Stopping to smell the...Legos?
Sep. 20th, 2000 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpUp a little later than usual today, owing to last night's obsessive analysis. I don't understand why I get like that sometimes, but the behavior does come in handy on occasion. I plan to channel that kind of approach to finalizing my presentation over the next 5 hours, so I can face the rest of this year's ATA conference with a clear conscience.
Food was near the top of my list after the usual morning routine. The hotel breakfast buffet runs $16.95, and while I'm sure it's complete and offers everything I'd expect for that price (e.g., beluga caviar), I felt I had to pass. At the risk of completely clogging my arteries, I set out to visit McDonald's again. Yesterday, when I went the first time, I was too busy looking for a place to eat on the outbound trip and too busy dodging raindrops coming back to look around carefully at all. This morning, I made a beeline for the Golden Arches, but took it a bit easy coming back to the hotel. I'd have stopped to smell some roses, but there weren't any in evidence. So I did the next best thing, just looked around.
The folks who make Lego building blocks maintain a store right next to the McDonald's. There's a semi-enclosed playground outside where kids can find individual areas in which to play, build, or whatever with Lego blocks (under the watchful eye of parent or guardian, ask the signs). I'll let you guess what they have inside the store. :^)
There are also a number of large Lego sculptures scattered around: a sea-monster out in the lake, some cartoon figures. There are even life-sized Lego-block people scattered around, including a tourist loaded down with a Lego-block kid on his back, a Lego-block photo camera around his neck, and an old-style, Lego-block videocam on his shoulder. My favorite one of these, however, is the plumb-tuckered-out Lego-block tourist situated on a bench, with head hanging low and one leg kind of angled out. There's something of a disconnect when you first see such a figure; it's a nice disconnect, though, similar to the feeling you get when you hear a funny joke. Mr. "Tired" must be pretty popular, I saw people sit down to be photographed next to him; upon closer inspection, I found he sports some lipstick on his cheek, too.
Out in the water, hardly noticeable, there is a duck made out of Lego blocks standing a little out in the water, with wings outspread. In fact, it is the immobility of the wings that makes the bird noticeable in the first place. Somebody at Lego has my kind of sense of humor. As I watched, I saw one of the real local birds waddle past the plastic one with hardly a glance. No disconnect there, I suppose.
On the way back to the hotel, I passed an open-air stage with bench seating. There was nobody there, nor was there any indication that there would be any performance there anytime soon, but the speakers off to each side of the stage were playing the "Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! It's off to work we go" song from Snow White. I noticed I was walking in cadence to the beat, so I stopped and looked around. With some obvious exceptions (an obese woman who couldn't move her legs that fast if she wanted to, a young boy who had to move his legs faster to keep up with mom and dad) most folks were walking to the same cadence. This is obviously evidence of some conspiracy, but a full investigation will have to wait until later.
Cheers...
Food was near the top of my list after the usual morning routine. The hotel breakfast buffet runs $16.95, and while I'm sure it's complete and offers everything I'd expect for that price (e.g., beluga caviar), I felt I had to pass. At the risk of completely clogging my arteries, I set out to visit McDonald's again. Yesterday, when I went the first time, I was too busy looking for a place to eat on the outbound trip and too busy dodging raindrops coming back to look around carefully at all. This morning, I made a beeline for the Golden Arches, but took it a bit easy coming back to the hotel. I'd have stopped to smell some roses, but there weren't any in evidence. So I did the next best thing, just looked around.
The folks who make Lego building blocks maintain a store right next to the McDonald's. There's a semi-enclosed playground outside where kids can find individual areas in which to play, build, or whatever with Lego blocks (under the watchful eye of parent or guardian, ask the signs). I'll let you guess what they have inside the store. :^)
There are also a number of large Lego sculptures scattered around: a sea-monster out in the lake, some cartoon figures. There are even life-sized Lego-block people scattered around, including a tourist loaded down with a Lego-block kid on his back, a Lego-block photo camera around his neck, and an old-style, Lego-block videocam on his shoulder. My favorite one of these, however, is the plumb-tuckered-out Lego-block tourist situated on a bench, with head hanging low and one leg kind of angled out. There's something of a disconnect when you first see such a figure; it's a nice disconnect, though, similar to the feeling you get when you hear a funny joke. Mr. "Tired" must be pretty popular, I saw people sit down to be photographed next to him; upon closer inspection, I found he sports some lipstick on his cheek, too.
Out in the water, hardly noticeable, there is a duck made out of Lego blocks standing a little out in the water, with wings outspread. In fact, it is the immobility of the wings that makes the bird noticeable in the first place. Somebody at Lego has my kind of sense of humor. As I watched, I saw one of the real local birds waddle past the plastic one with hardly a glance. No disconnect there, I suppose.
On the way back to the hotel, I passed an open-air stage with bench seating. There was nobody there, nor was there any indication that there would be any performance there anytime soon, but the speakers off to each side of the stage were playing the "Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! It's off to work we go" song from Snow White. I noticed I was walking in cadence to the beat, so I stopped and looked around. With some obvious exceptions (an obese woman who couldn't move her legs that fast if she wanted to, a young boy who had to move his legs faster to keep up with mom and dad) most folks were walking to the same cadence. This is obviously evidence of some conspiracy, but a full investigation will have to wait until later.
Cheers...
