June 2004

One of the most disappointing things about my trip to Forida losing my old flash memory. I bought a larger one, so put the measly 64M card in the safe for the week. It was safe alright, especially from my eyes when I scanned the room one last time before declaring myself officially packed.

It was only when we got home that I remembered just where my memory card, car keys and iPod were. When I called the Hilton, only two of the three had successfully made their way to the hotel safe. It was only worth about $30 or so, but it happened to have the pictures from our trip to Dorney Park on it and I hadn’t downloaded them yet. Now they’re gone forever.

I’m wearing my sunglasses while my regular pair gets an updated prescription. They’re saving the old lenses and popping them into a cheap frame so I’ll never have to go through this again.

The darkness, however, does not diminish movies in any way thankfully, as I saw Spider-man last night. I still maintain that it got off to a slow start, but only because the movies focus on oft-forgotten aspects like “story” and “charm”. The action sequences weren’t overused like they are in most other superhero movies, though there was one scene last night that had me cringing in my seat. I felt like I was being beaten over the head with the moral of the story once or twice, but I’d gladly take that feeling in return for not being talked down to the rest of the time.

This is a really wishy-washy post. How embarassing.

It’s much easier to handle day-to-day drudgery when the end is in sight. My boss took the news pretty well and is supportive of my decision; I mentioned how the chat we had a before Memorial Day made me realize that if I wasn’t excitied about learning new things here then I was in the wrong place. He agreed that now is the time to try such a maneuver, especially if I want to be classified as a bona fide artist with a portfolio and the like.

Everyone else is supportive as well, jovial even. With no job lined up, there isn’t the tension that’s usually there when someone leaves. Like management feeling as if they’ve been stabbed in the back because somone had been looking for better work, or coworkers shy about wishing you well because management is unhappy. Nope, everything is going well. Some of the people I’m closer to are excited for me and a few even admitted being a little jealous of the adventure on which I’m about to embark.

Of course I’m excited too, but mine is more of the nervous variety — like I could be making a huge mistake. I’ve got so many things to focus on right now: packing for the move, trashing or eBaying the stuff not making the cut, finding another job, transferring addresses to Conshohocken, planning a wedding, and at the same time making sure my summer doesn’t slip away from me. It’s a real chore to avoid becoming overwhelmed and puting off everything except that last one, and then there’s more weight loss, blogging, and reading I want to get serious about as well. Fortunately, I kicked off the weekend right and we started packing already. I’ve already jumped back on my diet since I never quite reached my target weight, I’m tearing through David Sedaris’ Holidays on Ice, and tonight I’m going to resume my job hunt. At least there’s so much to worry about that if I get sick of any one thing I can focus on a different worry.

I took the big plunge today and put in my notice at work, giving my boss’s boss a final date of July 30. He asked if I wanted to make it a loose date, but even though moving to Conshohocken would make my commute a hellish 1.5 hours each way I could see myself doing it just to avoid taking action. No, I need a clean break to force me to look for something more satisfying, so I said my decision was final.

Now, with all my cards on the table I’m a little more free to go to interviews. I’m still going to work as hard as ever, but with a definite end in sight it’ll put work into a different perspective. The things I do every day are not a career path, and while I’ll earn every penny they give me for the next five weeks work isn’t life.

There’s still the small task of breaking the news to my boss. It was his discussion with me three weeks ago that made me realize I wasn’t seeking out opportunities at work because I had fallen into a rut. The negative feelings I felt for the past few months about Internet restrictions and reduction in benefits took a back seat when I realized that what my boss said was true. No one was pushing me to try new things, but I was so disenchanted with work that I wasn’t pushing myself either.

It’s my own fault I’m not where I want to be right now and it’s high time I did something about it; hopefully this will be the kick in the pants I needed. It won’t happen overnight, but it’ll happen.

I’m glad I got at least a little blogging done over vacation. I really enjoy it yet never allow myself enough time to sit down and get in the groove. As it got harder to sqeeze everything into the last few days, blogging once again took a back seat. However, we documented everything in case I feel like writing about the rest of our week.

Over 800 photos shot
- approximately 200 deleted directly from camera as they were taken
= 594 imported onto my computer

+ one e-mailed from Innoventions in EPCOT
- 294 deleted for being blurry, unflattering, or bland
- 180 too similar or uninteresting to post
= 121 available as public record of our trip

Without further ado….

Matt took to using the phrase “hardcore” yesterday whenever our Keys to the Kingdom tour guide told us something that Disney did that was probably unnecessary but went above and beyond the level of service that other parks went. Today, the phrase took on an entirely new meaning at Universal Studios — it meant “hardcore” in terms of ass-bleeding. We had a fantastic day, don’t get me wrong, but it was because we were extremely lucky.

We got to Islands of Adventure at 11:30 a.m. and first took our passes over to The Incredible Hulk to get our special express tickets. We ended up locking ourselves out of other such tickets for the next two hours but that’s what sometimes happens when you roll the dice. We tried guessing where most of the other park guests would be headed and tried the opposite direction. We made it through the Seuss-themed area and over to the good rides just as the Dueling Dragons wait slipped to 20 minutes where we rode it twice. We eventually made it to all the main attractions but it wasn’t easy.

A major problem with this other park was its class system. There are the express tickets that everyone can get. The concept, taken from Disney, is a good one. Organize people into groups based on time slots instead of having them wait in line — it makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, the folks at Universal tried thinking for themselves and ended up confusing it all. There are the normal people like us who can choose a ride for which to get a pass, then the fools who shell out an extra $30 for a pass that gives them immediate access to each major ride once without wait, then a third group of people — official hotel guests — who can skip in front of everyone else as many times as they want. And the worst part is that the system doesn’t even work well: the stand-by times were largely inaccurate, the ride operators weren’t efficient at alternating “normal” and “special” park guests, and the express ticket system was completely out of control.

First, this Fast Pass copycat is more complicated. Rather than inserting our tickets and automatically receiving our assigned time slot, there was a touch-screen menu system involving three steps with choices and a time limit for each ticket. Also, when 1:30 p.m. rolled around and our time restriction for getting the next ticket was up, the system told us to come back after 1:30 again. Looking around, we couldn’t easily locate anyone to fix our tickets or tell us how they could be fixed. The other problems centered around the park staff, who were largely incompetent at enforcing the system when people jumped from one line to the other or fumbled their way to the front.

It’s obvious that Universal has more roller coasters, that’s its draw and the only reason for leaving the magic of Disney. However, other differences arose throughout the day which are more easily expressed in terms of competing acronyms. We learned on our Magic Kingdom tour that the four “keys to the kingdom” are safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency. Well, it would seem that Disney’s main Orlando competitor is using different keys altogether.

Unsafety
The smallest differences exist in this category, but they were noticeable just the same. Ride operators too far away to react should someone choose to run out onto the platform of a roller coaster, a few more loose screws where they’re shouldn’t be, and curbs that make Philly look pedestrian-friendly all contribute to making for an unsafe environment. I’m not dialing the phone to call my lawyer just yet, but let’s just say I’m thinking about reaching for it.

Discourteousness
I don’t have to get into an analysis of friendliness here. People have different levels of expectation when it comes to people in the service industry, and it depends on how well they think they’re able to place themselves in these people’s shoes. Instead, I have an example that should be obvious to anyone that there’s room for improvement in the courtesy department. The most angering example occurred as I stepped off the Jurassic Park flume ride. As with mostly any attraction now, cameras took our picture at the most hair-raising moment, and there was a lady next to the review monitors directing those who were interested where to purchase a photo. When I asked her how much they were — and this lady worked only ten short feet away from the sales counter — she told me she “didn’t know, but that lady over [at the counter] would be able to tell [me]”. I was enraged that rather than answer my question and save me from having to fight the crowds, she redirected me to a person who could give me a better sales pitch. When the girl at the counter got to the sixth word of her sentence, I brusquely interrupted and fought my way back to the girl who annoyed me and said plainly, “just so you know from now on, they’re seventeen dollars”. I was probably a non-customer for that product anyway but I left that ride/gift shop an unhappy customer, that’s for damn sure.

Tell
Universal isn’t in the same league as Disney in terms of showmanship. We didn’t find ourselves immersed in another world when we walked through the gate. On the attractions, whether in line or on the ride, construction materials were more evident, exit signs were more obvious, designs were less intricate, and costumes were less elaborate. Here at Disney, the planners took great care to ensure no part of a park can be seen from any other even while on a ride; at elsewhere you can see not only the other areas of the park but rooftops, parking lots, and even a highway or two. Finally, Islands of Adventure was dirty. No, I’d say filthy — beer and soda cups along every line, full trash cans in the cafeterias, and giant bins of garbage being wheeled down the streets. Everywhere I looked, I noticed the little things that a $50 entry fee should excuse me from having to notice on my vacation.

Inefficiency
Almost every attraction that involved loading people into a queue was handled poorly. People waiting in most lines were left to divide themselves into groups, and cars went by with empty seats even when there was a line of single riders waiting to fill them. The queueing was so poor that stopped lines were frequently the rule rather than the exception.

There were two bright points of the day (beside the rides, which were spectacular). The first positive thing was a park feature: its use of single rider lines. While we only used it twice, it saved us a combined 50 minutes because we were willing to split up for the ride itself. The other spark of courtesy came as we were at our wits’ end with the express ticket service and finally located a ride operator for the raft ride. Dia has asked him where we could fix our problem, so he offered the advice “it’s not what you know, but who you know” and the temporary solution of escorting us right up the exit ramp. I was torn between counting my blessings at being able to skip an hour wait and still holding six park passes which needed fixing before they could be used again. Still, it ended up being a turning point and our day was all smiles from there.

We made it back to our haven on the Disney campus at around 8:30, ordered Domino’s in our room to complement our cooler of beer while we watched Terminator 3, and went down to the hot tub. Capping off the evening was our run-in with a Hilton security guard where he first chided us for having glass bottles in the water, then not only brought us cups but brought us ice and took away our empties too. Walt Disney World … truly magical.

We take turns doing Jimmy Fallon’s line from his zoo crew in the morning skit on Saturday Night Live. It never fails to make me laugh, though Matt is the best at it.

More to the point, we’re back in our hotel rooms after our breakfast in the Tower’s lounge on the 9th floor. Tim’s gold status gives us a better-than-usual continental breakfast every morning (and it’s one of the only perks we’re using since Jamie and Dia aren’t using the robes…). So we pop us there everymorning to read the newspaper, watch CNN on the flat-panel television and energize ourselves for our day.

This day we’re heading out of the magical world of Disney and over to Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure. Wet ‘n’ Wild was ruled out for the day since there’s a 40 percent chance of rain and lightning would shut down every ride.

I had enough waiting for rides to open yesterday at Animal Kingdom. That park is pretty lame, so we only allotted it the half a day remaining after our behind-the-scenes Keys to the Kingdom tour. Everyone seemed to enjoy the tour immensely — most notably Matt, who stood up several times and declared it was the best money he’d be spending this trip. We all swore on Walt’s frozen head not to disclose any of the secrets we learned while on the tour, so I’m finished here. We drove over to Animal Kingdom and scored the best. parking spot. ever.

The Kingdom sucks in comparison to the other parks. This is probably because I find it to be only slightly more interesting than zoos in almost every other metropolitan area and some backwoods hick towns as well. Compounding the issue was the fact that the giant raft ride was extremely tame and dry for half of our group, the line was stupidly long for the crazy mouse style “Primeval Whirl” (though it and “Dinosaur” were great), and the jungle safari ride enraged me when I saw idiots taking some of the worst pictures ever. No one else disliked the park as much as I did, feeling that the two fast rides, the jungle trek, and the Bug’s Life 3-D show (which I loved as well) helped redeem it.

Me, my rash, and everyone else drove back around 7:30 where we changed for dinner at the Benihana right in our hotel. It was the first time at any sort of hibachi grill for Dia, Pat or me so we were thrilled, and from what Tim tells me it was one of the best experiences he’s had as well. After dinner the other guys went to Walmart for some supplies while I crashed from exhaustion and swollen feet.

Right now I don’t have a care in the world. My kitties are in Ross’ capable hands, I’ve got my girlfriend, my sister, and three friends right here in our Hilton Suite, and the weather forecast calls for the same thing all week: 92 and a 40 percent chance of rain. We’ve also got our plan set for tomorrow morning; it consists of starting out with the Keys to the Kingdom tour 8:15 a.m and then heading over to Animal Kingdom for the afternoon. Today, we spent the day at MGM Studios riding the Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster three times, the Tower of Terror twice and all the other requisite rides pausing to catch our breath at the ’50s Prime Time Cafe for dinner.

It sounds like a lot, but it’s actually very relaxing. Other than wandering around the mostly vacant stripmall known as Downtown Disney in a fruitless search for a late-night snack, it’s all been good. The post-midnight walk took place right after our check-in when some of us were raring to get out and do some Disney stuff. We realized how road weary we were only when we reached the land of chubby chicks in belly shirts and things soon got ugly. Fortunately, we made it back to our hotel and its 24-hour marketplace where we regrouped and relaxed with the snacks and beer — Plan A before the more ambitious took charge. Officially sated, we hit the sack for our big day today.

The vacation officially started Thursday. I must have mentally checked out at Brian’s house during game night because Dave won. I made it back home shortly after midnight with Ross in two to give him feeding instructions for Cannoli, Ravioli and Csoki Tej. He left, Dia and I quickly packed, and I hit the sack around 1:30 a.m. We were up four hours later for Dia’s train and after loading the Element I was off to work myself. The day passed surprisingly quickly and I escaped at 3:30 sharp only because I skipped lunch and briefly showed my co-worker Scott how to resave the 400 photos I could have been stuck doing for two hours; even though I put in an eight-hour day I came dangerously close to being asked to stay until end-of-day proper. Ducking out early allowed me to make the 65 mile drive to Conshohocken by 4:30 p.m. where Matt and Tim were ready and waiting, and down to Wilmington for Dia an hour after that. From there it was a pretty speedy trip to downtown D.C. to meet Pat, Ian and Julie for dinner at Gordon Biersch.

After dinner, we headed over to Rudderow south and continued our theme of activity-cramming with a late-night swim. The next moring it was absolutely gorgeous outside and we lounged around until our flight out of BWI, swimming again, playing Settlers of Catan, watching movies, and pigging out on swordfish, chicken soup, and fruit salad. Lauren shuttled us to the airport where we sat for a while and worked on one of our match.com profiles until our two-leg flight to Florida. The flights were as opposite as two could be, but other than our initial introduction to the colorful cast of characters on the second, they were uneventful. Our minivan rental was waiting for us in Tampa and Tim took us on a high-speed jaunt to Orlando; somebody told me the drive between the two cities would take and hour, and despite our best attempts it turned out to be pretty accurate. A few of us groaned when we saw the tower for the high-voltage power lines shaped as Mouse ears, but I was thriled — while the trip had been exciting/relaxing thus far, our vacation had officially begun.

I’ve only got four minutes until I break the one-hour mark on the dial-up, and reconnecting will likely wake everyone up, so time to wrap this up. Three minutes. I should be hitting the pillow anyway since we have a wake-up call for 6:15 a.m. This will be the only day we have a set schedule [under two minutes], but it’ll be worth it.

I almost made one of the biggest mistakes of my life and dropped my glasses off with my eye doctor. The plan was to put new lenses into my current frames, and pop my old lenses into something cheap so I’d have a backup pair from now on. Fortunately, I remembered what happened last time and decided that the risk of having to wear sunglasses all week long in Walt Disney World wasn’t worth it. The chance of those hacks over at VSP shipping out my new pair in time was next to nothing, and there was a strong possibility that my current lenses would shatter while being beveled to fit in standard frames. So once I got home and stepped inside wearing my sunglasses, I realized what a headache next week might have been — literally.

Actually, the cicadas weren’t as bad as I’d pictured them, and the only sign left that we crossed paths is a solitary stain on my windshield. It’s amazing how messy a nearly vertical windshield travelling 90 mph can get with those suckers around, so thank goodness it’s only once every 17 years. It took the entire ride home in the rain for my windshield wipers to scrape the last of those splotches off.

Again, the cicadas weren’t actually too bad to be around. I wouldn’t go outside without sandals on at first but eventually I was able to ignore them. It’s not like they were carpeting the ground or anythying, and there weren’t too many flying around either.

Besides the cicadas, it was a pretty normal Memorial Day weekend. I drove down Friday afternoon with Alex and Dia, and though I was tired from the late movie the night before I managed to stay awake during work, packing, traffic, and even dinner at Fuddruckers with my sister and her friend Brian. I spent Saturday helping get things squared away for the picnic and catching episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Sopranos when I wasn’t being hounded. Saturday night I went to the Brickskellar with Pat, Dre, Dia, and Lex and his family, then on an hour-long tour of D.C. when Dre got us lost on the way home.

The picnic was the same old affair minus the half of my group of friends who opted for Jason and Alison’s wedding instead. They were nice enough to invite me too at the last minute, but picnic plans were already set in motion at that point. I bounced from food to volleyball to board games to Dance Dance Revolution (Tomas brought his Playstation and projector and it was a big hit) to swimming to games and food again. I noticed that the partygoers were divided in to those who could entertain themselves and those who couldn’t, and I was too busy playing volleyball to care be able to do anything about it. I always find myself doing a zillion things during the party and am amazed when I see people sitting around. My only regrets are not getting in any kickball and not saying something to Dana’s underage friends before they finshed the keg of Sam Adams. Nathan, Tomas, and Kelly stayed the night with us in our hotel room and my parents treated us to breakfast at the Double T diner the next morning. Afterwards we parted ways, Dia and I grabbed Alex, and the three of us spent the next four hours in various speeds of traffic right and threw Alex on his train with a half hour to spare.