dpostman

4 hours ago, laurieal said:

Hello, everyone!

 

Just wanted to let you know that I made it home safely to the softest, purriest cat in the entire world. I'm back at work this morning, but I'll get caught up on comments later in the day.

Glad to hear you had an uneventful trip back.  I was mostly offline this weekend and missed the opportunity to wish you a safe flight back.  I'm looking forward to your next Live in October.  By then, it's looking like I might be able to post our own kitty pics.  My daughter has moved back in after being away at university for the past 2 years since her next 2 years have many internships and most of her remaining university classes will be online.  She has somehow been able to successfully negotiate that we let her bring in a cat. She is just waiting for the right one to show up for rescue at the SPCA.  Anyway, we'll see how that pans out.

Once again, Merci Beaucoup for the great live review.  I've taken several notes for our future cruises.

d (Dennis) p

And a pic of our late Dexter

On 5/2/2024 at 6:22 AM, PG_Cruiser said:

STRAWBERRY MARGARITA 
Sabor

 

 

 

Thank you... 

dp

4 hours ago, CruiszBug said:

Oh, no! What could I be doing wrong?? Any suggestions?

Double oh, no! Is anyone able to see my pictures? I posted from my Google photos online. Made collages of most pictures to cut down on size but (of course) I can see them all fine. 

It happened to me before as well when copying from google photos.  So now, if I'm on a windows PC, I use the snip-it tool and then paste in the post.  

dp

This weekend's kickoff...

Whisky Sour

dp

1 hour ago, laurieal said:

I had been saving my appetite all day for this moment. I was having dinner at the Portside BBQ. 

Several people have told me I absolutely have to eat there. I was repeatedly told to order the half chicken. 
Did I listen? No! I’m not going to order HALF A CHICKEN.

I got the brisket and the pulled pork. For my sides, I went with the mac and cheese and the corn on the cob. For my dessert, I had to get the brookie.

 

dp

@laurieal, I wish to add my own thanks to all the others for your Live review.  I also really admire your writing and sense of humor. 

I do not have a cat pic to offer up, but my DD just came back home from university and she had this.  I thought it looked a lot like your avatar. 

Looking forward to reading more.

dp

8 minutes ago, laurieal said:

It’s important to get some good rest before all the port days coming up. I’ll be avoiding deck 5, then. I prefer my musicals without snoring 😂 

Perhaps RCI should provide AC plugs in "Certain" areas of the theatre to accommodate C-Pap machines. 😉

dp

11 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

How about some baseball food porn. We didn’t have one of every item but we probably had more than half of the items. 
 

Between the items below pop corn, peanuts and a couple hot dogs were consumed. Lisa only had the items noted below. 
 

Owen started with the Oreo snack.  Yes that’s an oversized spoon. 

 

 
 

I had the lobster roll. 
 

 

Owen also had the chicken fingers

 

 

and poutine too. Lisa had one as well. 
 

I had the brisket and Mac n cheese. Could have been better. 

 

 

Lisa had the strawberry parfait. 
 

 

While Owen had the double burger. Looked bad, tasted amazing. 
 

 

I had this little chocolate dessert

 

 

and this Score (Canadian chocolate bar) cheese cake pop. 
 

 

LOL

So... Andrew, After the game, did you guys go out for lunch? 😉  I swear, I'm not judging 😉

BTW Great pics of food and all the other awesome sites I've never seen before.

Thanks for bringing us along.

dp

2 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Do any of you have a true home theater setup, and if so, what remote do you use?

 

I have an Onkyo 7.1 receiver (center channel, front L&R, side L&R, rear L&R, plus subwoofer). My Sony tv is connected to it, as is a dvd player, Apple TV box, and Roku box.  I have been controlling everything with a Logitech Harmony 650 programmable remote.  

 

The thing I liked about the Harmony is it made everything a one button operation.  Press watch a movie, and it would turn on the tv, change the source to the dvd, turn on the dvd player, turn on the surround receiver, and it would be ready to go.  Same with everything else, it would automatically switch inputs and power devices on and off. 

 

It always worked great when I had a cable box, but since switching to Roku and using the cable provider app, the remote occasionally gets confused.  I started looking for a new programmable remote, but it appears Harmony stopped making them.  Maybe with so many going with sound bars and smart tvs, there wasn’t a big enough market for programmable remotes.  

 

Just curious what others use.  

On our main floor TV, I'm still mostly using my Logitech Harmony One since 2012.  But I do have to use the Amazon FireStick's own remote since it is RF and not Infrared.  But that is only when we are streaming.  In our down stairs old school home theatre, we still have a working Harmony 800.  I will be very sad when they finally give up.  They were such a great remote.  I've recommend them to so many of my friends and co-workers.  I would tell them that these remotes could save a marriage 😉 

Too bad Logitech discontinued them a while back.  Nothing really compares.  There are other options, but none that I found were usable for regular non-techie folks.

The harmony one had the perfect mix of soft buttons (Touch Screen) and hard buttons.

dp

21 minutes ago, laurieal said:

I don’t think I’ve seen the Sexy Man thing since before the pandemic. Not sure what criteria they use these days. If it were me deciding, it would be cooking, puns, and good use of punctuation. 

 

Will report back later. 

 

Food and punctuation/grammar related:

Your dinner vs you're dinner (one leaves you nourished, the other leaves you dead)

Missing 1. I just need a good pun, but...

dp

On 4/10/2024 at 8:25 AM, PG_Cruiser said:

250+ now! ha ha

I hope people are not getting tired of these recipes

You're kidding right?  😉

I really admire the effort you are putting into this and I'm sure, many of us realize how much work and perseverance you put into this great reference thread.  This thread is saved in my notes and I've been coming back regularly.  I've been picking and choosing some of the drinks to copy and paste into my prep notes for our next cruise(s).  It's funny how, when I'm on board, I can never seem to remember all the drinks I seen in the past that I wanted to try, so I have to take notes.

Thanks again for all this work, and someday I hope to be able to have one (or a few) of these drinks with you on board.

🍹

dp

47 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Anyone know why I get the ref signaling touchdown, when I shift in reverse?

 

 

Susan thinks it means she backed into the garage without hitting anything. 😁

If you touch that icon, it will change the rear camera angle.  Usually 3 different viewing angles are available.

EDIT TO ADD:  Also, if the music stops when you open the camera app, it is useful because if you take video footage and the music is playing, it is troublesome if you wish to upload to a service such as YT and get hit with copyright warnings.  On a technical side, your (most) phones may not be able to enable the microphone and stream music simultaneously.

dp

AS usual, I'm about half a day and 2 or 3 pages late to the discussion 😉.  Our house was about a mile away from the Totality line, but we got to see the "Diamond Ring" Effect.  Sky was perfectly clear.  And the sound of Eclipse was very appropriate 😉

Old School Vinyl

dp

35 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

@h20skibum   Wow Mark.  I'm so glad that Ricky is okay.  Now that he's had his transfusion and they know he is anemic, how will they be handling his anemia?  Pills?  Diet?  Interesting to hear that cat's do not have a universal blood type.  I myself, am a Universal Donor with my type 0 neg. I'm also RH neg.

RH Neg.  Does that mean Left Handed? 😉

dp

Just now, lenquixote66 said:

I was in Moncton in 1976 .It was a beautiful area.

Oh really?  Cool.  I've been here since 92, but originally from Bathurst in Northern NB.  About an hour away from Miramichi where that 1982 earthquake was located.

dp

33 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

I remember being woken up in bed by an earthquake while in college.  This was 1982 or 1983 outside of Albany, NY.  I think it was in the 5s on the Richter scale.  It was felt across much of the northeast.

I'm not sure if it was the same one, but here (New-Brunswick, CAN) we had a 5.7 Jan 9th 1982.  But I don't think that would have been felt further than Maine (perhaps a bit of NH) but I could be wrong.

I remember, I was just a kid, it was early but i was already up.  My mother ran out of her room screaming "Is it the furnace?"  Except, we didn't have a furnace 🙂

dp

19 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Looks about right to me.  Multiple courses with a little time and a little wine between courses means I'd be full.  Besides, I don't have the self-control to NOT overeat when they put huge portions in front of me.  Huge portion sizes are a part of the reason that we've got such an obesity problem in the US, and all of the other medical issues that go with that.

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

Last weekend, Susan and I went new car shopping.  More cars on the lots, and some dealers were actually having some deals again.  We were going to replace our 13 RAV4 with a 24 RAV4.

 

We found a dealer that had 4 of the Premiums on the lot, but only two of which we would consider.  A dark gray, or a black one, both with black interiors.  So, we get to the dealer, and they try to find the gray one.   No one could find it, and they didn’t know where it was.  We drove the black one, but told the dealer it was really at the bottom of my color list, because they are so hard to keep clean.  Of course, then Susan mentions she would really like a white one better than the gray they couldn’t find. 
 

So they did some searching, and found a white one with the same package and options on another dealer’s lot.  They got that one for us, and we picked it up yesterday.

 

 I called our insurance company to let them know we replaced that vehicle.  I was shocked when they gave us the new insurance numbers.  Buying that new vehicle, and it went down by $3.   
 

If I keep saving money like that, I may be able to book that Sea Dog cruise. 😂

Welcome to the club 😉

dp

On 3/14/2024 at 11:04 AM, A&L_Ont said:

Currently relaxing on the suite sundeck. Hot as Haiti here, comment on purpose in the spirit of Labadee. 
 

We have Cuba to the right of us. 
 

 

Freighters to the left. 

 

 

It’s a feet up kind of day.  Sunscreen applied. 

 

The dates don't match up, but while at the beach in Cuba, we did see a few Cruise Ships.  One of which I'm sure was a smallish RC.  My Marine traffic app was not cooperating so I could not see what ship it was.

Perhaps some eagle eyes here can better identify it. This was taken Thursday March 7th.

On 3/11/2024 at 2:08 PM, cruisingpeople said:

Question.... Is it me, or did anyone else notice in the Schooner Bar video, (actually, I believe it was in the Pub), that between the 0:08 & 0:15 second mark, that even though the musicians hand was off the guitar, the chords for the song were still playing?🤔🤔

On 3/11/2024 at 2:25 PM, SilkySal said:

Had to go back to look again and, by golly, you're right! At least his voice isn't recorded.😉

On 3/11/2024 at 2:46 PM, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

I am so far from musically inclined it’s ridiculous but I I have noticed this before with other pub musicians.  From what I could gather it looks like they record a certain part and can switch it on and off with the foot pedal to get different effects and play overtop of what  they recorded in the beginning to get the sound of multiple guitars.  This is just a total guess from watching with zero musical talent 😂

On 3/11/2024 at 3:24 PM, A&L_Ont said:

The bold above is exactly the answer. He sampled some of his own playing and used it as a layer. They can’t get anything past you all here. 😀

Sorry this is so late after the party.  Just catching up now.  I know this is now a bit OT but since the cruise is now finished, I hope it is OK.  @SteelCityCruiser10 actually did very good at answering for a "Non-Musician" 😉 and Andrew @A&L_Ont used the right term "Layer"

It is done with a loop pedal, sometimes a very simple pedal, sometimes more sophisticated gear is used.   It helps for one man band or duos to create layers of themselves and then accompany themselves to create a fuller and more varied sound.

Here is a great demonstration/example from a few years ago by a great Canadian duo (Whitehorse) that I very much like.  At the 2:30 mark, they start layering several loops to create a multi-track of themselves.

Loving your review once again Andrew.  I'm still catching up.  Sugaring season started early over here on the east coast.  It's keeping us busy 😉 

dp

Have a great week everyone.   We will be off line for most of the week.  Leaving for Halifax soon to catch an early flight to an AI in Cuba for the week.  Apparently no wifi in rooms buildings but there is in the lobby and common areas.  So I might be able to check in once in a while.  It's our first AI, as we usually choose to cruise instead... as I assume most people in this group as well 😉

dp

11 hours ago, HBE4 said:

Anybody have an opinion in TCL TV's? I think I'm about to pull the trigger on this - a TCL QM8 65 inch 4K with mini-led QLED Smart (is there any other kind? ) TV

 

https://www.tcl.com/us/en/products/home-theater/qm8-class/65-class-4k-mini-led-qled-hdr-google-tv-65qm850g

 

3 of 4 Samsung TV's I've had all died a premature death within 3 years of purchase. The 4th one is going on 10 years now & is showing its age, large patches of pixels not longer seem to work correctly or not work at all giving the image a "blotchy" look. 

 

Since I've had bad luck with Samsung and Sony is just too expensive, I'm not considering either brand. My main TV is an LG which I love & I was pretty certain I was going to buy another LG until I read the  reviews of the TCL QM8 from professionals & users. Everybody seems blown away by the quality of the picture. 

 

In terms of technology, the mini-LED QLED is the newest tech, known for it's brightness. Picture quality wise, it's a small step down from OLED TV's which is considered the best but those work better in darker rooms (so I'm told) & since this TV is going into a very bright, sun-filled room, mini-LED QLED seems the way to go.

 

TCL lists the price $1,699 which must be Royal math as Best Buy has it for $1,399 on sale for $999.  Still a bit more than I wanted - I was looking in the $700-$800 range -  but since it's being compared to the picture quality of Sony & Samsung's that are twice the price, it seems like too good of a deal to pass on.

 

I welcome any and all thoughts, opinions, critiques and off-topic comments. 🙂

 

EDIT: And when I say I'm about to pull the trigger, I mean by Sunday. That's when the sale ends.

 

I think OB and Bob already gave pretty good info.

I'll just add that the TCL model you are considering is probably very good bang for buck.  The most common disadvantage I see about this model is the limited viewing angle.  If the room that it's going in is setup in such a way that you will be seated directly in front, this will not be an issue, but if setup in a room that is wider, and sitting areas are set off more to either side and much of the viewing is off axis, then I would recommend going to see in person and pay close attention to the picture quality when moving off to the side.

If you happen to find this LG model (LG OLED65B3PUA) at around the same price, likely a few hundred more, this has a much better picture and off axis viewing quality. I know you have a challenge because of the brightly lit environment, but this will only make a poor viewing angle TV even worse.

Best of luck shopping.

dp

16 hours ago, h20skibum said:

What does it mean, if someone asks, “Are you hiding in my chimney?”

 

 

It's H20Skibum!!!

😉

But I tend to agree with what others have mentioned.  Seems to refer to some type of eavesdropping.

But the saying is not a usual reference.  It might be from a very obscure movie or literature.

dp

On 2/17/2024 at 10:13 PM, A&L_Ont said:

Developmentally challenged.  Owen got to work with some kids that have small challenges to those that have great life challenges. He has found this to be a calling, enough to do his work co-op in this.

Thanks.   When I read DE I think "Distiller's Edition". I did not think that worked in this case 😉

39 minutes ago, dpostman said:

@Sea Dog  Wishing you all the best Greg, and hopping for a great and successful outcome.  Looking forward to hearing back from you.

 

dp (Dennis)

Darn!  Hoping.... not hopping 🙃

I'm assuming there won't be much "hopping" for you for at least a few days 😉

dp