Crapberry

When I changed jobs last year, I had to switch from my iPhone to a Blackberry... I also had to switch from Exchange to Lotus Notes, but that's a story for another time...

I've decided they got the name wrong. Black implies cool and sleek. This smartphone is neither.

Maybe I was spoiled by the iPhone interface, or the simplicity of my Moto Razr before that, but I find the RIM interface clunky. I had a RIM text pager 10 years ago with the same thumbkeyboard, so that isn't exactly foreign to me, but the rest of the system navigation is a pain to figure out at times.

I also hate the trackball... Mine jammed on me a couple weeks ago, rendering the smartphone features of the device useless. Granted, T-Mobile was able to swap it out in the store, but I have yet to have required service on either my iPhone 2G or Razr....

Even with the trackball, the browser is a pain to use compared to Safari or Opera.

Its a turd with a keyboard.

They should have called it the DingleBerry....

Dells Waterparks - Kalihari

Day Two of our waterpark break found us at what is probably one of the biggest indoor waterparks anywhere.

Kalihari sits on a 200 acre site, with a large convention center, hotel, luxury condos, both an indoor and outdoor waterpark and indoor theme park.

Given Wisconsin's seasons, they've built the indoor waterpark to be their key attraction. .

The indoor waterpark had a dozen slides, wave pool, surfing pool, two sport pools, three or four hot tubs, two separate kiddie areas, and one of the longest lazy rivers I've seen.

They also had several private cabanas (all booked with people watching the NCAA tournament), and a sports bar.

The dozen or so slides kept our oldest kids occupied all day. And I mean all day -- we arrived just after 10am, and aside from a break for dinner, didn't leave until 9:30pm...

There was one minor negative... Kalihari's convention center was the site of a cheerleading competition, and the place was mobbed by the participants with way too much,er, spirit... The boys didn't mind so much, but Competitive Cheer Moms are a little too close to being Pageant Moms, but at least they're less prone to having multiple tattoos or body piercings (see my post about Mt Olympus)...

Biggest negative to Kalihari is the price. At $35 per ticket, waiting in line for 30 minutes to ride a slide for 60 seconds (or less) got old towards the end of the afternoon. As it turned out, we spent more on the waterpark tickets than we did on gas for the motorhome....

Fortunately, it cleared out in the evening enough for me and The Queen to try a few of the slides.

Of the two parks we tried, I'd consider Kalihari again, but only if there isn't a cheer convention...

Dells Waterparks - Mt Olympus

Day One of our waterpark adventure found us at Mt. Olympus, thus named for its Greek God theme.... Sitting on 172 acres, it is one of the five largest parks in the Dells if you include their outdoor waterpark, rollercoasters, and go-kart tracks.

We stayed at a RV park/motel which advertised itself as a Mt Olympus resort, but it was really an independent property that had a deal with MO to bundle wristbands for park admission into their guest rates. The park admission added 30 to the RV rate, which was worthwhile for one night (we parked at Walmart the other two nights).

As far as the indoor parks go, it is on the small side... They had a lazy river, a couple of kiddie slides, and three adult slides. Not exactly a lot of variety, and after two hours, the kids were bored... So were the adults.

At lunchtime, the indoor theme park opened..... It has a small metal coaster (similar to California Adventure's Mulholland Madness), a couple Zamperla kiddie rides, bumper cars, a multilevel playland, an arcade with Ten Pin, and an electric kart oval.

As with the indoor waterpark, it was good for the little kids for about an hour. Other than the arcade, karts and coaster, there was nothing to hold the older kids attention.

Fortunately, they'd opened up two of the outdoor kart tracks at noon.

The Trojan Horse track was pretty cool -- combination of a winding track with a wooden multilevel spiral tower. Three laps took ten minutes, which is one of the longest kart tracks I'd seen.

Rain started falling about 2pm, so I didn't get a chance to try out the other track that was open, but it was about half the length and flat, and only had single seaters.

In MO's defense, they do have a huge outdoor water park with a dozen or so slides and a wave pool, plus three rollercoasters and three kart tracks. In summer, it could keep the kids entertained for a full day, maybe two.

Overall, Mt. Olympus was a good value for a couple bucks per person and to occupy a couple hours, but not what I'd consider a winter destination park. And I'm glad we didn't pay for the second night...

Dell-ightfully Tacky

We had our first Midwest opportunity to take Lanehog out for a spin. She'd been unregistered up until a month ago, and winter is not conducive to camping up here, so we really hadn't much of a chance until Spring Break.

Wanting to stick to a $200 gas budget, we opted for the Wisconsin Dells. It's a prime choice in summer with a dozen or two waterparks and go-kart tracks. Now there are four or five indoor waterparks and at least two indoor fun parks.

I'll go over those as separate posts during the next week or so.

Overall, a good cheap break. Free overnights at Walmart mixed with a paid night at a RV park kept our travel budget under $300 with gas, and we only ate out once. Tickets to the waterparks ran another $175.

As I said, more over the next few weeks.

Big Huh?

Watching the last few minutes of Big Love's finale felt a bit like the exact opposite of the finale for The Sopranos.

Underwhelming, predictable, and not a lot of loose ends for next season. Bill got elected, Don seems reappeared without any indication he forgives Bill for ruining his life, and I still don't know what happened to Joey or Bill's parents...

The season was short -- only nine episodes, and it felt like the writers attempted to get 12 to 14 episodes of material crammed into those nine episodes, which left little time for a plot...

In the last half hour alone, Bill went to the polls, got smacked around by Marilyn, shows up in the nick of time to rescue Nicki from Juniper Creek, and still managed to make it back for the election results...

All over the course of a couple hours? Whew.... Maybe Bill doesn't need his Viagra any more if he has all that energy...

At the end, I half expected Bill to wimp out on outing the family. At least that would have added some suspense...

Oh well. Guess we get to wait nine months for next season...

Big Love not so big?

I'm really enjoying this season of Big Love. Lots of good story writing, and some tough Mormon issues being addressed. Doubt over their faith, lost boys, depression and "perfect wife" syndrome... All real issues in Utah and Arizona today, and all issues that the LDS wishes weren't being broadcast each week into millions of living rooms...

This Sunday, we see the season finale, after just nine episodes. No idea why, but HBO has had mini-series longer than that...

Also no idea when it will come back with Season 5...

But I'll be watching.