Canadian Buffoon's Disney With a Teen Vacation - 08/13 - The Wrap

[queenbetsey]

Yep I said over 100 like according to msn weather it is 110 today. oh and going to get hotter tomorrow, I thik they sait it was going to be one hundred and are you freaking kidding me hot. we get this a times each summer.
but we did hit DCA for rope drop. We snagged some fast passes for the new Soarin'( Apostrophe trademarked) over the world. it was AMAZING! really well done. it was nice to hear folks oooohhh and aaahhhh again and clap at the end once more

 

[franandaj]

Over? Did you say over 100???

Yep I said over 100 like according to msn weather it is 110 today.

Weather Kitty said it was 108 in Anaheim at around 1PM. It was only 97 in Long Beach so I was glad that I was there schlepping heavy boxes to the Thrift shop as opposed to frying in the sun with other overheated Disney fans. Must get out there next week and see New Soarin'.

 

[pkondz]

Yes, we did an all day excursion on our last day on the Big Island before returning to the mainland. We left the resort at 7 am, had a one hour helicopter ride over the various volcanoes on the island, then we had a 5 hour land-based tour of Volcanoes National Park, followed by an hour long scenic helicopter tour along the scenic coastline. Returned back to our resort around 6 pm and then had an 11 pm red eye to San Francisco.

The excursion cost a pretty penny, but best excursion we have ever done.

You've told me this before, haven't you.
Stupid of me.
I blame exhaustion!!!

 

[pkondz]

Yep I said over 100 like according to msn weather it is 110 today.

Holy crap!!!

oh and going to get hotter tomorrow

There's this video out there.
A guy driving a car is asking his girlfriend (?) a math question.
"If you're going 60 MPH, how long does it take to drive 60 miles?"

The poor girl couldn't figure it out and was convinced it wasn't possible to do a mile a minute.


That's how I feel.
It's not possible for it to be hotter than 100!

I thik they sait it was going to be one hundred and are you freaking kidding me hot.

I like that! And sounds totally accurate, too!

we get this a times each summer.

<pkondz strokes so cal off the list of places to go in the summer>

but we did hit DCA for rope drop. We snagged some fast passes for the new Soarin'( Apostrophe trademarked)

So nice to see that.

I absolutely must call him.

over the world. it was AMAZING! really well done. it was nice to hear folks oooohhh and aaahhhh again and clap at the end once more

Nice! Something to look forward to!

Weather Kitty said it was 108 in Anaheim at around 1PM.

Weather Kitty melted.

It was only 97 in Long Beach so I was glad that I was there schlepping heavy boxes to the Thrift shop as opposed to frying in the sun with other overheated Disney fans.

Ah! Thrift shop! So you are culling the herd!

Now back to my tallying...

 

[Steppesister]

Your green light shineth... you must be busy.

 

[pkondz]

Your green light shineth... you must be busy.

Yep. Just totalling up the contest points...

 

[pkondz]

Okay! Points are all figured and allotted.
Now to just write a quick wrap up and reveal the winnah.

 

[Steppesister]

It won't be me. I'm going to eat pulled pork.

 

[orangecats2]

I"m not dead yet!!!
Although I"m not going to win!

 

[pkondz]

It won't be me. I'm going to eat pulled pork.

I'll just sit here at work.

I think I'd rather be at your place.

I"m not dead yet!!!
Although I"m not going to win!

Okay!
And... yeah.
'fraid you've been mathematically eliminated.

 

[Steppesister]

I'll just sit here at work.

I think I'd rather be at your place.

I'd rather you'd been here too. The pulled pork was delicious by the way. A tad too spicy, but delicious. It paired well with my Pepsi and coco-rum and spinach pistachio salad. By the way, I've hatched a new and ingenious plan for my trip. Typing that up now while, undoubtedly, you're working on new and exciting intrigues and escapades you've been having this week. I'd say we can race, but that's a recipe for mediocrity.

 

[cinderkelly]

Happy Father's Day Pkondz! Hope you've had a great day!

 

[pkondz]

I'd rather you'd been here too. The pulled pork was delicious by the way.

Well my leftovers were... okay.

It paired well with my Pepsi and coco-rum and spinach pistachio salad.

This I don't feel bad about.
coco-rum.... just.... no.
And spinach doesn't like me.
I don't mind it.... just, well.... yeah.

By the way, I've hatched a new and ingenious plan for my trip. Typing that up now while, undoubtedly, you're working on new and exciting intrigues and escapades you've been having this week.

I will get over to your PTR eventually.
(It's first on the list, actually.)
I just have to wrap up the Maui portion here first.

I'd say we can race, but that's a recipe for mediocrity.

 

[pkondz]

Happy Father's Day Pkondz! Hope you've had a great day!

Thanks, Kelly!

 

[pkondz]

Aloha

That's a wrap, folks.
The trip's fini.
Kaput.

A whirlwind trip
where we accomplished
far more than I would've believed.

Out of all the things that I had researched,
only one... one! thing didn't happen.
Seeing a particular blow hole.
And since I pretty much am one,
the rest of the family was probably relieved.

Thanks to everyone for reading along
and commenting along as well.
You guys are the reason I write these things.


So you're to blame!!!!


And speaking of blame,
in case you missed it,
yes, I am going to write about Montreal.
I can't imagine that it'll be more than
a couple or three updates, though.
And no contest.
(Just lost 80% of my readers... 90%... 95%....
just you left. Hey! Where are you going???)



I did say I had a bit of news to share.
Not anything Earth shattering,
but news nevertheless.

I'd written about needing a new pool pump.
The final cost on that was just over $1,100.

Ouch.

But at least it was replaced quickly
and we didn't have to wait for days or weeks.


Unfortunately, once the pump was up and running
and the water temperature came up,
I turned on the salt cell and.... got an error message.
I knew it wasn't the cell.
(Had that replaced last year... $750.)
I did some research and figured it was
the flow/temp/salt sensor.
Called the pool guy.
$350.
Terrific.

I hopped in the car, drove over and picked it up.

This was getting expensive.

I was really feeling the pinch.
$1,100+ for the pump.
$350 for the sensor.


Plus... I'm shooting a young lady's grad on Friday.
(Anyone remember Dee from the Niagara Falls trip?)
If it rains (and maybe even if it doesn't)
I'll be shooting indoors.
And I checked and... it's pretty dark.
I have two sets of flashes.
I put one on the camera and....
even though it fits...
and the camera recognizes it...
The camera's newer and the flash won't fire.
Not compatible.

Crap.
Do I have to buy a new flash now too?
(Another $500 at least.)


The only good news
(if you can even remotely call it that)
is that the place I have to go to pick
up the sensor
and the place I get my camera gear from
are close to each other.
Two birds with one expensive stone.


I get to the pool place
and the guy tells me that maybe the sensor
is just dirty.
That'd be nice, but...
"Can I return this if it's unused?"
He assures me I can.

Sensor in hand, I head over to the camera place.
There's no one available to help me.
I don't even know if I really want to buy a flash anyway.
I leave.


When I get home, I remove the old sensor and....
it looks brand new still!
Wait... the guy said that often it's the pins
at the cord connection that break.
I take a look and... they look fine.

I put the cord back on and.... huh.
It locks in place.
I don't think I un-locked it....
I wonder.

Put the sensor back, turn the unit on and...
No error message!

I just saved $350!


And right about then, it hits me.


I have two camera flashes.
One's a big one, the other's a slave unit.
I hadn't tried the big flash unit,
since I happened to find the little one first.

I find the other flash and...
Well, it doesn't quite work like it should,
but it does fire.
And that's all I need.
I can work with that.

More bucks saved!
Woot!


So that was the news that I had before the trip.
When I got back, I got some more.


I think I've mentioned, that for the next few months
I'll be training a new person.
I've already done three weeks with her and,
well, it's been a lot of work.
No fault of hers.
Usually our new hires come in with 10 months
(or more) of training.
She had all that squeezed into six weeks.
It was a very steep hill to climb.

But every day there was improvement, so...

I got back from Montreal and called the guy
who was supposed to have been training her
in my absence.

I say "supposed".

"Hi _____. It's pkondz. How's my trainee doing?"

I wanted to know two things.
If he was seeing what I was seeing.
And if he could tell me if she'd made any progress
while I was away.

"Didn't you hear?" He says.
"She went back to her old job."


!!


No. I hadn't heard.
I made another call to my supervisor
and got the same message.


While I'm sorry it didn't work out for her,
I totally get and respect her decision to pull the plug.


What does this mean to me?
Well, a little less money in my pocket.
(We get a training bonus when we train.)
But on the other hand, I'm not going to be
nearly as busy as I was the last few weeks.
And considering the amount of overtime
I've been logging....
that's not altogether a bad thing.


Speaking of overtime.

I get home from Montreal and I have three days off
before my regular work cycle starts up again.
Except I'm scheduled to work two of them.
I get a call today while I was out having breakfast.
"Can you work Monday evening?"

I have a photoshoot that's only going to start around 1pm
so I decline.
"How about Monday during the day?"
That I definitely can't do for the same reason.

I'm at work now.
Finishing up my first overtime shift.
My boss tells me, "____ phoned in sick for the midnight shift."
"Okay... " I reply.
"There's no one else available to work it."
"Okay... " I again reply.
"So..." He says.
"You're telling me that I have to stay." I say.
He just nods.
At least he said sorry.


Wonderful.


Last night, I couldn't get to sleep until 1:30 - 2:00am or so.
Then at 3:30am the dog woke us because
there was a thunderstorm and she was scared so badly
that she was shaking.
(The puppy meanwhile, in Kay's room, slept through it.)
She kept us up for about an hour and a half.
At 7:30am or so, she tells me she has to go outside.
(At least it wasn't raining any more.)
I let her out (it's Father's Day to let the dog out apparently.)
she does her thing and then I feed her.
I try to go back to bed, but... whelp, I'm up.
Ruby tells me to wake her at 11am.

<sigh>
So I've been up most of last night
and have to stay up tonight too.
Plus I have the photoshoot at 1pm.


I WAS SUPPOSED TO START WORK
BEING NOT SO TIRED, DAGNABIT!


I should be able to catch up on sleep
Tuesday night (I hope.)
Kay doesn't need to be at school
until 8:30am or so.


So that's my news.
Mostly good, some okay, a bit of it.... sucks.


And that's it!
That concludes this portion of the TR!

Coming up... Montreal!




Thanks for reading!









You're still here?

It's over! Go read somewhere else now.











Oh.


You want to know about the contest.

Of course.
Silly of me.

Many of you missed the bonus points
opportunities at the end of the update.
And only one... one! of you got all nine photos.

As for our arrival time into Vancouver,
for those of you who didn't know...
Planes generally can make up time going East
because of the Jetstream.
So while we took off 40 minutes late,
we arrived only 17 minutes behind.
And while we cut it close on making our connection,
it did in fact leave right on time.
I still wonder if it would've waited for us.

Anyway... without further ado.


Contest!

Not quite dead yet? 10 bonus points for:
rndmr2, MAGICFOR2, franandaj,
Captain_Oblivious, TheLittleKatie,
irene_dsc, 6travel, jandlinz,
vrajewski10513, DonnaBeeGood,
Terra Nova guy, SoccerDogWithEars,
natebenma, Curiouser&curiouser!,
Susan R, MHSweb79, orangecats2


How long did you Google?
10 bonus points for:
franandaj, Captain_Oblivious,
TheLittleKatie, jandlinz, Mrs T 2009,
DonnaBeeGood, SoccerDogWithEars,
natebenma, Curiouser&curiouser!


Did you know what it was about?
10 bonus points for:
rndmr2, franandaj, Captain_Oblivious,
TheLittleKatie, jandlinz, Mrs T 2009,
DonnaBeeGood, SoccerDogWithEars,
natebenma, Curiouser&curiouser!


Previous chapter's questions and answers:

1. We were supposed to arrive in Vancouver
at 7:18am. What time did we arrive?
Answer: 7:35am - 40 points
within +/- 5 minutes - 30 points
within +/- 15 minutes - 15 points
within +/- 25 minutes - 10 points

2. Did we leave Vancouver on time?
Answer: Yep - 10 points

3. Did you see it? Did you see them all???
Answers:

"Fly pkondz Airlines" on dog tag. 20 points.

Dug waiting for a treat. 5 points.

Jiminy Cricket waiting to be devoured by a chicken. 10 points.

Pkondz Pilot Special, bottom of left menu. 30 points.

Goofy showing the way. 5 points.

Mickey and Minnie enjoying the view. 5 points.

Lightning McQueen racing down the mountain. 10 points.

Up balloon floating overhead. 10 points.

World's best airline making an appearance. 5 points.

Answers:
rndmr2 - 8:30, no, dog tag, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 65 points
MAGICFOR2 - 6:55, no, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 50 points
franandaj - 8:05, yes, dog tag, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 80 points
Captain_Oblivious - 8:00, yes, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 70 points
TheLittleKatie - 7:58, yes, dog tag, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 90 points
irene_dsc - 8:05, yes, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 55
6travel - 7:58, yes, dog tag, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 90 points
jandlinz - 7:15, yes, dog tag, Dug, Jiminy, menu, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 120 points
vrajewski10513 - 7:58, yes - 20 points
Mrs T 2009 - 8:05, yes, Dug, Jiminy, menu, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 90 points
DonnaBeeGood - 8:40, no, Dug, Jiminy, menu, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 80 points
Terra Nova guy - dog tag, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 70 points
SoccerDogWithEars - 7:50, yes, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 75 points
natebenma - 9:30, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up, plane - 50 points
Curiouser&curiouser! - 7:58, yes, Dug, Jiminy, Goofy, M&M, Car, Up - 65 points



Standings:
franandaj - 400 points
jandlinz - 360 points
Captain_Oblivious - 345 points
irene_dsc - 335 points
TheLittleKatie - 330 points
SoccerDogWithEars - 330 points
natebenma - 320 points
Curiouser&curiouser! - 310 points
6travel - 300 points
Mrs T 2009 - 295 points
DonnaBeeGood - 285 points
Terra Nova guy - 270 points
orangecats2 - 255 points
rndmr2 - 245 points
MAGICFOR2 - 235 points
Gracefulskinny - 225 points
SnowWhiteOz - 205 points
afwdwfan - 195 points
MHSweb79 - 190 points
BibbitybobityLu - 135 points
Steppesister - 130 points
queenbetsey - 125 points
Thumper_Man - 115 points
vrajewski10513 - 115 points
DISNEYMOON10121991 - 80 points
cinderkelly - 70 points
GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes - 60 points
Thumper_Man's Wife - 40 points
cindianne320 - 20 points
MarieLightning - 20 points
ForeverDance - 10 points
Susan R - 10 points
ougrad86 - 5 points
Self_resqing_princz - 5 points
mmeb144 - 0 points

Congratulations @franandaj!
Alison, PM me your address and I'll
send the "culturally significant" prize asap.

Thanks for playing along everyone!!

Found Doris in Montreal​

 

[Steppesister]

Bed time. But this is on my reading list for the 3 hour trip tomorrow. Before I hit the no signal zone.

 

[pkondz]

Bed time. But this is on my reading list for the 3 hour trip tomorrow. Before I hit the no signal zone.

Nighty night, Liesa.

 

[franandaj]

OMG! I won!!!!!!

Don't you already know my address from those surveilance devices you installed last year?

 

[franandaj]

Wow! I totally missed the pkondz pilot special, I would almost be all over that but I'm not into Gin, although it was quite similar to that Mickey's Fun Wheel drink we had on my TR at the Cove bar.

 

[rndmr2]

I was going to say hope you had a great Father's Day but from your update, it sounds like it might not have been all that great, sorry you weren't able to get much sleep and now to work a double, yuck!

Darn! I missed that menu thing.

Looking forward to hearing about Montreal.