Robert Pence

Decent-looking CBD with some classic facades; the post office is elegant. The infill doesn't harmonize with the building forms of its surroundings, but it's better than parking lots. I like it.

Rochester's High Falls are quite spectacular despite the muddiness of the water, and the pedestrian bridge provides outstanding views. Overall the city looks better than it did when I visited about 12 years ago, and it it looks as though they're continuing to enhance and promote the historic district. I was on a trip to New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts then, checking out historic sites and camping mostly in state parks, and was in urban-avoidance mode on much of the trip. Only later did I learn about the vast amount of interesting stuff in Rochester that would have merited more time. Thanks for providing the excellent tour.

Exellent photography on what looks like a gorgeous day.

Ravenswood Station is an interesting concept; develop a market and other retail and make sure nobody lives nearby, but provide plenty of parking. Where have I seen that sort of thinking embraced before? Oh .... wait ....

Some of the "dumb jocks" I've known since high school ascended to top jobs and accumulated a sh!tload of wealth during their careers. I infer from that that the main prerequisite for accumulating wealth is the desire to do so; apparently it doesn't take a lot of brains. I ran circles around most of them academically, and while I've done OK and have an adequate retirement that meets my needs and keeps me mostly contented, I couldn't present near the resume or claim the affluence that many of them could. I guess the determining factor is that I've never desired to be wealthy.

I just heard a dreaded sound -- the grinding of a snowplow blade on pavement. After two days of hard rain that have brought the river within less than a foot of going onto the lowest part of my street, it's been snowing hard for the last couple of hours. The temperature is now about 34F with a forecast of up to three inches of snow overnight. We're under a winter storm warning until 1 a.m.

Respectable-looking city, with a properly imposing capitol building.

For the last two or three days, unleaded regular at the Speedway station nearest my house in Fort Wayne has been $3.169, the cheapest price I've seen in a long time. Makes me want to buy that big pickup I was looking at the other day; it has two 19-gallon tanks that I could just fill up and use for storage. I could run my Focus on that for about a month! :wink:

Read The Dumbest Generation - Or, Dont Trust Anyone Under 30, by Mark Bauerlein. The author brings together information from studies and test results that show that immersion in technology in schools only builds proficiency in the use of technology, and that students' ability to assimilate fundamental knowledge and an understanding of how past and current events shape the future actually has declined with the implementation of digital technology and media in classrooms. Developing the ability to find quick answers to simple questions on the internet is not the same as learning how to acquire knowledge and understanding from life's experiences. Social media have encouraged a self-involved culture that sequesters itself and focuses instant gratification in the form of reinforcement and approval among peers, and rejects exposure to civilizing influences like interaction with people of previous generations.

That's a big reason why nobody rides trains any more; they're too crowded! :wink:

I picked up a set of filter wrenches somewhere, maybe mail order from somewhere like Porters. They work really well, without risking damage to the lens or filter; they're round and gently springy, and you just use finger pressure to pinch them tight. Put one on the filter and the other on the lens filter ring, and every stuck filter I've encountered has come off easily without torquing the lens mechanism. Inexpensive and effective. Loitering at the local camera shop the other day, I mentioned to one of the guys the color cast problem with some UV filters. I got out my Hoya 62mm UV filter and laid it on a sheet of white paper, and the warming effect was very visible. He took a ProMaster UV filter off the rack and placed it beside the Hoya, and the ProMaster produced very little - almost no - color cast. Hoya = $ 7.95 ProMaster = $14.00 I got out my wallet and said, "Gimme dat." I usually keep my lens hood in place, both for protection and because sometimes I end up shooting close to the sun or other bright light sources. For lenses 28mm and wider, vignetting from a lens hood can be a problem; I bought a Nikon collapsible rubber lens hood that fits a 52mm filter ring for that situation. I haven't done that because I use a cut-out (window) mat on top of all my framed photos, and attach the photo to the window mat with self-adhesive archival linen hinging tape from Lineco. It will peel off most surfaces if you do it slowly and carefully. For surface mounting there are cold-mount peel-and-stick materials that are advertised as archival that you can use to avoid the heat of a dry-mount press (or the expense, if you plan to buy one), and I've seen spray adhesives advertised in the same manner. Not having used these, I don't have any pointers or recommendations.

Even if it were $71.4 million ( :wink: ), it would be an awfully good value for the improvements in rail traffic movement it's expected to produce. On a railroad project, I think $71.4 would perhaps cover the fully-allocated cost of one bucketful of ballast rock.

^^ Beautiful dog! Both of you look pretty serious. I enlisted in the USAF going on fifty years ago; some of the memories remain so vivid that it's somewhat jarring to think of those years in terms of how much time has passed. The experience was interesting and at the end of my four years active duty I was glad I had done it and and eager to be done with it. People's experience depends on a lot of variables, including luck, timing, and individual personality. Getting through basic training mostly involved putting individuality aside while maintaining focus and personal integrity. Some people didn't make it because they couldn't take orders and/or freaked out at being yelled at, and some lacked personal integrity from the start. 1962, 22 years old My recruiter was honest with me; I took the tests and signed the papers and got on the bus without any promises. I met some guys whose recruiters guaranteed them a particular tech school or assignment just to get them signed up, when the recruiters had no authority to make those promises. When they found out the guarantees were worthless, and ended up doing something other than what they expected (i.e., promised electronics and ending up as a cook), most were pissed about it. I don't know if the procedures are different now, but unless it's a legal contract on an official AF form, it's worthless. Verbal promises mean nothing.

Glad to hear it; that should restore some faith in the dealer's service department's intergrity. I remember a time when some bad apples gave dealers' service departments a reputation for screwing over customers pretty badly, but I think tightened scrutiny and media like the internet that let dissatisfied customers spread the word have caused most of the bad ones to shape up or shut down. There are a few locally, one Ford dealer in particular, that experience has taught me to steer clear of, but for the most part dealers' shop and sales staffs are reasonably honest now.

Not too bad, I guess :wink: In any economic environment Grand Rapids would stand out, and in Michigan's current situation it's especially impressive.

Traveling from Cleveland to NY I'd definitely recommend the train. That's a fairly long ride, and even if the train runs hours late, it's still better for that distance; I know I'd find a bus terribly confining and uncomfortable for that distance. Travleing by bus I've been stuck with seat-mates I would have preferred to avoid (drunk hillbillies, body odor, etc.), and the close confines intensify the unpleasantness of the situation. if there's heavy snow the train is more likely to keep going, and there's room to get up and move around, opportunity to meet a variety of people with interesting travel experiences over meals in the dining car, snacks and beverages including alcohol available all day and into the late evening in the cafe car, and splendid views across New York State and along the Hudson River. One of the most enjoyable train rides I've had in the eastern part of the country was on that same route, traveling to NY from Bryan, Ohio. I don't know how the fares compare, but on Amtrak the earlier you make your reservation, the better the deal you get.

Speaking of which, I had to make sure you were active on here today after reading this headline - http://news.yahoo.com/american-stranded-ukraine-online-dating-scam-181151852.html It sounds like Mr. Dolego had issues with fantasy and self-delusion even before he traveled to Ukraine, and his inability to comprehend reality and plan accordingly was what led to the mess he found himself in.

Happy Birthday! You are now one-third my age! I thought about offering some sage advice, until I contemplated where all my wisdom has gotten me :roll:

Indeed. For the major carriers, passenger service was as much for public relations as it was for revenue. Much of the public animosity toward railroads for noise, grade-crossing accidents, traffic delays, and hazmat issues has evolved in the years since they first drastically downsized their passenger operations and then got out of the business altogether. Even though railroads keep huge amounts of freight off the public roads and streets, reduce the consumption of petroleum in commercial transportation, and reduce air pollution associated with those activites, probably most people don't see them as serving to the public any more. The railroads' names have ceased to be associated with memorable family vacations and holiday travel in the minds of generations of people of all economic classes, all over the America. <rant> The short-sightedness and narrow view of some railroad management ties in with what I think has brought about the decline of many American industries, industries that were founded and nurtured and run by people who had a fascination, a passion for a particular product or technology or activity. As that generation aged out, descendants or outsiders who didn't have that passion moved into leadership and decision-making positions. The founders' enthusiasm for the operations end of the business and often their loyalty to the employees and co-workers who had grown with them were replaced by enthusiasm for and loyalty to theories learned from business-school professors and textbooks that taught how to maximize short-term profits to the exclusion of all other concerns. Consolidations and mergers and buyouts and takeovers have resulted in decisions being made by lawyers and MBAs in corporate offices hundreds of miles away, who have no interest in or understanding of the operations or products, and who would be perfectly content running a railroad or a construction industry one month and a cosmetics or fashion chain the next, so along as their salary and bonuses continue to grow. America has been taken over by people who have become wealthy buying and selling money, with no concern or perhaps even awareness of the long-term problems their short-term solutions create. The real insight, energy, and commitment in the contemporary railroad industry resides largely in the better-run short lines and regionals, where owners/managers share office space with dispatchers and clerks and sometimes get in the cab or are on site with track gangs. They know their customers on a first-name basis, and they go to lunch with the mayors of the towns their tracks pass through. </rant> I've already been accused of being a commie pinko fag -- more than once. Go ahead, I'm used to it.

The delays are typical of the Late Shore Limited, I think, but if you rode that train on November 2, it was the same one I rode. It worked for me because I had deliberately planned an overnight in Chicago in anticipation of the late running. Unfortunately we don't have the Megabus option in Fort Wayne -- just two Greyhound trips daily, and one of those goes Fort Wayne to Chicago via Toledo! Flying is out of the question for me because of cost and inconvenience. South Shore from Michigan City is my best option, but Winter's coming and I don't like the drive to NW Indiana then.

Sounds like it! :-( Sadly, something Columbus apparently has in common with Indianapolis is marginally-functional public transportation. There aren't many options for getting there other than fly/drive, and on my visit a few years ago I didn't find much in the way of affordable accomodations except near the airport, miles from downtown. There are some great city walkable areas for sightseeing but they're rather spread out and I didn't see visitor-friendly public transportation between them or very much parking near them. That may be just on weekends, but still, when do recreational visitors come to town?

I didn't see any protesters on my visit, and if I had, I think I could have established some level of rapport; I'm an old white guy whom some people assume on sight to be a Republican or at least a sympathizer, but I'm actually an out-of-the-closet, practicing, publicly-avowed liberal who flies under some folks' radar. I think you'll enjoy Chicago a lot; it has all sorts of cultural amenities, sports venues, and striking architecture, both historic and contemporary. I think it's a mostly friendly city, and the people I've met have unfailingly been helpful and hospitable. I think many people are like mirrors, and reflect back what you give off. My usual demeanor is relaxed and optimistic and I enjoy most of life's experiences, and if I'm happy or least contented when I interact with other people, usually they respond in the same manner. That doesn't mean you can wander around an urban environment oblivious to your surroundings, but I'm guessing you already know that. Chicago has abundant public transportation, with buses, subways, and trains to get you close to most destinations. Taxis seem to be everywhere, fares are reasonable, I think, for some of the distances involved and convenience provided, and many of the cab drivers are friendly guys who are curious about visitors and willing to engage in conversation. Another area you might enjoy is around Rogers Park, Loyola University, and especially Devon Avenue. Talk about multi-cultural!

Excellent photos, great variety. We had a snow flurry here, too, that day. Yesterday we had a hellacious thunderstorm around 3 p.m. that lasted until dark, and at one point I heard hailstones smacking the house. I haven't been outside to check for damage this morning, yet.

Great shots! And the Pope looks different from when I last saw him in Cleveland, a few years back. You need to stop looking at photos of Chicago, lest you suffer alienation of your affection for Cincinnati! Chicago photos are urban porn, and they're addictive; next thing, you'll be packing up and moving there.

Nice historic residential and commercial building stock, and it's good to see that what remains is valued. It looks like some of those areas, with music, food, and night life, have good density.