Useless Conversation

[SnakeCharmer]

I knew they were expensive, but worth it.  Just wasn't sure how to value them.  So 5 of them for 1200 was a relative steal.  Woop!

[Trippy]

What size (A, B, C)?

[SnakeCharmer]

I don't know.  Didn't ask.  How would I tell?  I didn't notice any labels, but then again I really wasn't looking.  They're downstairs in my truck at the moment.  Can go look/measure if you want?

[Trippy]

To determine what size Aeron Chair you have, stand behind your chair and look near the top/center of the back frame. You will see the name Herman Miller stamped into the frame. Reach under the frame lip behind our name; push your fingers up until you feel the fabric. You can now feel raised bumps like Braille molded into the plastic. One bump indicates a size A chair (small); two bumps indicate a size B chair (medium); and three bumps in a triangular pattern indicate a size C chair (large).

As and Cs are less popular and are probably in less demand. Bs are what most companies get.

[WayAbvPar]

So, Amanda Knox's conviction has been overturned and her and her boyfriend both freed. God I am glad this is almost over so I the local news media will STFU about it. Apparently the act of attending UW means the tiniest minutiae about your life is supposed to interesting to the local populace should you do something to garner notoriety. It sounds like the Italians could teach the LAPD who handled the OJ evidence some things about sheer incompetence. I didn't follow this nearly as closely as the OJ thing, but I have a far larger doubt about her involvement than I did with OJ. Probably just getting blown by the breeze of public opinion.

[Ingmar]

A lot more people would think OJ was innocent if he was a pretty white girl, probably. This one does sound like a really iffy case, though.

[WayAbvPar]

A lot more people would think OJ was innocent if he was a pretty white girl, probably. This one does sound like a really iffy case, though.

Yeah, that was kind of my concern about my view of this. As I said, I haven't followed it as closely as OJ, so my gut feel for it isn't nearly as dramatic. The one refreshing thing is that there hasn't been much in the way of 'hey let's get the State Department involved because one of our citizens is accused of a crime overseas' as I would have expected. Or maybe I missed it.

[Strazos]

A lot more people would think OJ was innocent if he was a pretty white girl, probably. This one does sound like a really iffy case, though.

Yeah, that was kind of my concern about my view of this. As I said, I haven't followed it as closely as OJ, so my gut feel for it isn't nearly as dramatic. The one refreshing thing is that there hasn't been much in the way of 'hey let's get the State Department involved because one of our citizens is accused of a crime overseas' as I would have expected. Or maybe I missed it.

You probably missed it.

Also, I think folks think the State Dept will do a lot more for your overseas than is actually possible or legal. They will give you a list of lawyers, try to ensure you don't get abused or starve, and try to make sure your trial moves along. That's...pretty much it. People are SHOCKED that having a Consular officer (or maybe even just an assistant or a locally-employed staffer) does automatically mean they're getting out of jail.

[SnakeCharmer]

As and Cs are less popular and are probably in less demand. Bs are what most companies get.

3 B's and 2 C's.

[Trippy]

That is a good price for them then.

[Paelos]

They fall off a truck in Alabama? 

[ghost]

Do the free Food plans. Don't go crazy on your room, you won't spend much time there. Epoct is 2 days worth of park. Take rain jackets, wear worn in shoes. Do take advantage of the Magical express and other buses. Make sure you have reservations at restaurants ( This is a must ) the earlier the better.

This is a good summary.  I would chime in that if you do stay on the property, stay in a resort with a monorail/boat access.  The buses are a pain in the ass.  The boats get fucking hot as hell though.  I usually monorail if I can.  If there's a special night, e.g. the Halloween special at Magic Kingdom, absolutely do it.  It will be awesome and worth the money.

A lot more people would think OJ was innocent if he was a pretty white girl, probably. This one does sound like a really iffy case, though.

She looks pretty damned evil in most of the pictures though.  And hot.   

[Sand]

First day back at work in over a year.

It fucking sucked.

I wish I could go back to work.
Four weeks since surgery and three weeks since I was discharged from the hospital. Still cant go into the office, because I cant be more than 20 feet from a bathroom.
I never know if Im just going to fart or fill my pants. Makes being on the phone, being in office or talking to people difficult.
Had a conference and board meeting I couldnt get out of this past weekend. I wore depends and sat by the door. I didnt get any strange looks rushing off every so often randomly.
 

Do the free Food plans. Don't go crazy on your room, you won't spend much time there. Epoct is 2 days worth of park. Take rain jackets, wear worn in shoes. Do take advantage of the Magical express and other buses. Make sure you have reservations at restaurants ( This is a must ) the earlier the better.

This is a good summary.  I would chime in that if you do stay on the property, stay in a resort with a monorail/boat access.  The buses are a pain in the ass.  The boats get fucking hot as hell though.  I usually monorail if I can.  If there's a special night, e.g. the Halloween special at Magic Kingdom, absolutely do it.  It will be awesome and worth the money.

I think we are staying at the Swan/Dolphin hotel because we can for free (they are Starwood affiliated). Will check into the meal plan.
I think the Swan/Dolphin is on the bus but not monorail circuit. Guess we could bus to the Polynesian Village next door and monorail from there.

And it seems people are recommending I look into Fast Pass?

[Trippy]

TMI

[Lantyssa]

Alas, No.

Sorry. 

[Strazos]

TMI

TMI

TMI

[Yegolev]

[Cyrrex]

And it seems people are recommending I look into Fast Pass?

The only people who don't use Fast Pass - and that means most people - are those who don't know what it is or understand how to use it.  It's stupid NOT to use it.  First thing you should do when you get to the park is head straight for the coolest ride, and get a Fast Pass for a somewhat later time..  Then you run off and do all the stuff that isn't crowded.  Come back to the cool ride at your designated time, and rush right ahead to the motherfucking front of the line, while the ordinary plebes look upon you with a mixture of envy and suspicion.  Get off the ride, and head straight for the next cool ride and get your next Fast Pass.  Rinse and repeat.  After your first use, the provebial light bulb will turn on and you'll GET IT.  You will Fast Pass all the cool stuff and your time waiting in lines goes down to something approaching zero.  They system is brilliant, and the fact that more people don't use it just goes to prove what we all know:  most people are stupid.

[Merusk]

I think we are staying at the Swan/Dolphin hotel because we can for free (they are Starwood affiliated). Will check into the meal plan.
I think the Swan/Dolphin is on the bus but not monorail circuit. Guess we could bus to the Polynesian Village next door and monorail from there.

Swan and Dolphin - as you mention - are run by hotel companies rather than Disney themselves. I just checked at Disney's trip planning site and they do not offer the meal plans or any of the other features we've been discussing.  They have their own package called the "Swan and Dolphin Hotel Package" that doesn't offer a lot of the customization options, like park-hopper or the Disney meal plans.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/

If I were to spend money on a Deluxe resort I'd pick one of the newer hotels because the S&D are 20+ years old and looked a little shabby our last visit.  However, since you could stay for free you'd be saving a lot of money on hotel by doing so - a few thousand at least - and that lets you have a lot more flexibility when it comes down to it.

They're on the bus but not the monorail, you are correct.  However that's true of most of the hotels at WDW.  The only 3 on the line are the Grand Floridian, Polynesian and Contemporary.Map Link

However, the monorail also only goes to two parks, - Magic Kingdom and Epcot - so you'd be using the bus service to go to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom anyway.   It's not a big deal and it's very, very rare to be waiting for a bus more than 10 mins.

[Murgos]

The whole, "Watching the animals of the savannah from your hotel window as you drink your coffee." things sounds pretty cool to me.  I don't know when I'll ever get to WDW again but if I do, that's what I'll aim for.

[ghost]

The Swan and Dolphin are, however, on the boat line which is very convenient (but fucking hot in the summer time).  Getting to Epcot from Swan and Dolphin is a breeze. 

The savanna room that we had was pretty nice.  I would highly recommend it, particularly with kids.  Of course our 1 year old dropped his shoe over the balcony into the savanna within about 3 minutes of being in the room.   

[Rishathra]

They system is brilliant, and the fact that more people don't use it just goes to prove what we all know:  most people are stupid.

I'm constantly baffled as to why there are so many people waiting in line for a ticket at the movie theater, when there is an entire row of unused self serve kiosks RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO THEM.  Then I remember, "oh yeah, people are stupid."

[croaker69]

If you stay at the Animal Kingdom lodge you can spring for the upgraded concierge rooms and get access to the top floor club lounge.  Free food and drinks all day and is completely worth it unless you have the pimped out meal plan.  This was our second trip and while we enjoyed the meal plan the first trip it's just too much food over more than two or three days.  You also get access to the Sunrise Safari .  Our daughters loved it and you can get some great pictures.

[Merusk]

They system is brilliant, and the fact that more people don't use it just goes to prove what we all know:  most people are stupid.

I'm constantly baffled as to why there are so many people waiting in line for a ticket at the movie theater, when there is an entire row of unused self serve kiosks RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO THEM.  Then I remember, "oh yeah, people are stupid."

Here I thought that was just a local phenomenon.   The last time we went there wasn't anyone even in the ticket kiosk and people were talking loudly about how it was 5 mins before showtime and they'd been in the line for 20 minutes and 'this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen!"

All I can guess is that since the majority were seniors they don't have credit/ debit cards and were paying cash.

[Sky]

I'm constantly baffled as to why there are so many people waiting in line for a ticket at the movie theater, when there is an entire row of unused self serve kiosks RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO THEM.  Then I remember, "oh yeah, people are stupid."

At the Primus show, there were two beer counters. One had one line the other had two: there were a solid hundred people in each line. While I would've enjoyed a frosty (lukewarm) frothy (flat) fermented beverage, I also needed a water for the fiancee. Went down to the soft drink counter, no lines, no waiting. Grabbed a second water for myself and went back in to watch popeye cartoons. But...MUST HAVE BEER is too strong in some, I guess.

[RhyssaFireheart]

So even after sleeping on it, I'm still pretty seething about the "gift" my MIL sent to the husband and me.  Our birthdays are only 2 weeks apart (his is this weekend, mine was in Sept) and she sent a joint b-day card (not a biggie, it was a cute card), her usual check and a note.

It was the note that ruined the day though.  She basically said that the husband and I were too fat to enjoy life, we need to get medical help ("It's gone beyond 'I'll just cut out potatoes and bread'") and they love us, but we have to do something.

Then she implied that the fact I have to have surgery in 2 weeks is related to my weight.  I'm getting a hysterectomy to prevent a pre-cancerous condition from getting worse BECAUSE I'M FAT.  That is what she more or less said.

Yes, the husband and I are both very over-weight.  We didn't just wake up some morning and say "Oh wow!  Where did all this weight come from?"  We are aware of the situation and know we need to do something and have been making baby steps to correct things.  But the sheer gall of her writing this letter... I've never read something so offensive disguised as "kindness" before. 

I just.. the husband is ready to completely cut off all contact with his parents and I'm not sure I blame him.  He calls them regularly every Sunday and is planning to stop that now.  It's not as if they ever come to visit us, but hey, making multiple trips a year across the country to visit the other son and the precious grand-daughters is A-OK.

We just spent a long weekend at their place last month (mostly so the husband could help his dad with a golf outing for his VFW post, which the husband has done for the past 5-6 years now) and then they went to visit the other son on the West Coast (they live on the East Coast) for a week.  Then we get this letter, which I'm convinced is related to the fact they just spent a week with the other son, who has plenty of time to do triathlons and work out regularly all the time and the MIL has always favored other son over the husband. 

Bah, now I've just aggravated myself even more typing this out.

/ventingoff

[Sand]

Maybe they are just concerned and decided it was time to say something? 
Your husband is their child. How long as a parent do you let your child continue down a destructive path before finally opening your mouth?
Not having read the letter myself, maybe they could have been more sensitive in what they said. But you can't fault them for being concerned about their son's health and yours.

[Mrbloodworth]

I think we are staying at the Swan/Dolphin hotel because we can for free (they are Starwood affiliated). Will check into the meal plan.
I think the Swan/Dolphin is on the bus but not monorail circuit. Guess we could bus to the Polynesian Village next door and monorail from there.

And it seems people are recommending I look into Fast Pass?

Free is good. Though I'm not quite sure why some people spend so much on hotel rooms, when you will likely only be there for sleeping. I go Moderate for that reason, its a bit more than the "Value" hotels, but it avoids the large families that come with the "Value" hotels. My favorite is still Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside. It has a great charm, quite romantic setting, and is not as vomit inducing as say..... The beach club, in its decor.

While you can likely get reservations at sit downs at this point. You should have done that months ago. Some locations are booked 6 months ahead of time, in the parks and out. I found this out the hard way.

I think we need a Disney trip thread.

[ghost]

So even after sleeping on it, I'm still pretty seething about the "gift" my MIL sent to the husband and me.  Our birthdays are only 2 weeks apart (his is this weekend, mine was in Sept) and she sent a joint b-day card (not a biggie, it was a cute card), her usual check and a note.

It was the note that ruined the day though.  She basically said that the husband and I were too fat to enjoy life, we need to get medical help ("It's gone beyond 'I'll just cut out potatoes and bread'") and they love us, but we have to do something.

Then she implied that the fact I have to have surgery in 2 weeks is related to my weight.  I'm getting a hysterectomy to prevent a pre-cancerous condition from getting worse BECAUSE I'M FAT.  That is what she more or less said.

Yes, the husband and I are both very over-weight.  We didn't just wake up some morning and say "Oh wow!  Where did all this weight come from?"  We are aware of the situation and know we need to do something and have been making baby steps to correct things.  But the sheer gall of her writing this letter... I've never read something so offensive disguised as "kindness" before. 

I just.. the husband is ready to completely cut off all contact with his parents and I'm not sure I blame him.  He calls them regularly every Sunday and is planning to stop that now.  It's not as if they ever come to visit us, but hey, making multiple trips a year across the country to visit the other son and the precious grand-daughters is A-OK.

We just spent a long weekend at their place last month (mostly so the husband could help his dad with a golf outing for his VFW post, which the husband has done for the past 5-6 years now) and then they went to visit the other son on the West Coast (they live on the East Coast) for a week.  Then we get this letter, which I'm convinced is related to the fact they just spent a week with the other son, who has plenty of time to do triathlons and work out regularly all the time and the MIL has always favored other son over the husband. 

Bah, now I've just aggravated myself even more typing this out.

/ventingoff

Well, it might have hurt your feelings and probably wasn't the best way to word things but she wouldn't have said it if she didn't at least care a little bit.  Being overweight is tough because it can really sap your self esteem and having someone tell you that you're overweight isn't easy to take.  I had an employee quit last month and she really raked me over the coals in the post-employment review.  It hurt a lot, but you know what?  She was right about a lot of the stuff and it has motivated me to change a lot of what I was doing.  This sounds like something you should take with a grain of salt and maybe really examine your lifestyle for ways to improve your health.  The wife and I have started doing P90 every day and have lost some weight and feel a ton better.  It only takes 30 minutes to do.  Small changes to diet can also make a big difference. Simply cutting out soft drinks can drop hundreds of calories per day.  I say this because I haven't spoken to my parents in over 2 years and that is a tough thing to do, even if they aren't ideal. 

[Paelos]

Put aside what your MIL says for a moment, Rhyssa. What does your doctor say? What do you think about your weight? Are you all on the same page? Have you experienced any major health issues due to your weight (breathing, blood pressure, joint pains/surguries)?

[RhyssaFireheart]

Look, I didn't become fat overnight, nor will I lose the weight overnight.  I know that, and we are both working to eat better and do something about it.  She's made comments in the past that didn't go over well and has harped on the husband about his weight (in a "why can't you be more like your brother" kind of way).

Except for our weight, the husband and I both have health checks in the normal/healthy range (BP,cholesterol, etc.).  Except for this surgery, it turns out I need to have my thyroid checked for proper function, but we aren't cripples who can't get around because we're so huge.  In fact, except for uterus related problems (aka ectopic pregnancy back in 197 which likely resulted in the condition now causing me to get a hysterectomy), I've always been amazingly healthy.  It's not like we can't walk through the grocery store or something and need those motorized carts or anything, and in fact I make a practice of parking further away so I can walk a bit more.

My family has issues with weight, from my paternal grandparents on down.  My dad struggled, my brothers struggle.  I'm built just like my mom (all the weight is in my hips and thighs - yay stumpy legs) but larger and she's been working on keeping the weight off as well.  It's been a huge struggle.  It's not like I suddenly gained 40/50/60+ pounds overnight.  It's been a slow 10lbs a year thing but over 18 years, it adds up.  And I have heart disease in the family to worry about (p-gma died of her 3rd HA at 58, Dad's first HA was at 44, older bro had a HA at 40) so I know being overweight is a risk. 

None of this is new or sudden or surprising.  It's her sudden need to write what came off as a fairly condescending letter and include it in our birthday card that really set the tone for all the insult, IMO.  Especially the strong implication that the only way we could do anything about it was to consult with a physician about weight loss surgery (the whole "it's gone beyond cutting out potatoes and bread" line and saying it needs more drastic steps and our physician would be glad to give advice).

[Paelos]

The letter and tone sounds like she's scared. Scared people say stupid things in the completely wrong way at the completely wrong time. I think she's afraid her son will kill himself slowly with weight and that by doing it together you're enabling each other. From what it sounds like, she's willing to go beyond just being passive-aggressive about it to actually confronting the issue in a letter.

It's a tough business because if you're overweight, you're overweight. If you know the risks and are trying to change, that's a good thing. Lifestyle changes are a great start. I guess you could ask yourself the following questions: when did you first want to make a change? When did you actively make the lifestyle changes? How much time has passed since those realizations and what were the results? What are you active goals? Do you have a plan in place to achieve that goal? Do you have reachable benchmarks or milestones along the way? Are you both on the same page with those benchmarks?

[Sky]

back in 197

Wow you're old.

Just let the old bag know she crossed a line and needs to be more sensitive and civil. As slow as it creeps up on you, it's slower to shed and way more difficult :) Good luck and stay strong despite the 'criticisms'.

[ghost]

The letter and tone sounds like she's scared. Scared people say stupid things in the completely wrong way at the completely wrong time. I think she's afraid her son will kill himself slowly with weight and that by doing it together you're enabling each other. From what it sounds like, she's willing to go beyond just being passive-aggressive about it to actually confronting the issue in a letter.

It's a tough business because if you're overweight, you're overweight. If you know the risks and are trying to change, that's a good thing. Lifestyle changes are a great start. I guess you could ask yourself the following questions: when did you first want to make a change? When did you actively make the lifestyle changes? How much time has passed since those realizations and what were the results? What are you active goals? Do you have a plan in place to achieve that goal? Do you have reachable benchmarks or milestones along the way? Are you both on the same page with those benchmarks?

This is what I was trying to get at, in a nutshell.  I would give it a week or two before you guys do anything drastic and maybe have your husband have a discussion with his mother before you do anything drastic. 

[ghost]

So......to change the subject how long until Foxy Knoxy is in Playboy or, even better, Hustler?