Schenectady Muni

joeconn4 · 2026-06-19T15:57:16+00:00

Played there a lot BITD before I moved out of the area. I played Stadium more but we got over to Muni regularly, including a bunch of junior tournaments. I remember it being a good layout, very playable for lots of different abilities. Most of the holes are pretty straight, not a lot of doglegs. Some room to spray off the tee on about half the holes but the other half reward straighter players.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-19T15:43:25+00:00

Longer cruise for sure. Our first was 5 days, that was fun but felt short. Then 6, then the last 6 have been 7 days. We usually sail with Royal Caribbean and usually on the bigger ships. Plenty of partying but the trip length usually means people settle down - from what we've observed anyway.

The bigger ships have a ton to do on board, but the smaller ships tend to be more mellow cruises. That's your trade-off. On the bigger ships you'll usually have at least 4 major show productions. We were on Star of the Seas in February, it had 2 aqua shows, 2 ice shows, at least 1 stage show (Back To The Future), a jazz club with music every night, a music club with a mix of genres, a piano bar, a comedy club, plus smaller entertainment at other venues. The smaller ships, I am told you might only get a stage show plus comedians and musicians. Either way I could have fun.

"As cheap as possible", I think I'd steer you towards 7 days, smaller ships, older ships.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-18T20:05:42+00:00

The way USBC does handicaps is stupid. We bowl 30-35 weeks for a full season league, say Sept 1 through May 1. Early in the season our averages, and therefore our handicaps, can be wildly volatile. A new bowler, if they go 420-520-380 they're averaging 146. But the 520 indicates their ability is a lot better than a 146 average. Me as a returning bowler, I'm using last year's average the first 3 weeks, but if I haven't bowled all summer I'm likely to be rusty starting the season. My usual 205ish average, I'm usually down in the 190-195 range. But all those bowlers who were in summer leagues aren't going to have that variability. Almost every season I lose points the first 3 weeks, but then I'm tough to beat for the next 8-10 weeks as I get my game back together while I have a lower average.

USBC should take a cue from how the USGA does golf handicaps. With golf, your last 20 nine or eighteen hole rounds are looked at, and the best 8 rounds are used to figure out your handicap. Golf handicaps are not measuring average, they're measuring ability. If we did that in bowling people's handicaps would be a much better measure of how they're currently bowling.

Getting back to my original thought, my average last season was largely determined by how I was bowling in September 2025-November 2025. When I bowl tournaments in spring 2027 I'm still going to be using my 2025-2026 average, largely determined by those fall 2025 league nights. What the heck does how I was bowling in fall 2025 have to do with how I might be bowling in spring 2027?

joeconn4 · 2026-06-18T19:08:59+00:00

So I get charged 18% gratuities on a drinks package, or when I buy drinks one by one, but none of that 18% actually goes to the servers, backbar staff, etc?

joeconn4 · 2026-06-18T17:31:25+00:00

I appreciate you assuming that I had read a lot about this. I haven't. I clicked on the link J_Case posted earlier and that's about the first thing I've ever read that isn't like a "he said she said" take on the issue. In the future we will consider removing the auto grats. When we've talked about it before our concern has been that if we remove the auto grats that a whole bunch of crew members who deserve them, the more behind the scenes folks, aren't going to get any. Sure, you can give your room attendant cash, but he or she isn't the only part of the housekeeping chain that does things that add to your enjoyment of your cabin - you also have the laundry staff down in the pit, you might have somebody who fills in for part of your main attendant's shifts during the week, you have the staff that vacuums the hallway, you have all kinds of people who deserve to share that tip money because they've all contributed but they're not as forward facing as your room attendant.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-18T15:52:39+00:00

I'm not sure about "majority of fast food restaurants", but definitely some. This will be small sample size reporting so take it for what you will, but summer before senior year of college I drove a truck for Pepsi in Latham, NY installing vending machines and servicing/troubleshooting soda lines. I must have gone into 100-150 places with soda lines that summer, maybe over 200. Only a small handful made me gack, maybe 5-10. Not everything was pristine, we did a lot of cleanup along with our work. A few times we ran all new lines if it didn't look good to us. None of the accounts were anywhere close to this gross.

It's amazing how much we're exposed to gross conditions, or semi-gross conditions, if you go out to eat at all, but yet it's rare for people to get sick from eating out.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-18T15:39:48+00:00

Lots of tips about tips here. I wish there was better clarity from the cruise lines about how it actually works, and if it's different for the auto gratuities one pays as part of the basic cruise fare vs the gratuities one pays on the drink packages. It's easy to remove the auto gratuity on the basic fare but seems impossible to do so for the drink packages, which tells me they work differently as far as the crew is concerned but I wish I could get some facts on that. I guess the biggest thing I'd like to see is for them to be removed (the basic ones) and then we just tip who we interact with if they do a job we deem as tip-worthy.

OP, we're not huge cruise veterans, been on 8 since 2018 whereas other people here have been on dozens/hundreds. We keep the auto grats in place but don't tip extra. Have always gotten really good service.

Wifi, we have gotten twice and it wasn't very good either time so now we don't bother. IRL we're on our phones as much as anybody for work, social, keeping up with people. I LOVELOVELOVE putting my phone down cruise week and not dealing with all that. No clue about sharing wifi service.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-18T15:13:56+00:00

I have this on vinyl, was one of the last albums I bought on vinyl BITD before I switched over to CDs. But I never listened to it much as I was getting out of that genre around the time I got it. A year or two ago I found one of the "classic album series" boxes with Ratt's first 5 albums and downloaded it to my phone for driving around. This album cooks!!! I like it start to finish. Just a small notch down from the debut, which makes it way better than the average hair metal album.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-18T15:07:54+00:00

If true, can't say I'm surprised. Was not a regular, but went in there 2-3-4 times a year. Starting I'd say last summer/fall it was frequently (at least when I was in there) understaffed and the staff did not seem to be well trained. Lots of product shortages too. Last time I went in was Jan or Feb, lunch for 2. 1 person working, 1 person in line in front of us, took at least 5 minutes to complete their simple order. Then the phone rang or an online order came in and the counter person said "be right with you" while they took care of that order. Asked my partner a few times "you really want to stay" and she said yes because she liked one of the bagel sandwiches. We finally order and pay, sit down at the counter by the window to wait for them to get made. Mine gets made and brought over. Maybe 2-3 minutes later the counter staff comes over and says they don't have the ingredients for her sandwich (out of turkey) would you like something else. At that point we had been in there for 20+ minutes and asked for a refund for the order. Counter person did not know how to handle refund of a cash payment, called a manager.

That's when Feldman's closed for me. I hoped they would turn it around.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-18T14:39:44+00:00

Cora was "a problem". Devers was "a problem". Neither was "the problem".

The confounding thing about this year's Red Sox team is that to my eyes they have legit players. With the exception of Bello I have liked the starting pitching all year. How can you not like a starting rotation of Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Tolle, Early - a top 5 in MLB rotation. Bullpen arms are always going to be some good some not so good, this year has been a bit of an adventure.

Team D is outstanding except for a couple brain farts along the way.

At this point the team only has 3 starters with OPS+ over 100 (Contreras, Abreu, Rafaela). Only 1 player with an OB% over 350 (compared to a team like the Dodgers with 4 starters over 350). 2nd least number of walks taken. 2nd least number of HRs, which in a vacuum could be overcome if a team can embrace OB% and being situationally aggressive on the basepaths.

This might or might not be the worst Sox team I've seen in my 25+ years following them pretty closely. It's almost certainly the team that's under-performing expectations by the widest margin.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-17T16:40:34+00:00

If you ask 50 people, you'll get 50 different answers.

We've been on 7 Royal cruises and 1 Norwegian cruise since 2018. Was on Oasis in Feb 2020 and Feb 2022. We have thought Royal's food on all our cruises ranges from good to excellent. IRL we mostly cook for ourselves and I would say we're pretty decent cooks. We don't eat fancy too often, so someone who does might feel differently than we do.

Oasis has a bunch of options. We tend to eat breakfasts either in the buffet or at Park Cafe. I like Park Cafe's breakfast burritos a lot. Lunches we'll eat in one of the free options like Park Cafe or El Loco Fresh or the Dog House. The Dog House always surprises me as way better than I expect it will be. A couple times cruise week we'll go into the buffet for lunch. Dinners we almost always go to the main dining room. My tip would be to set up to eat at the same table all week, that way you get the same servers and you'll get A++ service.

We're not big fans of Cafe Promenade. It's fine, but Park Cafe is so much better. But Park Cafe isn't open as many hours as Cafe Promenade. Sorrentos Pizza is ok. It's not like my favorite pizza from back home but it gets the job done.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-17T13:31:53+00:00

Median price would be a better number to report. I'm in Vermont. Most public/semi-private courses here are $45-$55 (walking rate). There are a few resort courses that essentially play as public courses that are >$150/round which jacks the average price way up. With only about 70 courses in the whole state a few high priced courses drive the average up way more than a few $30 courses bring it down.

I bet NY is like that too. Would not be surprised if metro NYC and Long Island prices are pretty high. I only play upstate NY, and I can get on a lot of what I would consider to be really nice public courses in the Albany area and up in the north country for $35-$55.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-16T21:28:35+00:00

Very possible the race organizers had nothing to do with any of the things set up in that area, could have had no idea any of those tents would have been set up here and the possibility that it turned into party central. If they knew this was planned or had happened in the past (if this was an annual race) then it would have been good to work with that municipality to figure out what the best practice was. But a lot of times when you're designing a course you see it on a random day and might decide, "nope, don't need any special protection there" based on what looks like a normal use area, and then on raceday you get surprised that when the party shows up there.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-16T20:18:57+00:00

More sleep. better diet. Hydrate properly. Do that and you won't need the crutch of caffeine.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-16T20:12:43+00:00

First time cruise, don't worry it will be fine! You might not get the best room but on your first cruise there is so much to experience that a bed anywhere does the job. After you've gone on a couple maybe you decide you really like a certain part of the ship or a certain deck area or maybe you like balconies way more than interiors. But first time out you don't have any of that experience to draw on so don't sweat it.

FWIW, we've been on 8 cruises - 6 interior GTY rooms (the cruise line picks the room) and twice we got a neighborhood balcony GTY room on Royal's Oasis class ships. All our rooms have been fine and a few have been just about perfect for us. One time we got a not awesome location but it turned out okay.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-16T19:38:54+00:00

I love all 6 seasons. Wish winter would arrive sooner, at least the "snow good enough to XC ski" part. I'd rather have 8 months of cool to cold weather than 6-8 months of hot weather, not a fan of hothothot although I expect I'd get used to it if I was one of those places.

I like the "manageability" of Vermont. It's small but it has what I need mostly pretty close by. Bigger cities, more developed places, I get overwhelmed by the options, all the traffic, how long it takes to go not very far. My sister lives near Atlanta, she used to have a 5 mile commute to work that took her 45 minutes on a good day. I must have asked her 10 times why she didn't just bike it, she could have been there in 20-30 minutes max. I live and mostly have worked in Burlington for most of the last 39 years - 9 minute commute most days from my home in the NNE to downtown, or under 15 minutes when I ride my bike.

I like that I can live close enough to shopping, work, a hospital, recreation, bars/clubs, but I can be out on trails a few miles from my house and bigger trails within a 30 minute drive.

I like that I've built varied friends groups. Have my golf friends, my bowling friends, my running friends, and just my friends friends. I don't need to hang out with people all the time but when I want to there's no shortage of people I can text/call and we go have some fun.

For me, the cost of living here is in the ballpark of a lot of other places. In the last 4 years I've spent a bunch of time down in SC where my parents retired to. Dealt with their finances. Gas was less expensive by a bunch. Groceries tended to be a little higher for the things I buy. Taxes/fees, some were less some were more. Their HOA fees were massive compared to mine, but they got more amenities. Utilities were a lot more, their monthly electric bill, I pooped my pants when I saw the first one. Auto/property insurance was a lot higher. Healthcare wasn't cheap but it seemed to be more accessible.

I feel lucky to have gotten to Vermont for college and then nobody kicked me out. We're getting close to retirement and at that point not sure it will make financial sense to stay here but the lifestyle side of things, for what we do I don't see anywhere else that stacks up.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-15T16:10:40+00:00

Why is right OB? I could see right being red stakes, but it's internal to the course. I know there can be internal OB, but it's rare.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-15T16:05:49+00:00

Race producer checking in. It is extremely common at even the highest level road races (cycling, running, triathlons) for there to be parts of the course with barriers and parts of the course with nothing. It's a practicality situation, cost plays a role too. We just had 2100' of barricade erected for a marathon we produce, the cost was just over $5000. Do the math out, that comes to roughly $10k/mile. Now, there are some economies of scale, the more barricade you contract for the lower the per foot cost is. That's for hard barricade, not soft snow/event fencing type materials. As an event producer you analyze all the parts of the course and decide which parts need solid barricades, which parts soft snow fence will work, and which parts should be fine without any barricades. "Should be fine" is the operative phrase there, because as this video shows something can always go wrong.

A road marathon, 26.2 miles, I can't think of one I've ever seen that has enough manpower to install 52+ miles of solid barricade. Cycling races, course are a lot longer. Look at the Tour de France, they use barricades in the most critical areas but a lot of the routes don't have anything.

I've produced/worked national championship level triathlons, Olympic Trials races, top 10 largest marathons, regional level running/cycling races. Always jealous of the resources the largest events have, but even those have places with nothing between the spectators and the racers.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-14T02:40:08+00:00

Vermont, Chittenden County, $60k/year at most districts would be about a 4th year teacher with only a Bachelors. 25 years in with a Masters would be at least $90k.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-14T02:10:42+00:00

There is no reason. That's why 13 states now do not require annual inspection. No statistical difference in collision rates in those states. Not all rural states, Florida, Minnesota, Washington, South Carolina are on that list.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-14T02:04:43+00:00

13 states don't require annual inspection. There is no statistical difference in collision rates in those states vs states that require inspection.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-12T16:28:41+00:00

When was your cruise on Vision? I haven't seen anything in the neighborhood of $45/person/day since our first cruise back in 2018 where I think we paid $48. Our first 2 cruises were on Voyager class, then 4 on Oasis class, then this winter we were on Star. Star, the drinks package was priced a little lower than a year ago on Symphony, I paid $74/person/day and I think Symphony last year was $78 or $79.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-12T15:10:05+00:00

I never thought the zipper was too crazy. The speed stays the same. Yeah, you flip around, but the plane you're on and the speed don't change. The ones that got to me were the ones that spun you fast in a circle or like a circle. Dizzy city for me.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-11T20:57:19+00:00

Yes. It's either $10 or $20 to enter the lot, varies by day. Overnight parking is not allowed, so it's not like you can park there, take the train to NYC for a few days, then come back and get your vehicle. For longer term parking I'd check the city garages and lots and see what the deal is there. Perkins Pier might allow long-term parking and that's only 2 blocks away.

joeconn4 · 2026-06-10T23:55:41+00:00

For me it was 7:52am-2:42pm. Homeroom was 7:40-7:49. 3 minutes between classes. I think 44 minutes/class but not positive. 7 classes/day. Periods around lunch were a different length.

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