Booksigning at the Stately Raven
I spent last night at the Stately Raven book store in Findlay Ohio. The store is an independent bookstore which opened up in a converted church building and recently won an award for the “Best Bookstore in Ohio”. The store has a really cool science fiction room which, unlike most other local places, is actually stocked with the sci fi writers I read!
Last nite I met up with Tobias Buckell, aka Toby, and Gregory Frost, as well as a few other science fiction aficionados from the surrounding area. After picking up a copy of Frost’s Shadowbridge and John Scalzi’s The Last Colony we made our way to a local restaurant for some food and drinks. I had a good time and look forward to digging in to Shadowbridge this week.
It was really exciting to meet another author, as I already know Toby. I hope that the Stately Raven pulls in some other local authors. I also need to get myself up to Penguicon next May to bask in the presence of Sci Fi authors and geeks!
Get to the Point!
Tomorrow we make our first of several trips to Cedar Point for the season.
Our first task will be to get in line for the Maverick, Cedar Points new Thrill Coaster. More than likely we will wait 2 and a half to 3 hours to ride the 2.5 minute coaster. I can’t wait to give it a go and then go freeley ride the Magnum, Millennium Force, Raptor etc, while the line grows for the Maverick.
You can check out a POV animation of the maverick in action courtesy Cedar Point
I mentioned this last year but I would love to get an Ohio bloggers day at Cedar Point. Sometime in Early August. Anyone else get excited about this?
Get a Text Alert When Your School is Delayed
I came across this useful site Schooldelay.com which works with schools to send text message, email and RSS alerts to students and parents when their school is canceled or delayed. The push factor of this site is leaps and bounds above the method we used to use to find out if school was canceled which consisted of listening to the local radio and delaying the start of our day until the announcer got the the T section of the school closings. At which point we either rushed through a shower or ran back to bed. With Schooldelay.com the info is pushed to you in whichever method is the most convenient for your. If your phone is on your nightstand then as a student I am sure you will welcome an early morning text message during the winter months, and parents will be happy to know what plans need made without spending 15 minutes in front of the TV or listening to the radio on a already busy morning (don’t forget you need to scrape your windshield today!).
I believe the schools can also use the system to get in touch with parents for other necessary mass announcements which could come up. The Schooldelay site also shows school statistics for each school in your area making it a good resource for determining a school or school district to move into.
Schooldelay.com also features an online store which offers some great toys for younger children and Stikfas action figures for older kids like me. They offer an option to set up a spirit store to the schools which will let them receive a portion of proceeds for their use. If you want to pick up a cool Christmas present the owner has provided this code for free shipping: R01K-9517-Q4V2 which is good until December 20th. I recommend the Stikfas or the Automoblox Cars but those are just for the kid in me. There are also educational toys as well as toys for children of all ages.
Finally after talking to the owner and to my Mom(who is a teacher) the price for a school to use SchoolDelay.com is more affordable than similar offerings. You can use a form on thier site to request that yoru school start using the service as well.
Disclaimer: I know the owner of this awesome product.
Ohio Elections The Frustration Begins
WHY o WHY does it have to be so hard to find out information about the individuals running for governor, senate and the house in Ohio?
The closest I have come is to find the Hancock County Board of Elections site which lists the individuals who are running however a separate Google search is needed to find the candidate’s homepage. After the search results turn up a homepage it is still just loads of BS and not direct contact with the candidates.
I want to know what these candidates want to do to make school affordable, truly affordable not just affordable to 5 people in the state. I want to know how you plan on bringing jobs to Ohio for people with college degrees. Factory jobs are good and needed but I can’t open the local paper and find One not ONE job which is suitable for someone with a college degree. How can graduates be expected to pay back loans which are astronomical nowadays.
I also want to know how the Ohio Senators and Members of the house feel about fair use, are you simply an industry puppet or do you care about my fair use right. Crack down on timesharing, that’s fine but don’t tell me what I can and cannot do with media I pay for. This includes, movies, TV, music, the bird I hear chirping on the street. You can’t copyright the world and you can’t legislate a business model. You want the young vote? Be part of the solution not the problem.
It should not be this hard to make contact with the individuals who claim to represent me.
Anyone running for office? Want to answer these questions, leave a comment. Or you could simply forget about the young voters like you do every year.
And to MTV et. al. quit this rock the vote BS, give the young people the tools, ask the hard questions of the politicians. It is not enough to encourage the vote. Get the answers young voters need to make an informed choice.
End Rant
Museum Day: Free Admission to select Museums
Tomorrow, September 30th is Free Museum Day, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute.
The following Ohio Museums are participating:
Archives of the History of American Psychology
Akron
Children’s Museum of the Valley
Youngstown
National Inventors Hall of Fame
Akron
Oberlin Heritage Center
Oberlin
The Dayton Art Institute
Dayton
Check out all the info including free admission card(printable) and location information on Free Museum Day.
Door To Door Magazine Sales, Scam?
Tonite we got hit up by a sales rep from Direct Subscription Services, or DSS Inc. The individual was able to talk us into purchasing a subscription from him at what seemed an inflated price but at the time appeared to be only slightly over retail. After he left I checked the online price for a subscription, $26 less than what I was charged. Boy am I a sucker sometimes. Anyway I looked into the company DSS Inc, which is owned/operated by All-star Promotions based out of Texas. Well All-Star has had 49 BBB complaints in the last 36 months so I have issued a stop order to my check and I am sending the cancellation in tomorrow via Fax. Apparently if you do not cancel your order within 3 days before midnight in writing All Star et al will pursue you with a debt collection agency. Just a warning, don’t buy magazines from door to door sales without checking the current price. I don’t mind helping someone out if I am not getting Royally Screwed in the process. For magazine subscriptions look for free signups online. Hopefully this is the last time I have to discuss this.
More Info on Door to Door Magazine Sales:
http://www.travelingsalescrews.info/
Watch Cedar Point From Your Desk
If like me you are longing for a chance to ride the roller coasters at America’s Rocking RollerCoast, then head on over and check out two webcams of Cedar Point. One of the webcams is place on the midway giving some fun shots of the skyride,where you can watch for rambunctious teenagers throwing nickels over the edge of buckets. The second webcam offers a view of SkyHawk Cedar Point’s newest thrill ride. The ride is basically a swing, one that takes you 12 stories high that is. Amber and I will be going to Cedar Point later this summer and I can hardly wait.
Cam 1:
Cam 2:
Anyone interested in having an Ohio Blogger’s Day at Cedar Point? If any other Ohioans are interested let me know and we can try to hammer out some details and publicize it. Tickets for Cedar Point have dropped this year and with the aid of a Pepsi can, AAA membership, or credit union membership you can get a ticket for just north of $30. Enjoy the rest of your day at America’s Rocking Roller Blog.
[tags]Cedar Point, Ohio, Summer Fun, Rocking ROllercoast, Rollercoaster, Midway, SkyHawk[/tags]
Apartments and Air conditioners
Thank you for calling Time and Temperature. This reading is sponsored by rubbermaid shelving, falling down more often then your your neighborhood alcoholic. The current time is 5:18 AM, the current temperature inside my apartment is above 90 Degrees F. Yes somewhere above 90 since thats as high as our thermostat tracks. This is after running the air conditioner for over 15Hrs. WTF! is it that hard to build and offer apartments that have WORKING central air. This is my second apartment, and both of them have had temperatures above the 80′s with the air conditioner on. Take the freaking central air out and give me a old fashioned window unit. At least hat energy hog cooled the place.
Sweatin to the oldies til corporate decides to fix the AC.
PS how pissed do I have to be to be awake at 5AM, hint I hate mornings and mornings are defined as before 11 AM.
Josh Smith is a blogger, database manager and adjunct professor of business and technology. 
