The life odometer is about to tick over, and my wife is after me to write something about the weekend, so here it is. We decided to treat the kids to a day at the Six Flags Over Texas theme park in Arlington, Texas this past weekend. To our chagrin, and to no surprise for me at all, the park's rides were closed when we arrived. Why was it of no surprise to me, you ask? You see, for as long as I can remember, every single time my parents took me to Six Flags, it rained. I have many memories of us walking from the car to the gate only to stop for a rain check. Over and over and over again. I began to think that I was a rain-god who could only make it rain by paying a visit to Six Flags in the summer. And so we left the park in search of more children's entertainment. As we approached loop 12 from I-30, I thought to call back to Six Flags to check the status of the rides. The park employee told me that the rides were running. So, we exited and turned back for Arlington. Again, storm clouds started to form, and it looked as if they were on an intercept course with us. Five miles from the park, it began to sprinkle. Not long after that, we could see some of the taller rides from the highway. They were still running, and to my amazement, they were still running when we made our way back to the gate. Whether the old Flores Rain Curse is over or not, I cannot say. But, we were able to enjoy the evening at the park without much incident. We even met up with my niece and her boyfriend. Armed with dramamine, I was able to get on a few of the big rides without blacking out. I even cajoled my 8-yr old into riding the Flashback with me. Boy, did he get cold feet before getting on that thing! I even began to ponder whether it was such a good idea for me to get on that one. I tried to find my wife so that she could pull him out of the line, but she was off with our 6-yr old riding bumper cars. I was feeling pretty awful for putting the kid into so much anguish. He was trying to hold back tears as we lowered the harnesses onto us. Remember: I wasn't feeling very confident at this point, either, and listening to the plaintive wails of my son wasn't helping one bit! "This is gonna hurt," he said, over and over again. The ride began. The cars pulled back up the track. "Relax -- this is supposed to be fun," I said to him. We lurched forward, spinning over one, two, three times? I couldn't tell. The dramamine should have been working. I think that it was. I felt like laughing instead of fainting, so it was okay. "Be strong, be strong, be strong," from the boy. He was doing a good job of coaching himself though this ordeal. The trip backwards began. Once it was complete, I was done for. When the cars returned to the bay, my son and I stumbled out. He was speaking in a normal tone, now. No more whimpering, just commenting without affect. I can't recall what he was saying, because I was thinking only about navigating to a bench for a little rest. When my wife caught up with us, all she could talk about was how white I was. White, after spending the month of June outdoor on movie sets! That ride maxed me out, I said, and had to take it easy for the next forty minutes, or so. Once we were on our way home that night, my son remarked that his favorite ride was the one that had him so petrified -- the Flashback. It was a relief to think that I hadn't scarred the boy for life by taking him on that rollercoaster.

I'm now working at getting crew pics from the movie job posted online. In the interest of keeping the nature of the film confidential, I'll only disclose the location of the images to crew members whose email addys I have, or who write to me to get the URL.

Part of the day yesterday -- I should say a good part of the day was spent on more printer problems. It seems that with the Mac OS 10.3.9 update, I also got a slew of printer issues. My little Epson 870 is constantly losing communication with the G5 to which it is attached via a USB hub. I have no choice but to use hubs, as I have so many USB periphrials. When I delete and then reinstall the printer(s), I have an option of attaching them as EPSON USB, or just plain USB printers. Right now, it's working as a USB printer, but I have once again lost the use of the printer utilities, like nozzle check and so on. It's really becoming a problem unlike any I've ever had before. I remember in the old days of OS X, when people would complain about lack of printer drivers. By the time I was ready to use OS X, it seemed that the problems were solved. Well, now they are back, at least for me. If anyone has some insight into the matter, I'd really appreciate some help...

Actually, it's the Hewitt location that I've been ordered by my wife to blog about, this time. That'll teach me to let her know the location of this blog. Anyhow, my mission, as outlined by my loving, and only occasionally dictatorial wife, is to slam the car wash for the way that they handled the job of cleaning my wife's minivan. The ordeal began at 3pm today, when she was told that the detail job would take 35 minutes. We ran errands, and returned after an hour. The van was not ready. When my wife asked how much longer it would be, she was told, "a while." So, she asked for a better estimate. The cashier went to check for an answer, returned a couple of minutes later, and was again told that it would be "a while". I cannot describe in words what effect this response had on my wife's demeanor. So, I'll skip ahead to our return, another 40 minutes after having left the car wash for the second time. At about 5:15 this evening, we were given back our van. I was not the least bit surprised to learn that my wife was not at all pleased with the condition of the van, or the poor excuse for customer service that she received from the Hewitt Genie Car Wash. Suffice it to say that if my wife isn't happy, my chances of being happy are pretty slim. So, take this, Genie car wash, and your staff of slackers! We're on our way down the interstate highway now to try to do some vacationing near Austin. It's difficult for me to focus on typing, because my wife keeps on pausing to wipe off the windshield or dash while driving 70mph.

UPDATE (8 Nov 2005)
I've recently learned that the Hewitt Genie Car Wash has new management, and is now owned by the same man who owns the one in Waco. I'm told that the shoddy customer service is now a thing of the past, so I thought it prudent to pass that on.