Finding Anything Good

I lost my voice, have you noticed? I expect I haven’t quite earned the right for anyone to notice my voice just yet. I’ve been too sporadic for that. For the record though I’m back—rejuvenated. And after a sufficient amount of procrastination behind me I have grand plans to pick up the ball I dropped four months ago, that is to blog more consistently—at least once a month.

I got caught up in the publishing wave, swept away if you will, by the flowing tide of new and interesting reading produced by this ever accelerating age of information. I use the term “new” here loosely, it means new to me. This includes material produced at any time which I was formerly unacquainted with. It includes traditionally published material as well as amazingly helpful blogs, plus all the latest social buzz on Twitter, Facebook and the likes. All that combined, the mountain of characters, words, paragraphs and pages is approaching Everest in sheer magnitude, and in awesomeness.

The thing is there are so many fantastic options to choose from I can't possibly hope to read them all let alone just keep up with the new releases. I’m more likely to summit Everest, which, let’s be honest, ain’t ever gonna happen. Sometimes I feel guilty—like I didn't do my homework—when I find great new stuff that’s more than a year old. And it’s hard not to compare myself to others and end up lacking, especially when I listen to them talk or write from the depth of their knowledge. This is the dilemma I was faced with: information overload. And if I couldn’t keep up why should I expect anyone else to read what I write—I mean seriously who am I? My creative desire to add more to the mountain was crushed under the weight of what’s already out there. My voice was silenced.

Or was it? Looking back I don’t think it was. What happened is that other things were louder and drowned out my voice. How do I know that? Because my desire to write persists. What was lacking was a clear direction, something to write about. As I’ve been mulling over that topic—read into that procrastinating—I’ve been reading and watching some interesting TV shows. I even started reading comic books again. And even though I can’t consume it all—heck I have a pile of cool stuff that will most likely last me till summer—I can easily find something worthwhile, something good.

The thought of finding something good, anything really, amidst the plethora of what is and has been produced is my new focus for the coming year. Each month I will write about something that sticks out to me, anything good. The best part about this plan is that it requires me to look on the bright side, to see cups that are half full. I’m excited to take this challenge.

To start things off I have three good things worth writing about:

Number 1: On November 10, 2011 if you missed the book bomb started by Larry Correia for Rob Wells’ book Variant you missed something truly inspiring. People around the internet banded together to see how high they could push Variant on Amazon’s best sellers list. Variant went from #6068 to #57 in one day, it climbed to #7 in its genre. See Larry Correia’s blog for more details.

I bought a copy of Variant on Nov. 10 and as soon as I received it my wife took it. She read it in less than a week—she loved it. I’m currently reading it and it’s great.

More than the book though I was impressed by how a single person could unite so many people via Twitter, Facebook and blogs. There is amazing power here that can be harnessed for good. Larry’s book bomb is a perfect example of this power.

Number 2: One of the comics I recently started reading is The Walking Dead. I’m not a big zombie fan but I was immediately sucked in. In the introduction to “Volume 1 Days Gone Bye” Robert Kirkham lays out his goal: “With THE WALKING DEAD I want to explore how people deal with extreme situations and how these events CHANGE them.” That sets the tone perfectly for the story. It’s about how people deal with difficult situations in their lives first, and zombies second. It’s that people element that is compelling. The zombie part is good for a little scare here and there.

After I read "Days Gone Bye" I realized that AMC produced a series based on the comics. And much to my dismay it’s already in season 2. How did I miss season 1? Fortunately I caught the entire first half of season 2, which is on a break until February 12, 2012. During the midseason finale (season 2 episode 7 “Pretty Much Dead Already”) there was an amazingly dramatic moment that is so compelling it has been stuck in my mind for weeks. So many things happened at the same time: I was angry, surprised, happy, and sad all at the same time. That scene alone is worth watching all of season 2 so far. In my writing I hope to be able to create such a compelling scene someday.

If you haven’t seen The Walking Dead AMC has a full series marathon scheduled for New Year’s Eve 2011, this Saturday. It includes all of season 1 and season 2 up to this point—this is how I plan to catch up on season 1. I recommend using TiVo and watching them in smaller doses. I like to dilute my zombie watching with something less tense in between episodes, two episodes back to back is about as much as I can stomach in one sitting.

Number 3: I took my daughter to The Muppets at a local movie theater a couple nights ago. She mentioned just after Thanksgiving she wanted to see it. My response at that time was eh, I don’t think so—shame on me. Luckily I read Howard Tayler’s review, and noticed a lot of tweets about how much people liked it, so I decided to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did. There are lots of good movies—good in varying degrees: pretty pictures, fun scenes, good stories, and sometimes stories that impact you and stick with you, and even change you or help you on your journey through life. This movie was funny and nostalgic but it also left me feeling better than I felt when I sat down to watch it. My favorite quote from The Muppets is “It’s easy to believe in other people. Sooner or later you gotta believe in yourself.” What a great message that hit me right at my core. It really is so much easier to believe in others than it is to believe in yourself. Since I decided I was going to write a novel these kinds of messages have been popping up at the most fortuitous moments. Maybe the messages are always there and it’s up to me to notice them. Or maybe I’m just looking for something to spur me on. I could probably find negative messages too—resistance—if I focused on looking for them. But even if both positive and negative messages are out there why not focus on the positive ones? I need all the help I can get. The negative messages—the resistance—is no help at all.

That’s it for my preview of Anything Good that comes along, now and into the next year.

So, from here on out I refuse to feel guilty about my past omissions and will partake of the veritable smorgasbord of reading/viewing material as best I can. Hopefully I'll choose from the most delectable options because I'll be over-stuffed long before the content runs out. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to add my own dish to the buffet, contributing something someone else will find enjoyable. But if not the journey will add savor and spice to my literary and media life experiences just as well.

Why not me? Gaining confidence

I started coaching when my oldest son was five-years-old. Since then, sports have been an integral part of our lives for close to seventeen years. One theme that has cropped up time and time again is the importance of confidence. You have to believe in yourself to be successful, in sports, or any endeavor for that matter.

Ironically I have a quirk that sabotages me when I talk about my writing. I decided to write about it in hopes of exercising a few demons of doubt. When I told my wife about this plan she reminded me of that coaching advice I’d been giving to my kids. So now, my own words are coming back to haunt me. It’s time to practice what I’ve been preaching all these years.

First let’s get things out in the open, demons hate being out in the open. Here it is: whenever I tell someone about my writing I am compelled to begin by pointing out my inadequacies, my inexperience. It’s happened every time I’ve attended any type of writing event where I’m required to talk about what I’m writing – several times this year already. I've been thinking about why I do this. Maybe it’s because I’ve read so many excellent books that I can’t imagine ever being that good. Maybe it’s because I’m afraid of being criticized, something I know is unavoidable when you publish your story for the world to read. Maybe I’m afraid that my story will be bad, and due to guilt by association, that will imply I’m bad too. Or, maybe I’m just plain comfortable living out my life in relative obscurity. I really don’t know the answer.

I do know the problem has something to do with confidence. So, given the absence of confidence, how does one go about getting some? I think the first step is to recognize what’s going on. In my case it became more obvious the more I did it. Every time I introduced my writing by saying I’m sorry, my stuff is crap, people responded so kindly. I started to feel almost embarrassed, like I was fishing for compliments. But I couldn’t stop myself.

That’s exactly why the next step is so hard because it involves actually changing. As soon as you recognize your lack of confidence you simply must stop, change your attitude, and at the very least act confident, even if you don’t feel confident. You see, the most difficult person to persuade is yourself. As long as you’re not obnoxious about it, everyone else usually just buys it.

A couple of weeks ago I watched the movie Limitless, definitely worth seeing. The main character takes an experimental drug that increases his brain capacity and all of a sudden he goes from zero to hero. As he mused about his new found capacity to recall even minor details about things he learned back in college I couldn’t help thinking how much more confident I am about things I’ve already learned, at least the ones I can still remember. The guy in Limitless was more confident because he remembered everything he’d ever experienced. Even if we can’t remember everything it makes sense to read and write as much as possible – probably the most common advice given to aspiring writers.

And even though I don’t have infinite brain capacity, and I know I can’t be great at everything, I really do enjoy learning new things. My family always jokes that I have a lot of hobbies. In fact I do, a byproduct of the desire to try and learn new things. Trying new things gives me confidence to try other new things. As I’ve tried new things I’ve found that if I act nervous I’m not as successful. If I act confident I am more successful. The more you act confident, the easier it becomes.

It’s very much like the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz, he had courage in himself the whole time. He just didn’t recognize it. Confidence is basically faith in one’s self. Confidence we can achieve, faith that we can achieve, will help motivate us when the desire to give up creeps into the corners of our minds.

Last weekend I joined a writing critique group. We met on Saturday, in person, to iron out the details about how we each wanted the group to function. I was apprehensive at first, and yes, this was one of those occasions where I started by listing my limitations. But I ended up so impressed by the personalities in the group, from a fourteen-year-old freshman in high school to others who are working on multiple manuscripts. What made me the most optimistic though was everyone’s desire to help each other.

On the way out to the parking lot after our meeting, I was talking with a member of our group. We discussed the impressive array of talented writers who live in and around Utah Valley, the area where we all live. She made the comparison to Shakespeare, how he created an environment of excitement that enabled more than him to be successful. With so many great authors nearby it seems possible that we can be successful too. Why not?

Another way to gain confidence is to surround yourself with people who encourage you to keep trying.

I understand writing is hard work, but, this week at least, I believe if I do the work I can be successful. And someday, maybe, I can join the ranks of the published. I know that’s not an end, but right now, that’s what I’m shooting for.

Why not me?

My new goal: when I tell people about my writing, do it with confidence, hopefully not boring them to tears at the same time.

Next time you’re tempted to say I can’t do something, stop yourself and say, Why not me?

And if you ever hear me blatantly trashing my own stuff, please, slap some sense into me.

New Perspective: Happy Anniversary

This blog is a like one of those pictures that contain hidden 3d images. If you don’t catch the meaning after reading it once try staring at it with your eyes crossed and the meaning will pop right out of the screen. And if that works for you please post what it means in the comments section because I’m dying to know.

Rules, laws, structure, goals, plans they’re all important. But life is too short to freak out when everything doesn’t go exactly as planned.

Case in point: two weeks ago my wife and I celebrated our 23^rd wedding anniversary. We woke up thinking we were going to see Kenny Chesney in concert (don’t be a hater ‘cause I said that, my wife really likes Kenny, enough said). Earlier in the week my wife’s cousin said he’d hook us up with some tickets, good tickets. He has a connection to the band. The plan was to meet up with him on the day of the concert. He’d done it before so we had no reason to believe it wouldn’t happen again. But when my wife tried contacting him in the morning he never responded. We started doubting in the afternoon, approaching the time we’d have to leave in order to eat an early dinner and still have time to make it to the concert. At do or die time, even though we still had our doubts, we decided to take a leap of faith, drive up to SLC and have a nice dinner, hoping we’d hear from her cousin in time to make the concert. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory. It was delicious. If you ever go there be sure to try the Avocado Eggrolls appetizer; if you like avocadoes you’ll love ‘em.

When we sat down at our table we still had time to make it to the concert. We hoped we would. But our minds were busy coming up with alternative plans in case the Kenny concert fell through. These new plans ranged from simply driving back home (not the most appealing option since it was still our anniversary), to finding another concert. It turns out that Chris Isaak and Blues Traveler or Howard Jones were playing that night at different venues. So, at least we had options.

We paid our check at the Cheesecake Factory 10 minutes after the Kenny concert was scheduled to start. Plan A was officially out of the running. I’ll be honest we were disappointed. At a time like this I can imagine some people might freak out, or they might try to assign blame. Oddly enough we did neither. Our disappointment quickly changed into which plan B should we try? This was turning into an adventure.

We drove to the Sandy Amphitheater where Howard Jones was scheduled to play. I felt a little foolish going, because I’m usually a stick-to-the-plan kind of a guy. I don’t like surprises. But hey, it was my anniversary.

The first thing we noticed at the ticket booth was the big sign GA seating sold out. I almost turned around right then. But instead we had to ask “What, if anything do you have left?” Thirty minutes prior to the scheduled start of the concert I didn’t think they’d have much. At first the guy inside the ticket booth said “Sorry, I don’t have any seats left together. You can buy two singles if you like.” I looked at my wife. Luckily before we were able to respond someone else inside the booth said “I have two seats together.” The guy helping us turned around surprised. “Just a sec.” He said.

When he came back he said, “I have two seats on row L right here.” He pointed to a print out of the seating configuration. I looked at it for a second, and having never been there before I couldn’t make heads nor tails of where those seats actually were. But hey, they were together. My wife asked “How much?” Then casually turned to me and asked “So, is that what you want to do?” For those of you who don’t know my wife that’s code for “I don’t care how much the tickets are, or where the seats are, it’s my anniversary and we’re running out of options. So, get out the credit card buster.” I won’t bother you with the trivial thoughts running through my mind at that time, let’s just say I did the right thing and whipped out my card.

We walked through the front gate looking for any clues as to where row L was. We must have looked lost because one of the event staff offered to help us. She led us to the seats and that’s when our anniversary adventure changed from this might turn out alright, to hey, this is going to be better than a free Kenny Chesney concert. It turns out row L is the first row of the upper reserved seating area. The lower area could be full of screaming 40-somethings standing and dancing during each song and I would still be able to blissfully enjoy HoJo unobstructed and straight on from a seated position. These seats were so sweet I almost felt guilty missing Kenny Chesney (because my wife really likes Kenny). Note that I said almost.

It turns out there were a few still-crazy-standing-and-dancing concert goers in the lower section, but not as many as there used to be. I guess a lot of us have grown into mellow-easliy-tired-I-prefer-sitting-and-listening concert goers.

The concert was fantastic. Howard Jones performed every song on both Human’s Lib and Dream into Action. Howard described it as an experiment. He sounded very much like he did on the records and tapes I used to have. I liked his conversation between songs almost as much as the songs themselves. For example, before he started the song Human’s Lib he read the first few lines of the lyrics and said, “This isn’t a template for how one should live their life. It’s just a bit of fun to sing it.” During the breaks between the songs he laughed a lot and didn’t take himself too seriously. He genuinely looked like he was having fun. That made me have more fun too.

Still in adventure mode after the concert we decided not to go home. We called our kids to let them know. Then we drove around looking for a hotel. Lest you think we’re horrible, neglectful parents I’ll point out that we prepped our oldest that we might not be coming home. See, if we told them outright, before we left, who knows what would have happened in our absence. As it was a couple of them didn’t know we were gone till the next morning, and they behaved exactly as if we were there.

We had such a fun time, talking about our adventure and eating cheesecake; and gaining some much needed perspective. Sometimes small and simple things turn into something great. And sometimes unplanned trips turn out to be better than the planned ones.

I’ve been a planner and a goal setter for most of my life. And for the most part it’s worked out great. But one thing that’s been hard to learn is that even though I make plans and set goals I don’t have as much control as I think I do. And the more people I care deeply about the less control I have. You see, we give up control when we invite others into our lives – and especially when we have children. We can’t force others to do what we think is right. We shouldn’t even try. But sometimes I get upset when other people’s lives take a turn for the worse which I think I could have helped them avoid, if they’d only just listen.

Part of the perspective we gained was about our family. A few months prior to our anniversary we had bit of family trauma, a bitter pill if you will, something that is too personal to go into in such a public place as my blog. Sometimes life wraps its arms around you so tightly it hurts. It's smothering. And sometimes when that happens I feel like giving up, on everything. Suffice it to say that by the time our anniversary rolled around we had been more down than up for quite a while.

You know the sayings you can’t see the forest for the trees and familiarity breeds contempt? Well, because of our bitter pills I think those two statements approximated my wife’s and my own feelings for longer than they should have. We were so caught up in and distracted by our bitter pills that we allowed ourselves to get completely wrapped up in any problem du jour hoping the bigger stuff would just go away. Because of all that we lost sight of the bigger picture: we have a healthy, happy family. And really, what more do we need?

Like I said before, life is too short to freak out when everything doesn’t go exactly as planned. Sometimes it’s the unplanned events that give us the perspective we need to recognize what’s really valuable, what’s really good, what’s truly important in our lives. In the end it’s the people that matter, everything else is just a story. So why not give it a positive spin. I know it can be hard, but recognizing unplanned events as adventures instead of just problems, is the first step in creating the positive spin. I’m not sure we’re completely over our bitter pills just yet, but our anniversary was a definite turning point.

The Final Day – Saturday (day 6)

Five fun filled days behind us we weren’t in a hurry to do anything. Plus, we figured why rush over to the weekend crowds in an amusement park when you can saunter over fashionably late. Instead we slept late and went to the Florida Mall, because no one goes to the mall on Saturday, right? Ok, it wasn’t all that bad, just not my first choice. I found a comic book store I wanted to check out, but the mall received more votes (2-1). We ate lunch there, and walked around the whole place. And you know what I think? A mall is a mall, no matter what state you’re in.

Somehow we had the incorrect notion that parking at Universal Studios was half price after 3:00 pm. We arrived at exactly 3:02 and paid full price. Doh! I think we caught the shopping bug at the mall because once we were inside Islands of Adventure we just had to find something for our boys left back at home. We started at Filch's because they had a big variety. Unfortunately they didn’t have exactly what we were looking for so, we went on the Forbidden Journey; the line was too short to pass up. We bounced over to Dervish and Banges and found exactly what we were looking for. Three of the four boys wanted Hogwarts house t-shirts, 2 - Gryffindor and 1 - Slytherin; every family has at least one black sheep. The other son is a basketball nut so we found him a t-shirt at the NBA store on the way out. Done shopping we mostly followed our daily ride routine: a couple of goes on the Dragon Challenge, a couple of butterbeers at the Hog’s Head, and one last visit to Hogwarts castle. We had a bag from shopping so we had to get a locker before riding. It’s free, just takes time. The lockers are pretty high tech, you use a fingerprint to lock and unlock them. We enjoyed our last Forbidden Journey almost as much as the first.

Time was ticking down so we had to rush a bit in order to make it on the Hulk and Spider-Man, but we did it, just barely. We couldn’t resist buying a set of drinking cups from each Hogwarts house and a Gryffindor baseball cap when we walked out through the shops near the entrance. I don’t think they ever close. I swear there must have been charms placed on those shops, some combination of Alohamora the unlocking charm to loosen my wallet and the Confundus Charm which everyone knows causes a person to lose all semblance of common sense. It’s the only way I can explain my behavior.

That was the end of our magical journey. We made so many memories. It was fun to visit all these different places and have such a variety of experiences. But most of all it was fun to be together with my wife and daughter.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

We loved hanging around in Hogsmeade: the shops, the scenery, the atmosphere, the butterbeer, the souvenirs. All the little details were impressive. I couldn't help wondering what it would be like to be the author of such a beloved story; my emotions were way past petty jealousy or envy, more into awe like this kind of thing only comes along once in a lifetime. Everywhere we went conversations buzzed about Harry Potter. It was out of this world to see it come to life in such a way. If I were JK Rowling I couldn’t be more pleased. Well done Ms Rowling!

During our trip, nearly every place we went, we noticed an abundance of people with British accents – it must have been a holiday or something like it. We never got tired of hearing them speak. My daughter was funny, she tried so hard to speak with a British accent. At first she was calling my wife mate, then she switched to mum. This gave me an idea for our next trip – we should visit England so my daughter can learn to speak properly. Here’s to looking forward.

Last time I visited Islands of Adventure I came home with a few comic books. This time I didn’t come home with any. The kid working in the comic book shop wasn’t very talkative, and you know I’m not. My biggest problem selecting comics is deciding where to start. If you have any recommendations for good comic books I’d like to hear them. I have a couple of Spider-Man volumes and enjoyed them a lot. I was wondering about Thor. Also, I’m a fan of X-Men and Batman, but there are so many storylines to choose from. Help. Any other suggestions?

Back to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure (park hopping) – Friday (day 5)

Friday arrived earlier than we wanted; so we taught it a lesson and went back to bed. We’d already been to each of the parks on our agenda and still had days on our Universal Studios passes, so we planned to park hop, hitting just the highlights. The mornings at Universal Studios felt less crowded and we definitely wanted to end at Islands of Adventure. So…

We made it to Universal Studios by 11:30 am, that’s still morning, right? We headed straight to Rockit. Our wait was around 30 minutes, plenty of time to catch all the instructions more than once. This time I chose “Hella Good” by No Doubt while my daughter went with “That’s the Way (I Like It)” by KC and the Sunshine Band, my wife decided not to rock it. I’m not sure why but when the music started I heard more of KC than I did of Gwen Stefani.

Since we hadn’t seen Twister yet we went there next. It was ok, but like Jaws, my daughter wasn’t really attached to that one. After that we hit the Mummy, MIB till my daughter beat her high score, then the Simpsons where we laughed some more. We finished where we started with one more trip on Rockit. I went back to ZZ Top, my daughter went with MC Hammer. After we came home I found out you can unlock hidden songs on Rockit, if you know how. Wish I had known that when we were there.

We park hopped over to Islands of Adventure with lots of time left in the day. In fact, way too much time. Remember that deal I made on Tuesday in order to avoid getting wet? Well, it was time to make good. Like it or not I was going to get wet. And I was mentally prepared for that. But the wait, I wasn’t mentally prepared for that. When we got there the projected wait time was 75 minutes, down from 90 minutes the other day – my daughter remembered that much. My wife tried to persuade, then badger, and in desperation she almost made an executive decision to skip it because of the wait time, the most we’d waited for anything else on this trip was 30 minutes; not counting Manta when it broke down on us. But, alas, my honor was at stake. I had promised and I couldn’t go back on it. I tried to make the best of it. C’mon, it’ll be fun, I said, not even convincing myself. My wife just glared at me. The line at first was a little deceiving, we walked through what felt like a mile of waitomazium before we caught up with the rest of the sheep. I even let myself think that the projected wait time was incorrect. Idiot! We were outside at first, but they had nice fans strategically positioned and some shady spots. Plus they were playing peppy music. I never realized then that I had it so good.

Five minutes passed, then ten, actually the first half hour wasn’t too bad, did I tell you they were playing peppy music? It was about the time we went inside the building that time slowed down. We seemed to go fifteen minutes at a time without moving an inch. It was hotter inside than outside, and it was stuffy, oh man was it stuffy inside there. And did I mention the peppy music? Well they were still playing it, the same peppy music. I consider myself a reasonably patient man, but by the time we stepped into our log if you told me I had to wait five more minutes I would have gone all Anakin right there on the spot (for my wife: that means I would have turned to the dark side, honey). Years later, wrapped in a straitjacket sitting in a padded cell I’m confident I’d be able to remember that peppy, haunting, music. Harry Potter had Voldemort, Spider-Man had Doc Ock and the Green Goblin, the Fantastic Four had Dr. Doom, and I have Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls.

I’d like to say the log ride part was fun. I guess I wasn’t in the right state of mind to truly appreciate it though. My daughter on the other hand, she liked it. Mission accomplished. This time it was my wife and I moping out of Toon Lagoon – I mean dripping out of Toon Lagoon. We looked up at the Pteranodon Flyers and thought, “That would be a great way to dry out, up high in the wind.” But the line was too long. Instead we explored Camp Jurassic. We climbed up rocks and nets, slid down slides, and even walked across a rope line over a bubbling pool in a misty cavern.

We could have spent more time in Camp Jurassic, but we got hungry. Being so near Hogsmeade the Three Broomsticks is all we could think about. Luckily the line was short and in no time we were feasting on Fish n Chips, Rotisserie Smoked Chicken, and Chargrilled Ribs, with butterbeer to wash it all down. I told you we were hungry. The prices on food in the Three Broomsticks aren’t discount level, but the food was top notch. This was hands down the most enjoyable meal of our trip.

Fully satisfied we had nothing else to do but visit Hogwarts castle, like a moth to a flame. I had a nagging desire for another Harry Potter souvenir: a Deathly Hallows necklace, like the one Xenophilius Lovegood wore. So it was win win to ride the Forbidden Journey again. The ride was good again, and I was equally happy to end up in Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. I searched meticulously for anything resembling the Deathly Hallows symbol, but came up empty handed. My wife asked a witch who worked there, because I’m a man and I don’t ask questions like that, if they had any Deathly Hallows merchandise. The nice witch said to try over at Dervish and Banges. Thankful for a wife who’s willing to ask questions I’m unwilling to ask, our next stop was Dervish and Banges, of course. I entered the shop on a mission: locate a triangle with a circle inside it, and with a line running through the circle. Once again I searched meticulously and once again I came up empty handed: 0-2. This time my daughter came to my rescue, like mother like daughter – she’s well on her way to being a perfect wife. Anyway, my daughter found out that the really cool stuff is in the back room at Dervish and Banges on a shelf behind the cash register – a good tip for anyone else like me unwilling to ask. They had a Time Turner necklace, a Horcrux ring, a prophecy crystal ball, and oh yes, a Deathly Hallows necklace. The boys at home were asking for one too, but the price was too steep to get more than one, sorry boys. It was around $50 and came with a triangular display case. The circle does rotate around the line, in case you were wondering. I couldn’t have settled for anything less.

Another mission accomplished, thanks to my wife and daughter. But in my defense they really hid the Deathly Hallows necklace in that store very well – probably because they were afraid the Death Eaters would find it. After the shopping detour we picked back up on our ride routine, next stop was the Dragon Challenge. Since we weren’t sure what we were going to do on our final day we went on Dragon Challenge several times, enough to fill up our memories, just in case we didn’t make it back.

Once we’d had our fill we left Hogsmeade, possibly for the last time. We always walked through the Lost Continent, and I always felt bad we didn’t spend more time there. They had some really interesting buildings and cool shops with appealing souvenirs, but they weren’t Harry Potter appealing. It must be tough being right next to the most popular place in the park. We tried to see Poseidon’s Fury on a different day, but it was experiencing technical difficulties. This time we were in luck, it was operational. The actor/park worker who lead our “tour” was pretty good, but there were a so many people in our group it was hard to see, especially for my diminutive daughter. It was fun nonetheless, for sure worth going on once.

The last leg of our routine was always Hulk, then Spider-Man. My daughter loved running ahead to be the first to spot the projected wait time – it was 5 minutes. I remember because she was so excited about it; single digit wait times are always exciting no matter what the ride. Riding on the Hulk I learned how to keep my head from banging against the restraints; I had to, my daughter loved that ride. The secret is to push your head forward so it’s outside the restraints, and forcing your shoulders up against the restraints helps keep you from moving around so much. It mostly worked. Ending on Spider-Man was much more relaxing. I never get tired of the 3-D in that one, especially when Spidey stands on the front of the Scoop.

We left that day feeling like we’d done everything we wanted to do; and with tired feet.

Next: The Last Day

Seaworld – Thursday (day 4)

We decided to switch gears and go to Seaworld. But we couldn’t drag ourselves out of bed early, three fun filled days started to add up. We weren’t that late though, we pulled into the Seaworld parking lot a half hour after the park opened.

Disclaimer: we really like Seaworld. In fact, for spring break earlier this year we drove the whole family to San Diego and went to Seaworld there. We still chant Shamu, Shamu, while making the sign of the whale’s tail and I believe. But because of this we weren’t dying to see all of the shows at Seaworld, Orlando, we just didn’t have the energy. So we focused on the rides and a few favorite exhibits: Penguin Encounter, Shark Encounter, sea turtles, and Wild Arctic – I take every chance I get to see a walrus in real life.

The only big ride at Seaworld, San Diego was Journey to Atlantis. Shipwreck Rapids is good, I just wouldn’t classify it as big, it’s not scary good, it’s only wet good, for those who like to get wet. The big rides at Seaworld, Orlando include Journey to Atlantis (not exactly the same as San Diego’s version), Kraken, and Manta. The exhibits, shows, and wildlife in San Diego are every bit as good as the ones in Orlando, some were better. There were a lot more sea turtles at the exhibit in San Diego, and a lot more beluga whales to name a few.

This is sounding a little negative, but remember this: Seaworld wasn’t our main focus, it was a bonus because of Discovery Cove. And that’s how I’ll remember it as a nice bonus that added a little variety in between our hard trudging days at Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios.

My wife may not think it was a bonus, but that had more to do with my daughter and I than Seaworld itself. In the spirit of full disclosure here’s what not to do, from my own personal experience. Hopefully you’ll be wiser because of it. I call it: “How to Torture Your Spouse.”

How to Torture Your Spouse

Step 1 – first thing in the morning, right after breakfast, take her on a ride that not only loops several times, but the riding position is leaning forward like you’re riding a crotch rocket motorcycle. So right off the bat you’re just dangling there on your stomach. And just before the first loop you twist onto your back in preparation for the first loop. This means you enter the loop head first, on your back, up-side-down.

Step 2 – after walking around a crowded amusement park for a couple of hours, ask your spouse to save you a place at the Seaport Theater 45 minutes prior to the next show. Be sure to emphasize you want good seats, right up front in the middle. While your spouse saves those good seats, you and your daughter go back and ride that ride again. It's ok though because you promise that if the projected wait time is more than 30 minutes you'll return without riding the ride so your spouse doesn’t have to endure telling everyone else at the show that you’re on your way. But… despite your best intentions, and a projected wait time of 15 minutes, you arrive back at the Seaport Theater 10 minutes after “Pets Ahoy!” begins, extremely lucky to even be allowed inside the doors once the show has started.

Step 3 – after a long day of walking, sitting, and walking some more, fighting crowds, baking in the sun, paying $5 for a carton of raw fish to feed the sea lions, $6 for a cup of Dippin Dots, $10 to paddle around for twenty minutes in a two-seater flamingo (while your spouse saves good seats in the Nautilus Theater for “A’Lure… The Call of the Ocean”) and paying $31 for a small stuffed dolphin and a medium sized stuffed penguin, completely exhausted on the way out of the park you pass that ride again and ask your spouse if she'll wait the projected 35 minutes, holding all the stuff you accumulated throughout the day, while you and you daughter ride that ride one last time.

My wife is awesome, durable, patient, and selfless -- heck, she can even endure torture. Journey to Atlantis is fun, it has an interesting theme. The Kraken is fast, exciting, and inverts 7 times in loops and twists. But the Manta is a completely new experience – it is the ride.

The Manta was such a unique ride, at least for us, that we ranked it our #2 favorite ride overall. We were glad we went to Seaworld because of it.

Next: Day 5

Universal Studios – Wednesday (day 3)

We woke up still riding the wand high from the day before. We were again excited to get an early start. Universal Studios is very different than Islands of Adventure, there are exciting rides, but a lot more movie-ish attractions too.

From the park entrance we ran to the Rockit rollercoaster. The line was short enough that we missed most of the instruction by the super cool animated teenagers. Not a huge deal, but when I sat down in my seat, pulled down the lap bar, and stared at the music selection touch screen I was unprepared to make my decision. I didn’t love any of the genres, so being pressed for time I took a shot on Classic Rock/Metal hoping I could find something I liked. I chose “Gimme All Your Lovin’” by ZZ Top. It was an enjoyable addition to my ride. My wife thoroughly enjoyed her selection of “Livin in Fast Forward” by Kenny Chesney; she’s a country girl at heart. The best part of Rockit is the beginning where you blastoff facing straight up through rings that remind you of a real rocket launch pad. And what goes up must come down, and Rockit does come down in a rush towards exciting twists, turns and loops. The second best part of Rockit is watching videos of yourself, and people around you, once you get off the ride. Our facial expressions were hilarious. Rockit was a solid lock in our top five favorite rides overall.

We picked a good day to visit Universal Studios because it didn’t feel like there were very many people in the park at all, completely different from the day before at Islands of Adventure. Our next target was the Revenge of the Mummy. It was close by and I knew my daughter would like it. Unfortunately they were having some mechanical problems with the ride so we couldn’t ride at that time. Walking away from the Mummy we were approached by a man working in the park – watch out they like to do a lot of surveys. Because we didn’t really have a destination at that moment we fell for his trap to screen a new television program. After answering more questions than you can shake a stick at (right now I’m visualizing Howie Mandel shaking a stick while the guy is asking us questions, and before the guy is done Howie gets tired and stops) we were plunked down in front of a monitor placing headphones on our heads. More questions on the computer before the actual screening took place, then finally we watched a new show called “Love in the Wild.” I’m embarrassed to admit that I kind of liked the show, but I blame my wife because she makes me watch a lot of other shows like it. Love in the Wild is a cross between the Bachelor and Survivor – it was funny watching how the couples handled the jungles of Costa Rica. After more than an hour, and more questions on the computer after the show, we were done. They paid my wife and me $15 for our effort. But I regret taking so much of my daughter’s time this way. She was stuck in there for an hour watching “Deal or No Deal,” the park outside beckoning to her. If they could have hooked her up with Nickelodeon she’d have been much happier. My recommendation when approached by a park worker at Universal Studios is to ask them how long whatever they want you to do will take, and if you don’t want to use your time that way, politely say “No thank you.” Word!

There was some good news, by the time we were done with the screening the Mummy was up and running. Plus, the line was super short. My daughter was a little scared walking into it, the line has some scary images along the way. But, hey, it’s the Mummy right – it’s not Little Red Riding Hood. My daughter’s comment when we got off the ride, “Worth it.” We hit the Mummy several more times during our week on vacation. The Mummy was our favorite place to warm up after getting soaked by rain – there’s a spot on the ride where the entire ceiling is on fire.

We walked through New York towards San Francisco/Amity. On the way we decided to try the Disaster experience. It’s not really a ride, it’s one of those movie-ish things I was talking about. The best part about Disaster was the extremely enthusiastic girl leading our experience. I really wanted my daughter to volunteer to participate, but for some reason she was timid that day. The attraction takes at least 20 minutes, so even though we were at the front of the line it didn’t move very fast. I think my daughter enjoyed it, especially the movie at the end which included some audience volunteers, and us as extras. It’s worth trying at least once.

When we found the Jaws attraction in Amity it had started to rain. We worried they’d stop the ride, but instead they kept announcing “You will get wet, if this is not in your best interest” get the heck out of the line, or something similar to that. I remember when Jaws came out in movie theaters when I was a kid. I had read the book and I was excited to be scared – that movie didn’t disappoint. So, I enjoyed the ride more than my daughter who didn’t have the same attachment to Jaws that I did. She didn’t hate the ride, she just didn’t love it either. I don’t think she’s even seen the movie.

We ran between rides to avoid getting soaked. MIB (Men in Black) was a great place to be while it was raining outside. This is a fun and competitive ride. You get to shoot aliens during while you ride. And if Will Smith says you’re not so good at the end, well then, you need to ride it again until he proclaims you the best agents. So we did.

When the rain let up a little we went over to The Simpsons Ride. The Simpson’s is one of my guilty pleasures. My daughter and I laughed through the videos played while waiting in line, especially the ones right before you get on the ride. And we laughed through the entire ride. It was definitely the ride we quoted lines from most often, “I’m not changing that diaper,” was one of our favorites spoken by Homer when Maggie grows fifty feet tall after being exposed to radiation. It’s much funnier there than my description here, trust me. There is a full sized Kwik-E-Mart right outside the ride, one of the more unique gift shops.

We ate lunch at the International Food and Film Festival restaurant mainly because it had a nice variety of options. Once again it was expensive but mostly good food. Our afternoon was spent on/in ET, the Terminator, Animal Actors on Location, Shrek 4-D, and Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Revue, then repeats of the Mummy and MIB. We wanted to ride Rockit again but it was closed, I assume because of the rain. Of the things we did in the afternoon I enjoyed Shrek, the Mummy and MIB the most. The others were good though.

There were other movie-ish things we could have done, but by the end of the day we started dragging. I think the biggest reason was the rain. We had to run through a downpour from the Terminator to get to the Animal Actors on Location and our shoes got soaked in the process. When we found out Rockit was not going to be operational for the rest of the day, and we were within an hour of Universal Studios closing, we park hopped over to Islands of Adventure. It stays open an hour later so we had enough time to ride the Forbidden Journey and the Dragon Challenge – the lines were perfectly short then too.

Next: Day 4

Islands of Adventure – Tuesday (day 2)

Tuesday morning we couldn’t wait to get to Islands of Adventure. We woke up early and made it to the entrance almost an hour before the park was scheduled to open. Did I mention we were excited? A nice treat that morning was when they started letting people through the gates 30 minutes before the scheduled opening.

Once inside we skirted through Seuss Landing, under the tracks of the Sky Seuss Trolley, plowed right through the middle of The Lost Continent, and in no time we were staring up at the entrance to Hogsmeade. Wow! It’s enormous.
A cobblestone street winds through the middle of Hogsmeade, shops line the edges: Zonko’s, Honeydukes, the Three Broomsticks, and the Hog’s Head are on the left; the engine to the Hogwarts Express, the entrance to Dragon Challenge ride, the owlery rest area, Dervish and Banges, and Ollivanders are to the right. The buildings were all slanted and misshapen, like magical buildings usually are. The roofs held patches of snow, large icicles dangled in a few places and there was a snowman too. Hogsmeade has so much to take in, so many little details; we just walked through staring in wonder and amazement, trying not to bump into the few hundred other people who filled the streets that morning.

Past all the shops in Hogsmeade Hogwarts castle jutted out of a rock foundation, looming high into the sky, more impressive still. That is where we wanted to go, no matter how long the line was – our first experience at Islands of Adventure had to be Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The entrance to the castle was visible, as was the line. We followed the line backwards, out through the other entrance to Hogsmeade, from Jurassic Park. We found the end of the line close to the T-Rex photo op. Undaunted we fell in line along with many other Harry fans right behind us. The line moved faster than I expected. And as a side bonus we got to reenter Hogsmeade from a different angle, with plenty of time to soak it in. A young wizard who worked at Hogwarts castle, near the gate, was dressed in a robe; he may have been a prefect. I asked him if we were in the right line for first years, and how soon the sorting would take place. We all had a chuckle. Then another couple walked up and asked him what the line was for. He said it was “to place your bags in a locker.” My wife and I looked at each other thinking he’s messing around with these people. Then some kids behind us say, “Is he going to tell them he’s joking?” Right then we noticed a fork in the line – one side was completely crowded, and the other side was wide open. So we ask him again, “What is this line for?” He answers, “It’s for lockers, you can’t take any bags on the ride.” So, first tip of the day, if you’re not carrying any bags, which we weren’t, you can bypass a lot of standing around. Live and learn I guess.

We raced through the entrance of the castle, only daring to stop briefly to inspect the décor fearing we’d be passed by others rushing in. We finally caught up to the end of the line, back outside the castle in a greenhouse, which is positioned between the castle levels. The line winds up and around inside the greenhouse past rows of mandrakes protected inside a cage along with various tools I guess Madame Sprout doesn’t want stolen.

Once you go back inside the castle there is so much more to see. It starts off with a couple of statues and the enchanted hourglasses that keep track of the House Points – spoiler alert: Gryffindor is in the lead. The line winds around the large gargoyle guarding the entrance to the headmaster’s tower. Past that is the headmaster’s office filled with many curious gadgets, including a pensive. At this point Dumbledore speaks to you. From here till you get on the ride you’ll see: talking portraits of the house founders, the portrait of the fat lady, and the sorting hat among other things. Another big room is the defense against the dark arts classroom; Harry, Ron and Hermione make an appearance there.

The ride itself is exciting; it’s a mixture of projected video, 3d animatronics, and an enchanted bench which moves, tilts, and twists you around in dramatic fashion. This ride was hands down our favorite for overall experience, including all the stuff to look at while you’re in line. The little details make it great.

The journey ends like most rides, in a gift shop. But not just any old gift shop: Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. The only thing I didn’t like about it was all the other people jam packed in there. It was like that in all of the shops in Hogsmeade. If it wasn’t for the crowd I would have picked up and thoroughly investigated everything for sale in the entire store, as it was I only got to touch half the stuff.

Right outside Filch’s is the entrance to Flight of the Hippogriff. This line winds around the front side of Hagrid’s hut, and past a baby hippogriff. The ride is brief, it wasn’t terrible but we had no desire to repeat. From there we walked back into Hogsmeade and noticed quite a long line outside of Ollivanders. Unsure exactly why there was a line waiting to enter the wand shop, we bypassed the crowd in hopes that later on, the line would die down enough for us to figure out what we were missing. The Dragon Challenge was more interesting anyway, before entering the castle there are lots of banners cheering on the Triwizard Tournament Champions. You also walk past the backside of Hagrid’s hut and Arthur Weasley’s flying car. The Goblet of Fire sits in the entrance to the castle, make sure you’re the proper age before submitting your name. The ride itself is the old Dueling Dragons, Fire & Ice, that was in the park before the Harry Potter World. Nevertheless, it still ranks high on favorites list, second only to Harry’s Forbidden Journey.

As much as we loved Hogwarts and Hogsmeade we felt compelled to investigate the rest of the park. So we headed back the way we came. My wife kept trying to get my daughter to try something in Seuss Landing, but she’s just “too big” for that I guess. Instead we hit The Incredible Hulk Coaster. I love how that coaster blasts off at the beginning. But my head tends to bang around in the safety restraints. So, I like it, but not as much as the other rides where I don’t have to hold my head together after I get off.

We started looking for food after the Hulk. We ended up in the Comic Strip Café in Toon Lagoon, passing up a couple of so-so options on the way there. Once you get past the sticker shock of the park food this place was one of the better ones.

After the food break we had unfinished business in Marvel Super Hero Island. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and Doctor Doom’s Fearfall were calling out to us “ride me, if you dare.” My daughter wasn’t about to back down from the dare, but my wife and I were longingly wishing we were back in Hogsmeade slurping down some butterbeer. The Spider-Man ride is one of my favorites, but it always seems to have one of the longest waits. Doctor Doom’s line was plenty short as is the ride, someone must be compensating.

Having conquered our super hero and super villain fears, we went back to Toon Lagoon. Now, forgive me for being critical, but by the time we got back there I wasn’t really in the mood for toons, especially the ones that get you wet – I hate walking around any park soaking wet. And I’ll be danged if just about every ride in Toon Lagoon didn’t get you wet – hey, maybe that’s why lagoon is in the name? I seriously just noticed that as I was typing, must have been too many head banging Hulk rides for me notice while I was there.

This is where our day turns a little sad. Even though my daughter opts to skip Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges, no argument from me or my wife, she stands in front of Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls and looks at it longingly. She does like to get wet. And to be honest, the people on the ride looked like they were having some real fun, I get that. I was close to caving, but it had 90 minute projected wait time. We didn’t even wait that long when we rode Harry’s Forbidden Journey. There was no way I was going to wait 90 minutes to get drenched and then walk around the rest of the day with squeaking shoes. That’s the moment when the camera’s zoomed into my heart and found it was 3 sizes too small. I talk a good game but we all know who’s really calling the shots. In the end I had to make a deal to postpone my encounter with Dudley Do-Rights’ 90 minute torture chamber. How do I know it’s a torture chamber you ask? Maybe the projected wait time was inaccurate, or maybe the line is really fun like the Harry Potter ride. You think? You can skip down to Friday’s events if you’re an impatient person. Anyway the good news was I didn’t have to wait 90 minutes to get wet. The bad news was I had one disappointed daughter; in case you didn’t know, disappointed daughters aren’t very much fun.

We moped all the way to Jurassic Park. On the way I tried to sell her on the Jurassic Park River Adventure, “This ride is going to be awesome: dinosaurs, action, suspense you name it. And we’ll probably even get wet.”

“I just wanted to get wet on the log ride,” she said through a frown, her forehead scrunched up for added emphasis. She wasn’t having any of it.

“Yeah, but remember, we’re going to do that ride when we come back here on Friday or Saturday – I promise.” Hoping the last part would cheer her up.

“Ok.” She said, this time with her patented attempt at smiling while at the same time displaying extreme disappointment in her eyes. She’s 9-years-old and she’s already mastering manipulative looks. Look out future husband.

The wait for the Jurassic Park River Adventure wasn’t particularly long in actual minutes, but it sure felt like a long time. The ride itself was enjoyable, and I think given almost any other circumstances we would have appreciated it a lot more. As it was it became the buffer ride we needed to get past the disappointment in Toon Lagoon.

The best news after that was the fact that Hogsmeade is just a hop, skip, and a jump from the river adventure. And what better place to cheer up than that wonderful wizarding world. It was getting late in the day, around 5:00 pm when we walked into Hogsmeade. This is when we learned a valuable secret about Islands of Adventure: the lines are a lot shorter at the end of the day than they are at the beginning. We strolled past the main entrance to Hogwarts castle, all the way through the greenhouse, and found the end of the line right at the second entrance to the castle. Score! Nothing cheers up disappointed spirits like short lines. When we were done in the castle we tried to prove our theory about the end of the day short lines and it held true – the Dragon Challenge ride line was even shorter.

Feeling downright saucy now, we wandered over to the Three Broomsticks to see what it was like inside. We ordered 1 butterbeer and 1 frozen butterbeer, found a table tucked away in the corner next to a huge wall filled with antlers, sat down and laughed at each other taking turns making butterbeer mustaches. We made silly jokes like “Got butterbeer?” Then licked the butterbeer cream off our lips and did it again. It was, um, magical. I’m not sure if it was a really great drink or the fact that we were drinking it inside the Three Broomsticks, it just doesn’t matter. Our mood had changed for the better.

While we laughed and drank our butterbeer we decided to go see what all the hubbub at Ollivanders was about. The line had died down significantly, still though, people were waiting. My wife approached one of the wizards in charge there who explained that they take in 36 people at a time and have a little experience in the wand shop. He estimated the wait time to be about 30 minutes. Since the line was the shortest we’d seen it all day we decided to wait. When we finally got in the door my daughter was chosen by Ollivanders’ assistant to participate in the demonstration. He handed her a wand and told her to summon the ladder propped against the wall. “Accio ladder.” She said. A bunch of boxes of wands on the shelves went haywire popping in and out, but the ladder stayed put. He handed her a second wand then told her to simply swish her wrist and ring a single bell on the wall above us. She flicked her wrist and all the bells started ringing. “That’s no good.” He said. Then he asked her, “When is your birthday?” After her reply he thought out loud, “I have one more wand for you to try it’s a 12-inch, made of holly, with a unicorn core. It’s very unique, but it might be …” he trailed off looking for the wand on the shelves. He found the box he was looking for, opened it and handed her the wand. As soon as she touched it it was clear the wand had chosen her – as if a light from the heavens shown down upon her. The grin on her face showed more excitement than I’ve ever seen before. My daughter was happy again. Yahoo!

Behind the scenes: after the wand chose my daughter one of the shop helpers, he might have been a muggle, whisked her away into another wand shop next door; that’s where everyone is herded to view wands they can purchase, thus vacating the room for the next 36. I ran to catch up, not wanting to lose sight of her. As they crossed through the doorway he leaned over and asked her, “So, do you wanna buy that wand?” Her head bounced up and down, “Yes!”

Now, I don’t mean to complain, but come on, like she’s gonna say no, after all that. The going rate for wands these days is $30 whether it chooses you or you choose it. Well played Ollivander, it was worth every penny. I actually ended up getting myself a wand too, I just couldn’t resist – if you herd me, I will buy. I should print that on a t-shirt. There were so many wands to choose from it was hard to decide on just one. I liked Sirius Black’s and Neville Longbottom’s, but how could I resist Dumbledore’s wand – the lure of the Elder Wand was too compelling. I’m admiring it right now as I write this. Thanks JK Rowling, for all the memories.

Nothing could top our experience at Ollivanders – it was the highlight of the whole trip. I think we rode the Dragon Challenge a couple more times then on the way out we rode the Hulk and Spider-Man. But all we could think about was the wand that chose my daughter. And the best part? She only attempted two killing curses on the way back to our hotel. Daddy's little girl is growing up, way too fast.

Next: Day 3

A Family Tradition: my daughter’s 10-year-old trip

My wife and I have a family tradition of taking our children on a trip when they turn 10, by themselves without any siblings. It’s our way of celebrating a decade of their life. We try to do something memorable for each child with a focus on stuff they are interested in. This makes the planning exciting for the children and the anticipation is a big part of the experience. We talk about where they want to go and what they want to do for 6 months to a year prior to going. We’ve made a lot of fun memories together.

This year my youngest child, my only daughter, turns 10. That means it’s our last 10-year-old trip. She spent a lot of time deciding where to go before finally settling on Florida. Her brothers helped by sharing stories about their trips: number two son went to Discovery Cove and Seaworld, and number three son went to Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios. The tipping point was my daughter’s love of everything Harry Potter. The first time she read about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure that was it. She also loves animals; she’s talked about being a marine biologist when she grows up. With six days to fill up we decided to include a visit to Discovery Cove so she could swim with dolphins too.

That gave us four different parks to visit from Monday through Saturday: Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Discovery Cove and Seaworld (Seaworld passes are typically included when you purchase admission to Discovery Cove).

When I started this blog I thought I’d be able to give you some highlights from our trip with a couple funny stories sprinkled in for good measure. The problem is my wife and daughter and I kept remembering fun stuff. So I kept on writing till it turned into quite a behemoth. Rather than force an elephant down your throat I’ve sliced it up into daily, bite-sized, chunks that I hope are easier to consume. Since I’m a blogger neophyte feel free to comment if you have tips on how I can format it better. I’ve included day one below. I’ll post the rest of our week once I polish each piece.

Discovery Cove – Monday (day 1)

We went to Discovery Cove on Memorial Day because daily attendance is limited; we thought the other parks would be more crowded on a holiday. After we checked in we ate a nice breakfast then headed over to the Sand Dollar cabana, near the west end of Dolphin Lagoon – our dolphin swim was scheduled for 8:50 am, first thing.

We were assigned to a group of eight, my daughter and I plus six others. My wife stayed on shore to record the event. After filling out some waivers, and listening to a short lecture about what we could expect, we headed over to Dolphin Lagoon. Once in the water a trainer whistled and Akai swam right up to us. The trainer had him swim close so each person could give him a rub. We learned hand signals that told Akai to swim by splashing us with his flippers. We also heard the different sounds Akai could make with his blowhole. One at a time each person was led away from the group for some alone time with Akai. We were instructed to put our hands together and gently place them under Akai’s chin and give him a kiss on the nose. After the kiss we wrapped our arms around his middle and gave him a hug while he posed for a picture raising his head and tail out of the water at the same time. The moment was brief and unfortunately we weren’t quick enough to capture it with our camera, but we’ll remember it for sure. Akai was a real ham.

We were having fun up to this point but they saved the best part for last. My daughter and I swam out about 20 yards where Akai met us and one at a time he towed us back to the group standing in the shallows. We held onto Akai with one hand on his dorsal fin and the other hand on his flipper. My daughter was nervous at first, mostly about treading water. But she only had to do it for a minute. When it was all over she was glad she did it. Before our dolphin swim time was complete all the dolphins in Dolphin Lagoon had a chance to show off, right in front of us. They jumped high into the air, some did flips – a couple flipped at the same time.

After our swim with Akai we headed over to the Tropical Reef – the saltwater swimming area. We waded into the shallow stingray section where we played with some small stingrays. There was even one tiny pup only a few weeks old; “So cute,” said the girls. This area is small so it doesn’t take long to see it all. There is a larger area adjacent to the stingray pool that is deeper. There are lots of tropical fish, way bigger stingrays, plus barracuda and sharks in that section. Before you get too alarmed the dangerous fish are safely contained in glass enclosures. Still it’s fun to swim underwater and be face to face with a ‘cuda or a shark, and feel comfortable at the same time. My daughter wanted to try her hand at snorkeling so that’s where we went. For a soon-to-be-ten-year-old she did great. I think she swallowed less than a gallon of saltwater, well below the recommended daily limit.

The rest of our day was pretty low key. We made a couple of visits to the Explorers Aviary feeding and trying to identify exotic birds; that was high on my list of favorites for the day. We traversed the Wind-Away River multiple times, it’s a freshwater river encircling the main swimming areas. Hanging out on the white-sand beach near Serenity Bay the soothing sounds of the waterfalls almost lulled me to sleep; I never seemed to have quite enough time to fall completely asleep. We snorkeled a couple more times in the Tropical Reef too.

Having the food included as part of the admission price to Discovery Cove was a definite plus. The breakfast was good, and the lunch was even better. There were also plenty of snacks; my favorite was the dolphin shaped pretzel.

It started to rain about 5:00 pm, but since the park closes at 5:30 pm we just packed up and left. I wish we could have stayed later, but I guess Akai and his friends need to rest sometime.

Next: Day 2

My digital evolution: eBooks and vFriends

Next month marks my 20 year anniversary as a professional computer programmer (that means I get paid to write code). And as such, it’s pretty much expected that I keep up with new trends in technology. It’s been interesting to watch things like the Internet, cell phones, facebook, and TiVo become such integral parts of our lives. But I’m not easily swayed to the newest, latest, or self-proclaimed greatest advances in technology, especially when they want to “fix” something that to me “isn’t broken.”

While it may not be surprising to anyone else, in fact some of you may be saying “finally, you old fogey,” I have digitally evolved in two surprising ways this year. I say surprising because one year ago I couldn’t have predicted how much these two things would change my behavior on a daily basis. The first is: I have purchased and read eBooks, and the second is: I have vFriends.

eBooks

I used to say things like “I can’t switch to digital books I’d miss the tactile feel, and the smell of paper.” Or “I don’t want to be chained to a device that requires a battery; I’m just fine with my simple printed book.” Another subconscious inhibitor was the reality that I had a hard time reconciling the price of eBooks vs. printed books. Because some of the production cost goes down with digital books I thought the price should too.

Ironic isn’t it? A computer programmer complaining about the price of soft copy while at the same time making a living producing nothing but soft copy. I should have known better. But it wasn’t until I listened to a couple of podcasts discussing the future of eBooks, including both the pros and the cons, that I recognized the similarities between producing eBooks and software development. Both take months if not years to produce a finished product. Both require many hands and eyes to design, implement, market and eventually deliver a quality product. I now recognize when I buy an eBook I’m paying for a lot more than just a copy of a word document.

I would still like to see some pricing adjustments on eBooks, like if I buy a paper book I get the eBook for free, or at least for a nominal fee like a dollar extra or something. But in order to keep the generally high standards we expect to see in published eBooks I am comfortable with the current price range on most eBooks today. But I digress.

Here’s how I took the eBook leap. I confess, I like gadgets. I’d been toying with the idea of buying a Kindle for a few months, but just couldn’t let myself pull the trigger. I was working on a project at work that gave me access to an iPad so I thought, before I buy a Kindle I should trying reading an eBook on the iPad. That way if I don’t like it I won’t have another useless gadget in my drawer – BTW, that drawer is quite full. I chose to use the Kindle app on the iPad instead of iBooks so that if I decided to buy the Kindle, whatever books I acquired in the meantime, I’d have access to in the future. Plus I read many good reviews in favor the Kindle app.

At the time I made this decision I was reading John Brown’s “Servant of a Dark God” – I picked up a signed copy from him at LTUE this year. I thought I’d do a comparison read, some parts paper book, some parts eBook. So, I purchased the eBook version too – you’re welcome John. Well, once I started reading the eBook, I stopped reading the paper book. The eBook was so much more convenient.

A couple of things hit me right off the bat. I was reading SoaDG and came across the name Lumen. It sounded familiar but I couldn’t remember who he was. I pulled up the search box, typed in “Lumen” and instantly found every occurrence of that name. I touched the first one and found the place where John Brown first introduces Lumen – exactly what I was looking for.

The second big thing is that I love looking up words in the dictionary. In fact, one of my favorite apps is a dictionary app. Well, in the Kindle app, if you want to know the definition of a word all you have to do is touch it and the definition instantly pops up; you don't even have to type it in.

Ok, eBooks you have me hooked, on these two things alone.

A few other conveniences I really like:

Highlights – built-in, I don’t need a pencil sharpener, or even to remember to bring a pencil, if I have my book I have my highlighter. I can even see highlights from other readers.

Built in backlight (at least on the iPad) – I don’t need anything else that requires batteries too. I know the e-ink on the Kindle is popular for reading outside, but I read a lot more often inside in low light than I do outside.

Accessibility – I can read on my iPad, my iPod Touch, my PC or my iPhone. The Kindle app syncs my current reading position so I’m always up to date no matter what. It’s like having a book mark that can’t get lost.

Purchasing an eBook is almost instant – really good for the “I want it now” generation.

It’s easy to change the font size and text color – so my wife can read too (she needs glasses, but don’t tell her I said so).

I’m not predicting the end of paper. I still do like the smell of paper, it reminds of reading as a kid. But if there is an eBook version available that’s what I’m going to buy from now on.

vFriends

Let’s start with my definition of the term vFriend. A vFriend (virtual friend) is someone I feel attached to because of interactions that take place mostly online via blogs, twitter, podcasts etc. The attachment is mostly one sided, the vFriend doesn’t usually reciprocate directly to me; I’m simply one of many followers to them. I may or may not have met them in person – mostly not.

Now, before this starts to sound too creepy I want to clarify that vFriends are good. I’m perfectly comfortable with our relationships in this fashion. I have received advice and encouragement this way. Sometimes I agree with my vFriends and sometimes I disagree, but I always gain something – otherwise I wouldn't go back to listen or read more.

I know blogs have been around for many years, over the years I’ve read several that I enjoyed. But I had a hard time keeping up. It was work to keep checking for new updates. Before anyone points out the many numerous tools that could have solved this problem for me I need to say that for some reason none of them were convenient enough to get me to use them. Then came RockMelt.

RockMelt is a browser built on top of Google Chrome that incorporates facebook and other social feeds right into the frame of the browser – super easy access. I first heard about it on NPR. To be honest my first impression was do we really need another browser? But RockMelt has succeeded where other tools have failed me. I added all my vFriends’ blogs to the right side of RockMelt. So now, when I launch RockMelt to surf the net, all of my vFriends with new posts show a number next to them, notifying me they have something new for me. And when I click on that notification I see a quick list summary of the new post, and all the older posts show in a greyed-out “I already saw that” background color. Adding vFriends to my RockMelt frame is as simple as navigating to the blog. If there is any type of RSS feed there RockMelt will find it and ask me if I want to add that feed to my list – incredibly simple and totally nonintrusive. If I want it it’s there, otherwise I surf the net as usual. One more cool thing about RockMelt is that my notifications, bookmarks, and vFriend information follow me no matter where I access RockMelt from: desktop computer, laptop, or even the new mobile RockMelt app gives me access to the same stuff – so I don’t’ have to remember any that stuff myself.

Another form of vFriends I have to mention is podcasts. I’ve been using my iPad to listen to Writing Excuses and The Appendix podcasts. It’s so easy to download them from iTunes and listen whenever I have the time. Once again I know I’m late to this game, but for those of you who haven’t found them you should go check out all of the many podcasts that are available, and are mostly free. I’ve learned a lot by just listening to them a few times a week on my drive home from work.

The last type I want to talk about is my vFriends on Twitter. I joined Twitter quite a while ago, in my attempt to “keep up” with technology. But since I started writing and trying to learn as much as I can I’ve realized the incredible wealth of information available via Twitter. The idea of a micro-blog (140 characters or less) is brilliant; it loosens the fetters that prevent most people, myself included, from general blogging. There is so much going on out there, so many hash tags to follow; if you’re in need of almost any kind of info you can probably find someone to answer it on Twitter, if it’s not already out there. On Twitter I get a chance to follow interesting people, who are sharing mostly useful tidbits about what they are doing. As someone who is trying to learn about writing and the publishing industry this is incredibly helpful.

There you have it, my latest digital evolution progress. I’m sure I’ll digitally evolve even more in the future. I’m always looking for new ways to be more efficient. But I prefer simple tools so I can focus on what’s most important – the content not the tool. In summary here are my top 5 most useful, and most used, tools I started using in the past year.

iPad (podcasts, eBooks)

Kindle reader app

Rockmelt (blogs, facebook, twitter and the net on my desktops, laptops, and mobile devices)

Twitter (I joined more than a year ago, but I’m using it differently lately)

Wireless mouse (I finally shelled out the money for one – did I mention I’m cheap and that I’ve been using freebie mice for a long time. Anyway I got a new wireless mouse for my Netbook and I love it, I can’t believe I waited this long to get one. I use Netbook to write, and my iPad for almost everything else Internet related.)

Where are you at in your digital evolution?