I shall be there at the end of next month. Suggest some things to do PLZ. K THX
If I has there, I guess the first thing on my agenda would be to leave and go somewhere else. :)
QuoteMuseums
US Space & Rocket Center is home to the US Space Camp and Aviation Challenge programs as well as the only Saturn V rocket designated a National Historic Landmark.
Alabama Constitution Village features eight reconstructed Federal style buildings, with living-museums displays downtown.[78]
Burritt Museum and Park, located on Monte Sano Mountain, is a regional history museum featuring a 1930s mansion, nature trails, scenic overlooks and more.[79]
Clay House Museum is an antebellum home built ca. 1853 and showcases decorative styles up to 1950 and an outstanding collection of Noritake Porcelain.[80]
Early Works Museum is a child friendly interactive museum in downtown Huntsville.[78]
Harrison Brothers Hardware Store established in 1879, is the oldest operating hardware store in Alabama. Though now owned and operated by the Historic Huntsville Foundation, it is still a working store, and part museum featuring skilled craftsmen who volunteer to run the store and answer questions.[81][82]
The Historic Huntsville Depot completed in 1860 is the oldest surviving railroad depot in Alabama and one of the oldest surviving depots in the United States.[83]
Huntsville Museum of Art in Big Spring International Park offers permanent displays, traveling exhibitions, and educational programs for children and adults.[84]
Sci-Quest is an interactive premiere hands-on museum for early childhood education, aged four through sixth grade.[85]
North Alabama Railroad Museum is a railroad museum with over 30 pieces of rolling stock
Highest concentration of Masters and Doctoral degrees in the US. The town can't be that bad.
Seems lots of job opportunities there, at least in my field of IT/government work.
Quote from: dps on March 24, 2013, 06:09:37 AM
If I has there, I guess the first thing on my agenda would be to leave and go somewhere else. :)
This coming from the guy from West Virginia. :lol:
Huntsville's pretty well known for the space stuff. Other than that, I expect you'll find it's a pretty ordinary small city.
US Space & Rocket Center and find Dreamland BBQ or something similar.
When?
I'm definitely hitting the US Space and Rocket center. Tell me more about Dreamland BBQ please. :cool:
Timing is April 26th, 27th, and 28th.
I think I may be back by then, I have some travels that month.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeYGo33_wkY
Quote from: lustindarkness on March 25, 2013, 09:36:58 PM
I think I may be back by then, I have some travels that month.
Oh cool.... for whatever reason I didn't think about the possibility of a meet-up. :blush:
lusti: Seriously ese if you want to meet up that would be awesome. Now I'm going to be there starting Thurs. night... not sure how far Huntsville is from Birmingham. :hmm:
So this seems like a pretty nice town so far.
Also, I've now been to every state east of the Mississippi except for Mississippi itself. :cool:
Mississippi is aka "that state you drive through to get to Louisiana (or Alabama)".
Most likely I'll finally get there once I go down to Gulf Shores and make a side trip to Pascagoula/Biloxi.
Quote from: Caliga on April 11, 2013, 04:04:50 PM
lusti: Seriously ese if you want to meet up that would be awesome. Now I'm going to be there starting Thurs. night... not sure how far Huntsville is from Birmingham. :hmm:
I had not seen this, was in VA for a couple of weeks. I have plenty to do this weekend, but I'll ask the boss. Nina has a 1030 game that cuts my Saturday in half, and a early pm birfday on Sunday.
What is your schedule like? I am almost two hours away, some 120 miles.
I'll log on again when I get to work in a little bit.
:unsure: If Cal goes missing, I want y'all to know I have nothing to do with it.
I'm here dude. Still trying to figure out what to do tomorrow so schedule is totally wide open at this point. :)
Also, had dinner at Dreamland. The q was decent but not really any better than anything we have in Kentucky. But the banana pudding... :punk:
Well, not sure, like I mentioned before, I have a real busy weekend. I can't go anywhere until the afternoon. Are you hitting the Rocket Center? I could go there, its been a while.
I could also drive up for maybe a early dinner and drive back. And Mara does not sound excited about anything tomorrow, she feels like she's catching a cold.
What are you planning?
Yes, the dreamland banana pudding is The Awesome!
We went to the Rocket Center today, but could do an early dinner. I want to eat at a place that has white BBQ sauce which they didn't have at Dreamland... That sound OK?
Why is an HR stooge in Alabama?
Yeah, it may just be me BTW, not sure yet. Whats the place called?
I was looking at a place called Gibsons BBQ which supposedly has the white sauce. Ever heard of it? Its at 3319 memorial parkway.
Never heard of it, but sounds good to me. I'll check back here and msg you my number.
Hope the weather stays north today.
I'll check back after soccer game, text/call if you need to.
This morning we went to Constitution Village (a living history place) and I got to run an old Ramage printing press. :cool:
Lusti, you know what you need to do :ph34r:
He failed you Kat. :(
Can't expect much from a Puerto Rican. <_<
After Princesca insisted on paying for my dinner I just could not kick Cal in the nuts.
We had a good time talking about y'all, The List was extensive.
On the way back home I drove through an awesome thunderstorm.
That thunderstorm was my rage manifesting itself because you didn't punch him in the nuts.
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 27, 2013, 10:05:52 PM
That thunderstorm was my rage manifesting itself because you didn't punch him in the nuts.
:hug:
Quote from: lustindarkness on April 27, 2013, 10:04:45 PM
We had a good time talking about y'all, The List was extensive.
So share it.
I just got home maybe 30 minutes ago. Me = tired. AAR later if I feel like doing one.
Quote from: Caliga on April 28, 2013, 04:22:25 PM
I just got home maybe 30 minutes ago. Me = tired. AAR later if I feel like doing one.
You won't. You're a lazy turd.
Harsh toke.
I am grading papers. I have to call them as I see them.
Quote from: PDH on April 28, 2013, 07:14:58 PM
Quote from: Caliga on April 28, 2013, 04:22:25 PM
I just got home maybe 30 minutes ago. Me = tired. AAR later if I feel like doing one.
You won't. You're a lazy turd.
You were right. :)
I'll eventually do it, though.
Quote from: Caliga on April 29, 2013, 09:32:00 AM
I'll eventually do it, though.
No rush. Let Brain stew on it a bit.
AAR, Part I
Thursday, April 25th
We left Thursday morning for our drive down to Alabama. Our first stop was in Portland, TN at the Tennessee Welcome Center on I-65, where in a bizarre coincidence I ran into one of my co-workers on his way down to Nashville for a work conference. We exchanged pleasantries, and then I headed south for the mighmarish drive through Nashville; in Nashville, the problem is not traffic but instead the fact that a bucnh of highways join together in all manner of haphazard fashion there. I've gone through Nashville plenty of times so am 'prepared' for this but it's still stressful as all fuck because you have to constantly switch lanes to avoid both left and right-side lane dropoffs.
Once we were clear of Nashville, I stopped at Stan's Restaurant in Columbia, TN. I had a pulled pork sammich with baked beans and slaw, and Princesca had beans and cornbread. Pulled pork was ok, but she said the beans and cornbread were fantastic. I then went into the bathroom with the intention of taking a dump, but their bathroom was so vile (as in, the urinals didn't seem to flush and so the place stunk of fermenting piss) that I immediately came to regret stopping there in the first place. :x
After fueling up we got back on I-65 and then got off in Ardmore right before the Alabama line, and took a state highway down to Huntsville, which is maybe 10-15 miles at the most south of Tennessee. We got to the hotel and, for like the first time ever, I wasn't allowed to check in early. So much for Hilton Honors membership. :mad: So we sat around in the lobby reading travel brochures to pass the time until our room was ready.
Ugh, restrooms in the south.
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 29, 2013, 02:43:50 PM
Ugh, restrooms in the south.
I don't typically have issues.... not even at gas stations. :sleep:
Wait this wasn't a work thing?
Nope.
So people go to Alabama of their own free will?!?!?!
Oh look, another bigot. :)
Quote from: Caliga on April 29, 2013, 02:44:18 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 29, 2013, 02:43:50 PM
Ugh, restrooms in the south.
I don't typically have issues.... not even at gas stations. :sleep:
Good rule of thumb- more pumps = more employees = more frequent cleaning.
Quote from: Caliga on April 29, 2013, 02:57:58 PM
Oh look, another bigot. :)
Answer the question assface.
Proof that folks can be even more backward than in Alabama:
http://now.msn.com/william-daniel-lloyd-injured-hunting-squirrel-with-bb-gun#scpshrjwfbs
;)
Situation: Caliga will be in Huntsville AL, available for dinner, 27APR2013.
Mission: Drive to Huntsville and meet up with Caliga at Gibson's BBQ.
Execution: Drive 120 miles north on I65 and back to home base, @2 hours each way.
Administration and logistics: Ensure permission from The Wife and funds available for mission. Proper research and intelligence already done: Location, hours and contact phone numbers acquired. Possibility of severe weather noted, need to keep informed of weather conditions.
Vehicle: FJ Cruiser. Ensure full tank of gas, input address into GPS unit.
Command and control: Phone numbers exchanged. Approximate hours of travel informed to The Wife.
After Action Report:
27APR2013
14:15 Finished installing new door knob and locks. Failed to put away all tools used.
14:19 Sent text message to Caliga, final timeframe for meeting verified.
14:20 Took a shower and got dressed.
14:36 Left home, Drove to meet up with The Wife at The Galeria mall for GPS that was in her car. Required kiss given.
14:59 Acquired GPS, address input, text message to Caliga with ETA of 16:45 (as per GPS) . Weather checked on both smart phone and weather channel in CB radio. Perfect weather at that time.
15:00 Started drive, proper driving music selected.
16:45 Just as GPS estimated, arrived at Gibson's BBQ, 3319 Memorial Parkway Huntsville, AL 35801
Met up with Caliga and Princesca, They were already at the table, a booth by the window. The restaurant had some patrons but not many as it was early for dinner, no Aliens or Men in Black detected. I ordered water, a baked 'tater with chopped porked. I tried all three bbq sauces, the white bbq sauce was good, first time I've seen such a thing. For desert, I had the coconut pie, it was very good. The List was extensive, we spoke about [spoiler]Censored for national security. Censored for national security.[/spoiler] We had a lovely dinner and conversation.
18:48 We took a "FU Jaron" picture and said good bye.
18:51 Got in truck. I input Home into the GPS and checked the weather, I could see I would drive right through the storm some 10 to 15 miles south. This was correct, I drove through a severe thunderstorm created by the manifestation of rage of Ed Anger for not punching Caliga in the nuts as requested earlier by Katmai. At some points everyone on the interstate was traveling at 40mph with extremely low visibility.
22:00 Mission complete, arrived home.
lusti has an awesome car btw. :cool:
I'm just gonna assume you talked about me. Women want me and men want to be with me.
Quote from: Caliga on April 29, 2013, 03:18:06 PM
lusti has an awesome car btw. :cool:
This is true, I love my truck and what it allows me to do and see. :)
FJ Cruiser is a truck now :yeahright:
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:24:33 PM
FJ Cruiser is a truck now :yeahright:
Body on frame, yes. Since when are SUV a car?
Quote from: lustindarkness on April 29, 2013, 03:26:36 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:24:33 PM
FJ Cruiser is a truck now :yeahright:
Body on frame, yes. Since when are SUV a car?
Ignore him...I've had to endure the "truck" snobs before as well.
Also, I may be headed down Pensacola way once or twice in the next 12 months...might have to aim to detour slightly your way at least once.
Quote from: Caliga on April 29, 2013, 01:01:24 PM
and Princesca had beans and cornbread.
Did they have a fight?
Quote from: lustindarkness on April 29, 2013, 03:26:36 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:24:33 PM
FJ Cruiser is a truck now :yeahright:
Body on frame, yes. Since when are SUV a car?
An SUV is an SUV. :rolleyes:
Quote from: Tonitrus on April 29, 2013, 03:27:32 PM
Quote from: lustindarkness on April 29, 2013, 03:26:36 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:24:33 PM
FJ Cruiser is a truck now :yeahright:
Body on frame, yes. Since when are SUV a car?
Ignore him...I've had to endure the "truck" snobs before as well.
I like the FJ Cruiser, i just wouldn't call it a truck, no matter what the frame of it is. :P
And seriously Cal, what made you guys choose Huntsville for a vacation? I'm honestly curious.
Tonitrus needs the FJ cargo space, to fold his legs in the back.
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:33:05 PM
And seriously Cal, what made you guys choose Huntsville for a vacation? I'm honestly curious.
We'll get there once I have time to finish my AAR. :)
Quote from: Caliga on April 29, 2013, 03:33:53 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:33:05 PM
And seriously Cal, what made you guys choose Huntsville for a vacation? I'm honestly curious.
We'll get there once I have time to finish my AAR. :)
So like never <_<
:P
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 29, 2013, 03:33:29 PM
Tonitrus needs the FJ cargo space, to fold his legs in the back.
That's the problem with them, they really don't have that much from what i recall.
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:35:35 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 29, 2013, 03:33:29 PM
Tonitrus needs the FJ cargo space, to fold his legs in the back.
That's the problem with them, they really don't have that much from what i recall.
Being more than roomy enough for me is a significant part of the reason I bought it (I was torn between the FJ and a Nissan Xterra for a while).
Quote from: Tonitrus on April 29, 2013, 03:37:03 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:35:35 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 29, 2013, 03:33:29 PM
Tonitrus needs the FJ cargo space, to fold his legs in the back.
That's the problem with them, they really don't have that much from what i recall.
Being more than roomy enough for me is a significant part of the reason I bought it (I was torn between the FJ and a Nissan Xterra for a while).
Oh I just mean as in actual cargo space in back, not for leg room in front.
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:37:59 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on April 29, 2013, 03:37:03 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:35:35 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 29, 2013, 03:33:29 PM
Tonitrus needs the FJ cargo space, to fold his legs in the back.
That's the problem with them, they really don't have that much from what i recall.
Being more than roomy enough for me is a significant part of the reason I bought it (I was torn between the FJ and a Nissan Xterra for a while).
Oh I just mean as in actual cargo space in back, not for leg room in front.
That is true...cargo space overall isn't too hot.
Quote from: lustindarkness on April 29, 2013, 03:43:44 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:31:49 PM
Quote from: lustindarkness on April 29, 2013, 03:26:36 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:24:33 PM
FJ Cruiser is a truck now :yeahright:
Body on frame, yes. Since when are SUV a car?
An SUV is an SUV. :rolleyes:
But not a car, right?
Listen Rican i'm already peeved with you for failing on the Nut kicking, do you really want to annoy me more!?!
Quote from: Tonitrus on April 29, 2013, 03:41:25 PM
That is true...cargo space overall isn't too hot.
Which is why even though i really like them, not on my list for next car as need something that can carry lots of camera gear and pelican cases.
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:46:13 PM
Quote from: lustindarkness on April 29, 2013, 03:43:44 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:31:49 PM
Quote from: lustindarkness on April 29, 2013, 03:26:36 PM
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:24:33 PM
FJ Cruiser is a truck now :yeahright:
Body on frame, yes. Since when are SUV a car?
An SUV is an SUV. :rolleyes:
But not a car, right?
Listen Rican i'm already peeved with you for failing on the Nut kicking, do you really want to annoy me more!?!
Yes, entertain me at work please.
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 03:47:25 PM
Quote from: Tonitrus on April 29, 2013, 03:41:25 PM
That is true...cargo space overall isn't too hot.
Which is why even though i really like them, not on my list for next car as need something that can carry lots of camera gear and pelican cases.
Try going camping with a family of 4 for a weekend. :wacko: :( Even the roof rack is put to use.
Edit: It worked great for me and my son, road trip/camping for a week and a half, with rear seats folded down.
AAR, Part II
Thursday, April 25th
So once we were able to check into our room I spent some time looking local stuff up on the web and checking in on work (workaholic :Embarrass: ) and then it was time for dinner. Princesca had made dinner reservations at a place called Connor's Steak and Seafood, which is apparently the top-rated restaurant in town. We headed there around 6, by which time we were starving since Alabama is on Central Time, unlike Louisville.
The place was great. We both got filets. I had mine medium-rare and topped with boursin and fried onions, which sounds strange but it was basically perfect. Princesca got bleu cheese on her filet. I had broccoli as a side and she had... macaroni and cheese. :rolleyes: Of course, it's like some gourmet mac and cheese, but still... for dessert we split bananas foster, which sadly wasn't 'right' in that it had not been flambeed... but for some reason nobody seems to do that anymore. :hmm: I forgot what kind of wine we had with dinner but it was decent. The service at the place was so attentive it was almost irritating, but I guess I like that better than being ignored. In all it was a good dinner, especially since the bill barely exceeded $100 and I'm used to paying quite a bit more for this sort of meal.
btw this place, which I strongly recommend, is a small chain with additional restaurants in Knoxville and Ft. Myers if any of y'all are in or end up traveling to either of those towns.
Friday, April 26th
We got up early and had a light breakfast in the hotel room, and then headed on over to the US Space and Rocket Center which was the main reason we went down to Huntsville. :nerd:
The first thing I saw was a SR-71 Blackbird parked in front of the entrance, which was pretty neat to see in person... I've seen the F-117 before, which is dwarfed by the SR-71. To me the Blackbird looks like something Batman would have flown around in. :)
The first exhibit we checked out was a traveling/temporary exhibit about black holes. It was this really neat interactive thing where you got this little credit card thingy that stored the 'research' you had done so far, and each time you went to a new station to learn some more shit you inserted your card into a reader and it updated to show you'd done that station's research. You also got to assign yourself a humorous nickname and I of course was "Doctor Hot Shot". :smoke:
The main takeaways I learned about black holes:
* black holes are both the hottest and coldest objects in the universe, depending on whether or not they are actively feeding on matter, but generally it's easiest to detect them with infrared telescopes and most difficult to detect them with x-ray telescopes.
* it's also possible to infer a black hole's location by observing the trajectory of stars nearby because they're going to be affected by the black hole's gravity well.
There was lots of other info about black holes but I knew it all already (e.g. time slows to a stop as you reach the black hole's event horizon, etc.)
The next exhibit we looked at was about the history of Huntsville's involvement with the space program, which as you may know is heavily intertwined with Werner von Braun's history. Now, I'll come back to this later too, but the main thing I noticed about this area was that it made barely any mention of his work before we shanghaied him at the end of WWII to keep him away from the Soviets. Anyway, it explained how before the 1940s, Huntsville was mainly known as 'The Watercress Capital of the World' and its transformation into Rocket City USA began with the construction of the Redstone Arsenal right before WWII. Then there was this section about how all of this rocket shit benefits us and is responsible for the invention of items such as WD-40, angioplasty, etc. and that's why it's really important to fund space exploration even when we're broke. :cool:
When you get to Teh List bold it so I'll notice.
Quote from: katmai on April 29, 2013, 02:56:47 PM
So people go to Alabama of their own free will?!?!?!
Condos in Huntsville, AL seem quite pricier than my current location in Fayetteville, NC.
I would go work in Huntsville if they offered $95k+ a year.
Ok, you are not a complete worthless turd.
Quote from: Phillip V on April 29, 2013, 07:07:12 PM
I would go work in Huntsville if they offered $95k+ a year.
I don't think numbers go that high in Huntsville.
I'm pretty sure some of those NASA boys are pulling down better.
AAR, Part III
Friday, April 26th
Next we toured the 'rocket yard', which has dozens of rockets, missiles, and vehicles (mostly missile launch platforms). I can't remember all of the different models they had but there are several Saturn V rockets, which are staggeringly large, as well as a Patirot, a Jupiter, a Juno, several Nikes, etc. Out here there were also V-1 and V-2 rockets. Now, we could barely see either of those because there was some dumb high school competition that day where parts of the rocket park were roped off so students could compete on a 'moon buggy' course. The 'moon buggies' were really just tandem bikes so I'm really not sure what they were supposed to be learning by doing this....
Anyway they also had the Space Shuttle Pathfinder there, which is a test mockup they used to simulate a real shuttle while the shuttle was being developed, attached to an external tank and two solid rocket boosters to simulate the shuttle's launch configuration.
We had lunch at the 'Mars Grill' (just a turkey sandwich and tater tots as I recall) and then went into an exhibit hangar with another Saturn V rocket turned sideways and sectioned, as well as some other neat things such as a Gemini capsule you could sit in (it looked too small for me :blush: ), a lunar rover, a full-scale Skylab replica you could walk into, and a lunar landing module you could get in, and I did get in that one and play with the controls a bit for the photo-op. After that, we browsed the gift shop and that was pretty much it for the US Space and Rocket Center.
Did you have: Astronaut Ice Cream?
Huntsville's rocket park sounds a lot like the Johnson space center in Houston.
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 30, 2013, 07:01:05 AM
Did you have: Astronaut Ice Cream?
I did at the Kennedy Space Center. Now that's a cool place, and hands down the most awesomenest gift shop anywhere.
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on April 30, 2013, 11:39:50 AM
Huntsville's rocket park sounds a lot like the Johnson space center in Houston.
Been to Houston several times, but never had time to go to the space center. :(
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 30, 2013, 12:18:07 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 30, 2013, 07:01:05 AM
Did you have: Astronaut Ice Cream?
I did at the Kennedy Space Center. Now that's a cool place, and hands down the most awesomenest gift shop anywhere.
When I was a kid, the Air Force Museum gift shop was the holy land. Bugged the living shit out of my parents.
Now my kids bug the living shit out of me. AIRPLANE! 40 Dollars!
AAR, Part III: ADDENDUM
I forgot to say more about the museum and von Braun. Basically, no mention was made of his contribution to the German war effort in WWII nor his former membership in the Nazi party. For example, there was both a V-1 and a V-2, but no mention that these were terror weapons used to successfully kill tens of thousands of civilians in Allied-occupied Europe (mostly Britain). I found this to be in extremely poor taste. I mean, I get that he's a bit of a hero in those parts and he made a major contribution to the US space program, so I'm not saying he should necessarily be demonized, but doesn't the museum have an ethical obligation to at least mention these issues and address them in some way? I was shocked that they chose to deal with this issue by being completely silent. :huh:
"Billy Bob, looks like we got another hippie agitator. Better fetch the taser."
Quote from: Caliga on April 30, 2013, 04:03:37 PM
AAR, Part III: ADDENDUM
I forgot to say more about the museum and von Braun. Basically, no mention was made of his contribution to the German war effort in WWII nor his former membership in the Nazi party. For example, there was both a V-1 and a V-2, but no mention that these were terror weapons used to successfully kill tens of thousands of civilians in Allied-occupied Europe (mostly Britain). I found this to be in extremely poor taste. I mean, I get that he's a bit of a hero in those parts and he made a major contribution to the US space program, so I'm not saying he should necessarily be demonized, but doesn't the museum have an ethical obligation to at least mention these issues and address them in some way? I was shocked that they chose to deal with this issue by being completely silent. :huh:
NASA don't care about no Limey bastards. You carpetbagger.
Yeah, no shit.
Don't worry about it, Cal. He worked it off.
Quote from: Caliga on April 30, 2013, 04:03:37 PM
AAR, Part III: ADDENDUM
I forgot to say more about the museum and von Braun. Basically, no mention was made of his contribution to the German war effort in WWII nor his former membership in the Nazi party. For example, there was both a V-1 and a V-2, but no mention that these were terror weapons used to successfully kill tens of thousands of civilians in Allied-occupied Europe (mostly Britain). I found this to be in extremely poor taste. I mean, I get that he's a bit of a hero in those parts and he made a major contribution to the US space program, so I'm not saying he should necessarily be demonized, but doesn't the museum have an ethical obligation to at least mention these issues and address them in some way? I was shocked that they chose to deal with this issue by being completely silent. :huh:
They should play the Tom Lehrer song at the display. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDjmEj25k5U
I wonder if the approximately five Jews who live in Huntsville agree with me on this one. They probably do but are afraid to come out of hiding and say so. :(
Quote from: Caliga on April 29, 2013, 06:44:06 PMThe first thing I saw was a SR-71 Blackbird parked in front of the entrance, which was pretty neat to see in person... I've seen the F-117 before, which is dwarfed by the SR-71. To me the Blackbird looks like something Batman would have flown around in. :)
It was the X-Men's plane of choice. At least in the 80s, when I read the comics.
Quote from: Caliga on April 30, 2013, 06:12:17 PM
They probably do but are afraid to come out of hiding and say so. :(
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpigroll.com%2Fimg%2Fare_you_a_jew.jpg&hash=af0938018ebc799b369b1df3179cb9cc48618016)
AAR, Part IV
Friday, April 26th
After the Rocket Center we headed off to dinner at a place called Dreamland BBQ, which is an Alabama chain that Lusti recommended to me. As a complementary appetizer, the waitress brought us out... slices of white bread and a small tub of barbecue sauce to dip it in. :huh: I'd never seen anything like that before, and honestly it wasn't too bad, but I still am not sure if this is a Dreamland thing, or an Alabama thing, or what. We then split a BBQ baked potato, which apparently is a big thing down there: basically a loaded baked potato stuffed with pulled pork. It was pretty damn good.
For dinner we both had pulled pork sandwiches; Princesca got a side of potato salad and I got a side of beans with mine. Neither side was anything remarkable. The pork in the sandwiches was definitely on the dry side, but I like it that way so I thought the sandwiches were good. The BBQ sauce here was essentially a St. Louis-style sauce but unusually spicy... I liked it. For dessert, we split a banana pudding. Now, this pudding was the SHIZNIT... definitely the best I've ever had, anywhere. :mmm:
One other observation: as everyone knows, there are obvious similarities between the "African American" accent and the Southern accent. In Kentucky, it's still obvious when you listen to people talk (even if you can't see their faces) whether they're black or white assuming they have one accent or the other. At this restaurant, our waitress was white but her accent wasn't really distinguishable from a black dude accent (and no, she wasn't a wigger :sleep: ). After I noticed that I was kind of on the lookout for it the rest of the trip and noticed other occasions of it as well. I guess that makes sense, since I would guess around half of the people in Huntsville are black--most of the patrons at Dreamland when we were there were black. AH LOVE ME SOME RIBS Y'ALL
btw: Dreamland is famous for its ribs, which is something I think lusti told me, but I forgot to order some when I was there. :(
Quote from: Caliga on May 01, 2013, 06:39:03 AM
btw: Dreamland is famous for its ribs, which is something I think lusti told me, but I forgot to order some when I was there. :(
:face:
Like I told you, after the fact it seems: for like 50 years until just a few years ago, all they had was ribs and a bag of sliced bread. They added the other items and sides some years ago. And yes, their banana pudding is to die for. :mmm:
Now I'm wanting some banana pudding. :(
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 01, 2013, 07:30:00 AM
Now I'm wanting some banana pudding. :(
Only if it has 'nilla wafer crust.
Quote from: katmai on May 01, 2013, 07:34:58 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 01, 2013, 07:30:00 AM
Now I'm wanting some banana pudding. :(
Only if it has 'nilla wafer crust.
Of course. Using store brand wafers is a disaster waiting to happen. Or worse yet, dollar store vanilla wafers.
Quote from: Caliga on April 30, 2013, 04:03:37 PM
AAR, Part III: ADDENDUM
I forgot to say more about the museum and von Braun. Basically, no mention was made of his contribution to the German war effort in WWII nor his former membership in the Nazi party. For example, there was both a V-1 and a V-2, but no mention that these were terror weapons used to successfully kill tens of thousands of civilians in Allied-occupied Europe (mostly Britain). I found this to be in extremely poor taste. I mean, I get that he's a bit of a hero in those parts and he made a major contribution to the US space program, so I'm not saying he should necessarily be demonized, but doesn't the museum have an ethical obligation to at least mention these issues and address them in some way? I was shocked that they chose to deal with this issue by being completely silent. :huh:
How would you spin SS officer working slaves to death, oh wise Cal?
AAR, Part V
Saturday, April 26th
We had made several tentative plans to fill up our day on Saturday, but had to reconsider them all because a storm front had rolled into town and it was raining on and off all morning, making outside activities questionable. Light breakfast in the room, and then headed off to downtown Huntsville to check out Constitution Village, which is a living history museum that recreates Huntsville in 1819, on the exact spot where the Alabama Territory wrote its Constitution thereby becoming the 22nd US state.
We thought we were going to have a private tour of the grounds, but shortly after the tour started an old guy from Little Rock showed up and joined us, but it was just the three of us and two tour guides (one handed us off to the other halfway through). All of the buildings are reconstructions, but they're supposed to be exact replicas and they looked pretty damn good to me. The tour started in a cabinet maker's shop where the convention actually met and wrote the constitution; the guy who had lived there died, and then his wife died and his children were sent away to be adopted, so the building was sitting unused at the time. The shop was full of old woodworking equipment, and they let us run the equipment. There was this huge flywheel thing I turned in order to carve grooves in a kitchen table leg, and another table saw you worked by pumping a foot pedal. They had a collection of period childrens' toys in there too, including one that would have been hung on a wall, and consisted of a little wooden man you made walk by rhythmically pulling on two strings... the point being to teach children how to milk a cow. :smarty:
Oh, they also had a handbill nailed to the wall that a negro apprentice had run away from the carpenter, and there was a one cent award for his return. :)
Next we visited the post office. Back then, it worked very differently from the modern system. First of all, you did not have to put stamps on mail you sent, nor did you put your letters in an envelope. Instead, you simply folded the letter up and closed it with a wax seal, and the recipient paid for it. Secondly, all the mail came to the post office and there were no mailmen to deliver it to your house... it was your responsibility to come to the post office to pick it up. The way you knew you had mail was that, before every issue of the town's newspaper was printed, the printer would drop by the post office, take down notes about who had mail waiting, and would then publish it in the next issue of the newspaper. The other neat thing I didn't know was that, because paper was an expensive commodity, people who needed to write a long letter but couldn't afford to buy lots of paper would, at the end of a page, turn the page 90 degrees and write over top of their original writing. They had a reproduction letter there written like this and it's not terrible to read if you hold a ruler under each line of text.
Neat. :)
Quote from: Caliga on May 02, 2013, 06:52:07 AM
Oh, they also had a handbill nailed to the wall that a negro apprentice had run away from the carpenter, and there was a one cent award for his return. :)
A one cent reward? Even back then, hardly a bonanza. :lol:
Must not have wanted him back all that much.
Quote from: Caliga on May 02, 2013, 06:52:07 AM
Next we visited the post office. Back then, it worked very differently from the modern system. First of all, you did not have to put stamps on mail you sent, nor did you put your letters in an envelope. Instead, you simply folded the letter up and closed it with a wax seal, and the recipient paid for it. Secondly, all the mail came to the post office and there were no mailmen to deliver it to your house... it was your responsibility to come to the post office to pick it up. The way you knew you had mail was that, before every issue of the town's newspaper was printed, the printer would drop by the post office, take down notes about who had mail waiting, and would then publish it in the next issue of the newspaper. The other neat thing I didn't know was that, because paper was an expensive commodity, people who needed to write a long letter but couldn't afford to buy lots of paper would, at the end of a page, turn the page 90 degrees and write over top of their original writing. They had a reproduction letter there written like this and it's not terrible to read if you hold a ruler under each line of text.
What if a person needed to mail a letter to someone outside of Hunstville? :unsure:
BTW, I want to try the 90 degree letter myself.
You would take it to the post office, give it to the postmaster, and then the next time a postal courier came to town he'd deliver it to the nearest city where in some (most likely very inefficient) manner it'd be handed off from one courier to another till it got to the destination town. Little Rock asked about that and that's pretty much the answer he was given verbatim to the best of my recollection.
Some pics now. That teeny little figure at the base of the rocket is me, just to give you an idea of the size of these things.
Also, USA! USA! USA!
*fapfapfap*
Me 'piloting' the lunar lander.
Quote from: Caliga on May 04, 2013, 06:34:28 PM
That teeny little figure ... is me,
That's what she said.
Quote from: Caliga on May 04, 2013, 06:37:45 PM
Me 'piloting' the lunar lander.
Why you wearing a Knob shirt?
Yeah, but I'd wear a Knob Creek shirt anyway. Knob Creek :mmm:
AAR, Part VI
Saturday, April 26th
Next we looked at a reproduction house in which lived the town's newspaperman. This house had two small servant rooms, one for his apprentice, and one for his family of slaves.... yep, that's right, the apprentice got a room all to himself that was the same size as the slave quarters. :ph34r: In the slave quarters they had an ugly jar, which I'd seen before but never knew what the purpose of them was. Basically, it's a big clay jar with an ugly face depicted on it, either painted on or molded on in relief. The point of said jars was this: if you needed to store dangerous chemicals or medicines, and you had a bunch of slaves living with you, you couldn't just write "DANGEROUS" on it because your slaves couldn't read. So they would put all that stuff in ugly jars and tell the slaves not to touch the jars with ugly faces on them. :smarty:
Next we went into the print shop itself and we all got to take turns running the Ramage printing press they had in there. Basically what you do is this: once the type is on the little trays which will press it into the papers (we didn't get to fill the trays), you put a piece of paper in a slot above them and then lower a flap made out of canvas over the paper. Then, you turn a crank which slides the slot and flap panel into the press, and turn this other lever across the front of the press, which pushes it down onto the panel and inks the paper. Apparently it took two days for the ink to dry back then, which is why the Huntsville paper only came out once a week. They used to buy their ink when possible, but when the supply chain was disrupted (bad weather, Creek attack) they could make it themselves with linseed oil, soot, and glue if they had to.
The newspaperman also set up Huntsville's first 'library', and we visited that room, which had a single bookshelf with maybe 50 books in it. :lol:
The last house we looked at was the lawyer's house and law office, which was probably the least interesting one in that it was just like pretty much every other early 19th century restored house I've ever been in. For some reason the tour guide wouldn't go upstairs with us (bad knees maybe?) and when we were upstairs we noticed that a pane of glass from one of the windows had been busted or blown out, so I guess it's good we went up anyway because they were not aware of that. :sleep:
Before we left we checked out the gardens, which had a lot of herbs (sadly, no Mary Jane which I'm quite sure they would have grown) as well as apple, peach, and fig trees.
On the street outside there was a little area with park benches and a bunch of sets of footprints preserved in the concrete, one set of which belonged to Neil Armstrong. I forget what that was doing there.
Downtown Huntsville is weird in that there are maybe a handful of 'modern' buildings (including the courthouse, which is and ugly-ass blocky postmodern building), but most of the buildings appear to be original 19th century homes and small offices/commercial buildings, most of which are in excellent condition. Walking around there felt like walking around a small rural town, except there were no wide-open spaces.
AAR, Part VII
Saturday, April 26th
After we got down at the Constitution Village we headed back toward our hotel, but on the way stopped at a fast food place called Jack's. It's a regional chain in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia, but I'd never been to one before. Princesca got a Big Jack combo and I got a chicken finger basket. I tried a bite of her burger and it was ok but nothing remarkable--fingers were same. The fries were really interesting, though... they seemed to be dusted with both a seasoning and cheese powder. At one point I had to go up to the front to get some napkins and this dude was in the way. I was like "Excuse me" and he said "No sir, excuse me sir" and later I had to go back for something else I forget now and he was just as polite the second time. I thought people were polite in KY, but they're even moreso down there. :cool:
When we got back to the room we made contact with lusti and confirmed that we'd be meeting up later for dinner at Gibson's BBQ, which is supposed to be 'famous' for its sauce and coconut pie. We hung around the room for a bit figuring out what to do later than night and then the next morning, and ended up deciding to visit Jack Daniel's Distillery on the way home. We had originally planned to go to the Huntsville Botanical Garden, but it was raining off and on all day and on our way back to the hotel, we happened to pass it and at that time it was pouring down rain, so we ultimately skipped it. :(
Anyway, we got to Gibson's before lusti did and grabbed a booth. Princesca was like "How will you know who he is?" to which I said "I've seen countless pictures, don't worry." I didn't even need to see his face to know who he was, though... I recognized his car when he pulled into the lot about five minutes later. :cool:
I can't recall for sure but I think he recognized us immediately once he came into the restaurant. Anyway, we had a good dinner. The pulled pork was as good as what we'd had the night before, and Gibson's features the region's characteristic white barbecue sauce. Princesca loved it, and while I thought it was good it basically tasted like vinegar to me, which you can get in a Carolina-style BBQ sauce without the mayonnaise that makes Alabama sauce white. They had really good hush puppies there, too. For dessert lusti and Princesca got coconut pie, which they proclaimed to be outstanding, and I got pecan pie... also fantastic.
THE LIST: Believe it or not the Languishite who got discussed the most was Zoupa, and only because for some reason we could all remember his real name, but not his Languish nickname, so we spent an embarrassing portion of the meetup trying to remember (old people problems :blush: ). Beyond him, we discussed past meetups we'd had, so some names that came up in that context were Yi, grumbler, Berkut, Tim, Wags, Meri, KRonn, etc. lusti liked the story I told about Valmy when we met him; he was in Boston for a friend's wedding and agreed to meet us and Tim at a Mexican joint in Sudbury but didn't have a car so he walked like 10-15 miles. :cool: IIRC Tim gave him a ride back so at least he didn't have to do that both ways.
lusti and Princesca also talked quite a bit about Disney World since she's as obsessed with it as Capturedfairy is. At the end of the dinner he took a pic of a little Stormtrooper action figure posed with his pie. I forget the backstory to that but he put it up on Facebook later and a ton of people liked it so it must be some sort of in-joke with his peeps or something. :hmm:
Yes, The List included everyone we have met and some of the facebook ones. Also just about every main character was mentioned. :ph34r:
Stormtrooper has traveled the world with me. He was given to me by my kids to protect me during my first deployment. Since then he has traveled with me everywhere. :)
It was a very nice meet, food was good, company was better. I shall let you know when I head to KY, Harlan County I think it is, not sure when.
Quote from: lustindarkness on May 13, 2013, 10:05:45 AM
Stormtrooper has traveled the world with me. He was given to me by my kids to protect me during my first deployment. Since then he has traveled with me everywhere. :)
It was a very nice meet, food was good, company was better. I shall let you know when I head to KY, Harlan County I think it is, not sure when.
That's right... I forgot about that as well as your trip to KY. Damnit, that's why I need to get these AARs done sooner. :Embarrass:
Validation! :yeah:
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 13, 2013, 02:41:37 PM
Validation! :yeah:
Act like you've been there before. Sheesh.
wut?
I'm sure this isn't the first time you've been complained about before at meets. :rolleyes:
IIRC Yi was spoken about at length, but he has an advantage over the rest of all y'all bitches because he was the last Languishite Princesca and I met, and lusti had met him as well (you were both at that Gettysburg meet, right? and both at Ank's house?)
Yi wasn't at Gettysburg meet, but was at Ank's and then Tricky Dick and I met up with him again in Ill-i-noise at :ccr's house.
But re-reading yes ricanscum was at G-burg and Ank's and Trick and i stopped at his house on that road trip too. :lol:
Suck on it taco boy. :punk:
That's you.
You fucks make me want to meet with you guys again, if only to kick you in the nuts.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 13, 2013, 03:45:07 PM
That's you.
I know i'm taco boy, not sure why i should be sucking on it. Of course you were mentioned, i just don't know why you feel need for validation :P
Validation is a basic human need.
Quote from: lustindarkness on May 13, 2013, 03:53:18 PM
You fucks make me want to meet with you guys again, if only to kick you in the nuts.
I smell road trip to Alaska in your future!
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 13, 2013, 04:02:15 PM
Validation is a basic human need.
I don't need it ^_^
Quote from: katmai on May 13, 2013, 04:02:43 PM
Quote from: lustindarkness on May 13, 2013, 03:53:18 PM
You fucks make me want to meet with you guys again, if only to kick you in the nuts.
I smell road trip to Alaska in your future!
I would love to. But can't afford the gas to get there. :(
Quote from: katmai on May 13, 2013, 04:03:00 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 13, 2013, 04:02:15 PM
Validation is a basic human need.
I don't need it ^_^
Not human. :console:
Quote from: lustindarkness on May 13, 2013, 04:28:22 PM
Quote from: katmai on May 13, 2013, 04:02:43 PM
Quote from: lustindarkness on May 13, 2013, 03:53:18 PM
You fucks make me want to meet with you guys again, if only to kick you in the nuts.
I smell road trip to Alaska in your future!
I would love to. But can't afford the gas to get there. :(
Not human. :console:
No kidding, since it's still more expensive in Canada then here!
Quote from: lustindarkness on May 13, 2013, 03:53:18 PM
You fucks make me want to meet with you guys again, if only to kick you in the nuts.
You can help cap Tonitrus in the knees, so we don't have to strain our necks looking up at him. But I don't think he'd feel it anyway.
(https://lh3.ggpht.com/_Zm-2hX05Nfg/TDJEcYFpSdI/AAAAAAAAAfU/WK1ZIEIqGfM/s320/vlcsnap-2010-07-05-16h33m37s68.png)