Eric G. Wiley

When it comes to saying good things about Cedar Point, I always have to tell myself to calm down and parse out one sentence at a time. So here's one: Despite being open only four solid months/year, it still keeps every other amusement park in the world living in its harem tent. Disney, Paramount, Sea World(s), Bush Gardens, Universal - all those big, bad corporate amusement parks scurry back to the dressing room and don pink 'I Dream of Genie' sheers when Cedar Point enters the room.

I'm going to cut this off early because I'm having a hard time parsing. In the meantime, here's the new 2007 park map (in .PDF format). The coasters aren't labeled yet but you can still get excited and pretend you're deciding which coaster to hit next. The new Maverick is on this one - located in the top left section of the peninsula - just below the Cedar Point/Snoopy text logo.

Posted by Eric Wiley at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Folks living in Ohio these days are fortunate to witness the resurgence of several groups of animals that have been absent from the state for generations. One of the most recent returns could help towards making the woods scary and exciting again.

If you live in the eastern part of Ohio within two counties of the PA or WVA border, there may be a bear sighting in your future. In 2005, the ODNR received 105 reports of black bear sightings. Of those, 43 were confirmed by the green clad ODNR research biologists.

They'll mark it up as a sighting if they can confirm: Scat, tracks, damaged bird feeders, destroyed beehives and (of course) photos provided by the witnesses. The sightings occur mostly in the months of May, June and July during breeding season when the bears are most active.

More info (older statistics) on the ODNR site if you're interested.

Posted by Eric Wiley at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Caught some crawdads
in the creek today
put them in a coffe can
and let 'em fight away

Club Claw got
Mr. Red Tip's leg
He tore it off
The kids say "Whoa!"
Now Red Tip's got a peg

At the Maxwell House Arena
I scored a front row seat
Because I caught the biggest crayfish
with the most amount of meat

Mom said she'll cook them in a pot
if we really think we'll eat them
I have butterflies as the time draws near
and can see the water steaming

She put the plate in front of us
full of crawdads limp and hot
I don't think that I will either
since my brothers said they're not

Posted by Eric Wiley at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Written by "Porchclimber"

Ay. Just want you to know I 'preciate the work you been puttin' in your blog an flickr pages and stuff. I know it must take up a lot of your time - organizing all those digital pics of your hot wife and your new car and your sweet-ass ipod.

I noticed in that one close-up on flickr you got your iPod engraved with your name. Nice touch! The picture you took of your CD library leaves no doubt in my mind that you've got very good taste in music. Your home office is very well organized, too - I really am jealous. Was that a Mac Book Pro I saw on your desk?

What did that house run ya - 400 Gs? Man! I would love to chill out on your back deck like I saw you doing with all your friends in that one photo set. Your friend's wives are hot, too, dude! If I had a hot tub built into my deck I'd be hittin' it butt ass naked every night.

Anyway, I know sometimes people wonder if all the work they put into something is worth it, so just wanted you to know that I, for one, am a fan of all you're doin'. The effort you put into the details is what really makes it worth lookin at. The fact that you geo-mapped your house and told me on your blog what time you go to work every day will make my life a lot easier when I get out of jail and have to get back to work.

I got ya bookmarked, bro! Ciao.

Posted by Eric Wiley at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've done some searches on the Internet for images of the kinds of chickens they farm to produce chicken drums and wings. The little kind. I'd like to see a photograph of a real live chicken-wing chicken. If anybody out there can find one, please let me know and I'll post it here.

I bet they look really dirty.

[added later]
On second thought, I would rather not see a picture of a chicken-wing chicken...

Posted by Eric Wiley at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

2006 was another year of big changes. Here's a brief summary of the highlights:

• I began to dress a little snazzier. Erik and Amy gave me an entire wardrobe of suits that they purchased at an estate sale...so if you see me looking nice, it's probably because I'm wearing a dead man's clothes.
• The model year of our car matched the calendar year.
• Colleen got pregnant.
• Both sides of our family lost their matriarchs. Strong leaders and role models that can't be replaced. Fortunately, they influenced us in such a way that everyone will continue to benefit from their model behavior, love and good genes for generations to come.
• We said goodbye to the city life. Aside from the absence of our easy-access-friends & some good coffee shops, we've been happy with the change.
• I became a web developer. Again. Goodbye tables, Hello Style Sheets!
• Colleen had a baby. Dec. 11. The icing on 2006.

Posted by Eric Wiley at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This blog was lost for a while. Six months, actually. I moved and, like everything else, it got boxed up and mislabeled. It was just getting started when I pulled the plug and threw it into a rental truck.

This morning I'm going to wipe off the news print, oil up the gears and see how it runs. Hopefully it'll get a lot more use from here on out.

Posted by Eric Wiley at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Everyone seems pretty excited about the iPhone. And by everybody, I mean the media AND real people. I'm sensitive to how people around me react to expensive new things. I use it as a way of measuring my level of disposable income against the average. In this most recent informal mental survey, it seems I am sorely lacking. My first thought upon hearing the product details was, "Looks neat but spend not another iota of brain power on this new object because it costs six hundred dollars and, therefore, you aren't getting one." Whoa. I sound like my parents.

The fact that Cingular is the carrier is pretty much a deal-killer for me. My house is in a rural area where they currently have weak penetration. Still, I'm looking forward to messing with it at the Apple store. It'll be interesting to see how many demo models each store will stock for us grubby-handed pedestrians.

Posted by Eric Wiley at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)