Great article in the LA Times¹ about the lengths that workers at Disney Parks go to in making sure that every part of the park is cleaned up and/or repaired each night. It’s an attention to detail that helped attendance rise 8% last year in a bad economy, while other parks suffered. It’s a great read, and it’s good to see a company that cares about doing the little things right. And then, there’s this:

Years ago — no one seems to know when — feral cats began to sneak into the park, living among the park’s trees and shrubs during the day. At night, they venture out, and an estimated 200 cats now prowl through Disneyland and neighboring California Adventure Park.

But instead of evicting the cats, Disneyland’s animal wranglers work to control the feline population by spaying and neutering the adult cats and finding homes for all kittens born in the resort. The cats eat at five permanent feeding stations installed throughout the two parks.

“We are not trying to get rid of them,” said Gina Mayberry, manager of Disneyland’s Circle D ranch, where the park’s animals are housed. “They keep the rodent population down.”

Is that not totally Disney? During the day, hundreds of cats sleep in the park, unnoticed. At night, they come out and help with the cleanup. Awesome.

“Does anyone here have a laptop with wi-fi?” (It was then that I developed my drinking problem. *Throws drink over shoulder.*)

Interesting blog post making the rounds on Teh Interwebz recently. Apparently some pilots in Newark, having been all jammed up due to weather, put out a call to the cabin for anyone with internet access. A willing passenger obliged, and the pilots used his laptop (although they needed help) to look at weather and file a flight plan to get them off the ground more quickly.

I don’t suppose this thing is really all that out of the ordinary, and I like that the pilots were this proactive about getting things moving. Still, I’d like to think at least one of my pilots can operate a web browser without assistance.

Your intrepid SP crew took it upon themselves to tackle the Great Minnesota Get Together last week, and I decided to take a low-quality snapshot tour for everyone’s enjoyment. Click on past the jump to see all of the technicolor goodness.

Click on each picture to see a larger version.

A fresh morning of gluttony awaits, and the crowd is sparse enough to move through with ease.

Ya know... as opposed to those houses that just have walls.

I think Minnekabob was wadE's nickname in high school. Right? ...and that's a big stick.

Was there any doubt that we'd visit the Big Fat Bacon stand?

These are all true words. And the bacon was delicious.

Yes, the Exotic Wood Gallery amuses me. Yes, I have the maturity of an eight year old.

Pork chops are but one of many foods that can be found on a stick. If you look closely, you can see that this stand also sells hog-on-a-log.

Yes, that is chocolate covered bacon. Yes, it was delicious.

The crew makes their way towards the SPAM stand... where the line forms behind wadE.

I don't believe anyone sampled the deep fried gator, but I thought it should be noted for posterity.

Best lemonade at the Fair. Note the super-saturation of sugar at the bottom of the tank.

Drew displays his naked pickle on a stick. (From the phrases that sound dirty but actually aren't file.)

Yes, you can buy lake fish on a stick...

...and of course Wade did. And I want a Got Smelt? t-shirt.

They don't use trans fats to make the cheese curds. . . . Because *that's* what worries me about eating them.

If Joe Cool endorses food-on-a-stick, then you know it's good.

Great. They've turned the kiddie tilt-a-whirl into a revolving nightmare.

Proof that your intrepid photographer can't walk and turn off his cell phone at the same time.

Speaking of nightmares. Note the mascot's handler in the background - he's wearing a t-shirt with the mascot's head on it (which is great!)

Why is the italian beef burger named Gizmo?

Wade is unimpressed by the morons demoing Rock Band (and he was right to be).

Not that I haven't already proven my immaturity, but I was ordered to take this photo.

An unnatural and highly disturbingly large crowd gathers to watch a pitchman sell the ShamWow (as seen on TV!)

The inflatable TC will crush us all! Run!

wadE offers Kent Hrbek's life-sized cardboard cutout a beer.

Someday I want to be the guy who holds an arrow pointing to the semi-famous person.

Finally, with the afternoon crowds starting to pack in a bit tighter, we exit.

Each year my family makes an annual pilgrimage to New York to visit my in-laws. I say “my family” because this includes travelling with our dogs, Luna and Solei.

I dread this trip each year, not because of the in-laws, because of travelling with the dogs. Luna and Solei do not travel well. Since they are small dogs they can travel with us in the airplane cabin, in a carrier, under the seat in front of us. Like most dogs, they do not like to be confined. Solei doesn’t tolerate it well, she gets antsy and moves around a lot, and has been known to cry loudly. This is nothing compared to Luna who we believe was not treated very well for the first 8 weeks of her life at the puppy mill. Luna has managed to escape 3 separate times from her carrier. One of those times she actually ate her way around the lock on carrier and hopped out. Last year we worked with our vet to find a drug cocktail that would “take the edge off” for the trip. On the flight out we didn’t give them quite enough. On the flight back we had a lovely 4 hour delay on the ground in LaGuardia. So the drowsy effects wore off long before we boarded the plane. This year we were more successful with only a one hour delay (on the plane no less) at MSP, and a half-hour of circling JFK. Solei slept most of the way and Luna was… well, Luna. But a better behaved version who only bit me once (which is not a normal part of her personality).

But I digress. Coming to New York for the holidays is always an experience larger than life. The personalities, the packed schedule, the food, the drink. During my first 4 days here we had chinese food from the venerable King House, dinner and drinks in Greenwich Villiage, lunch in Princeton (New Jersey), interactive murder mystery dinner theatre in Philadelphia, a fantastic Italian seafood dinner in northern New Jersey, and a family first birthday party.

These first few days consisted of 300 miles of driving, more than 50 bucks in tolls, trips on the LIRR and New York Subway, about 35,000 calories, hearing “fuck” 476 times, hating the Jersey Turnpike, hating the traffic in Philly on a Friday night (2 hours to go 30 miles), kicking the keg at a first birthday party, many Dunkin Donuts, and proof that my iron constitution is finally getting some rust on it.

And we haven’t even hit Thanksgiving yet!

Thanksgiving will consist of equal amounts of human and dogs in the house (seven of each). But expect a full report on that after the weekend.

With that being said, I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and give thanks for the wonderful things in your life.