Wednesday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Wednesday

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9
Jun 10

I’ve created a good system

Still editing photographs from the trip. Nothing new on this page, but if you look at the Photo Gallery or the Honeymoon section you’ll see some cool new stuff.

I’m not halfway through yet.

The good news is that I don’t have to pet the cat anymore. I’m sitting on the sofa and she’s sitting next to me, sitting up on her hips, not in the way you normally think of cats, and is now content just putting her paws on my hand. This makes editing photographs challenging.

I’m reminded of the old LBJ line about Walter Cronkite’s shift on Vietnam. This isn’t exactly that, but the premise is similar. When President Obama loses Rolling Stone, he’s got problems:

Like the attacks by Al Qaeda, the disaster in the Gulf was preceded by ample warnings – yet the administration had ignored them. Instead of cracking down on MMS, as he had vowed to do even before taking office, Obama left in place many of the top officials who oversaw the agency’s culture of corruption. He permitted it to rubber-stamp dangerous drilling operations by BP – a firm with the worst safety record of any oil company – with virtually no environmental safeguards, using industry-friendly regulations drafted during the Bush years. He calibrated his response to the Gulf spill based on flawed and misleading estimates from BP – and then deployed his top aides to lowball the flow rate at a laughable 5,000 barrels a day, long after the best science made clear this catastrophe would eclipse the Exxon Valdez.

What’s happening in the Gulf is heartbreaking. It is economically, environmentally and culturally devastating. And there’s enough blame for everyone. And a lot of people deserve it. But the fingers are starting to point to the administration and, let’s be honest, this group isn’t that good at image or body work. Oh they’ve benefited from an admiring media, but now that a few journalists on the beat are doing journalisty things this is going to get ugly, in a hurry.

And a lot of people deserve the blame. And none of it will fix these precious, delicate, important places. Now that Rolling Stone has come around to that others will soon follow. Working in this White House won’t be much fun, I’d guess.

I’d like to contribute an idea on how to stop the leak. By taking all of Hollywood’s tapes of the upcoming Twilight movie reels and stuffing the film in the hole we might be able to slow this thing down to a trickle. We’ll also have the added bonus of not having to see the movie later this month. And just think of the positive publicity for the franchise. And we wouldn’t have to watch the movie!

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2
Jun 10

Sea Day

The Yankee came back from a spa program today happily pointing out how lucky we are. There’s one more stop on our cruise and then the ship returns to it’s home port. We’ll all get off, people will start making their way back home or wherever they have to go next. The cruise itself is a 11-day embarrassment of extravagance, but we all know it is coming to an end.

Some people are already thinking about, and dreading, going back to work on Monday.

But we don’t have to. We’ll be traveling home by then, but we won’t be at work.

In a related story, summer breaks are wonderful.

Since we are traveling between Athens and Naples today this is a day of shipboard activities. I went to two glass shows. I like glass shows, always have been mesmerized by them, even as a child. They have a three-person team on board, a full studio on the topside deck, all electric set up, very fancy. They talk about how it takes 10 years just to learn how to do this with any degree of competency. They talk about how you have to enjoy the process rather than the finished product, especially in those early years where you break more than you make.

And then they just whip up something like they were pulling together a few snacks. It is a great show. Over the course of the trip we’ve also seen a musical, there have been other shows, opportunities to learn a half-dozen dances, karaoke, trivia, putting challenges, bocce tournaments, lectures, bingo (they are wild about their bingo for some reason) and a Newlywed game.

We entered, but did not get picked. They call theirs the Newlywed and Not-So-Newlywed Game. They had four couples, one married two weeks, another married two months, one married 29 years and another married 51 years. Oddly enough the newest of the newlyweds won.

There was also a Liar’s Club game, which could have been better, but it made for a low-key evening performance. I mentioned the library and the spa. There’s an impressive weight room, a lawn on the top deck, a computer lab, more restaurants than I can name. There’s a basketball court and a mini soccer goal, too. The ship is ridiculous.

Tonight there was a Jersey Boys show, and a Cirque de Soleil-type performance. I took some pictures, which can be found on the cruise ship page. Breaking up the pictures turned out to be a good idea, no? I’ve so far uploaded 344 pictures — not counting a slideshow and three panoramas — from the trip. We still have another day in Rome to go and our excursion tomorrow as well. We’ll be in Naples and visiting Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.

We couldn’t have taken this trip right after we got married last year for a few reasons — mostly because I had to be back in school — but the wait has been well worth it given all that we’ve seen and done.

And, to top it off, we don’t even have to go back to work on Monday!

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26
May 10

Hiking a volcano, swimming in the Aegean

Santorini, Greece

The Equinox found her way to Santorini this morning. There’s no port here, but tenders — smaller vessels — come out to pick up the cruising crowd.

It was an overcast day, for the most part, which is a shame because this is a beautiful area.

There were a few excursions for those interested in leaving the ship. We chose the most extreme one, mostly, I think, because we’re afraid of thinking of ourselves as wimps.

"This is a serious disembarkation pro-cess."

Before you could leave, though, you must visit the 1115-seat Equinox Theater. Cesar is in control there. You present your excursion tickets, they give you a number and Cesar calls out the number when your tender is here.

He entertains with jokes and tries to get people to sing. He makes sure you have your smile. “They are doing smile inspections on the gangway.”

And then he calls out numbers. “Groups Number 16 and 17, have a nice day.”

He repeats it a few times. And then he pauses. He tells a joke, or works some dialog with someone in the theater. Then he says “If you are in group number 16 or 17 and you are still here you must ask yourself … ‘Why?'”

I instantly decided that will be what I say if anyone ever gets upset with me about their own shortcomings.

So Cesar sends us on our way. We climb aboard the tender and I can show you my first picture of our home on the high seas (which are incredibly calm):

The Celebrity Equinox

I can see our stateroom from here!

So we putter on over to the volcano. Santorini was once a large island. About 3,500 years ago the volcano erupted — believed to be one of the world’s largest — and blew the island into several islands. The ship is sitting in the caldera which was filled with the ensuing tsunami.

This is our first active volcano.

The volcano is still active. It erupted three times in the 20th Century, most recently in 1950. The landscape is rocky and generally barren. There are a few scrub grasses and a few flowers. Rabbits scurry around, though we don’t see any. Lizards are the dominant creatures here, and they are hiding under the rocks.

You hike up the rocky path to the highest point on the island, you pass two volcanic craters to get there. In a few places you can see the sulfur stains on the rocks. In other places this is just a barren landscape. Near the peak there are a few vents accessible to visitors. You can smell the sulfur, see the steam and feel the heat rising out of the earth.

Active volcano.

We also swam in the warm springs trickling into the Aegean Sea. My night ended by adding “Swim off of a Greek isle” to the list of cool experiences.

Our guide suggested that after you swim up to the source of the warm springs that you should rub some of the mud on your skin, “Gentlemen your wives won’t know who you are when you get back on the ship.”

That’s because you’re rubbing sulfur mud on yourself. And you stink, badly. The wetnap “for refreshment” she offered did not help very much.

Here I must point out that the excursion literature said “Swim in the hot springs!” The guide said, twice “And when we go to the hot springs, or I should say, the warm springs … ” And then she tells you the water temperatures. You dive into the cold water, about 55-degrees, and then swim your shivering self to the springs which are about 70-degrees, warm by comparison only.

Shivering, smelling of sulfur and trying to get dry we putter on over to the village of Santorini.

Santorini, Greece

Most of the town, which is driven by tourism, is high up the hillside. There are three ways up: walking the 500-plus steps, cable car or riding a donkey up the 500-plus steps. We’ve already swam on a Greek isle, so here’s another opportunity for an unusual experience. We took the donkeys.

Which are really just wild-eyed, crazed death mammals. There are stirrups, but no reins. You aren’t steering anything. The donkeys know where they are going and they don’t care about the pedestrians that are in their way. The people walking, though, are very displeased with you. You’re holding on for dear life though, and all you can do is look back, toss a hasty “Sorry!” (You realize the futility of explaining pretty quickly) and then turn to re-grip your tenuous hold.

The Yankee and I ascended with three ladies who have never been in a saddle. This was a traumatic experience for them. After the donkey driver started whipping my ride I decided we weren’t riding back down. For entirely different reasons The Yankee had already decided she’d find a new way down. If the return trip was as chaotic as the journey up this would prove a very wise decision.

So we shopped. Found a few things for us, found a few gifts, met a few nice people, including an Australian who found her way to live and work in Greece. How? “My husband.”

We walked around, seeing the sites and wishing we had more time here. The only real schedule on this ship is “Be back before we depart, because we will leave you.” So we have to be aware of the time. Everyone here is, because there are two cruise ships here and we have three ways to get back down to the water.The cable car line, we later learned, was more than an hour wait. (And not for the faint of heart, we heard.) The walk was a good choice.

And they look like this:

There are lots of stairs.

So your ankles and knees hate you. And you realize, about halfway down, the long, irregularly spaced path of switchbacks, that going down 500 steps can take a while.

But we made it. We were the last ones off the island. Or we might have been. Who is to say? You begin to perceive people and time differently in this environment. There is only what is in front of you. It becomes implausible that a person is standing to the side. It is impossible that anyone could exist behind you. This is what it is like when people turn their brains off. You make the meals — and, because it is a cruise ship there is a shameful amount of food available — and that’s about it. The food, in fact, is the only difference between vacationers and a desperate mob heedless of all else happening around it.

Not to sound grim, but food choices are tough, taking up all the mental power any of us packed. (There are many people here mystified by the purpose of the glowing arrows prominently on display at the elevators.)

Have you ever seen a sunset over Greece?

Sunset over Santorini, Greece

The day’s pictures are here. Would you like to see a hasty panorama from Santorini? Try here.

Here we are at sea. And there are lots of pictures from Rome: Day One, Day Two, Day Three. I’ve published almost 200 from this trip already. I’ll have a video from the day at some point, but that will probably take a while.

Tomorrow: Mykonos, Greece.

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19
May 10

Crossing the Atlantic takes a while

On the way to our trip

We finished our packing this morning and wrapped up the last of our errands — the bank, the last minute store run and so on — and then headed to Atlanta.

We met up with Dr. Erin Ryan (now at Kennessaw State, who was formerly one of The Yankee’s professors at Alabama). We had lunch in the car on the way, but had an early dinner with Erin at a place called the Paradise Cafe. The sun was still out, the roads were quiet, the place was empty, the music was good and we sat on the deck, eating our last bit of American food for two weeks.

I’d voted for Chinese.

I had a light meat and vegetable thing. The Yankee had something that vaguely resembled Mexican.

Erin took us to the airport after we dropped our car off at her place. They say allow yourself two hours on international flights — because that will give you plenty of time to enjoy the splendors of an international airport — so we were early, for a change.

So we checked in with British Airways (who’s cabin crews have been threatening with a strike for weeks, now). We checked one bag each, carried a small roller on board each and our backpacks. Therein we have clothes for 17 days. Somehow we made weight.

The Yankee had to readjust her packing to do it, begging the question of the point. She still carried the same amount of luggage it was just organized in a slightly different fashion. That one shirt and bathing suit that got her under the checked bag weight is just now in the passenger cabin. With physics thwarted we made our way to the gate. Where we waited.

I received a phone call from a college while we waited. I’d sought out a bit of information to a program offering master’s degrees in military history just to see what it was about and they called me this evening.

I was just curious. I’m wrapping up a doctoral degree right now, so I’m not exactly your top priority right now.

“Understood.”

And then there was the great plane line, where we all vie for position, eye each other to determine strengths, weakness and possibility. We do this while not at all considering how we’re all going to the same place and will all arrive there, more or less, at the same time.

But being ahead of that guy is important.

Our plane is a 777, which means big. There are four compartments. One for the big spenders (they have the recliner sleeper). One had a few seats. The next section had a slightly more dense population of seats. Our section, they called us world travelers, I prefer the romance of the old nomenclature and call us “steerage.”

There are four compartments, which begs the questions: Why can’t one of these be for kids? And how aerodynamic is soundproofing material?

Kicking, screaming, overnight kids directly behind me. This child was destined to spend the entire trip being held, uncomfortably, in her mother’s lap. The screaming child directly in front had impressively inattentive parents. Joy of joys.

The chief cabin steward comes on the PA system to discuss the entertainment options and apologize — profusely and repetitively — for the food. It seems that the threat of strike, which had been avoided, had altered their logistical planning. The food, he sniffed, would not be up to their usual standard. It was still better than anything available on a U.S. airline in the last 30 years.

Now. I should tell you that the flight is an overnight deal, so all of these details blur together. This entry will deal just with the first leg of the flight and we’ll pick up with London and then on to Rome. So that leaves us with the movies I watched on the plane. British Airways gives you headphones and they run maybe seven or eight movies on the channel of your choice. In the next cycle they change the movies. This is the way to travel.

Without the kid kicking me in the back, I mean. The one that’s in her mother’s lap. The one that’s kicking me in her sleep. All night.

At least one of us got some sleep.

I took the movies.

I watched Crazy Heart. Ordinarily I wouldn’t watch a movie about country music in any capacity. (The Thing Called Love having ruined all others for me.) While I can enjoy the musical genre some things just don’t translate well to film. But Crazy Heart was well received and won two Oscars, besides. I’m a captive audience, why not? There’s a catchy tune or two in the movie, though one of them will be stuck in my head if something else doesn’t come along and bounce it out.

The better movie was Book of Eli. Not a bad film for the post-apocalyptic genre, but the end really makes the entire story.

So, because of the movies and the kick-around-sound provided by the four-year-old behind me I barely dozed. This will make for a long tomorrow, but at least I’ll be tired in Europe.

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12
May 10

The end of spring

One last hint of winter over the weekend. Sunday and Monday, in the second week of May, we never got above 60 degrees. All that’s over now. We touched 86 today, and it felt warmer. The gentle kiss of mild temperatures will go the way of the cool soon enough. Summer is almost upon us.

I know because the semester ended for me today. One last set of final presentations this afternoon, just like yesterday’s, neatly wrapped up the term.

It has been a productive one — taught two classes, worked with the paper, took two classes, presented six papers at conference — and it seemed to stretch longer than usual.

Finished the newsroom’s recycling, wrote up a policy memo or two, had a big lunch and worked on cameras with the rest of my day.

I bobbed and weaved my way through rush hour traffic. Stopped by the hair cutting emporium, where the wait was too long. I have a strict half-hour wait policy on cheap haircuts.

So I went to the library instead. Picked up a big stack of movies for the next week. I started with the television series and then moved from the A’s and moved all the way through the Z’s in an orderly, alphabetical fashion. Got nine DVDs, went through the self check out and escaped the library without anyone even glancing in my direction.

The Yankee and I visited the grocery store, where I learned there is such a thing as pure blended fruit to go. I’m a bigger fan of Van-zilla. I also learned about mojo chicken, which we had for dinner tonight. Pretty good stuff.

We watched Hancock, from the library. Zeus on a bender is a funny idea. Superheroes with consequences is worth considering. And, sure, this is a comic book movie, but it could have been better.

After that there was Leatherheads, which was OK, but I’d expected more. The blurb on the back of the DVD case promises “hilarious screwball antics!” I remain unconvinced.

On IMDB Hancock earns .4 more of a star than Leatherheads. In a real star that would be a lot of hydrogen. Amongst Will Smith fans and the forgiving nature of community movie ratings I’d think the distance is pretty narrow.

That sort of depth of insight will only improve around here now that the summer is upon us.