Toadfish Monastery

Quote from: Bluenose on October 21, 2007, 02:14:01 AM
Public transport is often not an option, so what else are people going to do?  Fly?

Yup. In an ambulance for a nice price BTW, because they're not making gazillions in an overpriced and deficient healthcare system, administered by greedy morons. 

These are the times I miss Bogota. Back home certain market conditions* make doctors a bit more competent (and taking a cab is cheap and available almost everywhere). I generally don't trust doctors too much (my best friend's brother is a talented one and he actually claimed that doctors are just overpriced plumbers). Still I wonder how can it be worse quality wise. 

*There is a high demand for the university slots in medicine, forcing them to filter the very best students; the high investment timewise and a healthcare system that doesn't make them rich quick, results in a higher percentage of competent doctors, plus, the people that actually want to help are the ones willing to take all that trouble.

parking is an issue- esp here in USA- we all drive, everywhere and as a consequence we have no infrastructure for public transit-- very sad and it's hard to put in the infrastructure now after everything is all built up- I mean in big cities (new York, etc) they've 'always' had the subway- but it's been there and built upon as the cities grew- but not most places.
People where I live seem to think the bus is for the down and out and 'lesser man'- vs a cheap and easy way to get about- so we drive our Suburbans and Hummers 4 blocks to McDonalds. I'm a car person myself- can't remember ever walking just a single mile to the local grocery (now closed) to buy bread- I drove.

Universities and Hospitals- two of the worst parking situations anywhere. We have 12,000 students plus faculty and staff at UALR and we all want to park at the front door! Ugh- they are going to build us another parking deck though- soon - I hope! Then the crybabies whine because it costs a dollar to park a day (only a dollar in a deck and you can park all the time you need)!

Parking decks are essential- at hospitals and universities. Oh and sporting venues- recently the Dickie Stephens Ballpark was completed in North Little Rock and they made no parking- none- people invade the neighborhoods and park where ever, of course it does lead to a lucrative business to let people park on lawns for 10 to 15 a car on game nights- but it is horrible- it's right downtown and I'd rather take a beating than drive anywhere near it on game night--Alltell arena is like 1/2 mile down the road and same thing- no parking.
They have tried to run shuttle busses from outlying areas that have parking (the mall, the zoo and War Memorial stadium, etc) but people still won't ride them- even for a quarter- they have to park two feet from the front door.

I do park in the back of parking lots and walk- I don't do the shark circle for parking thing.

At my college, there's ~3,000 of us to ~700 parking spots. I have morning classes, so I usually can find a decent one, but others invade the the neighborhoods.

One comment about buses--'round here, that is the transportation of choice for the drunk and the homeless. So the bus smells rancid, and is slightly frightening. Not enough sober people ride them to offset that. (I know that the BART and the DC system all have the same issue, but far more sober/less scary people ride the systems to offset it).

As the late Israeli satirist Ephraim Kishon wrote decades ago, American cars are ever increasing in size and are now (i.e.about somewhere in the 60ies) wider than the roads. So the car does not park in the road but the other way around.
Another quote: It is said that every American has a car. That's of course rubbish. Every American has at least 2 cars.
A follow-up in the same chapter on the problem of findinga  parking lot near your destination: "Take the car, a little walk will do you good".

Quote from: Kanaloa the Squidly on September 17, 2007, 02:16:44 AM
RANT:
As a Starbucks cog, I get to take home coffee or tea every week. Which is nice. I am therefore, the provider of coffee for my family. I was told this morning, when I asked them what kind of decaf they wanted me to bring home, to bring home any kind of bold from a non-Muslim country.
They want coffee from a Christian country, preferably from a Catholic country.

What.
The.
F***.

I really wish I was kidding--this is ridiculous.

Quote from: Kanaloa the Squidly on October 18, 2007, 05:19:19 AM
Rant:
Apparently everyone has decided I need a boyfriend.
I don't.
And the next person to tell me that or hint at it or ask me if I'm seeing so-and-so or that I should see this particular guy is going to get kicked in the face.

Hold up... I thought of a solution to stop cold BOTH bits of annoyingness:

Get a Muslim boyfriend. 

_{And re: mis-labelled coffee... too bad that Kopi Luwak is so expensive. THAT would be fun to reveal once the bag is finished.} 

Quote from: Kanaloa the Squidly on October 21, 2007, 05:11:57 PM
At my college, there's ~3,000 of us to ~700 parking spots. I have morning classes, so I usually can find a decent one, but others invade the the neighborhoods.

At the last place I lived while I was in school, I lived in the middle of town where parking was scarce (overnight parking for my apartment was at the hardware store next door, but we had to clear out while the store was open) and parking at school wasn't exactly plentiful, but it was less scarce than downtown.  Getting any sort of daytime parking near where I lived was so expensive that I ended up having to get a university parking pass and drive to school every day to save money.   

Quote from: Kanaloa the Squidly on October 21, 2007, 05:11:57 PMOne comment about buses--'round here, that is the transportation of choice for the drunk and the homeless. So the bus smells rancid, and is slightly frightening. Not enough sober people ride them to offset that. (I know that the BART and the DC system all have the same issue, but far more sober/less scary people ride the systems to offset it).

One of these days, check out Kitchener, Ontario during Oktoberfest.  To discourage drunk driving, the buses run for free in the evenings (I believe one of the breweries picks up the tab)... and it's so much fun, even when you're sober.  The drunks are all friendly and happy; it's like the bus turns into a little Festhall on wheels.

Quote Lambi:
One of these days, check out Kitchener, Ontario during Oktoberfest.  To discourage drunk driving, the buses run for free in the evenings (I believe one of the breweries picks up the tab)... and it's so much fun, even when you're sober.  The drunks are all friendly and happy; it's like the bus turns into a little Festhall on wheels


that sounds like fun! Drunk people are usually very happy. Good way to keep people from driving as well.

Quote from: Agujjim on October 23, 2007, 10:09:55 PM
Get a Muslim boyfriend. 

I would be evicted from the family. Dis-owned, period.
BUT it would be funny as all get out, and don't think the thought hasn't crossed my mind once or twice.

That does sound like a blast, Lambi.

Rampant insomnia.

Beginning to believe one can die from insomnia.

Wondering about street drugs - I'd happily poison a few pigeons in the park to get my hands on anything which would help me pass out on demand. Considering writing novel about desperate insomniac taking megga-knock-out-drugs and developing a market for illegal liver transplants.... the story line gets a little complex... needs more work.

The body needs to sleep... I know, I slept about 48 h in two and a half months and triggered a complete breakdown...

The problem with not to legal drugs is the risk of OD. You need constant monitoring.

To be put under at a hospital for a day or two would be ideal!

That's your black market, anaesthetist stealing gas and equipment and having little sleep shops on the side...

My rant: too much to do, too little time, and not enough energy to even try make the most of the time I do have...

Quote from: Griffin NoName on November 11, 2007, 05:11:01 AM
Rampant insomnia.

Beginning to believe one can die from insomnia.

Wondering about street drugs - I'd happily poison a few pigeons in the park to get my hands on anything which would help me pass out on demand. Considering writing novel about desperate insomniac taking megga-knock-out-drugs and developing a market for illegal liver transplants.... the story line gets a little complex... needs more work.

Oh, I wish I could send you my last 24 hours...

I went to bed about 7 PM Saturday, asleep by 8. Woke twice to go to the loo and take meds (once with an apple to keep from getting sick to stomach, once with a Pop-Tart) and got up at 5 this afternoon. A few moments awake in which I read for a short time and dropped back off.

Excellent sleep, but I think I could use another 10-12 hours...

See, if I were psychic instead of psychotic, I could SEND you the sleep...

Pop tarts are delicious. Or the cinnamon brown sugar ones are.

I don't know if this would work for you, but there's a motion sickness medicine I know of (I used to get sick if I read while driving) and even the less drowsy formula knocked me out for hours. The regular stuff for an entire day. It's called drammine.
I'm sure, however, that you've tried every thing known to man or woman, so you've probably heard of it.

Quote from: Kanaloa the Squidly on November 12, 2007, 05:20:38 AM
I don't know if this would work for you, but there's a motion sickness medicine I know of (I used to get sick if I read while driving) and even the less drowsy formula knocked me out for hours. The regular stuff for an entire day. It's called drammine.
I'm sure, however, that you've tried every thing known to man or woman, so you've probably heard of it.

For Griffin, that'd probably be like offering Hunter S. Thompson a nice cup of green tea to get going in the morning.   

(but its component diphenhydramine AKA benadryl knocks the crap outta me on the rare times I need sleep assistance, and also comes in handy for beestings)


Perhaps you should consider.....  ah, never mind yet.   Do you still have that e-copy of Fight Club I sent you?  That's a good insomnia read about an insomniac.

I'm hoping filling out insurance claims will send me to sleep.

I do have sleeps of 36-48 hours as well as raging night-time insomnia.

I just wish the rest of the world would fit into my patterns. Maybe I am evolving into a  higher species?

Probably.  But just in case, no?
Good luck, Grif!