Home Decor
 A week or so back, I mentioned that I had mounted several pictures and other things on the walls of the apartment. Over the several days, I will share with you the things we have decorated with - beginning today.
Today, I'll share with you our numbered print of the 2006 New Orleans Jazz Fest poster that Kayla and I had matted and framed at Michael's out here in Baton Rouge. The poster, entitled "Rockin' to New Orleans", was painted by renowned New Orleans artist James Michalopoulos. This is his fourth Jazz Fest poster with his first three becoming some of the most sought after posters of the series.
In 1998, he portrayed Mac Rebennack a.k.a. Dr. John on a moonlit French Quarter street. In 2001, he created one of the most famous Jazz Fest posters ever featuring New Orleans's own Satchmo - Louis Armstrong on a French Quarter street corner, under a lamp, holding his trumpet wiping the sweat from his brow. Poster #3 came just 2 years later in 2003 with New Orleans native Mahalia Jackson belting out a gospel tune in front of a full gospel choir.
This year's poster features a young Antione "Fats" Domino, tickling the ivories in the French Quarter. Historically, these posters have become highly sought after by collectors in future years. I feel that this year's poster will be one of the most coveted ever. It now hangs behind our sofa in the living room.
Roller Coaster Requests
The thirtieth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Batman The Ride. This inverted steel coaster features 5 inversions at speeds of 50mph and maximum exposure to 4 G-forces.
The ride can be found at Six Flags St. Louis in Missouri.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 31, 2006
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Scientific Breakthrough
Scientists announced a possible ground-breaking (no pun intended) discovery in volcanology - a fourth type of volcano. According to an article on FoxNews.com, there are three known types of volcanoes:
- Divergent Faults - occur when tectonic plates move away from each other and the magma come up through the opening in the crust.
- Convergent Faults - occur when tectonic plates collide together.
- Hot Spots - occur when plumes of magma at fixed locations well up through the crust as it moves over the spots. This is how the Hawai'ian Islands were created.
The new type of volcano are thought to occur when the mantle just under the crust is squeezed out by tectonic forces when one plate slides under another. These small volcanoes my be widespread across ocean floors. What have scientists decided that these new volcanoes should be called you ask? "Petit Spots"!!!
And NO, I'm not kidding (read the story).
Roller Coaster Requests
The twenty-ninth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Six Flags Ultimate Flight. This flying steel coaster features the world's first "pretzel loop" inversion (pictured below) and a 100ft drop all while hanging from the track.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Over Georgia in Georgia.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 28, 2006
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It's All About the Benjamins
Although the Saints' #1 draft pick has not been signed (or even offerred a contract according to some reports), that may not last very much longer. Both the Tennessee Titans and New York Jets came to terms with their #1 picks (picks #3 & #4 overall last April).
The Titans signed QB Vince Young to a 5-year deal reportedly worth $58 million, $25.7 million in guaranteed money. With #1 overall pick Mario Williams being signed since the night before the draft to a $54 million deal, $26.5 million guaranteed, the Saints and Bush now have the parameters with which to negotiate.
The thought is now that he may be signed as early as the weekend, resulting in only a minimal hold-out of a day or so. Personally, I believe that the hold-out isn't really what Bush wants; I think he has surrounded himself by agents and lawyers that "know the biz" and are making all the decision for him. I just hope they can all come to terms soon and get on with the season. For Bush's sake, the Saints' sake and for all of the fans.
Roller Coaster Requests
The twenty-eighth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Batman The Ride. This steel inverted coaster inverts riders 5 times at speeds up to 50mph. The ride is 2,700ft long, lasts 2 minutes and exposes riders to 4 Gs of force.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Over Georgia in Georgia.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 27, 2006
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Future of LSU Baseball
LSU released artist renderings of the new Alex Box Stadium scheduled to begin construction later this year and open in time for the 2008 NCAA baseball season.
The new stadium will seat roughly 1,000 more fans with added amenities that the original stadium by the same name lacks. Also, the stadium is designed to blend in with the Italian Renaissance architecture of the majority of the buildings on the LSU campus. Also, the stadium will feature many areas for fans to tailgate in RVs and cars.
Personally, I think that it is a GREAT plan and the facility will again be one of the premier stadiums in the SEC and all of college baseball. I can't wait to see games there. Click the picture below for a more detailed look at the front of the stadium.
Roller Coaster Requests
The twenty-seventh installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters was known as Superman Ultimate Escape from 2000-2003; it is now called Steel Venom. This steel inverted coaster utilizes a LIM - or Linear Induction Motor (a form of electromagnetic propulsion) - to rocket riders
at 70mph up a 180ft track situated 90 degrees from horizontal.
The ride can NOW be found at Geauga Lake Amusement Park in Ohio (formerly known as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 26, 2006
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Random Rants
The CBS Early Show will be broadcasting from the deck of the USS Kidd battleship here in Baton Rouge tomorrow from 6am-8am. Watch it if you can....but don't expect to see me.
There are now less than 40 days until the opening of the 2006 college football season!! It's strange how people see things in such different ways. I can't WAIT for the season to start...Kayla could care less (and when it comes, she cheers for the clock NOT the teams).
I read a rather disturbing article on WWL.com today regarding Reggie Bush, the Saints and the lack of progress in getting him signed. Basically, it says that there is a possibility that he would sit out the entire season and re-enter the draft next season.
Personally, I think that this is the work of his agent, trying to suck every single penny he can from the situation. I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail and he will get in camp and on the field!
I got a chance to catch the movie Serenity the other night on cable....if you ever have that chance, PASS! Blake, seriously, what the hell was that?! Talk about no plot OR character development. I'm tempted to call Cox for a refund of the 2 hours that I lost watching it!
Roller Coaster Requests
The twenty-sixth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Superman - Ride of Steel. This coaster is a typical steel sit-down coaster 208ft tall with a 221ft drop, reaching speeds of 77mph. Now you may be asking yourself, "How can the drop be 221ft....if the ride is only 208ft tall?"
And if you weren't asking it then, you SURELY are now! Well, look closely at the picture. That's right - a tunnel!!! Riders plunge over 200ft into a foggy tunnel. If you look at the picture, you can see the tunnel off to the far right-hand side.
The ride can be found at Six Flags New England in Massachusetts.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 24, 2006
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Movie Time
All of this talk about movies on other websites got me wanting to watch some films too. Kayla and I rented 3 movies the other night and (so far) have watched 2 of them: The Island and Failure to Launch. I watched The Island because I picked it out and Kayla fell asleep next to me on the sofa. It was just ok.
It had some action sequences but seemed to go on for considerably longer than it needed to. Failure to Launch was surprisingly funnier than I had expected. I would definitely recommend renting this one. Several scenes were filmed in New Orleans (pre-Katrina) at the Lakefront and at a Zephyrs game.
Also, Kayla and I took in Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest yesterday. Both of us thoroughly enjoyed the movie and are very excited & anxious for the next installment. We especially liked the lower day-time prices and probably will be taking in more day-time movies in the near future.
Roller Coaster Requests
The twenty-fifth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Poison Ivy's Twisted Train. This coaster is a steel sit-down coaster designed with the kiddies in mind - top speed of 22mph.
The ride can be found at Six Flags New England in Massachusetts.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 23, 2006
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Nothing to See Here. Move Along.
Not much to talk about today. Just a normal, busy day at work. Tonight, Kayla and I will be going out to dinner (her birthday treat to me - especially since she didn't get me anything for my birthday last year)!
Roller Coaster Requests
The twenty-fourth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Batman - The Dark Knight. This coaster is a floorless steel sit-down coaster. What does this mean? Well, I'll tell you.
Riders sit down in chairs, but they aren't in the traditional "cars" we're used to. It's pretty much an inverted coaster (the one where you hang below the track and your feet dangle) just with the track under you. The ride features several inversions, interlocking corkscrews and the track even goes through the middle of a loop.
The ride can be found at Six Flags New England in Massachusetts.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 21, 2006
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Man, Is She That STUPID!
From NOLA.com:
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has won approval to increase state employees' minimum wage by a dollar an hour over the federal standard. Now she says she will ask lawmakers to increase the minimum wage for workers in the private sector as well.
She says she will push a bill next year. The same measure failed this past session without the governor's public support. Now Blanco says she will back the bill, pointing out that Arkansas and Florida have raised their minimum wages.
She says Louisiana needs to follow suit to fight poverty.
Has she NO concept of inflation?! Raise the private sector wages....prices will go up....people will STILL live in relative poverty. INSTEAD of spending STATE money to pay workers even MORE (when the State is in a terrible financial situation and she only managed to cut $3MM from the State's budget as opposed to the $10MM that was recommended by other state officials), fix the freaking schoools!!
GET RID of the housing projects and Communist welfare system that this State is currently plagued with and MAYBE, just MAYBE we can turn around the "poverty" system!!! The minimum wage has been raised before...has that REDUCED poverty ever?!
Roller Coaster Requests
The twenty-third installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is another image of Superman el Último Escape. While it's not a picture of the ride or track, it's a good shot of the train station. What I find interesting are the characters depicted on the signs at the station.
Blake, in particular, will recognize the characters from the whole death/rebirth of Superman from the comic books.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Magic Mexico in Mexico City.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 20, 2006
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Thanks
Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes from everyone. Also, special thanks to mom, dad, Blake and Heather for coming to spend the evening in Baton Rouge with Kayla and me - company is ALWAYS welcome.
Interior Decorating
Over tha past few weeks, we've been busy hanging things up on the walls around the apartment. Kayla bought me a print of LSU's Tiger Stadium taken at night during the LSU/Auburn game last year and we also had two prints
custom framed at Michael's here in Baton Rouge. One is a print of a nighttime scene of Jackson Square in New Orleans set in the late 1800's. Another is this year's Jazz Fest poster featuring Fats Domino. They both came out beautiful and I will take pictures of them to post in the coming days. STAY TUNED!!
Roller Coaster Requests
The twenty-second installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Superman el Último Escape. This is a typical sit-down steel coaster that actually took nearly 3 years to complete. Construction was begun with the intent to open the attraction in 2002 but was halted in 2002 due to a dispute between Six Flags and the Mexican Government.
Litigation took roughly 2 years, and construction started back up in 2004. The ride opened in late 2004.
One interesting thing about this ride is the theming around the entrance. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. Some of you may find it more interesting than other - Blake, you will DEFINITELY want to see it!
The ride can be found at Six Flags Magic Mexico in Mexico City.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 19, 2006
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Back by Popular Demand
It's been nearly a week since my last post - and for good reason. I was pretty busy with work all last week and even stayed late or brought work home several times last week. And I never even made it in to work on Friday due to a minor traffic accident. I am OK, and I am actually having a good time dring the Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo that Enterprise rented to me.
Roller Coaster Requests
The twentyfirst installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is another edition of Batman The Ride. This is a typical steel inverted coaster. Apparently Mexicans DO like roaller coasters and, against all popular belief, they are NOT coming across the border to ride our rides.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Magic Mexico in Mexico City.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 17, 2006
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Tired....still
Another day of prolonged work hours. I had to bring more stuff home tonight, so no post.
Roller Coaster Requests
The twentieth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Superman The Escape. The ride was actually featured before here at kpJR.net on Sunday, June 11.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 12, 2006
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Tired
Well, I'm pretty beat since I brought some work home last night (hence the absence of a post) and worked on it until 1AM. Also, I have been pretty busy at work and have not had the "research time" I usually enjoy. Check back tomorrow.
Roller Coaster Requests
The nineteenth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Riddler's Revenge. This particular ride is classified as a steel stand-up coaster and pretty much sounds like what it says: the riders stand up while strapped into the ride. The coaster's most prominent feature is a 124ft tall loop (remember, you're standing as you go upside down);
other features include 2 corkscrews, and inclined loop and 2 dive loops - all of which can be seen in the picture below.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 11, 2006
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Golf Anyone?
While reading one of the I-AA college football message boards that a frequent, I came across an intriguing thread in the "Other Sports" section entitled: INDOOR GOLF ANYONE.................The Next Tunica Resort
Myraid World Resorts is planning a $1.9B resort called Myriad Botanical Resort. The plan is for a themed, multi-attraction resort in Tunica - northwest Mississippi. The resort will be dominated by numerous cable-supported domed structures (some reaching 200ft in height).
Guests will be stroll through climate-controlled environments all year long allowing them to enjoy amenities such as a botanical garden, a waterpark, a snowpark and an 18-hole golf course - all indoors.
Personally, I feel that this is an EXTREMELY embitious under-taking for any company, and I'm not sure the market is there for such a resort in a location as remote as Tunica, MS. If you're interestd in the details of the deal, click HERE for an article in The Clarion-Ledger.
Or take a look at the Company's website. If I might make a suggestion, when looking at the Company's site, make sure you click on the Resort Site Plan and Interactive Resort Renderings links to get an idea of the layout, design and scale of the entire facility.
Roller Coaster Requests
The eightteenth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is another incarnation of Batman The Ride. A typical steel inverted coaster, the ride features 2 corkscrews, 2 loops and a zero-G roll. Also, it features some of the best theming of ant of the Six Flags parks.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 9, 2006
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World Cup Update
Well, the 2006 FIFA World Cup ends this weekend; I hope some of you took some time to check out a game or two - Kayla and I sure did. The tournament ends with Italy taking on France for the coveted gold trophy Sunday night in Germany (1pm CDT).
While that game should be exiting, the 3rd place game (Saturday - 2pm CDT) pitting host-country Germany against Portugal may be of a little more interest to many of you.
I'm sure many of you are probably asking, "Why? Why, Chip, should I care about Germany vs Portugal in soccer?" Because of this man. That's right! So you better watch and pull for Portugal; we surely will!
Roller Coaster Requests
The seventeenth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Superman-Ultimate Flight. It's just like its brother coaster of the same name featured earlier. Here's another great shot of a flying coaster.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Great America in New Jersey.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 6, 2006
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Click HERE for my July 4 spectacular.
July 4, 2006
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On The Move
Today's post is very short as Kayla and I will be heading down to God's Country (aka Ama) immediately after work in order to prepare for tommorrow's festivities.
Roller Coaster Requests
The sixteenth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Batman The Ride. It's pretty much your typical, run-of-the-mill inverted steel coaster with a 100ft drop and top speed of 50mph. The ride inverts passengers 5 times with two loops, two cobra rolls and a zero-g (heartline) roll.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Great America in New Jersey.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 3, 2006
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Zippadee-ZOO-da!
 Yesterday, Kayla and I made our way out to BREC's Baton Rouge Zoo. It's a pretty good deal at only $5.50 admission for an adult.
The zoo features many of the same animals we're all used to seeing at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans from a lion and a white tiger to a few animals I don't ever remember seeing like snow leopards, wallaroos and margays among others.
Perhaps one of the highlights of our day was watching the giant tortise walking through the water trying to get past two other tortises and hearing them all grunt and slip and fall. Very comical.
The facilities are much different, however. Practically all the animals, with the exception of the African savannah animals, some South American animals and a few primates, were in fairly small cages instead of artificial habitats many zoos are moving towards. This did, however, allow us to get very close to the lion, white tiger, adolescent bengal tiger, snow leopards, cheetahs, pumas, lynx, and many other cats and primates.
The zoo is in the process of raising funds to make significant upgrades to the facility's entrance as well as the "big cat" exhibits. If they are anything like the Atchafalaya Basin exhibits (L'aquarium de Louisiane and otter pond), it will make the zoo much more enjoyable for both visitors and animals.
Roller Coaster Requests
The fifteenth installment in my Six Flags Superhero Series of roller coasters is Superman - Ultimate Flight. This is the 4th and final image of this coaster before we return to our regularly scheduled superhero coaster tour. It's another good shot of the ride in action.
The ride can be found at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
July 2, 2006
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