December 2003 Archives

Had a few people over tonight to exchange gifts and generally toast in the new year. We all took a picture together and my gift to them was to get them whatever Cafe Press item they wanted with the picture on it. The evening got off to a crash when David, ever so excited, bumped into my brand new Martini set (Taken out of the box 30 minutes before) and managed to knock one of my glasses off the rack and onto the floor. Needless to say, I now have a set of 3 glasses, and I think it set a record for how long I had a gift opened and it broke. A close second was Daniel's planetarium gift to me. The bulb burned out in about 5 minutes after spending almost 45 minutes figuring out how to get it to work. We did have a few mimosas to smooth things over and in the end, we all had a great time.

Monday night, Kobe Bryant, his wife and child were whisked onto the Pooh ride near closing. Thankfully, we managed not to pull a Heffner and break the ride down. (Although we should call it a Grammer since Kelsey pulled a Heffner months before.) He and his wife seemed nice and their baby, cute as a button, was asleep.

So ends 2003. Good riddance I say! Bring on '04. I am not sure how I will be celebrating the new year tonight. I am envisioning a low-key affair. I'll let you know how it turned out next year.

Been working like crazy out at the park this week. Its that heart warming time of year when 60,000 people a day come out to the park. In the middle of it all, celebrities have been dropping into the Many Adventures like an old 70's variety show. In the past week, Hugh Heffner and some bunnies, Cindy Crawford, and Melissa Joan Hart have all stopped by the ride. Heff was my personal favorite because the ride broke down while he was on it and yours truly was the lead at the time so I had to evacuate them. Highlight of the whole adventure? When I explained that you can see the outline of Pooh's head on his pillow near the end of the ride in the birthday party scene one playmate turned to me and said "Oohh, he's a dirty bear!" I nearly fell over from laughter. Heff was pretty cool as well. I do wish company policy allowed for photos with action figures since it would have been cool to get a Heff/Gorn pic.

Kevin stopped by the day after Christmas and to celebrate the family headed over to the Woods and get some cheese butter. We ate relatively early (like 3pm or so) and it through all of our clocks off. The whole night we were wondering what time it was and being amazed how early it was. We also had a chance to check out some classic family 8mm and Super 8 home movies. It might just be me, but air shows just don't translate well without the audio.

This is the last busy week at the park for awhile - I am scheduled 42 hours, but get a nice 3 day weekend at the end of it. From there, its back to the 26 hours a week schedule and the nice 17k days at the park.

As for Christmas, it was a low-key affair this year. I worked both Christmas Eve and Day so I didn't see any relatives until after the actual holiday. Lemme tell you, when you are hungry on a holiday like Christmas its near impossible to get something. Thank goodness for my stockpile of frozen pizzas!

2003 has been an interesting year. I certainly hope 2004 is better. Oh, that reminds me, time to change the copyrights!

The traffic to the Gorn site is slowly returning to normal as people move on to other cool sites of the day. The page is still drawing about 3 times as many hits as before and hopefully the people will decide to explore other areas of the site. When I was checking the stats for the site, I discovered that the Charo Discography page was through the roof. So far this month, this page has drawn over 9,000 hits alone. I thought maybe it was being linked on someone's page, but that kind of traffic is way over what even the Gorn page did back in October. I added Dave's Log file generator to the page and within minutes I had my answer: Google.

A Google Search for "Santa Clause" comes up with the album cover for Charo's "Mamacita, Donde Esta Santa Clause". Since the file name is santaclause.jpg, Google is having a field day with it. It currently shows up as the third item on the page. I bet people are a bit puzzled when they are searching for Santa and find Charo. I suspect interest and traffic will drop sharply after the holidays, but hey, maybe some more people will visit the site.

In shaking news, there was a M6.5 earthquake centered near the central coast city of Cambria near Hearst Castle and Morro Bay. I felt it way down here in Orange County, and a quick IM tree found that Mice felt it in the Bay Area and Susie really felt it in Santa Barbara. Her brother felt it the most since he was in San Luis Obispo. He reported that his refrigerator moved significantly and things were thrown about the apartment. Susie and I were both frustrated when we had to get back to work and not get to spend the whole day following quake coverage. I actually was off to visit the relatives for some early gift swappin' since my grandmother will be out of town on Christmas.

Speaking of which, I still have a ton of shopping to do tomorrow before work. I also want to see Return of the King, since I finished the super-long Extended cut of Two Towers on Sunday. So much to do, so little time!

Yesterday was my first day off since I got back from New York and I used it to sleep in and get some much needed Holiday shopping done. I also managed to watch One Hour Photo with Daniel. I also managed to get most of my holiday cards out in the mail on Wednesday, save for my two overseas cards which must be taken into the Post Office. The good thing is that both people are away for the holidays and will get there cards when they get home.

My first two lead shifts were pretty interesting. I like being the night lead better so far. Just so much to do when you open the attraction and then the adjustments you have to make when people are late or call in sick. Most of these issues are dealt with by the time the night lead starts, but occasionally it can be hectic as well. Next week I have two long night lead shifts which should be fun. I also get to train this weekend - something I have not done in over a month. Right now, my schedule is pretty optimal - a little bit of everything. The only improvement is if there was another attraction to give me a nice once in a while break from the Pooh ride. But I am not complaining!

I was disappointed to hear that they have already selected the main lead for the new Buzz attraction heading for Tomorrowland. I was hoping that they would wait a year or so. That way, I would have a shot at it. Right now, I am just focused on learning more about being a lead so I can get good at it and not be so harried when things go awry.

Mice posted on his site that he got a nice new CRV. Looks like the EX model with the tinted windows. It has two things I wish mine had - the tinted windows and the All-Wheel Drive. Maybe on my next one!

I had heard good things about this movie, so I jumped at the chance to watch it. I was a bit perturbed that Blockbuster only rented the full screen version of the movie, but since it wasn't a big epic, I decided to go ahead and rent it.

The story is basically of Sy the Photo Guy (Robin Williams) at the local Save Mart store who has a rather unhealthy interest in some of his customers. One particular family is the Yorkins - a young couple with a nine year old child. Sy has seen the youngster grow up in his pictures.

One Hour Photo is very creepy and makes me glad that all my photos are digital. Robin Williams does a fantastic job in a dramatic role and all of the supporting cast compliment each other. The music here has just the right amount of creepiness which, when combined with the pacing of Director Mark Romanek, keep you on the edge of your seat.

It's a good movie to watch on a cold night bundled up on the couch with all the lights off.

Offical Site

Since my return from New York, it has been a whirlwind week. I have managed to take some classes and get trained as a lead at the Pooh Ride. The toughest stretch was Thursday to Sunday. I worked until 7pm on Thursday, went to work at HP Core on Friday morning at 7am, left there around 1 and went to work at Disney at 4pm. I shadowed from 4-1:15am and then turned around and went back to work at 7am for another 9 hours. I went home and crashed, but had to be back at work early in the morning on Sunday. Last night was wonderful, I got to kick back and relax and snooze. Today, I don't have to be back until 4pm so I have been sleeping in and writing Holiday cards.

Tonight is my first solo shift as the lead at the attraction. I have learned a lot in the last three days about people and making the transition from co-worker to supervisor. It is not the easiest thing in the world, and I think I will need a bit more time to get it right.

My schedule for next week is nice because I am off Friday and Saturday - traditionally the two busiest days of the year (Dec 26 and Dec 27). I hope I have a similar schedule for New Year's Eve. Thanks to my seniority, I am pretty sure I will be hosting in the New Year at the Park again this year.

The last day of New York was the best. Despite my laziness in the morning, we managed to make it to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty from afar. When we arrived I immediately wished we had gotten up early. The weather was beautiful - clear blue skies with only a blast of cold air here and there. We managed to get some good shots and we got to see where the Staten Island ferry accident occurred (it was right near the subway station). After walking around for a bit, we headed to Central Park to walk around. Upon reflection, this was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. I think there must have been some magic in the air cuz I didn't mind traipsing through the snow and admiring the ice skaters.

From there, it was back to the hotel and then off to the airport. JFK was packed due to the massive amounts of people who were stuck all weekend due to the snow. Charlie the driver managed to get me there in one piece despite huge traffic jams and accidents in the airport. When we pulled up I noticed there was a massive line in the terminal. I went to the electronic kiosk to get my boarding pass and it was there that I was informed that the long line was to get my checked luggage x-rayed. I couldn't believe it. After an hour or so, I managed to get my bag checked, but only after they let the people from my flight cut to the front (I was still two switchbacks away). When they asked for people from my flight, it was almost like a stampede.

I managed to make it onto the flight with little hassle, and despite an hour delay leaving the airport (they had to get all those last minute bags on board), the flight went fairly smoothly. I wished I would have slept more so it would have gone faster, but overall, it wasn't that bad. I need to remember to bring headphones on the flight - it was pretty dull without them. Daniel was there at the airport to pick me up, and he took me home.

It was a fun trip, my only regrets is that we didn't make it to New Jersey and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Hopefully the next time I am in the area, the weather will be a bit better, but it is kind of nice to tell people I was in the worse Nor'Easter in early December on record.

I have tons to do at work this week, so it might be a bit before I can get more photos online. In the meantime, enjoy the Gorn photos.

I'm sitting in the Internet Salon at the Hotel Beacon in NYC as I type this reflecting on the trip so far. We got off to a whirlwind start with a trip to see a taping of "The View" which, despite the lines getting in, was a lot of fun. I even got a good shot of the Gorn with the cast in the background. I also managed to get a nice close-up shot with me, the Gorn and Robert Verdi of Discovery's Surprise by Design. We then headed over to see the Christmas show over at Radio City Music Hall. Overall, it was a good show, but dang, them Rockettes sure know how to get a crowd going. I thought there were only 10 or so, but there were 36! Afterwards, we got over to Rockefeller Center and strolled down 5th Ave. We then got word of the immanent snow so we wanted to get an early start on Friday.

Friday rolled around and we were at the Empire State Building at 10 am. The Accuweather (tm) forecast said snow by 2 and when we were in line they said that visibility at the top was enough to see the Statue of Liberty. Sadly, by the time we got to the top, it was snowing and COLD. Ever the troopers, we kept going as long as we could making our way down to the WTC site and then over to the United Nations. I must say the slog to the UN was tough since it was blowing snow (4-6 inches by the time we got to the UN), but it was very educational and worth it. We then found a shortcut back to the Grand Central Station and then made our way back to the hotel.

Today, the snow was worse, but that didn't stop us from getting to Macy's at Herald Square (the one featured in the classic "Miracle on 34th Street") and getting a picture of the Gorn with Santa. We then went to the CBS Store after some pizza. I had hoped the CBS store would have the Amazing Race poster they had on the outside but no luck, they had less merchandise than the one at Television City in LA. We then headed back to the hotel, only venturing out for food.

I have been nagged by a cold on the trip, but have tried to keep my spirits up. Still might venture out tonight to see the nightlife since the snow has stopped coming down (17 inches in Central Park - a few blocks from where we are).

All in all, its been a good trip, despite the lack of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. If I feel up to it, I am going to try and get up early tomorrow and go down to see if I can get a pic of it. I am a bit worried about the airport situation since many flights were delayed the past two days, hopefully it won't be too much of a mess when I get there tomorrow night.

A bit busy right now. After coming back from the quickie trip to Phoenix, tomorrow I am off to New York City. Before I can get there, tonight is the annual private Disney Holiday Party at the park. Unlike years past where I have worked the event, this year I will actually be going as a guest. Amanda is going to tag along and we are going to meet up with a bunch of people from the Pooh ride - it should be a blast.

I am looking forward to visiting New York - it has been awhile since I traveled somewhere new and I hope to get some excellent Gorn shots. On my list of places to visit are:

Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
Rockerfeller Center
Times Square
WTC site
A quick stop in New Jersey
A few museums TBD
Radio City Music Hall (going to see the Rockettes on Thurs!)
A taping of "The View" (Gorn with Barbara Walters??)
and a few other sites TBD

I am not sure if I will make it to a cyber cafe while I am there to post an update, but I get back on Sunday and I don't work on Monday so I should be able to get some pictures up then. Also, with my new 512MB CF card I now have over 1GB of camera media so I will be leaving the laptop at home. Oh, that reminds me, I will try and keep a journal while I am there. I am still mad that my Europe 2002 journal has gone missing (big plans in limbo). Heck, if I get motivated I might just finish that redesign of the Trip Diaries.