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New project = big change

After 9 years working for WDPR-IT at Disney Cruise Line I have been asked to Manage the Technology Infrastructure for the Disneyland Shanghai, China resort. Today I am flying to Glendale, California where the main Imagineering headquarters are located. Traveling with my VP and another Manager to get our roles and responsibilities clearly defined. This is my second United flight ever (see previous bad experience in blog) and upon arriving at airport I find out flight 277 is delayed 90 minutes. We were then told there was no food put on this plane prior to arriving so they made an announcement to go to the snack bar in the airport.  I expect to be doing a lot of these West Coast trips so I hope I can get on Delta in the future to keep enhancing my frequent miles.

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DeLeon springs ride

This will be in history books. 6 riders tackling 62 miles on a route that Google chose. We started out with a new chickfila employee messing our order up. Then a helmet rolled off the back of a motorcycle on I-4 at hwy speed. Said helmet went under our Honda minivan and lodge itself under the engine. The noise, the chaos inside the car and traffic was crazy. I pulled over and we could not dislodge it. I backed over a drainage culvert with no luck so I backed down I-4 until I could back up onto a curb which freed it just before it burst into flames. The burning smell from it sitting on tailpipe was pretty strong. Then we went up to the trailhead and started our adventure a little late. 3 flats later and multiple missed turns we made it to the DeLeon spring as the winds picked up. We ran into a 12k miles a year bicyclist that gave us a short tour of Volusia county getting us back on course. Ultimately Chance and Eddie made it to the cars and reran the route to pick up the remaining spent carcasses the wind defeated. What a day. Total mileages were 56 -79 depending on your energy.

Big training ride today

Kevin Hart has joined the team and he mentioned the Deleon Springs Sugar Mill. So using Google Bicycle and then Map my Ride I put together a 64 mile roundtrip ride.

This will be on roads we have never ridden but it seems from Google street view it should be scenic.

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Steep Canyon Rangers at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa. Great venue, great warm up band and SCR was great. Wrapped up at 12:45 which made for a late night return to O-town

Heading home

One of the reasons I wanted to go back to New Orleans was for Stephanie to go to Mississippi which is her birthplace. While we did not make it to Jackson but we did get a perfect picture for her.

Nottoway Plantation a wonderful experience

While the movie in the Victory Theater was the highlight of our trip it was followed by the Nottoway Plantation which is on the banks of the Mississippi below Baton Rouge. We arrived in the evening and we were met by the evening manager who personally escorted us to our room through the night-lit gardens.

The accommodations exceed our expectations and we slept like babies. We stayed in the Overseer house on the ground floor in room 7. The next morning we ate a great full buffet and then took a tour of the house.  Everything was included in the cost of the overnight stay.  This was unexpected.  While their website explains the grounds I want to point out that they recently went through a ten million dollar restoration and Katrina is still impacting their business. This is total package and is highly recommended by Sally and myself!

Acme Oyster house

Took Sally and Steph to Acme for wonderful food, great service and atmosphere.

The National World War II Museum’s cutting-edge Solomon Victory Theater

From a press release:

NEW ORLEANS (November 6, 2009) – The National World War II Museum opened three new venues this morning with a combination of power, pomp and poignancy as Hollywood celebrities including Tom Hanks, Patricia Clarkson and Mickey Rooney, a flyover squadron of military jets and a crowd of 4,000 invitees saluted 350 WWII veterans assembled on the Museum’s parade grounds.
The new attractions are the Solomon Victory Theater, Stage Door Canteen entertainment venue and The American Sector, a Chef John Besh restaurant. Together, they represent the most significant cultural additions to New Orleans since Katrina and are the next phase of the Museum’s ongoing $300 million expansion.
The centerpiece of the 70,000-square-foot expansion, the Solomon Victory Theater, will screen the 4-D cinematic production Beyond All Boundaries – a 35-minute immersive journey from Pearl Harbor to VJ Day featuring breathtaking effects, rare archival footage and images, CGI animation and multi-layered projection. Seats rumble as Tiger tanks storm across the deserts of North Africa and snow gently falls in the forests of the Ardennes on the eve of the Battle of the Bulge. Executive Producer Tom Hanks, Creative Director Phil Hettema, celebrated historians Donald L. Miller and Hugh Ambrose, and the Museum’s research team came together to create an experience that is emotional, visceral, engaging and, most importantly, historically accurate.
“This isn’t another World War II film,” says National World War II Museum President and CEO Dr. Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller, who first conceived the concept for the attraction. “This is a cinematic experience unavailable anywhere else in the world. The narrative uses the combatants’, journalists’ and Home Front workers’ own words to tell the story of the war. It’s an unprecedented journey that took America Beyond All Boundaries of warfare and sacrifice.”

The movie is a must see by every American it is truly an incredible experience. I do not care how much you may think you know about WWII but you will walk away with a new appreciation of the dedication a generation devoted to give us Liberty.

The Museum is impressive but see the movie first then the exhibits will add to your experience. If you only have an hour see the movie; period is is an experience.

Here is a link to more videos about Beyond all Boundaries.  

Brkfst at the clover grill on bourbon

Sally and I left the princess sleep while we went for breakfast.  We endured the putrid smells of Bourbon St. the morning after. Stepping over flowing water as bars we being sprayed out with pressure washers. Our destination was the Clover grill which was an old school treat.  The best grits hands down, bacon was great as well.  We both had coffee, eggs, bacon, grits and toast on Bourbon st for less than $10 EA.

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Well we walked around French quarter looking for some Tom shoes for steph. In this picture she is telling Sally and I how much we annoy her.

I knew that Hurricane Katrina overflowed through the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) - a commercial channel dug by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 60s - and flooded most of the town, with waters as high as 14 to 15 feet  in some places. But I did not know that as a result, Chalmette was entirely destroyed. A majority of the population evacuated shortly before the storm hit, but I learned there was still significant loss of life.
As of October 2005, most of the buildings were deemed unsaveable. There was also many oil spills causing environmental problems.  As we drove through we saw the condemned homes.  It was a constant reminder that something horrific occurred six years earlier.

 But is was also great to see that some people have started to rebuild.

We also saw a community of new prefabricated homes. I later researched that they were glidehouses that are eco friendly. We noticed right away the large solar arrays on their roofs.  Utilities are above ground so power outages are frequent with bad storms.  Solar will help minimize the inconvenience.

 
The Hurricane and the long rebuild is a great reason to visit New Orleans to help build their economy and their quest for normalcy.  If you can donate your time or your vacation dollars I am sure NO will be appreciative.

Louisiana Crawfish Festival

After the Swamp tour we drove through Mandeville where Sally and I lived for a year. Our constant memories was driving Stephanie crazy so on went the earbuds until we got on the Pontchartrain bridge. She was amazed by the 24 mile bridge.

We then headed to Chalmette where the Louisiana Crawfish Festival was taking place. 

Boiled Crawfish

Live Music

Alligator on a stick

We also had some étouffée and gumbo.

Honey Island Swamp

After a short ride from Ocean Spring, MS where we crashed for the night we embarked on a 2 hr tour of Honey Island Swamp. We took this tour 19 years ago with the Bobbitt's and Chance when he was a newborn. Yes, we were stupid not because it was extremely unsafe to take a new born in a cold wet boat but because we went in January and everyone knows there are no amphibians out when it is cold.  This time the swamp was 5' over normal height due to spring flooding from snow melting up North.  We saw a few snakes, birds and a single 5' gator.

I suggest going in May when it is not quite in the middle of summer but warmer than March and April.

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This is stephanie on her first stint of driving on our spring break trip to Louisiana. She is hording the milk chocolate M&Ms.
Orlando to OceanSprings, MS took 8.5 hours.  We stopped in Chipley, Fl at Skins & Bubbas BBQ. This is a local family restaurant, we were at first apprehensive because it seemed everyone stopped and stared when we entered but the service and food did not disappoint.

Miami @ Epic

At the World cruise conference in Miami.

Willy Wonka

Well Chance's spring break is taking place in New Orleans.  He has his own blog with pictures. Our nephew, William, played Willy Wonka in his school play so Sally, Stephanie and I drove up after the Coach got off work.  All of Sally's siblings showed up making it a special day as it has been a long time since they have been together.  It was quite a show!

https://picasaweb.google.com/wagsplace/2011_03_05_WillieWonka?authkey=Gv1sRgCPnRzoaTpqnStAE&feat=directlink

Technology continues to astound me

Hello from I-4! Many people can communicate while being mobile but right now I am in the back seat of a car on my company laptop with NO wires attached. Sally's new MyTouch 4G has a hotspot mode that broadcasts a wireless signal like your house router.  I typed in the password and WA-La! This connection when connected to a 4G tower can be equal to the bandwidth we have on the ship and the latency is faster.

We are heading to Savannah for the day to see William play Willie Wonka in his school play.  Chance is in New Orleans for Mardi-Gra.  He has a friend that has a grandmother on the North side of the lake.  They are below I-10 so they must be good coonasses.  It is a large family that live in different parts of New Orleans and there are three separate parties starting today and culminating with the CBD parade.  Chance is fortunate to get to participate with a family that lives their.  It was very odd giving him ides on bars and places to visit. I truly hope he can get into the Ye Olde Dungeon.