Useless Conversation

[Strazos]

The rain melted the snow....I'm sure it will be completely iced by morning.

FSO?

Foreign Service Officer, USDoS. If I am invited for the oral assessment this spring and offered a spot, I won't need a car in the US.

[Segoris]

Oddly enough, Chicago isn't seeing all this shit weather. That's a rarity to say my local weather has been consistent around 0 degrees or so, not the normal 40 below 0 one day, and 35 above 0 the next


And on a disappointing note, I leave you with the following:

fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck, T-Shirt Hell is closing, and that blows ass. I loved this site, and have been ordering from them for about 4 years now, maybe 5. Bleh. Time to put some money together, as I still have a lot of T-shirts to order and see what all i can get away with on casual Fridays at work, as well as how badly I can annoy a lot of people (Sunday morning breakfasts are fun in restaurants again because of T-Shirt Hell!)

[Merusk]

It just means you'll have to wait 2-3 months before someone else starts up to fill that vacuum in the snarky social commentary t-shirt market.  Someone else is bound to do it if they're really moving 3k shirts a week.  That's too much money left on the table for any capitalist.

[Segoris]

It just means you'll have to wait 2-3 months before someone else starts up to fill that vacuum in the snarky social commentary t-shirt market.  Someone else is bound to do it if they're really moving 3k shirts a week.  That's too much money left on the table for any capitalist.

Funny, I was thinking of doing that myself. I just haven't liked any of the other shirt sites, and with the closing of this one, it makes that sound even more like a good idea. 

[Sky]

Aww, that guy can't handle a little hate mail? When he creates a ton of crappy hate shirts? That's too funny. What a pussy. Too bad he's laughing all the way to the bank. Please, by all means get as many of these shirts as possible, to more easily identify people I need to ignore!

[Yegolev]

Merusk, if it makes you feel better, it was 34F this morning.  Hooray for global warming.

Back to the WDW trip, the incredibly short version of a story is that I moved us from Saratoga Springs to Wilderness Lodge.  The ferry isn't the monorail, but it's better than the bus.  Plus we get to see the Electric Light Parade.  The boy just wants to go to MK most of the time, not Downtown Disney , and we should get OK transit from the TTC which isn't horribly far from the WLodge for when we want to go to EPCOT (monorail) and AK.  Then again, WDW is always fucking with bus routes these days so my planned routes may not work out.

[Sky]

They have Saratoga Springs in Disney now? 

The actual springs or is it code for horse racing?

[Merusk]

I do feel better.  Yep, yay global warming.

This your first trip to WDW or staying on site? Mentioning that they're always messing with bus routes and your famiilarity with the park layout makes it sound like it's not.

[Righ]

Funny personal ads.

[voodoolily]

Funny personal ads.

Those were good. People that clever should never have to place personal ads.

[MrHat]

"OMG! This magazine is the shizz. Seriously, dudes. Awesome! LOL! Classics lecturer (M, 48). Possibly out of his depth with today's youth. KTHX! Box no. 2680."

Good stuff.


Some of the honesty in those reminds of some coffee table book I was reading once.  Where people send anonymous postcards of their biggest secrets/fears?

[Yegolev]

This your first trip to WDW or staying on site? Mentioning that they're always messing with bus routes and your famiilarity with the park layout makes it sound like it's not.

I have been to WDW at least once per year since 1997 and we always stay on the property.  Last time I went was Sept 24-28, 2008 and I'm going again for the first week of March.  I like WDW a great deal.  One time, pre-child era, we decided one Friday to just drive down and see if we could get a room for the weekend.  Ended up at Coronado Springs, but it counts.

The bus routes seemed fairly static for a few years, which was annoying because we had our sekrit routes to get places fast and those have been tossed.  These days I don't bother too much with determining fancy bus routes since we hardly ever stay more than three days (thanks, Wife's job!) and I know they are going to fuck with them again anyway.

Sky, I have no idea what you are talking about.

New irritant: when you buy an untitled painting with the understanding that no prints will be made from it, then find prints of it for sale with a title that you don't like.

[Cyrrex]

New irritant: when you buy an untitled painting with the understanding that no prints will be made from it, then find prints of it for sale with a title that you don't like.

OMG, that happens to me all the time too!   

I am going to WDW for the very first time ever in a couple months.  We are staying off property.  Is that bad? 

[Yegolev]

I am going to WDW for the very first time ever in a couple months.  We are staying off property.  Is that bad? 

No, given your comment about the painting, it's probably very good.   It does depend on where you are staying, of course, but it really just comes down to cost versus convenience.  I stayed at the Sheraton that looks like a pineapple once and it was very, very nice.

[Merusk]

I can't imagine going every year.. I run out of things to do just going for a week.  I do plan on going at least every 2-3 years now that finances are stable and the kids are old enough to have fun, though.  The break between this previous trip and the one prior was the longest ever, 10 years.   My family used to go when we'd visit my grandpaerents in Florida, rotating between WDW one year and Sea World/ Busch Gardens the next.  Fun times. 

Do you do the meal plan thing, because that's a hell of a deal.  I was worried the two meals and two snacks wasn't going to be enough, but damn do you get a lot of food that way.

I am going to WDW for the very first time ever in a couple months.  We are staying off property.  Is that bad? 

No, it's fine.  There's a few perks you get by staying on site, like early admission to some parks on some days and the ability to send souviners right to your hotel instead of lugging them around.  You also don't have to pay for parking or worry about catching the shuttle your hotel is running since you have their public transportation system that goes directly to all the hotels and a parking pass for all the parks for the length of your stay.  I stayed off-property when I went with my college girlfriend and other than not being able to go back to the room for an hour or so if we were tired or whatever, it wasn't any different overall.  You're there for the parks after all, not the hotel.   

[Sky]

Sky, I have no idea what you are talking about.

You said you were in Saratoga Springs, and at Walt Disney World. You went from NY to the park or do they have a SS theme down there?

Saratoga Springs is in NY, close to where I'd like to move (but can't )

[Merusk]

There's a resort & spa called Saratoga Springs on the grounds.

[Signe]

My dishwasher door fell off!!!   

[MrHat]

My dishwasher door fell off!!!   

Shut it off then.

[rattran]

My dishwasher door fell off!!!   

Is that some sort of euphemism?

[Yegolev]

I run out of things to do just going for a week.

I went for nine days once and I didn't run out of things to do.  Hell, it takes me at least two days to eat my way around World of Nations if I only graze.  If I want to eat at Le Cellier and whatsitcalled in Morocco, I have to add more time.  Also, I can't eat at Mexico without riding the boat.  I usually get stuck in the Japanese department store for a while, too.  Otherwise I can play minigolf, go to the Lego store, eat around Downtown Disney, do all the MK favorites (also turkey leg and hot dog, maaaaybe eat at Prince Stefan's because it's cool), take breakfast at the Kona Cafe so I can get my allotment of Tonga Toast, etc, etc.

I can do MGM in less than a day, or I could.  Now they have that car show and a new stunt show, and these days the boy spends a lot of time in the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground, but there's not a lot there for me.  Star Tours is balls.  I like to eat at the 50's Prime Time Cafe, but that's about it.  I'm all over the Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and Muppet 3D.  The backlot tour is a big time-filler but kinda cool.

Do you do the meal plan thing, because that's a hell of a deal.

We do.  I try to not let it influence me to eat a lot.  We also try to get E Tickets, which I believe these days are a regular occurrence and are called Extra Magic.  Last fall it was in the form of the Pirate and Princess Party and the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.  We could not get the boy to dress up, but he had a great time staying up late.  The Halloween one had a very cool parade, as parades go, because of the Headless Horseman with the galloping horse and jack-o-lantern and whatnot.  For the Pirate one, we found ourselves behind the castle during the firework show and that was damn awesome.

[apocrypha]

I've just ordered takeaway curry from the awesome Indian restaurant up the road. And there's beer in the fridge. \o/

[Righ]

I could murder a curry.

[cmlancas]

Mmm. It's RB2 night tonight at my apartment.  I'm totally feeling it!   

[Yegolev]

More into thai curry myself.  YMMV.

[Lantyssa]

I love Thai curry that doesn't use coconut as it's main liquid ingredient.

[Strazos]

I love coconut.

[Viin]

I love coconut.

[apocrypha]

Thai curry rocks too but there isn't a take-away one anywhere that I know of. I had king prawn achar lastnight which was lovely, lots of coriander and kalonji, and also had a good dollop of my gf's chicken pasanda. Did fill the bedroom with toxic gas during the night though... 

[rattran]

I'm torn between takeaway Thai curry, and grilling some steaks today. It's up to 35F, so warm enough to fire up the charcoal. But Thai curry is so good.

[Signe]

I'm boring.  I always get a biryani.  Chicken, no less. 

[schild]

I'm boring.  I always get a biryani.  Chicken, no less. 

Biryani is delicious though. That said, I'm not sure where you'd get biryani and thai curry in the same place and I hazard to guess I'd not want to eat there.

[Signe]

I mean from a regular curry house.  We don't get Thai food often here, although we enjoy it.  When we do, I don't get curry. 

[schild]

I mean from a regular curry house.  We don't get Thai food often here, although we enjoy it.  When we do, I don't get curry. 

That doesn't answer my question, are you saying you get Biryani from a regular curry house? Because that's still pretty creepy.

I looked up a few menus and sure enough, some of them serve Biryani, how strange. Eh, either way, the only good biryani I've ever had came from an arab joint and by joint I mean hookah bar. But damn was it good.

[apocrypha]

Biryani is common in UK curry houses, but then most of them serve a weird bastardised version of Indian/Pakistani/made-up-British-stuff cuisine anyway, or so I've been told by Indian and Pakistani friends in the past.

For instance a couple of the most popular dishes here are tikka masala and rogan josh and I've been told that they're both invented names covering a variety of things that may or may not have ever existed before the growth in popularity of Eastern food in the UK in the 50's? 70's? Dunno.