Emiroo

I always heard that Cedar Fair approached Intamin, B&M & Arrow to all design their 300 Ft coaster (ie MF) and that all three submitted designs but that Intamin's was ultimately selected.

Big Mike - Do you have an approximate time you're planning to post the Mikestry Card reveal? I have some travelling to do tomorrow, but if you post it early enough I might get to stop for a minute and do some hunting. Eric

^ That video!

Awesome TR! And I do give FMP credit for the retheming they were able to accomplish in the whole 2 months they had. I think most of the names fit reasonably well without being too generic. However, that place has to be hemorrhaging money. I don't see how they can possibly make it.

The first (and only) time I ate at WC, it ran through me so fast that I was in the can before I even finished the entire meal. That can't be good. Some restaurants do that to me though. I'm delicate. The food was tasty though. OT: Whatever happened to Jahan? Did he drop off the face of the Earth?

Patriot at Worlds of Fun....this year! It took me 20 years to get up the nerve to ride a coaster with inversions. I had a serious phobia of it. I've been riding any non-inverting coaster I can get to without a problem for as long as I can remember. But watching a coaster invert freaked me out. I tried to beat it forever but took a ton of "chicken exits" and actually had full-fledged panic attacks in queues a few times. I missed a great opportunity to conquer this fear 2 years ago (empty train, no wait ERT) and chickened out again. Well for 2 years I really regretted it and beat myself up over it so when a similar opportunity presented itself this year, I said "F*** It" and hopped on front row left seat. I LOVED IT! I rode it 5 times in a row! Then I went over and rode Boomerang 3 times. There's nothing I won't get on now. I feel free!

I believe it is florida state law that you must be at least 18 to get a hotel room and many establishments bump that up to 21. I would definitely call around before you leave. Otherwise you'll probably sleeping in the car.

Unfortunately, I have no prize to give right now. But I'll take the fact that you'd like me to run another one as a compliment. Thanks!

There are at least 4. I almost went with 5, but after much debate, I decided that it was a shadow. Of course Big Mike will eventally come in and prove us all wrong despite our certainty.

Skydiving? Count me out.

I count 4.

Hercules is probably right here. I bought my current house 4 years ago before all of this economic trouble. I needed a loan for $125K and went to the bank by myself to get the loan. The loan officer looked told me that my wife needed to be there to co-sign because I would have to need a credit score of 700+ to get the loan by myself. I told her it wasn't a problem and to check the score. I was just over 800 as was my wife's. She was shocked and said that almost nobody my age comes in with numbers like that, let alone both people. Loan approved! I can only imagine that things are even stricter now with the credit crises. I will say that at times it's not much fun doing the right things when it comes to finances, but it pays off in the end.

You're right it is 20%. I wasn't thinking correctly. (I've fixed my previous posts). But again, a no brainer if you have the cash.

That credit score may kill you on this. That and pretty much that alone is what the bank will use to decide if you can get the loan. Having roomates (and possibly a co-signer) will help as does the fact that it's a smaller loan, but if that number is super-low you're probably screwed. And they will not consider that you are going to get a loan over 100% value to fix that score. They'll just look at it the day you walk in...and the score does change every day depending on what you've been up to. Also, remember that you won't get that $8K tax credit until next year AFTER you have purchased the house so it cannot directly be used as a down payment. (Unless your bank works up something special.)

Well good luck to you then. Don't lose any sleep over the PMI. It sucks, simply because you're basically paying the bank a small monthly fee for the loan but if you don't have the 20%, you can't avoid it. No biggie. As long as you have a steady job and a resonable credit score, you'll be okay. Hope it all goes through for you and don't forget to apply for your $8K tax credit when you file next year if it does. Thank you Mr. President!

1. Average closing costs are $2-3K. (Be very suspicious of any bank deal that offers free closing costs or a price substantially less than this. They are getting the money (and probably more of it) out of you elsewhere.) 2. Don't forget a home inspection (do NOT skip this). They run $100-200. 3. Don't forget a termite inspection $50-100. 4. You will have to show proof of (i.e. pay) a year worth of homeowners insurance UP FRONT at closing. Find out how much that is from your insurance agent. 5. Ask for a listing of average utility bills. An energy-inefficent house can suck your wallet clean. 6. Go to the courthouse and find out what the annual property taxes have been. It usually comes out to 1-2% of the assesed value of the home And you can guarantee they will never go down even if your home value does. Though if you escrow those taxes into your loan, you don't have to worry about having the cash on hand when the taxes are due. Doing that will make your monthly payment higher though. Either way though, it has to get paid annually. 7. Do your absolute best to avoid PMI. If you are putting at least 20% down, this is not an issue. It's basically "insurance" you pay to the bank assuring them that they are going to recoup their loan. The rub is that you will pay them the same amount monthly no matter how much you owe on the loan. I'm not the most eloquent at explaining the concept, but definitely ask your banker about it. I've always put 20% down on all my homes just to avoid it 8. If there is something you don't like about the home and want fixed BEFORE you buy, write it into the contract that the current owner must fix it BEFORE closing. 9. If it seems too good to be true, it is. 10. There's always something broken in a house. Start budgeting for monthly trips to Home Depot. 11. The first trip to Wal-Mart after you buy a house is a real killer. You have to buy a ton of stupid stuff like trash cans, brooms, shower curtains, etc. Budget $300-500 for that. I know what I've typed might seem scary, but let me tell you that it has been easier buying my homes than it has been buying any of my cars. If your agent isn't making the process as easy as you think it should be, ask for a new agent. Good luck and if you have specific questions, feel free to ask.

Around here, Chick-Fil-A is of course closed on Sundays, as is the arts & crafts chain store Hobby Lobby. We still have the blue law that says stores cannot sell packaged liquor on Sunday (Starting at 2:00 AM) but restaurants may still serve alcohol to patrons on Sunday.

If you've been to any mall or themepark in the last year or two, you are probably familiar with The Stacker Game. That's the redemption game where for a dollar, if you can line up boxes moving from side to side you can win an outstanding prize such as a Wii, PSP, Xbox 360, GPS, DSi, etc. unless you want the sucker "minor" prize which nobody does. Now it's simply fact . It has internal options that allow operators to choose how often to allow a winner. Various sites I've read say that the average is about 1 in 1000. The same thing as happened in the video happens to me every time I play. I get to the top line fairly easily and am one press away from the big prize and then that damn light "skips" on me. I was determined to beat the one at Worlds of Fun last month. It wasn't even about the PSP. I just wanted to beat that f'ing machine. I blew through $20 before I swore off Stackers completely. But then I was at a neice's Birthday Party this past weekend and what did the place have? You guessed it. Final score: Stacker +$10. Me -$10. And lost on the last line 8/10 of those plays. What do you guys think about The Stacker? Any success stories? I know that regardless of my skill, it's only going to give me a prize if it feels like it. I shouldn't play it. I should stick to Claw games which you can easily tell if they will be winable or not. But that damn game is like crack... Here's a fun Stacker webgame you can play for free. Unfortunately there's no "Major Prize" to tease you.

I wonder what kind of warranty comes on a $20M coaster...I'm sure it has long since expired. Seriously, I'd be curious to see the itemized figures on how much $$$ the upkeep on these coasters is.