Took JJ to see Wall-E this weekend.  He loved it, but probably not as much as me.  Right now I still think I like Incredibles more, but a second viewing of Wall-E will be necessary to determine if it stays that way.

In looking for a new book to read, I stumbled across Storming Las Vegas, the true story of a 2-year crime rampage in the mid 90’s in Las Vegas by 3 or 4 men to the tune of more than 1.5 million dollars.  Among the targets hit were 5 major casinos & 3 armored vans.  Danny Ocean eat your heart out.  Hopefully the story will prove as interesting as it sounds.

Apparently 1511 hours ago, JJ turned on the stopwatch on my iPhone.  I’m going to let it keep going.  Lets see what happens when it reaches 10,000.

Going on a 10 day trip to see the family.  I leave you with this quote from an AIM conversation:

“I feel the use of conductive materials & electricity in the birthday cake realm has been highly underutilized”

me: I bought a bunch of stuff to make kebobs tonight.

Theresa: We don’t have skewers.

me: Like I said, I bought a bunch of stuff to make a stir fry tonight.

Having finally decided it was time to buy an ipod & in need of a new phone with internet access, Theresa and I went to look at an iphone. As we were already with AT&T for our cellphone plan, the entire iphone month to month ended up only being $10 more per month with the data plan & such.

After 30 minutes with it, I am sold— but I won’t be buying a mac …… yet.

DROP THE PUCK!  Hockey season is here!

Sunday we met some of our friends at Disneyland for a day of rides, food & fun.

THE GOOD….
Theresa JJ & I arrived earlier than everyone else. We arrived at the park around 10 am. The first thing we did was get a parent pass for Space Mountain for later use. Following that we decided to take JJ on the Buzz Lightyear ride. As we are standing in the TEN MINUTE line, Theresa noticed 2 Disney employees standing in a little grotto with a big bag handing out something to a few passing guests. Quickly remembering that one of the special gifts for the Year of a Million Dreams promotion is a DreamPass (a fast pass for every ride in the park that accepts them), she jumped out of line signaling for me to follow. Lo & behold, they were Dream Passes — SCORE! They gave us 3 - one for Theresa, JJ & I each. Although JJ cannot go on most of the rides — nor does he even need a ticket — we were not complaining.

When the other 4 people arrived, we shared the good news & formulated the perfect plan….

Many people are not aware of the PARENT PASS for Disneyland. Putting it simply — it allows half of a small group with a young child to get in line. The other half is given a go-to-the-front-of-the-line free card & is supposed to wait at the end of ride. When group 1 gets off the ride, group 2 goes right to the beginning of the line & gets on.

With six adults, 2 children & 3 Dream Passes, we were able to approach every ride, get parent passes for half of us & let the other half walk right in to the Fast Pass entry. Although a couple had to split up for some of the rides, it was still one hell of a time.

THE BAD…
JJ got his hands on our digital camera & broke the LCD screen on it. We have been told that we should be able to replace it very cheaply though. Hopefully this will prove true. We took pictures blind for the rest of the day, but have finally learned our lesson on JJ’s toys vs our toys & are firmly drawing the line now.

THE DISTURBING…
Theresa and I were standing at the gates to the Indiana Jones ride. The group in front of us had just gotten on, but the car was not moving. In the row in front of us, a woman and her 2 young teenage boys had boarded. One of the boys was scared — really scared. He got off the ride & was crying & pleading “I don’t want to go. I’m scared.” A kind parent would have stepped off the ride & waited with the crying child while her other son went on the ride. This woman got off the ride vehicle & chased her son down the exit ramp to try to force him to get on. At this point — other people waiting started loudly pleading to the woman, “don’t make him get on.” She gets back on the ride, points at her son & says “Don’t you move on inch from that spot or so help me…” I was rather shocked by the whole scene & how selfish this woman was being. It was a true sample of parenting at its finest.

A couple of projects I have been working on recently finally launched. I’ve been busier than ever these past couple of months. So busy in fact that I had to break down and purchase a laptop to take with me on vacation — so I could do some work.

With my freelance career now going 8 months strong, I am working harder than I ever worked as a full time employee, but I find myself happier at the end of the day & much more satisfied with the changes that came with the independence gained.

The first project that launched a few weeks ago was The Kingdom. The Kingdom was actually my very first full-fledged contract arranged just before I left Trailer Park in January. Originally supposed to release in April, the movie was pushed back to September & as such, the website was shelved for a few months.

The second project, Resident Evil just launched last week. This is the franchise / game website & not the site for the new Resident Evil movie. As a Wii owner, I will definitely be checking out the new title that they are releasing in November.

me: dumb question
Ben Grogan: ok go
me: is 2+2 5?
Ben Grogan: let me check
Ben Grogan: i think my calculator is broken
Ben Grogan: it keeps saying it’s 4
me: damn
me: use a bigger font