Meteornotes

Awesome report. Europa Park is the most stunning park I've ever seen. And EGF is the single best coaster experience ever, but I don't get the one train operation if there's actually a line. I look forward to visiting the German parks again... dt

That needs to be on the bottle... dt

EGF is not only the best hyper in Europe, but the single greatest coaster experience ever. After that, I'd go with Goliath, Silver Star, and PMBO, though the last one ranks far, far below the other three. dt

OK, you rode Dinosaur, so your trip is already awesome. Looking forward to more pics... dt

"Dave was right, Satan's bile does taste better than this!" dt

Amazing photos. Especially the flyer ones. Maybe I'll get to PPP next year... dt

Cool pics. We missed PPP for the second year in a row. We also never made it to Knoebel's this year (first time that's happened for me since '99 or so). Ah well, we did have an awesome time enjoying the warm weather and the pool all week... dt

Wow, that is lame. I was thinking they put the coke into some sort of batter bottle and deep fried that. Though I guess a donut made like this would still taste better than a Krispy Kreme... dt

Agreed. If there is any park in the US where a copy of this ride would work, it is this one. dt

Awesome TR! Looking forward to going down to Orlando again... dt

I think the design of the box cover should be our next Photoshop contest... dt

We went to one of our favorite italian restaurants here in the Outer Banks the other night (Nicoletta's), and both of us enjoyed a bottle of Peroni's with our meal. And last night we both had Stella! dt

So a few weeks ago, we decided to visit the MD state fair. I had never been there, and Mary had not been to one in over ten years. Since the fairgrounds is only a few miles from our house, and it was a nice evening, it seemed like a good idea. We might have visited the fair earlier, but some lame TPR person visiting the area neglected to inform us that he was going. All those papercuts must have caused him some major brain troubles. Anyway, I had only been to fairs in PA before this one, and I think the MD fair fails in three significant ways: Way Less Mutants - We didn't even spot a mullet all night! Everyone was more or less normal. Compare this to when I went with my parents to the Bloomsburg Fair in PA a few years back, where I thought I had accidentally stumbled upon an open casting call for George Romero's next zombie apocalypse film. Scientists studying the effect of the diluted gene pool could have done some nobel worthy research there. I suppose the mutant population of MD just isn't quite as large as the one in PA, or they were all staying at home until demolition derby night. Deep Fried Stuff - Usually when visiting a fair, you will note all sorts of things being deep fried, including many items you never thought should be anywhere near a fryer. Well, in MD, all I saw were Oreos and Twinkies, which are pretty mundane at this point. I'm hoping that our constant outsourcing of work to other nations does not mean that we have lost our edge here in the US at the outer edges of deep frying technology. Though since visiting the fair I did see an article on some sort of Deep Fried Coke at a Texas fair, so perhaps not all hope is yet lost. Arts & Crafts - No statue of Elvis made out of butter. No Elvis art at all, in fact. So sad. Despite all this, we still had a good time. Ah, enough of my yammering, lets go to the visuals! We missed this, but we decided that it would likely feature more talent and more entertainment than an episode of American Idol. Thanks for viewing! I had no idea there was an ACE convention in town! Sleeping pigs. Woot! Donkey! Llamas! Almost as scary as those mutant things we saw at Walibi World a few years ago. Hot goat on goat action! Cute little ducks. Time for some animals. Here's a cow. OK, this is not at all what I was hoping for. So let's check out some of the exhibits. This sounds promising... More lighted goodness. Derek, this is as close to a vertical loop in the place as I could find. Another spinning thing. If Nicole was here, I might have ridden some of these. The Zipper Thing Of Death. No way was I riding this. And Mary's soul was almost melted just by watching it in action. Random midway action. They had a bunch of stuff, including three ferris wheels.

Happy Birthday Carlos! Putting all those people in that Spash Moutain boat was really, really dumb. Which of course means that we will do it again! dt

Oddly enough, there was a Meteornotes board meeting the other day, and there was a vote to award me a 30% raise. Of course, the other two board members are my cats, and I think at least one of them was wacked out of their skull on catnip at the time, and they slept through most of my 90 minute PowerPoint presentation on why I rule, so the vote might be a bit suspect... dt

I actually thought it was well written and interesting, and covered some attractions that I had never heard of before. It also gave me a good warning to stay away from these places, since I injure myself stepping off curbs, I can only imagine the bodily harm I'd cause myself in one of these mazes. It's a shame you didn't have a camera to capture the sights, but your descriptions were almost as good. dt

That was far more entertaining than the last three Star Wars movies... dt

I thought the opening sequence was one of the best I've ever seen on a TV show. And it was nice to see where the polar bears came from. I have no idea why is going on, of course. And I don't think we're going to get that many answers in the next five episodes before the break until February... dt

And here I thought that XD stood for the eXcellence of Dave. Ah well... dt

Happy birthday Derek! I'll be buying you a beer very soon... dt

Like most modern businessmen, Shapiro thought he could make a few changes and rake in the cash. But when it didn't happen fifteen minutes after the plan was implemented, it was scrapped. What SF wanted to accomplish was going to take YEARS, not a season, and management didn't wait that long before pulling the plug. And that's if they could do it at all, since they have some massive customer service issues to overcome. They can have parades and costumed characters everywhere, but until families feel like SF is a great value for their money, and it is a safe place for them to visit, they're not going to go. Do a survey of familes in this area about SFA, and see what they have to say about safety and operations at that park. And that's just one property in the chain. My guess is the SF fire sale on properties is coming in the off season. Though I will admit I really thought they'd put some effort into SFA, since with the close proximity to the Redskins, there would be a lot of cross-marketing opportunities... dt

The chicken dinner used to be good. The last time I ate there (2000 or so), I had pretty much the same experience you had. And Ghostrider also used to be awesome. For awhile, it was my favorite wood coaster. But CF have let it got to hell, and seem to have no interest in putting any sort of upkeep into it. I was laughing at the donut portion of the story. You should have told people you were carrying a box full of scorpions... dt

OK, after reading that, I must go to this event next year! This looks like too much fun! dt

First, that's a really funny picture! Second, sadly in today's corporate environment, management is totally over sensitive to any employee complaints, as these days someone will file a lawsuit if their feelings are hurt. So they are going to overreact to pretty much everything. It sounds like your boss did just that. He probably should have just talked about it to you before making the demand he did. I agree that people really need to grow up and not be offended by every little tiny thing that might challenge their world view just a little bit, but that's something that is far outside the scope of the workplace. I think if it was me, I would have just moved the picture to another part of the cube. Then again, knowing me, I might have gone out and got one of those giant light-up neon arrow signs, and put it in the cube pointing at the picture, and set up some sort of sensor that would blast music whenever someone came within ten feet of the picture. This is probably why I don't work in an office, though. Elissa the wise said: God, do not get me started on this topic! I find this almost as annoying as when the "new baby" has to be brought into the office and shown off, like no one ever popped one out before. Can I bring my cat into work? He's likely to be a lot less annoying than a baby, but no, can't have that. People really irritate me... dt

Cool report. We went to our last Orioles game of the season last week. They lose every year, but we still have a good time going to the games. Like your place, they have all sorts of interesting food in the Club Level, including steamed shrimp and crab cakes! Half the fun of going to the game is eating... dt