Can you go home again?

McGRP01 · Oct 17, 2004

You couldn't PAY ME to move back to my hometown!

stevew · Oct 17, 2004

And to think I might move from CO to NC in six months.

Brian HCM#1 · Oct 17, 2004

I knew you'd start to see the light, my prediction..........................Within the next 3 years you'll be back in the states.

Skookum · Oct 17, 2004

it's pouring down rain here right now it's frikkin awesome.
Traffic still sucks here, the other day i was late to pick up a pal of mine (she was gonna be late for a flight) so i blazed down 509 going 90, came up behind this dumb chick and she wouldn't let me pass. All the way down the hill she was trying to literally run off the road, finally i passed her speeding up to around 100 just to get by her i completely ignored her, she tried getting on my ass and giving me the brights but i was already a quarter mile ahead of her by the time she made her move. Haha she thought i wanted to road rage with her well duh i was in a frikkin hurry.... What if i had a pregnant woman in the back seat sheesh...

valve bouncer · Oct 17, 2004

One thing I could have predicted was about 1% of posters would have any idea about what you're talking about. Partsbara, Silver, Alexis DH perhaps. It's a tough road to go down Mike. Cheers mate.

Skookum · Oct 17, 2004

Just curious then....

Do things seem smaller when you go back home?

valve bouncer · Oct 17, 2004

Skookum said:
Just curious then....

Do things seem smaller when you go back home?

You're disqualified from answering.

JMAC · Oct 17, 2004

MMike said:
Well yes and no...

For several years now, some of you have endured my musings about how great it was back home in beloved Montreal and how much better it was than Seattle.

Well I guess I'd forgotten about a few things...

The bad:

The "free" health care system is a total disaster. When I was growing up here, I was pretty healthy and never had to go to the doctor. Now that I have a wife and kid...(and some on-going health issues of my own), I now realize how crappy it is. If it weren't for the fact that my family is close friends with a surgeon who writes us referrals to specialists, we'd be waiting months for doctor's appointments. Oh and the pills I need are not approved in Canada... Still haven't sorted that out.

Let's see...what else.

There is a big stink right now about stores being open until 9pm during the week. Until recently they were only open 6pm. Very inconvenient. AND almost nothing is open 24hrs. My daughter caught her first cold. We were caught unarmed with baby cold medicine. And almost no pharmacies are open late. It was midnight. Some local places had just closed. So I had to head out on a 90 min quest in the middle of the night to find a 24hr pharmacy.

The riding is crap, relatively speaking. Yes I know I only rode once since I arrived, but I've ridden Bromont before, and in comparison to Seattle/BC, honestly it's not even worth getting out of bed.

TV and radio stink. This is me channel surfing: "Crap crap crap, french french, crap, french, crap". Explain to me how they have South Park dubbed in french, but they never show it in english?

The good:

I never drive slower than 85mph EVER anymore. Traffic is a well orchestrated ballet. I freaking love it.

I really like ALWAYS knowing where I'm going, and knowing all the little secret back ways to get places. Home after all is home...

So my point? I have no regrets moving home, but I must admit, it's not completely how I remembered it. Despite my best efforts, I have become americanized. Will I stay here? At least a couple of years. But after that.... I'm really not sure...

Dude I have to agree with everything u say. I can't wait to move out of here. LOL I mean there's alot of things I love about montreal. Well I love europe and it's about as close as you can get to it in NA. The thing that gets me most is having to drive soooooooo far for good riding here. Where as in like Vancouver in 90 min you're at whistler and omg why do you even have to go that farw hen you have grouse and seamor. The biggest thing for me is I'm the biggest wuss in the world when it comes to cold ****ty weather. I need atleast 300 days a year of warm sunny weather. I gotta move.

Damn True · Oct 17, 2004

So the land of milk and honey isn't?

Truely sorry about the difficulty you are experiencing in regard to healthcare for your family. But I do seem to recall you waving the "free healthcare" flag quite a lot.

I do hope that some of the shine comes back to your beloved Montreal. I have lived places that I didn't care for (NYC) and I can sympathise. Its no fun to be in a place that soes not suit you.

Skookum · Oct 17, 2004

valve bouncer said:
You're disqualified from answering.

Well i thought i'd ask since we're all divulging honest opinions about stuff :confused:

LordOpie · Oct 17, 2004

stevew said:
And to think I might move from CO to NC in six months.

why? NC isn't bad, in fact, some parts are way cool. Where in NC might you move to?

Shmoe · Oct 17, 2004

Because Montreal is just not that grear of a place to live. Ive been there, did not really like it at all. Calgary is alright, at least alberta has money.. But Hopefully next year Ill be moving to vancouver.

T-Pirate · Oct 17, 2004

LordOpie said:
why? NC isn't bad, in fact, some parts are way cool. Where in NC might you move to?

If you are in western NC, the difference in riding will be more than made up for by the fact that you can pretty much ride every day of the year. If you move to eastern or central NC...you might not like it so much. Opie is right though.

JMAC · Oct 17, 2004

Shmoe said:
Because Montreal is just not that grear of a place to live. Ive been there, did not really like it at all. Calgary is alright, at least alberta has money.. But Hopefully next year Ill be moving to vancouver.

Same here, hopefully

johnbryanpeters · Oct 17, 2004

Skookum said:
Just curious then....

Do things seem smaller when you go back home?

When I went back to visit old childhood haunts, yards, streets, etc. all seemed small indeed compared to my memory of them.

LordOpie · Oct 17, 2004

MMike said:
But really now that biking has become such an infintesimal part of my life, the crappy riding really doesn't bother me. Overall I'm still happy to be home.

I think your :monkey:

card needs to be revoked.

Skookum · Oct 17, 2004

If griping was money i'd be your best freind.

So nothing small?

ALEXIS_DH · Oct 17, 2004

MMike said:
Ok perhaps I should clarify. I have no regrets about moving back. But it's just not the utopia that I'd built in my memory. I'll never move back to the US. I don't want my kids growing up and going to school there.

I likely won't stay in Quebec. I have a friend that grew up here, then moved to Van and now lives in Calgary. He likes it much better. That's something I might consider. I spent the summer in Lake Louise once. Spent a little time in Calgary... don't really remember it... But now that I've gotten out of aerospace, I can actually consider living somewhere other than Montreal, Seattle, Marietta, Long Beach or Wichita...

But anyway, being home isn't all bad. It's just not all good either.

Oh and the internet sucks here. The SERVICE is actually better, but the content is terrible. Almost nothing is online here. Things like Mapquest. I've only actually found about 10% of the addresses I've looked up around here. And you can't really find and apartment online either. It's like the internet just hasn't been discovered or something.

Oh well...

But really now that biking has become such an infintesimal part of my life, the crappy riding really doesn't bother me. Overall I'm still happy to be home.

well, all those things you talk about that the US has and Canada lacks are very little things that you wont miss after a while IMO.

I lived in the US (NYC and Alabama) since 2000 until May this year, and I used to go home every 3-4 months or so, but still i missed my house a crapload. (of course alabama is a craphole, but NY was pretty tight and i still missed home).
at the begining it kinda bothered me, like the first 2 months, but then the pros-outweighted the cons by far.

I got no mapquest here in Lima, and stuff i buy online take like forever to arrive, plus they tax the crap out of them, BUT there are some important things million times better here I dont get in the US.

actually Peru overall is a craphole, tough it has some nice zones in which living is much better than in 90% of the US.
and the difference between seattle and montreal is much shorter than between Lima and NY. so i guess you will get used to the little difference much faster.

Home IS home. and there are some things, which seem un-important, or might be forgotten in the light of a materialistic POV, but my family is here, my best friends, are here. plus I´m quite a liberal, maybe a pinko, and Alabama aint no good place for non-christian pinkos.

plus i get 0.1 inches of rain a year here (that is the actual rainfall), never gets colder than 60, never hotter than 85. 20ft waves are 40minutes away, dh tracks are 25 minutes away. I can drive at 120mph in a highway and cops dont give a crap, plus they take bribes.
this is heaven for me.

dont worry about TV, just get cable or a parabolic like i do and i still watch southpark or the debates or the shows you watched in the states. internet? godammit, you can get broadband of any speed everywhere.

so dont be a girly man and go north.
the only way i would emigrate for good and stay abroad is if i starve to death here or we get nuked. otherwise i´ll stick around.

in fact, i think i would not have left Lima if my freaking mom didnt push me to attend college in the US (kinda the IN thing around here) when i finished high school.

PLUS if you ever get a craving for US, you can always go there for a couple days and get your US-dose then go back home.
you cannot do the other way around. a couple days HOME-dose is never enough.

stevew · Oct 17, 2004

LordOpie said:
why? NC isn't bad, in fact, some parts are way cool. Where in NC might you move to?

Gastonia/Charlotte area.

DHracer1067 · Oct 17, 2004

T-Pirate said:
If you are in western NC, the difference in riding will be more than made up for by the fact that you can pretty much ride every day of the year. If you move to eastern or central NC...you might not like it so much. Opie is right though.

central nc sucks. dont move here. move west. like in the mountain or you wont have any good riding close at all. if you were in seattle and around alot of good trails and mountains then you will get pissed off from lack of any riding spots.

DRB · Oct 17, 2004

stevew said:
Gastonia/Charlotte area.

Then you are moving to lots and lots of trails within 30 mintues of you, scattered all around Charlotte. Catawba, Springs Greenway, Lake Norman State Park, Renissance, Poplar Tent. Plus 1.5 hours to Pisgah. A Summer Wednesday night race series that is pretty cool.

There are big going ons for a new trail system in Mount Holly between the two, that will probably be in the 13 to 16 mile range.

Right now its about 30 miles of trails within 45 minutes of downtown Charlotte.

Lots of riders (many lazy ones trail work wise).

Many cool resturants and clubs.

Decent weather.

TRAFFIC does blow so try to live near where you are going to work.

Can you tell I love my hometown.... PM if you'd like any details.

Barbaton · Oct 17, 2004

No, "but I guess you can shop there."

Silver · Oct 17, 2004

On the healthcare front: Blue Cross HMO...the next available appointment I could get for an initial consult with a specialist?

December 6.

Nothing life threatening, of course. I need to find out how long my father had to wait for his appointment in Alberta for the same type of specialist...

Edit: Took him about 2 months. Not much difference.

Shmoe · Oct 17, 2004

MMike said:
Ok perhaps I should clarify. I have no regrets about moving back. But it's just not the utopia that I'd built in my memory. I'll never move back to the US. I don't want my kids growing up and going to school there.

I likely won't stay in Quebec. I have a friend that grew up here, then moved to Van and now lives in Calgary. He likes it much better. That's something I might consider. I spent the summer in Lake Louise once. Spent a little time in Calgary... don't really remember it... But now that I've gotten out of aerospace, I can actually consider living somewhere other than Montreal, Seattle, Marietta, Long Beach or Wichita...

But anyway, being home isn't all bad. It's just not all good either.

Oh and the internet sucks here. The SERVICE is actually better, but the content is terrible. Almost nothing is online here. Things like Mapquest. I've only actually found about 10% of the addresses I've looked up around here. And you can't really find and apartment online either. It's like the internet just hasn't been discovered or something.

Oh well...

But really now that biking has become such an infintesimal part of my life, the crappy riding really doesn't bother me. Overall I'm still happy to be home.

Yeah Calgary is pretty decent, I now li ve 15 mins away in Cochrane, 10,000 people. Calgary is growing pretty quickly, will be at a million people pretty soon, it gets pretty damn busy in traffic somedays.

Toshi · Oct 17, 2004

Silver said:
On the healthcare front: Blue Cross HMO...the next available appointment I could get for an initial consult with a specialist?

December 6.

Nothing life threatening, of course. I need to find out how long my father had to wait for his appointment in Alberta for the same type of specialist...

Edit: Took him about 2 months. Not much difference.

HMOs bite my eye and say "yum" :dead:

wait time to get a primary care appointment at the university of washington campus student health center: 15 minutes. :thumb:

too bad the specialists are much slower in their response to the primary care physician's referral...

Silver · Oct 17, 2004

Toshi said:
HMOs bite my eye and say "yum"

wait time to get a primary care appointment at the university of washington campus student health center: 15 minutes. too bad the specialists are much slower in their response to the primary care physician's referral...

My HMO isn't that bad, either. Plus, I've got a great primary care doctor, so things could be worse.

blue · Oct 18, 2004

MMike, who have you worked for in Aerospace?

My dad used to work for Raytheon and then Moog and had to go to Wichita a lot to work on their Premier 1 crap...

jaydee · Oct 18, 2004

MMike, what part of Montreal do you live in? I'm a West Island boy myself, grew up in Pointe Claire and Dorval, went to school in Montreal West, hung out downtown. This was a million years ago. I escaped to BC as soon as I could get the hell out of Quebec and I've never been back, nor do I ever want to. The only thing I miss is the fries.

zod · Oct 18, 2004

stevew said:
Gastonia/Charlotte area.

G-town, hell yea man......welcome to my little slice of mullet paradise :devil:

You are going to be moving into an excellent trail area, as said by DRB there are lot's O' trails in the immediate area (most groomed for XC racing) and then it's a short drive to the NC Appalachians for some of the best riding on the East Coast!! Also right in Gaston County there is some private North Shore stuff.......and one county north (Lincoln County) is PeeWee's Trail which is an awesome combo or dirt jumps, north shore, and single track.

DRB said:
Lots of riders (many lazy ones trail work wise).

If I was in the race series I'd do trail work, but since the Tarheel Trailblazers make nothing but race tracks and not single track I can think of better places to do trail work than the Charlotte "trails". Hopefully the TTB's won't ruin the proposed Mt. Holly/Mtn Island Lake trail by making it a race track. It'd be nice if they'd make at least one tight, flowy singletrack trail (like P-tent). I think that's why many of us "lazy" people around Charlotte don't do trail work on the TTB's trails.

stevew · Oct 18, 2004

zod said:
G-town, hell yea man......welcome to my little slice of mullet paradise :devil:

You are going to be moving into an excellent trail area, as said by DRB there are lot's O' trails in the immediate area (most groomed for XC racing) and then it's a short drive to the NC Appalachians for some of the best riding on the East Coast!! Also right in Gaston County there is some private North Shore stuff.......and one county north (Lincoln County) is PeeWee's Trail which is an awesome combo or dirt jumps, north shore, and single track.

If I was in the race series I'd do trail work, but since the Tarheel Trailblazers make nothing but race tracks and not single track I can think of better places to do trail work than the Charlotte "trails". Hopefully the TTB's won't ruin the proposed Mt. Holly/Mtn Island Lake trail by making it a race track. It'd be nice if they'd make at least one tight, flowy singletrack trail (like P-tent). I think that's why many of us "lazy" people around Charlotte don't do trail work on the TTB's trails.

DRB and Zod, thanks for the info. I have been to the area twice since the parents and my older brother moved there. Cool place. I found out I am not as big a fan of winter as I thought I was since I moved to CO.

DRB · Oct 18, 2004

zod said:
If I was in the race series I'd do trail work, but since the Tarheel Trailblazers make nothing but race tracks and not single track I can think of better places to do trail work than the Charlotte "trails". Hopefully the TTB's won't ruin the proposed Mt. Holly/Mtn Island Lake trail by making it a race track. It'd be nice if they'd make at least one tight, flowy singletrack trail (like P-tent). I think that's why many of us "lazy" people around Charlotte don't do trail work on the TTB's trails.

I thought I was on Ridemonkey not Small Brown Bitchin'. :devil:

zod · Oct 18, 2004

You can't escape the truth DRB, and you can't escape the Small Brown Hyenas.......

Have fun making double track and laying down bags of sacrete :dancing:

zod · Oct 18, 2004

Oh snap, I just had a brain fart......

Hey stevew, isn't it your dad that ownd the Jersey Mikes in Gastonia??? You're gonna be my new best friend if you move.... :thumb:

stevew · Oct 18, 2004

zod said:
Oh snap, I just had a brain fart......

Hey stevew, isn't it your dad that ownd the Jersey Mikes in Gastonia??? You're gonna be my new best friend if you move....

If you mean the Jersey Mikes in the Franklin Center by the Books A Million then you would be correct.

zod · Oct 19, 2004

Yea.......my best friend ever.....stevew!

OK so I'm really a Jersey Mikes junky looking for a free hand-out :dancing:

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