James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

February 25: Amtrak

This will probably be my first & last foray with the Amtrak experience. I'm currently on my way to Providence, and while the business class seats are wide & comfortable, I was supposed to be at my station 40+ minutes ago. At this point, it looks like we're another 2 hours out, and climbing. The train was heavily delayed, which is a shitty way to start a trip. But every half hour, the scheduled arrival time goes up by 5 minutes. I don't know what janky-ass system they have going on here, but it's far less convenient than driving, or flying for that matter. In the end a flight would have been marginally more expensive and it would have been much faster. We're currently tooling along towards New Haven doing what I would guess is about 40 mph. I fail to understand how our infrastructure is so poor that this is the state of rail travel in the US. We took several trains in Europe a few years ago. The total cost for 5 of us to go from Paris to London was a little more expensive than what I paid today, and it was every bit as comfortable and 10x more efficient and on time. Amtrak is garbage.

View attachment 233347
They'll refund you if you call.
 
Philips. What are you using? MOPAR bulbs?

id have to check for a complete list, but iv had several brands, utilitech, phillips ford and toyota among them(i cant afford to try the porsche ones). I will say that the ones which keep going out are mounted upside down, which was allegedly a problem with the CFLs, something about overheating the ballast in the base, not sure if the same can be said for the xformer in the base of the LEDS.

the leds in my truck are still factory so maybe mopar should start making some bulbs for the house, would probably outlast me
 
Last edited:
February 25: Amtrak

This will probably be my first & last foray with the Amtrak experience.

We took several trains in Europe a few years ago. The total cost for 5 of us to go from Paris to London was a little more expensive than what I paid today, and it was every bit as comfortable and 10x more efficient and on time. Amtrak is garbage.
tried to warn you haha! and yeah, comparing train travel here to europe is insulting to europe in even having them in the same convo
 
February 26: Peloton

Can confirm - you can get a free account that allows you some limited ability to follow rides on the Peloton. I used it this morning and it is easily 10x better than the gym bike in getting a good workout. I did 2 of the canned workouts - Iceland for 30 and Canary Islands for 20. This was basically 50 minutes of spin class-level work. It shows you power & calories burned, and this ends up being a completely legit workout. It makes the whole Winter Travel issue a lot easier to deal with because I can start the day with a solid effort to kick my ass into gear. The scenic routes were enjoyable, especially since I hadn't done them before. I imagine these 12 workouts would get old but I'm only going to be here 4 mornings, and won't even be able to do them all. In the great cornucopia that is work travel, this adds an element that makes it easier to deal with. Combine this with a healthy breakfast and a salad bar lunch, and it almost balances out the tasty dinner we got tonight.

IMG_8813.jpeg
 
February 13: JD Power

It snowed today in Rhode Island. But it snowed in NJ so I'm not going to show you a picture you haven't seen already. It was nice, and of course I wish we were out there skiing. But we weren't. So here we are. Rhode Island. Did I mention Rhode Island? It's awesome.

Instead I shall show you this little wall of fame where the company keeps their JD Power awards. This is pretty legit, gotta say. I guess if you zoom in you can see what org I'm working with. I don't think I'm not allowed to say, or anything like that. Also, I have no idea what JD Power Awards actually mean. So there's that.

Did I mention I'm in Rhode Island?

I'm going to the team dinner soon. As if spending 8 hours per day with these people for 2 days isn't enough, I now get to spend another 2 with them while they all get drunk. In Rhode Island. Did I mention...never mind.

View attachment 232629
Late to the game...does JD Power have as many JD Power awards? Wait, do you happen to work for JD Power?
 
Well nobody wants to ride on trains in this country as the distances and times are too far/long.....our country/infrastructure wasnt bombed into rubble like a good portion of europe/japan was.....which made modernizing easier. Plus gas is $5-$6 a gallon in europe....its never going to be the same here.

Plus...my god, people seemed obsessed with worrying about the safety of airline travel (which is beyond ridiculous).....DONT look into the safety of rail travel in comparison lol.
 
Well nobody wants to ride on trains in this country as the distances and times are too far/long.....our country/infrastructure wasnt bombed into rubble like a good portion of europe/japan was.....which made modernizing easier. Plus gas is $5-$6 a gallon in europe....its never going to be the same here.

Plus...my god, people seemed obsessed with worrying about the safety of airline travel (which is beyond ridiculous).....DONT look into the safety of rail travel in comparison lol.
I would say it's a pretty complicated set of reasons.

-We didn't have the infrastructure destroyed, so therefore the wasn't a push to build it up as opposed to just maintain it.
-The freight carriers fought hard against the passenger trains where in Europe the passenger needs won out. Plus they were mostly nationalized early.
-Post WWII there was a big push in the US with the highway system and then suburban growth for cars. Once people moved out of the urban areas it made city-to-city train travel much harder.

Years ago I went from NYC to New Orleans via train. We rented one of those small private rooms and it was a pretty cool experience. 22 or 26 hours of travel but the whole thing was extremely relaxing as opposed to air travel. You meet cool people in the dining car, something new. It's something I'd recommend to anyone to do but it isn't cheap and it takes a lot of time. It ended up economical at the time as we had two bikes and they charge something like $5 per bike.

Also you realize that everyone in coach is not flying because of outstanding warrants.
 
Are you still on the Peloton? Or did the Amtrak police come for you after shit talking?

I’m no longer in Rhode Island. I’m now in Boston. These days just got too long and I’ve run out of steam. In theory my family is joining me up here tonight but plans tend to have a way of changing.
 
So as I'm sitting here currently on a Swiss train.... The ride is really awesome, quiet, comfortable, views are amazing ... Just one MAJOR design flaw... Literally no place to put luggage.... Whole train car has a spot the sized of a car trunk to put bags... Like wtf is that? No place to sit bc everyone's luggage is piled on the seats with them.
 
I’m no longer in Rhode Island. I’m now in Boston. These days just got too long and I’ve run out of steam. In theory my family is joining me up here tonight but plans tend to have a way of changing.
Hopefully you didn't have to Amtrak it home
 
No, I made it to Boston and the family joined me last night. Now we have a free day as the kids went to the tournament and we get to do whatever.
I don't know what the Boston weather is like, but it's a good day to not be in New Jersey
 
Back Home

In the last 14 days, I have spent either some or all of 12 days on the road. First I went to Rhode Island for work, then directly to Boston for a family visit plus a volleyball tournament. And finally we just got back from a 4-day work-paid trip to Aruba. I can't complain too much about that last trip, but I miss my bed just the same. I was so busy during that time I took a break from updating this. I had some long work days, as well as some long vacation days in there. I just didn't feel like sitting down at the end of most of these days. We're back to normal for a few days, at least.

The discovery I made this past week in Aruba is that I really enjoy snorkeling. Seeing a sea turtle was pretty cool, but just tooling around staring at the ocean floor through clear water is awesome. While I haven't done this sort of thing in a long, long time, I could see myself partaking in some edibles and just staring away for hours. It was pretty awesome, I have to say. Makes me see the whole island destination in a different light. We also went off-roading in a rented jeep and explored some caves. It was a pretty nice work retreat.

Anyway, the below picture does not depict where I am right now.

KubSoKy.jpg
 
Snorkeling is awesome....Im sure scuba diving is too, but ill never be that committed....I have been to the virgin islands, bahamas, gulf of mexico, etc....its about the old thing I find entertaining about going to the Caribbean....well some cool hikes in BVI too...but the snorkeling there was amazing.
 
Snorkeling is awesome....Im sure scuba diving is too, but ill never be that committed....I have been to the virgin islands, bahamas, gulf of mexico, etc....its about the old thing I find entertaining about going to the Caribbean....well some cool hikes in BVI too...but the snorkeling there was amazing.

Snorkeling is 90% of the experience for 1/10 the hassle and effort. I did scuba certification in my 20s, went a few times, and mostly decided that it was too much of a pain in the ass to really get into. It's also an activity that, at least for me, you want to be doing/practicing on a regular basis to enjoy and be safe, which isn't terribly realistic living in the northeast.
 
which isn't terribly realistic living in the northeast.

Indeed. In my enthusiasm for snorkeling I checked out what's available in NJ. Basically the answers were all in the realm of, "Under so and so bridge in some inlet on the shore but go during the week early otherwise you might die by a boat running you over."

Sounds amazing.

The hook with scuba in Aruba is the pair of WWII German ships at the bottom of the ocean.
 
Indeed. In my enthusiasm for snorkeling I checked out what's available in NJ. Basically the answers were all in the realm of, "Under so and so bridge in some inlet on the shore but go during the week early otherwise you might die by a boat running you over."

Sounds amazing.

The hook with scuba in Aruba is the pair of WWII German ships at the bottom of the ocean.
when I was on the sail boat trip around BVI we stopped at this area of a few rock islands called "the dogs"...I think they are called Islets...whatever...anyway.....that was like the most amazing fish tank experience for me...so cool.
AP1GczOjJcA4IpT7TqDFsodF7rVU-bxwc8CoV68ouxGEBqlHkX9zIBuIJyXLEglbweVb4h87UTSqSnasY3kRQmDUixNqWo6-ILa141WqxCUtH_hWeDqg23RUX0NAqbN1z6tjY3FFNMU45EVE2uemGnF3FgTW0gD82thJJND4SS2nIyz6u5tuNEfRQREc1cMNc4IdmcXUkFMnxl5kVSrh8N8WomizJobSYf4bsvteFrmCOmkDSU6oYdvqN_CZ2ZLeviu25wZU_KL16GvViGlBWa3e9_sk3P1Wb7Jvz8vzhdi4mLeoS9AXOy3UUyuYrcdiYkKPna2SD46Z1tW8k65eJGIzfr6NWeCD3HET9EtGXR9_5KKqnGT8G7Tta_ss9i2J13XyVCf-XDw3gL_QdnSHOX6dUhExgr2xyc9J8DMwbkxqSpsVfOJdS6JmQImJKWgRNliGHUNHVy3dDSpy_0CROqOynaAuSylXYMFL5U0lrwFVdlZO-9PWcDPVLwXsxsZEg59KAKKRI-3uORuBCLCQ9GqEHPbcyA0yPQuo234cjR0dtNrX7vr0L7duFnQ5v0AlUQ8yDo4t64wvwzbNVbcZx0lEga6C5o12nKpcLi6d-8L4bRXIuKfh4EI6IhG5u8g1ySUBb8Mq6Sgpz9YkScpyDZ5Uqog9Bs3LqeQXZrKOShtAt7UsI0b-yRp0Avj3e-kkPuQ6Bgpouv6IuUCDUS-0drXUIlqYZWYuyRBFA7JFwbq0AI9hmYWb1hQgCbXJ29ewjCPJPVnDofGo6Ba-DazNLSuAe_adoHfSY0kM227l7TfQTQMGtyWoXVrG-Ho3OsKEQvU50u1MsUPnpUOfyjzeG6p5HU67caIx5gEq0jc8B6V4YDDptYTprAYTFDfr-CeKHtgfVV74dAy8pMH0bKaMvi7qS6E=w1920-h484-s-no-gm


shitty 2013 camera.
1710170613696.png
 

Attachments

  • 1710170468877.png
    1710170468877.png
    564.5 KB · Views: 219
Back
Top Bottom