The Bloggin Burro

Big Day

2008-11-04T10:06:00.002-05:00

Well, I got out and voted before work this morning. That's +1 vote for Bob Barr. It took me maybe 10 minutes, and that includes the time filling out the ballot. I've never had any delays at our polling place and I'm glad that that continues to this election.

Kwame Disappoints

2008-04-01T18:34:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, we were sitting in the upper deck of Comerica Park waiting for the Tigers season opener to start. We all wanted to see just one thing before the game started, King Kwame Kilpatrick (KKK) throw out the first pitch. He never showed.

You would think, in his vehement insistence that he is innocent, that he would have shown up anyway, but apparently he decided to start listening to his advisors.

The same advisors that told him affairs and asking the cops to cover for him was a bad idea.

The same advisors that told him killing a stripper was a bad idea.

The same advisors that told him lying under oath was a bad idea.

KKK didn't listen to them when it mattered, so why in the hell did he listen to them when it was time to get our "boo" on?

How many 5 year olds could you take?

2008-01-29T12:23:00.000-05:00

Long time coming

2008-01-28T12:10:00.000-05:00

Wow, I need to post a lot more.

I've got some stuff going on, not the least of which is a WoW podcast.

Check it out at www.80dings.com.

I'll get another post up soon, I hate having this thing and not using it.

Bonus Weekend

2007-09-16T21:11:00.001-04:00

Well, after hitting construction by Ann Arbor, we finally got to Sandusky around 7. We stopped at Bayshore to check in and meet Josh and Jen. Josh has a parking pass, so we rode to the park with him. The "cabins" were not what I was expecting, but the place wasn't bad. I can't complain.

We got to the park and only had a couple hours before closing. So, we decided to just stay in the back of the park. We hit Magnum first, and then went to Maverick. All I can say is WOW. The ride was a blast from the first drop to the last air-time hill. Intamin did a great job with this, and I'm kinda glad they took out the zero-g roll. That would have been killer at that speed. We got about 5 rides that night and another couple on Magnum before deciding to head home. There was a Joe Cool Club ride night at Maverick, but I'm glad we couldn't go. The people who stayed got poured on as they left the park.

The next day, we got to the park when it opened and just rode a bunch of stuff. The crowds pushed the lines out a bit so we ended up doing a lot of the smaller stuff we would have normally pushed past. The park announced a limited smoking policy at the beginning of the season and it was debated quite a bit. Now, I don't have a problem with a private business determining the policies of their property. However, smoking is already banned in lines, and that is poorly enforced. Not only did we not see the policy being enforced anywhere in the park, there were also no signs stating that smoking wasn't allowed. I really hope the park puts in some new signs before next season.

Saturday ended the same way that Friday did. It poured. And not only did it pour, it knocked out power to the campground. There were lots of tree branches down and just a lot of general tree litter.

So, we're going back closing weekend and I'm looking forward to checking out what's been done for Halloweekends this year. We plan to have our plans ready to go by the end of this week, so check back for more news.

Greatest Picture Ever

2007-09-02T13:46:00.001-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, the greatest picture in history was taken.

It contains no nudity, no movie stars and no animals.

It contains more than 2 numbers, but it is those two numbers that make it the greatest picture in history. The numbers are 34 and 32. Why are these numbers so significant? I'll let you decide.

Kings Island

2007-07-30T22:47:00.001-04:00

Well, I finally made my first trip ever to Kings Island. And I can't wait to get back. I wasn't able to ride everything that I wanted to, but what I did ride was a blast.

We were in Cincinatti (or more accurately, Fort Mitchell, KY) for my father-in-law's Vietnam War reunion. He was in the 196th Light Infantry brigade, and they have a re-union every two years. Rebecca, her sister (Heather), her brother (David) and Jack (Heather's son) went with us for the trip. We got to Cinci on Wednesday, and decided that Thursday was as good a day as any for Kings Island.

We got a bit of a late start for the park, so we didn't arrive until about noon. It was pretty overcast and threatening to rain almost all day. While walking from our car to the gate, Face-Off was just starting to run. It took Rebecca and myself 15-20 minutes to get through the Season Pass process, and it's still weird having a pass with no picture on it.

We took our time wandering back to beast, ducking through Nick Universe. I'd wanted to ride the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion, but wanted to get to the coasters first. After a short stop at Chik-Fil-A (we didn't eat before getting there) we found our way back to the Beast. Now is when I should mention something. Jack is 11 months old. And since the [url="http://www.pki.com"]Kings Island[/url] website is fairly weak on Parent Swap details, we were all the way back to The Beast before finding out that we needed to go to guest services to get the Parent Swap stuff. So, we did the old-fashioned parent swap. David and I rode first and then the girls rode second. We switched up partners all day, so it worked ok, but definitely slowed us down.

The wait for The Beast was only about 10-15 minutes, and David and I rode towards the front of the train. I can only say one thing, what the hell was this like when it was new. Because if it was this awesome at almost 30, then it must have kicked serious ASS when it was new. This was the best ride of the day.

The second ride of the day was Italian Job: Stunt Track was our next endeavor. Rebecca and I rode first after about a 15-20 minute wait (this seemed to be the theme of the day). Another GREAT ride. The first launch is great and it just keeps doing. We also both loved the working doors on the trains, and the fire from the front seat is great.

While waiting for Heather and David, I determined we would do Vortex next. Just looking at an arrow looper that size was giving me shivers. I have always been a fan of Arrows, and until Cedar Point decided that improperly thought out seat-belts were a good idea on CorkScrew, it was one of my favorite rides in the park. So, needless to say, I was a bit disappointed to see buckles on the horse-collars of Vortex. I shouldn't have been worried. The belts were made more than long enough for even a larger rider such as myself to make it connect. I really hope Cedar Point makes the switch. Vortex provided a somewhat rough, but still fun ride.

Our next stop was back to Flight of Fear and SuperFireMan:Ultimate X Hawk Flight. Heather and I rode FoF first, and it was good. I must say though, that I enjoyed Rockin Rollercoaster better. FoF would have been much better if it was pitch black inside. Even Space Mountain was darker.

While Rebecca and David went to ride FoF, I went to ride FireHawk on my own. After waiting through a 15 minute break-down that hit at about the 30 minute mark, I managed to cut way ahead in the line but answering the call for a single rider. Running to the station to make it before they locked it down, I was going to be in the back row. Now that I have ridden it, I will never get on another Vekoma flyer. It really wasn't that good, and the harness left me with an uneasy feeling throughout the ride. Combine that with the fact that I couldn't look forward to see where we were going (although from watching it, I knew the whole ride) made it rather un-enjoyable.

Since this took me longer than expected, we were after 6 at this point, and since Dad was back at the hotel, and getting hungry (as were the others) I was only able to hit one more ride, but I still had Son of Beast, Top Gun, Face-off and the Racer. Well, I chose Top Gun, (did I mention I love arrows) and it was ok. It was fun, but it wasn't great, pretty much an Iron Dragon on steroids. I kept waiting for that second lift hill, but the whipping through the trees is what Dragon should be like.

Overall, I enjoyed the park, and I think next year, we are going to make plans to go again at least once, if not twice. And that will be without kids, so we should be able to hit much more multiple times.

Global Warming Caused by Time Change?

2007-07-06T15:38:00.000-04:00

I found this on the Free Beer and HotWings Morning Show website. I have to say, that even though I have serious doubts about the seriousness (or the effect man can have) of global warming, this woman just plain missed the common sense bus when it showed up this morning.

Its about dang time

2007-07-06T13:11:00.000-04:00

I found out on Re-Imagineering that the giant wand on SpaceShip Earth is finally coming down. No more gaudy accoutrement on one of the best symbols of Walt Disney World. And it is just in time for EPCOTs 25th anniversary.

Caps and Wizards

2007-07-06T10:18:00.000-04:00

We went to the WhiteCaps game last night, and it was much better than the last one I went to (a 1-0 13 inning loss for the Caps).

This one went considerably faster, and with much more offense for the caps. They won 6-1 after a 5 run burst in a 3 homer 6th inning.

The caps led off with an out, which was par for the day. Then added a solo shot to left center, a single and then a pitching change. After the pitching change, the relievers first pitch was lined over the left center wall for another 2 runs. Then the next batter worked a count before lining a pitch over the right field wall. The pitcher proceeded to load the bases before being replaced. The Caps sac-fly'd a run in to cap the scoring.

It was a fun game to watch, especially from the second row behind home plate. I don't think we'll sit there again though, the netting was a little bit distracting, at least from that close.

Robots in Disguise

2007-07-03T10:56:00.002-04:00

Last night I saw the (second) best movie of the year. And if it wasn't a sci-fi action movie, it would get the academy's vote too.
It beat out Pirates of the Caribbean, Fantastic Four, Crank and Spider-Man 3.

I am, of course, talking about Transformers. The movie had everything you could expect from a summer blockbuster and more. The thing I noticed most though, and its not something you get from every summer movie (especially first time movies) is the character development. And unlike some movies that spent maybe a little too long on development that wasn't necessary, Transformers got it done QUICK. But that doesn't mean they skimped either. They made well-rounded characters and made it so you understood where they were coming from.

The action goes non-stop from the beginning to the end, and I never ONCE was wondering what time it was or felt like it was dragging on.

Go see this movie, enjoy it and then come back to read the rest.

And now its time for
********SPOILERS********

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE

Ok, you've stopped reading if you haven't seen Transformers yet, right? Ok.

Now, I mentioned character development right, and it his dead spot on for the Autobots. However, the Decepticon side leaves a little to be desired. Megatron doesn't make his entrance until just before the last battle, and there is very little interaction between him and the other Decepticons. However, this doesn't hurt the movie at all (except for the lack of Starscream v Megatron banter, that while absent didn't hurt). You know the Decepticons are bad, and there isn't much that needs to be developed. They hate man, they hate the Autobots and they would follow Megatron into the pits of hell. The focus of the movie was entirely on the Autobots defending man from the Decepticon invasion.

It is unfortunate that Jazz was killed. However, seeing that Hasbro is making 2 versions of him for the movie, one as a silver Solstice and one with the G1 paint treatment (as a Solstice), I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in the sequel.

Shia LeBouf continues to be a GREAT young actor and is great in the role of Spike, I mean Sam Witwicky. You can definitely feel the awkwardness that accompanies being a junior in high school.

The personalities of each Autobot show through really well, from Jazz's kick back attitude, to Ironhide's trigger-happiness, to Prime's commanding presence. Even Megatron's contempt for Autobots and humans is very noticeable when he is on screen. I'm not a huge fan of his alternate form, as he never adopts an Earth form. This could be due to him being frozen up until just before the final battle and so he never selected one.

I also liked the transformations. I had picked up Blackout and Scorponok last week, and when Blackout transformed at the beginning, the animation followed the directions pretty closely. So it was definitely more realistic than the cartoon in that respect. It takes a couple seconds longer, but it feels real.

Now, the voices. Peter Cullen shines as Optimus Prime. You can tell he's older, but it just adds that touch of "distinguished" to Prime. Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) provided the voice of Megatron, but the mechanization of it did a good job of distinguishing it from Agent Smith.

The set-up for the next movie was all there. Starscream escaped and was shown leaving the planet in a "bonus" scene. The Autobots (minus Jazz) have stayed behind to protect man. As a closing monologue, Prime sends out a call to all Autobots that Earth is their new home. Since Cybertron was destroyed in the war for the all-spark, Autobots and Decepticons have been scattered across the universe. Starscream is no doubt going for reinforcements (its been hinted that Soundwave will be in the next one) and I'm sure they'll find a way to resurrect Megatron. I'm sure the Autobot cavalry will arrive just in time to help, hopefully in the form of Wheeljack and Hound. I'm also holding out some hope for Grimlock, Slag and Snarl to be in the next one.

Anyway, that's Transformers. And it smokes ANYTHING that's come out in a long time (with the exception of 300).

Free Agency has begun

2007-07-02T11:39:00.000-04:00

Well, the 2007 NHL Free Agency season has started. It started yesterday at noon and it didn't take the Wings long to lose and recover. Mathieu Schneider was taken by Anaheim by 2pm. It was a tough loss, but the Wings weren't willing to pay him the 5.75 million he was asking for. So, unfortunately, we lost a top-4 blue-liner.

A little over an hour later, Bryan Rafalski decided to come to his hometown team. A little smaller, but a little smaller and a lot younger (33 to 38). He's on a 5 year contract worth 6 million a year.

I'm hoping the Wings can get their other guys signed (Hasek, Bertuzzi) and fill in some other holes (could use another D-man) and we should be good to go.

Back from Vacation

2007-06-02T20:12:00.001-04:00

We made it back in one piece.

Kyle's wedding went great and we had fun every night we were there.  I'm glad we were able to make it.

From there, we made the drive through the mountains and through the National Park to Gatlinburg Tennessee.  The drive was fine, but traffic was pretty heavy (especially in Cherokee, NC).  It was just as crazy driving down through Gatlinburg.  It was Sunday of a holiday weekend and it was busy.  Thankfully the traffic seem to all disappear by Monday evening.

So Monday we spent in Gatlinburg.  We went up to Ober Gatlinburg in the morning.  The only way to get there is via a 15 minute 2 mile tram ride.  This isn't a ground tram, but rather an alpine cable tram.  The ride up was packed, but it was fun when we got up there.

There was an indoor skating rink, a few shops and a black bear zoo. The black bears were rather lazy and I can't blame them because it was rather hot at that point of the day. We wandered the shops and then headed back down the mountain.

We made a quick stop in Friday's for an appetizer lunch and then headed to Ripley's Aquarium. That was a blast as well. Plenty of fish, and the shark tank had several Sand Tiger sharks. We also got to see the ray show, and pet the rays afterwards. It was kinda slimy but it was cool too. Unfortunately, the clouds outside had opened up and decided to dump a bunch of rain on the area as we left. So me and Dan busted back to the car so the girls wouldn't get wet. We went and got dinner to let the rain clear and then went to HillBilly Golf.

. The best part is that it was about 300 feet up the mountain. So we rode a little tram up to the first hole. It was a good course, with plenty of obstacles, and I actually managed to finish 2 under and win the round.  That was the end of day 1.

Tuesday was spent golfing.  We played a Gary Player designed course which was an absolute blast.  I scored a 62 and 54 for a total of 116.  We both got off to a bad start on the front, but seemed to do better on the back despite it being much more difficult (to us anyway).  The back started with a blind hole and then got worse from there.  Two of the holes were to directional flags and then to the green.  And another was a 113 that played like 85 due to the elevation drop from the tee.  We ended up having fun with the course.

That night, we went to Dixie Stampede for dinner.  Dinner was awesome and the show was a blast.  It was something I would definitely do again.  It's hard to describe, but its a musical and animal competition all rolled into one.  Unfortunately the North got hosed and lost.  Its worth it though and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good dinner show in Gatlinburg (or any of the other cities).

The next day was Dollywood.  I'll leave another post for that review though.

Thursday was spent driving.  We went all the way up to the top of the Smokies and looked out from the observation tower, and then traveled around to Cade's Cove where we drove the road looking for wildlife.  We found some.  Not a quarter mile down the road there was a ranger stopped to keep people from parking on the road since there was a sow and cubs back in the woods.  We saw some deer and visited the original buildings on site.  Its so weird to be in a building so old and knowing that people lived there.  We also visited one of the on-site cemeteries.  I stood at the graves of a revolutionary soldier as well as a man murdered by rebels during the civil war.  There was also a grave of a woman buried in 2004.  She was buried next to her twin sister who died in birth back in 1911.  Driving back out from the church we passed a car of idiots from Louisiana who were wandering deep in the woods after the deer who were trying to get away.  I got their license and passed it to the workers at the guest center.  They said if they couldn't catch them at the park, they would send a summons.  That would be cool.

Shortly after leaving the guest center (which is at the back of the loop) we came across another bearjam, with the bear being about 20 feet  off the road and just chillin at the base of a tree.  So, the people who properly pulled off the road so they didn't block it, then proceeded to stand in the middle of the road (blocking it) so they could get pictures.  I was really hoping for a mauling, especially when a fat guy started to climb the hill towards the bear to get a better picture.  The first vehicle behind the jam though had to stop right in the middle of the road so his fat lazy kid sitting in the back could get a good picture.  They had annoyed me earlier by stopping in the middle of the road to get some pictures of white-tail deer.  I kept hoping the fat kid would fall out but he never did.

We stopped at a stream on the way out of the park and admired the scenery while Lily was being fed.  It was really nice.  That was the end of our day though.  We stopped for dinner in Gatlinburg and then up to Pigeon Forge for ice cream.  We were on the road back the next day and I once again determined that vacations NEVER last long enough.  I'm not even back to work yet and its STILL too short of a vacation.

VACATION

2007-05-23T22:43:00.001-04:00

Finally.  It's time for vacation so I don't have to work for the next week and a half.  I'm so happy.

Wings lose

2007-05-22T23:50:00.001-04:00

Well, it turned out that 4 goals was too many for the Wings to overcome.  After going down 3-0 after 2 periods, the Wings scored early in the third to close the gap, but were down 4-1 only a few minutes later.  That goal ended up being the difference.

There are 3 things to take away from this game:

1 - The Wings left it all on the ice.  They played a good game all the way through.  It was a couple bounces one way that led to the goals against.

2 - The Wings last lost the Western Conference Final in 1996.  The two following years after that (1997 and 1998) the Wings hoisted Lord Stanley's Chalice.

3 - The officiating needs some serious work.  I don't know if Colin Cambell picks refs based on the size of his afternoon dump, but these were some of the worst.  They didn't cost the Wings this game, but they were just some of the worst calls I've ever seen.  Selanne's stick gets caught in Lidstrom's legs and Nick gets the interference penalty.  Later, Franzen's stick gets caught in a Duck's legs and he gets a hooking call.  Lets hope that they do something about this during the offseason.

The Wings do not need to change much this off-season.  I know it sucks to start thinking about that now, but the team is there.

Now....

LETS GO SENS

My laptop

2007-05-20T13:33:00.001-04:00

So, its taking a little bit of work to get used to Mac OSX, but there are so many things that I just like better than Windows that its not even funny.

The one problem is that I will need to take it in for service after vacation.  Something happened in shipping that will need Apple's touch to fix.  It sucks, but I did get the seller to give a partial refund to help cover it (total its about 300 bucks).

New Laptop

2007-05-04T09:48:00.000-04:00

I know its been a while since I last posted, and I keep meaning to change that. We'll see if I can stick to it.

Well, I'm finally making the switch. I managed to get a Mac Ti Powerbook off ebay on Wednesday. So, I'm going to use this as a springboard for making the switch to Mac's. I'll still have to use Windows at work because IT doesn't want to support decent computers, but at least at home I'll be moving towards getting Macs.

So, I've got the new laptop on the way, 15" screen, 768 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, 1Ghz G4 Proc , Airport (wireless), and Apples superdrive. It comes with all the install disks, and the previous owner upgraded it to OSX 10.4. I'll be jumping it up to 10.5 in October when Leopard comes out.

Anyway, that's where I'm at.

There's no crying in human interest reporting....

2007-03-19T19:08:00.000-04:00

Cat Attacks Cute Reporter - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

This was a just way too funny video of a woman getting mauled by a house cat while trying to do a report and then breaking down in tears. The cat gave her plenty of warnings though so its her fault for not putting him down.

Van Andel Hockey

2007-03-19T11:14:00.000-04:00

Well, we had our game Saturday, a 4-4 tie. Kinda took the wind out of me for partying on St. Patrick's Day. I ended up skipping the Griffins game and just went home for a while and headed back out with Michael, Matt and Nick after they got done at the game. So, a shot of Jameson and a few Guinness later and I was done with March 17th. Oh well, there's always next year. And with next year on a Monday, I think we'll be making a long weekend of it.

WTF is wrong with Parents

2007-03-15T12:43:00.000-04:00

I came across an article on Yahoo today.

Revised R rating has a parental guide

So apparently parents have been taking their kids to R rated movies, and then complaining that the movie contained material that they don't want their kids exposed to. I'm sorry, but WTF is wrong with these parents. The movie didn't receive an R rating because it was full of Disney characters.

This brings me to Ghost Rider last weekend. Some idiot decided to bring his infant and two kids who weren't older than 6 or 7 to the movie. Now I realize that the ratings are in English, but damn, find a freakin babysitter. If you can't, wait till the movie is out on DVD. Instead his kids played in the aisle, and he left about halfway through because the baby was getting restless.

I swear we need to have some kind of breeding license. You can't drive a car without a license, but you can have and screw up as many kids as you want. Explain that one to me.

300

2007-03-14T10:12:00.000-04:00

Well, we missed the movie in the IMAX. We had planned for 8:30, which is what the theater had for Monday, but they switched their schedule so we had to settle for the regular theater. It was still worth it.

The new all-digital medium is a boon for comic book movies and even more so when you get a director who wants to duplicate a particular graphic novel exactly. This was excellently done with '300'. Its a very bloody movie and definitely not for kids and the story is one that only Hollywood could come up with. Except that it really happened.

The one thing that really amazed me, and this was something I knew but it hit home with this movie, was that Sparta was an entire city-state who's entire purpose was to breed warriors. They didn't bother with artisans or philosophers. The bred, raised and trained warriors. Anyone else was cast aside.

After seeing this and 'Sin City', its unfortunate that 'Batman:Year One' was turned into 'Batman Begins'. I loved 'Batman Begins' and still think it is a great turn for the Batman franchise. But what if Chris Nolan had decided to do what Robert Rodriguez and Zack Snyder have done. Imagine an almost completely digital and panel for panel telling of Frank Miller's Batman. It would have been amazing.

After seeing 300 on the big screen, I am going to have to make sure to go see it on the big big screen. I'm sure it won't disappoint.

Movie Time

2007-03-13T10:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm finally getting a chance to go see '300' tonight on the IMAX. I'll have a review of it when I get back.

Irony

2006-11-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

Remember in 2004 and the run-up to that election. According to one group things were so bad we couldn't afford to stay the course. Now things have gotten better in some areas (economy) and worse in others (Iraq) and who's to know what would have happened if we had changed course.

Now here in Michigan, in 2006, we are faced with another stay the course proposal. And now its the group that saw everything going wrong 2 years ago that can't see the problems our state faces. Now despite all the blunders and broken promises we are supposed to stay the course and keep Jenny in Lansing.

Irony is such a funny thing isn't it.

360 degrees of fun

2006-10-23T17:21:00.000-04:00

FINALLY.

Went to Sam's yesterday and picked up the new Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell for Xbox 360. Oh yeah, and I picked up a 360 while I was there as well.

I was able to get the system, a second controller and play n charge kit for 450. Not too shabby. Just need to get working on my list of games (NHL 07, Raw v Smackdown 07 and Gears of War). 2 of those don't come out till November, and I'll be waiting for them.

Tiggies showin they belong

2006-10-06T16:12:00.000-04:00

Well, no one gave them a chance.

Morons.

The Tigers showed the could keep with the Yankees in game one. The Spanks scored all their runs in two innings, including 5 runs in an inning where they just seemed to find every gap in the Tigers fielding.

Game 2 the Tigers showed they aren't going out without a roar. They proved that they aren't a fluke and that they can beat the Bronx Chokers in a close game. They didn't need to hit half a dozen home runs to win. They won it with smart baserunning and timely hitting.

Now lets put some pressure on the Yanks and win game 3. Then we can worry about not going back to New York.

Playoff Time

2006-10-03T11:37:00.000-04:00

The Tigers are in the playoffs.

Doesn't that sound weird? Its been 19 years since those words have been said. 19 years. I was only 7, 19 years ago. We had moved the year before. I was in second grade. It was my first year at St. Anne Elementary school in Warren.

Now the Tigers (who dropped out of first on the last day of the season) start the playoffs against the Yankees, in New York. And here's why I'm happy:

If Robertson can steal us tonights game, and we can take Game 3 in Detroit, the Yankees will have to win 2 straight to advance. There is no reason to think the Tigers can't win this series. Its a long shot for sure. Very few of the Tigers have been here before. Many of the Yankees have. But there's no reason not to believe.

Oh yeah, the Yankees starting pitcher is Wang. Its too bad this game isn't in Detroit, because there could be some great crowd signs.

Like "Derek Jeter LOVES the Wang"

Don't forget to watch. First pitch is 8:19 tonight on Fox.

Michigan's Adventure

2006-08-10T11:23:00.000-04:00

Well, we went to Michigan's Adventure for the first time this season yesterday after work. I almost feel underwhelmed every time I go. The crowds weren't horrible, but it always feels like I'm missing something when I go. We rode Mad Mouse when we got there, which was fun as always. Somehow I'm ALWAYS on the outside of that first turn, and it's a freaky feeling.

Then we walked back to the TimberTown train station. For once, the train goes somewhere. Grand Rapids had a pretty long line, and was actually broke down (temporarily) when we went past, so we didn't ride nor could we watch the ride in operation. We really just kinda slowly strolled around the park before going back to the car to get our swim gear.

The water park was alright. Management still needs to do something about tubes in the wave pools. There's two solutions. Either designate one wave pool for tubes only and the other two for no tubes, or designate one for no tubes and the other two are mixed. Its just a pain in the ass having a tube bouncing off the side of my head while I'm trying to have fun. The lazy river was alright, a bit crowded but otherwise alright.

Funnel of Fear was a fun ride, but not worth the kind of wait it had. It was the first pro-slide tornado I'd been on, and it was fun. The dark tunnel followed by flying out into the funnel was a great experience. But I was almost dry from waiting in line. Why management didn't spring for the conveyor belt is beyond me. That would have made sense, and all their bigger tube rides (like the family size ones) really need to be retrofit to include conveyors. Oh well.

After the water park, we decided to just head home. Becc can't ride much anymore (back problems) so we certainly weren't going to be riding Timbers, Wildcat or Corkscrew.

It was fun, and hopefully I'll get back out once more this season.

Been just a little while....

2006-07-17T09:04:00.000-04:00

Wow has it been a while since I got around to this.

Anyway. Becc started her new job today. She was supposed to be there at 8, I'm not sure yet what time she's supposed to be done. Hopefully this works out much better than working at Marge's Donut Den of Hell. (Oh yeah, Marge - Go find somewhere to slowly rot)

2006-05-25T12:04:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-18T16:50:00.000-04:00

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....

2006-05-18T16:45:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-17T16:06:00.000-04:00

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

To pursue (game) for food or sport.
To search through (an area) for prey: hunted the ridges.
To make use of (hounds, for example) in pursuing game.
To pursue intensively so as to capture or kill: hunted down the escaped convict.
To seek out; search for.
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....

2006-05-17T11:55:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-15T15:51:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-05-11T14:35:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-08T13:35:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-05T18:43:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-02T17:37:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-02T08:32:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-02T00:27:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-01T18:26:00.000-04:00

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.