Scott Chester

Hilarye says you can do Disneyland in one day! That’s probably true if you set your mind to it and are willing to spend a long day. I like to just go occasionally for shorter periods of time so as not to run myself into the ground.

Dotting the Map » Blog Archive » How to do Disneyland in a day

I was always under the impression that you couldn’t get a new fast pass until your current one expired. Maybe I’ll have to take some more chances and see what kind of swiping I can do. I did just learn the other day (from Larilyn) that you apparently can have one fast pass in each park which is good.

And the best time to be on a ride is during the fireworks as most of the people are lined up on Main Street to see them! I guess I’m just not all that fascinated with fireworks. You could try to do an outside ride so you could watch them at the same time though.

So it turns out that some Verizon newbie decided to just unplug my fiber the other day and that’s why it wasn’t working. The repair guy had it fixed in seconds and then mentioned that there were some other houses out as well. This guy had unplugged about five of them. It really makes you have to wonder what was going on in the guys (or girl’s) head when he was unplugging the fiber lines from the switch.

I was fairly productive working from home today until about 2 and then went to Disneyland. Larilyn and Jessica were going and they invited me along. It was pretty crowded, but I think we all had a good time. I hadn’t been in months, either since I was there with Ashley or with Kelsey and Mandi.

In any event, I need to get to sleep, so that’s all for tonight!

This funky looking huge thing just went rolling up the street with a semi pushing it as well as pulling it! It had 4-5 police cars escorting it and some truck driving in front making sure the path was clear high enough for it as well. I didn’t get a really good look at it unfortunately though to figure out what the heck it could have been. I’m almost guessing it has something to do with the new overpass they are putting in just up the street, but that is only a total guess and maybe not much of a good once sine I didn’t see anyone working there tonight.

Today seemed to cruise by in the office. Batch and I went to the chamber for lunch and I won free advertising in the lobby. I went to the Rodriguez’s for dinner tonight and then went to try and do some home teaching with Zach. The three people we tried to visit all seemed to be MIA.

I was thinking about taking tomorrow off and going to Disneyland, but I couldn’t find anyone to go. Actually, I guess I never tried that hard as I think I only talked to Kelsey about it and we pretty much determined that she has no time for me. I told her we could make a quick trip in the evening, but I don’t think she thinks it would be worthwhile. I guess we’ll just have to see.

Verizon may be forcing me to take the day off though. My Fios wasn’t working when I got home from work today. The fail light is just flashing. I called tech support and they didn’t know what was going on with it. When it was working at 10 o’clock tonight, they decided they had better send a tech out, sometime between 8 and 2 tomorrow. That’s essentially the whole day! Now, trust me, I’m game with playing hooky tomorrow, I just want someone to play hooky with!

I’ve gotten behind again. There were some late nights when I didn’t think I had the time to write, and then there was just the laziness and getting wrapped up in having to watch TV constantly instead of actually being productive with the time which I have been given.

Disneyland on Thursday was fun with Ashley and Lauren. I couldn’t figure out where I knew her friend Lauren from and then it finally hit me as I was driving home. I met her the night Maegan dragged me to the night at the Oscar’s event in Vista. Lauren and Maegan were hanging out together, and I even believe I spent a good portion of the evening holding her purse. In any event, we had fun. Lauren hadn’t been there in six years and had never been on Tower of Terror. Ashley didn’t want to go, but we forced her into it. We actually were able to walk right onto Tower of Terror which I have never done before - like literally right into the library and then from there to an elevator! Lauren loved it, so we went again while Ashley recovered.

We met up with Tara and some of her friends, then the girls (Ashley and Lauren) left and Batch joined us. Batch and I went to Cheesecake where I had the best orange chicken I have ever had in my life! Tara and David got lost in the two blocks from Disneyland to The Cheesecake Factory, so it ended up just being Batch and I. It was after 10 when we got out of there. I had to talk my way out of the parking garage because I was over the free time by one minute. I tried to explain to the parking lot attendant that if there wasn’t a huge line of cars to get out, I would have been fine. He didn’t like that idea so I demanded to speak with a manager. After it was made clear that I wasn’t going anywhere but forward, he decided to let me through.

Things got crazy in the office on Friday. I don’t remember what exactly now, but I remember being busy which is abnormal for a Friday. I had a real estate agent call and check up on me and we decided to go out and look at houses this week. I got pre-approved for the loan today so when I find the right house I’m that much closer! We looked at a few out in French Valley today. I explained to Angela that I’m not really interested in living out there, I just like the Veranda Model 4. There are a couple great looking (from the web) homes out there, some of which just seem too good to be true and therefore probably are.

The ham radio class went about as expected on Saturday. Nobody was there when it was supposed to start. As Jeff and I were talking and packing things up, a father and son showed up. We spoke for probably a half hour about some of the basics before we sent him on his way and scheduled a new date for a class and exam.

Since I had some time on my hands Saturday morning, I decided to try and nail down exactly what it is that I like so much about Veranda model four. I think it really comes down to the kitchen and the laundry room. It might really just be the laundry room! I love that place! I guess I like the way it feels from the street as well and how much room there seems to be in the kitchen and the layout there. I also looked at the big development at the NE corner of Clinton Keith and I-15. I didn’t really like much there. I did find the KB Home development, Monticello II to be nice and liked the model four they have, but am thinking there are some better deals out there on resales.

I’ll have to get caught up on Sunday and such tomorrow. Good night!

OK, so I haven’t been writing much this week. In part, there hasn’t been much to write. I also know that is just an excuse and there is always something to write about. That’s what forcing yourself to write every night will teach you: to make something up if nothing really happened. No, that’s not true. Something always happens, even on the most routine of days. The problem is typically that I’m not willing to take the time some nights to actually figure out what interesting things happened during a day that I’m calling boring.

It was an interesting week with it being a short week in the office for me since I took off Monday. I was fairly busy all of the week, but it still hasn’t been the busy like I’m used to. Looking at the financials, our sales are definitely down and we need to come up with a plan to turn that around. We’ve been working on quoting a bunch of things, but quotes don’t pay the bills.

I’ve been looking at houses on redfin and have found a few that might have some potential. Actually, there was a fire in Murrieta behind one of them today! I was looking at satellite imagery of where a brush fire was and thought I recognized one of the houses/lots. Sure enough, it was one I had looked at. (The house wasn’t on fire, just some brush in a nearby greenbelt.) I’m thinking in the next few weeks I will work on getting prequalified for a loan and then maybe go look at some houses. I’m ready to get moving on this project. Of course, I’m a little cautioned by the drop at work, but I have faith that  it will work out - we just need to retool and push forward.

I didn’t make it to Disneyland on Friday with Lauren and her gang as was planned Thursday night. When I got into the office (to take care of the funds transfer for payroll), I ended up having to deal with WaMu for more than a half hour as they wouldn’t let me do a transfer between my accounts. I also found that Paychex had tried to debit our account when there were no funds in there, the idea behind the account, for something they shouldn’t have been charging us for. To their surprise, the transaction was returned and we were charged for a NSF transaction. After getting the ball rolling with that and getting payroll squared away, it wasn’t going to be worth the drive to Disneyland since I had to be back for a wedding that afternoon. Tara was trying to get me to go out and do something instead of staying at work. We couldn’t come up with anything and I actually was able to be somewhat productive in the office. Tata had suggested taking Mandi (as she was the only one she knew of who had the day off) to the beach, the zoo, the mall, etc, yet none of them sounded all that appealing.

Thursday, Tata was trying to convince me that I needed to get my act in gear and get married. She said that if I didn’t have a date on Friday night, I should be at the single’s dance. I tried to explain that the whole dance thing just wasn’t going to happen, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I finally got off the hook by telling her that if she got me out of the wedding, I would come up with a date for date (Friday) night. Fortunately, she didn’t come up with someone to work a wedding, so I didn’t have to come up with a date and was able to enjoy a nice quiet evening at home. I really do enjoy quiet evenings at home by myself probably a bit too much.

Today I watched too much TV. So much in fact that my DVR started at 99% full and when I finished I think it was close to 30%! It helped that I was able to delete a bunch of programming with only watching a few minutes of it to figure out that I had already seen the episodes. This evening I watched 1408, a movie about a haunted hotel room. It was fairly interesting, I’d give it 3/5 stars and while not really scary, it kept my interest, which can be hard after a day of watching TV already. I keep thinking that I need to watch less TV and spend more time reading, but I haven’t put that plan into action yet. Heck, I haven’t even seen, heard or read the Sunday sessions of conference from a month ago now!

Mandi and I finally made it to Disneyland today and Kelsey joined us. We had a good time even though we had to cut the trip short to get Kelsey to work by 3. It was pretty hot out there, so it was probably a good thing we didn’t stay all day long and totally exhaust ourselves. We did Space Mountain and Indiana Jones, then got Kelsey’s pass on the way to California Adventure where we hit up Tower of Terror (walked straight into the hotel) and California Screaming. We headed to Fudds after that. Neither Kels or Mandi had ever been there before, so I had to get them hooked!

I spent the rest of the day at the Dowden’s. We just hung out for a while, then decided to go get some new furniture they had been looking at. A new couch for upstairs and a new kitchen table. It was nice to take a break today and although I am exhausted, I feel much better.

I woke up around 6 this morning and wasn’t even really tired. I think I’m getting back to normal, which I love. I kept myself busy at the office, which was good. It wasn’t too hectic and I was able to cross a lot of things off of my to do list or at least progress forward with them. Exchange is only showing 16 overdue tasks now, cut well over half from what it was this morning.

I discovered yesterday that Outlook has a few features that have really won me over. It almost pains me to say this, but Microsoft has really gotten their act together with Outlook and it is much improved from previous versions. What really won me over the other day was when I was adding flights to my calendar and I was able to set different starting and ending timezones! I can’t believe that no other device has let me do this before because it seems so natural. Apple’s iCal does this weird thing with floating timezones, but that doesn’t really accomplish the job, it just allows you to make your flight when your phone changes timezones.

Another thing I have just started playing with, but makes total sense in Outlook is the ability to have recurring tasks. There are so many tasks that have never made my to do list because they were things that needed to be done on a weekly basis. With the ability to actually have the task repeat I can actually keep better track of things that I need to do and it will help me budget my time more effectively.

Now, that isn’t to say that Outlook isn’t without it’s own fair share of problems, but I’m starting to think it really is the way to go. Windows Mobile needs some serious improvements, primarily in the speed department, but there is no debate that the way the device works is almost like a miracle compared with other devices that have to be manually synced on occasion. If the combination can help me work so much better I can only imagine how much more productive it could make someone with a busier schedule or who is on the road more than me.

I left work a bit early this afternoon to go help Don get his email setup on his laptop before he goes to Hawaii in a few months. The VPN just makes things so easy. I was literally done with his request in a matter of minutes and then worked on some other things that he had on his list. I almost went to Disneyland, but Christa and Batch backed out at the last minute - literally. I had my bags packed and computer basically shut down when they decided they no longer wanted to go. It was good that we didn’t go through because I’m sure with spring break it would have been busy and I thoroughly enjoyed my quiet evening at home.

i was able to get caught up with reading blogs and such, enjoyed a nutritious dinner (cake) and then watched The Da Vinci code. I was a bit worried at first, but the movie turned out really good and was quite interesting. I don’t think I have anything on the agenda for this weekend, but I’m hoping that I can be productive. There is a lot that needs to be done around the house, so hopefully I can put my time to good use.

Tara would be proud of me this week. I think I only went out to eat twice - lunch on Monday and dinner on Wednesday! That might possibly be a new record. I brought lunch on Tuesday (soup) after forgetting on Monday. On Wednesday, I was rushing to get out of the house to catch Alison before she got to work and forgot to get lunch as well, but I decided to stop at the grocery store on the way in and get stuff to make lunch, so I’m stocked for a few more days still. Not only have I been eating at the office, but I have been at work everyday since Tuesday before 9!

I should start out by being honest and admitting that I didn’t accomplish much today. i did go for a bikeride, and I did a few things around the house, but I also did a lot of sitting around, playing and surfing facebook. This afternoon I started to get antsy, so I decided I was going to go to Disneyland. I thought Christa would go, but she had other plans. I thought Lauren would be up for going, but she had other plans as well, so it turned out to just be Larilyn and I. We still had fun and tried not to kill anyone. I found out that California Screaming is fun in the front. I guess the train is short enough that you don’t spend too much time waiting for the last car to catch up.

As we were driving home I started craving strawberry lemonade. i had thought about Teal earlier, but I didn’t really want to stop on the way out and they don’t make it convenient to get back to Katella. We ended up stopping in Irvine, and apparently Teal had already gotten the message to our waiter there. He decided to spill a glass or two of water on me since I had managed to escape Disneyland completely dry. (it probably had something to do with both Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates being closed.) Long story short, I didn’t melt and I made it home alive.

That’s it for now. I’m going to sleep as it is way, way, way the heck past my bedtime.

Today was a much needed change from the past week. I slept until almost noon - after getting home at 2 this morning - caught up on some computer stuff, opened the mail and took my sweet time doing nothing. I was thinking about going for a bikeride, but decided that my car really needed a cleaning and since it was basically her birthday, I decided she deserved some attention. I think I will have spent more time and money on her than myself because she’ll be getting new tires next week as well!

We were going to do baptisms at the temple tonight, but it sounds like the temple was booked with other groups. I went down on my own to the 7:30 endowment session. I was amazed with how many other people were there because before when I’ve been there late on a Saturday there has been no one around. Maybe with it being closed the last two weeks and everyone having stake conference last weekend, it motivated more people to come. It was good, I had a great time and it was probably exactly what I needed. I ran into Zach in the parking lot as I was leaving, I guess we should have met up and carpooled.

I swung by Krispy Kreme to make sure I got another filling of pumpkin spice before they disappear for nine months. I think I have another week left before they are gone because the Valentine’s doughnuts come out on the 29th.

On the subject of food, I decided to have a mint dark chocolate caramel dove square before going into the temple. I opened a new bag after struggling with it to find the message not very inspiring inside: “Be a best friend. Surrender your chocolate.” Me? Give up my chocolate? Are you crazy? I thought about it for a while driving home and decided maybe it was right, so I took my bag to Maegan.

I put my tickets for Wednesday (Brad Paisley - Idaho Center) on eBay today, and have started getting bids, so I guess Shelly and I won’t be going! I still haven’t figured out anything for Thursday, but I’m thinking at this point I should probably just sell those as well and wait for another show. I thought about the Vegas show as I was driving home from Vista and it appears there are still good seats left. Maybe I’ll sell the Salt Lake tickets and go to Vegas instead.

NAMM yesterday was tiring. I guess I just wasn’t into it this year. We got a late start because we were dealing with some things at the office so i missed a few of the sessions at the idea center I wanted to sit in on. I got some good brainstorming/thinking in during the one hour MBA session I sat in on. I’m hoping I can start putting some things into action this year. Christa and I decided we had had enough around 2 and headed to Disneyland where we met Bouse. We rode Tower of Terror and Screaming before heading off to Cheesecake.

We drove Teal crazy again, ate way too much food, had some Godiva Cheesecake and then proceeded back to Disneyland for a few more rides. We wanted to hit Tower and Screaming again in the dark, but ended up with only enough time for Tower. In Disneyland we hit Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates, Indiana Jones, the boats next to Indiana and Space Mountain. We were all talking about making it a quick trip and being out by 10, but we were still there when the park closed at 11. It was past 11:30 when we finally hit the road after shuffling people and stuff to different vehicles. I tried to stop at Krispy Kreme on the way home, but the one in OC wasn’t open 24 hours like I thought it was. It felt really good to sleep last night!

I probably could have something more thoughtful to say, but my brain is shutting down, so I’ll have to try again tomorrow.