September 2002 Archives

I finally broke down and as an early birthday present to myself (halvsies with Roger), we welcomed a TiVo to our household. The jury is still out, but first impressions are very favorable. I think the hype is a little overplayed, but it does have cool features like one click Season Pass which will record all the Amazing Race and Survivor episodes on TV. I also like the Wish List feature which allows me to search for programs with George Kennedy or any other actor, One glaring omission? Charo is not included in the list.

Some minuses to note: Picture quality isn't the best in the world - even at Best Quality. I tested the lower qualities on an episode of The Price is Right, and the pixellation was like watching those old MPEG-1 videos a few years back. Another problem? Like Wendy mentioned with her TiVo, it takes over the TV. As a result, no more picture-in-picture (a feature I have grown to love). However, there is a P-I-P button on the TiVo remote for future use, so maybe they have something in mind. Besides, the Guide replaces channel surfing anyhow. Since I do not have Digital Cable, I really enjoy the guide and compared to the guide on my Mom's Digital Cable, I prefer the TiVo's. Another minus is the lack of ability to use TiVo functions while it is recording. Thankfully, you can put the unit in Standby mode and it still works its magic and allows you to watch what you want. In fact, with a little experimenting, I think I might be able to use the VCR while the TiVo is in Tivoland working its magic.

I do love the ability to pause live television and having recorded programs available just two buttons away. Overall, I recommend getting a TiVo, though I am not sure if I'd get the lifetime plan - it works out to about two plus years of service, and by then I'm sure they will have a v3 of the technology rendering your box moot. Me? I opted for the month to month plan to save money up front. Hopefully, I will be able to convert at a later date.

Currently Season-Passed on my TiVo:
Enterprise
Survivor: Thailand
The Amazing Race 3
Charmed (for Roger)

also being recorded:
Insomniac with Dave Attell
Taxicab Confessions

What's on your TiVo?

So Tuesday night at Target of all places, I picked up a pair of shoes. Now mind you, I don't usually buy shoes at Target, but this was a deal not to pass up. These shoes are identical to the pair of Sketchers that I have almost completely worn out working at the park. I tried them on and they seemed comfortable. I was even more thrilled when they rang up at $17.99. It seemed to be such a bargain compared to the $50 for the Sketchers.

Then of course, I actually wore the shoes for an eight hour shift. Big mistake. I now have a spot on my right heel that looks like raw meat. And man does it smart. I am not sure what the lesson is here. It's either a) Don't wear new shoes to an eight hour shift, b) Don't buy $17.99 shoes, c) Stick with Sketchers, d) Wear thicker socks, or e) Some bizarre combination of the above. In the meantime, I think I will give the shoes one more day at the park. I have a four hour shift tomorrow, and if they still bug, I'll go out and get me some Sketchers for work and keep these for job interviews, weddings, and any other dressy event.

After limping back to my car last night and changing shoes, I went off to Downtown Disney (Uptown Fun!) to meet up with some Matterhorn folks to go see "Barbershop". I guess I thought it was going to be a lot funnier than it turned out to be. It was good, but I didn't think it was #1 for two weeks at the box office good. I guess not much else is playing worth seeing.

One final DVD note: I picked up Monsters, Inc. - I haven't watched the movie part of the DVD yet, but after sorting through some of the extra features, I like it already.

I downloaded Trillian thanks to Cooper's suggestion. I am way behind on this trend, but for those of you even further behind me, Trillian is a program that allows users to connect to AOL IM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, IRC, and ICQ all in one convenient interface. It also features cool customizable skins a la Winamp. So far I am still figuring it out, but I actually like it better than the new release of AIM messenger. I only use the program for AOL and Yahoo. I used to use ICQ back in the UCD days, but I have no idea what my old account was and since I don't know many who only have ICQ and not AOL, I probably won't re-sign up.

I turn 30 next month, and in preparation I'm working on a 30th Anniversary page for Club Josh. Stay tuned for more info!

Last night, the managers of the resort held an awards ceremony for departments of the resort at the Disneyland Hotel. It was dubbed the "Mousecars" since people and attractions and other business units all earned little Mickey statues (and some no so little). One of my friends won a Gold Mickey for his excellence in the four keys (Show, Safety, Courtesy, Efficiency) - Go Dang Go!

The best part of the evening was socializing with fellow cast members, many of whom I hadn't seen since the poor ol' Matterhorn was shuttered. If you get a chance to walk by it at the park, be sure to look for the gaping wholes in the rockwork facing Alice in Wonderland. At the reception after the show, Tiffany put it best: "You think you know a lot of people at Disneyland until you get here and realize you don't know that many". Overall, it was a good night out.

Another cool side effect: I'm getting the word out on the site to my fellow CMs and thanks to a link on a CM info site, I have been getting some good feedback. To all of you who are coming here for the first time, I hope you enjoy it and come back again!

My favorite source of news, CNN has once again redesigned their site. The last time was on July 16, 2001 and as I noted then, I think it is a subtle improvement. I like redesigns that don't go whole-hog, that way you don't alienate your users. I think my redesigned Daily Update archives were a big change, but the structure essentially stayed the same while adding cool new features.

I like the way CNN has moved the sub section stories up on their web site, eliminating the special promo boxes that used to separate top stories from the other articles. Some of their font choices are a bit off (i.e. where they have links to the entire page of technology news, etc.). The final change? I would have added a black border to the main image (something I want to do with the image on the Club Josh homepage). Of course that is more work for the page updater since they have to manually add it if the photo links.

Since fall is redesign season, I suspect more popular sites to go under the knife in the next few months.

My first reaction to the new land at Disney's California Adventure was not so good. I liked the lavish theming and the attention to detail in the area, I think Disney did a great job in this area. My big beefs involved the rides. It seemed that one of them was half finished, another was slowed down too much, one was confusing, and the other was too short. But after multiple rides and watching the kiddies, I gradually warmed up to the place.

The best ride in the area is Heimlich's Chew-Chew Train. I wish that it was another 30 seconds or so longer, and that it had more smells. Right now, you smell watermelon and circus cookies when you pass by, but no apple or candy corn smells. Maybe that is part of the expansion plans, who knows. My other favorite ride was Flik's Flyers. It is a simple off the shelf ride that has been well themed. It also is a bit on the short side, but again is perfect for the kiddies. It also gives the best overview of the Fun Fair from the air.

Francis' Ladybug Boogie was the one ride that I had no idea what it was before I went, and it took three rides on the thing before I finally asked a cast member how to get it to work. It is a tilt-a-whirl and you need to balance the weight in the car to get it to spin, despite the teacup-looking wheel in the middle. The Tuck and Roll Bumper cars were fun, but they went so slow (probably for insurance reasons) that it was difficult to hit anyone. It reminded me of those vibrating tables with the football players.

I'll post some pictures eventually in the DCA Trip Diaries page. I was surprised just how crowded Disneyland was on Saturday and Sunday - it was a bit of a shock after the slowness of the week. So remember it is still off-season, but the people do show up on the weekends.

You probably could have fired a canon down Main Street USA the past few days and not hit a single person. Attendance the last two days has been way down with most rides being walk ons. It can get a bit boring cycling Pinocchio cars over and over with no guests, but I look at it as a nice break from the crush of summer.

Tomorrow, I am attending the first cast preview of the new Flick's Fun Fair at California Adventure. They have renamed the Bountiful Valley Farm area "a bugs land" and added some new signage. Will this persuade more families to venture to DCA? Maybe. Personally, I think DCA will flounder for another year or so, then by the time the 50th anniversary of DL rolls around, Tower of Terror will open and some other attractions will be removed or revamped.

What a strange year it has been. On September 10, 2001 the most important thing that was on my mind was that ESPN had way too many pop-up ads. I was also still chuckling over the movie "Rat Race" which I had just seen. Five days earlier, I was hired by Disney to start on Oct. 6. I was nervous about my tryout for "The Weakest Link" to be held on September 11, and I was looking forward to a day at the LA County Fair. In the back of my mind, I was thinking of getting into the Tour Guide business. Something I think I would be good at, plus a great way to travel around the world. All that would change the following morning.

Susie rang the phone around 6 or 7 in the morning. I can always count on a call from her when something like an earthquake happens. I remember waking up to the phone and hearing that the TV was on. Roger occasionally will have the TV on in the morning, but something was amiss. I stumbled out of bed and into the horror of what we all witnessed that day. I think the first tower had already collapsed and the second one was still there.

I look back at that day and some of the entries that followed. I watched TV a lot (well being unemployed there was not much else to do). At the time, I didn't think it affected me more than any other disaster normally does, but looking back I realize it was different. I didn't sleep well for months. My whole plan of getting into the tourism industry was shot. Even a backup plan working for an airline seemed far out of reach. A year later, we still haven't moved. I have only been on a plane once since that fateful day - and that was to interview for Yahoo. My annual birthday party almost didn't happen, more than a month later, not many people were in the partying mood. It wasn't until mid January, that things slowly started to return to normal.

So here it is a year later. I feel like a whole year has just flitted by. I find myself in basically the same position as I was last year - still looking for a new apartment and a better job. Next month, I will turn 30, and it is my goal to make next year more productive (really not that hard when you think of it). I also am going to work on my relationships. I think every level of relationship in my life has suffered the last year, and I resolve to make it up to everyone.

As you remember September 11, think of all the people who lost their lives and how it has changed or not changed your way of life. Don't dwell on the negative, but use this event and create positive from it.

9-11-2001

Inspired by the return of a classic favorite, Roger and I headed out to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Now, I am not a big aquarium fan to begin with, but compared to the excellent Monterey Bay Aquarium, the A of P just isn't top-notch. Not that they don't try mind you. The volunteers were doing there best to the scattered crowd. One thing that A of P does that Monterey does not is give out Fish Finders to the crowd so you can identify what the heck is in the tank. A of P still has room for more exhibits which will add to the overall experience, however their latest addition is just a joke.

The so-called "Shark Lagoon" is nothing more than a smallish pool that 6 or so sharks swim around with some Rays. There is an adjacent area where you can touch some non-lethal sharks (using the patented "two fingers" method). This part of the Aquarium was a big disappointment. Another beef with the A of P was that the placards next to the tanks which had interesting (or not-so-interesting facts) were difficult to read. This was due to the low-light conditions which aid in seeing the occupants of the tanks, but rendering it near-impossible to clearly see the signs. I suggest some sort of mini led light for each sign. The lorikeet forest was also nothing more than a smallish aviary where birds can swoop down and poop on you. Thankfully, most of the fish exhibits were quite good. I think they need to work on adding the two rooms on the first floor before adding any other outside makeshift exhibits.

Today was spent with Granny and Jerri up in Santa Barbara. One of my favorite stores there is the "As Seen On TV" store which features just about anything you ever wanted from those ads. Jerri claims that most of the stuff is also available on QVC and that it was like walking into a QVC store. State Street still has some SB-unique stores and t thankfully has not been completely overrun with Mall stores.

It's the first Jarre webcast since the failed one New Year's eve 2000/2001. This is the Aero concert from a windmill park in Denmark. The concert feed is working slightly better than the Vizitors concert, but still not as good as the one at the Pyramids in Egypt titled "The Twelve Dreams of the Sun". I can hear the live audio stream and I can watch the one camera angle, but I can not see the live feed for TV2. Oh well something is better than nothing. Right now, they are playing a new version of one of my all time favorites, "Chronologie 6".

As with the Twelve Dreams concert, I hope someone comes up with some MP3s or a capture of the video from TV so that I can enjoy it on CD.

You can see the official Aero concert site here

UPDATE: That's more like it. Around Oxygene 2, they finally started the broadcast of the real concert footage. The Windows Media feed is slower and lagging behind the far superior Real Media feed which hasn't skipped or timed out yet. The audio only feed is still better quality, but I'm sticking with the Real Media for the overall experience (and it's in stereo too).

I have done some minor tweaking to the Daily Update Archives pages, addressing some of the issues that I pointed out earlier. I have added a permalink to each entry, as well as allowed comments on the archive posts. I don't expect too many people out there to be combing through the archives and commenting on them, but you never know. I also added a count next to the months and the categories on the main archive page. It really illuminates how anemic things have become recently.

I did get the mobile site up and running, but have not quite finished the PDA version. It won't take me long since I have been re-reading the MT manual. One of the bigger stumbling blocks remains the stupid calendar. I managed to get the days of the month to come out, but not the titles to be auto-generated. Again, I think it is just a matter of time.

Spent a nice Labor Day relaxing on the beach in Santa Monica. It was the first time I had actually gone to the beach to relax since I had moved down to L.A. over three years ago. I've been on the beach, just not taking-my-shoes-off-and-going-into-the-water on the beach. When I was a wee tyke, one of my fondest memories was hanging out at the beach with my grandma and my cousin and a couple of alternating relatives. Granny always made tuna sandwiches which managed to get a grain of sand here and there in them to make it perfect.

It was a nice contrast to Sunday which was spent trying to coax the Matterhorn into another two days of service. You see, the Matterhorn knows when it is time for a rehab and usually decides it wants to go on rehab a few days early. The result? Breaking down six times for a total of almost 4 hours of the day. I did have fun though and will actually miss the ride until it comes back (currently scheduled for sometime in December, we'll see).

Yesterday was my first day back on the routes in a long time. It also coincided with the start of off-season at the park. It is so nice when the rides have 5 minute lines all day. If it only was about 15 degrees cooler it would have been perfect.

Speaking of heat - it was 115 or so I think in North Hollywood on Sunday, and slightly cooler 102 on Monday. Disneyland was not much cooler. But now they are talking 50% chance of rain by Thursday. Wacky Weather!

As a result of the warm weather a fire has broken out up in Azusa Canyon. Normally fires to me are not that interesting, but this one is near a cabin that used to be owned by my great-grandparents back in the 60's and early 70's. We visited the cabin back when Mom was out here a year or so ago and took some pictures of it. Unfortunately, the pictures were lost when Mom's computer died and was reformatted. So we are hoping the cabin survives the fire so we can get some more pictures, otherwise a family treasure will be gone forever.

Ahh yes and lets not forget the nice M4.6 that struck Yorba Linda yesterday morning - just a nice jolt here in the valley for those of you keeping track.