Travelog (Day 3) – Disneyland And Booze

As it turns out, this morning I decided to visit Disneyland. It was simply great. I missed my boys a lot. I am going to bring them here one day when they are older. I am not going to post any pictures because the last time I posted a picture of me and Wally at the Red Sox – Yankees game in Fenway Park, I had a tough time explaining to my elder son that I was out of the country on work.

I went on quite a few rides at Disneyland. The “Pirates of the Carribean” one was great. But probably the most memorable one (or should I say the least forgettable one) will be the ride on California Screamin’, the second longest roller coaster in the US. I have been on a few roller coasters before but nothing like this one. To begin with, you start the ride by doing a zero to 60 miles per hour in four seconds. Had I known that I would have pressed my head against the head rest. But since nobody bothered to tell me I got some wind knocked off me right at the beginning of the ride. The roller coaster has many twists and turns, some of which are banked at nearly 90 degrees. But the scariest part is the 108 foot drop. After that, whatever bravado left in you, is completely shredded by a 360 degrees inversion (see the Mickey Mouse face in this picture). Basically you go around full circle. At the particular point in time you have no choice other than to let go and leave it up to the Lord (or whoever it is that you pray to). Love it. Cannot wait to do this thing again.

Later in the evening I met with a bunch of SolidWorks bloggers in the lobby of the Hilton and went out to dinner with them to a restaurant called Chubby’s down the road. Here is a picture of us saying grace before meals. Which basically translates to praising the Lord for the wonderful gift of alcohol.

Click image for larger view

From left to right: Alex Ruiz, Ben Eadie, Lou Gallo, Richard Hall, Jason Raak, Rob Rodriguez, Ricky Jordan, myself and Jeff Mirisola. Except for Lou Gallo, this was the first time I was meeting these people.

Later I met up with Roopinder Tara in the Hilton lobby where we did a second round of thanking the Lord for the wonderful gift of alcohol.

SolidWorks World 2010 starts tomorrow. But as you can see the festivities have already begun for a few of us. I believe I have thanked the Lord enough for one day and its time I hit the sack. Good night. I will see you on the other side.