Random thoughts flying back home

[CuseLegacy]

We were in NYC this week, and downtown Syracuse, and up in Old Forge. This ever present smell of pot is becoming really annoying. I try to be open minded about it - people just doing their own thing, and all. But I don’t feel like I should have to be subjected to it everywhere I go. It’s sad really that so many people feel they need to be in an altered state of mind so much of the time. I don’t think it reflects well on our society.

So you're saying it smelled like a SU dorm in the '70s.

 

[two3zone]

Oh and by the way did anyone see the UNLV idiot that was walking around in, effectively the Syracuse lounge behind section C134 at half time, flipping all the Orange fans off? I mean it was like packed in there and about 90% Syracuse fans so he kinda stood out. Anyway my biggest regret of the whole weekend is that I tried to shoulder him very hard and whiffed . Every so often I see something like that and there's like this electrical disconnect in my body that gets triggered and I snap back into my CNY 22 year old self. Oh well, there's always next time.

You sound like my kinda guy.

 

[All4SU]

So you're saying it smelled like a SU dorm in the '70s.

Yes, and it smelled like the Westcott theater any time I go to hear live music there. But I choose to be in those spaces and expect it. In open air, on the streets - even in the Adirondacks - it’s inescapable.

 

[AlaskaSU]

My first Turo was on the island of Molokai of all places and it was about half the price of the rental companies. You get what you pay for, but it’s good when you really don’t care what you’re driving. It’s a good thing I didn’t care because it was a real junker, and the brakes squeaked. My suggestion for those that use Turo is to be careful to read all of the reviews ahead of time to know what you’re getting. But I’d use again.

The fun thing about this Molokai Turo rental was meeting the owner. She was waiting for us at the airport, gave us both big hugs, and then drove us around town and showed us the ropes.

Thought I was the only person to go to Molokai.

 

[mark79]

Thought I was the only person to go to Molokai.

Nope - I’m a frequent traveler to Hawaii and I’d been everywhere else multiple times except for Molokai. I actually enjoyed it a lot. Will probably go back.

Edit: everywhere you can actually go.. that uninhabited island Koolawe or however you spell it I don’t count!

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

There is a chance you might see a light rail or monorail in Onondaga County. There is a private company reaching out to municipalities.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

There is a chance you might see a light rail or monorail in Onondaga County. There is a private company reaching out to municipalities.

It's more of a Shelbyville kind of idea.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I've lived in California for 15 years Tom and In N Out here has almost this religious type cult following. Dare you say In N Out isn't the best burger place in the galaxy and see what happens! LOL. But I agree with you 100% - it's good, it's not any better than Shake Shack or 5 guys, and there are local LA places that are better than all of them. Price point it's on par with Mcdonald's, but most locations in So Cal you have to wait a half hour plus at any normal meal time to get your food so it starts to take on more of a comparative to places like Shake Shack or 5 guys where you have to wait a bit in my opinion. But it's definitely a good value for the price if you're willing to wait for it.

When it comes to socal burger chains, Habit Burger > In N Out imho

 

[tep624]

When it comes to socal burger chains, Habit Burger > In N Out imho

My favorite is the Win-Dow but it's more local to LA. But I'm back in OC now so it's a haul. Think the closest to OC is in Long Beach.

Also there's this place in Santa Monica called Pono Burger that's a Hawaiian burger place, I think they only have one location but that place is really good.

 

[Cusefan95]

I am bored and need something to keep awake. So here are some thoughts on my weekend and SU football in general.

Vegas is a strange place. So much to do. It is a foodies paradise. I didn’t really take advantage of that this. I did visit the In and Out burger joint close to Allegiant before I left. My burger tasted fresh. The beef was good, the lettuce and tomato were solid. It didn’t change my life and I think a Five Guys or Shake Shack provide about the same high quality burger. It was relatively cheap. Impressed with the drive through layout, which looks to be years ahead of what we are doing in CNY.

The monorail and tram were cool and made me wish we had one in Syracuse.

There were a lot of homeless people around. They all hung out on high traffic corners with traffic lights. They were not aggressive. But some walked around in traffic pretty boldly.

Speaking of traffic lights, the lights in Vegas seemed like they took longer to change than in any city I have ever been to. Orlando has been dethroned. Congrats!

Let’s talk about UNLV fans. They were unusually polite and respectful before the game, and the ones I talked to were also quite confident they were going to win. But they were cool and not confrontational at all.

As mentioned, they were not very loud. Even when they took the lead and almost had the game secured. I talked to a couple after the game and they were impressed with how many fans we brought and had a passionate our fans were.

A couple mentioned the refs and thought they would have won if the refs called it both ways. Not sure they had good memories.

I was impressed with the UNLV offense and think they will win a lot more games this season. Would not be surprised if they win out. Their defense is more suspect but they have a couple studs there and it should be good enough for most of their opponents. They have very good team speed and are well coached.

Sorry to see what happened to Grayson McCall. Hope he makes a full recovery and does not subject himself to more risk.

It will be interesting to see what happens with NC State this week. They got off to a bad start last year as well and eventually settled in and finished strong. Hard to do that with a true QB but we will see.

The warehouse where Battlebots is filmed is on Koval a few blocks south of where I stayed. Cool.

Another hotel with no normal soap but that body wash they keep pushing on me. I don’t like it. Not gonna buy it. I used it but I don’t like it. Did the major hotels all buy stock in body wash? Someone needs to investigate this.

I used Turo for the first time on this road trip. It was a little funky but cheaper than the big car rental places and it was nice to have an alternative. I will do it again. Not a paid endorsement but it worked well for me.

Wish it was easier to walk near the Strip. Getting from MGM to Excalibur, to go from monorail to tram, was not as easy as it should be.

It is easy to walk on Fremont but with the sleazy girls dressed up like showgirls trying to pose for a picture with you and all the NYS Fair midway type folks there and the ever present smell of marijuana in the air, it wasn’t a great experience. Maybe best for people who are partaking in the ganja?

The longest walk I have ever had between gates for connecting flights was at the Minneapolis airport today. It is a good thing there were 3 hours and 45 minutes for me for me to make the journey. Walk walk
Walk. Ride ride ride ride. Go up a
Floor. Go down a floor. Turn 180 degrees. Repeat. The people were all
Minnesota nice though.

From reading posts on the board I see a bunch of people I have never met were at the tailgate and I did not have a chance to meet up with them.

I just want to say I really enjoy meeting people from the board, or seeing people
again I have not seen for years. Want to encourage people to say hi. I only bite when extremely hungry and that is rare with our tailgates.

I also want to apologize to anyone I offended with my in game alternate personality. I have never really met him and can’t really control him but I ask my friends to try and keep him out of fights and out of jail. Props to my peeps for doing that at the UNLV game.

Woke up after the game feeling exhausted with an extremely blown out throat. Very happy I was not in jail and had zero black eyes.

I think this thing is kind of like the catholic gift of tongues except the new language is trash talk.

In & Out is only marginally better than McDonalds. At one point in life I might have accepted a challenge to fight over that, but don’t care enough anyone - now I mostly just accept that In & Out has a bizarre cult following and steer clear of lunatics who think it’s fantastic. A Culver’s butter burger blows them away.

As someone who travels most of the week and stays in hotels, the body wash is annoying. I either need to travel with stupid body poufs which are a PITA to pack, or a bar of soap. I’m sure it’s an effective cost savings measure as I travel everywhere with soap now, and miss the days when it was provided.

It’s discouraging how many homeless I see virtually everywhere I travel to. That there would be many in Vegas is unsurprising.

I didn’t feel either team had a reason to feel cheated by the refs, although it’s not shocking the losing team fans would feel otherwise. All in all, it was one of the weirdest games I’ve ever seen and hope we don’t play another like it all year (I’d hope for ever, but that’s likely unrealistic).

 

[sutomcat]

Tom, you waking up with a blown out throat on Saturday is the least surprising thing I've read on this board post game. Mine was certainly struggling as well. I'm sure that you'd agree that it was 100% worth it!

Absolutely!

 

[sutomcat]

I was able to experience your in game personality up close. I would have introduced myself but there was very little opportunity in between your taunting cheering. Well done, Sir! (I was the row behind you and two seats over to your right. We high fived a few times.)

It was nice to meet you. Kind of. Next time hopefully we can talk a bit more. And hopefully celebrate some more good SU plays with high fives!

 

[djcon57]

When it comes to socal burger chains, Habit Burger > In N Out imho

I like In N Out, but I think Habit is better too. Super underrated w/o the lines/wait.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

I like In N Out, but I think Habit is better too. Super underrated w/o the lines/wait.

The Habit near me has the slowest drive through. Plus, the thought of paying over $20 at a fast food place for a burger, fries and a drink just rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Cusefan95]

My favorite is the Win-Dow but it's more local to LA. But I'm back in OC now so it's a haul. Think the closest to OC is in Long Beach.

Also there's this place in Santa Monica called Pono Burger that's a Hawaiian burger place, I think they only have one location but that place is really good.

Does Pono Burger serve a Big Kahuna burger? If not - they really should.

With only one location there’s no way they could afford it - but a TV ad with Samuel L Jackson taking a bite and saying “This is a tasty burger!” would be hilarious.

 

[Newhouser]

There is a chance you might see a light rail or monorail in Onondaga County. There is a private company reaching out to municipalities.

I would love to see the financial plan where that makes money. It sounds great but i just do not see the demand.

 

[atlanticuse]

Hard pass on Turo.
Insurance fees jack it up, many cars are in rough shape (I rented a Tesla Model S Plaid which had similar excess wear as the major reviewers), and thought I would get mugged on pickup.
My solution (ESPECIALLY in places like Vegas when I'm leaving town) is to use Uber (and walk if I can deal with 40 minutes-thought-it-would-only-be-5-because-it-looks-so-close) and then get it at the last minute (Uber from MGM > airport rental car).
Otherwise I try not to rent cars, unless company paying (in that case I use Hertz or Enterprise in my village that I can walk a mile to).

 

[sutomcat]

I think you often give it back in parking costs at major airports when you want the convenience of the main chains.

I had to leave a dudes car running in Montreal bc my flight was leaving and he hadn't gotten off work yet to meet me at the airport. Sorry bro'd. One time at Ohare I got soaked brutally on pickup and dropoff parking well over $100 on both ends his car had sat for a while when I went to pick it up and paid and then he dinged a bunch of extras at the end.

My company gets crazy low rates through national that cant be beat but sometimes they do sell out in which case I use Turo. Having to shuttle to an sketchy lot a couple minutes from the airport to avoid parking charges is annoying too.

Its really nice when you want to Uber for part of the stay and drive for the rest. Did that in LA and worked out well.

These are all very good points regarding Turo. From Frankie and everyone else who weighed in. The daily cost is not the cost you will actually pay. There are a bunch of fees they add in after you commit that might increase the price of the car per day by 20%.

You are probably going to have to do more work to get to the car and drop it off.

I am sure Turo vets people who put their vehicles on the app but I am not sure how effective this is. If the reviews are consistently good, I would feel good about renting the vehicle. I liked having easy access to the owner if I had a question about something (like how to pop the cover for the gas).

I was lucky in that in Vegas, the Turo cars are parked in a paid parking lot literally across the street from the rental car center. So you can take the rental car bus to the center, with your luggage, walk across the street and get to your car. The key was in a locked box in the car and the owner sent me the combo when I got to the car. I did have to pay for the parking when I left the lot but it was like $3.00. It was an open lot, not expensive at all.

Every Turo owner has a rating and yes, there are reviews for each car. I would absolutely read them. In this way, it is almost better than renting from someone like Hertz in that you can find out some car specific info before you even commit to getting it.

The prices for renting a car from the big companies are getting crazy. It is nice to have other options.

 

[atlanticuse]

I would love to see the financial plan where that makes money. It sounds great but i just do not see the demand.

see: Atlanta Streetcar. Federal funding; Feds are pissed that it's a complete scam/money drain, and cars are either hitting it or each other.
Fail.

 

[djcon57]

The Habit near me has the slowest drive through. Plus, the thought of paying over $20 at a fast food place for a burger, fries and a drink just rubs me the wrong way.

Well that too. It's maybe a once every 2-3 months Friday meal at most.

 

[storange]

Used Turo and once in Myrtle Beach . Picked up Car in back of Airport Lot. No problems

 

[tep624]

Hard pass on Turo.
Insurance fees jack it up, many cars are in rough shape (I rented a Tesla Model S Plaid which had similar excess wear as the major reviewers), and thought I would get mugged on pickup.
My solution (ESPECIALLY in places like Vegas when I'm leaving town) is to use Uber (and walk if I can deal with 40 minutes-thought-it-would-only-be-5-because-it-looks-so-close) and then get it at the last minute (Uber from MGM > airport rental car).
Otherwise I try not to rent cars, unless company paying (in that case I use Hertz or Enterprise in my village that I can walk a mile to).

We taxied from Park MGM to Allegiant and then walked back after the game. When the heat is more reasonable it's not a bad walk even from there. We didn't do it on the way over because it was like 100 lol. But after the game it was fine to walk back after it cooled a bit.

I prefer to walk around Vegas when the heat isn't out of control. Unless you're going somewhere outside the Strip.

 

[cjmurray34]

Great write up. I got the chance to try 303 in the cut 8.9 out of 10 and buldogi's the egg drop sandwich was a 9.7 out of 10 and the Philly hot dog was a 4.4 out of 10. I can't recommend the egg drop enough, I will dream of it and the siracha aioli forever. Love your energy Tomcat, it's the best and well talked about in my family circles as I told you.

 

[tep624]

Does Pono Burger serve a Big Kahuna burger? If not - they really should.

With only one location there’s no way they could afford it - but a TV ad with Samuel L Jackson taking a bite and saying “This is a tasty burger!” would be hilarious.

They should and they don't

But they do have really good onion rings and I'm an onion rings guy.

 

[GoSU96]

I was able to experience your in game personality up close. I would have introduced myself but there was very little opportunity in between your taunting cheering. Well done, Sir! (I was the row behind you and two seats over to your right. We high fived a few times.)

The Tomcat in the wild is a wonder to behold.