DerekRx

Next on the tried and true beer front, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, to celebrate my unplanned (and all expense paid) trip to San Francisco next month! "I knew I would one day regret letting him eat paint chips as a kid" Beer is good, beer is good, beer is good....and stuff! I hope they still have some of this aging in whiskey barrels for me next month

I think its almost every guy's dream to be able to go to the Super Bowl. Thanks for sharing some pictures of stuff we don't normally get to see on TV. I know of at least a few Steelers fans that are jealous of you right now.

I think my favorite thing about the Canada film is that it hasn't been updated since it was made. From the cars to the clothing, nothing spells awesome quite like "copyright 1981"

Thats one of the reasons why I can't get into it, the people who want my expensive $30 pin for their run of the mill Daisy Duck. It'd be kinda like trading a Babe Ruth rookie card for a Mitch Williams 1992. I think I was going to attempt getting into it, if I stayed at a resort, I'd buy the resort pin, I'd try to get all the E-Tickets, and if I was there for a special event like Christmas or a big Disney "anniversary" I'd grab the pin. But when I saw the Arbor Day, Earth Day, Autumn 2001, and all the pins from other Disney parks that even those Disney parks don't have, I drew the line. Now I only get the "anniversary" pins and coasters.

^Since he was a male, he was pretty much done growing by the age of like 3. If you have a 15 inch monitor, the first picture of him is pretty much lifesized. He lived in a 15 gallon aquarium, and everyone always said "wow, he's huge" but he's really just a tiny little dude, not much wider than my cell phone (a Treo 650). Unlike most turtles though, he was full of energy, and always swimming and splashing around when he'd see people.

I don't think I've posted a picture here yet, but here's my little buddy, Lily. He lived with us for 12 years from hatching, before coming down with some illness and dying just shy of a year ago. He brought plenty of happiness, fun, and love to all those who knew him even though he was just a turtle. "Why did you name me 'Lily' when I'm a male!?" Lily, the fastest, most energetic diamond-back terrapin ever, and my best friend

Wow, Disney really helped me out by going so big with the pin trading. Fortunately for me, I only collect the roller coaster pins (at every park, not just Disney). Disney has respread the trend, and it worked its way into Universal, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, and Paramount again. Still, you won't ever catch me sitting down on Main Street with my pin bag in tow waiting to make a trade.

Yeah, Maelstrom is one weird acid trip. Nordic gods, random vikings, attacking trolls, a polar bear, some puffins, another bunch of trolls, oil derrick, village. Looking back at Robb and Elissa's trip to Norway last year, I didn't recall seeing any of those things, but maybe they just missed them. Hopefully we'll get to see them on our next visit! One thing Maelstrom does have in its favor, its a ride, something the World Showcase portion of Epcot is lacking. Plus its always fun to try to run thru the theater before the show starts And yes, the French movie is actually pretty good, with nice seats, AC, nice music, and a pretty picture. China has a nice picture too, but you have to stand

I'm not really sure I like the idea of Philharmagic. I know there is a lot of music, which is universal, but I can't remember if there is much regular dialogue from the 1 time I've seen it at WDW. If there is, a park like Disneyland Paris would almost have to do headphones, much like they had to for TimeKeeper, one in English, one in German, one in Spanish, and then French. It would kinda take away from the whole "opera house" feel the show is supposed to have. And still, 4-D rides aren't the future, they're a cheap last minute resort for a new ride. As far as Splash Mt/Song of the South, I don't think the whole "storyline" makes much sense in America either, as about 95% of us have never seen Song of the South, at least not here in the US. I kinda wish they'd renew an interest in that Geyser Mountain thing they were thinking of several years ago, that'd be cool, thrilling, AND cutting edge, just like the Disney we used to know!

Nice idea, but you're about 11 years too late, as it has been done before, by Masago. One is called Speed Border, and its at Sega Joypolis in Tokyo. You can probably find several pictures of it right here on these forums under people's Japan Photo Trip Reports.

^Wait, there's a Lil Derek!? Bret will be so pleased! "Pump It"- Black Eyed Peas

Wow, I'm surprised Philadelphia isn't on that list. I lived in Orlando and near Philly, and always thought traffic was much worse in Philly than in Orlando! Orlando is only bad if you take the Interstate like all the tourists do, whereas Philly no matter what rode I seem to take, I have to leave my house 5 hours before a flight (about an hour away) just to make sure I make it in time due to overturned trucks, random houses falling into the road, the 16 car pile up, random broken down car with buttloads of rubbernecking, or some other totally weird excuse. Top it all off with the fact that every rode except 95 is still only 2 lanes, and you've got problems all the time!

I think I'm done trying new beers for a few days, going back to what I know is good. First off, Alpha King If you're hoppy and you know it, you're a beer For that hop lover in all of us

I think my favorite commercial was for BGT back in the 90s. A kid was outside watering the lawn and Kumba sprung up. I also remember the commercial for Batman, Batman and Robin the Chiller, Viper, Skull Mountain, Medusa, and vaguely Ultra Twister and Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure. As much as Viper stank compared to its commercial, Skull Mountain was even more of a disappointment.

Finished off the night with a Troeg's Lager. I guess I shouldn't have had 2 weak beers back to back, because I ended up peeing about 8 times after that! Probably my least favorite of the Troegs. Its not bad per say, its just not incredible. Bavarian style huh?

Great update! Its nice to finally see some stuff you guys did last year in real update format instead of scattered over 7 pages in these here forums. Maybe someday we'll be lucky enough to finally see the Dells stuff

Looks like you had a nice VD without a significant other, Nic! You've proven people can go out and have fun on Valentine's Day without having to be all romantic and crap. As for me, I stayed home and drank for most of it! (yup, treated it just like every other day!) Thanks for sharing!

"Just Like You"- Three Days Grace

Having a new beer this afternoon, Burning River from Great Lakes. It has a really sweet almost Belgian smell to it, but its pretty much just a really pale ale. Good with a nice balance of hop and malt, but really has no big finish that I like in my beers. I was really excited after the smell, but its a kinda everyday pale ale, which is still better than no beer at all Courtesy of CoasterFanatic!

Maybe he drowned while trying to locate EC Zenith's ability to distinguish sarcasm and humor. What an awful way to die, trying to make a Vekoma ride look beautiful! In all seriousness though, its a sad death and my condolences go out to his family and friends.

The most ironic part of all this is that Alien Encounter was taken out because it was too frightening for small children. So instead, throw in every kid's favorite alien and PRESTO! its the same results. Kids don't care if you throw in a scary alien, a happy alien, mickey mouse, a whole bunch of Disney princesses, or an all you can eat ice cream buffet, if its in the dark, they ain't gonna like it!

Finishing the night off with a Wallop, a Hop Wallop! As the label says, "Hoppiness is happiness"

Tonight I took my mom out for her birthday/Valentine's Day to some foofoo fancy restaurant in the city. I ended up having some sort of sweet italian sausage in some cheese something or other with a corn whatchamacallit, followed by some dijon spiced pork tenderloin in a marsala wine demiglaze. But the highlight of the night would have to be the Victory Hop Devil on tap! So I started out with one of them, and followed it up with a Legacy Hedonism, which wasn't as bad as I was led to believe a few weeks ago. It was a pretty hoppy Irish red ale, though there wasn't much of a finish until the hops really killed your pallete. Mound of pork in marsala with some broccoli and mashed taters The Hedonism was a very hoppy red ale. Better than I expected, though no HopDevil! Random sausage thing with my HopDevil Oh sweet HopDevil, will you be my Valentine?

VD at work! "Well, that concludes my boring day at work. Remember, VD is to be shared with the ones you love!" "We don't get to eat, so we feast on unexpecting nurses frequently. Today I was feeling in a Philippino mood" "This is the chemo hood, where I mix chemo. Its like biohazardous and stuff, so don't eat popsicles in here." "Hi, I'm Dr. Ruth, and I'll take you on a tour of my chemo room"

"Skin Deep"- Trapt