Cameron

Agreed .. Just a few years ago the Hondas used to be almost as dull and lifeless as Toyota, but they have really pulled themselves out. My neighbor was away for a few weeks last fall and asked me to move her car around every few days (we have some crazy parking restrictions in our area), and it was actually pretty nice to drive! I also like the 'bridge of the enterprise' dash (even though it's so un-German!). And Wes - car looks great! When are you driving out to Chicago for some White Castle? My treat! Cameron. PS: Car dealers are not permitted to be open on Sunday in Illinois either - it really blows, and no-one has ever been able to tell me why. Seems quite moronic.

Mini's are very cool - but they are not sports cars. If you have so much money to sink into it, why not pick up a BMW 135i? It just seems backwards to try and squeeze a sports car into a platform that wasn't designed for it. Sure it might be fast, but it will never be "good"! And while I'm personally not a huge fan STIs and EVOs (I'm totally a German car guy), they are certainly not run of the mill. They are amazing cars, rare, and brilliantly engineered (with a rich and entertaining history). The Mini, while being very cool, is just a production car. Cameron.

Robb, I couldn't even guess what the pipeline would be for that as I've done no actual video production. In Idol I've come across loads of issues like this with various types of footage, and the best solution has always been cropping. Of course I'm doing it all programmatically with (ugh) DirectX 9 calls), rather than with high-level apps. Now I could probably write you a little app in just a day or so that you could use to crop/stretch all the 4:3 footage into 16:9, but unfortunately I don't have the time. Cameron.

Instead of stretching the lipstick cam footage, could you crop the top and bottom?

I love the idea of an "about me" description, plus some space for a few personal photos .. However I feel that a full-featured album with tagging and comments would be pretty redundant - there's nothing wrong with linking to Flickr or SmugMug (both of which are fantastic). Maybe add some space for people to add links to their off-site stuff? How about something where someone can list up-coming trips? Then if one of your "friends" makes a change to their plans, you'd get an email or PM. The "thread archive" idea is freaking brilliant! Cameron.

Wow .. wild photos! Thanks so much for posting them.. Cameron.

I think you're reading too much into it, and I doubt very much we'll see a change in that area (at least in the near future). The truth is that the park is looking very drab right now, and this will probably be a disappointing season. The only people the park currently caters to are 3 year olds, or people who want to stand in line for 90 minutes for a coaster. The situation wasn't helped by removing two pretty high-profile rides and replacing them with nothing. I know, they probably have to clear land now so they can start working on 2009 before the end of this season; but the giant vacant lot in the middle of the park really isn't helping. Add to that the ludicrous $25 parking, appalling food, and redundant 2008 addition, and you're sadly left with a park that looks more like it's being run by Cedar Fair. Cameron.

Personally I have no problem with vegetarians and vegans .. I do think the latter is taking it a bit far, but it certainly doesn't bother me that they do. I do also care about animals, and am angered by how they are mis-treated; which is why I try to seek out meat that isn't factory farmed. Now I will be honest and say that I care more about myself than I do about the animals, so I do still buy factory farmed meat if there is no other alternative. As for the 'hate' .. any small, extremely vocal group is going to get some hate - it's an unfortunate part of the attention which the group seeks. Cameron.

I haven't slept well at all for the last week and a half, so I was actually awake when the quake "hit". Now I'm in Chicago, which is like 300 miles north of the center, but I definitely felt it .. not that there was much to feel. It was as if someone was gently rocking my bed - it was actually kind of nice! Fortunately I'd felt a weak quake about 15 years ago in LA, so I knew instantly what it was, and I wasn't worried at all. However I was still very surprised. Very cool.. Cameron.

Oh man - I just *have* to get to SFDK this year, it looks so great. The elephant bath was particularly cute! Thanks for the pictures. Cameron.

I turned off the water to all the houses in my street. Would have got away with it too, but I foolishly left our water turned on.. Cameron.

There's a very comfortable couch in my apartment that has your name all over it - I'll even throw in Indiana Beach as an added incentive! Great report on the park - and I agree about Bull. It totally and completely blows its wad in on the first drop, and then utterly fails to live up to it. Viper on the other hand, does it right - it's a wonderful ride. Cameron.

I think a lot of people might be confusing "clique" (which is typically a negative description) with "friends who've known each other for years". Of course the CA group are going seem closer, because they are; they're actually friends, rather than just "people who know each other". Before I went on the UK trip I only knew Robb and Elissa, and not even all that well. However I certainly didn't feel excluded from anything, or "not cool" - just that I didn't know anyone .. which, funnily enough was the truth. For the first few days I hung around with many different people, in several groups, before I started to naturally fit in with just one or two. I didn't go on the Midwest trip, but I did tag along for Indiana Beach, Kennywood and was even at the Gurnee hotel on Tomi's fateful evening. I really felt like an outsider when I met the trip .. and it's because everyone already knew everyone else (I only knew a handful of people), and lots of friendships were already developed. Again, I know it wasn't intentional; and I did really enjoy meeting a few new folks (but I really went to catch up with old friends). I actually thought it was nice to see everyone having so much fun. Anyway - this is quite a long story, sorry - but it basically boils down to just relax, and be yourself. There are many different types of people on these trips (which is what makes them so great), but you're not going to get along with everyone. There were people on the UK trip who I knew weren't for me, and I'm sure there were people who didn't feel compelled to hang out with me either - it's fine. However someone suspects that they bother a lot of people, then they're probably right. It was good for Ryan to lay it all out for you, and you seemed to have handled it well - learn from it. Anyway, back to singing.. Cameron.

Yes .. being handed two trays of free sushi made WCB the best event ever! Cameron.

No-one is a bigger Indiana Beach fanboy than myself, and even I'm worried - even more so after The Sale. The Spackman's were super devoted at fixing their painful rides (ie: Lost Coaster), but I just can't see the new owners caring as much .. I mean no-one looks after a property as much the people who started it (from nothing) and ran it for over 80 years.. So before I was "cautiously excited" for Steel Hawg, I am now very much "Meh". Cameron.

Great video, Erik! Also, a great weekend - thanks for doing all the hotel crap, and constantly reminding me of what time I had to be in certain places and such .. I really was stressed out before this trip Cameron. PS: Great choice of song!

Awesome photos, Brent. It was nice to finally meet you and your dad! Cameron.

Nice photos Colin - and yes, it was good to see you again.

Jahan - You have no made it pointless for any other person to do a PTR of any other park, because none will ever be as good at this! Come on over - There's always room on my couch! Cameron.

Chalk me up as someone who didn't like PE. I was a pretty nerdy kid (no, really I was!) and liked just taking it easy. Fortunately I was (and still am) naturally thin, so I didn't need to do a lot of sport (at least not as far as weight goes - I won't deny that I was pretty unfit). However I was an excellent runner (sprinting, not long distance) and swimmer too (still true in both cases). The PE coach always wanted me to run and swim for the school, but I just wasn't interested. I'm still torn on the issue, I think on one hand it's good to push the kids to do stuff and work out (stay in shape, basically) - but forcing 30 kids to run around in the mud playing football just seems unnecessary. Interestingly I'm still not a fan of most of the sports we had to play at school ((Australian) football, soccer, basketball, cricket, etc), but I am way more active now. Swimming, cycling, karate and such. So I think that for me it was less about being a stupid, lazy teen, and more about not being offered stuff I was good at. (Ok, it was SOMEWHAT about being a stupid, lazy teen.. ) As I mentioned earlier, I am now quite active; and as a result I'm in the best shape I've been in my whole life (mentally as well as physically). I don't know how gym is taught now, but for us it was the stereotypical "get out there and play, otherwise you're a total loser/wuss/retard/etc". I think that attitude was a big part of my apathy. Cameron.

I'm not a big fan of any current implementation of line-jumping schemes, and feel quite strongly that the whole system is flawed. I have used it in the past (several versions), and will again, but I still think it makes the original problem worse. The original problem is of course: long lines and over-crowding. See if I have an "appointment" to ride (let's say) Raging Bull at 2pm, then I am effectively in line for Raging Bull. But I am also physically standing in line for Viper, so now I am in two places at once. Scale this up to all the people with a QBot, and you have effectively dumped a whole lot more people into the park. So far this hasn't seemed to be too bad of a problem because the percentage of people who use these systems is still quite low - but eventually the scale will tip and we'll actually end up in a situation worse than we were in when the whole thing began. Basically what I'm saying is that there's no replacement for capacity. Now that said, I think the technology is exceptionally cool (especially the QBot stuff - good on Six Flags for taking the gamble with that). I would love to see a park try out something were every attraction was "by appointment" and there were no real lines at all. I think that would be a really fun experiment. As for the "equality" thing - people with more money are "better" than people with less. That's life, get over it. I wish I could own a brand new, all-wheel-drive 911; but I can't. It's not "unfair", it's just life. Instead I'm not going whinge about it, I'll just find cool/fun stuff to do with the money I do have. Cameron.

Homer .. Shouldn't you maybe be out with your friends or something?! How much time did you spend digging up that picture of Robb? Cameron.

It's worse/better on the giant drop side, as the whole tower swings/shakes as the coaster runs (hope you got to experience that - it's a real "brown trousers" moment). I was surprised you didn't like the Cyclone queue, personally I thought it was pretty cool with all the fans and the giant turbine and such (unless all that has been removed now - I was last there 7 years ago). And Cyclone was moved from Luna Park in Sydney. Pity the mouse wasn't running - it was quite fun. Do you know if it was just down for maintenance, or is it on its way out? And yeah, those claws rock seriously hard! Cameron.

AAww .. Derek and Nicole are just so awesome. Looks like you had a really great time, thanks for sharing the photos. Next time I'm in Florida I will definitely devote more time to Busch Gardens - the safari tour looked totally great. Cameron.

It's currently a gray, drizzly day in Chicago - and even though it's surprisingly warm for January, there is no sun (also surprising). All of this is increasing my excitement for this event like you would not believe .. I'll finally be able to visit Magic Mountain (and DCA - but Magic Mountain is the real highlight for me) - not to mention catch up with a bunch of old friends and hopefully meet some new ones. Only 39 days to go! (Which includes 420 hours of work, 234 hours of sleep, 6.5 hours on the potty, 26 hours in the car, and 16 hours of Life On Mars ). Cameron.