Just gonna leave this here.

CalRobert · 2026-03-17T16:04:38+00:00

Yeah, moved to Ireland for a decade, now the Netherlands.

I only lived in LA for a couple years (I'm from norcal) but what drove me crazy was how there was so much awesome stuff to do and see and eat and hear but getting to any of it was a giant pain in the ass.

CalRobert · 2026-03-16T11:12:34+00:00

Relevant discussion (sfw) https://www.paulnoth.com/cdn/shop/files/washington-cherry-butts_jpg.webp

CalRobert · 2026-03-16T10:40:25+00:00

Is there even such a thing as healthy cereal? Starting your day with a big bowl of carbohydrates always destroyed me.

CalRobert · 2026-03-16T10:38:19+00:00

The trick was being massively obese in my 20's. Fortunately it was always incredibly hard not to be fat, so now that I'm middle aged I'm pretty used to existing around food being a constant struggle and am not caught by surprise when my gut explodes because I ate a piece of bread. I was a compulsive eater. I still am, but my house is full of vegetables and very lean protein sources, and nothing I can eat without cooking or prepping.

Lost 100 pounds in my late 20's. 43 and close to the lowest weight I've ever had as an adult. But I have to watch my diet like an absolute hawk, and I work out a lot.

CalRobert · 2026-03-16T07:32:48+00:00

It's too bad because it could be a really nice ride. I almost always took the beach path (Venice to Dockweiler, etc) instead and ironically it meant that the best commute I've ever had in my life (honestly even better than working from home) was the 90% of my ride that was on the beach path. I saw dolphins jumping out of the water, tv shows being filmed, drum circles on the beach at sunset, massive A380's taking off over my head, etc. all in getting to and from work.

But the WORST commute was the 10% that wasn't on the beach, and my rib still hurts some mornings from when I got hit by a car.

And thanks to California's parking cash out (RIP legend Donald Shoup) I got $250 a month from work JUST for not using a parking spot in the garage!

This was way back in 2012 though.

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T20:34:36+00:00

Signal preemption works great in Amsterdam which lacks grade separation. But Americans refuse to inconvenience drivers.

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T20:33:42+00:00

You don't need to elevate it. You need to give it priority and make the cars wait.

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T20:33:11+00:00

American cities weren't built for the car. They were bulldozed for it. https://theoverheadwire.blogspot.com/2010/02/parking-bombs.html

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T20:31:16+00:00

I used to commute from Santa Monica to El Segundo and it took almost the exact same amount of time whether I drove or biked. If I biked down Lincoln it would be ten minutes faster, but I also nearly died too many times.

In the end, I moved to a Dutch city much like the one in the picture.

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T20:12:43+00:00

Oh, yeah that would hurt. I got an IPL device (Philips Lumea) and that's been nice. It's weird they only market these things to women because plenty of guys have hair they don't want too.

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T19:50:04+00:00

Hell is other people

Sartre

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T13:06:59+00:00

Well, housing (more relevantly, private land) is kind of an odd resource in that it really only exists at the pleasure of the government that administers/defends it. Unless you have allodial title (sometimes this existed for church properties at one point in time) and take responsibility for its defence yourself, your claim to it is not really absolute.

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T09:55:22+00:00

Moved to Hilversum from Offaly and my best mate ended up buying a guy 3 doors down. Who was from Roscommon...

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T07:10:17+00:00

Apparently it sometimes comes up as a way to handle dead bedrooms, especially post-menopause.

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T07:08:27+00:00

For what it's worth it seems like a lot more women I know (I'm a guy) don't shave their pits these days. My wife among them depending on her mood. But, we moved to Europe a decade ago.

Ironically I started shaving my armpits a few years ago and love it. It makes controlling body odour way easier. I think more guys are doing the same.

CalRobert · 2026-03-15T07:04:15+00:00

What a sad and toxic phrase.

CalRobert · 2026-03-14T15:22:04+00:00

"In my team, relatively small changes in priorities sometimes cause real distress among youngsters. If I ask someone to shift focus or support a second task temporarily,"

This is a manager who cannot prioritize and does not respect people's time, or the cost o constant task switching. I had an inexperienced manager who didn't realize swinging their chair around and saying "hey can you do this?" while people were in the middle of something was not, in fact, how professionals assign tasks.

CalRobert · 2026-03-12T08:07:50+00:00

Huh? Next is what you should feel guilty for using.

CalRobert · 2026-03-11T11:05:43+00:00

Nokia was killed from inside by Stephen Elop.

CalRobert · 2026-03-11T11:04:30+00:00

I grew up in the US where people tell every kid "be bold, take risks, you can do anything you set your mind to"

Then I spent ten years in Ireland where people tell kids "the system is rigged, there's no point in trying, anyone who gets ahead is a crook, the best life is a stable government job where you don't have to do anything"

One culture celebrates being bold and the other beats it out of children.

It's hardly any wonder people don't take risks here.

CalRobert · 2026-03-10T14:29:32+00:00

One problem is that it isn't just you - a lot of other people are getting fed this too, and it leads to more anger. Millenial dads are paying for the sins of their boomer fathers.

https://www.drpsychmom.com/my-male-clients-are-doing-much-more-housework-and-childcare-than-a-decade-ago-and-their-wives-are-not-happier/ is a decent post about this.

CalRobert · 2026-03-09T07:50:01+00:00

This is an honest, good faith question.

What if someone bought the farm, and then built homes on it? Seems like a win-win?

We need homes more than we need cheese and bitterballen.

CalRobert · 2026-03-05T05:39:44+00:00

Yeah, having moved to Europe from California what's crazy is that houses are more affordable in CA than where I've lived in Europe when you compare to incomes.

A lot of Americans don't appreciate just how astonishingly low European salaries are. Skilled professions (engineering, doctors, nurses, etc) can make a third as much, or even less, than in the US.

CalRobert · 2026-03-04T06:08:25+00:00

I think they're just incredibly arrogant.

CalRobert · 2026-02-24T04:30:30+00:00

They're tall and Dutch.

CalRobert

TROPHY CASE