More Than Perfect

The white-coated chef, who was about to face Bobby Flay, said he would have to bring his A game in order to win the competition.  That statement, taken literally, doesn't make sense. Why would he bring his B game? Would anyone bring their F game?

In another program, one of the competitors said she would have to give 110% to win. She means she will give everything she has plus, somehow, even more. Makes sense. After all, how many people enter a competition to give 85% of their best effort?

Of course these are just phrases that imply we will do our best to win or achieve our goal. But could they also indicate that something less than perfection is never acceptable?  Perhaps when we do our very best, we don't win. Does that mean we are lesser human beings? Does that mean our efforts are worthless?

I just watched another competition in which the loser smiled through his tears saying how much he had grown in his art as a direct result of his efforts to win. I have no doubt he tried his best and gave 110% and brought his A game. I'm sure he will go on to do very well in his chosen field - much like some other losers who gave it all they had at the time - Jennifer Hudson or One Dimension or Backstreet Boys or Miranda Lambert.

Big Moves Equal Big Headaches?

Not long ago, I moved to a new state and a new city. I’ve moved before but always within the same county so avoided many of the issues that confronted me for this relocation.

Changing from the Central to the Eastern time zone seemed like a minor thing and I was not prepared for how much this would affect me. In Illinois, the sun's first light always woke me. In the summer, that meant rising well before 6:00 AM. Now, however, it is still dark at 6:00 AM so, without the alarm, I don’t wake until 7:00 or even 7:30. I gave up trying to watch the local news. I can’t make myself stay awake until 11:00 PM to see it.

Changing one’s address may or may not result in mail being forwarded. I had a post office box for more than 25 years. When I submitted the change of address form, the post office refused to forward the mail saying I was a business and they couldn’t forward business mail.  Oh puleeze. The post office recommends individuals get a box for security reasons but refuses to accept that a person might move. Where is the logic in that?

Also regarding mail, there must be an automated change of address notification process in place because I receive lots of junk mail for companies in Illinois. Frankly, I do not intend to drive 730 miles for an oil change. Yesterday, I received an advertising flyer from my former electricity provider. Of course the company has my new address so it could send the final bill but that should have been the end of it. If it sends flyers to all former residents, imagine the expense. No wonder it needs to raise rates.

I’ve moved several times and each time, something gets left behind or gets lost. From my first apartment to my second, it was a box of books. From my townhouse to my apartment, it was my favorite soup pot. In the flurry of packing and the chaos of moving, I am resigned that something will disappear. The moving gods must be appeased.

No matter where one goes, traffic patterns are different. When and where the rush hour windows occur can be a surprise. Here, after morning rush, traffic is fairly light until about 1:00 PM. Then it doubles or triples, increasing until after evening rush.

Moving out of state adds to the adventure. In addition to finding my way around and locating new grocery stores, the library, and a Starbucks, I bumped into new rules for driving and voting. (More proof that there is nothing united about the United States.)

I’ve been in my new city for four months. I am somewhat settled and can explore for fun rather than out of necessity. There are several museums nearby and many large parks. It was a big move and included some big headaches but now I rarely reach for the ibuprofen.

The film Jackie got me in my gut.

I was too young in 1963 to fully understand or appreciate the events surrounding the Kennedy assassination. When Oswald was shot by Ruby on national television, I knew I wasn't watching a TV drama but it didn't affect me the way it did the adults in my family. When the funeral was televised, I dutifully watched every minute because my parents did and families did things together.  

These memories always come to mind every year on November 23 when we are reminded that a president was assassinated. What doesn't surface very often is the fact that this killing happened to a family; real people lost a husband, father, son, brother.

Most people assume that Jackie grieved. Of course she did. But we had no way of knowing how the shooting affected her because we only saw the public face she stoically wore. Thanks to Noah Oppenheim's script, we get a glimpse of those tortuous four days and I was forced to think about Jackie as a real person. My breath caught in my throat when I thought about how it would feel to have your husband's blood spatter your face and his mangled head lay in your lap. That stained pink suit took on new meaning. Jackie suffered from an unbelievably traumatic event long before any of us had heard of PTSD. 

The movie addresses but doesn't dwell on the politics that surrounded her. It looks at but doesn't focus on the relationship between Jack and Jackie. Instead, it follows her, an individual and separate from her husband. With her, we walk through the dark days after the shooting and begin to see a reason person who laughed, cried, and got seriously angry.  

Granted this is fiction but it is fiction based on fact. Oppenheim did extensive research and used letters Jackie wrote in the year following the assassination as a basis for the story. This is a must-see movie because it provides us with a view of history from a different angle and that is always a good thing. We must never assume we know all there is to know about any subject...as watching Jackie proved.

I haven't posted in quite some time - primarily because family matters have kept me occupied.  On Thanksgiving Day, we have a tradition of listing 10 things for which we are grateful in the current year, not including family or friends.  I decided to share mine and hope you have no trouble compiling your own list.

Mindful that I must be thankful for ALL things, I guess I am thankful for the ugliness exposed by this election.  We need to remember that these differences have existed since the time of the founding fathers. This nation was built on compromise (otherwise the nation's capital would be in New York City, not Washington DC) and it is compromise that has kept us going - in spite of those differences and our constantly changing population. Neither side is completely right or completely wrong. My prayer is that our elected representatives keep that in mind as they do their work - locally and nationally.

I am able to consider retirement options. Many don’t have that luxury.  I won't be able to afford a trip to Europe or buy a vacation home in Florida but I won't be eating dog food either.  

My boss may make me crazy sometimes but I have a job, I don't have a long commute, I generally like the work, and I am paid for what I do.  Very few can say the same.

It may seem like an odd destination but I had a good time in Cincinnati this summer. The city is beautiful and there is plenty to do. It was easy to see why people like it.

We had a very successful garage sale. I was happy to be able to help a friend get rid of so much of her clutter while also getting rid of some of mine.

Three cheers for skilled trades people - the HVAC guy, the electrician, the painter, the plumber & all the others who make our life easier.  Thank goodness not everyone wants to be an accountant or an attorney.

I’ve read some good books this year, including Chernow's biography of Hamilton (which led to the next point on my list). I already have several titles on my to-read list for next year.  And I love movies.  I can’t wait for 2017, which I believe will be better than 2016. The only film of real note this year - Zootopia.

Specifically for 2016 - the soundtrack from Hamilton. The quality and scope of the music was a total surprise.  We can't afford tickets but we borrowed the CDs from a friend.  Otherwise, music in general. I love most genres. There is always something to listen to that matches my mood…or improves it if that’s what I need. 

About 35 years ago, my brother told us 2-inch thick televisions would hang on the wall and we would be able to access any programming we wanted to see.  It took longer than he anticipated but here we are with skinny TVs and video streaming.  I am particularly thankful for Acorn TV. Thanks to its wealth of programming, we didn’t have to suffer through any political commercials or shows.  We always had worthwhile alternatives.

I am so grateful that most people living in the western world, including me, generally live in peace.   While no place is completely safe or strife-free, I cannot image how horrid it would be to live or work in one of the many places in this world where war rages continually.  I am also thankful for those who serve their communities and their nations in an effort to aid and protect.

So that's my list.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my fans and friends in the US and belatedly to those in Canada.  To everyone else - I hope you are able to create a list for yourself, no matter what day it is.

Windows10 Broke My Computer

Did Windows10 take over your computer recently?  Are you one of the millions of victims?   Were you able to escape it successfully or did you end up paying hundreds of dollars to an IT specialist to solve whatever problems that software created?  It seems this affected everyone we know in some way.  And yet, there's been next to no media coverage about it outside the technical world.  Why?  This should be headline news.

Somewhere in the fine print of the user agreement there must be a paragraph that gives Microsoft the right to push unwanted and poorly constructed software on its customers. However, just because it has the right, doesn't mean it should.  Can't Microsoft see that people would be happy to upgrade if the software was worth upgrading to?  So much was written about poor performance and countless difficulties, it's no wonder folks kept saying "no" whenever the pop-up surfaced offering the free upgrade.  Gee Microsoft - didn't that tell you something.

One of the reasons Microsoft gives for forcing Win10 down our throats is privacy concerns. Bull-oney. It just invaded our privacy by downloading Win10 when we repeatedly said we didn’t want it.

We wouldn't bother getting our PC repaired except that the household network was resident on the PC and that is totally screwed up - thanks to Windows10. So we will spend a ton of money, which is not in our budget, getting our PC back to Win7 and then moving the network to the Mac.  We never want to go through this again because there was absolutely nothing "free" about the free upgrade to Win10.

I rarely feel the animosity toward a corporation that I currently feel toward Microsoft. If I had any choice, I would never use one of its products again. If anyone out there decides to file a class action lawsuit to recover the cost of repairs, count me in.

Our Parks are More than Just Green Space

"You are very lucky to live in this country."

We had a block party yesterday and welcomed a couple of new families to our street. I spent some time talking to a lovely woman who, with her family, immigrated here from Ukraine. What she said nearly brought tears to my eyes. It is worth sharing.

She spoke often of how we had taken special, natural places and preseved them. Ukraine has beautiful places but the people have done nothing to keep them open and available for the citizens to enjoy. My neighbor was amazed at all the state and national parks we have. She spoke specifically about Illinois Beach State Park, Devil's Lake in Wisconsin, and Niagara Falls.  The family is already planning trips for next summer.

What else do we have? Blue water. In Ukraine, the water is brown.  Here the water is fresh; there the large bodies of water are salty. We take it for granted; she thinks it is amazing.

We do not appreciate what we have until we see it through another person's eyes. As my new neighbor spoke, I silently thanked all the "tree huggers" who fight so hard to keep the Great Lakes blue and the trees in Devil's Lake State Park green. She admires Americans for taking care of the natural gifts we have. Little does she know how difficult that has been to accomplish. 

No News is Good News?

The holiday season is over and, as I went through our cards one last time, I was struck by how many friends no longer include a letter or even a brief note. Receiving a card indicates friends are still alive and photo cards show how the kids have grown but that's about it.  No news at all.  So I have a message for people who send photo cards or just imprint their names:

Guess what - I am interested in your kids because they are yours but I am friends with you!  What happened to you in 2014?  How's your job? Do you still have a job?  What did you do besides work? Did you take a vacation? Where did you go?  Did you get or lose a pet?  How are your folks?

Want to talk about the kids? OK - how are they really? Do they like school?  Do they still play football or tennis or have they moved on to new interests?  Are they dating?

Friends come and go and the holidays are a time when we realize that distance is not always measured in miles. So I will trust that 2014 was a good year for all those who didn't tell me otherwise and hope that 2015 is even better. 

As for 2015 holiday greeting cards, I will have to ponder whether or not to send them to those who didn't include a note in the 2014 card or otherwise communicate during the year.  Maybe I'll send just an e-card?  That seems fair. What do you think?

Yup. It's the holiday season. I noticed it just after Labor Day and it was in full swing by November 1.  The stores were outfitted in their annual red and green. Television and radio stations started holiday-themed programming. Even Black Friday was moved ahead.  The first ad for it was in July.

There are a number of rants about the loss of the holiday season. Most people, when surveyed, say retailers start too early yet many of us support that by shopping on Thanksgiving and, frankly, our wallets speak much louder than words.

There are conflicting messages this time of year. The media tells us how to cook a turkey and decorate the table while at the same time it encourages us to forsake the meal and go shopping instead. We see stories about sharing and fellowship coupled with headlines about people being fired for trying to honor Thanksgiving.

What does "Christmas creep" say about us as a nation and a society? What are we telling ourselves, our children, and others in the world? That money is more important than family and friends? Our desire for things outweighs our need for togetherness?  The only thing we have to be thankful for is our credit cards? That a roasted bird and some whipped potatoes aren't nearly as much fun as shopping?

I suggest we remove Thanksgiving from the calendar and replace it with a national shopping day.  There would still be no mail delivery and most offices would closed so that people can shop. That would add a full day to the all-important shopping season. Wouldn't that make more sense than the pretense we now have? It would certainly be more honest.

Mourning is a Private Affair

Here's the hard cold fact. Death is a part of life. We will all go somehow at some time.  Loss and grief are also part of life. Try as we might, we can't avoid them either.

Robin Williams died on August 11, 2014, twenty days ago. Since most who did not personally know him have moved on, I thought it would be appropriate now to write about some impressions I had at the time.  I wasn't the only one who considered this.  Amy Webb wrote a piece for Slate.com about it and she got me thinking about my own response to grief and social media.

When the announcement came about Williams' passing, I was immediately struck by how Twitter and Facebook went crazy with postings.Why? What were we sharing? Grief? Or a desire to be involved in a big news event? 

When we post about the loss of a loved one, what do we expect?  Is it fair to assume that everyone will grieve the same way we do? Do we really think that people we have never met care about our loss? Do we have a right to criticize how other people grieve?

Sometimes events should be private. The loss of someone we loved should be one of those times. I never want to rate the appropriateness of my grief by the number of likes on a Facebook posting. There is no possible way that a Facebook friend, who is often a writer or fan I don't know well if at all, can understand how I feel.  They are unique personalities unto themselves with different experiences and cultures. The way they handle loss will be different from the way I do.

A few years ago, my family suffered a great loss at the holiday season. Close friends rallied around. They telephoned, they took me to dinner, and they supported me as I struggled through the emotional jungle. There is no possible way a click or 140 characters can replace the level of caring I found in a crowded restaurant, a miniature Christmas tree, or someone going through bags of clothing with me.

Death is a deeply personal experience. When it enters your life, you will want to, but you won't be able to, whisk your feelings away with a click or a tweet. And if you try to do that, you will be left devoid of comfort. Social media is great for some things. It may make you feel a part of something important. But it's no substitute for holding onto your teddy bear, or your best friend, or your mate and sobbing the pain away.

Fantasy writer Lev Grossman wrote an article for the NY Times (read it here) in which he talked about how becoming a fantasy writer unleashed his creativity. He found his writing voice in the magical world.

Literary critics probably won't acknowledge that even the grandest fiction is, in a way, fantasy fiction. In order to create, writers go to a special spot in their imagination and it is from that place that their stories emerge.Whether writers create a town withering in the recession, send a boat down the Mississippi River, or fill a land with dragons, we mentally live in that world while we write about it.

I write murder mysteries. My heroine, Kyle Shannon, does not have physical form but she is very real to me. As I move her through the story, I fantasize about her. I feel her emotions. I hear her voice. I am aware of her hopes and dreams. What happens to her, happens to me, and then to my readers.

In creating Kyle's world, I examine my own. What she experiences is distilled from what happens around me. The great thing about being a fiction writer is that Kyle isn't bound by the constraints of the real world. She can survive on temp jobs. She can go places I would never go and she can know people I am not likely to meet.

No matter where a story is based or how the hero moves through it, fantasy plays a role. Relationships, wants, and needs form the centerpiece of all plots no matter where the story is set. A woman solving a murder, an explorer on Mars, or boy waving a wand each face a challenge and must somehow overcome it. The genre is where the writer finds a home but all fiction is fantasy and all writers live in a fantasy world.

Great Wall Graffiti Shouts Look at Me

My mother had a saying: Fools names and fools faces always appear in public places. She referred to graffiti. Not the artistic work we see on rail cars or viaducts but the "John loves Sally" or "Sam was here" kind of stuff you find in bathrooms or on historical monuments.

There wasn't so much of it when I was a kid. Now it seems nearly everyone is painting their name onto something.  Why? Do we feel so important that our names deserve to be on the Great Wall of China (read more about that here) or do we feel so ignored that we deface great works of art in order to draw attention to ourselves?  What does scratching our names onto surfaces say about us?  What are we trying to tell others?

The news story about the Chinese reserving a section of the Great Wall for graffiti saddened me. It implies that we are so focused on self that we feel entitled to destroy a centuries-old marvel. The problem exists elsewhere of course. Look at the bridges in Paris that are covered with padlocks, rusting away and destroying the lovely views. Those locks are not an expression of love, which is selfless. They are another form of ego. They say, "Look at us, we're a couple."

Communication is a funny thing. There is more and more of it today than ever and perhaps that's the problem. Does our ability to communicate with the whole world make us feel small and insignificant? Do Facebook, about.me, Twitter, and all the others somehow rob us of our sense of self? 

Let me ponder that while I carve my initials into this rock.

Village Secrecy Creates Angry Citizens

The citizens of a nearby village, we'll call it Anytown, are about to vote on a very hot topic: whether or not to save a crumbling relic that was the original high school. For several years, a committee attempted to raise money to buy it from the school district and rehab it into a community center. They haven't been successful. That should have said something to the committee but it forged on, pushing the village board for support.

A neighboring town broadcasts its board meetings on local cable.  While the discussions are hardly on par with a new episode of NCIS, most citizens are interested in the new businesses that come to town, what the mayor has planned for the 4th of July celebration, and how the budget looks. Citizens feel knowledgeable when they go into the voting booth. They know exactly who stands for what because everything is in the open.

Anytown does not televise its meetings.  The mayor claims there's no money in the budget for it. I suppose those in charge fear what the citizens might hear in an unguarded or heated discussion moment. Certainly if their citizenry had known about any consideration to fund the building rehab, the board would have heard an outcry two years ago. Anytown could have saved itself a lot of expense.

The voters made their position clear when they did not attend the fundraisers or donate to the committee. Low participation was a visible demonstration of the lack of support.  Sometimes silence says more than an entire speech. 

Now Anytown is holding informational meetings and the politicians see how angry the voters are. Apparently the village board members were taken by surprise; something that would not have happened if Anytown broadcast its meetings.  It's all about communication and, in this case, important ears haven't been listening. It could be a costly mistake in more ways than one.  This is an election year.

F You! Profanity in Modern Communication

Swearing - good or bad?  I guess that depends on context, where it occurs, and how often.

How much profanity is too much? Like accents, a little can go a long way.  This technique was demonstrated in the film version of The Hunt for Red October. Two characters spoke Russian for several lines and the viewer read subtitles. Then the dialogue switched: the viewer heard English but knew the two characters were still speaking Russian.  A writer can heavily use profanity initially to demonstrate one aspect of a character and then doesn't need to include it in every sentence thereafter. The reader gets the idea.

We are bombarded with varying forms of communication and differing degrees of swearing within it. Nothing is bleeped in much of social media; there is extensive bleeping in broadcast television. What one country considers unacceptable, another finds perfectly normal. Just watch BBC America and you will see what I mean. 

Profanity use impacts writers on two levels: whether or not it is an acceptable form of expression for the character/situation and whether or not another word would be better. A writing instructor once said that profanity was lazy writing by someone who couldn't be bothered to figure out another way to state the case. I don't know that I totally agree with that but I can think of several instances where the F-word was used and real people in that situation would probably have uttered a different expletive.

I dropped my first "F" bomb in Help Wanted. I did not use it casually and thought long and hard before including it in the dialogue. However, in that situation, for that character, no other word would suffice. None of my fans have objected so I guess it was appropriate.

Another author experienced the opposite. Her book was so heavily peppered with profanity that her editor protested and strongly encouraged her to rethink her approach. After removing many of the profane words, she still occasionally hears objections. 

As communicators, no matter the format, writers must decide what will involve or what will repel a reader. Involved readers will buy our product in the future; repelled ones - probably not. When it comes to profanity, writers walk a tightrope between acceptability and rejection.

Never-Ending Campaigns Are a Bore

Unless you live under a rock, you are aware that New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, has had a tough couple of weeks. The media spends a lot of time on "Bridgegate" analyzing every last nuance of each email and speech. 

Would Christie have received all the attention if pundits had not already anointed him as a presidential candidate? I doubt it. He would have been just another politician with some issues.

I really hate the way we handle election campaigns in this country. For one thing, they never end. Congress runs for reelection every two years. That means that Congress is constantly campaigning. President Obama finished his acceptance speech and one media organization was already talking about candidates for 2016. 

The whole campaign process is like the boy who cried wolf. With every candidate attempting to frighten us into voting for them, any real message is lost in a cacophony of sound bites all telling us that X party candidate will surely bring ruin to the country or the county or the city. The ads are all the same and so is the message. Take any commercial or brochure and substitute one candidate's name for another. No problem, right?  No one is going to say or do anything that isn't viewed as mainstream or popular. Frankly, the whole thing is boring.

Thank goodness for remote controls and recycle bins. The moment a campaign ad appears on the screen or in the mailbox, we can click away from it or throw it away.  Now if there was something we could do to block all those campaign robo calls, we'd be all set.

Dads in the Kitchen: A Changing Culture

Have you seen the commercial in which the little boy has just arrived home from school and chats with his father about his tough day? Dad gives him a bowl of pudding and the child, after learning with astonishment that he has to go back the next day, orders a double.  It's a cute ad but the child's cuteness is not what attracted my attention.  I realized, with some surprise, that it was Dad, not Mom, who welcomed the boy home and it was Dad who served up the afternoon snack.  I presume it was also Dad who made the pudding.

This commercial reflects a reality that is becoming commonplace for a variety of reasons.  During the recession in which thousands of upper level middle managers were laid off, it was often Mom's paycheck that kept the family afloat. Moms earn less as a rule (that's a blog topic in itself) so their salaries are not as much of a drain on the bottom line. In addition, women often do not define themselves by their work. They may enjoy their work immensely and be very good at it, but they often think of themselves first as a mother. If the boss doesn't fear you, he may be less apt to fire you. 

Then there is the simple fact that some men are better cooks and housekeepers than their spouses. They may prefer to stay home and their wives may prefer to work.  Another scenario is that what we see is one half of a same-sex marriage.

Whatever the back story, apparently our culture has altered enough that commercials are finally reflecting what has been commonplace for several years: Dad is serving up the pudding. Regardless of what the writers had in mind when they wrote this particular ad, it's nice to see. Dads are just as important to a kid as moms, regardless of the role they play. I love my mom dearly but this ad makes me wish that I had had the benefit of coming home to my dad once in awhile.

Google Stop Calling Me

The phone rings. It is Google - again.  Good grief.  What part of Do Not Call don't you understand? The frequency of these calls is increasing and I'm tired of it.

Is it really Google computers that telephone our numbers several times per day?  No. The calls claim to be from Google Maps, Google Business, or a similar division and the caller ID says Nashua, New York, Detroit, Michigan or some other city or town. When I see odd places, I now assume it is a Google robocall but I can't ignore it.  It could be a client or a state agency.

These illegal calls are coming from scammers. That's a given. However Google demonstrates a surprising lack of interest because it is not protecting its reputation, its trademark, or its customers. Apparently it doesn't matter to Google whether or not I am annoyed or financially hurt by these calls; otherwise it would do something about them.

I realize that Google cannot directly stop bad people from doing illegal things. Most of these calls are probably not originating in this country.  However, what surprises me is how little has been said in the media about this scam. The only warning I found online in a quick Google search was from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture made in November, 2013.  There is a reference to the problem buried on the Google.com support page but the corporation hasn't really worked to defend itself or its users. Why isn't Google shouting warnings from the rooftops?

The scammers call us because they make money doing it.  If they didn't make money, they would stop calling. It's that simple.

It seems logical to me that Google would make sure we all know it isn't them placing those calls. Then no one would spend money with the crooks and the calls would stop. What is Google saying by not saying anything?

Goodbye Walt Disney World

This will be my last post based on our recent trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. I've had a month to reflect on our experiences. Most of them were good and we are glad we went. However the place we visited in 2013 was quite different from the one we experienced during earlier trips.

What we took away from this trip was that, while portions of it were still wonderful, overall WDW wasn't the magical place we experienced in the past. There are obvious maintenance issues and cast members, stretched to the limit, rarely have time to simply chat with visitors. For the first time ever, I didn't spend much money on extras. There was so little that was unique, we weren't tempted.

In addition to the physical changes in the parks, we realized that we no longer fit into the demographic that Disney is chasing. How do we know? Because there were market research people everywhere but no one asked our opinion about anything. Why? Perhaps because we had no children with us? We were not obviously grooming the next generation of Disney customers?  Even the vacation club salespeople ignored us; a fact that I found fascinating considering we were heavily solicited during our last trip. Obviously we no longer look the part.  Odd considering we have more money now than before.

It's all about communication and this giant corporation said a lot to us in eight days. We got the message. We will cherish the memories of earlier vacations to WDW but this trip was the one where the company told us it no longer wanted us or our money.

Mind you, I am a big Disney fan and that has nothing to do with my name. But the Disney World we loved no longer exists. I accept that. Times change. People and corporations move on. We were a little sad but at least we had the opportunity to say goodbye to an old friend.

Disney Fast Pass+ Too Much Leash?

Disney World is  too big to attack without some kind of plan. We do but we leave ourselves open to adjustments based on weather or crowds. For example, much as we wanted to try Be Our Guest, standing in the hot sun for an hour was not at all appealing so we ate elsewhere. It was quite cool one evening so we went to Downtown Disney and saved Illuminations for another night. However, we did book some meal reservations and Fast Passes before we left home.  A Disney mobile app allowed us to keep track of our schedule so that we arrived at an attraction during our Fast Pass-assigned time window and it reminded us of show times for those we wanted to see. We saw a lot of people glued to their smart phones, trying to decide how to be in two places at one time.

A family standing next to us at Spaceship Earth could see they would not finish the Spaceship Earth ride before their chance evaporated to get Fast Passes for Soarin' . The solution was for Dad to go over to Soarin' and get Fast Passes for the family to use later in the day. However that meant that he would not be riding Spaceship Earth.  His comment was "Why do we have to do everything at a set time? This is the worst vacation ever."

Too many of those reactions and attendance at WDW will drop like a stone. In trying to manage the guests in order to control expenses, Disney has successfully taken all the fun out of the experience.  By forcing the guest to schedule every moment, the company implies that the schedule will guarantee a wonderful vacation. Consequently the guest is dissatisfied or angry when their schedule falls apart.  Disney failed to include fallibility in its calculations. Rides break down, humans make mistakes, weather changes.

There have been numerous blogs and postings on the Fast Pass+ program. We have no issue with Magic Band; ours worked just fine. However, being forced to plan for every ride, every parade, and every meal doesn't sound like a vacation. Our regular lives are controlled by the calendar. Is it a vacation if we have to book everything in advance in order to experience it?

There is no doubt that the corporate plan is to give Fast Pass+ to guests staying at Disney resorts and "outsiders" will have to stand in line. Disney guests will be able to book optimum seating for parades, fireworks and shows. We get that. But heavy-handed control only works for a while. Eventually people rebel.  As we did. By the last two days of our trip, we blew off our Fast Passes and didn't use the mobile app once. We returned to the WDW of our memories and just enjoyed the parks. If a ride was too busy, we went on a different one. If one restaurant couldn't take us, we tried something new. Obviously not everyone will react the same way. If Dad foots the bill and thinks WDW is the worst vacation ever, the family won't be back.

So, Mr. Iger, be careful about what your Fast Pass+ system is telling your customers. Some guests might rebel as we did and simply opt for alternatives. And some guests may pass on WDW altogether. 

A Shout-Out to Richard

One of the things I enjoy while on vacation is talking to the locals. They are usually wonderful sources of information about the area we are visiting. This is particularly true at a Disney property. The cast members are a fascinating bunch. How they came to work for The Mouse, the history of the park or hotel, and what's coming next are all topics that I love to cover.

On our recent trip, I chatted with three cast members who were particularly special or interesting.  My first shout-out is to Richard, the official greeter at the Yacht Club resort. He was so jolly he reminded me a bit of St. Nick. He shared insights about the train and village display in the lobby, how to get rid of red ants, and bits of his personal story. Our second acknowledgement goes to a delightful woman at World of Disney. Sadly, we don't remember her name but she stood outside the store holding a Duffy stuffed toy and advertising a donation program the store was promoting. From her we learned of Disney Springs, a revamp of Downtown Disney we had somehow missed hearing about. Finally there was an interesting man in Hollywood Studios at the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow attraction. He chatted about the rumors of updates to that park, the ebb and flow of the number of guests, and his kids. 

Friendly, pleasant cast members were in the majority but we ran into something new this year: surly, gruff, and irritated employees. While surprised by the overtness of this non-Disney behavior, we realized that what we were seeing was exhaustion. Coming off the Thanksgiving weekend and moving into the holiday season, these cast members were just plain done-in and had been bumped with a stroller one too many times.

We witnessed a lot of communicating while on this trip. We spoke to cast members, they spoke to each other, and the Disney company spoke to all of us. We generally liked what we heard however we couldn't help but feel sad that the corporation had stretched the manpower in the parks so thin that nerves frayed and tempers flared. That communicates so much to employee and guest alike.

Two People, Two Lasting Impressions

Much of our success or failure in communication can be found in first impressions. As much depends on tone, facial expression, and  body language as on the words themselves. We build a reaction to someone or something predicated on the first encounter.  And so it was with our recent vacation.

Due to terrible motion sickness, I don't fly well and I am often a bit rattled on landing. I couldn't wait to get to our hotel to freshen up and get something to eat.

This was our first experience with Disney's Magical Express, the complimentary transportation from the airport to the Walt Disney World resort. The bus driver, we'll call him Sam, was all smiles when we boarded however that disappeared as he contended with heavy holiday traffic and blown schedules. None of his ire was directed as his passengers but it was a surprise that he would be so vocal about his distress.

Upon arrival, a Disney hotel cast member greeted us by name and escorted us into the hotel lobby.  Her smiling face and cheery demeanor were as bright as the Florida sunshine and did much to erase the tense beginning to our vacation.

I sympathize with Sam. Traffic back ups and delays are frustrating. We live in the Chicago area and we always speak about our commutes in terms of time, not distance. We know about bad traffic.  We had a different driver when we left so we didn't see Sam again. We will always wonder if things improved as his day progressed. We certainly hope so. And, although we always looked for her whenever we passed through the lobby, we never saw the hotel greeter again either.

Two people, two impressions.  The manner in which they communicated with us will be with us forever. 

There is no way to know how our clients or customers feel when they encounter us. We don't know what happened to them prior to meeting with us so how we initially communicate with them will impact them in ways we cannot imagine.  Our vacation experience reminded me how important it is to strive to make that first impression a good one.