We've come for dinner to a place called the 'Rainforest Cafe'. It is probably owned by the same people who do Kahunaville at the mall at Holyoke: the style is very similar. There are plastic vines festooning everything. The pillars are shaped like trees and there are a variety of animatronic animals: a hippo by the entrance, an elefant near the back, and a whole troop of gorillas along the wall. At the very back is a waterfall with a golden statue. It's pretty nice. I was actually expecting more 'sustainable agriculture' examples among the menu, but I guess I don't mind too much that the food instead just seems edible, rather than weird and uncomfortable.
The cafe is at the Westfarms mall. Alisa lured me into coming here ("Want to got to the Apple Store, Steven?") because she wanted to go to the Franklin Covey store to buy supplies for her old planner. She used a Franklin planner at the last job she had. She tried having a palm pilot for a while, but ran into enough limitations and technical difficulties that she quit using it and hasn't seen anything enough better to justify trying again. I keep telling her to just get an iBook, but it's true that we can't really afford it right now. She was interested in the Dana, but decided that it wasn't perhaps a good idea to get one quite so early -- especially given how limited the Mac support is bound to be initially.
I was a bit disappointed at the Apple Store. They were a bit busy, but there was no-one at the genius bar when I sat down there. And no-one came even though I sat there for a several minutes. Moreover, to keep you company, there was nothing but a threatening sign that listed the costs for various support activities. It made the genius bar feel like a 'bait and switch' operation, where you might ask a simple question and get a bill for $30, rather than a cool place for a Mac afficionado to hang out.
They have simulated rain storms at the Rainforest Cafe. They dim the lights, play loud subsonic rumbles, and then flash the lights on and off. They don't have any real strobes that would immeasurably improve the effect, which instead just seems kinda lame. Still, it was enough to cow the children when it first happened, which I guess is good for something.