Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 59062	2005-06-20 17:53:00	Nobody's here....so,	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
365536	2005-06-20 23:16:00	Yes, everything is bigger in USA. :D Hi, Surfer Joe nice chatting to someone on other side of the world. When I hear someone with an American accent, I ask them "Are you from America, or California?" This usually results in a few laughs :D but sometimes the Californians take offence. :groan: :lol: I have always maintained that Californians are different than the rest of the USA. Would you agree SurferJoe? Then again, so are Texans, and New Yorkers, and...??	Strommer (42)
365537	2005-06-21 00:13:00	OK, as a living Californian and an real-life born-in-the-USA type, I can answer on both fronts . . . #1 I don't take offense to the California jokes . . not at all . . I wasn't born in this state and tell jokes of my own about it too . . . Didja' hear that they put up fences here to keep the fruit from picking the people? That aside, #2 I am on my way to Arizona ASAP, 'cause the taxes here are ridiculous, the roads are overcrowded, and there are drivers who are killing and shooting from cars at other people every day . The rudeness here is on a very high level, as they seem to have perfected it to a work of art . #3 Arizona is a CCW state . That means that every citizen is allowed to carry a concealed weapon, loaded in their vehicle . It sure takes the edge off someone who wants to be a butthead and try to force you off the road; after all the other guy may be armed . #4 I can actually breathe the air in Arizona without having to carve off a chunk for later use . The water is clean and drinkable without going thru all sorts of processing to purify it first . #5 The gas prices are lower, and they sell real gas, not the stuff we get here that is cut with alcohol and gets about 30% less fuel mileage, at a higher cost . #6 Apples taste like apples and not like potatos . #7 State sales taxes are lower . #8 There are tremendous differences in attitudes and dialects in the US . Like you said, there are Texans, New Yorkers, and then there's California . But here it is just a huge melting pot anyway and the accents all get melted together and become indistinguishable . Let me digress a little here : Every place, either here or there or places in between have a real beauty and many desireable attributes . I don't ever intend to slam anyone, but there are times when it all gets to one and there has to be a greener pasture somewhere . I am sure that there are burrs in the clover in Arizona, but the odds are stacked in it's favor in my eyes right now . I have lived in Spain, Cuba, Germany, Italy, Greece, most of the whole eastern seaboard of the US, and some of the South American states too . In travels to Australia (I was in the US Navy), I met great people and have a few friends there . I actually have an immense concern and like for the Chinese people as well as Guamanians . I didn't like Japan or Korea . But you see . . . that's just me, and I am sure with some further education, I too will in time grow to like everyone a lot better . Right now, I am working on my New Zealand portfolio . :)	SurferJoe46 (51)
365538	2005-06-21 01:19:00	"Everything" isn't bigger there. Joe quoted "a pint's a pound the world around" in another thread. That's apparently part of the brainwashing of US kids. I first heard it from a friend from Colorado as part of the cultural shock in coming here in 1968. He found that in most of the world a pint is 20 ounces. The 16 ounce pint applies to the US and its colonies.	Graham L (2)
365539	2005-06-21 01:47:00	"Everything" isn't bigger there . Joe quoted "a pint's a pound the world around" in another thread . That's apparently part of the brainwashing of US kids . I first heard it from a friend from Colorado as part of the cultural shock in coming here in 1968 . He found that in most of the world a pint is 20 ounces . The 16 ounce pint applies to the US and its colonies . AH! I see! However, is that a pint of Guiness? I thought it only meant that is was 20 ounces when it was warm, but cold it was still 16 ounces! So much for a US education!	SurferJoe46 (51)
365540	2005-06-21 03:16:00	Interesting to read your reasons for moving Joe. Spent a few weeks in Porterville in the San Joaquin Valley years ago. After the Hells Angels were long gone. :D Enjoyed California but Colorado is my favourite state. In fact, the whole area around Four Corners is the place I'd most like to explore. That includes Arizona of course. :thumbs:	Winston001 (3612)
365541	2005-06-21 22:46:00	SurferJoe - Thanks much for the California-Arizona comparison. Very interesting. My sister and her husband did the reverse - last year they left Phoenix and now are in SanFran (Oakland). The Christian fundamentalist Bush lovers got to them, plus the HOT DRY climate. Your world experience is fantastic! Cuba???!!! Would certainly like to hear more about Cuba. I thought Amercians could not travel there?? Let us all know when you come to NZ. You are most welcome to stop by our place, and if my old father-in-law is still alive and kicking, he will take you out fly fishing (he is an expert and somewhat of a legend in these parts; he came here as a Marine in WW2 and fought in the big battles in the Pacific). I also would love to go back to the 4 corners area. Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico - WONDERFUL places!	Strommer (42)
365542	2005-06-22 06:11:00	SurferJoe - Thanks much for the California-Arizona comparison . Very interesting . My sister and her husband did the reverse - last year they left Phoenix and now are in SanFran (Oakland) . The Christian fundamentalist Bush lovers got to them, plus the HOT DRY climate . Your world experience is fantastic! Cuba???!!! Would certainly like to hear more about Cuba . I thought Amercians could not travel there?? Let us all know when you come to NZ . You are most welcome to stop by our place, and if my old father-in-law is still alive and kicking, he will take you out fly fishing (he is an expert and somewhat of a legend in these parts; he came here as a Marine in WW2 and fought in the big battles in the Pacific) . I also would love to go back to the 4 corners area . Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico - WONDERFUL places! TY for the insight . . but I too have little affection for the whole Phoenix area . . it's too damned hot! Even for me from semi-desert near Palm Springs, Phoenix is Hades . My affections go to a little town called Snowflake . No, it has very little snow there at all, it was just founded by two men, one called Mr . Snow, and the other . . yup! Mr . Flake! It is at 6,000 feet elevation and way above most contaminants that the lower cities have to offer . This name isn't so hard to understand, as just down the road (south) is a town called Showlow . That is a card game, and rumor has it that the founder won the area in a poker game . The main street thru town is called Deuce Of Clubs, so there may be more tham a smidgen of truth to it . To quote a famous American journalist, Mark Twain: " . . . the coldest winter I ever experienced was the summer I spent in San Francisco" . anyway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :( . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . my sister was born in Cuba, as a Navy brat in a Navy hospital in Guantanimo, Cuba . She has dual citizenship yet, even though the US didn't like to let her have it . I remember a lot about Havana and the local marketplaces where my mom would take me . I had a wonderful friend in a constable there called "Mr . Blue" . He got his name because he was (Jamaican? Maybe!) but SO black, he had a blue color/colour to him . Wherever he started to sit, no matter where, there would magically appear a chair under him by the time he got low enough to need it . I never saw him hit the dirt! Respect he had . He usta carry me on his shoulders across the market place and one day he put me down rather abruptly and took off in three strides, catching a fellow by the scruff of the neck . He then held the guy's hand up, (right I think) and showed everybody that he was missing all his digits except his thumb . He then took off his ceremonial sash, and tied the man's hands behind him, and made him kneel down and removing his long curved sword, cut off his head . Nobody was scared that I could tell, but the market got very quiet for a few minutes . My mother told me the man had been caught a few more than 4 times stealing, and the final conviction was beheadding . I remember it very well and clearly . . . This was in 1948, and 'way before Fidel . :xmouth: I haven't been back since 1954 or so . there are other stories in North Africa and Egypt too . . . .	SurferJoe46 (51)
365543	2005-06-23 01:18:00	Very interesting! Thanks for the stories . Getting his head chopped off, and you saw it as a child? Nightmares about that or other :eek: disturbances? I did forget that not all Arizona is hot and dry like Phoenix . I have been to Flagstaff, years ago, and I also remember driving from the hot desert up into the mts where it was nice and cool . Snowflake sounds like a nice place to live . To quote a famous American journalist, Mark Twain: " . . . the coldest winter I ever experienced was the summer I spent in San Francisco" . Indeed . I once flew from Denver to SF in the summer and was so chilled that I joined the queue of tourists that were buying warm sweatshirts .	Strommer (42)
365544	2005-06-23 05:01:00	Very interesting! Thanks for the stories . Getting his head chopped off, and you saw it as a child? Nightmares about that or other :eek: disturbances? I did forget that not all Arizona is hot and dry like Phoenix . I have been to Flagstaff, years ago, and I also remember driving from the hot desert up into the mts where it was nice and cool . Snowflake sounds like a nice place to live . To quote a famous American journalist, Mark Twain: " . . . the coldest winter I ever experienced was the summer I spent in San Francisco" . Indeed . I once flew from Denver to SF in the summer and was so chilled that I joined the queue of tourists that were buying warm sweatshirts . Well, I guess I have been called disturbed :D , by this or whatever I don't know . . . lol . . If you get the time and the inclination, google Snowflake Arizona and check it out . They are sister city with another to the immediate south of them, and together they have 3 police cars, and 6 cops . The chief of police even has his picture, street address and home phone number on the site . It's a lot like Andy Of Mayberry . . if you NZ's ever saw that US tv show .	SurferJoe46 (51)
365545	2005-06-23 05:29:00	The Andy Griffith Show? Legendary. That's where Opie got his big break. :D I see Snowflake isn't far off I40. Visited the Petrified Forest and the meteor crater years ago. Very taken with Arizona. :thumbs:	Winston001 (3612)
1 2 3