D23: Princess and the Blog

It was teased during the various post-Stockholders’ Meeting interviews, but now the first post has been thrown up.

The blog I’m talking about is The Princess and the Blog. 

The first installment is an introduction to what is to come in the future.  There doesn’t appear to be a single author but we’ll hear from various people involved in the making of The Princess and the Frog.  Which just so happens to be Disney’s return to hand-drawn animation after a long string of computer generated animated movies.

I was quick to notice that D23 didn’t take the traditional approach to blogging that those of us who read them have come to expect.  They haven’t designated a URL for this blog that one can bookmark or subscribe to an RSS feed so it’s easier to find updates.

Even though they call it a blog, it’s more like an article in their “web magazine” called D23.  I guess if you wanted to be literal about it, it really is a blog because the word is nothing more than a contraction of “weblog”.

I hope, as Disney rolls out future blog “posts” for this movie or launches new ones, they take the approach that the Disney fan’s have grown to expect and give them their own spots on the web that we can bookmark and/or subscribe to.

In the meantime, the content is there for us to enjoy and here is the link:

The Princess and the Blog

Technorati Tags: D23

Grumptastic Links: Waiting for Xiao Hai

For those of you who may only know us via this blog, Enchanted Rose and I are in the process of adopting a child from China.

Unfortunately due to circumstances out of my control, I am not able to give my wife a child.  There are options available to us that involve 3rd party intervention, but after much thought, discussion and crying, we came to the decision that such intervention wasn’t something we were comfortable doing.

We have been discussing the idea of adoption since the day we got married 7 years ago so this wasn’t a decision that came with a lot of argument on either side.

In regards to China, we did a lot of looking around online and started leaning this way already, but it was the glowing recommendation of a well known member of the community that helped us feel really comfortable with the decision to go with China (thank you Kirby).  He also provided us the name of an agency that he had used and liked.  After much Google searching we really couldn’t find a lot of bad press about the agency he suggested (CCAI) so we sent away for some information.

It just so happened that all this was originated with a conversation on Twitter and some time on the internet at a hotel in Ontario, California the night before our flight back to Oklahoma following our excursion to Disneyland in January.

Many people have given us grief for our decision to do an international adoption but there are factors that have led us this way.  The child welfare system in Oklahoma is ranked very poorly and by the time the kids end up in the system they are usually very “damaged” either emotionally, physically or both.

Add to it the extreme difficulty in getting parental rights revoked and the fact that Enchanted Rose works in one of the busier Emergency Departments in the area, which meant she saw these abuses first hand, made it real hard to take on that kind of responsibility.  We have a lot of respect for those who decide to take that on, but we didn’t feel we were ready.

The process is going to take about 3 years to been seen to completion, so there is going to be a lot of stress and frustrations along the way.

Because of that, Enchanted Rose felt she needed a forum to voice the good with the bad.  So, we launched a new blog:  Waiting for Xiao Hai. 

In addition to it being a place to record our thoughts, it’s also the place Enchanted Rose is going to document the process of her Bai Jai Bei quilt (aka 100 Wishes Quilt).  Apparently, it’s a tradition in Chinese culture, to get clothing from friends and family and with that they provide a “wish”.  That clothing is used to make a quilt that is given to the child so that they are always surrounded by love and good wishes.

The concept has been altered to where people provide pieces of fabric that they have chosen and send it with a wish.

Enchanted Rose blasted many of you via e-mail and Facebook about this project that she’s very excited about.  And we have already gotten some lovely pieces of fabric and wishes.

If you weren’t included in our “spamming” of our friends, and would like to help with this wonderful project, please send an e-mail via the link to the left (under the “call me” widget).

BTW, for those of you wondering about the name of the blog……

We have a really good friend who is of Chinese descent and we wanted a nickname for our yet to be matched child because we were tired of just saying our “child from China”.

She told us that Xiao Hai is Mandarin for “little one”, so it is the name we call our child until the day comes that we have been matched.

Grumptastic Links: Announcing TMIP ver 2.0

It isn't uncommon for me to dispense with the accolades of my Jedi Master, Tim Devine, and his works seen over at The Magic in Pixels.  But, this time, I get the proud opportunity to announce something that I played a big part in helping make happen.

Over the past few months, Tim and I have been arduously and painstakingly working on a new and improved The Magic in Pixels site.

This has involved finding a new host, a new platform for the content and Tim painfully rebuilding his photo gallery with new pictures and layout.

In addition to the content overhaul, Tim and I have implemented a brand-new store package.  This, in our opinion, is much more user-friendly than the former store and hope people will take the time to check it out as well.

The thing that makes us excited about the new site, is that the main content is managed through a Content Management System (CMS) rather than the code-in-notepad HTML method Tim was having to deal with before.

Now, with the same ease of my writing this blog post, a new article, review, or Photography tip up can be posted up to the site.

The forums have stayed the same and were moved to the new host as well.

Since rolling out the new site, Tim has managed to produce a couple new articles and we even got a submission from one of our very loyal members.

So, if you've never been to The Magic In Pixels, now is the perfect time to check it out.  If you have been there before and have become the prodigal child, please come back.  We don't bite, I promise. 

Officially, we are declaring this a "Soft Opening" (yeah we used Disney-speak).  So, bugs, quirks, oddities could happen, but aren't expected, as it gets it's first exposure to a normal load of visitors.

In honor of this "Soft Opening", Tim has decided to offer a 20% discount on your entire purchase in his store.  Just use the coupon code:  "SOFTOPEN" (no quotes).  This coupon can be used repeatedly until the promotional period ends.

As I've said on the TMIP forums, The Magic in Pixels may be populated by Disney Photography Enthusiasts, but it's is still a photography site at it's core foundation.  So, if there is anything you want to see discussed or written about, feel free to let us know.  It doesn't have to be a Disney photography related topic to get coverage.

This was a fun and exciting project for me to be involved with because I learned a lot in the process.  Have fun.

Technorati Tags: Tim Devine, The Magic in Pixels, Grumptastic Links

Grumptastic Links: New and Improved

John Frost, owner of The Disney Blog and all around nice guy, has been very kind to link to my posts on several occasions in the past within is Daily Roundup posts.

To repay the favor I have decided to do a quick post to point you his site.  I know many, many of you already read his blog, but you, like myself, may do so via RSS feeds.

That means you are probably totally unaware that he has dumped TypePad and switched to a WordPress blog.  So head on over and see the new & improved blog.

As his blog header now reads, "Keep moving forward" and that is what he seems to be doing with his site.

Love the new look John!

[Editor's Note:  For those keeping track......Yes, that's two posts in one day....haha]

Technorati Tags: Grumptastic Links, The Disney Blog

Grumptastic Links: Now for Something Completely Different

Well, I intended to blog this link to my sister-in-law's blog about her little family because she had a great time with a out-of-the-blue request to go to lunch at Downtown Disney at Disneyland with her mother and her mother's husband (my mother-in-law).

So, if yo want to check out a great post about someone who got a really last minute day trip to Disneyland from the eyes of a local, check out this post.  It's also nice because a good majority of the day was a day of fun and pampering to my niece, Regan, who often happily takes the back-seat to her very sick brother, Collin.  I felt it important to blog this so Regan can get some much deserved attention because she's as much of a Disney fan as your bother:

I love unexpected fun days!

Now for the part of the post that warranted my Monty Python reference.

We all know that Lou Mongello's Dream Team Squad's purpose in life is to try and raise mucho dinero that ultimately goes into the coffers of The Make-A-Wish Foundation in order to send extremely sick kids and their families to Disney.

Well, I don't know if all of you may know but Make-A-Wish does more than just send kids to the Happiest Place on Earth.

I have blogged many times about my nephew Collin who suffers from a very rare and very debilitating genetic disorder.  He already received a gift from Make-A-Wish several years ago, but as my sister-in-law's post indicates that once you are welcomed into the Make-A-Wish family, the gifts keep coming.

Well, Collin and guests got invited to go watch the opening game of the LA Galaxy (you know the soccer team the lured David Beckham to the United States).

Check out the blog post and see what other once-in-a-lifetime events Make-A-Wish does with our donation dollars:

We LOVE LA Galaxy and Make A Wish!!!

I know there is plenty of altruistic motivations to help Pat and her team with the Dream Team Auction at MagicMeets, but I thought I would provide another great perspective of this great organization.

Technorati Tags: Grumptastic Links, Make-A-Wish, Dream Team Auction

Grumptastic Links: A Couple Podcasts for Disney Code Monkeys

So what is a code monkey to listen to when hard at work creating something that isn't distracting, but is conducive to the creative and analytical process? 

To further expand on the question, what do they listen to when they are an avid fan of Disney Theme Parks?

I know there are some people out there who listen to a heck of a lot more podcasts related to Disney than I do (<cough>George</cough>), but most of those that I listen to require a bit of engagement to get the most out of them.

That can prove difficult when you live your life as a code monkey.  It's a job that requires a lot of thinking and concentration when trying to solve difficult problems.

Well, as I was thinking about this post, I came to the conclusion that a couple Podcasts that I listen to really fit into the needs of such a person.

The Window To the Magic Podcast

The Window to the Magic Podcast is hosted by Paul Barrie, Jr. and Patrick Hurd (a fellow Okie and CMO candidate).  Paul has a very soothing voice that blends into the content he's presenting.  I have heard him referred to as the "Mr. Rogers" of Disney Podcasting.  Patrick has a similarly matched radio voice. 

As far as content, Window to the Magic is known for playing park audio that is recorded by Paul using his binaural microphones.  Listening to Window to the Magic while coding gives one the impression that you are sitting in the parks (usually Disneyland).

A new experiment for Window to the Magic is the WTTM 24.  Paul and a cohort both strapped on binaural mics and then wandered Disneyland and everything was recorded.  Then the audio was merged together and cut into episodes.  This version of the podcast must be listened to with headphones to get maximum effect.  In some cases, when the two walking microphones get separated, then audio two separate audio tracks are split to the left and right ears.

Paul also offers additional social interaction on the Twitter network where you can get information before the rest of the world.  Plus, you get to have interesting chats.  If you are lucky you get to hear Paul talk about Twitter and his twitter buddies on his recordings while wandering the parks.

Mouse Lounge Podcast

Gary Chambers puts together another code monkey friendly podcast called the Mouse Lounge Podcast.  Instead of mainly adhering to theme park audio, he seems to cover all kinds of audio.

For example, awhile back he had audio recordings from a special showcase Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel) did at a museum honoring Disney Music.  You got to listen to her signing songs from her various works.

You never know what you are going to get when you listen to Mouse Lounge.

 

I love my Disney podcasts, but sometimes I never get any work done because I have to keep rewinding and re-listening to content to catch something I missed.  Sometimes, you want to be able to just let it play in the background and provide a very Disney-esque background sounds.

I'm sure there are people who may want to slap me from one side of the room to another for the way I use those two podcasts, but I hope that Gary, Paul and Patrick appreciate that their podcasts have an important role in my life.

Technorati Tags: Window to the Magic, Mouse Lounge, Podcasting

Grumptastic Links: WDW Disney Fun for your iPhone

I was pointed to this cool applet for the iPhone via the chat stream in Twitter.  TiggerRay brought this to DizPodDir's attention and thereby my attention.

Granted, I don't have an iPhone, but I know several people in the Disney Community that do and may not know about this.

Here is the link:

Walt Disney World Theme Park Maps

Speaking of Twitter, for those of you on Twitter, my screename is Grumpwurst (in case you want to follow me).  Also, for a pretty good listing of other Disney Twitterers you can go to Josh's Disney Frontier Blog.

Technorati Tags: Grumptastic Links

JP Digital Graphics & Design has struck again.....

As I sit here using Phoenix's free Internet wi-fi and sweating with a fever (I've sweated though 3 layers of clothes), I notice that the mighty paintbrush of Jeff Pepper (of 2719 Hyperion) has whipped out another great logo for the Disney Community.

Go check out Tim Devine's The Magic in Pixels and see his latest piece of gold.  Once again, he's done it without any input from Tim because he was stumped on what he would want.  Jeff has a real intuitiveness when it comes to this stuff.

Tim says it was worth every penny......

You can also check out all his work on display at his other site:  JP Digital Graphics & Design

Technorati Tags: JP Digital Graphics & Design, Jeff Pepper, 2719 Hyperion, Logo, The Magic in Pixels, Tim Devine

Grumptastic Links: Evidence of Matt Hochberg's Dinosaur Adventure

I have been a bad DisFriend :(  But I hope this post will make up for it.....

Lisa Farry (aka Sambycat aka Jennifer's BFF aka Half of Those Darn Cats), has posted on her blog, my life on the WDW d-list, methods by which to see pictures or hear audio of Matt Hochberg's charitable, yet fearful, jaunt on that bone jarring dark ride known as Dinosaur.

So, if you are amongst the many that are scouring the Internet looking for this kind of inside information, then head on over and visit Lisa's site and click the links:

Now it can be told

OK Lisa, sending you some link love

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Link Love, Grumptastic Links