Smart Chess moves - part II

So, I've got one to top the "leaving the chess board on top of the car and driving off" escapade.   I taught the Chess merit badge to the scouts last night, and left the chess board on the passenger seat of the car.  Tonight, I offered to take Bridget out to dinner at Chipotle, and backed out my car so that she could close the garage door and noticed that the chess set was still in the car (The battery in my garage door opener has been dead for months, so I can't use it).  Not wanting to have chess pieces all over the car if the set spilled, I shoved it in the garage as the door was closing, thinking "this is a bad idea".

Well, I didn't lose any chess pieces in the car.  When we got back from Chipotle, I pulled the car in the garage... and ran over the chess set.  Strangely enough, it didn't break... it scattered all over the garage, but didn't break.  After searching diligently, I'm pleased to report that I am now only missing one black pawn... and maybe a white backgammon marker/checker.  I say "maybe" because I have 16 black "checkers" and 15 white.... 15 is the number needed for backgammon, 12  for checkers, so I'm not sure what game 16 is needed for.  I may also be missing a couple of dice, but don't know what I had to begin with.

In even better news,  I've fixed the garage door.  It's had issues going up all the way or down all the way during cold months... started at the end of last winter, but got better during the summer.  It's required a little manual assistance to complete the task.  Readjusting the springs helped a bit, but not quite enough.  Tightening the loose bolts helped a bit too, but again not quite enough.  Tonight, I figured out where the pressure sensor's are for the garage door and adjusted.  Up... no problem; down... no problem.

Disney - Chim Chim Cheroo, Good Luck Will Rub Off..

Being at Disney World with Susie was amazing. The only downside is that we're getting older and it takes us longer in the morning to get to the park (or is that afternoon...) and we're not always staying until the park closes down. We took five days to get through EPCOT, and we still didn't do it all (although we did do some things multiple times).

Susie seems to have amazing luck at restaurants. One night she wanted to eat at the new Mexico restaurant (the one overlooking the lagoon). They had no reservations available, and said to check back for standby seating about a half hour before we wanted to eat. We checked in about 8:20 pm and were told that it would be a 90 minute wait (which I found interesting, because my time guide said that the park closed at 9 pm). Evidently the resort guests had an extra magic hours opportunity and some of the park rides were open until 11 pm. Although we couldn't ride after 9, we could still spend our money. At about 8:50 our beeper went off and we were ushered to a table overlooking the lagoon. We ordered our appetizer and had an unobstructed view to the 9pm fireworks show - not to mention a great meal.

Another night, after the Mickey Dolenz concert, we wandered into Italy to try the new Italian Restaurant located at the far end of the Italy pavilion. There was a line running from a stand outside of the restaurant to a point where the staff came out and cut it off, as they couldn't accomodate all those waiting for a table. (As I look back, I think it might have been a line for an outdoor table). We went into the restaurant to see if, in light of the long line outside, there was any chance of a late reservation for two. We were told that they had an available table NOW. WONDERFUL pizza, great appetizer. The "individual size" pizza would definitely feed two, especially if an appetizer was ordered - and we each had an individual pizza (not knowing better); Susie the white cheese and artichoke; me the tomatoe and mushroom.

A dinner at Teppan Edo went from a lost reservation (we were not on their list, but I had the reservation number - the only time I think I've ever bothered to keep that number handy), to a great meal. When the hostess found the reservation by number, it was handled very smoothly, as if the reservation had never been lost in the first place.

And the last night we went back to the Magic Kingdom for a final look - as we're wandering out of the park the Electric Parade starts up and we end up with front row seats... the best view of the parade ever.

And yes, I was past due for a vacation. I ended up on two conference calls during the course of the 11 days, and was catching up on some security problems the first couple of nights. The thought even crossed my mind at the first Peter Noone concert that he looked an awful lot like my boss - only older.

I got back home worn out. My legs didn't want to move after three hours on the flight home, and I slept all afternoon (guess I'll be up half the night tonight).