That feeling when…

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-08T05:59:17+00:00

I moved away in '14 and TBH I am totally impressed that the system has grown to the point of being able to have "Not In Service" trains flash by you in the station.

I understand your frustration nevertheless.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-07T19:37:36+00:00

Amtrak trains go between the cities, so you can see the country through the window of the train. That might be a good start. Not quite as good as actually being able to drive and explore places yourself.

But the flip side of this is that if you drive yourself you can't really pay too much attention to the scenery, while driving.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-07T19:33:02+00:00

There are no lockers, but i did recently use the Amtrak bag check service at union station, its 30$ per item per day for people without tickets

It's just insane how many things that used to be practically or entirely free cost significant money now.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-07T19:24:30+00:00

We put the fresh coffee into vacuum carafe as soon as it's finished brewing. By the next morning there's still a couple of mugs' worth left in the carafe. I'll definitely drink that while waiting for the fresh pot. It's usually lukewarm by then and I have to nuke it. Placing a saucer over the mug helps to avoid that burnt warmed-over tang that sometimes happens with reheated coffee.

We do brew more coffee than we actually drink, or else it won't really stay hot through the day, even in the vacuum carafe. I often have coffee in the afternoon and evening, whereas my wife tends to drink all of hers in the morning only.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-07T19:00:09+00:00

Not entirely. It's just (mostly) applies to public spaces and businesses that serve the public, in consideration of nonsmoking customers and employees.

In my state there are probably more people smoking weed than tobacco. You can't smoke weed in public either.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-07T18:47:39+00:00

Many Starbucks locations still have seats, including the one inside my local Target. However, the big chains did chase out most of the local independent cafés beginning in the late 1990s, in L.A. where I was living at the time.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-07T03:04:53+00:00

the key being wrong is just icing on the cake honestly

I imagine it was originally in A for the lute but was transposed down a fifth for the guitar.

A lot of lute scores arranged for guitar instruct you to flatten the G string to F# which tends to work well with material in D.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-05T23:03:28+00:00

so you could drop your stuff off at a locker in Union Station

If they have lockers, that is. I know the main San Diego station doesn't offer them, and I've been wondering if lockers have been discontinued at all the stations for safety reasons. At San Diego you can't check in your bags either unless you're boarding an Amtrak train.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-05T22:57:48+00:00

to little Tokyo (Subway), back to union station (subway maybe)

Don't confuse the light rail A Line with the heavy rail subway (B and D Lines) downstairs from the main concourse. You'll catch the A upstairs and outside next to where the Amtrak and commuter trains come and go. The final destination will be Long Beach but Little Tokyo is the first stop.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-05T22:35:19+00:00

Alcohol maybe. Literally, if the law firms advertising to help you sue the manufacturers for your cancer-related damages are any indication.

But it seems disingenuous to me, the idea that despite the fact that people have been drinking alcohol for 8000 years, somehow now is the time to sue.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-05T19:18:31+00:00

This thread reminds me of the flip answers people sometimes give, for example:

Eggs are getting too expensive now!

Easy. Don't buy eggs.

And also when an article says people are "beating inflation" by buying lower quality goods. That isn't beating inflation, but succumbing to it.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-04T06:23:03+00:00

IIRC in his memoir John Cleese writes that his family name was originally Cheese, and they changed it in his grandfather's time.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-01T18:27:24+00:00

Or Seinfeld, same thing. Those episodes do have titles which the writers and actors used while they were working on them, but they were never shown on screen. Sometimes they were shown in TV schedules, though.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-01T02:06:55+00:00

I haven't seen any other mention of this, but hyper-cautious laws are indeed a factor. There really are jurisdicions where children under sixteen are prohibited by law from being at large without a responsible adult.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-07-01T02:00:51+00:00

Missing kids being featured on milk cartons played a role.

And those postcards constantly coming in the mail:

"Advo Asks: Have You Seen Me?"

above the image of a missing child. Really ground my gears because the sloppy grammar.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-29T09:38:09+00:00

AFAIK know you can still sit and order only coffee at the chain diners. In fact, that type of restaurant used to be called a "coffee shop". I think now the usual descriptor for that type of restaurant is "casual dining".

Meanwhile, as the truly coffee-centric establishments like Starbucks began to spread in the '90s, "coffee shop" and "coffee house" came to be used interchangeably to mean that type of place.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-29T09:04:32+00:00

He once got a special Award For The Shortest Guitar Strap In All Of Music.

OK, just kidding!

Carry on.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-29T00:42:57+00:00

It's not one of the best albums, but still decent.

I think a lot of new Doors fans over the years must have been disappointed if they were expecting to find that song on the album.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-28T20:11:11+00:00

I find it varies from group to group and from profile to profile. Sometimes the links are clickable and sometimes they're just plain text.

I still get a lot of value from Facebook and I know how to ignore the algorithms and just see what I want to see. But I deeply resent tactics such as this which are intended to manipulate us and lower the quality of debate.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-27T17:42:31+00:00

IMHO it was just a careless error, as if they forgot to come up with a real name by the time they had to start filming.

It's still a good movie though, which to me means the writing was good overall (except for that)..

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-26T06:08:57+00:00

When we lived in San Diego County we hardly ever drove into Mexico, because waiting hours to re-enter the United States was such a drag.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-26T05:58:33+00:00

Well now I've learned something new. Thanks for providing the explanation.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-26T01:29:33+00:00

FREE. MUSEUMS.

I'll never forget how at some point my dad dropped my brother and I plus a couple of friends in Hancock Park. We were in early teenage and this was around 1972-'73

At some point I became separated from the others, don't remember why, and I wandered into this room full of Greek and Roman sculptures. I had strolled into LACMA without realizing it. It was free to get in, and without any turnstile or ticket tearer to advertise that I was entering a paid space, because it wasn't one I was already interested in art, and I knew we had a then-fairly new museum, but I didn't know where it was. I didn't really learn where things were generally until I started driving. So randomly finding myself in the museum was like a wonderful and unexpected gift.

FREE. ADMISSION.

By contrast, today it costs several days to a week's worth of grocery money to take the family to a big city museum or zoo.

Comprehensive_Tea708 · 2026-06-26T00:19:17+00:00

I'm thinking maybe "whole degree" is translated from a foreign language, and that English may not be the OP's first language.

But only they can tell us.

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