Well, we arrived at Costa Maya this morning but were unable to dock. The weather was so bad there they actually closed the pier. So all the shore excursions there were cancelled and will be refunded. I was a little bummed since I would have liked to go diving again, but at least I got to go in Cozumel. The other people in our group were more bummed since this was the port they were going to swim with the dolphins. I’m making the most of it tho, got a small nap earlier so I’m feeling refreshed, tho the sunburn I got earlier in the week still stings.

Went on a ‘Dolphin Encounter” today in Belize. Learned a lot about dolphins and the area around Belize.

Afterwards we got into the water with a couple of the facilities dolphins and interacted with them. The two we saw were Bill and Ronnie (the girls were in another area) and we got to pet them, and see a few tricks and even got a kiss. Lots of fun.

Saw a cool show last night on the ship. The first act was a juggler from Mexico, who was very entertaining.

The second act was Dai Andrews, one of less than 50 professional sword swallowers, as well an escape artist. I have to give him props for not only actually doing sword swallowing, but doing it on board a cruise ship, especially since last night the boat was really rocking.

Also, both were funnier in my opinion than the comedian the other night.

Went on the first dive of the trip today. It was a two tank dive in Cozumel, Mexico. The water was nice and clear and very warm. It did rain but not until after the second dive. I did have a bit of trouble on the first dive since I didn’t have enough weight I had to work to stay down and ran low on air before the dive was over and had to go up early.

The second dive went a lot better, I added some more weight and didn’t have any trouble and was able to stay down the entire time.

We also met a nice couple from our cruise ship who just got certified on labor Day and are going diving at every port, so a good chance we’ll see them in Costa Maya.

Went to another show on the ship last night. The first part of the show was a performer who balanced all sorts of things, including a bicycle (the back wheel was on his forehead and the front wheel was turned and in the air spinning), a giant metal pyramid frame on his forehead, a golf club balanced on a golf club which was balanced on another club and then the top club was spun, and a dagger and sword balanced end to end.

After him a comedian came out named Michael Macy. He was pretty funny but I think between the two acts I prefer the balancer.

Went to a show on the ship last night, it was a Broadway style musical called “Generations.” It was pretty good, it was a montage of old rock & roll songs as well as dancing.

Arrived in Grand Cayman today and went on the first shore excursion of the trip. We went swimming with the stingrays in “Stingray City” and were able to pet and feed them. Surprisingly they’re really soft. We then went snorkeling at a small coral reef for a bit before heading back.

Took a tour of the ship’s galley this morning. Was interesting, they had a list of how much food is used on the ship, which is a lot! The one I remember is 5000 pounds of ice cream. They also had someone carving an ice sculpture, another was carving jack’o'lantern, another was carving flowers out of vegetables and one more was making flowers out frosting.

Just did some exploring around the ship. Walked around one of the top decks. Also found the shops and the library, which also has the internet cafe in it.

Found our rooms without too much trouble. We then had lunch, which was a buffet with all sort of things. After that we had a lifeboat drill (which we hopefully won’t need).

We’re leaving port now and I’ve finished calling people to say goodbye.

And the first “cool” note of the trip: I saw a dolphin in the water while leaving port.

Got to airport & had a loooong check in line. Took a while but we got through without any hassles, we’re now just waiting for our flight.

Did a re-certification class for Scuba Thursday night to get a refresher of the basics before going on a cruise next week. Even though it’d been about seven years since the last time I dove once we got in the water a lot of it came back to me pretty quickly.  I’m also going to look for a few underwater disposable cameras before we go, I’d thought about getting a digital camera with an underwater casing, but I figure if I get disposable, since I haven’t been diving for a while if something happened to the disposable one I wouldn’t be out lots of money.

Went to Motor City Comic Con yesterday with couple of friends I play HeroClix with. Haven’t been able to play in a while so was good seeing them again. The show was on the small side, which it usually is for the Fall show, but in this case I’m glad it was since I have to pay my first car payment this month, as well as insurance, which means less money to spend. Only one guest I wanted to see at the con this year, Michael Dorn. I’ve seen him before at a previous convention but had more stuff to get autographed.

Also went to a panel discussion featuring Michael Golden, who is in the comic book industry. I didn’t know the name before yesterday but one of my friends is a big fan of his, and even brought some artwork to get signed as well as commissioned a sketch from him.

All in all I had a good time and even got a little Christmas shopping done there.

Just found out that another podcast I used to enjoy is planning on coming back after an almost 10 month hiatus. Not exactly sure when the next new episode will be out but hopefully soon the Domestic Life with John and Kacy will start producing new episodes soon. Their podcast was one of the first, if not the first, podcast that I ever left feedback and comments on and also probably the first where I kept up a dialogue with the hosts, so I’m definitely excited to listen to them again.

Well folks, another podcast has been released to the wild, which in and of itself isn’t necessarily news since many new podcasts pop up every day, however what makes this one different is that I’m in it. I’ve emailed into podcasts before and have even left voice mail, but this is the first one that I’ve done where I recorded it along with all the other hosts.

The show is called Buzz Echo and is a fan response to CNet’s Buzz Out Loud podcast which talks about various technology stories. On Buzz Echo they give their opinions on some of the stories from Buzz Out Loud’s Friday podcast.

So, check out the episode, and if you haven’t already heard Buzz Out Loud I highly recommend checking that out as well.

I just picked up season one of The Sentinel on dvd yesterday and I have to say I’m underwhelmed by the special features. Mainly because there are none. I am glad they put it out on dvd and hope to see the other seasons eventually but I do think they could have put more effort into the release. As I mentioned already there are no special features of any kind, but also it seems they made the transfer from someones version recorded off of a vcr since in the pilot episode (the only one I’ve watched on the set so far) it shows the closed captioning symbol in the corner and also says something about surround sound at the bottom, which I’ve never noticed before on any of my other television on dvd sets. What makes this even more ironic is that the set doesn’t even have closed captioning.

All things considered I’m glad the show is out on dvd but I hope that the production quality is raised for the other seasons.

If you’re interested in the set consider buying it from Amazon.

I enjoy the Foxtrot comic strip, however today’s strip was sort of sad for me as it mentioned TechTV, which hasn’t been around for a while now. I used to enjoy watching all the tech shows on it like The Screen Savers, Call for Help and Fresh Gear. However the channel as I knew it pretty much died when they merged with G4, for a time they called the new station G4TechTV but after a while they dropped the Tech from it and just made the station G4TV.

Luckily, many of the hosts from the different shows can be heard on various podcasts now so it’s not like they’re gone forever, but it was still sad to be reminded of what the television airwaves have lost.

P.S. I’m not positive but I believe the comic will most likely be taken down after a month or so, so if you want to see it I recommend viewing it as soon as possible.

Went to a presentation last night on the Star of Bethlehem. It was very informative and eye opening and the presenter pointed things out in the Bible that I’d never noticed before. On the site there’s a list of where the presentation will be and when, if you have the chance I highly recommend you go check it out even if you’re not a Christian.

Picked up my new car today, it’s niiiiice. Now.. I have a whole new category of “toys” to drool over. I’ll try and post photos.. sometime.. I hope.

That’s right folks, just because they’re called podcasts (for now anyway…) doesn’t mean you have to use an iPod to listen to them. A Canadian band by the name of Uncle Seth have made a “Public Service Announcement” and put it up on YouTube. Check it out, it’s actually a catchy tune.