XM Radio

wheelieman · Post by **wheelieman** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 1:36 am

BirdMom wrote:Hey Wheelieman~~~how was your California vacation???

Hey Birdmom!
It was ohhhkay. I had a great time at Knott's, and got to see my family in San Diego. That drive to and from MN is a killer though. We stayed with my wife's parents, and that was a bit stressful. I still miss California, and these trips just make me wish we had never moved here.

You guys may not realize it, but you have the best variety of food, and the best Mexican food on the planet. I love to say that the Mexican food in OC is as good as REAL Mexican food, but with the benefit of the Department of Agriculture restaraunt rating system!

We also stayed in Vegas for 2 days on the way home. That was pretty fun, too. What ever happened to those $1.99 steak dinners and $14 a night hotel rooms? I guess I am still living in the '80s.

I really missed going to Disneyland this year, but we had Annual Passes to ValleyFair! whose parent company also owns Knott's, so we didn't have to pay to get in there. Knott's did a pretty good job with thier Ice show, this year and I loved Excellerator and Ghost Rider.

I also wish I could have met someone from either here or Westcoaster, which is also mainly poplulated by theme park buffs who don't want to be passholes. I did get to meet this girl that works at Knott's named Heather. She is known throughout the Coaster Buff world as someone who really "Staples" riders into their seats. I talked to her for a few minutes, and she officially "Stapled" me into Ghost Rider. Apparently some guys from a few local coaster boards gave her a nametag that said "I Staple Because I Care". That was one of the highlights of the trip, as far as I was concerned. I also got XM Sattelite radio for Christmas, and that was awesome.

Dave Freezing here in my living room in Minnesota
yesterdays temp was -10 with a -35 wind chill.

Edited by CujoSR: Split topic and added quote.

Weeble · Post by **Weeble** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 2:32 pm

I met some REALLY cool people from St. Cloud, Minnesota down in Miami at the Phish shows. They gave me a recipe for Hot Dish, which I had never heard of. I made it the other night and it was YUM.

IndyBob · Post by **IndyBob** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 9:15 pm

XM really does rock. I think its been diagnosed as a clincal addiction just recently too

Dante101 · Post by **Dante101** » Sun Jan 25, 2004 3:14 am

wheelieman wrote:I did get to meet this girl that works at Knott's named Heather. She is known throughout the Coaster Buff world as someone who really "Staples" riders into their seats. I talked to her for a few minutes, and she officially "Stapled" me into Ghost Rider. Apparently some guys from a few local coaster boards gave her a nametag that said "I Staple Because I Care".

You lost me - what does "stapling someone into their seats" mean? Is that some kind of sexual escapade during the ride?

I always thought about joining a roller coaster group. I love riding coasters, but I absolutely hate the overhead restraints most coasters use. They really ruin the ride for me. I've tried holding my head forward, pressing my head back and just trying to hold it in a normal position, but my head always bangs violently between the padded restraint bars. Even though they're padded, it still kinda hurts. It's like trying to watch a movie while two guys keep hitting you on the side of your head.

So because of that, I love coasters that don't go upside down (since they don't have the overhead restraints).

The DCA coaster is nice and smooth, though. My head doesn't band around when riding that one. It reminds me of the Revolution at MM.

What was the topic of this thread again?...

hulkcoaster · Post by **hulkcoaster** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:30 am

stapling is when the operator pushes the lap bar into your body forcefully while checking restraints, just to make sure you are secure :roll:

Freak · Post by **Freak** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 2:25 am

Heather's pretty cool. She staples those coaster freaks so they can't enjoy any airtime. Hahaha.

wheelieman · Post by **wheelieman** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:29 pm

Yeah, Heather was fun to talk to. It was kind of funny, she was telling me that she had NO idea that anyone every talked about her online, then her bosses called her into the office and said "Have you seen this stuff that they say about you?". She was pretty funny.

You guys are so right about XM! I want to go just sit in my minivan and listen to it. When I first got it, my radio didnt do a very good job with it. It sounded like listening through ears that hadnt popped yet while gaining altitude in an aircraft. Sort of muted. SOOOoooo...
I went and added a little somethin' somethin' to my system. My minivan now has;

A full Capacitor to power
a] RockfordFosgate 301M 900 Watt Amplifier powering a 10" RockfordFosgate 800 Watt Sub-woofer
b] Pioneer 400 Watt Amplifier powering 4 Pioneer 4-ways in the doors.

Needless to say, it doesn't sound muted anymore. It sounds very nice.

I predict that XM [sorry this is so off topic] will make AM and FM obsolete. People said no one would pay to listen to the radio, but 1,300,000 subscribers later....plus, they said people wouldnt pay to watch tv, but how many people do you know that don't have at least BASIC cable? There are a few, but not many. I havent listened to either one except to compare signals. I love being able to here Rick Dees here in Minnesota, and Radio Disney sounds so much better in stereo! I cant believe that they don't broadcast in FM! My kids love Radio Disney, but I couldn't stand listening to what amounted to the old "Mighty 690" from the 70's because of the quality.

Anyway,

later.

Dave in MN

wheelieman · Post by **wheelieman** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:39 pm

I almost forgot. Weeble, Hotdish, it's really what they call Casserol everywhere else. It's hilarious to hear the differences in the way they talk here in Minnesota. Casserol is Hotdish. They don't understand the proper usage of the verb "borrow". They say, "hey, would you BORROW me some money till I get paid". The rest of the english speaking world knows that the tool you use to cut paper with is a PAIR OF SCISSORS. Minnesotans call them A SCISSOR. So, would you borrow me a scissor?

Dave, languishing in hell

BirdMom · Post by **BirdMom** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 3:14 pm

wow, wheelieman, so sorry you had such a long drive...

The pastor at my old church (Grace Lutheran in Huntington Beach) was from Minnesota...he always referred to it as "the holy land." (for those of you who aren't Lutheran, that wasn't a funny reference).

About 20 years ago, my mother had something like XM radio, but it was through our cable t.v. - I loved that thing. You could listen to your kind of music with no commercials whatsoever! I'd get the XM radio, but I'm waiting until I get a new car, and that won't be until I'm done with school and have a permanant job for at least a year (talk about playing it safe...)

wheelieman · Post by **wheelieman** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 4:50 pm

Hi Birdmom,

I thought I would explain the Holy land. This is the Land of the Lutherans. Sure, the Catholics have beautiful cathedrals in each of the Twin Cities, but the Lutherans have a church on every corner. They are like Jack in the Boxes out there. Seeing as most of the people here are from one Scandanavian country or other and that's where the Lutherans got there start.

BOY, WAY OFF TOPIC, but, I personally go to an Evangelical Free Church where I operate the Intelligent lighting system for concerts, Christmas and Easter productions, etc. So, I thought I would try to post a picture from our 2003 Christmas show. It shows the lighting really well.

Okay, I can only get the img to work with my Avatar, so that will have to do for now.
We have that cable sattelite music thing now. Its pretty good still. Digital Music with a pretty good variety.
Dave