The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

[caseydog]

The hotel backs right up against a residential area, good for taking a walk.

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My sister and I are both considering the Pittsburgh area as possible retirement options. Nice city, good health care facilities, and the Steelers are there. We also have a lot of family there. I've been back there several times since we lived there, but she hasn't. When we get my parents settled, I plan to take my sister up there to see if it was what she remembered.

CD

 

[TastyReuben]

Waiting on supper...

My sister and I are both considering the Pittsburgh area as possible retirement options. Nice city, good health care facilities, and the Steelers are there. We also have a lot of family there. I've been back there several times since we lived there, but she hasn't. When we get my parents settled, I plan to take my sister up there to see if it was what she remembered.

CD

I'm not going to lie...there's something about Rust Belt cities I just like. I'd gladly retire in Pittsburgh.

 

[caseydog]

Waiting on supper...

I'm not going to lie...there's something about Rust Belt cities I just like. I'd gladly retire in Pittsburgh.

When my family came to the US from Italy about 100 years ago, they settled in the Pittsburgh area. It is a very nice, albeit old, smaller city. About the size of Cincinnati, but with a lot more "character." I've lived in both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for about the same amount of time. I made good friends in both, but I can see myself moving back to Pittsburgh, but not Cincinnati.

I went to Pittsburgh to watch the Steelers win their 6th Super Bowl, and made some new friends just hanging at a sports bar and watching the game. There are actually two "Steelers Bars" in Dallas, that are packed on game days. I haven't been since Covid. Here I am in my Jack Lambert jersey. Fans around the US are know as "Steelers Nation." Pittsburgh is that kind of city.

CD

 

[rascal]

I’m not big on rugby but I do follow their games, I see nz plays USA on this Sunday, your time saturday ?
In Washington ?


Russ

 

[TastyReuben]

When my family came to the US from Italy about 100 years ago, they settled in the Pittsburgh area. It is a very nice, albeit old, smaller city. About the size of Cincinnati, but with a lot more "character." I've lived in both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for about the same amount of time. I made good friends in both, but I can see myself moving back to Pittsburgh, but not Cincinnati.

CD

When we first moved back here in 2004, Cincy was just starting to climb out of the hole. Rarely went downtown, and only during the day.

Now, it's a lot different than it was. Funky restaurants, dives, great live theatre, a handful of restored old movie houses...lots of excellent architecture (lots of movies shoot here specifically for the large amount of Italianate buildings here), great specialty festivals, tons of craft breweries, it really is like a different place.

They've redone pretty much the entire riverfront. It's luxury apartments and bars and restaurants now. Now it's a pleasure to go downtown.

Streetcar, rental bikes, rental scooters, parking meters that work with your phone and alert you when spaces open, it's modern.

Murals everywhere, and I just went downtown to a play last week, first time I'd gone in two years, and the city street I parked on...transformed. It was fine but nondescript before, but now it's full of trees and plants and colorful benches and artsy tiles and fountains.

I'm always amazed at how much it's changed, and is still changing, because I remember when it was bad, and how bad it was.

 

[caseydog]

When we first moved back here in 2004, Cincy was just starting to climb out of the hole. Rarely went downtown, and only during the day.

Now, it's a lot different than it was. Funky restaurants, dives, great live theatre, a handful of restored old movie houses...lots of excellent architecture (lots of movies shoot here specifically for the large amount of Italianate buildings here), great specialty festivals, tons of craft breweries, it really is like a different place.

They've redone pretty much the entire riverfront. It's luxury apartments and bars and restaurants now. Now it's a pleasure to go downtown.

Streetcar, rental bikes, rental scooters, parking meters that work with your phone and alert you when spaces open, it's modern.

Murals everywhere, and I just went downtown to a play last week, first time I'd gone in two years, and the city street I parked on...transformed. It was fine but nondescript before, but now it's full of trees and plants and colorful benches and artsy tiles and fountains.

I'm always amazed at how much it's changed, and is still changing, because I remember when it was bad, and how bad it was.

A lot of downtown areas are surging in the US. Downtown Dallas used to be a ghost town after business hours. You worked there, and left at the end of the day. Now, a house like mine in "Uptown" Dallas would cost double what mine is worth. That is the place to be. Same with Houston, and forget about living in the Downtown area of Austin, unless you have a really good job.

CD

 

[ElizabethB]

Urban Renewal - always a hot topic. Lafayette is a small city in the state 130,000 . Lafayette Parish (county) is the smallest parish in the state. It is the most densely populated parish. The city of Lafayette has the highest cost of housing in the state. Downtown has been revitalized. A parking garage turned into an office building. Other buildings turned into Condo Complexes. Lots of shops, restaurants and clubs. Geared to a young crowd.
Amazing murals on buildings downtown by Robert Dafford. If you do not know his work please look him up. Robert is known internationally for his amazing murals.

 

[rascal]

When my family came to the US from Italy about 100 years ago, they settled in the Pittsburgh area. It is a very nice, albeit old, smaller city. About the size of Cincinnati, but with a lot more "character." I've lived in both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for about the same amount of time. I made good friends in both, but I can see myself moving back to Pittsburgh, but not Cincinnati.

I went to Pittsburgh to watch the Steelers win their 6th Super Bowl, and made some new friends just hanging at a sports bar and watching the game. There are actually two "Steelers Bars" in Dallas, that are packed on game days. I haven't been since Covid. Here I am in my Jack Lambert jersey. Fans around the US are know as "Steelers Nation." Pittsburgh is that kind of city.

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CD

No face paint?
Like the puddy in senfield Episode,my fave character.

Russ

 

[TastyReuben]

Here's the shoe-car that's been giving me fits. We're grudgingly making peace with one another. I figured out how to get the nav to talk, and the wipers to work correctly:

I also had to go buy a kettle, because the big container of hot water the hotel provides...they've made coffee in it recently and didn't clean it well, so our tea tastes like coffee.

 

[Morning Glory]

I also had to go buy a kettle, because the big container of hot water the hotel provides...they've made coffee in it recently and didn't clean it well, so our tea tastes like coffee.

That is an act of holiday dedication. UK hotels would have kettles in the rooms as a norm. What happens to the new kettle after the holiday?

 

[TastyReuben]

That is an act of holiday dedication. UK hotels would have kettles in the rooms as a norm. What happens to the new kettle after the holiday?

In the old days, they used to have kettles in rooms here, but they've been phased out and replaced by Keurig/Nestle single-brewing machines (well...knockoff brands, although the one in our room is a Cuisinart)

It's the same problem with those - 99% of the users brew coffee in them, the hotels never clean or descale them, and running hot water for tea just makes coffee-flavored tea.

This one will be our dedicated travel kettle. We expect more driving trips with COVID, at least for the next two years, so it'll be coming with us, along with the oscillating fan we pack, and MrsT's pillow.

It's very fast, too. A lot faster than our ceramic one. It's a little unsettling to me to see the innards bubbling away, but it gets the job done.

 

[rascal]

In the old days, they used to have kettles in rooms here, but they've been phased out and replaced by Keurig/Nestle single-brewing machines (well...knockoff brands, although the one in our room is a Cuisinart)

It's the same problem with those - 99% of the users brew coffee in them, the hotels never clean or descale them, and running hot water for tea just makes coffee-flavored tea.

This one will be our dedicated travel kettle. We expect more driving trips with COVID, at least for the next two years, so it'll be coming with us, along with the oscillating fan we pack, and MrsT's pillow.

It's very fast, too. A lot faster than our ceramic one. It's a little unsettling to me to see the innards bubbling away, but it gets the job done.

Microwave?

Russ

 

[TastyReuben]

Microwave?

Russ

Are you asking if the room has a microwave? If so, then yes, but I'd rather boil the water in a kettle.

 

[Morning Glory]

along with the oscillating fan we pack,

For a micro second I read that as 'the oscillating fun pack' and got quite excited/curious.

 

[rascal]

Are you asking if the room has a microwave? If so, then yes, but I'd rather boil the water in a kettle.

Really? Tastes the same or is it the fact it’s a microwave? I use a microwave if I’m in a hurry or the jug is away under the sink. Motels here almost always have kettles/jugs and also perculaters.

Russ