The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[donaldtoo]

Loosing my faith in humanity reading these discipline reports. I wonder if they'd throw stones at me if I said 1/2 of these are not worthy of a suspension, hard pressed to believe even a detention. Sometimes kids need to just work it out for themselves.

Time to read on......

Advil please.

This reminds me of a story I think I've shared before.
There were two guys in my PE class my sophomore year of HS that hated each other vehemently. They were always at each others throats and disrupting activities. Finally, the teacher, who was also a football coach, had had enough when they started up again as we were all dressing out one day. Once he got things under control, he went and grabbed two pairs of boxing gloves from the equipment cage. He was pi$$ed. He told the whole class to follow him. We did. He marched us all out wayyy to the back of school property behind the baseball field, gave each one of 'em a pair of boxing gloves, and told 'em if they didn't go at it and settle this right now he was gonna' kick both their a$$es. NO JOKE.
They saw how pi$$ed he was. They went at it. They were pretty evenly matched and he knew it. He let them kick the carp outta' each other until he felt they had had enough. They were bleeding and pretty wiped out.
The rub is, these two guys finally got it outta' their systems and then actually became good friends.
None of us ever said a word about it outside of class, and the gloves never again (that semester anyway) had to be brought out for that purpose.
Can ya' just imagine if a teacher/coach pulled somethin' like that these days...

 

[Gabe1]

Figured out how to drop that 8 am Finance course that I really did not want to take and take something else on a different day that is not an 8 am. So now I start at 9:20 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I did this because I'm taking Spanish Tuesdays and Thursdays at another local college, so I'm between 3 campuses those days (both campuses at my school plus the other college), so that's a lot of commuting, and it would have meant starting at 8 am and finishing at 4:45. I'm in college; I don't need to do that in my life yet. So instead, I will be starting at 9:20 am and finishing at 4:45 pm.

Woot! Happy for you. Your classes are still close enough to real world day. I hope for good weather for you this winter with all that commuting.

 

[Gabe1]

Spoiler

A week and a half for me

Well post a couple good photos for me while you are down there for me so I can live vicariously through you.

 

[Gabe1]

No biggie.
He's the starting center for the Cardinals.
Was that who you were thinkin' of...?

Ha! Would you believe I don't know who that is? Likely if his given name was posted or nick name I wouldn't know that either. Names rarely stick at best I tend to recognize the name but don't know what team it belongs to or never heard of them. Till a few weeks ago I could tell you who the 2nd and 3rd string quarterbacks are of our team and still can't pull it from memory but I'd likely recognize it now. Now the ones that get into big trouble, step on someones knee, knock a woman around because of over the top media being non stop those stick. Always been bad with names of people I don't know.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Woot! Happy for you. Your classes are still close enough to real world day. I hope for good weather for you this winter with all that commuting.

Yup, me too. Or, if it has to get icy, it can get icy so that campus doesn't open until 11 am, that way I only have to go to two campuses.

Even more commuting, since I'm taking ice skating on Mondays and Wednesdays, I have to commute over to the rink and back to school. But that's only for 8 weeks. I'm already used to driving; it's a 35 minute commute from the main campus home. At least the building where I'm taking my Spanish course is close to the parking garage so I don't have to hike across that campus (and I applied and toured there; it's a hike normally), though I'm used to being about 30 feet from the building.

That little nagging voice in my head just kept saying, "Do not take finance at 8 in the morning...do not take finance at 8 in the morning..." And not just because I want more sleep. How well am I actually going to do at a finance course at 8 am? I'll take it another semester

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Well post a couple good photos for me while you are down there for me so I can live vicariously through you.

I will. I'll make sure to get a few with people in shorts in them too...

I'm just teasin'. Maybe...

 

[Wrangler-Rick]

Yup, me too. Or, if it has to get icy, it can get icy so that campus doesn't open until 11 am, that way I only have to go to two campuses.

Even more commuting, since I'm taking ice skating on Mondays and Wednesdays, I have to commute over to the rink and back to school. But that's only for 8 weeks. I'm already used to driving; it's a 35 minute commute from the main campus home. At least the building where I'm taking my Spanish course is close to the parking garage so I don't have to hike across that campus (and I applied and toured there; it's a hike normally), though I'm used to being about 30 feet from the building.

That little nagging voice in my head just kept saying, "Do not take finance at 8 in the morning...do not take finance at 8 in the morning..." And not just because I want more sleep. How well am I actually going to do at a finance course at 8 am? I'll take it another semester

So what else do those voices say to you?

 

[StarWarsGirl]

So what else do those voices say to you?

That I should probably work out more, watch less Star Trek, use the internet for something other than looking at pictures of cats...sometimes I listen, other times I ignore.

 

[Gabe1]

View attachment 78679

Something about sunrises and sunsets, always changing colors. Pretty picture.

 

[JenniferS]

That's actually unusual for it to take that long. The few times when it's taken over an hour, we've complained. Usually it takes no more than 20 minutes.

We usually don't leave Disney property. We bring cereal for the room and then buy anything else at the gift shop (milk, etc.) When we did the visit to UCF when I applied there, we rented a car from the place over at the Dolphin just for the time that we needed it.

I think your family and mine also have different styles of doing Disney dining. See, you seem to do dining and then head straight back. We plan our dining based on whatever park we're in. So if we do Boma, we do it on a day when we've been at AK, so we go from AK to Boma, and then we plan it so that we're going to MK or Epcot afterward. Or last year when I stayed at Pop, we spent the day at DHS, walked (well, more like ran; we were running late) to BC for Cape May, and then went to Epcot for EMH. Or if we plan on eating at one of the MK resorts, we plan that our day is at MK, take a break for dinner at one of the resorts, and head back. Or if we eat at Kona for breakfast, we take the bus to MK, take the monorail to Kona, and then take the monorail back to MK and spend the day there. Just different styles.

For us, it's just not worth it. The few times when we've driven down, we've found ourselves using Disney transportation anyway or walking. I can see how it might be worth it, but for us, that's $200 we could be putting towards something else.

We go in November. Parks close early. We eat late.
$200 represents <5% of our vacation cost. Certainly not "peanuts", but not that much in the grand scheme of things.

As for complaining; that's not my style.
Complain because I just missed the bus? That's on me.
Complain because the bus got filled with the two ECV's and family, and we had to wait for another? That's the way it goes sometime. I have two legs. Should have used them, and my brain, and walked over to my rental car, rather than wait.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Hot!

Spoiler

Multiply by 1.8 and add 32.

It has hit 106 F. here in NC a couple of times since I moved here in 2011. It can get pretty steamy in the summer. Still better then cold and snow, in fact, there is absolutely no comparison.

 

[Cesar R M]

Thanks to lower crude prices, the CAD is also in a free-fall, as compared to the USD.

Remember how I said our Florida condo purchase depended on the CAD holding around the 90 cent mark?
Yeah, well now it's at 84 cents.

Good for our exporters and manufacturing sector. Not so good for @JenniferS.

I actually used that price difference to purchase the camera I wanted, on a canadian vendor.
very cheap cameras if you compared USD vs CAD.

 

[Cesar R M]

View attachment 78669
(Yes, I know I posted this last January too.)

"at least we dont have snow, right dad!?"

(shortly after Hurricane Kenna made landfall)

 

[Cesar R M]

For us, in WDW, not worth it. Since we stay at BLT or in the Epcot resort area, we end up walking or taking the monorail a lot. MK, IMO, is pain in the butt to drive to. We've used the car, when we've had it, to go to the waterparks, AK, and DTD. Since we spend a minimal amount of time at those three places, not worth it. We'll go for days without using the buses quite honestly.

Even when I went and stayed at Pop, I didn't feel like the buses were an inconvenience. Most of the time, we would walk up and the bus would be waiting for us, or we would only have to wait a few minutes. And then get dropped off close to the entrance. It worked for me.

Other places, yes, we rent a car. For Hawaii, my #1 tip is to rent a car. For WDW though, not worth it, at least for us.

I actually think that the worst Bus Service, was from the "Pixie" hotels. aka french quarter and riverside.
Despite being in the low season.. the buses were always very few and mostly full.

at least that is my experience and what I've read here.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

We go in November. Parks close early. We eat late.
$200 represents <5% of our vacation cost. Certainly not "peanuts", but not that much in the grand scheme of things.

As for complaining; that's not my style.
Complain because I just missed the bus? That's on me.
Complain because the bus got filled with the two ECV's and family, and we had to wait for another? That's the way it goes sometime. I have two legs. Should have used them, and my brain, and walked over to my rental car, rather than wait.

We go in January when the parks do the same thing and still go to the parks in the evening. We are night owls; we are out as late as possible. We also don't do a ton of resort dining other than breakfast. Most evenings, we are in Epcot, and that always closes at 9.

As for the complaining, if you don't get in line and buses just keep filling up, that's one thing. But if a bus just plain doesn't come for an hour, we say something. It's rare, but it has happened. The wait should be approx. 20 minutes, more than 40 is ridiculous. All of the resorts could take a lesson from Pop. Their bus service was excellent. We definitely did not need a rental car (not that either of us was old enough to rent one). Usually we found the buses out there waiting for us, and we requested a room near transportation, so the walk was quick. It was always quick.

I can see the benefits, but we find WDW transportation (and walking) just as easy, if not easier for us. And one of the reasons why our home resorts are Epcot and MK area resorts are so we can walk or use the monorail, so it sometimes is days in between bus trips for us. Like I said, it would be convenient, but not worth $200+.

 

[Cesar R M]

I like when you go on vacation. I loved your cruise trip report. Looking forward to your next trip report, too.

in my defence.. people asked me to post my report

I convinced Hubby to try the bus on an MK day this past trip.
It took over an hour to get there.
Experiment - epic fail.

We also like having a car to go to Publix and Walgreen's. Sometimes we go to the beach for a day. Often we hit the Florida Mall. We also like to drive all the way around the MK, and look at "Disney guts".

Also, for resort dining, it's lovely to hop in your car and arrive at Cape May Cafe, Yachtsman, Kona, Boma, The Wave, etc., all in 10-15 minutes. And then, after over-stuffing ourselves, we can be back in the room in 10-15 minutes.

To each their own. For us $200 for a 10/11 rental is worth every penny. YMMV.

the walk is also beneficial if you eat a lot

 

[Cesar R M]

There have been drivers who should be comedians. There was one bus driver last trip who was doing impressions the entire way through. She did Mickey, Donald, Roz, Stitch...it was hysterical.

please tell me you filmed her! I would have loved to see!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I actually think that the worst Bus Service, was from the "Pixie" hotels. aka french quarter and riverside.
Despite being in the low season.. the buses were always very few and mostly full.

at least that is my experience and what I've read here.

I haven't stayed there in so long that I couldn't tell you.

The worst bus service in recent memory has been AKL.

 

[Cesar R M]

Yea, that pretty much sums it up. The more things change the more they stay the same. And I will repeat we do not get out of this alive. Enjoy it as much as you can without hurting others and like the song from the 80's said... Don't worry... be happy!

The timing on this discussion has happened at a time when my youngest daughter... almost 39 years old is starting to experience the fact that some of her friends and acquaintances that are fairly close to her age just recently died. Actually just one with Colon Cancer died this weekend. She didn't even know he was sick. And another person that she works with, slightly older, mid 50's was just diagnosed with cancer. It is all starting to set in for her. Both of those people were very health conscience and yet they are victims of life. The hardest part for her is now she is confused about what she should do. If you practice what is allegedly good health habits and die young anyway, what is the purpose. I can't honestly answer that question for her. She, like everyone else just has to make whatever decision that feels best for her. To quote yet another song, this one by Doris Day... Que Sera Sera Whatever will be, will be... That is what I believe. I don't feel that I really have much control over my ultimate destiny. I believe in living (in moderation) and just plugging along until whatever will be... happens.

I agree.. The bad thing can happen anywhere to anyone.
The good thing.. most things now have a cure or are treatable when spotted early.
Cancer for example.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

please tell me you filmed her! I would have loved to see!

I wish I had thought about it. I was too busy laughing and being impressed. If I ever encounter her again, I will pull out my iPod to film it