Friday afternoon

---

Rest of Thursday -
After our naps we got dressed up for the second formal night - I wore a red jacket with my long Black skirt. We went to dinner - lovely meal with candlelight and all - keeping with a Valentine’s Day theme. We were just about done with dessert when the Cruise Director came on the intercom and announced that there was a medical emergency on the ship and they wanted active blood donors who were A Pos or O Neg to report to the conference room. I figured that the patient was an A Pos and they were only considering O Neg as a “universal donor”. Ken just donated in early April so he wasn’t’ eligible anyway. When we finished dinner, we went to the conference room and I offered to help; I told them I worked at a blood center and could help with donor screening and could do phlebotomies in a pinch. They took my name and cabin number, but didn’t end up calling me. While we were there I noticed that, like 09/11/01, blood donors volunteered by the dozens. The ship medical staff was ready with donor questionnaires in folders AND the usual trays of cookies and pitchers of juice. I thought about auditing the process - but only for about 30 seconds. They knew how to get in touch with me if I could be of assistance.
We left and went to the comedy show they had in place of the cancelled live production. It was a comedian who had been on Jay Leno Show - Cory Long. He was very funny and the theater was packed. After his show we went to the Explorer’s lounge for live music and an after dinner drink. We forgot about the “Valentine balloon” drop in the Piazza and went on to bed.

Friday, April 24, 2009
We lost another hour last night and now we are 6 hours ahead of NE time. That has been really hard to get used to, but we just seem to get up at 6 -7 AM NE time, regardless of the time here. So we woke up at noon today, when the bridge was making its noon announcements; so much for breakfast. We will be on the same time zone for the next 2-3 days so maybe we will get it together. We get into Madiera at 2PM tomorrow; will be nice to stand on something that isn’t moving for a change. The seas are not as rough today - waves only 12 feet, but the Promenade Deck is still blocked off because of the high winds; about 60-65° air and sea temperature. It’s pretty cloudy again today - haven’t’ had any rain but just some clouds the last 2 days.
The Captain also announced that the 95-year old patient was now in stable condition. I don’t know how many donors they collected or if they transfused him or not. I may check later in the week after the emergency is over.
We had a nice late lunch and then realized that we had signed up for a 3 PM wine tasting - for only $9; so, of course, we had to go. Tonight we are invited to the Captain’s Circle cocktail party at 5:15 PM or 7:15; we got a complimentary membership to the Captain’s Circle from our cruise company when we went to Alaska. The live theater production has been rescheduled for tonight with 3 shows to accommodate everyone. Usually they do 2 shows one night and one the next, but last night’s 2 were cancelled. So it will be a busy but entertaining night.

---

Photos

Laurie's piano
- don't we wish

Comments

[Kara]

Wish we were there:)
Only one thing to say...You can take Laurie out of the blood bank, but you can't take the blood bank out of Laurie! Keep the updates comming. We are living vicariously through you!

[Barb]

fun!
Looks like you're having a great time... I thought I commented before but comments never seem to show up anywhere... wondering where they are going!