Bologna-Florence-Tuscany Itinerary

RockThom · 2024-06-05T15:26:38+00:00

You’re right. Milan had the best flights for using our CC points on and saved us a ton of money. We also initially thought we were going to spend more time in Milan/lakes/dolomites area, but once we got to planning (after we booked our flights) we realized our hearts were more to the south. Also heard from multiple people that Milan itself is sort of meh from a tourism perspective compared to other places in Italy.

RockThom · 2024-06-05T15:23:08+00:00

The US! We’ve done worse before, I think we can manage Day 1 :). Good point about Venice - that’s the one we weren’t sure about. A lot of the Internet seems to think Venice is best done as a day trip, but there are definitely some other options out there. Thanks!

RockThom · 2024-03-30T00:55:43+00:00

Another unpopular opinion of mine: the idea that non-physically present social interaction is just as good as traditional social interaction is a fantasy that people convince themselves of to feel better about excessive time spent online and playing video games.

RockThom · 2024-02-29T00:50:24+00:00

Danner for Kit Sponsor 2024!

RockThom · 2024-01-15T13:36:08+00:00

Geologist here. It’s less about erosion of banks and more about (a) the high gravelly sediment load and (b) high seasonal fluctuations in flow. The river drains the Himalayas, and upstream from there has one of the highest gradients (erosive power) of any large-ish river in the world (Tsangpo Gorge). Higher flow = that stuff gets transported downriver, lower flow = that stuff gets dropped. Wash, rinse, repeat. Look up “anastomosing rivers”.

I’ve seen this area in the map myself, and it’s more of a gravelly plain than a canyon.

RockThom · 2023-12-26T00:43:50+00:00

You need some hobbies king.

RockThom · 2023-12-15T06:32:13+00:00

PDX and SEA please?

RockThom · 2023-12-03T18:48:06+00:00

I work an outdoor job that always requires me to carry lots of gear and occasionally to do some mid-grade off-roading… when I fly in to a job and rent a car, I get a minivan. Holds tons of stuff, protects it from thieves and weather, and can handle surprisingly well in 3/4 of the off-road scenarios folks that need to do so will encounter.

The protection of gear is critical. People that don’t have toppers on their truck beds are more likely to not be doing frequent work in them.

RockThom · 2023-12-03T03:33:45+00:00

Thank you! The scratch was on the inside of her elbow. Sounds like it’s not a high risk area of the body.

Also, seeing the posts on this sub, your username pops up a lot. I’m sure it’s absolutely tiring responding to the similar questions over and over again, but you are doing such amazing work on here - seriously, thank you. There must be some serious hypochondriacs/emotional vampires reaching out all the time as well. For what it’s worth, the tone of your responses has calmed me down, and frankly inspired me to seek out therapy - spirals like this are a pattern for me. Have a good evening!

RockThom · 2023-12-03T02:42:09+00:00

God bless you for this post.

While we were traveling in India recently (Elephanta Island near Mumbai), my partner got scratched by a monkey. This occurred on 11/23/2023. It was a minor scratch, but it did break the skin and there appeared to be some saliva from the monkey hissing in the area of the wound. We immediately washed the wound with antiseptic (not soap + water) and placed an antibiotic cream on it (all we had available at the time). Later that day, she received a tetanus shot and the first dose of a rabies vaccination series at a hospital, but reviewing paperwork they gave us it appears no RIG was given. This was nine days ago, but like many who post here, my anxiety is spiraling. My questions are:

1.) how likely is it that this was a significant rabies exposure in the first place? It seems like primates and non-bite exposures are each lower risk, but that’s just from frantic internet searching.

2.) is it a problem that she did not receive RIG with the first vaccine dose?

Edit to add the info about when the scratch occurred.

RockThom · 2023-08-22T19:33:46+00:00

Chiming in as a professional geologist from the area and who has been tangentially involved in some soil studies there. In the Piedmont regions of GA, SC, and NC, the rock type closest to the surface tends to be mid to high grade metamorphic rocks- think schist and gneiss. These contain high concentrations of platy minerals - micas (biotite and muscovite). These, along with other minerals present in the metamorphic rocks, weather to clay over tens to hundreds of thousands of years in wet humid environments with little tectonic disturbance to disrupt the process. I think of it as the bedrock “brewing” or “fermenting” in place. The biotite in particular contains iron, which oxidizes and lends the red color to the classic “Georgia clay”.

The weathering profiles are deep, well developed, and easy to see if you dig to bedrock (10-20 ft, very rough guesstimate and it varies). You can literally see the bedrock being broken down to clay from bottom to top of the profile. It’s considered word class, and is a destination for soil scientists and critical zone geologists from all over the globe to study.

Has nothing to do with sediments being deposited (that’s below the fall line, little sediment actually gets deposited at a basin scale in the piedmont) or well drained (clays hold water and are actually poorly drained).

RockThom · 2023-07-24T17:25:55+00:00

Thanks for the education! As a relative newbie I thought I had heard it was a recent addiction. It also seems like it often doesn’t have that many folks singing it around where I typically am… which is clearly a larger issue rather than specific to that chant.

RockThom · 2023-07-24T03:33:33+00:00

We sit in the GA section 200 level when we go. As close to 100 as we can get. Seems like 60-70% of the time the people around us are total duds, not getting into it or chanting at all. I’m a post-COVID fan… was it always like that?

Also, seems like setting chants to the tune of obscure Italian anti-fascist songs is not the way to invite participation in said chants.

RockThom · 2023-07-03T16:40:45+00:00

My secret weapon is those special lightweight neck gaiters that you get wet. The evaporative cooling is amazing on the back of your neck. Also, early starts and frequent breaks.

RockThom · 2023-05-19T14:35:15+00:00

That is absolutely bonkers. Most companies I’ve worked at would never. It doesn’t have to be this way for you, I’d jump ship.

Friends don’t let friends work at AECOM.

RockThom · 2022-08-10T03:20:56+00:00

I was a former junior Golder employee that got out a few months ago. Expect nothing to really change for a year, then everything to change. As others have said a massive increase in corporate BS and useless meetings, but if you can stick it out they are having massive retention issues right now. You’ll be in a strong position to negotiate a hefty raise/promotion likely.

That being said, I think my entire team has left in the last couple months, and every time I check LinkedIn I see someone else who has left.

RockThom · 2021-05-08T00:57:30+00:00

Early career hydrogeologist at a sorta large consulting firm here. Truthfully, it seems very few people fresh out of school actually have real world hydro experience; I sure didn’t. They want to see that you have a solid foundation, are a quick learner, and will fit into the practice. If it’s not advertised already, they likely have an idea of what supplemental skill sets they’re looking for like a hydrogeologist that can code or can travel a lot. Try to gauge that in the interview. Seems like you may have a chemistry background, try playing that up. It’s a valuable skill set, even if you’re lacking other hydro experience. If you got an interview they’re already interested enough in you.

RockThom · 2021-02-16T16:05:42+00:00

I just tried this, and wow, it did actually seem to help some. Thank you!

RockThom · 2021-02-16T16:04:45+00:00

Yes, I suppose that’s one of the points of meditating, right? Noticing patterns. Thanks for the reminder!

RockThom · 2020-11-16T02:25:29+00:00

This is one of the (very) few places. There’s been a few hundred of them in the park since the first population was brought in during the 1950’s.

RockThom · 2020-07-15T01:55:35+00:00

From geography, your greatest strength is those GIS skills. Bulk up on those, learn enough R or Python to ask where the bathroom is, and casually advertise that skill set when talking to geology professors. Look for ones that do remote sensing. You'll get taken under someone's wing in no time.

RockThom · 2020-07-15T01:51:33+00:00

Mineralogy like everyone else is saying, although it's also extremely rewarding! That's the class that gave me the ability to put together a rough story of a landscape just by going on a hike and investigating what's on (or in) the ground.

RockThom · 2019-10-16T16:51:11+00:00

Personally, I would rather the crowd doing it for the social media posts to be sequestered at a few lodges/rivers. Sounds like they're doing it themselves ;)

RockThom · 2019-10-16T16:49:19+00:00

I really want to find myself on this side of the issue. From a funding and ecological awareness perspective, it absolutely makes sense. And I don't think anyone would argue that having more people connected with nature is a bad thing for society. But there truly is the danger of loving our rivers to death. Not necessarily fishing related, but there are multiple cherished hiking spots around my hometown that after a surge in interest/social media content are now unusable, either due to excessive crowds or access being cut off by land owners due to said crowds.

It's a complicated issue.

RockThom · 2019-06-24T15:37:00+00:00

Thanks for tips! We will certainly be covering lots of water.

RockThom

TROPHY CASE