December 2001 Archives

Well it is that time of the year again. I have finally gone through the entire site and replaced all the copyrights with an SSI so I don't have to update each page every year. Looking at some of the photo galleries, I realized that most of the photo detail pages don't have copyrights. I decided "uh that's ok!" because it will be a daunting task to fix all of them. Sharp observers will also notice that I changed the title of the page from Club Josh 2001 to Club Josh 2002. A bit early, but I figured since I had some time, I'd go ahead and do it.


I am still working on a new section of the site that I still hope to have up sometime in the first week of January. I'll give you all a hint - it is probably nothing that very many people will be interested in, but its something that I think will compliment the site very well.


After having yesterday off, I am starting a period of 9 days in a row working at Disneyland. It is the busiest time of the year - so if you are planning to get out to the parks be sure to bring lots of patience.

It's Christmas time and in the Southland it must mean temperatures in the 70's. Things have been crazy at DL, it is amazing how much work goes into such a low paying job. I did discover a secret though. If Christmas Eve is a weekday than the resort is not as crowded as it is on weekends and the days after Christmas. A little tip if you are planning on stopping by next Holiday season.


I finished up the last bit of wrapping and buying last night. If it wasn't for all the frantic, panicked people at Sav-On last night and the holiday decorations around town, I would have a hard time believing it was Christmas. I dunno - I think because of my busy schedule things have just flown by me.


I did have a great weekend visiting the family. Mom, Gary, and Wesley came over to spend the weekend. We spent Saturday trying to finish up the shopping and Sunday we all went to Disneyland with my brother and his family. I got there at 10am and then had to work at 4pm until closing so it was a very long day. I always enjoy going with my nieces and nephews - it adds an extra touch that Roger and I rarely get when we go by ourselves.


I hope everyone gets what they wish for, and for those who didn't - go out and buy it tomorrow! My wish: I get a nice call from the City of Glendale.

So far this year, Club Josh has been visited by people surfing from the following countries in order of largest number of visitors to smallest:


Canada (.ca)

United Kingdom (.uk)

United States (.us)

Australia (.au)

France (.fr)

Germany (.de)

Netherlands (.nl)

Belgium (.be)

Spain (.es)

New Zealand (.nz)

Sweden (.se)

Finland (.fi)

Brazil (.br)

Denmark (.dk)

Japan (.jp)

Italy (.it)

Greece (.gr)

Mexico (.mx)

Saudi Arabia (.sa)

Norway (.no)

Switzerland (.ch)

Austria (.at)

Argentina (.ar)

Poland (.pl)

Portugal (.pt)

Ireland (.ie)

Singapore (.sg)

Taiwan (.tw)

Israel (.il)

Chile (.cl)

Hungary (.hu)

Iceland (.is)

South Africa (.za)

Czech Republic (.cz)

Russian Federation (.ru)

Slovenia (.si)

Malaysia (.my)

Croatia/Hrvatska (.hr)

Hong Kong (.hk)

Slovakia (.sk)

Romania (.ro)

United Arab Emirates (.ae)

Cyprus (.cy)

India (.in)

Estonia (.ee)

Lithuania (.lt)

Cocos (Keeling) Islands (.cc)

Indonesia (.id)

Thailand (.th)

Latvia (.lv)

Mauritius (.mu)

Turkey (.tr)

Bermuda (.bm)

Columbia (.co)

Costa Rica (.cr)

Ecuador (.ec)

Peru (.pe)

Trinidad and Tobago (.tt)

Yugoslavia (.yu)

Bulgaria (.bg)

Dominican Republic (.do)

Gibraltar (.gi)

Korea, Republic of (.kr)

Lebanon (.lb)

Luxembourg (.lu)

Malta (.mt)

Nepal (.np)

New Calendonia (.nc)

Pakistan (.pk)

Philippines (.ph)

Samoa (.ws)

Ukraine (.ua)

Uruguay (.uy)

Does Charo really translate in Samoa? or Bulgaria? or even Pakistan for that matter...

One of the links on Mike Seery's web site is to the now-defunct Highway 17 Page of Shame. It is no longer around which in itself is a shame. The page documented really bad drivers on Highway 17 through the Santa Cruz mountains that this guy would encounter during his commute. Today, it occurred to me that if I started an I-5 Page of Shame that I would put CalTrans on it. You see, in their infinite wisdom, they have been closing 2 lanes of a three lane freeway, arguably one of the most congested in the state, in the middle of the day - tying up traffic for miles. Why they don't do it in the middle of the night like the other lane closures I'll never know.


I applied for two positions at the City of Glendale today. Here's hopin' that it leads to something good.


I was due to have a good day at DL since the last few days have been really tough - overdue lunches and breaks combined with large crowds. Today, I was rewarded - one of the cast members who works on both my attraction and the Haunted Mansion gave a small group a walk through and I was one of the lucky few. I won't go into details (after all I wouldn't want to upset my new best friend Paul Pressler - did I mention I like the tickets?), but it was really, really cool.

Wednesday, Paul was kind enough to send me 2 free tickets to either Disneyland, CA Adventure, Disneyland Paris or to use as park hoppers at Walt Disney World. The best part, is that these tickets do not expire until 2003. It was something out of the blue that I forgot was a perk of the job, but I was feeling kinda down that day and it picked me right up.


More apartment hunting is in store this weekend. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about finding a place soon. Somedays I just want to throw everything out and start over. Hmm, on second thought, everything but the electronics. OK and maybe the bed. Come to think of it, I need the sofa or the futon as well.


I need to sit down and get cracking on some web updates for January. 2002 is breathing down my neck - time to make all the copyrights SSI's.


The Amazing Race ended last night. I have been glued to that show since it started back in September. Of course, I thought I'd have a real job before it ended, but oh well. I was happy that Rob and Brennan won, but I think if Frank and Margarita would have won that would be OK too. I enjoyed every episode and can't wait for the next one when it comes on in the summer. I think Amazing Race was far better than Survivor has been this season. I hope Survivor finishes strong over the next several weeks. Did I mention I wanted a TiVo?

I have the scanner blues. Lemme 'splain. I have a 3 year old SCSI scanner from Umax. It came with a SCSI card and with my old machine it was fine and dandy. Sadly, the new computer only has PCI slots and therefore the old SCSI card will not work. So I went off to Fry's to get a new one. Now, I didn't want to spend a mint on a SCSI card since scanners are not very expensive anymore. So after getting my card and installing into the machine and loading the drivers, I realize that I am a complete moron. I bought a SCSI-2 card and my scanner is loverly old SCSI-1. Nuts. So off I go back to Fry's to wait in the third longest line in the universe (theme parks excluded). After searching and searching, I did find a SCSI-1 card, but it was $80. Just a few feet away I saw the latest scanner from UMAX at $65. I really didn't feel like getting a new scanner, so I had my money credited to my card and came home to surf the web to try and find a cheaper card. Well, at this point, a new scanner is looking good. It is such a waste when you think about it. New products are cheaper than getting parts for old outdated ones.


In other electronics news, my Sony 8mm camcorder that I won last year at the company Holiday party has decided to stop playing tapes and eating anything that comes near it. It worked fine a few days ago then just went kaput. I hope this doesn't turn out to be another "It will be cheaper to buy a new one than fix it" since this camcorder is just about a year old. My 14 year old RCA VHS camcorder runs just fine thank you (though it does need a new battery).


Oh and in case you were wondering, the other long lines are the DMV and the bank. Sheesh how long does a person have to stand in line to get a roll of quarters?

Another couple of late shifts at DL for private parties. The most memorable moments from the first night occurred in the middle of my rendition of "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from Mary Poppins when I got smacked in the foot by a Snow White car. Thankfully, I am Ok, just a nasty scrape on the side of my foot. Last night's highlight was the swapping of DL ghost stories. At Walt's Birthday on Wednesday, I was disappointed that they ran out of cake, but I was happy to snag an awesome poster that is a collage of pictures of Walt around Disneyland. It will make a nice addition to the group of Disney-related posters that are awaiting proper treatment to be hung up. Hopefully, after we move I'll hang 'em up.


I finally went out and got a new SCSI card for the new computer so I can hook up the scanner. With that, the new machine is ready to go and I can go ahead and try and purge the old machine. I want to re-format the drive and reload Win 98, but with a temperamental Floppy Disc controller it will not be easy.


Susie has reminded me that I am mondo-remiss in putting Wendy's wedding photos online. I will try and get them up soon. (As soon as she develops her film). I need to bring back the Friends and Family section, I think the party pics in the Charo section deserve there own category now, plus it gives me a place to post pics that are not really Gorn or Party pics that are of general interest to my friends. Oh but the pain of moving all those folders into a new directory. I will probably wimp out and just leave them there, but link them from a different page - that way I can keep all that search engine traffic. Speaking of SE's, Yahoo has overtaken Google as the top referrer on my site thanks to some boffo positioning when you search for "Charo".

It seems weird that people are celebrating the birth of someone who has been dead for 35 years, but The Disney Company is throwing a party today, and I intend to be there. I especially want to see what they are serving in the restaurants. It seems they are serving Walt's favorite foods in some of them. So far, I know Chili in a bread bowl and Lemonade is one of the meals (oh yes and with a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Bar).


A lot of people ask what Disneyland and the rest of the company would be like if Walt were around. I think its kind of far-fetched to think he would have lived to be 100. However, I'd give him those extra 20 years he told Ron Miller that he needed. So that would put him into the mid-80's. So that means no Eisner-Wells-Katzenberg renaissance. However, I think many of his signature attractions would have been altered or removed. I don't think Walt ever wanted his park to be a museum. So I think attractions like the Tiki Room and Small World would have evolved and not stayed the same. I think Discovery Bay and Big Thunder Mesa projects would have been built either at DL or at WDW.


It is all speculation, but I think if Walt did have those extra 20 years or so he could build EPCOT the way he wanted, he would have left the company in a state so that it would not have floundered after his and Roy's death. But for all I know, it might have just pushed it off until the mid '90s. Well, enough theorizing - I am off to get some cake.


For more information on Walt, I suggest you take a look at the Walt Disney Family Museum at www.waltdisney.org