It's Up to You New York

This blurry picture was taken of Heather, Daniel and Aubree Adams as we went to visit them at their home on Long Island. Every year, we head out to their place to spend a couple days and then head into the city to catch a few shows. This year, we started off our trip with a visit to Cozymel--apparently, the only Mexican Restaurant on Long Island that's worth eating. The food was great! After hours of airplane fare, it felt like a real meal.

I have several more photos to post about this trip later, but suffice it to say, we had a great time.

Harry Potter Madness

As a devoted Potter-crazed maniac, Angela and I of course attended the midnight purchasing party for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." As usual, it was a complete circus--full of the usual weirdos, comings, goings, and generally idiotic people who want to butt in front of you--but hey! It's still fun to hang out with the crazies every now and again.

Our odyssey began early Friday morning as we ventured out at an unholy hour to wait in line for wristbands at our local Barnes and Noble. Like a rock concert, these wrist bands essentially get you in line to buy the book first. After waiting in line for what seemed like forever, we got our wristbands as part of "Group B." That meant, that we were between 101 and 200 in line. That ended up making the second leg of our odyssey, much easier.

Here's our view from the middle of the line which, believe it or not, was moving fairly fast. There were balloons, wrappers, papers and evidences of games long since been played, but the hush inside the store was pretty surprising. Amazingly, everyone was fairly subdued once in the store and on the way up to the cash register--as if taking a walk with a friend for the last time.

Wow! Look at all those books! We'd finally reached the counter where we could purchase our books and boy were there a ton of them (as you can see.) Our purchase was made swiftly and we were out the door only 20 minutes after getting in line. The waiting in line earlier that day certainly helped.

Of course we ran directly home and...fell asleep. But most of the next day and into Sunday was spent reading. I finished the book early, early Monday morning, but I really enjoyed it. I'll post a more final reaction later.

Andrew Parker and the Wait of Death

Hello. My name is Andrew Parker. I'm 29 years-old and I'm a Potter-holic.

"Hello Andrew."

Today is July 20, 2007. It's one day before the final Harry Potter book is released in the United States and I'm sitting here at work being completely useless. I'm trying to work, and getting a few things done, but the fact that over the next couple of days I will find out Harry's fate is never far from my mind.

Adults aren't supposed to obsess about this stuff, right? Especially those with advanced schooling, right? We're supposed to be excited, but not stoked. Happy, but not delirious. And only mildly interested and not completely and wholly obsessed. After all, there are more important things to worry about, right?

Well, there are more important things, but few things that are more fun. And how does the saying go? Men are that they might have joy?

Ok, so maybe that's stretching it a little bit, but Harry Potter brings a certain level of joy into my life. It's certainly not the type of joy family or righteous living brings, but the tale of The Boy Who Lived is, in my mind, a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. After all, the main theme of the Harry Potter books, that our lives are not bound by fate but rather by choice, is a truth. And since we are all seekers of truth, why not have a little fun while you find that out?

In any case, it is now less than eleven hours until the release and I couldn't be more excited. And to help you get through the waining hours, I've posted a few morsels and tid-bits of theory about what I think is going to happen. You know. For fun.

Keep in mind THESE ARE NOT SPOILERS. This is just my opinion.

• Snape Dies - Along with many others, I'm sure. But this one seems written in the cards. He's a double agent, his motives have always been in question and all that will finally be revealed in this book. As such, I think he's a good person at heart and will willingly sacrifice himself for Harry's benefit. He's the redemptive figure in the story (literary speaking) and should fulfill his destiny to help bring down the Dark Lord.
• Ron and Hermione, um, "hook up" - This is a duh. Unless you've not been paying attention, this one's a no-brainer.
• Peter Pettigrew's debt to Harry comes due - I'm not sure if Peter sacrifices himself or if he merely saves Harry's life (possibly from Greyback) in this book, but one thing is for certain. However Peter Pettigrew figures in, you better believe he's toast.
• Neville vs. Bellatrix - Since Frank and Alice Longbottom were tortured and murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange, I imagine we'll see Neville have it out with Bellatrix. My hope is that with Neville having a wand of his own now, he'll be more effective as a wizard.
• The Giants to the Rescue - In Order of the Phoenix, it's mentioned that Voldemort had the command of not just corrupt wizards and witches, but loads of magical creatures as well. In the same book, Hagrid was off recruiting the Giants for the upcoming war. We don't know yet if he was successful, but I imagine his labors will provide fruit in this book. Since we know that Giants can't be stunned by standard spells, expect them to make a big impact in the war.
• The Return of Dumbledore - His symbol has always been a Phoenix, a rather curious symbol seeing that Phoenix's can rise from the ashes after they die. Dumbledore still has a part to play in this book and I think it will revolve around him directing Harry where the remaining Horcruxes are.
  
• Harry is NOT a horcrux - I thought this at first too, but now I don't think it points to that at all. Rather, since Harry has been marked by Voldemort, Harry simply has Voldemort's powers and not his soul. To carry two souls would be rather difficult.
• Aunt Petunia holds the key - Since Lily Potter's blood flows in Petunia's veins, Harry has always been protected from the Dark Lord when he returns to Little Whinging each summer. And even though his Aunt despises him, her blood, which is also Lily's blood, protects Harry because he is protected by the love of his mother. As such, I wonder who Aunt Petunia really is. Is she a squib? Possibly. Or, more likely, she was given this assignment by Dumbledore who has something on her and told her not to fail. It's possible then, that because she hates carrying this burden, she's taken it out on Harry and enlisted her family in the process. Either way, Aunt Petunia is more than meets the eye, and I think she'll be more than important to the stories end.

That's it for now. May your butterbeer be frothy (and alcohol free) and your fizzing whiz-bangs be mighty indeed.

French Ambiance

For those of you who think we did nothing on this trip but eat...you might be right. However, we did ride rides and see shows and host of other things. We just happened to take a lot of pictures of the restaurants because that's where we had the most fun.

Above, I'm holding my dinner at the French Bistro in Epcot. The portions may look small (and they are) but this is the fourth course of a 5 course meal. Before the main dish, there was fish, salad, soup and some yummy chocolate drink. The best part about dining french is that nothing ever feels overwhelming--it's all bits and tastes and not a slab of meat the size of my head. That's very refreshing. And it makes for a far more enjoyable and diverse meal.

One of the fun parts about this meal was that we ordered a bottle of Evian water by mistake. Our waiter, who was from France and had a very thick accent, asked if we wanted water that was sparkling or still. I said still and he brought out the Evian which surprised me because I just expected water from a pitcher. In any case, this is the greatest water I've ever had. Smooth and clean, I never knew water could be so awesome. However, I couldn't drink as much as I normally did when we sat down to eat (I was downing between 5-7 glasses of water per meal per day because of the heat) but man, was the water good.

Here's the view from our seat. It looks out across the lake that sits in the middle of Epcot. If you look closely, you can see a bit of the huge ball in the background.

As a fun side note, our waiter was astounded when we didn't want any wine and we told him that we didn't drink. He asked where we were from and we said Utah, and he said: "Oh! You're Mormon!" But say that with a French accent. It's a lot more fun. We've been saying "Mormon" with a French accent since!

Morrocan Food!

Angela will laugh because I put the belly dancer first, but hey...it was pretty cool! In any case, here we are at Restaurant Marrakesh...the same place that I ate at with my family when we visited Disney World nearly 20 years ago. At that time, the restaurant was still relatively new. But now, after 20 years, it remains much the same as I remember it. The belly dancing, the music and the food! Oh, did I mention how good the food was?

I had a dish of authentic shish kebob and Angela actually had a leg of lamb (which she enjoyed!) The food was wonderful, but the dessert was better. It was a nice flaky, caramel-y concoction that literally melted in your mouth. Mmmmm....I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. But, believe it or not, this was not our favorite restaurant of our trip. It lands in third behind the Irish Pub and the French Bistro. But still, it was wonderful.

One of the great parts of the restaurant is the live authentic music. The musicians and dancers are all very proud of their culture and it shows. That makes for a "real" experience--as real as can be in Florida--and truly adds to the uniqueness of our trip. An interesting fact that I learned while reading the menu: Morocco has the longest unbroken treaty with the United States...dating back to 1791. Who knew?

Wilkommen!

For dinner one night, we went the German restaurant named Biergarten (gee, I wonder what that translates into?) In any case, this was most definitely our least favorite of the restaurants that we visited. Fortunately, though, it wasn't because of the lack of entertainment or the tremendous atmosphere. As you can see from the picture above, we had a great time taking in authentic German music and dancing--complete with liederhosen! In addition, everyone, and I do mean everyone, drank beer at this place. How do we know?

Well, this restaurant does buffet style dining along with forced socialization--meaning that you have to eat your meal with complete strangers. And since we don't drink, we were immediately asked why. This of course gives you a great opening to talk about the gospel (which we did to a small degree) but mostly they're surprised that anyone could live without beer. I'm wondering how anyone can live with it.

In any case, the folks we met were all nice (one was a Broncos fan from Ohio or something--the other was from Gaithersburg, Maryland. And yes, Catherine. We did talk about you quite a bit. :)

But even though this was by far the worst food, we still enjoyed ourselves. The entire inside is decorated to appear as if it's Oktoberfest--with the leaves on the trees being the appropriate colors. In addition, they invite everyone up for dancing during your meal. Mostly the kids go up there and strut their stuff and that's fun to watch. And while it was still fun, we know that we won't be going back.

On Safari

One of the coolest things about Disney's new Wild Animal Kingdom is the Safari ride they have in the park. They've re-created a version of the Serengheti Plains in Africa and the result is stunning. As you can see from the picture above, it's almost as if you were really in Africa and watching all the wild animals! What's even more amazing is that the preserve allows all the animals to roam freely and interact as they would in the wild--which means that lions and other carnivores hunt the other animals in the park just like normal. And, just like normal, there is little human interference in the area. There's certainly a road for the safari to go through, but that's it for man made structures. It's truly an awesome sight.

Here's an ostrich that was brave enough to come up near the bus. As there are no fences throughout the area, you can see most of the animals right up close. But be careful! Since this is the wild, many of them don't know how to act around humans. It is fun to see them this close though.

If you look in the upper right hand corner of this picture you'll see the nose and ears of a hippopotamus peeking out from under the lake. As it was June when we visited, the temperature was extremely hot and so the hippos are doing their best to keep cool. Personally, I think they have the right idea, although I'm not sure I'd want to go swimming in that lake.

Here's another animal keeping cool in the shade--an Antelope. We saw several out on the open plains, but only this one was lounging about. We took this safari in the late afternoon, when it's the hottest during the day, and of course, none of the animals were out. We did see some elephants very far away (including a cute little baby elephant!) but the pictures were so bad since all the animals were hanging out in the shade, that I can't even tell why I took some of them.

Finally, we had a female giraffe come out into the middle of the road and stop our bus as it sat there. We waited and marveled at the beast (yeah, it's huge in real life) and then saw it's baby come out and get in a good meal as you can see from the picture above. The amazing part? I could have reached out and touched them they were so close. This safari was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom

I know this is a little hard to see, but this is Angela with her "Bug Eyed 3-D Glasses." The reason she has them on is because we're about to go into "A Bug's Life 3-D Adventure." It's a really cool show that is totally interactive and loads of fun. Essentially, you sit there while certain bugs "show off" their stuff for you in the hopes that we humans will better understand them and then, not kill them. Of course, things go a little haywire and you get sprayed with "bug spray" and smells and nearly get stung by a swarm of bees. But that's not the worst of it. At the end, they ask that you remain seated so all the "grubs and other young bugs can exit the theater first." They then do something in your seat so it feels like several little bugs are crawling all over you. It's most disconcerting.

Following a ride on the wild roller coaster at Mount Everest (the most freak roller coaster I've ever been on--it goes backwards to avoid the abominable snow man at one point) we went to see Finding Nemo: The Musical. Since I'm such a huge fan of the Nemo movie, I thought the musical might be a bit of a cheap thrill and possibly some corny fun. Nope.

It. Was. AWFUL. So bad, in fact, that I actually fell asleep at one point. The only good thing (besides when it ended) was listening to the audience react to the enormous set pieces that were trotted out during the show. They would "ooo" and "ahh" as if they'd just seen something amazing. Maybe it's just me, but I've seen amazing stuff on stage, and this musical was not it.

As you can see, Angela felt the same way. She at least stayed awake.