(no subject)
I'm going to try and write up everything awesome and fun and unprecedented that happens to me this month, since there are so many things along such lines that are coming up in this long, long-anticipated month! Translation: a detailed entry per day. :-)
The Great July - Day One
I'm not sure I could have chosen a better day for kicking off this month of fun then with something I had no idea would happen when my head came off the pillow this morning.
*ahem*
The Spanish word for blimp is "el dirigible" which sounds odd to me because it's very similar to "disponible" ('available') so my brain keeps wanting to classify it as an adjective, not a noun. Still, I've been pondering the matter for a while today, so this increases my chances of not forgetting the vocab by next week.
The blimp ride was awesome!!!
First off, we had tailor-made weather. I mean, indescribably gorgeous. Mid-70's, sunshine, big puffy clouds, light breeze.
The invitation was initially to me and my former co-worker Jason, but unfortunately Jason was away in Virginia doing work at one of our plants for his new position. So they told me I could invite anyone I wanted. I invited my friend Kerri.
I got directions from my boss to get to the hangar, and instructions not to eat anything. Of course, the moment he said that, my stomach started grumbling. On the way to the hangar, Kerri and I stopped at a CVS where I bought a couple of disposable cameras (remember the part where I wasn't planning for this?)
Flying above Akron was so cool. Way different than a plane, where you go so high so fast you can't actually see anything. (A commercial plane, at least; that's all I've ever gotten to do before now). We passed headquarters on our way, and when we got to the Akron U campus, the other passengers let me have my turn in the front seat so that I could get a good view of all the familiar buildings and haunts. I took several pictures of the new Zips football stadium. Seeing that from above and also the ball field where Akron's AA team plays made me feel like part of the grand "aerial footage provided by" tradition of our awesome trademark blimp.
When the blimp reaches altitude, it does a lot of pitching forward and backward. There are no seat belts, so when it pitches forward, you sort of have to hold yourself in your seat by bracing your toes on the floor. After a while, I began to see why the no eating thing was advisable. I don't have a general problem with motion sickness, but even my stomach was giving me grumpy signals by the end of the hour.
The landing was interesting. Whereas with a plane the hardest part seems to be getting off the ground, with an airship it's the exact opposite. That thing only wants to go up, so it takes a lot of hard work to get it earth bound. The ground crew literally pulls it down with ropes when it gets close enough and then weighs it down with sandbag type things while the passengers disembark and others board.
I almost used up both of my disposable cameras, so I'm sure at some point I'll be posting some of the good pictures. It was really strange to go back to using a viewfinder, winding my film, and most especially not having a ZOOM. Also, not being able to see the pictures in playback. I vaguely remember now the anticipation of picking up a roll of developed film and finally getting to see your pictures. It really wasn't that long ago, was it?
After our flight, we got a brief tour of the hangar deck by a very informed and very cool pilot lady (I asked--she said there have only been two women pilots of the airships in the history of Goodyear, but I'm sure there will be more). I think I would have enjoyed the tour more if I hadn't been impatiently hungry. When Kerri and I left, we had a late lunch at a mexican restaurant and then back to work.
Tonight i have done very little except start playing Zelda: Twilight Princess which I just recently bought for my Wii. It took me two hours just to get a slingshot in the village shop. I am clearly quite inexperienced with these multi-faceted video games. One thing that cracked me up was that you can still terrorize chickens and randomly go through people's homes and smash their pots and take the money inside (miana_dude, I was thinking heartily of that video you posted making fun of just that facet of Zelda - haha).
And now, I have to pack for Laura's. *looks at clock* Yes, at 11:20 I will start packing. But I have a crazy list of non-essentials I want to bring. The Wii (so we can have bowling tournaments or Tetris tournaments or group yoga, or I can cash in on Laura and Emma's extensive game experience to help me figure out what the hell I'm doing on this Zelda thing). I also need to bring my sewing stuff to work on ruffles, and Settlers of Catan.
And, you know, clothes and underwear and toothpaste and such silly things.
Wow, I actually got to use this icon in a very direct way!
The Great July - Day One
I'm not sure I could have chosen a better day for kicking off this month of fun then with something I had no idea would happen when my head came off the pillow this morning.
*ahem*
The Spanish word for blimp is "el dirigible" which sounds odd to me because it's very similar to "disponible" ('available') so my brain keeps wanting to classify it as an adjective, not a noun. Still, I've been pondering the matter for a while today, so this increases my chances of not forgetting the vocab by next week.
The blimp ride was awesome!!!
First off, we had tailor-made weather. I mean, indescribably gorgeous. Mid-70's, sunshine, big puffy clouds, light breeze.
The invitation was initially to me and my former co-worker Jason, but unfortunately Jason was away in Virginia doing work at one of our plants for his new position. So they told me I could invite anyone I wanted. I invited my friend Kerri.
I got directions from my boss to get to the hangar, and instructions not to eat anything. Of course, the moment he said that, my stomach started grumbling. On the way to the hangar, Kerri and I stopped at a CVS where I bought a couple of disposable cameras (remember the part where I wasn't planning for this?)
Flying above Akron was so cool. Way different than a plane, where you go so high so fast you can't actually see anything. (A commercial plane, at least; that's all I've ever gotten to do before now). We passed headquarters on our way, and when we got to the Akron U campus, the other passengers let me have my turn in the front seat so that I could get a good view of all the familiar buildings and haunts. I took several pictures of the new Zips football stadium. Seeing that from above and also the ball field where Akron's AA team plays made me feel like part of the grand "aerial footage provided by" tradition of our awesome trademark blimp.
When the blimp reaches altitude, it does a lot of pitching forward and backward. There are no seat belts, so when it pitches forward, you sort of have to hold yourself in your seat by bracing your toes on the floor. After a while, I began to see why the no eating thing was advisable. I don't have a general problem with motion sickness, but even my stomach was giving me grumpy signals by the end of the hour.
The landing was interesting. Whereas with a plane the hardest part seems to be getting off the ground, with an airship it's the exact opposite. That thing only wants to go up, so it takes a lot of hard work to get it earth bound. The ground crew literally pulls it down with ropes when it gets close enough and then weighs it down with sandbag type things while the passengers disembark and others board.
I almost used up both of my disposable cameras, so I'm sure at some point I'll be posting some of the good pictures. It was really strange to go back to using a viewfinder, winding my film, and most especially not having a ZOOM. Also, not being able to see the pictures in playback. I vaguely remember now the anticipation of picking up a roll of developed film and finally getting to see your pictures. It really wasn't that long ago, was it?
After our flight, we got a brief tour of the hangar deck by a very informed and very cool pilot lady (I asked--she said there have only been two women pilots of the airships in the history of Goodyear, but I'm sure there will be more). I think I would have enjoyed the tour more if I hadn't been impatiently hungry. When Kerri and I left, we had a late lunch at a mexican restaurant and then back to work.
Tonight i have done very little except start playing Zelda: Twilight Princess which I just recently bought for my Wii. It took me two hours just to get a slingshot in the village shop. I am clearly quite inexperienced with these multi-faceted video games. One thing that cracked me up was that you can still terrorize chickens and randomly go through people's homes and smash their pots and take the money inside (miana_dude, I was thinking heartily of that video you posted making fun of just that facet of Zelda - haha).
And now, I have to pack for Laura's. *looks at clock* Yes, at 11:20 I will start packing. But I have a crazy list of non-essentials I want to bring. The Wii (so we can have bowling tournaments or Tetris tournaments or group yoga, or I can cash in on Laura and Emma's extensive game experience to help me figure out what the hell I'm doing on this Zelda thing). I also need to bring my sewing stuff to work on ruffles, and Settlers of Catan.
And, you know, clothes and underwear and toothpaste and such silly things.
Wow, I actually got to use this icon in a very direct way!