Randy and I talked on the phone for awhile this afternoon. He emailed this evening with answers to a few questions I had.
Sally: I'm happy to know you survived training. Who trained you all? Who got trained?
Randy: Various ship officers did the training. Everyone who hasn't been on the ship before has to go through training. That's all Cal Poly students, me and Stacy [another Poly faculty member onboard TSGB for the first time], and a group of CMA students studying business. The CMA students studying ship-type stuff have already had much more extensive training.
Sally: Will you have to row yourselves into ports of call?
Randy: This is a modern ship. We don't row ourselves to shore. The ship has several motorized launches for that purpose. Rowing is for life boats.
Sally: How's the food?
Randy: Fair.
Sally: Sure you don't need a cat???? There's still time to get one.
Randy: Of course I need a cat. Today I met the "boathouse cat" on campus. ... Missing most of one ear and generally looking rather ratty - I suspect from fighting with other cats or other wildlife. But he or she didn't mind a scratch behind the ear-and-a-half.
Sally: How did you spend your liberty day?
Randy: I hiked to Starbucks after talking with you. It wasn't easy. A nice tour of the trailer parks and back alleys of Vallejo. I estimate 5 miles round trip. But I did succeed in getting a French press [which he had forgotten to pack; a crisis!], so I think it was worthwhile.
A quiet evening before we put out to sea. Students seem to be trickling back on board. Curfew is midnight for students, but I think CMA faculty and officers can still come aboard in the morning by 7:30. Then 8 days to Zihuatenejo, or however you spell it. I figured straight sailing time shouldn't be more than about 6 days, so I suspect we'll be practicing various ship maneuvers along the way.
I still have a bit of class prep to do, since I needed to learn the lay of the land before knowing how I wanted to handle various activities. So I think I'll work on those tonight and tomorrow. ... With luck, you'll get an email tomorrow or Monday from aboard ship.
Two Canadian geese just flew over, honking away. I think they're a little lost. In my first birding triumph, I've identified the gulls hanging around the ship as Western gulls. Unless they're something else. But I'm 99% sure.
That's it from dockside. We'll probably go sliding past you at 3 or 4 in the morning on Monday. I'll see if I can get the captain to honk.
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