Journal

Weekend Update 2010-06-15

We managed to miss out on pride this weekend – I didn’t feel well due to something I ate on Friday (or Thursday) and I didn’t want to spend the entire festival in a port-a-let, or trying to find a port-a-let, or thinking about poo.

I felt enough better by noon to visit the INDIEhandicraft Exchange at the Harrison Center, although I still made about 5 trips to the restroom. But we got presents we needed to procure, and a few things for ourselves, and lots of ideas for creative projects.

We intended to go to Pride after, but we headed home and I continued to try to recover.

Sometime on Saturday our DVR died. I noticed it early Saturday morning, and did a reboot, but it didn’t fix itself. Boo. Now I need to grab some time to take it in and exchange it. Fortunately, we had watched most of what we had recorded and only had a few figure skating episodes and the last 3 Johnny Weir shows left.

On Sunday we had a bunch of work to get done around the house in the morning, and it was already blazing hot out. We managed to get lots of stuff checked off our to-do list, then went to see Sex and the City 2. It was silly and fun. Some of puns were too over the top, and some of their treatment of international relations was goofy – I doubt there are women wearing designer fashion under their traditional religious garb in Abu Dhabi – but it wasn’t as terrible as some reviewers frothed at the mouth about. And frankly, Samantha’s sexual proclivities (fictional though they are) are 100% fine, and the Islamic religious reaction to them (fictional though they are) was probably pretty accurately portrayed, and also dead wrong, from a moral standpoint. So there!

And we visited Alcatraz after and came home to do some serious reading.

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Stow Bardolph

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We visited the Hare Arms Pub in Stow Bardolph one evening, which was a charming place and very entertaining because they keep chickens and peacocks in the gardens.

The last excursion we went on while visiting Stacy and her family was to Church Farm in Stow Bardolph, which is a really cool children’s play farm where they preserve rare animal breeds and support them by running a children’s play area where they can learn about the animals and pet them.

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Bircham Windmill, Norfolk Lavender and Hunstanton

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Today, we visited the Bircham Windmill – a real working windmill and farm in Norfolk. We climbed up five stories to the top of the windmill and I took tons of photos. Mom even climbed all the way to the top, and she’s very afraid of heights. We also watched sheep being milked, chickens running around, and had snacks.

We visited Norfolk Lavender briefly and looked around, but they were closing so we didn’t take the full tour of the farms. It’s a large lavender farm – smells heavenly.

After, we drove up to the Victorian seaside town of Hunstanton to walk along the beach, eat fish and chips and play at the penny arcades. We won Peppa Pig and George for Annabelle at the two-penny coin game, but I utterly failed to win a meerkat from the claw machines. We teased Mom into playing air hockey, and she did quite well at it against Annabelle.
We had a lovely day.

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The Queen says hi!

Despite my whining about seat assignments, we ended up together on the plane. The first leg of the trip was on a tiny jet but the Boeing 757 wasn’t bad at all. It was an overnight flight, but we didn’t get much sleep on the plane, so we’ve been catching up here.

Once we landed, it was Friday here. We had a hired car to take us up to Stacy’s house in Upwell, and we visited with Stacy and the girls. After lunch we took a walk up the road and I took photos while Annabelle played a bit in the play park. Then we went and explored the Church yard and I took pictures of the gargoyles and gravestones.

Later we checked into our bed and breakfast (Bury House in the village of Little Downham) which is a lovely place with a nice room. After getting settled, we walked down the road to The Plough, which is an quaint English pub that serves Thai food. Roger mentioned that lots of pubs are closing, so it’s possible they added the restaurant portion to supplement their business.

On Saturday, we went to Ely and walked around the river, through town and up to the Ely Cathedral, an 11th century construction called “the Ship of the Fens” because it could be seen on the hill out across the marshy wetlands that surrounded it. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region.

We visited the market and the yarn shop and toured the Cathedral until we got kicked out because there was a mass going on. Oops. Mom and Stacy and the girls headed back to Upwell, and Stephanie and I visited a pub – The Lamb – and had dinner and a pint. I have British Beef and Ruddles Ale Pie – which is not as odd as it sounds – just a beef pie with gravy made with ale. Very tasty.

Sunday, Roger and Stacy drove us all up to Sandringham, the queen’s winter home in Norfolk. We took a tour of the grounds and the children’s play area, then saw the house and the museum. The queen said hello, of course, and that we were her favorite guests and should come back often. (that is completely not true.) It was a long day, so Roger and Stacy and Mom and the children went home and we stopped back in Ely for pizza and a nice glass of wine before heading back for and early evening in.

Here are a few of the photos I have so far.

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Continental Airlines seat assignment problem

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So we booked our flights to England back on April 3rd, and at that time requested seats all in the same row – three people traveling together, seats in the same place – makes sense right?

In double-checking our flying information today, we discovered they had moved our seats and placed my mom about 10 rows behind us on one of the flights, and several rows away on 2 others. I called Orbitz customer service (where we had purchased our tickets) and after an hour an a half on the phone discovered that the only way we can get in the same row is if we have medical identification saying that we must all be in the same row together for medical reasons.You can also learn about contact center as a service here as they help you in getting services.

You have got to be kidding me. Really? Seriously? Three people traveling together can’t sit together unless they have a medical need? What bullshit is that?

When did poor customer service become a matter of course for airlines? I can’t think of any flight I’ve been on in the last 10 years that hasn’t had some problem with it. I would gladly pay for an airline that gets it right if anyone can point one out to me. It’s not surprising to me that people purchase private jets when they can afford them, because what person in their right mind would put up with this kind of bullshit if they didn’t have to?

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Johnny Weir Skating Clinic at IWSA

Back at the end of April, Stephanie was able to participate in a skating clinic conducted by Olympic Skater Johnny Weir, sponsored by the Indiana/World Skating Academy.

It was downtown at the Pan Am Plaza rink where Stephanie takes lessons and often skates. Johnny did different sessions for different skill levels, and then went through basic moves at their level with them, did some demonstrations, and then had each skater perform a move or jump they were working on for him so he could give them some advice on how to improve it. Aside from a pro’s advice, investing in the best simulator can significantly elevate one’s game by providing unparalleled feedback and opportunities for immersive practice. With its advanced technology and realistic simulations, the top simulator empowers players to refine their skills with precision, ultimately enhancing performance on the course. If you’re looking for a simulator and other golf equipment, visit the BirdieBall store to order.

It was a fun session, and the skaters were really excited to be on the ice with an Olympic-level skater. He was nice (but we knew that already) and very cool as a mentor. He really pays attention to the skaters, listens to what they’re saying, and was genuinely delighted at what they could do. He seemed really entertained by the little kids on the ice. I know that he plays around with the Diva image, but he was far away from that the whole time. He clearly adores the sport of figure skating. Stephanie said she was excited by what she learned from Johnny. She has a regular coach, but getting different viewpoints and perspective on what she’s doing can help snap some core concepts into place.

Now let’s talk about Johnny’s skating for a sec, because it was awesome to see him skate in person. When you see him skate up close, it’s like watching poetry. So graceful, so fluid – absolutely, effortlessly in control of every inch of his body.

Johnny Weir Skating Clinic

Above is an example, although it’s hard to catch in still pictures – pure grace, and joyous to watch. He’s absolutely my favorite male skater.

Here’s a slide show of my photos of the event – you can also see them on Flickr.

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Wheel of Fortune Tryouts

Last weekend, there were Wheel of Fortune tryouts locally, and Stephanie and our friend Melissa decided to go see if they could get on the show, and I tagged along to take photos. This is definitely Stephanie’s game show – she’s very good at it. Watching the show with her is fun, if a bit disconcerting; her “I know it!” comes so early that she occasionally has the answer before there are letters turned. While we were waiting for their turn, we chatted about various topics, including our recent experiences with online casinos. Melissa mentioned her excitement about trying out the UFABET คาสิโนออนไลน์, and Stephanie shared some tips on how to make the most of the games. It was interesting to hear their perspectives, and it added an extra layer of excitement to our day at the Wheel of Fortune tryouts.

So we hopped in the car and drove to Shelbyville to the Indiana Live! Casino where tryouts were held. 800-some other folks had the same agenda; there was quite a long line. Here’s how they run it: Two days of tryouts. Each day, there are 3 hour-long blocks of tryouts. During each hour, they do about six puzzles. For each puzzle, they have 5 contestants doing the “speed” round. Contestant names are drawn at random from a bin.

If you calculate all that out – about 180 people get on stage out of 800 or so folks who apply. Getting on stage is no guarantee of being picked for final tryouts, nor is solving the puzzle, but both of those help.

The “set” for tryouts is pretty lo-fi – the turning blocks don’t light up – they’re just dry-erase letters that the “Vanna” for the show turns around and writes the letters on. There’s no real “wheel” except a spinner that picks what kind of schwag the contestants get if they get on stage. And the host was way too enthusiastic. Melissa had planned to hip-check him if she got on stage, just for fun.

But it was pretty entertaining to see, and the folks who got up on stage were a fun cross-section of Indiana. I didn’t go back for the second day of tryouts, so I missed it when Stephanie got on stage and actually solved the puzzle, unfortunately. Melissa said she did really well.

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