tiger
The Family And The Tigger – “Here Kitty, Kitty!” – Disney’s Animal Kingdom – January 2012

 

 

flowerNot quite Spring time yet, but very soon, we’ll be treated to sights like these again – June 2013

 

 

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Flipping At The Beach – amazing wave action on the east side of Oahu – Fall 2013

kualoa
Kualoa Ranch is one the heavenliest place I’ve ever been too. Should I go back to Oahu, I’ll make sure to spend more time there.

jurassicpark
Only the set of Jaws would make me happier than a visit at the set of Jurassic Park

Frosh Week. Or How Universities Can Go Fuck Right Off.

Frosh Week is probably my least favourite week of all time.
It’s the most idiotic time of the year.
I don’t understand why so many young students fall for it, you don’t belong more because you participate, you will not fail your semester because you don’t participate, you are a fucking moron for participating though.
Every year, for a full week, downtown Toronto gets invaded by this uninspired bunch of cretins that gather illegally and take over different locations, act like monkeys on acid, scream like children whose Halloween candies have been thrown out after they come home with their loot, run around like young imbeciles as if their brand news Adidas were on fire…

I take solace in the fact that 25% of them will be going home in a few weeks anyway because they miss their mommies or can’t adapt to life in the big city… That thought is the only thing that gets me through that week… Luckily… as of now, it’s officially over for another year. Now all I have to deal with is the next couple of months of people shopping downtown in their pyjamas because apparently college students think that is an acceptable way of dressing in public.

I remember my Frosh Week… I refuse to participate. I thought it was stupid when I was 18 yrs and nothing has changed now that I’m nearing 50. We all had this half-wit shitty things listed for the week and I didn’t show up to any of them… apparently they took attendance as one afternoon, the day we were supposed to wear pyjamas in class, some “seniors” showed up in my I.T. class and started naming names, those like me who had not done anything with them all week. Those named were supposed to then humiliate themselves in front of the class by playing some simpleton games… I got up, gathered my books and started walking away. One bitch said: “Where are you going? You can’t leave!!!” And all I could say in return was: “Watch me”… And I left. I went home for the rest of the day. Now… maybe if more people did that, they would maybe think of stopping the mass annoyance they create and make new recruits believe that this false sense of belonging is normal.

Fuck You Toronto Universities and your fucking traditions.

Rich People Have Problems Too. Poor Rich People!

Part of our trip to Hawaii will be spent at Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa. Needless to say we are VERY excited about it too… Every once in awhile I go online and read people’s review of the hotel. Some love it, some don’t, but everyone agrees it’s expensive. We agree as well, but we are such Dis geeks that we have to at least experience it once. So we rented a room with an elevated pool view and don’t plan on leaving the resort at all for the 2 nights we’ll be there.

Here are unedited excerpts from the most reviews of Aulani on Trip Advisor followed by my immediate thoughts… fucking morons from hell are just put on Earth to amuse me, I swear:

Only thing I didn’t appreciate was when they cleaned our room, they put my 2 kids’ Ukelele box into trash. When I told the manager, immediately she replaced the 2 boxes plus $50.00 credit to my account. Superb customer service.
Boohoo… imagine the maid disposing of garbage, how dare she…

The onsite grocery store needs some work which they appear to be addressing with what looked like some expansion work. There are a couple of other convenience stores just across the street in the mini-mall that worked out fine, and big grocery stores are just down the road in Barber’s Point.
Boohoo… who goes on vacation to do groceries anyway…

We had lunch at their buffet, that was good and tasty, but the grounds at the Aulani was most impressive. Friendly staff, clean hotel and grounds. We did not stay but just by the looks of the outside, we commented to each other that the rooms must be nice
Boohoo… how is that a review of the hotel… “If I went inside I might have thought it was beautiful”…

Great views, friendly Disney service, although not quite on par with other Disney resorts. However, it’s still very new and in a unique setting (not surrounded by tried and true examples of Disney hospitality). The beach was wonderful. We were disappointed that its beach rentals were available to the public.
Boohoo… read more before you travel bitch, the beach belong to all Hawaiians and their visitors, not one beach is private…

When I booked the room I requested a King bed room. On check in, they told us they comp’ed us an upgrade to a garden view. When I went to our garden view room, it was 2 queens. Annoying. I went back to the froont desk and they switched us back to a standard room with a King bed. While I appreciate a free upgrade, why would they upgrade to a different room type??
Boohoo… I’d take the freakin’ upgrade and shut the hell up….

I would like it if they had more umbrellas around the lounge chairs, as the sun can get pretty intense. We were eating lunch by the pool one day and my son and nephew were hiding under towels because the sun was too hot. Since it is mostly families with kids here the majority of people are not here sunbathing, as such, it would be nice to have a bit more shade.
Boohoo, who goes to Hawaii to get away from the sun??? Not Canadians, that’s for sure

Our family of 14 have stayed at this Disney Hotel, Aulani, for 5 times. Each time we are there, it’s like its our first time
Boohoo… you’re too rich…

Had breakfast overlooking ocean one morning and would have been great if the family next to us had kept their children from running between tables and interrupting all. Can’t blame Disney for that, even the waitress felt bad!
Boohoo… put your foot out as they run around, problem solved

To our surprise that night, there were two chocolates on the bed and the room had been “night’ serviced. Along with that was a surprise Mickey/Minnie anniversary photo, a handwritten note from the staff, and a chocolate covered strawberry platter with the Aulani logo. Nice touch…I am sure orchestrated by the greeter in the lobby. While I was thrilled by it, it didn’t quite make up for the hours of waiting
Boohoo… people who hate free stuff… please complain about the abundance of breathing air available now…

The first few days we were at Aulani, I was truly amazed and awe-struck. Further in, I just got bored. We are accustomed to going to Disney World where there is a constant itinerary. I purposefully booked this trip, because I wanted barely any itinerary with relaxation. Nine nights was just too long for our family. Yes, we had a car, and we went to Honolulu, the very end of the West Side, and the North Shore. Still, it was too long. I began resenting the resort with its perfect landscape and very rude tourists. I hate feeling like a chump tourist.
Boohoo… poor rich people

With rates starting at more than $450 for a tiny room without a view, the resort is no longer worth it. The aloha spirit has started to leave this place. My family will take our money elsewhere next year when we go on vacation. Bye-bye, Disney Aulani.
Boohoo… more room for me

There are not enough umbrellas and shaded chairs and we could see people with little kids looking frustrated at the lack of seating or even just a place to put their belongings for the day. On a hot day, the situation is just ridiculous and management is not doing anything about it.
Boohoo… Hawaii, sun, heat… who would’ve thunk they’d all mix together

Why is a kid at 10 considered an adult at Disney resorts? My 10 year old will not eat lobster bisque and what not. She wants kids menu options, I’m fine paying an upgrade price from a kids menu for a bigger portion for her, but I am not fine being told she can not order food from the kids menu at the fancier restaurants because she is 10….that is NOT kid friendly.
Boohoo… Any restaurants at any Disney resort will custom make a dish if you ask

The kids character breakfast was fun, she loved it, the entertainment was cute and fun for her. There were only 3 characters there though, we could use more…at least 5 like the other character dining restaurants at the parks.
Boohoo… greedy Character-Whore

They also ran out of autograph books and we had to use a note pad for signatures. They never stocked up the entire week we were there, not sure what the problem is there….shouldn’t there be autograph books right there for purchase by the restaurant?
Boohoo… But there’s only 3 characters? How many freaking pages do you need, Character-Whore

Our best breakfast was at the AMA AMA, but our worst dinner was at the AMA AMA.
Boohoo… make up your mind… was it the best or the worst!!!

They finally seat us at 9:30 when the restaurant was ready to close, there were hardly anyone even left there…. open view tables everywhere and we get a table in the back. We asked to be moved to the table with a view, since we had waited until 9:30 for this table and he said he could not seat us there because he had no servers for those tables. We asked the servers serve us at those tables instead.. and he rudely replies ‘no they will not do that because that is not their table”…we felt like we were in an “Office Space” sequel… we left and ate a room service pizza.
Boohoo… MMMmmm… pizza… You should’ve called the resort manager regarding the guy’s behaviour…

When we called the resort manager regarding this guys behavior and lack of service the resort manager never even called us back.
Boohoo… Oh!

first of all, very confusing when you drive up to hotel. Refillable mug – can only refill out around pool not in hotel. Beds very hard and uncomfortable….if you have a bad back, don’t stay here.
Boohoo… Ok, thirsty bad drivers with bad backs not welcome, got it.

The casual poolside/lagoonside food shacks don’t open until 11am, which is shortsighted. People are at the pools at 8 am and it is already hot, but you can’t get a smoothie or soda until 11.
Boohoo… God forbid you’d exercise your right to walk back to the hotel to get a smoothie

There is not much there and what is there is not great. When they built that big hotel, what were they thinking?
Boohoo… go to your shack then

Everyone complains about not getting a beach chair, so I was concerned about this. People seriously need to calm down. It is not that hard. You really only need one chair to put your stuff on, because we were so busy. We weren’t sitting. If you are worried about this, I would stop.
Boohoo… wait… scratch that, this is good, someone who speaks my language finally

You Can Safely Leave The Umbrella At Home

That’s what the twat on CP24 said just as we were about to leave home to go take pictures of the air show on Monday afternoon. M’k we said. And we left with our DSLR’s and started our 30 minute walk to the waterfront. We thought Sugar Beach at the bottom of Jarvis would be an excellent viewing spot for us… Half way there, after snapping some really cool pix of Toronto in the fog, we had to run for cover… Torrential downpour happened… All that was going through my head was You Can Safely Leave The Umbrella At Home

After 15 minutes of trying to keep the camera dry with my baseball hat, it finally stopped raining and we resumed our walk… Unfortunately, the air show was delayed by hours and my patience didn’t survive the wait, but I managed to capture a few sights nonetheless:

fograin01
Sugar Beach, restful spot by the lake

fograin02
Ghostly Crane

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Foggy TD Bank

fograin04
Flag Cutting CN Tower in Half

fograin05
Banks In The Mist

fograin06
50 Shades Of Grey CN Tower Edition

fograin07
Water Spray

fograin08
Out Of The Clouds

fograin09
After The Rain

fograin10
Hungry Bird

fograin11
The Only Air Show Pic I Got…

It’s not CP24’s fault if it rained, that’s just life… but for fuck sakes, can’t they really not tell the weather within the next hour??? You Can Safely Leave The Umbrella At Home, she said… I know just where I’d like to put that umbrella right now… and then push the automatic open button…

I’M BAAAAAAAAACK!!!

You didn’t think it was going to be that easy to get rid or me, did you?
Silly rabbits.

Well, thank you hacker fuckers, you managed to caused me a lot of trouble. But then again, you also managed to make me see that the hosting company I was using, ExpressWeb Canada, which I have since renamed ExpressWhoops Canada, was a complete fucking-ridiculous-idiotic-waste-of-human-flesh-staffed office.

Ok, to be honest, they were hosting my site for free, since we once hung with a friend of a friend who originally owned the server before he was bought out by ExpressWhoops Canada, and even after the fact that he was bought, he continued to host this site for free… We asked and asked for invoices so we could pay for the services… but after 5 requests, what’s a boy to do???

Why I think they are useless? Well, my site was hacked, and the hacker fuckers used the newly created emails from my site to start spamming the world, at a rate of tens of thousands of emails… but no one told us that. What happened is one morning, I tried to visit my site and realized that it was down… more than down, it was suspended for overusage… Big head scratching moment for me since I had not been writing much in it lately… A quick email to them was left unanswered for a couple days, that was a normal thing for us to have to wait that long, so we didn’t panic… Then we get a response saying that the site was used to send tens of thousands of emails and were we responsible. We obviously denied that we were responsible and asked what we could do to get the site back… Request ignored… One week later, I sent another email to the support services and it was also ignored… At this point, I have been down for more than two weeks. Another week passes and I send another email… full on ignore… I decided I was going to do that every weekend until someone replied… So 3 weeks and 4 days later, I get an email telling me to accept or deny a comment on my blog… YEH… I’m back… I go in and delete the spam and notice that I’ve had 3 visitors in the last 2 days, so my site had been up but no one had told us… As soon as I told DeadRobot, he was so quick about the whole thing and went and did some interweb magic and backed up all the text files as a precaution. I then started thinking of all the posts I wanted to make and then bam… it’s down again… An email to support service to ask what is going on… this time I get this reply:

Hi Michel,
Your account was suspended a few weeks ago because there were tens and thousands of e-mails being sent out everyday from your account which is in violation of the free service that we have been providing. This has caused our IP address to become blacklisted and untrusted by 3rd party spam traps.
We un-suspended your account about 2 days ago but we once again saw that tens of thousands of e-mails were being sent out. Yesterday, there were 38,000+ e-mails alone. We have therefore had to suspend your account again.
Can you please let us know if these e-mails are intentional and can be stopped? If you do not recognize what these e-mails are, it is possible that your password has been compromised or you are using an insecure mail form on your site that is being used to relay messages.
Please let us know.
Thanks.

I replied saying that I wouldn’t know the first thing about doing something like that, that it was obvious we were hacked and asked what we could do to solve this problem once and for all.

Now, they are the host server. I think that if one of the sites that they host gets hacked, they should be able to do something about it. But I might be wrong… I mean, I honestly don’t really understand what goes on behind all of this… I was taught to use WordPress and that’s about all I can do…

Then, we realized that this was it, my site was completely gone… It was kapoot… it was history… I’ve lost 7 years of blogging, 7 years of memories, 7 years of rants… I’m sorry, but I’m fucking furious about it, it’s kind of killing me a little…

After a few days, I sort of made peace with it. DeadRobot was very supportive and helpful in getting in touch with a new host company outside this area, one we are paying for the service and one that seems a tons more secure.

So there. I’m back.

I might repost some of the videos I’ve worked on. I might repost some of the pictures I still have… but otherwise, it’s a brand new Sharkboy chapter that I’m starting… And yes, there will be more rants…

And yes, chances are I already hate it will continue to fuel the blog…