30 Day Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 — Your favorite movie

I don't have a favorite movie so here are just a few of my favorites. I'd like to get my wife to watch them but I don't think she'd be willing to sit through any of them.

I don't remember the first time I ever saw this but it's been my favorite movie for as long as I've been a film buff.


Yes, two Terry Gilliam films. I like most movies but only the really special ones make it on my list of favorites.


I've got a soft spot for Sling Blade. It's not one of those ones that I watch over and over because I tend to get pretty mopey after watching it.


I love a good western. This is a great one.

30 Day Challenge

Day 1 — Your favorite song

I have way too many favorite songs so like everybody else here is a very eclectic list. It's a funny thing about favorite songs. I can tell everybody and their brothers about the stuff I can like and nobody seems to care. Crappy songs on the other hand...

I'm a sucker for anything with piano and few do it as well as Ben.


I like Aimee Mann. She was great with Til Tuesday but she's even better by herself.


I know it's not a typical Graham song but this song is what I listen to with my windows up.


This is more typical of the stuff I listen to. It's so full of hooks I want to take it fishing.


I always hope that the songs I share will turn somebody onto an artist or group that I like but it never does.


My wife got me into Silverchair. I can listen to this song over and over and I do.

Disney Magic?

What do you do when you've been to the various Disney parks so many times there's no exploring left to do. You explore!

Jill and I are prepping for another Disney World trip in a couple of months and while Jill does her usual prep work I find myself wanting to get as much out of this trip as possible too.

I'm a Disneyland veteran with over one thousand visits notched on many belts. I've gained a considerable amount of weight since my first trip. Some would say that I'm Disney'ed out but I don't think that's possible. Yeah, I could probably do Disneyland blindfolded but that park is more than just a place to go. I spent almost 30 years living within earshot of those fireworks. I held an annual pass for years and went as often as I could. I've probably spent as much time there alone as I have with my wife, family or friends. It was just a comfortable place to be. It was always easy to get to so I'd grab a book, buy a coffee, and plant myself near wherever live music was being played. I may have gone on Space Mountain a few times as well just to make sure it didn't miss me.

Yes, Disneyland did become a casual hangout. I had seen every inch of the park save for the ladies rooms and a few "cast members only" areas I have yet to infiltrate so the need for adventure was replaced with the need for experience. I got to know cast members and many park regulars whose attendance dwarfed my own. Some had gone almost every day for decades! How does that famed "Disney Magic" keep firing for folks like us? It just does otherwise it wouldn't be magic.

Walking where Walt Disney walked and seeing what he built is part of the charm. I love looking at old photos of him walking down main street and pointing out the numerous things I've pointed out. I could never really comprehend what it all meant to him but I knew what it meant to me. Through the years it's matured from "You old, rich bastard. I love this place." to "Thanks for building this for us."

I'll always consider it "my park" even though I divide my time at Disneyland and Disney World now. It's not because I know it better than Disney World but more that it knows me better. The attention to detail and intimacy one experiences there will never be matched by Florida.

So why do I go to Disney World?

I think it's the experience. Some inexperienced travelers say it's the immersion of Disney World which I don't find any more encompassing than how Disneyland isolates itself (which it does better) from the outside world. Really, it's just seeing different things in a familiar setting.

I don't really get into the resorts so it's more about what's in the parks. Jill and I love closing a park almost as much as we love going on all of our favorite rides again and again. We go in with a loose plan of attack that always has room for an extra spin on whatever is nearby if we find ourselves with extra time. We don't get tied down with dining reservations because Jill's not much of a foodie and I am. It's not that I don't like the food there but it's just that I've had better food elsewhere. We selectively dine at more quick service restaurants than table service. I'd rather suck down a burger and hit up Maelstrom a third time than spend a couple hours packed in a restaurant paying too much for glorified Applebee's.

Yeah, we're ride dorks. We've mastered ride hopping at both parks. We don't have to sprint around either. By going with the flow we always find ourselves near an attraction with a short(ish) line. Going during the slow season doesn't hurt either. A successful day for us would be two or three spins on every ride we like with at least one spin on the ones we don't.

So what's the plan for February? Believe it or not there are still a few things we haven't seen at the parks. We're going to make sure our "Family Circle" style footstep path covers almost everything. If that means watching a show here and there so be it. I don't think I could ever become a Disney World expert because there's too many things I don't care to do. That doesn't mean I won't get excited when we arrive. Jill and I get better every time we go. Hopefully the folks at Disney can keep up with us.

Howdy stranger

I haven't blogged in awhile which is usually the case for this time of year. I always post a lot at the beginning of the year because of resolutions and stuff but I always get bored after a certain amount of time. It's not because I'm lazy. I am but it's not the reason.

I'm a fairly introverted person meaning I don't typically share personal stuff and really only like talking about things that interest me which rarely if every interest anybody else. Perhaps I'm worried that if I did talk about myself I'd notice how little I have going on. I don't talk about work because it's never a good idea to discuss your job especially if you work for a prominent company.

I've been told that I'm more entertaining when I'm unhappy about something. My complaints garner more attention than the things I enjoy. Let's do a little comparing and contrasting.

Things are looking up or at least looking both ways before crossing the street. I expect to be starting a new position within my company. I've been floating around for the past few years as they didn't really have anything that fit my skill set. That's not the greatest feeling when the job market is in such turmoil. Thankfully I work for and with a great group of people.

I had some moles removed last week. They were quite obnoxious and fairly uncomfortable. They came off fairly easy but the recover has been a pain in the back, literally. I've been going without bandages for the past few days since I discovered that the bandages were causing most of the problems. Why is it that adhesive bandages either stick to your skin like they're super glued in place or fall off like a post it? I've got twice the wounds now because of those stupid things tearing away perfectly healthy skin. Thanks science.

I've only got a few days of vacation left not counting holidays. This is the first year in awhile that I haven't taken time off around Christmas. I never used to take that time off because I liked being off during the months where I can actually do stuff and also because NOTHING happened at work during the holidays. I could pretty much just run my reports, archive files, and get everything in order for the new year. It's easy to do when nobody is around. The only downside is that eight hours of that is a lot slower than eight hours of constant calls. This year will probably be filled with calls. I welcome that.

I found some shoes. This is a big deal because I've been looking for a particular pair of shoes for some time. You wouldn't think it but comfortable, black, slip on dress shoes are hard to come by or at least they are at a certain price point. I tried on pretty much every pair I could find at the various places I shop and wasn't able to find any. I have black, dress shoes. Two pairs in fact but they weren't ideal. One pair is a tad too dressy. They work with a suit but not in the business casual department. My other pair are a little less flashy but they weigh a lot and are on the wide side. They're not the best shoes for travel. I wanted a narrower pair of slip ons that would get me through screening faster and would fit under an airplane seat with a carry on. Jill convinced me to look in a higher price bracket and I found a rather pricey, but well built shoe. They're very comfortable and should give me many years of service. The dent in the wallet was tough to swallow but they're great shoes.

I got an iPhone recently. I was a little leery about being an iPhone person but I've since been convinced it's the perfect phone for me. My old phone was okay as a phone but it didn't do much else very well except take pictures strangely enough. It got me online somewhat so I could check Twitter and Facebook but it was extremely slow. Jill got a similar phone but her desire to have a keyboard put her in the slightly older phone which had an older OS on it. Mine came with the new version of the OS but the same power. What Jill's did quickly mine did slowly. So slow in fact that it was discontinued seven months later. I don't do a lot in the App department so really I just wanted internet, a camera, Facebook, and Twitter which my iPhone does extremely fast. I've even picked up a few other Apps that allow me to program my DVR remotely. Cool stuff. Jill isn't quite ready to go smart phone but her phone still works perfectly so she's happy. She makes fun of me and my iPhone.

I had a beard for a little while. I got tired of it so I shaved it off. I like not having a beard but Jill prefers me bearded. My stubble is fairly obnoxious and she doesn't like kissing sandpaper.

That's about it. See you next year.

I'll just leave this here

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. My brain is kind of like this right now.

My Curves Are Beautiful

In an effort to categorize everybody in the world we've grouped people together. I call it "Social Profiling." It's like racial profiling but considering that people are more prone to intermingle racially it's hard to group people by race. Social profiling is a bit kinder depending on where you end up on the social matrix.

Let's talk about the larger folks. I'm going to go with the generalized idea of what constitutes "chubby" by using super models as my measuring stick. See what I did there?

Basically everybody without exposed ribs is fat or at least that's what we're being led to believe by the fashion industry and everybody else. The former is obvious but why did I include the latter? It's because the majority of people support that notion and give it the fuel it needs to burn as brightly as it does.

Are curves beautiful? Are small clothes more beautiful? The easiest response is, "No." Your ribs aren't beautiful. Not so fast there, saddlebags. Your rolls aren't beautiful either. Hear me out here. Enlightened as we like to think we are we're still focusing on appearances regardless of which end of the spectrum we sit which is why so much weight (pardon the expression) is placed on our outward appearance.

As long as we continue to reinforce these stereotypes they'll continue to exist. People generally believe that it's not us, it's them. In reality it's absolutely us. We're the ones that get all bent out of our awkward shapes when we direct our attention (and occasionally our money) at them. Rather than stirring the melting pot, we differentiate individuals to reinforce our own self image. "Plus sized" is a very positive title until you consider that there isn't a "Minus sized" to counter it. It's not enough to be at the opposite end of the spectrum from those they'd rather not be associated with. They feel the need to be different while trying to be the same. The best way to be the same is to be the same.

There was once a time where a little weight meant you were prosperous and comfortable while being very thin meant you spent most of your time doing without and working. The former has lost some of it's meaning but the latter is still true. Many of the very skinny go without food and perform hours of manual labor. The only difference is that they now do it by choice. At some point prosperous and comfortable became poor and lazy which contradicts the lifestyles of our social elite. The social elite are so elite that people love them so much that they want to be just like them or hate them so much that they don't want to be anything like them save for numerous shared tastes they're unwilling to part with.

Everybody wants to be unique and special but at the same time they want to belong to a group of people that is unique and special. The best thing about being unique and special is that you don't need anybody to validate you. Your curves don't make you beautiful. Your very existence is what's truly beautiful and until you realize that you'll have a projection of ugliness that the world will share with you.