Category: Uncategorised

Uncategorised

The Room is Spinning

We almost got out of our rooms in time this morning. The day started off with some pretty heavy lightning storms. Mom wasn’t ready on time either, but we still made it to the Animal Kingdom in time to cover everything we wanted that was actually operational, in addition to a second round on a couple favorites at the end of the day. The first thing we did once we got into the park was make a break for the Avatar First Flight ride. Julie expected both of the rides on the Pandora wing of the park to be pretty popular, but the rides were worth the waits.

We trekked across the map a bit, but it was a much smaller park with super fast moving lines compared to some of the older rides. Mom rode everything again, even Expedition Everest. When we stopped for lunch, Noah, Summer, and I tried the foot-long chili cheese dog, and it was one of the best, most reasonably priced meals in any of the parks. We wrapped things up with enough time to ride Everest and First Flight again before grabbing some dinner and heading back to the room.

The food was pretty good, but Eaddie ate one of my hamburger bao and then didn’t let me eat my fair half of her rice bowl. We shuffled back to the buses, all finally feeling at least a bit of the wear from all the walking. The kids left to wander the resort for a while, and I ate the leftover salad from our first day here. Tomorrow is our rest day, and I don’t think it could have come any sooner. Just laying in bed after all these rides is starting to make me a little dizzy.

Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Uncategorised

Whatever’s Left of The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow Center

It took quite a bit more prodding to get everyone out of the resort hotel this morning, which was a pretty good indicator for the rest of the day. I knew the hours were pretty severely cut, but I still had high hopes for my favorite park. We actually had the closest resort to the Skyliner that would be taking us to EPCOT, but had to walk to the farthest resort just to get in line. The ride was pretty neat, but seemed somehow less elegant than a lot of the other rides because there was no moving loading platform, and the gondolas shook a bit as you stepped on, making boarding that much trickier.

When we finally got to EPCOT, we unloaded at the back of the park right next to where we had dinner reservations. I knew that didn’t work out in my favor since I mostly wanted to see the front of the park, and we would have to retrace our steps after dinner for whatever time was left before the park closed. The kids didn’t get that grand welcoming experience that we’ve always had in the past, and it all sort of felt like walking into the dingy back door of a restaurant. Everyone was slow to get moving, because obviously everything they saw was new and exciting. People started immediately splitting up and disappearing, so I eventually just wandered in the direction I wanted to go to try and prevent getting trapped in a gift shop loop.

We got to the Test Track line just in time to be called to the opposite side with the slower rides and aquarium. Eaddie lost her phone momentarily on The Seas, but luckily they caught it before it wandered off. Shortly after that, Julie stressed that we had to get moving IMMEDIATELY if we were going to make it back to the opposite side of the park in time for dinner. It felt like we had only just gotten there, and she just took off walking without the rest of my family behind. Summer and Autumn got the message to catch up, but evidently they weren’t anywhere near Noah and Eaddie. I had to run back to find them, then catch up to Spaceship Earth again.

At the end of the day, we basically skipped all of the World Showcase rides just to get to dinner. Luckily Julie was able to move our reservation to just before the park closed, so we just ate through the park closing time. The food was good, but tasted a whole lot like my cheap slow cooker pot roast. Maybe I should be a chef.

I’ve been on rides so much that I feel like I’ve got sea legs.

Uncategorised

The Kingdom of Magic

I wanted to get everyone out the door at eight this morning so we could make it to the park right at open. Somehow we actually managed to get pretty close, even with a human version of the old Snake game leading to the shuttle buses. It was pretty awesome seeing the kids’ reactions as they were transported back to the 1920s, and every time we expressed how large the park was, they would just gawk. We got just a few classic pictures, but I was disappointed to see the Disney street photographers were not in operation. It really made me wonder why we bothered to buy the photo pass.

There were gobs of people there in spite of the pandemic. I hated wearing the mask, and there’s no way I could have done that in the heat of the summer. We snacked throughout the morning, then had a late lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. The princess came out a couple times during our visit, but stayed at the back of the room to wave at everyone. The food was excellent, and didn’t disappoint me too badly with portion sizes. I’m not sure it would have been worth whatever the regular, non-COVID price was though.

We covered Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, and somehow even convinced Mom to ride most of the rollercoasters. I think she was actually surprised that she wasn’t as scared as she’s always been in the past. At least we got the ride pictures with our photo package, to prove she went on the rides. I can’t wait until the Tron roller coaster is finished, because I’m sure it’s going to be awesome.

The nighttime atmosphere was really nice, and the temperature was incredible, but I think we missed a lot in the dark on the west side of the park. We were all pretty beat after the first day, but tomorrow will be shorter. The only real fight I had with Julie was over a fight she had with a couple complete strangers that she thought were just being rude kids. Hopefully we can avoid any more of that, but overall we did pretty well today. The kids did great, and had an awesome time. They still can’t believe this was only part of one of four parks they’re going to this week.

Practice what you preach.

Uncategorised

Apples and Oranges

We almost made it out of town in one trip this morning, but Eaddie forgot her Invisalign at home. Luckily we were only at the gas station, so we had enough time to turn around and get them before Julie and my parents rolled up. Autumn rode with them, and we made it to Little Rock with just about a perfect amount of time to wait at the gate. Summer had to stop when they wanted to inspect her bag of apples and oranges, but that didn’t take long to clear up.

The kids had never flown before, and were super excited for the experience. I think Summer had the most anxiety, but she survived. The biggest disappointment was that they didn’t do a drink run, and instead of peanuts, all we got was a sanitizing wipe. We went to Charlotte first, then had a couple hours to kill there. We got lunch in the food court, then waited to board our next, even bigger plane.

After a bit more waiting and a fair amount of awkward standing around and confusion, we caught a bus to the resort and found our rooms. We were all pretty hungry, so we went down to the restaurant, such as it was, and got an assortment of food. Then we made the kids go wander the property to find a heated pool. I don’t think they ever actually found it, but at least they got to see some more of the resort.

I tried having a heart-to-heart with Julie to help us get along on the trip, but evidently she was already beaten down enough in a way that actually got to her. I just wish she’d stop trying to compare everything. I know Mom’s to blame for some of it, but I don’t know why it all has to be so toxic so much of the time.

It’s supposed to be the happiest place on earth, right?

Uncategorised

Are You Packing?

I woke up this morning and got right to work digging things out to pack for the trip. It took me all day, but I finally did it. Almost.

Summer brought the girls over after school to see if they wanted to borrow any backpacks for the trip. Once I was comfortable with leaving, I headed up the hill to help them pack everything into as few checked bags as possible. We managed to get everybody into carry-on bags, personal items, and one giant checked suitcase. Then I had to pick Noah up from his house because his father wanted his truck to stay at their house.

I realized at some point in the evening that I had forgotten my watch charger, so I ran home to get that on my way to get Noah. Then we got back to the girls and got everyone to bed as quickly as possible. It’s high anxiety for basically everyone but the kids because they’re just used to being carefree and relying on us to pick up any slack. Hopefully nobody forgot anything.

So we’re going full-kitchen-sink, eh?

Uncategorised

It’s Just a Figment of Your Imagination

I tried again not to sleep in too late, but really all I’m doing is depriving myself of sleep, because I haven’t been going to bed any earlier than usual. The girls were off to work and school, so I had some more cereal for breakfast. Then I tried not to stay idle for too long. I headed home and cleaned up enough so I could do some laundry before the trip.

When school let out, I picked up the girls and took Eaddie to her flute lesson. Since we didn’t have anything else to do, we just waited in the car for her. Then we went by the shop to see Summer and get the girls’ karate gear. Once I dropped off the girls, I got one more load of laundry started before I had to meet everyone at my parents’ house.

Julie brought all of our stuff over, and surprised everyone with a couple custom-made shirts. I got a silhouette of Figment wearing Mickey ears for my personalized shirt. Then I got “Cow” on my other shirt while everyone else had their names, but I own it.

We didn’t fuss too much, though the Disney Experience app seemed terrible. Much too terrible for a company so large and a park so expensive. Hopefully we get it sorted before it becomes a problem. I headed home to finish up my laundry, then spent too many hours cleaning out my inbox.

Should have saved it for the layover.

Uncategorised

Attack of the Time Sinks

I woke up to an empty house today, and continued my clicker games until my FedEx package arrived at the Dollar General up the road. As soon as I got it back to the house, I got to work applying my screen protector with the liquid, optically clear adhesive. The packaging of the phone ended up making it a dirtier and dustier project than I like, but I eventually got everything together.

The sticker at the top of the phone that was supposed to prevent the adhesive from seeping into the speaker did basically nothing, and appeared to even draw the liquid into it with surface tension. Next time I’ll have to line the phone with some masking tape or something, because it was a bit of a pain to get it all out. It made me pretty nervous, but it all worked out alright in the end. The biggest disappointment was a wave of discolored area in the screen. Unfortunately I didn’t turn the phone on before applying the screen protector, so I have no way of knowing if it’s caused by the adhesive, or if the screen itself is defective. Rather than remove the screen protector now, I decided to give it just under a year to crack or chip. As the end of the phone warranty approaches, I may have to peel the protector off and see what’s really going on.

I eventually had to leave to get the girls from school. I took them back to my house, and they rode their bikes to Oakland Heights until it was time for me to take Autumn to her Monday night school. Eaddie and I went to my parents’ house to work on some leftovers until it was time to get Autumn again. Then we made it up the hill for the evening.

Summer spent the evening on the couch setting up her replacement phone after her original Pixel 3 died. We never could get it going again, so it’ll be sent back tomorrow. The girls went to bed pretty soon after they got home, and I stayed up late getting my new phone prepared to port my old Sprint number over tomorrow.

Entertain the swarm.

Uncategorised

Federal Disappointment

I only slept in a little while after staying up until after three clicking for those stupid paperclips. I fixed up some leftovers for brunch, and sat down to prestige in that game, and continue clicking cookies in the other. The girls spent most of the day doing chores until Summer went to the gym. Then Eaddie wanted to go to my house to go skateboarding while I cleaned up.

We didn’t stay at my house long, and I picked Eaddie up at the high school after she met her little boyfriend there. Summer beat us home and had started cleaning house. Then once Noah got home from work, we went to my parents’ house for a quick dinner.

FedEx never did deliver my new phone because it only just arrived in Mississippi today. Hopefully it arrives here tomorrow, for real. Everyone else would be back to work in the morning, so I finished up my second run of Universal Paperclips until bed.

Where’s my heated steering wheel?

Uncategorised

Chow, Man

Autumn got up and made unleavened pancakes and eggs for breakfast this morning. Then we finished Cobra Kai. It’s been an incredible show, so we’re anxious to see the next season when it comes out. As the day carried on, Summer eventually got dressed for the gym. I took the time to go home and clean up before coming back before dinner.

Noah came over for the evening, and we went to my parents’ house for dinner. Mom made chow mein with broccoli and cauliflower, which was great. Surprisingly, every one of the kids chowed down on it. Dad smoked the pork I brought over yesterday, but we weren’t sure if it was really done. He finished it up in the oven as we headed home for the evening.

Everyone went to bed pretty quickly, because Noah had to work early the next day. Eaddie came and sat on her computer with me for a little while, and we raced each other in QWOP for a little bit. Then I burned some time on Cookie Clicker and Universal Paperclips.

Actively idle.

Uncategorised

NERF THIS!

Melinda was dropped off a bit early this morning, so I just barely made it there in time to get into place. Ben showed up late, so I ended up waiting for him outside, and then came in once everyone was in the shop area. They had a short meeting, and then I had Zach and Gary shoot the disc launchers at her. They sort of chased her into the hallway, where I was waiting in my trench coat with my battery powered dart Gatling gun.

The assault was short lived, and we spent way more time hunting down the projectiles than we did shooting them. I really do think it would be more fun to have just a single shooter and a pocket full of darts. Who knows what we’ve escalated now though.

They didn’t have any projects for me, so I spent all day at the junior high trying to get anything at all prepped. They’re still waiting on laptops for so many teachers, and Matt has been super high strung about it. He did at least start enforcing some record keeping, so they know how many kids keep losing or breaking things.

Five of us went to Sam’s for lunch, and when Greg ordered the gumbo, I knew I had to try it. She brought out a good sized bowl full of gumbo, along with another bowl full of rice. It was less than half the price of my usual order, and super delicious. Did I miss out on the fried, fishy goodness? Yes, but the gumbo was piping hot and full of flavor.

The afternoon creeped along, and I ultimately only got one device deployed all day long. It was pretty dumb, especially since after all that fuss, Matt didn’t even make the teacher give up the student device she was using. She even had an entire laptop cart full of unused devices that she had to keep in the room to meet the class requirements, even though the kids will never use them.

I worked a little late, then picked up Autumn on the way home. We went to my house for a little while, then ran through Walmart on the way to her house. She said they didn’t have anything to eat at home and wanted to make taco salads, so we spent about 20 times what I was expecting to spend when we walked into the store. It took us a while, but we eventually made it up the hill just behind Summer and Eaddie.

Autumn got to cooking, and I left to deliver a big piece of pork to Dad for smoking tomorrow. I dawdled a bit on the way back, angry about being duped into buying dinner while they truthfully had a refrigerator packed to the brim with food. I stopped at Lowe’s to hunt down a couple deals, then got gas before going back. When I walked in, Autumn fussed about being tired, but the food was done. We had to press her to finish even prepping the vegetables correctly, because they looked like they had been sliced by a three year old.

After dinner, Autumn went to bed and Eaddie stayed on the couch while we watched Cobra Kai. We made it all the way through to the last episode, which we’ll probably finish tomorrow. I really hope the next season makes it out soon.

Kobra Kai Karate?