My Disney Rewards Card didn’t work the last time I was at Disneyland, nor the time before that, so I called Bank One to find out why. The Bank One lady said that my attempt to activate the card (by calling the phone number on the little sticker) had failed (even though it never told me it failed), and that’s why it wasn’t accepted. So she activated it manually (supposedly), and she told me it should (yes, should) work next time. I really hope it does, because I feel like a total jerk when I try to use the Rewards Card, and there’s a line of people behind me, and it doesn’t work.

A long time ago, the film compartment door on my camera broke, and I fixed it with some plastic putty stuff (which required very precise molding and sanding). Eventually I got a new camera, though, and the old camera went back in its box.

Last week I was thinking of selling the old camera on eBay, but I decided to find out first if it was possible to replace the film compartment door (so I wouldn’t have to describe the camera’s injury on eBay). I called up Canon, and they informed me that the replacement door would cost a whopping $8.70, including shipping. That’s less than the stupid plastic putty shit.

Next time I feel like a handy-man, someone please remind me about this.

Apparently the red-light cameras used at intersections in Costa Mesa, Irvine, Fullerton, Cerritos, and Long Beach were designed, built, and installed by a company called Nestor. That makes me feel guilty.

If I ever get an iPod, these are the albums from my collection that definitely need to be on it. They’re not necessarily my favorites, but they’re the ones that say “iPod” loud and clear.

Granted, I could also fit the rest of the albums I own on the 40GB iPod, but that’s irrelevant.

I finally finished watching Casablanca a few minutes ago.

Most of the movie was slow yet slightly difficult to follow. It suffered from too much unnecessary set-up; the movie might have been better off without the news-reel-style opening (which seems like it was popular at the time). Also, and more importantly, I found myself disliking characters (both Rick and Ilsa) whom I was pretty sure I was supposed to like. I started to wonder why it was considered a classic. It seemed over-hyped, much like Citizen Kane.

The ending of the movie, however, redeemed its status. It got to the point at which Rick delivers one of his famous lines to Ilsa, “If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it,” and suddenly I realized that I didn’t know the rest of the story. I knew that Rick would say that, but I had no idea what would actually happen. I didn’t know whether Ilsa would get on the plane. I didn’t know what would happen to Rick, or to Victor, or to Captain Renault. Suddenly, the movie became exciting, and I ended up really enjoying it as a result.

Ash and I tried to go to the beach yesterday, but we failed. It was way too crowded, and we didn’t have enough time before her babysitting gig, so we had to turn around and leave Balboa before we even found parking. It sucked. But then last night we went back, and we parked at the end of the Peninsula, and we walked out onto the beach and watched the waves for a while. I really do prefer the beach at night. Mostly because of the parking.

Claire is frustrated and exhausted by her full-time job at the Magic Kingdom. This afternoon, she randomly informed me, “Disney ate my brain!”

Of course, I replied, “It’s prob’ly still hungry then.”

I was emailing back and forth with a friend this morning. The delay was getting annoying, so I typed: “Why don’t you get your ass online [on AIM] so we can talk like normal people?!”

Then I realized how stupid that sounded, so I backspaced and continued emailing.

It really bothers me when a restroom has toilets that automatically flush, but you still have to “push” the faucet to wash your hands. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal to me, but I feel like the two technologies need to go together. If the toilet flushes itself, the faucet should open itself.

I think the reason it bothers me so much is that you don’t just have to push the faucet once; you have to push it several times while washing your hands. Really, I just want to stick my hands under it and have it pour water. They did it for the goddamn toilets, and I’m sure that was equally (if not more) difficult to install.

Naturally, I’d also like automatic hand dryers and automatic soap dispensers, but I’m not partial. Hand dryers may work better, but they also take longer, so I’m fine with paper towels.

Also, I know they exist, but someone is apparently doing a horrible job marketing automatic soap dispensers. I rarely see them.

Why would anyone want to have “Dinner with Shamu”? Like really, if I wanted whale snot on my food, I’d eat sushi.