Tales of Tweedle Tomfoolery

What is the world is she up to now?

2012-02-05T20:29:00.001-08:00

One month down and 11 more to go in 2012! What an amazing month it has been! This is the first time in a while that I have had something interesting to write about…. I had a conversation recently with an HR manager who I am networking with in an attempt to move up into management. He encouraged me to send out updates periodically to stay on people’s radar and to let them know what I have been doing. My first thought was “What do I do that is interesting enough to tell people?!” Have you ever had that thought? I usually have it when I run into someone I have not seen in a while and they ask “so what have you been up to lately?” I am always busy doing stuff but “stuff” is not very interesting to most people. Sure Grad school is exciting and working at Disney always stimulates the conversation but after that what do I share?? Sure I am learning and working but that is old hat. I mean honestly I have been in school FOREVER, so nothing new there and work is fun but I am not just that girl who works for a mouse. It’s too easy to get stuck in a rut. Blah! That is what I was feeling until I did two things I never in a million years thought I would ACTUALLY do… I ran a half Marathon and I took a motorcycle class!!! Gasp! I know…. It surprised me too. I am defying my stereotype and it felt awesome. Both of these activates were so outside my comfort zone I honestly had no idea if I would actually be able to complete them much less be any good at them! Maybe it was the endorphins or maybe it was the fumes from the motorcycle in front of me but I have decided to continue this madness all year. Therefore, every month I vow to do at least one thing I have never done before. I put it into writing so that people will hold me accountable. I have titled my new activities my “monthly madness”. I am not having a mid-life crisis and I have no desire to jump out of a plane. I just want to be more interesting my trying new things… new skills, new flavors, new places, new people etc. I don’t even think they have to be BIG activities that are expensive or death defying. My only rule is that they have to be something I have never done before. Feel free to contribute ideas and check up on me. Hopefully when people ask “so what have you been up to” this year, I will finally have something fun to talk about!

January

Walt Disney World Half Marathon! This experience was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I expected to feel proud of my accomplishment and I expected to be really tired but I thought it would be torturous. Travis came down to run it with me and Lindsea played paparazzi on the sidelines. I was so excited in the morning that I Travis got annoyed with my yippy, little dog impression and gave me the “calm down before I kill you” look. It was really early in the morning and Travis has never been a morning person! We ran a good bit of the time and at every mile marker I kept thinking “wow I have run X amount of miles?! A few months ago I couldn’t even run 1 mile!” It was fun looking at all the other runners so of which dressed up in costumes or had funny saying on their shirts. I dig the mass running experience. It is hard to get bored running behind Santa Claus! At the end of the race we got awesome gold medals in the shape of Donald Duck and enjoyed some tasty beverages while we limped back to the car. I came home and crashed for two hours before getting back up to set up for my birthday party. I was a little sore for a few days but poor Travis looked ready for an ambulance or a deep tissue massage. Travis, next time just train for crying out loud!

Motorcycle c lass-
When Travis and Lindsea left in November they couldn’t fit the motorcycle in the U-haul so it has been parked at my house feeling neglected. In the 2 years that Travis has had the bike there were conversations about me getting a motorcycle license but mostly the idea was rejected outright. It was just too outside of my comfort zone. Well, Mom had some car issues and we had to do a bit of scrambling to arrange transportation to and from work. This is when I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and just do it. If a situation ever arose again I would take the motorcycle and mom could use the car. It was a bit crazy but it made sense when taken from a logical point-of-view. So I signed up for class and ignored my inner voice that kept repeating “this is crazy”. I was the only girl and sadly I don’t think anyone expected me to be any good. I passed the class just fine except for my inability to find second gear, I was actually pretty good! The class was fun and I learned A LOT. I felt so confident coming out of that class. I am highly amused by the Face book comments and reactions of people when they find out I can drive a motorcycle. It literally blows people’s minds! I am getting use to the biker babe comments and there is nothing feminine about Travis’ motorcycle but I get a big kick out saying I am now certified in automobile, 15 passenger vans, Segways and motorcycles. I wonder if I can put that on my resume?!

See ya next month for more adventures with Sarah….. In the mean time, what have you done lately? I challenge you to try something new and blog about it too. I cannot wait to read all about it!

More Cupcakes

2011-06-23T09:13:00.001-07:00

Sooooo... I probably should have paid closer attention to the ingredients of the tiramasu recipe. I know that there are LDS friendly recipes out there so please feel free to improvise. Here are a couple more recipes that sound interesting... Bon Apetit!

Maple Syrup Cupcakes

For The Cupcakes…

5 ½ ounces cake flour
5 ½ ounces super fine sugar
6 ounces unsalted butter softened
3 large lightly beaten eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon maple flavored syrup

For The Cream Cheese Icing…

1 ounce unsalted butter softened
3 ounces cream cheese softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Maple sugar to sprinkle

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350° F (180° C) and prepare 12 paper cupcake cases in muffin tins.

Place softened butter and sugar into a bowl and cream with an electric mixer until the butter changes color. (generally 2 minutes)

Add in lightly beaten eggs to the mix a little at a time, beating on slow for 15 seconds between each addition. Add Vanilla then sift in flour and baking powder and mix for a further minute, then mix in maple
flavored syrup.

Spoon batter into cases until they are approx 2/3rds full and then place in the middle rack in your preheated oven.

Bake for approx 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, then remove and let sit for a few minutes before removing the cupcakes from the tins and placing them on a wire rack to cool.

To make cream cheese icing, add softened cream cheese and butter to a bowl, along with powdered sugar,

maple flavored syrup and mix with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Spread icing onto cool cupcakes and sprinkle with maple sugar granules.

Carrot and Cardamom Cupcake

Lightly spiced and topped with a creamy citrus mascarpone frosting, these delightful cupcakes are just the thing when you need a treat. They’re not too sweet, but offer just the right combination of crunch, crumble, spice, sweetness, and creaminess-plus that little hint of naughtiness that a cupcake should always have.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup sunflower oil
2 eggs
grated peel of 1 unwaxed orange
seeds from 5 cardamom pods, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 carrots, grated
1/2 cup shelled walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped

To Decorate:

2/3 mascarpone
finely grated peel of 1 unwaxed orange
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

a 12-cup cupcake pan, lined with paper liners, makes 12

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Put the sugar in a bowl and break up using the back of a fork, then beat in the oil and eggs. Stir in the orange peel, crushed cardamom seeds, and ginger, then sift the flour into the mixture and fold in, followed by the carrot and nuts.

Spoon the mixture into the paper liners and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To decorate, beat the mascarpone, orange peel, lemon juice, and sugar together in a bowl and spread over the cupcakes.

CREAMY COCONUT CUPCAKES

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons coconut cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons dried coconut
grated peel of 1 unwaxed lime
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Beat the butter, coconut cream, and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and fold in, then stir in the dried coconut and lime peel, followed by the milk.

Spoon the mixture into the paper liners, then bake in the preheated oven for about 17 minutes until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

TO DECORATE

5 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
coconut shavings

To decorate, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and lime juice together in a bowl. Swirl the frosting on top of the cupcakes, then sprinkle over coconut shavings in a thick layer.

makes 12

Apple Cupcakes With Cinnamon-Marshmallow Frosting

1 1/2 cups shredded peeled apples
1/2 cup diced dried apples
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar, plus 3/4 cup, divided
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk

Frosting

1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup water
4 teaspoons dried egg whites (see Note), reconstituted according to package directions (equivalent to 2 egg whites)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for garnish

Preparation

To prepare cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups with cupcake liners or coat with cooking spray.
Combine shredded and dried apples in a bowl with 3 tablespoons brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside. Beat oil and the remaining 3/4 cup brown sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time until combined. Add vanilla, increase speed to high and beat for 1 minute.
Whisk whole-wheat flour, cake flour, baking soda, salt and the remaining 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a medium bowl.
With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and buttermilk to the batter, starting and ending with dry ingredients and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, until just combined. Stir in the reserved apple mixture until just combined. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. (The cups will be full.)
Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before frosting.
To prepare frosting: Bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in the bottom of a double boiler (see Tip). Combine 1 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup water in the top of the double boiler. Heat over the simmering water, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, 2 to 3 minutes. Add reconstituted egg whites, cream of tartar and pinch of salt. Beat with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture is glossy and thick, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the top pan from the heat and continue beating for 1 minute more to cool. Add vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and beat on low just to combine. Spread or pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle cinnamon on top, if desired.

The cupcake trials

2011-06-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

After the heaviness of my post yesterday I think a "sweeter" post is called for. :) Friends/Family, I need your help! A few posts ago I talked about a program that I am developing for the RS Broadcast later this year. I have decided that for dessert we will prepare a variety of cupcakes that will reflect the international flair of the church. So I am looking for/ testing recipes that I hope will be both yummy and a little different. How can you help? So glad you asked... it's simple, try out some of the recipes below and tell me what you think. It's a collaborative approach that will be both fun and easy on my diet! Oh, and if you have any recipes that you would like to share please let me know!!! Here is my vision... I would like to feature 4 or 5 different cupcakes that bring to mind some of the following cultures: European, Polynesian, South America, Asia, Africa and North America. The church is everywhere and it would be fun (though impossible) to feature them all so I am focusing on those that are either more recognizable or those that are reflected in our Stake (Philippines, Japan, Korea, Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Brazil, Various S. American countries and of course the USA or possible the pioneers). Thanks everyone! Happy baking:)

Gingerbread Cupcakes
Yield 12 cupcakes

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup hot milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter or line with paper liners a 12-cup muffin tin.
Cream 5 tablespoons of the butter with the white sugar. Add the molasses and the egg and egg yolk.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tin.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and remove to a rack to cool.
To Make Frosting: Cream the 2 tablespoons butter and the cream cheese together. Beat in the confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Add the lemon extract and beat. When the cupcakes are cool, frost the tops with the frosting and serve.

Tropical Hummingbird Cake

3 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup 1% buttermilk
1 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 cups diced bananas
2 (8-ounce) containers fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup light butter
3/4 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
1 teaspoon banana extract
1.Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a large cookie sheet with sides, or an 11 x 17 inch jelly roll pan.\
2.Combine flour, 1 1/4 cups SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat together eggs, buttermilk, and applesauce; pour into dry ingredients, and stir until moistened. Do not beat. Stir in bananas, vanilla, pineapple, and pecans.
3.Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until done. Cool on a wire rack.
4.Beat together cream cheese, light butter, 3/4 cup SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener, and 1 teaspoon banana flavoring until light and fluffy. Spread over the top of the cooled cake.

Chocolate Tiramisu Cupcakes

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons brandy (optional)
Frosting
8 ounces mascarpone cheese or cream cheese
1 1/2 to 1-3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

PREPARATION:
1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 30 standard (2-1/2-inch) muffin pan cups with paper baking cups.
2.Combine all cupcake ingredients in large bowl; beat with electric mixer at low speed 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.
3.Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. (At this point, cupcakes may be frozen up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before frosting.)
4.For frosting, combine mascarpone cheese and 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar in large bowl; beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add liqueur; beat until well blended. If frosting is too soft, beat in additional powdered sugar or chill until spreadable.
5.Frost cooled cupcakes with frosting. Place cocoa in strainer; shake over cupcakes. Store at room temperature up to 24 hours or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days before serving.

Here's your bumper sticker...

2011-06-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

After a semi-horrific morning at work i was chatting with Travis and we were discussing my completely unreasonable and obnoxious Guest. Somewhere along the line i made the comment about getting a tattoo on forehead and what it would say. Well, tattoos are bad for you so I am substituting tattoos for bumper stickers. My three suggestions are "I may smile alot but I am not an idiot". This is one is for all those people who look at me like I am stupid for suggesting that they "play along" and try to have a good time. These are also the same people that complain that Disney "is just not the same as when they were a kid", maybe that is because when you were a kid you LET yourself have a good time. These are also the same people who want me to talk about how hot it must be inside all that fur and then look at me like I am the idiot when respond with "i have no idea what you are talking about". Hello! just because you are stodgy doesn't mean you have to ruin it for your kid who is hanging on every your every word!! My second suggestion was "having money does not make you better than me" seriously, people! You are just one stock market crash away from us pee-ons so I wouldn't take that attitude with me, mister! So don't come crying to me when you are broke, your maid quits and you can't figure out how to operate the washing machine. I don't care if you never have clean underwear again. And to all my diva mom's who let the nanny's raise the kids and spend all day shopping,beautifying and exercising bc you are a trophy wife and you are afraid you shallow husband is gonna leave you for a newer model this bumper sticker is for you "I don't have time for your stupidity, I work for a living".

Well, I feel better. How about you? Moral of the story...? Money does NOT buy you happiness because at the end of the day I can drop you off at your hotel and forget about you but unfortunately for you... there is no where you can hide from from your miserable self.

Thank you and good night!

How do I get myself into these situations (and how can i get myself out!!!)

2011-06-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

I am either blessed or cursed with a really good imagination. It has served me well over the years with the various organizations I have been involved in. I can usually be counted on to come up with a fun, fresh approach for things large and small. I have a lot of fun thinking outside the box and internally chanting "Go big or go home!!" And if there have been occasions in which I have bitten off more than I can chew .... well... somehow it just all seems to work out in the end thanks to divine intervention and people who love me. :) The older I get the less I have to convince people to play along with my schemes. It is like they believe in me (poor fools). If that isn't scary enough I actually have people come to me for ideas! That is a lot of pressure because now these poor souls have "expectations" and I feel all this "pressure" to "deliver". I have to admit it is way more fun to prove people wrong about an idea than it is to live up to them. Let me tell you a story to illustrate my latest predicament...

Once upon a time (ooo this is going to be a good one. All the best stories start that way!) there was a beautiful princess (that's me) and the royal calling of "Relief Society Teacher"! The winsome, young(ish) princess' first task was to teach Genealogy to a room full of Young Single Adults. To make the epic task even more challenging she had to make it INTERESTING (gasp!). No one to quiver in the face of fear (maybe in the face of her mother but never fear)she immediately began to plot. After much contemplation and fervent prayer she was struck by lightening!! err... I mean she was struck by inspiration!!! (swhoo, that much less painful!) She had a plan! Here's what happened... thinking of genealogy made her think of families sharing stories... thinking families made her think of food (it's a natural association!)... thinking of food made her think of the Food Network and ... eureka, she decided to do a "cooking show"! It was brilliant! She would even through in "commercials" about journaling, a dead relative waiting for her work to be done and new family serach.org. It went over like candy in a kindergarten class and they didn't strip me of my calling :). Little did I know the stake Relief Society President was in the audience and she got it into her head that my insanity should spread to the Gen RS broadcast/ program. I did an impressive duck and deflect routine but she is a tenacious little, old lady and I acquiesced.

Present day: So here I am desperately trying to come up with something hip happening and religious that will both "wow" and inspire. Sister Hales would probably like me to do the cooking show format again but I do not repeat myself. The topic?? Women in Church History! It sounds easy, right? Well, it's not. The pioneer thing has been done and redone and undone so I am done with it (that statement does not in any way mean that I do not respect the amazing accomplishment of those fabulous sisters!). the challenge is to inspire the sisters to learn about and learn from the sisters who have gone before. Sooooo here is the big idea... are you ready??? Disclaimer: This idea is still in the preliminary planning stages and the author reserves the right to change her mind at any time as is the prerogative of all women.

The basic idea is this... Night at the Museum: special exhibit of Women in Church History. Where the paintings, sculptures and copper busts representing real life sisters come to life and talk about the church in their era. I am thinking of it is an historical comedy/ religious experience. In short a life changing event!!! Sounds good right??? I think so too!!! I can't wait to get started! And then reality interferes and I remember that I have a non-existent budget and there is pitifully small amount of information on non-pioneer women in church history especially if you want to include women of other cultures to reflect the cultures of the audience members!!! Not to mention that I would have to carve out a sliver of time in my incredibly over scheduled life to write a script, design costume pieces, hold rehearsals, etc. All of which leads me to ask "How do I get myself into these situations (and how can i get myself out!!!)"

P.S. if anybody has any costume pieces or life size picture frames or anything else that they would like to contribute to my latest insanity, call me! :)

It's just too depressing...

2011-04-15T18:28:00.000-07:00

After so much time without a post I doubt I even have followers left to read my musings. I am sorry world! Come back! Every time I blink I feel like 2 weeks just passed ... an eye rub and there goes a month... take a nap and I am Rip Van Winkle! Since October (the last post) Travis and Lindsea tied the knot. We laughed, we cried (we very nearly died!) and before we knew it they starting gun was shot off and they had begun their "marathon to eternity". Now three months has passed and they are all settled into to their starter apartment and trying to pretend like they want to actually wait a year before adding children (like responsible adults;) or if they want to add a little bundle of joy to the mix. Personally, I think they just like to play with pregnancy tests and will soon need to buy stock if they don't stop it. I mean really guys... you know what causes that, right?? I blame it on Spring, and cute Easter decorations with little chicks and bunny rabbits.

So why the title of this post??? Well Travis decided to get a blog with Lindsea and let this one behind. I get it but honestly, you should have said something! I had to find out about it months after the fact... on Facebook! Geez, I should have made you forfiet your Communications degree with that one. I logged in today all motivated to write something awesome when I realized that I would have to rewrite the whole profile and the picture and all this stuff. I just couldn't face it... so I quit. Yeah that is my passive aggressive approach to change. Travis... you gunky! Good thing I am not only awesome but awesomely forgiving. Lucky you.

Well, now that I got that out of my system let me try to tell you something interesting about my life... well...ummm... oh yeah!... nah that's not interesting...hmmm... ok, well let me tell you what's happening and you can just nod politely. :)

I am still with Guest Communication Services though they shortened our name to just Guest Services. I don't like it. I wish they would change it. I thought about writing a letter to express my opinion but then I realized that it would just come to me and then I would have to send a standard response thanking myself for the feedback and I just folded ... like origami. That's how I roll these days people. I have to save up for the big fights (like getting into the bathroom faster than my roommates in the morning when the bladder pushes the panic button and it's do or die kind of situation.) GC gave me a full time status and a fancy little cubical with no view and told me that I was a big girl now. I told them that I became a big girl the day my mother called me into the kitchen for the first time to reach something from the top shelf. They looked at me blankly and told them to think about it for awhile to see if it got funnier with time. I have gotten so amazing stories out of Guest Comm and a lot less hair on my head. It is not for the faint of heart but I feel like I could probably slip into the office of Vice-President of the United States of America with very little problem. If people complained I would just offer them free tickets to a White House dinner or maybe Rhode Island. You may wonder why the Vice President slot instead of the President... it's simple really... I like to have at least one person above me so that I can say that my boss won't let me do what they are asking. It's called the deflect and close. File that away, you will need it one day. Just remember cash donations are always appreciated and often tax deductible.

So, I am acquiring knowledge and experience and then yesterday I get the call that I am going back to tours!! Yeah:) Honestly, I AM excited ... but it get's really hot in May, June and July. I was willing to put up with a lot of unreasonable people because of all that wonderful air conditioning. Well that's the way the cookie crumbles:) I am back in plaid on Friday for 3 whole months. I think it will be a great mental health break and I also get the added bonus of lots of walking and a sexy farmer's tan. "My sock lines brings the boys to the yard!" (think about it...maybe it gets funnier with time:)

Speaking of boys... once Travis tied the knot he became one of "those" people... yeah the "when are you going to get married" people. I am really good at changing the subject, though honestly it's not hard. I really only have to talk about how big and flat and plasma-like his new T.V. is and he is distracted for at least 20 minutes. It's a dirty trick but desperate times call for desperate measures!!! He even went so far as to fill out a profile for me on eharmony. I told him that he could just filter all the boys for me too and let me know which one is my eternal companion. He thought it was weird for him to be looking at guys so I suggested Lindsea could help. I guess they just don't recognize a prime bonding activity when it is presented to them. My latest dream is to move to Hawaii and work at the new Disney hotel opening there. I figure it is also a prime location to scope out hot Polynesian guys who know how to appreciate a girl with curves. See, I have goals and ambitions! Travis says I need to try harder but honestly, it's hard enough just moving to Hawaii. There is no need to make it any harder than it needs to be:)!

If you are still reading this then we are true friends. Call me, lets catch up. And on that bomb shell... good night!

Part Time Worker

2010-10-13T02:30:00.000-07:00

So, quick update on the work sitch for all my adoring fans.
My full time TA (temporary assignment) came to a close this past Saturday with the return of the leader that I had been backfilling for. This was not really a surprise and I had prepared somewhat for it. The leadership roles at Disney being what they are right now, ie few and far between, I had taken a part time hourly role and had been praying for something better to come along. Fortunately, something did, just not what I was expecting. I was offered a part time TA, in leadership, at the Fort Wilderness campgrounds here at Disney.
The TA game at Disney can be a fickle thing at times and to say that this past week has been stressful is a bit of an understatement. The decision needed to be made to either take the PT TA role or stick with the PT hourly role and hope that a FT TA opened up very soon. PT TA paid better than the hourly, but I had to make a commitment to Fort Wilderness until January. So if another FT TA opened up in that time, I couldn't accept it. There was much discussion and much advice on either way given by my leaders, peers, and family. In the end, it all boiled down to taking the sure thing over the gamble. At Fort Wilderness I'll have the chance to branch out more in my experiences and also to experience what another Front Desk is like. In the meantime, I'll keep paying my tithing and pray that Heavenly Father has something great for me in store come January. Keep me in your prayers! :)

Where's Tinkerbell??

2010-10-13T01:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it been a month already?! Man time flies.
A few days ago, Lindsea and I participated in the Disney's Inaugural Wine and Dine Half Marathon. I'd do a mile by mile report, but really it's the same thing. We go, we run/walk, we pay too much to do so, and Lindsea starts thinking "dark" thoughts. So, I'll just share some snapshots of it all, and call it good.
I think it's kinda funny when people say they could never run that far b/c they were bored. Running, at the heart of it all, is boring. That's why you run races, to distract you from the boredom. I've honestly never been bored running a Disney race. There's just too much going on! There was an estimated 11,000 people running this race. That includes those that were running the relay. That's alot of people to be running with, and alot of distractions. Almost anytime I run by a Team In Training member, I'm distracted by the tributes and memorials they share on the back of their shirts.
There was this poor girl in a wheelchair, hand cranking her way through the race. I think she made it a little more than halfway before she threw in the towel. Yeah, that's about 7 miles of nothing but arm power pushing her along folks. She's a hero to me for even STARTING that race.
Disney roads are flat in the sense that they're not hilly. However, they are super slanted in many areas. That kills the ankles. The big problem I get when I run is my shins. They get sore and tight. I'm very glad Disney provides so much BioFreeze for the runners to use.
I like to stop at every mile sign and get a picture. It's important for the Facebook albums later. This race I didn't get many pics of me as I was focusing on Lindsea who was looking all cute in her Tinkerbell get up.
Running through Animal Kingdom at night was just weird. It's not normally open after dark, and there's not alot of light there. They had these large hot air balloon looking things that were somehow lit up, like over sized Coleman lanterns which illuminated the darker areas. I wish I had a better camera on my phone so I could've gotten some better pictures.
Lindsea was determined to enjoy this race, so she wasn't pushing herself very hard. This is very good b/c 1)She doesn't hurt her feet so much and 2)She's less inclined to end my life.
The route went out on the Osceola parkway and doubled back on it, which is a really quite and boring run. Disney really did a good job of getting some entertainment out there to break up the monotony. Honestly, being a spectator is more tiring than actually running the race, and I really appreciate the Cast and performers that were out there giving out so much to help motivate us along.
The run through Hollywood Studios was really fun, but also kinda long too. We wound through it so much, that after a bit you're wondering when the exit is coming. Having run the Marathon through there, I was expecting it to come alot sooner. We also made the decision to take it slow at this point, instead of trying to push for the 3 hour goal we had made going into the race.
We finally exited Hollywood Studios and started our way around the Boardwalk area. I was actually feeling pretty good here, all things considered. I knew, however, that if I really tried to push it out, I'd run out of steam pretty quickly. So I just kept pace with Lindsea, and tried to help encourage her towards the finish. As we were nearing the end, some lady noticed that Lindsea was Tinkerbell, and that there was another fairy just ahead of us. Lindsea got all competitive and decided to beat the other fairy, which we did. As we came around the corner to the finish line, we split up to go around some slower moving people and I stretched it out towards the finish line. Lindsea looks over and sees me moving ahead and decides to start sprinting. I look over and see her cackling madly, pigtails and fairy wings all flapping in the breeze of her passing. And then it was ON!!! I hit the nitrous boost and pulled ahead. And as I stepped across the finish line, my legs had had enough and pulled the "Screw You Dude" card on me. I folded like an angsty, awkward, vampire obsessed teenager when in the arms of her cold, blood sucking boyfriend. However, my Marine training kicked in and what would've been an ungraceful tumble to the ground became an awesome ninja roll across the finish line. Yes, I am THAT awesome. Lindsea later claimed that her laughter at my antics was b/c she thought I did it on purpose. Yeah, I don't believe her either.
The tent to pick up our bags was full of people in space blankets and volunteers madly dashing about to pick up racers bags. The combination of fresh plastic smell (from the space blankets) and Biofreeze's menthol smell began to make me light headed and sick. It occurred to me that it had been a very long day for me, with little sleep or food. You see, I had worked until 11pm Thursday night and was back at work at 8 am on Friday morning; the race starting at 10 pm Friday night. We had to park the car at Epcot by 730pm in order to make it to the race start in time, so I didn't get the nap I'd planned on. And the only thing I'd eaten that day was some pasta Lindsea had brought up earlier that afternoon at about 1pm for lunch. It was now 2 am. So yeah, I was tired and not feeling so well. After we got our bag, we walked the 2 miles (literally) to where the car was parked. I had to stop just outside the park exit to experiment some with reverse peristalsis. I drove us about 95% of the way home before pulling over just past the Contemporary to engage in some more of the peristalsis experimentation. At that point, Lindsea took over driving us the last mile home. I was asleep in just under 5 seconds. Lindsea had to wake me up when I got home. We stumbled into the house and sat for a few moments staring blankly at each other. We tried to eat some, but didn't get too far. The night ended with Lindsea heading home and falling asleep as soon as she got there. I had to call her and wake her up to make sure she made it ok. I'd like to say it was out of concern for her welfare that I was calling, but really, it was mostly b/c I really didn't want to get on my motorcycle and drive over to see if she made it, ha ha ha.
8 hours later I was up and rested and on my way back to work! Yay!
Next year, I'm getting more sleep :)

With Faith in every Footstep....

2010-10-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Recently, Lindsea and I flew out to Utah to indulge in our own special brand of shared lunacy, i.e. RUNNING. After the marathon in January, we made some plans concerning our running goals for the rest of the year. Or rather I made plans. Lindsea just sighed and wondered why she hadn't messaged the OTHER guy first on LDSMingle.
Our end goal is to run the Goofy challenge this coming January. For those of you who don't know, that means we'll run the Disney World Half marathon on that Saturday and then run the FULL Marathon the day after, on Sunday. Crazy you say? Insane you scream? Nope, just Goofy ;).
Contrary to popular belief, you can't just roll out of bed and run a distance race. It takes practice and training, otherwise, you might as well go for a run on a treadmill and have your ex special someones beat you with a pool cue the whole time. That's about as good as you'll feel.
So, to motivate ourselves to run we decided to set up some interim races with which to meet some short term goals. We decided to start with the Disneyland Half marathon and follow it up with Disney's Wine and Dine Half marathon and finish up with the Marine Corps Marathon before we ran the Goofy. Unfortunately, both the Disneyland Half and the Marine Corps Marathon filled up too quickly for our pocketbooks to catch up with. So, we went with plan B. Luckily, there happened to be a race in Salt Lake the same weekend as the Disneyland Half. This meant we could go and torture ourselves, and have Lindsea's family around to cheer us on. Huzzah!
Our good friend Sharley set us up with flights out there. Lindsea got to leave before me, on account of my work schedule. This meant she had an entire day in which to send me such motivating text messages like "I miss the mountains!" and "I forgot out cute BYU guys are!" and (my personal favorite)" Travis, we need to talk...."
A couple hours before I got on the plan to leave I began to get a tickle in the back of my throat which was full blown congestion by the time I got on the plane. This lasted for the next couple days, cleared up before the race, and came back again for another couple days. This is twice that I've gotten sick around Lindsea's family. There are various theories as to why this is, but none have yet to be proven.
Lindsea and Marissa went on Wednesday to pick up our race packets, and promptly got lost somewhere between 100 South and 525,600 minutes West. This is because of the so called "inspired coordinate system". Supposedly, this system makes it easy to find your way around Provo, Orem, Lehi, Salt Lake, etc. This is completely untrue. Whoever thought this up should've been drug out and shot, or at least given multiple wives so they can nag him to death. In the first place, the coordinate system supposes you actually know what city you are in. This is complicated by the fact that 36000 South runs through 3 cities! Stories are told of a husband who left wife and kids to go get some apple juice at the Walmart, took a left turn and ended up in St. George! So Marissa and Lindsea drove around for half an hour looking for the place before they realized they were in the wrong city. The address said Salt Lake City, but I think they were in Draper. Or Ogden. One of the two. I don't blame them though. I honestly thought I was in North Provo the whole time only to discover the last day that we were in Sandy. And did you know that West Jordan is actually NORTH of South Jordan??
Anyways, we spent the weekend with Lindsea's family in her Aunt Sherry's house, which was quite awesome of them. Lindsea's parents and her brother Aaron with his family also flew in from Washington to see us and cheer us on as we stumbled across the finish line and tried not to throw up on anybody.
Speaking of the race, I guess I should talk about it some. The course was 13.1 miles in the footsteps and wagon ruts of our pioneer ancestors. It began in the early morning hours surrounded by some of the skinniest people in the SLC area. Seriously. Of the 2,000 people who had "apparently" signed up for the race, only about 200 showed up. There were several of the Utah Uber-Mom types, some track teams, and a couple kids. Seriously, I think the one was about 12 yrs old. I'm also pretty sure there was a family reunion group in there. Anyways, we all started off running up hill. The first 4 miles were all meandering up over "Little" mountain. Lindsea and I ran with everybody else for about half a mile and then just decided to run our own race, thank you very much. Power walking was the name of the game, with some jogging mixed in as we moved to the downhill stretch. The sun in our eyes, the fog on our sunglasses and the curious stares of people doing their early morning gardening looking at us as if we were the odd ones and not them. Who gets up early to weed the lawn??!
Apparently there was also some sort of bike race going on and on the same road! As there were zero spectators, the encouragement of those more insane than us helped spur us on to greater strides. The period spent going down through Emigration Canyon was one of surreal beauty, punctuated by the sound of lungs sucking air. Or, in Lindsea's case, constant muttering of expletives. I began to distract myself from the pain of my lungs by keeping an eye out for sharp objects she could use against me.
Finally, after much laboring and travails, we entered the last mile. We were privileged to have a police escort for part of it, until he realized he could push the bike faster than we were "running". Lindsea began to think out loud, considering the pros and cons of killing me now or later, and how would she go about dismembering the body, and with what kitchen knives, and if Sherry would notice that her white rose bushes were coming up red and were exceedingly well fertilized and if that stupid finish line didn't show up soon there would be hell to pay and...well, you get the picture. Fortunately for me, the finish line did indeed show up and as we made our mad shuffle towards the finish line,I hung back so that Lindsea could cross the line first. Because I'm a good boyfriend like that. And, also, because that way she couldn't stab me viciously with the small stick she had picked up around mile 11.
Eventually we made it home to lick our wounds and bask in the admiring stares of our adoring fans. DeAndra used some ancient Asian healing techniques and managed to coax the evil demons out of Lindsea so that she was soon fit again for modern society. Happy Day! Thanks DeAndra! :D
Wow, this has been a long post.Better finish up. There was the Sunday dinner, which was delicious. I got to speak to both the father and the Grandfather concerning my future plans for the fair Lindsea. The Grandfather informed me that he was Going Green this year for the family calendar and he wouldn't be too happy if I didn't get married to Lindsea and made him waste all that paper. Also, Marissa got us lost going to the chapel with was 200 yds away and tried to blame it on Nick. Whitni made me the target of her personal vendetta in an interesting game we played, that I believe KC won, but Marissa claims she did. Aaron got sick, which made me feel better that I wasn't the only one. Rock discovered the trampoline and that possession of the truck/swings/backyard is 9/10's of the law. And Ryker discovered that if he looks cute enough he'll never have to carry himself. Hooray for childhood!
And thus I make an end.

The dead squirrel family and other literary delights.

2010-08-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

"Dear Disney,
We are the dead squirrel family from Animal Kingdom....". What?!?!?, is exactly what I thought when this letter crossed my desk this week. Honestly, I don't make this stuff up! I don't need too because reality is crazy enough:) To bring everyone up to speed I have accepted a temporary assignment in Guest Correspondence. Let me brake it down for you... people write a ton of letters to Disney. Sometimes they just want to tell us how wonderful their vacation was or a little tyke wants to write to his pal Mickey. There are also the people who know how to run our theme parks better than we do or have a direct line to Walt's thought process in the hereafter and want to tell us that he is not happy with us. Every once in a while we just get people who have questions and can't find it on our web page.Well all that correspondence comes to my department. We read, process and respond to EVERY piece of mail that Disney receives! I just finished my training and so far I like it. It is a lot like Guest Relations in the parks except I don't have the pressure of coming up with a solution in 30 seconds or less. I have time know to do research and prepare myself before calling the guest. I like that! I do miss being out in the parks but the coolest park of the job is that I can run out and ride Toy Story Mania on my lunch break (of course I have to get a fast pass first thing in the morning:).

The office is located at the Feature Animation building a t Disney's Hollywood Studios. Wanna hear something cool? While most of our animation comes out of the studios in California there were 3 movies that were made here in Orlando. Do you know which ones? Mulan, Lilo and Stich and Brother Bear. Well the building I am working in is where those movies were made! Each floor of the building is dedicated to one of those movies. There is also a Lion King floor but I think that is a nod to the work done on LK 1 1/2. Anyway there is all this art work on the walls which is just really pretty. There is also a screening room where they still bring in the big wigs to view the up and coming movies.

So other than that life has been busy the last few months. I think everyone knows by now that I am a VIP tour guide for Disney. I have had some fantastic families and even had the opportunity to be part of a royal entourage! That is not something that happens every day:) Mom moved to town and is now working temporarily at Epcot. Schedules being what they are we don't see a lot of each other but it is still more than the once every 6 months we averaged before:). Oh! I almost forgot. I got to meet Kat Kora! Now if you are a Food Network junkie like me then you know who she is. She opened a restaurant a while back her at Disney and was her doing promotions. She is very nice. She is also super short! I felt like a giant next to her! Her restaurant is Greek food which I am not a huge fan of. I did really like the lima bean dish though. The beans were super sized ans they were cooked in some kind of tomato sauce. Sounds odd but tastes delicious!

Well that about wraps up this post. I think Travis still has the blog set up to automatically post to his FB so just to clarify, this is Sarah! Thanks for reading:) Have a magical day!

My biscuits are burning!

2010-07-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I recently celebrated a birthday. I am now legally obliged to say that I am 32, instead of 31, when asked my age in conversation. Being a man, this does not really bother me, because men are cool like that. The sprinkling of gray hair I'm getting only adds to my allure and charm, and are not reasons to start supporting a beauty salon.
Lindsea and I were fortunate to have the same days off and those days included my birthday. This was a situation that was obviously begging for some long hours spent with the Wii and trying to finally beat Mario World. However, I was overruled by Lindsea. She threatened me with no huggin and cookin unless we did something cool. Being the gentleman I am, I decided not to call her bluff.
It was decided that we would do a trip to Daytona Beach and ride the bike over. We made plans, made more plans, studied different routes, procured a hotel, coordinated clothing options, and in general wiled away the days before we could go. The Monday before my birthday; Sarah, Lindsea and I went out to eat at Raglan Road. For those of you who don't know, it's an Irish themed eating place at Downtown Disney. The food was good, the decor was interesting and the Irish girls dancing a jig were talented and lovely. Actually, that last part's a lie. I suggested observing the dancers (both male and female) to Lindsea but that suggest was met with the dreaded Foldin O' the Arms and the Tapping O' the Feets. I turned my attention back to my bangers and mash.
The food was quite good and the dessert choices caused much discussion as we were all in agreement that we could only find room in our bellies to share one. The sweet bread option won out, but it was closely followed by the local variation of Death by Chocolate. Obviously this is not a place to go when on a diet.
As every teenie girl June 30th was also THE RETURN OF EDWARD CULLEN AND JACOB BLACK!!!!!!!! night at the movies, aka "Eclipse". Lindsea and I had watched the last movie at it's midnight showing and decided to do the same for this one. We looked forward to snickering over the actions of the teenies once more.
The movie is definitely a wait for the DVD one but it was fun to watch all the craziness. Speaking of craziness, Lindsea went to the bathroom when we got there and I didn't see her again for about 20 minutes. Who knew the ladies room would be so busy?? The mens room was occupied by tumbleweeds and a poor dad sobbing in the corner. Apparently the theater had a deal where you watched the previous movies and then this one in one sitting. He had come with his 14 yr old daughter and was internally bleeding at this point. We commiserated for awhile until he felt strong enough to face it all again. I slapped him on the butt and he went charging back into the game. The things we guys do for the women we love.
We got home to our respective beds late/early in the morning and were up again 5 hours later to head out to Epcot. Lindsea, lucky girl that she is, had won Backstage Magic passes to go watch the return of Captain EO. It was a hilarious example of bad 80's culture and many people are glad to have it back. That Rouge chick who sings "Bulletproof" had nothing on those dancers. We also got to be included in a short video about the opening. It's about 3 seconds long and hidden among several other video bites, but hey, we'll take it. Look Ma, we're almost semi-famous!
Afterward, we took a nap. It was needed after the excitement of Eclipse and EO.

Eventually we thought it would be a good idea to get on the road. So we packed up the saddlebags and headed on out. Now, for those of you who don't ride motorcycles, riding on the freeway is uber boring. You have no cruise control or tunes, and you have to pretty much keep both hands on the handle bars. To combat this, we bikers take the road less traveled by. We take the road that gets us there in twice the time, and covers more miles. Also known as the scenic route. It was a fun 2 hours hampered only by the fact that I seemed to be sitting on a stove. I shall have to invest in a seat modification for the next long drive. Lindsea has come a long way from her early days of arm clutching while on the back seat. She took the trip like a pro, just chilling out and taking in the scenery. Once we got to Daytona the road got interesting. We drove past the Speedway which appeared to be gearing up for a race that weekend. Our hotel was right on the beach on a bit of an island area and Lindsea really enjoyed the bridge we took to get there. Being from a mountainous area, she's not used to the flatness of Florida, so any change in elevation is exciting to her lol. We rode past a seaside park area that seemed to have about 4 million little teenagers running around and finally found the hotel. We checked into the digs there and it was immediately apparent just how spoiled we had become working in the Disney resorts lol. But it was clean and we had an ocean view :). We didn't do much exploring as previously planned b/c Travis hadn't planned on the effects of little sleep and lots of heat. Being the good girlfriend that she is Lindsea listened to my whining, tolerated my naptime, and then let me know I'd better take her someplace nice for dinner lol. We rode out on the A1A with the sea breeze in our faces (under our helmets) looking for a nice Italian place. I noticed Lindsea eyeing me as if I were bracketed by buttered buns and made the command decision to stop at the Outback. It was about this time that I noticed that my Iphone wasn't getting any signal and hadn't been for awhile. Long story short, my SIM card had to be replaced and we had a mad dash to the AT&T store to try and get it fixed. They were closed. So Lindsea headed back to the beach to hang out and end the evening eating Triscuits and easy cheese watching TV.
The next day we got my favorite appendage fixed and headed up to Bruce Rossmeyer's Destination Daytona where I hoped to get some more ideas on things to do to my bike. This is another thing we bikers do, change things on our bikes and spend alot of time working on that. It had been the plan to go do that and then head back down the coast to Cocoa Beach, taking in a lighthouse along the way. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had different plans. With most of central Florida under rain clouds, we decided it would be prudent to just head home. Thus began the adventure!
We made it down the road about 20 mins before we ran head on into a monsoon. Instant air conditioner! We didn't have time to put on the rain suit so we were thoroughly soaked. No big, as Lindsea was wearing her swimsuit and I never lose a chance to participate in a wet camp shirt contest. We pulled off at a BP station where we hung out for about 45 mins. We talked to some nice old ladies about the craziness of riding motorcycles for a while, and another old lady gave us some walmart rain ponchos to help us out. Finally we determined that the rain was not going to go away anytime soon, and we decided to soldier on. I was going to write that sentence as "... we decided to Marine on." but I think that was reaching a bit, don't you?
We said a prayer, blessed the bike by the laying on of hands and burning incense while chanting incantations, and began the journey home. It was wet, we had fun, and it was a heckuva alot cooler!

All in all, it was a good birthday and I had a good time. Lindsea really pulled out the stops to make it memorable. I am fortunate to have such a wonderful girlfriend who cares enough to make a birthday special. I'm also fortunate to have my family around to share the time with. Sorry Sarah that you didn't get to throw a party! lol.

Thanks for tuning in :)

2010-06-04T16:16:00.000-07:00

Since I know many people are wondering how the surgery went, here's the nitty gritty :). Wednesday Lindsea and I got up early to go to the hospital to start the surgery. I was taken and admitted in a fairly quick manner. I got all suited up and by suited up I got to put on half a gown and marvel at how white my skin has gotten. Lindsea got to be with me for a bit during this time. The 1 ½ operation turned into a nearly 5 hour thing. Apparently both sides of my thyroid were pretty big, not just the left one. The doctor said the whole thing was about softball sized when it came out. The left side had gone around my neck and was curling into the cartilage where the voice box is. The right side had to come out too, b/c it was heading in the same direction and would’ve come out sooner or later. They are still running tests to make sure nothing was cancerous, I’ll find out in a few days when I have my post-op with Dr. Kang. He said that there were “massive veins” running into the whole thing, so I lost a lot of blood, though fortunately not enough to need a transfusion. Also, the IV they had going in me had some sort of malfunction (went right through the vein!) and made my right hand bigger for awhile. I made good use of its increased size by entering a few arm wrestling tournaments at the hospital.

I feel pretty good right now, except for the whole neck being sore of course. They had a breathing tube down my throat the whole time, so when I woke up swallowing was pretty painful. That’s mostly gone now though. I got to have a cool drainage tube in too, which I won't include pics of for the more weak stomached of you lol. I get to take a synthyroid pill now for the rest of my life, which is mostly a hassle. I’m on antibiotics and have some vicodin for the pain, but I haven’t needed it yet. Just been taking Tylenol for the soreness and my voice seems to be fine. It’s just scratchy, exactly like when you’ve got a sore throat and a cold. I’ve got about a 3 inch scar just above my collar bone, which is not noticeable when I have a t-shirt on. I should be good to go by next week.
Thanks for all the encouragement, prayers and posts!

England Trip

2010-05-28T10:01:00.001-07:00

Ha! I bet you thought from the title that this was going to be a really cool blog about me going to England and sharing my pictures of important tourist attractions there, like castles, the Queen Mum, those red double decker buses, and Eddie Izzard.
Unfortunately, I can only afford to go to England via Epcot, so I guess I'll just blog about my trip to Washington state to see Lindsea's home town and family.
Once, a long, long, long, long time ago; some England ancestor thought that Johnny Appleseed fellow had the right idea and decided that Washington apple country was in need of a dynasty. So someone got married to someone, those someones had kids, who had kids, and so on and so forth. Very soon, the Englands had their own dynasty! They own about half the town now. Or they are half the town. I forget which, but that's not important here. What is important is that RaeAnne and Dale met, married, and had a little terror that grew up to be a lovely, slightly less terrifying terrorist named Marissa. They also had some manly sons who swooned the hearts (and knees) of ladies for a 60 mile radius. And, because the school rivals kept beating them in volleyball, they had Whitni, who put a stop to all that foolishness. Finally, somewhere in all of that, they had Lindsea, my buttercup.
The Englands live near an inland sea, appropriately name Lake Chelan. Chelan England was a famous pirate that plied his trade from Stankin to WishyWashy Washington for a period of about 15 years. His career ended when he ransacked an apple barge and found a comely apple maiden cowering behind some apple bushels. Overcome by her apple cheeked beauty, he settled down and raised several little apple pickers and a trio of apple blossoms. Legend has it that his little apple blossoms wanted a really awesome sweet 16 party, so he threw them a festival. This was the seed of the Apple Blossom festival.
My awesome friend Sharley hooked me up with some free flights, and after some adventures, I arrived in Seattle. Dale and Lindsea picked me up and we began the long journey to their ancestral home. We took a nap for a while at the top of a mountain pass, while the people in front of us decided if they were going to close the mountain or not, on account of it was snowing outside. Good thing I only brought short sleeves and shorts!
It was a good trip. Every day started with Lindsea bouncy on my head to wake me up, eager to show me some facet of her childhood. We saw her Mom in her classroom at school, the apple shed, the Apple grocery store place, ate some good food at Chayo's (good stuff!), went the Walmart a few times, at at the drive in( which is literally a drive in eating place, not a drive in theater; as you might've thought) went to the Bavarian town and drove around looking at the scenery alot.
We also took the boat up to see Stankin (Stehekin for the locals) which is life Ft. Wilderness without the access to Disney parks. It was a fun, and cold, ride up. Lindsea kept us entertained with her pretending to be scared at every bump, turn and spray of water. Lindsea also celebrated a birthday while we were there, and a party was thrown so everybody could come see me and tell me how lucky I was to have her, that if I didn't make her happy then their people would talk to their people and bad things would happy to other people. And she got a Kindle.
The end of the trip was somewhat fun as everybody started to get sick, which we all blamed Marissa for, as she apparently doesn't like to be the only sick.
I've obviously left out several things. I made no mention of Rock and Ryker, b/c there's other blogs where you can see how cute they are. I didn't mention DeAndra's excitement at her husband's chiropractical skills, Whitni's scary driving tactics, Nick's swearing off of Mariner games forever, the cool chillness that is KC, or Marissa's kidney stone. Next time perhaps.
I left to come back to work a couple days before Lindsea did and since I don't feel that I said it adequately then, thanks to Dale and RaeAnne for opening up their home to me, and particularly for helping me home. Thank you.

Until next time folks!

One simple change

2010-03-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Remember me? Sarah? It has been awhile since I personally posted though Travis is doing a good job of keeping everyone in the loop. I have the day off and am catching up on the blog-a-sphere. The last few days I have been thinking of improvements I need to make in my life. Disney has a program for cast members that encourage us to make small changes that produce big results. Things like small changes in eating habits resulting in healthier life styles etc. I am motivated (for the moment:) to think of all the small changes that I can make. For instance I feel like I neglect my family in friends when I work long hours at work so I want to take advantage of the slow times to call/text/e-mail/see them. Another change I am making is to be more aware of what is going on out in the world. I know tons of stuff about Disney, truly random stuff (1928 was the year the Chinese Theater was built. I know that because the Great Movie Ride at Hollywood Studios is housed in a recreation of that theater. Here is the really geeky part... the ride path or track of the GMR is 1,928 feet long. Cool huh?) I realized that I know so little about what is happening in the outside world so I have started listening to NPR News. It makes me feel old but at least I know what is going on:) A small change I did the end of December was to write New Year resolutions. First year I have ever done this! I actually find myself referring back to the list to see what I have or have not done. Accountability is key to success when it comes to goals I have learned. In the spirit of accountability I have decided to tackle the biggest change I need to make, my health. It is my hope that by putting this goal/change in writing others will hold me accountable and that I will actually stick with it. I also figure that change (not misery) loves company and that my friends and family will join me in make "one simple change" this year. Are you game? What will you change?
Goal: Be healthier
Change: I eat out too much. Restaurant food is expensive and has tons of hidden calories. Experts say that by merely cooking your food at home you lose weight and are healthier.
Specific goal: I will strive to eat out no more than twice a week (4 times if I am on tour since I have to sit down and eat with my guests).
Can it be done? This is a hard one for me since I am really busy but with a little bit of planning and perseverance I believe it can.
Stay tuned... During the commercial break feel free to make a little change of your own:)

My Lindsea

2010-02-26T00:42:00.000-08:00

My Lindsea:
She is a special woman. She has to be, to put up with me :)
She get's butterflies when she sees me, and I'm glad to provide a place for them to settle.
The areas of my collarbone and shoulder are "her place".
She cries and I want to kill someone. Problem is, that someone is usually me.
She makes me do the driving, so she can bask in my presence without distraction.
She's cute when she's jealous.
Sundays have become our argument days. We draw closer to Heavenly Father this way, b/c we have to pray to Him for patience to deal with each other, lol.
She's a "hurt first, think about it later" kinda person.
She can be quite sensitive, but that's b/c her heart is so big, it makes the skin thinner.
She has gorgeous eyes. Don't ask me to describe them, I'm usually too busy falling into them to take notes. We once stopped at the Walmart paint sample section to see if we could come up with something appropriately romantic to describe our eyes to each other. We didn't make it too far before getting distracted.
She likes to do this thing where she stands up on her tiptoes to come hug me. Then she falls on me, and does her best to throw me off balance while leaning into me. This is just her way of testing my stability.
I can usually tell what point of her monthly cycle she's at by how she's acting towards me. It helps me prepare lol.
She brings me food at work, Dew when I need it and we usually watch more movies that I wanna watch than she wants to watch.
She's not allowed to cut the glorious head of hair she has, on pain of death. We'll see how long that lasts.....
She thinks I'm funny, in more ways than one.
She's a super classy woman.How she can stand going out with an uncouth guy like, I'll never know.
She sleeps better when I'm around.
I'm kinda lucky to have her. Try to control your jealousy.

Where the heck is the snow!!?

2010-02-26T00:18:00.000-08:00

Recently; Sarah, Lindsea and I had the chance to go back to IL and see the family there. We did about half of the things I wanted to do and saw maybe 25% of the people we wanted to see. Still, it was a good time and it was a welcome break from the daily grind of work. Even better, it didn't set me or Sarah back on our paychecks. Lindsea gave up some work days, but then she's got a rich boyfriend who loves to spend money on her. I just wish he'd spend some money on me!
We flew up on Friday, Beth picked us up and we spent the evening hanging out at the house. We'd timed our visit to be able to see everybody while they didn't have work or school as much. Dad still had to work but was able to get Monday off. He, Beth and us went out shopping and then to a good Mexican place to eat. We also got to see our friends Rachel and Ash Ahrens,with their super cute newborn, Cheetah. Actually, I think her name is Madelyn, but Cheetah is just cooler :D. Good job guys! Us, the Ahrens, Dave and Grace Hiscox, and Kristina Longwell ate dinner at Fitz's in STL. It was just as good as I remembered, and I'm glad we got to take Lindsea to see it. We got a little sidetracked in STL trying to get there, but it all worked out. I'm amazed my mental maps of the area are still as good as they are lol.
The little sibs are not so little anymore :(. Well, I mean they're still super skinny (Cedric) but they ain't so short anymore. Rachel hasn't changed a bit. Still ornery, just taller and able to articulate more. Micheal has just shot up and is driving! while Cedric is the same, just taller lol. Neither of them use their razor much, so I appropriated it while I was there :D. It was good to see them active in their Church callings and taking them about as serious as any Teacher and Priest usually does ha ha. Katharine is Katharine Hepburn: The College Years; just classy as always.
It was good to show Lindsea around the places I'd spent 6 years of my life, hopefully she got some greater insight to me lol. Next time we go back, hopefully we can stay longer! :) Oh, and maybe it'll freaking snow this time!

We crazy few, we popsicles that run, we marathoners...

2010-01-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

Pre Race: We stood in Corral H while 2 other waves of runners started before us. Race started at 5:40, but we didn't cross the start until about 6:05-6:10. Lindsea had to call in to work because they suck and didn't give her the day off for it. Really, I'm not impressed with Port Orleans. It was FREAKING cold! About 28 degrees, to be exact. I tried to warm up the muscles before running, but it was so cold, it did little good. I ducked off into the dark by some trees like many other men and relieved some tension in the bladder. It's good to be a man ;)

Mile 1: We started jogging and Lindsea quickly reached her top speed. I was trying to loosen up my legs to little effect. Started to realize that my earlier bladder tension was returning. Lots of walkers.
Mile 2: Bladder feeling a bit more full now, and Lindsea is feeling the same. I decide to hold it and wait for the restrooms next to Spaceship Earth. Lindsea agrees. Still cold, making the curve towards the Epcot toll booths and the park entrance.
Mile 3: Just before mile 3, Linds and I duck off like so many others to use the bathroom. I discover that the men's room has a mini queue of women waiting to use the stalls. Gotta love how running a marathon helps us overcome social conventions lol. Come out and Linds is still in the bathroom so I head on out. We'd decided this before going in, so no comments from the peanut gallery :P. Head past the fountain and take a left towards Mexico. Somewhere past there we head backstage and back out towards the highway.
Mile 4: Cold, but warming up some. Straight shot towards the over pass on our ways to the Magic Kingdom. Sun is coming up. Legs are still feeling tight.
Mile 5: Hit the overpass and my calves wake up and say "WTF mate???!" Thus begins the mutiny.
Mile 6: Make the curve around and straighten out on the road towards MK. We are running into oncoming traffic would be, if the road was open. At this point, my upper thigh and hip muscles are really starting to protest not being stretched out. I slow back to about a 13:00 per mile pace.
Mile 7: Grooving towards MK. Still. I can see where they are blowing up a hot air balloon. It's the one that looks like Spaceship Earth with the Mickey hand holding a wand on it. It's pretty cool to see actually. I see a few others later on in the course. I never saw any of these leave the ground though. I hear other runners pondering how they can find enough hot air to get the balloon off the ground. Somewhere about now, the winner of the Marathon is finishing and heading off to a jacuzzi. I am envious.
Mile 8: Pass Richard Petty's speedway, there's a couple race cars out that a few people are stopping to get pics with. We are starting to enter and weave our way through MK parking. Run through the TTC area and remember that's where I got the car keys from Sarah last year. She's not there this year, she's already in the Magic Kingdom. As we leave the parking area, there's a DJ/motivational speaker yelling into the microphone as we come back onto the main road. He was pretty cool actually, I just felt bad for him that he was really putting out so much effort for people that were running away from him lol.
Mile 9:We head towards the Contemporary. The sun is well and truly up now, and it's still cold.
Mile 10: We are entering MK backstage across from the Contemporary. I pull off to get a pic of the Mile 10 sign and miss the timing strip. Another runner points this out to me, so I run back a few yards and pass it again. We enter Main Street USA and I'm looking for Sarah. I find her and get my iPhone earbuds from her. I tell her to give Linds a hug for me and take off. Coming into Tomorrowland I'm marveling that I thought I could ever run a marathon in the cold with so little preparation. My hips/groin areas are killing me. Passing Teacups I see Alice and the Queen of Hearts. Alice has too much energy for me right then lol. I pull off by Winnie the Pooh to really stretch and warm up my calves and hips, in hopes this will help. All this slowing down and stretching has allowed Lindsea to catch up with me. Right before we enter the Castle, I get a HUGE slap on my bum. Hello girlfriend! She's actually in better shape than me. Housekeeping is good for her :).
Mile 11: Splash Mountain. The Black Pearl and Capt Sparrow await us as we enter backstage. We pull out onto Floridian Way and head towards the Grand Floridian. I realize during this time that I can't listen to music and actually hear the other runners, so I turn off the rock music.
Mile 12: We are somewhere in the vicinity of the Wedding Pavilion. I finally get a pic of Lindsea, standing in front of the sign. Her feet are starting to really hurt her, so we are taking the walking breaks we get; at water stops and mile signs.
Mile 13: Half way! Half Marathon! It's still cold! Linds starts to realize it's not even yet begun to hurt. But half frozen bananas await us at the next water stop! Did I mention how all the water in the cups was frozen on top and you could skate through the water stops b/c of all the frozen water on the ground? Fun times :)
Mile 14: Bear lake road. Twisty. Boring. Continuation of the little Sharpie sponsored signs touting interesting trivia facts. Cold.
Mile 15: Mile14, rinse, repeat. Enter Animal Kingdom backstage.
Mile 16. I always lose this mile. We are backstage AK I know, but before we get to Mt Everest. We get our first pkgs of gel. Lindsea is not a fan of the taste, but I make her eat it, knowing what's to come. Last year I think I pulled off for a quick pit stop on a tree. I hope that tree grew good and strong afterward.
Mile 17: I missed this sign last year. Turns out that it's in Dinoland. I snap a quick picture and follow the crowd out towards the AK parking lot. Linds and I pick up a very chatty fellow runner, until I have to retie my shoes, which were too tight.
Mile 18: My very dear sister is waiting for us. Lindsea and I are in the midst of a walk period until we see her, whereupon we jog up to her. Must keep up appearances. Sarah rushes ahead to get a pic of us at the Mile 18 sign. It only took 18 miles of running for Sarah to run faster than me, lol. We get a couple pics, I look like I have a much bigger Mtn Dew gut than I actually have. Lindsea looks like, and I quote "A frumpy old bag cat lady".
Mile 19: Cold. Pain. Slow, with much walking. Not happy with myself. Been moving for just under 5 hours. Pass the exit for the All Stars. Wave at work.
Mile 20: How long is this section of the course!?! I run mile 20 in Mom's honor, to honor the trials she's had this year. This will be my regular thing in any future marathon. Love you Mom :)
Mile 21: We make the double back part of the course and head off the exit towards Hollywood Studios. Sarah texts me somewhere along here to see where she should meet us at; Epcot or the Boardwalk. I suggest Epcot. I pull off for a pit stop again. Muscles are stabbing me with pain. I've already accepted that I'll finish after 6 hrs.
Mile 22: Preparing to enter Hollywood Studios backstage. I mention to Lindsea that last year they were giving out chocolate at the water stop. That got her motivation back up for a bit. Unfortunately, they were all out. She punches my arm in retribution. That's one of many such punches she's administered to me throughout the course. I forebear to remind her that she signed up for this. Momma didn't raise no fool.
Mile 23: We are running along the Backstage Tour course. The sign is right where you would board the Tour trams. People are yelling "Only 3 more miles, almost there!" Silly people. 3 more miles might as well be another 26. Almost there is actually the last 382 yds before the finish line. I'm too tired and hurting to correct them. Did I mention that it's STILL cold??
Mile 24: Boardwalk. There's the Villas, and somewhere in there, all my housekeepers diligently working. They'd all think I'm crazy. Or rather, "loco" and it's Haitian equivalent. We are running on the sidewalk next to the waterway, behind the Villas. HURTING! Cold! Moving Forward! Lindsea has a mean look in her eyes. I move out to arms length.
Mile 25: Just before we enter Epcot backstage, there's my dear sister. She's all hoarse and pooped from cheering on so many people. High fives and she's off to the finish line, and Linds and I are passing through the United Kingdom pavilion and over the bridge into France, where the mile 25 sign is.
Mile 26: Sucks. You know how close you are to the finish line, but the body is not willing to get you there any quicker. We weave around a few slower runners, as well as some park guests. Lindsea starts to go a bit faster. She's just about had it with the pain. We run past Mexico, take a right and head towards the Golf Ball. We enter backstage and Lindsea is annoyed with me that the sign is not as close as I said it would. We don't stop to take a picture, I just snap one as we pass. It comes out all funny mirror looking. 300 yds to go.
200 yds to go: We can hear the commotion at the finish line. Lindsea has her head down and is charging for it.
100 yds: I grab Lindsea's hand and we dash the final distance. I'm roaring at her to cheer her on, but mostly it's for myself. It makes for a funny picture. Lindsea loses the black beanie that I let her use, it becomes a casualty as we strive on

Annnnnnnnnnnd FINISH!!!!!! We kiss and I congratulate my beautiful girl on completing her very first marathon! I'm super proud of her, and am very grateful we got to do this together. We hobble over to where Sarah is waiting on the other side of the fence. She snaps a couple pics through the wire and leaves to go get the car. Unfortunately, she can't come pick us up as planned and has to run home to change for work. Lindsea and I wait for almost and hour as our muscles slowly freeze in the wind. My wonderful sister picks us up and rushes us home. We stumble up the stairs, take showers and finally die in my bed. All in all, a fun (yet painful) marathon.
Next year, the Goofy!!!

2010: Off to a great start!

2010-01-04T18:42:00.000-08:00

Sarah is thirty. I know. I'm surprised too. It was the second and we went to the Polynesian. It is a polynesian themed resort located near the Magic Kingdom. Think Blue Hawaii, Disney style. We ate at the restaurant O'hana's, which is a polynesian buffet. You sit at the table and they bring pieces of various meats; pork, steak, chicken and even shrimp. All this is served with various other dishes including their excellent pineapple coconut bread. It was a great feast attended by Lindsea and myself, a few of Sarah's roommates and also her friend Sarah that works at the Polynesian. She hooked us up with awesome seating for the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Thanks Sarah! For Sarah's birthday, Lindsea and I traveled to the distant shores of Japan where we participated in the ancient and exotic Japanese art of O.P.P. Oyster pearl picking. We were down with it. The ceremony consists of an extremely skinny and petite Japanese woman who guides you through the process of choosing an oyster, knifing it open (with a knife) and plucking the precious pearl from within. This is all accompanied with much bowing, smiling and everything she says repeated three times. The reason for this is that they are a highly caffeinated breed and our American minds are slow to understand them. Plucked, polished and prepared, the pretty pink pearl measured a respectable 7 1/4. We presume in millimeters. The pearl was then affixed in a setting and hung on a silver chain. It was presented to Sarah in a black leather box that I picked out and in an appropriately themed bag with accompanying feminine touches. It was well received. The evening was rounded out with a viewing of the Magic Kingdom fireworks and a presentation of flowers to the lucky birthday girl.

In other news I start a new job tomorrow! A new job in an old location. I'll be returning to the All Star Resort as a TA Manager on the Front Desk. TA means temporary assignment. I do not know how long I will be there. Could be as little as a month, or up to six. I'm looking forward to the role and relearning all the things that I've become rusty in. I start this position tomorrow and will be spending time in costume, and then time shadowing the other Front Desk leaders. I receive some benefits (vacation and holiday) and a pay raise. The Lord has truly blessed me and I look forward to learning new things and broadening my leadership experience.

So there you have it folks. Short update from the Tweedle Twins. Thank you and goodnight.

Meanderings

2009-11-22T21:29:00.001-08:00

It's the holidays but someone forgot to tell Mother Nature. I personally think she set the thermostat at about 80 and got caught up watching Desperate Housewives. Must be the longest episode ever...
Last week was Veterans Day and the Marine Corps birthday. I've been out of the active Reserves for about 11 months. I didn't go to a Ball but Lindsea and I went for a walk around the Boardwalk and took prom pictures lol.
Have you seen the movie Taking Chance? If not, you should. It tells the true account of a Lt. Colonel who escorted a fallen Marine back to his home town. Sounds boring? Watch it and then tell me how boring you find it. It takes no sides in the war debate, just tells the story of how the military takes care of it's fallen. I'm fervently glad that my mom never had to receive a visit by 2 of my fellow Marines dressed in Blues. Thank you Lord.
It's always a bit uncomfortable to me when people come up to me and tell me thanks for my service. I'm certainly not ashamed of my service; it just makes me a bit uncomfortable to be recognized for basically doing my job. I appreciate that people appreciate the sacrifices a member of the military and it's great that they will come up and thank me for it. I didn't know how to respond at first, but now I just tell them thank you for your support. I don't like to be in your face proud of being in the Marine Corps; I don't go for that foolish Gung Ho stuff. I'll take the hill along with the rest of my brothers, and I'll do it because that's what Marines do.
Next year I plan on running in the Marine Corps Marathon, as well as some other races. I'm running in the Disney Marathon on Jan 10. I also want to run the Princess 1/2 in March, the Marine and the inaugural night time 1/2 that Disney is doing this coming year in Oct, and finish up the year in Jan 2010 by running the Goofy. That’s the Disney Half on Saturday and then the Full on Sunday, in case you were wondering. I'm trying to have enough reasons to keep up a better fitness level. Why marathons? Well, because they are an actual challenge. I can do 3 miles in my sleep. 8 miles would leave me mildly sore right now, but I've gone farther with a heavy pack on my back. Marathons are a mental game with a lot of physical pain, but when you reach the finish line, it's worth it. It's actual glory, which is yours alone. It doesn't matter if you finish in 2 hours or 7, as long as you finish. When I ran it last year, I knew I could run at least halfway. I hit mile 14 and realized I was feeling fairly decent. 4 miles later I was just running. My mind didn’t conceive how much was left. Mile 20 came and went and I realized I was finishing this race because I sure as heck didn’t come that far to stop then! Miles 22-24 were run thru the Halls of Montezuma. Mile 25-26 was run in cadence. The last 385 yards were run trying to make sure I had my video phone out so I could capture it all ha ha. And the worst part of it all was the half mile walk back to the car!
So Lindsea and I have been official for 6 months now. That’s crazy! Where did the time go? We’ve known and been talking to each other for about a year, and it was about 4 months before she moved here that we became official boyfriend/girlfriend. It’s good to have her here, nearby. She got a job working at Port Orleans, in housekeeping. Certainly not where she wants to stay for too long, but it’s a full time position with benefits, which is the most important thing at the moment. Things have gone really well for us, all things considered. We’ve had our disagreements and arguments, but they don’t worry me. Because they show, to me, that we are in a REAL relationship and any good relationship experiences its share of troubles. Fortunately our troubles are basically just us learning how we each are on a day to day basis, and overcoming some habits we’ve had from being single for so long. I’m extremely blessed by having this beautiful woman in my life, and all the things she has given me. She is a smart, patient and compassionate woman who is really too good for me. Everything seems to have come together for us both, and I can only assume that is the Lord directing things according to his plan. So I guess if the Lord has given us to each other, I can’t complain too much ;).
One of the things that Linds and I like to do is go for motorcycle rides. I pretty much love having a motorcycle. I’ve had a couple minor drops on it, but nothing more than some sore knees and having to replace a brake lever and mirror. As the saying goes, it’s not IF you drop the bike, but WHEN. I bought a back rest for Lindsea so that she feels more comfortable and secure on the bike while riding it. The sad thing is; we live in Florida. This state is FLAT! And all the roads are straight. It would be cool to get a ride in down to the Keys or something, but that’s a loooong, boring ride. Unless we go down via back roads, which then makes it a loooong, slightly less boring ride. I wish I could take the bike up to the River Road near St. Louis. That’s some beautiful riding area. I spend a lot of time cleaning that bike, to make sure I don’t have any little problems that will become big ones. I’m getting ready to change the oil, and do some other minor maintenance. It costs $80 to have the shop change the oil! Whereas, I can do it myself for about 15-20$. Thanks, I’ll keep my money and spend it on other things. The last couple of months I had to park the bike at work in the cast parking area, and received a lot of nice comments on the bike. It’s a really nice looking bike when it’s clean and sitting in the sun lol. Now I just need to get some more mods done to it and then we’ll be ready for the motorcycle shows. And then Lindsea can finally wear that leather vest I keep trying to get her to buy, ;).
Sarah is doing well in her role as Guest Relations. She’s doing a full time gig right now, and is doing pretty well with her Segway and Future World tours, an excellent job at the Food and Wine kiosk, the Reservation Center and all the other little things that GR cast get to do. It’s a role that suits her well for now but of course she and I are looking for that elusive prize, the statused leader salary role. I’m constantly telling people to look Sarah up when they’re in Epcot, and I’m very proud of her and all that she’s accomplished. Like so many of the women in our family, she’s an example of strength and compassion to all that see her. There are many who look at the closeness of our relationship and wonder how it’s possible, as they don’t have that sort of relationship with their own siblings. That always amuses me, because I know that Sarah and I are nothing more than what they can achieve, if they wanted to. We are often thought of as a package deal, which we certainly are. But we are also definite individuals as well. I’m certainly proud to call her my sister and would cheerfully break body parts of idiots who mistreat her if that’s what I needed to do.
We attended a presentation of Savior of the World by our stake a couple nights ago. The showing was better than I thought it would be, with a definite amateur feel to it. I know the show was all about the Savior, but I was more caught up in the characters of Mary, Elizabeth and the other women in the Savior’s life and inner circle. Every since I read Talmage’s Jesus the Christ on my mission, I’ve had a better understanding of just what an awesome spirit was Mary. Truly, what a blessed woman! The depths of her purity and holiness are truly amazing to consider. I am unashamed to say that I felt emotional when I watched the portrayal of her that night. Others may wish to see great statesmen of the past, or thinkers or inventors or literary figures they die. Or even prophets and apostles. For me, I wish to meet the wives and mothers of these people, and to pay my respects to the women who all the children of men owe so much to. And then I will introduce them to my mother and listen to them speak of the joys and trials of motherhood with each other. And I will be no prouder to show my own mother off to these great ladies as their own sons would be of them. I am truly blessed to come from such a wonderful mother.
Well, there you have it folks. A collection of thoughts and meanderings that will hopefully last you another month or so. Or perhaps longer lol. Hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening. :)

The Duck Story from Iraq

2009-08-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

I wrote this in Iraq during a period of boredom....Enjoy!

So the PX has recently recieved a massive shipment of regular Mt Dew after MONTHS of Code Red. I'm a bit of purist in the Dew category so i was excited to hear of it. I purchased about 40 dollars worth and consumed about 1/3 of said beverage in the 5 min walk home. I immediately fell into a deep sleep puncuated with faceless females sending emails to this particular male. ie, me. (I only get emails in my dreams, see) Suddenly, I woke up. it wasnt until i was on top of the airplane hangar that the rest of me did too. Soon after achieving full consciosness, I became aware of the duck. Or rather Daddy Mommy and baby ducks all in a little row. A minute passed. And another followed quickly by yet another minute after which...a minute passed. Finally Mom blinked and we could all continue on our separate paths. Unfortunately for Papa, he had been dazzled by the moonlight reflecting off my legs. So when he made the approach for take off he misjudged the ending of the roof and therefore did not become airborne. Rather he plummetted like a rock or a duck that has made a serious error in distance judgment falls. In case you're wondering, that's pretty fast. About half way down he realizes he'd better get flapping or there will be roast duck in the chow hall tomorrow (it's probably for the best it wont happen. Those people can't make a juicy meat if their lives depended on it.) This is , of course, when the woman enters. He probably would have made it if not for her. But, let us pause for a moment and see what is up with the ensemble left on the roof. When Mr. Mallard began his plummet of Doom, Mrs. Mallard began the scream of Terror that all wives have when they realize the husband is about to get into an accident and is not wearing clean underwear. Well, actually, it was more of a quack of Terror, but let's not quibble over semantics. So, clutching her otter skin handbag(long story) and holding onto her hat she began her race to save her husband. But fickle Fate has changed what race she had entered and forgot to mention that to Mrs. Mallard.Now let us switch to our poor girl. Our poor girl, or OPG, is returning from the phone center where she has just been informed that the family gerbil has given birth. OPG is understandably upset. As she nears the Motor Pool, she is jerked rudely from the heavy thoughts wieghing down on her mind by the scream (fine!..quack) of Terror of Mrs. Mallard. Mr. Mallard is understandably occupied at the time and so is allowing the wife to do the screaming for the couple. (They have a solid division of labor in their relationship) Unfortunately, Mr. Mallard is unable to slow his descent one iota and so punches through the truck top directly into the lap of OPG. As he struggles to maintain his balance, aplomb, and sense of self, he grasps a sensitive part of OPG's anatomy. This particular piece of anatomy is not normally grabbed by anyone much less a dazzled and confused avian father so perhaps we should not judge her so harshly. Adding a wail of her own to the rapidly growing din of sound she bursts from the truck and begins a race of her own. Once again, Fate has failed
to inform a runner of an impending race. Tripping upon a rock OPG is instantly somersaulted into the air, landing upon the hapless father of little ducks. Somehow, he manages to keep his footing but momentum forces him forward, carrying a screaming bashee of women flesh upon his back. This is the least of his problems however as Mrs. Mallard has finally reached the edge of the hangar. Upon seeing OPG riding her husband of 30 yrs, she changes tune and begins the scream(quack) of woman Enraged. This is Fates cue to deliver notification of another race to be run and it holdup it's end of the deal for once. Launching herself in a flurry of furious feathers, Mrs. Mallard arrows in on the breaker of her domestic establishment(not to mention her husbands back) and begins to pummel OPG with a veritable storm of thunderous wing strikes. The air was rent with cries of alarm, indignation, pain, pieces of hair, skin, feathers and surprising language for the mother of 8 ducklings. But perhaps we should not be so surprised as it is fowl language, indeed. Our story is nearing it's conclusion. The preceeding events, horrific in and of themselves, were nothing compared to the carnage to follow. The truck (remember the
truck) had suddenly found itself driverless. Like all automobiles in such a condition it immediatley declared it's independence of drivers and sped away. But, of course, vehicles require drivers as they do not actually know how to drive. So like so many revelolutions of its kind, its independence ended in a catastrophe of blood, mangled parts, and fire. Fortunately, as I mentioned at the beginning, I was on my way to the bathroom and so was able to curb the damage and save the poor mini mallards still on the hangar roof top with me. Go me!

Crackberrys, left turns, and Harry Potter

2009-08-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

Blackberry's are greatly helpful business tools and also some great time wasters. I recently got a blackberry, courtesy of the Walt Disney Company. It's my work phone and is to be "used for official business only". I am not firmly tethered to the happenings and doings of the Boardwalk area. No longer shall I walk the hallways with head up and eyes forward, ever alert to oncoming guests and cast members. No! There is always a new email, or new instant message coming through that lovely device, which helps me while away the tedious hours of work. Work peers may now "beep" me at anytime for any reason, anywhere. Strange how so many seem to come whilst cloistered in a bathroom stall.....
Add the blackberry to my even cooler, more high speed, low drag Iphone and you will be amazed at the amount of work and productivity I get done in one, single 10 hour day! All hail technology and it's ever increasing ways to share the forwarded joke of the day regardless of location, company, or state of undress!

I've been riding a motorcycle for going on a month now...I think. I have become adept at quick lane changes and gesturing angrily with my left arm. But more (so much more!) importantly, I've become skilled at judging approaching rain clouds. Weather.com is my new best friend. Gotta love radar maps! I actually spent last night watching Youtube videos to see what certain exhaust mods would sound like. Oh, if only I had money to waste..

Watched the new Harry Potter movie the other night and loved it. Really liked how they played the Harry/Ginny subplot. Always felt that was lacking in the movie. Are young boys really that clueless about women?? Got to watch it with Lindsea while she was here, she has much movie watching to catch up on. Good thing she's moving here, to be only 5 minutes away. That'll help lol
Well, off to bed. It's 1130pm and I have to be up at 6......which just proves there's no rest for the wicked.

2009-07-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

We keep moving forward....

2009-07-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well, alot has been happening this past month, so I guess it's time for an update :D.

For those of you following at home, I have now been at my new role at the Boardwalk for a month. I spent 3 weeks in "in costume" roles, learning what my cast members do on a daily basis. Then I spent a week at the Disney University learning what us leaders need to know about leading and managing our cast. It always amused me to take classes that basically amount to what I got my degree in. It's good to have refreshers tho.
As I come to the close of my first week as an "official manager", I have 2 main thoughts. First, I need more long sleeve dress shirts. I have blue, maroon, greyish green, grey, and black. More options are needed. Second, it's way easier than I thought it would be, but more challenging in other areas. After doing the several roles I did at the All Stars, the technical aspects of my housekeeping job are a piece of cake. The challenge, of course, comes in dealing with the varied relationships and personalities that I have to learn in order to do my job. Group dynamics, (as I learned from my group communications class) are diverse, dynamic, and challenging. I work with 9 other leaders of various ages and backgrounds, many of who have been with Disney for several years. Vera has been here for 20+ years for example. I'm fortunate that I bring my 31 years of life experience with me, and my Marine and Disney training. Being older than most other interns and also a Marine gives me a certain level of respect, but that doesn't mean I rest on that. I'm looking forward to learning all that I can about this area of business and doing what I can to secure a full time gig when my internship is up. If you're in town, come see me! :)

In other news, I now have a motorcycle. It is a Honda VTX 1300r that I bought off of my cousins. It's a "cruiser" type, so I'll not be speeding and popping wheelies with it anytime soon, lol. I got it b/c even tho Sarah and I live and work a lot closer to each other now, we have very different schedules. It was killing us in gas to share the car, and I've always wanted to ride a bike. It's a very different business riding a bike than driving a car, and I'm respectful of those differences. I took a 3 day motorcycle training and safety class that Florida requires citizens to do so they can get their license endorsement. It was at the local Harley Davidson dealership. Quite fun, and I recommend all who ride bikes to take one at some point, and if you are wanting to learn, that should be a requisite.

Moving forward could be seen as a motto for Walt Disney and also for the company he built. It applies to all of us, in whatever we do in our lives. This has been a year of moving forward for me, professionally and personally. My lovely girlfriend Lindsea came out to see me this week as part of our moving forward in our relationship. We made a trip up to see the Mother and the Grandparents and met most of the other family members as well lol. It was a good trip and she got to see that I get my insanity from my family ;). We came back to Orlando where we ended up getting a couple nights at the All Star Sports b/c of a.....misunderstanding? Yeah, we'll go with that. Unfortunately, because of that I was unable to take Lindsea to La Nouba for an evening as well as a few other things. We certainly had our challenges on this visit, but were able to adapt and overcome and still have a very good time. We also drove over to Clearwater where we spent a lovely couple hours taking in the scenery and a lovely sunset. We indulged in our mutual love of Panda Express and Taco Bell and I introduced her to the joys of Krystal's burgers ha ha ha.
Our last night together was spent at the Boardwalk in a freaking awesome room. My friends and peers there really hooked us up. Instead of staying in a water view room, we were upgraded to a garden suite "room" with concierge access. The garden suite is 2 stories, with a king bed and queen fold out sofa. The upper loft area overlooks the lower section. My housekeepers, (romantic old ninjas that they are) did thier best to make it a romantic evening for us both. I'm happy to say they accomplished that and we were both very grateful for thier efforts, and for the efforts by my peers. We ate at the Wilderness Lodge at the Artist Point. Lindsea had the buffalo tenderloin and I had the king salmon served on a cedar plank. No clue what the plank is for, but it was good anyways ha ha. Afterwards we took a boat ride to the Contemporary, then the Monorail to the Polynesian where we watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the boat dock. The evening made up for the challenges and craziness of the previous days and gave us some much needed romantic alone time.
All in all it was a great trip and I look forward to seeing Lindsea again. She's a very special girl and I always feel light in my heart when I think of her. I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful girl brought into my life and I hope that it is in the Lord's plan for us to spend a much longer period of time together.
Well, there you have it folks. I hope that catches you all up to date, and if not, just drop me a line :)

Under the Boardwalk...

2009-06-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

Previously, I told my legions of fans about the fabulous, fantastical, and far out opportunity that was coming my way in the form of a management internship here at Disney. I now have some more info that may interest you. If it doesn't, why are you reading this, pray tell?
The internship I interviewed for was for the Rooms line of business, basically the resorts. Rooms includes front desk roles as well as housekeeping roles. After about a month of impatiently waiting to hear where I was going, I finally got a text from a friend congratulating me on my placement. I hurriedly checked my email and discovered that YES! I was going to the Boardwalk! In....housekeeping?? Not the expected but nevertheless and notwithstanding it being a bit of a surprise, I was still quite excited.
This will be a very different role for me, as I've never done housekeeping. I will be doing about 2 weeks of in costume training. And that's a bit more than learning how to make beds, thank you ;). Then a week of "This is what Disney leadership should know and keep in mind when dealing with Cast and Guests" training and THEN I get to shadow my fellow leaders for another couple weeks. So all in all, it should be a fun and exciting time to be had by all.
Did I mention that Lindsea was coming to see me as well? That'll be a nice, belated birthday present methinks :)

Bursting the Bubble

2009-06-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

So about a month ago I went on a trip out west to see my lady. For those of you who did not know that I had a lady, I suggest getting a Facebook account :). It's easier to keep up with me and what's going on in my life nowadays. We had a grand old time. I flew out and met her in Washington and began a marathon driving session through 5 states in 2 days. I drove. This should not surprise those of you that know me. ( Lindsea is reminding me at this moment that I did not drive across Idaho that first night. She is quite correct. I personally feel that I should not be driving after being up for...34 hrs?... yeah, 34 hrs all together. So, thanks to Lindsea, I am alive today!)
We drove towards Yellowstone Park with the intention of actually visiting the park. Alas, we arrived to late to actually enter and make it worth our while. I blame the mooses. Linds blames the elks. Regardless, the wildlife and the sparkling stream were the main distractors that kept us from enjoying the tourist areas of the park.
Leaving Yellowstone, we forged onward towards that bastion of Mormon Culture.....BYU-I. I took a picture of the sign, but Blogspot only allows 8 mbs of pictures to be uploaded. My girl takes up 5 mbs, how about your's ? ;). Having reached Rexburg, we visited the local tourist spots. I wasn't much impressed with the small town Walmart, but it was apparently THE gathering place. The Taco Bell was very busy, as it should be.
We rolled into Logan Ut at about 200 hours where we spent a couple days hanging out with my dear friend Kim. We finally managed to get Kim online thanks to the generous donation of a desktop computer by Lindsea's parents. She's slowly learning to use the mouse. I have high hopes that she'll be able to turn the computer on by herself by Christmas, ha ha ha.
We proceeded south to spend some time with my friend Harmony, and we also managed to say howdy to Allyson and Corey and Derek. Finally, we finished the trip up with a visit to my friend Rachel and some touristy moments at Temple Square. It was a good time and I'm very thankful that I had the chance to go out and spend time with my special lady. I came back with some cool pictures, some serious baggage under the eyes and oh yeah, a girl friend ;)

It's only been a year. Wait....really??

2009-05-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hello All, Travis here. Time for the bi-bi monthly annual update

First off, Sarah. She's still alive and I expect to one day get recognition for my efforts in that area. Not asking for much; a medal and perhaps a monthly stipend in the 2000+ range. About a month ago, she was in her second accident in less than a year. Once again, we can blame other drivers than her. The problem with Florida drivers is that they are not always from Florida. This particular idiot pulled out into the median lane, and left his Mustang's butt hanging out. Sarah, reacting with preternatural reflexes, screamed. Jerking the wheel to the right, she closed her eyes. About 100 ft later, she braked and pulled over. It was a traumatizing experience for all involved. A month later we are almost able to get the slight damage fixed. If this happens again, I'll have to step in and relieve Sarah of her driving privileges. I only get speeding tickets after all.....

Work wise, she's tearing it up over in the Guest Relations area at Epcot. After the first of this year, Sarah had to take a seasonal role in GR as there were not any open manager positions available. This turned out to be a good thing in light of the restructuring Disney did a couple months later. Sarah works in 2 main areas there, the Disney Reservation Center, and the Guest Relations lobby. DRC has recently moved to a new reservation system that is presenting challenges to the reservation making process. The new system is called A la Carte and means something witty and clever having to do with making reservations for dining and recreation opportunities. I could look it up, but I'm going to be lazy. Ask Sarah if you're super interested in that. Every now and then I'll get a call while working Ops in which Sarah is calling her elder brother for advice and help in some resort guest's issues. It's a special aspect of working in the same place as each other. Sarah has also completed training in the Undiscovered Future World tour, in which she facilitates a tour of the Future World section of Epcot, discussing with guests the vision Walt had of the future, and how Future World helps us envision and discover the exciting prospects for our future. It's somewhat surprising to realize that she's been in GR for 6 months already! Time flies. As of right now, she remains in seasonal status, which means Disney is not expecting her to be working full time like she has been. Because of some company/state policy, she's recently had to start being scheduled for 20 hrs a week, which puts a crimp in the bank account. We are hopeful that something will turn up in the next few months, and in the meantime she's able to devote more time to finishing up this semester in her online school.

On my side of the house, things are going quite well. For those of you who didn't know, I was at Disney on the College Program. Full time jobs being unavailable back in January, I was able to extend my program until May. This gave me more time to work at Disney and be available for any job openings, and allowed me to pick up some more training in the Front Desk area. The month of January was a busy month for me. I was made a Disney trainer, and promptly trained 4 people in Jan and Feb on the front desk. So far, I'm up to 6 trainees, which is quite alot. Training on the Front Desk involves a week in classroom training on the cashier system, and then 6 days OJT with your trainer. It's a fun job and a challenging one, especially with trainees who don't speak English as a first language. I was training my 5th trainee a couple weeks ago, and to my left was my 1st trainee with his 1st trainee. To my right was my 2nd and 4th trainee, and I was training my 5th. It was a funny moment to me to look and see that the people I'd trained were the only cast members out there. Another role I was able to get trained in was the Back Office Ops role. Basically, it's very technical computer job in which I assign rooms for guests, deal with package folios, and various other challenges and issues that come up in the logistical running of a resort on Disney property. Have been trained in that role, I've now been trained in and worked about 80% of the roles one can do in the front desk line of business for Disney.
I applied for and interviewed for a professional management internship about a month ago. The interview went well and I was offered a postion, which of course I accepted. It's always kind of funny to me how people react when they learn that I work at Disney and spent 6 years in the Marines. That combo of skills and experience has been, and will continue to be, a major influence on how people view me. Most of the time it's positive :).
So, lots of changes have happened for Sarah and I in the past year and it's amazing to think it's only been a year!

Checking in...

2009-04-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I know it has been awhile and we are sorry to keep you all waiting. It has been so long I wonder how long this message will be here before someone thinks to look to see if we have written something new. I am sitting here on the couch watching a riveting episode of "HOUSE". Love this show! Travis and I are doing well. We are still surviving and that in my book is a good thing. Travis is the wonder boy at work. He is trainer extraordinaire. He knows all and does all. It is pretty incredible. I am ripping it up in Guest Relations just living the dream. Travis and I are in training for the Disney Marathon in January. I'm still not sure how I got talked into doing that!! My only saving grace is that I am only doing the half while Travis is doing the full. I figure with a whole year to train 12 miles is totally doable. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

2009-03-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

Snippet of a conversation held awhile back. Figured it would be cool to post it now.

" Take Heavenly Father as a blacksmith. He takes different types of metal, and tries to create alloys that are strong and true. He has discovered a method of creating an unbreakable bond, but it's a delicate process and must be constantly worked on. He may take 2 pieces of metal, and set them in the fire for a bit, to see how they react with one another with his infinite wisdom and experience, he can tell if they are a good enough to start with. He may take them out of the fire, and begin the process of working with them; discovering their strengths and flaws. He will seek to maximize the strength of the union, while minimizing the flaws. It is never a sure thing, but He knows that if He and they can overcome these obstacles, then the final product will be eternal.

Sometimes He discovers flaws that are too much to be overcome at that time. Other times, he may have metals that are too strong to meld together, or one consumes the other .some can be forged early and quickly. Others have to be carefully worked with for a much longer period. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding, He will make no mistakes, no missteps...helping the pieces to ultimately join
I think that right now you and are in the fire, warming in the embers and the Lord is looking at us to determine what he can make of us. Therefore, He will pound us, and he will test us, to see what only He can see. There are times when He just observes how well we will fit into His much greater work, of which we are only a small part.

So right now, I am content to stay in the embers, with His eye on me, b/c I know He is preparing me. He ultimate end I do not know, but my time is not being wasted by the preparation. Wherever He takes me is for my benefit, eternally."

Disney World Marathon 2009

2009-01-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

Last January I registered to run the Disney World marathon, which I completed yesterday! Figured I'd give my adoring fans a bit of the play by play :).
So Sarah and I got up super early, about 430 to head to where the staging area was at there in Epcot.Took us awhile since they had a lot of the roads closed off. Ended up with us having to do a Chinese fire drill to switch seats so Sarah could drive and park, and I could run across the road to where the hordes of people were heading up to the start line. There was about a mile walk from the staging area to the starting line corrals area. I literally got into place and had started stretching out when they finished the national anthem and shot the starting gun. There was about 14,000 people running, so it took me about 15 mins just to reach the starting line. So I had plenty of time to stretch out lol.
We actually ran on the highways that lead to each park, so it was funny to be running where I'm used to driving. We started out and headed towards the guest entrance to Epcot. The first few miles were just us running towards Epcot, through a portion of it, and out again. After leaving, we got back on the highway and headed towards the Magic Kingdom. It was just really super cool to see soooo many people stretched out over so many miles. Miles 5-10 were spent running towards the MK. Sarah met me there, and saw me in a couple places. She passed off the car keys to me and then headed to her training class. We ran thru the lands of the MK, and passed Mile 11 next to Splash Mtn, as we left the park. At this point, we were on the road that comes from behind the MK towards the Grand Floridian resort. Just past the Grand Flo was Mile 13, my personal goal for this run. I didn't think I'd actually finish, but I was quitting until I had at least ran a half marathon distance. I was feeling pretty good, all things considered, so I kept running :). Actually, i utilized a run/walk plan that had me jogging (later on it became shuffling, lol) for a period of time, then walking for a period. Miles 14 thru 16 passed as we moved along a back road towards the Animal Kingdom. About 17 is when my legs starting talking kinda rough to me, and threatening to shut down operations at some point. I played hardball with them, telling them to shut up and keep moving and I might, MIGHT, give them more resting/walking periods. That set of negotiations got me to about mile 21 or so. Around that time we were running along the highway towards Hollywood Studios. The curve was banked, and it was banked in such a way that my left foot was taking more of the punishment, so it was starting to cause me alot of pain. I began walking a bit more, until we reached the flatter ground coming into Studios. At every water stop i got some Powerade and some water, staying pretty well hydrated. We started having food stops as well around Mile 15, with power gels and bananas and the like. Mile 23 saw me halfway thru Studios, and from then on it was just a matter of enduring to the end. We left Studios and moved along a beautiful walkway heading towards and behind the Boardwalk and Boardwalk Villas resorts.All along the entire course we'd see people out cheering us on, some places having more than others. It was cool to slap hands with strangers out there supporting all of us runners. Mile 25 came up on me as we entered the back entrance to Epcot and passed France. About Mile 25 1/2 I started really pulling out the Marine mentality, even calling cadence to myself as I jogged towards Mile 26. My pace for the entire marathon was an average of 12 mins a mile, which is really good all things considering. Entering Epcot backstage again brought me past Mile 26 and then it was a mere 385 yds seperating me from glory. I put my head down, grunted and kicked my way towards the finish line, finishing my first marathon in a time of 5 hrs 41 mins and 54 secs, which I'm quite pleased with :)
After the finish line, my body went into full rebellion for a period of time. I was afraid to sit down b/c I wasn't sure how, or even if, I'd get back up, but I had to b/c my body was going to see that I got off my feet and legs for a bit, whether I liked it or not lol. I got my space age, foil lookin Mylar blanket and my Mickey Marathon Medal and stumbled off to find an open stretch of concrete. It was about this time that I also realized I didn't know where in cast parking my car was parked, or even which way to get to cast parking. I ended up finding the road and walked in agony about 3/4 of the way there when I kind gentleman took pity on me and brought me to my car. God bless his soul. As I said, I took a nap, talked to Mom and got me some bags of ice to take an ice bath with. Note: don't ever get in cold water that has 4 bags of ice floating in it. You may lose body parts. I had to run hot water to warm it up enough for me to soak my legs in lol. I took a nap and got Sarah when she was off work. I've tried to stay off of my legs and feet as much as possible, and to keep trying to stretch and massage them out.
So there you have it, my marathon in an email nutshell.
Official times were
5 Mile 59:52
10 Mile 1:59:33
Half Split 2:40:16
20 Mile 4:14:19
Finish 5:41:53

Some more pics I took during the run.

Disney World Marathon 2009

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas.....

2008-11-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

Time passes so quickly that it hardly seems possible that it is already Thanksgiving week. There is no place quite like Disney for the holidays. The parks are decorated with 50 foot Christmas trees and the mickey ears look like Santa hats. The weather is fickle as it fluctuates from cold to hot making getting dressed in the morning a challenge (as if getting dressed before the sun is even up wasn't challenging enough:). The guest are stimulating the economy in shops (spend on!!) and the us cast members are scurrying around like little mice preparing for our busiest days of the year. I was told today that attendance for Christmas and New Years reach up to 50k! It is hard to imagine that many people all in one place. The number seems even more unbelievable when one thinks about the other 3 parks having similar attendance projections!!! It plays with the mind! EPCOT is gearing up for Holidays around the World in which each country in the World Showcase shows how they celebrate the holidays. There are story tellers and huge musical concerts and millions of white lights. Too fun! Just in case you think I might be having more fun than in Tifton let me assure that Travis and I will be too busy to enjoy the festivities. We will be busy working all the major holidays. OH well, hopefully my roomies will save me some Thanksgiving turkey.....

A post from Travis about his Mom

2008-11-04T02:47:00.000-08:00

I love my Mom.

About 30 years ago, I came into this world. I'm sure most of you will agree that this was a pretty awesome thing ;). However, like so many wonderful events in my life, I can not take the credit for this. The credit for that is split between my father and my mother.
So, why is my mom awesome? Exhibit A...moi. Exhibit B....my sister. C....Her many scholastic achievements. I'm going to skip down to a few and get to the reason why I'm writing this email. Exhibit ZXB...The recent visit of the Moving Vietnam Memorial Wall to Tifton Ga.
About 2 years ago Mom sent in an request to the organization to have the Wall come to Tifton. A year later they called her up and told her that she was on the list and the fun began. There was money to raise and volunteers to find. A place had to be designated and set up to receive the Wall. Dignitaries and official people had to be found and locked on for inspiring speeches and official words of appreciation. It was a whirlwind of needs and actions, and in the center of all this was my Mom. The band from the Albany Marine Base came and performed and a color guard was on hand to provide a rifle salute and to present the colors to my mother. The list of things that needed to be done for this event is long and detailed and full of moments of people performing in ways that were not always noticed or recognized.
But all of that, neat as it is, is not what makes my Mom a truly great woman in my eyes. She didn't' bring the Wall to town to have everybody tell her how cool she is. She brought it so that her 8th grade history class could learn more about the Vietnam wall and the turbulent times that surrounded it. She brought so that they could be a part of history themselves. Also, so that many of the veterans and families of veterans in the South Ga area could be recognized and thanked for their service. And because of her efforts, many of those veterans and families were able to finally discover closure and peace.
It was an emotional 5 days. Many tears were shed, hearts moved and souls healed. Presentations were made to the families of the Tifton area who had names on that wall. There are countless stories of how this visit touched the lives and hearts of those who came to see it. Each of those stories makes the efforts of my Mother and her volunteers worth all the effort. This past year has been a long and emotional time for Mom, full of triumph and tragedy. It seemed that when she was given a great blessing, she was also graced with a great trial. Her humble attitude of faith and perseverance have been a sterling example to me.
I wasn't able to be there for the visit itself, b/c of operational needs at work. But my sister and I were able to go up just a bit after and spend some time with her. It was a quick and quiet visit. We met with several people that had been affected by the Wall's visit. As each of these people spoke with Mom, I felt my heart swell with pride that I had been raised and influenced in my life by this wonderful woman. She is truly a great and wonderful person and there has never been a time in my life when I have been ashamed or embarrassed to admit that I am her son. And there never will be.
On a final note, I want to express my feelings of pride in my fellow Marines who attended the ceremonies. They performed with dignity and precision. Being a Marine is more than just looking pretty in uniform and folding a flag. The traditions of the Corps are central to our core values and, indeed, are what make's one a Marine. Regardless of all the crap I've had to go through b/c of my military commitment, I am proud to bear the title of United States Marine. I hope that each of you are happy and doing well. If I haven't heard from you in awhile, drop me a line.

P.S.I've added a link to a video made about the Wall visit. My Mom is Susan Tucker, and she's the one they present the flag to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G8bdzdNfSY

The weekend visitors

2008-10-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year almost as much as I love the Spring time. The only reason I like Spring better is that by the time it gets here I am so sick of winter I want to cry. I hope that this year will be different bc living in Florida means that winter is a couple of weeks long instead of months and months long. :):) To say that makes me happy is a gross understatement. The Fall has also been exciting because of the weekend visitors. Last weekend Uncle Jimmy descended on O-town and this week Dave's crew will be here! Jennifer's clan was scheduled to come but due to an untimely illness was forced to reschedule (sorry guys). As exhausting as waking up early to get them to the parks, running back to get ready for work and then actually working till late before doing it all again the next day is, I really don't mind doing it.:):) Seriously, what good is knowing the parks inside and out if you can't share it?? And now for some audience participation... In an effort to improve the Travis and Sarah Travel agency would like to know what you expect and or like most about Disney. We want to make good recommendations so please, everyone contribute. Even if you've never been to Disney we would still like to know what you would like to do if the opportunity presented it's self. Inquiring minds want to know......

Distilled Dew

2008-09-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Ever have those times where you say something that's profound and totally appropriate to the moment, but you know you can't take credit for saying something that cool? Well, I like to refer to those moments as dew drop moments. As in, the knowledge of heaven has distilled into a dewdrop which has fallen on us, giving us the information we can handle. Those of you who've spent time during a boring Sacrament meeting reading the hymnal may recognize the reference.
Anyways, the occasion of this particular instance of dew distillation was a conversation with a friend on the nature of trusting the Lord, especially in matters of the heart.
The moment when something like this:

"jana3375: My problem is I trust him to help me financially but I cant figure out why I dont trust him to help in the dating department
me: It takes practice. We will trust people with our wallets or our bodies before we trust them with our hearts. It is the same with trusting Heavenly Father
2:39 AM jana3375: thats so well put
2:41 AM me: we find it easier to believe that He can direct physical forces such as the economy and the weather, but when it comes to the affairs of the heart, we feel that since love is so untameable by us, how can it be tamed by Him? What we forget is, God IS Love."

My friend and I both agreed that this was a wonderful summation of human nature, and thus deserved to be saved for posterity. :)

From the mind of Travis

2008-09-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Since Sarah is the one who posts on here the most, I figured ya'll might be bored with her by now. Hee hee hee. So to relieve that boredom, I shall give you an update on the life of Travis through mine own eyes.
First off, where the heck did August go? It seems like I blinked in the August humidity and heat, and next thing it's October! With heat and humidity. Strange how that works.
Speaking of works, work continues to go well for me. I love working at the All Stars and I get to work with some really cool people. I have spent this past month working as a "runner". This is an important position, at least from the guest view. Why? Well, say you forget your key in your room, or your lock is not working, or that guitar and amp you just had to buy on Amazon and send it to the hotel(while on your vacation!)arrives, guess who gets to come help with all that? :) Yes sir, your friendly neighborhood runner Travis to the rescue! It's a hot and sweaty job, but it's often fun, and I'm on my own program too. We communicate with Nextels to the dispatcher and our managers. I get to bounce between the 3 themes of the All Star resorts, so now I have a really good mental map of where I work, which is helpful when dealing with guests. I'm also getting trained to be a dispatcher which is a position of some leadership responsibility, and I'm excited to learn it.
The downside to this is that I'm not on the front desk as much, and I need to make sure I keep my skills up there. Also, being a runner prohibits me from training on the front desk, which I'd like to do for the experience and the leadership section of my resume. I've applied for a few Professional Internships in some manger roles-Operations, Resorts, and Merchandise. I've done an initial interview to be put in the pool of those that they will forward on to the hiring areas. Hopefully things will work out, and I'll be able to do pretty much the same thing Sarah's doing now.

For those that might have been worried, I've not been carried away by any hurricanes with female names. I did have a hurricane named Naomi descend into my life this past month, however. She came in gently, with stirring breezes and gentle rains and left suddenly, leaving destruction in her wake. The cleanup is nearly done and all that is left is to apply the lessons learned. In the meantime, I'm going to leave my windows boarded up for awhile. Ah, the joys of the dating field.
In other news, I've only got a few months left in the Marine Reserve! I'm starting to get a little excited. Having no date for the Ball anymore, I'm looking forward to the end of January and my check out. I've gained valuable experience during my time in the Marine Corps, both good and bad, but it is time for me to move on. At this point in my life, keeping the military commitment will interfere too much with commitments I need to make as far as my career and possible future relationships.
So there it is folks. A little update on my life. I hope it answers the burning questions I'm sure you had :)

Winter/ Summer land

2008-09-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

Travis and I went mini golfing last night. It is one of Travis' favorite activities right after going to the movies. Disney has 2 mini golf places, Fantasia and Winter/Summerland. The Fantasia one is modeled after the movie and is lots of fun but the one we most like to go to is the Winter/ Summerland featuring Santa and his elves. There are 2 courses to choose from. Can you guess what they are??? If you choose anything other than Winter or Summer then you are not paying attention and should go sit in the corner to think about what you have done. For the rest of you congratulations you get to hear the rest of the story. The basic story line for Summer is that there is that Santa has come to Florida on vacation. Winter is funny just bc it is Florida and they make it look like the north pole. There are rocking Christmas tunes and beach boy type music to bebop along to as you try to hit your brightly colored golf ball over the tummy of the sleeping Santa who is buried in the sand. Man does he snore! The most challenging hole is the huge sand castle with moving draw bridge that you have to get your ball up but my favorite is the Christmas tree with the electric train. The train circles the bottom of the tree and you have to get your ball to go in the gap so that it will fall into the hole at the base of the tree. WE had a good time. Travis won of course. He always does! My goal is just to not be too far behind him on points. This time I was only 4 behind which is way better than the 20 or so points I was last time we played and my ball had a hard time staying on the course instead of the trees. It was an adventurous little thing! At the end of the course you get a free Disney golf ball and a candy cane. Sweet!

Fantasyland Walt Disney World 8mm Film

2008-09-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

Check out this video that I just found on Facebook. It is a film from the 70's!!!!

Add another one to the list :)

2008-08-30T07:40:00.001-07:00

Last night was a trying one for me at work. It felt like the entire world was in a bad mood and demanding that we accommodate them!!! No sooner had a put out one fire then another, even worse one would flair up. During one interaction with a very vocal and rude guest (she was upset bc of how a cast member looked at her) I notice that Dan Marino, you know the football player, was in the gates of Soarin'. Nothing says pressure like a lunatic guest questioning if you even have a high school education in front of 87 other guests and a Football Hall of Famer. The good thing is that the lady that I just delt with before the screaming banshee felt bad for me and asked "I wasn't that bad was I?" I am sure today will be a much better day.......right???
P.S. Just for the record I do have a High School Diploma jujst in case anyone else is unsure of that :)

Famous People

2008-08-14T06:26:00.001-07:00

ON of the perks at Disney is that we meet/see a lot of celebrities. No one can resist the mouse!! The only things is that we are not allowed to do anything about it! Disney's philosophy is that at Walt Disney World everyone is special and celebrities are to be treated just like everyone else. We are not allowed to ask for an autograph or make a scene on threat of termination. :( SO we just wait until we get back stage before we freak out!!!
Here is a list of people that I remember meeting.... ( there maybe more I just can't remember)
Reba- Loved her! She was so nice to me
Gloria Esteban
VP Dick Chaney- He ate at the castle! Tons of secret service!!
Evander Holifield or was it Mike Tyson??? Which one had his ear bitten?
Kevin Klien and his wife Pheobe Cates - put them on Peter pan
Wynonna Judd and Ashley
Micheal Jackson - He is so recognizable that started a riot and had to be taken away. SO he just rented out all of Fantasyland after we closed! not cheap!!!
Walt Disney's granddaughter and family. That is just a whole other level of cool.
Brittany Spears - back in her normal days. I actually went with a friend to a concert and had front row seats. The band opening for her at the time was "Dream Street" which you might not have heard of however band member Jessie McCartney went solo and got big.
Mariah Carey comes all the time which puts Guest Relations in a tizzy since she will come with no notice at all.
Tons of basketball/baseball and football stars..... too many to name!
and of course most recently the fellas from the Deadliest Catch!!!!

Well that is all I can think of for now. I'll keep you posted on any new additions to the list:)

Is it over????? Wow!

2008-08-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

It is incredible to think that the Summer is at an end. Of course living in Florida the summer won't be over for another couple of months!:) This week will be a busy one as everyone is trying to cram all the fun they can into the last of their vacations. There were 35,000 people at EPCOT alone today. That's a lot of people though not nearly as crazy as the holidays where the number is in the high 40's. The last couple of days have been interesting earning experiences. I have learned that a manager has a similar role to that of a parent. You have to keep the peace, clean up messes, be a listening ear and have the answers for EVERYTHING! IF they only knew how much of this stuff I make up as I go along!!! :)
Today I met some executives for the Disney Theatrical group (the Broadway shows). I got them VIP entrance to Soarin'. They were so happy to by pass the 90 minute wait I was afraid they were going to carry me on their shoulders or name their next born child after me! I think that is the best part of this job; I get to meet the most interesting people.
Travis and I went to the Magic Kingdom tonight and then to the Polynesian Resort to watch the water parade. The water parade is this light show that takes place on the 7 seas lagoon. It's fun for Resort guest since you can sit in you room and watch it out the window. We watched itwhile drinking a lava smoothie from the restaurant. Good times!

The Voices in my head..........

2008-08-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, there are voices that only I can hear and what's even worse they speak in code! No this is not my audition of the next big Si-Fi block buster, it's my job. Yesterday was my first official day on my own. I have this snazzy ear piece and radio that makes me feel like secret service. It's cool bc I get to hear what is happening all over the park. However, there are the times when I am in the middle of a conversation and my sentence trails off or a far away look affixes to my face bc I am listening to the voices. It is quite comical to watch:) I am really glad to finally be done with the bulk of my training. Most of you will remember that I started on May 28 and it is now August 8 which equals A LOT of training. There were times I was convinced my head would explode if I tried to cram any more information into it! ( I wonder what the voices would say about that mess???)
It's an exciting time to be at EPCOT as we are kicking off the Food and Wine Festival next month. While the wine part doesn't really tickle my fancy the food part is awesome. The catering department sets up something like 30 additional booths (in addition to the 12 permanent countries) and features food from all over the world. It is pretty amazing! If you have ever wondered what Ecuadorian or Russian food tastes like you might want to plan a vacation to visit before November 9th.
Another exciting fact is that "the suite" at my house is now open for business. It is this bedroom and kitchen/ sitting area with attached bathroom that Amy's dad just finished building. I is getting a lot of use too. 2 important facts to know it is first come first serve so if you want to use it plan early and you will have to kick in a little something for the utilities (like 10$) to make it fair for the room mates since we divide the cost between us.
Travis is doing really well in his job. As a reminder he is Front Desk at the All Star Resorts. He is going to be runner trained her in the next few weeks and next month he is going to be trained as a trainer. It is all happening sooner then they normally train people but they can see that Travis is responsible and has a lot of experience, so really why wait?
They only problem is having to work on Sundays. We are both low men on totem pole so Sunday's off are but a pipe dream. The only thing that saves us is Gathering. It is this abbreviated Sacrament meeting that is held Sunday evening for those of us who can't make it in the morning. It basically just consists of the sacrament and one talk but it is tons better then being inactive!
Well guys that is all I have for now. ANd now it's time to say goodbye to all our company and as we say here at the Magical World of Disney..... Have a magical day and May the Mouse be with you!

The Deadliest Catch!!!!!

2008-07-18T19:04:00.001-07:00

I have been working at Disney now for almost a month and most of that time has been in training. It is a long process to learn 7 attractions/shows and I find myself impatient to actually start learning my manager duties. I understand that a good portion of my job is to listen to guest complain about wait times ( honestly 30,000 people come to the park each day and they can't understand why they have to wait for the most popular ride at EPCOT??!!), but I am still excited about it. Exciting things have been happening though not the least of which is meeting Captain Sig, Edgar and Norman from the Northwestern. If you don't know who they are it is probably because you haven't seen the Discovery Channel hit "the Deadliest Catch". To you people I say, " Go! Now! there is probably a marathon on right this second! What are you waiting for???" The best part of being a manager is being informed and when I got the e-mail that they fellows would be in town signing autographs I immediately made plans to go. I got off work and with my friend Harmony raced over to Norway ( in EPCOT) to see them. They cut the line about 45 minutes after it opened because there were so many people! We waited for 2 hours but it was worth the 2 minutes we got with them:) They are just what you would expect men who live on ships to be like, very down to earth manly men. It was weird to hear of the autograph session since that doesn't usually happen at Disney hummm, oh well I am glad they did!!!

Welcome to Florida!!! CRASH!!

2008-06-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

You know how there are gospel lessons in every day life? Well I had a really impacting object lesson yesterday. I was returning from the store and sitting at a red light 5 minutes from my house when out of no where a girl rear ends me! I never saw her coming and wasn't even sure what happened until it was over. Here's the story... I was sitting at a red light when out of no where I felt a huge impact and my car was thrown across an intersection. A girl on her way to work was talking on her phone and didn't see me stopped at the light. Apparently she had tried to swerve to miss me and ended up catching the corner of my car, our cars were totaled!Not only was my full size car instantly made into a compact, the force of the collision push the driver side of my car forward making it impossible to open the driver's side door. I had to climb out of the passenger side door. I felt like one of those test crash dummies being thrown around the front seat. The back window shattered on impact and I was showered with glass.Thanks God no one was hurt!!! Bruises will fade... I am thankful for divine intervention bc it could have been MUCH worse!! Here are some images from the crash.

Future World here I come!

2008-06-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

After waiting and waiting.... and waiting today was the day. Today is the day I found out where exactly I would be working and what, of all the Operations positions I would be doing. A quick recap for any one who has not already asked me this question over the last couple of months. I learned back in April that I would be employed as a Operations Manager at EPCOT. This is a bit vague since Operations includes anything that is not Foods or Merchandise ie: Attractions, Turnstiles, Custodial and Transportation (I think). EPCOT is also a big place divided up into many areas. Needless to say the possibilities are numerous so when people ask me exactly what I will be doing it is frustrating to say "I am not sure". Well today was check in and after background checks, finger printing, tax forms and a forest worth of paper work I found out that I will be working in Future World West in Attractions! YEAH!! I am excited ( honestly I was a little worried they would place me in Custodial... no offense to those fine, hard working men and women). "So what does that include Sarah?" I am glad you asked :) Future World West Attractions includes "The Land" boat ride which shows some really interesting agricultural practices including how scientists can grow plants without soil using a suspended plant conveyor belt. (handy in those places like Utah and Arizona where the only things that grow are rocks). "Soarin'" is another attraction that is a hang glider simulator ( Love this ride!!) You can even smell the oranges and the pine trees! "Imagination" with Figment and "Honey shrunk the Audience" and "The Seas" which they just redid and is themed after Finding Nemo. Fun Right?! Well the fun begins with me learning how to run all these rides as well as all the safety procedures and manager stuff. The training process is 4 weeks! Crazy I know but I am looking forward to it!!!!!! Maybe I will even get to drive one on the segway people movers. Fun times :):) Miss you all! Oh and anyone who would like to see some pictures of the rides that I will be working visit this page. Have a magical day!

2008-06-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

How to play this game. Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names....
3 joys
1. I have an awesome family! I feel really blessed
2. Speaking spanish! ( lo quiero!)
3. Witty one liners :)

3 fears
1. Starving to death
2. losing a loved one
3. Child birth ( I hear it really hurts :)

3 goals
1.Get my masters
2. Travel to Europe
3. overcome my food addictions!

3 current obsessions/collections
1. I have a life long obsession with reading.
2. I just discovered IKEA and for see an obsession there...
3. melted cheese

3 random surprising facts about yourself
1. I prefer plain glazed donuts over frosted ones
2. my nervous habit is to play with my hair which is why I usually keep my hair up ( even then I am constantly redoing it)
3. I am the only person in my family that does not like chicken and dumplings ( can't stand them! Honestly they make me gag!!!!)

2008-06-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

I was gentely chastized the other day for not having written on the blog for a while. Honestly, with the move and the trips to Orlando I have been busy but I think the real reason is that I have gotten out of the habit. It could be that now that I have returned to the busom of the family I don't feel the need to get on her much. Life is going well. I am just waiting for the 20th of June to roll around. The 20th is when I am suppose to check in though I plan to head out some time around the 17th. It has been nice to be here but I am not use to just hanging out with nothing to do. If I am not going 24/7 I just feel like a lazy bum!!

Traditions, Teenagers, and Humidity

2008-05-29T17:53:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been having problems with my phone. Time was, I could go an entire day without anyone ever calling me. Or texting me. Or writing on my Facebook wall and sending me messages on here. Heck, I didn't have to delete emails for days either!
But not the past week or so. 4 hour phone calls. Texting has gone into the hundreds, even whilst driving!! FB has become a nightmare of numerous notifications!! Is there no end to this madness! Is there no rest for the wicked!?
Well this just has to stop and so I'm writing a note to end this foolishness. I don't have a cell phone, emails or FB to communicate! I have them for other reasons.

Well, I am now living in Florida, Orlando type. I moved from IL last week, spent some time with the female parental unit for a few sun cycles and this past Wednesday I checked in as a participant in the Disney college program. Much paperwork was done, with my signature being signed with appropriate flourish. There was amusement to be had at the antics and posturing of so many young boys and girls in close proximity. The smell of hormones filled the air with a pungent permeation. the scents of orchids and freshly cut grass mingling with scents of hairspray, musky cologne and underlying it all... the sweat of nervous parents seeing their "babies" out of the nest. Helpful cast members pointed the way with 2 fingered points and wide smells. A DJ entertained with Disney themed dance music and shouted out trivia questions at intervals. Finally the long day of paperwork and long speeches on housing expectations was over.
I'm living in a place called Patterson Court. It's brand freaking new, with some buildings in the complex still being built. We had to get the silverware and pots out of the boxes even. The beds are nice and springy and each of the 3 bedrooms in the apt have a bathroom. There's cable and a pool, laundry mats and Internet. All for a measly $81 a week!
Today I got my training schedule and my work location, including my role. I'd let you guess but most of you don't know how to post replies to notes, so I'll just tell ya :P. I'm going to be working front desk at the All Star Sports resort, with the possibility of being moved around to the other All Star resorts. Hospitality roles are a new role for the CP (aka College Program) and it offers me a good opportunity to network and segue into a full time position after my program is over. I'll be on the program until Jan 2.
I've met all my roommates and I have 4 of them. They are all under 21 as we are in a "wellness" apartment. I chose to be in this type of apt b/c I don't drink and I don't want to saddled with a bunch of guys possibly concerned only with partying, getting drunk, and working their way around the US with the wimmen folk. Fortunately, the guys in my apartment seem to be a bunch of decent fellows and I feel confident we will get along swimmingly. We have a lifeguard, a food/beverage host, merchandise host, and a front gate operations host, and of course myself.
In other news, I've transferred to a motor transportation unit here in Orlando for the remaining 6 months of my contract. I have my first drill there this week. I get out this coming Jan and will celebrate by running in the Walt Disney World Marathon. 26.2 miles ran through all 4 parks and back roads. Should be fun, ha ha. So I'm working on giving up the daily Taco Bell trips and replacing them with 3 mile runs. Your support is appreciated :) Ask me how I'm doing and how my latest run went from time to time.
So, lots of changes and exciting times coming up. Keep an eye out for pics and vids coming to a Facebook profile near you :)

Some Picture Links

2008-05-22T15:04:00.001-07:00

Our Blog : http://tweedletales.blogspot.com/

Pics from the Grad paryt: http://picasaweb.google.com/knightcelestial

Pics of Sarah and I on graduation day: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084933&l=dd9bc&id=37709129

Pics of me playing Marine: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035113&l=729df&id=37709129

Oh the insanity!

2008-05-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

I have moved many times in my life time and it never ceases to amaze me how much stuff a person can accumulate! Honestly, I didn't even know I had half this stuff. I have to tell you it feels pretty good to de-clutter.
Travis and I are just a few short days away from leaving the "Land of Lincoln". We greet the departure with a mixture of excitement and sadness. We will spend the last couple of days cramming as much quality time with friends and family possible around the packing and heavy lifting. The upside is the weather. It has been a cool 70 something degrees during the day before dropping down into the 50's at night. We haven't even thought about turning on the air conditioning! It is going to be a big shock to move the south again but I will just enjoy the "cool" while I can.

Graduation Video

2008-05-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

This Graduation Video was done by a good friend of ours who does video stuff for a living. He is currently working on a cable show called the "Raging Redneck"! It is a hunting show :) Thanks Ash!

"Today is your day! You're off to great places. You're off and away!"

2008-05-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

The day that Travis and I have steadily been working towards for what seems like forever has finally arrived. It was really cool though a tad surreal. You will be happy to know that neither one of us did anything embarrassing. No tripping or falling and the announcer even said our name correctly! We had the early ceremony and had to be at the school at 8:00a.m. We lined up in one part of the fitness center before walking two by two to the auditorium. It was a long ceremony as graduations often are. It was not too bad since Travis and I were sitting side by side and could entertain each other. I believe that Mr. Barber would have been proud of me during the "Star Spangled Banner" when I hit the high, high note. I couldn't resist and the expressions people around me gave where priceless. :) I suppose some people will wonder what took us so long. The student speaker at Grad and a good friend of mine I think put it best in her speech, "If you don't take breaks to stop and along the road you miss out on some of the best moments in this road trip we call life". I suppose we could have graduated earlier but what would I have given up? My mission? My internship at Disney? Moving to Illinois to get to know my brothers and sisters? Not likely.
All day long people have been asking me what is next. Well, "I'm going to Disney World"is not just an expression that Super Bowl winners get to use! It was so great to have my family and friends there. I loved that part. I also love that mom gets to be with us on Mother's Day! By the way to all the mom that read my blog; Thanks! We love ya and wouldn't be what we are today without you ( or even be here today without you!!) The next couple of weeks will be spent packing and preparing to leave. Leaving is always bittersweet because while we are excited to start the next chapter in our lives we have to separate from part of our family and friends. I am really glad that we have technology to keep us connected!

2008-05-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,
We're going to have to get some pics put up on here but hopefully this link will help tide ya'll over until we get around to putting them up. :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084933&l=dd9bc&id=37709129

Institute Graduation

2008-05-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had Institute Graduation. It was really fun! I planned a party for after the ceremony. I had some really talented people helping me and we were able to do something really creative. We themed the party after the Dr. Suess book "oh, the places you'll go". My friend Harmony made painted some of the characters from the book and put those on the walls with different quotes from the book. We had a play dough contest on who could make the best Suess character and a contest for the best suess like poem. Travis participated in a hilarious "whose line is it anyway" show that lasted for about 20 minutes. He was awesome. I am pretty sure that Drew Carey is going to be calling soon. We are at the one week mark till graduation. Can't wait! Of course we have to get through finales first!!!

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-04-28T21:41:00.001-07:00

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-04-27T09:51:00.001-07:00

Count them One by One

2008-04-23T05:11:00.000-07:00

A post from Travis... Something I felt compelled to write during Institute.
June 30th, 1978; grandparents, my parents, a boring tour of duty, hugs, girlfriends, girl-friends, friends, Dave Hiscox, being born at the end of the bell bottom era, the Internet, LdsLinkup, Don King, Aspden, Snow White, Stillwell, Janni, my "dearheart",the Marine wife, Kim Moss-The Alpha Female, "You are hereby called to serve...", WVCM, Teaching the Joseph Smith principle in the MTC with goosebumps, taking the "black tag" off with tears, mission pres hugs, District 10-C, Tom Clawson and the ending of the Year of Prayer, the Priesthood, the Discussions, "I am called of God...", the Spirit filling my mouth, The Book of Mormon, Seminary with Mom, The Bible, the gifts of knowledge and discernment, spiritual strength and protection, Mountain Dew in the MTC.
Disney opportunities, our apartment, Splash Mtn, overtime, "pixie dust", that first kiss, PNIK and lessons learned, Tinkerbell aka Patricia Doreen ;), sunday meetings in Basic, How Firm a Foundation and the Crucible, the numbness that came with the popping of blisters on my feet coming down off the Reaper, the EGA and Montezuma's Halls, Mom's face when I stepped off the plane, this body He gave me, continual sustainment and protection in Iraq, the Blazer and the drive they took to leave it for me, all of my Princesses.
Don Tucker-the 2nd answer to the Year of Prayer, Mom's degree and teaching job, the love of a Mother to a broken son, the Return of my Twin and her successful mission, the apartment, the Branch, Elders Quorum teacher, Sister Young, the marriages and moving on of friends. The beauty of my sisters and the strength of my brothers, Dad and Beth's baptism, the Spirit in Adam ondi Ahman.
My Lord...My God. My Savior and the Atonement. The testimony that lives within me, and the strengthening of my faith when it wavers. The knowledge that when I fall, He is there to pick me up.
2 Nephi 9:41
O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy
One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for
man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and
the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he
employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it
be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is
his name.
And so many more that there is room not to write them...

What a weekend!!!

2008-04-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

We have had an exciting weekend! It all started with an Earthquake ( a 5.4) on Friday morning at about 4:30 a.m.! I couldn't figure out why the bed was rocking. I didn't think that there were earthquakes in Illinois. Honestly, at first I thought my upstairs neighbor was rocking the house. I was wrong. It was o.k. thought because nothing bad happened and I had to get up early for the Independence trip anyway. We had such a blast!! We went to Liberty Jail, the Independence Visitors Center where we watched "Legacy" ( that movie has a greater significances when you have just seen the place depicted in the movie). After checking into the hotel and stopping by the Book Store we went to the Stake Center and met up some local Singles where we had dinner and played a couple of games. The next morning we got up bright and early and met up with the local Patriarch who gave us a tour of Adam-ondi-ahmon and Far West. He was a very knowledgeable man. He told us about the history and the church's efforts to preserve the land. It was touching. It is always hard to listen to the stories of the early Saints. It all seems so futile and a result of bad communication but I am great full to the Saints. It must have been awesome to be a part of all that even with all the terrible things that happened.
On the way home we decided to stop by the boyhood home of Walt and Roy Disney. It was only a little out of the way and we really wanted to go. Marceline is a small town but they have a cute little museum and a replica of a barn on the property where they lived. Marceline was also the inspiration for Main Street USA at Disneyland. The museum has all these letters that Walt and Roy wrote back and forth to their family members especially their younger sister. You can tell that there was a lot of love between them all. They were a hard working bunch even though they lived in hard times. The inside of the barn has become a community tribute to the Disney's where locals and visitors can leave messages on the wall. Travis and I left one (of course!)
We are home now and pretty tired. It was a long but great weekend!

Give a "C"

2008-04-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

OK. This is going to be fun. 10 Things I love with "C" ( sounds like a movie starring Heath Ledger...)
Cinema
Caramel
Chile!
Cousins (family in general but Cousins are great!)
Cinderella's Castle ( oh a double "c" how many points for that one?)
Chess
Cones (with or without ice cream - weird I know)
Corny jokes
Cash
Comradely
To get your own letter see Jennifer's blog. It's all the rave. You know you want one too!

Welcome to the "Real World"

2008-04-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

I got the good news yesterday. I will officially launch my post collegiate career working for the International Recruiting office at Walt Disney World! I received the call yesterday evening. I actually got a call from Disney earlier that morning. I was at work though and unable to answer. They left a message and said that they had a few more questions for me. I honestly didn't think much about it so it was a surprise when I heard the words "we would like to extend you an offer". Awesome!! I start on June 20th. The semester is winding down and the days just seem to fly by. Everyone was a buzz today at school. Every where I went I heard students (and faculty) rejoicing the two week mark till the end of the semester and the start of the finals. I am busy with school, work and planning activities. The Singles Branch is heading to Independence Missouri this weekend for a church history tour. We are planning to see Liberty, Independence, Hauns Mill and Adam-ondi-amon. There about 30 of us going. It should be a lot of fun but right now it is just a lot of work:) Travis is busy working on a a couple of huge research projects for school. It is funny that we are so busy now but in about 3 weeks we will be like those vultures in Jungle Book that sit around all day asking each other "so what do you want to do? I don't know what do you want to do?" Feast or Famine!! Is this the "Real World"? Feels pretty real to me :)

So I have Bronchitis

2008-04-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor today and he told me that my chronic cold has turned into chronic bronchitis. This is what happens when you live in a place where the high for tomorrow is 45 degrees! Florida here I come! Of course I will have to deal with frizzy hair every day of my life.... hummmm. What's a girl to do?

I rather be writting on my blog....

2008-04-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

So I have a Spanish test this evening on the dreaded Subjunctive tense! I am dreading it and dealing with my stress by writing on the blog. Some may call this an avoidance technique I call it necessary for my sanity. Today is going to be really busy. I have class all day until 6:15 and then off to institute at 7:00. After that I have a meeting with the Activities committee about the Independence Missouri trip that we are having in a week and a half. I don't mind it though because it gets me out of having to do the dishes at home! I am on pins and needles waiting for word about a couple of jobs that I have applied for. The one I really want is in International Recruiting for the internship at Disney. No, it does not mean that I will be traveling. I would be working in the office doing support for the students but it is a step in the direction I want to go. The other job I applied for is a Manager internship. This one pays the most but it also is time demanding ie; weekends and nights. They are both 6 month professional internships but they open the doors for full time employment. I still haven't decided if I am going to make a career out of Disney so a 6 month test run would be great. Graduation is a little over a month away. I am so excited (and impatient!). It will be sad to leave my friends and especially my family members up here, but change is part of life. We have grown really close to the Volle side of the family and there is understandable some anxiety on Dad's part for our departure. My sister Katharine is graduating from High School this May too and then heading off to college. Amazing! I feel so old. Ok, I guess I have procrastinated long enough. Back to the subjunctive!!!

Life, and the pursuit of it.

2008-04-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

So I keep getting people asking me what's going on in my life, what's new and it's tiring to keep saying the same things over and over. So, to silence the clamor of my devoted fans, I decided to write a note. No poem this time, sorry.First and foremost, I'm still alive. I know that many of you were worried about that and I'm happy to put those fears to rest. Those of you who were hoping to profit by my death must go back to your devising of methods to bring about my untimely demise. My only request is that you make it spectacular, and cost effective. To no one's surprise, I am still in college. If this is a surprise to you, then it has indeed been far too long since our last chat and this will hopefully remedy your lack of information. But fear not!, the day is at hand for the deliverance of my person from the hallowed halls of academia. On May 10th at 9:00 am precisely (give or take 5 minutes) I shall move my greyish tassel from left to right and join the hundreds receiving diplomas from Southern Illinois University. Or rather, receive the diploma 3-4 months down the road. There's some reason that they don't give it to us but have to mail it, but whatever the reason is, it's moronic. But at least we get the diploma thingys to take pictures with our families with!Thus armed with this imaginary diploma, I shall then sally forth to the Sunshine State to work the magic machine at Disney World. Again, this should be no surprise to most of you, and if it is, are you sure we're actually friends?? At the moment, I am waiting to hear back as to which professional internship I will be doing, or if I am going to be end up doing a Hospitality role on the College Program at first. But whatever the job is, it will be at Disney, and there you shall find me. I would prefer it if you all staggered your mad rush to make use of my discount and other Disney benefits, so as to make sure I can accommodate you all.Now to the question that has truly been on everyone's mind. The answer is...Yes, my legs are still white and will probably stay that way for life. Moving on...What? That wasn't it? Well what did you want to know?? Oooooh....Yes, I'm still single. If this is a surprise to you, kindly remove yourself from my friends list as we're apparently not actually friends. How did you get on there anyways?? Anyways, I'm still single and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. It's getting hard to find women at my age, and in the right price range. And apparently me having a job is important too. So I'll be a confirmed bachelor for awhile longer. Unless of course the Lord lifts His current ban on me visiting Utah, which'll probably happen when it snows in Florida.So there you have it, my life in the proverbial nutshell. Perhaps more of a coconut shell, but a nutshell nevertheless and notwithstanding. Any deeper inquiries can be posted to my wall, messaged, or heck, call me or come visit!TTFN

Butterflies

2008-04-07T20:18:00.002-07:00

Version 1

I can feel them
Beneath the skin
Scurrying about and flexing their wings
Delicate antenna...testing, probing
For a way out

They move through the bloodstream
Rushing and tumbling over each other
Filling my belly, my heart and caught
In my throat

She sits across from me, serene and calm
A queen on her throne, receiving the suitor
That is me

They rummage my brain, stealing my thoughts
For their nectar
Deep breaths align them, my purpose greater than theirs
Looking into her deep eyes
I open my mouth, not sure what to say
And a single butterfly pops out
bringing the nectar of my thoughts to her waiting lips

Version 2

They scurry beneath my skin
Delicate antenna probing for an exit
Somewhere to spread their wings
Swimming in my bloodstream
They fill my heart with their fluttering

The angel sits across from me; a leg swings idly
With regal gaze she observes me,
a knowing look in her eye
They rummage my brain, drinking as their nectar
My thoughts of her

They agitate, forcing up from my belly
Through my throat and
Bursting through my lips
The butterflies carry that nectar
To her waiting lips

Random Trivia

2008-04-07T20:18:00.001-07:00

I have special names/titles for most of the special women in my life. If you have one, you know what it is. I have no special men, b/c men just generally smell worse than the women.

Yes, Mountain Dew is the nectar of life. But the occasional Dr. Pepper, root beer ror sarsaparilla enhances my appreciation of the godly liquid.

I peed in my pants once. At school. I was in the 8th grade. Ask me about it and I'll tell you the whole story.

I am an excellent kisser. And I've never kissed a girl who I didn't get her permission to do so. And I owe my level of skill to my first girlfriend. She wasn't much on conversation, you see.

I have a patented formula to get you to date me. It involves lack of sleep, a boardwalk, some pixie dust, and a moonlight night. Because of the success of this formula, I was banished from Disney for the period of 6 years.
Likewise, I am only allowed into Utah once every 4 years.

I write poetry with knight motifs. and Cancerian motifs.

I like to use alliterated trios of words, ie profusely poking poorly.

I love to read Pride and Prejudice, b/c I find the ability to use that language a sexy thing in a woman.

I have bags under my eyes. They come from helping others carry around their emotional baggage.

I'm not stalking you, I just simply happen to be where you are.

I like the Spice Girls. So do you. The difference is I'm not afraid to admit it.

I have mostly girl friends. I have no clue why that is. Ironically, very few of them would actually date me. Or me them.

Yes, I do actually own handcuffs.

If I like you romantically, I rarely dream about you.

I daydream at odd times.

I don't use dictionary's for the same reason I don't like to go to the video store, I spend waaaaay too much time there.

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci"..Amen brother, amen.

I don't treat a girlfriend anywhere near like what I treat my mom and sisters.

I joined the Marines to wear the uniform. I've never taken a date to my unit's Birthday Ball.

I listen to Radio Disney, but I 'm against the Hannah Montana takeover.

AIM poetry

2008-04-07T20:17:00.001-07:00

Original
The latest craze is to find a turn of phrase to lead one out of the maze where one wanders, lost in a daze
fantasy does not faze me, with who fairy plays amongst fields of cattle graze
lost in a haze, her eyes before me in endless days
poetical tonight? must be the moonlight, outside, washed by the rain moving across plains of sugar cane
lips like sugar plains, harvested by my eyes, wishing to tame, becoming lost in succulent manes
the fog, it lifts, and eddies and flows, like the faith of one who knows of a face, sweet as a rose, and a freckled nose, delicate like babies toes
it flows higher when the Muse inspires, and ebbs when she's fled
holding my straw words down like a tarp, poking out at times kinda sharp
eyes so blue, like the gulf waves you see through, until you find a shell of some kind, to which you bind your hope that love is kind
and throwing it to the waves you turn to look behind, to see her there
with flowing hair, tossed by the devilish air
she blinks with a special flair
and quietly stands there, pinning you with her liquid stare
your knees seek to flee like a bee seeks a flower, to power it's search, hour by hour, for that sweet liquid dew, that seems to find it's self within you,

Revised

The latest craze is to find a turn of phrase to lead out of the maze where one wanders lost, in a daze
fantasy does not faze me, with whom the fairy plays in fields of cattle graze
lost in that gaze, her eyes deep as endless days
I am poetical tonight and in the night’s lunar sight, the rain bathes a plain of sugar cane, lips like sugar plains, filling my brain, I hope to tame, yet coolness I feign
The poetry inside ebbs and flows, the heartthrob of one who knows, of a face, sweet as a rose, with freckled nose, delicate like babies toes
And it flows higher with the Muse to inspire, and ebbs when she's fled
Shyness confines my straw words like a tarp, and sometimes poke out kinda sharp
Those eyes so blue, gulf waves I see through, until I find a shell of some kind, to which I bind my hope that love is kind
and throw it to the waves,
floating in my mind
I see her there
with flowing hair, tossed by the impish air
she blinks with a special flair
and quietly stands there, pinning me with her liquid stare
my knees seek to flee like a bee seeks a flower, to power its search, hour by hour, for that sweet liquid dew, that wells up from within you
a fish in a net I’m caught, what will you do?

Pensive Lady

2008-04-07T20:16:00.001-07:00

With pensive eyelashes contemplating your paramour
encircling its neck with delicate touch and deft power
creating the chords thru which your expression is born
hand over strings splayed, flared to strike fast and swift
a hawk breaking the water’s surface fishing
or caressing gently, fingers softly strumming
the wind flowing through autumn reeds
A lily fairy, with cascading hair conducting
into stringed and polished rosewood
her cranial energy transformed by callused fingers
into birds of wonder

A forum with Dan Cockrell

2008-04-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

This blog is about an event I attended while doing my Senior Project. It was really cool. I am actually got to talk with Dan before and after the presentation. He was so impressed with me and the other guy I was working with that he sent us a personal e-mail to thank us for our help. Talk about Networking!!!! - I know it is long but I had 10 pages of notes so this is the short version:)

The School of Business at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has completely overhauled their approach to service. As a model of what they wanted they turned to Disney. At a School of Business Forum yesterday they had as a guest speaker Dan Cockrell the General Manager of Merchandise Operations at the Magic Kingdom talk about the Disney Approach. The following are some of my notes from Dan's speech. I found Dan to be a very dynamic speaker and the advice he gave is very valuable!
The first thing that Dan talked about and an idea that he repeatedly emphasized was that of personal diversity. He advised the students to have as many diverse experiences as possible. Do a study abroad, participate in clubs, plan a service project, do an internship (the Disney internship:). These experiences help you to be more adaptable. The more adaptable the more successful you will be.
Dan gave a timeline of his work experience starting with the Disney Internship that he did after completing a History degree at Boston University. He began in the transportation department parking cars. He went from there to Paris to work in transportation at Euro Disney. He didn't even speak French but stayed there for the next 5 yrs. He has since gone on to be a manager at Epcot, the All-Star Resort before becoming General Manager at the Magic Kingdom. Dan's current job has little to do with the History Degree he received. Dan expressed the opinion that Leadership has more to do with being able to create a comfortable environment and making people feel valued than with subject matter.

Dan's 4 keys (Talent, Relationship, Expectation & Reward and Recognition)
Talent
Dan talked extensively about talent; finding it applying it.
To illustrate what his point Dan used a sport analogy. He talked about the famous baseball player Ted Williams. A guy approached Ted one day to ask him how he was able to hit so well and would he teach him. Ted explained that you have to watch the ball. If the stitch in the ball turns up than it is a certain type pitch if they down it is this type of ball. The guy looked at Ted as said what are you talking about? Look at the stitches?! I can't even see the ball it is going so fast! Ted's talent was being able to see the ball in slow motion. The dictionary defines talent as skills and talents that are "automatically" applied. Find your talent and apply it once you do that work becomes easy! "What is ridiculously easy for some is excruciatingly difficult for others"
Relationships
Invest time in getting to know the people you associate and work with. A practice that Dan has utilized throughout his career is the "2 hour lunch" When ever a new person joined his team Dan would take him or her out to lunch. He or she has to talk about themselves for the duration of the lunch. The one restriction is he or she can not talk about the current job. Do you understand people and how they feel? Do you understand what they go through? If not how can you expect to motivate them? This is also where having diverse experiences helps to understand people.
Expectations
Most companies strive for 80% proficiency. Disney strives for 100%. In a hotel with 6,000 rooms 80% still leaves a lot of rooms and customers that are not happy. Put yourself in the position of a guest or a customer. Go through the whole process and you will know what you need to change. Have crystal clear goals and be an organized. You can't get there if you don't know the goal!
Reward & Recognition
Why give rewards and recognition? To reinforce good behavior! Different people want different rewards. Some want money or gifts some just want to know that they are valued. Dan told of how he likes to send thank you notes when he hears of great guest service. He writes personal thank you cards and he does it in the moment. He cautioned the audience not to put it off or it will never get done! A custodian that Dan sent a thank you note to more than 10 years ago still carries it around in his wallet. People want to feel valued. Dan challenged us to find 5 people every week or every month to send a thank you to and be specific. People know if you are faking!
To conclude Dan Cockrell gave 12 tips. Since this note is already really long I will only include a few of my favorites.
- Embrace whatever you are.
- Be a bridge. Learn to associate with different groups or clicks.
- Seek out and accept help wherever you can get it. Be Humble!
I learned a lot! It reminded me why I respect Disney so much. There is good and bad in every undertaking but if it motivates us to make a change than no experience is wasted.
Have a magical day!

A poem for a friend

2008-04-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

Just a little something I put together for a friend of mine when she was about to get married. Figured I'd put it here, so it wouldn't get lost, lol. I could probably use this for a Hallmark card, personalizing the last stanza for the specific couple. Hmmm, good idea eh?

Here in this moment I see
reflected in your windows
the distance of eternity

That temple moment when
souls are sealed,
no beginning or an end

Where priesthood will preside
to bring two lost souls together
in each other's hearts to reside

Soon to become one in God's sight
ladies and gentlemen, may I present,
lady and prince , Mr. and Mrs. White

A little out dated but still fun!

2008-04-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

The next couple of entries are going to be old notes from another posting site. WE thought you might like to read them. :)

Tales of Tweedle Tomfoolery!

2008-04-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

Never ones to be left out Travis and I have bowed to social pressure and created a blog!!! I guess you guys couldn't make it easy on us and join facebook, huh? :)! It's a beautiful sunny, Sunday. THe sun is especially nice after weeks of cloudy and or rainy days. We are on count down to graduation, 34 days!!! To say that we are excited is an understatement. Graduation has been a long time coming. Honestly, the struggle to get here has made it all the sweeter. I am still working at Wagner Portrait Group. Our callings keep us busy too (Sarah- Institute President and Activities Director; Travis- EQ Secretary). It will be hard to leave our singles branch. We have met some really awesome people here. Travis and I both had interviews for Disney this past week . They went well and we are in holding pattern (that ones for the military people in our mists:). Hopefully we will know in the next 2-3 weeks. I will keep you posted. For those of you who are wondering why we call ourselves the Tweedles here is a short explanation. We are Disney fans, everyone thinks we are twins, we have a lot of fun and get into a lot of trouble together. Ever since our time at Disney we have adopted that nickname. During our last visit to the WDW we got a caricature made with our heads on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum's body. It's too funny! So enjoy the blogs!