Lost times of eL

December 22, 2008 In Memory of my Aunt Goldie

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:09:09 GMT

There are no sufficient words in times like this to convey thoughts and emotions. Nor is there a proper way to announce news such as this. So please forgive this informal way and understand that I know that any response to this is difficult. Writing it is worse, trust me.
My Aunt Goldie - after a very brave and courageous 2 year fight with breast cancer and the horrendous side effects of the chemotherapy, is finally at peace with no more worries. All that know her, including all of us, had no way of knowing just how close the end was because she kept up the fight and the positive attitude to the very end. Up until today, just a few hours ago actually, I truly believed that when we talked about the end, we were talking months or years before we had to face it. Though my aunt in title (she was my mom's youngest sister), she was more like my sister due to us growing up together. Only 14 years older than me, she was the big sister I never had. My family is extremely close - and we're all here for each other and will get through this. We feel her everywhere - in our house, in every room, in all of us. It's going to take a very long time for this to sink in - a very long time. Though her life was cut short but this incredibly horrible disease, the fact that her cancer was caught early gave her 2 more years with us. Each and every minute was one I will be forever thankful for. I know that each and every minute of each and every day to come, she is with me - with the girls, with every one of us in the way she couldn't before. (she's reminding me now to take out the garbage) Her life, was something to celebrate, something to admire.. something to truly wish for. As a teacher, she affected the lives of hundreds of kids. As someone in our family, she was irreplaceable.
Please, if you or anyone you know has not had a mammogram - have one. It's no big deal. I get one every 6 months. It may give you an extra day to make a difference - just as it gave Aunt Goldie 2 years.

May update

Sat, 03 May 2008 20:36:05 GMT

Happy COLD frakkin May..

I think part of why I never update is that I know lots of things sound really bad - but before I continue - I think it's important to point out that sometimes the things we take for granted (like waking up each day alive and breathing) are really what counts the most. Everything else just is part of that process. Having said that -- things are pretty damn sucky right now!
I'm not even sure why I want to update - but I will try to look here more often. Just so much on my mind lately. I'll start with work. Things have gone from pretty good to a virtual nightmare. Too much of a nightmare to even describe - but yesterday was really the last of it because I'm moving to a new team as of Monday. While it is wrong to move me instead of dealing with the person that is the problem, this will be a good step for the time being - and TPTB are fully aware of the problem person. The biggest issue is that I will have to give up coming in at 5AM - which is a loss of $160 shift differential a paycheck which I desperately need. I'll be working at either 6am or 7am and probably have to work weekends - at least some of them. It's all up in the air right now -- but I wasn't a happy camper and made sure everyone knew it. Jeff leaving really screwed a bunch of us. Can't blame him though - things were getting really bad. And if not for my need of continued health insurance - I'd be looking for another job and would have given my notice already. So suffice it to say, that work is not a happy outlet right now. I do hope moving to another team will take some of the stress and strain off me.

Now to health news. Not sure what I've updated. Aunt Goldie is still on chemo and will be for some time. Her cancer is very aggressive and has to be monitored. Her tumor markers go up and down. So far, thankfully she's feeling pretty good with side effects that more of a nuisance than anything else. My dad has a prostate procedure scheduled coming up. His PSA count was elevated and they need to check that out. His brother, my Uncle Irv - is in very bad shape right now down in Florida. He was ok when he went down for the winter - still playing golf and walking daily. Now he's on daily chemotherapy and his cancer has spread everywhere. He's too weak to do much of anything and is in a wheelchair. They found it in his kidney a few months ago and it's everywhere now. My dad wants to go see him, but is waiting to have his procedure done (I think it's more of a not being able to deal with things issue). And finally.. Me.

My weight loss is going fine - I'm losing inches and sizes again - but the pounds are holding. It's a pattern. I'm fine where I am - but I know I'll keep losing by virtue of what I'm eating (or actually not eating!) I think I've mentioned before about my having to go for a breast examination every 6 months. I'm in the highest possible risk group for breast cancer. (family history, my medical history, never being pregnant, smoking, having been overweight, etc) The oncologist I see is one of the best there is - and he is my mom and both my aunts doctor also. So he is acutely aware of things. Last year they focused on a strange spot in my right boobie. It turned out to be a misplaced lymph node. So when they found something suspicious last time, I figured it was the same thing and wasn't that concerned. They kept calling me and sending me letters that they wanted me to come back again. They also wanted copies of my older mammographies. I finally got that to them and they later called me saying that this time the suspicious "thing" was in my left boob and I had to go for more images and a sonogram. I went back -about 3 weeks ago and they did more squeezes and found a "something" that is 1 cm. Though 1 cm certainly isn't huge, finding something that size is of concern. However, they couldn't verify it with the sonogram and found nothing. the radiologist said they'd give my oncologist the report. I made another appointment to see my oncologist (for June 4th which was their next available appointment) and the next day they called and said that I needed to come in much sooner and they'd squeeze me in. (Bad choice of words I think to use squeeze where they also do Mammography)
So I went again and now next week I have to go for a biopsy. It may or may not be serious -- but here's the thing...
I am a realist. Every 6 months I will have to for a breast check up because of all the factors that contribute to me being very high risk. This is a good thing because early intervention and/or prevention are the ultimate keys to survival. However, the absolute fact that I am high risk makes me aware that at some point in those regular 6 month check ups, there will be a diagnosis that indicates that they've found cancer. That could be this week coming up - or 50 years from now. I realized that I've accepted my risk and eventual and probable diagnosis and that in a very warped way I will be disappointed and annoyed the longer it goes on with having to keep waiting every 6 months to find out .. is it the time yet? This is why lots of women in my situation choose to have a preventive mastectomy. However, I don't really think THAT is an option for me either. I'm not really into having body parts chopped off unless absolutely necessary. My oncologist (Dr. Ashikari) suggests that my mom go for genetic testing to determine whether she's negative or positive for an indicative breast cancer gene - and if she and I are both postive for it, then my risk is even higher. But the problem is that even is one or both of us are negative - my risk is still sky high. So we've pretty much decided not to bother. It's bad enough living with the not knowing and having to wait every 6 months. The biggest issue is that for even the slightest change on any mammo or test, I'll have to have more tests and biopsies. So the reality is that every change means another test. And I think it's really bizarre that if they don't find cancer, I will feel disappointed. Which doesn't mean that if they do I'll be satisfied or happy! - it just means that I'll be disappointed knowing I have to wait another 6 months to do it all over again. Plus, if they don't find something, I'll be thinking.. oh great - it's hiding now.
This is the side of cancer that makes it so difficult to deal with. The not knowing when, where or if it's going to show it's ugly head and when it does - if it's going to stay away, come back, or what. And that's pretty much why I just want to know what my fate is. When they determine I have active cancer - fine - I know about it and have known and will fight it -- but this waiting around is really sucky. I know that sounds a little crazy - sort of like I want to have it.. but thats not it at all.. I just have accepted that it is more likely than not that I'll have that diagnosis, and so I want to get it over with rather than worrying is it here yet?
In the past 2 years, my mom, both of her sisters, my dad's brother all were diagnosed with cancer. My mom only has 2 sisters and my dad has 1 brother. On my mom's side, 2 out of her 5 first cousins died this year from cancer. Going to my grandparents and their siblings on both sides- the majority died from cancer.

Hi again!

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:40:26 GMT

Since it's the weekend and I'm not going anyplace at all (or at least thats my plan) I decided to update! Mostly because I just came inside and rather than take a nap or bubble bath, I am sitting in front of the heater. It's a bit coldish outside! Anyway... I have lots of gardening to catch up on. I'm sort of trying to not buy lots of new plants (as I had planned to) because Aunt Goldie has me slightly worried about how much longer we're going to be living here. My soon to be ex-uncle's lawyer is trying to get everything possible from her for him - and he stands to get a lot (that he doesn't deserve, but New York law may entitle him to) unless the lawyers can come up with a decent agreement. She's concerned that there won't be enough money left to pay the mortgage and all the bills our house requires. So today instead of buying like 20 small new perennials, I only bought 10. Only. I actually do need a few more. My plan was to buy lots of bigger plants... but I behaved. I still need to buy a new lawnmower as we've decided to save the money we paid (Aunt Goldie paid) to have a service to it. I've already started to work on fixing the front lawn (97% weeds) and once the weeds die, I can thatch what's left, and eventually seed it. Since I am home from work early - usually by 3pm the latest.. (2 the earliest) - I can spend quality time out there. Since losing so much weight and quitting smoking - I'm actually in pretty good physical condition now.. so I'm trying to really push myself. OH... for fun.. here's a new comparison picture of me with me!

I think it's fairly obvious I've lost a few pounds. And over 10 pant sizes. Go me! I do want to share a funny thing that happened last week in DC. First off, I posted lots more pictures.. which are in an album at Photobucket April Washington, DC - I love to post albums. Pictures are fun. Anyway.. so there's one picture that cracks me up - it's my bariatric surgery picture.. or the aftereffect picture. Bariatric Surgery.. the look As I mentioned last post, I need to eat small meals frequently. Sometimes, a meal may be simply 1/2 of an apple or a handful or two or three of peanuts. I try to stay away from eating plain bread - like bagels or rolls - unless there's something on it -- even just mayonnaises.. because it makes it go down easier. Food that expands tends to get stuck. If it gets stuck, I don't feel too good. I can't eat and drink at the same time. So the idea of having water to help something go down is bad. So here I was in DC - I had gone to just outside of the White House and I was walking toward a museum in the area. I got real hungry so I stopped at a street vendor. They sold fruit. They had small bags of peanuts. And all I could smell was a twisty street vendor pretzel. Pure bread. No salt. Plain. Thick floury, doughy bread. I figured - what the hell - I can't eat much of it anyway so I'll just have a tiny piece and enjoy it. If I ate a full 4 inches (10 cm) - it was a lot. I ate it slowly. Chewed it well. It tasted great. Off to the museum I went (it's a White House history museum - small..) Then I headed to the National Aquarium which I really enjoyed. While there, I started to feel like there was a huge lump in my throat. I kept going and tried to not think about it. I continued for at least an hour and though I didn't feel 100%, I thought I'd be okay. I headed back outside and there was a park where there was a dance competition going on. I headed there to watch some of it. As I sat, the feeling got worse - so I started back walking - toward the White House now because I figured if I came all the way there, I should go take a shot (sort of literally) of the White House. It was a pretty good distance from where I was at. As I walked along the fence, I began to feel worse and worse. I knew there was only one solution - I'd have to give up the pretzel I had eaten. The question was where I could do so, and when. If I wait too long to give up food that my body isn't liking - I do begin to feel sick. I normally don't wait. However, due to the current circumstances of where I was - there was no place where I could make the sacrifice. I was also making myself panic because I read someplace that it is illegal to spit in public there and you can be fined for doing so. Due to my body's ignorance - when I've eaten something it doesn't like, my mouth over salivates which collects if not spit out. I can't swallow any liquids -- because any liquid is bad if food is stuck. (Sorry about the grossness factor) So I'm looking all around before spitting and getting more panic stricken and sick feeling because I may go to jail. heh. I finally get to the White House - and thought it would be very appropriate to throw up there -- but I have respect for other people - so I continued to walk. And walk. And walk. I momentarily considered grabbing a taxi cab back to the hotel - but the idea of sitting in a cab wasn't appealing. So I kept on walking. After at least 10 blocks of aimless walking, I began to get major chills yet feel like I was burning up from inside. I knew where I was - I was about 3 blocks from the hotel I stayed at last month. And I got it in my head that that was where I had to go. As I got to the front door, I almost couldn't make it. I managed. I got to the bathroom. Within a few minutes, I was fine and once again hungry! Afterwards, I did lots more walking, and headed back to Dupont Circle where I shopped at a few book stores, and of course one of the first gay/lesbian shops - Lambda Rising where I replenished bumper stickers and such.

oops, Hi all.

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:30:28 GMT

Oops. I forgot about updating. I just finished my second weekend escape actually.. back to DC again. Been very stressed at work (not really me per se - but just everything that's been happening is stressful. With work and everything else happening family wise.. cancer, divorce, money issues.. I just needed to go bye bye. So I did. I love being able to just go.

My last trip was a long 4 plus day weekend in DC. I managed to see a lot and do lots of walking despite cold and wet weather. It was simply nice to just get away. I did manage to post lots of random pictures I took.. one album is generic DC and the other is limited to the Botanical Gardens. It was awesome. I tend to have to put my camera away because I'll just keep on taking shots. The botanical garden ones were an excercise in creativity. Oh and if you do look, the mist you see is actually the mist of the flowers/plants being misted. It's not a blur. It's water mist.
I did learn from my weekend that if I try to do things without eating every few hours, I tend to dislike things and get moody (in my own head anyway). As an example - I normally really enjoy the Museum of Natural History. There are so many things to see there, and I enjoy the exhibits. I chose it as the first musuem I went to. I get there and start looking at exhibits and my reaction was.. "who the hell cares. Stupid bones. Dumb dead things. This is boring" I was barely looking at things. I was sort of just rushing past everything and getting annoyed with whoever put the stupid exhibits there to waste my time. I ran through dinosoars and continued through to fossils and other things and realized that I hadn't eaten anything in at least 6 or more hours. I was so eager to get to the museum that I never bothered to eat anything. Granted I don't/can't eat very big meals - but I do have to eat regularly and usually my body tells me either by me feeling a bit faint or my tummy growling. If this happened I missed the cue. So I headed to the cafeteria at the museum and ordered a cheeseburger. (Protein in cheese and in the burger). Surprisingly I ate almost 75% of the meat and cheese and some of the bread! I was really hungry. More surprisingly, when I returned to the museum my interest was back! Once again I was a happy myself. For the remainder of the trip, I made sure I ate regularly.
Using hotwire.com to book the hotel was fantastic. It was within 3 - 4 blocks of 2 Metro stations - so getting to and from everyplace was very easy. My only complaint is that DC is on very limited hours. Things generally don't open before 10am and generally close by 5pm. That leaves lots of time in between. I did attempt to sleep later - but I generally wake up automatically by 4:00am now. So I'd wake up, read for a little bit, then go back to sleep for a few more hours. By 8am if I didn't get up I'd end up being exhausted from too much sleep.
I managed to hit a lot of things during the weekend - some very disapointing and some unexpectedly enjoyable. One thing I was quite disapointed with was the Spy Museum. Everything I'd read and heard about it made me think I was going to love it. (I need to also point out that due to circumstances beyond my control - I didn't eat until AFTER I went to the main museum). They have a special interactive group activity that involves being a spy and solving a mystery so to speak. It's called Operation Spy and is a separate fee. You are with a small group of people and a guide and are supposed to work together to solve a mission. It's primarily geared for young people or groups. I'm neither a young people nor a group which significantly effected my enjoyment. It lasts for about an hour and is a must do for families or groups. But not for just me. As I said, it's separate from the actual museum - and when I got my tickets (which assign times for entry to Operation Spy) my time was right away so I'd have to do the museum afterwards. After the hour or so on the mission, I was quite hungry. However, as part of the group, we were told we'd get immediate entry to the main museum by staying with the group - or we'd have to go back out and wait on the main line to get back in and the wait was some 40 minutes. I should have gone out, eaten and then waited. I didn't. So I absolutely hated the entire musuem. I'm not sure honestly if I would have liked it better if I had eaten though - it was overcrowded and very hard to see much of anything. But I figure that someday I'll go back and re-check it out. I then walked up several blocks to the National Building Museum - another one I had looked forward to - and found out there's really only 2 exhibits there. The building itself is gorgeous - and a sight to see.. which I saw.. and once I saw it it was seen. So again, I was disapointed. I walked back to where i had started across the street from the Spy Museum and I stumbled into the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum and totally loved it. It was open till 7pm which was awesome. I did Air and Space, redid Natural History - went to the Hirshorn Gallery, and lots of other in between stops. Did lots and lots of walking. Managed to lose a few pounds more!

As I mentioned, I just got back from another weekend.. and I'm about to post those pictures - which will appear in another entry.

Weekend Getaways are fun!

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:40:01 GMT

The Anatomy of a Getaway.. It's been a long winter. Not much snow. Just lots of cold. Work has become very stressful due to the severe and significant changes that happened in a very short time. About a month ago, I posted that things were going well. They were. Within days of posting things unexpectedly changed. Our store is a challenging one due mostly to our location in good times. We're located inside the 2nd largest Mall complex in the United States. It is a challenge to maintain. Our district manager is a moron in my opinion. As a result of his constant criticism of the store – which is for the most part – warranted, our focus is always on fixing things for him to see – rather than fixing and maintaining the store overall – which is how it should be. The issues are never addressed – just dusted off. Long story short, this makes it very difficult for the executives (Target's name for managers) and most don't stay very long once they're in the line of fire. In the past year, we've lost a record number. After discussing my core roles with Jeff (the store manager) and Simone (Human Resources), I was looking forward to move to Price Accuracy as a team lead. Simone told me that they were going to schedule a meeting with Marie to give her a final effective date and if she was leaving past that date, they'd rotate her into a temporary position, but certainly out of hers since I was taking it over. Their feeling was that the only way to insure that this happens is to make an official date. That meeting was to take place at the end of February. In the meantime, I wanted to remain in the 5:00AM slot, so I moved temporarily to the Planogram team. (Planogram team sets up all the displays/merchandise in the store by using Plans or maps sent by corporate) The next week, Jeff announced that he found a “better opportunity” and gave his two weeks notice. <src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/elpack/sadwalk.gif"> He assured me that he had spoken to all the right people and that Simone would be continuing to make sure this came to pass. He left. It was very sad. Right after his last day, Simone (who has a heart condition and high blood pressure) started to not feel well. She has been out ever since. The end of February passed and I heard from others that Marie said that she is not leaving yet because the store she wants to transfer to in Georgia has no openings. She hasn't told me one way or another, and there's no point in my asking because it doesn't matter at this point. If she doesn't leave, there's no one that's going to make that change. Even if/when Simone comes back, there's no chance that she can make this happen now. For now, I'm temporarily permanently on the planogram team. The problem is that my hourly rate is way above what someone on that team would make. I doubt anyone will pick up on it for a while, but I'm still listed as Pharmacy Technician – so new management would have to wonder why someone that's a Pharmacy Technician is working on the Plano team and if they're being paid as a Technician.. So with that, I felt a lot of stress. Nothing specific and it's not like I'm in danger of becoming unemployed – but just stress from uncertainty. I really do like the 5:00 start time (and the extra $160 a paycheck.) Healthwise, I'm doing very well. No complaints at all. I look great, I feel great. I still have a bunch of pounds to lose, but I'm in no rush and if I stopped losing now, I'd be fine with that. I need to begin exercising. So I was thinking about starting to walk more and how I could do things like go to museums and hikes or whatever. Then I thought that on the weekends I should really start to do outdoors stuff – not just gardening – but walking and touring. It was the weekend, and I was thinking of exercising, so I laid down and watched television. (Works for me) A commercial for Amtrak came on and I thought about stress and that it would be fun to ride the train someplace. It's way too expensive to drive anywhere – just filling my tank now is almost $50 and all the tolls have gone up. I began to fold my laundry thinking of going someplace and I had a t-shirt that I got in Washington, DC last time I was there (about 3 years ago) and I thought.. AHA, I'll take Amtrak to DC. Next thing I knew I was checking out train schedules. Then I went to Hotwire.com and booked a hotel. And now I'm going to DC for tomorrow (March 7) Today I realized I have nothing to wear. The only pants I have are Target Khaki – all the others are way too big now. I have one pair of jeans that fit.. though are baggy – but they don't fall down so I can wear them. I don't want to pay full price for clothes because I'll just shrink more. There was nothing in clearance, so I ended up buying track pants – which I guess is very casual. The forecast is for possible rain Friday and Saturday and not as warm as its been. - I was hoping it would be HOT. My current itinerary is jammed with stuff I want to do. But it'll depend upon the weather and how tired I am. I start way later than usual tomorrow at <DT>5:30am when I drive up to the train station in Westchester. Catch Amtrak at 6:46am to Penn Station. Park car (before getting on train). Take Amtrak Regional at 8:10am to Union Station in DC. Arrive there about 11:25am. Take Metrorail to stop a few blocks from Capital Hill Hilton. Walk there. Check in. Leave bag. Then I have a list of to do things – when I do it or if, depends on weather.. National Zoo. Be prepared for lots of walking and lots of hills. National Aquarium. Look at fishies. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. National Building Museum. Koshland Science Museum. Spy Museum. Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Botanical Gardens. US Postal Museum. Old Town Night trolley tour of DC. Bureau of Engraving and Printing tour (where they make dollars) <DT>Walter Reed Army Hospital – there's a Medical Science museum. That's about all I can fit into 4 days. - where it's only 2 full days. Monday, I catch a 6:10 pm train from Union Station back to Penn Station. Then catch 10:45pm train back to Croton train station.. drive home.. recuperate. I had to cut out so much that I wanted to do. However, I have 2 more possible weekend visits to DC coming up. So I figured I'd just go back to do whatever else. This time I'm not going to the Holocaust Museum. I've been there twice and find it so disturbing yet amazing. I picked things based upon time and area. I was going to buy a hop on, hop off ticket for during the day, but I don't plan on staying on the bus.. so it's better for me to just take the Metro around. Since I should be okay for a lot of walking this time, I figured I'd do the more exercisey thing. That's not a word. Exercisey. Oh well. So stress, watching amtrak commercials, folding t-shirts... cause unexpected travel. I got a pretty good deal on the hotel and the train fare is pretty cheap also. Because I don't eat much, I save lots there. I'm even bringing tuna to make on the train and 100 calorie snack packs. I'm not bringing all that much.. well I just added my laptop that I wasn't going to bring... and an extra bag... ohhhhhhhhhhh

February

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:16:25 GMT

Quick update.. things are going well. Despite there being a ban on OT -- I was excluded somehow and worked my ass off last week. I'm on special projects - and that always seems to involve lots of action. I seriously have to start working out or something now because the pounds are not dropping off - but my skin is. heh.. and I'm still dropping sizes. So that's my next thing.. start exercising,. a little anyway. As mentioned I've been working a lot.. and I was informed that in order to keep me out of going back to pharmacy - (which at this point is what I want to do because I can't go back to being bored) they're going to have to promote me. Thats the only way to change my "core roles". Marie - the team lead of price accuracy (where I had been helping out) is planning on moving down south - and that'll be where I probably go. Of course that means I inherit all the problems with that team - which are massive - but it will be a challenge. The good part is the team starts work at 5am... which I'm loving... and continue to have that schedule -- with the $2/hour shift differential.. giving me a free $80 a week. Plus they'll probably raise my hourly rate - so that'll be nice. With my check garnished though I wont be seeing all that much more than usual. But every penny helps. I'm a bit behind on my WDW savings for next year.. so I can pick up the pace on that. Too bad I wont see this years tax return.. that gets taken also! stupid..
So thats my update.. working a lot.. losing sizes, looking good.. thats it!

Jan 26th

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:42:17 GMT

Time flies! I've been working a lot.. though as of this week overtime is now banned. Things at pharmacy were getting on my nerves.
We have 2 new pharmacists - James (supervising) and Dan (staff) - both are VERY young and very inexperienced in retail (though James worked for Walmart and Dan for CVS prior to coming here) I spent lots of time training them on Target specific things - they have expertise in being pharmacists - but not in Target policy and procedure - which is my thing. In the pharmacy, the pharmacist is equally as responsible for Target related activities as I am - things such as ringing people out, cleaning up, tending to housekeeping matters - etc. The only thing they have sole responsibility for is drug related decisions - which I have zero responsibility for. They get paid well for that responsibility. I was seeing an increased trend in neither of them performing any of the non pharmacist related activities. Calling me to ring out people whilst they listened to their IPod for example - when I was performing pharmacy related work and they were not.. leaving bags of trash for me to take out.. not vacuuming the carpet and waiting for me to do so.. not replenishing supplies.. as though I'm some sort of clerical low level. Neither are older than 30.. and both are very nice men.. but extremely full of themselves. My former boss (Jim) was transferred back to our store after being at other Targets for 3 years. He is and always will be my favorite boss there and as soon as I found out he was coming back I knew I'd be spending more time doing things other than pharmacy if I so chose. He indirectly caused me to protest and want to do so -- he sent an email to all the executive managers saying that he was redoing the hardlines team member schedules (the hardlines team members only.. not softlines, logistics, pharmacy, etc.. just hardlines) and that everyone should keep a close watch to make sure they were working the hours they were scheduled for... and James (the pharmacist) read the email and somehow thought that he was being told to watch my hours closely. First of all - I make my own schedule based on what I have to do and based on the needs of the pharmacy. If I stay late to finish a project, at some point I have to either come in late another day or leave early to give back those hours. I'm 100% responsible for that (as are most of the other upper level team members like me) - Jim was referring to the "level 1" team members. Anyway.. so James gets this email and I had put 11:15am on the schedule as my start time. I was in the building by 11:15 that day and stopped off to speak to Jim and Jeff (the store manager) and then headed across the store to pharmacy. When I got there - it was about 11:25am -- and James tells me that we have to discuss my hours - he stated that I was scheduled at 11:15 and it was now 11:25 - and he is responsible for watching my hours... and I was very nice in replying but told him he had no clue about what he was responsible for and watching my hours was certainly never an issue.. but now that he mentioned it - it was an issue and would have to be documented as per Target policy. Told him that he must now partner with TSC (Team Service Center) in our store to monitor my hours and that this was considered a verbal warning by Target -- when a manager makes such a statement to someone - and that he needed to document this right away... at which point he was all.. "uh, uhm, oh, ahh, uh... I was just following up on an email Jim sent about watching everyones schedule... " and I said that if it was something he thought was an issue it had to be followed up on and documented - that we can't just make statements like that unless it was an issue because the statement itself is considered corrective action (I was enjoying this so much because I knew he didn't intend to start up a whole thing) -- so I went to our HR person who laughed that he said this to me.. but I told her that I wanted to make a point with this mostly because it shows how much these people don't know about the company they're working for. I told her about how they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing and that I was getting very aggravated that things were being left for me. I began spending less and less time in the pharmacy - and both James and Dan had no choice but to do what they were supposed to be doing. My schedule began to change daily - depending on what I was doing the next day. About 3 weeks ago, I was asked if I wanted to help out the Price Accuracy team because they were close to 3 weeks behind schedule. They come in at 5am (and get a $2/hour shift differential) that I used to get when I did overnights. All one has to do is offer me extra pay for a regular day... so I accepted. 2 weeks ago, James asked me if I could work at the Spring Valley pharmacy (our sister store) because he was filling in there and they didn't have a technician available. I told him I was scheduled for Price Change.. but if Jeff (the store manager) agreed to it, I would certainly go. Asked Jeff.. who said.. "NO" First off, it was not for our store and James volunteered to work extra hours there and can't just pull me out of my store. Second, it was known that I was working on a Price change. That morning, James called me and asked again.. I told him Jeff didn't approve it so that was that. He wanted to talk to Jeff. I had Jeff call him back and again Jeff told him.. NO... so James called one of the District Pharmacy managers to complain that Jeff was blocking me from going to Spring Valley where I was needed. This guy called Jeff and basically said.. hey can you do me a favor and send Leslie there for a short time just to set them up.. and I can say I've NEVER seen Jeff so angry ever.. he told me that James apparently thinks that he is above Jeff (Jeff is James' boss despite James being a pharmacist) and that James made some comments to the District Manager that showed he didn't quite grasp that and it was suggested that Jeff needed to review the hierarchy with James.. meanwhile.. I was told to drive to Spring Valley (8 minutes away) and stay for exactly 60 minutes. Which I did. Since then, I haven't been in pharmacy at all. Jeff had a meeting with James and told him that what he did was completely unacceptable and that he apparently doesn't understand the chain of command. James made a comment about spending 6 years in pharmacy school... and Jeff told him it made no difference if he was a pharmacist or that he makes more money than his boss.. Jeff is in charge.. period. And when Jeff makes a decision about his store.. that is final and calling a district manager looks bad because it shows that he doesn't have any understanding of the company he is working for.. at which point Jeff told him that he (and Dan) is expected to do all the things that every other Target team member does - and that includes going out and fixing the aisles.. and taking out trash..

Heh.. so I'm very glad at this point to be able to work early.. I'm out by 2pm. I'm approved for at least one more week and I told Jeff I'd keep asking every week -- there's lots of stuff I can get done. The pharmacy is still pretty dead.. and the good thing is that they can't take away my rate of pay.. so it's good!
Other than all that.. I'm doing well. Slowly losing still. I really need to start exercising though.. I am trying to walk as much as I can and I've been much more active than ever. Plus I'm on my feet most of the day.. at least 8 hours now..

Thats about it..

Greetings! Seasons!

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:34:35 GMT

Just wanted to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas/Celebration/Holiday! and of course a Massively Happy New Year in advance..

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:36:55 GMT

Not a long update, but one never knows if I'll babble..

So far, this winter is frustrating me beyond belief. Why? Because it exemplifies how stupid people are. First of all, people living in NY should be aware that snow happens. It's not a big deal. It's not a crisis nor emergency. It's a fact of life. So far we've had 3 storms predicted - all 3 were made out as though it was going to be close to the end of the world. None have amounted to anything. Friday's storm.. predicted since last week sometime - was going to be a whopping 2 to 4 inches!!!! OMFG! Now.. even if it had happened.. what the hell is 2- 4 inches??? Ok so everyone is in a state of panic.. and they go and close all the schools and cancel all sorts of activities by 5:00am Friday morning. When I left for work at 10:30am - exactly NOTHING had started yet. Not even a snowflake. I got to the Palisades Center mall (where I work) and left my car to go into Target at 11:00 am -- and as I was walking ONE snowflake blew in my direction and I screamed out in fright that I was being attacked by a snowflake. (people looked at me as though I was crazy - but I was just reacting to the frenzy caused by all the dire predictions ) By 7pm - the time the predicted storm was predicted to stop - we had maybe 2 - 3 inches with lots of ice. The snow changed to rain and we had ice. The plows had been on emergency standby and it was a whole lot of nothing. The roads were slippery and all but nothing at all like what had been predicted. Then right after that "storm" ended, they predicted another one for yesterday into today.. this was to be a NOR-EASTER -- which may as well be called a NON-evergonnahappener. Once again, we had some snow.. lots of ice.. and we're still in NY! NY is in the North East.. it is SUPPOSED to snow here. People need to relax and enjoy.

And now.. a compare and contrast picture of me!

I'm at the point again where the stupid scale isn't moving at all - but my measurements are shrinking. It's weird how that happens. I lose inches but not pounds. Whatever! I'm feeling really good and thats what counts. I'm still having shopping issues because I can't seem to figure out the correct size. My latest is buying size 16's and some are HUGE on me and some barely fit. I don't think there's a standardized way of knowing what size I am. I can shop in the regular sizes now - though it seems those sizes vary also. So I've been trying to find stuff in sizes I think are too small - which have been fitting. Crazy. I still have a good 70 - 75 pounds to lose but I'm in no rush for that at this point. I am at the point where I really need to start exercising - but that's not something I'm overly excited about so I'll get to that. I may just have to buy an elliptical machine. Eventually.

I finally got my TIVO hooked up to my network and I have everything working ok.. I think my next thing is switching to Vonage because I'm sick of how much I pay the phone company for not even using my phone. So that may be next - and since I still have at least 2 free ethernet ports.. it's possible.
And thats it for my great update!

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:46:21 GMT

Quick update with updated pictures.. I realized I haven't taken a picture in months.. and I look a little different.
I'll stick em behind a cut..

The first one is a bit blurry.. I was waving to Rachel on the videophone and Amanda (who has the yellow dot was not exactly prepared for the shot and looked awful... so I dotted her) You can see my nephew Jeremy next to me (he's got my hair!)

In the next image my body looks odd! I look like I'm wider in the middle than I think I currently am.. but at the present time I have no clue what I really look like.

And finally - one last image:

Ok that's all. I have a ton of WDW pics I haven't worked on yet.. plus a few family ones I need to get online. And there's a bunch just waiting at Photobucket. Time.. I don't think I'll ever figure out how people with kids can get stuff done.. I'm only myself and I never seem to find time. I'm seriously considering taking off one day this week (like tomorrow) to get tires. It's icing outside and I'm finding on wet roads without ice my car isn't braking that well. Not only do I need tires, I need to cut my hair and get new eyeglasses. I've had a new prescription for weeks - but haven't gotten glasses. I keep accidently buying myself more Christmas presents. Clothes I need desperately... but everything else is supposed to be on hold. Somehow I believe I needed to buy all new pillows, new sheets (I have packages I've bought on clearance I haven't even opened yet), 3 more garbage pails, and the list goes on. I do think I may get a PS2 though. I've had some telephone issues for the past few months... I have been leaving the phone line connected to the TIVO - so I can't actually use my phone. I think one of my next projects is connecting TIVO to my computer. I am so totally rambling now. I'm also really cold so I think it's time for a very hot whirlpool...

OMG it's December!

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:03:33 GMT

I can't believe it's December already. Stupid COLD weather. We've only had some snow once so far, but a storm is predicted for tomorrow.. with accumulations of ICE - and I've got 2 bald tires that I've been meaning to replace. I've been working a lot. I took this weekend off and I'm not sure if there's even going to be available OT anymore. It's very rare for us to have the opportunity for OT - which is why I grab it up.
Since our store is offering $7.50/hour for all new hires - we're only getting applicants that either fail their drug test or background check (or both). I can't see how anyone can work for so little. Even making double that seems a bit too little. Gas is now upwards of $3.25 a gallon if you can find an open station selling at that. I didn't even fill my tank yesterday and I put in $50.00 - that's crazy. The prices of everything is rising steadily - food.. clothes - all of it. There were no major hot deals on Black Friday - but that didn't stop swarms of people from shopping. Our toy department is still pretty much full because no one is buying toys since 99.9% of them are made in China and people are afraid their children will suddenly die from playing with them. I understand not allowing infants and toddlers to play with things they could eat... but we're talking all toys. I'm doing pretty well. Still some numbness in my right thigh/pelvic area - but it's better than it hurting. My back is fine. The scale is evil - I've been dropping sizes but the pounds don't change all that much. I moved all of my scales out of here and into the laundry room so I don't spend hours trying to see if I've lost anything. It's not even like I care about it.. it's just the point that I want to see results. I had to order some new bras because everything I've bought in regular stores has underwire - and my boobies don't like feeling as though they're going to be stabbed. I'm a little unfamiliar with buying regular sizes so it may just be me not having a clue where to look - so I found it easier online. I also bought some cheapie beige pants since I'm down to 2 pair that I can wear and not look like a clown. Even wearing a belt isn't working because they bunch up at the waist badly. The weight loss is definitely slowing down now and I know its because I'm not drinking nearly enough water. I should be drinking 64 ounces a day now and I manage maybe 12. I'm not supposed to count any drinks with caffeine in the 64 ounces. I'm supposed to limit caffeine actually.. but I sort of ignore that rule now. I do have de-caf coffee for at night but first thing I need regular. Anyway.. for some reading entertainment - here are a few of my many Silly Stories Surrounding Stupid Shoppers

Every so often, I get the urge to write about the really ignorant people that shop at my job and the idiot things they do. While some are just plain funny, others are so ridiculous that it makes me wonder how some people actually can function from day to day. For those who may not know, my current position is that of Pharmacy Technician - which ironically means that I work inside the Pharmacy. For some of these stories, it is necessary to point out that where I am located is obviously inside the Pharmacy and there can be no mistake made about that. From my shirt to my name badge it says "Pharmacy". The signs read "Pharmacy". The bays filled with bottles of medicines make it look much like a Pharmacy.

*(Person lifts random item over the counter that they found somewhere in the store that wasn't pharmacy so I can see it and asks: "How much is this?" I tell them the price scanner is down the aisle and to the left. They say - as if they're now my best friend asking for a simple favor, "Oh, can't you just tell me the price?" How the hell would I know? Do they really believe I know all the prices and I'm just keeping it a secret??

*Middle aged woman comes to the pharmacy counter where it says "Consultation" and is waiting. I say hello and say my required statement - "Can I help you find something?" She says, (very seriously I may add) - "I need some help in finding a gift for my daughter in law so I'd like to fill out the profile form you have over here." My face automatically and uncontrollably contorts to the ??HUH?? look which she astutely catches - and before I can even ask anything she adds, "I filled a prescription at the other Target recently and they had a profile form that I had to fill out - so I'd like to fill one out for my daughter in law so that you can help me find something to buy her". My mouth stumbles on forming words but I manage to say that the profile form has to do with what medications a person is on and any allergies and medical conditions they have in relation to filling prescriptions. She says she knows that and from that maybe we can help her figure out what to buy for her. I explain that we are a pharmacy and we fill prescriptions and unless her daughter in law is filling one, we have no use for a profile form and can't use that to help her select a gift. She asks, "Does it not say Consultation there?" I say, "Yes - consultation with the pharmacist about prescriptions" She says - "It doesn't say anywhere that it is limited to prescriptions and having such a sign is false advertising and I am going to report you to the Better Business Bureau".

* Mother (probably in late 20's to early 30's) comes in with her daughter that she says is almost 3 years old. She tells us that about 2 hours ago she was talking on the telephone while her daughter was playing at the table. She was cooking something in a pot with boiling water and was stirring it or something and didn't realize that her daughter had gotten up and was right behind her - she took a step back and was startled when she stepped on her daughter - and somehow knocked the boiling hot pot off the stove - and the liquid splashed on her daughters entire right side.
She tells us that she immediately got off the phone (damn she deserves a whole point for that) and noticed that the skin was very puckered. She figured she better get some cream to put on the puckered skin. So she drove to the 2nd largest mall in the USA and wound up wandering through Target looking for cream. The child was not crying - in fact the child was so still it was eerie. When the mother took the jacket off - the child's skin on her arm was blistered, red and obviously extremely injured. My immediate reaction was Oh my GOD! I'm calling an ambulance! and they mother tells us that she was afraid to call a doctor because they may think she wasn't paying attention to the child.. at which time she turns and walks away -- leaving me with absolutely nothing I possibly could do. Hopefully they headed directly to the doctors office downstairs or to the hospital.

*An elderly man who had to be in his late 70's to 80's comes up to the pharmacy (walking with a cane which had been clicking on the floor for at least 15 minutes prior as he made his way up the aisle which normally is about 12 steps long) He stops, leans on the counter and finally asks us, "Can you show me where conundrums for ladies are?" The pharmacist asks, "Conundrums?" He says - "Yes, for women". She asks him to spell it - he spells out C O N U N D R U M. We look at each other.. trying not to laugh. I ask -- "what does it do?" He says, "You know - it's for ladies - conundrums for ladies". We tell him we don't know what they are and he says, "You don't know? What do you use then?" The pharmacist asks, "Use for what? If we knew what it was used for maybe we can help you find it." He answers, "it's used by ladies" She says, "Used for?" and he says, "I think it probably comes in fours, yes." We tell him we don't have any in the store and he looks shocked by this and tells us he's "never heard of a store not selling conundrums" and starts to click away.. I mean walk away.. to this day.. we have no idea what the hell he was looking for..

(At the pharmacy, we have a cash register for the purpose of ringing out people's prescriptions and any SMALL items they may have in addition to the prescription they're picking up. However, many really stupid idiots don't understand that the pharmacy is for prescriptions). A family rolls up with 2 completely over filled shopping carts of clothing and other random merchandise and begins to unload the merchandise onto our very small prescription pickup area where the register is. We don't have a conveyor belt or scanner, and there's barely enough room for small items. Meanwhile, they're struggling to unload their items which keep falling down and start to fall into the pharmacy. The teen aged son was about to jump over the counter to come into the pharmacy to get the items when his mom told him to wait - which got my attention (I hadn't realized they were unloading their cart until this point) and I see stuff cascading down over the counter. I had been counting out pills and was all screwed up so I walked over but didn't recognize them as having dropped off scripts. Thinking perhaps I was not in when they dropped off, I asked, "Last name?" to which the mother asks why I need to know that? I answer - "To get your prescription for you." She says, "What prescription?" I say - "Aren't you picking up?" She says, "Picking up what?" I say - "This is the PHARMACY. People drop off prescriptions, we fill them, and they pick them up here" She tells me they have no prescriptions, they're healthy. I tell her that she needs to take her items off the pharmacy counter and go to the check out lanes upfront where there are more than 20 cash registers - some with cashiers that will be happy to ring them out. She says - but you have a cash register right here... - and I just picked up the stuff off the floor, tossed it over the counter to her cart and walked away. She yells over to me that I just lost a sale and they were taking their money someplace else. I said, "Bye" and they reloaded their cart with all the things and left to head upfront. I'm so sad I lost a sale NOT.

One of my personal favorites is when people think that telling me they're never shopping at this store again is some type of threat. Usually I thank them for their brief moment of sensibility. I especially like when they say they're going to tell all their friends and family not to shop here. Kudos to those with that much influence.

First, a quick explainer regarding prescription drug co-pays. If someone has prescription drug coverage - their insurance carrier determines what they pay for each medicine. Their co-pays can range from no charge to paying the full price of the medicine - which can be thousands. In virtually all instances, their co-pay is the same at every single pharmacy regardless of what the pharmacy would charge a non-insured person. The one glaring exception is the $4 generics that Walmart started last year and Target is matching. Those drugs are $4 for a 30 day supply (in most states) and would cost more at pharmacies not matching Walmart since the insurance co-pays are usually higher than $4. People are constantly calling or coming in to get price quotes on their medicines. The first thing we ask is if they have prescription drug coverage. If the answer is yes, we tell them if their medicine is on the $4 Generic drug list - it is $4 - otherwise they would pay the co-pay assigned to that medicine by their insurance and they'd need to contact their insurance company to find that out. There is NO way for us to know what their co-pay is unless we run it through the insurance - therefore we can't give a price quote because we can't legally run a prescription through insurance without having a legal prescription! If the person is already getting this prescription someplace else, their co-pay is going to be exactly the same as it always has been. So when they say they went to Drug World and they had to pay a $10 co-pay - that will be the same everywhere. We spend so much time trying to explain this to people. Obviously for people without prescription coverage (which is a huge number of people) they need to know the "cash" price and then it makes sense to shop around.

The other day a man comes to the pharmacy - he was in his late 60's - and had never been to our pharmacy before. He TELLS us that his brother-in-laws friend told him that this Target pharmacy has a deal for people over 65 where they bring in 3 prescriptions for 90 day supplies of medicine and they pay for 2 and get the 3rd one FREE. We laugh (myself and the pharmacist) and say that there is no such deal and never has and never will be - and he says.. "No, my brother-in-law said that you are doing this so I want you to call my pharmacy and have all my prescriptions transferred here. I get 5 prescriptions so I'll only have to pay for 4." The pharmacist tells him that there is no such deal and we'd be glad to transfer the prescriptions but he would have to pay for all of them. He again says, "No - my brother-in-law told me last night while we were eating that the Target here was doing a buy 2, get the 3rd prescription free promotion and I'm over 65 and take 5 prescriptions". I tell him that isn't legal - in NY state at least - there are laws preventing any deals regarding prescriptions because they can potentially contribute to drug abuse - the only thing that is legal is the $4 generics - which is not legal in all states, but is in NY. He remained there arguing for over an hour but we began ignoring him after about 20 minutes.

Nov 19th

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:59:49 GMT

AHH the excitement of being me! A short update.. hello to all! ++waves++
Not much is new really. I'll start with me.. since it all pretty much begins with me anyway as far as I am concerned -- me is where it all starts. And ends. I can just sing about it.. meee, meee, meeeeee! I've gotta be meeeeee..
I've been working (on the railroad, all the livelong day) a lot in the past 4 -5 weeks - which is good because I'm desperate for cash. Since my paychecks have been garnished and I give Aunt Goldie money each month - I'm seeing less and less greenstuff. So at least I know Aunt Goldie's getting what she needs. The week before last I managed to work 24 hours overtime! That was a nice 64 hours that week... during which time I screwed up and forgot to bring my regular Croc shoes to change into. It was raining - so I wore regular closed running shoes -- for 12 hours.. and I should know better than to switch from shoes that are working well to unused to shoes.. worst part was that I didn't realize it at first. So after the 12 hours, when I got home, my lower back was very sore - it felt like it was going to go out -- which I hate because at that time I can't really stand up straight and walking is virtually impossible. It's only happened twice before and it was painful and scary. My good knee had been acting up as well, so I tried to rest that night. While at work, I filled a Rx for Flexeril which is a muscle relaxant - since at this point every muscle was tensing and straining as well. Earlier that day I had already taken 2 Vicoden and 2 gabapentin... but I wasn't thinking about driving home... and took one.. which was a very bad thing... very bad... very very bad... thankfully nothing bad happened.. but I came close a few times. For whatever reason, my mind decided I was driving in a video game.. and I was racing other cars.. which I actually did.. and then in my totally fucked up state, realized was not a good thing.. and I kept repeating.. this is real, this is real... and then I got off the wrong exit - and somehow wasn't going to use my brakes.. and just about slammed into a tree when I decided I didn't feel like turning the wheel because it may hurt... Very BAD. Plus I'm over 90 pounds lighter than I used to be and my body is way more sensitive.. or is that Weigh more? or less?

Next day, without thinking, (seems I do that often when in pain) I put on the closed shoes again -- meaning to bring a pair of Crocs with me. But I forgot. I go to work - another 9am to 9pm day.. by noon I was in agony. It was typical Sciatica - with shooting pain going down the entire right side of my butt and thigh. The problem was that the L1/S1 area that the doctors are telling me are damaged (ruptured, compressed, screwed -- depends on who I speak to) apparently swelled up more than usual... and not only could I not stand up straight, I couldn't sit or lay either... about the only semi-alright position was being bent over a chair.. hehehe.. so at this point, I hadn't eaten yet.. and good weight loss surgery patient that I am, I knew I had to eat.... so I made some high protein chicken with cheese over it... and had a few bites.. all still leaning over the chair.. somehow my pouch objected to this.. which probably meant that I didn't chew something well... and withing a few minutes of the first bite I knew I was going to be sick. Being at work with a temporary fill-in pharmacist meant that I had to be at the pharmacy.. so I kept running back and forth to the bathroom (we have our own bathroom thankfully) for the next 3.5 hours. Of course I "ran" in my bent over position and pretty much very slowly since walking was hard on my back .. and despite my friends knowing what was going on.. it was difficult for them to not burst out laughing at me. (and I kept laughing at me also because it really was pretty funny). Deciding against taking any medication that could make me wackier.. I decided to break the rule of not taking NSAIDs after weight loss surgery and took Ibuprofin. (NSAIDs can cause damage to the surgically altered stomach) It helped a lot. It was then I realized that I was NOT wearing my trusty ugly Crocs. It's now about a week later, and the pain is mostly gone, but my right inner thigh and part of my right butt cheek is completely and totally numb. Not tingly numb.. totally and completely numb. Like it's not there anymore. From time to time I get stabbing nerve pain -- so I know it's just the nerve thats being compressed and there's not much that can be done - eventually the swelling will go down and the feeling will come back. Plus I just don't have the time to worry about it. Since I can't take anti-inflammatory meds regularly there's not much I can do about it. But I'm walking fine and the pain is gone so it's all good.

I should do a cut.. but I don't feel like going back to the start.. so I apologize. I've got another crazy week ahead of me. Tomorrow is 9 to 9.. then I'm not quite sure about Wednesday.. Thursday is Thanksgiving and the store is "closed" but I'm working 6am to 11:45am.. we're setting up for Black Friday...and I'm working 5:30am till who knows when Black Friday... and then I'm off for the first Saturday in weeks.. but working Sunday..

Ok, I think that's about all...

Nov 5th

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:28:49 GMT

I will probably ramble so I'll use a cut..

Not sure where I left off so I'll just delve on in. I know I mentioned about Aunt Goldie last entry - thank you all for saying hello! I appreciate it very much! I've not been keeping up lately (will explain in a moment) so I figured it would be nice to do so now. She's doing fine on the chemo. They determined that the cancer didn't spread to her brain - which is a very good thing - and they're able to focus just on the liver. We've found out a lot more about the type of cancer that she has. It's called "Triple Negative Breast Cancer" and is being seen more and more now that they've identified it. It's obviously been around for a very long time, but it's only recently that they're able to diagnose it. It's an aggressive and difficult-to-treat form of breast cancer according to the results of a recent study. The "triple negative" means the tumors lack receptors for the hormones estrogen(ER-negative) and progesterone (PR-negative), and for the protein HER2. This makes them resistant to several powerful cancer-fighting drugs. The following comes from http://www.tnbcfoundation.org/tnbc/Home.asp"

It is only in the last few years that professionals studying breast cancer have concluded that breast cancer is not one disease, but many different forms of cancer all originating in the breast. Depending on its stage of diagnosis, triple negative breast cancer can be extremely aggressive and more likely to recur and metastasize than other subtypes of breast cancer. It typically is responsive to chemotherapy, although it can be more difficult to treat because it is unresponsive to the most effective receptor targeted treatments.
Triple negative breast cancer accounts for approximately 15% of all breast cancer cases. Because it is a recently recognized form of breast cancer, there is very little known about its pathology. Thus, there is an urgent need for targeted research and better treatment options for this disease.

The only thing we can all do is go for mammograms regularly and try to catch any issues before it's too late. An ounce of prevention.. worth a ton of cure. Moving right along.......

I'm doing very well - not quite sure of the exact amount, but I'm either at or over 90 pounds lost now. My scales are both evil and I can't seem to get them to agree with each other or even with themselves. I can step on and off and lose or gain 5 pounds in a second. Due to issues with clothes fitting me for more than a few weeks at a time, the stuff I wear is either way too big or just barely fits because it's very tight. The same tight clothes will change to too big in a short time. I'm not losing super fast though so it's not too bad. It ranges from a few pounds a week to staying around the same for a week or two. I'm not all that concerned with the numbers though. I do like to know what I've lost because it sounds pretty cool. And everyone asks How Much? One of my really favorite dumb comments from people is when they come up to me in pure disbelief and say (in the form of a question) "OMG do you know you've lost a lot of weight?" At which point I look down at myself, with a horrified expression and say "OMG where am I? I've lost half of me!" It is time for new pictures - which I'll get around to.. as soon as I actually have some TIME again.. speaking of TIME.............

Over the past 3 weeks I've been working a lot. Blessy's last day is Nov. 15th - and she went away on vacation last week. She'll be back for 4 days and then she's gone. Our new pharmacist (James) is in training right now. He seems very nice - but isn't ready to start yet. Therefore, we've been having to use Agency Pharmacists -- which essentially is like renting a license that comes with a body. The agency pharmacists don't ring on the register and most don't know or care to know our Prescription filling computer system. They don't work for Target - they're contracted out solely for the their license -- in NY it is illegal for a pharmacy to be open unless a licensed pharmacist is on premises and I can't dispense medication to anyone unless a licensed pharmacist checks every prescription I fill and is available to counsel patients. They can't be there without me and I can't be there without them. Since we went extended hours it means I'm working weekdays from 9am to 9pm and weekends from 9am to 6pm. For the past 3 weeks, I managed to get 2 days off - not in a row though.. and got about 6 hours overtime each week. This week - Blessy is on vacation so the only day off I have is Wednesday (we got a Target pharmacist that day) but I'm working every other day -- giving me approximately 62 hours -- 22 of which are Overtime! I'm happy to do it.. I need the money desperately - but my store doesn't want to give me that much OT.. I had to fight for the 6 hours for the past 3 weeks. They've called every store trying to get a qualified pharmacy technician to work for me for one day.. but so far.. they can't find anyone. Despite being dead tired.. I hope they don't.. I really would like that extra money. Its pretty obvious that I'm pooped though.. my psoriasis has flared up really bad. (Happens when I'm stressed and/or tired)

TMI possible warning...
Back to my health again.. in the past few months, I've gotten sick (as in thrown up) more than I have in my 45 plus years prior. I used to be so afraid of throwing up. Now it's just an inconvenience. It's my fault - it usually happens if I don't totally overchew my food, eat a little too fast, or eat a little too much. I need to take very small bites of food and chew and chew and chew and stop eating before I feel full. If I get distracted I tend to forget all the rules of the pouch. So far I haven't had a problem with specific foods like some people do.. it's just if I screw up as I just described. Yesterday at work I was with an agency pharmacist and I ate a part of a South Beach Diet packaged southwest chicken meal. I melted cheese over it and I must have taken a piece without looking at it and it had more chicken than I thought and I didn't chew well enough. Just about as soon as I swallowed it I knew I fucked up. It feels like a huge rock stuck. The worst thing to try to do is drink something to make it go down.. so I waited - taking deep breaths. Within 10 minutes I got really bad chills and felt like I was spinning. Then I could feel my temperature rising -- my stupid body is thinking there's an invader -- but it's just a small chunk of food that got stuck in the tiny opening that is now my stomach. Nothing can pass and it just sits there blocking the opening - which is why drinking is a bad thing.. it has no where to go. At some point, whether or not it falls down becomes irrelevant because the fact that it was stuck there makes my body think it's still there and it tries to get rid of it. First comes this very unpleasant event known to weight loss surgery people as the foamies. This was my first experience with them. It's not fun - actually it's just plain old annoying because at that point I just want to throw up and not just produce foam. The food however is stuck so it's not coming up.. but lots of foam does. It made me laugh.. but I was annoyed. It actually sounds worse than it is.. I looked and felt like I had a very bad flu. It took almost 3 full hours for me to recover! The only thing that I could have done was laid down and took a nap.. but that's hard to do while at work and while filling prescriptions. I kept having to say be right back so I could go to the bathroom and see if anything would happen.
Good times!
Meanwhile, my feet have been hurting a lot and I hurt my previously not so bad right knee which hurts worse than my formally worst other knee. I'm not taking pain pills because I get too tired. Oh and I "accidently" drank a can of Diet Coke without incident the other day. I'm not allowed to drink carbonated soda anymore but I "forgot". It was good. I'll probably have an accidental one once a week. Meanwhile.. I need to get to sleep. Bye

Quick update..

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:19:58 GMT

I'm back from WDW - it was fantastic. Despite the daily rain which was atypical of normal Florida quick storms because some days it just kept on raining - I had a great time. Then I came home. The fantasy ended abruptly - with a huge smack upside my head. I found out that my boss (Blessy) is transferring to VIrginia. Her husband found a job there. I think it's a great thing for her - she needs to get away from here - but it's sad nonetheless. Sandy left a few months ago. So now we're searching for new pharmacists. I believe one accepted an offer today.. but I don't know him yet. We're going to extended hours in 2 weeks which makes it even harder to find a willing pharmacist.

Then comes the whopper news. Aunt Goldie's blood work showed that the tumor markers had spiked. They sent her for a PET scan which showed suspect areas on her liver. Long story short - the oncologist confirmed that based on the images and the blood work - the cancer spread and they'll be doing a brain scan this week to see if there's any traces there. They'll be starting chemo again and possibly radiation once they have a better idea of whats going on. The type of cancer she has is apparently relatively rare and very aggressive. Whatever that means. And of course we have the positive idea that this was caught very early - since they're doing blood work regularly and her last test was 3 months ago. I say positive idea because to me it's hard to see the positives of cancer in any way.. but I also see it being positive that it's not like.. ok there's nothing we can do. Then to add to that, my mom's blood work is slightly elevated and they did a chest x-ray last week which they want to repeat again next week.
As for me, I'm happy to report that I had a mammography and breast sonogram last week and I'm good for the next 6 months. I had a spinal MRI last week and haven't gotten any results yet.. and I managed to lose about 6 pounds on vacation. I'm down like 80 pounds or something like that. Or was it 70? Or 90.. I can't remember.. it's a lot of pounds though. I don't know if i'm coming, going or standing still right now.

Since there's very little that can be said.. just feel free to reply and say Hi to me... lot's of hi's would be good.

WALT DISNEY WORLD LIVE DAY 4

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:18:32 GMT

WDW LIVE! Day 4 Disney/MGM Studios Before I start - I realized I forgot to mention the 2nd bus driver incident.. oh and just for the record -- they're called Motor Coaches here at WDW... Like Cinderella get's a coach - so do we. So Last NIGHT -- leaving the Magic Kingdom - I made it to the bus stop before the huge crowd because I left soon after Tinkerbell's flight. Our driver was Ed from Orlando. The bus was overloaded (as usual) with lots of tired people wanting to get back to their resort. He starts driving and when we got to the intersection where the RCID (Reedy Creek Improvement District) fire station is - he was supposed to make a turn - a right I believe - but he passed right by it. Other people noticed as well - and a few more minutes later, he turned into the Carribean Beach Resort. There are 5 bus stops there - it's a fairly gigantic place -- and we had to drive around the entire perimeter of it. I felt so sorry for the standees. Especially the ones trying to hold sleeping children. So the trip took us nearly 40 minutes. Not nice! Today the alarm went off at 7 and I ignored it. Ended up waking up close to 8:15. I guess I was really tired! Decided to skip breakfast and grabbed a coffee instead. Headed to MGM and went right to Great Movie Ride. No changes here. It's looking a little worn. Actually the final film was updated - but it was last year also. There was only 1 operating car set being used - in the final movie room where 3 car sets converge before the end -- the one to the right was parked there - the middle set was active and there wasn't even a 3rd set. Managed to do most of what I wanted today - Star Tours, Muppet Vision 3-D, saw the Extreme Motor car show.. it was fantastic. Realized how old Muppet Vision is -- the effects are no where in comparison to Mickey's philharmagic for example. But it's still so enjoyable. Ate lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe - very good.. couldn't eat much.. but that's ok. Had a 5 minute downpour in the late afternoon - otherwise it was beautiful. I was probably the only person there looking for more sun. Did the Backstage Tour (with Catastrophe Canyon) - the only changes to this is they've reduced the content even more. It's a shadow of what it was. Not even a shadow.. a pencil point. The Animation Tour -- well.. it sucked. Big time. The movie at the start - isn't too bad - featuring Mooshu- but then after seeing that it was off to a meet and greet pretty much. Nothing like it used to be. I had an ADR for 4:50 at Hollywood and Vine - a buffet - and I did pretty well there. Then I went to see the Narnia show -- waste of time! Very disappointed. The tribute to Walt was great -- took lot's of pictures which will posted soon. Soon it was 7:30 and I had to go to Oscar's to use my priority seating pass for Fantasmic! Loved it.. hated the idiots who decide to find a seat AFTER the performance starts and then block my view. waited forever for a bus - there was no designated wheelchair/scooter area posted - so i just kept waiting hoping the line would go down -- it didn't.. so finally I drove to the front to get boarded. Came back here.. and here I am. Pictures will be posted in a sub album at Photobucket

WALT DISNEY WORLD LIVE DAY 3

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 02:31:36 GMT

Walt Disney World LIVE Day 3- Animal Kingdom, then Magic Kingdom. When the alarm clock started buzzing at 7:00am I had a momentary desire to smash it into pieces. I was still so tired! But finally at 7:20 I dragged my sorry self out of bed. I wasn't going to rush to leave because I felt very hungry and decided to grab something here at Pop. I had a 10:30 ADR for Donald's Buffet breakfast (which I ended up skipping). I ordered pancakes - kids meal. 2 pancakes, bacon and applesauce. Ate about 3/4 of 1 of them and some parts of bacon. Now fully full, I caught the bus to the Animal Kingdom. AK is a park that I really enjoy a lot and love to go to - but I still feel that overall it's lacking something. I'm not sure what it is lacking exactly - but I just feel something missing. I think knowing that the staff truly cares about and cares for all the animals here helps a lot on the positive side. They're not just grabbing animals and throwing them on display. What I've found several times here is that it's way too spread out and not set up in a practical manner. Having said that, I wasted more time waiting in lines for food or drinks - and considering eating isn't my priority these days - that's saying a lot. There's nothing in particular I don't like. I like all of it. I'll try to figure it out. I know there's lots of people who just don't like it at all. The one thing I love doing the most - the Safari - I never managed to get to. I had a FastPass - but I never made it back over there. The park is huge. Very HUGE. I was inside the park before 10am - and took my time going through the jungle. Despite being HUGE, there's not a whole lot of attractions (i.e. rides) - it's more like lots of big areas. I wandered through very slowly and made my way to see Festival of the Lion King at Camp Minnie-Mickey. It's in a big tent like structure with live performers and costumed characters doing songs and acts from the movie. Lots of acrobatics and dancing. Great for kids! I liked it. I didn't catch any other shows. Actually - I didn't really ride anything except the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch area. It rained several times, but overall was a decent day. Left AK and headed for a bus to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) to catch a monorail to the Magic Kingdom. The bus pulled up, the driver (Jean from Haiti) had to have seen me - but opened the front door and started letting people board. They're supposed to lower the lift with no one on the bus - a Cast Member from the AK was also boarding the bus and said something to Jean from Haiti. So after letting everyone board the bus - he lowered the ramp - and I had to try to manuever into the tight area with people sitting and standing all around me. Not fun . Then he was one of those slam on brake drivers which make the bus lurch around. Finally made it to the TTC - boarding the Monorail for the Express trip to the MK. Headed directly to Mickey's Philharmagic - damn I love this! Then did Hall of the Presidents -- it was fine until George W started talking.. he drones on and on. Someone should shoot his audioanimatronic self. Did Carousel of Progress, Haunted Mansion, Mickey's Philharmagic again, Tomorrowland Transit.. or Metroliner - or Blue something.. whatever they're calling it.. More rain.. drenching downpours -- it was sunny and bright and when we came out of a tunnel it was pouring! Stayed for part of the Wishes fireworks -- I wanted to take a picture of Tinkerbell's flight -- which I think came out blurry- but I haven't uploaded those yet so I'm not sure. Then I took the bus back here (the Pop) and about 20 minutes after I began typing this -- I fell asleep. (It's now tomorrow) Though first I took a hot bath - my ankles are so swollen! Anyway - more to come about tomorrow (which is actually today) Pictures of my adventure will be posted in Sub Albums at My photobucket

WALT DISNEY WORLD LIVE DAY 2

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 12:11:23 GMT

Day 2 Sunday, September 23 EPCOT Center! I actually left the park very early – couldn't deal with the rain. It's only 8:30pm now. I never leave this early! But I was cold and wet. More on that in a moment. My day began at 7:00am when I woke up before the alarm went off. I slept very well last night – but was up very early. Finished my shower and getting dressed by 7:45 and drank a protein shake. The forecast said scattered thunderstorms – though it never thundered. The rain was scattered – most of the day it rained and scattered when it hit the ground. Anyway... I decided to take the ECV with me because I wasn't feeling that confident in my feet holding out for 2 days. I was right. My original intention was just to park it first at Future World – then park it in World Showcase – and use it primarily to go to and from the bus stop (it's a very very very long hike to the Pop's stop at Epcot). I caught an 8am bus – figured I'd beat the bus crowd - and we got there sometime around 8:20 or so. The park opens at 9 and everyone had to wait till 8:45 to be let through the start of Future World- where you can go past SpaceShip Earth and wait by the fountain for the characters to come out before the 9am rope drop. I parked the ECV under an overhang by Innoventions – it was out of the way and safe there. Then I headed to the Living Seas. This is my first time experiencing the new ride there. I enjoyed it. I didn't overly love it though. The entering queue is still very long – I thought it was longer than before – by a good deal. It just kept going and going with very little substance along the way. I will forever miss the movie that was taken away years ago – and it rained, and it rained, and it rained. The deluge. At the time I don't think I properly appreciated it – but now that its long gone – I truly miss it. I was also very disappointed to not find the Hydrolators anywhere! Even if they stopped using them.. thats such a big memory thing! The Nemo ride was cute – but I still don't quite feel happy about building rides based solely on characters from movies. Especially at EPCOT. But I did enjoy it and liked how it was done – despite not really being thrilled with the idea. Hard to explain that one. The ride is much longer than the short shuttle ride used to be so I felt glad about that. I could spend hours at the aquarium – it's always been a favorite of mine. Based on what I wanted to do, I gave myself an hour for that time (since I know I'll be back again this trip). I did think there were a lot less fish than before – though part of that may be that they have sharks secluded. I'm not sure. There were also sections of the tanks that didn't have much scenery or props – could be my memory failing or could just be it was less full. There also seemed to be a lot less exhibits outside the big aquarium. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. From there I walked directly to The Land. Here's where I realized I probably should have taken the ECV with me. The walkway up to the entrance is somewhat uphill. Somewhat enough to be very hard for me to walk up. By the time I made it up the path, I was having shooting nerve pain. Not very pleased, I decided to grin and bear it for the time being. I grabbed a FastPass for Soarin' and went to get breakfast at Season's Food Court. Not sure what to order – I decided to go for a kids breakfast- French toast – 2 slices, potatoes and sausage. It was yummy! I ate most of 1 slice of French toast, a few potatoes and a small bite of the top of the sausage. Fully filled, I went to the Listen to the Land ride. I don't know why this ride isn't more popular! I love it and would have stayed on it again if it wasn't time for Soarin'. I really love it. I miss the song though. Just make believe.. you're a tiny little seed... Headed to Soarin' got a seat in the last section – which is the TOP level of the ride and the most incredible place to view it since you're at the highest level when the seats rise. I love this ride! Grabbed another FastPass for it when I got off. The queue for Soarin – I knew this from last time is up a winding path - and I knew I shouldn't walk it, but I didn't feel like walking all the way back to Innoventions to grab the ECV. Huge error. But I enjoyed the ride so who cares about some pain. Since I was right there, I headed to Journey into Imagination (with Figment). I have to say that I didn't hate it as much as I used to – I think JIYM2 deserves ALL the hate. I miss Dreamfinder. They never should have changed the original one – but at least now it's not as horrible. Or I'm getting older and therefore liked this version more. And I got a dream FastPass for the day – they were handing them out to everyone that entered Imagination. Afterwards, I did head to the ECV and that's when the rain started. Hard. And I was getting colder and colder – which makes me feel more pain. So I decided it was time to visit Ellen Degeneris at Ellen's Energy Adventure at Universe of Energy. Again – I miss the original! I'll never forget how fascinated I was the first time I saw the tiles in the preshow. I loved that. Now it has a whole story to it – and for what it is, it does the job. I just liked the old, dry boring one. Stupid Judy. It does make me giggle though. Next I headed to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. I wish they'd do something about the pre-show! Bring back the old KODAK moments film that was longer. This one is just so UnImaginative – considering it's supposed to be the Award for Imagination. I like the short films they do show – but it is time for an update and extention. I love all 3D movies and this is no exception. I really enjoy the audience reaction to certain special effects – makes me laugh a lot. They don't warn them so I guess it really catches them by surprise. I still jump in many of those situations even though I know what's coming! When that was over, it was now 1:30 and I had an ADR at the Coral Reef Restaurant at the Living Seas. I've eaten there many times before – but probably not in the past 8 or so years. I didn't recall it looking the same – but I didn't really recall how it looked different... in other words – I had no memory of what it used to look like but it struck me that it looked different than what I didn't remember it looking like. Yeah. I wasn't really sure what to order but being on the dining plan it's best to order all the parts you're supposed to order even if you don't plan to eat it.. because the server's tip is based on what you order. So even though I knew I couldn't eat an appetizer, a main course, dessert and a beverage - I ordered them all and figured I'd pick at it. For the appetizer I ordered a Greens Salad – which was humongous! I munched on some romaine lettuce and onions. The main course I ordered was BBQ'd Salmon with fried thin potato sticks on some sort of bread. I did manage to eat almost ½ of ½ of the salmon (which would be a ¼ of it) and loved the thin potato things. Got very full – wished I could have eaten a little more. Then I had a key lime tart for dessert. OK – I had about 2 small bites of one – just for the taste – and it was delicious. It really was very good. With the rain continuing and me being in some discomfort due to pain and feeling very cold – I decided to shop. I so miss the old store they closed to make a character meet and greet. MouseGears is just not all that great. Plus the whole mass merchandising and cross merchandising thing doesn't leave room for much variety. They did have the Retro Epcot Center shirts – in all sizes.. but I opted for a zipped hoodie since I was freezing and wet. I had my rain suit with me – but not my warmer jacket. When taking off the rain pants, I didn't remove my Crocs – and accidently put my foot through the plastic pants. I bought clear duct tape to fix such issues.. however.. I didn't put it on the list and didn't pack it. So the pants have a hole in the leg. Ended up putting them over the seat anyway. Moving right along – I headed to World Showcase and rode the new version of Mexico's ride. It was cute. No big improvements over the old one. The cartoons are super clear and I like how they recycled a few of the old movies. Otherwise, it was pretty much the same, with new movies and some small additions. Headed to Canada because I was eager to see the brand new O Canada! Movie. However.. the Handicapped Access Door was shut and locked – and there was only 1 castmember there who went inside before a woman (whose husband was with me in a scooter) could ask for help. The button for the door didn't work and it wouldn't open from the other side either. So we had to go back out in the rain. I went back to the United States and decided to have a bite or two (which I mean literally) before seeing the American Adventure. I again ordered a kids meal – this time grilled chicken over romaine lettuce. It had 3 small pieces of grilled chicken – I was so sure I'd be hungry still. I managed to eat 2 of the 4 and wasn't hungry! Went to American Adventure and cried hysterically at the Golden Dream movie. OMG. I know most of it by heart (theres a few scenes that were newly added a few years ago that I hadn't seen that often so I don't know that by heart). Anyway – I'm probably in the minority also on this – but I love this attraction. At some point I realized it was getting close to 8pm and although I planned to stay for Illuminations, I was cold and achey and would probably enjoy going back to Pop. Which is exactly what I did!. I've uploaded my pictures... however.. they're backwards from the order I took them on the site. I'm way too tired to try to fix that.. To view this album (Epcot) go to http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/elpack/WDW%2007/?start=all> and from the 2nd to last picture click BACK to view it in the correct order.

WALT DISNEY WORLD LIVE DAY 1

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 02:59:39 GMT

Disney World LIVE Day 1 What a day! OK I didn't sleep last night so I was awake and ready early. Aunt Goldie was ready to leave before 6am so we started the journey. White Plains Airport is at most 40 minutes. But it looks like it's in the middle of nowhere. I was waiting to see a cow. Or Moose. Totally different than the normal airports I fly out of. The airport itself is very small also. All 6 or so airlines that fly out of there share 1 not so big room. JetBlue has 1 counter. However, one of the check in people were collecting documents from the person standing next in line to check them in. So they were doing 2 people at once which helped a bit. I was a bit confused as to where to go - there's no real signs anywhere so I just kept following people. There's 2 sides and both sides have 2 doors – which they consider terminals. You walk through a door, go partly through a building and then have to walk a short, but significant distance to where the plane is parked. The front of the plane had a ramp contraption but the back had roll away steps. At 7:20am, they began boarding – which went extremely smooth. OHHHH!! Not only did I fit in the seat, I had to tighten the belt. No problem. The plane was mostly full with about 10 empty seats. I really wanted to sleep, but I didn't get tired until it was time to land. This was an exceptionally comfortable plane and plane ride. The plane was clean and comfortable and the take off, landing and flight were smooth. I read a little and watched some tv. We took off a few minutes early and landed about 30 minutes early. I ate some cashews- it was about the only thing that wasn't junky junk food. By the time I got off the plane and found a bathroom, it was 10:30am. Exactly like last year, I had trouble finding the Magical Express area. I took the escalator down to the correct level – but what seemed like a mile too soon. With the 2 heavy carry on bags I thought my shoulder was going to fall off. Once I finally got to the line, it took 25 to get to the counter – where all they did was stamp my booklet and sent me to another line. Boarded the bus finally at 11:15 am. It was very hazy, but comfortably warm. From MCO to the Pop Century was about 25 minutes. Checked in, got ECV (which wasn't fully charged) and was in my room at 12:25pm. Decided to leave the ECV in the room and see how my feet would do (they did great!). Decided to grab something to eat before heading to the Magic Kingdom as I hadn't eaten anything but some cashews. Ordered a child's meal of penne pasta with a meatball. My child's name is Pouch and it's 8 (ate) – which is fine since the child has to be under 9. Couldn't finish it all - but ate most of it. By 1:30 I was waiting for the bus – there were 2 other people with me so I mistakenly thought maybe the parks weren't crowded. WRONG! Saturday in the Magic Kingdom.. OMG. The second I passed under the train station to Main Street, U.S.A. - it began to rain. Steady rain, but not heavy. So I headed for Tomorrowland and grabbed a FastPass for Buzz Lightyear. Then I went to Monster, Inc Laugh Floor (MILF) – first time I've seen it.. and quite honestly I wasn't all that impressed – but at the same time I wasn't overly disappointed. It was cute. I liked the live, interactive aspect – but it honestly didn't fit in with any theme either in the Magic Kingdom or at Tomorrowland. I felt it was just a way to showcase more characters but the entertainment quality was lacking. I'm just glad I wasn't spotlighted! Next I did Buzz Lightyear – thanks to a fairly quick return time on FastPass. I had fun. Then I headed to one of my all time favorites. It's old, it's dated – but it still shows Progess – of the last century anyway. The Carousel of Progress. I was happy to see the loading stages semi- full. I've gone on it with less than 4 guests per stage. By now it was 3:20 and I had an ADR at 2:50 at the Plaza Restaurant – someplace I'd never eaten before. Was seated by 3:30 – and ordered a sandwhich which consisted of lots of ham, turkey, bacon, whole grain bread (3 slices) tomato, lettuce and I choose the side of German potatoes (won't eat French Fries despite craving them) I ate half the ham, turkey and bacon from one half with a couple of potatoes (I guess that's a quarter of it?) and was stuffed. From there I grabbed a FastPass for Winnie the Pooh and then headed back to WedWay People Mover.. oh! I mean Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Another one of those things I totally enjoy though it's fairly simple. Went to Fantasyland to do my most favorite attraction – Mickey's Philharmagic. I absolutely love this. The effects are awesome. The whole thing is great. I love it. From there, I grabbed a FastPass for Snow White which had a return time hours later. I hit It's a Small World and despite it grating on my nerves, it looks great. I can never get the times when I rode it and dolls weren't working or missing limbs. I wanted to catch the Hall of Presidents at this point, but I just missed the show that started about 3 minutes before I got there – so I had to wait 27 minutes. Decided not to wait and realized that I felt very hungry. Rather than wait I went to Columbia Harbour House – another place I've never eaten at. Ordered the combination fish and chicken – which had 2 fried chicken strips and 2 fried fish strips. With that I got apples (that come sliced and in a snack bag). After peeling off all the outer fried part (that I love) I blotted the fish and chicken to remove any oil that may be hiding. I so wanted to eat the fried part! I did have a few tastes of it after blotting off the oil. After taking that off, there's not all that much meat left! But I managed to finish most of it. I saved the apple slices for a snack which I ate later on. Once again feeling full and happy, I went to the recently refurbished Haunted Mansion. Wow. They did an incredible job on this! Starting from the stretch room – the audio was clear, and surround sound effectively. There were so many noticible improvements – but the clarity of the audio and all the effects was amazing. The doom buggies are running way smoother also. Everything looked awesome! I headed over Pirates of the Carribean only to find it was closed due to technical problems and they didn't know when it would re-open. I figured I'd do Jungle Cruise – but the wait was at least 30 minutes and I couldn't get another FastPass for quite some time since the Snow White one was much later. I did some minor browsing in some shops and decided to find a spot to watch SpectroMagic. Found a bench along the Adventureland bridge and plopped myself down. Spectro started and at the same time, so did the rain. By the end, I was soaked. It wasn't heavy rain at all – just steady. I decided to go to the Emporium and get a lightweight back pack – If I'm not taking the scooter, I need something to carry things such as my RAIN PONCHO in – it sucked getting soaked! Thought I wanted to watch Wishes - it's one of my favorite fireworks shows – I decided based on last years waiting for 2 hours to get back to Pop from the MK – that I was going to walk to the bus stop before Wishes ended. I still had a 20 minute wait. Pretty much a family had delayed us because they had 2 scooters – along with a party of 10 – who boarded the bus and didn't even sit in the scooter to leave room for others to sit. I strongly don't like it – and just hearing what people waiting in the line were saying it just makes people think so negatively about scooter users. I'm seriously wondering if I can manage at EPCOT without the scooter. I did so well today – I'm achey now.. and just took a Vicodin – and I'm fading fast! It's 11:45 pm now.. time for me to get to sleep! Oh- and I didn't take any pictures today. Silly me. Stay tuned for Day 2 – with pictures!

Watching the clock.. all night

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:37:02 GMT

Did I even imagine I'd sleep? I tried. Didn't work. I should star in a Walt Disney World commercial.. about all I accomplished overnight was remembering several things I didn't pack. So I am adding it this morning. I may as well just get dressed since I was planning to wake up at 5am and its 4:30 now. I am so excited! I'm breaking my tradition this time by going to the Magic Kingdom today. Normally I go to EPCOT first. I always plan for the most time spent there and with the big Celebration on Oct. 1st.. I decided to make the MK my Day 1 place. Actually speaking of the 1st -- there was an article in the Orlando Sentinel about it recently. Many of us were appalled that TPTB were going to ignore this huge accomplishment. Twenty five years deserves a celebration!

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
September 18, 2007
Pressed by fans, Walt Disney World is expanding its observance of Epcot's 25th anniversary by providing company-sponsored public events to go along with private celebrations already set for Oct.1. Disney is now planning a public "rededication ceremony" inside Epcot that day that will echo much of the original 1982 dedication. It also will have an exhibit hall dedicated to the park's first 25 years; a special "IlluminNations" light show at the close of the day; and retroguide maps, restaurant menus and other souvenirs. Still, the observances are far less involved than those Disney has already organized for Epcot employees -- less even than some of the private events organized by Disney fans. Disney officials had indicated earlier this year that there would be no company-sponsored public observances of Epcot's silver anniversary. Instead, they said commemorations would focus on the theme park's employees. Many Epcot fans used various Internet forums to criticize Disney for not planning a public marking of the Epcot milestone. The fans also used the Internet to organize private celebrations. As their private arrangements picked up steam this summer, Disney apparently reconsidered its plans. Epcot's new vice president, Jim MacPhee, announced in June that some sort of public celebration would take place. He also disclosed that Disney would take down the wand-and-arm structure that had towered over Epcot's signature attraction, Spaceship Earth, since 1999. Now Disney is providing details of the public observances that will be available to paying visitors to the park on Oct. 1. MacPhee, one of Epcot's original employees from 1982, said the anniversary is still focused on employees, particularly the 300 who both opened the park and still work there. That effort began earlier this month, with various commemorative decorations, giveaways and employee recognitions. "We've always planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary for our cast. It began to evolve very quickly as we focused on what a great milestone it is," MacPhee said. "It's great. I love the fact that people have such huge passion about what we're doing." The resort's change of heart may be partly attributed to the emerging success of various private Epcot parties -- including "Celebration 25,"which is being spearheaded by Adam Roth, a 16-year-old Dr. Phillips High School junior. Celebration 25, which will feature Epcot history tours, get-togethers and parties Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, started as an Internet-networked get-together of Epcot fans. Initially, it was expected to draw 100 or so participants, but the latest count tops 1,100 registrants. Another private celebration, "The Epcot Thing," sponsored by the unofficial Disney-fan Web site MagicalMountain.net, also involves various parties and get-togethers Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. And the annual Florida convention of the National Fantasy Fan Club will take place at Disney World that weekend. Disney officials have noticed the private preparations, and have called organizers to help coordinate the official and unofficial events. Roth does not think the private celebrations goaded Disney into creating a public Epcot celebration. But he thinks they may have inspired Disney to do more than was originally intended. "All our efforts combined -- I think it does show we do have a presence out there of fans," he said. "I think it was a polite reminder that it does mean something to us."

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:18:58 GMT

My Walt Disney Memories
Chapter 5

THE MAGIC KINGDOM
The original Magic kingdom opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. Obviously, it was a huge success. Walt Disney wanted to plus his creation and after learning much from issues that arose at the original MK, had lots of new ideas in mind. Although there were many issues, several of the biggest were the size and overall control of the park. The original MK was small and surrounded by buildings, roads, and stores that were not under Disney's control. That meant that much of the ambiance was tainted by the outside world. It also left little room for expansion. In 1959, the Walt Disney Company began searching for another place to build – this time armed with the knowledge they learned from Disneyland. Since Disneyland was on the West Coast, it made sense to look for land on the East Coast. After many trips by Disney Executives, a suitable site was located near Orlando, Florida – a site that was not much more than swampland and orange groves. The “Florida Project” was underway. In 1964, the first lot was purchased using names of dummy corporations. This was to avoid public knowledge that it was really the Disney Company buying the land – they knew as soon as it went public, the surrounding land would quadruple in value. It took almost a year before the news was leaked in 1965. By then, most of the land had been purchased. Some 42 plus square miles of it. More than enough for future expansion. Walt announced the Florida project soon after and described his plans for EPCOT. (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). Before the first shovel hit the dirt, Walt died in December of 1966 of lung cancer. His brother Roy delayed his retirement to focus on the building of WDW. Roy died in December of 1971 – just 2 months after the MK opened on October 1, 1971.
With the hindsight the Disney Company gained from Disneyland, they knew that they needed to have as much control as possible of the land and everything inside. They knew that to be successful, they had to form a special district that was able to impose and enforce its' own laws and control land-use restrictions. In essence, it would be a self governed city. The Reedy Creek Improvement District was established in 1966. For a more detailed description of this head to More on the Birth of the World
Construction was started in 1967. At opening, not everything was completed at the Magic Kingdom. There was enough to see and do for one day – maybe two. But the seed was sown and more attractions would be added. On October 1, 1971 the Magic Kingdom opened and 2 resorts were completed: The Contemporary Resort and The Polynesian Resort – both attached to the Magic Kingdom via Monorail. Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground was opened as well along with the Palm and Magnolia Golf Courses. I've stayed at both the Contemporary and the Polynesian in the past. In 1972, Disney's Village Resort opened – these were part of the treehouse villas if I remember correctly. I've never stayed there. 1973 added the Golf Resort – which was later renamed to the Disney Inn – where I stayed once. It was later sold to the US government and re-named Shades of Green for the exclusive use of the military.
When the park opened, there were 23 attractions – 20 of them were copies of Disneyland attractions. One major improvement accomplished at the Magic Kingdom at WDW is the use of underground Utilidors – making it possible to hide all maintenance and employee (cast member) movement from visitors (guests) and not shatter the illusion. Main Street, U.S.A. - is the entry way into the park. Guests can reach the MK in several ways depending upon where they are coming from. Those staying at one of the 3 Resorts on the Monorail line can simply get on the Monorail destined for the Magic Kingdom. That would include the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian. It is also possible to walk from both the Contemporary or Polynesian. There is also a Monorail line running from Epcot to the MK. Most guests use the convenience of resort buses to get to the Parks. Each resort has a bus that runs frequently to each and every park. There are also boats available from a variety of points. I always think of the transportation as part of the magic and part of the experience. It does get a bit hard to think that way when the lines for waiting for a bus are very long. But I'd rather be there waiting for a bus than not there.
The Magic Kingdom has undergone some changes over the years. Many attractions have been removed and replaced. Some will be forever missed and others were never that popular to begin with. People have very varied and powerful opinions on these changes- but as with everything in life.. it is what it is. Things change. Though there's lots that I miss from days gone by – there is and will always be enough to keep me coming back for more. And more. Over the years technology has improved and with that new things have been added. Though I'll never be happy with the addition of character meet and greets at the expense of real attractions – such is life. There's no denying that Disney is a business and therefore wants to make a profit wherever one can be made. So we exit into gift shops. I understand that. I want them to do well after all!
Anyway – I'm trying to capture the feeling of arriving at the Magic Kingdom. Since my mode of transport is a Disney Resort Bus – that's how we're going. Outside every resort is an area of bus stops. There's stops for different locations lined up one after another- we'll be going to the one for the Magic Kingdom. Each stop has an area that is roped off to do the line walk – looping up and down. For reasons unknown, many “foreigners” don't know the polite way of entering. They often send 1 small person to wait and when the bus comes no fewer than 20 (all wearing the same color shirts) jump in the line. That is bad. Another horrible thing is non-deodorant people that raise their arms while waiting for a bus. A personal nightmare for me – is when a woman raises her arms and has a bush growing. I can't handle that. Natural my ass. Sorry to offend any armpit hair loving people. Ok moving right along. So we're waiting for the bus to the MK. They'll normally come every 20 or so minutes – could be shorter, could be longer. We're at WDW so who cares. I generally begin to shiver within minutes. The air conditioning is usually cold. Most people would be happy. I take a jacket with me.
Now, in my situation – it's a little different because I'm using the ECV. I have to wait at the “handicapped” area and therefore I have to board the bus before anyone else can. I try to make it as quick as possible. The entire line of people waiting to board immediately focus their collective attention on me. WDW buses vary with the type of wheelchair lift on board. Some are extremely easy to navigate and others are very tight and tricky. I prefer to back onto the lift because it's easier to make the sharp turn inside the bus to get to the place where the chair is secured. I've been doing this a very long time and there's times it's not so easy. Plus the entire line is looking at me trying to figure out why I'm using the ECV. I've gotten some nasty comments and nasty looks. The newer buses have easier access, but less room for riders.
Finally, the bus is loaded and we're off. Some drivers talk and drive. Others just drive. I do like when they do a mini-tour, as long as they don't over talk. I usually am busy looking out to see everything. We arrive at the MK and the resorts each have their own bus stop area at the parks. The cheaper resorts (Value) have stops much farther away. Like really far. Really very far when you have bad feet. They do have some regular wheelchairs available to use to get from the bus stop area to the main gates. I can't risk that so I know I have to have the ECV. Damn feet.. well really damn nerve in my spine. It's a decent distance to the park, but at the MK it isn't that far. (EPCOT is a nightmare!) Getting off the bus, the Contemporary Resort is behind us. To the right as we head to the front entrance, there are fantastic topiaries (bushes shaped like animals, etc). There's the Mickey flower bed in that area. The monorail line and ferry boats to the far left. And there's music piped in. The Main Street Railroad station is ahead past the ticket booths. Approaching the turnstiles I'm already excited and happy. There's 2 archways where people can enter. The train runs directly overhead. Through the archways are collections of old posters of Disney attractions and movies. There's lockers, Guest Services, phones, and other stuff in this area.. and then you walk through the other side of the archway... and you're on the brick road at the beginning of Main Street, U.S.A.
Straight ahead at the end of the road is Cinderella's Castle. There's nothing like standing at one end of Main Street and looking at the castle. It's a mixture of so many things that so many people just miss when standing there. The look and feel of Main Street. The sounds. The smells. Most people don't realize that aside from the overall look and feel (using forced perspective) that the majority of the upper story windows are all dedications. The attention to detail is unsurpassed. There have been years – especially during one horrible period during the Eisner years that this attention was curtailed. (The Paul Pressler days) There were instances of peeling and chipped paint everywhere. It was such an obvious lack of concern and the park(s) suffered. I recall riding It's a Small World and seeing dolls with broken hands, drummers that had arms that had fallen off, and many dolls just frozen. There'd be burned out light bulbs – just things that showed a lack of concern. Those things upset me.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
My vacation is now less than 2 weeks away! I have sorted out stuff I'll be taking with me- and this time I will be following a list that I made months ago of things I'm allowing myself to take. I have a very bad habit of over packing and over buying. Last year, I made notes of the things I did use, and a very long list of things that I never touched and probably would not need to bring. Although some are not very big, and probably not a big deal to have with me, it's the sheer number of extra things that was the problem. And like every other place people go- there's always stores and shops to pick up emergency stuff. So I'm making a huge effort to NOT over do things. There are a bunch of things I have to take that I've never taken before – like several cartons of Soy Milk and several pre-measured baggies of protein powder. I can't risk not having fresh soy milk to mix my protein shakes with and I don't want to drink regular milk because of the lactose intolerance thing. Though I seem to be more tolerant lately. This week, I will be packing up much of the stuff I'm taking and making sure I follow my list.

I have been thinking a lot about the seat belt on the plane. I don't have a very good grasp on what size I currently am and I'm worried that I won't fit into the seat belt – and that I'll have to ask for an extender. NOT that that is a bad thing. It's just that after having had the surgery and having lost a significant amount of weight, I want to be rewarded by fitting into the small seats and I feel that if I don't fit, I will feel very disappointed and let down. As it is, I take it very personally when my scale doesn't show me the hard work I've been doing. And it seems that both of my scales are evil and enjoy driving me insane by giving me weights that can vary up to 10 pounds in any given minute. I've stopped talking to.. I mean stepping on the digital one.. it can go screw itself. I'm actually planning on putting it under my car and running it over so it can't mess with anyone else. :)
I'm feeling very anxious though about this whole seat belt thing. I know that even if it's tight and I get the extender that by next year I'll have lost so much more and it will be fine. I don't want to reassure myself that it will fit this year.. because what if it doesn't? It's a very stupid thing but it's been on my mind so much that I've been having dreams about it. Actually.. I've been having some very bizarre dreams... that don't really have to do with WDW but they've been on a theme... bras. Since I'm talking about weight loss it seems a perfect time to discuss my crazy dreams of late. Firstly, I've had to replace my bras almost every other week. Between the cup size and back size, I just keep shrinking and I've bought more bras in the past 4 months than I have in my entire 45 years. Secondly, I've been thinking a lot about buying a bicycle – since the start of the summer – but since the summer is now over I was thinking it would be a waste now since it'll be too cold soon for me to ride and how I'd be better off with a stationary one or an elliptical machine. So I looked online for equipment and decided it was too expensive for right now. I had the first bizarre dream that night. It started off at a location that I'm sure was Camp Hill – a summer day camp from years ago that no longer exists. I spent lots of time there and worked there after I graduated college. In the dream, I was riding my bicycle on a path and I began to see bras that were kind of thrown on the grass surrounding the path. Pretty soon, I realized that these were my bras! And that anyone who passed would know they were mine and that I was allowing them to pollute the beautiful paths. So I began to pick them up – and I was trying to ride with huge piles of bras.. (In case anyone reading this is wondering, I'm hysterically laughing typing this) By the end of the part that I can remember, they were blowing around and getting harder to catch. Silly bras.
Yeah. So my bras revolted or something. This weight loss thing is very interesting. I worry about things I've never even thought of before. I just got the new bathing suit I ordered. I wasn't sure what size to get – again because I've been changing sizes so frequently... so I ordered the size I was wearing the day I ordered it. Of course about 4 days after I ordered it, I fit into the size below it. I tried it on and I wish I had gone 1 size smaller! But I decided that it was fine and I didn't want to risk exchanging it with 2 weeks to go. By next year, I should be a “normal” size so it won't matter that much. I have to remind myself that I'm only 4 months out and I have a long way (or is it weigh) to go. At least I have less than 100 pounds to go now! But that's still a long way from being normal weight and why I'm worried about the stupid airplane seat belts. I just want to go feeling good. And I know if it's still tight that I'll be very upset.
I had a dream last night that I just thought of.. I was with my Mom and I think we had Rebecca (my niece) and someone else.. possibly Charlotte – or maybe other people.. not sure.. but they were little kids.. and we were at some place that was supposed to be a theme park. There was something that was supposed to be a ride – it looked like a building to me – and there was a tall stairway that people were talking about climbing up in order to get to the ride. My mom wanted to go on it (it was definitely her.. and she would definitely NOT want to go on it as she doesn't like heights) and we went to go on it and it turns out that there was a sort of moving walkway ramp to go on (not stairs anymore) and she stepped up onto it about half way up and not at the start – and was holding Rebecca's hand. They were in front of me. Then I got on the ramp – all the way at the bottom and the ride operator stopped the ramp and asked me how much I weigh because they'd need extra power to get me up to the top (and I was mortified) and I saw my reflection on the side of the ramp and I looked like everyone else and couldn't understand how he knew that I had a weight problem. I didn't let him know it bothered me though and he sent me up to the top and I thanked him so much for being so helpful to me – but inside I knew I was hurt and that I'd never stop being fat even if I was thin.
Crazy dreams! One final story, and then I must stop for the day and get some sleep. This one is not a dream – it is real and really pissed me off. I mentioned about renting the scooter. This year, I decided to rent based on price and the quickness of a reply. The winner of my hard earned money was MedicalTravel.org because they had the lowest rate for the 11 days ($255.00). I have been renting from various companies for several years now and I've always sent them a credit or debit card in advance which they usually bill 2 or 3 days before my arrival. No where in anything they sent me did it specify when they bill it, so I figured it would be just like all the others. It never occurred to me to ask when they submit the charge. On September 3rd, I emailed Michael Goldberg, from Medical Travel, Inc. to re-confirm the rental. He replied that it was all set. The next day, I withdrew $60 from my checking account and the balance from the bank indicated I had a negative balance. That made no sense – and to make matters worse, I accidentally locked myself out of my online banking by entering the wrong password 3 times. Finally, a few days later, I got into my account and realized that they had paid themselves on September 1st - 3 full weeks in advance! Because I hadn't transferred funds into that account, it caused an overdraft and 3 other transactions were made afterwards – each with a $30 charge – so in addition to the $255 – I ended up having to pay another $123 in penalties. I emailed Mr. Goldberg and he told me that they bill their rentals 15 to 20 days prior – though mine was done 21 days prior... and that they've been doing this for years... he did apologize. But I'm pissed! If I would have known I would have put the money in to cover it.
Meanwhile, I must head off to bed now.. I need to start posting this soon.. I'll have to email this to my desktop I guess.. then start to post it..

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
To think that 6 years have passed since that surreal and dreadful day. It's one of those things that most people will always remember where they were and what they were doing. I was sleeping because I had bad period cramps. So I didn't find out about it till after it was all over. The worst part was knowing that Bruce was near or at the World Trade Center at the time – and not hearing from him until late in the day. It was one of those days where you may have spoken to someone who assured you they were alright only to find out they were gone not long afterwards. As most of us have learned as we get older, it's so important to make each day important since we don't know how many we have left. As I contemplate my upcoming vacation – I'm very glad I have the chance to go. I've always said that if I was ever destined to be in an airplane crash, I hope it happens on the way back after my vacation. If it happens on the way there – I'd be eternally pissed off. Not a good thing. The past two days have been eating challenges for me. I'm trying to figure out if there's some sort of pattern going on – but so far I don't see any. This past Sunday, I went out to Jamie and Ali's to see them, Rebecca and Charlotte. Before I left – around 11:30am I drank a regular protein supplement shake in soy milk. Around 5 or so, we got in pizza. I wasn't hungry from after I drank the protein till then so I hadn't eaten anything. I ate almost a whole slice of pizza. It was an average sized slice and I'd say I probably managed at least a bit over 3/4s of it. I was full. Jamie gave me 2 small garlic twists (Fried Bread with garlic) that I took home because they smelled so good. I ate them later on. No problems. Monday morning (yesterday) I had a protein shake, but couldn't finish it. For lunch I had most of a Gerber Graduate (Toddler food) meal – which is normal. When it came time for dinner, I felt really hungry and made a Lean Cuisine dinner – and barely managed to eat 1/3rd of it. I just felt lousy. I can usually eat at least 3/4ths of is. Today I had protein again for breakfast – I think I finished it (it's 1 cup of soy milk and scoop of protein). For lunch I ate a whole Gerber Graduate (ok, they're sort of small) and the same thing happened when I made a Lean Cuisine dinner – this time it was one that I always manage to finish. I barely ate 1/3 of it. This seems to happen more when I forget to eat as much as I should. I'm just not that hungry and don't think about eating and that seems to make it harder for me to eat afterwards. What's bothering me the most though is that it really makes me feel shitty. It hurts – as though I have over eaten – which I know I haven't. My pouch is a grouch. I'm in a weight loss slow down period and I know that in order to keep losing I have to eat a bit more – but my pouch isn't cooperating.
I told Ann (the pharmacist I worked with today) about my seat belt not fitting fear – and she thought I was crazy – because it looks to her that I've lost so much weight. I really haven't lost all that much – well I have, but not really that much. I still have like 90 something pounds left to go and when I'm in a sort of stall it feels like that will take forever. I'm still not drinking enough fluids. And the past few weeks I've been feeling more and more tired all the time. It took me a while to realize that. I just kept wanting to sleep and not wanting to wake up. It's all part of the weight loss thing. If I were losing any faster, it would be worse. So now I'm trying to tell myself that if the stupid seat belt doesn't fit me, it's alright and not a reflection on my success. It bothers me that it bothers me!
Plans for Epcot's 25th Celebration have been finalized. There's a group of MANY of us that are meeting there to be part of the Epcot Rededication Ceremony. It will be nice to meet up with other Epcot fans and have a nice day of activities. The activities are spread out from early in the morning to very late at night – after the park closes – and it should be a great time. We're having a dessert party in Italy from 8:30pm till Illuminations ends and then staying at World Showcase for the huge Barge Burn-off – the barge is used to launch fireworks for Illuminations and every night after the park officially closes, they light the barge to prepare it for the next day. There's actually videos of it on YouTube – lots of Disney videos there.. of the rides and any thing else you can think of. I keep lots of them as favorites. My user name is auntles and you probably can see what I mean.. or just do a search.. I do it all the time when I need a quick fix. Then again, I recently bought an entire fan made DVD set of videos of all the rides so I can look at them. I actually started packing tonight, just non clothes stuff so far – and I think despite my list, I'm over packing already. I guess there's just some stuff I need and can't avoid. Though I can't seem to answer why I need 5 different sun lotions and strengths of them. I rarely wear any, but I planned on doing so there.. but 5 different ones??!!??!! Oh well. Most of the stuff is PRN, so I guess it just seems like a lot. At least it will all be in 1 smaller bag – with wheels. I just hope that I can find some energy when I'm there – I've been going to bed very early and finding it hard to wake up even by 9am.. I used to be up way before 7. I never used to sleep more than 5 hours.. at most.. now I can sleep much longer. I hope the energy returns soon. Not being able to have caffeine is also challenging! I may just ignore that at WDW and just drink lots more. I can have caffeine if I drink the same amount of plain water to replenish what the caffeine drains. Since I'm not drinking enough as it is, I've avoiding all caffeine. We'll see. I'm still planning on eating a Dole Whip there. Once a year.. I deserve to at least try. It is low fat.. but it's so good it tastes evil. I'm rambling now so I end with the final thought.. 10 DAYS TO GO

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
I'm thinking about how nice it's going to be to get back from a day at the parks and change into my bathing suit and go stand in the pool while staring up at the stars. Oh the life. I just hope I don't run into any major eating issues. Today was another strange food day. I planned on having 3 ounces of tuna fish for lunch – I mix it with sweet relish (small amount) and reduced calorie mayonnaise – I barely ate an ounce of it. I felt fine – just full. Later on, I ate the crackers that come in the package. But I never finished the tuna. When I got home after work, I was so hungry. So I made a Lean Cuisine – chicken teriaki – which was good – but I couldn't finish it. Now... a few hours later, I'm hungry again. I think I'll drink a protein shake. I know I really have to increase my liquid intake. I'm supposed to be drinking as close to 64 ounces of water as I can.. I barely manage 20 ounces most days. The more I drink, the more I lose because it flushes it out. And the more protein I can drink the less tired I'll be. Right now, I'm exhausted. Again. I am looking forward to my appointment with the neurologist – which is a week away. I just hope this isn't a dead end as usual. My right foot is still very painful – and I have a hard time believing this is due to nerves and/or disks in my back. I really hope I get some answers.
I have to focus on packing everything and taking my suitcases someplace else (like upstairs) so I'll be unable to throw extra things in. My goal is to have everything packed and done this coming weekend. Then I'll hide them upstairs and try to not tell myself where they are. Yup. Since I'm leaving in 9 days, I need to step up my publishing of this little story so I'll be able to post “live” when I am there. Of course, all of this has been written in advance so I'm not really sure how that's going to happen. But one of these days I'll be posting and it'll be the same day as when I typed it. Ok.. shut me up now. Let's move back to the main topic.. WDW!
I'm going back to my discussion of the Magic Kingdom. And just to clarify for everyone.. Walt Disney World is the magical place in Florida while Disneyland is the one in California. Disneyland is not in Florida and never has been. Don't say Disneyland when you mean Walt Disney World. I do allow it to be called Disney World – but it took a long time for me to allow it. I prefer respecting Walt. So there. Do be a do be.

Monday, September 17 - 3 days to go!
It's getting so close! I'm running out of time to get things together. I swore that I would be totally packed this weekend but I lied. I'm almost all packed. I keep trying to throw extra things into the suitcase and so I'm unpacking everything and making myself start again. I think maybe I'm a house elf and I should beat up me for not listening to me. The small suitcase that I'm using for bathroom and personal items is stuffed. I actually haven't put all that much extra in it – and it is a relatively small suitcase. The biggest thing are the containers of soy milk. It's too big to take on the plane as carry on. So I'll put 2 in one bag and 1 in the other bag. It's 3 quarts (960 mLs X 3) and I drink at least 1 cup (240 mLs a day) which means I really need about 2640 mLs – so 3 is what I'll need. The clothes packing is where I'm having issues. I keep “throwing in” extra stuff. I don't need it. Most of the shirts I pre-bought are way too big on me – I bought tank tops months ago that aren't plus size – so I bought them in XXL - big mistake. I thought because they weren't plus size or “women's” they'd be smaller. Wrong. The shorts I bought are also big.. I thought I'd be a 20 now – but an 18 fits me much better. Did I mention before surgery I gladly wore a 28 – though they were big. I haven't fit into an 18 in ages – and it was a short time I did when I fit in them. Meanwhile, I'm still having anxiety moments thinking about the stupid airplane seatbelt. I'm so worried about it at this point that I'll probably cry with happiness when (and if) it actually fits me. I realize in all liklihood it will fit me. But if it doesn't – especially now that I think it will – I'll be devastated. Since I have to pay for internet access ($9.99) for every 24 hour period – I'm not sure if I'll be getting online every night – I doubt I will. But maybe. And I'll be posting updates. I actually look forward to going back and reading all the stuff I've rambled on about.
I seriously need to finish packing though. It's getting progressively colder now and I'm not looking forward to coming home to even colder weather. It still is nice enough out at lunch for me to sit outside. I also park my car at the farthest corner of the parking lot – and once it starts getting colder – that'll end since I can't stand being cold. I'm trying to walk as much as possible. The Epcot fan get together is growing in size and Disney is stepping up to the plate. It's going to be a HUGE event – especially for those of us who are huge EPCOT Center fans. There's a shitload of t-shirts and other merchandise I just have to have. Dangerously though, now that I can fit into regular sized clothes.. there's going to be way too much stuff I can buy. That was one benefit of being obese – clothing choices are limited. Did I say benefit???!!??
I would also like to get my hair cut before I go – it's getting a little bushy. Of course now is when virtually everyone at work starts to tell me how great my hair looks. That usually means its time for me to cut it all off. I probably wont be finishing my little discussion about all the parks – until I get back!! That way I will extend my vacation thinking even more! Go me! Anyway, it is now time for me to go do something else.
Friday, September 21st:
Ok. I'll admit it. I was too excited to work today. I was supposed to work.. but took a sick day instead. That is after going in to pick up my pay stub and fill a prescription for Vicodin. Blessy knew I was going to end up not working. I'm just too hyper. Thank god I haven't grown up yet. Anyway – I finished packing and took my 2 bags outside. They're both relatively small and light. I still have my carry on bags though. And I managed to only throw in a few extra things I don't really need. Tomorrow at this time I'll be waiting to eat lunch at the Plaza Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom – I have a 2:50PM advance dining reservation. I'm still thinking about the stupid seatbelt. I've lost something like 12 inches around my waist so I really shouldn't be worrying. But I am. (That's like a foot!!!!!) The weather in Central Florida is exactly the same for each and every day: chance of Thunderstorms, chance of Rain. The temperatures look perfect – in the 90's with lows in the upper 70's. I can do that!
Meanwhile, this time I'm thinking I should actually get prints made of all the pictures I take. The one's from last year are posted at Photobucket – but they don't do much good there.
Anyway – I have stuff to do.. trying to neaten things up.
Next entry will be live from WDW!

random entry

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:11:39 GMT

I'm leaving tomorrow!!! Still have some more chapters to post but I wanted to add some pictures here.. I'm trying to post everything I've pre-written in my Disney Memories blog here.. but alas.. here's my 2 updated montages of ME!

Walt Disney World Memories - Chapter Four

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:52:54 GMT

My Walt Disney Memories
Chapter 4

One thing that I know very well is that in order to go, I will always have to start my budget immediately upon return and make sure to stick to it. Due to very unfortunate circumstances, I'm most likely going to have to file for bankruptcy in the near future. Not that I have any credit cards – I have zero – but there were lots of things that happened that came together now – all at the same time – and there's little hope that I can ever get out of it. That's why it is now more important than ever to make sure I start putting money aside. I had a very bad string of luck and it's really sad. I try not to say if only I hadn't done this or that or given so and so money whenever so and so needed it.. but who is there for me now? LOL! I'm going off on that bad tangent again. It's really on my mind today – Aunt Goldie needed money from me and I have none to give her until next week. Since my paycheck is being garnished to repay money to NY State (that I don't even owe) my checks are smaller and smaller. And with what's left over it's been very hard. I guess I'm going to have to give in to the fact that I'm going to be writing about this whole mess. Good thing I'm publishing this in chapters – and keep in mind this was all written a while ago because I'm writing over time and publishing it slowly. While it doesn't have to do with WDW, it certainly has to do with going there and being able to afford to go despite major hardships. On that note, let's go back a bit in time.

*******OFF TOPIC

1999 – September, Hurricane Floyd. I had over 2 feet of standing water in my “apartment” after a dam burst a few miles from here. The water flowed with such force that it broke the casement windows. Between the heavy rain, high winds and flowing streams of water – there was no stopping it. The power went off and my sump pump stopped working. I lost everything. From the standing water, furniture fell apart. The walls had to be taken down. Pretty much the whole basement had to be gutted. The entire area was declared a disaster and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management) was sent out. An appraiser came to survey my damage and I pretty much lost everything that I had. My Disney collection was in pretty good shape – most of it had been on shelves and above the water. I boxed it all up and stored it in the garage for safe keeping. There were lots of boxes. I had lots of stuff. Not long after this, new management had taken over where I was working. They were systematically eliminating non-union staff. My new boss didn't seem to like me very much. Actually not at all and the feeling was more than mutual. However, there wasn't any legitimate reason for her to fire me. After all of this happened, she offered a deal to me. Basically it was that I would be “terminated” but it would be on good terms so I could collect NY State Unemployment and continue to provide assistance to her if needed. Needing to tear apart the basement, it sounded like the perfect deal. By the start of 2000, I was collecting Unemployment.

FEMA approved me for an assistance loan through the Small Business Administration for $18,000. I bought some clothes and went to IKEA to buy new furniture. I stored the boxes of furniture upstairs in the Dining Room. Lots of furniture. I bought supplies for rebuilding the basement and decided to do all the work myself. Since I wasn't working, I had all day and all night and wanted to get it done so I could look for a job.

Early one morning (February 17, 2000), a young Amanda (then in High School) woke me because she missed her bus. I had been up very late the night before hanging ceiling tiles. I drove her to school, stopped at McDonald's for an egg McMuffin and came home. After eating, I grabbed a crowbar to remove paneling from my previously built closet and tear down the wood supporting it. It was then I saw swirling white stuff.

The fire took less than 30 minutes to destroy the whole house. The brand new furniture I bought that had been in the Dining Room was totally burnt after the burning ceiling collapsed on it. There was a huge explosion in the garage – where I had put my Disney collection for safekeeping and that was destroyed. It was a total loss. Not long after, we found out that our insurance had a cap on it. We (Aunt Goldie and everyone but x-uncle David) thought we had full replacement value. In an attempt to save money, x-uncle David changed the policy to one with a maximum value on it and lowered the value of the house in order to pay less. We were collectively screwed. There wasn't going to be enough money. I set out to find a general contractor. We had 1 year of emergency housing coverage. In August, a full 6 months after the fire, I hadn't found anyone who would agree to fix it – the contractors are interested in those that have full replacement value because they can charge whatever they like – but in our situation, the money we had was very limited and I realized it wasn't going to happen. So I took the role of General Contractor.

The SBA loan I had gotten and partially used to replace flood damaged stuff was now being used for house repairs. I stopped collecting Unemployment because technically there was no way I could work, and I was told I could re-apply when I would be able to. For a while, I kept paying on the SBA loan (using it to pay itself) up until I had nothing left. I tried to explain to them what was going on and they suggested I contact my congress people. But nothing was ever done about that. (Until now, some 7 years later). Anyway, after the house was just about done, I reapplied for Unemployment and they said they would have to re-verify my claim. No problem I thought. However, I didn't know that where I used to work went to a shared service plan with their main company and there was no one at the site that I worked on that represented Human Resources and when they contacted the main company, as far as they knew I had just left the job. They had no way to determine why I left and therefore could not verify my claim. I got a letter saying that my benefits weren't approved and that I had to pay back the previous amounts paid. I went there and argued that the original claim had been verified and there's no way I should owe that back. They agreed, but said I had to go before an administrative law judge who would make the determination. I had to file an appeal form and they'd send me a date. I completed the form and went to Canada for a few weeks to visit. When I got back, I had gotten a letter regarding the appeal (it came right after I left), and the court date they'd sent me was the previous day. I missed the date! I called.. and was told I lost my appeal by default and there were no more appeals. That is what is currently being taken directly out of my paycheck. I “owe” them like $3400. The SBA is demanding almost $12,000. Add to that several thousand dollars in charges related to my surgery that insurance wouldn't cover and the doctors want.. they got paid some $60,000 through insurance, but want lots more from me. That's where I am now. My income is not high enough. Pretty much, it is what it is. A mess.

At times like this when I know I am overly stressed, the best thing for me to do is focus on things I enjoy. For a long time, I believed that I had to suffer along with all of my suffering. Now, I try to avoid that. It is what is. Being doubly miserable won't help it.

********BACK ON TOPIC

Let's get back to WDW. As everyone (I would think) knows, WDW is a huge place. There are 4 major theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM-Studios – soon to be Hollywood Studios). Although it is quite easy to experience everything in just one day, that is truly a waste of precious time and there's no way to really enjoy things if it's a matter of let's ride this and get it over with. Personally, I don't do roller coasters. I don't like anything that makes by body confused. From time to time, I will try to do so, sometimes enjoying it and other times cursing myself out. But I do take things slowly. Aside from the 4 theme parks, there's weeks of other things to do. It's no lie that you can be in the area for weeks, and never run out of things to do. I'd say even months. There is something for everyone.

Each and every resort offers plenty of things to do. Add to that Downtown Disney, Disney West Side, Pleasure Island, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, and everything else in the World. Lot's to do! At this point, I'm less than 7 weeks away. I'm focused on filling in the blanks and deciding possible activities outside the parks. Many years ago, I went to Typhoon Lagoon. I had so much fun. For the most part I stayed in Castaway Creek. I also swam with the sharks. It was a great day. I've not had a long enough vacation lately to do extras like this, but this year I have 11 days.. and I will take advantage of that. I don't know when the next time will be for me to have that long.

Since they closed and abandoned River Country, the 2 major water parks have gotten much busier. I've never gone to Blizzard Beach and I'm thinking that may be where I go this time. Both parks have a lazy place to float around the perimeter of the park in an inner tube. Both have lots of attractions to experience, but I know for me I'll likely skip many of them. I'm most interested in tanning. And getting some needed relaxation. Last vacation, the only pool time I managed was after midnight one night. Aside from me, there were several other women playing around in the pool. No kids. Just some people having fun. I waded in, stood around in the perfect mindset thinking only of being away from it all. It was such a nice moment. Since I had less days last time, I didn't feel I had time to go to one of the water parks. This time I'm making sure to do so. With 11 days and a 10 day park hopper pass, I will have a full day to do what I want. I used to do this the last day since I would be leaving and not having a full day – but now, I tend to go to the parks for the last day. I'll have a watter park day and spend the evening/night at downtown. The water parks are generally open all day – but for me, a few good hours is all I really want. I'll take a book along but I'll probably just doze in the sun or find a nice inner tube to float around on. Of course, before any of this becomes possible, I will need to buy myself a wearable bathing suit. The one I wore last year is over 5 sizes too large now! There's so many websites that present fantastic information on everything WDW – with pictures, and lots of information. What I write here, is really the tip of the iceberg. There's way too much to present and it goes way beyond my sharing my love of WDW.

Back in the day, I shopped at the Lake Buena Vista Village which no longer exists... in fact, the area has seen many name changes as well as size changes. In 1975, it began as Lake Buena Vista Village – with a number of shops and restaurants. It was later renamed Walt Disney World Village at Lake Buena Vista. Somewhere around 1989, it became the Disney Village Marketplace. And in 1996 it became Downtown Disney Marketplace. Now the area is mostly referred to as Downtown Disney and includes the Marketplace, Pleasure Island, and Disney's West Side. Each and every one of my early trips included at least one meal at Chef Mickey's at the Marketplace. There were lots of shops there – and lots of spending opportunities. Now there's even more shops there and even more spending opportunities! The area has expanded and changed over the years. Being somewhat of a lover of WDW history, I do miss the old area – however, I love the new area. It's definitely worth a chunk of time. One thing I plan to do this upcoming vacation is to rent a water sprite and zip around Lake Buena Vista. There's also a really nice movie theatre. So much to do. Just for a small preview:

Pleasure Island is the night time entertainment venue where it's New Years Eve every night. PI has undergone major changes since I was last there. It's been quite a while for me. From what I understand, instead of paying to enter the Island – there are just cover charges for each club. They do sell single club and multi club passes. There's several clubs- each offering something else. I'm sure I'll at least roll through it when I'm in the area.

Disney's West Side is a newer addition to the area. This is where the big ass 24 movie screen theatre is – and I've managed to make it there several times – when it wouldn't stop raining and/or I was just too tired. It has super comfy stadium seating that was awesome. The prices for movies were at least half of what I pay in New York. Plus, they had late showings of movies. Aside from movies, Disney Quest is there – an indoor interactive theme park! I've only gone there once, but really enjoyed it. Lots of cool things to do. Cirque du Soleil is also there – but I've yet to catch the show. I understand its very enjoyable. There's lots of restaurants and lots of shops here also. I spent a good 2 nights wandering around when I was there about 6 years ago. Great places to eat, great shopping – and all part of the World.

Another super fun thing to do is Miniature Golf. There are 2 mini golf courses- Fantasia Gardens and WinterSummerland. However, it's much more enjoyable with more than just myself. Probably one of the very few things I would say that about. I don't think that's something I'd ever do solo. Aside from the above, there's so many recreational opportunities. Each and every resort has it's own offerings. There's golf, tennis, boating, swimming, horseback riding, camping, para sailing, sailing, fishing, tours, peddle boating, relaxing, etc, etc.

The possibilities are endless. That's before considering the theme parks and the resorts. There is something for everyone- assuming people do their homework before hand. There's just too much to do to not plan ahead. Even just going resort hopping and seeing the shows or experiencing the entertainment can fill up a whole week. It's awesome.

Walt Disney World is a huge place with lots of parts that make up the whole. It's like all the stuff in and on Earth that makes up Earth but isn't just Earth. Make sense? Ok, bad example. Better example: I can't even begin to count how many times I've heard people saying (while someplace in WDW) that they are going to go to Disney World tomorrow. Or how many people have asked others how to get to Disney World from wherever they are – WHICH IS SOMEPLACE IN WALT DISNEY WORLD! One of the things that irks me the most is when people erroneously refer to the Magic Kingdom Theme Park as (Walt) Disney World. The Magic Kingdom is in WDW. It is the Magic Kingdom. It is one of four theme parks that is a part of WDW. I seriously get so pissed off at peoples dumbness. Even stupider are those that call WDW – Disneyland. I realize people can't help their ignorance. There'll always be people asking what time the 3:00 parade begins and where is the Main St. parade. But OMG it irks me.

Walt Disney World Memories - Chapter Three

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:57:34 GMT

My Walt Disney Memories
Chapter 3

Planning the vacation is a huge part of the enjoyment overall. It puts me in WDW mode and relaxes me. Every year I buy the silly travel books to read about things I already know about. (Birnbaum's official guide, Frommer, the Unofficial Guide, etc) I enjoy looking at the pictures. Does it help me – well, not really all that much.. but I still do it. There's several message boards/information sites devoted to WDW and I think my Disney link folder is one of my biggest. The 2 message boards I read the most are at “Intercot” and at “wdwmagic”. My information comes from those places and dozens of others. I can never read to much about what's going in the World. I've also found that the majority of people that don't enjoy their vacations, are those that haven't planned ahead. There's so much to do, so much see and not enough time to do it all – so planning is major. Debs AllEars is another awesome site. I have 100's of links to Disney sites..

Each and every vacation is a different experience. I have plenty of time to sit back and enjoy. It's rare that I feel rushed. I can take the time to find a bench and just hang out. Actually, that reminds me of one day last September at EPCOT. This was when I still smoked and I spent lots of times on Smokers benches. I was in my trusty ECV and headed toward World Showcase. There was a smokers bench at the start of the walk over bridge. Sitting on the bench before I got there were two women. I rolled over and lit a cigarette. Wandering around in the area was a woman who looked out of place – she wasn't wearing relaxing clothes – it was more like office dress with uncomfortable looking shoes. She didn't look professional either – it was just one of those things easily noticed because she looked like she didn't belong there. Plus she was carrying a rather large bag. She walks right over to where I was and asked if she could join me. Though tempted, the word “no” didn't come out – it was more like... “uh, sure”. She asked if I ever thought about how sad I was. I told her “I'm not at all sad” and she asked if I ever tried to do anything about how lonely I am (Told her I'm not lonely”) and without so much as a pause to listen to me – began to tell me how one day she woke up and was at the end of her rope and was going to do herself in but on the way to get her mail out of the mailbox (I guess that was at the end of her rope) she heard Jesus telling her he was with her. The other two women giggled and left. And ever since that day Jesus has walked with her every moment. I asked if he was charged admission to the park, but she didn't answer. She wanted to give me all sorts of brochures (in that big bag) to help me find my way and she just kept rambling on about this. I finished my cigarette and she was preaching up a storm and I just sort of looked over and said.. “have a great day” - and she continued preaching.. even as I put my ECV to top speed and left her talking. To this day I wonder how she got past park security and if there's no rule that prohibits people from taking in bags of brochures. I certainly didn't appreciate the interruption of my magical escape. I think there's almost always someone who sticks out amongst the crowd as a pure oddball. Those people tend to find me. I smile at everyone and make eye contact. They take that as an invite I guess.

One thing I hate to see are parents who treat their kids like shit. It seems to be a lot more frequent than I could imagine. If you are taking your kids away on a vacation, is it really necessary to remind them over and over how they should be thanking you and enjoying the ride instead of crying in fear. Last year, I was at Animal Kingdom at It's Tough To Be a Bug.

We had already entered the theatre, but the show hadn't started yet. A woman headed toward the back (where I was) with her little son – a toddler who was no more than 3 or 4 years old. He was whimpering – trying hard not to cry – and begging his mom to take him outside because he was scared. The little boy wasn't speaking loud – he was not making a scene. The mother however, was dragging the poor kid to a bench telling him to shut up and enjoy this because they came to Disney World for him. He begged and begged and she just told him to shut up. The show began and he was trying to hide by putting his head on her arm – the stupid bitch told him to get off of her and that she was going to tell his father how bad he was and this was the last time they'd be taking him anywhere. It was horrible. And we wonder why some kids grow up to have issues.

I also feel bad for those people who are in such a rush to do things that they miss virtually everything. So much is lost when you rush through any of the parks. Although I think many of the guidebooks are very useful, it disturbs me to no end when people try to do the 1 day rush tour and end up hating the parks. A woman I used to work with was a perfect example. She wanted so badly to have the perfect Walt Disney World vacation. She had 4 days and was staying off-site at a Days Inn with her husband who had been there once when he was younger. Her reason for staying off-site was to save money (not because she didn't have the money – but to save it because she could). In her mind, the advertisement that bragged about having a shuttle bus direct from the hotel to each and every park meant shorter wait times. It failed to mention that the shuttle bus only stopped at the hotel once every hour from 8am till noon and then every two hours. It failed to mention that the shuttle bus was a shared service and her hotel – actually motel – was not the first pick up or the last and once it headed to the parks it went to all of the parks and not just where she was headed. It didn't mention it could easily take 2 hours to get to the park. Going back from the park was even worse. But she saved money. Their first day was EPCOT and they immediately realized that there was no way the plan in the book would work since it required them to start out very early. By the time they got to the gate at EPCOT it was after 10am. They planned on being there by 8:30 am for an early start. Following the advice in the book also meant they'd be criss-crossing the park and walking back and forth just to get to the next ride. They realized the EPCOT plan wouldn't work. They ended up spending time during attractions trying to figure out where they had to go next. They missed almost everything in a quest to see everything.

Now for some current events – this was a big story and sadly a typical one. Shows the stupid side of people.

Parents Accused Of Leaving Toddler In Sun For 45 Minutes At Disney Ride

Sheriff's Office: Girl Found Covered In Sweat, Nearly Lifeless

POSTED: 6:18 pm EDT June 25, 2007

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Two Orange County parents face child abuse charges after riding the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Walt Disney World -- with their toddler left in a stroller in the sun for about 45 minutes in 90 degree plus heat. Authorities said concerned guests moved a sleeping girl's stroller out of direct sunlight Monday and into some shade and called for help.

When investigators found the parents, they said there was confusion about who had the child.

The parents told investigators they accidentally left the 3-year-old girl in the stroller on Saturday afternoon. They were with a group of other adults and children, and each parent thought the other had the girl.

According to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the girl was found in the sun, turning red, covered in sweat and nearly lifeless. Paramedics revived the girl after taking her indoors and giving her water. Each parent was released from the Orange County jail on $2,500 bail.

They accidentally left their 3 year old outside in the blazing sun for about 45 minutes – as they went on a ride – and no one knew the kid wasn't with them? Some ass-hole parked the stroller and walked away! From another report:

Two Orange County parents were arrested on child-abuse charges after telling authorities they accidentally left their 3-year-old daughter in a stroller while they rode Pirates of the Caribbean at Walt Disney World. A Magic Kingdom patron alerted park management about 4:45 p.m. Saturday after spotting the girl in a stroller parked in the sun, according to a report released Monday by the Orange County Sheriff's Office. The girl was hot, turning red, covered in sweat and appeared to be "lifeless," the report states. A paramedic touched and shook her, but she failed to respond.

Saturday's highs were in the low 90s with no rain, and deputies estimate the child was in the sun for 45 minutes to an hour. Paramedics revived the girl by taking her indoors and giving her water. Deputies said the heat might have become deadly. "[A paramedic] advised that if medical intervention had not been administered the female child was nearing signs of heat exhaustion with unknown results up to and including death," the report states.

Parents Juan Carlos, 35, and Danette Rodriguez, 32, approached park workers, seeking their daughter, about 50 minutes later. The couple said the girl was asleep inside a double stroller and got lost in the shuffle as their group of two adults and four children approached the ride, they told investigators. When they entered the attraction, the father said he thought his wife had their daughter, while she thought her husband had her. Shortly afterward, the father went back outside to move the stroller to a designated area but failed to see the little girl, he told deputies. The parents realized their daughter was missing only after they left the ride. The couple, of Cypress Trail Drive, were arrested on one count each of child abuse and released from the Orange County Jail on Sunday on $2,500 bail each.

That really blows my mind! They really should consider having readiness tests for anyone who enters puberty. If they don't pass the common sense test – they get fixed, neutered, and spayed. No questions asked. Got lost in the shuffle. Yeah right.

Back to my upcoming and exciting vacation! As I've mentioned, part of the reason for planning ahead when it comes to what park I'm going to has to do with making Advance Dining Reservations. Especially when using the Disney Dining Plan – and even more so when the Dining Plan is free (as it is in September) there's a lessened chance of being able to walk in to table service places and being seated in a reasonable amount of time. Even in my case – where I'm a single person in my party, it does get a little silly to spend so much time waiting just to eat. Since the table service meals are paid for, it's stupid to waste them. Normally, (that is, before free dining and before weight loss surgery) I would eat only at counter service. Anyway, so long story short – I plan my days. That doesn't mean that I won't change my plans – but I will tend to at least keep the ADR. The other little trick I have is to dine at the table service places at lunch time. As I mentioned, they are 95% less busy and I generally can get any place I want when I want it. I then go to the counter service places at dinner time. For my upcoming adventure, I decided to go to the Magic Kingdom on Day 1. All of this may change, but I'm going to post my current plans – and see how different, if at all, they turn out to be. At this time, I have 35 days to go.

My Plan as of 8/17/07
Day 1: Saturday, September 22
Wake up 6am. (Wear easy on/off shoes, carry on bag, laptop computer)
Departing White Plains, NY at 7:55am to Orlando, FL via JetBlue Fl. 591. Arriving 10:40am.
11:00am – Head to Disney's Magical Express bus service in the airport (free transportation from airport to WDW)
12:00pm – Upon arrival at Pop Century Resort, check in and get ECV from luggage services. If needed, eat snack. If room is ready, go to room to drop off unnecessary stuff. If not ready, have luggage services hold bags and laptop. Change to vacation clothes (remove outer layer) and take bus to the Magic Kingdom. Take camera.
2:50pm – ADR @ Plaza Restaurant, Main Street, USA
Spend afternoon wandering the MK. 8pm – SpectroMagic; 9pm Wishes
10pm.. Park closes. Head back to Pop Century Resort. Unpack.
Get needed rest. Relax. Walk around. Relax.

Day 2: Sunday, September 23
Wake up by 8am the latest. Grab small breakfast or protein shake. Bus to EPCOT!.
Lunch at 1:30pm – Coral Reef (Originally had ADR in Japan, but the restaurant is being refurbished and will not be complete). Get voucher for Special Viewing of Illuminations perk due to restaurant change. Spend happy day at EPCOT. 9pm – Illuminations. Return to Pop for rest and relaxing.

Day 3: Monday, September 24
(AK extra magic morning) Wake up 7:30am and drink protein shake. Catch bus to AK which opens at 8am. ADR for Donald's character breakfast buffet at 10:30am. Park closes at 5pm.
Choices: Head to Boardwalk. Head to Downtown Disney. Head to MK. Head anywhere I feel like :)

Day 4: Tuesday, September 25
Wake up by 8am the latest. Breakfast. Head to the Studios for the day.
12 noon: 50's Prime Time
4:40pm – Fantasmic! Dinner package at Hollywood and Vine.
See Fantasmic!

Day 5: Wednesday, September 26
Sleep in. If nice weather, head to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. Spend day relaxing and doing anything. Downtown Disney, Pleasure Island, Disney West Side, Movies, whatever!

Day 6: Thursday, September 27th
Up by 8. EPCOT. 1:30pm Coral Reef. Illuminations.

Day 7: Friday, September 28
Up by 8. Magic Kingdom (till 7pm, then hop to EPCOT till midnight)
1pm – crystal palace

Day 8 – Saturday, September 29
Up by 8. Animal Kingdom 9-5, then hop to Magic Kingdom till 10pm.

Day 9 – Sunday, September 30
MGM – open 9 – 11, 12:50pm – SCI-FI and 4:50pm – Fantasmic! Dinner package at Hollywood and Vine.

Day 10 – Monday, October 1 HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY EPCOT CENTER!
Up by 7am. Head to EPCOT super early for celebrations. HUGE Fan Gathering/Celebration! We're officially part of the dedication ceremony or something... stay tuned for more details later on.. I'm also going to a get together dessert party in Italy – with great views for Illuminations- and then staying for the barge burn off that happens way after park closing. This will be a huge celebration- (Disney isn't making a big deal about it.. but the fans are!)
12:40 pm.. Le Cellier, Canada.

Day 11 – Tuesday October 2 – Last day. :(
back to pop by 5:45pm to catch sad bus to sad airport to get on sad plane to sadly return.
Day 12: Try to stop crying and start planning next vacation! New Budget to start effective today!.

One thing I don't do is plan what attractions I'm going to. As much as I plan, I like to sort of wander and just end up going to places. The worst part of everything.. planning, when I'm there, thinking.. is always the end of the vacation. I do know that come HELL or high water – I will be going back again. This takes us right back to why? I'm still trying to answer that. I just love being there. When everything else is really bad (which overall it is) I have that to look forward to. Aside from my family and a small assortment of friends – virtually everyone I've loved and really cared about has screwed me over. Not just little screw overs either. Big hurting let down screw overs. I have never deserved that. It happens. I know that – but enough is enough. And so I've made Disney my happy place where I can escape from everything. Those five long years that I didn't go at all – I truly believed at the time that I was not going because I finally found what I was looking for and that it was a mutual thing. I was mistaken but I don't regret the mistake because it kept me away – I regret it because of just how much I know it hurt me. That whole situation has nothing to do with any of this, but I guess it managed to get a mention anyway. The point I think I'm making to myself is that there exceptions to going every year – but I truly hope I don't ever stop going.

Walt Disney World Memories - Chapter Two

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:34:02 GMT

My Walt Disney World Memories

Chapter 2

So many times people have asked me, "Why WDW?" - what is it about that place? Why do you love it so much? Very tough to answer that; very hard to explain in words. First of all, it isn't just one thing. It's not just the rides. It's not just the scenery. It's not just the imagineering. It's everything. Having vacationed there with skeptics I can't describe how amazing it is when people are "touched by the magic" -- pixie-dusted as we used to say. It's an experience. It's a way of feeling, way of thinking, and state of mind different than anything we normally come across. Sight, sound, smell are all touched creating a new experience and sense of wonder. It's all part of a dream - a living dream. There's always something new to find - something new to learn. For me, learning about how this World came to be - the background information, the hidden things, the little details has made it that much more enjoyable. There are dozens upon dozens of books available about all of this - and those are about the only books I can read, re-read, and read again and again. In the 30 plus years I've been going to WDW, not once was I ever bored - not even for a second. And at no time and in no other place I've ever been, have I felt the same way.

Sometime in the late 80's or so, I bought my first personal computer. There was no Microsoft Windows. We had IBM DOS. There was no internet as we know it. I dialed up with my 300 baud modem and connected to the Prodigy system. To make my computer faster, I bought 4 Mgs of Ram - upgrading from the 512 kb my system came with (it was state of the art). My hard drive was the biggest they sold - 30 MBs and it ran DOS 3.3 which had just been upgraded.

The first thing I did was searched for information on Disney. I found lots of information and hit the usenet and BBS systems. Then I found GEnie. General Electric opened their mainframes for public use after business hours - and this let thousands of people dial up to connect to "roundtables" which were the grandparent of discussion groups. There were no graphics or images - just text. But many people shared their files by posting FTPs. That would take you to a text directory of files. And my favorite place was the Disney picture files. Files were all of the .bmp format. Very small images. For the most part, I would be able to download from 1 to 5 small images each night. Each image could take hours and I'd have to copy it to a floppy disk - the more common 5.25" floppy or the new 3.5" disk. I had 1000s of them. ANYWAY.. the reason I mentioned this is simply this... I found 100's of people who shared my Disneyfandomness. . By this time I had vacationed at WDW many times and as most Disney fans know - sharing of knowledge about how to have the best vacation is one of the ways to re-live experiences there over and over.

It's not about what ride to ride and when. It's not about what park has the best roller coaster. It's about the magical feeling that one gets from the combination of everything while there. It's about reminding people that a vacation at WDW is not like any other vacation. Those that go there with a time frame list of where to go and when - and exactly what they must see - will likely be disappointed. (With the exception of following the guidebooks itinerary listings - though I don't personally enjoy that). It's as impossible to explain the feeling to someone just as it is to completely describe a color. I can try to describe BLUE for example -- but what I'll probably do is list a bunch of things that are blue. But if I see blue as Joe sees red - that's not going help. The words don't describe the full meaning. Over the years I've read lots of attempts to describe the feeling - but I think in order to understand it, one has to have experienced themselves. Then again, there's lots of people who visit WDW and don't become obsessed with it - my bet is they didn't feel the magic.

I think there's a lot to be said about escaping into the fantasy and immersing oneself into another realm. In addition, when someone is aware of the little details it makes the experience much more fantastic. I have always wanted to know how things are made, why things happen, what they do, how they work, etc.. It's a curiosity without limits. I think knowing all I do about various rides and attractions and the parks overall increased my amazement. But, my love of WDW is totally beyond that of any other place. Someday I may even figure out how to explain it.

Very few people understand why I enjoy going to WDW solo. It isn't that I don't enjoy going with others – I'm just very possessive and protective of my time there. The 5 years that I didn't go at all was the longest period of time away from WDW. I don't regret that but I do wish I had gone there during that time (and not by myself). But now I am alone again and have resumed the tradition of planning, going, then planning again. My next trip is 45 days from today (I am writing this well in advance of posting it! )(I should add writing this thing to planning and going) and I've already set up my vacation budget for the next trip – which starts with my first paycheck after I get home from this trip. In fact... the budget is written until 2010 and will be extended well after that I'm sure.

Budgeting for Vacation

Although I think it's a fairly obvious need, most people don't plan ahead for vacations. Being credit card-less, and working paycheck to paycheck – and having money garnished from my paycheck... I have to really save up for vacations. One benefit I have is that I can generally choose whatever time I want to go. I choose only the Value Season – when the best prices are available. That would be the end of August to early October usually – but I pick September. Though there's a slight downside to that – parks close earlier, it isn't as hot (to me that's bad), love bugs, hurricane threats, etc.. overall it's the perfect time. Using Excel or any spreadsheet I start out by making a calendar of at least 12 months – usually 24. I get paid every 2 weeks on Fridays – and I outline those days. There are 26 paychecks per year. My minimum budget amount per check is $80 – which would give me $2080. As a safety net, I usually put away more than $80. Using the same spreadsheet, I make a chart to track how much I planned to put away, how much I did put away, my planned balance, and the actual balance. It's a security blanket – if I put away more than $80 – at some point I can put away nothing – and still be ahead. My goal is to have enough money saved up so that I can pay for everything when it's time to buy it. This past year I had to increase my planned budget because of my surgery. I was out of work for 4 weeks and other lots of many much expenses. Many much. The $2080 by the way – is an overestimate of things I know I'll have to pay for. This is how I came up with that:

Budgeted Expenses Actual Expenses

Airfare $200.00 $138.80

Hotel, park

admission $1377.00 $1249.00

Food, drink $200.00 $0.00 (free dining in September)

ECV, $400.00 $255.00

(Aunt Goldie taking me to airport transportation airport.. free!)

TOTALS $2177.00 $1642.00

My budget was $535 over the actual cost. So that means that I will have that as random spending money - though I usually begin to take a separate set amount as I begin to pay off everything. Traditionally, I keep whatever my last paycheck before I leave as a cushion as well. The only way this is possible for me to do is to start putting money aside and make it as inaccessible to me as possible immediately after each and every trip. This year, when I return I'm going to get a lock box or something because I need to keep the money out of my view - which means out of my bank account. (It's really Aunt Goldie and me having a joint account because I have to keep the money out of my name) My point however is that the key thing is to plan ahead and put money aside as soon as you return since it becomes way less of a strain on the wallet and there's plenty of time to adapt. Airfares are never a sure thing.

I lucked out with the airfare to start. For September trips, I start looking at airfares in April to get an idea of where they're going. I try to stick with JetBlue because I found them to have the best prices and I enjoyed flying them last time. Plus I had a $40 credit with them because my fare last year dropped. My cutoff date for booking is the beginning of June. Quite often, I've seen fares drop significantly one day to the next.

Recently, JetBlue began flying out of a much closer airport. I always flew out of one of the big 3 airports – but figured I'd check to see the flights out of White Plains- Westchester airport. It so happened they had very good fares and very good flight times. Since it's pretty close – like 40 minutes at most – Aunt Goldie will happily drive me – saving me parking fees at the airport – which is $30 a day or $330 if there's even an available spot. (They haven't yet expanded their parking there). Little things like that save money. The past few years, WDW has offered their “Dining Plan” for free for several weeks around September. Normally it would cost about $38 a day for lots of food. Being that I can't eat all that much anymore.. I wouldn't pay for the plan.. however, since it's free – I can happily find food to eat – though not much.. all for free. YAY.

For non surgically altered people.. that's a whole lot of food each day. It includes 1 table service full meal, 1 counter service meal, and 1 snack each day. The meals include an appetizer, main course, dessert, drink.. it's a great plan especially for me this year since I'm not able to eat all that much at any given time.

Disabilities and WDW

One of the nicest attributes that can be said about WDW is the attempts they've made at creating the least restrictive environment for those who aren't as able bodied as others. Overall, it is one of the most accessible places. Over the past half decade or so, they've also integrated many of the handicapped accessible lines into the regular waiting lines. That has the effect of reducing the ability of people taking advantage of "shorter" lines by eliminating that separation. Where it used to be that a person with disabilities could bypass a waiting area or line along with their family - now it's more usual for them to have to wait along with everyone else. I'm extremely against that separation. Having been in the position where I was able to bypass lines, I saw lots of others taking advantage of it. My only major issue now is with the bus stops at resorts - I think those of us that use an ECV or wheelchair should wait in the regular line with everyone else and then when the next available bus comes, we can proceed to the handicapped loading area - rather than start out waiting there. Most often, waiting there would produce the same waiting time - but not always. Plus there's always people that try to get ahead of the crowd. Suffice it to say that I'm impressed by the attempt they've made but nothing is fool proof where fools are involved. Where applicable, I'll mention things that relate to this.

Not related to WDW, but a personal issue related to this topic is one of the things that convinced me that having weight loss surgery was a good choice for me. While being overweight is often viewed as something a person somehow chooses - for most of us it simply isn't. Granted, most overweight people make bad eating choices - but it's really a question of what came first.. the chicken or the egg? Due to not being able to exercise which is due to physical problems - less calories are burned, and over time, more pounds are packed on. Once you have excess pounds that somehow seem to increase overnight, it gets harder and harder. Whether I'm skinny or fat, my feet hurt. I've recently learned (after years of seeking reasons) that the problems don't lie within my feet. That's just where the majority of pain feels like it's focused. I was born with an assortment of defects – and over the course of time, they've caused more and more damage. Being overweight just added to my problems. My last vacation, September of 2006 was a turning point. Prior to that I had begun to consider weight loss surgery. When I boarded my flight and realized that I couldn't get the blasted seatbelt to close I looked around and saw people of all sizes that were able to buckle their seatbelt. It struck me that I wasn't doing myself any favors by ignoring my weight. It really bothered me a lot. After lots of thought, I realized that although being overweight was not the direct cause of my pain and problems, it certainly wasn't making things better. I took special notice of all the things that my size interfered with. I'm short – just 5 feet tall – and I would estimate that at that point I probably weighed in at 280 to 300 pounds. Things that normally would be taken for granted – like going through a turnstile, often require pre-planning. I'm hoping this year that the seatbelt fits and I won't need a seatbelt extender. I would like very much to be under 200 pounds when I go this year – and at my goal weight of 125 pounds this time next year. I bought a laptop computer to take with me (I missed having one last year!) so I will be able to update daily. Last year, I wrote the updates, but they never made it past the paper. The laptop I bought is an older Dell Inspiron Latitude (refurbished).

More on Planning Ahead

Back to the main topic at hand now! WDW! Part of my pre-departure planning includes making a daily schedule. One of the main reasons I do this, is to have a general idea of where I should make Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) which are even more important when using the Disney Dining Plan (DDP). Although reservations can generally be made 180 days in advance, there's not much reason for me to do so. If I wanted to eat at Cinderella's Castle – then yes – that would be necessary. But for me, especially as a solo guest, it's just not something I can plan that far ahead for. One thing I've learned – and especially now with my lessened eating – is to make reservations for sit down (table service) meals during the lunch time hours. The restaurants are much less busy (meaning it's way easier to get the time and places you want) and the counter service places are less busy later when everyone is crowding the sit down places. I would imagine that people needing to take a break from the heat during the day would also enjoy the table service when it's warmer out. I was able to get virtually every request for my ADRs within an hour or less of my request. One of the issues I've had is not knowing when I'll be hungry or knowing in advance what I want to eat. However, since the surgery, I've learned to try to eat at the same times every day and I've limited my food choices to high protein, healthier meals. Makes it much easier. I will be eating lots of broiled fish, lots of grilled chicken, probably turkey legs, and sandwiches. Before surgery – it would be cheeseburgers and fries, fried this or that, ribs with fries, and little if anything healthy. I took the time to review menus to make sure there would be decent choices for me.

For each day of my vacation (the upcoming one is 11 days long) I have a sheet of paper devoted to that day. I make a note of anything important I'll need to remember – like reservation numbers, confirmation numbers, park hours (which can and do change) and anything else I can think of. I also note any parades or special shows, as well as reminders I probably don't need. I write my plans for the day – which also change a lot – though I generally will go to whatever park I have an ADR at – though I could end up hopping all over the place. One of the major benefits of going solo is being able to change my mind over and over. I can plan and re-plan things on the fly. There's no one but my own needs or desires to deal with. I can be standing in the Magic Kingdom and decide I want to hop over to EPCOT to ride something – do so, and then hop back. I have nothing but time when I'm there. No one to answer to, no one to try to please – just me! If it sounds good.. it sure damn well is! Though I freely admit that anytime I've gone with others I've completely enjoyed it – especially because I always know I'll be back again to have yet another magical adventure. That's one reason that I do perpetual planning. I know I'll be going again. It is what makes it possible for me to leave and go back to regular life. (~~Sounds creepy, I know~~)

Walt Disney World Memories - Chapter One

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:27:00 GMT

Walt Disney World Memories

Ch. 1

Every time I've gone to Walt Disney World I say that I'm going to do a total trip report. Way back – long ago – I did so every time. But they're long lost now. I remember writing about how hard a time I had at one resort – I think it was the Caribbean Beach after it was first built (in the late 80's I think) because the beds were way too high. I had to put my suitcase on the floor, run up to it and jump to get into the bed. Then of course the first time I went after they refurbished all of the resort room toilets (making them more energy efficient).... flushing the toilet was a loud as a bomb going off (and still is). But it's all part of the atmosphere. What continues to amaze me is how WDW changes me and the positive effect it has on me before, during and after each trip. Over the years I've seen great things and bad things. I've had great experiences and really sucky ones. My intention is to try to remember as much as I can so I can keep these memories alive.

How can I ever forget the time when I waited 2 hours for a bus to pick me and my ECV (electric convenience vehicle = motorized scooter) to bring me back to the All-Star Sports resort from Downtown Disney. That was in 2001 I believe. Obviously I needed a handicapped bus. For some crazy reason, at least 6 of 10 buses didn't have working equipment – and 4 told me I'd have to wait since there was no room. Finally when I saw a driver that had seen me waiting twice already I told him I had been there well over an hour – and he corrected me saying the first time he was there was 1.5 hours (he had a chart) and that he was going to call dispatch and wait with me (his lift wasn't working). He waited with me and was so nice – finally a bus with a lift came and I boarded and told the driver I was staying at Sports – because he would have to stop to operate the lift once we got there.. Buses going to the All-Star resorts stop at each of the 3 resorts. And when we got to Sports – he stopped, let off the able footed people.. and then proceeded to pull out. Despite my yelling.. HEY! SIR! EXCUSE ME! he didn't even turn around. Another passenger walked up to him and reminded him I was going to Sports... however.. we were now mid route and had to do the whole thing over again.. back to Downtown Disney.. at which point... he was given a new route that didn't include Sports! (I'm getting angry typing about this!) I can't even tell you where I went – but it was another hour plus before we finally pulled into Sports. The driver was very apologetic – and I could tell he was truly sorry. But there was no excuse for all that and I called up transportation and spoke to someone – and they gave me a number to call if I had more trouble. They also told me they were working on a system to prevent such unfortunate incidents from happening (They're still working on it).

Anyway – so this is going to be my very long and very rambling Walt Disney World story. I probably will repeat things along the way – so forgive me if I do. I probably will repeat things along the way – so forgive me if I do

It all started with a mouse. Oh wait.. that's the story of Walt Disney's worlds... Not my story. My story begins in the 1970s with a popular television show named "The Wonderful World of Disney" which began airing back in the 50s. On many of the shows, Walt Disney appeared in his office and talked about things that sparked interest in kids all over, but mainly me. Walt was a grandfatherly kind of man - and I loved watching the show. Especially Mickey Mouse cartoons and shows about Disneyland. By 1970, there was a lot of discussion about the building of the "new" Magic Kingdom in Central Florida. I was 8 years old -- Bruce was 5, and Jamie was to be born in March of that year. A trip all the way to Florida was not even a remote possibility. For us, a trip to visit my grandparents in the Bronx was a big deal - it was almost an hour away - and a trip "upstate" to visit my other grandparents was a bigger deal - it was about an hour and a half away. I knew I wanted to go. But that it wouldn't be something I could do for a long time. In October of 1971, the Magic Kingdom opened in Central Florida. I watched it on tv. Every time it was replayed on tv - I watched it again. (There was no creation like video or VCRs and tv's had around 6 or 7 channels on VHF and sometimes we actually got UHF channels making a total of 9 channels available).

Fast forward to 1973. My grandmother (Nanny) along with Aunt Edy, her ex-husband (my Uncle Sol), my 4 year old cousin Shari, Aunt Goldie (who was 25) and 11 year old me embarked on a long journey - via a 1960's station wagon - to central Florida. Unfortunately, my memories are pretty jumbled now - but there's a few things that stand out. I remember Nanny sitting on a lot of benches knitting. I remember the pool at our hotel - especially the part where Shari threw up in the pool. I remember walking on grass with Aunt Goldie and the automatic sprinklers turned on and she started to run. I remember Uncle Sol breaking a toilet seat. I remember putting quarters into a box by the bed to make it vibrate - which I especially enjoyed doing while AG was asleep because it woke her up. But most of all I remember thinking that when I got older I wanted to return......

1981 - my freshman year of college - the time to return finally came. Me and 3 of my best friends used our Winter Vacation for a trip to Florida. The ultimate destination was South Florida to stay with their grandparents. (Mine never moved to Florida) However, my destination was Walt Disney World - and the one completed theme park - the Magic Kingdom. We were 19 years old. We flew to Orlando and rented a car (Alamo Rental Car) and bought 2 day passes for the Magic Kingdom. The passes were tags that we strung around our necks. We stayed in Central Florida for 4 days - and then had to drive to South Florida to Grandparentland. This was my first "adult" trip. This was a pivotal trip for me. I loved everything. The atmosphere. The themes - the ambiance. It was truly magical. To this day I remember how I felt when we parked our rental car and waited for the parking lot tram to whisk us off to the "main gate" of the Magic Kingdom. From the parking lot I could see the top of Cinderella's Castle - with the sun reflecting off of it. We boarded the tram and were instantly immersed in the Disney experience. Pixie Dust at its finest. At that moment, the rest of the world was gone. The tram dropped us off and there was gorgeous landscaping all around - lots of water, lots of people, lots of smiles. I think my mouth was permanently in the shocked and amazed position. Just looking at the amazing topiaries outside the main gate was an experience. Ahead of us were the ticket booths - above that the train station with a train passing - to one side the monorail passed over us - and to the other side - a portrait of Mickey Mouse done with flowers. We passed through the ticket booths and through the arches under the elevated train station and came out on Main Street in Town Square. Directly ahead at the end of Main Street was the Castle. It was incredible. The sights - the sounds - the smells all contributed to a very magical experience. For the next 2 days we rode everything, looked at everything, took zillions of pictures, and rode everything again. EPCOT Center was under construction - with an opening date of October 1, 1982. I knew that I wanted to be there again for that.

December 1982 - my first totally solo trip! I stayed at a cheap Days Inn Motel off property - but it didn't matter - I had a 4 day ticket and ended up buying an extra day (I was in Florida for 2 weeks - with plans of driving south after my Disney visit to be with friends) and spent 3 days at EPCOT Center and 2 days at the Magic Kingdom. If I had more money I'd probably have stayed at WDW the whole time. I loved every second of my time there. And that began the tradition of planning the next trip as soon as the current trip was over. By this time though my feet were giving me trouble - and many times I had to rent a wheelchair or ECV to get around. But Disney parks are so accessible so using a wheelchair was never a problem. The ECV was a bit more expensive, but much easier to use than a wheelchair - especially when I was alone. There were so many trips - way too many to remember. I went with friends, met friends there, met my parents there, my brother, on-line friends, etc... but always loved my solo journeys. I've stayed at many resorts over the years - but now will only stay at the Disney "Value" resorts. And now I rent an ECV from an outside company so I have use of it 100% of the time and wherever I go.