One of the newer roller coasters at Kings Island, a Cincinnati amusement park, is the Italian Job.  The theme of this coaster is that you are a movie stunt driver doing a chase scene.

Unlike most roller coasters where you slowly go “click click” to the top of the highest hill, this roller coaster accelerates you quickly out of the loading area and on to the course.  You rapidly go through a series of twists and turns and then come to a stop.

At the stop, a mock helicopter shoots at you and some oil drums blow up.  After a few seconds, you are then sent through a tunnel and on to your final drop.

All and all, it was a fun ride and since it was last years new roller coaster, there was hardly a line.  On a scale of 1-10 I give it an 8.

The Beast is the signature roller coaster for Kings Island, a Cincinnati amusement park. It is a wooden roller coaster and has been around since the park first opened. It’s five minute ride is one of the longest of most amusement parks and features a second lift along with several enclosed turns.

When it comes to roller coasters, I bench mark them against the Gemini, a twin track wooden roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio. I consider the Gemini to be a premium ride which features a lot of thrills with a smooth delivery.

The Beast has a lot of thrills and is an overall fun ride. But, it tends to beat you up a little with the jerkiness of the ride, much like the Mean Streak at Cedar Point. But all and all, it is a ride worth doing over and over again.

On a scale of one to ten, I would have to give the Beast a nine.

The Fire Hawk, a metal roller coaster, is one of the newest rides at Kings Island, an amusement park in Cincinnati. Unlike most rides where you either sit or stand, with the Fire Hawk, you traverse the track Superman style. Thats right, Superman style. You are literally hanging horizontally from your gondola.

Since it was a new ride, the line was long. But the fans with atomizing water kept the crowd cool.

When our turn came, we sat down in the car and they strapped us in.  Then, when everyone was set to go, the car reclined backwards until we were all on our backs.  Once we started down the first drop, the car did a 180 degree roll and we were flying along the track Superman style.

The ride was nice but I would have enjoyed it more if my seat belt had been tighter.  As it was, I spent most of my time trying to keep from sliding around in the car.

All and all, it was a smooth ride.  Next time, I’ll make a point in getting my seatbelt tight.

One of the attractions in Cincinnati is Kings Island. Kings Island is an amusement park that has been around since 1972 so for an amusement park, it is rather new. But, it is an amusement park with roller coasters so we felt bound to check it out.

The first thing that you need to know about Kings Island is that it is not on an island. Rather, it is located on some land northeast of Cincinnati. But, even though it is not an island, it still has its share of water rides, all of which are accessible with your admission to the park.

As far as amusement parks go, it is not real large but it is growing. In fact, it has been adding new rides every year for the past few years. And unlike Cedar Point, the other big amusement park in Ohio, Kings Island is not land locked by Lake Erie so it has room to grow.

One of the signs of the times is at the main gate. There is now a metal detector for the security of its visitors.

As with most amusement parks in the area, the park is immaculately clean which is always appreciated. There are an adequate number of restrooms. And since Ohio is a smoke free state, every restroom area has an adjoining smoking area.

One of the distractions of the park is the food selection; Skyline Chili seems to be everywhere. No matter where you look, there is an ad for Skyline Chili or a stand selling it.

For anyone not familiar with Skyline Chili, it is a Cincinnati favorite. It is usually severed on a hot dog with lots of shredded Cheddar cheese or on spaghetti. And while there is nothing wrong with it, there is just too much of it.

Along with the Skyline Chili, there is also La Rosa’s pizza. Again, La Rosa’s pizza claims Cincinnati as it’s home. But as far as pizza goes, it is mediocre.

One redeeming point of the food side is that they have a Bubba Gumps. And while Bubba Gumps is not exactly haute cuisine, it is a step up from Skyline Chili and La Rosa’s pizza, though I expect the prices are quite a step up also.

And lets not forget the rides. Kings Island boasts of 80 ride for both the young and the old. Though we only did about 6 rides, it was more than enough for the day. I’ll post ride details later.

All and all, it was a good time.

While staying in the Montgomery area of Cincinnati, we ate breakfast at the Original Pancake House. Not only was this the Original Pancake House, it was the one and only Original Pancake House. And their claim to fame is, well, pancakes though they also offered a selection of waffles and crepes.

The food was good and reasonably priced. The service was good though they seemed to be lacking on coffee refills which I attribute to the wait staff and not their policy.

Their omelets are made with 4 eggs so they are huge. Plus, they are so big that they are baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. I passed on the omelets as I am barely able to eat a 2 egg omelet.

We ate there twice and both times the place was busy. I wonder if the Original Pancake House has ever thought of opening a second pancake house. Maybe they could call it the Second Original Pancake House.

Here at the office, (State of Michigan) everyone is having their email program converted over from Group Wise to Outlook. Those of us on Group Wise, see this conversion process as a real pain in the rear.

First of all, you have to be present for this conversion as every PC has a user assigned password. Second, we have not been trained on using Outlook, so we will have to learn from trial and error. Third, Outlook does not have the same features as Group Wise, so it is a step backwards for email use.

So, in a effort to put a positive spin on this process, the computer folks have put up bright colored posters. These posters announce that on 09/03/07, they will start converting over our PCs. The only problem is that 09/03/07 is a holiday and no one will be in the office on that day.

I am sure that this is just an oversight on the part of the computer folks but it doesn’t give me warm fuzzy feelings about the process. After all, if they missed something as simple as the start date, what other things have they missed?

I have the urge to write “God help us” on the bottom of the posters.

Our apartment in Cincinnati is quite nice. Two bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, kitchen, laundry, living room/dining room, walkout patio, about 1100 sq. ft. It is the same floor plan as the apartment that our daughter Rachel has.

It is fully furnished complete with cable TV and air conditioning.  Unfortunately, the master bedroom only has a full size bed.

Now, it has been about 35 years since I have slept on any thing as small as a full sized bed. At home, we have a king size bed.  Even when we travel, we request a room with a king size bed.  So, sleeping on a full size bed is a challenge.

One of the biggest things that I notice is that my feet hang off the end of the bed.  Fortunately, there are enough covers to keep my feet warm, but it is still strange to have my feet tangling in the air as I sleep.  In fact, even the couch is longer than the bed.

I guess if push come to shove, I can always sleep on the couch.

One of the attractions along the interstate, here in Ohio, is “Touchdown Jesus”. Not to be irreverent, Touchdown Jesus is a giant statue of Jesus, rising up out of the water after being baptized. He is called Touchdown Jesus because both of his arms are stretched straight above his head as if he was signally for a touchdown.

This statue is located in front of a church and is situated in the middle of a artificial pond. I am sure that the church had good intentions when it built the statue. They probable wanted to attract the attention of people on the interstate. Well, they did, but I am not sure that it is for the right reasons.

Touchdown Jesus is now one of the travelers roadside attractions. It falls into the same category as Wall Drugs and the Diesel Fried Chicken sign. It is a place where people say, “I saw a picture of that in a magazine.”

And what were the people of the church thinking when they decided to erect this statue? Did they think that they were going to attract people to their church? Or were they just trying to make a statement to the world? Who knows? At least they attracted the attention of the NFL. Maybe the idea was that they watch football after their Sunday services and so the church is a place to be, much like a sports bar.

Well, anyway, so far the Bengal’s haven’t adopted it as their mascot.

The Ohio rest areas on Interstate 75 are interesting places to say the least. They seem to consist of a building for the restrooms and a kiosk with vending machines.

The kiosks, of course, were an after thought. When the rest areas were first built, it hadn’t occurred to anyone that they could make money by selling pop and candy to weary travelers. And so, when they realized the revenue potential, there was no room for the machines in the main buildings.

What I find interesting is that guns are prohibited in the kiosks but not in the bathrooms.

Now, any time that I see an inconsistency like that, I have to wonder about the thought behind it.

Are the bathrooms unsafe and therefore, you should take a gun in with you? And, what are you protecting your self from? Rape? Mafia hits? Sodomy? All of the above?

Or is it because there is money at the kiosks and they are afraid of armed robbery.

Of course, I fail to see how prohibiting guns in the kiosks is going to deter criminals. I can’t see some criminal saying to himself, “gee, I was going to rob that guy but it is illegal to have guns in the kiosk.” And if such thoughts did occur, any criminal would just wait until the victim left the kiosk before robbing him.

But, in reality, failing to post “no guns allowed” notices in the bathrooms is probably more of bureaucratic over sight than a conscience decision.