Smiles and Chicken.

Work moment: when cleaning windows on the outside of the restaurant, there was a family with two little kids sitting at a booth by the window. They kept watching me, and I smiled and waved. They smiled back, and then I used the windex to squirt a smily face on the window. They laughed and thought it was like, the coolest thing ever. Mom and dad there smiled and later thanked me for making their kids night. Just trying to make the world happier one person at a time is all. 

Life in the Fast Lane

Man life has been insane lately. After D23 Last weekend, I got home, did stuff around the house Sunday, and then once Monday landed, I hit the ground running and haven't stopped much, if at all since. So here's a re-cap of the week for me:

Monday: Woke up, drove to Taft, picked up my books, drove to work, had work from 9-2, then back out to Taft for the first college classes of the semester. Had classes from 3-8, drove home, worked on homework until 12:30, and crashed around 1am.

Tuesday: Worked a long shift, scared one of my co-workers by standing in front of a door with a small window. All I did was crouch at the window so all she saw was from my nose to the top of my head, and as she rounded the corner to walk through the door, she totally freaked out. Had the rest of my co-workers in stitches from the little prank.

Wednesday - Work and School. nothing really exciting.

Thursday - Was supposed to have the day off from work, but ended up covering a shift for someone. Didn't really mind, because it means more money for me.

Friday - Great day! Worked from 12-5, and then had Karaoke with my co-workers later that night. After I got off my shift, I ran over and killed two hours before the work party, and saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Thought it was good, but a bit slow. Granted, it's understandable, considering it has to explain how the apes become intelligent. Overall, it was just 'alright' for me. Not a movie I'd pay to see again at the Box Office, but would consider renting a few times.

And now for the high light of the week.

After the movie I ran over to Starbucks, grabbed an iced coffee and drove over to the restaurant. I pull up to the restaurant, grab my button up shirt from the backseat, and let my car run so I can still listen to music as I button up my shirt standing outside my car. WELL, this is literally something you can't write. As I get my arms through the shirt, I happen to RE-LOCK my car door. You also must know that my car door is really stupid and closes on its own. as I get my shirt buttoned up...the door shuts.

I turn around to open my door again, assuming its still unlocked.


I now realize that it's locked.


And running.

With my stereo blasting my friday night party playlist.


So, I run inside the restaurant, ask my manager for her phone, call my parents (who were cross-town at a fantasy football draft), and tell them. My mom just starts laughing on the other end of the line.

Well, everyone inside at this point knows what is going on, and Megan and Destin, two of my co-workers who I'm good friends with come out and wait with me. (major thanks to them for waiting outside with me. It was still a good 85-90 degrees outside at 8:30pm)

My parents come over, we get AAA to unlock the car, and I proceed with my night. But geez, it was definitely one of the dumbest things I've ever done, and I'm humbly posting this, because there was a lot of text messages I was getting friday night asking if it really happened.

And now on Sunday, I'm polishing up my first week of college homework, and trying to figure out what to do for dinner. My life is never a dull moment, and I love every minute of it. 

D23 Expo

Alright, I finally have a quick chance to blog this.

So..here's the deal: D23 was AMAZING.

Overall, it was a blast. Lots of great things to look at, and the panel I was able to get into was beyond awesome. I really think it's a great event, and is obviously going to get better in the future.

It was insanely busy Saturday. In fact, it sold out. Which is GREAT for Disney. Not only for their fans, but also that the general public is starting to get in on this. I can see this becoming a big deal if not by 2013, then definitely by 2015 if they still decide to do this bi-annually.


As we finally made our way into the Convention Center, we were able to see a lot of really cool stuff. Anything from Walt's Limo, to the Black Pearl model they used in filming. Not to mention a life size model of Lightning McQueen, MADE ENTIRELY OF LEGO BRICKS. Yes, I was a very happy fan boy. Disney and legos, can't really beat that.

 Walt's Limo

 Black Pearl Model.

And my new toy....or ride....or heck I really wanted to take this.

The Carousel of Projects was really awesome as well. Lots of great park models and photos. I'm excited to see the future of Disney parks, and seeing the construction of this come to life before our eyes.

 Fantasyland Model for Walt Disney World.

 Mine car vehicle for the Snow White Attraction coming to Florida.

The Ride Vehicles for Tow Mater's Junkyard Jamboree coming to CarsLand in California Adventure.

 Ride Vehicle for Radiator Springs Racers

 Jack's Costume.

 Ship in a bottle!

 I had the opportunity to chat with the Great Bill Farmer. Such an amazing guy to talk to about disney and his work.

 The only panel we got into. Definitely made a good choice. It was amazing to hear John Lassetter and the Pixar team talk about the company.

Oh yea, and these guys were here too. Ever notice the guy in Black with the cane actually looks like a real life Al from Al's Toy Barn? It surprised me too. ;)

Air Mater

The great thing I love about Disney and Pixar is that they're always finding new ways to create stories. Some might not agree with that statement tied right to Cars, given that some didn't like the sequel, and might not like the Planes spin off (no pun intended) they're creating at Pixar. However, with that said, think about the new options we have now for attractions inside the 'soon' to open (next summer) Carsland. They may never even do anything with Planes inside there, given the machines are Planes, and the title is cars...who really knows. But back on topic, on a pure concept level alone, think of the fun we could have with a Planes attraction like that.

Towards the end of this clip, it somewhat reminded me of the newly re-opened Mulholland Madness turned Goofy's Sky School. "Anyone Can Fly". This is directed right towards all those Pixar in the Parks haters:

Have a good nightmare thinking about if Mater and the Pixar Planes took over the theme of that attraction. ;)

muahahahaha.....

Now back to watching D23 tweets...the Parks presentation's coming up soon!

A Walking Zombie

I finally have a chance to sit down and write. This week has been INSANE. I've been working a lot since I've landed the job at Chick Fil A, and then this past week my mom's needed help moving her office over to a new building, so I've been the one they call when they need the heavy stuff (file cabinets and bigger boxes) moved for them. Needless to say, there's been A LOT of stuff I've moved. And between helping her out, and work, then getting the new Disney Park Secrets blog project up and running (still really not much on there, just got the page 'live'.), I've gotten very little sleep, and there's still very little sleep to come, seeing that I'll be closing Chick Fil A tomorrow night with all my awesome co-workers, and then I get home, wake up early on Saturday to drive down to Anaheim with my bro Austen, and we'll be at D23 all day. Sunday's still unknown schedule-wise, but I might end up spending the afternoon with my friend Justus who plays bass for Streetside Vinyl (local band. Went to high school with these guys), and we're gonna probably check out locations for a band photoshoot.

Oh, and I also start college classes for fall semester Monday Afternoon. The insanity isn't going to stop, but at least I can thank God for the man who realized that if you brew a lot of small brown beans together in really hot water, you get this wonderful, hot fluid that gives you a lot of energy.

And now friends are here...so we're gonna bonfire the night away.

Until later...I'm a walking zombie.

Two Days of Shiftwork, still alive

Family tradition: whenever one of us kids does something 'life changing' or 'new', 

we take a photo in front of this tree...

Geez, You'd think I'd have died by now given how hectic Chick Fil A can get. I love this job so stinking much. It's definitely a lot of fun working that fast. I was shocked tonight when I was told to go on my 10-min break, and saw that two hours already passed.

Tonight was night two of training, and this time around they gave me a shot at working the register at drive through. I spent a good while learning to press the right buttons, as my co-worker would speak for me at the drive through, since I'm still working on correctly speaking to the guests with the usual CFA "I'd be happy to serve you", " *insert co-worker's name* will be serving you at the window" etc. As the night drew on, I did start doing that at the same time, but gosh it's hectic when you're trying to hear what the guest is saying, punch the order into the machine, get the drinks ready, and make sure you didn't miss anything they said, while trying to let them know their total, which window to pull to, and then helping bag the food for the window. I know that over time I'll catch onto working this madness, but gosh it was a difficult time the first go-around. I did pretty good for my first night though, according to the rest of my crew though, so I'm glad I did at least somewhat decent, apparently.

Overall, I'm beyond blessed to have such a great crew to work with, and a phenomenal place to work at. Really glad I got this job.

For now though, I'm going to sleep dreaming of peach shakes and chicken nuggets.
I'll be happy to serve you....
....tomorrow morning. ;) 

Late Night TV - Bring Back The Classics, Maaaaaan.

Lately I've been tivo-ing the re-aired episodes of Doug on TeenNick late at night, and watching them when I get the chance. Thankfully my youngest sister knows good entertainment, and loves watching them. But recently, I thought "why doesn't Disney do this? The 90's were prime for their TV lineups for kids." 

From Even Stevens, to their live action, made-for-tv films (which are infinitely better in quality than what they make now), and even the commercial specials (5-minute movie surfer segments, anyone?) were awesome. Nowadays we have these shows that have no reality to them. Kids living on a cruise ship, teen by day, pop star by night, etc. It's not very relatable with kids day because really, who does either of those? 

Lizzie McGuire and Even Steven was like watching my friends life play out on screen. It was real. It was what any kid on any given day was dealing with. Why can't we have shows like this for the kids younger than us? What's the reason Disney went with 'dream' shows like Hannah Montana and Shake It Up? I don't know, but I'd actually love to find out. 

Overall, I think Disney would really benefit greatly from having either a channel for ALL things old school Disney, or creating an afternoon, or late night summer slot for the classic shows, and do a show every few months, and run one, or a few episodes a day, 5 days a week. If they DID decide to go with running their own Channel, I think they should not only touch on the 90s shows we loved, but go all the way back to the glory days of when Walt had a hand in the Television realm, and showcase the old World of Color, True Life Adventures, and animated shorts they made. I'm pretty certain it'd work, and if I'm wrong, then I definitely want to see more shows on DVD/Blu-Ray. 

Idea.

With all these stupid trends going right now, why not do something cooler? I mean, planking was an ok concept, but then It got stupid when people would plank on couches, or cars.

Then we have Owling. Crouching with your arms to your side, and a blank stare. That is INSANELY stupid.

So with all of these, why not do something that, personally I think would be cool? Or at least the concept of it.



Wherever you are in the world, take a photo of your Chuck Taylors. The shoes are classic pairs, and with many styles, they fit virtually anyone's fashion sense. Plus, it gives a tone of global unity, and just pure fun of traveling!

Only question is, what to call this?
Chucking? Chucked?
Gotta find a cool name for it now.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hired and Tired

Alright, I have a sec to post something.

Yesterday was a ton of fun. From getting 3 hours of sleep, to having job orientation, it was pretty insane. I woke up, took my granddad to a doctor appointment, because he wasn't allowed to drive (medical reasons), had breakfast with him, back home and worked at my first job (family company, so I can pretty much make my own hours), got cleaned up, drove to Chick-fil-a to do job orientation, over to Target to find non-slip restaurant shoes for work, back home, cleaned the house with my mom, then had to go help some friends get their car towed from alongside highway 99 at around midnight. Back home to finish building a lego set, then I finally crawled into bed at around 2am, only to get up at 6am, and help my granddad take his puppy to the vet to be groomed. I have a feeling this weekend is going to contain a lot of me sleeping.

To touch on some stuff real quick:

Job orientation was great! My manager is really cool, and gave us a full tour of the place, telling me and the two other guys that were hired alongside me the ins and outs of the place. Really cool to see how the food is handmade every day (if you didn't know Chick Fil a HAND BREADS their chicken, not just daily, but COOKED TO ORDER. How many fast food places do that? Not many other than CFA). Lots of really nice people I'm going to be working with too. Can't wait to start training Monday night.

Is there any cool style of restaurant shoe, or are they all kinda off-looking style wise? haha I don't have a problem with it either way, but it's funny to see how bland the shoe styles are for those. Why not have style AND safety?

I've recently seen a lot of somewhat cool stuff in parking lots. Like this stuff:

 Jack Johnson Fan!

 But are they a fan of Owling? Let's hope not. But I do hope they're a fan of Hooters.

 Whoo! : )

Is this Swahili for 'I love you fast metal gazelle'? 

Insanity

It's amazing how tired I am. Last night I had to run all over town, drop my dad off to coach football practice, I had to drive to Chick Fil A to pick up my paperwork, over to Target to get a pair of black pants for work, then back to practice to pick dad up. Then we had a late night softball game @ 9:00pm. After that, back home to eat a VERY late dinner, and finally read my handbook for orientation today.

On top of that, I have not slept good the past two nights, and am running on a total of about 8-9 hours of sleep. For some reason I keep waking up from these really fun, but insanely odd dreams. It doesn't help that I get up at 6:00 to work for my mom (I start up all the company vans in the morning, unlock buildings/gates, etc.).

Jump to this morning: got up at 6:00am, worked, then I had to take my granddad to the Veterans Affairs Hospital for a check up, breakfast with him, and now I'm back home working on other stuff, before I go to Chick-Fil-A orientation at 2:30. Tonight's thursday, so that means I might end up going to a college church youth meeting, if I don't do that, then I might be at the movies, or at home. Either way, it's insane right now.

Technologic: What's Happened?

Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail - upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick - erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick - rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag and drop it, zip - unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, call it, find it,
View it, code it, jam - unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, switch - update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax - rename it,
Touch it, bring it, Pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, start - format it.


I think these lyrics define the day to day life of anyone anymore. Everything is *insert verb* it. 


My question is this, what happened to us? We're so entwined in so many things today, that I think people really forget how things were in the past sometimes. Kids younger than me are unable to recognize things that were around when I was their age today, and I'm only eighteen! I don't know what caused this blog post. Maybe it was the old photos I found of my family, and I started to reminisce. 

But the question is, where have things gone? It's insane to think about how fast we've progressed. From the time I was born (1992) to now, we have seen the birth of the internet, the rise of the cell phone to mass and global production, computers are thinner and faster than the bricks we used to have, and cars can now parallel park FOR YOU. Not to mention CD's are slowly but surely dying, and wireless everything is rising by the day. 


With all of this, it makes things much easier for day to day living. We can now surf the internet ON our phones. We have 'apps' which gives us anything from coupons to music identification in mere seconds. But no, why stop there? Why not do what was once a film fantasy in Back to the Future, and have a FACE to FACE phone call with anyone in the world? Just not with your boss who calls you chicken, McFly.

I guess what I'm saying is this: Why are we so caught up with the tech? This might come as a shock to those close to me, because everyone knows me as the tech guy who loves the newest toy on the block. But right now as I type this and look back, I remember going to grandma's house for Christmas and not having everyone check Thanksgiving day movie showtimes on their Android or iPhone, but actually pull out the thin sheeted NEWSPAPER, and see what was playing. I remember actually writing down things, and not touch-screen-pressing a note on my phone. Meeting people involved setting up a time to get lunch or dinner together, and not just a friend request. Not to mention, it was a bit more uncommon to know someone around the world unless you actually met them first. But now I've got friends all over the place because of social networking. 500+ followers on Twitter, and I only know about 150 of them in real life. 490 friends on facebook, and I know about 60-70% of them in real life. 


We can't go back to the past. But at least remember it while we can. It was great when we had it. We're going to have to move on with the future as it comes by the seconds, and things are only going to move faster, stronger and sleeker. Change is inevitable, and I welcome it. But at the same time, it is sad to see how amazingly simple our past was with the lack of severe technology in our lives. Shoot, even the bullies back in the day were actually a threat. Now anyone can sit behind these screens and literally kill people without even touching them. How sad is that? 

Summer Dreams.

I miss the beach.

I want to feel the cold pacific ocean surround me as I roll over the top of the breaking wave on my surfboard.

I want that sticky feeling of dried ocean water, and my hair all a mess 'cause I left my hat at home.

I want the smell of a great seafood place swirl its tempting, salty, buttery, aromas in front of me, luring my stomach into endless groans of hunger.

Then,

There's the girl.

The one that is right next to me on the wave.

The one running her fingers playfully through my messy head of hair.

The one who walks with me hand in hand, playing with my fingers, walking up to that restaurant right off the beach.

The girl that wants me, and only me to kiss her goodnight.

Then to go home, call her, tell her goodnight, just to hear her voice one last time for the night.

...and then to wake up, and do it all over again the next day.