Mere hours ago I returned on a Song 757 from Orlando, Florida, where I had been at Disney World since Sunday. Go Mickey! :) Here are some of the rides I went on:
Epcot
Test Track
Get in a car. Go fast.
Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safari
We saw lions, elephants, alligators, rhinos, hippos, and much more.
Magic Kingdom
It's a Small World
Creepy yet classic.
Big Thunder Mountain
The biggest rollercoaster I'm willing to go on. I actually videotaped the whole thing -- well, videocarded I suppose, since it's on a xD card instead of a tape -- so with luck I'll get that online for all to see sometime soon.
Disney MGM Studios
Star Tours [x4]
It's Star Wars. Need I say more? Now complete with a giant water-blasting AT-AT standing guard outside in a recreation of one small piece of Endor, take the vacation of a lifetime to the idyllic forest moon. Along the way, though, there may be a detour or two... :) First you board the Star Tours Express, a ship seating maybe 50 people (they have six of them). All the action is seen throught the forward viewport, aka a large screen. :) The entire ship is mounted on a gimbal so that it can shake and move with the action onscreen.
Backlot Tour
Take a look at some of what goes into making a movie. See prop warehouses, costume design shops, and live pyrotechnics and water effects. Watch a select few lucky parkgoers make their own "Harbor Attack" minimovie.
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
Similar to the Backlot Tour, we saw many of the stunts and action pieces from Raiders of the Lost Ark, live.
Lights Motors Action [x2]
Cars! Motorcycles! Stunts! Jumps! Explosions! Again along the same lines as the Backlot Tour and Indiana Jones, this show takes you behind-the-scenes of producing a movie car chase scene. It'll give you a whole new level of appreciation for what goes into that kind of thing.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Play It! [x2]
In an authentic Millionaire set, complete with music, spinning lights and everything, compete for the chance to sit in the hot seat. No, you're not playing for a million dollars, but you are
Downtown Disney
Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba
Wow. Very cool bicycling, trampolining, spinning, jumping, and so on. These people are incredibly skilled.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Spring Break, Oblivion, & Disney World!
I just saw the Godfather (part one) for the first time. Good movie... pretty long, too. It must have had half a dozen different climaxes. In the car ride home, we were all kind of checking the seat behind us nervously to make sure no one was going to... uhh... get revenge or anything....
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For the past week I've been on Spring Break... woohoo! :) I've been getting some good web site work done... maybe by the end of next week I'll have put some parts online.
That's going to be waylayed, though, by a "trip out of the country," as my dad calls it -- a trip to the self-contained, totalitarian microworld known as Disney World. (Seriously, they should secede from the Union.)
What'll my favorite attraction be? Why, same as last year, of course - Star Tours! :D
If I have a chance, maybe I'll report live from the Mouse Front. Or not. We're being airlifted in at 08:00, or something like that. I'll send in a little report afterwards, at least... well, if I remember. :)
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So what have I been doing for the past week, aside from web work and prepping for insertion? Living in an entirely different world. Well, in the few spare minutes when my brother isn't. :)
That world is Nirn, specifically the 16 square mile Cyrodiil province as seen in the RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, available now for Xbox 360 and PC. (The second installment is remembered for an environment twice the size of Great Britain, but the land in Oblivion is much more varied.)
This game has earned almost universal 9/10 reviews or higher. Complaints about framerate or load times are not totally without reason, but are an utter non-issue. If you play this game, trust me, you won't care either. It's just... well, HUGE, and it presents endless possibilities. Buy and sell; barter; buy a house; buy a horse; steal a horse; go to jail; break out of jail; repeat.
Jail is actually kind of fun, which I suppose is a bad moral for kids to learn. ;) You can try to pick the lock, which is hard -- harder in the bigger prisons, like the Imperial City Prison. You could also try pickpocketing the key off the guard. (But if you do and you're recaptured, watch out, 'cause they're not dumb enough to give him the key the second time.) In smaller cities you might be paired with a jailmate. I once escaped by starting a fight with another prisoner and then running out the door as the guard came in to intervene.
I could go on for hours. Many reviewers do. Google it; you'll find some. If you have an Xbox 360, I highly recommend it; if you have a PC, chances are you won't be able to run it. But if you have a state-of-the-art computer that can handle the graphics and physics, go for it. :)
---
For the past week I've been on Spring Break... woohoo! :) I've been getting some good web site work done... maybe by the end of next week I'll have put some parts online.
That's going to be waylayed, though, by a "trip out of the country," as my dad calls it -- a trip to the self-contained, totalitarian microworld known as Disney World. (Seriously, they should secede from the Union.)
What'll my favorite attraction be? Why, same as last year, of course - Star Tours! :D
If I have a chance, maybe I'll report live from the Mouse Front. Or not. We're being airlifted in at 08:00, or something like that. I'll send in a little report afterwards, at least... well, if I remember. :)
---
So what have I been doing for the past week, aside from web work and prepping for insertion? Living in an entirely different world. Well, in the few spare minutes when my brother isn't. :)
That world is Nirn, specifically the 16 square mile Cyrodiil province as seen in the RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, available now for Xbox 360 and PC. (The second installment is remembered for an environment twice the size of Great Britain, but the land in Oblivion is much more varied.)
This game has earned almost universal 9/10 reviews or higher. Complaints about framerate or load times are not totally without reason, but are an utter non-issue. If you play this game, trust me, you won't care either. It's just... well, HUGE, and it presents endless possibilities. Buy and sell; barter; buy a house; buy a horse; steal a horse; go to jail; break out of jail; repeat.
Jail is actually kind of fun, which I suppose is a bad moral for kids to learn. ;) You can try to pick the lock, which is hard -- harder in the bigger prisons, like the Imperial City Prison. You could also try pickpocketing the key off the guard. (But if you do and you're recaptured, watch out, 'cause they're not dumb enough to give him the key the second time.) In smaller cities you might be paired with a jailmate. I once escaped by starting a fight with another prisoner and then running out the door as the guard came in to intervene.
I could go on for hours. Many reviewers do. Google it; you'll find some. If you have an Xbox 360, I highly recommend it; if you have a PC, chances are you won't be able to run it. But if you have a state-of-the-art computer that can handle the graphics and physics, go for it. :)
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Office Live: New Web Site
Remember how I mentioned Office Live in my last post? Well, on Thursday I was lucky enough to get into the beta. The result is a new web site: www.tucklyne.com, for my family's ultrasmall business that does virtually nothing.
The online site-building tools are easy-to-use, powerful, and flexible. I was able to get a fairly good-looking site online in minutes. You can add images, documents, and little provided modules that give weather info, maps, stock quotes, slide shows, and more. You can create infinite pages, and organize them all under different sections and such.
You can give other people permission to edit the site, and create up to five email addresses "@tucklyne.com". You also get detailed reports of site traffic. See either visits or unique visitors with bar charts -- per hour, per day, per month, or during whatever time period you specify. See pie charts of what percentage of your visitors use what operating system, browser, and screen resolution.
And remember: all of this is for free. I didn't pay a cent for anything mentioned above. There's a waiting list for the beta now, but apparently already over 10,000 small businesses have been let in. Once this launches for real, it'll be a great resource. If you want even more, you can pay for it -- more storage (like you'd need it), more email addresses, additional domain names, online business management software, shared online storage, and more. Very, very, very cool.
A note of warning, though: Office Live hijacks your Hotmail somewhat. While you're logged in to Office Live, the Hotmail logos change to Office Live Mail and the MSN links change to Office Live links. This may now be one of the issues preventing me from entering the Windows Live Mail beta, which is really too bad. Overall, though, it's a great service, and awesome for small businesses with no previous web presence.
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It's interesting timing for me, because my main web site (tophtucker.com) just went down. I'm working on a new version now... I'll report back as I make more progress.
The online site-building tools are easy-to-use, powerful, and flexible. I was able to get a fairly good-looking site online in minutes. You can add images, documents, and little provided modules that give weather info, maps, stock quotes, slide shows, and more. You can create infinite pages, and organize them all under different sections and such.
You can give other people permission to edit the site, and create up to five email addresses "@tucklyne.com". You also get detailed reports of site traffic. See either visits or unique visitors with bar charts -- per hour, per day, per month, or during whatever time period you specify. See pie charts of what percentage of your visitors use what operating system, browser, and screen resolution.
And remember: all of this is for free. I didn't pay a cent for anything mentioned above. There's a waiting list for the beta now, but apparently already over 10,000 small businesses have been let in. Once this launches for real, it'll be a great resource. If you want even more, you can pay for it -- more storage (like you'd need it), more email addresses, additional domain names, online business management software, shared online storage, and more. Very, very, very cool.
A note of warning, though: Office Live hijacks your Hotmail somewhat. While you're logged in to Office Live, the Hotmail logos change to Office Live Mail and the MSN links change to Office Live links. This may now be one of the issues preventing me from entering the Windows Live Mail beta, which is really too bad. Overall, though, it's a great service, and awesome for small businesses with no previous web presence.
---
It's interesting timing for me, because my main web site (tophtucker.com) just went down. I'm working on a new version now... I'll report back as I make more progress.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
A Good Couple of Weeks for Microsoft
Microsoft seems to be on a roll. Over the past couple weeks they've launched a lot of new stuff, including a fair amount today alone.
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WINDOWS
1) Windows Vista February CTP
Microsoft released a generally feature-complete version of Vista. It's now looking pretty good... very good, actually. :) I just watched a video on its speech recognition capabilties; very cool. You can browse the web, open programs, and (of course) dictate easily. You don't need to switch between commands and dictation, like you do in today's Office (to an extent).* Just say "Start... Microsoft Word... the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog," and it'll know what to do. Of course, that's just one of tons of cool features, from improved security (build-in spyware protection, firewall, kernel improvements, etc.) to better graphical capabilities (Aero) to more multimedia functions (WMP 11, Photo Gallery) to lots lots more.
* I have Office 2002; I'm not sure if anything's been improved in Office 2003.
WINDOWS LIVE
1) Live.com
This is one of the more minor upgrades; it's been getting little aesthetic updates here and there, which bring it more into line with other coming products. But, due to the open nature of Gadgets, the capabilities of this page are growing all the time.
2) Live Contacts
"Subscribe" to your friends' Live Contacts, and your info will automatically be updated whenever they get a new phone number, address, job... whatever. It's like Plaxo, only integrated into the rest of MSN and Windows Live.
3) Windows Live Local Tech Preview
This is very rough, occasionally glitchy, and incomplete, but it sure is cool! Drive around Seattle or San Francisco at street level. Very neat. Check it out.
4) Windows Live Messenger
They just rolled out a new update today, with a cleaner look, Live Contacts support, and more. Since the first beta, WLM has let users share files in Sharing Folders -- when one or the other person updates the file, it updates for both of them. Perfect for collaboration on group projects.
5) Windows Live Expo
Think craiglist + social networking + other stuff. I'm new to it, and not exactly an expert on all the craigslist stuff either, so I can't make any fair comparisons. But it's pretty neat. Search for product listings, and filter them by geographical or social (friends etc.) proximity. Get all results listed on a map. And drag stuff around. Like dialog boxes. Kinda pointless, but kinda cool. :)
OFFICE LIVE
While at the moment a pretty limited beta, get on the waiting list now, 'cause it's looking like an extremely useful product. Microsoft will actually give you your own domain name (www.youname.com, whatever...) for FREE and help you build a slick corporate online presence. You get email addresses and traffic reports too. For a small fee you get even more... check out the site to learn all about it and sign up quick.
---
It's a pretty exciting time... :D
---
WINDOWS
1) Windows Vista February CTP
Microsoft released a generally feature-complete version of Vista. It's now looking pretty good... very good, actually. :) I just watched a video on its speech recognition capabilties; very cool. You can browse the web, open programs, and (of course) dictate easily. You don't need to switch between commands and dictation, like you do in today's Office (to an extent).* Just say "Start... Microsoft Word... the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog," and it'll know what to do. Of course, that's just one of tons of cool features, from improved security (build-in spyware protection, firewall, kernel improvements, etc.) to better graphical capabilities (Aero) to more multimedia functions (WMP 11, Photo Gallery) to lots lots more.
* I have Office 2002; I'm not sure if anything's been improved in Office 2003.
WINDOWS LIVE
1) Live.com
This is one of the more minor upgrades; it's been getting little aesthetic updates here and there, which bring it more into line with other coming products. But, due to the open nature of Gadgets, the capabilities of this page are growing all the time.
2) Live Contacts
"Subscribe" to your friends' Live Contacts, and your info will automatically be updated whenever they get a new phone number, address, job... whatever. It's like Plaxo, only integrated into the rest of MSN and Windows Live.
3) Windows Live Local Tech Preview
This is very rough, occasionally glitchy, and incomplete, but it sure is cool! Drive around Seattle or San Francisco at street level. Very neat. Check it out.
4) Windows Live Messenger
They just rolled out a new update today, with a cleaner look, Live Contacts support, and more. Since the first beta, WLM has let users share files in Sharing Folders -- when one or the other person updates the file, it updates for both of them. Perfect for collaboration on group projects.
5) Windows Live Expo
Think craiglist + social networking + other stuff. I'm new to it, and not exactly an expert on all the craigslist stuff either, so I can't make any fair comparisons. But it's pretty neat. Search for product listings, and filter them by geographical or social (friends etc.) proximity. Get all results listed on a map. And drag stuff around. Like dialog boxes. Kinda pointless, but kinda cool. :)
OFFICE LIVE
While at the moment a pretty limited beta, get on the waiting list now, 'cause it's looking like an extremely useful product. Microsoft will actually give you your own domain name (www.youname.com, whatever...) for FREE and help you build a slick corporate online presence. You get email addresses and traffic reports too. For a small fee you get even more... check out the site to learn all about it and sign up quick.
---
It's a pretty exciting time... :D
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