Kennywood Adventureland Contest

Kennywood has a contest to win tickets to the park if you submit a photo of yourself that you think looks like one of the stars from the movie Adventureland. http://www.kennywood.com/alcontest/form/script/lookalike.php

Vote for me under Frigo or enter yourself to win. Each contestant receives complementary admission* to the park Saturday, May 2!

Also, did anyone see the movie and what did you think? I would have like it more if it used less drugs and more park shots but that's just me. Really the movie could've been located at any crappy summer job place (super market, fast food, etc.).

Not Anti-Cedar Point, Pro-Amusement Park

If you've read some of my blogs and comments on YouTube videos you may think that I am anti-Cedar Point. That is not the case. Far from it. I feel very fortunate to live so close to such an amazing amusement park with an outstanding collection of rides. The reason I appear biased against it is because I like to get the word out about other parks. What annoys me is when people (especially those in Ohio) say "Cedar Point is the best park in the world!" and the only reason they say that is because they've only been to two parks to begin with, Cedar Point and the Magic Kingdom. I tend to paint Cedar Point as a lesser park just to try and promote other smaller, less-known parks that are unique and offer great value. (My apologizes to Cedar Point in the meantime, if your attendance drops it's all my fault). I just want people to keep an open mind and know that there are other theme parks out there. Though they may not offer the quantity or size of rides as Cedar Point, they can be just as much fun.

Which leads me to ask this question: what makes one amusement park "better" than another? What it comes down to is how an individual defines "better." Most people would say more rides equals better (based on a large number of comments on my YouTube videos this is true) or bigger rides equals better. There is nothing wrong with that. To each his own. My definition of "better" focuses on the overall EXPERIENCE. Visiting a park where I feel like they actually care about me, my experience that day, and the value for my hard earned money are more important to me the older I get. I just want to relax and have a good time (and enjoy some fun rides too!)

In the end, an amusement park is an amusement park, a roller coaster is a roller coaster. If you ask me to go to a park or go on a ride I am not going to say no, and it doesn't even matter which one it is. My favorite ride is the last one I have been on. I am pro-amusement park.

Zoo Time

For awhile now I've been interested in making my own website. I never knew what would be on the website, I just knew I wanted one. I also knew that I wanted to do something unique, not another coaster site. I think I figured out what to do finally. I want to make a website about zoos.

I love going to the zoo. I like animals but what fascinates me more as an engineer is the layout and the design of the exhibits and how they interact with guests. While the amusement industry has many wonderful websites (Shameless plug: check out Coaster101, have I mentioned that I write articles for them?) I have yet to find a really awesome website for zoos. I'm not really sure how many zoo enthusiasts are out there but I'm sure those who are would love a forum to discuss and a place to share photos as well as one easy location for up to date news and information. The only thing is I don't have a lot of experience with websites yet. Anyone care to partner up? Or is there already a site out there I haven't seen yet? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Macros anyone?

The only area of Excel I am deficient in is creating Macros, which I am currently trying to remedy. But I need help. I have a data table with several thousand rows that I want to export to another new, blank workbook (we'll call it "MASTER") using a Macro. The catch is there are several hundred rows I want to delete in the same process. These rows all have an identifier- for this example, in column K any cell with the value of "DELETE", I want to delete that entire row. How can I write a macro to accomplish this or if it is even possible? This is not a one and done deal, this is a process I will have to repeat many times. Also, the column with the "DELETE"s will not be the same column every time. Is there a way to reference a cell to tell it which columns the "DELETE"s are in?  Here's what I have so far: Sub DelEmptyRow() Rng = Selection.Rows.Count ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0).Select Application.ScreenUpdating = False For i = 1 To Rng If ActiveCell.Value = "DELETE" Then    Selection.EntireRow.Delete Else ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select End If Next i Application.ScreenUpdating = True End Sub Thanks again for your help..

Two Tickets to Paradise

Well, I'll be! I won two tickets to Holiday World! Entering all of those contests finally paid off. Only draw back is they can only be used in May. I desperately need a vacation.

Two-for-one Rides

With the economy in a deep recession amusement parks are going to have to do what they can to save money. This includes not building expensive, mega-attractions.  However, major new rides still need to be built in order to keep guests coming back year after year.  This is the perfect scenario for more parks to start building what I like to call two-for-one rides: two separate attractions that share the same structure.  The two major reasons for doing this is to try and save money as well as space.  The attractions don't even have to open in the same year, as long as the design plans for the future, which is great for marketing purposes. A perfect example a two-for-one ride can be found at Dreamworld park in Australia. The Intamin designed structure is called the Dreamworld Tower and it supports the world's tallest free fall ride in addition to a reverse freefall coaster, currently the fourth fastest roller coaster in the world (rcdb.com). The Tower of Terror coaster opened in 1997 and is similar to the Superman: The Escape ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain.  The top speed is an exhilarating 100 miles per hour. The Giant Drop opened a year later with a colossal 390 foot drop.  Not only did the park save money by building a single support structure, they also conserved the real estate needed to build these monster thrill machines. The attractions were opened in different years which enabled Dreamworld to market each ride as a separate, new attraction for that year. There is a great video of the ride posted on YouTube and don't forget to pack your brown undies! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zcgGl3xuBs&feature=player_embedded I think there are a lot of benefits for building these two-for-one type of rides, all you need is just a little forward thinking and proper planning for the future!

New CD Tracklist

1. Happiness - Riceboy Sleeps 2. Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois - Sufjan Stevens 3. Sit Down By The Fire - The Veils 4. For The Windows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti - Sufjan Stevens 5. This Time Tomorrow - The Kinks 6. Vid Spilum Endalaust (live acoustic) - Sigur Ros 7. Immovable - Jeremy Larson 8. Come On! Feel The Illinoise! - Sufjan Stevens 9. Lillie - Lisa Hannigan 10. Quiet Little Voices - We Were Promised Jetpacks 11. Brand New Day - Ryan Star 12. Tree Roots Turn to Forts - Parachutes 13. Sister Winter - Sufjan Stevens 14. Rambling Man - Laura Marling 15. Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens 16. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (Smiths Cover, Live) - Noel Gallagher 17. Boneless - The Notwist 18. Settler - Balmorhea

Contests Entered this Year

I've decided to keep a list of all the contests I enter this year, starting in February. As you can see, to date I have entered 32 different contests, with a total of 74 chances to win (due to contests where you could enter more than once as well as ones I entered Sarah in too). The only thing I've gotten so far is a free cooler from Schlitterblog, which wasn't really a contest to begin with. Why can't I win one of the big prizes, like a trip to Myrtle Beach , Disney, or Holiday World?

A Class Act

Holiday World is hosting a huge food drive during the months of May and June. Called "Feeding Families Food Drive," this program will benefit families in four states. Visitors to the park who donate two or more canned food items will be given $5 in "Holibucks" to spend in the park that day. Holibucks may be used to purchase meals, snacks, games and souvenirs at Holiday World theme park and Splashin' Safari water park. The food items collected those months will be donated to food banks in Evansville, Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville, Tennessee. "The food banks are asking primarily for shelf-stable meals and high-protein canned goods such as chicken and tuna," says Will Koch, park president. "With strong participation, we think up to 200,000 meals could be provided to families in need." The folks at Holiday World never cease to amaze me. This is astounding endeavor and great idea. I think it is a wonderful cause during these hard times and will be very helpful to many Americans. What makes it even better is that besides helping people you get rewarded for your contributions. Every ticket-holder who donates will receive $5 in Holibucks. This means if my girlfriend and I visit the park and donate four cans, we would each get five dollars to spend. At some parks (Cedar Point) that would barely buy you a soda. At Holiday that might buy us all our meals for the day as soft drinks are free and I think the last time we were there we bought one meal and split it. That is unheard of at any other park. Free drinks, free food for the day, helping other Americans in the process, and The Voyage? Just another reason why Holiday World is one of my favorite vacation destinations: they are truely a class act!