I'm not going to bother with Disney horses that have died and been well and thoroughly beaten. So, ON WITH THE SHOW!
The show started with your intrepid heroes stuck for four hours on the I-4. People died so I really have no right complaining but taking almost five hours to get a major interstate reopened? Get your shit together people.
This actually set the right tone for the trip. We were annoyed, then frantically trying to find a better way then finally, as our Fastpass+ time for Toy Story ticked passed, we made peace with a simple notion: This was not a commando style tour. What we see, we see. What we do, we do.
We roll up into Disney Hollywood Studios in the afternoon and pick up a pair of MagicBands. These store all the stuff that is on your ticket before as well as your Fastpass+ stuff. You just touch Mickey's face to the face of the reader and you are set. Getting the ticket changed into a band was trivially easy even with a person who was in the process of being trained. Having had time to ponder what they are good for, I have noticed some non-obvious things.
First, these are a great source of income for Disney. They charge $20 for a cheap piece of plastic with an RFID chip and will sell you lots of crap to decorate your cheap piece of plastic. They will quickly make back all the money they spent and then some. They are mostly handy if you are a day guest but they are insanely cool if you are staying onsite since it's just as cool as the "Keys to the Kingdom" card but...on your wrist. That said: WHO THE HELL thought a rubberized piece of plastic worn on your body is a good idea in Orlando? SERIOUSLY!? Fears of using the RFID to track you everywhere you go are seriously off-base. You have to pretty much get the thing flat on the reader to get it to work. The signal is VERY low powered. It is almost exactly as much exposure as the "Keys to the Kingdom" room keys.
In practice, the thing is a bother for the experienced park commando. If you knew how to use the Disney apps and paper Fastpasses and which lines were full when, you are going to be crippled. You get three Fastpass+ passes and only one is an "E Ticket" type ride. Do you remember the tickets? If not, here is some history. I'm not making that comparison lightly because that is EXACTLY what the My Disney Experience is; a return to tickets by different means. The thing about a book of tickets was that you had a MESS of "A" "B" and "C" tickets...there was always something fun you could be doing. You had a few "D" and very few "E" tickets. The end result was that instead of everyone riding the very best ride over and over and over and over, making the wait interminable, you had incentive to see the less glitzy but still dead fun attractions.
That's what's happening here. Since you get two "A" "B" or "C" type tickets to every one "D" or "E" ticket ride, people use them. People are more evenly spread through the parks because they are taking in the Country Bear Jamboree or the Jungle Cruise instead of lining up for hours to ride The Haunted Mansion. So, for the average guest who doesn't care to learn how to work the system, this means less catastrophic lines and they are happy. So I give the whole thing a B. It's a money maker and it makes the park less painful for casual guests. If you knew how to work the system, It's a D+.
The first day we got to spend a little time with Jen, always time well spent and we did the Fantasmic Dining Package. This, boys and girls is the ONLY way to see Fantasmic. A decent dinner and good seats for the show. While not as epic as Illuminations, Fantasmic is damned awesome.
Day 2 was the Magic Kingdom with John our VIP Tour Guide. This is utterly outside my tax bracket. The absolute minimum this service will cost you is $1890 for six hours...and it was good enough that if this figure is something that can be managed by time leading up to your visit, do it. ESPECIALLY if this is a "once in a lifetime" trip. First, let me tell you what that covers. That gets you, a fastpass to everything that offers a fastpass...which is most of the things at Magic Kingdom. To give you an idea, in our six hours we covered pretty much everything but Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean (which was closed) and got front row seats to the new parade. The guide also picks up the tab on your drinks...and snacks...AND a sit down lunch. YES, Including character meals. YES...even that one. John is also an utterly charming man, he could out trivia me and had a genuine passion about his job. He has actually taught Traditions, the new cast member orientation class about what it means to be a cast member because he lives it. He was helpful and kind to everyone we ran across and would stop to tidy if he saw the need.
We had Dinner at Be Our Guest and it also absolutely lived up to the hype. We started with the Potato Leek Soup and the French Onion Soup...get the French Onion. The Potato Leek is amazing. The French Onion is better. For the entree, the Herb-Crusted Lamb Rack and The Braised Pork (Coq au vin style) were both equally amazing. We had to have The Grey Stuff for dessert and it was delicious. The other desserts looked better but... THE GREY STUFF!!! The atmosphere was amazing even by Disney standards. You enter via heavy double doors with one person charged with lighting the way with the candelabra. We were seated in the main dining room, which does look exactly like the ballroom brought to life. We toured the place and found the rose in the haunted West Wing and the music box Maurice made for the happy couple in the Rose Gallery. Before leaving we bid our thanks to Prince Adam for a lovely evening.
Day 3 Started with breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe...yes this was delicious and plentiful and a lot of fun. Anyday that starts with a mimosa and sausage gravy is bound to be good. The potatoes needed a little ketchup...be sure to ask for some if you visit. The rest of the day was a typical day at Epcot...except for the FREAKING MONSOON! Which was followed with some serious heat. Which combines with the water to make 98% humidity. Weather Underground said that it "felt like" 146 degrees. We soldiered on and ate and drank our way around the Flower & Garden Show which was...okay. Flowers were wilty, topiaries were cool but all the interesting sessions were over weeks ago.
Day 4 we slept in since we knew there would be a late night at Epcot. We had a good day at Epcot and dinner at The Coral Reef. This is officially off our list of recommended hits. The food was again kinda "meh" and the service was (again) dreadful. The huge fish tank is amazing but so not worth the trouble. Even after the manager having to bus our table we barely made it to our next fastpass.
Which was Illuminations. It was as awe inspiring as always. Then we made our way to the After Hours Wind Down at Spice Road Table. This is worth the price just to have a comfy place to sit (and eat and drink) while everyone heads to their cars. Having a deserted park to ourselves after was priceless. I hope I captured some good stuff.
Day 5 found us utterly exhausted. We rolled out of bed and headed off to Animal Kingdom. We did a commando tour of AK and made it back to the car just before the skies opened up again. We then began our way home.
Pictures to follow.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Walt would NOT approve
I am always a little annoyed when people speak for others. Be they forum trolls speaking for an imagined silent majority or those who wish to advance their own agenda by invoking the honored dead. I'm going to go out on a limb here and be part of the second group but really, I don't think I'm wrong here.
Disneyland is the example we have of how Walt thought to run a park. Admission was a $1 and $2.50 ($21.79 in today's money) bought you a book of tickets. The idea was that pretty much anyone could afford entry, those of the most modest means could ride all of the really fun rides (the books had more D & E tickets for the better rides than they had A tickets) and have a great time. The inclusion of the lesser valued tickets was also a bit of Roy-type genius since it encouraged people to see the less impressive attractions as well, thus spreading the traffic through the entire park fairly well and making lines more manageable.
That changed in 1982 and things got more...interesting. With the addition of the "Passport" ticket, rides were unlimited for all rides with predictable results. It was egalitarian in that everyone could ride until they got bored of standing in the line and boy were there lines. The price had also jumped to the equivalent of $35.88 in today's money. Considering that this also covered the newly opened EPCOT Center at Disney World, it was quite a bargain and people flocked to Orlando in droves, in spite of the lines.
As Walt Disney World grew, they began to master the art of line management. They started using techniques from the rides with the highest throughput... and the vast majority of early EPCOT Center rides looked a *lot* like a redressed Haunted Mansion with the highly efficient OmniMover. They also began making the lines more entertaining, informative and interactive. Occasionally, they were even downright sneaky with lots of blind turns so someone standing in line always thought the ride was just right around the next corner...in spite of the hour they would be standing there. People were less annoyed with standing in long lines but it could be better.
In late 1999, they came up with an answer, the Fastpass. The idea was a simple one, by allowing guests to get an advance ticket for the front of the line they managed to make lines shorter overall by making sure that the rides maximum capacity was used as much as possible. So, people spent more time walking about (eating delicious and overpriced churros and turkey legs) and riding rides. Since this service cost nothing additional, it worked quite well. You could enjoy a nice laconic day and still get some rides in or if you were in the company of a Fastpass master like Jen Juneau, you could ride a staggering number of rides in a very short time.
Then along came Fastpass+ and I am not amused. Since the normal Fastpass isn't going away this will mean that people staying at Disney resorts will have their Fastpasses before people are even allowed into the park. This means that even if you are at the front of the mob at rope drop and move as quickly (and safely) as possible to the ride...you are still going to wait. As normal Fastpasses start to be given out as well, rides that always run at full capacity (like Toy Story Mania) will have the Standby wait grow longer as now two groups of people will be allowed to go to the front of the line.
The last straw for me was adding the lunch service for Be Our Guest restaurant to the "attractions." To give you an idea of how egregious this really is, let me explain Be Our Guest for the non-Disney Park freaks. Be Our Guest is a new restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. It is modeled after the castle of The Beast from Beauty and the Beast and it. is. GORGEOUS. As a result, you will not be able to get dinner reservations unless you are staying at a Disney Resort.
Oh! I forgot to mention that existing perk: If you are staying at one of their resorts, you can potentially book your dining reservations up to 10 days before they open to the general public (it's not EXACTLY that simple but close enough) and as a result all of the dinner slots for Be Our Guest are gone within moments of them being available to the general public and in busy seasons, the general public never gets a chance.
But be of good cheer! Lunch is a "counter service" which means that you get in a line, you stand in the line, when you get to the front of the line you buy food, you sit, you eat. Or so it was. Now that this is considered an attraction with Fastpass+, you'll have people who are staying at Disney resorts walk right on past you as stand in line waiting even longer. So, Disney effectively is keeping their most popular restaurant for resort guests only.
Reading all this, I'm sure you are thinking; well that's no problem then, we will just stay there. I don't want to go into a huge discussion on the virtues of on vs off site but I'll just say that unless you plan on spending more OR don't mind staying in a loud, sticky Motel 6 that has been brightly decorated with Disney characters, this might not be for you...as a matter of fact, I can't help but think that this is the problem they are trying to solve...they aren't moving the resort rooms like they used to.
My guess is that Doreen and I are not the only ones who have been to one of the Disney resorts and came away unhappy with either the price or the quality of the stay and vowed not to return. I don't mind them adding new perks to staying at the Disney resorts to try to fill those rooms; a hotel is a business that needs to fill rooms.
I do resent them deciding that these on-site perks would be most cost effective at the expense of the "day guest." No matter how I price a Disney vacation, it's not exactly a cheap affair and I deeply resent that kind of total outlay to be treated as a second-class guest. If my choices are that or booking a hotel that I would never even consider for any other reason, Disney can (as it was summed up on facebook) kiss my ass.
Disneyland is the example we have of how Walt thought to run a park. Admission was a $1 and $2.50 ($21.79 in today's money) bought you a book of tickets. The idea was that pretty much anyone could afford entry, those of the most modest means could ride all of the really fun rides (the books had more D & E tickets for the better rides than they had A tickets) and have a great time. The inclusion of the lesser valued tickets was also a bit of Roy-type genius since it encouraged people to see the less impressive attractions as well, thus spreading the traffic through the entire park fairly well and making lines more manageable.
That changed in 1982 and things got more...interesting. With the addition of the "Passport" ticket, rides were unlimited for all rides with predictable results. It was egalitarian in that everyone could ride until they got bored of standing in the line and boy were there lines. The price had also jumped to the equivalent of $35.88 in today's money. Considering that this also covered the newly opened EPCOT Center at Disney World, it was quite a bargain and people flocked to Orlando in droves, in spite of the lines.
As Walt Disney World grew, they began to master the art of line management. They started using techniques from the rides with the highest throughput... and the vast majority of early EPCOT Center rides looked a *lot* like a redressed Haunted Mansion with the highly efficient OmniMover. They also began making the lines more entertaining, informative and interactive. Occasionally, they were even downright sneaky with lots of blind turns so someone standing in line always thought the ride was just right around the next corner...in spite of the hour they would be standing there. People were less annoyed with standing in long lines but it could be better.
In late 1999, they came up with an answer, the Fastpass. The idea was a simple one, by allowing guests to get an advance ticket for the front of the line they managed to make lines shorter overall by making sure that the rides maximum capacity was used as much as possible. So, people spent more time walking about (eating delicious and overpriced churros and turkey legs) and riding rides. Since this service cost nothing additional, it worked quite well. You could enjoy a nice laconic day and still get some rides in or if you were in the company of a Fastpass master like Jen Juneau, you could ride a staggering number of rides in a very short time.
Then along came Fastpass+ and I am not amused. Since the normal Fastpass isn't going away this will mean that people staying at Disney resorts will have their Fastpasses before people are even allowed into the park. This means that even if you are at the front of the mob at rope drop and move as quickly (and safely) as possible to the ride...you are still going to wait. As normal Fastpasses start to be given out as well, rides that always run at full capacity (like Toy Story Mania) will have the Standby wait grow longer as now two groups of people will be allowed to go to the front of the line.
The last straw for me was adding the lunch service for Be Our Guest restaurant to the "attractions." To give you an idea of how egregious this really is, let me explain Be Our Guest for the non-Disney Park freaks. Be Our Guest is a new restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. It is modeled after the castle of The Beast from Beauty and the Beast and it. is. GORGEOUS. As a result, you will not be able to get dinner reservations unless you are staying at a Disney Resort.
Oh! I forgot to mention that existing perk: If you are staying at one of their resorts, you can potentially book your dining reservations up to 10 days before they open to the general public (it's not EXACTLY that simple but close enough) and as a result all of the dinner slots for Be Our Guest are gone within moments of them being available to the general public and in busy seasons, the general public never gets a chance.
But be of good cheer! Lunch is a "counter service" which means that you get in a line, you stand in the line, when you get to the front of the line you buy food, you sit, you eat. Or so it was. Now that this is considered an attraction with Fastpass+, you'll have people who are staying at Disney resorts walk right on past you as stand in line waiting even longer. So, Disney effectively is keeping their most popular restaurant for resort guests only.
Reading all this, I'm sure you are thinking; well that's no problem then, we will just stay there. I don't want to go into a huge discussion on the virtues of on vs off site but I'll just say that unless you plan on spending more OR don't mind staying in a loud, sticky Motel 6 that has been brightly decorated with Disney characters, this might not be for you...as a matter of fact, I can't help but think that this is the problem they are trying to solve...they aren't moving the resort rooms like they used to.
My guess is that Doreen and I are not the only ones who have been to one of the Disney resorts and came away unhappy with either the price or the quality of the stay and vowed not to return. I don't mind them adding new perks to staying at the Disney resorts to try to fill those rooms; a hotel is a business that needs to fill rooms.
I do resent them deciding that these on-site perks would be most cost effective at the expense of the "day guest." No matter how I price a Disney vacation, it's not exactly a cheap affair and I deeply resent that kind of total outlay to be treated as a second-class guest. If my choices are that or booking a hotel that I would never even consider for any other reason, Disney can (as it was summed up on facebook) kiss my ass.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The big lie
Now for the second thing that diet programs don't want you to know.
This gets a little ugly so grab a seat and a beverage. Okay so are you or have you been obese? I'm not talking a little overweight, I'm talking class II (BMI 35.0–39.9) or class III (BMI >40) obese. Then I have some bad news, you are going to die that way and sooner rather than later.
That escalated quickly, didn't it? Do I have your attention? Statistically speaking, what I'm saying is true. Recovery rate on obesity is between 5-10% depending on where you got your number...and the majority of them were class I. I'm laying this really harsh slice of truth out for one reason; I think the line of bullshit that most diet programs and their followers espouse does a huge disservice to the nature of the struggle that will have to happen if you want to be that 5-10%. I don't think this can be stressed enough. Obese people are in a fight for their lives both on a very real level and for the quality of life they will have while on the way to their early, early graves.
Some of the things I constantly hear might not be lies to the person saying them. My personal favorite is: "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels." This is so amazingly untrue that I fear that the ground would open up and swallow me if I ever utter this statement. If it's true for you, great...shut your fucking noise hole because you are being the opposite of helpful...and I'm going to have to explain that now before I go on with other examples.
When you are class II and III obese your life is one of pain, both physical and emotional as well as the subject of ridicule and torment both tacitly and occasionally maliciously. It starts to sink in and even the strongest people start to pick up some heavy scar tissue. So, when encountering a statement like that, when OBVIOUSLY food has been a driving force in their lives for so long, what they hear is; "You are not normal...you are different even from reformed obese people and you are wrong." So they parrot it to fit in, they hope that since everyone says it, there will be some magic turning point where it becomes true and when they realize that point will never come, it's a harsh slice of reality.
There is also the very specific admonition that if you commit to this life change, your body will at some point start to crave the more nutrient dense, lower caloric density foods that fuel it best. You can be re-trained and your fabulous life will be on course from here on out. That's another confidence destroying lie. People don't become obese by accident. Programs pretend that people don't know how to eat, lack the habits and lack the knowledge because that's the facile and comfortable lie that will keep clients paying. The truth is, they knew what they were doing while they were doing it and were powerless to stop it. I was fully present in every delicious bite and I know full well that even if I hit goal weight and meet fitness goals that would make 18 year old men weep, I would still want to do it again.
and remember those mental scars I was talking about? That's the next lie. It's never told explicitly but part of what is sold is this fabulous, active, healthy and amazing life you will be living. Yea, that doesn't happen. If you've been obese for a while, your confidence is rough around the edges, you still believe a lot of what you could hear people whispering about you. In your mind, you are still the ugly stupid whale that everyone rejected and ignored. You still feel more comfortable at home, alone, maybe with a book, a chat room, a computer game, Ben & Jerry...wait, what? Yes. That's exactly how it happens.
There is no award ceremony where you are given an award, people treat you with new found respect and you become confident, suave and charismatic. You are still the person you were but with a few more active hobbies and this new person owns smaller pants...but the pizza guy knows your name, greets you warmly and always has something that makes you feel good, if only for a little while.
So, to sum it up: It never becomes easy nor intuitive. Your body doesn't crave healthy food nor is it retrained to have a better sense of satiety. Plus you're likely a lot more socially awkward than most...and you know you are just going to end up fat again.
That's what it's REALLY like.
People should know that. This is going to be hard work, DAMNED hard work and you are going to have to do it for the rest of your life. No one will care and you are going to have to lose a lot of baggage to be living the life they promise in the commercial. Every day will be a struggle to not give in to the ever present temptations of gluttony and sloth. Gluttony and sloth that are programmed into your DNA as having won at the game of life...not to mention a food industry that spends billions of dollars to find ways to make the cheapest to prepare and nutritionally empty foods taste orgasmically good. It's going to be hard and it's going to suck and no one is going to understand.
The only way I can deal with this is to remind myself that I'm worth it.
Even if my knee prevents me from running again, I can easily fit into cars, I can buy pants in any store that sells them, I can easily get up from a seated position, I can walk up a flight of stairs easily, I can tie my shoes and I can enjoy more years with my friends and my family and my wife and yea... Pizza still tastes better than thin feels, LOTS better but I want all those other things more than I want that feeling.
This gets a little ugly so grab a seat and a beverage. Okay so are you or have you been obese? I'm not talking a little overweight, I'm talking class II (BMI 35.0–39.9) or class III (BMI >40) obese. Then I have some bad news, you are going to die that way and sooner rather than later.
That escalated quickly, didn't it? Do I have your attention? Statistically speaking, what I'm saying is true. Recovery rate on obesity is between 5-10% depending on where you got your number...and the majority of them were class I. I'm laying this really harsh slice of truth out for one reason; I think the line of bullshit that most diet programs and their followers espouse does a huge disservice to the nature of the struggle that will have to happen if you want to be that 5-10%. I don't think this can be stressed enough. Obese people are in a fight for their lives both on a very real level and for the quality of life they will have while on the way to their early, early graves.
Some of the things I constantly hear might not be lies to the person saying them. My personal favorite is: "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels." This is so amazingly untrue that I fear that the ground would open up and swallow me if I ever utter this statement. If it's true for you, great...shut your fucking noise hole because you are being the opposite of helpful...and I'm going to have to explain that now before I go on with other examples.
When you are class II and III obese your life is one of pain, both physical and emotional as well as the subject of ridicule and torment both tacitly and occasionally maliciously. It starts to sink in and even the strongest people start to pick up some heavy scar tissue. So, when encountering a statement like that, when OBVIOUSLY food has been a driving force in their lives for so long, what they hear is; "You are not normal...you are different even from reformed obese people and you are wrong." So they parrot it to fit in, they hope that since everyone says it, there will be some magic turning point where it becomes true and when they realize that point will never come, it's a harsh slice of reality.
There is also the very specific admonition that if you commit to this life change, your body will at some point start to crave the more nutrient dense, lower caloric density foods that fuel it best. You can be re-trained and your fabulous life will be on course from here on out. That's another confidence destroying lie. People don't become obese by accident. Programs pretend that people don't know how to eat, lack the habits and lack the knowledge because that's the facile and comfortable lie that will keep clients paying. The truth is, they knew what they were doing while they were doing it and were powerless to stop it. I was fully present in every delicious bite and I know full well that even if I hit goal weight and meet fitness goals that would make 18 year old men weep, I would still want to do it again.
and remember those mental scars I was talking about? That's the next lie. It's never told explicitly but part of what is sold is this fabulous, active, healthy and amazing life you will be living. Yea, that doesn't happen. If you've been obese for a while, your confidence is rough around the edges, you still believe a lot of what you could hear people whispering about you. In your mind, you are still the ugly stupid whale that everyone rejected and ignored. You still feel more comfortable at home, alone, maybe with a book, a chat room, a computer game, Ben & Jerry...wait, what? Yes. That's exactly how it happens.
There is no award ceremony where you are given an award, people treat you with new found respect and you become confident, suave and charismatic. You are still the person you were but with a few more active hobbies and this new person owns smaller pants...but the pizza guy knows your name, greets you warmly and always has something that makes you feel good, if only for a little while.
So, to sum it up: It never becomes easy nor intuitive. Your body doesn't crave healthy food nor is it retrained to have a better sense of satiety. Plus you're likely a lot more socially awkward than most...and you know you are just going to end up fat again.
That's what it's REALLY like.
People should know that. This is going to be hard work, DAMNED hard work and you are going to have to do it for the rest of your life. No one will care and you are going to have to lose a lot of baggage to be living the life they promise in the commercial. Every day will be a struggle to not give in to the ever present temptations of gluttony and sloth. Gluttony and sloth that are programmed into your DNA as having won at the game of life...not to mention a food industry that spends billions of dollars to find ways to make the cheapest to prepare and nutritionally empty foods taste orgasmically good. It's going to be hard and it's going to suck and no one is going to understand.
The only way I can deal with this is to remind myself that I'm worth it.
Even if my knee prevents me from running again, I can easily fit into cars, I can buy pants in any store that sells them, I can easily get up from a seated position, I can walk up a flight of stairs easily, I can tie my shoes and I can enjoy more years with my friends and my family and my wife and yea... Pizza still tastes better than thin feels, LOTS better but I want all those other things more than I want that feeling.
You can get with this or you can get with...whatever you want to get with really
Maybe it's because Google has helped skew the news I see and my selection of friends has tilted the news I see in favor of things health and fitness related or maybe as silly crap like Bloomberg's soda ban screams for attention but the inherent wrongness is getting under my skin.
I'm going to break this all down in the most simple and real terms possible. People gain weight because they eat more than they need. That's all. Since we love us a quick fix and tricks to get ahead, we are always looking for an angle...and so, we are given one. It's carbs that make us fat, it's high fructose corn syrup, it's GMO foods, it's the food industry, it's the additives, it's gluten, it's the fat... NO! Own this or learn to be happy at whatever weight you have; you gain weight when you put too much into your gob.
Conversely, if you want to lose weight, put less into that pie hole than you need. It's very simple. At this point people chime in espousing Weight Watchers, Paleo, gluten-free, Spark, cabbage soup, fasts, cleanses, shakes, powders, potions and substitutes.
...and they all work
...and they are all bullshit
They work because each of them reduces your calorie intake and they try to do so without impacting your sense of satiety so that you don't stuff that hungry cake pit. They are all bullshit because they sell this notion that they have the "secret sauce." That there is something about the way that they reduce your calorie intake that is special and unique. Some of them work better than others and the ones that do, it's for two reasons, they work better at keeping you from being hungry and more importantly, they acknowledge the single simple truth about intake in a tacit way. These are the programs that demand you log everything you put in your mouth.
If you are going to manage to follow the single truth about losing weight, you need to know exactly two things: "How much energy does my body need?" "How much energy is in this food?" If you don't know these two things, your weight loss will be hit and miss and when you are done with your weight loss, you'll resume overeating (that's how you got overweight in the first place) and the cycle will continue.
BUT WHAT ABOUT EXERCISE!?!
Don't worry, I'm going to piss all over that like a drunken alley cat next post.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Disney part 2
This is where the intrepid heroes start to realize that they made some bad choices.
We finished our dinner with plenty of time to make it to the Magic Kingdom extra magic hours so we decide to hop in the car and head on over to the Ticket & Transportation Center so that we didn't have to come back to the hotel. We hop on the monorail (por favor, mantangense alejado de las puertas) and are at Magic Kingdom just as the sun was going down and the lights were coming up.
Magic Kingdom was lovely and we got some wonderful pictures of the park at night. I was profoundly stupid getting on the Journey of the Little Mermaid. I decided that the lens I had attached wasn't the best choice and was making a quick swap as we entered our clam and I lost my grip on my camera bag. It landed with a loud *THUNK* and in my mind a lot of valuable glass had just been turned into valueless powdered shards. It's also worth noting that this loud impact caused me to utter words that one should not utter in the Magic Kingdom...and I didn't use my "inside voice" to do so. At the end of the ride, the cast members were kind enough to quickly retrieve my bag with a fully operational lens still inside. We shot some more pictures and went to go back to our hotel.
We made for the exit in high spirits and saw most of the monorail entrances were roped off. We went to the one open entrance and a cast member shouted "The monorail isn't running!"
Whaaaaaaaaa?
So we wait at the boat dock and let me tell you how Disney lies without lying. If you are part of a huge summer crowd, the cast members (trying to steer suckers to the ferry) will tell you that the monorail and the ferry take the same time to cross the lagoon and that is true. What they don't tell you is that you will stand there for 10 minutes waiting for the ferry, spend another 15 minutes boarding the ferry and another 5 securing the boat and exiting. As we sit on the uncomfortable bench we feel more than a bit scammed.
We finally make it back to our car and are on our way back to our room. Sorta. You see there is little consistency to the directional signs on Disney property. Think fast! Is Pop Century a "Magic Kingdom Area Resort," "Disney Hollywood Studios Area Resort," "Animal Kingdom Area Resort," or an "ESPN Area Resort?" Well, we guessed wrong. Since Disney roads handle a LOT of traffic, many of the directional changes are on and off ramps instead of intersections. So, you get turned around and find the signs now are for specific resorts...but not ours. So two turn abouts later, we find ourselves back at the room at around midnight as we are exhausted and decide to sleep in a bit.
One of the many unsupervised children decides to overrule this, banging on the metal railing that runs the length of the resort. This produces a noise not unlike a gong right outside your door, a door that is made of aluminum foil and some sort of sound amplifying membrane. So with 6 hours of sleep we put on our happy face and go to breakfast.
Now let me preface this with Doreen and I have been in military chow halls. Quite a few of them in fact and NOTHING prepared us for this. We are immediately greeted with a floor and most surfaces covered in... lightly used food. Crumbs, spills, sloshes and good ole fashioned thrown food are every where. We also quickly notice that there are about half as many tables as there are diners. Well, this will be fun. We decide on the omelet station. We quickly realize that the omelets are made somewhere "backstage" and held in huge steam trays. The "hash browns" are similarly industrial potatoes. I get a side of sausage that looks a lot like McSausage and we move on to pastries. This is a full-contact sport. Kids and teens facing the morning without their sugar will push, shove and bite. We got our bounty and went to pay and pay we did. So we finally found a table that was only slightly sticky to eat our apparently gold plated Mcfood. It was horrible. The eggs were dry, the sausage tasteless and the danish, well the danish didn't suck but Disney is pretty good with bakery items.
We head back over to Disney Hollywood Studios. There is still stuff to be seen and our dining reservations are there. We spend the morning touring and are in a fairly good mood when we head over to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. This was hugely fun! The "tables" are all made to look like cars. The bad news is that there are three double seats, so unless you come with a big family, your dining experience is very much at the mercy of other people. The food was good but the atmosphere was stellar. We both ordered the "All American Picnic Burger" and that was a mistake that would haunt us. It's a burger topped with a hot dog. I was imagining a non-full sized burger and non-full sized dog. There is one drawback to this place: The seating is close and table is narrow. If you are "Pooh sized" or have a lot of tackle, you are not going to enjoy this. A small camera bag and an SLR were problematic.
We enjoyed more park and all too soon our dinner reservations were up. This was our first time at the Hollywood Brown Derby and we enjoyed it. Our waitress was a bit confused and we had to specifically ask for silverware, straws and (not making this up) plates. We both agreed that the food was quite good. Not the best we'd had on site nor the best value but it was a very good evening. Cue Yakety Sax for figuring out which way back to the resort. We then find out how lucky we are with our stained room with grimy grout. We hear our next door neighbor out on the walkway alternating between tears and rage. She's spent the last three days with a malfunctioning door lock that she can't get anyone to fix. The problem today is that she can't even really leave the general area since her phone is behind the locked and now unopenable door so they have no way to reach her if they deign to dispatch a maintenance man and she missed most of a park day so far waiting. Walt Disney World has recently gone to a RFID device for room keys and tickets and apparently it's not fully baked yet.
So ends day 2. We had fun, though not as much as we had liked. Typically you go to Disney because they pay attention to the little things. When they stop that level of attention, you realize you are paying a lot of money for a really pretty amusement park.
We finished our dinner with plenty of time to make it to the Magic Kingdom extra magic hours so we decide to hop in the car and head on over to the Ticket & Transportation Center so that we didn't have to come back to the hotel. We hop on the monorail (por favor, mantangense alejado de las puertas) and are at Magic Kingdom just as the sun was going down and the lights were coming up.
Magic Kingdom was lovely and we got some wonderful pictures of the park at night. I was profoundly stupid getting on the Journey of the Little Mermaid. I decided that the lens I had attached wasn't the best choice and was making a quick swap as we entered our clam and I lost my grip on my camera bag. It landed with a loud *THUNK* and in my mind a lot of valuable glass had just been turned into valueless powdered shards. It's also worth noting that this loud impact caused me to utter words that one should not utter in the Magic Kingdom...and I didn't use my "inside voice" to do so. At the end of the ride, the cast members were kind enough to quickly retrieve my bag with a fully operational lens still inside. We shot some more pictures and went to go back to our hotel.
We made for the exit in high spirits and saw most of the monorail entrances were roped off. We went to the one open entrance and a cast member shouted "The monorail isn't running!"
Whaaaaaaaaa?
So we wait at the boat dock and let me tell you how Disney lies without lying. If you are part of a huge summer crowd, the cast members (trying to steer suckers to the ferry) will tell you that the monorail and the ferry take the same time to cross the lagoon and that is true. What they don't tell you is that you will stand there for 10 minutes waiting for the ferry, spend another 15 minutes boarding the ferry and another 5 securing the boat and exiting. As we sit on the uncomfortable bench we feel more than a bit scammed.
We finally make it back to our car and are on our way back to our room. Sorta. You see there is little consistency to the directional signs on Disney property. Think fast! Is Pop Century a "Magic Kingdom Area Resort," "Disney Hollywood Studios Area Resort," "Animal Kingdom Area Resort," or an "ESPN Area Resort?" Well, we guessed wrong. Since Disney roads handle a LOT of traffic, many of the directional changes are on and off ramps instead of intersections. So, you get turned around and find the signs now are for specific resorts...but not ours. So two turn abouts later, we find ourselves back at the room at around midnight as we are exhausted and decide to sleep in a bit.
One of the many unsupervised children decides to overrule this, banging on the metal railing that runs the length of the resort. This produces a noise not unlike a gong right outside your door, a door that is made of aluminum foil and some sort of sound amplifying membrane. So with 6 hours of sleep we put on our happy face and go to breakfast.
Now let me preface this with Doreen and I have been in military chow halls. Quite a few of them in fact and NOTHING prepared us for this. We are immediately greeted with a floor and most surfaces covered in... lightly used food. Crumbs, spills, sloshes and good ole fashioned thrown food are every where. We also quickly notice that there are about half as many tables as there are diners. Well, this will be fun. We decide on the omelet station. We quickly realize that the omelets are made somewhere "backstage" and held in huge steam trays. The "hash browns" are similarly industrial potatoes. I get a side of sausage that looks a lot like McSausage and we move on to pastries. This is a full-contact sport. Kids and teens facing the morning without their sugar will push, shove and bite. We got our bounty and went to pay and pay we did. So we finally found a table that was only slightly sticky to eat our apparently gold plated Mcfood. It was horrible. The eggs were dry, the sausage tasteless and the danish, well the danish didn't suck but Disney is pretty good with bakery items.
We head back over to Disney Hollywood Studios. There is still stuff to be seen and our dining reservations are there. We spend the morning touring and are in a fairly good mood when we head over to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. This was hugely fun! The "tables" are all made to look like cars. The bad news is that there are three double seats, so unless you come with a big family, your dining experience is very much at the mercy of other people. The food was good but the atmosphere was stellar. We both ordered the "All American Picnic Burger" and that was a mistake that would haunt us. It's a burger topped with a hot dog. I was imagining a non-full sized burger and non-full sized dog. There is one drawback to this place: The seating is close and table is narrow. If you are "Pooh sized" or have a lot of tackle, you are not going to enjoy this. A small camera bag and an SLR were problematic.
We enjoyed more park and all too soon our dinner reservations were up. This was our first time at the Hollywood Brown Derby and we enjoyed it. Our waitress was a bit confused and we had to specifically ask for silverware, straws and (not making this up) plates. We both agreed that the food was quite good. Not the best we'd had on site nor the best value but it was a very good evening. Cue Yakety Sax for figuring out which way back to the resort. We then find out how lucky we are with our stained room with grimy grout. We hear our next door neighbor out on the walkway alternating between tears and rage. She's spent the last three days with a malfunctioning door lock that she can't get anyone to fix. The problem today is that she can't even really leave the general area since her phone is behind the locked and now unopenable door so they have no way to reach her if they deign to dispatch a maintenance man and she missed most of a park day so far waiting. Walt Disney World has recently gone to a RFID device for room keys and tickets and apparently it's not fully baked yet.
So ends day 2. We had fun, though not as much as we had liked. Typically you go to Disney because they pay attention to the little things. When they stop that level of attention, you realize you are paying a lot of money for a really pretty amusement park.
and we all learned something
Despite careful planning, this was the worst trip to Disney we've done...and that includes the one in '08 when we showed up on a whim.
It started with a failure on our part. We worked late into the night to make sure everything would be ready so that we could just grab our bags and leave. Which is a good plan if your alarm doesn't have a snooze. So, 40 minutes later than we thought we were out the door.
The first few hours of the road trip were uneventful. We were making good time but since there were other cars on the road as we went around the Baltimore and the DC beltway, we hadn't made up any time. Then north of Emporia, VA, the state police happened. We didn't get a ticket, we got a stupid. We were driving along when traffic began to slow and eventually stop. We were in very slow, stop and go traffic for about 10 minutes when we came upon a sign warning about an emergency ahead. We spend the next hour going a mile or two. We see a crew dash past on the shoulder with signs and pylons. I try to keep my perspective. Up ahead someone is having a far worse day than we are...but I'm really getting frustrated. Finally we get encouraged when motion becomes consistent, slow but consistent.
That's when we realize that it's because we are being detoured off of I-95. All of the traffic from I-95 is being sent to some two lane road in the middle of no-where VA. Great. So we finally get on the exit ramp only to find that there is no "detour." No sign, no indication where to go, just...get off the road. We make a quick right to check maps and gain bearings. This road does go south and does have another exit back on to I-95. GREAT! As we get turned around, we go over the I-95 overpass (with a police officer blocking the on-ramp) and see that traffic below is us MOVING. WHAAAAAA? We decide that the officer will surely re-open the ramp at any moment so we turn back around and head back to the ramp...where he still sits. So we turn around again and this time I slow and roll down a window to ask him if he was going to re-open the ramp since obviously the road was now open and I'm very angrily waved off. So we proceeded with the "B" plan in place and went for another 10 miles or so down a two lane and got back on I-95. We were now 2 hours behind with three states left to cross.
All set-backs tallied, we rolled into Jacksonville, FL at 10:30pm, NOT the 8:00pm we had originally planned on. Still! We are in Jacksonville and a short drive away from the most magical place on earth! We slept in a bit, deciding that we would forgo some morning park goodness in favor of sleep. Our math put us at Disney by 10:30am and that would give us plenty of time to get checked in, get to the park and meet up with Jen & Josh in time for our lunch date at 12:20pm. We had clearly never dealt with staying at a Disney resort.
We arrived at Disney's Pop Century right on time and were encouraged by there being a separate line for people who had done the on-line check-in process. At this point they just needed to hand out information, keys, explain the few ins and outs, collect a signature and done. With four people ahead of us, we thought we might get some park time in anyway. At 10:45 the line had yet to move. There were three cast members working check-in and we were at the front of the line by 11:15. That's not a misprint nor an exaggeration. We spent 45 minutes in line behind FOUR people.
We are much relieved to finally get to the counter. It's 15 minutes to the park, so maybe we'd at least get to ride something. The nice woman took our information and told us our room wasn't ready and that was fine, check-in isn't until 3pm but we just wanted to check-in so that we could get into the park. This was not good enough for Disney. They are going to put you into a room unreasonably early even if it takes all day. So she picks up a phone to talk to people in house keeping to find out what rooms were ready. This is another 10 minutes gone. So, she hands us our key as well as a circled map as directions to our building. Notice she didn't explain anything about the resorts, or tickets or transportation...this will bite us in the ass later.
Disney resorts being huge we decide to get a bell cart. Complication: All of the real bell carts are in use by the luggage delivery service...who can deliver my luggage to my room sometime in the next hour or so. I look at my watch and um, that's no good. So, we sign our life away for the use of a hand truck. We then spend a few minutes trying to figure out the vague signs (remember we have no clue where our building is) to find our room. We find our tiny and dingy room. The bed is a bit sway-backed but feels okay, the carpeting very short napped and deeply stained and the bathroom grout has apparently never been scrubbed. We quickly toss suitcases into a corner and go to the safe to secure our valuables...which unless your valuables are a pair of iPads or half a ream of legal sized paper, you are SOL, even my smallest camera lens would not fit. We aren't feeling the value in the value resorts. It's about 11:45 so we will head straight to Disney Hollywood Studios.
That part all went according to plan. We arrived without incident, met Jen & Josh, had a great lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, a favorite for a good "homestyle" meal and a fun experience. Thanks to Jen's formidable skills at Fastpassery we got a lot of fun in before we had to leave to make our dinner reservations. We arrived a few minutes early and we were quickly seated at our last minute second choice of a restaurant.
Usually we like to kick our trips off at 'Ohana. This is a "family style" all-you-can-eat. It's an endless parade of veggies and meat cooked over a roaring fire with some fun entertainment. This year they went to a cheaper cut of pork and took several of the dipping sauces off the service and as the final insult, they messed with the heaping bowl of broccoli that is usually one of the courses...and I'm SO GLAD they did or we would have never gone to Kona Cafe.
Kona is the flip side of 'Ohana. It's small, it's quiet and it has a fairly sophisticated menu. It quickly leaped into the top five restaurants I'd instantly recommend for visitors. I had the Togarashi Spiced Ahi Tuna, which comes with an interesting veggie/starch presentation. Your veggies are at the center of a tempura fried sushi roll. So you have a lovely crispy roll that is filled with rice and some perfectly cooked vegetables. Doreen had the Kona Coffee Rubbed Pork Chop which also delivered huge flavor.
At this point we breathed a sigh of relief that our troubles were behind us. We had half a day of park hopping and fun with friends, two really fine meals and our troubles were behind us...but we underestimated the whole value resort experience.
That will be in part 2.
It started with a failure on our part. We worked late into the night to make sure everything would be ready so that we could just grab our bags and leave. Which is a good plan if your alarm doesn't have a snooze. So, 40 minutes later than we thought we were out the door.
The first few hours of the road trip were uneventful. We were making good time but since there were other cars on the road as we went around the Baltimore and the DC beltway, we hadn't made up any time. Then north of Emporia, VA, the state police happened. We didn't get a ticket, we got a stupid. We were driving along when traffic began to slow and eventually stop. We were in very slow, stop and go traffic for about 10 minutes when we came upon a sign warning about an emergency ahead. We spend the next hour going a mile or two. We see a crew dash past on the shoulder with signs and pylons. I try to keep my perspective. Up ahead someone is having a far worse day than we are...but I'm really getting frustrated. Finally we get encouraged when motion becomes consistent, slow but consistent.
That's when we realize that it's because we are being detoured off of I-95. All of the traffic from I-95 is being sent to some two lane road in the middle of no-where VA. Great. So we finally get on the exit ramp only to find that there is no "detour." No sign, no indication where to go, just...get off the road. We make a quick right to check maps and gain bearings. This road does go south and does have another exit back on to I-95. GREAT! As we get turned around, we go over the I-95 overpass (with a police officer blocking the on-ramp) and see that traffic below is us MOVING. WHAAAAAA? We decide that the officer will surely re-open the ramp at any moment so we turn back around and head back to the ramp...where he still sits. So we turn around again and this time I slow and roll down a window to ask him if he was going to re-open the ramp since obviously the road was now open and I'm very angrily waved off. So we proceeded with the "B" plan in place and went for another 10 miles or so down a two lane and got back on I-95. We were now 2 hours behind with three states left to cross.
All set-backs tallied, we rolled into Jacksonville, FL at 10:30pm, NOT the 8:00pm we had originally planned on. Still! We are in Jacksonville and a short drive away from the most magical place on earth! We slept in a bit, deciding that we would forgo some morning park goodness in favor of sleep. Our math put us at Disney by 10:30am and that would give us plenty of time to get checked in, get to the park and meet up with Jen & Josh in time for our lunch date at 12:20pm. We had clearly never dealt with staying at a Disney resort.
We arrived at Disney's Pop Century right on time and were encouraged by there being a separate line for people who had done the on-line check-in process. At this point they just needed to hand out information, keys, explain the few ins and outs, collect a signature and done. With four people ahead of us, we thought we might get some park time in anyway. At 10:45 the line had yet to move. There were three cast members working check-in and we were at the front of the line by 11:15. That's not a misprint nor an exaggeration. We spent 45 minutes in line behind FOUR people.
We are much relieved to finally get to the counter. It's 15 minutes to the park, so maybe we'd at least get to ride something. The nice woman took our information and told us our room wasn't ready and that was fine, check-in isn't until 3pm but we just wanted to check-in so that we could get into the park. This was not good enough for Disney. They are going to put you into a room unreasonably early even if it takes all day. So she picks up a phone to talk to people in house keeping to find out what rooms were ready. This is another 10 minutes gone. So, she hands us our key as well as a circled map as directions to our building. Notice she didn't explain anything about the resorts, or tickets or transportation...this will bite us in the ass later.
Disney resorts being huge we decide to get a bell cart. Complication: All of the real bell carts are in use by the luggage delivery service...who can deliver my luggage to my room sometime in the next hour or so. I look at my watch and um, that's no good. So, we sign our life away for the use of a hand truck. We then spend a few minutes trying to figure out the vague signs (remember we have no clue where our building is) to find our room. We find our tiny and dingy room. The bed is a bit sway-backed but feels okay, the carpeting very short napped and deeply stained and the bathroom grout has apparently never been scrubbed. We quickly toss suitcases into a corner and go to the safe to secure our valuables...which unless your valuables are a pair of iPads or half a ream of legal sized paper, you are SOL, even my smallest camera lens would not fit. We aren't feeling the value in the value resorts. It's about 11:45 so we will head straight to Disney Hollywood Studios.
That part all went according to plan. We arrived without incident, met Jen & Josh, had a great lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, a favorite for a good "homestyle" meal and a fun experience. Thanks to Jen's formidable skills at Fastpassery we got a lot of fun in before we had to leave to make our dinner reservations. We arrived a few minutes early and we were quickly seated at our last minute second choice of a restaurant.
Usually we like to kick our trips off at 'Ohana. This is a "family style" all-you-can-eat. It's an endless parade of veggies and meat cooked over a roaring fire with some fun entertainment. This year they went to a cheaper cut of pork and took several of the dipping sauces off the service and as the final insult, they messed with the heaping bowl of broccoli that is usually one of the courses...and I'm SO GLAD they did or we would have never gone to Kona Cafe.
Kona is the flip side of 'Ohana. It's small, it's quiet and it has a fairly sophisticated menu. It quickly leaped into the top five restaurants I'd instantly recommend for visitors. I had the Togarashi Spiced Ahi Tuna, which comes with an interesting veggie/starch presentation. Your veggies are at the center of a tempura fried sushi roll. So you have a lovely crispy roll that is filled with rice and some perfectly cooked vegetables. Doreen had the Kona Coffee Rubbed Pork Chop which also delivered huge flavor.
At this point we breathed a sigh of relief that our troubles were behind us. We had half a day of park hopping and fun with friends, two really fine meals and our troubles were behind us...but we underestimated the whole value resort experience.
That will be in part 2.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
AR-15, it isn't what you think it is
This go around with trying to implement an "assault weapons ban" is going to play out very differently. Sadly as with any highly charged issue, no one wants to ask the right questions. People like to make assumptions...it's much easier to do. So for the benefit of those who just didn't know what to ask, I'm going to lay out why it's going to fail this time.
The AR-15 isn't a rifle, it's a class of rifles. This is an important distinction. The AR-15 is a very good and highly modular rifle action. It can be fitted with a full-automatic receiver, a 14" barrel, an ACOG sight and attachment points for anything from a silencer to a grenade launcher. In short, this is the system our troops have and it should never be available to civilians. That same platform can then be fitted with a semi-automatic receiver, chambered for a proper deer round and a telescopic sight can be added to the top and this is what gives Bambi nightmares. It can also spend a lot of time precisely assembling that semi-auto, add a precision made barrel, fantastically accurate sights and a stock that allows the rifle to be an exact fit for the shooter and it's used in competitive shooting matches. How these particular rifles are built and their intended use makes a huge difference.
For the first "assault weapons ban" even sportsmen weren't aware of this. Back then the AR-15 was built by Colt and pretty much Colt only as a straight up semi-auto version of the M-16/A1 assault rifle. So, when legislation was passed to ban them (and lots of other guns) it was not a gun that 99% of sportsmen had ever fired. As a result, many saw it for what it was, one class of firearm being banned...and not one dear to their hearts. Sportsmen weren't happy about any guns being banned but in the world of compromises, not a huge one. Then on September 14, 2004, Pandora opened the box.
Now with all the pent-up demand rifles Colt was no longer the only game in town for the AR-15 and many people realized that it was easy to make very accurate versions of this rifle and those were immediately embraced by the shooting community. This is why there are so many of the rifles in circulation. Many other military style semi-automatic rifles can be had for less than half the price of a good AR-15 but sportsmen like an accurate rifle and gun makers have stepped up to the challenge of making them less ascetically offensive.
So this time around, sportsmen see the AR-15 platform as something useful. They have friends who hunt with one, they envy the men and women with the ability to shoot the precision versions of them out of Camp Perry...the AR-15 has gone mainstream.
So the continued focus on the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary and the tools the mad man used to commit those murders is why a renewed "assault weapons ban" will meet much more stiff resistance than it did in 1994. It's got little to do with the Tea Party or the Republicans being more intractable in their views. It's got everything to do that that particular rifle having a broad fan base and those fans don't view it any differently from any other rifle.
The AR-15 isn't a rifle, it's a class of rifles. This is an important distinction. The AR-15 is a very good and highly modular rifle action. It can be fitted with a full-automatic receiver, a 14" barrel, an ACOG sight and attachment points for anything from a silencer to a grenade launcher. In short, this is the system our troops have and it should never be available to civilians. That same platform can then be fitted with a semi-automatic receiver, chambered for a proper deer round and a telescopic sight can be added to the top and this is what gives Bambi nightmares. It can also spend a lot of time precisely assembling that semi-auto, add a precision made barrel, fantastically accurate sights and a stock that allows the rifle to be an exact fit for the shooter and it's used in competitive shooting matches. How these particular rifles are built and their intended use makes a huge difference.
For the first "assault weapons ban" even sportsmen weren't aware of this. Back then the AR-15 was built by Colt and pretty much Colt only as a straight up semi-auto version of the M-16/A1 assault rifle. So, when legislation was passed to ban them (and lots of other guns) it was not a gun that 99% of sportsmen had ever fired. As a result, many saw it for what it was, one class of firearm being banned...and not one dear to their hearts. Sportsmen weren't happy about any guns being banned but in the world of compromises, not a huge one. Then on September 14, 2004, Pandora opened the box.
Now with all the pent-up demand rifles Colt was no longer the only game in town for the AR-15 and many people realized that it was easy to make very accurate versions of this rifle and those were immediately embraced by the shooting community. This is why there are so many of the rifles in circulation. Many other military style semi-automatic rifles can be had for less than half the price of a good AR-15 but sportsmen like an accurate rifle and gun makers have stepped up to the challenge of making them less ascetically offensive.
So this time around, sportsmen see the AR-15 platform as something useful. They have friends who hunt with one, they envy the men and women with the ability to shoot the precision versions of them out of Camp Perry...the AR-15 has gone mainstream.
So the continued focus on the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary and the tools the mad man used to commit those murders is why a renewed "assault weapons ban" will meet much more stiff resistance than it did in 1994. It's got little to do with the Tea Party or the Republicans being more intractable in their views. It's got everything to do that that particular rifle having a broad fan base and those fans don't view it any differently from any other rifle.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Being cool is still cool?
I have this love/hate thing with Gawker. They bring some really interesting content but the writing is sometimes...well, remember your friend that came back from their first year of college and would lecture you on the system and morality and how you're all pawns? That's what it often sounds like to me.
With the Sandy Hook Elementary murders, Gizmodo stepped over the editorial line for me. I don't go to a site about new tech to be lectured about gun control. Especially so when it uses the same pedantic and half-baked reasoning that comes up every election cycle and keeps people voting Republican.
What really brought my dislike home was an article in Jezebel on the new Disney World MyMagic+ system. For those that missed the announcement, this is an RFID bracelet that would essentially carry your park ticket and room information. Then follows a full page of snark and a mess of snarky comments from a bunch of people who are just entirely too cool and too independent and too very serious to be ever caught dead at Disney...but now they REALLY won't be going since they will be tracking your every move.
To beat an overused meme: Do you know how I know you people have never even been to a Disney property? This is such a good thing. The first time you realize this is when you enter the parks. With the magstripe tickets, the problem starts there. To keep you from passing a single ticket from person to person, Disney requires you to put your finger on a reader after you insert the card. It takes some rough biometrics and you are on your way: Insert card, put your finger on the scanner, wait for the blinking light, collect your ticket and move on through the turnstile. Simple! Unless you are 70...or 7 or don't read English or aren't too bright or you are too excited to think straight or you are distracted talking to your friends. Then the line comes to a screaming halt as the cast member helps the person use the turnstile. If you happen upon the park sometime in the mid-morning on a busy day, the change to an RFID ticket will save you at least 15 minutes.
This scene repeats at the fastpass machines while people stand befuddled before the machine and the line moves slower than you think it should. The whole of being a savvy visitor at Disney is all about avoiding the omnipresent line. That boys and girls is why it's good to have Disney tracking people at attractions. Want to know how long it takes to get to the head of the line at Haunted Mansion? Yes I know there is a number on top of the entrance but having seen behind the curtain, the current process is woefully analog and that's why those numbers are almost never right. What about attractions that get backed up simply due to movements of a crowd? How much better would it be if they could see that mob of 200 Brazilian students heading to Pecos Bill and could quickly mobilize some staff to open more checkout lanes?
Bottom line, managing the ebb and flow of people is what Disney parks do. It's part of the experience that you don't get in other parks, they do everything in their power to give you a compelling and personal experience, along with the half a million people who also want that personal experience. This tool will help them do that.
As for the soul-less, entirely too cool crowd at Jezebel... I keep reminding myself that it's just a phase and just a pose. As John Tartaglia observed "See those fireworks climb for a mile; I don't care how butch you are; that shit'll make you smile."
With the Sandy Hook Elementary murders, Gizmodo stepped over the editorial line for me. I don't go to a site about new tech to be lectured about gun control. Especially so when it uses the same pedantic and half-baked reasoning that comes up every election cycle and keeps people voting Republican.
What really brought my dislike home was an article in Jezebel on the new Disney World MyMagic+ system. For those that missed the announcement, this is an RFID bracelet that would essentially carry your park ticket and room information. Then follows a full page of snark and a mess of snarky comments from a bunch of people who are just entirely too cool and too independent and too very serious to be ever caught dead at Disney...but now they REALLY won't be going since they will be tracking your every move.
To beat an overused meme: Do you know how I know you people have never even been to a Disney property? This is such a good thing. The first time you realize this is when you enter the parks. With the magstripe tickets, the problem starts there. To keep you from passing a single ticket from person to person, Disney requires you to put your finger on a reader after you insert the card. It takes some rough biometrics and you are on your way: Insert card, put your finger on the scanner, wait for the blinking light, collect your ticket and move on through the turnstile. Simple! Unless you are 70...or 7 or don't read English or aren't too bright or you are too excited to think straight or you are distracted talking to your friends. Then the line comes to a screaming halt as the cast member helps the person use the turnstile. If you happen upon the park sometime in the mid-morning on a busy day, the change to an RFID ticket will save you at least 15 minutes.
This scene repeats at the fastpass machines while people stand befuddled before the machine and the line moves slower than you think it should. The whole of being a savvy visitor at Disney is all about avoiding the omnipresent line. That boys and girls is why it's good to have Disney tracking people at attractions. Want to know how long it takes to get to the head of the line at Haunted Mansion? Yes I know there is a number on top of the entrance but having seen behind the curtain, the current process is woefully analog and that's why those numbers are almost never right. What about attractions that get backed up simply due to movements of a crowd? How much better would it be if they could see that mob of 200 Brazilian students heading to Pecos Bill and could quickly mobilize some staff to open more checkout lanes?
Bottom line, managing the ebb and flow of people is what Disney parks do. It's part of the experience that you don't get in other parks, they do everything in their power to give you a compelling and personal experience, along with the half a million people who also want that personal experience. This tool will help them do that.
As for the soul-less, entirely too cool crowd at Jezebel... I keep reminding myself that it's just a phase and just a pose. As John Tartaglia observed "See those fireworks climb for a mile; I don't care how butch you are; that shit'll make you smile."
Monday, January 7, 2013
Once more into the breech
It's funny. I sit down for a status update but you know what, this is the part we've all seen 1000 times. This time of year is especially rife with the well meaning resolutions of what our friends will do differently in the coming year. So, I'm going to keep this short.
Life has been lumpy. I used this as an excuse to eat too much and eat the wrong sorts of things. As a result the combination of the weak knee and the increased weight mean that, for now, I'm no longer a runner. I'll be getting my butt up on the elliptical, on stationary bikes and taking walks. The weight training will continue...strong muscles gets me back into action sooner instead of later.
In the meantime I'm tracking my food with SparkPeople again. With the Disney trip coming in under a month, it's very tempting to continue to coast...after all, I won't be on point when I'm on vacation but I really don't need *more* excuses in my life. Fourty five is by no means old in this day and age but the body does undergo changes that make staying focused on food and fitness more important.
I've also taken some of my own advice for recovering and first time runners. I'm doing Hal Higdon's 30/30 plan. For 30 days, I'm out the door, on my feet and moving for at least 30 minutes. This won't help the cardio but it will keep all the connective tissue strong so that hopefully, not too long after I'm recovered from Disney, I can start running again.
So, that's the plan. Now to execute.
Life has been lumpy. I used this as an excuse to eat too much and eat the wrong sorts of things. As a result the combination of the weak knee and the increased weight mean that, for now, I'm no longer a runner. I'll be getting my butt up on the elliptical, on stationary bikes and taking walks. The weight training will continue...strong muscles gets me back into action sooner instead of later.
In the meantime I'm tracking my food with SparkPeople again. With the Disney trip coming in under a month, it's very tempting to continue to coast...after all, I won't be on point when I'm on vacation but I really don't need *more* excuses in my life. Fourty five is by no means old in this day and age but the body does undergo changes that make staying focused on food and fitness more important.
I've also taken some of my own advice for recovering and first time runners. I'm doing Hal Higdon's 30/30 plan. For 30 days, I'm out the door, on my feet and moving for at least 30 minutes. This won't help the cardio but it will keep all the connective tissue strong so that hopefully, not too long after I'm recovered from Disney, I can start running again.
So, that's the plan. Now to execute.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Courage
People have two bits of short sightedness when it comes to courage. I think a lot of this is due courage and bravery and heroism being over attributed these days.
Courage requires an action. That's not a popular position since we like to think of people who simply endure as brave and heroic but frankly that's not true. To simply suffer is not brave. To choose to continue to suffer as a choice, for a reason...that's different but there is a common denominator. There is a moment when you decide to do something that possibly will cost you, something that honestly makes little sense to the logical mind but is simply what is right. For some reason people aren't comfortable with this. Perhaps they think it sounds boastful, perhaps they never see it in themselves, perhaps they think that heavy stew of emotional actions is uncomfortable to own but for what ever the reason, people are a lot more comfortable with owning actions that are really just...smart.
Let's take Minerva for example.
People LOVE the moment when she awakens the statues. She is getting her upper lip stiffened and putting stuff in motion but seeing how she is slightly giddy is telling you that this is honestly just a logical choice. The bad guys are coming and they are ready to make war. She knows the spell, she's putting the defenses in place to try to win. This really isn't particularly brave...this is just good sense. Put all your pieces out on the board. This shows why this lady was (as rumor has it) almost sorted Ravenclaw.
Now let's talk about the less funny, less comfortable moment that is hers. When she shoves Harry Potter out of her way to draw down on Snape. This is courage. She is potentially offering her life for Harry. Being a smart woman, she knows she is starting a war and even if she wins, she might die. Even if she wins and doesn't die, people she loves WILL die...that's what war is. She does it anyway because it's right and it's what she needs to do. This is showing why she's the leader of the Griffondors.
Tossing up a fairly undramatic but resolved restart post without stats (you know we will love you and cheer every victory anyway) shows that you know the only person who can hold you accountable, REALLY is...you. You have to make the choices to eat right, to do the workouts and become a better Jen. Clearly you've given it a bit of thought but it's equally clear this is something you *need* to do.
So, yea. You aren't doing the pragmatic thing. You are starting a fucking war lady!
Courage requires an action. That's not a popular position since we like to think of people who simply endure as brave and heroic but frankly that's not true. To simply suffer is not brave. To choose to continue to suffer as a choice, for a reason...that's different but there is a common denominator. There is a moment when you decide to do something that possibly will cost you, something that honestly makes little sense to the logical mind but is simply what is right. For some reason people aren't comfortable with this. Perhaps they think it sounds boastful, perhaps they never see it in themselves, perhaps they think that heavy stew of emotional actions is uncomfortable to own but for what ever the reason, people are a lot more comfortable with owning actions that are really just...smart.
Let's take Minerva for example.
Tossing up a fairly undramatic but resolved restart post without stats (you know we will love you and cheer every victory anyway) shows that you know the only person who can hold you accountable, REALLY is...you. You have to make the choices to eat right, to do the workouts and become a better Jen. Clearly you've given it a bit of thought but it's equally clear this is something you *need* to do.
So, yea. You aren't doing the pragmatic thing. You are starting a fucking war lady!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
A New Hope
Seeing some of the talk on the internet about Disney buying LucasArts has made me realize that people have selective memory about Disney and how they have managed their creative partnerships.
"Coming soon: 'Star Tours, The Motion Picture!'"
I can see where some of this comes from. Disney saw the huge piles of cash that came in from Pirates of the Caribbean and obviously thought that more of that and more of any other great ride would be the key to more money than any company could ever spend. "Tower of Terror packs them in, has a great story and an existing IP, let's start there!" Then it tanked, hard. "Okay, let's spend more money, a bigger name on the marque and a more wide appealing ride at the parks!" This movie made money. If you are counting foreign sales as well, BIG money...but it sucked and sucked hard enough to actually damage the Disney parks value a bit. As a result, Disney has backed away. So, yes they have some really terrible ideas but they do seem to be able to learn.
"Won't someone think of the merch!?!"
This one made me laugh a bit. If anyone can be counted on to bring the merchandise, it is the mouse. At the parks Disney relentlessly sells Star Wars stuff, from spiffy Yoda backpacks to having an insanely cool "Build Your Own Lightsaber" station. Some of it is co-branded (what do you expect? It was a partnership) and some is not but even before buying the IP outright, Disney has shown their commitment.
"Disney let my favorite IP languish!"
If they did, either your favorite thing sucked or it has a niche appeal. Sorry but that's the truth. If Disney can turn a buck and do it with enough quality to bring more prestige to the mouse they will do it. Disney is all about building their properties. While they have really let the side down of late when it comes to ensnaring the minds of boys when it comes to the core Disney properties, they take great pains to own the hearts of little girls...and young Star Wars fans. At the parks, one of the most popular experiences is Jedi Training Academy. Watch a bit of the video and tell me that these young ones won't be life long fans.
"But Disney has made some really, REALLY suck movies!"
Yep, that they have. Especially live action and especially sequels but that's the law of averages. It takes some long and hard thought to think of a really, properly good sequel. There is Godfather 2 and well... Aliens and...hmmm. So yea, put out enough content and some of it is bound to suck. But for every Prince of Persia there is an Avengers. For every G-Force there is a WALL-E and for every Dragonslayer there is a Tron. Look back on all the theatrical features that Disney has created and you'll see a lot of stinkers but I bet you see a lot more than make you smile fondly. If you think that most of those movies that make you smile are historical and that the new ones just seem to suck, realize two things. First: Most of them aren't aimed at you anymore. Kids love the hell out of things like Cars 2. Second: Well I'll just let YouTube do the talking again. THIS is what Disney can do.
"Disney has a long history of really vigorously defending their copyright. Cosplay and fan art is over!"
That would have been true were it still the 1980s. Yes back in the Eisner era Disney didn't understand fans, it simply understood products. These days, Disney understands passionate fans and actually uses them to add value to what they are doing. As long as you don't try to horn in on their action, like say, dressing as one of the princesses at the park, they are very accommodating. This likely means an abrupt cease and desist to most sources of Amidala porn but can you really blame them? If you are a Star Wars and cosplay fan, you've likely heard of the 501st Legion. They have been invited to participate at Star Wars weekends at Disney parks and are even featured on the official promo page for the event. Disney is also very okay with people making fair use of their property. They now understand that most fan videos simply add more value and make people even more engaged. I'll close on that note with a brilliant fan video for the theme from Brave - Touch The Sky.
"Coming soon: 'Star Tours, The Motion Picture!'"
I can see where some of this comes from. Disney saw the huge piles of cash that came in from Pirates of the Caribbean and obviously thought that more of that and more of any other great ride would be the key to more money than any company could ever spend. "Tower of Terror packs them in, has a great story and an existing IP, let's start there!" Then it tanked, hard. "Okay, let's spend more money, a bigger name on the marque and a more wide appealing ride at the parks!" This movie made money. If you are counting foreign sales as well, BIG money...but it sucked and sucked hard enough to actually damage the Disney parks value a bit. As a result, Disney has backed away. So, yes they have some really terrible ideas but they do seem to be able to learn.
"Won't someone think of the merch!?!"
This one made me laugh a bit. If anyone can be counted on to bring the merchandise, it is the mouse. At the parks Disney relentlessly sells Star Wars stuff, from spiffy Yoda backpacks to having an insanely cool "Build Your Own Lightsaber" station. Some of it is co-branded (what do you expect? It was a partnership) and some is not but even before buying the IP outright, Disney has shown their commitment.
"Disney let my favorite IP languish!"
If they did, either your favorite thing sucked or it has a niche appeal. Sorry but that's the truth. If Disney can turn a buck and do it with enough quality to bring more prestige to the mouse they will do it. Disney is all about building their properties. While they have really let the side down of late when it comes to ensnaring the minds of boys when it comes to the core Disney properties, they take great pains to own the hearts of little girls...and young Star Wars fans. At the parks, one of the most popular experiences is Jedi Training Academy. Watch a bit of the video and tell me that these young ones won't be life long fans.
"But Disney has made some really, REALLY suck movies!"
Yep, that they have. Especially live action and especially sequels but that's the law of averages. It takes some long and hard thought to think of a really, properly good sequel. There is Godfather 2 and well... Aliens and...hmmm. So yea, put out enough content and some of it is bound to suck. But for every Prince of Persia there is an Avengers. For every G-Force there is a WALL-E and for every Dragonslayer there is a Tron. Look back on all the theatrical features that Disney has created and you'll see a lot of stinkers but I bet you see a lot more than make you smile fondly. If you think that most of those movies that make you smile are historical and that the new ones just seem to suck, realize two things. First: Most of them aren't aimed at you anymore. Kids love the hell out of things like Cars 2. Second: Well I'll just let YouTube do the talking again. THIS is what Disney can do.
"Disney has a long history of really vigorously defending their copyright. Cosplay and fan art is over!"
That would have been true were it still the 1980s. Yes back in the Eisner era Disney didn't understand fans, it simply understood products. These days, Disney understands passionate fans and actually uses them to add value to what they are doing. As long as you don't try to horn in on their action, like say, dressing as one of the princesses at the park, they are very accommodating. This likely means an abrupt cease and desist to most sources of Amidala porn but can you really blame them? If you are a Star Wars and cosplay fan, you've likely heard of the 501st Legion. They have been invited to participate at Star Wars weekends at Disney parks and are even featured on the official promo page for the event. Disney is also very okay with people making fair use of their property. They now understand that most fan videos simply add more value and make people even more engaged. I'll close on that note with a brilliant fan video for the theme from Brave - Touch The Sky.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
It's been a long road
My friend Damian Doty recently encouraged me to give Star Trek: Enterprise another chance. I'd watched maybe a dozen episodes before tuning out entirely. One of the biggest bones of contention for me at the time was the theme song. Every other outing into the Star Trek setting was an instrumental piece that set the tone for the show. ...what was THIS crap.
Surprisingly when I go back to Enterprise, I like the theme now. I find it very moving. So that made me ponder on why. My exposure to Star Trek started with the original series. I was a suburban "latch key kid" and in the 19070s, the show still lived in syndication. I'd come home, do my homework (sometimes) and then it was time for Star Trek.
Let me tell you a bit about the early 1970s for those who weren't there. This country was about space exploration in a huge way and we were all excited about it. The Apollo missions had just finished, we had our first space station in orbit, we had managed an orbital rendezvous with the Soviets, we were about to put our first landers on Mars and there was planning on the first of the fleet of "space trucks" to ferry people into orbit. The prototype of these reusable space ships was to be named the Constitution but a huge write-in campaign (no small feat pre-internet) to the then President, Gerald Ford convinced him to direct NASA to change the name...to the Enterprise. While she was never launched, she was the first shuttle to ever fly.
Space exploration was proceeding at a breakneck pace and to a young boy, the future that Gene Roddenberry proposed looked undeniable. If anything, his timeline was looking conservative. Surveyor 1 had preceded humans to the moon by three years so we figured with Viking touching down in 1976 that humans would be on the surface of Mars sometime before the end of the decade.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, the value of exploration as a propaganda tool evaporated. Cynicism replaced pride in the US and the public just kind of lost interest in space exploration. The plans for the rockets we were going to build to replace the shuttle fleet got scrapped, the shuttles got retired and it really started to look like the shortsighted among us would allow the human race to go extinct at the bottom of the Earth's gravity well.
...and then the Curiosity landed like a BOSS! We have a new generation of people who have not seen the like and they are excited to be exploring a whole different planet. Bobak Ferdowski is now a rock star and it's very possible we might make it off of this pale blue dot before our species dies out. It's easy to look at some reality TV, read the newspapers and come to the conclusion that maybe, we deserve to end here. If this is the best we can do, we might be best left as a bad example for the next civilization that comes along.
but here is the thing to understand. The stakes are higher than that. We aren't in it for the fans of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." This is about Shakespeare and Mozart and the Beatles and Ansel Adams and Martin Luther King and the millions of books and songs and images and thoughts of those yet to be born.
So, what the hell does that have to do with the Enterprise theme?
When I first heard that song, I was still coasting from my childhood, this future was a given in my mind. It was going to happen. Now, I see the USA as possibly the most scientifically illiterate developed nation in the world. We spend our money saving the bacon of rich bankers but people squabble over the .4 cents on a dollar that it takes to fund NASA. I'm starting to realize that exploring the galaxy in ships capable of faster than light travel has a lot of question marks associated with the prospect. I also see the excitement and the sense of pride from putting a robot on the surface of Mars, I see discussion of a space station built at L2 and I realize that we still have time to turn this around before we reach a tipping point on the natural resources of the Earth. That future is still in play.
So for the first time for me, I'm no longer certain we will continue the very human tradition of exploration...but I have faith.
Surprisingly when I go back to Enterprise, I like the theme now. I find it very moving. So that made me ponder on why. My exposure to Star Trek started with the original series. I was a suburban "latch key kid" and in the 19070s, the show still lived in syndication. I'd come home, do my homework (sometimes) and then it was time for Star Trek.
Let me tell you a bit about the early 1970s for those who weren't there. This country was about space exploration in a huge way and we were all excited about it. The Apollo missions had just finished, we had our first space station in orbit, we had managed an orbital rendezvous with the Soviets, we were about to put our first landers on Mars and there was planning on the first of the fleet of "space trucks" to ferry people into orbit. The prototype of these reusable space ships was to be named the Constitution but a huge write-in campaign (no small feat pre-internet) to the then President, Gerald Ford convinced him to direct NASA to change the name...to the Enterprise. While she was never launched, she was the first shuttle to ever fly.
Space exploration was proceeding at a breakneck pace and to a young boy, the future that Gene Roddenberry proposed looked undeniable. If anything, his timeline was looking conservative. Surveyor 1 had preceded humans to the moon by three years so we figured with Viking touching down in 1976 that humans would be on the surface of Mars sometime before the end of the decade.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, the value of exploration as a propaganda tool evaporated. Cynicism replaced pride in the US and the public just kind of lost interest in space exploration. The plans for the rockets we were going to build to replace the shuttle fleet got scrapped, the shuttles got retired and it really started to look like the shortsighted among us would allow the human race to go extinct at the bottom of the Earth's gravity well.
...and then the Curiosity landed like a BOSS! We have a new generation of people who have not seen the like and they are excited to be exploring a whole different planet. Bobak Ferdowski is now a rock star and it's very possible we might make it off of this pale blue dot before our species dies out. It's easy to look at some reality TV, read the newspapers and come to the conclusion that maybe, we deserve to end here. If this is the best we can do, we might be best left as a bad example for the next civilization that comes along.
but here is the thing to understand. The stakes are higher than that. We aren't in it for the fans of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." This is about Shakespeare and Mozart and the Beatles and Ansel Adams and Martin Luther King and the millions of books and songs and images and thoughts of those yet to be born.
So, what the hell does that have to do with the Enterprise theme?
When I first heard that song, I was still coasting from my childhood, this future was a given in my mind. It was going to happen. Now, I see the USA as possibly the most scientifically illiterate developed nation in the world. We spend our money saving the bacon of rich bankers but people squabble over the .4 cents on a dollar that it takes to fund NASA. I'm starting to realize that exploring the galaxy in ships capable of faster than light travel has a lot of question marks associated with the prospect. I also see the excitement and the sense of pride from putting a robot on the surface of Mars, I see discussion of a space station built at L2 and I realize that we still have time to turn this around before we reach a tipping point on the natural resources of the Earth. That future is still in play.
So for the first time for me, I'm no longer certain we will continue the very human tradition of exploration...but I have faith.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Harrisburg Half Marathon
It was an almost perfect day for a race. The morning was cool and clear, if there had been some cloud cover, some absurd times would have been posted. Doreen came with me to lend some support and I met up with Joe Earley so that was cool.
Before I get into the race, some of the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good were the spectators. It seemed a sizable chunk of Harrisburg showed up and they were ready to get crazy. The energy on course was palpable. Some of them even made use of bikes to cheer at multiple sections of the course.
Packet pickup was tight. Check your bib number, go to the volunteer in that number range, take your packet and enjoy.
The bad was all about the planning. As Joe noted when he got a bit sidetracked, there were no course markers to speak of. Directions came from the race volunteers...which was fine as long as the volunteers were engaged and on task instead of chatting with friends.
Water stops had issues. The first water stop was at 4.8 miles. It's a darn good thing it was a cool morning. Barring thirst issues, many slower runners are already into their first gel before then. I'm glad I brought my handheld.
Other people were the ugly. I can live without people who: Move slowly more than two abreast...especially when they are too busy chatting to be utterly oblivious to the pile up forming behind them.
People who don't know how to spit. I mean really? You have to be told to spit into the bushes, not into the middle of the race course?
Flailing elbows! This is almost exclusively a lady runner thing and one day, I'm going to get elbowed hard enough to reflexively hit back.
I've said it before, I'll say it again, FUCK Harrisburg cyclists. About a dozen members of the local cycling club showed up to do their Sunday ride. Of course they didn't check for upcoming events when planning this and nor did they decide that since the race was almost over, maybe grab breakfast...or just ride another route. Nope, two by two they took off down the race course.
So, on with the report!
The first mile was fairly typical of the first mile of any race. Lots of excitement, people ramming into one another and screaming and joy. As we hit that first mile and got up on the bridge people settled down, I put on my Walkman and was greeted by, not making this up, Joan Jett: I Love Rock & Roll. Since the device was set for random, I took this for a good omen.
At mile three, we got a little rural and turned off the paved road. We ran almost a full mile through a chunk of Harrisburg's "Green Belt." Happily the group of men that usually hang out in one section got the memo and found somewhere else to engage in in their shenanigans.
By mile 4, we were back out on the path by the river...this is my home field advantage and I wondered how much effort I was going to put into the race. I was debating just taking it easy, phone it in, just run the 13.1 and be content with 2:45-3:00. Then music played a roll again. A song that I have recently adopted as my "power song" filled my ears. Ozzy Ozbourne reminded me that I'm either in or in the way and I Don't Wanna Stop. So I dialed in a pace a few seconds behind last year's race pace and it was on.
Around mile 6 it became apparent that my bladder wasn't going to be okay with another 7 miles. There were exactly two porta-johns at Maclay...both occupied. So, a quick break took a bit over two minutes. Around mile 8 things got interesting for me. We did a dog leg back through a residential area. Lot of families had turned out to cheer but more significantly, the sun was becoming a factor. I was unsure how well I could keep my pace until the end. A smarter runner would have backed down a bit, I'm not always that smart.
At mile 11, I had a realization: There is no way they closed Forster Street for us. That means we are going under the bridge, more significantly, we are going to have to climb the hill by the Walnut Street bridge, that's about ~400m from the finish. So I had a mile or so to figure out if I was going to be a hero, kick OR run up the hill. I invoked Zombieland rule #17 and decided that I would walk the ramp and make up the time that I lose with a ferocious kick across the bridge.
It was a bit claustrophobic running the bridge. Everyone wanted to cheer their runner for the last 400m and maybe get a picture, so the crowd was pressed in right up to the sidewalk and most of them were leaning in trying to catch a glimpse of the runners.
All in all, a good race. The complaints I have were minor ones. The energy was insane and the course was quick. I'm proud that I found a pace that gave me a finish I can be proud of without running hard enough to end injured. While not injured, yesterday I was a bit tired and sore and my day today started with two Aleve.
Before I get into the race, some of the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good were the spectators. It seemed a sizable chunk of Harrisburg showed up and they were ready to get crazy. The energy on course was palpable. Some of them even made use of bikes to cheer at multiple sections of the course.
Packet pickup was tight. Check your bib number, go to the volunteer in that number range, take your packet and enjoy.
The bad was all about the planning. As Joe noted when he got a bit sidetracked, there were no course markers to speak of. Directions came from the race volunteers...which was fine as long as the volunteers were engaged and on task instead of chatting with friends.
Water stops had issues. The first water stop was at 4.8 miles. It's a darn good thing it was a cool morning. Barring thirst issues, many slower runners are already into their first gel before then. I'm glad I brought my handheld.
Other people were the ugly. I can live without people who: Move slowly more than two abreast...especially when they are too busy chatting to be utterly oblivious to the pile up forming behind them.
People who don't know how to spit. I mean really? You have to be told to spit into the bushes, not into the middle of the race course?
Flailing elbows! This is almost exclusively a lady runner thing and one day, I'm going to get elbowed hard enough to reflexively hit back.
I've said it before, I'll say it again, FUCK Harrisburg cyclists. About a dozen members of the local cycling club showed up to do their Sunday ride. Of course they didn't check for upcoming events when planning this and nor did they decide that since the race was almost over, maybe grab breakfast...or just ride another route. Nope, two by two they took off down the race course.
So, on with the report!
The first mile was fairly typical of the first mile of any race. Lots of excitement, people ramming into one another and screaming and joy. As we hit that first mile and got up on the bridge people settled down, I put on my Walkman and was greeted by, not making this up, Joan Jett: I Love Rock & Roll. Since the device was set for random, I took this for a good omen.
At mile three, we got a little rural and turned off the paved road. We ran almost a full mile through a chunk of Harrisburg's "Green Belt." Happily the group of men that usually hang out in one section got the memo and found somewhere else to engage in in their shenanigans.
By mile 4, we were back out on the path by the river...this is my home field advantage and I wondered how much effort I was going to put into the race. I was debating just taking it easy, phone it in, just run the 13.1 and be content with 2:45-3:00. Then music played a roll again. A song that I have recently adopted as my "power song" filled my ears. Ozzy Ozbourne reminded me that I'm either in or in the way and I Don't Wanna Stop. So I dialed in a pace a few seconds behind last year's race pace and it was on.
Around mile 6 it became apparent that my bladder wasn't going to be okay with another 7 miles. There were exactly two porta-johns at Maclay...both occupied. So, a quick break took a bit over two minutes. Around mile 8 things got interesting for me. We did a dog leg back through a residential area. Lot of families had turned out to cheer but more significantly, the sun was becoming a factor. I was unsure how well I could keep my pace until the end. A smarter runner would have backed down a bit, I'm not always that smart.
At mile 11, I had a realization: There is no way they closed Forster Street for us. That means we are going under the bridge, more significantly, we are going to have to climb the hill by the Walnut Street bridge, that's about ~400m from the finish. So I had a mile or so to figure out if I was going to be a hero, kick OR run up the hill. I invoked Zombieland rule #17 and decided that I would walk the ramp and make up the time that I lose with a ferocious kick across the bridge.
It was a bit claustrophobic running the bridge. Everyone wanted to cheer their runner for the last 400m and maybe get a picture, so the crowd was pressed in right up to the sidewalk and most of them were leaning in trying to catch a glimpse of the runners.
All in all, a good race. The complaints I have were minor ones. The energy was insane and the course was quick. I'm proud that I found a pace that gave me a finish I can be proud of without running hard enough to end injured. While not injured, yesterday I was a bit tired and sore and my day today started with two Aleve.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Christopher McDougall, Mother Teresa and obesity
On Sunday's run I had some time to think. Recently, I posted a picture on facebook that was a cheap shot at the people who lined up to support Chick-Fil-A. I pretty much got the comments and likes I expected but one status update from a friend the next day had me thinking. He was bemoaning the political commentary on facebook and how it was mostly crap flinging and little actual discussion. He closed with: "
and this talk has been rolling around inside my head since I heard it. I've seen what he's talking about. It sounds a bit egotistical but either running attracts a better kind of person or it makes you into that person. Much like Mr. McDougall, I wasn't sure which since honestly, in many points of my life, I have been a right miserable bastard.
As I ran I pondered the nature of running. What are the universal experiences of running? Sure there is a community and with any community there is a commonality of thought but within running this usually extends into various forms of training, types of shoes, what is a "good" race. So I started thinking on training and racing and recovery and the ability to endure discomfort and pain and...hold on right there. I remember being introduced to the concept of suffering as a holy state from an article on Mother Teresa. She (and others) believed that not all suffering is bad and it could bring a person closer to God.
I don't know about closer to God but I'm wondering if temporary and voluntary suffering make you more keenly aware and sympathetic to those who have less choice in the matter. Maybe there is something about spending a few hours per week tired, hungry and thirsty that makes you understand just a tiny bit more, what it might be like for someone who endures simply for lack of money, or a government policy, or having made regrettable but human mistakes at a prior moment in their lives.
I'm not relaying in of this as an "ain't I great?" essay. I'm still a deeply flawed person who holds at least a dozen seemingly contradictory notions to be True but I am still a work in progress and I'm getting progressively more comfortable with who I'm becoming.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Loser lost
I made no secret of being a bit concerned about this season's Biggest Loser. Don't get me wrong, their marathon running shenanigans is part of what got me running again and I give credit where due. It's one thing to have a bunch of class 3 obese people who have spent 12 weeks being relentlessly trained run 26.2 miles but it's an entirely different animal to allow the people who have been voted off to play along.
To be honest, to take a casual runner, someone who has run a few 5k races to a marathon in 12 weeks is grossly irresponsible and honestly, legally negligent if they get injured. The body just simply cannot adapt that quickly to the increased load. The odds of getting injured, game endingly injured are HUGE. In prior seasons, I've let it go since this is a fairly unique study. All of these people are trained for six days a week by world class trainers and have 24/7 access to sports medicine specialists. When you start sending people home, out into the real world, where they can't devote 8 hours a day, 6 days a week to training; when a trip to the doctor requires an appointment, a co-pay (if you are insured) and a doctor that has half a clue about sports medicine to even begin to correct any injury, it's just criminal to encourage these people to attempt that distance.
Watching last night's episode, I noticed that more people were wearing knee braces than not. So, we have a lot of people with some manner of tendinopathy doing weight bearing exercises for our entertainment. Considering the injuries they are risking by not resting, this is no longer entertaining to me...but that's not what sealed it.
They did their usual "where are they now" with the voted off contestant and she was bright eyed, looking good and excited about her new life. Then she goes on to brag about her 20 mile long run...wait, didn't she have a stress fracture? Then they cut to video of her running or shall I say limping and hobbling along. So they are condoning having a still overweight woman RUNNING on a damaged limb? I'm sorry but we passed irresponsible two exits ago.
I wish all the contestants well but I don't think watching them risk their health is entertainment.
To be honest, to take a casual runner, someone who has run a few 5k races to a marathon in 12 weeks is grossly irresponsible and honestly, legally negligent if they get injured. The body just simply cannot adapt that quickly to the increased load. The odds of getting injured, game endingly injured are HUGE. In prior seasons, I've let it go since this is a fairly unique study. All of these people are trained for six days a week by world class trainers and have 24/7 access to sports medicine specialists. When you start sending people home, out into the real world, where they can't devote 8 hours a day, 6 days a week to training; when a trip to the doctor requires an appointment, a co-pay (if you are insured) and a doctor that has half a clue about sports medicine to even begin to correct any injury, it's just criminal to encourage these people to attempt that distance.
Watching last night's episode, I noticed that more people were wearing knee braces than not. So, we have a lot of people with some manner of tendinopathy doing weight bearing exercises for our entertainment. Considering the injuries they are risking by not resting, this is no longer entertaining to me...but that's not what sealed it.
They did their usual "where are they now" with the voted off contestant and she was bright eyed, looking good and excited about her new life. Then she goes on to brag about her 20 mile long run...wait, didn't she have a stress fracture? Then they cut to video of her running or shall I say limping and hobbling along. So they are condoning having a still overweight woman RUNNING on a damaged limb? I'm sorry but we passed irresponsible two exits ago.
I wish all the contestants well but I don't think watching them risk their health is entertainment.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Peace
I was thinking about this during yesterday's long run. Running gives the best sense of community with people I don't know that I've ever felt. Sure, it's not the first group identity I've ever had, it likely won't be my last but I think it has to do with the shared feelings of some very powerful emotions that gives this whole "Kuria Ba"* vibe.
I was running along, seeing people who were having their last long run before the Harrisburg Marathon and their last long run of the season. There is the pride of accomplishment beaming out of so many faces. They know they are ready, there is also the melancholy feeling that this is the end of the season, the last we will see each other for a few months. Everyone is bright and alert, soaking it all in, knowing that there are just too few days like this. It's odd that people I know as "Mutt & Jeff," "The Little Brunette Girl," "Serious Guy" and "Giggles" mean something to me and I suppose I to them. I know virtually nothing about them but the little things I know are important.
Running is so primal that it brings forth emotions. You will know pain, you will know exuberance, you will know utter exhaustion, you will win, you will lose, you will be afraid and you will be a super-hero. You know about blisters, about chafing, about heat, about sweat and you'll know that crossing the finish line make all of it worth it. They acknowledge you when they see you, seldom trading more than a single word of encouragement...but they are always encouraging, they know you need it. Your friends really don't understand, they love you so they listen, they ask questions and they do their best but it's like explaining petting a kitten to someone who's seen a picture of one.
So we smile and we wave at each other and I'm very aware of a strong sense of community. I will miss these people over the winter. I'll keep running and I'm sure they will too but once it becomes cold, there is no longer a best time to run so the odds of seeing each other dwindles. I flash each of them a peace sign when they pass. They smile brightly because they know it's a sincere wish, that each day would bring them this feeling. We are one.
*Kuria Ba - Is a greeting of the Raramuri people meaning "We are one." The Raramuri came to the attention of runners around the world as a result of the Christopher McDougall book "Born to Run."
I was running along, seeing people who were having their last long run before the Harrisburg Marathon and their last long run of the season. There is the pride of accomplishment beaming out of so many faces. They know they are ready, there is also the melancholy feeling that this is the end of the season, the last we will see each other for a few months. Everyone is bright and alert, soaking it all in, knowing that there are just too few days like this. It's odd that people I know as "Mutt & Jeff," "The Little Brunette Girl," "Serious Guy" and "Giggles" mean something to me and I suppose I to them. I know virtually nothing about them but the little things I know are important.
Running is so primal that it brings forth emotions. You will know pain, you will know exuberance, you will know utter exhaustion, you will win, you will lose, you will be afraid and you will be a super-hero. You know about blisters, about chafing, about heat, about sweat and you'll know that crossing the finish line make all of it worth it. They acknowledge you when they see you, seldom trading more than a single word of encouragement...but they are always encouraging, they know you need it. Your friends really don't understand, they love you so they listen, they ask questions and they do their best but it's like explaining petting a kitten to someone who's seen a picture of one.
So we smile and we wave at each other and I'm very aware of a strong sense of community. I will miss these people over the winter. I'll keep running and I'm sure they will too but once it becomes cold, there is no longer a best time to run so the odds of seeing each other dwindles. I flash each of them a peace sign when they pass. They smile brightly because they know it's a sincere wish, that each day would bring them this feeling. We are one.
*Kuria Ba - Is a greeting of the Raramuri people meaning "We are one." The Raramuri came to the attention of runners around the world as a result of the Christopher McDougall book "Born to Run."
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Winterizing
Time to break out the cold gear, the gloves, the balaclava but more importantly, time to recompute what an "easy" pace is.
One of the things that's not always obvious is that really your run pace is about effort and training your cardio and energy delivery systems more than it is about how fast you are really traveling...that part of the training is, comparatively easy. That's why I love wearing my heart rate monitor when the seasons change, my new "easy" pace is almost 40 seconds faster than it was.
Some of the other challenges of winter running are hydration and nutrition. I still haven't figured out how to keep the water from getting insanely cold or solid. So far the best I can come up with is bringing very warm water. The bottles are so poorly insulated that this only buys me half an hour or so. I had come up with a solution to nutrition but I didn't like it. The cold tends to thicken up gels and it's hard to get them out of the package or the gel bottle. I went to the Clif Bloks. I'm usually a GU guy and like the flavor of the Chomps better BUT the packaging is stupid. Trying to dig a single Chomp out of the bag with a gloved hand and then reseal the pouch while on the run is trying. I like that I can just peel open the wrapper on the Bloks when I want another. I accidentally found a third way that I'm trying tomorrow. I forgot that I am out of gel for my long run tomorrow but we were on our way to the grocery store, I went over to their aisle where they have nutritional supplement type things and I was just looking for anything. I could make 9 miles un-fueled so, maybe even a Clif Bar. I was looking at their offerings and noticed PowerBar Energy. It's in similar packaging to a gel but it is obviously a lot wetter. I looked on the back. Hmmmm, caffeinated, two sugar sources, sodium and potassium...sounds like gel! If this stuff will flow out of the gel bottle, I'm going to be VERY happy, unless it tastes terrible.
One of the things that's not always obvious is that really your run pace is about effort and training your cardio and energy delivery systems more than it is about how fast you are really traveling...that part of the training is, comparatively easy. That's why I love wearing my heart rate monitor when the seasons change, my new "easy" pace is almost 40 seconds faster than it was.
Some of the other challenges of winter running are hydration and nutrition. I still haven't figured out how to keep the water from getting insanely cold or solid. So far the best I can come up with is bringing very warm water. The bottles are so poorly insulated that this only buys me half an hour or so. I had come up with a solution to nutrition but I didn't like it. The cold tends to thicken up gels and it's hard to get them out of the package or the gel bottle. I went to the Clif Bloks. I'm usually a GU guy and like the flavor of the Chomps better BUT the packaging is stupid. Trying to dig a single Chomp out of the bag with a gloved hand and then reseal the pouch while on the run is trying. I like that I can just peel open the wrapper on the Bloks when I want another. I accidentally found a third way that I'm trying tomorrow. I forgot that I am out of gel for my long run tomorrow but we were on our way to the grocery store, I went over to their aisle where they have nutritional supplement type things and I was just looking for anything. I could make 9 miles un-fueled so, maybe even a Clif Bar. I was looking at their offerings and noticed PowerBar Energy. It's in similar packaging to a gel but it is obviously a lot wetter. I looked on the back. Hmmmm, caffeinated, two sugar sources, sodium and potassium...sounds like gel! If this stuff will flow out of the gel bottle, I'm going to be VERY happy, unless it tastes terrible.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Serendipity
Sometimes, things take pretty interesting turns.
Last night, Doreen and I decided to stop by and visit for a moment with one of our former Weight Watchers leaders, JoAnn. She's one of the two amazing leaders who's meetings I attended. We talked for a few minutes, caught up and I mentioned that I was now an RRCA certified running coach. Apparently there are a lot of her members have taken up running to help with their weight loss and she asked if I'd be interesting in coming in and giving a short "how to do it right" kinda thing.
SERIOUSLY!?!
Help turn some overweight people into runners and overweight runners into better runners? Well YES, I believe that is exactly the kind of thing I'm interested in doing. I'm hoping that RRCA will get me set up on their website so I can get their liability insurance because, it's time to do this thing.
Last night, Doreen and I decided to stop by and visit for a moment with one of our former Weight Watchers leaders, JoAnn. She's one of the two amazing leaders who's meetings I attended. We talked for a few minutes, caught up and I mentioned that I was now an RRCA certified running coach. Apparently there are a lot of her members have taken up running to help with their weight loss and she asked if I'd be interesting in coming in and giving a short "how to do it right" kinda thing.
SERIOUSLY!?!
Help turn some overweight people into runners and overweight runners into better runners? Well YES, I believe that is exactly the kind of thing I'm interested in doing. I'm hoping that RRCA will get me set up on their website so I can get their liability insurance because, it's time to do this thing.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Refocusing
I've not stopped blogging here, I just don't have a lot interesting to say right this moment. The racing season is over and I'm taking a week off of running to let the legs fully recover and I'm getting back to eating right to lose the remainder of the weight. Honestly the video that Doreen caught of me crossing the line in the most recent 5k is a great help. I look like I'm wearing a trash bag filled with jello...no, you can't see it. I'm still waiting for my addition to the RRCA's coach webpage and in a couple of days, it will officially be three weeks and time for me to get uppity about it. I need to do something with the website I am going to set up for coaching but that's just been on the back burner lately. We are now well under the thirty day mark for our trip to Walt Disney World and soon the packing will commence. It's too early to pack clothing and toiletries but not too early to start assembling some of the items that might otherwise be forgotten and that rookies don't think to take to a theme park.
So, life is good. Kuria Ba my friends.
So, life is good. Kuria Ba my friends.
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