Let me try to sum up our feelings – we were disappointed and enoyed it at the same time. That’s the parental view. My daughter couldn’t have cared less either way. My son had a pretty good time.

It felt a little too much like we paid $20 a ticket to play with someone else’s Lego collection. I think I expected less “here you go, have at it” and more “look at this, here’s how this works, try this” from things. It seemed like too many of the areas were just “build something here” stations presented in different ways. For instance:

- There were Monochromatic Group Build areas. A neat idea. Tons of 2×4 bricks in one color for you to get creative on – by yourself and with others. Particularly notable creations got placed on pedastals and dispalyed for the duration of the session. Neat enough. Except that there were four of these areas (one pink, one green, one blue and one yellow). On top of that there was a Target-sponsored area that was essentially the same thing with red bricks and the added twist that you were designing a structure for the Target dog (whatever its name is – spot?). So five of the activity areas were building something with one color and one size of brick.

- There were a couple of different areas that were essentially the same ‘free-build’ areas presented under different pemises. Creation Nation took your creation and placed in on a large, blank floor map of the USA, creating a sort of skyline from the things the kids built. The Lego Construction Zone was the same thing, expect instead of a on a map, your creation was placed in one of several glass display cases where it stayed until more room was needed. The Big Brick Pile was just a big-ass pile of legos that kids were climbing on and throwing at each other. A neat idea on paper, but just a bunch of Lego bricks to dick around with in reality. Two large areas were also taken up by Duplo Build Areas where younger kids could fuck around with the oversized baby version of Lego bricks. The Mystery Mural Build let you take a small, numbered tile place colored 1×1′s in a predetermined patter on it and then place it on a big lego wall that, when finished, created a 2D mural of a city skyline with a nod or two to Pittsburgh tossed in. The Race Ramps was more of the same but with wheel pieces. There were some small ramps set up so you could race with friends or family or whatever, but nothing organized. Mostly kids whipping he cars down the ramp to crash and break them.

- The Model Museum and Brickscapes were essentially the same thing – cool Lego creations you could look at and take photos of. The Brickscapes were in glass display cases and often little “Eye Spy” things you could try to find. The Model Museum was just a small collection of those bigger statue-like creations…and even then, it turns out those are hollow with steel skeltons. They also has an “Adult Fans Of Lego” area where bonafide grown-ups were showing off creations. Simultaneously interesting and horrifying.

- Lego Games was exactly what it sounds like – sign up and wait 10 or 15 minutes to play one of the Lego games they sell. Lego Universe? Same thing. Wait in line for 20 minutes and sample the Lego Universe online game. The Video Game Gallery consisted of two (yes two!) kiosks. One had Lego Rock Band 2 set up to try (one game) and the other had three DS units attached running the Ninjago DS game. That’s right. A total of four kids at any given time could be checking out the video games.

- The Lego Retail Store and the Lego Marketplace were exactly what they sound like – chances to spend money. The catch was that the Marketplace had next to nothing beyond what looked like a small collection of the least popular licensed Lego items – watches, bracelets, shirts in odd sizes and a Bissel Brick Sweeper thing. Looked like a non-powered push vaccum to me. The Retail Store had nothing you couldn’t find in any Wal-Mart, Target or Toys R Us…and it had a 20-to-30 minute line the entire time. People were waiting a half hour to buy Lego sets that they can get anywhere.

- There were also some areas with local groups trying to sell you something – Boy Scouts, Radio Stations, Schools, the Pirates, whatever. There were raffles and Legoland info with a Legoland trip giveaway too.

- The best parts (and what I expected more of) were the areas with actual Lego builders interacting with the kids. The Master Builder Academy was a chance to get hands-on with the MBA product (yes, a sell, but…) and have a Master Builder there to answer questions and help out and stuff. The catch was that there was a limited number of classes. We got in line to sign up within 10 minutes of entering, waited 15 minutes and got one of the last spots of the day. The Activity Area also has a Master Builder on hand with various group activities and games going on. It felt a little unstructured, but was fun. There were also supposed to be Master Builders there with live Demonstrations, but we either missed them or they weren’t very prominent (I suspect the latter).

And that was it. The place really started clearing out about halfway through. We left about 45 minute or an hour early and felt like we were stretching to make it that long. As I said, I expected less “here you go, have at it” and more “look at this, here’s how this works, try this” – the Builders are fucking Rock Stars to these kids. There should have been more opportunity to see, hear and talk to them and less piles of Legos lying around for you to dick with presented as something more than Legos lying there to dick with. Set up little clinic areas. Set up a small stage and chairs and let these guys talk to groups all day. Let them give tips, answer questions and get the kids excited about the product and the possibilities. That’s where this thing really missed the boat to us.

With all of that said, I’d still give the experience a positive review. Definitely go and check it out. The price is right and you can blow a few hours surrounded by all things Lego. On the same note, I wouldn’t go again unless I knew there were major changes made. There’d really be no reason to.

Not sure how it’s possible to think of something positively, but also be able to say it was disappointing. Somehow Lego pulled it off.

you are a director

As a DIRECTOR, you combine an unusual openness and passion for beauty and style with confidence and a down-to-earth sensibility that allow you to realize your vision.

You are practical and pay attention to the details that others tend to miss.

By focusing on what is real and concrete, you achieve more than those who always have their heads in the clouds.

When it comes to what really matters in your life, you are confident in your ability to succeed.

Having beautiful things in your life gives you pleasure and satisfaction – you have a keen eye for style.

Even when problems present themselves, deep down you know you will overcome these challenges.

When routines get too familiar, you become bored and start looking for ways to spice things up.

You are open to new types of experiences – you are not afraid to take a risk on something new.

You have a highly developed sense of taste – you know what looks good on you, in your home, and in the world at large.

Your independent streak allows you to make decisions efficiently and to trust your instincts

You are balanced in your approach to problem-solving, not letting your emotions hold you up.

You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

You do your own thing when it comes to clothing, guided more by practical concerns than by other people’s notions of style.

Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

you are cautious

Being independent, practical, and somewhat guarded with others makes you CAUTIOUS.

You tend to keep to yourself, wary of trusting others with personal information.

The values that you hold are central to your identity—you are a very principled person.

You have respect for the natural order of things, and a good sense of right and wrong.

Investigating the world through observation, as opposed to interaction, is preferable to you.

You have an appreciation for those who have attained a certain level of accomplishment, particularly the rare few who have succeeded honestly.

You are efficient—when you work with others, you get down to business, and fulfill your obligations.

You sometimes wish that others would be more like you—less hindered by their emotions, more respectful, and more private.

Not sure why I dig things like this, but I do. This one uses a great slider/grid system for answering.

If they really wanted the added color/flavor, then why not grape? Actually that sounds good. Switch green back to lime and make the blue a purply grape and we’re back in business.

So today my wife runs to grab milk and decides to snag some candy. She got me a threater-sized box of Runts. Not sure how long it’s been since I last had Runts. Probably not all the way back to that last Runts post, but maybe. Who knows? It’s been a while.

I pour some into my hand and immediately spot a big purple oblong oval one. I was pretty sure it wasn’t eggplant, but they’ve made some questionable flavor decisions in the past. I look at the front of the box and right there is a cartoon bunch of grapes. Holy shit! Grape!

They finally had it right…or so I thought. Upon further eating/inspection I figured out that the green ones are no longer lime (or even crappy watermelon), but rather apple flavored. Sigh. Always has to be a weak link.

Let’s get green back to lime and I’ll be ok. I’d rather see a cherry than a strawberry too (or just bring cherry back and go to the 90′s 6-flavor setup), but strawberry is acceptable if all the other flavors are in place.

Wikipedia claims the flavor setup I have is the Chewy Runts lineup.

Still waiting for Banana, Orange, Cherry, Lime, Grape. (and Strawberry if we’re going with 6)

They even have a tool to create your own chart. I’ve been using last.fm since 2007. My top 90 artists looks like this:

New TV – (June 2007)
Cable Box Woes – (July 2007)
TV Service Woes – (September 2008)
TV Service Woes Remedied – (September 2008)
Neither Side Gave In – (October 2008)
Temporarily Disconnected – (January 2009)
I Want My U-Verse, Fuck You Time Warner – (March 2010)
Fuck You U-Verse…no, I still love you – (March 2010)

It all makes for a fun little story if you read them all.

So what does this have to do with anything?

Today I wake up and pop open my e-mail like any other day and there it is…an e-mail from AT&T letting me know that U-Verse is now available at my address. All those months of putting my address into the availability checker and asking them to notify me when available finally paid off. I think I came a little.

Hopefully, I’m not counting my chickens before they’re hatched because God knows with my luck in this area that something is bound to go wrong. But tonight, I’m putting together a package and scheduling an install date.

Giggity!

So when I happened to see he was coming back around this past spring, I snagged some tickets for the whole family. This time we saw him at the Fraze Pavillion. It was out first time there (and we’ve lived here 4 years now) and we were impressed with how nice it was. Bonus that it’s just a few miles down the road. Kinda crazy that we have the Nutter Center (seats about 12,000) and the Fraze Pavillion (seats a little over 4000) both less than 10 miles away. Pretty much any act coming through Dayton stops at one of those two places. I need to make more of an effort to get out and see some live entertainment.

At any rate, Weird Al was as enjoyable as you’d expect. Good stuff. We had seats in the 4th row, but they were a little too far to the side of the stage for my liking. I think I’d have rather sat a few rows back, but more centered. It was a perfect summer evening for an outdoor venue though and that alone made for a nice night.

I just realized while posting this that I didn’t take a single photo. Sorry. You’ll just have to imagine it.

It just felt like the house phone never got used. In the past month there’s been exactly six calls to the house landline and in every case it’s a sales call (for some reason Time Warner started calling recently) or a reminder on an appointment. No one made a single outgoing call. It was like paying for nothing. So I ported the landline number to Verizon and added a line to our plan. This simplifies changing the house number for things like the school, doctors, bank accounts and such. I activated one of our old phones on that line, tossed the phone on the desk and presto! We have what amount to a home line. It’s just that it’s a cell phone with the old house number and it’s just $9.99 a month on Verizon.

So yeah, the future is now. We’re flying free and I feel liberated, man. Liberated.

The wife came home today and handed me a calendar. Not just any calendar, but one full of serveral roller coaster photos. Turns out one of the suits (or rather, skirts, I suppose) at her corporate office deals with Baynum Painting on some professional level. She received one of their 2010 calendars and immediately thought of my wife (they all know we’re coasters dorks – you know, that little coasterimage.com thing I have going on) and passed it on to her and she in turn brought it home to me where I not only looked at it, but then took photos of it to share here and further establish (and document) my decent into the bottom rungs of the social ladder. (I’m pretty sure I’m rubbing sholders with mouth breathers at this point).

It’s not all roller coaster pictures – they do paint other things – but the little tidbits were interesting.

– –
(You can click those for bigger versions, if you’d like.)

Got an email last night from Ticketmaster with a list of upcoming shows in the area and I saw Weird Al was going to be in our neck of the woods – like literally. If you’re not filling the Nutter Center (almost literally a hop, skip and a jump away), the Fraze Pavilion is the place to be and is the second closest place to my home that one can do a show at.

So I logged my ass on this morning and bought four tickets (presale even) to see Weird Al…again.

We went to see Al in 2007. Since then the kids have grown a bit and I turned my daughter onto some of his stuff. This time I’m dragging them all out for a Friday night, 4th of July weekend show…and I’m looking forward to it…

…still from the bottom of the social totem pole.