July 3, 2008
Adventurer's Club, RIP
Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney is going through some changes, the biggest of which is the closure of their Pleasure Island club district in September:
Walt Disney World will close its six nightclubs at Pleasure Island Sept. 27 and remake the 120-acre complex into a more family-friendly entertainment district.
While I'm not crying too much over this in the broad sense (I found Pleasure Island's club scene to be pretty sterile and generic - a comedy place, plus themed clubs for 80s, 70s, jazz and so on), I'm really sad to lose the Adventurer's Club, which is easily one of the best things at Walt Disney World, and a personal favorite of mine and Richard's.
The best summary of the Adventurer's Club comes from Re-Imagineering (who is pretty pissed off about its loss):
Some guests who enter this 1930's gentleman's club wander around the mezzanine, and depart without discovering the true genius this venue has to offer. Guests who descend the staircase and sit down for a drink or two are in for the time of their lives.
Throughout the evening, several amazing performers make their way through the Adventurer's Club, welcoming everyone to a 1937 New Years Eve open house. The club president and other permanent members continually converse with the guests. An animatronic colonel (okay, he's really a puppet) leads patrons in the singing of the club's all-purpose theme song. Musical performances here can be of Broadway caliber, and few who stay long enough to learn the club salute are immune from the club's addictive charm.
Richard and I would spend hours - entire evenings, sometimes - just hanging out in the club, drinking margaritas, interacting with the actors and other patrons, and laughing our assess off. When we planned our last Disney World trip, we set aside a few nights just to chill at the Club and unwind. Disney World is losing something really precious, and it's a shame.
There's an online petition to save the club, not that I think it'll do much good.
Adventurer's Club, you'll be missed. Kungaloosh!
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 3, 2008 4:47 AM.
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The Storm Are Now Seattle's Official Pro Basketball Team
The Sonics are officially gone. Clay Bennett and his fellow owners are paying Seattle $45M to immediately break their lease at Key Arena and move the team to Oklahoma City for the 2008 - 2009 season. Seattle keeps the name of the franchise.
And, with that, the Storm are now Seattle's official pro basketball team.
So long, Sonics. It's not the outcome a lot of people wanted, but it's the one we've all seen coming for a long, long time.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 3, 2008 4:08 AM.
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July 2, 2008
Gavin’s Adventures In Beijing, Day 1 (& 2)
Last week, Microsoft sent me to Beijing (along with my fellow MacBU-er Brooke) on business. Our flight left Seattle on Monday, the 23rd; I got home this morning. This afternoon's been a bit brutal, energy-wise - my internal clock is still 15 hours ahead of Pacific time, so my 8:25 AM landing (it's the morning!) was 11:55 PM to me (it's time for bed!).
The last 10 days have been a total whirlwind. While very much a work trip, we managed to use our weekend stayover for a bit of sightseeing. Very exciting.
As usual, I took a few notes during the trip:
- During my Monday-morning suitcase-stuffing extravaganza, I peek at Dashboard, which says that Beijing has a low of 70 and a high of 95 all week. Yowza. Pack shorts.
- Brooke's wife gave us a lift to the airport, so on the way out of town we stopped by Vivace for one final cup of Seattle coffee. We then popped downtown so I could give Elaine a goodbye hug at her office. Mid-squeeze, I'm reminded of why I was glad when my insane Product Planning travel schedule came to a close last year.
- Since the time difference between Seattle and Beijing is so pronounced, it meant that our Monday afternoon departure wouldn't land in China until late Tuesday night. (Dude, where's my Tuesday?)
- We're on Northwest for this trip, living large in business class (Microsoft travel policy lets you go business if your flight is more than 7 hours). After clearing Seattle airport security, we head to the South terminal and check out the Northwest executive lounge. It's my first time there, and it's pretty excellent: plenty of windows (lots of natural light), tables (places to spread out and work), free soda and coffee, free WiFi, and lots of quiet.
- (Brooke and I are, I think, the most casually-dressed people in the lounge.)
- Business class is addictive: champagne before takeoff, a fresh Wall Street Journal, an appetizer of seared Ahi tuna skewers with ginger and cucumber. We remark to each other, many times, that we are forever ruined when it comes to future travel in coach.
- Northwest's Airbus A330s have AC power outlets in business. My initial feeling of joy ("Score!") gives way to mild annoyance as I realize the flight's AC power system is put together with baling wire and a couple of D batteries. The juice stops frequently, which makes it hard to sustain (or retain) a laptop charge. Our power manages to last the whole flight (and I have an outbox of queued up e-mail to prove it), but things feel very touch-and-go most of the time.
- Our flight connects through Tokyo. I've never been to Japan before, so as we're descending I'm peering out the window of the plane like a 5-year old in front of a toy store, nose pressed against the glass and trying to absorb everything I'm seeing. The country is unbelievably green - they have farms and fields laid out in grids as far as the eye can see, incredibly lush and gorgeous.
- We arrive in Tokyo at 4:15 PM, local time. We are pooped.
- My iPhone can't seem to lock on to a cellular provider in Japan. I had this fantasy that I'd be able to zip around the world and at least have the option of paying $4.99 a minute on foreign networks, but apparently the AT&T people aren't talking to their Japanese counterparts. Grr.
- The Tokyo airport has a McDonald's. Next to a sushi bar. I swear I am not making this up.
- On the flight from Tokyo to Beijing, I watch "Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man", which I find to be an insightful and balanced portrait of a very complicated and stubborn guy. It starts with his work in the 1960s and 1970s, and then proceeds up to his 2000 presidential bid. Truthfully, I'd been a bit mad at Nader over 2000, and had seen him as a spoiler for Gore. After the movie ... well, I'm not mad anymore; I think I have a good sense of where he's coming from. I don't necessarily agree with him, but I do think I understand him a bit better. Highly recommended.
- After the film, I manage to sleep for an hour.
- We touch down at 9:28 PM, local time (6:28 AM Pacific).
- Beijing's airport is gigantic, just enormous. It seems to go on forever. We taxi for a full 15 minutes after landing, and never run out of new things to look at - stretches of tarmac and clusters of buildings, going on and on and on.
- The plane's doors pop, and the weather hits us. Beijing feels a lot like Houston - humid and hot, almost menacingly so, as if the weather wants you to know that it can take things from "pretty warm" to "Crock-Pot cooking" whenever it feels like it.
- Inside, the airport looks like any other modern European airport, except with Chinese signage. Most signs and displays have English translations; international pictograms are used for bathrooms, exits, and the like. Navigating is not a problem.
- The Chinese customs people are friendly and polite. They also have a push-button customer-satisfaction poll on the customer's side of the counter; you push the smiley-face or frowny-face that matches your experience ("Very satisfied", "satisfied", "unsatisfied", "Very unsatisfied"). I give my guy a "very satisfied" and head off to get my bag.
- We are met at the airport by some of our fellow Microsofties. They meet us in front of ... the Starbucks. (I am a sad, sad Seattle cliche.)
- A taxi is procured to take us in to Beijing proper, and our hotel. I had been warned about the driving in China, but the reality of it is really quite striking - people change lanes whenever they want, drive at different speeds on the freeway (very fast, very slow), pass on the shoulder, you name it. For all the chaos, the drivers seem acclimated, alert, and ready for anything.
- (Brooke and I are both alarmed to find that our taxi doesn't have seatbelts in the rear seats. As we later learn, virtually none of them do.)
- Our taxi ride takes 45 minutes, and sets us back 75 Yuan. That's about $10 US.
- The hotel is very nice, very clean, and clearly caters to visiting Western businesspeople and tourists.
- After unpacking everything, I notice the small sign in the bathroom - "The tap water is not safe for drinking." The hotel has set out two 12-oz bottles of (privately branded) water for personal use. I'd been warned about the water situation before leaving, but being confronted with it still requires a shift in my thinking. I need to use these two bottles for pretty much everything - drinking, rinsing my toothbrush, taking vitamins, everything. Conserving water becomes something I think about a lot during the trip, and I find myself wondering whether this kind of water rationing is something humanity as a whole is going to have to get used to in the future.
- Slightly before midnight, I bomb out.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 2, 2008 4:47 PM.
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If Seattle Had A Subway When I Was A Kid...
...I'm sure my parents would have had experiences like these. Seriously.
(Thanks, Juli, for the link!)
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 2, 2008 3:15 PM.
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A Peek Inside Tokyo DisneySea
Blue Sky Disney ran a piece on Monday that contained links to several YouTube videos about Tokyo DisneySea. Two of them - clips from a Travel Channel special - stood out for me:
Of these, Part One is better, but they're both worth a look (and will take, in total, about 16 minutes of your time).
As expected, the park looks incredible - lushly detailed, with incredible production value, innovative attractions and great ideas. As I watched, I was reminded/saddened that Tokyo got DisneySea in 2001, while the US got California Adventure.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 2, 2008 12:03 PM.
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June 25, 2008
"He Didn't Stop Believin'"
I have a total soft spot for Journey - they of "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Only The Young". Like Van Halen and David Lee Roth, Journey had a falling out with their lead singer, Steve ("Oh, Sherrie") Perry, and has never really recovered:
But as far as Journey’s fans are concerned, there is but one true Journey vocalist, and his name is Steve Perry. Before Perry, Journey were a chops-flaunting jazz-rock outfit whose first three albums had sold poorly; when Columbia Records threatened to drop the band, their manager, Herbie Herbert, prevailed upon them to hire Perry, who had a supple tenor, a gawky, earnest stage presence, and one of the worst haircuts in rock. Together, he and Journey began writing new songs that showcased two of these three qualities, and by the turn of the decade they’d become one of the biggest bands on earth.
Well, this month's GQ has a terrific article ("He Didn't Stop Believin'") about Journey's search for - and discovery of - a new lead singer, Filipino Arnel Pineda (via YouTube, of all places ... no, really). Pineda is rumored to sound exactly like Steve Perry - astounding if true, given Perry's distinctive voice.
Seemed a little implausible to me, so I checked out a few YouTube clips of the band performing live this year.
Holy cow, he's good. It's eerie. Listen to a few clips and judge for yourself: "Faithfully", "Don't Stop Believin'", "Only The Young".
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 25, 2008 11:14 PM.
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June 23, 2008
MousePlanet Covers The "Midway Mania" Opening
It's a terrific set of photos, but my favorite part is here:
"I tell you, put Pixar and Imagineering together and you get Toy Story Mania." Lasseter also refered to the new ride as, "the start of the rebirth of Disney's California Aventure," a comment that drew a loud round of applause from the Imagineers in the audience. He mentioned the upcoming Little Mermaid attraction and Cars Land addition...
It's about damn time.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 23, 2008 9:57 AM.
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A Few Random Notes From Our Quickie Weekend Trip To Sun Valley
Matt and Kari tied the knot this weekend, so Elaine and I got to fly to Sun Valley, Idaho to see them say "I do". A few notes from the trip:
- Neither of us had ever been to Sun Valley, and we were plenty excited to make the journey and see the place. You have two choices if you're flying from Seattle - go direct, or fly to Boise and drive (which adds about two hours). Seattle-Boise flights are a bit cheaper and quite a bit more frequent; Seattle-Sun Valley flights run just once a day. We elect to pay a bit more for the convenience, and fly direct.
- From the "Is Our Children Learning?" department: the Starbucks in SeaTac's main concourse was selling "Raisen Scones." Really.
- I'm one of those obnoxious people who insists on getting to the airport two hours ahead of the flight, which means, invariably, that there's plenty of time to kill once we clear security. As it happens, our gate was directly across from one of those airport massage bars, and, on a whim, I decided to try it.
- The place sells quick-hit massages (a "single shot" is 15 minutes; "double shot" is 30, and so on), but they also sell a 10-minute foot massage for $18, which pretty much sealed the deal. After signing in (and waiting a bit), they parked me in a super-comfy reclining chair, put a hot pillow around the back of my neck, rotated the chair so my back was parallel to the floor (and, thus, my feet were popped up), put a blackout cover over my eyes, and went to work.
- 10 minutes is not near enough time. And, truth be told, the massage was good enough that I completely forgot that I was in an airport.
- For some reason, I always forget that Horizon Airlines offers complimentary beer and wine on their flights. While this may speak to early Alzheimer's (or, perhaps, too much overall beer and wine consumption), it does allow me to experience that, "I love this airline!" feeling on a recurring basis. (Hooray for Horizon!)
- Our landing was bumpy - like, sparks-shoot-off-the-landing-gear-and-smoke-pours-off-the-wheels bumpy. Elaine and I are very, very glad once we're on the ground.
- Sun Valley, like a lot of Idaho, is gorgeous. Rolling green hills, dotted with trees and brush; wide-open expanses of blue sky; fast-moving, wide rivers. It all seems to go on forever.
- The Hertz people were terrific to work with; they gave us a brand-new (507 miles!) Subaru Outback to tool around in for the weekend. I'd never driven an Outback before, but wouldn't mind doing it again - it's peppy, roomy, very responsive. I don't know what I was expecting, but after renting that gawd-awful PT Cruiser in San Francisco in '06, I'm pretty much prepared for a kick in the shins at the rental counter.
- The Sun Valley airport is in Hailey, ID; "Sun Valley" is actually Ketchum, ID. They're about 12 miles from one another.
- We stayed at the Sun Valley Lodge, which is a very nice hotel. Friendly people, clean rooms, free parking. It's not exactly our style (it caters to the polo shirt and blue blazer crowd), but we really liked it.
- The Science Channel is running a hypnotic show called "How It's Made", which is crack for geeks. We caught one show about how to make golf balls, parking meters and cabinet handles - unbelievably cool. What makes the show work is learning both the anatomy of how things work (e.g., golf balls have rubber cores, cabinet handles start as zinc) as well as seeing the wicked industrial machinery, robotics, and processes that are responsible for synthesizing raw materials into something you see at Home Depot. So cool.
- There's a great little 1-mile-long trail from the Sun Valley Lodge that takes you to downtown Ketchum. On a nice, sunny day (of which Idaho seems to have in near-infinite supply), it's a terrific way to spend part of your morning.
- Don't miss the "Bowl of Soul" at Java on Fourth.
- For some reason, every time I put on a suit, I feel, at some vague level, like a 12-year-old playing in his dad's closet. I never can quite get used to suits.
- Kari and Matt could not have picked a better spot for their wedding - the setting was spectacular.
- Given that I met Matt in business school, the wedding was a bit of a UW MBA Class of '05 reunion. Chris Meyer and I wound up reflecting that this was, jointly, our fifth MBA wedding since graduation. How time flies.
- Getting out of Sun Valley got a little ... touchy. Turns out that Horizon oversold the Saturday flight to Seattle (as airlines are wont to do), and needed people to volunteer to get bumped. Problem is - this was the only flight that day, so nobody wanted to budge. Compounding the problem was that the carrot they were dangling - a free roundtrip ticket - wasn't very tasty (since you'd need to arrange a hotel stay, that pretty much cancelled the benefit). Unsurprisingly, nobody took the offer. And, unsurprisingly, the unlucky folks who got mandatorily bumped (a couple of poor Australian guys) were pissed off about it.
- (Note to self: I never, ever, ever, ever want to work at an airline counter.)
- The flight home was so bumpy that they had to stop the beverage service three times. I gave a silent prayer when we touched down - smoothly - in Seattle.
Damn, it's good to be home.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 23, 2008 8:08 AM.
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June 22, 2008
Escaping From Alcatraz, Days 4 & 5 - Sightseeing
A few more trip notes:
- Monday morning was, in every sense, The Morning After. I didn't bother to set the alarm the night before (I'd felt, for some strange reason, that I'd earned my right to sleep in), and consequently I didn't open my eyes until 9 or so. And then I didn't bother to get out of bed for a good half hour or so after that.
- Everything aches. Everything. My neck is sore, my back is sore, my legs are sore, my hip flexers are sore. I have slightly-sunburned parts of my skin competing with my fatigued muscles to see which can get more of my attention. (This is not a competition I'm pleased to have going on in my body.)
- Eventually, clothes are procured (the shower is skipped) and the four of us head downstairs to the hotel diner for some truly good, greasy-spoon omelette and french toast. The coffee's OK, but the potatoes rock. Jeff and I keep shooting sheepish, happy, can't-believe-its-over grins at one another across the table. If the ladies weren't with us, the other patrons would think we were a couple.
- By strange coincidence, today is the first day of Apple's weeklong World Wide Developer's Conference, also taking place here in San Francisco, and a number of my MacBU colleagues are in town for the event. Steve Jobs is giving the keynote at 10 AM, and thus, as of about 10:05 AM, I become one of those truly annoying table guests who obsessivly checks their phone every few seconds for news and information.
- (My verdict? The new iPhone is excellent, but the big news is the $199 price, not the 3G technology. Apple is going to take the market with these things. Near as I can tell, there are just three types of mobile phones now - free phones, BlackBerries, and iPhones. Everyone else is going to have to scramble to prove themselves.)
- The girls want to shop, so we head back up to the room, get showered and changed, and are off to H&M.
- As the day progresses, the four of us decide to split up. Elaine and I head out to meet Kim for lunch and some sightseeing.
- If you have the opportunity, be sure to get the Kickin' Chicken sandwich at Blue Barn Gourmet. It's about 18 types of deliciousness between two pieces of bread. Unbelievable.
- I generally dig shamelessly touristy activities - if you come to Seattle, I'm all about going to the Space Needle or Riding the Ducks. In keeping with this spirit, we decide to walk the Golden Gate Bridge from the south end to the midspan and back. (Given that Kim is planning to deliver her first child next week, this makes me seriously doubt which of us is in better physical condition. I'm giving the nod to her.)
- The Golden Gate, on foot, is exactly what you'd expect: majestic and awesome (and that's 'awesome' in the "Old Testament" sense, and not in the "Bill S. Preson, Esquire and Ted 'Theodore' Logan" sense).
- The weather is windy, gusty and blustery and threatening to throw us around if it gets much worse. We've all got lightweight jackets, and we're using 'em.
- Alcatraz looks very, very, very far away from shore. My ego inflates a bit.
- I might be the only person on Earth to be surprised by this, but the Golden Gate Gift Shop has pretty crappy service. If you find a decent t-shirt, you'll have to fight to be able to buy it. Be warned.
- San Francisco has some pretty incredible transit. Kim, Elaine and I manage to ride the cable cars, BART, and street-level light rail. The systems all interoperate smoothly, and I'm struck by how much SF has in common with Seattle - confusing geography, lots of different transit users, and distinct types of transit modes (bus, monorail, light rail, streetcar). Spending the day in San Francisco's transit system gives a glimpse of what Seattle will be like around 2020 or so.
- Cable cars, in particular, are astoundingly fun to ride in sunny weather. And if you have a chance, check out the free cable car museum; the exhibits are seriously interesting for any transit geek (and you get to see the actual machinery that drives the cable system in the city!).
- The commuter rail train station at 4th & King is also way cool - light, airy, and smoothly interconnecting heavy rail, light rail and buses. Plenty of bike lockers. We saw a gadzillion geek commuters disgorge from a Caltrain from San Jose and then stream in to the city. The closest thing we have in Seattle is King Street Station, but that's a few years/decades from seeing this kind of use.
- Tuesday morning, we had breakfast at Louis', overlooking the Sutro Bathhouse ruins. Better coffee, fantastic potatoes, cash only.
- Jeff and Barb had planned to take an extra day or two to drive through Napa and on to Washington, so the four of us parted ways (with much hugging). After loading my bike in the back of the Highlander, Lane and I headed for the airport.
- The new international concourse at SFO is gorgeous. Modern, clean, full of light, and, at least when we got there, totally deserted. I started wondering if we'd missed some kind of Homeland Security update.
- Our flight back to Seattle was on Virgin America; this was our first time flying the carrier. My colleague Stuart had raved about VA's service from Los Angeles, so we had high expectations. We were not disappointed: the plane was clean (and even had that 'new plane smell'), and each seat is equipped with a touchscreen entertainment system and a small game controller/keyboard in the arm. Elaine and I immediately discovered the plane-wide instant message system, and started flirting with one another over IM.
- Best. Airplane. Orientation. Video. Ever.
- You order drinks through the touchscreeen, and pay with your credit card (the plane does not accept cash). After placing your order, the attendant materializes over your shoulder with your beverage ready to go. It's about as slick as can be.
- After arriving at SeaTac, we noticed that there's a kick-ass Link Light Rail photo gallery on display in Concourse A. We were both pretty tired after the long weekend, but Elaine was kind enough to let me stand and study this sucker for a good 5 minutes. If you're in the airport and have a few minutes to kill, look for it.
Damn, it's good to be home.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 22, 2008 10:43 AM.
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John Lasseter On "Toy Story Mania" High Scores
The LA Times blog scored a cool video interview with John Lasseter about Toy Story Mania; the interviewer gets to ride along with John on the attraction, and find out some of the secrets to getting a high score.
We also get to see a bit about how the ride operates, and what the game looks like while playing.
God, this thing looks like so much fun. Check it out!
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 22, 2008 8:29 AM.
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