planetkris

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the crash…

Location: Bloomington, IL
Miles traveled: ask the co-driver
Cost of gas: $1.85 / gal
Weather: awesome
Mood: beat
Tunes: Lipps, Inc. - Funkytown

I was going to back date post - but I don’t think that’s fair. Oh, and I’m tired and want sleep. We hit Cedar Point in OH. We hit Chicago, IL. Took a double decker bus tour of the city and had an awesome time.

Some technical bugs to work out with the intar-web. But I’m happy to have a high speed connection here at the Kw’ality Inn in Bloomington. I made sure to upload the ton of pictures we took so far. Lots of stories to be told.

If you’re not in “the know” - we are sending out internet postcards of our trip to friends and family. Check them out here.

After a little GPS mapping problem we were able to find our hotel. You see everything in Cedar Point is called Cedar Point “Something.” Even the streets. So, It’s Cedar Point Park on Cedar Point Drive, in Cedar Point. It’s right past Cedar Point Lanes and the Cedar Point Hotel. You can’t miss it.

The park is great. The weather was great. I can see why it’s listed as one of the worlds best coaster / amusement parks in the world. As a coaster snob afficinado - I think that this park has a lot to offer, but not necessarilly my favorite rides. They are higher and faster, but they seem to lack the ride time of some of the coasters in the East. The Top Thrill Dragster is an amazing ride, yet only 14 seconds. The Millenium Force only has a couple of turns and a few big hills. Maybe some whoopdies, or a tight spiral? I guess they thought dropping you 350 feet was enough. If we were to compare Cedar Point in Ohio to Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ - Park to park, I would give Cedar Point the crown but tell them to watch out. Six Flags Great Adventure is a close second.

The run down (for coaster snobs only): We tried to compare like to like, based on the age or style of the ride. Some rides don’t have a good counterpart.

Millenum Force or Nitro - Nitro wins. Longer but not taller. I love the upwards spiral.
Top Thrill or Superman - Equal in very different ways. Fly like Superman or drive a Dragster…
Mean Streak or Rolling Thunder - Mean Streak is better, but almost gets disqualified because it’s a metal coaster held up by wood. Not a “true” (metal plates on wood) wooden coaster.
Wicked Twister or The Chiller - Wicked Twister is awesome. The Chiller is too loud. Both linear induction.
Magnum XL-200 or Scream Machine - Equal. Both older style unique coasters. One has a big drop. One loops.
Raptor or Batman - Raptor wins, but it’s no Medusa.
Mantis or Medusa - Medusa hands down.
Corkscrew or Viper - Viper, even though it’s closed all the time.
Cedar Creek Mine Train or Runaway Mine Train - Equal. It’s the same ride.
Disaster Transport or Skull Mountain - Equal. In the dark and not scary.

Now the gem of the park is a little “kiddie” ride called the Wildcat. It’s a old coaster that is really smooth. Very traditional “around then drop, around then drop” but it was a suprise to me how soft and fun it was. If you want a good “warm-up” ride: Skip Disaster Transport and head to the Wildcat.

Location: Sandusky, OH
Miles traveled: 505
Cost of gas: $1.93 / gal
Weather: rainy / shitty
Mood: tired
Tunes: Huey Lewis and the News

Streetsborough. What kind of town name is that? Like naming your son “Guy.” We got burned a little for gas in PA. We were hoping to continue on a $1.81 trend. We stopped on exit 15 on I-80 in PA and got raked for $1.93. Into Ohio gas dropped to $1.77. Enough about gas and the republican economy.

We stopped in Dillsburg to see some old friends from the Subaru club. Our friends are named Chris and Christine. Kris, Christine, Chris, and Christine. Our dilemma was solved somewhat by calling Chris’s wife Doctor (as she has her MD) and me “Kay-ris”. This won’t work anymore once my Christine gets her PhD. “Doctor? Doctor.”

On our way through Ohio we got caught in some showers. The sun broke through after a little while. More from Cedar Point later…

Location: Scotch Plains, NJ
Miles traveled: 263
Cost of gas: $1.79 / gal
Weather: sunny / cool
Mood: nervous
Tunes: Prodigy

The stage is set. We begin. The part we will probably remember the least. I know I will forget packing up the car. I will forget squeezing the plastic trash bins into the trunk of the Neon. I will forget the 10 year old toaster oven left beside the dumpster. I will forget how squeaky the floor on Apsley St. was. I will remember the first time I saw that apartment in August of 2003, but I will forget the dozens of times I drove there from Manchester. Memory is sometimes picky about what you burn in there for life and what you spend all day doing and forget in a month.

Everything is set in motion, including us. Our storage containers are on their way west. The three boxes that wouldn’t fit were sent “parcel post” to return to us in Irvine. Ze’Neon is here in NJ waiting for our arrival on a cold December morning. I’ve never seen a “to-do” list longer then the one in my Palm. We’ve made calls, reservations, plans, checked weather, checked the moon, called back, sent email, and confirmed plans. A going away party Saturday. In the car Sunday morning. The motion is almost perpetual.

I made an effort to watch the Olympics this year. Tine is more of an Olympic fanatic - if only for the men moving fast in tight pants.

During the night (the parts that I caught) I noticed more techno was being played for the opening. Christine said that she thought she heard a tune that sounded like one I had just recently been playing in the car. The only CD I have in the Subaru is “The Future Sound of London - Dead Cities.” She is almost certain that “We Have Explosive” was played during the parade of nations. If that was the case - what an ‘interesting’ song choice. “… and now the team from Iraq makes it’s way into the stadium - WE HAVE - WE HAVE - WE HAVE EXPLOSIVE!” Christine said that they didn’t play any of the words. Thank goodness.

During one of the NBC Olympic Preview spots (where they highlight an athlete and his or her past performances) I heard a track from “Apollo Four Forty - Dude Descending A Staircase” I think it was “Electronic Civil Disobedience.” What’s great is I heard a lot more then just the ‘token techno sports songs’ in these spots.

I learned today that DJ Tiesto was spinning the mix at the opening ceremony! Also, Bjork sang in one of the only vocal spots during the opening. It took me a while, but I was able to get a hold of the Tiesto Olympic set list. Thanks to the kids over at tranceaddict.com

Today while watching swimming I heard “Darude - Sandstorm.” This overplayed tune is in my ‘token techno sports songs’ category, but it’s still techno.

What a load of bullshit.
The landlord stopped by this morning. *knock, knock, knock. Hmm, UPS? Some sort of mail delivery? I know Tine’s not going to be home until much later. I scooted into the other room to put on pants. *knock, knock, knock. And then the sound that scared me. The tell tale jingle of keys. I knew who it is before I even got to the door. He might as well have held up a sign that said: “Since you don’t answer - I’ll help myself.”

I swing the door open. “Can I help you?!” “Yeah, I need to show the apartment.” It appears he was not expecting a 6′4″ 200lb man inside lil’ole Christine’s place. “Today?!” I ask in horror. “Well, like in a half hour…” I ponder this for a mere second. “Um. No. No, today would be bad.” I see that he’s about to take control of the conversation and tell ME when it would be a good time to clean up everything, store my valuables, and let prospective renters trapse through the place. “Did you talk to Christine about this?” I even gave him a way to lie. “Did you try to call? Because she had the phone disconnected the other day…” He quietly says “No… Are you here durning the day?” I absolutely do not like when people know my comings and goings. “In and out, depending on the day… I’m Kris by the way.” A quick shake of hands. “Bill,” he replies. “Bill, why don’t I give you my phone number, and you give me a call when you want to show the place.” He accepts the note and asks when Christine would be moving out. “End of August.” Just like it says in the letter she gave you with the last rent check I mutter as I close the door on Bill.

If you need to get in my apartment and it’s an emergency. Break the door down. I will accept the fact that if I’m having a heart attack, and it takes you 16.4 more seconds to give critical care - I’ll deal. (But - not just for the smell of burnt popcorn!) Change the locks people. Especially you single ladies. There is a creepy guy who does nothing but cleaning and maintainance on the apartments. Which means that he sees who comes and goes. If Mr. Creepy Guy decides one day to do a little more than house cleaning: he’s got keys!

The new deadbolt just went on. No more suprise inspections. At least for this last month.

Hey there Trogdor kiddies! Having problems with the Kerrek? Don’t know what to do with the baby? We’re here to help. With info and tips for the homestarrunner.com ‘Peasant’s Quest Game’. First get your ‘Planetkris.com Unofficial Peasant’s Quest Map’ here. There are a lot of items in Peasantry, and I’m sure we haven’t found them all. At least not all the easter eggs. If you find one that’s not listed - please contact us!

Click here for the entire walk through.
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Location: On The Pike
Miles traveled: 900+
Cost of gas: $1.83 / gal
Weather: muggy
Mood: upbeat
Tunes: Sugar Ray

A few weeks ago I picked up the DeLorme Earthmate GPS (USB edition w/ Street Atlas USA 2004). We first set this up with my laptop, etc. in the Subaru for Maine Forest. Considering the amount of hardware in the car, it turned out pretty well. The setup is a PIII 500 laptop running Win2K, powered 4 port USB hub, 120GB USB drive, USB WiFi, and the DeLorme Earthmate.

Wardriving Rumford: After some experimenting with the tools. Net Stumbler seems to be the best product for this purpose. I’m amazed at the numbers of hotspots we found on Route 2 alone. The Rumford Public Library was one of the most convenient spots we found.

Tracking down bugs: WinAmp was skipping pretty badly. I found that this was because of the Xircom PCMCIA Ethernet card. When it’s in and connected to the net it won’t skip. When it’s in and not connected to Ethernet it skips the sound output. Once GPS is up and tracking everything works awesome. Unfortunately this sometimes takes over 20 minutes. We have yet to figure out the right “sequence” to get the GPS up and tracking quickly every time. I think it’s a combination of me not being patient and some driver / software issues.

In the car to Jersey: We transferred all of the equipment into the Malibu. I gained about 20 more cubic feet of space to put stuff. This will be helpful crossing the country. The GPS only dropped out once on the way down. On the way back however it took a while to get it working. I blue screened the laptop twice. More gremlins to track down.