A nice perk

I am flying on United to Boston today -- with a stop in Denver.  Due to fog in Seattle and some screw-ups with the gate in Denver, I was literally getting to my connecting flight just as they shut the door.  No big deal; I was moved to the next flight (a 3-hour wait) and therefore have time to get some lunch and work on my email, but I didn't get a very good seat on the new flight.  I just went up to the service desk to inquire about my bags, which they think will be on the new flight, but they aren't 100% sure ... while I was standing there, the desk agent just ripped up my boarding pass and handed me a new one, with a window seat on the exit row.  It's not quite a first-class upgrade, but I definitely appreciate his initiative!

Apple's Leopard: What a bargain!

I forgot to mention that we went to the Orlando Apple Store to get a copy of the new Mac OS X "Leopard" the day it came out. When I asked if they gave us a Microsoft employee discount, the guy at the register said, "Why would we?" But fortunately, another person at the register said, "Yes, we do, look it up!" And so he did, still incredulous at the notion ... sure enough, there was a discount, and since we got the 5-license family pack (we needed at least 3 to support all of our machines), we ended up paying $175 for five copies of Leopard -- only $35 each! I certainly haven't scratched the surface of what Leopard can do yet, but it certainly was worth $35 ... maybe even worth the full $129 per copy retail price ... but I'm glad I didn't have to pay that, anyway.

Monday is Dave's Day at Disney!

Today, Laurel gave me the greatest gift a wife can give her husband -- time alone.  (I do realize that she's actually giving herself the same gift ... but I'll take it anyway).

So what did I do?

• Slept till noon
• Had an 80-minute massage at the Muscles and Bustles Spa at the Boardwalk Villas
• Went to two different Harley shops (the Orlando HD Gear Shop and the Orlando HD Factory Store)
• Posted videos on YouTube and to the blog
• Smoked a fine cigar (Opus X) while watching The Colbert Report on my iPhone

And that's about it ... kind of squandered it, I guess.  She enjoyed time at Disney MGM Studios and Epcot, and it currently "not napping" with her eyes closed under the covers while we wait for our 9 p.m. dinner reservation at the Bomo restaurant buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Oh, and while I was at the HD shop, I saw this:

Adventurer's Club

If you go to DisneyWorld, be sure to hit the Adventurer's Club for some fun improv ... this video gives you a small taste but isn't the best representation of everything that goes on at the club during each night's activities.

Coasting

The big dip on the Everest roller coaster ride ... Laurel experienced it first-hand ... Dave just took pictures and video.

IllumiNations

Some fireworks fun from the other night.

Laurel runs the Tower of Terror 13K

DSC02598.JPG
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Laurel (above, right, being interviewed for the WDW Today podcast), finished the Tower of Terror 13K race tonight. See flickr for more pictures from the race.

Welcome to DisneyWorld ... yet again

We're in DisneyWorld, obstenibly for Laurel's Tower of Terror 13K race.  We're doing other stuff, too (visiting my Grandma, and my Uncle Joe is here, too ...) -- check out the flickr page for constantly updated photos

World Series Tickets

Seems that World Series tickets for games 6 and 7 aren't that hard to find. They are just really bad seats, and really expense (cheapest I could find was around $1300 for a single bleacher seat). At least the cost is fully refundable if they don't play the game ... not sure I want to pay that much to see a baseball game, though.

I love that dirty water

Turns out, I'll be in Boston during games 6 and 7 of the World Series ... should it go that far, the games will be played at Fenway. I wonder if I can get tickets?

iPhone SDK: February!

Apple just announced it -- the official SDK for the iPhone will come out in a few months! Time to put my money where my mouth is ... I've been saying that I'll develop iPhone apps if an official SDK was ever available. Can't wait!

Party at Microsoft!

Today, we shipped a new version of the Virtual Earth website, maps.live.com!  One of the coolest new features is "1-Click Directions" (aka party maps) ... you pick a place to go, and it shows you up to four major routes to get there (like, "From the North, go ..." or "From the South, take ...") just like you would if you were giving directions to a lot of people who all want to get to the same place.  It's really cool, and it is based on the assumption that you generally know how to get to a major highway but don't always know how to get to your final destination, so why bother giving all those "turn out of your driveway and go down local streets for 0.2 miles" types of instructions?  Check out the party map for Microsoft main campus.

Home theater, literally

Garage door cinema
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Dave went a bit nuts with state surplus and put together an outdoor home theater for $163 ($150 for a projector, $10 for the screen, $3 for mounting hardware). Now we just have to wait till it gets both dark and warm enough to have the Stewart Summer Theater Series (featuring the films of Wim Wender and Lars Von Trier only).

Maui

We've booked our annual Hawaii Xmas trip -- this time to Maui.  We're staying at the Grand Wailea, which seems like a decent place.