While I was out running errands, I found a happy little tree! (has Bob Ross been here?) 🙂
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A Photo a Day – Day 3
We had yet another beautiful sunset here in San Francisco tonight!
I stopped in the middle of the crosswalk on Mission St. near the Moscone Center to snap this one.
Not All Headphones Are Created Equal
Good quality sound is VERY important to me, whether I’m listening to music or watching a movie – it can make or break an experience for me, which perhaps could be seen as a rather ridiculous thing to the average ear.
Am I saying that I have an above average ear? Perhaps. All I know is that my ears are particularly sensitive to various levels of sound, and I can quickly tell you if there is a particular frequency missing.
For example… Mid-range sound. That’s a frequency of 300-5000 Hz – where most significant audible sounds reside. For instance, if you have stereo sound, you’ll have two mid-range speakers that transmit those sound waves. Most of the time this is all you need to have a good sound experience, but if your ears are as picky as mine are, it’s not going to be good enough.
When I am looking to purchase new earbuds or headphones, I look for something that has a good balance of high, low and mid-range. That’s harder than it seems, because there are SO MANY choices out there! If you like to shop online like I do, then it’s even harder because you can’t try out the device before it’s shipped to your house.
Last April, I purchased a pair of ear buds, iLuv brand. They were $10.95 at the time on Amazon, and now they’re being offered for $5.95 – free shipping if you’re a member of Prime. (if you use Amazon quite a bit, then Prime is totally the way to go)
I read a ton of reviews about all sorts of brands… I was looking for something that not only had a good balance of sound frequencies, but also that would fit into my ears without falling out. Yes, I have small ear canal openings, and that makes it very difficult to find something that stays in my ears. I’ve even resorted to taping my iPhone ear buds in place before when my old nice pair that actually stayed in wore out.
Well-loved iLuv Earbuds
I took a gamble, based solely on the reviews that I read from various Google searches – I didn’t actually try them out in person to see if I liked them. That gamble really paid off! They had enough treble to balance out that mid-range and there is an “ultra-bass boost” included so you get awesome bass as well. The rubber tips expand in your ear canal opening and do cancel out quite a bit of noise too, so that helps the audio quality quite a bit!
I got lucky – because they were so cheap, I circumvented my rule about trying out audio equipment before I actually purchase it. This time it worked!
Fast-forward to last night – a package arrived, an “early Christmas present” for me and my husband, from my husband. I didn’t know what it was… I was excited as he opened up the package…. inside were Sennheisers!
They weren’t at the top of their line – an affordable $75.00, so I knew that they would not have blow-my-socks-off sound, but I still expected a level of quality that is synonymous with the name.
Sennheiser HD428
On the headphones go – good quality – heck, better than most! I love the fact that it has a closed back, and around the ear cushioned pads that help block out the sounds around you and let you enjoy the sounds coming out of the speakers.
I was disappointed that mid-range sound seems to be the star. Where is the BASS?! A little of the higher frequencies are there, but even then it’s not enough. Are they a good pair of headphones? Yes. Are they worth $75.00? I think not. You could spend half that amount on a pair of similar looking headphones from a no-name brand and probably get the same quality.
As for me, I’ll stick with my iLuv earbuds. However, I’m wise enough to know that there are nicer earbuds and headphones with even better sounds with these; if there is anything I have learned is that not all products made by any specific company are going to be a good fit for me.
In this case, they are out-performing this level of Sennheiser’s earphones. I’ve more than gotten my $10.95 out of them, and they are still going strong!
Photo A Day – Day 2
Here is today’s photo post! It’s actually a photo that I snapped of yesterday’s sunset… I am so blessed to live in a spot with such a grand view! Prime spot for sunset viewing for sure.
Indiana Jones Ride Renovation
One of the primary things that Chris and I were excited about in regard to our trip to Disneyland last week was the opportunity to ride the
Indiana Jones Adventure: The Temple of the
Forbidden Eye ride – I knew that it had been scheduled for renovation, something it greatly needed after 17 years of operation.
Not that the ride was not fun anymore, but there were certain elements that were, well, just plain worn out looking, or non-existent.
Instead of heading straight over to Indy, we ended up going to Space Mountain first, and then got sucked into Star Tours: The Adventure Continues (my thoughts on that ride will be in another post)
It was late in the day before we moseyed over to Adventureland to ride Indy.
Through the Adventureland gate we went, our excitement reflected in our quick steps, shining eyes and goofy grins… around the bend, we’re almost there! GREAT SCOTTS! NOOOOOOOOOO! A large temporary barrier was spanning the whole of the queue courtyard entrance, with a sign saying that it was temporarily closed! Tears began to well in our eyes as it dawned on us that this may very well be the first Disneyland trip we have taken together WITH NO INDY!!!
With stunned disbelief, we looked at each other in that horrific moment. NO INDY! This can’t be! It won’t be a proper visit to Disneyland without our beloved Indy!!!!
Chris was the first to shake himself out of his shock induced paralysis… he whipped out his phone, and before you could say “Bob’s your uncle”, he had found a ray of hope, glimmering through the high-res screen of his iPhone…
“Oh!” he said… “Indy will be opening on Friday, according to a few sources on Google”. I gave a hoot of happiness and said “are you sure?” Chris showed several sources – I then declared Friday to be “Indiana Jones Day”, determined to ride the thing as many times as possible to make up for almost a whole week of not being able to ride.
Tuesday, Wednesday… then Thursday… it was Indy Day Eve! We consulted Google once more to see if any info had changed – people were still saying Friday, so we kept our hopes up.
Thursday night back at the hotel, we discussed our game plan for the next day… “No early entry for Disneyland tomorrow, so we sleep in a little, grab breakfast and then head straight to Indy.” Upon waking on Friday morning we greeted each other with wide toothed grins and exclaimed “INDY TODAY!”
Take shower, brush teeth, quick makeup – I was ready in 15 minutes. Off to breakfast! We had a hearty breakfast at the Rainforest CafĂ© there in Downtown Disney and discussed how the day would go. Chris brought up a very good point – “What if it doesn’t open?”. I looked at him incredulously – “Nah. It’s been closed for 4 long months. Unless something went very wrong with the mechanics of the ride itself during renovation, they have to open it… right?” My confident opinion that it would be open just took a mighty blow, and my steadfast belief that we would get to ride that day suddenly started to waver a bit.
We finished breakfast, and gingerly headed toward the front entrance… through the security check – there is the courtyard! The lines to get in the gates weren’t too long, and soon we were speeding toward Adventureland, and INDY!
Through Adventureland, rounded that last bend in the path and NO! There are cast members out front of the ride queue saying that they “don’t know if anyone will get to ride today” – the barriers were down, and some people had lined up anyway. Chris and I also got in line and stayed for about 5 minutes until their insistent chatter of most likely not being open finally drove us away.
We decided to go to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain and Star Tours, and then decided to head back to Adventureland to take a peek…
There was a small line, and it was MOVING! A small “whoop!” of excitement escaped my lips and I grabbed Chris’ hand as we swiftly moved forward…. We get to ride! Then, horror of horrors, the man and his son in front of us were stopped. OH NO! In my head, I could hear Darth Vader Shouting NOOOOO!
The sweet cast member closing off the line explained that they were only letting a limited number of people on as they were still testing the ride.
Chris and I decided to stick it out, as did around 30 other people. They moved the line over against the retaining wall to the right of the queue entrance, where many of us promptly plopped our behinds down and whipped out our various mobile devices, hoping beyond hope that they would deem us worthy of being more than willing passengers on the next test run.
5 minutes pass… then 10… a nice cast member came over and struck up a conversation with us, started because of the “Just Married” buttons that we were sporting on our sweatshirts. (they gave them to us at check in at the Grand Californian when they learned why we were staying for the week) We spoke of weddings and college, San Francisco and Indy movies. Like most cast members she was very pleasant, but this lady was beyond nice – she was super fun to talk to! For the life of me I can’t remember her name… only that it was unusual and ended in ly, and I remember thinking that it was an interesting name to stick an “ly” at the end of.
After 5-10 minutes of chatting, she excused herself, explaining that she needed to “go get an update”. Quickly she walked away, and less than a minute returned to talk to us more… this time, she said that she loved chatting with us, and felt badly that we had waited in line so long… that’s when she handed us one of the go-to-the-head-of-the-line passes that they give you if you’re stuck on a ride and it breaks down. She explained that the pass was good for most rides in the Disneyland Park (darn! No good for the new Radiator Springs Raceway in the new Cars Land in California Adventure – oh well, still happy to receive this!) With a wink, she said “Not sure when we will get to let you guys on. Enjoy your pass!” Within 2 minutes, they opened up the queue, and I’m estimating roughly that 50 of us happy guests were escorted inside!
Chris and I were one of the first groups to get into one of the cars.
The air was electric with excitement! As we were boarding, I noticed there were some big wigs standing about taking note of how things were going, no doubt assessing how things were working now that the ride had a complete overhaul.
We were on our way! Into the Chamber of Destiny we go… which door would we be lead through? Ah! The Fountain of Eternal Youth! Through the chamber, around the corner and into the awesome ride that we have come to love so well!
We ended our ride with cheers all around our vehicle – as we stepped out, we noticed the big wigs smiling and even a few were laughing… we made sure to thank a few on our way out, and they heartily thanked us for riding!
On our way down the exit halls, Chris and I were talking about the changes to the ride when suddenly I realized that he had stopped talking and had this HUGE grin – apparently I was talking so rapidly in my excitement that I had rattled on for a couple of minutes! SO MUCH had been improved and I was really stoked about that.
There were SO many things improved! Here is a list of things that I noticed:
- Queue line railings have all been replaced. Well, MOST. There were a few that you could tell were older (ones that I had noticed were replaced on our last visit in May of this year) but they were recent replacements anyway.
- The “support” pole in the spike room has been fixed! It no longer has a permanent bend, and you no longer have to yank on it with all your strength to activate the dropping ceiling.
- All of the murals in the queue have a fresh coat of paint. That must have taken FOREVER to touch up, since they were all hand-painted to begin with!
- The scrims have all been repainted, and are much more vivid than they have been in years. Mara’s glowing/flashing eyes at the end of the first chamber halls have been fixed – they also have fog coming out of them again like they used to.
- All of the lightning effects as you head toward Indy in the Tunnel of Torment have been improved, and it looks SO AWESOME! More lightning, and it’s brighter. I’m guessing they are using LED’s to backlight those now, but I don’t have confirmation.
- The mist at the Gate of Doom where Indy is at the end of the Tunnel of Torment is back! Also, the green light emanating from behind the gates is brighter.
- Everything that has black light reactive paint has been re-painted – everything glows properly again! Also, paint/effects in general have all been touched up or re-painted.
- The Mummy Chamber looks awesome again! The skeletons and mummies that pop out at you really are popping out again, instead of barely going half way.
- The puffs of air in the Bug Room work again.
- The Pit has a better lava effect and the proper amount of thick steam (fog) hanging about again.
- Also…. FIRE! The pyrotechnics in The Pit as well in Mara’s eye are back! Not having those for several years really took away from the ride experience in my opinion.
- The Snake Temple room looks grand again, and the Cobra actually dives at you once more. Also, his fangs are popping down/out toward the front of his mouth instead of being stuck to the roof of his mouth like they were for so long
- The bridge over The Pit has been widened on each side – not long before we rode, a cast member told us to watch for that. They explained that they had to make it compliant with California State laws so that if the ride broke down and there was a vehicle on the bridge, guests could easily and safely be evacuated. The bridge widening is not going to be evident unless you’ve ridden the ride many times before the renovation, and you’re looking for it. It didn’t add to or take away from the experience.
- The Skull Room back lighting is better, and the scrim of the ghost/skeleton to the right of the backside of Mara and above you has been touched up and is much brighter.
- The Rat Cave fog effect has been fixed.
- The Dart Room paint effects look eerily improved! New paint, and I SWEAR that I don’t remember a glowing chamber door to the right at the very entrance of the room. Is that new, or do I just not remember it? The puffs of air that are to resemble darts whizzing at your head are working properly again, and they puff so hard that it blows your hair!
- The Rolling Boulder effect has been greatly improved, largely due to the ball actually rolling again (which it had not done for a VERY long time), and also the improved lighting effects really added to it.
We were VERY happy with the renovations! It seems that there was a lot of love and care given to the renovation of this beloved ride, and it really does show!
Chris and I rode it several times more that day and evening, and did we get sick of it? No way! We were so happy that we were able to see all of those wonderful improvements, and so thankful to get to experience the ride on the last day of our honeymoon. Perfect way to end our trip!
A Picture a Day?
Posting at least one picture a day can be quite the challenge, as I found out in 2011 when I decided that I would do so for 6 months.
It wasn’t taking the pictures that was a problem, but disciplining myself to actually upload them. At the time, I was using Facebook exclusively for this, and at that point the process was a tedious one with the uploads timing out quite often.
I made it for 5-1/2 months… Not a bad run, really but still short of my 6 month goal.
I am once more seriously considering it, only this time it would be for 1 year, and this time I would upload all of the photos to this blog.
Short term, I’m challenging myself to one solid week of daily photo uploads, starting with this pic:
These are the lights at the entrance to the Superdry Store at the San Francisco Centre. Normally they have old-fashioned looking incandescent bulbs in them, but since Thanksgiving they’ve had beautiful colored ones for the Christmas season. I’m a sucker for glass and colored lights!
Pirate Treasure Map Nails
Chris and I are dressing like pirates for Halloween, so I came up with a Treasure Map design for my nails!
I’m thinking about doing a tutorial on this, if enough people show interest.
Back to Blogging!
The time has come for me to start blogging regularly – actually it’s past time, and I am determined to keep the blogging up, especially since I’ve just moved to San Francisco and I want to record all of the adventures I encounter in my new life here with my husband! Packing up my home was bittersweet – happy to be newly married to Chris, but also leaving my family and dearest friends in and near the city that I have always lived in.
In the process of packing things up, sorting through belongings to decide what to give to charity was the hardest part, but the farther into the process I was, the easier it became.
Anything that was not used within the last year or two was given away and it felt so freeing to see all of those stored things go away! It’s also a nice feeling to know that my donations help to keep people employed, too.
In all, I donated 3/4 of my possessions and I don’t miss any of it!
It was a little stressful to prepare to leave Portland, but little did I know what would happen just before I was scheduled to leave town.
Monday the 7th was spent loading my section of a UPak trailer from ABF Freight. Chris (Sacco) and Daniel came over to help, as did my Dad so things were loaded very quickly. In fact, we had it loaded within 3 hours, so ABF was able to pick up the trailer that same afternoon! ABF was courteous and the whole process went smoothly.
As it turns out, packing things up would be the easy part.
That night was spent at my best friend’s house, even though he wasn’t home from Hawaii yet.
Tuesday the 9th I woke and began to get ready to go back to my place to get the odds and ends still left in my townhouse packed up and taken to Goodwill. While I was in the middle of eating a bite for breakfast, my Dad called to say that he was calling an ambulance for Mom to go to the hospital.
She would not fully wake up and could not talk – she had been sick for a week with some sort of “stomach flu” and at the time we wondered if the illness was getting worse.
Mom was in the hospital from last Tuesday (the 9th) until Sunday afternoon. She had been vomiting for almost a week, and that morning woke up un-able to communicate with my Dad.
They took her to the ER, and admitted her to the hospital. She had become dehydrated, and because of the stomach bug she had, her sugar levels had risen quite dangerously (over 300 points). That, coupled with infection that had spread into her bloodstream affected her brain function severely. There were several of us there in the room with her for several hours that night, but she didn’t remember that at all.
The next day, she would slip in and out of being coherent and cognizant of her surroundings. At one point, I talked to her for an hour and a half straight, but later she didn’t remember anything we had talked about… just some minor details. It was so bad that she even had some hallucinations… she thought that she was being moved from hospital to hospital and then finally stayed at the one she really was in. This continued for a few days – you never knew if she was going to be clear headed or completely foggy.
The doctors told my Dad that she’s dying, but we already knew that – interestingly, they didn’t communicate that to Mom, but perhaps that was because she was always cognizant of what was going on . They said that they cannot put a time frame on it though, that it was impossible to guess when we might expect her to pass on. Mom has known for quite a while that she’s been slowly dying, and she’s okay with it – that helps me deal with it better. She and I have been discussing this for a long time, so while it won’t be easy, and I certainly don’t want her to pass on, I am prepared as much as I can be, I suppose.
They pushed her hard to be put in a nursing home, right down to making the arrangements for a specific place WITHOUT talking to my Dad or Mom or any other family member. There were a few arguments between Dad and the main doctor, and then an argument between my Mom and the doctor. I hate how they try to push things on you. They know that she’s dying, and she specifically said that she wants to pass on at her own home, where she is comfortable and happy, yet they still tried to push it on her.
She’s doing much better than she was at the hospital. Just after one day of her being home, I can see a huge difference in the quality of her communication and her retention of conversations that we have. Her mood is much lighter too, and I suspect that this upswing in mood contributes greatly to the increased memory retention.
On a lighter note, the move to San Francisco has gone well! My things were delivered here on Monday – we used a local day labor service that was recommended by Pinterest to hire two men to help us unload and carry my things up to our apartment.
All of that took about an hour with the four of us unloading (the two hired men and Chris and I). It would not have taken that long if we had not had such a long walk through the parking garage! They made it sound like we could unload everything onto the dock and then right up an elevator… well, the dock was taken up by large trash bins and recycling bins, so it didn’t leave us much room to unload things directly ponto the garage floor behind the trailer. We would take some things out, stack it up, and then start carrying or wheeling things through the garage, up a short ramp to the next garage level, walk several yards then turn a corner and go into the elevator area. Phew! We were all very sweaty and tired after all of that, but at least it went quickly.
I have spent the past two days un-packing and finding homes for things. I discovered that a couple of boxes that I had intended to take to Goodwill got packed in the trailer, I suspect by one of my two friends that was helping me load the trailer back at my old place. Oh well! I may have more things here that I could part with as well, so I see a run to Goodwill using our new ZipCar membership in our future. 🙂 (I sold my car to my Parents since I won’t need to use a car here very often)
I still have many things to write about from the past few weeks, and I’m not sure where to start! I should have a bit of time later this evening to sort out a few pics from my first weekend living in San Francisco, and then I’ll work backward to the wedding.
Off I go to run some errands!
Sunset at Rose City Park
An open sky filled with clouds is a common sight in the big field at Rose City Park, but perhaps less common is a spectacular sunset.
Gentle clouds quietly shifting shapes and colors reminded me of many evenings spent just as this one – sitting on the hill above the park field watching the sun go down, and then finishing the evening with a twilight walk.
This evening was especially precious to me, because it will be one of very few more that I will be spending here in this manner. Soon I will be leaving the city I have called home all of my life, and the neighborhood that I have embraced for the past 7 years.
I’ll be leaving my favorite spots to watch the sun set, my favorite places to take twilight walks. Late summer twilight walks around the golf course alone are one of my most beloved things about living here. The owl will no longer linger in the tree next to my favorite place to watch the bats fly amongst the trees. No longer will I be able to walk a few steps out of my door to this wonderland (it may be a golf course, but it became special to me). I’ll miss the bunnies and the foxes, the bats and owls and the songs of a host of crickets. I’ll even miss being a bit afraid as I gingerly walked in the closely forested areas on the path as I watched out for the coyotes.
I have been blessed to live here, and I have so many precious memories like this to take with me.
NextGEN Gallery Plugin Test
Well, here is a test of the NextGEN Gallery plugin – wheee!
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