Landing in frankfurt

Approach pictures



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I off on my next trip to Papenburg Germany

Flying Lufthansa Airbus 330 to Frankfurt then to Dusseldorf.


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Family goes to Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Two days before I leave for awhile; we took the family to Universal Islands of Adventure to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Sally and I call this forced family fun or FFF.  Stephanie was like a ten year old giddy and happy as can be. It was quite an impressive theming of this section of the park. The Harry Potter ride was by far the BEST theme park ride in the United States.  There are no words to describe it, it was built on automotive robotic technology.  I was disappointed in the size of the section (it is NOT a separate park) and the operation.  Clearly the park was laid out from a visual perspective with a fixed size and no thought to guest flow. 

Stephanie in front of Hogwarts Express

Waiting in line to go into one of the stores, this one sold wands and scarves! The stores are attractions and have long lines to get in.

 The Castle is impressive towering over the park.  I read it is 15 stories tall.

The sorting hat; I should have taken a video. The hat was talking and telling the muggles where to go.

Train station and train were quite authentic.

This is the entrance.

Happy Stephanie leaving the park.

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From our picasa web album

Best Tools for communication in my nerdy opinion

I think there are many great ways to communicate. There is chat or sms text for very short communications, email for more verbose communication or voice for that personal one-one communication. Well the last two years in my travels I have tried many forms of communication.  Below are the tools I use. I know there are many reasons to use others but this is my list:

Prerequisite - I use a Blackberry (BB 9700 as of September 2010) with T-mobile and International BB plan.  Data is free and unlimited in the US and abroad, International voice  calls are .45cents a minute and International SMS text are .45 cents each. My current Blackberry allows me to tether (use) my phone as a modem for my company T400 laptop.  It works fine for syncing email and chat but that is about it.  Not fast at all. My personal Macbook has many of the tools listed below as well.

With that said no T-mobile voice or SMS for me when I am international!


 Text while International - - I loaded Google Talk on my BB and Sally's Android powered phone.  This allows us to text for free.  Google talk is also incorporated within Gmail so if either of us are on our laptops we can chat there as well. Again no charge since this is going over the data plan.

Voice --  Again Google Talk on a laptop using Gmail or stand alone Google Talk has video chat which Sally and I have done a couple of times.  I even did video chat with my mother back in Statesboro. Skype is a great alternative but we always seem to be on  Google Talk before we decided to do a video conference.  My travels take me into the middle of oceans so bandwidth is a challenge.  If I am at sea or tethering my BB I cannot do any form of video conferencing.

UMA-- is a feature that T-mobile and BB have that allows voice calls to go over a wifi network. The call is then free. I love this feature and if AT&T had implemented it on the IPhone  their network usage and bad publicity would have been reduced.  At home I have a T-mobile router that is allowing me a home phone number for cheap and then my cell phone calls go over the internet.  {in 2012 after the Fantasy launch I plan on dropping this and build my own Internet SIP route for increased savings)

I went the route of Google voice but since Google has not implemented the SIP functionality there still is a charge associated with using it. I use a Google voice number for my personal cell phone number it allows me freedom to get calls at different places but it is not really saving me money.

Social Media -- You can stay in touch with a lot of people using Social Media sites.  I am on FaceBook, I have a Twitter account but do not use it that often. We use Yammer at work but like Twitter (fjwagg) I do not use it much. This Blog is another way I show my family what I am doing and where I am.  Speaking of where.... Foursquare is a mobile application that allows you to "Check-in" places. I was a late adopter and not many of people use it but I find it fun.

Where am I-- nothing beats Google maps although the latest version of the software on my BB is driving me mad.  I can walk all around a foreign city and get around without a map.  So what if I look like a total nerdy geek staring at my phone as I walk but I am getting somewhere!  Google latitude allows near real time location beaconing allowing Sally and Mom the ability to see where I am.  It seems to be a challenge with dropping them as friends. Also the GPS on android devices wears the battery down pretty fast. 

Well if you need to get a hold of me and know me shoot me an email because in reality I prefer to respond when it is convenient and email can provide a relief from my constant crack-berry addiction.

The time has come for the Dr3am to slip out into sunlight!

October 31st the ship will float out of the large hall that she has been in since 2009.  The hall is the building that its ends point north and south on the map below.  The new build team has been working since 2006 on the new ships.  MeyerWerft in Papenburg Germany was chosen to be the new shipyard, our current ships were built in Italy.


View Larger Map


Soon I will be traveling back to Germany.  The Dr3am has been floating for at least a month so they can run the engines, turn on the climate control system, exercise the power system and turn the props.  Yes turn the props, they mount large blanks on the shafts to simulate the weight and size but they do not provide propulsion.  This week the ship went dry so the real props can be mounted and final inspections of the hull can be completed.  Crew start boarding the ship the 1st week of November so my team will be there to make sure we can get the applications working and integrated. I will be staying in The Park Inn for the 1st part of the trip and then moving onboard into a crew cabin.  The ship stays alongside the yard for about ten days so testing of the ships marine systems continue.

Once the Shipyard is ready to take her out to sea the conveyance down the river Ems starts. See this Google search for pictures. The first stop will be at a port in Eemshaven, Netherlands. This is where I will be getting off.  Only a few people will be allowed to go out to Sea Trials. I will travel by taxi to Amsterdam and then fly home for 12 days before heading back to Eemshaven for the final crew load and transatlantic.

SugarLand concert

Sally and I at SugarLand concert.

Little Big Town opening Act

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Skippers Smokehouse and Oyster Bar

Before the SugarLand concert in Tampa we went out to eat.  Sally loves Oysters so I found a place via the Internet. Skippers was one of the  quirkiest places I have ever been in! Not sure you can call out a motif, it seems like it should be sitting next to the Suwanee or St. Johns river like Capt. Hirams in Sebastian.

Oyster Bar

Shrimp PoBoy

Sally enjoying 18 Steamed Oysters

Needless to say I will be coming back to catch some of the live music that they host out back. Looks like they could easily hold 3-4 hundred people. There are some deadhead references in some of the band fliers posted so it should be good times.

Wagner Reunion picture sharing at hotel

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Sunset leaving tybee

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Tybee north beach

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Atlantic Ocean feet immersing

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Reynolds square

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Reunion day 2

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Wagner 2010 reunion starts

Our 1st meeting place is the Crystal Beer Parlor a few blocks from our hotel.  Great to go back into such a historic place.  The waitress talked me into trying the The Duck Rabbit Milk Stout. It was quite tasty. 

Date with Stephanie

A night at Flemming's Steak and Wine bar while Sally was away on a girls weekend.



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Ride4Ronald 100 mile bike ride

Sally and Chance crossing the finish line for the Ride4Ronald.
100 mile bike ride



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Ride4Ronald

Sally riding strong at 70 Miles

At 80 miles there was a welcoming committee of girl scouts that really boosted our spirits

Eddie and Chance pulled hard all day long

September 18th location Castaway for SilverWhere upgrade

You have received a map location.

http://maps.BlackBerry.com?lat=26.07985&lon=-77.53791&z=10&label=Bahamas&country=Bahamas



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Tour of Sebring 2010

The Tour of Sebring brought many friends together.  Todd, Sally, Jeremy, Debra, Eddie and myself rode the 62 mile metric century.  Chance rode the 100 mile Century.  Hot day with little wind and rolling hills. 

Traveling home

Woke up BCN time at 6:30AM for 10:00am flight. In Atlanta about to board plane 16 hours later.

Amazing how time goes by.

18hours and 20 minutes after my alarm clock went I am home.

I was chosen for extra security at the gate.

S for Special.  I was chosen "at random" to go through extra security at the Barcelona airport.  I along with four other white 45+ year old men were led into a back room and patted down. Our carry on luggage was re-x-rayed and everything was reexamined. 



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Another great choice

Marques de Arienzo Crianza is made in a fresh and lively fruit-forward style showcasing deep cherry color with currant and vanilla spice flavors. An elegant layering of fruit, leather and American oak keeps the acidity in perfect balance.

Cafe con-leche bcn

Terminal A has great cafe.
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No restaurant for me

Out of no where an issue came up that was unrelated to any of my projects; so for 12hrs we troubleshot until it was realized to be an Oracle DB issue. Not a fan of DBAs.

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Great wine - Ca'marcanda Promis 2007

Palo wine
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Palo

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This pic is from deck1 loading platform.

This is the bow of a tender along side us transferring guests to shore. I am standing next to a pallet of bottle water. I learned that the ship can only make fresh drinking water at cruising speeds. The long port days really reduce the potable water onboard. I have seen water trucks at each dock pumping water onboard. Trucked in water is to augment what the ship can make. We are at sea tomorrow so a full day to make water.



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Villefrance

One of the most beautiful ports ever. We tender, which means we have to board smaller boats to take us ashore. The mountains rise from the shoreline. There is a train which takes you south to Monaco or Nice. It is overcast now.

I had an upgrade last night until 3am and I was called at 8 that there were issues. Going to be long day.



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Corsica

The only port where you can walk under the bow!

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Corsica

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