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I found out yesterday that my great aunt died.

She lived Chicago, so we only got to see her about once a year or so–whenever we happened to make our way up that way. The last time that I saw her was around Thanksgiving. I’m definitely glad that I got to see her that one last time. She was like a third grandmother; I’ve known her since I can begin to remember things.

I’m not as sad as I think I’d be if it was someone immediate, like my parents or brother or anything–probably because of the great distance, and that I only saw her once a year or so. Still, she was such an awesome family member. I’m definitely going to miss her.

Sitting here in DIA, waiting for my flight back to the boonies of Bama. Cost me 10 frickin bucks to hook up to their wi-fi. That is just way too frelling much. People who stop into airports are usually there for a few hours at a time. AT&T is charging $10.00 per 24 hours is just insane. ARGH!! To top all of that off, I was told at the ticket counter that I am allowed only one carry-on from Denver. I took two on-board from Huntsville w/o problem. WTF?

Anyhoo, had an extremely kewl and wonderful weekend. Got to see Joe, Christine & Pete again and I got to meet a couple of other kewl people. Joe’s significant other(?) is a very nice girl, and cute on top of that. Go Joe 😉

Christine & Pete’s house is quite uber spiffy. They have a pretty darn good view of the mountains, and especially Pike’s Peak–which is kind of hard to miss in Colorado Springs.

New Year’s Eve was quite awesome, although a whirlwind which I really don’t remember much of. I don’t even remember the ball drop, which Joe says I was most certainly conscious for. Soju is evil 😉 He has a nice place, and 6 of us spread out quite comfortably in various places to “sleep”. I need to come back out here again soon, especially when I have more time to chill for a while–like a week.

Anyhoo–my headphones were in my other bag, which was checked in. Going to go hunt down some cheap ones in the shops. Argh..

Well, well, well.. It’s been a while..

The rest of the trip to Disney World was totally awesome. Coronado Springs was a pretty decent hotel, about 10 minutes away from any given park.

The worst park by far, in terms of hoardes of people, was the Magic Kingdom. There were uber globs in every corner, but it was absolutely horrible in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. My bro and I did get to ride Space Mountain, but even the Fast Pass had us waiting 4 hours until we could get on–and then a 20 minute wait in line on top of that. Space Mountain was pretty good but, as far as roller coasters go, it wasn’t as uber exciting as most of the coasters at any Six Flags park.

My absolute favorite ride in all of Disney was Mission Space. It was a space sim that gave you the feel of a short little jaunt to Mars. Really, it was a glorified centrifuge with your typical cheesy theme park back plot–but, what’s a space mission ride without a cheesy plot? 🙂 The “mission commander” was Gary Sinise.

I’d say my second favorite ride out of the whole deal was Tower of Terror in MGM. It was a little bit like Space Shot here in Huntsville, only a good bit slower. At least the cheesy back plot for this ride was a Twilight Zone episode 🙂

Another good thing we tried was “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”. It wasn’t the real show, but you could play for points for prizes instead of cash. If you got a million points, you’d win a cruise (Disney cruise, of course). The set was pretty much identical–at least to what I’ve seen on TV. Unfortunately, my fingers weren’t fast enough for fastest finger. D’OH!!

I was a little disappointed in the “House of Innoventions”. It was supposed to be a “home of tomorrow” kind of showcase but it really only contained mostly gadgets we’d find in a number of homes today–internet-enabled refridgerators, HDTVs (although the HDTV in the tub was kind of kewl), voice recognition systems. I think the kewlist useful future gadget I did see in there was a biometric lock for the house in which you’d unlock the outer doors with your thumbprint.

The Candlelight Processional on Christmas Eve was very nice, although it was freakishly cold. Besides the first night and last day we were there, it was very very cold and cloudy; it stayed in the 40s and 50s. Anyhoo, all the Processional turned out to be was a Christmas story narration with musical interludes. Fortunately, it wasn’t a hokey Disney show.

I’ve been working yesterday and today. Today’s a little tough, since I’m the only one here.

Ahh, well.. Off to Colorado tomorrow to do the New Years thing with some friends. Should be a hoot 🙂 Haven’t seen a couple of them since DragonCon. w00t. Flying into Chicago, which is just awesome–even if I have to get right on another flight and leave right away.. Maybe I could find some Chicago pizza somewhere in the airport, if I’m lucky 🙂

Merry Christmas!

it’s 12 frickin 35 at nite. both of my parents have apnea and i have been a dumbass in forgetting to bring some ear plugs :'(

Chillin in Disney! w00t. They charge $10 frelling dollars per day for internet access, so I might do every other day on the net.. They really know how to charge out the arse, that’s for frelling sure. It’s not even wireless, either, as advertised.. But, I think I’d take 100Mbps over 11 or 54 any day..

The trip down was alright, I suppose.. I watched ROTK for much of the way. The extended version is totally a must get for those doofuses who haven’t gotten it yet 😛 Nothing plot-essential was really added, as always.. Just bonus stuff, really. Enough for any LOTR-head to drool over, for sure.

Tomorrow night, we get to see Gary Sinise tell the Christmas Story. I guess it’s a bit of a substitute for Midnight Mass–without the Communion, of course. I’m pretty sure it’s a story about the birth of Christ, and not some bubbly Mickey’s Christmas Carol thing–although that would still be fairly entertaining. Anyhoo, there’s a big fancy dinner to go along with it. It should be quite uber nice.

I’m not sure which park we’re going to do tomorrow–I guess it’ll be kind of a flip-a-coin kind of day. The past two times we’ve been here, we’ve started at the Magic Kingdom.. I wouldn’t mind that at all, as I have never been on the Tower of Terror, or in the new Haunted Mansion 🙂

Anyhoo, I guess I will write a little bit every day offline and post it all in one fell swoop on the last night. I can hopefully live without the hallowed Internet until then 🙂

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Wow. Been a while since my last post. I guess nothing uber has really happened. I had been trying to trudge my away through the last couple of work weeks until the holidays and stuph. Didn’t take much doing; yesterday was my Friday. w00t.

I finally got my frelling phone. I was about to curse Verizon to high heaven; I filed for a lost phone last Wednesday. Monday came around, and no phone had arrived at my place. So, Monday I went over to the local Verizon place for a little bitch-fest, but I stayed nice and level-headed–although I did have to sit there for about 20 minutes waiting to talk to a customer service representative at the 800 number on the phone there. It turned out that they hadn’t even sent the phone yet. So, someone there in the local store set up the phone to ship and said it would take 2-3 days. The phone came yesterday 🙂 Verizon is back up on the awesome list for getting the phone to me overnight. another w00t 🙂 So, now I have my Super Mario ringtone on there and I’m currently tracking people down for numbers–all the numbers I had were on my old phone. Argh. This is what Outlook is for; I really should use it better 🙂

So, we’re leaving for Disney World tomorrow. It should be quite the blast. If anyone wants me to bring anything back, lemme know.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday!

Time for an obligatory Penny shot..

So I lost my frelling cell phone 🙁 It was definitely quite the bummer, since that is my only phone. But, Verizon so graciously spotted me a new one since I had decided to take their insurance when I signed up with them. w00t. I just have to wait a few days for it to come in the mail–which isn’t too bad.. I’m not a real phone yacker, as it is. I think I typically use 125/400 minutes a month. I really don’t know what happened to the old one–perhaps it fell out of my pocket or something. Argh.

It’s quite cold this evening; as I write it is 28 nippy degrees. No frickin snow in sight, though. That’s something I definitely miss about the north, for sure. Heck, I even miss shovelling it.. Shovelling is almost relaxing for me as cutting the grass is. I lit the fireplace for the second time ever. It’s pretty frickin warm, for a gas fireplace. There’s no big chimney to it, so all the heat has nowhere to go but all over my place.

This week is totally crawling along, probably because in one week I’ll be shaking hands with Mickey. w00t. Plenty o’ pics will be taken, for sure. Have to get through this week first, though. Ugh.

I think winter is just about officially here. It’s sad; I could take -40 degrees in Chicago (no wind chill) when I was uber young, but 44 degrees gives me the chills here–even indoors. Lousy stinkin humidity is making my skin thin 😛

I’m definitely ready for a big Christmas break. Only a week-and-a-half to go. w00t. This one is going to be really groovy, though; I don’t think I’ve ever travelled so much during this time of year. It’ll definitely be good to see real mountains again.

I need to go up to Monte Santo and bring my scope. I haven’t been up there to observe in literally years. Shoot, it’s been long enough since I brought my scope anywhere–which I really need to do because the winter skies are the ones I love the most. My favorite deep sky objects are up this time of year, and I’m missing them.

I can’t believe it’s been a frelling year since I graduated. Time has passed in what seems to be a heartbeat. I’ve definitely been enjoying the time in the evening to just chill, read or play games 😀 If I ever grow out of computer games, that will definitely be a sad day. lol. I almost forgot how awesome recreational reading was–just about all of the reading I did in college was school-related and I got uber sick of it.

I haven’t put up any Christmas decorations this year, mostly because I’m going to be gone 80% of the season, so I didn’t really think there was much use. So, since I’m being all Grinchy this year, I’m going to go uber next year 🙂 I’m going to go Grizwold on my apartment. lol. Actually, today I may see if I can get one of the tiny trees that my parents have.. Better to put something up, I suppose.

Penny is mischieviously staring at me