if you have multiple computers, a smartphone, an iPad, your work computer, etc. feel free to vote on all of them!  As the old saying goes, “vote early, vote often!“

Update: I’ve made it to Round 2, be sure to vote for my video!

Here’s the text of my submission:

This is the moment I’ve dreamed of all my life. Not just since the first time I sat behind the wheel and felt the unmistakable rush of forward movement, of limitless potential and raw power waiting for me. This is a passion that started the first time the thunderous shout & titillating lines of my neighbor’s Corvette called to me like Jessica Alba in a swimsuit; from the toy car that was my inseparable fixation for the first years of life. While other kids were playing cops and robbers, I was designing the world’s fastest, best handling and most innovative racecar out of Legos. This goes beyond a fascination with suspension and 1-2 shifts – for me, this is life itself.

All this flies through my mind as I ease the M3 into 1st, revving the engine and feeling the rhythmic pulsations of 414 thoroughbred German stallions whinnying with a sound like the Boston Pops. Time to focus as 3…2…1…I’m off! Fast through the revs and up through the gears, then back down as I slow for Turn 1, and as I come out the other side after the perfect apex, I realize: I was born for this.

Vote for me in the Ultimate Blogger contest

The stream is freely available, and you can watch it on the Al Jazeera English YouTube channel.  It’s lower on the page, to the right of the channel info block.

[Photo: CBC]

How is this different from the blog on this site?  Think of it like the difference between writing a letter & sending a text.  The blog on this site is more of the polished, curated side of my personal content publishing.  My Tumblr will be the text message-like side of my stuff, where I post up short, quick things I want to share.

In addition to being able to follow it directly through Tumblr, you’ll also see my Tumblr posts show up on my Twitter feed, Facebook fan page & the RSS feed associated with cconover.me.  So if you’re already following me in any of those places then you’ll be seeing my Tumblr stuff automatically.

Police Scanner Feed

Listen to the live San Francisco Police Department scanner feed right here via UStream (audio feed provided by Soma FM)

Download PLS file for use with your own media player.

News Feed

KRON is broadcasting live footage from the streets of San Francisco on their official UStream channel, which you can see here.

Twitter

Follow the following hashtags: #SFRiot, #sfscanner

@Stammy is tweeting highlights from the police radio traffic.

Here’s the first video I’ve done using the camera.  The entire thing was recorded at a 24p frame rate (like you see in films) at 1080p high definition, and then was downcoded to 720p high definition when I exported the final copy.  It’s a pretty basic video, but it does a good job of demonstrating this camera’s capabilities & gives me good practice.  Enjoy!

This was in the parking lot this morning as I was walking into work, and I couldn’t help but notice that one special word on the trunk lid: “DIESEL”.  Is this really a MINI Cooper S convertible with a Diesel engine, here in the U.S.?  The only Diesel MINI I know of that’s slated to come to the U.S. is the Countryman Diesel, which isn’t supposed to show up until early next year.

Does anyone know anything about this?  Is this a legitimate Diesel MINI, or just somebody’s personalized paint job that coincidentally rings some bells?

Update: turns out it’s just a reference to car being a “tender” for the owner’s boat and is NOT a diesel, as per the comment he left.  Case solved.

Anyway, the video begins at the end of the mooring row at Boothbay Region Boatbard and ends at our dock on Boston Island.  Pretty much perfect weather.

For the past two weeks I’ve been using Grooveshark exclusively for music.  I initially learned of & heard good things about the service on an episode of This Week in Google and figured I’d give it a try.  After all, it’s only $3 a month for unlimited streaming so what did I have to lose?   Well, after using it for 14 days not only did I not lose anything, but I’m totally sold & hooked on streaming vs. downloading.  Why?  Well, for a number of reasons.

First, convenience.  I don’t like spending time cultivating my music library, or copying songs to my phone, or fixing file tags.  I love listening to music, but I still consider it to be a secondary activity that I don’t want to dedicate a lot of time to.  By extension, I don’t like spending time downloading new music.  So to have  millions of songs available, already curated & managed and waiting for me to decide on a whim that I want to listen to them is ideal for me.  Pretty much anything I can think of to listen to, I can find.  I also don’t enjoy using iTunes as it seems to be increasingly bloated & resource intensive.  Plus, I don’t have to store all those songs on my computer & phone, which brings me to my next point:

Peace of mind.  Anyone with a sizable music collection on their computer is aware of two things: all those songs take up a lot of space, and it takes a lot of time to acquire & maintain.  I have about 25GB worth of music on my laptop, which I’ve accumulated over the course of 6 or 7 years.  It’s nice to have all that music in that I have a lot of variety, but about 70% of that music I probably haven’t listened to in at least a year.  So why bother taking up that much space on my computer?  Plus, with that much time & money invested I have to spend additional money & effort to ensure that it’s all backed up, or risk losing all of it if my computer fails.  None of this is very appealing.  By using a streaming solution, none of this is an issue.  I don’t have to store anything – just a little bit of software to access the service, and there’s nothing to back up because it’s all kept on the streaming servers, which is much cheaper – which leads me to my final point: price.

The cost of a single song from iTunes in 99 cents.  The cost of a VIP subscription for Grooveshark is $3 a month, and even cheaper if you opt to be billed annually (I didn’t only because I wanted to have some time to decide whether it’s really worth it before committing for a year).  So for the cost of 3 individual songs, I can listen to unlimited songs.  There are other services out there that do streaming such as Rhapsody or Napster, and they’re a little more expensive but still much cheaper than buying all that music.  Music is expensive & at more than a few songs starts to become a luxury expense that isn’t important enough to me to pay.  Streaming is very affordable, and fully satisfactory to me.  Since I have a Droid & unlimited data over 3G (and I’m very rarely ever outside the coverage of either 3G or WiFi) it’s very practical for me to rely on an Internet-based solution for my music.  Between Pandora & Grooveshark, I have no need to store any music on my phone or computer at all.

Now admittedly, there are some disadvantages to streaming.  You do need good bandwidth to enjoy smooth playback.  You are kind of SOL if you’re in a place with no connection available (though Grooveshark does allow you to store songs for offline use on your phone, as long as your subscription is active), such as a plane or the subway.  Also, your music is at the mercy of the streaming provider.  However, with the increasing proliferation of broadband & Internet connected mobile devices the drawbacks are becoming less & less noticeable.  It also seems like a much more appealing distribution method for record labels, since it reduced the convenience & appeal of pirating, and still ultimately gives them some control over the content.  It’s pretty much a win-win.

So I’m totally done with downloaded music.  I’m planning to copy my stored music onto my server at home in an archive, and then delete it all from my laptop.  I’ve already removed it all from my phone (freeing up a sizeable chunk of memory), and have replaced the native music player widget on the home screen with the Grooveshark widget.  I’ve totally switched over to streaming – and couldn’t be happier.

Would you (or have you already) stopped downloading in favor of streaming, or are you unable to bear separating from your iTunes library?

The iTunes logo is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.

As it got closer the lightning & thunder became much more intense.  At one point, the lightning & thunder went off at the exact same moment (indicating they were directly above us) with an intensity I’ve never heard before.  It frightened a couple of members of the family, but it just seemed like a lot of light & noise with no consequence.  It wasn’t until a moment later when we went into the kitchen and my dad shouted “holy shit, the shed is on fire!” that we realized it was more.

Before I go any further, let me paint the full picture for you.  Boston Island is about a mile from the closest point on the mainland, and we have no electricity or running water on the island.  We haul drinking water, we use oil lamps & propane for light, heat, cooking, etc. and we collect rain water for showering, dishes, and other water needs that don’t require potable water.  If we need electricity we have a small generator that we keep in the shed, but we rarely use it.  The island is only accessible by boat; there are no ties to the shore whatsoever.

As I heard my dad shouting this a very interesting thing happened, something which hasn’t happened to me before in a real-life situation: I reacted from what felt like instinct, due mostly to the training I’ve received from the Coast Guard & Mass Maritime.  We immediately went out the back door of the house & up the path to the shed, and as I got closer I started running down the checklist of things to do when dealing with a fire: assess the area for people who could be trapped/injured/otherwise affected, determine hazards in the surrounding area, identify an egress route, try to determine the class of fire.  As I reached the shed door, keeping low to avoid the smoke coming out of the door, I quickly realized this was a fuel/paint fire (a Class B, for those familiar with basic firefighting).  The first thing I made sure to do was tell my father & sister who came out as well NOT to put water on it, against their own instincts.  I also told my father to stay outside the shed, well clear of the door as I ran back to grab the dry chemical fire extinguisher from the house (I realize that it was an oversight not to grab it on the way out the door, but a learning experience as a result).

I came back a few seconds later with the extinguisher.  As I was going out the door of the house with it in my hand, I remember saying out loud what I needed to remember about this extinguisher – again, information & technique that I’ve drilled on many times in training & I now fully understand why – pull the pin, grab the hose, approach the opening to the shed staying low, get about 6 feet from the flame, aim at the base of the fire & discharge the extinguisher, sweeping across the base to ensure full coverage until the can is empty.  Within a second or two of discharge all flames were gone, even the ones on shelves above the base of the fire which was on the floor of the shed.

My sister had gotten the other extinguisher from upstairs in the house which she’d handed to my dad.  As he went to discharge it I made sure to instruct him to aim at the base & stay right outside the door of the shed (about 6 feet from the base of the fire).  Once this can was empty we took a bucket of water my sister had filled & poured it judiciously on the base of the fire, making sure not to splatter any of the original fuel while cooling the area.  We did this around the entire part of the shed near the fire.  I went back into the house to get some wet towels & remember instructing my father to stand by as reflash watch, and my sister to fill every bucket she could find with water from the rain sistern.

For the next hour we continued applying water throughout the shed until everything was cold.  We took turns monitoring the area & within 2 hours the only indication of the fire was the smell, some blackened wood & burnt paint cans, and the mess from fighting the fire.  It was at this point that we realized a) how much unbelievably worse it could have been (the entire house is made of wood & connected to the shed by a wooden path, and the rest of the island is woods), and b) how lucky we were to have reacted so quickly & effectively.

We all took lessons away from this experience, but the biggest one for me was the value of effective training & continuous practice and drilling.  I’ve grumbled about excessive fire drills in the past, but now I fully understand why we do them and how important they are in saving lives & property.  Without the knowledge I’ve gained in the past few years, I may very likely have been writing a much more somber story today.  I owe a lot to my instructors both at Mass Maritime & in the Coast Guard, the most important of which is the health & safety of myself and my family.

Beyond my technical training of basic firefighting, a more important honed skill kicked in: the ability to stay calm & think clearly.  Given all of the circumstances out on this island (no utilities, no access to public fire departments, limited training among residents, limited firefighting equipment, etc.) it would have been very easy to slip into a state of panic, resuting in potentially catastrophic damage.  However, my training and ability to maintain a level head, as well as those around me, enabled the rest of my knowledge to prevail & prevent further loss.

I’ve included some pictures of the shed & contents that I took this morning as we were cleaning up, including the damage inside the shed, the mess of dry chemical powder, water, paint & other substances, the burnt paint cans, and all of the other materials that were spared thanks to the dedication of teachers I’ve had, the knowledge I’ve gained, and the quick response & teamwork of my family. I also have the full gallery.

Our property is called Boston Island, and it’s located north of Southport in the Sheepscot River.  It’s a 24 acre island, and our family owns 19 of that (though nobody really cares about property lines, and there are only 3 other families that own land).  I’ve been coming up here all my life, and given that I’m an Army brat it’s one of the few places I can really call “home”.  It’s where I learned my love of the water & boating, and of seafood (especially lobster!).

So keep an eye out for posts throughout the week of stuff from the island, including videos.

Now this is the story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I became screwed by a store called Best Buy.

Based on the title of this post and its apparent topic you may be thinking that I’m being melodramatic or overreacting, but I am not.  You see, the incident that has incited this post involved my cell phone, more specifically a smartphone.  Even more specifically, a Motorola Droid.  I’ve had the phone since the day it came out (November 6, 2009) and absolutely love it.  Not only is the device itself amazing, the service I get on Verizon both for voice and 3G superb, but I have come to rely on its capabilities as an integral part of my day-to-day operations.  In fact I would argue that my phone and my car are the two most important possessions I have in terms of necessity for getting done what I need to.  So here’s what went down.

Yesterday (Saturday) my phone’s screen stopped working.  Thinking perhaps the software had locked up (primarily because it’s the simplest issue to fix) I removed the battery, reinserted it & powered the phone back on.  Signs of life – the backlight for the screen & buttons lit up, the haptic feedback was working, the touch sensor was apparently working – were evident, the only problem was the actual display was not showing a picture.  I was annoyed & frustrated, but wasn’t overly concerned because I have a Best Buy “Black Tie” protection plan on my phone which covers this sort of thing.  After drill I headed over to my local Best Buy to seek a replacement device (based on what had been explained to me at time of purchase of the phone about how the protection plan works).  The girl that helped me was very friendly & professional and things seemed to be going well…until they suddenly weren’t at all.  After about 5 minutes she asked me if I’d like to use a “loaner phone” which confused me.  I asked her why did I need a loaner phone?  Wasn’t I going to be receiving another phone since I have a protection plan?  It was at this point that I was informed of what the real policy apparently is: any device brought into Best Buy covered by a protection plan must be sent out for servicing, repaired if possible, and if not possible the customer will be authorized to receive a new device, all of which is at no additional cost to the customer.  Admittedly a reasonable policy; after all, why not fix the device if it can be instead of just throwing out a potentially perfectly good phone?  Makes perfect sense to me.

Here’s where things start to make much less sense.  I ask about the time frame for repair, to which the Best Buy employee responds that it could be anywhere from a few days to a month, and that typically after a month the customer is automatically authorized a new device.  I was pretty annoyed by this possibility, especially given a previous experience involving a 5 month turnaround time (after being told it would be no more than 30 days) for my laptop at one of Best Buy’s, now out of business, close competitors.  However, if Best Buy was willing to provide me with a loaner device to prevent me from being noticeably impacted by this incident during the repair time then I was willing to live with it.

The next question & subsequent answer are what broke the deal.  I asked the Best Buy employee which phone I’d be offered as a loaner.  She looked it up, and informed me that it would be the Verizon Blitz.  I was at that point unfamiliar with the phone, but when it was shown to me I was not pleased.  This is a simple feature phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, built & reviewed as a competitor to th LG EnV2, the phone I had upgraded from when I bought my Droid in the first place.  It was running basic Verizon firmware with no real capabilities beyond phone calls & texting (neither of which I do from my Verizon number anyway).  Given that my clients understand and expect that I am almost always available via email, which I rely on heavily for my business, and a number of other things I need my Android phone for that I’ll explain later on, this loaner phone would be simply insufficient.  When I explained these facts to the person helping me (and I’ll reiterate that she was indeed helpful & professional and doing what she could) and that by not having the services I rely on available to me it could impact my business, she told me that this was all Best Buy could provide me and that she wouldn’t be able to do anything about that in her position.  Displeased with this answer and not being willing to put out $150 for use of a phone as equally insufficient to my needs as old ones I already had at home to use, I thanked her for her time, kept my phone and walked out.

At this point more deeply frustrated than I had been when my phone first stopped working as it now seemed the service I had been paying for was not going to be serving me fully, I decided to go to the dedicated Best Buy Mobile store nearby to see if perhaps they’d be able to give me a loaner phone more logically suitable for a smartphone user.  This endeavor yielded the same result, same dialog with an employee, and additional expression of regret that Best Buy wasn’t able to help me more fully.  I was now moving past the point of frustration and starting to actually get mad, which as anybody who knows me well will tell you, is a notably rare occurrence.  This should indicate even more the importance to me of my phone & its abilities being available.

At this point I did my best to place a phone call to a close friend for some advice – obviously not an easy task given that my touch phone’s screen was not working.  He suggested I go to the local Verizon store and inquire about effecting an exchange since the phone is less than a year old and is still under manufacturer warranty.  I did this, and worked out a solution with Verizon.  Problem (almost) solved.  They are shipping me a phone which should arrive tomorrow.

So now that we’re all up to speed on the back story, I want to clarify my issues: first off, I have no complaints with the individual employees I dealt with, and in fact have good things to say about them.  So for any Best Buy representatives who are hopefully reading this, please take note of that last statement as one of the most important in this post.  They were as helpful as they were able to be in their positions, and displayed nothing but professionalism and courtesy.  This issue has nothing to do with them at all, and the only reason I even made mention of them was because it was necessary to provide the context.  My issues are with Best Buy the company and its policies regarding customer service and support.

As stated above, the policy of sending phones out for repair rather than automatically replacing them is reasonable.  I understand why that would be desirable as it likely costs much less than a new phone.  In fact, I’d rather have my current phone repaired as it apparently has a keyboard unlike any other Droid: the individual keys are raised & much more textured than the typical Droid keyboard:

I’ve spoken with a number of other Droid owners I know and none of them have a keyboard like mine.  The employees at Verizon and Best Buy all said that mine is the first one they’ve seen like that, and they’ve seen many hundreds (at least) I’m sure.  I very much like the keyboard on my Droid and would be happy to keep it if possible.

That Best Buy feels it to be acceptable to provide smartphone users with no option as a loaner other than a generic feature phone with very limited capabilities is very much unreasonable.  I am heavily reliant on my Droid on a daily basis, and I’m sure I’m not as much of a power user as many, many other customers out there.  To give them a poor substitute as a stopgap is at best frustrating, and at worst disrespectful and insulting.  To the customer it implies that Best Buy assumes it is in a position & has the right to decide whether the needs a customer has for their device are worthy of a comparable device, or whether they can afford to be “out of reach” from certain forms of communication for an apparently indefinite amount of time.  I can think of few better ways to quickly elicit infuriation on the part of the customer than for a company to disregard its customers’ wishes and presume to know better what will suit a person’s needs without any options should the customer disagree.  It is perhaps this apparent arrogance, conscious or otherwise,  that exasperated me most and left me with such disdain.

So I propose this: to start with, Best Buy should re-evaluate their priorities in terms of customer service.  Let’s be honest: when it comes to brick and mortar electronics retailers, Best Buy is the only big game left in town now that Circuit City is out of the picture.  If anything this should mean Best Buy should be working harder to keep good standing with customers.  Given that Best Buy deals in the technology market, a large segment of their customers are probably more willing to buy off the Internet than in person than many other markets.  Compound that with the often lower prices you can find online and you can start to see why Best Buy’s customer experience should be paramount in their strategy.  If we narrow down to the mobile sector, Best Buy is also in a good position.  They carry phones from all major carriers, and offer things like instant rebates instead of the mail-in ones that are slow and a hassle, and also tend to have lower prices than the carriers’ official stores.  All of these bode well for Best Buy.  However, as smartphones become increasingly common and in demand they should be accommodating customers willing to pay the premium for these devices, instead of demonstrating to the customer that they are not that important after all.

Second, re-structure the protection plan.  If they already are willing to offer loaner phones, go all the way with it.  I’m not saying they have to offer the top-of-the-line devices as loaners.  Perhaps offer a Droid Eris to all Droid lineup users.  The phone would be cheaper for Best Buy to purchase for use as a loaner, and would allow the customer to stay productive through the repair.  Plus, they could keep the phones in circulation for a limited period of time, then sell them as open box at a reduced from full retail price.  This might be very appealing to those customers who don’t have a protection plan on the phone they just broke, and could potentially draw in additional customers who may otherwise go directly to Verizon or another carrier and now have the option of saving money on a replacement, and make them satisfied Best Buy customers as well.

All of this should be doable – better yet, has to be doable.  Mobile is the fastest growing segment of technology in terms of adoption – does Best Buy really want to alienate the “high rollers” of that sector?

Compare this to auto insurance: let’s say I happen to be the driver of a 7 passenger vehicle because I have a wife, 4 kids and a dog, and I need that vehicle to transport my family.  Something smaller won’t be sufficient for me to get the job done.  So let’s say one day I’m driving down the road and I get hit by somebody ignoring a stop sign – in other words, my car is now damaged & possibly totaled through no fault of my own.  Luckily, I have good car insurance with a low (or no) deductible.  Better yet, I have rental coverage so the insurance company is going to give me a loaner car for the time it takes to either repair my damaged car or replace it if mine is totaled.  Sounds great!  Except the only car the insurance company can offer me is a 2 seater subcompact.  Nevermind the fact that it will never be sufficient for the things that I have to do each day (what am I going to do, tell my kids “sorry, I can’t take you to school until the insurance company fixes or replaces the car”?), and that I’ve been paying each month for my insurance to keep me on the road in case just such an accident occurs.  There’s just nothing they can do for me because the rental company they use either doesn’t have any comparable vehicles in stock for use as a loaner, or because maintaining the inventory is too costly.  How long am I going to be a customer with my insurance company, or how likely will I be to ever use that rental company in the future?  You can bet your end-of-year bonus I’ll be insurance shopping while my car is still being evaluated, and the second I have either my car or a replacement back in my name neither company will see a dime of my money again, and I’ll be sure to tell my friends & family about my experience.  Better yet I’ll tell all my clients who happen to defer to me for advice on these sorts of decisions since my job is related to those industries (that analogy is relevant to me personally as well, but I won’t even elaborate on that right now).

I was very satisfied with what I understood the Best Buy protection plan to be and felt comfortable & secure in using my phone in a variety of situations without fear as a result – until it was time to make a claim on it.  The experience has left a bad taste in my mouth, a flavor I’m not at all interested in trying again unless the recipe chances noticeably.

However, I am still open to discuss this situation with Best Buy and come to an amicable agreement and resolution.  If that can be done than perhaps I’ll be more willing to consider making future purchases (and making that recommendation to friends, family & clients).  So if any Best Buy official is interested in trying to save a client, and possibly many others as well, feel free to contact me about it.  Just don’t expect a very rapid response as I won’t be near a computer for a few days, and for obvious reasons I’m currently not getting messages anywhere else.

While I was undeniably disenchanted and fired up while writing this, all accounts of events and information given & received are true to fact.  Nothing was embellished, exaggerated, or otherwise skewed for dramatic effect.

Photo courtesy of Andy Feliciotti

Every year, the Blue Angels put on a demonstration during Commissioning Week, over the Severn River right next to the Academy grounds.  Not only does it draw the guests of the graduates, but thousands of area locals descend on the banks of the Severn to watch the Blue Angels perform their incredible aerobatics.  I’ve gone a few of the 9 years I’ve lived here, and it’s always exciting.

This year I happen to have the ability to share it with others out of town.  I can broadcast live using the UStream app on my Motorola Droid.  The Blue Angels demonstration starts at 2PM ET, and I’ll be broadcasting from the U.S. Naval Institute building on the Naval Academy grounds starting around 1:30PM, which you can watch right here.

Visit my live stream page to view the event

Last night’s BMWCCA National Capital Chapter social turned out another beautiful restoration: a 1956 BMW 502 Cabrio with a 2.6L V8.  The owner actually has his own BMW shop and is very experienced so the end result is pretty much perfect.

The 502 was first launched in 1954, and took the title of Germany’s first post-war V8 car.  It achieved a top speed of 160km/h (about 100 mph) and was reported to be Germany’s fastest sedan in production.

More photos after the break.

For anybody whose car model has a date that matches (for example, anyone with a 528i would be associated with May 28), I’ll make a celebratory post on that day.  Then, if you have a car for that date, post a link to a picture of it in the comments.

Let’s all give our cars honorary birthdays, and celebrate them!  I mean, why not, right?

If you’ve got a 330 of any variation, post it up in the comments.

Initially I was enamored with Facebook, and spent many hours in the summer of 2007 on the site wasting time.  Once I got to college I again spent time on Facebook “friending” all my new classmates & learning about them (Facebook creeping).  I’ll admit that it was a useful tool before arriving at college to see names & faces of people I’d soon be in school with as it helped ease the transition by creating repetoire with people before meeting them face-to-face.  I didn’t really use it much beyond that though.  The occasional wall post or photo comment, but that’s about it.

Then I discovered Twitter in October of 2007, mostly by stumbling across the blog of Paul Stamatiou after he was listed in a blogger awards voting poll.  I saw his Twitter feed in the header of his site layout at the time, and clicked on it because I was curious about this thing he had embedded that was a seemingly live stream of posts from Paul.  I created an account (@cconover) and started playing around.  I was almost immediately hooked.  I started tweeting pretty regularly throughout the day from my phone (old flip phone at the time, so one way with Twitter via SMS) and kept it open pretty much all the time when I was at my desk.  I was drawn to the brevity & simplicity of it, especially as a contrast to Facebook.  In fact, my Facebook usage declined even further the more I used Twitter.

I quickly started finding people to follow both in the tech world, and in the maritime industry since I was totally wrapped up in it at the time.  Having a military background with my family & upbringing, and planning to enter the military myself, Twitter had yet another appeal to me: true equality between all users, regardless of real-life status.  That’s not to say that Facebook doesn’t – to an extent – offer this, but since Facebook is supposed to be an extension of your real-world self it doesn’t do quite as good a job.  With Twitter, there’s no space to exert authority because A) the 140 character limit doesn’t allow it, and B) nobody cares.  Twitter is purely about content and people’s thoughts & the sharing of those thoughts.  No games, no quizzes, no photo albums – just quick, concise messages to people who care, and the ability to send & receive instant feedback from anybody on those thoughts.  All this drew me into Twitter – and further away from Facebook.

Over the next couple of years it pretty much remained that way.  If I wanted to share something interesting, I’d put it on Twitter.  If I wanted to talk to a friend about something in real life or look at pictures from a recent party I’d go to Facebook.  The division of time was/is very imbalanced however.  In November 2009 I got my first smartphone, a Motorola Droid.  Now I could interact with Twitter and Facebook from anywhere.  Guess what happened?  I set up my Facebook account on the dedicated app, and then barely touched it.  I set up my Twitter client, and it runs in the background continuously and is the open app much of the time.  Same reasons for this as I listed above: Twitter is quick, easy and direct whereas Facebook is large, more complex and bloated.  I love using Twitter on the go, but if I have to interact with Facebook I’ll usually just wait until I get home because it’s not worth my time when I’m out.

Facebook’s privacy issues and their apparent business policy bothers me too, perhaps more than their actual site and interface.  In December when they made changes that left many users completely open to the public with little or no informed consent it caused an uproar, and rightly so.  Moreover, it was just one of a handful of privacy incidents Facebook has faced.  This isn’t to say that Twitter hasn’t had its share of security or privacy breaches, but let’s consider the implications of data sharing/hacking on Facebook vs. Twitter.  Facebook is built on the premise of sharing personal information of all sorts with other people, presumably ones you know in your personal life.  Twitter is about sharing (for the most part) public data with some people that you do know, but usually with more people that you don’t.  So if Facebook publishes your data publicly, not only is there much more at stake but it’s in total conflict with their experience model.  Twitter, on the other hand is built on the expectation that anything you provide them (except for maybe your email address & password) is going to be completely public unless you explicitly choose otherwise.

Facebook, in my mind, is untrustworthy.  They collect large amounts of personal data, store it on their systems under their control, and do all of this with disturbingly little transparency as to how they operate.  They demonstrate little regard for their users’ interest and far more in how that user-provided data can benefit the company.  The many allegations made against the company’s founder about theft & unethical business practices only make matters worse.  It’s enough to make me delete my Facebook account – except…

The problem is there are many people I’m friends with on Facebook that I’m not connected to in any other place.  These are people I went to school with in 6th grade over 10 years ago that I hadn’t spoken to, or in some cases kind of forgot about, until I found them on Facebook.  If I delete my account I’m severing ties with people I want to stay in contact with but only have the means through Facebook.  Plus, and this is a more minor issue but still very relevant to me, I’ve come to rely on Facebook as part of my user experience on my Droid.  Facebook integrates seamlessly with my phone, providing a contact picture for every address book entry I’m also Facebook friends with, displays Facebook friends in my contact list as long as they provide a phone number on Facebook, and even shows their Facebook status in their contact entry listing.  Some of these features are more valuable than others, but the point is I’ve come to rely on them and losing them would be significant.  So I’m stuck in a very frustrating position.

Here’s the bottom line: I use both services, though in disproportionate amounts.  While I like Twitter more each time I use it, I end up loathing Facebook more with each passing day.  It’s become massive & bloated, and I don’t trust them, but at this point I can’t do without them.  All I can hope is that some other service can start to take market share from Facebook in a way that gives me the opportunity to migrate away – that is, of course, unless the untrustworthy folks at Facebook don’t lock up all my data to prevent that.  So you can find me on Twitter, but please don’t make me visit Facebook any more than I have to.

What are your thoughts?  Do you dislike Facebook, or do you still think it’s great & hope it’s here forever?  Are you more active on Twitter, or some other network?

This brings me to the second part of this post.  Since deciding to start this podcast the wheels of creativity & inspiration have been turning.  Anybody familiar with Leo Laporte and his TWiT network are aware that he has a large lineup of high-quality talk shows regarding various aspects of the tech world, with engaging guests who do weekly programs on their topics.  Many of his programs are niche topics, such as “This Week in Google” or “Macbreak Weekly” and go in-depth on their respective subjects.  I’ve been thinking that an automotive netcast network with a similar model would be really cool, so I’m very seriously considering getting this going.  I don’t have many details figured out yet, but it’s got real potential and I’m excited about it so I’m going to pursue it.

Update: RoundelTable has moved to the Wheelspin Network.  The show’s new page is at wheelspin.tv/rt and is on Twitter @WheelspinTV.

Update: My BMW Twitter account is no longer active.  I decided that it was counter productive to compartmentalize my various interests on Twitter, so I’ve consolidated back to my original, primary Twitter account.  Please follow me @cconover.

More pictures are on my Flickr account.

Also, as you can see the design of the blog is still under development. I’m creating some custom graphics for it, so it will improve.

Update: I’ve merged my BMW-specific site back into this site, so it’s business as usual around here.

Our current plan keeps us on track for arrival at the pier at 0743. We’ll
be transiting the canal twice on Sunday morning, once going Eastbound, and
once going Westbound. We pick up the pilot on the Buzzards Bay end of the
canal around 0400, head East through the canal to Cape Cod Bay, turn
around in the Bay, and then head West to the State Pier. I’ll be on watch
0000-0400 tonight, so I won’t be on the bridge during either canal
transit, but I may find a place to put the SPOT for the trip. Otherwise,
you can track us on www.marinetraffic.com either by searching for the
vessel name, or by monitoring the map in the canal area.

Based on our trackline on the ECDIS, we won’t have cell service much
tonight, so I wouldn’t expect to be able to talk on the phone with your
cadet until tomorrow morning. As a reminder: SeaWave accounts should be
cancelled after cruise is over to avoid paying the $5 monthly minimum fee..
This can easily be done either onboard the ship while we’re still
underway, or at home by going to http://my.seawave.net and logging in with
the username and password from the ship. If your cadet has been using
SeaWave this trip, I’d recommend checking with them to see if they
cancelled their account while on board.

On a personal, and somewhat bragging (at least I admit it) note, I am the
recipient of the Master’s Award for the second year in a row. My room
mate, 3/C Joseph Connor, is also a second year recipient, which is pretty
cool. Congratulations to Joe and all the other Master’s Award cadets.

I’m going to sign off for now (for the last time on cruise), and go pack.
I’ll do a final “summary of cruise” post once I get home and can add some
pictures and other extras. I’ve enjoyed maintaining the blog again this
year (however less frequent than last year the posts were), and hope that
you’ve found it informative and entertaining. See you all in a few short
hours!

The most interesting and hilarious part of rough seas aboard the Kennedy
is being in the mess deck. when we take big rolls, people and food go
flying in all directions – sliding across tables, crashing into each
other, falling over with full trays of food in hand, etc. Last night
there was a freshman who lost his balance right by the end of my table,
fell over the end of the table and started to slide down on his stomach,
dumping his cup of orange soda all over the table!

While I usually find rolling to be helpful when it comes to sleeping, this
is too much rolling to facilitate good sleep, and in fact nobody is
getting much sleep at all. Most people are woken up throughout the night
from rolling into the wall in their rack, or pushing up against the safety
strap on the outside.

I’m enjoying it, despite some of the inconveniences it causes. I find
that one of the strangest feelings associated with this weather is having
to make an effort to climb down a flight of stairs.

Everyone is looking past the rough weather at this point, and focusing on
finishing exams. Today is exam day, the final hurdle in completing
cruise. I have the practical portion of my final at 1400, about an hour
from now. Once I’m finished with that, I’m 100% done with all my cruise
requirements. I’m pretty excited for that, to say the least.

I’m going to sign off for now and go get ready for my practical final. I
have a few guest posters lined up, but they seem to be taking their time
writing their posts, so hopefully I’ll get those tonight or tomorrow.

Now that our next port of call is the State Pier in Buzzards Bay, everyone
is expressing the same sentiment: “Are we there yet?” along with
discussions about when people think it will start getting cold again, when
we will get cell service again, and the first thing they’re are going to
do when they get off the ship.

There are other signs that cruise is drawing to a close in day-to-day life
on board the ship. Ice cream is more regular in the cadet mess cooler as
the foodservice personnel try to use some of it up, which everyone is
enjoying (I’m not eating it though, as I have a superstition about ice
cream from the cadet mess cooler).

The current rotation is the second to last one of cruise. Wednesday will
start the very last rotation, for which I will be on maintenance. After
that, we have final exams, and then we’re done with cruise!

Unlike last year, we won’t be anchoring the day before transiting the Cape
Cod Canal en route to Mass Maritime. New regulations prohibit discharging
gray water in Cape Cod Bay, which we have to do prior to arriving at the
pier. As a result, we’ll have to stay outside Cape Cod Bay until we are
preparing to transit the canal. I’m not sure how good the cell coverage
will be for us that day, but I’m sure that we’ll have it enough that the
weather decks will be lined with people on the phone.

I’m going to sign off for now and head to bed, as I have laundry watch
0400-0800/1600-2000 tomorrow. I have a few guest posts lined up to post
this week, now that things are dying down a little around here. Keep an
eye out for those in the next few days.

The past few days have been a blast.  As I mentioned in my last post, I had watch the first day so I didn’t get off the ship.  The second day I went out with a few friends to an area called Isla Verde, and hung out at the beach all afternoon.  We went out in town that evening and had a good time going from place to place.

Tomorrow we leave, after taking on bunkers most of the day.  We’re scheduled to leave San Juan around 1500.  We arrive in St. Thomas on February 12, so we’ll be underway for 9 days between here and the Virgin Islands.  Hopefully my SeaWave account will be working properly again so that I can continue blogging during that leg of the voyage.

I don’t have any pictures to post right now, as I forgot to charge up my camera the entire time we were here (I know, stupid move, but it happens).  I’ll get some from my friends to post once we arrive in St. Thomas, and I’ll make sure I have plenty.  I may even try to throw in a few videos.

I’ve also been looking into adding a few interviews with other cadets on board, so keep an eye out for that.

I’m going to sign off for now, and head to bed to get ready for resuming normal activities tomorrow.  I’ll try to post again tomorrow, SeaWave willing.

We got lucky and had a last-minute berth re-assignment last night which put us at Pier 1 of the passenger terminal, right in the heart of the city!  It’s a much more convenient location, with plenty to do right around the gate, and many transportation options readily available.

My division had watch today, so I didn’t get to leave the ship.  However, I’ll be headed out tomorrow to experience Puerto Rico, especially the beaches!  I haven’t decided exactly what I’m going to do, but part of the day will definitely be spent doing nothing on the beach.  I can’t wait!

That’s all I have for now, I want to get some sleep so I’m ready to go tomorrow.  I’ll get some pictures and stories and post them over the next couple of days.