Wed. June 4, 2025 – home again home again jiggity jig…

By on June 4th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Hot and humid in central Florida, followed by hot and humid in Houston Tx. Probably. It was hot and humid in Orlando except when it was raining. The overcast helped too, but when the sun poked through, boy howdy it got hot. I’ve been wearing my lightweight boonie hat from Columbia to shade my head and keep the sun off my neck, and it helps alot.

Spent the day at Universal Resorts Orlando which apparently is what they call the properties here. Universal Studios, Citywalk, and Universal Islands of Adventure. It’s not actually very big, either in total, or for each park area. Citywalk is a public area of restaurants, shopping, and nightlife, while the others are classic theme parks. Well, Citywalk is a semi-public area anyway. They do search you and restrict you while you are there.

Did I mention that their parks use the same facial recognition hardware that the TSA does? The implementation was not complete yet, unlike Epic, so we did still need to have a printed ticket to scan for the lockers, and to move from IOA to US. Printed because there are times when your phone is locked up, in a locker that can only be opened by scanning your park ticket.

We at least walked through most of the various “lands” but spent most of our time in Potter world. See yesterday’s comments for more details.

It was expensive, tiring, and even the kids will be glad to be home. Got to see mom and sibling, spend time with my wife and kids, and see some fun attractions. I’ll be glad to be home too.

Stacking up the good times,

nick

Read the comments: 35 Comments

Tues. June 3, 2025 – more competition to check out….

By on June 3rd, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, personal

And more hot, humid, and probably rainy weather. The overcast was nice, and the rain held off until evening, and then cleared out pretty quickly. The forecast calls for pretty much the same today.

Epic Universal is a new park. It’s only been open to the public for about a week, with soft open for friends and family before that. There are a lot of “tweaks” being made, as you’d expect. There are a lot of unfinished things too. Masking tape still in place, missing electrical covers, building supplies or trash out where they can be seen… The funniest was the rain water dripping out of ceiling mounted smoke detectors in the Carousel attraction. There must be a big leak in that roof, and probably more than one based on the number of places there were drips.

There were a lot of broken things too. 10% of the Carousel was tagged out. I suspect the lap belt system is at fault, based on what I saw them trying to fix. Mandatory lap belts for a carousel, even for adults! Several places already had significant wear, or intentional damage. There were a lot of props and stage dressings that were too close to audience or guests. That stuff will vanish quickly. Sound levels throughout the park were off, mainly too loud, but still unintelligible.

On the other hand, the level of design and detailing was very high. I was using google translate on the signs and waybills in the France area, and they all translated and most were funny as well as being ‘in world’.

I wouldn’t recommend Epic at this time. Let them work out operational issues and do the shake down cruise fixes. Let them figure out how to get wait times down. Nothing there is worth the waits that we saw yesterday.

Today we’re on another Universal property, although I’m not sure what and when. Should be fun if the waits aren’t as bad as Epic. If it rains, all bets are off, as all the outdoor rides shut down. Then the indoor ride wait times skyrocket. It’s always something.

Flexibility and patience will be key- as they are with prepping. Stack stuff, work on flexibility and patience.

nick

Read the comments: 54 Comments

Mon. June 2, 2025 – let’s see how the competition plays…

By on June 2nd, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, personal

Probably hot and sunny today. Yesterday was nice for most of the day, cool and cloudy, but after noon it got very hot in the sun. So I napped. Later was nice, after the sun went down, especially when there was a breeze.

We spent the morning in Animal Kingdom. The Avatar attraction is still cool, but needs some alignment. They’ve redone the intro stuff, replacing Sigourney Weaver, and taking out most of the eco crap. Not all. Basically they took out almost everything that referred to movie stuff.

We spent the afternoon napping, and evening eating in Epcot. BTW, they re-did the intro stuff for Mission:space too, replacing the white man with a black woman. There is a chinese guy in a wheelchair in the background, running a console too.

Apparently this is pride week which someone suggested was part of the reason for low attendance. It explains all the rainbow crep I keep seeing.

Dunno if it’s related, but the low attendance has been nice for us.

Today will be universal’s Epic. No Fastpasses so it’s gonna suck.

I’ll see what security is like there, when the demographic is typically different than WDW.

I’m falling asleep at the keyboard it’s time for me to stack some zzz’s.

nick

Read the comments: 41 Comments

Sun. June 1, 2025 – Still at WDW, weather still mixed

By on June 1st, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Yesterday was raining in the morning, but clear and beautiful later in the day. It was a light and occasional drizzle that kept us nicely cool, with overcast hiding the sun. Mid afternoon was brutal when the sun poked through, but that was rarely and only for a short while. By sunset, it was cooler and clear. I would like some more cool and overcast please.

Did Hollywood Studios in the morning. Rode the Star Wars stuff, and pretty much everything else we wanted with a mix of Lightning Lane and standby. Did a couple of attractions that were new to me at Epcot after dinner- Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ratatouille. Guardians is a roller coaster with projections and a twist. It looked like a ‘proof of concept’ rather than a fully executed ride. Minimal theming in the pre- and post- ride areas. Cool ride though.

Ratatouille was a moving motion base with 3d projection and live effects. Very cool, very innovative. Similar in tech to the Star Wars “Rise of the Resistance” with added 3d. The new rides are VERY smooth with the physics and engineering worked out to an incredible level.

Today we’ll start in Animal Kingdom with the Avatar attractions, then my sibling and mom will head home. Dunno what we’ll do in the afternoon and evening. It will probably not involve a lot of walking as we are all having varying foot issues (which is unusual for us as we are seasoned park goers.)

I’ve had several more searches by security. I’m the type I guess.

That isn’t very ‘grey man’ and is probably something I should work on. And stacking. That too.

nick

Read the comments: 44 Comments

Sat. May 31, 2025 – Epcot? Hollywood studios? Somewhere else?

By on May 31st, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, personal

Supposed to be another humid, hot day, with a chance of rain. Disney parks are fine in the rain. Universal, not as much. Yesterday was mid 80sF with occasional cooler patches, mostly when it was raining. We avoided most of the rain, only getting sprinkled. I’m hoping for similar today.

See yesterday’s comments if you are interested in my day at the Magic Kingdom.

Today we’re either doing Hollywood Studios, Epcot, both, or something else. Sibling is a planner and an expert Disney user, so I let the wife and sibling plan the days. They’re built around the Lightning Lane availability, I know that much.

My mom has been doing great so far. We have a wheel chair to move her around the parks, but she ‘transfers’ to rides under her own power. She even rode Tron. The chair saves her a lot of energy and lets us move at our walking pace instead of hers.

Surprisingly, the park isn’t full of power chair scooters and double wide baby strollers. It must just be the time of the year. Lots of foreign tourists, mostly spanish speakers, but not the horde of brazillians we’ve had before. They are incredibly obnoxious so I’m happy to not have them. People say american tourists are loud and inappropriate, but the brazillians are horrible.

Just doing my part for international relations…

———–
FWIW, in the morning I walked through the security scanner without issue. And the entry system read my thumbprint fine. When we returned in the evening, the entry system wouldn’t read my thumbprint and the scanner flagged me for secondary inspection with a wand and a look under my shirt. I had my altoids tin first aid kit in the pocket of my shorts. The guard indicated it was what set off the scanner. They didn’t open it or look in it though. White male with an overshirt… walking alone. FFS, it’s like a stereotype. EVERY time I’ve been alone in the entry line I get pulled out. Airports too. Today I’m taking the kid with me.

I’m stacking some good times, I hope you have some too.

nick

Read the comments: 27 Comments

Fri. May 30, 2025 – Short shrift while I’m on vacation…

By on May 30th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, personal

Probably warm and humid here in central Florida. Maybe some rain, although I don’t think we’re in the rainy season. There is a front pushing through that might get us some clear sky for the next couple of days. Or not. We’ll see.

Did my errands in the morning, made it to the chiropractor and Costco for gas and sunglasses, and made it home in time to pack and leave for the airport in plenty of time. Of course we didn’t. And then the airport was all kinds of messed up. We’d have missed the flight if it wasn’t delayed an hour by weather. This has happened before, and I’m pretty much done letting my wife do the travel day schedule…

But we got here.

Today is one of the parks, not sure which. The itinerary was worked out long ago and I’m just along for the ride.

I’ll be keeping my eyes open and looking for the stuff most people don’t see. No stacking except memories and good times.

Stack a few yourselves…

nick

Read the comments: 27 Comments

Thur. May 29, 2025 – travel day

By on May 29th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, personal

Cool to start but then back to normal. Unless we get more rain. That might keep it cool for the day. Yesterday started with rain, but ended up sunny. The early rain kept the temperature down though and it was pretty nice. More of that would be great. Forecast shows the whole south and gulf coast in potential rain for the next couple of days. I’d like some nice days in Florida though, if we could get them.

Did my pickups Wednesday. Talked to my auctioneer, and generally did my normal routine day. Even did a load of laundry so I would have clean clothes for the trip. Just another day.

And today will be mostly getting ready to leave. Kids have school in the morning, but then we leave for our flight in the afternoon.

I’m not at all excited for this trip, but I should get into it once it gets going.

Can’t prep much, except for my normal carry on bag and relationships.

But these are the good old days, and we need to make sure they are GOOD. Time with family is good.

Building memories is good.

Stack the intangibles as well as the tangibles.

nick

Read the comments: 37 Comments

Wed. May 28, 2025 – another busy day, chicks to hatch and eggs to lay..

By on May 28th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, personal

Cool to start, but warming rapidly. It was in the high 80sF or more by late in the day yesterday, although it started cool enough. Sun came out and it was actually pretty bright and sunny later. More of that would be ok with me.

I had lots to do, and it was awkwardly timed, so of COURSE I got a service call from my client on top of everything. I was able to flip some stuff around and accommodate him. I stopped on my way there and grabbed a new APC UPS. We have Cyberpower there, mainly because of cost, but I prefer APC. The store had an open box unit discounted enough I could go with the APC. He was back on grid when I got there, and the UPS was still beeping, so it was time to swap it. They do wear out, they do catch surges. At home, I try to replace the battery once, but after that, the power electronics seem to be just worn out and the unit needs replacing.

Anyway, got him back up and running, then picked up D1, dropped her home, did my trash run, came back to take D2 to the orthodontist, then took her with me to get two pickups before time ran out. Came home and crashed out in front of my PC. Wife took care of the other kid taxi duties last night.

Oh, and I cut myself. Details in yesterday’s comments. We’ll see today if there is any infection. I didn’t really want stitches with the heavy bandage, and water restrictions, especially with my trip to Disney coming up. Fortunately I had the steri-strips, antibiotic, cleaners, etc. Well, it’s not down to “fortune” exactly, but it’s down to preparation and stacks. Which is the whole point of prepping.

So fail for cutting myself, hooray for preps for treating the injury.

Stack stuff you might need, as well as stuff you know you will need. Then stack some more.

nick

Read the comments: 39 Comments

Tues. May 27, 2025 – winding down the month…

By on May 27th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Hot and humid. Really. In Texas in summertime. Who would have thought? Add in a chance of rain too. We had such a beautiful long Spring, the transition to Summer is a bit brutal. Saying that, it was 67F when I woke up at the BOL yesterday. And 74F when I finally got moving. I did some extra work outside figuring it would be months before it was this cool again.

That extra work was cutting down a tree. The other work was cleaning up from the rain and wind storm. Neighbor had a huge oak blow down, I just had some standing dead wood and the top of one medium sized tree that landed on the deck.

It still took a while to get all the other loose debris and branches added to the burn pile. And I was pretty sweaty and hot by the end, despite the <80F temps. Got everything cleaned up and eventually headed home. This is a really short week for me. Kids have half days due to testing. Then we're going to see mom and sibling in Fla. Maybe see the new Universal stuff. Maybe some mouse stuff. That means, no bidding on stuff until I get back, and getting everything I previously bid on before I leave. Oh, and wrangling the kids through doctor's appointments and their normal activities. All while getting ready to go out of town. Joy. These are the good old days though, so I'll suck it up. Not much stacking goin' on... nick

Read the comments: 59 Comments

Mon. May 26, 2025 – Memorial Day, USA

By on May 26th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Hot and humid today, on the unofficial start of Summer. It was steamy all day yesterday even after the rain cleared out. Dunno if we’ll get rain today, but it would be nice to have a nice day.

Flags at half staff until noon, then raised to full, as we spend the morning remembering those who fell in the fight, and the afternoon celebrating what they fought for. Friends and family. It’s always that in the end.

———–

I spent yesterday chipping away at the list. Some additional items ‘spontaneously’ got added, and were dealt with. I did get the grass cut, and trimmed, and the debris blown clear. I pruned trees. I even bagged the peach tree with a giant mesh bag that is supposed to keep insects and critters from eating your fruit. We’ll see if any survive to be harvested this year. Most years the critters spoil all the fruit before it ripens.

Spent a few minutes talking to one of the neighbors here who lives in Houston and is a bit more prepper minded than most. He just installed a solar system with two Tesla Powerwalls for storage. It’s some sort of leased thing, where he pays a fixed rate, which was less than his utility bill. Don’t know the details, but it sounds like more of the financial shenanigans that most solar companies are dealing in, except that he gets the storage too. He’s just done it, and I’ll be interested in his results and happiness in a few months or a year.

I’m not sure I would want a big battery next to the house… but there is an appeal to having the system.

——
Went for a short cruise around the lake with my wife. She enjoyed it, as it was nice and cool with the wind after a day working.

——-
Today we’ll be doing things to get ready to head home, and I still have to put solar panels somewhere, and unload my truck. It’s gonna be a move this and move that kind of a day, I think. They feel like just shuffling the deck chairs, but it is important. I found some things I’d brought up here while looking for other stuff in the garage, which drove home the need to properly put stuff away. If you can’t find it, do you really have it?

Stack stuff. Learn stuff. USE the stuff.

nick

Read the comments: 40 Comments