My trip to San Francisco was pretty awesome and I think it’s my new favorite city—in the United States anyway. Here’s a photo I took from the plane coming into Calgary. And here’s my San Francisco Flickr Set (it’s a work in progress as I continue to sort though the nearly 500 photos from last week).

I’ll write more about my trip later including a glimpse into the Social Media Club event where we were lucky enough to meet Jimmy Wales and listen to him speak a little bit about social media and Wikipedia. (Also thanks for the t-shirt SMC). I also really enjoyed trying out the The World Café format, a way in which the best ideas in the room can be shared with everyone through smaller discussions that leads to one large one.

It was disappointing to have to leave so soon, but I’m sure another adventure is just around the corner.

On Sunday I’m taking off for a few days in the California sun. No, I’m not off to MacWorld, but I am going to San Francisco to take part in a Social Media Club round table discussion.

Chris Heuer (SMC Co-Founder) will lead a roundtable discussion on blogs, podcasting and all the cool things we want to do and would like to see happen in 2007. SMC is working to connect Social Media groups all over the world, so it’s a great way to take a part in universal efforts to spread the Social Media love.

I’m really looking forward to it, for one thing, my skin is getting a little pasty white up here in the Great White North—but also it will be a great opportunity to make some interesting new friends south of the border. Maybe it’ll even inspire me to start my own podcast.

Even though it’s kind of old news, I stumbled upon a selection of photos from the i am 8-bit video game art show opening. Too bad all the cool stuff happens in California.

As any long term readers of my blog know, I’m a pretty big fan of Disneyland. However, I have to say my love of the park is slowly diminishing with all the bad news coming out of Disney theme parks lately. For instance there was a low speed collision on Disney’s California Adventure’s Screamin’ rollercoaster yesterday. No one was killed but about 15 people have minor injuries. What is going on with the maintenance lately that there have been so many theme park accidents? From NBC News 4:

Fire crews, ambulances and other emergency vehicles were at the California Screamin’ ride, which features a 108-foot drop. Crews received the report at about 6:40 p.m.

City spokesman John Nicoletti said 15 of the 48 people on the ride were hospitalized for treatment of minor injuries.

…

The slow-speed collision occurred on a flat portion of the roller coaster. Officials were attempting to determine a cause.

It was the second accident in four months at a Disneyland Resort park in Anaheim.

Here is an image that I took in Disney’s California Adventure a couple of years back (December 2002).

The reason I bring it up is because I stumbled upon some more great images of sand sculptures. Their webpage could use a revamp, but their sand creations are great.

So here is the quick recap of what I’ve been up to in the last week or two. I left Lethbridge on Monday morning at around 6:00am. I must have had a historic border crossing - it is the first time an American border guard has ever been truly nice. He even smiled when I said I was going to Disneyland and wished me a nice trip. I arrived in Sandy, Utah at about 5:00pm so I made good time. Traveling with the dog was no trouble at all and we were both happy when we finally saw Anna! I stayed with the Holman’s for a week and then Anna and I took off for sunny California. Sunday was our first day in Disneyland - but it turned out to be more rainy than sunny. Monday and Tuesday were both nice weather wise, but I have been getting sick with a mild cold. That of course hasn’t stopped me from going to Disneyland. Today we are going to take in the parks as usual but at 2:45 this afternoon we are going to watch The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King. I must say we are both pretty excited. Tomorrow will be our last day in the magic kingdom. At least for awhile.

I just finished writing up my last paper of the semester. Now the only thing in my way to the greatest Christmas vacation ever is the 12 to 14 hour drive to Utah. It’s 3:30AM and I am considering just leaving right now. Anna sure would be surprised if I got there a few hours in advance, and it would be nice to not just have to go straight to bed when I get there. That’s it, I’m packing right now and I’m on my way. Utah and California—here I come!

I’m heading down to Utah in aproximately 10 more days, then after some great fun and partying it’s off to California for more great fun and partying! I’m really excited.

Anna-Maria, it looks like, won’t be leaving for Utah until Sunday. I wish she were still here, but alas, such is life.

Anna is going to be leaving for Utah soon. I actually don’t know how long she will stay in Lethbridge before she actually leaves. School is almost done for me—and frankly I should be getting my last assignments done right now instead of writing on this blog. Anyway assuming I can find someone to cover me at work I will be leaving on about the 9th or 10th of December. I’m driving down to Utah, hanging out with Anna and her family for a couple of days and then… it’s off to Disneyland. I’m so—SO excited. REALLY.

Anna bought us 5 day hopper passes which for those of you that don’t know, means that we can go to either of the 2 parks as much as we want for 5 great days. Disneyland is just so much fun.

My cousin JP said we could stay at his place, so we’ll likely be staying there for the duration. I am still wondering if we should take in the sites at Universal and perhaps spend a day or two at the beach. California is so fun.

57% of Ontario residents do not feel strongly that they have enough fun in their lives. A poll by Cranium/Ipsos-Reid also found that residents in Quebec (49%) are the most fun-filled people in Canada, especially compared to Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where just 24% of residents feel strongly that they have enough fun in their lives. Alberta came in second last with 68% of people reporting they don’t feel strongly that they have enough fun in their lives. It seems logical enough though, what with all those French circuses in Quebec—why wouldn’t they be happy?

Continuing with my statistically ample post, and on a slightly darker note, only 26 people are known to have survived the 220 foot drop from the Golden Gate Bridge. The number of jumpers has reached over 1000. I recommend this insightful New Yorker article about jumpers of the Bay Area’s famous bridge. (It’s a long one, but a good one).

Anna put her hands in the cement mold of Marilyn Monroe’s outside Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. I kid you not when I tell you that Anna said, “Oh they’re really hot”. Even after all these years, who wouldn’t expect them to be?

Thursday, July 10th, 2003 - Early Evening

After deciding to actually go on this crazy trip the day had finally arrived (finally as in it had been almost 3 days since we got the tickets). I was planning to work both my life guarding job and then do 3 hours at the phone survey place. Well as luck would have it Anna-Maria talked me into phoning and getting the whole evening off so that we could just leave and get to Calgary. It was a good thing because it took me about an hour to get everything done I needed to, plus we ran over to Anna’s and then back to pickup some last minute laundry at my house. It was 9:30 by the time we arrived at Wally’s house. We ran out and got some food for Friday and Saturday from the nearby Safeway. Helga set the alarm clock for us and we hit the hay.

Friday, July 11th, 2003 - Early Smearly

I guess somehow the alarm clock was set half hour fast and at 3:30AM the annoying sound of an alarm clock went off, (actually it went on. To say that it went off would be lying. It was definitely on.) Anyway Wally was so kind as to drive us to the airport a little after 4:00AM as planned and then we were really off. After a quick layover in Seattle we arrived in sunny California and the fun began. Hitching a ride on the Disneyland Shuttle it didn’t take more than 45 minutes to be in the park. We bought our tickets and entered the happiest place on earth. It still gives me tingles just thinking about it. We did so much that day, it’s hard to remember all the places we went. Toon-Town to Roger Rabbit’s ride, bought some cotton candy, Splash Mountain, oh and we even went over and checked into our hotel. It was so much fun! Then evening we went into the Haunted Mansion and saw the truly spectactular show, Fantastica! It’s a laser/light/fireworks/live actor/animitronic masterpeice that takes place on Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America. Truly an amazing site to see.

Saturday, July 12th, 2003

We got up early, went and had our complimentary hot breakfast in the train car restaurant next door to our hotel, and then walked over to the Disney Cast Building. I don’t know how nervous Anna was—I know I was nervous for her. I didn’t want to tell her I was nervous for fear that I might throw her off. She however seemed cool as a cucumber. The way the audition works was that everyone was assigned a number, and if when it came time for them to make cuts they read off numbers. If your number was called, that meant you were being cut. She said the highest number she noticed was 139. I left her to audition and hit Disneyland and California Adventure on my own. I remember as a kid, some of my fondest memories of Disneyland were from Tom Sawyer Island. I decided, well I’ll check out the old island and just see what’s over there. On the trip over I saw Tom Sawyer himself chatting it up with some of the other park guests, so when we arrived I followed him and he showed us around the Island. He showed us where Injuin Joe’s Spirit was trapped in a cave and what to do if we see him. He took us to his stash of pirate treasure that he and Huck Finn stole from Captain Hook’s own ship. Apparently Captain Hook has been circling the Island ever since trying to get his treasure back. Tom also took us through his caves up to a lookout fortress where we played “Fox and Rabbits”. It seemed a lot like hid and go seek, but a lot more fun since I was bigger than all the other kids playing. Actually I was on pretty even ground with them in my sandals, plus I wasn’t trying my hardest—didn’t want to look like a psycho. We stopped by the old graveyard, and up into Tom and Huck’s tree house where I learned their secret handshake. We also went down fishing—well attempted to fish, but they didn’t catch anything. They just didn’t have a clue as to how to catch fish. They figured it must have been some bad luck from “signing their names in all them people’s books”. Park guests would come up to them asking for autographs.

Later that day I checked up on Anna-Maria and we went to Taco Bell to get her some supper. She was doing great in her audition and she gave me all the details of her day so far. She had to go back for another couple of hours during which time I went and took in the X-Games at California Adventure.

Sunday, July 13th, 2003 - Call Backs and good news

Anna and I got our free breakfast again this morning and then headed to Disneyland to get in as much fun as we could before her 2:00 call back. We rode the matterhorn, Splash mountain, and California Screamin’ (the sweet rollercoaster they have in California Adventure) as well as the Jungle Cruise and Tarzans Treehouse. I can’t remember all the places we went, but we did a lot. We saw Muppets 3D and the Bug’s Life 3D movie as well. There was the Sword in the Stone Ceremony, not to mention watching all the parades and fireworks that evening. There were so many things we did that day. Anna went back and finished her call back and was offered the job. Whether she takes or not, well I’m not sure what she is going to do. Anyway we hooked up with cousin JP after the fireworks were over and he took us to his place in Fullerton. It’s a really cool place - I especially love the fact that they have an outdoor pool that their landlord maintains for them.

Monday, July 14th, 2003 - From Hollywood and Highland to Home

John Paul took us to Hollywood Blvd. where we checked out the Mann’s Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We saw the cement handprints of famous actors from the last century and then took in lunch at Mel’s Diner. What a great day it was. Then it was off to the airport where we flew back to Calgary and slept another night at Wally’s. This time I set the alarm clock myself.

If anything this trip was not only a not a waste of money, it has been quite possibly the best trip I’ve ever been on. Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth. If you don’t believe me, then go check it out yourself, you won’t regret it.

I could really use some sleep. It’s 1:00AM (Alberta time) but I just can’t wait to let you all know what a great time Anna and I are having down here. I went to Disneyland and California adventures on Friday, Saturday, and again today (Sunday - yesterday technically). I am definitely having the time of my life down here. Anna-Maria made all the cuts and had her final call-back today. She preformed wonderfully. Only about 7 people were offered jobs but she is one of them.

Anyway have a good night, I’m coming back to Canada tomorrow.

Update: She decided not to take the job.

My Christmas vacation was a blast. I took a bus down to California—46 and a half hours later I arrived at the Disneyland Hotel. Quite possibly the happiest place on earth. (Especially after a bus ride like that). After spending 4 days with Anna-Maria and her family I hopped on another bus and drove down the State to meet up with my swim team. Lots of practising, lots of time on the beach, and plenty of sun all around—it was a really fun time. I was glad to get home though and now that I am home I switched into the New Media program and things are going just great.

Here are some pictures from my trip. More details to follow (later).
My Christmas vacation was excellent. I’ll post the pictures when I have them zipped.

Update: The pictures are down.