trinacriabob

You'd be surprised that, even in coat and tie settings or in politics, people have always coined nickames for each other...be they good or bad. Some of the mumu ladies at the company I worked for in Atlanta called me the "crumb chaser" because I would "drop by" a buffet another department was holding...I was 5'10"/high 160s at the time, so they had room to talk (???) Some are geographic: "Santa Barbara" (G) - a spoiled, not a care in the world guy I work with who went to UCSB "West Texas" (NG) - a dollied-up co-worker who looks like a beauty contest entry from a small West Texas town for whom that would be the high point of her life "Reno" - (G) a lady with a husky casino cocktail waitress voice who smokes "Westchester" - (G) a co-worker in Atlanta who went to Emory and came from the Westchester Co. NY suburbs "Grand Canyon" - (N) a Hispanic lady in the mail room who looks like she might guide the donkey tour down into the Grand Canyon "Miami" - (G) a Hispanic guy at work who looks like he might say "say hello to my little friend" at a moment's notice Some are about physical attributes: "Loogeyman" - (NG) raspy voiced guy that sounds like spit stuck is always stuck in his throat "HM" - the "hose monster," (NG) for a promiscuous girl at work "La tres" - Spanish for "the number three" - (NG) a girl for whom we estimated that the width of her rump was 3x the width of mine "Hillary" or "la esposa del Presidente" - (G) interior designer who looked like a young Hillary Clinton "el cocodrilo" - Spanish for "the crocodile" - (N) a person I worked with that had a physically very large mouth like a crocodile "la comedora (de alfombra)" - Spanish for "the eater (of carpet)" - (NG) self-explanatory - very nasty temperment and rightfully fired for her discord with everybody she worked for, including me. Most people's opinion of this person who were "in" on the nickname: G = good person, generally / NG = not a good person, generally / N = neutral, generally Some of these go back to the wonderful 80s. Do you have any nicknames from work/school/the neighborhood? The explanation of the nickname?

This is 'effin hilarious. The math just dawned on me. :rotflmao:

I am really sorry to hear this. The car part isn't as important as the job part. Can people get teaching certificates in adjacent areas (PA, NY) if they are willing to move...would you be happy in social sciences (the closest thing I can think of to business educ.)? It's going to be tough for many of us and I have friends who have lost jobs, have had to take pay cuts, have had to do weird "laterals," etc. etc. I'll hold good thougths for you.

Seattle

never mind

Suburbs of big cities can be fairly bucolic, sometimes. I mean, growing up on a tree-lined residential street of a major urban area, we all knew each other, but it seemed that 20 or 30 feet between the houses seemed to ensure enough privacy. Sure, there were busybodies, but resetting some boundaries tells them to back off. Most people have a good sense of balance. The part I was referring to above is when the neighborhood gets too Stepford and too superficial.

Part one: Are you staying put? You seem to like it. If you can afford to, I don't see why not. Part two: Unfortunately, LA can do that to people. So can ATL or SEA or anywhere urban, if you live in certain neighborhoods where making an impression is more important than the underlying substance. I've always chosen to live in "beltway" type suburbs, since college, and have never had to deal with that

disk

I don't know what it is with Mediterranean men and blonde "poon." My Dad, now deceased, would have used the words "cold, aloof and unemotive." He didn't care much for Northern Europe and said the most attractive women were right in our own country, or in adjacent ones (I think he meant France).

diaper

Response to thread: not rather

Europe: Lisbon, Portugal (by a long shot)...over anything in my ancestral Italy North America: Montreal, Canada South America: Buenos Aires, Argentina Asia: never been...some curiosity to see (a) Tokyo and (b) Hong Kong, but not likely Oceania/Australia: never been...and the thought of sharks, salt water crocs, bizarre snakes, and being cooped up in a 747 for 14 hours to get there make the trip unlikely

So what's your point ?

What a great post! I agree with most of it. My 2 favorite cities: 1) Los Angeles (my birthplace) 2) Atlanta Los Angeles is the only major city (SD is not major) where you can be at a palm-lined waterfront and get a glimpse of snow-capped mountains in the background. Yes, after it rains, the skies are clear enough to where that is possible. Also, the air is dirty, but it's getting better. Los Angeles has so much to offer. To anyone who bashes it, either (a) you haven't been there, or (b) you didn't see it correctly (meaning you were in bumper to bumper traffic on I-10 in El Monte or on I-5 through City of Commerce, both of which are ). I took my cousin from Europe there in 2004 and she was very impressed. The problem with LA is that those of us who grew up there, despite having professional educations, have been priced out of anything that compares to what we grew up in, basic "3+2+family room stucco 1-story homes with 2-car garages," or from purchasing in decent neighborhoods. The weather band of 55-87 F is out of this world. Such is life. Atlanta is where I lived for a few years after spending 2 years in SoCal after college. Atlanta is drop-dead gorgeous. All the brick homes set in stands of Southern pine that are hidden from view as one flies over it. Atlanta was proclaimed by the US Forest Service to be the most forested city in the US (it's actually not Seattle or Portland). It has good weather, a nice skyline, reasonably affordable housing, people from all over the world and a kick-ass fixed rail rapid transit system that I would race along with in my car when it skirted the freeway. I only left it to go to grad school and wish I had never left. For the beach, there was always the Florida Panhandle (Pensacola, baby). Atlanta, however, has become unwieldy and the curved, narrow country roads that were never meant to be absorbed into a large city can't move the traffic. Comparisons: LA and other California cities: San Francisco is postcard perfect but I would never want to live there. It is more expensive than LA, too compact, too pissy and politically correct, and does not have the free wheeling irreverence that LA has. Plus, it is much further to snow and mountains from SF and the beaches are much colder, to the point that you can't use them. San Diego has a lot of bubbleheaded people. A lot of the BPs in high school went to SDSU to major in marketing or communications and then waited on tables to bask in SD's hedonism, but the intellectual crowd headed up to Berkeley and Santa Cruz, both for the "have to make a statement" types that keep on hanging out there too long after they graduated or never even went to school there. Other Southeastern cities: don't know the others that well. As Atlanta has mushroomed, it is no longer pulling in people and transplants have begun considering other Southeastern cities, much to the chagrin of those living in those other booming cities in NC, VA, etc. I don't know if Texas is the Southeast, but I only really like Houston. Unlike Dallas, which is brownish and is covered in mesquite, Houston is green and has many pines. In Houston, a drive through a ritzy area called Memorial Parkway is pretty impressive. I also don't know if I consider Florida the Southeast, because it is a world unto itself. What you give up in topography, you get in a better beach than you do in CA. The water is actually warm and it's turquoise colored. The architecture in the bigger cities, particularly at the Gulf or ocean's edge, is very interesting. I like Florida and think I could live there if I had to, as I have friends who made the CA to FL move, are ok with it, and are still in FL. Other regions: Northwest: In a word, NO. It is now expensive and some parts of Seattle are almost as expensive as LA or SD, and you need a "discount" to live in that depressing weather, to live around so many ugly women and to put up with the anti-California snide comments. Southwest: Las Vegas has soooo much white trash and shady characters. Phoenix has its share, too. Both are hemmed in by nice mountains and the stark beauty of the desert, but 100 degrees for 3 to 4 months, no matter how dry, saps the living crap out of someone. Midwest: Can't do it. Went to grad school there. Probably the nicest, most genuine people in America, but can't handle the winter and the summers aren't so great. I usually agree with mustang84, but I dislike Chicago intensely. Yes, "the Loop" is interesting, but it thins out to this vapid grid-shaped flatness that doesn't offer many interesting day-trip opportunities. Plus, I remember the arrogance of Chi-caaah-go types, something that I've never seen in Northeasterners* who don't have the need to defend their cities because their cities speak for themselves Northeast: New York, and its greater metro area, is stunning. When I began being interested in cities, I liked looking at maps. The tri-state area of metro New York has breathtaking geography....much of it on different islands, with rivers and estuaries...and even more dramatic topography is not very far away. I have always gotten along better with NYers than Chicagoans (don't know why) and, like the OC, if I ever had to make a drastic move, it would be to NY before Chicago. *People in NY have rarely been rude to me and are very salt-of-the-earth, tell-it-like-it-is types who have a great sarcasm about life. Boston is also interesting, but the weather is harsher and extra points to Boston for being the closest major US city to Montreal. I hate Washington DC as it's a transient rotating door that depends on who's in power at the time and is stuffy, pretentious and bureaucratic. Can't say a lot about Philly and Baltimore, etc., as I only have passed through them, and I know they have some nice enclaves that most of the public does not see once they've seen Independence Hall and the Inner Harbor, respectively. They are also closer to Atlantic beaches than DC. Immediately outside of the US: Montreal, Montreal and Montreal. I have come to like Toronto less and less, and I used to go to Vancouver once a month when I lived in Seattle after grad school, so I'm kind of bored with it.

You wouldn't understand. Conservative European Catholic upbringing (though admittedly a little neurotic) with a big push on education (since Mommy and Daddy didn't have that chance) that I wouldn't trade-in for your upbringing and wouldn't squander on someone who's life is messy. But thanks for your concern.

(clipped out the bars part, since I don't like alcohol, so insert virtually any other venue). It just happened to me today...at a food court in a mall. However, she was a divorced attorney with kids, but attractive enough. Don't want someone else's kids and am certainly not interested in an attorney, since they would have the legal "upper hand" in a divorce proceeding. Aren't I practical? Gotta think about these things...

What is it with you and Mexicans?

We need GM to release some new cars....STAT. Wow. This is what we've degenerated to for thread topics. It's happened. I just say "thank you" and, to myself, I'm thinking "free food, free food." Lesbians have never given me free food. Those rags.

night

Those kind of people either live behind gates...or are stupid.

I called a few junkyards. Part price: $ 25 Labor price (assuming I'll do it correctly - hey, I did the fan blower motor ): $ 0 I'm supposed to go pick up the part next week when I get back from out of town.

woodpecker

henpeck

son

PCS, the LaCrosse IS the new car. This is the second car which I go to the train station with. Wise up.