What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[Exhuminator]

A few months ago I drove to go see my brother in Missouri. I drove up through Georgia, through Tennessee, through Kentucky, through the bottom of Illinois, and then into Missouri. All the roads were great, no problems, EXCEPT Illinois. As soon as I got into Illinois, there was road construction everywhere, and TOLL booths. When my GPS came up and warned me about upcoming tolls, I told it to find me an alternate route through the state without tolls. No way in hell I was paying tolls on roads that were already representative of inept results of previous public taxation. As soon as I got out of Illinois and into Missouri, it was smooth driving again. No other states I went through had tolls on the highways or road construction everywhere.

[mjmjr25]

Flying with 6 people isn't an option - at least not too Chicago - it's only 6 hours to Rockford by car - so to spend $1,500-1,800 for 6 plane tickets for a 2 day trip just isn't going to happen - it should be reasonable to hit it in the car on the way through, but this isn't the first, or fifth time it's been this horrible. I'm just avoiding it altogether from now on and going down to Bloomington / Normal and then East.

I've never wanted a cell phone and I still have no plans to get one - but yes, had I had a cell phone, I could have called the hotel and they could have given me the low-down on traveling 10 blocks the opposite direction to connect up with the one-way in front of their hotel.

In better news - everything else about the trip was pretty great and Cedar Point lived up to the hype. I'll probably do a dedicated thread to our trip as there is a lot i'd like to share. When we go on vacation - we don't rest; we just hit it and hit it hard - this trip was no exception.

[Jagosaurus]

I almost got snowed into Chicago in 2006. Was one of the last flights out. Landed in 80 degree Houston lol no joke

Out of everything, I got you don't have a cell ???

Posting from my mobile now I need for my work & it's integrated into my daily life so much, hard to imagine. I just DLed several hours of podcast to listen to. I'm not big on social media at all, it essentially acts as my tablet/laptop when away from my work desk.


Speaking of podcasts... I've been addicted to "Serial" podcast where a journalist investigates a suspicious 1999 murder & conviction in Baltimore, over a 12 episode podcast. Very interesting.
http://serialpodcast.org/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_(podcast)

It's been confirmed for two more seasons. Any1 listened to it?

[noiseredux]

Yeah i heard all of season one.

[Jagosaurus]

Yeah i heard all of season one.

Lol very chilled response. Did you enjoy it?

I still have 7 episodes left but the entire thing seems sketchy. Way too many inconsistencies & the state only used cell tower pings to make their case, leaving out times when it didn't fit.

Especially...

him mumbling "pathetic" to Jay as he takes the stand. As if saying he's a rat? I'm thinking Jay was involved more than he says but Syed did it.

[REPO Man]

- Heading to the beach!

Outer Banks?

If so, where?

[Fragems]

: Apparently my info was leaked in the last wave of USPS database hacks . At least they are giving me 1 year of free identity theft protection, but it still sucks to know my info might be floating about out there.

[noiseredux]

Yeah i heard all of season one.

Lol very chilled response. Did you enjoy it?

I still have 7 episodes left but the entire thing seems sketchy. Way too many inconsistencies & the state only used cell tower pings to make their case, leaving out times when it didn't fit.

Especially...

him mumbling "pathetic" to Jay as he takes the stand. As if saying he's a rat? I'm thinking Jay was involved more than he says but Syed did it.

sorry for the short response. Wasn't sure if you finished the season. My main thing is... I was left feeling confused. I wished there was more evidence either way. So much bad evidence tho. I'm not sure what I would have felt if I was on that jury. His attorney didn't help. No disrespect to the dead. But it seemed like a failure of a trial. I think the final left me sort of... wishing I felt strongly one way or the other, but I didn't.

There were so many weird things with timeframes... I felt like a case was never really made there. Timeframes that meant nothing!

Jay was not one I believe like... ever tho.

What about the Nisha call? So many unanswered questions.

At any rate, did you hear that Syed's case is up for a retrial and there will be another podcast following it?

That said, I'm looking forward to another case and new season of Serial. It's a great podcast.

[Michi]

: Apparently my info was leaked in the last wave of USPS database hacks . At least they are giving me 1 year of free identity theft protection, but it still sucks to know my info might be floating about out there.

Big bummer. My mom's had her info swiped twice, but luckily her credit card company picked up on it both times within minutes of the transactions (the purchases were all out of state and they called to confirm she hadn't gone off on vacation or something without telling them.) Despite all the leaks, I think some of the companies are getting a little better at picking up suspicious purchases, but I'd still keep an extra close eye on your bills. And if you're really worried, inform your bank and credit card companies that any non-game related purchase is to be immediately flagged as suspicious activity

[Luke]

Flying with 6 people isn't an option

An option is by default always an option. But I get what you are putting down.

Cedar Point is great. King's Island is even better if you have a chance to visit.


Smile: 366 days ago I met a dude who blew off his left hand, and started being his mentor of sorts. I've even posted pictures of us together (see Ice Cube's stunt double).

In one year he's earned an associates degree, is going back for another one, and has completely changed his perspective on life for the better.

I really, really love this dude as he has had some major struggles, but after a few months he did some soul searching and set goals, and reached them in a limited amount of time. He really looks at the world in a different light, and appreciates and acknowledges things that he used to hate or not recognize.