I guess I’ll leave this on top for a couple of days. Directions and whatnot are down below.
This week has crept up on me. I started my vacation this morning (Wednesday) and while I had to go into one of my stores for a bit it was a quick visit and now I’m done until next Wednesday morning. Too fucking soon if you ask me.
The reason I took my vacation this week is for two reasons. One, the kids are out of school Monday for fall break and the other, the Helen blogmeet. Yep, it’s Blogtoberfest again. Haven’t heard much carrying on about it this year. I’m looking forward to a restful weekend up in the Mountains. Heck, I don’t even know who all’s coming this time.
As in past years we are staying at the Chalet Kristy right on the banks of the Chattahoochee. It’s a blast. Most of the folks roll in Friday evening or Saturday but a couple of us I know will be up there Thursday evening. By about 6pm I should be sipping a frosty beverage at The Troll if anyone wants to get together.
Directions and some phone numbers are under the fold.
In Shelbyville, Tennessee more than half of the plant workers are Muslims. That in itself is no big issue. Other than the fact that they worship a religion that specifically tells them to enslave and kill unbelievers it’s just another crappy religion. The problem lies in the fact that the Union negotiated into their newest contract with Tyson Chicken that in the eight paid holidays workers get off they have to ditch Labor Day, a non-religious holiday for workers and they now get the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr off of work. It only effects union members. Non-union workers still get labor day off with pay.
In addition to the Muslim holiday the Tyson chicken plant in Shelbyville also has a special Muslim prayer room inside. You think their is a chapel for christians or jews? Fuck no. So why should the Muslims be treated any different?
My personal opinion is that Tyson is a chicken business and as such has nothing whatsoever to do with religion and they just need to tell people to take care of their religious bullshit on their own time. I don’t even have a problem with folks taking off special days for their religious beliefs but why the heck should a company have to pay them for their off time? Take a personal day if you want to go pray to some blood-sucking spiritual higher power.
I read a story over at CNN Money last year which tells how some businesses deal with Muslim staff and thought it had some pretty good ideas. It’s kind of a give and take. Tyson should never have signed that contract with the union. Instead, they should allow for the eight paid holidays and leave it up to the individual workers as to which day they want to be off. Their answer is just another way to act like the dumbasses in Britain that are making concessions so as to not rock the boat.
I very much dislike my nephew Junior. At times he is really difficult to handle, but then last week he just disturbed me… I could really use his help talking to someone about luck on the African subcontinent, but then he began yelling:
“No kidding?! I love the African subcontinent so much!“
At first I started bitching “NO WAY!” and then this morning I just ran away all of a sudden. After all, he *is* my nephew and he wants what is best for me…
So after breakfast we caught the bus to Hollywood Studios. The last time we went I don’t think we enjoyed it quite as much as we did this time. The split up more this time. It was almost like two vacations. That way we could do things that each of the girls enjoyed without cramping the other’s style.
Most of the design in Hollywood Studios is modeled after the ’40s and ’50s. The heyday of Hollywood. This old truck sits just inside the gate.
Sometimes they just have to put up with me wanting to take pictures. Considering how shitty my memory is, photos ARE my memories.
The obligatory Mickey hat photo…
One thing that was really funny was that when we got to the area where the kids get to meet Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable Pete had no interest whatsoever but RePete wanted her picture taken. What happens when they get there? Just the opposite. Repete wouldn’t go near them. I think she was expecting cartoon people to come out because when she saw them she hid behind me 🙂
I’m pretty beat, so I will be sure to post more photos tomorrow…
More Disney photos. Just what you wanted on a Monday afternoon…
🙂
Sunday we decided to go to Hollywood Studios. First we had to have breakfast. I had made reservations for the Ohana Friends breakfast there at the Polynesian Resort. It’s ‘family style’ which is sort of like a buffet all you can eat, except that they bring it to the table for you. It’s also a character breakfast. While we ate, several of them stopped by so the girls could get their autographs and pictures taken with them.
During our first visit as a family to Disney back in 2005 we seemed to run into Stitch several times. He was inside a remote control trash can that Pete got into an argument with. It was one of those ‘had to be there’ moments but it was pretty damned funny.
So do you think they were happy to be there?
Clearly I had not had enough coffee. Damn, and I need some of that hair die for men as well. I didn’t realize just how gray I was getting. That’s fucked up for someone as young as I am to be going gray already.
I was going to post more about the day but that’s enough photos. I will post about Hollywood Studios tomorrow.
Saturday was our third day at the park. After having stayed up pretty late the night before we slept in a bit. Besides going to the Animal Kingdom today we also had the Pirates and Princess party to attend that evening. I honestly don’t remember where we ate that morning, now that it’s been almost a month. Had we eaten at one of the character breakfasts I would have taken pictures so we must have eaten there at the Polynesian Resort where we stayed that week. We got kind of a late start to the day.
The girls didn’t particularly enjoy waiting for the bus…
We had a pretty good time at the Animal Kingdom but we cut it a bit short that day and didn’t get to do a whole lot of stuff. Pete and the wife did get to ride on Everest, maybe more than once if I recall and Pete loved it. The wife I think was feeling a bit ill by the time they got off…
While I didn’t get to go on the safari ride there is a walk in the Asia section you can go through and I managed to get a few pictures of the animals there.
These damned bats were hanging around. The fucking things were huge…
I had a hard time getting a shot of this green tree frog in it’s aquarium.
This guy was hanging out taking a nap in the heat…
…and I did manage to get a picture of this Komodo Dragon lying around in the sun.
There is this pretty cool fountain in the Asia section section that all of the kids were playing in cooling down a bit.
It doesn’t matter when or where, RePete is always ready to pose for a photo shoot…
We also rode the Kali River Rapids, which is my favorite ride there. I’m not much into roller coasters and I usually end up hanging with RePete anyway, but water rides I love. It was pretty hot and muggy, so we left the Animal Kingdom around 4pm or so and went back to the hotel to clean up and change after a short nap.
The Pirates and Princess party was at the Magic Kingdom and ran from 7pm until midnight. You actually had to purchase separate tickets for the event, so it wasn’t crowded in the least. I think we were all pretty tired before we ever even made it to that or we would have had a much better time.
This was taken in front of Cinderella’s Castle late into the evening…
All week long by the time we finally rolled in to the hotel (this time it was after midnight again) the girls passed out…
Sunday we went to Hollywood Studios. I think we all enjoyed it much more than the last time that we went, but I will post some photos from Hollywood Studios next week.
