February 2005

Earl and I spent the day at Epcot. I must not be a Disney traditionalist or something, because I think I enjoy Epcot more than the Magic Kingdom. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the Magic Kingdom, quite the contrary, but there’s just something about Epcot that’s special in my heart.

We tried out one of the newest attractions at Epcot, Mission: Space. This little thrill ride provides a near-astronaut like experience as you pilot your spaceship, with three other crew members, to Mars. It naturally takes place in a simulator, though it’s quite easy to forget that you’re really back on Earth while this is all taking place. I was quite nervous about the experience, having had a Near. Fatal. Date. Experience. back when Earl and I were first dating. I took him to the local field days (read “gala days” or “town fair”) and we rode the Paratroopers together. I had ridden the Paratroopers about a million and a half times, so I wasn’t worried about my well-being, but I ended up hurling my supper afterwards. Green isn’t a good color on me when I’m trying to impress my new beau.

Anyways, back to the present. My stomach held up well for Mission:Space, having followed all the directions given by the crew – face forward, don’t close your eyes and don’t look left or right, concentrate on what’s in front of you. And that I did. If my eyes were lasers, I would have burned a hole through the simulator monitor. But I enjoyed the experience, though vowing that once was enough for me.

As the day wore on, I would think about the ride and start getting sick to my stomach. It was as if my mind and body had been fooled during the experience, and now thinking back on it made it realize that “Hey, we were fooled! We were really spinning around like on the inside of washing machine!” So I’m trying not to look back on the experience. Typing this blog entry is making me queasy. Mind over matter and all that.

So back to Epcot. After Ellen’s Energy Adventure (another favorite of mine), along with The Crystals (they can stretch in very unbelievable ways) and other assorted goodies, we headed to the World Showcase, hitting all of the countries represented in the showcase. My favorite has always been Canada, and still is on this trip. I love their Cinema-360 presentation. Beautiful landscapes. Friendly demeanor. A cheerful population. It reminds me of how lucky we are to have such friendly neighbors to our north. Makes me want to drop a couple hundred loonies in their economy this summer.

We enjoyed a wonderful Chinese supper in, well, China, at Nine Dragons. We had an interesting appetizer called “Drunken Chicken”, that was very tasty. It was a cold dish in a wine marinade. Very good.

After walking around and enjoying the sights, we found our face on the “Leave A Legacy” display. We had our pictures taken back in 2000, and sure enough, there we were.

All in all, another glorious day at the Wonderful World of Disney. Tomorrow, Disney-MGM Studios.

As I mentioned earlier, Earl and I are enjoying the week at Walt Disney World. It’s going splendidly, and I’m writing blog entries on my PowerBook quite often. The problem is, there’s no internet access in our room! This is a good thing, as I can spend more time with the Mouse and put my internet dependence behind me.

So on Sunday you’ll see a ton of new entries, all dated appropriately.

It’ll be fun for all!

Kongaloosh.

Earl and I spent the day at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. It always seems like one has to start their Disney experience at Magic Kingdom, as it’s the original theme park here at Walt Disney World. There were many new attractions this year, including Mickey’s Philharmagic, which is the most spectacular piece of cinematography I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience.

We decided to take it at a leisurely pace, enjoying the sites and various attractions. Always on the path of self discovery, I discovered my own little magic today. Earl and I decided to look into the Disney Vacation Club and had a little chat with cast member Ron. When he started filling out the paperwork for our upcoming open house visit, he asked our relationship, in which I replied “Lover” while Earl replied “Partner” in stereo. Ron stammered very briefly before commending us on being so open about our relationship. Come to find out he’s gay too. But what he told us was that he basically admired couples like us, because we are an openly gay couple that has nothing to hide, we’re just being ourselves, and that is the best way to show the rest of the world the truth about gay relationships. It was a nice pat on the ego. It’s funny, because I’ve always been under the impression that we have to be out campaigning and becoming politically vocal and all that, and while that still rings true when its appropriate, it’s also nice to be recognized as a couple of guys that are in love that are just setting an example for mainstream America.

Earl commented later that he was surprised by my use of “lover”, as I usually refer to him as my partner. Lately I’ve been finding partner to be too business-like and in the past I’ve found lover to be too “in your face”. I guess I don’t care anymore.

We had a wonderful lunch and dinner throughout the day. We also very much enjoyed the Spectralmagic Parade and the “Wishes” fireworks show.

All in all, a naturally Wonderful Day at the Magic Kingdom.

When I wrote yesterday’s blog entry, I mentioned that I was feeling a bit cranky. After getting on the plane yesterday, it all melted away. The crankiness, the negativity I had been feeling the past couple of days.

Usually I don’t relish the idea of flying. It’s not that I’m afraid of flying, because I’m not. It’s just such a hassle. But while we were flying over the Hudson River yesterday, I decided that it’s such a waste of energy to buck against flying. So I stopped. Simple as that. I wish I could lose my gut in the same fashion.

Earl and I arrived at Walt Disney World yesterday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. and just relaxed about Wilderness Lodge – enjoying the weather and the sights and the beautiful surroundings.

Last night we ate at Whispering Canyon Café, where its loud and rowdy and crazy. We had a sassy waitress named Half Pint. When we asked for iced tea refills, she brought us liter carafes with a straw.

Afterwards, we watched the parade on the lake and then called it a night. A wonderful way to start our vacation.

This morning we walked on the beach and did some yoga type stretching, took a quick shower now we’re on our way to a light breakfast and then off to the Magic Kingdom.

Earl and I are just awaking from our first night at Walt Disney World. He is out on the balcony reading some resort literature and I’m typing away here in the room, enjoying the early morning sun on my face.

I just awoke from the most incredible night’s sleep I have had in years. I feel refreshed, alive, awake and ready to enjoy the day. My dreams were of work and old friends, but it was all good. I dreamed of having a computer business again, geared towards ‘simplicity’. Don’t oversell the customer and be honest to them. If all they do is surf the web and send e-mail, don’t sell them the latest computer with all the bells and whistles. Not very 2005-like for the business world but a philosophy I wish was near and dear to my heart.

I think the dream comes from thinking about my Dad’s store yesterday. Back in 1990 or ’91, I wrote an accounts receivable program tailored specifically to that situation so they could be computerized with their billing. They’re still using that program to this day. The program replaced an old NCR posting machine that was a glorified adding machine that could print in columns. The posting machine and my program were both designed to print on specially designed billing statements and ledger cards. That posting machine was the height of my early geekness in all its mechanical wonder, tabulating, printing in columns and popping the ledger card out when it was done printing on it. They’d probably still be using the posting machine if I hadn’t insisted on using my computer program.

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a new version of the program for them and having them use that. The program I was thinking of was all modern with databases and customer trends and all that. They haven’t asked for a new program, but I was ready to introduce bigger and better to them after I sat down and actually wrote the program.

But what they have works. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Maybe that’s the key to everything… simplicity is better.

It is wonderful to be on vacation.

Before I start… Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Earl and I are sitting at Albany International Airport awaiting Southwest flight #2975 for Baltimore at 8:25 a.m. From there, we head to Orlando and fun and frivolity and Disney World.

I thought I was going to get beat down to the ground by a very butch woman at the security checkpoint. I understand that these new security procedures are for our own good, but I really do not enjoy it. I didn’t hear her tell me to take off my coat, boots and belt, I thought she just had to look at them. So just became a bit hysterical when she thought I ignored her and tried to breeze through security with a belt on. So then I had to take off my belt and boots and jacket and put them through x-ray. Then I made the metal detector beep anyways. Apparently there’s a very small piece of metal in my wallet, which then I had to put that through x-ray as well.

I quipped that it would be easier to walk through naked. They didn’t appreciate that comment either.

So now we’re sitting here awaiting our flight. I was going to surf the internet while waiting, since there is no internet access in our hotel room, but I’m not in the mood to pay $6.95 for the privilege. I believe that technology has advanced enough that someone we need to work out free internet access in public places. Of course, that’s not really practical, but I think it’s a wonderful idea. Either that or there needs to be a common carrier or something like the way ATM machines work so that you can pay one carrier and get internet access on any network. Or put a cell phone SIM card into your computer and you’ll get a bill at the end of the month. But I’m not really crazy about sending my credit card number all over the place to pay for the internet.

Now I’m going to try and relax and enjoy our vacation.

Earl and I are officially on vacation. We are staying at a Hampton Inn near the Albany International Airport, so that we can catch our flight early tomorrow morning. I am more than ready to see sunny skies and feel the warm temperatures of Florida. DisneyWorld, here we come!

I had to kick the day off early this morning by taking Tom to his Gram’s. As usual, he complained about the ride the entire time, but once we got to Mom’s, he seemed to take to her apartment. I think he’s going to enjoy his stay, he has the whole place to himself, no other cats about.

Earl and I made it a diner day again, hitting our local haunt of Betty’s Diner for a noon-time breakfast, and then hitting the Circle Diner in suburban Latham for supper tonight.

I was cranky this afternoon but a nap seemed to cure that state of mind. I think I was anxious to get the hell out of Dodge and it just wasn’t happening quick enough for me. After I calmed down during my nap, I found myself back at center.

So now we’re going to relax in the hotel room for a bit, hit the hey early and then onto our Southwest Airlines flights tomorrow. Hopefully you won’t see us on Airline.

I’m not feeling overly inspired to write in my blog today. I’m home for lunch, forging through blowing and drifting snow to do so, and then I get to my PowerBook and BAM! Nothing.

So here I am just babbling on the internet. Earl is en route to his office, having a 7:00 a.m. meeting outside of Albany this morning. It’s amazing how much work has affected my typing style. Being a support tech, I type in trouble tickets (logs) all day long and without thinking I originally typed that sentence about Earl like this: Earl enr to off, using the typical geek shorthand that I use. Anyways, I hope his trip is safe since there’s apparently whiteout conditions on the Thruway.

There’s another shorthand phrase I use at work that hearkens from my programming days… “Cust will call w further tble else close tkt EOB.” It’s that clever use of ELSE from when I used to program in BASIC. Translated, “the customer won’t call if everything is fine, if we don’t hear from them, close the trouble ticket at the end of the day.”

I know, it’s all terribly mundane. But I amuse myself easily.

Tom and I have finally come to an understanding regarding my PowerBook. I have to face the fact that he’s just going to walk all over my desk whether I like it or not. However, he’s accepted the fact that the PowerBook is off limits and he’s content sleeping on the telephone on the other portion of my desk. As long as he’s not making any long distance calls, we’re fine.

Surprisingly, the day is flying by. I’m leaving work an hour early today (gotta love comp time), so I can get Earl a birthday present. I have no idea what to get him, since he says that the trip to Florida is his present, but I can’t let his birthday go by without giving him something else. Maybe I’ll surprise him and give whatever I decide to buy to him while we’re on the plane. He’ll be contently sleeping in the aisle seat, or next to the window, I’ll be wedged between him and someone else and I’ll throw an elbow into his side and give him a present.

That’ll be romantic.

Thinking about that scenario has inspired me with ideas for his present. I guess there was a reason to write in the blog after all.

This week seems to be lasting forever while time is flying by. I don’t even know if that’s statement makes sense, but that’s how I feel. Our vacation officially starts tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. Right now, I feel like I can reach out and almost touch the 5:00 on the clock and know that’s it there waiting for us. But at the same time, it feels like my half day on Monday was eons ago. There I go again obsessing about time.

We fly out of Albany on Sunday morning, so we’ll have all day Saturday to pack and get ready for the trip. Plus we need to drop Tom off at his Gram’s early Saturday morning, a first for him and my Mom. I think he’ll do fine, and I think my mom will as well.

In all honesty, we’ll probably be all packed in about an hour afterwards and then have nothing to do. Maybe we’ll have to make it a play night and head into Syracuse or something for supper and some recreation afterwards. Just sitting around the house will amount to nothing but boredom so we might as well make the most of it.

Tomorrow should pass by quickly, what with having to worry about the foot of snow we should wake up to in the morning and then dealing with all the related trouble calls at work. “My cordless phone isn’t working! Is there a power outage? Yes! Well that may have something to do with it.” Then we get the calls like “I want to move my phone to the other side of the living room, can you let more cable through the hole?”

I am so looking forward to this vacation. I’m ready for our little adventure. Just get here already!

As Earl and I get ready for our trip to Disney on Sunday, I’m thinking of bringing a book or two along just so I can sit down and read for a bit. Let my mind escape and my imagination wander. Being February, the parks at Disney close early, so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of down time.

I usually have two books going at once; a computer science instructional or educational book (I’m currently learning how to program in ‘C’) and something new-age-ish; the latest book by psychic Sylvia Browne, discussions of various aspects of spirituality, wicca, paganism, etc. I rarely sit down to read and enjoy it, unfortunately, I usually sit down to read and learn. Perhaps I work to hard to at reading.

I think I’m going to dig out my copy of “The Demu Trilogy” by F M Busby. It’s my favorite book of all time and I’ve read it at least 30 times over the past 25 years, but it’s been a while since I last took a look. It’s funny how my perceptions of the book change as I grow older, but I still find new nuances and passages on every read; things that I had never noticed before.

So as we escape to Disney, I’m looking forward to escaping into setting the computer aside and escaping into a book as well.