JLMoran

It was Weyerbacher Quadrupel, and it wasn't with the rarebit, it was in the rarebit! My recipe calls for 12 ounces of room temp beer to be whisked in to the roux that starts off the rarebit, and then after simmering down for about 10 minutes you add the cheese, horse radish, minced garlic, and pepper. I've made this particular recipe with Bass Ale, Allagash Tripel, and even a Stout one time. But I think the quad has been the best-tasting one yet. btw, that Weyerbacher quad is really tasty but, as my microbrew guy put it, it's a definite "nighty-night beer"! If I want to stay awake after dinner, I don't have more than one of those!

@constable145, looks like I misinterpreted how that statement was supposed to be read. Didn't realize you got a line item for every single drink you got from any venue! And I also missed that you had the drink package. Which makes that running "tab" even more impressive!

Shorts are not supposed to be allowed even on non-formal nights, but it seems the enforcement of that has been growing lax on most if not all of the ships, at least based on anecdotes I've read here. You may want to check out this video from Cruise Tips TV, I actually found it a good point of reference.

Your grandfather had you try his Ballantine IPA, too, huh? I almost never touched beer after that. Thankfully, I discovered that IPA ≠ all beer in the world.

By the way, it seems that the folks at Moment also did a gimbal shootout recently. My particular didn't make the cut, most likely because it was a kickstarter project and it's effectively superseded by the DJI Osmo 2 (same price, full feature set of the original DJI Osmo plus some improvements). Had the Osmo 2 existed when I bought my Rigiet, I'd certainly have bought from the known brand rather than a newcomer. But I'm happy with what I've gotten for myself.

The Moment lenses have a bayonet-type mount. You line up the white line on the lens with the line on the outside of the case, then insert the lens into the opening on the back of the case and turn 90º to lock it. After that it's quite secure. This video shows how it connects.

I don't think this is so much a case of CRS, as it's just keeping one's priorities straight! There's only so much room in the ol' cranium and it's got to be saved for the important stuff!

Just means you're getting a late start!

OK, I re-read the description of that tele lens, and it apparently does acknowledge up front that there is a drop off in focus on the edges and corners. From the product description (emphasis added): So I shouldn't have been surprised by the edge blurring even on the indoor shot; on the outdoor shot it's totally expected, it would seem, and either I'll want to crop it out in post, or leave it there for deliberate effect.

Not sure if I should be reacting to this with sad face, happy face (because at least it won't be Bobby Brown), or something else...

OK, this is more of a post for @twangster and anyone else who's a bit of a hard-core photography hobbyist, especially those who want to work only with their phones so they're not carrying around a load of equipment everywhere. Feel free to skip this post if you'd like, I won't be offended. I finally got two of the Moment lenses I've been lusting after – the 2x 60mm equivalent telephoto lens, and the new 0.63x 18mm equivalent wide-angle lens – along with the required iPhone case, a wrist strap, travel case, and lens cleaning pen. Will see about grabbing the 170º ultra-fisheye, but first I still need to grab a filter adapter and CPL, maybe also an ND filter. I took a couple of quick photos from my computer desk and my front door, since I still can't move around much, but they show the effect each lens has pretty clearly. Sorry for the big uploads, but I wanted to preserve as much detail as I could. I applied the Photos app's auto-enhancement tool to each, since manual editing is something I'm still learning, I don't own a copy of Photoshop or Lightroom (although I have Pixelmator), and I do find the automatic edits in Photos to be pretty good to my eye most of the time. I took all three from the exact same position, sitting in my office chair or standing just outside my front door; all I did between shots was add / change the lens attachment. First, the indoor shots: Control picture taken from my computer desk with no lens attached. According to the Photos app, this was taken with ISO 80, f/2.2. Picture taken from my computer desk with the 0.63x 18mm equivalent wide angle lens, also ISO 80 and f/2.2. This wide angle lens seems pretty nice at first pic, at least from what I can see. I'm not noticing any significant distortion or vignetting in the corners, and the sign on my daughter's bedroom door is still plenty readable. You can also see how sharp my eyeglasses in the lower right corner still look, again without any noticeable distortion to the shape of the frame or lenses as you get to the corner. I do notice there's a fair bit of noise in the shadowy space between the computer room door and desk, but I can't say without taking more photos if that's an artifact from the lens or just the limitations of iPhone 6s camera's sensor and image processor. Considering this is the first time I've ever used a wide angle, I'm not going to judge the lens beyond what I can see here; would be interested to hear feedback from the others here who are a lot better versed in lenses and photography on how they'd rate this particular lens. Picture taken from my computer desk with the 2x 60mm equivalent telephoto lens, again ISO 80 and f/2.2. I like how this lens magnifies the image and keeps things like the sign on my daughter's bedroom door perfectly legible, never mind how clearly it shows the ragged edge of where I mucked up the paint job around the door trim. But I do notice some smudging or artifacting in the upper right corner, where I'd expect to see clean wood grain, and similar issue with the picture frame in the upper left corner. One thing I realize I didn't do before taking these photos was take the lens cleaning pen I made a point of buying and use it on the phone's lens before taking these shots. But even after doing that and taking another set of indoor test pics, I still saw the blurring and smudging; definitely something of an issue with this lens, unlike the wide angle. Is that common with telephoto lenses, or at least the ones designed for phones? I thought I had read that this Moment lens in particular was less subject to the barrel distortion problem. Now the outdoor pics, taken on a rather gray and dreary day: Control picture with no lenses attached; ISO 25, f/2.2; this wound up being an auto-HDR shot, which I didn't pick up on until after I was back inside, so the image is noticeably different than the other two even after applying auto-enhancements. Taken with the wide angle lens, again ISO 25 and f/2.2, but no HDR. Still no noticeable distortion in the corners that I can see. This shows a little more clearly how much wider the picture becomes using this lens. Not at all clear why this image came out so much darker than the original, even allowing for the application of HDR by the phone on the control image. The portion of the image taken up by the sky is about the same as in the control image, so I wouldn't expect the phone to be lowering the exposure that much. Possibly because of the coating on the lens, which is described as "low flare, broadband anti-reflection? Something I'll have to keep in mind when using this lens outdoors. Taken with the telephoto lens, still ISO 25 and f/2.2 before applying the auto-enhance, and this is also not an HDR image. Here even more than the indoor image, I can see the barrel distortion in the corners. Not horrendous and something I could crop out in post, but I'd have preferred to have an image as clean at the corners as I find with the wide angle lens. This pretty much wraps up the full set of equipment I plan to take with me, apart from the aforementioned filter adapter and CPL; Moment recently announced their own adapter that's designed to work with both of these lenses, but it's not scheduled to ship until "Spring 2018" and may not be available until after I have to fly down to FLL. I'm going to wait until the start of March, and if there's no clearer picture on the shipping time, I'll have to settle for either no CPL while taking my outdoor shots, or else I'll fall back to a smaller adapter and CPL from Moondog Labs that I found but is only compatible with the tele lens; it doesn't work at all with the wide lens as it's too big, but if I get the super fish lens I could use it with that as long as I'm willing to accept some vignetting around the edges and then crop it out in post. But I think it would be smarter long-term to just skip any adapter and filters until the correct one that works with all the lenses is actually available. The full set of what I plan to bring with me can be seen in the below photo. It all fits on my computer keyboard shelf, and the total weight is only a couple pounds (most of that from the gimbal). From left to right, we have: Rigiet 3-axis gimbal (for getting smooth video while walking around port areas or the ship) ShoulderPod hand grip and tripod mount Ultra-Pod mini tripod (may leave this one at home, given I also now have the GorillaPod, but it may be handy on a place like the helicopter deck, if I want to take night shot; just would likely need to brace it with my hands if there's any wind) Moment iPhone 6s Plus Case Moment 2x tele lens (below the case, on the left) Moment wide lens (below the case, on the right) Moment travel case (with lens cleaning pen clipped inside) Camalapse mount for taking time-lapse video that incorporates a slow pan (I'm thinking of using this while capturing a sunset / sunrise or two, maybe find another situation where it could work nicely) GorillaPod magnetic mount mini tripod (hoping I can use this on the helicopter deck at night, as I really want to try and get some star shots; will fall back on the Ultra-Pod if the phone plus ShoulderPod combo is too heavy for the magnets) 44 days until embarkation!!! I cannot wait!

Only works if the capacitor is charged to 2.21 Gigawatts.

These are the ones I bought, based on earlier recommendations here: Cruise Luggage Tag Holder Zip Seal & Steel - Royal Caribbean & Celebrity Cruise (8 Luggage Tag Holders) Bit wider than the folded RCI tag, can probably accommodate the ones from some other cruise lines.

Currently sitting at my computer, and have been sitting upright and moving around more than any other day so far; which, considering it's 9:47 AM here and I've been awake since 6:30, is saying something! And the pain under my ribs seems to be gone today; now just some soreness in my lower back, which is probably due more to spending the last two days in my recliner than anything else. Also ate a burrito bowl from Moe's for dinner last night, complete with ground beef, rice, pinto beans, grilled onions and peppers, guac, queso, pico de gallo, and lots of pickled jalapeños. That might not have been such a great idea the day after surgery, but I was really hungry and the doc did say I could resume my regular diet as I felt up to it. Coughing is the only thing that's still pretty uncomfortable to deal with, hopefully that'll be good in another couple of days. Meanwhile, lots of water to keep the coughing at bay!

I just got my luggage tags yesterday via email, at the 46 day mark. Part of an overall e-brochure with cruise contract, port information, embarkation time window (I was told "12:30-4:30", to which I say "yeah, right!"), and a fair bit of promotional fluff. All printed out and in our tag holders, ready to be clipped to our bags in 45 days!

NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Dammit, that was probably the ship feature I was looking forward to the most for my 5-nighter on Anthem in October!

Today has been... interesting. No major pain, thank goodness, but I think I’m experiencing the “referential pain” I was warned can happen after laparoscopic surgery because of the gas used during the procedure. I’ve never scuba dived, so I don’t have direct experience with “the bends”, but this is sort of what I imagine it might feel like. Just some persistent mild pain in my lower right ribs, sort of feels like an air pocket that got lodged just under the bottom of my rib cage. Feels better when standing or sitting upright, worse when lying down (which I need to do to keep the abdominal area from swelling / getting inflamed). Apart from that, I’m doing pretty well. Just taking Advil as directed, haven’t needed another pain pill yet; will probably take one at bedtime just so I can sleep decently. Everything looks healthy, so this is all good!

Just saw a review on ShipMate that was posted Sunday by a traveler on Freedom of the Seas. Abe was their CD! So as long as he does transfer in the next 46 days, I’m gonna be a lucky ducky!

I’m home. Surgery went absolutely fine, and I actually was discharged earlier than expected. Did have to take some pain meds once home, and ice packs will be my best friend the next few days. But feeling pretty good overall. Thanks again, everyone, for all the good thoughts and well wishes!

In the pre-op area, found out just after IV was started that the surgeon is delayed about an hour. So glad I ate that big meal before bed! Not likely to be home before 7 or 8 PM, will update if I can but may be too zonked until tomorrow.

Second surgery is today. Was originally scheduled for 10 AM, but they had a more pressing case come in and I found out (with plenty of advance notice) that I was now having surgery at 1 PM. Since it was pushed out, there was no problem having food a little bit after midnight. So I did what any red-blooded American male would do in this situation: I stayed up until midnight, then made myself 2 scrambled eggs, 4 slices of bacon, and 2 waffles with maple syrup. Went to bed about 1:30 AM. Don't make me hungry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m hungry. No, really. I’m hypoglycemic and I become an absolute ogre if I go too long without eating, and we had dinner at 5:30. This was done 100% with the poor nurses in mind who’d otherwise be subject to my ravenousness after over 20 hours with no food. Now they just have to deal with me being really peckish.

Today marks 45 days until our flight down to FLL. So, this is my final time checking the prices on JetBlue and United. And thank goodness, because the ongoing sticker shock is just crazy! JetBlue, using the best possible rate and not matching my originally selected flight times, is $3,010.36 round trip! A little over a thousand more than the best price I found. ? United required me to select their “Economy (flexible)” rate for the return flight, because no regular non-refundable seats were left. Choosing the least expensive seats each way, their price is now $3,174.40 — just shy of $1,500 more than my actual booked price!! That’s almost double!! ??? So, yeah. Book 90 days out at the latest for domestic US flights. And if you want to fly a discount airline like JetBlue, book pretty much as soon as the fares are available!

The same can be said of people who spend upwards of $1,000 on a top-tier smartphone, and don't blink at spending $8 or more for their daily venti triple-shot no foam soy latte with a shot of vanilla, but then hem and haw over spending $0.99 on an app.