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A timeless gift

Wow, I haven’t written in a week! Not much funny going on I suppose.

Thursday I came to work and found that I had won a clock at the barbecue we had in rails a couple of weeks ago. I went downstairs and saw Shannon to collect my prize.

I got home and took it out of the packaging to find the swivel stand was broken and it HAS NO HANDS! Maybe Sorcerer Mickey can tell me what time it is.

Short-chained at the Kingdom

I was trying to work greeter for the parade exit (and eventually, the fireworks exit) tonight but this new guy Doug positioned himself in front of me at the “point.” I don’t know what else to call it. He was standing where the queue splits, instead of the usual car-4-greet, where I was, or car-5-greet positions.

I had enough of that, especially since Carlos was only putting like 50 people in the back half of the train.. so I put the chain up while Doug was distracted and walked away. The chain JUST fit.

I was laughing with Bonnie and noticed he was having difficulty removing the chain. He even had a guest give it a go! hahaha. Meanwhile, Carlos had dropped the rope separating 4 and 5 and directed guests around the mess.

I made eye contact with Doug and he called me over, so I made for the cab to cut through Pink and get water. Tom needed a bump, so I took the train instead.

Bonnie just told me in chat, “OMG– Tom had to get it off– you were already in the train it took that long.” Beautiful!

MK Train Station rehab

I was walking to the Backstage Bistro for lunch the other day and was shocked to find they have walled off about half of Town Square for the Train Station rehab. Why do they need so much room? I hope it’s worth it.

Amusing Anecdotes

Yesterday I was scheduled to work overtime at Epcot. I hate the Epcot beam. I hate the Resort beam too, but I’d rather work there than Epcot. So I traded with Corey (and got another 1.5 hours in the trade, too!) to be at the Poly.

On my first lap around the resort beam, I dropped off a watercraft castmember at the Contemporary. As he’s walking the train towards me and the escalator, Mike says to him, “Expecting high water?” The castmember didn’t get the joke–even though he was on the 5th floor of the tower. I laughed.

I had expressed an interest in going to the Magic Kingdom and eventually I was moved there too. Not bad, huh? I got a call around 8pm to expect a bump when I got back around to the Kingdom, so I stayed in the train. I picked up my things at the Poly and was downing my cup of water. Thomas says, “Dude, your cup!”

I hold the cup up in the light and turn the back of it towards me so I can see and there is a palmetto bug on it about four inches long! I immediately threw the styrofoam cup and it smashed on the wood floor, splattering water and ice everywhere.

I stared at it for a moment. Then I grabbed a towel from the console and threw it on the floor, pushing it around with my foot to absorb some of the mess.

There was a custodial castmember there who had just emptied the can and come through the gate where Thomas (bright red, shaking, and silent with laughter) and I were standing.

Without a word, he looks at the mess, takes his nabby-grabber and picks up the broken cup and puts it in his wheeled trashcan. Then he grabs the towel, rubs it around on some of the ice cubes, and then discards the towel. Finished, he headed back towards the Polynesian’s upper lobby. We thanked him as he walked away.

Today a family of four English folks hurried up the ramp at the Kingdom only to have the doors and gates of Green close in front of them.

The mother, visibly irritated by this, chanted “bugger-bugger-bugger-bugger!” I thought it was funny to hear that strung together that way, but I dared not approach them for immediate guest service recovery. heh.

I came back from a break and heard that a manager apparently said there were too many of us up on the platform, so we should greet from the mall area. Bonus!

Weston and I stood down there together for over an hour ogling girls–particularly the ones who were bouncing.. er, I mean, running for the monorail.

Sorry, no photos today. I really ought to carry my camera to work more often.

Please don’t do this to your roommate

This is what I pulled out of my disposal today.

I was cleaning up the kitchen and dumped some food scraps into the disposal and turned it on. It made a funny noise.

I remembered that you can sharpen the blades with ice, so I took the bowl of ice from the freezer and dumped that in too. It made a horrible noise as it chewed up the ice. It took an unusually long time too.

I flicked the switch on and off a couple times and the motor sounded like it got stuck! I turned it off and investigated with the plastic handle from a drinking glass sponge. I discovered the yellow plastic bits and removed them using a pair of salad tongs. Ugh!

This is what it used to look like.

Unlocked Nokia 3120 for sale

I’m selling this phone in an auction on eBay, or you can Buy It Now! Do it!

After I originally posted this, I decided to auction a couple of other things. Follow that link and look at my other items. Something for everyone!

Hire me!

I’m currently available for short-term contracts in Orlando or Tampa metro areas for software development. I can also work at home for jobs out of the area.

Here is my resume.

PO:Riverside, BK and some other acronyms

I’m on vacation this week. Mostly I’m spending time at home getting things done, which is great, but I did manage to get away briefly. I went to DisneyWorld! Yeah, it’s kinda sick. I really feel like I was away though. Here are some pics. Tracy and I stayed at Riverside for a couple nights.

Last night I did something I haven’t done in nearly 30 years. I also can’t believe I’m old enough to say shit like that. Goodness. Anyway, I went to Burger King and ordered onion rings! As a wee lad I loved BK’s onion rings. About the time I discovered there were ONIONS in onion rings, I stopped eating them. Onions are the fruit of the Devil. I feel kinda dirty.

I repaired my computer’s surround-sound system today. Apparently it wasn’t all that broken–just the power cable I hacked in (long story) was shorted on the metal cover that apparently had cut through the insulation.

Keep Your Party Together

When I have the opportunity, I tell Guests that it is their responsibility to keep their parties together. I have no way to know where one party ends and another begins. I tell them “the next train is just minutes away” when they become separated.

Today I was standing on exterior load at the Magic Kingdom talking on the phone when apparently a 10- or 11-year-old boy’s family boards Silver without him. The doors and gates shut and the mother starts pounding on the door. The child looks nervous.

Andy puts his fist up to get the driver to hold but it’s too late. Silver starts to leave the station. Andy hurls himself over the railing (we have no emergency gates on the load side) and pulls an E-handle on the train. Silver slows to a stop.

I’m yelling “LET IT GO!” into Thomas’ ear on the phone. “LET IT GO, THERE’S ANOTHER TRAIN IN A MINUTE!! YOU CAN’T DO THAT.” But Andy is tugging at the door to the left of the E-handle. Fortunately, he forgot that only the door to the right of the E-handle can be pulled open.

Rob comes down and calmly explains that Andy has probably violated nine different clearance codes doing what he did. Andy finally gives in and pushes the E-handle back down. Silver’s brakes puff as it resumes its departure and the boy’s mother gives another round of rapping on the doors as they pull out of the station.

So now Andy is trying to console the child who has begun crying into his hands. I told him “Why don’t you take him over there [to TTC].” He agreed and took off on Lime with the child.

I called base and warned Tracie that an angry mother was going to be getting out of Silver, so she kept an eye out for them. I found out later that while they were waiting, another one of their children had run down the ramp. We suspected this isn’t the first time their party had separated.