Less than a month

Less than a month now until I'm back at sea!  I hadn't realized that it had been so long since my last post; I guess it's easy to get distracted at home.

Right now I am in Fort Lauderdale FL for the last day of my 3 day training session at Martin Professional, which manufactures about 75% of the lighting equipment RCI uses in their ships' entertainment spaces.  Actually getting my hands on some of the most modern equipment from Martin while being trained by their most experienced technicians has been a great experience.  In addition to the Wholehog 3 training I got in April, I think I'm going to be set to really move forward with this light technician thing.  My goal is to get a light tech position by the end of this year.

Only 3 weeks left at home.  It's been a really nice extended vacation.  After so long away, I'm starting to wonder what lies ahead for me this contract, 3 months is a long time to be away.  I could get a call tomorrow to say they want to change me to a different ship, or maybe I'll get on Serenade and be told I'm being sent off somewhere else before the end of my contract.  With a dynamic environment like a ship, you just never know.  I'm sure many crew movements have been disrupted by the volcanic ash over Europe.  Interruptions in crew travel, resignations, terminations, medical leave, these are all just a handful of the possible reasons that I could experience a surprise change in plans in the next few weeks.


Well, I better get over to Martin for my last day of training.  Today they are going to "sabotage" the fixtures we were working on yesterday by creating one or more problems with the fixture and it's up to us to solve them.  Oh, and did I mention there are also 2 light techs from RCI here for training as well?  Always good to meet fellow ship-types.  Of course, unlike them, I'm getting this training on my own dime.