Something Random

[LunarMist]

As much as I dislike the stupid seating system at EWR, I'd rather go through from there than either NYC airport.
Of course I abhor ORD. I've been stuck overnight too many times.

 

[sedrosken]

Allegiant has regularly scheduled flights from Tampa, Clearwater and Orlando to South Bend International Airport, which is a hilarious name for an airport with three runways and nine gates. I'm perfectly happy going through O'Hare but taking off from SBN is a 15 minute walk to the train + a 75-minute ride that stops in the airport where I don't think I've ever seen with more than a couple hundred people at any one time, inclusive of staff. By the standards of air travel, it's like getting a massage when you're expecting a fist fight.

Oh, I'm not flying out from any of those places. I live right next to VPS, which is the Destin-Ft Walton airport and I believe is adjunct to Eglin AFB. I can fly out from there to anywhere I like as long as I don't mind a layover in ATL, even on Allegiant, and I've been there often enough now that I'm comfortable making connections. I'm also not flying to O'Hare if I can manage it at all -- mostly for the sanity of those responsible for retrieving me -- all my life if I've flown to Chicago I've gone to Midway.

 

[LunarMist]

But MDW doesn't go much of anywhere long distance does it? I always have to take ORD to AMS or NRT for example. Do you visit the Chicago area for work or personals?

 

[sedrosken]

Personal travel only. My mom's side of the family lives in that area.

 

[ddrueding]

Merc, the place in California you want to visit is San Luis Obispo. Liberal college town near the coast, close to wine country, far enough south for the warmer weather but far enough north to not be polluted by LA or the people from it. From there day trips to Morro Bay and Avila Beach are lovely. 3-5 mellow days in an actual Bed and Breakfast is about right.

 

[Mercutio]

Merc, the place in California you want to visit is San Luis Obispo.

I have a friend in LA who is an employed as a TV comedy writer and my roommate knows a bunch of people who work for the Upright Citizens Brigade. One of the specific appeals of LA would be a guided tour of the various comedy clubs. I also have some San Fernando area contacts who would model for me, if I felt like doing that. I'd also like to see the place where my folks lived when my father was first stationed in the Navy, out in Long Beach. I've seen hundreds of photos of it and of the area and I've always been curious about it.

My best friend had a GF who lived in San Francisco. Her ex's folks had a second home in Tahoe, and when they were a couple, my friend got a taste of the .01%-er life, including being able to private jet all over the west coast and dine at the French Laundry on a somewhat regular basis. My friend describes talks about the experience of getting a $500 meal from a three Michelin star restaurant as something I should definitely try at least once.

The PCH road tour sounds incredibly appealing, but only if I don't have to be the one doing the driving, too.

Yeah, it is. And frankly I think they should shut it down. However, they're not. Even though it's a second tier airport, it easily gets more air traffic than most first tier airports elsewhere, and should have a rail link. Even more so because of NYC's horrendous traffic congestion. The lack of a rail link just adds to that.

Chicago has been trying to get a third airport for my entire life, with the leading options either Peotone, an 75 minute drive south of downtown; or Gary. Gary actually makes good sense. There's a lot of space near the existing airport that would be dead cheap to turn in to flat pavement, tons of rail and it's reasonably close to every arterial interstate that runs through Chicago, but it would also require cooperation between state governments that are ideologically opposed on almost every possible level and also for basically-broke Illinois* to give up grants and a major revenue source to Indiana, a state that is permanently lubed up and ready to take it where ever any large business prefers to stick it. It's a logical and practical choice that's just never going to happen. Peotone is a useless distance from Chicago, only close to one of the arterial highways and lacks the rail infrastructure, but hey, it's in Illinois where land is still relatively cheap.

I suspect the difficulties of finding sites and the blood-frenzy of huge new construction projects and state and federal contracts means that it's always going to be easier to sink money into existing facilities than build anything new. You'd always hope the option to build something newer and vastly better would be on the table, but in my life, I'm pretty sure that Denver and Vegas are the only large airports that have been built and opened to entirely replace older facilities. It basically doesn't happen.

*Anyone who lives south of Interstate 80 in Illinois will say with a straight face that this is because degenerate overlord Chicago takes every dime produced by the good conservative folk outside of the city. The reality is that Illinois outside Chicago is 80% farm and has a population density similar to a Great Plains state. Illinois is basically the only place in the Midwest with functional social services for its citizens. It has borrowed and borrowed against the prosperity of the big city, which is the only reason Illinois is a remotely acceptable place to live.

 

[jtr1962]

I have any number of former high school classmates living in CA, mostly LA, SF, and SD. I haven't talked with any of them in decades, but I'm sure if I reached out at least a few might be receptive to me taking a trip to CA to see them, perhaps even offer a place to stay. Of course, I can't do any traveling until my mom goes. I'd kill two birds with one stone going to the west coast. One, I've always wanted to do one of Amtrak's cross country routes. And two, I'd see a part of the country I never saw before.

On Chicago's failure to get a third airport, you probably hit the nail on the head. We would rather sink money into existing projects than build new ones. There was a proposal for a LGA AirTrain, but it was so awful even rail advocates hated it. Basically, to get to Manhattan you would have to pay $8.75 for the AirTrain which ended in Willets Point, then get the #7 or LIRR into Manhattan. For those not familiar with NYC, the AirTrain would take you further from Manhattan. A more logical proposal was to just extend the Astoria line to LGA. The new stops would also serve intermediate points, plus the fare would only be the $2.75 subway fare. Thankfully, Hochul killed the "wrong way" AirTrain. Not sure what's going to happen next.

 

[Handruin]

jtr would you be able to get some hospice or in-home care for a short period of time to allow you to travel. Might be worth looking into to change things up a bit so you can get out of the house.

 

[Mercutio]

One, I've always wanted to do one of Amtrak's cross country routes. And two, I'd see a part of the country I never saw before.

The California Zephyr (Chicago - San Francisco) is apparently the absolute jewel of functional Amtrak runs, although I've been told that doing it without getting a sleeper berth is a bad call. When my friend lived in Reno, she'd take the Reno - Denver leg to meet up in a place much cheaper for me to fly and it wasn't even hard to convince her to it because the ride the whole way is just THAT pretty. It takes an entire day, but she also got some GORGEOUS landscape photos every time she went.

 

[jtr1962]

jtr would you be able to get some hospice or in-home care for a short period of time to allow you to travel. Might be worth looking into to change things up a bit so you can get out of the house.

Can't afford it. We're talking $500 a day at least for any kind of round-the-clock care. Add that to the cost of traveling, and being away for even a lousy week the cost would be north of $5K. Now's not the time to travel. As I already mentioned elsewhere, I'd probably also want a SO before doing any extensive travel, otherwise I just wouldn't enjoy it.

Another problem is I'm just burned out right now. I haven't had a day off in over 5 years. I'd need about 6 months without taking care of my mother to start to feel normal. Or put more succinctly, I just don't have the energy right now for traveling.

 

[LunarMist]

So you are 60-61 years old, retired, doing full time home care, and trying to find an SO? That has to be tough. Do you belong to any support groups or organizations to meet people?

 

[jtr1962]

So you are 60-61 years old, retired, doing full time home care, and trying to find an SO? That has to be tough. Do you belong to any support groups or organizations to meet people?

I'm not trying right now. There's no way I could make it work with my care taking duties. When would we ever go out? It has to wait until either my mother goes, or I hit a lottery and can pay someone else to take care of her.

As for meeting people, I'm in NYC. Once I start getting out after my mother goes, there's lots of ways to randomly bump into people I might like. Even riding the subways you see lots of people. If there's mutual attraction, you take it from there. Same thing if you meet elsewhere. I'm not big on groups or formal ways to meet people. And as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'll be looking for people in their 20s, not people my age. I don't want the baggage of prior marriages or kids. I don't want to be with people who look like grandparents, either. Put all that together, random meets out in the city are about the only thing that's going to work for me. Yes, it's a tall order, but I'm not settling for a person I wouldn't be happy with. I'd rather just be alone if that's the case.

On another note, I'm really keen on research into reversing aging. If it happens in my lifetime, then that's my ticket. I'll look like a teenager again, and so will everyone else, so age won't really factor into anything.

 

[LunarMist]

Future technologies may help increase lifespan, but won't much help people that are already seniors now.

 

[jtr1962]

Future technologies may help increase lifespan, but won't much help people that are already seniors now.

I highly doubt anything will come along to save my mother before she goes, but it would be nice if it happens. I'd love to have my mother back, both physically and mentally. As for me, if I take decent care of myself I could have 40+ years left just going by natural lifespan. Longevity runs on both sides. I had a great-great grandmother who almost hit 103. There's a great chance something comes along by then. Remember once we stop aging, it'll mean you'll probably be around when they can reverse it. Practically speaking for someone my age, this could mean I might have to endure a few decades as a 70 or 80 year old before I can go backwards but that's fine. I already decided once we have the tech I'll pick 14 or 15 as the age I want to be forever. I thought I peaked in terms of physical attractiveness around then. I tend to think most people do, except those who go through the teenage "awkward" phase. They might peak in their late teens, or early 20s.

 

[LunarMist]

Seriously, that sounds more like science fiction than anything practical.

 

[jtr1962]

Science fiction has become science fact in our lifetimes.

 

[LunarMist]

I've been in R&D for nearly 40 years in a variety of roles and worked on small projects up to billions. I've seen and done things that would probably boggle your mind. However, none were as wild and crazy as reversing the aging process.

 

[jtr1962]

I've been in R&D for nearly 40 years in a variety of roles and worked on small projects up to billions. I've seen and done things that would probably boggle your mind. However, none were as wild and crazy as reversing the aging process.

True but here's the kicker. AI is starting to come into its own now. We're not there, but even in its present state it's amazing. Think in a few years as quantum computing combines with AI. AI can try every permutation to solve a problem. We'll probably solve the fusion problem, cure cancer, stop and then reverse aging, invent warp drive, etc. We already know what causes aging, namely imperfect cell replication. If we stop that, we've at least stopped the aging process. Reversing it might take a bit longer, although your DNA in theory has a perfect blueprint of a young you. It just needs to be manifested.

There's also a societal incentive to do this. With our aging population, soon there won't be enough young people to take care of the old. So the choices are either to end the aging process with its associated problems, or start euthanizing old people for lack of caretakers (and making Soylent Green out of them afterwards). I'd much rather we go with the first plan. On top of that, lots of people, including myself, just haven't had great lives. We would like a do-over.

 

[sedrosken]

I think we all know the second option (euthanasia and Soylent-Green-ing) is far more likely. That's if we manage to not leave ourselves a complete smoking ruin before then.

 

[sedrosken]

We're switching RMM software at the company I work for -- thankfully, this comes with dropping a big site we had in our Datto implementation, so it's not nearly as much work as it looks like -- and it's entirely for cost reasons. Syncro seems to be more limited than Datto, but comes with a built-in PSA, so we can finally ditch AutoTask (which was so powerful it was cumbersome). The cuts are things we made limited use of in the first place, such as Linux/ESX host support. There are a few annoying little things here and there I'm ironing out but overall I quite like it. Tickets filed from the link in the system tray icon (replacing yet another thing, Invarosoft) are automatically tied to the workstation used to file them, etc so on and so forth.

You'd think for a move made purely to cut costs (and it does, quite significantly at that -- we'll be saving thousands per year, which to a small business is a huge deal) it'd end with a much worse solution, but Datto was getting to be so bad after the Kaseya buyout that I frankly like this solution better. Granted, these are still early times, yet -- I'm sure I'll find a way to utterly hate it sometime soon. We're still in the trial phase, I'm giving it a pilot run on our latest round of deployed machines after testing basic functionality in-house.

 

[ddrueding]

Easter in Copenhagen

 

[ddrueding]

I've tweaked my neck and am mostly stuck in bed, but that is the view from the bed, so not so bad.

 

[Mercutio]

My view of Lake Michigan would be really cool if some asshole didn't put another apartment building between me and the water.

 

[ddrueding]

The trick is to be in the tallest building in town.

 

[LunarMist]

No. That makes you more vulnerable.

 

[Mercutio]

The trick is to be in the tallest building in town.

They're letting you live in a building taller than the highest spire of the biggest church these days? That doesn't sound very European.

 

[LunarMist]

You do realize that they build new buildings in Europe, including some tall ones, and often don't tear down old churches?

 

[jtr1962]

"Tall" is all relative though. I'm in eastern Queens, which is sort of like the "suburbs" of NYC, but I'm within walking distance of buildings taller than anything in Dave's picture. In Manhattan at this point it takes a new building over 1000 feet to noticeably change the skyline.

 

[Mercutio]

You do realize that they build new buildings in Europe, including some tall ones, and often don't tear down old churches?

It's a longstanding tradition and sometimes a matter of law in many European cities that the tallest building is the city's cathedral. This is something of a joke, but also still very true in most places that aren't big enough to have skyscrapers.

 

[ddrueding]

The funny part is that Denmark is so flat, this building built at sea level is taller than the tallest natural point in the country.

 

[LunarMist]

Is it like the Netherlander that will submerge if ocean levels rise?

 

[Mercutio]

I had a home invader today.

I unlock the door to my apartment if my roommate borrows my car, since my housekey is on the same keyring as my car key. She had a job interview this morning, so she's off doing that, and I was sitting at the desk in my bedroom, working. My downstairs neighbor's two year old walked right in, holding my tabby cat. The cat seemed perfectly fine with this turn of events because he is a whore, but it scared the living shit out of me for a second.

The neighbors in question are from Senegal, which is really how I know who she belongs to. She was speaking the French of a two year old and I'm pretty sure she was trying to tell me about the kitty and then something about bonbon. I have a bunch of candy, snacks and water flavor packets taped to my door for the poor delivery guys who bother to climb up three flights of stairs with my stuff. So this little girl got out of her place, wandered up to mine and just happened to find my door covered with candy and unlocked. We're a half step from Hansel and Gretel.

I don't know my neighbors very well and I did NOT want to be seen as the weirdo white guy (I'm a distinct minority in my neighborhood and especially my building) who lured some kid into his place, so I gave her a packet of M&Ms and sort of guided her most of the way back to the unit she actually lives in. I have no idea what I'll say to her dad. He's the only one who speaks English. I do at least leave a camera pointed at my door, in case there's a question of how she got in.

 

[LunarMist]

Really I could not imagine leaving the door unlocked in a shared entrance building.
What if you are on the john and the enemies come in?

 

[Mercutio]

The outer door on my building locks with a key code and there's one for the parking lot as well. The closest thing I have to an enemy in the building is the judgmental Dominican lady who keeps calling my roommate a hoe for daring to show off her tattoos.

 

[Mercutio]

Newegg has a Taco Bell section.

 

[LunarMist]

Just why?

 

[Mercutio]

Sometimes you need a crappy Gigabyte Power supply and also 24 cans of refried beans I guess.

 

[LunarMist]

That reminds me of this.

 

[Newtun]

Newegg has a Taco Bell section.

Just why?

Because it's Something Random.

 

[LunarMist]

Sure, but I meant why is the Newegg selling that stuff? Newegg used to be very good many years ago before they started the 3rd party market stuff.