Recent blog entries for kgb

The Final Hoopla

The tent city

I was at the Adventurers Club the final 3 nights of operation. It was wise of me to take my vacation that same week, as I did not get home each night until after 4am. Friend Robert was in town just for this event, which was a tremendous help because it would take teamwork to conquer some of the challenges of this evening.

The club was opening at 6pm. Our original plan was to meet at Planet Hollywood at noon and head over to Kona's together for lunch with Ashlee, then line up at the club sometime between 2pm-4pm. Robert got to PI about noon and sent me a text message that there were already 50 people in line. I arrived 30 minutes later and saw that the people had formed a type of "tent city".








The club holds roughly 400 people, so we started to be concerned. We agreed that we needed to scrap our lunch plans for Kona's and get in line soon. We bought umbrellas to protect us from the blazing sun, and Wolfgang Puck pizzas for lunch. We got in line just before 1pm and settled in.





We were joined by Katie, who looked great dressed as Death from the "Sandman" novel series, but she had to be hot wearing all black. Someone else in line had a tattoo of the Death character on his arm, so we had fun taking photos of the two together. Karl, Jay, and Simon were also about and posed for pictures.



Having more than one person in your party meant that you could leave for a bathroom or water break while the other person kept the place in line safe. As the line grew friends Elyse, Crystal, Mike, Noelle, and Lexi joined, some being as far back as BET. About 4pm everyone was asked to stand up and put away any objects not allowed in the club. Techs came out and set up the TV monitors valued by people that would not make it into the place. By 5pm the line appeared to be long enough to create doubt whether everyone in the back would make it in. No other clubs on the island had people lined up until near 6pm, illustrating the depth of fandom for this Disney attraction.

Many guests stopped by asking why we were in line. Less mature people told them joking lies, but better people explained about the club closing. It was obvious many guests had no idea PI was closing nor what the AdvClub was about.

While we were waiting Sutter Besrwick paid us a visit. At 6pm the lines moved. As soon as Robert and I entered the club we went downstairs and managed to secure 3 barstools for myself, Robert, Elyse and Noelle to share. This would be our home for most of the evening. Katie, Lexi, Crystal, and Mike took positions upstairs. The club filled by 6:30, before the entire line made it in. Remaining people in line had to wait until others left before they could enter. People that did not make it in by 9pm were forced to accept that they were never getting in, which unfortunately included our friend Ashlee.


Inside the Club

Robert and I had planned to sit at the bar because of the regular access to chilled beverages and the open space behind the bar helped us ignore the mass of people stacked behind us. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be able to see any library shows this evening except the Hoopla, and there was no way we would be leaving to see the final fireworks show outside. We were here until the evening ended after 2am.



I've mentioned before that one of the things I enjoy about the club is that you can get a feeling of time travel - you view the same 1937 event unfold each night from different perspectives. This evening had the feel of a Dr. Who episode where multiple parallel universes all intersected and broke all the rules. The massive crowd of people composed of many parties who have never all been at the club at the same time before. Two butlers named Graves, 4 maids, several visiting past club performers, a previously unseen Sutter Bestwick, Emil Bleehall Sr, an army of door hosts, a Christmas show and a Halloween show in the same evening, a large high-tech view screen, and a Hoopla that lasted over an hour because of all the characters performing. This evening would also have a Radiothon that fails to raise all the money, and a rare appearance by Marcel. Truly a corruption of the space-time continuum.



Since we (and a lot of others) would not be able to see most of the library shows, I asked Emil Bleehall Sr. if they could turn on the Jumbo-tron-sheet for the all the shows. The happy response was that they could and did, but with the understanding that the lights would not be dimmed and the sound would sometimes have to be turned off for announcements. It still meant we would not miss the shows from our bar stools, so we happily kept drinking and chatting.

We watched as Otis won the cup competition (knowing that would not sit well with many people), and the failure of the radiothon to raise more than $900-some-odd dollars, followed by an announcement of a surprise guest during the Hoopla (most of us thought that it would be either be Meriweather Pleasure or a Disney official). During this time the last "Kungaloosh" Cup was sold


The Library "Line"

About 2.5 hours before the Hoopla, just before the time of the Christmas show, Robert, Noelle, and I extracated ourselves from the barstools and stood in line for the library. The rest of our party took positions on the poof with Zeus so they could avoid the madness. We all watched the Christmas show on the Jumbo-sheet and sang along to "Dominic the Donkey". I also believe I heard Philip perform the old "male spirit in Babylonia" piece and Graham do a brief announcement as the Colonel. As the shows ended and the doors opened for the next one, the line moved forward only a few feet.

We spent the next hour sitting near the table and lamp next to the Colonel. I'm not going to say much about the crowds except there were a lot of intoxicated people and many were only there to be part of a closing event or write a good blog or podcast about it. It was obvious when they talked through the Jumbo-sheet shows that they didn't care what was going on. Many long-time friends, supporters, and former cast of the club did not get into the library. I spent some time talking with a performer that originally opened the club, and sadly he was not able to make it into the Hoopla.



The crowd was packed tight and pressing all the time as people in the back tried to shove their way through knowing only the first 150 people would be getting in. I kept asking Katie if she could use her Death powers to thin the crowd out a bit. It was very hot. I had to help several people coping with clastrophic panic attacks. Some left because they could not handle the situation. The club staff started handing out water to guests, but some jokesters in the crowd kept several of the drinks away from people that needed them. While we waited we also heard the fireworks show outside rattle the building.

The rhythm ritual had all 4 maids performing



When the doors finally opened for the Hoopla there was a mad rush. As close as I was to the door I was one of the last people let in, and I had to help stop someone from crawling under the rope and pushing others aside. None of my friends on the poof made it in; they had to settle for watching the show on the jumbo-sheet.


The Hoopla

Videos of the final Hoopla have been posted on YouTube, so I will only mention a few things here. There was a surprise visit from Marcel (not Meriweather Pleasure), who had not been seen at the club since its earliest of days. Jay, accompanied by Simon on the guitar, sang a John Coulton song "When You Go", which contains one of my favorite lines "tearing off pieces of myself just for the time it buys me". Coulton (JoCo) is an ex-software developer that now performs great songs for your inner geek and I am very happy he has found a fanbase at WDW. If you ever watched the G4 channel, his song "Code Monkey" is the theme song of the show with that same name. You need to visit his web site and Wiki.



Sutter brought out Slappy and did a duet with him.



Then Entertainment management came out and gave cards and flowers to each of the performing cast, announcing them by name. Even though the Hoopla lasted over an hour, it still seemed to end quickly.



I would learn a few days later that PI filled up and ticket sales ceased around 10pm. Mannequins was so packed with people that just after 9:00pm they turned off the rotating dance floor because of all the weight.


Perkins

Our groups had originally intended to have a final reunion breakfast at Perkins. Even though Ashlee did not make it into the club, she was kind enough to race ahead and get our names onto the waiting list.

Getting out of the PI parking lot was a nightmare. I avoided the stuck traffic by driving all the way down to Cirque, making a right exit, then making a u-turn at the next intersection to head towards Perkins. I heard later that many people had to sit in their cars for over 30 minutes before they could exit.

Perkins was packed and the parking lot nearly full. While it was too early for the PI cast to arrive, it seemed every guest on the island had the same idea. Server Melodie was on vacation that week, so it was not quite the final experience we planned. Thanks again to Ashlee we only had to wait 10 minutes, but most of our party was so emotionally drained or physically tired that they went home instead. Only Elyse, Robert, Mel, and I stayed for breakfast.By the time all was over and I got home, it was 5:30am. I slept most of Sunday to recover.


"You will exit as a friend"

I was smart enough to realize 2 weeks ago that the final night would not be as enjoyable as previous nights because of the crowds and high emotions. This night was mostly to see the inside of the club and the faces of friends one last time beyond anything else. When I first heard the announcement of PI closing, I posted an entry about how much the place and the cast meant to me personally. That being done, I would like to close now by saying how much my fellow adventuring friends, close and casual, have meant to me and thank them for all the love and support they've provided through the years. It was always appreciated and will never be forgotten.

To all adventuring friends who have touched my life: Lexi, Mike, Crystal, Katie, Noelle, Robert, Ashlee, Jenn, Jennifer, Kurt, Clare, Chrystal, Katherine, Holly, Lyne, Steve, Gary, Matthew, Cassi, Jarrod, Nick, Mel, Michael, Jessica, Vanessa, Leona, Marshall, Bill & Jean, Bob & Virginia, Bill, Elyse, Amanda & Rodrick, Leesil & Yvonne, Catherine, Amy, and anyone I've left out - thank you for sharing with me. If I could "tear off pieces of myself" to buy more time with you I would. All the kindness you've shown me will live on in all the photos I have. I look forward to continuing our adventures together in whatever shape they take.

May 1938 be half as rewarding to everyone as 1937 was.

Kungaloosh

Syndicated 2008-10-05 08:00:57 (Updated 2008-10-06 04:47:27) from Moo

Commercials and Adventures

The Microsoft Gnomes

Apple made a series of factual "Mac-versus-PC" commercials about how bloated Windows is with adware and anti-virus software, and that Microsoft is out of touch with today's technology-entrenched generation.

Microsoft countered with a series of commercials starring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. The commercials are creepy and focus mainly on the performers. There is nothing promoting the virtues of their products or to counter Apple's claims. Most young people would find it difficult to identify with a 50 year old billionaire businessman that argues his products are cooler than Linux or Apple.

In defeat, last week Microsoft announced the commercials are at an end... saying that stopping them was part of the plan all along and that they will now implement phase 2.

Let me see...

Phase 1 - Make creepy commercials with no content
Phase 2 - ???
Phase 3 - Profit


"We are reckless, brave, and loyal"

The countdown is almost over; only 1 week left for the comedy clubs at PI. Several friends, some local, some not, have already visited the Adventurers Club for their final time. In some cases it's because of the crowds. Jim Hill posted an article saying that PI management did not anticipant this level of turnout, but anyone familiar with the Adventurers Club knew how popular it was.


It's New, It's Different

The club has been very crowded lately. So crowded that it is often easier to enjoy the place sitting upstairs. The Salon gets very hot and you can barely do the club salute without poking an eye out. I had to wait in front of the library doors for an hour before entering for the Balderdash Cup.

Several changes have been made to accommodate the massive crowds ...


A queue line has been set up at the club entrance; similar to the Comedy Warehouse


The circle of chairs have been removed from the main salon (making it difficult for some regulars to ignore the rest of the guests)

All the tables have been removed from the library and the seating rearranged theater style to accommodate another 35 bodies



A large sheet hangs from a salon balcony so that guests who cannot make it into the library can view the Hoopla on the club's jumbo-tron technicolor screen.

I see your 2 Graves and Maids, and raise you a Gypsy and a Dad

Friday began the new director's cut of AdvClub entertainment. The club opened at 6pm and closed at 2am, using the extended time to accommodate the inclusion of the Halloween Show, Christmas Show, both Maid and Samantha Show, and an hour long Hoopla. There were also additional characters: 2 maids, an upstairs Graves and a downstairs Graves, Madam Zarkov, and Emil Bleehal Sr.





The additional characters make the evening a lot more fun. The dueling Emils interacted throughout the Cup Competition, and the dueling Graves interacted during the Rhythm Ritual and Hoopla.

During the evening Robert and I played around with his video recorder and some glasses to rig up a lazy way to record Babylonia's conversations.



It was great to see the Halloween Show (run by Madam Zarkov) and the Christmas shows again. During the final "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" number, which by design is suppose to move you emotionally, many people in the audience and some in the cast were brought to tears. I have no doubt it will be this show number that will start the tearfest on the final day.

Yesterday Tish and Yvette sang a duet together.





And Tish did a number in the Hoopla:





What will You Celebrate?

Disney announced in NY that the next celebration after the "Year of a Million Dreams" will be "What will you celebrate?", as well as the future Contemporary and Tree House DVC offerings. Part of the "What will you celebrate" campaign is that anyone (not employed by the company) can enter the DL or WDW park for free on their 2009 birthday. You can register in advance right now on the Disney.com web site.


ASL

I've been practicing ASL by using a training video series from the company library. This has been a big help in improving my ability and confidence interpreting signs given by someone else. The problem with web sites is that they display the same sign perfectly over and over, where a video shows a fluid conversation. When I get better I hope to start monitoring ASL blogs.

Syndicated 2008-09-22 22:21:08 (Updated 2008-10-05 15:59:57) from Moo

Iwerks, Adventures, Facebook, Candlelight

Fit To Lead

I attended the annual Disney Leadership Conference this year, and saw a fascinating presentation by Leslie Iwerks (granddaughter of Ub Iwerks). During the first half she talked about making a documentary on the early formation of the Disney company, the relationship between Walt and Ub, and the creation of Mickey Mouse. The second half was about the early history of Pixar, their relationship to Disney, and the parallels between the two companies.

I got to chat with her after the session.


Just To Get A Better View

With the chairs removed from the salon, and theater seating set up in the library, the crowds have been massive. At times it's difficult to enjoy the salon the bodies are so packed together.



Yesterday I dug one of the original merchandise t-shirts out of my collection and wore it to the club. It was the one of the adventurer drinking a beer with "Kungaloosh" written below. Old-timers enjoyed seeing it again but newbies that have never seen a design other than the compass logo kept asking me "did you make that"?

A few off-duty performers have stopped into the club over the last few days to enjoy some final moments, sometimes attracting obsessed fans and attention-needy locals. The manipulative character of sucking up to someone by degrading everyone else around them is better left to television soap operas and high school. It's not my place to judge anyone; I do not know what kind of life they've had to bring them to where they are today. Their drama might be entertaining, except that I've witnessed real friendships damaged and visiting guests impacted by it. I know club staff will be relieved when the curtain finally closes on these antics.

I was pleasantly surprised this week when on two different days a number of people from my ASL class came to the club. I was very happy for the practice, and in that loud crowded place it was actually easier to sign than speak. I also got to enjoy Elyse's company for an evening.

About 2 weeks ago I asked some friends to help me put together a list of the songs the AC plays on the upstairs radio. My current myspace song is a side-effect of that effort. Surprisingly the most logical resource, Bob (of Bob and Virginia) had no interest in the project and did not know most of the songs. Suddenly this week everyone started discussing this same idea on the Yahoo group - making this easier for me to complete :-). Two songs I didn't identify have already been mentioned. The nicest part of this project is that all of the songs I've located so far are downloadable for free.


Facebook

Someone told me the "Borg Queen" (their words; inside joke) has discovered Facebook, a year after everyone else. Apparently the person who invited her is the same person I originally invited, so that means this was my doing! She has been known to "borrow" my content and pass it off as hers, so rather than make it easy I have modified most parts of my profile to be friends-only. To outsiders my profile should appear as a resume with no blog. I'm still making adjustments so if anyone finds an issue please message me.

The new Facebook layout sucks. The fact that you are forced to use it and can't keep the old one sucks more. What genius thought "hey, instead of letting people design the layout of their personal home page and make it about them, let's force them to just display everyone else's textual status on the front page and bury their data, blog, applications, and other personality customizations on background tabs no one will select". I'm thinking the sole reason for this change is to force more viewing to the intervening advertisements.


Candlelight

Two rehearsals down. Dirk is having his surgery, so the first rehearsal was run by Krista - she was fantastic and funny! The second one was run by Kevin, who had to also cover playing the piano at the same time - incredible.


Miscellaneous

• AARP and Disney have announced a partnership
  
• Disney finally announced the Contemporary and Tree house DVC projects
  

Syndicated 2008-09-17 06:07:21 (Updated 2008-09-22 19:35:19) from Moo

Multiple Media

Movies: Two Bills in Kissimmee-wood

About a year ago I had heard Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley were in Kissimmee filming a movie. At the time I didn't think much of it other than it had to be a Hanna Montana movie because Disney Channel popular shows (like Lizzie McGuire, Kim Possible) have been made into movies before. If you check IMDb and Wikipedia they even list a Hanna Montana movie for a 2009 release.

Last weekend I was flipping through the channels and came across Billy Ray Cyrus and Bill Engvall poking fun at themselves during the commercial breaks of a movie they starred in together. I was thinking "I didn't realize they knew each other" and was about to change the channel, when I suddenly spotted someone in a minor role that I recognized as a WDW performer. I watched a bit more and learned that the movie was called "Bait Shop". I looked up information about it and discovered it was filmed a year ago in Kissimmee. So that's what was going on back then, and I shouldn't be surprised to see a local performer or two in a Florida filmed movie. Now because it has people I know in it I'll have to watch it from the beginning someday.

Don LaFontaine, the movie trailer announcer, died this week on 9/1. Now he's "In a world" where people never die.


Improv: PI

There are only 3 weeks left until the comedy clubs at PI close. I managed to pay the Adventurers Club a visit Friday night and it was standing room only for almost everything. Some guests I hadn't seen in a year were there that night. I expect as it gets closer to the 27th it will be even more crowded. I think Disney was wise to limit the last few days to people willing to purchase tickets; it will be interesting to see how that impacts the crowd size or composition.

We are coming up on dates (11th & 12th I believe) where "Dottie" will be performing at the club. Someone was asked to share that information with everyone but (surprise surprise) never does, so I am now.

Employees, regulars and locals have been discussing where they are going to go once the PI clubs are closed. I've heard everything from Disney to competing parks to downtown Orlando locations. No one place seems to be a clear winner yet, although there already some popular cast hangouts in the area that may just get bigger crowds. I believe there is a demand for a late night affordable quiet-but-entertaining gathering place for large numbers of friends and co-workers to enjoy themselves. It will be interesting to see what the market forces or cast members do to resolve it.


Print: Myspace Blog

I am entertaining the idea of discontinuing posting copies of my blog to myspace on or soon after the 27th. All but a very few of my friends are now on facebook, and it receives an atom feed directly from my source blog. My blog can also be found at blogspot, feedburner, and other standard locations, so posting on myspace maybe creating extra work without offering any additional value.


TV: Ice House

Cindy and I watched a lot of the "Ice Road Truckers" and "House" marathons recently. We weren't fans of IRT ("Ice Road Truckers") before the marathon but got hooked on it. If you haven't seen the show, it's about the annual efforts to truck millions of tons of cargo across the frozen lakes of Canada's Northern Territories within the 60-90 days that they are frozen enough to support the weight. When I originally channel surfed past it I wrongly thought it was about traveling the ice between Alaska and Russia or in remote regions of Siberia. I asked a Canadian friend about these ice roads but s/he had never heard of them.

"House" we had seen before and while we enjoy the character of Gregory House, we both agree that no one should ever go anywhere near that hospital with an injury. It wasn't obvious until we watched a marathon of the shows, but every person who lands in his care always goes through 2 terribly misdiagnosed treatments that nearly kill them with seizures before finally getting healed, and often the treatments involve lying to patients or the other doctors, or having holes drilled in your head.


Concert: Candlelight Begins

I picked up my music for the Candlelight Processional. Rehearsals start Monday. There is also an updated list of celebrity narrators:

November 28-30 John O'Hurley ("Seinfeld")
December 1-3 TBD
December 4-6 Brian Stokes Mitchell
December 7-9 Virginia Madsen ("Electric Dreams")
December 10-12 Marlee Matlin
December 13-15 Monique Coleman ("High School Musical")
December 16-18 Chita Rivera
December 19-21 Abigail Breslin
December 22-24 Steven Curtis Chapman
December 25-27 Edward James Olmos ("Battlestar Glactica")
December 28-30 Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance

Syndicated 2008-09-08 05:30:38 (Updated 2008-09-10 04:56:09) from Moo

Fay, PI, KP, Singing, Singers

Fay-dead

Friends asked whether I was prepared for tropical storm Fay, but I didn't believe it was going to be that big a deal for Orlando, especially having worked the triple hurricanes of 2004. Disney World, with all its restaurants and private power and air conditioning and hot showers, is very close by. My neighborhood was designed with all the power lines underground and a nearby hospital. We've never lost power for more than 20 minutes during the worst of storms. The strongest concerns I had were getting roof or water damage in our home, or losing cable/internet service. Even then I have a cell phone modem, laptop, and a car electrical inverter to run it all.

The only precautions we took were to make sure the cars had full tanks of gas in case area stations lost power, and having quarters on hand in case we had to do our laundry in town or a hotel. It turned out that all Fay did was give us a week of rain.


An Adventurers Life is Best

Club fans need to accept that Pleasure Island management "gets" that the Adventurers Club is a popular and successful entertainment attraction. The flood of fan letters likely reinforced that more. The clubs aren't going away because of ignorance. The competitive dynamics that created PI 20 years ago have changed.

I've heard lots of debate whether the challenges of operating PI today are a result of weak investment, lack of advertising, removal of the confetti cannons, the end of the street and stage dancers, the creation of Downtown West side, changing tourist needs, Universal City Walk, increased drinking age, changed smoking laws, lack of themed merchandise, lack of food options, closing of Church Street Station, building Saratoga Springs on the opposite side of the lake, different company leadership, a changing generation of families, lack of a Starbucks, closing of the Fireworks Factory restaurant, increased costs, decreased budgets, lack of karaoke, loss the Merriwether back story, too many cast members not buying enough drinks, etc. Quite a long list; clearly a lot has transpired over the years and the facts are likely a combination of many things. Country music and line dancing are very popular, but two attempts to operate a country-western club were not successful simply due to low patronage. Having been a PI visitor for almost 20 years I have my own views on all this, but I'm not going to discuss them here. Whatever you believe, most people would agree that PI reached a point where it needed changes to improve operations and profit, and resolve the need for good traffic to flow in a scenic environment from one end of Downtown Disney to the other.

The Jazz Company and Desertz were replaced by Raglan Road, which seats over 700 and is packed with guests nightly generating more business than what it replaced. This was a success and helped address a shortage of dining on property. Expanding this further meant building more establishments and possibly replacing more clubs. You also need to give guests the themed flow between the upper and west ends of Downtown Disney they've wanted, so what do you do next? (1) Redirect traffic around PI and connect the Downtown sections by using the parking lots to build new buildings and walkways alongside (ignoring the existing parking shortage before T-Rex is even open)?, or (2) Replace more parts of PI with those same businesses and save the parking lots for parking?

This is where PI struggles. It's consuming valuable waterfront property without doing much to exploit it. PI is a nighttime experience, so the area is also being under utilized during the best time of day to enjoy it. You'd want any rehab plan to be as attractive to businesses and guests as possible. Having restaurants, shops, and daytime activities along the lakefront would be more scenic and a preferred design to integrate Downtown Disney together.

Additional changes were made to address the traffic and atmosphere issues; including removal of the west end stage and outdoor band, removal of the turnstiles, centering and widening the entrance bridge, setting up trees and tables, closing some businesses, opening new businesses, guest surveys, adding a dock and boat stop, more street performers, the end of midnight fireworks, etc. Some of these were controversial, but traffic did increase and the street became slightly more attractive. Still it was not enough because many guests avoided walking through believing they weren't allowed in or didn't want to expose their children to bars and drunks, and the sales within the clubs did not compare to the success of Raglan Road. Without the turnstiles, PI changed from an isolated theme park to individual clubs, and individual clubs were in a position to be replaced. This begs the final question, for whatever reasons you want to entertain: what about replacing the clubs at PI but leaving the comedy clubs or just the Adventurers Club?

Each comedy club employs about 7 performers (plus musicians and techs) and their income is the sale of drinks and a percentage of a $20+ island ticket. The only way they could thrive individually is if they were enlarged and charged entrance fees per show or operated as dinner theaters, or the entertainment was eliminated altogether. The Comedy Warehouse is stadium seating and can't operate differently without major changes. These alternatives could work with the Adventurers Club (I'd still visit it if any of them happened), but the AdvClub has another strike against it; it's in the way of that waterfront again. There's little you could do to attractively address that without destroying the building. Even extending PI further into the water behind the club (assuming you are allowed to and are willing to pay for that) would not work well because the AdvClub would be sitting in the middle of the island blocking what's behind it. That means either rebuilding the club elsewhere, or giving up on that part of the waterfront AND changing the club to operate with increased profits independently from the income of the other clubs or PI entrance ticket.

Obviously the decision was made to address the issues by replacing the AdvClub. I'm probably not the target demographic for the changes at PI since I prefer the comedy clubs and even the old country bars and Fireworks Factory. I'll keep hoping they may rebuild it again elsewhere else someday. I'm sure they also know they could charge A LOT more for it so I hope I can afford to visit it if they do.


Where's a TARDIS when you need one?

I have been very busy with a large number of activities all competing for my attention in the next 60 days:

1. A java project at work to be completed by Oct. Can you say late nights and weekends?
   
2. Because it's near the end of the year, lots of meetings keep appearing on my calendar. In the last month I've averaged 2 hrs a day in meetings. Some days as many as 5-6 hours.
   
3. "Sing Swing" rehearsals 1-2 nights a week
   
4. ASL studies and weekly classes, plus a presentation.
   
5. The closing of the comedy clubs at PI. I would like to see more shows before 9/27.
   
6. My September vacation; my wedding anniversary; my wife's birthday; visiting friends
   
7. Candlelight Processional rehearsals start in September.
   
8. I'm on call during the holiday weekend
   
9. Volunteer work
   
10. Something exciting I can't discuss at this time
    
11. Sleep, meals. You know; the essentials for avoiding getting ill and missing even more time that I can't spare.
    

Club visits, pin trading with guests, and volunteer work were the first things impacted. In the past 3 weeks I've been to the clubs twice and all my volunteer work has been suspended until October. I've also removed myself from most of the meetings. Thanks to Fay several of my nightly commitments were canceled for a time so I enjoyed a break.

The next largest consumer of my personal time is "Sing Swing".


Do Wah Do Wah Do Wah

I've mentioned previously that I'm not available to perform in the "Sing Swing" show, but I've been going to the rehearsals anyway for the experience (and because they're paid for). I knew this show was badly timed for me from the start; it overlapped Candlelight rehearsals and family commitments. The sign-up was months before my vacation was booked, the PI clubs announcement, and my increased work load, so my availability decreased even more.

There are only 4 songs in this show that I truly enjoy singing; most of the rest are famous for their instrumental solos. The power in this show is going to be the big band sound. It's going to be a great show to see and I would love to hear it from the audience, but I have to accept that it's more important now to work late and address personal priorities than to invest 4-8 hours a week traveling and rehearsing for a show I can't be in, so I'm cutting back on the "Sing Swing" rehearsals.


What's the sitch?

The Kim Possible experience is back in Epcot! When I played this 2 years ago I loved it. We are planing some team play soon.


Return 2 Zero

If you don't know already, the Disney Hollywood Studios Beauty and the Beast show use to open with a surprise vocal group identifying themselves as "4 for a Dollar" (they have had several names). In reality this group is "Return 2 Zero" and August 20th was their last performance at that show. I encourage everyone to visit their web site (http://return2zero.net) and pick up one of their CDs or see some future performance. They are a great bunch of guys. Marshall has been known to visit the Adventurers Club should you like an opportunity to get your CD signed.

Syndicated 2008-09-03 06:25:40 (Updated 2008-09-10 06:32:29) from Keith

You're Gonna Miss This

Disneyland Rocks

On 7/29 I was taking part in a conference call meeting between personnel at WDW and at Disneyland. After about an hour, around 14:43 ET, everyone on the california end of the call sounded a bit frantic and distracted. They were in the middle of a 5.8 earthquake. The call ended rather quickly. No one was hurt and if you read the news about it the rides were only closed for minutes, but this was the first time I ever had to end a call because of an earthquake.


Singing and Swinging

I received confirmation; I will be a member of the 2008 Candlelight Processional Cast Choir. Rehearsals start in Sept. :-)

Rehearsals for "Sing Swing" are in full swing (bad pun intended). It really looks like I will not be available to perform in this show on 10/4, but I'm going to continue with the rehearsals just in case that changes (plus they are already paid for after all).


You Will Exit As A Friend

I've been going to both the Adventurers Club and Comedy Warehouse as often as I can. Most nights they have been packed with people. People seem to be accepting that the clubs really will be closing. Acceptance is the final stage of grief, so I hope the more radical activities of protesters are past. No one would like to see the Adventurers Club to stay open more than I; it's been my favorite attraction for almost 20 years. I've been trying to help friends losing jobs in whatever ways I can. I made arrangements for some performers to get updated head shots, and at last weeks Bible study we lifted up all the PI employees in prayer.

While I know Disney spent years exploring ways to enhance the island and include the club, I was not part of that process and therefore am not aware of whether they explored all the ideas that occur to me personally. I don't know all the requirements management has to meet for future operation of PI, but I do see the need for change. Just last week I heard a parent tell her family with absolute certainty "We aren't allowed to walk through Pleasure Island" (which is obviously false). I think the recently completed bridge rehab was perhaps a lost opportunity. Instead of keeping the outside bar kiosks, adding TV monitors, and having DJs continue to pump loud music videos into the streets, wouldn't playing quiet, pleasant Disney soundtracks and having food kiosks create a more inviting and comfortable atmosphere for families walking through the area? It would have been interesting to see the impact of these changes.

The end of the club means an end to seeing many of my friends on a frequent basis. Oh groups of us will get together occasionally, but it's not the same as everyone simply going regularly to the same place several times a week. It's like leaving school; there are some people I won't have an opportunity to see anymore, some I will, and some that live out-of-state who won't be coming any more. Another loss is that the club was a fantastic venue for cast members to meet each other and learn what was going on in other areas of the company. Movement in hourly positions is high and people you meet today will have different jobs 6 months later. I made new friends almost every week, and some of these friends enabled me to experience aspects of working at WDW I would never otherwise have been able to. Indirectly because of friendships created through the club I have driven the Epcot monorail, learned what it is like to work as a character, met the performers of shows, toured backstage operations of several attractions, and more. Forming relationships in other area of this company is one of the best ways to learn, and a great place for doing that will be closed soon.

I keep thinking about this Trace Atkins song:

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this



Scraboulous

Well wasn't that Scrabble fiasco on facebook predictable? First 2 people create "Scraboulous" - the most popular application on Facebook. I've been playing it for months myself. Then after it gains a massive fan base, the Scrabble company releases their version of the online game filled with animations and advertisements and runs very slow. It also plays horrible and forgets games. Scrabble then forces Facebook to drop the other version claiming copyright infringement. The end result is one of the most popular facebook activities almost vanishes overnight, and we have a company that had no computer offering of its own game kill a great application (instead of buying it) and forced replaced it with a quickly made buggy, advertised filled version instead, alienating all their customers.

Then the "Scraboulous" people renamed their game to "Wordscraper" and changed it so it only resembles Scrabble in play, not in appearance. They also added the feature of real-time play, making it an even better game.

Scrabble is suing them.

In the meantime I don't know what to play. I gave up on the "official" version from the vendor and no one I know is using Wordscraper. Looks like my Facebook scrabble playing days are at an end.


Miscellaneous

• "Bennigans" and "Steak and Ale" have closed and are going under. I rather liked "Steak and Ale".
  
• Chevy's has told me their menu is about to change. I am worried.
  
• I ate at House of Blues today and their menu is different already. Fortunately the "Elwood" is still on it.
  
• The season finale of "Dr. Who" were THE BEST episodes of all time!!
  
• We are still enjoying our new air conditioning :-)
  

Syndicated 2008-08-12 06:26:30 (Updated 2008-09-10 05:07:36) from Keith

Becoming Quietly Cool

Previously on this blog

I mentioned we've been having many problems with our upstairs air conditioning; more specifically with the inside air handler. The unit is about 8 years old and over-sized for the area, so it forces a high volume of air rushing a very short straight distance through undersized ducts to a vent in the bedroom. It's loud - very loud - sounding like a wind-tunnel or jet airplane loud. It should have been repaired or replaced by the builders before the condo conversion. About a year ago it developed a slow leak in the coils and the coolant has been refilled twice just to keep it cooling. Then last week during an electrical storm the blower stopped working for no apparent reason and some wiring had to be tightened to bring it back to life.

The handler is dying and we knew we'd never have peace or be able to sell the house unless it was replaced. This is an expensive project costing between $2k-$5k, so we needed to hold off as long as possible in order to get the funds together. It was difficult to find someone willing to do the work at a reasonable cost. The handler is inside a very narrow 3rd floor closet, hanging above our hot water heater and plumbing, all of which was obviously installed afterwards because you can't remove it without destroying something else. The closet itself is in a narrow hallway. Not an ideal working condition.

Some wanted to replace it, some wanted to replace pieces of it, and some wanted to try to weld repair it. All these proposals came at various prices from people having a range of competent and incompetent skills. We eventually found someone willing to go through the lengthy pain of swapping the handler out at a fair fixed price. This company proposed replacing it with a slightly smaller TRANE model. The TRANE has a variable blower startup to address the noise levels, and is compatible with our existing A/C compressor. These people were nice, honest, and had a good reputation for similar work for others in this town. This would be their first job in my townhouse community and there are a lot of unique challenges.

The rest of this entry describes highlights of the replacement effort. The people performing the work were nice and knowledgeable. They knew dealing with my townhouse design for the first time would be a learning experience, so surprises that occurred along the way should not be viewed as something done right or wrong.


Saturday Morning

About 8am we got a call that the A/C repair crew was on the way and would be there shortly. It was expected that this job would take most of the day, with them leaving around 3pm. We locked the cat up in the guest bedroom with food and a litter box, and moved my car out of the garage to give them work space. Three people arrived 10 minutes later. One was the company owner, the second was the skilled laborer (engineer), and the last was a large, strong young man to assist (assistant). They completed preparation work such as laying down drop cloths, bringing in tools, removing the closet door, turning off breakers, etc. They also turned off the hot water because the heater was in the same closet as the air handler. I stayed nearby on the computer or watching television while they produced various conversational and hand tools noises. Cindy stayed downstairs where it was cool.



Hurdle #1 - Money

Around 9:30am I had to run a financial errand to cover the costs of this repair. Yesterday we had a certified check made out to them and drawn from our equity account. It should have been made out to us so we could deposit it into our checking account and pay them whatever final amount was needed. I had no idea what the final bill for this workwould be, just that it would be below a certain amount. I drove to one bank and waited in a long line to have the check corrected, then drove to another bank to have the check deposited. The whole adventure took about 45 minutes before I was home again.

Hurdle #2 - Pipes

Eventually their work reached a point where the current handler was ready to be pulled out, but there was not enough room due to the hot water heater and plumbing. The engineer called me over to discuss his plan to cut away all the PVC pipes and reconstruct them later. This made me very nervous; it would take extra work and time, plus I had no idea of his abilities to do that correctly (I would later see for myself that he was actually extremely good at pipe work). I didn't want to compound our situation by adding hot water problems, but I had no alternative solution. Then the owner joined us and told the engineer to cut apart the old unit to remove it. The new TRANE handler was slightly smaller in size and he believed it would navigate past the plumbing without needing to cut it apart. Then he left for the day while the crew kept working.

They first removed the evaporator coils and carted them to the truck.



The blower was next (the only potentially reusable part I think), and then he began cutting the metal box apart with snips so it could fit past the plumbing. There were a lot of trips up and down the stairs. When it was over there was nothing left of the old unit but a blank wall and a few wires and pipes. There was no going back now.



They brought the new unit upstairs and began the process of installing it.



He did have to cut away some plumbing, but these were pipes dedicated to the water drainage in the A/C and had nothing to do with the hot water heater. As noon passed I took food orders from everyone and ran over to the local Subway to bring back lunch. Subway was packed! Even with 4 workers the line was about 10 people deep. It took a while for me to get out of there and back home. At about 1pm everyone took a break to eat.


Saturday Afternoon

After lunch they went back to work. I checked on our cat Lily; she was sleeping under the bed due to all the scary noises and voices. The upstairs temperature was now 85 degrees so I stayed downstairs with Cindy. A bit later I heard what sounded like steam hissing from upstairs. They had begun soldering the coolant pipes with a welding torch. This also produced strong odors of gas and ozone, which I'm sure confused Lily even more.

Hurdle #3 - Fumes

Within a few minutes, every smoke detector in the place was screaming. They are all connected and the fumes from his welding had set off the one near him. I quickly climbed a chair and disconnected the one near us then raced upstairs to find the engineer trying to rip the smoke detector above him out of the ceiling. He was standing on a ladder and apparently it was right next to his ear when it went off so he was a bit ticked. I became insistent and instructed him to remove it properly. When he did all the alarms stopped.

If you think we were pained by the screeching alarms, I'm sure Lily's sensitive ears took a worse beating. I went in to check on her and calm her down. She was so nervous that as soon as I entered the room she came out from under the bed and was extremely docile and wanting of attention. A short time later she was playful again.

Hurdle #4 - Fumes and Heat

With the crisis over he went back to using his torch, but within minutes all the alarms sounded again. The fumes had set off the next nearest detectors. We proceeded to remove the remaining detectors from the top floor. Then suddenly it struck me -- we also have sprinkler heads every 10 feet in this place, including one inside the very closet he's working on with a torch. Those sprinklers are sensitive to heat, and his torch is generating a massive amount of it. If they went off the water would damage the home, our possessions, and maybe summon the fire department.

At this point I ask them to do all the soldering they can in the garage and keep the rest to a minimum. I also set up some large fans to keep the hallway cooler and vented. I also had to check on Lily again and calm her down.

After about a half hour the repair crew emerged from the garage with the new handler and mounted it inside the closet. They spent the next 1-2 hours still using the torch to connect the system. The entire time I worried that the sprinklers would go off any moment. During this work they set off the alarms a third time, but they quickly quieted down and they continued working. I was greatly relieved when they were finally done with the torch.

It had now been several hours since the old hander was off, and Cindy and I noticed that our "colds" are much better. We didn't have colds - we had allergies from whatever the A/C system was spewing into the air, and it's removal was going to help with that as well.

Hurdle #5 - Time

It was after 3pm, and they still had quite a lot of work to do before they could leave. They cut and glued new PVC pipes for the humidity drainage from the handler, connected the main power and compressor wires, and connected the low voltage wires to the thermostat. By the time they were ready to turn the power back on and test the device it was near 5pm. Powered up, the blower ran at full speed and was not much quieter than before. We watched the temperature slowly drop from 85 down to 80.



We connected all the smoke detectors back up, put away all the tools, collected the trash, and vacuumed. I also let Lily out of her room and returned her food and litter box to their normal locations.

The final bill came to within $3.00 of the original certified check, so for that small a difference I could have avoided all the earlier running around to the banks and just gave them the original check.

We had every reason to believe the project was done, and I couldn't wait until the temperature dropped enough for the variable speed blower logic to get used and see how quiet it was. By 5:30 everything was done and the crew left for the day. The job was done, or so we thought.

When the temperature reached about 76 it was no longer blowing cold air, and the temperature rose back up to 84. The blower ran constantly, and the temperature never dropped lower than 80. Was it my programmable thermostat? Did they install the new handler wrong? Did all the coolant leak out? I changed the "smart" settings of thermostat off to see if that helped. No; it was still not cooling. It wasn't the thermostat.

Hurdle #6 - DIP Switches

After a light dinner out, I came back and began my investigation and learning about our new and old handler. I went outside and wrote down the model numbers for my compressor. I then read the handler's owner manual and went to the manufacturer's web site to read the documentation there. I learned a lot about the old and new units. One of the things I learned is that the new handler has a set of DIP switches for setting the air flow, compressor volume, and enabling the variable speed blower setting. I sat down for about 30 minutes and triple verified what I thought these switches should have as a setting. I went into the closet, pulled the circuit breaker, unscrewed the cover, and searched for the switches.

I found them after another 20 minutes. They were in the back and meant to be set while the unit was still unassembled. I had to get a flashlight and mirror to read them (upside down), and saw they were not correct. The flow was set to high, and the variable speed setting was off. Triple checking things, I changed them to what they should be and put the whole thing back together. I turned it on and volia, the blower started up on a slow speed and switched to high after 7 minutes - just like it was meant to! However it was still not blowing cold air and cooling the house down. I went outside and verified the compressor was running - it was. I turned off all the smart logic in the termostat - no impact. There was nothing more I could do.

I called the A/C people and left a message detailing the situation, and went to bed in an uncomfortably hot room again. The blower never shut off the entire time.


Sunday

I called them in the morning and we discussed the situation. The Owner was sure the handler was fine and problem was related to the compressor. His team would be at the house that afternoon.

Hurdle #7 - The Compressor

The same people came back that afternoon and began an examination of the outdoor system. Coolant level and pressure were fine, but when they checked the compressor they found that even though the fan was running the compressor was not. In fact it was hot. The reason was that the new handler was so efficient and modern that the 8 year old compressor was not getting sufficient current to kick it every time. They installed a small cylinder device that looked like a capacitor, whose function is to ensure there is enough current to kick the compressor on when the handler tells it to. This is similar to making sure your car battery has enough cranking amps to start the engine, even though it takes less amps to actually run the car.

Sure enough it worked. Cold air was blowing in the house and the temperature dropped to 74 degrees and stayed there! The new blower is much much quieter, and there are no leaks in the system. It is much quieter and has no leaks! It also looks much nicer in the closet. It came with a 5 year warranty and 1 year free maintenance. The A/C company now knows what to expect should they need to perform this work for another townhouse in my complex.

After almost a week and a half, we have a working and now quieter A/C system.

Syndicated 2008-08-05 13:39:12 (Updated 2008-08-07 03:04:02) from Keith

Colds

[Update - ENCORE photos added]

A Fortnight of Suffering

A week ago on Sunday I woke up with a sinus infection, which quickly became a full fledged head cold. I was in bed for a week and missed 4 days of work, 2 singing rehearsals, a merchandise liquidation sale, and an ASL class. It's times like this that I realize how active I am. It's a week later and I'm still suffering with the congestion. This week's singing rehearsal was difficult having clogged ears and nose.

Just as I started to feel better, last Saturday Cindy came down with a head cold of her own, and at the same time the upstairs air conditioner broke down. For the next 5 days we had to live and sleep in illness without A/C in the bedrooms while I tried to find someone trustworthy to fix it at an affordable price. This air handler has been a nightmare for us. When it runs it sounds like a jet airplane; it's so loud we've had to keep changing the volume on the TV to hear it above the rushing wind. It's not a joy to sleep through either. About 9 months ago it froze up due to a coolant leak, and about a month ago it did it again. Each refill costs about $190. Finally last Saturday a thunderstorm caused the blower to stop working. It took 4 days before we could get someone out to fix it. During that time we had a lot of fans running.

The air handler is about 8 years old and I assume the original builders bought it in bulk to install throughout the complex. We've been expecting it should be replaced, but that could easily cost over $2k even without the challenges that would make our labor costs high. This handler is a wall hang unit hovering right above the hot water heater and pipes, all inside a narrow closet that looks like it was assembled around it. It's a large and heavy machine filling the entire width of the closet and flush with the top. It has to be carefully removed without damaging any PVC pipes or the heater. The work has to be performed from a very narrow hallway. Then there's finding a suitable replacement and fitting it in since this unit is no longer manufactured. It needs to be done; we don't want to live with this anymore and could never sell the house without addressing these issues. It's been a worry that it would cost a fortune, especially if we went with a major commercial company to perform the work.

Based on recommendations by some local towns people (who I don't know), I called someone who came over and patched the blower enough to get by for a few days. He seemed nicer and more knowledgeable than others we've had over. He devised a plan to replace the handler with a new, more intelligent, and potentially quiet unit. He's agreed to do it at a reasonable fixed price. The new system will have a 5 year warranty. If successful we will have a new, reliable, quiet A/C upstairs. If not I may be without A/C and hot water, and facing a massive repair bill.

The show begins this Saturday morning, 8am, and is expected to last most of the day.


Marching Along...

Between the colds and air conditioning problems I haven't been to the club in 2 weeks, so I can't say I've observed anything special concerning the campaigns to keep it from closing. Island management seems to be aware of anything worrisome to them. Already they've responded to on-site podcasts, call-ins, obscenities, literature dispersal, and probably things I'm not aware of. Disney World is private property and any situation they view as a possible safety risk or impacting a guest is going to be addressed seriously. I hope protesters understand where the lines are drawn and won't place the club's final days at risk. I would hate to discover on 9/27 that the doors will not be opened.

I've been trying to help some cast members with their employment search. It's not been much but my position allows me to assist in ways others can't, and I think it's more useful than handing out commemorative t-shirts.


Networking Woes

The same storm that took out our A/C blower also killed our wireless network router, and our Vonage home phone system. We are considering dumping Vonage for Skype or TruPhone, but I was not ready to make the transition right then. I called Vonage support and actually got a hold of someone with reasonable technical abilities, who quickly recognized that I was not incompetent and they agreed to replace the device with a more expensive model and all I had to do was pay $13 for the shipping. By Tuesday the home phone was operational again.

[Warning; geek technical talk ahead]

The home wireless was another story. The main gateway port on the Linksys WRT54G was dead, as was one of the switch ports. The device would handle routing of the wireless subnet, but I could no longer use it as a firewall and non-wireless router. I had hopes that if I replaced the firmware with anarchy that I could manually reconfigure the ports to be more useful. The firmware upgraded fine but the ports were still dead.

The lack of working wireless at home is why I haven't been on-line in a while. Looks like I have to replace the device; probably with an WRT54GS. Good thing they aren't expensive.


ENCORE

Despite our colds, Cindy and I went to Disney's ENCORE concert. This is an annual concert put on by Cast Members, and includes orchestra, choir, solo singers, humor, and honor guard acts. The performances are usually songs from musicals, and the concert takes place at the World Showplace building at Epcot.





The show was terrific!

Syndicated 2008-08-03 06:58:51 (Updated 2008-08-30 06:12:06) from Keith

Narnia, Pagers and PI oh my

Sing Swing

Rehearsals for "Sing Swing" have started. I have mixed feelings about this because there is a possibility I will not be available to perform in the actual show. Linda amazed me by remembering this, even though the last time we spent together was months ago. I won't know for another few weeks, so I am going to rehearse hoping that fortune prevails. The first rehearsal was fun. The bass section is much larger than in the past. I'm not familiar with many of the songs, but we do get to sing "New York, New York".


PI

I've been trying to visit the AdvClub as frequently as I can. With rehearsals, classes, charity time, upcoming concerts and movies, home improvements, and actual work this has been challenging. One side effect of the club closing is that a lot of my friends have been showing up more often, making my time more enjoyable. Thursday I managed to go to the club even though I was exhausted and on ibuprofen from working at "Give Kids the World". At one point during the night some of us went over to the Comedy Warehouse and watched one of the funniest shows I have seen since I can't remember. One sketch had poor Robby guessing a phrase forever. I also got to say hello to Carol for a bit.

Fans continue protesting the AdvClub closing. Some were spotted handing out "save the club" cards to guests and asked to stop. Sending letters are one thing, but disrupting the staff or bothering the guests are quite another. It is private property and Disney takes guests and safety risks very seriously. I have no doubt they would shut the place down tomorrow to protect their interests, and it would be the fault of these protesters if everyone lost what little club open time remained. Personally I would rather enjoy my final memories of the place, and first time visitors today should not have to endure anything less than the wonderful experience I've had myself through the years.

The performers have been making a running gag out of the radiothon raising enough money to keep the club open for another year.


The Pager Blues

Last weekend I was on-call and there were multiple urgent problems that resulted in my working a 12 hour day Friday and 3 more hours on Saturday. These situations almost never have anything to do with the computer technology I'm responsible for, but other teams frequently need our involvement to help resolve their own issues. Monday I turned on-call over to another person just in time because unexpectedly my pager stopped working that day. While I've had this pager for 4 years without issue, after the hours I spent resolving issues I was secretly hoping this would take a while to correct. It was replaced the next day, but that one was not much better. By the end of Tuesday I had gone through 3 pagers until I was back in the system.


Narnia

Cindy and I wanted to see "Prince Caspian" before it stopped playing in theaters. The latest showing was at 5:25pm. I came to work early so the plan was to leave about 4pm, grab a dinner, and go see the movie. By the time we were together and ready to go it was already 4:55 and we were faced with choosing EITHER the dinner or the movie. There was not enough time for both. We gave up on the movie and went to Chevy's. Amazingly we were seated, served, and finished so fast that by the time the check was paid it was 5:15. Since we were very close to the theater we decided to go for it. On the way the rain poured down, we caught almost every light red, and it took extra time to find a parking space. In the end the rain proved to be an advantage because we were able to immediately approach the ticket window and make our purchase. It was 5:30 now and the movie was in a theater on the opposite end of the building, so we hurried and walked in just as the previews ended and the movie started. We took the first seats we spotted and relaxed for the next 2 hours.

And we enjoyed it.


Bonus Tracks

• Bowling for Disney Dollars: Disney announced they will be building a 100 lane bowling alley in the Sports Complex as part of the ESPN changes.
  
• A bunch of us went to the Black Ship Sky concert and had a great time.
  
• August 1st begins cast sign-up for the Disney Candlelight Processional.
  

Syndicated 2008-07-20 04:11:27 (Updated 2008-08-30 06:16:55) from Keith

Put On Your Sunday Clothes

WALL-E

I went to a company premiere of WALL-E. I think it was Pixar's best film yet. Once again Pixar created movie I wasn't sure I'd like at all, and it turned out so good I must own the DVD.



The dance song that WALL-E enjoys in the film is called "Put On Your Sunday Clothes". It is part of the soundtrack to "Hello Dolly", which coincidentally (like so many things in my life) was the reason I drove to Atlanta that very same evening - to watch my niece in a production of that play.


Atlanta Trip

Immediately after watching WALL-E, Cindy and I drove about 7 hours to Atlanta. As we passed through Gainesville FL we stopped at a KFC for dinner, where we encountered this sign:



Be still my heart! BOTH gizzard AND livers? All my gizzard and liver needs met in one single location?! Am I that gizzard worthy? Does KFC "do gizzards right" using the 11 herbs and spices? Can I get them in the new smokey chipotle BBQ flavor? Granted the sign is handmade on cardboard, but cut them some slack - this KFC is on the bleeding edge of the gizzard revolution! The sign says "We NOW sell", so obviously the local demand was extremely high and they were thinking "out of the bucket" to break away from the traditional KFC to meet the demand. Or perhaps they were selling something more horrible than gizzards and livers before this.

No we did not order any! I am being sarcastic. I text'd our friend Elise about our discovery, to which she replied "What do you expect? It's Gainsville".

We eventually arrived at the hotel and checked in for the night. The next morning they had a nice, free breakfast which included eggs and making your own fresh waffle:



We drove to my brother-in-law's house and spent the day talking, playing video games, etc. When evening came we all piled into a car and went to a nearby church auditorium to watch my niece perform a part in a local production of "Hello Dolly". She was quite good and looked like she was having a ball doing it. In the photo below she is the first person on the left:




After one more day of visiting we drove toward home, taking a minor detour to visit Callaway Gardens.



Cindy worked here right out of college as an intern and I've always been telling her that someday I'd take her back there to see how much the place has changed. When we told the guard at the entrance why we were here they actually let us in for free (saving us about $30). The place had changed a lot, with the only thing she remmbered looking the same was the chapel:





We stayed for lunch at the on site restaurant. The food was very expensive and not very tasty, so in a way they got their $30 out of us after all. We got back on the road and drove uninterrupted the rest of the way home.


$2000 and two raccoon pelts

Fans continue efforts to press Disney into saving the Adventurers Club. Some are civil about it; soliciting ideas and understanding that employees will not place their jobs at risk by participating. Some aren't; exploiting the opportunity to throw mud at the company or its management. Hypocrisy appeared when in a single breath, a "mean old lady" (her own words) asked everyone to put aside their differences and come together anyway they can for the cause, then moments later chastised a cast member she doesn't like for only providing information. Like it's fair to expect someone to risk their job and home mortgage payments for a bar. Perhaps she only meant everyone should put aside their differences with her. A fair number of people, including staff, resent the polarized atmosphere she fosters there; it must be challenging now for her to be working with people she spent years ridiculing.

I checked briefly into cast rates for renting the club. Having a personal function before going to the club still seems much more attractive than paying a large sum for 90 minutes of private time.

I can already see that the last evening at the club will not meet many people's expectations. It is opening late, so there will be less time to enjoy it. Many seats will be occupied by previous performers or cast members, so there will be less available for guests. People are flying in from around the country, so it will be packed tight. The entrance will have long lines. The atmosphere will be loud, fans will be wearing event shirts, drunks shouting, people crying, food and gifts, cameras flashing, etc. Some are planning to have raffles. Every show will empty outside, so you'll have to choose between missing a final performance or trying to get back in afterward. Smart people will get the most out of the club before that final week.


Deckard Cain Returns

Blizzard made their announcement - Diablo III is really coming! The small sample video on their web site looks cool. Now if only there was an actual release date for it. When it does come out, I expect to have several sleepless nights.

Syndicated 2008-07-09 04:59:22 (Updated 2008-08-30 06:26:15) from Keith