Homemade Pizza Pic

Anniversary Disney Trip

We celebrated our 25th Anniversary this June. We decided last year to go to Walt Disney World multiple times this year. One of these trips being for our Anniversary. We were worried about going in during the summer due to the crowd levels and heat, but this was a once in a lifetime event.

We normally do a moderate amount of planning for our WDW trips. Decide on a rough schedule up front, reserve dinner reservations, and fast passes for our favorite or hard to get rides. We have also gotten into the habbit of always going for almost a whole week - Saturday to Friday. It takes us about 8.5 hours to drive there and back. You can use extra magic hours and crowd levels to determine where you want to go on each day of a trip. We almost always plan on one day for Animal Kingdom, one day for Hollywood Studios, 1-2 trips to Epcot, and 2-3 times at Magic Kingdom. We always have either a Season Pass or Park Hopper so we can jump parks and change plans if we want to. We also try to plan on a whole day or multiple half days for resort resting. Taking a break can make things much more relaxing and less stressful on your body.

The schedule for this trip ended up like this:

• Day 1
  • Drive to WDW
    • Staying at Port Orleans Riverside
  • Magic Kingdom
  • Dinner at Skippers Canteen

• Day 2
  • Breakfast: Resort
  • Disney Springs for Lunch and shopping
    • Lunch: Frontera
  • Animal Kingdom
    • Fast Pass for Everest changed to Safari due to rain
    • Fast Pass for Flight of Passage
  • Animal Kingdom Lodge / Kidani Village Resort
    • Dinner: Sanaa

• Day 3
  • Breakfast: Resort
  • Magic Kingdom
    • Fast Pass: Big Thunder Mountain
    • Fast Pass: Haunted Mansion
    • Fast Pass: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
  • Lunch:
  • Back to Resort
  • Contemporary
    • Dinner: California Grill

• Day 4
  • Breakfast: Resort
  • Epcot
    • Lunch: Fish and Chips
  • Hollywood Studios
    • Fast Pass: Tower of Terror
    • Fast Pass: Slinky Dog
    • Dinner: Hollywood Brown Derby

• Day 5
  • Breakfast: Resort
  • Lunch: Resort
  • Magic Kingdom
    • Fast Pass: Space Ranger Spin
    • Dinner: Be our Guest
    • Fast Pass: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

• Day 6
  • Breakfast: Resort
  • Disney Springs
    • Lunch: D-Luxe Burger
  • Epcot
    • Dinner: Nine Dragons
    • Fast Pass: Frozen

• Day 7
  • Breakfast: Resort
  • Drive Home

Good:

• Fun vacation with my Best Friend.
• Off the diet for a week and only gained 5 lbs.
• Many days weren't nearly as crowded as we expected.

Bad:

• New smoking areas are outside the park, so we always smell smoke when entering the parks now.
  • Saw multiple people sneaking smoking and vaping in the parks. :(
• Very rainy trip. Most days the storms kept it from getting too hot.
• Last full day was hot hot hot.

Duluth Trading Co.

I often find it hard to find clothes that fit or that I like the look of.  I tend to favor clothes that are comfortable over the way they look. I'm also very large in both directions.

I heard about Duluth on a vlog that we have been watching and decided to check them out. Duluth specializes in comfortable, long lasting clothes. Their marketing is geared toward construction and outdoor work wear. They are also known humorous commercials.

There are no Duluth stores close to me, so I've only ordered from their website. I wish there was a store closer, so I could try some things on first.

So far I have purchased:

• Cargo pants
• T-Shits
• Polo Shirt
• Button up Dress shirt
• Khaki pants

Everything has fit perfectly. The clothes feel like they are made extremely well. I'm sure everything will last for years. I haven't had to return anything yet, but they seem to have a no hassle return policy.

If I was going to complain about anything, it would be price. But, honestly the quality of these clothes is exceptional.  I think everything has been well worth the price.  If you do buy from them, be ready to receive daily emails with their latest sale.  There is always a sale going on.

Update

There is now a store in Greensboro, NC. It's not far from the NC Zoo and we have been several times.

Spring Forward

Looking forward to getting more details about the Apple Watch today.  I'll be purchasing a watch for myself and one for my wife.  Which watches?  That depends on the pricing.  I was initially planning on getting the cheapest version for my self. But, as I review the current information on the Apple site, I can't help but be drawn to the Steel version of the watch with the Milanese Loop. I love the way the watch looks.  However, it will all depend on pricing, which will hopefully be announced during Apples "Spring Forward" event later today.

"What are you going to use it for?"

Well there are plenty of examples of how version one of the watch may be used here.  Notifications, quick interactions, telling the time. Things that only require a quick interaction with my phone.  I really just want to see what its like to use a smart watch.  Who knows I might even develop some software to take advantage of this new platform.

I've also used fitness trackers before. I hope the Apple Watch will help me be more conscious of my lack of physical activity. Any help I can get there will be good.

The one year plan

I normally upgrade my phone every year. And, I'm completely embedded in the Apple ecosystem. So, I always get the latest phone from Apple. This year I decided to get the insanely huge iPhone 6 plus instead of the slightly bigger iPhone 6. I was worried that the big change in size would be difficult to deal with.

While I waited for my new phone to ship I used my 3d printer to print a mockup of the new phone.  I carried it in my pocket a few days to see how it felt. Not bad, but not the same as the real thing.

After almost two weeks with the new device and I'm not sure I ever want to go back. I really love this new computer.

Pros

• Amazing screen
• Great camera
• Better battery
• I have big hands and big pockets

Cons

• Felt slippery to me at first - I'm using the Apple leather case now
• If you have small hands I wouldn't get it

iOS8

• Bugs Bugs Bugs There are several annoying bugs, that I'm sure they will fix - but till then ARRG
• Extensions are great except for Bugs

If you like big phones and you like Apple phones then this one is for you. Oh, and if one more person asks me if it Bends...

Paying for Content because Reasons

I am somewhat of an anomaly among my friends. I do not download music, tv, or movies illegally, and I do not take content from friends. I do not have Cable TV. So I wait till Game of Thrones is out on Blu-ray.  I buy season passes on iTunes or Amazon. I watch Netflix and Amazon Prime.  I will sometimes go to a Providers web site to watch shows, which means I still see commercials in some cases.

Having said that, I can completely understand why a vast majority of people download content illegally.  The industry wants you to spend your money on Cable TV.  They want you to pay for 200 channels you don't watch. They want to send you to the Theater to watch a movie. They do not want to provide a-la-cart programming. They want you watching commercials. They will do everything they can to maintain control and lack of choice.  Even though most people can easily get the content they want with little hassle.

So whats the net result of this.  I'm watching less TV than ever and I don't miss most of it and I spend less on TV and Movies.  I am more choosey when determining what I will watch.

The content providers should be afraid of the changing landscape. But, they may want to think less about cord-cutters that pirate media, and more about the people that learn that they don't really need most of what they used to watch.

Let us become more organized

We use the reminders app on iOS for sharing to-do's at home, along with a small white-board on the fridge.  This works great for the kinds of things we do at home, and let's be honest, Lisa keeps things up to date, like a Boss.

But, at work it makes more sense to keep notes and to-do lists in text form.  I work on multiple operating systems and I like to enter notes on whatever system is more convenient at that particular time.  A while back I switched to Markdown for these documents.  It lets me keep the files on Dropbox, and share them between Linux, Mac OS X, and iOS with little hassle.  I thought I would share what I'm doing currently on each of these platforms.

Linux

• Node JS:  I have a simple Server running on my Work Desktop that serves up all files in my share folder.  One of the files in this folder is a symbolic link to a folder in Dropbox where I keep my work related markdown files.  This server will serve up HTML versions of all my Markdown files.  This lets me share and view these files easily.
• Sublime Text: I have a licensed copy of Sublime I use to edit my notes. I'm working on some Sublime plugins to help me with repeatable tasks.

Mac OS X

• Sublime Text: Works on all major desktop operating systems.
• NVAlt: I'm taking a look at this, but I'm not sure if I like the way files are managed.

iOS

• Drafts: Gives me the ability to quickly create and append to markdown documents stored on Dropbox.  If I have a quick thing I need to add to a to-do list I can type it and choose where I want the text to go.
• ByWord: A simple Markdown friendly editor for iOS.
• Editorial: A great programmable editor for the iPad. I've created scripts for Editorial to add tasks to todo lists, mark them as complete, and even timestamp when they were completed.

General

• Mingle: We use Mingle to manage stories and tasks. I try not to duplicate the information stored here.

My Ever Changing Workflow

• I keep a separate directory for each sprint. Something like 'Work/2014/Sprint 7'.  I have a script that creates a new directory and places empty files for things like a to-do list, planning notes, retrospective notes, and demo notes.
• If I need to add something to my to-do list for a sprint. I use Drafts, ByWord, or Sublime-Text. Which I use depends on where  I am, what platform, and whether its a quick addition, or something more involved.
• If I need to share these notes with someone, I can simply give them a link to my desktop Node server. That way they will always have the latest version of the file.
• As I complete tasks I just add DONE.

I mentioned above that I'm writing some Sublime Text plugins to match what I have on Editorial.  I don't always bring my iPad to work.

I hope this helps in some small way.  I'm still trying to be more disciplined about updating my notes. I hope to evolve and update the tools I use while keeping it simple.

Back to full time

Sitting in the Toyota dealership waiting area this morning, thinking about the last two years and my upcoming return to full time employeement.

I still don't regret the attempt at running a personal buisness. I think I could have done better. I think I could have worked harder at it. Most importantly I plan on continuing to work on developing it.

I do think that not returning to my old position after "my year off" was a mistake. However, I'm not sure I would have learned as much if I had not totally comited to it. Our savings has suffered for that lesson, and I have been worried about money more than I usualy do. As a result of this I spent less on gadgets, music, and movies these last two years and I haven't really missed any of it. I do have a long list of items I plan on buying, but I'll space them out over the next year.

I think the hardest part of all this is returning to a normal work schedule and working for someone other than myself. I'm going to have to figure out how to balance the day job with my side buisness. The next few weeks will be interesting.

The Job Search

Well I decided it was time to get back to a regular Full Time Job again. Wish I could keep doing iPhone / and soon iPad development, but that will have to take the role of hobby again. No money in it unless your a big company or you get very lucky.

On the positive side I have already gotten several phone calls about possible jobs.

Health Care Reform

I've been getting very pissed off at some things members of my family and some friends have been saying and sending to me about the proposed Health Care Reform plan thats is currently being discussed.   But, not for the reasons you might think.

The thing that is pissing me off is that everyone is just forwarding and propagating myths and lies that either side is making up to support their reasons for or against the proposal.  Do some freaking research people. Just because Rush or some other "Entertainer" tells you that something is true, doesn't mean it is.  What happened to balanced factual news reporting. Its almost impossible to find information on the proposals that you can trust.

This post at FactCheck.org helps to illuminate some of these false "Facts" that I keep seeing:

Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200

Now click on that and read it, then read it again, then calm down for a minute.

Oh, and If I get one more email from a so called friend or relative about how Obama is evil, mostly because he is black, I'm going to pretty much stop talking to them. Is he perfect? No. Is he always right? No. Does it matter that he is black? No. Stop being so damn hateful.  I thought my friends and family were better than that. Now grow up!