Last weekend, while I was down in Buffalo, I took a ride to Darien Lake Amusement Park with my pal Bob to pick up his daughter who was attending a Goo Goo Dolls concert there. Switchfoot was the backup band; I’m told they’re "awesome". When we arrived the Goos hadn’t even taken the stage yet, so we had some time to kill. We probably could have bought last minute tickets to the concert, but both Bob and I had seen enough of the Goo Goo Dolls in their Buffalo bar band days. While I applaud their international success, and in fact the success of any Buffalo band that makes it, I didn’t feel like paying the rather hefty fee to see them play on a big stage. I have to save my money in case Wayne Newton comes to town. Instead, Bob and I went to the amusement park, managed to convince them to let us in for free because it was so close to closing time, and took a ride on the park’s tallest roller coaster, “The Ride of Steel”. I have not been on a roller coaster ride since Crystal Beach closed near our summer place on Lake Erie. That was perhaps 20 years ago. I remember many a ride on the legendary Comet when I was a boy. When Crystal Beach closed the Comet was disassembled and sent East to a park on Lake George. I think the reason I loved the Comet so much was that it was a rickety old roller coaster. Because one was never really strapped in very well, there was a palpable sense of danger every time one rode it. I never got a ride on the older and even ricketier predecessor to the Comet, “The Cyclone”, but I understand that coaster was really scary. There’s a photo of it in one of the older bars in the South Ward of Buffalo, and it LOOKS scary. By comparison, the newer coasters are much more secure and they really lock the passengers into their seats. Anyhow, I was a little apprehensive about riding this Darien Lake coaster. I hadn’t been on a coaster in two decades and this one has a bigger first drop than the Comet had. We waited what seemed like an awfully long time for our ride, partly because they were only running one set of cars. When we were finally one ride away, some overweight man delayed everyone while he tried unsuccessfully to buckle himself in. That took about five minutes and it must have been very embarrassing for the man. The anticipation was eating me alive. When we finally got on the ride, and were climbing the first hill, I started to get a little more nervous and, to enhance that feeling, there were several flashes of bolt lightening in the distance. The first drop was amazing, and the rest was a blur. Before I knew it, the ride was over. The above photo is one of those digital photos you can buy when you come off the ride. Because this was my first roller coaster ride in 20 years, I bought the photo. You will note that I am wearing my vintage, 1970’s Buffalo Sabres tee shirt. Look at the two guys in front of us.
Looks like the Gulf states dodged a bullet and Bonnie was not as bad as some thought she’d be. Still, any bad weather means a delay in the cleanup efforts, and the longer they wait the more likely that cap is to let go. How about those city officials in Bell California? In a city of 40,000 residents, the city manager was making something like $787,000 and the chief of police drew a salary of $480,000 … more than the head of the LAPD makes. What a bunch of crooks! Think of the pensions those people will draw. With the jobless rate at an all time high, how could these people possibly justify such high pay. Shame on the council members of Bell who would have o.k’d those salaries. A while back there was a big debate in our community of Armour Township, Ontario because the local taxpayers thought our town officials were making too much. I think our supervisor was making about $8000. I wonder how many other municipalities in California are so overpaying their people. Spaniard Alberto Contador won this year’s Tour de France. In what might be his last race, American Lance Armstrong crashed twice and was not even a contender. Lots of crazy weather. We had a couple of tornadoes here in Western N.Y. and in Chicago I heard they had 6-7 inches of rain in a very short period of time, flooding basements everywhere and severely overtaxing the city storm drains. And finally, the Plastika, a 60 foot catamaran sailboat made out of 12,500 plastic bottles is about to finish it’s 8000+ mile voyage around the world. How‘s that for a creative way to recycle?
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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