What to do With All Those Digital Pictures

Saturday we got a lot of rain at my home in Salt Lake. I kept waiting for the rain to stop and would then run out and do yard work. While inside, I worked on organizing all of the photos I took with my wife while visiting Disney World with one of my granddaughters a few weeks ago. This sparked me to create this posting should you be wondering what to do with all of those digital photographs you have taking up space on your phone or computer.

The first grandchild trip to Disney was sort of on a whim. I wanted to go to Disneyland for my birthday and wanted my oldest grandson to come along. He happened to be 5 years old which is the perfect age for a Disney trip. I found a great deal staying at the Grand Californian, booked reservations, booked flights, bought park tickets, and headed to Anaheim 2 weeks later. I think we only took about 15 photos of the whole trip as we focused on having fun and not trying to capture the perfect moment. We also decided to do a similar trip whenever any of our grandkids turned the magic age of 5.

The second trip required a bit more planning as we had to pick up or oldest granddaughter in Ohio. We also booked accommodations in the Marriott vacation club in Orlando which is near Disney World and not Disneyland. When we checked in, the concierge sat us down and gave us a welcome basket full of a bunch of freebies. One happened to be a coupon for a photo book from Shutterfly. We knew we would redeem the free gift and made sure to take lots of pictures. Then at the end of the trip, my wife and I sat down to create the ultimate memory book. We uploaded the best pictures of the trip and filled 20 pages. Several weeks later, it appeared in the mail. I have to say it turned out awesome.

My grandson saw the nice book and I'm sure felt like he needed one too. My wife and I gathered up all 15 photos from his trip and supplemented the content with generic Disneyland pictures. Even then it still came out looking like an afterthought. We learned our lesson for the next time. So did the rest of the family. Whenever any grandkids come over they head straight to the picture books and relive the fun they had with Grandma and Grandpa.

The idea of photo books has caught on to the rest of the family. My youngest son's wife has gone so far as to create a photo book for each year. After January 1st, they pick the highlights from each month of the previous year and add them to a book. They don't worry how many pages they fill as you have the option to add more. They are also sure to include text under the pictures describing why it is important along with any stories to add flavor about the event. My daughter-in-law has even gone to previous years and created books all the way back to when they first got married.

So what should you do with all of those digital pictures taking up space on your devices? My advice is to pick the best ones and immortalize them in a photo book. There are lots of sources where you can have them made. I mentioned Shutterfly where we have had several printed. Our new favorite place is Walgreens as it can be printed and ready to pick up in an hour so you don't have to pay for shipping. It doesn't matter who you choose though as they all seem to have regular coupons putting the cost of a 20-page book in the $10 to $20 range. 

Once you have your photo books printed, I would leave them out for visitors to see and perhaps ask about. Not everyone wants to see your vacation photos but some will. Most importantly I would keep those books close to help you remember happy times on a rainy or sad day. It might just be what you need to lift your spirits.

Double Checking Travel Plans

One of the best things about the Internet and most companies having an presence there is the ability to check things without having to call someone. Admittedly that means it is harder to talk to a real person but for double checking travel plans, it is a huge benefit. I rarely need to talk to someone about flights, rental cars, or hotels. When I do, I have special phone numbers that get me to a real human quickly.

This month I have several quick trips I am taking. Normally when I make flight reservations I also book a rental car. I have status with National and usually use them. Recently my status increased because of all the renting I did last year. That means I can rent a full-sized car for the price of a compact. It also means I get to the airport and can choose any car from the "Executive" level and don't have to rely on what is available in the "Emerald Isle." Yesterday I logged onto National's website to see if I booked the reservation for one of my trips before or after my status upgrade.

Imagine my surprise when I didn't see my reservation at all. It must have slipped my mind when I booked my flights. Being on the site, I quickly made a reservation. It asked if I wanted to use a free day I have earned and I opted not to as I the weekly rental rate is cheaper than knocking a day off my rental period. It gave me an idea though.

At the end of the month I will be headed to Disneyland with my wife. When I fly into the Los Angeles area I usually take Uber as it is less expensive than renting a car. Unfortunately the politicians in the area seem to be against Uber and keep imposing a number of extra fees which get passed onto the customer. Since I found myself on the rental car website, I decided to get an estimate on the price for a 2-day rental with one of those days being free. It means I will have to pay for hotel parking in Anaheim but it is still significantly less than a one-way ride between Disneyland and the airport. Naturally I made a reservation.

I'm glad I am an anxious traveler and discovered my mistake before assuming I had a rental car reservation. Without doing so, I would have gotten to my destination, jumped in a car on the lot, and then discovered I didn't have a reservation at the most inopportune moment. Yes, I saved myself some embarrassment.  

Waiting in a Virtual Queue

Today tickets went on sale for Disneyland's Star Wars Nite in April and May. Last year I had the pleasure of attending with my wife and daughter. We had a great time and planned on doing the event again this year. We hope to correct the mistake we made last year and not try to spend the morning and afternoon in the park. The event starts at 6pm and runs until 1am. They limit ticket sales and that allows you to walk onto almost any ride. Furthermore they have special events, unique food offerings, and themed swag.

I knew that tickets would go on sale this morning at 10am MST and so I started watching the clock as I did my morning exercise at Snowbird. I also knew they would start adding people to a virtual queue at 9:45. I happened to be on the Little Cloud chairlift at the time and so I pulled my phone out and joined the queue. I got to the top of the lift and saw that I had 20 minutes before I could make my purchase. I skied down to the mid-mountain lodge and checked my time. I had 15 minutes to wait. I skied to the bottom, walked to my car, took off my ski boots, and jumped into the car as my turn to buy tickets arrived. I quickly made the purchase and then put my phone away so I could drive home.

Last night I worried that I needed to be on the Disneyland website right at 9:45. Annual pass holders could purchase the special-event tickets a few days before the general public and some of the nights sold out. My worries turned out to be unfounded as tickets for all 4 nights are still available at 4:30pm today. However I thought it neat that I could log into the website on my phone while riding a chairlift and be placed in a virtual queue. That allowed me to stow my phone in a pocket and ski down the mountain without having to have my attention riveted to my phone. I wasn't sure turning off my screen would still allow my place to be held. It did and worked very well.

I always prefer to visit websites using my computer instead of my phone. This allows me to use a large display that is easy to read. I also don't worry about someone hacking my connection and getting my credit-card information. Fortunately my smartphone turned out to be the right tool for the job today. Any time I need to be in a virtual queue, I will use my phone in the future. 

 

Glad to be Done Traveling

I have spent the last 2 weeks traveling from one side of the United States to the other. Now I am back in Utah and happy to be home. My wife and I enjoyed the time together and got to see some amazing things. We also consider ourselves fortunate not to be affected by the government shutdown. I understand that is about to change in a couple of days though. My hope is that our dysfunctional government will figure it out and pass a budget that meets the needs of its tax-paying citizens.

We started our 2 week adventure flying from Salt Lake City to Columbus, Ohio. We spent a week visiting our youngest son and his family. That included a trip to our country's newest National Park in New River Gorge. It didn't become a National Park until 2022 and is well worth a visit. Fortunately the state of West Virginia sees the value of the park and covered costs to keep it open until the end of October. We experienced a fully staffed visitor's center complete with knowledge of the park and places to visit.

My wife and I then flew home long enough to do laundry and repack our bags. We had a relaxing Sunday and then headed to the airport that night for an 11pm flight to Los Angeles. Before leaving for the airport we received word of our delayed flight. That gave us a bit of time at home. The downside is it meant we would arrive in Los Angeles really late. Once at the airport we discovered the cause of the delay and couldn't blame it on air traffic control (ATC) but instead discovered a series of cascading delays caused by the airline.

The delay meant we didn't get into LAX until after 2am. We quickly walked to the Uber lot where we found a ride and got to our hotel sometime around 3am. I considered myself fortunate that I didn't have any early meetings and could sleep in relatively late before heading to the office. My wife came with me and did a walking tour of Culver City that she downloaded to her smartphone for only $9. We then met back at the hotel at the end of the day.

My wife's office closed for a week because of Fall break for our local school district. That meant she could tour the area while I spent the time working on the Sony Pictures Lot. While spending time on a movie lot is a lot of fun, my wife got the better end of the deal. She made use of the area's transit system and figured out how to get from LAX to Disneyland for only $5 round trip. The tradeoff is that it took 2 and a half hours each way. I'm glad she figured it out because Uber runs about $130 each way and still takes an hour plus. My wife also visited the fashion district and the Getty Museum. On the last day of the trip, I only had one meeting and set my wife up on a tour of the Sony Pictures Lot. When she finished the tour, I asked her where they took her and then showed her all of the interesting places the tour didn't go. We even had lunch at the commissary, which is a great place to eat.

We both felt exhausted at the end of the week and a 5:45am flight back to Salt Lake on Saturday morning meant we felt tired all day. I tried to watch the World Series game that night but fell asleep around 8pm. We both went to sleep early and slept late on Sunday morning. Now I am looking forward to staying home for awhile.

We used a lot of technology over the 2-week period to make the most of our travel. We continually checked into the status of the National Park to ensure we wouldn't be locked out. The airlines constantly notified us about the status of our flights which allowed us to wait comfortably instead of bored at the various airports. My wife even used her smartphone to pay for bus and train tickets in Los Angeles, saving her a few bucks. The ease of our 2-week adventure serves as an example as to how our daily lives are made easier through technology. 

Is it too Early for Christmas Songs?

Halloween is over and our next major holiday in the United States is Thanksgiving. My daughters grew up saying that we need to respect the turkey and not get too excited about Christmas until after the giant eat-a-thon. Now they are changing their tunes and think it is fine to play Christmas music a little earlier.

The day after Halloween, the Disney resorts pulled down all their pumpkin decorations and re-themed their resorts for Christmas. On November first I started getting ads for Black-Friday specials and encouraged to start Christmas shopping. It seems that everyone is eager for the largest holiday of the year.

So is it too early for Christmas songs? My personal thought is I have to restrict how many times I hear certain songs that become popular at the end of the year. The most popular Christmas song is Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you." It turns out that it is also the most hated holiday song. I fall into the later category and want to limit how many times I hear it.

One advantage I see with starting the holiday song list early is it gives me time to learn more Christmas songs on my guitar. I generally take a few weeks to memorize one and if I wait until the month of December, I never really learn them. That being said, I have to like the songs I learn because I play them so many times.

So what do you think? Is it time to play those old familiar favorites or should we wait another month? Let me know your thoughts.

Not a Fan of Disney's Magic Band+

I spent last week in Disney World with my wife and a couple of granddaughters. Whenever one of my grand kids turns 5, we take them to Disney for a couple days. This year we had 2 granddaughters turn 5 and so we brought them together. It made for a fun trip but I'm not sure the extra $35 investment in Disney's MagicBand+ is worth the extra cost.

My son is a huge Disney fan and loves taking his family to Disneyland and Disney World. He invested in the watch-like devices for his family and suggested we do the same. He loves staying close to Disneyland or at the lower-cost resort hotels within Disney World. He has also done a cruise on the Disney Cruise Line. For him, he just loads park tickets and room access onto the bands and doesn't have to worry about carrying extra key cards. He also is a fan of the Lightning Lane and can add that to the bands.

We had a very different situation for our trip last week. First off, we stayed at an off-property hotel using frequent stay points. That means the bands wouldn't help us get into our room. We also had a height limit with our 5-year old granddaughters. One measured just over 38 inches but under 40. That means we could not ride most of the thrill rides. Those are the ones with the longest lines where it makes sense to pay for Lightning Lane access. We also visited the park when it seemed fairly empty compared to other times of the year. We walked onto most rides.

Without the need to use the Lightning Lanes, we really only used the MagicBand+ to enter the parks. Of the 4 days we visited parks in Disney World, the bands had problems during 2 of them. They worked perfectly on the first day. On the second, 3 of the 4 bands had issues and needed to be reset. One thing they didn't tell us on the first day is that the finger print for a 5-year old is not very reliable and that we should have used an adult's finger. We fixed that and then my wife's device reported itself as stolen and turned itself off. We had to reactivate it. All of this took time.

On the last day of our visit we ran into another issue with the bands and had to visit guest services once again. I'm not sure we would not have had those problems with a free paper card that gets handed out for those not willing to buy MagicBand+ bracelets but I would not have had to pay for them.

If you are on the fence about purchasing a Disney Magic and+ here are some criteria I would use before spending the money:

1. Are the parks crowded and do you have kids old enough to make Lightning Lanes worth the extra cost? If so, the MagicBand+ is much easier to use than fishing around in your pocket for easily lost paper cards.
2. Do you plan to return to the Disney parks many times for years to come or spend time on a Disney Cruise? If so, then it might be worth it.
3. Do you plan to stay at a Disney hotel? If so, then the Magic Band+ can be used as your room key and might be worth it.
4. Is this probably a one-time visit to a Disney park? Save your money and use your smartphone, which is also an option, or the free paper card they give you.

I hope this helps as you debate whether or not to spend the extra $35 for a piece of technology that I don't think works very well. Disney wants you to buy the device as it allows them to track your movement throughout the different parks, thanks to their ubiquitous golden statues that light up your wrist band whenever you walk by them. In my opinion, because of that tracking feature, they should be giving them out for free.

Setting Up Magicband+ For Disney World

Two years ago my wife and I started a tradition with our oldest grandson by taking just him to Disneyland after he turned 5. We found a great deal on the Grand Californian hotel and booked the trip. We had a wonderful time and decided we would continue with the rest of our grand kids. This year we have two of our granddaughters turning 5 and so instead of a trip for each of them, we are bringing the both of them to Disney World. Why Disney World? One lives in Ohio and it is easier to pick her up on the way with the second granddaughter in tow.

Wanting to make sure we maximize our experience in the parks, my wife and I went online and purchased Magicband+ bracelets for ourselves and our granddaughters. Today I went about connecting them to my iPhone where I have the Disney World app installed. For some reason I could not get them to connect. Then I watched a video and saw my mistake.

My Sony smartphones have had Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities for a decade. I didn't think it caught on for other brands but today I discovered it is available in my iPhone. The important thing is to know where the touch point is on the device. For my iPhone it is on the upper-back-right corner. Once I turned the Magicband+ on, all I needed to do was touch it to the right place on my phone. Then I just followed the prompts to connect everything. Before the enlightening video I tried touching every part of my phone with the bracelet except the upper-right corner.

Unfortunately the software engineers that create Disney's theme park apps do an insanely poor job on their user interface. Even though I selected the correct person in the app before linking the Magicband+, the app linked all of them to me. There is no way you can unlink them. I had to call Disney technical support at (407) 939-4357.

Disney is known for having the best customer service and their technical support lives up to that standard. I have to say it is second to none. I quickly navigated the menu to get to the right department and a real human answered the call. Furthermore she spoke English like an American. I don't care if she is in Mexico or India, I just care that I can easily communicate. I explained my problem and she solved it immediately. Furthermore she linked my wife's park ticket with her account. Her help definitely made up for a poor application.

Now we are set and ready to go. The only problem is that the trip is not for a long time. I can hardly wait.

What I'd Like to See in the Metaverse

Yesterday I posted about the Metaverse. Today I would like to dive a little deeper and share what I would like to see. Given the recent pandemic we all have learned a lot about our tolerance for staying inside. I recently visited Disneyland and chose the dates I did because it was supposed to be empty. Everyday it was crowded and full to capacity because travel restrictions have lifted and that is what people want to do: visit places they haven't been able to because of COVID-19. I also recently tried to book a trip to Zion National Park as it has been a few years since I have been there. Hotel rates are $600-$700 per night in the town just outside the park because so many people want to visit. In order for me to stay home and spend more time inside, the Metaverse better offer something really special and unique.

I love skiing in the winter and rock climbing in the summer. I also enjoy spending time on my bike or sailing. How can you create a world that has a better experience than the activities I enjoy outside? Let's start with exercise.

Today I went for a beautiful bike ride at lunch. Soon the weather will turn ugly and while I have the equipment to ride outside in the pouring rain, I will probably ride inside on my stationary bicycle. Currently I just put in my ear buds and listen to music. I don't use my over-the-ear headphones because they get all sweaty and nasty. I doubt I would ever put on virtual reality (VR) goggles for the same reason. Perhaps I could set my indoor bike up in front of a TV and bike in a virtual world. I have an unused 60-inch television in my office that I could use for such a purpose. Furthermore it is capable of 3D movies and could create a wonderful indoor biking experience. While that does require glasses, I wear sunglasses on my daily ride and so it wouldn't be that much of a bother. The important thing to remember is that I can't be expected to wear cumbersome goggles while I exercise.

I mentioned how I visited Disneyland a few weeks ago. How much is it worth to me to visit an online version of the park in the Metaverse? Probably not much even though you wouldn't have to wait in line for hours on end to ride the rides. There is something about having the wind in your face and feeling the motion of the roller coaster as you experience Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, or Thunder Mountain Railroad. That would be hard to replicate at home even with smart devices like an Internet-controlled fan or a perfectly timed bucket of water. However the more gentle rides like the Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, or Snow White could become a more magical experience than they are at the theme park. I also would like to see earlier versions of the park. Perhaps even visit the park I remember as a child. I would pay real money to experience opening day at Disneyland which is something only possible in VR.

My daughter has a shirt that says, "Hike the Crimson Canyon of Mars National Park." We have robots on the red planet right now collecting high-quality images of our planetary neighbor. NASA could easily put together a VR experience without the unnecessarily long and dangerous space flight to get there. That is something I would like to see. I would also like to see all of the places in the world that are difficult or dangerous to visit. I have sailed a relatively small boat through several massive storms and I don't want be put in such a dangerous situation again. However I wouldn't mind being able to appreciate the power of Mother Nature from the comfort and safety of my living room.

Unfortunately the visions I am describing do not suit the tastes of all. There are bound to be online destinations that offend in the same way we have websites of the same genres now. As I said yesterday, the Metaverse is here now and so hopefully we can apply some of the same barriers to keep our children from wandering into the dangerous destinations soon to arrive.

Web Browser Troubles

A few weeks ago I went to Disneyland with my wife and oldest grandson. We found an incredible deal at one of the Disney hotels and booked the trip for a huge discount. I bundled my park tickets with the hotel and all seemed to go well. Then I tried to make park reservations. Unfortunately I couldn't. I thought maybe because I didn't fully pay for the trip and so I paid for everything. A few days later I tried to make the park reservations. I ended up calling a reservation specialist. She told me to try using Chrome as my problems were related to my browser. I didn't believe her but did as she said. Guess what? She was right.

A few days after getting my Disney reservations sorted out, I tried reserving a rental car from Hertz. I attempted to log in using my favorite browser only to have it spin endlessly and never get to the login-successful page. At first I thought it might be because I used the wrong password. Then I remembered my experience with the Disney website and pulled up Chrome to see if it was the same problem. Changing to Chrome worked and I was able to log in. Ultimately I went with another rental car company as they had a less expensive option. It isn't always the case as I have a great discount with Hertz.

It used to be that Netscape was the standard browser and everyone tried to be bug-for-bug compatible with it. That means that they tried to mimic all aspects of the browser, including the bugs. Netscape became Mozilla and is now known as Firefox. Now it seems that Chrome has displaced Firefox as the browser that everyone uses as a baseline for compatibility testing. If you go to use your favorite browser at a website and it doesn't seem to behave correctly, try Chrome. If it still doesn't behave then its not you, its the website.

Is Genie+ Worth it at Disneyland and Disney World?

For the past year I have been planning a family vacation to Disney World for all of my kids and grandchildren. The trip happened last week and I have to say we had a great time. We did a few things different on this trip than in other vacations at Disney World. One change is that of Genie+ and I thought I would weigh in on if it is worth it or not.

In January I visited Disneyland with my oldest son and his family. It helps to compare and contrast that experience with Disney World as the service is available in both parks. My hope is that it will help you as you plan your summer vacation as both parks seem to be very crowded now that COVID seems to be slowly going away.

If you go to the Disney parks to ride the rides and money is not a concern, then by all means add the service to your ticket. It will save you long lines for at least a couple of rides. If you are a little more discerning with your cash then you may want to pick-and-choose when you pay for the convenience.

I opted not to pay for Genie+ for any of the days at Disney World last week but then I wasn't concerned with riding rides. I really went to hang out with my grandkids and have fun with them. None of them had Genie+ and so it didn't make sense for me to pay an extra $15/day. I will confess that on our last day in the parks, I got stuck on the Pirates of the Caribbean for 30 minutes. Disney immediately gave us 2 free lightning lanes that we could use on half a dozen rides. Naturally I couldn't use it on any of the thrill rides like Space Mountain or the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train. I did enjoy being able to skip to the front of the line for Thunder Mountain Railroad and The Little Mermaid ride. Then we loaded up our car and headed to the airport.

My son opted to pay for Genie+ while at Disney's Hollywood Studios where he used it judiciously. My philosophy was to get to the parks early and save myself long lines and I got to ride a lot of attractions in a short time.

Ultimately my recommendation is not to add it to your ticket every day. There are some parks that don't have a lot of Lightning Lanes that allow you to jump to the front without waiting. At Disney World, it is only a $15/day addition (it is $20/day at Disneyland). You can add it in the Disney World app on your phone and then immediately schedule your first attraction. As you can only have one reservation at a time, make sure you don't sign up for a ride that allows you to jump lines at the end of the day. That can be expensive for a single use.

Smartphones at Disneyland

I know it is winter and I never like to leave home during ski season but I spent last week at Disneyland. My son gave his two kids a trip to the "Happiest place on Earth" for Christmas and allowed me and my wife to tag along. As it was our grandchildren's first visit; we had to go. Now that I am back, I can say I didn't mind taking a few days off from skiing. We have not had snow for a few weeks and the mountains could use a fresh coat of paint.

We arrived Sunday evening and prepared for our first trip into the park on Monday. I made sure to print out our tickets as well as the QR codes for our reservations as they are required for the park. I like having printed copies of things but that is the old-fashioned way of doing things. Before leaving home I had also loaded the Disneyland app onto my smartphone and that held the keys to the kingdom (pun intended). All I really needed to do was to just log into the app with the same e-mail I had made my reservations and everything transferred over. That is what my son did he didn't have to worry about carrying a bunch of paper printouts.

For those who have not been to Disneyland in a long time, Fast Pass no longer exists. Instead you have the option of paying $20 per day and getting access to Genie+. That allows you to use your smartphone and reserve a spot in line for most of the rides. We didn't understand that and quickly discovered that not getting Genie+ meant waiting in long lines even during off season when the lines are not supposed to be that long. 

For the second day of the trip we headed to California Adventure. Unfortunately there are not a lot of rides that benefit from Genie+ so we opted not to purchase the $20 feature. In hindsight, I think we made the right decision but I have come to hate standing in line.

We headed back to Disneyland on the third day and once inside the park immediately purchased the Genie+ feature. Then we booked our first ride at Space Mountain right at 9am, when the park opened. As we had a 2-year old that couldn't ride the roller coasters, we then used the baby-swap feature to ride immediately again. That allowed 4 of us to jump to the front of the line, swap a guardian for the little one, and 4 of us to ride again. We probably rode twice as many rides on Wednesday as we did on Monday.

The Disneyland app is not just useful for jumping to the beginning of lines. We used it to discover that the ride whose line we were in had broken down. Sometimes that spurred us to jump out of line and go somewhere else. You can also use the app to order food and have it ready when you go by the restaurant.

I am fairly technical and am not afraid to use my smartphone to its full potential. There are quite a few Disneyland guests that aren't so comfortable with technology and I had to wonder how they enjoyed the park. My guess is they get one of the younger members of their party to take care of streamlining their visit with the help of technology. While I am not a fan of the Disneyland app, it did cut down on a lot of waiting and I appreciated that.

Photo Editing with GIMP

Yesterday my youngest son and daughter-in-law dropped my granddaughter off so they could drive to Ohio in preparation for a move. I have always told my kids that they are welcome to leave their kids with us but to not be surprised if we take the kids to Disneyland. With COVID-19 that is impossible right now as the park is closed. I still wanted to send them a picture of us in Disneyland.

I searched through my phone and found a picture of the Millennium Falcon in Galaxy's Edge from our most recent trip back in September. Then I had my wife take a picture of me and my granddaughter at my work desk. The rest should be easy. Everyone always talks about Photoshop'ing people into pictures, so how hard can it be.

 My first idea was to use Microsoft Teams. I have been using it for a lot of my conference calls and rather than use my own office background, I have added a picture of the Snowbird tram to my Teams picture library. I figure I could add one of Disneyland, start up MS Teams, and take a screenshot. After playing for a bit, I decided that I didn't like my picture with my hands out reaching for the keyboard. Interestingly enough, my oldest daughter thought that I had used a Zoom background for the finished picture.

Instead I decided to try GIMP. I actually use GIMP quite frequently as it is a great little tool for editing photos and other computer graphics. Lately I have created a bunch of icons for a project at work with it. Unfortunately I have never used it to take a person (or two in this case) from one photo and add them to another. My first stop was YouTube. I watched the process where you add an alpha-channel to the photo with your people and then use the free-hand tool to trace them. Once you have them traced, you cut out the background. That looked really tough and so I searched for another video in case there is a trick to use. The second video showed multiple tricks. First, make the picture really large so you can see the fine edges. You can then drag the free-hand lines to fit the outline of the people better. The second video also suggested going in sections so you are pulling off a bit at a time.

I didn't really care that I did a great job creating the fake photo. In fact I wanted it to be fairly obvious that I had created the picture. Then I stumbled upon some more tricks that make my fake actually look pretty good. One is that I cut out my granddaughter and myself from a fairly large picture. Then I shrunk us down before pasting us into the Disneyland background. Shrinking the photo removed a lot of the imperfections from my cutting out the background. Then I only used a section of the picture above my waist so you couldn't tell I was sitting in my office chair. The finished photo actually turned out pretty good even though I didn't mean it to.

Once I finished the picture, I Air Dropped it to my phone and then texted it out to the family. My oldest daughter replied almost instantly with her suggestion on how I pulled off the faked picture. I got a few laughs from everyone.

Now that I know how to Photoshop someone into a picture, it is not that difficult. I'm sure there are a ton of tricks to make the photo turn out even much better than I did and I encourage you to do some Internet searching. I don't know how to make hair look more natural but figure it is just a matter of patience and choosing a picture with a well-combed head. Today my wife and I will be taking my granddaughter to Paris. Wanna come?

Willfully Disabled

My wife decided that she didn't need any more stuff for Christmas and wanted experiences this year. So instead of getting her jewelry or things she didn't need, I gave her a trip to Disneyland. Naturally I went with her and we left the kids at home. We had a great time but I came away from the trip with disgust of the willfully disabled. What does willfully disabled mean? Keep reading.

I have some friends that love Disneyland because they cater to their adult daughter with Down's Syndrome. Disney is great that way and always goes the extra mile to make sure anyone with a disability feels welcome in their parks. They even go so far as to hire characters that know sign language so they can communicate with deaf children. This is noble and should be applauded. There is a large group of people out there that know this and take advantage of Disney's niceness to get special treatment during long lines. These people are frauds and have a special place reserved for them in the afterlife. While I dislike the frauds, they are not willfully disabled.

There is another group of people that frequent Disney parks who leverage the disability system because they just don't take care of themselves. They use technology like electric scooters to get around instead of daily walks to get in shape (yes, I know that round is a shape too). Those scooters clog up already crowded walkways and lines. It is this group of people that are willfully disabled and they seriously annoy me.

What gives me the right to pass judgement? Well three years ago, I too was headed in the direction of the willfully disabled. My weight/height ratio bordered on me being obese, not just overweight. I tried using technology to help me get my weight down with no success. I came up with every excuse in the book to explain away my ballooning size. Ultimately I discovered the secret of losing weight. I lost 35 pounds in 3 months. Everyone that knew me couldn't believe how much and how quickly I lost all that weight. It has been 3 years and I have not put any of it back on. So how did I do it? Daily exercise and portion control. I didn't take any magic pills. I also didn't start some super exercise regimen. I did lose all that weight under the care of a doctor who made me come in every 2 weeks and provide blood samples to make sure I wasn't hurting myself. I also met with a nutritionist to make sure I included all of the right foods in my diet.

So what caused me to get serious about weight loss? What gave me the willpower to seriously control what and how much I ate? I finally recognized that I was killing myself with food and if I didn't make some changes, I wouldn't be around much longer. Guess what? If you have to use an electric cart to get around Disneyland because you are so fat, you are killing yourself with food. Put down the jelly doughnut and go see your doctor. Your family will thank you for it.

Airport Flight Delays

I am at the Los Angeles International airport waiting for a flight back to Salt Lake and it is delayed by 2 hours. This whole trip has been plagued by travel delays and so I find myself in the airport wondering how best to spend my time. When I left Salt Lake on Monday afternoon, I finished my ham radio magazine due to a delayed flight. Last night I patiently waited an extra 2 hours for my wife's flight to arrive from Salt Lake so we could spend today at Disneyland. Fortunately I had a car and could drive to get some dinner nearby. I ate at the same coffee shop where they filmed a scene for the movie XXX with Vin Diesel and the food tasted amazing. I recommend it highly.

Even before I headed to the airport this evening I knew that this flight would be delayed simply because it is the last flight of the day and my experience with Southwest is that evening flights are almost always delayed. Unfortunately you cannot plan on the flight being late because if it isn't and you miss the flight, the consequences can be expensive and uncomfortable.

So how best to spend my evening? I have 2 smartphones and a laptop with a full battery as well as my PlayStation Vita. My first thought included using my laptop to write this blog entry. Unfortunately the free Internet connection at LAX is only good for 45 minutes and so I am trying to write quickly. Experience has taught me that when the 45 minutes is up, my network connection gets screwy and requires a fair amount of work to get reconnected. When I am done here I will take care of my work e-mail on one of my smartphones. Then I will pull out my Vita and play some Lego Hobbit. If I still need to entertain myself after that, I will probably be too tired to do anything more than listen to Spotify, Pandora, or stored MP3 files on my phone. Hopefully I will remain entertained.

Tomorrowland and Imagination

Last night I went and saw the new Disney movie Tomorrowland. The previews reminded me of my first trip to Disneyland when I was very young. Back then, Tomorrowland was much different than it is today. Now it is an area used to house a few futuristic rides but when I was a kid, it was a glimpse into what life in the future might be like. It was fun and exciting to a young boy and I remember getting excited about growing up and seeing changes for a better world.

It is interesting to look back at those predictions and see how far off we were. We still don't have flying cars nor do we have super-sonic planes for the general public. We had them for a while with the Concorde, but then they started falling out of the sky and the fleet was retired.  However there are things we have today that we didn't even imagine back then. Think about home computers, mobile phones, electronic books, and large flat-screen televisions. I also think we got a few things right. One thing that comes to mind is electric cars.

I came out of the movie remembering my early trips to Disneyland and wondering what life in the future will be like for my grandchildren. Will we colonize the moon or Mars? That was one thing talked about when I was a child and then forgotten. Now it is a topic that seems to be gaining traction again. What about solar electricity? Photovoltaic cells have been around for a very long time but are just now being used effectively to generate electricity. What advances will we see there? How about life in the ocean? There seem to be a wealth of possibilities underwater.

I think our future is only limited by our imagination. We have a quote on the wall at my office from Albert Einstein that says, "Knowledge will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." I agree.

E-mail on the Phone

I love being able to check my e-mail on my smartphone. It is very handy and useful when I am out and about. I can instantly check to see if there are any important messages that need attention while at the grocery store or even at Disneyland. However I much prefer to do e-mail on my laptop or desktop computer. There is something nice about being able to type on a full-size keyboard.

My day was spent in a very important meeting with other parts of my company and it was nice to have my laptop that I could pull out to read e-mail. Sure I could have used my phone but since I had my laptop, I used it. One of my colleagues from New York wasn't so lucky. Her Windows laptop inexplicably died and so she was stuck using her phone. At lunch she turned her laptop into our IT department and they started working on it. At the end of the day I found her wandering around trying to find our IT department so she could pick it back up. I walked with her to their lab and we found the guys still trying to bring her computer back from the dead. Unfortunately they were not done.

My colleague was happy that they were helping her and she told them that she would just try and use her phone to deal with the 225 or so unread e-mail messages. They worked some magic and gave her a loaner laptop complete with her e-mail loaded onto it. She was so happy not to be relegated to her tiny on-screen keyboard for the evening. I have to say I was happy our IT department could set her up with a loaner laptop so quickly. After all, 10 e-mail messages is about my limit on a phone, then I run the risk of destroying it out of frustration.

An App for Disneyland

I just got back from a two-day vacation in Disneyland. My youngest daughter who is now 20 wanted to spend a couple of days there and so my wife and I joined her. Our oldest daughter didn't want to miss out on the fun and joined us with her husband. It was the first time for him and so we wanted to make it a memorable experience. Memorable in a happy way, I might add.

Normally I am not a fan of smartphone usage while on vacation. However my wife had the Disneyland Magic Guide on her phone and we used it throughout our stay. This past week must have been maintenance time at the park because several of the key rides were out of service and a number of others kept breaking down. We could quickly look at the app and see if our next intended destination was working, had a short line, or should be avoided.

Disneyland is notorious for overestimating wait times and so we always waited less than the app reported. It only took a few times to figure that out and we were able to have a pleasantly memorable experience in the Happiest Place on Earth.

For some reason my wife was able to get the app for free. I think it is because she installed it several years ago before they started charging for it. When I went to put it on my phone, they wanted $3.99 for it. If you don't mind wandering aimlessly around, then don't spend the money. If you enjoy working hard to plan a spontaneous vacation, then four bucks will be well spent. It will also be the cheapest part of your Disneyland trip.

Vacation From Technology

I just got back from a three-day vacation with my family in California. I brought my laptop just in case someone from work needed me to take care of something. I worked late the night before having to get up early for our flight and was sure I would need to fix an emergency while I was away. Fortunately I had some people at work who refused to contact me knowing that I was on vacation. I didn't bother to turn on my computer and check mail. The funny thing is that I could have done so on my phone. I just would have rather spent time with my family.

I blame the girls for ending up at Disneyland. My daughters are 19 and 23, yet they both wanted to go to "The Happiest Place on Earth." It was very crowded and I just assumed that other parents were paying as much attention to their kids as I was to mine. It surprised me as I rode the train around the park and watched parent after parent turn to their smart phones to check e-mail and play with apps. Aren't you there to spend time with your kids? How about talking to your kids instead of looking at cooking class coupons from Groupon?

When you go on vacation, it is perfectly fine to take a vacation from technology. I managed to pull it off and you should too. Your kids will thank you for it later.

Disneyland

For the past two years I have managed to miss my youngest daughter's birthday. This year I needed to do something special and make it up to her. Instead of having a party or getting her a big gift, my wife and I took her to Disneyland for two days. There were no siblings, just her. I was surprised that a 17-year old would want to spend her birthday with her parents, it involved one of her favorite places and so I was happy to oblige.

I have to confess that it has been a decade since I have been to Disneyland. In 2005, I took the family to DisneyWorld in Florida for a week. It was fun, but the kids actually preferred Arches National Park two months later. After being gone for so long, it was a fun return. My daughter reverted to a pleasant 5-year old that loved Daddy, yet was old enough not to complain nor have to use the restroom every 5 minutes.

What does Disneyland have to do with computers? Well a lot has changed in the past 10 years. When it came time to get tickets, there was the usual Internet searching for the best deal. We determined that we wanted Park Hopper tickets so we could visit both Disneyland and California Adventure on the same day. The best deal for two days turned out to be at SweetVacations.org. You can pick up a 2-day park hopper ticket for $125. That is almost $75 off the price from Disney's ticket office. Basically you register on their website and they send you a confirmation e-mail. Bring the confirmation e-mail on the first day of your visit with cash to pick up the tickets. They don't take credit cards, but at those savings, it shouldn't be a problem. Our tickets worked great both days we were there. When we were done, we just returned the tickets back to the office where we got them.

The next change that I saw at Disneyland was with all of the smart phone apps. If you have an iPhone, go to the app store and do a search on Disneyland. You will get a number of free and paid apps that provide real-time information about lines in the park. Suppose you have just finished at Pirates of the Caribbean and don't want to wait too long for your next ride. Simply pull out your app and it will show you wait times for the Haunted Mansion or the Indian Jones ride. Of course these things only work if you are also willing to post your own wait times as you stand in line. However, that is a small price to pay for maximizing your ride times.

Disneyland claims to be the "Happiest place on earth." When you have little ones crying in line, it is tough to believe, especially when you are paying $100 per day to be there. Now that I have experienced Disneyland with an older child, never having to wait in lines, and having spent close to half of regular costs, I find it much happier.