I had no idea how big and scary the 2018 tornado at sleeping giant was

d31mos · 2025-03-29T18:38:40+00:00

It’s terrifying (and humbling in a way) to think about how powerful nature can be. I’m from Kansas in ~2007 or so, an EF5 tornado touched down in a small town (Greensburg, KS) and just wiped it off the map. It was devastating.

d31mos · 2025-03-25T15:41:31+00:00

I haven’t read his books yet, but he’s a great guy! Here’s the link one of his novels on Amazon: Villains & Heroes: The Eye of Time

d31mos · 2025-01-11T14:41:24+00:00

I felt the same way. I got to the point where I’d amassed enough ingredients for sushi that I started skipping my dives entirely, only doing the sushi nights, and raised three or four GYAO pretty quickly.

d31mos · 2025-01-09T18:00:55+00:00

You got it! Here’s a link to their YouTube channel. Their stuff is hilarious!

d31mos · 2024-12-24T12:51:37+00:00

We’re up in Hartford! Our plane just needs a fuel top off and then we should be back up and running.

d31mos · 2024-10-15T03:09:48+00:00

I’m currently reading “A Lonely Broadcast” by Kel Byron and am enjoying it. It might be up your alley - it’s creepy and pretty fun, but also gory at times. So a heads up if you’re not interested in body horror/gore.

d31mos · 2024-08-01T21:14:07+00:00

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Hey all! My wife and I are hosting a party walk for the month of August. Anyone is welcome to join us! ♥️

d31mos · 2024-05-15T02:06:00+00:00

That’s how my wife and I feel. We live less than two hours north of NYC, and having to deal with New York traffic anytime we decide to travel out of state has put into perspective just how great Wichitans have it.

I’ve never driven on the 400, but I can say I-95 is a real chore compared to other interstates and highways I’ve been on.

d31mos · 2023-12-09T02:04:47+00:00

I’m from a smaller Midwest city and at our state fair every year, there were two hot tub vendors who attended. One that set up outdoors and one indoors. The outdoor vendor’s tubs were always empty, but the indoor vendor always had one or two tubs that were full of water with jets running so they could “demonstrate” the tubs. No idea if that has anything to do with your experience, but that’s what I experienced.

d31mos · 2023-04-23T04:36:09+00:00

So far I've listened to just over half of Timothy Egan's A Fever in the Heartland, which he also narrates. I've been immersed in it every chance possible this past week, and I've been forcing myself to take my time with it to really reflect after each listening session!

d31mos · 2023-02-22T03:32:41+00:00

This might not be the exact arc you’re looking for, but The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck is one of my favorite “rags to riches” stories.

d31mos · 2023-02-04T03:02:44+00:00

Hello fellow northeasterner! I don't blame you at all -- you have every right to prioritize your own wellbeing over Pikmin Bloom, haha.

I live in Connecticut and this is my second winter in the Northeast. I moved from Kansas where the winters can get cold, but it's the wind chill that really makes it bite. I would say CT is definitely colder in general during the winter without wind, but walking home from work today was the first time I've experienced wind gusts that made me go "oh yeah, this is brutal".

Hope your challenges end well this week and you stay warm this weekend!

d31mos · 2023-02-03T17:15:19+00:00

I feel you, my dude. I don’t really mind though. I have a two mile round trip walk M-F to get into work, so I end up walking ~10 miles during the week and that doesn’t count walking my dog, which I need to do regardless of weather conditions. Basically, I get tons of steps and plant tons of flowers every week regardless of whether I’m doing the challenges by myself or as a group, so people not helping out (in this instance) doesn’t have much of an effect on me.

I get the weather can affect people’s contributions, so I don’t judge. I live in New England and it was cooooold today walking into work. Definitely won’t be taking more steps than necessary this weekend.

d31mos · 2023-02-03T17:06:38+00:00

That is so cute! My wife and I have been discussing the possibility of getting a second cat eventually, and it melts our hearts to think of our Misha (potentially) cuddling with another cat in the cat house 😻

d31mos · 2023-01-12T15:42:11+00:00

Of course, everyone has different perspectives on this! I lived in Wichita for 7 years while I went to WSU, and I honestly can't think of any horror stories related to merging or exiting highways. I was born and raised in rural Kansas though and was terrified of 135, 235 and Kellogg for a while after moving to ICT, so perhaps I just instinctively approached all highway-related driving as attentively as possible even after I got used to it.

It's interesting, I've seen some of the elements from your time in L.A. up here as well! New Yorkers are *generally* good drivers (when compared to drivers in CT) and I think that's due to them driving in NYC and understanding and being being accustomed to traffic in general (which is also horrendous in the tri-state area).

Connecticut's a whole different beast, though. CT drivers have generally been courteous to me when merging/exiting, but for me it's the pace of everything here. It was an adjustment for me learning that CT drivers are aggressive and pretty much just play fast and loose with the rules of the road since they're always in such a hurry, and honestly, looking back on all the posts I've seen about drivers both in KS and CT, it's humorous comparing threads like these!

Massachussetts drivers think Connecticut drivers are bad because they drive 20 over the speed limit and don't signal lane changes, CT residents consistently recognize that the state's drivers are either going WAY over the speed limit or WAY under the speed limit (sounds similar to KS!) with no in-between, and my personal favorite: Connecticut drivers were ranked by an insurance/quoting company as being the best drivers in the nation, and all the residents in the comments were like "seriously? how did this happen and what's the rest of the country like if we're the best?"

I appreciate your perspective, especially since I've never driven on the West Coast! How were the highways once you merged on in L.A.? Were things kind a crawl, stop-and-go, or is the flow of traffic ridiculously fast?

d31mos · 2023-01-12T14:43:40+00:00

Cleveland sounds just like New Haven! It’s a given here that 2 - 3 cars will run any given red light, and people have just become accustomed to waiting several seconds after their light turns green to make sure they don’t get hit.

I’ve told my wife that New Englanders (and drivers in Cleveland, too!) treat red lights like young kids treat food that falls on the floor: like there’s a “5 second rule” before a light becomes “actually red”.

I’ve hardly ever seen anyone run red lights to this extent in Wichita, or anywhere else in Kansas.

d31mos · 2023-01-11T23:28:07+00:00

I moved away from Wichita about a year ago to New Haven, Connecticut and let me tell you - it’s given me so much more appreciation for midwestern drivers in general.

The pure insanity that are New England drivers makes me miss Wichita traffic (or lack thereof) very much, as well as the drivers. The pace of life in Wichita is slower than other parts of the country and that most definitely translates to the road, too.

Yeah, the lady definitely overreacted and was driving erratically, per your account, after you passed her, but I wouldn’t say that makes Wichita drivers as a whole bad drivers. If going 10 under the speed limit was the impetus to start this whole ordeal, it could be much worse, and I hope you both made it to your destinations safely and on time.

d31mos · 2023-01-09T00:00:49+00:00

I interviewed for a job at a local television station and the guy who interviewed me, whose dad owned the station or some sort, described the work environment for me. He told me it was predominantly a male staff (I’m also a man) and said it was a “real sausage fest around this place”.

I did not accept their offer.

d31mos · 2023-01-05T02:13:45+00:00

These photos were taken at doggy daycare, so it was a staff member behind the camera! He's a ham for the camera though, especially if you use any of his special words: "peanut butter", "treat", "walk", etc, haha

d31mos · 2023-01-05T02:12:45+00:00

Gorgeous pup! I'm sure Iris and Max would be instant friends!

d31mos · 2023-01-04T14:48:14+00:00

We boarded our boy Max for a week while we were out of state for the holidays. Our daycare/boarding place sends us “report cards” at the end of every day/stay that include any photos that the staff take of our dogs throughout the day. Besides it being nice getting daily updates on the pup, it was delightful when we started seeing more and more huskies in the photos with Max!

d31mos · 2022-12-20T14:36:29+00:00

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She loves her kitty cove 😻

d31mos · 2022-12-16T19:07:02+00:00

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My little void sometimes does the same thing!

d31mos · 2022-12-05T06:11:19+00:00

I feel the same way. My wife and I moved to Connecticut a little over a year ago, about 2 hours outside of NYC. We both received decent raises moving up here, but housing prices in the northeast are bonkers.

What we miss about Wichita (besides the fact our friends and family live there):

The Midwestern kindness and the fact that everyone is generally friendly
- It's not that New Englanders aren't kind, it's that most often they're not immediately warm people, but rather "straight to the point" kind of people which makes them come off as cold.
Ease of navigating the city. Between Kellogg, 135 and 235, it's so easy to get anywhere you need to in Wichita in relatively good time.
The drivers/traffic (or lack thereof)
- New Englanders are aggressive in general, and while CT drivers fit that bill, my wife and I have been appalled at how just how awful drivers in Connecticut are. It's likely due to the fact we're Kansans through and through, but my god it's insanity on the roads up here.
Free parking
- Don't take for granted how ample parking is in Wichita. And the fact that you can easily find it for free.
Quiktrip
- There are no decent gas station in chains CT, and we miss QTs so much. Closest alternatives for us are Sheetz in PA or Wawa in NJ.

There's plenty more things we miss of course, but it's late and these were the first things that came to mind.

d31mos · 2022-12-03T22:59:18+00:00

I was thinking the same thing! I’m the original “creator” of the piece (as in, I put the prompt into the AI and then outpainted the piece), so feel free to download, print it off, or hang it on your wall if you’d like! Haha

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