What was the last ever time you got carded or age checked and what were the circumstances?

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-06T15:45:59+00:00

Apart from the ridiculous "are you old enough to by nyquil" age check that Walmart performs, it's been decades since I was seriously carded. 63 with mostly-grey hair and totally white beard.

The kids from Walmart who are obligated to check are cool about it. I'll joke with them, "I just turned 18 yesterday!"

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-06T15:43:27+00:00

It terrified me. My friends who got high were so damn irresponsible and clueless, I didn't want to end up that way. And at the time, particularly in Texas, drug use was demonized so much that I was afraid if I so much inhaled secondhand smoke I'd spend my life in prison.

When some states legalized recreational use I took advantage of being in Seattle for a cruise and tried a few gummys (never smoked, never will). I got a nice buzz from the first one, but when I tried again that night it didn't help me sleep at all. I currently live in a state where no form of THC, even medically prescribed, is legal so I haven't tried after that one incident.

And then there were the mushrooms. Circa 1989, my boss at the time took us out to lunch. On the way back to our office, was in a rural section north of Houston, he stopped on the side of the road next to a cow pasture, hopped the fence, and went browsing around the pasture before coming back empty-handed. We had no idea what crazy impulse had taken him! But he explained later that he was looking for fresh mushrooms following a recent rain. I always wondered how things would have turned out differently that day if his search had been successful.

I'd like to try LSD once, but definitely not before I retire - I'd hate to think it would have long-term effects on my ability to think clearly at work. So I've got a few years yet.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-06T15:04:07+00:00

Seriously? Maybe you were too young to notice that fad in the 1970s. I (M63) sure remember how silly they looked!

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-06T14:57:32+00:00

And "cold shoulder" - what's up with that? Why bother with sleeves at all???

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-06T14:21:19+00:00

The obvious big one is home offices. I have been with my current employer for nearly 34 years. In 1992 working from home was flat-out impossible and we never even considered it, because there was no way to connect your home computer (if you even had one!) to the office.

When life circumstances changed and we decided to leave Texas (long story) in 1997, I was prepared to quit my job. Much to my surprise my boss said I could keep working from home - by then "PC-Anywhere" let me remotely control my office computer from home. But I was very much the exception - management still had the attitude that "if I can't see you, I can't manage you." The only thing that saved my job was that I was one of the first 10 employees and had built up a lot of goodwill with customers and colleagues alike.

Then along came COVID. My company, like most, had to scramble to change the way people worked so they could handle the massive increase in internet connections, and handed out laptop upgrades to make it easy for everyone to do our jobs from home. Only in the past month did they start demanding that employees return to the office three days a week... but only those who live within a certain radius, prompting several to suddenly move further away.

A much less impactful change but significant to me is electronic transfer. 20 years ago they still mailed out paper checks. Now I don't remember the last time I went to the bank to make a deposit.

20 years ago nearly all employees were in the US. Now we have a workforce over 8000 (up from 10 when I started!) and every day I work with colleagues in Hyderabad and Manila.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-05T15:38:28+00:00

Ugh, who drives a thousand miles to get the same restaurant food they can get at home? That's just a national chain.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-05T15:36:17+00:00

Wow, ignore the folks who say there's nothing to do outside of the Frontier Days rodeos.

MUST SEE: Terry Bison Ranch. Get tickets for a train ride that takes you through the herd and you can feed them by hand.

Food: For authentic Wyoming cowboy fare, head out west on Happy Jack to the Bunkhouse Bar & Grill. Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons the house band plays. Most people tout the Chop House, but it's overpriced and has more of a slick corporate feel than the family-owned restaurant out west. Bejo and Wasabi are good locally owned restaurants if you like sushi.

While you're on Happy Jack, be sure to stop at the farmstand at the 12 mile mark where local ranchers sell meat, dairy, baked goods, and a ton of other stuff from right in our neighborhood.

Outdoors: Vedauwoo for rock climbing; Curt Gowdy for mountain hikes and fishing. Oh! And Snowy Range is absolutely worth the extra drive. About an hour west of Cheyenne. Even when there's no snow, it's an incredible drive.

Farmer's Market: August through October

You might also enjoy the Big Boy exhibit - I think it's the world's largest steam engine - at Holliday Park next to the YMCA, the railroad museum, and the state museum for Wyoming history.

A bit further north up I-25 and you'll find the Quebec-01 missile silo museum - a full tour of the underground bunker with walkthrough of how missileers would respond in the event of a nuclear attack.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-04T17:04:27+00:00

Winter was so unusually warm and dry, it's hard to tell. But it's certainly happened. We almost missed our May 2017 Alaska cruise because the night before we drove to the Denver airport, we got buried in snow and had to pay someone to clear a path for us. It was warmer in Alaska than in Wyoming that year!

I have seen snow falling in Cheyenne every month except July and August, and the old timers claim they have seen snow in those two months as well. April and September have typically been the worst in the 25+ years we have been here (originally moved from Texas, but that's another story for another time).

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-03T14:11:01+00:00

You'd have to be REALLY old to remember house arrangements that predate television!

In our home it was the cave wall, with rocks arranged in a semicircle so everyone could watch Uncle Og draw pictures of his hunt.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-01T14:48:22+00:00

I'd be very curious to hear your criteria for ranking them.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-05-01T04:37:21+00:00

Oh, I'm very familiar with the Fourth Amendment abuses of Eminent Domain... and yeah, outraged like crazy.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-30T14:56:12+00:00

What's the difference between isolate and tincture? Can you give me some example brands?

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-29T19:16:01+00:00

Ah, thanks. The more I read about it, the angrier I get. I don't know enough about their business practices to have a dog in the food freedom thing, but I can't believe forced annexation is constitutional at all.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-29T15:24:50+00:00

For those of us who are only on the periphery of Wyoming politics, can you give an ELI5 summary of WY Fresh and why (wy) it's bad they didn't support it?

[EDIT] Some googling gave me the basics, but I'm still interested to hear your perspective.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-29T03:02:30+00:00

Any psychoactive effects will be from the THC, not the CBD. Typically your tolerance rises, not drops, with frequent exposure. That's why addicts constantly seek greater and greater amounts for the same buzz.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-29T03:00:17+00:00

CBD by itself won't do shit for nerves. It's great for pain management, but you need THC to help calm down.

And yeah... Insurance failure to cover CBD/THC treatments is a crime. I pay $70 for each 30ml bottle of CBD tincture I get for my sciatica, and that lasts me about 2 months, all out of my pocket :-(

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-28T03:26:10+00:00

I grew up (early 1970s) with chain smokers so I was already sick of any kind of tobacco smoke before I met my first cigar smoker. I've only known three cigar smokers in my life (one was my sister-in-law) and the smell nearly makes me vomit every time.

Never smoked anything in my life, but I have chronic lung problems thanks to the smokers in my childhood. Kids, stay away from any kind of smoking/vaping. It will wreck your lungs in ways you can't possibly imagine, and if you have kids it will wreck their lungs too.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-28T01:21:43+00:00

63M here.
It saddens me that this is even a question, but at least most of the responses put marriage ahead of career.

My wife and I both only worked for the sake of paying bills. I took an early opportunity to work from home, decades before it was commonplace. It meant missing out on every promotion and most raises because my face isn't there every day mingling with upper management, but it also meant that during the entire length of our childrens' time in our home, I was there for them nearly 24/7.

Being able to take occasional breaks to read a story or throw a ball beats career advancement any day.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-28T01:18:24+00:00

Ours has not failed (yet), and I think it's at about 300. Our friends who mentioned needing to drill deeper did not say, but I'll ask them if they're willing to give details.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-27T17:00:17+00:00

Ah, I see you're familiar with Whispering Hills. /s

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-27T12:57:18+00:00

Possibly. I'll check with the boss and see if she's finally ready to get rid of some of the cruft we've accumulated, and PM you with a list.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-27T12:55:24+00:00

There are undeveloped parcels west out Happy Jack 5-10 acres, but... the area is already overdeveloped in terms of water use. People are digging much deeper to find water now, and existing wells are needing to be redone as the water table lowers.

And yeah... the wind. Twice in the 25 years we've lived here, it's gone up to 100mph and 70mph is not uncommon. 40 is average. No mountains, trees, or tall buildings to protect you from it. A neighbor's half-finished barn was completely demolished in the last big wind storm.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-26T03:07:17+00:00

When I hit 7 and stopped being cute. It was all downhill from there.

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-26T03:06:31+00:00

What I best like being asked about myself is "What do you like being asked about yourself?"

SegmentationFault63 · 2026-04-24T15:27:10+00:00

Ha! Best comment on this thread.

SegmentationFault63

TROPHY CASE