Topic: Let me sleep on yr couch (Read 58914 times)

Ballard · « **Reply #200 on:** 23 Sep 2010, 23:06 »

"Trust not a man who's rich in flax; his morals may be sadly lax." ~ Hagbard Celine

calenlass · « **Reply #201 on:** 24 Sep 2010, 00:00 »

Goddammit, Dovey, you could have slept in a bed. I have a spare. I live 5 minutes from the freeway.

curses

calenlass · « **Reply #202 on:** 24 Sep 2010, 00:03 »

Also, our freeways are not that confusing. i-85 comes down from DC and goes to southern alabama. i-75 goes from Michigan straight down to Tampa, Florida. They cross in an X in downtown. i-20 is the only one that goes east-west, and the 3 digit one (i-285) is a ring road.

Jace · « **Reply #203 on:** 24 Sep 2010, 01:04 »

I quite enjoyed that, would like more.
[email protected]

Also thanks for not mentioning the crazy toronto adventure including me thinking I was getting trolled by you guys.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #204 on:** 24 Sep 2010, 01:58 »

Quote from: calenlass on 24 Sep 2010, 00:03

Also, our freeways are not that confusing. i-85 comes down from DC and goes to southern alabama. i-75 goes from Michigan straight down to Tampa, Florida. They cross in an X in downtown. i-20 is the only one that goes east-west, and the 3 digit one (i-285) is a ring road.

I found it pretty confusing understanding which one I was currently on. I go on an entry ramp to 85, but then it seems like I'm on a surface road and there are signs pointing to 85. That's the only one I remember off the top of my head aside from a tollbooth plaza (I think it was on 285) where it goes from something like 8 lanes to 3 in about 100 feet, almost crashed twice at that one. You guys remember that scene from tron with the lightbikes, when those two converge directly in front of a third? Pretty much that happened, but with real cars.

Dovey, inbound PM with my email and name.

calenlass · « **Reply #205 on:** 24 Sep 2010, 18:05 »

That tollbooth is actually on a state highway, not a freeway, and is no longer functional. Georgia has no toll roads, guys.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #206 on:** 25 Sep 2010, 13:27 »

Quote from: Nodaisho on 24 Sep 2010, 01:58

I found it pretty confusing understanding which one I was currently on. I go on an entry ramp to 85, but then it seems like I'm on a surface road and there are signs pointing to 85. That's the only one I remember off the top of my head aside from a tollbooth plaza (I think it was on 285) where it goes from something like 8 lanes to 3 in about 100 feet, almost crashed twice at that one. You guys remember that scene from tron with the lightbikes, when those two converge directly in front of a third? Pretty much that happened, but with real cars.

Oh man yes, exactly this. I missed about 5 exits in a row because of having to get across 3 lanes in 100 feet in heavy traffic. It didn't help that our GPS was giving us information that in no way matched what our eyes were seeing.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #207 on:** 25 Sep 2010, 16:39 »

Quote from: calenlass on 24 Sep 2010, 18:05

That tollbooth is actually on a state highway, not a freeway, and is no longer functional. Georgia has no toll roads, guys.

Since when? This was August... 6? 7? of this year. I was coming out of Towns County to Atlanta, I forget the names of the towns I went through. We were on a big (3 or 4 lanes each way) highway for a while in the Atlanta vicinity, and either shortly before or shortly after the toll plaza, we went through a tunnel under a skyscraper. That's the best I can remember for landmarks, I could ask my mother which roads we were on, she would remember.

calenlass · « **Reply #208 on:** 29 Sep 2010, 08:53 »

Georgia State Highway 400 (it's the yellow line that goes sort of straight north between i-75 and i-85, from Atlanta to Sandy Springs, Roswell, and Alpharetta).

Edit: Apparently they reinstigated the tolls this spring. I have no idea why that legislation passed, because uh the reason they stopped collecting tolls is because there was public outcry over how many times over they could pay off the road with the tolls they had collected by 2001.

Verergoca · « **Reply #209 on:** 29 Sep 2010, 12:32 »

Maybe they figured out it was a good way to generate some extra income?

BrittanyMarie · « **Reply #210 on:** 02 Oct 2010, 00:24 »

Quote from: David_Dovey on 25 Sep 2010, 13:27

our GPS was giving us information that in no way matched what our eyes were seeing.

out of curiosity, what brand of gps are you using?
(i can potentially get that fixed)

Nodaisho · « **Reply #211 on:** 02 Oct 2010, 01:35 »

Dovey, have you gone through Fort Collins yet? If not, and you do the whirlwind brewery tour that I seem to remember KvP talking about, make sure to hit the new one that just opened recently, too. It's called Hops and Berries, it is just south of Coopersmith's. I was talking to someone last night that had been there recently, that guy really liked it.

KvP · « **Reply #212 on:** 02 Oct 2010, 02:10 »

Hadn't actually heard of that, but Coopersmith's is pretty close to my house. Rock Bottom is less than a block away.

Dovey will be getting here sometime around late afternoon / early evening tomorrow, and presumably the breweries will be closed on Sunday so what I'm thinking is food / breweries on Saturday night and a hike somewhere around Horsetooth on Sunday. I don't know where Dovey and Sam have been living relative to sea level but we'll have to watch alcohol intake - when my family from the coast come up to this altitude they invariably get wasted on one or two drinks.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #213 on:** 02 Oct 2010, 02:24 »

Huh. I didn't know that elevation had an effect on alcohol tolerance. You learn something every day.

Probably also a good idea not to drink too heavily if you are going hiking the next day, anyway.

ummmkay · « **Reply #214 on:** 03 Oct 2010, 07:03 »

hey, i have been to Coopersmith's AND hiked at that reservoir, when i went to CO/fort collins in march. i tried the green chili beer... it was weird. i liked the not brown ale though.

i uh, don't really have anything to add to the discussion, i just got excited that people were talking about a place i've been to. carry on.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #215 on:** 03 Oct 2010, 07:22 »

I find it more weird to think about internet people being in a town I've spent so much time in, because it isn't exactly a big city.

ummmkay · « **Reply #216 on:** 03 Oct 2010, 15:20 »

yeah, i suppose fort collins is kind of a random destination, but i was staying there with a friend's family. it was a really fun trip! that's the only time i've ever been to colorado, and i liked it a lot.

jwhouk · « **Reply #217 on:** 05 Oct 2010, 06:16 »

I have just one question for Mr. Dovey:

Have y'all realized just how BIG our country is yet?

If you haven't... I'd suggest taking up (when you have the change) Bobby Troup's suggestion and go get your kicks on Route 66 (Okay, Interstates 55/44/40/15/10, but you know what I mean).

In the Texas panhandle, you'll be saying, "####, we're not even halfway to California?"

KvP · « **Reply #218 on:** 05 Oct 2010, 16:35 »

My apartment is so empty now :[

Lunchbox · « **Reply #219 on:** 05 Oct 2010, 17:02 »

jwhouk,

Mr Dovey comes from the most western state of Australia that takes up roughly one third of the country, top to bottom.
I don't think Texas quite compares.

Inlander · « **Reply #220 on:** 05 Oct 2010, 18:00 »

Yeah Australia generally gets shrunk quite dramatically in standard map projections so people tend not to realise how massive it is until they come here and try travelling around a bit.

Lines · « **Reply #221 on:** 05 Oct 2010, 18:31 »

Tasmania looks about the size and shape of Ohio. That is kind of awesome.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #222 on:** 05 Oct 2010, 20:22 »

He wasn't talking about the size of texas, he was talking about the entire distance. By the point you get to Texas you have gone about 1000 miles. And trust me, it doesn't get more interesting once you get out of the midwest (which is really in the mid-east part of the country) and into the southwest.

I never realized how large Australia is, though. And probably pretty boring to drive through, as well. Although if you were driving a convertible, the drop bears would cause brief moments of excitement.

scarred · « **Reply #223 on:** 05 Oct 2010, 20:27 »

well folks it is a continent as well as a country

Lunchbox · « **Reply #224 on:** 05 Oct 2010, 21:12 »

The things is that you guys actually built cities in your deserts. Our are just flat and uninteresting and full of deadly things and no water.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #225 on:** 06 Oct 2010, 01:24 »

Man I had never realised Australia was big. In my head it was slightly larger than Britain, but not much. What is wrong with mapmakers?!

Oh, ok, actually, looking at a map it does look a lot bigger than Britain. I think I was thinking of Singapore.

I just tried to find Singapore and I can't. What is wrong with my geography?

KvP · « **Reply #226 on:** 06 Oct 2010, 09:26 »

Singapore isn't a continent.

McTaggart · « **Reply #227 on:** 06 Oct 2010, 10:14 »

Singapore's probably about the same size as London.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #228 on:** 06 Oct 2010, 10:16 »

Which explains why I can't find it.

Carry on, thread.

McTaggart · « **Reply #229 on:** 06 Oct 2010, 10:26 »

It's at the very southeast tip of Malaysia. Not separated by very much water at all. I would have posted that my last post but I really wasn't that sure exactly where to find it in any more detail than "South East Asia!" and I had to look it up.

There's also an island who's name I don't think I've ever known around there that probably is about the size of England.

calenlass · « **Reply #230 on:** 06 Oct 2010, 18:54 »

Java?

David_Dovey · « **Reply #231 on:** 11 Oct 2010, 22:49 »

For the record, we've driven about 12,000 km since late August. No shit.

Map!:

Perversely, seeing it laid out like this really just makes me think about how much of this big stupid place I haven't been to yet and all the adventures I haven't had yet, goddamnit.

I am pretty messed up by how big the U.S. is but I think that has more to do with never really driving anywhere more than six hours from my hometown. We're routinely doing 12-hour drives these days. It's also pretty trippy going through three or four states in one day of driving.

Speaking of, I'm in Banff right now. Job interviews in two days, holy shit! And we just drove up from Yellowstone National Park. That is a place that is BIG. And amazing. I am not even slightly kidding when I say that it is imperative that you all see Yellowstone at some point in your life. Get on it, doggs. It's the most beautiful place I've been, I think, if only because it is beautiful in about 10,000 different ways. As I said, it's wicked large but you can drive a couple of miles and go from wide open plain with herds of buffalo crossing a river in the distance, then wind up into a mountain with impossible-seeming rock formations teetering overhead, then pop out into a pine forest where there seems to be more trees within eyeshot than there are people on the earth.

Even though I've pretty much just said the opposite, I think it's probably gonna be nice once we have jobs (fingers crossed) to stay in one place for more than a week, to unpack my bags, all of that stuff. Although it's only because I know that it's a temporary thing and we get to pick up and piss off again once the ski season ends. I also think the enormity of this trip is kind of just beginning to dawn on me, like this is something I'll tell my grandkids about. (Which may be hard, considering I'm pretty sure I don't want to breed and just have about a million dogs instead).

At this point the trip is kind of all about enormity. Guys, I've never seen mountains before last week. Really! At least not, honest to goodness proper mountains, with snow on the top and all that. John took us out to a state park and we tried climbing just a teensy weensy little one but I got dizzy and bitched out. As we've gotten further north they've only gotten bigger and more snow-covered and foreboding and awesome and I'm pretty sure I can't live in a flat place ever again now, because I am just so in love with everything I'm seeing. Even if I do never get used to the cold or the altitude.

scarred · « **Reply #232 on:** 11 Oct 2010, 22:58 »

holy shit

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #233 on:** 11 Oct 2010, 23:09 »

Banff is a pretty sweet town, where if I remember correctly cars regularly share the road with caribou that you aren't supposed to feed or approach, and the Hard-Rock Cafe was meh. I'm pretty sure you're right next to Glacier National Park where you can walk out onto, well, a glacier.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #234 on:** 11 Oct 2010, 23:19 »

Yeah. It certainly didn't feel like we were doing these massive distances at the time, it's only when you add it up afterwards that you're like "well fuck me I guess we just straight navigated the spine of a rather large country and then we turned around and did it again". Incidentally, I have driven more in the last 2.5 months than I had driven in my entire life up to that point, some 7 years.

FUN FAX

Phil: Correct! Although technically we are in Lake Louise, which is about an hour north of Banff proper. If you've ever seen a picture of a crystal clear lake ringed with pine and tremendous snowy mountains on a postcard or Canadian tourism propaganda, you are probably looking at a picture of Lake Louise. It's almost disgusting how scenic that vista is, my friends. Disappointingly, I haven't seen a single caribou, nor a single moose yet. I have seen a fat fuckload of dead skunks on the road, though. Smelt them, too.

A lot of the signage in Yellowstone is devoted to making sure folks don't go near the elk. Elk will fuck you up, no doubt, but I still thought it was weird considering there was no mention of the gigantic buffalo, grizzly bears or coyotes that would casually stroll out into traffic like they got-danged own the place. Bears guys! Seriously.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #235 on:** 11 Oct 2010, 23:25 »

The herds of buffalo are probably what I remember most about Yellowstone. Just freaking massive herds.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #236 on:** 11 Oct 2010, 23:51 »

I don't remember seeing anything about the elk in Rocky Mountain National Park when I was up there last. I wonder if it just depends on if the elk are in an area that they normally stay in. There were hundreds of them last year, even cute little wobbly ones that were standing about 10 feet from the side of the road.

I still need to go to Yellowstone. It is just one state north, so I really have no excuse. I know what you mean about how amazing mountains are. For me, at least, sometimes being up in the mountains can be a religious experience, for lack of a better term. I want to live up in the mountains, I live within less than an hour's drive of them, but I would much rather live in them. Were you drinking enough water when you got dizzy up at Horsetooth? The way we were taught at school, if you are thirsty, you are dehydrated (or have been breathing too much dry air, but usually dehydrated).

If you don't have kids, just grow up to be like Paul. Be the cool old guy in a group of young people and tell them about your trip. Or if you have grand-nephews and grand-nieces.

I don't imagine either of you have much experience driving in the snow, do you? I would suggest you guys get a local to give you tips. The Subaru you guys got will be good for the snow, but I imagine there is a shitload of it in a ski resort town. The main thing I have found to be careful of is how much power you put down while turning. This is mostly important when you are coming out of a stop and turning, because you have to give it some power, but if you aren't careful with it, you will end up fishtailing all over the place. Also remember that just because there is only a little dusting of snow doesn't mean you are fine, I find that it is actually easier to drive on packed snow than 1/8th of an inch of recent snow. Both times that I have fishtailed I have done so on very little snow. And you will want to pump your brakes, even though the Subaru has ABS. ABS doesn't work well on snow, and pumping the brakes actually slows you more quickly than braking normally when you are on snow.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #237 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 00:06 »

Yeah I am shitscared about driving in snow, I think I will just make Sam do all the driving. She is a Canuck, it is in her blood. I assume.

Quote from: Nodaisho on 11 Oct 2010, 23:51

Were you drinking enough water when you got dizzy up at Horsetooth? The way we were taught at school, if you are thirsty, you are dehydrated (or have been breathing too much dry air, but usually dehydrated).

I think it was a confluence of stuff. I am a goddang lowlands person. I mentioned not having ever seen a mountain before. Also I was just coming off being pretty seriously sick (The week previous, I coughed so hard I threw up! Twice!). Also also we were ascending at a fair clip so I didn't really get to acclimatise. Also also also yeah I was probably pretty dehydrated, it's pretty dry up in that shit.

Quote

If you don't have kids, just grow up to be like Paul. Be the cool old guy in a group of young people and tell them about your trip. Or if you have grand-nephews and grand-nieces.

Still here in 40-some years, Satan willing, still neglecting this thread for weeks at a time, Science willing. I'm sure.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #238 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 00:28 »

Yeah, the general recommendation is at least 64 ounces of water a day up around here, preferably more. It is more important for lowlanders than natives, not sure why. Might be that dehydration gets worse when you are already having oxygen issues? I'm not a doctor, I don't know.

Snow driving isn't really all that bad as long as you are careful. Especially with Subarus, you don't have to worry about them being quite as squirrely. Just remember that AWD doesn't mean you can brake any faster, it just means you have better traction to get going and not slide around in turns. You still need to give yourself plenty of room to brake. I've only been driving 2 years and I haven't gotten in a wreck, you should be fine as long as you give yourself time to learn before a huge blizzard hits.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #239 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 01:38 »

You are missing out Indiana, dawg. That is where Edith lives! Edith is awesome! Indiana is awesome! Turn back round.

I was wondering, did you book job interviews before you set off and hope you would arrive on time, or did you wait until you knew for sure when you would get there? Both seem like they might be a bit risky but it obviously worked, whichever it was.

And I find it weird that you guys measure water in ounces.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #240 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 02:07 »

Basically the main resorts in the area have a "hiring fair" where they interview a bunch of people on the same day, so we planned our itinerary around that. We knew from the outset it was gonna be mid-October but we didn't have an exact date til about a month ago and as it turned out it was even earlier than we thought so hence us cutting out some planned places to visit (i.e; the entire Midwest) and spending not much time in the places we did go to. We actually only knew for sure that we had interviews last week, though! It could've been all for nought but we got lucky, I guess.

Also measuring things in ounces trips me out as well, particularly when I worked out the conversions and realised that the average "medium" sized soft drink is like, a fucking liter of soda. What is with yr giant drink sizes America, srsly.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #241 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 02:46 »

It tends to be more of a large if it is 1 liter (1 liter is more than 1 quart, which is 32 ounces, which is a normal large). On the other hand, the midwest and eastern part of the country has the Pilot chain of gas stations/truck stops, with $1 44 ounce soda. I'm glad for it, that is what helped me get through Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

And our large servings mean I get to make people jealous by eating 2 big macs and going for a refill on my non-diet large soda in one sitting, while still being skinny as hell. I shouldn't enjoy that sort of thing as much as I do.

pwhodges · « **Reply #242 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 03:58 »

The US is not always larger. A real quart is 40oz.

I had trouble in my engineering course at uni when I bought an American book on fluid dynamics and proceeded to use the conversion tables in the back - all my answers were 20% out because I was using the wrong sort of gallon! I don't find fluid oz odd; but then my engineering course deliberately forced me to work in both imperial and metric units, even in the same experiment (putting Centigrade and Fahrenheit thermometers at opposite ends of each condenser on the steam engine was just simple cruelty, I felt). Another trouble area was MKS (SI) and CGS units in electricity - which are not merely different units, but call for different equations to relate them (multiple versions in CGS). Happy days (?)

Nodaisho · « **Reply #243 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 04:10 »

Quote from: pwhodges on 12 Oct 2010, 03:58

The US is not always larger. A real quart is 40oz.

Huh. Wonder why that change was made. 8 ounces to a cup works for me though, I'm more or less used to thinking in multiples of 8.

pwhodges · « **Reply #244 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 07:14 »

Both are old in origin, actually. The US gallon was based on the older "wine gallon", which was the volume of eight pounds of wine; whereas the imperial gallon was based on the larger old "ale gallon", and was then rounded up to the volume of 10 pounds of water as a nod to the emerging metric system (!).

Liz · « **Reply #245 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 08:05 »

Yellowstone is badass.

Dovey I am angry that you haven't slept on my couch yet.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #246 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 08:54 »

Holy shit Dovey I am massively jealous, that looks like an amazing trip.

I'm sorry I didn't pay much attention earlier on in this thread, I'm guessing you're using Canada's Working Holiday thing? Are you just travelling through the US on a tourist visa?

celticgeek · « **Reply #247 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 09:34 »

Quote from: pwhodges on 12 Oct 2010, 03:58

The US is not always larger. A real quart is 40oz.

I had trouble in my engineering course at uni when I bought an American book on fluid dynamics and proceeded to use the conversion tables in the back - all my answers were 20% out because I was using the wrong sort of gallon! I don't find fluid oz odd; but then my engineering course deliberately forced me to work in both imperial and metric units, even in the same experiment (putting Centigrade and Fahrenheit thermometers at opposite ends of each condenser on the steam engine was just simple cruelty, I felt). Another trouble area was MKS (SI) and CGS units in electricity - which are not merely different units, but call for different equations to relate them (multiple versions in CGS). Happy days (?)

Real physicists use the FFF System of units

David_Dovey · « **Reply #248 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 10:06 »

Quote from: StaedlerMars on 12 Oct 2010, 08:54

I'm sorry I didn't pay much attention earlier on in this thread, I'm guessing you're using Canada's Working Holiday thing? Are you just travelling through the US on a tourist visa?

Yes, and yes.

Guys let's all just agree that imperial measurements are just dumb as hell and move along

Nodaisho · « **Reply #249 on:** 12 Oct 2010, 12:09 »

Quote from: David_Dovey on 12 Oct 2010, 10:06

Guys let's all just agree that imperial measurements are just dumb as hell and move along

Only if you are one of the weak-minded people that limits themselves to base 10.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Let me sleep on yr couch (Read 58914 times)