Spent these last two days at Mom’s just relaxing, playing cards, and cruising the internet. I did acquaint myself with Python. Downloaded, installed and tested PyXML.

I finished listing to an audio book about Google. This was really an enjoyable book … once started it is very hard to stop. It’s totally amazing what Google has achieved in just a few short years. I have since gone totally Google, moving to gmail adding Google toolbars to my browsers, and installed the Google desktop. The local search feature is fantastic … seems like everything is now at my fingertips without having to really organize my stuff.

Today we went to Cypress Gardens. While there we toured the remnants of the original gardens, watched a water ski show, toured its minimalist animal exposition, watched some wild alligator’s sun bathing in the rose garden, and toured their new amusement park. We saw a few brave soles free fall for three seconds on a platform caught at the last moment before crashing onto a concrete apron. There are seven other rides, all designed to spin and flip one over until sick. The Ferris wheel was our ride of choice. At it’s panicle it towered over everything in the park.

Entering the park was an experience. We had to pass through metal detectors and have our bags inspected. Only problem … when the metal detector alarm went off you were allowed to pass without further examination. Not sure what they are really checking.

Overall I was disappointed it what the new owners have done with Cypress Gardens. My previous visit was so very different. Then the original owners were in charge; then the entire park was dominated by manicured gardens. It was such a please to meander through its many paths and enjoy the beauty. The original park entrance included some really excellent gift shops and a large fudge factory. The fudge factory had glass walls so you could watch as the fudge was folded and cooled on huge marble tables. There is one thing at the gardens that has not changed and that is the huge Banyan tree. It is over seventy years old. Walking through its many trunks is a most peaceful experience.

Today I discovered that this blog has been identified via fuzzy logic as a potential Spam Blog. It is this designation that prevents “Performancing for Firefox” from working and why I have to type in the contents of a graphic password for every post. I never really questioned why the password was required. Just assumed it was a security thing … that was dumb.

Two lazy days … just visited and played cards with mom, cruised the internet, and read. I am sad to report that Sandy won all games.

The new HP pavilion zd8000 combined with a Verizon broad band access card is working well. This ais more like a desktop, and the internet access is really good. The download rates have been averaging around 140 kbps. which sure beats the previous dialup used during previous visits.

We did go out long enough to pick up a cable, (IEEE 1394/DV cable), to transfer our Christmas video to  the laptop. To my surprise, when I plugged the camera into the laptop, Windows Movie Maker poped up. I found it really easy to upload 120 minutes of video. My only question is about the upload quality. The resulting video file size seems small. Also I noticed some distortion as I played back parts of the video

The creation of this years Christmas DVD will be a good comparative test of the movie making process between Mac and PC. For the last 4 years we used a Macintosh and found the process feature rich and simple.

Christmas was wonderful. Mom fixed a really great breakfast. We then opened our presents. I recorded the entire event on video. Later in the evening I recorded our Christmas dinner an our evening card game. We had a couple of retakes of Mom opening her last present … the tape ended just as the cover came off from this last gift. It was fun restaging the event and getting a surprised reaction. I typically record our family Christmas, and create a DVD production for play as we eat or Christmas dinner the next year. Since we are with Mom this year, I plan on sending copies to Mary (sister) and Tom (brother).

This year I will be creating the DVD on a new HP Pavilion zd8000. My previous DVD productions were done on a Macintosh, so this will really be a new experience with me. My first concern is what software to use. From what I know today, it looks like I will have to purchase something. First though I will Google for details.

Sandy won at cards again tonight. So sad …

Christmas Eve … Sandy and I went to church with Mom. There were some 1100 people in attendance. This was an opportunity for Mom to introduce me to all of her friends and her new pastor, Father Charles. I like him. He gave a very meaningful sermon and seems friendly. Early today Mom received a yellow rose floral arrangement from Father Charles. It was his way of thanking her for her help at the church. She was really surprised and pleased.

Mom opened a few gifts this evening. She wanted to be ready for her early call with Tom (my brother).

Played cards in the evening … Sandy won.

Today is my birthday. Received two very nice gifts. First was a set of glasses with a card design. These will be great for our Friday night card games with Bill & Bev. The second was a Logitech camera for my new laptop. It’s a great little camera … easy to install, works well, and is small for easy transport with the laptop.

Spent most of that day visiting with Mom and cruising the web. Later we played cards, and to my surprise I won. This means I am one game ahead of Sandy in our all time stats. I will enjoy this lead cause it won’t last long … she has a habit of winning this game. It’s only in Florida do I seem to hold my own. Mom made an angle food cake with a special pineapple frosting for my birthday cake. It was wonderful. All in all it was a really nice birthday.

Today we are off to Disney World. We started with Epcot then transferred to the Magic Kingdom then back to Epcot. Access to the parks has changed. They now check all backpacks, camera bags, and other carried items before you even get to the ticket counter. Then, as you go through the entry turnstile, they now have a finger print reader. This new system ties individuals to tickets to prevent lost tickets from being used by their finder. We found that it works when we changed parks. Sandy attempted to enter with my ticket and it refused her entry. Wonder if they do anything else with the data they collect.

We visited all our usual places … plus found a new ride, Soarin. No fast-pass tickets were available, so we waited in line for almost one hour. As we left we noticed the line was even longer. To me it looked like at least 1.5 hours long…

Next we strolled through the world pavilions stopping for perfume and wine in France, Tea in England, and Bratwurst, sauerkraut and beer in Germany. From there we took a boat ride and mono rail trip to the Magic Kingdom. Where we enjoyed the sights and a barbequed turkey leg. The Magic Kingdom was a madhouse … loads of kids. After a short stay we returned to Epcot. Sandy was a little under the weather about 6PM so we called it an early evening and returned home to Mom’s. After a little rest she felt much better. Overall we had a very good time. I think we might plan another trip for next week. While there we did check into the Disney Vacation Plan. I found it very appealing … if time permits we will attend their one hour tour and discussion of the plan.

Today was a lazy day. Spent the day visiting with Mom and enjoyed sampling all her Christmas treats. Of course we played cards till 2 AM. Some how, I managed to squeak out a victory in both games. This allowed me to tie Sandy with 13 wins each.

We did get out of the house for a few minutes to do some chores. The roads here in little Winter Haven, FL were grid locked with holiday shoppers. Seems like many people have moved into the area since we were last here, or maybe it’s just the season and everyone is out shopping. There is a lot of construction her so I suspect its just more people. You have got to wonder why people would move to a hurricane prone area of the country. It must be the beautiful weather.