Ocean's Twelve

Last night Allison and I went with Allison's friend Jenn to see Ocean's Twelve at the Franklin Zeotrope Theatre. It was a good movie, much better than I expected it to be. I really didn't have great expectations for it but it was good.

Before the theatre we went to Casper's Bar & Grill in Franklin (Formerly Goodfellas) for dinner. You gotta love the Entertainment Book for its savings. Casper's was one of the platinum dining locations so we could get up to $13.00 off our bill. For a $20 book of coupons that is pretty good. Casper's was a pretty typical little local restaurant with American fare on the menu. Allison had a great pizza and I had surf and turf and Jenn had a burger. There was something going on in the kitchen because the food took a long time but it was tasty and we had plenty of time to get to the movie.

The Franklin Zeotrope Theatre is a second run movie theatre in downtown Franklin. The movies are $4.50 and a large popcorn is only $4.00, so much better than Showcase's outrageous prices. The theatre itself is so steep and the chairs are comfy. Zeotrope is a place you should go to sometime.

The Dante Club

Another great book on CD from the Library. The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. This was a thriller set in 1865 with historical figures such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell and publisher J. T. Fields. The group is translating Dante's Divine Comedy at the same time when a series of murders are taking place in Boston. The murders have a very familiar signature to them...

I found this to be a very interesting book and it was great to see some of history's figures in a fictional account. It is a similar vein to that of Caleb Carr's The Alienist which featured Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan. Both books are very interesting because of how the characters approached such forensic investigation that is commonplace today but was just being discovered at that time.

Blue Hills Skiing

Last night I went skiing with Neil, Andy and Neil's friend Ron. We went to Blue Hills. Its actually not that bad. It is run by Ragged Mountain now. They have 3 runs and it costs $25.00 to night ski, luckily Neil has a 2:1 pass and skiing was only $12.50 which is about what it should cost to go there. There is one double lift and not one matching seat on the whole thing. Andy and I rode up together and on one trip the lift operator told us to wait up and then turned around and held up his hand we move into position because we figured that he meant for us to wait for the people ahead of us and we were like, duh yeah we are waiting. What we didn't noticed was that the safety bar on the chair directly after the people in front of us was down. Well I noticed it when it slammed into the back of my knees and then the whole lift stopped. Oops. Andy luckily got out of the way, thanks again for alerting me about the chair Andy. All in all a very good night of skiing.

Which Disney Ride Are You

I am the Disney Railroad. Not sure how I got that one but there you are. This was submitted by Mo, who is the Parking Lot Tram, she is, I verified it.

The Disneyland Railroad: A real steam powered train, like the old mighty Santa Fe, on a picturesque route like no other! You take people from the turn of the century to Frontier-era New Orleans, to the bonifide hometown of Mickey Mouse, and into then into the world of the Future, passing through the Grand Canyon, Jungles, Forrests, Fantasyland, and the ancient world of the Dinosaurs along the way. Always on time, you are steady, reliable, orderly, and a practical form of transportation for your passengers in the park. You greet visitors as they enter and say goodbye to them as they leave tonight. You have an eye for old world detail and craftsmenship, even as you represent the industrial age and the spirit of American ingenuity. An old icon of progress, you may not be the fastest ride or as sleek as your Monorail cousin, but you can rest assured that you are just the kind of magical experience that Walt Disney himself liked best.


What Disneyland attraction are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Let me know which one you were in the comments section.

Napoleon Dynamite Quotes

Okay some of you may not be on the Napoleon Dynamite train yet but believe you, me, its a wicked sweet movie. And it is insanely quotable. Check out this site.

Napoleon Dynamite Quotes

This was submitted to me by Mo, who is insanely quotable as well.

Also Mo sent me this link to this quiz. Take the quiz and let me know in the comments which character you were. Mo was TRISHA, not the flippin Llama Tina. I turned out to be like Kip.


Kip Dynamite

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Movie Trailers

Okay so there are some movies coming out that I am looking forward to. I thought I would share them with you.

The one I am most looking forward too is Sahara. This is a movie that is based on the Clive Cussler Book of the same name. It is book 11 of the Dirk Pitt series of adventures. I sincerely hope that this movie does well because Dirk Pitt is one awesome character that would be great as a movie franchise. The trailer is great and I hope that this means a good movie overall.

The second trailer is for the Fantastic Four movie. It was being filmed in Vancouver while I was working at a site out there. I hope that this also does well, although I am not as excited about this movie.

The Third Trailer is for a Bruce Willis film. The name of the film is Hostage. I found out about this movie while at the airport bookstore in Boston. I saw the book and cover and thought, hey that looks like Bruce Willis, so I picked it up and read the synopsis. Sounds like a suspenseful movie.

The last movie is the Weather Man with Nicholas Cage, it looks like a typical quirky Cage movie. We shall see.

Sahara

Fantastic Four

Hostage

The Weather Man

It's frickin' COLD!!

The Northeast is coated in a layer of white that keeps shifting all over. Dad and I cleared off the driveway around 12:00pm and finished around 4:00pm. The driveway is clear now. Here's some pictures for you to enjoy. Notice that the post right before this one was from SUNNY 80 degree California.

Mom is clearing off the cars

Damn! That snow is high!

Clearing a way to the street.

Snow is everywhere.

Let's see how much of the house we can cover.

Our poor redneck reindeer using its natural camouflaging ability.

Reagan Library, Airport Rant.

This is an entry that I am making on my IPAQ. I am on my way home from LA in seat 17B of an American Airlines flight. Let me say first off that American Airlines is nothing like Jet Blue. For one thing American Airlines overbooks customers on old crampy buses of the sky. The Jet Blue planes are newer, cleaner and have better, wider seats. Those would really come in handy at this moment. I'm a bit squished and wet (I spilled my drink, first time ever), but luckily my headache is gone.

Today after a great breakfast, Peter and I headed to the Simi Valley to see The Ronald Reagan Library. It was a trip across the LA highways with more cars and lanes that I have ever seen. I have to apologize to Peter for the constant 'inertia' of my brake foot. We got to the Ronald Reagan Library around 10:00am. Have you ever seen a kid entering Disney World for the first time? That would be Peter's reaction at seeing the library. His eyes lit up like a hundred Christmas Trees. And me being the dutiful Sherpa and amateur photographer took to my duties, well, dutifully. Below you can see the pilgrimage's progress through the library. I have to tell you that, Peter's enthusiasm was infectious. I was very excited to see the tribute to a man whose life had been such a part of America.

At The Ronald Reagan Library there is a piece of the Berlin wall. You'll have to ask Peter what it feels like to touch it, though. I was to slow in capturing that Kodak moment. I did get many other photos however (see below). The library has many items of memorabilia. There are also lots of videos and displays of pieces of Reagan's life.

Whatever your politics, Reagan was a man who earned the respect of a nation. He was steadfast in the face of adversity and his moral compass. He also made himself accountable to himself and the American people for his actions. Maybe I am looking backwards through rose colored glasses but he was certainly a man I admired. One of my favorite Reagan quotes was after he had been shot, he said, "Nancy, I just forgot to duck." Nothing says more to me about character than how someone faces tragedy, disappointment or failure.

After the tour of the library we hit the gift shop. I got few things for the Republicans I know, plus a thing or two for myself. Peter had a great time in the gift shop. I didn't know that one could use the value of the rental car for collateral. We both had to get jellybeans, of course. There is a portrait of Ronald Reagan made entirely out of jellybeans hanging in the gift shop. But I noticed that there were no jellybeans in the replica of the Oval Office. It is well known that Reagan had jellybeans in the Oval Office. I was disappointed in the lack of that detail.

So after the gift shop the Clandestine plan for an actual photo of Peter touching the wall did not pan out. It is ironic that a wall is now kept behind a wall.

After we left The Ronald Reagan Library we took to The Ronald Reagan Parkway (CA-118). That was a beautiful drive. Then we hit the 405. The beauty ended there. For the rest of the ride we crawled along in fits and starts. Then we got to the airport and realized that we would be in middle seats. Peter had better luck than I in getting his seat changed. Oh well it wasn't that bad.

However, being back on the road again reminds me that some people should not fly. So many people take forever to get through security because they are so inept at following simple directions. It floors me that I may miss my flight because Beauford ain't so good with them there book lernin' and can't read a simple sign that has PICTURES on it. There should be a line for folks who can prepare themselves to go through the line quickly and efficiently. That of course won't happen but it would be nice.

All in all this week was one that was very successful. Thanks very much in part to the guidance and mentoring I've been receiving from everyone at work and a special thanks to Peter for taking me along on this trip.

Just landed in Boston's Logan Airport, the armpit of air travel, and our gate is not ready, sur-FREAKIN’-prise, we are sitting on the tarmac for another 10 minutes. Ah, the efficiency with which this airport is run, it staggers the imagination.

Spirit of Freedom Statue.

Peter with a statue of the president.

Me with the same statue.

Peter at a replica of Reagan's desk (No signs to say do not sit.)

Peter and the Berlin Wall. (Pre Touch, but you can see the intent is there.)

Peter and I at the Berlin Wall exhibit

Jellybean Ron

Reagan's California Governor campaign vehicle

Oval Office, sans jellybeans.

Reagan's Country Cafe.

Time to Leave the library

Goodbye Simi Valley

Comedy at Hermosa Beach

Today I got to demonstrate Blood Bank and Pathology at a hospital in LA. It was surreal. I am going to become the master of the 20 minute Blood Bank demo. Because that is just what I had to do again today. It was crazy. Peter started off the morning and did LIS, Lab and Micro and the lab director was like, "What else you got." And Peter told him that we had BBK and PTH to do. He then said he had to go to his office to see if there was something that he needed to get done. So we though that he was going to check his schedule and come back. One hour later he blew in with a pathologist in tow and we were off and running. I did pathology first and then it was 3:41PM and the director asked what was left and I said blood bank. He asked if we could be done by 4:00. I said 4:00, sure thing. And I buzzed right through the BBK demo, hitting the highlights and squealing the tires round the corners. It was very interesting.

After we were finished the group headed to Hermosa Beach to Sharkeez for a couple of brews and some food. Uncle Jim swung by and picked me up for the Comedy & Magic Club show. It was a great night of comedy. The headliner was Gabriel Iglesias. He has his own website called www.fluffyguy.com. But before Gabriel came onstage we got to see the host S. Muhammad (I think it was his name.) He got the crowd warmed up and was a big hit. Then on came Felipe Esparaza. His website is www.whatsupfool.com . Everybody that night was very funny. After the show the guys let Jim and I take some pictures with them. Here are some pictures. Gabriel has some amazing talent with his voice, he can do so many impressions. And he was so genuine and happy to hear feedback about the show. You should catch his special on Comedy Central.

Me, S. Mohammed and Jim

Me and Felipe

Jim and Gabriel

Me and Gabriel in front of his orange H2 Hummer.

On the Road again...

This week I have been back out on the road. I am travelling with Peter for the week. We've already been to South Bend, Dallas and now we are in LA. We went from snow to 40 degrees to bright and sunny weather and highs in the 80's. It has been a cross country whirlwind week and I have really enjoyed it. Although we did get a flight cancelled and got a little lost in Dallas we did catch our LA flight by the skin of our teeth. So things are going well. I even got to demo today. Its a little different than my last job and I like it alot. And tomorrow I'm going to demo again and tomorrow night I'm catching a comedy show with Uncle Jim. On Friday I'll be going to the Regan library. Pictures to follow.

Disney - Sunday Race Day

On Sunday January 9, 2005 was the Disney Half-Marathon. The buses started running at 3:00am to bring folks from their hotels to the Epcot parking lot. Tara, Erik, Beth and Missy and I headed over around 3:30am. I had already decided that I would walk the race route. I figured that since I walked all those training days with Allison over the summer and never had any problems with distance that 13 miles wouldn't be that bad. Well, when you training consists of long walks with no time limits then you really don't get a great sense of how fast you can actually walk. I apparently don't walk as fast as I thought I did.

The race started at 6:00am and I was in Corral M with Uncle Wayne and Aunt Cindy and Aunt Connie and Cousin Erin. The race started and they were off like a shot, weaving through the mass of people with ease. I tried to keep up for the first mile or so, keeping them in my line of vision. Unfortunately I did not hydrate in a proper manner, I overhydrated and stopped at the first mile at a port-a-potty and that was the last I saw of anyone from the family. I headed back out and the route took us through the World Showcase at Epcot. And as you know once you "break the seal" then you will be stopping to pee like crazy. And that is what happened to me. I figured I needed to keep hydrating and my bathroom breaks weren't really slowing me own too much but I was wrong. By the time I got to mile 8 there was a guy on a bike (an official) yelling that we were 2 minutes behind and that we would be picked up at the next stop. I picked up the pace and began jogging at that time and tried to make up the 2 minutes and figured that I had made them up, but I was wrong. When I got to mile 10 at three hours one minute the gates to the Magic Kingdom were closed. And I was not alone. In fact I was with about three hundred very angry people who were trying to rush the gates.

But I looked at it this way, I didn't train properly, I was walking to walk and the guys at the gate were doing there job. No sense in making things worse. What was a problem was that there were about 300 angry people who were being shut out of continuing the race and there were no buses or water or anything to take care of 300 people to defuse the situation that was erupting. And after 45 minutes one bus finally did show up with water and medals. Everyone got marathon medals instead of half marathon medals but hey they did take care of us.

The bus took us to the parking lot beyond the finish line so no one on the buses got to cross the finish line and I was disappointed that I never got to go through the Magic Kingdom but what was worse was that we were just dropped in the parking lot and couldn't participate in any of the finish line activities. I headed towards the finish line and was stopped by an official, I handed her my chip and went to find some transportation back to the hotel.

Meanwhile Allison and Mom and Dad and Shelby and Caitlyn were waiting by the Grand Floridian to see me go by. I had called when I got stopped so I told them I would go back to the hotel and change and take a swim and meet Allison and Mom and Dad in the Magic Kingdom. As I walked around looking for transportation I ran into Tara and Erik, well not really ran since I had super blisters on the balls of my feet, did I mention that I didn't train properly, well I didn't rotate to new shoes either.

Tara and Erik and I caught a bus to the Animal Kingdom and then to the Pop Century, I went and took a swim in the Computer themed pool. I was stumbling around on my poor feet and didn't want to get out of the pool. Eventually I got out of the pool and was walking to my lounge chair and took a digger. Apparently the ground and the step down around the pool were close shades of off white, which show up nice and camouflaged after you've been blinded by the sun. Luckily I had good reflexes when I am falling and caught myself and bounced back up before many people noticed. I took a shower and headed to the Magic Kingdom.

At the Magic Kingdom I caught up with Allison and then my Mom and Dad. Dad and I went to Splash Mountain and Mom went on the riverboat ride. Allison was wiped out so she hung out in Frontierland. After the ride Dad and I got one of those pictures that they take of you at the big drop into the briar patch. I knew when the photo was taken so I have a huge grin, for some reason Dad looks like he's gonna be sick.

We caught up with Mom and Allison and then Mom and Dad went their way and we headed over to one of my favorite attractions in the Magic Kingdom, Mickey's Philharmagic, it is a 3-D show where Donald Duck tries to command a magical orchestra and ends up chasing Mickey's sorcer hat through all of the more recent Disney animated movies. It was the best 3-D show I've ever seen. After that we hit the jungle cruise for the most fun and cheeseist ride in the park. And then we spent some time poking in and out of the shops on Main Street U.S.A. I picked up another pin, a pirate Mickey.

Allison and I caught a boat ride over to the Wilderness Lodge because the whole lot of us was having dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. There was 19 of us in all. Allison, Me, Erik, Tara, Mom, Dad, Shelby, Caitlyn, Wayne, Cindy, Murph, Connie, Erin, Danny, Beth, CJ, Matt and Cheryl and their baby Zoe.

The Whispering Canyon Cafe is a great place to eat when you have a large group of people. The waiters and waitresses have alot of fun with the diners. For example if you want ketchup then be prepared for ketchup, about 15 bottles of it. Because when you ask for ketchup a call goes out to the room that "This lady wants some ketchup!" and everyone that has ketchup on their table brings it to that poor person. Well, my sister Shelby looked at this and was like, "I need ketchup, but I don't want that to happen/" So she got up and grabbed some ketchup from a neighboring table. And she was caught by the waiter who started yelling "Ketchup thief, she's a ketchup thief!" And then we got a table full of ketchup. It was so much fun. I told the waiters that their were 5 birthdays within the group and so Allison, Caitlyn, Mom, Aunt Cindy and Cousin Erin all had to stand up and lead the restaurant in the Hokey Pokey. That was alot of fun. Don't worry, I go the whole thing on tape.

After dinner we took the boat back to the Magic Kingdom and headed back to the Pop Century. We hung out at the pool and then crashed in bed. One day left a Disney and no one wanted to go home.

Disney Photos At Last

Here are the photos I've been promising.

Erik, Tara, Missy and Beth on Race Day

Allison at the Living Seas. Fish are Friends, not food.

Drew at the Living Seas. Munch, Munch

Us at Epcot, in Japan

Allison's Birthday Dessert at the Coral Reef Restaurant

Allison on our Last Day at the Pop Century.

Us at the Airport on our last day.

Dad enjoying his Christmas Gift a Harley Heritage Softtail.

Dino Driving Allison.

Dino Driving Drew, are we there yet?

Mom and Dad at the Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom.

Us at the Tree of Life after we caught up with Mom and Dad.

The Rockin' Roller Coaster entrance.

Some experiments with the night mode of the camera.

The Bridal Party is Complete

This morning Allison and I had dinner with James and Danielle and Ken and Alicia. We went to the buffet that is put on by the Raddison Hotel at the Center of New Hampshire. And there just happened to be a bridal show there. So Marcia came and got Allison and 1:00 and I headed off to shop at Target.

But during our brunch with everyone I asked James and Ken if they would be groomsmen in my wedding. Thus rounding out the bridal party. Allison can now breathe a sign of relief. I am very happy to have James and Ken share in our wedding. Both are great friends from back in the days when I worked at Saint A's and I miss spending time with them very much.

So now I have to get on the ball and get some tuxes picked out.

Disney, Day Three

On Saturday January 8th, Allison and I along with my Mom and Dad and Tara and Erik headed to the Disney MGM Studios. We arrived at the park and had a little trouble with our tickets but it was worked out quickly. Then we used the photopass to get some group shots in front of the sorcerer's hat that is the focal point of the MGM Studios. The photographer ended up being from Attleboro and Mom got his life's story before we made our way over to see the Drew Carey Sounds Dangerous show. This show took place in mostly total darkness or at least it should have but people are illiterate and signs don't apply to them. Prior to the show messages tell you that the show takes place in total darkness for 7 minutes or so. If your child cannot take 7 minutes of darkness, guess what, not the show for them to see. Step out of line and ride the teacups. So during the show there were two little kids in front of us who were using cell phones as light sources and it really detracted from the enjoyment of the show.

After that we headed over to go on star Tours and I'll tell you the show is the same at Disneyland but the set is so much better. There is an ewok village and an At-At walker out front and then a place to take pictures on the speederbikes, which are not at all flattering so they won't be posted when I actually do post photos. (They are coming, I picked out about 25 from the 300 we all took.)

While in Line for Star Tours we ended up right in front of Beth and CJ and Missy and Frank. So after the ride we chatted with them and headed over to see the Muppet 3D show. After the show we headed to a little Coffee Shop and ran into Shelby and Caitlyn. We spent a few minutes with them then headed over to the Great Movie Ride and then the Backlot Tour. Then Tara and Erik went their way and Mom and Dad and Allison and I headed off to get some lunch before our next attraction. We picked up a quick bite of pizza and then it was off to see the Beauty and the Beast stage show. After the show Allison and I went on the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster. It was awesome but since I knew what was coming I wasn't about to ride it a second time. Once was just enough for me. That was the fastest roller coaster I've ever been on in my life and when it was over my legs were all like jello and I had to give it a minute to stand back up right.

So with our quota of excitement filled for the day we checked out a couple of the more sedate attractions like the Life of Walt Disney who has always been one of my lifelong heroes. The man was simply amazing and the mini documentary on his life is fascinating. After that we went to the attraction about animation and saw how Disney Animators work on characters. That was a great presentation and afterwards we had an animation lesson on how to draw Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. We probably won't ever be animators but it was a nice thing to do.

By the time we were finished with those things we were hungry and headed over to the Sci-Fi dinner theatre for some dinner. The interior of the restaurant is set up to look like a 1950's drive in movie theatre where you sit in tables built to look like '57 Chevy's. The tables seat 6 people in 3 rows of 2. And all the cars are aimed at this giant movie screen that is playing clips from old monster movies as well as cartoons and clips for the refreshment bar. Dinner was also very good and I can't quite remember what I had but it was pretty tasty, I do know that I had a chocolate shake that was really good.

After dinner Allison was wiped out so she went back to the hotel and I stayed to see the MGM night show called Fantasmic. It was a fire and water and laser show that features Mickey Mouse against all the villians from Disney Movies. It was a pretty amazing show, I was able to tape the whole thing and hope it came out decently.

After Fantasmic I walked around the shops looking for more pins. I think by this time I had the original 6 pins from the hat plus one I picked up when I got my number and stuff for the marathon and two more featuring Mickey on a motorcycle and Donald on a motorcycle as well. And while I was poking in and out of the shops I ran into my Aunts and Uncles and Cousin. Murph and Connie and Wayne and Cindy and Erin and Danny were in one of the shops and they gave me a ride back to the Pop Century because I needed to get some sleep before the big race on Sunday. But that is a story for another post.

T.G.I.Mo

This afternoon we are in New Hampshire. And after Allison got a haircut and I used my Christmas Best Buy Cards (One from last Christmas and One from this Christmas) to get Buffy Season 5 and Lord of the Rings, Return of the King extended Widescreen Edition (remember, if I buy a movie with a gift card that is within the restrictions of not buying DVD's and Books, Gift cards are exempt unless I bought the gift card for myself and I'm not giving myself that loophole.). Anyway after that we met up with Mo at T.G.I. Fridays for lunch.

If you don't know Mo then that is too bad for you because she is a riot and we have so much fun getting together with her. We spent three hours in Friday's chatting and eating and laughing like crazy. Quoting Napoleon Dynamite over and over, it was fun, you should have been there.

So Why am I writing about lunch with Mo and not continuing the recap of Disney, and by the way where are the Disney pictures that I have been promising, they are coming I mean it. I had to post that we spent the afternoon with Mo. Any time spent with Mo is blog-worthy especially since she spends almost as much time here as me. Good luck with those students Mo!

Disney Part Two

On Friday January 7, 2005 Allison and I went to the Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning. After a few pictures in front of the Tree of Life we headed to Dinoland U.S.A. and hit the Dinosaur ride which was a fast moving ride back in time to just before a the comet/meteor crashed into earth and wiped out the dinosaurs. The snarky lab tech from CSI Miami was our host. I don't remember what his name was. The ride was cool because it had lots of twists and turns and even looked like little pieces of meteor were falling from the sky. After that we caught the performance of Tarzan Rocks, which by the way is a performance that my mom is still talking about. It was pretty cool with a live band and in-line skating 'monkeys' doing all sorts of tricks and dancers, and some cool rope flying by Tarzan and Jane.

After that we were off to Asia and the Kali River Rapids, but along the way we were able to look in on the progress of Disney's fastest roller coaster being built called Expedition Everest. That looks like it is going to be awesome and it is opening later this year. We escaped drenching on the rapids and made our way to Africa where we ran into my parents and took a few pictures in front of the tree of life. We then parted ways as they had started to the right and we started to the left. It was pretty sunny so I picked up a hat, and Allison liked the hat I tried on and I decided to get it, it came with six Animal Kingdom themed pins on it. Pin trading is a huge thing down in Disney, marketing geniuses I'm telling you. Each cast member has a lanyard full of pins and you can trade with any one of them for any pin. Each park has a few different pins that you can't find in the other parks and each attraction has their own pins as well so if you are a collector its gonna be a hunt to find lots of pins. It is a great way to get kids to interact with the cast members. Well Allison should have known that because I have a Harley Davidson pin collection and various other collections that I would not stop at the six pins that were on the hat. More on this later.

In Africa we hit the Kilimanjaro Safari and I used my new camera to video tape the entire ride. I have to say for all the bumps of the ride and whatnot the video came out pretty nice. Then we walked through the Pangani Forest Exploration trail and we got to see some beautiful Tigers being fed. I got a few videos of them snacking on whole raw chickens.

Then it was off to Camp Minnie-Mickey to catch the Festival of the Lion King, this was another great performance with some more stunt 'monkeys' This time they were monkeys using trampolines and gymnastic equipment.

Around 4:00 we left the Animal Kingdom and headed over to the Wide World of Sports so I could get my registration packet for the Half-Marathon. The bus took us to MGM and then we caught another bus to the Wide World of Sports, got the packet and I got my first new pin for my hat, a half-marathon pin. Then we went to the beach and Yacht Club resort which was the closest to Epcot. Within the front lobby there was a full working carosuel made out of gingerbread, it was pretty awesome.

We went to Epcot because Epcot was the one park that stayed open the latest. For Allison and I Epcot was the place that we wanted to spend the bulk of our time. As kids we remembered going through each country and being very tired and bored watching all the movies but now that we are older we have more of an interest in the content of those movies from each country. So we wanted to make sure that we hit each one during our stay. We got to the park and caught a dinner of Fish and Chips at Harry Ramsden, we ate out by the world Showcase Lagoon, which would have been a great place to see Illuminations if only we could time it right to get in there and get a seat without having to stake it out for hours ahead of time. After dinner we started out round the world journey at Canada. It seemed to look different form the last time I was there with the totem poles and the main building that I thought looked like the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec but was told it was supposed to be a building from Ontario and then there was the Victoria Gardens. We went in and saw the movie which was so much better than when I was a kid, and the reason is not that the movie changed at all but rather I've been to Canada so many times since I last went to Epcot that I was able to appreciate what I was looking at. The movie is still exactly the same. I was pretty awed by it though and kept turning all around to see every aspect of the 360 film.

We then crossed over to Mexico to go to some of the countries with rides. The River of Time was the closest thing we were going to get to It's a Small World which as luck would have it was being refurbished just like it was in Disneyland when we went a couple of years ago. After the River of Time we went o Norway and rode the Malestrom, then it was off to China for Reflections of China. We made our way around to Japan, poking in and out of shops in Germany and Italy along the way. We were looking for the Funnel Cake stand which was in the U.S.A. Apparently we caught it just right because for the rest of the weekend that stand was closed but we were able to grab some funnel cake. From Japan we watched Illuminations and then headed back to the Pop Century.

Back at the Pop Century we met up with Erik and got to see Tara and Shelby and Caitlyn arrive. The were 'lucky' enough to get Javier to check them in too, and Shelby's reservation was still messed up. And Javier picked the wrong day to be witty. After Shelby and Caitlyn got settled they met us by the pool and the bar and kept us in stitches. Then it was the end of day two.

Pictures are coming, I swear, we watched them last night on the TV and on my laptop. I haven't had time to format them for the web but I will try this weekend.

Demo

Been working all week since I got back from Florida on a demonstration. Will update with Florida Pics this weekend when I get some time. Sorry. Demo is going well so far. Still 2 hours left to go.

Disney Vacation: Part One

On Thursday the 6th Allison, Erik, Mom, Dad and I headed to Orlando. Our flight was an hour late because of the snow but at least we got out on Thursday. Jet Blue is a great airline, they have excellent customer service. In addition to multiple changes that were made for different tickets, (Dad's, Tara's, Shelby's and Caitlyn's) the flight attendants were also very helpful and sincere. There was this older woman who had been brought down by a wheelchair and then the wheelchair driver (pusher?) left but told her that she would be back to get her on the plane. Well, the plane started boarding and there was no wheelchair. I spoke with the woman at the counter and she was right on it. I couldn't believe how quickly she got a new wheelchair for that lady.

So the plane was also very impressive, each seat was large with direct TV on the headrest and they served great snacks and full sodas without having to ask for the whole soda.

When we got to Florida we took a 15 passenger van from the airport to the hotel. We saved pretty well doing that.

The check-in at the hotel wasn't as smooth as the flight. Tara and Erik's room was the only one that they got right, for some reason my and Allison's room, Shelby and Caitlyn's room and Mom and Dad's room only had one person attached to it. But somehow we were all in a line, with Allison and I having an adjoining room with my parents. Tara was on one side of us and Shelby was on the other side of Mom and Dad.

We checked out the Hippy Dippy pool and Petals pool bar. We were staying at the Pop Century Hotel at Disney where each complex of rooms had a different decade as a theme. From the 50's to the 90's. There was a bowling pin pool and a computer pool and the Hippy Dippy pool that was shaped like a flower. It was awesome to be in such a warm pool especially after we had left such cold and crappy weather back home.

After we had a couple of drinks at the pool we headed to Downtown Disney and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and then strolled around Downtown Disney. There were so many different places to see while we were there. There is going to be a huge Lego store and they even had a giant Lego made dragon in the lake. It was a good night and we were happy to be out walking around in shorts.

Tomorrow, the Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

Our Disney vacation photos

Here are some great photos from our Walt Disney World vacation. Enjoy!

Photos from Andrew Bennett.

You have been invited to view my Disney vacation photos online! Just click on the link below to get started.

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Disney Recap

I will try and post a recap with photos tonight. There should be a link soon to our Disney Photopass photos coming up soon. Busy week, no time to post. Will post soon.

Disney Bound

It is 5:30am and we are up and getting ready to head to the airport to go to Disney. I haven't been to Disney since I was in High school and am so looking forward to getting back there. The snow outside doesn't look too terrible so I am going to knock on wood that we leave on time. Well, I should finish getting ready. Hopefully I can post during the trip, with pictures and whatnot. Enjoy the Disney trivia for the rest of the week.

Crazy Cat People

With all the messages lately about Duncan I uncovered a film that might reveal the 'real' reason that he bit Allison. See here. DUNCAN.mov

Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Today I’m training a new product, it is called Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I am learning how to speak to the computer so that recognizes each thing that I say. I can open documents, I can close documents, I can save documents, all with the sound of my voice. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a pretty interesting software product it understands most of what I say, especially what I speak clearly. It is funny to be talking to the computer and telling it to put in commas and periods. What is also interesting is that it cannot differentiate between me telling you to add a ‘,’ or’.’, and asking for the word comma or period. So if I want the computer spell out the word ‘,’ or ‘.’ I have to say commas or periods and then remove the ‘s’.

So this is my first blog entry, funny it knew the word for blog, (I needed to teach it the word lycanthrope) that I am entering with the help of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. The reason that I taught it the word lycanthrope, was that I was reading a book to practice my dictation.

Eventually I will be using this Dragon NaturallySpeaking as a demonstration tool for our pathology product. God I hope that while I'm doing a presentation that word doesn't come up. Although during my most recent formal demo I was typing the name Stan, one of the folks participating in the demo, and I ended up typing Satan, so I can always type something worse, I guess.

It is actually pretty fun to use this. Hanging out in the conference room, with the headset, talking to myself. And lucky for me I got a conference room with windows on four sides. So now everybody can watch be talk to my computer.

I actually don’t need to talk very loud but I need to speak clearly. Which as you know, I don’t always do very well. I tend to get a little mumbly at times.

I'm Going To Disney World!

Yeah! I got the okay from my doctor to travel yesterday! My thumb is almost better. It is now it's normal color AND the wrinkes around the knuckle are back!! I'd almost forgotten I had those!

So tomorrow we are off, weather permitting! We'll think of you all as we wander the Happiest Place on Earth!

Couple of Changes

I made a couple of changes to the Blog. One you can clearly see is the change to the layout. I was getting tired of the other layout so I made a change. However with all the custom work I've done to the blog, this was not a simple change. It took a while but I got it back up running smoothly.

The second changes is to the comments section. I have made the decision to allow anonymous posts in the comment section. I have too many friends who want nothing to do with creating their own blog account so instead I'll allow anonymous posts so you need not make your own blogger account.

The third change was to the sidebar. I have added links to our blogger profiles. (both mine and Allison's). And last of all with the weather looking like it may spoil our flight out tomorrow I added a local weather, for North Attleboro, box in the sidebar. Enjoy. Let me know what you think of the new design. And if you have suggestions for other features that I should add.

1/2 Marathon in 5 days.

In five days I'll be participating in the Disney 1/2 Marathon. I think I am ready, the experts say that one must taper their workouts prior to big events like marathons and whatnot. I've got that covered, I started tapering one week after I started training. I'll be walking the 13 miles not running it. I'm really looking forward to going to Disney. I haven't been there since I went with James and his family back in high school.

I got some information from the marathon folks, one is the course map. And the other is that you can track a runners progress through the www.disneyworldmarathon.com website. I can also e-mail or page people with my race progress. I think I may be able to blog my progress too. And I'll see about getting Tara and Erik and Beth and Missy to blog their progress too. So on Sunday January 9 between 6:00am and 9:30 (I have 3 1/2 hours to get it done) you can check here for updates. Hopefully it will work correctly.

Update on the Duncan situation

So yesterday I took Duncan to the vet. Why, because when I called the vet to relay the information I received over the weekend, "A seizure of a cat can be common", my vet office, Foxboro Animal Hospital said, "That doesn't sound right, bring him in." So I did bring Duncan in, by himself. That might not sound significant but Duncan and Oliver do nothing without the other one around, so taking only one cat to the vet was a bit traumatizing for both cats. The vet did a whole checkup of Duncan and said there was nothing that he could see wrong with Duncan. But if something else happens we should bring him in for an X-ray and bloodwork. Duncan, stay healthy!

And speaking of healthy Allison went to her doctors because of the cat bite, she got a tetanus and an antibiotic shot in the butt for her troubles. Won't stick your hand in another cats mouth again, will ya. The doctor put her on some more powerful antibiotic and drew a little line to show where the redness was on her hand because Allison needs to go back to the doctor today so she can be okayed to go on our trip on Thursday. Won't stick your hand in another cats mouth again, will ya.

But her hand seemed better this morning so hopefully not to worry. Actually Allison should probably keep her hands away from anything with sharp teeth. Do you remember the incident with Caleb? If you recall from a post this summer Caleb is a neighbor of Allison's parents who has sharp teeth and that is why he bit Allison.

On a serious and sad note. Please keep my sister Shelby in your prayers, a good friend of hers passed away yesterday. Thank you.

New Year's Recap

It is the year 2005... (I looked for that voiceover from the Transformers movie but couldn't find it.) But despite that 2005 is here. Allison and I had some major incident already occur on the first day of the year. Our cat Duncan had a seizure this morning. And I know that pets are not children but they are dependent upon you for their survival and care so when something occurs that you cannot control it is incredibly traumatic. This morning we experienced that event. I was on the computer playing Runescape when I heard what sounded like one of the cats getting sick (regular occurrence, cats puke, it happens and it is over quick) then I heard the panicked voice of Allison calling for Duncan. I ran into the other room to find Duncan spasming on the floor, eyes wide and mouth open. We each immediately thought the same thing, his collar is stuck in his mouth again. (This happened once before and was also traumatic to watch) however when Allison grabbed for him to check if that was the case she was bitten - hard. That is when we noticed that there was no obstruction and Duncan continued to convulse. I called 911 to ask for Animal C. I got a call back from the police with a number for an emergency clinic for animals. I called that number and got the beeper number of the doctor on call. I called that number and we waited. The seizure lasted for what seemed hours but was really 2-3 minutes of time. The vet called me back and explained that it is actually a fairly common occurrence. But if it happens again to get him in for observation. So we were both pretty jazzed up with adrenaline that we tore apart the living room and cleaned it up with the intent of doing the rest of the house, but we both crashed pretty hard after the living room.

But this post is supposed to be about the New Years Eve recap. So yesterday was New Year's Eve. And we were heading to Derek and Michelle's house for the evening. But before we went over I had some chicken wings to make. I was going to try an experimental recipe with brown sugar and spices and cornmeal. So after work I went to Stop & Shop to get some brown sugar and cornmeal. I got home and made some Poor Man's Truffles and began to prepare the coating for the wings. I opened the cornmeal box and I saw movement in the box. Some mealworms had been in the box and had matured into giant inch and a half long freaking bugs that could fly. I shouted and closed the box lid. Ran into he other room and grabbed a plastic bag. The itchies set upon me the moment I saw the bugs. I couldn't stop the itchies all night and ended up showering again when I got home at 1:30 am. So it goes without saying that the cornmeal was returned to Stop & Shop before we went to Derek and Michelle's.

I shook off my revulsion at the cornmeal and created four different types of wings. I over spiced them in my excitement to create something new. One set of wings only had Old Bay Seasoning, another set had brown sugar and Montreal Chicken Seasoning, the next had Old Bay and Brown Sugar, and the last one had Parsley, Brown Sugar, Mortons Hot Salt and Garlic Salt. The Old Bay and Brown sugar batch was the best. I think if I do it again I will only make them when I am home so I can broil them and get them nice and crispy and hot and I'll add the seasonings after they are baked. And I'll go easy on the seasonings.

So after the wings and Poor Man's Truffles were complete we stopped by Stop & Shop where I discreetly got my money back from the cornmeal. And then we got to Derek and Michelle's. Mike and Anna and Matt and Beth and Derek and Michelle were already there. Michelle made the Pampered Chef taco ring and Derek made his hot enough to kill cheese sauce. The chicken wings were added to the feast and so was the apple pie that Allison had made yesterday afternoon and the Poor Man's Truffles were added to the mix. Neil and Andrea had not yet arrived but got there before the ball dropped. We ate and joked and had a good time and then the guys watched the DVD of Derek's birthday party and the girls chatted in the kitchen. Mike did a great job on the DVD and it was very funny. After the DVD we played a game called Shout about Movies. It was a DVD game that is for two teams. There were 8 rounds of trivia about movies. It was a lot of fun to play and the Red Team won. The Red Team was Derek, Me, Allison, Neil and Andrea. The Blue Team was Michelle, Mike, Matt and Beth. Anna had already left for work. With the game over there was 8 minutes to midnight and we celebrated with champagne and toasting. Again another great evening with our friends. Pictures are below.

Happy New Year!

Our fine hosts Derek and Michelle and Coco

Neil and Andrea

Me & Allison

Mike and Anna

Matt and Beth

Super Spiced Chicken Wings

Some Bubbly

Happy New Year!!!

Trivia Challenge December Winners

The Trivia game had over 100 players during the month of December. Here are the standings from December.

December 2004

104 players played during the month.

1. abennett48 (509 points, 4 wins)
2. ekstaron (389 points, 3 wins)
3. Gilly71 (369 points, 0 wins)
4. roller74 (354 points, 0 wins)
5. neilio (315 points, 1 wins)
6. somebeach (314 points, 0 wins)
7. Ratboy (308 points, 2 wins)
8. Emperor Wesley (307 points, 1 wins)
9. MaxPower (306 points, 1 wins)
10. smartgirl (301 points, 0 wins)

Great job everyone and thanks for playing.