Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 8:10PM Just a quick post to say hello from San Juan. With about a month left in my contract out here I can definitely say I am looking forward to the week off before I join the Westerdam for a month. The question is, where to go on my vacation following the Westerdam? I was contemplating Toronto for a couple of days... Then again, there's ALWAYS Vegas... Up in the air!
Friday, September 23, 2011 at 5:59AM Here I sit, litterally five minutes walk from the ship at a tiny six-table restaurant that makes pretty solid pizza and has decent internet. Having only been off the ship three times since I joined last month this feels great to be out and about even if I'm still within sight of the ship.
I know what you're thinking, "you can't possibly be that busy that you can't get time off". You would be right in saying that, the trouble is I know how much work and e-mails build up if I'm not at my desk. I'm sure those of you reading this can relate to that feeling!
Having said that, I'm enjoying this time of the ship being a real person for a little while and wearing anything other than my uniform. So if anyone is in Dubrovnik right now, you should come over to this little pizza place outside the port - I have a few slices left and I'm willing to donate!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 12:32PM Do you ever have that feeling that you're just coasting by in life? It's not being unproductive but at the same time it feels a little like you're just in the middle of a stream watching it flow around you. Is that even a bad thing to experience? To complain about it seems to me to be some definite "First World Problems" but I do feel a little static, a little sedentary.
So many of my friends are settling down, getting married or having kids and here I am still in the same point where I was ten years ago. Is that the price you have to pay for a dynamic life at sea? Is that a price I'm willing to pay?
I'm not sure how I got to this point or what I need to do to get out of this, for lack of a better word, funk. I enjoy my job, I enjoy traveling and seeing amazing places and, for the most part, I like the people I work with. Is it time for a change or will that 'spark' return when I get back to my gig? I suppose only time will tell who I am.
life, tumultuous, work in general Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 5:32PM I'd like to be able to tell you that the last few days have been eventful but, in reality, they haven't. They have been blissfully boring with relatively few phone calls or distractions. People have asked me why I don't necessarily do anything when I'm on vacation or why I have such long vacations. Firstly, I do do things on my vacations - I spend time visiting Orlando and Las Vegas, I go out to the country and visit with my parents and I have friends come and visit me from out of town.
The second question is often one that I have to lay out plainly for your average joe who does 9-5 monday through friday. I work seven days a week, there are no weekends, there are no days off and so when I do take my break it's nice to enjoy that time that I would normally have gotten in the form of a weekend.
On that note, it won't be long now (relatively speaking) until I'm back on the ship and working. Until then, I plan on enjoying the remainder of my time on land doing very little. How about them apples?
Friday, June 10, 2011 at 5:02PM So I've been toying with the idea of certifications and training today. Specifically as they relate to my industry of course but even in such a limited field there are quite a few to choose from; mostly with some crossover into the IT world.
The biggest one is the Certified Technology Specialist or CTS which is the most specific to AV, particularly corporate AV. The next up would be an A+ certification which shows an aptitude for computer systems in a, theoretically, operating system neutral way. The reality of it is that most things in this world are PC oriented and so no matter how neutral you try to be there will be a bias towards Windows.
The other ones I was looking at were perhaps an MCSE or one of the Apple Trainer Certificates. Are you in the entertainment industry? Do you work in corporate events? What's your take on the certifications; drop me a line, I'd love to hear about it.
