So Little Time and So Much To Do

Living in Florida temorarily will give me the rare opportunity to be a long-term tourist. Unlike someone who might move there permanently, I will have no desire to try to blend in with the locals. And, unlike a short-term tourist, I will have the opportunity to try to see as much of Orlando as my little heart desires. It's the best of both worlds! Besides the obvious (spending time in WDW and at the beach), there are a million other things I want to do during my 4-month stay. But I am going down there to work, after all, so I know I won't have time to do it all. However, because I am such a good, organized person, I also know that the key to getting stuff done is to prioritize. So here it is, my list of the top 100 things I want to do while I'm in Orlando (Kidding, kidding! I narrowed it down to 5.)

Busch Gardens

I've been to most of the other major Florida theme parks, but never Busch Gardens. It's basically like Sea World with mammals and better roller coasters. Like this one, a floorless coaster with the closest thing to a 90-degree drop I've ever seen. See the tiny people hurtling face-down towards the ground? "Space Mountain" this ain't.

Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba

I've always wanted to see a Cirque show, and I don't think I'll ever get a better opportunity. This show takes place at Downtown Disney, and I can even get a Cast Member Discount on the pricey tickets! Other things on my list may or may not happen, but Cirque is the one thing on this list that I will do...even if it means eating nothing but Ramen Noodles for a month so that I can afford a ticket.

Skyventure

Have you ever leaned really close into a box fan and said, "Luke, I am your father"? Then you understand how much fun a fan can be. That's the concept behind Skyventure, except that instead of simply causing your voice to sound like Darth Vader, this giant fan is under you and keeps you suspended in air, recreating the sensation of Sky Diving. Click here to see an awesome video of the experience. Okay, so actually this is nothing like talking into a box fan. But that's fun, too, right?

Sleuth Dinner Show

As a mystery enthusiast, I've always wanted to see one of these Mystery Dinner Theatre things. Guests at Sleuth find themselves in the middle of a comical, quizzical who-dunnit. It's sort of expensive, and doesn't involve flying (see Skyventure) so as fun as this one sounds, it's not exactly a priority. But if the opportunity arises, I will definitely take it. (Note to self: remember to pack magnifying glass and deerstalker cap.)

ICE at the Gaylord Palms Resort

An annual Christmas exhibit of Ice Sculptures at a fancy resort may not sound very exciting, but just look at these pictures! A giant ice slide, a giant ice Santa, and giant blue parkas for everyone! Cheesy Christmas fun at its finest.

The key to fitting everything I want to do into a short 4-month period will be pushing past the inevitable bone-weariness after working full days at the park. I'll just have to remember that sleeping is for wimps. I'll sleep when I'm dead! (Or maybe when I get back to Missouri. That would probably be a good idea.)

The Computer Blackout Blues

At the end of a mostly good weekend, I tried to get on to my laptop to rip a CD. Nothing unusual, just wanted to put Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band onto my iPod. When I put the CD in and opened iTunes, however, my screen went all shimmery and then black. Uh oh. I tried to restart, with no luck (since when does hitting Ctl+Alt+Del twice not restart your computer? I don't know, but I'm pretty upset about it!) so eventually I had to just use the power switch to turn the thing off. Fortunately, everything looked okay when it came back on. No sooner had my desktop come up, though, than the screen went black again. After much fiddling, I discovered that random things would make the screen flash back up--jiggling the wireless toggle, crazily moving my fingers over the touchpad--but it would quickly go black again.

I've had problems with my computer in the past, but this is the first time it's been this bad. I hate to give up quickly, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out my screen is just done. So I may now be trying to buy a new computer before I leave for Florida.

Best Buy has a couple of comparatively economical options. For $399, I can get a Dell with a dual-core processor, 2 GB of memory, and a 160 GB hard drive or for $499, I can get an Asus with 3GB of memory and a 320 GB hard drive. Unfortunately, each has some downsides: the Dell has no webcam (I could buy one and mount it, but...) and, according to reviews, the graphics on the Asus leave something to be desired. Also, the extra $100 for the Asus doesn't seem like that big a deal, except that it bumps the computer up into the next highest price class for the warranties at Best Buy, something I want to invest in. So the price difference actually ends up being closer to $200. The extra GB of memory isn't worth it, but once you figure in the extra 160 GB of hard drive space and the webcam, it might be. I use my computer mostly to store music, videos, and pictures, along with the internet, email, and DVD viewing, so I don't know if I really need the extra hard drive space. I'm not doing any intense gaming or anything like that. Both of these computers have around 15.5" screens, which is another drawback--my old computer had a 14" screen, and even that was a little big for me. But now you can't really get much between the 15" and the little bitty netbooks. So I think this is one thing I'm going to have to compromise on.

I just hate thinking that I'm going to have to spend at least $500 of the money I'd saved for Florida. There's just really very little way to get around having a computer--I'll need it for school in the Spring, anyway, and I was planning to skip taking a TV, and just watch Hulu and DVDs while I'm in Florida. There's a computer lab in the apartment buildings, but I don't want to have to go down there every time I want to check Facebook. It's going to be hard enough as it is to keep in contact with every body at home! And, of course, I need to be able to update my blog frequently! :)

My old computer lasted just over 2 years. It wasn't a really cheap computer, either. It was a pretty nice HP, but I guess I just didn't take good enough care of it. It's extremely frustrating to me, too, that the 2 year warranty had just expired when the screen went out. However, they had already replaced the motherboard and the battery once, so I guess I got my money's worth out of the warranty.

If I have any tech-savvy readers who want to weigh in, please feel free to leave me a comment! Is it a mistake to go cheap and get the smaller hard drive? I'm just afraid that this one won't last long, either, and I don't want to wind up with another very expensive paperweight!

A Post Mostly About Knitting (Sorry!)

I started a new knitting project last night, and remembered that I never shared pictures of my other projects. I know you've all been foaming at the mouth with anticipation (can't you at least pretend?) so here are a couple, as promised:

This one is, as you can see, a bag to hold my knitting projects. This was my first big project and I'm pretty proud of it. I even sewed in the lining, which is a gorgeous Amy Butler fabric. I love her patterns and luckily I had enough fabric left over to re-upholster a chair cushion. (You can see the chair in the corner of the top picture here.)

This one is, duh, a headband. I did it to use up some extra yarn from my second project (no good pictures of this one yet) and also to practice doing lace work. Even though this may not look like "lace", the open holes in it technically make it lace. I'm not sure how I feel about the finished piece, but I learned a lot of new techniques and all it cost me was a few bucks for a new set of needles.

My newest adventure is an honest-to-goodness sweater and is definitely the hardest project I've tackled yet. It's going well so far, though, but we'll see how I feel in a few days.

As a reward for all those who suffered through my knitting pictures, I do have one small piece of CP news: I officially opted out of roommate notification. I'm just going to let the chips fall where they may when I get there. Adventure, thy name is living-with-whoever-you-just-so-happen-to-stand-next-to-in-line. (Hey, Adventure, you might want to consider getting a nickname.)

I'm Back!

Well, I'm back home, minus my luggage. I barely made my plane last night--the last flight out of Atlanta--but unfortunately my bags missed the plane, and I'll have to pick them up today. So that was sort of a pain. But otherwise, my trip was great and I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get back to real life...and planning for Disney!

After I got assigned to a roommate, we emailed each other back and forth for a few days. I was double checking some of my Disney arrival information today on the College Program website, and decided to check and see if I was still matched up for a roommate. Well, guess what. I'm not. I don't know what's going on with that. The way that the website's been, it may just be a glitch, or she may have found another roommate or whatever. I have no idea. Oh, well. So I'm signed back up, and we'll see what happens. I'm actually thinking about taking this opportunity to opt out of roommate notification all together. I'm wondering if I'll be happier waiting until I actually meet some people at check-in. Then at least I will be able to have some say in who I'm rooming with. Plus, it will add an element of surprise. And I like surprises!

I'm going to spend the next couple of days browsing the official website and the blogs, trying to figure out what my schedule will be like for my first few days at Disney. Since my mom is flying back, I will have to take her to the airport and the only direct flights are at the Sanford airport, which is about 45 minutes away from where I'll be. The flights are all early in the morning, and we'll have to figure out what day I won't have to be at training early so that I can take her and be back in plenty of time. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it.

Just one month and three days now until I'm on the road to Orlando!

A Quick Vacation-y Update

Well, hello there, friends! It's been a while! I've been on vacation for the last few days with limited internet access, and limited interest in blogging (sorry!). It's been a nice rest, so here I am for a quick update.

My wonderful grandma had some travel points, and used them to make reservations for my mom and I in Orlando. I'm not really sure which hotel she used them at, but I know it was close to Vista for check-in, and that it's a reputable hotel chain. Sounds good! So this means that, even though we still haven't sold our old house, my mom may go with me now because she was reluctant to pay for the extra 3 or 4 nights for her hotel. So now that's taken care of. Thanks, Nana! :) (yes, I call my grandma 'Nana'. Don't make fun of me!)

Well, now I'm off to do more vacationing! See you guys again in a few days when I return to real life. Happy 4th, everybody!