February 2002 Archives

Things are heating up in the job front. They have gone from stone cold to mild warmth. I have received several calls from recruiters in the last few days, and have even heard back on the job I applied for way back in January. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope that the next few weeks will be fruitful.

Other than that, things are still rolling along. After a surprisingly busy week last week at the resort, things have quieted down to their off season levels again. It is so much easier to run the attractions when there are less than a billion people in line.

Looks like there is a chance for me to see Charo in her new show in Las Vegas next month. If all goes well, look for some pictures towards the end of the month from the new show. In other site news, I finally decided on a style for the Club House index page and it should be going up soon.

Back from a brief trip up to Northern California. A fun time was had by all at the 11th Annual A-V Day. Susie did notice that the mood seemed to be a lot less bitter than in year's past, mainly due to the abundance of couples and children. I told her that bitterness is still there, it has just evolved. She is convinced that there needs to be a return to the roots of the party with singles-only, invites all over the UC campus, and holding the party on Valentine's Day. We'll see what she conjures up next year.

We did resolve to finally do something about the June party. See, my friends and I have always had 2 major parties four months apart - my birthday, and A-V Day. We have always wanted to have a party in June which would be four months from both of those parties. So this year we are going to give it a go and see if we can get a party going in Santa Barbara in June for a combo 'Chaos Solstice and Birthday Bash'.

As we always do in the car on the road trips (other than doing dramatic readings from certain magazines) we try and think of themes for the upcoming b-day bash. The front runner so far this year is "Night of 1,000 Stars". We still have 8 months, but its never to early to start planning.

It has been a pretty routine week around here at Club Josh, but some exciting things - OK, maybe not that exciting - have been going on. This week, I did a quickie redesign of the Charo home page. I decided to quickly go through and change it to a white background so I can put the header up that the Trip Diaries and Gorn pages already have. Since Charo is the highest trafficked section of the site, I figured I might get some more traffic to the other sections. The only loss was that of the animated "Cuchi-Cuchi" gif file. I still have problems with PhotoShop 6 and animated gifs, and I wasn't in the mood to try and figure it out. So the gif is gone for now, and hopefully it will be back soon.

At Disneyland, my most exciting moment was yesterday, when a young kid decided that his dad had spun a teacup too fast and left a trail of vomit from the center of the turntable to the exit gate where he finished. I felt awful for the kid, I am sure he was embarrassed, and it turned my stomach for the rest of the day just thinking about it. It took about 30 minutes for custodial to get it all mopped up, and by then I was at Alice in Wonderland. They did flip the wall in Fantasyland so when I get back next week, I get to work my favorite ride, Peter Pan, and my nemesis, Mr. Toad. Toad and I were in synch over the holidays, so hopefully it won't take too long to get back into the rhythm. thankfully, It won't be too busy when I get back - unlike this weekend which is sure to be packed.

Why and How do people lose shoes on the freeway???

Pics and comments from the 11th Annual Anti-Valentine's Day taking place this weekend up in Northern California should be up sometime Monday barring laziness and unexpected delays.

I had a chance to see the movie Amelie. I must admit I had never heard of the movie until a few weeks ago when they started to run a barrage of ads on TV and Radio - presumably for the thousands of Oscar voters who will be voting in the coming months. I wish I was a member of the Academy so I could vote, but mainly so I can get into movies for free.

The movie was really good - much better than expected, and surprisingly as good as the ads made it out to be (must be a first somewhere). The story follows a Amelie who lives in the Montmarte section of Paris and her adventures in trying to improve people's lives. Audrey Tautou is great as are all the actors. I especially liked the sequence with the lawn gnome who travels the world - reminds me of the Gorn.

Celebrity sighting of the week: A special double dose: Mandy Moore and Elijah Wood at Here in West Hollywood. They were having a good old time chatting together and with their friends.

Man have the Daily Updates slowed down. In January 2001, there were 20 updates while in 2002, there were only 8. I have noticed one thing remains consistent - the less I am at work, the busier I get. Go figure.

If it is the beginning of February, that means that Anti-Valentine's Day is just around the corner. You can browse previous parties on the Charo Party Pics page (soon to be relocated to the Club House). This year, Wendy and Mice are gonna host it up in San Jose and it should be a blast.

It's Mandel's Birthday, and since he is a game show fan, I sat down to watch the 30th anniversary special of the Price is Right. I was a bit disappointed with the show to be honest. I expected the tuxedos and a few more clips from the past. Even the prizes really were not that much higher than what is on the daytime show these days. But perhaps that is the greatest tribute to an original show - not changing it too much. Another question I had - did they have a huge truck that brought the doors, the wheel and the rest of the set from CBS to the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas?

Crazy has been the norm at DL these days. Rides going up and down faster than a 6 year old at the controls of a Dumbo. Personally, I am looking forward to the return of Mr. Toad and Peter Pan. As much as I get ulcers from running the rides, I think after the Christmas holiday I got the rhythm down and they provided a nice break from the Route 1 rides that can be a bit soul draining.

A nice surprise last night. I attended "Fantasyland - The Musical", a tribute to some of the rides by our managers and leads. Despite the failure of the CD audio and the delays, the show actually was hilarious. To top it off, I was recognized by the managers and leads as a "Classic All-Star". It felt good to be recognized, and I am sure that given my luck, the very next ride I run will most certainly break down.