OT: Big Mac's Bar & Lounge: Alf Pogs! Remember Alf? He's Back...in Pog Form!

[Til the End of Time]

on the subject of travel, does anyone have experience with the public transit in Los Angeles and/or Atlanta?

i need to fly to both those cities and wondering if i can get by without a car.

also big, have you ever been to salt lake city? i was there recently and absolutely freaking loved it. so beautiful, akin to montana from my understanding.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Los Angeles...without a car...

It's impossible. My only experience with Atlanta has been in the airport, but LA's rail system is too new and has too many gaps to be of any real use and the bus system is...well, it's a bus system. I'll never forgive GM (and Firestone and Standard Oil and Phillips and...) for that one.


SLC is beautiful, arguably the best backdrop of any 'real' city in the country. Aside from the mountainous setting there's little in common with Montana, but that's a pretty big similarity.

 

[Shady Machine]

Now travel I can get into. I need more trips out west. I loved, loved Portland and Denver-Boulder was cool. Seattle, Vancouver, and San Fran are next on the list, but the wife has some say on that I guess haha.

We are going to Europe in May for just under 3 weeks. We both wanted Ireland and England. I wanted Scandinavia and she wanted France. She wins, although admittedly her desired locations were more accessible. We are going to Dublin and Galway in Ireland, London, Brussels, and Paris and Bordeux in France. I have never been outside of the continent other than Nicaragua for 2 weeks in college and Honduras on a cruise. I'm pretty excited.

 

[Til the End of Time]

Los Angeles...without a car...

It's impossible. My only experience with Atlanta has been in the airport, but LA's rail system is too new and has too many gaps to be of any real use and the bus system is...well, it's a bus system. I'll never forgive GM (and Firestone and Standard Oil and Phillips and...) for that one.


SLC is beautiful, arguably the best backdrop of any 'real' city in the country. Aside from the mountainous setting there's little in common with Montana, but that's a pretty big similarity.

ha its pretty clear i have never spent much time outside of PA.

thanks for info.

i stayed in PA for undergrad/grad school but that was never my intention. now it is time for me to actually get a paying job. there is nothing wrong with PA but there are just so many cool places out there to experience. i want to live somewhere new/sweet before i settle down.

from my limited travel experience, traveling is pretty much the best thing ever. i hope to make enough money somebody to become well-traveled.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Wanting to live somewhere new/sweet was the impetus behind me applying exclusively to western colleges...that kinda screwed me with loans, especially freshman year when I didn't qualify for what I needed and wound up scrambling for an in-state school, but I'm still glad I did it. Transferring is a *****, though.

The travel docket for me is going to be limited until I start getting better paying work. I want to do a road trip next year, which will probably involve getting a friend or two from college to meet me down here and drive up along the Pacific Coast Highway to Portland, picking up more friends, and then going to Sasquatch. I'm hoping Alaska follows after that one eventually. International travel is pretty much a non-starter for the time being. I mean, I could drive to Mexico easily enough...but why? Thankfully I knocked off the last of the Nordic countries last March, but there's still a long list of places I need to go.

Part of the reason this career path appealed so much to me was the hiatus periods...if this ends up working out for me I shouldn't be spending too much of my free time actually in LA.

 

[Shrimper]

I wish Pittsburgh airport did direct flights to London.

 

[Sh00terMcGavin]

Might be going to Vegas the weekend of my 21st

Anyway, has anyone here seen Doctor Who before? The hype for it is crazy and all my friends keep telling me to watch it, but I've been hesitant.

 

[Iggy Smalls]

on the subject of travel, does anyone have experience with the public transit in Los Angeles and/or Atlanta?

i need to fly to both those cities and wondering if i can get by without a car.

also big, have you ever been to salt lake city? i was there recently and absolutely freaking loved it. so beautiful, akin to montana from my understanding.

MARTA (Atlanta) is alright. You won't have any problem getting to the touristy places such as Coke Museum, CNN Center, Underground, etc. They run early in the morning to late at night. It really depends where you'll be going in the city. The system is not as extensive as DC or NYC.

PS: If you have free time, do go to the Coke Museum. There is a tasting room where you can try a ridiculous amount of their products from around the world.

 

[Ogrezilla]

very happy. much little tree. wow. so impress.

 

[ColePens]

There are a lot of amazing television shows out there, but for my money... Person of Interest takes the cake. The writing is amazing. The actors are insanely good.

Tonight's show was amazing.

 

[Beauner]

Traveling is cool but I don't have any big plans or dreams or anything. I feel like I should though. However, If I lived in Pittsburgh the rest of my life I'd be fine with it. I've been to a bunch of interesting places (San Antonio, Chicago, various other major cities) and it's been nice.

Everyone says traveling is the greatest thing ever, and while it is pretty cool to go out and explore I just don't get as pumped up about it as others

 

[66-30-33]

Has anyone heard people singing in their head before they fall asleep? I heard a girl and guy singing a duet as I'm inching closer to falling asleep then I snap out of it, seemed so real like I'm watching it on tv. I forget the name of it? The hearing music and voices. Just took new mood for first time then poof!

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Well that's because you led off a list of interesting places with San Antonio instead of, I don't know, somewhere interesting.

 

[JTG]

Has anyone heard people singing in their head before they fall asleep? I heard a girl and guy singing a duet as I'm inching closer to falling asleep then I snap out of it, seemed so real like I'm watching it on tv. I forget the name of it? The hearing music and voices. Just took new mood for first time then poof!

 

[Shady Machine]

Well that's because you led off a list of interesting places with San Antonio instead of, I don't know, somewhere interesting.

Yes exactly

That and traveling isn't for everyone. Some people just genuinely don't care to learn or experience other places, cultures, etc.

 

[Shady Machine]

Has anyone heard people singing in their head before they fall asleep? I heard a girl and guy singing a duet as I'm inching closer to falling asleep then I snap out of it, seemed so real like I'm watching it on tv. I forget the name of it? The hearing music and voices. Just took new mood for first time then poof!

You're an interesting dude

 

[UnrealMachine]

Has anyone heard people singing in their head before they fall asleep? I heard a girl and guy singing a duet as I'm inching closer to falling asleep then I snap out of it, seemed so real like I'm watching it on tv. I forget the name of it? The hearing music and voices. Just took new mood for first time then poof!

I think what you are referring to is that moment when your thoughts begin to turn into dreams even though you are not completely asleep. There is a moment where your auditory cortex is kind of over stimulated and the sounds that you are perceiving in your thoughts (dreams) seem to be originating from outside of your head. It makes you wonder just how powerful our brains are to be able to construct sounds or conversations that appear to be real. There is so much going on between the wake/sleep interface that you could lose your mind thinking about it. Speaking of which, if you are completely awake and are suffering from auditory hallucinations, then that is something else entirely. What you described doesn't sound like that all though.

 

[66-30-33]

I think what you are referring to is that moment when your thoughts begin to turn into dreams even though you are not completely asleep. There is a moment where your auditory cortex is kind of over stimulated and the sounds that you are perceiving in your thoughts (dreams) seem to be originating from outside of your head. It makes you wonder just how powerful our brains are to be able to construct sounds or conversations that appear to be real. There is so much going on between the wake/sleep interface that you could lose your mind thinking about it. Speaking of which, if you are completely awake and are suffering from auditory hallucinations, then that is something else entirely. What you described doesn't sound like that all though.

Yea that would be it, thanks! Also I've had other things happen, like sitting at computer playing a game with no sound and I hear the static of the TV on in the same room, when I look at the TV it is off. Also heard some faint but clear voice call my name twice when surfing the Internet a few times, 5 seconds after it happens I realized what happened. Also one time I'm trying to get to sleep and can't, I sit up on my bed and shut my eyes I see this book glittering in the air hovering up and down about an inch. I then see this green goblin with a mask on doing something, then it notices me and comes towards me. At this time I literally said wtf out loud, as it got close I opened my eyes and was confused. I decide it was awesome so I shut my eyes and see it again and it turns at me and gets close, open my eyes, shut them but it is now black. I love the brain and all the wacky **** it puts you through.

 

[Til the End of Time]

Wanting to live somewhere new/sweet was the impetus behind me applying exclusively to western colleges...that kinda screwed me with loans, especially freshman year when I didn't qualify for what I needed and wound up scrambling for an in-state school, but I'm still glad I did it. Transferring is a *****, though.

The travel docket for me is going to be limited until I start getting better paying work. I want to do a road trip next year, which will probably involve getting a friend or two from college to meet me down here and drive up along the Pacific Coast Highway to Portland, picking up more friends, and then going to Sasquatch. I'm hoping Alaska follows after that one eventually. International travel is pretty much a non-starter for the time being. I mean, I could drive to Mexico easily enough...but why? Thankfully I knocked off the last of the Nordic countries last March, but there's still a long list of places I need to go.

Part of the reason this career path appealed so much to me was the hiatus periods...if this ends up working out for me I shouldn't be spending too much of my free time actually in LA.

do you regret moving/traveling frequently when you were younger at the expense of current debt?

i kind of went the opposite route you did-- stayed boring and local but with the goal of traveling when i'm older and more financially stable. but the downside of that is my twenties have largely spent spent studying. hopefully i'll do more traveling in my 30s.

MARTA (Atlanta) is alright. You won't have any problem getting to the touristy places such as Coke Museum, CNN Center, Underground, etc. They run early in the morning to late at night. It really depends where you'll be going in the city. The system is not as extensive as DC or NYC.

PS: If you have free time, do go to the Coke Museum. There is a tasting room where you can try a ridiculous amount of their products from around the world.

thanks for info. i will be traveling from airport to emory, so hopefully that route is common enough that i can use MARTA.

normally i only spend like half a day in cities for these interviews but i think atlanta might be worth spending an extra night in. i really want to check our their aquarium. they have a whale shark, which i would kill to see.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

do you regret moving/traveling frequently when you were younger at the expense of current debt?

i kind of went the opposite route you did-- stayed boring and local but with the goal of traveling when i'm older and more financially stable. but the downside of that is my twenties have largely spent spent studying. hopefully i'll do more traveling in my 30s.

Different strokes for different folks...had I a more firm plan out of high school I probably would have done things the way you did, but aside from knowing my major I had no clue of what I wanted to actually do with it. Screenwriter was definitely the preference, but I didn't start seeing that as an obtainable goal until I was studying in Denmark. It was that uncertainty that caused me to do the whole 'I may never get a chance to do this again' sort of flash decisions. The financial rewards of this career path also helped underline it. In my younger years I definitely would have preferred novelist, but the odds of making a comfortable living doing that are almost non-existent unless you're a sad middle-aged housewife writing for a young adult audience.

I did have help, though. I still have a lot of debt, but it's not what it should be for someone who has followed the path I have. Without that aspect I certainly don't go to Denmark and aren't able to up and move to LA without having a job lined-up (which is impossible to do in my field...you just sorta have to be here, network like crazy, and then just fluke your way into finding an open door). I have less debt than my sister did coming out of college...where she stayed in-state and was working three jobs to help pay her way. That's the difference between private school tuition (even in the early/mid 90s) and going to one of the cheapest out-of-state reputable schools in the country (Montana's tuition was almost identical to the in-state tuition at Penn State would have been). Even with the help I received I wouldn't have been able to pull off the semester abroad thing had I gone to any of the other colleges I applied to...Colorado State, my original #1 choice in high school, would have cost about $20,000 more just from tuition...and that was one of the cheaper options.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Aside from hopefully going to Pittsburgh one day for a Pens game, I don't care about travelling one bit.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Yes exactly

That and traveling isn't for everyone. Some people just genuinely don't care to learn or experience other places, cultures, etc.

I have lived in Charleston for 10 months now. I still haven't experienced a damn thing here. I was in San Francisco when I was about 17. Bored me to tears. We just walked around and looked at ****. Stupid.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Bleh. I didn't get that job that I interviewed for 3 weeks ago. It went really well, but apparently they liked someone who had more experience. I do know that they like me though:

"The hiring manager was very impressed with you. He did mention that he would consider you for future openings at the Engineer I level. So please feel free to reach out to me periodically to see if there are any new opportunities that you might be a fit for."

 

[JTG]

Big Mc...is this real life?

http://jolt24.com/2013/09/04/35-secret-starbucks-drinks-you-didnt-know-you-could-order/

 

[JTG]

Bleh. I didn't get that job that I interviewed for 3 weeks ago. It went really well, but apparently they liked someone who had more experience. I do know that they like me though:

"The hiring manager was very impressed with you. He did mention that he would consider you for future openings at the Engineer I level. So please feel free to reach out to me periodically to see if there are any new opportunities that you might be a fit for."

Sucks you didn't get the job, but that has to feel pretty decent.