The first week is over and the weekend is ready to begin. This has been an insane week, although I do not remember a first week that was not nearly out of control.
-ok, this was a short post because I still am half asleep-

Yesterday and today are back to school. :(
Yes the world is spinning less quickly now and the mornings just seem to get here quicker. Working in education has given me an appreciation of how early the sun starts to rise, got to get up early or the facuity lot will be full and the students will be nervous to get inside the classroom. Anyway so far the semester has gone well, less the crashing computer systems, inoperative software, disconnected CNC machines... Ok, well it could be worse, I could be in the South right now. Family of mine that is there has yet to determine just how bad the damage is but we will find out soon enough. Positive thoughts and prayers go out to those families who lost their homes and loved ones in the storm.

Look at me I'm at Bat's Day number 7!

This last Sunday was Bat's Day in the Fun Park (AKA Goth day at Disneyland). This is by far my favorite day of the year to go to Disneyland. What makes the Bat's Day event so great is that it offers two services. The first is that you get to meet some of the most friendliest, nicest, best dressed people with similar likes and dislikes as you. The second is that Bat's Day demolishes all the stereotypes that people have about "Goths". At Bat's Day it is not uncommon to see and meet entire families of goths who supprisingly to most of the Disneyland guests are not depressed antisocial criminals who sacrifice cats on the next full moon. But instead a group of people who have extremely high moral character and quite possibly have a higher respect for the Disneyland resort (and the Disney lifestyle) than your average American.


The mid-day castle meet

Bat's Day is usually spit into 3 picture meets. The first is the castle meet at around 1:45 where everyone crowds around the castle forcort and our picture is taken as one large group. The only problem with this meet is that at that time of the day the forcorut area is extremely hot this time of the year and we are all dressed in black. The second meet is the Baby Bat's photo. This photo is when all the kinder-goths and there parents gather at the Sword in the Stone ceremony in Fantisyland. The Baby Bat's photo shoot is the cutest thing you will ever see. Then the last gathering is the 8:00 pm photo at the Haunted Mansion. This is the big one where everyone gets in line for the Mansion and groups of 25 are arranged on the stairs of the Mansion where there photos are taken. This can take some time as there is usually over 1500 goths that show up for this photo. There is no accurate number of how many people show up for Bat's Day because not everyone is able to show up for all the photo meets (parents with little children who live in the area rarely make it to the Mansion photo, it's past their sleepy time) but it is and incredible number that show up through out the day.


Cheer on the Wicked Queen - This is an unofficial meet where many of the Bat's Day attendees show up for the 11:45 Snow White musical and cheer on the Wicked Queen, it is all in good fun.


Thanks Noah for such an incediable event

My Bat's Day dash

One last note more pictures that I took on Bat's Day can be found at:
themeparks.demonbird.com/dlr/batsday5/
Can't wait for next years event, it just gets bigger and better every year!

Well I did another one of those who/what are you tests. This one is what Disneyland Attraction am I. Well I knew I would be one of two attractions, the first being the Haunted Mansion and the second was correct.

I am: the Pirates of the Caribbean - I guess they saw me in my pirate shirt?

The Pirates of the Caribbean: A swashbuckling
adventure! Yo ho, a pirates life is indeed for
you, seeing as you are the classic Disney dark
ride that presents a time when New Orleans was
under attack from a band of treasure loving
bandits. You have a bit of an edge, and an
element of danger, and you can scare the
youngins, but for the most part you mean no
serious harm. You are youthful at heart,
strong and energetic, with a taste for the good
life, if not hard work. You have romantic
notions about the adventurous life on the sea
with no rules and no responsibilities except to
your ship, but you also weary and worrisome of
the fate that eventually gets all those who
those who live life on the lamb, stealing gold
for greed and burning down cities for your own
delight. You are what you are, and you're out
to enjoy the glamour of your wild days while
they last! Despite your rough surface, the
people know you have heart and they will always
come back.


What Disneyland attraction are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

This last weekend had been rather chaotic, but I made it through to today. Sunday My family and I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, it had been a while since my last visit in December, a lot had changed. The changes were very pleasant. The SDWAP had added a nicely themed carousel called the Conservation Carousel. All the animals appeared to be threatened or endangered species. The ride looked awesome with it's thached roof and wooden queue walls. Also the price was very good for an upcharge attraction at $2.00. Also new to the park is the upcoming helium Balloon ride that will raise passengers above the heart of the park, just in front of Lion Camp, giving them a 360 view of the valley. Counting the carousel, balloon ride, the I-werks simulator and the Wagasa Bushline, the park is ending up with a decent collection of rides to complement there collection of highly themed animal exhibits.

No that paragraph was not a plug for the Wild Animal Park, it was just that I was so impressed with the place.

Ahh what an relaxed picture, you can see how much I liked my time there.

Moving forward in time...
Monday, Tuesday, Today!
Those 3 days have been just one long solid day as we approach the beginning of the upcoming semester. Down in Machine Tech we have all been scurrying around like a bunch of chipmunks on too much caffeine. New machines from HAAS now in place and the surrounding partitions going up the classroom has never looked better. Also there has been lots of work done in the 2 computer labs to make sure the students have the most up to date software, and that there are no conflicts between any of them. For those who don't know CAD/CAM software is some of the most difficult software to install and configure.

There is still much to do but the bulk of it is done, but there is still more to do! No rest for me until Friday.

Friday was a busy day at work for me, infact I think that today being sunday I am finaly catching up. This had been a big deal between the School and Haas to have Haas donate 2 brand new machine to the school. Unfortunatly there was timing issues that caused much stress between the movers, electrictions, and other stuff. To give you an idea the machines arrived just moments after the electrictions had just finished disconnecting the other machines that needed moved out of the way. So let see the fun!


Your eyes are not deciving you, that is an flying fork lift. To be able to move the machines around inside the shop the movers had to lift a second forklift into the shop.


Sitting in the faculity parking lot our SL 20 lathe waits its turn to be put into the classroom. 


... and the VF2 mill is also waiting it's turn to get uplifted into the shop.


Because of the slope of the parking lot, the loading ramp and dock, it took the movers a lot of time and thought to accomplish the task of getting the machines into the classroom. These two guys did an incrdiable job!


Ta Da! The SL20 in place, aint it purdy. Even thought the machines are in place now there is still a lot to do before the semester starts to make the machines useable, but that something to worry about next week, er... tomorrow? Eeek!

Apperently according to the quiz at www.betterhaunts.com I am most like April December formaly from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I really had my doubts about this until I read the discription why. I guess I am?

Eek! This summer is almost over and the next semester is just about to begin. This means two things, the first is that at work here I am having to work double hard to get things done and second all the special summer shows at the parks will be going into hiatus. Combine the two together and you end up with last night. Yesterday had been a rather stressful day at work and the first day that I was really bummed that Invader Hime had to go back. So after having an most filling tostada for dinner I headed over to the San Diego Zoo to catch two of the Night Time Zoo shows before they end on Labor Day weekend. Well when I got there it was too late to see the Fountain show, they were closing the curtain as I turned the corner. So then it turned into a leisurely trek to the bottom of the canyon to see the Jewels of the Rainforest show. Every time I see this show I realize how great it is and how special I am to have this show in my backyard. What makes this show so great to me is that no mater how bad my mood is just a few minutes into Rachel and Elizabeth preshow and I have forgot it all and have a grin from ear to ear. Now back to the stresses at work...

This is the best map of the US I have ever seen. It makes me wonder though what cars did these plates come from. What were their histories, who drove them. Was New York the plates to someones first car? Or did Kentuckey belong to a little old woman who just drove her car to and from church on Sunday? Not to be missed is that fact that Texas is so big that it takes three plates to make up the state. 

Well, it has all began. Technology has now got me writing a journal, something that throughout highschool and college I adopted like the plague.

I guess I will start now. Two days into the week now and I still feel the effects of the weekend. This las weekend was something that I was very much looking forward to. Invader Hime was to fly out here to San Diego on Friday to go to Knott's Berry Farm (official name is Knott's Theme Park), she had never visited what is one of my favorite places to go, on Saturday and go back home/school on Monday morning. Friday night was a blast. It had been awhile since I had actual gone out and about in downtown San Diego on a Friday Night and it had vastly improved. While on the subject of downtown San Diego, even though I work in the area I did not have the proper appreciation of how nice the area looks and feels. The upgrades to the area are fantastic, including the combination of buildings from the turn of the century adjcent to an ultra modern building of today. That night we ate at a wonderful Indian restaurant in Gaslamp very familiar to locals, the Star of India - not the boat. The food was excellent and the service was awesome. This was Invader Hime's first time eating Indian food and to my knowledge I think that she was rather impressed. After overly filling my self with curry we jaunted around the area visiting such noted locals as Horton Plaza and Seaport Village. Near the completion of the evening we were lucky enough to be located at the San Diego Pops stage right in time to view the fireworks. -Funny note: Before I got home one of the neighbors had left town and there kids were in charge. One thing led to another and what arose was an out of control party. When I got there the party was breaking up (cops were called) and all the kids were spreading. Well one of them need to use the "little boys room" so he unzipped and turned to my flower bed. At witch point I kicked his bottom out of there. Stupid Kids, what is wrong with them now days?

Saturday
The plan for Saturday was to go to Knott's well that meant no Saturday Morning Cartoons for me. So let's start the day off at the beginning with a 85-min drive from San Diego with absolutely NO traffic, not even in Capistrano. I did not even know that this was possible?

So anyway we get to the park at around 9:15 and the main lot was already full and they were directing people to the two other big lots. So we ended up at the lot behind the former Raddison, this was a big plus because it allowed us to walk by the Haunt prop storage/staging area. This was an added plus to Invader Hime because she was a frequent visitor to Hallo-weekends at Cedar Point before becoming a Scaractor at Halloween Horror Nights, so she got to see another park's Haunt in the progress.

Anyway back on topic, we get to the front ticket boots, no wait at all and bought her ticket headed for the turnstiles, no wait, head to GhostRider, and here was the first wait. GR had not opened yet and the line had not been allowed into the queue so the crowd had aligned in an very organized manner along the fence. At this point Invader Hime began to point out nice touches at the park, having had just been to Cedar Point the Saturday before so things were still fresh in her mind, and how nicer (themed and all) GR was than the Point's woodies.

Total wait time for GR - 13min, 2nd row from the front.
- Not the smoothest ride on Ghostie, but not the worst.

After GR we headed over to Silver Bullet, the theming there and the change to the lake is slowly growing on me, again another short wait. Invader Hime is a big fan of Raptor, Dragons, and Montu. I was interested to see how this one would compare for her considering how modest it is to her favorites.

Total wait time for SB - 17min, Front row.
- This ride just continues to impress me, the shock of the removal of and altering of that area of the park must be wearing off, I even got a little tunnel vision in the helix. Invader Hime really liked SB but she felt that it was not as forceful. But that is what makes it more appropriate for Knott's ie. a more relaxed family-ish looping invert.

Well after seeing one of my worst on-ride photos we headed away from SB and over to Jaguar. This was our first wait of the day. Apparently they were having problems with one of the trains and continued to cycle it empty.
Total wait time for Jaguar - 35min, second from last row (saved two cycles from last row)

Next up was Jaguar's neighbor Monte just a total classic that continued to thrill even to this day.

Total wait 3min, Front row
We both just loved Monte (to end the day we mini-marathoned the ride)

From one launch to another Xcelerator.
Total wait time - 15 - 20min 2nd from last row.
Invader Hime doesn't like TTD but Xcelerator totally thrilled her we came up with that it was a compact Millennium Force.

Now it was noon-ish (11 something) and we were a tad hungry but mainly thirsty. So we got some rolled tacos and berry punches. The reason for this combo was that she had never ate rolled tacos nor drank Boysen Berry Punch.

Well so far so good, for some reason the crowds just seemed somewhat light and lines were short. I knew this was odd especially when from atop rides we could see full parking lots. Where were all these people you ask, well we found them in our next stop...

Camp Snoopy! The most crowded part of the park. I did not see a single attraction without at least a 30-40 peep deep line. This was the busiest I had ever seen CS. There was literally nowhere to walk, or let alone breathe! To keep our sanity and to just keep moving we did some of the more minor attractions around the park; no real order just enjoying the atmosphere more than anything. ie. Boot Hill, Hat Spin, shops, etc.

After some time of that we watched Snoopy on Ice. Random relaxing fun is the best way to describe it. Invader Hime also liked it, albeit I think it was also because she got to rest her feet.

Mystery Lodge was next. This used to be one of my favorite attractions, however it had been years since I had seen it. I don't know why I quit going because it was still great. She loved it even more than I. What was interesting is that I heard that every show that day was full. How many amusement park shows that never change can say that!

Dinnertime and my favorite Knott's restaurants was just around the corner. Ghost Town Grill. It seems that every time I go to Knott's anymore I eat at GTG. This is one of those gems that makes Knott's unique. Forget about the high tech fancy restaurants that have to have TV's hanging from the ceiling to entertain you, no thank you *cough* TGI *cough* ESPN *cough* this is theme and food.

Well, now that we felt that we got our money's worth on the food at GTG it was time to get robbed. A Knott's classic that has not been softened up or toned down. Still excellent and Invader Hime thought so too.

I'm realizing how long this is so the rest of Saturday is a quicker summary, we rode everything major and most of the flats, saw half the shows, and rerode our favorites. Crowd control was excellent and everyone was happy. Invader Hime kept pointing out how friendly everyone at the park was, not just the employees.

Of course we also rode the Timber Mountain Log ride and the Calico Mine ride. Invader Hime and I joked about the AA's version 1.0 located in these two rides. Even considering the age of these attractions they are still top notch and now classics.

Overall the trip was a 4.95/5. This is why I keep renewing my AP for this park. (because of the company it is actualy 5/5)

Sunday - Day of rest... Not!
Well I have came to the conclusion that there is a conspiracy for avaible parking. The day started off with half of Gaslamp blocked off for one reason or another limiting avaible parking. So after much searching in Gaslamp it was searching in Mission Valley (failure) then finally in Fashion Valley (success). This just took so much time out of our day. But back on focus, Breakfast was at Boduin Bakery. They have some of the best sour dough bread that you will ever eat, and even better sandwitches. With our stomachs content we browsed through the mall. The most notable stop was at the Sony Style store where we watched the AIBO dog interacting with two of the sales folk and two customers who I think were actually going to buy one. I WANT ONE OF THOSE DOGS! I have always thought that the AIBO was cool but now there are just awesome.

From the mall we went to La Jolla because Invader Hime had never seen seals and sea lions in the wild. Again we were faced with the never ending pains of parking. La Jolla is nice... but way to expensive and packed. Oh, here is a good example of excess. There is a store off of Prospect St. that carries Swarovski crystal-studded Pez dispensers, ranging from $299 for a small one to $900 for a larger size! What a total waste of resources. Any way the day was winding down so leaving LJ we went and had dinner at Mimi's Cafe. If you have never ate there do it. The food is wonderful and large. Actually everywhere we ate that weekend had large portions. Well Sunday was ended with the film Sin City.

Monday - Bye bye Invader Hime :(
Monday morning, back to work and time to send Invader Hime back home/school too. San Diego has a cute little airport. 'nugh said!

Well Invader Hime, thanks for the incredible weekend. I will never forget it!
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