Hallo! I'm visiting Norway in two weeks and I can't wait!
I'm currently planning our journey from Bergen to Oslo. The Flamsbana has been recommended to us and it looks really beautiful, but I worked out that taking the train from Bergen to Mydal, then taking the Flamsbana both ways and then getting back on the train to Oslo will be very expensive... the Flamsbana alone will cost us about 1500 NOK each way for two people.
But I looked on the nor-way.no bus schedule and we could take a bus directly from Bergen to Flam for just 450 NOK, which is so much cheaper and very tempting.
So my question is, will this bus ride be as scenic as the train? Or is it worth it to just pay for the Flamsbana round trip?
Takk!

Hi everyone,
I just got back from a trip to Central Spain and am planning a more extensive solo trip for September in Spain and Portugal. Budget isn’t a major concern, but I’d like to be in the 3k range - will be staying in hostels. I am very proficient in Spanish but know no Portuguese.
Possible Itinerary 1:

• Overnight flight from US to Barcelona
• 4 nights Barcelona
• Travel to San Sebastián via train
• 3 nights San Sebastián
• Fly San Sebastián to Malaga, immediately take train to Granada
• 2 nights Granada
• Train to Sevilla
• 3 nights Sevilla
• Fly Sevilla to Lisbon
• 3 nights Lisbon then fly home

Itinerary 2:

• 3 nights in Barcelona
• Fly to Porto
• 2 nights in Porto
• Train to Lisbon
• 3 nights in Lisbon
• Bus or Fly to Sevilla
• 3 nights in Sevilla
• Train to Granada
• 2 nights in Granada
• Train to Madrid
• 2 nights in Madrid
• Fly back from Madrid

Essentially it would be San Sebastián vs. Madrid and Porto. I am currently leaning itinerary 2 since San Sebastián seems less convenient to get to compared to everywhere else, but I did go to Madrid for a bit on my last trip. However, I am very intrigued by the food scene and the contrast in coastlines - I’m not sure what type of trip would bring me there again in the future. I don’t think Algarve fits in either schedule but that intrigued me too. P
Let me know which seems more feasible and if you have any other suggestions of places to visit. Or alternatively if this seems too exhaustive. Thanks!

Has anyone taken the D100 Bus from Horner to DC? If so, what’s been your experience on it in terms of how accurate the schedule/timings are and how full the buses are? The schedule online says it takes about 30/35 mins from Horner to DC is that accurate or how long does the trip usually take?

[Housing] Large Private Room in Massive Spacious Loft - $1200 - Westlake near DTLA Hello, we had good luck finding our last roommate on here a year ago, so let’s give it another shot! Looking for a sublease to fill my room in our massive (4000 sqft) 5bedroom penthouse loft in Westlake, available from July 1st to October 1st. Please consider reaching out even if the dates don't match up perfectly, the constant roommate search is inevitable. Rent for the available room is $1200, comes with a massive bedroom (fully furnished - bed, couch, tv, iMac), and an isolation booth for recording VO/vocals. Utilities averaging $50/mo. Security deposit is $600.
We're four roomies ranging from mid twenties to mid thirties. One is an actor, one is in law school, one is a podcast/livestream engineer, one works retail in vintage clothing, and I am a freelance producer and recording artist. I built a small professional studio in my room that you would have full access to (see pics). My room is especially friendly to recording artists and producers.
Pics here: https://imgur.com/a/8va3BII
From our two private patios, we have a panoramic view of Los Angeles from the Hollywood Sign thru DTLA down to LA Live and everything in between. There's a stage in the living room where my roommate hosts bi-weekly shows under the instagram handle: thelullabyloft
These events take place in the common area, they are professionally recorded and live-streamed, and we have a cap of 30 people in attendance (typically we average 15 people). I strongly encourage you to get involved with these events! They are great networking opportunities, and my roommate is always looking for an extra hand to help run them if you are available/interested
Important facts: - Shared bathroom Parking is included, but not in-building. It's one block away in an underground lot by the Home Depot with a security patrol. - Internet is $10 a month - Our work habits are a mix of WFH and not. The apartment is big enough where everyone has their own space to isolate, but also collaborative if you come out into the common area. - Laundry is in-building on the 3rd floor, paid via app - We have both men and women as roommates; just no couples or pets please. Other fun facts: - We have a ping pong table. - The loft is so large I can forget people are home for hours at a time. - Nearby Food: - The best Indian spot in LA is two blocks away (Bombay Beach) and also will deliver you groceries if you want. - Two of the best taco tents you'll ever visit are within a block. If you get tired of those there's another four to choose from that are also great. - Langer's is a short walk down the road. - There is a Metro bike-share kiosk directly outside of the building. bus stop right outside our spot and closest metro is 8 min walk - You can walk to the grocery store on 6th/Union. - It's Westlake, so manage your expectations about the area. We've never felt unsafe in the 4 years we've lived here. - The room is available for 3 months from July 1st - September 1st. However, even if your availability ranges outside of these dates, I still encourage you to reach out! If I can’t find anyone for next month - - I’ll still be looking for August. Also, with 5 roommates at the loft - new rooms open every so often… so I could keep you in mind for a later date if something opens up! Pics here: https://imgur.com/a/8va3BII
If you're interested, please PM me with a little about yourself (work, hobbies, etc). I will contact you to schedule a video chat and or phone call, and then set up an in-person tour if it seems right. Thanks, and looking forward to hearing from you.

Just got back from 11-day Mediterranean cruise on Celebrity Infinity. Thought I would share what we did and what learned and liked since this gets asked about a lot. Hope it's helpful :)
FYI-We prefer doing food and wine activities over sightseeing and touristy stuff, I will try to add things I heard from other passengers re: things we did not do. I am going to put he tour provider for each excursion for those who might want to book direct. Also, we sacrifice cabin class for good food and more expensive excursions to stay within our budget.
​
Barcelona- We embarked here and spent a few days prior. We were not prepared for the jet lag as we flew overnight and had one quick layover. We arrived midday and napped, but our schedules were off. I would recommend trying to stay up as long as you can and sleep at night, your normal time. Barcelona is seven hours ahead of the Midwest, where we live. Nevertheless, we rallied our middle-aged asses and had and an amazing time.
I pre purchased skip the line tickets for La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell on separate days. We went at our scheduled time and did not wait. We stayed on Las Ramblas and took cabs there and walked back. Many people did hop on/off and that worked well. We also went to La Boqueria Market and bought little things from many stands and sampled a lot. Very fun and cool experience. Did a DYI tapas tour I put together on my own from just research. We did not know this, but Elton John was performing when were there and we got to go, which was amazing! Coldplay was also performing there so the city was crowded.
We stayed on Las Ramblas, which was close to the port, but I would recommend staying more inside the city. Our hotel was okay, clean, but not many amentities. Suited our purposes, but was loud some nights. Cabs and food are relatively cheap and easy.
​
Day 2- Marseille- We did a walking food tour through Shore Excursions Group since the Celebrity one was sold out. This was operated by a company called Do Eat Better Experience. There were six of us, the other 4, not on cruise. Was a four-hour tour and worth it. Went to places I would not have known about. Guide was ok, but not very interactive. We had a great time with the other couples.
We got off early to walk around before the tour which met at 11:30. However, shops and cafe's do not open up till later. I would recommend sleeping later and going into port later, if you dont have an excursion booked. By the time our excursion was over, the towns were buzzing. We took a cab from the port and back, but you can take a bus or shuttle, I believe. Very nice day.
Day 3-Nice (Villefranche)- We did a tour through Celebrity, called Destination highlights, Nice and St. Paul de Vence Village. This was operated by Intercruises Shoreside and Port Services. We tendered super quickly. This was great day and included a lunch at a Michelin starred restaurant and a wine tasting at Cave Bianchi in Nice. We also had plenty of free time to explore each place. The formula 1 racing was in Monoco so there were Ferrari's, Lambo's and other racecars all over the place. We were allowed to look and take pics which was cool.
The lunch and wine tasting were phenomenal. The beach at Nice was gorgeous and if we would have known we would have brought our bathing suit and towels to go there, rather than walk around in the town. You can easily take a cab there and go on your own without doing an excursion. This was an all-day tour. So were back on the ship in time to relax and eat in MDR and chill for the night. It was a great, great day. I will say the people and guides were not as friendly and helpful as in other places, but it's not really an issue and doesn't ruin anything, we just didn't expect it. Our guide in Nice as a little on the unprofessional side, but, to each their own.
​
Day 4-Florence/Pisa (La Spezia), Italy- We booked a tour through Celebrity called, Destination Highlight: Coast of Cinque Terre and Portovenere, operated by Aloschi Brothers. Our guide was absolutely incredible, probably the best one we have had. her name was Duna in case you ever do this privately. We had individual small receivers and ear buds so we could hear her perfectly. We started in Portovenere where there is the famous Church of San Pietro. Just amazing and stunning views. The town is charming, and we walked and sampled. Did not buy much, just some food to take home.
We then took a boat ride up the coast and ended at the last of the Cinque Terre Villages, Monterosso. I am so glad did this over the three-village tour by bus. The boat ride up the coast was just amazing, and I assume this villages were similar. Gorgeous village. Rather than fight the crowd we hiked up a steep hill to the just incredible Porto Roco hotel and ate an incredible seafood and pasta lunch. The views were fabulous, and we had it to ourselves. Great meal. There is also a small, but beautiful beach at Monterosso you can hang out on. This was our favorite day.
We did the Chef's table on Celebrity that night which was otherworldly. A lot of eating and drinking this day. Incredible day!
Day 5- Rome (Civitavecchia) We were never going to Rome, no desire to travel there and deal with the crowds. I booked a private car from We Love Italy to go wine tasing in Tuscany. We had a husband-and-wife couple, Paulo and Nicola driving us, and it was great. They were absolutely lovely, and it was a pleasure and privilege to be with them, so kind and generous. They have an open invitation to stay with us if they ever visit. They also took us to a village and beach in Capalbio and for lunch in Manciano-Saturina. Again, amazing food and wine. The boat left late so we had lots of time.
I heard Rome was not as crowded as some thought and some of our shipmates actually got a glimpse of the Pope at the Vatican, which is so special.
​
Day 6-at Sea- up by 7 :( and got a spot and the hot tubs after breakfast. Stayed by the pool most of morning, it was great weather. Lots of activities to do but we chilled. We did the Mixology class offered by Celebrity which was a blast. We were bartenders at Martini bar for a few hours learning to make and serve cocktails. So, so fun and crew and guests were great.
Day 7- Valletta, Malta: We did an excursion from Celebrity called, Destination Highlight: Seaside towns of Vittoriosa and Marsaxlokk. Operated by Sam Mifsud and Sons. The tour was so so, the best part being a trip for wine and food tasting. Do you guys sense a pattern? It was rather boring, I should have researched better on this one. The fishing village, Marsaxlokk was a basic tourist trap with a makeshift market and nothing open. Vittoriosa was nicer and where the restaurant was. They did set up a nice area and what was served was good. I think doing more on your own or going to Gozo or Limoncello tasting would be good. I looked after and there are some excursions that looked way better.
Day 8-at Sea- Very chill day. We did the Blendique Wine Class and the World Wine Tasting which we have done before. Both super fun with great people and crew. We did not eat much or go to pool.
Day 9- Santorini, Greece-We did an excursion through Celebrity called, Small Group Discoveries: Island Wine Tasting Experience, operated by Rhapsody Travel. Tendering ashore was organized and quick. Went to three wineries on the island and had food at each. Also visited black sand beach and red sand beach. the latter of which was spectacular. Very nice tour with not a lot of people. This also included our cable car tickets down. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the water, which I forgot the name, but it was good. There were 8 other ships there, so it got crowded, we left after lunch and waited a very reasonable hour for the cable cars down to the tender spot. Up tp this point it was nice day.
Due to something very upsetting I witnessed in the town, not cruise related, I will never, never, ever step foot on Santorini again. Not necessary to discuss as it was personal to me, and I don't want to cloud anyone else's experience or opinion.
We watched the famous sunset from the top deck and it did not disappoint. We avoided the very long lines to get back to ship at night.
Day 10-Mykonos, Greece: We did a Celebrity excursion called, Small Group Discoveries: Mykonian Cooking Experience, operated by Rhapsody Travel. People, I cannot tell you how great this was. We went to a private home or spiti. There 14 of us. Teta was our host and the home own. So gracious and generous. We learned so much and all interacted and prepared an authentic lunch and sat down to eat. She prepared dessert as well. It was around 4 hours. She was incredibly gracious and generous. Probably the second-best day we had. One of the best excursions we have ever done. I would do it again for sure.
We walked around Mykonos after and had ANOTHER lunch at a restaurant called Promenade that was great. Very fresh seafood and authentic food. This a was very nice town, we loved it. There was a very small church with a blue dome, (others had different colors) that was open and it was beautiful inside. It was right by the water. I'm not Greek orthodox or even religious, but I got chills. I small prayer of thanks to my G-d for giving me this experience. I would 100% come back to Mykonos.
We bought beautiful piece of art from a local artist and owned studio called, Triciclo. It was really our only big purchase. We don't really but T-shirts, magnets, etc.
Day 11-Athens: I had transfer and we went right home. :(
​
This was a beautiful, beautiful cruise. I could not have asked for better experiences.
Celebrity tendering was fast and organized and easy. This who had excursions at applicable ports met and left by group with 30 minutes of docking. Those who had tickets to tender without a Celebrity excursion got called overhead by group and left from a different deck, also fast.
Quite a few of the guide said Celebrity tender the quickest and best. They mentioned other line by name that were not good, but I don't be negative or worry someone else, so I won't mention specifics.
My other suggestion for Celebrity would be to pick excursions that are "Small Group Discoveries", or "Destination Highlights". These seemed to be a better experience.
Happy and safe cruising everyone!!

I went on vacation approximately one week ago and one of our excursions was at this adventure park in the jungle. The tour guide for our excursion was my type, very handsome and kind- appeared to be about my age (24-26). We chatted a small amount as he helped us set up our safety equipment. It turned out that he wasn’t leading my group but before we took off he came up to me and opened his little fanny pack and gave me a pair of sunglasses and said “here you should use these” and I put them on and said thank you and he said something like “okay good/ that’s better”. It was a quick exchange but felt meaningful because sunglasses weren’t mandatory but they did make my experience a lot better. I had it in my mind to give them back to him at the end of the tour. Mostly to be polite, also so we could speak again.
At the end of the tour, I couldn’t find him. I sat and ate a bit with my group hoping he would walk by, but I didn’t see him. When it was time to go I finally saw him from afar but the shuttle was there and we were on a time constraint. So I boarded the bus, still with the glasses, thinking if our exchange was flirty or friendly. The remainder of the day I was still thinking of it so I called the next morning when they opened and asked if he was on the schedule so I could return them. He wasn’t there, wasn’t on the schedule and my flight home was that night. So I kept them.
I keep thinking if I should’ve took more of a chance. Recently, I’ve been reevaluating how much I am willing to do to find love. How willing am I to take a risk and assume more control of my life. A friend of mine is convinced it’s not too late and I can mail them to the place with a note and my phone number. I feel that could come across creepy but also endearing? Any thoughts? Sorry I’m advanced for the major cringe.

Hi solotravel! I look forward to traveling solo to Albania soon and I would love your help with planning and answering some questions I have.
I will be staying in Tirana and Himare (accommodations already booked). This trip is mostly vacation, but I will be working remote a little.
I am a very easy going and open minded traveler. I love history, food, museums, markets (and negotiating prices :D). Therefore, I'm really open to suggestions.
Budget
My budget is flexible. I'm not looking for cheap, inexpensive experiences, I'm open to splurging a little, but I try to remain mindful of cost.
Question: What is a general idea of what a traveler my spend in a day? I've seen a bit of a range, from roughly $50-$60/day to $100-$120/day. Of course this is subjective, nevertheless, getting another opinion would be quite helpful.
Tirana
I will be in Tirana from a Tuesday to Saturday.
Tuesday - I arrive in the late afternoon. I was planning to check in, grab dinner, walk around Skanderbeg Square.
Wednesday - I am planning to take a day trip to Berat, leave early in the morning from Tirana and return to Tirana the same day in the late afternoon. I would love your help and suggestions on what to see and how I should spend the day, including sites to see places to eat, etc.
Question: Is there a central website with a bus schedule? I have my bus ticket booked to Himare and know I can just go to the station in the morning for my day trip to Berat, but I'd like to get an idea of the bus schedule to get to Berat and back to Tirana
Thursday - This day I am planning to use most of the day to visit Tirana, working a little bit in the morning until around 12pm/1pm. I would love your help and suggestions on what to see, where to eat, etc.
Friday - I will be working for half the day until between 2pm-4pm and am planning to use the half / rest of the day to visit anything in Tirana that I didn't visit on Thursday. I would love your help and suggestions on what to see to.
Himare
I will be in Himare from Saturday until Wednesday when I will return to Tirana before leaving on Thursday.
I've already booked a bust ticket to / from Himare and beach side accommodation.
I would love any and all suggestions on what to do and see, including day trips, other beaches, must-see things and activities, etc.
Thank you so much for any and all suggestions and recommendations!
Cheers!

Hi travel! I look forward to traveling solo to Albania soon and I would love your help with planning and answering some questions I have.
I will be staying in Tirana and Himare (accommodations already booked). This trip is mostly vacation, but I will be working remote a little.
I am a very easy going and open minded traveler. I love history, food, museums, markets (and negotiating prices :D). Therefore, I'm really open to suggestions.

Budget

My budget is flexible. I'm not looking for cheap, inexpensive experiences, I'm open to splurging a little, but I try to remain mindful of cost.

• Question: What is a general idea of what a traveler my spend in a day? I've seen a bit of a range, from roughly $50-$60/day to $100-$120/day. Of course this is subjective, nevertheless, getting another opinion would be quite helpful.

Tirana

I will be in Tirana from a Tuesday to Saturday.
Tuesday - I arrive in the late afternoon. I was planning to check in, grab dinner, walk around Skanderbeg Square.
Wednesday - I am planning to take a day trip to Berat, leave early in the morning from Tirana and return to Tirana the same day in the late afternoon. I would love your help and suggestions on what to see and how I should spend the day, including sites to see places to eat, etc.

• Question: Is there a central website with a bus schedule? I have my bus ticket booked to Himare and know I can just go to the station in the morning for my day trip to Berat, but I'd like to get an idea of the bus schedule to get to Berat and back to Tirana

Thursday - This day I am planning to use most of the day to visit Tirana, working a little bit in the morning until around 12pm/1pm. I would love your help and suggestions on what to see, where to eat, etc.
Friday - I will be working for half the day until between 2pm-4pm and am planning to use the half / rest of the day to visit anything in Tirana that I didn't visit on Thursday. I would love your help and suggestions on what to see to.

Himare

I will be in Himare from Saturday until Wednesday when I will return to Tirana before leaving on Thursday.
I've already booked a bust ticket to / from Himare and beach side accommodation.
I would love any and all suggestions on what to do and see, including day trips, other beaches, must-see things and activities, etc.
Thank you so much for any and all suggestions and recommendations!
Cheers!

The 24 hours before my dad died (stage 4 lung cancer) he was in the ER and then the ICU and we were unable to be with him because of hospital Covid rules. My mother, sister and myself had been texting and calling him all day and got no response. My mother even called the hospital and spoke with one of his ICU nurses who said he was awake and communicating fine. He passed very quickly at 3:30am the next morning. We were allowed to be at his bedside but by then he was no longer conscious so we said our goodbyes and he was gone. Later that morning while my mom slept I was calling cremation services to schedule his body for pick up at the hospital and going through his bag of belongings the hospital had returned to us. His phone was in there and I wanted to read all our texts and take some comfort in my last words to him.
I opened his phone and all our texts had not been read, not mine or my mom and sister’s. I thought this was so odd but figured he must have been suffering so much he couldn’t find the strength. I began to scroll through his apps and noticed a chat app I’d vaguely heard of. I can’t recall the name but it essentially works like WhatsApp.
I opened the app and saw a single contact with a female name. I started reading and realized my dad has been chatting with this girl hourly for the last 24 hours and as far back as I could scroll. He was calling her princess and telling her he loved her and she was saying she was scared for him and wanted to know what was going on, why was he in the ER, etc. I scrolled back enough to know that this was someone he was having at the very least, an emotional affair with.
My grief was completely hijacked by hurt and anger and a week later I tracked the girl down and spoke to her (via dms) and found out she was 19 years old. She was 17 when they met. He was her high school bus driver and she told me they had been dating for almost 2 years.
My dad was 66 years old when he died and dating someone younger than his grandchildren, someone he chose to spend his last moments with and say his last goodbyes to. I hope it made him happy but it sure is a shitty secret to live the rest of my life with. A secret that will forever overshadow my entire relationship with my dad with no chance to ever speak to him about it. It’s the one secret I wish I’d never found out.

Hello. I am a new bus driver, working in one of the biggest and busiest cities in this country. A lot of the people I met in training were HAMs. Lots of people on the job are HAMs. Probably a higher rate than most industries. Naturally, it comes from being largely sedentary while working long hours, especially given the mandatory overtime we have to do. What also doesn’t help is drinking multiple sodas and eating candy, chips, or fast food during your break.
One of my line instructors stressed the important of healthy eating to me. He suggested drinking only water and coffee as beverages, to pack my own lunch, and to have fruits to snack on. Mostly common sense things.
The main issue is he doesn’t follow his own advice and it shows. HAM supervisor is at least 100 pounds overweight. He does drink water, but I also see him drink at least one 20 oz Mountain Dew or Pepsi per shift, and have candy or chips (he’s fond of Doritos) as a snack. For lunch, he usually has Jersey Mikes (to be fair it looks like the smaller serving). He also mentions that depending on the shift he works, he eats dinner then goes right to bed, which probably doesn’t aid in weight loss. He also mentions that he and his wife (also a HAm driver but not as severe) will finish pints of ice cream while watching tv regularly. His regular work assignment is 5 days/57 hours, and he is almost always forced to come in on one of his days off.
When I brought up his hypocrisy in a playful, round about way, he laughed it off and said he just had bloodwork done, and he’s healthy. I highly doubt this. Again, he is at least 100 pounds overweight. Even if he eats healthy at home (outside of the pints of ice cream), there is no way he is not at worst prediabetic and has high risk for heart disease. The high stress levels of the job (traffic, crazy drivers, problematic passengers) must also wreck his blood pressure, even when he appears calm under pressure.
One day when we had a 90 minute unpaid break on the schedule, I chose to hit the small but serviceable health center here. It turns out the people who use our center (drivers and cops) are regulars, who knew I was new just because they’ve never seen my face before. I introduced myself, they welcomed me, and told me to make sure I keep my health a priority. They said they’ve seen people pack on pounds like I’d never believe in just a short few years.
Later that day when I had a question about where to turn next, he was annoyed I didn’t study the route during my break. I apologized, and went off on a tangent about how I used to workout regularly before going to training and how I don’t feel good about not working out. Later I asked him how our health center compared to other divisions. To nobody’s surprise, he said he doesn’t know, as he hasn’t seen any of the gyms at the company (it shows). He also mentions he gets here about an hour before the shift starts, just incase of traffic. He chooses to chill in his car or lounge room here rather than lift some weights or hit the treadmill.
For what it’s worth I’ve noticed that nearly all the managers and supervisors are obese. Not just overweight, but obese. Most of them do administrative work, and don’t work on the busses.

I read that they recommend that i should arrive between 30-60mins earlier before the departure time.
I have two options.. arriving 1.5h earlier or 25mins earlier before departure due to bus schedule.
Are they rlly strict with check in time?

For those who don't know, a concept of BeamNG's career mode is available if you click the career button (although grayed out) 6 times. In the career mode, you can "purchase" a car, do races and jobs, and of course crash. While I like it, I found myself underwhelmed; even if it is just an "open alpha".
Last week, I downloaded Street Legal Racing Redline again. After playing it a bit, I realized that it had what I want. So, I'll describe how one might go about combining what little we've seen of the career mode with SLRR's career mode.
For starters, I don't hate what has already been shown. But, I do think that it's rudimentary, bare in mind going forward, this is only based off of what we've seen, and there may be more anyways. Anything I say is only meant as a critique. I think that what has been shown should remain though, albeit expanded upon. The street races could be a good way to provide high money, but at high risk. Perhaps have races at the track (assuming the base map is West Coast USA, more on that later) where you can also do higher paying races, with low risk, but only on a schedule time frame; similar to SLRR's time system that opens and closes shops and starts and stops the drag races.
The other jobs, such as the cable one, could also be expanded upon. One of the things that drives me crazy in SLRR is when you completely destroy your car, and have no money to fix it. This could be remedied by having a cable job (perhaps utilizing the walk feature and bus stops) that you can do, although you have to do it. You could also add a delivery job, that uses your own car. It doesn't pay as much, but you are on no schedule. Another one could be a volunteer police officer, which lets you use police cars and hunt crooks. Maybe even shut down a street race.
While I do like the idea of the base map being WCUSA, I know some of my potato friends may have a sub optimal time running it. I propose adding both Utah and ECUSA/Italy as other options, with more maps opening as you get funds to travel there (perhaps in a similar fashion to Snowrunner?). Utah could feature more offroad events, such as rally and crawling; while ECUSA could feature rally and hillclimb/closed street circuits.
Another thing that I like from SLRR is the garage and parts shop. The garage in the game is already fairly useful, with my only gripe being that the menu is clunky (the one built into the career mode, not the actual garage map). I think this can be better changed in two ways: firstly making the garage only for changing and modifying your car(s). Secondly, again utilizing the bus stops, add functionality to the dealerships by creating them as places to buy new or used cars, depending on the dealership.
Another thing SLRR does well is the parts shop, and in a similar vain, damage to cars is also done well. I propose that the parts menu in game currently is slightly adjusted in career mode to only feature parts you own, although parts that work on multiple cars (Nomi GTT wing for instance) can be applied to multiple cars (although, only one car per part). We also know that BeamNG can store and also reload damaged vehicles. Again similar to SLRR, what if damage applied to your car remained even after you close the game? Let's say I slam my Sunburst into a guardrail, then quit the game. I'd want to see (alongside the small charge that towing has) my Sunburst still damaged.
While I know we've been waiting for the long awaited career mode for awhile, I think making these changes is worth it if it means that BeamNG is still the best car sim out there.
​
Long story short: Make BeamNG's career mode similar to SLRR, while also still retaining what we've already seen.

TL;DR course is beautiful, race is super well organized, would recommend.

Race Information

• Name: Revel Rockies Half
• Date: June 3, 2023
• Distance: 13.1 miles
• Location: Denver, CO
• Website: https://www.runrevel.com/rdv
• Time: 1:28:52

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Have a good time	Yes
B	Sub-90	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	6:50
2	6:46
3	6:26
4	6:50
5	6:52
6	6:46
7	6:52
8	7:13
9	7:12
10	6:27
11	6:35
12	6:31
13	6:10
13.1	1:28:52

Training

This was my 4th half of the year. In January, I ran the Kaiser Half in San Francisco and finished with a 1:30:24. This race - Revel Rockies - was the last in a series of three, over 2 months: The Get in Gear Half in Twin Cities, MN (1:31:07), and the Brooklyn Half in NYC (1:30:02).
Between all these races, I followed a weekly schedule of one speedwork day and one long run, with lots of easy miles thrown in.
Because I had come pretty close in Brooklyn, and the Revel Rockies course has a net downhill of about 1,700 feet, I thought I’d have an excellent chance of going sub-90, and maybe it’d even feel easy! (it didn’t)

Pre-race

I got to Denver Wednesday that week. This year, I planned my race calendar around cities where I have friends; in this case, Denver is where the designer on my team lives, so she and I worked together for a bit, but we also hit up the kid’s casino (Round1) to play some claw machine games. Obviously, the house always wins, but we did win a bunch of soft toys for ourselves and a children’s hospital nearby, so let’s call it a draw.
While we were working together on Thursday, I was nursing a headache, and it suddenly dawned on me to ask: “Are we at altitude?” (lol). Being a mile up from sea level explained why I was feeling so trashy for the last 48 hours - that, combined with the person in the next door hotel room deciding to smoke throughout the day/night (???)
On Friday, I went for a short 3 mile trail run and was significantly more winded than I should/would have been for the route. Still, I was pretty confident the significant downhill would win out - it’d just feel a bit sucky.

Race

To get to the start line, everyone had to park near Bandimere Speedway and take a bus up the mountain so we could run down it.
With a 6:30am start, the first bus left at 4:30am, which in turn had me waking up at 3am to eat 3 bagels and drink a triple espresso. I went to bed at 8pm and had a pretty decent sleep, all things considered.
In terms of organization, I didn’t really know what to expect, but as I pulled into the parking lot and saw a long line of neatly parked school busses waiting to take runners up, I started to get excited - the whole scene had the vibe of a school trip; one where you’re either up super early or super late to go somewhere fun.
I had originally planned to nap on the way up, but I happened to sit next to a really nice lady and we chatted throughout the ride. I’m not sure I would have been able to fall asleep after all that coffee anyway.
We got to the starting line around 5ish and it was a little chilly, but the organizers had provided everyone with heat blankets, gloves, and arm sleeves, which was super thoughtful, and definitely came in handy. I used the bathroom, warmed up, went to the bathroom again, before lining up at the starting line.
Unlike my last race in Brooklyn, where I had a pretty detailed pace plan, I was going to take the first couple of miles easy (1:30 pace at most), and then run the rest of the race by effort. The course has a couple of rolling hills, but the elevation profile pretty much looks like a right angled triangle, starting at about 8,000ft and dropping to around 6,000ft, so it’s not really that complicated. Having said that, there was some mild elevation gain in the course: 174ft (for reference, Brooklyn had 236ft).
The course actually started with some rolling hills, which helped me stick to my plan of not going out too fast; I took my foot off the gas when going uphill, and let some faster runners pass.
The rest of the race consisted of winding roads downhill, with a couple of smaller hills (the 7min+/mile splits). Running at altitude definitely felt different. I usually race with a heart rate in the 170s-180s, but I was getting winded in the high 160s, and my heart rate never made it above 176, despite me feeling like I was pushing plenty hard. Also, the small hills felt like a lot more work than normal. I’m not sure if it was because I’d been running downhill the rest of the time and my muscles were thrashed, or I didn’t have the cardio capacity because of the altitude, or both.
In any case, the course was gorgeous - you’re surrounded by mountains pretty much the whole race, and they closed one of the road lanes, so you’ve lots of space to run.
This was a smaller (~1,200 people for the half) race, so there wasn’t a lot of passing/being passed going on. A small group of runners took off at the start, and other than a handful of times I was passed/passed someone, I was running by myself.
For the last few miles, the gradient got even steeper, and so I managed to clock some faster miles, and by the time mile 11 came around, I knew that unless something stopped me from putting together two 7:10-7:20 miles, I was going to come in at under 90 minutes. The last 200m though, was actually uphill, but I had enough in the tank to sprint to the finish line and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I’d come in 3rd in my age group.

Post-race

I have to say that this was one of the most well organized races I’ve run. The finisher’s area was right next to a creek and really picturesque. They had lots of great snacks and vendors offering samples. There was also a beer garden (that I didn’t check out). After checking out some of the booths, I took the bus back down to the parking lot and went back to my hotel.
In addition to doing a great job with the logistics, the organizers also put together many small touches that made the event special. For example, immediately after the finish line, you could get your results printed on a nice card. Also, the age group awards were a white embroided band that they attached around your medal ribbon, which I hadn’t seen before and thought it looked really cool :D There were also lots of photo opportunities, including a cool “R E V E L” sculpture-thing that lots of people (myself included) were taking photos in front of.
It definitely felt like they went out of their way to put on a great race!
Overall, I had a great time and would definitely consider running another Revel event.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

Long time reader - first time poster.
I’ve heard conflicting things about the bus schedule! I’m sure this has been asked before but.. what time do the buses start running? especially sundays! I take the #7, around River and Lansdowne. I work at 8am, Google maps always says there’s a bus in time but I just don’t believe it! Anyone have any insight?

I usually keep a Qcard in my wallet for emergencies like a car breakdown or if I'm on a bike ride or long hike and something happens and I need a ride back but I worry that I might lose the card so I put a small amount on it. The card itself even says that I can register it so I don't lose the balance, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to register it. So far I've:

• Installed the Metro App and it has no option and only has schedules and routes and does a pretty terrible job even at that. Google maps is far more useful.
• Went to the Ridemetro.org website where I found how I could log in and reload an already registered Q-Card but no actual option on how to register the card in the first place. There is also an option to reload a non-registered card but that doesn't even show the existing balance on the card so again, it's pretty terrible.
• Apparently, there is a Metro Q ticketing app which is different than the Metro App so I installed that and the only options on it are to buy a single ride or a local day pass - but nothing about the Q-Card registering or reloading! I mean Q is literally in the name of the app! Also, this app was buggy as hell when it wouldn't send a confirmation email and made me recover the password to get it to work.
• Just for fun, I tried using the same user name and password I created in the above Metro Q Ticketing app in the "reload a registered Q Card" page and it wouldn't accept the credentials.

Am I missing something here? Surely it's not this hard to register a Q card. I don't ride the bus much in Houston so I can live with just keeping a small amount on the card, but I also keep an Orca card (For Seattle's public transportation) and theirs website and apps are in a completely different class.

I see a lot of people on this sub talking about fit, but no one really goes into the details of what exactly it is. To the first gen kids, oldest siblings, and people who just don’t get much guidance about what college is really like, this one's for you. As a senior, I heard a lot about cost, location, and class size, but that was really the extent of what I knew about “fit” as far as a college. Now that I am a college freshman, I absolutely love the school I picked, but it is for practically none of the reasons I chose it in the first place because I just didn’t know that these were things I should look into or care about.
Why does fit matter?
Disclaimer: This is general advice and does not apply to specialized fields like IB, but I think it is pretty sound for maybe 90% of students. You can get into a super competitive and prestigious school, but your ability to do well is THE first and foremost thing you should worry about when it comes to fit. Especially for all the pre-meds, pre-laws, and anyone looking to go to grad school, the grind does not stop once you get in. You have to perform even better than you’ve already been doing, and the coursework only gets more difficult. If Harvard is the right school for you, by all means, apply, but do not discount a school you love just because it is not a T50 or even T100. When I mention the ability to do well, this includes things like mental health, support systems, and work. For example, if you get into a school that is far away, has completely different weather, no one you know is going, and you have to work part time, your ability to thrive is going to be heavily impeded compared to going somewhere with a high support structure. If staying local is not an option because of abusive parents/other bad situations, consider a similar time zone because it will be easier to stay in touch with friends during the day. You can always make new friends, but I always see posts on my college subreddit about people crying for the first few weeks because they miss their family and friends. Having to work will limit the amount of things you are able to do, whether academic or social, so reducing that burden will be helpful in keeping grades up and just increasing overall quality of life.
What should I consider?
Location: This one seems obvious, and it is, but I’m putting it on here anyway. Make sure to actually research the city/surrounding area of where the college is, especially if you’re a minority. For example, UCSD is in Socal, which tends to be pretty liberal, but it is in La Jolla, which is an area with a lot of wealthy older people. On the other hand, there will be universities in the south in liberal areas where you’ll be safe as a minority. It’s important to consider how much legislation vs. social issues matter (abortion, access to trans healthcare, etc.).
Size: I think people overstate how much the size of the student body matters, but it’s still important. Make sure to look at the number of undergrads, student to faculty ratios, and housing issues. The actual number of students matters less than the distribution of resources. People love to talk about small lecture sizes, but I also do not think that having a lot of students in one lecture is immediately a terrible thing. I have taken classes that range from 20-350 students, and I have been able to interact with the professor equally as much and get the same level of attention. You just have to be a bit more proactive in a larger class. The more important difference here is actually the type of school in my experience. My friend and I go to UCs and we have the typical lecture+discussion combo where you go to lecture and just listen to your professor talk and then go to discussion section where you get to talk in small groups. My friends at CSUs and CCs say most of their classes are similar to high school where the professors interact a lot more with the students and there is more student-student interaction during the class. I know someone who taught at a CSU and they always talked about how they made an effort to include everyone in the class, which is definitely not my experience at a UC.
Access to public transportation: This one might not seem important, but it actually makes a bigger difference than you may think. Having easily navigable public transit means you’ll be able to get off campus and actually go somewhere. If your school is a small college town, then this matters less since you can walk everywhere, but I highly recommend considering it for bigger city schools. If you’ve never used a bus before, now is also a good time to get used to navigating it since it makes your life easier if you’ve done it before.
Majors: I cannot understate how many people switch their majors in college, so it is really important to make sure there are a few majors that you are interested in outside of what you apply with. I went into it thinking I was going to stay a molecular bio major forever and that anyone who didn’t have total loyalty to their major was weak (totally ice cold take, I know), and here I am switching to physiology. Even if you end up sticking to your original major, you may choose to minor or double major. If you’re a STEM major but like the humanities and are doing STEM because it pays better, definitely look into which humanities majors are offered because you never know. Also, consider the language classes the school offers, especially if you speak something a little niche but not niche enough for it to never be offered anywhere. Make sure to actually look at the schedule of classes for the last 1-2 years since sometimes they say they offer something but never actually do.
Type of schedule: Anyone deciding between Cal and UCLA is probably familiar with this issue, but in case you aren’t, some schools offer a semester schedule, and some offer a trimestequarter schedule (I think trimester and quarter are similar in practice since most people do not consider summer classes a proper quarter). A semester schedule means you’ll be taking more classes at once and for longer periods of time (12-15 ish weeks) with a generally longer winter break, while a trimestequarter schedule means you’ll be taking fewer classes at once and for shorter periods of time (10ish weeks), which also means you’ll have to take three sets of classes every year and deal with enrollment three times instead of twice. This is great for getting classes over quickly, but it’s also super fast and people are behind by the time week 2 starts if they aren’t on top of things right out of the gate.
How you pay for units: I didn’t even realize this was a thing, but some schools charge a flat rate for the term, while other schools bill you per unit. This is less important if you are looking to only major in one subject and finish within 4 years, but if you’re trying to graduate early, double major, or just take classes for fun, there is a huge difference. I go to UCLA, so I pay the same amount every quarter as my roommate, except I’m taking 18 units and she has 12, which is full time for UCLA. Since I’m a double major and pre-med, I’m consistently taking over 15 units every quarter, but I do not have to worry about paying more for it. My friend is graduating a year early, so she is front-loading classes and will save on a year of tuition. If either of us went to USC, where they charge per unit, we would have a much higher cost for the same thing. On the other hand, paying per unit can have its advantages, especially if your school has few requirements.
Dual enrollment: A lot of people do dual enrollment in high school, but you can also do it during college. You can take your required major classes at your university and dual enroll at a community college to fulfill GE requirements. This can be great because CC tends to be easier, or at least offers more support, and classes are also way cheaper. The only thing is that some schools do not allow you to dual enroll. For example, UCLA prohibits you from dual enrolling, and because of the weird quarter system, summer classes at my local CC overlap, which means I have to take summer classes at UCLA (or another UC). If taking summer classes at a CC is something you plan to do, make sure to look into the rules about dual enrollment.
Accessibility: Not all campuses are created equal, and some are really difficult to navigate in a wheelchair or have features hostile to people with less visible disabilities. If you cannot tour the school, definitely look at their virtual tours (one of the good things that came out of the pandemic) or even google street view. Look into policies for accommodations (this goes for testing accommodations too), and try to find what other people say about the assistance offered.
Food: If you have a lot of dietary restrictions due to allergies, religious reasons, sensory issues, or personal preference, it is really important that the school can cater to your needs if you plan to live on campus.
Thank you for making it to the end of this post. I hope people find it helpful. If you have any questions, please comment or PM me and I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability :)
Take care everyone, and good luck in the following app season!

I work for a 2 attorney firm. We have a lit case with numerous parties so scheduling and back and forth stuff is obnoxious as expected. One of the lawyers emailed my boss 3 times asking about a video that may or may not exist. Not an official discovery request with a deadline just emails.
Request #3 included the full distribution list and asked if he would "get the courtesy of a response". He quickly sent a follow-up one to just my boss and I saying "Perhaps your assistant isn't forwarding you my emails." I eye rolled pretty hard and drafted (didn't send) some cathartic bitchy responses.
I found my boss's response to him (didn't copy me like he usually does so he knew what he was doing) and he had said "you are correct. I never got your emails."
A few things: 1) he was on every single email. 2) he answers his own emails 95% of the time. And 3) it is NOT standard practice for me to bring non-deadline or other non-high priority issues to him when he is focusing on a bigger project (which he was).
I'm ok with being thrown under the bus for minor stuff if it's productive, but this was not that (it rarely is). He also could have easily used different wording that wouldn't involve any busses. A simple "oh I'm sorry, I hadn't read your previous emails." You know, the truth.
I'm unsure if I should bring this up as a "hey, I saw your reply to Mr. Jerk Face...is this a task you actually want me to take on?" Do the petty passive aggressive thing and just start printing every email he doesn't respond to within 1 business day and put it on his chair. Or just try and let it go.

Hi, I have a severely autistic child who gets SSI. I was wondering if this makes me exempt from the working requirements.
From what I see in NJ this is about 30 hours. It’s very difficult to maintain that with his schedule, and my income would be mainly coming from working about 20 hours a week while he’s in school.
What are the stipulations for this exemption? I know it says “caring for disabled family member”. We qualify for caregiver pay minimally through the state. But not sure if this stipulation means a full time carer for an adult.
Any type of benefit shaming will be blocked and not receive a response so don’t even try.
EDIT- Still got poor shamed, which is sad on a sub specifically for ebt. Childcare options for disabled children are VERY limited. Usually private pay is needed, and with how much this costs it is more cost effective to work part time and not incur these expenses. It’s not just about paying someone to take the child off the bus either…you also have to think about the summer. It’s not the same as a NT child. There’s no plethora of summer camps that keep the kids right until they go back to school.
Working in the school system (which are all part time positions) is many disabled children’s parents only reliable option.
For reference in NJ.

Okay. I would like to start this post off with a few things, long post warning. First being that I am autistic and I really just cannot tell if someone’s flirting with me or just being nice or is just comfortable to me, it’s confusing and I usually need people to just flat out tell me rather than beat around the bush or whatever. Second, me and him ‘dated’ for probably less than a month, I chickened out and decided to break up with him because I was not doing well mentally and I didn’t want myself to do something crazy and him have to feel bad.
With that out of the way, I really need to know if he’s flirting with me or not or just being nice. As stated previously, we have some previous history. It’s definitely awkward as ever, which is a fault on my end. Anyway, he’s sort of been progressively getting closer both physically and emotionally I suppose? Last semester, both of us had our first morning English class together. We sat on complete opposite ends of two different rows of tables. Sometimes I’d snag a glance, yk, teen romance stuff, but sometimes I’d see him looking back, and multiple times we had made direct eye contact. He does not turn red or get embarrassed (visibly) very often, but once when we made eye contact and a little bit later when I looked at him again he was bright red. No clue if it was because of me, but I guess I can only hope it was.
Both of us are in our school’s band, my period is the lunch period at our school and we had separate classes, so he’d come in during the 30 or so minutes he had lunch for his class and would sometimes just chat with me.
We also did academic team for our school earlier this year and was hosted by a really chill science teacher, and often times we’d both stay after school. I was waiting for my bus, he just liked staying or something, I never asked, didn’t want to creep him out since he said he needed space. Once though, I was feeling sick and had to wait for my bus after school. That day, I stole my little sister’s nintendo switch and played Mario Kart. I thought I was alone in the teacher’s classroom aside from her, but a few minutes after school lets out, he comes in. Like I said, I didn’t feel well, and that day was just extraordinarily trashy. Within the less than hour I had to wait for my bus after school, he cheered me up. He’s also on the gaming team (whatever it’s called) for our school for Smash Bros., so he usually had a switch with him. He came over and sat next to me and we played Mario Kart basically until I had to leave for my bus. At the time, I didn’t have literally anything going on so I played Mario Kart in my free time and I was pretty cracked at it tbh, pretty sure I beat him almost every game, he then asked if I wanted to join the gaming team for the Mario Kart league. I declined because I play for fun, but that still seems significant.
Some other stuff has happened, but the one most recent ‘physical’ happening occurred, once again, at school. This happened a few weeks ago btw. Anywho, the science teacher wasn’t there and I had to ride the bus. I decided to go and wait in the cafeteria and work on some stuff to make sure it wasn’t going to be turned in late, once again, for the morning English class. He went to the theater and was chilling out in there when he walked outside of it. I glanced up, saw him, and prayed to god that he didn’t see me, but he did, and he decided to come over next to me. He kind of just chit-chatted with me, coming over next to me and asking what I was doing, then being a bit of a downer about himself (self deprecating joke or something, not something he does almost at all from what I can tell), then, after pausing in speech for a moment (not something he does a lot either during conversation, he usually just talks without thinking)asked if I was doing anything else until the end of school/later or something. I said I was, because I had less than an hour until my bus came and I had to work or my mom would bma if I had another missing assignment, and after pausing a little bit again (iirc), he invited me to the theater if my schedule freed up, then left.
Last thing happened over discord in our dnd server, we had had our session 0 of a new campaign. One of our players invited a ton of people we didn’t know to join the server. It was later at night when we started, and when it was over, everyone else left the voice channel except for me and him. Don’t remember what I was doing, but he started conversation. Something about how all of the random people confused him, I agreed, and then promptly cut the conversation short by saying “it’s late. I need to go to bed, goodnight,” or some dumb shit like that. Idk, we’ll usually just talk with everyone else there, not like. That. Or at least he’ll come up with an excuse like ‘im tired im gonna go’ or something. That was the first time we’d just actually had a few minute long conversation outside of being around other people in awhile.
He does one main thing that people say cis guys do when they like you or something, which is laughing at my jokes even when they’re stupid as shit.
Even if it constitutes as flirting or chemistry or whatever, I really don’t want to start anything this time around. I want him to come to me rather than me coming to him like I did the first time around. I don’t know if he will, though, but it’s almost a month until the anniversary of me breaking up with him (which I still feel like shit about). I’m really just making this post to let my mind be at ease and wonder if he actually likes me or if I’m being cray cray and stuff. Thanks for reading lol.

So I will need to travel to a mentorship that lasts 5 days in a city 2 hours from here (3 hours by bus), I don't have a car, so I can't drive and come back. This trip needs to be schedule minimum 30 days from today, baby is due 21-25 jun.
Is there any difference between this first weeks? We don't have a c-section scheduled so she can be born anywhere from next week to the end of the month.
I do get 5 days parental leave, and if she births while I'm tripping I'm allowed to come back.