Where am I?

I have been MIA for a few days. I have been working on two projects with my brother about Walt Disney World.

You can find us here:
The Imaginerding: Home of the Disney Geeks
The Minute-by-Minute Guide to Walt Disney World

It has been a lot of fun creating these two blogs--mainly to share a passion about creating the perfect Walt Disney World vacation.

Halo 3 Multi-Player Beta

Whew...

We have been waiting a long time for this one.

We purchased a copy of Crackdown with the beta invite on it.

We were finally able to get online last night.

WOW!

It was so much fun. Played just like Halo 2 but much prettier. We got to see the bubble shield in action, although briefly.

Connery and I played five social games (no rankings, just rumble training) and I played three games by myself. The matchmaking was pretty smooth--it probably took about 2 minutes to set up each match. I did have to mute every player in my party. It seems like I was only playing against 14 year olds that wanted to curse and scream into the headset.

Of the three maps, we definitely liked Highground over the other two. Snowbound was alright--it was small enough for 4-6 players. Valhalla needed way more than 6 people on the map--it really reminded me of a much greener and 'lusher' version of Blood Gulch (Halo) and Coagulation (Halo 2). Those maps were wonderful when you had more than eight people in a group.

Once I get my stats displayed on Bungie, I will share them.

LD5X6296
Originally uploaded by illustrator_ian.

Here I am at the Technology Summit at the Public Library of Charlotte/Mecklenburg County

Yes, I am totally rockin' "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.

I don't know who my bandmate is, but we are going to go on tour under the name, "The Red Shirts!"

For those of you in the library world, the highlight of the day was seeing (and hearing) Stephen Abrams of Sirsi-Dynix.

Ooo Oooo, That Smell?

This blog posting was 13 years in the making.

Sounds incredible, right? Read on.

Our first Disney trip in 1994 seems like a whirlwind at this point in time. When I think about what happened and what we learned, it reminds me of an introductory swim class. We just threw ourselves in and attempted to swim.

We did alright. I had done some research and Teresa had visited before. I knew that I wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion and Star Tours. I read both of the eminent guide books of the time: Birnbaum's and Sehlinger's. This was before the internet was so mundane.

Anyways...

We first noticed this odd smell in Pirates of the Caribbean. Hard to explain what it was. It just seemed to permeate the attraction. We didn't smell it until we were in the main part of the ride--just after you enter the battle between the ship and the fort.

I mentioned it to Teresa and she smelled it too.

It seemed to be everywhere the animatronics were: Spaceship Earth, the World of Motion, the Energy Pavilion, Journey Into the Imagination, the Great Movie Ride...

And so on.

We didn't smell it during theater shows or outdoor rides.

It wasn't until almost a year later that we figured out the smell.

We lived in an apartment that was in walking distance of a few fast food eateries. We would go on occasional walks and plan our upcoming Disney trips.

I remember walking down Mountain St., next to a bank, and getting a whiff of the smell.

I stopped.

"Do you smell that?", I asked.

Usually, that means that I have, uh, changed the quality of the air myself. Teresa must've sighed.

I told her about the smell from WDW and she stopped to check it out. Then she smelled my arm.

That was the smell!

It had been one of the first times we had gone on a long walk during the warmer and sunnier months.

Still struggling?

Heat, sun and being outside? Very pale people?

It was the sunscreen that we used.

We realized that we were smelling ourselves on those attractions. They were all indoor attractions where you were conveyed. We would smell ourselves whenever the wind blew (or was blown on us) inside one of the show buildings.

I was reminded of this smell when I went with my brother, his two kids, my youngest son and grandpa to our local street fair. When I helped strapped the kids into the dual stroller, I got a whiff of the smell.

Ahh...sweet, sweet sunscreen.

I have three other smells that take me there: Cool Waters (1997 trip), a foot spray from Bath and Body Works (2000) and citrus smells (1994 and 1997--I miss you , Horizons).

Disney Collectible

DSC03846
Originally uploaded by biblioadonis.

Here is the 2001 refillable mug from Disney's Hilton Head Resort. Part of my Disney Collectible collection.

I forgot I had this one, till I looked way in the back of the cabinet.

North Carolina Disney Event!

Jeff P. over at 2719 Hyperion (and contributor to Lou Mongello's WDW Radio Show) is hosting Charles Ridgway, author of Spinning Disney's World, at the Barnes & Noble in Winston-Salem.

Hit his site for details--or just keep reading.

Who: Charles Ridgway, Disney Press Agent Extraordinaire
What: Book Discussion
When: Tuesday, June 5th @ 7:00 pm
Where: Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Why: If you like Disney at all and live in North Carolina, you need to be there.
How: Any way you can make it!

You can also listen to the podcast interview that Lou did on episode 5 of the WDW Radio Show.