The Dysfunctional-Palooza Obnoxious Masshole BS Thread

[balrog]

For those of you that know or would like to know @Yooper we will be at Springdale in Framingham on Friday at noon enjoying beer and pizza and on Saturday at Stone Cow enjoying beer and BBQ. Just in case you don't know us by sight look for BigJohn - he is the fairly tall fellow sporting a long goatee.

So bummed! Gotta go the other way as I have a nephew graduation that day in Syracuse. Hope you all have wonderful time.

 

[Yooper]

I will????!!!!!!! That sounds awesome!!!!!!

 

[bluemoose]

Are there really people smoking where you eat food?

Absolutely. It’s like the states 25 years ago.
How is the smoking in Italy? Heading there soon. Went to France and Germany 2 summers ago, you forget what it’s like to have indoor smoking.

 

[Melana]

I will????!!!!!!! That sounds awesome!!!!!!

Yes you will!!!

 

[Yooper]

Absolutely. It’s like the states 25 years ago.
How is the smoking in Italy? Heading there soon. Went to France and Germany 2 summers ago, you forget what it’s like to have indoor smoking.

It's not bad, really. I mean, they are smoking for sure. But not indoors where you eat. I sat outside in a few places and they all smoke out there. So it depends on where you sit and who sits by you. I think Germany last summer was a bit worse than Italy this spring.

One thing nice is that in Tuscany, the place was FILLED with bikers. Road bikes, not motorcycles, and they tended to be health conscious and didn't smoke so we were more than happy to find a table next to the guys in spandex bike shorts out on the patios.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

For those of you that know or would like to know @Yooper we will be at Springdale in Framingham on Friday at noon enjoying beer and pizza and on Saturday at Stone Cow enjoying beer and BBQ. Just in case you don't know us by sight look for BigJohn - he is the fairly tall fellow sporting a long goatee.

Nice! I went to Stone Cow for the first time last fall. Nice setting altho it was raining pretty good, muddy and most of the food stuff was closed near the end of the sesaon. But the barns were nice and the bands were playing. Still a nice drive. I did a microbrewery tour coming down from the north on the route 2 side with the foliage out in full strength.

 

[HoppyDaze]

Absolutely. It’s like the states 25 years ago.
How is the smoking in Italy? Heading there soon. Went to France and Germany 2 summers ago, you forget what it’s like to have indoor smoking.

That’s incredibly disappointing

 

[paulthenurse]

There are way more positives than negatives. Like on a scale of 10 : 1.

 

[bluemoose]

That’s incredibly disappointing

It’s really not that bad. You can easily find places to eat without smoking. Biergartens tend to be pretty Smokey. Coffee shops with open air fronts too.
We have been a few times in the heat of the summer. The parks are filled with people, especially Paris. Eating, drinking and smoking, because it is too damn hot to be inside.
Where are you headed?

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

I hear the Dominican Republic is a good alternative to Europe.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I hear the Dominican Republic is a good alternative to Europe.

No, you didn’t.

 

[HoppyDaze]

It’s really not that bad. You can easily find places to eat without smoking. Biergartens tend to be pretty Smokey. Coffee shops with open air fronts too.
We have been a few times in the heat of the summer. The parks are filled with people, especially Paris. Eating, drinking and smoking, because it is too damn hot to be inside.
Where are you headed?

We haven't decided yet...the whole thing is quite overwhelming to be honest. Too many choices.

 

[paulthenurse]

Get over it. You wouldn’t think twice about heading to Chicago, would you? You don’t need reservations. Honest to god, other than a vague ‘Let’s go to Alsace to drink great white wine and maybe go to Chamonix if the weather cooperates” we came here without a plan or a single reservation in advance. So far so good. Let’s hope the weather cooperates. I’m now too f’ing old and fat to climb where I want to go

 

[bluemoose]

If I have learned anything, it’s don’t try to see too much. I want to see it all, but while you are doing that you miss sitting at a cafe and drinking in the area. We try to do a city or two when we go and do a deeper dive.
One day, or one week in most of the big cities and cultural centers is not enough.
Once I get as old as Paul, I will be retired and spending months traveling, assuming I am in better condition than he is. God help me.

 

[Dland]

Back yard grill and your favorite beverage, lookin pretty good and easy now, aint it?

Yeah, spend big bucks to go in a poorly sanitized airborne tube and spend time where the only reason anyone talks to you is they want your money,.. chamber pots o commerce don't want this kind of truth disseminated.

Of course I am kidding, travel broadens the mind and consciousness, and who doesn't need that?

(Just using big words so tripper might consider me sentient, ....means a lot to me...)

 

[Rodent]

Just be glad those jet powered 'flying cigars' are now non-smoking. As a life-long non-smoker, those were what used to get me way more than a few whiffs in a restaurant somewhere ever did.

IME Asia is far heavier smokers than Europe, at least where I tend to travel to for work. A non-smoking room in Korea typically means only that the ash tray was removed from a regular smoking room just before you checked in.

 

[HoppyDaze]

Get over it. You wouldn’t think twice about heading to Chicago, would you? You don’t need reservations. Honest to god, other than a vague ‘Let’s go to Alsace to drink great white wine and maybe go to Chamonix if the weather cooperates” we came here without a plan or a single reservation in advance. So far so good. Let’s hope the weather cooperates. I’m now too f’ing old and fat to climb where I want to go

Yeah, well we don't want to stay in hostels and jerk strangers off for food.

 

[paulthenurse]

Yeah, well we don't want to stay in hostels and jerk strangers off for food.

Well of course not. You go on vacation to get away from your regular day to day grind.

 

[smurfjuice]

WOW, just floccin WOW

 

[day_trippr]

Points for Paulie!

 

[the_bird]

 

[bluemoose]

Anybody been to Balzano in the Tyrol area?

 

[paulthenurse]

Close. We went to Trento for a day before heading into the Dolomites to ski for a week maybe ten years ago. Don’t remember much about the city, it was overshadowed by the mountains experience and then the week in Florence/Rome that followed.

 

[bluemoose]

We are going to go to Rome for a week, with a short trip to the Amalia coast, then head north into the Tyrol area for hiking and relaxation.
Not planning to go to Florence or Venice. I understand it is wall to wall people during the summer. Maybe hit those in the off season another time.

 

[paulthenurse]

The Dolomites were drop dead gorgeous and the skiing went on forever. The areas run one into another, we’d spend the mornings headed away from our ‘home’ area and end up four mountains away. Then turn around and head back in the afternoon. Stunning skiing but weird. There were these beautiful open bowls that no one skied because they were ‘out of bounds’. I ripped up a few of them until a guy on the chair told me that the ski patrols there take that stuff seriously and it’s a 500€ fine on the spot. You don’t have the cash in your pocket they’re taking you to jail.

 

[bob1852]

I know a guy who's going to NHC and he's supposed to bring back some Bog water for me. I'm totes excited.

 

[paulthenurse]

I remember how I felt just before I climbed onboard the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I would bring all my club mates to sample the bog water, but it isn’t on the list for the kickoff party, so that isn’t going to happen.

 

[paulthenurse]

What happened to being able to add pictures through the mobile app? When/why did that go bye bye?

 

[day_trippr]

Hmmm? This is via the HBT-branded Tapatalk Android app...