Cause of a Cyclone

Somebody found my blog by searching for "cause of a cyclone in a kids way." What in the world?

Coasting for Kids Report

The Coasting for Kids event at Cedar Point was a huge success, and I have a million things to recount about the day.

I’ve heard that they continue to get donations, and now we're over $8000! Considering the short notice and relatively small number of people (twenty-six on the final run), that's amazing. The guys on the train led to walk-up donations on the midway, and the hard-working, minimum wage crew passed around the hat and donated as well. I'm really proud to be a part of this community for its ability to step it up, and with so little notice.



I ended up doing 105 laps on “G-money”. The most anyone did was 129. I did 42 consecutive laps in the afternoon without leaving my seat once, over three straight hours of riding! Gemini is 3935 feet long which means I traveled 78 and a quarter miles on the coaster.

Arriving at the park at 7am was a very odd experience. A heavy fog had settled in which made walking through the deserted park extra eerie. Except for the occasion maintenance worker, there was no one in sight until I made it back to the coaster. A tent was setup in from of the ride and they had some very good pastries, coffee and juice set out for breakfast. It was very good. In fact, too good for some people. The guy sitting in the seat in front of me tossed his cinnamon roll on the sixth lap! I’d never actually seen someone throw up on a roller coaster until now. Amazing he didn’t get any on me. Needless to say he had to make a trip out of the park for a change of clothes and we all had to get out of the train so they could clean it. I’m glad I didn’t hurl.



Once the red train was cleaned up we got back on and rode some more. After a little while, everyone got off for a group photo. I’d say we got in about forty laps before they asked us to move to the blue side as the park was opening to the public soon (early entry was at 10am, regular was 11). They had us exit and go around in order to safely load the blue side. A few riders used this opportunity to run to bathroom and they made it back on with a minute to spare.

Around 11:30 or so I went to eat one of the boxed lunches Cedar Point provided for us. It was a good thing too because the blue train broke down with a limiter problem shortly after I got off. They were down for 20 or 30 minutes. Some people utilized that opportunity to take a break, get some food and use the bathroom. Unfortunately for the other train they sat in the brake run through the entire down time.
The first two hours of riding were definitely the hardest and went by the slowest. I thought “what have I got myself into” and “I’m never doing this again.” Some of that was trying to find a seat that I could tolerate. I preferred being in the middle row of the second car. Once the park opened to the public, the day really picked up and became a lot of fun. In the morning I took a break every five or six laps but in the afternoon I really hunkered down and found a nice groove.



Throughout the course of the day we got several funny looks from visiting guests. Many people asked us what we were doing. Others wanted to know why they couldn't ride on the blue side. I think the knowledge of "Give Kids the World" was significantly spread throughout the day. Many guests cheered us on as the amazing Gemini crew posted updates on our progress fairly regularly. With all of us being on blue and the GP all being on red, I think I would be accurate in saying that this was probably one of the most interactive days in a long time for Gemini. We had almost everyone slapping hands on every run. One of the ride ops called the guests of the red train GP. “And there’s a rule: if you don’t know what GP stands for then you are.”

There was a lot of taunting back and forth too. “I’ll bet you the number of times we’ve gone on this ride that we’re going to win.” “Spolier alert- we’re gonna win.” We rode so much that it got to the point where we knew if we were going to win the race before we even made it to the lift hill. The Gemini crew helped us out by taunting and trimming the other train: "Red only wins when Chuck Norris cries. And Chuck Norris never cries." “Hold on tight and enjoy your loss to the blue train.” I think our overall record while I was riding was 100- 4 -1. The crew had been releasing our breaks anywhere from three to six seconds later than the GP to try and time the turn arounds better and give the GP a shot at winning.

During one of the runs, one of the ride ops posted a challenge to see which “world-class riding technique” made the trains run faster, rowing or head fins. It was the GP's responsibility to row while it was our job to do the head fins. Our entire train kept their fins up for the entire ride, save for a few hand slapping opportunities. We won thus proving heads fins is a better riding technique.

The interaction with the other train was great and made the day go by faster. I couldn’t imagine doing a marathon on any other ride. There were only fifteen people on the train I was riding and everyone was sitting on the left hand side in order to high-five the other side. I think the fact that we were riding for charity got more than a few GP to loosen that death grip on the lap bar and reach out for a slap, and the smiles on the faces of some of the littlest riders when we stretched extra hard to reach their hands was priceless.



At the end of the day we all got together on one train with all the people from GKTW and had one final run. We took another group photo and headed off the ride. They gave us all a certificate, a bag and a pin. GKTW expressed a great interest in expanding this next year to other Cedar Fair properties.

The weather was pretty good throughout most of the day. It started out fairly chilly but warmed up when the sun came out. We felt a few raindrops in the late afternoon but the rain held off until my drive back to Michigan. I would recommend future events to take place early or late in the season as I can’t imagine doing a ride-athon on a ninety degrees summer day.

I have been highly critical of Cedar Fair parks in the past. I usually leave feeling somewhat put off by the high in-park pricing. That being said, Cedar Point did an outstanding job with this fundraiser. I was very impressed. Kudos to them. They let all the participants visit the park for free (including free parking), fed us breakfast and lunch, let us use their ride for eight hours and paid the crew that ran it all day. And boy what a crew they were. If anyone from Cedar Point ever reads this, everyone who worked on Gemini that day deserves a big raise or huge bonus. They were incredible and I can’t imagine the day being anywhere near as fun without them. I wouldn’t do it again right away but by the time next year rolls around I can see myself signing up again. Big thanks to Cedar Point, Give Kids the World, and everyone who donated!!!!

Kings Island Video

Check out my latest video from Kings Island 8.15.09 featuring Diamondback and Nik Wallenda. Enjoy!

Coaster Project Stalled - Need Advice

There haven't been any updates on the CATIA Vekoma flying coaster project lately because I have kind of run into a brick wall. The last time I tried to load the project it took twenty-five minutes. The reason is because there are 100 something points all connected by a spline which is then ribbed. Those commands take a big toll and end up making the file size huge. And there are three of those in the coaster model (spine and two rails). I have yet to figure out a way to make those load or compute faster. I tried making them into dumb solids but that barely seemed to help. Any ideas?

Coasting for Kids a Success!

The Coasting for Kids event at Cedar Point was a huge success, and I have a million things to recount about the day.

I’ve heard that we continue to get donations, and now we're over $8000! Considering the short notice and relatively small number of people (twenty-six on the final run), that's amazing. The guys up on the train led to walk-up donations on the midway, and the hard-working, minimum wage crew passed around the hat and donated as well. I'm really proud to be a part of this community for its ability to step it up, and with so little notice.

I ended up doing 105 laps on “G-money”. The most anyone did was 129. I did 42 consecutive laps in the afternoon without leaving my seat once, over three straight hours of riding!

I'll have a full report posted soon along with some pictures.

Another Day at the Office

The Flying Wallenda

This is my video of Nik Wallenda walking 800 feet at a height of 262 feet on the wire 5/8 inch thick at Kings Island on August 15, 2009.

KI Pics

Some pics from KI.

Kings Island 8.15.09 Trip Report

I visited Kings Island on Saturday, August 15 2009 with my girlfriend, brother, and twin sister. Here are some of my observations and random thoughts about the day at the park: I love that Jeff Foxworthy quote from the time he was on the Ellen show at Universal Studios: "If you're ever feeling bad about yerself or your family take a trip to an amusement park. Within the first fifteen minutes you'll be saying 'You know what, we're not so bad!'" That definitely applied at Kings Island on Saturday. I especially love the girl who had the tattoo of a razor with a swastika inside of it. Classy. I think the seats on Firehawk need to be tilted like 15 degrees or so, that way you are not completely on your back or stomach and you would be able to see what is coming in front of you instead of being forced to look straight down. As we were standing in line for the Beast I heard a teenager behind me say "we're riding the Beast in 3-D!"  One of his friends smartly corrected him "That says thirty you idiot!" (It's the beast's thirty year anniversary). There is a difference between intense and rough. The Voyage = intense. The Beast = rough. Boy was it painful. The first of many one-and-done rides of the day. I can't imagine how much worse Son of Beast was. I overheard quite a few folks in the park talking about the deaths on SOB/Firehawk earlier in the season. I miss the knock off Indiana Jones music while waiting to ride Adventure Express. One highlight of the day was when my brother stuck a huge balloon under his shirt and acted like he was pregnant. We got quite a few strange looks from people as we were walking around. Flight Deck is in serious need of some paint. Like bad. We saw a woman push a stroller with a baby in it all the way through the Diamondback queue. She carried it all the way up the stairs too. I'm not sure what her plan was- leave the stroller with her kid in it in the station while she rode? Even more baffling to me was how she got past the employee at the queue entrance. The second hill on Diamondback is to die for! You float all the way over it. What an incredible feeling. Diamondback makes all of the other coasters in the park look and feel like crap because it's so smooth and comfortable. My non-enthusiast girlfriend made the comment while on Diamondback that she thought it was the quietest ride she has ever been on. Nik Wallenda is insane. I didn't realize how high 262 feet is until I saw the high wire at the park. I figured he would be walking from the lower section of the Eiffel tower but it was attached to the bottom of the highest observation platform. The cable was as thick as a nickel, 800 feet long and he did it with no harnesses. That just blows my mind. It only took about twenty minutes too. We didn't plan on going to the park on the date of his walk, it was just one of those "oh this is going on at the park today, cool" kind of things, a very nice surprise. We were leaving the park between 9 and 9:30pm. As we were walking past the guest services office at the front gate we saw a large male being escorted into the office. Once inside he proceeded to take some swings at some of the officers and make an escape. They subdued him, handcuffed, and took him out of sight. A woman (presumably his girlfriend) tried to follow him into the office and was screaming "he ain't done nothing" but the officers pushed her back and out of the office. Never did find out the cause of the fight but made for an interesting end of the day, like watching a trashy TV show or redneck theater. Overall, other than Nik Wallenda and Diamondback everything else was just "ehh." It was a very hot and humid day, most of the rides were more headache than fun, expensive food, and large crowds. I don't see myself going back unless they build another quality ride or offer some other incentive such as free unlimited soft drinks. Photos and video to follow. http://www.firstgiving.com/nickweisenberger

Trip Report coming soon!

Trip report from Kings Island featuring Nik Wallenda coming soon!

M. Night was right?

I just saw an article on Yahoo "'Toxic' seaweed spreading on France's northern coast". Here is an excerpt:

Mounds of putrified green algae are building up on France's northern coast, releasing poisonous fumes blamed for the recent death of a horse and the collapse of the rider.

This sounds like something directly out of the plot for The Happening. Maybe that movie really wasn't full of crap. Strange.

Coasting for Kids 2009

Promises

I absolutely love this song. Check out the Elms:

Promises (acoustic)

I hope this is the hidden track on their new album coming out, The Great American Midrange. The Elms have premiered a few of the new tunes on their Myspace page and I really dig "The Little Ways." Hopefully most of the album leans that way as opposed to "Strut" which I'm still not sure what to think about that song.

Give Kids the World

Help support Give Kids the World by donating to this website. I will be raising money by trying to ride Gemini at Cedar Point for 10 hours! Give Kids The World Village is a non-profit resort for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Your pledge will help provide these special families with a cost-free magical vacation. Each year over 6,500 children from all 50 states and around the world experience the Village. With your support, we can make a difference in the lives of children and their families.

CATIA Minute Maid Bottle

CATIA Coaster Update 8/5/09

I finished the rails on the coaster although the roll got messed up in a few places. Also added more footers and supports. The rails CATpart takes a really long time to load, even when I convert it to a dumb solid. I need to figure out something to reduce the file size because it is currently taking twenty plus minutes to load the complete model!

Two Variable Lookup in Excel

One way to do a two variable lookup formula in Excel 2007 is to use the INDEX and MATCH functions.

First, the INDEX function returns either the value or the reference to a value from a table or range. The syntax for the INDEX function is:
Index( array, row_number, column_number ) where array is a range of cells or table, row_number is the row number in the array to use to return the value, and column_number is the column number in the array to use to return the value.

The MATCH function searches for a value in an array and returns the relative position of that item. The syntax for the Match function is: Match( value, array, match_type ) where value is the value to search for in the array, array is a range of cells that contains the value that you are searching for, and match_type is optional. It the type of match that the function will perform.

Putting it all together:
=INDEX(LookUp!$AA$2:$AA$156,MATCH($C2&$D2,LookUp!$X$2:$X$156&LookUp!$Y$2:$Y$156,0))

AN important note is you MUST enter it via ctrl+shift+enter, not just enter. Creates an extra set of special brackets if done correctly.

An array formula can perform multiple calculations and then return either a single result or multiple results. Array formulas act on two or more sets of values known as array arguments. Each array argument must have the same number of rows and columns. You create array formulas in the same way that you create other formulas, except you press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to enter the formula.

A Pleasant Surprise

I found a pleasant surprise this morning while checking my Google Reader. Radiohead has released a new track today! "Harry Patch (In Memory Of) premiered on BBC’s Today show this morning and is now available for download. The track is in memory of Harry Patch, the last World War One veteran (111 years old) who recently passed away. Take a listen here.

I WIsh...

I wish those tickets I won last year to Indiana Beach and Silverwood were still good for this year, seeing as how I wasn't able to use them (or pawn them off on someone who could). I have the time and money to go to the parks this year, but sadly no tickets or travel buddies who are free.

Holiday World 2010

After I read the latest e-newletter from Holiday World I posted the following on several websites including Coasterbuzz, Thrillnetwork, and Coaster101. The new thread on CB is already about to 4 pages and over 500 views! The park should pay me for the advertising and buzz I am giving them. Then again, it's the least I can do after a nearly free visit back in May. Can't wait to hear what the new ride is!

I was skeptical of large new ride until I saw this in the newsletter emailed today:

"Yes, we will have a new...thing...for next year...
Our big announcement will be Thursday, August 13, at 11 am CDT...
Park president Will Koch will proudly unveil his latest plan formaking everyone smile. He's been working on this for several years and has been talking about it even longer. In fact...it's the second largest ride project in the park's history"

Second largest behind the Voyage? Now I'm thinking steel coaster. Thoughts?