August 2004 Archives

This summer has been exceptionally slow at the park, but even the moderately busy days are coming to an end. After Labor Day, we go back to the 10-8 schedule, and CMs all over the park go scrambling for hours. The first week of the reduced hours schedule has been good to me (not as many lead shifts as I'd like, but at least the hours are there). Some people are getting only two or three days a week, so I count my blessings.

It has been a big rollercoaster emotional week as well - Wendy and Mice welcomed their baby into the world, and for me I've had a rough patch with one of my friends. Things seem to be beginning to work out, so I'm in wait and see mode.

Did anyone else get confused by the Olympics? I somehow could never figure out when the sports I liked were on TV. I managed to end up watching some of the more obscure sports (cool to see it on TV) like the Mens Long distance Walk. It was truly bizarre to see. I also managed to see the end of the mens 5000m. Long distance races always remind me of the movie "Running Brave" with Robbie Benson about the Native American who ran the 10000m at the 1964 Tokyo games.

I have been working on a web site for Haim for a while now. It is slow going, but I think the light at the end of the tunnel is approaching. Something unexpected that has come out of this is that I found an awesome tool for finding fonts.

I was trying to recreate a logo that the company had used, and I had searched through all of my fonts and hadn't found a match. A quick google later and viola! What the Font! All you need to do is upload a graphic that you have scanned or downloaded, make sure it is big enough and orientated properly, and they give you a list of fonts that match it. Better yet, some of the fonts you can download. Turns out, I had the font I needed all the time, I just needed to italicize it.

Man I wish I had one of these years ago!

I finally got around to updating the captions to my Tokyo Disney Resort photos. Now all I need to do is finish those pesky Animal Kingdom ones from 2003. I'm also in the process of upgrading my four installs of gallery to version 1.4.4. I've finished the Club House and the Disneyland Paris galleries - I just have the Gorn and Trip Diaries galleries to go. So if you happen upon the site and notice the photos are all goofy, now you know why.

V 1.4.4 of Gallery offers some cool new things like the ability to integrate gallery into a php site. If only I was a good php programmer, the galleries would look neat-o.

Also - I have some new photos of the Gorn at the San Diego Wild Animal Park from last week, as well as some more photos of the Mark Twain and Columbia to post. I thought I wouldn't see the Twain for awhile, but lo and behold, I have three Twain shifts on the new schedule. Just when you think you know what scheduling is going to give you, they throw you a curve ball. So keep your eyes posted, I should have them up soon.

I can finally report on what I have been anticipating at work. I applied for a program at the company called Emerging Leaders. Basically, it is a program designed to develop the next generation of leaders at the park by getting them enrolled in classes and preparing you to move up to the next level of management. I went into the process with zero expectations and a bit of hope that I would make it. As the interviews closed in, I let a bit of excitement of the prospects of doing something different get the best of me, so when the interview finally came, I was very nervous.

My initial reaction to my interview was mixed, I knew I was up against some tough, tough competition, even in my interview group (it was a group of 3 vs. 8 interviewers). I was initially supposed to have a 5-1 interview, but at the last minute, they wanted me to participate in a group. Initially, I wanted to blame the switch in the style of interview on my mixed feelings, but others insisted I did well. The only problem is the other two did much better. I think I would have had a better showing if I was with two weaker candidates. Needless to say, I didn't get accepted to move to the next round. Out of 28 or so people who applied only 5 moved to the next interview.

I told myself I wasn't going to be disappointed, but I was. On the other hand, the same day I found out I was going to now get 5 lead shifts a week - something I have never really had since I became a lead last year. I think things happen for a reason, and the managers are giving me a chance to prove what I can do if I am focused on something, instead of going back and forth between locations.

My only concern is boredom. I have been on the Pooh ride now for a year and a half - almost a full year as a lead. At the beginning of the summer I was thankful that I got to learn the Mark Twain and the Columbia to give me something else to do. I always enjoyed working both - tho sometimes those 8 hour Twain shifts were a bit demanding to get through in the polyester. I will just need to make sure that I keep on top of things and keep a high profile so that when the next round happens next year I am the one to beat.

The good news is that now I have the fall free and am not committed to a program. I am in need of some refreshing and probably will take a trip back to a favorite destination of mine. I am really amazed at how cheap airfares are if you catch them at the right time. Last year, I wanted to start a tradition of going on vacation for my birthday as opposed to the opulent parties of the past. This year will be my first official birthday getaway. Now it is just a matter of picking a destination. One of the best things that Nathan does is with his friend Craig. Every year they go on a secret vacation (this year it was Ibiza). They take turns picking a destination and then the other person has no idea where they are going until they are on the plane. I would really like to find someone to do that with - it sounds exciting.

The big celebrity sighting at the park this week was Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones at the Pooh ride. They were there with one of their kids who was celebrating his birthday. All the CMs at the ride mentioned how nice they both were while they were on the ride. When they exited I thanked them both for riding and told them to have a great day. Unfortunately, they were in mid conversation so I doubt they even heard me.

But the truly big news is that William Shatner is going to release a new album. That is right, I said album. It is called "Has Been" and he has put up a website with some samples. Rest assured, I will be getting my copy on Oct 5!

I'm enjoying some rare day shifts lately, and it’s quite nice to get home before it is dark. It is weird seeing all these people out and about though. Don't they have jobs? Wait, they are all getting home. Ok that makes sense.

As I mentioned previously, I am nervously and anxiously awaiting something at work. I really don't want to go into great detail just yet. I would rather wait, as ABBA is so fond of saying, until 'when all is said and done'.

I am really tempted to up and go on another vacation in October. However, if things go well at work, then I need to stick around. Time will tell.

Man I need some new speakers for my computer. Aquarius is cutting in and out bad. Heck, I think I am due - I bought these speakers circa 1996. Off to Fry's tomorrow!!

I have gone and added a bunch of mini-movie reviews for the month of July to reflect the movies I have seen. Check them out by going to the Movie Reviews archive page. I was lazy and just posted them all to July 31.

As some of you might have noticed, I finally changed the main page image. Well, I wanted to post another picture of the Columbia that I took in the Gallery I have for Disneyland NO/CC pics. Well, it turns out some of my galleries are hosed and I needed to upgrade to v1.4.4 to fix it. So after some behind the scenes work, I managed to upgrade the Club House gallery. Why are the Disneyland photos there instead of in the Trip Diaries section? Mainly because I work there and it seems more of a what I do thing rather than a where I visited thing. I did link the galleries in the Trip Diaries redesign.

Let's see: the Disneyland Paris photos, the Gorn photos, and the Trip Diaries photos are all in different installs of gallery. So by the time I finish upgrading I should be good at it. Just remember to CHMOD all directories to 777 before copying the new files. Oh and make sure I re-run the new config file as well as make sure all of the php files get uploaded as ASCII not binary.

Oh and here is the pic I promised to show you:

A few years ago, the Social Security Administration started sending out yearly summaries of how much money you have made and how much you have contributed to Social Security. I think this is pretty cool, but lord knows how much it costs to send it out.

I was fascinated to note that last year I made roughly the same amount as I did in 1997. Man, the more things change the more they stay the same. Interesting to note though I am paying roughly $400 more a month on rent and about $100 more a month on car payments. I never knew I had it so good at UC Davis. Another interesting tidbit is that apparently the money I made as an intern was never reported correctly. I remember there being an issue with the amount I owed on taxes those years because of my W-4s and the fact that I never made over a certain level weekly to get things deducted.

Another sobering fact is that if my annual salary remains constant until I retire, I will get around $1200 a month when I retire in 37 years. One can only imaging how many cans of dog food that will buy to eat. Me thinks I better start setting up some alternate retirement plan.

I had taken a wee bit of a break in posting. Not for any particular reason mind you - it sort of just happened. After writing that things were nice and lazy, it picked up without warning and I felt a bit overwhelmed by it all and just retreated for a bit.

I mentioned before that I was working on a website for Haim, and we finally had a good breakthrough last week and set ourselves in a direction. Haim was also able to get some photos for the site so I will be able to get back and work on it some more.

I really don't want to go into what is going on at work. Rest assured it is all good, and as soon as things develop (or not as the case may be), I will go into all the gory details. Just keep thinking good thoughts.

I have almost written a nice long summation of 5 or so movies I saw in July. I know that loyal followers of my reviews have been neglected, so I will try and catch up soon.