trinacriabob

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.

If they sneak in some ocean liner and large commercial aircraft stuff, I could definitely watch.

I don't like shellfish and have gotten sick from it a time or two. Plus, it's not really good for you. Now, the big "steak-like" fish such as halibut, swordfish, mahi mahi and shark are both delicious and good for you (high protein, low fat, lower cholesterol than others)

beached

Mike Hunt

Now I may not go near it. Since I know you're a food connoisseur, I would imagine you like French food. Since they generally don't have French restaurants all over the place, I will have to say it is delicious, when you feel like splurging a little.

safari

Cleopatra

I got burned twice. Both times, I said "ZERO stars"...that means MILD, Mr. Order Taker... They didn't get it...or he has a warped sense of humor. I went home from work sick both times. Now, mind you, I love Cantonese Chinese food and some of the milder, blander dishes...the vegetable chow meins, the beef broccoli, cashew chicken, lemon/orange chicken and the soups...provided they don't have a pungent aftertaste and don't punch you in the stomach when you go back to work.

Moltie, have you ever tried Russian food? It sounds like it might be good. I wonder what it's main staples are...

vasectomy (sp)