trinacriabob

I only like the first part of your story....the 747 part....

Culture...it'll do you some good! P-C-S, are you going to be stomping some grapes to the rhythm of "La Tarantella" in the background? You notice when anybody spoofs Italians, they play "La Tarantella" in the background. I tend to like Italian and Greek Festivals. I have worked, as a volunteer, at Festa Italiana in Sacramento. The Italian Festival in SF, generally near Columbus Day, is huge and too commercial...it's at one of the piers. The one in Reno is lame in that it is put on by the Eldorado Hotel and NOT the Italian community itself. Greek Festivals are always put on by their churches. With everything a la carte, you wind up spending too much for the quality...but, whatever, you can hang out with "Nick and Christina" for an afternoon.

attic

Very trippy. I've never understood how the inside part works versus the collector lanes and when you can switch over. In the "colonies," we generally have acccess to all the lanes. Incidentally, it's the McDonald Cartier Expressway or something like that.The other part of Toronto that jumps out is how, in the middle of Mississauga's or Woodbridge's residential areas, you have a RESIDENTIAL high rise popping up, whereas in the cities out West I am familiar with, they tend to be clustered. I remember how this jumps out at me whenever I land at YYZ and I'm checking things out from the plane window.

burn

roller derby

fight

De Lisboa para Newark com Continental ou TAP? Onde vai na Florida? Voce gosta? I have had great "row-mates" on most of my trips to Europe, fortunately, but one time going from Frankfurt to Portland, I had to sit next to a 350 pound Greek Orthodox priest in his black outfit and helicopter landing pad hat. He also had a really long beard that was full of crumbs from his food. Hey...at $ 449 round trip, I guess I could put up with it, but it was a very L-O-N-G 11 hours because he "spilled over" into my seat.

Wow, never realized it was THE busiest. I love trivia. The I-75 thing could have been significantly alleviated. It goes from the center of Atlanta and clips the ring road at about 11 on the clock. Now, I-85 goes from the center of Atlanta and clips the ring road at about 1 o'clock, more or less. It's not as busy. Why? The county it goes through voted in rapid transit/rail...or, MARTA to the locals. The county that I-75 goes into DOESN'T want rail because they fear it might bring in the "wrong element." Oh, please... That's why it's like slitting your wrists if you choose to live in the NW suburbs of ATL and work in the downtown area.

TYD, I happened to be at a dealership in Portland during Easter that had added the Smart line. I couldn't believe it. The sticker on this damn thing was $ 27,000 USD. Multiply by 1.12 to get your $ number for it. (They are supposed to be reasonably priced in Europe). Unbelievable.

freedom

Animal House

Have you considered the gas of getting the sled relocated to FL if you were to purchase in NY? It could cancel any savings. I say get it when you get settled in down there, if you choose to go.

It's French and nothing else.

obvious

Mr. Carbiz:Many wives feel "threatened" by their husbands' single friends. As one single friend put it, they almost view you as a "rogue," though that might not be the case. My thought is that any man out there who lets their wife dictate how a previous friend will be viewed and treated is "p*s*y whipped." Period.

Don't feel too bad. After I finished grad school, I moved in with my parents...partly because they had a very nice home that I found for them 2 weeks before I went off to grad school. It was a bad decision on my part. I had lived in Atlanta on my own prior to moving back West, had bought a house, loved the independence, and most of all, loved not having to argue with anybody. My parents, being both Italian and neurotic, were a little too overbearing for how I had mellowed out and arguments were the order of the day...I subsequently moved up to Seattle and bought my own place once I became licensed in my field. As far as your married friends go, I found that the married ones WITHOUT kids kept the friendship going as usual. This would include my best college friend in S.D.. I frequented both him and his wife the same way we hung out together in college. Now, my friends WITH kids fell off the face of the earth. No big loss, as far as I'm concerned. Only two friends of mine, one who is an accountant and the other who is a mech. eng., who live in Sacramento have kept up the friendship even after having kids. They're cool. Don't be hard on yourself, Equinox!

agreement

I think it's more like 168 mph +/- when you hit the tarmac on typical wide-bodied aircraft ...and it's about 183 mph +/- when "rotation" occurs and the twin-aisle birds take to the sky. I'm a veritable garbage can of useless trivia.

Telephathy, P-C-S, I hadn't even seen your post!

Bleh, been there, done that....I can't believe I subjected myself to that as well after getting a degree in something else. I will never forget the actual shaking from all the caffeine, the sleeping at weird hours, and the sleeping in classes (immediately after a deadline)...the other profs, so long as they were in architecture, understood. What school is she doing archi. at?

Having done a business curriculum in undergrad, that's a handful. B Law is always easier if it's MC or T-F because you can spot the concept rather than have to memorize and apply it. Econ can be all over the map since the way they test is all over the map. There was this douche bag that taught the upper division micro-economics course at my small private alma mater and her tests were all ultra-theoretical essays. On one test, there was a question like "With diminishing utility, you could grow the world's food supply in a flower pot. True or false" and about 4 questions like this made up her test. Many students who had near perfect averages had this pint-sized little witch put a dent in their GPAs. I avoided her by going to one of the Cal State campuses in Southern California and taking it during the summer and transfering it back in. Accounting - well, that's always been fun for me. Like a puzzle. Statistics - ok if there is a cheat sheet allowed. One cannot memorize this crap. Let's get real. Math - I got through calculus even though I could never visualize what a derivative or an integral was actually doing. WTF. GOOD LUCK, WMJ !

Yech! For those on the semester system, final exams are right around the corner. Mine start on Wednesday night and I have two others, all at night time, within a week from that because I am in an evening program. I have been burning the candle at both ends, ending up at coffee shops with my books from 11 pm to 1:30 am or so since I find myself cat-napping at weird intervals. The upside: I will be DONE with finals, and with my degree program, in less than 10 days. I think I can manage. What about you? Big finals load? Are you coping / what do you do to cope?

NASCAR (what will replace the Monte Carlo, anyway?)

I test sat the Aura. I liked the "non-pushiness" of the Saturn "experience." I applaud the car, but it doesn't feel right...too small. (I also didn't like the cloth in the base model, though the fit and finish were commendable). But I'm sure it would be a good car. When I have more time, I will go out and test drive one.