Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

Today we spent the day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Earlier in the week I had mentioned that I thought Epcot was my favorite theme park here at Walt Disney World. After thinking about it, I’ve decided that that’s not true. I actually enjoy all the parks with their varying offerings, and Animal Kingdom holds a special place in my heart. Because at Animal Kingdom, it’s all about respecting our Mother Earth and all the life she holds.

We took the opportunity to see as many of the animals that we could. We stayed away from the few thrill rides at Animal Kingdom and opted for exhibits and such instead. We did go on the safari tour, as it’s a great way to see all that “Africa” and “Asia” have to offer. I love animals and I’m like a big kid when it comes to the petting zoo.

We also took a peek at the live bird show where Earl was selected as a volunteer to have an owl fly right up in his face. It was really cool, though he couldn’t snap a picture quick enough. It’s amazing how these birds are able to fly right over the audience, inches above their heads and not disturb anyone’s hair.

We also hung out for the parade and The Lion King show, which serves as the park’s finale.

After Animal Kingdom, we headed back to Wilderness Lodge for supper at the Whispering Canyon Café, where’s it’s loud and rowdy and tons of fun. If you’re ever looking for a fun place to eat at Disney (and there’s a bunch to choose from), we highly recommend the family fun at Whispering Canyon.

Now Earl is catching up on his work e-mail, something I don’t have to do during vacation for the first time in over 10 years. I really haven’t thought about work that much during our vacation. It’s nice to be able to put those responsibilities out of my mind. I must admit that the geek in me appreciates the fact that Walt Disney World (like the mall-based Disney stores throughout the country) is running a mix of older and state of the art IBM point of sale equipment, apparently using a modified version of General Sales Application in the shops and such. Only a true geek like myself would find that fascinating!

Earl and I are going to relax on the lanai a bit, and then call it an evening. Tomorrow night is potpourri day, starting the day off with our Disney Vacation Club appointment and then checking out the other resorts via monorail afterwards. Tomorrow night it’s Cirque de Soleil’s La Nouba and shopping adventures at Downtown Disney.

Earl and I spent the day at Disney-MGM Studios. Following the cue of the other parks, we decided to approach the day with a relaxed, casual pace. More importantly, I got to play “ham” in not one, but two shows!

We started off the day at the Indiana Jones Adventure, where there’s a huge effects show with 10 or so extras chosen from the audience. I was one of the extras, dressed up in my Middle Eastern outfit and following the directions of the assistant director.

I also got to hit the stage for the back lot tour, where I was one of the four extras that gets to play on a ship that’s being bombed by airplanes. I was head to toe in waterproof gear for this one, playing the captain of the ship with three directions – look through the binoculars, spin the wheel and use the telephone. All while the ship is getting bombed and we’re getting soaked. It was loads of fun.

We took a little lunch break at the Hollywood Brown Derby and then went to a couple of other attractions, including “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Play It!”. Earl and I didn’t do well, we didn’t make the scoreboard. There were two contestants in the hot seat, a 13-year old girl who made it to 16,000 and a 16-year old boy who made it to 32,000. Both were brilliant!

For supper we headed to Spoodles on Disney’s Boardwalk. Spoodles features Mediterranean food and tasty sangrias. After supper, we walked all the way around the Boardwalk and the Beach and Yacht Club resorts.

Another wonderful day at Disney! Tomorrow it’s Animal Kingdom.

I’m guilty of something. Earl and I spotted this piece of eye candy at Epcot and couldn’t resist taking a picture. I know, it’s kind of stalker-like, a little creepy and probably rude.

All I can say is thank god for telephoto lenses.

I’ve noticed this ever since our first Disney visit back in 1997. People from New Jersey are in a class of their own. I hate to generalize about the population of an entire state, but it can’t be helped. From their very distinct accent to their wild fashion sense (nothing says “Pretty” like a leopard skin print on an 80 year old Grandma), these people are out to make their world their way or no way at all.

A woman was screaming, at the top of her lungs in that traditional New Jersey butchering of American English, at a Disney cast member at the Stitch ride at Tomorrowland because it was “exactly” like the Alien Exterrorestrial Adventure. In actuality, it’s a redressing of the older ride and has been tamed down considerably to make it more family friendly. Why this upset her enough to make a cast member cower in the corner, I don’t know. Perhaps it was the fumes from her Aqua Net.

Then we have Mrs. Fingernails, who loudly demanded (love the accent, hun) a table at one of the fully booked restaurants, because after all, she spent a lot of her hard earned money and she was promised decent service. Apparently she had never heard of a reservation before.

Then we have Mr. Hairpiece who couldn’t believe there was no limo available to drive him from the Grand Floridian and why did he have to ride a monorail with everyone else?

I don’t mean to degrade an entire state, but I guess it’s because these Jersey folks only have Atlantic City as their claim to fame. They’re not really New Yorkers (they like to fake it though), they don’t really have Philadelphia to their credit (and have you seen Camden before?), so I guess they’re apparently going to eek out their own niche in Americana by just being rude.

Next time I’m in Pennsylvania and see that “Next Exit In New Jersey” sign, I’m turning right.

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.