bobmacliberty

I've almost completely stopped bringing my big Canon and lenses with me and shoot almost always using my phone (in RAW using Lightroom Mobile). It's much less to carry and still gives me good control over post processing. I'll still use my Canon if I want to blow something up to hang on a wall, if I want shallow depth of field (i.e. like John's monkey pics), if I want to precisely control shutter speed, or if I want to use a regular flash. For other shots, especially typical "snap shots" when posting on social media in a small size, I don't think you can tell the difference.

So I decided to check out the "Bella 3.75" cruise on the Celebrity web site. I'd heard about the infinite veranda cabins (some good, some bad) but figured that I'd opt for a regular balcony. Other than a few aft balconies and a few porthole balconies, it looks like that doesn't exist. I like being on the balcony for morning coffee, for an afternoon cocktail while Micheline is getting ready for dinner, watching sunrise/sunset, looking at the stars, etc. In short, I spend a fair amount of time out there. The biggest knock on the infinite veranda cabin seems to be that the AC shuts off when the veranda window is lowered. In humid areas like the Caribbean, the room quickly gets warm and humid. I think I'd end up using it as a floor to ceiling window rather than as an open balcony for that reason. Not ideal. I know that this has been discussed ad infinitum on the Celebrity board but I'm looking for some quick input from those here who have experienced an infinite veranda cabin. I guess the Retreat is an option but for Retreat pricing, we'd probably do a land trip somewhere or try one of the luxury lines. The Bella 3.75 trip looks appealing to meet and cruise with some of you on a good itinerary, at reasonable group pricing (that's not available for suites). Am I being overly concerned with the infinite veranda?

Double hmmmmmmmm..... Been interested in trying Celebrity.

We are 4 episodes in and love it. It reminded me a lot of a Matthew McConaughey movie from a few years ago that I liked with a similar underground "gardening" setup. Duh...that movie was also called The Gentlemen and was also directed by Guy Ritchie. They loosely used the movie plot to make the TV series. I love the smart humor and the witty dialog between Eddie and Susie Glass. I recognized Theo James (Eddie) but couldn't remember where. IMDB told me that he played "Four" in the Divergent movies. I concur with your recommendation Lenny. I recommend closed captioning 😉

Yes. We've got one from every ship we've been on, including a Disney Wonder (our first) hiding with the Royal ships. We'll be adding Wonder of the Seas this fall but the cabinet is full. I'll need to figure something out...a good problem to have.

Dani - That food all looks absolutely delicious...especially the squid pasta with shrimps. Yum.

Business Class is often a 1-2-1 configuration. Depending on the plane and the airline, the middle 2 seats may be right next to each other. Sometimes the middle seats are angled (like Andrew's picture) so that even though they are technically next to each other, you're not really that close to the person next to you. They do strange things with BC configuration so that there is room to put your feet with the seat flat for a bed, while maximizing the number of seats.

Here's Agreeable Grey in our office with dark cabinets.

We have Agreeable Grey in our house. Our painter said it's very popular. I understand the desire to paint before moving in, but painters are used to painting rooms that are filled with furniture. You'll usually only have a room out of commission for a day (or 2 at most). I'm not a big color person but Micheline very much is. She'll get a sample quart of 3 or 4 colors and paint sections of walls. You can then see how these different colors look in different lighting conditions. Your room will like weird for a week or so but if color is important, you'll end up with something that you like. If color isn't important, pick something and move on. If your painter doesn't want to pick, take a few pictures to your local Sherwin Williams store and ask them. Or, find a different painter who is more into design. Our's very much is and had a lot of good conversations with Micheline about options.

You guys are looking great! I could do with 25 less pounds.

If you're looking for a good place for dinner in Savannah, I've heard several people recommend The Grey. I haven't personally eaten there. It's a James Beard award winner located in a former art deco Greyhound bus terminal. It is described as innovative southern cooking using locally sourced ingredients. Definitely check the menu first to see if it's your kind of thing.

Adding my Happy Birthday wishes Dani! I hope you have a great day.

For kicks, l just looked at the Uber app to see what it would cost to go from my house to a local restaurant that's 3 miles away. It would cost $11 and would take 14 minutes for the Uber to arrive. We don't have many Ubers where I live. 😁 I think I mentioned this before but NYC taxis now use an app called Curb. You can "hail" a taxi, track your progress, and pay with a credit card...all using the app. I don't remember but I think I could pay within the Curb app using my Apple Wallet. If that's true, I'm sure it would also work with an Android equivalent wallet. Curb may work in other cities and/or other larger cities may have a similar app. People generally like the cash free app for Uber/Lyft, and taxis need to keep up.

Micheline is a fan of the CBS Sunday Morning show. This piece was broadcast last Sunday. We now have CC turned on most of the time, for many of the reasons called out in the video.

Uber is typically cheaper than a taxi...that's their business model. As others have said, Uber pricing fluctuates based on time of day and supply/demand. If there aren't a lot of Ubers around you to begin with, someone may need to drive a fair distance to your house for the short trip to your office, so the price goes up. Thats means there are times when a taxi could be cheaper. When we went to NYC a couple months ago, I learned that going from Laguardia to Manhattan is usually cheaper by taxi, since there's often a demand charge for Uber trips.

$95 at Wayfair. Longshore Tides Moore Shot Glass Set & Reviews | Wayfair

Hmmm...Tequila based drinks?? Wrong Kraken.

Must....bite...tongue.

Renee - If you're doing everything on your Samsung phone, ignore everything that I said above about Windows. Do what Mark said and change the photo date directly on your phone. That should be much simpler. This is for an S23 but it's probably very similar for you:

If I understand, you took all of the Glance Of The Day photos for all days at the same time...maybe on day 7. You want to change the date of your Glance Of The Day photos so that it seems like the day 1 Glance Of The Day photos were actually taken on day 1 and can then be organized with other pictures from day 1. If that's correct, there's not a simple way to do that in Windows, but there are a few options. I'm assuming that you're using Windows but if not, there may be similar options for MacOS. I'm not a Mac guy. Option 1 is to download 3rd party software that can edit the properties of a Windows file. Using the 3rd party software, you would change the "date created" value of your picture files. If you don't want to use 3rd party software, option 2 is to do something similar in Windows but you will need to sort differently. In Windows, open File Explorer and right-click on one of the files that you want to re-date. Click on Properties. In the dialog box that opens, click on the Details tab at the top. A few rows down, you'll see Date Taken. You can click on the date value shown there and change it. You can either type in a new date or click on the little calendar icon and pick a date from the calendar. The issue with this approach is that Windows files have several different date related properties. Date taken is not the same as date created or date modified (or date acquired, or date last saved...etc.). The date created and date modified values will stay the same. You would then need to sort your photos based on the date taken value, which requires a few extra steps. In File Explorer, select Details from the Views drop down at the top. This will typically give you a list of the files with information on the file name, size, type, and date created/date modified. Right click on an empty area to the right of the column titles in this view and you'll see a list of properties that you can display, with a check next to the properties that are currently being shown. Click on More at the bottom of the list and you'll see dozens and dozens of file properties that you can show. Scroll down to Date Taken and click on it. Date Taken will now be listed and you can sort on Date Taken to keep your Glance of the Day photos with your other photos from the same day. This isn't quite as complicated as it sounds, but it's not simple either. Option 3 is to rename your photo files. Put something like "Day 1-" at the beginning of all day 1 photos, including your Glance of the Day photos. You then sort based on Name and your photos should be grouped correctly. Since picture files are usually numbered sequentially, photos from the same day will still be listed within that day in the order that they were taken. This isn't hard but can be a lot of work, depending on how many pictures you have. There are also 3rd party software programs that can do this in bulk, i.e. pick all photos from day 1 (including the Glance of the Day) and put "Day 1-" in front of all of them. Sorry I can't think of anything easier. Edit - Looks like Mark and I replied at the same time. Between his Apple answer and my Windows answer, hopefully we have you covered.

I don't recall seeing Uncle Nearest onboard before. Nice addition.

My first dozen or so trips to "Paris" were plane changes in CDG. Business trips to Europe always went through there. I Never had a chance to leave the airport. Finally, I took a train from Brussels to CDG and stayed at the Sheraton in the airport overnight before a morning flight the next day. I got to the hotel around 4:00pm and asked the concierge about seeing the city in a couple of hours. He had obviously been asked this before as he pulled out a map and gave me directions for a whirlwind tour. Take this train then that metro to this stop. Go up and see Notre Dame. Go back down in the Metro and take this line x stops. Go up and see the Eiffel Tower. I saw all of the big highlights in about 3 hours, never looking at one thing for more than about 5 minutes. I felt like Chevy Chase looking at the Grand Canyon in National Lampoon's Vacation.

Interesting video for those who want a little more technical explanation of what happens during a total solar eclipse. Included are some experiments that may be fun for kids, or for grown-ups who are geeks at heart (like me). Unfortunately, we're too far away from the path.

Outstanding idea. The problem is that, with the amount of drink packages/drink coupons, it would cost a lot and they may not generate any more revenue. Not a good equation for the accountants that seem to be running Royal these days. No if they can change it to something that they can charge for...

Very interesting read. I prefer the island after the Perfect Day changes (I know that some will disagree), but we did get to enjoy it once in the tender days. We rented cabanettes (I think that's what they were called) on South Beach and had a great day.