December 2006 Archives
IMG_6391
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.
Looking towards the flames, this is where the accident occurred on I-10 that kept me stopped for 35 minutes. By the time I climbed to the top of the ridge, the flames were out. I didn't want to leave the car when the flames were at their peak since the only thing in my mind was what I was going to grab from the car.
Today I replaced the fuse for my accessory outlet in the CRV. The iPod charger worked just fine, but when I plugged in my phone charger, it blew out again. I think I need to get a new phone charger for the car. I wonder if it has suffered from being stored in the car. After blowing out the second fuse, I replaced it with another and decided not to try and plug the phone charger in again. Gary mentioned that I should try and put a higher fuse in that outlet to see if it would work, but I think I will just stay with the factory specs.
It's almost time for Christmas Eve Dinner and then I am off on the road back to CA. Hopefully there will not be any excitement. I am going to post the photos on Flickr and then send them to the Daily Update for all to see.
This weekend I am in Phoenix for a quick gathering of the family and I almost didn't make it. I knew I should have had my act together and got an earlier start on my trip. I left Friday afternoon around 2:15pm - about an hour or two after what I wanted to leave. The plan was to be ready to go from work and then get on the road. I was really tired and wanted to relax a bit before I took off so hence the delay. I also was a bit worried since I went to see David Lynch's Inland Empire on Thursday night with Daniel and Tara. The movie was three very involved and demanding hours. After the movie I was completely drained and to boot I had to get up in the morning to go to work.
So after much delay, I was finally on my way. Two hours later I had only traveled 56 miles and was in Riverside. I was so tired and miserable I wanted to just go find someplace to take a nap. I pressed on and when I passed the 215 split It was wide open. I drove through Palm Springs and was thinking of making a quick stop to pee and get something to drink, but I was waiting for the last exit before going up the Chiriaco summit. At the last minute, I decided to press on and see if I could make it to Blythe or at least the top of the summit or Desert Center.
About 5 to 10 minutes into my ascent, all traffic suddenly started to slow down to a crawl and then finally came to a complete stop. People started to get out of their cars and just up the road I began to see glowing lights on the side of the hills and then flames began to shoot up in the sky. In a brief moment I considered what I would grab if I had to make a run for it. I discovered my flashlight was dead and even worse - my accessory outlet had shorted out and there was no way for me to re-charge my cell phone in case I needed to call for help. I left my car and scrambled up the side of the freeway to see if I could get a better view and more importantly get a cell phone signal so I could call my mom and let her know that I was delayed.
We stayed put for 35 minutes as first a fire truck and then a tow truck went up the shoulder of the freeway to get to the scene of the accident. When I was on the top of the berm, I could see the traffic backed up all the way to Indio on the freeway. If only I had stopped to pee, then I would have just stayed there until the freeway re-opened. Once they got a lane open, I passed the scene of the accident and it looked like 3 cars had collided and 1 had burst into flames. For the next hour I really was spooked - just a bit of timing here and there and it could have been me.
Luckily, I made it to Phoenix in 7h34m. I figured that if I hadn't been stuck on the freeway and in traffic, I would have made it in just under 6 hours. The first part of the trip really made me want to fly, but when I got into the open road, I remember why I like to just get on the road and go. I get nice quality me-time and its almost like a mini-vacation.
Today was spent picking up a my remaining Christmas presents as well as surprising my grandma with a new larger TV that she can actually watch without her glasses or her hearing aid. We paraded around her senior apartment complex singing carols until we arrived at her apartment. Boy was she surprised! Tomorrow we are having a family dinner since I have to go home tomorrow night and be back at the park on Monday morning.
i feel like I have been washing clothes non-stop for the last week or so since my new washer-dryer was installed. Due to its low capacity, I have had to do numerous loads just to try and cut through the mountain of laundry that I have. I might have to break down and send some to the laundromat - especially since I practically had to wash my flannel sheets separately - one load for the fitted sheet and another for the flat sheet. Of course, now if I have accidental food spillage on myself (a more than routine occurrence) I have a quick fix. One thing that continues to elude me is ironing. I tried it on Tara's iron and ironing board, but I just am not any good at pressing my clothes. I am going to try and send my shirts to a cleaners to see if they can press them.
In the non-laundry front, I have been working lots of hours and it seems like Christmas has snuck up on me again. Since I moved to LA in 1999, I haven't really noticed that Christmas approaches since the decorations are up at the end of October and I keep thinking that it is way far away. Black Friday usually gets me into the shopping mood, but usually for myself. So the first few weeks of December I begin to think I should really get going and start buying gifts, but alas I always wait until the last week.
This is the point when Christmas turns into a chore because I always want to give everyone a thoughtful gift that they will really like and I always struggle. I certainly am glad that they invented Gift Cards. Some people think of these as cop-out gifts, but I actually like them - as long as they are from places I like to shop. Therein lies the challenge - pick stores that people will actually go to and shop.
Sometimes I feel like I have isolated myself from the family. You would think that these are the people closest to me and I should know them the best. However, I think that as we grow older and we drift apart into our own lives that it actually makes them the hardest to buy for since there is a bit of pressure to get them something more personal. Arrg.
How about this? We should all just go buy our own presents and then wrap them. Then we can all sit around the tree and tell stories to our family about why we wanted these items and what they are and how we are going to use them. Wouldn't that be great? That would be a cool combination of getting close to your family as well as getting good presents. Of course it sort of gets rid of the real reason behind Christmas presents - to give a little something to someone out of the goodness of you heart. Perhaps this is where gift cards come in - we all give a list of places we like and then it would be a surprise what stores we get. Maybe we can have a gift card grab bag. Everyone puts in a card and then we take turns pulling them out - hoping we get that Home Depot card and pouting when we pull out the Panda Express card (OK, maybe I would be pouting since I don't care for Panda Express, but you get the point).
The best part about the Very Special Club Josh Christmas Idea(tm) is that if you don't have a lot of money for Christmas this year, than you don't buy yourself a lot of things.
At any rate, I am heading off to Phoenix for Christmas Weekend. I will probably have to work on Christmas Day, but I am holding out for a Miracle on Harbor Blvd and I will be able to get out of my shift and stay an extra day. I decided to drive out because I really am over airports. I flew to Australia, Sacramento, Phoenix, and Alabama already this year and I know how much of a pain Sky Harbor Airport is during the holidays. Plus I am looking forward to some deep thoughts and iPod goodness on the way.
For the first time since 1994, I have a washer and a dryer in my apartment! Yes, not since the brief stay in Chico do I have the luxury of doing my own laundry. I actually don't mind doing my own clothes, but I hate doing it in a in the washers that my apartments have or even doing it myself at a laundromat. Since I moved to Orange County almost 4 years ago, I have been taking my laundry to a fluff and fold service. I love it because all I do is drop it off and it is ready the next day folded and hung up - ready to put away and wear. The problem was that my laundry would stack up and by the time I took it there were two huge bags.
Hopefully, I will get back into the habit of washing clothes regularly. It almost makes me want to wear a costume at work so I don't have to go to costuming so often. At any rate it is going to take me a few days to wash all the clothes I have accumulated (I was at the end of a cycle and ready to go to the fluff and fold service). Also, I think when I want to wash blankets or other large items, I will still need to go there since I have a small capacity stackable unit.
And to think it only took 4 and a half months for them to install the washer dryer.
It has been a rough few weeks since my return from Mobile and Mark's wedding. First out of the gate, the week of Thanksgiving my eye problem from last year re-surfaced. Nothing major, just another stye on the same eyelid as last year and it started almost the same day. Luckily, I had some of the ointment from last time around and it was still good so it went away fairly quickly. Unfortunately, I caught a bit of a bug - probably from the airplane despite my Emergen-C and Echinacea regimen. So for the last two weeks I have been balancing work with sickness and just a general malaise.
Some good highlights:
- I finally replaced watch bands and batteries for my backwards Goofy and Mickey Mouse date watches after my Timex indiglo watch from Mom finally had the face plate fall off. I have no idea when it happened, but Paul at work told me that he had noticed it for a few days before I realized it and pointed it out to him. I went a few weeks watchless, but now I feel whole again.
- I went and saw Casino Royale with Daniel. I thought it was pretty good, but hope that this "reboot" of the Bond franchise does not jettison all of the classic Bond elements (esp. the cool gadgets) that seemed to be missing from this story. It did feel a lot like Dr. No and From Russia With Love and I enjoyed the basic feel. Daniel Craig did a great job, but one movie is not enough to start the "Is he better than Sean or Roger" debate - we will see if he lasts a few movies.
- I am trying to enjoy the Shatnerrific "Show Me the Money" on ABC. I think that if there were a few trims here and there and the pace was speeded up a tad, it would be a blockbuster. Unfortunately, it is difficult to stay interested past 30 minutes so I do not think it will last a long time.
- This past week I had a chance to meet the new President of the Disneyland Resort Ed Grier twice. The first time was at the family holiday party on Monday and the second time was at a Cast Member Forum I was picked out to attend. He was much more personable than I expected and since I am working on the Nemo Project, I think I will probably see him again and hopefully he have a positive remembrance of me. Who knows where you can go if you network with the right people.
- As I posted earlier, I also met Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company at the Family Christmas Party. Honestly, I was thrilled beyond all believe that I actually got to chat for a quick minute and get a photo. It was way better than being in the foreground of a photo with Michael Eisner and never actually talking to him. I like what Bob has done for the company and the direction we are going, and I hope his success continues. And yes, I forgive him for canceling "Twin Peaks" back in 1991.
- Finally, work has been going well. After months of waiting, Test and Adjust is just around the corner and I am getting busier and busier. Hopefully I got my sickness out of the way and I can go head on into working on the project. Every day I am amazed at the progress being made and I really think we are building something special. All the attractions I have worked on have been special (yes even Pooh), but this one has a little something extra. Maybe because of the complexity or maybe its the passion of the workers. Who knows but I can't wait for it to open and everyone gets to see it.
That's about it for now!
Bob and Josh
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.
One of the highlights of my 5 years with the Walt Disney Company was posing with Bob Iger at the Family Holiday Party. He was very genuine and personable.
