About a month before HE was to come, I announced on my web page, and to the online lists I subscribe to, and to the Titanic Newsgroups about the Dr. coming to Akron. I ended up deciding to meet one of the people, Harry, whom I got to talking with about Dr. Ballard's upcoming visit, before the show.

The day before, I sat in my room (which is an ABSOLUTE mess) looking at my framed picture of Titanic wondering what I was going to wear. SO sue me, I am a girl! Of course, "Back to Titanic" was blaring away on the CD player. I finally picked out an outfit, and sent an e mail off to Harry telling him what I would be wearing, and listened to Titanic more. Then, I remembered that I had yet to pick up a copy of Ballard's book, so off to Boarder's I went! I cam home and leafed through the book, and tried to get a feel as to his personality, likes dislikes, WHATEVER! Not much was to be found though. I was so anxious I could barely sleep!

I woke up early the next morning, anxious for the day to get going. I went off the work, and talked about my up-coming meeting with Dr. Ballard to anyone who would listen, ok, I settled for anyone with ears. I am a receptionist, so that made for an even larger audience! Finally, at 5 o'clock I was out the door and on my way home for a speedy dinner before hitting the road. I stuffed my face, and off I went!

On the way to Akron University, I prepared myself by popping "Back To Titanic" in the CD player, and humming along...with the windows down. I am sure some people really thought I ought to be locked up! I arrived at my destination two hours before the talk, so I had a lot of time to kill. I drive up to the parking lot, and discover that it is already FULL! Never to fear, I whipped out my fake-o parking pass that was a scan from my fiance's and parked in a student parking lot, which was even closer than the parking lot that us "Titanic People" had to PAY to park.

Walking up to E.J. Thomas hall I was giddy. I was wondering if Harry was really a nutcase that was going to kill me... I was wondering if I would even MEET Dr. Ballard... I was wondering what was going to happen next. I got to the stoplight, and crossed over to the hall. Not even two seconds later, I hear, "Corey Ann!" and see an elderly gentleman coming towards me with a book in his hand.

Harry was a tall man, with a buzz haircut. In his hands he had a hardback version of "The Discovery of the Titanic," and a camera. He told me that he had been there since noon! And I thought that I was too early. So we do the little chit-chat and walk into the hall and sit down.

Harry was very sweet, talking about Titanic and what he thought of it. None of my friends or family will talk BACK about Titanic (they listen with one ear and murmur "uh huh" every now and then) so I was happy to talk to a person that knew what he was talking about.

All week Harry had mentioned that he may have a surprise for me when he got to Akron. But, he wouldn't tell me what it was. Harry finally gets a big grin on his face and asks me if I want to see the surprise. I told him of course. Out comes a piece of paper. I sat there and thought THIS is a surprise? Then I begin to read it. It was a copy of a letter that a survivor had wrote to him! He had wrote to the survivor in care of a magazine in which she had been interviewed, and she wrote back! The letter was fascinating, mentioning that some people were not on Titanic that claimed to be, among other things. Then the biggest surprise of all came, Harry told me I could keep it!

We then sauntered down to where everyone was waiting to file into the seats. That is when we caught wind of the rumor that at 7 o'clock, Ballard would be signing autographs! I was really excited then! Then the doors were opened, and we were ushered into the first row (that we could sit in, the first 3 were all reserved for the "elite" group that were having dinner with him at that moment). Sitting to our left was a family of four, the father being a son of a survivor, and to our right was this little kid and his mom. The little kid knew his stuff about Titanic. He was going on and on about this and that. So, when I got up to get in line for the autographs, I asked his Mom if he could come along. She smiled and said yes, so I took the little boy with me, who was falling over himself in excitement of meeting Ballard!

The line was already beginning to form, and we took our place, about ten people back. Right behind us was another boy, whom was roughly 10 years old, and a friend of his. The boy I had taken along with me in line was a talker, so he started up a conversation with the two boys behind us. They began to banter back and forth, arguing about this and that with Titanic. The banter turned into an argument, but it was totally good-natured. I was amazed. These two boys knew more than I did! The boy's friend sat there and kept shaking his head. He said that his friend does this every day.

I kept laughing, and the man in front of me was too. I started talking to him, and as it turns out, his Mother was a survivor of the Titanic. His little daughter was so excited to meet Dr. Ballard she could barely stand still.

The boys continued to argue, and the lobby was all watching and laughing. Not at the boys, I think we were all simply amazed at their spirit and knowledge. The argument left the subject of Titanic, and went onto the Bismarck. As more and more people got into line, the more people watched.

All went quiet though as a survivor walked in, and was escorted into the front row. This signified to us that the "elite" group was done with their dinner with Dr. Ballard and he was soon on his way. The rest of the group finally found their seats, and we began to search back and forth for Dr. Ballard.

Then he walked in. He is tall, with brown hair, and blue eyes. He was wearing a suit, and a really neat tie. He sat down, and began to sign and take pictures. Darnit all I forgot my camera, I never thought that he would be doing an autograph session with us. The line moved quickly and before I knew it we were up!

The boy handed his dog-eared copy of "Discovery of the Titanic" over to Ballard. He went to sign the cover, and the boy moved the pages to his FAVORITE begging him to sign that page instead. Ballard smiled and signed away while the boy went on and on about how much he admired him. Then he coughed on him, and let out a massive sneeze. You could see Ballard cringe, but he kept the smile upon his face all the while.

Then the boy moved over and stood beside Ballard and posed. He didn't know that you needed a camera to have your picture taken. He didn't look embarrassed though, just laughed and headed back to his seat.

MY TURN! AUGH! I handed over my book, also asking that he sign a page not the cover and my program, which I had intended on giving to someone (I ended up getting greedy and not giving it up). He said hello, and I did, the usual. I mentioned that he had a great tie, and he gave me a big smile. I went back to my seat and smiled away.

I sat and noticed that he was already getting up. The dinner had gone on longer than expected, and he didn't have much time to sign. Thank God I got in line when I did. My fiancee just got in as the doors to the auditorium shut. I looked up and saw that it was a full house. Then the lights went down... and the whole auditorium grew quiet...

The lights came up, and out walked a lady. I was quite disappointed. I didn't want to hear anyone else talk. I WANTED BALLARD! I considered chanting it, but I was a bit afraid of being tossed out on my arse, so I sat quietly while the lady stumbled through her speech (and I mean STUMBLED).

FINALLY he came out. He had on a huge grin, and his eyes were lit up. He began his speech. He did not talk much about Titanic really. Basically he did an overview of what he has accomplished in his life, and where he was going. He talked about all the things he had discovered, and so forth. He also talked a bit about his Jason Project, where kids can interact with things that are going around via a computer. It was all quite interesting. THEN he began to talk about Titanic.

He told us about how long the trip was down, and how cold it got in the sub. He told us how they would take a Styrofoam cup down with them, and put it on the outside of the sub, and when they retrieved it when they came back up, it was the size of a thimble. When Ballard went down, the crow's nest was still there also, and he talked a bit about that. Mainly what he discussed was
more on the technical side of Titanic, the way they found her and so forth.

Once his talk was done, the question and answer period came. He specifically asked that not all questions relate to Titanic. But, most did. Anyway, one person brought up the salvaging of Titanic, and what he thought.

Ballard went on for a good 20 minutes on what he thought of it. We had the lucky timing of having Ballard a day after he won the trial against Tulloch to go back to Titanic. There is a sort of law in the ocean, "Finder's Keepers" and Tulloch found it after Ballard did, and claimed it as his, therefore banning Ballard from ever returning to the site. Ballard took him to court, and finally won against him. Ballard believes that the site of the Titanic should be declared a historical landmark, and therefore preventing any further salvaging from it. His reasoning is that this is a grave site, and should be preserved as such. Also, the Titanic is breaking down faster and faster due to the salvaging of her, in example the crow's nest, where it was destroyed due to salvaging. He thinks that if we can preserve it, the future generations will be able to see her, and learn from their mistakes. He also believes that someday we will be able to rent a Snoop Dog and go tour the Titanic from our own computers. And when that day comes, he wants her to
still be intact, and not a big pile of dirt.

That was all he had time for, and he left to a standing ovation. It was a long, LONG night, and it was time for me to go home. So I went home, and dreamed of Titanic.