Zooming to Turkey

I guess we're back on schedule. After sitting in Alexandria for an extra 19 hours, they're still predicting that we'll be on schedule for getting into Istanbul tomorrow at 8:00am. That sure wouldn't happen if we were flying. We had the roughest weather thus far last night. I tried to go to the Coptic Christian service, but the priest was feeling ill and they were afraid they'd spill the communion wine so they postponed it until next week. I don't know if I could have made it either. I went back to my room to lie down. As long as I was prone I was fine, but when I tried to sit up or move around I got nauseous. I ended up watching Cultural pre-port on the TV in my room. The bad weather didn't last long though. By the time I woke up this morning it was smooth sailing.

Today, Mary and I cataloged and rebarcoded a bunch of books. What we still have left to do are the P's, the travel guides, the oversized stuff, reference, and I'll have to do something with the videos though I haven't decided what, yet. It's a very time consuming, very tedious process, though the end is in sight. I'm still hopeful that we'll get it done before the semester's over. I also did an instruction session for Tom Klein's Creative Non-Fiction class. This one went better than the others, because I didn't depend on the internet at all. I pre-loaded all of the pages, and while it wasn't as interactive or spontaneous as ideally it could have been, I think the students got more out of it, and I think Tom thought it went well. I had to cancel a session I'd scheduled with him previously when I was so sick.

The students are really gearing up to do research. I've been passing out proxy ids like crazy, and showing people how to set up their browsers. If they turn in crappy papers it certainly won't be the library's fault.

Tonight is logistical pre-port. I'll probably come right back to my cabin after it's over and try to get a good night sleep so I can be up and at'em for sunrise tomorrow.

Breakfast: skipped
Lunch: pasta with garlic and olive oil (left a nasty taste in my mouth)
Dinner: Chicken Milanaise and chocolate cake
Plus: 2 double shot mochas and a snickers bar (naughty, naughty)

I'll introduce four people tonight, Hank Kennedy (left) and Roger Bennet, Hank's wife Patricia Poe, and their daughter Mollie (with Mary). Hank teaches political science and is a professor at Wake Forest University. Patricia is a muckety muck for the Girl Scouts in their area. They're traveling with their lovely daughter Mollie. Mollie was a babe in arms the last time they did this voyage. Hank is an expert in Pakistan, and he has lived for an extended time with his family there.

Roger is traveling with his delightful wife Barb, but I don't have a photo of her. They live in Briny something, Florida and their town is for sale. Sometime in January it will go on the auction block for a starting price of $500,000,000, if it gets any more than that Roger and Barb's share will be $3.5 mil. Roger teaches communications and this is his 3rd voyage. The last time he sailed was in the Fall of 2001, so he was on the ship 9/11.