True, that all helps, but, for interactive communications, it would help to keep you anon.
Keeping the email pure txt, and not using something like Outlook with possibly identifying info in the email headers...well, that's obviously something you want to avoid.
Again, just for safety, I'd avoid windows for anything, and for goodness sake, don't send a MS Word doc....
"This is an interesting idea, and I'm sure some must do it that way already. The problem with this approach is that the students are then spoon-fed their sources. Giving them an assignment with a pre-approved list of sites takes away the part where they have to actually dig for information."
It isn't that big a deal. Why can't they do it like I did in school before there was an internet?
My parents took me to the library where I had to go through the card catalog to look up books and find and check out the books. So, why can't the kids have the freedom they want to search and research at the library, or at home where the parents can monitor resources.
Besides, you don't NEED the internet to look up information, it just is faster. But, books are still out there.
"That's not to say they don't use this elsewhere, but any person on the internet should consider their activities traceable no matter what hoops they go through. Especially when the telecoms willingly rolled over when requested by the government and most folks get their internet access via said telcoms."
Well, there are ways to be about 99.99% anonymous on the internet. One way is to set up a nym account, that bounces through serveral remailers like Mixmaster...and basically have the final hop on those to be one of the anon groups on USENET. That way, they don't know who it is reading one of thousands of pgp encrypted emails out there.
However, when it comes time for the internet to intersect 'meatspace', like when you want to get money. Well, now that part is gonna be a little tougher to do...much easier to track the money.
I wonder if they have a Linux variant? That would be likely hard to do though, wouldn't it? I mean, unless you were stupid enough to execute a strange file you received from the FBI....
"as someone who went to MANY many birthday parties for 30 year olds at lazertag centers-
it was 30 for renewal, not 21"
Not in the book....it was 21.
I'd highly recommend the book..is a short read, but, quite a lot better than the movie. The way the 'gun' works in the book is so cool, and worth the read alone. Hehehe...you never want a 'homer' fired at you....
I wonder if these palm electronic 'tatoos', could be federally mandated to look like a 'crystal', and change color every 7 years of your life. At 21, it could blink when you are on lastday, before you have to turn yourself in for sleep.
Hmm....shoot, I'll be we could transform the DEA into a group called sandmen, you know, just in case you decided to 'run' and not turn yourself in for sleep.
"If we can't find a reason to hate this guy, there's going to be a lot of unhappy people."
I dunno...with a name like Aneesh Chopra, I gotta think he'll help promote more H-1B visas...just what we need with declining employment opportunities in the US.
Wow, well the city you describe and live at are about 180degrees different than where I have lived. No subs, no regular public transportation that you could count on really.
And I am easily able to park right where I want to go, etc. Never had to pay for parking for where I work, etc....only ever pay when I go downtown, and that's only occasionally when I can't find an open spot on the streets.
I guess it has to do with where you live, and I've never lived in a super urban center like you seem to be describing...
"and sometimes bring along an extra set of clothes to change into for work which isn't anything unusual."
I am amazed at the number of people that have suggested this extra clothes and changing at work thing. I have NEVER heard or known anyone before to do this type of things.
"You go to a gym/shop on the route between your work and home? Besides, if you actually do the walking, you won't need a gym."
Oh most definitely. If I were to go home first after a day of work...I'd find every reason NOT to go back out to the gym. My gym, is actually across the street from where I work, so that works out for me.
Just walking won't substitute for a gym...I spend about 1.5 hours each session lifting weights, just walking won't replace that.
"A lot of the "crap" and "freeloaders" that got "flushed out" are good friends of mine. Quite a few of the people I work with are Katrina refugees, and they are some of the coolest, hardest working people I know."
Then by definition, you didn't get the crap, or freeloaders....unfortunately, a lot of quality people had to leave and didn't come back too.
"The federal government is only trying to take over banks and businesses that came whining to the government about losing all their money, so you can't really say that they're about to make the entire country communist. Whether or not you think the government should be rescuing the dying businesses in the first place is a different matter."
I dunno about that. I thought that at first, but, when the administration was refusing to take back repayment of bailout money from some banks that wanted to pay it back and get out from under the control of the feds.....I started to worry at that point.
This, to me, is a wonderful city to live in. Not far from the ocean, there tons of cultural things to do and see down here...great music scene (this week is French Quarter Fest perhaps one of the largest free music fests in the south, Jazzfest is the next two weekends), I mean hell, there are only 52 weeks in a year, and we have 10 to 15 more festivals than weeks of the year at least.
The people here are the greatest, life is laid back. It is the biggest small city I've ever seen, you can run into people you know anywhere at any time it seems. People are just friendly. If you like to ride motorcycles, it is a huge bike town, and the weather here allows for bikes and convertibles for at least 8-9 months out of the year.
Sure, it has its problems, but, any town does. But this is a very unique area, and not only is it important for much of the rest of the US (it was settled here for a reason, the gulf and MS river you know), but it is full of history. It is kinda fun and interesting living in a city that is about 100 years OLDER than the United States itself.
Katrina flushed out a lot of the 'crap' and freeloaders from the city. Crime is still a problem in some areas, but, if you're not buying crack in the projects, you aren't likely to get in much trouble generally. Our population is increasing and interestingly enough, the prime demographic of people moving in are the people roughly in the mid-20's to mid 30's category, so fresh new blood is coming into the city.
We've also been largely shielded from the economic hard times the rest of the country has experienced. Heck, housing prices have actually gone up by an average of near 4% over the past few years rather than going down like the rest of the nation.
Sure, every few years, you have to 'bug out' of the city with a hurricane tracking down on you, but, then again...so do most other coastal cities...
But, hey, all parts of the country have their problems...CA has fires and mudlides, the central US has tornadoes, I believe in Iowa and those areas have had some pretty bad flooding (they found out the Corps of Engineers didn't build levees very well like the didn't down here), etc.
So really....saying a great city like New Orleans is shitty is really un-called for. Sure, the Queen City of the south, as it used to be known decades back...has been a bit tarnished, but, she still is a wonderful, and very unique place.
We now have more restaurants open and running than we did before Katrina (I'm not talking fast food or chains either), so you can understand why I have to cook my own and work out regularly in order to keep a decent waistline.
Best of all....we have 'to go cups' at the bars here. I miss that when I go to other cities....
At the base of it, I'm trying to figure out what the fuck the federal government knows about, and has business messing with Venture Capital?!?!?
You know...I worried about the fascist leanings the last Bush admin put us on a path towards...but, they way the Obama admin is trying to creep in and own and control all aspects of business in the country, scares the hell out of me, and they've only been in power for like 3.5 months!!!
I expected the spending, but, this part of taking over banks and businesses and now something as far away from the economic problems as venture capitalists is really surprising me.
"The supermarket is a direct result of car culture. The supermarket did not come first. You buy your week's food in some nations, you know, during the week, when you are going to eat it. From a store around the corner from your residence. This model makes much more sense sustainably - smaller, local businesses (owned by the people who live around you) are supported, food does not need to have billions of preservatives, and you get fresher food. As someone who likes to cook, I think you would be all about this.
That you do all of your shopping once every week sounds like madness - not just on your part, but on the part of the stores which are designed for people to do just this."
I do hit the farmer's mkts when I can on Saturday to get local produce, but, that is downtown, a good drive even on Sat. mornings. I dunno about shopping ever day or so. I like many, am too busy to shop and cook during the week. And I do NOT eat fast food, nor do I often eat out unless on a weekend at a fine dining place. I'd rather save money by not eating crap food and go to a nice place once or twice a month. My main grocery store here IS locally owned, and they pull in as much local produce and fish as possible. I don't buy pre processed foods....so, not a lot of preservatives in anything I get. I buy raw ingredients, and cook from scratch. As I mentioned in another post, I've taken to home sausage making. I last bought about 20 lbs of pork shoulder and made some good chaurice sausage...stuffed into links and all. So no...not buying crap. My schedule doesn't allow me to shop and cook everynight, so I do that on the weekends.
Do you eat out a lot?
"I'm just saying that if you wanted to, it would be completely doable by just adopting more community-based habits. (assuming you live in a very urban environment here, or europe)"
Nope...i guess that is the crux of the things...to do as you speak, you MUST live in a tightly packed urban center. I live in New Orleans, which is an unusual place to say the least....it isn't really urban, but, it isn't a small town either....but life without a car, at least a life in the style I wish isn't really possible as you describe it.
Interesting points, and I had been thinking of all or nothing true.
"What if you only drove in once or twice a week. If you have an office, put a spare set of work clothes in the closet. If you've got a cubicle, most workplaces have lockers where you could hang your stuff up."
Most places have locker where you work at?? Interesting...I've only seen ONE place ever that had that. Mostly I'd say you have to change in the bathroom which doesn't sound like fun.
And how many spare sets of clothes do I bring to work? I wear dress casuals every day, button down shirt (starched) usually, and slacks. I don't really have a closet or anywhere at work to store clothes, and there's always the chance if you leave something out, it can get stolen. I guess I just don't see it practical to bring clothes to change into when I get here. Are you in the US? What places have you worked where they provide you with a locker in locker room and a big enough cube to store clothes and the like?
"The answer is: you don't. You get what you carry. When I had the chance to use my bicycle (with a nice set of baskets affixed on each side over the rear wheel) rather than my car, you know what I noticed? Being forced to pick and choose what I bought, rather than just throwing everything in the fucking cart, made me realize how much junk food I was eating. Then I left it behind. All of a sudden, not only was I eating healthier, my grocery bill for each month was half of what it had been before."
I don't buy junk food, I buy raw ingredients...and cook and prep myself. I pretty much spend all day Sunday cooking 2-5 different full meals of main and side courses. I eat on these all week for meals. I do this 'cause I like to cook, it is healthier and economical. I scan the store ads weekly, and make one trip out to get the best deals on what I need that week. I also try on Sat. to hit some farmer's mkts for veggies. Luckilly my main grocery store here carries a lot of local produce and fish,e tc. But I don't just throw stuff in a cart. I look over ads and plan to make my weeks means based largely on what is on sale.
And I still dont' know how you carry big stuff? I like to smoke things...so, when I see whole fresh hams on sale (22lbs) I buy 2-3 of them, and throw them in the deep freezer. I try to buy meats on sale, and I don't mind cutting up larger primals to smaller portions...again, I get more choice on quality, and I save money. I started grinding and stuffing my own sausages....I found a good price on a whole chuck roast....it was 20lbs...no way I'm able to fit that and anything else in a bike basket or in my backpack.
Yes, I can see some of what you say, tho....can be done with planning. But, man....at this point in my life, I don't seem to have enough time as it is, and adding to that with having to plan and do public trans and all that encumbers would leave me with NO time. I mean as it is with how I work...I get up about 7am..walk the dog, get ready to work, pack lunch...go to work, leave work about 4:30-5pm..hit the gym for about 2 hours, then home about 6:30 or 7pm...walk the dog, cook/warm up food, eat...by then I'm about 8pm or so, I like to watch some tv..and get ready for work the next day.(pack gym bag, etc) or do some hobby stuff. I'm usually in bed by about 9-9:30pm and sleeping by 10pm or so....I like getting 8 hours sleep if possible.
Now...in all that...if I were to increase my planning load, and travel times...well, I just can't see enough positive ROI to justify adding that difficulty to my already busy life. And I'm lucky...I live fairly close to work, I can't imagine people living far away with traffic doing it...?
"
Said the fat week stupid American. We're screwed. Oh yea, you forgot this one.
How the fuck am I supposed to use the DriveThru at Jack in the Crack?"
I know you're trolling, but, really...you should read what you are trolling on. I mentioned that I buy, cook and bring my lunchs/meals for most of the weeks eating.
I very rarely go out to eat fast food...and when I do, I'm in New Orleans, so I don't hit chain burger joints, I might go for a nice oyster po boy.
I generally reserve my dining out to higher end, full service restaurants (of which there is no shortage of in this city, and the price is better than you'd get in other cities) where I can get waited on, get some foods more exotic than I usually cook, and get a nice bottle of wine, etc.
I'd much rather save and do that that piss my $$ away on crap junk food. That, and I happen to like cooking.
"Check a weather report in the morning.
Dress appropriately for the season. Maybe carry a change of clothes or stash some in the office if you need to.
Stash an umbrella in your backpack/briefcase.
You know... be prepared."
Thank you for the answer...just still seems a bit more difficult than doing it the normal way and driving in. I mean, how do you lug all your stuff daily to/from work?
I mean, it would be a major PITA for me to daily carry....
1. Umbrella
2. Backpack (work papers, books)
3. Laptop (work)
4. Gym bag
5. Lunch (I bring food for breakfast, lunch and snack before gym, so this is a very full grocery bag daily)
And incidentals if need be. So, I'd have to lug this all daily..plus some kind of change of clothes?? I mean...down here in NOLA, as I've posted before...if it doesn't drop you off VERY close to your jobsite...during the summer (which is basically May through early Nov) you will be unprofessionally sweat soaked on a 5 minute walk, or you will be drenched by rains, and with street flooding that happens on very rainy days...even if you have an umbrella...you might be wading through a foot of water in places...etc.
I know the street flooding things is something special to THIS city...but, in the deep south...the weather will kill you on even short walks. I mean, I turned on my AC in early March, and it won't really go off till early November.
I won't even go into how I can't figure how people go grocery or other shopping with only public transit. How do you carry all that stuff around with you on a bus, train and changing buses and trains along the way. I do my shopping on Sat or Sunday...I usually hit 2-3 stores and maybe Sam's Club to get the best deals, and some things in bulk. I have to make about 2-4 trips to my car when I get home to unload all the stuff. How do you carry that much with no car?
I do this so I can cook most of my meals for the week on Sunday (breakfast, lunch and dinner) so that I can have time to hit the gym after work, and have mostly warm up food to eat for week meals. I'm lucky that I only ahve about a 10 min. drive to work...if I were to have to do hours on public transportation, well, hell...I'm out on weekdays from 8:30 or so till 6:30 or 7 by the time I get home. If I added all that travel time (or even shopping daily for food during the week), I'd have NO time on weekdays...and I have little enough as it is.
"A 10 minute walk would give you a sweat? Well maybe if everyone did that 10 mintues walk you wouldnt get a unprofessional sweat lol. Detroit is life-threateningly cold???? I dont think so, Canada is much colder and I have never had my life threatened by it and I walk 30mins to work in the winter and hot summer. I bet most americans would rather wait 5 mintues to take the elevetor 2 floors instead of take the stairs. The laziness is ridiculus."
You have no idea what it is like to live in an area like New Orleans. During the summer with 95F temps and the same or more humidity...you can sweat getting out of the shower before you start to dry off!!
:)
Seriously....you can be soaking wet during days like that by just standing still for about 5-10 minutes. That's why we pretty much turn the AC on in late March..and it doesn't' go off again till early November. At least....it does at my house.
My heating bills however...well, maybe I pay about $60 a month during 'winter'. AC bills....well, that's just the price you pay to live down here. But seriously, you get sweaty enough in the car driving till the AC cools things off as it is...you'd be a walking swamp if you walked or bicycled for 10 min down here during say, May - Sept....
"
If you call them "Crawdaddy" they taste bigger when you eat them!
Oh, and don't suck the heads, they got tiny little brains up there, but plenty of sex organs and fat!"
Call them that down here, and they'll know you're a tourist. Hehehe.
Yep, crawfish have it made. They get their tails pinched, and their heads sucked.
With the talk of families and travel to Orlando, I'm assuming ya'll are going to Disneyworld?
Why not just fly? I recently did...met up with a girlfriend of mine coming in from the northeast...it was a very economical package, and convenient. You fly in, when you arrive at the airport, DW grabs your bags for you....we stayed on the grounds, so when we got to the hotel, we checked in and luggage was waiting for us.
We stayed at one of the lower price hotels, but it was fun. I mean, we'd rather spend our money on the park and we're out most of the time anyway...
But anyway, for being there for 10 days, park jumper pass, food plan, hotel, flights and all...it was pretty reasonable. That and you're spending more time at the parks, and not travelling about to camp or outside hotel, and being on the grounds, they always have specials where you can go to some parks earlier before open to general public, or stay later after they are closed to the general public.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, it is about as well explained as by science. I've yet to hear them explain where everything started. Big Bang? Ok, what was there before that?
To me, everything just suddenly exploding into existance is just as well explained as a supreme being creating it all.
I don't see observable phenomena explaining either one of those hypotheses.
But, those with flat feet, in need of arch support, could still benefit from good shoes...
Keeping the email pure txt, and not using something like Outlook with possibly identifying info in the email headers...well, that's obviously something you want to avoid.
Again, just for safety, I'd avoid windows for anything, and for goodness sake, don't send a MS Word doc....
It isn't that big a deal. Why can't they do it like I did in school before there was an internet?
My parents took me to the library where I had to go through the card catalog to look up books and find and check out the books. So, why can't the kids have the freedom they want to search and research at the library, or at home where the parents can monitor resources.
Besides, you don't NEED the internet to look up information, it just is faster. But, books are still out there.
Yep, a very clear case of "who watches the watchers"?
Well, there are ways to be about 99.99% anonymous on the internet. One way is to set up a nym account, that bounces through serveral remailers like Mixmaster...and basically have the final hop on those to be one of the anon groups on USENET. That way, they don't know who it is reading one of thousands of pgp encrypted emails out there.
However, when it comes time for the internet to intersect 'meatspace', like when you want to get money. Well, now that part is gonna be a little tougher to do...much easier to track the money.
Yeah, that was my first thought too.
I wonder if they have a Linux variant? That would be likely hard to do though, wouldn't it? I mean, unless you were stupid enough to execute a strange file you received from the FBI....
Not in the book....it was 21.
I'd highly recommend the book..is a short read, but, quite a lot better than the movie. The way the 'gun' works in the book is so cool, and worth the read alone. Hehehe...you never want a 'homer' fired at you....
Hmm....shoot, I'll be we could transform the DEA into a group called sandmen, you know, just in case you decided to 'run' and not turn yourself in for sleep.
I dunno...with a name like Aneesh Chopra, I gotta think he'll help promote more H-1B visas...just what we need with declining employment opportunities in the US.
These are actually real laws?!?!?
And I am easily able to park right where I want to go, etc. Never had to pay for parking for where I work, etc....only ever pay when I go downtown, and that's only occasionally when I can't find an open spot on the streets.
I guess it has to do with where you live, and I've never lived in a super urban center like you seem to be describing...
I am amazed at the number of people that have suggested this extra clothes and changing at work thing. I have NEVER heard or known anyone before to do this type of things.
Interesting.
Oh most definitely. If I were to go home first after a day of work...I'd find every reason NOT to go back out to the gym. My gym, is actually across the street from where I work, so that works out for me.
Just walking won't substitute for a gym...I spend about 1.5 hours each session lifting weights, just walking won't replace that.
Then by definition, you didn't get the crap, or freeloaders....unfortunately, a lot of quality people had to leave and didn't come back too.
I dunno about that. I thought that at first, but, when the administration was refusing to take back repayment of bailout money from some banks that wanted to pay it back and get out from under the control of the feds.....I started to worry at that point.
Wow, that was un-called for man.
This, to me, is a wonderful city to live in. Not far from the ocean, there tons of cultural things to do and see down here...great music scene (this week is French Quarter Fest perhaps one of the largest free music fests in the south, Jazzfest is the next two weekends), I mean hell, there are only 52 weeks in a year, and we have 10 to 15 more festivals than weeks of the year at least.
The people here are the greatest, life is laid back. It is the biggest small city I've ever seen, you can run into people you know anywhere at any time it seems. People are just friendly. If you like to ride motorcycles, it is a huge bike town, and the weather here allows for bikes and convertibles for at least 8-9 months out of the year.
Sure, it has its problems, but, any town does. But this is a very unique area, and not only is it important for much of the rest of the US (it was settled here for a reason, the gulf and MS river you know), but it is full of history. It is kinda fun and interesting living in a city that is about 100 years OLDER than the United States itself.
Katrina flushed out a lot of the 'crap' and freeloaders from the city. Crime is still a problem in some areas, but, if you're not buying crack in the projects, you aren't likely to get in much trouble generally. Our population is increasing and interestingly enough, the prime demographic of people moving in are the people roughly in the mid-20's to mid 30's category, so fresh new blood is coming into the city.
We've also been largely shielded from the economic hard times the rest of the country has experienced. Heck, housing prices have actually gone up by an average of near 4% over the past few years rather than going down like the rest of the nation.
Sure, every few years, you have to 'bug out' of the city with a hurricane tracking down on you, but, then again...so do most other coastal cities...
But, hey, all parts of the country have their problems...CA has fires and mudlides, the central US has tornadoes, I believe in Iowa and those areas have had some pretty bad flooding (they found out the Corps of Engineers didn't build levees very well like the didn't down here), etc.
So really....saying a great city like New Orleans is shitty is really un-called for. Sure, the Queen City of the south, as it used to be known decades back...has been a bit tarnished, but, she still is a wonderful, and very unique place.
We now have more restaurants open and running than we did before Katrina (I'm not talking fast food or chains either), so you can understand why I have to cook my own and work out regularly in order to keep a decent waistline.
Best of all....we have 'to go cups' at the bars here. I miss that when I go to other cities....
You know...I worried about the fascist leanings the last Bush admin put us on a path towards...but, they way the Obama admin is trying to creep in and own and control all aspects of business in the country, scares the hell out of me, and they've only been in power for like 3.5 months!!!
I expected the spending, but, this part of taking over banks and businesses and now something as far away from the economic problems as venture capitalists is really surprising me.
That you do all of your shopping once every week sounds like madness - not just on your part, but on the part of the stores which are designed for people to do just this."
I do hit the farmer's mkts when I can on Saturday to get local produce, but, that is downtown, a good drive even on Sat. mornings. I dunno about shopping ever day or so. I like many, am too busy to shop and cook during the week. And I do NOT eat fast food, nor do I often eat out unless on a weekend at a fine dining place. I'd rather save money by not eating crap food and go to a nice place once or twice a month. My main grocery store here IS locally owned, and they pull in as much local produce and fish as possible. I don't buy pre processed foods....so, not a lot of preservatives in anything I get. I buy raw ingredients, and cook from scratch. As I mentioned in another post, I've taken to home sausage making. I last bought about 20 lbs of pork shoulder and made some good chaurice sausage...stuffed into links and all. So no...not buying crap. My schedule doesn't allow me to shop and cook everynight, so I do that on the weekends.
Do you eat out a lot?
"I'm just saying that if you wanted to, it would be completely doable by just adopting more community-based habits. (assuming you live in a very urban environment here, or europe)"
Nope...i guess that is the crux of the things...to do as you speak, you MUST live in a tightly packed urban center. I live in New Orleans, which is an unusual place to say the least....it isn't really urban, but, it isn't a small town either....but life without a car, at least a life in the style I wish isn't really possible as you describe it.
"What if you only drove in once or twice a week. If you have an office, put a spare set of work clothes in the closet. If you've got a cubicle, most workplaces have lockers where you could hang your stuff up."
Most places have locker where you work at?? Interesting...I've only seen ONE place ever that had that. Mostly I'd say you have to change in the bathroom which doesn't sound like fun.
And how many spare sets of clothes do I bring to work? I wear dress casuals every day, button down shirt (starched) usually, and slacks. I don't really have a closet or anywhere at work to store clothes, and there's always the chance if you leave something out, it can get stolen. I guess I just don't see it practical to bring clothes to change into when I get here. Are you in the US? What places have you worked where they provide you with a locker in locker room and a big enough cube to store clothes and the like?
"The answer is: you don't. You get what you carry. When I had the chance to use my bicycle (with a nice set of baskets affixed on each side over the rear wheel) rather than my car, you know what I noticed? Being forced to pick and choose what I bought, rather than just throwing everything in the fucking cart, made me realize how much junk food I was eating. Then I left it behind. All of a sudden, not only was I eating healthier, my grocery bill for each month was half of what it had been before."
I don't buy junk food, I buy raw ingredients...and cook and prep myself. I pretty much spend all day Sunday cooking 2-5 different full meals of main and side courses. I eat on these all week for meals. I do this 'cause I like to cook, it is healthier and economical. I scan the store ads weekly, and make one trip out to get the best deals on what I need that week. I also try on Sat. to hit some farmer's mkts for veggies. Luckilly my main grocery store here carries a lot of local produce and fish,e tc. But I don't just throw stuff in a cart. I look over ads and plan to make my weeks means based largely on what is on sale.
And I still dont' know how you carry big stuff? I like to smoke things...so, when I see whole fresh hams on sale (22lbs) I buy 2-3 of them, and throw them in the deep freezer. I try to buy meats on sale, and I don't mind cutting up larger primals to smaller portions...again, I get more choice on quality, and I save money. I started grinding and stuffing my own sausages....I found a good price on a whole chuck roast....it was 20lbs...no way I'm able to fit that and anything else in a bike basket or in my backpack.
Yes, I can see some of what you say, tho....can be done with planning. But, man....at this point in my life, I don't seem to have enough time as it is, and adding to that with having to plan and do public trans and all that encumbers would leave me with NO time. I mean as it is with how I work...I get up about 7am..walk the dog, get ready to work, pack lunch...go to work, leave work about 4:30-5pm..hit the gym for about 2 hours, then home about 6:30 or 7pm...walk the dog, cook/warm up food, eat...by then I'm about 8pm or so, I like to watch some tv..and get ready for work the next day.(pack gym bag, etc) or do some hobby stuff. I'm usually in bed by about 9-9:30pm and sleeping by 10pm or so....I like getting 8 hours sleep if possible.
Now...in all that...if I were to increase my planning load, and travel times...well, I just can't see enough positive ROI to justify adding that difficulty to my already busy life. And I'm lucky...I live fairly close to work, I can't imagine people living far away with traffic doing it...?
I know you're trolling, but, really...you should read what you are trolling on. I mentioned that I buy, cook and bring my lunchs/meals for most of the weeks eating.
I very rarely go out to eat fast food...and when I do, I'm in New Orleans, so I don't hit chain burger joints, I might go for a nice oyster po boy.
I generally reserve my dining out to higher end, full service restaurants (of which there is no shortage of in this city, and the price is better than you'd get in other cities) where I can get waited on, get some foods more exotic than I usually cook, and get a nice bottle of wine, etc.
I'd much rather save and do that that piss my $$ away on crap junk food. That, and I happen to like cooking.
Stash an umbrella in your backpack/briefcase.
You know... be prepared."
Thank you for the answer...just still seems a bit more difficult than doing it the normal way and driving in. I mean, how do you lug all your stuff daily to/from work?
I mean, it would be a major PITA for me to daily carry....
1. Umbrella
2. Backpack (work papers, books)
3. Laptop (work)
4. Gym bag
5. Lunch (I bring food for breakfast, lunch and snack before gym, so this is a very full grocery bag daily)
And incidentals if need be. So, I'd have to lug this all daily..plus some kind of change of clothes?? I mean...down here in NOLA, as I've posted before...if it doesn't drop you off VERY close to your jobsite...during the summer (which is basically May through early Nov) you will be unprofessionally sweat soaked on a 5 minute walk, or you will be drenched by rains, and with street flooding that happens on very rainy days...even if you have an umbrella...you might be wading through a foot of water in places...etc.
I know the street flooding things is something special to THIS city...but, in the deep south...the weather will kill you on even short walks. I mean, I turned on my AC in early March, and it won't really go off till early November.
I won't even go into how I can't figure how people go grocery or other shopping with only public transit. How do you carry all that stuff around with you on a bus, train and changing buses and trains along the way. I do my shopping on Sat or Sunday...I usually hit 2-3 stores and maybe Sam's Club to get the best deals, and some things in bulk. I have to make about 2-4 trips to my car when I get home to unload all the stuff. How do you carry that much with no car?
I do this so I can cook most of my meals for the week on Sunday (breakfast, lunch and dinner) so that I can have time to hit the gym after work, and have mostly warm up food to eat for week meals. I'm lucky that I only ahve about a 10 min. drive to work...if I were to have to do hours on public transportation, well, hell...I'm out on weekdays from 8:30 or so till 6:30 or 7 by the time I get home. If I added all that travel time (or even shopping daily for food during the week), I'd have NO time on weekdays...and I have little enough as it is.
You have no idea what it is like to live in an area like New Orleans. During the summer with 95F temps and the same or more humidity...you can sweat getting out of the shower before you start to dry off!!
Seriously....you can be soaking wet during days like that by just standing still for about 5-10 minutes. That's why we pretty much turn the AC on in late March..and it doesn't' go off again till early November. At least....it does at my house.
My heating bills however...well, maybe I pay about $60 a month during 'winter'. AC bills....well, that's just the price you pay to live down here. But seriously, you get sweaty enough in the car driving till the AC cools things off as it is...you'd be a walking swamp if you walked or bicycled for 10 min down here during say, May - Sept....
Call them that down here, and they'll know you're a tourist. Hehehe.
Yep, crawfish have it made. They get their tails pinched, and their heads sucked.
Why not just fly? I recently did...met up with a girlfriend of mine coming in from the northeast...it was a very economical package, and convenient. You fly in, when you arrive at the airport, DW grabs your bags for you....we stayed on the grounds, so when we got to the hotel, we checked in and luggage was waiting for us.
We stayed at one of the lower price hotels, but it was fun. I mean, we'd rather spend our money on the park and we're out most of the time anyway...
But anyway, for being there for 10 days, park jumper pass, food plan, hotel, flights and all...it was pretty reasonable. That and you're spending more time at the parks, and not travelling about to camp or outside hotel, and being on the grounds, they always have specials where you can go to some parks earlier before open to general public, or stay later after they are closed to the general public.
I'd go again...and I don't even have kids.