A Haiku For The Person Whose Shopping Cart Rammed My Car Today

Parking carts is hard
I completely sympathize
You lazy asshole

What I'm Listening To

Francesco Rossi - "Paper Aeroplane".

Guacamole Paradise

Anamia's for lunch.

Made to order

Pet Shop Boys - Electric Tour

I have some time now to write about the concert on Tuesday night.

Todd has always been a fan of Pet Shop Boys.  We had been to their concerts before at the Bronco Bowl (remember the Bronco Bowl?) and the Nokia venue, now the Verizon Theatre.  He has a signed LP of their album Actually from a Sound Warehouse (remember Sound Warehouse?) appearance in Dallas in '88 or '89, and has all of their albums and almost all of the singles.

So, early in February when I saw they were touring for the Electric album, I ordered VIP tickets for the concert which included good seats and a meet and greet with PSB before the show.  The tickets would arrive in the mail, and about a week before the show I would receive an email with additional details and instructions for the meet and greet.

PSB 2

Autographs:  check.

They were both very nice and personable.

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe

Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant

PSB

In line for the meet and greet before the Pet Shop Boys concert.

The Majestic - downtown Dallas

The Fortune Cookie Was...Part 2

So, was my lucky star shining today?  Here's how the day went:

I did my taxes (hello, small refund), did the laundry, made chicken enchiladas for lunch with Todd's homemade tortillas, made chocolate chip cookies for dessert, did the dishes, was jonesing for a soda so bad - went to the store, bought sodas and filled the car up with gas, watched a PBS show about Selfridges department store, watched part of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, had another chicken enchilada for dinner, trimmed my fingernails, watched The Walking Dead, and now I'm going to bed.

So......

Yes, my lucky star was shining today - it was a good day.  Not good enough to need to be warned about three months in advance by a dessert, but the normal, everyday sort of good that I'm most thankful for.

Tortillas and enchiladas

The bedroom is calling (really just including this because we spent a crapload of time cleaning it and going through all the drawers a couple of weekends ago (where does all that junk come from and why is it so easy to stuff it away in a drawer and so hard to chunk it later?) and I forgot to upload the photo then)

The Fortune Cookie Was...

This reminder popped up on my calendar this morning:

"My 12/30/13 fortune cookie said to remember this day 3 months in the future - my lucky star is shining."

Here's to hoping that my lucky star is Sadalmelik and not Wormwood.  I'll let you know at the end of the day.

Sunday Night At Home

40-clove garlic chicken (thank you crock-pot) for dinner and Jet-Puffed toasted coconut marshmallows for dessert.  Now, do we watch Walking Dead or Cosmos first?

18 Years

Eighteen years ago today we were introduced by friends at Riscky Rita's restaurant in the Stockyards.  So far we've outlasted the friends and the restaurant.

Happy Anniversary Todd.  You are my love.

New York, April 2011

What Happened?

It was 80 degrees yesterday, and now this:

Bad Dream

Woken up early by a bad dream. Made me think of the countless times as a child when I would do the same and start to call (quietly at first so as not to attract the monsters), then yell across the house for Mama who would come to comfort me.

Which also reminds me of the countless times I would wake up and call ( quietly at first so as not to attract the monsters), then yell across the house for Mama, and when she came to my bedside I would say "I'm thirsty." and she would bring me a glass of water (instead of slapping the shit out of me and saying what the fuck is wrong with you?!).

I love you Mom.

Videos From The Ross Perot Museum

I forgot to upload these the other day.

The Infinite And Unfathomable Wonder Of The Universe

"There are more things in heaven and in earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Hamlet (1.5.167-8)

The Ross Perot Museum Of Nature And Science

Yesterday Todd and I took Mom to the Ross Perot Museum of Nature and Science in downtown Dallas.  It was the first time any of us had been there, and we had a great time.  I highly encourage you to plan a visit if you're in the area.

What I learned that will stay with me the longest was this fact that was written on one of the benches:
"The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of his or her life."

A unique exterior, and the inside is a lot of fun too

The Future Is Now

I attended a conference for work a couple of weeks ago.  It was hard to concentrate when all I could think about was how much the giant lights in the hotel's meeting rooms reminded me of Logan's Run.

"Lastday, Capricorn 29's.  Year of the City:  2274.  Carousel begins."

Looks Amazing - The Grand Budapest Hotel

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/thegrandbudapesthotel/

A Wes Anderson film with Ralph Fiennes, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman, Saoirse Ronan, Harvey Keitel, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton (hooray!), Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody.

Disney Trip 2013 - Epilogue Part 3: Orlando Air Quality

Nah, I'm just kidding.  That last one was my last post about the trip - hope you enjoyed it.

I'm ready to write about something else now.  Who wants to finance the next vacation?   :)

Disney Trip 2013 - Epilogue Part 2: My Disney Experience

Along with the Disney Magic Bands I wrote about in the last post, we also used the My Disney Experience website and app before and during our trip.

The website is a free to use portal where you can link and view your reservations, tickets, make fast pass selections, create to-do or wish lists, connect with friends who will be traveling with you, make dining reservations, and discover everything there is to do at the parks and resorts.

The My Disney Experience website

Disney Trip 2013 - Epilogue Part 1: Magic Bands

So, you may have seen in earlier posts these colorful bracelets that we and other people are wearing:

Blue for Brett

Green for Todd

These are Magic Bands.  They're currently being tested by Disney for some resort guests.  There's an RFID chip inside that uniquely identifies each Magic Band.  They are used for:  hotel room keys, tickets to enter the park, fast passes, purchases (if you choose), reservations, etc.  They're also used in conjunction with photos taken in the parks by Disney photographers, which are everywhere.  Any time you get your picture made, say in front of the castle, at a meet and greet with a character, in front of the giant sorcerer's hat at Hollywood Studios, etc., you simply tap your Magic Band to the photographer's pad afterward.  Then your done.  During your trip, or when you get home after your vacation you can go online and review all the photos that were taken, and pay to download only the ones you want.

In addition, many gift shops at Walt Disney World sell optional accessories in several flavors:  Magic Band covers (sleeves which envelop the entire band to give it a different appearance), "sliders" that are like big character charms that fit over the band and frame the Mickey on top, and "MagicBandits" which are small character charms that plug into the empty holes on the wristband.

I was going to make this a longer post, but just watch the video at the end - it shows all the Magic Band features.

About Last Night

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve, and even managed to stay up this year!  Thank you Shenny for the amazing champagne - I can't rave enough about it.  Alas, it is no more *hic*.

Chilling in the sink

Tiny bubbles.  Does anyone remember the Don Ho show?  :o)

Good Times!

Anderson Cooper, Kathy Griffin, and Veuve Clicquot = my New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Eve, and that your next year is better than your last!

Continuing on the theme from my Christmas posts (here and here):

New Year's Eve 2000 - London Eye

New Year's Day 2001 - London New Year's Day Parade

Disney Trip 2013 - Day 8

Today's our last day - our flight leaves at 7:25pm tonight.  Woke up exhausted - lack of sleep the night before last and our very late night combined with the long day yesterday has taken it's toll.  I'm pretty zombie-ish and focus on getting packed and ready to go.  I'm accused of ruining our last vacation morning.  Words are exchanged.  It takes us a few minutes to work through it, then we're good again.

We head downstairs to the airline check-in stand beside the hotel entrance.  We check our luggage and wait for the bus to Animal Kingdom.  One of Todd's favorite rides, Kali River Rapids, was closed for refurbishment this week.  A plus of having to shift the trip by two days is that now it's open and we can ride it before we leave - I got us fast passes a couple of days before using the My Disney Experience app (still more on that later).  As an added bonus, Jackie is going to meet us again today to spend a little time before we have to leave.

Disney Trip 2013 - Day 7

Saturday, December 14th.  Today is our only full day at Disney's Hollywood Studios, so let's get going!

The park opened at 9am to the public, but today was an Extra Magic Hours day for resort guests.  That meant that people staying on-property in a Disney hotel could get into the park an hour early at 8am.  We decided to take full advantage of this and slept in.

We did manage to get up and get going early enough to walk past all the people waiting at the gate and make it inside the park by 8:45, which was more than enough time to ride Rock 'n' Roller coaster and get in a 5 minute line for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  Check, and check.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is such a sweet ride.  Launching 0-60mph in under 3 seconds, zipping through 3 inversions in the dark, flying by and through lit up neon signs, all while Aerosmith cranks out of speakers by your headrest - not to mention how smooth the ride is - this is a perfect roller coaster!  I could ride it over and over again if the line wasn't long.