Where the heck have I been? Busy.

I got a 100 story-a-month SEO freelance job on the side of my full time employment and that just about owns my free time, and as such, John Stegeman's Blog has been dormant for a while.

So it occurs to me that if anyone has been by my blog who wasn't part of this summer's weight loss challenge, they'd have no idea I ever wrote about anything else. And for some time now I haven't.

Well, now I have. And I don't mean just this post you're reading right now, I mean this one 1fromthepews.blogspot.com. That's my more faith-based blog. This one, I'll keep around for politics, sports, fun randomness, more weight loss challenges etc.

Anyway, someone recently put to me the question, "Who gets to call themselves Catholic?" which I have answered over at 1 from the Pews.

Take care folks and check back every once in a while.

Weight Loss Update: It's all over

BREAKING NEWS!! Dungy has weighed in a 227.6, which is under his 10 percent threshold of 227.7. He is the WINNER of the Weight Loss Challenge.

 Everyone please post their weights anyway to update final standings. Dungy demands as tribute $5 from each participant, which he will use for a celebratory bottle of wine. Details of the party and bowing to come.

Dungy, Lyndsey battling for the win. Weight Loss Challenge Standings

Here are the standings in the WLC....Dungy's victory is close at hand....can anyone stop him?

Lyndsey has the best chance, and after that its a battle for meaningless bronze. Second place is the first loser....Evan is the last loser....or so it seems. A MASSIVE illness, or perhaps amputation, could still propel anyone into the win.

Since it seems most of us cannot win at this point, I use my emperor-like power to create a meaningless tweak to the plan. When we bow to the winner, the person in dead last bows first, and so on. So think about how long you want to kneel, and step it up.

I'm also going to start thinking about the victory party soon so stay tuned for details.

Dungy 3.3 to win
Lyndsey 5.7 to win
John 13.5 to win
Heather 14.5 to win
Matt 14.7 to win
Kelli 16.2 to win
Evan 19.5 to win

Weight Update and all the info you weren't asking for about my table tennis tournament experience.

Post'em here folks.

This weekend I won bronze in the Bluegrass State Games in table tennis for ages 20-29. In essence, that means I'm the third best non-USATT rated player in the state....probably a stretch to say that, but what the hell.

Oh and the other thing is only three people in my age group registered.....and I went 0-2 to win that bronze, but it still counts.

Then in the open championship I made the second round, when my opponent no-showed, before losing to the overall No. 3 seed, though I did lead him 8-6 in one game before losing it.

In actual tournament play, I went 1-3 in matches (ok 0-3, but I want to count the forfeit) and didn't even win a game. I did however get to play an exhibition match against another person in the tournament and I won that 3 games to 1.

Great day, long day. Think I'll take this a little more seriously and start playing at the table tennis club on Saturdays or Sundays.

Anyways, this likely contributed to an AWESOME week of weight loss.

John
Starting: 295
Current: 279
 Pounds: -16
13.5 to win


Someone check my math, but I think that's right.


Anyways Heather also checked in at:

Heather Van Dulman

Starting:275.0
Current: 262.0
Pounds: -13

Monday, July 16 weight loss update and standings

Sorry for the delays lately with these, I'm a busy man. I am going to post the standings as of last week and you all can post your current weights below. If I've figured these right, I'm sadly in dead last.

Alas....here were the standings as of last week.

Dungy 5.2 to win
Lyndsey 8.9 to win
Matt 14.9 to win
Kelli 18.2 to win
Heather 18.5 to win
Evan 19.2 to win
John 19.5 to win

--------------------------



As for me this week, fun story. I went to the Lexington Table Tennis Club on Saturday and got a hardcore 1,000+ calorie burn in. Stepped on the scale at home after a shower, and weighed 280. Then Kelli and I went to a Chinese buffet...and long story short, I was right back to where I started. 24 hours later, I'd lost a half pound...the end.

John
Starting: 295
Current: 284.5
Pounds: -10.5
19 to win




Also, Dungy posted this on the last one (since I'm slow and never put these up before someone comments)


Dungy
Starting: 253
Current: 232.2 (no change)
Pounds: -20.8
5.2 to win


Everyone else, get to it.

Weight updates, is this the final one????

Sorry for the delays kiddies. Will this be the final update? Two people I know of are already within six pounds of the goal, six pounds is a lot for one week but it's not impossible.

I'm back from a great vacation that kept Kelli even and took me further from winning. Here we go.

John
Starting: 295
Current: 285
Pounds: -10
19.5 to win.

Kelli is 227, same as last week.
Starting: 232
Current: 227
Pounds: -5
18.2 to win

Other results posted early/on time were as follows. Everyone else comment.

Lyndsey
Starting: 205
Current: 193.4
Pounds: -11.6
8.9 to win

Matt
Starting: 253
Current: 242.6
Pounds: 10.4
14.9 to win

Dungy
Starting: 253
Current: 232.2
Pounds: -20.8
5.2 to win

Weight updates

I type this from Funland Arcade in beautiful Panama City Beach, Fla. So Kelli and I lack scale access so we weighed ourselves before we left Friday. I weighed 283.5 Kelli weighed 227. Everyone commence posting.

Weight update time, get wit it

Alright folks, it's that time of week again when we see how much closer Lyndsey is to making us bow, or perchance Dungy has continued his meteoric rise to the top.

Could it be that someone else has risen to the top by dropping the most?

Only time will tell.

And now I say to you in the word of the chairman,

"Allez cuisine!"

Sorry for the delay, Weight Updates again

Ok, sorry for the delay. I was a little under the weather yesterday.

It seems Dungy is our new king. Viva Dungy Rex....for now.


Pounds Lost Total
Dungy (253) weighs 240, a loss of 13 pounds
John (295) weighs 284, a loss of 11 pounds
Lyndsey (205) weighs 196.2, a loss of 8.8 pounds
Heather (275) weighs 267.2, a loss of 7.8 pounds
Kelli (232) weighs 228, a loss of 4.0 pounds
Matt (253) weighs 249.6, a loss of 3.4 pounds

Evan (241) is late in reporting. (Because I'm a day late posting, I'm giving him the rest of the day to post)


Jeff (261) has died to the cause. He has lost, and is exiled. He has offered reparations, no decision has yet been made on his repatriation.

On to the more all important POUNDS FROM VICTORY

Pounds From Victory
Lyndsey 11.7
Dungy 12.3
John 18.5
Kelli 19.2
Heather 19.7
Matt 21.9
Evan TBD

Weight loss upate time

Since Dungy started the party with a post on the last blog...here's the new one. POST THE WEIGHTS!

Weight Loss Standings 4 I think

Ok, here's the update again, earlier than I did it last week of course....

With a one-week loss of eight pounds, I dropped my total pounds lost to 10 to surge into the meaningless lead of most pounds lost, and a 2.2 pound dive brought Dungy into second. Heather also had a big week, dropping 3.6 pounds and Evan lost 4 to get back in the black.

Total Loss
John (295) weighs 285, a loss of 10 pounds
Dungy (253) weighs 245, a loss of 8 pounds
Heather (275) weighs 267.7, a loss of 7.3 pounds
Lyndsey (205) weighs 198, a loss of 7.0 pounds
Kelli (232) weighs 229, a loss of 3.0 pounds
Evan (241) weighs 238.9, a loss of 2.1 pounds
Matt (253) weighs 252, a loss of 1 pound
Jeff (261) is, as usual, late in reporting

The more important but time consuming to do standings are as follows:

Pounds From Victory
Lyndsey 13.5
Dungy 17.3
John 19.9
Jeff (pending but 20.1 at last update)
Kelli 20.2
Heather 20.2
Evan 22.0
Matt 24.3

Standings for the Weight Loss Challenge

Sorry this was so late, but it's up to date now. The honorary division is dead. Long live the main division.

Lyndsey remains in the lead for now. Evan, despite not attending Meat Fest... is in last after a gain.

Main Division
Lyndsey (205) weighs 198.4, a loss of 6.6 total
Dungy (253) weighs 247.2, a loss of 5.8 pounds
Heather (275) weighs 270.6, a loss of 4.4 pounds
Jeff (261) weighs 258, a loss of 3.0 pounds
Kelli (232) weighs 230, a loss of 2.0 pounds
John (295) weighs 293, a loss of 2.0 pounds
Matt (253) weighs 252.6, a loss of 0.4 pounds
Evan (241) weighs 242.9, a gain of 1.9 pounds

WLC no. 3....

I'm on my phone so this will be short. Post your weights!

Blog Event: Star Wars Style

So given that the blog may have a few different readers these days due to the weight loss challenge, and also considering our collective inactivity and the fact that we're generally busy people, I've got a blog idea.

That greatest of nerd philosophical debates.

Assert the morality or immorality of the Rebel Alliance attack on the Death Star and defend the position. I'm ignoring the possibility of moral neutrality because that's boring.

For funsies, consider this information provided by a web site that may or may not be reliable.
-----------

"The first Death Star was destroyed in the Battle of Yavin and everyone aboard was lost. Though the Rebel Alliance official reports put the death toll at around a million Imperials, that estimate is based on intelligence about the minimum crew requirements to operate the Death Star. The Imperials tell a different story.

Imperial analysts claim that between 800 million to a billion people were lost in the "Yavin Massacre" This number is based on the flood of missing personnel reports filed in a period of 18 months after the Battle the Yavin. Imperial loyalists claim that the Alliance is intentionally down-playing the loss of life to distract from the fact that the destruction of the Death Star was an equally catastrophic loss of life as the destruction of Alderaan (Population 1.97 billion [60,000 off planet at destruction]. The crew manifest of the Death Star was classified and destroyed with the station, so the truth may never be known.
-------------

Anyways. What say we put this up next Friday?

The plight of the offline gamer (Me)

So, as you all know, I'm an old fogey.

These days old fogeys don't shake their fists at teenagers and play backgammon in the park, rather they just hit ignore when Windows wants to update something and play their video games offline.

I'd like to say I don't have a PS3 or XBox 360 because of money, but really, I don't have one because I don't want what they'll provide me. The perfect platform for online gaming.

See I have an allegedly internet capable PS2, but I've never used that function. Playing online means getting utterly destroyed by 14 year olds and their friends or embarrassed by that unmarried 40 year old who has Call of Duty listed as a hobby on facebook. The online gamers are good, tech savvy and looking for better interaction than the computer can provide.

Good for them, I mean that. But that's not what I want, and I don't think I'm alone.

For me, video games are an escape. They aren't where I get my real challenges (work), or where I find happiness (Kelli) or fulfillment (God). They are how I turn my brain off for several hours.

I like a challenge, but I like a hobbyist challenge, not a doctoral candidate in gaming kind of challenge. The online crew is good, almost too good. And let's be honest, that's where the people want to be for the most part.

What is sad is that on a game like NCAA Football 2011, I can't say, create a team unless I use their online stuff. In other games coming out now more and more is dependent upon and internet connection

While I think it's great that many have found something they really like in online gaming, I hope that game designers will realize that for some of us, they're just games that we want to be able to fiddle with from time to time without the distraction of a 15-year old girl who's trying to impress her brother's friends by playing Modern Warfare and shouting trash talk into a headset.

------------

Guess that's all I had on the offline part. But here's a bit more on me and gaming.

I play NCAA Football 2011 on PS2 for 3-4 hour stretches. It is GLORIOUS. While playing, my only objective is to build a good football team, and defeat my opponents. I know the game, I know the controls and I know what I can do.

Sports games are great because each game really is different, there's so many possibilities. Maybe I'm doing so well I'll see if I can score 100 on Bowling Green. Maybe I'm locked in a tight battle with Alabama. Maybe I'm inexplicably losing to WKU in the fourth quarter and need to see if I can mount a comeback.

There is variety, but there is a single focus.

 And, it is a world that has rules.

Those rules can change wildly game to game, but in each game, there are rules. In Ace Combat 5, if I fly outside the mission range, I lose....if I kill all the enemies, I win. Simple.

In sports games (99.99 percent of my gaming), there's the rules of sports. It's not like life.

My jet pilot isn't going to get seriously ill, my quarterback isn't going to start making personal decisions that baffle his family and my starting pitcher isn't going to tell me how I could have thrown that pitch better....it's a world where I might not be the God, but in a sense, I am a God.

I decide when the players exist. I can make them go away. I can always control at least one of them. And, because the AI no matter how difficult isn't that great, I can find a way to win.

I dunno where I'm going with this.....I like playing my old PS2 and my sports games on them....the end.

Standings for weight loss challenge, week 2

Standings for the Weight Loss Challenge

For the record, Lyndsey is 13.9 pounds from victory….Kudos.

Main Division
Lyndsey (205) weighs 198.4, a loss of 6.6 total
Dungy (253) weighs 248.3, a loss of 4.7 pounds
Evan (241) weighs 239, a loss of 2.0 pounds
Heather (275) weighs 273, a loss of 2.0 pounds
Kelli (232) weighs 230.6, a loss of 1.4 pounds
Matt (253) weighs 252, a loss of one pound
John (295) weighs 295, a wash
Jeff (261*) DID NOT REPORT

Honorary Division
Daniel (265) DID NOT REPORT
Jason (289) has withdrawn

Weight loss challenge, May 21 update

Ok kiddies. It's wedding and party season for the Stegemans. After the glorious Kilmer affair, we had another wedding this past week and with another trip to Cincinnati means more restaurant portions and too much food and booze, so I must once again be content to have not gained anything.

Alas, here goes. Post your weight kiddies. And remember, many of us will be at Dungy's for another gluttony-fest this coming weekend...no rest for the fatties.

BEGIN

Weight loss challenge update

So as more people hear of this, more people will want in. Yesterday I created a way for people to join, but I'm capping it at the end of this week.

Everyone's official starting weights are as follows.
--------------------------------------------------------
Original Competitors (Standings)
1. Kelli (232) Needed to lose 23.2 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 230.6 (-1.4)

2. Matt  (253) Needed to lose 25.3 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 251.8 (-1.2)

3. Dungy (253) Needed to lose 25.3 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 253 (-/+ 0)

4. Jeff  (261) Needed to lose 26.1 pounds
Week 1 Weight: N/A Original weight was wrong, adjusted to correct (-/+ N/A)

T4. Evan (241) Needed to lose 24.1 pounds
Week 1 Weight: N/A (Just joined) (-/+ 0)

T4. Heather (275) Needed to lose 27.5 pounds Week 1 Weight: N/A (Just joined) (-/+ 0) 


5. Lyndsey (205) Needed to lose 20.5 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 206 (+ 1)

6. John (295) Needed to lose 29.5 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 296 (+1)

Honorary Division
T4. Daniel (265) Needed to lose 26.5 pound
Week 1 Weight: N/A (Just joined) (-/+ 0)


Pending. Jason (289) Needed to lose 28.9 pounds
Week 1 Weight: Pending (-/+ X) 


--------------------------------------------------------
To clarify, hopefully one last time, the situation.

This is a race to lose 10 percent of your body weight. You can accomplish this however you want. To be included in this race, you must provide me with a weekly weight in a reasonable and timely fashion each week by commenting on my blog update about my own weight. Failure to post this information twice results in disqualification. I am a dictator and make the rules.

I'll then post new standings.

The main division are people willing to pay tribute to the winner in the form of whatever he/she demands up to a $5 value, and also to bow/kneel before the winner at a celebratory gathering to be held after someone wins.

The honorary division is for those who don't want to abide by the terms (tribute, homage), but want to play the game for pride.

If an honorary division member wins, they win pride, but the contest will continue until the first main division member claims victory.

Both divisions must post weights weekly.


If you haven't given me you official (means stepping on a damn scale, not guessing) weight yet, you must do so soon or this week will be one strike against you.

Anyways, is everyone finally clear on this?

Weight loss battle is on, post weights

So the game is afoot...

I was supposed to post this yesterday but I was a little busy.

My official weigh in yesterday was 296...one pound up from where I was when we started courtesy of Matt and Lyndsey's glorious wedding rehearsal, wedding, and brunch. Great times, high calories.

But yesterday I did really well, and today's a brand new day.

Anyways, so Evan Musin has expressed interest in joining the competition. I put it to a vote whether he should be allowed to join at this stage, given that we won't know what his weight was last week.

I vote yay for his inclusion, but I'm not opposed to imposing some kind of late entry penalty.

Thoughts?

Anyways, remember, post your current weight, and how many pounds you've gained or lost as of yesterday. If you didn't weigh yesterday, do it today.

Weight loss challenge is officially on, and John is an idiot

Ok, so there's been some confusion about this, and the reason for that is I did a piss poor job of explaining things. Forget that, let's move on.

So the weight loss event has officially started as of...whenever that happened.

Everyone's official starting weights are as follows.

John (295) Needs to lose 29.5 pounds
Kelli (232) Needs to lose 23.2 pounds
Dungy (253) Needs to lose 25.3 pounds
Jeff  (275) Needs to lose 27.5 pounds
Matt  (253) Needs to lose 25.3 pounds
Lyndsey (205) Needs to lose 20.5 pounds
Jason (289) Needs to lose 28.9 pounds
Evan (TBD) Needs to lose XXX pounds

(Edit: Jason is my friend and boss at work. If anyone else wants in on this, they need to decide by Monday.)

First one to achieve that weight wins.


So let it be written, so let it be done.

Obama, the gay thing, and believe it or not, some kudos

Yesterday, news "broke" that President Barrack Obama supports the legalization of homosexual marriages.

Not surprisingly, the Conservative rhetoric is that he's declared way on marriage and all that nonsense. Whatever.

Anyways, this is significant because to my knowledge, he is the first sitting president to publicly espouse this view. For those supporting gay marriage legalization, this is a big deal. To those who oppose it, this is a big deal. It may be a watershed moment, for good or ill.

I don't think that President Obama can lose this next election short of a dead hooker in the Lincoln bed room. I just don't see it. Mitt Romney is not a threat.

In short, he COULD blow the election, but Romney can't just win it. No one likes him enough. And the dislike for Obama isn't big enough yet.

So what the president could have done, and indeed what I thought he would have done, would be to sit tight. I think anyone who follows politics knows Obama has probably felt this way for years, but he could have continued to pretend otherwise, not announce much of anything between now and November, coast into his lame duck session and then get to town on all his real agenda with little consequence.

Instead, he spoke yesterday.

I don't believe that elevating homosexual unions to the same level as a marriage will be good for this nation, yet I have almost zero evidence to back that up. Since all I'm going on is my morality (and moreover because this matter involves consenting adults entering into legal contracts) I have no official opposition.

In short, I'm not a fan of this growing movement.

But I am a fan of people being intellectually honest, even if it's belated. And President Obama coming out (no pun intended) with this now, is intellectually honest.

This is an issue he believes in. North Carolina just did their thing, and to him, it was important to speak now. He could have waited in the wings until his inevitable re-election, then come out with this. Instead he did it now.

He's telling the voters who he is now, before they decide whether or not to vote for him. It's a sad world wherein that sort of thing merits a kudos, but it does.

I don't think we're going down a good road, but I give the president props for honestly telling us where he intends to lead should we vote for him again.

The race to end the obesity...or Dungy is a fatty bubatty

So I posted some goals on MyFitnessPal.com and I also posted them on facebook.

They are to do the following before I turn 30 on Nov. 2 of 2013, do the following:
Finish two 5k races, running at least one of them all the way through.
Run a mile in 10 minutes or less.
and the big one......
Before I turn 30, I will weigh 200 pounds or less. That means I need to drop 95 over two years.


That posting on Facebook prompted Jeff Bruce (current weight 275) to challenge me on facebook to a "Race to 200" pounds. I thought Matt and Dungy might want in on this too, and they do. As does Lyndsey and Kelli

Everyone seemed pretty on board except Dungy (Weight 253), who needs a good public shaming to get it going.

Did you guys know that the size of the silver dollar was based on a 1/3 scale model of the nipple on Dungy's man-boob? It's science.

I dunno if he'll bite on just that one. His constitution is weak. He lacks mettle. Let's try again.

Furthermore, did you know Dungy weighs just 42 pounds less than me? I mean, c'mon son. 

Did that do it? One more for good measure.

Dungy's so fat, that he was once sucked into an alternate dimension of his own fat....or something....this all feels terribly disingenuous coming from me...moving on.

Anyways, while he's busy being all business man, this fatty here (Weight 295) has dropped 45 pounds so far. I am confident he can not defeat me in matters of fitness and weight loss as his biting wit and insatiable appetite for truth will do him no good.

I challenge you Dungy, and every one else, to the following challenge.

Beginning May 14, a race to lose 10 percent of their weight. For me, that would be 29.5 pounds.

Rules
First one to achieve the goal wins.
All starting weights must be stated publicly in the comments section of this blog as an official starting weight no later than May 14.

 I will blog an update to the competition every week. At such time, everyone MUST report their current weight, whether it's gone up or down. You can comment, or just otherwise text and tell me by noon each Monday.

Don't give an update for two weeks in a row? You're out of the running.

Winner gets to demand a tribute from the losers. The total value of the tribute is not to exceed $5 per loser. Anyone who enters, even if they quit, is on the hook to pay the winner.

A celebration event will be held wherein the losers bow to the winner, and give their tribute. Winner determines the place.

The Seal of Confession

I posted on my other blog a ditty on the seal of confession the Catholic Church and a little bit of how I feel about secular authorities trying to force priests to go against it.

Feel free to read the article and my general thoughts at 1fromthepews.blogspot.com

But as I'm still hoping to attract other readers there, I think we should keep our battle here. Over there I use a little different language than I do here, so bear that in mind.

Summary:
Ireland wants priests to have to divulge information about child sexual abuse if they learn it in confession.

The Church says hell nahs.

I agree.

Confession absolves sins. All repentant sinners deserve mercy. Absolution is needed to be in a state of grace. One must be in a state of grace to go to heaven when they die. Any law that might dissuade a sinner from confessing their sins is bad because of that.

I'm tired....just go read there, but comment here.

Showdown in Fargo, or, Lest we forget this blogger is a sports writer

Open publication - Free publishing - More delta state

Just in case anyone forgot that this blog is run by a sports writer at heart, here's my most recent work.

Have I done this yet?

I don't know if I have formally done this yet or not, if I have, sorry, if I have not, here goes.

I hereby formally renounce my associations with the Republican Party and any membership I hold therein. Next time I'm at the DMV I'll ask how to formally change to independent if that's possible.

I'm doing this on its own, not attached to an issue, because I want to make clear that I'm not mad about any one thing and that this is not entirely reactionary.

I was a Republican because I am a conservative, and I have a strong belief in the pro-life issues they once championed. Though Republicans still claim to be a pro-life conservative party, that statement is not true objectively. It is true that they are more conservative and pro-life than Democrats, but that's not good enough for me.

I am not opposed to voting Republican, and in fact, I'm still more likely to vote for them than for Democrats. I am not opposed to one day coming back into the fold or even one day to accept Republican support in the event I ran for office. But as for being a rank and file elephant, I'm out.

Forgive me if it takes a while to stop saying "we" when talking about the party. I've been one officially for 10 years.

The party has become a thing I do not like, and I am done with that.

Pro-life, You're doing it wrong

I'm railing against my own today.

Conservative law makers in Arizona tend to be extreme on immigration, and now they're extreme on th pro-life issue. You'd think I'd welcome this, and I would if they were extreme only in their desire to end the practice of abortion through honest means (For example, saying they want to outlaw it, and attempting to do so).

Instead they've passed a series of troubling bills that I'm only just learning about and if my initial impressions of them are correct, I'm hereby publicly condemning them as intellectually dishonest, and even morally unacceptable laws.

For time's sake, I'll only focus on the biggest doozy. Arizona has passed a "Wrongful birth, wrongful life" law (which by the way is already law in nine other states). In this law, a doctor is given immunity from being sued if he withholds information from the parents about their unborn child that might cause them to seek an abortion.

I don't even know where to begin with this one but here goes.

1. A child born with a disability or disease ABSOLUTELY has the same right to life as one born without those things. But a parent has a moral and legal right to know the status of their unborn child's health regardless of how that will effect their intentions.

2. Withholding the information will put the parents at a disadvantage when they could have spent the last nine months preparing for their special needs child, emotionally, financially and as far as any home care needs.

3. It's just bull. I appreciate the sentiment, I do. Trying to save more kids from the evil of abortion is good. But ends do NOT justify the means in my understanding of the world.


I want to see the practice of abortions ended, but I don't want to screw around with it. On most issues, I advocate changing people's hearts and minds, and then changing the laws. However, on some issues the laws must change first because of the urgency of the situation. That's where I stand on abortion.

But we are full of crap if we think that allowing a doctor to lie, even by omission, to those in their care is a step in a good direction. It isn't.

John's attempt to get....well, I'm not sure what the goal is

Some of you may remember my quasi-regular posts about weight loss called John's Attempt to Get Less Fat....well the attempts have continued with some success while the postings have not.

For those still keeping score at home, I now weigh 297.6 pounds, which is 42-45 pounds total loss since last April (the number is unclear because the starting weight wasn't written down anywhere I can find). I hoped to hit 50 pounds before April ends, but I'm not going to push it. I'm happy with the progress.

Anyways so after dealing with a possible virus, low blood pressure and then a very annoying and probably never going to totally go away other problem (Don't worry I'll live) I've started focuseing on this fitness stuff again. A few little walks, some physical work days, and most importantly, the resuming of playing semi-competitive table tennis against co-worker Todd.

We've decided that February and early March just might be the yearly off-season for what we've dubbed the Not Professional Ping Pong Association (NPPPA, t-shirts coming soon?)

But we're back. I won week 1, Todd won week 2 and we were off this week. Play should resume for the NPPPA proper when I face Todd on Thursday but I've got an "exhibition" with possible NPPPA member, my boss Jason, on Tuesday.

So why so much table tennis? After beating up on each other for a solid year, Todd and I have decided we want to see just how good we are, and we plan to enter the Bluegrass Games <a href="http://www.bgsg.org/">Bluegrass State Games</a> this year. For a modest entry fee, we can each compete in USATT style competition for our age group and singles open play, and we'll also have a shot to play doubles together.

I've watched some video of last year's event... We're not likely to do very well. But I've been losing motivation on my workouts of late and the only thing that ever got me to take fitness seriously was regularly scheduled athletic competition. So I'm hoping this will serve to motivate me.

I got a new racket (trainer model, nothing special) and we're going to step it up between now and July with training. We're also going to visit the Lexington Table Tennis Club for some pointers and practice between now and then.

Will we be the best in Kentucky? No, I don't think so. Can we win a match? I don't see why not.

So here's to the stoking of my competitive fire. Let's hope there's enough fuel to keep it burning.

Also, have a happy Easter folks.

We talking bout sports? Really?

It has been some times since the topic of sports was broached here  on the account that actually started out as a sports blog, but today's a good day for it.

Today the town I live in (Lexington, Ky.) is celebrating a national basketball championship while the town I'm from has reportedly signed former NL MVP Joey Votto to a big boy contract of 225 million over 10 years. That's REAL PLAYER money. That's almost Yankees money.

So let's start with basketball. As many of you know, despite a former massive interest in all sports, I've really not cared so much the last few years. I think it is a product of working in sports that it becomes a job and no longer a passion. And even when I was a big sports guy, I didn't like college sports that much.

And even when I did sort of follow college sports, I didn't care a whole lot for the University of Kentucky. But now, I live in it's Mecca. As I type before starting work on Tuesday, I'm wearing a UK basketball t-shirt (clearance, $8) and everyone else is too. I'm going downtown in a few hours to hock programs from the Final Four as collectors items.

It's neat to be in a town that's won a national title, when the town really cares about it. It was a little like when the Reds won the NL Central in Cincinnati, I wasn't there, but I read and heard a lot about it. It really, and perhaps sadly, was one of the cooler moments of my life.

This was different though, as here I'm an observer, not really a fan. I watched the game and literally within seconds of Kentucky's winning, I heard shouting and cheering in my apartment complex. Then I heard car horns from far off. Next came fireworks, so many fireworks, for roughly an hour.

Not long after that of course came the sounds of police and fire engines, but I digress. Seeing the celebration unfold, I was a little jealous I'm not really one of them, but then I see the drunks burning cars and I'm glad I'm not one of them. Such is my strange relationship anymore with sports.


Anyways, as for the Reds, this is some big news. I can't stress enough how strange it is for such a small market team to spend so much money. This is the kind of decision an owner needs to make to win.

Joey Votto is big time. He's the real deal and is one of the five best players in baseball. He's ours now for all of his career that will matter. That's good.

What's bad is I don't see how we can re-sign second baseman, all-star and fan favorite Brandon Phillips now with all our money tied up in Votto, but that's the cost of doing business. I hope the Reds find a way to keep Phillips too, he's really a fantastic player and a great community guy too, but if we could only keep one, we made the right choice.

The last thing in my mind left for the Reds to do is to crap or get off the pot with Aroldis Champman. They're paying the Cuban Missile more than he's worth to pitch the most meaningless parts of the game. Middle relievers are a dime a dozen. He needs to be a starter, or a closer and he needs to either have that role with the Reds, or be sent to the minors where he can play that role and learn it.

Wasting him in a limbo where he won't develop or be of any great use is an abomination to the baseball gods.

But I digress, point is today's not such a bad day to be a sports fan in Cincinnati or the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky.

An analogy for the current healthcare debate

This is something I posted on my facebook today, somewhat randomly, but despite the simplifications, I think it makes sense.

"An exercise in thought: Why should my employer be forced to pay for me to get orthopedic care if I break my leg? I don't even need a leg for this job. (This is all hypothetical, my leg is fine) You could argue that it would make me a better and happy employee if they did provide this service. You could argue it would be the decent thing to do. You could argue that proper bone health and care is important to overall health. But if they made a rule today, for any reason they like, that orthopedic care on legs (or anything else) was no longer covered, I don't think the government should be able to do a damn thing about it… Health insurance is a nice, and productive, service many employers offer. If they want to provide it fully, partially, randomly….whatever, I just don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to do so.

Mental Image: A Company Personified is walking down the street and comes across a homeless person right near his property. He decides to give the guy 20 dollars. The government steps in and says not so fast evil businessman. This guy needs way more than 20 dollars. I know you think you're doing a good thing here, but this guy needs rehab, job training, housing and education to really improve his life, so we are FORBIDDING you to give him just 20 dollars unless you give him all those other things.

That's stupid. It's just as stupid to tell a company they can't provide any health insurance unless they provide everything the president's administration says they should provide."

I think there's an idea worth fleshing out in here. I'll try to get to it soon. March will end eventually and life will go on. For now, back to work.

The Greatest Threat to religious liberty

When considering this I'd narrowed it down pretty fast to Islam, or rampant secularism. I also considered a Christian theocratic system, but I just can't see that getting any real traction. The people who would vote for the people that would impose that really aren't religious, they just care about gay marriage and abortion.

Also, Christianity is thoroughly trained at existing within the system. We've co-existed with governments for a long time with fewer speed bumps than one might think, but I digress.

While I agree that radical islam is bad, and scary, it doesn't win. Radical islam taking hold worldwide would be disastrous to religious freedom, but in a decently run Muslim empire, they do tend to let Christians and other faiths do their thing with their own people. That is the crux of the issue.

But instead of either, I chose the the secular leaning "dictatorship of relativism."

I'll give the eye rolls a moment to subside.

It is my belief, that there is a growing movement in this nation, and I hypothesize it's not unique to us, that seeks to restrict religion to the privacy of one's own home. That is to say, to make it only a matter between a man and his God.

I don't believe we are on the verge of seeing laws passed to this effect, and in fact, I don't believe we'll ever see such laws. I believe we won't need them.

I'm going to rely on Christianity as the example here because I'm one and let's be honest, we're the big dog on the street anyway.

But we live in a county, and world leader of a country, that doesn't recognize good and evil anymore. We live in a place where if you attempt to judge the morality of any person's action, you are almost automatically considered a bigot.

How is this a threat to religion? Because clearly, religions judge actions. We're not talking here about issues that effect the state. We're simply, at this point, discussing judgement, which is internal.

There is the idea that any action is ok so long as no one gets hurt, or loses property.

Stay with me.

This attitude, leads most to then judge religions and the religious as out of touch, for believing that anything is morally wrong. Ignoring the obvious irony, I believe that has really seeped into our national moral identity.

We've become a nation that is tolerant of every thing a person can conceivably do, but one that is hostile to any group that dares to say thou shall not.

Taking this one step further, the great secular majority (And I know most people claim to be Christian but let's be honest, all most do is say, yeah Jesus is love and go about their lives thinking God wants them to be happy so they can do whatever) then begins to take this attitude toward religions.

If all things are permissible, then all religions are permissible. And if we stopped there, we'd be ok. Next, if all things are permissible, but a religion is trying to say that something isn't permissible (even if they aren't attempting to legislate it), then only one can be right.

And we so believe in the fallacy that all things are permissible, that we now seek to turn the opposite idea into crimethink.

Aside: I want you all to know that I'm sorry this blog isn't as well done as it could be, it's been a freaking TERRIBLE week at work. Very busy, and I've had little free time.

Anyways, the attitude that it's wrong for any group to dare tell anyone what they should believe permeates almost everything.

We can't have Kirk Cameron going on about mainstream evangelical views on gay marriage without assaulting his character with outlandish headlines. What right has he to an opinion?

We can't let the Church tell it's own employees that if they work for them, they don't get free condoms and other BC methods covered by insurance. How dare they?

And again, I'm not saying people can't or shouldn't criticize. They're welcome too, that's freedom. But there is a snowballing effect right now against religion.

And I believe the natural end of that snowballing will be a cultural turning of the tides against the open and outward practice of religions.

To summarize.

Our society believes all things are permissible.
This is in contrast to most religious views.
Therefore, our society views religion with disdain.
Therefore, our society is becoming more and more hostile toward religion
The natural result of this will be a cultural, and perhaps eventual legislative, shift against the open practice of faith.

Blog event idea, and a mea culpa

A group I follow on facebook had this posted today.

Of the options, what is the greatest threat to religious freedom in the world today: atheistic communism, totalitarian secularism, Christian theocracy or radical Islam?

I think this is a great idea for our next blog event, but I'll change it a bit to these below. You would pick one of the three.
 
What is the greatest threat to religious freedom in the world today, or why is religious freedom not threatened in the world today, or last, religious freedom is an irrelevant issue.

What do you guys think?

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Also, to the triumvirate, I have a confession. I have toyed in the past with starting another blog, independent of this one, wherein I can blog Catholic to Catholics without the same scrutiny I would face here.

I have now done this, though I've only posted twice so far, I intend to continue.

While I gain a tremendous amount of insight and personal growth from our discussions on here, I cannot delve deeply into some of the many issues I would like to dive into, because we cannot get that far.

We do not share the same assumptions and world views that allow me to discuss some things as I could with other Christians and more specifically with other Catholics. My purpose in this blog has become more clear.

My purpose in this blog here is to grow, learn, challenge and be challenged. And I appreciate it very much.

But I have another purpose I want to fulfill, and that is to spread the faith. I want to help re-evangelize Catholics and show the truth of the Church to my fellow Christians. That will be the purpose of my other blog, which you can find at this URL.

http://1fromthepews.blogspot.com/

I am willing to debate and discuss anything I put on either blog, but my purpose of One from the Pews is not the same as my purpose here.

Personally, I recommend you don't read it, but I don't want to appear to be hiding it, so I've given you the link. I won't stop anyone from commenting on it, but I ask for some restraint. You are not the intended audience of that blog, and hence, I will not be writing the same way I do here and I ask you to bear that in mind.

What does he do this man you seek?

So there is no shortage of people ranting and yelling about how no one running for president is any damn good. I'm one of them.

I'm also bored, and I have about 15 minutes left on lunch. I wanted to write something about our coddling and tacit encouragement of the horrible behavior of Muslim countries (IE apologizing to them after the kill us, that sort of thing) but I don't have time to do it justice right now.

Instead, here listed is a wild speculation of how each republican candidate running for president in 2012 might end the world.

Ron Paul
This one is easy. Ron Paul wins the nomination, and narrowly defeats Obama. Immediately, he shuts down the federal reserve. Within a year, all American troops abroad are back on US soil. The resulting economic uncertainty and lack of global policing by us lead to a break down in world order. Europe bravely tries to step up, as does China. China succeeds where Europe fails. Unrelated to all this, North Korea starts nuking people, and is nuked back. Dogs and cats begin living together. Europe declares fealty to China, who is suffering from the radiation of a blown off the map North Korea. Zombies rise up in China, and a nation so populous has no chance of containing it, especially as it is now focused on foreign matters. The radioactive zombie illness spreads across the globe. President Paul shuts America's borders, maintaining us for a time. But eventually the radiation creeps across the planet, and the undead rule the world. President Paul and a rag tag band of survivors starring James Woods hold out for a time at a farm house run by a man named Herschel.

Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich eats Ron Paul, gaining his strength and delegates. The resulting momentum, and threats to eat Rick Santorum, lead to his winning the nomination. He narrowly defeats President Obama in the Fourth of July hot dog eating contest to win national support (He eats 86, the president turns in a solid 72 and finishes third behind Newt and Kobayashi). This support leads to his election. He challenges the leaders of all America's enemies to a hot dog eating contest on the next fourth of July with world peace on the line. He is about to win when a latent heart defect causes a heart attack and a "reversal of fortune"which leads to his disqualification. Ahmadinejad, now Ayatollah of America, is offended when the a jewish bus boy at a White House dinner exposed the bottom of his shoe to him, prompting him to attack Israel. The bus boy is actually an alien, and reports this violence to the Representatives of Telah, who deem humans savage and destroy the planet.

 Rick Santorum
God becomes angry with America for electing Rick Santorum, and with the rest of the world for not stopping America from doing so. God begins biblical apocalypse. Santorum is pleased. He's not the anti-Christ, mind you, just awful.

Mitt Romney
I was torn between him, Rick and Obama as to who was the biblical anti-Christ in this scenario. Santorum isn't smooth enough. Obama might be sneaky and evil enough, but Romney has the funds for the job, and no one thinks he's dangerous. Total package really. I digress. Romney wins the nomination in a landslide. Narrowly wins election. Immediately he begins the well known Mormon practice of preparing for the apocalypse. The nation experiences a  time of peace, and is well prepared for national disasters. All the other countries start saying that we're so nice and talented and they like hanging out with us, even though something about is makes them uncomfortable.
With such major focus on the apocalypse, we forget to keep an eye on the rest of the world, where in Russia a scientist clones a wooly mammoth. This seemingly innocent discovery leads to an outbreak of Mad Mammoth Disease, and we all go crazy and die. Mitt dies last and becomes God of his own planet. Other world leaders in the afterlife are confused as they thought Mormons were monotheistic Christians.

President Barrack Obama (Re-election)
The president continues his policies of utilizing executive orders on an unprecedented scale. He defeats the Church in court over the HHS mandate. This galvanizes Catholics who spend the next three years chipping away at the president's psyche. Finally in the final year as a Lame Duck he goes mad, and issues an order forcing all people to use contraceptives every time they have sex. Surprisingly, the nation loves this. His successor, republican President Christie doesn't want to upset chances at reelection and maintains the policy and is reelected. This continues for sometime, and America eventually is annexed by Mexico. Mexico, being incapable of ruling itself, can't rule America. Drug lords take control of our nukes and go to war with their Afghan opium providers. This leads to nukes hitting Pakistan, who says "Oh hell, nah," and blows up the planet.

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 That didn't make any sense did it? Nope. Well really I just wanted a little creative writing exercise and there it was. Mahalo.

Defending the President....sort of

One of President Obama's administration's answers as to why it can hold Catholic hospitals and charities to secular standards when it comes to the HHS mandate, is that those organizations behave indistinguishably from secular versions of them.

And he's right.

He's not right about this mandate. But he's right about that first part. A Catholic hospital might employ a few nuns or priests, and there will be crucifixes and statues on the wall. But in most serviceable ways, ones experience there won't be any different from the secular hospital down the road.

Both will charge the same, both probably have financial assistance, both have decent doctors etc. I bet a secular hospital can even find you a chaplain if need be.

To qualify for the exemption under HHS, like Churches,  "A religious employer is one that:  (1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a non-profit organization under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(a)(1) and section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) or (iii).  45 C.F.R. §147.130(a)(1)(iv)(B)."

I'm not sure we can do much about conditions 3 and 4, but one and two should have been a no brainer. A Catholic ANYTHING should have as it's purpose the inculcation of Catholic views. We should be providing charity and care to as many people as we can, whether they're Catholic or not, but in the process, we should of course be teaching the faith and spreading the gospel. I mean, come on. Wasn't that the great commission?

As for employing mostly Catholics, can we legally do that? If we can, why the hell weren't we all along? We should want the best employees for everything sure, but all else being equal, if a Catholic group could use being Catholic as the tiebreaker, than they should have been doing so.

As to No. 3, primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets, well that's a stupid rule. Catholic health care and to a greater degree Catholic charities are trying to help as many people as they can, regardless of their faiths. This is an undue restriction, but that's on the administration, not the Catholic groups.

As for being a non-profit, I admit to almost no knowledge of how this works but I do think many Catholic charities probably fit that bill.

Anyway my point is this. While I don't think Catholic employers should be forced to violate their consciences by providing what is generally an elective pill/device etc., I also don't think they can sit back and play pure victim.

We need to remember who we are and live up to our own standards if we're going to ask people to recognize them.

The elephant in the HHS debate room

The gist of the HHS debate is this. President Obama and his administration have determined that all health insurers should have to cover the costs of contraceptives and the morning after pill which can be an abortifacent (sic?) .

The Catholic Church in the U.S. opposes this, calling it a violation of conscience, because Catholic Hospitals and other Catholic organizations would have to provide health insurance that covers something morally objectionable to them.

But here's the story that the Catholic side of things isn't really talking about. I mean they will acknowledge this, but that's about it.

That is that some sources are saying 99 percent of American women have used birth control at some time in their lives. The more upsetting, though no less surprising stat, is that 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women have used artificial birth control.

Now I don't support the HHS mandate, at all. Not even a little. But that's not what this blog is about. This blog is more of an open letter of sorts to my fellow Catholics.

See we have a problem with this HSS mandate yes. It will attempt to force the Church to act against it's beliefs. That's bad.

But we have a more serious, though not new, problem. And that is that despite the number of people in the pews, fewer and fewer are really catechized. And if they are well taught in our beliefs, they're ignoring it in massive numbers.

I am going to use social media to do my own little survey on Catholics and their beliefs and get back to you with what I find.

For now though, let me say this.

All sin is awful. Using contraceptive is as much a sin as looking at porn or saying GD. But the reason this sin has my attention, is that it's the first time I've heard of 98 percent of the Church, of it's women in this case, engaging almost collectively in the same sin.

This merits research. Until then, I urge all of my fellow Catholics, almost none of whom I know will read this, to pray and attempt to conform their wills to that of Rome's. And if you cannot, in all conscience, do that, I suggest you consider whether you are a Catholic or not.

I join the armies of bloggers talking bout the Religion Video

First off, if you haven't yet, watch this to know what the hell I am talking about.

First I'll give my brief take on the guy. His name is Jefferson Bethke and this isn't his first dog-and-pony show when it comes to uplifting God-based youtube videos.

He seems like a nice guy, real believer. He's talented, attractive and involved with people who know their video editing.

Before I critique anything he says, I want to make it known that I am not "hatin" on the guy. I admire his faith. I respect it. I also fully acknowledge that I am a poor judge of many things and there's plenty of beams in my own eye to deal with before I try to remove the speck in his.

But that's not fun or interesting, so I'm going to deal with his message now instead.

Jefferson seems like a real believer. Jefferson seems like a guy who's popular at parties....he kind of says so in the video.

But Jefferson's message, one that I don't blame him for, is wrong. I don't blame him.

He is the latest in a long line of Christians indoctrinated into the idea that God is a personal notion, meant to be experienced individualistically and not communally.

His view that religion is the problem and God is the cure is illogical, but not without MASSIVE support.

I submit right now that if I asked my facebook list to decide if they like his video, it would be a massive yes.

And there is a lot to like. He talks about hypocrisy being bad. And self-righteousness being a bad thing. He mentions some important truths about God....but it's all dressed up in wrongs.

I would address all the things I find wrong, but as you all know, I'm a Catholic, and my views line up with the orthodoxy for the most part so here's parish priest/rapper known as Fr. Pontifex with his own slick edited reply.

I agree.

I believe Mr. Bethke's views are the natural conclusion of protestantism. I don't mean all protestants agree with the whole thing, they don't. I mean that when the word of God has no interpretive authority, when everyman should define the meaning his or herself, when no one has any more right than another to preserve the truth.....eventually we reach a point where religion become usesless, and the truth is lost.

Depending on how bad this blog post goes over, I've written by own poetic reply to Mr. Bethke. Should I post the text? You shant see me rapping.

Explaining my absence of late

I've been sick with something. Doctor said it was low blood pressure and a virus..... I'll say he's probably on the mark, but damn have I felt crappy and useless for almost 3 weeks.

I'm a little better today, but if I don't feel pretty much back to normal in a couple days I'll be going back to see the man for round three. In fact, as weird as this was I might just schedule that anyway to be safe.

On top of that Kelli's mom is doing better despite another hospital trip because of another allergic reaction to a different blood pressure medicine. Spent the weekend with her and her family's delayed Xmas party.

So that's the dealio. I nabbed me a freelance writing assignment (small pay but something) for Friday night covering high school hoops so I better feel better by then.

That's all I got folks. I'll be blogging away again just as soon as I feel like it. Which is hopefully soon.

Do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?

Funny story, vulgar language.

On the way back from Cici's for lunch, three nerds (of which I am one) were debating Kirk and Picard....somehow that happened.

Me and Richard supported Picard, Jason liked Kirk.

Jason: Captain Kirk could be the smartest person in the room without having to have everyone know it. Just because he didn't spend all his time in his private study with his reading glasses on doesn't mean...

Me (interrupting): Did he even have a private study?

Jason (instantly): He had a Fuck den!

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Argument over. I stand corrected.

My Kings Island "Ghost" stories

Ok so here goes. Again I worked at Kings Island for nine seasons or so, mostly in Merchandise. I worked two shifts in food and spent a year in Loss Prevention.

All the usual ghost stories I heard about were posted two blog entries ago. What follows is my account of the unexplained that I saw.

Please note, I do NOT claim that these really are ghost stories, but they are weird and I was a little creeped out.

Both events occurred in Action Zone, the area of the park near Drop Zone.

For the first, the year was probably 2003, I can't remember but I was an assistant supervisor of the store On Location, directly below Drop Zone and X-Treme Skyflyer. It was an earlier night, after close. We'd finished up fast. There was no one in the store but me. I'd already sent my last employee home, shut the big garage doors out front and I was finishing up my stock order for the next day.

I was sitting at the office desk in that store. To give you the layout, it's a long narrow stockroom with an island shelving unit in the middle.  There was one door to the sales floor, which I could not see from where I sat since it was around the corner, and a door that exited outside, which was immediately to my left.

I could see from this position, about 75 percent of the stockroom. So I'm sitting there filling out this form and I hear what sounds like someone pulling a cardboard box off a shelf. I'm not phased at this point because teenagers don't know how to stack stuff in a stockroom so things move or fall plenty.

Just as I'm getting up to go I hear it again, followed by the sound of a box hitting the floor. I can't see it from where I am. I walk around the corner and see an unopened box of 'Unicorn pops" (the 2 footlong spiral sucker candy on a stick) had fallen.

This is a little weird since it's a long heavy box and I can see where it had been sitting, but I pick it up and put it back. I go back to the desk and gather my things and right before I leave, the same thing happens again.

That's how I've usually told that story I think. But there's a caveat I don't think I usually tell, probably because it takes away my certainty of the events and some creepy fun. When the box fell again, I didn't go look. I got the hell out of Dodge. Also, since I wasn't an early shift the next day, I didn't ever see whether that box, or some other box had fallen. Still, it was as Jimmy Kimmel playing Karl Malone would say, "a spooky time."

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The other incident happened a year or two later I think. I'm really not sure now, it might have been the same year. I do know that I'd just closed up shop at On Location, but I don't think it was my store at that point.

Nevertheless, I'd gone back to the store to get something and I decided to take a slightly different path back to the Resale office near the front of the park. The usual path people take from Action Zone to the front takes them along the Festhaus, to the front gate.


I chose, because I thought it might save a few steps, that I'd head past Stunt Crew Grill and Congo Falls to a little used path that comes out next to the old Paramount Theatre.


So I'm heading that way and I pass Delirium and the ride's PA gives the "Smoking is not permitted in lines at Kings Island" speech. I assume it's on a timer and whatever. Then as I pass Congo Falls it does the same. I then hear Drop Zone's PA do it. I keep walking and as I get on the path, FaceOffs system does the same thing.


I mentioned it to someone in passing later and they told me that those messages get played when someone hits a button.

Was someone messing with me? Maybe. Still was weird.


Anywho, that's really all I got. Other than that the dark empty amusement park does often seem spooky, because dark empty amusement parks will do that.

James defends Kings Island, I respond.

Fellow blogger and friend of the show James Gabbard took issue with some of the things I said in my review of the Ghost Hunters episode at Kings Island.

Check out his take on my review and on the episode here www.asimpleletter.com

A little background (in case you don't click on his blog). James worked at Kings Island in several shops in 2008. I worked in just about every shop from 2000 (or was it 99?) to 2008. We both worked in the Merchandise Department.

James agrees that it wasn't a great episode of Ghost Hunters....so we're cool on that.

James says that while the guys in the show are ghost hunters, their primary aim is to make an interesting TV show. I agree completely.

And if they wanted to make this more interesting, why not at least in that opening sequence discuss the rumors of hauntings all over the park? We've all seen episodes of this show (Remember that lighthouse) where there were 5-10 or even more little ghost stories explained.

Sometimes they'd narrow the investigation to a handful, but they acknowledged them at least. A spooky ghost hunting show is made MORE interesting by talking about MORE ghosts.

I didn't explain myself well at one point in my hasty response. At the end I mention that though Ghost Hunters was there for a week, we saw only a little bit. Well, mea cupla. That's the nature of reality TV I get it. But that doesn't change the fact that stumbling about the kiddie dark ride and the carousel with nothing but their naked eyes and flashlights isn't the standard of ghost hunting this show usually tries to live up too.

This story here talks about the powder mills and doesn't say there wasn't one on the site of KI. There might have been, but the reporter I emailed yesterday at the Cincinnati Enquirer was not aware of the it at the time we communicated. Maybe there was one, maybe not, but what a boring thing to mention when THERE HAVE BEEN REAL DEATHS at the park.

I suggested that these were ignored because of KI/Cedar Fair management not wanting to discuss them. James disagreed.

First the little girl in the blue dress they were after the whole episode is often seen in the waterpark, but there was not investigation there. James claims that the waterpark renovations were the reason for this. If there were lots of torn up construction out there, maybe that could be the case, for safety, but last photos I saw showed only them tearing up the old softball fields. Admittedly, could be more by now.

But James thinks it was to not reveal things before they're done out there. Well they've already revealed all the new attractions in a map and anyway the haunted zone out there I'm familiar with is behind On Shore (Matilda's now I think), not near the upgrades.

But here is my biggest issue with what James had to say.
"Tower Johnny was killed while climbing the Eiffel Tower and either being cut by wire cables or falling to his death. Black Sunday was three different deaths at the fault of the park. Racer Boy was supposedly a death from one of the carts on the Racer back at Coney Island, in which he fell out. There are tons of deaths at the park, and tons of spirits- but do you want to scare people into going into the park if the rides have killed people? No. That's likely why they first stuck to these stories."

That's Kings Island's problem, not TAPS. TAPS is trying to make an interesting show and hunt for ghosts. They investigated one area in depth and that area is barely utilized by the park anymore.

TAPS has told stories way more intense then some possible 1800s girl lost in a 1972 era restaurant. They usually do way more and they always spin it at tourist sites so as to not scare people off. In this case, they just didn't investigate.

I understand that looking over the whole park would have led to a long long long show. I understand limiting the investigation. But to not mention the rest. To ignore the most likely causes of any spiritual activity (assuming such exists) is not like TAPS in other episodes I have seen. That's why I think KI came down on them a little, but I'm blaming them too, since they probably agreed to the terms.

I also understand that there may be nothing to all the stories that I have heard. But then if they investigated them, they should have said they found nothing. And if they didn't they should have acknowledged that as well.

In the second half of the episode they communicate with ghosts with a flashlight system. They set up remote cameras, used infrared, they did a LOT more. They did, essentially what they always do.

But at Kings Island, they had flashlights to see with, and a digital recorder. That's it. No remotes, no infrared, no anything but walking about, seemingly at random outside of the International Restaurant.

Ghost Hunters want in to KI all the time and so I understand, they're usually refused. I do know some who have pulled it off and if I can get their stories, I'll publish them here. (Word is there are multiple ghosts in Attitudes/Rock Shop stock room).

Here a pro group got a swing at it, but they missed big time.

At lunch I'll share my two creepy KI stories with anyone willing to read.

Also, hell yes facebookers. This blog usually gets like 12 views a day. Yesterday we got 200.

My review of Ghost Hunters at Kings Island

So Ghost Hunters did an episode at Kings Island. Naturally they had many challenges to deal with.

The park is much larger than other places they’ve done.  The time means they couldn’t go after every ghost story and Kings Island probably (I admit to speculating here) probably limited their access.

That said, they found something. Female voices in the International Restaurant. One says it’s looking for it’s mom. Sounded pretty clear actually.

But here’s the thing….I know most of this show is the people speaking in scary tones and saying “OMG did you hear that?” But on the other hand, they usually seem to legit investigate things. They do EVP and measure electromagnetic fields and put up cameras and such…..they didn’t do any of that except the audio EVP.

Observing that, plus seeing they did a better investigation in the next half of the episode, and knowing how KI controls spin, I think either KI management or the scope of the park’s size caused them to not do a thorough job.

I submit that they wanted to do KI, and KI said ok but on these conditions…..and the rest is a subpar episode of a so-so show.

They focus the whole thing on an alleged little girl in a blue dress who is in fact part of park legend, and they investigate two three places she might be and for some reason wander about the carousel and the haunted house. Then they wander about White Water Canyon.

They don’t investigate near the Beast, or near the Tower, or in the Festhaus or in 95 percent of the park. They pretty much investigated the IR and wandered around. Terrible job.

They ignored Tower Johnny, may have fabricated the story about a munitions factory on site (there is one two miles away where  there was a big explosion in 1890ish). They ignored Racer Boy and really just everything.

Someone needs to investigate why they half assed this investigation. I really do think these guys try to find things when they go “hunting” but when it comes to the Kings Island investigation, it’s like they didn’t even try.



Don Hellbig told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Ghost Hunters filmed every night for a week. Did they really find nothing else useable? If not, ok but they should have showed some of it.

I give it a half star out of 5.

Also, way to totally ignore everything but the rides department. Merch forever, food never!

Kings Island on Ghost Hunters tonight

So with the announcement that at 9 p.m. Ghost Hunters will air a new episode featuring a weeks worth of filming at Kings Island, I thought I'd share a couple stories.

The tales of hauntings at KI are old and I won't go into detail on them here but here's a glance at the one's I've heard of most. Anything to them? Guess we'll see tonight at 9 on Syfy.

(Edit: I learned these stories from other employees and guests over the 10 years [9 seasons] I worked at the park.)

Tower Johnny - Ghost of a kid named John who died on the tower in 1983 on senior night. One story says he fell, another says he was decapitated or cut in half by elevator cables. He haunts international street mostly but allegedly haunts the Beast as well, since story goes the elevator cables were dumped in the woods out there.

Johnny is often credited for power surges or other mischievous events that cause problems but don't really do any harm. Kind of a prankster ghost. I've heard almost every ghost story at KI attributed to Johnny at one point or another.

The International Restaurant (above main entrance) is allegedly haunted, but I don't really know the stories well. Something about burners just turning on, weird voices etc. Creepy feelings.

Then there is Racer Boy, who mysteriously appears and disappears in Coney Mall.

Then there's the haunted White Water Canyon tower where a ghost allegedly throws rocks at the back of it. A similar story exists in the waterpark at the store just off the train but that is sometimes attributed to the "little girl in a blue dress" that is seen around there and in the parking lot. She's allegedly buried in the cemetery on property.

And yeah, so there's a cemetery on the property between KI and the Great Wolf Lodge. You can see it from the main road easily. See a photo at http://www.forgottenoh.com/Cemeteries/kicemetery.html

Then there was Black Sunday. I don't remember what year but in one day a drunk woman died on a ride called Flight Commander, and 3-4 people died in a bizarre electrical situation at the lake in Octoberfest (by the Viking Ship).

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So that's the history as I recall it. Feel free to add. I'll add my own stories to this later today if I have time.