Welcome to Glenn's Blog!

Here I will periodically post random thoughts and stories about what's going on in my life and the world around me. As if anyone cared. But seriously, you've found your way here, so hopefully you will enjoy at least some of what I have to say, even if you aren't entirely interested in it. At the least, it should be a good way to waste time.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Rain Rain Rain

Well we just got back Tuesday night from our final Disneyland trip...at least for now as our annual pass has officially expired. And we didn't renew this time (though I'm planning on going back in March and will get a new one then...) Never have I seen so much rain in Disneyland! It rained from the time we arrived on Saturday till the time we left on Tuesday. There was only two breaks in the rain...from 9pm-10pm Sunday night and from 9am-10am Monday morning. The first one was actually perfectly timed, as I had reserved a dinner package at Ariel's Grotto which included fastpasses to see World of Color from the 'premium' standing area. We had seen the show only once before, and that from the side as we did not have those special passes. 

 Boy, I tell you, the show is leaps and bounds better from the front. You can't see any of the projections from the side, and without that the show is just a bunch of random lights and bursts of water. It fortunately stopped raining just in time for the show, though by then the rains had driven crowds away to the point where the standing area was less than half full. In any case, we had a great viewpoint. The rains got so intense at some point that even with a rain jacket and umbrella it was impossible to stay dry. We found that we had to got back to the hotel for a few hours in the afternoon just to dry off and change out pants and socks. Many of the public sidewalks were starting to flood at one point, and even Main Street in Disneyland was taking on more water than the poor workers could shove down the drains with their push brooms. But hey, it was Disneyland after all, and you can't beat a trip to the Magic Kingdom. I was actually worried about crowds, being that it is after all the week leading into Christmas. The only time is was really crowded was that one hour on Monday morning where it stopped raining. Most of the time, waits on rides were negligible at best. I think I saw Space Mountain get up to 45 minutes once, which is a far cry from the 100 minutes you often see in the summer. 

The downside of the trip - at it was quite a downer! - was that the rains prompted cancellations and closures of many shows and attractions, including all parades, Fantasmic, Electronica (whatever that is!), and unfortunately the evening fireworks and snow. That was a disappointment certainly; no white Christmas in Disneyland! 

World of Color seemed to go on the whole time despite the weather; I guess that makes sense as it's a water-based show with no live actors. One cast member actually told us that it's BETTER in the rain. Something to do, I think, with extra light refraction from the falling water. You'll have to ask a scientist for a better explanation. But now we're home, dry for the moment, and enjoying some time off from work for the holidays. Which reminds me, now that it's two days till Christmas, time to do some last minute shopping!

Friday, December 17, 2010

And.....Done

So it's Friday of finals week here at Sacramento State. And of course it's dead quiet. I rather like that... Tomorrow begins two weeks of time off, which of course we're starting off right with a three-night trip to Disneyland. Unfortunately it started raining today, and is supposed to rain the whole time we're there. But to treat myself out and make up for that, we went to Kohl's last night and bought me a new winter jacket. It's really quite nice, and now that I think about it, I think it's the first new jacket I've bought in at least 5 years. Well the last one I bought was at Mervyn's anyway...but we got a great deal as they're having a three day sale right now. Originally marked $100, we paid $38 after tax. Nice. 

But that wasn't the best part of the day. I was sitting in bed last night watching TV. To back up for a second, we got a new 42" LCD TV for the front room as a Christmas present, so the old TV from the front room is now in the bedroom. Since I haven't yet re-programmed the Dish satellite remote to operate the "new" bedroom TV, I was using the TV remote to turn up the volume - and there was a beep from the bathroom. Pause. Sit up and look around. Did I really hear that?? So I turn up the volume again. Another beep. This one gets the cat's attention, so you know it's serious. So, I get up to investigate and discover that the portable space heater in the bathroom is on. Apparently the 'up volume' button on the TV remote will turn on the space heater in the bathroom. And it's not even a "universal" remote! Boy that's weird. That was certainly the funniest thing that happened yesterday, unless you count calling Lorraine retarded on Facebook...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Dead Week? What's That??

I wonder if anyone remembers the 'dead week' concept? It was still around when I was in college 15 years ago, though even then it seemed to be waning. Still, folks still mention it these days on occasion, even if it doesn't get recognized in practice. It used to be the week before finals week in school - well it still IS the week before finals week - but it was a slow week where no new material or homework was assigned, so that you could start getting ready (ie. study) for finals.

Of course in the music world, this concept has little meaning. This is traditionally our busiest week of the year, and this year is no exception. Although this semester has been, dare I say, light in comparison to other semesters, we have this week 10 concerts from Monday-Friday. So it is pretty busy around here these days.

Which reminds me - I have to go tear up the recital hall stage to get ready for tonight's big wind ensemble concert...