here piggy piggy piggy

Hey all,

I have decided not to come home because I dont want to get the swine flu. From what CNN is reporting, this is the most dangerous thing that has ever hit the US. Thankfully, I dont eat a lot of bacon on the ship. If I do come home and all my family and friends are dead, I will be pissed.

Stay Healthy everyone!

Contract Countdown: 4 Days

Much Love,

BJSR

1 week

Hey All,

Long time no blog. Just getting back from our big Charter to Trinidad. It was a very cool experience, but I am glad to be back into the normal swing of things, even though its only for a week. I will have a ton of pictures and stories of the trip and my last week up soon, but with only a couple days on the trip I am going to try and experience the islands as much as I can before I am back in the States. Here are a couple of pictures from the trip for now.

I have also posted some new videos on my myspace page. Check em out and let me know what you think.

MYSPACE

All for now.

Contract Countdown: 6 Days!

Much Love,

BJSR

fun stuff

Hey All,

Thursday. It a beautiful day in Dominica. Im at our favorite coffee joint, doing a little bit of interwebbing. I am trying to get my affairs in order for my return to the States. Hard to believe I have been rocking the Caribbean for 5 months already. One more months to show this ship whats up!

So I recorded some of my set last night. I was kind of having an off night, but I did get a cool take of “I Shot the Sheriff” by Bob Marley. I will be recording just about all of my sets from here on out because I need demo material to book some gigs this summer.

Make sure you check out the Myspace page.

MYSPACE

I also got a link to this video from my friend, Kathleen. Its absolutely hilarious and I am not even a cat person.

Enjoy!

Contract Countdown: 31 Days.

Much Love,

BJSR

SPARTANS

Hey All,

It was a great weekend. I got to watch the Spartans advance to the FINAL FOUR! I am in a pool with a bunch of crew members and its the first time that I am the only one to pick Michigan State to go all the way…and they may actually do it! It has been nice walking around the ship with my MSU shirt on. Last night at boat drill I had about 15 guests congratulate me on our victory. It was glorious.

All for now. GO STATE!

Contract Countdown: 34 Days

Word of the Day:

determination |diˌtərməˈnā sh ən|
noun
1 firmness of purpose; resoluteness : he advanced with an unflinching determination.
2 the process of establishing something exactly, typically by calculation or research : determination of molecular structures.
• Law the settlement of a dispute by the authoritative decision of a judge or arbitrator.
• Law a judicial decision or sentence.
3 the controlling or deciding of something’s nature or outcome : genetic sex determination.
4 Law the certssation of an estate or interest.
5 archaic a tendency to move in a fixed direction.

Much Love,

BJSR

Pics

Hey All,

Happy Weekend everyone. I just posted some new pictures on my myspace page. My friend, Tony, just got a new camera and was taking some pictures of Bennett and I on the lido deck jamming out. Tony is a backstage tech on board and works in TV back home. He has an amazing eye for this kind of thing and I think the shots turned out really nicely. My favorite shot is the close up on my glasses. If you look closely you can see a really cool image of the lido deck and the water slide in the lenses. I think I shall send it to Carnival that they may use it for advertising. 🙂

MYSPACE

Enjoy!

Go Michigan State!  Elite 8, BABY!

Contract Countdown: 36 Days

Much Love,

BJSR

Old Men and the Sea

Hey All,

Its the last full week of March. Hope its going out like a lamb for you. I was discussing with Alex today that even though the weather hasn’t really ever dipped below 65 degrees this winter, it still feels like spring time here. Or, should I say smells like spring time. It is sort of hard to explain, but when I get off the ship in the mornings I get hit with the same sensation that I would in early April in Michigan. It must be that some plants are blossoming or something, because even though I have been taking my allergy shots for almost 5 months now, I’m still sneezing like crazy. I guess my Ohio allergist didn’t test for all the tropical foliage found in the Caribbean…weird.

Anyway. Time to tell you about adventure number 2. Last Tuesday, my boys; Bennett, Michael (Booba), and Phil, hopped into a cab and headed for the South end of Dominica. We met up with Rock and Mikey, two locals that Bennett met the week before. They threw us in their little boat and motored us to the middle of the Bay. Rock handed us our fishing poles, which were not poles. They were little boards with 50lbs line wrapped around it and a lure and hook at the end. Bennett and Booba dropped their lines and we proceeded to troll around the Bay looking for schools of fish. It was pretty windy, which apparently doesn’t bode well for easy fishing, but makes for a fun ride. The waves were rolling and in such a small boat if felt like we were on a roller coaster. I couldn’t help but yelling “Is that all you got?!” to the thrashing water, and I was dropping every sailing and Castaway reference I could. I’m sure Rock and Mikey thought I was an idiot, but I think they enjoyed my child-like enthusiasm.

After only 10 minutes or so, Booba got a bit and started reeling in the fish. Due to the fact that we didnt actually have polls he was just pulling in the line, mangling up his hands pretty bad. It was a impressive struggle and after a couple of minutes we saw a little bit of splashing about 15 feet from the boat. Rock and Mikey yelled and pulled up the fish…well, half of the fish. Our catch had been bit in half by a Barracuda! Mikey Jumped for a wooden pole with a large hook on the end and Rock started dipping our catch in the water to attract the Cuda. When it got close to the boat we could see the shadow under the water, it looked like it was between 3 and 4 feet! Mikey waited for the right moment and made his move, jabbing at the fish. He missed and we all yelled for him to make another attempt, but our Cuda was long gone by then. We were left with a half a Tuna, (which we named Dan), and an intense desire to catch some more fish.

We continued to troll around the Bay for another hour with little success. I had a bite that I reeled in for a while but it broke loose right before we got in on the boat. It was a little disappointing, but Rock and Mikey took us outside of the bay and rolled us around in the bigger waves to distract us from the bad fishing and let us do a little bit of snorkling. I was very amused. They told us that the wind was not the best, but they would take us back to the beach and cook us our catch.

Bennett grabbed a couple of Kubulis, (Dominican Beer), and we watched as Rock dressed the fish on the beach and Mikey lit the fire and boiled the water. They boiled up some green bananas that were picked across the street and tossed in some onions and seasoning. Dan (our fish) was thrown in last and we waited with our beers. Rock threw in the head for me and told me I had to eat the eye. Feeling very much like Anthony Bourdain, I obliged and the four of us eat our bounty on the beach. The bananas were delicious. The fish was quite good but I thought it could use a little bit more salt, not to be picky. The eye, however, was actually really tasty. It was more fatty than the rest of the fish and had some good flavor. It made me want to have my own travel show.

After our meal we headed back in the cab, full and a little sun-burned. Although we only caught a half of a fish it still felt like a success and don’t think I will every forget that experience.

Here are some shots from the day.

Stay tuned for more adventures from sea.

Contract Countdown: 42 Days

GO SPARTANS!

Much Love,

BJSR

MUSIC

Hey All,

I have some new music for everyone. I have started recording some of my sets in the atrium and finally getting them up in the ole interweb. Still getting the hang of the recording equipment but I thought a couple were good enough to pass on to you. Check out the Myspace page and have a listen.

MYSPACE

I will be posting a lot more music as I get it laid down. Let me know what tunes you want to hear. I have been talking about getting these to you for a while, so thanks for being so patient with me. Tell everyone you know to check out the site.

Networking baby…networking.

Contract Countdown: 45 days

Word of the Day:

diversify |diˈvərsiˌfī; dī-|
verb
make or become more diverse or varied : [ intrans. ] the trilobites diversified into a great number of species | [ trans. ] they seek to diversify their approach to teaching | [as adj. ] ( diversified) a diversified economy.
• [ intrans. ] (of a company) enlarge or vary its range of products or field of operation : the company expanded rapidly and diversified into computers.
• [ trans. ] [often as adj. ] ( diversified) enlarge or vary the range of products or the field of operation of (a company) : the rise of the diversified corporation.
• [ trans. ] spread (investment) over several enterprises or products in order to reduce the risk of loss : a prudent investor should diversify his or her holdings | [as adj. ] ( diversified) a diversified portfolio of assets.

Much Love,

BJSR

Food for Thought: “The Evildoers” by Anythony Bourdain

Hey All,

I started reading a book by Anthony Bourdain. He is a chef and author, and has a TV show on the travel channel that Alex and I are addicted to. He is very awesome writer and I am loving this book, Nasty Bits.  It is a compilation of his writing throughout his travels and experiences in the kitchen. I secretly hope that Nick will grow up the be the next Anthony Bourdain, and his show will be called “Food and Travels with Shitty”…I know I would watch it. Here are some clips from the show if you haven’t seen it.

“No Reservations” on Youtube

One of the articles  from the book really made me laugh and I wanted to share with you guys. Its Entitled “the Evildoers”.

Enjoy.

I’m on the subway after a long, hard day in the kitchen, my feet swelling up like twin Hindenburgs; my back killing me; fourteen hours of hot, sweaty, uncomfortable toil and two hundred eighty dinners under my belt; and I want to sit down. There are three seats in front of me in the crowded subway car. Unfortunately, one miserable, fat bastard is taking up all three of them. As he sits glumly but defiantly in a center seat, his gigantic butt cheeks and thighs spill out of the molded plastic bucket onto the seats on both sides, and his beady eyes dare me to try and squeeze my bony ass into one of the narrow spaces next to him.

Tuesday Fun

Hey All,

I have a little bit of humor for you. Steve sent me this last night and I thought ya’ll might enjoy it too. Follow the link and have some fun. Pass it on to some people.

http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.html

Much Love,

BJSR

Spartans

Hey All,

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I have been fighting a cold, but I think I am on the upswing. I spent a lot of time in bed watching TV. The channels on the ship are limited, with the major networks and a couple of crew movie channels. We actually get our network stations from Denver, which is quite interesting. My buddy, Steve, is living in Aspen, CO and I could tell him his weather reports ever day if wanted to.

The really kicker is that any sport games on the ship are very hit or miss.  With the Spartans doing quite well in both football and basketball year, it has been difficult to track their progress in the middle of the Caribbean all season. Luckily for me, however, I got an opportunity to watch MSU defeat the Purdue Boilermakers on TV yesterday. It was absolutely glorious seeing Izzo get pissed, then restrain himself from yelling at the ref. Watching Sutton kiss the floor and cry like a little baby when he walked off the court for the last time. For a couple of minutes I almost thought I was at home…but the ship rocked and I was snapped back into reality. Two more months.

Thank God March Madness is on CBS, because I will be able to watch the whole thing. Get your Brackets ready.

http://msuspartans.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/msu-m-baskbl-body.html

GO SPARTANS!!!!

Much Love,

BJSR