Sometimes I feel like I've been online in one way or another since time began. First it was internet message boards. Then I discovered social media and spent a few years on MySpace before landing on Facebook. Next year, I'll have been on Facebook for ten years. My first Facebook friends were people who I've known for many years or migrated over from MySpace. I picked up new friends through common interests or by the fact that someone found me to be interesting. Generally speaking, I haven't met a great percentage of the people I call friends. Through various circumstances, I have had the pleasure of meeting some of my social media friends in real life, but for the most part we've remained electronic pen pals so to speak.
At times, the things we encounter on social media aren't unlike real life. People argue with each other and support each other. They spread gossip, whether true or lies. Politics is high on the list of things discussed, and it often leaves us with feelings of disgust.
All in all, being a part of this phenomenon called "social media" can be quite a crazy, cuckoopants experience. It can make you or break you. If you're up for it, good for you! If it makes you thrive in your life, even better. If you find yourself beginning to crack, then maybe it's time for a break.
But there are other reasons to step away for awhile. Social media is not real life. Things come up in real life that need to be dealt with, and putting those things aside may result in trouble down the road. When you see that train coming, you focus on how you're going to jump aboard and get it under control, or simply get out of its way.
Recently, I've had some issues come up in real life that I've needed to address. It's hard to chase social media, look for work, tend to home and bills, and take care of me.
Note that "take care of me" came last in my list of calamities. I've been told time and time again that taking care of me should be at the top of the list, simply because by not taking care of me, I'm going to crumble and not be able to take care of the things that I need to do. I have to make sure that I'm strong enough to get things done.
Oftentimes, we don't see the cracks in our foundation, so to speak. Along with the obvious things (missing due dates on bills, various home maintenance issues, and so forth), finding that I'm becoming increasingly physically unable to do some things without help adds to the stress.
It was time to take a break before I broke.
Slowly but surely, little by little, I've been able to shift my efforts over to the things that I need to do rather than the things that I like to do. It will take some time, but for both of you who read my blog and participate in Facebook, do know that I'll be back in the game as soon as I can. It's going to take a little time, that's all.
But even if I'm not back on Facebook, chances are that I'll write a post or two here. Bear with me, say a prayer for me if you're so inclined, and things will be OK. See you when I get back from vacation.
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Friday, June 14, 2019
A day at California's Great America
While I try to write blog posts in the order that I think of them or experience the things that I do, sometimes my brain takes over and messes up things. My last post was written within a few days of taking that adventure, despite the fact that I actually took this adventure a month earlier.
Whenever my name comes up, most people who know me think of that guy who rides roller coasters and loves amusement parks. They're great places for those who are young, and older folks like me who are young at heart. However, in my case, the various ailments I deal with are slowing me down almost as fast as the brakes slow down a speeding train on a roller coaster. That means that I don't get out and climb on those crazy contraptions as much as I used to, and definitely not as much as I'd like to.
Whenever my name comes up, most people who know me think of that guy who rides roller coasters and loves amusement parks. They're great places for those who are young, and older folks like me who are young at heart. However, in my case, the various ailments I deal with are slowing me down almost as fast as the brakes slow down a speeding train on a roller coaster. That means that I don't get out and climb on those crazy contraptions as much as I used to, and definitely not as much as I'd like to.
Thankfully, my friends occasionally step in and save the day. In January, my friend Roger Yoshida invited me to join him in celebrating his birthday out at Six Flags Magic Mountain. He even picked me up at my place and did the driving. Normally, you do the driving on a friend's birthday, but Roger and I have been taking turns for as long as we've been going out there.
We didn't get to ride much due to rides being closed because of high winds. But we had a good time anyway.
My friend Cody Kempema invited me to join him and his wife Alisa Ann for a day at California's Great America (CGA) in Santa Clara. You have to remember one thing here: we live in Camarillo in Southern California. Santa Clara is next to San Jose in Northern California, some 330 miles away. About as far as going to Las Vegas or Yosemite. And we're going to go that far for a day at a theme park? What kind of a crazy cuckoopants idea is that? Normally, I most likely wouldn't have tackled such an endeavor, but on the other hand, I have done day trips to the two places I mentioned earlier in this paragraph. A national park and a world famous gambling mecca. In a single day. So, yep, we're going!
The date, place and time were set. We got our tickets online (at an incredible discount, I might add—under $40 because of an online special on the park's website), and they picked me up at my place at 4:30am. We hit the 101 and headed north. That early on a Sunday morning meant that we had the road to ourselves. In order to reach the park early enough to have plenty of time for fun, our rate of speed was a bit over legal. But we were in a Honda Accord that could handle the drive.
Along the way, we stopped at McDonald's to get breakfast and take a short break. Then back on the road headed for the Great America Parkway exit. It came up, we got off, and before long were parked and headed toward the front gate. Our tickets were on our phones (no 20th Century paper tickets for us!) and we were inside lickety split.
My last visit to this park was in October 1999, so there were some new things that I hadn't experienced. And some older things that I have experienced, but always enjoyed.
We started off on The Demon, a classic Arrow looping coaster dating to the park's opening in 1976, with tunnels along the way and a corkscrew at the end. Older Arrow coasters don't age very well, so if nothing else, we were definitely awake now. Coaster fans will understand this.
A few years ago, CGA opened California's newest wooden coaster, Gold Striker. I had wanted to ride this back when it opened because I know from experience that coasters built by Great Coasters International, Inc. are nice and smooth when they're new. Unfortunately, they tend to start getting rough within a couple of years of opening. I'm no expert, but I attribute that to a combination of the fact that wooden coasters don't do well in dry climate (like in California) and newer coasters in general anywhere are made with fairly new wood, which isn't as hardy as the old growth lumber that was used to build older rides (like the Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk). That's just my theory, though. But I was wrong once. Gold Striker has a nice layout and runs the wonderful GCII Millennium Flyer trains, but still managed to transmit the bumpiness of the track to our backsides. Riding in the back seat will do that to you no matter which ride you're on.
A few years ago, CGA opened California's newest wooden coaster, Gold Striker. I had wanted to ride this back when it opened because I know from experience that coasters built by Great Coasters International, Inc. are nice and smooth when they're new. Unfortunately, they tend to start getting rough within a couple of years of opening. I'm no expert, but I attribute that to a combination of the fact that wooden coasters don't do well in dry climate (like in California) and newer coasters in general anywhere are made with fairly new wood, which isn't as hardy as the old growth lumber that was used to build older rides (like the Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk). That's just my theory, though. But I was wrong once. Gold Striker has a nice layout and runs the wonderful GCII Millennium Flyer trains, but still managed to transmit the bumpiness of the track to our backsides. Riding in the back seat will do that to you no matter which ride you're on.
Moving along...we came upon the park's newest ride, Railblazer. This is a new concept in coasters being that the track is essentially a single rail that carries a narrow train with eight single-rider cars. It's incredibly smooth and even managed to have a few inversions thrown into the layout.
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| Combination of a fast ride and a slow phone camera. The train was at the bottom of Railblazer's first drop by the time the shutter clicked. |
After blazing those rails a couple of times, we wandered along checking out the Barney Oldfield Speedway, basically like the Autopia at Disneyland except with antique-looking flivvers. Part of its track ran under the old Grizzly wooden roller coaster. We skipped Grizzly because it was pretty rough when I last rode it (1999), and it tends to run so slow around turns that riders need to get out and give the train a push.
However, it was time for lunch and we hit up a classic burger place. The meal deal we got included a sipper cup with unlimited refills on drinks the whole day. With drink prices way up there, it was a deal we couldn't pass up.
Perhaps it would have been better to ride the 200-foot tall drop tower before lunch, but we tough theme park fans can do it. I had to laugh at the name of the ride: simply Drop Tower. Maybe coming up with a themed name was a challenge. You never know. Drop Tower simply took us to the top, then dropped us to the bottom. Over and done.
After Drop Tower, we got in line for Tiki Twirl, which is a spin-and-barf ride mounted on a track. It moves up and down along the track, making it sort of a combination roller coaster and spin-and-barf ride. There aren't many of these in parks, so I hadn't ever ridden one. But fortunately CGA has this one, so I got to experience something new.
CGA has a fairly rare wild mouse coaster ride. It's one of a few built by Arrow Dynamics. The ones I've ridden so far have all been built by Mack or other manufacturers (Fabbri, Reverchon), so riding one of Arrow's would be new for me. Named Psycho Mouse, it turned out to be pretty much like the rest, however, but at least I got a new wild mouse credit.
One ride that I didn't want to miss was a ride on the classic Von Roll skyride. Few of these are left in park nowadays. California is fortunate to have one here, one at SeaWorld in San Diego, and at the San Diego Zoo. Known for their history of safe, reliable operation, it's always a treat to ride on one. Interestingly, CGA's skyride has two different names depending on which way you go. Heading north, which we did first, you ride on Eagle's Flight. Going south, you ride on Delta Flyer. We stopped in to watch Space Beagle, a live, Peanuts themed show in a nice air-conditioned theater. Not the greatest show on earth, but we got to sit and relax for awhile.
Cody and Alisa wanted to ride Flight Deck, a B&M inverted coaster similar to Batman—The Ride at Magic Mountain. I got in line with them, but when I tried to fasten the seat belt on my restraint, my big fat belly prevented the belt from being locked. As such, I had to take the second Walk of Shame™ of my life and leave. Funny that this worked out the way it did, being that I rode Batman only a few months ago when I went with Roger.
While in the area, we rode Columbia, the park's huge 200-foot tall double-deck carousel. Of course, we rode on the top level.
After getting off of Columbia, we took a second ride on Gold Striker, only this time near the front. Still somewhat less-than-smooth, but better than the back seat ride we took earlier.
CGA closed at 7pm, so we wanted to get one more ride on Railblazer. Still fast, still smooth, still fun, it was a nice way to end our day.
On our way home, we stopped at Costco to fuel up the car and found ourselves in what appeared to be cruise night in San Jose. But we managed to get our gas and a bite to eat nonetheless. We pulled up to my house at around midnight, just 20 hours from the start of the trip.
I didn't take as many photos as I probably should have, but when you're having fun, sometimes taking photos can be put on the back burner. Next time I take an adventure, I'll try and make sure that my phone is at the ready to record what I can.
Thank you Cody and Alisa Ann for a fun day and a great adventure.
After Drop Tower, we got in line for Tiki Twirl, which is a spin-and-barf ride mounted on a track. It moves up and down along the track, making it sort of a combination roller coaster and spin-and-barf ride. There aren't many of these in parks, so I hadn't ever ridden one. But fortunately CGA has this one, so I got to experience something new.
CGA has a fairly rare wild mouse coaster ride. It's one of a few built by Arrow Dynamics. The ones I've ridden so far have all been built by Mack or other manufacturers (Fabbri, Reverchon), so riding one of Arrow's would be new for me. Named Psycho Mouse, it turned out to be pretty much like the rest, however, but at least I got a new wild mouse credit.
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| The entrance to Psycho Mouse was...interesting...and almost terrifying. |
One ride that I didn't want to miss was a ride on the classic Von Roll skyride. Few of these are left in park nowadays. California is fortunate to have one here, one at SeaWorld in San Diego, and at the San Diego Zoo. Known for their history of safe, reliable operation, it's always a treat to ride on one. Interestingly, CGA's skyride has two different names depending on which way you go. Heading north, which we did first, you ride on Eagle's Flight. Going south, you ride on Delta Flyer. We stopped in to watch Space Beagle, a live, Peanuts themed show in a nice air-conditioned theater. Not the greatest show on earth, but we got to sit and relax for awhile.
Cody and Alisa wanted to ride Flight Deck, a B&M inverted coaster similar to Batman—The Ride at Magic Mountain. I got in line with them, but when I tried to fasten the seat belt on my restraint, my big fat belly prevented the belt from being locked. As such, I had to take the second Walk of Shame™ of my life and leave. Funny that this worked out the way it did, being that I rode Batman only a few months ago when I went with Roger.
While in the area, we rode Columbia, the park's huge 200-foot tall double-deck carousel. Of course, we rode on the top level.
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| CGA's classic double-deck carousel, Columbia. One of two ever built. |
After getting off of Columbia, we took a second ride on Gold Striker, only this time near the front. Still somewhat less-than-smooth, but better than the back seat ride we took earlier.
CGA closed at 7pm, so we wanted to get one more ride on Railblazer. Still fast, still smooth, still fun, it was a nice way to end our day.
On our way home, we stopped at Costco to fuel up the car and found ourselves in what appeared to be cruise night in San Jose. But we managed to get our gas and a bite to eat nonetheless. We pulled up to my house at around midnight, just 20 hours from the start of the trip.
I didn't take as many photos as I probably should have, but when you're having fun, sometimes taking photos can be put on the back burner. Next time I take an adventure, I'll try and make sure that my phone is at the ready to record what I can.
Thank you Cody and Alisa Ann for a fun day and a great adventure.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Real ID and Rock & Roll
Because of the events of September 11, 2001, the United States government has been working to increase security in many different ways in the time since, particularly in the area of air transportation. It makes sense: if you can't prove who you are, whether you're a citizen, or if your presence in the country is legitimate, then you will no longer be able to just hop aboard an airplane and go about your merry way. Documentation is the key to keeping us safe while traveling.
As such, we've been given the chance to renew or upgrade our drivers license with the option of something they call "Real ID." If you hold a valid U.S. passport, then a Real ID isn't critical to get since getting a passport requires essentially the same documentation and showing it positively identifies you. When renewed with the proper certifications, anyone not holding a Real ID will not be able to enter a Federal facility (like a military base), or board an aircraft in the United States after October 1, 2020. You can get all of the facts by Googling "Real ID" when you get a chance. Normally I'd be happy to do it for you, but I do have a blog post to write...
Here in California, people are rushing to obtain their Real ID drivers license. Because of the high demand, appointments at DMV offices throughout the state have been hard to come by. My own license expires this summer, but I didn't want to wait till the last minute to renew it. I have no plans to get on a plane any time soon, but you never know. I'd rather have the required ID and not need it than the other way. So I took myself over to the local AAA office to find out when I could get an appointment. Unfortunately—and not at all unexpectedly—there were no appointments before August at any DMV office in Ventura County. The guy at AAA did find an open appointment at the Santa Maria DMV office on the afternoon of June 4. A little early, but that's better than waiting and missing out, so I took it.
Santa Maria is about 120 miles northwestish from my house. If nothing else, it leaves me some room for...you guessed it...an ADVENTURE! You know I can't take such a trip and not find something interesting to see or do.
On the appointed day, I got my oil topped off (you have to do that with older cars like mine), topped off the gas tank, and was northwestish-bound in no time. Traffic was nonexistent and I pulled into the parking lot of the Santa Maria DMV at 2:30, about a half-hour early for my appointment. I'm used to DMV offices that are quite large, but this one was really small. There was a long line of folks waiting to get their licenses renewed, and I thought I'd be stuck in it, but because I had an appointment, not only was there was no wait for me, but they went ahead and took me early. I got my form filled out on the computer, got my photo taken (without breaking the camera, saving even more time!), paid and received my temporary documentation. It wasn't even 3:00 when I left the building, so I was actually finished before my appointment time. It pays to get to where you're going early.
With the first part of my adventure behind me, it was now time for the fun part.
Everyone from here to Copenhagen knows that I'm quite the railfan. If it has anything to do with trains, I'm probably there. Out on Highway 1 on the outskirts of the metropolis of Oceano CA, it just so happens that there are a couple of old passenger railcars hooked together to form a restaurant: the Rock & Roll Diner. Similar to Carney's in Los Angeles, the two cars are decorated inside with memorabilia from the 1950s. There's a jukebox available to play your favorite tunes, and a phone app is available to connect your phone to any jukebox on the network and select tunes to play.
I did take a few more photos of the outside of the Diner, but this was the best one. Next, here's one that I took inside, right from where I was sitting. I tried not to get anyone else in the picture, but you'll have to settle for a half-stranger here. But it's OK. He didn't bite.
I didn't go into the other car, but from the pictures on their website, there are tables and chairs instead of booths.
The menu is interesting. In addition to the expected burgers, fries, etc., they also serve Greek and Mexican food. You'll find the menu on the website. It's actually quite extensive, so anyone coming here will find something that they like to eat, and no one will leave hungry unless they want to. Doing so would be unsmart in Eric-speak.
One regret is that I didn't get a picture of my waitress or even her name for the sake of this post. It's possible that she is one of the owners or related to one of them—there was just that...vibe. A real sweetheart for sure, which only adds to the overall experience at the Rock & Roll Diner. The five-star rating I gave them was well deserved. And looking at the reviews, I wasn't the only one who clicked on all the stars.
My license renewed, my belly full, it was time to head back home. I ran into a little traffic near Santa Barbara, but the drive back to Camarillo was OK and I got home by about 7, just in time for dinner.
As such, we've been given the chance to renew or upgrade our drivers license with the option of something they call "Real ID." If you hold a valid U.S. passport, then a Real ID isn't critical to get since getting a passport requires essentially the same documentation and showing it positively identifies you. When renewed with the proper certifications, anyone not holding a Real ID will not be able to enter a Federal facility (like a military base), or board an aircraft in the United States after October 1, 2020. You can get all of the facts by Googling "Real ID" when you get a chance. Normally I'd be happy to do it for you, but I do have a blog post to write...
Here in California, people are rushing to obtain their Real ID drivers license. Because of the high demand, appointments at DMV offices throughout the state have been hard to come by. My own license expires this summer, but I didn't want to wait till the last minute to renew it. I have no plans to get on a plane any time soon, but you never know. I'd rather have the required ID and not need it than the other way. So I took myself over to the local AAA office to find out when I could get an appointment. Unfortunately—and not at all unexpectedly—there were no appointments before August at any DMV office in Ventura County. The guy at AAA did find an open appointment at the Santa Maria DMV office on the afternoon of June 4. A little early, but that's better than waiting and missing out, so I took it.
Santa Maria is about 120 miles northwestish from my house. If nothing else, it leaves me some room for...you guessed it...an ADVENTURE! You know I can't take such a trip and not find something interesting to see or do.
On the appointed day, I got my oil topped off (you have to do that with older cars like mine), topped off the gas tank, and was northwestish-bound in no time. Traffic was nonexistent and I pulled into the parking lot of the Santa Maria DMV at 2:30, about a half-hour early for my appointment. I'm used to DMV offices that are quite large, but this one was really small. There was a long line of folks waiting to get their licenses renewed, and I thought I'd be stuck in it, but because I had an appointment, not only was there was no wait for me, but they went ahead and took me early. I got my form filled out on the computer, got my photo taken (without breaking the camera, saving even more time!), paid and received my temporary documentation. It wasn't even 3:00 when I left the building, so I was actually finished before my appointment time. It pays to get to where you're going early.
With the first part of my adventure behind me, it was now time for the fun part.
Everyone from here to Copenhagen knows that I'm quite the railfan. If it has anything to do with trains, I'm probably there. Out on Highway 1 on the outskirts of the metropolis of Oceano CA, it just so happens that there are a couple of old passenger railcars hooked together to form a restaurant: the Rock & Roll Diner. Similar to Carney's in Los Angeles, the two cars are decorated inside with memorabilia from the 1950s. There's a jukebox available to play your favorite tunes, and a phone app is available to connect your phone to any jukebox on the network and select tunes to play.
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| The Rock & Roll Diner. Notice my car parked here. |
I did take a few more photos of the outside of the Diner, but this was the best one. Next, here's one that I took inside, right from where I was sitting. I tried not to get anyone else in the picture, but you'll have to settle for a half-stranger here. But it's OK. He didn't bite.
I didn't go into the other car, but from the pictures on their website, there are tables and chairs instead of booths.
The menu is interesting. In addition to the expected burgers, fries, etc., they also serve Greek and Mexican food. You'll find the menu on the website. It's actually quite extensive, so anyone coming here will find something that they like to eat, and no one will leave hungry unless they want to. Doing so would be unsmart in Eric-speak.
One regret is that I didn't get a picture of my waitress or even her name for the sake of this post. It's possible that she is one of the owners or related to one of them—there was just that...vibe. A real sweetheart for sure, which only adds to the overall experience at the Rock & Roll Diner. The five-star rating I gave them was well deserved. And looking at the reviews, I wasn't the only one who clicked on all the stars.
My license renewed, my belly full, it was time to head back home. I ran into a little traffic near Santa Barbara, but the drive back to Camarillo was OK and I got home by about 7, just in time for dinner.
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