With my latest trip to Atlanta, the number of different roller coasters I've ridden now stands at 56 and the number of different parks I've been to is 10.

Good news everyone! Juan Gonzalez came off the DL today to make his first start of the season for the Indians.


Oh wait. Bad news everyone! Juan Gonzalez pulled his hamstring after one at bat and is going back to the DL.

Here's what I want for my birthday...

I want the Cavs to re-sign Z to a reasonable contract (no more than 10 mill per year) and then I want the Cavs to go out an sign Ray Allen or Michael Redd. That's it. That's the list.

Also, I hate the Browns.

I will be in Atlanta for the weekend and will not be back until Tuesday, so you may have to wait a while before I can feed your comment habit again.

How stupid do you have to be to try to re-enact Star Wars at your home by filling fluorescent light tubes with gasoline and then lighting that gas on fire?

Apparently not so stupid that no one would try just that... Two people did just that in England.

How does that plan get laid out?

Person 1: I've got a great idea! Let's re-enact Star Wars at home! I even know how to create the light sabers.

Person 2: Awesome idea. How do we do that?

Person 1: I've got some used fluorescent light tubes laying around...

Person 2: But how do you we get the glow down? We don't have millions of dollars to spend on special effects.

Person 1: Hmm. You're right. That's tricky.

Person 2: Ah-ha! I've got it. Let's pour gasoline in the tubes and light it on fire.

Person 1: Brilliant!

Person 2: Brilliant!

The arcade cabinet arrived today and it's fantastic. Just so you people know, it's housed in an old Terminator 2 cabinet, but it in fact plays everything because of MAME.

Here are pictures for all of you to marvel at the glory of the arcade machine and the vending machine together at last.

The following tale encompasses my thoughts of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
If you don't want anything spoiled then don't read this.



The highs:

1. The acting was not nearly as poor as in the first two movies.
2. The writing, while still sub-par, also wasn't as bad as in the first two movies.
3. Space battles!
4. James Earl Jones' voice!
5. Plenty of lightsaber goodness.
6. Tied in well with episode IV.
7. There was actually some powerful imagery (in the Jedi temple before Anakin dispatches the children.)
8. Jar Jar was in it for maybe a total of 20 seconds.
9. Chewbacca.



The lows:

1. I didn't like the "camera" work in the space battle. I would rather see it from a range rather than be attached to a moving/spinning ship.
2. Darth Vader sounded like a pansy at the end when he found out Padme was dead. I was expecting more of an emotionless bad ass.
3. Most of the Jedi masters didn't put up much of a fight... especially versus the Emperor. Within 3 seconds 5 of them we dead. Who promoted so many crappy masters is what I want to know.
4. Jar Jar was in it.
5. The Emperor came off as too psycho to me. I could've done without some of the maniacal laughter.



All in all it was definitely the best of the new episodes. I'd still rate it 4th in the series though. Was it entertaining? After the first 20 minutes, yes it was. Would I accept it as a gift? Yes I would. Will I purchase it? Maybe.

So, with that said, I'd give it a rating of 8. Would Purchase if I was in the mood and happened across it.

I'm going to see Star Wars today in a DLP/THX theater. If it's not good there, it can't possibly be good. I fully expect wooden acting and terrible dialogue. Overall, I'm not expecting too much.

I'll report back my impressions.

After all the trouble between Indiana and Detroit this year, I think they certainly acted in the right way last night. When you have a Hall-of-Fame caliber player retiring, it's nice to see some actual sportsmanship come out of a league where we are used to seeing everyone playing for a SportsCenter highlight and for their own statistics.

Roller coaster designers are coming up with new rides that they could never manage to get me to ride. Ride designers are going even further than coaster designers. If you want proof, just view this photo and this photo from atop the Stratosphere tower in Las Vegas. The ride is called Insanity, and is appropriately named.

Imagine a swing attached to a merry-go-round. As the merry-go-round goes faster and faster the swings fly out further and further. Now imagine this happening at 70 MPH while you're dangling 30 feet over the edge of an 800 feet tall building. Brilliant!

Six Flags Magic Mountain has a ride called X. The cars for the coaster sit outside of the tracks and the special track allows the cars to rotate independently of the track. That means you could be going through a loop but be spinning in the opposite direction. I know what that feels like. It feels like you just tried to drink a gallon of milk in a hour and then puked twice in the process.

I've seen video of it where it's going through a cork screw to the right and the cars are spinning backwards. I can only imagine how many people are sprayed with vomit while waiting in line for it.

Lastly, if you'd like to see what it's like to ride Cedar Point's new ride maXair, just watch this movie. I might ride that. Maybe. Going backwards doesn't suit my elderly body very well though. Spinning either. Since this ride spins you constantly and you have no idea whether you're going forward or backwards, maybe this isn't the ride for me. Maybe.

This just in. I raised my GPA to 3.73 and I haven't had Taco Bell in over 2 months.

It's like I believe in the complete opposite of everything I stood for at Purdue.

The vending machine moved downstairs 1000 times easier than it did upstairs. Gotta love that gravity. The arcade art work is printed up and should get to me in a week or so, and then the cabinet will be completed within 2 weeks of that. My place will be a veritable fun house of unused toys.

Today is the big day. I'm moving the vending machine downstairs.

This statement may lead you to pose two questions. First, why is the vending machine upstairs? Second, why do you have a vending machine.

The answers are because I am an idiot and I don't know.

The Pacers should not be hanging with the Pistons at all, and yet here they are. They're up 2-1 in the series. Why does it seem like no one is talking about them? Why didn't Carlisle getting coach of the year talk? Is it because they put themselves into this situation? Is it because they don't have any charisma? If this was the Lakers all we'd be hearing about was how great Kobe was and how he carried the team this far. I don't know how they're doing it, but people need to give them credit for getting to this point when other teams would have folded up and went home 4 months ago.

School's out for Summer. I handed in my final project in my last class, and now I am free for three months.

It's not looking good for the NHL. The ESPN ratings are out and ESPN's Bowling Night is getting identical ratings to last years Stanley Cup playoffs. Not too good.

It would seem to me that there's a relatively easy fix too... widen the rink to Olympic standards and get rid of one player. There'll be a lot more up and down action and not nearly as much holding and slow down. It would be more interesting to watch.

Those freaking bastages on the association board decided to install shrubs practically right on top of my car (there is less than a foot of space between where I park and where the plants start now). Now there is no sense in even washing it because literally within 2 hours it is completely covered in pollen or whatever the particulate happens to be.

I've tried washing it in the morning, doesn't help. I've tried washing it at night, doesn't help. I've tried watering the plants, doesn't help. I'm out of ideas and it just pisses me off.

There is no stopping the stuff from flying all over (and sticking to) my car.

I'm going to have to trim the crap out of those things.

We had a perfect weather day today. It was the perfect temperature and it wasn't too windy, but there was a pretty nice breeze. Everyone is familiar with the saying the glass is half full or half empty... Well today, the glass was full of nice weather.

So what does this mean? It means that tomorrow the glass will be half full of thunderstorms and then on Thursday it will be snowing. On Friday, the weather will come and steal all of the glasses and throw them out the window.

I'm very disappointed to learn that Jennifer Garner is pregnant.

Ben Affleck is stupid.

The first person to come up with a force field for your car that keeps it clean when it rains will make a lot of money.

So, with that said, someone go out there and develop a force field for my car that will keep it clean.

Creating art is very time consuming. I've spent about 12 hours so far and don't even have a full two prototypes done for my arcade cabinet. Ryan completed one in about 2 hours.

It takes me 4 times longer and they're not even as good as his.

That might be why he does graphic design for a living and I don't.

Last week, the federal government released a new food pyramid. Not just one, but twelve.

Apparently the different food pyramids are designed for meeting different people's needs. I'm going to guess that mine is a mile high tower of tacos, 1000 feet wide at the base.

Also, none of the guidelines really seem to apply to my lifestyle. They measure servings in cups, where as I measure servings in gallons.

Which pyramid is right for me? Tell me government! I demand satisfaction! A lot of my tax dollars went into creating these pyramids and I don't see one that has a thousand foot base and is a mile high while entirely made up of tacos. Or even chicken and cheese calzones that are then dipped into Miracle Whip all the while consuming 8 glasses of milk. Where's that freaking pyramid? Huh?

I'm sure you've all heard the saying "April showers bring May flowers."

Well, what do April snow showers bring? They bring May blizzards.

Someone forgot to tell Winter that it isn't supposed to be 70 degrees in February and then snowing in May!

May. This is May. May and snow go together like Purdue mens basketball and McDonald's All-Americans... that is to say, not at all.

Amusement park trips this year:

Six Flags Over Georgia
Paramount's Kings Island
Cedar Point


and possibly Geauga Lake, though I doubt it.



If anyone is interested in attending Cedar Point this year, let me know and maybe we can set something up.