A Ride With No Name

Some of you may not know this, but there are 3 events here in southwest Missouri that take place in the weeks leading up to Labor Day, with a new event each week. They are the Republic Kiwanis Festival, the Crane Broiler Festival, and the Miller Fall Festival. At each of these events, there is a carnival provided by Bluff City Shows, out of Fisk, Missouri. I'm going to all 3 of these events, as you might have guessed. This year, this "no-name" ride has turned up on the Bluff City Shows midway, and I have it pictured right here for you:

Luckily, I have Matt's Carnival Warehouse to help me out. What I will do is get this up on their Message Board and see if anyone can figure out what this ride is.

I Feel The Need For Speed

Yesterday evening, I made my annual trip to what is probably the best-known event here in the Ozarks, that being the Ozark Empire Fair at the Missouri Entertainment and Events Center (formerly the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds) in Springfield, MO, and this post is about one of the rides there. A few years ago, the historic Frisco Building got sent rocketing skyward by an explosion triggered by a natural gas leak, leaving an empty space. Since then, some type of extreme amusement ride has been placed in that space. The first time, a bungee ride called the Slingshot was there, and these past two years, a Turbo Force-style ride called Speed, made by Holland-based KMG (Kermis Machinebouw Gassendam), has been placed there. And I tell you this: I LOVE theme extreme amusement rides.

In Deep Jeopardy

If you're a game show fan like me, then you probable have been following everything that has been up with "Jeopardy!" whiz Ken Jennings. Well, he apparently has made some unkind comments about the show, as well as the show's host, Alex Trebek. Now let's stop and think about this for just a moment. Here's Ken blasting "Jeopardy!" and Trebek after he wins $2.8 million in 74 games. What is Ken thinking?

It's A Mess

When I went off to Pennsylvania last month, I went from home to there and back via air, and one of the airports I used was Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. This is the world's busiest airport based on passenger usage; therefore, it would be naive to expect smooth and orderly actions here. I, as well as one of my co-workers, found out the hard way. First, my co-worker, Gert Haynes. When she got to the airport, she had to go clear across the airoprt to get to her gate, which was in Concourse "C", down an escalator. In the process, Gert almost ended up suffering a heart attack. Then my adventure. I had a problem very similar to Gert's, initally not finding my gate, but I was in the right Concourse. To top it all off, my flight from Atlanta back to Springfield, MO was delayed an hour because my crew got sick, and while they were puking their brains out, another crew had to be brought in. To sum it all up, any traveller should beware that Atlanta airport.

Hey Ump: What Game Are You Watching?

Well, folks, at my place of employment, there will be drawings for tickets to certain places, mostly sports teams, and one of them is the Springfield Cardinals. The Springfield Cardinals is the Double-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. My mom won tickets to last night's game between Springfield and the Tulsa Drillers, so our family went to that game. Now let me tell you what took place. In the 6th inning, it appears to me that one of the umpires messed up. A ball, which looked like a foul ball, was incorrectly ruled fair, and all of the Springfield fans immediately booed the ump. The only question I have is this: Where was the ump's mind that night?