Breakfast is the new dinner

Oh the breakfast revolution is starting people. And the future is bright.

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Beats Me

I had a crazy dream last night. I am not making the following up. My father and I were moving in to a house near San Francisco. I was helping him pursuade my two older black sisters to move in with us. You see they were somewhat rebellious, and would rather go out and try to make it on their own. They refused to move in. Meanwhile, Mr. albury was visiting on his way through San Francisco. I was holding a letter I had written, and just before I woke up he gave me a whole bunch of stamps. I also managed to convince the middle sister to write a letter and give it to me to send.

I didnt think about it in the dream, but the letter I had was the one I wrote to Alli in real life. Last night I reminded myself to send it today to Alli, that's about the only part of this dream that makes any sense. Except the Mr. Albury twist, I mean, who didn't see that coming?

Instructions for being a pirate

Ben, here are the directions

Coincidentally, I saw POC:DMC today and it was great! Having ridden the original ride twice just a couple weeks ago, I could nitpick, but I think it lives up to its heritage overall. The ride opened in '67, a year after Walt passed. Over three decades later it is still a popular ride at the parks, and versatile enough to have two blockbusters based on it. Heritage.

Davy Jones, wild tribes, seers, and other bits I can't recall at the moment are really good stereotypically pirate-ish. Like the ride, that is a goal of the movie, to provide visuals for the common story of pirates we all collectively know in the back of our minds.

The visuals from the ride, like the guy being raised from a well are much appreciated. A couple other things of significance: The wild tribe in the movie seems very much to be the tribe that might inhabit Adventureland. The people of "others" never shown before now (except a bit in the JC), but always passively imagined by American visitors to the parks.

And the castle before the movie is different! Having read about this online I expected it, but it was still shocking. After decades of a white castle on a blue background, the familiar icon is no more. I do like the rendering of the castle, and the music choice though. Worked well. Fine.

Noche de la Honkytonk Badunkadunk

It's possible I was born at the wrong latitute. Or maybe longitude, whichever is North/South.

The only two other country fans interning this summer, one of their friends, and I really enjoyed the concert at Mountain View's shorline ampitheater. Apparantly it was the largest crowd they've ever had there. Northern californians need their rascal. Infact there were so many people we couldn't actually see the band from our lawn seats.

But there was a lot of light and noise, so I assume they were down there. That's kind of how it was when I saw them at the Jackson country fair.


They played a lot of stuff from the new album, released since the last concert, although they didn't play 'Stand'. Best of all they played Life is a Highway, (which they recorded for the Cars soundtrack), during their encore. I had been hoping for it the whole time so that was terrific. They've always come back out for a couple songs at the end, each of the three times I've seen them. So maybe its not really an encore, they just like making us work for it! I wouldn't be too surprised if John Lasseter was there, considering the movie connection he might like them (and would definetly have free front row tickets).

I wish Carrie and Alli could have been there! Maybe next time they come to Michigan.

Visiting family

Went up to Oakland on the 14th for an excellent weekend up there. Had a great time in Napa on Saturday and took a nice hike on Sunday in Marin county.

See the bridge and city?


Deer:

It was pretty much a matter of time

Laundry day

Intern trip to San Francisco

Lack of sleep had kind of left me a little under the weather at the end of this week, and I had a headache going into the day trip. Despite that, I had a great time. Two buses of interns headed to SF around 9:30. The first stop was the bridge, which we walked across and back. It's hard to find a more picturesque location for a bridge, it would seem.


The next stop was pier 39, but the group I was with decided it was a bit touristy so we walked over to Ghiradelli Square (much less touristy!). But in any event we had some chocolate samples and excellent ice cream. Myself, I got this ice cream soda:


We did some meandering in the area, and on the way back stopped into a gourmet and specialty type grocery. Any place that puts out samples of interesting dips or spreads ranks pretty highly with me. Banks and doctors offices should try that. Wouldn't it be more fun to go make a deposit if you got a snack of pretzels and fig dip stuff? I got this esspresso drink as research for my future beverage/popcorn/ice cream/pancake shop:


Finally we stopped near little italy. They brought in tons and tons of mexican food, though a little late. It had been at least half an hour since the ice cream, so I went with a group going to get gelato. This place in Little italy was amazing. I tried three flavors, all of which were great and finally settled with watermelon.

The 4th of July

With not so much sleep between getting back from Disney and getting up again, I caught a ride to Palo Alto for their annual chili cookoff. You pay $5 and get a little kit with a bowl, spoon, and 5 tickets. I found a 6th ticket on the ground :) There were some very thick and also pretty unusual tasting chilis. There were about 12 interns there all together.


I took the train up to SF with three of the group. We happened to sit by some Palm interns on the train and stuck with them in the city. Or.. at least everyone else did. I got picked up by Uncle Tom and Angela, and we went to Coit tower, where we had a really excellent view of the sunset over the bridges and then the fireworks.

Right after these messages

Well, I finally found the card reader after several days of not finding it. It was smack dab in the middle of the floor under the table. Maybe I'll post soon. A lot has and is happening. Looking forward to Rascal tomorrow!

The Birthplace

I don't know how many times I've been to Disney World. I think about 12. But this is only my second time to Disneyland, and I was still a vegetable during my first. I have only vague memories of Splash Mountain.

Terminally ill kids regularly choose a trip to Disney as their "last wish". Epcot was a vision of a utopian society, never realized. Mickey mouse is one of the most recognized symbols around the world. Disneyland proclaims itself the happiest place on earth. The importance of July 17th, 1955, and what stemmed from it should not be underestimated. What can I say, other than to express how lucky I am to be able to be there at all, let alone during the 50th anniversary celebrations, and to give a summary of our trip.

Four of us left after work on friday and started about a 9 hour drive to Anaheim. I had already been planning for over a week, trying to get interns together, get a hotel, and look into tickets. It turned out to be a great group of guys, and luckily one of us had a car.

Besides a stop at Denny's, the only reason it took 9 hours was a traffic jam near LA....at 2am. Nevertheless it seemed an easy drive, and we arrived at the Del Sol hotel around 3. It is right across the street from the entrance to Disneyland! Quite different from WDW.

I conceded to getting up for the California Adventure Park's 10am start time, rather than Disneyland's 8am. We were there a little early, and got a quick breakfast just inside the park (the let you go to the "hub" area prior to 10). We first headed to Soarin, a tremendous ride! It makes quite a bit of difference where you sit on this ride. Being in the front (top) is a much nicer experience than being able to see others' feet in front of you. Also, the smells wern't working on this ride. I don't like when certain effects arn't on. Maybe there's a good reason, but many guests will leave without ever realizing they missed something. We went on the Grizzly river Run, followed by California Screamin', Maliboomer, and Orange Stinger on the boardwalk. We headed to the other end of the park through wine country, for It's tough to be a bug, and Monster's Inc. Just before the latter we caught kind of a neat street show where three artists draw their wishes to meet characters, who eventually come out.

We caught Turtle talk with crush which was great! An animated Crush interacts in real time with the audience. Though dragging at times, it was really neat, a fresh idea, and very enjoyable. We then went on Tower of Terror, and caught the Aladding musical. ToT is terrific, I wish we had gone again. Still, it is not on par with the florida version. Normally with the family, we don't go to very many shows. But Aladding was really terrific. I was pleasantly surprised. We got some (pretty good) pizza and went on Screamin one more time before going to the Mecca of modern America ( go on, argue with me, I dare you).

Overall I thought DCA was quite fun. Between the first fan rants and this trip they had a few years to improve things, so I'm not seeing the worst. It still is not quite a full day park, but it's close. It's not just about the number of attractions. The farce of the boardwalk, like Dino-rama in DAK, does not have the nostalgia or romanticism, to create lasting magic.

As I walked into the town square for the first (real) time in my life, I just kept playing Walt's words over in my head. "There is the band in full regalia". After all, he had been here himself. He never stepped foot in a finished WDW Magic Kingdom. I expected my first impression: Main Street seems short, and the castle small. A similar effect to WDW is still wonderfully achieved.

You can see the gates of all the lands right from the hub! It's a little different. I really wanted to find THE dedication plaque, but it turns out its not in the hub, as I thought (bad fan, bad). We started in tomorrowland (backwards!). Star tours, autpia (the autopia!), matterhorn (matterhorn!).

Matterhorn was the first tublar steel roller coaster ever made (1959) and it makes really sharp turns. I can't remember when we rode Space Mountain first, but it quickly became the group favorite.

it was so hot at this point in the afternoon and it took about 3 frozen lemonade stands to finally find one that wasn't broken. I've read that they've had trouble casting these parks, but food service is one area that could really be improved. We took a break with our drinks by dumbo (the dumbo!). We continued through Fantasyland to Frontierland for some Big Thunder action. This ride is pretty equal to its florida sister. We went around the lagoon past New Orleans square, a new land for me, and a really neat (although maybe creepy?) one.

Before we'd explore it we went to Critter Country (another new land for me) where we went on Splash and haunted mansion. If there was one ride I would have liked to do one more time (besides tower of terror, soarin, jungle cruise, and the matterhorn :) ) it was haunted. I thought the effects were better, I did. Splash is very short.

Pirates of the Carribean had a long line, given the recent changes to incorporate the movie (the movie's premier was in the park just the weekend before)

But we went back to tomorrowland, I think for space mountain, and then hit up some Small World. Oh yes, we did. Then we watched "Remember" the fireworks show from the end of Main Street (I heard, and now agree, that this is the best place). Wow! Best fireworks show I can remember. A treat for fans, effects for all.

With the promise of a full day of Disneyland in the morning, we went to bed. And you better believe we were there for the opening at 8am. Even the newbies were down with the idea. There is no opening show, but there is a first lucky family that gets a picture, and a crowd countdown. We went straight to pirates, which was the only ride we could line up for before 8am. We got on almost right away. It is better than Florida, and the changes are awesome. The slow opening past the Blue Bayou and the banjo music from the cabin really set the tone. I wish I had a chance to see it before Sparrow came, but I enjoy the changes.

Space mountain closed, so I told the other guys I'd wait while they went on Honey I shrunk the audience (and sit somewhere without mice running by). But then Space mountain opened! Well, of course I'm going to go. Little did I know, in that time they decided not to go because of teh wait, so they waited 10-15 for me while space mountain had a small line. (I never actually told them about the extra ride....) We went on SM and got fastpasses. In total I think I went 5 times. The music on the ride and the star effects work so well. A really fun coaster.

We also went through Innoventions. What a let down. It began with a thinly guised marketing pitch for a dell PDA and google earth. Both the tomorrowlands I've seen are now just lands in a theme park, they are no longer optimistic visions of a possible, if unlikely, future. Come on John!

We went on Indiana Jones! A ride based on the same vehicle as Dinosaur (or rather Dinasaur uses Indy's vehicles). The queue is terrific, the ride is fun, but not out of this world. We did some more splash, some big thunder, another pirates. At some point they went to Honey I shrunk, while I booked it to New Orleans and back for a min julep. We had turkey legs for dinner and yes, they are as good. People chuckled at the barbaric image of the four of us, as they walked by. Happy to contribute to the atmosphere of Frontierland!


We took the monorail to downtown disney for a break. These Mark V's are quite different from WDW's VI's. The doors are on one side, there is sitting room only, and you need to duck to go in. Each door is closed by a button just outside of it and there is no spanish! Combined with the loop closed for construction (submarines!) it's hard to see it in 2006 being a model of superior public transportation. WDW's seem so professional, but it was a treat nonetheless.

We got coffee and sat on the curb of Main Street, watching the crowds come as the prepared for fireworks. This is kind of activity main street was made for. Watched Remember again. And we saw Fantasmic on the lagoon. I'm not one to turn down an Illuminations, but this has to be my favorite disney show.

I especially like the fantasmic song and the parts where mickey kicks butt. Night time Splash mountain, and a final Space mountain. It was very important to find the plaque before we left. We stepped over the chain to read it, though we knew what it said. If any cast members saw us, they must have understood. Here's Constantine checking it out:



Universal Studios Hollywood is clearly an unprofessional venture, with some serious safety problems, and certainly no repeatability for guests. Or so it would seem from our day there on monday. They have only a few big rides, with nothing in between, and therefore huge lines. Van Helsing was a junky haunted house (might be my opinion, I don't like being jumped out at) and waterworld was underwhelming. The first real problem was at the end of the Mummy Roller coaster when it broke down. We were locked to our seats in a dark tunnel for about 10 minutes. When we loaded the ride staff were casual and uncaring, and when this happened none of them had a clue what to do. We were just behind the unload area, and it was 5 minutes before anyone came to check on us or the cars behind us. If someone would have been claustriphobic or had gotten sick from the ride, or a kid was scared from it, and then they were locked into a car that they know can go backwards, thats pretty serious! Then the staff started playing trivia with the guests to pass the time, and joked about just pushing the "green button" to get it started again. All we got was a pass to the front of one line. I wanted to complain and even get a refund, but that wasn't the group consensus. That's not how you run a theme park.

We went to Jurassic Park, which broke down! So we went to get food and the first resturaunt's line was out the door by 30 feet. We found another which wasn't bad. I asked a staff member where a drinking fountain was and she didn't know! 10 minutes later a guy started flipping out, shouting "Nina" and running around apparently looking for his daughter. There would have been 5 cast members on him in two seconds!! If it even took them that long to find the lost child. I went up to the same staff member and asked if she saw the large screaming guy that passed, since it didn't seem anyone was helping him. She said she didn't see him (no chance) and that she had just gotten to that post. But I asked her about the drinking fountain 20 minutes ago! She lied to me! Maybe she is new, but train your staff, geez! Turns out Nina was 14 or so, and probably just went to the bathroom without telling her dad. The one good thing that happened was that the pass allowed us to skip a 70 minute line to the very front row of the studio tour. Seeing the Psycho house and a few of the effects are neat. The frightening earthquake is one of a couple things I remember from the trip here when I was young. Otherwise the rides were mediocre (we didnt get to go on Back to the Future) and the lines were long. I was unhappy with the food service at Disneyland, and this was 10 times slower. Luckily I know florida is better, especially IOA, but it will be a long time before I return to this park.

Well that was a rant. But Disneyland was fantastic. Now let's make it better!

Catchup: Monterey Aquarium, Stanford

I never blogged about, but the weekend of the 24th I took a trip Sunday to Monterey, and Saturday to Stanford and the city. Both trips were with my roomate Paul, and fellow intern Nils.

The saturday plan was to get a day pass for the caltrain, take bikes, and see what there is to see. First stop was palo alto. Stanford is beautiful! A really nice campus.

Coming from michigan, which is a hodge podge of architecture, Stanford's buildings are a pretty homogenous bunch. I wonder if the campus gets boring, or taken for granted by most students. Palo Alto was a nice little town too, but I hear that the students don't go into it much (Maybe that's just the CS students :)). I will certainly be looking at my options after next spring at UM....

In the city we had dinner at a fairly pricey place in japantown, which was... pretty good. We biked down market street to the civic center. Most people had gone for the day, but we definetly got a taste of what the pride parade the next day was going to be like. Before heading back on the midnight train, we stopped in a place off of union square for coffee. But after seeing the sorbet in the menu, I changed my mind. Sandhya, feel free to be jealous :) (or come visit SF and we'll go for one)


The Monterey aquarium is really nice. I find with similar venues that i am interested while I'm there, but not too much of the information really sticks with me. A couple of memories maybe.

Through it seems cannery row has become a bit touristy since Steinbeck wrote about it. Still, streets like Cannery row and their fisherman's wharf are quite enjoyable.


At the wharf, they had a real capuchin monkey. You pay to get a pose and a picture and everything. I never thought I'd see that. The monkey looks pretty sad.