The Continuing Adventures of Jud

I don't know about others, but I have always found the cost of a Disney Photopass CD to be a bit outrageous. And the photo ops limited and pretty much the same thing over and over- here we are in front of The Castle/The Big Ball/TOL/Hat...

Well! At the moment, and I do not know if this will continue, when you go on the Wild Africa Trek, the price of 129, soon to be 189, includes a Photopass CD filled with shots taken by an accompanying PP photographer! So, you get a more candid and diverse set of images as well as many of the shots of animals that you wish your camera had done a better job on cause the battery for your good camera died on the first bridge and you left you extra battery in the locker at the start... but that is another story.

The point is, on a 129/189 dollar awesome adventure, you get a free 149 dollar PP CD! AND ANYTHING you put on that card or any other card that is active in your PP account at the time is also on the CD.

It even includes free shipping!

Mine will be here within 14 days.

I will be working on my good video once those images arrive. Until then I have posted a link up top there for the 'bad' video I shot with my back up camera.

When I entered the code, it did read as a "promotion" and that is why I question how long this will go on: in what I have read describing the Trek, this seems to be a fixed part of the deal; and if so, that is one heck of a deal!

Just posted a new video- a quick look at the 13 story drop on Disney's Tower of Terror- from the inside!

Enjoy!

:)

Jud

Among all the reports I have read and videos and even the official pages, it seems to me the matter of carrying a camera on this has been a bit unclear- to the extent that one person did not bring his DSLR assuming that it would be too big to put in his pocket. Frankly, I see little point in doing this if you can't shoot it!

The actuality is that any camera that big would be on a strap around your neck anyway and that is permitted and acceptable as 'secure'.

Any smaller 'pocket' sized camera will be clipped by the staff to a long 'string' in the quite sufficiently sized pocket on the vest.

So bring your camera. And when you are told to empty your pockets in the free provided lockers, do not put your extra battery in there... ahem...

Just a tease while I work on the full report.

Had camera troubles which led to near disaster.

This is the 'money shot'!

My near disaster was turned to magic by Operations Manager and attraction co-planner and real "Disney" person, Alex!

...over at my local Publix... that should be Tom Brady on the right, and he should be holding the trophy...

I started today determined to carry on in my efforts to attain decent water pressure for my home.

After doing a bit of research on the net last night, I discovered that the pressure on my pressure switch could be adjusted. I studied the instructions and headed out this morning to adjust mine.

Well, after several tries, I was coming to think that I had not only failed, but had ruined the switch altogether. Desperate, I tried adjusting it while powered and running, and discovered that- contrary to the pictured and described mechanism on the instruction page- the high and low adjustment nuts on mine were reversed!

Furthermore, they were not "ganged" as they are in the instruction example, though each did affect the setting of the other.

So, after many trial and error adjustments, having to run the pump to fill the pressure tank until the pump shut off, and then drain it again by running an ouside faucet until it kicked on again, after about an hour, I did succeed in getting it set as high as I could get it and it is now running at 30-52 psi, as opposed to the previous 20-40 psi. This is significant improvement and a major step forward in the livability of my home!

I just took my first decent shower since I have been here!

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

My water pressure is terrible.

A few months ago, I went to Home Depot and inquired and ended up buying a pressure switch that was rated 40-60 to replace my 20-40. Saturday, I went out to install it. First step was to turn off the pump and drain the pressure tank. Well, when I turned on the spigot to do that, I noticed that the pressure coming out of it was fantastic!

Change of plan.

Between the pressure tank and the line to the house, all new, replaced earlier, is the big water filtration system. Thinking now that this was what was killing my pressure, I decided as I had thought to do many times before, to plumb in a bypass on it.

Finally got out to do that today after having gotten the needed bits of fittings and such on Saturday.

Turned off the pump, drained the tank and started layout and cutting and fitting and then time to glue. Well, seems all my cans of PVC cement had dried up to one degree or another, so back to the store for a new can of cement. Fine.

Got home, glued it all up, everything fit just right, quite satisfied, turned on the pump and waited for the system to refill.

Pump kept going. And going and going... I threw the breaker. Did a few experiments and confirmed that the pump was now not working! Arg! Tried a few things, but nothing changed.

Totally bummed, I faced the fact that I was now going to have to go back to Home Depot and buy a new pump and install it, not a quick thing, and it was now 4:30, and I had barely gotten through the glue up, but no water, had to go on.

Gathered up my tools and put them in the house, got ready, and as I was going out the door, decided to give Home Depot a call. I know a couple of the plumbing guys up there and they are quite good. I got through quickly and spoke to Gary and after a moment, he said it sounded like I had lost the prime on the pump.

Uh huh...

He then quickly and clearly explained exactly where it was, and what to do, and about 5 minutes later, pump is working!

Phew.

Wrapped things up, came in, turned on the water, and all is good. Except, it is still low pressure!

Arg!

Visited SeaWorld the other day...

I think Manta is the best ride in Florida!