Feb 10, 2010 Orlando, life, tech stuff
I happened to be doing my daily quickscan of Facebook and Twitter for topics to write about when I spotted that Southwest Airlines was holding a “Tweet-up Meet-up” at the All-Star Music Resort at Walt Disney World. I happened to have the morning free, so I signed up to attend. I tried to get some friends to go, but either they had to work or they bailed on me last minute.
Well, today was the day of the event, so I got up and took Rhon to work by 6am, then went back home for a quick nap. The event started at 10:30am, and I got there at just that time, but it seemed I was one of the last to arrive.
To be honest, the event was kind of lackluster. Breakfast consisted of a few pastries, some bread pudding and some sliced fruit with a yogurt dressing to drizzle over it. I generally don’t like sweets for breakfast – would it hurt to have put out some scrambled eggs and bacon?? Or at least bagels and cream cheese? I decided on the fruit with a small blueberry muffin and washed it down with cranberry juice.
Most of the crowd there were families, so I didn’t really have anyone to chat with. I just sat in a booth and ate, watching the steel drum band they had for entertainment.
But at least it wasn’t a total bust. Just for showing up, I ended up taking home a $25 Disney gift card and a Southwest Air-branded laptop accessories kit that had a wireless mouse, thumb drive and a 4-slot USB hub extender. I had actually been thinking of purchasing a similar kit, so it was cool that I got one for free. Not a bad investment for an hour of my time.
After the event was over, I drove around the All-Stars and took some photos for possible future stories and went home. And now I’m blogging it all to you. LOL
Here’s a photo of the breakfast layout:
And one of my take-home goodies:
Oh and the funniest thing was even though it was a Twitter meet-up, not only did I seem to be the only person actually Twittering about it, I had to ask three Southwest employees what their Twitter handle was before I found someone who actually knew. Go figure.
Jan 28, 2010 scifi and fantasy
When I was a kid, I collected the trader cards that came out for the Star Wars movies. So I was thrilled when I ran across this online generator by Restraining Bolt that reproduces the letter stickers that came with the card sets. Other than a fun trip through the memory archives, it serves no other purpose, but I think it’s still very cool.
As for the cards themselves, I think they were lost years ago in a basement flood, but I keep hoping I’ll find them when I finish going through all the stuff in gramma’s storage unit.
[found via the StarWars.com blog]
PS: I’m posting this using Firefox’s ScribeFire add-on extension, so we’ll see how it turns out. 
Jan 26, 2010 life
I’m absolutely astounded by this article from a Vancouver, BC website that talks about how a company is building mini loft-style apartments that are only the size of two parking spaces.
Think about it – two parking spaces. Now I’m fascinated by the idea of living in such a tiny space from an architectural viewpoint. You really need to compartmentalize everything and there’s definitely no room for clutter. Or even a roommate, really.
The article states the “apartments” – sub-studio size, to be sure – use murphy beds and other fold down furniture to make the space functional.
I suppose if you’re single and aren’t home much, this could be an option. But I’m astounded that they’re charging about $700 a month for this 270-sq-ft space. Granted, I haven’t lived in Vancouver for over 30 years (when I was a kid I lived there), but even in Orlando you at least can get a one-bedroom in a decent area for that price. That’s more than twice the space of these mini-lofts.
Would you pay so much to live in such a tiny space?
[Image courtesy of Reliance Properties]
Dec 10, 2009 online humor
I’m getting used to the somewhat questionable ads on Facebook, but this one really made me take another look…
Now, I’m not one to judge on looks, but I think this mom needs a good shave.
Nov 18, 2009 Orlando, food and drink, work, writing
Monday night I had the pleasure of spending time in the company of some of my fellow bloggers from UpTake. With several of the main office people in town for the PhoCusWright travel industry conference over at the Omni Championsgate, several of the Orlando-area UpTakers met up with them for dinner and drinks Monday, before the conferences started.
We met up at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, and ate at Boma’s dinner buffet. Boma is one of my favorite restaurants at WDW, and though I normally eat there during the breakfast buffet, the dinner version is just as good. Actually, this time I noticed a few small differences that made it a more enjoyable experience.
One pleasant change was at the carving station. The last two times I ate dinner at Boma, the beef was only served medium rare and you had to hae the chef cook a slice to order if you wanted it well done, as I do. This time, they had a second slab of well done beef ready to slice. I had a little bit of everything except the seafood items and the mushroom soup. Besides the beef, I enjoyed the Durban-spiced chicken, the bobotie (sort of a ground beef and lamb quiche) and of course the dessert spread. Especially once I poured the chocolate rum raisin sauce over most everything. LOL
Yes, I said chocolate rum raisin sauce.
It’s ok, I’ll give you a moment alone with your taste buds.
Anyways, the best part of the meal was the company. It was great meeting fellow travel writers, esp. since we all work together via telecommuting. I’m really hoping we can get together again, maybe make it a bi-monthly type of thing. So, a big hello to Elliott and Pat from the main office and my Orlando co-bloggers Britt, Shash, Brooke and Angela.
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Michelle Snow. Journalist. Photographer. Web Designer. Graphic Designer. Traveler. Couchsurfer. Geekgirl. Browncoat. Musicologist.
