Chengdu Two Years Later

I'm a lot braver than I was in 2015. I tackled Chengdu on my own this time due to its expanded Metro service.

Hotel Toiletries - Take Them or Not

According to the New York Post article This is why you should steal shampoo from hotels, you should take them. However, make sure you take the toiletries you used, too, meaning the opened bottles and soap. Why?

The NY Post does not tell us anything new. Hotels throw out the toiletries you open. What gets thrown out winds up in landfill.

Walt Disney World Magic Bands - Collection is Not Done

Old & New Magic Bands

I thought I collected every single color you could of the Magic Band from staying on property. To my surprise, the latest Magic Band I got was different.

*back of hand to forehead* "Woe is me! I need to continue visiting the Mouse's house until I collect every single color."

Halloween in September

That's right I did Halloween in September. After Labor Day, Disneyland got gussied up for Halloween.

China & Hong Kong: Trip Tips

China

Things I learned from doing this trip. This is only for a leisure trip from an U.S. national point of view.

China & Hong Kong: Travel Agencies

I was suppose to go to China in 2014. I had the plane ticket and even the hotel room booked. You had to or else you could not get a China visa.

With booked plane and hotel for China, I decided to use a friend who was a travel agent to do the rest, namely book some tours.

China & Hong Kong: Bucklet List Checked

I really don't do lists, but if I did, visiting China and Hong Kong will be on it. Why? I have to see the homeland of pandas. Plus, I need to visit all the Disney playgrounds. Some might think I need to visit the land I was born in. Nope, pandas and Disney were the main reasons for this trip.

Seems to be Pouring

Not the wet kind but things that you just want to stay away or not happen at all. I was going away for a week the next day and one thing after the other just keep happening.

First... My sister brings in the mail and there's a notice that I have to pick up a certified letter.

Oh, my gosh!!!!!

Yes, OMG!!!! I cannot believe that this is my 1st post for 2014. Numero UNO! Definitely a sad state of affairs when I look at my timeline and realized that 2013 only had one post.

It is all FB's and pandas fault. Though you really can't fault those cuddly black and white fluff balls. Watching them actually soothes the soul for the entire day. You just cannot say "awwwww" when watching them. I may also have to blame Explore.org for enabling live cam streaming of all small and big creatures and natures around the world.

Pandas at the Memphis Zoo

This is a quick report that I wrote on a panda group page that I visit multiple times a day -- Panda-fandom Worldwide. I need to start writing here, too, as old stuff is hard to find in Facebook, especially when you need to extract something from it for later use.
I visited the Memphis Zoo on April 8. One down and 3 to go in the U.S. [The other 3 zoos are Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington DC, San Diego Zoo and Zoo Atlanta.]

Behind the Wheel, Not Today

Someone is telling me I should not be behind the wheel today. Really.

Our zoo had free admission today. I was going to go and take my sister and her kid.

I headed out to go get them. As I was backing out of their driveway, I did not see the car that was coming towards my right. I got a honked, I stopped and watch the car drive around me. I guess I was distracted by my convo with my sister.

We almost got to the zoo. I was in the left turning lane waiting for the light to turn green and watching all the traffic that the free zoo admission was causing. BOOM! I got hit from behind. I think the kid who was sitting in the back felt most of the impact. My back bumper got more scratched than damaged. I guess it adds to all the dings and scratches it has accumulated through its 10 years. The car that ran into me got majority of the damage -- mangled license plate, left headlight hanging out and black plastic pieces on the ground.

As the County Sheriff was on hand to direct all the traffic that the zoo was causing, one of them drove right over without us calling anyone. The Sheriff shoved the hanging headlight back into her car. Bad thing, I got to head into Newark to pick up the police report versus our local police department. I don't like driving to cities where I'm unsure of whether there is parking. I'm not a fan of parallel parking.

As this is the first major accident I was involved in, I didn't do what the insurance company says you need to do. I only took the other person's name and phone number and a couple of pictures (handy to have camera on phone). I guess I'm counting on the Sheriff to have taken everything (insurance and driver info) for the police report. I'll see what my insurance agency says. I can always call the driver. Poor thing was distracted by the zoo traffic and thinking about the wedding she had to go to. Plus, it was her third accident.

We decided not to go to the zoo. It most likely will be crowded as cars were backing up the traffic. I drove sis and the kid home and headed back to my house. As I was waiting at major intersection for the car in front of me to complete his left turn, a car from my left zoom pass me. It ran the red light!

After seeing that, it's safer for me to stay home today. Yep, no more driving for me today.

WOOT! Silver

Just checked my frequent flyer status for next year. I'm SILVER again :D Priority boarding! YIPPEE!

How? Last Friday, I became a mileage runner.

What are mileage runners? They are people whose only purpose in flying is to obtain flight miles to reach a specific airline frequent flyer status for the current or next year. As I plan on making trips next year, I want to maintain a level that gives me priority boarding -- gotta get my overhead luggage space as I don't check bags!

Until this year, I've always been able to obtain at least the lowest frequent flyer status as part of my work perks when it winged me from place to place, but I don't have that perk anymore. In October, I thought I had to get about 17,000 miles -- ok, 3 trips out to the West Coast and 1 down south. Thank goodness I rechecked the requirements as my carrier is in the midst of finalizing its merger stuff with the other carrier. I only need 7,000 miles -- easy peasy, a trip out west and one down south.

I was able to get a great deal out west before the carrier discovered it's mistake with pricing :D However, I could not find one south that I was willing to pay for. I kept looking for deals in November but nothing was acceptable. I just needed less than 2,000 miles to make the lowest level.

What's acceptable? It comes down to cost per mile. I try not to go over 6 cents a mile. My west trip came to 4.5 cents a mile.

I went to Flyertalk, a forum for all travel affinity programs, and hope it would give me a tip on where I could go to get my missing miles to get me to 25,000. It did!!!

I traveled 5,950 miles in less than 24 hours. I left my house at 4am and got back home the next day at 2am. It would have been a shorter day if I flew out of my home airport, but I had to drive an hour to another airport.

Yes, I'm crazy, but I know I'm not the only nut that does this. Yes, it's more miles than I need for next year's status, but it will not go to waste. I'm working towards my goal of 1,000,000 actual flight miles.

With a million miles, I will never need to do a mileage run. The 1,000,000 miles will give me LIFETIME Gold status -- priority boarding and 3 free checked bags ;)

I could obtain this level within four years. I might try to get it over with in the next year or two in case the carrier decides to change rule. With my kid-sitting funds, there will be more mileage runs next year *LOL*

Ahhhhh!

One year ago this past Saturday, I was sitting in my home office finishing up the last of my conference calls and office emails. Yep, the last and final ones. No more conference calls. No more office emails. No more rolling out of bed and stroll/crawl into home office. I packed up the office laptop and shipped it back to that big laptop closet in Alpharetta the following week.

I had a list of to-do's for the year. I'm not sorry to say that I don't think I did any of them *LOL* I still have lots of time to do 'em, and the world will not fall apart if they are not done now. I'll get to them, one of these days.

It was a good year. I still made my Disney trips :) I was able to meet friends face-to-face that I've not seen for years! Those were the great times.

Enjoying life :)

Murphy Tried to Keep Me in Atlanta

I flew into Atlanta Tuesday night to attend meetings in Alpharetta the next several days. The last time I was here was for Dragon*Con last September.

After I landed, I went hunting for the car rental bus. No bus no more. I was surprised with ATL's new rail system to get to the car rental area. Very neat.

After three days of meetings and getting to know team members for a new project, we were all ready to finish up as early as possible on Friday. The Alpharetta office always talks about the bad downtown traffic that was between them and the airport.

Pics found in the Ladies Rest Room of Bucca diPeppo. I was told that the Gents had pics of little boys going.

Surprisingly, I got to the airport in an hour. I was wondering how long I was going to spent in Atlanta as the traffic signs were up about a slow down due to an event in downtown Atlanta. It was slow, but it kept moving.

I took advantage of the check-in kiosks at the car rental rail station while waiting for the next train that shows up every 90 seconds to 2 minutes. The kiosk gave me the option of taking the 4:15pm flight, but I decided to stick with my 5:30. When I got to the terminal, I was sad to see my 5:30 was delayed an hour. As I didn't want to spend more time at the airport, I decided to change to the 4:15.

When I got to the gate terminal, I checked the monitor again. Delta cancelled the 4:15 flight *argh* The line was long at customer service, but I got on it anyway. While waiting, I called my travel department to find out if I was still booked on my original flight. She said "Yes, and you're checked it". I got off the line, checked the monitors to find the gate for the 5:30 which is now taking off on time and headed to the gate.

As I was walking to the gate, I see these nifty machines around the terminal. If you miss your flight, scan your boarding pass and it will print a new boarding pass with your new flight. I decided to scan my cancelled boarding pass to see what it would give me. I hope it was the 5:30pm flight. Nope, it told me I was confirmed for a 8:15pm. I hunted for the boarding pass I printed at the car rental rail station and scanned that. Yep, Delta ensured I was only on one flight, and sadly, it was the 8:15pm. I even checked the website on my phone. When I changed to the 4:15, it cancelled my 5:30 seat. So much for the info from my travel department.

Now I need to spend time around the terminals until 8:15. I read the newspaper, did some sudoku, bought two pairs of earrings, had dinner and even finished watching The Book of Eli. There was Wifi but you need to pay for it. I miss Phoenix and Jacksonville airports. I could have used my phone as a modem, but I forgot to put the necessary software on my pc. Note to self, remember to put software on pcs.

With no status on Delta, I was awarded the furthest passenger seat from the cockpit. As I sometimes do when I board and I have the window seat, I start snoozing after I settled in and am bored with watching people board. I did hear this lady talking to her car service to inform them that we will arrive early and the flight attendant letting passengers know that one of the toilets was not flushing. I awoke a bit later to learn we're still on the ground. So much for arriving early. The mechanics are trying to fix the toilet. The captain comes on 15 minutes later to tell us to deplane -- take all belongings with you, we would like to fix the plane with no passengers on, hopefully the flight will not be cancelled. It is 9:15pm. To appease the passengers, Delta gave out $6.00 meal vouchers.

I'm hoping they fixed the plane or at least find us a different plane. I really want to get home tonight. I do know, if they can't fix the plane, they will need to provide accommodations as it's a mechanical difficulty and not Mother Nature. At 9:45pm, the Red Coat gave us good news that we got new equipment, and after cleaning and restocking, we will be boarding again. Yippee!!!

I don't know when we took off, but I did finally get home at 1:45am Saturday. 12 hours traveling. I bet all my teammates who lived further than me got home before I did.

Murphy tried, but failed. I'll see you, Atlanta, again in July, maybe. If not, definitely in September for Dragon*Con.

For anyone who travels with their dog, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has a dog park.

Main Street Electrical Parade

Starting in June, the Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort will be presenting Main Street Electrical Parade instead of SpectroMagic parade during Summer Nightastic!.

I don't remember where I first saw the Main Street Electrical Parade. It might have been in Disneyland or possibly the Magic Kingdom in the 90's. I definitely caught it a time or two or three while it was at Disney's California Adventure. I'm glad I caught it again last year before it got packed up and shipped to the Magic Kingdom this year. Here are the pics to memorialized a night in August 2009.

If you want to compare the Main Street Electrical Parade and the SpectroMagic Parade, here are the pics I took in October 2009.

From an excerpt from Disney's Backstage Pass, May 2010, here's how the Main Street Electrical Parade came to be.

Just imagine the collective brightness in store for Magic Kingdom Guests like you when the grand and glorious Main Street Electrical Parade returns beginning June 6! Just hearing the strains of "Baroque Hoedown" floating through the Walt Disney World air gives shivers of joy to many of us.

Some wonderful things are also the simplest

Simply put, the Main Street Electrical Parade is a nighttime procession of memorable Disney scenes with beloved characters set aglow with millions of twinkling lights. And it began as a simple observation of Disney Legend Robert Jani, who was Creative Director of Walt Disney Productions.

"Bob was sitting in his living room, watching the twinkling lights on his Christmas tree," recalled Forrest Bahruth, Show Director, Walt Disney Entertainment. "He took his glasses off and on and thought, 'It's more interesting without my glasses because the light diffuses.'

"He began unstringing the lights on his Christmas tree, made a circle and a square, made a couple of flowers. His wife came in and said, 'What in the world are you doing?' He said, 'I'm just thinking about something.'"

A new kind of entertainment

The Main Street Electrical Parade evolved when Bob and his creative and technical team were thinking about performing the daytime parade at night. "In the early days there was no system for that," explained Forrest. "It turned out that the cost of lighting the existing parade was similar to creating a brand-new parade. So he and his team came up with an entirely new kind of Disney spectacle: a parade that makes its own light."

The Main Street Electrical Parade became a sensation, lighting up the hearts of Guests at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disneyland® Resort in California and Disneyland® Paris. The parade even made special appearances at the Super Bowl in Miami, and even on the streets of Manhattan (to dazzle the usually unflappable New Yorkers)!

It's also personally significant to Gene Harding, Show Producer, Walt Disney Entertainment. "This parade was my first job when I started as a Disney performer in 1985," he recalled. "When it came back in 1999, I was on the production team."

It's back again for the first time

Now when it returns as part Summer Nightastic!, the Main Street Electrical Parade will combine memorable elements that Gene and millions of Guests love, plus several new features making their Magic Kingdom debut.

"The parade will now begin with a completely different lead float, featuring Tinker Bell in a hot air balloon along with four of her pixie friends," said Gene. "From there, Tinker Bell's pixie dust will sparkle throughout the entire parade."

Parade fans can look forward to the familiar twinkling train, the giant drum heralding the parade title and the delightful Alice in Wonderland section–with Alice waving from a mushroom, the Caterpillar, a butterfly and the whirling snails, fireflies and turtles.

Next up you can relive the ballroom sequence from Cinderella, and giggle at her "dysfunctional family" of stepsisters snarling at the crowds. Peter Pan, Wendy and the Never Land friends are next, plus some foes: Captain Hook aboard his ship and Mr. Smee rowing behind.

A new mine is yours to enjoy

"We had the Snow White portion of the parade in Florida before, including Dopey's train," added Gene, "But the diamond mine was a California feature. Both the mine and the entire Pinocchio section are making their debut in Florida, including a funhouse float, 'cigar store' and the Pleasure Island boys." After waving "hello" to Pete, perched atop Elliott the dragon, the shining, shimmering American flag float brings the Main Street Electrical Parade to a patriotic finale.

"The parade has the same charm we all remember, but new developments in design and technology have been added here and there," said Gene. "We've added luminescent panels, upgraded the sound reproduction and the synchronization between floats. In a sense, you'll experience it in a way unlike you could before."

But it's still the Main Street Electrical Parade we know and love. "When we can create something that really engages our Guests for generations, that's absolutely magical," said Forrest. "It's like a classic 'E' ticket Disney attraction."

Are you wondering what Disney's California Adventure Park will be showing at night now that the Electrical Parade has been shipped to Florida? Yes, there is something wonderful in the works. I hope to get out there to catch it's summer debut -- Disney's World of Color.

Aloft

It's been a while since the whole team stayed at the same hotel. We were forced to stay in Tempe as all hotels in downtown Phoenix was booked for the 2009 Greenbuild Conference.

It's a brand new hotel called Aloft. It was a very interesting hotel. Very different from what I'm use to. Aloft is part of the Starwood Hotel network (Sheraton, W). It's not a full service hotel, nor is it a budget hotel. I could not tell you what the rate is as we got in for the federal government rate. And when I got my bill, they did not even charge me for all the nights I stayed.

For the week we stayed there, it was good. There was a Starbucks, In-n-Out, Yogutland, Jersey Mike's and a fast food mexican directly across from the hotel. Denny's was another block away. Otherwise, you'll need a car to get anywhere else.

Taliesin West

I got the opportunity to stay in Phoenix for the weekend. What to do? What to do?

While having breakfast at I-Hop, I perused a visitors guide that I got from my hotel. It had a great article about Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect. It pointed out the many buildings that were located in the Phoenix area, especially his winter school.

That's what I decided to do. Visit Taliesin West.

I went on the $32 tour which lasted about 2 hours. The guide showed us Mr. Wright's office, living room where the students gathered (no pictures permitted), his bedroom (no pictures permitted), large theatre and small theatre and the grounds.

The guide, Jason Silverman, was great. He was a great storyteller. Jason took the tour when he was little. I guess it touched his muse that he decided to attend the school and decided later to show his love by became a tour guide.

Here are pictures I took: 2009 Taliesin West. The last picture in the slideshow is not part of Taliesin West. It happens to be another structure that Mr. Wright designed and sits in a shopping strip.

Now I have a yearning to visit Taliesin in Illinois, Falling Water in Pennsylvania and the Guggenheim in New York. Hopefully, I can do the Guggenheim, which is just across the river from me, before it's special tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright is over.

Have you visited something that called your muse?

Continental's New Video System

Two Sundays ago, I finally got on a Continental plane, 737, with the new video system. Notice that I said video system and not audio-video system.

My return flight had the old audio/video system. Of course, I sat in the row that had the monitor right on top of the seats in front of me and the other monitor was just too far away. It's a good thing I was not interested in it. I had an ebook I wanted to finish.

Last Sunday, I got my second chance to explore the new video system again.

A year ago, as Continental started getting new planes, they were not rigging them with the usual audio/video system. Continental was waiting for the delivery of new equipment -- individual systems for each passenger -- and did not want to expend the cost of refitting the plane.

There were many disappointed customers who discovered they had to entertain themselves for 4 plus hours. Season traveler that I am, of course, I was prepared.

The old system...video monitor every 4-5 rows and 12 stations. 2 stations devoted to audio for the video -- 1 English and other Spanish. The other 10 stations for different kinds of music. At some point, the cost of entertainment went from $4.00 to $1.00. The headphones even changed. Over the ear clip-ons changed to earbuds that you can use on your own portable player. It included a gadget to transform the plug from single to dual plug so you can use them on any Continental plane.

The new system is DirecTV. There are no music stations. The movies are stilled controlled by Continental. They offer 4 current ones each month. September movies are Night at the Museum: Battle of Smithsonian, The Proposal, Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation. Continental also has 4 additional stations for reruns of dramas, comedys and miscellaneous documentaries. You could consider this Continental Vision. If DirecTV goes out because of plane misalignment with the satellite, you can still watch these 8 stations. Then you have 75 DirecTV stations to surf through for more programming like TNT, FoodTV, CNN, MSNBC, ESPN.

The bad thing about this new system is that programming does not halt when the plane PA system is used, even Continental Vision continues on. It's very annoying as you will miss all dialogue when the crew speaks. If I want music, I guess I'll have to make sure my player has enough juice.

You do need a credit/debit card to activate the system. The cost is $6.00. Headsets (the earbuds with dual plug attachment) are complimentary. Hopefully, it does not go up anymore as I consider this high. (Yes, it's still cheaper than a movie ticket and, given enough time, you could watch two movies, like I did.) As always, it is free for First Class. Though another frequent flyer told me you can get Continental Vision, not the movie channels, for free. I'll have to explore that when I'm in coach with the new system.

Supposedly the planes with DirecTV also have power outlets so you can plug in. I tried this once in First Class but was never able to find a working one in Coach.

Air Travel - Pet Peeve

Please put your luggage by where you sit; not in front of the plane. I feel for the poor souls who have not boarded yet and wind up putting their luggage in the back. I know how the poor souls feel as this happens to me when first class upgrade is given after I've boarded and settled in my coach seat.

I don't like it when the flight crew put their carry-on in the section reserved for elite traveler.

Passengers seated behind you who will not let you deplane because they just have to get off. Wait your turn, please.

He's Just Not Into You

It's a crapshoot when you get on a Continental flight whether you get flight entertainment or not. I lucked out last night. This crew did a switch up. You generally get the movie first and then Continental TV. I liked the switch. As I'm generally snoozing before take-off, I generally miss the beginning of the movie and, plus, the meal service and captain interrupts it.

I saw He's Just Not Into You. I totally enjoyed this chick flick. I could even relate with bits 'n pieces of it.

As for becoming the "exception", I'm still waiting. Just as long as my blood is still pumping, there's time for being the "exception".

If I do not become the "exception", c'est la vie.