Thursday, October 21, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Magical Experience
So the "Happiest Place on Earth" happens to be one of my favorite places. I mean who wouldn't love Disneyland? Its clean and fun! Relatively smoke free (there are a couple smoking areas but they're mostly away from the general crowd/walking areas) there is no drinking (except Wine from CA Adventure) and so there are generally not any "drunk" people. Unless they're like me and get "drunk" on the happiness/excitement!
So almost 2 weeks ago I won tickets from the radio. I won 4 Disneyland Park Hopper tickets as well as tickets for the same day for a private Disney Villain Halloween Party! Its so exciting because its the trick or treating with Mickey Mouse and stuff and the tickets for that part of it are normally $50 a piece (a little cheaper on some nights for annual passholders but still pricey) So the past few years that they have done this they had it in CA Adventure and this year it is at Disneyland itself. The Halloween fireworks are only for the Halloween parties and like I said this party is PRIVATE! So I am way excited! So they close the park early to the public and only people with the Halloween party tickets get to stay in! Its going to be awesome!
Only thing is I knew they said the tickets were only good for the 28th but I had a few questions so the other night I got to work a little early and so I decided to call Disneyland for some answers. I am the kind of person who goes enough that I have the number for Disneyland programmed in my phone. In fact I have 3 numbers for Disneyland in my phone. One is the number for recorded information like park hours etc. One is an annual passholder line so that you can get recorded annual passholder related info like blackout dates etc and the last one is one that during regular type hours you can speak with someone directly. That's the number I called. It was 4:45 when I called. I got a little message about heavy call volume etc and please hold (you know how that goes) no big deal. So I was waiting....
There was music for being on hold. But it wasn't like most places and just classical type music or some sort of "current" stuff that is usually the annoying stuff that is either way over-played or the occasional unknown artist with some funky song or something. It was.... I bet you can figure it out if you thought really hard.... of course it was Disney music! It was almost like a station though, not with a DJ exactly but in between the musical songs there was a guy who would talk about the music that was played or about to be played. If there was something specific about the character from the movie or from one of the parks he would share that information. Like before they played "Grim Grinning Ghosts" from the Haunted Mansion he talked about the mansion style of the house at Disneyland and the one in Florida and how they're different and how they're the same (they both have 999 haunting ghosts but there is always room for a thousand... any volunteers?) Of course there was also the occasional lady message about heavy call volume etc....
So I was listening for a bit to the music/announcement/info/call volume message for awhile. Than I got a message that said "we're sorry for the hold time but we hope you're having a magical experience listening to the music" (the end of that may not be correct) but it literally said we hope you're having a magical experience!!! They even promote a magical time on hold! I have to admit, it made me smile! Anyway I waited on hold for 15 min but than had to clock in and get to work. I called back a day or two later when I had another check and was again on hold for a bit, I didn't get that message yet but around 10min into the wait time it rang through and sounded like it was being answered and I got disconnected! UGH! So i called right back and that time I didn't wait long and was able to get my questions answered! But than after I hung up I thought of a few other questions. but I'm going to see if they're answered either on the tickets for that day or if I can get them answered by Kearth employees when I get the tickets! Which will either be in the morning or maybe Fri morning. Although I just found out today I don't work on Mon now so I could go than too...
So almost 2 weeks ago I won tickets from the radio. I won 4 Disneyland Park Hopper tickets as well as tickets for the same day for a private Disney Villain Halloween Party! Its so exciting because its the trick or treating with Mickey Mouse and stuff and the tickets for that part of it are normally $50 a piece (a little cheaper on some nights for annual passholders but still pricey) So the past few years that they have done this they had it in CA Adventure and this year it is at Disneyland itself. The Halloween fireworks are only for the Halloween parties and like I said this party is PRIVATE! So I am way excited! So they close the park early to the public and only people with the Halloween party tickets get to stay in! Its going to be awesome!
Only thing is I knew they said the tickets were only good for the 28th but I had a few questions so the other night I got to work a little early and so I decided to call Disneyland for some answers. I am the kind of person who goes enough that I have the number for Disneyland programmed in my phone. In fact I have 3 numbers for Disneyland in my phone. One is the number for recorded information like park hours etc. One is an annual passholder line so that you can get recorded annual passholder related info like blackout dates etc and the last one is one that during regular type hours you can speak with someone directly. That's the number I called. It was 4:45 when I called. I got a little message about heavy call volume etc and please hold (you know how that goes) no big deal. So I was waiting....
There was music for being on hold. But it wasn't like most places and just classical type music or some sort of "current" stuff that is usually the annoying stuff that is either way over-played or the occasional unknown artist with some funky song or something. It was.... I bet you can figure it out if you thought really hard.... of course it was Disney music! It was almost like a station though, not with a DJ exactly but in between the musical songs there was a guy who would talk about the music that was played or about to be played. If there was something specific about the character from the movie or from one of the parks he would share that information. Like before they played "Grim Grinning Ghosts" from the Haunted Mansion he talked about the mansion style of the house at Disneyland and the one in Florida and how they're different and how they're the same (they both have 999 haunting ghosts but there is always room for a thousand... any volunteers?) Of course there was also the occasional lady message about heavy call volume etc....
So I was listening for a bit to the music/announcement/info/call volume message for awhile. Than I got a message that said "we're sorry for the hold time but we hope you're having a magical experience listening to the music" (the end of that may not be correct) but it literally said we hope you're having a magical experience!!! They even promote a magical time on hold! I have to admit, it made me smile! Anyway I waited on hold for 15 min but than had to clock in and get to work. I called back a day or two later when I had another check and was again on hold for a bit, I didn't get that message yet but around 10min into the wait time it rang through and sounded like it was being answered and I got disconnected! UGH! So i called right back and that time I didn't wait long and was able to get my questions answered! But than after I hung up I thought of a few other questions. but I'm going to see if they're answered either on the tickets for that day or if I can get them answered by Kearth employees when I get the tickets! Which will either be in the morning or maybe Fri morning. Although I just found out today I don't work on Mon now so I could go than too...
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Birthday Present...and future...
OK so last month was my birthday.... before my birthday came I received a box in the mail from my "twin" Renee. She had asked me a few weeks before if I had a book that she had a duplicate of. So when I got this box I figured that was what it was. I opened it up and found a note, I started reading the note (before digging through the packing peanuts.... yup I did truthfully wait!!
This is what the note said (a shortened version of course) ... Happy Early Birthday! I've been wanting to get you this for awhile and finally did.... then she told me about her shopping experience at Costco and the different ones they had and why she decided to buy the one she did. She especially picked the one she did because she knows where I go, my camera goes. So she bought one that is water,dust,and shockproof. She figured the added "ruggedness" would come in handy for me! Plus this particular camera came with a 4gb memory card where the rest come with a 2gb.
She also sent me the receipt so I could exchange it for different camera if I wanted to. So I opened it up and charged the battery. I needed to try it out and see if I liked it. I used it for about a week or 2 and was "trying it out" right off the bat there were kinda a few blurry pictures. I didn't really like the way some of the indoor pictures looked kinda like all the lights were yellow. They weren't always very natural looking. So I played with it in the parking lot at work at night checking out those pictures. I tried playing with the flash and different flash/camera settings. Some looked nice, others not so much. I tried different settings etc but wasn't always liking the results. Although I did get a few pictures I really liked, I was deleting quite a lot too.
So then I just left it on "auto" and was taking pictures. I liked that it would tell me what setting it was going to use with teh auto function. It was nice to see how it was determining what setting to use. But I realized that pretty much anytime it was dark it went to "night" mode. Even if I was indoor with low light. Shouldn't that be the "low-light" mode?? Than one day (in the afternoon) I was inside and going to tke a picture of my nephew across the room... I zoomed in to him. As I zoomed all the way it went in the the "micro-flower" mode. That setting is usually for close up pictures of small items. Not zoomed pictures across a room! Oh and the camera has shutter sounds. Kinda cool but not always nice. So I turned off the shutter sounds. Than i was trying out some more stuff and the flash wasn't coming on. So I tried to adjust the flash to be on. It told me to turn the shutter stuff back on! So if I want no sound, i automatically havbe to have no flash? That doesn't make any sense! Maybe I just don't want to hear a click with every picture!
So I started looking around. I went to Costco to play with cameras. Than I went to Target and played some more (Costco didn't really have a lot of in store options) I knew I wanted a camera with a longer zoom (I like being able to zoom) I had a friend whose camera had some cool features I had liked with accenting a certain color in a black and white photo etc. So I wanted to see about those options. I wanted something with a decent megapixel (which the one she got me did have... just a minimal zoom strength) I wasn't finding anything I completely liked. Although it was nice seeing some of the modes available. There was one or two t Costco that were pretty cool and had a lot of neat options where you could "add a twinkle" to someone's eye in the photo etc. But playing with the camera in the store I was really struggling to figure out how to use it. I knew I would get a manual etc but I also knew if I wanted someone else to take a picture with my camera I didn't want it to be challenging for them!
So than I got online! I looked at the Costco website first. Than I found a Canon camera it had the color features I wanted, it had a long zoom and was 14 megapixels. It was a little more expensive than the one she had purchased and I knew I could pay the difference. I really liked it but wasn't 100% sure yet. There were very few reviews on the website for it so I just wasn't sure yet. I looked at some of their other cameras. I also checked Walmart, Target, Best Buy and even Sears online. I really wanted to "do my research" and pick a camera I would really enjoy using. I found the same camera on teh Best Buy site and it had a lot mroe reviews. Most of them positive. There were the few complaints, mostly about the pop-up flash and how its on the top left corner where a lot of people hold their camera with their pointer finger. Otherwise it was a lot of positive feedback.
So than I checked my local Best Buy and they actually had the camera in their store so I was able to go and play with it. I tried it out and realized I would need to read the manual a bit to figure out fully how to use some of the features. But overall I liked it. The only thing I still wasn't sure of was how I'd like it for holding etc. This was of course because in the store its hooked up to the little thing for security reasons so I was really holding that more than the camera because it was attached at the bottom of the camera and wasd in the way of holding the camera normal.
So.. i returned the Fujifilm camera and ordered the Canon one online. I ordered it from Costco because it was on sale there and I know the Costco return policies and stuff are better and if anythign goes wrong they have their electronic concierge program and I could get it fixed without paying an extra warranty fee like at Best Buy. Although Best Buy had the camera in a purple color in addition to just the black or gold like Costco had.
Well I must say.... I LOVE my camera! I am so thankful for Renee and this wonderful birthday present! The pictures are so clear and beautiful and yes there have been some deletes but for the most part I love the pictures it takes! So thanks Twinkl!
This is what the note said (a shortened version of course) ... Happy Early Birthday! I've been wanting to get you this for awhile and finally did.... then she told me about her shopping experience at Costco and the different ones they had and why she decided to buy the one she did. She especially picked the one she did because she knows where I go, my camera goes. So she bought one that is water,dust,and shockproof. She figured the added "ruggedness" would come in handy for me! Plus this particular camera came with a 4gb memory card where the rest come with a 2gb.
She also sent me the receipt so I could exchange it for different camera if I wanted to. So I opened it up and charged the battery. I needed to try it out and see if I liked it. I used it for about a week or 2 and was "trying it out" right off the bat there were kinda a few blurry pictures. I didn't really like the way some of the indoor pictures looked kinda like all the lights were yellow. They weren't always very natural looking. So I played with it in the parking lot at work at night checking out those pictures. I tried playing with the flash and different flash/camera settings. Some looked nice, others not so much. I tried different settings etc but wasn't always liking the results. Although I did get a few pictures I really liked, I was deleting quite a lot too.
So then I just left it on "auto" and was taking pictures. I liked that it would tell me what setting it was going to use with teh auto function. It was nice to see how it was determining what setting to use. But I realized that pretty much anytime it was dark it went to "night" mode. Even if I was indoor with low light. Shouldn't that be the "low-light" mode?? Than one day (in the afternoon) I was inside and going to tke a picture of my nephew across the room... I zoomed in to him. As I zoomed all the way it went in the the "micro-flower" mode. That setting is usually for close up pictures of small items. Not zoomed pictures across a room! Oh and the camera has shutter sounds. Kinda cool but not always nice. So I turned off the shutter sounds. Than i was trying out some more stuff and the flash wasn't coming on. So I tried to adjust the flash to be on. It told me to turn the shutter stuff back on! So if I want no sound, i automatically havbe to have no flash? That doesn't make any sense! Maybe I just don't want to hear a click with every picture!
So I started looking around. I went to Costco to play with cameras. Than I went to Target and played some more (Costco didn't really have a lot of in store options) I knew I wanted a camera with a longer zoom (I like being able to zoom) I had a friend whose camera had some cool features I had liked with accenting a certain color in a black and white photo etc. So I wanted to see about those options. I wanted something with a decent megapixel (which the one she got me did have... just a minimal zoom strength) I wasn't finding anything I completely liked. Although it was nice seeing some of the modes available. There was one or two t Costco that were pretty cool and had a lot of neat options where you could "add a twinkle" to someone's eye in the photo etc. But playing with the camera in the store I was really struggling to figure out how to use it. I knew I would get a manual etc but I also knew if I wanted someone else to take a picture with my camera I didn't want it to be challenging for them!
So than I got online! I looked at the Costco website first. Than I found a Canon camera it had the color features I wanted, it had a long zoom and was 14 megapixels. It was a little more expensive than the one she had purchased and I knew I could pay the difference. I really liked it but wasn't 100% sure yet. There were very few reviews on the website for it so I just wasn't sure yet. I looked at some of their other cameras. I also checked Walmart, Target, Best Buy and even Sears online. I really wanted to "do my research" and pick a camera I would really enjoy using. I found the same camera on teh Best Buy site and it had a lot mroe reviews. Most of them positive. There were the few complaints, mostly about the pop-up flash and how its on the top left corner where a lot of people hold their camera with their pointer finger. Otherwise it was a lot of positive feedback.
So than I checked my local Best Buy and they actually had the camera in their store so I was able to go and play with it. I tried it out and realized I would need to read the manual a bit to figure out fully how to use some of the features. But overall I liked it. The only thing I still wasn't sure of was how I'd like it for holding etc. This was of course because in the store its hooked up to the little thing for security reasons so I was really holding that more than the camera because it was attached at the bottom of the camera and wasd in the way of holding the camera normal.
So.. i returned the Fujifilm camera and ordered the Canon one online. I ordered it from Costco because it was on sale there and I know the Costco return policies and stuff are better and if anythign goes wrong they have their electronic concierge program and I could get it fixed without paying an extra warranty fee like at Best Buy. Although Best Buy had the camera in a purple color in addition to just the black or gold like Costco had.
Well I must say.... I LOVE my camera! I am so thankful for Renee and this wonderful birthday present! The pictures are so clear and beautiful and yes there have been some deletes but for the most part I love the pictures it takes! So thanks Twinkl!
Speaking Spanish
Ok so one day my nephews were in my room with me (pretty common occurence) and Isaiah (who is 2 1/2) starts jabbering nonsense. It was kinda like dipdipdipdipdip over and over again just random noises. So I turned to talk to him...this is how the conversation went.....
Me: Isiaih I don't understand what you're saying
Elijah: (who is now 4!!) That's because its spanish
Me: He speaks Spanish!!?!!?!
Elijah: Yeah
Me: How did he learn spanish?
Elijah: From me and from Aldo (Deann's hispanic ex-boyfriend who is staying here)
Me: You speak spanish too??
Elijah: Yeah (kinda giggle/laughing)
Me: How do you say hello in spanish?
Elijah: Hello spanish!
Me: How do you say goodbye in spanish?
Elijah: Goodbye spanish
Me: Now you're being silly! What does Hola Amigo mean?
Elijah: la-ago (trying to repeat hola amigo)
...
a few hours later.....
...
Me: Grandma did you know Elijah and Isaiah know how to speak spanish?
Grandma: They do??
Elijah: Laughing--- No!!!!
Me: But you said earlier you do!
Elijah: continually laughing---- he doesn't respond but with the laughter!
Me: Isiaih I don't understand what you're saying
Elijah: (who is now 4!!) That's because its spanish
Me: He speaks Spanish!!?!!?!
Elijah: Yeah
Me: How did he learn spanish?
Elijah: From me and from Aldo (Deann's hispanic ex-boyfriend who is staying here)
Me: You speak spanish too??
Elijah: Yeah (kinda giggle/laughing)
Me: How do you say hello in spanish?
Elijah: Hello spanish!
Me: How do you say goodbye in spanish?
Elijah: Goodbye spanish
Me: Now you're being silly! What does Hola Amigo mean?
Elijah: la-ago (trying to repeat hola amigo)
...
a few hours later.....
...
Me: Grandma did you know Elijah and Isaiah know how to speak spanish?
Grandma: They do??
Elijah: Laughing--- No!!!!
Me: But you said earlier you do!
Elijah: continually laughing---- he doesn't respond but with the laughter!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Journey Marie
Journey Marie
We see someone so tiny
And yet who is so strong
A beautiful person indeed
We’ve waited for you so long
You’re here with us now
We smile to have you near
Heavenly Father strengthens us somehow
As we wait to hold you dear
You’re a blessing in disguise
A fighter all along
Your strength opens our eyes
You’re helping us all stay strong
You don’t deserve this struggle
Its one you’ll overcome
Get through the NICU “bubble”
Come share in life’s great fun
Life isn’t always easy
You’ve had to learn so young
Continue to get stronger
Because its here you do belong
In life you’ll have more trials
There is a lot you’ll learn and do
Remember to always smile
We’re here to smile with you
You’re starting out so small
But yet are loved by so many
Someday you’ll stand so tall
In you we found a lucky penny
You’re a Daughter of God
God loves you so
Remember to keep Him close
Don’t ever let Him go
You’re in our hearts
We’re praying for you
With such a rough start
Its all we can do
Stay strong little one
Fight hard everyday
This race will be won
As you grow day by day
Listen to the doctors
Though you may not understand
Listen to the doctors
Do everything you can
We will be here waiting
Praying day by day
Each update keeps us saying
“She’s going to be ok”
Life is not always this hard
There’ll be much fun for you too
You’ll learn someday to play cards
We’ll see animals at the zoo
Keep fighting little Journey
We’re here fighting for you too
Heavenly Father has a plan
He’s going to see it through
Its ok to cry, we’re crying too
Life is full of adventures
We want to share with you
So Journey please do all you can do
We won’t stop praying
We’ll love you forever
Someday we’ll teach you the saying
We never say never
We know you will overcome
This fight is temporary
Someday you’ll play and run
And dress up like a princess or a fairy
This poem is all wrong
My words don’t show my complete emotion
An angel like you deserves a song
That’s heard from ocean to ocean
So stay in the fight
We’ll fight too
Its going to be alright
We’ll always love you!
Renee L Conaway
10-03-2010
We see someone so tiny
And yet who is so strong
A beautiful person indeed
We’ve waited for you so long
You’re here with us now
We smile to have you near
Heavenly Father strengthens us somehow
As we wait to hold you dear
You’re a blessing in disguise
A fighter all along
Your strength opens our eyes
You’re helping us all stay strong
You don’t deserve this struggle
Its one you’ll overcome
Get through the NICU “bubble”
Come share in life’s great fun
Life isn’t always easy
You’ve had to learn so young
Continue to get stronger
Because its here you do belong
In life you’ll have more trials
There is a lot you’ll learn and do
Remember to always smile
We’re here to smile with you
You’re starting out so small
But yet are loved by so many
Someday you’ll stand so tall
In you we found a lucky penny
You’re a Daughter of God
God loves you so
Remember to keep Him close
Don’t ever let Him go
You’re in our hearts
We’re praying for you
With such a rough start
Its all we can do
Stay strong little one
Fight hard everyday
This race will be won
As you grow day by day
Listen to the doctors
Though you may not understand
Listen to the doctors
Do everything you can
We will be here waiting
Praying day by day
Each update keeps us saying
“She’s going to be ok”
Life is not always this hard
There’ll be much fun for you too
You’ll learn someday to play cards
We’ll see animals at the zoo
Keep fighting little Journey
We’re here fighting for you too
Heavenly Father has a plan
He’s going to see it through
Its ok to cry, we’re crying too
Life is full of adventures
We want to share with you
So Journey please do all you can do
We won’t stop praying
We’ll love you forever
Someday we’ll teach you the saying
We never say never
We know you will overcome
This fight is temporary
Someday you’ll play and run
And dress up like a princess or a fairy
This poem is all wrong
My words don’t show my complete emotion
An angel like you deserves a song
That’s heard from ocean to ocean
So stay in the fight
We’ll fight too
Its going to be alright
We’ll always love you!
Renee L Conaway
10-03-2010
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