Orphans on Stage

On Friday night I went to see a play at the Huntington Beach Playhouse. I won tickets to see a production of "To Be Announced" at the volunteer luncheon a couple of months earlier.

The play was Annie. It seems everyone loves the story of this lovable orphan. I must say that previous to the play this was not the case with me. In the inset you will learn why I have always had it in for little orphan Annie.

It started on the last day of fourth grade. The teachers did not have the normal curriculum planned to the end of the day. Instead, the teachers had all three classes of fourth graders move into one classroom and we started watching the movie Annie.

About half an hour into the movie, my class was told to leave and go to gym, which is what we usually had at that time of day. However, the other two classes were allowed to stay and watch the movie instead of going to their normal music or art classes.

I was upset, why did my class have to go to the last hour of class for the year and the other two could just sit there and watch a movie? Gym that day was boring, and when it finished we went back upstairs and had to go back to the room and move our chairs out. When we did this, the movie was still going on and the other students were still watching. It looked like the end; all the characters were very happy and they were having a party. The characters had a great great adventure and most of the other students watched it, but I had to go to gym class instead. Ever since that day, I have had negative feelings toward Annie.

While I was not feeling 100% after my trip (more on that in a future post "The Grand Expedition"), I realized I could not remember the last live theater performance I went to (then I remembered I watched KA the night before).

I went to the theater and took my seat. I started talking to the couple next to me and discovered they had won tickets the same way I did. Eventually I learned the ninety year old gentleman had participated in the invasions of North Africa, Italy, and the Philippians. It was a good thing I spent countless hours watching the History Channel a decade ago, or else I would have no idea what he was talking about.

This was not just any performance of Annie, it was opening night. Based upon my experience, few things are as exciting as the opening night of a production you have spent the last couple of weeks preparing for. I could feel excitement in the air. As I have mentioned before, I have a background in theater. In fact, I was involved with stage crew for six different productions at that very theater. Sitting in the audience watching the performance brought back a lot of good memories.

I enjoyed the play. You can find more information about the play at hbph.com under the Now Playing section. It runs until July 25th and you should check it out if you are around.

A Wrap on the Classes

The two programing classes I took at UCI Extension have ended. On Sunday I submitted the final for my MATLAB class. The C in Embedded Systems class finished up a few weeks before that.

There are a few differences between the classes. For the C one, the instructor did not have any graded work for the class, any tests, and the only three assignments did not have to be submitted or posted. In contrast, the MATLAB one had 7 weekly assignments, a final project, and a final exam. The different standards of accountability had a direct connection to my level of learning. I did not learn very much about C, but I have learned more about MATLAB than any other computer language I have studied for that length of time.

The final for MATLAB was on the same level of difficulty as the weekly assignments. In keeping with the instructor's pattern of not proofreading, it said Fall 2007 in 24 pt font at the head of the document. I don't understand how the instructor does this. It looks like I spend more time reviewing one of my posts on this blog than he does reviewing an assignment he is being paid to produce.

The grades are in

The C programming class was for credit/no credit and I received my credit.

The grade for my project was posted first, 85%. There were no comments, just a grade. The final exam had a grade of 90%. The one comment for it provided me with a line of code that would plot a Fast Fourier Transform. My answer did not have that specific line of code because I was never asked to plot anything. The problem paraphrased was: Take the FFT of a vector and apply the inverse FFT to show you get the original vector again. After transforming the vector, I wrote a line of code that compared the original vector to its ifft. Since it returned an array of 1s, the comparison was true. However, my efforts for the problem did not merit even 1 out of 10 points.

In the assignments and the final, I graphed a lot of problems I was not explicitly asked to graph. There was no doubt about my ability to use graphs. I was agitated about this because I computed my final grade for the class to be 87.5%. With even half credit for the FFT problem I would have 90% for the class. When the grade was officially posted I got an A for the class. My agitation abated.

The next class in the program will not be until the fall quarter.

The Land and The World

As a continuation talking about my trip to Florida, I will recount some of the four days I spent at Walt Disney World. Since most of you have been to Disneyland, I will draw parallels between the two.

By its size and infrastructure, Disney World makes Disneyland look like an amateur project. Disney World is four different parks: the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and the Animal Kingdom. Disneyland is only the Magic Kingdom and California Adventure. Disney World is a huge Disney owned complex. In addition to the parks, there are hotels, water parks, a Downtown Disney area, and large amounts of trees, lakes, and space between everything. One of Walt's disappointments about Disneyland was the cheap shops that sprung up around his park, so Disney World has a lot of empty space around it. Now I will compare a few points directly.

Indiana Jones- The World does not have a ride like the one at Disneyland. Instead Hollywood Studios has a good show where they demonstrate a lot of the stunts for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Magic Kingdom- The Magic Kingdom is a copy of the one in Disneyland. It is more spaced out so they can put extra rides or sit down restaurants in between places. A few rides are missing and a few other ones are added. Instead of having a New Orleans Square they have a Liberty Square.

Animal Kingdom- This is a combination of a zoo and an amusement park. If you go there you must go on the Expedition Everest ride. Go on it right away or get a Fastpass. The idea is you are going up Mount Everest to look for the Yeti. The line is a climbing preparation area and museum of Yeti lore. The roller coaster starts with a long climb up the mountain and a great view of the surrounding area for miles around. Then instead of a scary drop the track in front of you ends. Just as you are wondering what the heck will happen next, you start rolling backwards and have no idea where you are going. This ride redeems Disney World for not having the Matterhorn.

Space Mountain- In Anaheim, this has riders sit in pairs, while in Florida people sit in seats one behind the other. I did not like the Florida one as much. There were almost no projections of stars or galaxies and no musical soundtrack to give a feeling during the ride. Some things might have been broken, as later in the day I took a PeopleMover like ride through the mountain and the lights were on and the ride was stopped.

Splash Mountain- There were seating changes with single line vs. pairs except they were reversed from Space Mountain. This time I have pictures to explain. First is the Disney World Splash Mountain. There are four pairs of seats with my cousins Zip and Fred in the front and Uncle Paul in the back. I wanted to do something that showed I was not afraid and holding my hands up was the best pose I could think of.

This is contrasted with the Disneyland version where there are six seats in a single row. Pictured front to back are Larry, Terrance, my Associate, me, and a random person we did not know. We are doing a left hand salute in honor of our friends who were not there.

If you want to know more than you ever wanted to know about the parks and their characteristics, the Unnamed Geniuses have many articles about the parks and their attractions. I spent a couple of hours reading about different things.

Star Tours- This was in Hollywood Studios. Like other attractions including the Haunted Mansion, it is a shot for shot reproduction of the one in Disneyland. The only differences were minor changes in the waiting area.

I have been on Star Tours many times, maybe even too many times if that is possible. However, this makes it fun because I can point out little things to the people I am with. For example, if you look up at the small screen with R2 on the right at the end you can see the Death Star explode behind the Starspeeder. Also, the droid who is piloting, Rex, has a red ribbon on him that says "Remove before flight." I am very pleased they have not changed Star Tours to represent the atrocious movies that were recently made. However, that may not last. They will be closing Star Tours this summer and redoing it.

Some Disney World only Things

I already mentioned the Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom), but these other rides deserve special mention:

• Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (Hollywood Studios)- This coaster runs inside and is in the dark. The idea is you are going to an Aerosmith concert through LA freeways. I would yell out things like "It's the 5," "The 101," or "It's Randy's Donuts" based on the signs in the ride but I don't think anyone got what I was referring to. In keeping with an authentic feel for Southern California freeways, the ride goes from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds and has two roll-overs and a corkscrew.


• Test Track by GM (Epcot)- The closest thing I can compare this to is the Rocket Rods. Riders are in an experimental car that is being tested on a proving ground. It goes over bumpy roads, sharp turns, rapid accelerations and breaking, and one point where it goes over 60 miles an hour.


• Mission: SPACE (Epcot)- This is the best motion simulator ride I have been on. It reminded me of the Shuttle Launch Experience I went on the day before. The simulator simulates a mission to Mars, produces 2.5Gs, and is interactive. Everyone is assigned a role such as commander or engineer and has the job of pushing buttons at certain times to do things such as separate the rocket's first stage or deploy the craft's wings. They had motion sickness bags in easy reach of all the riders.

Disneyland is good because almost everything worth doing can be done in one day. However, Disney World is a massive place that takes four days to go through and rightly deserves being the most visited resort in the world.

Projects, Programs, and Endings

A week ago the project for my MATLAB class was due. To summarize my project:

Given the position and velocity of an object in the atmosphere, determine if it will impact the Earth. If the object will not hit, give its point of closest approach. Find the position and velocity vectors of the object at impact/closest approach. Also determine the time to impact/closest approach and give the type of orbit (circular, rectilinear, elliptical, parabolic, or hyperbolic).

Since I did not finish it before my trips, I spent a lot of time working on it away from home. I did not realize how much I used the home, end, and delete keys as well as the ten key pad on my keyboard at home until I had to use laptop keyboards I had never used before. A couple of times each minute I was reaching for a key that was not where it should be. I did not know my typing and keyboard manipulation had become optimized to use so many keys.

The project was due while I was in Orlando. When I connected all the parts and ran the entire program for the first time there were only a few small problems. There was some degree/radian trouble in some of the equations, an error in my understanding of how matrix elements were numbered, and some variables that needed adjustments because arcsin, and arccos only return values between -180 and 180. The project was due at 11 PM Pacific time, which is 2 AM Eastern. I stayed up and used every minute until it was due. While I would have liked more time to test everything, make the write up longer, and explain more things, I am happy with what I did submit. I still have no idea how to deal with rectilinear paths or why some angles need to be changed.

Imagine you just finished a program that handles orbit trajectories and predicts the impact of objects on the Earth. What would be a fitting thing to do in celebration? I went to the Kennedy Space Center.


The Drive to the Cape

I was an hour drive from Orlando to Cape Canaveral. It was easy to get to, as I took Florida route 528. However there were toll booths, five different ones I had to pay at while traveling less than 60 miles.

It cost $26 to enter the Kennedy Space Center. While this is expensive, it included a lot. There were bus tours to different areas, such as the launch area, International Space Station Center, and an Apollo/Saturn V Center. Also included was the IMAX movie Hubble 3D, the exhibit galleries, a show, and a shuttle launch simulator.

As my brother and I arrived late in the day, we could not go on any of the bus tours. However, if you ever find yourself in the area you must take the bus to see the Saturn V rocket.

I will began this picture tour with a view of the rocket garden.

The picture below has the two rockets Atlas and Redstone (left to right) used for the manned Mercury flights. In the foreground a model of one of the capsules is visible. When I climbed inside I discovered I would have never made it as a Mercury astronaut; I am too tall.

The red towers on top of the rockets are escape towers. If there was a problem with the main rocket during launch a small rocket on top of the tower would fire and lift the capsule with the astronaut away from the massive explosion.

Returning to the model capsules, the Gemini cone (not pictured) could fit me but it would be difficult to imagine sitting in one of them for two weeks working with someone. Below is a Saturn 1B rocket with an Apollo crew compartment in front. The pictured rocket is enough to get to low Earth orbit. However, if you want to make it to the Moon it will not due. You need something bigger, over twice the length.

Spaceflight is a dangerous thing. The Space Mirror Memorial below has the names of all the Americans who died while training for, in transit to, or returning from space. More information about the memorial and the Astronauts Memorial Foundation which manages it are available online.

In the Early Spaceflight section, they have the control room used for some launches in the early 60s.

You can get your picture taken as if you are cruising around the moon like my brother.

One of the included things was the Shuttle Launch Experience. This was a motion simulator with extra effects that recreates the experience of lifting off in a space shuttle. A video explains how they strived for accuracy in creating the simulation and gives a timeline of what will happen when. As soon as the simulator starts, it is rotated to be 90 degrees up as if the shuttle were about to blast off. There were loud noises, vibrations, and a feeling of g forces. It was great.

Below are pictures of a replica of a space shuttle along with solid rocket boosters and the main fuel tank used to launch it.



There is one last picture I will leave with you. I found this between the IMAX theater and the Space Mirror.

I did not know there were alligators there until I saw this sign. After I observed an alligator chilling out in the water the three foot fence made sense.

One Week, Two Week, Red Week, Blue Week

The last two weeks had more interesting things in them than the previous two months. I will be spacing my comments out over a few different posts.

Earlier I elaborated on my trip north to Berkeley and the connected Bay Area. Yesterday I got back from an eight day family reunion in Orlando. I saw my Grandma, Grandpa, aunt, uncle, and cousin from Western New York. I saw my uncle and two cousins who live in Sweden. There was my cousin and her two children (my cousins once removed) from Indiana. I even saw my great aunt who lives in Florida.

I went to Disney World for four days. Some of my relatives went to Universal Studios or Sea World, but I have been to the Southern California versions of both of them and was not interested enough to see them down there. I made a fifty mile drive to another place, but that will be revealed in a future post.

I visited Disney World once before when I was eight. I do not remember many details, except I had a lot of fun. A few things did come back to me when I was walking around. I had flashbacks when I was in line for Space Mountain and walking into The Lands area in Epcot. I even remembered the elevator that broke while I was in it. I remembered a couple of the theaters I was in such as the American Experience theater and the circle vision movie of China though I do not remember the content of the shows. I will be making a separate post talking about some of the differences between Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

The Red Week from the title is from me being in Orlando when they were celebrating Gay Days. A lot of people wore red shirts when I went to the Magic Kingdom and there were signs around the city. The Blue Week is from my aforementioned trip to the blue and gold of Bear territory.

Now a few general comments about Florida and their Orange County. The weather was hotter and the humidity was ridiculous. It would suddenly start raining and stop a few minutes later. They charged people for the privilege of driving on their roads to visit their tourist attractions. There were two toll booths on the one road between the place I was staying and the airport 15 miles away.

One Trip and a Couple of Dozen People

Yesterday I arrived home after a several day trip to the Bay Area.

On the drive up I took the 405 North, the 5 North, the 152 West, the 101 North, then the 84 West to drink at the Dutch Goose with Rohit. I enjoyed the Anchor Steam Beer while Mr. Joy had Blue Moon and the deviled eggs were sampled. After I got back to the 101, I took the 92 across the San Mateo Bridge to the 880 North to my hotel in Emeryville.

On Saturday I drove into San Francisco and saw my Associate and Linda. We ate deep dish pizza at a place close to their apartment and then watched the movie Deep Rising.

On Sunday I saw many people from church. There was a BBQ at Newman to celebrate Fr. Charlie's return from Tennessee for a couple of days. The people I saw and talked to included Fr. Al, Fr. Charlie, Sidney, Fr. Bill, Dwight, John, Anthony, Amanda, Tiffany, Juliette, Robert, Eddy, Carson, Lisa, Matt, Filip, Eric, Monica, Sean, Kim, Melissa, Shauna, Elizabeth, Joe, Joanne, and Matt. It was a great experience for everyone involved.

The next day I met people at Raleigh's (which is Raleigh's again) and Henry's before driving into the city to Ghirardelli Square. I ran into Chris who was in Oregon the previous day broadcasting a game on the radio.

In the sad column I learned Sufficient Grounds closed :(

On the trip back I took the 880 South to the 237 West to run into Rohit again before going down the 101 to meet Derek at the Santa Barbara Brewing Company. Even though I had been to the area a couple of times before, I still managed to make many mistakes getting there. After an unintended detour onto the 154, I made my way back down the 101 to the 405 to get home. The entire trip was 1033.8 miles.