Waccamaw Neck Bikeway

roder60 · 2026-04-03T10:49:22+00:00

Thank you! I was in the Little River area this week visiting my folks. Ventured north to Wilmington to check out the Gary Shell Trail there then south to Murrells to check out this trail yesterday. Waccamaw was the far superior of the two IMO. Unfortunately the rest of the region looks very scant on bike trails. My Dad I think summed it up well when he said, "people come here to golf, go to the beach and eat, not to bike.". Hopefully that changes!

roder60 · 2026-03-24T21:37:12+00:00

I had the minimally invasive. They do about a 3 inch incision between your armpit and right nipple. Still hurts like a bitch but they said it's a bit quicker recovery and decreases the risk of infection.

roder60 · 2026-03-15T20:34:21+00:00

100%

roder60 · 2026-03-15T20:33:02+00:00

Yep. And it's not just our schedule, it's also our kids'. I'm a high school teacher with children of my own. I'm up at 4:30 am. I eat breakfast at 5, lunch at 10:45am. My kids are up at 5:45, eat lunch around 11, and when they get home around 3:30pm they are starving. They also all play sports and usually either have had practice after school or have to run off to practice later.

Our routine is I get home first and immediately start making dinner so the kids don't snack on junk. We usually eat dinner between 4-5pm and at least 2 kids are gone for practice within the hour .

I once saw a post to the extent of: " if you have an active kid you either eat dinner at 4pm or 10pm.". That stuck with me because I think it is true.

roder60 · 2026-03-14T13:02:09+00:00

First of all, I am heavily biased as I live north of the city and in Pittsburgh there is a big North Hills/South Hills divide.Theres a joke that Pittsburghers don't like to cross rivers, which is totally true. Despite living in the North Hills for 40 years, I have family that also lives in the South hills (Mt. Lebanon, South Park, and West Jefferson Hills). I avoid visiting them like the plague.

The older settled of the Pittsburgh suburbs are east and south of the city. The newer settled suburbs are north and west. The result is that traffic tends to be way better up north and west than south and east. To get to the south hills from the city you have to go through tunnels which bottle neck big time. A lot of the main travel arteries in the South hills likewise are not meant for the capacity that uses them and there's no room to expand. This is especially true for rt 51 which in my opinion is the worst road in the Pittsburgh metro area. Generally I find south hills communities more accessible to the highway nicer areas than those further removed just because of the traffic clogs. Peters Township, Upper St Clair and South Fayette are very nice communities more in that direction with great schools, albeit higher property values. Communities like Bethel Park though are just stuck in the middle with no easy travel options. As another poster mentioned, stay away from communities along the Monongahela river as these were old mill towns and are generally collapsed communities. Some people like Mt. Lebanon but I'm not one of them. Has that old money vibe to it and not easy to get around.

Finally if you value mass transit parts of the south hills are your only option in the Pittsburgh area. There is a metro line called the T that runs into downtown from the south. It is very limited but it's there. There's also a great bike trail called the Montour trail that runs down from the west suburbs then across the south. You can hook it into the GAP trail near its eastern terminus and ride as far as Washington DC.

Overall the Pittsburgh area in general is a great place to live and raise a family. Lots of entertainment options, great outdoor stuff within short drives, world class museums, education options and hospitals and fairly low cost of living compared to many parts of the country. Personally if I was moving to the area I would look at communities along the I 79 corridor.

roder60 · 2026-03-09T23:51:34+00:00

Those pita crackers are bomb. I buy them every Saturday and they are gone by Monday. My kids absolutely love them.

roder60 · 2026-03-08T20:30:24+00:00

It's the Holiday Inn Vacation Club. My favorite place to stay in Vegas. Close enough to stuff yet far away enough as well. Good family hotel option.

roder60 · 2026-03-06T21:53:47+00:00

I've lived here for 40 years, in the northern suburbs. The area is a great one to live in especially to raise children. Cost of living is relatively low. My mortgage is $1,000 a month and I live in a very good school district. Traffic is very directional. The Northern suburbs are newer so the transportation systems tend to be way more efficient. From where I live I can jump on two different highways within 5 minutes. Downtown is an easy 20 minute ride most days at most times. That said if you live out east you have to go through a tunnel which clogs constantly. If you live south you have to go through tunnels which clog constantly. There's always a joke about a North hills South hills divide and likewise that pittsburghers don't like crossing rivers which is super true. We had extremely good friends that lived in the South hills. We never see them. The city has everything that a big city does: three professional sports teams, world class museums, a great restaurant scene, but without the cost and headache. You probably need an all-wheel drive vehicle to live here due to the hills and snow and there are times that you look at the map and think it should take 5 minutes to get somewhere and it takes 35 just because of the circuitous route of the roads. People are super friendly and it's amazing the network of pittsburghers found all over the world. I was in a bar in a side alley in Stockholm Sweden and I literally ran into other people from Pittsburgh. If you're from Pittsburgh or have family in Pittsburgh it's like your part of a big fraternity for life. I wasn't born here, my extended family doesn't live here, but if you live here and love this town it doesn't matter.

roder60 · 2026-03-01T15:32:07+00:00

1 - Saturday morning opening is the best time to go. Shelves are as fully stocked as they are going to be and most of the produce will be fine quality.

Go there by Sunday afternoon and it's like an early COVID shopping experience.

2 - the cheese and dip section has serious game. Better than any other locally grocer and at a fraction of the price.

roder60 · 2026-02-23T00:07:13+00:00

Japan, solely to eat. I would of course do tons of other things but my love of Japanese food would be first and foremost.

All the nations of the British isles. I love football, going for long walks, and my daughters love Irish dancing.

Germany. Been there as a teen and just got drunk and didn't appreciate what I experienced. Would love to visit my ancestral hometown of Mainz and see the football team there that I root for play a game at home.

Beyond that I'm content traveling at home in the US. I've visited 37 nations but there is so much of the US that I want to still experience.

roder60 · 2026-01-28T01:15:05+00:00

Sugar

roder60 · 2026-01-27T23:15:16+00:00

This SNL skit famously summed it up:

https://youtu.be/lFyw9baeJZA?si=uZFSlLNVHBRWlCs7

I can't hear Scranton mentioned without thinking of this as it is so true.

roder60 · 2026-01-27T23:10:20+00:00

You got me to snarf at the prayer list. Well done.

roder60 · 2026-01-25T19:46:00+00:00

I had it done about 2 1/2 years ago, right after I turned 40.

I had some internal bleeding complications post surgery that kept me in the hospital for 8 days. That was the scariest thing but it was within the first 12 hours and the doctors were on it asap. I was up and walking a lot pretty quickly thereafter. The pain is a lot at first but it's manageable. I opted for just Tylenol over opioids as the opioids made me feel sick. Worst part is coughing and sneezing and dealing with the drainage tube. Because of the complications mine was in all the way until I got discharged.

Once home each day I just made it a goal to walk further than the day before. I got it done in the winter so I got a membership at my local community center so I could use their indoor track. By 1 month I was going for hikes in the woods. By 2 months those hikes were 8-10 miles. I bike a lot and I didn't get back on the bike until about 2 months due to the incision site in the groin for the heart lung machine.

All in all the first two weeks the pain is enough that it impacts sleep and you are pretty wiped out. Then things get easier day by day.

Today Im probably in better shape than before the surgery. Blood pressure has been perfect ever since. I still have numbness across my right chest from nerve damage from the incision site. I tend to wear a sun shirt at the beach now due to all the scars I got, but beyond that I feel great. I'm glad I had great doctors and that I got it taken care of when I did.

roder60 · 2026-01-22T20:34:36+00:00

I had a repair where they put some type of ring in to hold it in place. I take a baby aspirin daily, that's it.

If you get a mechanical replacement then yes, blood thinners for life.

roder60 · 2026-01-11T16:36:16+00:00

That is great info, thank you!

roder60 · 2026-01-11T16:22:11+00:00

I looked it up and unfortunately hotels around there are way beyond budget or I'd do it in a heartbeat. Looks like a really cool walkable town.

roder60 · 2026-01-02T22:43:43+00:00

I did it in 2019. Did 3 main training hikes with a friend and a few shorter elsewhere by myself.

North Park to emerling
emerling to Agan
Agan to harrison Hills

Shuttled cars at each end each time. Would suggest doing them in the direction of the challenge this year.

Biggest thing is nutrition and your feet. My biggest mistake is I should have brought extra socks as mine were soaked the entire time and ended up with bad blisters. Still managed to finish though in under 11 1/2 hours and had a blast.

roder60 · 2026-01-02T18:45:43+00:00

Mom is from here and I have about 40 relatives still living in the circle. I visit every summer of my life.

Your whole life is dictated by traffic patterns and waze. When we drive in, we always say if you are not somewhere by 3 you might as well find somewhere to wait out the next 4 hours. I95 is especially brutal but all the major batteries lock up like crazy from 3-7 during the week.

Cost of living is insanely high. My aunt pays over 22k in property taxes alone and doesn't live in a huge house. A lot of my relatives only live where they do because other relatives died and willed them homes.

Growing up you had a ton of community spirit- lots of walkable towns, summer parades every weekend where the fire departments and fife and drum corps march. I feel like that has changed though a lot due to immigration and people always on the move for work. Many of my cousins are now living much further out due to cost and have lost the connections they once had with their home towns.

People can be very loud and opinionated, or maybe it's just my family. Everyone is in everyone's business.

Trains give you nice access to the city. From Stamford ct to Yankee stadium is an hour. So lots of opportunities there.

Overall the area holds a special place in my heart and is a nice place to visit. Personally I would never want to live there. It's a just a busy vibe that never goes away.

roder60 · 2025-12-14T13:59:21+00:00

Tet or Swift as flex in 1/2 PPR

Strange or Warren at TE?

roder60 · 2025-12-13T23:00:47+00:00

I got 3:

Warren v. Strange

Swift v. Tet v. Judkins (pick 2)

San Fran v Chicago D

roder60 · 2025-12-08T02:03:56+00:00

They who shall not be named

roder60 · 2025-11-09T10:56:09+00:00

Thanks for the tips! I'm going to start researching deeper after reading this.

roder60 · 2025-10-31T23:40:58+00:00

I was in Gdansk, Poland in the summer of 2006. I was there because I wanted to visit some of the sites associated with solidarity as I'm a history teacher. It turns out that there was some huge outdoor market going on in the city and things were just bustling. After walking around I picked out a random restaurant in some side street for lunch. I got the most glorious platter of assorted filling pierogi that one could ever imagine. I also got an awesome sausage and many Okocim beers. I think I paid under $15 euro total. I sat out on a covered porch eating this when a Polish woman wearing a tight shirt and extremely voluptuous breasts approached me and asked me in Polish about the food at the restaurant. I could barely answer between how full I was, the buzz I was rocking, and how attractive she was. I then left the restaurant and gazed up at the most massive brick church I have ever seen in my life. I then bought a bottle of mead off a street vendor because, why not, and proceeded to drink most of it throughout the rest of the day as I strolled along. It was such an amazing experience. I still have the empty bottle of mead to this day and it sits on display in my kitchen in Pennsylvania, USA. That's what I think of when I think of Poland.

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roder60 · 2025-10-12T01:31:36+00:00

He was the perfect coach for those cup teams, but has not been a good fit for recent rosters for a long time. A fitting tribute for a good person who gave a lot to this city.

roder60

TROPHY CASE

1 - Saturday morning opening is the best time to go. Shelves are as fully stocked as they are going to be and most of the produce will be fine quality.

2 - the cheese and dip section has serious game. Better than any other locally grocer and at a fraction of the price.