This judge should be sent to prison.

How can you not send someone to prison for being "too small". They committed a crime. Prison is not for big people who commit crimes, it's for all people who do. So now, this guy can do whatever he wants because as long as he pulls this judge, he won't be going to prison. He'll just pull out the "I'm too small for prison" card and be given probation.

The only way he shouldn't be given probation or prison time is if he is immediately and summarily put to death. Of course, that should happen just for the crime he committed -- sexually assaulting a child. There is no crime lower and no crime that should be more severely punished.

Let's go Ti-gers

7 games. That's how many games the Tigers have now won in a row. They haven't done this since I was in 7th grade. I keep worrying that the bottom is going to fall out and these are just going to be like the Tigers of the last few years. But then there's that Tigers fan part of me that says this is for real. These Tigers really can stay on top.

As the Marlboro Man says "It means absolutely nothing. If we're in first place after the last game of the season, that will be big."

Well, for the first time that I can remember, the Tigers look like they could make good on that.

Go Tigers.

More Rain....

Who - John, Becca, Kate, Maggie, Dan, Sarah, Steve


Saturday we started moving around 8:30. The really nice thing about the bedroom in the cabin: it stays dark. The rest of the cabin fills up with light pretty quick but not that bedroom. Anyway, after a wakeup call at 8:30, we got moving. Since the others didn't get in till late, me and Dan left a little earlier and went to the office to get his refund on the parking. We got to the gate and in the park before I realized I still had my wifes pass, so we couldn't go very far.

After everyone got caught up it was decided to head for Raptor. So I let them go ahead while I went to wait for Magnum's opening. This is where I met Jerry (Magnum Candy Man). We got the first ejector seat ride of the day and I had met a new friend. We took another spin on Magnum (discussing various things coaster) before I headed off to catch up with the rest of my group. Snagging a gourmet pretzel on the way I met them as they got off Raptor. We all headed over to maXair.

Dan doesn't like to ride it and I didn't feel like it, so while the others all got in line for it, me and Dan headed to Wicked Twister. Now, Dan has never been on Wicked Twister. He's been working his way up through the coasters because he doesn't like stomach feeling of free falling on a coaster. He came into this trip planning on riding all the stuff he rode last year and nothing new. He was going to do the new stuff on our trip in October. Well, we had a little discussion regarding the drop from the middle of a train and I managed to convince him to ride. I don't think I've ever ridden in the middle, as I prefer the second to last seat, but if it gets him on it we can do it. We waited 2 trains before entering the station and he was having somewhat second thoughts. It didn't help that the train in front of us was a "Launching in 3-2" *LAUNCH* run. After reassuring him that there is only a split second of weightlessness at the apex of each spike it was our turn to ride. I let him go through first, in case hid did want to walk through. But he hopped in the seat and pulled down the restraints. As she counted down the launch, I braced on two expecting the launch, but she got it right and we launched after "1". Every bit of that ride is so much fun. And Dan thought so too.

Our wives had gotten in line a little after we did because maXair had broken down. So when we got off, we headed for Chaos. Another great ride, and thankfully they've added a second op. This makes all the difference, because while one is spieling, the other can be unloading. Once the spieling is done, there are then 2 ops to unload and load. This was a fun ride. After that, we walked towards maXair and Disaster Transport.

We had hoped to ride Disaster Transport, but it was not open yet (it was around 10:30 or 11). However, that did not stop people from LINING UP to ride. That's right, there were people lined up from the entrance, all the way back to the corner of maXair's fence waiting to ride Disaster Transport. I like the ride probably more than anyone else, but dammit, its Disaster Transport. Anyway, Dan and I decided to head to the main arcade as there was this really sweet bowling game I wanted to show him. If any of you have been there, you know what I'm talking about, if you haven't its freaking sweet. Its like mini bowling alley, 10 pins but with a 9-pin sized ball. It was one of the coolest games I have seen in a long time. And I beat Dan by 1 - 146-145.

After re-uniting with the wives, it was determined that it was time for lunch. We settled on Coasters. It was a little overpriced but the food was decent. The biggest problem was finding somewhere to sit as it was quite busy. Just before we got there, this kid whose mom must work there (he left his garbage all over the table) got up from his table, so we went to snag it. We ended up at a booth because my sister thought that would more easily fit 5 people. Oh well, we ate and to give our lunch a chance to digest, we decided to take the train back to FrontierTown. Getting back to FrontierTown, Maggie and I decided to head to MeanStreak.

It was a walk-on for Mean Streak and on top of that the first drop trims were off. As a result, the first half of the ride kicked ass. However, the mid-course grabbed really hard and the second half wasn't quite as fun. The ride was running much smoother than it has in the past. So that was a good sign. After getting off, we headed to the Jitney arcade for a little skiball (I'm a junkie, what can I say).

We met up with the others and went to grab a ride on Gemini. Very little hand slapping going on, it was quite disappointing. I remember it when everyone on both trains was trying to slap hands. Anyway, our side (red) won the race. Becca didn't really like it. She's been having back problems and the bunny hills were just a bit too much on Gemini.

After this it was time to head back to the cabin and catch a break. A nap while watching Bram Stoker's Dracula and we were back up and ready to hit the park. We got back and took a spin on Corkscrew before heading farther up. Again the girls went to ride something while Dan and I went for Disaster Transport. After waiting and realizing it was again a long wait, we decided it was time to exit. Well, unlike the day before, this exit wasn't the alternate entrance. After a short walk through the haunted house, we got to the exit and outside and there's a bay door. By this point, the door behind us had locked and we were stuck. Going up to the bay door and looking around, we noticed the other exit to our left. Thankfully, this gate was unlocked and we were able to get out. I know probably not CP's preferred exit strategy but hey, even I'm only willing to wait so long for Disaster Transport. After getting out, we found that the girls were only shortly behind us, so we gave them our exit strategy and waited for them.

We grabbed some Cotton Candy and I got a call from CoasterN3rd. Told him where we were and he was coming up to meet us. While we were waiting, we wandered over to Bluestreak for a lap. After a lap there, and a stop in Gameday to check the score, we were wandering back over to the main arcade. CoasterN3rd gave me another call back and we were about 50 feet apart. So we got together just as it really started to rain. It was getting pretty bad, but only at the front of the park, apparently at the back he said it wasn't bad. Anyway, Dan, Becca and I headed back to bowling (I had to play again) and CoasterN3rd said he was going to try and hit some up front rides, we planned to get back together at some point. While we were in the arcade, Kate and Maggie headed towards Millenium. While we were finishing up our game (Dan killed me), I got a text message that nothing was open, and only minutes later that Mantis was testing. Heading back that way we heard that Millenium was open with little wait, so I called CoasterN3rd to let him know and he caught up to us. Well, it went down mechanical as we got to it and that gave my sister an opportunity.

She has been trying for quite a while to get us to do an old-time photo. I didn't really feel like doing it, but the others wanted to. I was saved by the grace of Millie though. She opened back up and I left them to their photo while I went to ride Millennium. Since we walked almost all the way up the ramp before stopping this was looking to be a nice quick ride. Well, we decided with the quick wait we'd go for back seat. The first time I've ridden there as I don't usually like waiting the extra for the "special seats". It was an extra one or two train wait, so it really wasn't bad. We got in and....I waited for help getting the belt fastened. Its not that it doesn't fit, its that I can't see what I'm doing when I try to fasten it. Either way, I fit, and we rode, and once again ducked to avoid the flying change. Again Millie amazes. This ride is really lots of fun. Anyway, I wanted to wait for my group to finish with the photo (they looked so freakin stupid). CoasterN3rd took off to meet up with his cousin and grab some lunch, and I waited for them to finish.

Walking toward FrontierTown, and with the decision to go back to the cabin (for the others, not me) Kate and Maggie were ready to ride Thunder Canyon. Unfortunately for them it was closed, of course, they didn't find this out until after emptying their pockets of all their valuables, so we had to transfer everything back to them. What a waste of time. Well, everyone else decided to continue back to the cabin whilst me and Becca rode SkyHawk.

She hated it.

I don't know if it was she hated it, or that she couldn't relax because of the restraints. It really freaked her out that it was just a lapbar and no shoulder harness. Maybe I'll get her on it next time. I really enjoyed it this time, but she needed a few minutes to regroup. And we meandered around through FrontierTown back towards Magnum. She was tired, but I was ready for night riding so I kissed her goodbye and headed towards Disaster Transport. I should note that CoasterN3rd had left a message saying he was by Dragster a few minutes earlier and I was able to listen to the message just before my battery died, so that sucked. So while looking for him I made the decision to do Transport (with a stop for gourmet pretzel on the way). I got most of the way to it before seeing the most ironic sign in the history of sign making.

"This ride closed due to weather conditions". For those of you that don't know, Disaster Transport is an indoor bobsled coaster. Raptor was down as well (probably because of wind) so I decided, WTF, I've got an hour, and a short marathon on Maggie (the ride, not my friends wife) is in order. Walking back to Maggie, there were still people in the Dragster station. This is a ride that had been closed since 5pm (its now around 9) due to weather and yet people are still waiting. Besides, its not like the park is so crowded that you couldn't get to it quickly should it have reopened. What a waste of time, especially with other great rides running with no problem.

I got there and was getting in line as CoasterN3rd and Jerry were getting back to the line. CoasterN3rd headed for corkscrew as me and Jerry headed for ejector seat. Now usually when I've ridden with people, the conversations are done from the top of the lift till just about the station. This time, it was from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill. We talked about plenty of stuff, Shivering Timbers, Voyage, Mean Streak (and how it could be so much better). After one trip where it was just us and someone left the trims on, we convinced them that they should turn them off. So we got a good 3 or 4 trimless rides in to finish the day. If you want a fun ride, be one of two people in the train, at night, with the trims on. You CRAWL through the pretzel. It is really interesting because you feel very close to not making it. CoasterN3rd caught up to us for the last couple rides of the night.

After putting Maggie to bed (again, the ride, not the wife) we headed out and said our goodbyes. CoasterN3rd gave me a ride to the cabin and we converted him to Lighthouse Pointer. The cabins are really that nice, all you need is to see the inside of one and you won't stay anywhere else. He took off, and I just kinda chilled for a bit before going to bed. People were still up playing cards, and I caught the end of the race.

After cleaning up the grill (I didn't eat, but I wasn't really hungry either) I headed off to bed. I will say, if you stay at LHP, take a small propane grill. It is a million times easier than waiting for charcoal. Especially after a long day.

A Joke

Woman shoots gator that attacks her dog

I'm guessing from looking at that link you are wondering where the joke is. Well, here it is:

"The deputy gave Frey a warning citation for hunting without a license."

This is the definition of "hunt" from dictionary.com

1. To pursue (game) for food or sport.
2. To search through (an area) for prey: hunted the ridges.
3. To make use of (hounds, for example) in pursuing game.
4. To pursue intensively so as to capture or kill: hunted down the escaped convict.
5. To seek out; search for.
6. To drive out forcibly, especially by harassing; chase away: hunted the newcomers out of town.

The only one the even remotely fits what she did is #6, and even that is stretching it. I cannot blame her for shooting the gator, especially with the recent spate of fatal attacks in Florida. The deputy should be ashamed of himself for issuing any kind of citation to this woman.

Rain....

First in a 3 part series

Group: Me, Rebecca, Kate

Well, Friday morning we were up and on the road by 6am. After a quick stop at Tim Hortons, we were on our way. The trip was pretty uneventful, and after taking 4 to the causeway, we turned towards 250 because we needed to stop at Meijers. After some screwing around with the short cart and purchasing alcohol at 9:45am we were on our way back to the park.

Driving past the construction site provided an interesting view of what is to come. No matter what they do, I'm sure it will turn out as a really sweet ride. We got checked in at LHP and unloaded our gear, made some clothing changes (it was raining, with no sign of really stopping) and headed to the park.

After going through the sign in process, Kate and I went on Magnum. This was a fun ride, even in the rain. After getting off, we went to check our pictures and found that they were not working. Oh well, on to do more in the park. We actually went around Frontiertown first instead of our usual up to the front. I wanted to check out Skyhawk. The ride looks amazing, and really does fit into the area. I also like the look of the compressor barn, it looks a lot like a livery stable and does fit the area. It was, however, closed. So a short walk through the museum and we were off -- to Antique Cars. I guess I should mention that so far, the only rides we had seen running were Magnum and Millenium. Gemini and Mean Streak were not running. We took a stroll down the trail and skipped Millenium. Haven't been able to get my wife on it yet, and I didn't feel like leaving her while we waited for it, I knew I'd have chances later. We got a rainy lap on the Dragon before deciding that it was time for lunch. Macaroni's.

This was pretty good, in fact, I was kinda surprised by it. There was a line out the door, but that was because we got there right at opening. The pizza was good, the service wasn't standout, but it didn't suck either, and the price wasn't horrible for feeding 3 people at an amusement park. Next stop - Disaster Transport.

We waited about 15 minutes -- to get to the conveyor belt room. At which point we decided it wasn't worth it and left by jumping the chains and going out the side exit (the entrance for Halloweekends). That sucked because I really like that ride. Decided that some 25 cent cotton candy was in order, and you easily get at least a bucks worth of sugar and it was good. Unfortunately, none of the carts were out all weekend because of the weather, so we were trying to figure out where we could find it. I think they need to put big signs outside those places that have it. A ride on space spiral (another must do on each trip) and we were off to maXair.

We waited through 2 cycles before getting on. This was enjoyable although I did notice a vibration at the apex, I think related to the motor switching gears. A little unnerving, but not that bad. I was a little queasy after getting off, a first for me as I really enjoyed the ride last year. We went over and got a spin on Blue Streak (amazes me how people still can't find the entrance) and Calypso. Nothing out of the ordinary just typical rides.

We headed to the arcade to play some skiball and I won a plush snake while my wife and sister played for tickets and then they went to play whack-a-mole. I played a couple games myself, getting 150 both times and giving the tickets to Becc.


At this point, we made a stop in some shops, including going up to Attitudes. Contrary to semi-popular belief, nothing in there was really over the edge. Some of it was a little more risque than would usually be found in Cedar Point, but nothing despicable enough to warrant removing the store. After some shopping we decided to head back to the cabing for a little break. I hit corkscrew on the way out and I still can't get over those belts. I'm getting tired of getting dinged in the head when I go to get off the ride. The ops on here were moving at their own pace. I don't know if its an early season thing or just bad ops, but it wasn't CP quality.

After a short nap, me and Kate headed back into the park, this time I had my sunglasses (rain seems to hurt less with them). It was about 7 when we got to Raptor. After a walk on there we started making out way to Millennium. This trip was detoured to Wildcat and a front seat on Mantis. I didn't feel the lift trims grab, and it made for a very fun ride. The ops are moving quick and thats a good sign for an under-rated coaster. We then walked over and up Millenniums ramp.

With the park closing in less than 25 minutes, things were EMP-TY. We waited one maybe two trains before getting in the station and in line. We rode towards the back and it was a great, if not painful ride. Kate had her hands in front of her face almost the whole time, and I ducked on the first drop to avoid some change. That was a blast. But we still had one goal left for the day, SkyHawk. We got to SkyHawk just as they were finishing loading and I was able to watch the mechanics of it. The ride wasn't as noisy as I thought it would be, I don't know if they were able to tame it a bit from opening day or not. Our ride was enjoyable. The feeling on it is unbelievable and I enjoyed every second of it. I actually left the ride a bit woosy as something in one of the last swings didn't sit right. A couple deep breaths out on the midway calmed everything down though and I was all set.

That was the end of the park. We ordered some pizza (don't even remember from where, it wasn't too bad) and watch 'A Time to Kill' on TNT before getting some sleep. However, our time to sleep was only about 20 minutes before the rest of our group got there (around 11:20). They made enough noise that sleeping didn't make sense and we got up to chit-chat a little before getting back to bed around 12. 18 hour days are fun, especially when there is a park involved.

Saturday's TR will be coming soon.

Rainy Weekend

Got back yesterday from a weekend at the point. I'll have a more detailed run-up of the weekend coming in the next few days. It'll be good, I promise.

Cedar Point (pt. 2)

Leaving in a little while to head to my parents for the night. We're going from there to Cedar Point for a 3 day weekend. Its definitely felt weird today as for me its like a Friday, for everyone else....suckers. Oh well, I'll have some news about how it went when I get back.

Didn't make it

A combination of a lack of sleep and sure fire enmity from the wife caused me to miss opening day this year. I think next year I'll have to plan things better so that the week before she isn't putting words into my mouth about me saying I wasn't going to go. Oh well, from what I've heard, rides were not running all that well, and I've got less than 4 days until I'm there anyway, so it doesn't really hurt that much.

I just wish I had known the Pistons were on yesterday afternoon. Saw the highlights on SC this morning. Seemed like ESPN downplayed the fact that golden child got pwnd at the Palace. Oh well, this one will be over quickly enough.

Cedar Point

Well, less than 15.5 hours until the park official opens for the 2006 season. I'll be there, by myself. It will be a first for me. I've always gone with friends and whatnot, so I guess I'll have to find out what friends I can find there. If nothing else, it should be an interesting trip.

Ready for Summer

Skyhawk is going through its unveiling today.

I picked up my season pass from Michigan's Adventure yesterday.

The rides have all been running in anticipation of Saturday's Opening Day.

Sounds like summer is here and so is another season for that great park in Sandusky, OH.

Still trying to find a way to go Saturday (I might just go by myself). Plus I'm taking next Friday off work so we can spend a weekend at the Point. We'll be spending the weekend at Lighthouse Point in a cabin which is really the best way to do it.

If anyone happens to read this and wants to go with me let me know. Rides are always more fun when you can rave about it with friends.

Jenny's Such a Crock

Granholm signs law targeting gas stations that cheat customers


This is just another in a long line of amazing things she's done. The third paragraph is certainly amazing. I didn't realize that until now, the State couldn't shut down a gas station for screwing its customers.

The last part made me laugh too. The Michigan Legislature passed a law allowing her to lift the 6% sales tax on gas (more on this later) and she's very happy about that. However, she's not going to use it to help us, she's just very glad that she could, but she won't.

The last part about the sales tax on gas (and this isn't even her fault). This is the order in which the prices are stacked for a gallon of gas:
Price of a gallon
Federal tax
State Sales tax
State Exise tax

That's right folks, we get to pay a tax (state sales) on a tax (federal). Would someone please tell me why there isn't an uproar about this?

Ok, enough politicizing. I'll try to keep it less serious, but damn she irks me. Well, 7 months till we can officially vote her out.

Number 19

This may be the saddest picture I have ever seen. However, I doubt its the last time we will see Stevie in the Red and White.

(photo courtesy of www.freep.com)

Disappointment

I met up with Steil at Frankie V's to watch the Wings even the series with the Oilers. Unfortunately, we were unable to see this happen. A couple of defensive breakdowns separated by a lucky goal were all that it took for the Oilers to advance to the next round. It was one of the most heartbreaking exits I've had the displeasure of watching. The Wings had a solid 2 goal lead and were controlling the play for the most part, yet they managed to blow it. Yet another blown first round series against an opponent that they should have beaten.

Oh well, time to don the Sheed jersey and cheer on the team that doesn't disappoint in the first round.

Start this up

Well, I've finally fallen into the trap of trying to do a blog. Hopefully this goes more smoothly than the "professional" webpage over at www.burntmatches.net. I figure I can post once a year and get more posts in than those two lazy bastards. Well, I'm sure there'll be more as I get into this or as crap happens in my life, maybe someone will read this.