trinacriabob

Just move back to the 77077 and hang out with (Ruth) Westheimer.

OK, so I go to one of the chain bookstores and am sitting in the cafe peacefully looking at travel books. This NERD, mid 40s or more, who has "the day planner" sits next to me and starts chatting me up. The approach is all too familiar. I cut him off coolly. Soon enough, this kid sits down with him (obviously pre-arranged) and starts doing the usual pitch, including the tag line "the only way to make money is to trade time for..." or something like that. (I have been approached at least 25 times at B&N, Borders, Starbucks or the gym with a multi-level come on and have heard this over the last 10 years or so). I got up to throw away my cup and told him off loud enough for everyone to hear "I don't appreciate being chatted up with the ulterior motive of multi-level marketing. You are a loser and people at these places don't want to be approached for your kind of crap. They are here to check out the books or have a drink. This is THEIR time." He dismissed it. I then went to the manager. The manager went over to him, and I followed, and asked him if he was soliticing. He denied it and I went for his throat again, loud enough for everyone to hear. If he started it on me, despite my cutting it off, and then proceeds to explain multi-level to the guy he's sitting with, the intent was to solicit. I told him "You need to take it elsewhere" loud enough for everyone to hear. I was fuming. He got up and left the store. A couple of people around me nodded. Sidebar: I have had awesome conversations about travel, cars, jobs and the economy with perfect strangers at such places and am open to that....in those cases, there was no ulterior motive, just a sincere interest in having a conversation about a common interest. What have you done with such "pimple on the ass of the earth" garbage when approached?

No, babe, preoccupied more about where to move to, actually...

Indianapolis

I used to live right at I-285 and Ashford Dunwoody Road. LOVED that area. Next comment: Yes, and it has gotten worse...not being laid out in a grid doesn't help Next comment: Oh, yes, it can't function

Like they say, "there's a lot of truth in jest"

Will have to learn archery and keep the bow and arrow nearby....

I just don't see a "Brenda" making it onto the bench of the Supreme Court, if you catch my drift....it's just got a different feel to it than "Sandra" or "Ruth."

By groupthink, I meant "no pressure to conform." I spent the first 24 years of my life in LA (intersection of I-10 and I-405, so the thick of it) and people are very self-styled...it's a real mosaic and nobody I knew "tightly" fit into any particular group. Yes, there are groups, such as surfers, the South Orange County crowd, the WeHo crowd, the wannabee waiters and waitresses in waiting, the kids of entertainers, all of which are identifiable, but there is no pressure to conform to anything unless you want to be accepted by these smaller sub-niches. The majority of people are self-styled. When I was in Atlanta in the 90s, there were very wordly companies such as Coca-Cola and others where the people are too multifaceted to support a stereotype, but there are also some smaller entities and regional entities (I worked at BellSouth ) where the typical up and coming exec went to a good Southern school, was in a fraternity, is white and reasonably handsome, is married to Sorority Suzie, has a subtle "refined" Southern accent as opposed to a heavy one, dresses a certain way, rabidly follows his college football team and plays golf. It would be described as a "good 'ole boy." My best friend in ATL from work was a Florida grad but raised in central FL and born in Philly, so...a Yankee...and fit no stereotypes. The good ole boy type appears to still be much in evidence whereas you don't see many people like that in LA, SD or the Bay Area (you see the PNW version of that in Seattle and Portland). In general, I can't stand "checklist packaged people" and they don't like me, so I take note of it.

iron

She is an average looking 40ish brunette, from a quick pic I saw where she was crouched down and hiding...probably posted by CD/BP(now Chris Doane).I've stated how much I couldn't stand the name Brenda. Every single Brenda I've ever known could keep company with Tonya Harding and I've seen some cocktail waitress/waitresses in Nevada casinos/coffeshops elsewhere named Brenda whose gravelly voices are pretty

...and (my response to thread): die

Yeah, right, like that's the REAL reason you go to Lancaster PA. Didn't you say you like "menage a trois" in your profile?Botched names The name Oregon is constantly botched as "oreh-gone" when it's pronounce "oreh-gun" as dsuupr pointed out -- Washington states has some weird ones: Poulsbo - across the sound from Seattle - thought it was "pools-bow", it's "Pauls-bow" Steilacoom - near Tacoma - thought it was "styl-a-coom", it's "still-a-cum" (no dirty thoughts) The humdinger: Puyallup - near Tacoma - thought it was "Pooy-a-loop", it's "Pew-al-lip" Still, my biggest pet peeve isn't these but rather how so many Americans say "acrost" when it's "across" --- there is no 'effin "T" at the end of that word.

Congrats to you, S.H. It's a good thing to get onto standard employment. I know some people who bounced around some archi firms in Cali, ultimately to take a job at "the state" for many of the same reasons.I'm ramping up for a job search since I'm returning to my first occupation...and relocating to boot. I'm not looking forward to it, since I again have to ask firms for a job. It'll work out since I have passed the licensing tests already. I'm being cautious, having been involved in "bad fits" before. A "good fit" makes work MUCH easier. Did you just pull an application and apply? How did you land on this? Let us know.

First comment: The Pac-10 stuff is nothing, actually, as people don't do the flags and only have school bumper stickers/license plate frames. In OR and WA, you will see the UofO/OSU and UofW/WSU cross-state rivalry thing played up, but not like in the South.The reason I find it bothersome is because, in the past when I lived there, some Southerners (some who didn't even go to those schools, let alone ANY school) will start talking to you passionately about Auburn or 'Bama or the Gators and if you can't keep the conversation going, they turn real cool on you. My attitude: get a f@#king life, you can't expect a transplant from another region to be THAT interested or informed. However, there are many cosmopolitan type people that you can ignore that. Second comment: Funny that I have a friend from Birmingham AL who is Southern, Italian and Catholic (there is a smattering of Italians and Greeks in select Southern cities, as I learned) and he chooses to live in PHX. Now, he is about 5'9 and 150 lbs, so being that thin, he isn't as bothered by the heat. He's been there about 4 years now. The low-humidity nights in the desert are in fact appealing, but I know them more from the P.S. and L.V. areas.

snoring

How can that be possible at THOSE schools you went to? :AH-HA_wink: back atcha.Seriously, though, in the last year BV must have gone through an accelerated puberty because he doesn't look like such a kid anymore (referring to other pics and not the current one).

Not done AT ALL in Southern California....there's NO groupthink type of mentality there whatsoever.Done some in Northern California...with Berkeley (Cal) alumni, but definitely not the norm. Westerners are cut from a different cloth from the rest of the country IMHO. So, what's your thought on Atlanta, per the question?

Just got back from a relocation research trip to Atlanta and Florida (no, not Miami). I lived in Atlanta for 2 years, slightly after college. As a product of LA, I was surprised to find that I loved it. It has a special place in my heart because, fairly soon after college, I was able to buy my first house there because of the huge price differences from Cali....that I drive by it every time I go to the ATL. Atlanta is NOT the South. Georgia and Atlanta almost don't belong in the same sentence. Atlanta is one of this country's great metropolitan areas and probably the "engine" for that quadrant of the country. I'm considering going back, so help me out. Pluses: - big city feel with big city amenities but not unmanageable - cool rapid transit system - affordable housing, relatively speaking, anyway - incredibly lush in terms of trees and rolling hills / winding streets - not that Southern in that there are a ton of northerners to hang out with (Westerners tend to go with the Northerners, I'm told) - mild weather, most of the year Minuses: - growing, so it will feel more boxed in as the years pass, and I notice the difference - winding streets and freeways are horrendous at rush hour - nasty humidity from around July 1 to September 15 - I'm used to low humidity summers - starting to feel racial strife of additional groups, largely growing Latino population - people still fly the flags of their schools (Georgia, UNC, Auburn, Florida) on their houses during football season and people seem to talk about this way too much judging from the gym and restaurants....if you're a product of Pac-10 type schools (Univ. of Wash.) who aren't as fanatical, what would you say to them? In some ways, it's still Southern. The worst years of my life and worst memories are in OR and WA, so I don't want to remain. What do you think of "the ATL"? Would you move there?

boring

WHAT? I love a screamin' deal on a rental car! :AH-HA_wink:

Good stuff. A lot of hard work, to be sure. We need archis like you that are both talented and have a passion for it; you've heard me rant about the flakes in the field...I say feed them to the lions in the Colosseum ($h!, I forgot, I have to be a good Catholic/Christian). Transit planning is SUPER interesting. It's where LA messed up. I was just in Atlanta. Their MARTA system (heavy rail on dedicated track like a conventional subway as opposed to light rail) is 'effing unbelievable, but then Atlanta metro has topped 4 million in pop. at this point. I love riding on it, watching the sleek cars glide on the tracks next to the freeways....and it has helped turn the ATL into a world-class city.

You're attuned to "la cultura Italiana." Do you think that same comment/observation would occur in Italy/neighboring countries? All of my parent's siblings on both sides, garden variety heads of families, have wedding invitation-like penmanship. Have you ever seen the penmanship on archived Italian birth or death certificates at the turn of the century? Unbelievable! In most ways, Americans have their act together. In some, they are super uptight and 'effed up.

Happy birthday, Mr. Monte Carlo! Now, Lauren, that's another story. Yikes. It's amazing that someone who puts a barely covered breast in both her Av and sig can get steemed and leave the forum when a guy runs a thread about masturbation (not me, I tend to focus on angry lesbians). ENJOY!

West Point