Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Push

There’s a great post over on this blog regarding “Push,” the talking, walking garbage can at Disneyland. I visit Disneyland often and have only ever seen him one time, and I was absolutely memorized by the entire interaction. He’s apparently been around since 1997, so catching Push in action is a bit of a challenge.

Gee, I wonder why they call him "Push." ;)

It’s not that a talking garbage can is so cool, heck even Disney World has a talking drinking fountain. Or even that it can wander about around the park. The magic comes from the operators, who have a great sense of humor and performance.

You can read more about the sense of humor Push has on the other blog (“Domo arigato! Sushi! Nintendo! Ichiro!"), but here are two events that I witnessed that literally had me in tears:

* Push was wandering about while a man wearing a red shirt with a maple leaf emblazed on the front of it wandered by, not even noticing that the trash can was moving. Immediately, Push starts a rousing chorus of “Oh, Canada.” I couldn’t do justice in words to describe this man’s reaction when he turned around and saw a trash can following him singing his national anthem.

* As Push was moving into a store, and eventually to the backstage area, several kids start pushing him. They actually almost toppled the trash can at one point. I was curious what would happen, because at the time I thought that perhaps there was actually someone inside the trash can (there’s not). Push’s comment: “Hey kid, don’t you have parents somewhere?” Then you here a woman’s voice from the crowd “Kyle!” Push says, “Hey Kyle, go find your mom!”

Literally tears from laughing so hard!

Monday, October 17, 2005

There’s always next year!

Those Rat Bastard Chicago White Sox™. They completely outplayed the Angels and the Red Sox, there’s no denying that, and now they can enjoy a 6 day rest before the World Series begins.

So let me say it here (begin mumbling) congratulations to the White Sox (end mumbling) (begin screaming) Rat Bastards! (end screaming).



And I just got my new HDTV to watch the Angels play in the World Series. They must have missed the memo I sent. Rat Bastards.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Trap Shooting

I joined up with my good friend Rick last night for something I had never done before. Trap shooting. Rick provided the shotguns, and I provided the shells. I think I got the better end of that deal.

I had never fired a shotgun, and really my only experience with a weapon is qualifying Expert with the M-16 rifle while a Marine. Apparently, the Marine Corps training does translate to the shotgun. :)

After Rick showed me the basics on how to load and eject the round and clear the weapon if it jammed, he then instructed me on etiquette I was expected to adhere to. Since you fire with 4 other people at the same time, there’s a certain rhythm that develops from the group, and he gave me some finer points on how to not look like a complete newbie.


This isn't us, but it's similar to how the range we visited is setup.

When our group was called, Rick and I were standing next to each other in positions 4 and 5 so if something unexpected happened, he could give me a hand. Honestly, my goal here was to load the weapon, fire it, and reload, and that was it. Hitting any of the clay pigeons was secondary.

25 pigeons are sent flying for you to shoot at, one at a time. They each take different trajectories and you don’t know which way they’re going until they’re already flying. I’d say you have about 1 second to get a bead on the clay pigeon, and maybe 1-2 seconds more to fire. So, this really is a very focused sport. After 5 clay pigeons, you rotate with everyone in the group so that everyone has a chance to fire from each of the 5 firing positions.

Of the first 5 pigeons that flew, I hit every one of them. I was a bit surprised to see the bring orange of the clay bursting. I couldn’t believe that I was actually hitting the little things. Rick walked by me while we were rotating, and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me! You’ve never shot trap before?”

It turns out that I hit 19 of 25 targets for my first ever round of trap. I was certainly feeling smug.

That is, until the second round, when I scored a dismal 11 hits. Clearly, this is one of those sports like golf, where you can be on or off, and it’s just going to take some experience to get better.

I expected the shotgun to have some serious recoil, but it turns out that it was very domicile. However, when I woke up this morning, I found that my shoulder has a small bruise and my cheek hurts from laying my face on the stock of the shotgun and absorbing the recoil. Obviously, my initial opinion that there wasn’t much recoil was very, very wrong.

I must say that if you’ve never tried this before, this is something you should give a go.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Thank you Letterman!

Classic, just classic. :)

Top Ten New York Yankees Excuses

10. "The Angels have developed a secret pitch that curves"

9. "Players left logy by clubhouse paella"

8. "Aren't used to rat-free outfield"

7. "Average player age is 52"

6. "Didn't know if they were playing California Angels, Anaheim Angels, or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim"

5. "Acid reflux"

4. "How are you supposed to field a competitive team on $200 million?"

3. "Due to typo in latest memo, Steinbrenner demanded players give 10%"

2. "Giambi lost his lucky syringe"

1. "Who can concentrate on Baseball when Hockey is back?"
Mad Magazine

A kind soul has scanned in every Mad Magazine cover. It’s a fun exercise to go back and try to see what the earliest one that you can remember. For me, it’s January 1982, when I was 11 years old.

Monday, October 10, 2005

You Get What You Pay For

My work life can be stale at times, so I’m always looking forward to spicing up the day with a little humor.

Earlier, my boss asked me if I brought my digital camera. “No, why?” I responded. “Because the other office that is sharing our server hardware and paying a bundle for it wants to see what they’re paying for.”

Insert maniacal laughter here.

The server farm that we do have is nice, neat and looks like something that would be home on the Death Star. Of course, the picture that the remote office received was this one:



Sometimes, I love my job. ;)
Fireflies

I had never seen a firefly until just this past summer when I visited Ohio. The residents there don't even notice them much, but I found them to be fascinating and beautiful. My favorite viewing was watching the fireflies dance at the edge of a wooded area next to my hotel. I could watch that all night long!

Now there's a perfect way to bring fireflies to my own back yard! An ex-imagineer from Disney has drawn up the plans for the electrical creations that can be built with parts from your handy dandy local Radio Shack. Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Welcome to October

'sniff'

Smell that? That’s called baseball, and the air is thick with playoff anticipation. The Los Angeles Anaheim Angels are back in the hunt after winning the American League Western Division title and clinching a playoff berth much earlier than other teams. I think this will be a real key to their success, as they’ve had plenty of time to get their pitchers rested and the rotation set while other teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox went down to the wire to secure their playoff hopes.

Red, white and blue!

Proving yet again why everyone hates the Yankees, their players and coaches have already started whining. I guess it’s a good sign that your opponent is focused on things like this when they should probably be focused on how to beat the Angels.

I don’t have tickets this year, because I work an early shift and wouldn’t have been able to see the majority of games. But, I can say that Angel Stadium will be electric tonight. I’d hate to be in the Yankees shoes, although Boston proved last year that the Angels can be beaten even with home field advantage. Still, the Angels seem to have had the Yankees number over the past few seasons, even in Yankee Stadium.

It’s going to be a great week! Enjoy!