The Chat Thread

[Szykneij]

You can take the Amtrack to Washington, D.C. from Boston's South Station. We've used it to go to Philadelphia before. I believe you still have to switch trains in NYC because of a change in track gauge. I'm not sure if it would be a much shorter trip than the bus, but the journey would be a whole lot more comfortable.

edit: (Acela - 6 1/2 hours, regular train 8 hours)

[Parsifal]

And I'm laying the groundwork for a trip next May, involving a visit to the sites of the Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse, near Fredericksburg--about an hour south of Washington CD, in co-ordination with a group being led from Boston by my two uncles, both Civil War buffs.

I've discovered it will actually be more logical, and not much more money, to take the nine hour bus drive each way from Boston with the main group, compared to flying into Washington DC and meeting them at the hotel in Fredericksburg.    To get from Dulles or Reagan National Airports involves an intracity shuttle, Amtrack from Union Station,  and a taxi for the final leg from the railroad station to the hotel in Fredericksburg.  The alternative is a shuttle or limo service between DC and Fredericksburg that costs $100 each way.    Rent a car is possible, but not worthwhile, the rental merely sitting idle in the hotel parking lot for the two days I'm in Fredericksburg.  Plus I'd have to drive through/around DC, which I'm not thrilled with.

Unless one of you folks knows a better way of doing it....

If you fly into DCA you will not have to drive in D.C.  I-395 is within a mile from the airport exit and that road turns into I-95, which goes straight to Fredericksburg.  I've gotten accustomed to the airport rental-car thing so I wouldn't find it as stressful as trying to find that shuttle and waiting for them to get their act together.  Depends on what you're used to.

Flying farther than necessary and taking an 9 hour bus ride back sounds pretty aggravating to me.

[kishnevi]

You can take the Amtrack to Washington, D.C. from Boston's South Station. We've used it to go to Philadelphia before. I believe you still have to switch trains in NYC because of a change in track gauge. I'm not sure if it would be a much shorter trip than the bus, but the journey would be a whole lot more comfortable.

edit: (Acela - 6 1/2 hours, regular train 8 hours)

The  Civil War segment is being organized by others, so I have no input on how to get from Boston to Fredericksburg.*   But since the bus will also be our transportation between Fredericksburg and the battlefield sites,  there is a rational purpose to opting for the bus.

Reading earlier this morning, I realized that, if I go,  I'll the visiting Spotsylvania exactly a 150 years to the day after the last of the battles (which were actually a series of engagements over a ten day period, with the worst fighting taking place on 12 May 1864 at a spot which has been called "the Bloody Angle" ever since).

*Although you've given me an idea--I should check on how to get from Fort Lauderdale to Fredericksburg on Amtrak!

If you fly into DCA you will not have to drive in D.C.  I-395 is within a mile from the airport exit and that road turns into I-95, which goes straight to Fredericksburg.  I've gotten accustomed to the airport rental-car thing so I wouldn't find it as stressful as trying to find that shuttle and waiting for them to get their act together.  Depends on what you're used to.

Flying farther than necessary and taking an 9 hour bus ride back sounds pretty aggravating to me.

Under other circumstances, and for other people,  I wouldn't even think of going via Boston.  But as I've referenced,   Boston = family for me.

[Karl Henning]

I understand about all the moving parts, Jeffrey; at some point, as God wills it.

[Opus106]

A sign of how removed I am from 'contemporary culture': I needed JPC to let me know that the Backstreet Boys are still active as a group.

[DavidW]

I needed Todd in the Shadow's One Hit Wonderland to tell me that the Pretenders were not a one hit wonder, but have been churning out album after album and even have a musical written around their songs!

[Sergeant Rock]

Todd in the Shadow's One Hit Wonderland

What does that mean?

Sarge

[DavidW]

What does that mean?

Sarge

There is a guy on the net that goes by Todd in the Shadows, and he does scathing reviews of pop music songs.  But he also does something I find more interesting and enjoyable, which is look at one hit wonders.  Bands that made a single hit and then faded to obscurity.  He explains how the band formed and what they were doing before the hit, the aftermath the hit, and what happened to them when they fell out of the public eye.

[url[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/tis[/url]

[Sergeant Rock]

There is a guy on the net that goes by Todd in the Shadows, and he does scathing reviews of pop music songs.  But he also does something I find more interesting and enjoyable, which is look at one hit wonders.  Bands that made a single hit and then faded to obscurity.  He explains how the band formed and what they were doing before the hit, the aftermath the hit, and what happened to them when they fell out of the public eye.

[url[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/tis[/url]

Thanks. That sounds like a fun site. Next question: Which song did you think qualified as the Pretenders one hit?

Sarge

[DavidW]

Thanks. That sounds like a fun site. Next question: Which song did you think qualified as the Pretenders one hit?

Sarge

The song from Benny and June.  I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more...

[DavidW]

Oh sorry I was thinking of the Proclaimers, the Pretenders are not at all one hit wonder!  I apologize for my brain fart.

[Karl Henning]

Not sure I can live with the burden of . . . having given snypsss bad ideas . . . .

[Sergeant Rock]

Not sure I can live with the burden of . . . having given snypsss bad ideas . . . .

Don't fret too much, Karl. Almost anything can, and does, give snyprrr bad ideas 


Sarge

[ibanezmonster]

I figure out the best spot to tan, and then it's cloudy every single day straight for last 3 months. It rains over 30 days in a row at one point. The clouds start from 10 AM and it rains either then for a brief moment or at around 6 PM (usually the case). Either I'm going to have to do this in November (should still work fine here) or sometime next year. 

[Karl Henning]

Don't fret too much, Karl. Almost anything can, and does, give snyprrr bad ideas 

You speak the truth, Sarge, and it is a comfort.

[Parsifal]

I figure out the best spot to tan, and then it's cloudy every single day straight for last 3 months. It rains over 30 days in a row at one point. The clouds start from 10 AM and it rains either then for a brief moment or at around 6 PM (usually the case). Either I'm going to have to do this in November (should still work fine here) or sometime next year. 

Sad that your quest to get skin cancer has been frustrated.

[ibanezmonster]

Sad that your quest to get skin cancer has been frustrated.

I'm not into overdoing it like a lot of people are. I wouldn't call it "tanning," but but more like "not looking like a ghost."

[ibanezmonster]

In my newspaper I read two articles on the front page: one being the release of a bunch of sex offenders in the area and another the budget cutbacks making kids within two miles of school have to walk to school, now with less police officers in the area (cutbacks) and 7 different areas still without a crossing guard. I watched the story about this on the news a while ago, which included some parents saying that they are unable to walk or drive their kids to and from school because of their work schedule. Also, the kids have to walk past the houses of many already registered sex offenders.

Oh, sure nothing will go wrong. 

[TheGSMoeller]

In my newspaper I read two articles on the front page: one being the release of a bunch of sex offenders in the area and another the budget cutbacks making kids within two miles of school have to walk to school, now with less police officers in the area (cutbacks) and 7 different areas still without a crossing guard. I watched the story about this on the news a while ago, which included some parents saying that they are unable to walk or drive their kids to and from school because of their work schedule. Also, the kids have to walk past the houses of many already registered sex offenders.

Oh, sure nothing will go wrong. 

I used to bike to my elementary school which was over 2 miles away. Not sure what my parents thought, or knew back then. But I would have a difficult time allowing my son to do that in a few years from now.

[ibanezmonster]

I used to bike to my elementary school which was over 2 miles away. Not sure what my parents thought, or knew back then. But I would have a difficult time allowing my son to do that in a few years from now.

I used to bike probably a mile away, or close to a mile away. Probably a bit safer in my environment, though, compared to what is happening where I live now.



Random thought:
The idea of tiers for favorite musicians, regardless of genre... hm... I'm sure there's a thread for this, but...
Tier 1- Mahler
Tier 2- Meshuggah
Tier 3- Prokofiev, Brahms, BTBAM
Tier 4- Bruckner, Shostakovich, Opeth

might have already wrote this and forgot about it.