USRoadTripper

Hey, I'm an only child and look how normal I turned out.... ...*looks around*... OH NO! SHE'S DOOMED!!!! hahaha -Julie (who loves the "I love tacos" shirt in the registry!!)

Great news! Congratulations guys! Can't wait to see pics of her! Looks like "Chase" won the name the baby contest hehe And Elissa, hey, you get to not be pregnant anymore! Downside is that you're completely out of fashion in UK high schools. -Julie

First, the specs...1.8gh Core 2 Duo Processor, 1Gb RAM and whatever video card comes built into this motherboard (Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3000 (Intel® GMA X3000) onboard graphics subsystem) My primary problem is that it is flaky about recognizing the video card. Windows Movie Maker and DVD Maker will sometimes open, and sometimes not. It started off not opening, then I'd restart and it would open, then not, then yes, now I am back to not opening because it says I don't have a fast enough video card. But obviously I do when it works flawlessly some of the time! I've tried everything I can think of...have downloaded the driver update from Intel and uninstalled/installed it three times to no avail. Another problem is that my graphics settings reset every time I turn the computer off. The monitor automatically resets to 800x600 resolution and it never remembers which custom cursors I tell it to use. It also resets every folder I open to "large icons" instead of "medium icons"eventhough I have told it to remember each folder's individual view settings. Also, I have some files on the computer that, when I try to delete them, it says that I don't have permission to delete them. One is iTunes, which I installed before realizing that it wouldn't work yet. There are these two files that, no matter what I do, I can't delete. I also had this issue with some things in the Start menu that I couldn't delete. I mean...who am I supposed to get permission from??? It's MY computer! And finally...how in the world do I get the "Windows Aero" thing to show??? Is my inability to get Aero to work related to how it's freaking out about the video card? And I've never seen an option for transparent windows, which is something that is touted so highly in all the advertising. Overall, I don't hate Vista the way I thought I would, but these four things are beyond frustrating!!! I tried searching on some Windows support sites, but everyone seemed so rude if you asked simple questions...like you were so obviously wasting their time. So any help anyone can offer is greatly appreciated! -Julie

I'll take "TV shows I'd never watch" for $1000, Alex. -Julie

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one that didn't like this show. I really think the entire concept just didn't work the way they hoped it would. It seemed so scripted when I saw it, and the jokes seemed way too drawn out to be funny. Like the monster who walks back and forth and keeps getting hit by the board in the floor...maybe if he got hit once it would have been funny...but he got hit like four or five times! Not funny anymore! The text messaging thing was cute though. You text in a joke, then you get a "You think you're funny? I sure do!" text back from Mike, and they pick some texts to use in the show. The cynic in me thinks that they could have all those jokes already planned and programmed in days in advance, and no one would ever know that they weren't picked out from their specific audience. I think the idea is a good one, but I really think the presentation is lacking to the point that I'll never feel compelled to watch it very often. Too bad. -Julie

We went to the 30th anniversary taping, which was around 1:00pm I thought. Some days when they only have one taping, I think it's mid-afternoon. Having only been to the one taping, I'm not sure how it works on the two-taping days, but I'd bet people who don't get into the earlier taping are given first dibs at the second taping. So it would probably be best to arrive before dawn even for the late taping. When we all arrived, we waited for about an hour along the street, then at 6:00am, they opened the gates to the studio and we waited in a covered area for a while. Later they came and numbered us all, had us fill out some info cards, and let us take a break for an hour or so. After we came back, we again waited and waited, then we each had to do a 10 second interview about why we wanted to be a contestant on the show. Then we had to wait some more. Finally we got into the studio (which is TINY compared to what you'd think it would look like) where we were seated according to the order in which we arrived. The taping only took about an hour and a half for the hour long show, which was surprising since I thought it would take much longer to reset all the prizes and stuff. During the commercial breaks when they were resetting the games and prizes, Bob Barker would talk to the audience, so I got to speak with him for a few moments. They also coached us extensively on how we had to act excited about every product they show, not just the big ones. Like, we had to go nuts over arthritis cream and Pledge wipes! hahaha Then once the show was done, you were dumped back out into the parking lot and told to have a nice day. All told, it took around 10 hours or so. It was a LONG and TIRING 10 hours, but it was SO awesome that it was a "must do" for our trip to LA in April! So yeah...my best advice would be to still arrive at 5:00am or before if you want to get in. I don't know how they handle numbering people for the second show, but I can't imagine that they'd just tell everyone to leave, because a lot of people would stay and wait anyway. I know that if I was there at 5:00am and just missed getting into the early taping, I'd definitely want to get a number for the later taping! Good luck! If you have any specific questions, please feel free to PM me and I can try to answer them! -Julie

The one that was surprising to me was that there are more text messages sent every day than there are humans on the planet. -Julie

I went to one of these tapings in 2001, and my best guess is that they wouldn't let you in wearing the Balder shirt. They won't let you in if you are wearing any sort of advertising (Coke t-shirts, Nike t-shirts, anything of the kind including work uniforms aside from military). Wouldn't be a stretch to think that a Balder shirt would be an advertisement for Liseberg. On the other hand, I can't imagine that they'd have a problem with a TPR UK shirt. My mom and I are going on April 19th, and already have our pro-spay/neuter shirts done! hahaha And like Wally said, plan on a really long day. We arrived at 5:00am when we went in 2001, and people who were arriving at 5:30am didn't make it into the taping because it was already full. The taping was awesome though! You'll have a blast! -Julie

Yeah right. If it ever was truly in the plan, it probably got scrapped because they added the Africa area in Animal Kingdom. Or we might still see it in Epcot, I don't know. But I'd certainly guess it had nothing to do with AIDS. -Julie

Is it getting hot in here, or is it just you? -Julie

In a marketing class I took, we discussed the whole New Coke release. Theory is this... Coke always used sugar as their sweetener, but the price of sugar was getting too high to be economical. They wanted to switch over to corn syrup, but were scared that the public would revolt and suddenly hate Coke, even if there was no real taste difference. So they invented New Coke...a product that was engineered to not be as good as "classic" Coke. Then when they distributed it, everyone would say "Ugh, this is horrible! Why did they have to mess with Coke? If ONLY they would make Coke the way they used to!" Then voila, Coke says "Ok folks, we screwed up. We're gonna start making Coke the way we used to!" And they brought out "Classic Coke" which was the same thing as the first Coke only with corn syrup as the sweetener instead of sugar. Instead of making the public focus on the difference between sugar and corn syrup, it made the public focus on Classic Coke versus New Coke, making the difference in sweetener virtually irrelevant. People were so happy to have classic Coke back that they didn't care that the sweetener was different. Of course, Coke vehemently denied the whole thing, so who knows if that is really what was intended by New Coke or not. I think it seems logical though. -Julie

Aww, what a great TR! I'd love to go to WDW with someone who has never been and is that excited about it! I'm glad that you got to experience Comedy Warehouse and Adventurer's Club. They are both awesome places to spend time, and AC is one of my favorite places in all of WDW! And who would have thought that you, of all people, would like Mannequins? I'm so glad you had a good time! -Julie

Very nice update Jahan! I agree, that photo with Batman is really awesome, but I also agree with Elissa that you need to put a train in that vertical loop! haha Also, I love your little subheadings within the report...they're always so funny yet appropriate! -Julie

Mine's a VErizon LG VX6000. I've had it for three years and still like it better than any of the newer Verizon phones on the market. -Julie

Hair ball themed coaster? I could see them having the cars spin out of a cats mouth. -Julie

Make sure to keep in mind that some hotels only allow 4 people to a room, while some have day beds that will accommodate a 5th person. I know the Polynesian has day beds, but I'm not sure which other ones do. Another thing to keep in mind is that two rooms at Pop Century or All Stars can be cheaper than one room at a deluxe, with the added benefit of having two bathrooms, and only two people having to share a bed. If you really want the deluxe resort atmosphere, by all means go with a deluxe...they are all spectacular. But if you're like me and really only sleep and shower at your hotel, Pop Century or All Stars may be the better option. As far as deluxes go, Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge are my favorite, followed by the Epcot resorts. -Julie

Are we each adding a question to the end? Is that what's happening? That's what I did at least. Age: 27 Middle Name: Michelle Pet Peeve: People who don't repeat their entire thought when you ask them to repeat what they said. For example = "Are you going to the mall today?" "I'm sorry, what?" "The mall." Grrrrr. Color of your bathroom: Yellow Best Movie of ALL time: Original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Best Song of ALL time: One by U2 Best TV Shows: Ed, Scrubs, Seinfeld Favorite Band/Artist: Barenaked Ladies Favorite Ride at Disney Parks: TTA, Spaceship Earth, Sun Wheel Yummiest Ice Cream: Peppermint Patty If you could eat lunch with one person, who would it be: Walt Disney Morning Person or Night Person: Night person Pets: Two cats, Raven and Kumba Favorite Color: Yellow Where you would go for fun (not an amusement park): On a road trip Coke or Pepsi: Coke only Opinion about Peanut Butter and Jelly: It's alright Best Vacation Spot: WDW! Cook or Go Out: Preferably go out, but I'm cheap, so I usually cook in Beach, Desert, or Mountains: Ugh, mountains I guess Favorite coaster: S:RoS SFNE Favorite videogame: Sims or RCT Favorite boardgame: Monopoly, Scrabble or Cranium Favorite book: Walt Disney: An American Original Favorite magazine: Marie Claire is the only one I subscribe to Non Coaster Pastimes: Traveling, photography, scrapbooking Wishes: I wish I could either win the lottery or marry a rich man Films I'm looking forward to : Spiderman 3 Favourite inversion: Zero-G Roll Favourite ride (non-rollercoaster): Chance Chaos Favourite type of car: My '88 Corsica! Favorite food: Cheesy garlic bread -Julie

From the posting rules thread... -Julie

Remind me to smack you when I meet you in person!!! hahaha -Julie

*growl* Sideboob!

What about a Skycoaster? Might be difficult if you don't live near one. One other thing I can think about with freedom would be a natural background (mountains, ocean, whatever) with a close up of a man's hand with an unbuttoned shirt sleeve, holding a tie. That's like freedom from responsibility or conformity. You could also use an amusement park background! -Julie

Your party was so much nicer than my WDWCP graduation!! Mine was just at the "pavilion" at Vista Way! I'm really glad that you enjoyed your time there...even seven years later, I still regard my time there as the best time of my life. It's an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world! -Julie (who is SO JEALOUS of the pics with graduation Mickey and Minnie!!)

My Algebra 2 teacher wasn't bad to look at at all! Mr. Meiere...I've definitely seen worse!

My parents have the same one too! Same material at least! -Julie

I thought I'd contribute a few more to this thread since I only responded with two earlier. -Julie Deiced Sunrise And for something a little bit lighter. Wow, I love this photo. A doorway in the Alcazar Real - Sevilla, Spain Catedral Real - Sevilla, Spain The Court of the Lions in the Alhambra - Granada, Spain. This photo won 2nd place in black and white architecture photography in the state fair last year.