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Travel Update

Travel Update (2003/09/01): Off to PGA for the "farewall" to Stealth. Today marks its final day in the park before making its way out to Carowinds.

Travel Update (2003/08/31): Mark and I headed to SFMW for the day to get him his first ride on Zonga. The park, as per usual, was pretty packed (and had some sort of "festival" going, unassociated with Labor Day and such). Zonga, Medusa, a few flat rides and Roar were about all we hit.

Update (2003/08/30): A lot more backend work. Updated a lot of the things that will make this site "go" in the weeks to come... also have been working on a yet-unannounced-idea, though no formal code has hit the bench, yet.

Travel Update (2003/07/04): Went down to San Diego and took a few shots of the San Diego (Mission Beach) Giant Dipper. Also made a few other (non-coaster) parks over the long weekend.

Update (2003/06/24): I have made a bunch of updates to the parks database (both the current and future versions). Still a bunch more to do, of course...

Update (2003/06/23): I have updated/verified all of the coasters for all of the various Paramount Parks in both the current database as well as the new one (which I've not switched the site over to yet). At this point, the database structures are diverging enough that I'll have to move to the new one soon, if for nothing else than to maintain what little sanity I current manage. (*grin*)

Travel Update (2003/06/22): I'm back from Coastercon on the east coast. I'd like to publically thank Paramount's King's Dominion for their absolutely superb hospitality during this convention. PKD demonstrated an unbelieveable level of generosity and commitment to us -- I simply can not adequately express my gratitude to them at this time, though I hope to draft a letter to Mr. Zimmerman as well as Mr. Al Weber. (I will, however, refrain from dumping on Six Flags America at the present time; though perhaps that will be covered in a trip report that may or may not show up here sometime soon).

Travel Update (2003/06/13): Mark and I will be leaving for CoasterCon with the American Coaster Enthusiasts at Busch Gardens - The Old Country in Williamsburg Virginia, Paramount King's Dominion in Doswell Virginia and Six Flags America outside of the nation's capital.

Update (2003/06/09): I've now thrown all the existing data in to a transitory database (ie. something I'll bridge to the new DB server). Time to fix the way the data makes it to the pages. I've also added a simple logo to the front page, courtesy a couple minutes of work from xtabi.net.

Update (2003/06/08): I've updated many pages on the site and am continuing to work on the backend. I've also corrected a problem that was seeming to prevent updates from showing up on the live site.

Update (2003/06/07): Many backend updates done. The current database system is now structure-complete in preparation for moving to it sometime in the near-future. (this is different from the new server, previously mentioned)

Update (2003/06/04): I've tested the interconnectivity between this web server and the new backend database system and it would appear to be working fine. While this is truly a premature step, it's still a very important change and will be valuable in the future.

Update (2003/06/02): The new backend database system has been installed and seems to be running fine. While this won't help me in the short term and there are still a couple transitions remaining before we use this alternate server, this will be the system that will eventually drive the site (as well as a few others for my other collateral projects).

Update (2003/05/31): Updated some of the middleware to be used on the site in the near future. This is more stable/secure than previous versions and I hope to make great use of it soon.

Accident (2003/05/31): I am deeply saddened to learn that a fellow ACE member has paid the ultimate price on Holiday World's Raven coaster. There has been much speculation as to the ultimate reason behing the accident and her not making it back to the station in her seat shortly before the park's closing that day. The Raven has been a much-talked-about coaster in the past, and again, I'm truly saddened to learn of this terrible accident. I can only offer my sincere condolences and sympathies to her family.

Travel Update (2003/05/29): Six Flags Marine World played benevolent host to a morning full of ERT on their new coaster, Zonga, for a handful of lucky ACE members. This ride offers plenty of upside down "air time" and, once you learn how to ride it, is truly a superb ride (I think I missed four or five trains in the hour long session that morning). This ride has been bashed, in the past, for being overly rough... but I assure you, much like the old Flashback at SFMM, it's a matter of learning to ride the ride and this is truly an excellent coaster. I thank Six Flags Marine World for their hospitality and am proud to say that thanks to this trip, I've updated my season pass collection to include a card from Six Flags Marine World for this year (my third concurrent annual pass this year, even though I typically try to get my Six Flags pass from a different park every year).

Update (2003/05/24): Updated some of the backend scripting engines to give me more flexibility and smaller meantime to respond.

Update (2003/05/14): Restored some of my personal directories to the server after a long hiatus. While not necessarily pertinent to the rest of the site, these give me a little more peace-of-mind that things are progressing forward.

Update (2003/05/01): The system's been moved to a faster, more stable link where I'll have more direct-control over it. This new provider has proven to be stable over the last few months (at the current site) and years (overall).

Travel Update (2003/04/26): I've made my way down to Knott's Berry Farm to obtain my Cedar Fair annual pass in anticipation of my trip to Cedar Point and Michigan's Adventure sometime later this year. I was able to get a few back-to-back rides on Xlerator, making me wonder an anticipate just-how-intense Top Fuel Dragster is going to be, considering it's one-half more speed in a little less than twice the time (82mph in 2.2 seconds versus 120mph in 4 seconds).

Update (2003/02/16): Updated some web server pieces. This should help make the site faster, more stable and a better foundation for some future upcoming changes.

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