Quick Links
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Aug 05, 2007 08:38 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Aug 05, 2007 08:38 AM
Aunt Holly, and the LA Zoo
Houseguest for a few weeks... the
zoo... and Harry Potter...
Hsuan's sister Holly has been visiting for the
past few weeks and staying with us for most of that time. The boys enjoyed
having her around. Today was her last day with us before going on (another)
vacation in Hawaii with Martin (and her
in-laws?).
William also enjoyed climbing Auntie Holly and being held upside down...
-----
We also visited the LA Zoo for the first time in quite a while.
The first stop, as always, was the petting zoo.
We also visited a special "Spider City" exhibit, which replaced a long-running dinosaur exhibit. Apart from the little display above and some educational, interactive exhibits, the Spider City had mostly the usual glass terrarium displays with assorted scary spiders and tarantulas on display.
One thing that struck me: As usual, there were a few display cases purporting to show some deadly spider or other, with the spider nowhere to be seen. Was the spider hiding? Was the spider removed to a separate room for examination by zoo staff?
Or did the spider escape?
We got to the chimpanzees well after their usual hours in their habitat, so we saw them instead in their "chimpanzee penthouse". By the time we got to them, they were lying around on the stairs, making farting noises with their lips.
The day was almost unbearably hot for most of the afternoon... but William and James seemed to enjoy themselves.
-----
Oh, yeah, I actually went out after midnight and bought the latest, and last, Harry Potter book. At first, I drove to the local Barnes and Noble, but it was rather crowded with fans, many of them in costume, and most of them pretty young. There were so many people milling around the aisles that I couldn't figure out where I'd pick up the book, and I didn't feel like braving the denser crowd near the cash registers. I noticed some signs with lettering (e.g. D-E, M-N), which may have indicated pick-up points for people who had reserved their copies.
In the end, I went to the nearby Walmart instead. There was actually one, single, orderly line to the pick-up room at the back, where people walked in a steady stream to pick up their copy -- or often multiple copies -- of the book. The line skewed somewhat older than at Barnes and Noble, with no costumes, and the cash register area flowed very smoothly. Plus, as a bonus, I think Walmart was selling the book about a dollar cheaper than at Barnes and Noble. Plus, I got a few Harry Potter freebies.
All in all, I waited in line for about 10 or 15 minutes, and it looked like supplies of the book weren't constrained. A much easier time than I would have had had I waited in line for an iPhone on its release date.
And like my first night with the iPhone, I stayed up reading for many hours, until exhaustion lowered my eyelids.
William also enjoyed climbing Auntie Holly and being held upside down...
-----
We also visited the LA Zoo for the first time in quite a while.
The first stop, as always, was the petting zoo.
We also visited a special "Spider City" exhibit, which replaced a long-running dinosaur exhibit. Apart from the little display above and some educational, interactive exhibits, the Spider City had mostly the usual glass terrarium displays with assorted scary spiders and tarantulas on display.
One thing that struck me: As usual, there were a few display cases purporting to show some deadly spider or other, with the spider nowhere to be seen. Was the spider hiding? Was the spider removed to a separate room for examination by zoo staff?
Or did the spider escape?
We got to the chimpanzees well after their usual hours in their habitat, so we saw them instead in their "chimpanzee penthouse". By the time we got to them, they were lying around on the stairs, making farting noises with their lips.
The day was almost unbearably hot for most of the afternoon... but William and James seemed to enjoy themselves.
-----
Oh, yeah, I actually went out after midnight and bought the latest, and last, Harry Potter book. At first, I drove to the local Barnes and Noble, but it was rather crowded with fans, many of them in costume, and most of them pretty young. There were so many people milling around the aisles that I couldn't figure out where I'd pick up the book, and I didn't feel like braving the denser crowd near the cash registers. I noticed some signs with lettering (e.g. D-E, M-N), which may have indicated pick-up points for people who had reserved their copies.
In the end, I went to the nearby Walmart instead. There was actually one, single, orderly line to the pick-up room at the back, where people walked in a steady stream to pick up their copy -- or often multiple copies -- of the book. The line skewed somewhat older than at Barnes and Noble, with no costumes, and the cash register area flowed very smoothly. Plus, as a bonus, I think Walmart was selling the book about a dollar cheaper than at Barnes and Noble. Plus, I got a few Harry Potter freebies.
All in all, I waited in line for about 10 or 15 minutes, and it looked like supplies of the book weren't constrained. A much easier time than I would have had had I waited in line for an iPhone on its release date.
And like my first night with the iPhone, I stayed up reading for many hours, until exhaustion lowered my eyelids.
Posted: Sat - July 21, 2007 at 11:50 PM