Archive for 2014

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Customer Service

Jul

10

2014

Our recent trip to Cedar Point was our second trip this year. The first one did not go so well. Let’s back up about 3 weeks before our successful trip…

I had planned a special father-son trip with Alpha, our oldest. He had never been to Cedar Point. I hadn’t been in over a decade. And I had never stayed at the on-site hotel. Since I was planning the trip, I decided to splurge and stay in the hotel. (Tickets are cheaper that way, and you get into the park 1 hour early. That part is key to this story).

Friday afternoon, June 6 – the big day. He gets home from school and I get home from work. We eat dinner, with the rest of the family of course, then load up the car and head out to Cedar Point. A couple hours later, we are there. We check into the hotel, walk along the shore of Lake Erie, and look into the park from the edge. We go back into the room, watch an episode of Treehouse Masters, see what we can of the Luminosity show (i.e. fireworks) from our window, and go to bed.

Everything’s going fine.

In the morning, we wake up, go downstairs for breakfast, and finish around 9:15. The park opened for early entry at 9:00, so we figure we will check out and go into the park. Back up to our room we go. One last potty break before embarking on our amusement park adventure… and the toilet doesn’t flush. And the sink doesn’t work.

I call the front desk, asking if it’s just our room. She replies that it is the whole hotel. So we check out, put our luggage in the car, and go into the park.

The water in the park isn’t working either. Toilets aren’t flushing. Drinking fountains aren’t fountaining.

But we are there, so we walk around.

I show the rides to Alpha, and he ponders them. He is interested in the water rides, but they aren’t going.

We eventually make our way to the Sky Ride. Alpha hasn’t wanted to ride anything up to that point, so I tell him that we are going to ride the Sky Ride.

So we do.

And that takes us to the front gate.
(more…)

Posted in Mishaps | 2 Comments »

Cedar Point, 2014

Jul

8

2014

I took Alpha on a trip to Cedar Point. I hadn’t been there since 1990-something.

It’s a lot smaller than I remember.

I’m sure it’s the same size – it’s just my perspective has changed. Most of my memories from there are as a grade-schooler and middle-schooler.

Things I’m disappointed aren’t there anymore:

  • IMAX – a highlight of the day because of two things: air-conditioning and sitting. Plus that feeling you got when the movie crested the mountain peak and you thought you were going to fall…
  • Pirate Ride – I didn’t like roller coasters much, so this flat ride was one I handle.
  • Paddlewheel excursion – I didn’t ride this much, but it was a nice diversion. Again, not a roller coaster.
  • Jungle Larry’s Animal Safari – I was trying to remember where exactly this was. I think Mantis or Millenium Force is there now.

Things that changed:

  • Junior Gemini – It’s still there, just as a Snoopy ride now
  • Ferris Wheel – It’s supposed to be by the train station. Although having it right by the shore does provide a nice view now.
  • Steam Enginges – I didn’t check, but it seems to me that the trains have been converted from coal power into something else. There’s no smoke, and no nostalgia-inducing smell.

(more…)

Posted in Travel | 2 Comments »

Minefield

Jul

3

2014

People often ask us “How do you keep your house clean with 4 boys?”

Answer: we don’t.

Sure, our house gets cleaned, but it doesn’t stay clean.

Exhibit A

image of floor full of scattered Lego bricks

Here we have the upstairs landing/play area. If you want to get to the closet (back left, out of the photo), you have to make your way carefully through the Lego minefield.

You’ll notice there are a couple of spots cleared for feet, but not many. And if you are carrying anything large to or from the closet, your best bet is to shuffle your feet to plow through the Legos.

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.

Genesis 3:15

Posted in Life | 2 Comments »

The Slingshot Ride

Jul

1

2014

When I visited Cedar Point in early June of 2014, I saw the Slingshot was under construction. When I saw the description, I figured since it is a reverse bungee jump, it would be made of bungee cords.

Nope.

Now I have seen it in action, and it does not use bungee cords. It uses steel cables and springs. Actually, I don’t know that they are steel, just that they are non-elastic.

In case you are curious as to the Slingshot, here’s a summary: one moment you are at ground level, and 3 seconds later you are 300 feet in the air. This GIF might help explain:
(more…)

Posted in Fun | 1 Comment »

Ketchup Bottles

Jun

26

2014

An Open Letter to Restaurants

Here’s fair warning, restaurants: we are on to you.

We have caught on to your plans to deceive us, to make us think we have a full bottle of ketchup at our table.

Well, it’s not working.

We have seen past your little disguise. Past the solid-red plastic.

Oh yes, we know it’s the bottle that is red, and that the red is not the ketchup inside.

Why don’t you just give up?

Let us see how much ketchup is in the bottle. That way we don’t have to go through the effort of reaching the bottle, only to find it lacks substance.

And it will save us time for when we snatch a bottle of ketchup from an unoccupied table, only to discover that bottle is empty too.

What are you hiding?

Use clear plastic bottles like everyone else does.

Sincerely,

A Customer

If I were tasked with making restaurant customers’ lives harder, I would keep the opaque red bottles. And I would add weights to the bottles.

That way, customers could no longer use the coping mechanisms they have found useful – hefting the bottle to assess the weight.

There is a positive correlation between weight and ketchup volume. I would exploit that by making each empty bottle weigh as much as a normal full bottle should.

Gotta stay one step ahead of the customer if you want to stay in business.

Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with lyre

Genesis 31:27

Posted in Ideas | No Comments »

Sudooku

Jun

24

2014

image of a Sudoku puzzle with Count Dooku instead of numbers

A cross between a Sudoku puzzle and Count Dooku from Star Wars, in case you are wondering what this is all about.

So they arose and went over by count, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.

2 Samuel 2:15

Posted in Ideas | 2 Comments »

Reviewing the Reviews

Jun

19

2014

My son was interested in reading a particular book from the library. We were not familiar with the author nor the series, so I set out to learn something about it before giving our approval.

My normal source for age-appropriateness and objectionable-content reviews of books is Common Sense Media, but they did not have anything for this book. So I thought I would look up other reviews, such as at Goodreads or Amazon or other places that people review books.

One of the strengths of the internet is that anyone can join discussions and contribute things, i.e. crowdsourcing. Reviews should, and many times do, benefit from the myriad inputs.

But one of the weaknesses of the internet is that the quality of contributions vary wildly.

In this case, most of the reviews were worthless. Most of them were a star rating (mandatory), an expression of sorts (I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!), and then a plot summary (It was a very exciting book that starts with the such-and-such and then this happens and they have to figure out this thing, etc.) There were very few helpful reviews. The reviews that were helpful seemed to use the format of listing pros and cons.

An Open Letter to Book Reviewers

Dear Reviewer of Books:

If there is already a plot summary of the book in the page content or in the other reviews on the page, then do not write your own plot summary.

Seriously, a book review page does not need dozens of plot summaries.

Give us your star ranking, some things you like about it, and some things you don’t like about it. What is your perspective of the book?

How about this: read five other comments and then make sure your comment/review is different from them. Do not duplicate anything from them.

Sincerely,

People who are trying to use the reviews

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it.

Daniel 7:1

Posted in Life | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »