Finally at the tail end of this ditmas park born illness of 2012. Just very weak now. I've consumed no less than 10 of those 32 oz jugs of Gatorade since Saturday morning. Switching to red and blue flavors today
Windows 8 (AKA "Metro") looks like it is going to be the worst new product introduction since the Edsel.
Some of the problems:
1. If using a touch screen, it is aggravating and complicated to use. You need multiple instructions just to turn the damned computer off. Different regions of the screen activate different, convoluted instructions or menus. Different kinds of swiping achieve different results.
2. If you are not using a touch screen, then the whole interface is even worse.
3. It is ugly and not at all enjoyable. Worst of all, the whole experience causes the user to fall into a pit of wasted time.
At some point (But not quite yet) Microsoft stock will be a terrific short sale candidate.
LOL, dh. Yeah, it's going to be a 24/7 live blog of rob's separation anxiety until he goes.
The irony is, rob complains about over-entitled Park Slope kids. Yet most only have two doting parents. A few lucky kids of gay parent arrangements I know end up with four fairly indulgent parents (two moms and two dads). Rob has managed to wrangle about fifteen parents for himself here. So next time rob rants about tweens in strollers, just remember how much hovering and caretaking he demands of all of us here on an hourly basis.
Don't be such a curmudgeon, dave, this is so fun . . .
"it's gonna suck ass down there i know for a fact, like 2 days straigt. oh well, not like i deserve a nice trip or anything thins. but yeah,l this is going to be so awful"
Hey, arkady, not sure if we will be adding anything this year. We haven't done much with annuals, other than a few planters on the deck and of course the sunflowers. So we'll probably do those in April. We may add a few hostas. Other than the sunflowers, which we seed in mid-April, most of that is Mrs. Slopey's department. I'm in charge of pruning and retraining the perennials (the new deck railing and cabling is in, so the wisteria needs to thread along that). I did a thorough pruning job of the crape myrtle three weeks ago, so I expect a good bloom this year. And if the damn trumpet creeper doesn't flower this year, I'm ripping it out by the throat in October!!!
I should add that Mrs. Slopey and her brother dragged me and the farmhand to the Philly flower show at the Philly convention center last weekend, so just go ahead and award me GOTW and get it over with.
I doubt Phil wants this gig, but triangle may be the best offense to make these pieces fit.
I still think if they can win 4 or 5 of the next ten, they might really gel by that time and start winning for real. If they can figure out how to play together, they coukld be dangerous.
Slopey, one thing Phil can do is make a team that is strong on paper be also strong on the floor - ie he's often accused of winning with talented squats.
what is this nonsense of new york senate republicans adding an additional district....they have no shame.
cuomo lost on the redistricting issue even with all his grandstanding.
Those wi-fi spots are similar to homeless selling free newspapers - I think it was a good idea: too bad it backfired.
pete - Are you in town or upstate w/ all the planting?
I don't care if he coaches somewhere else. If we need Phil Jackson to win a championship we don't deserve it. Am I the only one keeping the Knicks bulls rivalry of the 90s alive?
Pete, they've done it before. They can complain all they want about how bad it is to have an even number of seats and the risk of a 31-31 split, but they added the 62nd seat to create an additional GOP seat in a previous reapportionment. That plus all of the GOP seats are 5% below avg population and the dem seats are above. If they had to make all the seats the same size, they would probably lose one or two. Every decade the demographics are worse for them. If it were easy to draw lines to preserve the majority, this would have been done a while back. It also helps incumbent to keep would-be challengers guessing until the last possible moment where the new lines will be. No point in campaigning in areas that fall outside the district you want to run in.
Enjoy, benson. How's your home office set-up? One piece of advice, if you go out to lunch from your new office, you may want to avoid 11:42-12:25. That's when MS 51 takes to the street and the park for lunch.
DH, most NBA champs are massive payroll, big star, big name coach combo's. after such a long drought of no rings, I would rather have a supposed "tainted" ring than be laughing stock
OMG FUCK MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i just got a nasty ass call at work from some credit person saying that i hate a citibank credit card in the past blah blah blah and they had my social security number and everything. i told the person it aint me but i have the same name. wtf? what do i do about this? that stupid ass care credit company totally sold me out! LMFAO they called me back and i pick up and they are like are you 74 years old!? wtf?! it was my grandfather's account, NOT MINE! am i gonna get a barrage of people calling me now!?!
yeah, bit of a conflict of interest if he's still schtupping Jeannie Buss (daughter of Lakers' owner). besides, Jackson would never agree to Dolan's terms about talking to media. he says and thinks what he likes.
can i make a formal complaint? please stop making the daily picture on top of the thread fugly musty old brownstones? cant it just be a random picture, a pretty one, preferably non-brooklyn related? sorry but brooklyn is fucking the most retarded place on the east coast. there i said it.
*rob*
You know what I miss most about my office? The supporting machines: faxes, printers, even the hole puncher! Fortunately I live right near a Staples, and I've become their new best friend.
"can i make a formal complaint? please stop making the daily picture on top of the thread fugly musty old brownstones?"
IF YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE WANTS TO POST THE OT IN THE MORNING, BY ALL MEANS, USE A DIFFERENT PICTURE. AS LONG AS I'M THE ONE SETTING UP THE OT MOST EVERY MORNING, I'LL POST WHATEVER FUCKING PICTURE I WANT.
AND, P.S., WERE IT UP TO YOU, WE'D HAVE SOME STUPID PICTURE OF ESTELLE GETTY OR THAT CROSS-EYED WOMAN, WHOM NO ONE HERE WANTS TO SEE AS POTD EITHER.
SO, EITHER STEP UP TO THE PLATE LIKE AN ADULT OR STFU.
quote:
The irony is, rob complains about over-entitled Park Slope kids. Yet most only have two doting parents. A few lucky kids of gay parent arrangements I know end up with four fairly indulgent parents (two moms and two dads). Rob has managed to wrangle about fifteen parents for himself here. So next time rob rants about tweens in strollers, just remember how much hovering and caretaking he demands of all of us here on an hourly basis.
i dont know WHAT your deal is but ive noticed in the last few days youve been a complete toolbag all over my dick. seriously, get off it. dont be hating on me cuz i call out certain lifestyles i find nausizzous.
Not only is *Rob* not getting ice cream, but he's going to have to brew his own coffee. Not even Maxwell house. He'll have to make do with Krasdale or some other store brand.
I think the human wifi hospot is a genius idea, especially for the homeless. You can get a Clean hotspot that lets you log in up to 6 devices at one time and pay $45 bucks a month. Get a couple of tshirts made for yourself saying that you're a mobile hotspot and charge like $3 bucks for half an hour of use and make sure you stand in a very touristy area. You can make 10 bucks an hour easy if you have decent sales mojo going.
seriously, im very angry right now about those two calls from credit collections. wtf? this is why i prefer to stay as far off the grid as possible. it wasnt even my fucking credit cards. it was my stupid grandmother who used those credit cards on my grandfather's name who has the same name as me who never paid them. im seriously thinking about cancelling my trip and getting a refund for my train tickets. personally, i dont think she deserves a grandson like me. screw her.
yeah im going to hell, as if i care
I'm very excited - guy's supposed to come today to give me an estimate on finishing bookshelves. But he's 20 minutes late... And I'll have to do alt side soon. So, I've waited 20 years, what's a little longer...
I like the brownstones and whatever else CGar, Dave, Scott, Cobble, and whomever else puts up each day. It takes time to look for an interesting picture. Just want to let you all know it is appreciated.
Even a Fedders would be preferable to rob's current, incredibly tasteless, avatar of some trashy unknown D-lister.
City -- I really dug Edinburgh. Lots of fun during the Fringe.
Warm weather -- Costa Rica. Osa Peninsula (near Drake Bay, north side of Corcovado park) or at the tip (never been to Lapa Rios, but heard it's great); mountains (Monteverde and Arenal area); Nicoya Peninsula (drier, great beaches).
I have a friend who owns a small island off of Bali - fully staffed & w/ private launch - whom I'd love to visit but would also like to stay in some of the hotels - friends have brought back pix of simply incredible pools & wildlife. (NH)
quote:
Even a Fedders would be preferable to rob's current, incredibly tasteless, avatar of some trashy unknown D-lister.
wtf? how is the woman in my avatar ANY different than the woman in yours!? seriously just cuz yours is a cartoon superhero? stop hating. you are better than that.
Slopey, ALL Dems should aspire to be successful republicans. If they did, we wouldn't have this class warfare and the country would be in better shape.
My pick is Lake Como in Northern Italy. Incredibly beautiful mountain landscapes. coupled with old towns shoehorned into the nooks and crannies. George Clooney agrees!
benson's post reminds me -- Ligurian coast of Italy. Camogli down through Cinque Terre. "old towns shoehorned into the nooks and crannies" overlooking the sea. Great walking, hiking, eating and wine, lots of trompe l'oeil (or however it's spelled). Home of pesto and nine different ways of making sardines taste amazingly yummy.
I haven't traveled as much as I would like, not much at all, compared to some of you, but I've loved almost everywhere I've been, and would love to go back to all of them, as well as so many more places.
Love London, Paris, Rome, Florence. Tuscan countryside and small towns. Loved Oxford and Cambridge and small English villages.
I would like to go throughout Spain, France, more of Italy, Venice, and more of the countryside. Also Vienna, and rest of Austria, Holland, Scandinavian countries. I really want to see the Highlands, Scottish cities, and Ireland.
Morocco and India are certainly on my list. Egypt, too, but not now. South Africa, an East African safari, and the island of Lamu, off the coast of Kenya. China and Japan and parts of Indonesia. New Zealand for sure, Australia, but would be quite happy with just New Zealand. Brazil, Peru, and Patagonia.
Jamaica remains one of the most beautiful places on the planet, especially up in the Blue Mountains.
I hope to get back on my financial feet so I can travel again. It makes one a better human being.
I've really come to like travelling via cruises, particularly if it is on one of the lines that cater to adults (Princess or Holland-America) as opposed to those that are floating frat parties (Carnival) or amusement parks (Norwegian, Royal Caribbean). It combines the best features of being in a resort (you unpack only once) with a tour. They've really improved their land tours. For instance, this time, I went in a submarine in Aruba and the sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica.
In addition, there is the social/dining aspect. These lines try to maintain the old ideal of a fine dining experience. The waiters are well, well trained, nicely dressed and mannerly. We always sit at a table with a group of people, and enjoy meeting folks from different areas. Last year we sat with a couple from Quebec and another from Germany. This year it was a couple from Toronto and one from Michigan. One does not eat - one dines.
It is amazing how various ethnic groups dominate different aspects of the staff, as follows:
-Ship's officers: half Bristish, half Italian.
-Cruise social directors: Australian (why is that?)
-Hospitality and food management: Italian
-Waiters: a combination of Filipino, Russians, East Europeans and folks from the West Indies.
-Chambermaids and ship's crew: Filipino.
-Entertainers: Americans and Russians.
A comedian on the ship made the following comment (I can't do it justice, however):
"We have 42 nationalities working on this ship, and there is no problem with their getting along. Perhaps we should let the United nations in on the secret. It's called "having a job"".
Filipinos make the best and by that I mean tackiest lounge acts. they can make any American song sound like the original singer with a hint of a Filipino accent!!!!!
"i'd be pissed if i spent thousands of dollars on a cruise and wound up getting a filipino waiter :-/ "
Not me. They are well-trained, and have a great work ethic. When they are on the ship, they work from 11 in the morning to 11 at night, 7 days a week. They are mostly family men who make the sacrifice of being away from their wife and kids in order to provide them a better life.
I've never done a cruise but to me it sounds like torture.
Prague was city I enjoyed the most. American southwest most interesting scenery (but mostly because so different from here).
More important who you travel with. not destination.
Benson, your staff breakdown of cruises has been the same for me on the Norwegian ships that I've vacationed on the 2 times I did a cruise. I agree with you about cruises but not for all instances. To Italy or Europe where it's great to do a lot of walking around, I would opt for a regular flight/hotel. For places like carribean, it's fun to go on a cruise with a large group of people. To places like Benson went which are smaller cities islands with 2-3 spectacular things to see, it totally worth it to take a cruise. I did the same when I took a 10 day cruise from Barcelona to Morocco, Madeira, Fuchal and back to a couple of Spanish cities. It was great to not have to unpack and spend time on trains/buses and you get to see all that you wanted to see in a day that you are docked and experience the local culture and cuisines if you like or you have an option to just eat/dine on the ship (or both). It's amazing how great the cruises have become and they are throught through to the T. Always something going on to keep you entertained when you're on the ship and everything is super organized (except that Italian ship obvi).
I really loved Portugal. I spent more time in Spain but the Portuguese people were so different, it really stood out for me. But my international travels were many years ago.
I got a brochure for seabourn cruise line yesterday. none of that 1 week stuff....40 days, 75 days, 90 days.
'owners suite' cost at $110k and supposedly that is bargain from 'brochure' fare of $243k.
I really like to dig in to where I'm going. Cruise would seem to allow one to just scratch the surface of some interesting places. Like Costa Rica. We've been there twice and really enjoyed making 3-4 day stops in each of about 3 areas. If you pick the spots right, lots to do and you get a well-rounded sense of each area.
I forgot Positano - that's really neat.
"in a day that you are docked and experience the local culture and cuisines..." Takes a little more than a day to experience a local culture.
.........brooklyn is fucking the most retarded place on the east coast. there i said it.
ROTHFLMAO!!!!!
Sorry I haven't posted until now. I was out in a HAZMAT suit, dealing with that stroller, *rob*. j/k It is a good one, but definitely looks like they had the grungiest baby ever. Probably a lot of poo mist (probably poo too) embedded into that fabric.
ok, for real. Thank you *rob*. It turns out that Ms. L won't get that particular stroller, but I am cleaning it up and one of the young ladies will get be getting it; it is a really good stroller. *rob* you now know my name so that you can introduce me to anyone the next time we do a "hot" stroller handoff.
The calls probably started because applying for the card triggered activity on your name in the credit databases. So the collectors knew it was the name of a live actual person.
Arkady, I have the misfortune of being married to a psychologist who specializes in health behavior (you know, the way we all tell little lies to ourselves so we don't think the unhealthy things we do to ourselves will hurt us and how to get us all to stop thinking that way so we will stop doing the unhealthy things). And she knows I'm not a republican. So that won't work for me.
Oh, and speaking of poo mist, rob and dona, I heard a discussion on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC the other day that was all, or at least partially, about poo mist. Apparently, certain stomach viruses are transferred, um, fecally, and there are photos showing the extent of spray into a room from a toilet flush. That's one way viruses get passed along in a household, apparently. So put the lid down before flushing, and keep your toothbrushes stored on the far side of the sink away from the toilet. That was the lesson from these biologists, anyway.
I have travelled a lot by myself. Maybe that is why everyone asks me directions. It is bizarre. No matter where I go. Except Japan. There a person DID ask me and I was so happy and when I answered him, he blurts out "MY EYES ARE BAD" meaning he didn't realize I wasn't Japanese and tears off in a panic. But everywhere people ask me. I am disappointed when they don't.
Florence, for beauty, walking, art and sense of history.
Jamaica (south coast, for sun, sea, people and relaxtion)
Barcelona, for everything
Seychelles, because it's remote, pristine
And about 5,999 other places. : P
Slopey, that was on Leonard Lopate. I almost posted it here when DH told us about his illness.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2012/mar/09/please-explain-norovirus/
Oh and after that, Spain......everywhere and then Portugal
After that travel around France - Paris then south.
After that, to Japan to reminisce.
And the next time I go to London, biz related, I will travel around. I have never been anywhere but London in the UK.
quote:
Apparently, certain stomach viruses are transferred, um, fecally, and there are photos showing the extent of spray into a room from a toilet flush. That's one way viruses get passed along in a household, apparently. So put the lid down before flushing, and keep your toothbrushes stored on the far side of the sink away from the toilet. That was the lesson from these biologists, anyway.
ive been saying this for YEARS and yet it takes some biologist (probably well endowed with our tax payer monies) to give the final conclusion on something so obvious!? science is so retarded
JB, did you pretend to not understand them so they can display those AMAZING RACE tactic of speaking slower & louder so that you might understand English - freaking idiots!!! (ie like the natives speaking slower & louder would enable them to understand the native language)?
is rachel still on the amazing race? sorry i was going to watch that idiotic show just for her, but i couldnt be asked. just curious if she's still on and if she murdered her toolbag boyfriend yet
American families, both times. I was particularly amused when I was disturbed while writing in a journal alongside Jim Morrison's grave in Paris. And I'm particularly embarrassed now by the cliche.
Jessi, in answer to your long ago question about the Blue Mts, it might be a good idea to get a local driver. Driving around those mountains is a white knuckle affair as a passenger. As a driver, I'd have a coronary. The locals speed around those hairpin turns that look out over nothing like it's a flat road. The lorries do too. I was with the driver from the hotel where I was working and he said no one local ever crashes or has an accident. The only accidents were tourists. Of course, he's telling me this as we turn a sharp corner and see a couple of Ken's goats in the middle of the road, which he handily dodges without breaking a sweat. But damn, when you get to the top, or to a viewing spot, it's the most incredible sight on earth.
She got a dig in about how long it's taking Brendon to finish his ph.d. And she cried--a lot--although they didn't show the tears running down her cheeks, just the screwed up face.
I never liked the doors much either. I liked black music. Soul, R&B, Gospel, Motown. Latin music. Pop folkie. The Band, etc. Never liked rolling stones. They creeped me out. Heavy metal no. I have a friend who is semi deaf, real hearing loss, due to his early affinity to heavy metal.
i think it's better off when talented people die early. honestly humans live WAY too f'ing long. 80 year life expectency these days.? get the fuck outta here
I know it's sacrilege, but I never liked the Stones, either. I don't own any Doors records either, but I liked more of their songs than the Stones. Heavy metal? Blech. I'm a little too old for glam rock, too. Very silly.
I think I like visiting graves - was v. cool to be at Jim Morrison's and also to stand on the place where Hitler killed himself and also the church where Franco is buried.
I have the genes to live to 100+. Longevity is in my family. I hope to work past 80. I will probably get some volunteer work, wheeling you around in a stoller *rob*.
Speak for yourself, rob. I would like to be around as long as possible, with good health and sound faculties. I've still got a lot of things I'd like to do.
MM, I always liked vocal music. Because I like to sing and because I just like the voice. When I was younger, I loved Aretha Franklin so much. I still do. The music was awesome and she is a thrilling singer. I love complicated rythyms - so Latin music is great, all that Afro Caribbean stuff. Awesome. When music veered off into loud electronic music I never got into it.
Even some rap music is better than heavy metal. I remember seeing Miles Davis at the Fillmore East once. He was the great jazz innovator but remember dying for the thing to be over since it was pure instrumental screeching. That was toward the end of him. I am sure some people found something to love, but for me, pure pain.
I used to have this argument, 25 or so years ago, with the guy that handled jazz at the Golden Disc on Bleecker Street. I would complain about how ridiculous late Miles Davis's music was (like his Cindy Lauper covers), and he would say that Miles gave us so much great music, so many great musical innovations and ideas, and launched so many others who gave us great music as well, that he earned the right to make as much musical crap as he wanted and it wasn't worth arguing about. I eventually decided he was right.
Cleanliness and good hygiene is important for good health. But I really think people get carried away. I saw the dividing line of reasonable/ insane regarding germs while living in Japan. They are over the line. All of this antibiotic soap and sprays and freaking out about every germ. Germs are a part of life. We have to build up ourselves and our health and immune systems. Living in hermetically sealed germ free environments is impossible and weird.
I like visiting graves, too. And, I also had American tourists ask me for directions . . . in Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, when they couldn't find Eva Peron's grave.
It would be so annoying if you shot yourself in the head, Benson, while vacationing with me. Because then I would have to do EMS in a foreign country, figure out if it was 999 or 911 or 0 and then struggle. And then I would cry. Probably a lot. Then I would be mad and have to resist doing further violence. You would totally ruin my vacation. And think of all the foreign people deprived of getting directions.
These things aren't school trips, Benson. They would be going to places that interest me. Laying on a beach or just eating a lot in a foreign land doesn't turn me on at all. Not to say that is what you like. I am white. I like walking around but not getting sunburned. But then again, you are probably like my sister who almost strangled me in Ireland. It took a while to get over that trip.
I'm not a big leisure traveler, and try to avoid it for work. Always say if I had to spend the rest of my life in the 3 countries I am involved with now that would be fine with me (and one of those is just for work really).
Not judging anyone else's experiences but I find it hard for city / culture vacations to not feel superficial - i.e. I feel more like a generic tourist experiencing tourism than I am experiencing the place itself.
The idea of having a completely lazy relaxing break does appeal (it never used to) although my ability to switch off is somewhat tied into market hours, and I'd probably rather do it in North America anyway.
About traveling. When I first started doing a lot of traveling for work, it was amazing. So much fun. I felt so lucky and I really enjoyed it. Then after a while when the novelty wore off, I experienced the physical strain of it all. Hanging around airports, the security stuff, being super tired. Also, when it is a big part of your life, you get really mad when you only have crap food to eat, things don't work, room service doesn't come, internet doesn't work in your room......the litany of things that go wrong.
BTW, does anyone remember the Amnesty International fund raiser when Monty Python did their dead parrot routine? At the end of that show is a sketch of someone who goes to a travel agency and starts talking about trips that went bust and started complaining and then got carried away with everything that happened to him on all his trips until he became so agitated, he was screaming about it all and they carried the guy off the stage?????
That said:
dona, I would recommend a trip to Cambridge when you are next in London. It's only 50 mins by train, and even though I am just a tourist there as well I love it.
okay i changed my avatar of a picture someone drew of me lol
***
Hey Rob
So this is going to sound creepy, but my 14 year old is fascinated with you (actually both my kids have been fascinated with you for years!). She's the one you sent video games to, remember? Anyway, she's an artist and for some inexplicable reason, she decided to draw you....she might have been inspired by me telling her about your gay bashing incident and the pink socks.
Here's her gift to you...personally, the Fuck Me hat kinda bothered me, one because I didn't remember telling her about that, and two because she was too afraid to write out 'fuck',so she used asteriskes, hahahahahhaaha. She hopes you like cargo shorts because she couldn't figure out what would be appropriate with a Hello Kitty tee, pink socks and purple wings! I think she captured you perfectly!
dona -- those skits are both in original MP shows. There are two skits, one involves the dead parrot and John Cleese as the unfortunate buyer of said parrot, the other invovles Eric Idle as the would-be tourist complaining about how awful it is to go on some package tour with a bunch of fellow brits ("and complaining about the food 'oh, they don't make it like they do at home'" . . . .). Both are also on record.
I like a mix - lying by a pool or on a beach having cocktails served is fun but can wear thin fairly quickly. Touring around is o.k. but I prefer if it's focussed on something I'm already interested in & somewhat knowledgeable about - not a complete seminar. Best is when you work some place for even a few weeks & you live among the locals.
I have never done a tour. I just read books and created my own list of things to do. I really like museums and every major city anywhere I have ever gone I have gone to the museums. Even in Florida. For example, the Ringling Museum (yes the circus people) in Sarasota is an amazing museum filled with Baroque art.
I think Cuba is a fascinating place, and if it were legal to visit, it'd be on my list. First of all, it has a magnificent architectural heritage, unlike anywhere else on this hemisphere. Secondly, and most interestingly, the Cubans have managed to live and thrive in a time warp. If we want to see what's possible in adapting technology when new tech is no longer available, look to Cuba. They've done amazing things with cars and the modern technology of the late 50's, early 60's, making it work to this day. We could learn a lot from them in this "green" world we are trying to create. Same with their medicine. If we weren't so sure of our superiority in technology and medical advancement, we'd do well to study under some of their doctors who have taken plants and nature's cures to stages we can't match. They've used what nature gave them to make up for what they can't get from the pharmacies of the United States.
None of that is an endorsement for Castro or communism. It's ridiculous to even feel the need to add that disclaimer.
I thought both were part of the Amnesty Int'l benefit, Slopey. Maybe I saw them together on a special or something. The tourist thing was hilarious. The whole thing was.
"What's superficial about walking around a city - doing some shopping, checking out museums, restaurants and bars?"
Think it's that I put myself under more pressure to try to 'understand' something beyond that (which may not even be there) if I am abroad whereas in the US / UK / Canada I am fine with doing those things for their own sake.
I'm suer they were, dona. I think largely MP did its old skits when it did live perfomances. Just saying if you can't find a vid of the AI benefit, you can find the same skits in the original episodes. Thought I think the complaining tourist may have been shot in the original, not carried off.
Like my Puma, I like a mix of vacations. Sometimes, I'm in the mood to just lie on the beach (e.g., Barbados), and other times, I'm in the mood to tour heavily and take in the culture (e.g., Buenos Aires).
And I do want to go to Cuba. (Or Cooba, as Tony Montana says.)
I spoke about these books by Carlos Eire, the Yale historian who was born in Cuba and was part of the Peter Pan airlift to the US post Castro. Reading things he said after his memoirs won awards made me think differently about visiting Cuba. His whole point was that Cuba was a total basket case and the people victims of the worst totalitarian regimes in this history of the planet. Why go gawk at the wreckage? I see his point, having seen cuba morph into a disaster overnight with Castro.
On the other hand, I presented this idea to someone who grew up poor, dirt poor, in the Caribbean. He is very well educated but hates the Cuban emigrees with a passion that is sort of scary. I couldn't even give a synopsis of Eire's books and the guy was practically foaming at the mouth.
"I would shoot myself in the head if I took that type of vacation."
Oh, yeah? Well, just imagine vacationing with dave and DeLepp with no Blackberry, no power, no Blackberry, no plumbing, no Blackberry and stink bugs. At least there was ample booze.
I just like getting on a plane and all the better if plane has camera on the tail. Terrific view during take off.
With living on a lake and not too far from jersey shore never had a "beach" vacation. Days upon days of the burn n peel aspect not thrilling.
I dunno, Etson. So you're saying why bother to go if you'll only "scratch the surface"? I disagree. I mean, for me, even short little jaunts where I learn something new make me feel in touch with the person who used to get the chance for extended stays. When I'm in Stockholm or Tallinn or Bangkok, it feels like just extension of my 2 years spent in Ghana. It's not relaxing, but it's rejuvenating.
" I have no need to see poverty and how people have adapted to living in an oppressive regime." --
probably why I have not much interest in seeing alabama or mississippi
Re Mississippi (and Alabama), at least the Republicans:
After years of battling false claims and viral emails alleging that he is a Muslim, President Obama hasn’t gotten far among Republican voters in Alabama and Mississippi – about half still believe he is Muslim and about 1 in 4 believes his parents’ interracial marriage should have been illegal, a new poll shows.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-poll-obamas-a-muslim-to-many-gop-voters-in-alabama-mississippi-20120312,0,334348.story
Yes, I know you were in Toronto, PB. But, no, although all you pasty Brits do look alike, I'm quite certain I defamed you - I'm thinking more than once - and it had to be to people whom you know. That I can't recall must mean alcohol was involved.
What about a nice walking tour? I had a personal guide in Tallinn who took me to some cool Soviet sites and also went on a Third Reich tour in Berlin. Fake?
I'll take one more crack at it. In my experience, the majority of old city centers in places like Europe have just morphed into high-end shopping malls and second homes for the uber-rich. They are mostly disconnected from the reality of present-day life in those same countries. If you accept that for what it is, or are a student of historical architecture, that's fine. I take issue with the idea that one can absorb the present-day "culture" of these countries by walking through them.
I would love to go on a Third Reich tour, jessi! I had a great time touring the Normandy beaches and Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims where the Nazis surrendered unconditionally.
quote:
I'll take one more crack at it. In my experience, the majority of old city centers in places like Europe have just morphed into high-end shopping malls and second homes for the uber-rich.
The extreme example of what I discuss in my 3.22 PM post is Venice, Italy. Crowded with tourists taking in the buildings and "culture", it is rapidly being depopulated and has ceased to be a functioning city. An adult Disneyland.
Rob - barf all you want, but for example, when I went to Berlin, I stayed in Friedrichshain instead of by the Brandenburg Gate; in Stockholm in Sodermalm instead of Gamla Stan.
"People who stay in Hiltons, Hyatts, etc. in other countries are not travelers." -- mostly they are people on business where their company is paying the tab.
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Rob - barf all you want, but for example, when I went to Berlin, I stayed in Friedrichshain instead of by the Brandenburg Gate; in Stockholm in Sodermalm instead of Gamla Stan.
in wales we just rented bicycles and rode around to a few small towns(including one where my grandparents came from) and stayed at inns/b&b (and not the american type).
I like to go to supermarkets, drug stores, and "dime" stores. That was a total adventure when I was in Tokyo. You would hate that Benson. That leaves you with the beach, food and sloths. The last time I was in Sao Paulo I booked 4 hours at a language school. The experiment? Speak Portunol (wierdo Portuguese mostly Spanish) and have the teacher transform it into real portuguese. First teacher had fun. Second teacher (Japanese) was rigid and couldn't do it so we spoke Japanese about Portuguese. Speaking the language even if badly gives you a different experience.
took train to Machynlleth, family was from dinas mawddwy. and don't ask me to pronounce it correctly.
People did speak welsh to each other in the inns/shops/etc
That NW part is the most Welsh speaking part of Wales, Pete.
They don't speak it much in the south because most of the people there moved from England in the 19th century when it industrialized. Then much of the north coast is vacation / retirement towns mostly full of people from NW England (like us).
I haven't been to berlin, prague(which I recommended), vienna(nazi vibes),munich, etc since the early 90's (not long after berlin wall went down) .....so can't verify if still relevant.
Llandudno -- say that three times fast. We once stayed in Llangvihangel Crucorney near Abergavenny.
OK, for absorbing culture, we stayed for four nights on a working dairy farm outside of Monteverde, Costa Rica near the Santa Elena cloud forest. Farmhand helped feed some of the calves. On a Scottish Isle, we stayed in a remote 220 year old inn with the only bar for miles, drawing locals every night. On Dingle Peninsula in Ireland we stayed on a working sheep farm. In Spain we stayed in a house in a tiny village outside Grenada, buying our bread daily from the truck that made the rounds of the nearby villages with fresh-baked bread.
People from England pronounce it phonetically - lots of more difficult place names there. In a Welsh accent it's more like 'Clandidno'.
Abergavenny is supposed to be a nice town. That's in the most 'English' part of Wales (Monmouthshire) despite the name.
I have friends w/ a farm in Abergavenny - they used to keep my cats when I had to go to the US for work. Godot & Daedalus made great friends w/ a horse there - really funny to see them ride around on him.
"On a Scottish Isle, we stayed in a remote 220 year old inn with the only bar for miles, drawing locals every night. On Dingle Peninsula in Ireland we stayed on a working sheep farm. In Spain we stayed in a house in a tiny village outside Grenada, buying our bread daily from the truck that made the rounds of the nearby villages with fresh-baked bread."
I'm with jessi on going to the brooklyn parts. when we went to greek islands had no interest in santorini or that other one.
we went to milos, sifnos, and another. did some kayaking. bit off season and tourism there is chiefly greek...not a bunch of american or german and brits getting tanked.
Sorry I missed the travel dialogue. Was at the hedge fund asshats lunch and then a meeting for a private placement. Then I have to pick up a re-keyed lock cylinder and new business cards.
"we stayed in a remote 220 year old inn with the only bar for miles, drawing locals every night. On Dingle Peninsula in Ireland we stayed on a working sheep farm. In Spain we stayed in a house in a tiny village outside Grenada, buying our bread daily from the truck that made the rounds of the nearby villages with fresh-baked bread."
Let me apologize for my deep tan. I also apologize that I didn't make a cultural connection with any locals on my trip. I have no "authentic" experiences to relate. I didn't come to understand how superficial Western culture is. I am gauche, and I know it.
Please tell me you didn't have a cat named Godot? That play made me want to scratch my eyes out with walnuts, even with John Goodman, Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin and John Glover in the cast. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!
benson, this isn't an argument. You love your cruises. That is great. It's not for me. Nor is it a comment on the alleged "superficiality" of western culture to absorb a little bit of local culture when you travel. I actually think you are right that it is easy in heavily touristed cities to stay in a bubble. Same way I see tons of tour groups in NYC piling into the Hard Rock Cafe. I enjoyed Paris, but felt I was vacationing inside a postcard. So I did not put it on my list to jb. If one wants a cultural experience, however, it is possible to find interesting ways of having them. But one does not have to want to have them on a vacation. The fine dining you enjoyed on the cruise is culture, too.
No, do not, I repeat, DO NOT think you are seeing Godot if you are seeing it performed with celebrity comics or comic actors. No, no, no. Wait for the Gate theater to come back here from Galway. I saw an amazing performance of Endgame a while back. But I saw a truly dreadful performance of Godot with John Turturro and someone else who was supposed to be good. Beckett does not work if the actors try to ham it up or alternatively wear the existential angst on their sleeves (I'm talking to you, Turturro).
I adore Godot! Saw it first in BH - Hts. Players in 1960. Did major college papers on it. Saw Jack MacGowran do it several times (& have a recording of him.) Wonderful stuff. In UK the name is pronounced God-oh - emphasis on 1st syllable. My cat went missing once & a woman found him but only read half his name tag - rang my bell to ask if I were missing a cat named Dot - almost didn't twig what she meant.
If you're female, one great way to see cities through the eyes of a denizen is to pick up a guy. I fell in love in cities all over Europe when I was a kid.
I came on the OT today to ask if someone could recommend a fax service. rf - is there a really cheap one that you'd recommend?
Then I got caught up in the discussion. Re: travel. I also would hate a cruise (or a resort, for that matter) - it would be like being in prison except it sounds like the ones benson takes offer great land trips. I love cities and stay in small hotels or b & b's that are off the beaten path. I travel alone and that's the best way to meet people - it's fascinating to visit with folks who have such different lives (like all of you on the OT!). I get the same pleasure from the train that benson does from a cruise - meeting amazing people, especially in the dining car. When I take my usual train trip, I'm going to a place I don't want to visit (like rob) but the train trip, 2 days each, there and back, is the vacation part!
Sorry, ilovestoops, can't help--don't need faxing enough (like almost never) to investigate.
Here are two websites that may be helpful (or not!):
http://www.pcworld.com/article/212136/how_to_fax_from_your_computer.html
http://www.faxingfromcomputer.net/
ilovestoops, are there really parties in the aisles on the amtrak trains? im really excited about that aspect of travelling. im picturing a crazy woman with a lampshade on her head and tittie beads
"I travel alone and that's the best way to meet people - it's fascinating to visit with folks who have such different lives (like all of you on the OT!)."
I bet you meet people really easily, you're so easy to chat with, ilovestoops! And I bet you're a great traveler, too!
Thanks, DeLepp. I do love national parks - but I’m terrible on a bike! Could definitely get into a hiking trip out west. Just would have to join a group as I don’t trust myself alone out there.
Rob: don't know about the parties and would hate them! They may have been certain groups that were traveling together and getting drunk. I took an overnight trip to and from Charleston a few years ago. On the way down the train wasn't full but it was full on the way back so it wasn't as comfortable. There are outlets to plug in your computer or whatever and if there are too many kids in your car, you can probably go to the lounge car.
ditmas: I often find it hard to chat but really easy to listen to you guys because you're all so interesting and clever! There's lots I don't get though, especially talk about music. I've never been much of a music listener, even when in my teens and 20's, so I'm clueless about most of your comments.
Most important travel tip: never travel in the summer, or during school holidays!!!
etson, pretty authentic as the "talent" seem to be true natives/locals. You should confirm my posts via doing some investigative hands-on field research yourself.
"I often find it hard to chat but really easy to listen to you guys because you're all so interesting and clever!"
You're too kind, ilovestoops. I have to say that I've really enjoyed our (you and me) chats at the gatherings. I think you have a fascinating life story, and great stories to tell!
I'd hate a cruise, but love a boat ride. I don't like 'forced death march' tours, but don't mind a tour guide. I like to eat local food, I avoid the tourist restaurants (mostly). I like to go out on the water, if there is any nearby. I like to take in the view, soak in a little local culture in bars or cafes. I like to see the sights, museums, historic places, but must avoid crowds when possible. I love seeing places through the eyes of the people that live there. If possible, I like to hang with some locals, they tell you all the really cool stuff to check out off the beaten track. I like small B & Bs or little hotels, or renting an apt. or a home, or staying with locals, and seriously dislike giant tourist hotels. Trains are really fun if it's through the countryside.
La di da, just talking to myself here I guess. What else do I like when I travel? Hmm.
I like beaches, but not too crowded, and not midday. I like places where you can order a drink and sit near the water in the evening and maybe watch a sunset before dinner. I like walking the local roads and peeking at how people live. I like to go to small towns away from the fray. I want some peace and quiet, but also bits of excitement, just not non-stop-party action — wears me out. I need time to digest where I am and absorb it all.
I love traveling with BH. He's an excellent traveler and we like most of the same kind of stuff and have similar goals, ideas and energy levels when on vacation/trips.
cobble, I suspect that ilovestoops may not know who you are with your new login name. Of course, she's one to talk since she changed her login name, too.
We took a great boat ride up Loch Katrine in Scotland. One end is the setting of Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake. The other end has the house where Rob Roy McGregor was born and raised. Boat was an old steamer and we rented bikes and took them on the boat and had a nice lakefront bike ride all the way back.
I thought everyone would agree with the most important travel trip, not to travel in the summer or on school trips. It's best to avoid most other tourists but especially important to avoid traveling when kids are traveling!
I saw a Globetrekker (sort of like traveling on the interwebs) about barge travel in Europe. That sounded like fun to me. The barges were really cool, houseboats really. And you can pull up in various places, get off and check out the town and then pop back on to sleep, have a cocktail and cook your dinner and enjoy the view on deck!
Similar to saiing in BVI where you can island hop and go ashore for hiking, touring, dinner, etc., then back on your boat for swimming, sleeping, etc. Now that's a great trip, I've done that with friends. I was really hoping to do it again for my 50th, but that's not going to happen. : (
Yes, great to travel off season, but with a kid that is hard to do. Also, many of my travel ideals seem to be similar to dp's. I also like going where there's lots of interesting history.
cobble, if you think I've missed all your references recently to "short people" and now lowering yourself (!), you're sorely mistaken, so don't be terribly surprised if I put ice down your shirt when next we meet!
what do these people do for a living? how to they pay the rent? I'm sitting on my stoop and this guy comes outa house next door - skinny as they come, black outfit, tattoos, funny hair, etc - looks like member of some rock group whose music I wouldn't listen too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/opinion/bike-thief.html
I recently spent a couple of days conducting a bike theft experiment, which I first tried with my brother Van in 2005. I locked my own bike up and then proceeded to steal it, using brazen means — like a giant crowbar — in audacious locations, including directly in front of a police station. I wanted to find out whether onlookers or the cops would intervene. What you see here in my film are the results.
I've had two bikes stolen. Both out of the front hall/foyer of my home. Both times it was mere seconds that the bike was alone. The Police basically laughed when I reported the second one and asked what the chance was that I might get it back.
The video shows 5 brazen thefts. On the last one, he does attract the attention of the police. 3 officers who say that they never arrested anyone for stealing a bike.
Ha sorry. Competitors on the amazing race always have a shorthand to describe their teams. Mother and Daughter; Dating Divorcees; Federal Agents.... I wonder what how we'd be described.
I know, but at the same time, our backstory would help us standout. Gotta pay off the student loans before I risk ruining my career for a chance to share $1 million. Gotta learn how to drive stick too.
— Team PLUSA!
— I'm your semi-drunk, unemployed adopted aunt? And you are trying to rehabilitate me? : P
— We're Psychic Internet Friends? (channeling rob)
— Corporate Law Firm Escapees?
"Competitors on the amazing race always have a shorthand to describe their teams. Mother and Daughter; Dating Divorcees; Federal Agents.... I wonder what how we'd be described."
Never watched Amazing Race.
From what I assume, partly from other reality shows:
Plus Points - I can run OK. I am great at reading maps & have a good natural sense of direction.
Minus points - I HATE exposed heights and I am not very good at puzzles.
I'm back ! I see that you folks are still plathering about travel!
CGar: apologies about that!
JB: what am I, the arbiter of what is "cultural" or not?
Slopey: my sarcasm was directed towards Arkady's comment that those who stay in Hyatts or Hiltons are not travellers. Interesting. Folks taking lessons in Portuspanish, or whatever the heck Donatella was doing there - cultural! Doing business overseas, making deals and shaking hands with folks in the town - no good, if you stay at the Hyatt.
I wonder if Arkady would consider all the Japanese who stay in the Hotel Nikko on Park Ave and 39th St. to be "non-travellers" to our town?
My sibling has travelled the world for business. Has seen very little of the world outside hotels, airports, convention centers and restaurants. For years, we only talked on the phone when sib was in hotels, airports, or convention centers. Oh wait, once he said he walked on the beach in Nice.
i have a little bit of a domestic problem... that i dont know if i should share here or not, but i will then just edit it out later. last night my roommate's boyfriend who is like 45 days smoke free was complaining about having gained weight, blah blah blah and he asked if i thought he was fat and i was like well a little bit but not too fat. i was totally joking around cuz he was sort of joking around about it to. then his mood did a complete 180 and he smashed a glass of wine, it was just really really akward. this morning my roommate was like he will apologize to you tonight. but i dont get what for? i probably shouldnt have agreed that he gained weight since he quit smoking, you just dont say those kinds of things to women and gay men. im thinking he might have been drunk and wont remember anyway, but who knows. what do i say when i see them tonight? just pretend like nothing happened? normally that does work, but i dont want him hating me or thinking im an asshole or anything. they are both great people, who for some strange reason, have tolerated my shenanigans for the last four years.
Smooth it over, accept the apology, say it's unnecessary, he looks great, and you're glad he said something, because you really like him and your roommate, no hard feelings.
i even wholeahayed an entire set of that tooth whitening system i got free from a friend for him and his teeth look great! lol. fyi, i cannot say how much i adore SuperSmile. the results are absolutely amazing! my teeth are like three shades whiter after just one week of using it!!!! if anyone is interested, i have the hook up. toothpaste, whitening enhancer, whitening gum, and special tooth brush. if you smoke or drink coffee or drink red wine, you will LOVE this product.
no, NOT moon-teeth. they restore your teeth to their normal shade of white and brightness, they do not make you have those teeth that are ridiculously white and look fake (that look is atrocious). oddly, i find yellow teeth attractive on other people. not corncob yellow, more like hot butter yellow.
before i do what i do now, i worked thru a temp agency for a while, and i was oddly good at getting random people to advertise for the organization i was working for. they really wanted to keep me there, but at the time i wanted to work for an organization in the arts. it's funny cuz i deal a lot with pushy sales people and i cant STAND them. so many of them are rude as hell. one time a pushy salesperson called me back after i was all like totally NOT interested and called me a "gay cunt" literally he called back and said "youre a gay cunt" and slammed the phone :-/ nice sales tactic there buddy...
My dentist, some years ago, talked me into trying his teeth whitening scheme. IT HURT! My teeth ached for 24 hours after the first treatment. I was super pissed. Thankfully, he decided not to charge me for it after I complained.
rf, SuperSmile. the toothpaste is 14 dollars, but the toothpaste tube with the whitening accelator is like 40. you need the accelerator tube tho, and then the regular toothpaste supposedly maintains, but it's very non harsh. i can ask my friend to send me some more tubes (the full sized tubes btw, not little samples...) if you want them for your daughter. i have an entire extra set btw if you want it sooner, and can give it to you the next time i see you.
Prolly the same uneducated nutjobs voting who think Obama is "secretly" a muslim.
Gingrich is beating Romney, too. OY. I cannot believe Gingrich and Santorum are still in the race! OTOH, if I was southern and I was watching Romney and his 'y'alls' and 'grits' shenanigans, I'd prolly vote against him, too.
i can't even be asked to spend one second thinking about the republicans in this election. and i never think about any of it. when the car horns went off in 2008 on election night in park slope when obama won i remember i was on the couch watching some funny video and so removed from it not caring at all cuz i knew he was an awful person winning but was the lesser of two evils types of winning. he totally sucks as a president, but with that GO OBAMA in 2012! not that i care, this country is going to shit anyway and we need to catch up with the third world.
okay my roommate and his boyfriend came home and we hugged and all is good. ::gay moment:: lol
quote:
rob, i think you'd like santorum. you have similar views about the gays and the broads.
i dont know how to interpret that cuz i know nothing about that dude other than he has a grey hair above his ears (that's such a strange look). people go grey so weirdly, but i guess better to go grey than bald? i dont know. im graying uniformly on my head, mostly the on the left side, but even thru-out. i think gray hair looks okay on men who have darker hair, i think it looks grody on blondes. my grandmother had 100% completely white hair by the time she was FORTY FIVE!!!! and my grandfather was 100% grey my whole time i knew him. they adopted my unwanted ass at 40 and 41. so weird, that doesnt sound old at ALL 40 and 41, but at the time i thought it was mad old. everyone used to say oh is that you grandmother and id be like yeah and she'd tell me to shut up and that she was my mom lol. my grandfather didnt care too much, but if it wasnt for him (like really FOR him) i would have been aborted as he paid for, or someone else paid for, 3 abortions my mom had before me and finally he was like oh fuck you bitch and said im taking him, he's going to be a keeper. my two younger siblings from the same mother, different fathers are rather interesting.. i dont know how to relate to them since they are in their early 20's. i'd imagine maybe in 10 years it might be different? i remember in my early 20s i would never talk to ANYONE my age. these days i actually prefer older people as they have a certain widsom and share my bitterness.
RF: i put the toothpaste and the whitener and the brush (fyi it's an amazing brush for one that does not vibrate) in my bag tonight for you. the gum is gross btw and isnt necessary.
i miss my grandfather, i didnt go to his funeral :( my grandmother told everyone in the family that i couldnt be asked. im slowly learning that when you tell someone they dont have do the shit that most humans HAVE TO DO they get conditioned to it. im not sure why she couldnt have said you HAVE to COME, DONT BE A F'ing R'tard. but that's not how i grew up, i was treated with kid gloves. i was a bit of special snowflake in a ghetto environment, not that i would change growing up, but that was the case.
Man, not to sound disengenious or anything, but if arent the semi-sane republicans out there sorta freaked out at the prospect of running santorum against campaign mode Obama? Campaign mode Obama is hardcore.
Oh dear. Think I have offended CGar all over again (after that time OVER TWO YEARS ago).
I'll end up being something much worse than the 'Pasty Brit' within a few days.
It's odd, dh. Exit polls have people saying Romney is a surer bet against the Big O but they still support Santorum because Romney isn't conservative enough.
serious question, do ANY of you honestly think regardless of who gets elected is going to change your lifestyle? sorry, but it doesnt happen that way.
like the iSheep says baaaah, BAAAAAAH
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lol, delepp, no, about 4-5, tall for her age, but still to old to be strolled. Right outside two boots, no less.
.not for nothing, and sorry im not leading you down the "rabbit hole" but you were able to identify the location and age of the inappropriate circumstance... you TOTALLY know what im talking about when it comes to 12 year olds in strollers in park slope. i live here. i have for the last almost 4 years, i see it every day. dont pretend like it does not exist. it does.
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I wonder if Mrs. Santorum ever used birth control.
Rick's face IS birth control. is it just me or do only the fugliest of the uglies go into politics? (personally i find michelle obama very attractive, but her husband is ouch ugly, she can SO do better)
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As I said before, rob, you have no idea what a 12-year-old looks like if you think thy travel in strollers. They don't fit in strollers!
omg stop it! i see it every day. do you LIVE in a neighborhood where 12 year olds are pushed in strollers? you don't. i do. im not making this shit up, i swear im not. have i not come thru with every thing ive ever said as being honest? you totally doubted me about the red stroller.. stop it, trust me, there are 12 year olds pushed around in strollers in this neighborhood... dont make me take pics (that would be mad creepy)
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Watch it there, Rob. Rick has fine Italian features!
hahhahahha sorry benson, but yeah what is it with italian men and the way they grey!?!? they have weird grey white spots that start above one ear, then hit the other ear later.
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As I said before, rob, you have no idea what a 12-year-old looks like if you think thy travel in strollers. They don't fit in strollers!
wrong. i sat my own fat 35 year ass in a stroller, a few of them, for pics in this building. so yeah, i think a 12 year old CAN fit in a stroller if i did for shits and giggles
The girl in the stroller does look far too old to be in it - there can't be an argument that she wouldn't be able to keep up. I laugh when I see parents in their Spandex, pushing their kids in those 3-wheeler racing strollers w/ kids who should be running faster than the 'rents.
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There are no 12 year olds pushed in strollers in park slope.
true. they live in williamsburg now and are 15. still in those strollers. dont hate me cuz im telling the truth about y'alls fairest borough of cheese.
quote:
The girl in the stroller does look far too old to be in it - there can't be an argument that she wouldn't be able to keep up. I laugh when I see parents in their Spandex, pushing their kids in those 3-wheeler racing strollers w/ kids who should be running faster than the 'rents.
omg can i marry you? thank you for telling the truth! see people, even Arkady agrees and she lives all the way up in the bougouis hill section of park slope not down here in the Cankleville/Beardo Valley section of park slope!!
:-/ im SO going to take pics this week of the nearly teenaged-aged in my neighborhood this week just to prove to you that is COMMON AMONGST THESE LAMEBALL PARENTS OVER HERE!
not really lech. there is an election going on for a country circling the shitter drain regardless of who gets elected, but other than that? nothing outta the ordinary
and listening to obama makes you NOT feel ill? wtf. they are all lying disgusting political pigs who want nother more than to feel worthy cuz they didnt get to be the senior president in their student councils in high school. fuck them and their moronic ideas. dems and repubs. so barfy
well i see them all the time around here, in fact they even have their own little network / stroller route set up. they walk slow as hell down the stairs to the R train and you can ask them, can i help you with that cuz um 50 gazillion people are huffing and puffing behind your slow ass and want to walk down the stairs FAST. the answer is always, oh no im fine :-/ please, you are walking down the stairs carrying teenaged crotchfruit, get the fuck out of the way for every one else, PLEASE!! trust me RF, if you dont live in park slope you really dont know what it's like here, it's awful when it comes to pampered children and teenagers. i can totally see the rebellion in their eyes so hopefully when they grow up they will rebel against their lame parents who pay 2 million dollars for a cockroach shit brownstone.
oh yeah and on the lighter side? i see some very AMAZING parensts around here too. i guess it's just a given you see the bad you see the good 24/7 i love most of the parents (actually ALL) that live in my building proper! the ones up the street, not so much cuz they are the ones pushing 12 year olds in strollers.
There is a thing I want to go to in Brooklyn tomorrow evening but I also need to go running. Is it heinous if I run TO Brooklyn and show up to a social event all gross and sweaty?
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Is it heinous if I run TO Brooklyn and show up to a social event all gross and sweaty?
i thought that was de regieure par the course kinda thing. ugh i want to try to start sleeping before midnight these days and it is totally not working. i dont have insomnia or anything, the second i lay down i fall asleep, but it's getting to that point that is annoying.
Folks keep forgetting Benson's Central Insight into presidential politics: this country has not elected a president from the Northeast in 52 years (JFK), and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
lmfao cuz you know it's true, you KNOW he has a fanny pack for briefs to change when he shits his drawers. (sorry but all long distance runners shit their drawers, dont pretend that isnt common, VERY common). humans arent supposed to run more than one mile in any direction, when you decide that you gonna do 26 miles you shit you pants and there's a reason the NYC marathon smells like diaper. there's over a million people who just shit their pants running past you as you try to worm your way acroas 4th avenue to get to the only fucking non moonface bodega in park slope.
Some of the problems:
1. If using a touch screen, it is aggravating and complicated to use. You need multiple instructions just to turn the damned computer off. Different regions of the screen activate different, convoluted instructions or menus. Different kinds of swiping achieve different results.
2. If you are not using a touch screen, then the whole interface is even worse.
3. It is ugly and not at all enjoyable. Worst of all, the whole experience causes the user to fall into a pit of wasted time.
At some point (But not quite yet) Microsoft stock will be a terrific short sale candidate.
there will be no SC talk on this thread.
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/a-review-of-the-windows-8-beta/?scp=1&sq=Windows%208&st=cse
It's still beta, no?
The irony is, rob complains about over-entitled Park Slope kids. Yet most only have two doting parents. A few lucky kids of gay parent arrangements I know end up with four fairly indulgent parents (two moms and two dads). Rob has managed to wrangle about fifteen parents for himself here. So next time rob rants about tweens in strollers, just remember how much hovering and caretaking he demands of all of us here on an hourly basis.
"it's gonna suck ass down there i know for a fact, like 2 days straigt. oh well, not like i deserve a nice trip or anything thins. but yeah,l this is going to be so awful"
Guess it's never too early for Raunch Hour.
I should add that Mrs. Slopey and her brother dragged me and the farmhand to the Philly flower show at the Philly convention center last weekend, so just go ahead and award me GOTW and get it over with.
I had my morning coffee. Maxwell House in a drip coffee maker. I'm just a plain vanilla type of guy.
Why not? They're entitled to it.
Melo, too.
"NY Ad Agency Rigs Homeless as Mobile Wi-Fi Zones"
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/buddy_spare_us_some_internet_zpbNhlQ5bLOKEZ6U8QlJYI
I still think if they can win 4 or 5 of the next ten, they might really gel by that time and start winning for real. If they can figure out how to play together, they coukld be dangerous.
today I'll plant some salad green seeds, window boxes got their pansies sunday. raked backyard yesterday. daffodils blooming.
cuomo lost on the redistricting issue even with all his grandstanding.
dave doesn't seem to be bored yet, but his posting level since he retired gives new meaning to "pathetic".
pete - Are you in town or upstate w/ all the planting?
Bring back pat
i just got a nasty ass call at work from some credit person saying that i hate a citibank credit card in the past blah blah blah and they had my social security number and everything. i told the person it aint me but i have the same name. wtf? what do i do about this? that stupid ass care credit company totally sold me out! LMFAO they called me back and i pick up and they are like are you 74 years old!? wtf?! it was my grandfather's account, NOT MINE! am i gonna get a barrage of people calling me now!?!
*rob*
yeah, bit of a conflict of interest if he's still schtupping Jeannie Buss (daughter of Lakers' owner). besides, Jackson would never agree to Dolan's terms about talking to media. he says and thinks what he likes.
*rob*
Where's cobble? COBBLE! Check the Archives, please.
IF YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE WANTS TO POST THE OT IN THE MORNING, BY ALL MEANS, USE A DIFFERENT PICTURE. AS LONG AS I'M THE ONE SETTING UP THE OT MOST EVERY MORNING, I'LL POST WHATEVER FUCKING PICTURE I WANT.
AND, P.S., WERE IT UP TO YOU, WE'D HAVE SOME STUPID PICTURE OF ESTELLE GETTY OR THAT CROSS-EYED WOMAN, WHOM NO ONE HERE WANTS TO SEE AS POTD EITHER.
SO, EITHER STEP UP TO THE PLATE LIKE AN ADULT OR STFU.
The irony is, rob complains about over-entitled Park Slope kids. Yet most only have two doting parents. A few lucky kids of gay parent arrangements I know end up with four fairly indulgent parents (two moms and two dads). Rob has managed to wrangle about fifteen parents for himself here. So next time rob rants about tweens in strollers, just remember how much hovering and caretaking he demands of all of us here on an hourly basis.
i dont know WHAT your deal is but ive noticed in the last few days youve been a complete toolbag all over my dick. seriously, get off it. dont be hating on me cuz i call out certain lifestyles i find nausizzous.
*rob*
One of my projects over the next week or so is to update the technology in my "new" office environment.
Carry on.
I'm not hating on you for that, I'm pointing out an irony. See if you can figure it out.
And LOL @ nausizzous.
*rob*
yeah im going to hell, as if i care
*rob*
If everyone could share their favorite international vacation spot
nyc of course, and what it will soon like once moonfaces get all their wishes.
*rob*
Aspirations are fine, too - but really want to know where people loved the most.
Even a Fedders would be preferable to rob's current, incredibly tasteless, avatar of some trashy unknown D-lister.
Warm weather -- Costa Rica. Osa Peninsula (near Drake Bay, north side of Corcovado park) or at the tip (never been to Lapa Rios, but heard it's great); mountains (Monteverde and Arenal area); Nicoya Peninsula (drier, great beaches).
i also like Siena, Florence and the rest of tuscany and Venice, off season.
It takes time to look for an interesting picture.
:-/
*rob*
Ideally I'm looking for the best international place you've ever visited
make sure to bring a compass and a safety go-bag
*rob*
Even a Fedders would be preferable to rob's current, incredibly tasteless, avatar of some trashy unknown D-lister.
wtf? how is the woman in my avatar ANY different than the woman in yours!? seriously just cuz yours is a cartoon superhero? stop hating. you are better than that.
*rob*
*rob*
Buenos Aires is cheap and fun.
Fez, Morocco, for the sacred music festival.
Indonesia
Rift valley safari
India
Argentina
More parts of Italy
Northern Scotland and islands
Mine is not half naked, giving the world the finger, while putting her spine out of alignment. Even comic book characters have more sense than that.
Love London, Paris, Rome, Florence. Tuscan countryside and small towns. Loved Oxford and Cambridge and small English villages.
I would like to go throughout Spain, France, more of Italy, Venice, and more of the countryside. Also Vienna, and rest of Austria, Holland, Scandinavian countries. I really want to see the Highlands, Scottish cities, and Ireland.
Morocco and India are certainly on my list. Egypt, too, but not now. South Africa, an East African safari, and the island of Lamu, off the coast of Kenya. China and Japan and parts of Indonesia. New Zealand for sure, Australia, but would be quite happy with just New Zealand. Brazil, Peru, and Patagonia.
Jamaica remains one of the most beautiful places on the planet, especially up in the Blue Mountains.
I hope to get back on my financial feet so I can travel again. It makes one a better human being.
*rob*
In addition, there is the social/dining aspect. These lines try to maintain the old ideal of a fine dining experience. The waiters are well, well trained, nicely dressed and mannerly. We always sit at a table with a group of people, and enjoy meeting folks from different areas. Last year we sat with a couple from Quebec and another from Germany. This year it was a couple from Toronto and one from Michigan. One does not eat - one dines.
*rob*
It is amazing how various ethnic groups dominate different aspects of the staff, as follows:
-Ship's officers: half Bristish, half Italian.
-Cruise social directors: Australian (why is that?)
-Hospitality and food management: Italian
-Waiters: a combination of Filipino, Russians, East Europeans and folks from the West Indies.
-Chambermaids and ship's crew: Filipino.
-Entertainers: Americans and Russians.
"We have 42 nationalities working on this ship, and there is no problem with their getting along. Perhaps we should let the United nations in on the secret. It's called "having a job"".
Not me. They are well-trained, and have a great work ethic. When they are on the ship, they work from 11 in the morning to 11 at night, 7 days a week. They are mostly family men who make the sacrifice of being away from their wife and kids in order to provide them a better life.
Prague was city I enjoyed the most. American southwest most interesting scenery (but mostly because so different from here).
More important who you travel with. not destination.
'owners suite' cost at $110k and supposedly that is bargain from 'brochure' fare of $243k.
I really like to dig in to where I'm going. Cruise would seem to allow one to just scratch the surface of some interesting places. Like Costa Rica. We've been there twice and really enjoyed making 3-4 day stops in each of about 3 areas. If you pick the spots right, lots to do and you get a well-rounded sense of each area.
they work from 11 in the morning to 11 at night, 7 days a week.
oh that's just lovely. so they are basically nothing more than slaves on the sea. :-/
i just deleted my facebook account and it feels SO refreshing! woot!
*roB*
http://www.npr.org/2012/03/12/148460545/why-that-song-gets-stuck-in-your-head?sc=fb&cc=fp
*rob*
Rob, look at this and sign up. www.donotcall.gov/ Eliminates most telemarketing calls.
"in a day that you are docked and experience the local culture and cuisines..." Takes a little more than a day to experience a local culture.
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/03/13/harvard_study_all_red_meat_processed_and_unprocessed_linked_to_premature_death_bad_for_human_health.html
And LOL (possible uh oh for some, as well). . .
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/03/13/nina_turner_s_ohio_viagra_bill_s_b_307_would_regulate_men_s_access_to_viagra.html
ROTHFLMAO!!!!!
Sorry I haven't posted until now. I was out in a HAZMAT suit, dealing with that stroller, *rob*. j/k It is a good one, but definitely looks like they had the grungiest baby ever. Probably a lot of poo mist (probably poo too) embedded into that fabric.
ok, for real. Thank you *rob*. It turns out that Ms. L won't get that particular stroller, but I am cleaning it up and one of the young ladies will get be getting it; it is a really good stroller. *rob* you now know my name so that you can introduce me to anyone the next time we do a "hot" stroller handoff.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre18.shtm
The calls probably started because applying for the card triggered activity on your name in the credit databases. So the collectors knew it was the name of a live actual person.
Oh, and speaking of poo mist, rob and dona, I heard a discussion on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC the other day that was all, or at least partially, about poo mist. Apparently, certain stomach viruses are transferred, um, fecally, and there are photos showing the extent of spray into a room from a toilet flush. That's one way viruses get passed along in a household, apparently. So put the lid down before flushing, and keep your toothbrushes stored on the far side of the sink away from the toilet. That was the lesson from these biologists, anyway.
I have travelled a lot by myself. Maybe that is why everyone asks me directions. It is bizarre. No matter where I go. Except Japan. There a person DID ask me and I was so happy and when I answered him, he blurts out "MY EYES ARE BAD" meaning he didn't realize I wasn't Japanese and tears off in a panic. But everywhere people ask me. I am disappointed when they don't.
Jamaica (south coast, for sun, sea, people and relaxtion)
Barcelona, for everything
Seychelles, because it's remote, pristine
And about 5,999 other places. : P
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2012/mar/09/please-explain-norovirus/
-- Cuba
-- Uruguay (Montevideo) then boat to Buenos Aires on the River Platt, local Argentinian airline to Mendoza.
-- Istanbul
Oh and after that, Spain......everywhere and then Portugal
After that travel around France - Paris then south.
After that, to Japan to reminisce.
And the next time I go to London, biz related, I will travel around. I have never been anywhere but London in the UK.
Then to northern Italy and around the Adriatic.
Apparently, certain stomach viruses are transferred, um, fecally, and there are photos showing the extent of spray into a room from a toilet flush. That's one way viruses get passed along in a household, apparently. So put the lid down before flushing, and keep your toothbrushes stored on the far side of the sink away from the toilet. That was the lesson from these biologists, anyway.
ive been saying this for YEARS and yet it takes some biologist (probably well endowed with our tax payer monies) to give the final conclusion on something so obvious!? science is so retarded
*rob*
*rob*
(ie like the natives speaking slower & louder would enable them to understand the native language)?
i dont know. i understand spanish better when people speak it slower and louder.
*rob*
*rob*
*rob*
I know, Rob - the whole thing was very lolzy.
I've got pix, will post a bit later.
*rob*
I never liked the doors much either. I liked black music. Soul, R&B, Gospel, Motown. Latin music. Pop folkie. The Band, etc. Never liked rolling stones. They creeped me out. Heavy metal no. I have a friend who is semi deaf, real hearing loss, due to his early affinity to heavy metal.
*rob*
Imagine HER misfortune!
I don't have to imagine it. We both live it, every day!
MM, I always liked vocal music. Because I like to sing and because I just like the voice. When I was younger, I loved Aretha Franklin so much. I still do. The music was awesome and she is a thrilling singer. I love complicated rythyms - so Latin music is great, all that Afro Caribbean stuff. Awesome. When music veered off into loud electronic music I never got into it.
Even some rap music is better than heavy metal. I remember seeing Miles Davis at the Fillmore East once. He was the great jazz innovator but remember dying for the thing to be over since it was pure instrumental screeching. That was toward the end of him. I am sure some people found something to love, but for me, pure pain.
I second that.
*rob*
Cleanliness and good hygiene is important for good health. But I really think people get carried away. I saw the dividing line of reasonable/ insane regarding germs while living in Japan. They are over the line. All of this antibiotic soap and sprays and freaking out about every germ. Germs are a part of life. We have to build up ourselves and our health and immune systems. Living in hermetically sealed germ free environments is impossible and weird.
Also, I don't feel guilty about having some fun on vacation too. At my age, I don't feel the need to make a "vacation" into a school trip.
Not putting Donatella down - just saying I would shoot myself in the head if I took that type of vacation.
It would be so annoying if you shot yourself in the head, Benson, while vacationing with me. Because then I would have to do EMS in a foreign country, figure out if it was 999 or 911 or 0 and then struggle. And then I would cry. Probably a lot. Then I would be mad and have to resist doing further violence. You would totally ruin my vacation. And think of all the foreign people deprived of getting directions.
These things aren't school trips, Benson. They would be going to places that interest me. Laying on a beach or just eating a lot in a foreign land doesn't turn me on at all. Not to say that is what you like. I am white. I like walking around but not getting sunburned. But then again, you are probably like my sister who almost strangled me in Ireland. It took a while to get over that trip.
The idea of having a completely lazy relaxing break does appeal (it never used to) although my ability to switch off is somewhat tied into market hours, and I'd probably rather do it in North America anyway.
About traveling. When I first started doing a lot of traveling for work, it was amazing. So much fun. I felt so lucky and I really enjoyed it. Then after a while when the novelty wore off, I experienced the physical strain of it all. Hanging around airports, the security stuff, being super tired. Also, when it is a big part of your life, you get really mad when you only have crap food to eat, things don't work, room service doesn't come, internet doesn't work in your room......the litany of things that go wrong.
BTW, does anyone remember the Amnesty International fund raiser when Monty Python did their dead parrot routine? At the end of that show is a sketch of someone who goes to a travel agency and starts talking about trips that went bust and started complaining and then got carried away with everything that happened to him on all his trips until he became so agitated, he was screaming about it all and they carried the guy off the stage?????
It gets like that at times.
dona, I would recommend a trip to Cambridge when you are next in London. It's only 50 mins by train, and even though I am just a tourist there as well I love it.
I completely agree.
***
Hey Rob
So this is going to sound creepy, but my 14 year old is fascinated with you (actually both my kids have been fascinated with you for years!). She's the one you sent video games to, remember? Anyway, she's an artist and for some inexplicable reason, she decided to draw you....she might have been inspired by me telling her about your gay bashing incident and the pink socks.
Here's her gift to you...personally, the Fuck Me hat kinda bothered me, one because I didn't remember telling her about that, and two because she was too afraid to write out 'fuck',so she used asteriskes, hahahahahhaaha. She hopes you like cargo shorts because she couldn't figure out what would be appropriate with a Hello Kitty tee, pink socks and purple wings! I think she captured you perfectly!
Let me know what you think!
***
Maybe you could ask that person how to buy a train ticket or whether to go to the dentist next time.
I have never done a tour. I just read books and created my own list of things to do. I really like museums and every major city anywhere I have ever gone I have gone to the museums. Even in Florida. For example, the Ringling Museum (yes the circus people) in Sarasota is an amazing museum filled with Baroque art.
None of that is an endorsement for Castro or communism. It's ridiculous to even feel the need to add that disclaimer.
"I completely agree."
What's superficial about walking around a city - doing some shopping, checking out museums, restaurants and bars?
Yes, it does sound creepy.
Maybe you could ask that person how to buy a train ticket or whether to go to the dentist next time.
she's the one who told me about the parties in the aisles on amtrak!
*rob*
Think it's that I put myself under more pressure to try to 'understand' something beyond that (which may not even be there) if I am abroad whereas in the US / UK / Canada I am fine with doing those things for their own sake.
She's in good company. We should get "Team *rob*" gear.
And I do want to go to Cuba. (Or Cooba, as Tony Montana says.)
Good, maybe she can take a turn pushing the stroller. I'm getting tired. myself.
I spoke about these books by Carlos Eire, the Yale historian who was born in Cuba and was part of the Peter Pan airlift to the US post Castro. Reading things he said after his memoirs won awards made me think differently about visiting Cuba. His whole point was that Cuba was a total basket case and the people victims of the worst totalitarian regimes in this history of the planet. Why go gawk at the wreckage? I see his point, having seen cuba morph into a disaster overnight with Castro.
On the other hand, I presented this idea to someone who grew up poor, dirt poor, in the Caribbean. He is very well educated but hates the Cuban emigrees with a passion that is sort of scary. I couldn't even give a synopsis of Eire's books and the guy was practically foaming at the mouth.
Well, gotta go. See ya later.
Regarding Cuba: I have no need to see poverty and how people have adapted to living in an oppressive regime.
*rob*
Oh, yeah? Well, just imagine vacationing with dave and DeLepp with no Blackberry, no power, no Blackberry, no plumbing, no Blackberry and stink bugs. At least there was ample booze.
:-)
That can make up for a lot of things.
Do you Republicans have a secret handshake???
[Ducking for cover]
very funny, CGAR. That comment has disappeared forever into the mist, never to be retreived or recounted.
*rob* yeah stop me before I do it again.
Amused at your daughter referring to the crazy cat ladies as the crazy cat ladies.
The sofa story is the BEST, delepp.
[I'm fairly certain I took your name in vain over the weekend . . . now if I could only remember when / where / and to whom.]
Re-write: Etson, I think it must be a phrase she heard me mutter repeatedly around the house and applied it appropriately.
With living on a lake and not too far from jersey shore never had a "beach" vacation. Days upon days of the burn n peel aspect not thrilling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkMvKeX7erI
[I was in Toronto - maybe it was another PB?! There's lots of us around]
probably why I have not much interest in seeing alabama or mississippi
Hardly. Arkady is the only person who's right more often than I am. :-)
*rob*
After years of battling false claims and viral emails alleging that he is a Muslim, President Obama hasn’t gotten far among Republican voters in Alabama and Mississippi – about half still believe he is Muslim and about 1 in 4 believes his parents’ interracial marriage should have been illegal, a new poll shows.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-poll-obamas-a-muslim-to-many-gop-voters-in-alabama-mississippi-20120312,0,334348.story
Yes, I know you were in Toronto, PB. But, no, although all you pasty Brits do look alike, I'm quite certain I defamed you - I'm thinking more than once - and it had to be to people whom you know. That I can't recall must mean alcohol was involved.
I'll take one more crack at it. In my experience, the majority of old city centers in places like Europe have just morphed into high-end shopping malls and second homes for the uber-rich. They are mostly disconnected from the reality of present-day life in those same countries. If you accept that for what it is, or are a student of historical architecture, that's fine. I take issue with the idea that one can absorb the present-day "culture" of these countries by walking through them.
I'll take one more crack at it. In my experience, the majority of old city centers in places like Europe have just morphed into high-end shopping malls and second homes for the uber-rich.
Sounds like Manhattan!
OK, NOW I see the problem!! :-)
I take issue with the idea that one can absorb the present-day "culture" of these countries by walking through them.
agreeance! you can get a FAR more enriching experience on the internet. and it's free, and it doesnt smell bad like so many countries do.
quote:
I do my research and try to stick to "brooklyn" when I go to other cities.
omg barf, jessi. barf
*rob*
*rob*
Rob - barf all you want, but for example, when I went to Berlin, I stayed in Friedrichshain instead of by the Brandenburg Gate; in Stockholm in Sodermalm instead of Gamla Stan.
Rob - barf all you want, but for example, when I went to Berlin, I stayed in Friedrichshain instead of by the Brandenburg Gate; in Stockholm in Sodermalm instead of Gamla Stan.
how very bushwick of you
*rob*
My folks like Llandudno for weekend breaks.
People did speak welsh to each other in the inns/shops/etc
They don't speak it much in the south because most of the people there moved from England in the 19th century when it industrialized. Then much of the north coast is vacation / retirement towns mostly full of people from NW England (like us).
OK, for absorbing culture, we stayed for four nights on a working dairy farm outside of Monteverde, Costa Rica near the Santa Elena cloud forest. Farmhand helped feed some of the calves. On a Scottish Isle, we stayed in a remote 220 year old inn with the only bar for miles, drawing locals every night. On Dingle Peninsula in Ireland we stayed on a working sheep farm. In Spain we stayed in a house in a tiny village outside Grenada, buying our bread daily from the truck that made the rounds of the nearby villages with fresh-baked bread.
People from England pronounce it phonetically - lots of more difficult place names there. In a Welsh accent it's more like 'Clandidno'.
Abergavenny is supposed to be a nice town. That's in the most 'English' part of Wales (Monmouthshire) despite the name.
Pulling trigger....
we went to milos, sifnos, and another. did some kayaking. bit off season and tourism there is chiefly greek...not a bunch of american or german and brits getting tanked.
Carry on
Sounds like you never left artisanal Park Slope
Announcement
**************
Let me apologize for my deep tan. I also apologize that I didn't make a cultural connection with any locals on my trip. I have no "authentic" experiences to relate. I didn't come to understand how superficial Western culture is. I am gauche, and I know it.
Not all "authentic" experiences are staged. I think that's what's lost on you two.
Rob, have you ever tasted bread that didn't come in a plastic bag?
:-/ believe it or not i do not eat wonder bread
*rob*
Me too . . . so please check your email.
LMFAO.
*rob*
And I adore brussel sprouts.
Then I got caught up in the discussion. Re: travel. I also would hate a cruise (or a resort, for that matter) - it would be like being in prison except it sounds like the ones benson takes offer great land trips. I love cities and stay in small hotels or b & b's that are off the beaten path. I travel alone and that's the best way to meet people - it's fascinating to visit with folks who have such different lives (like all of you on the OT!). I get the same pleasure from the train that benson does from a cruise - meeting amazing people, especially in the dining car. When I take my usual train trip, I'm going to a place I don't want to visit (like rob) but the train trip, 2 days each, there and back, is the vacation part!
Waaaah, you just reminded me that we are missing the spectacular magnolia that was out the back at old apt. f*ckitty f*ck f*ck.
Here are two websites that may be helpful (or not!):
http://www.pcworld.com/article/212136/how_to_fax_from_your_computer.html
http://www.faxingfromcomputer.net/
*rob*
I bet you meet people really easily, you're so easy to chat with, ilovestoops! And I bet you're a great traveler, too!
ditmas: I often find it hard to chat but really easy to listen to you guys because you're all so interesting and clever! There's lots I don't get though, especially talk about music. I've never been much of a music listener, even when in my teens and 20's, so I'm clueless about most of your comments.
Most important travel tip: never travel in the summer, or during school holidays!!!
OK, how authentic?
You're too kind, ilovestoops. I have to say that I've really enjoyed our (you and me) chats at the gatherings. I think you have a fascinating life story, and great stories to tell!
I like beaches, but not too crowded, and not midday. I like places where you can order a drink and sit near the water in the evening and maybe watch a sunset before dinner. I like walking the local roads and peeking at how people live. I like to go to small towns away from the fray. I want some peace and quiet, but also bits of excitement, just not non-stop-party action — wears me out. I need time to digest where I am and absorb it all.
I love traveling with BH. He's an excellent traveler and we like most of the same kind of stuff and have similar goals, ideas and energy levels when on vacation/trips.
LOL!
That sounds like great fun, Slopey!
Yes, at least until benson shoots me for it.
Slope - I was "the_why".
I thought everyone would agree with the most important travel trip, not to travel in the summer or on school trips. It's best to avoid most other tourists but especially important to avoid traveling when kids are traveling!
Similar to saiing in BVI where you can island hop and go ashore for hiking, touring, dinner, etc., then back on your boat for swimming, sleeping, etc. Now that's a great trip, I've done that with friends. I was really hoping to do it again for my 50th, but that's not going to happen. : (
: D (Shhh, don't say the "B" word too loud when M4L is around! He'll just get aggitated ; ) )
I never go anywhere there are hordes of children. Well, actually, I do because of the short people, but I avoid that for the most part.
Yes, great to travel off season, but with a kid that is hard to do. Also, many of my travel ideals seem to be similar to dp's. I also like going where there's lots of interesting history.
Of missing the boat as it sailed away from you?
We don't know either but thank you for lowering your self!
ROFL! Please, please, please...no ice down the shirt!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKfnsDvaVfw
Hell if I know...I can barely pay the rent here! ; ) I really wonder. My sib and I sit on the old stoop over there and wonder the same thing.
I recently spent a couple of days conducting a bike theft experiment, which I first tried with my brother Van in 2005. I locked my own bike up and then proceeded to steal it, using brazen means — like a giant crowbar — in audacious locations, including directly in front of a police station. I wanted to find out whether onlookers or the cops would intervene. What you see here in my film are the results.
Watch the video.
— I'm your semi-drunk, unemployed adopted aunt? And you are trying to rehabilitate me? : P
— We're Psychic Internet Friends? (channeling rob)
— Corporate Law Firm Escapees?
*rob*
Adventurous Asshats?
From what I assume, partly from other reality shows:
Plus Points - I can run OK. I am great at reading maps & have a good natural sense of direction.
Minus points - I HATE exposed heights and I am not very good at puzzles.
CGar: apologies about that!
JB: what am I, the arbiter of what is "cultural" or not?
Slopey: my sarcasm was directed towards Arkady's comment that those who stay in Hyatts or Hiltons are not travellers. Interesting. Folks taking lessons in Portuspanish, or whatever the heck Donatella was doing there - cultural! Doing business overseas, making deals and shaking hands with folks in the town - no good, if you stay at the Hyatt.
I wonder if Arkady would consider all the Japanese who stay in the Hotel Nikko on Park Ave and 39th St. to be "non-travellers" to our town?
*rob*
Sounds like your roommate was the most upset, which is good because it shows he likes / respects you as a roommate.
*rob*
*rob*
rob, You have a career in sales. ; )
rob, You have a career in sales. ; )
before i do what i do now, i worked thru a temp agency for a while, and i was oddly good at getting random people to advertise for the organization i was working for. they really wanted to keep me there, but at the time i wanted to work for an organization in the arts. it's funny cuz i deal a lot with pushy sales people and i cant STAND them. so many of them are rude as hell. one time a pushy salesperson called me back after i was all like totally NOT interested and called me a "gay cunt" literally he called back and said "youre a gay cunt" and slammed the phone :-/ nice sales tactic there buddy...
*rob*
G*d help us all.
Gingrich is beating Romney, too. OY. I cannot believe Gingrich and Santorum are still in the race! OTOH, if I was southern and I was watching Romney and his 'y'alls' and 'grits' shenanigans, I'd prolly vote against him, too.
okay my roommate and his boyfriend came home and we hugged and all is good. ::gay moment:: lol
*rob*
http://www.wimp.com/dadipad/
rob, i think you'd like santorum. you have similar views about the gays and the broads.
i dont know how to interpret that cuz i know nothing about that dude other than he has a grey hair above his ears (that's such a strange look). people go grey so weirdly, but i guess better to go grey than bald? i dont know. im graying uniformly on my head, mostly the on the left side, but even thru-out. i think gray hair looks okay on men who have darker hair, i think it looks grody on blondes. my grandmother had 100% completely white hair by the time she was FORTY FIVE!!!! and my grandfather was 100% grey my whole time i knew him. they adopted my unwanted ass at 40 and 41. so weird, that doesnt sound old at ALL 40 and 41, but at the time i thought it was mad old. everyone used to say oh is that you grandmother and id be like yeah and she'd tell me to shut up and that she was my mom lol. my grandfather didnt care too much, but if it wasnt for him (like really FOR him) i would have been aborted as he paid for, or someone else paid for, 3 abortions my mom had before me and finally he was like oh fuck you bitch and said im taking him, he's going to be a keeper. my two younger siblings from the same mother, different fathers are rather interesting.. i dont know how to relate to them since they are in their early 20's. i'd imagine maybe in 10 years it might be different? i remember in my early 20s i would never talk to ANYONE my age. these days i actually prefer older people as they have a certain widsom and share my bitterness.
RF: i put the toothpaste and the whitener and the brush (fyi it's an amazing brush for one that does not vibrate) in my bag tonight for you. the gum is gross btw and isnt necessary.
i miss my grandfather, i didnt go to his funeral :( my grandmother told everyone in the family that i couldnt be asked. im slowly learning that when you tell someone they dont have do the shit that most humans HAVE TO DO they get conditioned to it. im not sure why she couldnt have said you HAVE to COME, DONT BE A F'ing R'tard. but that's not how i grew up, i was treated with kid gloves. i was a bit of special snowflake in a ghetto environment, not that i would change growing up, but that was the case.
*rob*
*rob*
I'm sure the Pasty Brit can advise you, *rob* . . . given his experience telling me I would fit into the Santa suit for the PLUSA Christmas Party!!!!!
*rob*
*rob*
*rob*
I'll end up being something much worse than the 'Pasty Brit' within a few days.
that kid in back of stroller looks about 8.
i KNOW! and poor dude probably has 4 more years in that hellhole
*rob*
*rob*
Those crazy genuine nutjobs.
like the iSheep says baaaah, BAAAAAAH
*rob*
Ooooh. Rick is talking.
lol, delepp, no, about 4-5, tall for her age, but still to old to be strolled. Right outside two boots, no less.
.not for nothing, and sorry im not leading you down the "rabbit hole" but you were able to identify the location and age of the inappropriate circumstance... you TOTALLY know what im talking about when it comes to 12 year olds in strollers in park slope. i live here. i have for the last almost 4 years, i see it every day. dont pretend like it does not exist. it does.
*rob*
I wonder if Mrs. Santorum ever used birth control.
Rick's face IS birth control. is it just me or do only the fugliest of the uglies go into politics? (personally i find michelle obama very attractive, but her husband is ouch ugly, she can SO do better)
*rob*
michele obama arms.
i was just talking about her face. otherwise, she totally does look like a man.
*rob*
*rob*
As I said before, rob, you have no idea what a 12-year-old looks like if you think thy travel in strollers. They don't fit in strollers!
omg stop it! i see it every day. do you LIVE in a neighborhood where 12 year olds are pushed in strollers? you don't. i do. im not making this shit up, i swear im not. have i not come thru with every thing ive ever said as being honest? you totally doubted me about the red stroller.. stop it, trust me, there are 12 year olds pushed around in strollers in this neighborhood... dont make me take pics (that would be mad creepy)
Watch it there, Rob. Rick has fine Italian features!
hahhahahha sorry benson, but yeah what is it with italian men and the way they grey!?!? they have weird grey white spots that start above one ear, then hit the other ear later.
*rob*
As I said before, rob, you have no idea what a 12-year-old looks like if you think thy travel in strollers. They don't fit in strollers!
wrong. i sat my own fat 35 year ass in a stroller, a few of them, for pics in this building. so yeah, i think a 12 year old CAN fit in a stroller if i did for shits and giggles
*rob*
There are no 12 year olds pushed in strollers in park slope.
true. they live in williamsburg now and are 15. still in those strollers. dont hate me cuz im telling the truth about y'alls fairest borough of cheese.
*rob*
The girl in the stroller does look far too old to be in it - there can't be an argument that she wouldn't be able to keep up. I laugh when I see parents in their Spandex, pushing their kids in those 3-wheeler racing strollers w/ kids who should be running faster than the 'rents.
omg can i marry you? thank you for telling the truth! see people, even Arkady agrees and she lives all the way up in the bougouis hill section of park slope not down here in the Cankleville/Beardo Valley section of park slope!!
*rob*
Pics or it didn't happen.
:-/ im SO going to take pics this week of the nearly teenaged-aged in my neighborhood this week just to prove to you that is COMMON AMONGST THESE LAMEBALL PARENTS OVER HERE!
*roB*
That girl isnt 12
but her shoe size sure looks like it.
i know it's gauche to make fun of kids, but look at that shit. im tempted to call DYFS on their asses.
*rob*
*rob*
*rob*
Ugh. Listening to Newt makes me ill.
and listening to obama makes you NOT feel ill? wtf. they are all lying disgusting political pigs who want nother more than to feel worthy cuz they didnt get to be the senior president in their student councils in high school. fuck them and their moronic ideas. dems and repubs. so barfy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOHAXsJHPuw
*rob*
im not a hater, im just honest.
*rob*
No, you're a hater but you try to cover by saying something sort of nice sometimes.
that's just called getting thru life. everyone (who isnt totally homeless) has that skill.
*rob*
Is it heinous if I run TO Brooklyn and show up to a social event all gross and sweaty?
i thought that was de regieure par the course kinda thing. ugh i want to try to start sleeping before midnight these days and it is totally not working. i dont have insomnia or anything, the second i lay down i fall asleep, but it's getting to that point that is annoying.
*rob*
hee hee :-)
Ok...time for bed. Nites!
Folks keep forgetting Benson's Central Insight into presidential politics: this country has not elected a president from the Northeast in 52 years (JFK), and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
*rob*