Content Creation

I've been a content creation machine this week. I created a ton of content for my blogs and websites since coming back from a week of vacation in California. In the past week I have updated multiple websites, wrote numerous blog posts, conducted an interview, published over 100 vacation pictures to Facebook, and am editing three video segments from the trip. I thought I would use a post here to summarize all my recent content creation with links to all. Ok, here it goes. 


Blogs

I recently interviewed a zoo interpreter and photographer. I wrote up a review of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and uploaded a video of it to YouTube. I added an 2012 NFL helmet schedule to my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog downloads page. I explained part of the process of writing my roller coaster design book on Amusement Authority.


Mini-sites

I recently started a new online money making experiment which I’ve decided to share with you today. I’ve built four mini-sites to test out my idea to see how it works. People are always going for release dates for movies, book, and video games. If you can get traffic you can make money online. Thus, I have created a few sites based on possible future sequels for some of my favorite movies and video games. Looking for the Uncharted 4 release date? How about the Avengers 2 release date? Modern Warfare 4 release date. RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 release date.


Web Properties

I updated my recreational therapy exam site with a few new pages of great content.
My Apartment Search Spreadsheet website is up and running. My CATIA Macros tutorial site is humming along quite nicely.

Emails

I got some interesting email this week, from looking for quotes for a magazine to a casting call for a Food Network show, it's been quite the interesting week.

June Updates

A couple of quick updates from my blogosphere this past weekend.

I created a 2012 NBA Mock Draft spreadsheet and uploaded it to my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog. Check it out and download the mock draft creator for free from my Google docs site.

I posted an in-depth article about the Snow White's Scary Adventure ride which was recently retired from Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. I found a good video of the ride and an over rendering of the layout.

We went to the Columbus Zoo this morning to check out the new exhibit. Embedded below is my video of Stingray Bay.

Cedar Point and Columbus Zoo News

Two huge Ohio attraction announcements occurred this week. Though details on both are sketchy at best I still can’t help feeling extremely excited for both. It’s an exciting time of year and a good era to be living in Ohio.

First, the Sandusky Register is reporting that world famous amusement park Cedar Point will be building a new, record breaking B&M wing roller coaster for next season. At a cost of $25 million, the new ride will be 170 feet tall and is being billed as the longest and fastest wing coaster in the world. The bad news is two attractions have to be removed to make room – Space Spiral and Disaster Transport. These are two rides which the entire family can enjoy together. I hope they add a series of new family friendly rides after the new coaster is built.

Visit the Amusement Authority blog to learn more and stay up-to-date on all the latest Cedar Point 2013 coaster developments.

The second surprising news is our first glimpse at what the new Safari Africa expansion at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is going to look like. The zoo recently released and overhead layout rendering of the expansion, will be north of the current North America and Polar Frontier regions.

This new addition is on top of the new Stingray Bay interactive touch pool exhibit being added to the zoo this summer. It’s been awhile since we’ve been out there so we’ll have to go back soon to see what the status is on both of these projects.

Visit the Zoo Tails blog to see the overhead artwork for Safari Africa 2014 Columbus Zoo expansion. Be sure to subscribe to the site and follow me on Twitter for the latest construction updates.

I don’t know about you but 2013 and 2014 can’t come soon enough.

Best "Exotic Animals Escape in Ohio" Tweets

• "There is a monkey at large, I repeat a monkey at large" -Jack Hanna
• Jack Hanna suspects the tiger ate the monkey.
• BREAKING: Jack Hanna was sent in to recover the escaped animals. He brought an albino Burmese python in case anyone wants an interview.
• Jack Hanna: It's like Noah's ark crashed on the Muskingum River. #animalsescape
• "This is like Noah's ark wrecking in #Zanesville." — Jack Hanna "If you see the animals, don't run."
• Seriously, everyone calm down, Jack Hanna is on the case.
• I just saw on the news Brad Pitt is in Ohio. I guess he let a bunch of animals loose 12 Monkey stye here. #exoticanimals
• Stop me if I'm wrong, but isn't it just as easy to shoot animals with a dart as it is to shoot them with a bullet? #Ohio #exoticanimals
• Well someone wanted to play Jumanji in Ohio. #ontheloose #exoticanimals
• #ExoticAnimals on the run in Zanesville. This will make #trickortreat interesting.
• Word out of Zanesville is that these animals have been loose for weeks, but Jim Tressel didn't tell anyone about it.

Cleveland Zoo Pictures

Smoky Mountain National Perk Video

Updates from The Wilds

Read my trip report review and pictures from The Wilds over at my Zoo Tails blog.

August Summer Updates

• Pictures, video and a review from the Wilds coming soon!
• Cantilevered Coaster newest simulation video embedded below.
• The Ghost Writer and the Prestige reviews coming soon!

Detroit Zoo Fall 2009 Video

I've been sitting on this footage for almost a year. I'm not happy with the result but I'd figure I would post it anyways. The Detroit Zoo in October is a great time to video the animals, like the baby red panda!

Akron Zoo Review

Jaguar

Check out my review of the Akron Zoo as well as some great pictures, posted to my Zoo Tails blog!

Post Holiday Brain Dump

Time to brain dump a number of my thoughts and experiences from the past few days.

Well, the big news is that I got engaged. I proposed to my girlfriend of almost three years at Frankenmuth, Michigan. We told our families on Christmas. Everyone seemed surprised but happy. Not sure when the wedding is going to be yet but it is going to be ahellofalotta work. Any honeymoon suggestions?

I think we played Rock Band 2 almost every day over break. I recommend downloading the free track “Dreaming of Love” by Lights Resolve. I think more bands should promote themselves by giving away free tracks on video games.

I screened Avatar for my cousin’s birthday in 2D. It sucked. Story was totally unoriginal. I think the Hangover and Zombieland were the best movies I saw this past year, but I still need to rent a few that I missed to be sure.

We went to the Columbus Zoo for Wild Lights. I’ll have a complete review along with pictures and videos over on my Zoo Tails blog.

I got two new books for Christmas. I haven’t done a whole lot of book reading lately, I mostly just consume random stuff on the internets. The last book I read, The Berlin Warning by Nicholas Guild, took me almost three months to read, I guess due to lack of interest and commitment. I got Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton, a three-hundred page novel about a daring raid on a fortress to seize a Spanish treasure. I finished the book in less than a week. Not only was it extremely easy to read but it was also very interesting and thoroughly engaging. I highly recommend it (or you could wait for the movie). Last night I started The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley. The book itself doesn’t sound that interesting but Bradley’s other novels were very good so I asked for this one based on the strength of the other two. After that I want to read Super Freakonomics.

Ohio State finally won a big game, and what a game it was. My dad is an usher at all the OSU home games so he put on all of his apparel and came into the living room where my family and friends were gathered around the TV and started doing his usher gig, asking to see our “tickets,” directing O-H-I-O cheers and leading the marching band around the room to the music for script Ohio. Good times!

My goal for the new year is to try and make some money off of the internet, which right now would either be from winning a contest, rewards from MyView surveys, or from all of my blogs.

One of my co-workers passed away over break. He was the closest in age to me at the office at 26. Such a shocking surprise and a real shame. I shared an apartment with him for eight while training in Ohio. For those eight weeks that was the best food I have ate consistently since I think I went to college. It’s just a sad reminder that life is precious and can be taken away, unexpectedly, at any moment.

The Holiday High is awesome but the hangover and crash afterwards is hard and horrible. It really sucks going from a sleeping in a house with ten people to an empty apartment all by yourself. That’s the worst part about the holidays, when they end and you have to return to reality and go back to work, pay bills, clean up, put Christmas decorations away, etc. I hate that whole process. For over a week I was surrounded by friends and family having a great time and then suddenly it’s all over. Everyone feels so far away. I think Jesus needs a sibling ( a couple thousand years younger sibling) so we can have more than one Christmas celebration a year.

Check out my latest blog: Zoo Tails!

Zoo Tails

Welcome to Zoo Tails! The internet resource for American Zoos including pictures, video, reviews, news, construction updates, and more.

Detroit Zoo Pictures

Sarah got a new Nikon camera for her birthday so we decided to put it to good use by visiting the Detroit Zoo. It was a little on the cold side so we thought it was going to be a crappy day but it turned out even more enjoyable than our visit last summer. Animals of note that were a treat to see were the baby red panda, arctic foxes, wolverine and, of course, feeding the giraffes. Enjoy the pictures!























And, of course, a video will be coming soon. Stay tuned!

Louisville Zoo Video Trip Report

Check out my latest video taken during my visit to the Louisville Zoo on the way home from Holiday World. Music by Sigur Ros.

Favortie Zoo?

Vote in my new poll over on the right hand side about your favorite zoo. These are all of the zoos I have visited within the past six years. I will list my favorites when the poll ends. Thanks for voting!

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.