Spent the day doing pretty much nothing… watched a movie, watch the Tar Heels kill UCSB, played a bunch of Call of Duty on Xbox 360, and about to get a Pay Per View movie. I never even made it out of the pajamas today. Oh well. It was relaxing!

Just wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year if I don’t post about it in the coming days. I’ve got four days off and very grateful for the time to basically veg out and hang out around the house, play some Xbox 360 and pretty much not do much of anything. I’m hoping the time does Amanda good too and she gets rid of her nasty-ass cough!

Crap. One of the better Apple rumor sites is down for the count. It’s a TKO via an Apple lawsuit settlement.

I had no idea the site was run by a college kid. It would have been expensive and probably not worth the effort, but if it had gone to trial, I wonder if Think Secret would have won. Either way, they’re walking a thin line between censorship and revealing corporate secrets.

Think Secret Shuts Down, Settles Apple Lawsuit

Damn. JC pulled out of going to the Carolina game tonight, and Amanda is still too sick to go. (plus a 9pm start time is definitely a bit late for her). No biggie – I’ll just TiVo it and timeshift it a bit, drum a few songs in Rock Band and then watch the game. Great plan, eh? It would have been but just found out that the game is blacked out on ESPNU. Sucks! I’ve got free lunch riding on this game. Anyway, go Heels!

I haven’t been back to Kings Dominion in a year or two. Looks like next time we make it up (hoping for a spring road trip up there with JC, Bret, etc.), we’ll have two new coasters to check out – last year’s addition of the Italian Job coaster, and the late Spring 2008 addition of Kings Dominion’s 14th coaster. It’s great to see them continue to innovate and add onto their coaster lineup. Plus, it helps spread out the thrill seekers and thin the lines out at the older coasters.

They’ll need to be adding land onto the park soon. I wonder if that is going to stunt their growth in future seasons?

Record Breaking Roller Coaster Planned for Kings Dominion in 2008

Looks like Paramount sold the park at some point too. (Paramount bought the park in ‘92) I noticed the site looks different, and the footer lists Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. Hmmm Will rides loose their movie name sakes like Wayne’s World, Sponge Bob, etc?

Wow, I somehow missed this. Paramount sold the park in 2006: Kings Dominion, formerly Paramount’s Kings Dominion

A bit of a rambling post going on here, but oh well. It’s good to have some verbose content on Keefer Madness. The link below answers my question about the retention of the Wayne’s World theme, etc.:

The coasters originally borrowed their theme from the 1992 Paramount motion picture Wayne’s World, whose main characters frequently used the word “hurl.” While Paramount sold both parks in 2006, the new owners have retained the name as fitting for a roller coaster but removed all references to Wayne’s World.
The Hurler at Kings Dominion was closed at the start of the 2006 season in order to be re-tracked. It has since reopened.

Wikipedia Entry on Kings Dominion’s Hurler

This is pretty cool. I have not tried it out yet, but should be able to check it out soon. It sounds like it has a lot of potential, converting your GPS’s files into map data for Google maps, etc. Can’t wait to give it a try.

GPS Visualizer: Do-It-Yourself Mapping

I swear I’ve never been to Belgium.. ever!

Kelly Clarkson Fan Gets Too Close During Concert

I was wondering what was going to happen with Trek. Prior to Discovery Channel’s disappearance from the professional peloton, they were the sole team utilizing Trek’s great bike hardware. Looks like Trek will still be around in 2008, with Discovery’s former leader’s new team, Astana, Johan Bruyneel.

Trek Signs With Astana