I like this kid. Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.
You never know when you'll have
that meet that just doesn't work.
I'm always at least a little worried
that the other side of the equation
just won't show up.
I've never had that particular fear. It's more...
On the other side...
I'm worried that people
meeting me won't be overly
thrilled with the result.
"Huh. I knew pkondz was dull...
But I didn't know he was that dull!"
There you go. Or, "Wow, that guy was a jerk."
I've been extraordinarily fortunate
with my DISmeets.
I've met some wonderful people
in some wonderful places.
And you've also met me. In Delaware.
I must admit...
When Tracy mentioned that,
and told me to come for a visit
sometime... I had visions of
countless displays similar to... this:
I have to admit...yes, that's what I pictured.
I wasn't too worried about the
chocolates, but...
He specifically asked about alcohol
and I'd said "No."
All of a sudden, my pants spontaneously combusted!
The border guard closed the trunk
and re-approached my door.
"Have a nice day." Is all he said.
I held my breath until I pulled away
and then let it out in a
whoosh
of relief. <PHEW!>
How much did that cost you?
I now consider myself
an international crime lord.
Aw, man. I should have had you sign a napkin or something.
I had entered the
Corning Glass Center
instead of the
Corning Museum of Glass.
Whoops!
I get the feeling you're not the first person to have made this mistake.
Tracy was waiting for me
and...
From the moment we met,
we became best friends.
Well, that escalated quickly.
Wow, that is just stunning work!
Does that remind you of anything?
Tracy's convinced that they used
that as the basis of the
Crystal Foxes in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Judge for yourselves...
I can certainly see the resemblance.
Just an incredible piece there! I bet he must have had hundreds of pages of plans to work all the details out.
She even pointed out
the bowl she uses to soak
her feet in after a long
day of walking around Disney.
I would not want to pay the over-weight airline fees for that one.
This window caught my eye
as well.
Not sure why, it just called to me.
Space modulators have been around a long time, I guess.
I found it fascinating.
There was a collection
of about 2,000 rare books.
All about glass or glass making.
My favorite is, "How Glass Turned Die Hard From a Decent To An All-Time Great Action Movie".
Wow. Hard to fathom the chandelier we saw coming from that. As an engineer, I'm about as far removed from the mind of an artist as you can get. So this just blows me away!
While we were eating and
chatting up a storm
(I love when that happens)
it started to rain outside.
(see what I did there?)
Clearly, your powers are being wasted in your current job.
We returned to the museum
and watched a glass blowing
demonstration.
Those are never NOT fascinating.
But I very much appreciated
the thoughtfulness.
Tracy had gotten me some
Chihuly sketch books and
note cards as well as a
museum magnet
with (what else?)
a Dale Chihuly masterpiece
on it.
Sounds like someone knew what you liked!
But traffic and time
conspired against me
and I had to chose between
the last two Harley shops
or my scheduled DISmeet.
Harley shops. Every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I'd met Mark (
@Captain_Oblivious )
and one of his sons last year,
but now I was meeting (most)
of the rest today.
Honestly, I can't believe you came back!
I suspect she's possibly just a little bit
wiser than the rest of them.
"Hey! I'm meeting pkondz! Who's in??"
Julie: "Me!"
David: "Me!"
Scotty: "Me!"
Drew: "Me!"
Sarah: "Meh"
Mark figured if I was coming
to the area, I had to have
a famous Philly cheesesteak.
A real one! Not the Steak-umm crap the rest of the continent settles for.
They must have been running low. I've seen a literal wall of meat on the oven before.
Oh. My. Word.
The thing was huge!
As it should be.
As I turned back to my meal,
Drew hopped off his chair
and ran over to me.
"I wasn't ready!" He cried out.
"Oh." I said. "Then we better
take another one."
This kid. I am told this is a sign of "leadership skills". And here I thought it was just being bossy.
Much better.
Thanks Drew.
I owe you one, buddy.
I gotta say, it is a better photo.
Mark's family is easily
one of the nicest
I've ever had the pleasure
of meeting.
Awww...thank you for saying that. They've been making me look good for years.
I thoroughly enjoyed both of my evenings with with you. Thank you for being willing to go so far out of your way to meet up with me! Too bad we couldn't make the timing work so we could get to the UD Creamery.
I enjoyed chatting with
all of them,
including Drew.
We had a few very serious
conversations, he and I.
Mostly involving Paw Patrol and whether or not you had any cookies with you.
Too soon, it was time
for us to part.
Time always flies at
these DISmeets.
I'm always shocked
when I look at the time and...
"Where did the time go????"
Stupid bedtime.
Mark (or Julie... or both)
provided me with a little taste
of Delaware for the road.
You should credit Julie. I wanted to keep those all for myself.
Did you see it in this chapter?
Did you see them both?
Little fella really likes his glass, I guess.
Oh, no!
Mike has a short list of things he loves about WDW, and this is one of them so we really carve out time for it 
