golddog goes for a ride

It's a sausage and a round of cheese with a wedge cut out of it, as CC said, you savages.

Do you even Wisconsin?

Have you ever been to New Zealand?

I try not to. Certainly not from October-April.

I have, but only to Auckland. That's another thing on the potential list. My friends from the sailing days have spent the last three (?) years camping about Oz in their custom truck, and sometimes taking house/pet sitting gigs in cities. So maybe some time in NZ on my own, then pop over the Tasman Sea to connect with them again.

While I stayed in hotels more than I wanted to (mostly due to my own laziness in finding campsites), I got quite lucky in having good hotelmates.

Only the last night in Wisconsin (near the sausage and cheese guy) was there a TV that was audible outside another room. Could hear it in the hall, but the wall between us must've been better insulated. Could barely hear it in my room, and they turned it off about when I went to bed anyway.

When staying in a hotel, be aware of those around. Some obvious tips:

Don't let the door slam. Yes, they're auto-closing doors, but catch it before it makes a bunch of noise.

Your TV/radio/conversation doesn't need to be that loud. If it can be heard outside your room, you're probably bothering somebody else.

Don't stand out in the hallway and have a conversation. Go in a room and close the door. Nobody else cares.

If you're an early riser (or late to bed), be especially aware of noise you're making.

As I said, I ran good. I think a lot of it was the places I stayed seemed to be populated by construction/road/railroad crews, Those folks are just exhausted at the end of a long day. Sometimes, I'd see them out in the parking lot having a beer, but mostly they got to bed early, cuz they're up with the sun.

Uncle Mike, who you've met, went to Ecuador a few years ago and loved it, was seriously considering moving there. Of course he was in the boonies chasing birds and wildlife to photograph and not anywhere near any cities, so there's that.

Caesars quit the Wyndham match this year, at least to Diamond. Maybe they'll still bump you to platinum, but I don't think that does anything for you.

went to ecuador every summer growing up as my parents brought groups of high school kids there each year on a language program

we always flew in and out of guayaquil and took the bus up to cuenca

he didn't want us hanging out there unattended unlike the andean region where all the kids would go party each night drunkenly stumble home super safe and sound

however, i don't think it'd be too dangerous for you just to pass through like we did unless it dramatically changed since then

and fwiw whenever i read those embassy alerts for areas i was actively in i'd always get a kick over how overly cautious and conservative they were - which is the nature of us gov abroad - that nobody can ever come into harms way ever

ie my sister who works for us gov in africa has 2 full time security guards watching her house 24/7 and 2 personal drivers who drive her around in an armored car - she is anonymous, unimportant, not even in the top 10 most important americans in the government there

nor has there ever been a recorded attack ever in this country

yet we're still going to spend a small fortune on an army of private security because it's in the budget and they are paranoid of worst case scenarios

Yeah, I'll have to get into more detail and see if tours are just fly in/fly out, or spend some time in Guayaquil. Maybe they've pivoted to going from Quito, haven't checked for a while.

Washed and vacuumed the Subie, so that puts an official wrap on this trip, I guess. Back into my usual Tuesday routine.

Just found this thread randomly when looking into a mod issue a couple of days ago. GG productivity. Sorry work, but had to read every post, look at every picture. Not sure how I'd never come across it before.

That grandstand thing is an abandoned greyhound track, BTW. There were a bunch like that built in the 60s and 70s, almost all now abandoned. Pretty sure that's the one near Byers, yes?

Welcome to the thread, Garick!

Yes, that one is the one near Byers/Deer Trail, out in BFE eastern plains.

I knew they had greyhound racing around Denver at one time, no idea it was out in the boonies too.

words of wisdom that also apply to office life

Had to get a new battery for the Subie. I wonder if that might explain some of the weirdness I'd experienced with the indicators/radio during the last trip. Maybe the system was having trouble getting power, and turned off or didn't initialize non-critical systems until it had a good draw.

Four years and two months out of the original. Seems as if I've gotten more on other vehicles, but young man at O'Reilly said that's about their life.

Not only is four years and two months pretty good imo, but if it was indeed glitching on your trip it could have left you in more than a few desolate spots. I would consider that a job well done.

Yeah, the first weirdness I was a ways out of a small town in N Saskatchewan. It was big enough to have a dealership, but Ford (so not tiny). Far enough out where it would've been a real hassle to get back.

The guys both said it wasn't taking a charge very well. I wonder why that can't be monitored and give me a warning.

The battery was quite a bit more than I expected, near $300. Not sure if Subies specifically, or modern cars in general (with all the new systems), require upgraded batteries. Seems like last time I got one for the truck, it was ~$100.

increased interest in battery making material these days

Ah, sure, that makes sense.

Trying to come up with the next adventure(s). Haven't thought of anything particularly interesting yet, nor made concrete plans.

Might want to go somewhere warm around the holidays (since they aren't meaningful) to me. Keys? AZ/CA desert? Elsewhere? Probably domestic or close, due to the $ I'm spending on the house this year . Money is not a deal-killer if I see something interesting though.

Kinda thinking about Scandinavia next summer. Maybe over the winter talk to my travel agent about logistics. Thinking something like, rent a car and drive up the Norwegian coast, then back down through Sweden. It's my ancestry (though I have zero idea about where my father's people came from other than "Sweden and Norway").

A couple in my bar poker league has a son in Norway. Have had some nice discussions with them about travel over there.

Any ideas from the field, or advice?

I've always wanted to see the Keys, but wanted to see the Keys of the 1940s. Seeing them now wouldn't mean as much to me -- although it would be nice to see them before they're gone under the waves.

I love the desert but acknowledge that it's an acquired taste.

Some of the Keys is still old style. Last time down there, I stayed at the Siesta Motel in Marathon, which is a small (7 rooms, I think) roadside motel in Marathon.

The Keys are nice. Key West is a lot to take. It's a good day trip, or maybe a night or two, but I prefer Marathon. Kinda more middle class, All of the Keys are spendy.

If you're ever down there, Mack, Key Largo has the Caribbean Club (where the Bogart/Robinson movie Key Largo was filmed), and the African Queen (supposedly the original) is just down the road and across.

The former isn't much--just a dive bar with memorabilia from the filming. The Queen was out when I went by, but supposedly available for cruises. A couple things that might interest you, anyway.

I'm not very good with the phone camera, so apologies for the pics. This guy was in town last night. I guess he had some success a long time ago.

Here's the view from my seat. A bit of a steep angle. Also got some echoes from the home-plate area in my right ear, so a little distracting.

During the tempo changes in Live and Let Die, and again at the end of the show, they set off fireworks in the centerfield bleachers (behind the stage).

Overall, a pretty good show. He told a few interesting stories between songs. Played a lot of Beatles and Wings things (but not The Long and Winding Road, my favorite), plus some newer things.

Mostly played the songs right out of the box, but a few they did some jams or mixed it up a little, too. I don't remember the song, but toward the end, they played the first little bit of Purple Haze. McCartney told the story of the first time he'd seen The Experience.

They were in a little club in Liverpool (I think?) late. He heard the click and hum of the old-style amp and guitar being plugged in from this little stage in the corner. Then, their minds were blown by what they saw and heard.

He said nobody was in the place that night, but a couple nights later, word got out, and it was packed.

There was also an Avs game, so downtown was pretty packed. Illegal Pete's (local burrito chain) had probably 50 people in line when I stuck my head in. I thought I remembered an Anthony's (local pizza/pasta) being on 16th street, but didn't see it. So defaulted to Chipotle. Kinda disappointed there, would've preferred one of the others. Hardly the end of the world, the burrito was fine.

I don't get downtown much, so saw lots of new stuff. Of course, walking up to Coors Field after, saw a place called "Slice Works" I could've tried for something different. Ah well.

Not travel, just some life stuff. Though I am thinking about maybe taking a winter trip. Problem is, I've been everywhere I want to go. Not a "let's go to the resort in Cancun/Cabo/Caribbean" type.

So, no focus yet. Maybe SW or SE to catch some warmth. But, it's been really nice here all fall, so maybe I won't need to get away.

In addition to the HVAC system, new glasses and an unexpected new laptop. Not huge expenses, but another reason to stay domestic. OTOH, that money's not going to spend itself. Just don't have any ideas.

On the laptop issue, pretty frustrated. About a month ago, MSFT sent an update which caused the keyboard to quit working. Ordered a new one from dell. Before it arrived, they sent a new update, and keyboard worked again. Thus, canceled that order.

For a little while. Last week, same ****. Update today, things back to normal. I had ordered another, it's due tomorrow. (Not sure why UPS takes 3 days to get a package from Riverside, CA to suburban Denver). As Red pointed out in another thread, probably time to update to Windows 11 anyway, so I'll start setting it up at some point.

I think I've got most files out in the cloud where I can (relatively) easily migrate to the new machine. Hate doing administrative tasks, so it might take several sessions.

On the washer problem, I noticed that it sounded like there was water sloshing around in one area of the tub during the spin, and that was throwing it out of balance. Of course, it's going too fast for me to locate it precisely.

Yesterday, after the third or fourth attempt at spinning, I said, "**** it" and started taking the pretty damp clothes out and throwing them in the dryer. At some point, I noticed that the bath towel was quite wet and heavy. Somehow put that together with the unbalancing. So, put the other stuff back in, and it spun out ok.

So, that combined with Tom's suggestion to put stuff around the edges might work better. I think next time I'll try to put the towel in the washer last, so it can lay across everything and hopefully be more likely to spin balanced. Probably won't make a difference, as it will move around during the wash cycle, but maybe I can locate it more easily and readjust.

Anyway, for somebody who doesn't hardly do anything, a fair amount of frustrating stuff lately. But, it will be ok and I'll get through.

Did this yesterday:

Kind of a frustrating start. Didn't have a barcode on the ticketmaster app's e-ticket when I got up. Got hold of their customer service, who asked if I would uninstall and reinstall the app. I countered with, "how about Ticketmaster quits sucking instead?"

He told me where to go at the stadium to get a printed barcode if it didn't show up. Went for my Sunday morning walk; upon return, had a barcode, so yay!

Went down to the bus stop, intending to catch the 12;06 downtown (got there ~11:50). Noticed the display showed the next FF bus at 12:37. I guess 10:26 just didn't happen.

Two things that frustrate me about RTD is the LCD board 1) doesn't give info when a bus isn't coming and 2) doesn't adapt the arrival times to reality--it just mimics the printed schedules.

When 12:37 showed up, the sign said "pick up only." Had never seen that. A few people got off, and the driver told us he could only take fares to replace those people. Since I was there first, no worries for me, but others had to wait. It was SRO, but the trip is < 10 miles I think.

Kinda pokey, of course; once we got close to downtown, I25 was very slow. There's one stop near Coors Field before the main station. All of us in the aisle needed to get off so the people in back could depart. At that point, I figured the unloading and reloading would be slow, and it was super nice, so I just walked downtown.

Hit Illegal Pete's for a nice lunch burrito. They use shredded chicken instead of the chunks like others. But, more importantly, they take a second and mix up the contents before wrapping the burrito. So, you get a nice mix of ingredients with each bite.

Walked over to the stadium. Got in without too much trouble. As seen, my seats were near the top. When I was getting close to the bottom of the escalator, a group at the bottom stopped and started looking around.

No, dumb shits. Either get on or get out of the way. JFC.

Had a good crowd near my seat, mix of Packers and Broncos fans, with one exception. One young guy in the row behind me was obnoxiously loud an drunk. Just wasted in the first quarter. Fortunately, he disappeared at halftime. Not sure if he was told to leave, or the people with him dragged him out.

Texted a friend of mine up north to let him know I was at the game. Told him I didn't understand how GB was favored, as Love makes dumb plays when under pressure, and the Broncos are really good at bringing the heat.

To be fair, Love didn't make any truly dumb plays (well, maybe one). But, I stand by my analysis that he's not a SB QB. Threw behind wide-open receivers on a few occasions, so the receiver had to adjust his steps and turned what should have been a huge gain into only a decent one.

Still, the Broncos just outplayed Green Bay in all phases. It was a nice day. Living out here for so long, Denver is my adopted team, so I can't be too disappointed with the outcome, either.

Wandered back to the downtown station, bus was loading. SRO on the way back. Got to talking to a nice young man who is a finance major at CU.

Back to suburbia, dropped the truck over at the shop and walked home. Google fit said I put on 8.71 miles yesterday--a lot, even for someone who walks as much as me.

Overall, a good day though.

How many times did you say IN COM PLETE?

I think you met my cousin who used to be a Broncos cheerleader. Her neice, my cousin, is now a dancer for the Nuggets, so I'm hoping to get up there for a Nuggets game this year. Last year she cheered for the pro Lacrosse team, but I never made it up for a game. Who's your NBA team?

Me? Zero. Nix had a great game. That and the crowd yelling along "First down!" when the Broncos made one seemed to be traditions.

The F16 (?) flyover actually made the infrastructure tremble.

During one of the timeouts, they had a player profile of Alex Singleton. His "hidden secret" (or some such) was, "playing without an ACL."

Start of the 4th quarter, they set off fireworks from the roof, and had the mascot on top of the big scoreboard waving a flag. That was kinda cool.

Then, at the two-minute warning, the crowd sings along to a John Denver tune.

Nope, not that one.

Besides the one obnoxious drunk, it was a good crowd. Lotsa fun, handed out some high-fives after a Broncos score. 75,555 attendance. I hope to deal that board tonight.

I did meet your cousin at Uncle Mike's. Don't really follow the NBA, but I guess the Nuggets are my team. Very pleased with their recent success, though OKC is crushing right now I guess.

More into hockey (let's go, Avalanche!) but even that is not really fandom.

If you come on up, I've got a small guest room if you like. It ain't much (really a kids room), but has a queen bed and small bath.

People on escalators fascinate me. Two feet before boarding, stop, and wonder if it's the right one. Once aboard, stick nose in cell phone for candy crush.

But my favorite is when exiting, come to a complete stop, even before you clear the rails, and start rummaging through your bag to see if you forgot something. What are the people behind you going to do? I just put my hand on their shoulder blade so they can decide for themselves which way they'll be shoved.

Yep, I have no problem letting them know they are the problem. Sunday, it was, "Less talk, more walk."

In Mack's second scenario, I'll generally push through them and tell them they're in the way.