Category: Personal
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 323 – Fridge repair gone wrong
A seemingly simple repair of a broken water dispenser lever on our refrigerator turned into a 1 hour+ event last night that ultimately required the removal of 10 screws of varying sizes, a circuit board, a few plugs, and a struggle with a small plastic tube. In the process, we managed to scratch our wood floor and break a decorative glass item that was on top of the fridge. Lesson learned: Don’t start repairs at 1am, no matter how simple they appear to be. But now filtered water is flowing freely and easily once more.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 322 – Christmas in November
Tonight I attended the last Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party before Thanksgiving, just in time to celebrate Christmas in advance of eating the big turkey dinner. I’m still not totally feeling the Christmas spirit yet, though tonight’s event helped get the ball rolling a bit faster for me. I’m sure once Thanksgiving comes and goes, I’ll be ready to dive headfirst into all the red and green. But in the meantime, I enjoyed seeing Scrooge in the parade, the Christmas fireworks, and the included cookies and apple juice. It wasn’t cold enough to drink any hot chocolate, but at least it wasn’t hot out either. I don’t think we’ll be having a cool Christmas this year though. Summer seems to be here year-round in Florida.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 321 – Halloween returns at IAAPA
Just when I started to get over the fact that Halloween has come and gone for 2011, I go to IAAPA (the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo) and marvel at what the haunt industry has come up with in the last year. Scare Factory had their usual assortment of animatronic ghouls floating around (pictured here), but their real show-stopper was a zombie shooting gallery that impressed the heck out of me. I would have bought it on the spot if it didn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars. I think it would fit perfectly into the midway areas of Halloween Horror Nights or Howl-O-Scream and hope it does show up there. I was also amused and disgusted by another company’s lurching zombie that spewed a horrific smell of death and decay as it lunged forward. It was quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever smelled – and yet it was awesome. IAAPA is great.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 320 – Michelle’s birthday
Home from our San Francisco trip, today we celebrate Michelle’s birthday! I got her a bunch of fun presents (still wrapped here, mostly Chococat stuff along with a Pepe le Pew animation cel, Labyrinth T-shirt, and a copy of the last Harry Potter movie) and set up a few Monster High decorations. Birthday or not, we’re both permanently 10 years old.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 319 – Airport treats
San Francisco food options and variety are amazing, even extending into the airport, which has a better selection of breads, meats, cheeses, wine, snacks, sandwiches, and other goodies than 99% of the supermarkets in Orlando. The smell of the fresh-baked crusty bread sitting in the airport was unbelievably good, as was the cooked-to-order spinach, jack cheese, and chorizo omelette I had for breakfast before boarding the plane home. Michelle had a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich that she said was amazing as well. And we both left with to-go sandwiches. I got a muffaletta, which I wolfed down on the plane a few hours later and Michelle got a fresh mozzarella caprese sandwich, which she ended up not eating – so I had it for dinner. I wish we had fewer chain restaurants and more local flavor at home.
