Canadian Buffoon's Disney With a Teen Vacation - 08/13 - The Wrap

[pkondz]

Totally random, but thought you'd enjoy it

Oh, Linda Carter.
The show that launched a thousand dreams.

Oddly enough, when I log out of my Hotmail account,
it defaults to MSN.com.
And lately, at the bottom of the page
are a bunch of links to... crap.
But one of them is
"You won't believe what she looks like now!"
or something like that.

I refuse to click on it.


Keeping the dreams alive.

 

[pkondz]

That suit was just... magic. How on EARTH did that thing stay up?!?!?!

Superglue!

I was thinking that also, either superglue, duct tape or just body paint!!

I'm voting for either option A or B...
Pretty sure things would be moving a bit differently if it were option C.

I actually know this.
I believe it came out after Jennifer Lopez
wore this:

Double sided tape.

Although...
After watching that Linda Carter gif
for 45 minutes....
That would have to be really good tape.

And, trivia.
The above dress is the reason
Google invented Image Search.
(Which I don't know how to use. )

 

[pkondz]

Juuuusssst keep running...

 

[orangecats2]

OH please tell me you booked that funky hotel in Edmonton where all the rooms are themed! Can I go to Edmonton with you?

 

[Steppesister]

OH please tell me you booked that funky hotel in Edmonton where all the rooms are themed! Can I go to Edmonton with you?

I'm sure Ruby wouldn't mind at all.

 

[orangecats2]

Yeah, after I posted it, I realized it would be really weird.

 

[franandaj]

But one of them is
"You won't believe what she looks like now!"
or something like that.

Actually, she was on the Morning news program we watch every morning, and she looks pretty darned good. Not quite that, but she certainly looks better than me!

OH please tell me you booked that funky hotel in Edmonton where all the rooms are themed! Can I go to Edmonton with you?

Never heard of the hotel in Edmonton, but I do know about the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. I've stayed in a couple rooms there and it was kind of fun!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Reminds me of the "car motels" they have in Okinawa. Lots of them with lots of different themes. You never even saw the front desk. There was a door to the office with a slot in the door where they slid a basket out for your payment. They had little connected garages and a board in case you needed to cover your license plate for some reason.

 

[pkondz]

OH please tell me you booked that funky hotel in Edmonton where all the rooms are themed!

One never knows.




(But yes.)

Can I go to Edmonton with you?

I'm sure Ruby wouldn't mind at all.

Yeah, after I posted it, I realized it would be really weird.

Well, that was easy.

 

[pkondz]

Actually, she was on the Morning news program we watch every morning, and she looks pretty darned good. Not quite that, but she certainly looks better than me!

So with that info, I Googled.
Wow! She looks amazing for 65!

No... skip that.
She looks amazing!

Never heard of the hotel in Edmonton, but I do know about the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. I've stayed in a couple rooms there and it was kind of fun!

Googled that one too.
Holy crap is that a lot of theming!

 

[pkondz]

Reminds me of the "car motels" they have in Okinawa. Lots of them with lots of different themes. You never even saw the front desk. There was a door to the office with a slot in the door where they slid a basket out for your payment. They had little connected garages and a board in case you needed to cover your license plate for some reason.

Because you're on the run from the government?

 

[juniorbugman]

Are you staying at the Hotel Selkirk in Fort Edmonton Park?

 

[pkondz]

Are you staying at the Hotel Selkirk in Fort Edmonton Park?

Nope.
Never heard of it?

But it sure looks interesting (thanks Google!)

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

​

​

I'm sorry, did anybody write anything after this?

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

I'm sorry, did anybody write anything after this?

Huh... what?
Oh, no important words, but...
There was another picture on down the way that you need to go find.

 

[pkondz]

Mini real-life update, I suppose?

I may have posted this before,
but if I have....
Lucky you! You get to see it again!

My regularly scheduled work cycle
goes like this:
Five shifts on, three days off.

Now some of you are thinking,
"How does that work?
There's only seven days in a week."

True. But we don't work based on a normal week.
Actually we work on a 56 day cycle
where it's supposed to average out to
37.5 hours/week.


Whatever.


So. Five on, three off.
Sounds sweet, right?
"Wow! I can work my regular
Monday to Friday... and then get a three day weekend!"

Well, sure... But then the next week is
Tuesday to Saturday.
Hope you didn't have plans for the weekend!


Now all that would be okay by me,
except it's not that simple.


Planes gotta fly,
so we gotta work.
24/7, 365 days/year.
There isn't a minute that we ain't open.
We're not alone.
One third of the workforce works shift work.

However, I can see it now.
"Folks, this is your captain speaking.
There's going to be a short 30 minute delay
as the air traffic controllers have a nap."



mmmm.... nap....



Sorry, where was I?
Oh! Right. Work. Schedule.

We're always open.
And working 9-5 ain't gonna cut it.
So our work cycle looks like this.
Two evening shifts, two day shifts, one midnight shift.
And then the three days off.
Evening shift is from 2:45pm - 11:19pm*
Day shift is 6:45am - 3:19pm*
Midnight, 10:45pm - 7:19am*

(*overtime shifts are 8 hours starting on the hour.)

It takes me about 30 minutes to drive to
or from work.
So if I'm lucky, I'll get five... five and a half
hours of sleep between an evening shift
and a day shift.
I don't sleep between a day/mid,
which means I'm usually up for 26 hours straight.
Every week.

And that's what vacations are for.
Or so I've heard.

Let's see... we went for a quick Maui vacation in February.
Managed to get out to Montreal for a couple of days.
So I should be good, right?


Uh....


We're short staffed right now.
The company did hire two people
last spring.
One quit.
The other is still training.
If all goes well, she'll be done
in another two months.
(And from what I've heard,
things are going well.)

Right now, we have nine people.
We should have ten.
We need eleven or twelve.

We can actually run with nine just fine.
As long as no one ever calls in sick,
or takes vacation or any kind of leave.

Of course, if someone is missing,
there's overtime.


Last winter/spring we had two people
gone due to illness and/or deaths
in the family.
This summer we have people going
on holidays...
AND illness and/or deaths in the family.

There are people (including yours truly)
who have been working 16 hour days
on a regular basis.
Either on their regular work days,
or on their "days off".

Remember the work cycle?
Five on, three off?
I don't remember how many of those
I got to enjoy in the last nine months.
There were some, but not many.

If I had to guess.... uh.... two? Three?
I do know there was a set fairly recently,
and I was shocked that I didn't get a call
to come in.


I won't go so far as to say I hit the wall,
but I will say that I was feeling something.
August was rough.
But I knew there was a light
at the end of the tunnel.
Three glorious weeks off in September.

But I was rapidly running out of steam.
I asked a co-worker who tends to work
the night shifts.
"Want an overtime on Monday night?"

He said yes.

"Good. Because I may not make it."


I got home yesterday after work,
around 3pm.
I just wanted to crash for a few minutes.
I knew I had a supper to make.
It was Elle's boyfriend's birthday.
He was coming over for dinner.
I asked Elle "What do you want?"
"Fettucine Alfredo and a Caesar salad."
She replied.

Good. At least it's easy.
"Okay, you do the lettuce, though."

I hate cleaning/tearing Romaine.
It's just a pain. But it's not complicated.


Kay very kindly decided to make a cake.
Her first one.
When I got home, she'd already
gotten it baked and ready for decorating.

Awesome. I need to lie down for a few minutes.


Wouldn't it be nice if that could actually happen?


The second I lay down....
"Dad. The fondant isn't working. I need help."

Of course you do.
I went to see what she'd done.
Well... the entire kitchen was covered
in icing sugar.
She'd accomplished that, at least.
The fondant? Well....
I still don't know what she did,
but we wound up tossing the lot
and starting from scratch.
And when I say "we", I mean "I".

Eventually I got the fondant rolled out
and placed over the cake.
I let her smooth it out.
Next, she was going to make some
buttercream icing for decorating.

I... went back to bed.
ahhhhhhh....

"Dad. The icing isn't working. I need help."

Once more onto the breach.


The cake was... a disaster.
She had made the icing and piped it
onto the cake....
and it melted.
Icing was dripping and running down the
sides of the cake, forming an icky, sticky
puddle at the bottom.
Kay had tears running down her face.
Which matched the running icing, I suppose.
But it did make me take pity on her.

"Okay. Step one. Let's scrape all this off."

"Now. How did you make your icing?"

She tells me with butter and icing and milk and...
"Wait. Milk? What? You don't use milk."

"But that's what the internet recipe said!" She wails.
(you can use milk... but I suspect
she used Tbsp where it said tsp.)

So.... I made (proper/non-melting) buttercream icing.
I showed her how to pipe rosettes on the cake
and finally got to lie down and rest for an hour or so.



Ha! Did you believe that?
Suckers!


No, all the cake stuff ate up all my precious rest time.
It was time to start supper.
Past time, actually.

Okay, I need cream out of the fridge.......
WHERE'S THE LETTUCE?????


oh. here it is. just like i bought it.
unwashed. untorn. still in the bag.
i'm not upset at all.


And really, it wasn't that big a deal.
So I had to do the lettuce.

But...

I phoned in sick for my midnight shift.
And felt better almost immediately.
(not really. but it didn't hurt.)


But here's just how bad it's gotten.
About half an hour later,
I get a call from work.
"Hi pkondz, I know you're on vacation now,
but ______ just called in with a doctor's note.
And she'll be off until September 19th.
You didn't want to come in and work on
some of your days off, did you?"

And this is how bad it's gotten.
For a second or two.
Just a second or two.
But it did happen, even for a second or two...

I actually thought about going in.

Thankfully, I still had one or two rational
brain cells left and said no.
And hung up.

I'm not answering the phone for
the next three weeks.


Because I'm on vacation!!!!!!!!




I contemplated posting this to the new TR.
But thought better of it.
Who wants to start a TR off with a depressing
rant like that???

I will start it on a much happier note.
I will.

And I think I'll break with my regular methods
and post chapter one.... before I leave.
Maybe.
What do you all think?

 

[pkondz]

I'm sorry, did anybody write anything after this?

Nope.

Huh... what?
Oh, no important words, but...
There was another picture on down the way that you need to go find.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

My regularly scheduled work cycle
goes like this:
Five shifts on, three days off.

Now some of you are thinking,
"How does that work?
There's only seven days in a week."

Sounds like corporate America has finally won!

Planes gotta fly,
so we gotta work.
24/7, 365 days/year.
There isn't a minute that we ain't open.
We're not alone.
One third of the workforce works shift work.

I hear ya. I'm kind of in the same boat, although my position is not on shift work. But I manage the guys who are. Roads gotta stay open.

However, I can see it now.
"Folks, this is your captain speaking.
There's going to be a short 30 minute delay
as the air traffic controllers have a nap."



mmmm.... nap....

Everyone on the plane would be comforted, I'm sure.

Actually, I'd feel better if they did give you guys a nap once in a while.

I don't sleep between a day/mid,
which means I'm usually up for 26 hours straight.
Every week.

We can actually run with nine just fine.
As long as no one ever calls in sick,
or takes vacation or any kind of leave.

Well, then what are you complaining about? Sheesh.

There are people (including yours truly)
who have been working 16 hour days
on a regular basis.
Either on their regular work days,
or on their "days off".

I don't know how you guys do it.

I won't go so far as to say I hit the wall,
but I will say that I was feeling something.
August was rough.
But I knew there was a light
at the end of the tunnel.
Three glorious weeks off in September.

It sounds brutal. I would have hit the wall, for sure. Can't blame you there.

Eventually I got the fondant rolled out
and placed over the cake.
I let her smooth it out.
Next, she was going to make some
buttercream icing for decorating.

I... went back to bed.
ahhhhhhh....

"Dad. The icing isn't working. I need help."

Once more onto the breach.

This is where I head straight to the store and grab the pre-made can of icing. Done!

So.... I made (proper/non-melting) buttercream icing.
I showed her how to pipe rosettes on the cake
and finally got to lie down and rest for an hour or so.



Ha! Did you believe that?
Suckers!

Can of icing. Problem solved.

Okay, I need cream out of the fridge.......
WHERE'S THE LETTUCE?????


oh. here it is. just like i bought it.
unwashed. untorn. still in the bag.
i'm not upset at all.

Oh, for the love of...

You know what, it's just rabbit food anyway. Nobody will miss the salad.

I phoned in sick for my midnight shift.
And felt better almost immediately.
(not really. but it didn't hurt.)

Goodd for you!

But here's just how bad it's gotten.
About half an hour later,
I get a call from work.
"Hi pkondz, I know you're on vacation now,
but ______ just called in with a doctor's note.
And she'll be off until September 19th.
You didn't want to come in and work on
some of your days off, did you?"

This is where Tom Hanks' knock-knock joke from Catch Me If You Can comes in handy.

And this is how bad it's gotten.
For a second or two.
Just a second or two.
But it did happen, even for a second or two...

I actually thought about going in.

Good thing you smacked yourself or else I was going to have to do it for you.

I'm not answering the phone for
the next three weeks.


Because I'm on vacation!!!!!!!!

And I think I'll break with my regular methods
and post chapter one.... before I leave.
Maybe.
What do you all think?

Go for it! You're the captain of this ship, we're all just along for the ride.

Wait, why am I on this ship again?

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

Bring on Chapter 1!!

 

[Steppesister]

Yes, Chapter 1 first. Gives us a framework, and you a launching point. But hey, it's your gig. Do what makes you happy to write it. If it's not fun, it's not worth it.