OT: General OT Thread [NO POLITICS, RACE OR RELIGION]

[Kerb Hohl]

Going to St Croix to get out of dodge in a week or so.

Any suggestions are welcome.

My sister-in-law studied abroad there and I visited 6-7 years ago. I bet a bunch has already changed since then. Any preferences on what to do? Here's some random thoughts as I pull back into my memory of it.

Off the Wall was a fun pizza place right on the coast with music most nights kinda out of the towns. It was owned by some Packer fans with flags hanging around, no idea if they still are the owners, though.

Christansted is new(ish) and touristy. The boardwalk there had a few fun bars.

Frederiksted is the older town on the other side. Right by the water it is pretty fancy though because the cruise ships come in there.

Chicken Shack in the middle of the island near the airport was a very popular place and I thought it was good.

Rainbow beach near Frederiksted was nice and maybe the best beach that I can remember being at there but I think is the most packed/touristy one with a party bar or two on it.

I can't remember how we ended up here...I think it was during a day where we did a Jeep tour. You can drive up in the middle of the rainforest:

https://www.vinow.com/blog/st-croix/st-croixs-famous-beer-drinking-pigs/

The Cruzan rum distillery is there. Cruzan Confusion is the famous drink where they just mix a bunch of flavors.

I think we did a boat out to a little island (Buck Island) and did some snorkeling.

You can drive to the easternmost point in the US. Great view, not sure if it was too worth it beyond that :-p

[BUCKnation]

Manila is the worst airport

[ReasonablySober]

This is pretty wild.

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[Licensed to Il]

Manila is the worst airport

I came out of there once at around 2am my time, the 5 miles around the airport smelled like diesel fuel, I puked put the window of the cab, and got a hotel room the size of a bunk bed with 10 inches of walkway on the side.

The good news, is Filipino people LOVE basketball like nothing I have ever seen. I had NBA, Filipino pro league, euro league, and Australian league games on my tv. The only other channels were Catholic mass, and boxing. Pork and rice for every meal. Love that place.

[ReasonablySober]

Don't know what the airport was, but flying out of Paris twice was enough to convince I never needed to fly again. The screaming and crying were enough for me.

[Beorn]

Manila is the worst airport

You have never been to the Sofia airport before they created the new Terminal

[jschligs]

I feel like all airports suck to a degree. I can't really add to the "worst of all" discussions.

But it did take me 36 hours to fly from Madison to Boise last August all because the stupid lady at the counter told me "oh you'll absolutely make the connecting flight" and she was, in fact, completely wrong. Was delayed in Chicago over 14 hours, finally flew me to ****ing Seattle and put me in a hotel for 1.5 hours (yes, I was going to the damn hotel for a shower), wouldn't let us get our bags, and when I finally landed in Boise the next afternoon, my bag was already there and locked in a room. Worst part is, they kept lying about the plane being almost ready for hours, bumping us 30 minutes at a time. If they'd have just told us it wasn't going to happen earlier I would've left and gotten good sleep. **** American ONE THOUSAND TIMES OVER. I honestly will not fly them again, ever.

[chonestown]

Semi-regular boxing post!

To prove my unofficial dual citizenship bona fides, I decided to catch BOOMER Tim Tsyzu aka Joe Isuzu in fistic action. Alas, he met the canvas in round 1, so work in progress is my takeaway. My mans still won going away, so props for navigating adversity. Still, the kid is a tremendous body puncher and that will always find favor at Chonestown HQ. Definitely a mauler and leaves himself exposed (hey-oh), but that only ups the ante for excitement. 154 is a flawed division. Charlo is an iffy champ and the next-in-lines are either weak-hitting or defensively-porous. Could Joe Isuzu one day grab some hardware? Eh, sure, why not. Him vs say Erickson Lubin would be fun as hell, which means it will never happen.

The fight I wanted to see was the Top Rank card with Miguel Berchelt headlining. Kids, be careful what you wish for. Berchelt was an absolute wrecking ball at 126 before getting destroyed in his last bout in a 10-round TKO that should have been stopped 6 rounds earlier. He moved up to 130 and it was obvious he was a shot fighter within the space of a round. His legs were gone, his hooks were wild and wide, and his already iffy defense was even more threadbare. Within the space of two years, he went from one of the most exciting fighters around to someone was HAS to hang it up. Loma-Berchelt would have been a fever dream of an anticipated fight pre-covid. And now? He looked awkward, overmatched and physically in danger. Boxing is just fking relentless. Save for somebody in baseball getting the yips, there is no more sudden fall from grace than a spent fighter. You just about want to cry when you see it unspool in real time. Vaya con dios, hombre, your hands carried dynamite.

[StickeeFingaz]

Dope if true, I'll be there.

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[MikeIsGood]

Dope if true, I'll be there.

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Holy ****, this seems random to me, but I'll for sure try to go also.

[ReginaldDwight]

Dope if true, I'll be there.

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Holy ****, this seems random to me, but I'll for sure try to go also.

Just Mentioned to my buddy how insane a world cup game at Lambeau would be.

[MickeyDavis]

Dope if true, I'll be there.

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Holy ****, this seems random to me, but I'll for sure try to go also.

Just Mentioned to my buddy how insane a world cup game at Lambeau would be.

Haven't seen anything official. The guy who tweeted it says all the hotels in GB are booked so maybe...

[ejn1214]

I was at Brookfield Square today and saw a very odd piece of memorabilia. You can get a signed picture of Brynn Forbes with the Championship trophy for 25 dollars. It was pretty tempting as it would be an interesting thing to have framed on your wall.

This is coming from someone who received a framed greasy strangler picture as a wedding present.

[StickeeFingaz]

Obviously happy that we're in the World Cup but damn this team can be disappointing. Not even in the mood to celebrate after that loss but I know I'll forget about it by Friday when the draw happens.

[ReginaldDwight]

Obviously happy that we're in the World Cup but damn this team can be disappointing. Not even in the mood to celebrate after that loss but I know I'll forget about it by Friday when the draw happens.

lol? they got the result and look like they will get an easier group than canada. Hope the core group is healthy and on form for the WC next year and its a dangerous team. There is no dominate team right now.

[stellation]

Had a great day, having a great night now. Hope you're all having a good day or night wherever you are. Listening to Belle and Sebastian, drinkin' beer, mansplaining cats vs. dogs to my beloved.

My son and I are off to the footy tomorrow, first round of the season- a big star on our team is a chance to kick his 1000th career goal- only 5 guys have ever done it at that level, records date back to the 1890s- it'll be a remarkable achievement if we get to see it live.

General life update- I did get along to that game with my son (and my brother, and my dad!), it was our first time at a big event since Covid and was a little strange for a while but once the footy started it was an amazing, overwhelming sense of familiarity and calm- the big star only kicked one goal that night, but our team won and we got to spend some time with family/dip our toe in the world at large and it was a great event.

Luckily the next game was in Sydney as well, and a home game for us. So last Friday night my son, my brother and I (Dad is a mad keen fan, has been a member for forever but is struggling a little with his hip and had to watch from home) choofed off to the game along with 37k of our dearest friends (so very, very weird to be in a huge crowd of people- we still moved around in masks) and I got to share with them one of the greatest, if not the greatest, sporting moments of my life; that big star did indeed kick his 1000th goal, and the below happened. The noise was deafening, but more importantly after this crazy couple of years the sheer positive energy and love from such a large number of people was absolutely electric to be part of- everyone there, regardless of their team allegiance, was overjoyed when it happened.

The pitch invasion is a big thing in footy for goal scoring milestones. It was amazing to be there and share it with my son (and yes, I'll concede, even with my stupid brother).

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[Pachinko_]

What they don't tell you at IKEA is that hanging cabinet doors and getting them to close and align to your wife's OCD standards is an actual profession. It's called "cabinet installer", in this country it pays $40 an hour, and if you try to do it yourself it will take you 3 hours to do what they would do in 1.

So basically after you've paid IKEA your options are $200 or your weekend gone. Pick your poison.

[AussieBuck]

What they don't tell you at IKEA is that hanging cabinet doors and getting them to close and align to your wife's OCD standards is an actual profession. It's called "cabinet installer", in this country it pays $40 an hour, and if you try to do it yourself it will take you 3 hours to do what they would do in 1.

So basically after you've paid IKEA your options are $200 or your weekend gone. Pick your poison.

I've basically built a house with my own hands but **** if I'm adjusting those **** hinges properly, they can go and get ****, then go a lot further getting ****, continuing to get **** indefinitely, and then can find a way to keep **** off forever.

[Pachinko_]

What they don't tell you at IKEA is that hanging cabinet doors and getting them to close and align to your wife's OCD standards is an actual profession. It's called "cabinet installer", in this country it pays $40 an hour, and if you try to do it yourself it will take you 3 hours to do what they would do in 1.

So basically after you've paid IKEA your options are $200 or your weekend gone. Pick your poison.

I've basically built a house with my own hands but **** if I'm adjusting those **** hinges properly, they can go and get ****, then go a lot further getting ****, continuing to get **** indefinitely, and then can find a way to keep **** off forever.

Yep. That is a healthy reaction of a man who has adjusted hinges right there.

[ejn1214]

Sorry if this has been posted already but certain Palermo's pizza's come with a code to redeem online for a championship ring, 1971 ring, or bango championship bobblehead. It appears you don't get to choose and idk if this is the ring given out at the game or something else. Pizza was $6 at Piggly wiggly so I figured I'd buy a couple.